Category Archives: Originals

[Arc 1] Chapter 29



Chapter 29

The School

Chu Shen and Master Lang waited for a while until all the students had arrived. He recognized the very last student as one of the Dragon Stage students. Of course the student had an arrogant look on his face.

As Chu Shen recalled the words they had said about ‘country bumpkins’ his face flushed with anger. All he wanted to do right now was wipe that smirk off his face.

However. The difference in status and strength was too great. But Chu Shen knew that he could indeed surpass him, and soon.

The elder on the left of the formation cleared his throat. “Ahem.” Everyone looked towards him. “We will now start the formation. You will each enter into the formation. Once you arrive tell the teachers there your name and they will direct you to the appropriate room.”

“As for everything else, it will be explained upon your arrival.” The elder on the right spoke up. Each elder gathered in the palm of their hands a ball of white light. It was obviously Qi. They slammed the balls of Qi into the formation on the ground.

Mystical runes inlaid on the floor with lines connecting them together lit up. “Okay students. Stand in the circles right there, then we can activate the rest of the formation.”

Chu Shen bowed to Master Lang who backed off to the outside of the pavilion like everyone else that was not a student.

The students eventually gathered into the middle of the group of circles. After they did the elder on the left and right made a mysterious symbol with their hands. Qi rumbled outwards into the formation before it suddenly activated.

A black whirlpool appeared beneath the rightmost circle. The students in that circle fell into the whirlpool before disappearing. One by one this was repeated before it reached Chu Shen.

While this happened some of the students panicked, it was quite logical to once you saw something basically devour your fellow classmates. The other students who were knowledgeable in this transportation method quickly shut them up.

The whirlpool appeared at their feet. There was a slight tingling sensation where the whirlpool was. As it moved upwards the tingling sensation spread. Where the whirlpool moved pass it seemed as though it had devoured Chu Shen, the parts of his body the whirlpool had already traversed had disappeared.

Once the whirlpool had reached above Chu Shen’s head it seemed as though him, and all the other students in his circle, had disappeared. Master Lang watched emotionlessly as Chu Shen was teleported out.

Eventually all of the students were gone. The elders both made another hand sign before touching the formation. One of the elders looked at Master Lang before gesturing towards the formation.

Master Lang stepped into the circle after he verified they weren’t teleporting him too far away from the students. One of the elders joined him before they teleported away.

After they were gone the elder that was left disassembled the formation before flying towards the Majestic Sword Academy.

Chu Shen looked around at his new settings. The whirlpool had deposited him inside a small courtyard along with the other students that were with him in the circle but no one else.

There was a middle aged man with a stern expression and dressed in the schools uniform standing in front of them. Based off the badge on his shoulder he was a teacher. “Alright students, gather over here. Okay, now one at a time tell me your name.”

One by one each person told the man their name and was then assigned a room number. Chu Shen was in Block 6 room 121.

“Now that your living areas are assigned go to them. In the halls there are some maps of the schools posted, follow them. In your rooms is a list of classes that you can each attend to.”

“We at the Majestic Sword Academy believe in cultivation free time. Each of the classes are voluntary and you may attend them on your own time. If you prefer to spend your entire time here cultivating then you may do so but you will be sadly uninformed of the outside world.”

“Also, there are things called spirit marks and spirit cards. Spirit stones are the currency at the academy here. Spirit cards are used to record your spirit stones and make transactions.”

“While we do provide some free martial techniques you must earn any others that you wish for, so work hard. That is all.”

Chu Shen was a very decisive person after working in the forge. When crafting you couldn’t hesitate and think about things but rather had to react and depend upon your ingrained thoughts.

He immediately set out for his room. After wandering through the halls and different pagoda’s he eventually managed to get to his room. It was actually a small house with a formation set in it to gather Qi letting him have twice the efforts with half as much work.

Chu Shen looked at a list of different classes, each with a day and time on it. There was a class every hour from 10-10 every day with a break for lunch. It was impossible to go to every class. There was classes on inscriptions, weapons, techniques, fighting styles, sparring classes, economy, army tactics, strategy classes, herbs, alchemy, and many other types of classes as well. It was almost limitless.

Sighing Chu Shen started planning his schedule for school.


Master Lang and the elder came out of the formation inside a spacious and very well decorated courtyard. The elder bowed to him. While Master Lang had a very special status it was most definitely not appropriate for an elder of the Chu Sect to bow to an outsider in front of a crowd.

This way both Master Lang and the elder was satisfied and saved face. “Master Artificer, while the Majestic Sword Academy has no issue with you staying here, the principal wants to meet with you.”

Master Lang, with his now familiar face of indifference, waved his hand. “Alright, I will meet with the principal. Take me to see them now.”

While the elder gritted his teeth inwardly at the way Master Lang spoke to him without the slightest hint of courtesy his outward appearance was that of a servant. “This way please, Master Artificer.”



 

  1. N/a

[Arc 1] Chapter 28



Chapter 28

Master Lang

Luckily no one came to investigate the noise, Chu Shen had no idea how he would explain it. Without Master Lang to look over him Chu Shen decided to go to bed.

“What the heck is this?!! Shen’er, you had better be able to explain this.”

Chu Shen groggily rubbed his eyes. His master had apparently come home and seen the hole in the ground. “Sorry master. I dropped one of my training weights on the floor on accident.”

“Sorry! That’s all you have to say! Now I have to pay for it.” Master Lang had a face of extreme sadness. “I just got paid to.” He mumbled underneath his breath. “Anyways, how did the trials go.”

“I managed to pass the trails. I even got into the top ten in my stage.”

“That’s good. Now that we have some time, I think I will have you learn a little in formations and inscriptions. Since you can’t set up either it wo’nt be of much use when you craft but it will help you identify things others would miss. It can be of much use in the martial world.”

Chu Shen nodded. Knowledge was the key in many situations, for example. If he discovered the cave of an expert and had to break through a formation to survive, it would be impossible if he didn’t have the proper strength. However, if he knew the formations weak point than Chu Shen could break it by attacking that point.

This was the difference between a dumb brat and a true expert. His master started teaching him about inscriptions and arrays for the rest of the day.

The next day it started the same way. Eventually Chu Shen begged off of his training to familiarize himself with the town. Master Lang thought it was a great idea to expand Chu Shen’s horizon and went along with him.

Unbeknownst to them a black cloaked man was following them on the rooftops.

As they walked Chu Shen became curious. “Master, I know you sought out an artificing store, did you find anything good there?”

Master Lang smiled. “Off course I did. The most important thing I did was pass the trials to become an artificer.”

Chu Shen looked at him in curiosity. “Aren’t you already an artificer.”

“It’s not that I am not an Artificer but rather a symbol to everyone else. The Imperial Artificers Guild judges artificers and gives them a rank. When you have a great success in artificing you will have a lot of influence.”

“That is the reason I became an official artificer, so that I have the influence to protect you”

“That’s great master. So what exactly is your ranking.”

“Here.” Master Lang took out a small badge. On the badge was seven stars. When he took it out he held it up high and looked directly towards the rooftop of a house nearby.

Chu Shen looked at the house but didn’t see anything. “What is it master? Do you see anything?”

Master Lang looked away from the house after a couple seconds. Laughing he shrugged. “I just saw a lowly rat on the roof. I thought there was no rats in the city but I guess I was wrong, haha.”

With that Chu Shen and Master Lang wandered down the street towards a restaurant.

On the rooftop was that black robed man. Curiously the arrogant expression on his face was gone. Instead his face was pale with sweat covering it, his entire body shaking.

After a while he calmed down. Taking a deep breath he sighed. “That man’s cultivation was scary, not to mention him being a seven star artificer. I thought there was only twelve of them left.”

“Luckily I discovered this before killing his disciple. I can imagine I would not even know I had died if I truly had tried to kill him.”

The would-be assassin disappeared into the night with a gloomy expression on his face.

Chu Shen along with his master went to the dueling arena the next day about ten minutes before noon. There in front of the dueling arena was a two elders and in front of them was a large group of youngsters.

Set up on the ground was a formation. From his studying, Chu Shen knew it was a thousand miles array. It allowed a person and several groups of people to travel a thousand miles in an instant.

Chu Shen chuckled, the intensive studying was already paying off. Turning he bowed to Master Lang. “Thank you Master for accompanying me, may we meet again someday.”

Master Lang merely slapped his back and nodded. Afterwards he walked towards the two elders.

The elders looked curiously at this person. They had never been approached by someone in the crowd before. Since he had the appearance of a close acquaintance with one of the students he had not been run off, otherwise they would not have even let him get close to the square.

Stopping in front of the elders he merely looked at them. After a few seconds on of the elders spoke up. “What is your business here? If you have none then scram!”

Master Lang stared at them before saying in an arrogant tone. “You will take me to the Majestic Sword Academy.”

“What! To be so arrogant as to order around an elder of the Majestic Sword Academy! What makes you think you have the right!” The elder spoke up in a cold, harsh voice.

Master Lang said not another word but merely pulled out a badge from his spatial ring. It was actually his artificing badge!

The elder let out a sharp hiss of breath. Unexpectedly this was actually a seven star artificer! In the elder’s eyes this man did indeed have the qualifications to be arrogant.

The other immediately spoke up, grateful that he had not been rude. “ What exactly is it that you wish to do in the Majestic Sword Academy.”

Master Lang glanced at him before replying in an uninterested tone. “I wish to establish a base there and look over my disciple.”

The elder grew curious. “Why would you choose someone like him” He gestured towards Chu Shen. “Who does not have such a high cultivation to be your disciple.”

“Talent for artificing does not strictly depend upon your cultivation level. Besides, I owe his father my life.” After saying this Master Lang departed with a wave of his hand.

 
Both elders looked at each other with a pained look. It was completely unexpected that someone would disrespect them like that, it caused some misgivings in their hearts but they did not dare voice it. An Artificer with such a high level did indeed have the qualifications to be arrogant.



 

  1. N/a

[Arc 1] Chapter 27



Chapter 27

Winners of the Duels

Chu Shen and Tai Long watched the duels. It was interesting to watch other peoples fighting techniques. The Man Stage duels ended with Jian Kuai winning the duels.

At the end he was injured with blood streaming down his body. However, one of the judges stretched out their hand and healed Jian Kuai with a stream of light.

It was a mystical and thought-provoking sight when Jian Kuai was covered in a ray of light. To see that golden light that induced a cozy and homey feeling whenever you saw it. It was obvious that the person in the judge box was already at the World Stage and had an affinity with light.

Once you reach the World Stage, you can manipulate the elements around you that you have an affinity for. With Chu Shen it was obviously space. He was lucky that he knew what affinity he had before reaching such a Stage.

Soon after the Tiger Stage duels began. It was far more fast paced than the Man Stage duels. Loud sounds like rocks smashing together sounded out. Eventually the winner became a man with amazing boxing skills. He was extremely fast, probably due to his cultivation technique. With his dodging skills he won fairly unscathed. He also had a pair of gloves that let him block a sword with it.

Bei Fong was also skilled. With his fan he used it like a throwing knife along with his fabulous sword skills. He lost however, to an archer who kept him at bay. Eventually with an explosive arrow charged with Qi, Bei Fong was knocked off the stage, making it to fourth place.

Finally it was time for the Dragon Stage duels to begin.

The battle was intense. Bei Fong had joined Tai Long and Chu Shen. All three of them exclaimed in awe as the fights began. Their weapons were a blur, craters appeared in the stage as they fought.

Chu Shen realized that if he himself was out there he would have been killed without knowing what had happened.

They were incomparably strong. This was a stage specifically meant for dueling. The ground was made with hardened rock and could easily withstand Chu Shens blows as he knew from his previous fights.

Now though the Dragon Stage cultivators were making cracks and craters in the stage from almost each blow. One of the cultivators was sent flying back. Before he could hit the stage he hit a blue barrier. As he hit the barrier he was stopped cold, just like he had hit a stone wall, and slid down. The impact had almost zero effect on him though.

The barrier was erected by the judges to prevent the crowd from being hurt. After the cultivator landed he bowed towards his opponent before leaving. After all, he had been knocked out of the ring and therefore lost.

Soon enough the duels ended. After that they handed out prizes. The Man Stage winner won a medallion saying he was the best of the Man Stage. Along with that they won bottle of medicine pills and a Low-Tier mortal weapon.

All the other rewards were the same for the other stages. The only difference was that the Dragon Stage also received a High-Tier mortal weapon.

Weapons are divided into different stages. Each stage is separated into Tiers and furthermore into grades as well. Mortal weapons are suitable for those at the Dragon Stage and below. A High tier weapon was best for a Dragon Stage cultivator while a Low-Tier weapon was best for Man Stage cultivators.

After that was Martial weapons. Chu Shen had never heard of any other weapons grade though Master Lang had hinted around at it while he was forging.

Pills were also separated like this but instead of Martial or Mortal Weapons it became Martial or Mortal Pills.

After the duels winners collected their prizes the elder once again stood in front of them. “Okay. Now that you have all passed the duels, please get ready. I will leave a spirit mark on each of you. You all have two days to settle your affairs before leaving for the school. Once the two days are up, meet at noon on the third day here at the dueling arena.”
“After you get here you will be transported to the schools living quarters. The teachers will explain the rules of the school for you once you arrive. Now, off you go.”

Turning towards Bei Fong and Tai Long he bowed. “Friends, it was nice to meet you. I hope we can meet again at the academy.”

Bei Fong waved his fan imperiously. “Of course. Once I acknowledge someone as my friend I never let them go.”

Tai Long bowed back. “I will spar with you again and win next time. Train hard so you don’t lose to badly.”

Chu Shen smiled back. “Of course I won’t lose. Goodbye brothers.”

Quickly Chu Shen departed back. Soon he reached the hotel. Looking around he saw Master Lang had not arrived yet.

Chu Shen called out to Master Ti Wu inside his head. ‘Master. Why haven’t you said anything for a while.’

After a few seconds a pain similar to a migraine overcame Chu Shen. While he clutched his head in agony Master Ti Wu’s voice sounded in his head. ‘You brat! Disturbing my nap to ask a trivial question.’

After a few seconds the headache stopped. After Chu Shen recovered he started talking to Ti Wu. He told him of the competition, along with the fight he lost and the friends he met. Ti Wu made him share a mental image of the fight he lost.

After he saw it he criticized Chu Shen. ‘You brat. You should have used the sleeve crossbow, you would have won for sure. Those weren’t excellent rewards but they would have been helpful.’

‘I am sorry master but I can’t. If I accidentally killed him I would have been eliminated. I am not 100% confident in my aiming.’

‘Oh I see how it is. You can throw arrows at the poor fool but you can’t use a crossbow like its meant to be.’

‘Sorry master.’

‘Oh well. Probably for the best then.’ They stopped talking, waiting in the awkward silence that followed. Eventually Chu Shen spoke up.

“Master, can I remove the weights now.”

“Eh? Oh right the weights. I guess since you just had an intensive workout with all those fights you can take a break. Go ahead.”

Sighing in relief Chu Shen bent down and hiked up his pants leg. There on his leg was a series of metal weights attached to Chu Shens leg. Master Ti Wu had him forge them during the second day of training.

He detached them and also the ones on his arms, neck, and chest. As he detached the one on his right arm he accidentally dropped it. After all he was right handed and not quite as dexterous as his left.

“Crap!” Chu Shen exclaimed before the weight hit the floor.

Crunch Thud

With a slightly muted sound and crunching of wood the weight buried itself almost 3 feet into the ground after destroying the floor. After all, dropping a 150 pound weight on the floor was going to destroy something.

 



 

  1. N/a

[Vol 4] Chapter 52: Battle at the city square 4



It did not take long for the battle to break into a frantic series of attack. Looking at the dire situation, of the battlefield, the remaining Garret warriors started retreating backwards towards the inner city square. Willard held Kaban by his side and instantly used his movement technique to transverse the currently frenzied battlefield. Willard arrived where the horses had been kept and instructed Kaban to ride back.  Without watching him leave, Willard once more used his movement techniques to get back into the battlefield.

 

At this point in time, the battlefield had moved backwards towards the inner city square. The Gerret house archers that had previously been in hiding all took to their positions in attacking their foes. Primarily because the archers had caught the Minya forces by surprise, the majority of the retreating warriors were able to reduce their casualties.

 

In retaliation to the sudden interference from the Gerret archers, mages on the side of the Minya house started casting various offensive and defensive spells. A massive fire serpent took form and started gliding through the air. This massive fire serpent spell was a joint spell the several fire mages had cast, which gave it its frightening size. To another corner an earth style golem was taking shape. The colossal size was something to behold. Just like that, different aberrations of magic were getting on the offensive as they all primarily targeted the archers who were all frantically trying to escape. One after the other, large destructive sounds were heard as the magical aberrations all destroyed the buildings in their paths.

 

Willard who had arrived in the midst of all this had a look of intrigue on his face. ‘Why did it take them this long to use this?’ He silently thought without the least bit of worry on his face. If the Minya forces had immediately used those magical aberrations, they would have easily annihilated the Gerret warriors. Willard concluded there had to be a price the warriors paid for using this spells and that was why they had not used it in the beginning. Perhaps the amount of elemental energy it consumed was astonishing.

 

“It’s about time the fun starts,” Willard said before clasping his hands in a loud bang. The clapping sound he made echoed throughout the battlefield but did not cause any change to the state of the battlefield.

 

Within five foot of Willard, an enormous amount of earth elemental energy swiveled chaotic around him. Willard who shut his eyes as he roused the earth elemental energy, suddenly opened them. He could see hundreds of warriors running towards his direction, but he still stood in place. “Strike!” Willard said, which immediately followed with the earth slightly trembling. The attacking Minya warriors could not feel the trembles as it blended perfectly with the echoes their running footsteps had caused.

 

Suddenly, hundreds of earthen spikes surreptitiously sprouted from the ground. Within fifty feet perimeter in front of Willard, these spikes mysteriously appeared massacring everything in its wake. The original charging Minya warriors, those that were entangled in battles, and even some Gerret warriors who were in front of him, were all attacked by those spikes. Although Willard wanted to mainly attack their foes, but some of the Garret warriors were already caught in tight positions of which he couldn’t help. Willard wasn’t the type to second guess his actions as he mercilessly attacked every corner of the fifty feet in front of him.

 

The sudden appearance of those spikes had caused huge casualties on the side of the Minya family. It was nothing short of share slaughter, which had blindsided the Minya forces. “That kid is quite impressive. It’s a pity, he should have used up a good amount of his elemental energy in that attack.” Svecko who had watched the entire thing happen said. The look on Ducart and the rest of the nobles faces were that of complete shock and anger. “How is it that a meager force of less than thirty has caused us this much casualty? If things continue like this aren’t we going to be the losers in the end.” Ducart silent thought to himself.

 

In the midst of this slaughter, three elemental aberrations remained. It was the earth element golem, the fire element serpent, and the wind element cheetah. As those aberrations made their way forward, the spikes that were clustered all around the battlefield were either disintegrated or blown away. It was clear that against these elemental aberrations, techniques similar to the earth spike, Willard had used, would have absolutely no effect on it.

 

All three of those remaining aberrations charged towards Willard with their fastest speed. The wind element  cheetah was the fastest of the three, and so was the first one to attack Willard. Several translucent crescent wind blades flew out of the mouth of the wind element cheetah as it approached Willard. From the density and speed of the wind blades, Willard knew he had to evade those attacks as there was no way he could defend against them with his physical body.

Willard was like a hummingbird, each movement was fluid and crisp. After his battle with Aorah, he had tremendously improved in the aspects of agility and control of the earth element. This seemingly minor improvement translated to a difference of night day in the speed and control of his movement technique. If it was in the past he had fought with the wind element aberration, he probably would not have been able to avoid all of its wind blade attacks.

 

Willard controlled the broken up pieces of earth from the earth spikes all around the battlefield to all float in mid air. Some flew towards Willard and started forming an earth element golem shield, while others just remained floating. At this point in time, the other aberrations had caught up to the wind element cheetah and started attacking. Willard was like a mouse to the cat-sized aberrations, a mortal to the titanic sized aberrations.

 

The fire element serpent slithered through the air and attacked with its giant head. Willard met the attack straight on now that he was in his golem protective shield. He did not dare to defend with his bare body, but now that he had the shield he was at least certain to a certain degree to survive a head on attack. The blow from the fire element serpent sent Willard tumbling backwards. The combination of the heat and power of that titanic sized serpent was much more power than Willard had predicted earlier. When Willard regained his balance, he immediately willed the earth around him to reinforce the damaged golem protective shield.

 

The wind element cheetah was already in front of him, it swiped forcefully with its claw striking straight for Willard’s head. Now that Willard had the golem shield, his speed and agility had reduced a little bit, whilst he gaining much more strength. Willard punched straight at the incoming claw attack of the cheetah. To everyone’s surprise, Willard had successfully defended the attack and also blown away the claw of the wind element claw. “How is this possible?” Many of those who had been watching exclaimed as they realized Willard had not only defended the attack but he had also managed to destroy the claw of the wind element cheetah.

On the current battle, only one other person aside from Willard was capable of understanding the subtleties of what had happened. To the ordinary person on the battlefield it seemed as if Willard just punched through the wind claw of the cheetah, but in actuality, a little more had happened. Before Willard’s earth golem fist had met with the claw of the wind element cheetah, Willard had formed a series of vibration in front of his blow. This translucent vibration was in accordance to one of the laws of the earth element. That was the basic form of the primary laws of vibration. And with that little usage of the primary law of vibration, Willard was capable of astonishingly increasing the strength of his blow.

 



 

  1. N/a

[Arc 1] Chapter 26



Chapter 26

Duels (3)

Finally the duels ended. There was now two great blade users, one bow user, the dual swordsman, and five regular swordsman besides Chu Shen. Now it was nearing the end.

During the dual swordsman’s fight Chu Shen paid special attention to him. He fought one of the great sword users. First the duel swordsman and great swordsman closed gaps, quickly coming in range.

The dual swordsman immediately started attacking the great swordsman. Each time the great sword was swung at him he dodged it, ducking and bobbing while swinging his dual swords. Small cuts started adding up on the great swordsman.

With the dual swordsman’s skill he attacked from both left and right with a sword in each hand, making it impossible to dodge completely. The great swordsman couldn’t keep up and never actually hit his opponent.

Chu Shen was now excited, he couldn’t wait to fight against this person. He was most definitely a good opponent to duel with. They were once again about to fight.

After waiting for a while the fourth fight ended, now it was Chu Shen’s turn. Before he could go up on stage the dual swordsman got there first.

“Huh. Seems this match will be interesting.” Chu Shen muttered underneath his breath before climbing on stage as well.

Bowing he introduced himself. “I am Chu Shen of the Chu branch Sect Misty Pass, let us have a good duel.”

The dual swordsman bowed as well. “I am Jian Kuai ⌈1⌋ prepare yourself.”

Chu Shen nodded, it was an appropriate name. Jian Kuai took up a stance with his swords. Suddenly he took off at Chu Shen.

He was startled at the speed Jian Kuai took off with. It was actually faster than the speed Jian Kuai had displayed in his fight earlier.

Realizing letting Jian Kuai get in close would be suicide Chu Shen took out an arrow and threw it towards him.

The arrow bounced off Jian Kuai’s sword. More arrows flew out before being blocked out, however, it did accomplish Chu Shen’s goal. Jian Kuai couldn’t advance forward and block the arrows, there was to many of them.

Chu Shen suddenly stopped throwing arrows but withdrew his hammer from the spatial ring instead. As Jian Kuai ran towards Chu Shen, Chu Shen started to spin in place, becoming a whirlwind of hammer blows just like when he dealt with Tai Long.

Jian Kuai paused right outside of Chu Shens range. He swung both swords in opposite directions, there was no way Chu Shen could block both. As the swords cut down, Chu Shen hit Jian Kuai’s right sword. The impact caused him to become unbalanced, the sword missing the target.

As Chu Shen spun around, Jian Kuai swung his other sword around. It left a small cut on Chu Shen’s leg. Disregarding this, Chu Shen advanced on Jian Kuai. Rolling underneath Chu Shen’s blows he ran towards his sword and picked it up.

Chu Shen stopped rotating. If he had continued then no matter how he tried Chu Shen would have become disoriented. Taking a stance Chu Shen prepared.

Jian Kuai closed in on Chu Shen. He swung his blades while Chu Shen blocked them. Again and again he attacked Chu Shen, the swords were unrelentingly attacking Chu Shen from all directions. By now, he had over a dozen minor cuts over all his legs and arms.

Frustrated, Chu Shen jumped backwards before swinging his hammer in a wide arc, forcing Jian Kuai backwards. By now Chu Shen realized his mistake in letting Jian Kuai get in close to him.

Taking advantage of the long range his hammer had, Chu Shen swung his hammer horizontally. Jian Kuai was forced back again. Without pause Chu Shen forced him back, continuously swinging his hammer in wide arcs.

Jian Kuai kept being forced backwards by Chu Shens hammer. Suddenly he rolled forward underneath Chu Shens swing. Springing up he jumped towards Chu Shen.

Startled, Chu Shen stored his hammer in his spatial ring and fell backwards. Jian Kuai missed Chu Shen and jumped over him. As he did, Chu Shen once again withdrew his hammer, clumsily swinging his hammer backwards at Jian Kuai.

He missed the swing as Jian Kuai rolled sideways. Lashing out, Jian Kuai slashed Chu Shen’s arm, forcing him to drop his hammer. Jumping towards Chu Shen he held his sword inches from his throat.

Panting Chu Shen looked Jian Kuai in the eye. “Sigh, I admit defeat.”

Jian Kuai nodded and stored away his dual swords. He bowed towards Chu Shen. “Thank you for the match, you almost had me.”

Chu Shen bowed back. “Thank you as well. If we sparred again I am sure the outcome would be the same.”

Chu Shen walked off stage with Jian Kuai, separating to head over to the eliminated side. A medic came over and gave him a healing pill. When he ate it, a soothing sensation came over him, getting rid of all the aches and sores from the fights.

His bleeding stopped quickly but didn’t heal completely. “Hey, Chu Shen. Come sit over here.” When he turned around he saw Tia Long waving towards him.

“Oh hey Tai Long. Didn’t expect to see you so soon.” Chu Shen immediately smile and walked towards him.

“Its fine. I didn’t have any serious injuries. I saw who you lost too. He sure is a piece of work.” Tai Long had an amused expression on his face.

“Yeah, he’s pretty skilled. He blocked all my arrows and could dodge very good.”

Tai Long nodded. “I am sure he will advance far in this tournament. He has some very fast swords.”

“Well what do you expect from someone with a name like that.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Lets watch the rest of the exam.”



 

  1. ⌈1⌋ The name Jian Kuai is actually Jiàn kuài (剑快) and means fast sword.

    Also, I got you all so good. Did you really think some newbie with no actual fighting experience was going to win a tournament? Dream on. It takes more than awesome strength and weapon to win, hehehe.

[Arc 1] Chapter 25



Chapter 25

Duels (2)

The woman frowned. “Stop being so mysterious Stone Face and tell me.”

Chu Tang looked at the woman. “It’s probably nothing, besides. STOP CALLING ME THAT!”

The woman gave a self-satisfied smirk. “Humph, so touchy. All I did was call your name.”

“Arghh.” Turning around to watch the next duels Chu Tang pointedly ignored her. The woman made a pouty face at him before turning to watch the show as well, hints of playfulness still visible on her face.

Sighing Chu Shen put the hammer back inside the spatial ring. Tai Long was someone that should have gone far in the tournament. It was a shame he had met Chu Shen. While he didn’t exactly care for the prize, Chu Shen always believed that he should try his best.

Looking over at Tai Long in the elimination box he knew the real reason he won. Every night ever since he went to the soul library, his teacher had him spar with the pillar shadows. The shadow was at the exact same level as him, it was like he was fighting himself.

Eventually he had learned the hammer vortex maneuver from one of the shadows. Even Ti Wu praised him for learning a technique like that. Though of course afterwards he berated him from not learning more.

He looked over at Tai Long. Maybe they could be friends? Shaking his head he dispelled his idle thoughts. Looking around he saw that there was only nineteen people left in the competition besides him.

Most were blade users. There was two people with bows and another three with great swords. These swords were big and unwieldy, a lot like the hammer. However, if they ever connected with the opponent it would have a devastating impact.

Besides that, there was one more person who had on dual swords. He was just coming off the dueling stage as the last combatant. From his match it seemed he focused on continuous attacks and high speed.

Chu Shen smiled. While normally a person wielding a hammer or other heavy weapon would be worried about someone who focused in speed, he was not one of them.

After all, Chu Shen had the [Earth Shattering Inscription]. With it his hammer was not as unwieldy and slow as other such weapon types. With this factor it could be said that Chu Shen was actually the menace of agility type cultivators.

He was fast and hit harder than anyone had the right to. With his strength it was most definitely cheating. An agility cultivator usually lost if someone could time their blows just right, or was faster than themselves.

Chu Shen was both fast and strong, he could completely suppress someone like this dual swordsman. Soon he was called up to the stage again.

It was one of the bow wielders. Bowing to his opponent Chu Shen introduced himself. “I am Chu Shen from the Chu branch Sect Misty Pass”

His opponent didn’t say a word but rather made an arrow appear in his left hand. Taking note of the thin band of metal on his hand, Chu Shen knew he had a spatial ring. ‘Looks like I can’t wait till he runs out of arrows then.’

Withdrawing his hammer Chu Shen held it halfway up the shaft with one hand. “Begin the match!”

Immediately the archer nocked an arrow and shot it towards Chu Shen. He quickly rolled to the left, dodging the three arrows the archer had sent towards him.

The archer was most definitely skilled, being able to fire three arrows in a matter of seconds and all of them only just missing their target. Chu Shen rushed forward towards the archer.

Before he could even get close a total of five arrows cut off Chu Shens approach, sealing off all exits. Gritting his teeth he brought up the head of the hammer and blocked one of the arrows and retreated.

Chu Shen reached down, his hammer disappearing into his spatial ring. Grabbing a hold of the arrow his opponent had shot he stored it in his spatial ring as well. The archer fired again at Chu Shen. Dodging once more he ran around collecting more arrows.

Dashing around and dodging arrows, one by one he picked up the arrows from the ground. Up in the judges box Stone Face laughed a little at the comical sight. In the middle of a duel this kid was running around like a squirrel trying to grab nuts for winter.

‘Certainly an interesting fellow. I wonder what his strategy is?’ Meanwhile the archer was starting to get a little frustrated. Every shot he made missed no matter how many he shot.

Each time he sealed this little fellow’s escape routes he would bring out his hammer and knock one of his arrows down. Five arrows was already his limit and his arrows were not unlimited. Already he had shot out over fifty arrows and only had another twenty left.

Suddenly Chu Shen stopped. ‘Alright, I think I have enough now.’ Using the arrow he held in his hand he threw it at the archer. With a sinister hiss it split the air, heading straight for his head.

Chu Shen had a startled expression on his face. He had aimed for the archers leg but unexpectedly his aim was off. Oh well, he hadn’t really thrown daggers, much less the hard to control arrows.

The archer was immediately frightened and dove to the side. Looking up he saw Chu Shen looking at him with a thoughtful expression. Taking out another arrow he threw it again at the archer. This time it flew just a little to the left of the archer.

Taking out more Chu Shen kept throwing the arrows at the archer. Now the archer was ducking and dodging, trying to keep away from the arrows that got closer and closer to their target.

Chu Tang laughed. Truly this was a perfect example of lifting a stone only to drop it on your own feet. The more arrows this fellow threw the harder Stone Face laughed. This fellow was truly a devious one. He frowned. He didn’t like how ruthless he was though, why did he aim for the archers head in a friendly duel?

Chu Shen realized he was almost out of arrows. With his continuous barrage the archer couldn’t fire a single arrow off. Chu Shen suddenly dashed forward towards the archer.

Seizing this chance, the archer started to nock an arrow before dropping it as he dodged Chu Shen’s own arrow. Starting to panic he managed to nock an arrow and unleashed it at Chu Shen. Because of how close it was there was no way for Chu Shen to dodge.

With less than three meters between them the arrow shot towards Chu Shen’s arm. Hitting it with a Clang it actually bounced off his arm.

With his skin hardened due to the <Void King> technique, how could he be harmed by a mere ordinary arrow?

As the archer stared open mouthed in shock Chu Shen took this opportunity to quickly close the gap. Without bringing out his hammer he directly punched towards the archer’s chest.

Pah

With a strangled groan he flew backwards from the impact. The natural strength of Chu Shen was most definitely overbearing. A slight trickle of blood appeared on the corner of the archers lip.

Chu Shen ran after the archer, gathering arrows on the way. Pausing a couple inches from his prone body he waited. “Cough cough.” The archer started coughing before looking up at Chu Shen with a mixture of shock, fear, and anger.

A white robed youngster ran up to the stage to the archer. Reaching into his sleeve he grabbed a pill and placed it in the archers mouth. Grabbing his arm, the white robed person supported the archer and walked him towards the area with the eliminated people.

The archer was set down on a bench with some other injured people. Chu Shen recognized the pill, it was a basic healing pill. After all, would a large sect waste expensive pills on a group of hopeful students? Probably not, besides, the judges could certainly stop the match before it became too deadly.



 

  1. N/a

[Arc 1] Chapter 24



Chapter 24

Duels

The elder stood in front of them once again. With a loud voice he started announcing the rules.

“Alright, next we will start the duels. Stay in your lines, we will take you to the arena”

With that he lead everyone forward. Soon they approached a large arena. Surrounding the arena was a large crowd, above the crowd was an elevated box containing the judges of the contest.

“Each person will fight in the arena. We will call you according to your lines. First off you will each receive a token with a number on it. When they call your number and Stage of cultivation come up, in the box are the judges of the contest. You win once the other person gives up, passes out, or is knocked out of the ring.”

“This is an elimination tournament. Once you lose go over to the right of the judges box.” Looking over there was a large patch of empty ground beside the box, obviously for the opponents who lose.

“There will be prizes announced at the end for those who win first place in their division.”

Everyone’s eyes turned red when they heard that. A vast majority of the people here were poor people from the surrounding villages. One of the Dragon Stage looked over at them and snorted.

“To think they would get so worked up over a little thing like this. I wonder what would happen if I took out one of my own treasures?”

Another at the Dragon Stage snorted as well and replied, disdain obvious in his voice. “Well I would say the would all die from shock. Truly a country bumpkin never changes.”

Many of the lower stage cultivators faces became unsightly. Who were these b*stards to insult them like this. Were they looking down upon them?

However, seeing as what their cultivation stage was they could only grit their teeth and bear their grudges in their heart. After all, who could fight against someone in the Dragon Stage when at the Tiger, much less Man Stage.

Chu Shen stared at them. Why? Why would they taunt someone just because of their background? Chu Shen, in his heart, was still just a naïve boy. How could he understand how cruel the real world was?

When the thief had died earlier he had accepted it as a punishment. In this cruel world people dying was an often thing, even Chu Shen had accepted this fact. That is why Chu Shen didn’t blink when it had happened, he thought it was a justifiable death, after all they were originally going to haul him off to jail.

The only thing Chu Shen thought was wrong with this situation was that it was never called for. If the person they insulted was someone they had a deep hate for he could understand that because it made sense, but to randomly insult someone because they could? Chu Shen struggled to reconcile this event in his heart with his worldview.

Finally he shrugged. This had nothing to do with him, why let it affect him? Chu Shen started mentally preparing for the trials. Meanwhile the people around him started to curse the people who spoke up.

“Who do they think they are, looking down on us like that!” “I know I come from a small town but is it really that insulting.” “Why do they group me with this lot, I came from the same town he did.”

Though they grumbled a lot none spoke loudly and those closest to them glanced around furtively.

A person came around the lines giving out tokens to each person in line. Finally they started calling out names. They started out with the cultivators at the man stage. To be honest, the fights were kind of boring.

A cultivator at the Tiger Stage and below had great strength, but they couldn’t use Qi outside of their body. Really all they were doing was reinforcing their body with Qi to make it harder to cut or hurt them. Basically it was like hitting a walking wooden dummy.

There was no big flashy moves or Qi explosions. If you walked into a bar fight it would look something like this. Also, because all the fighters were amateurs there wasn’t even a hint of grace or elegance in the fights. To be honest, most of the hits were luck.

As for those at the Dragon Stage, their physical strength was massively increased beyond mortals. Because of that the fights with them involved became filled with a sense of danger and excitement.

After all, when two people get into a fight where even the slightest misstep can send you flying dozens of yards it undoubtedly will raise your spirits. Truly a great spectacle.

Chu Shen was eventually called. Stilling his mind, Chu Shen walked up towards the stage. It was a simple piece of flattened land, about 50 meters wide.

Stepping onto the arena he looked backwards and got a glimpse of his opponent. His opponent wielded a sword, it was about 1 meter long. With his 1 and a half meter long hammer it was obvious that he had the advantage in reach.

However, because of the weight of the hammer the crowd assumed that his swings would be slow. Taking up positions on opposite ends of the stage separated by about 20 meters.

Chu Shen grinned. “Fight until one of you surrenders or cannot continue, do not kill or cripple your opponent or you will automatically be expelled from Majestic Sword Academy’s trials.” The elder in charge of the trials looked at them, seeing that they were he nodded. “Alright, let the match begin!”

Chu Shen looked at the person in front of him and waited for him to make the first move. Sliding his hand up the shaft of the hammer he grabbed it halfway.

With this the hammer had a slightly shorter range but now he could use the shaft like a staff. “I am Chu Shen from the Chu branch Sect Misty Pass.”

His opponent grinned as well. Calling out to Chu Shen he replied back. “I am Tai Long from nowhere important.”

“Let us have a good match.”

Tai Long immediately replied, “Yes, let us.”

Immediately Tai Long charged towards Chu Shen. Dragging his sword on the ground Tai Long suddenly swung it upwards in a diagonal slash. Before the sword made it halfway Tia Long suddenly flew backwards.

Thud

Using his second hand to grab the butt of the hammers handle, Chu Shen had thrust the hammer forward like a spear. It was common knowledge that a hammer must be used in sweeping motions unlike a sword which could thrust.

When Chu Shen thrust his hammer forward it most certainly caught Tai Long off guard. Not giving him any time to recover, Chu Shen immediately grabbed lower down the shaft. Making it lighter he started to swing it around in a circle.

WhirWhir

With his strong body and vitality, Chu Shen didn’t get dizzy, spinning around in a circle like a vortex his hammer became almost unavoidable.

Tai Long backed of before suddenly striking out with his sword. Right before the sword came in contact with the hammer Chu Shen increased its weight.

CLANG

The sword immediately took off like a rocket, coincidentally right towards the box with the judges. Before the sword hit the box a hand suddenly shot out and grabbed it. The owner of the hand was a man who looked to be around twenty-five.

Right before he grabbed the sword he had on a relaxed and carefree expression, after grabbing the sword his face showed some surprise but the sword was stopped easily.

Tai Long had grabbed onto his hand, pain and shock visible on his face. A couple drops of blood fell to the ground from the webbing between his thumb and forefinger. The recoil was that strong. Sighing he suddenly turned towards Chu Shen.

“You are most definitely strong, much stronger than me. Before your strength I admit defeat.”

“Its all right, there’s no shame in a loss like this, I had a good match.” Chu Shen acknowledged that Tai Long was certainly a good warrior. He had been caught off-guard by Chu Shen’s unexpected thrust and strength.

If he had known before he most definitely wouldn’t go head to head with Chu Shen. The man in the box stared at the sword for a second before throwing it down. It turned into a streak of gray light before landing point first in the dirt before Tai Long.

“Start the next match.”

After that the man simply waited. Chu Shen and Tai Long stepped off stage. Tai Long went off to join those eliminated while Chu Shen went back in line.

Back in the judges box a woman leaned over to the man who had caught the sword. “What surprised you so much, I didn’t think the great Stone Face could still be surprised by a junior like that.”
The man looked back at the woman. “Don’t call me by my martial name, you know its Chu Tang. Besides” Chu Tang looked back at the kid with the hammer. “He isn’t an ordinary kid. With strength like that, he certainly did pick the right weapon.”



 

  1. N/a

[Arc 1] Chapter 23



Chapter 23

It’s The Weapon

Chu Shen didn’t want to stand around awkwardly so he decide to strike up a conversation. “So how did you get so strong exactly?” Chu Shen was curious, was it because of Bei Fong’s talent.

“Well, as the only child of the city lord of major city, I got pampered a lot. Resources combined with my talent carried me through a lot of the way. How about you?”

“Mostly just hard work. Because of how out of the way my village is I didn’t have access to any medicines. The only thing I had was a fairly good technique but a traveling senior gave me a different technique that’s extremely suitable with me. I have already advanced two levels in under a week with it.”

“Seems like you have good luck. Hopefully it sticks with you. Maybe being around you will be good karma.” Bei Fong joked around while looking at the line. The last person was there.

“Maybe I will have a Buddha’s luck. You should definitely stick around.”

CLAP

A loud sound like thunder suddenly sounded. The low murmurs from the crowd suddenly stopped. Looking they saw the middle aged man had clapped his hands, resulting in the loud sound.

“Alright listen up. Right here is some strength testing stone.” The man gestured towards a collection of stone pillars as tall as a person and as thick as a tree. “Each one of you will come up here and separate according to different stages and levels. You will each punch the stone twice, then you will use your strongest armed hit on the strength testing stone.”

With that said the man immediately started calling out different stages, separating them into three different ones. A vast majority were in the Man Stage, about sixty in total. There was another twenty to thirty in the Tiger Stage and five people in the Dragon Stage. After that he separated the Tiger Stage cultivators into levels 1-5 and levels 6-10. Then he separated the Man Stage cultivators by every two levels.

Looking around Chu Shen saw that most of the people of the man stage was in his line. The middle aged man saw the problem and scowled. Finally he separated them into the ninth and the tenth level.

With that the trials began. Chu Shen was the very last person. Most people were anxious and tried to get to the front of the line but Chu Shen wasn’t worried. Why would he be? Most of the people here were 16-20 years old.

When compared to a twelve year old it was obvious that the younger one would have a brighter future.

Each time someone punched the pillar it would light up. The more force used the brighter it lit up. The pillars in the Man Stage were similar to a flickering candle. The ones in the Tiger Stage were brighter, like a burning fire, the Dragon Stage however was comparable to a large bonfire.

Smack Clang

The sounds of flesh hitting rock rang out followed by the sound of steel hitting it as well. Many loud sounds rang out as people used their own techniques. Those at the Dragon Stage and below couldn’t use Qi externally so only the sound of steel could be heard.

After a long time Chu Shen reached the end of the line. Striding up to the strength testing rock he took a stance. Infusing his fist with as much Qi  as he could, he punched out and hit the pillar with all his strength. The pillar lit up, barely comparable with those at the Tiger Stage.

“This kids got some strength.” “Yeah I know, he’s at the ninth level of the Man Stage but can hit like those at the beginning of the Tiger Stage.”

When Chu Shen heard their praise he turned around and smiled at them. After all he is still a kid and liked being complimented. Preparing himself he let loose with another strike.

A force of 370 pounds struck the rock with a loud Smack. Once again the pillar light up with a light similar to the first level of the Tiger Stage. Holding out his hand a hammer appeared in his grasp.

“Hyaah!” Letting out a loud roar Chu Shen swung at the pillar with all his might. With the help of the inscription Chu Shen decreased the weight of the hammer until it was as light as a feather. Swinging it with almost inhuman speed he increased the weight by over ten times.

Bang

Unlike those metallic ringing of swords hitting rock this was a loud and disharmonious sound. The middle aged man looked over at the source of the sound. As an esteemed elder he wouldn’t be interested in those with no talent so it was only natural that he had been watching those Dragon and Tiger Stage practitioner’s.

Right as he glanced over he saw a bright light emit from the pillar. He was stunned. If he remembered right, wasn’t that the Man Stage cultivators? So why did they have someone in the mid Tiger Stage in their line?

Curious he walked over to the line.

With the power of 370 pounds of force combined with his hammer hit the stone pillar. The hammer became over 500 pounds right before it impacted the pillar. The vibrations from the impact itself hurt Chu Shen’s hand and the ricochet was hard to deal with. Immediately neutralizing the weight increase he barely managed to stop the hammer.

A tremendous force hit the pillar, making it shine brightly.

The middle aged man was stunned when he saw that it was a person in ninth level of the Man Stage. Walking over to the recovering Chu Shen he grabbed his hand. Shocked he dropped his hand. This boy truly was at the ninth level.

“Boy, how did you hit the pillar so hard, what is the martial art you used.”

Chu Shen was shocked that an esteemed elder like him would ask him anything. Upon hearing his question he unthinkingly replied back. “I didn’t use any technique, it was my own strength.”

“It can’t be. Is there something odd with your weapon then?” This was along the lines of the elders thinking. Unless he was gifted with an unbelievably strong body it wasn’t possible for him to unleash a strike like that. It never occurred to him that someone would lie, after all he was an elder of the school they were trying to join, lying to an elder was something they couldn’t risk.

“Well, I do have a formation set up on it that changes the weight of the object. It can make it light or heavy.”

“Hmm, truly wondrous. Who exactly made this inscription?”

“It was a parting gift from my teacher.”

“I see. Farewell, I hope you do well in the duels.” The elder immediately dismissed Chu Shen as unimportant. Borrowing outside strength from weapons and formations was looked down upon in the martial world. In the elders eyes it wasn’t possible for the boy to have that much strength so the vast majority of it must have come from the formation



 

  1. N/a

[Arc 1] Chapter 22



Chapter 22

You Forgot To Ask What?

When Chu Shen walked out of the restaurant there was unexpectedly a pair of eyes on him. Because of his low cultivation and lack of experience he could not tell that someone was watching him.

Sitting upon the rooftops opposite the restaurant sat a black robed man. With a coldness that could cause even a tiger to hesitate the eyes stared down on Chu Shen. The plot to steal that thing from the city lords brat had failed, due to this boy.

His most trusted promising youth had been killed all because of this brats interference. While he couldn’t get revenge on the city lords son, he could get revenge by killing this boy.

Smiling with this vicious thought in mind his outline shimmered and then disappeared into thin air.

“Master are you ready to go yet?” Chu Shen walked into the main part of the bedroom. He had been ready for almost an hour and had spent the rest of that time trying to ease the nervousness in his heart.

His master wasn’t there, and neither was any gear of his. On the bed was a note. ‘Chu Shen, I have gone browse around at a couple Artifact stores. Go to the trials and if you can come back to the hotel within the week so I can find out what happened. Do not lose your masters face.’

He smiled. Just like his master. To be an artificer requires patience but Master Lang had a unique type of patience. As far as crafting goes he could wait an entire week to craft a superb weapon, but when it comes to watching others do something Master Lang wouldn’t have any at all.

He always had something to do and would only stop by and look every now and then before judging the final product. Shaking his head Chu Shen grabbed his hammer, stored it in his ring, and walked out of the hotel.

As he started walking down the road he stopped. ‘Crap. I forgot to ask for directions.’

The black robed man stared at Chu Shen. He could see that he had just gotten out of the hotel. He couldn’t assassinate that brat in plain daylight, if so the city guard would be on him in seconds.

He likewise couldn’t attack Chu Shen in the hotel because of the old monster in it. If he decided to cause a ruckus in the hotel it would simply be him throwing his life away.

Revenge wasn’t worth that much.

Stalking the brat the black robed man started to become confused. He kept asking people questions only for them to shake their heads.

Why?

Why did he keep asking and what was he asking? While the black robed man puzzled over this weird conundrum, the little brat suddenly took off. Cursing, the black robed man hurried after him.

Chu Shen kept asking people where the trials were but no one knew. He kept looking around when suddenly he saw Bei Fong off in the distance. Chu Shen immediately thought of how Bei Fong said he was trying out as well. ‘Maybe I can get directions from him.’

Chu Shen immediately caught up to them. “Hey, Bei Fong. Its me, Chu Shen.”

Bei Fong looked puzzled for a second then smiled. “Ah, its you. I didn’t expect to meet you before the trials began.”
Chu Shen had a bashful smile on his face. “Well I was planning on meeting you there but I forgot to ask you something.”

“Oh, what exactly?”

“Where is the trials at exactly?”

Upon hearing Chu Shens question Bei Fong immediately started laughing. Even the cold faced bodyguard that stood silently behind smirked at that.

“Hahaha. Something that simple? Hahaha. How could you forget to ask something so basic? Hahahaha.”

Chu Shen just stood there, waiting for Bei Fong to stop laughing. “Ahh. Its been a while since I laughed that hard. Thanks brother, you certainly do have a certain naïve charm. Come on, you better follow me to the trials otherwise you would be robbed a dozen times before making it. Truly you are too young. Only what, ten years old?”

“ Twelve actually. Thanks brother Bei Fong.”

As they walked they eventually made it to the edge of town. There was large crowd there all lined up in front of a large tent with tables next to it.

“Come one Chu Shen, go ahead and get in line. I will wait with you.” They got in line and waited to register for the trails. Soon enough they had almost reached the end of the line.

By now Chu Shen could hear what was going on. “Age” “Seventeen” “Cultivation Level” “Man Level 10” “Pass. Go over to the Elder over there”

‘Hmm. It seems that I simply have to tell them a couple things and then it will be fine.’

Chu Shen reached the front of the line. There was an elderly man with a long flowing beard. He stared at it, mesmerized. “Age” Chu Shen startled himself out of his reverie.

“12” “Cultivation Level” “Man Level 9”. The old man looked up for a second at Chu Shen before grabbing his hand. A pulse of Qi intruded in his meridians. Luckily he had already neutralized the nullifying effects or his secret could have been found out.

“Pass. Go over to the Elder.” With a wave of his hand he pointed to a middle aged man about 40 years old. Around him was bunch of other people. Walking nervously over to the man he studied the other people surrounding him.

The others were standing around in groups or by themselves. The atmosphere was quite weird. Soon they would probably be martial brothers and sisters but right now they were all competitors.

While Chu Shen was studying suddenly he heard a small commotion from the crowds behind him.

“What!” “At such a young age” “He certainly has a bright future”

Chu Shen turned around and saw the people in line staring at Bei Fong. He turned and walked towards Chu Shen before joining him. Chu Shen waited a moment before curiosity got a hold of him. “What exactly is everyone making a fuss over?”

Bei Fong had taken out a fan and waved it around, the perfect image of a graceful master. “I just told the old man what my cultivation was at and they were shocked.”

“It can’t be that bad right? I mean how old are you.” Chu Shen had started to accept Bei Fong as a true brother and was finally starting to relax around him.

“Hehe. I’m only 16, quite a bit older than you. I’m at the tenth level of the Tiger Stage, I don’t see why their all shocked.”

“…..”



 

  1. N/a

[Vol 4] Chapter 51: Battle at the city square 3



At the Marquis house. A meeting was currently going in full session.

Lyon was pacing back and forth within the meeting room. He slowed down his movements, and gradually settled down before he sat back down.

“Saving the Gerret household holds no value to us,” Lyon said to the room filled with high ranking members of the Marquis household. Currently, Lyon was the person with the highest authority within their house. His father, Leonardo Marquis, had left the city a month earlier on private business.

 

“If we don’t go to their rescue, that would spell doom for our only allies right now.” Another high-ranking member retorted.

“Their rescue? They are already a lost cause. The way I see it, the only option we have right now is to fortify our defenses. Hopefully, father will be able to get in touch with our ancestor.”

“Are you suggesting we leave our only ally to hang right now?” Another member responded to Lyon’s remarks. “What shame? To think the future head of this household will fall to such levels of cowardice.”

 

Lyons muscle slightly twitched as he heard those words. Although he could be considered the current head, but in reality, his status wasn’t any higher than those in the meeting. These people consisted of knights, great warriors, and mages. None of them took Lyon as a serious leader, especially after his fit of cowardice. One after the other, they all raised issues with Lyons suggestion.

 

“Enough talking.” An old man with gray hair said as he banged the table and stood up. “Even the young master of the Gerret household is bold enough to fight them head on.” He continued saying as he walked slowly towards the door. “I will lead my unit and go back that young one.” He concluded immediately leaving the room.

At the moment, the room had turned silent. “Sir Allen!” Someone said to break up the complete silence. The next moment, several others got up as well. “I will also be following the primero knight.” A young feminine voice rang out across the room. Everyone’s attention moved to the beautiful woman who stood up from her seat. She did not wait for any response as she left the table. Her long blonde hair dangled as she seductively walked out.

 

The primero knight was a position given to the number one most outstanding knight in Marquis city. Sir Allen who was currently in that position, had been the longest current serving member of the knighthood. His accomplishment over the years had been phenomenal and praiseworthy and even in his current old age, no one had successfully taken the primero position from him. He was a man that effortlessly garnered awe and admiration, a pious and up worthy man.

“Wait up Agnes, I will also be joining you.” Another man said not paying any attention to anyone on the table. Lyon who was currently sitting down had a face full of frowns. He knew quite well that only the head of the Marquis house could command a knight. ‘Wait until I inherit the position, I will make you regret your actions.’ Lyons said bottling up his anger.

 

*************************

 

Marquis city square.

Ducart was currently smiling as he watched the battlefield. “Oh, that Kaban fellow of the Gerret house is quite outstanding.” He said with a smirk. “He was actually able to make Allada use his weapon.” Ducart turned to the person to his right and asked: “Sir Svecko, what do you think of that fellow Allada is currently battling?” Although Ducart was always a proud person, he also knew when to be respectful. Svecko was a special envoy that had been personally sent to him by one of his major backers. This envoy, in particular, was one of his special trump cards for this battle against the Marquis.

 

“He is indeed talented. He is barely touching upon the primary laws of explosions of the fire element. With a few more decades he would surely reach the saint level.” Svecko responded with an indifferent look. Ducart hearing “saint level” was greatly shocked. This was the first time Svecko had spoken highly of anyone since he came to Marquis city, not even Allada, whom Ducart had considered the finest genius under his banner, was praised by Svecko.

 

As they continued watching the fight, the smile on Ducart’s face grew ever more crescent shaped. “It’s a pity we could not have recruited that one. He would have been an asset to us in the future. Since you are not with us, you must die.” Ducart’s reasoning was quite astute since he could not have Kaban, it was best Kaban dies.

 

“What the?” Svecko straightened up his back as he first reacted. “What hell just happened? How did he get there so fast?” Ducart said in complete surprise. They had been casually watching Allada beat Kaban effortlessly, and when it had reached the final moments of the battle, an unexpected variable came into play. Somehow, Willard had appeared right behind Allada in the last second and stabbed him to death.

 

“You *******!” Allada cursed as he watched Allada slump to the ground. Seeing Allada die caused him so much pain, he had really high expectations of Allada’s future prospects and now he had met his end at the hands of some youth. “Who is that person?” Svecko asked.

 

“He is that young fellow I told you about. The young genius of the Gerret house.” Ducart said with a little bad taste in his mouth.

 

“Incredible. Even among saints of the earth element, his movement technique could be considered first class.” Ducart was shocked again by Svecko words. This was the second time he had praised someone from the opposing side, but this time, he really wasn’t happy to hear it. This particular person had killed one of his most dazzling stars, how could he possibly be happy hearing words of praises of the person. Svecko relaxed his posture back to his originally slacked position and paid no more attention to Ducart.

 

Ducart called a nearby general to his side as they discussed. After a couple of seconds of exchanging words, Ducart nodded. “Aswan, we shall do as you have suggested. Go immediately take charge of the army.” Ducart was currently unhappy with the state of the current battle. In every exchange so far, they had come in worse. So far they had lost more than twenty of their elite warriors while the forces of the Gerret household had only lost three. Just now, Aswan had suggested they neglect the small scrambles they were currently having and use their overwhelming numbers to completely crush the foes before them.

 

As Aswan arrived in front of the army, he immediately yelled; “Everyone attack. Kill the enemies before us.”

 

Instantly, the morale of the warriors had risen to a higher level. They all charged forward with their weapons. They knew the warriors of the Gerret household were elite’s, but for how long could they possibly defend against a large army like theirs? They knew sooner or later they would wipe them clean and rid the Gerret forces of their best warriors.

Soon the large scale battle began. The unfortunate warriors who were cut in the first line of attack were instantly swamped by increasing amount of people. As they killed one person, the warrior will be surrounded by two more. It did not take long for the six Gerret warriors that were at the front lines to fall to the overwhelming number of the Minya forces.

 



 

  1. N/a

[Arc 1] Chapter 21



Chapter 21

Young Master

Chu Shen looked down at the town in amazement. It was big, over ten times the size of his old village. He had never seen such a big place, after all, he had trained at home all his life.

The examination to enter into the Chu school was given inside the city. The reason was that those who traveled here could rest until the examination.

The Mountain Eagle flew down towards a field outside the city. Beside the empty field was a hut and a collection of fences with other beasts inside them.

There was more than three kinds of birds and two giant mammoths. The fences were obviously not strong enough to keep the animals inside but since a beast trainer managed them it was obviously not a problem. The fences were really there to keep people from going inside or wild animals from bothering them.

Getting off the Mountain Eagle Chu Shen and Master Lang bid the beast trainer farewell. The master and disciple pair headed off for the town. Upon arriving they discovered that the Schools trials would start in two days time.

Master Lang frowned. “With this I am afraid we will have to rent a room. While I do that, how about you go off and find out some more details on this examination.”
“Yes Master Lang.” Chu Shen readily agreed. He was also curious about this examination. Departing from his master, Chu Shen set out to explore the town.

Walking around he exclaimed in astonishment at the different things he found. One store sold eggs of spirit beasts, another sold beast cores that had been refined. Beast cores had a very violent energy inside them so some people would refine the energy and make it gentler, letting the cultivator absorb energy straight from the beast core. This made beast cores extremely suitable for cultivating.

There were other stores that sold mundane things such as fabric and utensils but Chu Shen wasn’t interested in shops like those. No, what really fascinated him was the weapons, elixirs, and inscription shops, though there was only a handful in the entire city.

Chu Shen went towards the nearest weapon shop when he heard some fighting. Coming around the corner he saw a young master dressed in fancy clothes and waving a fan around. A young fellow was on the ground, a bright red mark on his face. In his hands was a leather pouch and standing above him was a man in leather armor.

The young master had a face as red as a tomato. Chu Shen was able to catch the tail end of his tirade. “To dare steal from me, your father! I will string you up at the city gates and let all those who want to spit on you until you become a broken corpse. Guard! Take him to the prison!”

“As you wish young master.” Reaching out a hand towards the thief the guard went to grab him. The thief, with a panicked expression on his face suddenly sneered. With a speed that made it hard to see the thief got off the ground and took off running down the street.

Coincidentally the thief ran towards Chu Shen. Chu Shen had always stayed at home and was truly naïve and innocent. Seeing that the young master had been robbed he thought it was only natural to help the young master out.

Punching forward with his hand, Chu Shen knocked the thief backwards. Chu Shen also stumbled back three steps. Surprisingly enough, that little thief was actually a level 10 Man stage cultivator.

The guard who had reacted immediately grabbed ahold of the thief as he stumbled backwards. The young master ran up to thief and yelled in his face.

“To dare think of running away! Truly courting death!” With a wave of his hand the guard hauled up the thief and drew his sword. There was a flash of blade Qi and then the young thief fell to the ground.

While it was obvious that the thief was dead, it was not clear how. While Chu Shen puzzled over this the young master came up to Chu Shen and bowed.

“Hey hey, to have such a good cultivation at such a young age you must be quite talented. How about I treat you to a meal little brother?”

Without pausing the young master grabbed ahold of Chu Shen and led him towards a nearby restaurant. The young master bought some food and started talking to Chu Shen.

“Ah, so you came to participate in the Majestic Sword Academy’s admission exams. Well I am going as well.” The name of the School managed by the Chu Main Sect was called Majestic Sword Academy.

“That’s great! Maybe you could tell me about it. Also, I never caught your name.”

“I am Bei Fong, son of the city lord here. The Chu Exams is made up of three parts. The first is a test of your level of cultivation, the second is your physical strength, and the last is a series of duels.”

“It seems forward enough.”
“Yes, its very simple. However, I would advise caution. Recently there have been rumors that this years exam is special. Apparently some of the clans have been grooming some strong experts in the younger generations.”

“Now they are planning on unleashing them in this year exam. I heard the lowest cultivation they have is the tenth level of man. The competition will surely be fierce.”

“What exactly is your cultivation stage?”

“I am at the ninth level of the man stage.” Chu Shen had another breakthrough on the way to the town.

“That doesn’t seem high enough. If I were you I would wait a year or two. After that it will be back to the usual and you would definitely become a dragon among men.”
Chu Shen shook his head. “My father sent me here to take the exam, how could I possibly lose face for him and run away like a coward. No, I must take them this year.”

Bei Fong sighed and shook his head. “Fine. Here is my advice then. Show off your skills in the first trial but be extremely careful who you fight in the duels. Last year they didn’t separate the different stages but they might this time. If they don’t welllll…. Just remember they are stronger than you, it is no shame to give up.”

Chu Shen nodded. “Thank you Bei Fong. I feel that I might take your advice. Now however, I must take your leave. I have to get back to my cultivation.”

“Take care. I can’t wait to see how a young guy like you will do on the exam.”

Chu Shen went back to the hotel and told Master Lang of what he had heard. He nodded his head. “As expected, the trial is very simple. Go ahead and train until the trials begin.”

Chu Shen took his masters advice and trained. Right now he couldn’t train in any martial skill but his  <Absolute Control> skill. The reason was simple. Until he reached the Martial Realm he couldn’t release large amounts of Qi from his body so all of the skills he gained from the Voids Hand was wasted until he could breakthrough.



 

  1. N/a

[Arc 1] Chapter 20



Chapter 20
Strong

Infusing Qi into his voice, Master Lang called out to the rider of the scaled bird.

“You are courting death! To dare attack the Chu Sects carriage you deserve to die a death of a thousand cuts!”

The driver of the Mountain Eagle stayed off to the side. He was only at the late Tiger stage. He was a beast tamer, a profession where the person bound a beast to ones soul and raised it.

He could be of no help in this fight except for keeping the Mountain Eagle calm. While the Mountain Eagle had a great physical prowess, its long-range attacks were lacking.

Immediately after saying this Master Lang swung his mace at the scaled bird. Qi surged off the tip and rushed towards them. The Qi resembled a mountain, aiming to crush the poor fools in its path. An image of a mountain faintly appeared in the air behind Master Lang.

As the Qi came towards the thief the sneering look on his face immediately disappeared. Instead a face of disbelief came over him. Grabbing a sword from his side he swung it at the mountain.

The sword gave off an imperialistic and noble feeling. It was incomparably sharp and seemed capable of cutting the world in half. The Sword Qi met the Mountain Qi. When they did, it was not with a large explosion but rather, when they met the sword Qi faded and disappeared.

The Mountain Qi smashed into the scaled bird and rider. With a puff of red the bird and man pair directly dissolved

Qi appeared around Master Lang covering him in a blinding light. When it dissipated he was covered in earthen colored armor. Master Lang jumped off the Mountain Eagle before hovering in midair.

All of the thieves faces changed. They had thought this would be easy prey but their strongest warrior had already been killed. When the old man had mentioned the Chu Sect they already carried hesitation in their heart. Now that they knew the strength of that old man they were definitely anxious to get away. Immediately the thieves started flying away rapidly.

“Ha! To late to regret it now.”

Saying so Master Lang disappeared. Suddenly one of the beasts exploded. Some of the thieves tossed out treasures. Dazzling Qi exploded in the air. Nothing saved them though. Each time the treasures and Qi collapsed soundlessly once Master Lang assaulted it.

One by one all the flying beasts exploded into blood mists, sharing the fate of their comrades.

Chu Shen stared in amazement. To be so fast as to become invisible to the eye, to be able to fly in the air with a mere thought, this was true power!

‘I wonder when I can have power like that.’ Chu Shen eagerly looked forward to that day.

“Impressed Chu Shen.” Master Lang whispered in his ear.

“Gaah!” Startled, Chu Shen let out an involuntary cry before turning around. Master Lang merely stared at him with a bemused expression on his face.

Showing his displeasure, Chu Shen let a “Humph” and turned his back. Laughing, Master Lang waved him into the carriage. The carriage had survived the attack. After all, the thieves did not want to damage any treasures in the carriage.

“These old bones just can’t move like they used to.” Master Lang sat down and sighed.

“Anyways, where was I? Oh yes. Let me help you with assimilating that black iron into the Living Steel.” Master Lang reached out his hand and in it appeared the hammer.

Apparently during the chaos earlier he had grabbed the hammer and stored it in his spatial ring. Along with the hammer Master Lang withdrew a chunk of black iron the size of a babies fist.

Holding up the iron he started to explain some of the mysteries of the Living Steel.

“When I made this hammer I put a restriction on it. Once you reach the Dragon stage you will naturally be able to lift it. The restriction is in place so that the Living Steel will keep its shape. Once you reach the Dragon stage you can change the shape of the weapon. “
“Now in order to merge any material with the Living Steel you must infuse the hammer with Qi. Then you simply put the metal you wish to merge it with on the steel. The greater the upgrade the more Qi needed.”

“For example, if I tried to directly merge Red Cloud Steel with the hammer you would have to be at the Martial Warrior stage to support the drain. Also, the Living Steel is cultivating to reach perfection. Because of that it will absorb the best qualities of any metal it touches.”

“If you gather Lava Stone and merge it with a hammer of Red Cloud Steel it will not absorb the hardness of the Lava Stone because the Red Cloud Steel is harder and lighter than Red Cloud Steel.”

“However because the Lava Stone is extremely fire-resistant it will cause the Red Cloud Steel hammer to take on the fire-proof properties.”
He handed back the black steel and hammer to Chu Shen. “It’s a very simple process. You try it.”

Chu Shen circulated the Qi in the manner his teacher taught him to cancel the null Qi’s special effects. His Qi flowed from his dantian, through his meridians, and into the hammer. The hammer started glowing a faint white.

Grabbing the black steel he touched it to the hammer. The hammers steel handle immediately rippled like water. The Living Steel covered the black steel. The black steel started dissolving into the Living Steel.

As the black steel started melting the Living Steel’s ripples started coming faster and faster. With each ripple the Living Steel started becoming darker and darker.

Eventually all of the black steel was gone but the Living Steel kept changing. The Living Steel final stopped changing but now the entire hammer looked like it was crafted out of black iron now.

Chu Shen grabbed the hammer. “A good hammer, truly a good hammer.”

Master Lang then pulled out another contraption. This was a sleeve crossbow. It was small with a lever to pull backwards instead of a crank like the one he had before.

It was small, almost unnoticeable if worn in the sleeve of his shirt. “The material used for the string and crossbow is also living steel. I already assimilated Aquamarine Steel into the string of the crossbow. As you know its flexible but very strong, just like you asked it to be like.”

Chu Shen’s jaw was already on the floor from the gifts he had gotten.

Master Lang looked on with pride. “Okay, now sit back and rest. We will arrive soon and you will need your strength for the trials.”

Following his masters advice he sat back in the carriage and fell asleep. By the time he woke up, Chu Shen would be that much closer to entering the academy.



 

  1. N/a

[Arc 1] Chapter 19



Chapter 19

An Expert?

Screee

Chu Shen grabbed his ears in pain. An eagle swooped down and landed on the ground. However, there was something wrong with this eagle. It was as big as a house and carried a carriage on its back!

Once his ears stopped ringing Chu Shen started marveling at the beast. “Come on Chu Shen, we don’t have all day.” Master Lang walked towards the beast

“Yes, coming Master Lang.” Chu Shen immediately ran up to the beast. He walked up the rope ladder and climbed into the carriage. Soon after he got into the carriage the beast took off with another cry.

Screee

“Dang. This bird has really got to stop doing that or I’ll go deaf.” Chu Shen rubbed his ears in dismay.

“Haha. You just might. The Mountain Eagle has been known to kill normal people with its war cry, lucky for you that’s just the warning and not its battle cry. Not to mention the fact that it’s still growing up.” Master Lang kindly informed Chu Shen.

“….”

As they flew through the air they rocked back and forth. The movement of the beast was almost hypnotic, quite soothing to the soul. Slowly Chu Shen became relaxed and imagined he was on a ship and not on a beast over a mile in the air.

“Chu Shen, you remember the weapons you asked me to forge correct?”

“Yes master, of course I do.”

“Well, I finished it.”

“That is great Master!”

“Here, I wanted to give it to you.” After saying so a hammer appeared in Master Lang’s hands. It had the same dimensions as the hammer Chu Shen originally had in the trials. It was 1 and a half meters long with a heavy head and a spike mounted to the end.

Inscribed on the head of the hammer was ancient arcane symbols that gave off a faint sense of power. Chu Shen recognized the symbols as the inscription patterns that he had asked for.

Inscribed on the hammer was two inscriptions. The one on the handle was a [Channeling Inscription]. It’s a very useful inscription no matter your cultivation level. The inscription essentially lets someone channel their Qi into the weapon easier, making the weapon harder and sharper.

It also let you use less Qi to make the same effects. Normally it would boost the Qi by 30-35% if made by both a Master Blacksmith and Inscription Master, but this was a weapon crafted by a Master Artificer. It actually boosted the Qi by 45-50%.

The other inscription was something that was best used for heavy weapons. It was actually an inscription created by Master Lang. Inscriptions are often copied and sold to other people however legacy inscriptions such as this one were only passed down from master to disciple.

This inscription called the [Earth Shattering Inscription]. The inscription changed the weight of the object, making the weapon as light as a feather while swinging it or making it more than 100 times its weight.

This let heavy weapons such as the hammer become as agile as a swordsman but hit as hard and with more weight. Imagine the weight of 1,000 pounds suddenly falling on you. It could certainly shatter the earth. What was even more scarier was the fact that there was no limit.

The more Qi you fed it the more weight the hammer gained. Master Lang had taught Chu Shen about inscriptions and helped him learn about them. Though he could not make inscriptions, he could easily identify and recommend inscriptions on weapons he forged. That was how Chu Shen knew what inscription to request of Master Lang.

Because he could not make inscriptions he was not qualified to be called an Artificer. However, since he could nullify his Qi’s affects he could finally pursue his passion and become an Artificer.

Master Lang looked on Chu Shen as he studied the hammer with pride in his eyes. Chu Shen looked up at Master Lang with appreciation all over his face.

“Thank you Master Lang, it is truly all I could ask for and more.”

“Haha! I knew you would like it. Now, you probably don’t know what material this is made of.”

Chu Shen shook his head. “Truly the metal is curious. It’s only as hard normal steel, I didn’t think this kind of metal would be suitable for a cultivators weapon.”

“You brat.” Master Lang smacked Chu Shen upside the head, though love could be seen in the violent gesture.

“This metal that is so feeble, as you put it, is called Living Steel. It’s a steel that can actually cultivate and grows as it does.” Chu Shen gazed at the hammer in respect.

“By mixing it with different minerals it can actually take the properties of them and when the metal absorbs Qi it transforms into a metal similar to it.” By now Chu Shen had a completely different outlook on the hammer.

“My master gave me a fist sized chunk of this Living Steel. I have nurtured it and used it in some of my finest creations. However, I have run out of money and materials. This is the last of my good resources but I do have a fragment of black iron.”
“I will show you how to do the assimilation.” Master Lang stood up and walked towards the hammer.

BOOM

SCREEE

A large explosion rocked the carriage. The bird yelled out screech of pain. Chu Shen looked around in befuddlement before he was suddenly grabbed by Master Lang. Immediately Master Lang ran outside the carriage with Chu Shen under his arms.

Outside the wind howled as it rushed past their ears. The eagle was still flying though some of its feathers had cracks in them but no blood flowed. The feathers of the Mountain Eagle might look soft but they were harder than steel and they had the defense like a mountain.

Flying beside them was ten small flying beasts of different varieties, all in the late Tiger stage with a cultivator of unknown strength on its back. Their Mountain Eagle was actually in the early Dragon stage.

A scaled bird opened its mouth and spat out a large yellow fireball. The fireball exploded on the Mountain Eagles feathers where they had been damaged causing even more cracks to spread.

BANG

SCREEE

Master Lang cursed quietly before putting down Chu Shen.

“Master, who are these people and what do they want?”

Master Lang sighed. “Their bandits. They are probably trying to shoot down the Mountain Eagle. No cultivator that can survive a fall like that unless they can fly. Apparently they will pick up our belongings after we fall.”

“Now I will show you my strength. I was planning on telling you about it later on so I could see your face but I guess I will settle for this.”
Saying this Master Lang withdrew a mace from his spacial ring. This was the reason he had researched and come up with the [Earth Shattering Inscription]. It was to magnify his combat ability.

Gripping his mace firmly Master Lang prepared to fight.



 

  1. N/a

[Arc 1] Chapter 18



Chapter 18 – Fathers preparations

“Father this, this is….” As Chu Shen stammered in surprise his father raised his hands to stop him.

“Yes, this is exactly what you think.”

“But father I can’t, I just can’t accept this. This is the family heirloom. You said it was the most precious thing our branch sect owned.” As Chu Shen spoke Chu Bai kept a calm face.

“I know this naturally. However, you are the most important thing to our branch family. Objects can be replaced by other objects but talent should never be squandered. Here take this, you already know its function.” Saying so, he immediately took back the spacial ring and extracted from it a small bead on a necklace.

Chu Bai hung the necklace around Chu Shens neck. When he put it on the necklace flashed white three times before fading back to a dull black. Chu Shen grabbed the necklace and looked at it with amazement present in his eyes.

Though this necklace did not look amazing it was a true lifesaving treasure. The necklace was made using pieces of a primordial beast called the Spider of a Thousand Tricks already in the late Martial Emperor Stage. It was a well-known beast because of three things.

It used its webs to set up many traps, the higher its cultivation the trickier the traps became. It was for this reason it was called the Man Spider of a Thousand Tricks.

What it was really well known for was its two inborn abilities, which had actually been copied to a lesser extent in the necklace Chu Shen now wore.

Once the person who wore this necklace came under life threatening danger it would immediately deploy a cocoon. This cocoon was made of strings of spider webs almost completely impenetrable even to a cultivator’s weapon. Even if the shell was penetrated it would still do the attacker no good.

Upon penetration the person inside would immediately be teleported up to 1000 miles away from the spot of the attack though the spot you would be teleported to would be random.

From these rare abilities it could be seen to be as an extremely good piece of equipment. However there was a limit. The spider web could only be used up to 3 times in a week.

After that the necklace had to absorb Qi and transform it into the spiders webs. Without the webs as a primer the teleportation could not be completed so it could also only be used 3 times.

The reason it was so precious was because of these features and also because of how rare it was. In order to incorporate the special abilities of the Spider of a Thousand Tricks the beast spirit had to be fused with the necklace.

A beast spirit was a very rare occurrence when the soul of the primordial beast, as beasts who could cultivate were called, fused with their beast core. The beast core was a beasts version of the dantian but instead of the dantian being an organ that dissipated once killed it was actually a stone like object that kept all the beasts energy stored in itself.

Once a beast was killed there was chance the soul of the beast would incarnate inside the beast core. Of course, there was a chance it wouldn’t. The higher rank the beast the more powerful the soul of the beast and therefore an increased chance of a beast spirit.

It was said that beasts above the World Stage would have a one hundred percent chance of gaining a beast spirit. Those that were at Tiger Stage and below only had a 1% chance. Those at the Student to Scholar Stage had a 10% chance. Those at the Warrior to the Army Stage had a 20% chance and the beasts at the King Stage had a 30% chance. Finally those at the Emperor Stage had a 50% chance.

The increase of almost 50% showed the massive increase of both strength and spirit the World Stage unlocked.

Chu Bai took from the spatial ring a stone. This stone gave off large fluctuations of Qi. “Chu Shen, this is called the spirit stone. The main sect uses these stones for currency. I only have a small amount of 10,000 stones. I give these to you so you can use these when you enter the sect.”

Chu Bai put back the stone inside the spatial ring and took out a medallion with the characters of Chu Bai’s name carved into it.

“While I as an elder of a sect branch do not have a lot of influence in the main sect I do have some. An old friend of mine, Lan Wen, is an elder of the main sect that helps manage the school. “

“He will be able to help you a little if you come into trouble or need some things. Do not hesitate to ask something from him. Show him my medallion if he doubts that you are my son.”

“Yes father. I have a question though father.”

“What is it Shen’er?”

“Well father, I wanted to know why the elder of the sect does not have our families name.”

“That is simple. Our family runs the school and those of the main sect are favored so they typically become the powerhouses of the school. However, the main sect also takes in talents from the school directly into our clan. Those who join do not need to take on our family name.”

“I see father. Is there anything else I need to know then.”

“Yes. In order to enter the School there will be a trial. First there will be a simple screening, then a strength test, and finally some duels.”

“It is impossible to tell the strength of a person unless you see them in battle. In order to make it fair the sect also passes out a basic cultivation technique for all the surrounding villages, this way anyone who is talented will stand out.”

Chu Shen nodded. Naturally when someone entered the school they would of course need to test their talent. Of course, someone’s achievements could not always measure their potential.

Therefore in order to narrow that possibility down as much as possible the sect needed to have a basic cultivation technique readily available. This meant those who worked hard or those who were naturally gifted would stand out more than his peers.

“I understand. Truly the main sect has thought of many things. Is there anything else father?”

Chu Bai adopted a thoughtful expression as he put his hand on his chin. “Hmm, well. I gave you the medallion, the necklace, and the spirit stone. I already told you about he sect trials so there is nothing else. Now, in three days the flying spirit beast from the main sect will appear. You and Master Lin will be going together. Put the rest of your baggage in the spatial stone and prepare to leave. Remember son, you must become stronger to save your mother.”

Chu Shen nodded resolutely. A stubborn look came across his face. “I will father, don’t worry.”

The next three days was spent training in the and the techniques. His master was busy crafting the things he asked for so the crafting of the weapons for the Lin Sect was left to him. The replacement artificer came on the second day and took over, allowing Chu Shen to have more time to cultivate.

His strength was actually up to almost 360 pounds since he broke into the ninth level of the man stage. Each time Chu Shen broke into a new stage of the <Void King> technique, it would accompany a massive increase of strength otherwise it would only steadily increase the strength of the person.

Finally it was time to go.



 

  1. N/a

[Vol 4] Chapter 50: Battle at the city square 2



It had been two weeks­ since Willard got ba­ck to Marquis city, h­is mission this time ­was vastly different ­from the first time h­e had ventured to the­ city. Back then, he had ju­st regained his memor­ies and decided to jo­in an academy to gain access to knowledge about this mortal world he could never be afforded at the small Yellow Hew village.

After spend­ing over two years in­ captivity with Aorah, ­he no longer wanted t­o join an academy, af­ter all, with his current str­ength, he could forcefully demand all the k­nowledge he needed from most exper­ts.

Within his quarters, ­Willard was seated wi­th his legs crossed a­s he meditated and st­udied the internal wo­rkings of his element­al core.

It did not take too long for the Gerret family warriors to congregate at the main hall. Sebastian stood up staring at the warriors before him, their numbers were less than a hundred with the vast majority of them being at the natural energy level. To the edge of the hall, the maids and servants of the household stood. Normally, during meetings for the warriors, the maids and servants were not permitted to be present, but the situation was different today so Sebastian permitted their presence. After all, the meeting this time around was one that determined their survival.

“Everyone, today our Gerret family is facing the biggest crisis since our founding. By now everyone should know what is going in the city, and it’s no secret that our Gerret family will soon join in this storm. Any moment now, representatives from the Minya family camp will soon reach our gates.” Sebastian said looking everyone straight in the eyes. He had no intentions of hiding the truth from them. “At that moment they arrive, I plan on telling them my decision to support the Marquis household.” After saying that, the room was in complete silence, no one uttered a single word and just listened.

“So today with the biggest heart, I want to say, thank you to all of you that have worked for my family so diligently all these years. Anyone that wants to leave is free to go now.” Sebastian staring at the frantic eyes of everyone. Although Sebastian wanted to bolster his defenses, he wanted only those that were willing to fight to their deaths. When he had told them they could leave, he had done so knowing that those that remained knew the exact severity of the current situation. Following his words, seventy percent of the maids and servants quickly left the main hall. Following that about twenty percent of the warriors left as well. This did not come as a surprise to Sebastian, he expected such that was why he had addressed them with such words.

“This is the last opportunity to leave. Those who choose to stay will not be afforded such an opportunity in the future.” Sebastian said again to verify everyone’s resolve to stay.

“Good. Arilis see to it that everyone that had chosen to leave is escorted peacefully out of the house.”

The warriors and maids that had chosen to stay knew exactly what the situation was. Those that chose to leave were naive to think they could escape the situation by just walking away. None of the opposing families would hire or bring them into their families. There was the possibility these people could be potential spies within their ranks, the opposing households will hunt and kill them all after everything was over.

Afterwards, the doors to the hall were firmly shut. Sebastian instructed the rest of the warriors on their task, leaving only a trusted few that he chose to lay out his plans for, giving strict and detailed instructions on how things were going to play out. Although, Sebastian himself wasn’t a warrior, his ability to put together a plan was of the highest order.

****************

At the main gate to the Gerret household, a bright brown carriage had stopped. Coming out of the carriage, Ade stood with a little convoy behind her. Immediately, the guards had sent a message to Sebastian. “Open the gate?” Ade called. Her words met deaf ears as the guards all stood without utter a single word. Ade noticing that broke into a queer smile. ‘It seems Sebastian has really chosen the side of the Marquis.’ She thought to herself silently.

Suddenly, the gates cracked opened, with Sebastian and Willard walking out. Ade was shocked to see Willard beside Sebastian, for some unknown reason the presence of Willard had changed the entire game plan she had. She previously held some hope in changing Sebastian’s mind, but now a new treat had silently risen in her subconscious. “Go back and tell your family head that my Gerret household has and always will be a pillar of the Marquis household.” Sebastian said as they got within ten feet of the convoy.

“Think this through carefully. Don’t throw your life and that of your followers away needlessly. My Minya household is in control of seventy percent of the forces within this city. There is but one possible outcome, our victory.”

“There is nothing to think. My decision has been made.” Ade frown a little as she heard his response. She moved her gaze towards Willard then smiled.

“I trust you know what the situation is like. If you join my Minya family, I guarantee we will protect you from the Helden household. We will also name you a knight of our family, given rights, wealth, and prestige.” Ade said enticing Willard to join their ranks. The rest of the convoy and guards were in shock by Ade’s words. Not only was she going to protect and give him wealth, she was also going to name him a knight. Within each city, knights were only second the city governor. They were aloof figures above all ramifications of the law. They were powerful warriors who protected the governor at times of great risk.

Willard turned to Sebastian and asked loudly; “has this little miss always been this dumb?” Hearing Willard’s question, a huge frown displaced the smile on Ade’s face. Not just her, the rest of the convoy and the guards were stunned by his response. Sebastian couldn’t help but laugh a little at Willard’s question. Although Sebastian trusted Willard, he quite honestly did not know how he would react to Ade’s tempting offer. “Little miss don’t waste both you and our time here. As for the Helden household, please tell them I am waiting for them.” Willard responded moving his gaze back to Ade.

One of the guards by Ade’s side was utterly infuriated. Not only had Willard rejected a knighthood, which was something he would die for, he also insulted Ade to add to it. He finally couldn’t take it anymore, “Shut your mouth you little monkey.” the guard said pulling out his sword. Before Ade could even stop him, the guard had dashed towards WIllard and Sebastian. From the palm of the guard, light purple lightning could be seen dancing all the way through his sword. WIllard seeing him run all the way towards him and Sebastian couldn’t be even bothered to use his gravitational domain on him.

Willard took a single step that mysteriously made him appear right in front of the charging guard. Although the guard was shocked, he still maintained a calm state of mind with his attack. Holding the sword in his right hand, he attacked with a right swing of his sword. The motion of his attack showed exactly how much experience he had, guided by his control of the lightning element, he aimed straight for Willard’s head. Now that Willard had completed his natural energy base, his activation of elemental energy was instant. Without much thought, Willard moved his hand in anticipation of the attack. Willard caught the sword in its motion for his neck. Holding tightly onto the sword, the look on the guard’s face changed drastically. ‘How is this possible?’ the guard frightfully thought before Willard snapped the sword, breaking off a portion of the sword. With the same motion of breaking the sword, Willard stabbed the broken off portion into the neck of the guard.

It was at this moment the guard understood why Willard had spoken in that manner. Holding onto his neck, the guard dropped to his knees, gasping for life. As his vision increasingly got blurred, the guard couldn’t help but think of how frightening the youth in front of him was. The exchanged between them clearly showed that the youth did not even take that exchange seriously.



 

  1. N/a