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Chapter 2 - The Fiend

As I was absorbing the Fiend did I see his life.

His was different than the low-level Cultivator. His memory were still fragmented, but there were more readable fragments than the low-level ones. Also, he lived longer than them. The most the low-level Cultivator lived about was 70 years and on the other hand, the Fiend lived about 150 years. Another difference was that the Fiend was in a cult and not in a Cultivation Family.

The Cults name was [Bloodfiend Cult]. It got its name because most Cultivation Manuals require Human Blood. It also works with Beast Blood but it is not as efficient.

[Bloodfiend Cult] is part of the Fiends Path which is generally labelled as bad people by the general population. When there are 'bad people' means that there also exists 'good people' which in this case are the People of the Righteous Path.

These two Paths have always been fighting openly and covertly. The Grudges of these Fractions are very deep and unsolvable. Both Fractions want to exterminate the other and claim the world as theirs.

The structure of the [Bloodfiend Cult] is built around the concept of survival of the fittest. This means that many fiends kill each other for resources. This has advantages and disadvantages.

The advantages are that the disciples are very open about their dislikes and don't bother to hide if they want to kill someone. Because the sect uses the survival of the fittest concept are the disciple of the sect less cowardly and more fierce when they fight. Also, the Fiends Path has the conviction that only the resources that oneself fought for are truly theirs this also means that it is looked down upon if someone used their connection to gather resources.

The disadvantages are that talented disciples are killed if they offend anyone stronger than them and before they could blossom into prodigies. Also if the disciples use too much blood to cultivate then their soul is more muddled and their foundation is less stable. This is because of the resentment that is in the blood that is used in their Cultivation. The Fiends master often times said "The stronger the soul, the stronger the resentment" which is why many Blood Cultivators use weak humans or beasts for their Cultivation, because beasts have a much weaker soul than humans. To put beasts soul into perspective, a beast at Rank 3 only begins to gain awareness so their souls aren't as much of a problem as humans.

...

As I was immersing myself in his memories did I finally get a name for the Fiend.

His name is Yan Long.

Yan Long has black hair and eyes. His whole family has black hair and eyes with is quite common in the ebony falcon Kingdom.

The ebony falcon Kingdom is in the southeastern part of the Continent [Igan].

The Continent [Igan] has 4 Empires and 8 Kingdoms. The People of [Igan] Cultivate their Being/Existence with Energy they named [Spiritual Qi] or [Qi]. [Spiritual Qi] is used for gaining more power and longer longevity. Humans need techniques to do this which are: Human (used by Rank 0 and Rank 1 Cultivator) → Yellow (used by Rank 2 and Rank 3 Cultivator) → Black (used by Rank 4 Cultivator). There are sublevels which are in that order from weak to strong: Low → Mid → High → Peak. Beast, on the other hand, don't need techniques to get stronger they do it naturally. This process is in general a slow one if you compare the speed with humans.

Anyway back to Yan Long.

Yan Long's childhood was a bit tragic as his father died in an attack by wild beasts while he was on his way to work as a Smith. His mother would work long hours to make ends meet. His two brothers, Ye and Lee, who were 5 years older than him were cold and had to mature early.

Yan Long's earliest wish was to be strong than no one could take away his happiness.

After this was the memory very hazy.

...

At Age 7 did he find a dying old man in the forest.

The old man had long white unkempt hair and beard. He also had a big claw mark on his chest from which he was bleeding profusely.

The old man looked like he didn't belong to Yan Longs village. He wore an exquisite grey robe with blue lining which looked expensive and an ordinary-looking black ring.

Only after the old man stopped moving did Yan start moving towards him. He did this because he was afraid that the old man would try something against him.

On the corpse did he find a Journal and a black ring. Even thought the clothes looked expensive he left them behind because they were full of blood and whatever attacked the old man would most likely follow the blood scent to hunt for prey.

So Yan only took the ring and the Journal.

...

Yan learned a lot from the journal. For example is that the black ring which he now can identify as a spatial ring.

Because the ring is a low [Yellow] Equipment, which should be used by a beginner Rank 2 Cultivator who isn't used to Spiritual Sense, could be bound with blood.

The Spiritual Sense is a 6th Sense you gain with a rank 2 in Energy or Body Cultivation. It is an all-seeing eye that can see through Floors and windows. It isn't all-powerful, because Spiritual Sense has a Limit in Power and Radius.

Yan found in the Ring a High Human Cultivation Manual named [Ironhide Bull]. This Manual is used up to peak of Rank 1 in Body Cultivation. Also the actual names in Body Cultivation goes from Body Refining → Body Tempering → Copper Body → Silver Body

...

After 2 Months with the Manual did Yan breakthrough into the 1st Stage of Body Refining [Cleansing the Skin]. In this Stage a Cultivator sheds a lot of Impurities out of his Skin. After the Impurities are expelled is when a Cultivator can really feel [Spiritual Qi].

He was training daily a few hours after he forage in the forest, for food for the family. His two brothers are workings as apprentices at a smithery and carpentry. His mother was working from home, she was weaving baskets. His brothers were exhausted after their workday and his mother worked her fingers to the bone. They could barely pay all of their expenses with their income.

Yan Long still didn't disclose to his family that he owns an Equipment, because people are greedy and jealous creatures. If a family with no strength openly owns an Equipment of [Human] Grade, then you can be sure that the family will be tortured and killed for it. So the fewer people know about it the better.

...

Yan Long broke through every 2 months. He first Cleansed his Muscles and Flesh in the 2nd Stage, then he start Cleansing his Organs of impurities in the 3rd Stage. Within this half a year did he break through into the so-called mid [Body Refining]. After someone breaks into mid [Body Refining] is when a normal person's cultivation speed slows down. This of course is only for the ones without talent in Body Cultivation.

Yan Long is one of the talented ones and so he keeps his Cultivation speed the same as before. After 2 months did he start to break into the 4th Stage [Cleansing the Bloodvessels].

...

After 10 months after he found the [Ironhide Bull] Manual did he break into the 5th Stage [Cleansing Ligaments and Tendons].

...

After a whole year of Cultivation did he break into the 6th Stage [Cleansing the Bones] which is also the last Stage of [Body Refining].

Yan Long was 8 years old and already in the [Cleansing the Bones] Stage, so he decided that he wants to help his family with his new strength. He sat his whole family down and started declaring that he is a cultivator