It has been approximately an hour since the events that led to Kong Zhi’s and his sons’ death. The high elders and the lower elders all had their time to discuss possible strategies they could use to defend against the attack that would soon come from the Tang Clan.
Instead of doing that thought they were all disagreeing and bickering for the past hour as everyone thought they had the best solution. Some proposed fleeing, some others proposed fight to the death, and some others even voiced some opinions that went along the lines of ‘Let’s surrender and live to fight another day’.
Tianshen sat silently and never uttered a single word as he wanted to witness how the sect would act in times of a potential catastrophe. No need to say that he was completely disappointed by the indecisiveness of some elders, and the recklessness and cowardice of others.
Cao Chen was also observing the discussion and did not say much, at the same time he was also observing Tianshen’s reactions and he could already tell that he was less than impressed by the inadequacy of most of these people.
Silence fell inside the hall, one could hear a pin drop at this point. At this moment Tianshen stood up and said ‘’I have listened carefully to all of you for the past hour, and I have to say I am thoroughly disappointed. Not one of you even had the respect to let your sect Chief speak his mind, instead you bickered between yourselves like old women. It is in times of great strife that one can see the true character of a person, and all of you failed miserably. It is no wonder that this sect has fallen so much in the past years, if there is no internal unity then there can be no prosperity’’.
Some of the elders lowered their heads in shame, they knew full well that their performance was less than impressive. Some others stood up in protest, especially the lower elders that haven’t had the chance to see Tianshen much, or know of his power.
‘’Ignorant junior, since when was it your place to speak in here? Just because the chief brought you here does not give you the right to speak out of turn’’ scoffed one of the lower elders.
‘’You’re the one that is speaking out of turn you idiot, a mere lower elder talking to the legacy disciple as if you are higher than him? Are you tired of living!?’’ shouted high elder Jin Hai.
‘’That is quite enough!’’ said Cao Chen while standing up from his main seat, which made everyone else besides Tianshen sit down.
‘’From this day forward Jin Hai will be the vice-chief of our Azure Dragon sect, he has shown his loyalty for many years, and the people that can rival him in terms of pill mastery can be counted on one hand in the Azure province. That is my first decision before we start talking about how we defend against the Tang Clan.’’
At this point a lot of elders stood up and cupped their fists towards Jin Hai ‘’Greetings to the new vice-chief’’ they all shouted in unison.
‘’Now as for Tianshen, let it be known that from this day, I give him unlimited rights in the sect, he comes and goes as he pleases, he can have any resource at his disposal anytime he wants, and his status will be equal to mine and Jin Hai’s. He will be involved in every important decision that concerns the future of our sect. Anyone who disagrees with this decision is to come forward now.’’ Said Cao Chen in a commanding tone.
Nobody of course dared to step forward even if some of the elders had ugly expressions on their faces. Cao Chen did not mind that, he knew that the time has come to make some very drastic decisions regarding the future of the Azure Dragon sect, and if that meant getting rid of some annoying thorns from his back, he would do so in a fast and efficient way.
As for Tianshen, he did not care at all about any social status given to him, in his own mind none of the people in front of him were worthy to decide on his social status. This was not petty arrogance, it was a deep-rooted belief that he gained by being a God-like deity for billions of years.
He could invest his time and maybe some emotions into these people, but at the end of the day it was all for his own amusement. The only 2 people that he truly cared about until now was Wentian and Bingyue who he decided to take under his turf, as for the rest of the sect; the only reason he was still helping them and staying around was because he was craving the excitement and emotional stimulation that came with events like these. He deeply missed being involved in battles, politics and human daily affairs in general. In other words, he missed the adventure.
After another moment of silence Cao Chen gestured for Tianshen to continue speaking, which he did ‘’Good, now that you’re all done butting your heads and deciding on everyone’s social status and power, maybe we can get down to actual important matters. For those of you that don’t know, I have recently visited the Azure Dragon ancestor’s tomb, and managed to open it and gain the inheritance. I have given everything to the Chief and he will distribute it how he sees fit. The inheritance includes many Earth, Sky and Heaven grade treasures, a handful of King grade, as well as one Emperor grade treasure weapon which will be used by the chief himself’’.
At this point many elders gasped and others had an open mouth. Treasures came in different grades which were Mortal, Earth, Sky, King, Emperor, Venerable and Saint. Each grade was further divided into low, middle and high. Mortal grades were used by Qi Accumulation and Core Formation realm cultivators, the rest of the grades correspond to each cultivation realm. This did not mean that a cultivator could not use a treasure that was a higher grade that their cultivation realm. If for example a person of the Earth Realm used a Sky grade weapon, they would win against someone at the same cultivation realm using an Earth grade treasure, but they would still not be able to bring out the treasure’s full power. As for someone using a treasure which was two grades higher than their cultivation realm, it was like using any other normal treasure of their grade, they wouldn’t be able to get even close to using its full potential.
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The reason many elders were awestruck by what Tianshen said was that no sect in the Azure Province had an Emperor grade treasure except the Tang Clan, but only their retired ex-Patriarch was allowed to use it in case of a catastrophic event. This made them all feel much more confident and at the same time grateful to their Ancestor.
‘’In any case, the Chief will not be able to bring out the Emperor grade weapon’s full power because his cultivation is lacking, but I have a solution for that. I don’t know if any of you are aware of something called Spirit power?’’ asked Tianshen while looking around the room.
One of the oldest looking elders replied ‘’I have read of such a power in ancient texts, but such power has not been seen for many-many centuries in our province, or any of the neighboring ones for that matter, it might as well be a myth’’.
‘’Indeed, my master once told me about it, he even mentioned how our Ancestor was able to wield this Spirit power, he used to infuse it into weapons and create barriers with it’’ said Cao Chen.
Tianshen had a serious look on his face and said ‘’What I am about to say stays in this room unless I give you permission to spread it, anyone who leaks this information I will kill without question’’. After giving this strict warning Tianshen continued
‘’Spirit power can be used in many more ways than just create barriers, and if you have the talent for it, anyone can learn it. Some people view spirit power as another ability that cultivators can learn, but it is much more than that, Spirit power is fundamental to every cultivator in order for them to advance past a certain level of cultivation. Our Universe and the laws that bind it together all consist of three vital parts, the Qi, the Spirit and the Soul. One that cultivates only one of the three will not go far on the road of cultivation, one that cultivates two of them will have moderate success, but the one who cultivates all three can reach unimaginable heights.’’
Everyone was listening attentively as if they were being lectured by a great Master, a select few even entered a state of enlightenment and their Qi and Soul power was fluctuating restlessly. Tianshen was satisfied by this, these few elders including Cao Chen were all on their way to unlock the door to the way of the Spirit.
Tianshen continued ‘’This way of cultivation is called ‘The Way of the Spirit’. Spirit power, unlike cultivation of the Qi and the Soul, is divided into twelve levels, the first three are called he Mortal Spirit, from 4th to 6th they are called The Divine Spirit, from 7th to 9th they are called the Transcendent Spirit, and the final three are called the God Spirit. Breaking through each level is countless times harder than Qi and Soul cultivation, for the sole reason that Qi exists and has been scattered around the Universe since the beginning of time, it is there for everyone to absorb and cultivate. As for the Soul it usually grows together with the cultivation of the Qi. But the Spirit is different, it depends on the person’s will and conviction. A lot of people can unlock the doors to the way of the spirit, but not many can cultivate it, even less are the people who can cultivate it to a high level. So although a lot of you will probably be able to unlock the way of the spirit under my guidance, don’t expect to reach far.’’
After Tianshen stopped speaking, Cao Chen and Jin Hai both started glowing in a white light, which was a sign of them unlocking the way of the spirit. This meant that they could now cultivate it and maybe use it to a certain extent.
‘’This is good, both of them have unlocked the way of the spirit and will now be able to see and wield spirit power to a certain extent. This will be vital to our success today. As I was saying, Spirit power can be used in many more ways than just setting up barriers; so today I will set up a huge formation around the Azure City, it will involve using a lot of Spirit, Qi and Soul power so I will most likely be exhausted at the end. I will give you instructions on how to use the formation to your advantage, I will need eight elders that will be in charge of this formation by infusing their Qi in it, the formation’s success will depend on these eight people’s coordination. Chief Cao Chen, I live the selection of those eight people to you. As for the Emperor grade treasure weapon left to you by the ancestor, it is already infused with Spirit power. I will create the formation in such a way that it will allow you to bring out the strength of this weapon for a short period of time. I’m certain it will be enough to drive the invading Tang Clan away’’. Tianshen finished speaking, after which he turned around and walked towards the exit while gesturing people to follow him.
They all went outside the hall after which Tianshen sat down cross-legged as White light started glowing around him which only Cao Chen and Jin Hai could see. He then started to make hand signs and speak incantations in a tongue none of the people present understood. The white light around Tianshen formed into complex geometrical symbols which all flew into all directions of the City.
The elders were staring in awe and were wondering where did this youth learn all of this, was he even really a youth or an old monster in the body of a boy?
They were all woken up from their thought by Tianshen’s voice as he said ‘’This will take me another couple of hours to finish, Chief Cao Chen, I need the eight people to sit with me here right now, after that you can leave us here, distribute all the treasure weapons to the elders and take defensive positions at the edge of the formation, I trust you can see where that is now’’.
Cao Chen nodded and selected eight elders of the 1st stage of the Sky Realm. After that he distributed the treasures to the rest of the elders and led all of them and the rest of the disciples towards the white light that only he and Jin Hai could see. A this moment a huge, white dome-like structure made out of many complex symbols was visible to Cao Chen, Jin Hai and a certain puppy which was hiding in the bosom of Cao Bai.
Time was passing by, everyone was on edge and anxious but the elders who witnessed Tianshen’s planning and power reassured everyone.
The Azure Dragon sect was ready to face the enemy, many people resolved to die today and already accepted the fact. Little did they know that no more Azure Dragon Sect blood would be spilled today. In fact, today was the day that the Azure Dragon sect would shake the foundations of the whole province.