RE - Ascension

In Afrin, few people possessed the reputations that could strike fear upon the hearts of every local townsfolk.

The leader of Alkash clan, Irgun, was definitely included among those people.

Irgun Alkash was a human male in his early 50 with stout body, gray colored short hair, and an aged yet fierce looking face. Besides being Alkash clan leader, he was also the strongest warrior in the clan.

His cultivation has reached the 5th-rank of Martial Master. And within Martial Glory kingdom, he could be regarded as a top-rank cultivator.

With the strength of Martial Master, he, who originally just a lowly rogue cultivator from abroad had successfully forged a clan, in which had reigned supreme over Afrin and its surrounding area. The clan also succeeded in forming an alliance with one of the six Martial Grandmasters belongs to the kingdom, by giving his sole daughter to that exalted person as a concubine.

The support of a Grandmaster further cemented the status of Alkash clan as the overlord of Afrin. Even the town's mayor who was appointed by the king himself didn't dare to openly defy them.

However, Irgun was still unsatisfied, he wants more. Only by raising his cultivation further, he might be able obtaining what he d.e.s.i.r.ed.

He didn't dare to dream about becoming a Saint as he knew his own limit, but if he could reach Martial Grandmaster realm, then his status would be raised to a whole new level. Irgun will also definitely be invited to became one of the kingdom's Royal Guardians.

Only a Grandmaster can become a Royal Guardian. In Lampero Coast, that position was only below kings, princes and princesses in terms of hierarchy.

Based on Irgun's own estimation, he would become a Martial Grandmaster in 5 or 10 more years if luck was in his side.

This was his greatest ambition, and he would do anything to achieve it.

However, just moments ago, he suddenly received a disturbing report; the clan warriors he had send to investigate a group of outsiders, came back to the clan's mansion and reporting that they have been wounded.

That's why Irgun immediately ordered a meeting with the clan's upper echelons to discuss this matter. The meeting itself was being held inside a spacious hall within the clan's mansion.

"Are you sure those foreigners had attacked all of you?" Irgun asked his four subordinates, who were all kneeling in front of him.

While the rest of the clan members surrounded them.

Irgun had asked this particular question for several times already as he still didn't believe that someone dared to attack his men. The other clan members also did not believe it either.

It has been several years since the clan had became the local overlord, no one has ever slap them in the face like this.

"Yes, Lord Irgun... They're the one who attacked us." One of the wounded Martial Masters replied.

Irgun nodded slowly while contemplating.

Inside Irgun's heart, fear began to grow. These four subordinate of his, all of them were Martial Masters. And the strongest amongst them has the strength of 4th-rank Martial Master.

If the other party able to wounded four Martial Masters in a quick fashion, then those people should possessed incredible strength.

Irgun was wondering, 'what's their motives?'

"Do you know anything about them? Or from where did they're come from? And what do they look like?" A clan elder asked several questions.

The Martial Master who replied before shook his head, "No, Elder... Regrettably we do not know anything about them. Those people are completely unknown. The outsiders consisted of five people, three male, a woman and a boy. All of them are humans."

"Why are they visiting the town, then? Do you know their reason?" Another elder inquired.

"Yes... We were informed by our men within the town's guard corps. Those outsiders seems only wanted to rest for the night and would leave tomorrow morning." Said another Martial Master.

Irgun and the elders exchanged glances with each other.

A group of powerful outsiders suddenly came to the town because they wanted to have a rest?

For most of the Alkash clan members, it was extremely fishy.

"How do we response this matter?" Said Irgun in a solemn tone.

The elders and other clan members did not have clues on how to response this, so they keep quite.

Suddenly, the most capable warrior amongst the four Martial Masters opened his mouth and requesting, "Lord Irgun, would you allow me to voice my opinion?"

This man's name was Nestor. He was Irgun most trusted subordinate, and he also the captain of Alkash's household forces.

Irgun trusted him greatly, so he quickly conveyed his agreement by simply nodding.

"Let me explain something to you first... The one who had attacked us was the woman amongst the outsider's group. It was a spiritual attack with a frightening power behind it... We were completely surprised, by the time we sensed the incoming attack it was already too late for us to readying our Martial Sense's defense. The attack was fast, clean, and direct... That woman must have a formidable strength. I'm sure of it."

Irgun was visibly disturbed after hearing the explanation. Nestor has many battle experiences, thus Irgun did not doubt his assessment at all.

"Then Nestor, what should we do?" Irgun did not know what kind of response that the clan must perform.

Although Irgun himself was the strongest in the clan, he wouldn't be able to inflict any kind of damage to Nestor by only using a single spiritual attack. He needs to draw his entire power before he could do that.

That foreign woman must be a peak Martial Master at least. Not to mention, there were other outsiders who still did not show their powers. He was terrified if those outsiders turns out belongs to the mayor's camp.

Everyone in this town knows that Alkash clan was in the state of cold war against the mayor. They fought for the total control of Afrin.

Like the clan, the mayor also had a Royal Protector supporting him from behind. The situation, which already bad enough in the first place, will become even more worse if those outsiders was really the mayor's goons. The status quo that has been maintained for a couple of years would definitely broken.

Nestor has been examining Irgun since earlier, he knew what kind of worries he has.

Thus, he spoke again, "I think Lord Irgun simply thinks too much about it. I believe we shouldn't worry about this matter."

Almost every clan member including Irgun were confused. How could they not worry about it?

Nestor continued, "It's like this... I feel that those outsiders really visiting the town just to have a rest. Those people probably just got back from the Forest of Evil and now they're basically on their way home... We're being attacked because... Well... we're trying to probe them, which is kinda a rude thing to do. Besides, the way they had attacked us was only meant to be a warning, so that we're not deliberately barging into their business. Thus, I suggest we let go this matter completely and simply count the whole fiasco as a misunderstanding. From the looks of it, those foreigners also did not looking for troubles either. They just want to be left alone while they're here."

It makes sense if things really happen like that. There were many cultivators from overseas trying their luck inside the Forest of Evil. Most of them went there for various reasons such as to gain experiences, hunt some Demon Beasts, searching for treasures or cultivation resources, and they might perhaps simply wants to obtain a chance to break through their cultivation by the way of combats.

The clan members and even Irgun himself started to think they might become too paranoid because of this incident.

And if they thought about it further. Even powerful cultivators would normally choose to have a rest inside a town or any kind of settlements that provide protection, instead of resting in the wild where many dangers might occur.

Irgun racked his brain for a while before deciding on something. He sighed as he spoke, "Very well... Just let this matter go. Be sure to tell every clan member not to offend those foreigners."

Everyone in the hall immediately agreed with Irgun's decision. It's just stupid picking a fight due to a misunderstanding. Especially when the opponents was clearly stronger than them.

As they have no longer matters that needs to be discuss, then the meeting was concluded.

But before Nestor could dismiss himself, Irgun's commanding voice resound once more, "Nestor, just in case something happens. Keep monitor those outsiders while they're still inside Afrin... But don't do anything beyond that if the current situation remain."

Nestor turned his body towards Irgun and said, "Understood Lord."

***

Afrin's central district housed many important buildings belongs to the local governments, organizations and businesses. One of the businesses located here is the inn where Gareth and his group stayed tonight.

The inn's overall quality is not bad despite Afrin's destitute atmosphere.

The current time was already midnight. Gareth was busy reading something inside one of the inn's room, while the rest of his companions were at their own respective rooms.

What Gareth reads now was basically a worn-out parchment filled with texts written in an unknown language. The texts' language was completely different from the common language that was currently spoken by majority of the people in this world.

However, Gareth was able to read it because he understood and could speak that unknown language very well.

This unknown language was precisely a language that was commonly used by ancient people during the age of the Divine Emperors. But according to Gareth's recent knowledge, this language has became a dead language since there's not many people able to read it nowadays.

The parchment was given to Gareth by his grandfather, the patriarch of Dorian clan, when Gareth had just become a Martial Sage a few years back.

This special parchment was one of the clan's most prized heirloom. It contained extremely essential informations regarding cultivation from 10,000 years ago.

In fact, this parchment was actually a cultivation diary that was personally authored by the most celebrated hero in Profound Magnificent World. Whose name was still ringing gloriously even to this day, and whose deeds still could be found or heard within any literatures and sung by the bards.

That magnificent person was none other than Arthur, the Breaking Dawn Emperor.

He was the last known Martial Emperor cultivator to have existed in this world.

Martial Emperor was essentially a myth in every cultures across the three continents. Knowledge regarding this cultivation realm was extremely scarce and rare, even in the central continent. But there's no doubt that Martial Emperor was the supreme existences that could lord over the entire Profound Magnificent World single handedly with their strength.

In the past, Martial Emperors was born once or twice in every generation. However, there were no other Martial Emperors being born ever since Arthur's fall.

Arthur himself was recorded in history to have died approximately 10,000 years ago, that means Profound Magnificent World did not produce a single Martial Emperor for that long.

It was extremely difficult to reach Martial Emperor realm. Today, the strongest powerhouses in this world were only a couple of individuals with the strength of Half-step Martial Emperor or Peak-stage Martial Sage.

Gareth's grandfather was among those whose cultivations have reached Half-step Martial Emperor.

Logically, it should have been possible for them to advance to the next realm as these people have the most incredible talents. However, the reality was never been as simple as that.

Most of these individuals have cleary exhausted their potentials which stopped them from advancing further. And there was another particular problem that has almost completely blocked the route towards the Martial Emperor realm.

It's about the existence of Heavenly Thunder Punishment that will came down from the sky when a Martial Sage tries to break through into Martial Emperor realm.

This problem made Gareth really confused.

Heavenly Thunder Punishment was a punishment that every cultivator would experiences once they've reach a certain realm. Because, cultivation itself was an act of defying against the universe. Mortals that tries to fight this fundamental law must be punish and erase from existence.

Usually, the punishment would only be activate when a Martial Emperor cultivator was trying to break through to the next realm. It should not be sent earlier than that.

It must be known, in order for Martial Saints to successfully become Martial Sages; they absolutely must upgrade their Proto-Core into Revolving Core.

Revolving Core was the perfect form of cultivation core inside Martial Sages bodies. The core provides more efficient and purest form of Martial Essences. Thus, Sages able to possess the power which hundred times more stronger than the Martial Saints have.

Martial Emperor was basically cultivators who had succeded in dissolving their own Revolving Core seamlessly and fused it completely with their bodies, thus forming the so-called Martial Body.

And they also had leveled up their ordinary mortal soul to Martial Soul using the attainments of knowledges regarding the universe's laws they had gained during the course of their cultivation journey.

Forming both Martial Body and Martial Soul signify that cultivators has broken their "cocoon" and they're just a step away from becoming a god.

Once a cultivator able to form a Martial Body, they couldn't be hurt by any normal weapons or ordinary techniques due to the extreme toughness of their new body. Their lifespans will also become much longer than mortals.

Martial Emperors could live for at least 1000 to 3000 years if they're lucky.

While Martial Soul would allow Martial Emperors to have many more connections with the higher laws of the universe. Having a Martial Soul was the proof that they had trained their soul to the utmost level, which affect their mind to become steadfast and unbending.

Hence, both Martial Soul and Martial Body could greatly help a Martial Emperor in resisting the Heavenly Thunder Punishment.

It was almost impossible for Half-step Martial Emperors or below, who obviously did not possess their own Martial Body, to resist the punishment.

Gareth had learned from his own grandfather and from reading the diary of Breaking Dawn Emperor, the moment a Half-step Martial Emperor cultivator letting out a mere sign of forming his or her Martial Body, the Heavenly Thunder Punishment will immediately rain down from the sky and directly struck them merciless.

Since 10,000 years ago, many Half-step Martial Emperors had tried breaking through their cultivations, as they're not satisfied with their realm and want to become a genuine Martial Emperor not just a mere Half-step. But none of them were able to make it.

The last one who had try was a powerful Half-step Martial Emperor famously known as White Sword Sage. In the end, he was also burned by the heavenly thunder into cinders. Some say, the Sage's ashes still can be found near the place where he was burned to death.

That's why none of the Half-step Martial Emperors today dared to advance further from their current level. The Heavenly Thunder Punishment was extremely frightening and unforgiving.

The punishment was wholly controlled and sent by the Cl.u.s.ter's Will, the consciousness that was born from the will of every living being within the Cl.u.s.ters of the Mortal Realm. Each Cl.u.s.ters has their own respective Will, and these Will could dictate almost everything that happens inside its own Cl.u.s.ter.

Thus, the reason why the mechanism of Heavenly Thunder Punishment in this world was so different from the usual should be caused by the Will of 300 Myriad Cl.u.s.ter itself.

Unfortunately, Gareth could not deduce the Will's motives as he lacked any necessary information.

To be honest, he did not worry about the punishment at all.

Trying to resist the Heavenly Thunder Punishment without the strength of Martial Emperor will be tantamount to a suicide indeed. But Gareth still has a couple of things in his sleeve, which could greatly increase his chance of survival when the time to face the punishment come.

Actually, Gareth's cultivation already reached Half-step Martial Emperor as well. It happened around a few months ago just before he embarks on this journey. Therefore, it just a matter of time before he would need to try breaking through to the Martial Emperor realm

The rest of the diary's content was uninteresting and boring to say at least. Thus, Gareth closed the diary and throws it back inside his Space Ring.

He sighed while at the same time he started to think about lots of things.

Gareth's incredible cultivation's speed owes a lot to his past life's experiences and memories.

Many cultivators sometimes stuck at a certain stage due to the bottleneck caused by insufficient enlightenment, but Gareth did not experience the same as he still has the attainments from his previous life.

He also does not need guidance at all as he already knew most of the cultivation in's and out's. Inside his head, there were at least hundreds of thousands of either solution or tricks for many problems that could occur during cultivation.

Normally, this kind of haste progress could lead to various problems for cultivators.

But Gareth was someone who had achieved the peak of cultivation back in his past life. His foundation was firm and strong, and his Revolving Core was at its perfect form. Basically, Gareth's entire cultivation structure was a superb one.

At least, below the Divine Realm, he would have no problems regarding cultivation.

After thinking for a while, Gareth suddenly feels rather sleepy.

Next, he shut his eyes completely before falling a sleep while still sitting on the sofa inside his room.