Awakening of the Ancient: Rise of the Fallen

"Come with me. We're going to the Punishment Elder. I'll get you the explanation you need," Elder Wu stood up and walked towards the exit while Xu Ming followed him.

They both got out of the courtyard and Elder Wu called out his Flying Beast.

"Come over," Elder Wu told Xu Ming after he climbed back on the flying beast. Xu Ming listened to him and climbed over the beast.

As per Elder Wu's command, the flying beast began flying. It took them to the Punishment Hall.

Elder Wu got down from the beast alone with Xu Ming and entered the Mission Hall.

"Greetings Elder!" 

All the disciples that met him along the way, greeted Elder Wu as they joined their fists together. Elder Wu didn't greet anyone back and just kept walking straight.

'I never really thought about it, but Elder Wu is blind. How can he navigate places so easily?" Xu Ming wondered as he followed Elder Wu.

They soon got to the hall of the Punishment Elder.

The Punishment Elder was sitting in his chair and his disciple was standing beside him.

He had followed Xu Ming and found out that he entered Elder Wu's place right after coming back.

He straight away went to the Punishment Elder to inform him.

Elder Wu entered the room with Xu Ming, but the Punishment Elder wasn't shocked.

"Elder Wu, what a pleasant surprise. Please have a seat," Punishment Elder calmly said to him.

"Punishment Elder, I hope you wouldn't mind me barging inside. I do have a few questions that I think only you can answer," Elder Wu said as he walked forth and sat on a chair close to Punishment Elder.

"Sure. I'll answer all your questions. What do you wish to know?" Punishment Elder said.

"I was told that you forced a new disciple to choose a level 2 mission just because he hadn't completed a mission in 3 months? I wonder why You did such a thing," Elder Wu inquired.

"Me? Are you joking with me Elder Wu? Why would I do something like that? My mission is to get disciples to follow orders. Whichever disciple was brought to me for missing the mission deadline, I just sent them to mission halls to select a mission. I never tell anyone what to choose. Who's the disciple that told you such a thing in order to slander me?" He further asked.

"Xu Ming, Inform Punishment Elder what happened," Elder Wu said.

Xu Ming stepped forth and told everything that happened and how Wu selected a mission for him and told him that it was Punishment Elder's orders.

Elder Wu observed the heartbeat of Punishment Elder to see irregularities.

"You Unfilial Disciple! Did you actually do such a thing when I sent you to show the mission hall's directions to this kid?" Punishment Elder furiously glared at Wu that was standing beside him.

'There's no irregular heartbeat. I can understand if Punishment Elder can control his heart, his disciple shouldn't be able to,' Elder Wu thought.

"Elder Wu, from his eyes, I can clearly say that he isn't lying. It must be Xu Ming that chose this mission for himself," The Punishment Elder asserted.

"I'm not lying either. He gave me this beast as well. Everyone knows that I had no beast and I left the sect the same day I selected the mission on the beast," Xu Ming said.

"I indeed gave him a flying eagle and a map to help him in his mission," Wu didn't deny the accusations this time and agreed.

"Giving you a flying beast and a map doesn't sound like a crime? In fact, I'm quite glad that he was so helpful!" The Punishment Elder said with an amused smile on his face.

"Does this map look like it can be helpful to me? He gave me a false map. If I hadn't been lucky, I wouldn't even be able to come back!" Xu Ming opened the map and showed the Punishment Elder.

"This map is indeed wrong, but it's not the one I gave him. He is showing a different map in order to frame me, Master," Wu lied again.

"Indeed. That doesn't prove anything. He might have exchanged the map if he wished to frame him?" The Punishment Elder said.

"Why would he frame your disciple?" Elder Wu said.

"No offense, but I can ask the same question. Why would my disciple frame him? He didn't even know him, let alone have any problem with him," The Punishment Elder replied in full seriousness.

"Look, I know that you wouldn't accept anything, but I didn't come to you to get you to accept any crimes. But I just want to tell you. I know why you did what you did, even though I can't prove it. So you can take it as a suggestion or as a warning. If any of you try something like that again, I'll come for answers. And it won't be as peaceful as today. You can convey my message to the person behind you as well. Xu Ming is under my protection," Elder Wu said to the Punishment Elder before he stood up and left with Xu Ming.

***

"You must be wondering why I didn't talk about the assassination attempt on you, right?" Elder Wu asked.

"It's because there were no benefits in that. Even if we could prove the master of that Profound Crane and the Disciple that tried to kill you, it wouldn't be beneficial. There's no way for you to prove that he tried to kill and it wasn't the other way around. That person will just claim that his disciple was not after you, but on a different mission and you killed him," He said.

"This whole thing will get more complicated and dangerous for you that way. That's why I didn't talk about you killing that person. Now that I have personally warned them, they wouldn't try to target you. Also, you killed that person and harmed the mastermind behind it. If that person still tries to harm you, you can use this to call me. I'll instantly be there," He further added as he gave Xu Ming a transmission Talisman.

"Do you know who that person is?" Xu Ming asked.

"I do. It should be the Elder that you saved from my hands last time," Elder Wu said with a smile on his face.

"He? Why would he?" Xu Ming asked.

"If I had to make a guess, I'd say that he was too proud and that he didn't like the fact that you saved him from the situation that started because of you," Elder Wu said.

Xu Ming didn't reply, but he remembered this.

The flying beast came down and landed before the courtyards of the disciples.

"Thank you for everything," Xu Ming said as he came down from the beast.

"Don't forget to use the Talisman if you're in trouble," Elder Wu reminded Xu Ming before he left.

_____________________________

Xu Ming walked back to his courtyard and entered his bedroom.

As soon as he fell on to the bed, he fell asleep. He was quite tired. It has been happening to him for quite some time as well. He had begun feeling extremely tired as if something was pressing down into his soul.

He had a long and comfortable 16-hour nap before he woke up.

It was night outside and just the right time for cultivation.

He had reached the peak of the body Refining realm and he was now just one step away from the Spirit Establishment Realm.

The Spirit Establishment Realm was said to be the Realm from where the cultivation journey actually began.

It was a realm that separated a cultivator from a mortal.

In Spirit Establishment Realm, a Cultivator formed his martial soul that he used to control the natural energy around himself.

Xu Ming had faith that he would be a whole different person after he broke through.

He stood up and left the courtyard as he walked towards the lake. Although the lake was not a good place to cultivate for the Qi cultivators, it was the best place for him as an Origin Energy cultivator.

It didn't take him long to get to the lake near the 6th ward and it was empty as always. He took his clothes off and got inside the lake as he began his cultivation.

As the Spirit Establishment Realm focused on the Establishment and perfection of the spirit of a person, to break into the 1st stage of Spirit Establishment Realm, a person needed to form a soul seed. That soul seed would later go on to become the martial soul of the Cultivator.