Chapter 14 – The First Breakthrough

His body was aflame.

Anger. Rage. Wrath.

He wanted to destroy. To kill, and kill once again. He stood above all beings, and even the Gods themselves feared the power he held.

Life was meaningless in front of him, as he was its natural reaper. A farmer, a soldier, a general, all perished under him.

He was surrounded by an endless terrain of blood-soaked sand, and it was unclear whether the sand itself was red or it was stained with real blood. The scorching sunrays burned through the sand and the countless corpses lying around him. Some of the bodies were skewered with spears, some with necks full of arrows, and even more with missing limbs.

However, it was the smell in the air that exhilarated him. It was the smell of blood.

He stood still in the deserted plain for over millennia as he waited for an opponent to test his might against. Blood slowly dripped from the tips of his fingers as it made the already blood-colored sand appear more sinister.

His mighty chest rose and fell with each breath he took, while a mysterious smile was etched onto his face.

Gazing at the multitudes of corpses surrounding him, a low chuckle escaped from his lips. What were once beings that stood at the peak of heavens, now lay lifeless around him.

Even the flow of time in this plain was under his domain.

Immortality was tedious.

Time was tedious.

Only the flow of blood was eternal.

He wanted to end his immortality and return back to his past when he could still bleed. Back to when he was still a mortal, and when he was not known as the Blood Ancient.

………………………..

*Cough* *Cough*

Calron abruptly spat out a mouthful of dark blood onto the grass below him. He continued to spew globules of dark blood until he felt like there was none left in his body anymore.

Each time he coughed, a stream of new blood would replace the old blood, and the process seemed to continue endlessly until not even a speck of his old blood remained in his veins.

Calron felt like several pores on his body were being forcefully opened, and the feeling was akin to the sensation of a thousand needles piercing his skin.

Elias calmly observed the changes around Calron, and he knew that the boy was currently undergoing the opening of his meridians. This process would bring upon a soul-crushing agony as this was the stage when the meridians would slowly connect to the spiritual veins within one’s body. The meridians were essential in letting an Inheritor draw the source energy from the legacy’s pool.

The blood purging also expelled any impurities within one’s body, but usually it was only a small amount of blood that was expelled. However, Calron was clearly spewing out large quantities of dark blood. Just the sheer amount of blood on the grass would have caused any grown man to die twice over, but Calron remained standing.

Too many abnormal events keep revolving around this boy.

Elias inwardly thought while observing the boy.

Even Elias was startled at the current scene unfolding before him. Was it because the power of the legacy was too much for Calron? The Blood Legacy’s power had usually been shared among multiple Inheritors, and this was the first time known to Elias when the Blood Legacy’s Inheritors had dwindled down to only two members. Maybe, this was causing an extra strain on Calron’s body…

Meanwhile, Calron blankly stared at the puddle of blood underneath him and was just as confused as Elias about what was happening within his body. What were those images he just saw? The images soon started to become hazy in Calron’s mind, but he instinctively knew that the figure in those images had something to do with the Blood Legacy.

“I think this is enough for today. Get some rest to recover your body and meet me here again tomorrow morning.”

Elias gently spoke to Calron as he dismissed him for the day.

………………

Calron painstakingly dragged his body away from the forest and slowly trudged towards the gathering hall. His thoughts kept revolving around the person he saw in the earlier images within his mind, but his brain seemed to freeze every time he tried to recall the person’s face.

Hmph, you forgot about cultivating your essence after all that Martial Arts crap! Kid, although the power of a legacy is great, you would still need a high cultivation to contend against tougher opponents. Hurry up to your room, and let us begin. No eating until you finish cultivating today!

The Voice strictly stated within Calron’s mind as it urged the boy to resume his cultivation training.

Calron let out a depressed sigh and changed his direction towards the disciples’ lodgings. After reaching his hut, Calron immediately sat down on the mat in a meditative position and started training under the first stage of the Thunder-Bird technique.

With his hands properly aligned, Calron began the rhythmic breathing of the technique and sensed the surrounding essence slowly being absorbed into his body.

By every passing second, his elemental core started to feel fuller and fuller, as tendrils of lightning essence gradually entered it. Calron continued to absorb the essence until he felt like his body could not absorb any more essence.

After storing all the absorbed essence, Calron began the process of refining it. When one absorbed the essence from the environment, it contained many impurities within it and if the essence was not refined to its purest state, it would affect the future cultivation of the elementalist.

Calron felt like he was very close to reaching the peak of the first rank, but he still needed to refine all the essence before attempting to break into the next rank.

The purer one’s essence was, then the more powerful one will be, compared to other cultivators at the same rank.

………………………………

Good, good. Although your speed of refining your essence is a bit slow, we can work on that later. Alright, go get something to eat now, as you have been cultivating for hours.

The Voice gently conveyed to Calron within his mind.

It had been several hours since Calron had first started cultivating, and after his strenuous transformation by the Blood Legacy, the Voice felt like Calron finally deserved some rest.

*crackle*

Suddenly, multiple bolts of Azure Lightning crackled around Calron’s body.

“Haha, I was wondering whether it would help you or not. Seems like the Azure Lightning is slowly awakening as well, kid. Just relax your body and let it enter your core.”

The Voice excitedly exclaimed when he saw the blue lightning flicker across Calron’s body.

Calron immediately relaxed his muscles and sent his consciousness into his elemental core to observe what the Azure Lightning was doing. His entire outer core was enveloped by bolts of blue lightning, while the gaseous golden essence was slowly rotating within the inside of the core.

Within seconds, the surrounding blue lightning immediately charged into the inside of his core as it began merging with the gaseous essence.

He opened his eyes and cried out in alarm. This could not be happening. Was he really going to lose all his cultivation at this moment?

Seeing the essence being absorbed by the Azure Lightning, it appeared to Calron as if the blue lightning was slowly taking away his entire cultivation.

Sigh… You need to start trusting it, Calron. Stop crying like a little girl, and pay attention to what is happening inside your core.

Calron sulked at his Teacher’s comment, as he clearly was not crying and there was absolutely no need for the Voice to throw a personal jibe at him. Shaking his thoughts away from his grumpy teacher, Calron paid attention to the current changes happening inside his core.

*drip* *drip*

While the bolts of blue lightning continued to crackle within his core, the surrounding golden essence was slowly vanishing. However, just as Calron observed the scene closely, he saw that there were small golden-azure drops forming at the bottom of his core.

Sensing the raw energy contained within them, Calron was momentarily shocked. It was obvious that those golden-azure drops were his lightning essence.

You can close your mouth now, kid… Sigh, you really do have the luck of the heavens. Truly worthy of being a disciple of someone as great as me!

While the Voice gloated over its own superiority, Calron continued to observe the golden-azure drops forming in his core.

After a few minutes, the drops had ceased to form, and there were about a few dozen golden-azure drops pooled at the bottom of his core.

*crackle*

Calron suddenly felt his muscles quivering uncontrollably, as a steady stream of the liquid golden-azure essence flowed out from his core and into his blood and bones.

Am I breaking through right now?

Calron inwardly thought as he felt the new sensations bubbling up inside his body. He remained in a daze as he realized that he really was having a break through right now.

It had not even been a few days since he had awakened to his element, and he was already advancing again?

This was a cultivating speed that even big city’s geniuses would be jealous of!

A steady stream of the liquid golden-azure essence surged through his veins, as it started to strengthen his muscles and bones. Meanwhile, Calron’s core also went through a huge qualitative change as it became denser and began to shine with bright golden-azure light.

After a few minutes, the essence fluctuations around Calron abruptly ended, as a new strength surged within his body.

“Teacher, why do I feel so much stronger now? Even though I broke into the second rank, I feel a lot more powerful than a normal second rank cultivator!”

Calron softly whispered while curiously detecting the changes within his new body.

Calron had a sudden feeling as if the Voice was currently smirking at him right now. Although he could not see his Teacher, Calron had started to sense the Voice’s emotions and thoughts, as the bond between them solidified with each passing day.

In Calron’s mind, his Teacher was a fat grumpy old man who liked to make snide comments at little children.

Brat, if I was alive right now I would smack your bottom until it turned red like a baboon’s backside! Hmph, I will let that comment slide right now due to the cry baby comment I made earlier.

Calron snickered at his Teacher’s sullen attitude, but he could not let the Voice bully him all the time.

By the way, kid, you did not break into the second rank; you broke into the third rank!