章 88: Ch.1
Pain wracked my body as my essence was forcefully contained inside. When I stretched out I found I could feel the earth beneath me. I sat up and looked around trying to get my bearings. I found I was in some sort of underground passage way.
I looked at my hands and saw I was younger than I'd remembered looking to be. A dull ache formed in my gut before I touched it and found what was wrong, I cried out as it got worse. And spread throughout my body. When it reached my mind, I passed out.
Some time later I woke up with a seriously bad headache and an avatar of Lucifer laughing his ass off at me. When he finished he snorted. "Kid, you really are the best entertainment I've had in eons. Gaia be damned, you're definitely my son at least. That bit of power should've overwhelmed your avatar and destroyed it with this reality."
I held my head and growled. "What did you do to me?"
He chuckled. "I forced you into an avatar and molded that little godling you had hidden inside you into something more useful. Congratulations, you survived the merging process. Anyway, I've given you the tools to try and make it back all you have to do is remember where this place is. I'll give you a hint, you have a red soul realm with a scattered soul form and it's attribute-less. Oh, and if you're thinking of just turning into a werewolf or vampire and wrecking shit, don't even bother. I sealed that part of you away."
I gave him a sour look before he tossed me a ring I recognized. "This is your only advantage other than your own memories and mind. I'd be very careful with it as you won't be getting another. I remade it like your old one without the protections and all the stuff you had in it. All that's left is your vibro blades inside, no armor either, tough luck kid."
I grunted and asked. "Where are my wives at least?"
He gave me a sour face now. "Gaia interrupted my flirting with them and took away that opportunity saying I'd have fun with you or them. Looks like it's you kiddo! Aren't I a good dad?"
I sighed and stood up before feeling weak and drained. He grinned. "Yep, you're playing by this worlds laws and the laws say you start from scratch. Now, since this place is under a time space lockdown, I'll be watching from afar. Try not to disappoint me kid."
Grunted and wandered the underground maze, avoiding the simple traps the people who built it set in place. I slid my ring on and searched until I found what I was looking for, dead bodies. The bodies of those trapped down here during a demon beast tide that had attacked the ancient city.
I picked up what I could find before praying to Gaia to let these people Rest In Peace. They disappeared into the earth and I knew my prayer was answered. I then went into the main chamber and felt a pressure hit me where the sarcophagus resided.
I knew it wasn't meant for me but I needed it anyway so I resisted and stepped forwards as the pressure increased. By the time I was at the coffin my nose and ears were bleeding while my head pounded like a drum. I slid the lid off and a beam of light hit me.
I began feeling out as I found how to open the soul realm made from the being known as creature that had been destroyed and remolded into a soul realm to match Nie Li's. When the energy flowed inside and I began digesting it slowly, it merely pooled at the bottom of my soul realm, trapped without anything to do except refine my body and that it did.
More agony hit me as I began sweating and once there was no sweat coming out, blood did so, or more accurately, black ooze that stank to high heavens. When the pain stopped I felt dizzy. With no water nearby I grabbed the contents of the coffin, a necklace that I slid on and a paper the with of a cicadas wing, and left, panting.
I looked around for my only chance at survival at this point and found some roots. I snapped the moist and alive ones off as I chewed on them. When I felt a little better, I spit out the nearly dried bark now and looked at the paper.
If it wasn't for my god like eyes that were powered by my soul itself, seeing enough to move would've been impossible but with them I could easily read the paper itself. I realized what it said and what it was as I wrapped it up and stored it in my ring as I stood up barely.
Still weak and parched I took more roots and chewed on them while I searched for my exit. I pushed and tapped on the walls as I went until one had a distinctly different sound to it. I pushed every which way until it gave way.
There I found gold and jewels of all kinds but my real prize lay in a lantern that floated in the corner. I stored it in my ring along with everything else as I made my way to the blocked passage upwards.
I grabbed my vibro blades and swung them repeatedly at the dirt, cutting a rectangle gash into it as each swing drove the gashes deeper until it gave way while I leaped backwards. When I saw daylight I heard Lucifer say as if I'm he were right next to me. "Good going kid, though I should've limited what those blades can do. They're a bit broken until legend rank. Do try not to abuse them too much or I'll have to take them away."
I grunted and ignored him as I crawled out of the hole and realized I was now in front of an entire group of teenage kids naked. Then again I wasn't any taller than them so I can only assume I've been turned into a teen myself.
The girls blushed while the males gave me scathing looks. When the leader spoke to me it took a few tries until I grasped the dialect. He said. "Who are you and how did you get down there? Why are you naked as well?"
I snorted. "I'm an adventurer and I was robbed. They left me for dead and shoved me down a hole. I just dug my way out. If you can spare a set of clothes and a jug of water I'll split the treasure I found down there with you fifty-fifty. What do you say?"
One of the kids said a remark about just taking my things and I snorted. "So you'll have no honor like the thieves that left me for dead before. No better than those dark guild bastards."
His face paled while he bit out a derogatory remark and cursed me. I ignored him and turned to the leader who sighed. "You found the treasure and your willing to give up half for clothes and water. It sounds more than reasonable to me."
I sighed with a smile and told him. "I'll throw in another ten percent if you'll personally help me sell the rest as well. I've no real background to speak of and being robbed by lowlifes again doesn't sound good to me."
He became far more cheering now saying. "Deal, my names Chen Linjian. What's yours?"
I smiled now as well. "I'm called Lǜ fènghuáng, but you can call me Lu."
He nodded and passed me the clothes he had. They were simple robes and pants but that was fine enough for me. He passed me the water jug as well and I took it as I took out half the treasure saying. "That's half though I did say an extra ten percent, that's for you alone.
He frowned and asked. "Where did you find a ring like that?"
I sighed. "It was a gift from my father. He was an adventurer like me until he took an arrow to the knee. Crippled him I'm afraid, then a foxbear tore him apart a while back. The dark guild were the ones toying with us as sport and had shot him in the knee or so he said. Last thing I knew I was knocked unconscious and dumped down what appeared to be a bottomless pit. A bunch of roots broke my fall but then, I expected to die down there until I drank some rotten potions that helped me recover a bit."
He frowned. "Rotten potions?"
I nodded. "When the people of this place hid from the beast tide they must've starved to death because all they left behind were skeletons and a few rotten potions. I found them and drank what I could stomach before chewing on roots for moisture, hence the reason I'd give half a fortune for a good jug of water."
I took anther long draught of the jug and gasped as I finished it off. Not long afterwards a boy and girl came out of the very same hole I did.
I raised an eyebrow. "Where did you two come from? I was down there for days it seemed and I'm pretty sure I searched the whole place."
Chen Linjian introduced me to them saying. "This is Ye Ziyun and Nie Li. They're apart of our group."
When he told them who I was Nie Li gave me a weird look but I shrugged it off as he asked about the treasures I'd found. I told him I'd already traded sixty percent of it off to Chen Linjian and his group for water and clothes.
I'd made sure to hide the necklace I wore and speak plainly to him like an equal. These MCs tend to be nosy so I answered whatever he asked and was polite all the time. When he mentioned the dark guild and a demon beast ape Chen and the rest got scared so we booked it out of there.
I watched as they slaughtered the ape demon beasts on the way out while fleeing as fast as they could. We didn't rest until we were a good distance from the city ruins and nearing where they said they'd ran into foxbear demon beasts.
I felt stronger and stronger the more I ran as the necklace gathered spirit energy inside my soul realm. It wasn't by any means fast but it was automatic and would do so with me doing nothing at all.
On the way back while they were pitching their tents for the night as it was a three day run at full speed, Nie Li joined me by a tree a good distance from the rest of the group. There he asked. "Who are you really?"
I sighed. "I've gone by many name kid so let's cut the crap. You're soul is old but your body is as young as this one I have. I'd say you've been playing with time, am I close?"
He stilled and I sighed. "It doesn't matter anyway. Your reaction confirmed it. When you restarted time, or went back as I'm sure you think of it, you opened a crack in the seal that's on the space/time of this reality. A being stronger than the one that put the seal in place thought I deserved punishment so he shoved me in this body and tossed me through the crack before sealing it up once more."
Nie Li sweated when I finished and he asked. "What did you do to make him that angry at you?"
I chuckled. "Angry? No, nothing. He did it because it amuses him to see me suffer. No rhyme or reason other than it brings him joy to see me in pain."
The MC frowned and asked. "Why did he focus on you?"
I shrugged. "Why do most parents do what they do?"
My words had him sweating again and I nodded. "Yeah, my father's a right bastard. Anyway, I know the basics about this world and I'm willing to help you if you share the knowledge you've accumulated over your limited time in this place."
I waved a hand to the general world at large. I turned to him while he looked lost in thought and I sighed. "Here, a piece offering if nothing else."
I held out the piece of the temporal demon spirit book. "Take it. I found it in the ruins and realized it was important from all the time essence on it."
He took it and gave me a deep look before asking. "What do you want to know?"
I smiled. "All I need is for you to open your mind to me. It'll be like when a demon spirit enters your soul realm, only less useful. I'll copy all the knowledge you've gathered and I'll even throw in some of my own if you'd like."
He gave me an iffy look before saying. "Alright, but I want one more thing from you. There was a lamp in with the treasure-"
I waved him off. "Deal. It's yours when we're done here."
He nodded and I touched his forehead as I gathered what little mental power I had access to and entered his mind. It was like a chaotic library in here. All the books and knowledge he'd ever gained were thrown about.
It took me only a moment to copy it all. I was about to leave when I saw his real form now. He looked to be around forty but I could tell he was closer to three hundred. I showed him what I looked like as well before I was stuck in my new body.
He smiled and asked. "How old are you really? I can tell it's a lot older than I am."
I sighed. "Over twenty thousand years old, but not by too much. Yeah yeah I know, but to a being like my father a billion years is a blink of an eye. Not that it was to me, but when your parent can literally destroy a universe with a glance you learn not to argue."
I exited his mind and handed him the lamp saying. "Take it, just don't expect me to be like your followers. I'll help you out on occasions sure, but no one orders me around, not even your silly city lord."
I closed my eyes and sat in the lotus position while I accumulated soul force and went over all I'd learned. It was a lot for a few hundred years but nothing compared to the millions of years worth of knowledge I'd gained from the ancients.
I had a basic understanding of this world now and even it's laws up to a point. I needed to see them to differentiate between them and learn to pull them in. For that I needed help from a being that has some.
For now though the soul force I was taking in would have to do. I began practicing the Heavenly god technique while drawing in the souls force. It was slow steady progress that showed very little results until Nie Li tossed me a soul stone saying. "For the demon spirit. You know what it's worth now I'm sure. It's a life saving tool after all."
I shrugged and thanked him before saying. "Free advice. Your body may be young, but your mind and soul are not. All I suggest is that you be her friend before you try being her lover. She's young and has a long life ahead of her, if you can protect it that is, so maybe being a friend first will help in the long run."
He gave me an annoyed look and I sighed. "I've several wives of my own kid, I've kids as well. Many of which are older than you. I've seen heartbreak first hand and known loss you can't possibly comprehend, even with what you've been through. All I offered was advice, take it or leave it."
I closed my eyes again and sent the soul force I felt into the crystal he gave me. It flowed with seventy little specs of light and showed my soul realm as it was. Sighing I put the crystal way and continued practicing into the night while pushing the yin energy that tried mixing with the soul force, out.
By morning I felt an inner pop that let me know I'd officially stepped into one star bronze rank. I'd checked and figured out why it was so much quicker than Nie Li's. He had a mortal soul and there fire his body collected impurities as he gathered the soul force.
My own soul cleaned the soul force as it entered me leaving pure soul force to simply fill up the soul realm. I was far and away from a genius by the draconic ruins realm standards, but then I had to work with what I got.
When they got up and we continued our journey back to the city I spent some time talking to Chen about being enrolled in the holy orchid institute. He promised he'd try his best but if I couldn't become a bronze rank demon spiritualist before the exams there was nothing he could really do.
I mention I'd pay my own way so long as he got me in for the test and that I'd help him find a better cultivation technique that suited his soul realm. He was already a five star bronze rank so he was at the very peak of being eligible to change the technique before he was forced to abandon his cultivation and start over.
So long as he changed it now he'd be fine or even better than fine. He asked how I'd do something like that and I simply asked if he had an unused soul gem. when he pulled one out I told him to go ahead and he went for it.
I smiled when I saw the results. "A warring soul realm. I've the perfect technique for you."
I tapped his forehead and gave him the war god cultivation technique. He frowned but then thanked me saying as he broke through after only a few moments of chanting. "This is wondrous! I owe you so much more than simply helping out with a recommendation."
I shook my head. "Just don't spread it around that I have it to you. Say it's from your family's hidden techniques and no one before you was fit to practice it. If word got back to the dark guild that someone with no background had such techniques they'd capture me and torture the information out of me."
He gave me a grim nod. "I won't tell a soul who I got it from. I'll say it was apart of my family's stash of treasured cultivation techniques. Each main family has their own they can practice. Thanks good brother Lu!"
He gave me a plucky thumbs up and a smile, causing me to nearly fall over onto my face. I sighed and shook my head. "Whatever you say brother Chen."
We continued our pace all the way to Glory city the next day. When we got there I immediately went with Chen to his family's place where he organized an auction and announced he'd be selling off a lot of treasures.
I kept a few like the shard from a legend rank blizzard demon beast and the demon cores. The rest being gold and weapons I had him sell off. I'd no use for such things and they'd only be more useless later on. While his people took care of the actual selling of the items he took me to meet his father and the patriarch of the Divine family.
He was a calculating but honorable man that I liked nearly instantly. He offered me a place in his family but I turned him down saying. "No, I can't accept so much when I've just met you all. I thank you for the honor but I've my own path to tread as do all men."
He accepted my words easily though I did offer him over a hundred more powerful techniques saying I'd found a scroll with my father that had them all on it. I told them he'd made me memorize it before he destroyed it to piss off the dark guild members that killed him for it.
I gave that as the reason they hunted us and left me for dead. He accepted it easily and agreed to share the techniques with the holy orchid Institute in a years time. The rest of his family was allowed immediate access to it except those he knew or suspected of being spies for the dark guild.
Their excuse would be that such a scroll was found in their vaults and was only recently translated. I taught them how to tell what their soul realm type was and what techniques would be best for them. Only Chen Linjian had the warring soul realm so he was kept as a special case.
The rest were given far better techniques throughout the few days they were selling the treasures. Nie Li did stop by to drag me away to the alchemist association to take the test since we'd both had all the knowledge required to ace their tests and he didn't want me at odds with his plans.
I watched both amused and annoyed at the idiot that teased him and by extension me. When he wouldn't shut up I asked Nie Li. "What is Glory city's policy on removing someone's tongue because it keeps flapping?"
The others heard me and quieted down while the examiners looked amused by a kid threatening an adult who'd clearly deserved it. He shrugged and the moment I went to strike the examiner stopped me saying. "Not in the alchemist association please. If he's that bad then you can be first to take the primary masters exam."
I nodded and followed him before turning to the dumb mortal. "If I see you outside this building running your mouth again, you'll lose your tongue and your eyes."
My monstrous murderous aura spread out and hit him like a sword as he fainted on the spot. I'd go so far as to say there was no one currently in this city who could face it and not pass out.
Legend ranks were bullshit. They had a natural aura that blocked and dulled killing intent depending on the strength of the one they faced compared to themselves. I swam through the exam telling the examiners I didn't want to do just twenty pages, I'd do the whole book.
That startled them but what shocked them was when I actually did so at a speed equivalent to my one star bronze rank capabilities. It was just slightly faster than a speed reader as it took seconds to finish a page.
My mind was my greatest tool right now and I most certainly was going to show it. When I finished it all I estimated Nie Li was just getting done as well. I waved both examiners over saying. "I'm done now. Let me know how it reads. There were a few questions wrong in the book so I corrected them as well. The real answers must've been lost from the beast tides that've plagued the city for generations."
They were simply stunned while they went over my answers with shocking slowness. Finally they decided to take me to see the president and to ask that I be graduated to a grandmaster alchemist at once.
When we arrived Nie Li had just begun answering the questions on the wall. I smiled and joined him while we waited. He just passed a pencil to me and I went about answering them as well. He stopped after a hundred and I stopped when there were none left.
He gave me an amused smile saying. "Senior brother was always masters favorite."
I shook my head. "I was simply with master longer. It is you that he favors so heavily."
After that the president of the association along with the Director introduced themselves. I let Nie Li talk his big game and reveal our hidden 'master' as a powerful alchemist grandmaster.
Though they were already looking at us like pork chops in a Ethiopian village. When he talked his bit and made the deal for us, he and I would split the earnings evenly, director Yang Xin asked where they could send it to and I mentioned wanting to start at the Holy Orchid Institute after I could manage to take the test.
They offered to help me into the genius class and I shrugged. "If I pass the test at all it will be by my own power. I don't like using other's influence to take advantage. I will either be worthy or not, it matters little if I fail it."
She asked where I was staying and I mentioned finding my way into the Divine family's guest house for now but that I was looking to find a place of my own as soon as the auction for the treasures was completed.
That lead to how I ended up in the ruins and my poor father's recent death and as such they offered me a place with director Yang Xin until they could find better accommodations. Now I gotta say it was one thing to manipulate a child into giving information but using feminine whiles on one was a whole other matter.
Luckily I was no child and my body was in fact around fifteen years of age. My member thank the goddess, was grown and proportional to my body exactly so later that night when she offered to help me take a bath, I really did give her something she hadn't expected.
She'd tried rubbing my body but once her own clothes were off and she was soaping me up, all bets were off. I turned the tables fast and except for a small objection to doing anal she didn't really stop me from taking her virginity.
She was a powerful black gold rank specialist but in that moment she was just a girl that desired more than to be some hussy. I gave her a tender first time then proceeded to test the limits of a one star bronze rank body against her gold rank body.
When she tired first the next morning I was a bit disappointed that she wasn't as energized as I was. I actually think I grew physically stronger the more I had sex with her.
When she panted and I stopped bulging, thanks for that dad, I pulled out of her now filled womb with a slurp and laid beside her while she curled up against me. I held her while she drifted off to sleep and I went into meditation.
I gathered as much spiritual energy as possible from the surroundings over the next few hours and cultivated. It really was easier here where plants left their spiritual essence clinging to the air. When she woke up to see me cultivating she did the same and I connected to her both physically and spiritually to try something.
With me as a filter and her own power as a one star black gold rank spiritualist to draw in more soul force from farther away and all around we both benefited greatly. In the first three hours I not only raised myself to two star bronze rank demon spiritualist, I helped her raise one star in her demon spiritualist rank while changing her cultivation technique to the golden lioness technique.
It wasn't anything that would loose out to Nie Li's friends but it was certainly trick to help her change it without ruining her foundation or starting over. I had to use my own soul to bare the load while I helped her rebuild from scratch using the energy she had from the one star black gold rank to bring her up to speed while making it as stable as mount tai with my own soul as we went.
When we finished, she'd actually grown stronger while I'd been exhausted and swore to myself never to try that again. She'd thanked me by showing me her skills with her mouth. It was a mutual exchange and something I'd told her was one of my master's many teachings.
Though left him out of the sex part as that would be weird. When we grabbed another bath before enjoying a good meal, she asked if I knew any other medicine recipes. I gave her a list that Nei Li approves that could help out the city, including the oil mixture and exploding bamboo shoots that sent the blizzard demon beasts into a frenzy killing each other.
When I gave her their full uses and how to go about making them I added. "If the tides are as bad as you say you should keep a lot in stock in case the bigger ones come about. It could really make a difference."
She agreed as well, sending the list to her subordinates and the details of how to make the potions as well. All sales and profits would be sent to Nie Li and I equally so there was no need to haggle.
I left her there to go to the Divine family and join up with Chen Linjian to get my recommendation to the institute. While I was meeting the dean of the school, news of the alchemist association's big breakthroughs exploded throughout the city.
The president wasn't taking any chances as he'd locked himself away to check the recipes while the primary alchemy masters had seen and spread the new about the question boards answers being filled in. They were saying the president had had enlightenment and had reached the alchemist grandmaster rank.
Nie Li and I had both already received our robes as well so it was fine. The book of used and corrected was taken by Yang Xin to be used as reference as fact to change their own knowledge and rules.
All the old copies would be trashed as new ones based off of my answers would replace them soon enough. Unfortunately it was simply too much for the association to contain as word leaked out that Yang Xin was correcting the core books of the alchemist association.
She too had been rumored to have reached enlightenment now. I found it hilarious when I passed the short exam the dean had for me. He, with Chen's request, put me temporarily in the genius class for now. I didn't mind as that's where I wanted to be.
After that I got paid from what Chen and his minions had sold off and said my goodbyes. He walked me to the alchemist association and bid me a happy week. I found Director Yang Xin in her office giving orders to check and recheck all my material.
It was quite cute the way she got frustrated.
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