"Benefactor!" Sect Leader Ji rushed out of the rift of teleportation, quickly giving Hu Ji a pill, but he pushed it away.
The fist mark on his chest was slowly healing, and the Qi infestation within his body was already being cleansed at remarkable speed.
Sect Leader Ji felt shocked, his eyes wide with pupils shrunken.
"Blessed Physique."
Such a physique, unlike that of Feng Wuqing which was Divine and hardly seen in a hundred years, the Blessed Physique was something which only appeared a few times in history, and it always coincided with a terrible disaster.
Those with the Blessed Physique were known to be the ones who had to bear the greatest burden, however it was also known that… they only appeared when a Cursed Physique appeared.
Their fates intertwined to battle until the very end.
The chains cast within his body were thick, and hard like those of the Cursed, however due to the Blessed Physique, they could bear it, though the path was no in way easier, as they were like once in a few thousand years elixirs to those greedy ones.
Cursed and Blessed.
Yin and Yang.
One sought to take revenge against the world, destroy it.
One sought to save the world against everything, save it.
Yet, they always died, fate would not allow such people to breath, nor would the Great Path allow them to have an easy path.
Strength was earned, not given.
Death was given, not always earned.
It was such a world.
"Everyone leave quickly." Sect Leader Ji felt his mind numbed by the knowledge he knew of the appearance of such people.
He thought of the Sword Devil, the one who is the patriarch of the Shou Clan. He who went by many names and was known by them all as the same in the core.
Evil.
Shou Xin.
"Yes, Sect Leader!" Those who had followed him, left quickly allowing them to be alone.
Hu Ji glanced upwards, a cold look in his eye.
There were those who stood by his side, hundreds of followers at his behest.
"Sect Leader. I thank you for your assistance. I must go now." Standing now on his own, fine, he took to the sky upon Dimon's back.
"Benefactor… who are you really?" Sect Leader Ji frowned as he looked to the sky, "Saviour or Sinner."
"I am neither." Glancing back slightly a broken and dark expression told nothing and everything that Sect Leader Ji needed to know.
Once he had left off the Cloud Faring Palace, Sect Leader Ji immediately ordered the sect gates to be closed and all disciples to be recalled.
"That disastrous age… has come."
—
"Patriarch, we have found the young miss."
"Oh?"
"She battled with the Sword Devil against the Spear Dragon and Cloud Faring Sect, resulting in a draw. Both the Sword Devil and Spear Dragon were heavily injured."
"I see. So, he has reached the Law Realm, then that son-in-law of mine."
"Patriarch?" Son-In-Law?
He waved his arm, "Do not send out a search part. They will soon stand before us."
"Understood."
—-
BOOM!
"What did you say?"
"T-, they have appeared above Sea Spring. Battling against the Spear Dragon and Cloud Faring Sect Leader, the Sword Devil and Feng Wuqing fought to a draw!"
"Send out a search party now! Destroy the Sword Devil who has brainwashed my son's fiance, and if she resists, put her out of her misery! It will be a blessing if she should die, that way we will not need to be disgraced by marrying our heir to that slovenly whore."
Yan Mengde.
A man whose entire existence is said to be like the sword, however he is stuck at the peak of Unchained, unable to take a single step further.
Even as he grows older and older, there is no new wisdom to be tapped into. No enlightenment no matter the amount of battle.
The calm young man turned into an arrogant old one, yet his sword arts had reached the pinnacle beneath the Dao Establishment.
At his words, tens of Law Realm Experts of the Yan Clan took off from the clan steps, intent on the destruction of the Sword Devil and killing of the Bewitching Fist.
"Such people have no place in the world my Yan Clan will mold."
—-
"Hoh. That little brat is actually being active?" A black robed youth stood at the head of a ship, looking down at the burning mountains as he watched a replay of a certain battle, "Come back."
Those Nine Chaos Swordsmen who were below, stopped ravaging the people and destroying the lands of the Sea Cliff Sect, only after ripping away everything, did they let it end.
Women weeped either over dead husbands of what was stolen from their very bodies.
Children screamed as they searched for a family that had long departed this world.
Men sought a vengeance they could never get, their hearts burning up destroying themselves.
No one was left untouched.
"It seems your Eldest Brother has chosen to go out, and finish what he started. We are returning to the Southern Direction. Let us see who is the greater conqueror." That blacked robed youth's eyes glistened with the lust of battle, and wish for revenge against his disciples previous loss.
"Yes, Master!" Those Nine Chaos Swordsmen who were like beasts ravaging the land, were like dogs at his feet, he couldn't bear to look at them in his disgust.
—
"...We are conquering, raiding or simply destroying?" Liu Gang, which a long scar down his sword arm, sat and asked calmly, his temper cooled greatly from the desperation before.
"If we free those people in the slave mines, and bring them back to the city in the Demon Realm, Shokai, our city, then we will be able to quickly grow our power base there." Yui Luo sighed slightly the scar on her cheek healing slowly, "We cannot hold a position here, in the Exiled Court."
He agreed silently.
"We will first need to grow an even stronger strength. But with the techniques we have now, even with that strength we are at a significant disadvantage." He said calmly as he thought back to the hell that was fighting against Hu Ji's clansmen who knew many moves, "We need to first improve our combat ability, not just cultivation."
"With the combat experience against those stronger, the damage bringing us to near death and the Blood Stones which carry more than enough Qi to cultivate, Aura, Body and Qi cultivation is secured. But battle ability is not." Yui Luo agreed, "Then, within the old Sea Spring Ward, there is nothing left in the way of sects or clans. We will need to head north."
The two looked at on another, then turned to the head of the table, where Shou Xin sat calmly drinking tea.
"Cripple the Yan." Slowly, he set down the cup, "Kill the heir."
"Hubby. Are you saying we are ready to go to war with the Yan? Because we aren't." Feng Wuqing said honestly from the side, despite her immense rage which still boiled just beneath the surface, she had to be the voice of reason here.
Why?
Because no matter the rage she felt now… it was nothing compared to his own.
Though his eyes were like an ancient, untouched lake without a single ripple, that was what scared her the most.
It was the silence, not the sound that told her of his frightening rage.
"Hu Ji. I felt it. He is like me," His gaze rippled slightly, a horrifying intent seemingly raising its head out of the water ever so slightly, "Blessed. Cursed. His family, mine. We stood on opposite sides of the battlelines in antiquity. He seeks strength as I do. He has suffered as I have, the Great Path's cruelty persists."
"What can we do, then?" Liu Gang and Yui Luo were terrified, however Feng Wuqing appeared behind him leaning over him she whispered, "Do we ignite a genocidal war?"
War of genocide.
They shivered at the thought of such a thing.
Not even children were spared in the pursuit of a war of absolutes.
The loving manner in which she spoke, sent the two into a heavy state, how could she say such a thing with such a loving tone?
They looked at Shou Xin.
How could one be loved so dearly?
"I don't want you being hurt." He touched her arm.
This was when they realized it, his gaze becoming a gentle one in the face of the prospect of a war of absolutes.
He was loved so dearly by her, and he treasured her as his own heart.
If either one was robbed from the other, only devastation would follow in their wake, and in the face of such a loss, even a war of absolutes was nothing special.
"I was careless one time." She said lightly, one eye glancing at the two who got the hint and vanished instantly.
"Death only comes once." He replied as she came around and took his lap as her seat with a loving smile, her lavender eyes glistening.
"Do you know what I would do if you were taken from me?" She whispered into his ear catching his mind like a cats ear catches the wingbeats of wounded prey, "I would bring down the world in a sea of flames for our funeral march."
"Is that so?" He held her a little tighter as a strange anxiety seized his heart with a vice-grip the emotion he felt as he watched that arrow almost take her life rising within him, "...Do not die, no matter what, okay?"
His words were weak, and shaky like a weak youth seeking comfort from his mother, but the strength in his arms and scars on his body proved otherwise, he was no weak youth seeking comfort, but a man filled with worry over the near death of his very own heart.
She felt a sense of pride.
Only she could make the Sword Devil, feared in the south by nearly all, seem like a weak person, only to her would he show vulnerability.
Her lavender gaze reflected obsession and greed like that of a cat.
Only her.
"Why would I die?" Lavender greed, "I will never, ever let you go. I won't die. I won't."
He didn't respond for a long while.
Only once the repeating image of her almost dying was taken from his mind by her warmth, did the silenced room finally see words spoken once again.
"We will increase our power base in the Demon Realm, where the Exiled Court cannot reach."
"Which means we are freeing the weapon slaves."
"Baylen's Rest will be more than enough to accommodate a few tens of thousands of people. The Warship will be able to escort, but not hold them however."
"If we kill all the guards at the same time, there won't be any messengers sent out and we'll have time."
"The Yan are already on their way."
"Probably, however, will they really expect us to go to their lands?"
"Take the long route over the sea, hide in the clouds."
"Exactly."
Those two who were in sync, set their course above the clouds.
On the warship, a ride that would take months by mortal foot, and a week or more by cultivated breath took only a few days.
No patrols found them and they arrived a hundred kilometers away from the Weapon Slave mines.
"...They tightened their security." Smiling coldly, Liu Gang commented as he looked at the two frigates in the sky.
Sky Ships were a strategic resource similar to a weapon of mass destruction within the Exiled Court, however they were not invincible.
If those frigates were bombs… then this warship was a nuclear bomb.
"One-hundred thirty two none-weapon slave contacts confirmed." Yui Luo's voice travelled from below the deck where a large array was controlled upon which a map of the area for hundreds of kilometers was spread out, "Two Frigate-Class Interceptors confirmed."
"Three Law Realm Experts. They aren't of the Yan Clan, but sent by the Exiled Court." Squinting slightly, a beautiful deep purple haired vixen spoke, "Pill children."
The Warship unfurled it's sails which shone with a bright light.
Fwoop.
"W-, What?!" The two Frigate-Class Interceptors were stunned as the warship appeared between them!
Long distance teleportation.
It took a long time for the warship to charge it, and could only be used four times a day, however it was tremendously powerful.
"Fire!" Liu Gang roared!
The portholes opened and the tens of cannons lined of either side of the warship colored the sky in a violent hue of countless colors!
"On me!" Jumping from the side of the ship, Liu Gang landed atop the Frigate-Class Interceptor whose shields had been disrupted by the cannon barrage!
"Capture or kill." Yui Luo grinned as the warhammer in her hands fell towards the deck of the other ship, countless scholarly warriors following behind her with tremendous bloodthirst.
After only three seconds had passed, three intense auras soared into the sky!
"Who is it that disrupts the workings of the Exiled Court?" The temperature dropped several degrees.
An older man in white clothing walked out from the lodgings below flanked by two enormous auras.
"Hm? Aren't you that little sword devil making the rounds? Heh?" The man at the side squinted, "Sword Devil, then that must be the Bewitching Fist? Truly, a beautiful who-!"
Wiiiiiing!
Clang!
That old man grit his teeth as he barely managed to block the sudden sword stroke which had nearly cut down the man who was speaking, "Audacious!"
Blooming through space, enveloped in time, Cherry Blossom Fall.
The illusory image of a cherry blossom tree appeared just behind the elder, and every one of the petals seemed to turn into vicious little monsters at the Chain realm.
Hidden in folds beyond the void, a cut to kill a king, Fukkatsu Kiru.
The Yong Sword Spirit, Fukkatsu hid within the Sanguine Sword Qi wave which took the three by surprise at it's immense density.
Two more cherry blossom tree's appeared, forming a powerful formation!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Above, the warship let loose the mighty sounds of war as the cannons tore through the hulls of the Frigate-Class Interceptors.
"Bastard!"
'Do you have any idea how much those cost?!' The Elder's heart bled!
Together the mighty wind will never sway the calm cherry blossom, Cherry Blossom Strike.
Without delay, great natural phenomenon appeared high in the sky, and the clouds parted to reveal a single, great Cherry Blossom Tree, it's roots hidden within the clouds themselves, taking the sky as it's home.
A life for a tooth, a future for an eye, Destruction Fist.
The river flows only as I deem it, Dragon River Stroke.
"What!"
"There it is!" Liu Gang screamed and the fighting became more intense as they had begun to retreat back into the warship to take cover.
Yui Luo flicked her wrist turning another person into meat paste despite their incessant pleas, glancing upwards she frowned and jumped from the ship, landing back onto the warship and putting up the barriers to maximum.
Between destructive devouring greed and the will to control the rivers flow no matter it's will, what will win, the blazing flames or the turbulent waters?
GUOOO!!!!
Fukkatsu which swam within the illusory river above let out a wrathful roar as it turned it's body, the entire river switching flows and directing itself towards the sky!
That Destruction Fist was caught along the flow beautifully, and with the river empowering it like the barrel of a cannon empowering it's payload, it's strength rose by a few times.
The Cherry Blossom Tree in the clouds seemed to shake for a moment, and countless roots appeared from the clouds alongside thousands of small petals!
BOOM! BOOM!
As the fist mark reached the roots, it directly shattered them, and when it reached the petals, they realized that these petals were not meant for regular combat…
…they exploded upon contact as though a chain expert committing suicide by foundation ignition.
The Destruction Fist was almost completely snuffed out after thousands of these little petals had pelted it, despite it's immense strength being empowered.
Those three who stood on the branches of the huge cherry blossom were sweating and one even coughing blood.
Such a move was not without it's drawbacks.
This could be said for both sides.
Shou Xin and Feng Wuqing had put quite a bit into those moves, their qi dwindling however…
Feng Wuqing kicking the very air beneath her at such a powerful strength that it shot her into the sky!
"Physique Cultivator!" That Elder's eyes narrowed and the cherry blossom tree shook violently as hundreds of little petals fell at once, those flanking him coughing violently.
Feng Wuqing who saw the immense number of petals instantly stopped her advance, the backlash causing her to cough up blood as she fell faster than the petals could chase.
Her eyes glistened as she smiled.
"It was fun."
Carve flesh from bone, spill blood from bodies, Sanguine Slash.
A straightforwardness was hidden within this cut. A stroke which screamed of amateur, yet was complex enough that a master might realize what was happening.
But… they were not masters.
The handsome scholarly youth appeared just behind the Cherry Blossom Tree, now revealed as it was cut in half diagonally, the top half falling to earth.
P-, Pffft!
The Elder sprayed blood everything, and as though a bird with it's wings suddenly cut, fell to the land below in shock.
"Battle… cultivator…!" His eyes bulged as he reached for something in his robe, but a hand appeared through his chest, his still beating heart held right before his eyes.
"Did you forget about me?" A voice of honey flowed into his ears.
The vixen who fell first, that was their plan!
"Bastards!" Knowing he would die, the Elder ignited his law!