Within the Sanguine Sword Domain, Wo Jie stood silently, his eyes bloodshot, a long cut drawn across his chest, blood coloring the Sword Mound.
"It was a good move." Blood tainted the tall grass, a single drop falling from the thin cut on his cheek, "You have engraved yourself onto me."
"It was fun." Wo Jie fell forward, but his clansmen caught him.
As a disciple of the Winged Wolf Clan, they dared not disgrace the heir by stepping into a sanctioned duel for anger.
"Keep standing still, and he will die." The serene voice only served to both anger, and hasten their movements as they took him away quickly.
"You are so mean. What good move? You let him hit you." Feng Wuqing rolled her eyes at his attempt at avoiding trouble.
The crowd reeled at her words, looking at Shou Xin and back to her, but ultimately deciding she was boasting.
How could someone a small realm below another, and not to mention a human, be able to battle against the heir of a demon clan even one from the surface, and win without using his ultimate moves?
It was unthinkable!
"Boastful!"
"Arrogant!"
"Wild woman!"
"Enchantress!"
"The two are disgusting!"
In the midst of their words, a sharp energy diffused in every direction.
"Who dares step forward, then." Stabbing Fukkatsu into the earth, he stood with his hands behind his back, looking over the crowd.
The sharpness which had been restrained during the fight with Wo Jie, was let loose in it's entirety, the illusory image of a mountain rose behind him!
"Thoughtless brat!"
Third Law Realm.
Three massive runic inscriptions rose from a certain person in the stands, and a baleful aura like that of an undead monster carried onto the arena!
"Hubby. It's bad manners to try and cheat to get ahead of me." Her violet eyes blazed like a terrifying flame!
A beauty whose eyes alone could wreak havoc across kingdoms, "Enchanting Fist."
As the crowd was pulled into her alluring gaze, she struck out with a single, all powerful fist mark! Her Devouring World Law's special property of devouring applied on, and all the energies in the air were sucked in causing the fist to grow ever more volatile!
Brush or sword, the beauty of the stroke lies in the artist, Dragon River Stroke.
Fukkatsu rose form it's true body, flying up and catching the massive fist mark which was about to explode! His Qi flowed into it like an all powerful wave, doubling it's strength!
In the sky it was as though one could vaguely see a dragon swimming within a river, the artistic conception of it was weak, but the move was strong.
"You dare ignore me!" The Third Law Realm Expert raised a hand, a skeletal imprint appearing in the sky and hundreds of small undead beasts appearing out of pockets in space.
"Tian Can!? The Undead Whisper of the Tian Clan!" The people immediately recognized the person after that move had appeared!
"He's killed wantonly within the city before to increase his strength, run!" Without a moments notice, the people began to escape in every direction!
"Skeleton Retrieval, Undying Palm Strike!"
Tian Can's body shimmered with a resplendent dark light, and the skeletal hand above came flying down with the force of a mountain!
At the end of the river is the lake, yet I alone can reverse the stream, "Dragon River Reverse."
The Enchanting Fist which had sucked up all of the energies from those who were enchanted by her special eyes, and then became apart of his skill, flew out!
The void shook violently!
When mortal and mountain meet, only one outcome can be discerned!
B-boom!
"No!" Tian Can screamed at the top of his lungs, raising his arms to block the strike!
The countless undead beasts gathered in front of him into a skeletal wall, but it was futile!
His power was too spread out between his two attacks, where as the Dragon River Reverse which used the Enchanting Fist that had sucked up an enormous amount of energy, was concentrated into a single place.
Pop.
His head directly exploded.
"T-, Tian Can is dead?!" Those who not even yet to escape, turned back in awe.
"He dead, they save-!"
"He's so poor." Just as they were about to speak, another voice cut them off, a Devilish Woman held the body of the dead Tian Can, searching through it.
"Senior Sister! That's making us look poor! Please stop!" Turning their heads, they found a young boy rushing over while yelling, "It's making us look bad! Sister, sister!"
"Hm? Little Xiao, where have you been while your Seniors are fighting?" Turning her head at one hundred eighty degrees, Xiao Wun started to sweat.
"I-, I am not as great nor mighty as Senior, it took longer to arrive!" He defended himself, but the little bulge in his pocket gave away the fact he had been buying candies.
"Are you lying?" She tossed the corpse off to the side where Shou Xin caught it, his sword already back in it's sheath and everything pretty much sealed, the Bull Clan successor had run away earlier when Tian Can appeared.
"I was wrong, please give me punishment, Senior Sister." He dropped to his knee's immediately.
"Don't be too harsh," At that time, a calm voice broke the atmosphere, "He's just a child."
"Senior Brother…!" Xiao Wun's eyes sparkled as he looked up.
"Your allowance is confiscated. If you want to make money and buy things, work in an arena." His next words however, accompanied by the feeling of his pockets getting lighter, threw him into the abyss.
Looking like he was on the verge of tears, he looked back for Muzondang, who had been the one to spoil him on the way here, but she was nowhere to be found as though telling him to figure it out himself.
With no one to vent this injustice, Xiao Wun just teared up alone.
The young boys sadness got to a few people in the arena, as they sympathized, their own seniors usually very cruel, but they did not help him, after all, we suffered under our seniors, why should we help you out of it?
Suffer like we did!
"T-, the winner's of the preliminaries today are the Shou Clan, alone?" The announcer looked back confused but quickly piped up again, "The other clans who escaped have been disqualified! There are no cowards among the Young Dragon Competition, and there never will be!"
"Boy from the Shou Clan, join us and your sword will be tempered to a place you could not have imagined!" A thunderous voice rang down from the announcers podium, a powerful figure stepping forth as though a blade being unsheathed, Sword Heart!
"Girl, your strengths are wasted waddling in the darkness that is cultivation, join my school and even gods will not escape your eyes!" A temptress, and a beauty, her body slim but her strength unspeakable, Martial Heart!
"Calamity Sword Sect's Stellar Sword Expert, Hao Fan! He's an expert on the verge of entering the Dao Establishment Realm!"
"The Enchanting Vixen of the Nine-Tailed Fox Cave, Ni Su! She reached the peak not long ago, on the edge of falling into Dao Establishment!"
Calamity Sword Sect and Nine-Tailed Fox Cave, two immense powers within Dragon's Row!
Within Dragon's Row, they could be said to be the top powers with each of their Sect and Cave leaders being Dao Establishment!
Shou Xin and Feng Wuqing looked at one another.
"Boy, in search of the truth of steel, one must be like steel and never bend. You must not give your heart to such fleeting desires, join our sect." Hao Fan, whose gaze was like a sharp blade, looked down.
"Violet girl, your strengths are immense, and potential far greater than that boy, you will leave him behind in the waves of time, it is better to abandon now to lessen the heartache." Ni Su words were covered in honey, comfortable as a cool breeze in the dried heat.
"Enough."
"Who!"
Hao Fan turned his tempered gaze.
Ni Su narrowed her gaze.
"Lady Mu. What are you looking for here?" Hao Fan said.
"Does the Mythic Mountain have business here?" Ni Su said.
Muzondang, the Dragon Woman of Mythic Mountain.
"Poaching during the competition is strictly forbidden. Wait until the end." Lady Mu scanned the two indifferently, "Do not disgrace yourselves."
As they continued to talk, Shou Xin and Feng Wuqing spoke below.
"What do you think?" Shifting his weight, he began stretching his tired limbs.
Using the Sanguine Sword Field was something that even after his soul had grown, was still very taxing, not to mention holding off the weight of Feng Wuqing's Enchanting Fist was something that even with the Dragon River Stroke was very taxing.
His mind had grown significantly, but had also fallen deeper into the crevices of his bloodline which sought to turn him into nothing more than an unfeeling beast.
So, he stretched.
His Sanguine Sword Law, and Physique were essentially two lakes with water from the same mountain, and so he could easily circulate his Qi through his body and out from his Inner Sea.
It was something that anyone at the Law Realm and above could do once they integrated their law into their body.
The difference being that someone who reached the Law Realm but did not study body arts only qi arts, would not be as efficient at circulating their qi despite being the same level.
This however did not apply to Feng Wuqing who has a divine body, if anything, it makes her even more suitable as her personality and by extension her soul is very suited to her physique and so is her law.
Once the cauldron formed, one would gain the ability to freely circulate their qi through their body to strengthen certain parts, whereas a Physique Cultivator was constantly strong in those places.
Knowing all of this, Feng Wuqing pursed her lips.
"No matter what, you're stronger than them." Rolling her eyes she spoke again, "You always act weak, or try and be cunning but fail horribly, just be arrogant at this point."
"Arrogance is lame. Being arrogant is like talking smack to a mountain when one is a rock, I won't be arrogant." He let out a long breath as he brought himself back to standing straight his body feeling less pressured everywhere, "Want to go on a date?"
"...Finally. Is this our first time out?" She smiled, intoxicating the crowd.
"We've gone out lots of times." His eyes shone like little stars, drawing one in.
"Not like that." Glaring at him momentarily she sighed, "It really is our first time, since back then when we were still so much… younger?"
"It's only been a year or so, hasn't it?"
"It'll be a year soon."
"Already a year…"
The two reminisced as though they were some sort of an ancient couple, remembering the far flung past.
Sword Steps.
Devouring Dance.
The two vanished from the spot, as though ghosts.
Lady Mu, Ni Su and Hao Fan all noticed instantly, their discussion ended as well as they left the stadium, even little Xiao had escaped at some point.
—
A city of grand structures and immense influence where no slums dared spring, and no arrogant young master's dared peek their heads out uselessly lest it be cut from the root.
The city which acts as an ocean, holding a graduate of the Mythic Mountain of the Dragon Race to overlook it's operation as it's overlord, not changing hands for hundreds of years.
Paved roads of fine stone, taverns which could hold over a hundred people and inns which had the land mass of a small clan in the Wild States.
Pavilions sprung up in many place, some grand, and some even grander!
This was the city directly under the control of the Mythic Mountain, a gathering of the greatest powers in all of the Flying Isles.
The Maw!
Whoosh.
Two people appeared in a corner of this city, walking out from an alleyway.
Hair like freshly fallen snow, and eyes red like that of a terrifying beast, nay-, right now, they looked ever so docile, as though a weak but beautiful man, his robes covering his body.
A devils shimmering purple hair, and eyes of darkest violet jade, hands thin and soft as though they would break at the smallest move, yet a gait which spoke volumes of strength.
A handsome scholarly man, a devilish beauty.
Lanterns hung from the corners of the streets. After running around the city for a while, night had fallen since the mid-day's competitions.
High-pitched laughter.
Children running about in and out of the crowds and light.
"What do you think?" The devilish beauty looked up coyly.
He looked around, and found a familiar ferrymen, yet it was not a grand ship, but a small thing to take one on the a river cruise, a gondola.
"What about some rest?" He smiled.
"Fine," In a moment, they flashed through the unsuspecting crowd.
"We meet again, ferrymen." He looked down at the Shadokai who despite his small body, clearly noticed them a while ago.
Moving slightly to the side, a hand extended from it's sleeve.
"One hundred blood stones."
Without hesitation, he gave over the exact amount.
After living in Baylen's Rest for a few months, if there was one thing he had plenty of, it was blood stones!
"What is the currency like here, Shadokai?"
Standing on the end of the gondola, the Shadokai slowly began moving the ship, pushing it onto the water before speaking.
"Blood stones are divided simply. A small blood stone in the first realm, is simple currency. A bloodstone of the second realm is a valuable cultivation resource, used mostly between clans. A third realm blood stone is used for trading between high class sects and clans."
Naturally, the realms he spoke of were Chain, Law and Unchained.
Nodding slightly, the handsome youth leaned back on the gondola, taking a look at his partner, his eyes almost stuck to her immaculate beauty, yet, what reflected in his eyes was not a purple haired, violet eyed vixen, but a girl like a tenacious weed.
"You have always been a beauty, growing no matter the condition. You're gorgeous, Wuqing." He poured her a cup of tea, the leaves over a hundred years old.
She blushed slightly, to be told such things was nothing new, but to be told it by him always made her heart race unlike anyone else, she gazed at him as though the person reflected in her violet eyes was not a scholarly young man, but a scrappy youth, fighting tooth and nail.
"Hubby. If we talk about growth, wouldn't it be you? I mean, I've naturally always been beautiful but you! You've really grown into it, eh?" She smiled from ear to ear, her eyes squinting from the force of it as she laughed voraciously.
He chuckled lightly.
"Then, I am quite lucky, to grow alongside such a tenacious weed, that dares to flower forever."
She raised a brow and laughed loudly, rocking the boat as she drank down the tea, the energy within the leaves refreshing her mind.
"Ah!" She seemed to have remembered something and began, "What about back at the Exiled Court? Are we ever going to do anything about that?"
"...I will need to find out more about my bloodline, and what happened all those years ago. This insidious curse," His tone slowly thickened, turning cold as though trying to freeze the area into ice, "I have sworn to destroy the one who cast it, be it the Heavenly Emperor or the Endless Dao itself."
"Then, should we gather more forces and launch an invasion? Or do we fight alone." Her violet eyes began to show countless changes, "If we launch an attack using the gates to wreak havoc, perhaps target those sects in the Wild States and steal their wealth, knowledge and lives, we may be able to gather a sufficient force in a few years. Our lifespans are now in the five-hundred year range, we can wait."
"They know what gate we escaped from. Baylen's Rest is not far enough from it. We'd be found immediately by Unchained Experts." Shaking his head lightly, he looked up at the stars, "Villains. We are called such by the Exiled Courts Wild States, aren't we?"
"Walking the path of a righteous hero… It's not worth it," She sighed lightly, "Which hero doesn't die with regrets? In anguish or abandoned?...should we become villains?"
He looked down, catching her sight in her own as he spoke.
"If living freely and without regret is a sin, then even if I am struck to dust by the Endless Dao, turn the Heavenly Emperor against me or have the Great Path descend and attack, I will be a sinner till the end." Each word he spoke was like a smoothly flowing river without a single imperfection, each word an honest reflection of his heart which struggled to stay afloat.
"Then, if your heart desired it, would you leave me?" Her gaze quivered slightly, and if someone said she was most pitiful in the world, anyone would have believed it upon seeing the sight.
"My heart would first fall from my chest to give you room within me, before desiring to live away from you." He shook his head lightly, "...if I continue down this path of blood and death, my heart will grow colder, and colder. My blood is boiling. If I become an unfeeling monster…"
"No." She cut him off, knowing his next words.
"I know it is cruel to ask this of you but-."
"I won't!" She yelled, however the Shadokai had already set up a noise barrier, anticipating this as it happened often between couples, the bickering on boat rides.
"I don't want to be a monster." Hiding his face by looking down, he couldn't hold her eyes anymore, only feeling the weight of the emptiness within him baring down, "Please."
She pursed her lip.
"Even so, I won't do it." Her words struck him coldly, yet from it he heard a crack, "I won't kill you, even if you rampage across the whole myriad worlds, so don't you dare… don't you dare let yourself become that."
"I don't know if i'll be strong enough." He felt the crushing weight of expectation, though his bloodline acted as a double edged sword taking both negative and positive emotions from him, he nonetheless could feel the weight of the void.
For the void was not empty, but rather filled with the dead emotions, killed by the bloodline pressuring him at every moment, challenging his mind without end.
"I'll bring you back." She stared at him, sitting back down this time at his side, "So, don't kill me."
He knew what she meant.
If he were to turn, and become a monster, she would do everything to bring him back, and throw her life away if it truly came down to it.
—--
"...What a tragic turn. You value him above your own life, and he is the same. Yet both are willing to die with the other, yet cannot bear to see harm to the other. They are forced to live and suffer, unable to end each other's tragedies." Lady Mu looked up at the vast starry sky, each star a system with planets yet discovered or perhaps at war or hidden away, her eyes twinkled with the reflected fates of endless worlds, "What a cruel play to do onto such young children."
Living through the Chaos Era which became the Heavenly Era, of which they were currently living, she had seen many things as the Mythic Mountains graduate and as a dragon involved in those turbulent times.
Her sigh told volumes upon the tragedies of old, like an endless tirade of stories which never got their ending.
—
"Preliminaries are complete. Now is the time for the sprouts to be separated from those young hatchlings which may one day soar!" A voice that resounded across the Maw of thousands of kilometers, "Wo Jie, of the Winged Wolf Clan, Kuang Suchan of the Divine Wolf Clan, take to the stage!"
After a turbulent preliminary, the Winged Wolf Clan successor, Wo Jie, managed to break past and enter the actual tournament, though the Bull Clan was directly disqualified for it's cowardice.
The arena was silent as the two stepped forward, their auras bustling with might.
"Winged Wolf… where are your wings? Clipped away?" Sneering, Kuang Suchan drew his sword, "There is a reason despite being called Winged Wolves, that all you can do is travel the surface. I will teach it to you again, trash."
"There is the path you walk, and the ways I tread. The difference is," Wolves began to howl violently in all directions rising like pillars into the sky, "You need a path. I can spread forever, everywhere. Free as our ancestors were."
Thousand Fang Fallout.
"You believe yourself great, because you made it here, but we never left." Kuang Suchan glared up at the countless wolves rushing down from the sky seeking to devour him, "We are not the same."
One Wolf Assault.
The earth cracked and shattered, a massive green wolf rising up from the earth, it's fur covered in specs of dirt and ash, it's eyes ancient and violent yet restrained.
Facing the skies, it didn't flinch.
Awooooo!!!!
The howl was like a sonic boom, shattering the Thousand Fang Fallout, all at once!
Whoosh.
"W-," Kuang Suchan's lips dripped blood and his eyes bulged as he looked down, a sword like a fang stuck in his stomach, "You bastard!"
Gritting his teeth, he held onto the sword and swung down a single clawed hand, taking a chunk of flesh from Wo Jie's shoulder, but he did not yield!
His teeth grit, and gnashing, he drove it further!
The green wolf screamed an awkward, painful scream, charging towards him to devour him, but before it could arrive, it vanished back into ash.
Kuang Suchan's eyes rolled backwards.