(This chapter will be on the perspective of the father of the MC's.)
A toxic purple mist enveloped a whole city, a whole clan.
Flashy silver and golden sparkles surged within the mist, if you looked closely at it you'd realize that there were countless fragments of various metals such as copper or iron floating on the air, the collision of those metals is what generated those sparkles of light.
As more and more metals began to ascend from the ground, the collisions become more and more abundant, until finally they ignited brightly.
Multiple flames of all colors and sizes, principally of green, silver and white began to appear filling the skies with an strange smell of burnt metals, any ordinary human who absorbed the burnt-dust would soon perish.
That was not all, all those metals for some strange reason began to act like magnets with each other, dragging more and more heavy metals from the ground.
Those unlucky human who were at the epicenter of the calamity had to crawl and escape from their homes for the slimmest hope of survival.
To make matters worse, as the metals began to burn and ascend towards the skies, they began to form clusters of gaseous matter, almost like clouds.
They fused with the nearby water and ice and in a matter of a minute it descended in the form of acid rain and snow rain.
The friction of those gaseous metals with the ice fragments hidden on the clouds also created lighting, and strong winds which quickly devolved into mini-tornados.
Dozens and dozens of rays of light hit the ground and from them, magma began to appear, quickly the ground morphed and many volcanos began to appear.
Volcanic ashes and magma were shoot from those volcanos, at the same time due to the sudden shift on the tectonic plates, the ground began to shake and thus the city was engulfed by countless earthquakes.
This terror, this hellscape had a name.
A Heavenly Tribulation!
The patriarch of the clan stood there silently, he felt guilty, worried, anxious and hesitant.
"Are you fucking serious?
Are we suffering yet another goddamn Heavenly Tribulation, this is the third one on the week.
I don't know who bastard is doing this but I swear on the name of the founder of the clan, that when I catch whoever is doing this I'm going to poison every single of his cells, and tear apart all of his tendons!"
One of the closer elders to the patriarch named Bing Hu Tong said indignantly and he meant it.
His nails began to tear apart his own flesh, his blood looked like yellow pus and it released a green mist.
"Bing Hu Tong, I understand you're angry.
But this is not the time for revenge yet, we need to focus on solving the current crisis.
Bring the other elders and prepare the Formation we used the last time, and I'll prepare my technique Fading Burning Star once more.
Leave me a moment alone, please."
The patriarch tried to speak calmly, however his voice was filled with rage and resentment, apart from that the elder frowned for an instant, why would the patriarch wish to be alone, was he suspicious that he'd sneak attack him?
But the elder didn't mind it much, after all it was obvious that there was a mole, someone who was constantly triggering Tribulations, and apart from the patriarch the only others who could have done it were the other elders and the son of the patriarch.
From Bi Hu Tong's skin countless purple bubbles began to appear filling his body on a strange liquid, when all his body was filled with this liquid the bubbles exploded, leaving behind only an afterimage.
The patriarch walked slowly towards the window where the Cultivator left, his eyes then turned gray and he began to inspect his surrounds, when he finally was sure that there was no one else on the room, he finally cursed.
"That little...
Unfilial son, bastard!
Treacherous piece of shit!
Does he think I don't realize the obvious, with the Heavenly Energy he has gathered he could refine at least two Heavenly Artifacts.
Seriously, in what little project is he using so much Heavenly Energy?"
Heavenly Energy the energy the patriarch spoke about was a fundamental force of the universe, it covered every single inch of the world, it was on the skies, on the ground and the air.
Even a pure vacuum where there was only space and time would have it.
It was everywhere.
This energy carried a trace of Heaven's will, the force that ensured the balance of the cosmos.
That energy was the most efficient on the whole universe, it carried the properties of everything and anything at the same time.
It contained the power of light and darkness, fire and ice, time and space and other countless paths.
This contradictory substance could be used for theoretically anything!
It could be used to refine pills, to create Heavenly Artifacts, for a Formation, to harvest Gu's and it could be absorbed directly.
When the first 'transcenders', the humans who broke their restrictions were born they discovered this power and tried to find the form to acquire it.
Through their research they discovered something, even though it was everywhere and anywhere, it had a higher concentration when there was a natural calamity!
Be it a thunderstorm, earthquake, tsunami, volcanic eruption, any of those phenomena could allow the Cultivator to harvest this energy easily and effectively.
Initially Cultivators simply relied on luck to be on the right moment of a calamity to harvest its strength, but soon they began to predict when it would happen, after a long time they created an even better method.
To trigger those 'natural' calamities with certain techniques, thus harvesting 'unlimited' energy.
This sounded like a golden era, however those Cultivators had made a fatal mistake.
Heaven's will, focuses on balance, anyone who takes its energy becomes its enemy.
And Heavens are powerful enemy, as they have a proto conscience and a certain ability of thought, most importantly it has the power of every quality at once.
It cannot be restrained fully, at least not in a short time.
The Heavenly Energy will always try to escape from its vessel and harm its 'owner', and because Heaven carries all the abilities of the cosmos is almost impossible to contain, it has the power of space thus it cannot be sealed by pocket-dimensions, it has the power of laws thus you cannot use laws to restrain it.
Furthermore, because Heaven's will carries every ability of the cosmos it can harm the user in countless of ways, a tiny fraction of the energy may turn into Cognitive Qi and it may fuse into the conscience, it may corrupt the brain of whoever is using it.
It also can accelerate your aging, curse you, make you prone to Qi deviation, reduce your luck, target your family, if its not sealed properly from a moment to other it may even become a bomb killing its user instantly!
If you angered Heaven's will enough it would even trigger a Tribulation, a greater punishment with the attempt to not only kill whoever angered it, but also their families, crops, animals, Gu's and resources.
On the current era only desperate, foolish or arrogant Cultivators tried to use on a way of another this Heavenly energy.
The patriarch was desperate, the clan had barely survived on the war against the Shiyan clan, a clan who might strike again at any moment.
Thus, he tasked his son to refine a Heavenly Artifact to win on the next war against them, to recover his wounds and to strengthen himself.
As for the man who triggered those Tribulations, he was all the above.
Bing Zhan Hung the man who triggered those Tribulations was standing proudly in front of the oriel of his mansion, observing with glee as a hurricane was approaching to him.
The man was tall and had a well-defined body, he had a dense chest plate filled with multiple jewels which shone revealing all kinds of enchantments and auras, they gathered around him forming a beautiful rainbow fog.
This man had incisive golden eyes, with pupils that resembled a lizard, thick eyebrows and a sharp jaw.
He had a red hair with multiple brown and black strands and a red cape from where magma was constantly flowing through.
The windows cracked, its fragments were shoot towards every of his vital spots, whilst Bing Zhan Hung simply raised his palm and a crimson aura blocked all those projectiles.
His lips curved slightly; he laughed heartily.
"You know, Heaven's will, everyone usually calls you, omnipotent, omniscient and what not, but on my eyes you're nothing.
If you're as smart and sentient as they say, you'd bring such a meek force against me, your energy will be all MINE MINE MINE!"
Greedily he tried to take for himself the energy like a junky desperate for another shoot and thus from his palm he released a powder made of copper iron and gold, that began to burn brightly, that flame carried the property of gravity, thus he began to drag the hurricane towards himself slowly and steadily.
"Wait, I almost forgot."
He turned his head and took the baby that was on the table.
"To create a proper successor I need to give him a proper baptize, and what better baptize than Heavenly Energy."
From his index finger he shoot a silver thread, that connected less than a ten-thousand of the energy of the Tribulation towards the little baby.
Naturally the baby quickly began to convulse, how the hell was a baby supposed to endure Heavenly Energy?
Only a madman would attempt something as wasteful and reckless like this.
The body of the baby began to expand, he looked like a balloon, his veins were bulging and his muscles were throbbing, he coughed and tossed blood endlessly and his skin was torn apart, 'luckily' for him, due to the sheer heat those wounds were quickly cauterized.
If you're to describe his current condition he was suffering the equivalent of Qi Deviation, sugar and ATP overdose, heatstroke, heart attack, poisoning and somehow hypothermia at the same time.
Naturally he began to cry and scream for help, however his father instead of being worried began to complain.
"Hey, you shitty brat, you should learn to be grateful!
Most people aren't as lucky as you, in my case for example to acquire this precious Heavenly Energy for the first time I had to search for years until I found that the Shiyan Clan was hiding a massive Heavenly Stone.
It was very hard to steal it!
Don't you appreciate the value of my hard work?
...
Though, to be fair I actually quite enjoyed the whole process, yes, when I escape from here I'll steal from another hundred clans and even from an Immortal that sounds fun!"
Bing Zhan Hung was the clearest example of why even those foolish enough to steal the Heavenly Energy didn't dare to use it directly on their bodies, at most they used it to acquire some insights and to refine Heavenly Artifacts.
In his case due to the direct and continuous exposure he had been affected more than a hundred times than others, he was prone to Qi deviation his thoughts had turned nonsensical, chaotical, reckless and even suicidal at times.
He had dumb thoughts such as 'I need to breakthrough by the end of the week.'
Sometimes he couldn't help but scheme against himself, thinking of many ways he could screw over himself, such as angering the patriarch without leaving him the slightest chance of survival.
That's right Heaven's will was using his own brainpower against him to scheme against him,
"Oh, right I forgot again, how is the process going?"
When he observed at the baby he was delightful as he noticed that there was a heatless white flame burning through his whole body, that was the first sign of the awakening of the Bloodline Ability.
"It seems all of this was for naught, you didn't even need much of my help, in fact you'd have awakened your Bloodline Ability by yourself on a year or so.
Hahaha, I was afraid that he'd be like his cripple retarded brother Bing Qing Yang.
Seriously, what the hell is wrong with his head?
He's such a weirdo."
Said the father, without the slightest sign of self-reflection.
"Every day he likes to go to the streets to help the old, buy old worthless antiquities, specially ring or broken swords.
He also likes to go and search close to nearby waterfalls or other random places.
After a bit of 'persuasion' I 'convinced' him to tell me, and he said that he was looking for a fortuitous encounter.
As if those things could be forced!
What does he think he is a Luck Cultivator, and I know a lot about it, I'm a genius in that field, no I'm a genius on every field!
A master on Alchemy, Forgery, Body-Qi-Soul Cultivation, expert on over a dozen paths, I'm such a big deal, why would anyone want to learn from anyone but me?"
Bing Zhan Hung was the kind of man that if you're to tell him that he had the ego of over a dozen man he'd say that he excels on even that, that was just who he was.
The two things he hated the most were to not be able to make his own choices and to being looked down on by others.
Currently, he had two endure both.
"Lately he has even been speaking about a 'System', 'System Sign In', 'System, Activate', 'Peerless Heavenly Demonic Dragon Emperor System', and other nonsense, as if he was praying to a deity!
Is he mad? Is he so dumb that he doesn't know the meaning of the words he says?
...
That is what I would like to believe but my intuition that mind you, has never failed me, tells me he's hiding something big, that somehow he knows something that I don't.
How is that possible, he's merely a five year old!
I tried to ask him over and over again but he refuses to spit it out.
The worst thing is...
Because I already presented him to the patriarch and the elders I cannot risk it to injure him permanently or kill him.
Damn it, what is the System he keeps mumbling about?"
After whining for a long time, he finally calmed himself.
"Alright, I already filtered my thoughts, my mind is as calm as a river."
To more or less keep his sanity he has developed countless methods to insure the quality of his thoughts such as relying on external wills to refresh his mind periodically, or a method to cleanse his brain and many others.
However the method that he used the most was 'Emotional Vampire', a technique which relied on talking as much as possible to drain certain negative thoughts towards whoever is hearing him, currently the victim of this technique was his son.
...
"Oh, your Spiritual Flame is already fusing with your Vital Qi, great.
I wonder what ability will you develop exactly, if you have a Time Vital Qi you'll acquire 'The Flames of Time', a kind of Flame that can burn time itself, being its most basic usage to burn the lifespan of others.
It seems you have mostly a Ying Qi, so perhaps you'll develop something like 'Ensouled Flame', a kind of flame that can target ghosts, spirits and souls.
If I'm lucky you'll acquire something strong like your grandfather's Burning Star Bloodline Ability or even better my Volcanic Eruption Ability."
Bing Zhan Hung was obviously not concerned about his son, rather he was concerned about himself.
That was related to the incident with that 'Heavenly Stone', Heavenly Stones are the only source of Heavenly Energy that is safe to consume without triggering Heaven's rage.
And he stole them from the Shiyan Clan who later on declared war on Bing Clan for this reason.
Due to this his desertion, betrayal, abandonment of responsibility and even looting his own clan's treasury, he was punished by the patriarch in the form that pained him the most.
From that point onwards he'd be unable to leave his own house, if he tried to leave he'd automatically trigger the backlash of his spiritual agreement and die on the act.
But there were two exceptions on the agreement, first if he bowed on his Dao Heart to always serve the clan for the rest of his live or second if he brought a worthy successor who could reach the Void Realm.
The patriarch added the second merely to appease his rebellious son, because he was sure that he'd never be able to find a successor, after all where he would find a genius if he was trapped on his own home?
But he didn't expect that Bing Zhan Hung was so stubborn that he actually preferred to nurture a descendant rather than accept responsibility for once.
Bing Zhan Hung sighed to himself, he bit his own lips and frowned.
"Most of my roads have been cut, even though I'm a genius, I lack contact with the external world, yes I can Cultivate crops and fields, I can produce my own Gu's and artifacts, I can even mass-produce some common materials, but is not enough.
To reach the Void Realm I need more exotic resources and not only that I require experience, but how can I acquire experience if I can't leave this place.
Yes, I'm planning to use my descendants as my plan B, however I have only 29 years, by the time they grow strong enough I'll likely be on my sixties.
That's why, I need more, more, more Heavenly Insights more Heavenly Energy only by taking, taking, taking enough I'll be able to carve my own path.
One day I SHALL BE UNFETTERED!"
His voice was so loud that resonated not only through his mansion, but was also heard by the patriarch that was rushing towards him.
The patriarch shook his head.
"Son, you're once again being too arrogant, you need to learn to control yourself."
Bing Zhan Hung turned his head to the source of the sound.
"SHIT, I HAVE BEEN SET UP BY THE HEAVENS AGAIN.
Quick, I need to hide the baby if my father realizes what I'm doing to his descendant he's going to kill me."
Thinking of this, he released his Cognition Qi and triggered all his barriers and concealment Formations, then he proceeded to rush towards another room where he hid the baby and then he put a dozen of seals as if he was sealing a powerful beast.
The patriarch snorted coldly.
"Hmph, do you really think you can rely on tricks to defeat a Void Cultivator?"
His aura was whiteish-pink and was composed of countless fragments of meteors, flying stars and debris, the patriarch began to burn his aura and his powers skyrocketed.
He extended his middle and index finger and some of his aura began to concentrate on a tiny spot, he was trying to pierce through the countless barriers.
Bing Zhan Hung frowned, he moved his arms on a spiral releasing an special magnetic dust that collided with itself, creating countless sparkles of light and eventually lighting.
Before he realized he had been hit by a single lone meteor, he raised his head and realized that the patriarch hadn't broken through the barrier yet, he was merely relying on its blind spots.
He clenched his fists and frowned he began to run aimlessly to prevent the patriarch from hitting him again, whilst at the same time he revealed another trump card he began to drag the hurricane towards the patriarch by using his magnetic powder.
The mansion began to shake, despite the fact that the barrier hadn't been shattered yet, the mere after-effect was enough to affect the vulnerable parts of the building.
Bing Zhan Hung frowned it was time to reveal another trump card.
Beneath the ground sprouts of lava were released aiming at the patriarch's back who barely managed to dodge him.
In an instant multiple mini-volcanos began to ascend from the ground, forming many little peaks on the otherwise even terrain.
The patriarch still felt confident on relying on brute force, but he was surprised to find that the sheer heat and poisoning was beginning to affect even him, a fire Cultivator.
"Those attacks...It seems he arranged them beforehand, just how many trump cards does he have?"
He feel somewhat nostalgic on a way, he recalled many memories of when Bing Zhan Hung was young, all those times he fought someone above his realm gaining tournament after tournament with ease.
Now he understood the frustration that the opponents of him felt.
The patriarch kept moving and evading, the flames, lighting, poisonous metal powder, lava and iron needless that his son threw from time to time.
Bing Zhan Hung was relying on his superior Cognitive amplification methods and the Tribulation to overwhelm the patriarch whom barely found the chance to strike back.
"This is bad, at this pace my wounds will reopen...
I can't use my strongest techniques either, if I use it with the Tribulation my son may use the chance to kill me, if I use it against him I'll be unable to deal with the Tribulation as I'd be too tired."
After thinking it thoroughly, he finally asked.
"What is the point you're trying to make with all of this?
Why you tried to block me with your barriers?"
The son smiled lightly, quickly he tried to find a proper excuse.
"I was trying to prove that despite I'm merely a Mystical Condensation Cultivator my strength is equal to yours, thus I hope you don't try to bully me too much.
Yes, with your troops you could kill me, but what if I trigger a Tribulation or two, your clan would be destroyed entirely and even if wasn't, the Shiyan Clan would soon finish it off.
If you force my hand I can assure a mutual assured destruction, with this, regardless of what you ask, I know you won't dare to go too overboard."
The patriarch bought his excuse he replied coarsely, thus they began to negotiate.
Both him and Bing Zhan Hung were ignoring the spectacle before them, on the skies there were countless flames of all colors and sizes, fighting against the Tribulation.
Some Cultivators focused on evaporating the fragments of metals and raising their height so they can't hurt them anymore, others focused on filtering the clouds, others actively destroyed clouds and dissipated a fraction of the fought.
All of this resulted on beautiful fireworks of fire dragons and phoenixes on the skies, it looked so magnificent that if one didn't live on the city they may think that this was a festival.
...
"Fine, but to ensure an agreement you must give me my Heavenly Artifact.
If you don't, well, currently you're both a threat and an asset to the clan, however if you don't cooperate you'd be merely a tumor who drains the clan of resources and actively kills it host, the more we let you live, the more our clan suffers, regardless of your threats I'm going to kill you."
His eyes shone with a silver light as he said this.
Bing Zhan Hung gulped and took a step back.
"Fine, fine, don't need to be so serious."
He moved carefully and took from one of his drawers a tiny box, Bing Zhan Hung began to slowly take its locks, if he made a single mistake the box would blow up and injure him greatly.
Inside there was a golden sculpture that resembled an ocular globe, it had countless throbbing veins that were made of an alloy of wolframium and other rare metals, whilst it was releasing a thin liquid that resembled tears which was composed of molten rock and stardust.
"This is a masterpiece called 'Ocular Star.'
This Artifact doesn't require any special materials to be used, merely Star Qi.
After its activation the user cognitive abilities will grow by a twenty-fold, at least on comparison with an ordinary human.
With such an intelligence boost is possible to receive countless inspirations on an instant to complete techniques that troubled the user for months in mere minutes, with it they can even think of three things at once without feeling overburdened.
It also grants a huge boost on all Star and Ocular related skills even towards a Void Cultivator such as you, and that is merely its passive effect.
It can also be used to 'lock' on a target, this 'lock' will redirect all the attacks towards them subtly, it also can be used to perceive their exact location regardless if they try to escape, furthermore you can also see things from the perspective of your target, thus anything they see, you can see.
This target can be pretty much anything you can even target meteors and use them as external eyes, with this you'll be able to figure anyone's secret easily.
Finally you can also use the 'lock' ability to drain the Star Qi of a target which synergizes greatly with stars and astral objects, thanks to my sophisticated method of filtering you can Cultivate safely with a Heavenly Artifact without being targeted by Heaven's will.
With this I'm sure you'll be able to treat your wounds and even reach the second stage of the Void Realm."
The patriarch nodded slowly.
"That is what would I expect from someone as talented as you, in fact if you hadn't triggered so many Tribulations I'd have been satisfied.
Now that we're on that point, go on, try to convince me that the risk you bring to the clan with your continuous existence is worth a single Heavenly Artifact.
For the moment you'll be punished, with a reduction of a third of your servants and Cultivation resources on alchemy, forgery, Gu creation and other fields, also a fifth of the terrain of your crops will be cut permanently, thus you won't even be able to ever go there, as the contract states you can only move in the places of your property.
This is the cost of failing to meet the expectations again."
The patriarch raised his guard, as he perceived the son's killing intent.
Bing Zhan Hung frowned.
"My chances of killing him are around 75%, however it wouldn't be worth it, I would only doom myself, I'd either be isolated completely from the world, or I'd be killed by his soldiers."
He sighed and from his sleeves he took another Heavenly Artifact, its appearance was fairly simply, it looked like an active Volcano that was constantly releasing ashes and leaked a bit of lava, but it had a size of around 20 centimeters.
"I wanted to give you a surprise for your birthday, but here it is, I refined another masterpiece for the clan, its called Mini-Volcano Spring.
This treasure merely requires a bit of Earth and Fire Qi to be activated, however your Star Qi can be a proper substitute.
Anyhow, to activate the main use of the Mini-Volcano Spring you need to plant it on the ground, and like a tree it will begin to grow slowly by absorbing the surrounding dirt and heat.
For maximum efficiency I'd store it inside of an underground cave or a real volcano.
Anyway, the Mini-Volcano Spring will grow and grow, releasing volcanic ashes with miraculous properties that fused with our Bing's clan natural ability to use heat to repair our wounds will allow us to create a medicinal material.
Not only that, a medicinal material that can at the same time refine the body, of course the volcanic ashes are pretty weak and will be mostly be used to nurture Body Tempering or Qi Gathering Cultivators, whilst you can use molten rock to create a sauna for Body Cultivation.
Not only that, as everyone knows the essence of Fire path, apart of well, creating flames is to raise the heat as much as possible.
An isolated place where heat is constantly absorbed is just the perfect place to generate enough energy, with just a few arrangements we can produce many miraculous Fire materials, sustain the ones we already have and refine pills.
With this we'll be able to resist the wicked Shiyan Clan!"
The patriarch was still amazed by his son ability to lie through his teeth just a moment ago he was threatening them, now he was trying to act as a filial clansmen.
He chuckled lightly.
"I suppose that you used this as an arrangement against me on our fight, right?
Very well, if I take this the risk you represent will decrease, I hope this is enough punishment for you."
Bing Zhan Hung shook his head.
"No, why should you take it?
Think about it, I'm the Cultivator most accomplished on Volcano path in the whole continent (mostly because there are none), and an expert on producing countless materials, don't you think it'd be best if it remained on my hands, don't you agree?"
After a lot of bargaining Bing Zhan Hung managed to keep the treasure at the cost of sharing some of his self-made techniques with the clan.
Right before the patriarch was about to leave, Bing Zhan Hung raised his voice.
"Hey, wait a second.
I know I disappointed you, but it won't happen again.
Trust me, I already mastered the method of refining Heavenly Artifacts!
If you wish to, I can refine Heavenly Artifacts in just half the Tribulations than before-"
The patriarch looked at him with profound killing intent.
"Brat, stop testing the waters or you may drown."
Then, his body was covered was replaced with countless fragments of stars and he disappeared.
Bing Zhan Hung laughed silently.
"Luckily he didn't found my little secret." He returned to the room where he hid the baby.
"Now, come to daddy show me the ability you awakened."
Suddenly, his smile froze.
"ICE AFFINITY?
ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?"
The essence of Fire path is to gather as much as heat as possible, the essence of Ice path was to decrease the heat.
Those two contradicted each other, generally those who were born with such weak Bloodline Ability were just barely better than cripples devoid of a Bloodline Ability.