“What next Kraus, in the middle of this succulent meal, I’m going to be interrupted by some rich young master that wants my table, and he’ll kill me if I don’t give it?” A Tez complained, forehead filled with sweat as he took another spoonful of his soup.
“Tez, you done whinging yet? You make it sound like this kid’s some demon,” Kraus said with a dull voice, holding a mug of beer. He used a handkerchief to wipe away to sweat on his hands and forehead, moving away the strands of his orange hair. A Vulfoan farmer, he was involved with the newest entourage of orphans migrating to Cloud City.
“A man born with riches, who has everything he needs, going around oppressing the weak. What else would you call a demon? He slapped me so hard, the skin of my cheeks tore off!” Tez grabbed his metal glass, taking a long gulp of water that tasted of copper. Once more flushing away the spice, he grabbed the bowl of soup to finish its contents.
Kraus stared at Tez’s completely unblemished body, as if he’d never gotten into a fight, and scoffed. “Right, whatever you say. You can take a bit of a beating anyway.”
Kraus sighed at Tez’s ignorance. “A demonic being is one who sacrifices the innocent and mortals for their amusement and strength. They use the blood of others to hone their path. If you ever see what one of them is capable of, if you live to even bring the tale, then you’d realise the extent of the cruelty that lingers in the periphery of this world. Once you truly step into the world of cultivators, your mentality will naturally change.”
Tez grunted, taking a final swig of his glass of water, before saying, “Even if I can heal faster than others with my pills, it still hurts man! Whatever. It’s getting stuffy in here.” He stood out from his table, and Kraus followed through, placing the straw hat on his side back on his head. Both having left the Flaming Gin Tavern. “You never told me, but what’s your rank?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I’m just a farmer."
Tez dropped his eyebrows at the boring answer, feeling unsatisfied. But he was the last person to complain about this.
Tez was in the Qidense Realm, the first for all cultivators; but also commonly known as a Rank 1. This was different to the 12 stages of Qidense Realm, of which he was only at Stage 2. The entire focus of his rank was to master the control of Qi, the essence of the heavens that existed everywhere, unseen to mortals yet tangible to cultivators.
Once he was able to join the Seven Clouds Sect, with their resources and education, he would have a greater understanding of Qi, and speed up his cultivation. The stronger he was, the more he could understand about other cultivators.
He knew for damn sure Kraus had to be above Rank 2 for him to be unable to tell his strength. Even if he really seemed like your average farmer, and was far too casual for a secretly powerful man. But Tez, or rather, his instincts knew better than that.
Kraus and Tez walked near the western corner of Cloud City, bordering near the wide expanse of farmlands. He looked up, and the sun that everyone called Heaven’s Eye was beginning to slumber, as eve crept closer towards the night.
Far larger than the one he was used to, it even had a “belt” of fragments and shards of obsidian silver rotating around it. He couldn’t get used to it.
A towering wall that faced the Kallas Jungles separated the farms from the city, and Tez had finally realised the hymn of formations hidden within those walls. A simple wooden orphanage stood at the edge of Cloud City, with a single banner inscribed with the sigil of Kraus’s homeland. A branch in a twisted circle bearing divine fruits.
“I left your oversized backpack in your room. Raisa’s calmed down a bit, thanks to your sweets, but you really gave her a scare. Get some more next time, yeah?” Kraus opened the door to the orphanage, grabbing the attention of some of the youths. A young boy with oaken branched horns rooted in his head, a Silvent, yelled out to everyone, “Hey, Big Ted is here! Do you have more bread?!”
“That’s Tez to you, kiddo. I’ll bring more if you work hard, alright?” He said, ignoring the whining of the young Silvent. “Anyway Kraus, that son of a bi-”
Tez shuddered as the feeling of a needle pricked in the back of his neck. “I mean, that… crazy madman almost killed Raisa’s brother. If I don’t put him in his pla-”
This time, Tez felt a loud smack on his head. “He only has a fractured rib. That guy’s more than fine. If you dare offend that scion of a rich clan and he comes to take his frustrations out on my orphanage, I’ll kill you first, understand?” Kraus said with his usual tone, but Tez shuddered at the weight behind those words. He knew Kraus wasn’t joking even a bit.
“Stop being so reckless and reign in your feelings, you’re not a boy. Especially when you enter the Seven Clouds Sect, you need to learn when to lower your head. This is the way of the weak, and right now, that’s what you are.”
Tez grabbed his massive backpack, barely squeezing it through the doorframe before leaving the orphanage. Until he could reach Rank 2 and have the ability to use a spatial ring or storage pouch, he was stuck carrying everything on his back.
Those at Rank 2 Path Foundation could harness the laws of the worlds in their hands. Items such as a spatial ring inhibited the characteristics of the Space Path, allowing one to gain access to a powerful storage that could be hidden in a tiny ring or pouch. At that stage, Tez could kiss goodbye to his trouble of hauling around all of his tools and gears.
“Yeah yeah, I get it. It just pisses me off, that’s all. I at least got the right to be angry.”
Kraus looked southward, and a wave of nostalgia went through his brown eyes. “None of us have a right in this world, we can only do what we can.” He said it with such a gentle whisper that even Tez ruminated on those words. Even though Tez had worked for Kraus for a while, to the point of Kraus being in his debt, both of their pasts were still a mystery to each other.
And Tez could never tell anyone his. Probably for the rest of his life. It wasn’t his place to be curious.
“You’re guaranteed to be an Outer Disciple just for being in Qidense Realm, but you’re aiming for Inner Disciple status, aren’t you? Where do you even get this confidence, as you’ve only been training under me for a few months?” Kraus said with his arms crossed, his back against the orphanage hall. With the winds picking up, the necklace under his linen shirt slightly swayed, gleaming with an emerald shine.
And when Kraus saw Tez’s dark blue hair drift with the breeze, he saw his eyes, seeping with the ambition of a golden dragon. Tez had come to this place with nothing but the clothes on his back, and now he was ready to leave, with whatever he could fit on his back.
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However, it was precisely for that reason he was willing to mentor this person, educating him on the matters of this world. Even if his claims of his origins as an easterner were extremely dubious, Kraus couldn’t care less. He was indebted either way.
“It’s simple, Kraus. If I aim for the skies, even if I fall short of it, I’ll succeed either way. If I can’t even reach the clouds, then I’ve come here for nothing,” he said with a wide grin on his face. Tez always had a knack for talking strange things that somehow made sense.
Tez took a small wooden box out of his bag, passing it to Kraus. “This is a farewell gift. If I’m nearby, I’ll be sure to visit. Heh, when I become a Core Disciple, I can give you lot a real hand with what’s been happening.”
Kraus grabbed the box, staring at the young man he mentored. He never thought he would teach another ever again, but here he was. Playing the teacher.
“Just because you gain a high standing in the sect, doesn’t mean our situation is easy to solve. Even if we’ve made an alliance with the leaders of Cloud City, allowing us to migrate here and become citizens, even allowing them to annex our destroyed homeland, it’s the people that we live amongst who decide our livelihood,” Kraus could only sigh, facing the sky once more. They had the awesome power of controlling weather, and wiping out industrial smog within a breath, yet that heavenly power couldn’t move the hearts of mortals so easily. Some things couldn’t be forced. What he needed to focus on was helping his Vulfoan people to adapt to new lands, moving on from their past tragedy.
“So what? In the end, we were all born the same. We have the same wisdom and intellect unlike animals, and we even bleed the same. Dividing ourselves by the features of our body serves only to weaken us as a whole,” Tez said his outlandish ideals, but his golden eyes glowed with passion. “We can’t be chained to the beliefs of people from generations ago. They’re already dead, so-”
“Enough,” Kraus had to cut him off. Even if he respected the sincerity of Tez’s belief, he didn’t understand the reverence people held for customs and the ancient. “I need you to make an oath. Until you become strong, don’t say these beliefs to anyone else. Under no circumstances must you ever degrade or insult powerful cultivators and immortals of the past, even if they’re dead. Otherwise, you’ll make yourself too many enemies, straining your path.”
He could only grit his teeth. He couldn’t even express his freedom of speech. It disgusted him to the core that these invisible chains wrapped around his mind and mouth. But he understood well of what Kraus meant. He had to, in order to survive.
When Kraus opened the box filled with dozens of medicinal pills, he scoured each with his Divine Qi. This efficiency is absurd. There is no such thing as a perfect refinement, yet these Rank 1 cleansing pills… I can’t even detect their impurity.
Kraus could only sigh. It seems the boy had a lot to learn about his common sense.
“Tez, I’m adding more to that oath. Come closer,” Kraus demanded, and Tez abided. A vicious flick caused Tez’s forehead to bruise, and he yelped while covering his head.
“Wh-what was that for?!”
“For someone like you with decent intelligence, you need to use common sense. You’re a nobody, so why are you handing out your absurd pills that definitely weren’t refined by a brat like you, with no knowledge in pill refinement? If you want to survive, you need to keep your cards hidden and blend in, do you understand?” Kraus muttered, grabbing Tez’s shoulder with intense might.
He continued to whisper with a lowered tone, “You’re making it too obvious that you have some unique backing or treasure. In the sect you join, if you make close friends or even a lover, practise extreme diligence. Money makes mere mortals go mad, so what do you think supreme treasures do to cultivators, those with even more extreme emotions? Hah, especially those goddamn Immortals. They all claim to be free from mortal attachment, yet go more mad than a child at the most mundane things.” The last thing he needed was for this guy to end up dead or tortured from someone interested in what he has. The things he said sometimes even confused Kraus with his absurd ideologies, but Tez had absolutely zero street smarts.
“I'm sorry, I’ll swear to your gods about this oath.”
“Idiot, you don’t even believe in the Architect. Swear the oath to yourself!” Kraus held back the urge to slap this kid. What turned from an emotional parting ended up in a scolding. “Now go, you just have the final trial left to join the sect. When you learn some fancy tricks, then come back to entertain the kids,” Kraus waved Tez away, walking back to till the fields.
The breeze picked up, blowing his shirt around, and a purple branded scar ran up his entire back.
In the distance, he heard the yells of Tez. “Kraus, I’ll prove it to you! A world where Vulfoans, Silvents and the others can live as equals to humans! Just you wait!”
Kraus only raised his fist up, giving blessings to Tez. He couldn’t help but have a wide grin. “Kids these days, always raring to change the world. Tez, if you can keep these values even after experiencing the cut-throat nature of the cultivator’s world, I’ll believe that the new era is coming. Heh, I’ll even accept your naïve beliefs for a change.”
To think the wet rat he found tilling the fields for scrap copper change begged him to become his disciple. He barged in one day, entertained the orphanage, and managed to gain Kraus’s respect. Almost as if he calculated everything.
Whatever kid, just prove me wrong if you can.
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Having left the home he had spent months behind, Tez had saved enough money this time, to explore Cloud City on his own. First, I’ll get lodging for a night near the base of the Seven Clouds Sect. I think I’ll treat myself to their food as well.
The Seven Clouds Sect had only recently begun increasing the frequency of their sect examinations. From every few years, to now every year.
The founder of Cloud City and Sect Leader of Seven Clouds Sect were one and the same. Now at the peak of Rank 5, a Nascent Soul cultivator, and the power of his elders elevated, the province of Cloud City was recognised by many factions as a Rank 5 Economic Zone, a commercial hub wedged between three bordering continents.
Tez had long decided this place to be the first step on his path. Well, it wasn’t quite his decision, but the answer he knew was the right way forward.
Once he joined a sect, embarking on his path as a cultivator, he could work on himself even more. Even with whatever advantages he had, the support of a powerful sect would give him backing, reputation, influence and, most importantly, information. Tez’s weakness was that he his ignorance.
And as Heaven’s Eye slumbered, and the night sky took over, Tez took a moment to take it all in. The dancing auroras that painted across the night, and auspicious light pillars in the far distance that showed the way to all. “Honestly, I can never get used to it. It’s an uncanny beauty.”
As for gaining power, Tez was confident on that part.
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With the day of the sect finale finally here, Tez was completely prepared for the battle. Until he ran into him.
What is this dogshit luck, we’re in the same battlefield?!
Tez, now holding his annoyingly massive backpack, already had to endure the jeers of those around him. Even though he had an inventory, the space given was far too small at his level. And now, he had once again come across the person who beat him black and blue the day before.
“Don’t worry. I’ll put you in your place soon,” the young master of the Liu Clan said, staring daggers into Tez.
He felt the arrogance behind every word, a man who had no qualms squashing those beneath him with his foot.
And with the flaring of adrenaline surging through Tez’s body, he long forgot Kraus’s reminder at the back of his head. Right now, all he wanted to do was find a way to deal with this guy, if not now, then later!
“You’ll have to worry soon. I’ll make sure I pay back for that face slap you gave me. In the ring,” Tez retorted back, standing his ground against Shuren.
Shuren raised his chin, looking down on Tez even more. But he raised an eyebrow with intrigue. “Fool. Know the line between confidence and madness.”
With those words, he lost interest in Tez, walking away.
Watching that arrogant young master walk off, Tez had soon forgotten about the warning Kraus gave him. Tez’s hand shivered from how hard he clenched them, his golden eyes brimming with rage.
That piece of shit hurt Raisa’s brother and threatened a bunch of orphans. But right now, he’s too strong, so I can’t fight him face to face. One day, I’m gonna make sure to put that bastard in his place!