Before Zero's maddened form could reach him, the Lord scrambled to his feet.
He was extremely disoriented, and found that his thoughts were in disarray. He looked to see the young man staring at him as though he was seeing through him.
The man picked up his saber that had fallen to the ground and readied himself for an attack. He was not going to die like some coward after all he did to get to his position.
But truth be told, he was extremely afraid. Shen could not tell what had happened to him, but whatever the demon had done left its mark. He had been touched by something so sinister. His spirit was distorted.
Even his Qi levels that were at the peak to becoming a Qi master had degraded by a third.
His lips quivered. When he was away in the capital, he heard stories of the true nature of dark mana. Not many Qi practitioners had direct encounters with the substance. They saw its effects everywhere though.
The lands were polluted. The animals and mortals were mutataing and being on unholy grounds was just plain sickening.
Recently, shadowbeasts had appeared and people who practiced a form of cultivation known as the dark arts, had suddenly arisen. Rebels. They believed it was time for the Qi practitioners and cultivators to perish. Mandate of Heaven, they called their movement.
The mandate of heaven in Chu culture simply meant to say, "the heavens do not approve of the emperor." But in the case of these Dark art rebels, the mandate of heaven meant, "The Dao of Qi cultivation is wrong. Dark mana prevails."
Shen looked over this creature. This ghoul.
Of all the many dark arts he had heard of in the capital, he had never heard of something like this. Something so grave that it pried into his soul. He had a bad feeling that if this demon was to escape his hands today, this seemingly soft ability would become a dangerous menace.
Someone with such a thing...
No. He would not die here. Not at the hands of this thing. The demon might have the ability to look into his soul, but it was not necessarily stronger than he was.
' After all I fought on the battle field for months and trained as a Qi practitioner. This ghoul must have only mutated recently. And it seems to be in bad shape. '
Shen was resolved then. He would kill the creature.
Zero on the other hand, noticed the firmness in Shen's behavior. After being inside his memories, Zero could understand a bit of how the man thought. He knew that he would not back down.
And most of all, he knew that the man was stronger than him.
There was no time. Somewhere in this town, a revenge spirit was preying on people. He did not know why, he did not even know what a revenge spirit was. But he had to finish up with this man quickly. Or at least, get away so he could find better targets.
His blinked, noticing how his thoughts were almost inhumane.
The scroll in his chest felt hot. His form was fading in and out of existence and he could feel a million crawlers beneath his skin.
Zero gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. He knew he vowed to keep awake and watch how he turned into a ravaged animal but the sane part of him begged for him to accept the tiredness.
But was it truly the sane Zero speaking, or The Voice?
What if he turned into something much worse? What kind of test was this?
In a sudden move, Shen attacked. Zero didn't have the time or energy to move out of the way and a sharp saber came piercing into his shoulder. The force pushed him back into the dark shadows and he landed on the ground, moaning in pain.
Get up.
"Filthy demon! You think you scare me with your magic?! I am a Qi practitioner. We are above you dark art fools!"
Shen's eyes were red and his fine robe was tattered and dirty from his fall. He raised his blade to strike again. Zero opened his eyes and dodged at the last moment.
His heart was pounding. He could see something within shen. A glowing object. The glow was dark but somehow emitted light. It lay right in the middle of his head. Pulsing, calling out to him.
No.
He turned about to run out the alley but Shen was faster. He rammed into his body, plunging him to the ground, right next to the passed out merchant.
Zero felt his ears ring. Each time his eyes closed, he would feel a thousand voices scream, he would feel himself in a poor of sticky liquid and he would feel pain. The pain that came with the void.
Absolutely not. He sprung back to his feet and turned to the Qi practitioner who was now concentrating on the saber. He had assumed a pose that seemed to copy the movements of the clouds above.
"Sky form! The blade of wind!" Suddenly, Shen twisted into two positions, his body giving off a subtle blue glow as he moved with the saber. He appeared like he had become one with the metal.
All this happened in a matter of seconds. The next thing Zero saw was a flash of blue and ram! A huge force hurled into him.
The world spun.
There was a hole in his chest.
Blood came pouring out in torrents and Zero looked fell to his knees wheezing. The chasm of strength between him and a man who was approaching Qi master was not small.
A yin spirit did not even belong to the mortal lands. Absolute yang against mediocre yin was fatal. There only reason why he had a chance against those shadowbeasts was the fact that they were creatures of yin too, and his stroke of luck.
However, in all this, he had one advantage. He was hell's chosen fighter. The son of Naraka. He looked up, eyes glinting, a smile on his crazed face. Two sides were pulling at him. The sane, innocent Zero from Qiqi village and the other, who had been to the Void hell and been reborn.
The first Zero and the second.
When he looked up, the hole in his chest was in view for Shen to see. He too was recovering from such a hefty move. It was his trump card and could not be used more than once a year. It had taken up more reserves of Qi in his spirit sea.
Not to mention that the demon's prying had wounded his sea to an extent as well.
So when the ghoul lifted his head up, and his bloody silver eyes connected with his, he instantly knew— he was going to die.
This was not a premonition from the gods, or a sky art that could let him see into time. No. This was nothing but the reaction of a prey to his predator.
The demon was not stronger than him but the thing he saw glowing in its open chest wound was. The pulsating organ that had no business being where its heart was supposed to be. The eye.
He had never looked upon such a vile thing in his entire life. He was sure that even in his numerous past lives, he had never been exposed to such a sinister evil.
His heart palpated within his ribcage, his hands shook. He took a step back.
The moon whose light could not reach this alley, could not witness such a sight. However, her children, the stars, who covered the night sky, could see clearly, what was unfolding.
The scrawny demon rose to its feet, hair wet and stained with blood, eyes dilated and lost in hunger.
It stumbled forward, and Shen panicked.
"Stay away! Stay far from me. I am a Lord. I have friends who will come looking for you! Stronger friends! I-If you let me go, they will never hear of this."
"We'd go our separate ways!" He screamed. His voice was loud enough to raise alarm.
The city was far too busy on this festive night, so not one person heard him. And even if someone did, they'd mistake it for the cry of a merry man in the company of his guests.
But there was no merry or form of joy in this alley.
There was only fear, hunger and madness.
Zero opened his mouth, and his eyes coated dark once more.
An unnatural wind picked up. It didn't seem to disturb the physical objects around. Only the spiritual and the dormant dark mana.
Everything of this sort in the alley swirled towards him. The many brooding spirits and manifestions of all things the mortals and spirits had ever left in this alley sucked right up into his mouth. Every shed tear, every angry blow, every disheartened sigh that had echoed within the walls of this alley.
Shen's spirit became unsettled. He was screaming for his life but he could feel how close he was to becoming absolutely nothing but a shell of himself.
The poor merchant on the ground had been awakened as well by the disturbance he was feeling.
His own spirit, too weak and disoriented to fight the pull, dislodged from his body and flew directly into Zero's waiting mouth.
Shen saw this happen. He saw the life leave this merchant that he had beaten and his fear solidified even more. He screamed and fought the wind. He refused to give up.
But then Zero was losing strength fast. The power of this wind increased, tearing away more than half of Shen's soul. Then the boy fell to the ground, groaning.
He was still very hungry. And now that he had finally tasted the wonders of a mortal's soul, this town of people seemed like a grand buffet.