(Author: Hello all. Zhuang has found an ally against the Six. Now they must train even harder to kill their enemy and live a peaceful life. However, alchemy isn't without its dangers. One horrible accident in the Venomous Serpent Sect brought about a result considered a blessing and a curse. Enjoy the chapter.)

Chapter 9: Rebirth Tear

Zhuang was disappointed to hear no word of other sentient martial spirits. After searching Thomas's memories, he realized Victor lived in a magus country. Victor might have been learning both martial arts and magic if he had a martial spirit. If he was only able to be a magus, the spirit would have been a spirit guardian. A magus would have a spirit guardian as equivalent to a martial spirit for martial arts exponents.

Spirit guardians were different as they were all sentient, but members of the Six who were only a magus were less dangerous. They could be killed and the life force of the spirit guardian was tied to the Six. If the Six died, his or her spirit guardian died too. Victor must have chosen both paths to have the advantage of never dying until he gained a martial body.

"The other five are hybrid fighters like him or chose one path," Zhuang said to Shuang. "We can only hope to know who they are once I survive my ninth tribulation upon reaching the twenty fifth level of qi condensation."

"The wyrms said they would keep looking. Some even dared to verify our friendship to the Ancient One. Of course, a few were killed for insulting you as you are an evil jade spirit originally. Jade spirits are considered gods because of the Ancient One," Shuang mused. "The Ancient One also said he would try to find out about the other members of the Six using the magical beasts that serve the wyrms."

Zhuang sighed and went to the laboratory of the faction to make the scheduled amount of potions and elixirs. Elder Shan and the core disciples were in a segregated part of the lab where Elder Shan said they were on the midst of a breakthrough. They were conducting experiments on a liquid crystal found from the an ancient demon emperor's tomb.

Long ago, one demon reached the thirtieth level of condensation and ascended to the Immortal Realms. After a few centuries, the demon became a Demon King and after two millennia, it became a Demon Emperor. Tired of fighting challengers, it defied heaven and returned to the Mortal Realm. However, it had lost much of its strength and was slowly dying. Before death, it made a grandiose tomb and hid its treasures within.

The tomb was rumored to have a total of thirty levels, but no one was able to reach even the fourth level. Elder Shan and his best disciples of the Venomous Serpent faction were able to join a coalition of powerful sects and magus academies due to their alchemical expertise. While the rest of the coalition went to the fifth level, Elder Shan stayed on the fourth due to a book found in the Calamity Sect's library. It detailed a liquid crystal that helped the demon rise to the rank of Demon King.

The book stated that contact with the Rebirth Tear, the liquid crystal allowed the body to be reborn. A small part of humanity was lost. In exchange, any creature could learn ancient techniques devised by the ancient demon emperor if they survived. Elder Shan had found the crystal and immediately returned to the sect with the core disciples who went with him. They were currently experimenting with the liquid crystal to discover a safe way to gain its power.

For those who practiced qi condensation, ascending to the Immortal Realms was in inevitability. Having the power from the Rebirth Tear would help them survive unless they fought a demon or immortal as strong as a Demon Emperor which was usually at the sixtieth level of qi condensation. Demon Kings and Celestial Beings were at the fortieth level to the fifty ninth level of qi condensation. People and monsters that reach the thirtieth level of qi condensation automatically ascend.

"They've been in there almost four weeks now," Lingqi whispered as Zhuang was counting the spirit grass. One snake magical beast slithered on his table. Annoyed, he killed it, gave the body to Shuang and ate the demonic core. Shuang, in his fist sized form, took a while to finish eating the snake.

"It is the power of a Demon King of ancient times. Not the power a Demon Emperor, but imagine the power compared to the rest of the people and monsters in the Mortal Realm," Zhuang replied. "There are no Celestial Beings or Demon Kings here in the Mortal Realm unless they live in seclusion. I just hope they finish soon so we can learn to make more potions and elixirs."

"Disciples Zhuang and Lingqi, Elder Shan requires your aid," a core disciples said as he exited the segregated area, looking fatigued.

Zhuang looked at Lingqi and they went into the secluded area. Inside, they saw a large clearing like an arena. Pieces of a large cauldron were scattered everywhere. They saw Elder Shan and core disciples above the arena, playing their zither. They saw qi transfer from their bodies to the arena, creating a formation with strange patterns that seemed to act as a barrier.

They looked at the arena and saw a ten foot tall, thirty foot long wyrm, but it was different. The wyrm had black scales, but crimson and violet crystals sprouted all over its body. It had two deformed heads and four tails. It also had four wings, but its eyes were completely made of the violet and crimson crystal, which numbered seven in total. It was an abomination. Demons and wyrms never mated and those that did were stronger than both, but this was not a wyrm demon. Zhuang had never read a book that described such a wyrm in the Yewan imperial library.

"Lingqi! To me!" Elder Shan cried. "You both play the zither and imbue your qi into the barrier array! We must contain the demon! Zhuang, you are a demi-human with wyrm horns. You can speak draconian right? Try to calm the beast before it breaks through!"

"Careful," Zhuang said as he grabbed her hand. "We need to kill Victor in the future. You can't die here."

"I won't," Lingqi said and ran toward Elder Shan and the others.

"Master! What have they done to Russ?" Shuang cried in draconian as it reached its full size.

"It couldn't handle the power of the tear and might have mutated because of it. I think its trying to take over the wyrm," Zhuang said. "We got to talk to it and have it fight back until the barrier array is stronger and stabilized."

"RUSS! It's me Shuang! Fight it! Senior is a proud member of the wyrm race!" Shuang cried.

"Can't...little one its....strong," Russ howled and continued to thrash about. "It's eating....my mind and body. You..must kill me. Can't let me die....as this. I want to die...with my mind intact and on my own terms...Hurry litte one!"

"Forgive me Senior Russ!" Shuang said as it was about to breathe poison.

"STOP! Even if I didn't care about others knowing you can breathe poison, what if it doesn't kill him? The area would be tainted with poisonous air!" Zhuang shouted. "I'll have to do it. Breathe ice on its limbs to slow it down. I'll be using my Astral Steps technique to teleport around it as I strike using Nightmare.

Elder Shan and the others wondered what happened as Zhuang and Shuang talked in draconian. Lingqi cried in alarm as Zhuang took out his halberd from his zither and watched it extend to its full size. Putting the zither aside, Zhuang roared inhumanely as his hood fell back and ran toward the wyrm demon. Shuang also flew toward the wyrm demon and flew around it as it breathed ice at its legs and feet. The demon wyrm was in to much pain to fly and could only run as it tried swatting at Zhuang with its claws.

Liquid dripped from the demon wyrm's mouth, crystalizing as it touched the floor. Alarmed, Zhuang decided it was safer to attack its sides. Elder Shan nodded at the core disciples and withdrew a black metal spear from his zither and joined the battle. One core disciple left the arena and called all the members of the Venomous Serpent faction to help strengthen the barrier array. As the inner and outer sect members of the faction gathered, they all played the zither and concentrated their spirit energy at the barrier array, watching the faction leader and his student fight the wyrm demon.

Zhuang revealed his true strength up to the fifth level of qi condensation and used his experience among living with wyrms to fight the wyrm demon. Elder Shan was more powerful than the wyrm demon, but every wound he inflicted was healed as the wound crystalized and formed more scales.

"It's undying," Elder Shan cursed. "We need to strike at the heart and use enough damage to extract the demonic core from the wyrm demon. Zhuang! One my signal, go into the wyrm demon and pull out the demonic core. It should not have liquid crystal deep in its body."

"I'll try master," Zhuang said, gritting his teeth and waited for the signal.

"GO!" Elder Shan roared as a brilliant purple lightning the size of a boulder blasted from his spear and into the wyrm demon. Zhuang teleported into the opening and used his destruction qi technique, Sundering Dragon Slash, to go deeper.

"NO! IT CAN"T BE!" Elder Shan cried in shock as the wound closed behind Zhuang. Zhuang's vision was only crimson and violet as he realized what happened. He cursed and used his Water Dragon's Pulse technique to heal his body to prevent the liquid crystal from entering any of his wounds. He knew he couldn't get out so the only way was to eat the demonic core as it couldn't be destroyed.

"I WILL NOT DIE HERE!" Zhuang yelled in draconian and grabbed the wyrm demon's core. It was the size of a pebble like all other cores, but seemed different as it was also mutated. Zhuang's eyes widened in horror as his left hand was cut by the crystalized sinews that held the core next to the heart. He opened his mouth and tasted blood as he swallowed the demonic core.

He felt as thousands of swords pierced his body and the horns on his head shattered. White curved horns appeared above his ears due to the demonic core. However, the Rebirth Tear entered his body before his healing qi technique could heal the cut on his left hand. Luckily, the excess energy of the demonic core clashed with the liquid crystal, but he still suffered a change. A violet and crimson crystal the shape of a tear formed on the back of his left hand and weird patterns appeared like tattoos around the tear all the way to half of his forearm.

This was the result Elder Shan wanted. Elder Shan's eyes widened in delight as the wyrm demon died and its body dissolved into a small pool. Upon seeing Zhuang's left hand, he knew the experiment was a success and quickly ordered the core disciples to make a small prick on the back of one hand and dip it into the liquid crystal. In the end, they and Elder Shan suffered the same pain and mutation on Zhuang's left hand. The inner and outer sect disciples were interested, but Elder Shan said that they would only receive it if they became a core disciple.

However, Lingqi was allowed as she was Elder Shan's personal disciples. She broke through to the sixth level of qi condensation as the other disciples and Elder Shan made their own breakthroughs. Everyone left the scene as the segregated area was closed off for further study on the crystalized droplets that fell on the ground during the fighting.

As Lingqi and Shuang rushed to Zhuang, Elder Shan and the core disciples extracted the liquid crystal into several bottles and saved one bottle for the Grandmaster. Each bottle contained one drop of the safer version of the Rebirth Tear. Zhuang woke up after an hour, his head burning from the side effect of having his horns destroyed and growing new ones. Zhuang would no doubt have a greater power from the Rebirth Tear as he ate the demonized wyrm's demonic core. Zhuang had made a breakthrough to the eighth level of qi condensation and everyone knew it. However, they all assumed that it was the power of the demonic core.

"My true power is now known," Zhuang muttered in draconian as Lingqi helped him back to his room. "At least now I don't have to worry about the number of tribulations I face as people will expect a higher amount when they see it."

"Russ died," Shuang mourned. "He was a great wyrm but he had to swallow the whole Rebirth Tear they had which was the size of a fist. A true loss. A poor end!"

Zhuang let Shuang mourn as he lay on the bed. Lingqi began cultivating as she played her zither and used some spirit energy to stabilize Zhuang's meridians which were overflowing with spirit energy.

"You play well. Such beautiful notes," Zhuang murmured as he closed his eyes to enjoy the music. "I can't play the zither as well as you yet."

"That was a close one. You suffered another mutation and this one can't be hidden," Lingqi said. "I did too, but I can hide it. I am scared though. No one knows the power in the crystal and the inner sect disciples who become core disciples in our faction get the Rebirth Tear as well. I hope we find out what it does before they get it."

"Relax," Zhuang whispered. "Let's just enjoy the nice atmosphere and music until we do."

Chapter 8: Learning a Lesson Main Page Chapter 10: Reunion and Enemies