Chương 16: 13.1. Ruby Demonic Sect

The journey back to the sect was painfully slow. The wooden platform creaked and swayed precariously as it carried a massive pile of dragon bones and other parts that didn't fit in the group's spatial bags. Faust swore under his breath to pick artifact forging back up and make a damn spirit ship when he had time.

He was someone who usually didn't take missions outside of the sect's formally recognised territory, meaning the longest missions he usually took wouldn't take longer than 3 days now, a week if he was still at the Meridian Opening realm. It had only taken 2 days to arrive, find and kill the flood dragon, but it had taken almost a week to dismantle its corpse and would take 4 more days to return to the sect while carrying everything. Faust sighed. He should have brought some books.

Even Satheon had brought an expensive memory crystal and was rewatching some kind of play. Phalecia was solving a Qi manipulation puzzle and Sirius was reading something titled, "Ten Thousand Years of Seclusion, When I Emerged I Was Invincible!" Faust only had his notebook and a brush, so he returned to trying to improve the Heaven's Smite spell technique.

Despite the mental exhaustion of the past several days, he had nothing better to do except trying to find another route of vectors through Qi State analysis and Qi Array Indexing. The current vectors he was using had almost blown out his Meridian Channels and crippled him. To use conventional euphemisms, he was finding another way to twist his Spirit Qi to achieve the same effect but by applying different earth laws to the spell techniques dao. Such euphemisms were common.

Substituting the hellish mathematics and excruciatingly detailed descriptions and terminology, for something most muscleheaded cultivators could intuitively understand.

"Math… It always comes back to math." Faust muttered under his breath as he angrily worked out the cross product of 7 vectors by hand. Faust wanted to kill himself by the 800th operation and he still had some 4240 more to go before he could determine if the alternative path of Spirit Qi for the spell technique was viable. No wonder nobody makes their own techniques and methods anymore… Faust thought idly. He hated it.

"Hey! Senior brother!" Sirius called out. Faust didn't respond immediately, writing down his current progress and line of thought so he could continue later.

"Yes?" Sirius raised her book in response.

"Is it possible to reach the Void Transformation realm without knowing you've reached it?" She asked.

"No." Faust responded simply.

"Why not?"

"Fundamentally not how cultivation works. If you don't do anything you won't be cultivating and you won't improve."

"What if like… The place is covered in Pure Qi that's like…" Sirius glanced at a page of the book, "... a thousand times denser than atop the highest mountain peak in the sect?"

"Your spirit body would be swept away by the equally strong currents such Pure Qi would contain and you'd drop dead like a soulless husk." It was the obvious outcome.

"What if there were no currents?"

"It would become Dead Qi."

"Could that help you cultivate?"

"No. Dead Qi can be revived by expending your own Spirit Qi, but then you have the problem of Qi currents and movements again."

"What if you use a treasure to protect your spirit body?"

"It either blocks the Qi completely or only lets a small amount through, in which case, what's the difference between that mountain of Pure Qi and a normal mountain peak at the sect?"

"Ah…" Sirius must have run out of ideas, because she looked at the book dejectedly, then stuffed it back into her spatial pouch. The group went silent for a while.

"Hey. What's happening over there?" Sirius suddenly pointed out after twiddling her thumbs for a while. Faust again paused his calculations, turning upwards to follow Sirius's gaze. In the distance, a large amount of smoke was rising. A small glow suddenly shot into the sky. It twisted to head toward the sect briefly before Satheon stretched his hand out. The small light zipped around and shot towards the group.

"This is Lin Chang from Clear Mirror Outer Sect! Demonic cultivators above Meridian Opening have attacked! If any seniors are around! Please help!" The talisman repeated its message.

"Demonic cultivators." Satheon spoke before even Faust could, stowing his memory crystal away as his gaze became cold.

"Waaait!" Faust tried to say, but Satheon shot forward ahead of the group on his flying sword. The platform carrying the bones was yanked forward. Orion shot from its scabbard and cut Satheon's rope. The platform began wildly swinging and bones began spilling over the edge.

"..." Faust felt his eye twitching as he caught the bones with Qi telekinesis.

"Nevermind. Both of you! Go!" Faust said. Sirius and Phaleica removed the ropes from their flying swords before shooting forward. Faust carried the whole platform with Qi telekinesis as he followed.

"Hmpf. What pointless righteousness." A white haired old man in blood red robes snorted. Lin Chang grit his teeth, one arm covered in blood limp at his side while he held his saber in his other hand, standing between the demonic cultivator and a group of mortal villagers. Buildings burned and crackled around the group, lighting up their faces with amber light.

A large chunk of the inn the group had been staying in suddenly gave way with a crack, before crashing to the ground and sending burning embers everywhere, licking Chang's clothes.

"Chang…" Chang's martial sister, Su Xin, asked nervously. Chang knew what she wanted to say. They had invited a lost looking Qi Refining disciple from the latest generation of new recruits, who was trembling wildly to Chang's other side.

"Listen closely, May." Chang began, "Me and Xin will give our lives to make an opening. When we do. Run through with the villagers and return to the sect."

"You think you'll have a chance?" A blood robed old man scoffed, more interested in a freshly dug out skull than the trio. More than 10 blood robed men and women bared their clawed ruby hands, daggers or small scythes, practically licking their lips as they closed in on the trio from all directions. Chang looked between one demon to another. He erased all hesitation in his heart, resolved to die here.

He began drawing all his Spirit Qi out from his established nodes and channels, even the Innate Qi he had spent years refining for his breakthrough bubbled up. There was a brief moment of silence. Chang's eyes narrowed, his breathing stabilised. The demons' stances lowered, their legs coiling to leap forward. The clank of claws, the shine of Chang's blade. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. The tension rendered the world silent." MERE DEMONS DARE!!!"

A voice sounded in the distance, breaking the tension.

"Hmm?" The blood robed old man glanced up, then his eyes widened.

"HAAAAAHHH!!!" The voice sounded loudly, cutting through the tension and startling Chang so bad he almost dropped his saber. The blood robed old man tried to do something, dropping the skull and raising his arms. ZING! The blood robed old man fell apart in two halves. BOOOM! Dirt and stone was thrown into the air as the impact of someone landing exploded in the next instant, throwing several of the Meridian Opening demonic cultivators into the air.

Chang covered his eyes with his saber before squinting and peering through the clouds of dirt and dust to see a giant man with a wild mane of dark hair smiling furiously as he held a sword. The man turned, glaring at the other demonic cultivators as he stood over the Open Palace realm demonic cultivator's corpse.

"Hmp!" The man turned to a group of demonic cultivators. They tried to raise their weapons. ZING! The man moved almost faster than Chang could perceive, slicing through the demonic cultivators, weapons, claws, armour, robes and all. Three of them dropped dead, cut in half at the waist in an instant. Everyone went silent as all eyes were on the beast of a man, who turned to his next victim.

"Arm." The silence was cut through as a soft voice spoke from Chang's left. He turned. A young woman in the Clear Mirror sect's inner disciple robes and light grey hair was holding her hand out with a completely blank expression, gesturing to his limp arm.

"Uhm…" Chang began. He couldn't even feel that arm. The inner sect woman grabbed his arm, pain shot through Chang's body. But the pain faded as he felt a refreshing breeze cover his arm. Wood Qi. He recognised the sensation. The next moment, Chang relaxed, letting some tension leave his shoulders as the woman began slathering his arm in some kind of cool green paste before she began twisting and pushing bones. Chang felt his shattered arm slowly be put back into place piece by piece.

"Thank you…" Chang finally said. He was a little overwhelmed. He hadn't expected someone to arrive so fast and was fully ready to die here. The demonic cultivators began panicking as the man began cleaving through them two or three at a time. Another short pink haired girl in inner sect robes also joined the fray, her broad sword slicing cleanly in comparison to the lion of a man who swung his sword like a club.

"It's useless!" One of the demonic cultivators yelled.

"The formation is already complete!" Chang suddenly tensed up. He recognised that voice. It was one of the other Open Palace demonic cultivators he'd seen earlier. A red light suddenly enveloped the village. Chang looked up to see glowing red characters floating in the sky, twisting and turning to form a massive circle. Looking around, Chang saw all the blood in the village begin to be dragged upward from where it stained the walls and ground.

He even felt his Qi being forcefully extracted despite his attempts to resist.

"Senior!" Chang turned to the woman healing him, who hadn't seemed to notice the formation rising above them. The light gray haired woman looked up briefly, uninterested, before returning to her work.

"Senior brother is a formation expert." She said briefly. Chang looked to the only other man in their group, who was still swinging his sword like a maniac, looking almost more blood crazed than the demonic cultivators who tried fleeing in terror.

"I— Are you sure he's—" Chang began, before he was cut off by a voice from above.

"What kind of… Pathetic ass formation is this meant to be?" A voice dripping with disdain echoed across the area. Chang looked up. Another man, looking far more scholarly and refined, also in purple gold inner sect robes, was floating above the formation, looking down with a scrutinising gaze, his hands behind his back.

"Basic fireball." The man raised one hand, several orange lights appeared above it, glowing violently. With a gentle toss, the several orange lights scattered, shooting across the sky until they suddenly made a sharp turn and smashed against different parts of the formation in bright balls of flame. For a moment, nothing happened. Chang wondered if the senior had just been posing when— CRACK! The glowing red formation suddenly had a massive white crack across its twisted red characters.

Like shattering glass, the formation exploded into pieces that began falling down. The demonic cultivator who had shouted about the formation looked up mouth agape. A moment later another ball of orange light smacked them in the face, engulfing them in a ball of light that dissipated into raging fire. Chang watched on. It was already hot from the burning houses, but the basic fireballs were on another level, the heat scorching the side of his face and forcing him to look away.

Looking back after the heat had dissipated, the demonic cultivator Chang had guessed was in the middle of Open Palace had been reduced to charred bones which fell to the ground with a soft clatter. Looking back up, Chang saw the senior in the air throw out several large flags from their spatial pouch, then make several hand seals. A giant pale blue dome stretched from the ground up into the sky, the final gap closing just above the scholarly senior brother.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Chang heard a demonic cultivator shouting. A demonic cultivator, who ritually tortured countless and created twisted altars of organs and bones, cultivating in pools of blood, was begging for their life. Chang's face twisted in disgust as he turned to the demonic cultivator, who was scrapping up against the pale blue barrier surrounding the village until the pink haired girl shot past, taking his head with one stroke of the blade.

Despite detesting the one sided slaughter of any creature, even Chang felt a twisted satisfaction seeing these people get what they deserve. Looking away from the continuing slaughter, Chang turned to check his two teammates. May, who had been trembling in fear had collapsed to her knees with tears, sniffling and sobbing. Su Xin comforted the poor girl, cradling her in her arms and patting her on the back.

Chang turned back to the woman who was now splinting his arm before he felt a chill on the back of his neck, which spread from his head to his toes. He turned around with his saber, ready to fight, but then calmed down. Still breathing heavily, Chang watched as with some more hand signs, the senior brother in the air created thick clouds that fell from the sky, enveloping the burning buildings. The fires were smothered and went out in an instant.

In less than a minute, the whole village, which had been a beacon of orange light in the afternoon skies, crackling and shattering went quiet. Even the screams of the demonic cultivators stopped. BANG! Chang jumped, turning around and coming face to face with a massive pile of bones that had fallen from the sky.

"Th-this!" Chang prepared himself for anything. He knew demonic cultivators could reanimate bones. With such a massive pile even the seniors would probably struggle. He prepared to shout to Xin and May.

"Stop." The inner sect woman healing him firmly grabbed his arm holding his saber and pushed it down.

"Sorry." The scholarly senior brother landed ahead of Chang.

"We didn't have enough space for the dragon bones." He explained. Chang's expression went from scared, determined, then to confusion as he processed the senior's words.

"A… Dragon…" Chang repeated, looking at the bones more closely. Indeed, the bones resembled the shape of a dragon.

"Puft—" Chang almost spat blood as something slapped his back.

"Hahaha! Indeed!" The large framed senior brother with the sword laughed loudly.

"The beast was fierce! We were told it was just a black serpent trying to transform, but it was almost fully transformed!"

"I almost died!" The pink haired girl joined in, bouncing around until she came to the side of the scholarly senior brother. Chang smiled with a mix of awkwardness and gratitude, he cupped a fist in his hand and bowed.

"Thank you, senior brothers and sisters. For saving us… And the village." The villagers who were still in shock also suddenly got on their knees, kowtowing with their heads touching the ground.

"Thank you sir immortals!" The villagers shouted in unison. The large cultivator bellowed louder in laughter while the scholarly one nodded. The light gray haired woman remained silent while the short pink haired one puffed up with pride. The scholarly one turned to the burly one.

"Now…" The scholarly senior brother smiled kindly.

"Satheon." The muscleheaded senior brother's laughter suddenly froze.

"Just stay still for one moment." The scholarly senior brother said, his fist already moving. In a moment faster than Chang would have been able to react, the burly senior brother raised his arms, only for the scholarly senior brother's fist to twist and go underneath the burly senior brother's guard, striking from just beneath the ribcage. BANG! The burly senior brother went flying in a wide arch before smashing against the pale blue barrier and falling to the ground."""

"" Chang and the watching villagers went silent.

"Pheeewww… I feel better now." The scholarly senior brother spoke, before turning back to the pile of dragon bones, which were sitting atop a large wooden platform. Gaping at the sudden internal fighting, Chang quickly tried to reorient himself.

"M-May I have seniors' names so I can thank you back at the sect?" Chang scrambled to ask, seeing the group about to depart as quickly as they left. The scholarly disciple paused for a moment, seeming to consider, "Inner Disciple Faust." He spoke without turning.

"Inner Disciple Sirius!" The pink haired woman bounced and landed facing Chang, cupping a fist in a hand to introduce herself before bouncing off after Faust.

"Inner Disciple, Phalecia." The light grey haired woman gave a small bow before continuing to follow the other two.

"Urgh… Inner Disciple Satheon." The burly senior brother suddenly walked past, following the others, rubbing his chest gently where he had been struck. Chang was dumbstruck for a moment, then it hit him. The strike that would have killed him instantly was just a playful jab to these guys. Wow… Chang thought. Satheon was perfectly fine after taking a hit like that. Even Faust, who seemed to be a lean spellcaster. He was still so strong in physical power.

He had seen less of Sirius and Phalecia's combat, but he had no doubt they were just as impressive. The pale blue barrier fell apart, flags flying back from around the area and landing perfectly into Faust's spatial pouch. Chang, Xin and even the calmed down May watched their seniors in awe as they took the massive pile of dragon bones and floated back into the sky, passing overhead before speeding up and shooting off into the distance.

"Haahhh…" Chang collapsed to the ground. Lying on his back, the exhaustion of the earlier fight hit all at once, even with Phalecia's healing. Looking into the sky, Chang wondered if he'd be able to make it to the inner sect someday, reaching the Open Palace realm. He still had a few years, but only at the late Meridian Opening, he wasn't too confident at his prospects.