Chapter 206: Lord.

Chapter 206: Lord.Loud gulps echoed in the forest and Lee turned back to normal.

"Esteemed master, please spare us!" One of the bandits cried out and dropped to his knees. Few others immediately followed the suit, including their leader. Only a couple from the gang hesitated, but after glancing at Lee’s nonchalant expression, knelt as well.

"Stop fooling around. Get up!" Lee said with a faint smile, he barely managed to muster.

Only he knew how taxing the earlier stunt was and how much agony it caused. The elemental energies within him were currently in a complete mess and the pain it caused almost paralyzed him.

Sixteen years ago he was born on the same continent where the Celestial Abyss sect was located. He was thrilled after finding it out and spent his first two years of the new life happily practicing the Five Elements Discovery technique.

The prospects of him reaching for new cultivation heights fueled his motivation and he expectantly waited for the day he would become elemental master. He even made a bet with himself whether he could ignite the spark before turning five years old.

He was the ninth child in a farmer family, not too poor, but not very rich either. His relatives, including older brothers and sisters, worked hard, and since he was a healthy boy who didn’t cry for attention, in general he was left alone.

Lee knew that this time he almost had the perfect start. The only downside was his parents not having any cultivation resources. But to him it didn’t matter – he began training right after having the first meal.

The problem was, or rather – the disastrous revelation – at the age of two he noticed three faint stars lighting up in his Dantian. Blue, yellow and red.



At first he was despaired. He always thought that his ability to retain memories after reincarnation provided him with chances to start over at will. Turns out – he only continued from where he left of.

It was almost as if he hadn’t died – the three damned sparks were still there and with years passing by they grew, accumulating more and more elemental particles. Lee never thought that Potatoe’s warning words to not absorb a beast spark were this serious, but there was no turning back.

Fortunately, he made peace with the situation pretty quickly.

First of all he realized that if he remained in Sunwell, sooner or later he would’ve absorbed a beast spark. And, secondly, if the scourge took him away against his will, he would’ve either ended up in the mines or absorbing a beast spark anyway.

No matter what road he took, he would’ve messed up in the last life and there was no point in dwelling on what was already beyond his control.

He didn’t give up on cultivation, though. He meticulously trained his physical condition, and the age of six joined Open Path sect.

It was a tiny sect located a dozen miles from their home. The Sect Master, Elric Moss, was an old elemental lord who had comprehended a single elemental law, apparently completely stuck in his cultivation. He happily accepted the seemingly talented boy, while Lee’s sisters were the only ones in the family reluctant to let him go.

For Lee it was a great start, though. With day’s passing by he perfected basics of every aspect of combat and almost for a decade was considered to be the future of the Open Path sect.

To others it seemed he didn’t need to learn any techniques, he somehow comprehended everything naturally. The sect provided him with tens of people to spar with and that was all Lee could ask of.

The problems began when he, contrary to everyone’s expectations didn’t show any progress regarding elemental cultivation. Lee considered faking igniting of one of the sparks, but realized that if he did that, he would be considered an elemental master and everyone would expect him to use elemental energy.

The problem was – if he used only one of the three elemental energies, the other two were immediately imbalanced and caused actual physical pain. In small amounts it was bearable, but if he did more intense moves, he found himself lying on the ground, crawled up in agony.

There was one peculiar change compared to the last life, though. The more Lee cultivated, the brighter the sparks became. They also felt more closer to him than ever, almost as if they were an original part of him. If not for the pain he felt after using elemental energy, he might’ve started to think he ignited the sparks on his own.

And the skills he was capable of using were powerful. He was certain he would’ve been able to go head to head with Victoria now, except that he would feel pain with every move. But those moves surely would be deadly.

When Lee was fifteen, Sect Master Moss inspected his condition, and came to the painful conclusion that the boy had no talent for cultivation. The fact that he could beat the asses of anyone in the sect in a pure physical confrontation, including elders, didn’t matter.

In an instant Lee was discarded and became the object of ridicule in the eyes of other disciples and the elders, but he wasn’t worried by that. Contrary to the Nethermoon sect, the elders here were only elemental masters and had any status only because they had settled in the countryside. Anywhere else in the world governed by the Celestial Abyss they were basically nobodies.

Last month Lee relieved several elders he didn’t particularly like of their accumulated funds, staged his own death, and vanished.

His idea was that even if he was currently limited in regards to cultivation, it didn’t mean it would stay that way forever. And even if it did – there were other things in life he could do.

First of all – he was curious how Xiao Lian was doing. Lee had no clue how much time had passed since his death and decided to check on his buddy, to see whether he ended up marrying Qin Yujian. To do that, he needed to find a way to reach the other continent, the one where the Nethermoon sect was located.

Obviously, the only way to get there was through a rift, and the first place that came to mind where he could find an elemental lord with spatial abilities was the Celestial Abyss sect. It probably would cost a lot, but Lee wasn’t worried. He knew he would figure something out, and the meeting with the bandit gang on the way gave him an amusing idea.



"Stop embarrassing yourselves." Lee said, seeing the bandits refused to get up, "From now on you’ll officially become my guards, so you should behave appropriately."

"My lord, how should we address you?" The bandit leader asked.

"Calling me Lord is fine." Lee said, trying to sound as haughty as possible, "Follow me! We need to fix your looks first."

***

The same evening the inhabitants of a small town on the opposite side of the forest experienced great shock.

When the fourteen bandits marched in the town, the locals were already picking up their weapons, but then a teenager who at first seemed to be their captive, called over the town chief and directly paid him a sack of gold, compensating for the trouble.

And that was only the beginning. Afterwards Lee purchased a passable leather gear and swords for his fourteen new followers. Before they could enjoy their new equipment, everyone had to wash, get shaven and their hair cut, and before the sun set the former gang transformed into a squad of mercenaries.

They couldn’t believe the change themselves, much less the townsfolk, but for Lee it was only the beginning. His eyes were on the Celestial Abyss sect.

While on the road, he thought his new companions how to live. Of course, he only trained them to march in proper formation and to keep stern looks on their faces, but the dumb hillbillies actually thought it was a real guard practice.

They were happy to serve their lord, who not only paid for their meals – he even promised a bright future in the strongest sect in the world!