Chapter 13: Divine Demon Sect
At the center of the enormous Seventh Province of the Heaven Empire was a very tall and large mountain. Five smaller mountains surrounded this central mountain.
On top of one of the smaller mountain peaks was a large building made of stone.
A large man in blue robe sat in front of a table at the end of the spacious hall inside the stone building. He slowly sipped the tea from the cup in his hand while eyeing documents on the table.
The atmosphere and environment were very serene. But this serenity was suddenly broken by a commotion.
A servant ran hurriedly inside the hall and then knelt down in front of this large man.
After a long time, the servant still had not said anything. The servant was shaking nervously as he knelt down in front of the large man. Seeing that the servant had not spoken after a long time, the man became impatient.
"What is it? Out with it," the large man said.
The servant looked up at his master nervously. Sweat poured down his back but he still hesitated to speak.
"Speak!" the large man shouted.
"Y-young Master Lent has been slain!" the servant said nervously.
Crack!
The teacup shattered and hot tea spilled on the papers on the table.
"What?!" the large man yelled and stood up, his eyes were bloodshot.
"Are you certain?" the large man asked.
"Absolutely, master. The young master's life talisman in the Great Hall has broken. Lady Silis was also present at the scene when the Young Master was killed," the servant said.
This large man was one of the Peak Masters of the Long Stream Sect, Peak Master Boran. A Peak Master was a position of high seniority with great authority within the sect. He was equal in status to the four other Peak Masters and was above everyone else in the sect and only below the Sect Master who resided on the central mountain peak.
The righteous Spirit King who Shura killed during his escape from Violetwood City was precisely this Young Master Lent who was Peak Master Boran's only child.
"The murderer?" Peak Master Boran asked with a low voice, but he was furious inside.
"He was able to escape after suffering a severe wound from Lady Silis. His current whereabouts are unknown," the servant said.
"Place a bounty on him, I will go see Lady Silis," Peak Master Boran said.
"Yes, Master," the servant said and left in a hurry.
Peak Master Boran closed his eyes and exhaled a long breath. When he opened his eyes again they were still red.
Lent was his only child by his deceased wife. He was only in his late 30s yet was already a first layer Spirit King. He was among the cream of the crop of the geniuses of the sect. Only Lady Silis from a very noble background had a more heaven-defying talent in cultivation than him in the sect.
This was something that he could not understand. In all of Seventh Province, the chance of a Spirit King dying wasn't high, and every time it happened it would be big news. From what he knew his son had no enmities with anyone. Not to mention that his son was a genius! Which old monster had come out to deal with his son? Whoever it was, he would make them pay!
Lent was the person that Boran put all his hope into. Boran was a third layer Spirit King and he felt that it would be impossible for him to break through to the Emperor rank in his lifetime. His son would succeed him as the Peak Master in the future.
But now that his son was dead, none of that mattered anymore.
Peak Master Boran gripped his fists tightly. An invisible shockwave shot out from the mountain peak with him as the center. The animals were terrified and fled. Birds that were flying in the sky suddenly fell to the ground.
"Son, I will avenge you," Peak Master Boran said.
…
Somewhere in the vast land of the Seventh Province.
There was a small lake in the middle of a large forest. A figure stood on the lake's shore.
Shura looked at his reflection on the clear surface of the lake. He saw himself reflected back.
It had been over a month since his escape from Violetwood City. He had been hunted down constantly by cultivators. It was only when he saw a painting of his face on a board inside of a city that he realized that there was a bounty on him. He had to fight to get out of that city.
He didn't frequent any towns or cities anymore after that. There was nothing wrong with living in the wilderness. If one knew how to survive and live off the land, then they could still thrive. But even so, Shura didn't like constriction placed on him by others.
Just because they were stronger than him, they could dictate how he would live or even die. The thought was very unpleasant.
He was certain about one thing, he still desired to become stronger. To hold absolute power over everyone else so that they couldn't harm or control him like this.
Shura smiled wryly. His reflection in the water smiled with him. He had regressed in cultivation after having fought over his limit against Silis and her Spirit King 'teacher'. He was now only a third layer Spirit Master. He could at the most fight a second layer Spirit Grandmaster now.
He had also been grievously wounded during his escape by Silis. The injury compounded with him overdrawing his abilities had done serious damage to his cultivation's foundation.
He would suffer immense pain at night and be unable to sleep. He couldn't forget the sight of the silver-haired girl. All of this began with him fighting her.
It was only because of the miraculous powers of the Wrathfire Refinement technique that he had been able to hold on and escape that day. And it was also the reason that he was still holding on right now.
All that he wanted to do right now was to heal his injury and increase his cultivation. But each would hinder the other. His cultivation was low, so his injury couldn't be fully cured. His injury was severe, so his cultivation did not make any major progress.
He had promised himself that he would be careful ever since he had survived the ghoul's illusion formation. But he still acted recklessly and got himself into trouble in Violetwood City and ruined his own plans. If only he had some forethought and held himself back…
Some setbacks were fine, he would be able to learn from his mistakes.
Whether it was due to fate or his own folly, he had become enemies with the Long Stream Sect and Silis. One day he would go to their doorsteps and pay them back with interest when he was strong enough.
Time passed and the season changed again.
Shura finally cured his injury and his cultivation was back to the first layer of the Spirit Grandmaster realm.
He left the lake that had become familiar to him.
…
The Long Stream sect had a mortal enemy—the unorthodox Divine Demon Sect. So Shura joined them. He showed his talents and was easily able to join. Because of the talent and potential he had shown, he was able to directly become an inner disciple instead of an ordinary outer disciple.
The season changed again. Shura was now a member of the Divine Demon Sect for four months. It had been an entire year since he had arrived on this continent.
Shura had cultivated diligently every day and now he was already a first layer Spirit Lord. This was possible only because of the resources of the sect. With ample Spirit Stones combined with his own cultivation talent, the level that most would need to be in their late 30s to reach was easily reached by him.
It was time for the annual assessment. If his performance was good, then he would be able to become a disciple of one of the grand elders and become a core disciple: a disciple that would be one of the next foundations of the sect. The endless supply of cultivation resources he would have then would soon propel him into the ranks of the Spirit Kings.
Nothing unexpected happened during the annual assessment. Shura once again stood out from the crowd. Although the competition at the end was very fierce, he was able to defeat a senior at the third layer of Spirit Lord and prove himself.
He was immediately accepted as a core disciple after the assessment. An old man with long white hair and long white beard became his master. The old man didn't talk much and left after leaving him with a few books to read. He didn't even tell him his name.
…
Shura lost track of time as he continued to cultivate. His time at the Divine Demon Sect Headquarters was harmonious. His fame had spread far and wide among fellow disciples and elders. He was one of the shining stars of the new generation, even though people barely saw him because he was always cultivating alone.
Although his sect was an unorthodox sect that didn't really care much about righteousness or morality, Shura never had any problems during his time in the sect.
There were no fellow disciples who came out to bully him. There was no one who was jealous of him who came and bothered him either. It was peaceful and calm. Shura cultivated steadily.
He was no longer concerned with the bounty placed by the Long Stream Sect. As long as he didn't go out, they couldn't do anything to him. And even if he did go out, he would be well protected by the sect.
Time continued to pass peacefully like this as Shura cultivated. It had been two years since Shura came to Short Continent. He had just heard the news that Silis of Long Stream sect had just broken through and entered the Spirit King level.
Shura didn't pay much attention to the news. He was still at the second layer of Spirit Lord. But he would catch up with Silis eventually. He had wasted time due to his injury and lack of resource, so it wasn't surprising that Silis had gone ahead of him.
The road of cultivation was long. Just because someone was ahead of him now didn't mean that they would be ahead of him always. Perhaps it will not be long before he overtook her.
As long as no unexpected changes happened, Shura would continue to cultivate. But one day such change did happen. His master, the white-haired old man had summoned him.
"You called me, Master?" Shura said as he walked up to his master.
"I know you have a history with the Long Stream Sect's Silis," he said.
Shura nodded.
"Your talent is no worse than hers, but you're still a long way from the Spirit King level. You lack experience. Even if you spend more times cultivating in seclusion like this, you still wouldn't break through to the Spirit King level," the old man said.
Shura frowned. He had an idea where this was going. "What you mean to say is—"
"That's right. You need to go adventure in the outside world. You need hands-on experience. Which is why I'm sending you outside to do something for me," the old man said.
"Please speak, Master."
"You will go to Redmoon City with another disciple and investigate the death of the City Lord and handle the matters regarding his succession. Redmoon City is a part of our dominion, we can't let anything unexpected happen there. Tensions have been rising between us and the Long Stream Sect lately, we can't be too careful," the old man spoke.
"Rest assured master, your disciple will soon be back with good news," Shura said.
"I hope so. Now go," the old man said and waved his sleeve.
On his way back to his abode, Shura was still thinking about his upcoming adventure. He had hoped he could just stay inside and continue to cultivate, but his master was right. Waiting in seclusion was not the right to do now. What he needed to do now was go out there and make a wave. That should be able to give him enough experience to increase his cultivation.
Cultivation required many things. Now that he had resources, he now needed real experience. Perhaps a few fights between life and death might give him an epiphany and help him break through. It also made sense that fighting techniques would become better through fighting.
Although what his master said was simple, he knew things should be more complicated than that. He was sure that his master really didn't expect him to do everything himself. So the other member of their two-man team must be someone formidable.
He couldn't wait to find out who was going outside with him.
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