Chương 106: Chapter 103 – Fall and Rise Again

PoV Change: Zhao Wen knew the calamity had arrived when the storm clouds swallowed the sun. The past week had been a period of such intense turmoil that she was almost grateful that instead of the threat of calamity, the actual calamity was looming over her. Ever since the Sect Leader of the Heavenly Sword sect had announced at the gathering that the sect was to be disbanded, it was like the heavens and earth had been turned upside down.

At first everyone had thought the gigantic gathering of every disciple could only mean another opportunity like the inheritance had been discovered. The general air of jubilation was eradicated by the sect leader's words. Zhao Wen hadn't known what to make of it then, and she still struggled with it even now.

'How could abandoning us be for our own good?! Aren't they just avoiding taking responsibility?' The anger still burned like hot coals in her stomach. Accompanying that terrifying announcement, the iconic pagoda of the outer sect, the sect's dao reserve of all the manuals and techniques, had vanished! An entire building disappeared overnight, and reality started to sink in.

Worse yet, in the following days of chaos, it was discovered that all the most talented disciples who had reached the upper layers of qi gathering within a certain age had all vanished, evacuated along with most of the inner sect. That was when all organization broke down. Her beloved sect was now practically unrecognizable. People she thought she knew to be brave fled with all their belongings. Others still had revealed twisted personalities as they looted their neighbors and even killed those who resisted.

Fortunately, her younger brother Jiong had earned some renown for his martial prowess, so the two of them were largely left alone. But knowing it couldn't last, Zhao Wen had led the two of them to the last haven of safety in the outer sect that she knew of. When the leadership of the sect vanished, a few of the older disciples stepped up to lead, but ironically, the older ones held the least potential.

Their meager strength commanded no respect, and their half-hearted attempts to rally others failed, worsening the situation. Until a few of the inner sect members who had elected to stay behind arrived in the outer sect to provide guidance. One of them had been a prominent cultivator called Zi Shui, famed for being the leader of the Trial Seekers. Their sibling organization, the trial takers, had thrown in their support as well.

Senior Zi Shui, along with some other strong yet kind foundation establishment realm cultivators like Seniors Chun Wei and Chu Huan, forced a modicum of stability into the situation. With such strong pillars to rally around, the outer sect had calmed down enough to heed their warnings. According to some who had fled, the sect had unintentionally acted as scouts for a grave danger that forced their return.

Without the protection of the elders of the Heavenly Sword Sect, their fertile and abundant territory was being encroached on by loose cultivators and weak sects. They were taking advantage of their weakness to steal resources and establish their dominance. Unexpectedly, the foreign threat actually forced the ex-disciples of the Heavenly Sword Sect to band together for safety. Zhao Wen had sent word back to her family, but whether they received it was unknown.

Either way, she had decided that her only chance for not just survival but also advancement along the path of cultivation was to stay and defend the mountain range they called home. Jiong had silently agreed with her, boosting her confidence in her decision. The morning the clouds had descended, the battle began. The young new leadership had elected Senior Chun Wei to be their martial commander. He had organized a fighting retreat into the sect's inner regions.

The outer sect disciples would fight first against the rabble that was sent against them while holding their strongest fighters in reserve for when the enemy's leadership made a move. Wen and Jiong had joined in the chaotic battle, lit only by the flashes of lightning and the fires it started. Oddly, the lightning seemed to descend on the buildings more than on people. Wen didn't have time to question why, only grateful that it wasn't another disadvantage held against them.

In the week that followed, only a third of their initial numbers stood; whether from desertion or death, the mighty Heavenly Sword Sect had been reduced to these few thousand disciples. Still, they had fought hard and shrewdly. Commander Chun Wei had prioritized their lives over sect resources, so they lost farms and herds of spirit beasts, but they still stood.

As they retreated from the outer sect to the inner sect, they used every advantage they could find, luring the enemy into lairs of spirit beasts, forcing stampeding herds toward them and even using the famed challenges to bog down their advance. Senior Zi Shui had nearly cried, but he still led others to weaponize the arrays by sacrificing the challenges. Wen herself had barely advanced to the 5th trial, and she bemoaned the lost opportunity.

Still, everyone remembered how the final three trials alone had held back the enemy cultivators for nearly two days, buying them precious time. She had even overheard Senior Zi Shui vindictively rejoice when one of their worst enemies, rogue cultivators of the Hidden Sea Sect, had stumbled into the maze of bees. Once they reached the borders of the inner sect, weak qi gathering disciples like them were less useful and relegated to support while the inner sect disciples began to move.

Wen had been further terrified when she first laid eyes on the inner sect. It was mostly burning rubble. The heavens must have been offended by something the sect had done because their wrath was directed at anything that held a trace of the sect. Even the one depot some disciples had built into a mountain to protect the books of the inner sect library had been buried by the mountain collapsing on it. The message had sunk in already, and the remaining cultivators avoided the sect's remnants.

Everyone could see how the worst of the lightning was descending further west, in the place the leadership likely called home. Fortunately for the resistance, most of the fighting had ceased once the outer sect region had been captured by one of the leaders of the offensive, the Hidden Sea Sect. Though a few rogue cultivators would still bare fangs and brandish claws, occasionally encroaching on the inner regions, for the most part the ex-disciples of the Inner Sect had developed an uneasy, tentative truce.

Some temporary borders were established and rigorously defended by both sides. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. The situation was still nowhere near resolved, as the outsiders would inevitably covet the significantly more qi-rich inner regions. Nor did the storm show any sign of abating, even if the lightning had reduced in intensity. But with disaster came opportunity.

The abundant qi of the inner regions let the qi gathering realm disciples advance by leaps and bounds, even if they had poor manuals. The young new leaders had also started to build defenses for a long-term siege. Their maneuvers gave hope that they might still endure these tribulations and emerge as something new. To encourage morale, Chu Huan, the kind senior sister, had given the exhausted and injured outer sect disciples a reward for their efforts.

New mountain abodes filled with bounteous qi so that they might recover and grow to once more stand on the front lines. They used one of 2 identity tokens belonging to sect elders to override defenses of the mountains. Why the tokens weren't targeted by the lightning was a mystery, and so was whoever had left them. They had been found where the outer sect pagoda had once stood, so many assumed it was either the sect leader or the elder who guarded the pagoda.

Those tokens were what let the disciples bypass any remaining sect defenses that hadn't already been destroyed by the lightning. Wen and Jiong had been assigned a short mountain covered in a permanent haze. It likely wasn't the best, but they both were far too weak to deserve much better. Even this much was a luxury, as they had been placed far from the frontlines, safe from marauding cultivators.

The inner sect disciple who flew them there on his sword even had to slay a number of snake spirit beasts to clear the way. Still, Zhao Wen had a good feeling about this particular mountain. PoV Change: Zhao Ren and the other disciples sat helplessly while the three elders powering the enormous sword transport simultaneously sped up and defended against the rain of lightning. The ferocious strikes would occasionally dim the glow of qi channels and cause the formidable transport artifact to wobble.

The storm had kept up pace with them, hurling its wrath while the artifact's defenses desperately held on. While the elders battled to keep the sword racing across the black skies, the disciples could only sit and shiver in fear. If Ren weren't more concerned with what was happening inside his dantian, he might have been one of them. What he had noticed in the two days of recovery after the trial had only become more pronounced.

While he had been more interested in the demonic intruder in his dantian back then, Ren hadn't failed to notice how many of his karmic connections were absorbing sin. Even worse, two of the reinforced strand constructs gave the same negative sensation. In retrospect, absorbing that sin had probably nudged circumstances, leading to his current state.

Fortunately, he hadn't broken through while cultivating inside the Golden Dharma Trial, or Ren feared for what his fate might have been if that karmic sin had been refined by his Fire of Life. He guessed that balance was being maintained by the surge of karmic merit he was also absorbing from his other connections. As it was, it meant that the next breakthrough would have to be handled very delicately, as the refined sin and merit would beckon even more tumultuous events.

Considering the situation, it hadn't been a leap to assume that the tribulation calamity targeting the Heavenly Sword Sect had overturned heaven and earth. Worse yet, Ren could only observe, sitting helplessly on the transport sword as more and more strands were severed in the days that followed. Though none of the severed connections were the reinforced strands of those he knew well, the sheer number of connections being severed was heart wrenching.

He could only wonder which one of his acquaintances, juniors, and seniors had perished. Ren also worried about Mei Ling and Xi Yuan. Though their strands were intact, it didn't mean they were doing well. Had they also been evacuated to the Azure Mountains? Their talent and the elders that accepted them as disciples meant they would likely be safe. But such turmoil would be as hard on them as it was on Ren. Despite lacking a choice, it still felt like he had abandoned his sect, the home that had nurtured them all.

Thoughts of his clan also entered his mind. They weren't close, but they were still family. Ren was sure after witnessing the calamity that the mortal members without karmic connections would be unaffected directly by the calamity. But what of the aftermath? Such a disaster would unsettle the whole region. Perhaps the Zhao clan might drown, pulled under by raging currents, or it might survive and seize control over their fortunes.

He was glad he had sent that final supply of spirit stones to tide them through these times.

'And what of those young cousins of mine? Are they capable of surviving? It feels like they'll be fine, but is that my delusion or instinct?' Ren's distress was further enhanced by the lack of information from the elders. Elder Ding was still far too busy ensuring their safety, and the other two weren't likely to waste time explaining the situation to the disciples, which might only cause pandemonium. Ren couldn't even approach Elder Ding to retrieve Yu Ran.

Additionally, the guilt for basically abandoning the little snake to its training for months weighed on him. But a week after their hasty departure from the monastery, the sword finally started to leave the storm behind. Everyone started to relax as the elders were looking ragged by the end. It was unknown how much further they could have held out. By then, Ren had mostly regained control over his emotions. He could only anxiously fret for so long before he found ways to better employ his time.

He tightly grasped the jade slip Jian Feng had tossed him earlier. Within it were records that the Jian Family had gathered about the Azure Mountains over the years. It wasn't complete, as such a family would never leak certain secrets, but it was plenty for Ren to study so he wouldn't be caught off guard. As the gigantic sword travelled the dim horizon, chased by a bank of furious storm clouds, the thought had repeatedly occurred to Ren.

While he was growing abnormally fast as a cultivator, he was still a speck of dust compared to the truly strong. Events happened to him, and he was left to react to each one. From being forcefully evacuated, leaving behind his home, to getting involved in complex plots far above his ability to handle or the demonic presence even now residing quietly inside his dantian, it all reinforced the fact that Ren was lacking. But with this realization came a resolve.

A resolve to not always react passively and take charge of his own destiny. He was heading off into the unknown, the ancient and mighty Azure Mountain sect, to once again make a new home for himself.

'Though I wish it were under better circumstances, I'll make the most of this opportunity. Navigating these complex plots will only help me improve myself, and maybe one day I can be the one influencing events. And the karmic path I have chosen for myself is extremely suited to doing that. I can't remain naïve forever.' As days passed, Ren grew more firm in his resolve. He was even reminded of that monk's prophecy.

"Cultivators have to seize every opportunity they get. I might not have chosen my current circumstances, but I won't let that stop me. I will continue focusing on my cultivation and follow my dao. I will start anew in those lands that are to be my new home. Advancing honorably, I will raise a worthy legacy of my own! May the Heavens witness my path!"