An Enlightened Teacher
The next day, stories had already spread far and wide about what happened on Middle Peak. Nightcrypt became the number one subject inside the sect.
" Did you hear? There is a new Chosen that rose up inside the sect! His name is Nightcrypt! I heard that the grand elders of all four mountain peaks fought over him. In the end, he chose Grand Elder Song Junwan of Middle Peak. What a pity... "
" He is so skilled with blood cultivation that he even shock the whole sect when he reached the Inverse Blood Ancestral Awakening level!"
" From what I know, the technique he created managed to destroy an immortal cave spell formation in a single blow! "
" I know someone inside the Song clan, he told me Nightcrypt swore loyalty to the Song Clan Patriarch! Even more telling is that Patriarch Limitless apparently also wanted to recruiting him!"
" I heard he's not even a cultivator. He's actually an evil, green-skinned hobgoblin in disguise!"
However, this time, not everyone had being convinced of Nightcrypt's potential:
" Once the Song clan learn his new technique, this Nightcrypt will have to bow down to true chosen like Song Que if he want to survive. Who knows if that new technique has some hidden flaws after all. "
" Even if he reached Inverse Blood Ancestral Awakening, it just means that he will barely be able to stand against true Chosens like lady Xuemei in the long run. He wouldn't win in an extended fight, a Dharma Protector reserve of Qi just cant compare with a true Chosen who reached Foundation Establishement using Earthstring energy."
Still, even those who were jealous agreed that Nightcrypt names would remain in the history of the Blood Stream Sect if his new technique was considered worth it by the patriarchs.
The very next day, Bai Xiaochun received an early visit from the Song clan patriarch. Fortunately, Bai Xiaochun had already wrote the way to cultivate this new version of the Blood Annihilation World on a jade slip. He bowed and gave it respectfully to the Song Clan patriarch who studied it for a long time.
Finally, he used the technique flawlessly, summoning a huge reserve of blood Qi from his body. Compared to when Bai Xiaochun used it, the armor was covering the Song clan patriarch completely with the semi-solid texture that made someone think of blood cots. In addition, he also had five claw-like blood sword Qi at the tip of each of his fingers, each of them at the Blood Qi Plasma level!
Eyes glistering, he decided to do further testing. Using a technique he had learned during the Core Formation stage, the blood-cot texture turned more solid, transforming into a fierce-looking armor. But the most radical effect of this technique was that the patriarch's murderous aura skyrocketed to the point Bai Xiaochun couldn't handle the pressure and fallen on all four,. His face drained of blood and he had trouble breathing! Fortunately, the Song clan patriarch quickly restrained the murderous aura. Otherwise, Bai Xiaochun would have passed out!
Truth be told, the patriarch had tried from the very start to restrain his technique's aura. Otherwise, Bai Xiaochun would have fainted the moment he used it. The Song clan patriarch rose a eyebrow at our hero's resilience but quickly returned his attention to the techniques he was using. The Song Clan patriarch was satisfied with his discoveries:
This technique is even better then I thought. The cultivators who learn it will definitely be able to establish an early contact with the Deep Bloodsea Armor technique! Not only that but it will be immensely useful during the Foundation Establishment stage! Even if it seem semi-solid only, I can sense it's surprisingly sturdy. If Middle Peak could have access to better body refinement techniques, maybe Middle Peak Foundation Establishements could actually surpass the other mountain peaks!
He took a moment to look at the claws at his hands and feet. When combined with his Deep Bloodsea Armor technique, they had joined the design of the gauntlets covering his hands. He could sense that they would be somewhat useful but mostly for those who cultivated a body refinement technique.
Its barely a flaw however, it could simply be counted as a requirement to use this technique to its fullest. The real flaw of this technique is that small resistance once it reach the waist. There seem to be a bottleneck once you reach that level. Nightcrypt probably isn't even aware of it, he only used it up to his knees. It would need further studies to make sure. Even so, this technique is a real boon for any cultivators who cultivate the Blood Annihilation World!
Bai Xiaochun was already recovering, slowly, from the patriarch technique. He was watching the Song clan patriarch both fascinated and nervous. He had made this technique in a rush and although it was sure of its effectiveness, he also knew that his importance among the Song clan would be strongly linked to the Song clan patriarch evaluation of the technique.
After a while, the Song clan patriarch also took apart the blood Qi forming the technique and created blood swords with it. The pressure radiating from the Song clan patriarch made it hard for Bai Xiaochun to even breath.
Our hero's felt even bullied at this point, wondering why the Song clan patriarch wasn't leaving his residence before doing all of those tests.
Finally, the Song clan patriarch retracted all the blood Qi back inside of his body. He returned back his attention to Bai Xiaochun, looking at him intensively. He finally said: " This technique is very good. Any enlightements you can share from it? "
Bai Xiaochun had anticipated this question. He answered: " Before I even had my hands on the Blood Annihilation techniques, I being studying toxic pills. I was fascinated by blood cots and their strange texture. I kept wondering back if their was a link between their semi-solid nature and the nature of blood swords. But of course, after learning the Blood Annihilation World, I realized how backward that thought had being..."
At this, Bai Xiaochun sighed for effect, with a expression that was a mix of stubborness and contemplation: " This junior was simply stubborn, not willing to admit blood cots couldn't become something more... I started to wonder if I could find a way to refine the blood Qi gathered from the Blood Annihilation World technique... into some physical manifestation of blood cots..."
He looked at his own hand for effect: " The swords are made to be hold in your hands... But the blood Qi is sent at your fingertip to form sword Qi. So what if we send the sword Qi at your fingertip...and made a claw? Could we do the same for all fingers? After some experimenting at sending the blood Qi at my toes, I suddenly got inspired that I could try to create blood cots with the blood Qi send at the sole of my feet... That's when I entered a strange state of mind that consolided the very foundation of this technique. This... is how I reached the elusive enlightment stage!"
Surprised, the Song clan patriarch blinked a few times. He didn't see any flaws in Bai Xiaochun story. In fact, he had received some minor enlightement from the nature of this technique with Bai Xiaochun's story in mind. After a moment of reflexion, the Song clan patriarch answered:
" Excellent! We will call this the Sanguine Demon Avatar technique! Althought its clearly a variation of Blood Annihilation World, its different enough to be a technique on his own. Well done junior Nightcrypt!"
Bai Xiaochun was secretly annoyed he couldn't have the honor to name his own technique. If he had being asked, he might have called it something like the " Berserk Ghost Nine-Hells Demonic Plasma Armor Technique". He didn't have the time to think of a perfect name for this technique when he was inside the arcane pocket realm and he had forgotten to name it afterwards.
He didn't dare to show his annoyance however. Our hero clasped his hand respectfully: " Thank you patriarch. I'm glad you found the technique worthy of your attention! "
They continued to talk for a while about Nightcrypt's future responsabilities among the Song clan and what to expect from now on. Finally, the patriarch gave our hero a bag of holding full of medicinal ingredients and a lot of jade slips for tier's 3 medicinal pills before finally leaving.
The next few days were calm for Bai Xiaochun. Besides cultivating, he simply prepared jade slips for his future classes and made tier's 3 pills. But inside the sect, the disciples who got poisoned by him were incensed. Quite a few had lost their most precious possessions from the ordeal. As for Master God-Diviner, he was beyond furious. After learning what happened, he cough up a few mouthful of blood in pure anger.
Despite the Song Clan best efforts to hide the truth, more and more rumors were making Nightcrypt both the poisoner and the blood Qi thief of Middle Peak. Unfortunately for our hero, the cultivators from Middle Peak learned the blood Qi incident also happened on Corpse Peak, which revealed the truth about the matter. After all, Nightcrypt was the only one on Middle Peak who had access to both peaks!
Lady Xuemei was astonished and angry to have by fooled from our hero's scheme. But now that he had the protection of the Song clan, it was harder for her to make a casual move against him. However, it didn't mean she was helpless in this situation. She came up with a scheme on her own and it involved the help of Master-God Diviner, much to his delight. It would take time however so our hero was safe... for now.
A week later, it was time for Bai Xiaochun to teach his first group of cultivators. Posing like a member of the elder generation, hands behind his back, he went to the scheduled training ground early and waited for Chosens to arrive.
When the assignated time arrived, he was disappointed to see there was only six Chosens that were in the Foundation Establishement stage. There was also two middle-aged Core Formation disciples among the group. The Foundation Establishement were given them a lot of space.
What was irritating for Bai Xiaochun was that those Core Formation elders were watching him in a very condescending way. This wasn't how you would expect someone to behave when asking for a favor from a sect elder. Snorting coldly, he gave the jade slips to the Foundation Establishement cultivators first. The Core Formation disciples were visibly irritated to see that but said nothing.
Bai Xiaochun started explaining the technique basics, from the Qi passageways used to some precious enlightement to reach an initial success in the technique. Even the Core Formation elders were surprised by the amount of insight given by Nigthcrypt toward his own technique.
When he finished, Bai Xiaochun flicked his sleeves and left, without answering a single question. In his mind, he had made an impressive display. Back to his immortal cave, he continued his daily routine of pill concocting and cultivation. He kept a very low profile and for that, he would even ruin some of the tiers 3 pills he was making, much to his disappointement. But his speed in cultivation was astonishing, especially for his Undying Muscles.
Life went on like this for another month where Bai Xiaochun strenght grew steadily. This time, even the Core Formation elders didn't dare to be disrespectful, which allowed them to be treated in priority this time by Bai Xiaochun. Not only that but every student in his class who had being there before had their Qi Passageways examinated by him while they were trying to learn the technique. Although doing it this way would prevent the students to gain true enlightement on the technique, it also made sure their cultivation speed would increase as well as making sure there wouldn't be any Qi deviation while cultivating the technique.
This method was a luxury for disciples like them, not something teachers normally did in the Blood Stream Sect. Most of them were aloof and proud. And considering the sect way of training its disciples felt like raising scorpions, it was difficult for them to completely trust others. But Bai Xiaochun reassured his students that he was doing it for himself as he wanted some results. He also told them he would only give his student's this treatement only if "they felt they were worthy of it" and only until they gained an initial understanding of the technique.
His student's came to like him, some of them no longer even caring that they were the same age and treated him with even more respect. Even those who had looked down on him in the past understood that if they didn't want other disciples to get ahead, they had to swallow their pride and be respectful.
The Song clan patriarch received reports on Nightcrypt's activity and couldn't help but smile. The more he learned about how Nightcrypt's took his duties as teacher so seriously made him even more glad he took him under his wing. Feeling generous, he sent to Nightcrypt a batch of Spirit Blood Pills to help increase his cultivation.
However, after teaching for a second time, even if he had being rewarded pills by the patriarch, Bai Xiaochun still felt nervous. He had hoped Song Junwan would eventually come to his lessons. After all, his technique was so good the Song clan Patriarch praised it! But somehow, he had not seeing her among the people he had to train for the Song Clan. This made him nervous as he knew she would have to leave in a few months to the Spirit Stream Sect with the Song Clan Patriarch to the Spirit Stream Sect. Without their presence within the sect, he wasn't confident his status within the Blood Stream Sect as a subordinate of the Song Clan would be enough to prevent Xuemei to seek revenge on him.
If I want to be completely safe... I need to go to see Song Junwan and convince her to bring me along to her trip to the Spirit Stream Sect... Or at least have someone trustworthy stand as my bodyguard within the sect.
Song Junwan's attitude was complex. She was trying to look detached and calm but there was also a glint of annoyance and shyness in her eyes. She told Nightcrypt that she is leaving for a diplomatic mission at the Spirit Stream Sect soon and that he had to come with them.
Inwardly. Bai Xiaochun sighed in relief. Everything was still the same on that regard. They left the next day and the visit happened exactly the same way as before. Returning to the Blood Stream Sect, he prepared his next classes and focused on cultivation. Soon, he reached Mid Foundation Establishment. The next thing on his goals... pretending enlightement of the Holy Pill Wall Fragment.
This time however, no manifestation of a legacy was transmitted to Bai Xiaochun. After all, he already had it in his mind. Yet, it attracted quite the bit of attention from the sect. After all, it was well known Nightcrypt could already make tiers 3 pills, even if he had only reach it recently. A lot of ingredients was sent his way but not as much as before. He understood he had to prove the kind of medicinal pills and toxic pills he could make now before receiving as much ressources as before. It took a bit of time but... finally... he received the ressources to make the Heaven Contract Pill!
From what I have, I can't make a lot of those pills. As long as I can make a single one, it will be worth it! But if a catastrophe happen during the pill concocting session, I need to make sure to have a gift that will please the patriarchs to apaise them!
Bai Xiaochun took the time to make a few Blood Mountain Fusion pills just in case. Those pills were hard to concoct among Tiers 4 medicinal pills, being very close to being a Tiers 5 pill. For him though, they were simple enough to concoct. Then he took a full day to put himself in top condition to start concocting again. Taking the best pill furnace he had being given, he started to make the pills, completely focused. The first batch ended up as a failure, leaving a slag inside the medicinal pill. He failed numerous times like this but learned from it each time. He would sit down and this about what went wrong and find a way to resolve it before continuing. But with each failure, unknown to him... the disciples around his immortal caves would ears rumble of thunder even if there was not a single cloud in sight.
The worst part was that this rumble of thunder was constant and with each Nightcrypt's failure, the sound of lightning got stronger, The most unfortunate disciples could barely hear anything else and eventually most disciples affected left Middle Peak. Only then did they feel like the sound was becoming a bit quieter. However, unknown to them, it would take years for their hearing to recover completely and if they had being in the Qi Condensation stage, it wouldn't have healed at all!
The Blood Stream Sect investigated and realized Nightcrypt immortal cave was right in the center of the affected area... The Song Clan Patriach had received reports and finally decided to investigate the situation himself. He sent his divine sense inside Nightcrypt immortal crypt and discover the source was Nightcrypt's cauldron. He could ear the rumbling sound but his cultivation was high enough, it didn't affect him. Since Nightcrypt seemingly wasn't affected by it and he was clearly busy concocting pills, the Song clan retracted his divine sense and the Blood Stream Sect simply released a kharmic decree to not let anyone come to lower part of Middle Peak until they said otherwise. They could only wait until Nightcrypt pill concocting session to finish.
Finally, after several days... Bai Xiaochun managed to make a batch of Heaven Contract Pills! Those pills were golden, releasing a string medicinal aroma and illuminated the immortal cave with five-colored light! This was the sign a Tiers 5 pill has being concocted!
Proud of himself, Bai Xiaochun quickly put them in his bag of holding. He didn't want anyone to find out he had being able to concoct them yet. Then he pretended to be tired from his pill concocting session, rubbing his eyes and put a tired smile on his face. He went out of his immortal cave to realize.. Middle Peak seemed to be strangely quiet. He was surprised and inwardly worried. He recovered quickly though, remembering that he he had enough higher tier pills inside of his bag of holding to make up for any disasters that might have happened.
Eye blinking, Bai Xiaochun turned his head toward a certain direction. Bai Xiaochun detected the arrival of Master God-Diviner, leading a group of angry cultivators. His expression turned serious. He immediately started using the Sanguine Demon Avatar technique to cover his legs. At the same time, he sent some extra blood Qi to his Undying Skin for it to turn it red. His preparation was finished by the time he saw Master God-Diviner.
As the group appeared, Bai Xiaochun realized they had come well-prepared. They were all carrying some talisman and Master God-Diviner was radiating both the Essence of Time and a strong murderous aura:
" NIGHTCRYPT! You are a blood-qi thief, a treacherous poisoner and a walking calamity for Middle Peak! Today, I'm going to take vengance for everyone you screwed over! "
Bai Xiaochun was a bit surprised by Master God-Diviner speech. From what he remembered, it was out of character for him...
He must have planned this speech for a long time! And he must have a trick out of his sleeves...
The cultivator around him started to spread out to surround him. Master God-Diviner could see his target had already gathered a lot of Blood Qi but for him, it didn't matter. He had waited a long time for this and he believed he had come well-prepared.
Bai Xiaochun threw caution to the wind and charged Master God-Diviner. He was way faster then what his opponents expected. In the blink of an eye, he was already close enough to launch a fist attack toward Master God-Diviner's plexus... But to our hero surprise, his opponent eyes glew and he managed to dodge the first blow. Unknowingly by Bai Xiaochun, Master God-Diviner had always cultivated a technique that allowed him to predict his opponent's movements. His opponent used his brief moment to retreat a step and activate the talisman in his hand...
Bai Xiaochun quickly realized that Master God-Diviner was holding a paper talisman that could actually seal his connection to external blood Qi. Seals started appearing on the ground, making the blood Qi from the Sanguine Demon Avatar harder to materialize, to the point it would definitely collapse soon. Unfortunately, the other cultivators following Master God-Diviner assisted him by using the same kind of talisman, enforcing the seals and making the Sanguine Demon Avatar technique to collapse completely.
Thinking they now had the advantage, everyone attacked together. As for Master God-Diviner, he summoned some blood Qi coming from a special bottle, using it to form a blood sword that had a gold sheen to it. With one large motion, he was ready to slash it at Nightcrypt...
The other Foundation Establishement cultivator who were watching the fight gasped:
" Did you see that?! Since when Master God-Diviner reached the Blood Qi Plasma level?!
" Nah, he is using external help, that bottle and that sealing formation don't look ordinary! "
" That Nightcrypt is dead! He just lost his only advantage! "
" Finally some justice! That trouble-maker is dead!"
...But of course, they were wrong.
Bai Xiaochun's Undying Live Forever technique had not being affected by the blood seals. To Master God-Diviner surprise, Bai Xiaochun speed increased yet again! Even if he knew what Nightcrypt was going to do next, Master God-Diviner had a chill in his spine realizing he simply wasn't fast enough to dodge it!
With surprising strenght and finesse, our hero dodged the blade and grabbed the wrist carrying the blood sword so hard the bones broke! The pain made Master God-Diviner sream and the blood sword he just summoned shattered and dispersed!
Following up on that attack, Bai Xiaochun pulled his opponent in and punched him in the face, effectively knocking him out unconscious. Master God-Diviner flopped on the ground like a puppet without strings.
As everyone else gasped, Bai Xiaochun decided to intimidate them further by putting his foot on Master God-Diviner throat. Everyone understood instantly that "Nightcrypt" secretly trained a strong body refinement technique and that with his foot on Master God-Diviner throat, he could kill him at anytime.
Bai Xiaochun roared: " Want to kill me? Step forward! Who else wants to die?! "
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I have no excuse for the lack of updates, except maybe for my situational depression as my doctor calls it. Hope you'll still like this update!