The 1000th Reincarnation

There was no time to waste, Zephyr had to get stronger and quickly. But first and foremost, he had to develop his physical strength. 

Next to the wooden house he stayed in he saw a training field with a sandy floor and five scarecrows lined up in a single file line. He spotted the wooden practice swords right next to the first scarecrow and snatched a sword. 

In Zephyr's past lives, he had been in both the Scarlet Ember Sect and the Verdant Sky Pavillion so he already knew many advanced techniques those sects had to offer. However, he had never reincarnated into the Cult of the Withering Moon so he had no idea how he would get stronger in such a short amount of time knowing zero sword techniques. 

Zephyr wanted to test if he could even perform sword techniques in the first place. After looking around to make sure nobody was watching, he stood in front of the scarecrow closed his eyes, lifted his blade, and concentrated. 

Blazing Crescent Slash, verse 1

A blazing red fire appeared for a split second surrounding the blade but then just disappeared as the blade cut down striking the scarecrow in the shoulder. 

Huh? What happened to the fire? 

After glancing around once more to make sure nobody saw that technique, he sat down criss-crossed, rubbed his chin, and began pondering.

I had no trouble performing these simple techniques in my past lives, why can't I do it now? As soon as I tried to swing my sword the energy disappeared. That couldn't be possible. Either it's this boy's body or it's... THE GODDESS. 

Zephyr had deduced that this was what the goddess meant when she said "You'll need to work for it." For each sect in Kyomora, each kingdom in Mystharow, each village in the Nyxthorn Thicket, and each territory in the Eclisped realm there lay a Divine Energy Stone. These stones contained divine energy and if one wanted to create a new sword art for a new sect or a new mana trait for a kingdom they would need to lay their hands on a brand new piece of divine stone. There is a confirmed total of 12 stones throughout the entire kingdom but there was a chance more stones could be found, it just hadn't been confirmed. 

In Zephyr's past lives, these were useless since he could only control one type of energy whether it be qi, mana, divine energy, or dark energy. Because these energy stones had divine energy, it was easy for him to track down these stones with divine powers. But in his past life, he could strictly use one type of energy so even if he could find these stones, besides selling them on the market there was no use for them. Now that Zephyr has all four energies in this life obtaining these stones would be essential to powering himself up. Not only essential, but a requirement because it seemed that the Goddess had sealed away his powers and these powers would only activate if he had the stone linked to the specific type of technique and energy. 

It's no use. I'll just hone my body for now by slashing this scarecrow until I can cut it in half in one strike. I'll track down the stone for this cult tonight. 

...

Zephyr lay face up on the ground dripping with sweat trying to catch his breath as a shadowy figure loomed over him. 

"Old man?" Zephyr muttered under his breath struggling to find his words. 

"Who do you think you're calling ME, Yun Aran, old man, Baek? Do you want to get beat again? At least you're making an effort to train even though it looks pathetic," Yun said scornfully. "Go hurry up and get changed your food is on the table." 

Yun Aran, Yun Aran. WAIT YUN ARAN? 

Back in Zephyr's 665th life and onward, when the angels first appeared on Umbraxis, the name Yun Aran had been passed around as one of the main slayers of the angels. He had been around the first to slay around twenty or so which doesn't sound like a lot but at the time no one could fight against an angel less have a one versus one against them.

Zephyr staggered over to his small house and saw the steamed rice, congee, and seaweed soup on the table. He plopped down on the seat and started devouring the entire meal. He hadn't remembered the last time he had tasted something so delicious. 

After the meal, he wearily walked over to the bed and trained his qi until midnight. Midnight was the time he was going to strike.