Kora was standing in the middle of an octagonal star-shaped symbol made out of the hearts, of all the villagers he collected, with an apathetic gaze. Many people who didn't have children were cursing him. Some called him a scourage, some called him evil, some called him wicked, some muttered maledictions while some called him foul, vile, vicious. and a demon!
Kora's half-closed eyes were calm, his breathing stable, and his frame of mind firm and steely.
Nobody dared to attack him as he was much powerful compared to them. They could only utter profanity with bloodshot eyes and bodies burning with fury while the women tried to console the orphans.
"Wooo...Huff" Kora inhaled and exhaled deeply a few times as he ignored all the people surrounding him.
He took out, over 9000 spirit stones from his storage ring, that he collected on this trip. Unlike Kora, who burn through spirit stones like drinking water using rituals and profound esoteric engravings and markings, others have to manually pick each spirit stone in their hands, absorb the abundant qi in their dantians, and saturate the dantians to such an amount that the walls of the dantian slowly cracks and forms a new wall, in order to breakthrough. The absorbing speed of higher-level talents is enormously higher than those with lower-level talents. Thus most of the spirit stones that the village chief had, were unused as he was also planning to break through to the Rank-5 Elementary Profound Realm with the help of his lifetime's savings and the same went for the guards who were eager to become Rank-4's.
He was not certain whether he should perform the ritual or not as the number of spirit stones was very less compared to his previous expenditures. In the end, he decided to continue, as his heart of cultivation already decided to move forward, furthermore, he was sure that he could at least break through to the Rank-4, if not Rank-5. Although tempting to break through two ranks in one go, Kora was not greedy, After all, he had already transcended his heart of cultivation beyond the worldly desire, only keeping the sensual yearning by his side.
Kora placed the spirit stones in the center of the octagonal star-shaped symbol, as he tried to put them together in different symbols that he recalled from his previous life on earth which held profundities hidden within.
The ambiance around him slowly turned sour and ominous. Dark clouds started looming in the sky.
*pittar* *patter* *pittar* *patter*
Raindrops slowly fell in the embrace of mother earth as the smell of mud, filled Kora's nostrils.
Surprised, villagers could only take the children with them inside their huts and sheltered themselves inside, hoping the demon would go away.
Kora looked around and when he was sure that nobody was sneaking upon him, he dropped his mask that he has been wearing all this time.
"Om Ami Dewa Hrih" By chanting this Buddhist Mantra, Kora was asking the universe to help him overcome obstacles that have been blocking his life.
*pittar* *patter* *pittar* *patter*
"The world goes up and the world goes down, the sunshine follows the rain; and yesterday's sneer and yesterday's frown will never come over again." That being said, Kora raised his arms high in the air
*thunder* bolts of lightning fell from the sky and the rain intensified.
Kora started dancing. Arms flailing in the sky above his head, he whirled around, and the sweet scent of the rain and the mud filled his nostrils, making him smile in glee. Foot forward. Back. From one end, of the edge of the star to the other, his foot roamed inside the octagonal figure that was made out of hearts.
Who said cultivation can only be done by meditating in the standard lotus position? That mongrel needs to be hanged! Kora, who has relinquished all desires and cravings would indulge in the pleasures of the flesh, as it focuses his mind, body, and soul, to a state of tranquility. The same goes for a dance. If it brings peace of mind to one and develops a wholesome state of mind, the cultivation would be successful. The ritual would be successful. The mantras that Kora uttered in rhythm with the dance will provide him the grace of the world.
He dipped low, then soared into the air, the flashing lightning momentarily blinded him … he touched the ground again and skidded to a smile, with a breathless halt. Then repeated the same on the other edge of the octagonal star shape. The creepy scene of a man dancing in the middle of human hearts that were still warm would make any sane man shiver in trepidation.
*thunder!*
*pittar* *patter* *pittar* *patter*
*Swoosh*
Qi, which looked like blueish mist, extracted from the blue-colored spirit stones swirled in the center.
*Swoosh*
The mist slowly morphed into several serpents and rushed towards Kora. The mood and the atmosphere around him were filled with an eerie and sinistrous glow.
*Swoosh!*
One by one the snakes entered the solar plexus of the dancing figure, who was lost in his own world with his eyes closed.
*Crack!* *Crack!*
The walls of Kora's dantian started to break at a rate of knots. The hearts that made the octagonal symbol slowly started to turn grey along with the spirit stones while the ominous aura around Kora permeated the air, as a horrifying scene took place, where the hearts pumped with rhythm as they slowly lost their vermillion color.
Wave after waves of misty snakes crashed with Kora and soon, he broke through to the Rank-4 Elementary Profound Realm!
When Kora felt his breakthrough, he elegantly ended the dance by springing in the center of the octagonal shape, the area where spirit stones were kept, had nothing but grey ashes of the spirit stones left. The environment around Kora was blood-curdling as spooky silence filled the village, where only the sobs of children and raindrops falling on the ground could be heard. Lightning stopped as rain followed suit.
"You are your only rival, you compete with yourself, go beyond yourself!"
"Aces, Kings, Queens, Jacks, can all go to hell, I, the Joker, compete with myself."
"My goal is simple,
other's are just side characters in my story,
like the face of a teenager, filled with pimples."
"They will come and go,
but I will remain firm on my path,
a path to achieve nirvana while I embrace my own self,
For that to happen, I will go to any lengths and any lows!"
He took out the 'Dao Spirit' that Scarlet gave him from his storage ring and inspected it with keen eyes.
Kora although new to this world, didn't slack off to learn the new elements of this world.
'The Tiran Spirit' thought Kora while swirling the black-colored marble in his fingers.
The Tiran Spirit is a Dao Spirit extracted from the beast core of Tirans. But it is very rare, as not all Tirans have a Tiran Spirit residing in their beast cores, furthermore, the Tirans were always hidden and very strong. Only strong cultivators could have a chance of defeating the Tirans. Kora knew, his Marquessate couldn't afford to have such a precious 'Dao Spirit'. Even if the Dukedoms had one or two, they would be reserved for the most promising prodigies with the highest talent.
The Tiran Spirit was a Regeneration Dao Spirit. Tiran Spirit increased the healing process of a cultivator upon being integrated. Any cultivator that reaches Mid-Stage Elementary Profound Realm could integrate with a 'Dao Spirit' and further increase their powers. Tiran Spirit was a growing type of spirit that grew along with the cultivator if the cultivator could provide the necessary types of ingredients for it to amplify its effects. It was an excellent Dao Spirit as many Dao spirits won't have the ability to grow, furthermore, its effects were very effective as well.
Grabbing the black marble in his hands, he left the village and went back to the mansion, and entered his courtyard as the night's umbrella of darkness along with the slow showering rain covered his tracks.
He cleaned himself up and sat on the bed while taking out the Tiran Spirit.
Although the Dao Spirit looked like marble, upon closer inspection one could see some green figure floating inside the black-colored marble. It looked exactly like a Tiran, a leopard-shaped creature with two tails and huge talons as its forelegs.
Putting the Dao Spirit on its palm, Kora started the refining process of the Dao Spirit. He poured his Qi, and covered the marble with it, as it slowly started changing color to blue. Normally, it depended on the Dao Spirit whether it wishes to integrate itself with the person refining it or not. It was a stroke of luck. Though any dantian, below the Rank-4 Elementary Profound Realm, could not hold onto the Dao Spirits, resulting in a tragic crippling of the cultivation, if refined by a cultivator at Early-Stage Elementary Profound Realm. Also, though one could integrate with multiple Dao Spirits, it is usually not advised to have many of them inside one's dantian because it would further pressurize the dantian.
Luckily, Kora was not rejected by the Dao Spirit and the marble slowly turned ethereal, entering Kora's palm, slowly Kora could control the Dao spirit with just a thought. Soon, the Dao Spirit entered his dantian, transfusing with his palm, and leaving behind a small green-colored tatto.
Intrigued, Kora tested the Dao Spirit by cutting open his other palm several times. It would take less than 10 seconds for a small cut to heal while using his own reserves of Qi as the Dao Spirit did its work efficiently, and glowed everytime, Kora tried to invoke its properties. He quickly applied some bandages on his palm to hide the mark.
"Amazing" Kora could feel, if he somehow, could amplify its effects further, even his severed arms could be regenerated with Tiran Spirit's power.
*knock* *knock*
Kora raised his eyes and stepped towards the door. He opened the door and a woman entered while checking around the corridors with her senses.
"What did you do in that village across the hill?" The woman asked while furrowing her brows, because she was sure, as soon as she felt Kora's cultivation at Mid-Stage, rather than Early-Stage. She was certain that Kora was the reason behind the events in that village where a masked man appeared, a tragedy followed, and the crazy lunatic danced in the middle of the village with the hearts of all the villagers that died, forming strange symbols, while being drenched in the rain.
"You really want to know?" Kora asked with a teasing smile as he grabbed her waist while pulling her towards the bed...
"Or did you come for something else?" His lips curved up in a rakish grin.
"I came for you, my dear!" Soon her hands reached Kora's crotch as she stroked his member while a euphoric smile formed on her face.
"Of course, if my cultivation could increase as well, like last time, it would be even better!" She said while dropping around a couple of thousand spirit stones from her storage ring on the ground.
"It won't be easy to break through each time, but we will get closer to the next ranks the more we indulge in 'Kama Sutra'." Undressing the woman, he dropped his robes on the ground while luring the little lamb into his debauched abode as he pushed the woman on the bed while covering her body with his, like a blanket.
She looked deeply in those jade eyes as Kora's eyes leered her mature figure and beautiful curves.
"Even better!" She replied while drawing him towards her juicy lips, the meal was too enticing to reject, thus Kora followed through.
Soon Kora pushed his waist forward in a wild thrust piercing her sacred cave in one go as the depravity in the room reached new heights.
.........
The next morning, A handsome man with emerald eyes and hair, appreciative black-colored robes, was walking through the exquisite corridors of a huge mansion. The white marbles and beautiful gold engravings on the wall gave the feel of richness and the profound paintings that exuded Dao Intent from within filled the atmosphere with calmness and tranquility.
*Knock!* *Knock!*
{Kora?} He heard the voice of a woman via mental communication inside his head.
Kora didn't have the power to communicate mentally so he just nodded his head in response, as mental communications could only be made at Nascent Profound Realm.
{Come in, Come in!} She responded immediately.
Opening the door, Kora saw a woman sitting on a mattress on the ground in the lotus position. She had several spirit stones and greyish ash around her, indicating that she was cultivating using the usual method.
'The Hunt Begins!' Thought Kora as he entered with large strides and sat on the couch beside her.