Benefit Off Betrayal

When Jian Zheng woke back up it was already dark. The first thing he did was calculate how long he fainted for and came to a conclusion of 6 hours.

Staring in the stars, his eyes still held nothing. It was as if he lost all sense of emotion. Beside him was a blade that was covered in his own blood. It was Xue Yi sword.

Recalling how Xue Yi stabbed him with eyes filled with horror and cruelty he couldn't help but grunt, "I was too naive. A naive boy in a cruel world." He chuckled, but coughed out some blood afterwards. His condition has yet to fully stabilize and he was currently laying in a place filled with Demonic Beast.

However, he did not care, he continue staring at the stars as if trying to understand something. Days past by as all he did was look up to the sky and soon his belly grumble. He haven't eaten in days. Although he was a cultivator he could only survive without food for at most 10 days.

Another day past and his hunger got even worse. Luckily a weak beast that wasn't even qualified to be a Huotian One Beast approached him. The beast sniffed his body as if trying to confirm if he was dead. Seeing this he strangled the beast to death.

Staring at the dead beast he saw that it was a Twilight Rat, known for its incredible speed and escaping ability. These rats can evolve through eating pieces of human flesh and the more they eat the more they grow to become ferocious beast.

His belly growl once more. Without hesitating, Jian Zheng immediately stuff the raw rat inside his mouth, swallowing it whole. If he was a regular person then consuming raw food would affect him horribly, but since he wasn't it wouldn't have much of an impact.

After another 2 days Jian Zheng finally stood up from the ground. His injuries have all healed and he could feel spiritual energy entering his daintian, "Conquer the Earth not only took away all my spiritual energy, but also make it so that it cannot enter my body for a full 13 days." He mumbled to himself, realizing that this technique shouldn't be used often or else it would cause him many dangers with his current cultivation.

Roar! Just as he got up he saw a beast 3 meters tall running on its four feet towards him. Looking up he saw that the beast was another Twilight Rat. Seeing this his expression changed slightly, "A purple fur Twilight Rat." He calmly said as he observe the rat that was almost as tall as the outer sect walls.

Twilight Rats are ranked from their fur with grey being the lowest and gold being the highest possible rank. Purple is the 2 ranks above grey meaning that this beast is a Huotian One beast, a step away from Huotian Two.

The rat sniffed its surrounding, ignoring Jian Zheng until its gaze fell onto his belly. Roar! It made a sound of sorrow and rage as it claw reach out at him.

"Was the rat i ate its child?" He questioned as he dodge the incoming claw with the use of Conquering Lightning Steps, he then slash a simple Quicken Cloud at the beast leaving a scratch on its purple fur.

He raised his eyebrow slightly shocked as he felt his power was slightly unfamiliar to him, " Tenth stage?" Startled by his power he checked his body to see it increase.

"Was it the blood Zhuang Yi fed me?" He muttered for if that was the case then why would Zhuang Yi do so. The blood of the Green Desert Turtle was extremely precious and each drop of it would increase ones chance of entering the Body Transformation Realm.

"It couldn't be because were from the same sect." His expression the became cold, Zhuang Yi was the reason for his current situation. Although Xue Yi betrayed him in the most cruel way possible it would not have happened if it wasn't for Zhuang Yi enticement.

Nevertheless, he still benefited from his trip to this desert. Though the benefits changed his views of people, it also cleared away his naivety.

He released his sword aura at the Twilight Rat that sent endless claws towards him. When the claw came in contact with his sword aura it tore apart as multiply wounds cover its claw.

Quicken Cloud.

With a swift yet simply slash he cut off the rats claw then move towards its head with a tap of his feet. After comprehending the true aspect of the True dao his dao heart have changed a lot resulting in him managing to understand two techniques from Scarlet Conquering Lightning Sword Art.

The Swords art, Conquer the Earth allows him to merge with the earth itself to release a devastating lightening sword light. However, using this technique uses up all his spiritual energy and cause it to take an entire 13 days for it to recover.

The movement technique is called Earth Flashing Steps. Allowing him to move about a ten meters in a second. These two techniques are considered better than the purple lights that cover his hands and feet when he activate the Scarlet Conquering Lightning Art.

The purple light only increase his power and speed, but these two techniques actually give him a sword technique that dominates the earth and a movement speed that seems to be unrivalled on ground.

Using Empowered Cloud he cleanly decapitated the Twilight Rat and its blood flow to the ground. Ever since he entered this desert Jian Zheng have been met with the scene of blood belonging to people and beast. Because of this, his eyes now held a slight maturity and he now give off the air of an expert.

When the rats head fell to the ground he quickly sheathe his sword and moved towards Xue Yi headless body. He stare at it for a good while then searched for the book he was reading in the cart.

Finding the book he took it up and quickly skipped through it, "Soaring Cloud Sword Art, Clouds into Mist." He said with a low tone. From what he read this part of the Soaring Cloud Sword Art is all about turning clouds into purple mist. There are three techniques : Endless Mist Strike, Vanishing Cloud and Aura Concealment.

Endless Mist Strike was already explained to him by Xue Yi so he didn't have to pay much attention it.

Vanishing Cloud though is similar to Quicken Cloud as its meant to slash out two times faster. Though it isn't as fast as Quicken Cloud , it also has its differences. Such as the fact that it condense heat to make a blade sharper.

"Vanishing Cloud could be used as a movement technique?" Jian Zheng exclaimed with a raise of his eyebrow. Vanishing Cloud is meant to disappear in a flash. So not only does it increase ones attack speed and sharpness, but it also allows the body to go wherever the sword goes.

"From what I see here this can also fuse with Empowered Cloud and Soft Cloud Quivers." Jian Zheng was once more surprised, when Soft Cloud Quivers disappear when it comes in contact with a target then Jian Zheng could use Vanishing Cloud to appear right where the attack disappear.

This made him excited as it could be used as a good sneak attack against experts.

As for Aura Concealment, it could hardly be compared to the two, but it does have some uses, being able to conceal his cultivation. With his cultivation concealed it would be difficult for anyone to find him, he would become the next Hei Yanbei.

"Should I become an assassin?" He thought to himself. With his abilities and the fact that he exceeds best in his sword and speed it was only natural that such thoughts would enter his mind.

"Now that I recall, there is an assassin association in the Cloud Empire known as the Favored Children."

Jian Zheng felt much better after gathering his thoughts. Although he still felt pain from the betrayal, he didn't mind it as this scar will be a reminder to never easily trust anyone in the future.

He stores Xue Yi book in his robes then began his journey to find the way outside the desert.

He tried following the tracks that he and the others left but came to realize that they were already gone. The wind in this desert were rather wild resulting in footsteps to disappear in about twenty minutes.

At most a cultivator at the Huotian Stage would only be able to leave their footsteps for about an hour before it disappear.

Helpless, Jian Zheng looked into the yellow clouds in the sky. The soil and dust in this place resulted in the clouds to become plain and seemly dirty. It was unlike the pure white clouds outside the desert.

He stared at the clouds for a good while. He felt like the clouds were talking to him, no- he felt as if they were calling to him.

His feet instinctively began moving to the west as he stared into the clouds.

_______________

"Where am I?" Jian Zheng was startled awake as he saw himself in some ancient palace. There were multiply pillars in this place and when he stare up he was shocked to see multiply variants of different colored clouds. There was violet, green, yellow, blue, red, black and white.

These clouds created a circle as they slowly rotate, making sure to stay in a circle.

"After all these years, an inheritors." An coarse voice entered as a man who was old and withering walk in front of Jian Zheng, "Junior greets Senior!" Jian Zheng exclaimed as he actually bowed down to the man.

If you were to take a glimpse then anyone would believe this man was an dying old man with no background at all, but Jian Zheng saw that his eyes contained some sort of ancients as if he came from an era a hundred thousand years ago.

"Haha, no need to be so formal." The old man quickly took up Jian Zheng before he then stared into the sky, "These poor children, chased away by the world. Unable to roam in the endless sky anymore. Instead stuck in this bottomless pit." The old man said remorseful as sorrow fill his eyes.

Jian Zheng didn't dare to speak as he only listen to the old man that seems to become nostalgic about past events.

"Little one, I can see you are curious." The old man turn back to Jian Zheng with a smile.

"These clouds here were known as the Heavenly Clouds. Each one being a representative for a one of the heavenly realms." The man said then stopped, "I guess I've said too much and have invoke karma onto you." The man said with a cunning smile which made Jian Zheng felt like something was wrong.

"Tell me young man, are you interested in inheriting the 7 Heavens Chasing Clouds?"

"The requirements for inheriting this is that you must be betrayed and also practice the element of clouds which you've accomplished." Seeing Jian Zheng cautious behavior the old man sighed.

"That-"

"Don't think you can back out of this, I have already invoke karma onto you so if you do not accept this then you won't even know how you will die." The old man expression suddenly turned cold when he saw Jian Zheng hesitate.

The old man soon released an aura that crashed down on Jian Zheng causing his internal organs to feel pressured, his heart especially felt like it was about to burst.

Jian Zheng grit his teeth, 'was this mad man trying to force me to accept his inheritance?' In truth, Jian Zheng was actually excited and wanted to accept the inheritance. But after what he went through he couldn't easily trust a random stranger anymore.

He was only testing the waters to see the old man attitude, but he never would have thought he would use his cultivation to suppress him, 'What the hell is this anyways? How far has this old man cultivation reach!'

Jian Zheng continue feeling this pressure for a good 12 hours. He tried using his true dao and intents, but they crumbled just as he took them out causing him to hack up blood.

He then released Brimming Phoenix, but just as he did so a mark lit up on his forehead and a blazing phoenix with a sword hanging in front of it cried out.

The phoenix cry forced back the man's pressure as the blazing sword devour it. This surprised the man as he moved back a few steps, "This is a Sword Diagram?" He said with his mouth wide open, clearly shocked.

"Young man your talent must be frightening for you to comprehend and draw such a diagram that doesn't even exist in this world. An unyielding sword drawn from the power of hundreds of mighty sword spirits and a blazing phoenix created from a true divinity."

"This may be from a dream as most diagrams are either created from observation or dreams, but this also show that your destined to stand beside the strong." The man then walked up to the Jian Zheng who was gasping for air then tapped his phoenix mark on his forehead.

Seven colors left the man hand and into Jian Zheng. Everything was going smoothly when the phoenix mark lit up and a female voice cried out that sound both angry and primitive, "You dare touch Zheng'er!" The man lower body then exploded, leaving him bewildered.

"A spiritual mark? Well, I was already dead anyways. Old man I've completed your task, leaving you with a talented inheritor so I should be able to sleep now right?" The old man muttered to himself, ignoring his upper body that was actually withering away. His body was disappearing like burning paper.

The old man then looked at Jian Zheng for the last time, "The world is changing as the prophesy back then proclaimed. There will be millions of blessed children, thousands of heavens children, a hundred of Empyreans and ten Chosen Kings."

The man eyes then went wide, "Oh right and one mistake and another who will fix this mistake!" The old man then burst into wild laughter and it only ended when his body fully disappear, turning into dust that flew into the sky and merge with the clouds.