“Have you gone insane? You aren’t even at the twelfth stage of the Qi Gathering Realm, yet you dare to attack a foundation establishment disciple? I’ll let it slide this time, but next time, your target may not be so merciful.”
Like a curse, those words tormented Zi Zun for over thirty years. It seemed that everything in his life had gone down after meeting Xi Tianyi.
First, the reason for the confrontation, his childhood sweetheart from his village tried to climb higher and hug someone else’s thigh. As a man, there was no greater shame than this.
Actually, there was.
And that was his woman discarding him and poaching another man, a hairless brat at that. Fueled by his temper Zi Zun had rushed to fight with Xi Tianyi, resulting in the subsequent consequences.
After the grand elder’s scion left, his childhood friend, Pandi, tried to help him up, but he pushed her away. How could he allow such a two-faced woman to near him again?
Furthermore, she was not an outer disciple but a servant disciple. Servant disciples were only disciples in name. They almost had no chance of promotion, and no one would choose to be their master. They could only rely on themselves to cultivate once they had time after their duties were fulfilled.
Zi Zun was different. Although he had a triple spiritual vein like Pandi, his constitution was good, allowing him to embark on the martial path. Coupled with his steel-like will, he was even set to become an inner disciple before all this happened. After leaving Pandi, a bright future should have awaited him.
But that all came crashing down.
Zi Zun’s promotion to an inner disciple had been set in stone, a world merging venerable already had eyes on him. The only reason he was not an inner disciple was due to the fact that promotions happened only once every five years.
With high hopes, Zi Zun had walked to Assignment Hall only to hear that he had not been selected. It was maddening. All the people who used to admire him all laughed at him. Those less talented, who could only watch from afar, all came forward to ridicule him.
Zi Zun even sought out the world merging elder, asking him why. The elder’s only response was, “You do not have the disposition to become an immortal. It’s true that your willpower is firm, but because of that, it will cause you unnecessary conflicts against others. Leave.”
Although Zi Zun was just a village boy with no formal education, how could he not hear the meaning behind the elder’s words? It was all because he offended the grand elder’s son, Xi Tianyi.
That was the second misfortune. The third misfortune was bullying. Having been deemed as someone with no chance of making a comeback, the former bullies who feared offending him all came like a pack of starving hyenas.
Most would add flowers to a wreath, but rarely would anyone send coals during the snow.
Zi Zun only understood what that phrase meant then. Not just them, the servant disciples also began to distance themselves and even hit him while he was down. And to add further humiliation, Pandi left him again, seeing that he was so futureless.
Under all this pressure, Zi Zun came to loath Xi Tianyi, viewing him as the mastermind of this petty revenge. What else could it be? How could the world turn against him if it wasn’t for that brat? It was a feeling that only increased when he heard what happened to Chun Dan.
Chun Dan had been taken away by a Justice Hall elder for stealing items. Zi Zun knew that Chun Dan was a bully, having also been on the receiving end of late. However, he knew that Chun Dan would have never stolen the things that were discovered in his house. When Chun Dan was arrested, the only thing out of the ordinary was Xi Tianyi’s presence at Caimen Peak that day, so Zi Zun correctly guessed that the culprit was Tianyi!
Undeterred, Zi Zun endured the indignity he suffered and cultivated silently, wanting to stun the world once he officially entered the Foundation Establishment Realm or the Bone Refinement Body Transformation Realm.
He accomplished the latter first but was rejected. Those that cultivated to the Bone Refinement Stage under the age of thirty had a chance of being rejected for promotion, but foundation establishment disciples were different. Persevering, Zi Zun cultivated and reached the Foundation Establishment Realm, but he was still rejected!
It was at this point that Zi Zun almost fell into despair. With a heart full of disappointment, the new foundation establishment disciple left the Buzhou Immortal Sect. Unlike inner disciples, outer disciples can leave the sect to temper themselves at the Foundation Establishment Realm or its equivalence.
After leaving, Zi Zun felt as if a stone had lifted off his shoulders. After he was rejected the third time, his life had truly become miserable. All of his monthly stipends were that of a qi gathering pupil despite his advancement. After traveling for five years, Zi Zun even thought of settling down outside the sect forever.
He was tired, tired of the life he had been living. As the thought struck him, Zi Zun denied it as those pairs of bedeviling eyes flashed through his mind. To others, those eyes may be the most beautiful jewels in the world, but to Zi Zun, those were the eyes of a devil. Every time Zi Zun felt his willpower waning, he would think of those eyes, and his determination would be renewed.
Reality showed that the heavens did not abandon those with a will, and Zi Zun stumbled onto the inheritance of Leigong. Leigong was the Divine Duke of Thunder, the god from the primordial era that mastered the Law of Lightning and Thunder.
From the inheritance, Zi Zun abandoned his former martial cultivation method, the Five Element Body Transformation Method, and started cultivating the Thunder Punishment Decree martial method. From then on, it was the story of Zi Zun’s rise.
Journey after journey, conflict after conflict, Zi Zun surpassed them all and used them as whetstones for his growth. Eventually, he happened upon a natural treasure known as Thunderclap Dew. The dew had condensed into a pond over an untold amount of years, and using it, Zi Zun remolded his body into the Eastern Lightning Physique.
Not long after, Zi Zun passed his Acupoint Opening Heavenly Tribulation and formed the Levin Judgement Martial Body, a body that was not one whit inferior to a heavenly lightning spiritual vein.
After entering the Acupoint Opening Realm, the new acupoint opening master caught the attention of an unsavory venerable who chased Zi Zun to unearth his secrets. Luckily for Zi Zun, he was rescued by an immortal elder from the Buzhou Immortal Sect.
Zi Zun felt numbed when that immortal elder asked him to be his personal disciple. Furthermore, the immortal elder was a member of the Brocade Immortals, a group that did not fear anyone. Even Grand Elder Xi would be attacked if the Brocade Immortals discovered that she broke the sect laws!
Zi Zun couldn’t believe his luck and immediately agreed. He finally found someone who would not be intimidated by Xi Tianyi’s backing, Grand Elder Xi. So with a soaring heart, Zi Zun triumphantly returned to the Buzhou Immortal Sect.
After his master brought him to his new home, the first thing he did was to return to Caimen Peak and retrieve his belongings. Naturally, Zi Zun wore his new inner disciple uniform and didn’t hide his powerful martial body at all.
“Big Brother Zi?” Pandi exclaimed, her voice full of surprise upon seeing Zi Zun, who had ‘happened’ to pass by the servant disciple’s abode.
After thirty years, Zi Zun appeared five years older. He had grown from a tender teen to a confident adult in his early twenties in appearance. Compared to Zi Zun, Pandi was worse off. Despite being a few years younger than Zi Zun, she appeared to be in her early thirties, and she still had yet to reach the Foundation Establishment Realm.
“Who’s your big brother?” Zi Zun harshly rebuked. “If I remember right, weren’t you the one who left me? Numerous times?”
“T-that’s, that’s because I had no choice.” Pandi defended. “If I didn’t leave, it would have been bad for the both of us.”
Zi Zun sneered. “Is that what you call it, wench?”
Teardrops began to form at the edge of Pandi’s eyes. “Big Brother Zi, how could you call me that?”
“How many times do I have to tell you, don’t call me big brother. Goodbye, after today we will never meet again. On the basis that we were once childhood sweethearts, I won’t get revenge, but don’t come looking for me. Otherwise, I’ll show you what despair is.” Zi Zun as he left with a wave of his sleeve.
Seeing Zi Zun turn to leave, Pandi ran up and grabbed the edge of his sleeves. “Big Brother Zi!”
“Ah!” Pandi screamed as she fell onto her back after Zi Zun flung her off his sleeves without looking back. Her eyes turned red as she glared hatefully at Zi Zun. “Do you think you’re amazing because you’re an inner disciple now? Let me tell you. Senior Brother Xi has now entered the Unity Realm, the Unity Realm! So what if you’re an inner disciple? You’ll never be able to compare to him!”
Zi Zun’s footsteps paused for the briefest of the moment. His pause was so quick that Pandi never noticed and continued to mock him. Unseen by Pandi, Zi Zun’s expression had turned absolutely frosty.
After returning, he did a little digging and discovered that the latest rumor in the Buzhou Immortal Sect was that Grand Elder Xi’s son had stepped into the Unity Realm. Zi Zun felt as if his vision had turned black.
Due to his suppression, Zi Zun hadn’t heard many rumors of his archnemesis, and he heard even less during his years away from the sect. He also discovered that no one knew that Xi Tianyi had caused him to suffer in the inner disciple circles. To them, they couldn’t care less about the suffering of a mere outer disciple.
Now that he entered the circle of inner disciples, Zi Zun discovered that Tianyi’s reputation was incredibly stellar. For one, he hardly appeared in public, giving him a veil of mystery. Another point was that there was no news of him bullying or suppressing disciples, causing him to be seen in a much better light than the silkpants of other elders. And most recently, it was his tutorial videos that had become quite viral among disciples.
When Zi Zun heard how high Xi Tianyi’s prestige was, he had the urge to puke blood.Kind, thoughtful, benevolent, genius? Zi Zun scoffed at these descriptions of the grand elder’s son. He knew his archnemesis’s true personality, that of a petty boy who would get revenge at the slightest offense.
“Who is Ba Shifeng?” Zi Zun asked. He had wanted to run away from all the praise most inner disciples had towards his archnemesis and wanted to let out steam, so he went to the sparring arenas. Then he discovered that there was this amazing disciple. As long as you beat him in a spar, you would get a hundred thousand high spirit stones!
Zi Zun had inherited many treasures from Leigong’s inheritance, but many of them were treasures that he couldn’t take arbitrarily. So, in essence, he didn’t have much money on hand, so the hundred thousand was very attractive to him.
“You must be a new inner disciple,” The disciple Zi Zun asked, concluded.
Zi Zun hid his annoyance and replied. “Yes, my name is Zi Zun.”
“Zi Zun, kinda weird. You can call me Thricesting.” Thricesting introduced himself. “Anyways, you haven’t heard of Ba Shifang, but you must have heard of Xi Tianyi, right?”
Zi Zun furrowed his brows. “What does Ba Shifang have to do with him?”
“Duh. Ba Shifang is Prince Xi’s clone. You tell me, how can he not have anything to do with Prince Xi?” Thricesting said as he hung his arm over Zi Zun’s shoulder, much to the latter’s annoyance. “Senior Brother Ba just entered the Core Formation Realm, but he is already comparable to late core formation masters.”
“So why is offering a hundred thousand spirit stone to any who defeat him? To satisfy his ego as he crushes all those who oppose him?” Zi Zun mockingly said.
“What? No. Originally Senior Brother Ba, showed up and many challenged him, but most of them were in the early or mid Core Formation Realm, so he won easily. And late and peak core formation masters didn’t want to risk being defeated, so Senior Brother Ba offered a prize.” Thricesting said, not having heard the ridicule in Zi Zun’s words.
Zi Zun grunted as he slung Thricesting’s arm off his shoulders. Along the way, Zi Zun stayed silent as Thricesting continued to yabber on, mainly about the greatness of Xi Tianyi and his clone, irritating Zi Zun to no end. The only reason he tolerated Thricesting’s endless words was due to the information within, primarily Ba Shifang’s combat abilities and techniques, along with titbits about Tianyi’s action over the years.
Soon, the two reached the sparring arenas. The one with the most people spectating was naturally the one Ba Shifang was on. Ba Shifang would appear on random days after digesting all the gains he received from the day’s battle.
Zi Zun’s eyes narrowed as he saw a handsome lad of about nineteen knock his opponent off the arena. In comparison with that tender face he had seen all those years ago, there was nothing alike, but Zi Zun knew in his heart that this man was related to his archnemesis.
“Winner, Ba Shifang!” The judge, a nascent soul disciple called Su Bojing, announced. Everyone knew that Su Bojing was Tianyi’s retainer and was present to officiate the matches. “Is there anyone else that would like to challenge Ba Shifang and win a hundred thousand spirit stones?”
Seeing the silence, Su Bojing sighed. It wasn’t always a hundred thousand spirit stones. When Ba Shifang first offered a monetary reward, it was only ten thousand spirit stones, but as less and less people challenged, the number of spirit stones was raised. Now, it seemed the prize amount would have to be raised again.
Su Bojing was about to announce the end of the day’s challenge when a disciple stepped up to the stage. “It seems that we have a new challenger! What is your name?”
“Shut up and start the match.” Zi Zun said, not giving Su Bojing any face at all.
Su Bojing frowned. If this weren’t an arena and him doing his duty as a retainer, he would have taught the discourteous junior a lesson. In the end, he just sneered and announced the beginning of the match. Let’s see if he still has the same arrogance after being beaten down by Ba Shifang.
Zi Zun observed his opponent carefully. Ba Shifang currently had a lax smile with his hands relaxed by his side. According to Thricesting, Ba Shifang never attacked first.
With a roar, thunder and lightning gathered in Zi Zun’s fist as he leaped at Ba Shifang, who only held out his hand to block the incoming fist. ‘Cocky bastard, I’ll show you what a mistake you made!’
There was a thunderous boom as fist met palm. To Zi Zun’s shock, Ba Shifang was only pushed back a few steps from the collision, and he didn’t appear to be hurt at all. At most, Ba Shifang shook his hand and took off his lax smile.
Zi Zun snorted. ‘I didn’t expect a mere clone to be this difficult to deal with. If a Core Formation Realm clone is this difficult to deal with, then his main body will only be stronger. If I can’t even win against a clone, I might as well just commit suicide!’
Zi Zun shifted into a preparatory stance. From under his clothes, blue markings could be seen glowing. Those were the Divine Thunder Tattoo formed by his Levin Judgement Martial body. Waving his arm, a chisel crackling with electricity appeared in his hand.
Now, the true battle could begin.
