Chapter 128: Jack - 128
Before the new mermaid king could set off on his journey to become the king of the ocean, he needed to start cultivating.
Since cultivation had never been a big priority of the mermaid race, it was very rare for someone below the age of eighteen to start cultivating. Therefore, the new mermaid king, who was only ten, was a complete mortal. He didn't even have the strong body that all celestials had. In other words, he was near the very bottom in terms of strength in the Zhou World.
The only reason he was excluded from the absolute bottom ranks was because the mermaids naturally had strong bodies so that they could resist deep sea pressure, but they didn't have much and instead relied on their biological structure to survive the heavy pressure.
After the ceremony ended, the old merman led the new king to the palace of the mermaids. Although there had been a previous king, he had immediately relinquished his position to the merman boy after he heard the news of him pulling out the trident.
Once they reached the throne room, the old king, along with a few of his most trusted generals and advisors, were kneeling on the ground.
"We greet the mermaid king and the royal teacher" They said in unison as they kneeled.
The matter of the mermaid boy pulling out the trident was not to be underestimated. It had long been engraved into the minds of all mermaids that the one who pulled it out was the rightful and true king.
Even the old king, who was now kneeling, didn't feel any resentment at losing his position. He whole-heartedly believed that the boy was the rightful ruler and he was just warming the seat.
"Stand, we must make plans for the future." Finley, the old merman said.
The old king and the rest of the group stood up and sat at the seats at the side of the throne room.
The mermaid boy, Jack, went up to the throne and sat upon it while Finley stood beside him. Finley was both the most knowledgeable merman in the entire mermaid cave and Jack's mentor. Until Jack became old enough to rule wisely, Finley would teach him everything he needed to know and advise him on all of his choices.
Zhou Fan watched on, invisible.
"Hello. It is nice to meet you all. As you know, I, Jack, am the new king of the mermaid race." Jack said.
"It is our honor to meet you, your highness." The old king said from his seat, followed by a quick nod from the others in the group.
After saying that, Jack looked to his side at Finley. Finley knew that Jack didn't know what to say and spoke up.
"Before we do anything else, I will teach Jack cultivation and he will cultivate until he has reached a level of strength that can hold our race up. Until then, we expect you all and every other mermaid to cultivate with all your efforts. We must not drag King Jack down." He said.
"You are absolutely right sir Finley." The old king said. "Under you and King Jack's supervision, we will implement cultivation to all corners of the mermaid cave."
Finley nodded at the group and dismissed them, leaving only him and Jack.
"We must act in haste, Jack. Who knows what is happening in the outside world. You are the only one who can give our race safety and peace." Finley said. "Come. I will teach you the ways of cultivation, although I'm sure you will quickly surpass me."
Finley was only at the 5th level of nascent soul, although that did make him one of the strongest mermaids. He led Jack to one of the rooms in the back of the castle and spent a week teaching him everything there was to know about cultivation. Jack absorbed all the knowledge he was told the first time he heard it and was able to quickly understand it all.
As soon as he learned the necessary knowledge, Jack was urged into seclusion by Finley. He was told to not come out until he reached the nascent soul realm.
In five and a half years, Jack got out of seclusion. His body had clearly grown, but he mostly had the mentality of a ten year old. The biggest change was that his patience was at a whole new level. Of course, patience was something every cultivator gained.
Jack swam all the way up to the top floor of the tower and knocked on one of the doors.
"Who is it? What do you need?" An old voice asked.
"It's me Finley." Jack responded.
As soon as Jack spoke, a crash was heard, along with a groan and hasty footsteps. The door swung open and Finley looked at Jack with his jaw dropped.
"I expected you had more talent than any other, but I didn't think it would only take five and a half years for you to reach the same realm as me." Finley said after closing his jaw. "Let's go. I have much to teach you."
Jack followed Finley down the many steps of the castle and arrived in the same room he was first taught cultivation in.
"Now that you have reached my realm, there are some things to teach you." He said. " First, as soon as a mermaid reaches the core formation realm, they can transform their lower body and grow legs. Although most places in the mermaid cave have been created for people with fins, you have probably noticed that places like the castle are built with legs in mind."
Jack nodded as all of that was common knowledge. Although there weren't many people in the core formation realm, those who were often traveled on foot.
Finley continued to teach Jack things about cultivation as well as things about mermaids. Some of it was common knowledge while some was brand new, but Finley didn't miss out on a single detail.
A week of talking passed and Finley sent Jack back into seclusion until he reached a brand new realm that no mermaid had ever seen.
Chapter 129: The Difference - 129
Jack stayed in seclusion for another year before he came out. This time, there was a group waiting for him.
As Jack exited the room, they all stood with held breaths. Even Finley was looking at Jack with hope and excitement. Jack was first stunned when he looked at the crowd, but he soon regained his wits and looked back at them.
"I have broken through to the soul formation realm." He said victoriously. When the group of mermaids heard his words, some jumped in the air while some smiled uncontrollably. Regardless, every single person there showed joy at Jack's breakthrough.
He was the first mermaid in history to ever break into the realm. The only reason they even knew what the realm was called was because all living beings of the Zhou World automatically knew that information.
Otherwise, they would have taken wild guesses at the name of every realm.
Zhou Fan watched the mermaids closely. Specifically, he was watching Jack. Jack had shown talent similar to Annas, and Zhou Fan felt that he had even more affinities than her.
After seeing him break into the soul formation realm, he decided he was finished watching Jack for now. The journey from soul formation would get slower and slower regardless of Jack's talent.
It wasn't only due to lack of talent, but lack of Qi. Despite Zhou Fan's best efforts, the ratio of absorbable Qi's to chaos qi was 1:50.
This meant that someone like Zhou Fan would cultivate much faster than others. That didn't mean that Zhou Fan was untalented without his chaos affinity, but that he wasn't held back like others.
In fact, with Jack's talent, even if he could absorb chaos Qi he would be thousands of times slower than Zhou Fan. After all, Zhou Fan too was held back.
Unlike everyone else, Zhou Fan had to create the path ahead. People like Jack and Anna were simply following a path he created.
It was like the difference in speed between someone cutting a path through a forest and someone going through that path. It would obviously be many times easier for the person going through a path already there.
Not to mention the fact that inventing new realms couldn't be compared to cutting a path in a forest. It was more like the difference between carving a tunnel through a mountain with a pebble and walking through that path.
Zhou Fan flew away from the deep sea and went to Anna's tower. Once he arrived, he entered through the wall and looked at her. Naturally, he was invisible.
Zhou Fan could tell that Anna was close to breaking through to the space shattering realm. She would successfully do it in around a thousand years. At that time, she would become the absolute being of the Zhou Solar system.
Sadly, that wouldn't last long with the dragon king not too far behind her and Jack starting his journey that will eventually lead him to catching up with her if he doesn't die.
Thinking of Jack dying, Zhou Fan had no intention of giving him any more help. If he was unable to survive and prosper with some of the greatest talent the universe has ever seen and a god-level weapon, Zhou Fan didn't care if he died.
He had already been given enough. After looking at Anna for a while, Zhou Fan left and checked out the situation in space. The rulers had spent the last few years making contact with the new sentient species, only to realize that they didn't even know what cultivation was.
Unlike people and things born on the Zhou World, the life born on other planets didn't have cultivation information implanted into their minds.
Therefore, it would be up to the rulers to teach them cultivation. Of course, they could also raise them like cattle without ever letting them know that something like cultivation exists, but Zhou Fan felt that doing that was bound to go wrong.
Even on earth there were stories of the weak rising up to the strong, much less in a place with something like cultivation. All it would take was one being to learn too much and he could teach every other member of his race.
As time passed, they would eventually give birth to a talented person who would fight back and usually win. However, it seemed that the rulers didn't plan on taking the oppression path.
Once they realized that the new life didn't know cultivation, they wrote a book similar to the first book Zhou Fan gave the first celestials and gave it to them. They then realized that the sentient beings couldn't read their language.
Luckily, the rulers were high level cultivators and language was no issue. Within a day, they had a full grasp of the speaking and writing of the new races language.
They then started to teach the new race the Zhou world language. It would take them a while, but they would learn quicker as their cultivation grew.
Until then, they translated their book into the new races language and gave it to them.
When Zhou Fan first saw the new race, he was shocked. Although there were slight differences, they had a striking resemblance to the demon race from earth. In fact, they even had a natural affinity with Demon Qi, so it would be weird to call them anything but demons.
Once the dragon king sensed their affinity and their natural tendency towards demon Qi, he started to become closer to them. Eventually, he and the other rulers decided that the dragon king would take care of the demon race, which is what they also called them.
The dragon king was satisfied since he had a high affinity with Demon Qi and he himself could be called a demonic dragon. That didn't mean that he would tenderly care for them, however. The demons would still get very little interference since the rulers had decided together that the life on other planets should be left to grow mostly on their own.
Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
121 Power
stone You may also Like
Paragraph comment