Nine Paths of Asura-Original Wuxia

Chapter 41- Cheating!

When Lineir peered into the gaping rent he had cut into the golem, he saw countless mechanical gears motionlessly stuck together. At the very inside of the forehead there was a glowing circular object.

"Is this, a magical beast core?" 

Curious, Lineir reached inside and yanked it out. Smoothly, with very little resistance, a golden gear appeared, similar to what one might find in a clock. The object was unexpectedly heavy and Lineir's hand actually sank a little after hefting it. The size of a plum, it radiated gently looking somewhat like a child's depiction of the sun with a cheerful golden glow.

"Disciple, that is no beast core. Or rather, it's hardly a single one.... What you're holding appears to be a collection of magical cores. That is to say, that core contains several low level cores fused together! While it's unfortunate that your devour ability can only consume living hearts, you can at least cultivate using this core in the traditional way. If you passively absorb energy from this core as you go, you will sharply increase your rate of absorption of elemental energies. I'd rate this core as being on par with a fifth tier magical beast, the energy is that pure!" Mei ecstatically shouted out. Then unbeknownst to Lineir she fell silent, embarrassed and said to herself.

"I can't believe I'm getting excited over a fifth tier core. What a joke, when my body was here, such a core wouldn't even be enough to be jewelry...."

Lineir was happily cultivating away as he walked. It could be said that he really gained from this event. While he could not instantly gain from this strange core as he would if he were to consume living cultivators, just passively training with such a pure core was extremely beneficial. As a matter of fact...

Rumble!

From the sky, arced in a massive bolt of lightning, which blasted Lineir. However, as soon as he had heard the Heaven's thundering, he had immediately dropped down to the ground. Mei instantly summoned the black sword into Lineir's hands, 

"You're breaking through, you know what to do!"

Lineir kneeled low and slammed the blade into the ground. Then he covered his head and neck with his arms, the bone scythes snicking out protectively.

BANG! 

A metallic reverberating explosion rang out as the lightning forcibly struck the sword, cloudy currents of electricity arcing around, several stray bolts striking his bone scythes which hissed as they resisted the energy. Then it was quiet. Lineir's ringing ears made the quiet feel like silence.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! It worked, Mei-Mei you're a genius!" Lineir began laughing madly. "It's a shame that Nero Sect was already crushed by the pillar, or I could go and crush them myself now!" Mei too was laughing,

"What did I tell you Disciple, am I not amazing? Normally that tribulation lightning would have been a true trial to face, the Heavens do not take kindly to one who uses elemental lightning especially with my technique. To cultivate as a mortal in the weapon of the gods, is truly offensive to the heavens. However, by allowing the heaven defying aura of this sword to emanate for a moment, the tribulation lightning was naturally diverted! It came down seeking a mere Gathering Storm cultivator, but instead sensed a terrifying presence, which can break fate itself. A remnant of Madraeyal! Naturally, which one do you think the tribulation lightning would try to exterminate, a mere fledgeling cultivator, or something touched by The Fatebreaker? Of course it went for the sword, and you only had to deal with some slight shocks!" 

Both master and disciple were cackling, and Lineir was actually rolling on the burnt ground. If anyone was there watching, it would have looked utterly ridiculous. However, it was justified. What Lineir had done, was to actually cheat the Heavens. As a practitioner of the lightning element, which was in fact one of the chosen weapons of the gods, tribulation lightning naturally sought to exterminate him. But what he had done could really be said to have cheated the Heavens! He had completely avoided the main blow and simply funneled it to the ground. If the gods were watching, Lineir imagined that even they would be shaking a fist at him right now. At that thought, he stopped rolling around and quickly grabbed Mei's sword.