Advanced Cultivation Civilization

ACC Chapter 28 Tribulation(5)

I had frozen. My wife, the woman I loved dearly, lay before me. Her blood was everywhere within our little home, the one we had dedicated our effort and love, to turn it into this cozy abode. Yet here it was, stained with my wife's very blood.

Her head rested at my feet, her black eyes glaring up above, unresigned even in death. Limbs, hers, were scattered all around the floor. With the upper torso closer to the head, I knew right away that they had tortured her.

I had been gone for just a few days, and yet someone had attacked her.

One of her severed hands had clutched something within its fingers, and when I dug it out, it was an insignia. The rotating wind vortex within the pentagon had already given away the identities of the attackers.

Marks littered every part of skin among her scattered appendages, as if she had been brutally tortured.

Renah had died. That simple statement didn't register within my mind, which had entered a daze, until a few minutes later when an apocalyptic rage took over my mind, causing my spiritual energy to go haywire, causing me to lose consciousness.

I woke up a few hours later, judging by the fact that it had gone dark within my blurry vision because of the wetness sliding down my cheeks as I cradled her head.

What had caused this? There had been no particularly valuable treasure among our property. Not to mention the fact that it had been years since our escape from that city.

My rage burned hotter as I rembered our escape. Could it be that that young master had found our hiding place?

My blood seethed as the rage boiled over, causing me to roar out with such power that the sound reverberated outwards, casting visible ripples into the air, dislodging the few minor things in the house.

-----

"Renah Serenegrass, you will always be my only woman, none shall ever take your place. I swear this to the Heavens!" I swore while looking at the burning pyre. She had mentioned what she would want for her death in passing. It had been something of a joke at the time. Yet reality had somehow warped to make it true.

"You were the love of my life. The person I loved most in this world, and the person who rooted me, a duckweed. I swear upon the Heavens that I will annihilate every single disciple of that sect in the same manner as they did to you." Once again, thunder boomed in the skies at my oath. The Heavens had acknowledged.

After the fire had died down, I collected the ashes within a fine porcelain jar, her favourite, and moved on, making sure that everything within the house had burned down.

It was time I cultivated! Vengeance would be ours.

-----

Ever since that tragedy, I cultivated with zeal. Hunted for resources like a man possessed. Even going so far as to perpetuate conflict.

Disciples of sects, I didn't care! If they contested a resource I wanted, I struck without mercy, killing the lot. If I couldn't win, then I would just run away. Though, that was rare as anyone who had reached Core Formation was a honored elder in any sect.

They wouldn't be out searching for resources like common disciples. Instead, the resources went to them. Unless of course, there was some prized core disciple needing protection.

Leading such a life, years passed. With only one thing in my mind, vengeance. And in order to become strong enough, I only did two things, collecting resources and cultivating. Everything else didn't matter... Except news of the Gale sect. I made sure to collect every piece of information about them I could get my hands on.

Like, the number of disciples, elders, and most of all, their strength. Plus some information about their formations, which I pried out of some disciples I had captured. Though, the truly important secrets still eluded me. I was strong enough to contest their elders, but that would have been too risky at the moment.

-----

Over 100 years passed like that before I found myself at the gates of the Gale sect.

Majestic light green pillars of what looked to be solidified tornadoes held up the green gate that looked dangerous, even to my senses. I was now at the peak of the Core Formation stage, just a step away from attracting my tribulation.

"All unauthorized personnel aren't allowed here."

One of the two disciples below the gates, spoke. Any other day, and the gates would have been open, with disciples milling in and out. But this was a special day. It was the 200 year anniversary of the Gale Sect.

All the people I wanted dead had gathered in one place.

Before the two disciples could take a more aggressive stance though, they stumbled as blood leaked out of their eyes, with them biting the dust in just a mere few minutes. They would be the lucky ones. The others weren't going to be afforded the same mercy.

The gates and sect protecting formation weren't exactly a breeze, but I still managed to get within them without alerting the others inside.

Every odd lingering disciple or deacon that met me, fell to my spear, with their limbs severed from their bodies. I made it so that they didn't die faster, instead installing a virus within their bodies that made them feel excrutiating pain. Pain so far past their thresholds, that they lacked the power to even scream.

Sects lied to mortals about how cultivators were free of disease. Just like normal mortals, even cultivators were susceptible to disease. You just had to find the right micro-organism that had evolved to be capable of using spiritual energy.

I had come with an entire plague on my hands. And because I had familiarised myself with how formations worked, I had tinkered with the mountain protecting formation.

The plague went airborne, spreading faster because the viruses I had cultured had the power to sense spiritual energy attuned to humans through the air. Therefore, they darted towards the signatures radiating from cultivators.

I followed along at a leisurely pace. Though, I had only made sure that they had only a single effect, slowing down the circulation of spiritual energy. Those at Foundation Establishment and above could see them if they were paying attention, but who would be? When they were safely protected within the sect formation and having an important celebration?

From the gates to the grounds, very few people were on the path, making it so that I didn't have to strain myself. Breaking through the paved path, lined with what appeared to be metallic tracks in the middle, I appeared within a plaza, where many cultivators were sprawled on the ground with only those at the Core Formation stage struggling to stay standing.

The next few minutes were... dull. I had thought that by severing limbs and letting all these people die in excruciating pain would lessen the pain of Renah's death. Or make me feel a little less vengeful.

But I felt hollow. Even as I climbed the stone steps with glowing inscriptions towards the top, where the upper echelon of the sect had been seated, I didn't feel anything worthwhile.

"You insolent curr! Wha-what damn virus is this?" Shouted one of the people when I reached the top.

It was one of those typical elders of the sect, ones who had long given up on advancement due to their waning lifespans or lack of drive. He was old, with hair and beard all white, with wrinkles creating canyons and mountain ranges on his face. He looked like even a simple gust of wind could blow him away.

But, he was still essentially a Core Formation venerable. I could sense the powerful winds within his core, though now rotating slowly.

"Vengeance."

I uttered only a single word, my gaze moving away and onto a middle aged man with light green hair, tied in a bundle behind his head. He had become older, but I could still make out the young master Roland within his visage.

"We have never offended you. You must be just a simple demonic cultivator. How could an entire sect have offend you?" The older Roland scoffed while gesturing towards the disciples down below the stairs.

"I am not a demonic cultivator... That doesn't matter at this point..." I shook my head to chase away the useless thoughts. With a burst of speed, the elders met the same fate as the disciples below, now devoid of limbs and facing excruciating pain.

Roland was the only one left, staring at me defiantly even though his feet had failed him, depositing him into the sect master's chair. He had even managed to ascend that high.

"Vengeance... It seems that your quarrel is with me. But why did you have to attack the defenseless and innocent disciples plus the elders?"

The man was calm, calm enough to set off alarm bells in my head.

"Do you remember Renah Serenegrass?"