Chapter 4: -4- Scythe

Chapter 4: -4- Scythe "Father, I select the Desolate Emperor's Path," Silas said after making up his mind.

His father nodded and asked, "Are you sure? This isn't the worst manual, but it isn't the best either."

Silas nodded his head. "Yes, Father, I'm sure. There's something about this one that's calling to me," Silas quickly made up.

"Ok, if this is the one you want, I won't say anything else. Besides, you can always switch back to another one later," his father said.

"The Desolate Emperor's Path only has six levels. The first three levels are for the Mortal stage, and the last three levels are for the Transcendent stage. This is why it isn't the best manual. While it does teach one how to start using both death and destruction, the farthest you can progress is the 2nd rank, while the best manual we have, the Heavenly Sovereign's Scripture, allows one to reach the peak of our inheritance realm: the 3rd rank."

"I understand, Father, but it is still my pick, and like you said, once I reach the peak of Transcendent, I can always switch to the Heavenly Sovereign's Scripture to rank up to the Revolving Core stage," Silas said.

His father nodded in understanding. "If this is the path you want to walk, then I'll allow it."

His father then began to explain, "Once you reach the Transcendent stage of this manual, your body will become light and agile, and all of your senses will be sharpened. Even severed limbs can be regrown. Then, once you reach the third rank, you will finally be able to regenerate from a single drop of blood."

His father soon left to leave him to start cultivating, and soon a day had gone by. His father had come back. "Have you made any progress?" his father asked.

"Yes, Father," Silas said, which wasn't a lie. He had been old enough to cultivate for about a month now, so he had long since started to cultivate with his inherited memories.

Name: Silas Armstrong

Race: Grim Reaper King (Divine Beast)

Innate Talent: Grim Reaper's Eye

Qi Cultivation: Mid Mortal

Body Cultivation: Mid Mortal

He had even managed to reach mid Mortal stage in both Qi cultivation and body cultivation.

He then flared out some of his aura, and his father, shocked, said, "You've already hit mid Mortal level?"

"Yes, Father," Silas said with a smile. He had managed to hit it a couple of days ago, and he couldn't wait to show it off to his father.

"This is great! You must be even more talented than I was at your age," his father began to say while thinking of the amazing future that lay in front of his son as both a cultivator and the future prefect lord of the North Prefecture.

'My son will definitely win the competition and become the lord prefect,' his father was thinking.

"Good, very good!" his father raised his voice in excitement.

"Now that you have started to cultivate, it's time to start learning different abilities. While training in a Fiendgod body technique will give you immense power, the training in both footwork and whatever weapon you select will decide how much of that strength you will be able to use," his father said.

"So which weapon would you like to use on your path as a cultivator?" his father asked him.

Silas had long been thinking of this, and after a long time, he had finally made his decision. "Father, I will take the path of our clan and the path you chose yourself and go with the path of the scythe."

(Also, in this novel, anytime a scythe is mentioned, it will be referring to a battle scythe, which is when the blade of the scythe isn't just on the concaved side. It is on both sides.)

He had known for a long time that his clan was founded by a strong cultivator who had entered the inheritance realm thousands of years ago and was unable to escape. He had been a user of the scythe himself, and he passed down all his cultivation, weapon, and footwork manuals to the clan, so the Armstrong clan naturally became a prominent user of the scythe.

"That is an excellent choice. There is no weapon our Armstrong clan knows more about than the scythe," his father said with immense pride.

"But before you learn the path of the scythe, you must first learn how to move."

"You will not always be as strong as your opponent, so the most important thing is to be able to quickly and skillfully escape."

His father then pulled out a movement manual called [Whirlwind Drift].

"This is our Armstrong clan's best movement manual. It has seven basic movements. Quickly learn them," his father said as he passed him the manual.

About an hour went by with Silas going over the movement manual, making sure to remember every detail.

After learning the movement manual, his father took him to a training location in the clan.

"This is where you will practice your movement techniques," his father said as he pointed to a bunch of poles of varying heights sticking out of the ground.

"You must be able to effortlessly move on top of these beams as if you were on the ground," his father said.

Silas then hopped up on a nearby beam, and he quickly noticed how hard this was going to be. The beam was so small, he couldn't even stand flat-footed on the beam.

"There are three different levels to learning the Whirlwind Drift technique, and really all things such as weapon techniques as well."

"The first is foundation. At this stage, you understand the basics of the skill. Your movements are mechanical, practiced, and deliberate. The focus is on building muscle memory and consistency. Most Mortal lifeforms are able to master this stage."

"The second is mastery. At this stage, the practitioner achieves a deeper control of the technique. Body and weapon are perfectly synchronized. The practitioner moves effortlessly; the technique becomes an extension of their body and mind. Most Transcendent lifeforms are able to master this stage."

"The third and final stage is cosmic resonance. Here, the practitioner taps into the universal forces, seamlessly blending in with the environment. They are not merely performing a technique but channeling the power of the cosmos itself. They achieve an effortless mastery where everything around them bends to their will. Most rank 3 disciples are able to reach this stage, and a select few talented Transcendent lifeforms," his father finished explaining.

"So, Father, I just have to be able to run through this course?" Silas said. He knew it would be hard, but he thought he could quickly get the hang of it.

His father just laughed, then walked over to the side and pulled a lever.

Then, all of a sudden, the training course was filled with ropes that had various sized and weighted objects tied to the end of them, swinging around.

"Once you can complete the entire course — all 2000 beams — in less than 20 seconds, only then will you have reached the first stage," his father explained.

Silas nodded in understanding, and soon his training began.

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Hours later, he was standing in a new part of the training ground with a practice scythe in hand.

"You did very well in practicing your movement technique, and you even managed to make a little progress, so keep up that hard work," his father said.

"Now, learning the scythe is much harder than learning the movement technique. To reach cosmic resonance in your movement technique, you need to become one with the cosmos, but to reach cosmic resonance in your scythe technique, the man, the scythe, and the cosmos must all become one. So naturally, it will be much more difficult," his father explained.

"First, you must learn how to properly control your body. So, put down that scythe and learn this first," his father said as he handed him another manual, this one to teach him how to control all aspects of his body.

"Only after mastering this can you move on to wielding a weapon."

Silas quickly learned the entire manual and was soon putting it to action.

After his practice session was over, Silas asked, "Father, how long before I can reach mastery in the scythe."

"It's too hard to say," his father said with a shake of his head, "in the past, I spent six years mastering the basics, then it took me eight more years before reaching mastery, so you can say it took me fourteen years."

"But if you work hard with your talent, you might be faster than me," his father said.

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[A/n: I changed some of the ranks it now goes:

1. Mortal

2. Transcendent

3. Revolving Core

4. Golden Core]