CHAPTER 6

Skyreach Arbour crested a plateau far above ground level. Plains and thick woods dutifully followed the road to their gates. Populous and renowned for its mines, workers from the surrounding settlements frequently made the journey for the dangerous but well-earning jobs in their depths. The families in control of the arbour’s resources could afford higher privileges compared to the greater families of the surrounding settlements.

One such family was the Liang family, who were experiencing a crisis.

Their family head had disappeared.

The elders wore complicated expressions as they corralled everyone outside the manor and held an impromptu meeting amongst the family.

“Some of you may have already heard!”

The words were spoken by the head of the library, an elderly woman wearing a silver amulet and decorative robes.

“The family head, alongside the young master, fled the Liang family under the cover of the night.”

Gasps of shock sprung from the crowd of about a hundred, and even those in the know shook their heads with grim frowns.

“Why would Head Feng leave?!”

The audience clamoured, and another elder – a grey robed man with long silver hair – waved his hand. His robes and the golden amulet around his neck swung despite the absence of wind.

Formless cultivation pressure descended upon the crowd, and those that hollered lost their breath and fell directly to their knees.

“Quiet! Let Elder Yun speak. These matters are too important to be interrupted!”

The crowd quickly quietened.

“Our apologies, Great Elder…”

The grey robed elder nodded and stepped back.

Elder Yun cleared her throat.

“The reason Head Feng fled the Liang family…” she hesitated, for just a moment. “Yesterday morning, Liang Zhu killed the emissary sent by the Flying Shore sect. The sect has already revealed suspicions. Perhaps, elders of the Flying Shore Sect have already arrived at our arbour.”

Clamour rose from the crowd, and this time, they weren’t so easily suppressed.

“Are we doomed?”

“Liang Zhu again?!”

“This idiot!”

“Why did we raise this complete fucking waste?”

“Good riddance!”

The clamour lasted only until the reality of the situation settled in, and one by one, the crowd drew quiet. They had very quickly grown wary and deeply unsettled.

“Those at fault are those that fled. If, or better said, when those of the Flying Shore Sect arrive, give them the utmost courtesy! Assist them with sincerity, especially to track down Head Feng and his waste of a son! The Liang will survive this tribulation!”

“The Liang must survive!”

…

For just a moment, Zhu and his father halted in their steps. For some reason or other, they felt deeply unsettled.

“We need to move faster.”

The two looked at each other in surprise upon realizing that the other had said the same thing.

“Yes!”

“Let’s go!”

Their steps quickly sped up.

After a few minutes at a raised pace, running but not quite running, Zhu was stunned by his own growth.

In a mere day, he had gone from feeling serious exertion upon climbing the short incline toward the library, to keeping a running pace beside his father through disorganised woods.

Cultivation made a big difference to a person’s physique, even if they were only in the body refining stage.

Zhu was still buried in his thoughts and paid little mind to an opening in the forest. He and his father sped halfway through the open space amidst the woods, when Zhu found himself slow, as if the air was resisting his will.

A pressure enveloped Zhu, and his thoughts lost cohesion.

He stood frozen, and in front of him, his father slowed. Even his father looked uncomfortable under the pressure, and his large hands clenched and shook tightly, eyes rapidly searching amongst the surrounding trees and canopies.

His father grimaced.

“Who’s there? Show yourself!”

A crude laughter echoed from the surrounding woods.

“A mere early-stage Qi Practitioner acts so arrogant?”

The pressure increased twofold, and Zhu was left barely standing. His bones squeaked under the force, at threat of bending to the pressure, and his head was stuck facing the dirt.

When had he ever been subjected to something like this?!

Just when he felt that he was about to collapse, that his bones were going to crack and that the blood roaming his veins might erupt from his skin, the pressure disappeared entirely.

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DING!

[Heaven System Passive Activated!]

[Heavenly Defiance]

The host of the Heaven System is ordained to kill all cultivators who dare to rebel against the heavens, the stronger the better! The host is immune to the pressure emitted by a cultivator’s stolen energies.

Zhu inhaled a huge breath of air and shook himself, regaining his mobility and stepping forward.

“Who is it?!”

For a moment, there was no response, and Zhu felt as the pressure that had enveloped him exploded in intensity.

He could feel the invisible pressure enveloping him and threatening to crush his fleshly body, but… it was completely unable to do anything. It slipped over his skin whenever it tried to push inwards, as if the pressure were like an ordinary person trying to squeeze a bar of soap.

The stale atmosphere was suddenly swept by a fierce gale of wind, and ahead of Zhu and his father, a figure emerged from the foliage atop a tree.

An elderly man emerged from the greenery. His hair reached to his waist, straight and narrow, white as snow and accompanied by a swishing beard. The only accessory, if it could be called as such, was the sheath that poked over the old man’s shoulder.

The elder’s robes were plainer than those that Zhu were used to, a single layer of white cloth that fell to just below the elder’s bare feet.

Feet which, inexplicably, floated several meters above the earth.

It was clearly an immortal, who merely glanced at Zhu’s father before completely ignoring him, instead focusing on Zhu with a serious gaze.

“I am just a common cultivator in a nearby sect. Dao Friend, might you be here for the appearance of the heavenly treasure?”

It was the first time Zhu had ever laid eyes on an immortal cultivator. What was this ‘Dao Friend’, and why was he looking at Zhu so expectantly?

The old man in the sky seemed to have taken Zhu’s apprehension to be something else. Liao pulled back his cultivation pressure, lowered to the earth and clasped his fist.

To the side, Zhu’s father regained full control of his body and released a sigh of relief. Nevertheless, the glare he directed at Zhu was utterly confused.

“I apologize to my fellow cultivator for being so presumptuous, but your methods are truly too extraordinary! May I know your name and cultivation level? I am Liao Zhong, of the second star of Foundation Establishment.”

In the corner of his eye, Zhu saw his father overcome with apprehension.

Ah, hell… he actually had to trick this immortal, didn’t he?

He just had to hope that his evening gown wasn’t too out of place.

Zhu waved a hand dismissively and shook his head, putting on his best, most disarming smile.

“Fellow Daoist Liao, don’t worry about such things! I am Liang Zhu, of the…”

Zhu suddenly stuttered. The immortal across from him looked on curiously, and to the side, he noticed his father subtly showing four fingers.

He cleared his throat.

“Sorry Fellow Daoist, I was overcome with earthly desires just now! I am Liang Zhu, of the four fingers-“

His father fell from impressed to crushed within an instant, and Zhu quickly changed his words.

“Of the fourth star of Foundation Establishment!”

Suddenly, it was the old man’s turn to act apprehensive.

“Oh, the fourth star? Ah, yes, I’ve long heard of Fellow Daoist’s illustrious… name?”

The old man paused for a moment, then seemed to recall something from long ago.

“Oh, it’s Senior Liang!” Zhu immediately gulped at the change of address, faintly feeling like he had made a massive mistake. “I heard rumours of your grand battle with that unscrupulous Daoist Shen back when I was a lowly disciple of the Qi Gathering realm! That you survived… ah…”

The old man cringed and quickly moved back.

“I won’t take part in the battle for the treasure! This old man will take his leave!”

“Wait, I’m not-”

The old man, who had already risen by twice his height into the air, suddenly stopped in place and shook nervously.

His father shook his hands in a ‘stop’ motion and repeatedly shook his head, but this time, Zhu wasn’t paying him any heed at all.

“I am not that Liang Zhu!”

The clearing fell silent. Zhu felt quite happy to have the misunderstanding finally cleared, and his father felt as if a boulder had settled in his gut.

The old man’s expression of confusion quickly fell into realization.

Then, he bowed deeply.

“I understand, Daoist Liang.” The immortal straightened and held an arm to the sky. “I swear this oath! I will not speak to anyone regarding the matters of meeting Daoist Liang Zhu here today!”

Up in the sky above, the dark clouds that had yet to entirely dissipate shook in response to his words, and a splatter of golden lightning crackled amongst the skies.

He bowed again, and then quickly fled above the trees and disappeared into the horizon.

“…Zhu.”

The tone that his name was spoken with, sparked old and terrible memories of his early childhood, from before his father had accepted him as someone useless and withheld his expectations.

“…Father?”

“We need to talk.”

“I understand.”

…

Zhu idly checked his attributes.

[Attributes]

LEVEL 3 [Karma: 2/20]

Cultivation: Body Refining | Stage 3 [+] Cost: 30 Pure Qi

Cultivation Talent: 3 [+] Cost: 2 Point(s)

Comprehension: 0 [+] Cost: 1 Point(s)

Spirit Energy: 33/33 | 3.3/Hr

Pure Qi: 120/120 | 9.3/Hr

Point(s): 0

Time to live: 151Hrs

“I can breakthrough now.”

“Alright. Before you do that, recite what I’ve told you about the first three realms.

Zhu froze.

“Zhu, I just told you this.”

“Ah…”

His father sighed.

“Okay! What happens during Body Refining?”

Zhu nodded. “The body is refined.”

“In what ways?”

“Oh, that’s what you wanted?”

Only a moment ago, the two of them came across a road, and now they followed it at a walking pace, somewhat worn down from the day and night of moving. Zhu was unwilling to sleep in the woods, so despite the rapidly approaching night cycle, they hadn’t even bothered looking for a campsite.

“Well,” Zhu continued after absently kicking at a small rock in his path. “My flesh, blood, spirit channels, skin-”

The pebble moved into the air at an obtuse angle, tapping against one of the many trees within the woods that parted to either side of the dirt road. The tree shuddered in an unnatural, unhurried motion.

“Your spirit channels already?”

“I think I remember it happening at stage two?”

“That’s different to my experience, but go on.”

Zhu nodded and gathered his thoughts. Occasionally he would mention the changes he felt in himself, especially against his expectations, and found that more often than not they weren’t what he should have experienced.

“Are these trees alive?”

The odd question surprised his father.

“Some of them are.”

“Is that normal?”

“It could be.” His father also began staring strangely at the surrounding woods, but then shrugged his shoulders. “It doesn’t particularly matter though. Speaking of abnormal, when will you be able to breakthrough to the fourth stage?”

“Since yesterday,” Zhu answered idly, admiring the unsubtle sway of the trees. They batted one another softly, and he even felt that a few of them gestured to the pair occasionally. “I could probably do multiple stages right now.”

“Say what?” His father jolted to a stop and Zhu understood that he’d said something wrong.

“What?”

His joke was steadily ignored, and his father’s glare prevented another one.

“Explain to me exactly how it all works.”

Zhu nodded and thought for a moment.

“Well, I get true qi over time, and I use it to breakthrough.”

“Is that all you know?”

Naturally, he shook his head. “No, there’s more detail.” At his father’s urging, he tried his best to explain it fully.

“Right now, I get nine and a bit of something called true qi every hour, and I can hold a hundred and twenty of it. To reach the fourth stage, it says it cost thirty of it. Also…”

It made comparatively little sense to his father, but he still beckoned Zhu to continue.

“I-I have something called a time to live… at the moment it’s about a hundred and fifty hours. I, uh, I had a lot less before, but because I got Randall’s sparring partner to… to kill him, I’m still alive. That’s how I get more of it… killing people.”

If Zhu’s father didn’t know him so well, and knew that he wouldn’t lie about something this heavy, he would probably roll his eyes and slap him for such a stupid lie. Instead, something snapped in his father’s mind and a heavy pressure enveloped Zhu.

[Heavenly Defiance Active]

Zhu gaped at the heretofore unknown stern visage that crossed his father’s face, and stumbled back a step, falling to his bottom.

“F-father?”

The man knelt and held Zhu’s shoulders with a heavy strength. He couldn’t move at all.

“You need to tell me these things long before it becomes a problem.”

“But I-”

“You can’t deal with this alone.”

Despite it all, Zhu smiled. A bright, honest smile.

“You’re the best, dad.”

“I know.”