(OLD/NOT CANON) Immortal Ascension Tower

Chapter 35 - Three Factions

'What did I get myself into this time?' Cheng Hao sighed as he followed Bi Liang outside of the house. The man dashed at high speeds and the boy had problems keeping up with the man's speed.

Although the Core Elder had already restricted his speed so as not to lose the boy, he was still going pretty fast, at the very limit of Cheng Hao's potential of his fleshly body without using the Roc's blessing.

They ran for about an hour, suddenly Cheng Hao sped up and approached Bi Liang, the sudden burst of speed shocking even the Sung stage cultivator. Cheng Hao panted for a while and, when he finally regained his breath, he asked "Brother Biang... That skill from before, was it by any chance an imitation of Aura Manipulation?"

Bi Liang was shocked for a second before nodding pleased "You have good eye and good knowledge little brother! That was indeed a Pseudo-Aura Manipulation. It has a few different concepts from the original, but about anybody with a decent cultivation would be able to do it after training for a bit"

Cheng Hao also nodded "From what I have seen, you analyze the surface of the object, create a layer of Aura and then pump air inside the object to give the impression of a three dimensional object. Truly ingenious, if other materials could be added inside it, then with the reinforcement of the Aura outside they could be turned in powerful weapons!"

Bi Liang chuckled "That is the basic concept behind the technique. It is mainly used for illusions and deception though, truly a waste. I must say, little brother, that I am surprised! How do you know about Aura?"

Cheng Hao calmly inhaled and explained "Oh? An expert told me, I stayed under his guidance for a few months and he imparted me with most of his insight and knowledge on Martial Arts and Cultivation" of course he couldn't go around telling everyone that he was a thousand years old reborn soul of a person that supposedly almost destroyed the world once.

"An expert? Man, you are truly lucky! To have known about Aura, it means that he must have been either quite powerful or have a huge background!" Bi Liang commented "Still, I can't help but think of this as the true version as there would be no other explanation for your knowledge and strength... Also, we are here, you can slow down"

Cheng Hao slowed down as instructed and looked ahead: in front of him there was a warehouse with barred windows and a chained up door. The boy looked confused, so Bi Liang took out a small round rock with a pattern of runes on top of it and spoke a few sentences.

Just beside the door, the wall slid to the side: a secret passage! Cheng Hao and Bi Liang looked around and then crawled in. As soon as the boy and the blonde man got in, the door behind them closed and artificial light from the torches shone from the walls and the ceiling.

Although it wasn't really big, the warehouse was still spacious and the twenty or so people that stood here could easily stand and had a few cubic meters of space all for themselves.

There were a total of nineteen people sitting on chairs in the room, not counting Cheng Hao or Bi Liang, they were mostly middle aged or old men and all wore the white robes of the sect, the four black lines showed that they were all Core Elders.

"Everybody, this child here is called Cheng Hao! From now on, he is our companion and also our leader in the absence of Third Protector Lao as per his orders. Cheng Hao, please come forward"

The boy nodded: him and Bi Liang had already discussed this beforehand while they were still in the hut and the older man had explained to him the general situation.

Apparently, Lao Jianghu belonged to one of nine warring factions in the sect, each faction lead by a School Protector. According to Bi Liang, the Sect Head had fallen hill quite a few years ago already and is currently on his death bed, this was of course a chance for the Nine Protectors to rise in position and they had thus recruited subordinates and made allies in this free for all match for power.