Deception

Paaaaaaaaaaah!

Sect Master Griffith slammed his right hand into Neebo's back.

But rather than a powerful impact to push Neebo away; Neebo who fell unconscious, and whose eyes had turned white; was afloat and glued by force into the hand of an Overlord.

Sect Master Zhou Yi, the other Overlord who was left behind to stand guard before the spatial crack didn't seem to mind this. He didn't want to interfere between the issues of others and most especially since Neebo was targeted by his personal disciple, Meng Fu.

'Crippling a young boy of his cultivation, truly one cruel Overlord you are, Griffith'

Sect Master Zhou Yi turned a blind eye to what was happening, as he sat and meditated on the opposite side of Sect Master Griffith's.

What Sect Master Griffith did was actually taking away Neebo's cultivation. He dispersed Neebo's internal energy and destroyed Neebo's spiritual core.

And although Grecian was sealed inside Neebo's body, he wasn't affected by Sect Master Griffith's sudden attack. He doesn't reside in Neebo's spiritual core, which greatly put Grecian's mind at ease. And Sect Master Griffith doesn't seem to have any intentions of killing Neebo.

Grecian thought that if Neebo would let him out, he could easily deal with Sect Master Griffith. But as of the moment, Sect Master Griffith was not alone. There is another powerful being beside Sect Master Griffith around; one reason why, Grecian didn't forced Neebo to let him out. If Grecian was in his full power, he could easily take five of them all together. But since he had just came out from his thousand year of secluded cultivation, he had to consolidate his strength first, and he would roughly need a hundred years to do so. Thus he confidently accepted Neebo's hundred year contract without further negotiations. As he consolidates his power, he could also spy into Neebo's world which would give him an advantage against other Demon Emperors from his world.

As Sect Master Griffith dealt a heavy blow to Neebo, he took away Zhu Hongwu's medallion. He couldn't completely understand why Zhu Hongwu was so earnest at protecting this boy's life, just because he had made him a promise.

Although he wanted to seek the answers to Zhu Hongwu's decision, he wasn't capable of Soul Searching yet. A technique that a cultivator acquires ones he is able to step on the fourth stage of cultivation. And that is what they were all striving for; the legendary Nascent Soul Stage.

To be able to peak through a person's mind and soul, to search for his origins and his secrets; if anybody could do that, he would be able to gather all the treasures of this world and collect them all.

And everyone is greedy, most especially the high leveled cultivators; they race to gain power to trample on their peers, to conquer their enemies, to expand their territories, and to whatever desires they seek to achieve.

This is the kind of world they were living in. And if a person lets his guard down, underestimate the unknown, explode with prideful confidence; then he would be putting himself in the hands of others.

Sect Master Griffith had lived his life, valuing and securing his well-being. He doesn't do battles, unprepared. He doesn't venture unknown worlds. He doesn't rely on other's wisdom and promises. He made sure that whatever strange and unaccounted variables wouldn't become liability for his life.

If there is such a word to describe Sect Master Griffith, it would be that he is shrewd.

After taking Zhu Hongwu's medallion and detecting nothing special to which Neebo was keeping with, he threw Neebo's unconscious body away.

He glanced upon Sect Master Zhou Yi, "Excuse my unruly behavior, Sect Master Zhou Yi. Let me throw this piece of trash away from here, lest polluting the peacefulness of the place."

"I've already grown fond of your ruthlessness, Junior." Sect Master Zhou Yi addressed Sect Master Griffith as if he didn't place him at his level.

Sect Master Griffith didn't mind him much, he too had grown familiar to Sect Master Zhou Yi's prideful nature; he made a grabbing motion, to which lifted Neebo's unconscious body up, and then made a motion of throw where Neebo's body was carried away from the pit. Neebo's body landed just outside the mouth of the pit, back at the surface of the Nefarious Sanctuary.

After which, Sect Master Griffith joined Sect Master Zhou Yi as they both sat cross-legged, meditating. They were to keep on guard for whatever threat that might enter into their world from the spatial crack.

…

It took three days for Neebo to regain his consciousness back.

He awakens with a severely injured body.

As he sat straight, his mind was still clouded by what had happened.

"I thought that you've already died, based on your miserable state. Anyways, it's good that you've finally woken up." Grecian was a bit worried about Neebo after what had happened; he wasn't at first but after the second night, Grecian became agitated that Neebo might not wake up.

"What happened?" Neebo who was still in a daze, asked Grecian.

"Sect Master Griffith happened! That backstabbing bastard, to think he would attack someone far weaker than him! Humans are truly despicable!" Grecian answered.

Neebo reorganized his thoughts, his mind was still fuzzy. He tried to stand up, but he suddenly stumbled down. He was out of strength. Neebo gathered his strength, but as he tried once more, he was disappointed once again. He was unexpectedly depleted of energy.

It had been five months now since he began to take his step into cultivation, and since then, whenever he wakes up, he would be back at full strength. He felt that his body's regenerative abilities where unprecedentedly fast compared to normal human. This weakened state was a feeling that Neebo couldn't understand.

"Don't overwork yourself." Grecian didn't know how to break the ice and deliver the news to Neebo about losing all his cultivation.

"I don't understand this, why am I this weak?" Neebo was in turmoil.

Neebo checked his body of hidden injuries, but other than his aching core; to which he assumed that he had broken quite a few ribs, Neebo didn't find other abnormalities in his body.

"Grecian tell me, why am I this weak?" Neebo couldn't help but ask Grecian.

Grecian was strangely quiet, Neebo didn't expected this. He knew that this creature was very annoying and talkative. His silence meant that this was something very serious, Neebo panicked. He insisted to get the answers from Grecian, but Grecian truly didn't know how to respond.

If Grecian was in Neebo's position, if he knew that he have lost all the hard work that he had been training for, his cultivation; he would be severely depressed and heart broken. Thus, Grecian was reluctant to deliver the news to Neebo. He was unexpectedly thoughtful.

To Grecian's reaction; in his world, it was a forbidden act, a taboo to get rid of a person's cultivation. And although the Nine Seas Demon World was a much cruel and dangerous world, such actions were deemed unethical and unacceptable. It was a line that demons wouldn't take. They were prideful, thus, choosing to suppress an enemy by taking away or crippling his or her cultivation is a cowardly act. If a demon wins, he or she must win with his absolute strength and capabilities.

After a while, Grecian spoke weakly in Neebo's mind. "That bastard Griffith crippled you and took away your life's cultivation."

Neebo who felt like he wouldn't be able to get his answers, suddenly heard Grecian's explanation that sent him into another round of turmoil. Neebo stumbled down and was once again dazed, seemingly trying to comprehend the words of Grecian.

"I don't know how you'll react, but since you are still young and still breathing, there must still be a way for you to regain the strength that you have lost." Grecian continued.

Grecian watched as Neebo was drowned in his thoughts, and he truly understood Neebo's reaction. He left him alone to absorb everything, and hopefully Neebo find some reason to strive still. This was an attachment that Grecian didn't expect to develop in him, more so, at such speed.

…

For a day, Neebo was in a daze lying on the ground.

The next day, he struggled to stand up. And after some time, he managed to stand up on his feet. His legs felt like it was about to give up, yet Neebo was very determined to act.

It took him a day to make his way into his cell, there he found a familiar item, and it was the two Manuals that were left behind by the mysterious cultivator named Xuan Zang; the Provenance Qi Absorption Technique Manual and The Records of the Azure Demon. These manuals were the reason for his unhindered determination; he was hoping to find an answer to treat his circumstance.

All these time, Neebo had been reading the Records of the Azure Demon. Through this Manual, he found his Divine Art; The Nine Steps of Suppression. And he had been using all his time in training the technique. Now, Neebo read through the context of this Manual again, maybe the Azure Demon had wrote down something about losing one's cultivation, and recovering from it.

Within Neebo's head, Grecian was curious. He felt astonished and very much interested to what was Neebo up to since being able to stand up with great difficulty. 'Why was he so determined, and where is he going?' in his thoughts, he knows Neebo was a smart kid, thus he wonders what he had in plan.

Seeing Neebo going through with a strange Manual, Grecian's curiosity peaked.

'What is he reading?'

Although he was very curious, Grecian left Neebo to his devises and let him recover from such a heartbreaking circumstance. But Grecian's eye never went away from observing Neebo's determined intent.

Grecian observed him, as Neebo experimented with his body quite a few times. Neebo tried to gather the surrounding Qi; he tried to execute his Divine Art; and every time he accessed his internal Qi, Neebo was greeted him extreme pain from his core. Neebo then returned to reading through this strange Manual and flipped it many times. He would go from reading and experimenting and right back at reading.

Suddenly, Neebo's face flushed with bright color. It seems like he found an answer, a hope from this miserable state.

"It's a long shot, based on what was written down from the Azure Demon's Record; what I am experiencing now is a broken dantian." Neebo spoke with hopeful glow.

To which Grecian felt complete astonishment. 'He did found out in the end!'

Neebo asked Grecian, "Am I right?"

"Yes, your dantian is severely damaged." Grecian answered.

"Is it impossible to cultivate spiritual power without it?" Neebo continued.

"Indeed, it is the person's dantian that holds a cultivators source of energy. It is also the dantian that absorbs energy." Grecian explained.

"Do you know a way to recover from a damaged dantian?" Neebo asked.

"For all I know, only a godly medicine may heal a damaged dantian. And even then, the success rate is not a hundred percent achievable. It is too risky and doing something with your dantian may even cause death." Grecian told Neebo the harsh truth.

"The Manual says so too, but what if I don't cultivate my spiritual powers?"

'What kind of Manual does he have to contain such information?' Grecian thought.

"What if I only cultivate my body, like those from the Starfall Sect? But in a manner much more authentic than the Starfall Sect."

Grecian was stunned by Neebo's question. Even Demons cultivates similarly to the way the Starfall Sect cultivates, by doing so, they go through different kinds of body transformations, based on what they are practicing. But even then, cultivating the body must be cultivated side-by-side with cultivating the spirit, or the dantian.

"What do you mean?" Grecian suddenly was the one asking questions.

"What I mean is; the Starfall Sect mainly cultivates their bodies to improve the quality of their martial combat arts. But still, the Starfall Sect still cultivates their spiritual power to boost their combat techniques." Neebo explained.

Grecian was quiet, he had a little bit of an idea as to what Neebo was implying, but it was something he didn't believe to be possible. Since time immemorial, cultivating the spiritual energy of a person was the only way to ascension.

Neebo continued, "What if I focus only on my body cultivation? Rather than collecting spiritual energy and storing it in my dantian; what if I absorb spiritual energy and have my body act as my dantian?"

"Is it possible?" Neebo asked.

Grecian's mind was a mess, he could never imagine having to meet someone as crazy as Neebo, that he would try things differently from what was reasonably the known path of cultivation.

"To be honest, I don't know if it will work." Grecian answered after much thought. Neebo's life was on the line, and so is his. Thus, this decision must be made by the both of them.

"Did you learn something from that Manual?" Grecian inquired.

Neebo was in a daze, he was thinking if he should apply what was written in the Manual and risk his life with uncertainty. But what were written by the Azure Demon were records of authentic experiences from the past, and it had proven to be true for Neebo based on how powerful the Nine Steps of Suppression was; even surpassing what was to be expected from executing it.

After much thought, Neebo answered Grecian with burning eyes of certainty, "I did, it's called the Primordial Evolution Path."

"And I think this is my only hope!"