Other than the basic cultivation law of the Bright Clan, a few basic alchemic recipes, formations, arrays, and runic inscriptions were there, but they were so simple even the fifth-ranked clans of the Cloud Province would find them useless.

Ming Ren, however, was sure there were more mysteries to be found. No matter how useful, a treasure like the Bright Scripture was of a high rank. What kind of expert would create a Secret Realm and fill it only with c.r.a.ppy stuff?

Even the Elders of the Clan could not appraise the exact grade of the treasure and were too afraid to show it to outsiders in case they drew a sect destroying disaster. What you don't completely understand it's best to keep hidden. Besides, Ming Ren managed to pick a lot of knowledge there, even if basic.

"Ren, were you outside again?" After going to his residence, that lovely sounding voice took the youth by surprise.

"Ha ha ha… Yes, mother." He scratched the back of his head.

"Child, I told you to cultivate inside the clan. You know how dangerous the times are. You're a smart child, so why are you so stubborn?!" His mother name was Yu Ming. A descendant of the Jade Clan in the River Province that married into the Bright Clan. She was thirty years old but looked in her twenties due to breaking into the Spirit Realm at a young age.

Ming Ren could only nod. He didn't want to lie to his mother, but there was no way he would stop training with his friends. His mother knew he was lying so she could only glare at him.

"Any news from father?" The youth quickly changed the subject.

Yu Ming sighed, "No. The war in the northeast is still going on. I hope he comes back quickly."

His father was already gone for a couple of years. The provincial overlord of the Cloud province was the Brave Clan. It had been in a punitive expedition against the neighboring Sky Province, so every clan had to send troops to support.

Provinces going to war were a common occurrence. It usually meant fight over resources, but sometimes honor would play a huge part. Of course, they weren't allowed to go all out and do as they please. It was a "war with rules".

While the Royal Family usually did not intervene in common matters between sects and clans as long as tribute was paid, lowering the power of the country was not good for its survival. If provincial overlords killed each other at their whims complete chaos would ensue, so wars among them had rules in place. It often ended with a few territories or resources switching hands.

For conflicts among sects and clans, they usually followed some of those rules but were much harder to enforce. Many clans also dared to things behind the Royal family's back, so it was not rare for an entire clan to be wiped out if the other party was powerful enough to do so.

Yu Ming was currently researching the Dao of Pills, as she was the direct disciple of the Clan's Chief Alchemist Elder, "Ren, look at this, what do you think of those proportions?"

Ming Ren took a single glance and shook his head. His mother skillfully mixed two Spirit Herbs with different attributes but misjudged the adequate proportion. It was clear to him that the result would be no better than the previous attempt.

"Still no good…" Yu Ming sighed. She taught everything to her son, but who would've thought that he'd surpa.s.s her in knowledge at fourteen. Not even the Chief Alchemist was better than Ming Ren, but his feeble cultivation prevented him from concocting good pills.

Of course, this was a secret between the two of them. Ming Ren main focus was still cultivation. The Dao of Pills took thousands of years to master, so it could not be the focus or the best time to cultivate would be wasted. Besides, even if he mastered the theory, what good would it be if he stayed at the fourth layer of the body tempering realm?

"I thought I could improve our Qi Recovery Pill a little," she smiled gently.

"Mother, should I help you…?" Even though he knew the answer, Ming Ren could not bear. The Qi Recovery Pill was the best pill of the Bright Clan, but it was only an Initial Stage First-Step Human Rank Pill.

In the Dao Of Pills, each rank had three steps and there were three ranks, Human, Earth, and Heaven. Each step also had initial, middle and top stages. Currently in Bluecloud City, apart from the Bright Clan, the Sunflower Pavilion also sold Pills.

Until a few months ago they were evenly matched, but the Pavilion managed to produce middle stage Qi Recovery Pills, causing all sort of headaches to the Clan. Their revenue would suffer another blow.

"No. Focus only on your cultivation. Your mother will work things out with the Elder." With the current Bright Clan, even finding materials for research was a hard task.

Ming Ren tightly clenched his hands and nodded. He ate something and went straight to cultivate. Sitting in a lotus position, he slowly absorbed the Qi of Heaven and Earth into his incomplete Spirit Sea, refining it into Spirit Energy he could use.

Only a small percentage of the world's population was able to cultivate. This was mainly due to one's Spiritual Root and Physique. If it was not suitable, for any number of reasons, one could not Condense Qi and form an incomplete Spirit Sea. This is also the reason why cultivator's Clans would not allow their descendants to marry common mortals.

The quality of the Spiritual Root largely depends on the lineage. Although it was much harder for cultivators to have children, it was far easier for them to have a good Spiritual Root and therefore be able to cultivate. Of course, there were cases of people with mortal parents and good Spiritual Roots. In the end, everything was up to destiny and karma.

A good physique would also help with cultivation, but some of them, although powerful, had harsh requirements to be effective. A fourth-ranked influence like the Bright Clan usually didn't have knowledge vast enough to understand physiques properly, so it was highly likely that great talent would be buried under those circ.u.mstances. In the end, those with higher cultivation speed were acknowledged as a genius, while those with special physiques possibly labeled as failures.

At the Body Refining Realm, one needed to absorb the Qi of Heaven and Earth and refine it inside the incomplete Spirit Sea, circulating the energy into the inner organs and bloodstream. By doing so, their meridians would open, impurities would be washed out and the mortal body tempered. This happened progressively at each layer until finally arriving at the peak.

To do this, a good Cultivation Law was needed. In fact, each realm needed a law specific to that step. Aside from the ever-growing amount of energy to break through, inefficient cultivation laws are thought to be the biggest reason cultivators. .h.i.t a bottleneck and were unable to progress.

While cultivation laws from a lower realm could be used on higher realms, their effectivity was greatly reduced. The Bright Clan Cultivation Art [One Breath Luminescence] was a Spirit Realm Base Cultivation Law, which meant it worked very well on both the Body Refining Realm and the Spirit Realm but would result in a strong obstacle to cultivators at the Spirit Gate Realm.

Also, among Cultivation Laws, it was only Human grade. Cultivation laws ranged from Human, Earth, and Heaven. Of course, this was only the knowledge of the Bright Clan. They had no way of knowing laws of a higher grade existed.

Considered a poor talent, Ming Ren received a single low-grade Spirit Stone per month for cultivation. Spirit Stones were imbued with Spirit Energy and therefore fundamental to speed up cultivation along with other artifacts. He also received one more low-grade from his mother and another two from his father's service, which put him at four spirit stones per month. The top genius, Ming Qiu, received ten low-grade spirit stones per month from the Clan alone.

Although not the highest amount, those should be enough for him to break through his shackles, but even after another whole night of cultivation he was unable to reach the middle stage of the 4th layer. He always tried his hardest and had unwavering discipline, but the heavens were intent on blocking his path.

After a few hours of rest, he waved goodbye to his mother and rushed to the training camp of the Clan. Usually, he'd skip training but today he was going there for the scripture, so he had to partic.i.p.ate in case some of the elders decided to punish him for escaping by not letting him join. However, in reality, none of them would do so, since it would be more like a reward. He was the only one that would think of it as punishment!

"Brother Ming Ren!" A bright-eyed and handsome young man in a white robe approached. He carried himself with dignity and already started to exude an aura comparable to those at the Spirit Realm!

"Big Brother Ming Qiu, long time no see!" Ming Ren bowed.

"Nevermind that, quickly, look at my fist!" He instantly took an instance with both fists at the same height and slight bended knees, punching forward with a powerful fist embedded in a slim layer of bright spiritual energy. The [Bright Fist] he executed carried a destructive force much greater than Ming Ren's.

"Is it good?" The youth smiled proudly of his fist but soon saw an open-mouthed ? Ming Ren.

"Big Brother, are you trying to give me trouble?" Ming Ren cried.

"Trouble?" Min Qiu looked around him and, as expected, everyone else had a puzzled face, including the elders.

Min Qiu, at the peak of the 8th layer, was asking Ming Ren for his opinion!

Ming Qiu sweated, "Sorry, Sorry, I forgot!!! ?"

"Hahahaha Big Brother, how can I comment your technique when it's much better than mine?!" Ming Ren awkwardly said ?.

"Hahahahahaha right, right!!!" Ming Qiu also laughed, 'I'm surprised you can lie with such a straight face, brother!'

"Ah, Brother Ming Ren!" This time a pair of frail looking twins came running and talking in unison. The boy had looked like a girl, and the girl looked very tomboyish. They immediately executed the [Bright Fist Art], "How is it??"

Ming Ren almost spat blood, "?????"

'Heavens, these people!!! Do they want the Elders to think I'm slacking off in my cultivation?! See if I don't teach you a lesson later!! ???" He felt wronged. All he did was to give them a pointer here or there, he never thought they'd be so clueless as to put him on the spot.

After all, how can a mere 4th layer talentless Ming Ren teach the three geniuses of the clan?!

"Hahahahaa, l-let's go, l-let's go, the elders are calling!" Ming Qiu was the first to recover and pulled them towards the inner courtyard where the Bright Scripture would be.

Everyone felt something was off. The Elders didn't even wait for the morning training and made everyone sit cross-legged in front of the scripture. As far as treasures go, you would never think the Bright Scripture was one. It didn't have any aura or looked mystical. In fact, it looked like a common cheap scripture.

Soon the Patriarch of the Bright Clan came in and stood behind the scripture.

"Patriarch," everyone bowed.

"Once again the Bright Sculpture will open. For some of you, it will be the first time, so do your best to comprehend the Arts of our clan. For everyone else, try your best," although the Patriarch tried to motivate as best as he could, it was hard to get excited about such a place, even if it was a high ranked treasure, "Ming Qiu, Ming Bo, Ming Lan. After this time I will train you three personally from now on."

The younger generation went into an uproar. They all knew this meant they were groomed to be the next Patriarch of the clan, but also felt his choice was indeed right.

Ming Qiu wanted to say something, but quickly felt the burning stare of Ming Ren at his back and gave up.

'I'll kill you if you say anything, Big Brother!' How could he not know what he was thinking?

The Patriarch went forward and poured his Spirit Energy into the sculpture, chanting an ancient Law.

The entire room lit up and the younger generation fell into a deep trance, pulled into another world.

**

After everything went bright, Ming Ren finally opened his eyes full of excitement. The last time he was in a large room full of books.

This time, a surprise. He saw two figures flying in the air above, and heaven and earth shook incomparably every time their heaven-shattering Qi collided. The sky sundered in half and the entire world seemed to become numb.

A battlefield!

Many others fought in the ground. Some had human forms, some shaped like beasts, other shaped like demons. Blood splashed and death was common. All around carnage ensued as if it was a scene of h.e.l.l itself.

"What is going on…?" Ming Ren found his eyes attracted to the beings in the sky, and he recognized the bright energy revolving inside his body. He also felt an induction of familiarity… and blood.

His blood was boiling!

The more that figure up there used his powers, the more he felt his whole body burning and the urge to go there and help. But how could he? Those beings were certainly above the Spirit Gate Realm! Not even the Bright Patriarch had such a powerful aura.

After a huge battle, both figures in the air fell down. Cries of despair and sorrow echoed in every corner of the world, and suddenly he knelt in pain and lost consciousness.

Ming Ren felt as if, at that moment, he also died.