"A wolf stuck within a glorious cave will never know the struggles of the roaming cold and shifting sands, nor the bliss of the sun or the call of the moon." He looked down at Kuang Suchan with a cold ire, "You are no longer wolves…"
Click.
"...but dogs."
Those watching dared not breath a word as one of the Flying Isles clans had just been disgraced before them, or else it would be there head.
Yet as the silence reigned, many looked back at a quiet sound.
Clap.
Clap.
Clap.
Pheee!
In the crowd, a handsome scholar clapped with a slight smile, whilst a devilish beauty whistles and shouted.
"That was a great fight!" She screamed, "He used a part of your technique, Hubby!"
"Patriarch Shou. Thank you for the previous experience, and I apologize for the clumsy show of your skill."
Wo Jie cupped his fists and slightly lowered his head.
"It is nothing special. Do not mind it," He shook his head lightly, "You've done splendid, Young Master Wo."
"This praise of yours, I appreciate it." Wo Jie raised himself, and turned to the Divine Wolf Clan, which had been glaring at Shou Xin following his words, and Feng Wuqing following her actions.
"It was a good match. However, I suggest that before attempting to claim the title of strongest of the young generation, perhaps, send out someone better." Elegantly, he exited the arena accompanied by his clanmates.
"Wo Jie. Your Winged Wolf Clan will not be let off easily for this." An elder of the Divine Wolf howled at them, "And you."
From behind, one could see a slight change as though Wo Jie had begun smiling, just before he disappeared in a burst of light.
"Who?" Looking around, that scholarly youth smiled.
"You brat dare to look down on our Divine Wolf Clan? Kneel before our elder, and perhaps we will leave you alone."
He glanced up at the announcer box, where a young looking woman stood poised, however, she shook her head.
He understood easily.
Between his little clan, and the ire of an entire race, she would rather remain neutral so as to keep the balance. It was not in her interest to defend either side.
"What qualifications do you have to make me kneel?"
"What?"
The crowd was dumbfounded.
What qualifications did he have?
He is a scion of the Divine Wolf Clan, a brother of Kuang Suchan, and a prospect to become an Unchained Expert in the future!
What qualifications? He has them!
"I said," Tyrannical aura began to leak from his scholarly being, "What right do you have, to make my knees touch the ground?"
Anger began to ignite his hatred, and his hatred flourished as his aura became more violent. The boy from the Divine Wolf Clan looked shocked at the intense baleful aura he gave off.
"Beast." He spat, "How many have you killed? You are a dirty beast that needs cleansing, this Kuang Huchu of the the Divine Wolf Clan will bring you to justice before the Great Path!"
One Wolf Strike.
Fukkatsu Kiru.
Whoosh.
Clang.
Boom!
The moves collided, and the wolf was shattered underneath the sudden, and immense pressure unleashed by the sheer hatred burning deep within his body!
It was such an overpowering emotion that it directly leaked, messing with the minds of those weaker beings, and causing Kuang Huchu to stutter!
"Stop now." The Divine Wolf elder pinched Fukkatsu, and sent it flying back at the young mans throat.
Yet, before it could reach, a terrifying power arose and the cries of a dragon rang out, the edge stopping an inch from his throat.
"A Spirit Artifact?!"
The crowd roared!
A spirit artifact! A weapon which had gained a consciousness, and become sentient!
When they saw Fukkatsu' shadow before, they believed it to be the simple apparition of the will of the user, through his weapon, however with the terrifying explosion of power directly from the sword accompanied by the dragon shadow, they knew!
A Spirit Artifact which huge clans would fight to the death over! A weapon that could grow alongside it's owner!
The weapon of a powerhouse!
Yet, it was on a youth barely in the Law Realm!
"Hand over the sword, and we will overlook this humiliation." The Divine Wolf Elder's eyes were dyed green.
"Hold it!" Hao Fan shouted out, "How dare the Divine Wolf Clan try and poach at a contestant, and a junior at that! Have you no shame?"
Shou Xin gave Hao Fan a seemingly normal smile, yet, underneath this façade, he knew what was happening.
Help when in need, in order to be given what they truly want.
Knowing he had a Spirit Artifact, Shou Xin was aware and waited.
"An Elder attacking a Junior, this is unbelievable!" Ni Su stepped out from the crowd, her eyes ablaze with the indignity, "You Divine Wolf Race, have you truly become dogs to your desires!"
"You dare!" The Elder raised his voice, and his aura shot through the roof, causing the earth to shake and the stadium to crack!
"Why would I not dare?" An unmatched sharpness undulated from Hao Fan's feet, directly cutting apart every advance of the Divine Wolf Elder's aura.
"A dog is a dog after all." Ni Su looked down on him coldly, her eyes glowering with malicious intent as she turned to the disciples standing around, their bodies draining of vitality slowly.
"You wench!"
"Will you back off today?" Ni Su looked disgusted.
Feeling that any longer, and irreparable damage would be done to the scions of his race, the Divine Wolf Elder retracted his aura. With a wave of his hand, a light flashed and they vanished.
"Teleported away. Coward." Hao Fan's face turned, "Are you alright, junior?"
Yet, when he looked down, they were gone.
"Pf-!" He glared viciously at Ni Su.
—
"What should we do?" Feng Wuqing kicked her legs around like a kid whilst sitting on Fukkatsu.
"Uphold our deal." Shou Xin sighed, "It will be troublesome. But, a deal is a deal. I will not back down, and so I will quickly finish this. But first, we need a place to hide."
"...Should we just assassinate them?" She suggested off-handedly.
"Maybe." His face darkened.
"I was joking." She smiled and poked at him.
"I'm not." He shook his head to try and shake the feelings consuming him. A small bout of anger that bubbled slightly, had managed to feed his hatred such that he was still reeling, his mind clouded, and he knew it.
"If we kill them, then what? If we are going to go for the roots, we will need to fight the tree. We cannot yet fell this tree, though. We need strength, and cultivating alone is not going to work as well as it did before." Her sigh seemed to reach a million miles, "We will need to join a sect of some kind. But here, there are only a few specialized places. Comprehension is the greatest asset in this realm, but there is no food for the mind here, save for battle. Our own techniques are self made as well. Studying through battle is no longer enough."
Realizing she had become the voice of reason, Shou Xin focused on suppressing the hatred in his heart.
Yet, as he did so, he felt a warmth spread through his body, Feng Wuqing had moved closer to him.
His clouded mind, cleared up enough for him to take control and completely destroy the clouds.
He returned to his scholarly seeming self.
"...The top sects of Dragon's Row wouldn't be too much of a wish for you. If we really want to grow stronger the fastest, I believe we will need to separate." He seemed to see something far, far away as his gaze travelled with the winds high above the clouds of the Maw.
"I don't. Your talented, ridiculously talented. Haven't I been saying this again and again? Who else, in all, and I mean the big all, the all that encompasses everything, who else in. All! Of! History! Has managed to, whilst being suppressed by the Great Path, reach Law Realm? Who else? Who? Give me a name!" She stared at him, knowing he couldn't create another name.
"See? You are talented. Your talent does not lay in your soul, but in your character. Your disposition. I wouldn't be this way, if it wasn't for you, I'd be dead by suicide. And you? You'd be dead or a monster by now. We are a pair, we go together, or not at all." Huffing angrily her eyes seemed to bore holes into him, "Understand?!"
"Fairy," Shou Xin slowly began to smile, "If we are to never, ever leave each other, living as a pair. Then joining a sect is out of the question, but what about destroying one? It should be useful. We are already hated, anyway."
"Then, we should bring the rest of the clan as well, it'll be fun. By the way, where do you see the clan going? What do you want for them?" She said.
"Strength, mostly. No one in the clan is innocent. All of them are villains in one way or the other, in fact, our little junior is the only one who isn't a villain at this point. I think a neutral clan of battle cultivators is the best option. It will provide the greatest opportunity for growth for them," He then sighed as though a million miles, "But that is likely impossible."
"Why?" She tilted her head, despite knowing the answer.
He shot her a sideways glance.
"If our clan goes around raiding, pillaging and destroying, we will be known as an evil clan and be targeted by righteous sects and clans. Though, all we'll need to do is destroy them too. But, if we step on the toes of someone we shouldn't, we'll get destroyed. The Exiled Court is already watching closely to our movements. They haven't found our location yet, though."
"They will. Those in Dragon's Row seemed to not hate humans, but simply look down on them so it isn't impossible for them to have infiltrated this place."
Whoosh!
They landed in a remote part of the city, covered and concealed by the natural ambience of the city and the aura surrounding Fukkatsu.
Tap.
They lightly jumped off, gliding down.
"If they have, things become more complicated, but I doubt it. The reason Lady Mu didn't slaughter us directly was because of my bloodline. Those humans who try and come through without permission will be directly slaughtered by the Mythic Mountain, also," His eyes narrowed, "There is some sort of accord between the Demon Realm and Exiled Court, of this I'm certain, or else why would the noble clans not use the gates to launch offensives into the Exiled Court with their superior movement ability."
"Mm. Especially when the surface races are launching invasions into the Exiled Court regularly." She slowly nodded.
Standing before the abandoned temple, in this small corner of the city, a young girl stood with her arms crossed.
"What do you two think your doing?!" Face twisted with pure rage, her wings extended casting a long shadow, "You are meant to be bullying down the surface races, not complimenting them!"
"The deal was to make them lose, when encountered," He floated upwards, "Otherwise, I will treat them as they have treated myself."
Honorably.
Maqi's pupils burned as she wished to burn him to a crisp and simply go and handle it the violent way, however, it was impossible for her.
If she killed them, then tried to kill off the surface races, it would spark an all out war between the skies and surface.
It would be genocide.
Knowing this, her heart burned into bonfire.
"...Why can you not just follow simple orders?" Grinding her teeth, she looked up with burning eyes, "Quit being childish. This a matter that could end with entire races fighting to wipe one another out. Do your job or else."
"Or else?" That heaven concealing beauty walked forward with a face filled with conceit, "Is this now no longer a repayment, and now a threat? Hubby you heard it right?"
"I did." The scholarly youth sighed dramatically, "What bad luck, to be threatened by my benefactor. It seems, I owe nothing now."
"What!?" Maqi's aura crushed the land beneath her, but they had already taken off to the sky!
She realized she'd been played.
If a benefactor when asking for repayment of her favor, then goes and threatens the debtor, is it not right that the debtor should abandon the benefactor?
There is no reason to stay if one owes their life, and then they threaten it after all, if they don't ask for it in the form of a favor but a threat, that means the previous debt has been paid and now they can only use threats right?
In a very small slip of the tongue, she had inadvertently given him his freedom of the debt.
"Come back here! It is not over!" Yet they didn't listen, and her heart jumped as her wings beat, words her mother had told her before flooding into her head.
"The shou are a people that when given a rock, will never give back anything more than a stone."
Truly, she had been angered and then tricked.
How long was this being planned?
"Bastards."
From everything nothing can stop it's claws, Hail the Dragon King.
Massive weather phenomenon began to appear, the strength of a Mythic Mountain disciple on full display.
However.
Destruction is not always the answer to anger, Heaven's Cage.
The phenomenon… stopped.
It was gone as swiftly as it came.
"Mother!"
"You made a mistake, but so have they. Soon, they will have no more choices…"
Fukkatsu stopped in it's tracks.
"Where is my junior brother?" Like an arid wind in the midst of a boiling day roughening those who were touched by it he spoke in no uncertain terms.
Lady Mu smiled.
"In order to get a boulder from a stone, one must first be willing to push." Her voice carried on the breeze up into the sky, "Your Junior Brother is enjoying luxury beyond imagination, his debt for the foods he's devouring like a hungry ghost, going up by the second."
Feng Wuqing seethed in anger, she knew what this meant, the implicit threat, "Xiao Wun that rascal!"
In order to repay his debt, they would need to stick round and finish their end of the deal which had been nulled just moments ago.
Yet.
"Oh."
Shou Xin's atmosphere changed like a coin being flipped. From an arid wind to a gentle breeze.
"Then it's fine. Send him down once he's paid off his debts. It will be a good chance for him to grow, and learn not to take anything for free, or for granted. Ah, that said, once he's earned enough to pay it at all back, just send him home, we will front the bill," Seeming like a refined scholar he continued, "Through hardship, he will learn. He won't be in any danger either, so this artificial pressure will do well."
Just like that, Fukkatsu began moving again.
"I won't give him back!" Maqi shouted viciously, her eyes swirling!
"Our little brother works fast, doesn't he?" Looking down, Feng Wuqing's eyes were like a calm summer night a strange gust pulling through, "No matter who stands in your way, just beat them up."
"...I hate that bastard! I will never!" Her anguished shouts rang out violently!
At the same time, her powers were retrained by her mother, who would not allow some sort of mass disaster to occur within the Maw which was governed by the Mythic Mountain.
Shou Xin heard a voice in his head at that moment.
"We will destroy the remaining clans before the next match in secret and leave traces that it was you. Is that alright?" Her voice was like warm water over cold hands.
Muzondang. Lady Mu. Dragon Woman.
Her names were many more than the few well known ones, her wisdom beyond age.
"Then, don't send us the bill. And the other terms apply. Ah but, make sure to cook him thoroughly."
"Naturally."
"It's settled, then-, wait. The Winged Wolf Clan's people, leave them alone."
"Pay up."
"Shrewd grandma."
"So what? Money is money, and there is no equivalent exchange here. Half."
"One third."
"Half."
"Forty."
"Half."
"Stubborn as a dragon."
"I am, in fact, a dragon after all, or did you forget?"
"...Forty-Five."
"H-a-l-f."
"Fine. We will pay half his food bill."
"Good. Then, leave now. We will spare the Winged Wolf Clan from any humiliation this day."
He slightly nodded.
Just like that, the Tilu had ended, and both sides reached an agreement as Maqi and Feng Wuqing bickered back and forth about Xiao Wun's charms.
"The little sprout will grow up fine, are you sure you don't want to snatch him now? When he's a lot stronger, it will be too late. I only snagged this one, because I was decisive, after all." Feng Wuqing held onto Shou Xin with a vice-like grip, "You cannot hesitate if he makes your heart palpitate."
She looked at her dumfounded, and turned her gaze to Shou Xin, but his eyes were gently looking at her as she continued.
"Kill. Steal. Snatch him away at all costs. Once you've felt something, and decided it. No matter who feels what, or which clan, person or even god gets in the way, snatch it. If the great path gets involved, destroy it. If the Endless Dao has words against it, then snatch away it's powers and take what is yours."
"Mm-mm." The rims of his eyes relaxed and his gaze softened in the way it can, only when looking at someone who is truly beloved his hand tightening around her side as he whispered into her ear, "Though, I think I was the one who snatched you."
A blush crawled up her face, "Hm-?!"
GUOOOOO!!!
Fukkatsu let out a deafening roar and dove headlong higher into the clouds and out of sight.
"...what the hell is wrong with that couple?"
"Who knows?"
—
"Liu Gang, you bastard!" Kicking down the door of the Training Hall, Yui Luo scanned around like a hawk for prey, "Where is he?"
Behind her, tens of scholars acted as her escorts as she seemed to be on the verge of rampaging.
"Here I am," A soft voice like flowing water appeared from deep within the War Hall, warriors flanked it on either side, Liu Gang appeared, "What have I done so wrong?"