Inheritance

by Gore, A. P.

  But there was tranquility in the pain. After the pure qi washed away the filth from his new qi channels, for a moment he realized what it should feel to be in heaven, the pure bliss of touching something divine. Something unreachable with a mortal body. But the very next second, another bout of pain shook him out of the bliss. At some moments, he felt like he would never make out of this.

  The second occupant broke through. And then third.

  Fuck! It was insane pain.

  Yet he endured. He had to survive, otherwise the amount of pure qi he’d gotten from the Dantian Strengthening Fruit would kill him. When the pain got worse, he rested his broken chest on his fist wrapped around the sword hilt and continued enduring.

  It took only a few breaths to clear all the qi channels and cleanse the three occupants, but those few breaths felt like being thrown in the seventh circle of hell and enduring pain for decades.

  After clearing the third occupant, his breath steadied a little and the pain subsided. Looking around, he noticed the black puddle he’d exuded had penetrated the rocky surface.

  “Daaamn.” He smiled, not because he’d cleared the first three occupant, but because he had gotten past that fucking torture. Going forward, he could use pure qi to practice his Dragon Fist of Pain.

  It was finally over. He could relax. This wasn’t a cultivation art, but a divine art of inner type, and all the black blood he’d poured out contained the impurities hidden in the qi channels he was using for this divine art. Now that he had cleared those occupant, the First Occupant of Pain, Second Occupant of Pain and Third Occupant of Pain, he could use his pure qi to tore apart his qi channels from right arm once again and trade pain for power. The occupants converted pain into power for him.

  Pure qi rushed through the new qi channels he had cleared, providing him abundance of power, but his body wasn’t in any condition to fight. By using the power of the Dantian Strengthening Fruit, he had opened new qi channels and cleansed the occupants, but the same process had drained his body of energy. It was in a worse condition than it’d started.

  However, he couldn’t not fight. But to fight, he had to get the sword hilt out of his chest first.

  Chapter 60

  Devour

  Rumble!

  With a single movement, the sword hilt dug further inside his chest. It was almost touching his inner organs. If he didn’t die from the pain, he might die from crushing his own organs.

  Li Wei trembled and shooting pain surged through his brain. It tore his resolve to continue, and any other person would have given up on his life by this time.

  But not him.

  Determination flashed through his eyes when he stared into Kardash’s red-black eyes.

  This pain was nothing. He had already grown numb to it. It couldn’t top what he’d felt while opening the First Occupant of Pain. The black puddle lying around his feet told him he had survived the worst. It was a story he would never forget, and if he met Chang Ziang in this life, he would beat his ass black and blue for hiding the level of pain he would feel when he opened those qi channels and cleansed those occupants

  Anyway, he wouldn’t give up. The blood lingering on his lips reminded him of his past. Without conviction, he had failed it. Although he’d become an Array Master, in Wang Zia’s eyes he was nothing but trash. What took others one year had taken him ten. But he never gave up. He always persisted, and it made him amazing with arrays. Even the sect leader betrothed Wang Zia to him.

  But if he thought about her position right now, he was aiming too low. She was no one in the Firmament Sect. Just an outer deacon who looked after outside sect affairs.

  No more. In this life, he would choose differently. He would become a lazy immortal, not swayed by bitches like Wang Zia. Pain was temporary, but the luxury would be forever. He had come this far to become a lazy immortal and losing to this much pain wouldn’t bring him any closer to his goal. But bearing the pain would open up a path to his goal, so he had to go on.

  “I.” His fingers clenched around the sword hilt that had dug inside his chest. “Won’t.” Bringing forth all the might of his body and soul, he pushed himself off the sword, lifting his chest, fighting the darkness occupying his vision. “Give up!” He shouted like a madman and pushed with all his might to lift his chest completely free of the sword hilt. “I won’t give up until I become a lazy immortal.” Slowly, he raised his chin, staring into Kardash’s eyes.

  “Wei Lin!” A familiar cry echoed in his ears, and for a moment he thought it was Fei’er. The whole cave revolved around him; he was losing it. If he died here, what would Fei’er do without him?

  But it wasn’t Fei’er’s voice, but Sun Nuan’s. And that single call gave him one more reason to live on. For Fei’er.

  He couldn’t not fight. That was his only chance of survival. Nine Black Foxes glared at him, and he was up for the challenge.

  “Human.” A soft voice echoed in his ears. It was the little fox, standing next to her mother who had recovered a bit—all the black lines had vanished from her body. “Drink this with my thanks for saving my mother.” A small bottle floated toward him.

  Devour! His blood called out like never before. It was stronger than the call he’d felt when he stood next to the Mother Fox.

  What was this thing?

  The Black Foxes growled as soon as they spotted the red bottle. It was definitely a treasure, but Wei didn’t recognize it at all. Either way, he grabbed it and gulped it down because his body called for it.

  Devour!

  As soon as he gulped the liquid down, something changed inside his body. Half of the blood vanished inside his heart, and the other half slipped out of his body and entered the green pendant around his neck.

  System: New organization detected.

  Cell structure undergoing mutation.

  Activating Scanning Mode.

  Cell structure mutation finished.

  Repairing ethereal organ, Physical Root.

  Tiang Fu unsheathed his sword, sending forth a beam of light that left a huge cut on the boulder in front of him.

  He sighed dejectedly while looking at the shallow cut, he had left in the stone. He wasn’t there yet.

  “Just a step away.” He was so close to the peak of level one of Wood King’s Strike, but he continuously failed just before reaching that final line. Once he could cut the stone in two clean parts, he would have achieved the peak of level one Wood King’s Strike. If he wanted to become sect leader, he had to learn this skill to perfection.

  That was the first trial of a sect leader.

  A man wearing a dark blue robe walked out of a wooden cabin and clapped his hands. “Junior Tiang is so close to mastery. Once junior Tiang masters that skill, he will be the first inner disciple to do so in the last hundred years. In no time you’ll be the next successor.”

  “Elder Wen, when did you arrive?” Tiang Fu bowed deeply when he saw the man with a mole on his left cheek. The man looked disgusting, but he was an outer sect elder in the Destiny Mirror Sect, so Tiang Fu had to show respect. “It seems like Elder Wen’s isolation was successful, and elder has reached layer one of the Marrow Cleansing Realm.”

  Elder Wen should show ecstasy on his face, but he didn’t. Instead, he bowed deeply. “Senior apprentice brother Tiang is praising unnecessarily. If elder brother didn’t want to inherit the sect leader position, he would have far surpassed me.”

  Tiang Fu laughed wholeheartedly. “

  “Senior apprentice brother Tiang, I’ve set up a Sound Concealing Talisman so we can speak with no interference.”

  “Wen Shang.” Tiang Fu straightened, not bothering to conceal his disgust for the man in front of him. “What’s your progress on the task?”

  Wen Shang lowered his head further, almost bending his neck ninety degrees. “Senior apprentice brother, this lowly one has once again failed to reach the third level of the Path Finding Pagoda. Please punish me.” He hung his head low, ready for Tiang Fu’s sword. If the
y weren’t standing at the edge of the forest, he would have dropped to his knees to accept punishment.

  Tiang Fu’s face remained expressionless. “It matters no more.” Placing his hands behind his back, he paced around the clear area at the forest’s edge. “Someone has crossed the fifth level of the Alchemy Comprehension Tower, and we have to capture him to extract his memories. He should have obtained an inheritance; we have to see what inheritance he got and extract it from him.”

  “Is he the same person who killed your brother and elder Qun’s grandson?”

  Tiang Fu chuckled, wearing a disdainful smile. “Those fools were like meat on a plate. How could they get themselves killed by a low-level brat? So brazen.” Especially Tiang Chi who’d depended on Tiang Fu’s reputation and made endless trouble for him. “But this is good. Under the pretext of avenging my brother, I can hold him accountable, and once I capture him, you can use the Soul Searching Talisman and extract information from him.”

  Tiang Fu stopped, then slowly rubbed his chin and said, “This is good. Tiang Chi died for a good cause.”

  “Senior apprentice brother Tiang, someone is coming.” Wen Shang reverted back to his lofty status, and Tiang Fu retreated back to his respectful expression.

  A youth with a burly look walked in and bowed in front of Wen Shang. “Elder Wen, please accept my apology for not greeting you before. This junior wasn’t aware of your arrival.”

  “Rise. I’m here on a secret mission, so you don’t have to cause a fuss.” Wen Shang showed fake curtesy.

  Tiang Fu shook his head. This entire world was fake. The respect, face slapping, and abusing weak people was all fake. Once he became the sect leader, he would change the Destiny Mirror Sect for the better.

  Chapter 61

  Seven-Tailed Fox’s Essence Blood

  A strange sensation passed through Li Wei’s body when the red liquid poured down his throat. It was so different that he had no words to describe it. One moment he felt like he stood on a pedestal, receiving a blessing from a god, and the next he felt like a ferocious beast roared from inside him, pushing him toward an abyss.

  But nothing changed outside. He stood on a rocky surface with the help of a sword stabbed in the stone. His body was laden with wounds, leaking blood and a black substance that formed a puddle around his legs. Actually, he looked disgusting and thin. And both things were bad.

  Wait, his wounds.

  In front of his eyes, his breastbone retracted into his chest and mended with his rib cage as if someone had reversed time.

  But this wasn’t a time reversal. His body was repairing itself with a speed he had never experienced before. The red liquid he’d gulped down was doing wonders for his broken body. A life energy the likes of which he’d never experienced throbbed inside him. It was way stronger than how he felt at peak condition, and he had Blood Essence Body which thrived with blood vitality.

  This was way better than he’d felt after breaking through to the body Foundation Realm.

  What the heck did he drink? And why the fuck had the Primordial Blood Palace absorbed half of it? Once he was out of here, he would peel his own skin and throw the stupid pendant away. But it wouldn’t just detach from his skin. It was an annoying thing.

  “What was that thing?” Sun Nuan whispered to the little fox, and Wei could hear it from yards away. “How can he heal so fast?”

  Did he just regain his body cultivation? Bewildered, Wei tried to detect his body cultivation, but to no avail. His body cultivation was still locked, but his physical body had improved. Although he couldn’t sense his body cultivation, it must have broken through a couple of layers at least.

  It must be because of the message the system had displayed in his mind.

  Strangely, he remembered seeing a similar message when he absorbed the Yin Yang Worms. At that time, his dantian was repaired. Wait, this made sense now. His Spirit Root had jumped from Bronze Grade to Silver Grade because he’d absorbed those divine worms.

  Did that mean his Physical Root would improve too?

  “It was Seven-Tailed Fox’s Blood Essence,” the little fox whispered to Sun Nuan, but Wei heard it clearly.

  System: Information interface detected.

  Downloading Gravity Field Divine Ability.

  Wait. Wei almost fell on his ass when he read that. The thing he’d drank was the blood essence of a Seven-Tailed Fox. That was insane. But the message he’d just received proved it was correct. Gravity Field was a Seven-Tailed Fox’s innate divine ability. It was a legendary Spirit Beast mentioned in ancient history records, and no one had seen one before. They said all the legendary beasts had already transcended beyond the Martial Realm.

  But if he gained a divine ability of a Seven-Tailed Fox, wouldn’t he become invincible? Lord Bento had been a Six-Tailed Fox when they met in his previous life, and he was one of the strongest in the Martial Realm that reigned over a whole territory. His Gravity Wall divine ability was famous in the whole Martial Realm, and no one dared to sneak into his territory. If it hadn’t been for a complex array formation, Wei would have never met Lord Bento and heard his story in the first place.

  Was he invincible?

  No. He wasn’t. When he read over the information provided by the system, disappointment filled him. It was a divine ability he could only start practicing after reaching the Houtian Realm in body cultivation. And it had many levels, so he wouldn’t be invincible for a long, long time. He sighed.

  Then again, he could try deriving his own sub-technique like he had with the Yin Yang Liquid technique. Something to ponder.

  But before he could ponder further, his dantian spasmed. The pure qi inside it crashed against his dantian walls, trying to break open it.

  Gritting his teeth, he tried to suppress it using his dantian’s walls, making them do the work so they would expand slowly. It was a lengthy process, and it would continue for some time. “Suppress.” Shouting, he pushed pure qi with his willpower. His dantian was his own world, and no one could threaten him in there.

  But when he sensed his dantian, he broke out in a cold sweat. How could this be?

  When he’d forced open qi channels for the Dragon Fist of Pain, he’d estimated he would use at least sixty percent of the pure qi provided by the Dantian Strengthening Fruit to open up the first occupant from his arm. In fact, he accidently cleared first three occupants. The remaining forty percent should be enough for him to complete ten circulations of pure qi through his qi path and then clear a qi path for the Foundation Realm and advance into it. That’s how the Five Elemental Way Qi Cultivation Art worked. It was different than normal qi cultivation arts which used the same qi path for all realms.

  At least that was the plan. But when he saw the pure qi overflowing his dantian, he lost his wits. The amount of pure qi inside his dantian was enough for him to jump through layer one of the qi Refinement Realm to layer nine of the qi Refinement Realm. This was equal to all the qi he had absorbed until now.

  “This won’t do. I have to open the Foundation Realm’s qi path with excess qi first,” he whispered to himself. This would mess things up, but he had no other choice.

  “Wei Lin, what are you trying to do?” Sun Nuan stepped forward; her eyes moist.

  Wei smiled. It hurt, but he smiled back at her concerned face. This girl was good enough to make friends with. Until now she was a mystery to him, but she was a mystery he would love to solve slowly.

  “Don’t worry. I’ve got this.” Pulling his sword out of the ground, he pointed it at the Black Fox pack’s leader, Kardash. “Let’s fight.”

  Kardash howled, looking at the Mother Fox.

  Wei followed his gaze. She had recovered a bit, and the black stripes on her body were retreating.

  “Mother, no. You can’t allow him to have a life and death battle with a human.” The little fox cast a stern glance at Kardash.

  “Senior, please let us have a life and death battle,” Wei asked politely. If he didn’t fight with i
ntent, he would never improve.

  The Mother Fox looked at them both and then nodded slightly, giving her permission.

  “Mother—” the little fox wanted to resist, but Kardash was already attacking Wei.

  Wei charged forward, swinging his sword in a One Sword Strike. If he could comprehend it further in this fight, he might reach the peak of level one. That would be awesome.

  Qi rushed through his dantian, through his hand and then entering his sword, activating the Strength Expanding Array. This time, it lit up like the brightest star in the night sky. As dark as it was in the cave, his sword shone like a divine weapon.

  “Wow! What a shiny sword.” The little fox muttered as she watched him fight with a focused gaze. With his divine sense, Wei could hear them all.

  Kardash swiped with his paw, and the gravity around Wei changed. It was the Black Fox’s innate ability, and if it connected with his skin his body’s gravity would increase by a level. It was similar to the martial skill used by those nasty guys at the Alchemy Comprehension Tower, but their skill was a weaker version of Kardash’s ability.

  Their attacks clashed in midair, and the rebound force traveled back into Wei’s arm through the sword. His fingers became numb for a moment.

  But that was it. His physical defense held up, as he’d thought. This meant his body cultivation had advanced by a layer or two.

  Now he had to reach the Foundation Realm in qi cultivation as well. To reach the Foundation Realm, he needed to open a new qi path. Every cultivation realm used a different path than before, and it differed from cultivation art to cultivation art. The Five Elemental Way Cultivation Art had a completely new qi path for each realm because each path carried a different type of qi, but to open this new path, he had to complete ten revolutions through his Refinement Realm path, then march the same pure qi into the new qi path.