Chapter 5
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/LIGHT!/
"Urg!!... Huff… Even though I have greatly strengthened my body and turned it into a Demonic Vessel, I still need some time to adapt…"
Sun had to embarrassingly stay on the side and adjust to the faint, blinding sunlight… After an hour waiting, he pushed it a little further before repeating the process.
Seven hours later… He stepped into the sun.
/Shuaa…/
"..."
The smell of grass and sunlight on his skin, the feeling of absolute freedom, and… It was indescribable.
"Haaaa… Hahaha… I never knew how much I missed all of this… Hm?"
As he raised his arms, he soon realized how pale he was.
"Urg, I look like a vampire…"
With sunlight, he could also finally see how tarnished his clothes were, "... I'll have to buy a few more; maybe I can pass by the sect, but… If I do that, the Elders may notice me… If they still remember who am I."
'Would the bastards who killed my parents still be around?… It's been almost forty years since I last saw them… They're probably dead already. Cultivators in their realm don't last long out there if they act the way they do.'
"... Wait…"
As he pondered what to do, he turned to the side, noticing a strange figure. Sitting by the door's side was none other than…
"E-Elder!! I was just… Wait."
He approached the Elder, and the first thing he noticed was…
"Urg! This smell…"
A potent rotting smell, even stronger than at the bottom of the Vault. Upon close inspection, the Elder's body was half bone, with his muscles and flesh decaying right before him.
"... A Nascent Soul cultivator usually decays over multiple years if not decades. With this level of decay, he'd be dead for… Over a decade…"
'Wait, the Elder stopped appearing nineteen years ago. Could it be that he died… while sitting in his chair?!'
/Step back…/
His face even paler than usual, Sun was spooked beyond belief, 'Just what could've killed a Nascent Soul cultivator to not even make him move in his deathbed?!'
"Something's not right here…"
'I thought I would look tougher after experiencing the Vault's horrors, but here I am fearing for my life at the sight of a dead body… It could be that I have grown sensitive after recovering from my trance, but this is utterly horrifying…'
"... Phew… Okay… I don't think it's a good idea for me to linger here for long."
'Whatever killed him could still be around even after all these years, or maybe he died of a disease and it could be contagious… The issue is how no one came to check on him… this can only mean the worst.'
"The Sect might've undergone an incredible catastrophe... and I was abandoned down there, luckily avoiding whatever befell them all due to being submerged in layers upon layers of Demonic Qi."
'In any case, I'll just uh… excuse me, Elder…'
/Tap tap…/
Sun checked his body for valuables, "Aha, he was indeed carrying something with him. It seems like an artifact, but… Hm?"
Sun found a small pair of daggers on his waist and a pouch with a few translucent pieces of quartz inside.
The problem was… Those were just…
"Ordinary metal daggers? Why would a Nascent Soul Cultivator carry them? And these crystals… No matter how I look at them, they're just quartz, but I'm sure they should've been High-Quality Spirit Stones…"
'In fact… Where's all the Qi? I may not have any Qi inside of me due to my efforts in building my constitution, but I can still feel it around me, and here… I can't feel anything.'
"Did I grow dull because of the Demonic Qi?... I'll have to fix that."
Sun pushed his ideas aside. After all, the Qi couldn't vanish just like that.
It was just… preposterous.
…
/Shua shua…/
Sun pushed aside the tall grass that had overtaken the path he once took and slowly made his way through the bamboo forest, thinking about his old life.
While he had forgotten some aspects of his life, his diary coupled with the strengthening of his mind and body had led to him developing a near-flawless memory like many cultivators had.
'When I first joined the Sect, I quickly made many friends. I helped the children learn and grow, to develop a mindset towards cultivation and seek its end.'
'But funny enough, this mindset ended up pushing them away from me as I stagnated. I wonder how they're doing now? How would they act if they saw my current self?...'
Even if he disliked them now, Sun had no desire to see them dead. He had already grown past his old grievances; they were but children after all, but it would feel good to be recognized, even if only once in his life.
Maybe that was his old, childlike self talking. Deep inside, he wanted at least one friend, someone he could talk and discuss cultivation with.
It was very lonely… pursuing this path like this. He didn't want to end up as an Elder passing his everything to a lucky child before dying, with the child being the only one to see him pass away.
He wanted to live surrounded by people… albeit that was just his wish and not how he felt right now… Some habits would be hard to clear, like his comfort with isolation.
'I only have one grievance now… to exact vengeance on the two who killed my parents…'
/Shuaa…/
He pushed the bamboo away from his path, "Here it is, the Lower Sect of the Heaven Cross Mountains."
In the distance, he could see large buildings rising from the plains, surrounded by rivers and hills. Initially, Sun had no intention of entering it, but with the Elder dead, he wanted to see if he could find any clues to his disappearance.
So he stepped inside, focused.
…
"... What is this…"
But what he found inside was maddening… skeletons everywhere, and just like the Elder, some bodies were even stuck doing the same thing as they were before their death.
And above all, there was no Qi anywhere…
"This is sickening… For so many cultivators to die… Not even a Soul Formation Cultivator can do such a thing…"
He looked at the air, "And this lack of Qi in the air, even feeling it is hard."
"The Demonic Seal of my mind is cracking… Rather, it's being dispersed, not even purified…"
'The density of Qi is so low that the metal-solid Demonic Qi around my skull is dispersing, like a droplet of milk in the sea.'
"Everyone died instantly, and the Qi vanished simultaneously… If the Qi is constantly dispersing elsewhere, then it's obvious why the Keepers moved. We were likely spared a quick death due to our location, but they were still Demonic Humans, so they needed the Qi to remain constant…"
"Maybe they know what's going on, and that's why they isolated themselves rather than emerge… not that they could've in an ordinary world regardless…"
'Now that I think about it, everything was around the same time… Yes… something happened that took the entire Sect by storm!… The Keepers definitely know something… or felt something happen…'
"... This means that… I can't cultivate?"
Sun got the greatest mind-fuck of his life, "... No, it's not useless. There's still Qi, but it's dispersing in this region for some reason... As if it couldn't maintain itself any longer…"
Sun racked his brain for solutions, and eventually, he came up with something:
"Either a high-level Soul Formation passed by and destroyed everything with a super complex Art, maybe an even greater cultivator… either that or the heavenly laws changed… could this be…"
"This could be the end of a karmic cycle!!"
'It was said that every few ten thousand years, the world would change as the Karmic Cycle ended and a new one began. Whenever this happened, the world order would fall, and a new one would rise.'
'But records of such events are… dubious.'
'It seems I was spared death because I abolished my cultivation, turning myself into an ordinary person... How lucky…'
"It's not over yet… Since it's like this, I'll check everywhere. There has to be something that still contains Qi in this Sect!"
Sun began running around, inspecting bodies, libraries, storages, and even the famed medicinal hall, but alas, he saw nothing. Everything had either been drained of Qi or destroyed. They could not maintain their original appearance as the Qi vanished.
Only beings of extreme power like Golden Core and Nascent Soul Cultivators were able to retain some energy as their rotting bodies decayed…
"Some of these items still hold medicinal value, but without their unique Qi, what's the point? Most Pill recipes are now useless…"
Sun scratched his head in frustration. He eventually left the hall and went onto the streets, "Everyone's dead, even the Lower Sect Master is now a dried corpse in his manor…"
"At least I got all the techniques and manuals for free… hahaha… A part of me wants to rejoice, but another is despairing…"
/SLAP!/
He slapped his cheeks, "No! I'm not that kind of person."
'Mourning them can come at another time; for now, I must do what I came here to do!'
With a focused gaze, Sun went around the Lower Sect's Halls, collecting all of their techniques and most precious herbs, items, and materials before dragging everything to the entrance of the Higher Sect.
"Huff… It took me a few hours, but I'm finally here."
'The Higher Sect!'
Sun had an idea.
Instead of going to the Lower Immortal Vault, why not raid the True Vault and absorb all its techniques? Even if he couldn't Cultivate, he believed that this situation couldn't be the case everywhere and that somewhere, he would be able to display his prowess.
So learning more couldn't hurt… Above all, if he dragged these medicinal materials and items to the Immortal Vault, there was a chance they could recover part of their spirituality and become of use to him.
Even if the whole world had lost its Qi, it was impossible for it to truly vanish. If this were the end of a Karmic Cycle, then all he had to do was persevere… a century or two was all he needed to do and the new world would emerge!
So that's what he did.
"It's about 4 o'clock… I can't waste any more time. Once it gets dark, I won't be able to see anything."
Sun could see that none were spared, even here in the Higher Sect. Although…
'I can still feel some Qi up here, but it is faint and fast dispersing… In a few decades, everything here will vanish and crumble.'
'I must learn everything I can until then and prepare. Because once everything turns to dust, these techniques will too. Many of these books and arts are held together with beast pelts and heavenly materials. And once the Qi is drained from them, they would likely turn to dust as well.'
'Speaking of that, my Scroll is no exception... It seems I'll have to procure ordinary documents and pass the knowledge onto them… what a pain.'
"What a fucking ass of a situation. I would've preferred if I had had to leave early compared to this, since at least then… I had a future to look out for…"
"Meanwhile, here… Everyone's dead!"
Sun looked in the distance. He could feel the faint Demonic Qi in the air. It was likely the Vault with its seals weakening… even if faint, his sensitivity to Demonic Qi couldn't be higher, or rather, his ability to feel it for he was far too numb to its influence.
But he ignored it for now. He first moved everything inside the true Immortal Vault where they would be safe before going to the Demonic Vault… But he found something odd once he reached there…
"This place…"
'... The door's open. So that's why I was feeling the Demonic Qi.'
'There's a body here as well. This must be the guard of the vault… a master just like the old man was…'
Sun frowned but quickly came up with a solution. He pulled the body away and sealed the doors shut, trapping the Qi inside after fixing the formations he could see.
"This should preserve the records for a few extra decades until I finish studying the Immortal texts…"
'Once I do that, I'll come here and finish what I started… and pass by the Sect Lord's Palace before finally making my journey outside.'
'The entire world can't be like this; I'll survive and persevere. This is my dogma!'
…
For the next few hours, Sun went around the entire Higher Sect collecting all kinds of items, Spirit Stones, Artifacts, Techniques, everything he could get his hands across before entering the Immortal Vault.
He took everything no matter how insignificant. For as long as it contained Qi, it could be used to support him and his experiments. He didn't know how long he would remain inside, but he certainly wouldn't let these resources rot away like everything in the Lower Sect and beyond.
/Push… CRUNCK!/
Sun entered the Immortal Vault, and he was immediately assaulted with pure, pleasant Qi…
"How refreshing… a little overbearing, but I can resist it."
'My Demonic Seal is being purified, heh, good luck passing through it, there's decades of layers there… It should buy me some time though.'
Just as Demonic Qi could corrupt his mind, so could Immortal Qi. It was only a matter of what they did.
He had protective talismans on his being, dozens he took from an Elder's body next to the Vault and a few more he looted around the place… But alas, they had been exposed to the outside for far too long and were now deeply weakened.
Still, they seemed to still work, and that was all that mattered. The Qi density in the High Sect was so high it lasted even till now, so they still worked, somehow…
"Still… if my past experiences say anything… soon this place will have no Qi as well."
'There's a way to fix that… Tomorrow morning I'll set a large-scale array in the Higher Sect and direct all the remaining Qi towards the Immortal Vault!'
'Then I'll break the original formations in place and prevent the Vault from losing Qi.'
The Demonic and Immortal Vaults were much more than just two storage areas for dangerous techniques and arts. They were also part of a great array that purified and cleansed Qi before sending it back to the Sect.
"... Once tomorrow morning shines, I'll also break the formations on the other Vaults as well, I must preserve as much Qi as I can for my experiments."
'It seems Qi can still be contained, but not for long. Maybe if I have enough time, I can figure out the reason this is happening and reverse it… or at least find a way to protect myself.'
'Although this is more of a dream than anything…'
"At best I can seal myself and hibernate like the Keepers… I can preserve centuries of my lifespan like that… but only if I can reach Nascent Soul like some of them… now that I think about it I have no idea how high their cultivation was…"
He sighed, "Whatever's happening, it's likely something only the ancestors can solve."
'Speaking of them…'
The Ancestors are the Elders and Patriarchs that have retired to the Sect's Sacred Land; all of them are old monsters beyond the Nascent Soul realm or at its pinnacle, or so the stories go.
It was also a reason why sects never went to war with one another: the longer they remained, the stronger they got, as Soul Formation experts could live centuries if not longer without problems.
Sun believed there were dozens of Soul Formation and higher masters living in the Sect's Sacred Land, and if anyone could solve this issue, it would be them.
If they can't… his only hope was to learn and then dip somewhere else.
"Huu… Time to work."
Sun pulled the sleeves of the fresh shirt he had stolen from a shop in the Lower Sect and began working.
There was much to do: sealing all vaults, finishing his research, perfecting his arts… and finding the truth. Sun wasn't ready to give up; this was but the beginning! He was still only 40!!
For a cultivator in the Nascent Soul, that was almost akin to a child… a child…
"Hoo… I should do my beard one of these days…"
Feeling his long beard, Sun went back to work.
…
/Forty years later…/
/Step…/
Sun slowly walked up the staircase leading to the Patriarch's abode.
"Hooo… Cough… This is it, my last stop."
'Forty years… I have prepared as much as possible. I isolated all four vaults, changed their formations, and studied as much as possible from each of the true vaults before finally copying the rest into my Scrolls.'
'It took me fifteen years to master the Immortal Vault's contents… even with my knowledge and mastery of the Demonic Path, it was still a new field... Still, I finished things a little faster than before. And that's mostly because I ended up stopping my research so I could move on with what I knew best.'
'That was when I went to the true Demonic Vault… I spent twenty years there further refining my knowledge… The remaining years were spent in the Lower Immortal Vault so I could check and record the documents within in case there were things exclusive to its halls.'
'Of course, I didn't spend all that time entirely all at once… I kept moving between the vaults whenever I felt like it. Albeit only during sunlight, for I felt nightfall was quite harrowing… I don't know why, but I always avoided going out in the dark.'
'I felt a deep fear whenever I did so, as if something was holding me back with all its might so I wouldn't step outside…'
"Anyhow…"
'The true Demonic Vault was far more complete than its lower version, possessing quite a few more records on both the fifth and sixth floors than the lower sect's version… although I still found nothing on the seventh floor, it was about the same as before, with the Keepers entering hibernation around an altar.'
"There was one thing on the altar though… an ancient book bound by chains. Unfortunately. I'm unable to open it with my abilities… I fear it may contain extremely valuable knowledge."
'Funny enough, I learned a big secret about the sect… This sect is the descendant of the Ancient Blood Cross Sect, its name now forgotten by time.'
'What sect was that? Well… It was the sect his Lordship Kalamal-Ghar Xingru Lox created.'
'In short, as time passed and Demonic Arts became less accepted by the world, the Blood Cross Sect adapted, becoming the Heaven Cross Sect instead. How amusing.'
'That's why the Demonic Path of the Sect is so advanced and everyone relies on it, with many of its techniques having roots in them. It's a shard of the past passed down from master to disciple.'
'Maybe a few people still remember the name or figured things out by chance, but even if they did, the current Heaven Cross Sect is nothing compared to its ancient counterpart.'
'And besides, it's not like all sects started from 'clean' origins either. So I guess everyone just kept each other in check. Such was the righteousness they preached about… How foolish.'
"Although I still have much to research, my time's here is over."
'I successfully recovered many treasures by drenching them in Immortal Qi, but most ended up destroyed or are now unusable.'
'Now, my goal's simple: to gather the ultimate treasures and Cultivation Arts of the Sect to complete my inheritance. Once I'm done here, I'll finally set out into the world in search of a place where I can sit down and cultivate.'
'As long as I have somewhere with enough Qi, I can reach Nascent Soul within five years and recover my youth, I'm sure of it. After all… I've completed the Immortal Vessel… and fused both together to create a new constitution.'
"I call it, the Revolving Heart Body… The name's still in development."
'In essence, it's a body that can freely transform Immortal Qi into Demonic Qi and vice versa, allowing me to tap into both systems simultaneously.'
'Of course, a body like this means I have to adapt all techniques I practice to suit it to maintain their efficiency, but I should be able to remove most side effects from them by balancing them out within the two systems.'
"It's an incredible psyche, but I'm the first of my kind… The first who succeeded. I'll have to pave everything alone. There were many books of people trying to achieve this state, so numerous in fact I could make a library of them alone… But that's also why I succeeded."
'About 95% of my research had already been done by someone else, so I essentially just compiled it all and lucked out by having the right enlightenment.'
'It was all about gathering those scattered pieces and finishing the research… As if the heavens were guiding me, I succeeded where all before me failed. Now I just need Qi to stabilize my body and progress.'
"If I can find somewhere to cultivate, I have an inheritance that can push me beyond Soul Formation! It could even be enough to support me in reaching the realm beyond that as well."
'I also took out the two sealed boxes from each Lower Vault. Why? Because it's a treasure, obviously.'
"During the last few decades, most of the Keepers have also perished. After so many years of hibernation, they couldn't resist the pressure, and their bodies lost all their vitality."
'I even thought about killing them and draining their cultivation to supplement mine, but… I'm better than that… I did, however, perform the Soul Imprint technique on each of them.'
"The Soul Imprint technique is a Devilish technique that destroys the mind but preserves its contents in the form of a pearl that can be used by Nascent Soul Cultivators to peer into another's memories and thoughts…"
'Since the Keepers were all dying, I used this technique on the higher-ranking ones who had no more time left in this world, imprinting their memories forever so I can eventually study their insights and possibly continue their research.'
'Like the Lower Demonic Vault, the only things I found on the 7th floor of the Lower Immortal Vault were a box and the Keeper's in a meditative pose… It was quite harrowing… So I stole all of their belongings… and later down the line their memories too.'
'There wasn't much on their bodies, but a few of them were carrying some valuable books. Their biographies and research. It was the same behaviour as the Keepers of the Lower Demonic Vault… of all of them for that matter.'
"The only one I have yet to explore would be the 7th floor of the Immortal Vault as I left it for last."
'I plan to cultivate there for a while before leaving. Even if it means losing my cultivation once I leave, the experience alone may aid me in my journey.'
"Now… time to dig for treasures!"
/Step…/
…
/Creak…/
The Patriarch's hall's entrance was grand, almost as tall as a small hill. Pushing the doors to enter was impossible with his strength. However, because the wood's Qi had vanished, it only left behind an ordinary wooden structure, even if robust.
In fact, Sun could see parts of it collapsing even now, unable to bear their weight alone. Amidst their gaps, he stepped inside by pushing a loose piece of wood on the side.
/Whistle…/
He whistled, "What a grand place… Normally, I would've never been able to stop here. Still…"
'It's now so silent…'
/Hustle…/
"Hm!... Oh… It's just a small rat." He said with some surprise as he looked at the ground
'Although most creatures and things with spirituality have vanished, creatures without it remain just fine, like me. Albeit in my case, I can feel the faint Qi that composes my constitution disperse with every passing moment.'
'It's not life-threatening, but it'll be a pain in the ass to rebuild even if I find a place full of Qi for me to cultivate with. For a Cultivator, this world is akin to a desert for an ordinary person… and the water I have in my cup is slowly draining…'
/Step…/
Sun walked deeper into the hall, eventually reaching its innermost section.
'That corpse…'
Standing at a tall throne was the Patriarch's body, together with the Elders in their respective seats, "Everything they're wearing are treasures that would make most Nascent Soul Cultivators' eyes redden… Maybe even Soul Formation Masters…"
'Taking them out will be a pain though… But first…'
Before he desecrated their bodies, Sun turned to the side, entering a small passage leading deeper into the complex.
The patriarch and his family lived in the complex, which was also where the major library of the Sect and its treasure vault were located.
Sun easily found both, taking his time to take a few copies of the highest level secrets of the Sect before moving on.
Most of the books in the library were only the originals of the many copies spread out within the Vaults, so there wasn't much value in taking them with him.
He only needed the Secret Techniques exclusive to this place… Those meant for the Senior Disciples, the Elders, and the Patriarch's family's alone…
"This should be enough." He said as he looked at a Jade slip
A Jade slip was a type of information storage device, like a USB. As long as one transferred their Spiritual Sense into the Jad slip, it would reveal the information sealed inside.
It still released faint Qi waves, likely because it had been stored within a prized sealed box.
This Jade slip was the very essence of the Mountain Cross Sect!
"This Jade slip contains everything I need… I'll also add a few extra high-grade Jade slips I found lying around just for the sake of it."
"I can bring the box and the slips with me, I'll study them a bit inside the Immortal Vault before moving."
'While my Spiritual Sense is lacking, I can strengthen it with many techniques just enough for me to read these.'
"Anyhow, there are thousands of Jade slips here… Most of the library is composed of that, but I can't bring a pile of Jade with me… I'll only bring the critical Jade slips stored in high security formations… which are all mostly broken by now."
"Actually, most of these formations are open, as if someone left them like this… maybe someone unlocked them or some higher portion of the formations shattered in the last decades… It's not like I ever came here to check on the integrity of the formations so I won't complain."
'This only makes things easier.'
"A shame I'll have to leave the physical books behind… while there isn't anything new in them, they're all history… I would've loved to store all vaults and all libraries inside my pockets, but even if I could, I've never seen something able to do that."
'Not that I was ever that important to see it though… It's not impossible though.'
"… If this sect has such an artifact able to store lots of things in a small place, it can only be in one place…"
Sun moved on, walking deeper into the patriarch's palace… until he found what he was looking for.
Massive doors leading somewhere he couldn't quite perceive…
"The treasure vault… as expected, it too is unlocked… could someone have survived and stolen some things like me? It wouldn't be surprising…"
Inside the treasure vault, Sun found dozens of treasures still releasing faint Qi waves. Even after sixty years, this place still contained thick, pure Qi.
"This is the wealth of a millennium sect… There's a lot to eat here but far more than I can carry… Fine then, time to go shopping…"
'I hope I can find such an artifact… It would make my life far easier…'
The concept of space wasn't foreign, but it wasn't something a Soul Formation Cultivator could manipulate, much less a Nascent Soul.
There were formations to expand space like the one used in this Vault, making it appear larger inside than it was outside, but things like rings? Bracelets? Boxes? Pouches?... There was no such thing here.
Even if there was, imagine the many other complications… It was definitely a piece of technology beyond this time. Or rather, forgotten by time…
Sun didn't believe it was an impossible concept; after all, he had heard rumors of other sects possessing similar items in the past. The same went for the records he studied; many mentioned such items being possible… it's just that typically, those were supreme treasures of immense rarity.
Besides, rumors were just that… unreliable. As such, he would have to carry everything by hand… with his mortal physique… a very strong body but still…
He was sixty years old now… even with the Revolving Heart Body preserving much of his pinnacle strength and pushing his human body to superhuman levels, he was still too much, far beyond his prime!
He went around the place accessing the condition of the materials with a pensive gaze, "Hum… I can't carry this gold… metals are also too heavy, too bad for this chunk of Abyss Platinum Ore… It weighs over a ton…"
"This is a Soul Formation materials… there are quite a few lying around… sigh… such a shame I can't carry any of it with me."
"A few gems should suffice; they can act as formation cores in the future… most artifacts are far too heavy as well… Urg… F-Fuck… Everything is so damn heavy… Maybe these medicinal boxes will do…"
He kept throwing items onto the ground as he walked through the vault, and before long, he arrived at its end.
"In the end I did not find a spatial tool able to store items like I wanted… a shame… I did gather a small pile of treasures outside the vault, so I'll bring those with me when I can…"
"Now… what's this? It looks like… That plate…"
Sun was talking about the golden plate he saw sealed inside the Demonic and Immortal Vaults, when put together, the two pieces made a small circular plate full of tiny dents.
He grabbed the box and unsealed it. Much of its power was gone, so the talismans were mostly decorative by now…
"A… Gem?... Wait!"
With the neurons in his mind connecting, he found out that the gem he had just found matched perfectly with the central dent of the plate!
/Clack!... Gather…/
"OHHHHHHH!!!!"
The moment the gem entered the slot, like a magnet, it was drawn to it, fusing with the plate's pieces and causing it to grow whole!
"Woah… they're perfectly fused… I can't even feel or see any sign of damage… What is this thing…"
/DRAIN!/
"?!"
Suddenly, it began to greedily absorb all the Spiritual Qi in the Vault!
The issue, however, was that all the treasures were being stripped of their Qi, being destroyed in the process!!
He could stop the plate from consuming Qi by putting it inside the box and closing the lid, but he let it be for now.
"I can't pull it off now… I'll… Just leave it here… It's not like I would've been able to bring them all with me… but just in case, as it drains the Qi… I'll run around the area and take everything of value with me outside into my pile."
"Better this Qi be absorbed than lost…"
While the gem devoured the Qi, Sun went around the place looking for rare items, piling them up outside the Vault as he found them.
Within two hours, all the Qi inside the Vault had been devoured, and he began hearing the wood creak and the metal crack as it gave in to the weight of the many treasures and its colossal structure…
/Crunk…/
"Shit, looks like this place is about to crash. Time to book it."
With a few more items on his back, he ran back to the Vault's entrance and then…
/CRASH!/
/BAM!/
The entire Vault imploded, likely due to the formations breaking as they lost power.
"... Thousands of years of accumulation… Gone… Damn."
'I'm sorry, patriarch, rest in peace all the heroes who contributed to make this place… Now then, to get this all sorted…'
Sun quickly pulled all of his treasures with everything he had, making use of things like flying swords and other such treasures to move them to the true Immortal Vault before turning around and running back to the grand hall.
Sun ran back to the center of the patriarch's abode before everything collapsed. The Qi coming from the treasures within the Sect's Vault had likely been the perpetrator behind the palace's stability, now that it was gone, it was only a matter of time before it fell, burying, once and for all, the entire Heaven Cross Sect's legacy.
Back in the main Hall, Sun slowly climbed the Elders' seats, reaching their rotting bodies to scavenge for items, "Hupp!... Aha! I knew I had seen these somewhere before!"
"... Soul Fire Saint… Rest in peace." He said as he looked at the shriveled corpse
On his forehead was a circlet; in its middle was a red gem… Taking it apart was easy, the circlet was basically crumbling on its own.
While some treasures remained intact, others were already showing signs of damage and wear…
"Huff… Alright, Sun… careful now… If this gem breaks, there goes this artifact… whatever it is..."
/Open…/
He opened the box and slowly lowered the gem inside…
/CLACK!/
The gem suddenly flew onto the plate, fusing with it.
"I see now, thirteen slots for twelve Elders and one Patriarch… The gem I got from the Vault must've been the Patriarch's. And it was a bit too big to be worn out like this one."
"The others must be in the Supreme Elders' possession… How annoying."
Each of the Elders' seats were at least ten meters above the ground, completely and utterly ridiculous…
"Very well. I might as well finish what I started."
"Rest in peace, Elder."
There was no point in trying to rob them, as he was sure anything in their possession was already far beyond recovery. This was shown the moment he touched the robes of one of the Elders; they immediately ripped apart.
That said… he still looked around their bodies for any signs of treasures, taking whatever little they had, be it a ring, a necklace, or a book with him.
There was a chance the Elders might carry their personal techniques and observations with them… those things could not be lost.
Despite that, he focused on taking the gems one by one.
"Soul Fire Saint…"
"Ascended Monk…"
"Immaculate Fist…"
"Three Moons' Master…"
"Demon Sage…"
"Immortal Sage…"
"Star Decoder… It seems the Stars did not foretell your death…"
"Sigh…"
One by one, he looted all the Elders before giving them their final goodbyes, finishing with the last Elder:
"Huff… Immortal Flower… Daughter of the Immortal Sage… She was once called the greatest beauty of her time… Now look at her."
'You reached Nascent Soul by 29 and the 7th stage before you turned 40… You were bound to surpass all, yet your only sin was being in the wrong place at the wrong time.'
'Had she been in one of the Vaults, maybe things would've changed… But that's not a guarantee either; after all, I found bodies inside the Vaults as well.'
'It seems that anyone with any shred of cultivation died instantly, while those that did have some cultivation tried to move around during the first years but died soon after… but this doesn't explain why the Demonic Keepers lived… Maybe I know why.'
"While the Immortal Keepers were no different from ordinary cultivators in nature, the Demonic Keepers defied the heavens, so when its laws changed, they persevered as their cultivation is naturally a protest against them… although that didn't last for long…"
"I would've given each of you a proper burial… but night's coming and I it creeps me out. I'll leave that for tomorrow… if this place is still standing then."
/Grab…/
"Eww…"
The last gem was within the Immortal Flower's chest.
A dream of many men was now a… better not describe it.
"A little odd, but it seems the rumors weren't true…"
"Rumors were saying she was in a relationship with the Sect Master's son, but I found his body eloped with another's… well… at least his remains."
"Upon inspection of the clothes around, I found out he was eloping with the Immortal Flower's sister. Given the similarities with her clothes." He mumbled to himself as he polished the gem
'He died doing what he loved most… Or rather, he went to the afterlife with his lover… I suppose there's no better way to go.'
"Rest in peace…"
/Open… Clack!/
/Shine…/
Finally, the last gem fused with the plate, and for a moment, the central gem shone with light… But it only made it recover its old luster.
Sun could now see his reflection in the gem, which was a little odd…
"Damn… I look like a troglodyte… an old troglodyte… Tche!"
An old man was reflected in the gem's surface… Although his hair wasn't yet white, the unruly, long black hair, beard, and moustache said it all.
The wrinkles here and there also told him his age… from afar, one may think he was in his 50s to 60s… Maybe if he cut off his hair he'd look younger, but right now, he looked just as old as some of the elders.
"This beard needs to go… no… everything needs to go. I want my youth back! I don't feel that old at all!"
'I feel like my mind's been stuck in my twenties for a long time… can I grow older when I haven't spoken with anyone in decades?'
"I suppose that's why I started speaking with myself like this… Such a bad habit…"
/Climb down…/
There was only one person left for him to say his goodbyes to.
"Hupp… Haa… Shit… My back… arg… t-that's enough physical exercise for the day…"
"... Sect Lord… Accept my greetings."
/Silence…/
"It's the first time we met. And for as little as it may mean, you built the sect that allowed me to be who I currently am. Thank you… may rest in peace."
"... I'll uh… leave now… Let me borrow your sword, too."
One of the Supreme Treasures of the Heaven Cross Sect: The Golden Dew Sword.
'It once went by another name… The True Blood Blade.'
'Forged by the founder of the Blood Cross Sect, the blade went through many masters until it became what it is today.'
'I'll bring it with me, even if for the sake of a recollection. It'll go nicely with the other relics of the Blood Cross Sect I looted from the Vault… I had to… those were quite valuable aside from containing knowledge of long-lost systems… if I could unravel their secrets…'
'I'm certain there are studies on that on the slips I took… but that's for another time.'
"Goodbye."
/Bow…/
/Climb down…/
With everything in his hands, Sun gathered his remaining items and left the hall as the sun vanished in the distance.
/C-Crack…/
What he didn't notice, however, was that by the time he left, moonlight fell onto the Grand Hall through a hole in the ceiling.
And once it fell onto the patriarch's body… His fingers…
/Twitch…/
Moved.
…
/CLACK!/
"Phew… Finally home… Alright!"
"Time to finish these bad boys out!" He said as he looked at the bag of items on his back and the pile of crap lying around the ground
/Step step…/
He went down to the sixth floor, gently lowering everything to the ground before stretching his fingers.
"Arg… How long has it been since I taxed my body this much?... Sheesh…"
'Everything's done now… so I can spend the next few days sorting through the loot before checking the seventh floor and leaving…'
/Clack…/
"???"
At that moment, Sun heard a strange noise coming from the seventh floor.
He had never been there before, not because he couldn't, but because he wasn't interested in looking at the bodies of some old foggies. He had other things to do… But that sound… Wasn't it the sound of a footstep?!
/Clack…/
"..."
Pressure was rising, his heart at his throat. Right now, he was as weak as he would ever be!
/Clack!/
Finally, the being in question stepped through the white curtain, appearing before Sun!
"GASP!"
"... Do I look that frightening to you, youngster?… Or should I say old man?" The old lady asked as she raised her eyebrows to look at Sun
"Ah? No? Y-Y-You…"
"You have questions, but I have no time. Quickly, gather your items; we have little time… If you can there is, you took quite a bit from the vault… and I can recognize some of those artifacts…" She said faintly as she shook her head
"Take this; it's an ancient relic of the Blood Cross Sect. You must know how to use, right? There are some items and relics inside already, so try not to cause too much of a mess… It's the only one we have."
"Wha..."
'What's going on?!'
Sun felt a cumbersome feeling in his stomach…
/TREMBLE…/
At that moment, the world began to quake.
'W-What's happening?!'
Not knowing what to do, he quickly gathered all of his things, storing them inside the ring before jumping downstairs!
…
"You're here, child. I'll call you that from now on, given how you act. You're no old man like those I know."
"Haa… Haaa.. What's going on?! Huff… I'm tired…"
"They've awakened, it's nighttime…"
"What? Who awakened?"
"Give me the Ancestral Plate, child." She requested as she put her hand before him
"Ancestral Plate?... Ah! That thing... B-But why?"
She looked at him deeply, her eyes gray and hollow… "You can choose not to; I don't care. My time's already over, anyway. But not yours."
/TREMBLE!/
"While we're here discussing, they're out there reaching us. We don't have much time."
"..."
'Shit… I'm confused.'
/Open!/
Sun took out the plate, giving it to the old woman.
"Hm… You gathered it all; you're better than I thought. For a moment, I expected this to fail. But maybe there's a chance… It seems fate has yet another trick up its sleeve."
"P-Please! Elder! Tell me what's going on!"
"..."
/Silence/
"Elder?"
/Tap…/
"You shouldn't disturb her now."
"?!?!?!"
Someone appeared behind him, touching his shoulder and giving him the greatest of fright of this and maybe all his lifetimes.
It was an old man with a sharp disposition and appearance. He looked loft and mighty… But now… ordinary?
"You are…"
"You can't recognize me? Tsk, what have they taught youngsters these days?" He said in disapproval as he scratched his beard
"I-I'm self-taught. My master abandoned me when I turned fourteen and showed no promise of cultivation."
"Hum… despite your constitution?"
/Quake…/
"I-I made this body from years of research!"
"Hum…" He muttered before smiling, "I know."
"Urg…Wait! You are!..."
He remembered seeing a painting in the Sect Lord's Son's room…
"The picture in the room of the Patriarch's son, right beside his…"
"You can shut up now; don't bring the dead into this conversation!" The old man said with a cough as he looked away
"Huh?... How do you know that?… Wait, you were there?!"
"Not only me, but all of us."
"Us?... Wait…"
The old patriarch looked at the stairs, his gaze heavy… albeit also gray and hollow, "All the surviving ancestors of the Heaven Cross Sect are here."
"WHAT?!"
/TREMBLE!/
The trembling intensified, "Hm… They won't last long out there. So listen, I'll explain everything briefly."
Sun nodded, quiet.
"That item you took from the Vault the ultimate treasure of our Sect, the Cosmos Reflecting Gem. Its powers are legendary, passed down solely through word of mouth… It was created by the sect's founder long ago."
"You mean Lord Kalamal-Ghar Xingru Lox…"
"Indeed. As expected, you're aware… Lord Xingru founded the sect and was the creator of many of our philosophies. Legends say he eventually ascended, but whatever he did, there is one thing few know… That he wasn't originally from this world."
"What?!?!"
"Lord Xingru came from far away, and legends say he used the Cosmos Reflecting Gem to traverse the Void and reach our plane… This, however, was never confirmed."
"For generations, we attempted to replicate this with the gem, we created the Cosmic Mirror and the Twelve Planetary Interceptors, but even at the height of our Sect, after many tries and generations, we eventually gave up once we almost caused the Sect's collapse."
"The broken mirror was hidden and the twelve gems passed down to the Supreme Elders, each transformed into a High Grade Treasure that represented their abilities and the philosophies of one of our core techniques! Although… after so long, the Elders sitting at the Supreme thrones do not represent the gems any longer."
"Thus, now faced with this unprecedented disaster… We must rely on this fable once more and attempt the impossible… For the sake of those that have already fallen."
/QUAKE!/
"..."
'This is crazy…'
"At this very moment, you, a mere commoner boy with no cultivation, is the sole descendant of the Blood Cross Sect that hasn't been infected."
"Wait… Infected?"
He did not immediately reply, "We've been watching you for decades, child. Ever since we first detected your presence as we sought survivors."
"You've studied all of our records and gathered all of our techniques into your being. Albeit a flimsy shadow of what we once were, right now, you are the Heaven Cross Sect!"
"... But what do you mean by infected?!"
/CRACK!/
The pagoda began to crack…
He took a deep breath, "Hoo… Around sixty years ago, something happened… A powerful shadow took over the world by riding the purple, morning clouds, and before anyone knew… they were gone, consumed by it."
"Prophecies predicted this day; it was the reversal of Heaven and Earth, the birth of a new Era. There had been signs for a long time of its intentions…"
"Once, the world was bountiful, and Soul Formation Cultivators like us were everywhere; now… we're only relics that come and go in the dark."
"In this new age the Heavens are crafting… cultivators are nonexistent."
"!!"
"Those that possessed Qi were instantly killed, be they old… or newborn. The Heavens are cruel, and they made their choice. All of those belonging to the old order are not welcomed, leaving the world with only mortals like you behind."
"For the mortals with contact with the old world… the Heavens prepared them a trial… This accursed infection." He said as he raised his right arm
/CUT!/
/Splatter!/
The old man cut his arm off, but instead of blood, only dark smoke poured.
"This is the curse of immortality; my body is immortal, but dead. And so is everyone else's…"
"You, by abolishing your cultivation at the nick of time, successfully escaped Heaven's eyes. You are the anomaly in its grand plan; you are… the last Demonic and Immortal Cultivator alive. There is no other mortal like you who retains such knowledge."
"As for us, we merely maintain our presence by puppeteering our bodies, but this is but a temporary solution."
Sun's jaw opened wide, he couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"Maybe there are others like you… daring mortals scattered under the Heavens' eyes… But what it has in store for them… It is up to them to overcome."
"Today, we're here to assist you in defying the Heavens… Our last act to preserve the legacy of our Sect… and our existence. To tell the Heavens that we are not going down without a fight! That the dirt it tried to clean will persevere!"
"Without you, the Heaven Cross Sect will turn to dust over the next few centuries. And by the time others arrive, nothing to remember us by will remain… Even if other mortals arrive, they'll be unable to collect our treasures and our inheritance… maybe a small fragment, but its whole will never be completed."
"Only you, who now carries well over 95% of what we are, can do it."
The old man raised his head high, staring at the ceiling… "So here, I beseech of you… no… I implore you…"
/CRACK!/
"Remember us!"
His voice was deep and remorseful. To think this once proud cultivator at the height of the world would be here begging a mortal to remember his and his family's name…
/CRACK!/
The door behind them cracked, throwing splinters of dust and stone at them.
"They're here. They fought valiantly… down to their last moments… Even with our strength, their numbers are too vast and their bodies, transformed… while we have decayed to a mere fraction of what we were."
"We spent the last few decades trying to figure out what this was but to no avail… The most we could do was gather our insights and relics into one place… one treasure to hold it all…"
"Not only us but a few survivors from sects beyond have joined in to preserve themselves."
"What?!"
/CRACK!/
He pointed at the ring, "Within that artifact, the inheritances of multiple Sects around our region remain… it took us dozens of lives to acquire it all, hundreds of Soul Formation masters scoured the land to find and preserve those few pieces of our world… We couldn't do much with our wanning strength, so we did what we thought was best."
"You now are more than just the hope of the Blood Cross Sect… You are the hope of the entire Guamo continent!"
He then turned to face Sun again, "I'm sorry, Child, to give you this burden. And we're sorry for never approaching you in all these years you stood around alone... braving the darkness and your own growing madness."
"We could not risk the last disciple of the sect being infected by this horrendous curse… the last one to remember all of us."
"We only barely figured out that the infection can only be transmitted by blood and other fluids, so after draining these bodies of everything like that, we now pose little threat to you… at the cost of our wanning longevity."
/Grab… Throw…/
"This is?... A Jade slip?"
"Inside that Jade slip are the many techniques and teachings we've accumulated over the centuries, summarized for you. We don't know what'll be out there… if this works, that is."
"If you find yourself out there, this Slip may guide you on your path and help you fill the void of our absence. If you can master it, you'll then truly become… the master you wished to be."
"I wanted to present it to you personally… to make you know what it does. After all with the pile of treasures you acquired, who's to say when you'd notice one particular treasure amidst the others?"
"There are others like it too inside, the memories of the masters of the other Sects… they have only one wish, that you one day find someone who can inherit their craft."
"Be not greedy, remember that you cannot practice all… Become the seed of a new era… somewhere else. Just like Lord Xingru…"
"W-Wait a bit, this is all a little sudden."
"Stop it, Sun. You're far smarter than that." He said deeply as he stood between him and the door
"Only one thing left now… Inside that ring, you'll also find that the ancient records have been unsealed… The ancient records are the two books Lord Xingru left behind before he vanished. Each record speaks of a different nature, Demonic and Immortal."
"The Immortal chapter is already unsealed, while I took my liberties to unseal the Demonic chapter while you were away. I recommend you leave their research for later for their contents are quite sublime, even for someone of my strength."
/CRACK!/
"!"
"Humph!"
/CUT!/
The stone door cracked, and a being flew inside! In the blink of an eye, Sun saw something cover his vision, and then…
"I'm sorry. To let you get like this…" The old man said as he pinned the Sect Lord to the ground
/C-Crack…/
/Screeech!/
/SPLATER!/
"..."
"..."
The old man looked at Sun with a heavy expression before turning around, making his way outside.
"You know… those fools who abandoned you… I'm thankful for them. Otherwise your talent… would've turned to ash, just like everyone else."
"Child, you have talent, you can become a cultivator. So go seek it…"
"... Sect Master…"
"That's not my title… It's my grandson's… It was a pleasure meeting you, child. May we meet again in another life!"
/DASH!/
The old man vanished into the darkness, and soon enough, the echoes of his fight reverberated throughout the pagoda.
Shaking in both fear and regret, Sun turned around, looking at the granny, but what he saw frightened him.
Her entire body had shriveled, leaving behind only skin bound together by… hope?
"... Child…" A voice echoed in his mind, the elderly lady's body too weak to speak
"What?!..."
"The Heaven Cross Sect is over. From here on out, it's your story. So make sure you survive."
/BAM!/
/Silence…/
/Shine…/
A small string of light slowly fell from the ceiling onto the plate, and he finally realized what was going on…
"Y-You!!"
"To activate the Cosmos Reflecting Gem, the Vital Qi of our entire sect was condensed here through an array… including ours and that of every single entity we killed out there… that's why we never fought them."
"We're sorry for deceiving you… for leaving you be for so long… With his death, the ritual is finally completed."
Sun stepped closer to the gem, and for a moment, reflected at its very center, he saw what seemed to be a few mountains stretching over the horizon…
"... E-Elder…?"
He suddenly felt something wet on his chin… Somewhere along the way, he had begun crying.
For the first time in his life he had been recognized, only for those very people to die brutally one after the other?
No, they were already dead… But was it fair to let them go like that?
The elderly woman seemed to smile, "You truly are a child at heart… Hush now, boy… Even if we wanted to, we couldn't follow you."
"We can't risk spreading this disease. Besides… we would prefer to fall where our families and ancestors did, here at the Heaven Cross Mountains."
"I know you might feel the same, but I hope you can look beyond you this one time... Go seek out a new family out there… live for yourself, a life worth living you weren't able to have…"
"Because you won't be able to do it here… Thank you for listening to that old coat… He needed it after everything that happened… but you should go now."
"We followed your journey as you mastered the Demonic Arts and eventually the Immortal ones. You can't believe how impressed some of us were at your ingenuity."
Her voice grew distant and disappointed, "Such a shame… Truly, for this generation to be sacrificed so cruelly… they say the heavens are impartial, but I say they're oblivious to the pain of those under it."
"Today, we sacrifice our spirits to accomplish an old dream of the sect and honor the dead while saving the living. There is no better way to go than this…"
/SCREEECH…/
"They're here, quickly!"
"... URG!"
Sun held the plate, and fixed his sight on the gem.
"Yes, like that, child… Think of nothing else… submerge yourself within the gem…"
But before he could hear the rest of her worlds, his vision distorted as his senses went haywire. He felt a powerful push behind him together with the echoing of loud explosions.
Before long, everything went dark.
…
.
.
.
Notes