Justin Ankar

Chapter 45 - Heavenly Treasures

The eyes are the window to the soul. The Eye of the World was said to be a window to the soul of the world. It was located in the section titled ‘Heavenly Waters’, as it said that the tears from the Eye of the World were able to nourish the soul. The reputation of Heavenly Flames were indeed the highest as they were powerful weapons and vastly improved the abilities of Alchemists and Blacksmiths. Heavenly Waters weren’t any less rare or powerful, but were less impressive compared to those ...

Chapter 44 - Mysterious Well

The arrays seemed to have died down, which meant they were probably triggered by something specific. Pushing his luck, Sage had the Serpent approach the Well, ready to escape at the first sign of danger. When nothing happened, he grew only more curious until finally the Twin Ringed Serpent poked its head under that small roof and turned its eyes downwards to peer towards the bottom of the well. 

Zing!

Right when the Serpent’s eyes dropped to the bottom of the well, it felt like a ...

Chapter 43 - The Center

Drawing closer towards the center, Sage started to see more ghosts and spirits floating about in the dark water. Near the edge there was one of them every hundred feet or so, but here near the center they started to swarm about in schools. When the spirits were alone it was hard to make out their shape, but when dozens of them gathered in a group it was easier to see the similarities between them and pick out shapes. The different groups seeming to be made up of the creatures he’d seen near th...

Chapter 42 - Soul Magnifying Wheel

The hundreds of plate sized array symbols filled with Sage’s Qi and began to show their effects. It took only a few moments for the light in the area to once again dim, the startling brilliance of the Dawn Pillar began to recede. At the same time, Sage pulled out some Spirit Jade from his Storage Ring and placed them at specific points among the formation symbols. He didn’t need any spirit stones as this array was mostly being powered by his own Qi, but the Spirit Jade would help boost the e...

Chapter 41 - Dawning Light

When the pillar appeared in the outside world it held up to its name. The massive room was already well lit from dozens of glowing stones embedded in the ceiling, but when the ‘First ray of dawning light’ entered the room it was if the sun had risen. It was as if the darkness was being chased away by the light of dawn. Everything suddenly became brighter, long shadows were cast out in every direction from the pillar. The light that had seemed so blinding in the throne room was now a graduall...

Chapter 40 - Subduing Souls

Sage had just fought that Twin Soul and before the help of the Seed of Life he had been on the losing side. The Twin Soul was no doubt much weaker now than before, but he was previously fighting it inside his own Spiritual Sea. Now that the Twin Soul was encircling the egg he wasn’t sure how he was even going to be able to attack it. Before the internal battle, he had been able to damage it with a bit of flame, but how would he push the flame into the egg without destroying the Twin Ringed Ser...

Chapter 39 - Aftermath

Acting quickly, Sage checked if the Twin Ringed Soul Serpent was still living in the most simple way he knew of. Running close to its body he held out his hand and tried to scoop it into his Storage Ring. Things with souls or a consciousness could not get pulled into his Storage Ring so when the body suddenly disappeared from the ground, Sage knew it was no longer a threat. At the same time, the Twin Soul was still inside his Spiritual Sea and trying to distract him with sudden attacks and wary ...

Chapter 38 - Soul Battle

Two souls collided. The head of the Twin Soul darted towards Sage and skillfully dodged his leading hand, avoiding the sacrificial limb and instead circling around behind. Knowing Sage would try to rotate to keep head on with the snake, its tail whipped forward in its wake, snapping hard against Sage’s spine. Disrupting his concentration and creating an opening for the Ghostly Serpent to strike at him. Darting under Sage’s extended hand, the snake lunges behind his back and then twines aroun...

Chapter 37 - Twin Ringed Soul Serpent

Locking eyes with the Twin Ringed Soul Serpent, Sage choked down a terrified gasp and stayed silent. The decades of relative safety in the Holy Flame Sect had settled in and returned him to the peaceful living of his previous lifetime working in an office. Reflecting upon his choices, he realized that the time he spent as an Assistant learning different professions reminded him of his college days. Learning, studying, taking tests and doing simple jobs to earn money on the side. Then, he’d fin...

Chapter 36 - Lake of Souls

His heartbeat was racing. He circulated his Qi Method, the Verdant Firebrand, and focused on his spiritual sense, trying to find the location of the danger. Drawing forth a weapon from the Storage Ring, a heavy black rope appeared in his hands. One end of the rope had a large copper ring while the other side was attached to a shining silver knife with a bright red tassel. The rope was made of the silk from a Fire Silk Spider weaved together with metal threads which gave it strength and also allo...

Chapter 35 - Meditation Chamber

Sage picked up the scrolls and seeing no label on the outside, he sent his consciousness inside to take a peek. The first scroll was surprisingly called, ‘Instructions of Divine Paradise’. Confused, Sage read more and found that it was a complete alchemical manual. It contained a high level refining art named ‘Divine Breath’ along with easily a hundred different alchemical recipes. 

The second scroll had no name but seemed to be a detailed record of someone’s alchemical work and...

Chapter 34 - Hidden Grounds

Sage took his time examining the formations on the door. Taking out a few of his tools and using them to measure the different conditions in the area so he could reverse engineer the formations on the door. 

Breaking formations could be done a number of ways. The simplest was brute force. If a cultivator was a higher rank than the formation they could simply smash away at it till the energy ran out. Or if they were multiple ranks higher they might just burst it like a bubble. 

...

Chapter 33 - Expedition

The exploration team that had returned from the area had reported that the threat levels weren’t high, but the scouts actually ran into dozens of things they could not identify. After the training expedition filed onto the Flying Ship, one of the Elders gathered the disciples to explain.

“We are now heading to an unexplored valley in the Saffron Swamp. You will be split up into teams of five and head out to map and explore the valley. This is only a training mission and you’re all forbid...

Chapter 32 - Middle Aged

Sage’s twenties felt like they flew by. He was learning so many new things, dabbling in all the many professions that Holy Flame Sect had grown famed for. Learning new things was a great distraction for him and his three dormmates were the first friends he’d had in this life. Eventually the other three moved on, their cultivation rapidly passing him by. Sage remained friends with the three and they would get together at least once a year and drink the ‘Delicious Dream Wine’ they first bo...

Chapter 31 - Assistant

Sage’s fourth year in the Holy Flame Sect he turned twenty six years old in this second life as Lang Sheng. These four years combined with those on the road had pointed out the importance of Spirit Insect quality. They were just like the Spirit Plants in that no matter what he did to try and modify and mutate them the Spirit Plants power was highly reliant on the quality of their parents and the conditions of their growth. Weak Spirit Insects raised merely with Qi Feeding over a short timespan...

Chapter 30 - Stock Boy

Sage didn’t go home until dawn the next morning. 

He had only browsed through the material manuals so when it came to identifying the many incoming materials, Sage had to spend quite some time simply figuring out what everything was. The next problem was he had to accurately sort them by their age, potency, and condition. 

Most Spirit Plants take massive amounts of time to mature. It was essentially the time it took different plants to cultivate. They drew in the energy of th...

Chapter 29 - Dormitory

Sage had gathered his things and was issued some housing. Finding his way down the streets he found that other than varying types of restaurants there weren’t many other types of businesses spread throughout the city. Just as Bi Shunfu had said, most business seemed to be conducted at the Central Plaza. Making his way to his new home, Sage stepped into the listed address and found himself in a walled off yard. Within the outer walls was a large building that had its own courtyard, four bedroom...

Chapter 28 - Holy Flame Sect

With nothing else to tie him down anywhere, Sage had no problem following along with the other new disciples and the Holy Flame Sect Elders as they were led from the recruiting area in town to a large ship. Sage was surprised. He’d heard of this sort of Magic Tool from books but he’d never actually seen one up close. It looked like an old ship from the middle ages except without any sails. Later, Sage learned that at the center of the ship was a massive crystal of some sort surrounded by arr...

Chapter 27 - Searching

Having spent so many years doing little more than traveling, Sage reflected upon his decisions. I was so worried and afraid that I did nothing but run for years. I ran so much it has become all that I know. 

Sage shook his head, just like in his first life it was far too easy for him to slip into a rut. Slipping into his spiritual sea, Sage started to contemplate. Pondering on what he was doing with his life. Both before and now. He had already figured out long ago that he needed...

Chapter 26 - Wandering

Sage felt like he spent hours examining the the Seed of Life inside his spiritual sea before he attempted to return his perception to the physical world. Luckily, he merely had to focus his attention and his senses slipped out of the spiritual sea. With a relieved look around he took a deep breath and tried to check his spiritual sea again. After a few attempts he realized that merely slipping into a meditative state sent his senses into his spiritual sea. So, this definitely would have happ...