The Golden Iron And The Hidden Gem

The Liu clan's answer was immediate: the next day, Liu Baotian was banished. Normally, the punishment of a lower talented clan member that killed one of the hopes of the clan would have been the death sentence, but as it was established that Liu Baotian was provoked and had a justification for retaliation, he escaped death. And thanks to the intervention of both his master and his junior brother, pleading for him to the Liu patriarch, he was also spared of having his meridians destroyed.

Instead, he only had to go through the whip for thirty lashes. It was in this state, his back covered in scars, that Liu Baotian reached the exit of the clan, like the failure he was. Normally, a master should at least send his disciple away in such a case, but elder… no, grand elder Jianhong wasn't anywhere in sight: maybe he didn't want to hurt his eyes with such a pitiful sight, or maybe he wanted to spare his disciple the shame of a master looking half his age.

Either way, the only one who bothered to show up was Liu Zhenyun.

"I'm sorry it had to end this way, senior brother Baotian" he said.

"I'm sorry too, Zhenyun. Even now that you're here, even after everything you did for me, I don't feel anything but bitterness toward you. I wish I was in your place" 

Baotian gazed at him with mixed feelings, and then looked away, walking out of the clan:

"Farewell, my genius junior. Congratulations for your advancement to Core Formation, hank you for calling me senior brother one more time"

And just like this, Baotian left the Liu clan, covered in shame. 

He was no longer deluding himself: if he could not find a way to advance with the resources, influence and information channels of the clan, he would not be able to do it by himself. Even then, he refused to just let go and live his life waiting for death. At least, he wanted to know why he couldn't advance!

"This brat said that in the world, everyone has a limit of talent, but even then it's strange" Baotian thought out loud. "Normally, when someone reaches their limit, it's either in the middle of the Realm, when they are unable to pass through a particular step of the realm's formula, or during the Tribulation, where they find themselves unable to maintain control of their cultivation while facing it and fail. I was too focused trying to find a way to break through to try finding the root of the problem… until now"

But since he had nothing left to do in his last years, Baotian went for it. For five years, he roamed the mortal cities, and the cultivators' cities that accepted Qi Refining cultivators without clans like him. In these five years, he found nothing. However, during the sixth year, while relaxing in a renowned mortal tavern while reading a collection of myths, he found something:

"In the lands beneath, 

two sinners fall, 

disguised among the ordinary. 

One shall be a lump of iron covered in golden paint, 

and what shall be a brilliant gem hidden in a rock. 

And when the gem breaks out of its shell and show its light, 

the golden paint will melt and trap the lump into a golden prison, 

stopping it from ever being forged into the bird that flies high"

While Boatian was used to this world's esoteric writings, no longer discarding them as gibberish as the average Earthling would, even most individuals would frown at such a nonsensical mix between a myth and a poem. But when looking at it from his situation…

"This lump of iron… it's me. Then the gem…"

At this point, it was still just a baseless assumption based on an obscure myth. And yet, Baotian felt anger surging into him like boiling lava. He needed a target for his anger, a target for his hatred. If he didn't have one, then all of it would fall back on himself, and he wouldn't have the will left to stand this world. Therefore, he decided that the myth was about him. And in this case, it meant that the cause of all his problems…

"It was you, Zhenyun. From the very beginning, it was all, all, ALL YOUR FAULT!"

In rage, Baotian started launching spells in all directions, killing dozens of mortals.

"After everything I did for you, you, you were the one who caused all my suffering! Zhenyun, Zhenyun, Zhenyun! Were you, the one that was like my nephew, a grown man playing charades, a transmigrator like me from the very beginning! ZHENYUN!"

As he kept spreading destruction in the mortal city, no guards were able to stop him and, eventually, a few Qi Refining cultivators came to help, placing themselves in his way. But Baotian was a veteran of the Qi Refining realm, at the absolute peak of the late stage, with various insights into the Qi Building stage and unique uses of his spells he thought of thanks to his Earthling's mind. In barely a few minutes, all five of the cultivators that came to stop him were nothing but corpses spread on the floor.

Only then did Baotian snap back to reality and realize what he did, grasping at his white hair in fear:

"Dammit! I only have a few hours until the Qi Building cultivators arrive! I must run!"

After a minute of deliberations, he unhesitantly ran toward the closest demonic territory, the Blood Wood Cave Forest!

'If I'm lucky enough, I won't meet demonic cultivators. If I'm lucky enough, they won't dare to follow in. If I'm lucky enough, I'll be able to escape with my life!'

Despite everything, Baotian still valued his life!

Expanding almost half of his energy, he used wind spells and force spells to accelerate himself as much as possible, reaching a speed over twice that of a horse and finally reaching the depth of the gigantic forest.

"How is this… ahh… forest, so… ahh… ridiculously big?"

It seemed he remained in the clan far too long and came out to see the world far too little, causing him to not realize just how large the Xuanhe Kingdom was.

"Well… ahh… I guess that's a minimum requirement for a demonic territory to survive the attacks of the righteous clans for so long, so I shouldn't be surprised"

Now, all he had to do was to find another way to exit the Blood Wood Cave Forest than the one he came from, and then live in disguise as a mortal to-

Baotian's thoughts were cut off as he felt something cut the air on his left, and he hurriedly twisted his hips, saving his life as a sword grazed his face, leaving an ugly scar on his cheek.

"You trash, why did you choose to go into this damn forest? Demonic cultivators are always looking for a prey for their wicked experiments, so I had to avoid flying to catch up without getting their attention. Do you have any idea how tiring this was?"

Baotian quickly studied his pursuer: he emitted a solid Qi Building aura… and more than this, he was wearing the clothes of the Liu clan.

"I'm… ahh… sorry to hear that. If you wish, I can recite three pages of apologies for me to truly express my guilt" Baotian replied, buying time to find a way out while analysing the situation.

If his pursuer was an early stage Qi Building cultivator, he wouldn't have felt that threatened: to catch up to him without using flying spells, a Qi Building had to use basic Qi Refining spells, and Baotian was confident that not many among them had a similar mastery of those than him. They would also have taken more time to catch him, allowing him to recover his spiritual energy. Baotian was confident that he could beat a normal early stage Qi Building when they were tired after catching up, and with flying spells restricted.

Except that the one in front of him was in the mid stage! Not only did he catch up before Baotian could recover from exhaustion, he himself didn't look as tired thanks to his Qi Cube, compensating for the restriction of his flying spells.

In three words as in a hundred, Baotian was fucked. He had no chance of winning a fair fight against an enemy that was more than half a realm above himself.

Desperately trying to find something to fool his opponent and run, Baotian noticed something:

"Your face seems familiar… are you related to the junior who insulted me at my parents' grave?"

"Hmpf, you finally noticed? I am Liu Jiaoshi, his big brother! just six years ago, you took our adorable Jiaoyi away from our family… My father, my mother, they're devastated, our family almost crumbled after that! He was the rising star of our family and you took him away for mere jokes! Now I, Liu Jiaoshi-"

As he was about to finish, Liu Jiaoshi finally noticed that Baotian had discreetly put distance between them, using a water spell to slowly glide on the wood ground unnoticed.

"You… you… you dare!?" Liu Jiaoshi exclaimed as veins popped on his forehead.

'Well, it seems that's my signal' Baotian thought, once again using air and force control spells to speed himself up in the opposite direction.

"This trash bastard, you're courting death!" Liu Jiaoshi shouted as he chased after him. "Stop running and accept your death, so that at least it can be less pathetic than your life!"

Baotian accelerated even more, but he was consuming spiritual power far too quickly. 

'Quick, an idea, anything!'

The answer came to him as what seemed like an empty wooden cave with a narrow entry. There was one chance in two that demonic cultivators or traps would await him inside along with a painful death, but Baotian decided to take the bet, since he didn't have anything left to lose, anyway.

Slowing down as he entered the cave, he came to a stop after passing the entry and, when his pursuer reached it, used a basic wood spell to close it on him. With a sneer, the latter, used his sword to cleave through it:

"Liu sword technique, fourth move: Liu Raising Dragon Blade!"

The wood quickly turned into nothing more than bits but, using them to obstruct his opponent's view, Baotian sneaked below the sword slash and drew his own sword, prompting Liu Jiaoshi to retract in a defensive position. And as he prepared to parry,

Baotian dropped his sword.

"... Uh?"

Shocked by this absurd action, Liu Jiaoshi was distracted, just for a second. But this second was all Baotian needed.

Using a force control spell, he raised the momentum of his arm to its maximum, and punched him square in the face.