Tiredness and suffocation overcame Bai as the effect of adrenaline gradually disappeared. While panting heavily like a pig, Bai's brain eventually caught up with his delusions. He examined his handiwork to find he had destroyed a perfect bed and ruined its sheets, but there was no sign of his target on it.
Slowly he turned his head to look behind him to see Amon standing over him with apparent pity in his eyes. It was the kind of pity one would have for a sick stray animal, a natural reaction to a sorrowful scene. Bai's anger kindled anew. He could not stand the way Amon was looking at him; he wanted to scream, jump on Amon, and tear him apart.
Not everything a man wishes for, he achieves. He could not move an inch, wholly secured in place by Amon's Source. Even a whisper could not escape his lips.
"Shh... It's alright. I get it." Amon gently ran a hand over Bai's head. With his other hand, he caught Bai's hand that held his dagger. He forced Bai to switch his grip over it and position it right under Bai's lower jaw, its sharp point already drawing blood.
"I would also hate the bed which the girl of my dreams lost her virginity on top of and bled on. I would want to destroy it too." Bai's eyes reddened further, the veins in his head and face almost ruptured from sheer anger and insanity.
"It is just that you made one tiny little mistake. You see, we did not consummate our love here...We did it on her bed." Amon grinned widely as he jammed Bai's dagger up with an upward palm strike to its bottom cap, ending the miserable boy's life.
Amon lost his grin, and his eyes dropped their playfulness. If the angry kitty did not roar, forcing the Heart of Entropy to stop working on Amon's body, he would have had Bai on top of him, stabbing him unsuccessfully due to their cultivation realm differences.
He walked towards his room window, intending to listen to the rest of Alexios's speech.
***
A Minute Earlier.
"An unprecedented massacre took place, worse than what an entire cycle of war brought on the whole realm. The dragons were cruel, brutal, and showed more anger and hatred than they showed against the enemy that killed more of them than anything else in their long history. Children, Woman, Men, old and young, it mattered not to the Dragons, they wanted all of humanity eradicated.
Humanity was abandoned; only their ancient allies stood by their sides; my clan being one of them. Because we dared to stand by our humans' brethren, we too became a target for eradication. The Dragons exhibited little to no care for our struggle, plea, begging, or any attempt for mediation.
We thought we would be fighting a long war...
We thought reason would win in the end after some time passed and the Dragons' fury settled down...
But no... the Dragons brought out The Blessed Twin Greatswords of Dismay, The Stars' Shatterers. The number one ranked Prime Ethereal Treasure. From that point forward, there was no hope, no escape. There was only death, destruction, and mayhem.
The last surviving monarchs of humanity formulated a plan—a plan for humankind and their allies to protect and leave their legacies for their descendants so that we may one day deliver our retribution from beyond the grave on the wicked Dragons.
You, Humans of this planet, Blue Arcadia, are the descendants of the past powerful monarchs of humanity, the Lord of Chaos, and his allies. In three days, across the continent, all humans will be given a chance, a chance to acquire their ancestors' legacies and with it be part of the grand plan to avenge your ancestors.
Twenty-five portals will soon reveal their locations, they belong to all of humanity, leading towards the same destination. No one within the True Realm or above should be blocked, delayed, or stopped from accessing any of them. Any attempt to do so will force me to take violent actions against the offenders.
Now, mankind, show me your resolve and willingness to put everything on the line for your ancestors' legacies and with it avenge their unjust demise. I look forward to watching it all in three days."
The Radiant Lion disappeared, and with his disappearance, night time returned.
***
Nuan worryingly stood up. Her body felt heavy, and her knees felt weak. Gradually she got a hold of herself and walked back towards Amon's room. She found the door open and a dead body on Amon's bed.
Heading towards the bed, she examined the bleeding corpse on it then looked at Amon, who was leaning on the wall further away with his eyes closed covered in tattoos. It did not take a genius to understand what happened here, sighing she approached Amon.
"I believe you heard Alexios's speech."
Amon opened his eyes, frowning. "All I heard was an incoherent jumble. I can already poke more holes than I care to list in his tale. Humanity was not eradicated for one. They still exist in significant numbers in higher realms.
I have a bad feeling about this, Nuan. There are a lot of things that make no sense from my viewpoint. You cannot allow yourself to get involved in whatever they planned. No matter what is being offered, you cannot accept it under any oath that sets you on a dark course. Even if I'm paranoid and the whole tale is accurate, it is not your fight."
Nuan placed a hand on her hip. "Do we have a choice in the matter? I understand what you mean in the long run, but what about the short term? Soon it will come down to have and have not. Our sect is a top tier sect, right under the holy lands. If we are to reject the legacies and whatever else is hidden away, won't we be left in the dust? We will eventually become an easy meal."
Amon ran a hand through his hair. He knew what Nuan said is true.
The veiled lady placed a hand on Amon's exposed chest, inspecting his Source and veins.
"Your Profound Veins are injured, and you are at the fifth level of the Nascent Realm. You won't be ready in three days." Revealed Nuan.
"Is that a hint of care I detect Lady Nuan?" Teased Amon.
Nuan scoffed and walked towards Bai's corpse. "I will get rid of the body and clean after you. I don't want anything to interfere with Gui's peaceful life. A teenage corpse tends to do just that."
Amon walked towards his bed and the pool of blood under it, standing next to Nuan. "I should have accepted it..."
Nuan frowned. She did not know what Amon was talking about.
"Tonight, it was a useless waste of air assaulting me while I'm supposed to be incapacitated. Tomorrow, a competent adversary may attempt the same thing. I don't know if I'm going to have to deal with blacking out every time I rise through the ranks and levels for extended periods post the True Realm.
Thinking about it makes me lament not accepting Gui's proposal on the spot. Ning would have been an excellent wife and partner to watch my back while I'm disabled." Lamented Amon.
"I have come to believe you are better than this. You know Ning believed she had no other choice when she made that proposition." Said Nuan.
"Yes, and I thought my mothers would never approve of her, but if she became part of the reason why I was reunited with them intact, they would have loved her and accepted her. Matter not now, I have pressing matters to deal with." Replied Amon.
"You are still going to attempt to reach the True Realm in three days? Wait...You have more than one mother?" Questioned Nuan.
"No, that ship has long sailed. Even if I had the resources for it right in front of me, I would not go with it. I don't know how long it will put me under, not to mention my body is still not done with what your master gave me. And No, I just call my...grandmother, simply 'mother.'" Divulged Amon.
***
The Next Day.
Amon woke up in his small courtyard. His heart spent what remained of the Source it was provided with before the Lion roar interrupted it. Inspecting himself, he found himself to be at the sixth rank of the Nascent Realm.
Walking back towards his room, he found it to have been cleaned by Nuan using her sect Water arts.
"My only hope now is to decipher the platform Runes circuit completely and see what weak point I can exploit." Said Amon.
***
The Continent Capital, Principality of Vicia.
"Prince Fan Jin, you cannot be serious! We have merely recently elected you as our leader for the next twenty years. Deserting your post at this crucial moment in our plans is not just unwise but a mistake." Said a tall man adorning purple warrior clothes and a sword on his side.
"Do you take me for a fool, Mo De? Am I to be stuck here forwarding the plans of the holy lands while you all compete for priceless legacies? No! I will not stand for it!" Shouted Fan Jin.
"For the love of our blessed lands...I have already said the holy lands would share with you and your family what we obtain, and make no mistake; we will acquire everything to be gained there." Declared Mo De.
"You are asking me to trust YOU of all people? HA! You better do more than just offer me your worthless promises." Sneered Fan Jin.
"Watch it old man and never forget who put you on that golden seat of yours. The holy lands' plans must move forward. We cannot delay further because of something unexpected and unrelated. You want more than my word, that's fine, I will take your son with my own and he with his own eyes will note everything we acquire there." Said Mo De.
***
Amon's Room.
"What am I missing?" Amon paced back and forth in his room in front of the hanged diagram of the platform. The more he deciphered of it, the more helpless his chances of entering it appeared. The platform will check for his cultivation realm and race three times, each with a different method. He could perhaps use Annchi's Flawed crystal to trick it once, twice at most, but not three times.
'Fate has brought us together. The platform you used was not supposed to bring you here. This meeting was never supposed to happen.'
The Lion's words from their first meeting kept repeating in Amon's head.
"Eh? Wait...I was not the only one that was not supposed to be there. Ling too should not have been teleported due to her low cultivation level. The platform bypassed all checks for cultivation realms and race towards a location it never meant to send anyone to.
The platform activation upon its repair could be attributed to a malfunction or a surge of Source after so many years. However, bypassing its primary Runes and supposed functions...?"
Amon switched his attention to the centerpiece of the drawn diagram, tracing it with his fingers. His eyes widened in astonishment, then he turned around and started running like a mad man. He did not bother with any doors; he jumped high up, scaling the tall mansion walls, and running like his life depends on it towards the ancient platform.
Once he arrived, he could not slow down and instead slid towards the platform. He crawled towards its centerpiece, and with his hands, he started to feel for any pressable mechanism gently.
He soon found two, meant to be pressed with one's foot, but he did not care and pushed them both at the same time with his hand. Amon heard a clear clicking sound, and a half black half gold metal rod immediately shot upward.
Amon stood up, a broad grin on his face as he pulled the rod out entirely from the ancient platform. "Give me a lever long enough, and I will move the world; is that not right, my lovely control rod?"