"Divine Clans. Stood with us at the final march. The Exiled Court is where those cursed bloodlines are sent to… be imprisoned. Alongside the descendants of the supporters."
He could not understand why this ancient spirit was saying these things to him, but he did not interrupt.
It was not good to stop another when they imparted knowledge.
Especially not one so old.
"Yet, they are all dead now. Only a few of the original bastions of defense remain. A few places still resisting that being who stands above them all, even the Great Path."
It's voice quivered.
Ancient as it was and seen what it had, it could not belie it's terror at the mere thought of that being that dared claim to be the strongest, and could prove it.
"Heaven's Victory."
The will began to crumble.
The cave began to crack in various places.
"Cursed boy. Never forget. Don't hate the Great Path. Hate that bastard who claims Heaven's Will and calls victory his own name, he is…"
Winds raged in the cave, waters rose and the earth shattered revealing countless formations and many treasures, however only a single scroll came forward, one called to him.
Yet, as it touched his hand, there was a slight change in the will, it was fading faster.
"...TENGOKU SHORI!"
The top of the cave collapsed, rocks came sliding down but were turned into ash and debris!
Fukkatsu began to quake and the Sword Intent in his his body resonated quickly causing the many swords on the walls to react!
SWOOSH! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Three of the blades left the wall, responding to the crying of the Sword Intent!
Those three swords entered his body, and were immediately met by the freezing energy holding his body down.
Within moments, they slammed into the wall of the cold energy, one sword shattered and a crack was made!
A second sword shattered and a long slash appeared!
The final sword shattered and the cold energy erupted!
It sped out in all directions, dispersing until nothing was left!
Fukkatsu circled for a moment before diving into the raging storm and burning away all of it's traces, lighting ringing freely through his body!
It had not lost it's ability over lightning and fire, nay, it had shared it!
Feeling the intimacy between himself and Fukkatsu increase dramatically, Shou Xin's eyes began to bleed as furious visions escaped them!
The scroll in his hand exploded into countless ruinations!
Hundreds of sword techniques appeared before his vision being performed all at once! His Sword Intent crept over as though a tyrant inspecting it all at once, his mind almost shattering under the intense pressure if not for Fukkatsu's ability to augment his comprehension for sword arts!
With the integration of him as a direct part of his body as well, Shou Xin's comprehension had skyrocketed!
Those hundreds of techniques were still no easy pickings however, and his body began shake!
The ground beneath him rose upwards, Fukkatsu's head appeared from the earth, it's Earth Escape Technique activating seamlessly as it pushed past the dying Will and through the crumbled ceiling!
Those runes followed silently, performing the many magnificent and even ethereal sword arts.
Flowering blows and mountain crumbling cuts, oceans split apart and the sky wrent to pieces!
His mind numbed as he entered a moment of enlightenment.
The earth passing over his skin was course and rough, yet the rocks could not break his flesh.
As they broke the last bits of earth, the suns felt warm and welcoming like a kind father.
And once they'd arrived in the sky, the winds brushed like a mother's gentle touch.
The last runes scattered, the hundreds of techniques gone.
Shou Xin began executing the moves of the Sanguine Sword Law.
—-
At the edge of a blade, a seamless step, Sword Steps.
Seeing countless die, dancing at the edge of everything for it's sake, death revealed.
Through the river, beneath the valley to the turbulent sky, Dragon River Stroke.
The sky was made into a boisterous land, a beautiful artistic conception revealed.
Hidden behind the veil of beauty, sent away for it's treachery, Fukkatsu Kiru.
An honourable immortal with a heart of hidden savagery, the true immortals revealed.
A single to a hundred, and a hundred back to one again, Fukkatsu Koka Kiru.
From one blade a hundred bloom in response to strike it down, internal strength revealed.
Rampaging through death, who tells life who lives and who dies but I?
Sanguine Sword Domain.
Yet, as he completed his last technique, it felt lacking and he pursued this sensation once again, something he had felt before.
A hole in his techniques.
A failure in his execution.
An oversight in his temperament.
His sword slowly began to move once more, until it firmly rested in his palm, an idle position in the sky.
Demon.
Monster.
Murderer.
Madman.
Patriarch.
Young Master.
Swordmaster.
Sword Devil.
Sword Dragon.
Shou Xin!
His names were many, his mind changed for each moment, a time forgotten yet revealed in his disposition.
Yet, the techniques were the same.
Sanguine Sword Law.
He looked within.
It had been with him for a long time.
So long he felt that it was an eternity.
Laying a hand upon it, he felt that it was time.
The techniques it could give were strong, but not strong enough, not anymore.
The passion it had given was powerful, but passion alone could not achieve what the future needed.
Yet despite knowing this, he felt that he didn't want to do this.
To create something new.
To bring together all of his laws and be rid of it.
However, as he stopped at this place he'd been to many times before, this thought of changing again, he felt a shove.
The Sanguine Sword Law began to swirl, giving off a lackard fragrance.
Slowly stepping back, his lips parted, "...I understand."
The Sanguine Sword Law began to shine, and the surrounding laws began to come closer together, melding towards it.
His emotions were pulled on, his disposition tested and his temperament calculated.
Aura, Sword Intent, Qi, Soul, Body.
Everything came together in a moment's time, a breath passed.
Then another.
And another.
Yet on the fourth breath, a sweet fragrance began to exude itself from the law.
The amalgamation of a law which was born in place of that which was once the Sanguine Sword Law.
Opening his eyes, Fukkatsu settled back into the blades blood gutter, silently waiting.
It spun around in a full crescent arc.
The moon which had come out not long ago, had it's first rays captured in the reflection of the sword.
A milky radiance, a sweet fragrance slowly diffused outwards.
In the air in front of him, a crescent moon seemed to be frozen in time.
"If you who have cursed me to this existence are Tengoku Shori, then I who will destroy you…"
His words trailed as the crescent moon frozen in time before him began to buzz.
A rune began to rise in his Inner Sea, two words.
It's presence was like a tyrant looking down over the world, extremely domineering!