Ch. 5 Elder

As the last bolt of his heavenly tribulation fell Xing Zheng let go of all attachments. At that moment he became one with the rain, letting the patter of uncountable raindrops subsume him. Everywhere and nowhere all at once, within the quiet of his consciousness he understood, his current qi reserves were not enough to face this last bolt.

He would need to do the one thing that had eluded him since the day his brother cut him down, he would need to excel. With an effort of will, Xing Zheng took in the full force of the heavenly lightning bolt barreling at him and tried to see it in its entirety. The more he looked the more he saw, it only looked like a smooth pillar on the surface, there were weak faults in the energy.

This was no immortal tribulation, it could be overcome. With a shouted war cry Xing Zheng simultaneously marshaled the remaining 60% of his energy and marked 1,000 spots on the lightning bolt. With a masterful flourish, he sent out 1,000 sword phantoms each with a varying amount of qi and speed, each strike a tiny raindrop designed to weather away the mountain that was descending upon him.

The storm of swords and the lightning collided, at first, the bulk of them met the bolt head-on in a staggered order causing the bolt to waver. Next came strikes on the side causing the energy in the bolt to deflect further and further until the energy was now a swirling mass of heavenly might. Methodically each staggered sword phantom landed upon the whirlpool of rotating energy splitting it into smaller strands with widened radi of rotation that spread out in a hemispherical circle.

In the end not only had the tribulation been weathered, but it had also been split and molded to carve away the excess of the mountain carving and disintegrating huge swaths of rocks, trees, and other debris. What was left standing was an edifice, a mountain carved into a sword, the sword that stood alone amongst the eternal rain. Xing Zheng's last image was of the broad smile his master wore as he came to his side. Two months later Xing Zheng awoke to discover himself in the same cave abode Lin Qiu had brought him to when they first met.

For the last decade, he had been living in a lesser peak of the inner sect, preparing to break through. Now he was finally past that trial and was able to return to his proper cultivation cave situated on the main peak that his master resided upon. Looking around the plain unadorned cave walls, a nostalgic feeling rose in his chest. It felt good to finally be truly home.

Beside him was a new sect robe, which seemed to be far superior to his old one judging by the energy he could feel in it, along with his array flags. A jade slip left by his master instructed him to take a year of closed-door meditation to consolidate his enlightenment and allow him to feel out his new cultivation base. Previously his mental energy had not been pure enough to use the jade slips required but now instead of reading scrolls he could simply push his condensed divine sense, the form mental energy took when condensed to the extreme, into the small jade slip and directly process the information within.

Xing Zheng took in the darkness of his cave abode as the light from the torches on the wall danced about revealing the traces of precious dark iron traces in the rock itself, a sense of calm pervaded him at the sight.

Here he was back in his home having weathered his breakthrough finally returning in one piece. As his qi flowed into the formation runes made to seal the cave entrance he entered into a deep and peaceful period of cultivation, savoring the satisfying feeling of his well-practiced cycling technique and pondering the enlightenment he gained during the breakthrough. In this fashion, the next year passed, and Xing Zheng went through several stages to determine the state of his body.

For the first three months, he had still been too injured for physical activity and so he had meditated and rested. Next, he started on basic sword drills and cycling in shallow intervals. After six months of this Xing Zheng spent the last three months practicing his three core techniques in tandem strengthening his understanding of how they were interconnected.

During this time his enlightenment from the tribulation had been fully consumed and integrated into his techniques causing his attainment in all three to reach the grandmaster level. After finally leaving isolation Xing Zheng had a yearning in his soul, deeply he wished to give back to others who were suppressed and thrown aside, as he was, the chance to struggle against their destiny. Memories of when he had taught martial arts to the mortals of the state of Renhu flashed in his mind.

He decided that to assuage this feeling in his heart and prevent it from stifling his future cultivation, for a period of time he would search for such individuals and give them the opportunity to cultivate in the sect. To spread goodwill and allow those who could to find solace in the sword as he had. There were many mortal kingdoms within the twisted territories, so many things to experience and people to meet.

While journeying he could also gain worldly experience and enlightenment as well as rooting out evil where he found it simultaneously doing his duty to family, sect, and others in the same breath. To do so, however, he would need the permission of Lin Qiu who had decided to enter closed-door cultivation and would not emerge for the next 50 years. To show respect for his master Xing Zheng decided he would train the disciples of the sect until his master emerged.

For the first decade, he took up an occupation as the guardian of the sect gate screening those who came and went from the sect as well as welcoming visiting dignitaries. During this time Xing Zheng's noble upbringing was shown through mingling with fellow nobles. There were quite a few nobles surprised when they heard his surname, after all how an immortal level cultivator of the Xing family ended up in such a backwater place?

Xing Zheng cared not for these worries however and thoroughly enjoyed his decade manning the sect gate. All in all, although a decade had passed in peace, Xing Zheng felt as though he truly had accomplished little during this time. During this time he also discovered that the state of Renhu was no more from wandering martial artists that visited the sect.

It seemed that many of the mortal nobles he spoke with cursed the very name of Renhu to this day as it had fallen to demonic corruption over 25 years ago. At some point a clan of martial artists in the territory had discovered a demonic technique that focused on refining the corpses of others into poisons that could be used to kill enemies as well as stimulate one's own cultivation, rapidly improving the user's strength at the cost of fighting increasing madness. Invariably the ruling family of the state had found out about this and sent forces to destroy them.

Greedy had been heavy in some of their hearts, however, and in secret some members of the ruling family had taken the scrolls that detailed the demonic arts. Within a few years, those who had done so overthrew the proper rulers of Renhu, and once the other martial arts families found out a giant civil war occurred causing the streets to run red with blood. Eventually, the techniques came into wide circulation within the state as it fell apart and large numbers of demonic martial artists emerged from the war.

Word reached the baroness who sent word to the Archbaron which finally led to the Judgment Executioner, a position that Qi Condensation or higher cultivators could fill by offering their services to the barons, simply eradicating the remaining state of Renhu. To this day the remnants of that tragedy were still affecting the surrounding city-states, even with the Judgment Executioner spending five years hunting down the remnants of those who had practiced the demonic techniques. It was simply too hard to track weak mortal martial artists who held onto such methods, in this case, their weakness becoming an asset.

With this, it had become an almost unremovable stain upon a history that would forever color the way Renhu was remembered. Bitterness filled Xing Zheng's heart upon learning this, all of the relations and goodwill he had spread were crushed by a situation out of his control. Was it true that all things needed to be washed away by the rains of time, even those things that enriched the lives of others?

It had taken time for him to recover from this revelation and a shadow started growing in his heart, one that Xing Zheng felt could only be cured in one way. Internally he decided, his goal would not be just to journey the twisted territories for personal enlightenment. Now he had a purpose, visit his old friend Baroness Yu Li and offer his services as a Judgment Executioner.

With his resolve firm, Xing Zheng exited his seclusion after a week of meditation to resume his duties as the sect gate guardian, thanking his fellow elder that had temporarily made time to look over the gate in his stead. Afterward, not much news came and the rest of his time at the sect gate was spent in relative peace and comfort.

Finally, after a decade his duty was fulfilled. Thinking on what to do next, memories came to him of his time in the outer sect, of the disciples there shunning the core techniques of the Azure Rain Sword Style and choosing to learn other techniques. Thus he turned his attention inward to see what he could do to better this situation.

After all, how would cultivating in the sect be an opportunity for those he told about the sect if it wasn't in peak condition? So it came that he needed to address the problem of many outer sect disciples disregarding the Rain Reflecting 10,000 Visions mental technique. After all, it was truly the pillar through which the other core aspects of the Azure Rain Sword style were elevated. Without it, the disciples would find the Azure Rain Sword style to lack in many areas.

With the younger disciples neglecting this technique it ultimately lowered the effectiveness of their disciples and respect from them towards the core sect sword style causing dissent and for many to wish to learn secondary cultivation paths that came from other schools. As if Xing Zheng would allow the Patriarch's very own style to lose face within his own sect, this absolutely had to be corrected! However, this problem although it seemed simple on the surface was far more complicated to solve in actuality.

At first, he had simply given lectures on the Dao and the various ways to cultivate the technique. Xing Zheng understood how valuable Dao comprehension and cultivation guidance could be when learning techniques or attempting to break through to a new realm. This was something he would have paid a great deal for when he had first entered the sect. How could the outer disciples not attend such lectures? However, reality does not always meet expectations, and although there was a sizable turnout the first few times quickly the disciples had felt they had given him enough face and simply stopped attending.

Not easily deterred Xing Zheng tried many different methods to entice attendance to his lectures on the Rain Reflecting 10,000 Visions. One week he offered free spirit stones, double what the disciples got as a monthly stipend, to each attending disciple. During this lecture, attendance was high however most attended simply for the reward and left soon after.

When he changed the spirit stone reward to be given to only those remaining at the lecture's end the disciples would simply show up at the last minute to collect the reward receiving none of the teachings! At this point, he had been rung to his wit's end and thus he stopped his lectures and began trying to figure out why many outer sect disciples simply did not want to cultivate the core technique of the sect. Many of the inner and core disciples, not to mention direct personal disciples of Lin Qiu, had cultivated the technique to at least the 100 raindrops a second level.

Xing Zheng himself had reached the 1,000 raindrops a second before ascending to qi condensation and recently had broken through to the 10,000 raindrops a second after many years of cultivation. However, the technique simply was not popular with those who had not advanced in the sect. After a year of inquiry and listening in the shadows, Xing Zheng finally understood.

The outer sect disciples simply found the constant meditation in the rain tedious and it seemed to produce weaker immediate results as opposed to studying weapon techniques such as the 10,000 Drops Birthed from the Sword. Although their sword techniques would be weaker with a weak mental technique as a basis the results would be immediate and allow their strength to rise. Xing Zheng was astonished to find out that many Inner and Core disciples also had this attitude at first however, they all had strict direct instructors and elders to force them to be diligent.

For the outer sect, there were simply too many members for an instructor to attend to each of them. In the end, the outer sect disciples needed to be shown the strength of the technique, as always strength spoke volumes in the cultivation world. Upon discovering this Xing Zheng felt he knew just how to show the true prowess of the technique.

Thus the sect was informed that Elder Xing Zheng would be going into an indeterminate period of closed-door cultivation and he disappeared from sight. Meanwhile, a spree of challenges was issued to all of the strongest outer disciples. Xing Zheng, while suppressing his cultivation base to first-grade martial artist, donned a red mask becoming the mysterious outer sect red mask cultivator. Soon, the rumor spread among the outer disciples of a first-grade martial artist defeating the other first-grade outer disciples as well as even Master realm senior disciples.

What's more, the masked cultivator only used basic swordsmanship combined with the sect's rain reflecting 10,000 visions technique at the 100 raindrops a second level. Over the course of three years, Xing Zheng slowly lowered his cultivation base from the peak of 1st grade to the initial stage and defeated each prominent inner disciple with only the mental technique and his fundamentals of swordplay while masquerading as the red mask cultivator. Secretly he met with each disciple that was defeated giving them cultivation tips and making sure they were not discouraged too vehemently by their losses. Afterward, he would make them swear heart demon oaths to not reveal his identity before releasing them back to the outer sect.

Thus the reputation of reaching familiar attainment in the rain reflecting 10,000 visions mental technique rose by volumes. While not all outer disciples cultivated the technique more vigorously it slowly became a standard by which the outer sect judged each other slowly becoming a baseline to determine one's talent. Xing Zheng's fellow elders were impressed with the improved strength of the outer sect however, they worried that the disciples would look down on the other two core techniques.

So it passed that the red mask cultivator's senior brother, green masked cultivator appeared. This time he showed that the '10,000 Drops Birthed from the Sword' technique supported by even 100 rain drops a minute level of the 'rain reflecting 10,000 visions mental' technique could once again defeat all of the outer sect's strongest students. Finally the eldest brother of the masked cultivators, the azure masked cultivator appeared showing how the strength of the previous two techniques combined with the extra energy and strengthening of the Master realm cycling technique '10,000 Years of Looping Rain Weathered the Mountain' would produce a profound foundation that crushed any singular or even pairing usage of the core techniques.

Thus, although it had taken 40 total years of slow and methodical cajoling, Xing Zheng finally felt the outer sect's path had finally been corrected. Feeling content with his contributions to the sect's future prosperity and knowing that the Patriarch's closed-door cultivation was coming to an end, Xing Zheng waited anxiously. He was excited to set out and begin serving as a Judgment Executioner.

Upon conversing with his master Xing Zheng had expressed his desire to give back to the world and help those who were suppressed and in need, particularly his feelings of guilt had risen from being in the sect for so many years. He kept his feelings of bitterness at the fate of Renhu close to his chest, knowing that his master was firmly convinced that cultivators should cut away their mortal ties.

Lin Qiu was surprisingly against it, he felt Xing Zheng was one of his most gifted disciples and had no intentions of letting him waste centuries of cultivation time wandering the world possibly getting killed. In the end, however, in the face of Xing Zheng's sincerity Lin Qiu could only relent on two conditions, firstly he would stay within the twisted territories lesser region, and secondly, he would return after a century no matter his feelings.

Lastly, Lin Qiu gave him a talisman that would form a shield around him strong enough to block a blow from a fellow nascent soul cultivator, it would also send a signal to the sect that he was in trouble and Lin Qiu would come rushing to save him. However, the talisman only had a single use and his worldly excursion would be brought to a swift halt by his master taking him back to the sect if he used it, thus it should only be used if his life truly depended on it. With that Xing Zheng set out, his destination firmly set as the Throne of Searing Flames, the capital of the lesser region.

After hearing worrying rumors of rogue demonic cultivators Xing Zheng was eager to get to Baroness Lu Yi and pledge his services as a son of Xing. An offer of a century of service from a scion of the royal family would be a great boon to her reputation so surely she couldn't refuse. It also didn't hurt that this wouldn't be their first meeting, having met long ago during a tournament between the brightest up-and-coming sect disciples. At the time Yu Li had been attending on orders of her family to prepare her to take on the mantle of Baroness.

Although it had been years since Xing Zheng had seen her, the two had kept up casual communications ever since then. It had never occurred to him through all those years that he would be going to her to offer his blade as service, it seemed that the world was truly smaller than it seemed. Sighing at the thoughts he simply turned his attention to guiding his treasure sword to move as his flying mount. Inwardly, Xing Zheng could feel a storm brewing in the Xing Empire and no one, save perhaps Lin Qiu, understood the storm as well as him…

End part zero