Two men clashed swords atop a spiritual lake. They danced around each other, each displaying graceful moves whilst slashing at the other. They flipped and dashed across the lake with fluid ease, stepping on water without ever causing a ripple.
One of the two men, who was on the defensive, was dressed in simple black robes and had a head full of spongy-looking blond hair. His opponent who was pushing on the offensive had antlered horns and was dressed in form fitting black combat robes.
The older man with a short beard and blond hair was Da Hai, while the younger man with antlered horns was Zulong. The two clashed multiple times with the exchanges ending in a similar result. Zulong would attack rapidly, going in for the kill while Da Hai defended, dodged and weaved out of the way, parrying anything he was unable to dodge.
Qinglong and Yinglong stood and watched from the side. Their early morning was disturbed by their master and eldest brother's spar. The two dragons had, in the years since entering Yingzhou, finally promoted their cultivation to the Great Unity Golden Immortal realm, however they still fell short compared to Zulong.
"You're too aggressive," Da hai lectured. He sidestepped a burst of sword light twisting around and landed the edge of his blade on Zulong's throat. "You are impatient and it shows in your swordsmanship," Da Hai sheathed his blade and walked away.
"Continue to temper your mind. If you continue to act so recklessly, then you won't see much success" he instructed before disappearing. Zulong threw his sword down in frustration.
"What's the point of that exercise," he growled. "We're not even proper swordsmen," he complained sitting down with his brothers.
"Master has always emphasised patience," Yinglong replied.
"Master also insists on teaching us more and more powerful spells. Why bother with all this dancing around when I could just fire away and be done with the problem," Zulong scoffed.
"It's not necessarily a contradiction, you are the most hot headed of us brothers," Qinglong said. Throughout the year Zulong had remained hotheaded and aggressive. His pride had diminished little and his arrogance remained untamed.
Unknown to them, Da Hai watched from the shadows. He remained undetected due to an invisibility spell that faded him from this dimension, rendering him completely untraceable.
'He cannot be allowed to remain hot-headed. I do not want any incidents with Luohu nor Hongjun prematurely,' he thought. The education of the dragons wasn't going too well. He had taught them many spells derived from the Dao, but Zulong's temperament remained largely unchanged.
"I don't want a weapon recklessly charging in when I don't want to. Perhaps I chose wrong," he murmured. "Your empire needs to be a strong one, one that will stand against Luohu and Hongjun, at least for a time."
Later that week, Da Hai led Zulong into a library. He took out a scroll and unfurled it, handing it to Zulong. The contents were historical writings on conflicts which occurred between various tribes of innate beings, their wars and their rulers.
"Where did you find time to collect all these?" Zulong inquired.
"I didn't, I wrote them all in my spare time. Unbiased accounts of rise and fall of various tribes in the world," Da Hai revealed. These records were created as a way to pass the time. Information he gained by viewing the world around him from Yingzhou. Over a hundred thousand races were recorded, many of whom had already gone extinct over the years.
"Information that I think may prove useful to you," Da Hai explained while waiting for Zulong to begin reading.
"I do not see the point of all these. Lesser beings and their failures," he scoffed. "Master, wouldn't it be more productive to simply focus on power?"
'An intelligent tool is better than a bumbling one that needs twenty-four hour supervision,' Da Hai wanted to say. But he suppressed his frustrations deep within his heart.
"Just do as your master says," he said rubbing his temples. "Whatever Dao you form must be as perfect as can be for you. The current trend you're walking is too much like Shenni," he reminded.
Zulong was surprised, for Da Hai had hardly ever brought up the Beast Emperor of the past. "Like him?" He wondered after Da Hai had left. The beast emperor was little more than a children's tale these days. Zulong knew little of him beyond what tidbits he'd heard over the years.
Da Hai monitored Zulong's progress the closest of all. Even when he trained Yinglong and Qinglong, he still kept an eye on the ancestor dragon.
"Master, I know you worry for my eldest brother," one day Qinglong told him. "Eldest brother is extremely stubborn, but he is very grateful for master's education and protection. He just struggles to express it," he said.
Da Hai nodded wordlessly. It seems he'd won Qinglong and Yinglong's trust more so than Zulong's. His younger disciples were very diligent and in comparison to Zulong. It almost brought a smile to his face, almost. He always reminded himself that he shouldn't get too attached.
Qinglong comprehended the essence of the stars beneath the starry skies just like Da Hai did many years ago. Da Hai could visibly observe the transparent form of heavenly bodies beginning to form within the dragon. A small welling of pride permitted his chest.
'Stop it, I shouldn't get too invested,' he told himself. He soon left Yingzhou to do some sightseeing, something he hadn't done for many tens of thousands of years. The current yuanhui was already progressing towards its mid stages rapidly. Da Hai wanted to see if he could find some old acquaintances.
Starry Skies
A being of pure wind was running desperately, being chased by an incredible amount of cosmic lunar radiance. Shen Feng was deeply regretting his choices now. Who said the starry skies were safe? Who dares say it now?
Wangshu's power was far beyond the wind god's expectation. She was even more terrifying than Shenni had been that year. The mass of air flew across the cosmos with all its might, avoiding tendrils upon tendrils of lunar radiance.
Cosmic light whipped at him, exploding stars were thrown at him, space and dimensions continuously trapped him. The six armed wooden monstrosity that chased him groaned, and her snarling faces breathed out cosmic star bombs at him.
"Fuck this place," the wind god bolted downwards. His wings were ripped apart by Wangshu who tore at Shen Feng's back.
Shen Feng's body spun, generating massive winds like a spinning top managing to somewhat cut Wangshu. He slammed into the dimensional barrier with all his might, tearing a hole in reality. Appearing above the north continent, the terrified wind god quickly fled while Wangshu stayed in the stars.
"The hell was that about?"
Wangshu turned her attention downwards seeing two figures she hadn't seen in a long time. Da Hai was there, except he looked older, into his forties now. His beard was much longer and wrinkles were present on his face.
Another man was with him playing a game of elephant chess. Wangshu recognised him as the Ancestor of Qiankun who she hadn't seen since the end of the Shenni War.
"Fellow daoists, what a coincidence," she greeted, landing softly on their position. "I did not expect to meet you guys again so soon."
"It is a surprise to us too, fellow daoist," Da Hai answered. "Who knew just weeks from leaving the East Sea that I will see you and fellow daoist Qiankun again," he said with a joyful laugh.
Wangshu took in Da Hai's appearance, "You looked different. Definitely much different than years past."
"If you mean like an old fart then you're right. He's like us old fogeys now. Oi Da Hai, make your move already," Qiankun hurried the sea god along.
"Indeed, things have been stressful as of late," Da Hai admitted. He placed the general piece forward.
"Are you trying to lose?" Qiankun scolded as he easily took the general and sighed in visible disappointment.
"Well I'm not exactly the best player so forgive me if I make mistakes okay," He snapped back.
"You play like a distracted man, you barely put any thought into any of your moves," Qiankun criticized while Wangshu chuckled.
"Is it your disciples?" She enquired before receiving a knowing nod from Da Hai. "Well this was bound to happen, taking them in never really struck me as a natural choice."
"Wait, what's this about disciples?" Qiankun asked.
"Few thousand years ago, I took in three of the new generation of innate gods as my disciples," Da Hai admitted. There was no real need to lie in front of Qiankun, he wasn't affiliated with Hongjun nor Luohu and generally stayed by himself. Even during the chaos period Qiankun hardly interacted with people.
"Already huh, time sure flies by," Qiankun murmured. "Are these disciples the reason you look so stressed out?" He was met with silence but he could infer much from Da Hai's facial expression.
"I see, well raising disciples is never easy, during the chaos I remember…" Qiankun began rambling on various events of the past. Things Da Hai didn't really care to listen to.
"I told you to not accept them. Your heart is not wholly in it," Wangshu said to Da Hai. "I don't think this relationship is compatible, as the Dao dictates, let nature take its course."
Qiankun raised an eyebrow, "What did you specifically scout them out for tutorship?" He was met with a telling silence and sighed, "I don't know nor care why you specifically chose these disciples of yours but I do know one thing. A master is a father or life, you took them in to raise them, if that wasn't your goal then you shouldn't take in disciples."
Da Hai portrayed an uneasy expression. He rubbed his forehead. Qiankun got up as well, "I'll give you some time to think."
"He's right, you know," Wangshu said after Qiankun left.
"Do you disagree with my actions?"
"Oh wholeheartedly, you never had the intention of raising disciples, you wanted allies who didn't exist. So you went for the next best thing. This manipulation is not like you, it's the antithesis of what Dao represents."
"Then what do you think I should do?" Da Hai retorted.
Wangshu couldn't maintain eye contact, "I don't know, no one wants to risk their lives for someone else. No one wants to risk their lives, period. Especially not chaos godfiends."
"If only I was born earlier," Da Hai cursed.
Wangshu didn't stay in his company for long. She soon left for the starry skies and entered her own secluded cultivation that was previously disturbed. She passed by two spirits beneath the laurel tree and sealed her palace.
After Da Hai left, a horse-like figure walked out of the mountain. The ancestral Qilin, Zulin, had wondered here where the great ancestors had previously sat and chatted. Zulin looked at the elephant chess set that was still here.
"Very spiritually active," he said while looking around. Seeing no one coming he quickly snatched up the chess set and fled the scene. No one really cared to stop him.
Yingzhou
The three brothers sat by each other drinking some of the wine they found(stole). Three cups lay where the three sat in a triangular formation.
"You should lighten up brother," Qinglong said flushed. "Master only wants the best for us."
"Right, right," Yinglong agreed. "Master had allowed us to make leaps and bounds in cultivation. You should have more faith in him."
Zulong sighed while drinking his own serving, "I am grateful for master, he gave us refuge when we were too arrogant to recognise our own faults." He waved his hand generating a deadly amount of mystical force forming a construct of water which gave off an oppressive might. "He taught us so many powerful spells, just that."
"Just what? Master rescued us, gave us a home, and recognised our talents, simple as that. What could possibly irk you?" Qinglong asked.
"And here I thought you were the perceptive one," Zulong sighed. "Something just seems off. Something I have a bad feeling about, I just don't know what. He wants something from us, brothers listen to your older brother. Something just really rubs me the wrong way."
The two dragons looked stunned at Zulong's warning. "Brother I think that's a little too much. Master has done much for us that we should be grateful for."
"I do not deny that," Zulong said. "But don't you two know that there's no such thing as a free lunch in this world?" The atmosphere grew very heavy after that.
"Zulong, a master is a father for life. No matter what master is still master. He has taken time to tutor us for all these years, why must you… hai," Qinglong sighed taking another drink.
"Sorry, it's just… I don't know why I have this feeling," Zulong apologized with a look of guilt.
"We should put these away before master finds out," Yinglong said when his brothers began leaving. They nodded and began packing the cups. But that was when Da Hai reentered Yingzhou.
Needless to say, Da Hai was not impressed to find the three drinking from his own stash.