An island loomed lonely across a mighty sea, waves crashed against it cliffs, cliffs that was a full hundred meters high. Yet the waves splashed so high that water still splattered on flat land, the island stretched for miles upon miles, the human eye could defiantly not catch its entirety. Upon the flat land laid giant palaces, depicturing an azure hue that sparkled with the rare sight of a bright sun. Some palaces were small, other’s massive as entire cities, on particular azure sparkled palace, a giant serpent slithered its peaks, and it might breathtaking to any normal man. Inside this particular palace, in a hall with over two hundred meters in height, a black haired youth was seated in a meditative position; the youth had a hint of excitement lingering in his eyes. His features delicate and arrogant were highly contradictory to how his actions depictured him. Across him sat an old man, wrinkles of time lithered his face, he was smiling slightly as he continued to stroke his short beard, both wore azure colored robes, with a picture of a mighty serpent slithering across its front.
“Senior Ming, could you tell me about the Azure Serpent again?” The youth said as a hint of excitement still lingered across his youthful face, his hand was rubbing together in anticipation.
“Inanis, again?” Senior Ming said as he sighted slightly, a coy smile still lingered across his face.
“If you don’t mind Senior Ming!” Inanis said enthusiastically as he had problems sitting still.
“I don’t mind, but I have told this story a couple of times before already” Senior Ming said as he scratched his head.
“But I guess youth does bring a sense of curiosity and awe in all things” Senior Ming said as he lingered in old memories for a split second.
“One quiet night, not so different from this very night, in a place not actually far from here, a female azure serpent quietly struggled at the bottom of the azure sea.”
“Her belly pushed and shoved, as one would expect when giving birth, but this particular child was having a harder time then its siblings, it struggled for days before it finally drew its first breath!” The old man declared as it was a matter of fact.
“Senior Ming, how could you possible know if the ancestor struggled during birth?”
“And how can you draw a breath under water?” Inanis questioned with a slight frown across his face.
“Stop questioning this great Elder Ming!”
“Obviously everything that comes out of my mouth is the absolute truth!” Senior Ming said as he had a slight chuckle after.
“Ah right, go on great elder Ming!” Inanis said enthusiastically, feinting ignorance to the arrogant yet sarcastic remarks.
“As you know, Azure Serpents does not have particular amazing potential regarding martial cultivation. They ingest the azure seas energy cultivating the ocean itself, but harvesting this energy is as one would imagine chaotic and tyrannical not gentle and fluid as the Ki of the stars or the heaven and earth.”
“Most Azure Serpents use up all their potential before even stepping in to the realm of a Tyrant, therefore has no hope of severing mortality and becoming eternal. This particular Serpent was not like everyone else though, as of a hundred years he had already become a tyrant. His potential was unrivaled in the entire azure seas, young beautiful serpent females would travel hundreds of miles just to be in his very presence!”
Inanis could help but chuckle at the sudden remark.
“If father heard your interpretation of the great ancestor, not even I could save you Senior Ming”
Senior Ming swallowed a mouthful of saliva at the young man’s remark.
“I hope you won’t tell on me young master”
“You’re safe”
Inanis said as he sent a small wink in the senior’s direction.
Rasping his mouth Senior Ming continued
“The azure serpent, with a combination of luck and an unparalleled talent continued to strive towards being eternal and immortal in all ages. As the years passed the serpent grew closer and closer to the threshold to immortality, through battle and tempering he strived, he was drawn to the concept of always testing himself, pushing himself further and further towards his goal. On one particular evening, in the vast Heavenly Continent he finally achieved his goal of reaching immortality; he threw away the shackles of mortality and was finally eternal.”
“But the years passed as he remained unparalleled in the realm, he grew distant and depressed as his true nature of always testing himself and progressing further could not be fulfilled. He decided it was time to finally leave, leave for the realm of the gods, for greater challenges and further testing.”
“But before leaving, he returned to his home. His home here in the azure sea, he knew that he wouldn’t be able to return for a very long time, maybe even forever, so he left his descendants on this very island, he left his legacy, everything he had learnt and seen was left here for us to see and experience.”
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“Once he prepared to embark, a certain incident happened. An eternal being of pure darkness and destruction descended from the skies, from the very heavens itself. It too was a lonely existent, it cultivated not by testing itself but by devouring and slaughter. Obviously as noble as the Azure Serpent was he rode into battle, determined to eliminate this imminent threat on both his descendants but also the world that nurtured him.”
“The battle lasted for seven days, and the very brim of existence tore as they were sent into space. It is said that by sacrificing his life the Azure Serpent defeated the being and ultimately saved the world!” Senior Ming said with a smug smile.
“The end.” Senior Ming said as he took up the cup of tea he had placed to his left and took a big gulf.
“That’s most likely the shortest version you have told to date.” Inanis said as he sneered slightly.
Inanis shook it of quickly as another question popped into his head.
“Senior Ming, the ancestor was an Azure Serpent, correct?”
Senior Ming nodded in response as he opened his mouth
“Correct he was an Azure Serpent, why we appear humans is because of every beings ability to change form at will when reaching a certain level of strength.”
“As to why he chose Human, because they are the dominant race? It’s hard to determine what thoughts went through his mind”
“As expect Senior anticipated my question.” Inanis said nodding his head.
“Do you think I will ever be able to sever my mortality and become eternal like the great ancestor?” Inanis said as he stared Senior Ming straight in the eyes.
“Dreams and desires are a gift yet the curse of every being, regarding whet ever you could achieve immortality only time will tell.” Senior Ming said as he returned the gaze with a small smile across his face.
“But don’t be discouraged Inanis, your potential is great even by the Azure Palace’s standards”
A bright smile bloomed on the youth’s face as those words left Elder Ming’s mouth. A chance, a chance of immortality, that was all he needs to grow excessively excited. Inanis leaned forwards nodding enthusiastically while a smile still plastered across his face
“Elder Ming can’t you teach some more advanced techniques, maybe one of those legendary Tyrant level profound arts”
Elder Ming only frowned in response as he calmly shook his head
“A Tyrant Profound technique, when you haven’t even laid your martial foundation and reached the foundation realm?”
“Don’t be absurd young man; the technique would tear you asunder, leaving only a gushy pool of blood left!” Elder Ming said as stood up tall and clasped his hands behind his back.
Inanis could only gasp in response, he had heard on multiple occasions that training techniques that were too far above your realm was impossible, but never had he imagine that it would actually have that kind of outcome.
“But don‘t fret young one, many techniques have different stages meant for different realms, steadily preparing you for releasing its peak power.”
“Cultivating different energies gives different kind of powers and techniques can become as unique and rare as the stars that lithers our very sky. [Repressive ocean one profound] art is an obviously a progressive art!”
Since childhood [Repressive Ocean One Profound] Art was what Inanis cultivated, it was a set of movements that increased affinity with the tyrannical Azure Sea, enabling a cultivator to absorb the chaotic energy of the ocean. It wasn’t as gentle as the energy of heaven and earth, nor was it as mysterious as the energy of the millions of astral bodies, but it was wild and unrestrained.
“But the [Repressive Ocean One Profound Art] only purpose is gathering energy, how am I supposed to battle?” Inanis said as he fidgeted quietly with one of his fingers.
“You are correct, the technique is only meant to gather energy”
“But what nature your energy possesses can determine the difference between life and death. The energy gathered by the [Repressive Ocean One Profound Art] is hard to absorb and gain affinity with, but it’s defiantly more violent than most energies. You could actually say it is meant for battle!” Elder Ming said as he narrowed his eyes while sitting down once again.
“As for battle techniques, what’s the point of learning any when you can’t materialize energy outside your body?” Elder Ming said as he sneered deeply, while dismissively waving his hand.
The Ki gathering realm was the first realm in every cultivator’s long journey towards immortality. Gathering energy could be done by a wide different kind of methods, the normal approach was gathering energy from heaven and earth, some gathered energy from mighty star constellation while others gathered energy from the oceans. Most energy gathered by these techniques would pass right through you without leaving a trace, but sometimes a small amount would make the cultivators body their home. The energy would then be used to strengthen a simple fist into something terrifying. After the The Ki Gathering Realm was the Spirit Realm, where the energy would slowly disperse across the cultivator body, seeping into her or his muscles, bones and finally internal organs, strengthening them.
Foundation Realm represented that a cultivator body was finally ready to materialize energy outside their bodies; they could then turn their energy into a specific nature, at hot as a volcano or as cold as freezing cold, the possibilities regarding this subject was actually unimaginable.
“Foundation realm huh” Inanis said as his eyes lost focus.
“I am already in the 9th level of the Spirit Realm, a single leap and I can materialize energy!” Inanis said as he rubbed his hands together.
A small grin placed itself on Elder Ming’s old stricken face
“Temptation is a great motivational tool” He thought internally.
“Senior Ming, I need to go!” Inanis said as he stood up with a grin on his face. He turned around before getting Elder Ming’s confirmation, determined to walk towards the cultivation hall his father had gifted him 13 years ago.
The distances between every building on Azure Profound Island was wide to a terrifying degree, so as to decrease the distances for servants, clan members and citizens, teleportation arrays had been placed in almost every large establishment. Inanis took mere moments before the wide teleportation array came into view. The teleportation array was located in a wide hall which was littered with profound characters and lines drawn on ground, walls and roof. Inanis had once asked his father regarding the meaning of these lines and characters, the answer he received was
“The ancestor laid down these ancient arrays, not even Grand Elder Mulong knows every one of them!”
This was a shocking fact, because Grand Elder Mulong was the unquestionable number one in the clan regarding Arrays, in a clan with over ten millions members.
As Inanis took a step inside the hall, the halls mysterious pressure enveloped his entire body. The pressure was by no means dangerous, but still instilled a sense of grandeur and fear. The walls rugged and cracked with age, the wood that was thought eternal was beginning to crack under constant use. The hall had no widows, so the delightful light of the sun couldn’t light up its sullen and damp atmosphere. Instead floating light crystals lithered the halls “Sky” giving one the illusion of stars.
“Young master!” One of the men stationed there instantly recognized the young man’s silhouette. The men behind him straightened their backs as he slowly approached. Once he was in line of sight they hurriedly bowed.
“Open the array; send me to One Profound Hall!” The young man proclaimed out loud. He appeared by all eyes cold and determined.
“Yes Young Master!” The twenty servants answered in unisons, still holding their graceful bowing position.
Due to the large amount of profound energy needed to conduct a short teleportation, the array only opened on set schedule to save resources, but obviously this rule did not apply to this young man.
A brief explosion of blistered the servant eyes as they opened the teleportation array, a second later the room return to its sullen atmosphere.
“Young Master Inanis always seems so distant.” A female servant remarked out loud while she leaned back against one of the walls.
“Well he is Grand Elder Kurain’s son, it’s as expected.” A man with clear signs of age said quietly.
Every servant nodded in response.
“And his cultivation speed is unimaginable.” A stern middle aged man said he crossed his arms with a sour expression.
“Yufang, don’t be discouraged, he has access to unlimited resources and was gifted with a pure bloodline since brith.” The old man proclaimed loudly as he gently patted the middle aged man named Yufang’s shoulder.