Chapter 13: Learning Demonic Arts

After nearly two months of training. Tirin had begun to change. If one were to look at him, they wouldn’t know if he was a beast or king or someone that practices taboo arts. He had a stern look that would cause someone with no backbone to cower. His gaze was sharp and penetrating as his black hair swayed around. Tirin spent these two months training in everything he was taught by masters Thrin and Orthrin except for the Divine Way of the Heavenly Dragon. For it was to overbearing; and Master Orthrin had forbidden him to.

“Do you think he is ready Master Scythe exclaimed master Thrin? Yes, I think he is mature enough in mind, soul, and body for demonic arts, he wasn’t ready for such strong killing intent from how he absorbed my blood essence. But now he is certainly strong enough to start. He is a quick learner, at the rate he is going, he will be able to fight some elemental beasts and absorb their cores in the mountains and make some clothing and armor from their hides. And gain actual combat experience with these skills before leaving for Emperor Heart Academy. If he wasn’t ready the bloodlust would take over and he would become a mindless slaughtering beast but now, he will be able to just as easily learn to use my essence as he did the beast and sword essence.”

“Tirin, listen carefully. If you don’t learn to use my essence in the right way, you will be taken over by bloodlust and become a mindless ravaging beast. You are ready but be ever cautious.”

“What! I didn’t think I would learn to use the killing intent I have so early on!”

“If you can spend this month learning my arts properly then you can leave into the mountains and practice actual combat with elemental beasts. Now the first thing you need to know is how to disguise your essence. Its common knowledge what is different between the three races essences are, so you need to hide that you have all three. All the races can use mind and soul strength and the elements as well as killing intent. But as you know, it’s easier for elemental beasts to use the elements and for demons to use soul strength and killing intent. So with a little effort you simply have to change the color of all your essence to white which is the color of human essence. The rest can be told to people as you learned how to use them while searching caves for ancient treasures and artifacts in the Eastern Primal Mountains. If you enter demon territory then simply change it all to black. If you encounter beasts then change it to gold. You simply have to will for it and it will happen. This is known by all races but you are the only person aside from a person with taboo essence that would need to use it so no cultivator would normally check for it. If they did then I’m sure just as if you were being soul searched, the Primal Souls Chaos Ring would conjure an illusion of your essence being all white but I am not sure which is why you need to use it to be safe.”

“Under my tutelage you will learn how to manifest your killing intent. Use the corrosive aspect for your attacks and a couple arts. After all I am a demon and we don’t show mercy as Master Scythe smirked with an evil grin. Killing intents can be thought of as a type of domain; killing intent can suppress an enemy and make them cower. It can disrupt thought processes and not allow a person to manifest their full fighting potential in a fight and not use their essence in a skillful manner and waste it. It is a very strong deterrent especially if a group of enemies attack you; if your killing intent is strong enough then it will give you enough of an advantage to slaughter them all. The more things you kill and the more you want to kill someone due to anger, the stronger your killing intent will manifest. Every time you engage in combat it automatically comes out from your very blood. If the opponents don’t use their own intents or domains, they will be affected. Killing intent is inherent with the genes of demons and is strongest in my Endless Night Demon Race so we don’t need to use essence to activate it. It comes naturally from our blood. Fighting anyone with domains or intents you will hold an advantage in them using essence to use domains and counter it unless their circumstance is similar to you where it comes from bloodline.”

“The corrosive aspect of my essence is also inherent to demons but humans have imitated it with poison arts so you can just use it freely and say it is a poison art. With your Endless Night Demon Essence simply will the corrosive aspect into any art you are using. Whether defense or offense. Your greatest strength will rely on mixing the arts you learned from the three of us. Because you have all essences except taboo essences you should be able to mix them without harm given enough practice. Or use them individually.”

“Eternal Dark Mist is an art that will send out mist using demonic essence and shroud an area. Any opponent inside will have their essence stagnate and moving will become harder and rigid.”

“Corrosive Palm Mutilation will cut off an opponent’s meridians from their dantian as long as they don’t have enough essence to defend against it. Unless enough resources are spent, they will be a cripple for life.”

“Practice the methods for using these arts and then we have all decided you can leave the cavern to gain combat experience against elemental beasts in the mountain range before heading back to the academy. By the time you return you should have entered the Transcendence Essence Realm and changed all your foundation essence to mortal essence, with increased purity, and density due to even more compression within the dantian.”

“You have one month to learn how to mix the corrosive aspect into your other essences and arts. The greatest strength of demonic essence is its ability to weaken an opponent immediately and over time. This makes up the difference for demons not having arts with extreme attack or piercing power except in soul arts.”

“One month later… Masters have I reached your requirements? I feel as if I am on the verge of breaking into the Transcendence Essence Realm but I am missing something vital.”

“That missing thing is combat experience said Master Orthrin. There has never been a cultivator in past, present, and future that will be able to cultivate without using their insights in combat to further enlighten themselves. It seems you are now ready to leave the cavern. Go and hunt for elemental beasts and gain experience. You have almost one month until the class competition at the academy. With your combat capabilities, if you can weave you arts together fluently then you should be able to fight elemental beasts in the Transcendence Essence Realm or at least escape from them safely. The only cultivator you will surely die to if you don’t use blood essence is a Heart Path Realm level or higher cultivator.”

Chapter 14: Trial in combat

“I can do this, I can do this. Tirin kept chanting this over and over to keep his courage up. It would be his first time trying to mix so many arts he learned together. Sometimes, having to many options when you make split second decisions in high tension combat can be more deadly for a cultivator because they couldn’t decide what to do. It will be hard but I know I can do it. Even if I stopped cultivation I would slowly keep getting stronger due to being washed by primal energies at all times and always generating blood essence. If I can find elemental beast in the same level as me then that would be ideal.”

Making Earth steps on the wall of the chasm next to the waterfall, Tirin slowly climbed up reminiscing about how he almost died when he jumped into the chasm. If he did it again, with just his body alone he would only suffer minor injuries. When he reached the top of the chasm, Tirin was momentarily blinded due to not having seen the sun for five months.

“Well, to find a beast of my level I should go deeper into the Eastern Primal Mountains instead of towards civilization.”

Walking deeper into the mountains, Tirin scanned for any killing intent or movement. Typically a foundation essence cultivator would not be able to sense any intents unless it was strongly aimed at them due to the fury of the entity, thankfully Unbeknownst to Tirin he already was starting to form general sword intent and already had killing intent in the depths of his bloodline. Through all his tempering and the torture he went through; he was highly sensitive to all the senses of the body and intents. About half a mile away he sensed the killing intent of an elemental beast lock onto him. Knowing he entered into its territory Tirin brandished his ancient heavy sword. As Tirin approached an open area, the killing intent grew stronger multiple times over. Tirin used Divine Lightning Void Shattering Step to accelerate into the open area. Just in time he had dodged a volley of earth spikes flying at him. Turning around, Tirin saw what he was facing; it was the species of elemental beast that had almost taken his life, an Earth Sundering Leopard. Only this time the one he faced was in the early intermediate stages of the Transcendence Essence Realm.

“I’ve always wanted revenge, time to take it.”

Tirin always felt humiliated how he couldn’t even escape without using blood essence. This time he would kill the elemental beast and use its beast core to ascend in cultivation. Thinking about it made Tirin angry. His killing intent arose from his bloodline for the first time. The Earth Sundering Leopard responded in kind with its own killing intent. Stimulating the Elusive Winding Dragon Tirin charged the leopard while brandishing the first form of the Tyrannical Suppressing Sword.

The Earth Sundering Leopard evoked all the earth around Tirin to make him fall. “Damn! I won’t fall for the same trap as the other one. Reverse! Tirin, caused the earth around him to stagnate and stop moving. Leaping into the air he controlled the wind to propel him forward into the leopard.”

Smash! As Tirin slammed the Heavy Sword into the leopard, he was clawed across his chest in turn. What should have mutilated him only caused four scratches across his chest. Only the first level of the Divine way of the Heavenly Dragon had managed to make his body almost as hard as mortal weapons. The Earth Sundering Leopard was far worse off. Almost all of the ribs on its right side had shattered and it was bleeding internally. Furious, the earth around it began to warp into giant spikes.

Divine Lighting Void Shattering Step! Tirin used forward momentum shatter the earth spikes with his heavy sword when he suddenly summoned flames to wrap around his heavy sword and used his demonic essence to will the corrosive effects into it.

Tyrannical Suppressing Sword: Corrosive Flame Enhancement!

A black flame lighted on Tirins heavy sword as he slammed it again onto the Earth Sundering Leopard. This time flames attached to the leopard as it screamed in fury. Using its elemental beast essence it finally managed to put out the corrosive flame when Tirin mixed lightning into his sword essence on his heavy sword.

Tyrannical Suppressing Sword: Lightning Pierce Enhancement!

That was the last thing the Earth Sundering Leopard saw. A heavy sword with golden lightning slammed into its left side sending the lightning through its entire body. It slumped over dead.

“Congratulations Tirin said his masters in unison. Although you need much work with connecting you arts together fluently, for a first fight that was indeed impressive said Master Thrin. Based on the fight, when you can more easily connect your arts you should be able to fight against late stage Transcendence Essence Realm cultivators with effort and against peak level Transcendence Essence Realm cultivators using all your essences. Refine its beast core to attempt to break through and then use what fur it has that is usable to make clothing;we’re tired of seeing you naked!”

Understood, Tirin cut apart the Earth Sundering Leopard and made a loincloth from its fur and a vest. Then he made a necklace from its claws to remember his first life and death fight. Extracting the beast core he then sat down to refine it. “Excitedly Tirin thought, I am finally at going to be a true cultivator with mortal essence.”

Chapter 15: Breakthrough! Returning to Emperor Heart Academy

Tirin started to absorb the beast core, normally an alchemist was needed to refine the core into an essence pill to remove the traits of beast essence from it, but Tirin not only had elemental beast essence, his was from the most powerful dragon bloodline. Decreasing in size visibly from absorption, the core disintegrated, Tirins Dantian overflowed and then compressed. Divine light appeared around him and the mortal realm started to nourish his essences, they began to change.

All his essences became Mortal Sword Essence, Mortal Endless Night Demon Essence, and Mortal Five Element Divine Dragon Essence respectively. Their auras multiplied, purified and compressed. Tirin now had real essence. The essences auras exuded became even more tyrannical and arrogant as if they disdained the mortal realm. Tirins sword essence became sharper and more arrogant. His elemental beast essence became even more berserk and wild. While the corrosiveness and killing intent of the demonic essence multiplied. The next thing Tirin knew, he saw a flame and pool in his inner body.

“Master Scythe, is this flame my soul?”

“Yes, it is and it is already the size of a person who has a soul in the Heart Path Realm. The pool is your sea of consciousness where you draw your mind strength. Win the competition and you will start to learn how to use them. For now, go hunt more beasts and work on your combat ability.”

“That was smart telling him to win the competition said Master Orthrin.

Indeed exclaimed Master Thrin, if he gets to many arts that will be detrimental to his growth. Eventually we should seal ourselves for some years to regain what little strength we had after giving him the last of our blood essences. He is our only chance to revive; if we don’t seal ourselves until our souls stabilize to having no blood essence then we will just dissipate. That will give him a chance to grow on his own. And besides as great as the Divine Realm Arts are, he needs to learn Mortal Realm Arts too, so he can further learn how to go his own path and not just rely on our inheritances to survive. If he integrates the arts he learned from us and arts he learns in the future to create his own unique style then that is the best case scenario.”

Half the month went by and Tirin killed more elemental beasts, obtaining 8 beast cores which he decided to sell in the city before returning to the academy.

“Well it’s time to return to the academy. It’s going to be hilarious when they see me alive. That will make my day.”

Using Elusive Winding Dragon Tirin left the Eastern Primal Mountain Range. Then he alternated using it and Divine Lightning Void Shattering Step to head towards Eastern Heart City.

Chapter 16: Selling the beast cores

What had taken him a full day to travel to the Eastern Primal Mountains was finished in only four hours with his movement Arts; he finally stood outside of Eastern Heart City. Tirin truly was an odd sight. A fourteen your old fur clad youth that weighed more and was taller than most men, with large and toned muscles. He was extremely pale due to being over 100 feet underground for five months. His gaze was sharp and cold and unwavering due to his sword essence and demonic essence and by his stance alone it felt as if you were looking at an arrogant king of the realm, this was because he possessed the bloodline of the strongest dragon race of the Divine Realm who never bowed down to others. Tirin was mostly the same except for these traits that apparently unbeknownst to him came right from his bloodlines and essences. He could be called a true variant with a personality worthy of the essences now. With a cracked ancient heavy sword on his back with no tip, Tirin was completely unrecognizable to anyone who knew him, especially because he was known for decently short hair but now his black hair swayed in the wind and yet, it seemed to add to his kingly aura. Walking towards the city, some people stared at Tirin with fear and cowered away while the stronger cultivators contemplated how a youth could possess such an aura.