A pair of eyes opened slowly, glancing through the blurry imagery of the room it resided in.
Long Xue opened his eyes fully, laying on his bed.
"How did I get here?" He asked himself as he sniffed the air in his room, "It's my room alright, but how am I here?"
"I brought you here." A voice answered
Long Xue was spooked by the voice and immediately glanced around his room to see who had answered his question, but to his surprise, he was the only one present in his room.
Shrugging off the voice, he said, "I need to meet father."
...
"What happened to him Physician Mu?" Long Ahli asked as she pressed her husband's hand softly.
The physician shook his head, "I don't know my Lady, the Lord seems totally fine."
"Then why hasn't he awoken yet?" She asked in a more intense tone.
"I don't know." The physician replied before asking, "I heard from your daughter that he left this house on the night of third full moon?"
Long Ahli nodded, "Yes. He went to search for that foolish boy of a son."
"You're still his mother." The physician frowned.
"But he's not my son."
The physician sighed, "We should forget about that matter, it is already in the past."
She sobbed as tears fell down her cheeks as she stared at Long Qiao, "Who knows what happened to him out there?"
"Haiyin also told me that you found him on his bed this morning." The physician glanced at her.
"Yes, we did, and we have absolutely no idea how he got here." Long Ahli nodded.
"What about Long–"
"Father! Father!" Long Xue came barging into the room, cutting off the physician, but before he could reach his father, his mother grabbed him by the collar.
"You! You almost got your father killed! You bastard! Why are you even a part of this family! You should have never been born!" Long Ahli scowled.
Long Xue felt his heart sink just as he heard those words come from his mother's mouth, "Mom..."
"Get out! Now!" Her voice shattered the tranquility of the whole household as she pushed Long Xue back.
Long Xue stumbled and fell. His lips froze. He wanted to speak, but his lips wouldn't move. His hands shivered as his eyes watered. This pain he felt was hard to explain. He felt something he hadn't truly felt in his entire life, he felt pain.
Feeling his heart slowly shattering, Long Xue scurried back to his room. In his room, Long Xue let out the tears that had gathered in his eyes.
"Where were you last night?" A soft voice asked.
Long Xue who was curled up on his bed raised his head to meet the gaze of his sister, "Why would mother say that to me? She has never done that before."
Haiyin pulled him into a hug, "She was just angry that's all. Our emotions sometimes allow us to say and do foolish things."
Long Xue smiled as he spoke, "Like you and big brother Gangsheng. Dad already warned you to stop meeting him, but because of the love you have for him, you disobeyed father's instructions."
Haiyin laughed as she pulled herself away from the hug, "What do you know about love?"
"I know a lot!" Long Xue laughed.
"Alright then, let's get serious." Haiyin's tone changed almost immediately, "Where were you yesterday?"
Long Xue lowered his gaze as he replied, "I chased some dogs into the woods."
"You what!" Haiyin exclaimed. "You should have stopped chasing them, but you didn't, even after knowing night had fallen."
"That's the problem sister, I did not notice anything, everything still looked bright in my eyes."
Haiyin sighed, "Forget that. How did you get here?"
"It must have been Long Zhi." Long Xue answered.
Haiyin moved back a little before placing the back of her palm on Long Xue's forehead, "Your temperature is still a little bit high, and whatever happened to you last night must've messed up your head."
Long Xue pushed her palm away, "It's true! I met him yesterday. It was him who saved father and me yesterday."
"Mm–hmm. I'll go check on father now." She replied, getting up.
Long Xue frowned, "You don't believe me, do you?"
"Mm–hmm." She nodded with a grin as she left.
"Ugh!" Long Xue slammed his fist on his bed.
...
"How much is that chicken?" A man asked as he pointed at a white hen in one of the cages.
"You mean Ji? She's only worth 55 copper coins." A buxom woman replied.
"I'll take it." The man replied, smirking at the woman.
"Sure handsome." The woman replied as she wiggled her breast.
The man collected the chicken, paid the money and was about to leave when the woman grabbed his sleeves, "By the way, have you heard about the ominous incident that happened last night?"
"No, what happened?" The man asked as he inched closer to the woman.
The woman smiled as she shook her breast, "Long Qiao, the head of the Long sect along with his son, both saw the Order or Aramoth." She whispered.
The man used his hand to cover his mouth, "Then that means that the entire Long sect are going to die very soon? I never really liked the Long sect anyway, always lying about their bloodline."
"Of course, they're liars." The woman nodded. "They should have been dead a long time ago, but I think the Yin sect gave them a little time to breathe in and out before they're finally removed from this world."
A man passing by heard their conversation and spoke, "Do you think the Yin sect would kill the Long sect?"
The man had a long black hair that cascaded down to his waist side. His eyes were sharp at its edges, like those of an eagle. His nose was straight and perfectly structured, so were his lips. They were red, and they dazzled beauteously. His robe had a light green colour and in his hand, was a sword of elegance.
The man who had bought the chicken earlier scanned the intruder, "And who are you supposed to be?"
"I'm Long Zhixun, second son of Long Qiao." The man answered as he bowed his head.
"Oh, I see." The buxom woman replied. "What makes you think that the Yin sect wouldn't annihilate your sect?"
"In case you forgot, my grandfather was the one who sacrificed himself to protect this city from being completely submerged by the Monsters of the Great Beyond." Long Zhixun glared at the woman. "I suggest you continue selling your chickens and stop acting like one. At the very least, know who you're to respect and who you're not to. I'm Long Zhixun, I'm a Dragon Progeny, the blood of the dragons flow through me, I don't care what others think or say, only what I say and do matters."
...
"The fifth member of the Elimi is a young man called the 'Dog master'. The dog master uses his dogs to sniff his targets out of their hidding place and reap them to shreds. He wears a mask that could scared the the hell out of the a person.
The Elimi could not be stopped by any foe. As far as I know, they've never lost a target. Their killing formation was a special one which not just anyone could understand." A man walked out of the darkness, and he was followed very closely, by a boy who carried a large bag on his shoulders.
"Where are we going master?" The boy asked.
"We're going to Liliang." The man answered as he cleared the bushes and moved forward.
"Why master?" The boy asked again.
The man hesitated before speaking, "You said you've always wanted to meet your family, didn't you?"
"Yes." The boy nodded.
"I'm taking you to see them." The man replied.
As they walked a little bit further, the boy asked another question, "Master, why have you been telling me those stories?"
"I just wanted to let you know what you're dealing with." The man smiled.
"Master, what exactly am I dealing with?"
"Yin Chen, you're the son of the Yin Lord." The man turned to face his discipline.
Yin Chen's face went pale, "My father is a bad person?"
"No, no, no, Yin Chen. Your father is not a bad person, he just wants to make the world a better place for us all."
"What about my sister? She is an assassin."
"Not a assassins are bad. They're good one's too."
"Good assassins?" Yin Chen found the term weird.
The man cleared the last set of bushes in the way, and before them, was the place of every man's nightmare.
"Master, where are we?" The boy asked as he spotted several large white mountains that stood on the horizon, and these white mountains were almost completely covered by black fogs.
"My disciple, welcome to the Great Beyond, and this is the Gigantis Python's valley! A place of absolute nightmare! Are you ready?"