Cultivators categorized techniques into spiritual, soul, and mind. Arts that used true elements and most rare energies entered the first category, those that used the soul as a medium fell into the second, and mystic arts that required a powerful mind belonged to the third.
Mind techniques ranked last in power but first in deceitfulness and strategy. Cultivators lived much longer than mortals, but greediness and arrogance turned them into prime targets for an astute mind power user.
Lustful young masters with a wavering Dao heart could be tempted.
Ancient cultivators who lived for thousands of years could fear death.
The sight of a treasure could turn people into frenzied thieves, willing to go too far for one step closer to true immortality.
An overprotective father with a good moral compass could ignore everything for the sake of his daughter.
Mind arts preyed on their weaknesses. Cultivators either despised or feared their shrewdness, a double-edged blade that could cut the enemy but also the user himself. A stronger mind could turn the tables, causing the technique to fail or take unexpected turns.
Entering someone’s mind meant opening your own to them.
Yun Lin Xue used the [Mind Breaking Purple Cloud] art, a middle-grade earth tier Body Tempering Realm technique. It carried the user and victim to an illusory plane where the weaker mind faced all kinds of scenarios until it broke down.
Perfect for torture and interrogation, but unsuitable for fast battles, since it required several seals, high energy consumption, and a strong mind could resist the attempt. Someone at the fourth layer, without experience, would never resist a talent in mind techniques like Yun Lin Xue.
Ming Ren never thought about resisting.
“You, are you crazy? Don’t you feel pain?” The pain was still real even without physical effects.
“Hahahaha… it’s just so funny… I thought I wouldn’t have any chance to escape,” Ming Ren had a bloody smile, the blood also dripping from his eyes.
“What the hell are you talking about?!” Yun Lin Xue continued the assault. This time a thousand spirit bugs would crawl inside Ming Ren’s skin until he begged for mercy.
He raised the hand but then felt something digging through his own skin. He scratched it, noticing something very wrong, “No… this… it can’t be…?”
Out of nowhere, a thousand spirit bugs dug inside his flesh. The itch never went away no matter how much he scratched, he could only scream in pain.
“BREAK!” Lin Xue wanted to end his own illusion, but it was too late.
Ming Ren appeared in front of his eyes in a white majestic robe, the same as in the dream earlier. He had his hands across the chest and floated like an immortal. With a flick of the hand, the bugs went away.
“You… you… how?” No mistake, this trash in front of him controlled the Mind Breaking Purple Cloud art. He was the stronger mind, trash at the fourth layer of the Body Tempering Realm!
“You will answer me, or… well, you know this technique better than anyone,” Ming Ren smiled.
“Snort, you think I’m afraid?! It doesn’t matter if you’re in control, all I need is to break the art, you don’t even know the technique!” Yun Lin Xue roared.
“You’re right, I can’t use the Mind Breaking Purple Cloud art, but you already activated it for me, why would I need to do it again?”
Yun Lin Xue trembled, “But… you can’t possibly control it… unless…”
His eyes opened wide, and a Ming Ren grinned. Yun Lin Xue despaired, ‘Sister, you have wronged me!’
No wonder his father was hellbent on killing this boy. His sister loved him so much she even divulged the arts of the clan to an outsider.
Ming Ren didn’t care enough to correct his misinterpretation. Shufen taught him several Cloud Clan’s arts, but as a mutual exchange including Bai Xun. They swore secrecy, their friendship beyond questioning.
In reality, Ming Ren could not use the Mind Breaking Purple Cloud art as it required either mental energy or the Cloud Clan’s bloodline. Shufen used it before entering the Spirit Sea Realm because she had an innate connection to mental energy, her bloodline exceptionally rich and powerful.
Yet even before the Bright Scripture Ming Ren could already counter this attack.
After experiencing innumerable mind arts and illusions, the Mind Breaking Purple Cloud art, an earth tier Body Tempering art, couldn’t faze him.
Yun Jie should have been aware Shufen divulged secrets to Ming Ren and Bai Xun. The protectors of the Cloud Clan always followed in the shadows but dared not to tell the patriarch. They feared to get on the bad side of either of them. Anything related to their young mistress was always a minefield.
“Tell me what happened since I was asleep, everything you know,” Ming Ren demanded.
Yun Lin Xue’s face twisted in disgust and he spat again, “Over my dead body, trash!”
“Dead body? death would be too much kindness for you,” the art once more attacked Lin Xue.
Ming Ren experienced indescribable suffering inside the Bright Scripture. The Bright Senior gave him a huge gift… but also torment and pain.
The scene of a thousand needles piercing the eyes of Ming Ren and Yun Lin Xue repeated itself over and over. After a few minutes of suffering, Yun Lin Xue feared him deep to the bones. He couldn’t even endure one percent of Ming Ren’s suffering.
The crazy bastard also tortured himself!
Yun Lin Xue regretted crossing this demon’s path and blamed his own father for this predicament. Ming Ren wasn’t crazy but wanted to stimulate his own bloodline through the pain.
He couldn’t cultivate the true Divine Bright Eyes, yet the Bright Clan had an eye technique with a similar origin. It only enhanced one’s sight for a short period but it was only a matter of time and effort before Ming Ren’s replicated the technique.
All things had a common origin. Cultivation laws were not different. The Heavenly Dao was the beginning and the end. Lin Xue fell down on his knees, begged for mercy, and then told Ming Ren everything he knew.
*
A storm arrived for the Bright Clan following the years after his slumber. Ming Qiu, Ming Lan, and Ming Bo progressed at an unbelievable pace, but the pressure from the Silver Clan increased. The talented young generation threatened them as the Silver Clan lacked a prodigy.
At fifteen, Ming Qiu reached the peak of the Body Tempering Realm, sensing the True Element of Light. The geniuses of the White and Cloud clans were even more overbearing: they broke through to the Spirit Sea Realm and sensed two true elements.
Hailed as absolute geniuses, the royal family, and other big sects praised and wished to recruit them. Even the sects from neighboring countries joined the battle.
In the first year of Ming Ren’s slumber, those connected to him had amazing achievements and their own goals. Bai Xun and Yun Shufen left for their respective choices.
Lin Xue didn’t know Bai Xun’s destination. Yun Shufen chose the Royal Academy of the Soaring Country, even though their father urged for another sect. Ming Qiu entered closed-door cultivation, determined to reach the Spirit Sea Realm in one go. Ming Bo and Ming Lan won several martial arts tournaments, showing the Bright Clan’s splendor to the entire Bluecloud City.
Then everything went sideways for the clan.
A traitor attempted to assassinate Ming Qiu during cultivation. He didn’t die, but the attack damaged his meridians, crippling the chances of breaking through to the Spirit Sea Realm.
The greatest hope of the Bright Clan shattered into despair. Ming Ren felt the pain of his cousin as if it was his own. The ever bright and friendly Ming Qiu, undeserving of such treachery.
The clan followed the traitor’s trail to the Silver Clan as they didn’t even attempt to hide. Without Yun Shufen and Bai Xun around, the Cloud and White clan’s distanced themselves from the Bright Clan. Their statuses rose and the Bright Clan hanged from a thread to the fourth-ranked influence position.
With anger and resentment at its peak, members of the clan rushed in fury to the Silver Clan’s doorstep, and casualties happened in the conflict. The other clans mediated but punished only the Bright Clan with sanctions.
They appealed to the Brave Clan for a fair judgment, but the overlords of the Cloud Province ignored everything. The Sunflower Pavilion stood behind the Silver Clan, and its influence inside the royal family grew with each passing day.
One day, the overlord’s decree demoted the Bright Clan to a fifth-ranked influence, quoting their decline and lack of morals, stripping the clan of several of its rights and industries.
The decree transferred the spirit garden to the Silver Clan for a paltry amount of compensation. Other industries and territories suffered a similar fate, divided by the White and Cloud clans.
The remaining pieces of land and some small industries were not enough to maintain the clan for much longer. A while later, a rumor spread the Bright Clan rebelled against the overlord’s decree, and the royal family thus expelled them from the Soaring Country.
Yun Lin Xue knew the truth. Suffering from injustice, the Bright Clan knew they had no way to resist and decided to move. The patriarch forbade anyone from seeking revenge or death, and the clan united in the resolve to start again somewhere else.
Yet their troubles were not over as the three other clans found out about the Bright Scripture. A secret world was a legendary existence, even if seemingly useless. If they could present it to the royal family their prestige would soar.
It all happened because some elders wanted to use the Bright Scripture as a gift to the overlord to change the decree. The patriarch opposed, as it would go against the wishes of their ancestors, and a few of the elders became disgruntled. One took it further, spreading the news to the other clans for benefits. And that wasn’t the end.
An incident became the final spark that ignited the downfall of the Bright Clan. The traitorous elder lured the talented twins of the clan to an ambush. Ming Lan almost had her liberties taken away. Ming Bo died protecting his sister with their bodyguards. The patriarch came to their aid with many elders, but…
It was all part of the plan. Another ambush came…
…And the bright patriarch, a Spirit Gate Realm cultivator, died.