Mo Hui woke up in a luxurious room with hatred oozing out of his eyes, "Serpent Sword Scion..." he simply muttered in rage referring to Ling Tian. Due to the serpent-shaped Blood Ice Swords, he named Ling Tian as such.
Beside the bed, a middle-aged man who looked extraordinary in every aspect except his skin that was deathly pale, murmured in curiosity, "Who is this Serpent Sword Scion? The one that defeated you?" He had red hair and purple eyes and was fairly handsome.
Mo Hui turned pale as he quickly bowed, "Devil Emperor..."
The man smiled in interest, "A scion is here? But why would they send one to the front lines? Something does not add up... Interesting."
Meanwhile, a group of people laid on the ground, their bones were broken, their cultivation crippled; They laid on the scorching hot ground helplessly as their flesh and guts that had slipped out of their stomach slowly cooked due to the heat while they were still alive. Their eyes were of indescribable terror and pain.
An extremely handsome youth walked away from them indifferently, he had long black hair and dark red eyes; Ling Tian's black eyes seemed to have changed color to dark red permanently...
Ling Tian was feeling loss, sadness, and deep inside, fury.
'I came here to get points not knowing the true nature of war... What is the point of it if I am left alone? I feel it... The path...'
He walked forward on Lava, his body covered in Qi to protect him from the heat. His black robes and scarf consumed Qi and rapidly recovered to cover his body just as before.
He looked at the sea of Lava with many emotions in his eyes, "At the very end of Cultivation, one will stand atop the heavens in glory, yet all alone and unable to share that glory. Can I truly be happy like that? A lonely existence... A universe for only one." he muttered.
He crouched and took a handful of lava and looked at it, the bright light reflected in his eye, "Yet the Devil Asura seeks not unity but duality, He refuses to become one with the heavens, he refuses the order of the universe and walks his own path. He creates his own universe however he wishes, always seeking ultimate freedom." He murmured in thought.
"What it means to be heartless in Dao? It means to reject the primal love of universe; One must choose to either walk the path chosen by destiny or defy it and carve a path for oneself; To be with heart or to be without heart." He said with realization as he stood up and began slowly floating.
"To be heartless is to be free to love whatever one may wish; To remove the love that is placed in the heart by the universe to secure submission, one must remove the heart and then remake it however one may wish." He explained to himself as he looked at the world of lava and smoke before him.
"If I walk this path, I will lose my heart upon becoming an Immortal. Then I must search for my feelings and remake my heart as I walk further the path of Cultivation..." He turned firm, 'Damn the world and its laws, the path of ultimate freedom is what I truly want not lonely power. The freedom to do whatever I want without any limit! The freedom to be all-mighty but not lonely.'
He looked in a certain direction as immense hatred flowed in his eyes, "The devil cultivators... I will slaughter them all, annihilate their empire, and skin their emperor in your name, Lian Qiu."
'I need a weapon...' He thought as determination came to life in his eyes, the determination to destroy an Empire for a fallen friend.
He opened the system and went to the sword section, there he saw a sword that suited his feelings perfectly, it was a pitch-black sword that looked simple. It was priced at one million points, just the amount he had.
'A sword that grows as long as it consumes blood and souls... The serpent sword. It has a special ability... To summon the consumed beings to fight for the owner.' He read as he looked at it through the system.
The sword began as a mortal sword and could become an immortal treasure one day... A faint dark red mark was on the blade of the sword, it was just like a serpent.
He remembered Lian Qiu's tears and clenched his fists...
The rage within couldn't be suppressed anymore as he shot off toward the group that was being cooked alive and began killing them one by one. 'I will bathe in their blood and become an immortal alongside my serpent sword as I get your revenge.'
The serpent mark of the sword grew slightly brighter each time some was killed with it, leaving behind an empty husk; The souls were consumed by the sword...
As Ling Tian began to go on a murder spree and prepared to fight an Empire by himself for revenge, Lian Qiu woke up in a comfortable bed.
He frantically looked around and found himself in a familiar bedroom, his bedroom in the sect. Lian Qiu frowned, "Why am I here? What happened? I feel sad for some reason..." He was quite confused and disoriented, his memories a bit fuzzy.
A handsome man with very long hair that was chaotically scattered around him entered the room, he had the aura of a king. Lian Qiu asked, "Father? I can't remember what happened recently..."
The man seemed unimpressed as he said, "The talisman brought you here before you died and I healed you with a light lotus. What you are experiencing is a side effect..."
Lian Qiu froze for a few moments as he suddenly remembered everything that had happened; Sorrow, Despair, friendship, pain, and death.
He put his hand on his heart as he realized something, 'Brother Ling must be dead...'
He felt his heart tighten in pain as grief overwhelmed him. He looked at his father and asked with anger, "Why didn't you tell me you had placed a talisman on me?! I could have saved him if I gave it to him..."
Lian Shuren was taken aback by the sudden tone of his son, Lian Qiu had never dared to talk like that to him. He frowned as he answered, "I do what I want, don't forget your respect when talking to your father."
To his shock, Lian Qiu ignored him and stood up. He watched as Lian Qiu prepared to leave the sect by taking his belongings in the sect. He said coldly, "How dare you ignore me!"
Lian Qiu merely looked at him and he stopped talking, 'Those eyes... He must have seen many things on his journey.'
Lian Qiu stopped as his father asked, "Where are you going?"
He hesitated for a moment and replied, "My friend was left behind... I don't know if he is dead for sure and I doubt he would die like that... so there is some hope. I will not give up until I either find him or get revenge for him. I also don't know if he had any family so I am going to search for them and make sure they are fine... They are my responsibility now."
He left without waiting for Lian Shuren's reply. He knew that Ling Tian was one to care for those close to him so he also knew that if Ling Tian was dead, his only regret would be his family.
Lian Shuren's eyes widened a little as he smiled, "My son has grown up..." He muttered to himself but then frowned as he looked at the sky, "This empire is doomed to fall, the devils will win no matter what since their emperor has already become half-step immortal, the only hope is for Xiao Feng to breakthrough... It is only a matter of time for them to attack here, we have already lost the inheritance of the mystic dungeon... No matter, We will flee to the Holy empire when the time comes."
Lian Qiu set off to search for Ling Tian's family and the only clue he had was the massacre of Dark demon city and the pregnant girl that Ling Tian had buried with his own hands. 'I will find them and make sure they are safe, then I will come search for you.' He promised himself.
"HEY!" A voice interrupted him and he turned to look who it was. It was Huo Bing! The little girl he had rescued with Ling Tian.
He was surprised, "What are you doing here?" he asked in disbelief as he landed on the ground. The Dao sect was filled with many caves and majestic buildings built on 3 mountains, there were many flowers and waterfalls around which made it look like a paradise.
Huo Bing smugly replied, "Well, I broke through to Xiantian soon after you left using the technique brother Ling gave me, then this elder came and invited me to come here. He said I am a genius, HMPH!"
Lian Qiu didn't argue like usual, he nodded with a forced smile, "Good, work hard." He turned to leave.
"Hey! Where is brother Ling?! What's up with you?"
Lian Qiu's expression made Huo Bing uneasy, "He is... fighting the demons to keep us safe." He said with a fake smile.
Huo Bing frowned, "Why are you acting so different? Something must have happened..."
Lian Qiu was taken aback by the little girl's intuition, before he could say something she said, "If so why are you here? Where are you going?"
He sighed as he pondered and came up with an answer on the spot, "He tasked me to find and protect his family before I go back to the war."
Huo Bing seemed to reluctantly accept his answer as she walked in front of him, he looked at her with confusion, she turned to look at him when he didn't follow and said as if she was talking to an idiot, "What are you waiting for? Let's go!"
Lian Qiu couldn't take it anymore, "Who said you are coming? You are just a little brat!"
Huo Bing turned red in anger, "I am a Xiantian Cultivator at 13, I bet you were a body refining cultivator at 15!"
Lian Qiu seemed to forget everything as he walked toward her, "I was a body refining cultivator at 14! not 15! Besides, you are just a little girl, what can you do?! Huh?!"
Huo Bing grew angrier, she took out a little crocodile that seemed to be transparent and threw him at Lian Qiu, "Go and show them our might, My Dragon God pet will put you in your place!"
The crocodile cried tears, 'It was that damned Ling Tian at first and then that witch Lian RuXue and now this demon Huo Bing! Someone save this Emperor! AHHHH!'
It leaped and bit Lian Qiu's hand in rage even though it was crying. Lian Qiu felt pain shot up his hand and frantically tried to get rid of the crocodile, even his Qi couldn't stop the bite. He didn't want to kill it since it was Huo Bing's pet so he had no idea how to deal with it. He didn't know the crocodile had bitten him to make a blunder so that he would take him away from Huo Bing. If Lian Qiu knew he had drunk the piss of this crocodile in the village...
Huo Bing laughed as she watched from the side. Later, the duo with an indignant crocodile set off from the sect and no one stopped them due to Lian Shuren's order. Their first destination was Xuan Empire. The latter watched them leave with a proud smile, 'Return as a true man.'
Ling Tian stood on his flying sword as he looked at the giant castle below him, his eyes glowing a sinister red color. "More blood must be spilled to quench my killing intent... More..." The serpent sword seemed to hunger in blood lust.