The Shadowless Sword

After Lei Shu woke up, he gave the rest of the Rainbow Carp to Billa. He ate it up and went straight to sleep, he hadn't eaten properly for a long time and this time he had his fill. He turned on his back as usual and snoozed away.

Ansu was still sleeping at this point in time. He looked as if something was on his mind. He was twitching in his sleep and he was rolling in pain. It was a nightmare, the strongest outer disciple Ansu has nightmares? Deep in his mind was darkness, a darkness so pure.

He was back in the cave of the past. He had just witnessed his glorious father Baldur, take an arrow through the skull. Baldur's lifeless body was still standing. Blood streaming down his face from the arrow and tears streaming down Ansu's and Selsa's face because of the same arrow.

A foot emerged and kicked his father over.

THUD

His body fell to the floor, never to rise again. Selsa erupted in tears, her heartfelt as if it was torn in 2. The royal man spoke again, "Chief Mistress, please make your way out of the cave with your son. I will let your whole family die together, if you don't come out your husband won't get a proper burial. I'll rip his body to shreds, never letting him rest peacefully. The royal man dipped his hands into Baldur's blood and licked it off his fingertips.

Selsa turned to Ansu, "Ansu, know that your mother and father love you dearly. Know that the village loves you dearly, you're now the only one left in the village. Please don't come back unless you're stronger, make sure to hide your secret as long as you can, hide the secret of the village Ansu." She turned away from her son and began to walk out of the cave. The light shone on her beautiful face as she left. Her first step out of the cave was met with an arrow through the stomach.

"Royal Prince you bastard, you promised to leave a proper burial if I showed myself."

Baldur's body was mushed into paste under the prince's command. "You stupid wench, where is your son, you think I would be fooled! Men, check the cave!"

2 burly men began walking into the cave. It was run down and barely livable, there was a bucket for water and a table for food. There was also a fire, a place that people would sleep beside.

They walked into the cave as they walked out of the cave. "The boy is not here."

What they didn't know is that there was a secret escape passage. Ansu had fled right when his mom decided to leave the cave. He jumped when he heard the arrow being shot, he didn't know if his mother was dead or alive. He was on his own now, without anyone near him. A little child left all alone in the world to fend for himself. He came across bread as he lived as a beggar. He minded his own business and tried his all to survive, hopefully finding happiness in the process.

An upper-class individual was walking down the street. Ansu was almost 12 now, he practiced the weapons training his father had showed him when he was younger. He practiced from memory because that's all he could do.

The upperclass man walked out in golden and white robes. He was walking with a girl he was infatuated with, she obviously had to accompany him because of family relations. He spoke, "Hey guard, remove this beggar from the ground, it will dirty my woman's eyes. She shot him an annoyed glance. The guard was only a normal man, no one in their party had cultivated yet. The man walked up to Ansu, "My master has requested you to leave this town, it dirties his eyes looking at people like you, looking at commoners! Move or else you'll be eating your own teeth along with that bread."

Ansu's anorexic body raised slowly from the ground, he never let his bread go as he kept eating.

"Good, listening and obeying, just like a good commoner should do."

"I don't remember saying anything about leaving, if you want to stay, however, I can arrange for that," Ansu whispered into the ear of the guard that was now walking back to his young master.

His bread entered his mouth while a blade left his free hand. The blade whistled through the air and almost completely cut off the guard's hand. The guard tried to speak but he couldn't retaliate at all, "Wait, w w w wait, what're you you y…"

After his hand was almost removed, 6 holes appeared on his body. Ansu punctured straight through the man 6 times in a row, each time the young master would see the blade poking out on the other side. He was afraid, he was shaking. If anyone died, it would be because he ordered it, however, this time his life was turned upside down.

The young master dropped to the floor, immediately sharting himself. It was a goliath of sharts, he sharted so hard that by the time the sound finished, his mistress had already run off, nowhere to be seen. He sharted until he couldn't shart anymore. His shart was never-ending, the strain was too much and it ripped his anus apart. The man lost too much blood and fell into a pool of his own feces as his eyes closed and he passed.

Ansu didn't give the man a second look. He stepped over his body and took his belongings. "Should've never called me a commoner, royals are only born into strength, they have none their selves."

Ansu took the food the man had on him and devoured it crazily. He was starving so he ate until his belly was full. He looked through the rest of the stuff. He found some ointments and medicine; he took most of the stuff that was useful. He picked up a thick manual, it looked to be old as fuck. It exuded an ancient aura, pulling Ansu in. He dusted it off and read the cover, "The Shadowless Sword" he was in awe as he read the name. It slowly sucked his mind in, an ancient voice answered him, "You are compatible to learn this art young one. Although you may be too young you can try. If you can learn this art, you are obviously with the village, so I have no worries. This art is for those who remain in the shadows, for those who wish to be untracked. Your enemies will see your sword before they even catch a glimpse of the wielder, train until you reach that realm and you will stand amongst the pinnacle."

After the words finished, Ansu's body fell unconscious. He woke up after a week of constant slumber, his head had countless dark shadowy runes. "There are 6 sections of runes in your mind and in the manual. The manual had vanished, there can only be one master and one disciple at a time, no more than 2 users are acceptable. The runes are dark and shadowy, as you advance in your training, pieces of the runes will be unlocked, and the hazy mist will dissipate. Once it dissipates it will teach you how to learn the next technique. The haze was implemented to make sure you train in the correct order; an incorrect order may ruin your foundation or even kill you. You also may not have sufficient strength to learn a specific technique. The first technique is the Shadow Blade, if you train this to the pinnacle, others shouldn't be able to see your blade in combat at all, not until it makes contact with something. This technique is the core of The Shadowless Sword, it will take the longest to develop to perfection. That is all for now, you will hear from me when you break through the next great realm. At that time, I will give you the next rune."

Ansu's eyes weren't innocent anymore after that day. He found out how cruel the world could be before, but today he found out how cruel he could be.

Ansu went to eat once more and meditated to stabilize his realm.

Lei Shu was fine now, but he didn't have a way to help Billa now. He wondered off of the sect,

"Billa, go back to the canyon with Mo Fen. I can't keep you with me, I won't be able to be with you and I can't feed you well. I know that you don't want to leave but you must. I will be back as soon as I grow stronger."

Billa ran off into the distance and finally faded from Lei Shu's gaze. Lei Shu then finally turned and went back into his room.

By the time he got back to his room, there was a bag on the floor in the corner. It had a tag that said monthly rations. Lei Shu opened the bag and took a look inside. The first item came with a card that said low spiritual stone. There were a few crystal-shaped stones in the bag. They looked like gems and they were a deep blue. The low spiritual stones were a deep blue, the high spiritual stones were a shining purple and the highest quality are called spirit crystals. Spirit crystals were basically translucent, a sharp white colour dances along with it. Low spirit stones have up to 30% of the original spirit energy remaining, high stones have up to 70% and the spirit crystals have more than 70%. The best has 100% but there aren't many of those in the Zhou Empire.

The bag also had some muscle and mind soothing cream and wound sealing ointment. Lei Shu immediately took the crystals out, they shined in his dark room. He held it within his hand and got into his lotus position.

He focused on the path from the stone to the center of his body. He familiarized himself with the energy and he began tugging on it. The energy slowly broke away, strand by strand it merged with Lei Shu. He kept going and going. Normal people at his stage couldn't absorb the entire stone but Lei Shu was different. His body was surging with energy and it was restless. It wanted to break away as it was foreign energy.

Lei Shu didn't care. He held down the pain and forced the energy to merge within him. A pool of sweat was now underneath him, the stone in his hand had now turned into dust. All the energy had been absorbed. Lei Shu didn't stop there.

He had a total of 3 stones for the week, this would be enough for normal people but not enough for him. He needed to improve faster, he needed more materials. He took a small nap; he woke up in the middle of the night and ate his meal. He wasn't leaving his room anymore. He didn't leave and he didn't go see others.

He just stayed in his room and focused on training. His sleep schedule was fucked but he didn't care. During the day he would meditate and at night he would try absorbing. Whenever he had time in between he would take a nap.

He reached for his last stone and took his time absorbing the energy. Slowly, layering on top of each other, strand by strand. Finally, he finished refining it. He was almost halfway through breaking into the next realm. Sect resources really are amazing.

With his breakthrough, his body changed once again. He shed a few pounds and his face tightened up. He was starting to look better with each advancement. Women would begin looking at him as an option. Before he began training, they all looked at him as an embarrassment, a tragedy of sorts.

"With every passing day, I become more of the man you are afraid of Zhen Shu. I hope the next time we meet I will be able