What was the point of cultivating?
And… he was forever unable to forget his father’s final words: “I didn’t have a choice. I had to take part in this war and just hope for the best. You don’t have a choice either. The two of us, father and son… we certainly share a sorry fate.”
These words tore at his heart. Ever since his mother had died due to her lifespan coming to an end, his father had become the person who he cared about above all others. His father, in turn, had cherished him and loved him.
Only when he heard those words did he realize how miserably unhappy his father had been. His father had the exalted title of ‘Exalt’, but he had been given no choices either. He had only come to take part in this war because he had to, and his fate had been left up to luck.
“Sithe…”
“SITHE!!!!” Hawkfang began to feel hatred towards the Sithe race, which treated both himself and his father as disposable pawns. This hatred cast a shadow over his heart, preventing him from perfecting his Dao-heart. He knew that he had to become more powerful and become an Autarch, as it would give him a better chance of escaping and taking revenge upon the Sithe… but he could no longer perfect his Dao-heart. In fact, he couldn’t improve at all.
……
After no longer being able to progress on the path of cultivation, Hawkfang eventually began to give up on his hopes of Autarchy. However, he then came up with another idea for taking revenge upon the Sithe!
He knew that the Sithe had long ago transmitted nine special techniques to their descendants, wanting to make cultivation easier for them. These techniques allowed divine power and Immortal energy to be merged together, theoretically ensuring that even Daolords would no longer face mortal danger as they took their various steps. Even if you failed in the Daomerge, you would be able to quickly recover and then attempt it again! This was the reason why the Sithe were able to produce so many Hegemons, Emperors, and Exalts.
“The Sithe continuously improved as they created these nine techniques, with the ninth being much better than the first. But in the end? Even the ninth and ultimate technique remained flawed. It only allowed for one to become a Daolord of the First Step, at which point the body would crumble and the truesoul would vanish.
“I can sense that these techniques are somewhat rejected by the natural ‘Dao’ of this Chaosverse. If I can retrofit them, I should be able to produce something better.”
True Sithe were unable to sense or make use of the Dao of this Chaosverse… but Hawkfang could!
It was absolutely incredible that the Sithe Lord of Chaos was able to create a technique which would allow a local cultivator to safely become a Daolord, even though the Lord of Chaos himself was unable to sense the Dao here. Hawkfang had personally viewed all nine of the techniques in the past, and he had watched as the almighty Sithe Lord of Chaos had slowly improved and perfected them. Hawkfang had gained many new insights as he had watched… and so, he had chosen to make use of those insights into creating his own techniques.
He had felt certain that all nine Sithe techniques contained fundamental, foundational errors. The only reason why those errors weren’t apparent early on was because when one was weak, there was a great deal of margin for error.
For example, consider mortal cultivators. ‘Foundation level’, ‘Golden Core level’, ‘Nascent Soul level’… ‘Mortal-ranked’, ‘Earth-ranked’, ‘Heaven-ranked’… ‘Wanxiang Adept’, ‘Primal Daoist’, ‘Void level’… all sorts of techniques and styles could be used, because the weaker you were the less of an impact the Chaosverse’s Dao would have upon you. But the closer to the peak you were, the more demanding the Dao would become.
Hawkfang himself was able to sense the Dao of this Chaosverse. He borrowed some of the technical tricks and ideas used by the nine special techniques, then began to recreate them in his own image, devising the [Mortal Chapter], [Fiendgod Chapter], [World Chapter], [Daolord Chapter], and [Deathless Chapter].
This became the technique which he named the [Five Truncheon Chapters]. The reason why he called it the [Five Truncheon Chapters] was because his father’s favorite magic treasure had been a wooden truncheon. As a child, Hawkfang had loved to play around with that truncheon, and so his father had given it to him. Hawkfang had always carried it by his side, and it became a symbol of the love he bore for his father.
* * *
Book 42, Chapter 13 - Deathless
Hawkfang had created this technique in order to take revenge upon the Sithe. He wanted to take revenge for both his father’s sake and his own sake, and for the sake of the countless deceived Sithe descendants! They were viewed as disposable cannon fodder by the true Sithe, while even his father had been forced to take part in the war.
“The two of us, father and son… we certainly share a sorry fate.” These words continued to stab against Hawkfang’s heart like knives. He would never be able to forget that look on his father’s face. This was why he needed revenge.
He wanted to create this technique, then find a way to deliver it to the cultivators! He felt certain that the cultivators would be able to use it to dramatically increase in power, producing many new Hegemons and even new Autarchs. That way, the Sithe would be defeated.
But of course, if the Sithe found out that he was creating this technique, he would be doomed! Thus, he had carried out all of his experiments upon the beings who resided within his own estate-treasure. As a Hegemon, he had many estate-treasures which were filled with countless living beings. He had these beings test out his cultivation techniques, and many ended up dying due to errors in the technique. He had tested them time and time again, then remade them repeatedly.
His talent was put to full effect here. He quickly mastered the [Mortal Chapter] and the [Fiendgod Chapter]. The first was comparable to pre-Celestial Tribulation levels of the Three Realms, while the second included everything post-tribulation to the Elder God/Ancestral Immortal level.
Although it was different from the way in which the nine techniques operated, it was successful and had a similar effect to Ning’s own azureflower seal technique.
The [World Chapter] covered World Gods and Chaos Immortals. It was clearly far more difficult, and it took him a great deal of time… but in the end, he succeeded once more.
The [Daolord Chapter], however, was even more difficult. It must be remembered that even the finest of the nine special techniques only allowed for cultivators to safely train to the World level. Once one became a Daolord of the First Step, the body would crumble apart and the truesoul would be destroyed.
Hawkfang spent untold aeons working on the [Daolord Chapter], and to this very day he was still working on it. Alas, he had only been able to successfully complete the parts for Daolords of the First Step and Daolords of the Second Step. He hadn’t been able to succeed for the third or fourth steps!
Due to being stymied by the [Daolord Chapter], he had turned his attention to the [Deathless Chapter] instead. The [Deathless Chapter] was meant to allow Daolords who had failed in the Daomerge to halt and reverse the crumbling of the truesoul, allowing them to then attempt the Daomerge once more.
Desolate Era (Book 41 - Book 45)
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