Jian stared at Uma, completely slack-jawed as she talked casually with the strongest being the Poisonous Raja Sect had ever seen.
Even Jian who was a random orphan had heard about Giran. He stood at the pinnacle of martial arts in the Red Sky Continent. Contrarily to most other patiriarchs he rarely used any form of powers. Giran was known for his insane physical abilities due to his Golden Vein Technique.
That technique helped him move his unique qi all around his body and use it to strenghen his muscles or even protect him by forming plates to absorb damages.
This was one of the first cultivator in the Red Sky Continent who reached the Mortal Pinnacle Realm.
And yet....
'What the hell happened to the old hag....This doesn't even make sense, she is servant here....So why....Maybe....I knew it ! Priestess of Thanatos must be something incredible ! I freaking knew it, that damn old hag is something else. Just coming from the Twin Sisters doesn't make her anything incredible, it just means that she is a seductress and hungers for power....System....Please ?'
[ I am sorry host, but I have heard of these priestesses of Thanatos only once. A few days ago, when you were taking a nap in the forest....A man wearing the elite disciples' robe passed by and yelled ' Damn Priestesses of Thanatos ! As if I have enough free time to chase after golden roses ! At least they gave me a month to get them...Ugh ! ]
Jian look perplexed as he went over what the system said. Logically speaking that disciple should have found the cave already.....But maybe, just maybe he hadn't found it already and if so...It would be a great idea to go back there, grab some roses and sell them to the disciple for maximum profits...He could only hope for that to be the case.
However Jian had been too absorbed by his thoughts and didn't see Giran approaching. He only went back to reality when he was suddenly lifted and Giran put him on his shoulders.
' What ?!'
Jian looked around in panic and saw Uma throwing a look full of pity at him before going back to yelling at random drunkards.
" The helllll ?!" Screamed the boy as Giran dashed out of the building and arrived in front of a mansion. The only problem was his speed.
In all of his life, Jian had never seen a human move this fast. He reckoned Giran must have been moving faster than a Lantern Ghost and that was one of the fastest beast that could be found in this world.
" Haha ! How was the ride, child ?" The giant asked with a huge smile on his face as Jian started to vomit on some pretty red flowers.
"Ah....Those are Blood Orchids..." Giran said.
"HMMMM !"
Jian's eyes widened and he quickly moved away from the flowers. He then vomitted against a very long tree that had some oddly curved branches.
" And that's a Longevity Tree." Giran deadpanned.
" ARGHHH !" Jian screamed while holding his foot that was now bleeding after he stepped on something pointy while trying to move away from the tree.
He ended up puking on the road, before looking at what had stabbed his foot, only to gasp when he saw a long knife with a lion fighting a panther carved in the blade.
" The hell ?! This wasn't here a second ago !" Jian exclaimed as he massaged his foot. Giran grabbed the weapon and let out a laugh while throwing it in a seemingly random location.
Jian gasped when someone groaned and blood started to float in the air. He found himself unable to move as a person appeared with the knife stabbed in their stomach. What made him freeze was who this person was exactly. This was Wei Lu, the disciple that was always following after the Elder of the South Gate, Wei Feng !
As Jian wondered why Giran threw the dagger at her, Wei Lu smiled.
" Master Giran. I see that even this technique of mine can't fool you. Such a shame. It's supposed to be the highest ranked technique I can use. " Wei Lu said as she approached him, her wounds quickly healing as steam poured out of it.
Jian smiled as he saw this and began to stare at Wei Lu, while his eyes gained golden circles around the irises.
[ Name: Wei Lu
Age : 26
Rank: Mortal Realm 10th Step
Martial Spirit : Non-Existent
Soul Heritage: ???( Secret: Phoenix Regeneration, Mortal Pinnacle Realm 12th Step )
Secret Techniques: Non-Existent ]
' Interesting....So she doesn't have a lot of stuff....But that soul heritage, it's dangerous. Now that I discovered the mortal pinnacle realm...I should look over the stuff I have and see if I uncovered the ranks of anything. ' Jian thought.
He did so immediately and found out that the Eyes of the All Seeing Buddha was actually of the Mortal Pinnacle 12th Step...Making it equal to the soul heritage of Wei Lu...Only in theory.
" Well little girl, I'm happy that you finally arrived. The others were getting impatient, and I really didn't want to have to take care of them. Wei Feng is much better at this than me. " Giran said as they both shared a laugh, while Jian cursed himself for missing most of the conversation.
He had no time to ask why he was brought here, as Giran grabbed him once again and dragged him inside the mansion.
He just had the time to dust himself, before he noticed where he was and who was here with him.
He was in a gigantic room, with an equally gigantic table sitting at the middle of it. In all corners, were servants waiting to be called over by the elite disciples that were sitting at the table and sipping on tea.
The calm moment was ruined when Wei Lu entered and everyone glared at her.
"....Sorry for being late ?" She said while scratching her neck.
Giran had to move quickly to stop a few disciples from jumping her as they all began to yell at her.
" I WAS TAKING CARE OF GECKO, OKAY ?!" She exclaimed as they all had shocked faces, a few even putting hands in front of their mouths to hide their shock from showing too much.
" You...You actually kept that thing ?! I knew it ! Patriarch ! Surely you can't allow her to do something as ludicrous as that !" Another female elite disciple said.
Amber met blood red as the two disciples glared at each other, before the red eyed disciple laughed and waved Wei Lu off.
" Hmph ! Don't even glare at me like that, girlie. The only reason you are allowed to meet my eyes is that Wei Feng is your father." She declared as she rearranged her black robe and fixed the strange metal ring circling around her neck. Jian found it especially strange due to it floating around her neck, without being held by anything.
" Lu'er, Shina-Chan....Let's not fight, alright ? Last time you destroyed this mansion....And I didn't do anything. But this time...I might get angry. " Giran said, a little bit of black smoke coming out of his mouth. This was enough to set the two straight while not even daring to look at him. In fact, most of the disciples were looking away.....But one of them yawned before punching the table.
" I was enjoying my break, Giran...If you have nothing important to say, I'll go back to sleeping. You clearly didn't call us to hand out our allowances, since it's the clan head's duty. " The disciple said. He was the only elite disciple not wearing a robe. Instead he wore some sort of heavy black coat with black and white fur all around the hood. What was odd about him was the fact that under the coat, his body was all bandaged up, and he wore nothing but long white short, he didn't even have shoes on.
Jian couldn't see most of what was under the hood, but he could clearly two glowing white eyes. For some reasons, this guy didn't seem to have irises.
" Ugh....If you let me actually talk, I would've told you the reason already, Sabi. " Giran complained.
Whilst this was going on, Jian was trying to observe the disciples with his system...But nothing came out of it. He could only observe Wei Lu.
' She must be weak enough for me to observe her with the system. Those guys must be crazy strong....Wait, wait a second.'
Jian began to frown as he saw something weird. His eyes of the all seeing buddha became active once again and the thing he saw became clearer. It was....Some sort of tattoo. It was placed on Shina's tongue, but before he could get a better look at it, she turned to him and the aura around her suddenly became oppressive. Even her eyes became smaller and looked as if she was trying to pierce a hole through him with her sight alone.
Jian started to breathe heavily, until Giran appeared behind Shina and grabbed her by the throat.
It was at that moment, that Jian got to see his first look at true power. The moment when Shina reacted by pure instinct and shot some sort of black fireball at him.
The moment when Giran totally ignored that attack and passed through it, black smoke coming out of his mouth, nose, eyes and ears.
The moment when he squeezed her throat until her bones started to crack and his veins turned golden.
" Cease this, child...." He simply said....Before the golden veins appeared at the start of his neck and Jian lost conciousness due to the pressure that Giran was letting out.
While the disciples around gasped for air Sabi sighed and grabbed Jian by his hand, right before the boy hit the ground after he dropped out of his chair.
"....This better not become a habit...I really have enough of that damn Emperor's antics...I don't want to deal with a freaking clone of that guy."
**************
( At the same time, with Li Kuo )
Blood poured out of his mouth as he tried to run away, a claw stabbed him in the throat before he could even reach the end of the forest.
He dropped to the ground, and watched as the others got slaughtered by the monster in human flesh that had ambushed them.
He couldn't help but think of his family in this instant. A mother who always loved him despite how weak he was and how monstrous she seemed to other people. A father who gave him everything, and sacrificed himself at all times to raise what could only become a failure.....Not a single member of his family had ever been mean to him. He was the weakling, the ugly duckling, the stain on the picture of this powerful family....And yet....He was the most loved.
It was funny...They worked so hard for him,, and yet...
' How would they react, if they saw me ? Would they be like they always were...Or would they finally see how much of a trash I always was. ' Li Kuo thought as he used his bloodied arms to move towards a tree and rest on it as the last members of his group were eaten alive.
' Seriously...Why did I even think i could do this....I'm just so pathetic !'
He gritted his teeth as the demon approached and put one of his claws on Li Kuo's left eye.
" Human Eyes...Such deliquacy !"
" ARGHHHH !"
Li kuo trashed around in pain after the demon took his left eye, hot blood pouring out of the eye socket.
Despair completely filled the young man. This was not the way he thought he would die. He saw what this demon did to the others. And he didn't want that, he didn't want to go through such torture...But what could he do ? Without power....It was impossible to even think about surviving.
This was the moment where someone would come to save him, or he would awaken a secret power and defeat the demon...But this wasn't the fate of the young noble called Li Kuo.
' What did Jian said after the tournament....Ahhhh I remember ..Fate is such feeble thing for those like me. Theirs is to conquer, Mine is to cower. Theirs is to live, Mine is to survive. Thus is the oath of the weak...Either steal their fate or make one for yourself out of nothing...This seems quite impossible for me.'
And with those last thoughts, Li Kuo's only eye closed just as he felt a sharp pain in his chest...And then nothing....
Nothing but a voice. A voice so different from his own, but one he so terribly needed.
' How.....HOW DARE THIS LITTLE DEMONIC SHIT HURT ME ?!!!!'