Awakening of the Ancient: Rise of the Fallen

Xu Ming entered the Mission Pavillion and walked up to the Mission Elder and submitted the 20 Dark Seed Fruits.

He was given 400 contribution points in return which raised his total Contribution Points to 510 which was enough for him to get the book that he needed from the skill hall.

"Great work Kid. You must have been lucky to not face a strong beast," the Elder said to Xu Ming who simply nodded his head and left the Skill Pavilion.

Xu Ming straight went to the Skill Hall to get the book about sword comprehension.

"I'm back, Elder. I have enough contribution points. Can you give me the book now?" Xu Ming asked.

"Oh? That was fast. Give me your badge," the Elder was visibly surprised at how fast Xu Ming collected the points, but he didn't let the shock delay him.

The Elder took the badge of Xu Ming and deducted 500 contribution points from it.

"Here you go. You can keep this book with you for 6 years maximum. You must return the book after that or you will be fined. If you lost the book, you will be punished, so take care of it," the Elder said to Xu Ming before he gave him the book.

The book was very thin, unlike what Xu Ming had expected. When he was told that the book contained the lifetime understanding of the sword of a great sword cultivator, he had assumed that it must be thousands of pages long, but it seemed to have less than 100 pages.

The Elder saw Xu Ming's strange gaze and he started laughing.

"You seem to be underestimating this book. Take it. It's not fake. Although it has fewer pages, it's content is absolutely the best we have," the Elder replied to Xu Ming.

Xu Ming took the book and thanked the Elder before he left the Skill Hall.

He walked back to his courtyard and sat on his bed before he began reading the book.

The book seemed to be written just like other books, but its words were mysteriously sharp. The words gave Xu Ming the feeling as if he was in the presence of thousands of swords.

The words were simple to understand yet difficult. The book talked about a journey. A journey from holding a sword for the first time to mastering the sword and understanding its intent.

Xu Ming was so immersed in the book that he finished the book without even realizing it. The journey described was so deep and meaningful. Even though the book didn't talk about how one could understand sword intent, it did talk about sword intent in general.

Also, after reading the book Xu Ming had a feeling as if he understood the sword much better. A sword was not just a weapon for a sword cultivator, but a companion as well. The Sword Intent could only be understood when a cultivator understood this essence of the sword.

Xu Ming put the book to the side and brought a sword out of his storage ring.

He just held the sword in his hand and sat there in the same position as he looked at the sword. He moved his hand over the sword's body and he was able to feel it's sharpness.

Xu Ming used the sword to practice inside the courtyard and comprehend its essence. It was a process that needed him to understand, even Martial Soul didn't help him with it as this was not a skill.

Xu Ming kept using his sword. Even when he cultivated, he kept the sword in his lap. He never sent the sword back in his storage ring.

His time was spent either cultivating or practicing his sword.

Just like that, 3 more years passed away before he finally managed to comprehend the Sword Intent. Even in the Heavenly Realm, if someone learned the Sword Intent in 3 years, he would be considered a heavenly genius.

Most talented Heavenly Realm youngsters took at least 10 years before they comprehended Sword Intent. Only Xu Liang was an exception who had comprehended the Sword Intent in less than a year and that too unintentionally.

It had been 3 years and Xu Ming had also broken through to the 1st stage Gold Realm cultivator. 

He had formed his golden core which was surprisingly not even golden. His golden core was transparent in color and basically invisible. If he wasn't connected to his golden core, Xu Ming wouldn't even know that his Golden Core was there.

It was weird for him as he knew that the golden cores weren't supposed to be transparent, but he had no one he could talk to about this. His body had too many secrets and he himself was somewhat unusual which he has already realized.

Xu Ming also completed missions every 6 months and he has collected a sizable amount of contribution points that were still unused. He had completed 5 missions in the last 3 years which gave him over 3000 contribution points.

He was saving contribution points for Practice Hall where he was supposed to practice the Sword Art of Destruction, but he had only just learned the Sword Intent.

As Xu Ming left the house, he walked to the Mission Pavilion first instead of going to the Practice Hall as it was his time of the month to select his mission. It had been over 5 months and if he still didn't complete a mandatory mission, he would be punished.

As Xu Ming got to the Mission Pavilion, he saw Zi Zhenfeng and Wu Tian there.

"Oh, Ming? How's your cultivation going?" Wu Tian asked.

"You finally got the time to come? I thought you would spend your lifetime inside," Zi Zhenfeng said jokingly.

"I did come out before to do missions," Xu Ming replied.

"And you didn't even feel like coming to meet us?" Zi Zhenfeng said as he stared at Xu Ming as if he was emotionally hurt.

"Stop teasing him. Anyway, you came at just the right time. A new mission has been issued and it's really rewarding. It's a mission for a team of 5 and we already have 4 people. Would you like to join us? If we succeed, each of us will get 2000 contribution points," Wu Tian told Xu Ming.

Xu Ming thought for only a second before he nodded his head. 

"I have to complete a mission anyway, I'll join you," he said.

"Awesome. This is the mission. You can read it. We will be leaving tomorrow morning. I'll go inform the others as well. Zhenfeng, Go help Xu Ming register in our team," Wu Tian said as he gave Xu Ming a form and left the Mission Pavilion.

Xu Ming read the mission as he walked to the Mission Pavilion Elder and registered himself.

The mission was not easy, but it was not impossible as well.

The Mission was about going to the Kingdom of Estie and destroying the Min Clan. The Min Clan was a small-time cultivation family that worked as the spy of Mighty Demon Sect in the Estie Kingdom, but they had suddenly stopped working with them and instead joined with the Herini sect.

The envoy that was assigned to them was killed with the help of an Elder of Herini Sect as well.

The Mission was to find the reason for their betrayal and to destroy the Min Clan.

The strongest cultivator of the Min Clan was only at the 7th stage of Spirit Establishment Realm, but the real difficulty of the Mission was because of the involvement of Herini Sect.

Even though the Mighty Demon Sect could destroy the Min Clan with ease, they didn't want to give so much attention to the Min Clan as they thought that it was below their standards. That's why the mission was given to Inner Sect Disciples.

Xu Ming understood the mission well and realized that it wasn't simply destroying a clan, but it was destroying a clan that was under the Herini Sect's protection.

Xu Ming separated from Zi Zhenfeng and walked back to his courtyard. He took a shower before he climbed on the bed and fell asleep.

Soon, the night passed away. It was early morning when Xu Ming woke up. He got dressed and left his courtyard to meet up with Wu Tian and the others.

As Xu Ming got there, he saw 2 new people standing beside Wu Tian and Zi Zhenfeng. Both of them were girls.

"You're here. Come, let me introduce everyone. That's Mina, and that's Maya. Girls, he's our friend Xu Ming," Zi Zhenfeng introduced everyone.

"Let's go. We wouldn't delay. The faster we finish the mission, the faster we can come back," Wu Tian said as he brought his flying beast out of his beast bag.

Xu Ming and the others did the same and they left the sect.