Surging within the air, there was a purple fog.
An intoxicating fog.
Most living beings who breathed this air, immediately collapsed, they struggled under the ground, whilst feeling as if their lungs were burning.
Melting.
That was not just their perception, it was a reality.
The unlucky people who were unable to control their Qi, lost control over their bodies, and suffered Qi Deviation, immediately collapsing on the ground.
Dying painfully.
From their bodies, many flames sprouted, as if they're pathogens.
If anybody was observing the interior of their bodies, they would discover that inside them, there was an strange metallic dust within their lungs.
A metallic dust that was burning, producing all sorts of flames, of all shapes and colors.
Those flames released a myriad of smells, some were disgusting, like iron, others were bitter-sweet like the lead.
That 'bitter sweet' smell, made people collapse on the spot, making them sleep.
In just a few seconds, most people who were at the epicenter of the tragedy had died, whilst the lucky few witnessed an scene that seemed to come from hell itself.
The tragedy was just beginning.
The metallic dust, defying all common sense began to float, amidst the air, ascending towards the clouds.
Metallic dust, mixed within inside the clouds, and a very exotic rain was produced.
A rain that was not just acid, but toxic, poisonous, radioactive.
If that was not enough, every drop of water shone intensively with a white aura.
An aura so bright that took an oval, or spherical shape, if one was looking at this from the distance, they could confuse the drops of water with cold snow, but it could be no further from it.
It was boiling hot.
To make things worse, inside those clouds, whatever metals remained, collided with each other, leading to a lot of internal friction, that produced a myriad of sparkles of light.
Some of the drops of rain combusted, spontaneously, producing various flames, whilst the ones on the skies, produced lighting that befall on the ground.
The ground trembled and cracked as it was struck.
It began to change of shape and twist, producing various earthquakes.
Within every crack, a few drops of magma emerged, whilst some small plains began to appear, that became increasingly larger.
Leading to the creation of various mini-volcans, that directly shoot lava and volcanic ashes willdy.
That beautiful, sickening tragedy, was no ordinary event.
It was a Tribulation.
A Heavenly Tribulation.
The patriarch of the Bing Clan stood from the distance, he observed from his window, the catastrophe that was beginning to unfold itself.
He clenched his fists, gritted his teeth.
Through his expression you could see various emotions, there was anger, there was sadness, there was helplessness, there was reluctance, there was worriedness, and there was...
Disappointment?
One of his subordinates could not contain his anger, he released his aura.
"REALLY?" He shouted.
"IT HAS NOT EVEN BEEN A WEEK!" That man slammed the wall with his fist, breaking it.
"I...I do not know which bastard keeps triggering those Tribulation in our Clan's territory, but when I catch them I swear that I-"
The patriarch raised his hand.
"Calm down, I know you are angry, we all are.
But we cannot allow emotions to dictate our judgement.
We need to deal with the Tribulation, and then we will find the culprit!"
Another elder snorted coldly.
"Not allowing our emotions to dictate our judgement, that is rich coming from you.
Or do I need to remind you the incident with your descendant?
Moreover, every time we have decided to deal with the Tribulation first, the culprit has used that time to escape, and hide their tracks.
Even if we do save a few, by dealing with the Tribulation first, what would be the point when they die on the next one.
This has gone far enough.
We. Cannot. Let. Them. Flee." The other elder said authoritatively.
The response of the two elders, made the patriarch narrow his eyes, he looked at the two briefly.
"Do you know who you are speaking to, right?"
But the two elders remained firm, they crossed their arms and looked at him without hesitation.
Of course, their bravado was partially faked.
They had no chance in an actual fight against the patriarch, and were also loyal to the Clan.
However, that did not meant they're satisfied, with the current state of affairs, the two spoke privately with each other and had made an agreement.
If even now, the patriarch kept neglecting his responsibilities, then the Bing Clan was fated to perish, and there was no point in remaining there.
Their only option left would be to flee before it was too late, they would gather their men, and escape to another country, whilst concealing their identities.
When the time was right, a new Bing Clan would resurface.
The patriarch had not heard their conversation, but the determination on their gazes, made him figure out some of their thoughts.
He felt hesitant, and also a bit guilty.
In this world, people with a high Cultivation Realm, were revered, or at least respected.
The fact that the two spoke to him like that, meant that the magnitude of his mistakes was such, that they had lost all their faith on him, and by extension the Clan itself.
"Has this dangerous thought extended towards the population too?" The patriarch wondered internally, all while already knowing the answer.
He sighed, and looked at the two.
"Normally, I would punish you for your treacherous behavior, but I understand your concerns.
I will deal with the culprit, however you cannot follow me, right now our Clan requires various experts to deal with the Tribulation, or at least resist long enough until I return.
However, rest assured.
By the time I return, this incident will never repeat."
The two elders nodded, satisfied with his words.
They bowed before him, one of them turned into countless leeches, and the other into a green fog, leaving the room.
However, even after they left, the patriarch still did not felt safe, he looked warily at his surrounds, afraid of someone looking at him.
His eyes shone, through his iris many constellations could be seen.
"Meteorological Vision." He observed his surrounds, with a 360 degree view.
He found no one.
After getting completely sure that nobody could observe him, he gritted his teeth.
"That unfilial son, bastard, short-sighted fool, does he really believe that I have not noticed his actions?
Even I, that am not an expert on Artifacts knows that with the Heavenly Energy he has harvested, he could have at least refined two Heavenly Artifacts
Yet, he keeps giving me excuses!"
Heavenly Artifacts, a wondrous creation, discovered by the first Void Cultivators on the world.
Void Cultivators brought a qualitative change on humanity, they represented a new dawn, in where humanity was finally stable enough to engage in other pursuits, like research.
Those first Void Cultivators studied the laws of the cosmos, attempting to mimic it's magnificiency.
To do so, they created various pocket dimensions, from where they could study every component of reality.
However, they quickly discovered that their results, diverged from their expectations.
No matter where they looked, even if the dimension was empty, there was still some kind of force within it.
Upon further research they discovered it's origin.
Heavenly Energy, the fuel of the universe.
The first substance to appear, and likely the last to exist.
A self-contradictory substance, which carried every property on the world.
It carried the power of light and darkness, it carried the power of time and space, the power of the physical and the spiritual.
That energy had a tremendous potential, a potential that they wanted to exploit.
After all, what could they achieve if they're given a miraculous substance that could acquire all types of properties?
However, they soon were meet by disappointment.
Even though the energy was everywhere, the concentration was very low, lower than the density of the air itself.
That did not stop their pursuits, however.
They kept investigating ways to acquire that precious substance, until they found the answer.
When the conditions were right, at the moment were humongous amounts of energy were released, the concentration of the substance increased.
Many places meet those conditions, however, the easiest and most effective source they discovered were the natural disasters.
Earthquakes, thunderstorms, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions.
As long as you had the right tools, you could extract a lot of energy from them.
At this point, for such people, disasters became blessings, they no longer feared natural disasters, but instead embraced them, they desired to see them happen.
Firstly, they relied on luck to find them, secondly they began to predict when and where they would happen,thirdly they began to cause them.
A dark era begun, where the world became even more dangerous.
Massive catastrophes destroyed the land, reducing various already fragile states to ashes, leaving the world as an absolute chaos, yet they did not stop.
They kept triggering more and more disasters, all to acquire the cherished source of power.
With that, they managed to create the perfect materials, the perfect pills, the perfect formations, perfect artifacts, and even create unorthodox Cultivation methods to absorb their power.
In their pursuit of power, they failed to notice something.
The creations they devised were not blessings, but curses.
The Heavens were naturally enraged by those inventors who ravaged entire landscapes for their own purposes, and thus, the will contained within their creations began to sabotage those foolish Cultivators.
Coincidentally, the properties that attracted them towards Heavenly Energy, also made it the most dangerous of all.
As it contained everything, it could achieve all kinds of unforeseen and miraculous effects.
It could use the power of Time Path to make you age faster, the power of Luck Path to curse you, the power of Poison Path to kill you slowly, Qi Path to give you Qi Deviation.
Through Cognition and Soul Path it could even corrupt your mind and soul slowly and steadily.
On some rare instances, some of those creations directly exploded, becoming into massive bombs that killed the Cultivators who 'wielded' them, and various other cities.
They did their best to try to contain this power, but it proved to be pointless.
By it's very nature, Heavenly Energy could morph into anything, always finding the cracks to find unexpected ways to harm you.
Even if it did not manage to escape, the act of harvesting it's energy, also angered the Heavens, reducing your luck passively, and if you angered them enough, it could lead to Tribulations that targeted not only the Cultivator, but their resources, family and friends.
With the only intent to make you pay.
....
That era of Cultivators exploiting the power of Heaven, soon ended, and it took various generations to repair the harm those people had done to the world.
...
On the current era, it was deemed as the height of stupidity to use that power.
Only the foolish, arrogant, crazy or desperate would attempt to wield it.
The patriarch was desperate.
Since a few years ago, the Bing Clan had begun a massive conflict with the Shiyan Clan, due to certain...
Reasons.
That was already quite the threat on itself, and what made it even more dangerous was the fact that the Shiyan Clan had two Void Cultivators, whilst the Bing Clan only had one.
The only reason why the Bing Clan had not perished yet, was because they had better military culture, more experience on engaging in conflict, and were braver, and willing to take massive risks, that allowed them to reach a stalemate.
As the three Void Cultivators got heavily wounded, they reached a temporary truce.
But how long it would last?
Those two Void Cultivators were younger, they naturally would recover and progress faster, whilst he was merely a dying old man.
He needed to find a way to become stronger, no matter how!
...
As for the other one?
The one who triggered those Tribulations on the first place.
He was all the above.
Foolish, desperate, crazy and arrogant.
His name was Bing Zhang Hung.
He stood proudly, from the oriel of his mansion, witnessing with glee, the surging Tribulations.
Among the various disasters, there was one who stood out the most, a massive hurricane that was moving towards him.
The hurricane had a massive, white tangible aura.
This man had incisive golden eyes, with pupils of a lizard, very thick eyebrows and a powerful jaw.
His hair was red, with many brown and black strands, and a crimson cape hanging on his shoulders.
A crimson cape, from where a golden orange liquid that resembled magma flowed through.
That man had a dense armor, with a thousand of enchantments and arrays that he had personally devised, each had a very distinctive unique aura, that on synchrony produced a massive rainbow fog across his body.
The windows cracked; his eyelids shrank very slightly.
Multiple shards of those crystals, directly aimed at his neck, and heart.
A slight expression amusement could be seen on his face.
With a flicker of his hands, he blocked them all.
"Relying on cheap shots, and glass to murder me?
Truly, you are the greatest, most powerful being of all.
hahahahaha..."
He laughed wildly.
"Come on, go ahead, do your worst, use lighting to bring me to ashes for my insolence!"
The man looked at his surrounds, and there was no response.
"What are you waiting for?
I am right here, come on." He kept teasing, seemingly trying to incur even more wrath of the Heavens.
...
"Oh my, you are not answering.
Curious, are you not that omnipotent being, that the mortals pray to, and the immortals kneel to?
You do not look all that sentient to me now, do you?
But oh, well, who am I to judge?
I am but a poor, humble ant, looking at the magnificence of the sun, I cannot see through the grand divine plans you have.
Still, if you're not answering, I will assume that taking your energy for myself, is part of that divine plan, heh.." He snickered.
"YOUR ENERGY SHALL BE ALL MINE!" Bing Zhang Hung raised his hands greedily.
A metallic powder was shoot from his hands, aiming at the hurricane.
He snapped his fingers, the powder ignited, releasing a blue translucent flame.
With the combination of the two, he actually began to drag the hurricane towards himself, in fact he even began to absorb the white energy within it.
"MINE, MINE, MINE!"
If the patriarch was seeing him, who knows what expression he would make.
It was generally deemed absurdly dangerous to inject Heavenly Energy within an Artifact, it was even more dangerous to store the energy within a Void Aura and was deemed as a suicide for a Void Cultivator to inject it onto their veins.
Let alone for him, who was not even a Void Cultivator.
The Heavenly Energy was hundreds of times more dense, more powerful than the Qi within his body, and thus only one result awaited him.
Qi Deviation.
Right?
His body did not explode or combust, there was not even a shred of pain on his expression.
Instead there was elation, overjoy, ectasis.
Bing Zhang Hung licked his lips, as he seemed to enter into a trance.
"MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE GIVE ME MORE!" He screamed happily.
Until suddenly, his excitement vanished.
He scratched his head.
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
"Oh, I almost forgot...
Silly me."
The man took a baby which was on a nearby table.
Then, with his index finger he created a silver wire which connected the baby's heart and his own.
On this way, a small percentage of the Heavenly Energy would flow within that baby's body.
"Sigh, I do not like to waste that precious substance, but I must ensure a successor and stuff..." He muttered on frustration.
"Alright, let us proceed..." Once more, he began to absorb the Heavenly Energy.
An electric pulse hit the baby's body.
The few hairs of the baby stood up, as he began to scream.
The man tilted his head.
"I overdid it a bit." He modified the wire, to decrease the current that would get transmitted towards the baby, and once more began to absorb that power.
Of course, even though he had decreased the intensity, the baby did not look precisely happy.
He kept crying, screaming, waving his hands, as his veins began to bulge and deform, being twisted to adapt to that substance.
"You are very weak..." Bing Zhang Hung muttered, he then raised his hand and created a dome, which covered the baby's body.
The dome was partially see through, and from it one could see how, most of the wounds began to heal, and repair.
Whilst being destroyed at the same time, by the Heavenly Energy that was still circulating towards his body.
The process of breaking, shattering and healing, was very unbearable, even most adults would scream, and even feel despair under the agony.
Whilst the baby, was even more mentally fragile.
He was on a complete shock, and fell unconscious.
Just to be woke up forcefully by Bing Zhang Hung.
"You cannot take a nap just yet, if you sleep, you will no longer be able to circulate your Qi..."
...
The baby began to scream again.
"Shut your mouth, what are you crying about?
You are receiving something GREAT, something powerful.
You should be grateful!
I would kill thousands to be in your position, really." He shrugged calmly.
Then he tilted his head lightly recalling some memories.
"And I am not just anyone, I am the greatest prodigy on mankind's history.
Even then, I only had my first shoot, after I reached my 20 years of age.
It took me a lot of time, to find a place which contained a Heavenly Stone, and I required even more time, to make my grand plans.
Only then, after a lot of hard work, luck, wits and robbery, I managed to get my hands on that.
,,,
Though, to be fair, I actually enjoyed the process.
Heheheh, it was quite fun to scheme against others, it gave a kind of high that very few things on this world can provide.
The best part was when I and my partner, finally put our plan to concoction.
We managed to infiltrate among their files, by using disguising techniques, and a few spies.
I prepared a lot of Alchemy materials, that on themselves were harmless, but after gathering them all, they made a beautiful explosion.
Heheheh!
We bombed the treasury, and we took the Heavenly Stone, among other precious relics and began to run very, very quickly.
I recall, when we were pursued by those dumbasses so-called 'elders', while we escaped.
Oh boy, the last part of our escape was even better.
The expressions they made when they saw I had made a portal was priceless, they looked as if I was banging their mothers in front of their faces.
I even stopped for a second, allowing them to catch up with me.
All so that they could slam their faces against my invisible barrier.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Truly exhilarating.
Sigh, how I cherish those simpler days."
He was so immersed on his own speech that he forgot to check the baby's condition, which once more had destabilized.
"7 shades of a Rainbow." An intense light hit the baby, immediately mending his wounds.
Bing Zhang Hung was actually very good on healing techniques, he was good at treating illness, or wounds, hell, he could even heal a missing arm or leg back, if he wished to.
He learnt all those required skills to survive from his very reckless experiments.
Currently, the condition of the baby was not really that bad, he could heal it effortlessly.
"As I was saying...
When I escape, I will take my vengeance on them, those bastards of the Shiyan Clan...
I will steal from their treasury, over and over again!
When their treasury are empty, I will steal the resources they have on their bags, when their bags are empty, I will steal from their pockets, when their pockets are empty, I will steal things from their hands.
Fuck 'em, I will steal the food right out of their hands.
But why should I stop there?
I will go towards everyone!
Any Clan and Sect that I see, I will plunder it!
What a great idea."
Bing Zhang Hung was a very clear proof of why it was not a good idea to mess with Heavenly Energy.
As it was said before, Heavenly Energy affects the psyche in all forms of ways, in his case, he was long since corrupted.
And while yes, he had some unorthodox mental protections, for example due to his sheer ego it was virtually impossible to make him go depressive or suicidal, that same ego could be exploited to harm him.
Random thoughts appeared on his head constantly.
'I CULTIVATE TOO SLOWLY, I MUST BREAKTHROUGH BY TOMORROW!"
'FIRE AND EARTH PATH ARE TOO BORING, I WANT TO SWITCH PATHS!'
'HUMANS ARE TOO DULL, I WILL BECOME A BIRD.'
He even begun to have other ideas.
He begun to scheme against himself.
How could someone as resourceful and as capable as himself, find a way to screw himself over so much that not even his endless tricks could save him.
Yeah, Heaven's will was borrowing his brainpower to think of ways to kill him.
Leaving that aside, there were other side-effects.
For example, even though he had various outstanding methods, and unbelievable control over his Qi Flow that allowed him to prevent Qi Deviation, he got dangerously close to that state, at least 5 times daily.
....
"Ah, yes, the baby how it's going?" He turned his head again.
His eyes shone with a copper light, as he inspected his state.
A slight smile appeared on his face, he was quite satisfied.
"Great, great, great, as expected of my son.
Even on the day of your birth, you already show signs of awakening a Bloodline Ability.
Maybe all the preparations I took for you were unneeded? "
Bing Zhang Hung smile vanished, and was replaced with a frown.
"But who can blame, considering that other failure.
Bing Qin Yang...
How could someone so talented, so lucky, smart, handsome, like me produce such a cripple trash without a Bloodline Ability?
Is all the fault of that talentless bitch!
Ugh, the worst part about him is that he's even a fucking weirdo." Bing Zhang Hung said, without any self-awareness.
"Seriously what is his deal about?
I have seen wander through the streets aimlessly, helping the poor and old, going through ghost houses, and buying the worst pieces of trash you could find on the store, like rusty artifacts or broken swords.
I tried to question him about such things, and after some convincing, he revealed that he was trying to look for his 'fortuitous encounter.'
PREPOSTEROUS!
Luck cannot be forced, and I am the one saying this, a prodigy of Luck Path.
Besides, why does he need that when he has me?
I AM his fortuitous encounter..."
Bing Zhang Hung was...
One of his kind.
Even before being corrupted, he was the type of man that if you told him, that he had the ego of a dozen man, would tell you that you're underestimating him too much.
His narcissism only became worse after the corruption.
He kept rambling.
"Lately, he has turned even more stupid.
He keeps saying with System this, System that.
'Sign In System', 'Heavenly Prodigious Dragonic Ten-Thousands Swords System.'
Seriously what is his deal about?
I hear him speak on the night, mixing random words with System, believing that it means something..."
He narrowed his eyes.
"Or, so I would like to think.
YET.
My intuition that mind you, has NEVER failed me, keeps screaming me that there is something that I am somehow missing.
A secret that he refuses to reveal.
How is this possible?
A five-year old brat knows something that I don't?
What is he hiding?
What is the System he keeps talking about?"
...
Bing Zhang Hung exhaled softly.
His expression was calm, all his worries had vanished.
That was the product of his self-made technique, that allowed him to remove negative feelings and corruption by complaining a lot.
Something very useful to fight against Heavenly Corruption.
"Cough. Cough.
What Bloodline Ability will you awaken?
What is the most powerful of all?
Let's see...If you have a Time Path affinity, you could acquire a Flame of Time, which can allow you to burn the lifespan of others, if you have a Soul Affinity, you can acquire an Ensouled Flame able to target ghosts, and able to grant life to the flames.
Those are good, however it would be more convenient if you acquired something like that geezer's 'Burning Star' Ability or my Volcanic Eruption ability, as I know most about that Path...."
Naturally, he was not thinking of his son, when he said this, but on himself.
He was in a very curious position.
Long ago, due to the fiasco with the Shiyan Clan, the patriarch wasn enraged, he forced him to lead various battlefields, to compensate for his past mistakes.
That was not very difficult on itself, he was in the end, very experienced in engaging in conflict, he had fought in many wars like the 'Crown War.'
Indeed, he had prestige, fighting strength and the talent.
With his abilities he could learn in a day, what others would learn in a month, which allowed him to Cultivate many paths with ease, and beat experts beyond his Realm, experts who had thrice hsi age!
Back then, everyone believed that he would soon become a Void Cultivator, and who was very likely to reach the Qi Sea Realm.
Someone who would become the savior of the Bing Clan.
That did not happen.
Back then, he was less experienced on dealing with Heavenly Energy, in that moment, he was not precisely the most mentally healthy person.
He felt indignated and enraged, because he was forced to follow someone's orders!
Which mixed with his chaotic mental state made him make various mistakes.
In one of his tantrums he ended up deserting, and while he was at it, he even took a very precious treasure of own Clan before escaping.
All while the war was nearing it's end, and when the three Void Cultivators were fighting.
...
In the end, the patriarch took a massive risk, and managed to injure the two, reaching their current stalemate.
After that massive fiasco, the patriarch was livid.
He could hardly resist the urge to strangle his son.
But in the end, the patriarch held himself back.
They were in a very difficult position, and they required as much manpower as they could muster.
And thus, he gave Bing Zhang Hung an ultimatum.
He either was killed on the spot, or he would accept a spiritual contract.
The contract stated many things, including that he would NEVER be allowed to leave his house again, and that he would have to provide various services of alchemy, research, forgery among other auxiliary functions for the Clan for the rest of his life.
There was only one clause that would allow him to leave his home, which was that he had to swear on his Dao Heart that he would always be loyal to the Bing Clan, even beyond his own life, and that he had reached the Void Realm.
Bing Zhang Hung however, was not quite convinced with that contract, he said.
"It is truly necessary for me to be the one to lead the Clan?
I mean, any Void Cultivator would do, right?
So...Why cannot I nurture one, to take my position?"
That proposal sounded like a very bad joke.
How the hell was he supposed to 'nurture' a successor, when he literally could not leave his house..
But, Bing Zhang Hung had an idea.
His descendants!
As long as they had half his talent, they would eventually become Void Cultivators.
Unfortunately, his first son failed to meet his expectations, so he decided to take more extreme measures with the second one.
Bing Zhang Hung sighed.
"The only reason why I am not a Void Cultivator already is because, he's blocking the access to all the resources I need for the breakthrough.
Is very frustrating to have to use things like Heavenly Energy, Heavenly Artifacts and the like, to compensate for all the other flaws.
Regardless of that, I will not be stopped by this, I know it on my heart.
One day, no matter how, I will escape.
I SHALL BE UNFETTERED!" He screamed the last part of his speech with his full strength.
His voice was heard by the patriarch who was flying towards him.
The patriarch shook his head.
"My son, you really are foolish...
You could spare both of us a lot of pain, if you made a simple oath.
If you did, you could become the next patriarch, you could become a Void Cultivator, you could achieve all the other dreams you have.
All while also bringing transcendence to our Clan.
But you believe yourself to be above that, don't you?
Above kinship, friendship, above loyalty...
No empire is built by a man, you of all people should understand this.
The more your Cultivation progresses, the more resources of the land you need, hence our name.
Are you even listening?
I guess you're not.
You never have.
To speak with you, is to speak with a wall.
But fine then, let us speak on your language then, let me see with my own eyes how superior you really are."
Bing Zhang Hung's pupils shrank.
"I WAS SET UP BY THE HEAVENS!!!" He looked at the baby, and gulped.
"If that geezer sees what I have done to his grandson, he will murder me."
After realizing this, he immediately triggered a dozen of barriers within his mansion.
Then, he began to run.
He moved through the rooms, until he found a closet, where he immediately threw the baby.
Then, he made an array with a thousand of seals to conceal his presence.
Only then, he finally sighed in relief.
With those barriers he managed to hide this secret, however the patriarch did not look amused by that action.
"You think those barriers will protect you?"
He released his aura, which looked pinkish gray.
Countless amounts of 'specks of dust', were scattered through his aura, each of them was being burnt by blue flames.
Yet, those specks of dust also seemed to resonate with each other, there was a thin line connecting them, creating various patterns.
The patriarch raised his palm, his aura gathered towards his palm, forming a massive ray, which was directly shoot towards those myriad of barriers.
Upon hitting the barrier, everything within the mansion began to tremble.
Still, the barrier remained firm.
"Oh, it seems you have progressed quite drastically as of late?" The patriarch said intrigued, and surprised.
Bing Zhang Hung frowned; he raised his hands on a spiral.
A magnetic dust was released by his hands, a magnetic dust made of dozens of metals, which had internal friction.
Producing sparkles of light, that eventually became lighting.
The patriarch was struck without ever realizing.
"What the?" He was quite dumbstruck by this, but Bing Zhang Hung chuckled.
"Heheh, you seem surprised, you should not be.
I am not using none of those fake-lighting Qi beams, but rather I am using Qi, to produce friction, to then, create real lighting, which moves at light speed.
A very impressive trick, would you not agree-"
Blood came out of his mouth.
He lowered his gaze, and saw with terror how a tiny hole, of the size of a pebble had appeared on his chest.
"How could he pass through my defenses?" Bing Zhang Hung gritted his teeth.
He narrowed his eyes.
Everything became dozens of time slower, as he activated a Cognition Technique.
His speed of reaction was such, that he leisurely began to look at his surrounds, he inspected his barrier lightly.
"I get it!
My barrier was not pierced, rather, he used the properties of my barrier against myself.
Everytime my barrier is struck, it adapts and changes of shape, that makes it more resilient, but also create
little holes from where he can attack.
By throwing so many attacks at once, he managed to slip through the cracks and connect a single attack.
Impressive, but pointless, I already found a way to overcome this!"
After thinking of this, he began to run.
"Hehehe, now let us see if you can find a gap where you can slip an attack, with the right angle to hit me, whilst I keep moving." Bing Zhang Hung mocked the patriarch.
Then he raised his hand.
"BTW, you should prepare for this trump card of mine."
A massive chain was shoot, a chain that was easily avoided by the patriarch.
But he was not the real target.
He somehow managed to grab the hurricane, and he began to drag it towards him.
The patriarch noticed this, and increased the intensity of his attacks!
Each of the barrier was struck, over and over again, the whole mansion began to tremble, some of the walls broke down, and a lot of debris fell everywhere.
"Hehe, keep giving me more tools." Bing Zhang Hung dragged the debris towards himself, then he shoot it towards the patriarch, spreading it through the air, before igniting it.
Those flames were quite dangerous as they spread a toxic fog, but luckily they were very slow and easy to avoid.
What was not easy to avoid however, was the lighting that even now was still being shoot towards him, the lighting may not do much damage, but it was quite annoying.
The combination of the two made a decent harassing technique, but nothing more, the patriarch was not flustered.
But then, Bing Zhang Hung smirked.
"Have you not forgotten what Bloodline Ability I do have?
Volcanic Release!"
He raised his two arms, from the depths of the ground many mini-volcans sprouted.
Volcans which shoot both lava, and volcanic ashes.
The lava was very deadly, whilst the volcanic ashes were also made of various heavy poisonous metals, and some extravagant poisons, made specifically against him.
The terrain was also constantly changing, turning more and more uneven.
Like the peak of a mountain, more and more Volcans appeared, which began to block the movements, of the patriarch.
The patriarch may be able to avoid the lava, the flames, but he could not avoid the air.
HIs lungs were slowly being poisoned, and he was losing his footing.
"I am actually being overwhelmed?" The patriarch exclaimed.
For a brief moment, he recalled those days when Bing Zhang Hung was still young.
"So, this is how they felt back then?
To be overwhelmed by someone with a lower Cultivation, is truly shameful!"
He looked at Bing Zhang Hung, while narrowing his eyes.
"He is truly a prodigy, master of over fifty paths.
His Cognitive Abilities are leagues beyond mine.
And his powers just keep increasing, five years ago, he would have never been able to last this much against me..."
A faint sign of worry began to emerge within his heart.
But he quickly suppressed it.
He sighed.
"Unfortunately, I still I am more powerful than you." He released the power of his Bloodline Ability fully.
His whole body got drowned in pink flames, which were rising in intensity, until they covered dozens of meters.
With that power, he suppressed everything.
The volcanic ashes were repelled, the flames extinguished, even the lava itself was evaporated by the intensity of his power.
Nothing could defeat him!
Bing Zhang Hung chuckled again.
"I still have a lot of tricks to play."
He spit multiple seeds from his mouth.
Those seeds grew forming many silver cactus.
"Opuntia's iron needles!" Each cactus began to shoot countless needles.
But the patriarch blocked them with a single hand.
Still, Bing Zhang Hung kept chuckling.
"Have you forgotten about one thing already?
You truly have grown old!"
The hurricane had already gotten close enough.
Bing Zhang Hung clenched his fist, something within the hurricane morphed.
A massive suction force was created, that began to pull the patriarch.
As the hurricane approached, the humidity on the air increased, which began to suppress his aura, not only that, but the hurricane began to shoot a myriad of water drops that hit his back with intense fury.
Once more, the patriarch was overwhelmed.
There were many, many different attacks at once, on very different angles, so many that he could not even find the opportunity to strike back.
Which finally gave Bing Zhang Hung the leisure to do more attacks.
He raised his two palms together and clapped.
"Dragon's shockwave." A powerful shockwave was produced, a shockwave which collided with the patriarch's body.
The power of his technique did not rely on the shockwave itself, rather it was the medium from where he transferred his Fire Qi.
He injected the Fire Qi within the patriarch's body, and thus from within his body, many green flames sprouted.
The patriarch gulped.
"How could he improve this much, this quickly?"
The more they fought, the more suspicious he became.
At this point he had realized that his chances of winning were actually quite low.
It was not that he was weaker, rather there were many factors.
The Tribulation was still hanging, which gave him quite the deadline, and forced him to save a lot of energy to deal with it.
He was also injured, and his opponent was using a powerful barrier to isolate himself.
But that did not matter, only the results did.
Now that their strengths were equal, he could no longer use his previous attitude.
He retreated his aura and asked.
"Why did you activate your barrier, do you have something you wish to hide?" He probed.
Bing Zhang Hung, naturally was not willing to admit the truth, he shrugged.
"I was proving that I am equal to you.
Yes, yes, that may be due to circumstantial factors, but so what?
If we speak of who is being hindered the most, well, I am limited in a very narrow area.
If I could use my portals freely, you would not stand a chance.
Besides, my Tribulations are a part of my power.
Whenever, wherever, however I can unleash them.
Yes, I may not have a total control over them, but does it really matter?
Even if I were to die, our Clan would also get ruined on the aftermath of a full-blown out fight.
Which will give the Shiyan Clan quite the opportunity to strike again.
And thus, even if you do win, you will also die.
I just want you to remember this, for our negotiations..."
The two looked at each other.
Ignoring the spectacle around them.
All the Cultivators were working together, some were boiling the metallic clouds, others were redirecting them, others took care of the wounded.
There were all kinds of Cultivators, all with their unique styles.
Still, what all of them had in common were the bright flames that they unleashed from their bodies.
If one were to look at the skies, one may assume that they're fireworks!
...
The patriarch calmed himself down, he retreated his aura, as he approached.
"So, what do you suggest?" The patriarch said calmly.
"Cooperation." Bing Zhang Hung said with a casual tone.
"Look, I can provide a lot of things for the Clan, even more than I already have, I can give the recipes I used to create those barriers, I can produce more recipes for alchemy recipes.
I can even give our clansmen some Gu to strengthen them quickly."
But the patriarch simply snickered in response.
"Do you believe I am dumb?
Your proposal is a mere excuse, to make us more reliant on your techniques.
Besides, even though Gu are powerful, they're also very harmful.
They are parasites, and while they can strengthen the user, on the long term they only destroy their user.
Moreover, I can assume that many of those recipes will have some hidden threats made purposefully that you can exploit later, am I right?"
Bing Zhang Hung's smile became a bit stiff.
"Leaving that aside, look around you, look at your surrounds for once.
The Clan looks like this, because of YOU.
We would not be in war if it was not because of YOU.
Our Clansmen are growing disheartened and their morale is low, many people believe that the Clan cannot longer protect them, and that they may due to a random Tribulation.
And thus, many of them have begun to flee with their families.
All of this is because of YOU.
So, what do you bring to the table other than ruin to our Clan?
Yes, if we do oppose you, our Clan may collapse, but even if I were to follow your whims, would you truly save us?
If this is the best you can offer, you are nothing but a pest, who must be removed before it's too late.
Besides, if we are going to die anyway, why would I not drag our killer with us?"
The patriarch said harshly.
Bing Zhang Hung smile became stiffer.
He took a few steps back, subconsciously.
"Hey, cannot you take a joke?"
"..."
"Let me give you proof of my sincerity!" He took a tiny box, from one of his drawers.
Within the box there was a complex lock with thousands of arrays, that once opened revealed an strange Artifact.
The Artifact looked like the sculpture of a Ocular Globe.
A Golden Ocular Globe, this ocular globe had many gray wires, composed of alloys of tungsten, iron and copper.
Which acted like the veins on the eye.
Finally there was a soft membrane made of molten rock and ashes.
"Behold, my great creation.
The Ocular Star.
This Artifact has many uses, upon activation it will passively boost both your Ocular and Star Path abilities, but that is only the most fundamental aspect.
You can also use this Artifact to 'lock' onto things, you can inject them some Star Qi to act as a thread, which you can use to form a connection that is very hard to remove.
A connection which will allow you to see, what the target 'sees', and will also actively drain their Star Qi.
After establishing the connection, that Void Cultivator will never be able to escape from your sight, and if they Cultivate Star Path you may slowly weaken them.
Also, have I mentioned that you can use this on non-living targets?
This ability was designed mainly to be used on Astral Objects, you can 'lock' onto any meteor, stablishing a connection.
Making any meteor you wish to, in an extension of your vision.
And through those meteors you can also harvest a lot of Star Qi, all without being influenced by Heavenly Energy.
WIth this, you will recover from your wounds faster, and you may even be able to breakthrough to the second Stage of the Void Realm.
And that is not all!
It still has another ability.
For a period of five minutes, you can temporarily create a symbiosis to boost your Cognitive Abilities, making you essentially dozens of times smarter than any human.
That is not a simply quantitative change of I think ten times faster, rather is a qualitative change, like the difference of a wolf and a human's brain.
With that ability you may have epiphanies, you may be able to resolve things that have troubled your months, in a matter of minutes!
Through this ability you can strengthen not only yourself, but also the Clan, you can improve qualitatively the level of our techniques, and innovate beyond belief.
Obviously, this ability has a massive cooldown, you cannot overuse it, or your Soul may get corrupted..."
Despite his warning, the patriarch was greatly moved by that Heavenly Artifact.
"A great effect indeed, but I am still unconvinced.
If you had brought this earlier, it may have been enough, but after so many Tribulations, I doubt very strongly that this is all you could make.
What are you hiding exactly?
I will not probe further if you do not want to reveal it, but you will be punished accordingly.
A third of your servants will be removed, you will lose half the subsides you receive for investigation, a fifth of the terrains of your mansion will also be removed.
And thus, the territory you can move through, will be permanently decreased."
Bing Zhang Hung gritted his teeth upon hearing those words, he looked at the patriarch with the desire to kill.
"If I reveal him my full strength I have a 80% certainty, that I can kill him.
But what would be the point?
Even if I kill him, I am still trapped.
Hordes of his subordinates will surround me until I get killed.
Even if they do nothing, they simply can leave me here to rot!
When that happens, I will lose access to whatever resources I still receive...
Which will make stagnate even more!
So, what do I do?"
He sighed.
And took another Heavenly Artifact.
The Artifact was far rougher than the one before.
This looked like an ugly fake-model of a vulcan, that a kid would make for an school's project.
It even had a white bubbly substance coming out.
"You misunderstood your son!" He immediately bowed.
"I was mmm...Saving this for your birthday?
On june...July...12...20?
Yes, I was!
But now, alas I feel deeply regretful about my deeds, and thus I want to amend my mistakes.
The Artifact your son is giving you, has the following effect.
It constantly absorbs the surrounding Qi Fire to grow, you can think of it like a plant that requires soil to grow.
The more Fire Qi acquires, the more it will grow, for this is better if it's planted on deep caves, or on other hot environments.
This Vulcan is not something ordinary, it will release volcanic ashes which contain many miraculous properties, together with our Bing's special physique, it can be used to accelerate our healing and temper our bodies, and even increase our quantity of Qi flowing through our veins.
That is the perfect tool for prodigious youngsters to practice more effectively.
But that is not all, from time to time it will also produce magma, that is the perfect material for Alchemy Recipes, and training for the ones with the strongest bodies like your excellence.
Another quality of my Artifact is that it will drag the heat from it's surrounds, the concentrated amounts of Fire Qi on the zone, will naturally make it the perfect environment for the growth of Fire Path materials.
All those qualities will allow us to produce stronger Cultivators more quickly, which will allow us to defeat that detestable Shiyan Clan!"
The patriarch raised his brows, amazed by his son's shamelessness.
He tilted his head lightly and said.
"Alright, you convinced me...Your actions really have some merit, so much that you will even some rewards after I take the Artifact."
Bing Zhang Hung raised his arms.
"WAIT!
Think about something, who is the best Vulcan Path Cultivator among our Clan?
Me, of course!
Would you not think that I am the most suited to create the perfect Cultivation environment for the new generations?
Give me the opportunity and I will amaze you with my skills.
If you do not trust me, you can even monitor my activities whilst I am here, I will share with you, every step on my plans, so you can see no foul plays are made.
I can even try to produce spiritual flames to..."
He kept talking for some time.
Even though the patriarch felt that he was being cheated, the two ended up in a new agreement.
The patriarch was about to leave, when Bing Zhang Hung coughed.
"I have another request.
I-I know I failed you, I disappointed you, by creating so few Artifacts, but I have learnt from my mistakes.
I already figured the right trick, I can create as many Artifacts with just half the Tribulations!
Just give me another chance."
The patriarch turned his head.
"Stop testing the waters, brat.
Or you may drown."
His body vanished and he left.
...
Bing Zhang Hung was left alone on the room.
"Oh, lucky me...
He did not discover the secret."
He giggled to himself.
Bing Zhang Hung began to hum whilst walking towards the room where he had put the baby.
"What Bloodline Ability will you awaken, I wonder."
He opened the door and inspected the baby.
His smile vanished completely.
"Ice...ICE...ICE AFFINITY?
YOU LITTLE---YOU GOT MY HOPES ALL UP JUST TO AWAKEN THE WORST BLOODLINE OF ALL!"
Half of the essence of Fire Path was about concentrating as much heat as possible, in the lowest amount of space.
The essence of Ice Path was to decrease it.
The two paths nullified each other.
The greatest prodigy of the Bing Clan's history, had two sons.
A cripple, and one with the worst Bloodline of all.
What were the odds?
...