Tales of Demons and Gods

“All of you will meet here once every three days for my lessons. I will lecture you on cultivation and guide you towards breakthroughs. Aside from all that, our Skysoul Institute also has three training grounds, which I’ll explain now,” said Venerable Redsoul.

Venerable Redsoul explained in detail, “for an Earth Fate Realm to reach the Heavenly Fate Realm, one must harmonise with Heavenly Energy by sensing the Heavenly Dao. Everything that exists between heaven and earth is the same as Mother Earth: all formed from concentrations of Heavenly Energy…”

Everyone was listening attentively. Even Lu Piao pricked his ears up to listen.

However, the topics that Venerable Redsoul were explaining were too shallow for Nie Li, who instead pondered over his current situation. The Earth Fate Realm was essentially the same as Legend rank and split into five subdivisions. Right now, Nie Li should be classified as a 3-star. There was still some distance to go before he reached the Heavenly Fate Realm.

Before coming to the Draconic Ruins Realm, the Law Energy inside Nie Li’s body had already begun gradually transforming into Heavenly Energy.

This Heavenly Energy was similar to Law Energy and divided into elements, such as Time-Space, etc. However, Heavenly Energy was the most fundamental of all energy.

At the same time, Nie Li was continuously practising the [Heavenly God] cultivation technique to nourish the mysterious vine in his soul realm.

Venerable Redsoul’s lesson lasted for two hours as he gradually delved deeper into his topics. His explanations fascinated many students.

“Nie Li, can we really have more lives after cultivating to the 2-fate Heavenly Fate Realm or higher?” Lu Piao couldn’t help asking in a soft voice. How could someone possibly die so many times?

Nie Li explained, “Actually, 2-fate and 3-fate doesn’t mean you have two or three lives. It just means that your soul realm has formed more Fate Souls, which can then be kept somewhere safe[1. Like Harry Potter horcruxes, except not evil.]. As long as you don’t lose all your Fate Souls, you’ll be able to revive again. However, the area of effect can’t be over a thousand miles from where you’ve kept your Fate Soul!”

“Oh I get it. So what you’re saying is that I can hide my Fate Soul somewhere, and if I die, then I’ll be able to use that Fate Soul to revive myself?”

“Correct. Every time you’re killed, you’ll lose a Fate Soul. For example, if you’re at 3-fate and you get killed, then you’ll turn back into a 2-fate.” Nie Li continued, “Once you reach the Heavenly Fate Realm, it’s best to plan ahead and place your Fate Souls somewhere safe before you head to a dangerous area. Otherwise, if you get yourself killed, you won’t be able to revive anymore.”

Lu Piao understood the concept. No wonder the Skysoul Institute had a rule where only those who’d reached the Heavenly Fate Realm could leave on adventures. Before heading out, they were required to place a Fate Soul in the institution’s Soul Hall. That way, it’d be impossible for students to be permanently killed, unless Skysoul Institute was breached.

After all, those who’re able to enter the Skysoul Institute are all geniuses from various cities and realms. The deaths of any of them would be a great loss.

Wang Yang stood from afar and swept his eyes over Nie Li and Lu Piao, who were conversing. A chill flashed across his eyes. Before coming here, Young Master Hua Ling told him to keep an eye on Nie Li and Lu Piao. Furthermore, he’d been instructed to give both of them trouble whenever a chance arose.

Within the Divine Feathers Sect, the students, who’d come from various locations and families, had formed their own factions and shared glory and defeat together. Hua Ling’s father and Xiao Yu’s father were still fighting over the position of Chief Enforcer for the Outer Division. As someone from the Little Heaven Realm, Huang Yang naturally placed Hua Ling’s words in his heart.

Within the Divine Feathers Sect, there were at least thousands of experts who were from the Little Heaven Realm. As for the Tiny World, there were only the Nether Master, Xiao Yu and a handful of others.

The fact that Nie Li was an 8-grade Heaven Spiritual Root and Lu Piao was a 5-grade Heaven Spiritual Root greatly pressured Wang Yang.

‘But regardless, there’s no way I’d lose to the two of you!’ Wang Yang coldly thought to himself. As someone from the Little Heaven Realm, he had access to far more resources than Nie Li did.

Venerable Redsoul continued his lecture as he pulled the topic to a conclusion and said, “If I explain too much all at once, you guys might not be able to understand, so we’ll stop here. Next, we’ll practise cultivating for a bit. As Earth Fate Realms, if you can gain something now from cultivating, that’ll be extremely useful later in the future, when you’re making your breakthrough to Heavenly Fate Realm. However, don’t force yourself if you can’t gain anything.”

His eyes swept over the girl clothed in light-blue, Jin Yan, and a few others as a light smile spread across his face. ‘These few should definitely be able to produce results.’

Among the thirty-six Heaven Spiritual Root geniuses, if there were ten who could get results, it’d already be considered pretty good. Furthermore, the faster they could cultivate results, the greater their future achievements would be.

“The first thing that we’ll cultivate is the Spiritual Flames!” announced Venerable Redsoul as he slowly reached out his right hand. A brief moment later, a white flame ignited in his palm and he continued, “This is a Spiritual Flame. If you want to create the Spiritual Flames, you must first let your Soul Realm reach the anatta state, then gather your intent onto your right palm…”

The white flame in Venerable Redsoul’s hand grew larger and larger, from the size of a small, fiery flower bud to the size of a fist.

“Stronger Spiritual Flames imply a stronger soul. Therefore, when you’re making your breakthrough to the Heavenly Fate Realm, your Fate Soul will also become stronger!” Venerable Redsoul casually smiled and continued, “Okay, now you guys can go ahead and try to comprehend the Spiritual Flames!”

The students standing below the platform all reached out their right hands and gathered their intents on their palms as they attempted the Spiritual Flames.

Although Venerable Redsoul had easily ignited the Spiritual Flames in his right hand, the students didn’t find it so easy. Even after extending their right hands for roughly half a day, they still couldn’t ignite the Spiritual Flames. Everyone had their eyes closed and brows knitted to sense the anatta state.

Suddenly, a Spiritual Flame burst forth on the palm of the girl clothed in light-blue. Although it was just a tiny wisp, she was still the first one who’d managed to ignite the Spiritual Flames. Furthermore, this Spiritual Flame continued to grow larger and larger and soon reached the size of a nail.

At the sight of this, Venerable Redsoul’s brows twitched and a trace of praise flashed across his eyes. ‘Indeed, she is a direct descendant of the Dragonseal Family, with such extraordinary talent. To think that at such a young age, she’s already able to ignite a nail sized Spiritual Flame.’

A brief moment later, Jin Yan also managed to ignite a Spiritual Flame. Although it was only the size of a pea, it was also very pure.

“Not bad.” Venerable Redsoul praised as he nodded.

Thereafter, three more students managed to ignite the Spiritual Flames. One of them also managed to reach the size of a nail, which was very astonishing talent.

Lu Piao constantly agitated his soul realm as he attempted to reach the anatta state that Venerable Redsoul had mentioned. However, he saw flashes of scenes that wouldn’t stop passing through his head; they were scenes of Xiao Xue bathing. Because of those images, he was unable to reach the anatta state. After a while, he could only give up with a bitter smile, “Now I know why I’m always the slowest in cultivating. It’s because I still have unfulfilled business!”

“You mean unfulfilled lust, right?” Nie Li laughed as he continued, “Those with impure minds won’t be able to ignite the Spiritual Flames!”

Lu Piao coldly snorted. “How are you any better? You’ve got Goddess Ziyun on the left and Goddess Ning’er on the right. I don’t think you’re that much purer.”

The corner of Nie Li’s mouth curled as he reached out his right hand. Spiritual Flames suddenly ignited on his right palm and quickly grew to the size of a nail.

“Fine, you’re formidable,” Lu Piao said dejectedly. Nie Li himself was just a mindf*ck.

On the platform, Venerable Redsoul’s eyes flashed with an unconcealable shock as his gaze fixed on Nie Li. Although Nie Li had an 8-grade Heaven Spiritual Root, he had investigated Nie Li’s background beforehand. He was from the Tiny World and shouldn’t have any significant background behind him.

Although talent was important in the Dao of cultivation, those with insufficient resources were also useless. Reaching anything on the path to Martial Ancestor, from Heavenly Fate to Heavenly Axis, required a vast amount of cultivating resources.

Therefore, he didn’t pay much attention to Nie Li. After all, Long Yuyin and Jin Yan originated from powerful families and had been given the highest nurturing since they were young. Their bodies had been refined with magical herbs, which was why they could ignite the Spiritual Flames so quickly. Their cultivation speed should’ve also been faster than Nie Li’s.

However, he never imagined that Nie Li would be able to ignite the Spiritual Flames so easily. Furthermore, his Spiritual Flames were already the size of a nail and in no way inferior to Long Yuyin’s and Jin Yan’s.

Furthermore, what caught his attention the most was the fact that unlike the others who had to close their eyes and meditate bitterly, Nie Li had been conversing with Lu Piao when he casually reached out his hand and easily ignited the Spiritual Flames. Accomplishing it so easily proved that Nie Li’s comprehension on states had already reached an extremely shocking level.

He never imagined that there’d be such an outstanding genius among the thirty-six students.

Venerable Redsoul was overwhelmed with emotion and utterly shocked as his attention revolved around Nie Li. Such a genius should definitely be carefully nurtured.

Nie Li had also glanced at Venerable Redsoul. As a new student at the Skysoul Institute, Nie Li was aware that his background was too shallow to be of much use. Therefore, he had to reveal a certain level of talent in order to have them place him with any degree of importance.

Nie Li had already caused a raging wave in Venerable Redsoul’s heart, since his displayed talent already far surpassed everyone else’s.

Among the thirty-six students, only five managed to ignite nail sized Spiritual Flames, while seven were able to ignite a pea sized flame. The remaining students couldn’t ignite a Spiritual Flame, regardless of how hard they tried.

Wang Yang was among the remaining students. He’d already tried numerous methods, but his palm still remained as calm as before, without a single trace of the Spiritual Flames. This made him extremely upset, since he’d seen Nie Li ignite the Spiritual Flames. His lungs nearly burst from all the pent-up frustration.

“Not bad. Those who were able to ignite the Spiritual Flames during this first lesson all have pure mindsets and are genuine geniuses of the Martial Dao. The stronger the Spiritual Flames, the stronger your Fate Soul will be. For those who’re still unable to ignite Spiritual Flames, go back and practice more. Today’s lesson ends here!” Venerable Redsoul laughed and continued, “We’ll continue our lessons in three days.”