The Invincible Hero - Chapter 57

At last the weary travelers had arrived at the Water Rock Supreme Sect. Master Shannon, the talent scout who initially discovered Tower and the Gun brothers spent the entire ride cultivating in his room. He wasn’t aware of the fight in the forest. B’wiri gave him some tips and pills to help him break through. Master Shannon finally reached the Master Realm Perfect Level and was just a step away from entering the True Core Realm and becoming an immortal. Master Shannon felt like he earned another seventy years of life. Previously, he felt like he had at most a couple of years left to live. Now, however, he felt his lifespan increase. He even looked younger.

One of the things that people didn’t know is that as one increased their cultivation they not only increase the length of their lives, but they could even reverse the aging process. Master Shannon’s increase in lifespan equaled turning back the clock on his body to the vitality he had seventy years ago. Under the mortal realm, there was a maximum of five hundred years to live. Master Shannon was nearly four hundred and thirty years old. Due to his cultivation level, he had maxed out his lifespan. With his recent breakthrough, his aging reversed by seventy years and had about that much life left.

If Master Shannon broke through the barrier between mortal and immortal and became an immortal; he would gain an additional five hundred years of life! If he broke through from True Core cultivator Perfect Level to Elemental Core Initial Level, he would gain another two years of life. If he broke through from Elemental Core Perfect level to Elemental Avatar, he would gain another three hundred years of life. If he broke through from Elemental Avatar Perfect Level to Completed core Initial level, he would gain a whopping one thousand years. Of course, each of these amounts five hundred, two hundred, three hundred, and one thousand were not instantly granted. Each Primary Realm was divided by four sub-realms; Initial, Middle, Peak, and Perfect. With each breakthrough of a sub-realm, one acquired about twenty-five percent of the max lifespan of each Primary realm.

For example, True Core Realm cultivators potentially have another five hundred years of life. But that’s only if they break through all four sub-realms. Each sub-realm under the Primary Realm of True Core added another one hundred and twenty-five years to the life of the cultivator. If someone were capable of breaking through all four sub-realms, they would acquire another five hundred years of life. This is why the higher a person’s cultivation was the more time they spent in cultivating. Their lives were on the line if they didn’t make a breakthrough!

After a certain point Elders and Ancestors of sects would retreat from the burdens of public life to focus solely on cultivation, leaving the running of the sect to the next generation. Unless it was a clan emergency, these ancestors of the sects or clans would never be seen or heard from again.

Malkus remembered when he heard all of this he thought the cultivation system was stupid. What a waste of time. Aren’t these old guys just cultivating to win enough life to keep cultivating? What was the difference between them being alive and dead? At least if they were dead they wouldn’t drain the resources of the next generation.

Master Shannon exited the carriage and for the first time in his life saw what a Supreme Sect looked like. Breathing in the air, he could feel the spiritual energy all around it was far denser than anywhere else he had ever traveled. The smells were so much richer. Just smelling the grass gave one a comfortable feeling like you would get walking outside after a light rain shower. The wind felt like gentle kisses from your mother, and the birds seemed to sing melodies that relaxed the soul. If he could retire and live out his days he would live here forever.

After a few minutes of enjoying the environment, Master Shannon was ready to begin his job. He walked next to B’wiri and was followed by Tower, the Gun brothers, Aerun Mounkeh, and a still recovering Prince Karretun. Prince Karretun was still recovering in the Low Rider Carriage during the Forest Fight. This was his first time out of the carriage in weeks!

Leading the group through the sect, Master Shannon was brought by a student to the Sect Leader’s office. Everyone was asked to have a seat in the lobby while the Sect Master was notified of their arrival.

After waiting for about twenty minutes, the group of seven was invited to the Sect Master’s office. Entering the room, the Sect Master rose from his desk. He politely greeted Master Shannon and B’wiri.

“My goodness, you’ve brought me two more students as well. These are the two you picked up in the capital?” asked Master Que.

“Yes, my Lord, they would like the opportunity to be tested.” Master Shannon said.

“Of course, we’re always glad for new talent. Of course, all five of them must be tested just to verify they have the right qualifications to enter the sect. It will also help us determine a course of learning for them.” said Master Que.

“Of course.” agreed Master Shannon.

“What you told me of Immortal B’wiri’s training ability weren’t lies. Immortal B’wiri, I’m impressed!” said Master Que.

“Master Que you are too kind.” Responded B’wiri.

“It’s nearly lunchtime now, why don’t I treat everyone to some lunch where we can chat and replenish our strengths, and then around four this afternoon, we’ll meet at the Martial Field for the tests. How does that sound?” asked Master Que.

Everyone agreed to his suggestion and after being shown to their rooms and freshening up, they met Master Que for lunch. As they walked through the sect to their destination, they noticed that everyone kept pointing and talking about them. The group of seven and their guide didn’t say anything and pretended not to notice.

The group met with Master Que at a restaurant in the Sect. It was run by the culinary staff in the cooking arts college. Surprisingly, the Water Rock sect didn’t just cultivate cultivators. The Sect had several mortal realm academies. This was because the road to immortality was expensive and the Sect couldn’t afford to fund everyone’s cultivation. Therefore, several trade colleges were established to give students a means to earn money. One of those colleges was the Culinary College where students were taken as apprentices. As part of their training, they were taught to run and operate the restaurant.

Even though the restaurant was run by students, even B’wiri commented the food was better prepared than at some high-end hotels and restaurants!

“I understand that you ran into some Fiends on the way here?” Master Que asked B’wiri.

“Indeed, this was something I wished to speak with you about,” responded B’wiri.

B’wiri explained to Master Que all that occurred on their way here, starting from the capital until they arrived in the sect. Master Que had a troubled look on his face as he learned of the betrayal of the Prince and the dastardly nature of Immortal Rothgrave.

“This is all very difficult. It is very hard to detect Fiendish energy unless they are actively using it. This is especially true of new initiates. It would be easier if I could get my hands on one of those immortal Fiends.” Master Que considered the information very quickly.

“When we last saw the Immortal Fiends, Marting and Abby, they struck down Immortal Rogthgrave. At least, they wounded him with an arrow to the butt. They caught him while we left. I assume he’s dead.” said B’wiri.

“It sounds like a group of Fiends is trying to make their way in, but how many are here. Is the third prince their first convert in the palace?” wondered Master Que out loud. The small group was in a special location away from the ears of others. On top of this, a special sound formation prevented any sound from leaving their circle.

“I’ll need to be able to prove that none of you are Fiends,” said Master Que.

“How do we do that,” asked Tower.

Master Que gave a meaningful look to B’wiri. B’wiri nodded.

“They’ll need to perform a heart probe,” said B’wiri.

“Heart probe?” everyone asked.

“Yes, a heart probe is a small surgery that requires us to use a Fiend wave detector, made from Fiend Stone. The Detector is placed through an incision which is brought near your heart. If you have practiced any Fiend arts the Fiend Wave Detector will glow brightly. Even the slightest practice will identify a person.” said Master Que.

“What if they’ve never practiced a Fiend art?” asked Malkus.

“Then we use an Oath Stone and have them make an oath. We have a good oath for anyone who may have dealt with Fiends in the past. It’s very complete. I will have to ask each of you to take this oath as well,” said Master Que.

The group looked at each other and agreed, even B’wiri would need to take the oath of the Oath Stone although she didn’t have to go through the surgery. Fiend energy became much more pronounced when it came to immortals.

After lunch, the group had the surgery and took the oath. The results were that none of them were Fiends or the agents of Fiends. These results were ratified by a Fiend Inspector Orb. Fiend Inspector Orbs were used in every instance that a person was suspected of being a Fiend. No one could escape the scrutiny of the Fiend Inspection Orb. Guilt or Innocense was recorded by the orb and sent to a secret database center.

In the late evening, the Sect received a special visitor outside its gates. The Gate guards informed that Third Imperial Prince Canscino demanded B’wiri and company be handed over to face the Emperor’s wrath for being Fiends.

Master Que walked with B’wiri, Master Shannon and the rest out to the gates. There he saw Third Prince Canscino sitting on his horse. Next to him was Immortal Rothgrave. Both men were sitting on heavily padded saddles as both had wounds on their backends.

“Rothgrave, I see you have become an agent of the Fiends,” yelled B’wiri.

“An agent of the Fiends, me, Ha! Of course, that title belongs to you!” roared Rothgrave.

“If his highness hadn’t come to my rescue at the last moment I would be dead no thanks to you. You left me to die at the hands of your Fiendish friends,” said Rothgrave bitterly.

“Let’s cut to the chase, it’s been a long day,” began Master Que.

“Master Que, beware of these people they are agents of the Fiends. The Empire, no the world, cannot stand to lose the Water Rock sect to the Fiends. Please send these people out now before they take over your sect.

“As I said let’s not waste time. All of these people have been tested by the Fiend probe and have confirmed that they are not agents of Fiends. This was done in the presence of a Fiend Inspector Orb. They have all been declared not guilty. Now, I think you and all your men should be tested so that we can settle everything.” smiled Master Que.

The Prince and Rogthgrave both looked bitter. Neither of them wanted to go through this, they understood what the consequences were.

“I think not,” said the Third Prince.

“I have already notified your father, other sects, including our fellow Supreme Sect, everyone knows that you are suspected of being agents of the Fiends. If you do not take this test, you will be hunted and killed without question. Rothgrave knows that what I have said is true as this used to be his passion. I suppose he’ll get to experience it firsthand now.” mocked Master Que. He had no mercy in his heart for anyone who worked with the Fiends. Oppose the Fiends and you were a hero for twenty generations. Serve the Fiends and you became the villain of thousands of generations.

“We will test in the palace, you don’t need to worry Master Que.” said the third Prince. With that, he turned and led everyone with him back to the Capitol.

“I will kill him as soon as I can, said Paneneko. For some reason, he seemed to especially hate the Fiends. It was odd as prior to all of this the whole matter seemed unreal.

“Let us return to rest, tomorrow you will be tested for entrance to the sect,” said Master Que. Everyone preceded him into the Sect. Master Que suddenly made a series of signals towards the shadows. After doing this, he went inside and after he left three shadowy figures flew from the shadows headed in the direction of the Third Prince.