On top of a mountain in the Beast Mountains.
An old man sat on a rock, wearing a mismatched armor set. Some of it he inherited, some he borrowed from the treasury, some of it he trusts, the others not as much. The chest plate is the equipment he trusted the most at this moment, inherited and improved by burning a lot of resources in his heyday.
In the clan they called him Ancestor, a pillar, a rock. Only a few people know who he was as a person, however only he himself knew how much he left, abandoned and sacrificed to become the pillar his clan sees him as.
Aeon Lou took a deep breath as he regained spiritual energy. His eyes slowly moving around from his sword to the horizon to the valley below him as he prepared his mind on his next set of actions.
He is currently recovering after using most of it to gain distance towards the threat of the green robed man. Thankfully he met Aeon Yong and Aeon Ion on the way, though they are heavily injured, its good that they were able to escape death.
Based on what Aeon Yong and Aeon Ion said, this person might be at peak Initiate realm after their encounter. There was just no way his body was that durable without armor.
The threat of a strong enemy is still fine, manageable, it might even help with growth. Unfortunately with the present state of the clan, him about to meet his predecessors, and the enemy being young if not treated will directly crush the next generation, possibly ending the cultivator clan called Aeon Clan.
'Where is he from? Why is he here?' the old man thought. Unfortunately, the questions were only answered by more questions. 'To have reached that point at such a young age. High talent for cultivation, from a sect, from a renowned family... which one is it?'
He hoped it would be none of those, after all this person injured his nephew and grandson. It is still unknown if they could recover, that is two of the ten cultivators of Aeon Clan including him.
'If I let it go, would this person forgive our clan? Even if he does, what would our clansmen say? To let an outsider off after doing that big of a damage, on the clan's orders too. And what would that make me? A coward...'
'But if I kill him and offend a sect capable of nurturing such talent... would our clan survive?'
The old man closed his eyes, the slight breeze playing with the edges of his robe. His mind betrayed the tranquility of his surroundings.
"I will not be known as a coward." the old man quietly declared, strengthening his resolve. 'Selfish? Yes... but for everything I've given and done for the clan, it's justified... it's justified.'
The old man opened his eyes, his gaze sharp as he slowly stood up.
After regaining his energy he slowly descended the mountain, the music of the forest slowly disappearing.
As he observed the change in the environment he released a heavy sigh, relief taking the place of the mental burden. He no longer had to choose. Soon, the enemy will get eliminated even if he had to accompany him.
"An evil cultivator has no place in the state of Jin." The old man whispered.
To be able to clear out an area of life and vitality in a forest where not even bugs underneath the earth remains is certainly some sort of evil cultivation technique.
"Why do you keep poking your nose into things you don't have to? You clearly don't have much life left, even your spiritual energy is leaking out. Why don't you go accompany your useless descendants before you get put into the wooden box you belong?"
A figure arrived on a fallen tree a few meters from Aeon Lou. A young man wearing a tattered green robe and a pair of gauntlets, rampant pride in his eyes and a smirk on his face.
"I have the same thought. So young, bold enough to snoop around yet so naive, easily influenced enough to practice evil cultivation techniques. Isn't your mother waiting for you to drink your milk?" The old man answered with a chuckle.
"Hmph, by this age I have stepped into this stage. Unlike you, you old fossil, you are already about to turn into dust yet you are still lingering. Taking away chances from the next generation. If I was you 50 years ago yet still in Initiate Realm I would have embraced the clouds and the wind and joined my ancestors instead hindering the next generation." The young man sneered, his eyes turned venomous.
"No wonder you're here alone, not with your family. If I had a spawn like you I would have let nature take care of you too, I would guess nature was harsh enough to let your head kiss the ground and some rock while at it but gentle enough to not send you off." The old man said with a grin.
They say once anger takes control, logic and reasoning cower.
The young man jumped and charged at the old man with punch, throwing one after the other not letting the old man catch his breath.
The old man moved his aging body, dodging punches by an inch in most of them, retreating in some, and the others he deflected. He wanted to conserve as much energy as possible, if it was only that he would be lying, a part of it is that he is not as fast. He relied on his honed intuition to predict where the punch would come from next and move before the young man throws it.
The old man also noticed that the young man's movement seems to be restricted in some ways, some of his punches were a lot weaker.
As the fight went on, despite defending majority of the time and only being allowed to counterattack a few times the old man slowly gained some advantage as he figured out angles that the young man wouldn't throw a punch in.
He knew that his enemy is injured likely intending to finish this battle as fast as possible. The longer the fight goes, the chances of victory goes up to a certain extent. However, he could not drag it out too much.
His body could not take as much of a beating as it did in his younger days, it also does not help that the spiritual energy in his body is leaking out aside from being used.
Unfortunately, as moments passed he noticed that the young man's attacks seems to be getting even more ferocious forcing him to burn spiritual energy faster in order to reduce the damage he is receiving.
'Now I see how this person could put those two into such sorry states. Aside from him about to reach perfect stage Initiate Realm...'
'Is this a momentum based boxing technique? I've heard about it, seems like that old coot was not lying after all, it's really oppressive. The movement technique is a little bit rough, if polished... it might partially compensate for the innate weakness of momentum based techniques, interruption.'
The old man directly burned a fifth of his remaining spiritual energy from his body forcibly blocking a punch then burned a quarter of what's left for a counterattack, a step back overhead swing to the young man's head.
The young man, although rattled, managed to put up his arms, blocking the attack with a cross block.
The gauntlets were able to block the strike, effectively saving his life. That did not mean he didn't suffer any damage.
First, his momentum was broken. The momentum conserves a lot of spiritual energy, restarting it consumes quite a lot.
Second, his arms are a bit numb, he also felt that impact in his back.
Third, his gauntlets now have a dent. It would not have been really bad however his hands are still in it.
Fourth, the old man's move surprised him a lot, he had to momentarily send spiritual energy to his arms to withstand the blow. Unfortunately the spiritual energy he was using to keep his wounds in tact were pulled in as well, reopening his wounds.
Now, he's leaking spiritual energy thankfully not too much at least from his view.
Realizing this, the young man decided to go on defensive and retreat. But before that, it would be ideal if he could deal some damage that would hasten the old man's ascension.
'Got him' the old man thought.
He was slightly surprised with how durable the gauntlets were. After all, his sword was refined by a master blacksmith, passed down through generations and could still be used upon reaching Master Realm above Initiate Realm.
From then on, the old man went into offensive, mixing in feints amongst his assault. After the recent heavy strikes, the young man could no longer underestimate the old man's attacks. The feints were not only meant to let his opponent waste just a bit more energy and movement but also to set up the next attacks.
The old man's blood boiled, his eyes gained more and more clarity as the fight went on.
He started to use his spiritual energy instinctually. He would randomly use it to add more force to his strikes surprising the young man, prompting him to use more spiritual energy. He would also use it to increase his momentum randomly or add a little bit on his feints.
The young man used more and more spiritual energy, his body gaining more and more cuts.
'Is this? This can't be...' The young man's eyes widened. He felt a familiar feeling, it might not be exactly the same however...
"I see..." The old man's voice reached the young man's ears.
'It truly is...' The young man's eyes widened in horror, frantically using more spiritual energy on his retreat not caring about the direction.
The old man felt an indescribable feeling. His movements became more fluid, each movement complimented each other making his storm of attacks even more ferocious. He also started to use the environment, sending his opponent into more and more unfavorable situations. His movements felt natural, ignoring the state of his body. He was able to perceive his surroundings and use it. That even a pebble or a leaf had a purpose, whether it was to land his opponent's foot a certain way or to obstruct vision.
The young man retreated deeper into the Beast Mountains with the old man in his trail. He ran yet cannot shake off the old man, at this point he knew couldn't escape safely.
After a moment of hesitation, the young man headed jumped from a nearby cliff.
The old man finally snapped back to reality. He took a deep breath and sat down to digest his gains and recover spiritual energy.
The fight has left him drained and his physical body almost breaking apart, shaving off maybe a year or two off his life. The enemy's state is also uncertain as they were already deep into the beast mountains, the wounds he inflicted and the damage from jumping off a cliff he might as well be dead.
He listened to the howls of the raging wind and watched the sky turn red as he organized his gains in his mind.
"Enlightenment..." Aeon Lou whispered, his eyes tinged with joy and sadness.
'People say enlightenment is a feeling that cannot be described easily, seems like its true. This day, the Aeon Clan gained a rough piece of Momentum based technique to be polished by descendants in the future. As for the movement technique, its a little bit hard to follow. When I was in that mysterious state, I was able "see" everything around me not only that but it also gave me a temporary "understanding" on how to do things yet now I can only grasp a small bit of it.'
'Not only that but my understanding of swordsmanship was also elevated. I've been in a slump for a long time not knowing what I'm doing wrong yet don't have the resources to seek guidance remaining in a puddle.'
'Most importantly, it has allowed me to take a glimpse of Half-step Master Realm. If I only I was able to experience this decades ago, the door to Master Realm might not have been shut. That's unfortunate however at least I should be able to reach Perfect Initiate Realm State granting me more or less a decade to pass on my insights...'
"Certainly something to celebrate, it's been a while since I've tasted Nephew Yong's wine. Third brother's wine method certainly found itself a good successor, managing to improve it even further. Passing on my swordsmanship technique to the next generation... improving it might be a big ask but I still hope it happens." The old man said as he found himself a place to spend the night.