Fenrir's Journey : I Shall Devour The Heavens!

After returning to the Devouring Moon Sect, Fenrir didn't waste any time before returning to her closed Cultivation once again. Though she had experienced rapid growth in her previous world, there were few ways to experience 'leaps' in growth just by practicing a simple technique. She didn't harbor the delusion that she would become one of the most powerful people in the world in a short period of time, Fenrir knew that she needed to continue growing as quickly as possible in order to avoid a disaster. Even if it ended up taking several years, there would come a point where she stood at the very apex of the world since, just as her Master had stated in the past, the only true limit was a person's patience and comprehension. So long as you never gave up trying, you were capable of functionally infinite growth, both physically, spiritually, and emotionally...While Fenrir had secluded herself in the mountain's peak, Wen Xiulan was busy taking care of the rather chaotic affairs of the Sect. Because of Fenrir's rather tyrannical actions, they were no longer under pressure from competing Sects since few people wanted to antagonize someone that could wipe out an entire group of Elders in a single day. The mystery surrounding Fenrir and her elusive 'Master' kept most people at bay while a veritable horde of Cultivators continued to show up in the hopes of joining their Sect. Because of this, Wen Xiulan found herself extremely busy since she needed to make sure those attempting to enter the Devouring Moon Sect weren't enemy spies that simply wanted to infiltrate and discover the truth...From amongst the Cultivators attempting to join the Sect, there were several faces that, if she paid them any attention, Fenrir would have recognized. They were the former students of the Blazing Sun Sect, led by the 'girly man', Hua Yan. This was the same man who had stayed back to buy time for his fellow Disciples, even knowing his own death was assured. Since he had known Fenrir was from the Devouring Moon Sect, he decided to try his luck by offering up the treasures he had looted from his prior Sect in order to follow in the footsteps of his benefactor. Though part of him also held a small hope that would have earned Fenrir's ire, it wasn't his main focus as, following behind Hua Yan, there were two young men, three young women, and a mature beauty who had uncommon purple eyes...The youngest in their group, only seventeen years old, was Hua Yan's younger brother, Xuan Yan. He had only managed to enter the Blazing Sun Sect with the support of Hua Yan and, compared to most Cultivators, had a relatively demure personality. Since he pursued the Scholarly Dao, meaning he preferred to avoid fighting, Xuan Yan was often the target of scorn for other Cultivators, even amongst his fellow Disciples. As for the other young man, he was the would-be rival of Hua Yan, Zhu Qiu, a man with uncharacteristically short hair and visible muscles. He focused more on the development of his body than his spirit and carried around a large ornate spear that had a blade forged from a rare blue ore...Lingering near Zhu Qiu was his own younger sibling, an adorable young maiden named Mao Qiu, possessing a petite figure and a perpetually smiling face that produced two dimples whenever she found something that caught her attention. As for the other two girls nearby, they were the close friends of Mao Qiu who, during the incident at the Blazing Sun Sect, followed after her to safety as their personal strength was relatively low. They were the type that pursued Cultivation to preserve their beauty and protect themselves, caring little about achieving the pinnacle of Cultivation since they lacked the 'talent' required...Completely contrary to the other girls in the group, the final beauty, with her deep purple eyes and long black hair, was anything but talentless. Her name was Gong Xinyue and she possessed a rare constitution that allowed her to practice Yang Elemental techniques without the detriments other women would suffer. In most circumstances, such techniques would not only be much weaker in the hands of women than other natures but it would also cause their body to experience changes, making them somewhat more masculine as their strength increased.Such things were enough to deter most women from even picking up such techniques but, having found a rare scroll deep within the mountains at a young age, Gong Xinyue had already reached a startling degree of Cultivation for her age. The only discernable downside had been that her body matured a bit faster than others, giving her the appearance of someone in their mid-twenties, even though she was only nineteen years old. Since most Cultivators aged slower when increasing their strength, it was a very noticeable change that had caused Gong Xinyue to become somewhat distant from others in order to avoid their curious gazes and incessant questions...(Fenrir's Commentary: 'Training hard to become the strongest...!')

After dealing with another tiring day of Sect affairs, Wen Xiulan was wondering whether or not she should promote someone to the position of Palace Head in order to free her from unnecessary duties. With the rapid changes occurring within the Sect, many requiring her personal attention, Wen Xiulan's cultivation was beginning to stagnate as she simply couldn't find any time to invest in the endless pursuit. What little time she could free up was spent monitoring the progress of her Direct Disciple, Jia Cai. The latter had started training with an intensity that her past self could never hold a candle to, causing the young maiden's Cultivation to rapidly increase. Though it was incomparable to the growth of Fenrir, Wen Xiulan was proud that her disciple had found the willpower to continue along her path without losing confidence after witnessing their Sect Guardian's ridiculous Cultivation speed...Thinking of Fenrir's progress, Wen Xiulan's blue eyes flashed with a curious glint as she wondered when, if ever, Fenrir would reach a bottleneck. From what she could discern, even though there were some 'instabilities' within Fenrir's foundation, there didn't seem to be any negative impact on her Cultivation. It was almost as if her body was correcting the flaws that could be found within every technique, causing Wen Xiulan to have slight doubts about her own path.Though she had never believed her technique to be the most superior amongst all Ice Elemental Cultivation methods but, seeing the proficiency in which Fenrir used the same skills, Wen Xiulan knew she had been too reliant on following a path set by others instead of blazing a trail for herself. Cultivation was, after all, the means in which individuals were able to oppose the very Will of Heaven. The path towards the peak could only be achieved through comprehending the Laws themselves and, while Cultivation methods helped you reach greater heights, it would never take you to the absolute peak that only a handful of practitioners could reach...Watching Fenrir essentially teach herself the Sacred Heart of the Ice Phoenix, Wen Xiulan was gleaning insights of her own into the shortcomings of her own Cultivation. Part of her wished that she could watch Fenrir's closed cultivation, as it would undoubtedly provide her with even greater insights, but she lacked the courage to trespass the rather cold young woman's domain. What she didn't know was that, instead of tirelessly practicing the techniques contained within the Scroll, Fenrir spent most of her time in a deep state of meditation. Though she was still practicing the Sacred Heart of the Ice Phoenix, her primary focus was on the 'balance' of her heart and mind. In many ways, Fenrir was doing the exact same thing that a Master would do upon reaching a bottleneck, even though her reasons were entirely different...Unaware of Fenrir's unique method of training, Wen Xiulan raised a jade cup to her mouth before enjoying the calming aroma of her tea. After allowing her mind to settle, she savored the crisp taste of the medicinal herbs contained within before releasing a small sigh of satisfaction. Then, just as she was preparing to enter a meditative state of her own, Wen Xiulan could feel a vibration through the floor that alerted her to someone's approach. Before they could lightly rattle on her door, Wen Xiulan fixed her composure before uttering in a slightly tired voice, "Speak..." She knew the person outside the door was one of the servants, likely arriving to report yet another issue that required her attention, so Wen Xiulan's mood was a bit dour at the moment.After a bit of hesitation, the servant on the other side of the door answered, "Sect Leader, there is a group of 'irregulars' that wish to join the Sect. The Branch Head has requested your presence..." Having sensed that her master's mood wasn't the best, the servant's hands were trembling slightly as she tightly gripped the hem of her robe. Fortunately, Wen Xiulan wasn't the type to take her anger out on others so, after a few minutes of silence, the door opened to reveal the latter's cold face as she said, "Very well, Inform Jia Cai that I will be away for the afternoon..." Then, without sparing the servant another glance, Wen Xiulan quickly alighted from the nearby courtyard before beginning her quick descent down the mountain...(Fenrir's Commentary: 'Meditation, focus, balance....mmm.....')

Without concerning herself about the matters of the Blazing Sun Sect for even a moment longer, Fenrir was already racing through the sky on her return trip to the Devouring Moon Sect. She had learned a lot during her rather short battle with the Elders and was beginning to understand some of the perks involved with Cultivation. It was intrinsically weaker than the magic system she had learned from Eva but Fenrir felt as though it was far more flexible since it didn't use complex magic circles. It was almost like using unnamed magic, making it far weaker than more complex spells while having almost limitless versatility...Fenrir knew that the greater her comprehension of the Sacred Heart of the Ice Phoenix, the more powerful her techniques would become. There was even a chance she would be able to eclipse her own magical capabilities as, compared to the extreme level of knowledge required to cast advanced magic, comprehending Cultivation techniques was far easier. At the same time, though it was weaker, Fenrir could tell that Cultivation techniques were directly catered towards understanding the 'Laws', the fundamental forces that made each world function. Though magic could do the same, it required a great amount of research while also requiring the user to understand the 'formula' behind creating a phenomenon. With Cultivation, Fenrir just needed to guide the energy through specific pathways in her body to have similar effects as using some basic and intermediate level spells...With this new knowledge, Fenrir was a little excited about the future and wanted to immediately return to her closed Cultivation in order to advance her comprehension even further. She was only at the first stage of the Sacred Heart of the Ice Phoenix and it was already extremely versatile so Fenrir believed the following stages would greatly enhance her combat prowess. This had the added effect of allowing her to hide her Devouring Energy better, as she would be able to deal with powerful opponents without having to rely on her 'cloak' offensively. Since she had the boon granted to her by the hateful voice that had thrown her into this world, [Absolute Obsurance], most of her opponents wouldn't be able to see through her energy unless she used it in excess...Before she even realized it, Fenrir was already nearing the Sect grounds so she began to slow her advance to avoid crashing into the mountainside and destroying a part of it in the process. It didn't take that much effort to slow down her acceleration so Fenrir was able to avoid having to cover her embarrassment as she touched down gently in the central courtyard of the Sect Master's residence. Though she hadn't announced her presence, it wasn't long before Wen Xiulan arrived to greet her. Fenrir hadn't missed the momentary shock on her expression, which wasn't that difficult to understand since she had made a trip to the Blazing Sun Sect, dealt with the Sect Elders, and returned, all within the same day.After calming her heart, Wen Xiulan gave a polite bow towards Fenrir as complex emotions stirred her generally placid heart. She knew Fenrir was very powerful but even their previous Grand Elder, who Fenrir had struggled against, wouldn't have been able to deal with the Blazing Sun Sect so easily. Since they used the same Cultivation Method, Wen Xiulan could sense that Fenrir was only at the basic mastery of the first stage yet seemed to have become inordinately more powerful as a result. With this being the case, Wen Xiulan could only imagine what kind of monstrous existence Fenrir would become if she managed to reach the ninth stage and truly master the techniques contained within. She even began to suspect that the reason behind why Fenrir's Master had never given her a cultivation method before was because her growth was simply too fast...(Fenrir's Commentary: 'I will become even stronger...!')(A/N: I know I haven't been releasing chapters that often, but that is the same for EPIC. I'm very busy with real life at the moment and FJ has never been a priority. Though I'll try to release a chapter every day, I can't make guarantees until the end of Summer since work is the higher priority in my life right now.)

Chapter 78: Strike While The Iron Is Hot