by KSY
“Forest of Darkness,” Oscar said with a smile. The expression on Blake and Cris’s faces changed. They knew that they would be undergoing tough training under their grandfather in the Forest of Darkness, which is a well known forest growing over a Darkness Attribute Treasure Land. It is also considered Heaven for Darkness Attribute beings.
Ch.9
After exactly eight days, Ryan and his family left Hope City forever. Oscar used a Teleportation scroll to teleport them some distance away from Divine Martial City, because he had no intention of opening a Teleportation portal in the middle of Divine Martial City – and attracting unnecessary attention.
“Ryan, take care of yourself and inform me if you get into any kind of trouble. You can also visit us in the Forest of Darkness. You already know the location of the estate there,” Oscar said. Ryan nodded his head. Oscar once again used a Teleportation scroll to open a portal to teleport him, Blake and Cris to the Forest of Darkness. They bid Ryan farewell before they stepped into the portal and it disappeared soon afterwards.
Ryan took a deep breath as he tried to calm his emotions. He was separated from his family for the first time after his rebirth. After a few minutes, he started heading towards the Divine Martial Sect at an ordinary pace.
It is not known what he was thinking.
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The Divine Martial Sect is located in the central region of Dragon Head Continent. The sect was established millions of years beforehand by a Martial Artist who had later attained divinity and ascended to a Divine World. Being a major power on Dragon Head Continent, Divine Martial Sect has control of a large number of Treasure Lands, which are used mainly for nurturing its disciples.
Divine Martial Sect was established a thousand kilometers away from Divine Martial City, which is a major city on Dragon Head Continent and spread over an area of hundreds of square kilometers.
All the major factions of Dragon Head Continent have a store in Divine Martial City as it is visited by millions of people every month. These stores are used by the factions to sell off their finished goods like weapons, armours, pills and so on. Divine Martial Sect charges them a small commission for doing business in their territory.
Ryan reached the gates of Divine Martial City within an hour. He had a hassle-free entry as he possessed a certificate declaring him to be a new disciple of the Divine Martial Sect.
While he was standing in the queue at the gates of Divine Martial City, he heard people talking about Devil Volcano erupting. The eruption had been so powerful that Inferno Forest had been totally submerged beneath its lava. Subsequently, Inferno Forest, which was under the control of the Divine Martial Sect, had been declared a Forbidden zone by them. The fact that Inferno Forest had become non-accessible was a direct attack on the pockets of the Divine Martial Sect, as they would now be unable to mine there for Fire Elemental stones, or search for other Heavenly Treasures birthed by Inferno Forest.
Ryan also heard people discussing the disappearance of the Evil Heavenly flame – which greatly interested him as he was the one who’d made it disappear. The eruption of Devil Volcano was attributed by the Divine Martial Sect to the ascension of the Evil Heavenly flame that had existed inside it for millions of years. The Devil’s flame was currently the hottest topic of discussion and everyone wanted to know more and more about it. Ryan had already made up his mind to avoid using Devil’s flame for some time. The Martial Artists from the Divine Martial Sect knew the Aura of Devil’s flame, so they might suspect him of being the culprit who’d destroyed their Treasure Land.
Divine Martial City was divided into two parts, an Inner region and an Outer region. The Inner region was where most of the Family Clans and prosperous people under the Divine Martial Sect lived. This place also had the best Cultivation resources in the whole city. If one had enough Elemental stones, one could purchase all kinds of Cultivation resources including rare pills and exotic weapons. The Outer region, on the other hand, was meant for people without a strong background and housed families of Outer-sect disciples or other people with lower status.
Since Ryan had arrived about twenty-two days early, he had no choice but to wait until he could formally join the sect as an Outer-sect disciple. He decided to rent a Cultivation chamber in the Martial Pavilion which was situated in the Inner region of Divine Martial City until the day he could formally join the Divine Martial Sect.
Ryan headed towards the Inner region of Divine Martial City, which could be considered as the heart of Divine Martial City. Business activity there was bustling with vigor. As Ryan entered Main Street in the Inner region, he could see all sorts of items being displayed in hundreds of shops lining both sides of the street. Main Street was one of the few unrestricted places in the Inner region, but Ryan didn’t bother with the shops as he was in no need of buying any sort of Cultivation resources. He directly headed towards the Martial Pavilion.
The Martial Pavilion was a two storey building spread over a ten-square kilometer area. The Martial Pavilion was run by the Divine Martial Sect. This place rented out Cultivation chambers to Martial Artists. Ryan entered the Martial Pavilion and approached the young beauty sitting at the reception, who was most likely an Outer-sect disciple of the Divine Martial Sect.
“Hello, I wish to rent a Cultivation chamber for twenty-two days,” Ryan said in a polite manner.
“That would cost you a hundred low-grade Elemental stones of Primary attribute per day, so it would cost twenty-two hundred low-grade Elemental stones of Primary attribute for twenty-two days,” the young beauty replied with a smile. Ryan nodded his head as he took out twenty-two hundred high-grade Fire Elemental stones from his Spatial pouch. The young beauty, after counting the Elemental stones, asked one of the attendants to take Ryan to one of the available Cultivation chambers.
The Cultivation chamber allotted to Ryan was on the ground floor. It chamber was about sixteen meters long and sixteen meters wide and was quite spacious overall. It had a bed and the other things that a Martial Artist might require during a stay. Ryan was satisfied with the Cultivation chamber, so he sealed it and began cultivating Poison Elemental Laws. He wished to advance his Poison Attribute Soul Core to Late Mortal Elite Realm as soon as possible.
Seven days have passed since Ryan started cultivating Poison Elemental Laws.
He’d entered a deep Cultivation state and was relentlessly cultivating Poison Elemental Laws. He wanted to make sure that his understanding of Poison Elemental Laws was not lacking when he started learning Poison Attribute Martial Skills. Death Fog Martial Skill and Paralysis Gas Martial Skill require a Martial Artist to possess a Cultivation Level of at least Late Mortal Elite Realm before starting to learn them. Those requirements are many times higher than for the Corpse Poison Martial Skill. Martial Skills requiring a higher understanding of Elemental Laws are more powerful and potent than Martial Skills requiring lesser understanding of Elemental Laws – but they are equally more difficult to master, than the ones requiring lesser understanding of Elemental Laws.
Ryan ended his first Cultivation session on the eighth day and that too after attaining a breakthrough. His Poison Attribute Soul Core had advanced to Late Mortal Elite Realm. Ryan felt the toxicity of his Poison Attribute Spirit Power increase considerably.
Ryan took out three manuals from his Spatial pouch, Soul Devouring Finger Martial Skill, Death Fog Martial Skill and Paralysis Gas Martial Skill. Ryan started off with Soul Devouring Finger Martial Skill, which required a Martial Artist to have a minimum Cultivation Level of Late Mortal Elite Realm.
Ryan’s forefinger was covered in Death aura as he channeled Death Attribute Spirit Power into it. Ryan started infusing the Death Attribute Spirit Power in his forefinger with Death Elemental Laws. It took Ryan two days before he was able to shoot his first Soul Devouring Finger Beam. Ryan was jubilant because of this achievement, as he remembered the words of the granny who’d been sitting at the counter of the Martial Sk
ill Pavilion of Hope City.
Ryan continued to practice the Soul Devouring Finger Martial Skill for the next two days until he had completely mastered it. He was then able to shoot Soul Devouring Finger Beams instantaneously and without a moment’s notice. He had a scary smile on his face, as that meant this Martial Skill was wonderfully good for sneak attacks during a fight.
Ryan then started off with the Death Fog Martial Skill and finally moved on to the Paralysis Gas Martial Skill. It took him three days to master them. Ryan was feeling giddy, as he knew these three Martial Skills would come handy on the day he joined the Divine Martial Sect, when the newly recruited Outer-sect disciples had to participate in the Marathon conducted by the sect. The Marathon started from Divine Martial City and ended at Divine Martial Sect. The Outer-sect disciples had to pass through the Outer regions of Desolate Forest before they could reach Divine Martial Sect. Desolate Forest was just like Eternal Forest, home to powerful Elemental Beasts and other deadly creatures.
The newly recruited Outer-sect disciples had to kill at least three Elemental Beasts inside Desolate Forest before they could complete the Marathon. This Marathon was viewed by all the Ancestor Level Martial Artists of the Divine Martial Sect who wished to take on a disciple. Ryan wished to shine in the Marathon and attract the attention of an Ancestor Level Poison Attribute Martial Artist. That was why he was spending a lot of time learning Poison Attribute Martial Skills.
Ryan still had seven full days before the start of the Marathon, so he decided to study charm making in the meantime. He took out a book from his Spatial pouch and started reading. This book had detailed descriptions and explanations about making different kinds of charms.
Ryan had asked his grandfather for this book. Oscar had had the book in his personal library, and readily gave it to Ryan, as charm making was also a highly respected profession in Grandura. Even powerful factions avoided angering a powerful charm maker. The other reason that Oscar hoped Ryan would become a charm maker was because it was wonderfully lucrative.
The cost of charms directly depends on the power of the attack sealed in them. They can cost as much as millions of high-grade Elemental stones of Primary attribute. Charms that contain Heavenly flames are sold at an exorbitant price. Ryan had wanted to learn charm making ever since seeing his grandfather take one out, as he was fascinated by them.
As Ryan was studying the book on charm making, he was interrupted by Earl.
“Ryan, you should start with Fire Attribute charms. Since your control over flames is heaven-defying, it would be so easy for you to make Fire Attribute charms. You just need to wish, and the flames will seal themselves inside the charm. You just need to learn a sealing method,” Earl said. He’d been reading the book on charm making along with Ryan. Charm making had a simple method. A charm maker just needed to seal his attack inside charm paper or cloth.
Ryan found merit in Earl’s words. He had personally seen his heaven-defying control over flames. Just by using his thoughts, he could make different kinds of objects and beings out of his flames and imbue them with Fire Elemental Laws.
Ryan’s understanding of Fire Elemental Laws had reached the threshold requirement for a Martial Artist to step into the Late Mortal Elite Realm quite some time ago. He’d already advanced his Soul Core to the Late Mortal Elite Realm during his last few days in Hope City, so now his understanding in Fire Elemental Laws was comparable to his understanding in Death Elemental Laws. This would help Ryan when he converted the Fire Attribute Spirit Power inside his Death Fire Dual Attribute Soul Core into Death Attribute Spirit Power or vice versa. The Spirit Power obtained after the conversion would now be of the same quality as the one from which it been converted. If there had been a difference in the level of his understanding of Death Elemental Laws and Fire Elemental Laws, then the Spirit Power obtained from converting one of them into the other would have a difference in quality – and thus lead to loss of Spirit Power.
It is always in the best interests of any Martial Artist with a Dual Attribute Martial Spirit to keep the levels of his understanding of the Elemental Laws of both attributes equal. Ryan knew the importance of this and had used his last few days in Hope City to achieve that.
“Let’s head to the market to get some charm paper,” Ryan said with enthusiasm. Just as he was about to leave the Cultivation chamber a powerful energy ripple emanated from the black side of his Soul World. A smile appeared on Ryan’s face. Yama had awakened from his deep sleep-state! Ryan sent his consciousness into his Soul World to meet Yama.
The cocoon made of Hell’s Fire that had enclosed Yama before he’d entered his deep sleep-state had already disappeared and Yama had reverted to his Asura form, but his Asura form had some changes though. His hairs were now ignited with Hell’s Fire flame. His Baleful aura had had a qualitative change, so it was now denser than before which would, in turn, make it more potent.
Yama slowly opened his eyes. He had a shocked expression as he sensed changes in Ryan’s Soul World. He immediately asked Ryan about Earl, and Ryan quickly explained everything. Yama found this inconceivable, however had no choice but to accept the reality in front of his eyes. He warmly greeted Earl, who responded warmly too. Dargar was still in a deep Cultivation state and hadn’t been at all bothered by the energy ripple released by Yama. Ryan, Earl and Yama were stunned for some time before they continued talking among themselves.
Ryan left for the market to get himself some charm papers soon afterwards. He went to Main Street in the Inner region. It didn’t take him long to find a shop that sold charm papers and purchased a bunch of them. He didn’t immediately return to the Martial Pavilion but decided to check out the market in the Inner region.
Ryan checked tens of shops but found nothing that interested him. As Ryan was thinking of returning to the Martial Pavilion, he saw a commotion taking place near a poster that was stuck outside a store. This piqued Ryan’s curiosity, so he went to check out the poster.
The poster belonged to the Auction House controlled by the Divine Martial Sect inside Divine Martial City. The poster had information about two star items that were going to be auctioned off at its next auction.
One of them was an egg of a Dragon-serpent that had bloodlines of Asura Dragon and Heaven Devouring Serpent. The other was an Immortal Plant Spirit named Viper’s Touch. Viper’s Touch Immortal Plant Spirit is capable of increasing the insights and understanding in Poison Elemental Laws of an Immortal Realm Martial Artist by leaps and bounds.
On Grandura, all beings are capable of cultivating including plants and trees. Normal plants and trees can transform into Mortal Plant spirits and Mortal Tree spirits after cultivating to a certain level. Mortal Plant spirits and Mortal trees spirits look no different from normal plants and trees except for their possessing sentience. They are also capable of using offensive and defensive Innate abilities.
Mortal Plant spirits and Mortal Tree spirits can then into evolve into Immortal Plant spirits and Immortal Tree Spirits after cultivating up to a certain level. Immortal Plant Spirits and Immortal Tree Spirits look like Humanoids and are not immobile like Mortal Plant spirits and Mortal Tree spirits and can move around like other Humanoids. If a Martial Artist absorbs the essence of the Plant spirit or Tree spirit of a particular Attribute, then his or her insights and understanding in Elemental Laws of that Attribute increase exponentially.
Ryan was stunned for a second after seeing the items that were going to be auctioned in four days, especially the Dragon-serpent egg that had bloodlines of Asura Dragon and Heaven Devouring Serpent. A Dragon-serpent is a Hybrid Elemental Beast. A Hybrid Elemental Beast is born only when the bloodlines of both its parents are equally strong, and both parents are either Normal Elemental Beasts, Divine Elemental Beasts, or Ancient Elemental Beasts. If one bloodline is stronger than the other, then the weaker bloodline is devoured by the stronger bloodline, and the Elemental Beast to be born belongs to the species of the parent with the stronger bloodline.
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nbsp; Hybrid Elemental Beasts possess the Innate Abilities of two different species of Elemental Beasts, which makes their attacks eminently versatile and unpredictable. Ryan had already decided to make this Dragon-serpent his Soul beast by forming a contract with it.
A Martial Artist can form two types of contracts with an Elemental Beast: an Equal contract or a Master-slave contract.
In an Equal contract, the Elemental Beast needs to willingly form the Equal contract with the Martial Artist and both the Elemental Beast and the Martial Artist have equal status. An Elemental Beast can’t be forced to form an equal contract. This is a compulsory condition for forming an Equal contract with an Elemental Beast. An Equal contract is what every Martial Artist wishes to form with an Elemental Beast.
If a Martial Artist is able to form an Equal contract with an Elemental Beast that has the same attribute as his Martial Spirit, then that Martial Artist has his or her affinity with that attribute increase to a whole new level, which is equivalent to an increase in his talent and potential.
An Elemental Beast also gains a lot by forming an Equal contract with a Martial Artist. It has a chance of increasing its bloodline purity by a level or two. The Elemental Beast can also gain the Innate Ability of the Martial Spirit that is unsealed by the Martial Artist.
The Martial Artist and the Elemental Beast can’t betray each other after the formation of an Equal contract, no matter how hard they try. The moment either party tries to betray their companion Heaven’s laws severely punish the betrayer. This is one of the reasons Death Sword didn’t mind Ryan sharing pure Death Attribute Elemental energy with an Elemental Beast, that had formed an Equal contract with Ryan.
The number of Equal contracts a Martial Artist can form is equal to the number of Martial Spirits he or she possesses. Generally, it is very difficult to convince an Elemental Beast to enter into an Equal contract, as it can only form one Equal contract in the whole of its life – which naturally makes it choosy. It will prefer a Martial Artist with powerful Martial Spirit or Martial Spirits to increase the chance of its bloodline purity going up by a level or two. It is extra difficult to form an Equal contract with an Elemental Beast that is a descendant of an Ancient Elemental Beast or Divine Elemental Beast, as it will be distinctly choosy. The Dragon-serpent fell into this category, as it was the descendant of two Tyrannical existences.
