Nine Step Sect

"There's nothing wrong with him. Only that his soul seems to be bigger than most mortals." As Tang Peng started to rouse from his coma, he could hear words being said by someone. "It would be better for him to stay here first and observe his conditions for a few days."

"How am I not dead yet?" Tang Peng tried to pronounce the words, but due to his vocal chords being repaired recently, he struggled to produce any sounds.

"Ah, you're awake." Peng Xiu comforted Tang Peng, as he could hear the tiny movements being said through his enhanced senses.

Tang Peng suddenly made a slitting expression on his throat with a look of despair in his eyes. It was a request for Peng Xiu to kill him. After all, he could not bear the fact that everyone that he knew in his life was dead. The only motivation that he had derived in the world was his family and friends.

Peng Xiu sneered. "Don't be a wimpy fool. They're already dead. Even if you kill yourself, it won't do anything. I already saved you. Isn't it an insult to me if you want me to kill you? Just rest in my cultivation cave first. As an elder of the Nine Step Sect, I have more important things to take care of." Following this speech, he leaped onto a sword, and flew away again.

Tang Peng was shocked. How could his own great-grandfather produce such callous words? It was like he was just talking about strangers, like they were just pieces of meat. He was supposed to be a good cultivator too.

Tang Peng's image of cultivators was shattered with a few words.

Seeing the shocked expression on Tang Peng's face, the other person revealed himself. He looked like a middle aged man with a goatee, but all cultivators could prolong their life.

"What's your name?" The old man asked softly. "My name is Tang Peng. Tang Peng instinctively replied, before shutting his mouth with his hand, which made the old man chuckle, even though it felt more like a cackle from Tang Peng's perspective.

"Don't act so shocked. Cultivators have to remove themselves from their worldly desires. Peng Xiu is already considered nice, since he would even visit his family once. If he did not retain this sort of mindset, heart demon tribulations would have already killed him." The middle-aged man advised Tang Peng out of kindness.

"Heart demon tribulations? Uncle, what does that mean?" Tang Peng was extremely puzzled by the middle-aged man's statement. He had already forgotten about his surprise of the ruthless Peng Xiu.

"Since you're Peng Xiu's last surviving relative, I might as well tell you this. When cultivators advance their realms, they get tribulations, in order to restrict the amount of powerful cultivators. Kid, if you want to understand these tribulations, you will have to learn the realms first."

"First of all, the Qi Absorbing Realm. This realm is the most basic realm. Most cultivators are stuck at this realm, due to them not having enough strength to defy tribulations. Next, is Firm Foundation Realm. You will be able to grow your Spiritual Forest now, which refines Qi to a purer level. Then, there will be the Rotating Core stage, which turns the Spiritual Forest into a higher state."

"That should be all for now. It's extremely hard to go beyond this point. Even your great-grandfather, a great prodigy, struggled to obtain the fabled Soul Nurture Realm. Also, my name is Heng Tan, not Uncle. I will not bother your rest anymore. Goodbye." Heng Tan then also disappeared with another flying sword.

"What the hell? At least tell me something more!" Tang Peng was infuriated by the cultivators he had just met. They only gave him very basic information, and his relatives...

Tang Peng felt tears welling up inside him. It was simply too much of a traumatic experience for him. He was simply a 16 year old boy suddenly losing everyone he knew. Not only that, he knew that they were dead. No amount of miracles can save someone from all that blood loss.

Perhaps only a cultivator could only... That's it! A powerful cultivator could resurrect someone from the dead! He had heard of long-lost stories where someone managed to revive their loved ones using their high cultivation base.

Cultivation... cultivate cultivate cultivate! A maddened expression was on Tang Peng's mind as he thought about this matter. It was as if some other personality had suddenly surfaced itself.

"Kill. Slaughter. Robbery of True Void." The voice in Tang Peng's head kept chanting as he struggled to deal with it. As he grabbed the side of his head in pain, a dark shockwave was sent from him.

When the shockwave met the defence array, it shook for a while, before finally giving way. When the defence array in the cultivation cave finally broke, it notified the sect leader and elders of the sect.

However, they could not manage to stop the shockwave in time, as it was simply too fast. When the Qi Absorption Realm students were hit by the shockwave, they spit out a mouthful of blood, along with the feeling of their cultivation base decreasing.

The other Firm Foundation cultivators only felt a little disruption in their soul however. The mortals were not so lucky, as their soul had a severe backlash due to the shockwave. This was a disaster for them, as the soul was the container of Yang Essence. This resulted in their life depleting by at least half.

"Arghh! Arghh!" Tang Peng let our tortured cries as his soul started to fragment once more. The voice in his head became clearer as it began to chant louder and louder. He needed to kill everyone here and absorb their power! That was what he wanted to do.

As Tang Peng stood up, his eyes had turned completely black, while dark veins showed all around his body. As he moved to the entrance of the cave, he was struck with a powerful strike from a sword.

This knocked Tang Peng back a bit, but did not even bother him at all. He continued walking to the entrance of the cave, only to be struck by two swords. This time, he used his hands to block the attacks, deflecting the two swords. Blood burst out of Tang Peng's hand, but it was as if he could not feel the pain at all.

"Impossible! How could a mortal possess such a powerful body?" An elder of the Nine Step Sect exclaimed in shock. The Sect Leader, Pong Tiu, also grimaced. He had been at the Astral Projection stage for a long time, and had never seen this happen before.

The Sect Leader and Elders started to bombard Tang Peng with various spells. Still, their concentrated firepower was never enough. It could only knock Tang Peng back for a while.

Eventually, Pong Tiu had enough, and decided to project out his true soul to probe Tang Peng's soul. He closed his eyes and used his Qi streams to guide the soul of the body. It was in the shape of a staircase, with a golden door at the top of it. The golden door opened its eyes, which Pong Tiu saw with.

As he expected, he saw a yellow spirit extending its reach, spreading like a web that blotted out the darkness in Tang Peng's soul. Pong Tiu frowned. This was also his first time he saw someone's soul to be completely dark.

He had seen the Shadow Queen dedicated to the shadow arts that had transformed their body entirely into the darkest shadows, but her soul was still golden at the time, a representation of the immense power which was contained within a cultivator.

However, it was not the time to be pondering about the soul . What was important was to eliminate the threat at hand. He created a purifying sigil with the golden door, before firing it at the yellow web, which suddenly twisted.

Tang Peng suddenly turned his eyes on him, attempting to block the attempt. However, even the remnants of a Soul Robbery Realm cultivator could not withstand the true force of a Astral Projection Realm cultivator.

"I, Lai Qing, will not die like this!" Tang Peng shouted angrily, but he was already starting to sway. The mark of Lai Qing suddenly started to recede, as suddenly as it took over Tang Peng's soul.

The black Yin aura also retreated back to Tang Peng's body. However, the profound Yin Qi within was hungrily devoured by Tang Peng's soul. Tang Peng fell onto the floor, after the imprint of Lai Qing was erased. Some black liquid leaked onto the ground, forming an arrow.

"I'm finished." Tang Peng could only say these words as the elders and Pong Tiu headed over to see him. He knew that he had committed an unforgivable act just now.