"Vuna Hai Vunai is sometimes classified as a neanderthal term." Yao Lan spoke.
"What does it mean?" Yin Chen asked.
"It means 'Fire, fire, burn, burn, my haters and my friends, burn, burn, all those who try to hurt me.'" Yao Lan paused. "I'm sure you're quite surprised. These three words are expanded when translated to our language."
"Burn all those who try to hurt me? Even my friends and my haters?" Yin Chen reasoned. "Who created those words?"
"Ever heard of the Ancient Language?" Yao Lan asked his disciple.
"No. What language is that?"
"Vanak." Yao Lan replied. "But do not tell anyone I told you all this."
"Why master?"
"Something happened during that time, and so the elders of those days prohibited the mentioning of the word 'Vanak' and any other information related to this language." Yao Lan answered as he frowned.
"What happened during that time?" Yin Chen was getting very confused. He had been asking questions after questions and he was getting tired of it.
"Look! We're almost at the end." Yao Lan smiled, pointing a finger ahead. "Let me warn you. Don't ever ask me any questions relating to the Ancient language. Knowing too much about it would cost you your life."
"What would happen if people heard that I uttered the word 'Vanak?'" Yin Chen was curious.
"Then you will be killed." Yao Lan retorted.
"Who would kill the son of the Yin Lord? I know that the Elimi can't. The Vermillion Brotherhood and my father are in a good relationship, so I doubt they'll do it either."
"How old are you, Yin Chen?" Yao Lan stared into the eyes of his disciple.
"I'm going to be thirteen soon." The boy replied.
"Hmm. Have you heard of The Twelve?"
...
A group of men walked on pieces of rocks, and as they did that, one could hear the rocks grinding against one another, creating a crunching sound.
"Something did happen here." Jing Chih, one of the inspection officers spoke.
Lian Wei nodded his head, "Sir, you need to see this."
The Inspector general, Jai Li walked over to his subordinate and grabbed a piece of clothing from his hands, "Someone definitely caused the explosion, and we need to find out who."
"Who's over there?" An officer barked as he stared in a particular direction.
"Zhou Cheng!" The other three officers heard their comrade and ran to meet him. "What's going on? What did you see?"
"Over there!" Zhou Cheng pointed at the trees.
When Jai Li spotted what Zhou Cheng had seen, his feet began to tremble as his lips wavered, "The..... Vermillion Brotherhood.. what are they doing here?"
Three men armed with swords walked out from the trees. On their faces were masks of birds. The one at the left wore the mask of a raven. The one at the right wore the the mask of a falcon, while the one at the middle who emitted an aura of death, wore a mask with the face of an eagle.
As they walked past the plants on the ground, the leaves turned red. The three men wore red armours with drawings of birds on them. The man with the eagle face glanced at Jai Li, "Did you find him?"
"Find who?" Jing Chih asked. "Who are you guys anyway? You need to get out of here immediately! This area is undergoing inspection, and according–"
The man with the eagle mask snapped his fingers and Jing Chih scattered into red petals. The two other officers fell to the ground as they shivered in fear.
"We... haven't found.. Wait, who are you looking for?" Jai Li summoned enough courage to ask the question.
"We are searching for the last dragon progeny, son of Long Qiao and enemy to the Order of Aramoth, Long Xue." The eagle-masked man spoke.
"We haven't seen any kid yet..." Jai Li gulped down the spit that had accumulated in his throat. "But we know that he was surely here. I think he destroyed this mountain for some reasons."
"Hmm. Goodbye." The eagle-masked man raised his fingers into the air in an attempt to snap them.
"Please don't!" Jai Li fell to his knees. "I promise you! I will forever forget what I've seen here today!"
"Then, what about them?" The man stared at the other two officers that shivered some few metres away.
"Don't worry about them. They're cowards who would do anything to survive. I'll be sure to make them realize the consequences of spilling out what they'd seen today."
The eagle-masked man turned to face his accomplices for their opinions. Unexpected, the two accomplices nodded and they proceeded on their journey to find Long Xue.
Jai Li fell to his knees as sweats consumed him, "Why was I so afraid of them? I've seen worse than them, so what made me fear them so much? Or is this another technique they use?"
...
"Long Xue, this is incredible!" Long Zhi was beaming with excitement. "Do you know what this is?"
"The Sword of Yang. I read that it had been lost for over three thousand years." Long Xue answered.
"The Sword can kill anyone who practices the dark arts." Long Zhi revealed.
"Dark arts?"
"It's the same thing as Yin. This sword destroys Yin." Long Zhi smiled.
"So, what you're trying to say is that I just need to wave this and my enemies are gone?" Long Xue grinned.
"No. It's not possible to use a Celestial weapon without establishing a bond with it first." Long Zhi smiled as he continued scanning the sword.
Long Xue nodded as he stared into the sky. The sun was already setting, and the clouds slowly turned red. Normally, the skies seldom turn red whenever the sun sets, but today, the red colour was more vibrant than it usually was.
Night fell sooner than expected. Long Zhi had hunted some rabbits earlier and grabbed some green apples from the apple field some distances away.
"You said something about establishing a bond with the sword?" Long Xue striked up a conversation.
"Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. You and the sword have to become one in other for you to access it's full potential. "
"So I'll bond with the sword?"
"Yes, you will have to. But, it might take some time considering the fact that this sword had been locked under the crust of a large mountain for over three thousand years now. Establishing a bond should take up to a year I think."
"A year?" Long Xue exclaimed. "Can I really wait that long?"
"You'll have to try if you want to survive the problems of the Yin sect will bring to you." Long Zhi replied as he fell in to a meditation pose.
"I feel sleepy. I'll sleep now." Long Xue yawned, falling to the ground and shutting his eyes.
The crickets were silent tonight, and the breeze was calm and soothing. The night's air was a little cold, but the warmth of the earth made it less noticeable.
The crescent moon shone out its little light, aided by the stars, it brightened up the sea. If one listened carefully enough, he should be able to hear the waves of the waters smashing one another.
As Long Xue slept, the only sound that fell across his ears was the humming Long Zhi. But deeper into the sound waves, one could hear quick footsteps. It wasn't just one, but three people.
Long Xue shot opened his eyes and shook Long Zhi, "Someone's coming."
Long Zhi was almost asleep when Long Xue woke him up, "What? Go and hide."
"Hm." Long Xue nodded and ran into the tiny cave that was a few metres away from where Long Zhi sat.
Long Zhi looked at the three unwelcomed guest, "Hey! What are you guys doing out here so late in the night?"
"I should be asking you the same." The man with the eagle mask replied.
The three men walked towards him. They scanned him from head to toe before finally staring at the box beside him, "What's in there?"
"Oh, you mean here! Just some fishes I caught earlier." Long Zhi answered with a laugh.
"Open it." The man with the eagle mask ordered.
Long Zhi hesitated before opening the box. In the box, tiny fishes jumped up and down. Death was slowly catching up to them, "They're still alive? How is that even possible? Is this another specie?"
The man with the Raven mask spotted the tiny cave at the bank of the river and pointed at it. His comrades traced his finger's direction as their eyes fell on the cave.
"You say you're a fisherman, then, where is your fishing rod?"
"Oh! About that! A fish I was trying to catch earlier dragged itself and my rod into the sea with the hook still in its throat." Long Zhi answered, and panicked a little after knowing the men had spotted the tiny cave. "Isn't that a funny occurrence?"
"I heard that anyone who touches that cave will go crazy." Long Zhi lied, trying to come up with excuses to stall them as they slowly approached the cave.
The man with the falcon ask moved swiftly to the entrance of the cave and lowered his head. Even with the cave's inner surrounding darkness, the man could still make up what appeared to be a face.
"There you are." He chuckled as his comrades approached the cave too.
Long Xue's heartbeat increased tremendously. Staring directly into the eyes of the man made his heart want to explode out of fear. The eyes scanned him from head to toe, and he could tell that those eyes, didn't belong to someone good.