The Blood Legacy (The Divine Elements Book 1) (10 page)

“I broke into the third rank?”

Calron’s mind was in complete shambles as he realized that he actually skipped a rank in his cultivation. This was something that should be impossible!

One must understand that Calron’s own mother was only a second rank cultivator of the Spiritual stage, while his father was at the fourth rank. Currently, at the age of eight, Calron had already surpassed his mother and was probably even physically stronger than his father!

Calron tightly clenched his fists and faintly felt the new power thrum through his muscles and bones. After his transformation due to the Blood Legacy, Calron’s physical strength was already on par with a third rank elementalist and with the aid of his purer liquid essence, his current attack potential was on a completely different level!

Within his age group almost no other child would be a match for Calron’s strength, and even the geniuses of large clans and renown schools would be hard-pressed to find an advantage against Calron in terms of simple brute strength.

However, when it came to the battle strength of his essence, Calron would still be at a disadvantage with his golden lightning. Things might be different if he could use the Azure Lightning, but he was still too weak to use its violent power. The Voice had previously said that Calron would only be able to slightly control the Azure Lightning once he reached the peak of the Spiritual stage..

“Mm, good, very good. Looks like we can finally begin training in the second stage of the Thunder-Bird technique. Get some rest and we will begin early tomorrow morning.”

The Voice mumbled as if it was already preparing to fall asleep.

“Teacher! You still haven’t told me why I suddenly broke into the third rank rather than the second rank?”

Calron frantically yelled when he saw that the Voice was slowly withdrawing.

Although Calron was ecstatic about this new development, he still did not understand how or why it happened. Any normal cultivator would have to first break into the second rank, then into the third rank, and continue following that chain.

However, Calron had completely broken that chain and directly broken into the third rank!

No matter how one would look at it, this breakthrough should have been impossible.

“Damn pesky kid! Don’t you know that it’s time for me to sleep right now? Where is your respect for your elders? Don-”

Sensing that the boy was tearing up, the Voice abruptly stopped mid-sentence. Although it knew that Calron was probably just playing him and using his cuteness to get his way, the Voice still succumbed to his student’s childish charms.

“Sigh… Alright, brat. Tell me what the state of the essence is around you?”

“The essence is like air, it’s light and flows around you!”

Calron enthusiastically answered.

“Correct! When you cultivate the essence and absorb it into your body, it’s in the form of gas. Even when you refine it, it will only become a purer form of a gaseous essence, but it will still remain a gas in the end. What the Azure Lightning aided you with, is that it converted all the gaseous lightning essence directly into pure liquid essence!”

Calron recalled the moment when the golden-azure drops were forming inside his core. He still had not tried channeling the liquid essence yet, but from the aura it was currently giving off at the moment, Calron was sure that its power would not be weak!

“When a cultivator tries to break into the Vajra stage, he will have to convert all his essence into a liquid form before letting it merge with his body. This is the reason why most cultivators are unable to step into the Vajra stage, as refining and condensing that gaseous essence into a liquid was very difficult.”

The Voice calmly stated to his young student.

“Wait, so every time I experience a breakthrough, I will advance an extra rank?”

Calron enthusiastically asked with a childish happiness on his face.

“Rascal, you think the heavens are so unfair in their treatment? For every miraculous advantage you get, there will always be an equal drawback to it! You only broke directly into the third rank because your core had undergone a tremendous qualitative change. Your next breakthrough will be into the fourth rank and not the fifth. Furthermore, since your core already contains liquid essence for every future advancement you face, you will have to gather a monstrous amount of essence to even have a chance of breaking through!”

Calron’s face immediately fell when he heard his Teacher’s words. He understood that although it might not be difficult to advance to the third rank, but what about trying to advance to eighth rank or even the Vajra stage? The amount of essence required to break into those stages would be simply shocking!

Other elementalists had their own methods of gathering the required essence: fire elementalists could go to a desert to safely absorb purer fire essence, water elementalist could go to the sea, or in the case of a wind elementalist a high mountain. But, what about a lightning elementalist?

Places like the desert, lakes, or mountains were relatively safe and cultivators could easily absorb the essence from the environment. A desert will have naturally stored heat under the soil, thus large amounts of pure fire essence could be absorbed pretty easily.

Although that fire essence would not be as pure as compared to the fire essence coursing inside an active volcano, it would still be enough for breakthroughs within the Spiritual stage.

However, for a lightning elementalist where in the world would he find an environment that contained a large amount of lightning essence besides under a thunderstorm?

Lightning is a creature birthed from the heavens, and it does not burn in a single place like fire, or flow continuously around the earth like wind or water.

Lightning is swift and strikes viciously without mercy!

A bolt of lightning disappears almost as soon as it strikes, and its speed is second to none in this world!

Many desperate lightning cultivators have tried to absorb the lightning essence under a thunderstorm in hopes of escaping their fate, but what mortal could tame the violent energy contained within a bolt of lightning?

Only one thing followed after lightning: Death!

This was why lightning cultivators had always remained in the Spiritual stage, and none of them were able to breakthrough into the Vajra stage, because what human could possibly hope to contain and channel the lightning essence under a merciless thunderstorm?

It was madness.

“Looking at your face, it seems like you understand the difficulties you will face in future. Don’t be so down, kid. The heavens may often put obstacles in your life, but who says that you cannot defy the heavens themselves?”

The Voice responded, as it tried to lift the spirits of its only student.

It knew that the path would be torturous for Calron in the future, but it did not have the heart to drown the hopes of this eight year old kid. Although it had never been done before, the Voice knew that if Calron inherited the same bloodline as his ancestors, then he just might have the potential to tame nature’s lightning!

Wiping away his tears on his shoulder, Calron sniffed a couple times before getting up from the ground.

“Will you sleep with snot covering your face like that? Geez, don’t start the waterworks every time you face a difficulty. Do you want to sit down and bawl like a baby whenever you meet a stronger opponent in future? All hail Calron the Sniffle Face!”

The Voice teased Calron, as it knew that these childish jabs always got to the boy.

Calron might have a raging temper, and an almost perfect perception of Martial Arts, but despite all that, he was still a kid.

If there was too much seriousness in Calron’s life, then his future would be lonely, and this was something that the Voice promised to never let happen!

“I wasn’t crying! All this moving on the floor just made the dust rise! That’s right, it’s dust! I definitely wasn’t crying! Stop making lies up and go to sleep! Isn’t that what old people do?”

Calron hurriedly retorted, as he tried to find a good jab against his Teacher.

The Voice inwardly smiled with relief that the boy was back to normal. It was worried that with a past such as Calron’s with him losing almost everyone and everything in his life, he would wallow in depression and misery forever.

It was nice to see the occasional childishness in the boy, as who knew how long it would last.

“Goodnight, kid.”

The Voice whispered softly.

……………….

With the full moon illuminating the dark night, a cold and gentle wind breezed through the trees. Insects crawled around the ground while small predators hunted for an easy prey.

Just at that moment, several shadows darted across a series of huts, as they caused numerous blurs to appear in the blackness of the night. The shadows made absolutely no sound and continued towards their destination at the back of a building.

“How is the little lady?”

A cold and deep voice asked the kneeling shadows on the ground.

“She is asleep, Captain. Currently, there are four guards stationed outside her room.”

One of the kneeling men responded in a low voice.

“Any information on who killed our men that night?”

The Captain icily inquired.

“All traces of them have completely disappeared. Without the bodies, we do not know whether it was a Martial Artist, or an elementalist who killed them. However, only someone at the level of an Elder could possibly defeat peak Spiritual stage cultivators, so we are discreetly tracking the movements of all the Elders present in the school.”

After hearing the report from his subordinate, the corner of the Captain’s eye twitched. This task from his Lord was more daunting than he had expected.

The Captain was the only Vajra stage expert from their Shadow Corps here at the school, and the possibility of a conflict against several Elders at the Vajra stage was not a very comforting thought.

“Continue to observe their movements and inform me if you notice anything suspicious. However, do not engage them without my permission.”

Just as the Captain was about to turn around, he abruptly gave another command.

“On second thought, although Lord Mort said to leave the boy alone, I’m curious about who this kid is. Give me a report on him tomorrow after you gather some Intel. Disperse!”

“Yes Captain!”

A series of faint murmurs filled the quiet night.

*chirp*   *chirp*

The sun slowly started to rise on the horizon, as it colored the sky with a mix of red and orange. The servants were quietly sweeping the school grounds, while a few disciples groggily rose from their beds for the beginning of an early morning.

—In Calron’s hut—

*snore*

A little boy was still peacefully sleeping with a blissful expression on his face. A slight smile was etched on the corner of his lips and one could only guess the content of the boy’s dream.

Suddenly, a mysterious dark smoke drifted out from the boy’s body, as it slowly took on the shape of a large eagle-like bird. Bolts of golden lightning crackled around it and soon the bird started to change its shape again, as it finally revealed the shadow of a kneeling man.

The translucent figure of the man stood up from the floor, as he gently gazed upon the sleeping boy. Tucking away the strands of dark hair from the boy’s forehead, the man bent down to gingerly touch the child’s face.

Although the translucent figure appeared to be formed of smoke, surprisingly, it had a real physical touch!

“You remind me of him so much, Calron, and it pains me that his descendants have to bear the agony of such a torturous life. I do not have the power that I once used to, but I will make sure to guide you to the peak of power that you desire of. Even those senile Ancients and Gods will tremble at the mere sight of you once they discover your existence.”

The man softly chuckled.

At that moment, the boy suddenly started to stir with his eyelids faintly flickering.

“Your heart is still soft, my child. You will need to get stronger soon as there will be countless battles ahead of you. Unfortunately, I will have to leave you for a while in order to give you the chance to survive. I will explain it when you wake up, so stay strong until we meet again.”

After whispering those words, the figure then exploded into bursts of smoke and re-entered the boy’s soul.

………………….

“Wake up, kid!”

Calron mumbled various incoherent words in annoyance, but the Voice persisted.

“Calron, we need to start on your breathing technique before you go out there. We cannot have anyone know the current cultivation rank you have reached! It will simply bring too much unwanted attention. Wake up now!”

“Alright, alright, I’m getting up! Geez!”

Calron annoyingly muttered under his breath, as he gingerly rubbed his eyes to force the drowsiness out of him.

Getting out of his bed, Calron slowly sat down on the mat below and took the meditative position. However, his eyelids started to slowly close.

*thwak*

Calron instantly sprung back into position and winced at pain in the back of his head.

“This is important, you punk! Do you know the dangers you’ll face if the world finds out what your current cultivation is at that age? Sleep again, and I will smack you harder the next time!”

The Voice said in a threatening tone.

Sensing a tone of urgency from his Teacher’s voice, Calron immediately became serious and started to focus his attention on the breathing technique. What he had failed to realize due to his sleepiness was that the Voice had actually inflicted physical pain onto him!

“The second stage of the Thunder-Bird technique aids you in gathering large amounts of essence into your body, and then circulates it within your spiritual veins. The reason why I had you wait until now was that with the absorption of massive amounts of essence, your physical body would have been unable to endure that strain and would have instantly broken apart!”

Calron attentively listened to every word his Teacher spoke, and tried to ingrain them into his memory.

The Voice continued with its lecture.

“The other benefit of this technique and the one which is most useful to you right now, is the ability it provides in camouflaging your cultivation! It will give you complete control over the flow of your essence, and you can use that to disguise your cultivation rank. Even experts at the Heavenly stage would be unable to uncover your cultivation if you do not want them to!”

Calron was completely stunned! A technique that even Heavenly stage experts could not see through? This was simply an inconceivable thought for Calron!

“Now, I will directly imprint this technique into your soul. We do not have the time for me to teach you step-by-step, and even with your unusually perfect perception, it will still take a very long time to fully comprehend this technique. Since we already share souls, I can easily imprint this technique onto you, and once it is engraved into your mind, you will be able to use this technique as if you had been practicing it for decades!”

The Voice suddenly turned silent for a while after it said those words, as if composing itself for the next stage.

“I’m ready, kid. One more thing, once I imprint this technique onto your soul, I will need to recover for a long time, and will not be able to advise you until then. The connection between our souls is still a bit unstable, so I will have to depend on my own soul energy to recover my vitality. After you receive the technique, immediately start practicing it and only leave the hut after you’ve completely comprehended it. Stay safe, child.”

The Voice tenderly whispered as its presence started to slowly vanish within Calron’s mind.

Sensing the absence of his Teacher, Calron suddenly felt more lost and alone than ever. Sorrow started to build up within his tiny chest, and just as his eyes were about to get misty, Calron remembered his previous resolve to stay strong, and forcibly suppressed the tears.

He terribly missed his Teacher, but he knew that the Voice would soon return after recovering, and until then Calron would just have to endure.

Within seconds, Calron felt a jolt shaking his very soul!

Streams of foreign energy circulated through his body until it finally reached the center of his mind. Calron saw flashes of images, as various sensations exploded within his nerves. He closed his eyes and started to absorb the technique being imprinted onto his soul!

After what seemed like years and years, Calron finally opened his eyes! Small bolts of golden lightning crackled around his pupils for a second before gradually fading away.

Currently, there was an intense aura surrounding the boy, as if the very essence around him trembled with an unrestrainable excitement!

The room was absolutely still.

There were no sounds, except the soft breathing of the boy seated on a mat in the middle.

Golden essence rippled around him, as it rose and fell to the rhythm of the boy’s breathing. The essence surged around him in waves akin to the rhythmic pumping of a large heart.

The birds continued to chirp outside, while the servants remained busy with their sweeping.

*shua*

The waves of golden essence around Calron finally dispersed, as he let out a deep sigh.

“So that is the second stage of the Thunder-Bird technique… formidable!”

Calron then began to rotate his essence around his core in order to start masking his true cultivation rank. The main aspect of the technique lied in its ability to convert some of the liquid essence back into the gaseous state, and spread it outside of his core so as to make it appear as if one’s cultivation was much lower!

Calron could also change the amount of essence he wished to show, while hiding the majority of his essence within the center of his core.

It seemed simple in theory, but was extremely difficult to execute, as how many cultivators would have the ability to maintain both liquid and gas essences at the same time? It was only thanks to the Thunder-Bird technique that Calron was able to achieve this extreme control over his essence!

After disguising his cultivation back to the first rank, Calron breathed out a sigh of relief and hoped that the masking was perfect.

“Ah! I’m going to be late meeting Master Elias if I don’t leave right now!”

Calron exclaimed after he glanced outside his hut and saw the sun starting to fully rise on the horizon.

…………

In a lush garden surrounded by lively vegetation, an old man sat at the edge of a lake with a small fishing rod resting in his hand.

None of the fish appeared to take the bait, but it did not seem to matter to the man as he simply reveled in the tranquility of nature.

Elias quietly hummed to himself while he enjoyed the sensation of the warm sunlight on his skin.

*pant* *pant*

“I’m sorry Master, I was running late!”

Calron wheezed out the words after he caught his breath. He had rushed to Gretha for some quick breakfast and wolfed it down as fast as he could before sprinting here.

“Hmm, Calron? No worries. Come here child. We will shortly begin on your training, but you have to get your mind calm and lucid first. Sit here.”

Elias gently stated without turning his head.

Calron obediently walked over to the lake and slowly sat down right next to his Master, while trying to regain and steady his breath.

The moment Elias turned his head and glimpsed towards Calron, he abruptly dropped his fishing rod as his hands started to tremble.