For a day and a night, Ren stayed by Liu Ming's side, supplying him with endless energy to strengthen his core. His cultivation level might have risen to seven hundred, but the tribulation had impacted him heavily. And if he lacked the energy needed, everything would backfire.

Ren blamed himself for that night even though he had no way of determining how strong the tribulation would be.

From the information he had read about those with Enhanced perception, they only mentioned that their paths were slightly different from the others.

When Liu Ming's newly formed dantian became stable, Ren finally left his room.

##############

"Greetings, Master Renshen!" The people inside the hall chorused saluting and bowing as he walked in. It was Liuyue's father, her uncle, and elder Li.

He had been here before, after waking up from his coma weeks ago and it had only been the city Lord and himself.

He saluted back without bowing as he was finding it too tiring. There was also the unspoken rule: you can act as you please if you are powerful enough than those around you. It wasn't considered arrogance, no.

"Congratulations on the breakthrough of your disciple, and your progress as well," Liuyue's uncle saluted again.

"Come. Come. Please sit." The city Lord grinned guiding Ren to his seat.

To maintain respect in the face of power, the city Lord did not occupy the dais but instead chose to sit on the lower tables along with the other men.

He clapped, and the food was served immediately.

"Here." Liuyue's uncle raised his cup of wine. "To the new sect that will send eaves throughout the world."

Ren accepted the praises and raised his cup before sipping from it. He wasn't thrilled that the tribulation made so much noise and attracted attention from other sects, but he was glad Divine Wind sect stepped in to shield them from the curious eyes.

He then asked them to keep it a secret that the tribulation was his disciple's and instead, say that it was his.

This would divert any trouble from Liu Ming to himself.

He was strong enough to take care of himself at the moment.

After leveling up, he had understood a lot about his ability, including how to use it as a portal since he still couldn't fly. If he wanted to, he could easily learn how to soar, but his fear of heights kept him on the ground. A weakness he might never want to reveal to anyone.

"These past few days my gates have attracted so many people who want to be followers of the Master after seeing the tribulation. I must say, my household has never been livelier than it has been since you came here. I hope the harmony between us lasts for generations," the city Lord said raising his cup.

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Ren was about to pick his as well when the fourth star began weakening. He immediately guessed what was going on on the other side and sprang up. "I must leave." A black hole instantly materialized to his left, wide and tall enough to fit his body. One slight turn into i,t and he vanished, and so did the black hole.

"What has happened?"

Liuyue's uncle just downed his cup unworried. "Nothing he can't handle. Come on, let's eat and drink. It's been years since I had an excuse to leave the sect."

Elder Li picked up his cup, but his attention remained on the space Ren had been occupying.

############

The black hole opened up in a small courtyard surrounded by rundown huts which seemingly looked empty. The person whom he had come here for was groaning in pain as he crawled out of one of the huts. Blood was flowing from his mouth and his eyes as well as if he had contracted a rare disease but Ren saw the negative energy coming from the wound on his back.

It reminded him of the demonic willow.

"Yo...you? Go, go aw-'"

"Elder brother, why are you struggling so much? Just let me have your blood and you won't have to suffer because of your curse," a younger boy's voice reached Ren's ears just as a clawed gray hand showed up intending to grab Wu Tao's leg.

Before any more harm could fall on his disciple, Ren opened a black hole beneath his body, sucking him in the right before the hand touched him and deposited him straight in the city lord's residence...in the guest hall, to be specific.

"Wu Ren, why don't you come out and entertain me?"

"I've seen you before. You are that loser with no money walking around the market."

"So you're that little thief? It now makes sense."

During seclusion, Ren skimmed through Wu Tao's life to understand him deeply. His hatred for cultivators was born when his father, who had just started his cultivation journey, left them when he was only three years old. They later received news after a decade that he had died during a duel; his body disintegrated to ashes and then washed away by the rain. Not a good ending.

By then, his mother had adopted a baby she had found on the streets. But after the news, her health deteriorated.

Wu Tao tried to seek medical help from the sect his father had joined before his death, but they asked for an unreasonable amount of money to heal her.

With nothing to his name, he could only watch powerlessly as his mother's life slipped away day by day.

After she passed on, Wu Tao became protective of Wu Ren. But the little boy only thought that he was jealous of him and wanted to control him.

Sometimes he'd sneak out and come to the market as a beggar.

"You wanted to kill my disciple. Now that is an unforgivable sin."

Wu Ren came into vision but stayed under the shade. Half of his arms had turned gray and his nails were replaced by sharp curved claws. The glow of his eyes was bloody red and exuded too much yin energy.

"Disciple? Wu Tao doesn't have a Master. He hates cultivators the most."

"How do you want to die?"

Wu Ren cackled maniacally, making Ren grow impatient. So he decided on his own how to do it. Two black holes appeared simultaneously, one behind Wu Ren and another in front of Ren.

He stepped in the one before him and showed up behind Wu Ren, "Boo!" Ren mocked in a whisper as he drove a dagger of fire through Wu Ren's back, piercing his heart and cutting it into two. "Times up, little devil."

Wu Ren's eyes bulged as he stared down at the tip of the golden dagger sticking out from his chest. It had happened so fast, so unexpected, that he didn't even have time to feel the pain. "How? Why does it have to...end like this?"

There was no answer to his question, for no one could answer it.

To eradicate him and rid him of any chance of being revived later on, Ren injected a high dose of his fire qi into Wu Ren's body, setting it ablaze.

He sent his roots into all the huts and retreated the lifeless bodies of little children who were between the ages of three and ten and placed them in the courtyard in a row. They looked hollowed from their drained blood and their skins grayed. "This world is a bit more horrible to kids." Ren sighed, setting the corpses on fire, and watched them burn till there was nothing left. He then scattered the ashes with his qi, making sure that whatever evil had contaminated their bodies would not be picked up by anyone else.

Before leaving, he sensed a presence, like he was being watched. Irritated, Ren sent his qi in the shape of a sword towards where the eerie feeling was originating from then stepped into the black hole.

"Urgh!" A female moaned in pain, clutching onto her bleeding third eye positioned in her forehead. "Who is that person? They killed my disciple without any problems?"She screamed from her high sea,t, and her followers immediately fell on their knees, bowing.

"Calm down, priestess," they echoed like a chorus, hoping to appease her.

"I need to find him. How dare he attack me! How dare he- ow! Get me some pills you idiots!"