Chains Of Heaven

I and teacher today are on a last 'mission' before I 'graduate'.

I ended up using all the profound stones teacher acc.u.mulated during this time but despite using enough cultivation resources that could compare to all some smaller sects acc.u.mulate for a hundred years I only ascended to the eight stages of the Spirit Profound Realm.

Teacher was shocked and a bit disappointed with me because of how I 'wasted' the resources he gave me as normal cultivator could have gone up to second or third stage of the Emperor Profound Realm with the same amount. However, he was also shocked that I only took a month to reach this level.

He assumes it must be something special about my profound veins that would make me grow in cultivation extremely quickly, but that really isn't so.

It is actually because of my cultivation technique.

The Heaven's Path Cultivation Art is definitely perfect, I mean at the first few stages I could sense and compare it to the cultivation of others with lower cultivation strength and, if looking at profound strength as if a liquid, my profound strength looks like purified water running smoothly, the others' look like dumpster water passing through mud with rat feces mixed in for good measure.

The most perfect profound energy, the purest possible, and much more potent than others. It runs faster, has more potency, and lasts much longer than other profound powers, truly a superior version.

However, this comes with two tiny problems.

First, the energy to advance in it is just plain absurd, needing much more raw energy to grow and even the requirements for the raw energy are high so low-level profound stones and cultivation resources are already becoming near useless and the higher grade ones are not things those sects like to share.

Second, I will not take long to reach the limit of what I can manage for the Heaven's Path Cultivation Art. It is a perfect art precisely because it acc.u.mulates knowledge of hundreds or even thousands of cultivation techniques. However, the higher one can reach with a cultivation technique the rarer they become. For instance, I have had to fuse about 7000 cultivation techniques that reach up to the Spirit Realm but that reaches the Earth Profound Realm there were only about 800 and the number just keeps going down the further high I go. It is still an impressive number, but it is just not enough. I might need to go to the other two continents to obtain more inheritances in the near future.

Of course, before that, I would have to look across the continent to see if there was any God Inheritance in this place. There is at least one in the Illusory Demon Continent, two in the Profound Sky Continent has at least two, and those are what I know off until now. There is every possibility there are more in this continent I am in right now or even the others, this is the place where the Evil God has put most of his inheritance and also where his friends put their inheritance into.

Regardless, the 'mission' we are in right now is quite interesting.

"Teacher, are you certain you want me to participate in this?" I ask again for confirmation and teacher nodded solemnly.

"Yes, the youth's gathering here in the border to the Giant Profound Beast Mountain is one of the most important things in the continent. Here is where youths from all across the continent can show off their skills and talents, you are 15 now so you are just barely on the minimal age group to participate. You will participate and show all you have learned to the best of your abilities." Teacher explained. "You ought to understand, in this world we live in, reputation is extremely important. Especially for someone like you who doesn't like to fight or want to hurt others, if you obtain a reputation that is respected by many then there is less of a chance others would turn against you or try and attack you.

"You would even be able to use only your name to stop conflicts if your reputation is strong enough. That is how this works." Teacher explained and I nodded while trying to rationalize this.

This sort of reminds me of the political theories that speak of how most people are unlikely to commit a crime when they think there might be consequences, this is somewhat similar I suppose.

"Very well, I will try and show my best in everything I know about." I said confidently at teacher.

I believe I have at least a degree of mastery of all major occupations existing in the continent and even with such a relatively low cultivation I probably would not lose to most people. I may not seem it but I am quite strong as I already learned the Heaven's Path Sword, Spear, Saber, Whip, Movement, Fist, and other arts as well as managed some degree of mastery over the Heaven's Path Earth and Wood arts, the others are harder for me by comparison but I did learn some of the Heaven's Path Light art.

"Good, soon the competition will start. I will have to go and talk to some of my old friends about having a spot for you in the Medical Competition and the Martial Arts Competition." Teacher said but before he left I had to correct him.

"Teacher, you should also add a few others to the list."

As I said that teacher turned to me with a raised eyebrow.

"... Normally, if it was anyone else saying that, with your age, he or she has a decent understanding of more than one profession while also being proficient in cultivation I would doubt it. With you who only have started learning anything less than two years ago, even less so. However, from all, I know of you I can tell you are not the type to promise something you can't do. Very well, what other professions do you want to test in these competitions?"

"Well, there is the Formation Expert, Pill Forging, Blacksmith, Painter, Beast Tamer, Appraiser, and Celestial Designer."

Teacher's eyes look strained and he looks like he would have berated me here and now if not for his words just now.

I guess I might be taking a bit too many occupations, but this should still be fine.

I mean, there are so many people competing that I would not take that much attention and whatever prize money I get out of this goes straight into buying food for the slums of the city.

///---///

Right now there are at least 300 to 400 people in front of me, all have received some food and had just finished eating when some of them saw me talking on cultivation and asked if I could teach everyone at least a little bit.

It was no problem, in the end, this whole region is relatively quite dangerous since it is so close to the Giant Profound Beast Mountain, one of the four forbidden zones in the continent, so they having some knowledge in cultivation to properly defend themselves would go a long way to help them.

In the continent, the four Forbidden Zones are the four places which there is just too much danger for anyone to try and enter. It is more likely for the one trying to enter to be destroyed than anything else, especially in it's depths since no one can do that. The places are: Cloud End Cliff, which is a cliff which no one can ever escape from; Giant Profound Beast Mountain, a mountain chain in the center of the continent, only it's inner areas are truly dangerous as the number and power of the profound beasts there is too great and they are too numerous, anyone entering it is asking to be devoured; The Poisonous Bog, a swamp which has all manners of poisonous creatures, bugbeasts (bugs that have no cultivation but has physical power that can rival cultivators and heal easily), and plants, it is where one of the three great evil sects lives and even they only stay up to the middle levels and do not venture ot it's depths since it is far too dangerous, it is said that unless someone is a practicioner of poison arts the person cannot hope to go to its center area; and finally the Life Hellish Paradise Ocean, a place in the coast where there is an abundance of life forms and the creatures there are in constant evolution as well as constantly being regenerated, it is said that killing the creatures of that ocean is basically impossible and they are extremely ferocious to outsiders.

Deciding to concentrate on the matters at hand instead of anything else I look around and see many people looking at me. I can see their d.e.s.i.r.e for power, their devotion to improving themselves, and decide to begin.

///---///

3° Person's P.O.V.

As Enkidu was preparing to start his lecture on cultivation many people were regularizing him inside.

'What can someone who is barely more than a child can even know about cultivation?'

'Is cultivation of the profound way just some joke that anyone can understand so easily?'

However, some of them who had received the food he was offering decided to listen to him to perhaps improve themselves as well. No one likes to be at the bottom of society, needing to fear when what little they have is stolen away by those with power on a whim.

One of these people was a young boy, he had black hair and looked highly emaciated, his body was little more than skin and bones and he looked like he could barely stand but even that is leagues better than he was a little while ago. Enkidu, while passing by the streets, had noticed him while he was curled up on a corner of the slums, his breath was hurting him and he was so hungry that he would have eaten his own fingers had they had any meat on them to speak about. Despite his dirty and terrible appearance Enkidu approached him when even other beggars kept their distance and gave him some food, that alone would not have saved him but Enkidu used his absurdly pure Profound Energy to help his body and recover some of his strength, he even gave him a pill that would help heal his body even more.

The boy felt grateful, so very, very grateful. To the boy, the image of Enkidu made him think of him as if a celestial being, his simple clothing, and his green hair made this image all the stronger. However, before he could not even express himself properly as after that Enkidu boy felt saddened as he could not even tell Enkidu his name but he heard not long after that how a green-haired 'saint' was going to be teaching everyone about cultivation.

The boy realized who it must be that was being talked about so he quickly went to see and properly thank Enkidu for his help.

In any case, his thanks would have to wait. Because... Enkidu's lecture had begun.

Transmitting his voice via profound energy, despite the crowd that had gathered here, everyone could hear every single word of his clearly as though it were spoken right next to their ears.

Initially, those of higher cultivation who just happened to pass by didn't pay the lecture much heed. After all, they were already at a higher cultivation level. However, as time went by, their faces slowly flushed red and a bright gleam twinkled in their eyes. They felt as though every word was a tonic to their bodies.

Even though Enkidu was only lecturing on the fundamentals of Profound Cultivation and ways to improve the physical body, his every word was both profound and simple, and his words pointed straight to the essence of cultivating itself and left no questions unanswered regardless if the person was already experienced or was just starting now. Hearing Enkidu's words, the Profound Energy in one's body would be automatically triggered, and one couldn't help but cultivate along with his words. Even those who have had no Profound Energy were already starting to absorb their vitality in their profound veins and turning it into Profound Energy, entering the world of cultivation.

After a moment of driving one's Profound Energy around one's body, one would feel a comfortable sensation slowly spreading across oneself. Then, the person's cultivation that had been stuck at the same level for an extremely long time would increase slightly.

To think that a lecture on fundamentals could raise one's cultivation….

If not for personally witnessing the sight, no one would think it possible. No other they had ever seen was capable of such a feat.

Astonished, the boy glanced at the others around during a moment of clarity and realized that everyone was immersed in his lecture. Especially for those who were still at the Elementary and Nascent Profound Realms, cultivating through the concepts that Enkidu spoke of seemed to have triggered the Profound Energy in the surroundings to gush into them. Every single one of them improved significantly and quickly.

There were even a few who were already at the peak of their current realm breaking into the next one.

"This... could this be the Impartation of Heaven's Will spoken of in legends?"

A soldier of the city that heard of the commotion and went to look narrowed eyes and he subconsciously clenched his fists tightly together.

Legend told that when a high-tier master teacher lectured on content which aligned with the essence of cultivation, contents that were definitely correct to close or even definite perfection, a special natural force field would be triggered. Within this force field, the listeners would subconsciously drive the Profound Energy in their body according to the method spoken and unknowingly raise their cultivation.

He had heard the drillmaster who was once a member of a strong sect speak of this once with awe and reverence, apparently, in his sect, there was once one such master teacher that came to visit that was capable of doing it to some matters. But, listening to his lecture costed a fortune as he refused to teach others for free.

And now, this guard was seeing a bunch of street rats obtaining such a heaven-sent opportunity so easily, it really made this guard wonder how they must have had a lot of good Karma to meet such an opportunity.

'Are my eyes playing tricks on me?!'

Not being able to believe it he sent a signal for his commander, a Sky Profound Realm practitioner to come. About 30 seconds later the commander arrived and was looking and listening in a daze.

"There's no mistake. Even though this is the most simple form of it, this is the Impartation of Heaven's Will.

"Impartation of Heaven's Will isn't a skill accessible to all master teachers. In order to trigger it, one has to fulfill a very special criteria. The content of one's lecture has to dive straight into the essence of cultivation, meaning there mustn't be the slightest error in one's words! If there is even a single mistake it is entirely possible these people would have their cultivation stopped abruptly and their bodies might even be injured"

The soldier's mouth was agape.

The impartation of Heaven's Will was different from bewitching techniques. Rather than bewitching a person to cultivate, it was a result of the lecturer's words being aligned with the very essence of cultivation, thus triggering an intangible force in the world.

The reason why master teachers were so esteemed was because of this ability of theirs.

The heavens seemed to bend to their words, forming order around them. That was one of the reasons why Master Teachers are so absurdly rare and why they are respected the degree they are.

As the lecture went on it became something of an attraction and it lasted about two hours, by the end of it the crowd that before was of about 300 people now had almost 1500 people, easily.

After he finished many people applauded and began to move forward to thank him, the boy who wanted to talk to him before was now being pushed to the back more and more as people moved forward. The boy, however, noticed a glint on the eyes of one of the people approaching Enkidu, his eyes locked on the bird that was nesting on Enkidu's head.

"Watch out!" He yelled before he thought about it and tried to move and stop what he knew was going to happen. He knew that look, the look of greed and disregard for anything that wasn't himself.

It was the same look he saw when his mother was still alive, working as a common whore and people would beat her up for their amus.e.m.e.nt even after they did the deed and refused to pay. It was the look he saw on some of the beggars that would steal from a person who has just helped them all to get even more.

However, there was no need for him to say anything, when that man tried to reach out for the bird Enkidu moved to the person's back faster than he could react with movements that made the boy mesmerized and then touched his back in a few places, making the man paralyzed on the spot.

"Was there really a need to try and do such a thing? Aiming for the life of an innocent bird for your own d.e.s.i.r.es, that is not something you should do. You will be able to move again in about 5 minutes but consider this a warning, change your ways and look for an honest job somewhere. It may not be as economically rewarding, but it would certainly be safer and more rewarding in the end." Enkidu said while putting a hand on that man's shoulders. "Please, change your ways, there is still time for that."

After Enkidu said that many people in the crowd heard his words and felt suddenly ashamed of themselves. How many of them have had to commit crimes before and even now were already thinking on using this gift they received from Enkidu to do the same as those above who oppressed them did to them? But, listening to Enkidu just now, they all felt like doing so would be a betrayal, not only to Enkidu but also to themselves as humans.

Humanity is not all trash, everyone has light and darkness in them, and now that these people were given a choice, a real choice, it was time for them to decide if they wanted to go and use their cultivation to oppress and steal from others as other cultivators did to them so many times or if they would walk a different path, a righteous path.

While these people were thinking that Enkidu quietly approached the boy who called out to him in a warning and smiled.

"Hello again, I hope your injuries are fine now." He said and the boy nodded.

"Yes, they are fine enough. I just wanted to tell thanks, for helping a street rat like me when you didn't really have to. It was more than most ever tried to bother thinking about doing." As the boy finished saying that he turned to leave but Enkidu held his shoulder.

"Hey, I know this might be a bit presumptuous but I was going to go and have lunch now and I was wondering if you'd like to accompany me. I think you could use some extra meet with you. We can do this as an exchange, you seem like a smart kid and I would like to know whatever you can tell me of this city as I will likely be here for a little while." Enkidu said and the boy seemed a bit distrustful but nodded in the end when his stomach grumbled his acceptance.

As they moved away the boy kept stealing glances at Enkidu, honestly wondering if he was a boy or a girl as his looks were extremely neutral and his clothes didn't reveal much of either.

"Oh, where are my manners?" Enkidu suddenly came to a halt and said. "I almost forgot to introduce myself. My name is Enkidu, what is yours?"

"... Levy, Levy Ackerman."