I stood slowly before brushing off the dirt that had soiled my clothes.
"Ahhh," i chuckled in my frustrated state. This usually meant that i was furious and rightly so.
"Every single time I think i'll catch a fuckin break you morons come n fuck shit up."
I was smiling intently.
I had only done fifty laps out of my one hundred lap morning run around the sect's perimeter. Only to have these bastards just ruin my progress. Now i'll have to start over again.
And It was going so well too, couldn't these idiots just patiently wait for their daily beating?
"You're some sort of mutant, aren't you? No horns? How can we allow trash like you to be the sect master's disciple?" They started before chuckling like every group of throwaway bad guys ever.
I had been surrounded.
The group consisted of ten or more of them. Some even brought their dual-cultivation partners and the girls looked mostly uncomfortable with what they'd been forced into.
They obviously thought that they could use their numbers to scare me.
But this really didn't bother me and I really didn't want to beat them up, but they just keep asking for it.
And even after the sect master warned me about making a ruckus.
I sighed.
I guess for the sake of giving the sect master face i'll just have to bear with it.
-Come on Era, ignore them.- I thought to myself getting ready to restart my laps.
Suddenly and without warning the one who knocked me over came to me. Leaning in close.
Way too close!
"I thought I told you that I'd beat you up every time i see you. Did you think i was messing around?" Zhan lou, one of the first-rank outer disciples of the clan i'd usually avoid. Not because he was strong but because I simply didn't want to make trouble for the sect master.
Since this guy's uncle was the punishment hall's leader.
But this cocky bastard probably thought that I was afraid of him or his backing.
-And here i was, thinking that i was making it clear to leave me alone by beating up his underlings whenever i could.-
Talk about dense.
"Whoops!" I stated before smashing him in the nose with my fist, "Oooohh noooo~ my hand slipped! Whatever shall i dooo~?"
He'd fallen flat. His entourages rushing to his side as he tried to swat them away out of embarrassment while attempting to regain his footing.
"Y..you bastard you said oops before you punched him!" one of his underlings cried out.
"You lot better fuck off! I growled literally and clearly enough so that they'd get the meaning behind the pause that followed.
They did.
"Lucky shot!" Zhan lou stated before "I've changed my mind, I won't beat you up today because i'm in a good mood! haha!"
-Annnd the fool is running away.-
The rest skittered off tripping over themselves with some even leaving their dual-cultivation partners behind.
I had scared them. With my peak open realm cultivation I had managed to defeat an early second order strength dragon with his mid ranked, second-order, true ancestral body cultivation.
So it was no wonder those wimps ran away after seeing that I sent him flying with one punch.
I sighed my frustration finally losing its hold and slipping away.
Those smooth brained idiots, can't even realize that I simply used an anchor-pole technique channeling the force from the ground through precise footwork in order to create the most of the crushing force to his weakest point.
His nose.
-Must these fools really bother me every single morning?-
Even during lessons they constantly bother me.
~****
The sun had barely risen and now it was starting to get hot. I had finished my morning run. The technique given to me by sect master was the same one my parents had used.
Unlimited blood refinement.
The art was mysterious and had only ever been practiced up to the 3rd level.
This was a secondary technique meant for those who couldn't practice the true ancestral body art, unique to strength dragons in the iron region.
The unlimited blood refinement was an art that was created by my parents and through their dedication and discipline they managed to approach a power similar to the ancestral body technique peak third realm.
They were even considered pillars of the clan in their time.
I didn't realize that I'd been holding my breath and gradually released my apprehension.
Slowly I opened the door to the small hut I'd been living in. It was true, Grandpa shi-fen, the sect leader took care of me. He provided enough star coins that I could afford food and daily cultivation resources.
For me that consisted of a daily meal, churning blood pill, a healing pill and stalk of withered flood dragon grass.
-tsk!-
It By taking care of me he meant providing the bare essentials, he was doing a heck of a job.
But in reality he was simply suppressing the fact that I was part human.
Simply couldn't have news that one of the previous elders was human or god forbid that I'd find a suitor.
And to make sure that the situation remained under his control he'd even visit me occasionally to try to get me to become a scholar instead of a cultivator.
He'd even brought me dusty old books about the science of physical things. Making me read them from the moment I could, in order to trick me into becoming a scholar or some weird monk.
I read them.
I read them all.
I even liked them.
Though he probably doesn't even know why.
It's laughable to be honest.
The books he brought to pacify me were the very ones that made me out to be one of the best fighters.
Physics, as the ancient ones called it, is the study of the unpracticed side to the forces of law as a whole.
And after learning it for most of my life thanks to gramps I've grown accustomed and in-tuned to most of them. Even efficiently raising my speed to unimaginable levels and through raw power to boot.
This was one of the reasons I had to run so much in the morning.
I briefly examined the picture of my mother stuck unto the large standing mirror before panning out to peer at my own reflection. My short white hair brushed lightly over my ears.
Thin nose and lips that hinted red despite my dark skin contrasting with my shocking Light gray colored eyes. Lightly sprinkled freckles and long eyelashes. Even by normal standards I know that I can be considered eye-catching.
I took after my mom and she was beautiful.
However the sect master had even went as far as getting a rune master to place a concealing Rune to hide the fact that I was actually a woman.
Yeah I know.
Cruel.
However I'd gotten used to it.
I'd even made peace with the fact that I had to cut my hair to keep it short and masculine.
Ugh.
Today was the day that I had requested to have a break from my usual responsibilities.
I had been saving my star coins by skipping meals and saving whenever I could and now I'd finally reached four hundred thousand. This was just the right amount needed in order to visit the sect's marrow cleansing pool. For ordinary strength dragons this was their first step to breaking through to the second order realm, but for me it was my oppertunity to consolidating my blood mark.
The unlimited blood refining art consisted of three main known ranks.
The first one was simply to consolidate a blood mark. The mark was in actual terms a dimond shape that showed itself in the cultivator's pupil once the art was activated. This wasnt permanent and had to be carefully mentained until the second known main rank where I would have to meditate in areas with plentiful blood ki residue.
This step came later and wasnt my main concern.
See I had three goals.
The first was to be able to leave the sect without guards.
The second was to investigate my parent's disappearance so I could find them if possible.
The third, to be able to find a place where i didnt have to hide and pretend to be a man.
I know the last one seems like a dream, but being here is even more suffocating than any hell i can imagine. So naturaly, I simply needed to leave or become strong enough that I no longer needed the support of the sect master.
I sighed audibly.
Even so, leaving the sect had its own dangers.
Sure I had been sheltered for most of my life, but even i knew of lady shia'k and the mercenaries that went to procure 'treasures' for her.
It was a known fact that the ones who went out were always extremely strong criminals that were sold off by their respective sects.
This wasn't something I had to worry about though. Since they mostly hunted outside the iron region.
I focused my attention instead on getting ready for my trip to the marrow cleansing pool.
I showered and cut my hair, changing my clothes from the casual wear I had on, to the uniform the lower ranked sect disciples usually wore.
The black and blue robes with its dark red trim and left handed short-cut sleeve made my long neck and graceful slender like appearance more apparent.
I smiled at my reflection. Even if I were to act like a guy I'd definitely be the most handsome of them all.
Feeling my confidence at its peak I set out.
Today, I get stronger!