Chapter 7

• Jack was leaning against the stone jar, panting heavily. As a matter of fact, his injuries were more serious. His chest that was hit by the Fire-Cloud Palm gave off a burnt smell, and his ribcages seemed to have shattered. However, he did not cry out in pain nor show any weakness. He curled his lips into a sinister smile and said, "Miranda, don't scream so loudly. People might get the wrong impression."
• "You are a maniac! B*stard! You b*stard!" Miranda yelled in shame and indignation. She could not launch another attack, for whenever she tried that a dull pain would radiate from the wound on her shoulder and made her face pale in agony.
• "If you could maim me, you should have just done it. But since you can't, get lost." Jack spat a mouthful of blood, took out the flying dagger from his waist, and made a strange gesture. Despite the pain, he gathered all his strength in his right hand again.
• This unique skill of flying daggers had saved his life. If it weren't for Miranda's realm, he would have never revealed this skill of his.
• "He knows how to use flying daggers, yet you didn't tell me beforehand?!" Miranda barked at Liam. A regular person would take more than three years at least to hone this flying dagger technique, for it was very tricky to pick up. Accompanied by Mike's strength, the power of the dagger had clearly doubled, to say the least. Miranda could tell that Jack didn't just practice it for fun; instead, it was more like a set of martial arts he had cultivated. Nonetheless, she was confused at how Jack could have managed to learn it because the Blue Cloud Sect did not have any dagger type of martial arts.
• "I swear I didn't know." Liam was both depressed and alarmed. He could tell that Mike's flying dagger was extraordinary.
• "Hey, Miranda, you are half-naked now." Jack whistled mockingly.
• "Shameless!" Miranda hurriedly pulled her dress to cover herself. His eyes sparkling. Jack seized this opportunity and waved his hand, trying to shoot his flying dagger again. However, at this moment, a teenager who was carrying an iron sword on his back rushed over. His iron sword was golden, and those around could distinctly feel the sharp Qi and the overwhelming glow of the sword from a distance.
• "Isn't that the Golden Sword, Carl Cheng? D*mn it, why is he here?" Miranda's expression changed slightly. She immediately grabbed her tattered clothes and rushed into the dense forest. Before leaving, she shot a glare at Mike.
• "Miranda! Wait for me." Liam recognized Carl and fled in a panic. He had no time to care about Mike.
• Jack furrowed his thick brows slightly as he put away his dagger.
• After a while, a teenager dressed in black came up to Mike. He was very handsome and muscular. His facial features were angular; his eyes were piercing and deep. Others inevitably felt a sense of oppression oozing out of him.
• His black clothes could not conceal his extraordinary and heroic bearing. The most eye-catching thing was the golden feathers embroidered on both sides of his collars. This was a special symbol that reflected his noble identity, a Golden Disciple!
• The hierarchy of the Blue Cloud Sect was divided into ordinary disciples, the elders' personal disciples, and Golden Disciples.
• Ordinary disciples were further divided into lower-class disciples, middle-class disciples, and upper-class disciples.
• There were more than 8,000 disciples of the Blue Cloud Sect, and most of them were ordinary disciples. There were 600 elders' personal disciples while only 30 Golden Disciples, five of which were in their teens.
• The person standing before Jack was a Golden disciple, one of the five greatest geniuses of their generation, Carl Cheng. He was also nicknamed the Golden Sword.
• Carl was extraordinarily talented and had created many miracles for the Blue Cloud Sect. The Golden Sword he carried was personally forged by the Blue Cloud Sect's leader, Titan Lee, and it was able to emit an astoundingly sharp Qi.
• Jack was a lower-class disciple amongst the ordinary disciples, one who had been punished and belonged to the bottom hierarchy. When compared to Carl, the former was like an eagle soaring in the sky while Jack was like a sparrow on the ground. "What happened?" interrogated Carl, his tone as cold as the glacier ice. Just moments ago, when he was about to enter Herb Mountain to get some spirit grasses, he heard a commotion on the way here. The scene was a mess, and there were traces of flames left on the ground. It was obvious that a fight had just broken out here.
• Mike's injuries were severe, but Carl did not show any intention of helping him. Instead, he looked at Jack with an unfriendly look.
• "I'm fine. Thank you for your concern." Suppressing his pain, Jack turned on his heel to leave.
• "Stop right there!" Carl bellowed.
• Jack covered the wound on his chest and turned his back on Carl, prompting, "What do you want?"
• Carl hissed, "I've reminded you more than once that the more powerful you are, the more severe the punishment you'll face. You'll never be able to leave the Blue Cloud Sect. You'd better stay docile, carry out your duties as a servant, and revere everyone. That's the only way you'll be pardoned. If you want to return to the Ancient City of Lightning as soon as possible, you have to do as I say."
• "I appreciate your kindness," Jack grumbled. He then left the area without glancing back.
• "You are digging your own grave!" scolded Carl.
• "It's none of your business," said Jack without giving Carl a glance.
• "You would never be recognized even after entering the Spiritual Martial Realm. Your parents are the sinners to the Blue Cloud Sect. Their sins will be repaid with your life. Without martial arts to guide your Spiritual Power, you can't make any further breakthrough in the Spiritual Martial Realm. I conclude that you will stop at the sixth stage of Spiritual Martial Realm at the very most." Carl snorted. As a Golden Disciple whom everyone admired and envied, he would not have paid attention to Mike, a lower-class disciple. However, there was a special relationship between Jack and him; and, that was Daria!
• Daria was one of the five Golden Disciples of their generation as well. She had an aphrodisiac presence, and also the talent that was recognized by all the other sects. Her temperament was comparable to an angel coming upon the earthly world. She was the goddess in the hearts of all the disciples of the Blue Cloud Sect.
• Carl loved Daria, and he was also chasing after her.
• However, Daria didn't like him at all.
• Jack no longer paid Carl any attention. Dragging his fatigued and injured body, he left the mountaintop with a faint smile on his face. This smile of his broke the heart of many, for, in the last eight years, he had encountered too many such fights. Jack understood that as his strength increased, he would be threatened and framed more often. However, he was not afraid, nor would he lower his head to live humbly.
• As long as he was alive, he would stand for himself.
• He would never yield nor submit to these
• people!
• At noon, it began to drizzle all over the world.
• Jack went back to the warehouse to prepare lunch. He said hello to Maxwell, took some food, and hid in the mountainside behind the warehouse.
• There were strange-looking stones and old trees. Normally, no one would pay attention to this place, let alone come here.
• And so this isolated place became Mike's private training field.
• Here, he would no longer put on his fake smile. Solemness was the only element hanging in the air while he was here.
• From noon till midnight, Jack absorbed the Qi of life between heaven and earth to recover and ease his injuries.
• Perhaps it was due to the fact that he had begun to cultivate the second part of the Pithy Formula of Life. Therefore, the speed at which he recovered from his injuries was clearly much faster this time around.
• "The sixth stage of Spiritual Martial Realm is indeed the level that I can't challenge now. Strength, strength... I need more strength."
• Jack murmured as he stroked the palm print and scar on his chest. It would still take some time for him to heal completely.
• He was still too weak. He had to become stronger and stronger.
• After living through so many tough years, he had finally entered the Spiritual Martial Realm. It was time for him to make a breakthrough and work harder than before.
• "An upper-class disciple, a personal disciple, a Golden Disciple..."
• Jack recalled the ranks of the disciples of the Blue Cloud Sect as well as the different treatments and influences they would have. If he could become a Golden Disciple, he was equivalent to half an elder. In the past, he was only at the Spiritual Tempering Realm and dared not have such a dream. Now that he had finally advanced into the Spiritual Martial Realm, his primary goal was to get rid of his identity as a lower-class disciple. As long as he could increase his rank, he could get in touch with more martial arts. He would then be able to grow and progress quicker before he could finally stand up more for his people of the Ancient City of Lightning.
• "It's for me, for my loved ones, and for the Ancient City of Lightning." Jack leaped up; his heart and mind were as calm as a millpond. Both of his feet slowly stretched out along with his arms, displaying a stunning starting posture.
• Who said he didn't know martial arts? This was the initial form of the martial arts called Vajra Force, which was mastered by Gary Di, the personal disciple of the Blue Cloud Sect.
• According to the strict rules of the Blue Cloud Sect, martial arts could not be passed on to anyone privately. Any disciple who borrowed martial arts books from the Martial Ancestor Tower had to register their names. Even the time they returned the books to Martial Ancestor Tower would be marked. Even if the elders were to pass on their martial arts to their disciples, they had to register their names too.
• Jack had never read any martial arts books. He had taken the risk of learning them secretly. By taking advantage of his status as a deliveryman, he scrutinized Gary's every battle and firmly remembered each style of Gary in his heart. From his superficial observation, he had gone through many years of hard work and constantly improved his skills. Finally, he had managed to integrate those skills into a whole. In fact, it was equivalent to creating his very own variant of Vajra Force.
• This set of martial arts belonged to the high- grade spirit level. Anyone who mastered the hardest section could potentially increase their explosive power by five times. Needless to say, its power was going to be extremely overbearing. Nonetheless, to possess such powers required a very strong physique too. First, one had to forge his body into steel bones before they could fully utilize it. Otherwise, it would be very easy to injure oneself.
• In fact, Jack had surreptitiously learned a lot of martial arts. For example, the Wind- Cracking Sword from James Sima, the Pale Cloud Spear from Jacob Yuchi, and also the Six-Joint Palm from Allen Leng. All of them were personal disciples. It took Jack quite some time before he finally decided to practice the Vajra Force.
• He had a special constitution. After many years of practice of the Pithy Formula Of Life, his physical conditions had already far exceeded that of others. He was able to control the Vajra Force with ease, although it was something others did not dare to try.
• The Vajra Force was separated into five different phases. Jack had managed to figure out the first three phases of the Vajra Force, but as the final two were rather abstruse, he had yet to master them.
• Yet, the first three phases were more than enough for him to display his full strength.
• "The first phase, Vajra Tiger-Kill!" Jack ran at a high speed. He roamed freely in the forest before he punched an enormous tree in front of him with his explosive fist.
• "Crack!"
• The ancient tree-had a diameter as large as two humans-trembled violently. A pitch- black hole was created when Mike's palm made contact with it using his Vajra Force.
• Mike's strongest fist strength could reach 600 jin. This blow had definitely surpassed 1000 jin.
• With that, Jack moved in another direction. Dust flew in the air and withered leaves drifted around him, stirring up a whistling and powerful wind.
• Boom! Boom!
• Ear-splitting rumbling sounds could be heard from the remote mountainside. Jack released all his strength, immersing himself in the cultivation of martial arts. Huge trees and rocks were his targets; all of which he had carried back here all by himself.
• He was not qualified to cultivate in the training fields, so he had built his own arena.
• "Second phase, Vajra Tower!" he yelled.
• "Third phase, Vajra Shattering Mountains!"
• Jack shook his body, and shoulders as he galloped. His strength had increased by three times before he smashed into a two- person-tall boulder. In the darkness, dust and stones sailed out in all directions.
• Every phase of the Vajra Force would double his strength but also bring a huge burden to his body. By the time Jack had cultivated the third phase, blue veins were visible all over his body, his skin flushed red.
• Jack had practiced the first three phases of the Vajra Force to perfection, but he had a higher pursuit. He wanted to integrate his own power of thunder and lightning into it so the power of the Vajra Force could be enhanced further.
• Crack!
• Boom!
• All sorts of noises were echoing one after another. Occasionally, the piercing sound of the convergence of electric beams could be heard too.
• Jack was sweating profusely in the dense forest. He had fully released himself and devoted himself to the study of his martial arts.
• No one was guiding him, and no one was helping him. He was exploring everything on his own.
• Jack practiced late until midnight. He then lay on a cold stone, gazing at the night sky while the drizzling rain quietly calmed down his boiling blood. Usually, he could only cultivate the Vajra Force for four hours, but now, he had practiced for an extra hour. The powerful force took a toll on his body, causing his entire being to heat up and his blood to boil.
• Suddenly, two figures appeared in the gloomy sky and smiled at him.
• Jack returned a smile as two drops of tears formed in the corner of his eyes.
• He muttered in the darkness, "Father... Mother..."
• "I miss you..." he trailed off.
• "Where are you..."