As the last bolt of his heavenly tribulation fell Xing Zheng let go of all attachments. At that moment he became one with the rain, letting the patter of uncountable rain drops subsume him. Everywhere and nowhere all at once, within the quiet of his consciousness, he understood, that his current qi reserves were not enough to face this last bolt. He would need to do the one thing that had eluded him since the day his brother cut him down, he would need to excel. With an effort of will, Xing Zheng took in the full force of the Heavenly lightning bolt barreling at him and tried to see it in its entirety. The more he looked the more he saw, it only looked like a smooth pillar, there were weak faults in the energy. This was no immortal tribulation, it could be overcome. With a shouted war cry Xing Zheng simultaneously marshaled the remaining 60% of his energy and marked 1,000 spots on the lightning bolt. With a masterful flourish, he sent out 1,000 sword phantoms each with a varying amount of qi and speed, each strike a tiny raindrop designed to weather away the mountain that was descending upon him. The storm of swords and the lightning collided, at first, the bulk of them met the bolt head-on in a staggered order causing the bolt to waver. Next came strikes on the side causing the energy in the bolt to deflect further and further until the energy was now a swirling mass of heavenly might. Methodically each staggered sword phantom landed upon the whirlpool of rotating energy splitting it into smaller strands with widened radi of rotation that spread out in a hemispherical circle. In the end not only had the tribulation been weathered, but it had also been split and molded to carve away the excess of the mountain carving and disintegrating huge swaths of rocks, trees, and other debris. What was left stood as an edifice, a mountain carved into a sword, the sword that stood alone amongst the eternal rain. Xing Zheng's last image was of the broad smile his master wore as he came to his side. 2 months later Xing Zheng awoke to discover himself in the same cave abode Lin Qiu had brought him to when they first met. Beside him was a new sect robe, which seemed to be far superior to his old one judging by the energy he could feel in it, along with his formation flags as well as his newly linked vital treasure the Azure Water Sword. A jade slip left by his master instructed him to take a year of closed-door meditation to consolidate his enlightenment and allow him to feel out his new cultivation base. Xing Zheng took in the darkness of his cave abode as the light from the torches on the wall danced about revealing the traces of precious dark iron traces in the rock itself, a sense of calm pervaded him at the sight. Here he was back in his home having weathered his breakthrough finally returning in one piece. As his qi flowed into the formation runes made to seal the cave entrance he entered into a deep and peaceful period of cultivation, savoring the satisfying feeling of his well-practiced cycling technique and pondering the enlightenment he gained during the breakthrough. In this fashion, the next year passed, and Xing Zheng went through several stages to determine the state of his body. For the first three months, he had still been too injured for physical activity and so he had meditated and rested. Next, he had started on basic sword drills and cycling in shallow intervals. After six months of this Xing Zheng spent the last three months practicing his three core techniques in tandem strengthening his understanding of how they were interconnected. During this time his enlightenment from the tribulation had been fully consumed and integrated into his techniques causing his attainment in all three to reach the grandmaster level. After finally leaving isolation Xing Zheng had a yearning in his soul, deeply he wished to give others who were suppressed and thrown aside, as he was, the chance to struggle against their destiny. He decided that to assuage this feeling in his heart and prevent it from stifling his future cultivation, for some time he would search for such individuals and allow them to cultivate in the sect. While journeying he could also gain worldly experience and enlightenment as well as rooting out evil where he found it simultaneously doing his duty to family, sect, and others in the same breath. To do so however he would need the permission of Lin Qiu who had decided to enter closed-door cultivation and would not emerge for the next 50 years. To show respect for his master Xing Zheng decided he would train the disciples of the sect until his master emerged. For the first decade, he took up an occupation as the guardian of the sect gate screening those who came and went from the sect as well as welcoming visiting dignitaries. During this time Xing Zheng's noble upbringing was shown through mingling with fellow nobles. There were quite a few nobles surprised when they heard his surname, after all, how could an immortal level cultivator of the Xing family have ended up in such a backwater place? Xing Zheng cared not for these worries however and thoroughly enjoyed his decade manning the sect gate. All in all, although a decade had passed in peace, Xing Zheng felt as though he truly had accomplished little during this time. Thus he turned his attention inward to see what he could do to better the sect itself. After all, how would cultivating in the sect be an opportunity for those he brought back from his travels if it were not in peak condition? So it came that he needed to address the problem of many outer sect disciples disregarding the Rain Reflecting 10,000 Visions mental technique. After all, it was truly the pillar through which the other core aspects of the Azure Rain Sword style were elevated, without it the disciples would find the Azure Rain Sword style to lack in many areas. The younger disciples neglecting this technique ultimately lowered the effectiveness of their disciples. respect from them towards the core sect sword style also diminished causing dissent and for many to wish to learn secondary cultivation paths that came from other schools. As if Xing Zheng would allow the Patriarch's very own style to lose face within his sect, this had to be corrected! However, this problem although it seemed simple on the surface was far more complicated to solve in actuality. At first, he had simply given lectures on the Dao and the various ways to cultivate the technique. Xing Zheng understood how valuable Dao comprehension and cultivation guidance could be when learning techniques or attempting to break through to a new realm; it was something he would pay a great deal for; how could the outer disciples not attend such lectures? However, reality does not always meet expectations, and although there was a sizable turnout the first few times quickly the disciples had felt they had given him enough face and simply stopped attending. Not easily deterred Xing Zheng tried many different methods to entice attendance to his lectures on the Rain Reflecting 10,000 Visions. One week he offered free spirit stones, double what the disciples got as a monthly stipend, to each attending disciple. During this lecture, attendance was high however most attended simply for the reward and left soon after. When he changed the spirit stone reward to be given to only those remaining at the lecture's end the disciples would simply show up at the last minute to collect the reward receiving none of the teachings! At this point, he had been rung to his wit's end and thus he stopped his lectures and began trying to figure out why many outer sect disciples simply did not want to cultivate the core technique of the sect. Many of the inner and core disciples, not to mention direct legacy disciples of Lin Qiu, had cultivated the technique to at least the 100 raindrops a second level. Xing Zheng himself had reached the 1,000 raindrops a second before ascending to qi condensation and recently had broken through to the 10,000 raindrops a second after many years of cultivation. However, the technique simply was not popular with those who had not advanced in the sect. After a year of inquiry and listening in the shadows, Xing Zheng had finally understood. The outer sect disciples simply found the constant meditation in the rain tedious and it seemed to produce weaker immediate results as opposed to studying weapon techniques such as the 10,000 Drops Birthed from the Sword. Although their sword techniques would be weaker with a weak mental technique as a basis the results would be immediate and allow their strength to rise. Xing Zheng was astonished to find out that many Inner and Core disciples also had this attitude at first however they all had strict direct instructors and elders to force them to be diligent. For the outer sect, there were simply too many members for an instructor to attend to each of them. In the end, the outer sect disciples needed to be shown the strength of the technique, as always strength spoke volumes in the cultivation world. Upon discovering this Xing Zheng felt he knew just how to show the true prowess of the technique. Thus the sect was informed that Elder Xing Zheng would be going into an indeterminate period of closed-door cultivation and he disappeared, meanwhile a spree of duel challenges was issued to all of the strongest outer disciples. Xing Zheng, while suppressing his cultivation base to first-grade martial artists, donned a red mask becoming the mysterious out sect red mask cultivator. Soon rumor's spread among the outer disciples of a first-grade martial artist defeating the other first-grade outer disciples as well as even master realm seniors. What's more the masked cultivator only used basic swordsmanship combined with the sect's rain reflecting 10,000 visions technique at the 100 raindrops a second level. Over three years, Xing Zheng slowly lowered his cultivation base from the peak of 1st grade to the initial stage and defeated each prominent inner disciple with only the mental technique and his fundamentals of swordplay while masquerading as the red mask cultivator. Secretly he met with each disciple that was defeated giving them cultivation tips and making sure they were not discouraged too vehemently by their losses, after making them swear heart demon oaths to not reveal his identity they were released back to the outer sect. Thus the reputation of reaching small success in the rain reflecting 10,000 visions mental technique rose by volumes. While not all outer disciples cultivated the technique more vigorously it slowly became a standard by which the outer sect judged each other slowly becoming a baseline to determine one's talent. Xing Zheng's fellow elders were impressed with the improved strength of the outer sect however worried that the disciples would look down on the other two core techniques. So it passed that the red mask cultivator's senior brother, green masked cultivator appeared. Showing how 10,000 Drops Birthed from the Sword, supported by even 100 raindrops a minute rain reflecting 10,000 visions mental technique, could once again defeat all of the outer sect's strongest students. Finally the eldest brother of the masked cultivators, azure masked cultivator appeared. Showing how the strength of the previous two techniques combined with the extra energy and strengthening of the master level cycling technique 10,000 Years of Looping Rain Weathered the Mountain would produce a profound foundation. This method would crush any singular or even pairing usage of the core techniques. Thus, although it had taken 39 years of slow and methodical cajoling, Xing Zheng finally felt the outer sect's path had finally been corrected. Feeling content with his contributions to the sect's future prosperity, and with the Patriarch's closed-door cultivation coming to an end, Xing Zheng was anxious to set out and wander the Xing Empire spreading hope and righteousness wherever he went. Upon conversing with his master Xing Zheng had expressed his desire to give back to the world and help those who were suppressed and in need, particularly his feelings of guilt had risen from being in the sect for so many years. Lin Qiu was surprisingly against it, he felt Xing Zheng was one of his most gifted disciples and had no intentions of letting him waste centuries of cultivation time wandering the world possibly getting killed. In the end however in the face of Xing Zheng's sincerity, Lin Qiu could only relent on two conditions, firstly he would stay within the twisted territories lesser region, and secondly, he would return after a century no matter his feelings. Lastly, Lin Qiu gave him a talisman that would form a shield around him strong enough to block a blow from a fellow nascent soul cultivator, it would also send a signal to the sect that he was in trouble and Lin Qiu would come rushing to save him. However the talisman only had a single-use and his worldly excursion would be brought to a swift halt by his master taking him back to the sect if he used it, thus it should only be used if his life truly depended on it. With that Xing Zheng set out, he knew from talking with other nobles that the twisted territories currently lacked a justice arbiter who would uphold peace and track down those who practiced vile things such as blood sacrifice. After hearing worrying rumors of rogue demonic cultivators Xing Zheng was eager to get to duchess Lu Yi and pledge his services as a son of Xing. An offer of a century of service from a scion of the royal family would be a great boon to her reputation so surely she couldn't refuse. Aside from the worries of position in his heart, Xing Zheng could feel a storm brewing in the Xing Empire and no one, save perhaps Lin Qiu, understood the storm as well as he…

End part zero