NOVEL NEXT Chapter 24: The Broken Spear
Guo began narrating the grand tale of the broken spear, and Spark listened keenly with interest.
As it turned out, the general's story even sounded more bogus than the previous one.
The story was about a general who had just finished a battle. Being the last to survive, the general marched home with the remnant of his treasured spear—which had already been broken—to announce his victory.
But unfortunately, his fatal injuries caught up with him, causing him to lose consciousness. When he finally came to, he found himself in a remote village.
Confused about how he got there, he inquired, and was told that his body was found when hunters went out to search for game.
Grateful but weak, he could only bide his time waiting to recover. Unfortunately, fate didn't grant him this moment of respite.
The village was quickly faced with a beast tide—one unlike any they'd seen before. It was a given that they would surely perish.
Not wanting the general to face death with them, they took him to a safe house along with the women and children, hoping the incoming tide wouldn't reach them.
But the general was unwilling. He instead offered to lead them in facing the battle. At least with his experience and knowledge, they would stand a better chance.
Despite countless warnings and pleas, they all fell on deaf ears, as the general was intent on helping. He felt indebted to them, after all.
So with his broken spear and battered armor in tow, despite his critical state, he led the makeshift army to confront the beast tide.
Though this was a futile attempt—akin to smashing an egg on a stone in hopes of shattering the stone…
They faced the tide regardless, and the result was astonishing. For three days and three nights, the general and his makeshift army fought against the tide.
Though there were some losses, they were negligible. As for how they were able to accomplish this feat, it was because the general had self-awakened his Will.
So with this supernatural force in tow, he seized momentum and slaughtered the Beast King controlling the tide, naturally putting an end to it.
It was after this battle that he had an epiphany and unconsciously created the path of martial arts.
"Are these stories seriously real?" Spark asked incredulously. He found it hard to believe that something like that could happen, and this so-called Will was something he hadn't seen or heard of—even on Earth.
They were all humans, right? So Earthlings being able to awaken a Will should have been possible.
"As real as it can get! Till today, these three legends are still alive. If you doubt the stories, you can go confront them," Guo stated, wearing a displeased expression.
Spark still shook his head. "If they're still alive, then their power must be immeasurable by now. Why can't they lead the mortal lands to greater heights?
With that much power, they should be able to rival immortals, right?"
Guo suddenly paused and glanced at Spark solemnly. "You underestimate the immortals too much, and you overestimate the path of martial arts and essence weaving."
He paused, pondering how he could explain it to Spark. "I don't know much about immortals, but I do know about their initial levels:
Extracting gaseous Qi, which is Qi Refinement.
Condensing Qi to liquid—Foundation Building.
And congealing the Qi to solid—Core Formation.
These are the three initial stages of immortal cultivators. For those of the spirit, I know nothing about them."
"But these three initial stages correspond to martial arts' three initial stages, which are:
Tempering the vessel—Body Refinement Realm.
Unlocking the meridians—Meridians Opening Realm.
And refining the marrow—Bone Forging Realm.
But even though a Body Refinement Realm martial artist is equivalent to a Qi Refinement cultivator, if they were to battle, the cultivator would win nine out of ten times. Such is the power disparity between us mortals and them immortals," Guo explained.
Spark was shocked. 'So it's like that? Wait a minute—then how did I get here?'
He initially thought a martial arts master or essence weaver might have saved him, but with such a power disparity, he truly doubted it could be so.
And his being in the mortal realm ruled out the possibility of it being an immortal who saved him, as according to Guo, the Heaven and Earth formation prevented cultivators above the Core Formation Realm from entering the mortal lands.
Unknown to Spark, there were some exemptions to this rule. For example, if one was one of the constructors of the formation, they could naturally go in and out as they pleased…
But such a being was way above Spark's sights, and his mind couldn't possibly fathom them intervening in his stead.
"We are here," Guo announced as they arrived at a conspicuous inn.
He gave Spark a small bag of coins and explained the value of it in tokens lest he be cheated. After that—
"WAIT! What about the problem I'm supposed to help with?"
By the time Spark remembered, Guo had gone on his way, quickly fading into the crowd.
And so, helpless, Spark went into the inn. 'Whatever! It's not like they don't know where I am. He also seemed to mention something about a Slader.'
Though not looking its best, the little inn was at least tidy. But it was quite dilapidated. Apart from what seemed to be a receptionist, no one else was in sight.
He walked to the counter, where he met an androgynous-looking fellow.
"Welcome, young visitor. I go by the name Hai. May I know which service you require?"
On seeing a customer walk through his doors, Hai quickly straightened his posture.
Spark was already feeling quite strained due to the massive info he had collected. He just needed a place to relax and sort out his thoughts on what his next steps were. "How much for a room?"
Visibly excited, Hai quickly replied, "We offer 1 gold coin a day—three square meals and utilities included."
But instead of responding, Spark just stood frozen, his mind suddenly turning blank and his vision clouded by a sea of red.
Very quickly, his sapphire blue iris became tinged white, a hint of sanguine, and his delicate face quickly morphed ferociously.
His output started running subconsciously, constantly pumping the newly replenished energy into his slowly rising arms, being outstretched to the now terrified Hai.
KILL! KILL! KILL!
A deranged voice echoed violently in Spark's mind…
His urges were back!