46th of Season of Earth, 56th year of the 32nd cycle

While three men wept, six others stared without saying a word. Two of them had the decency to look away in shame, but the rest were just waiting for the sappy reunion to finish so they could pursue their own agendas.

“Teacher, I…” Newt hesitated through tears. “I killed him. I swear it was an accident, but I—”

“You did good, Newstar, all of this is your uncle’s fault.” Elder Stronggrow’s face was wrinkled, his yellow eyes shining with wisdom of his old age. He opened his mouth to speak further, but Elder Brave spoke first.

“Elder Stronggrow, Newstar has found a source of spirit gems in the mines. According to clan rules—”

“According to clan rules, you have robbed him,” Elder Marrow growled the words, interrupting his senior.

Elder Marrow’s hair was a deep red, his eyes yellow, and his body firm and muscular. He was Newt’s father’s cousin, and the most upright man in the clan. His intense glare still terrified Newt, even though the young man sensed his senior’s approval and support.

“You have taken the spirit gems reserved for improving his cultivation,” Elder Marrow continued in an overbearing tone. “You almost robbed the clan of a genius who managed to awaken his own spirit root, and you even dare demand a portion of the spirit gems he mined himself? What are you going to do with them?”

“Everything we do is for the good of the clan,” Elder Rocky protested, but lost his words when Marrow focused his glare on him.

“Everything you rotten scum do is to line your own pockets. You—”

“Marrow,” Elder Stronggrow interrupted the verbal chastising, “every insult you throw at them insults both you and me. I taught half of them, my teacher the other half. You enforced discipline, your father enforced it before you took up his mantle. Their failures are our own.”

Newt wanted to say that was not true. Simply educating a rotten man cannot make him better, it makes him devious, while enforcing the rules with punishments will just mask their true nature until the gain is worth the risk.

The youth had considered the matter during his three years in the mines. What had gone wrong with his uncle and the elders was something which runs deeper, a character flaw beyond his understanding. Something he was too young, too inexperienced to pinpoint.

A heavy silence suffocated the room until Elder Stronggrow broke it. “You have done well, despite the setbacks you have suffered, Newstar. I can only hope you have properly cultivated your first realm based on what we once discussed. I will help you establish your second realm properly.”

The elder was worried, Newt had overpowering his uncle, who was in the same realm as the youth, which meant he had probably sacrificed some of his first realm for power, rather than dedicating it all to growth.

Newt, on the other hand, did not want Elder Stronggrow’s help with cultivation. Magmin’s cultivation techniques and powers seemed superior to anything his clan had practiced. However, he would need something with which he could challenge Magmin’s secret realm and discover what was the second step the serpent had taken in its long evolution to become a dragon.

“Thank you, Elder Stronggrow,” Newt bowed once more. “I would like to see the clan’s secret techniques and martial arts, if you don’t mind guiding me.”

Newt saw Elder Brave’s mouth twitch as the man wanted to ask about the spirit gems one more time, but he wisely kept his mouth shut under Elder Marrow’s glare.

“Very well,” Elder Stronggrow said. “Follow me, Patriarch.”

The old man left the building with Newt in tow, heading for a small structure next to the hall in which Newt had defeated his uncle.

Elder Stronggrow stopped at the threshold, drawing a deep breath and smiling. Newt smelled the air, but failed to smell anything out of the ordinary.

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They had entered a library of carved stone plates, eternal books explaining techniques invented by geniuses of previous generations. Newt counted fifteen large stone steles and guessed each of them represented a single technique. Sure enough, as he scanned the titles, he found the one used by Elder Rocky, Flaming Fist, but the title was odd.

“Why is the technique called Flaming Fist II?” he asked.

“Because it’s suitable for those in the second realm. Your father had learned Flaming Fist III, and there’s even Flaming Fist IV,” Elder Stronggrow pointed towards another tablet before continuing. “Ancestor Blazing Salamander was at the seventh realm, his most talented son merely reaching the sixth. Seeing the decline of his lineage, he simplified his own techniques down to the fifth realm, and other ancestors made even simpler versions we use today.”

“Can I see the original techniques?” Newt asked, and the old man nodded.

“Naturally, you are our clan’s patriarch. Follow me.”

Newt went up the stairs and entered a shrine. At least he thought the chamber was a shrine at first glance. Inside, he found sixteen jade slips instead of massive stone tablets. The slips were white like ivory, resting on red silks, and covered in glass cases to stave off dust and unworthy hands.

“This is our family’s greatest treasure. The slips can only be accessed by those of appropriate realm, and they must be of Ancestor Blazing Salamander’s bloodline. The ancient texts claim that the jade slips will recognize the user even if they only have a drop of our ancestor’s blood.”

Awestruck, Newt gaped at his clan’s legacy, his mouth mouthing a silent ‘wow’. It took him a moment to recognize an inconsistency.

“There should be fifteen slips here.”

“Yes, the sixteenth is a message Ancestor left for the one who reaches the peak of the seventh realm.”

Newt moved his mouth to ask a question, but Stronggrow answered before his student could voice it.

“There are no records of the message’s content, other than the requirements for reading it. There were many who speculated on the nature of the message, from mere congratulation on reaching the same level as the ancestor, to revelations about world destroying techniques. The latter is obviously nonsense. Ancestor was merely the seventh of ten realms. Compared to us, he was a giant, but compared to those at the tenth realm, he was probably an ant. The odds of him knowing a world-shattering secret which nobody else has figured out since are next to none.”

Newt respectfully listened and nodded. Elder Stronggrow’s logic made sense, but he also did not believe someone who had reached his ancestor’s advanced age would have left a mere congratulatory message.

“Could you show me the second realm techniques?”

“Certainly, Patriarch.” Elder Strongbow went to the center of the room and bowed to the slips before heading back down.

Newt was confused, then rushed to repeat the gesture and honor his esteemed ancestor’s work.

He rushed down the stairs, and Elder Stronggrow pointed at the first tablet to the right.

“This tablet contains details about Fire Burst, a movement technique which creates controlled explosions beneath your feet and propels you forward.”

Newt nodded and inspected the technique. It was complicated and seemed dangerous to him. As he read on, he found cautionary messages about the technique backfiring and exploding towards the user’s foot rather than away from it, as well as several other common mistakes which may occur while mastering the technique. Based on the level of detail, someone had described firsthand experiences.

The next one was Firewall, Newt thought it was similar to Magmin scales, but upon reading it, the technique offered no defense, its nature purely retaliatory. It was the technique Elder Rocky used against him and came with its own, rather long, set of warnings, including ones about burning yourself instead of the enemy during training, as well as that the proper use would require years of disciplined training.

Next was Flashfire, the first harmless technique Newt had found. The technique granted the cultivator the ability to create a flash of extremely bright flames atop their hand and blind or confuse their enemy.

The cautionary text was short compared to the others, warning the user not to look at their palm, and if possible to point it towards the enemy after warning any allies.

Flaming Fist was the fourth technique, and its list of warnings was almost as long as Fire Burst. Once mastered, it was a weaker version of Magmin Flame, but once mastered, the user would not burn themselves, instead projecting the flames away from themselves at all times. Unfortunately, for the technique to be useful, the cultivator needed to physically strike their opponent.

“Can Flaming Fist send jets of flame?” Newt asked, somewhat underwhelmed by his family’s secret techniques.

“Yes, Patriarch. However, the ranged technique is a part of Flaming Fist III. Cultivators cannot project spiritual energy far from their bodies at the second realm. At the third realm, the flame will travel about three to five feet, maintaining the shape of a growing fist. The closer the target, the greater the damage, because the area of effect widens while the power remains the same.”

Newt nodded and decided to try to alter Magmin Flame by merging the two techniques.

Finally, the last tablet revealed a horrible healing technique called Cauterize Wounds. Through the use of spiritual energy, the cultivator could sear their own flesh and blood vessels, stopping bleeding.

The ability was horrible and masochistic. Newt hoped he would never have to use it.