19 Ancient Ming Tribe of Blood
The family meeting wasn't going to convene for the next few days. Hence, Li Mo Shang intended to form his first qi circulation unit, or at least initiate the process. Casually informing his mother that he will be busy for a few days, Li Mo Shang left the Li Mansion and wandered in the uninhabited woods nearby.
Submerged within a vast sea of oak and birch trees, Li Mo Shang infused spiritual qi into his soles, before leaping onto the highest branch of a nearby tree. From here, he could see the entirety of Withered Springs, and could spot his mother embroidering on a stool outdoors. Willing his spiritual core to extract spiritual qi, Li Mo Shang formed a conical protective cover over his head.
Making himself comfortable, Li Mo Shang opened the Heretic manual once more, before rereading the available methods of inscribing a qi circulation unit in his body. Preferring to begin with the Lung Meridian, Li Mo Shang cleared his mind before contemplating on which Ancient Language he should utilize.
What was the most important? He was offered generic attributes of strength, illusions, greed, pride, a divining eye, and shadows. Although he was completely clueless on each tribe's history, specialization, and traits, he could make basic conjectures with assistance of the Heretic manual's explanation. However, what was important for Li Mo Shang right now? What did he want the most?
Li Mo Shang leaned back against the tree bark, letting his mind adrift among his memories and accumulated knowledge. By purely analyzing his own memory since birth, Li Mo Shang could only decide to obtain everything at once, for he had too many desires that he deemed equally important. Ever since he had obtained the Heretic manual on accident, those desires had unconsciously sprung forth without control.
Swimming in the seas of knowledge, Li Mo Shang relinquished full conscious control over the spiritual core as he plunged deep into his plundered knowledge from the general studies library. Initializing the <Hourglass of Eternity>, he input a copy of his own soul into the lower layer for the spiritual core to analyze.
Watching his own life since birth was truly an interesting. Li Mo Shang observed a small, underweight infant grow into an unassuming youth intending to follow his family's path in medicine, with everything about him ordinary. Appearance, intelligence, charisma, ability, everything about the young Li Mo Shang could be discovered in multitude practically everywhere. It was only when he had overheard legends of flying immortals in school that such desire awoke.
The novels alluding to ancient times further exacerbated such ambition, as the young boy spent a large portion of his time reading these novels, even attempting to write his own on the online networks. Li Mo Shang could only laugh bitterly when watching his younger self sitting in a strained lotus position, carefully enunciating "My Heart's a furnace, overcome the Heavens" as if praying to a holy deity. Obsessed with the idea of finding a magical tool that could make him a legend, the teenage Li Mo Shang had scrutinized everything in his surrounding, leading to his interesting discovery of the Heretic manual on a rainy day.
Regarding his own life until now and disregarding cultivation, Li Mo Shang could only state that his soul was completely mediocre, without any dominant intrinsic desires, completely ordinary save for his family background. Drifting towards his accumulated knowledge, Li Mo Shang ignored any obtained information, rather diving into the authors' histories and lives, attempting to obtain a clue.
Living the life as a prestigious General of an ancient empire, he recognized that strength and authority was essential to survival in a militaristic society. Observing the life of a beautiful woman struggle to escape traditional societal bounds, he took note of the extraordinary determination and perseverance required to succeed, moreover possess greed to obtain a luxurious life and elevated identity.
Pioneers required eloquence and deceit to convince other humans to change their methodology; artisans required skill and practice to create a masterpiece; these unique authors had lived uncommon lives, but all stemmed down to one consequence. Strength of some form was required, else man must adapt and submit mediocre fate.
Replaying the lives of these authors, Li Mo Shang noticed that all seven Ancient Languages would be compatible with future prospects and considerably essential to survival, yet inclined more towards the Ancient Ming's dominance and strength. Even if he had greed, pride, or a divining eye, strength was still required to change anything.
Otherwise, he would be at the constant protection of others.
Living under protection was an appealing lifestyle for Li Mo Shang, for ignorance brought forth a special kind of contentedness, compared to the struggle to survive in the unknown. However, the idea of placing his own life under another's words wasn't very acceptable; he desired to live a long life as well. Breathing deeply, Li Mo Shang read the Heretic manual's description once more, before deciding on the Ancient Ming's inscription onto the Lung Meridian.
To inscribe a qi circulation unit onto a major meridian, all that was required was a complete circuit for qi to course through. Simplicity was required to ensure a fast circulation, implying thickened spiritual pathways, yet complexity was also essential as enough subsidiary branches needed to be present to continue functioning if damage was incurred. All in all, this was a rather powerful but delicate circulation method of qi, for any mistake while creating the qi circulation unit would reduce its maximum efficiency and potential.
Thinking of suitable models of overarching dominance and might, Li Mo Shang drifted to sleep, intending to search for a reference to utilize when drawing qi circulation unit. Responding to his thoughts, the spiritual core flashed a deep scarlet, before a menacing and bloodthirsty aura seeped out.
-
Li Mo Shang dreamed that he was a might war general, supervising his troops as they initiated a conquest throughout a world. The army of ten thousand men of the Ancient Ming Tribe butchered their way through the resisting human cultivators without mercy, killing all of them. Children, elderly, the weak, the strong, all others were indiscriminately slaughtered as the Ancient Ming army condemned the planet to extinction. No further action was committed save for slaughter, then march.
Initially, watching the gory scenery of the conquest, Li Mo Shang felt nausea surge, and disgust towards these Ancient Ming Tribesmen. He wondered whether he too would become like these Ancient Ming, slaughtering humanfolk without any mercy or mental grief. During the entire conquest, the army had been completely silent except for the general and commanding officers' battle orders. Not even battle cries were emitted, only the sounds of weaponry briefly clashing echoed throughout the battlefields.
Li Mo Shang admitted that the Ancient Ming were truly superior than humans in every form. Although they shared the same general physical appearance, the Ancient Ming's physical abilities were completely unsurpassed. Stepping forwards to cover tens of zhang without any effort, piercing through the most durable material like butter, insane recovery rates, it would be a miracle for the Ancient Ming to lose a battle. Moreover, Li Mo Shang could easily determine the absence of spiritual qi in all of these Ancient Ming Tribesmen.
Although he had praise for their strength and physical ability, Li Mo Shang truly disdained their indifferent personality. None of the Ancient Ming Tribesmen's countenances changed upon hearing the most desperate cries for mercy of humans, nor did they spare animals. Even the smallest living organism fell prey to the Ancient Ming's decisive hunt. His opinion of the Ancient Ming Tribe could not help but change the next moment, however.
Li Mo Shang observed the men dig a hole towards the center of the world, drilling for thousands of kilometers into the earth. These Ancient Ming Tribesmen who had appeared virtually invincible, suddenly appeared no different from humans. These powerful beings fell subject to the astounding pressure underground, as falling rocks and the burning heat killed many.
The usually quiet army resounded with grieved cries, and howls of pain, yet nobody called for a retreat. These men endured the painful and lethal sensations and eventually reached the world's core, where a massive pool of green translucent liquid lay.
Li Mo Shang noted with curiosity that even before giving the translucent liquid a glance, these Ancient Ming Tribesmen held a ceremonial burial towards the deceased, replacing irrecoverable bodies with metallic spheres that were buried. Intrigued, he left his original distant position as drew closer to eavesdrop on the conversations.
"How long do you think this Seraph Gemstone can sustain us?"
"Perhaps a year, maybe two? Our life is forever tied to conflict, even those who stay behind and don't fight."
"Hopefully my wife and daughters can smile after this. They've gotten so frail, I don't know if we can return on time…"
From what Li Mo Shang gleaned from the conversations among the resting Ancient Ming Tribesmen, he was quite surprised yet sympathetic, disgusted and understanding of their cruel behaviors. Females within the Ancient Ming Tribe can't live beyond the age of thirty, and were the complete opposite of the male tribesmen's physique; after five years since birth, a relatively powerful gust would wind could kill a female Ancient Ming tribe member, hence the tribe constantly dispatched conquests to other worlds to obtain supreme treasures to supplement their fragility.
With that new understanding, Li Mo Shang still could not approve their cold actions of butchering all existence in a world, but could understand why they did so. To cause the supreme treasure of life in a world to form, all original living existences must be removed and returned to the world's core. To humans, the acts of the Ancient Ming Tribesmen were maniacal and demonic, completely unacceptable by society. However, from the Ancient Ming Tribesmen's perspective, this was a physical, necessary process to continue their lineage.
As the dream faded and was gradually replaced by an overwhelming feeling of emptiness, Li Mo Shang fell into deep contemplation, attempting to derive a worthwhile line of reasoning from the dream's contents. The Ancient Ming Tribesmen truly displayed dominance and might; they were overflowing with it, capable of enslaving and obliterating entire worlds. They were cruel, incredibly powerful, and abhorred by others.
However, Li Mo Shang faintly felt that true strength wasn't subject to the laws of society; rather the existence of dominance and strength distorted and rebuked societal constraints altogether. That was why powerful businessmen and influential members of society could easily distort society's laws and firmaments with a causal smile in Blue Flame World, tossing forth the reason of "righteousness" to achieve heinous deeds. Li Mo Shang had heard of several examples from his father's experiences during youth, and knew that rules and laws could not be trusted.
Dominance and strength was in essence, the attempt of self-preservation. Whether it was life, interest, or the accomplishment of a goal, might contradicted all of society's principles, causing it to become regarded as inhumane and heinous. Good and evil, righteousness and corruption, all were merely projections of dominance, excuses to hide transgressions under the cover of submission and benevolence.
With that, the encompassing darkness and sensation of emptiness shattered, and a searing warmth could be felt near his lungs. Li Mo Shang's first qi circulation unit had been constructed, the channels arranged in a pattern depicting a despairing phoenix, crippled dragon, and a two-sided face of both evil and benevolence.
-
The next day, the Withered Springs resort erupted into chaos. The western forest had completely burnt down, and all life within had decayed or vanished, with large piles of grey ash littering the ground. The cause of the fire was unknown, and anyone who entered the forest that day never returned, unreachable by even the specialized terminals of the wealthy.
In a secluded corner of the burnt forest stood a single tree, completely unscathed by the ruin and desolation. The tree exuded a strong vitality, its leaves green and pristine, appearing like a paradise on a ruined earth. On its highest branch, rested a young man who seemed to be lazily resting his eyes.
The youth was dressed in dark pants, a light sweater, and a blue raincoat. With a heavenly appearance, waist length silver-colored hair that was extremely smooth, the young man appeared like a celestial living among men, indescribable by words. When he opened his eyes, within flashed a cold and indifferent light, filled with cruelty and compassion.
Raising his hand towards the sky, on the youth's torso emerged a dark scarlet tattoo of a broadsword with two coiling dragons intersecting at the blade point. On his back existed a similar tattoo of nine golden suns interlocked by chains. Both tattoos glowed brightly and exuded an extreme amount of worldly qi, one of bloodthirst, and the other of resplendent heat.
The youth withdrew his hand, the tattoos losing their glow and disappearing from the youth's body. The long silver hair that was smooth as silk disappeared to reveal raven-like hair, and the indifferent celestial demeanor disappeared to expose Li Mo Shang's joyful countenance.
