Author review; MC is still negligent of the place he appears, he takest the same manual, same strat, bit of... racism thrown into the mix for character development into a non-racist, end was a tad too humanizing for my tastes.
And I got another cool idea.
PS; The original's first chapter was good enough, and I didn't feel it needed to be changed. If you want to re-read this one, read 'Heaven's mandate 1.0 I'.
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Jie Shu's eyes opened with a sudden 'Snap', and he instantly forced his sore body off of the bed he was laying on "Wait... Shouldn't I be dead?"
He swayed his head as he looked around the room, it was pretty good, but to Jie Shu, this was absolute garbage. Not even a single array to gather spiritual energy.
He quickly used spiritual energy in the air to temporarily create a surface akin to a mirror, and he saw his own body.
It was different, it was younger, it was less balanced, it was a bit more handsome, though it wasn't that handsome actually.
He quickly felt his dantian, which was different from before, as it now existed in the semi-physical plane instead of the conceptual/meta-physical plane.
From what he recognized, the dantian that was around his stomach region was created through a sub-par manual. So bad that he could not bear to keep it.
As such, he forcefully controlled the unfamiliar qi within him, and started to quarantine the dantian. And then closed in the qi he had used, while also forcing the qi still within the dantian to cause countless cracks.
And while he did that, he took some spiritual energy to his finger and jabbed a few places of his body, injecting the spiritual energy in a rampant form to abolish his body-tempering too.
A few moments later, he spit out a dark liquid.
[Cultivation abolished.]
Jie Shu looked at what just appeared in front of him, a screen. And instantly punched it, seeing that punch pass right through the screen didn't help though.
He took a few steps back and the screen followed him "What in the sea-rift is this thing!?"
He turned his head slightly to look for an escape, and the screen followed his vision.
Then he suddenly stopped his escape plans, and looked upwards, downwards, ect. The screen following all the while "Is it caused by qi-deviation or an array?"
He decided it was just his own mind making an illusion as to give an anchor in this trying time 'But the big question, what will be my manual?
[-Please choose your new cultivation technique;
-Supreme Oblivion record (S-rank);
An ancient mysterious cultivation technique learned only by enlightenment, unable to be taught to others, it was slowly forgotten. The supreme oblivion record calls not for a calm heart, but for destruction, and then recording of what was lost. It is limitless, fast in cultivation, and with the greatest of foundations.
This technique does not have a dantian, it is not within existence.
-Heaven's mandate (S-rank);
The purest of qi, the greatest of foundations, perfection. Though it's progress is extremely slow and difficult, it is extremely strong. It increases lifespan beyond the limit of 1000 years. It focuses on perfection, in all aspects.
(A-rank and below manuals have been ommitted due to host's prejudice.)]
Looking at these two options Jie Shu couldn't help but sigh, even his sub-concious considered all of his personally created manuals as worse than these two.
He used the
But pills that would be effective with
'I wonder what color the qi of
[You have chosen
[Name; Fang He (Jie Shu)
Cultivation; body tempering, mortal (1%)
Techniques; Abyssal star (A-rank), Eternal persuit (B-rank), Permafrost burial (B-rank), Dying sun (B-rank), Rising sun (B-rank), Dark sun (B-rank), Bloody ruin (B-rank), Blade rush (B-rank), ect.]
Jie Shu was impressed with the accuracy of this screen, he expected his delusions to set himself as a supreme being that could not be triffled with. He was pretty sure his sub-concious thought of himself as such.
Maybe he had great humility... Or the more probable one; This screen is real and not a delusion! 'Oh, that's cool. Not going to question how or why for fear of existential dread, but cool nonetheless.'
Jie Shu stretched his body and then did what was absolutely necessary, cycle spiritual energy constantly "Feels nice to not be constantly disparaged by that mysterious force."
Suddenly the door too the room was opened, and a little tune was hummed by a young teen.
She had her eyes closed as she walked in, but then suddenly saw Jie Shu standing up "Young master?- Ack!"
Jie Shu held her up by the throat "Identify yourself, sheep-clan."
"Y-Young master, what are you doing?! Please to stop!" The blond-haired girl with curled sheep-horns yelled in shock.
Jie Shu did not stop "Identify yourself." He said as he started to actually close his grasp and started to choke her slightly.
"I-I," The sheep-clan didn't know what to do, but then she realized; Her young master may no longer know who she is, although that notion hurt her, in times of danger you make quick decisions "Young master, I-I am your servant! You must have a foggy recalection of the pas-"
"Do not try to trick me sheep-clan," Jie Shu said agressively "How could one from the beast-clans be a servant within human territory?"
He had a certain eminity with the beast-clans, he could not help but remember when he killed the top 10 experts of the Fox-clan and raised their core families, top cities, and pillar/foundation to the ground.
'They deserved it.'
Looking at the weak sheep-clan member in his hand, he was in a good mood right now, so he finally relented "I'll let you live, for now."
While cycling spiritual energy, Jie Shu started to talk to her "So, what made you think a beast-clan could actually use the guise of a servant plausibly?"
The sheep-clan coughing on the floor asked "Young master, what do you mean?"
"As a member of the Sheep-clan of the beast-clans, what made you think it would be even slightly plausible for you to be a servant in human territory?" Jie Shu asked.
The girl paused "...What's a beast-clan?"
Jie Shu looked at her, and with eyes filled with pity "You poor, poor soul. Either you're acting, or your willfully ignorant. Both being extremely pitiful."
She couldn't help but feel hurt after being insulted in a roundabout manner.
Jie Shu sighed and looked around "Since you are my servant, apparantly, is it not your duty to bring me my clothes?"
She suddenly jerked up with a smile "Yes! I can do that!" She hurriedly ran off with a smile on her face, going back to what she was used to was best at, something she could actually do.
And Jie Shu going back to his arrogant, but not violent self, and she liked that side of him, the one that didn't try to kill her. Although he may have been defeated by his younger brother till he needed to lay in bed for a few weeks, which actually turned out to be but a few days.
She didn't question this, it wasn't in her scope to question it, as a mortal.
A bit later, Jie Shu left the room, having exhanged the clothes given to the sick for something of this time. To be honest, it didn't meet his asthetics, but that was probably just the fact that fashion had changed.
It was a three piece, shirt, jacket and pants. Though this jacket didn't have a zipper, it was just something that went over the shirt. Of course he had shoes too, though they were sandals for some reason.
The coloration could be explained with; It's the color code of the family.
Not that it made the fact that mostly blue with bits of green weren't the Jie Shu's taste. Normally he would wear something black, with trims of something else that matched it. Often red, gold, or white. Gold especially at the end of his cultivation, it was a sign that he was rich to normal people, so they wouldn't bother him as he investigated what he would need to destroy to stop people from escaping.
Normally he would've started to get a lay of the land, figure out the vital points, and artificially create an oppertunity to grasp.
But now that his cultivation method had changed from
First he wanted to know how long it had been since he had died last, or if he was even on the same world/plane/whatever. You never know if you're soul accidentally crossed the (Still theoretical) void, and encountered one of those theorized worlds.
He quickly asked the girl a question which would quickly let him find out if he was still on the same world "Sheep-clan, what is the name of the continent, or are you willfully ignorant of that too?"
"Uh, no young master, I'm not."
"Then why aren't you answering?!!" Jie Shu suddenly burst out with rage, showing how he really felt about her. Though he took a deep breath and put himself back into a state of apathy.
After seeing that Jie Shu wasn't going to get violent like when he started to choke her, she answered "The continent is called the 'Divine continent'."
Jie Shu couldn't help but smile slightly, the chances of him being in the same world had increased from 37% to 92%. What about that 8%? That's for the chance that every continent is actually called 'Divine continent'.
You never know, it could always be so, so he asked for another sliver of information "Have you ever heard of the 'Bane of man'?"
"Of course!" The sheep-clan girl said "He's a legend, one of the strongest cultivators!"
"What about the 'Grand scourge'?" The sheep girl shook her head.
"What about the 'Bane of All'?" Complete confusion was the response.
"The Nine Banes?!" Finally the sheep girl said something, "Do you mean the 'Nine Scourges'?" Which brought even greater pain. Either he had gone away for so long an entire generation or two had passed, long enough for people to forget the person who had raised about 1/10th of the continent into un-claimed land.
Or his nine disciples had tried to scrub the record clean of his existence, though he didn't believe they would do that. He was pretty sure they didn't hate him or anything, he always threw them a cultivation manual of his own creation, always using destruction and combat as the method of growth.
In his own mind, they should even be extremely grateful, he kept on updating their techniques with a better version. Though a few versions were... How do I put this... Faulty 'That's just what happens when you're used as experimental material.'
"Was there some kind of great evil that the nine scourges had slain?"
Luckily his question had been answered "Yes! Yes," She seemed quite excited about this "The nine scourges, after 8 moons of constant combat, slayed the Void Caller! A man who erased many grand cultivators throughout his life-time."
That increased the chances to 98%, 'Void Caller' sounded a lot like something you could attach to him. 'Grand Scourge' Wasn't really something people would link to him actually, since he never showed his face while destroying all those city, all the while wearing a black cloak, killing everyone in the city. Pretty much meaning nobody knew what the Grand Scourge looked like.
There was quite a good chance that his disciples also didn't know that he was the Grand Scourge, though he wasn't that sure about it. Not like he really cared to hide it after he reached the Divine Court realm.
After all this, the conclusion was; This was the same Divine continent.
So that meant he was in the... What did the screen say again? Uhhh; Status.
[Name; Fang He (Jie Shu)]
Fang family, that's his family. The body's family, not Jie Shu's, he has no family.
Only convinient tools.
-Written in the 8th of march, 2023.