'It's all over,'
A man's body was flung across a large room, hitting a wall and making a dent. He spat out a glob of blood from his mouth as he looked at the person who attacked him.
In the center of the room stood a boy with a chubby face and wide upper body. There was an expression of satisfaction on his face as he saw the look of his victim. Behind him sat an even bigger man and a skinny faced woman.
As he looked at the group of three, a dense hatred flashed in the bright green eyes of the injured man. He tried to move in an attempt to escape his predicament, but pain flashed through his legs the moment he tried to move them.
Upon seeing this, the chubby man laughed and walked towards his victim and leaned forward.
"Ready for the final round, Potter?"
Hearing this, even more hatred flashed through the eyes of the man. As he was being dragged to the center of the room, he futilely attempted to rip the hands of the chubby man off his.
In the center of the room, there was a dark circle containing various intricate symbols. After the chubby man dragged his victim onto it, he stepped in as well and circulated his energy to activate the circle.
Immediately, the green eyed man felt himself getting weaker, causing him to struggle even more. However, after a few minutes, his struggles started getting weaker, until eventually he completely stopped. The only thing he could do now was stare at his enemies.
'Dudley, Petunia, and Vernon Dursley. I swear I will get my revenge.' the man cursed desperately.
He didn't even have enough strength left in his body to say his words out loud.
After a few more minutes, despair started setting in, so vast that it even eclipsed the hatred that the man was feeling.
"Stop…"
Faced with his death, the man rasped out one simple request. Seeing this, all three people in the room had amused looks on their faces.
"After raising you for so long, isn't this the least you could do, Harry?" Petunia said. Her voice was laced with malice.
Harry couldn't hold back a weak chuckle at the response. Raise him? Perhaps, but not with any care.
Harry had almost no idea of his origins. All he could glean over the years was that he had been left at the doorstep of the Dursley family with a paper holding his name and a copper ring.
Upon seeing a child near their son's age, the Dursleys first instinct was to throw him to an orphanage and ignore him. However, after some thought they decided to keep him, planning to have him cultivate and later use him to augment their own son, Dudley's cultivation.
Throughout most of his childhood, Harry was used as a servant in the Dursley's home. When he turned 12, the couple decided to have him start cultivating spiritual energy.
Soon, however, they faced a problem. Harry had no spirit root.
A spirit root was almost a requirement for one to start cultivating. "Almost" because although one could still cultivate without one, they would face immense pain throughout their entire body whenever they attempted to do so. Their cultivation speed would also be many times slower than those with spirit roots.
Upon learning that Harry had a spirit root, the Dursleys decided to force him to cultivate anyways. To them, his pain wasn't their concern. The only reason they had kept him was for him to cultivate and eventually be used as a resource for their son's progression.
After 5 years of cultivating nonstop, Harry had reached the 4th layer of Qi Refinement, the first major realm of cultivation. Even though he faced an immense amount of pain when cultivating, and his progress was slow, he still held some hope that one day he could surpass Dudley and take his revenge on the Dursley family. Within the family, Dudley had the highest level of cultivation, as his parents funneled almost all resources straight to him.
Sadly, he couldn't surpass Dudley before the boy reached the peak of Qi Refinement. Today, he had been interrupted out of his cultivation and brought forcefully to the training hall of the Dursley's mansion. Upon reaching the area, Harry knew that it was time for Dudley to harvest his cultivation.
With the use of a special formation that the Dursleys had bought, Dudley could harvest Harry's spiritual energy before taking his dantian, helping him purify his cultivation and advance to the next realm, foundation establishment. This was what the Dursleys had been preparing for the sake of their son, and why Harry had laughed at Petunia's words.
Although the Dursleys had raised him, he was never treated well. The only times he had really felt happy were the hours he had spent reading at the city's library.
Suddenly, a thought occurred to Harry. Another weak laugh reverberated through his throat.
"I wonder what the denizens of this city would think if they knew their beloved city lord was indulging in demonic formations…"
Upon hearing this, Vernon's facial expression warped momentarily before changing back to one of smugness. He shook his head.
"It's a good thing they won't find out then. You truly are a pathetic sight boy. Do you really think you'll be leaving this room today?"
As he said that, Harry felt himself getting even weaker. He knew that he would soon have all his spiritual energy taken, and if it was as the Dursleys said, his dantian would also be taken, causing him to lose his cultivation. If he wasn't healed afterwards, he would die.
Slowly, he started getting drowsy. As he fought to stay awake, his spite towards the Dursleys compelled him to mutter one more thing.
"Damn you all…"
As his eyes started closing, Harry reflected on his life. Just before they shut, he suddenly saw a blue light.
'Hmm?'
He forced his eyes to open wider and focus on the light that was blocking his view of Dudley. Looking closer, he saw that it seemed to be a screen and had words on it.
[
Your greatest enemies are on the verge of killing you. Make a choice.
Choice 1: Try begging them to spare your life. Reward: Twin Shadow Daggers (Sky)
Choice 2: Stay silent and simply stare at them. Reward: Body Cleansing Pill (Mystic)
Choice 3: Spit on Dudley's face. Reward: Celestial Demon Spirit Root (Divine)
]
Harry had no idea what this was supposed to be. Perhaps it was some kind of joke from the Dursleys, and they wanted to see him gain hope.
One thing he did know though, was that the third choice looked like fun. At least spitting on Dudley could give him some more amusement before he was killed.
Harry tried his best to gather saliva in his mouth, mixing it with his blood. After getting a satisfactory amount, he looked towards Dudley's face. The blue screen had disappeared, giving him a clear view of his tormentor.
The pudgy 17 year old had a look of elation on his face as he felt the power flowing into his body. Harry felt disgust welling up inside him as he saw this. Since he was a child, Dudley was the one who had come after him the most. Now, the man even wanted his cultivation.
Harry took a deep breath in through his nose before spitting out as hard as he could towards Dudley's face. He relished the way the boy's face contorted with disgust when he was hit with the red glob.
"Damn you, Potter!" Dudley yelled. He quickly let a hand off Harry's neck as he prepared to slap him with his full strength.
Harry closed his eyes, accepting the fact that he would most likely be killed with this slap. He was so weakened that he couldn't struggle out of Dudley's grasp even when the boy used a single hand. In fact, even at his peak he wouldn't be able to do so. After all, he was at the 4th layer of Qi Refinement while Dudley was at the peak of the 9th layer. The difference between them was like heaven and earth.
Although he was filled with resentment for dying like this, he still felt some satisfaction from completing the act of spitting on Dudley.
'Even if it isn't me, you all will face retribu-'
Suddenly, Harry's thoughts were interrupted as he felt a heat welling up near his abdomen. The heat quickly spread throughout his body, and spread outside of it as well. Spiritual energy in the surroundings flowed towards his direction.
He could vaguely see Dudley and his parents get blown away across the training room. However, he didn't have it in him to care at the moment. He was fully focused on his sudden feeling of bliss and power. His injuries had been fully healed, allowing him to stand up again.
Suddenly, he saw the blue screen show up in front of him once again.
[
Reward Granted: Celestial Demon Spirit Root (Divine)
]
"This…" Harry muttered to himself. "Is this real?"
Harry quickly examined his body with his spiritual energy, and found that he did have a spirit root now. It was next to the area in which his original spirit root would have been. There was also a vast amount of information about the spirit root within his head.
'How?' Harry wondered to himself. 'Did this blue screen really give it to me as a reward?'
A fist broke Harry out of his thoughts. After blocking it with his hand, he turned to look at the person who had attacked him. Upon seeing it was Dudley, he grew even more shocked.
Quickly, he examined his dantian, and made an audible noise of surprise.
'F*ck, I reached the 8th layer of Qi Refinement?'
If he had attempted to block Dudley's punch before, his hand would've been broken. However, now he was able to do so without feeling any aftereffects.
Once he realized this, Harry broke out of his stupor as the expression on his face darkened.
He was now at the 8th layer, putting him at almost equal standings with Dudley. As long as he could get rid of him, the other two Dursleys would be easy to kill.
Now would be the best chance to get his revenge. And also the only chance, as he would definitely not be allowed to leave the city alive if he tried to leave the mansion.
Harry felt like laughing at his luck.
"After 17 years, the heavens finally decided to assist me," he said agitatedly, still holding Dudley's fist.
With a roar, the blond boy attempted to punch Harry with his other fist. Seeing the incoming attack, Harry simply put his other hand up and caught it as well.
"Amazing," he muttered to himself.
So this was what it felt like to have power. The spirit root seemed to have increased the power of his body as well, as it helped him handle Dudley easily. Even though Dudley was a layer above him, he could still fight on the same level as the boy.
"Get your filthy hands off me Potter!" Dudley yelled in an enraged tone. There was a hint of panic in his voice as he futilely attempted to get his hands out of Harry's grasp. How did things go wrong?
An amused look appeared on Harry's face as he saw this.
"What was it you used to say to me before we had a 'training session'?" Harry asked Dudley. His smile grew when he saw the chubby boy recoil slightly at the question. "Right. Let's have some fun."
Harry circulated his spiritual energy to his hands and gripped Dudley's fists as hard as he could. A scream and a multitude of cracking noises resounded throughout the training room as the boy's pudgy hands were crushed.
Hearing the scream of their son seemed to bring the other two Dursleys out of their shock. The two of them were standing on the end of the training room where they had been thrown.
"Boy! Get your hands off my son, or I swear I will cut you to pieces!" Vernon yelled in a booming voice. After saying this, he quickly jumped towards Harry, unsheathing a long blade as he ran.
Harry switched the way he was holding Dudley, letting go of his hand and instead holding onto his neck. He moved the man in front of him, using him as a shield. The chubby man showed almost no reaction to this, only letting out whimpers of pain as he looked at his crippled hands.
Vernon quickly stopped in his tracks as he saw his son being used to guard against him. Harry looked on as the man seemed to have an internal struggle.
Finally, he said something.
"What do you want, boy."
Vernon was at the 7th layer of Qi Refinement. As the city lord of Azure Spirit City, he had many things he could give. He and his son were the two strongest cultivators within the city.
Harry scoffed as he looked at the man. Although Dudley was his main tormentor, he wasn't the one who treated him the worst out of the Dursleys. That title went to Vernon.
Even when Harry was still wracked with pain from previous cultivation sessions, the man would force him to cultivate, beating him if he dared to stop or take a break.
"How about all the spirit stone mines that belong to the city?" Harry asked in a mocking tone. He knew that the man might actually agree to it. Although he was a horrible person to Harry, he loved his son a lot.
"...fine" the man said with a twisted expression on his face. For the first time, Harry was glad to see Vernon angry.
He didn't really want the spirit stones because he knew he wouldn't have a way to hold them. Although they could help a lot with cultivation, it wouldn't be worth it if he got robbed the moment he went to a bigger area. He just wanted to see Vernon acquiesce to one of his demands.
"Alright," Harry nodded, faking as if he would go through with the deal. "Then-"
Harry's voice was interrupted by a small whimper. He leaned a little closer to Dudley to hear what he was trying to say.
"Mum… dad…"
Hearing this, a dark idea surfaced in Harry's mind.
Over the years, Harry had thought of many ways to hurt the Dursleys. Different ways he would torture them before he would kill them.
'It's a bit of a waste…' Harry pondered under the angry gaze of Vernon and the scared look of Petunia. Hatred welled up inside him again as he looked at the couple. 'Whatever. It's worth it.'
"You want your parents Dudley?" Harry asked in a kind tone. "Alright then. Here, you can see them."
Harry turned Dudley's head 180 degrees so he could see his parents. This had multiple consequences, the biggest one being that the man's neck was broken.
The limp body was flung to the side, and a wail resounded throughout the room. Harry looked up to see Petunia running towards the body, immediately cradling it in her arms when she reached it.
After the shock left him, Vernon let out a roar of rage before dashing towards Harry once again.
"You dare! You dare!" the big man repeated over and over. He couldn't fathom the fact that Harry had the audacity to kill his son.
Seeing a blade slashing towards his head, Harry ducked. Once again, he circulated his spiritual energy to his hands, and threw a palm towards Vernon's stomach.
The man went flying across the room from the impact, hitting the wall and falling unconscious. As a 7th layer Qi Refinement cultivator, he obviously couldn't match up to one at the 9th layer.
Harry dashed towards the man's unconscious form and picked up the fallen sword laying next to him. After weighing it in his hands for a few seconds, he stabbed it through Vernon's heart.
Once he twisted the sword a couple of times, he took it out and gave it a quick shake to get the blood off before facing his last opponent.
Petunia Dursley was still holding her son's body while rocking back and forth. She had no reaction even when Harry walked towards her holding a blade.
"Hello," Harry waved his hand a few times in front of the woman's face, only to get no reaction.
Looking at her, Harry felt a small amount of pity. Then, he remembered her urging Dudley in his actions, and how she punished him for the slightest mistakes.
With an indifferent look on his face, Harry stabbed the sword into Petunia's heart as well.
After confirming that all three of the Dursleys were dead, Harry sat down with an exhale. He took a relaxing position and laid down, his face pointing towards the ceiling.
Even though he was surrounded by three corpses, Harry felt satisfied. This was what he had been cultivating for. Vengeance on the people who had tormented him since he was a child.
Wherever the blue screen came from, Harry was thankful. Without it giving him a spirit root that helped him advance his cultivation, he would've died today.
'Whoever said revenge wasn't satisfying was wrong,' Harry thought to himself. 'This feels amazing.'
Eventually, Harry finished resting and stood up. He looked at the Dursley's bodies again and shook his head.
Once he had gotten the information about the celestial demon spirit root, he had been focused on killing the Dursleys, so he didn't really focus on it. However, now that he learned about what the spirit root really was, he was surprised at just how amazing it was.
It was a divine rank spirit root. Harry hadn't even heard of divine rank roots. The only ranks that he knew of were common, profound, and mystic, and there were even ranks within those. Mystic spirit roots were the strongest, followed by profound spirit roots. The common spirit roots were the weakest. Within each major rank were five lesser ranks, and the higher one's rank was, the more powerful their spirit root. The more powerful one's spirit root was, the faster they would be able to attract spiritual energy, leading to a better cultivation speed. Common spirit roots were seen everywhere, as the majority of cultivators had them. Some geniuses were known to have profound spirit roots. Having a profound spirit root meant that reaching foundation establishment wouldn't be especially hard.
Dudley had a rank 1 profound spirit root that Harry didn't know the name of. Such a powerful spirit root was the reason why he had surpassed his father and was at the peak of Qi Refinement at the age of 17. Even within the entire empire, cultivators of Dudley's caliber were rare.
Mystic spirit roots were something that Harry had never seen, only heard of. The only reason he even knew about them was because of the vast amount of reading he did in his rare free periods from the Dursleys. Those with mystic spirit roots were said to have a smooth path through the layers of foundation establishment.
For the celestial demon spirit root to surpass all of these was something absurd to Harry. Although he didn't know if it was definitely above those other spirit roots, the fact that it was labeled divine along with the amazing effects of him obtaining one was enough for him to assume so.
On top of the cultivation benefits of a spirit root above the three known ranks, the celestial demon spirit root also had various other abilities, which needed to be awakened.
The first awakening gave the ability to take one's blood essence and use it to enhance their cultivation. Harry thought it was a pity he couldn't use it on the Dursleys, as the target needed to be alive. It was emphasized for him not to overuse this technique, as it could lead to impurities within one's spiritual energy, making it harder to advance in cultivation. However, using it sometimes would be fine.
The second awakening would give the ability to use a manifestation of the spirit root. Harry wasn't really sure about what that meant, but he didn't really care at the moment as he had only awakened the first ability.
The third and final awakening seemed to give the ability to devour others spirit roots, enhancing one's own.
When Harry had learned about this ability, he was ecstatic. However, it was definitely far away from him for now.
'I've got to leave,' Harry looked around him and realized that the servants of the mansion would be coming soon. If they saw him along with the corpses of the Dursley family, it would be obvious that he was the one that killed them. If he wanted to, he could kill them as well to give him more time to escape, but they hadn't wronged him. It also wouldn't get rid of the base problem.
He knew that he had to leave the city. Although he was probably the strongest person in the city now, he didn't want to fight mobs of angry cultivators wanting to avenge their dirty city lord.
After some consideration, he decided on the location he would escape to.
The capital of the Dark Dragon Empire, Dark City!
The Dark Dragon empire that Harry lived in was a vast empire in the mortal world. The empire's strongest expert, the empress, was said to be at the 3rd rank of foundation establishment. It held various territories, and the city of Azure Spirit was in one of them.
There were several reasons why Harry thought that the capital city would be the best place for him to go. For one, there were much more resources there when compared to a smaller city like Azure Spirit. Although there were a few spirit stone mines in the area of the city, they weren't truly abundant like they were in the capital city.
Another goal for Harry was to get a new cultivation technique. The one he had been using was a weak common rank technique given by the Dursleys, and he wished to obtain a more powerful one. Cultivation techniques and weapons followed the same ranking as spirit roots, so Harry knew that if he wanted a more powerful technique, profound rank was next.
Lastly, the empire was a much, much bigger city than Azure Spirit. At the very least, it was around 20x its size. This would make it a lot harder for someone from Azure Spirit city to coincidentally see and recognize Harry there, and easier for him to escape if someone did.
Thinking about the fastest route to Dark City made Harry hesitate slightly. From what he had seen on maps, Azure Spirit City wasn't actually that far from the capital, but if he wanted to get there as fast as possible, he would need to go through the White Bone forest. If he was able to make it through, Dark City would be close. Choosing to go around the forest would make his trip about four times longer, and it would also be the route most would expect him to go, leading to a pursuit.
The White Bone forest was named so because most who went in simply did not come back. This was because there was an abundance of vicious beasts in the area. It was said that at the core of the forest, there were even beasts at the lower levels of foundation establishment.
As Harry was thinking, the blue screen from before showed up in front of him again.
[
An escape from Azure Spirit City needs to be made. Make your choice.
Choice 1: Journey through the White Bone forest, onto the capital. Reward: Variant Divinity (Profound)
Choice 2: Journey around the White Bone forest to the capital. Reward: Cloak of the Empyrean (Mystic)
Choice 3: Journey to a different city of your choice. Reward: Bottle of healing pills. (Profound)
]
Harry looked at the blue screen with excitement. This was how he had gotten a spirit root! He even thanked the screen a few times.
After a few seconds of excitement, Harry started looking at the choices seriously. Although he knew what the rewards for the second and third choices were, he didn't know what the first one meant.
Variant Divinity? It had divine in the name, but was only ranked profound. It was truly confusing.
Once he finished looking over the choices, Harry made his decision.
Although the Cloak of the Empyrean seemed to be the strongest reward of the choices, he would still go with the first option regardless of the reward. It was the choice that gave him the greatest chance of a successful escape. Even though the White Bone forest was dangerous, he could also profit through gaining beast cores from any beasts he killed.
As long as he didn't find any beasts at the foundation establishment level, he would be good.
Standing up with a sigh, Harry dusted off his clothes as he left the training hall to get his things.
A few minutes later, he dashed out of the Dursleys mansion. The only objects he had with him were the sword he took from Vernon, a couple pieces of clothing, and a copper ring that had been left to him by his parents. The only reason the Dursleys hadn't taken it was because of how cheap it looked. Harry still hid it away though, in case Dudley would see how much he treasured it and decided to take it. It was just the kind of thing the boy would do.
'Would have done,' Harry thought to himself with a satisfied look.
After walking for around half an hour, Harry made it past the border of Azure Spirit City. In front of him were the tall, dark trees of the White Bone forest.
With a deep breath, he walked forward.
So yeah, cultivator Harry Potter. His system is kind of similar to the one in the webnovel Top Tier Providence, Secretly Cultivate for a Thousand Years.