“I swear on my blood and soul,” Tian Zhe ran between the trees, fighting his way through the tall grass and bushes.

“I will become the destroyer of all that exists,” having jumped over another snag, he turned in the air, throwing his dao into the shadow flickering behind with a sharp swing.

“My life and my body are of no value,” after landing, the young man runs to the wounded animal and, with a blow of his palm, drives his weapon deeper into the flesh of his victim.

“Only the blood of enemies has value,” grabbing the handle, Tian Zhe pulled out his weapon and, forgetting to lower his sword, forgetting about any elegance.

“When you meet the beast, kill the beast!”

“When you meet a person, kill the person!”

“When you meet a demon, kill the demon!”

“When you meet a saint, kill the saint!”

“When you meet God, kill God!“

Like a madman, Tian Zhe chopped the flesh of a demonic beast that resembled a red-skinned wolf. In his fighting frenzy, he felt his blood pulsing through his body with every heartbeat.

“Eat, drink, devour and absorb your enemy,” licking his lips, with a sharp movement, Tian Zhe jumped to the side, simultaneously cutting the flesh of another animal.

“Kill, rip, tear and destroy!” Tian Zhe shouted as he ran, he reveled in the cruelty that took possession of him. With each murder, his spiritual core pulsed and a whirlwind of spiritual energy forcefully expanded the dimensions of the spiritual core, causing pain and thereby only increased the rage of the young adept.

“Become nothing, surrender to rage, become rage!” Tian Zhe strangled the last red wolf by lifting the poor animal above him.

---

“What do you think about this technique?” Tian Zan drank wine and sat down next to his nephew, looking at how he was breathing heavily on the ground.

“Now I understand why the technique of the Furious God of Destruction is considered forbidden,” the exhausted young man squeezed out of himself with difficulty.

The Furious God of Destruction is a forbidden progression technique contained in the closed archives of the Ice Lotus. Its strength was one of the ten best development techniques available at the academy, but it was declared forbidden due to its side effect.

The technique itself was weak. Using it during ordinary meditation, the adept only slightly increased his spiritual strength, while becoming unusually irritable. The Furious God of Destruction took its place among the best due to the fact that the adept repeatedly accelerated the spiritual currents in his body during sudden movements, thereby strengthening the physique.

At the same time, if the adept used the technique during the battle, then his consciousness was not clouded as in ordinary meditation, instead the adept fell into a rage, excited by anger and began to revel in violence. The more fiercely the spiritual practitioner fought, the faster the vortex of energy revolved in his spiritual core, and the faster the adept developed.

“A strange technique,” concluded Tian Zhe. “Part of the spiritual energy splashes out during sharp movements and returns to the core after merging with the spiritual energy of the killed enemy.”

“Can you even feel it?” Tian Zan was surprised. Even the venerable found it difficult to feel these changes in the flow of spiritual energy.

“Is it really that amazing?” As a traitor to another world, Tian Zhe did not represent the scale of the differences between himself and other people.

“Well, look, according to my observations and experience, your very perception of spiritual energy is comparable to the perception of golden spellcasters who are preparing to break into the heavenly kingdom and become venerable spellcasters,” Tian Zan began his explanations. “But most importantly, you do not just feel the flows of spiritual energy around you, but are able to distinguish them!”

Tian Zan was pleased with what he saw. Few in the Fire Orchid family had such a spiritual perception when reaching the heavenly realm. While Tian Zhe showed his hypersensitivity even before reaching the earthly realm. Who knows what results he will achieve in the future.

“I can't wait for the moment when you become the first Zhenren of this generation,” Tian Zan ruffled the hair of his nephew lying on the ground.

This scene might have been cute if the teenager lying on the ground hadn't been covered in blood, mud and bits of fur from head to toe.

Tian Zhe chopped, hacked, choked, and slaughtered weak demonic beasts in the Ice Lotus training area for half an hour. After a frantic training session, the young man was a match for Mei Ling, the girl looked no better than her employer when she dealt with a pack of yoshimi in the Dark Forest a few days ago.

“Even without spiritual crystals, I can say that a few more days of such training and you will reach the stage of the bronze cloud.”

“Perhaps I should refrain from using this technique to break through the lower dantian.”

“You think so? Tian Zan smiled.” Furious God of Destruction has the greatest strength gain among all non-attribute techniques.

“Too many risks,” the young man breathed out indifferently. “The training lasts until the practitioner gets tired or the enemies run out and I correctly suspect that the more often the adept uses this technique, the stronger his dependence on rage?”

“Exactly,” Tian Zan smiled at his nephew. “In the past, there were cases when adepts attacked their allies and sometimes it ended in someone's death.”

“Cruel.”

“That's why it became forbidden,” Tian Zan laughed again. Usually adepts strive to become stronger no matter what it costs them and the weak-hearted adepts could easily develop addiction after a couple of bloody workouts with this technique. “What else can you say about this technique?”

“...” Tian Zhe made a grimace of pain. “I would not like to say that.”

“Come on, all of them, no one will say anything!”

“Okay.” A deep sigh. “While using the technique, you do not just get into a rage, but you also get a strong pleasure from arousal.”

With this, Tian Zhe ran his hand over his body, stopping it at his crotch.

“The pleasure of carnage can overshadow sexual gratification.”

“Ho.”

From only one malicious smile of his uncle, the young man felt uncomfortable.

“So baby Zhe has learned the meaning of admiring the moon after a pleasant night,” the old man took a few sips of wine.” I didn't know. I didn't know that my nephew had become very big.”

“What the heck!” Tian Zhe let it slip. Well, a thirteen-year-old teenager cannot know about sexual satisfaction, but an adult in a child's body knew how he could betray his position as a "body invader."

“Should I call your bodyguard daughter-in-law?”

“Damn, damn, damn, damn!”

“So she not only protects you, but also cares about you,” Tian Zan drained a bottle of wine, watching his nephew blush before his eyes.

“No, that's wrong!” With a red face like a bloody tomato, Zhe gave his objection. “I heard that for men, the most powerful pleasure is pleasure in bed.” 

“So there was nothing?” Tian Zan did not stop.

“No, there was not!”

Watching the tomato-faced Zhe trying to sink into the ground, Tian Zan calmed down. “You are already at that age when you can conclude a marriage contract, but do not do stupid things like your brother.”

“...”

“Even if your father can hush up any of your faults, this does not mean that you can do whatever you want.”

“I know.”

---

“Save me!” Sung Ming ran through the forest, holding back tears.

“Don't lag behind! Yun Yongru screamed at her friend, forcing him to run faster.

“What a sight!” Tian Zan laughed, jumping from branch to branch, moving somewhere over the heads of children.

“Oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo,” Meanwhile, a pack of red wolves drove the pair through the Ice Lotus training area.

Despite the name, this part of the academy's grounds could be called a park or even a small forest inside the Jade City. Most of the academy was walled off and densely planted with trees, creating a landscape resembling a forest area. After that, several flocks of red wolves were launched into the zone, consisting of young individuals who did not reach the bronze rank, and periodically the academy teachers took students into it for practical combat or survival training.

“Don't be afraid and run,” Tian Zan's voice reached the children. “The Academy exterminates individuals that pose a threat to bronze rank students.”

“But we're not even bronze! Yun Yongru wanted to cry.”

“It’s awkward,” Tian Zan hesitated for a second and then took another sip of wine. “The goal of your training is not for combat experience, but the training of body and spirit. Run until the animals get tired of chasing you.”

“I want to go home to my mother,” said Yun Yongru.

“I don't want to die!” Complained Sung Min.

“Don't complain.” Tian Zan kept a close eye on the safety of the children despite his fifth bottle of wine.  “Next time, you will run with pieces of meat tied to your back.”

“...”

---

“How noisy they are,” having recovered Tian Zhe continued his training, occasionally paying attention to his classmates running somewhere there. Pushing himself off the trunk of a fallen pine tree, the young man increased the distance between himself and the pack of wolves pursuing him.

“And whose fault is it that these two became disciples of the brother?” came a displeased female voice.

“So aunt ... Sister Lan already knows everything?” Tian Zhe, not being distracted by the voice of a relative, chose the target and sharply pulled the bowstring after a moment, unclenched the fingers of his right hand, releasing an arrow towards his target.

“And I do not like it!” Tian Lan, like Tian Zan, moved by jumping from branch to branch. “For someone like Brother Zan to take these rats as a student ..”

“...” Tian Zhe could not find what to answer to his aunt. In her last phrase, there was a distinct resentment. “Sorry.”

“Don't apologize,” the girl made another jump, making sure that Tian Zhe was not in a dangerous situation. She replaced her older brother at noon when Song Ming and Yun Yongru came to the training area. At the same time, the girl saw the students of her class, who became her brother's personal students. “Not fair.”

---

In noble and sacred families, there was a tradition according to which children from the age of six received a general education in history, calligraphy, poetry, and painting. Upon reaching the age of ten, children also studied the basics of cultivation, and after entering the Ice Lotus Academy, depending on the results shown, the heads of families made their children an individual training plan, often hiring or assigning a personal mentor to the children.

In Tian Lan's case, she didn't have that kind of training. Despite being the daughter of a clan chief, she was neglected. When Tian Lan was ten years old, due to the invasion of demonic beasts, the Fire Orchid family suffered great losses. That year Tian Luo, the only son of her elder brother Zan, died. Two years later, her father died, and Tian Dzun became the new head of the family. In the year she entered the academy, another invasion took place that claimed the life of Tian Yui, Tian Dzong's wife.

The girl was unlucky, and due to numerous tragedies, none of the elders cared about the one who would never take the post of the head of the clan or the position of the elder. Unlike her older brothers, Tian Lan was only the daughter of a concubine of the clan's previous head.

“I'm amazed at how well you shoot.” Tian Lan couldn't help but admire Tian Zhe's archery.

“I wouldn’t say that it’s difficult. It’s enough to learn how to hold your hands correctly when shooting and then practice accurate shooting,” the young man walked between trees collecting arrows.

“Even so, you're lucky,” the girl sighed heavily.” Only ten days have passed since admission, and you are already preparing to form a bronze cloud, not to mention the fact that a great master accepted you.

“I was not accepted as a disciple. I was just an accidental stone raised from the ground and having heard the instructions from the great master.”

“But they paid attention to you.” Tian Lan could not agree with Tian Zhe's arguments. “Even if you did not become a direct disciple of a Zhenren, the head of the family will devote all the resources of the family to provide you with the best mentors possible.”

“...”

“My brother even decided to give you money for expenses every month and ordered to increase the number of drugs for improvement.”

“What about my brother?”

“If his development does not change for graduation, then your father may reconsider the decision to inherit the position of the head of the family.”

“...” Tian Zhe felt bad at heart.” “I am certainly glad to increase the resources, but the post of the head does not interest me.”

“Okay, I see you don’t like it. Let's leave this topic for later,” Tian Lan approached her nephew, placing a crystal bowl and spiritual crystals in front of him. “I have already tried this test method, but I do not know what the results mean. Will you help your little sister?”

“Yes.”

---

“A yellow spiritual core, a double attribute of fire and lightning, a spiritual core in the form...” Tian Zhe looked with interest at the accumulation of fragments of a fragile spiritual crystal that was changing its shape every now and then. “I can't imagine what this form is.”

“You have no idea?”

“No,” Tian Zhe did not know such a form before that. He compared the form of his classmates' spiritual cores with the description from the novel or with what the spiritual core looks like. That is why Tian Zhe agreed with the rector on the mass collection of statistical data of qixing in order to compile a classification of the forms of spiritual nuclei through comparison.” Sister Lan hasn't seen anyone with the same uniform?

“It is because of this that I decided to consult with you,” the girl's voice was suppressed. “The Academy conducts testing among students, recording their results, and if you had not started skipping classes after the end of your punishment, you would have seen a similar result with others.”

“And who has such a form of the spiritual core?” Tian Zhe became interested.

“Half of the elementary class.”

“...”

“Is it that bad?”

“Well, how can I say,” the young man thought about a possible option, and then he remembered that he did not want to remember and ignored all this time.” Wu Yang Li, what are the attributes?

“The small crystal sparkled without any shades, and its shape is the same as mine.” Tian Lan's face turned to stone. The girl remembered how Tian Zhe disgraced the family on the first day by confusing his name with the name of this boy.

“Sister Lan will have to try to become a Zhenren.”

The complexity of the form of the spiritual core determines the speed of development of the adept. If an adept with the form of a soul in the form of a fiery lion merges with a fiery demonic spirit with a lion's bloodline, then his perfection rate will be much faster than that of an adept whose attributes coincided with the spirit in only one parameter.

Not to mention, the right technique widens the gap. But not only this determined the result. For example, a person without attributes was able to form a solid silver cage around his spiritual core due to the development technique and enclose the spirit of a fiery lion in it, despite the fact that when becoming a qixing, the speed of improvement increases, such a qixing may be inferior to an adept using development technique suitable for his attributes.

“Formless spiritual cores, the most common. The more complex the form, the less common it is. For example, if Uncle Zan's phoenix shape is rated at five points, then Yun Yongru's cloud is two points, and rector Ji Liu's lion is three points.”

“So my core is estimated at one point,” the girl was very unpleased. Tian Lan was considered a genius after graduating from the academy as a silver spellcaster of the initial stage. Now it turns out that she was no different from the commoners she laughed at all her life.

“It's not that important.”

“You don’t understand,” the girl's voice trembled. “You almost became bronze, a master of legendary rank noticed you, and I am sure that you have rare attributes!”

“...”

“The head of the family allocated resources for your education. You are the same youngest child of the head of the clan, like me, but you have everything, and I have nothing,” years of accumulated resentment came down from the girl's lips. Due to the daughter of a concubine's position, her existence was forgotten in difficult times for the family. Even knowing the highest technique of family development, the girl with great difficulty reached the silver rank at sixteen years old, and only a year after graduation, she managed to become a qixing by proving her spirituality, and now it turns out that anyone can achieve what the girl spent all her strength on just picking up development technique according to the attributes and merge with the most suitable demonic beast.

Tian Zan heard everything. He was a holy warrior who reached the highest point of development among the saints. Even if he was tens of meters away from his relatives and watched the students, he heard everything as well as if he was standing next to Tian Lan. With a wave of his hand, the old man threw away the pack of red wolves and ordered the children to return to the academy.