The Legend of Min Hong

"I dare not call the disciple of the 'great creator' any other thing other than 'my lord' and I dare not assume the name 'great elder' from my lord." The old man remained adamant.

"Do you not want me to come here again?" Min Hong asked.

"I dare not!" The man hurriedly bowed to Min Hong as he responded. 

"Then I insist we maintain our previous form of address. If it makes you uncomfortable, I can just refer to you as my 'Old man'. That ought to settle things." Min Hong spoke flatly.

After sorting their form of address, Min Hong went on to tell the old man about their motives here and about the trials and rewards he received.

The old man was shocked and stumped while Little Lin who had sensed a bit but was just confirming it, was also shocked senseless.

Then after narrating everything to them, the entire room suddenly went eerily silent.

Little Wu was seated hovering on his staff behind Min Hong who sat on the same straw mat he sat atop the last time he was here.

Little Lin was already lying above the old man's cross-legged laps.

"Old man, what is it?" Min Hong could clearly sense that this man had something to say but he was somehow hesitant.

"When you came in earlier, I sensed something wrong about your aura. Firstly, the Chaos aura is affecting your emotions, but it is nothing dangerous, since the more Daos you comprehend the more stable your emotions would be."

"But for now, you should avoid anything that will stir your emotions. Whenever you're happy, you will become too happy and whenever you're angry you might get too impulsive and destroy something, or the worst-case scenario take someone's life."

"The Primus Dao is doing its best, but there's little it can do to help out since this defect is happening within your emotions. Thus, as a congratulatory gift, I will give you this straw mat you're sitting on."

"Every time you want to cultivate, do it whilst sitting on it. It has a calming effect and can soothe your soul and emotions. You can also meditate on it anytime you feel you're about to have a bipolar episode." The old man spoke.

"Then secondly, the Oblivion Dao is truly unique. I can't seem to sense anything about you, so I guess it has a stealth effect on your aura and presence. In fact, people who don't have significant emotional attachments to you might forget you are present."

"But it actually does more good than bad, in the sense that if you truly want to hide from someone, it would take an expert who is much stronger than you in either cultivation, soul, or Daos relating to Void, Space and Karma to find you."

"The only downside is that you would be occasionally ignored by most people. That is until you form a sort of bond or sense of attachment with them, and just like with the Chaos Dao, the more Daos you comprehend, the more that effect would weaken." The old man explained.

"Thanks for sharing your knowledge with me, old man." Min Hong smiled slightly as he thanked the old man. It seemed the straw mat he was sitting on truly had an effect on him.

"Then as for your bloodline, it comes with a single special power, it is called the 'Imperial Edict'… this ability allows you to subjugate any sentient entity, from humans to beasts, ghosts, fairies, demons or devils. Whatever it might be, as long as it is sentient, it can be subjugated."

"In terms of how it works, when that entity is subjugated, nothing about them would be changed or erased, rather an intense craving to please and serve you will be rooted within the core of their soul. And since this is the case, it can't be cured unless the entity is killed."

"For the power limits of what you can subjugate, once you achieve 20 percent purity, you would be able to subjugate anything on the same power level as you. Mind you the power level doesn't refer to your cultivation, but your total overall power level."

"At this point, with your soul power, mental power and the physical body strength you have achieved from refining the tiny bit of bloodline and the tempering with the ancient aura, no one within the Mortal Realm can stand a chance against you."

"How do you grade cultivation levels in your world?" the old man asked.

"From one star to nine stars…" Min Hong answered.

"In a nutshell, when you achieve 20 percent bloodline purity you should have stepped into the 9-star Emperor stage by then, so this means you would be able to subjugate anything with a power level equivalent to the 9-star Emperor or Dan Formation stage."

"Then when you achieve 40 percent purity, you would be able to subjugate anyone two stars above your current level. This continues at the same rate until achieve 100 percent bloodline purity. By then, you will be able to subjugate anything an entire cultivation stage above you."

"This means that, if you're in the one-star Samsara stage by then, you would be able to easily subjugate everything under the Primal or Immortal stage power level. Then when you have subjugated anything, they will bear the 'Minion mark' within the core of their soul."

"This basically means that, at the peak of this bloodline, you can have an army of minions an entire cultivation stage stronger than you. In addition, there will be a mental and soul link between you and every single minion you have."

"This means you can delegate any task to them with a thought, no matter where they are. This also means that any Dao, technique or martial art they comprehend would also be learnt by you." The old man paused from the long explanation he had made.

"Does that mean, the moment they comprehend any technique, martial art or Dao, that I will also instantly comprehend it too?" Min Hong was greatly shocked by this revelation.

"Correct. In fact, you would be able to use this ability once you achieve 20 percent purity of the bloodline. There are also several physical buffs you will obtain like, at 100 percent purity, your physical pressure would be 1000 times heavier than the gravity of anywhere you are."

"Wonderful!" Min Hong praised as his eyes glittered at the thought of rendering an entire army immobile, just from the pressure his physical body strength is radiating.

"You will gradually figure out the rest as you keep increasing in bloodline purity." He added.

"Old man, how does one measure soul strength and mental strength?" Min Hong asked.

"They are both ranked according to the way ancient weapons are ranked. A Top-grade Black Tier rune master is as strong as an expert at the Peak of Mortal Realm. A Top-grade Silver Tier rune master is also as strong as an expert of the Peak Nascent Soul stage."

"It is the same for Gold Tier and Saint stage, Diamond Tier at Nirvana Stage and so on. This is because these rune masters are judged by the power level of the weapons they can make. This means that a Diamond Grade weapon is as strong as a Nirvana Stage expert."

"But the issue about them is that they possess no sentience, so they still need to be wielded, unlike Divine weapons which begins to develop sentience and weapons in such stage are graded by the level of their intelligence."

"Is this ranking the same for both Mental and Soul cultivations?" Min Hong asked.

"Absolutely! It is the same across all occupations too. So, you should expect a Diamond Tier beast tamer to have at least one Nirvana Stage beast. Moreover, they also possess enough soul force to kill an expert of the same stage."

"Wow!" Min Hong was awed by this thought.

This was because anyone who battles a Diamond Tier beast tamer would have to fight two opponents in the Nirvana stage; the man and his beast. 

This was because for Soul cultivators are naturally suited to become Beast Tamers or Puppet masters.

Then for the Mental cultivators, they are more suited to become Blacksmiths or Rune master.

Then finally to become an alchemist, one must be both a Soul and Mental cultivator.

"Now for your cultivation I will help you build a more portable and efficient formation that you will be able to use to transport the ancient Qi from here to wherever you are. When you reach the Peak of Warrior and Qi Sea stage, you must return to me."

"There is somewhere within this 'Realm of Creation' I am going to take you to, so that for every increase in your cultivation, you can receive rewards as a source of motivation to grow stronger." The old man told Min Hong.

"What is the place all about?" Min Hong asked with a smile. Everything just keeps getting better and better for him.

"Within this 'Realm of Creation' we are currently at the centre. We are within the Kingdom of the 'Realm Lord'. But I won't tell you much about it for now, for your own good."

"But I can easily bring you to the place I am talking about; The Pagoda of Ascension!" As the old man spoke, they all vanished from the room. 

When they all reappeared, they were atop a dense, pristine and pure-white cloud. The sky was as clear as that of a beach in a hot summer afternoon.

This place was a paradise true and true. But before they could see any more of it, they had vanished once again. 

This time they reappeared above a tall pagoda. This pagoda was at least 10 kilometres tall and its base was at least as huge as two football fields combined.

It had many ancient runes etched on its body from the ground up.

"Old man, is this pagoda a treasure?" Min Hong asked. He didn't know why, maybe because he was the 'Realm lord' or something else. But he could clearly feel that this pagoda was whole in a way.

"Yes, it is. It was obtained from the 'great creator', and the nature of its origin is the very basis of the tests you have to undergo to receive your rewards. It has twenty-five floors, and each floor is harder than the last."

"For the first floor, your body cultivation and bloodline abilities will be restricted by the ancient runes etched on its wall, which means that, you are only permitted to use your Qi and the Daos you have comprehended to fight. Hence, I call it the 'Qi Battle'."

"For the second floor, your Qi cultivation and access to Laws would be restricted by the runes etched on its walls. This also means that you are only allowed to use your body cultivation and bloodline abilities. I also call it the 'Bloodline battle'."

"Then, to help improve your soul and mental power, some of these runes put a pressure equivalent to a stage higher than yours on your mind and soul always. This means that you would barely be able to think and control you Daos well enough."

"In addition, your opponents in every floor will always be one cultivation level higher than yours. Furthermore, at every floor of this pagoda you will fight a corresponding number of opponents."

"This means that on the fifth floor, you will battle five opponents which are one cultivation level higher than you, under the same stifling conditions. Then on the twentieth floor, you will face twenty opponents and so on."

"Doesn't that mean, I will always be at a great disadvantage in every battle?" Min Hong's brows furrowed as his face creased and if it was possible, his soul would be currently sweating.

"Yes. Cultivation base and comprehension of Daos, techniques and martial arts are one thing, battle experience is another. The two of them do not belong in the same league." The old man spoke.

"If a 9-star Emperor stage cultivator with 10 battle experience fights against a 5-star Emperor stage expert with 1000 battle experience, the one in the 5-star would defeat the one in the 9-star Emperor stage in less than thirty minutes."

"Thus, this 'Pagoda of Ascension' was made to simulate a disadvantageous battle for you every time, so that you can always tap into your potentials and as a result help you cultivate faster and comprehend Daos, techniques and martial arts a lot quicker."

"I can vouch for it that, if you cultivate and complete only these trials to the Peak of the Warrior stage, a 3-star King stage expert would be nothing more than a fly in your eyes." He explained.

"If we then combine your training of both the Body and Qi cultivation in this pagoda, if you are in the 1-star Emperor Stage, no one in existence under the 6-star Emperor stage would be a match for you. Bear in mind that, this is without any other source of power including weapons."

"Are you saying if I fight without an external source of power like weapons, talismans and so on, that I would be able to defeat anyone that is five stars stronger than me?"

"Absolutely! I mean flawless victory. It would be such a person's funeral." The old man replied.

"But what if they also cultivate in both Body and Qi cultivation?" Min Hong logically asked.

"Do they cultivate their mental and soul power too?" the old man answered with a question.

"Okay, let me put it this way. You would be matchless and peerless if you battle anyone who is two stars stronger than you. Even if they cultivate in the four paths of cultivation." He added.

Hearing this, Min Hong smiled. "This was just what I was looking for, there are no free lunch in any world and I have decided that this would be my path to the peak." Min Hong declared. 

"You greatly underestimate the 'Pagoda of Ascension'. Don't worry when you begin your first battle, you will understand what I mean." The old man smirked.

"Lastly, if you lose any floor battle three times in a row, you will be banned from entering the pagoda forever." He added.

"What?" Min Hong soul poured out sweat this time around. "Even in the penultimate level?"

"I have already told you how much you have underestimated the pagoda and your potential should you manage to clear each floor." The old man finished as they vanished back to the hut.