Ren walked into the city lord's residential hall where he met his guests or addressed his family and clan. But today, Ren would use it to meet his 'guest'. A servant had informed him that someone had come in claiming to have the mark. Since they couldn't authenticate it, they asked him to wait for him.
"You!" Wu Tao hopped to his feet, eyes open wide. "What are you doing here? Is it because of the curse?"
"Something like that."
He got to Wu Tao. "Let me see it."
"Why?" His suspicion was painted bluntly on his face.
Ren was mentally exhausted after the hours he had spent interacting with so many people in the market that he had no patience left. He used his luminous translucent roots to move Wu Tao's left hand forward and pushed up his sleeve.
"Let me go! I said let m-"
"Gawd you talk too much." Ren groaned and covered Wu Tao's mouth by winding a root fully around his head while other roots restricted his movements.
"Mmmmngh!" Wu Tao muffled, feeling violated. Without sight of the roots, he seemed to be frozen in an awkward pose that many would have found hilarious.
"Looks real. All it needs is a little..." Ren dripped a drop of his qi on the rune and it instantly let out a golden glow, making Wu Tao experience an odd sensation rush through his meridians. "You're one of my disciples."
He slowly unwound his roots from Wu Tao's body and they vanished. "But something tells me you will be hard to acquire."
The person in question was coughing heavily, disgusted from being frozen helpless. He glared at Ren, wishing he could have a chance to strangle him.
"Tell me, will you become my disciple and let me guide you to the pinnacle of existence?"
"Damn you! Who wants to be your disciple? Get out of the way!" He brushed shoulders moving past Ren, mumbling, "I came here for help but met this crazy person. Such bad luck."
"Come back here when you change your mind. But you only have two days before I go into seclusion."
"I'm not coming back!" Wu Tao yelled annoyed.
"A fourth star has just appeared. Yet I have only three disc- Clay?"
His eyes popped wide as the puzzle pieces slowly came together. The star had first appeared that night by the lake after Clay consumed his root. It had gradually stabilized to look like the other two as the two spent time. "Does this mean Clay has fully submitted to me?" He chuckled lightly, running a hand down his face. "But, does it also mean that I fed all these people my roots? Argh! Disgusting. I hope Liuyue doesn't have that memory."
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After some research on spirit stone formations, Ren could only learn a simple one. Which he set up himself without wasting any time. The thrill of getting stronger had just started bubbling in his blood and giving him an adrenaline rush.
"The two days are over, I guess that brat isn't coming.
"But won't he still gain as I level up? Should I sever the connection? How do I even do that?"
"I guess this is my goodbye gift. If he still doesn't wish to become my disciple when I come out of this seclusion, I'll just have to find a way to cut him off," he said closing the doors to the room next to his disciples.
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With Clay curled around his hair cuff, Ren sat in the middle of the stone formation and took his meditation posture. Bit by bit, his breathing slowed just like his heartbeats as his mind and soul eased to feel nothing from the outside world.
###########
On the seventeenth day after Ren secluded himself, Liu Ming's tribulation arrived in the late hours of the night. Lightning flashed and clouds gathered over the City lord's residence. But this test wasn't the usual lightning. It brought with it, the Thunder tribulation.
The air was immediately charged with sparks of lightning before the bolts started descending on the roof where Liu Ming was.
He bit his teeth and bore the pain, telling himself that he could make it since Liuyue had crossed it not too long ago. Little did he know that the cosmic laws(the Dao) were trying to test just how much he could withstand because of his innate ability.
He would either fall and die as ashes or hold on and enter a new phase of his journey which wouldn't be like most cultivators. Enhanced perception was a rare ability. But it came at a high price. Those who were lucky enough to gain it would undergo heavy Thunder tribulation during their breakthroughs as Dao tested their stability.
Why? Because these rare talents would merge with the Dao deeper than any other cultivators.
The roof was obliterated in a single strike as the hungry bolts yearned to reach Liu Ming. This shook Liuyue out of her meditation and she rushed out of the room.
Her mouth fell open upon seeing the clouds above her, and she shivered, feeling the threat the tribulation had brought.
"Master? Master?" She banged on the door close to the room she had occupied. "Master? This is Thunder tribulation. Liu Ming can't survive it with his-"
A heavy fluctuation of energy blasted out of the room Ren occupied, blowing Liuyue through the air like a piece of paper. She was caught by the person descending from the sky...the elder from Divine Wind sect.
He set her on her feet, a safe distance from the rooms her Master and peer were in which now felt like a pool of lava, lightning, and thunder.
"I need to wake Master!" She cried intending to run into the danger zone.
"Do that if you want to die. He is waking up."
"But... Liu Ming...!"
She could only watch helplessly as the thunder and lightning grew stronger, rushing down in waves of energy that charged the air around the house, whose roof was already gone.
"Fei Fei!" The city lord cried out as he ran into the courtyard with some of his children and his soldiers. He drew his daughter in for an embrace, kissing her forehead. "I'm so happy you made it out. I thought you would be caught up in the chaos."
"Father," she breathed relieved. "But the two of them..."
"Don't worry. Your uncle sent Elder Li and other elders to ensure that nothing goes wrong. They have already set up a formation to keep out anyone who dares to come snoop here."
While that was relieving, Liuyue doubted if they would help beyond keeping out some nosy cultivators.
As they watched the lightning destroy more of the house, shattering wood and scattering the debris in all directions, fear gathered in their souls.
Elder Li flew up in the air to get a better view of Ren who hadn't made a move to help his disciple even though he was awake already.
He saw him seated still, his eyes closed and yet felt as if they were glaring up at him. That sent a needle of terror in his soul, something that he hadn't felt in decades.
Suddenly, the lightning began splitting into two unequal parts. The majority of the bolts moved from Liu Ming and started attacking Ren. No. They aren't attacking, elder Li noted.
They were disappearing in the huge black hole that had opened above his head. It swallowed them fully without growing unstable and Ren maintained a collected posture.
Other than the black hole, elder Li caught sight of the little snake levitating within the lightning as if it were swimming through water. It flew further up until it reached the heaven where the tribulation was flowing from.
Clay opened its mouth and started devouring the tribulation, weakening it so that Liu Ming wouldn't be erased.
The fight between Dao and the three creatures went on for three more minutes before the tribulation fully faded, returning the world to its silent state as the clouds cleared.
Clay, having overfed with the raw cosmic energy began falling, its belly bloated and its mind blank.
Elder Li thought it would benefit him if he tossed himself in the scene and collected the weaker wisps of cosmic energy but was immediately zapped away by the existing charges flowing in the atmosphere under the tribulation area. The chaotic energy burned away a patch of the fabric on his stomach, going further to char his flesh.
A black hole opened beneath Clay's falling body and he vanished inside just as Ren opened his eyes.
His information had changed;
Name; Renshen
Form; human
Ability; the Void
Cultivation level; 3700
Cultivation stage; ♾️
Life; ----
He dismissed it, to settle the energy bombarding within his dantian. And when it was all done, Ren pulled himself to stand.
Oddly, his limbs weren't as stiff as he thought they'd be. No part of his body was in any kind of pain. But that could not be said for his disciple.
He pulled Liu Ming's head on his lap. "Mas-mas-mas..." He was trembling, overwhelmed by the core that had formed, though not fully developed, and from the heavy tribulation that had almost killed him.
"Shh... You're okay. The tribulation is over. You crossed it, Liu Ming."
"That is...is...is g-g-good." He smiled up at Ren.
"Close your eyes and rest now. You deserve it."
Ren looked up at the crowd standing several feet from them. He felt relieved seeing Liuyue unharmed.
He then opened his palm, opening his void as well, and sucked in all the static energy from the air around him, taking care of the danger.