Chương 17: 13.2. Ruby Demonic Sect

BOOM!!! Long Tao's glaive sent cracks and splinters across the cliff face just by grazing it. Tao grinned madly, but suppressed it as best he could. Qi swirled around Tao and even as the technique ended, vibrating in excitement.

"So this is the power of Qi…" Tao said, shaking nervously as he brought the glaive's blade to his face and saw his reflection in it. Even suppressing his giddy excitement the best he could, Tao's reflection in the blade showed his mouth twitching up in spite of his best efforts. It was as if nothing else that had got him down could shake his mood right now.

"It's a difficult feeling to resist, I understand." The old ghost stroked his beard while nodding and smiling.

"I feel like I could kill that bear in one strike…" Tao began, "Even Foria's brother doesn't seem so tough now." He admitted, moving the glaive and widening his stance, practicing the set of glaive techniques once again, guiding Qi from around him"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." The old ghost put him in check immediately, clearing his throat. Even with the old man's discouragement, Tao was unconvinced. He felt like if he put in all his effort, he could crush mountains.

"It's not always the strongest in each realm who ascends. I was far behind my peers who all failed to ascend." The old ghost continued to explain. Suddenly, Tao felt a foreboding feeling as he arced the glaive around, shifting his upper body to counter the weight.

"You mean…" Tao began, his elation pausing.

"That girl's brother… Is… Just a tad stronger than I was at the peak of the Foundation Establishment realm… JUST A BIT!" The old ghost rushed to add. The glaive paused. The wind stopped. Only the chirping of birds and choir of insects remained.

"..." Tao felt his mouth twitching, he looked to the sky, his glaive pausing a moment, halfway through one of the movements. It was as if a burning desire had been doused with cold water. Tao's face scrunched up, "Is… Is he really that strong?" He asked. The old ghost nodded.

"He's in the Return To Origin realm of hand to hand combat. But that's not his specialty. It's more like a consequence of it. One not even used against that demonic cultivator."

"I realised after seeing the notes he left that girl." The old ghost elaborated, "He's not a physical combatant. He's a spellcaster and technique master." Tao thought about it. He knew about spells. Low versatility but High Power. Though it was hard envisioning the guy who beat a demonic cultivator to death like a gorilla doing delicate spellcraft, he got what it meant, but he hadn't ever formally heard the term "Technique Master".

"... A.. Technique Master?" Tao asked, raising his glaive again and trying to settle his breathing.

"Just like Formation Masters, Talisman Masters, Alchemy Masters, Artifact Masters… It's one of the hundred professions. That Twelve Qi Transformation technique I saw on the desk was definitely of his own creation."

"So… It's not that crazy right?" Tao reasoned. If it was a known one of the hundred immortal professions it shouldn't be anything so extreme.

"Well, Alchemy and Formations are notoriously difficult, but you've heard of those people right?"

"Yes?"

"But have you ever heard of someone who's written a technique or developed their own cultivation method." The ghost posed inquisitively.

"..." Tao was silent. He swung his spear, splitting the air with a crisp snap. He had heard of famous techniques, but he had never actually heard who created them.

"If Alchemists and Formation masters are one in a thousand… Technique masters are one in a million."

"..." Tao's brows creased. He felt like he could do so much, but when he thought logically about it. He didn't know even a single one of the hundred immortal professions. Let alone anything about alchemy or formations. But he did know techniques. More specifically, he knew how to use them, he was using one right now.

"I don't get it. Don't all cultivators use techniques?" Tao asked, swinging his glaive and dragging the Qi around him into it, demonstrating his point.

"The way you twist the Qi, separate it and merge it, loop it around at certain points and purposely let it leak at times. Do you think such an intricate, complex series of actions was discovered by accident?" The old ghost asked pointedly, staring smugly at Tao, letting the question sink in. Tao didn't stop the movements of his glaive, letting it trace graceful arcs as he controlled Qi just how the old ghost had taught him. His brows were tightly knit as the gears in his head turned.

"... No…" Tao eventually said.

"Hahaha!" The old ghost laughed boisterously.

"I see you've stumbled upon the problem!"

"I've never thought much about it." Tao admitted.

"Haha. Don't worry kid. Few have." The old ghost cleared his throat before speaking again.

"I once tried to study it when my master way back then told me to pick up a profession other than combat. But I gave up." He shook his head wryly at the memory.

"Turns out. Like politics, those flowery words about heaven and dragons and plum blossoms… They're all just euphemisms. But instead of concealing intent, they conceal a library's worth of mathematics and deep theory about how the heavens themselves work." The old ghost explained after a moment.

"I ended up doing alchemy since I was from a well off family that could afford it." The old ghost admitted.

"I could barely wrap my head around Axiom theory." He shook his head. Tao listened in thought, his blade tracing lines as he relaxed, his eyes unfocused. For a time, Tao was silent, apart from the wind thrashing as his glaive whipped around, going through all the forms.

"What is Axiom Theory?" Tao asked. He found it difficult to believe there was something he couldn't master if he dedicated himself to it.

"I just told you I don't know right? Ask the girl's older brother. Or. I believe the sect master of Clear Mirror sect is also a technique master, ask him." The old ghost waved his hand, an expression of pompous unconcern.

"..." Tao focused back onto the tip of his glaive's blade.

"I thought you said you barely wrapped your head around it?" He interrogated the old ghost. The old ghost shrugged.

"I don't know what I don't know." Tao rolled his eyes, returning to his Qi control. The feeling of elation had passed, reality tugging back on him like gravity. After several minutes of thought though, Tao realised something that made him frown.

"What about realms?" Tao questioned, "I thought understanding heaven was required to reach higher realms?"

"Understanding a Dao or Law is very different to putting precisely how Heaven and Earth works. Like knowing something is pretty but not knowing why. Grasping a dao is similar. You understand what the dao is and call upon it to empower your spells that align with it, but you don't know why it works like that. Just that it does."

"..."

"Don't worry too much. As the son of heaven, you'll have plenty of opportunities." The old ghost waved the problem off, seeing Tao's expression go dark as the gears in his mind turned madly. Like trying to remember something he had never learnt, the glaive becoming wobbly as it was swung.

"Huuu…" Tao exhaled heavily, giving up thought after a while. He smiled lightly.

"So I'll still become stronger than Faust?" He asked, at least confident in his strength and cultivation talent.

"Uhhhh…" The old ghost's hesitation immediately made Tao's lip twitch again, he focused on the soft breeze in the forest, taking a deep breath of the fresh air on his skin.

"... Maybe? Probably?" The old ghost stroked his beard, seemingly becoming less certain every second that passed.

"..." Tao closed his eyes and looked up in exasperation. He finished performing the set of glaive techniques, the tip of his spear not hitting the ground, yet making it crack and shatter, sending dust flying around. A few moments passed in silence.

"Huuu…Thank you, master." Tao said. The old ghost paused, then nodded silently, pride on his lips.

"It's fine to be confident, but there's a difference between confidence and recklessness." Tao took a few deep breaths, letting his mind settle. The conversation had brought him back to reality. Breaking through to Qi Refining was a major achievement, but he hadn't become immortal. His own father, at the peak of Qi Refining, had been ruthlessly torn apart by the wave of a hand. Tao looked at his own hands.

His eyes clouded over for a moment and he wobbled, before his expression hardened and he clenched his hands tightly. He would become powerful… Eventually. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Long Tao spent some time resting, meditating to focus himself while he let his body and dan-tian rest. The gentle wind and towering, swaying trees among the chorus of birds and insects was a pleasant backdrop to the exercise.

Tao breathed in deeply, then exhaled, opening his eyes. The old ghost appeared in the air, looking over Tao before nodding.

"Well done." He said simply. Tao nodded in acknowledgment, then stepped through the plain undergrowth of low grass, retracing his steps. Half an hour later, Tao came across the small cliff he had been buried under the first time he faced the bear. He paused in front of it, looking from the bottom to the top of the cliff, before gripping his glaive tightly. Bending his knees, Tao jumped up, clearing the several meter small cliff and landing on top. The Black Iron bear hadn't been subtle.

It crushed vegetation and left deep imprints in the dirt, tearing through parts of the mammoth pines that got in its way. Tao followed the path calmly, marching forward with his glaive in his hand. A bird chirped, its cry echoing around the thick woods. Tao paused, his ears perking up as his eyes became unfocused.

"Dammit! The beast is resisting!" Someone shouted far in the distance. With his level of body tempering and now with Qi enhancement to further amplify his hearing, Tao strained his ears. The frustrated kick of a man made a small shockwave. There was the whine of a bear. Another man swore under their breath, while another calmly asked, "Reinforce the demonic seed quickly. More Clear Mirror sect disciples could come at any moment." Tao's grip on his glaive tightened and his eyes refocused.

Focusing on his newly improved Qi sense, Tao realised even from this distance, the Qi reeked.

"Demonic cultivators?" Tao asked in a whisper, so quiet he could barely hear himself. The old ghost appeared again, looked into the distance then nodded. Tao changed his footsteps. He moved slowly, every step calculated to be quieter than the bird's orchestra, the insects buzzing or the winds howling. Step by step. Tao came into view of the figures. The Black Iron Bear was clawing at its face, where a glowing red mark sat.

One person knelt with their hands against a circular rune beneath the bear and another added more runes to the mark, dipping a thin brush in what looked like a goblet of blood. Tao looked around, he found the third person, a young man with short white hair leaning against a tree. Unlike the other two men who wore gray robes with red symbols, this person wore a pitch black robe with vibrant red details.

"You two are taking too long. I'm going to find another beast to hunt." The black robed young man snorted, before turning and leaving. Tao watched, but didn't act. He had already been over his head once in the past few days. He wasn't so stubborn he couldn't wait a bit. A minute passed, then two. After half an hour, the two grey robed men stood up, completing whatever ritual they had been performing.

"Roooaar!!!" The bear shot to its feet with a loud growl, roaring at the two disciples with its fur standing on end. The roar was so powerful it swept the long grass Tao was hiding in, rattling his ears as he almost lay on the ground to stay hidden. One of the grey robed disciples fell over front of the force, while the other raised his brush.

"Back beast!" The brush holding disciple shouted. The bear reared up onto its hind legs before it tried to step forward— but— the bear's eyes went red and it calmed down, dropping back onto all fours, its hairs dropping down from standing on end. After a few gestures of the brush, the bear slowly turned around and began wandering off. After a moment of watching the bear, the brush wielding man turned ot the one who had fallen, "Tch. How weak." He spat.

"..." The gray robed man who had fallen down glared at the brush wielder, who ignored him and began wandering off somewhere. Tao looked between where the bear had gone and where the two gray robed men had gone. He took a deep breath and made his decision. …

"Where could that bastard have gone—" The brush wielding man began. There was a loud crack of the earth as Tao shot from the long grass with all his might from behind. The two gray robed men snapped their heads around, but Tao reached them before either could do anything. With the glaive technique the old man had taught him, Tao gathered Qi, coiling it through the spear in twists, turns and patterns.

"HAAAH!!!" Tao roared as he brought the glaive down. ZING! The brush wielding man was split in half head to toe. His eyes looked on, still looking at Tao, trying to process what just happened. Blood sprayed and Tao clenched his teeth to force his body through the action of slaughtering another human. These people deserved it. Tao turned, twisting his waist and wrist to turn the downward slice into an upward diagonal one.

The second gray robed man was far more prepared, raising his arms to defend, for all the good it did him. Tao's glaive cut halfway into the arm before proceeding to throw the man across the forest, smashing against a tree.

"Urgghh…" The man groaned, opening his eyes and trying to scramble to their feet. Tao didn't let them, he charged almost before his swing had been completed. Qi gathered at the tip of his glaive. The gray robed man looked up. Bang! Tao's glaive pierced the man's heart, before going through and biting into the tree behind him.

"Urrg…." The man struggled, gripping the glaive's shaft as he looked up at Tao. Tao didn't flinch. He suspected the person who slaughtered his family was a demonic cultivator as well. He had no sympathy for such people. Zing! Tao ripped his glaive out of the man and tree, the force throwing the man onto the ground on the side. The man twitched and scampered on the ground, but the light in his eyes was fading quickly as copious amounts of blood spilled out from the hole through his heart.

Tao looked at the man, then turned to where the white haired man had gone.

"He was strong. Not like most demonic cultivators." The old ghost warned. Tao was about to go anyway, but paused. He turned in the direction the bear had gone.

"Huuu…" Tao exhaled deeply, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. He wouldn't be so rash this time. Even he could tell the white haired man was stronger than these two. Resisting the urge to hunt down the white haired demonic cultivator, Tao walked away, following the bear's tracks. The red eyed, Black Iron bear snorted, sniffing over a log.

"Rooaar!!" The bear roared, smashing down its arm on the log. There was a high pitched squeak that was cut short. The bear lost interest, lumbering past and through the forest. A short distance behind the bear, Long Tao came upon the scene. He slightly pitied the mangled rabbit that had died for no reason. He had found several animal corpses that weren't eaten, just left there to rot.

"It's a good thing to put it out of its misery." The old ghost commented and Tao agreed. Instead of facing the bear face to face like before, Tao climbed the trees, using his powerful body enhanced with Qi to bury his fingers into the wood and climb up. Jumping between the thick lower branches of the sky scraping trees, where the vegetation was sparse, Tao followed the bear from above, waiting for an opportunity. Soon, that opportunity came.

The bear pressed down on a large tortoise, scraping and scratching at the shell, picking it up in its mouth and trying to crush it.

"Hmmm… Huuuu…" Tao breathed in and then exhaled, looking down at the bear. He adjusted his stance and held his glaive in reverse, letting the tip point downward.

"If you had done this before, perhaps you could have killed it even without Qi." The old ghost commented. Tao ignored his master's rebuke, channeling the surrounding Qi into his blade. The raw, mixed Qi from the environment wasn't very powerful compared to filtered and pure Spirit Qi, but it was enough. Tao jumped, holding his breath as he twisted the Qi around in the glaive before bringing it to the tip. At the last moment, "HAAAAH!!!" Tao let out a warcry. The bear turned its head up. BANG!

"ROOOOAOAOAOAR!!" Tao's glaive impaled the beast through the neck, the force forcing it to its knees as it roared loudly. But…

"Urf!" The bear shook and struggled, Tao was thrown off, losing grip on his glaive.

"You fool! Never let go of your weapon!" The old ghost cursed as Tao rolled and landed on his feet, staring at the bear with a glaive sticking out of its neck.

"I try not to!" Tao rebutted, but he couldn't spare much attention as he watched the bear's eyes glow violently red and it struggled to its feet, growling as it slowly turned towards him. The man and beast locked eyes. Tao pulled out a dagger from his belt, usually used to skin meat in the wild.

"Tch." Tao drew as much Qi as he could into his body before rushing forward.

"Roooooar!!!" The bear charged as well, opening wide its maw as it leaped at him. This time, the beast wasn't faster than Tao could react. Tao jumped to the side, rolling to the side of the bear that landed ungracefully, its mouth eating a pile of dirt before its front paws hit the ground, digging wide trenches. Tao didn't stop, once he had got to his feet he shot for the bear's head, swinging his dagger. The bear turned, swiping its right claw outward at Tao.

Tao jumped, the paw going just under him as he plunged the dagger into the bears eye.

"Roar!!!" The bear staggered and Tao let go of the dagger with one hand, reaching for his glaive. The bear threw its front body up into the air, dragging Tao up before letting itself fall backwards, intent on crushing Tao. Tao kicked with his legs, holding the glaive tightly. It came free with a squelch and Tao landed safely not far from where the bear's hefty body crashed against the earth.

The bear started rolling over before Tao charged with the glaive, this time, he swung the glaive in a full arc from behind himself, charging it with Qi.

"HAAAAH!!!" The glaive came down on the bear's already injured neck. SHING! PU! The glaive cut through flesh, tearing through as part of it had already been impaled, reaching the bone before finally stopping somewhere inside and smashing the bear to the ground again.

"Rooor…" The bear gave a pitiful growl, Tao grit his teeth, trying to push the glaive all the way through. The bear stubbornly tried to move and began flailing around before abruptly falling to the ground. The glaive stuck in the neck and the sudden fall dragged Tao down with it, forcing him to his knees.

"Haaaa, haaa…." Tao breathed heavily, the short exchange had taken him all his strength. He looked up at the towering bear corpse. It truly was massive, easily 3 meters tall. Tao let go of the glaive, collapsing on his back against the soft grass, that with its current length provided ample comfort while supporting his body just a bit away from the ants on the dirt.

"Tch, tch." The old ghost shook his head.

"You failed to kill it in the first blow because you missed the bone and spine, most of that was meat and muscle." Tao was too exhausted to utter a response, instead choosing to look at the sky.

"But… Good job." The old ghost offered a kind smile, looking proud.

"... Hahaha…" Tao chuckled hollowly to himself. He had almost died when he was at the Qi Refining Realm and had already severely injured it, no wonder he was blown away in one blow at just the Body Tempering realm. For a while, Tao just lay there smiling. He was making progress. The song of the birds seemed to be cheering for him, congratulating him for his victory.

"Well then, how about taking its head and vacating the area. That white haired demon may return at any moment." The old ghost offered after a while. Tao suddenly snapped back to reality, his eyes focusing. He had almost forgotten. There was another dangerous person in this forest. Despite his muscles groaning, he pushed himself to his feet, gripping the glaive. Raising the glaive again, he brought it down where he had tried cutting before. The glaive still only made it part the way through.

After several tries of hacking through the bear's neck bone, Toa scooped its decapitated head into a sack before shooting off into the forest. He made sure to skip retracing his steps unless he came across the white haired young man from before. Still. Killing the bear now, proved he was on the right track. Tao arrived at the village he had first visited.

He declared the bear slain, showing the head to the villagers, who cheered and bowed to him as he mounted the spirit horse he had left with them, beginning his journey back to the sect.