《New Life In Cultivation Chat Group》 -1 Read This 1st... or Else e.e..... Anyways.... I just wanted to write a fanfic about Cultivation Chat Group seeing as there really aren''t any. There WAS one but the damn author just dropped after only 3 chapters! THREE! TRES! DREI! I hope you''re reading this.... said author whom I shall not be naming.... e.e... *****MOST IMPORTANTLY**** If you are looking for slice of life elements just like the originals then.... just gtfo now. This novel won''t be the one for you. Sure I''ll add some in there but it wont be 80% of the whole novel like the original was. Just go read the original if that''s what you''re looking for. Anyways... I was massively inspired by that... too damn short... fanfic idea and kinda wanted to do one of my own.... This aux chapter is to let people know... I''m only writing this book just for the heck of it, if you don''t like what i''m writing... please... just go away and not stay and complain about my work... seriously that''s annoying af... That''s all I wanted to say! . . . With that out of the way... enjoy my half baked idea of a fanfic story... or not... Up to you! . . . 1 You Canst Be Serious... In the infinitely vast expanse of empty space where everything was white, stood two figures facing each other. No, to be precise, one figure stood while looking down on the other figure who seems to be... kneeling in apology...? Shell shocked at the current predicament, the figure that was standing, Fang Lin, was obviously in great confusion and turmoil. Okay... seriously, wtf!? Wasn''t he just sitting at his computer doing *cough*research*cough*? How the heck did he end up here all of a sudden? And who the fuck is this blond loli that''s been kneeling in front of him this whole time!? Say something at least, Oi! Perhaps sensing Fang Lin''s heated gaze, the loli in question shuddered a little and raised her head. What greeted Fang Lin were eyes of the deepest blue which also seemed to be sparkling. If one were observe really closely, they would be able to see many specks of light floating about, as if they were an ocean of stars, as if the entire universe was contained within. Those eyes and her long blond hair however were the only two discernable to features that Fang Lin could make out. Everything else seems to elude his perception as if saying that Fang Lin is not at all qualified to gaze at her face. If Fang Lin were rate the attractiveness of that face based on shape and contours alone... there would definitely be many weird uncles forming a mob within seconds of her being seen in public. "Ah... um... I''m sorry!!!" suddenly blurted out the strange loli before Fang Lin could deign to open his mouth. Her sudden apology however definitely brought more questions than answers. Not knowing how to proceed further, he just raised one brow toward the little loli as if expecting her to get what he meant. And in fact she really did as she proceeded to explain herself. "Um... well please don''t be too shocked with what I''m about to tell you but... you have died! And it was completely my fault!" quickly explained the loli while not actually explaining anything at all... The hell? Dead? Now getting even more impatient, Fang Lin crossed his arms with one foot tapping... what he believes to be the floor...? One can''t be sure of anything in this space since everything in literally all directions are white and nothing else. Feeling the impatience oozing out of Fang Lin, the little loli is starting to panic a little before suddenly doing a breathing exercise to calm herself down. Not too long after, it seemed to work as she was no longer seemed to be nervous... as much as before at least. "Ano... I''m... what humans would refer to as a God you see." Suddenly hearing such a bold claim, Fang Lin can''t even react properly and could only tilt his head to the side whilst silently urging the loli-goddess? to continue. Taking the cue, she continued "Well you see... while I was erasing a few dozens universes out there that... contained only dead worlds, I kinda... got lazy along the way. So... you see... instead of doing it one by one I just blasted everything in one go! And uh... I kinda... maybe... lost control of the energy for bit due to a... sneeze... and a fragment of that energy leaked and... kinda found its way into your world... your room to be exact. Which is the reason why you died so for that I am so SORRY!" After hearing such a ridiculous reason for his death... Fang Lin lost all energy and will to retort any further and just sighed the biggest sigh he''s ever done... After sometimes, he despondently said to no one in particular "Really... died because someone else sneezed... you can''t be serious =_=..... Also, erasing universes? That''s pretty damn terrifying... Well, if what this loli-goddess? said is true... wouldn''t that mean everything in my room was vaporized as well? Phew, thank god-" taking a glance at the loli-goddess? "-dess... that means my browser history and hard drive can''t be seen by anyone else! There''s a good side to everything in life... uh death... I guess. =)" At the side was a stunned loli-goddess? after hearing his reactions. "W-wait! You actually believed me?" suddenly asked the loli-goddess as if she herself couldn''t believe her own explanation and yet... this human believed her, just like that? Seeing her reaction, Fang Lin merely shrugged as if it weren''t that big a deal. "Well... the fact that I can do both abstract and critical thinking and questioning myself proves that I''m not dreaming... Not to mention this unbelievable space, your mysterious presence I''ve been able to sense for awhile now, and that little flash of light I remembered seeing before ending up here... well, let''s just say I convinced myself and stick with that." replied Fang Lin nonchalantly. "Now then... there must be a reason why I''m here correct? There''s no way it was just to apologize to me correct?" asked Fang Lin in wonder... What in the world was this seemingly crazy powerful loli want with this unlucky as shit that is me? Hearing Fang Lin''s question, the loli-goddess? seemed to have brightened a bit as she quickly replied "Ah! Yes of course! The reason why I brought you here instead of letting your soul fade away..." (Oi oi!... fade away?) secretly thought Fang Lin as he seemed to have heard something quite unsettling... "Well since it was my fault, I thought it would only be right if I compensated you for it! And after reviewing your memories before your untimely death, it seemed you have quite a peculiar wish but one that easily fit with this situation. :) As for the compensation... I shall allow you to choose any world you want to reincarnate into, fictional world included, as any thing/person and at anytime timeline you want along with three wishes!" Hearing what his ''compensation'' is, Fang Lin nearly died again due to heart attack. Holy crap...!? The legendary R.O.B event!? After thinking for close to an hour, Fang Lin had finally answered "I have decided! For the world I wish be reincarnated into... it is the Cultivation Chat Group world as Song Shuhang himself! As for timeline, please make it 1 year before the start of the ''story line''. Hearing his request, the loli-goddess? nodded in agreement. "Very well. That can easily be done. And as for your three wishes?" At that, Fang Lin gave one last contemplation before finally deciding. "For my 1st wish... I want the ''Boosted Gear'' that is able to Permanently boost anything I wish, even concept itself!" Hearing that first wish, the loli-goddess? twitched a little... really can your first wish not be so hard?.... Alas she did promise.... Unaware of her thought, Fang Lin continued saying his wishes. "For my 2nd wish... I want the 2nd True Magic, Kaleidoscope! of course with full knowledge and ability to operate it." Hearing this second wish, the loli-goddess? almost puked blood... really? why don''t you just wish to be a God yourself at this rate?.... "As for my final wish... I want the ''Library of Heaven''s Path'' along with all of the CCG world''s cultivation manuals of all kinds that has ever existed and will exist!" 2 Cheat too OP! Plz Never Nerf! Opening his eyes, Fang Lin... no Song Shuhang''s throat was desert dry and he felt the worst goddamned headache in his 17 years of life... wait a minute... 17 years? That''s not right? He should be older than this? Suddenly, a mass influx of memories surged through his brain causing his headache to worsen even further. "Fu-..." Before he could cursed out loud however, he passed out out yet again from the intense pain. Throughout the whole time Shuhang was unconscious, he kept dreaming of his life from infancy all the way to present time as if he was watching a really long movie marathon. The next day, Shuhang finally regained consciousness and this time, he had full clarity. Blinking a few times, he looked around the room that he''s never been in before yet at the same time knowing that it was ''his'' room. Just at this time, a middle aged woman walked in and was surprised to see Shuhang was already awoke. "Oh! You''re finally awake... scaring me half to death with that cold of yours. This is why I keep telling not to stay up all night doing who knows what!" Immediately, the woman, whom Shuhang finally recognized as his mother, started nagging like all mothers do. (Wao! So it wasn''t all a crazy dream... I really have become Song Shuhang!) After sitting through a long bout of nagging later, Mama Song finally left him in peace so he could fully recover from the cold. Taking this chance of being left alone, he examined himself in the mirror and found himself facing an ordinary looking youth that had a kind countenance. (Meh... it''s decent I guess. But what about the cheats I asked for? Speaking of cheats though... why was that goddess crying after granting my wishes...? meh whatever, must be a R.O.B thing... who knows what crazy things go on in that head of theirs) "Let''s see... first the ''Boosted Gear''... how do you bring it out again? Imagining the strongest thing in your mind and pull it out from inside...?" With a bit of effort, there was a bright glow on his forearm and soon was replaced by a red gaudy looking gauntlet with an emerald green jewel. Examining the boosted gear in wonder for a bit, he released it again and examined his other cheats. Well... he wished he hadn''t! The moment Shuhang activated Kaleidoscope, he felt as if his mind got blasted into a far away place. For a moment, all he could see was a myriad of different colors reflecting off of each other endlessly. And soon, he started to see different worlds, realities and all their beginnings and endings. People being born and dying in an endless cycle until he became numb to it all. (This... fucking hell... no wonder that vampire bastard was such an uncaring troll! No way anyone being exposed to all this shit can stay normal! Wait... I''m not gonna start getting really into magical girls too am I? NOOO!!) Shouting with all of his might from the bottom of his heart, Shuhang forcibly cut off his connections with the Kaleidoscope. "Hu hu huuu.... fuck! Seems like I need to seal this thing off until my mind is strong enough to handle all that stress.... if I suddenly turned into a mahou shoujo fanatic, I''m definitely gonna find the pointiest, sharpest looking thing and run that shit straight through my heart!" firmly promised Shuhang. It actually took him around 30 minutes before he finally calmed down again. "Ok... that was very highly unpleasant... Anyways what else do I have left? Ah, right. The library." At first, Shuhang was confused on how to summon it but just tried calling for it strongly in his mind and within a moment, his surroundings was replaced by rows upon rows of bookshelves all filled with equally endless amount of books. Seeing this, Shuhang almost drooled for a moment before pulled himself back in check. Now back in his room, Shuhang was thinking hard of a proper training plan for this one year before the ''plot'' starts. Not a lot of time especially since he has no ''resources'' to help him get on the path of cultivation, cheats or not. It''s like having a car, where said car is the cheat, but the gas tank is empty... fat lot of good that will do. After a bit of thinking, Shuhang decided on using the Boosted Gear to cheat with his physical training for at least a month before moving on to other subjects. Then with a thought, the Boosted Gear reappeared. (Hm... I wonder if the reason I can''t talk to Ddraig is because I''m still too weak?... eh whatever I''ll think about that later...) "Now then... the target for the boost is... my recovery speed!... duration, permanent!" For 10 whole minutes, the only sound that be heard from Shuhang''s was a series of [BOOST!] every 10 seconds or so. When he reached 10 minutes, Shuhang finally collapsed onto his bed, his whole body drenched in sweat as he used up all stamina in the ''boosts''. Already he could feel the effect of his increased ''recovery speed'' kicking in as he slowly felt better and better. As a test, Shuhang ran his finger through the sharp edge of a pair of scissors until he felt a cut and started bleeding. Not even 3 seconds later, his ''wound'' could be seen healing at a visible rate until there was no longer any trace of a ''cut'' anymore. Seeing this result, Shuhang gave a shit eating grin and said "Well damn... the boosted gear is more of a cheat than I thought. So much so that I probably wouldn''t even need the other two cheats to reach apex in this world. This is going to be... very fun..." And with that starts Song Shuhang''s 1 month long of intense physical training that would kill any normal man thrice over from each session. 3 Start of the sTrue Heavens Series Before Shuhang knew it, a week had already passed by. Other than training his body, Shuhang had also spent much of his time reading through book in his ''Library''. Much of it was in order to increase his knowledge of the cultivation world, especially in elixirs, while the other was to find the type of techniques that suited him the most. The one thing that slowed his progress a lot though was the fact that he still had school to attend which also gave him a crap ton of work. Although he wanted to just skip all that stuff as it would become useless to him later on, he still needed to be able to get into Jiangnan University so he could only devote some of his precious training time to school as well. At least he was until he finally remembered he could hax with the cheating- uh... Boosted Gear. So when he tried... and actually succeeded in boosting his ''memory'' and ''comprehension speed'', Shuhang wished he could time travel back into the past just so he could kick himself in the head.... With his new and improved memory and learning speed, Shuhang simply no longer bothered with school matters anymore after he speed read through the entire year''s worth of materials. This in turn gave Shuhang a lot more time to focus on the cultivation side of things. What Shuhang was currently focusing on the most was pretty much everything related to medicines used during Foundation Building stage. The more he learned however, the more crestfallen Shuhang became. The reason is because there was just no way for Shuhang to procure any of those ingredients now matter how good a recipe he''s got! It was then that he remembered the recipe that ''Medicine Master'' hadn''t released yet. "That''s right! Didn''t Medicine Master''s new recipe focused on reducing the need for ''precious'' ingredients and using more easily accessible stuff? I could just do the same thing! And with the ''Library of Heaven''s Path''... all I need is trial and error until I could use just mostly ordinary ingredients. Hehehe so what if the efficacy will be reduced to a worthless level? With the ''Cheating Gear'', that shit wouldn''t even matter! Yosh, got a plan... now to start experimenting! :D" . . . Another week passed by and Shuhang was once again laying depressed on his bed. The hell... it was actually much harder than he thought! So... many... ingredients! That number of combinations is just goddamned insane! And this is him already using an already revised recipe! Trying to imagine doing that from the original recipe instead... damn Medicine Master is really a genius.... With really no other choice... Shuhang could only grit his teeth and continued using different combinations and checking for errors with his ''Library''. . . . Many sleepless nights later, Shuhang was already on his 3rd week and he''s finally found ''perfect'' combination with just using ordinary ingredients! He didn''t bother to name this recipe though as according to his ''Library'', the efficacy compared to the original was barely 0.1%, but who cares!? He''s got the mother of all haxes, the ''Cheating Gear''! So with great expectations... and all of his allowance, Shuhang finally bought all the needed ingredients and was ready to start producing some ''Body Tempering Liquid (shit quality)''! . . . He failed... translating things from paper to actual hands on process was harder than he realized. And so his ingredients promptly went to waste... as well as his money. Damn it! He WILL make that damn medicine or go bankrupt trying! With great determination, Song Shuhang pressed on like a man possessed, and finally succeeded at the end of the 3rd week, going into 4th. Looking at that finished product, Shuhang swore he''s never seen anything so beautiful before... finally! His path of cultivation truly begins from now onwards! After carefully... very carefully storing and preserving his finished product, Shuhang finally turned his attention towards getting a good ''Meditation Technique'' and a ''Basic Fist Techniques''. With all the techniques in his ''Library'' though... what was there for him to fret? When it comes owning a bunch of techniques, there''s not a single damn person, immortal, or demon in this world that could beat him! Within the confines of his ''Library'', Shuhang called forth all techniques and compiled everything into one ''Perfect'' meditation method. What should he name it though.... "Got it, from now on I''ll call this technique the ''True Heavenly Way''!" Checking the description of this meditation method though, Shuhang couldn''t help but started drooling like an idiot when he saw this technique could do... Not being able to wait any further, he did the same thing with ALL the ''Basic Fist'' techniques. As for the name though, Shuhang just carelessly named it the ''True Heavenly Fist'' technique. Now almost delirious from pure happiness, Shuhang almost couldn''t wait start cultivating right away until he remembered how late it is already... It was also then that Shuhang remembered that if the medicine efficacy was too high and his body wasn''t strong enough, he might actually lose his life from imploding! "Damn that was close! Good thing I managed to held myself back.... No other way... I can only double.. no triple my efforts into physical training for another week. At that time is when I truely start my cultivation journey!" With a plan set in stone, Shuhang buckled down to reconfigure his self torture-... no no ''training'' schedules! Done with his new schedule, Shuhang finally went to bed, his heart full of anticipation for the coming days. The next day really made Song Shuhang want to slap himself for coming up with such an insane self torture manual... no other way to call it than that really. For the sake of becoming a true cultivator though, Shuhang pressed on. Before he knew it, his month long goal of only focusing on physical training came to an end. Holding one jar of the 2nd revised version of the ''Body Tempering Liquid'', Shuhang took a big breath and called out the ''Boosted Gear''. "Hmm, it''s finally time... Target, Medicine Efficacy - Duration, Permanent!" [BOOST!] 4 F**k! Shouldsve Read That Crap Earlier! Now on his 2nd month in this world, Shuhang had reached the peak of the 1st stage of cultivation with 5 acupoints opened. With his experience in revising the ''Body Tempering Liquid'' formula, Song Shuhang had it much easier when it came to changing the ''Blood and Qi'' pills'' ingredients to mostly common stuff. The only reason why he''s at the first stage still is because the materials needed for the ''Leaping Through Dragon''s Gate'' process were too important to switch out! As for the innate abilities, Shuhang was pretty unlucky to only get 1 when he opened his eyes aperture and gained the ''Divine Sight'' ability. It''s really a very perfect ability... for seeing women''s clothing! --cough-- jokes aside, it truly is a powerful ability. With it, Shuhang is able to expand his vision very far, see through solid materials, and even help with finding flaws in things such as formations and such. That last one especially would cause any cultivators of this world to salivate with jealousy. It''s too bad though that his ''Library of Heaven''s Path'' can do that even better and much much more. Oh well... seeing through clothings is still nice at least. ? Since Shuhang couldn''t advance in his cultivation, he refocused his attention towards body refining and reading through the books in his library to further his knowledge even more. In just one month, Shuhang''s physical prowess made such a rapid improvement that his strength is currently equivalent to a 3rd stage cultivator, the Acquired Battle King realm even without utilising his Blood and Qi. For the knowledge part, that would be even easier than his Body Refining sessions. With his already perfect memory, all Shuhang had to do was boost his thought process to near lightning speed, then speed read through books after books and he would instantly memorise everything. That boost was of course only temporary since he didn''t want to experience the world around him in slow motion 24/7. After one month of this in repeat mode, Shuhang can now also be considered an expert in the field of Medicine and Talismans. With his now vast array of knowledge, were Shuhang to claim being 2nd, no one in the world would dare to claim 1st as the most knowledgeable. For the Medicine department, Shuhang can now make practically anything with just regular non-precious ingredients by just tinkering once or twice. Their effects would of course be shitty still as they were made from regular ingredients. As for Talismans... hehe.. he could now just pick up any random piece of paper and make one as easily as that. Their effects however, would be pathetically weak as his source of energy is still Blood and Qi rather than True Qi. Other than that, Shuhang also perma boosted 3 other things. One such example would be his Life force/Life span which now made him practically immortal. He even started to doubt himself on why he should still cultivate when he''s pretty much already got eternal life... until he slapped himself hard to shake the ''bad thoughts'' away. The other 3... well 2 of them are really 2 sides of the same coin so it might count as 1 instead? Anyways, he boosted was his ''charm/charisma'', ''charm resistance'', and finally ''Luck''. The first one didn''t even need to be explained... seriously, there''s just simply no way anyone wouldn''t. If they did, that person would be just plain abnormal or got a strange aesthetic sense. As for the ''charm resistance''... that was to prepare himself for when Venerable White comes out seclusion as Shuhang wasn''t sure if he still got that abnormally high resistance like the ''original him'' does. Luck... yeah... Luck is king! No doubt about that one... just look at Venerable White. ''nuff said. He''s also learned the ''QiStorage Expanding Technique'' and also compiled the ''True Heavenly Dragon'' from the Dragon form of the 33 Divine Beasts Techniques since he doesn''t have any ''innate true qi''. . . . It was now his 3rd month, and his 2nd since he started his body refining and reading through the ''Library'' except he''s added in ''Formations'' into the topics. All Shuhang has to say once he''s gained enough knowledge on the subject... well he was an idiot! Why didn''t he read through this crap sooner!? Fuck the materials needed for the ''Dragon''s Gate''! Now he can just make a formation that simulate that process! The reason why this was so... well not all formations need special materials! Some can be formed simply using the natural already existing terrain or by placing things in ''certain'' ways! With his current ''expertise'' in the formation arts, simulating the ''Leaping Through Dragon''s Gate'' experience is as easy as him lifting him lifting up his own palm. . . . Song Shuhang is currently standing in the woods that is devoid of all people. Well the fact that he laid down a ''Warding Formation'' to keep regular people away also helped in that regards. "Phew... ''Qi Storage Expansion Technique''... ? using the ''True Heavenly Dragon'' technique to make pseudo true qi... ? since forever ago. Fake dragon gate formation... ? ''Cheatin Gear'' to [Boost] dantian size even more along with quality of pseudo true qi... of course ?. Now then... let''s get this party started" said a smirking Song Shuhang as he moved a stone into position to activate his formation. *HONG!* Immediately after the activation, Shuhang could feel pressure from all around his body, trying to ''push him down'' as if he was standing beneath a waterfall. Shortly afterward, there were even ''lightning bolts'' trying to ''strike'' him down. Even with all that going on however, Shuhang barely ''felt'' any of those things! It was only then that he remembered "Oh! That''s right... just my physical body alone is already equivalent to a 3rd stage Battle King... how can a mear tribulation from the 1st stage can even hope to do anything?" It doesn''t matter however, whether or not he could feel that oppression with his body as Shuhang suddenly felt his Qi and Blood crazily revolve and finally rushing to his lower abdomen! "It''s here!" excitedly shouted Shuhang. Soon, the Qi and Blood in all five apertures within his body combined into one, opening up his dantian while turning into true qi. "NOW!" shouted Shuhang as he quickly operated the ''Qi Storage Expansion Technique'' and struck his own abdomen. Immediately, he could feel the link between his 5 apertures'' Qi and Blood with his ''Dantian'' getting cut off. "Fufu... hahaha... HAAAHAHAHAHAHA! Finally! Now then, just a few more step and here come my road to OP-ness!" With a thought, his very lovely, though still gaudy looking as fuck, crimson gauntlet appeared on his left hand. And then, there was only the sound of the sweet... veeeeery sweet and beautiful symphony of [BOOST!] 5 My Dao Name Shall Be...! Inside an ancient city long since forgotten to the passage of time; where lethal traps are still active and ferocious beasts abound, laying claim to this lost city as their home, a 17 year old Chinese youth whom should have no business whatsoever in being there, was seen walking through the ancient dilapidated streets. That youth is precisely Song Shuhang! "Ah what the hell... normal teenagers are usually hanging out at the mall or arcade or some other shit on the weekend... so why then... am I spending my weekends dungeon crawling in an ancient creepy ass shit of a city? ---sigh--- where did I go wrong in life....?" complainedShuhang to no one in particular. [Oi partner, didn''t you tell me before that you wished for this kind of life? Why complain now?] asked Ddraig in confusion. To which Shuhang didn''t even bother to answer. Dressed in the casual clothings of a white T-shirt underneath a crimson sweater with the zippers undone, loose black sweatpants pants, and black running shoes, Shuhang looked just like any other ordinary highschool student you can randomly point out on the street. The only thing that''s ruining this perfect image of ''normalcy'' is the shiny metallic sword being held loosely in his right hand. There were also many ancient looking texts and markings covering both of the sword''s flat sides making it look even more majestic. Said sword is currently Shuhang''s flying sword which he planned to nourish into his ''Living Item'' once he reaches 6th Stage, True Monarch realm. To be honest, this sword wasn''t something that Shuhang made himself, or some rare Treasured Sword found in ancient ruins or anything like that. It is actually just a modern day carbon steel sword ordered off of a website for sword otakus, which he just took a liking to the designs when he reached 4th Stage Inborn realm. Before he realized what happened, the sword was already delivered to his house.... The reason why Shuhang dared to use such a thing and not some rare treasure made of absurd materials as his ''flying sword'' is of course because of the existence of the ''Cheating Gear''. With his mastery in the Dao of Talisman; Shuhang engraved many arrays and layers upon layers of runes and even some formations with his ''Innate True Essence'' before boosting the sword''s ''Durability'' and ''Sharpness'' all the way to goddamned Jupiter and back. Needless to say, his sword is now one of the sharpest thing in all of existence and completely indestructible. Ah yes, Shuhang had also named this the ''Severing Heaven Sword'' and now all he really need to do is pass the ''Fifth to Sixth Tribulation'' then make this sword even more OP. Speaking of tribulation, Shuhang''s current at the peak of 5th Stage, Spirit Sovereign realm. As for the number of marks that his Gold Core have... well... thanks to a certain gauntlet, he had so many marks that it covered the entire surface of his Gold Core and then some. According to the ''Library of Heaven''s Path'', his core is in the ''Ultimate Grade'', or ''Perfect Grade'' which is supposed to be an impossible existence. Too bad though that Shuhang''s very existence itself is already an impossibility that defies all common sense. Speaking of core grades... Shuhang remembered reading that all Ultra High Grade Gold Cores (10+ marks) would start squirting living spring water to eventually form a ''Spirit Lake''. The only problem with his Gold Core though... is that instead of ''squirting'', it''s blasting out water like an endless torrent, almost as if the dam suddenly disappeared without warning, and that the water being blocked was endless! At this rate, rather than a ''Spirit Lake'', he might form a goddamned endless ocean with infinite depth instead. Hmm?... okay so maybe it''s not actually a problem after all? Back to Shuhang''s exploration; along the side of the streets, overgrown vegetations could be seen hugging, and covering the broken wreck of what should have been a pristine wall of a glorious noble''s estate. Time is an ever present and silent killer however, as said walls were also included into its list of victims. All of a sudden, the ground burst open and the figure of a giant serpent-like worm the size of a school bus emerged. It''s target was of course Shuhang who was foolishly walking through his hunting grounds. With his ''Divine Sight'' ability to see through solid matters though, he can Shuhang not be able to see this worm thing hidden in ambush? With a tap of his foot on the ground, Shuhang suddenly disappeared from sight and reappeared behind the worm before nonchalantly started walking again. *THUD* *THUD* Not too soon after he started walking, the sound something falling to the ground could heard. If one were to look over, they would discover that the worm was actually perfectly split in half from head to rear. "Hmm... wonder what crazy treasures I''ll be able to find this time around?" said Song Shuhang, completely confident in his own luck. Why wouldn''t he be? It was due to his ''luck'' after all that he kept on stumbling into, or tripping on all the materials he just so happen to need for his promotion. One might even say that his luck is comparable Venerable White but better since his luck had never brought any danger to those surrounding him. At least there weren''t any that he''s noticed yet. Just as Shuhang finished asking himself that question however, he suddenly tripped on a rock and fell face down to the ground as he put his out in front of him on reflex. He seemed to be forgetting his current physical strength however as the moment his hand touched the ground, it exploded and a crater around 50 meters in diameter formed in front of him. Which immediately turned Shuhang speechless. Naturally what made him at a loss for words is the a hole in the crater which seemed to lead to an underground vault filled with treasures. In the corner of his eyes, he even saw a Universal Bag of Holding! How is this possible? Wasn''t his ''Divine Sight'' active all the time? How did was this vault still hidden from his eyes? "Eh, whatever. I guess it''s looting time..." shrugged Shuhang in a careless manner. "Hm now that i think about it... it''s already been the 9th month since I started cultivating and only 3 months left before I get that ''invite'' True Monarch Yellow Mountain... if I even still get that is. OH! Speaking of invites... I should really changed my handle name... ''Stressed By A Mountain of Books'' is just.... just no." [Of course it''s got to be the Red Dragon Emperor!] Ddraig was once again butting into his monologue... geez what an inconsiderate dragon.... "Hm... I know! I should take a name that is based on the combinations of all my cheats! Let''s see... there''s the ''Boosted Gear'', ''Kaleidoscope'', and ''Library of Heaven''s Path''.... Okay.... this might be harder than I thought. I''ll keep thinking more about this later. For now, it''s time to loot! Still got to make it back in time for dinner after all..." 6 Its Happening....! On a nameless mountain peak, in a region unknown, an 18 years old youth faced towards the last wave of 5th Promote 6th heavenly tribulation with a confident smirk. Although his clothes seemed to be in tatters with burnt marks all over, there were no discernable damage whatsoever upon his body itself. One could even say that he was absolutely in perfect condition. This youth is naturally Song Shuhang! "Well... it''s been fun, but it''s time to end this little farce of a tribulation..." said Shuhang. As if enraged by his careless comment, the sky quaked and rumbled, lightning seemed to be increasing in number at a frightening rate! doubled..... tripled... until finally 10 times that of that of original! *BOOM!* All of a sudden, they all struck down at once! "Oh?... guess I made it mad? What are you a teenage girl? Getting mad so easily... tch" said Shuhang in contempt. The ''Severing Heaven Sword'' in Shuhang''s hand suddenly glowed in resplendent light as he changed into an overhead slashing stance. "Hmph..." snorted Shuhang as his eyes narrowed then suddenly "Sever!" shouted Shuhang as he made a cutting motion. As he expected, a light beam the size of a skyscraper instantly shot from his sword and traveled towards the oncoming tribulation lightning. Everything that met that sword beam were immediately torn apart and scattered until it reached the tribulation cloud. A loud rumbling sounded out from the tribulation cloud as if it were in pain and letting out a miserable cry as it''s link towards ''Heaven'' was cut. The tribulation clouds which covered hundreds upon hundreds of kilometers immediately dispersed afterward, showing a clear blue sky. Shuhang''s sword beam however still had not lost its splendor as it continued traveling towards outer space to parts unknown. A little innocent satellite happened to be in the way and was immediately cleaved in half. "Woops... I hope that''s nothing too important..." said Shuhang exasperatedly as he saw the sad fate of that satellite. 7 New Fellow Daoist? [True Monarch Yellow Mountain (*****) sends you a friend request.] Without any hesitation, Shuhang of course pressed the accept button. [True Monarch Yellow Mountain has invited you to join the group ''Nine Provinces Number One Group, do you accept?] Seeing the invitation, Shuhang didn''t actually choose to accept right away. He suddenly had a thought... the only reason why he wanted to join this group in the first place was to get some connections so he would have a way to getting cultivation resources. Now that he''s reached 6th Stage, True Monarch... was there even a reason for him to join anymore? With the cheats he''s got... along with his luck, getting more resources and reaching ''Eternal Being'' or ''True Immortal'' level would be easy and only a matter of time... After that though... what then? After a bit of thinking, Shuhang''s finally realized why he still wanted to join this chat group. Isn''t it because he wanted to get some friends to follow him in the journey to immortality? After all, what point was there to be at the peak if he has no one by his side to share it? After that realisation, Shuhang no longer hesitated and accepted the invitation. As for changing to his new ''Title''... hmm that can wait for a bit more. First let''s see the reactions of the chat group. ''Kaleido Sage Dragon Emperor has agreed to join the ''Nine Provinces Number One Group''. [You have joined the group chat, do say hello to the other group members! 8 Dat Divination...!? As soon as Shuhang got off the chat app, he went and did self examinations right away and boy was he surprised at the upgrades. It seemed that for one, the upgrade to the ''Divine Sight'' that Shuhang got from the Kaleidoscope was even better than he had expected... Before, one of the ''Divine Sight'' ability was to allow him to extend his vision far more than ordinary however, the higher the realm achieved, the less useful this ability becomes and now that he''s in the 6th stage, it became pretty much useless to him. The 2nd use for that ''Divine Sight'' was to allow Shuhang to see through solid materials which again became useless as his realm increased. At higher realm, one can just cast their ''spirit'' or a lack of a better term, their divine sense into objects in order scan their compositions. At his current rank, this ability became almost just as useless as the first utility. And as for the 3rd utility where he could see through the weaknesses of myriad things such formations or a cultivator''s techniques... that''s even more useless! He has the ''Library of Heaven''s Path'' after all.... ''nuff said. After the Kaleido upgrade however, it seems his ''Divine Sight'' melded itself and combined with both the Kaleidoscope AND the Library of Heaven''s Path! For one thing, his ''Divine Sight'' can now see through both And Time and can pretty much allow him for a limited future sight! For example, if Shuhang uses the ''Divine Sight'' on a person, he would then be able to see a multitude of possibilities of actions with the probability of it happening that the person would take in the future! Holy shit! He became a seer... a real Sage just like his Dao name O_O. That''s not all there is to the upgrade either... His ''Divine Sight'' is also connected to the Library itself. So whenever Shuhang look at something with the ''Sight'' on, all the informations and flaws would instantly be recorded and sent to his mind for perusal pretty much instantly! So now, Shuhang doesn''t have to actually access the Library to read the book(s) on the flaws of people or things he''s examining. More importantly... he''s got the feeling that his ''Divine Sight'' can now even see through space of hidden worlds no matter how powerful a barrier is blocking him! In conclusion, it truly has earned its name of ''Divine Sight'' now and not some bogus ones like before. As for the changes in the ''Boosted Gear''... the only thing he could think is that it''s boosting ability became even stronger than before. Even the still unconscious Ddraig at the bottom of his ''Spirit Lake'' is also constantly growing in strength or to be more precise... he''s slowly regaining the strength he''s had from his prime and at this rate recovery... he might become even stronger than his prime altogether! What this means for them though is uncertain since he''s still locked in the sacred gear after all. The biggest surprise of all however... it seems that Shuhang had somehow gained the boosting ability of Ddraig! Although, the number of things or efficiency that he can boost pales in comparison to Ddraig himself, the ability itself is slowly becoming stronger as time passes. Soon, he would be able wield all abilities of Ddraig even if he doesn''t use the sacred gear. Again... he has no idea what this meant for both him and Ddraig in future. Maybe in time... he could even find a way to free Ddraig and give him a body? After all... if he could gain Ddraig''s ability... what meaning is there in keeping the sacred gear and Ddraig locked up in it...? For the main culprit of this whole thing, the Kaleidoscope... just as it had affected both the library and the boosted gear... those two in turn had affected it as well. Even without actively using it, Shuhang can sense that his ability to manipulate space, time, and reality had gotten ''Boosted'' by a whole nother realm entirely. Once he''s grown strong enough and mastered the new boosted ability of Kaleidoscope, Shuhang had a theory that he would be able to cross into different worlds, universes, or other realities as he pleases without any restriction whatsoever. That however still remain nothing but a theory as it seem to be something in the much distant future as he''s nowhere strong enough... nor does he possess enough masteries over the over Kaleidoscope for that matter... Last minute checking on Ddraig who still seem to be asleep and that his ''Severing Heaven Sword'' seem to be ''growing'' well... much more than he expected which made him satisfied. Afterwards, Shuhang went on to checking his new ''Spirit Lake'' itself, the ''Life Wheel'', and the ''Jeweled Color Lotus'' and this time much more in-depth as those are the bases on which he uses to advance into the 7th Stage, Spirit Venerable after all. . . . Before he knew it, the whole night had passed by and it''s now the second day since he''s joined the chat group. Taking a little break, he went online to watch the chat, of course with status as ''invisible''. Oh as for classes...? Heh with a bit of low level hypnosis spell, he can freely skip class while being marked present. As for the class itself... that''s even less of a worry for him as he''s already read through this whole year''s curriculum. The moment he went online, he saw True Monarch Yellow Mountain logging on as well. o.O.. wao, what a coincidence! [Northern River''s Loose Cultivator: True Monarch, who is that ''Kaleido Sage Dragon Emperor'' you''d added yesterday? Which sect does he come from?"] [True Monarch Yellow Mountain: "The newcomer yesterday? Haven''t you communicated with her? She''s the daughter of an old friend of mine, born in this era. It seems her aptitude is excellent, she''s at 3rd Stage, Battle King and will be advancing to 4th Stage, Innate Realm soon. At such a young age, she''s really outstanding!"] Back at his place, Yellow Mountain continued to admire the praise the talents of Soft Feather but all of a sudden he realized something..."Eh? My old friend''s daughter dao name isn''t called Kaleido Sage Dragon Emperor! Wait, what or who the heck is this Kaleido Sage Dragon Emperor?" Realizing he might have made a mistake, Yellow Mountain became embarrassed. [True Monarch Yellow Mountain: "..."] [Northern River''s Loose Cultivator: "True Monarch, could it be that you''ve added the wrong person?"] Northern River he couldn''t help but ask after seeing that addon reply... hmm? How strange... [True Monarch Yellow Mountain: "Give me a moment... let me get to the bottom of this..."] A moment later, Yellow Mountain said, [True Monarch Yellow Mountain: "To think that I''ve really added a wrong person. There''s only a slight difference between their account numbers¡ªI had accidentally keyed in 9 instead of 8¡­ to think I would make such a big mistake."] [Northern River''s Loose Cultivator: "But even so... the Dao name of this person you''d added, have you ever heard of such an expert before? The fact that he called himself a ''Sage'' and ''Emperor'' actually intrigues me a little... could it be an ''ordinary mortal'' or is he truly a fellow daoist?"] [True Monarch Yellow Mountain: "Hm.. that.. is uncertain however... Give me a few seconds... I''m going to invite the right person for now."] ''Group Notification: ''Spirit Butterfly Island''s Soft Feather'' has been added to Nine Provinces Number One Group'' Mad Saber Three Waves whom have been lurking all this time, chose to once more reveal himself and once again perform his death seeking actions! [Mad Saber Three Waves: "Oh! The new friend is a fairy? Show us your photo and announce your three sizes! If you''re pretty, should we date?"] [Spirit Butterfly Island''s Soft Feather: "..."] [Spirit Butterfly Island''s Soft Feather: "As the time is late, this old man''s daughter has started her meditation according to schedule. Her account is currently used by this old man while waiting for fellow daoist Yellow Mountain to add me into the group¡­ cough... I''ve long heard of Nine Provinces Number One Group''s distinguished and accomplished, with the gift of gab, fellow daoist Three Waves. Nothing beats knowing you personally compared to the rumors. Fellow Daoist Three Waves, this old man admires you and wishes to invite you for a drink sometime soon."] Shuhang who was watching this whole time almost choked on his own spit after witnessing such a spectacle! Holy shit! Good thing he wasn''t eating or drinking anything...! This Three Waves though... pfft... what''s more he''s even continuing to dig his own grave deeper and deeper as he kept he kept talking! Haha! What''s with this guy? Is it his inborn constitution to seek death or something? Phew.. good thing Shuhang doesn''t have such a thing... [Northern River''s Loose Cultivator: "True Monarch, what about this... Kaleido Sage Dragon Emperor?"] [Su Clan''s Seven: "Are we going to kick him? After all, we don''t know if he''s an ordinary mortal or not... and even if he isn''t, we don''t know his alignment nor what group he belongs to either..."] [True Monarch Yellow Mountain: "Sigh, since it''s a mistake on my part, it can be counted as an affinity between us. Let esteemed me do a divination to see how I should handle this"] . . . Shuhang who was reading became interested... "Hoo... I wonder what the divination result will it be... if only I could see the result... Oh wait I can!" said Shuhang and with a thought, he activated his upgraded ability ''Divine Sight''. Suddenly, his once black eyes turned jeweled colors and his ''sight'' expanded as if he was seeing through all of heaven and earth. Soon, he''s located True Monarch Yellow Mountain and from his non reaction... he can''t sense Shuhang spying on him at all! . . . Back with Yellow Mountain; after saying that he going to do a divination, he used a Tang Poetry book as reference and used his hands to turn it over while executing a secret method of divination. An unfathomable energy extracted a verse out while forming a trigram. The divination this time was super smooth. Ever since True Monarch Yellow Mountain had self-learnt the divination skills, it was the first time he had ever felt like that! He looked at the divinatory results happily. Afterwards... True Monarch Yellow Mountain''s face became tranquil. Then, his face turned into that of complete dismay and shock, as if he had just been told the Heaven and Earth would be collapsing at any moment now! Shuhang who was currently spying on him was also shocked silly by the result! What the hell... is that supposed to mean!? He was hoping it would be different from the original, but... this is too drastic a change damn it! 9 That is... With cold sweat running down his back, True Monarch Yellow Mountain finally woke up with a start when the black clouds started to gather and lightning roiled about. "Even the Heaven is furious!? No! This divination must never be allowed to be known by others!" he suddenly shouted as he hastily dispersed the divination result. While he was at it, the True Monarch even completely burnt away the hardcover Tang Poetry book to erase all evidence. With his hasty action, the lightning and thunder calmed down a little while the black clouds still lingered about. Warily studying the black cloud a little, True Monarch Yellow Mountain turned towards the chat once more. After a bit of thinking, he started typing on his keyboard. [True Monarch Yellow Mountain: "We shall leave our fellow Daoist.... ''Dragon Emperor'' until he is ready to integrate with our group."] Everyone that were currently paying attention to the chat noticed his use of ''fellow daoist'' while also getting the feeling that Yellow Mountain was really putting on a big emphasis on the ''Dragon Emperor'' part. This naturally gave everyone a strange feeling but they just couldn''t tell what it was. Perhaps it was their 6th sense as a cultivator that is telling them this but since they didn''t know anything concrete, they just left it as is for the time being. [Northern River''s Loose Cultivator: "Then let''s leave it for now, I reckon that we would have more chance to talk with him in the near future. Speaking about it, True Monarch, what were the divinatory results?"] "..." [True Monarch Yellow Mountain: "Oh right, I have something urgent so I''ll leave first, you guys continue chatting."] Seeing his unwillingness to reply and sudden excuse to leave naturally raises their suspicions about this new fellow daoist of theirs. Alas, they could only leave it be seeing as Yellow Mountain refused to say anything further. . . . Shuhang on the other hand... ever since he''s seen the divination by Yellow Mountain, he had been in a trancelike state. In his mind, one line in particular stood out the most amongst them all. ''All the myriad realms shall fall, Dominated by the True Heaven!'' Over and over, said line kept repeating in his head until he closed his eyes and fell into a deep meditative state. Even when his roommates Gao Moumou, Lin Tubo, and Li Yangde came, he didn''t even wake up. Seeing the unresponsive Song Shuhang, those three actually didn''t find it all that strange as it actually happen quite often when Shuhang meditated so they just left him be and do their own things. Somewhere in the depth of his ''Spirit Lake'' where Ddraig continues to lie in unconsciousness, said heavenly dragon actually twitched a little and started to glow on and off in a rhythm like a beating heart. If one had actually investigated, they would see that the pulse is actually in sync with Shuhang''s own heartbeats! In this way, time slowly passed by until the next day arrived. Even when his roommates left for their classes, Shuhang was still in his trance. The only difference now, only three words kept repeating itself in his head. Each repeat, the words resounded just a little bit louder than the last. ''True Heaven... Dominate... '' Unknowingly, one full week had past by. As a 6th Stage Cultivator, as well as his crazy amount of life force, not eating or drinking for decades is nothing to him at this point let alone a mere week. At this point into his meditation however, other changes were also starting to occur in his Spirit Lake. His Life Wheel for one had fully condensed with its structure made completely of crystal. The Jeweled Color Lotus sitting atop the lake had also grown a little in size and astonishingly. a silhouette of a ''Seed'' could already be seen inside starting to condense into existence. Ddraig whom was glowing like a giant light bulb at the start, is now glowing brightly as if he was the sun itself. As the glow continue to increase in luminosity, Ddraig''s connection with him continued to increase. Shuhang on the hand continued to gain more control over Ddraig''s abilities and making them into his own. On the outside however, all of the world''s spiritual energy stirred wildly as they continue to grow richer in density, as if they were being ''Boosted'' by something. All of the cultivators on Earth were astonished by this discovery yet they felt nothing malicious about it... as of it. And so, everyone below that of the 3rd stage took as much advantage of this phenomena as possible and cultivate seriously. Even some junior members of the 9 Province chat group were affected. The senior members on the other hand took the wait and see approach as they studied this mysterious phenomena more before deciding on what to do. Time passed and in the blink of an eye, 3 more days had passed. The purity and density of the world''s spiritual energy seem to have stabilized now but compared to the past... it''s actually estimated to be at least 100x the norms! This naturally sent the world into a sort of turmoil as every seeked to find the origin of this phenomena. Some thought it was the doing of a great expert while others thought it was the birth of a heavenly treasure. Either way, a lot of cultivators went on a hunt for awhile, especially the loose cultivators as this could be a great chance for them to obtain fortune, greatly boosting their chance to advance. Most big sects, the 9 province chat group include however, still adopted a wait and see attitude as if this doesn''t affect them either way. The main culprit of this worldly turmoil, Song Shuhang on the other was completely oblivious to everything and continued to his meditation trance. The only difference now is that the only word left to appear in his head was ''Dominate''. Each time, it resounded loudly as if it were the booming of thunder. All of a sudden, another change appeared in Shuhang. ''Dominate... what does it mean to Dominate? The myriad realms under Heaven and Earth... the path towards True Heaven... what are they?... As a cultivator... what am I?'' Shuhang suddenly started questioning himself over and over again. In this way, time once again continued to pass. Over in H-City where Su Clan''s Sixteen was facing her tribulation... was actually in a bit of a crisis! Thinking that the ''Boost'' in spiritual energy would make it a perfect time for her to try advancing to the next realm but who knew... that even the Tribulation itself was also ''Boosted'' by phenomenon! Thankfully Seven was there to save her before it too late, however, the wounds seemed even more grievous than the original. In both Seven and Sixteen''s thoughts, they swore if they ever find who or whatever caused this phenomenon, they would rip a new one in them! Suddenly, Shuhang''s eyes trembled and they slowly opened. His pupils now glowing in the resplendent light of the Kaleidoscope''s theme. At the same time, all the world''s spiritual energy had a drastic boost up to 1000x the normal level all the while, all the normal and magical beasts around the world especially those with ''dragon blood'' suddenly prostate themselves towards a certain direction. Even the whole of Earth itself trembled while black clouds roiled with lightning and thunder in hundreds or so kilometer around the Jiangnan area spread about. Fully opening his eyes and regaining clarity, Shuhang slowly uttered out "I see... that is the way, MY way towards True Heaven... My path is that of Domination! That is my Dao... My one and only path!" 10 Thats... Not My Fault... Right? After doing a quick self examination, Shuhang was surprised to find out that... his cultivation already advanced to late stage of the 6th realm! Even his Spirit Lake which he estimated before to take at least another year to finish forming had already completed ahead of schedule. The 11th layer though... Shuhang knew that it''s depth would surpass all the others but to find that it''s actually more than 100x deeper than all the other 10 combined really made him dumbfounded. On top of that, it''s even multicolored just like his Kaleidoscope. "Okay... it seems my cultivation is taking a turn for the strange everytime I advanced. Should I be worried?" mumbled Shuhang, quietly to himself. "Is it the color of the lake itself... or is it because of Ddraig acting like a disco ball in the lake? Now that I think about it... how is he even breathing down there? On another note, how long has it been since I started gaining enlightenment?" Checking his phone, Shuhang couldn''t help but sigh when he found that it had already been 11 days since then. Even though it only felt like he''d just closed eyes for but a mere moment, to think more than a week had passed just like that. "I can''t believe more than a week... hm let''s just check the chatroom for now to see if there''s anything new" after saying so, Shuhang immediately open up the chatroom app. As for how his phone and laptop still had enough batteries even until now, Shuhang had long since modified both using his knowledge on talisman and formations. From then on, both his phone and laptop essentially had infinite charge and would be able to receive signals from anywhere in the world... even in secret realms and such. After looking through the chat log, Shuhang saw that Medicine Master posted that Body Tempering Liquid (revised) just like in the original. Soft Feather had also started chatting within the group as well... oh it seems her father had even visited Three Waves for his death seeking behavior from before. As he looked kept scrolling down however, topics of a ''strange phenomena'' where all the world''s spiritual energy had a sudden spike were popping up. "Hm? What''s that about? This never happened in the original? Let''s keep looking... " . . . [Northern River''s Loose Cultivator: "It seems that Earth''s spiritual energy had a sudden spike all of a sudden... Any Daoist friends online know anything about this?"] [Medicine Master: "?"] [True Monarch Yellow Mountain: "This esteemed me did some calculations - the purity and density seem to be around a hundred times that of the norms. The only reason I can think for why this happens is either the birth of a heavenly treasure or or..."] [Northern River''s Loose Cultivator: "Or...?"] . . . Yet even after waiting a while, Yellow Mountain still didn''t reply further. It seems like he had some idea but just don''t want to say it? "Hm... now that i think about it, the spiritual energy does seem a lot denser than normal? How is that possible? It seems to be rapidly dissipating and decreasing in density though..." said Shuhang as he spread out his senses. "Judging by this speed... all the spiritual energy should return to normal levels in about a week or so? Eh whatever... got nothing to do with me." said Shuhang in ignorance... Then he didn''t think about it anymore and continued scrolling down the chat logs. The topic of the chat seems to keep switching from ''ordinary'' cultivators things then back to the ''phenomenon'' then back. It seems there was even a manhunt setout for the cause of it. Getting closer to the more recent chat logs, Shuhang discovered Su Clan''s Sixteen had already tried advancing to the next stage. And of course Immortal Master Copper Trigram had also appeared. And as he expected, that bogus fortune of his got him into an argument with Northern River and agreed to a duel in 3 months time. As for the matter with Sixteen''s failed lightning tribulation... for some strange reason Shuhang felt a strong sense of guilt when he read through that. Why was is it that his 6th sense is telling him that it''s his fault even though he was here the whole time in meditation...? No matter... he''ll try to help her just in case it was his fault somehow... Oh, it also looks like Soft Feather is taking the chance that father left the island to come to J-City soon which is good... this way he can start interacting with the group faster. "Oh? Speak of the devil, and her father shows up." said Shuhang as he saw a new message posted. [Su Clan''s Seven: "Sorry for making you guys worried. It seems that phenomenon with the surge in spiritual energy actually made her Thunder Tribulation even stronger than usual. In fact, I myself almost got injured when I intervened, but it caused Little Sixteen to lose her temper and ran away! When I found her, she''d already beat up a bunch of ordinary mortals. To make matters worse... I''m afraid her conditions are more critical than I thought and her life is in serious danger! If any fellow daoist here have a saint grade medicinal pills or higher, I''ll be eternally in your debt!"] [Northern River''s Loose Cultivator: "? Her condition is so dire? I''ll try asking around and keep us updated on the situation!"] said Northern River as he hastily made contact with some people that he knows. Reading through Seven''s message, Shuhang had a big frown on his face. "What happened? I knew she would fail the tribulation but for it to be so serious...? The tribulation getting stronger... that couldn''t have been my fault... right?" The more he tried to convince himself of this, the less he''s starting to believe in it. Somehow... Shuhang''s 6th sense is telling him that... if he doesn''t intervene, Sixteen will truly perish soon. After a bit of thinking, Shuhang drew a huge breath and made a decision and started to manipulate the chatting app and then... [True Monarch Kaleido Sage, Dragon Emperor: "@Su Clan''s Seven --fellow Daoist, I have a way to save Junior Sixteen. Bring her to this address ''#@#@@#$''. The sooner the better as her life might be in danger according to what you said. In the mean times, I''ll start preparations right away. When you get here, I''ll release a Qi wave to tell you where to find me."] 11 OMG! It Canst Be... Another One!? [Su Clan''s Seven: "Truly!? I''ll be there right away, Senior!"] After sending that reply, Seven immediately went offline. Presumably to take Sixteen to the address Shuhang had posted. [Northern River''s Loose Cultivator: "Oh! How fortunate indeed. The new fellow daoist turned out to be a senior after all? I wish I could go as well however, I am unable to leave currently..."] [Medicine Master: "Address"] [Northern River''s Loose Cultivator: "Hm? Now that I think about it you''re right. This address seem to be in J-City where Soft Feather is going? In that case, I''ll let her to know to pay Senior Dragon Emperor a visit when she gets there, hopefully to update us on the situation if this isn''t resolved by the time she got there."] It seems that ever since True Monarch Yellow Mountain had, for some reason, put an emphasis on the ''Dragon Emperor'' part of his dao name, everyone''s also decided to also call him as such. The name just stuck ever since. Shuhang who went offline earlier to make preparations like he said, of course had missed the ongoing chat where the members discussed his sudden willingness to chat with them. He even somehow gained the reputation as a ''kind'' and ''easy-going'' senior as his first time chatting with them was to save a junior... and even willing to use Saint grade medicine at that... . . . Meanwhile, Song Shuhang was going through the many books in the ''Library of Heaven''s Path'' about 3rd to 4th tribulations and the medicines on related injuries it would cause at high speed. "Phew... I found what I needed to make but... with the materials I have on hand... I can only make the low grade version." thought Shuhang as he frowned a bit before he facepalmed himself. "Duh, Boosted Gear! If the effect is too low I could just boost its effect." As if the word ''boost'' was some sort of trigger, Shuhang reeled in shock from a realization. "W-wait a minute... boost? From the chatlog... it seem the mysterious phenomenon had also started around the same time as my enlightenment? ...Shit! It really was my fault!? 12 You Have Two Choices! Even when she rode a taxi and had the address, Soft Feather''s innate talent to get lost still somehow managed to take her close to 3 hours to find her way to Jiangnan University. The only reason that knew she was in the right area at all were the answers she got from passerby that she was ''close'' to the University. Yet for some reason, every time she thought she got near, she would always unknowingly go pass it one way or another. "Muu... ever though it''s supposed to be near here... why I can''t find this is Jiangnan University at all?" said Soft Feather depressedly. Unknowingly, she had actually fallen prey to Shuhang''s warding barrier which had its effect boosted many times stronger if a ''cultivator'' is detected. The only 2 ways for one to travel in a straight path towards him is have Shuhang use his own Qi signature as a guide; this is the method Shuhang used with Seven. The 2nd way was to directly be keyed in to the barrier itself by its creator, Song Shuhang. With no other way to proceed, she turned towards the Nine Province (1) Chat Group for answers, more than likely from the Eternal Internet Warrior, Northern River. [Spirit Butterfly Island''s Soft Feather: "Seniors! I need some advice!"] And as expected, the first one to reply was Northern River. [Northern River''s Loose Cultivator: "Hm? What is it, Soft Feather? Have you not arrived at the location provided by Senior Dragon Emperor yet? 13 I Choose... (His essence blood? To use something like that... wouldn''t that weaken him considerably?) Thought everyone in confusion. "This... senior, this can''t be appropriate. You were already willing to help us, we can''t ask you for more than this! What''s more, your essence blood..." Seven almost instantly refused in Sixteen''s stead. Although he didn''t finish the sentence, everyone knew what he meant. To give away an essence blood is almost like shaving away your own life! To do something like that so casually... (What a kind person...) thought Soft Feather in admiration. Although they had never interacted with each other before, she could already ''feel'' he was a good and trustworthy person. Somehow, she felt a connection towards him even though it was just their first time meeting. Also... that thing about ''fate'' that he unintentionally whispered before... was there something between them she didn''t know about...? Hearing Seven''s words, Shuhang only looked at him a bit and shook his head before turning to Sixteen again. His message was clear... ''Let her be the one to decide''. Seeing his actions and looking at Sixteen who was still deciding, Seven could only sigh in his heart and kept silent. That''s right... he didn''t really have the right to interfere in the first place as the one to decide was ultimately Shuhang and Sixteen. Had they known however, that to someone like Shuhang who could boost his ''cultivation'' and ''life force'' to a stupid high degree anytime he wants, a little drop of essence blood is literally nothing to him. Heck, he could even give them a bucket full and it wouldn''t phase him at all. Alas, Shuhang chose not to tell them as doing so would make Sixteen''s decisions have a lot more weight in them. Not to mention, what Shuhang could do is completely out of the norm in this world and definitely wouldn''t want to let other people know of this. Not until he had absolute power in this world. Seeing the firm look in Shuhang''s eyes, Sixteen tried to think harder on why he would be willing to go so far to help her. She was after all, only a ''junior'' that had never met her before. Also... dragon blood? He had detected something like that just from a touch? Not to mention, his blood can also awaken the dragon blood inside of me? How is that possible? Even after half an hour of thinking, she still hadn''t made a decision. She can also feel that her ''pain reliever'' was to starting to lose its effectiveness. (I''m running out of time... I have to decide soon!) she thought as Sixteen once again thought about both options. All of a sudden, she remembered Shuhang''s whisper from before and thought seriously about what he meant. "Senior, I''ve thought about it an decided. I will take... the 2nd option!" shouted Sixteen with resolution in her eyes. This option of course surprised everybody, Shuhang included as even he also thought she would go for the 1st option. "Hou? Can you... tell me the reason?" Shuhang couldn''t help but asked as people normally wouldn''t choose the option that brought them danger after all. As if expecting Shuhang to ask, Sixteen just nodded and said "Senior, even though the 1st option is the safer choice... there is no guarantee that we''ll be able to find those ''Dragon Bone Withered Vines'' in time. And either way, my Dragon Blood had a chance of awakening from either options. Also.... if what you said before was true... then our fates are already connect...." explained Sixteen, unable to hold back a blush as she said the last part. "Pfft! Y-you heard that?... Uh" asked Shuhang in stutter as he couldn''t help but blush in embarrassment from his own mistake. Aaah! He completely forgot about the heightened senses of cultivators! Seeing his reaction, Sixteen and Soft Feather felt a little funny in their heart and they couldn''t but smile and thought (So he really didn''t mean to say that part out loud? What a clumsy senior... he''s kinda cute) ---cough--- "A-anyways! You are absolutely sure in this choice? You should know that there''s no going back after this." asked Shuhang one last time. To that, Sixteen just nodded once again, her eyes completely firm in her decision. Upon seeing this, Shuhang had no more reason to hesitate either. "Sigh, then so be it... after you take this pill however, you would have to stay near me for a time so I can make sure that everything went perfectly without any mistake." said Shuhang seriously once again. (Stay near him..!?) thought Sixteen as she couldn''t help but blush, totally misunderstanding what Shuhang meant and nodded in consent. (Un...? What''s with that reaction? I just needed her to stay nearby in case something went wrong with the treatment...?) thought Shuhang in confusion. He no longer thought about it however as the suppression medicine he''s given Sixteen looked like its about to run at any time. With no hesitation, Shuhang put an index finger towards his forehead then slowly removed it. Soon, a multi-colored drop of blood seeped out of his forehead and floated silently on his index finger. Seeing this, everyone, Shuhang included was flabbergasted! (The hell!? Shouldn''t blood be... you know... red?! Then what the fuck is with this color?! This color though... looked kind of like my kaleidoscope? Was it from that time I advanced to the 6th stage? Just how much had this damn magic affected me!? I hadn''t even use it once for fucks sake!) thought Shuhang in dismay. His expression however, was still tranquil like water, as if this is nothing but the norm. Although he was a little confused, Shuhang no longer thought about it as he could always investigate more later. Then with a thought, the drop of ''blood'' flew towards the medicinal pill and seeped into it. Instantly, the pill started to rapidly change to the same color as his essence blood. *BOOM!* Startled, everyone looked up towards the sky to find... a tribulation cloud forming! "This is... pill tribulation!? For it be this strong... just what kind of pill did senior concoct!?" shouted Seven in surprise and a little bit of fear as he could sense that... he probably wouldn''t be able to withstand this tribulation at all! What the hell!? Isn''t it just a pill tribulation?! How can it be this powerful? Shuhang on the other hand only growled in annoyance and thought (goddamn it! another one of those things!?) Then with a snort, Shuhang brought out his living item ''Severing Heaven Sword''. Immediately after the sword was taken out, an oppressive feeling instantly enveloped the whole area... even with Seven''s cultivation level... he was still suppressed as well! Lightly sweeping his gaze over the sword, he noticed the power up and a slight trace of sentience within the sword. (Good, it seems to be growing well...) Gripping the sword with his unoccupied hand, Shuhang made a light slash towards to tribulation cloud. Instantly, an intense sword beam made its way towards the cloud and everything was ''cut'' apart. Witnessing such a spectacle, Seven had cold sweat running down his back... (This! Such apowerful and profound sword intent! It was as if all of Heaven and Earth were cleaved apart...!) he thought with admiration in his heart. With the pill tribulation cloud gone, the pill was free to complete it''s changed. What used to look like a pill however, now looked like a multi-colored marble instead. Shuhang knew better however as he was checking with his ''Library''. With a final nod, Shuhang handed the ''pill'' to Sixteen to which she took into her hand wordlessly. *Pheww* Breathing out slowly, Sixteen then swallowed the pill in a resolute manner. At first, she felt nothing happening as she stared questioningly at Shuhang. Then all of a sudden, she felt a heat in her throat, before it slowly spread to her stomach, then dantian, and finally her whole body! "Kuh" grunted Sixteen in surprise at the suddenness. "It''s starting..." said Shuhang as he activated ''Divine Sight'' to monitor the changes in Sixteen''s body. 14 Huh... Well Damn... "Hnng!" As soon as the pill had taken effect, Sixteen''s face immediately began to contort into one of extreme agony. "Sixteen!" shouted Seven in surprise as he ran towards her to check if anything went wrong. After awhile, a heat strong enough that made even a 5th Stage like Seven become uncomfortable could be felt radiating off of Sixteen. Her skin had also started to turn into a red hue, as if she''s being cooked alive and even her clothes seemed to be affected by the heat. Slowly but surely, her energy signature is now starting to change from what it once was. Not understanding what was happening, Seven could only seek answers from the cause of this current of event, Song Shuhang. "S-Senior... what''s happening to her? Was this supposed to happen?" Even after awhile however, he didn''t get any reply and so Seven turned towards Shuhang''s direction. What he found however, was not the composed face of a Senior that looked as if the situation is under control as he had hoped. Adorned on Shuhang''s was the look of utter surprise... as if he just seen a pig flying by or something... "S-Senior?" asked Seven in apprehension and a little bit of fear upon seeing Shuhang''s reaction. Hearing a question that was directed towards him, Shuhang woke up with start and asked "Ah?!... ah fellow daoist Seven? What is it?" Seeing this half assed response, Seven now is definitely not instilled with confidence as he had hoped. "Senior, what''s happening to Sixteen? This... doesn''t seem normal?" asked Seven one more time, hoping for a better answer this time around. "..." Not knowing how to response, Shuhang could only to look Sixteen once more... hoping that what he saw was wrong. Nope. It''s still the same as before... and the process even seem to be accelerating. "Ah... how do I say this..." started Shuhang unsure of how to explain. "Well, let''s just say... I''ve underestimated my blood more than I thought?" *GULP* "This... what does it mean exactly?" asked Seven now even more fearful than before. Noticing his looks, Shuhang quickly reassured Seven "Oh. don''t worry. Nothing bad is happening... in fact, this would be counted as a fortuitous encounter for her. My blood is inducing a blood line upgrade plus a few other benefits is all. Nothing big..." After that, Shuhang just continued to observe the changes happening. Hearing his short and simple answer, Seven became petrified in shock. What!? Blood line upgrade!? How is that possible? A dragon blood line is already considered the top of the food chain... at most they can be awakened and purified, not upgraded just from just a drop of blood! Wait... there''s one possible way that could happen and that is... if it''s blood from an even higher tier dragon! But... how!? His brain kicking into overdrive, Seven quickly went through all the information he had on this mysterious ''Senior'' that was accidentally added into the Nine Province (1) chat group. So far, all he know about him is the Dao name ''Kaleido Sage, Dragon Emperor'', his unfathomable strength, amazing achievement in the Dao of Medicine, and... that Living Item he had taken out before. (Kuh! There aren''t enough information! Think... was there anything strange in what I know so far?) furiously thought Seven in his mind, looking for any possible clue that induce this ''Senior''s'' mysterious identity. Soft Feather on the hand just quietly observed Sixteen, ready to help anytime as there was not much else she could. With her lack of experience and strength, that''s really the only thing she could other than try not to get in the way somehow. . . . Unknowingly, an hour had already passed since Sixteen had taken the pill and the first major change was about to take place. All of her bones including the marrow, had just completed its transformation into that of a dragon''s! Right! The reason why Sixteen was giving off the impression that she was burned alive... it''s because she really was! During that whole hour while the bones were transforming, all of her blood were actually being burned and purified by the energy emitted from Shuhang''s pill. Or more specifically, the blood essence that was contained inside the pill. Now that even her bone marrow had changed to that of a dragon''s... only dragon blood would be produced from now on! One could even go as far as calling Sixteen a dragon in human skin now. Not only that... every single fiber of her muscles and skin were also being enhanced at the same time by the new dragon blood running through her veins. Shuhang estimates that once the enhancing process was completed, with just physical strength alone... Sixteen could definitely fight off a mid 4th stage cultivator with ease and come to a tie with a peak 4th stage. Hm...? It also looks like... she even grew a bit taller and a bit more... curvier? Can''t be... must be his imagination. "Hm... it seems my blood is turning her into more of a dragon rather than human..." before Shuhang could continue with what he was saying, the pill that was somehow still not dissolved, moved towards Sixteen''s Origin Dantian and lodged itself there. (Hm...? the hell is that pill doing there? Wait... is it... actually transforming itself into a pseudo void core!? And is that a silhouette of Ddraig I see in the center!?) thought Shuhang, completely flabbergasted at the current outcome. Seven who was still lost in his thought, were startled awake by what Shuhang just said. (What!? How can the blood of Senior Dragon Emperor be that powerful!?.... Hm? Wait a second... Dragon... Emperor...? N-No way... don''t tell me... that ''Dragon Emperor'' is more than just a title...!?) thought Seven in astonishment as looked towards Shuhang in both fear and reverence. Sixteen on the other hand now looked like she was in total euphoria after the burning sensation stopped. Not only was her injury healed, she even felt much stronger than before... as if every single fiber of her being exudes nothing but power! No, it felt more like... she IS power itself! Not to mention the new ability she instinctively knew how to use... How incredible... with that... she could easily increase her strength by at least a fold! With no negative side effect at that! (Hm, interesting... Not only had her Fire affinity become stronger... even even gained Space affinity. Plus, she seemed to have gained the ability to sense my presence as well while I can also somehow do the same... is it because apart of my blood is inside her?...) thought Shuhang he was looking at her changes through the Library of Heaven''s Path. "So, how do you feel? Was the 2nd option what you''d hoped it was?" asked Shuhang as Sixteen was was using her sense to inspect the new changes in her body and strength. Hearing Shuhang''s voice, which she for some reason found really pleasing, she turned towards him and stoop up to answer. Just as she opened her mouth however, her clothes turned into ashes and flew away due to her sudden movement. "Eh" uttered out a dumbfounded Shuhang. 15 Suspicious Seven... On the roof top of Jiangnan University''s boy''s dorm, 4 figures could be seen standing as an awkward atmosphere enveloped them. Those figures were of course Song Shuhang, Soft Feather, Su Clan''s Seven and Sixteen. Due to the... embarrassing incident earlier, neither of those 4 figures knew how to restart their previous conversation at all. To the front of Shuhang, there were Soft Feather who was smiling brightly and a madly blushing Sixteen, whom looked like someone that''s about to end her own life due too much shame. She is also currently wearing the spare clothes of Soft Feather however, as her frame was much smaller, everything just hang off loosely and actually looked quite cute. To his left side stood Seven who looked like he was plotting one thing or another. Hm... this... how would one break the ice after something like that just happened...? --cough-- "So... this little fairy who joined us recently... mind introducing yourself?" Since no one was willing to talk, Shuhang took the initiative and baited them with a topic changer. Willingly taking the bait, she immediately replied "Senior! I am Spirit Butterfly Island''s Soft Feather. Please, call me Soft Feather!" "Aah~ the one that was sneaking out of her home when her father wasn''t there?" replied Shuhang in a teasing tone. Hearing his respond, Soft Feather did a spit take and denied his claim right away. "I... I didn''t run away from home... 16 Discussing the New Daois Later that night on the same day... . . . [Northern River''s Loose Cultivator: "Sigh, I truly am relieved that our fellow daoist decided to help Sixteen out when he did..."] [Scholar Drunken Moon: "Yes, it would have been a shame to lose such a talented junior."] [Immortal Master Copper Trigram: "We shouldn''t let down our guard just yet. This Immortal Master just did a divination, and the result was that of a great calamity..."] [Northern River''s Loose Cultivator: "Really!? Thank goodness. Sixteen is saved! 17 Mine! ._. Both girls now awake, are sitting opposite of Shuhang atop his bed in awkward silence. Who wouldn''t be...? Both girls of marriageable age woke up in the arms of a man after all and one that they just met only one day prior at that. Not only that... they barely had any interactions other than self introductions and a few instructions given here and there. "I say... Soft Feather and Sixteen... as much as I love being woken up to having beauties in my arms... exactly why, or how did this come to pass again?" asked Shuhang after a bit of pause. Suddenly hearing Shuhang''s offhand compliment, both girls blushed a little at that. "Um...." was all that that Sixteen managed to say before she looked down to her lap in shame. "W-well... It... it just kind of... happened?" Soft Feather who picked up where Sixteen left off explained, kind of, which only left Shuhang more confused than before. 18 Hm... What to Do... Silence... what greeted Shuhang was nothing but silence after his little proclamation. (Hmm...? Oi, where are the retorts I was expecting? They... know that I''m joking right? So why does Sixteen look like she''s contemplating on the greatest question in life? And Soft Feather... why aren''t you saying anything? I know that you of all people knew that I was just teasing you girls!) As for his buddy Lin Tubo and the rest of the bikers... they just felt confused! Seeing that the girls weren''t denying his claims, they knew in their hearts that they should be extremely jealous of Tubo''s pal and hate this gigolo whose got both feet on two boats. For some reason however.... they just can''t seem to hate him! Just something about Shuhang that doesn''t allow it! Weird... this is too weird! Is it charisma?... or maybe charm? Whatever it is, they hated their parents for not giving birth to them with such things. What Shuhang seem to forget though... is the fact that Soft Feather''s little body guard that''s just hovering around at the edge of the girls'' sense had heard everything! If only Shuhang knew what sort of things his teasing today would get him into... alas, there is no medicine for regrets and what''s done is done. ---cough--- "Say, brother Bo, I was wondering if your gramps know anything about a Ghost Lamp Temple around Luo Xin street? I figured with their age, they might know something?" quickly asked Shuhang to change the awkward atmosphere. Just like magic, everyone woke up and no longer thought about Shuhang''s proclamation from before. Or maybe they just wanted to escape reality? Who knows... "Huh? Ghost Lamp Temple? Never heard of it actually, but maybe my grandfather might know something? He is a native of J-City''s Luo Xin street after all." replied Lin Tubo as recalled information of grandfather. Shuhang who knew this already wasn''t surprised or anything but played along anyways. After some more back and forth pleasantries, his friend Lin Tubo decided to give the trio a ride to his grandpa''s house. The only problem they had... or rather, problem the girls had... they weren''t willing to sit with anyone else but Shuhang as the bikes only had 2 seats. Having no other choice, one of the bikes were lent to Shuhang''s party. After stealthily modifying the bike with patchwork Talisman, Shuhang had increased the space in the seat without letting any of the mortals know. But seriously though... how is this situation even a thing right now? With her smaller body frame, Sixteen is riding in front, with Shuhang in the middle, and Soft Feather in back. Oh boy... is that Soft Feather''s meat buns pressing themselves on him? Damn, hope his ''little brother'' doesn''t react right now... at least not with Sixteen currently seated so closely in front of him. . . . After sometimes, the group made it to Lin Tubo''s place and the trio are currently conversing with Tubo''s grandfather on what he knows about the Luo Xin street Ghost Lamp Temple. For some reason though, this kind old man just kept on teasing and jabbing Shuhang about the two beauties with him. Grandpa... please just tell us your story! Don''t mind me having flowers on both arms! What is it with old people and their likes for gossiping!? 19 I Hereby Swear... After Shuhang soul searched the Altar Master... well he wished he hadn''t. Had he not experienced the ''Baptism of Kaleidoscope'' on his 2nd day in this world, Shuhang had no doubt that he would already be the side throwing up his breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Sensing the sudden shift in Shuhang''s atmosphere, Soft Feather frowned in worry. Sixteen now could also do the same as Soft Feather now due to their connection. Liu Jianyi who was still observing the group narrowed his eyes a little as well. Even though Shuhang doesn''t show it... the shift in atmosphere seemed a bit too great? Should he get ready to act soon in case junior sister get in trouble...? Looking a bit paler than before, Shuhang released his grasp on the Altar Master as his body began to spasm due to shock. As Shuhang didn''t hold back even a little, Altar Master''s mind was completely destroyed and soul damaged as well. Even though he ''knew'' about the Altar Master before hand... but to actually read his memories... Aaah! This... this sick fuck! "Fuu.... I''ve seen many... many things before through my kaleidoscope but... you... your character, your ambition, your heart, and your dao... they disgust me to no end. Even a pig covered in mud seemed more beautiful than you!" gripping his fist hard, Shuhang spouted out everything in his heart at the moment as his eyes radiated his raw fury. Unknowingly, his power starting leaking into the surroundings sending out pressure to everyone nearby, Liu Jianyi himself who was in the 5th stage couldn''t even resist a little as he fell to the ground. As for the Altar Master, he was already squashed into meat paste by the pressure. Strangely enough, neither Soft Feather nor Sixteen were affected by Shuhang''s release of power. Her face was in fact turning red and heart started beating faster due to this sudden display of power. All of a sudden, Shuhang felt warmth from both his sides and soft sensations on both his arms which immediately caused the pressure to recede. Looking at the culprits, they were of course Soft Feather and Sixteen. "Sigh, sorry about losing control all of a sudden and... thanks..." said Shuhang as he pulled both girls into his chest and returned the hug. Liu Jianyi who was finally released from the pressure, got up shakily and in a bit of fear. (T-that pressure...! Not even from teacher... had I felt such a tremendous pressure! Just who is this guy!?) thought Liu Jianyi in trepidation. Before, Jianyi wouldn''t have mentioned Shuhang to Soft Feather''s father as he was too lazy. After feeling that dreadful pressure however, he definitely need to report this as it could somehow endanger her safety. . . . After some moment passed, Shuhang gave the girls in his embrace one last tight squeeze before separating. "Sorry you girls to see me lose control like... Sight, that was really unbecoming of me... and thanks again for stopping me. I don''t know what i would''ve done in that state..." said an apologetic Shuhang. Hearing his words, Soft Feather just sweetly smiled but didn''t say anything. Sixteen also lightly smiled and replied "Un, it''s fine. You helped me out as well. If I couldn''t at least do this much... I''d be too ashamed of myself..." Giving the girls one last smile, Shuhang turned towards the remains of the Altar Master. With a wave of his hand, everything turned into ash, floating in the wind and left behind only a little insignia. His soul never even had a chance to form into a resentful ghost before that too... was dissipated as well. Suddenly, Shuhang turned upward and solemnly proclaimed towards the heaven. "With my title as the ''Kaleido Sage'' and pride as the ''Dragon Emperor'' on the line, I hereby swear to eradicate everything related to the Altar Master and his organization... even if I have to overturn both Heaven and Earth to do it!" *BOOM!* Dark clouds suddenly began to gather and flashes of lightning could be seen. Sixteen and Soft Feather were of course surprised by Shuhang''s sudden oath towards heaven. But they even more shocked when he suddenly ''threatened'' to overturn even the heaven itself which immediately gather tribulation clouds! This... could Senior Song be so powerful that heaven had to take his oath that much more serious than when others do so? Liu Jianyi was also flabbergasted at seeing such a sight as well. Unaware of the girls'' thoughts, Shuhang took out his phone and uploaded a picture of the Beast Mark Medallion to the chat group and post a question right after. . . . [Kaleido Sage, Dragon Emperor: "Found and interrogated the head leader of this 2nd rate, but still despicable organization. Any fellow daoists interested in joining in for an eradication exercise? I plan to do it soon. Most likely within a week or so."] Within seconds, the eternal online warrior Northern River replied. [Northern River''s Loose Cultivator: "Oh...? I don''t recognize that organization mark at all. Senior, how did you get involved with this group of unknowns? How did they even dare to offend you? 20 Not a chapter plz read though... Yo it''s your author here Noodle-sama. Typing this up from my phone in school so no chapter any time soon today. Anyways, I read one of the reviews this morning and he complained that my novel didn''t have enough slice of life element to it and too different from original novel. Well.... To that I can only face palm my self...I mean come on its a fanfic set in an alternate universe...or course it will be different o.O In any case....I wrote this to tell people that if they''re expecting a clone of the original works then gtfo now as this novel isn''t for you. Seriously, if you wanted a mostly slice of life cultivation novel then go back and read the original novel ffs... Not coming here to give a bad review just because you didn''t like how I''m writing my novel the way "I" want it to turn out. 21 The boosted... Boosted Gear? The next morning after their returns, Shuhang wanted to help the girls with contracting their Ghost Spirits right away. That plan was derailed however as 2 unexpected guests showed up at their door steps. With his unintentional stylish ''goth make up'', Medicine Master along with his *cough*stalker*cough* apprentice greeted Shuhang with a smile. Or at least Medicine Master did. "Greetings Senior Dragon Emperor! I saw your messages in the chat group last night and thought I could help out a little. Afterwards... I was hoping you could give me some guidance on a few questions I had with pill making!" Ah... so energetic and different from his online persona... though the way he''s acting like a fan girl does worry him a little. "How do you do, senior?" asked Purple Mist in her demure style while for some reason... looking a little on guard with Shuhang? Uhm...? Why does she look so wary against him anyways? Shouldn''t this be their first meeting? 22 Psst...I Have a Gift! Want It? ? Hmm... judging by the jewel''s color, this boosting ability might have something to do with the Kaleidoscope? It was then that Shuhang had a crazy theory. (Could it be possible that... the other boosts are actually borrowed from other realities? That could be the reason why the voices actually overlapped each other instead of hearing 6 consecutive boosts like Balance Breaker...) Before Shuhang could delve into anymore theories however, he was interrupted by Soft Feather''s excited voice. "Oooooh! Senior Song, that''s amazing! 23 Leaving "Ah of course you will have to wait for until I take care of that organization." said Shuhang which suddenly brought Purple Mist back down to Earth. "EH!? B-but...!?" hearing such despair inducing words, she couldn''t even form proper words to ask questions. Her face was that of someone just recently got betrayed by her most trusted person or something. "Aha, you needn''t worry. I''m not going back on my word or anything like that. It will take sometime to readjust the formula so it wouldn''t be ...too effective. You might not be able to walk for a few days if I didn''t..." answered Shuhang after looking at Purple Mist''s expression. "A-a few days!?" Aaaand here comes the drooling again and creepy smile again. T-this girl... scary...! 24 Disappointed Sixteen "AAAH! DEMON! S-STAY A-" *PUCHI* Before the man could say anyone, the sound of a blade tearing through flesh could be heard and his head fell to the ground. All over the floor, there are different body parts littered on the ground everywhere and blood flows like river. All the others who saw the fate of their latest comrade instantly lost any will of resistance. Even if they chose to surrender however, they would still not be spared by this she demon that appeared all of a sudden. Everything was going as it should have been like every other day until this crazy bitch appeared out of nowhere and started the slaughter with no questions asked! The perpetrator is none other than Fairy Purple Mist who was on a warpath of course. The one question in their mind the whole time was ''w-what the hell did they to this crazy wench!? Why did she suddenly appear out of nowhere and started a slaughter!?'' The whole was made even creepier as the whole time she was killing their colleagues, she was muttering something ''being in the way'' and ''Medicine Master'' with a crazed look the whole time! They of course tried to resist the best they can against this ''demon''. How could they even think of resisting though...? Purple Mist was a 5th stage cultivator while none of them had even surpassed the 1st stage, Beyond Mortal. Heck, even a little snot nosed kid could put up better resistance from a grown man stealing their candy. As for those that tried to escape and contact the main branch well... ''tried'' was key word here. She didn''t even bother looting anything in the building as they were all trash in her eyes and just focused on eliminating everything that moves and breathes. Not more than 15 minutes later, the whole building complex became deathly quiet as not a single soul were spared. After making sure all the evidence of her being there were destroyed, Purple Mist left without even so much as a glance back. . . . Medicine Master on the hand, he wasn''t as cruel as his ''apprentice'', Purple Mist, and did everything in a quiet and efficient manner. All he did was crushing a few poison pills and spreading them through out the whole building complex. Within seconds, every single living things inside peacefully fell into their eternal slumber without realizing that someone had ''attacked'' them. Spreading his senses around in a wide area, Medicine Master sensed that everything went without any trouble and nodded in satisfaction. "Hm, that should take care of everything. All that''s left is..." with those final words, he crushed a few different set of pills and once again spread them into the air with his Qi, carefully controlling it so it doesn''t to unwanted areas. Soon, all the corpse along all their belongings began to dissolve into nothingness and with that, his job was done. . . . Although not as ''cruel'' as the terror that is Purple Mist, a similar scene could be seen being played out where Shuhang and Sixteen was at. Well... it was just Sixteen''s doing while Shuhang stood high in the sky and observed everything with cool dispassionate eyes. Before starting this massacre in the name of testing Sixteen''s new strength, they even did a selfie together in front of the Ghost Cultivators'' HQ and posted it on the Nine Provinces (1) Chat Group with captions and everything. This naturally earned the envy of Soft Feather who was left out of the ''fun'' and she made sure to let everyone know of it by flooding the chat with many 25 We Meet Again... "Nn..." grunted Sixteen sulkily as she honestly don''t really care much about all this linger ghosts and what not. She was expecting a good fight and not... whatever the heck that disappointing display was... some ''organization'' they are... hmph. Shuhang couldn''t help but sighed and rub her head a little at the sight of her sulking. "Hm, how about this... once we have sometime, I''ll spar with you to test your strength. With my strength suppressed of course in order to let you reap the most benefit out of this." Blushing a bit at the sudden contact, Sixteen silently nodded in acceptance, no longer caring about the fight earlier. After compiling all the scriptures in his ''library'' that is related to ferrying the souls of the dead, Shuhang speed read through it all began reciting. Immediately, the souls ceased all their anguished cries and looked toward Shuhang in gratitude as they were finally released from their shackles and suffering. Light of Karmic Virtue began to glow around Shuhang making him look pretty surreal. Due to the the higher grade scripture, and Shuhang ferrying the souls by himself unlike the in the ''original'' where he had a helper, the amount of Karmic Virtue is massive. It was in fact so much that it almost reached the equivalent of when one ferry the soul of an Eternal Being like ''original'' Shuhang did. What would actually happen if Shuhang did help ferry an Eternal Being...? Hm. Food for later thoughts. Something strange began to happen as Shuhang began to gather more and more Strength of Karmic Virtue. The light was actually invading straight into Spirit Lake and went straight towards the sleeping Ddraig. On the outside, Shuhang''s Strength of Karmic Virtue actually started condensing into a silhouette of Ddraig''s yet couldn''t yet form itself as there wasn''t enough Virtue. Seeing that silhouette, Sixteen was surprised as she recognized the shape. She was currently wearing it''s image on her arm in the form of a bracelet after all. (Even his Strength of Karmic Virtue had condensed into the shape of this Dragon... just what is the story behind this Dragon and Shuhang...?) thought Sixteen in wonder. She couldn''t come up with any good answer however and chalked it up to her being too inexperienced still as she is pretty much a ''kid'' in the cultivation world after all. . . . After taking care of all those lingering ghosts, Shuhang and Sixteen began to loot the place for valuables. They were of course all turned over to Sixteen as she was the one who did most of the work. As a ''Senior'', there is no way in the world Shuhang would be shameless enough to snag them off of Sixteen... even if she were willing to hand over the spoils to him. Ain''t nobody got time for that gigolo life... just living in Sixteen''s current residence for free is already the limits of what Shuhang was willing endure in shamelessness... Now back at their home, Sixteen was currently talking with Seven about the arrangements of her getting into Shuhang''s school while he was in his room tinkering with the Kaleidoscope magic. "And... that should do it as the ''anchor'' for this reality... All that''s left is activating it and pray the world doesn''t explode because I accidentally shifted the planet''s core or something..." mumbled Shuhang about an exaggerated but very real danger. Sure it shouldn''t be possible for something like that to happen with the original Kaleidoscope and with his knowledge on the magic. Since his other 2 cheats got upgrades however... who''s to say that this one didn''t get an upgrade as well...? "Phew... one way to find out I guess... here goes nothing..." ! All of a sudden, Shuhang''s body began to turn blurry and started becoming incorporeal before slowly phasing out of existence altogether. The experience of shifting through reality with his own body... definitely a strange and pretty painful one. All surrounding energy, in all the myriad existing colors, bombarded his body, almost as if trying to tear apart, atom by atom. It was agonizing to say the least. Shuhang had the feeling that... if he had foolishly tried this at a lower cultivation stage, he definitely would have died without knowing how. After what felt like an eternity, Shuhang finally reached a destination, where ever that is, as he literally stumbled into existence and fell face down into the floor. "Oof...!" groaned Shuhang at the sudden ''drop'' and still reeling from the pain of traveling. "Ugh damn it, forgot to cover myself in a protective layer of energy... Damn, where is this plaaaaaace...!!?" loudly exclaimed Shuhang at the end. Looking at his ''surrounding'', literally everything was white in all 6 directions but the most shocking thing of all was the thing.. or rather person in front of him. In front of a flat screen TV with some sort of drama playing, and laying on her belly flatly on the ground with hand in the midst of reaching into a potato chip bag, was actually someone Shuhang had met before. At such a sight, the first thing popped into his mind was "Ah, a wild Loli appeared." and actually said it out loud for the other occupant of the ''room'' to hear. Said ''loli'' on the hand, had the most dumbstruck face at the unexpected arrival and froze completely until she heard Shuhang''s comment. "Don''t call me loli!!! 26 Eh, Isll Do It I Guess *trembles* Looking at the perfect spherical jewel around 3 times the size of a chicken egg in his own hand, Shuhang was honestly at a loss as what to do this thing. Just a few moments prior, he had been playing around with the Kaleidoscope magic and somehow or another snagged this thing into his room. According to the ''Library'', this rock thing is actually a pretty amazing treasure that can be used for quite a few things. *BANG!* There were two that stood out the most to Shuhang as not only can one be able to store ''energy'' into it, one can even store ''souls'' in as well. As for why one want to store away energy... that''s a no brainer. As for soul storing though.... there are so many things Shuhang could probably do with that. It''s just there are way too many though. Well, he''s going to have to comb through the ''Library'' later in order to find the perfect thing to use this ''rock'' for so as not to potentially waste a treasure. *...* On a side not, the number of Lotus atop Shuhang''s Spirit Lake had increased from its former number of 1 to more than 100 now. The weird part though... that number is still increasing. This actually really intrigued Shuhang a bit as the ''seed'' condensed by that Lotus atop the ''Spirit Lake'' would become his ''Nascent Soul'' later which signifies his entering into the 7th Stage, Spirit Venerable realm. *BOOM!* *trembles* Having THAT... many Lotuses though... how the hell is that going to work...? Does that mean he''s going to have... more than one ''soul''...? 27 Whos There?! (Hm... wasn''t it around this time that Farmer''s Sect uncle is somewhere around town looking for Sixteen right now, along with the Moon Saber Sect as well? Although, that whole framing Seven thing only happened because Seven went around asking for a cure to heal Sixteen''s injury but since he''s already headed it... doesn''t this mean that Seven won''t be getting framed and Sixteen won''t be hunted?) Thinking about all the possible changes due to his interference, Shuhang couldn''t help but let out a big sigh at not knowing future events anymore. Stupid butterfly effect... ''Divine Sight'' has the ability to see possible future sure, but just like what happened when he saw Sixteen and Soft Feather together for the first time, it activated on its own and not something Shuhang know how to control... at least not yet. (And what about that Joseph guy...? Meh, if we''re fated to meet, we will and as for taking him in as an apprentice...) Before Shuhang could let his thought wander any further, he felt a little tug on his elbow. "Hm..? Oh, class is over already?" said Shuhang in surprised as he looked at the person pulling on him earlier. Sitting in a seat next to him, was Sixteen whom had just ''transferred'' in as of today. After gathering all of their belongings, both stood up and turned towards the 3 guys behind them staring in awe at their sight. Well 2 out of 3 of them at least. With the exception of Lin Tubo who had seen Sixteen with Shuhang before, the other roommates Gao Moumou and Li Yangde stared at Shuhang in both jealousy at getting the cute transfer student and admiration for doing it so fast. "OI, Shuhang, when you did you get such a cute little wife?! You need to treat us to some fish heads for celebrations! 28 Hm.. What to Do With You... Hearing what Shuhang suddenly said, Sixteen was shocked as she actually didn''t notice anyone there. Was she so into the fight that she ignored her surroundings? What a failure! This... needs to be rectified as soon as possible. It might save her life one day after all. If it wasn''t Shuhang that was with her and the voyeur turned out to be someone intending to sneak attack... Seeing as Shuhang wasn''t really putting up a guard against the intruder however, brought some sense of relief to Sixteen as it meant the intruder wasn''t dangerous... at least to Shuhang himself. Looking over to the spot Shuhang was looking at, Sixteen saw a middle aged foreigner with blond hair walking slowly towards them. On his face were wariness and great awe... no, that looks is more like... reverence... worship? The moment Shuhang saw the blond foreigner walking out, his mouth couldn''t help but twitched as he had an idea of who this might be. Seriously... he was only peripherally thinking about the guy earlier but to think he actually showed up for real... Just as he was about to open his mouth, ''Divine Sight'' suddenly activated on its own once again. Noticing Shuhang''s eyes going silent as his eyes changed his colors, Sixteen was stunned as she remembered the first time this happened. The intruder on the hand was gobsmacked the strange sight. Now even more than before, his look of admiration and worship had actually even increased another notch. After a little while, his eyes finally returned to normal and the visions started to fade away, Shuhang now sported a very dumbfounded look. Blinking once, then twice, he opened his mouth to say something... only to stop and closed it again. "Wao..." (Nn? Just did Shuhang see in his vision? To be that badly stunned...) thought Sixteen in wonder. After taking a few more seconds to recompose himself, Shuhang once more looked toward the intruder. By this point, he was almost 100% sure that this person is Joseph. The question however... how the fuck did he even come here in the first place? There were more than a few formation that blocked sound and tremor around this building. Not to mention the anti-normies barrier which is supposed to keep exactly the kind of people like Joseph out and yet... there he is. "So, this foreigner friend... just how and why did you come here?" asked Shuhang along with his almost ever present smile. Hearing a question that was directed at him, Joseph woke up with a start before suddenly going down his knees and did a kowtow. "Great Master and Mistress, please take me in as your disciple!" shouted Joseph while completely ignoring Shuhang''s questions. Sixteen on the other hand was shocked at the sudden and brazen request and wanted to say something. Sixteen stopped herself however when she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Hm... first, tell us your name and second... how did you come to this building...?" asked Shuhang once again as he truly was very curious on how he achieved it. If Shuhang was serious about putting up a ward, not even a tribulation immortal with their space attribute can ever hope to breach it. An Eternal Being might be able to but still wouldn''t have an easy time at it. That is of course if Shuhang is not manning the formation/barrier at the time. Even without putting up a ward, Shuhang was usually always aware of his immediate surroundings... unless of course his ''luck'' somehow or another interfered with that. Such was the case with all the treasures he''s ever come across after all. And even the latest one... that strange and normally something to over look rock was another fine example. Even if Shuhang had seen in his vision that the Joseph of ''this world'' could actually reach great height in cultivation, right now he is still only an ordinary... a very ordinary middle aged old man. (Don''t tell me... that my luck could even work on people as well? Are the people I''m fated to meet will always show up even if I try to actively avoid them?) thought Shuhang in great interest. "Oh, Great Master! My name is Joseph Guy Maupassant and as for coming here. I suddenly had this feeling that something lucky would happen to me and so I did. Who knew that as soon I entered, I would get to witness two Great Masters sparring with genuine Chinese Kung Fu. It''s actually been my dream since childhood to learn the real thing. So I''m begging you... I''ll do anything! Please take me in as a disciple!" Holy crap does he sound desperate... Why is he even more desperate than the original to become a martial disciple of mine...? Ah, is it the difference in what he witnessed? In the original he only saw Shuhang practiced at the Foundation Building stage where as what he saw just now... were two powerful 4th Stage cultivators having a somewhat serious spar... If Joseph was willing to become a disciple to ''that'' amateur me then seeing the great master version... hm I can see why he seem so desperate now. But still though... the world of cultivators is not really a pretty place like you imagined, Joseph. "Sigh, you say that you want to learn but... do you realize what it is you''re asking for? To be apart of this world... you must accept all of its cruelty as well. What you see in those fictional... ''kung fu'' movies aren''t even lukewarm compared to the real thing... I suggest you give up now and save yourself the trouble." said Shuhang in a dissuasive way and even going as far as to release enough pressure to let Joseph see the illusions of many, many death and suffering. Realizing what Shuhang was trying to do, Sixteen only raised an eye brow at the act in wonder. It''s fine to dissuade the guy but... is it really necessary to go this far? Even without saying anything, the way she''s looking at Shuhang conveyed it all. At that, he only lightly smiled at her and shook his head a little before looking at towards Joseph again. (My apologies... Mr Joseph. Even if my visions told that... through me, you became one of the most fearsomeand revered ''Sword God'' under the myriad realms, if you couldn''t withstand this bit of pressure and suffering, then I will not accept you as my student.) Even if Shuhang think that this is only ''a little bit'' of pressure, it was actually strong enough to completely suppress an ordinary 2nd Stage Cultivator. To use that much strength against an ordinary middle aged man like Joseph, if Shuhang made even a tiniest bit of mistake, Joseph would more than likely die of a heart attack. Taking out a little paper from his Universal Bag of Holding, Shuhang started writing a message on it for Joseph whom he estimated to wake up in a couple of minutes or so. He then began to leave along with Sixteen after leaving that note in front of Joseph which he set to burn itself after Joseph finished reading the content. (Now then... show me your will, your determination. Please don''t disappoint me, the future Dragon General of my army, ''Sword God'' Tyrant ******.) 29 Intruders Venerable Spirit Butterfly who originally wanted to use making a contract with the Ghost Spirit as an excuse to keep his daughter at home was astonished to find out she had already done so. Even more when he found out that the Ghost Spirit had actually mutated into an extremely high grade one. What the heck happened on his daughter''s little trip? It should have been at most a mid rank one! He should know... it was the Venerable himself that planted that Ghost Spiritafter all. Tch, now he had to find some other reason to keep her busy so she doesn''t have time to think about going outside to play. It''s all the fault of that ''Senior Song''! Ever since his little girl came home, that''s all she ever talked about! Senior Song this... Senior that... he just about can''t take it anymore! and there''s nothing for him to vent his pent up frustration on! 30 What the...!? It''s already been 3 days since the Immortal Farmer''s Sect uncle and Moon Saber Sect had intruded into his territory. They still hadn''t been able to find Sixteen yet however which makes Shuhang seriously look down on those guys. Seriously... they''ve pretty much been brazenly going out and no intention of hiding at all and yet... Sigh. What a let down. Did they need to start hanging up glowing neon signs on their heads or something? As for Joseph... well there were still 4 more days until the deadline. He was really curious on what kind of decisions he would make after the time limit is up. Wonder what that old man is up to currently... Speaking of Joseph, that reminds Shuhang of his regular mortal side of things. With the help of the various members in the Nine Provinces (1) Chat Group, Shuhang is now a proud owner of a sporting goods franchise. They mainly deal in any and all things related to sports, exercising equipment, and even the various nutrients and supplements. How those guys did all this in such speed is nothing short of amazing. The ''new'' business is surprisingly doing so well that Shuhang won''t have to start worrying about money anytime soon. Well, for the mortals side anyways... The hard part now is how to tell the Papa Song and Mama Song about this without blowing the socks off of them due to shock. Oh well, that can wait for a bit more. Maybe after giving them some hints here and there that he''s doing some ''investing'' in the markets...? That aside... the changes in Sixteen''s body had finally stabilized and as Shuhang had expected, her power is currently on par with any normal peak 4th Stage cultivator. If the opponent doesn''t know about her ''Boost'' ability on top of that... well, sucks to be that guy she''s fighting. Other than training Sixteen, Shuhang had also been making some breakthroughs in the cloning techniques. The only thing now is making a decision between ''True Clones'' or mere mindless drones... Hm. On the one hand, a true clone is a 2nd life while the other options gives him minions that he won''t feel bad when certain questionable orders are given... Sure there are ways to revive oneself but... there are still many ways to permanently keep people from coming back... Otherwise there would definitely be more immortals than there are ordinary people on Earth by now. "Hmm.. I should probably make a decision soon since I can feel my breakthrough is coming soon..." said Shuhang as he rubbed his chin in wonder. Just yesterday when Shuhang was checking out his Spirit Lake, he actually found out there was an additional Lotus to his already hundreds. The reason why this had to be mentioned is due to the size of this new lotus. That thing... is huuuuge. Not even putting together all the other Lotuses would reach half the size of that newly appeared one. "That new giant lotus is most likely the one where my main Nascent Soul would borne itself. Given the speed of the condensation... probably another week?... Two at most." Hm.. what else is new around here...? Oh that''s right! Old boy Medicine Master and Purple Mist ''finally'' left their room and man did their look of shame were priceless. Well Medicine Master anyways while Purple Mist on the hand couldn''t look anymore happier. It looks like everyday is Christmas for her from now on. Thanks to Shuhang ''helping'' her out, she even swore eternal loyalty to Shuhang so long as his alignment doesn''t conflict with her own moral beliefs. When the news that Medicine Master finally accepted her as a dao companion was spread, the whole chat group sent many ''congratz'' messages along with a whooole lot of ''FINALLY!'' Not sure if they''re going to do a wedding or some similar ceremony or not though since they never mentioned that... As congratulatory gift for the happy occasion, Shuhang promised to give Guidance on the Dao of Pill Making to Medicine Master. Well... it''s mostly Shuhang''s way apologizing for setting him up though. Oh yes, they also went and got their own place to stay as they didn''t want to shame themselves anymore by making ''too much noise''. . . . On the 4th day, the Moon Saber sect finally ''found'' Sixteen and Shuhang. Since she''s not gravely injured like in the original, Shuhang didn''t even have to lift a finger as she basically destroyed all the attackers. Sadly though, reading their memories didn''t yield any new information of use. All Shuhang got was who they''re affiliated with and that they were on orders from their sect master. Tch, useless grunts... The Immortal Farmer''s Sect uncle though was trying to ''hide'' from Shuhang''s sight throughout the whole encounter. Judging by his expression, seems the Immortal Farmer''s Sect uncle seem very shocked by Sixteen''s prowess. Not to mention Shuhang that was hanging around her all the time. The fact that his realm couldn''t be sensed could mean that he must be ''Su Clan''s Sixteen'' as she was supposedly severely injured. Not wanting to take any chance to fighting that strong cultivator besides ''Sixteen'', the Immortal Farmer''s Sect uncle decided to wait for reinforcements before taking actions. As they were leaving the area after clearing up the evidence, Shuhang suddenly got 2 pings in his barrier which also appear to be heading their way. Discretely activating ''Divine Sight'', Shuhang saw the new intruders which happened to be a giant Pekingese chasing after a giant ball of shadow. (Huh... that must be Doudou and that Anzhi fellow... Now then, to capture or get captured on purpose... actually, yeah let''s get kidnapped. This way I can go to their base without any work and at the same time, test the teleportation function of Soft Feather/Sixteen''s bracelet.) thought Shuhang as he nodded to himself. After sending a telepathic message to Sixteen, Doudou and Anzhi finally made it to their location. "Hiihiii, Su Clan''s Junior, I finally found you!" suddenly said a cold voice as the ball of shadow swooped down. (The one who practically ''had no'' cultivation must be the Su Clan''s Junior!) decided Anzhi as he ''pushed'' the 3rd Stage cultivator aside and swooped up the ''injured Sixteen''. "Hiihii, I am Demon Monarch Anzhi! Would you be willing to take a trip with me? Not that I would give you a choice though." said Anzhi as he took the ''injured Sixteen'' and flew back into the sky leaving the Immortal Farmer''s Sect uncle stunned at the sudden turn of event. llll 31 Holy Sh*t! He Gave You What...!? If one is a cultivator and happened to be looking at the sky at this moment, they would be able to see a wondrous sight of a ball of shadow currently being chased by a giant Pekingese. That''s not all as behind that Pekingese, there seem to be a ''mad'' uncle following behind and shouting profanity at the top of his lungs. "FUCKER!! STOP FOR ME! HAND OVER THE SU CLAN''S JUNIOR!" His angry shouts were largely ignored by the other 3 ahead though, Shuhang included. While Anzhi was arguing about one thing or another with the chasing Doudou, Shuhang was using one of the hidden function of the Sun & Moon bracelets and sending ''messages'' to the real Sixteen whom was left behind. Honestly though... how had this Anzhi not noticed the strangely calm and quiet ''Sixteen'' that he held hostage? Something had got to ring some alarm by now.... right? Is this guy alright? With this level of intelligence, how did he even cultivated and survived up to this point...? 32 Approaching Calamity Opting to see how the situation develops, Shuhang chose not to interfere too much in their clash. As Shuhang wasn''t a cold blooded person though, he chose to stealthily protect the Farmer Sects disciples from receiving any true fatal wounds from Demon Monarch Anzhi. All throughout the struggle between the Farmer''s Sect and Anzhi, Shuhang had one thought in mind as he looked at the attacking Doudou. (Hmm... I wonder if I should find some ordinary cat and raise it to become the strongest ever demonic cat just to annoy Doudou?) The more Shuhang thought in this line, the more his eyes seemed to gleam. Doudou who was focused on harassing Anzhi for some reason became annoyed and its eyes started twitching. Mistaking that as Anzhi''s provocation, he began to attack with even more fervor than before. (You know what... that''s not actually not a bad idea. I can even take this chance to experiment on the effect and after-effects of my boosting abilities on other ordinary and non cultivating mortals. Should be useful when I plan on taking in ''disciples'' like Joseph in the future. Plus raising an animal has the added bonus of gaining experience for raising Demonic Beasts in the future should I succeed...) As Shuhang was lost in thought, he accidentally forgot to hold back his strength against Anzhi''s hold which caused him to lose his grip in surprise as Shuhang fell from the air. How could he not? So far, Shuhang had been quiet and cooperative all the along before suddenly ''retaliating'' with a ''surprise attack''. Becoming angry, Anzhi immediately turned to the resisting ''Sixteen'' in order to retake the ''hostage'' into his grasp. This split second distraction proved to be a big mistake as Doudou ceased this chance to deal a huge damage on him. "Guu---! Damn beast!" shouted Anzhi in fury before blasting Doudou away from him. The Immortal Farmer''s Sect uncle, who is now identified as Justheart, took this chance where ''Sixteen'' was out of Anzhi''s grasp and rushed toward him. As he closed in however, Justheart finally noticed that the hostage wasn''t Su Clan''s junior at all and is someone else. Heck, it''s not even a she but rather a he!! Facing such an unexpected situation, Justheart froze at the suddenness of it. It was at this moment that Justheart suddenly felt a force pushing him away and Shuhang''s voice entered his head through a telepathic skill. The one who pushed Justheart away was of course Shuhang himself. He still needed this Anzhi fellow to take him to Moon Saber Sect''s new base after all. Otherwise, how else would Shuhang be able to take care of them all in one fell swoop? Ain''t nobody got time to go look for them one by one... Not really questioning why Justheart had failed to take the ''Su Clan''s Junior'', Anzhi once again grabbed a hold of Shuhang and flew off into the distance. Probably because of his dog''s instinct, Doudou had of course given chase once again. Justheart on the other hand was still in a daze at the voice that had given instructions to him earlier. (F**! That person was...) thought Justheart before seeing that his junior brothers and sisters were waiting on him for further instructions. Snapping out of his stupor, Justheart yelled out "Junior sister Justjoy, you come with me to give chase! The rest will stay and help nurse our fellow disciples!" With that, a chorus of "YES!" resounded which earned a nod from Justheart. Not too soon, he took Justjoy with him on his flying sword before once more giving chase to Anzhi and Doudou. This time however... he''s giving chase for a different reason than before. (If what that person said was true...) Justheart gritted his teeth hard as he thought of his fellow brother, Justmight. . . . At the new secret base of the Moon Saber Sect, Young Master Hai was somehow feeling a bit uneasy for unknown reason. It was as if a calamity was about to befall him or something which was absurd. With all the plannings and preparations he put in, a mere Su Clan''s Seven wouldn''t really be able to do anything when he gets here. That is especially true when the clone of the Demon Monarch Anzhi reported that was everything was going well and that the Su Clan''s Junior was in captive and on the way. "The ''Strongest 5th Stage, Su Clan''s Seven''... Hmph. We''ll see how arrogant you are when this Young Master here show you the miserable face your clan''s Junior in my grip" said Young Master Hai arrogantly as he dismissed the feeling of approaching calamity. If only he had listened to what his ''Sixth Sense'' was telling him. Alas, when the time comes, there wouldn''t be any medicine for the regret he would soon feel... 33 Crashing the Party! Not too soon after Anzhi, Doudou, and Justheart left the area, another cultivator of the Immortal Farmer''s Sect had shown up at the site. Upon noticing who it was, the disciples who were on guard before shouted out his name in joy. "Apprentice Brother Justmight! What are you doing here?" Hearing the question from one the younger ones, Justmight put on a serious expression told them that there was news of Su Clan''s Seven being around a giant valley somewhere along with the ''Moon Saber Sect''. Now normally, this would have worked really well like it did in the original story and roused their spirits while taking all the disciples towards that location. Too bad no one had expected the interference of a cheating bastard that is Song Shuhang. Before being ''taken'' away, Shuhang had quickly relayed to Justheart of quite a few shocking things. One such a thing was to be aware of Justmight trying to lure them away with the news of ''Su Clan''s Seven''. Although Justheart really wanted to trust his fellow disciple, there were just too many inconsistencies pointed out by Shuhang that he couldn''t bring himself to blindly trusting the guy. With that mind, Justheart quickly relayed his suspicions to all the 3rd Stage Cultivators that were within the group. With a heavy heart, they could only nod in understanding all the while hoping that they were wrong... that Shuhang was a liar only trying to mislead them. There was no way that their much admired senior brother Justmight could be a traitor...! Not even too long a time had passed when Justmight had shown up and proceeded to say the exact same thing they didn''t want to hear! Now become more wary of the person in front of them, all the 3rd Stage had agreed to go with Justmight in case it was true while ordering the lower ranks to return to the sect. Before Justmight could even refute, the other disciples quickly said one thing or another to make Justmight not be able to take them with him to their possible deaths as well. Although a little dissatisfied on the inside, he couldn''t say anything against their decision as it made more sense. It seems it would do to just have the few but higher level disciples go with him... . . . At the Blue Plains Valley, all the high ranking members of the Immortal Farming Sect had just encountered the Moon Saber Sect. With barely any words exchanged, the Moon Saber Sect disciple just started madly attacking with all their might... almost as if they were crazy even. Young Master Hai observed the situation with a glee as he was making further preparations for when Su Clan''s Seven finally appeared. Not too soon after the bloodshed started, Young Master Hai could feel his Demon Monarch Anzhi fast approaching their location. With that new knowledge, he gave off a smile as his plan would soon unfold and Su Clan''s Seven would soon be here as well. Suddenly, he sensed that Anzhi''s movement halted, but he didn''t put too much stock into that as he was probably stopped to get rid of that other presence following behind him. . . . Whatever Young Master Hai had hoped couldn''t have been more wrong. The reason why Anzhi had halted his flight was not to deal with Doudou, but it was Shuhang completely killing him body and soul. It was so quick that he didn''t even realized he had already died as his body turned into dust. The reason he acted now was because there was no longer any need for his guiding since Shuhang was so close to the place already. Doudou who was still chasing after Anzhi hastily put on a brake at the unexpected development. "WANG! Who are you?" spoke.. or rather barked Doudou for the first time in confusion and wariness. This person with seemingly no cultivation had suddenly dealt with his target with ease! Definitely someone powerful... Hearing his question, Shuhang only returned an enigmatic smile before saying "Ah, you must be fellow daoist Yellow Mountain''s monster dog that ran away from home, Doudou. Nice to meet you, you may call True Monarch Dragon Emperor." Not giving the chance for Doudou to say anything, he added on "Come, watch a show with me" Then beckoning his hand towards Doudou, his giant dog form suddenly shrunk as he was pulled into Shuhang''s arm which held him from escaping. (WANG! I.. I can''t move! HELP! WANG WANG! This is dog-napping!) Struggle as he might, Doudou was alas powerless to resist Shuhang as he was taken towards the battle field in the valley ahead. Justheart and his junior sister had caught up in time to see Demon Monarch Anzhi getting obliterated with ease. Seeing such a sight, they couldn''t help but shiver a little. The Anzhi that had nearly decimated them with almost no effort got taken out... just like that? What a powerful senior! Before Shuhang and Doudou got too far away though, he finally snapped himself back from his stupor and gave chase once more. Once Shuhang had made it to the battle field, he couldn''t help but sigh at the massacre taking place. Both sides were crazily attacking the others while the death count were numerous. The Immortal Farming Sects seems to be on the losing end however as many of their elites and top level experts were dying left and right. Someone who looked like their sect leader and Justmight was also seen being attacked. If someone doesn''t interfere soon, their legacy would definitely end right here... And interfere Shuhang will do. Sure it wasn''t really his business, but since Shuhang didn''t like that Young Master Hai bastard, he might as well do it to hinder his plans. With a thought, Shuhang had sent a message to the waiting Sixteen. Almost immediately, a multicolored light could be seen flashing atop the battlefield, which brought everyone to a stop at the sudden event. Looking towards the source, every saw the figure of a ''beautiful'' man holding a Pekingese in one arm. He was also... standing on the air without the aid of a flying sword. (A high level expert!) everyone thought. Young Master Hai especially had a bad feeling when he saw the sight of Shuhang. For some reason or another, he started to get an uneasy feeling gripping his heart as soon as he saw him. Just as everyone were trying to figure out the identity of this person suddenly showing up, four figures blurred into existence from the multicolored light. One of them was of course Sixteen as Shuhang had expected and pulled into his embrace. The person next to her, he also expected which was Seven who quickly took out his flying Saber. The other 2 however were the unexpected faces of Medicine Master and Purple Mist. 34 Donst Start Without Me!! "Uh. Medicine Master and Purple Mist? What are you guys doing here?" Shuhang asked them with a raised brow and completely ignoring everyone in the battle field altogether. Even though the person talking wasn''t really paying attention to them, none dared to rashly make any moves since no one knew of what his intentions are for showing up here. "Fufu. Senior, it''s like this. My ''husband'' and I were in the area and happened to sense fellow daoist Seven''s aura. After meeting up, it was junior Sixteen that explained everything. I decided it was a good opportunity for me to show my sincerity and came along to help out. I hope Senior don''t mind." Standing tall and proudly on her own flying sword, Purple Mist took the role of the explaining how they came here. For some reason though, she reeeally put a big emphasis on the word ''husband'' as if afraid that no one could hear it. (This girl... really 35 The Young Master Hai Who Miscalculated "Spirit Butterfly Island''s Soft Feather at your service! 36 Check Out My New Sabeeeeeeeerr....!? "DIE!" shouted one of the Moon Saber Sect''s disciple in a formation as he charged at the giant demon dog in front of them. The only reply he received was a bark and a giant paw that smacked him away and most likely ending his life. Undeterred by their brethren''s death, the others quickly tried to surround Doudou and brought down their sabers. "WOOF!" The shock wave from this one bark had blasted them away and gave Doudou some breathing room as he continued his game of attacking and dodging. (There''re too many of them, woof! They''re just recklessly attacking too... something''s definitely wrong with them!) Doudou thought with a frown as he continued to use his claws to swipe away at their weapons and fangs to bite them to death when given the opportunity. A couple of distance away, Sixteen was mercilessly and almost effortlessly cutting down everyone in her path. No matter if their weapons, armors, or any defensive artifacts, Sixteen''s saber easily cut slice through everything. Sixteen''s incredible strength gained from her physique easily put her on par with a 4th stage cultivator. Now that Soft Feather and her Sun Bracelet were here as well, she gained a further boost which easily brought her strength up really close to a 5th stage. *SHEEENG!* With a slash, another group of 4 cultivators were shredded along with all their equipment. The same thing happened to her with Doudou however as there were simply too many of them and she got surrounded again as soon as she cut one group down. "RAAAAAR!" Shouted one of the Moon Saber Sect''s disciple in front as he brought his weapon in a downward swing. Two more from the side did a low and mid sweep attack while the one in the back did a diagonal slash simultaneously. Although Sixteen was ''trapped'' in their attack formation, she surprisingly didn''t panic and gripped her saber harder as flames started to erupt forth. "Heaven Scorching Saber!" *DING!* *DING!* *BOOM!* As soon as Sixteen attacked, a saber beam with an unbearable heat swept forth and everything that is 180 degrees in front of her were turned into charred corpses while some directly burned into ashes. As she didn''t attack the one behind her however, the Moon Saber Sect disciple thought that his attack would definitely reach and gained a murderous gleam in his eyes. Before his attack found its target on Sixteen''s unprotected back however, 2 sword beams from the side and crashed into him. One of them blew away his arms holding the saber while the other cut into his neck, fully separating it from his body. Those sword beams of course came the nearby Soft Feather whom just crushed 2 Sword Talismans. Because she suddenly paused in order to block an attack for Sixteen, the 2 opponents she was fighting took advantage of this opportunity and brought down their weapons. One aimed at her head while the other aimed at her waist. "FULL MOON CHOP!" "WANING MOON SWEEP!" Soft Feather whose base stats was just ''boosted'' by Shuhang and further being boosted by the Bracelets easily reacted to their attacks. *DING!* *DING!* Using her bracelet, she blocked the overhead strike and parried the other with her own sword. Before they could even begin to feel any shock, Soft Feather kicked away the one that aimed at her waist then used her now free sword to cut the other down. Just like before, another group of disciples replaced those two as they tried to surround her. Rather than attacking, Soft Feather simply jumped back before the temperature in the surrounding had a sudden spike. "Heaven Scorching Saber!" was the only thing this new group of disciples heard before they too turned into charcoal. Seeing another group decimated, Soft Feather simply jumped into the fray against another group nearby, not even questioning the perfect timing that Sixteen had just as Sixteen hadn''t when Soft Feather blocked an attack for her. . . . "Hou. It seems the ''synchro'' function is working really well. Not only are their abilities properly boosted, even their senses are linked and able to know where each other was in the battlefield. What a scary tag-team combo..." said Shuhang in interested as he observed the girls'' fight. Even Purple Mist and Medicine Master were incredulous at their prowess and unable to believe that they were still only at the 3rd stage. "Also... to attack with such fervor, Soft Feather must be stress relieving from being forced to stay home by her dad all this time." Shuhang added with a smirk as he looked up to a location further away in the sky. Standing there with his face twitching, as if having just heard what Shuhang said, was Venerable Spirit Butterfly. As someone who had some attainment in the Space Attribute and some time studying Shuhang''s work, he had devised a way to track his daughter should she ''run away'' from home using that bracelet. Taking his eyes off the daughter-con Venerable for a moment, Shuhang turned towards another area where Seven was taking on Young Master Hai and Ba Qianjun. Due to the imposing will of their sect leader due to the formation, the Moon Saber Sect disciples felt empowered and put their everything into maintaining the formation. "ELDER HAI! SECT LEADER! ELDER HAI SECT LEADER!" chanted the disciples which is now in a state of madness as they focused even more effort into maintaining the formation. This in turn, boosted both Ba Qianjun and Young Master Hai''s ability to resist Seven''s Saber Beam attacks infused with Spirit Energy from his Gold Core. It was at this time that Young Master Hai began to gloat about his plans of using Seven and the two sects involved. As Demon Monarch Anzhi never showed up however, Young Master Hai had to activate the Blood God''s Evil Saber Formation with Ba Qianjun instead. The Moon Saber Sect''s disciples were nothing more than walking corpses at this point as all their blood, qi, and life force are forcibly sucked out by the formation. "Hmph. A Blood Saber Sect''s remnant? No matter." said Seven dismissively before he started his own ultimate attack. "HEAVENLY SABER BURYING THE STARRY SKY!!!" *BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!...* As Seven''s Saber Attack clashed against the blood mist of their formation, the deafening sounds of explosion rang out continuously. Right after, the sound of Ba Qianjun''s miserable scream rang out while Young Master Hai sounded as if he had taken a great damage to his body. "KUH!" "NO!" Sheathing his Saber, Seven waited for about 5 breaths while the blood mist in Blue Origin Valley continue to dissipate. What appeared before Seven were the 3 figures of Ba Qianjun which had a massive hole in his chest area and Young Master Hai''s miserable appearance and an unknown cultivator who appeared out of nowhere! Not a moment later, Ba Qianjun''s eyes grew dull as his corpse fell headlong into the ground. Young Master Hai who was still alive as Seven''s attack was blocked by the mysterious intruder, had most of his clothes ripped and bloodied. One of his arms was severed from the elbow down and his hair in a mess. "Hehe, brother Seven truly lives to his reputation... I almost died to that attack of yours... almost." said Young Master Hai with an annoying smile on his face. Even with him continuing his gloating, no one seemed to actually be paying attention to him however. Every single person in that valley, the person recently just appeared included, stared unblinkingly with a funny expression at the ''thing'' that Young Master Hai was proudly carrying. Noticing their gazes, Young Master Hai felt even more proud of himself as he began to boast about his, now identified, ''life-bound Blood God Saber''. "PFFT!" *giggles* Suddenly everyone began to snicker and giggle uncontrollably at Young Master Hai who up until now, had now properly looked at his ''life-bound Blood God Saber''. Sixteen and Soft Feather who were now at the sides of the Medicine Couples were blushing red in embarrassment while also trying to hold back their laughter. Even Venerable Spirit Butterfly had his mouth twitch as if he''s trying to hold himself back. Getting a really bad feeling, Young Master Hai turned his gaze towards the ''life-bound Blood God Saber'' in his hands. To his horror however... the thing he''s holding in his hand was what he had expected. At around 1/2 a meter long, it was a cylindrical ''stick'' filled with bumps and spikes along its surface. It''s tip was in the shape that every man is familiar with. That''s right... in Young Master Hai''s hand is not the ''life-bound Blood God Saber''. It is in fact... a glowing rainbow colored dildo filled with barbs and spikes! "@)(#*@)(#" shouted Young Master Hai in unidentified language. This of course prompted everyone in the scene to bust their guts laughing. "BWAHAHAHAHAAAA!!" Shuhang laughed the hardest of them all. 37 Gift Within A Gif "I-I say... Young Master Hai sure has some unique taste. I, True Monarch --pffft!-- Kaleido Sage, Dragon Emperor --huhu-- really admire your style. That is definitely the most powerful looking ''Saber'' I''ve ever seen!" Shuhang managed to finish his introduction while also mocking Young Master Hai at the same time before busting into another gut wrenching laughter. Hearing the word ''True Monarch'' in that sentence, Demon Monarch Mad Tyrant who was currently doing his best to hide his snickers suddenly became frozen stiff. Young Master Hai on the other was too overwhelmed with anger to notice the way Shuhang identified himself. This is even more so after he had noticed the Blood Red Saber that he was holding loosely in his hand. There were also 4 blood red crystals hovering harmlessly around Shuhang. "YOU! THOSE ARE MINE!" Mad from anger, Young Master Hai shouted at Shuhang with blood shot eyes. He even unconsciously channeled True Qi into the ''Saber'' in his hand which proved to be a big mistake. Due to suddenly receiving True Qi, the ''Saber'' became ''alive'' as if it''s just been recharged. Not only was it glowing even brighter than before, it even started to wriggle itself in an obscene manner and even started vibrating. To make matters worse, it actually started pulling itself, along with Young Master Hai towards the nearby Demon Monarch Mad Tyrant. "!?!?!" The sudden ''attack'' from Young Master Hai definitely greatly surprised the Mad Tyrant who was just standing there, not understanding how this turn of event unfolded. He wasn''t a 5th Stage cultivator that could take on Seven''s strongest attack head on for nothing however as he immediately reacted. "Younger Brother Hai!?" shouted the Mad Tyrant as he took out his blade and tried to parry away this glowing ''Saber''. Just as the blade was about come into contact however, the rainbow ''Saber'' wriggled itself in a way so as to ''dodge'' the Mad Tyrant''s blade. The way that thing changed directions gave the Mad Tyrant a really bad feeling in his heart. His worry grew true as the ''Saber'' forcibly pulled Young Master Hai along and maneuvered him and itself behind the Mad Tyrant. With his back now drenched in cold sweat, Mad Tyrant suddenly felt his rear bottom in grave danger! "STOP! YOUNGER BROTHER HAI!" With no other choice, Mad Tyrant shouted as he jumped further away from the now frantic Young Master Hai. "I-I can''t control my body!" He shouted back desperately as he couldn''t control his body while his true qi continued to be sucked into the ''angry Saber''. Left with no other choice, Mad Tyrant further increased his speed and distance while shooting a qi beam filled Spirit Energy towards the ''Saber''. As the speed was much faster this time, the ''Saber'' couldn''t dodge and received the attack in full. Mad Tyrant let out a sigh of relief as he was confident that the abominable thing targeting his rear end was definitely destroyed. He couldn''t be more wrong however as it got even more ''energized'' and started wriggling and vibrating even faster! The speed at which it targeted his rear end became even faster as well. "NO!" shouted a now very desperate Mad Tyrant as he increased his speed flying off into the distance. Young Master Hai on the other continued to relentlessly chase after Mad Tyrant into the distance. "KALEIDO SAGE, DRAGON EMPEROR! YOU AND I CAN NO LONGER LIVE UNDER THE SAME SKY!!!!" Flying off into the sunset, Young Master Hai''s voice could be heard echoing off the walls of Blue Origin Valley. Everyone else left at the scene couldn''t help but be dumbfounded at the sudden outburst of that ''Saber'' and looked fearfully towards Shuhang. (S-scary...!! This senior Dragon Emperor... definitely must never get on his bad side!!!) thought practically everyone save for Sixteen and Soft Feather. . . . After a moment of settling their feelings, Seven turned towards Shuhang and asked "Senior... is it alright to just let them escape like that?" After putting the life-bound saber and blood crystals away, he turned towards Seven and explained his reasoning. "Hehe. No need to worry. That ''Saber'' I''ve gifted him wasn''t just a prank. There is a tracking spell on it. It also cannot be hidden from view with any magic/spells and definitely could not be taken off his hand unless he was willing to chop them off." After replying, Shuhang threw a little compass to Seven. His meaning was clear - ''go deal with those guys as you will. they were the ones to provoke you first after all''. Everyone else that heard the functions of that colorful... ''Saber'', couldn''t help but once more getting a shiver down their spine. (Th-this is just too vicious! I''m really starting to feel bad for that guy now...) thought everyone. Soft Feather on the hand just had her gleamed as if she just learned a valuable trick for her next prank or something. "In any case, I extend my greetings to the senior. May I have the pleasure of knowing how to address you?" Shuhang suddenly said towards a certain direction which greatly shocked everyone. With no other choice, Venerable Spirit Butterfly revealed himself which earned a surprise yelp from Soft Feather. "D-Daddy!?" Briefly looking at his daughter, he then turned his gaze towards Shuhang who definitely noticed him since he''s been here. The more he learned about this ''senior Song'' the more astonished he became especially after seeing what his daughter''s gift, the bracelet was capable of. To make matters even more interesting, he could not sense Shuhang''s realm at all! The only way he knew was that he identified himself as a ''True Monarch'' but even then... is that really his true cultivation stage? "This Venerable Spirit Butterfly must thank the junior for taking care of my daughter as well as his generous gift. As I currently do not have anything appropriate, I do apologize for making you wait a bit more before I could give something presentable in return as appreciation." He really... really do want to have a ''talk'' with Shuhang then and there for beguiling his daughter. As there were other juniors nearby however, he had to hold himself back lest he lose face. "No no. Senior is too polite. As it was something I did of my own volition, there is no need for senior to gift something to me in return." returned a smiling Shuhang politely yet not in a servile manner. "As a senior, I insist. My daughter, you''ve had enough ''fun'' for now. Return home with me as you still need to get ready for your tribulation." said Venerable Spirit Butterfly. Not giving a chance for Soft Feather to refute, he pulled her onto his Flying Sword and looked at the rest. "Apologies for not staying however, as I have something, I will be going off first." With that said, he quickly sped off into the distant sky, presumably the direction of their island. Not minding their quick departure, Shuhang turned towards the others and said "Well then. Let''s all head towards the other victim in this ordeal, the Immortal Farming Sect." 38 Its Time... Following the marker he''d left on the little trinket given to the Immortal Farming Sect''s leader, Shuhang lead the group towards their HQ. When they arrived however, there was a tangible air of gloom permeating the premise. Without waiting for anyone''s permission, Shuhang just barged into their meeting hall like he owned the place. Upon entering the room, he noticed right away that everyone wore both the look of anger and depression all the while pointing their weapons towards the same direction. The one person on the receiving end of this is Justmight, the Immortal Farming Sect''s most talented and strongest disciple. He was currently bounded to the ground with magical bindings that for some reason glowed in different colors and continuously shifting. Since some time ago, Shuhang''s energy had been changing into the kaleidoscope''s color and he wouldn''t even be surprised if that becomes one of his trade mark one day. Heck, even the sky where his Spirit Lake lies were in this color scheme. Speaking of which, there was actually an island, with patches greens growing, forming in there as well. At that point of discovery, Shuhang just gave up on guessing where the direction of his cultivation is heading. (Seriously though... why the island? Maybe Ddraig can perch himself there once he gets tired of swimming in the Spirit Lake?) thought Shuhang seriously. Speaking of the guy... Ddraig seemed to have gain an increase in body size during this little nap. If he keeps growing like this, Shuhang suspects that he would grow into around the same size as the Apocalypse Dragon by the time he''s awaken. Which should be some time soon after he''s advanced to 7th Stage, Spirit Venerable. (Actually, this reminds me of something. If Ophis represents the void/infinity while Great Red represents Dreams... then what of this new Ddraig that is fusing with the Kaleidoscope? Dimension? Reality....? I really need to think of a new title for him since literally nothing about him is a Red Dragon anymore. More like... Skittles, the Rainbow Dragon... Let''s think more about this later though as these Immortal Farming Sect''s disciples had been staring at our group for awhile now. Me especially...) Before Shuhang could open his mouth though, one of the people on the scene had interrupted him. "Senior... thank you for the earlier warning. I had wished it wasn''t true but.... kuh!" said Justheart in a pained voice as he gripped his sword to the point that it broke his skin and leaking blood. Their sect master looked even more miserable as he couldn''t stand to greet their groups without his disciples supporting him. With the help of Medicine Master taking care of his injuries... even though he already did before their retreat... both Justmight and that sect leader explained to Shuhang and the group of what transpired after coming back the HQ. Because Justheart and that 3rd Stage female disciple were still hiding themselves, the sect leader was giving Justmight the speech like in the original while handing him the Sect''s Secret regarding that stolen fruit. Just as Shuhang thought, Justmight really did attack the guy with the intention of killing. It was at that moment however that Shuhang''s little trinket activated itself and bound Justmight down and the moment Justheart finally revealing himself. The sect leader''s injuries was aggravated once more due to grief at the outcome and actually made it worse than before. "Sigh, the hearts of men are truly unpredictable things..." Medicine Master sigh as he lamented the decisions of Justmight who seems to be strangely quiet throughout this whole debacle. As his role was only to lead Seven and Medicine Master here as they have unfinished business, he bid everyone farewell and left with Sixteen and Doudou who is being held tightly in her arms. Not to mention the fact that it was about time for Joseph to make his decisions soon.... . . . ''Fellow Daoist Kaleido Sage, Dragon Emperor? This is True Monarch Yellow Mountain. I need to talk to you about True Monarch White. Do you have time?'' Currently walking towards an abandoned building is Song Shuhang, dressed in a casual outfit. On his way to meeting his would be apprentice Joseph Guy to show up, he suddenly received a call and it turned out to be Yellow Mountain. Because of the whole Blue Origin Valley thing, he almost forgot about White coming out of seclusion. ''Of course, fellow daoist. Do you finally have the date and location?'' replied Shuhang casually while thinking (hm... wonder what his reaction would be if I told him I''m gonna be a Venerable in 2 weeks or so...) That''s right... Shuhang had actually decided to delay his breakthrough and waited for Ddraig to wake up first instead. This way, he could allow for Ddraig to finish whatever upgrade he''s going through first before he advanced. Just in case something unexpected might occur again of course... ''Yes. Fellow Daoist White had contacted me earlier. The location of his seclusion is at ******** and will be at this time, ********. I''ve also taken the liberty of sending you a few dozen vehicles of different types in your names as well for fellow Daoist White.'' ''A few dozens? Fellow Daoist, shouldn''t one be enough? Could you perhaps be expecting frequent replacements of some sort?'' asked Shuhang in a subtle jabbing tone while knowing full well of the reason why. Thinking about it... he wondered what would happen if both of them are in the same place with how high both White''s and Shuhang''s Charm + Luck stats are so ridiculously high. Would they clash or amplify each other...? Hm. On the side of the line, True Monarch Yellow Mountain was getting cold sweats running down his cheek. (What a sharp intuition...! As expected of the cultivator with ''that'' kind of fortune telling... No, more like a prophecy...) ''Haha of course not, fellow Daoist. This is just for variety''s sake as who knows which kind of vehicle fellow daoist White would take a fancy to'' smoothly replied Yellow Mountain. He''s not a few hundred years old 6th Stage expert for nothing... there wasn''t even a hint of nervous in his voice as he flawlessly answered Shuhang''s question without truly lying nor telling the whole truth. After talking a bit more, True Monarch Yellow Mountain suddenly shifted the topic to Doudou. It was decided to have Shuhang take care of Doudou for the time being as he himself was a little busy. There was of course rewards promised for the trouble which Shuhang easily agreed. It''s not like he minded anyways. Before he knew it, Shuhang had made it to the abandoned building just in time for Yellow Mountain to bid farewells as their business talk concluded. With his sense spreading throughout the whole building, Shuhang could ''see'' Joseph standing there in the place where they met the first time. "Now then... time to find out what decision ''this version'' of Joseph would take..." 39 Not a chapter but a challenge To you readers out there. If anyone could guess the reasons why I made his inner world kaleidoscope color before I release next chapter, I will do a mass release of minimum 9 chapters and up to a maximum of 20. Have fun guessing though 40 The Incoming Tribulation It had been over a week since the event with the Immortal Farming Sect transpired and a few things had happened in that time period. One of them was that the medicine couple had to leave and cure Medicine Master''s amnesiac friends due to their exploration of the ''Mysterious Floating Island''. But really though... Shuhang knew the real reason why they ran away. It was because Venerable White was about to come out of his long seclusion and would be received by Shuhang. As for Shuhang''s meeting with Joseph Guy Maupassant, he unsurprisingly decided to step forth and entered the dangerous world of cultivation. Apparently... the main reason why he had chose to do so was because he saw the scene of Sixteen, Seven, and the Medicine couples flight and teleporting away with the ''Moon Bracelets''. This had further increased his admiration towards ''martial arts'' and solidified his resolution into becoming a cultivator. When Shuhang had heard his reasoning, he was of course shocked out of his mind. Sixteen aside... everyone else there were 5th Stage cultivator and experts in their own rights. So how then... did this ordinary middle aged guy managed to elude all of their senses?! It''s not like he had a special constitution or anything as Shuhang had checked with ''Divine Sight'' and the ''Library of Heaven''s Path'' multiple times to make sure. With something so strange happening more than once, Shuhang himself to later check this matter out more thoroughly later once he had the time. In any case, Shuhang had of course accepted Joseph as his student. He didn''t give him the status as an official ''Disciple'' yet however and would only do so when Joseph had activated the ''sealed'' knowledge Shuhang had imprinted onto his mind. As he was a middle aged with his own family, Joseph had of course long ago lost his ''original Yang essence'' and missing the best period for cultivation. In order to allow Joseph to tread on the path of a cultivator, he would have to first strengthen his own physique to hell and back before he could even begin to start ingesting the revised ''Body Tempering Liquid''. After showing Joseph the form of the ''True Heavenly Fist'' without the mantra, Shuhang had imprinted the knowledge of the basic fist technique''s mantra in Joseph''s mind. The mantra would of course be sealed and would only unseal itself when Joseph at practiced the ''form'' to perfection and when his body his strong enough. To ensure this, Shuhang had ''boosted'' Joseph''s regenerative ability to astounding heights and gave him the body tempering methods along with a batch of the ordinary mortal version of the ''Body Tempering Liquid'' and its formula. Depending on his resolution and the amount of hard work he put into this, Shuhang predicts that it could take anywhere from 2 to 3 months before Joseph could begin to use Medicine Master''s revised edition of the ''Body Tempering Liquid'' without having his body exploding into a gory mess. After sending him Joseph off, who looks like he''s on cloud 9 and uncaring of the fact that his training regiment looks more akin to torture than training, Shuhang went to a pet store to get that dog food for Doudou. It was then that he had saw the pets being sold there that he remembered about the whole cat raising thing and really bought one while he was at it. What Shuhang settled on buying was a recently born British Short-hair kitten with snow white fur. And just to mess with Venerable White, he named the kitten ''Xiao Bai''. The first thing Shuhang did was of course to ''boost'' Xiao Bai''s life force/life span, intelligence, and its ''aptitude'' towards cultivation. No matter how much aptitude it had though, it still wouldn''t be for awhile until it could start cultivating since it was technically still a ''baby''. The moment Shuhang got back ''home'', Doudou had a reaction that is akin to one finding a new ''bullying target''. This of course made Shuhang amused which he expertly hid with a poker face. Wonder who''s going to bully who once Xiao Bai started cultivating to becoming a ''Monster Beast'' and eventually surpassing Doudou''s cultivation level... . . . [Oi partner, don''t be distracted! The tribulation is about to begin!] Seeing that Shuhang was looking a bit absent minded, Ddraig shouted out from within his inner world. He had awoken only a couple of days ago and boy oh boy was he surprised at the changes. The picture of a mega sized dragon crying in depression was really too perfect and Shuhang made it even worse when he called him by a new nickname, Skittles. It took him a full day in order to calm the guy down and finally accepted his new looks where his scales were no longer red and constantly shifting in colors. "Ah relax Ddraig. It''s just another tribulation. Not like we hadn''t undergone any in the past. 41 An Extreme Way of Running Away From Responsibility On the Nine Provinces (1) Chat Group, everyone was discussing about the Mysterious Island that had been appearing lately once again. Apparently, those that have went to investigate seems to have all suffered the same problem, memory loss. [Northern River''s Loose Cultivator: "As I was saying, leave the safety gears, both modern technology and protective charms to me. That Mysterious Island is much too dangerous otherwise."] [Medicine Master: "Wait until I finished with my investigation in the cause of the memory loss."] Judging by the speed of response, it''s definitely his apprentice uh... wife, Purple Mist, that did the typing. Ever since those two finally got together, she''s been sticking to him like glue. Before anyone could response to Medicine Master though... someone had uploaded a picture with a caption attached. [Kaleido Sage, Dragon Emperor has uploaded a picture.] "About to attempt my 6th Promotes 7th Tribulation. 42 Finally! Some Challenge For A Change... *RUMBLE* Back in the tribulation world, Shuhang who just posted his breakthrough attempt online quickly put away his phone lest it gets destroyed. Looking up, the clouds seem to be filled with flashes of lightning as thunderous booms could frequently be heard. "Ddraig, it''s starting." said Shuhang before he focused in on himself and released his own pressure in order to oppose the one released by the tribulation. As if feeling offended by Shuhang''s action, the black clouds crackled even more frequently and the flashes got brighter. "It seems the first wave is a lightning tribulation..." said Shuhang with narrowed eyes. As there weren''t anyone as of yet who could challenge Shuhang and forced him to put in actual effort, Shuhang was actually really looking forward to this. *BOOM!* Without any warning, a purple light could be seen streaking across the sky and shot towards Shuhang at a furious pace. Seeing the attack coming towards him, Shuhang actually didn''t do anything at all! [Oi, partner! What do you think you''re doing?! Don''t just stand there!] Ddraig shouted out in a hurry seeing as Shuhang not intending to act. Didn''t he just said earlier that he needed to take this tribulation seriously? The hell is he doing now - trying to take the the damn thing head on without any protection?! Before Ddraig could say anything else, the purple lightning streak had hit Shuhang spot on. *DOOONG!* The moment the lightning made contact, the multicolored sky of Shuhang''s inner world actually trembled a little. Strangely, there also seems to be small patches of black clouds gathering with sparks of electricity here and there. Ddraig who was too focused on Shuhang''s latest act of stupidity didn''t seem to notice the changes that were happening however. Not letting up at all, 8 more consecutive purple bolts streaked across the sky and shot towards Shuhang. *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* [Partner! Speak to me!] yelled out Ddraig with a bit of worry. Even knowing that for him to still be there must have meant that Shuhang survived, he still couldn''t help but worry. Soon, nothing could be seen of Shuhang''s body other than smoke and debris caused by the destructive might of the lightning bolts. "Don''t worry too much, Ddraig. The first attack should be the weakest and I''m taking this chance to test the might of my current physical strength." Shuhang responded shortly after the smoke and debris cleared away. Standing inside a crater about 100 meters wide, was Shuhang with black soothes on his face and clothes torn apart. Other than looking a little messy, there doesn''t seem to be any injuries on him at all. "Still though... I can''t believe that was the ''weakest'' one within the first wave was this powerful..." said Shuhang thoughtfully as he used his energy to disperse the remaining lightning that clung to his body. Looking at the tribulation clouds once more gathering its strength, Shuhang thought of using either treasures or formations to block the lightnings but soon waved that idea off. This was a rare chance where he can test and strengthen his physique so Shuhang chose to use only his own body to resist. He would of course use Boosted gear and his sword to resist once it starts getting too much for his body alone. As if sensing Shuhang''s decision, Shuhang''s sword, the ''Severing Heaven Sword'', which is impaled into the ground of the island''s center-most location in his inner world vibrated as if to voice its anticipation. . . . By the 5th wave of the lightning tribulation, Shuhang''s body began to accumulate more and more damage. Even with his ridiculous regeneration, there were still burn marks here and there. The strange thing though, Shuhang''s inner world had also been accumulating clouds and lightning. It was now to the point that Ddraig would notice even if he were blind as there was a constant rumbling of thunder and lightning flashing within. Some of lotus seeds within were even absorbing the electricity every time lightning struck down towards his nascent soul. The strange thing was, the nascent soul is not getting damaged at all and actually getting nourished instead which was why Ddraig hadn''t done anything as of yet. Before they knew it, the 9th wave and the last of the lightning tribulation had come bearing down on Shuhang. "Kuh, True Heavenly Fist!" The moment Shuhang had executed his attack, his spiritual energy moved along the path of his strike while seemingly to subjugated the rest of the nearby spiritual energy as well. Suddenly, multiple images of enormous Kaleidoscopic Dragonic Fists flew to meet the furious lightning causing the biggest explosion to date. *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* The resulting shock wave had actually smashed Shuhang right into the ground and actually leaving an imprint of his body. After that last wave, the tribulation cloud seemed to have lost its momentum and calmed down a bit. Shuhang wasn''t fooled however as he knew that there would be more after this. Lifting himself up with some difficulty, Shuhang immediately got down and used the ''True Heavenly Way''s'' meditation to recover his energy and speed up the strengthening of his body. About 99 breaths of time later, Shuhang suddenly opened his eyes and called upon his flying sword and stood up to face his next trial. Suddenly, Shuhang had felt danger as all the hair on his body stood erect. Acting on instinct, he immediately lashed out with his sword towards his right while raising the hand with the boosted gear up to his neck to block an invisible ''attack''. *SWOOSH!* *DING!* *SCHLIK!* "Kuh!" Feeling a cut into back, Shuhang jumped away from his current location and immediately activated his ''Divine Sight''. What greeted his vision was the sight of hundreds... no, thousands of Wind Blade coming from all directions towards him. With his back now bleeding and for some reason not healing at all, Shuhang let loose a mad grin from excitement. "Now this is what I''m talking about! Now I can actually practice the Movement Techniques from my True Heaven series! 43 F***! Thats Playing Dirty! After an unknown amount of time passed, Shuhang''s body now sported slash wounds all over his body. No matter how fast he could react or how good his movement techniques are, the number of things attacking him are just way too many! Even now, there are still thousands of wind blade left to go through. Every time Shuhang had gotten hit however, the same phenomenon that happened with the lightning tribulation could be seen happening inside his inner world. Instead of just lightning cloud, there are now fierce winds blowing. Unlike with his real physical body though, Shuhang''s nascent soul is actually getting purified further as it withstood the bombardment of the howling wind. It''s almost as if... the wind is blowing away all the impurities of his soul and even the other lotus seeds are getting the same treatment. There are the occasional stray wind blades that hit Ddraig as well, but he just ignored them since his defenses are so high that he couldn''t even feel the ''hit''. Noticing the positive effect the wind had, Ddraig wanted to let Shuhang know but held himself back lest he distract Shuhang which is extremely dangerous considering his current situation. . . . Back with Sixteen at Jiangnan City, she felt her pseudo void core stirring all of a sudden when she was playing Xiao Bai. Startled at the sudden situation, she passed the little kitten to Doudou as she ran towards the house''s basement, heavily fortified by Shuhang to hell and back with formations, to investigate. As soon as she got down, Sixteen sent her senses towards her core which made her miss her Moon Bracelet which started to gain a glow. . . . Soft Feather on the hand only felt something was happening when her Sun Bracelet started glowing. For some reason, she could feel an enormous amount of energy flowing from the bracelet towards her dantian. It almost got to the point that she couldn''t handle it until her Ghost Spirit helped her absorb and refined the energy for her before sending the energy towards her dantian. Just like this, Soft Feather could feel her that her tribulation is increasingly drawing nearer. The same could be said of Sixteen as well. . . . Back with Shuhang, although the number of wounds is still continuing to accumulate, the frequency of it is steadily decreasing as he got more used to the omni directional attacks. "HAH!" *SCHEENG!* *FOOSH* SWISH!* With another flurry of attacks from his sword, Shuhang finally destroyed the last of the Wind Blades thus surpassing the Wind Tribulation. "Hu hu huuuuu.... damn that was tough. Strength wise however... it seems my physical prowess is even better than I thought... To be able to take so many attacks from 8th Stage equivalent in strength like so. Once I finally promote, wouldn''t I be able to take on 9th Stage Tribulation Immortals with just my physical ability then? 44 Lvl Up, Lvl Up, LV UP! As soon as the [Balance Breaker] was invoked, an explosion of power erupted forth from Shuhang''s body. The suffocating aura of power soon condensed itself into physical form, covering Shuhang''s body from head to toe. It''s almost as if... he is donning ''Power'' itself as if it were his clothing. [BOOSTED GEAR DRAGONIC OVERLORD!] What started as a lone glove on one hand, Shuhang is now clad in obsidian black armor of a dragonic design with jagged spikes coming off of both clawed hands and feet. On the back of both hands, elbows, front of the knees, and the largest one, at the center of his chest, were round crystal orbs constantly emitting the kaleidoscope''s light. The brilliant light radiating off of the orbs were bright enough to light up even the darkest of abyss. Not long after, two bone like protrusions the size of his regular forearms sprouted from Shuhang''s back. Following that, transparent veils that radiates glowing particles grew from the protrusions, completing the form of what should be wings. With the appearance of the wings, his armor also gained outlines of what looks like rune language all over. Not surprisingly, the runes were glowing in the kaleidoscope''s color thus completing his transformation into the ''Balance Breaker'' mode. It''s a good thing he did as the descending ball of fiery doom had almost made contact with Shuhang. With narrowed eyes and gritted teeth under his helm, Shuhang willed both his wings to envelope his whole body before boosting both his ''Fire Attribute'' and ''Fire Resistance'' like a man possessed. He of course had chosen not to boost his healing capabilities as they were still being hindered by the Wind Tribulation from earlier. [BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!] And just like so, Shuhang''s whole body disappeared into the scorching flame that is the stronger version of the Great Sun True Fire Tribulation. *BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!* . . . Within Shuhang''s inner world, Ddraig is also facing the same trouble he''s going through. As soon as Shuhang''s body made contact with the Great Sun True Fire, the sky within this world started to once more fluctuate and a great sun came bearing down, threatening to destroy everything in its path. This time, Ddraig could sense that Shuhang''s nascent soul wouldn''t be able to withstand this attack like the previous times. With no hesitation, Ddraig spreads his wings and flew up to meeting the descending Sun head on in order to prevent it from falling. As a dragon, a heavenly one with a big upgrade at that, there was no way this fire could actually harm him. "raaaAAAARRRRRR!" With a furious bellow, Ddraig spread out his energy like a net and ''caught'' this ball of fire before pushing it back up towards the kaleidoscopic sky. After making it passed a certain distance, the ''Sun'' stabilized itself in place and no longer planning to ''fall'' anytime soon. With the ''Sun'' settled in this inner world, it''s ''light'' continue to radiate heat and light upon the world which was once again being taken advantage of by Shuhang''s nascent soul by nourishing itself with the gentle warmth of the flames. Somehow or another, Shuhang''s inner world had gained most of the basic elements that is contained within a ''world''. The island, grass, and lotuses represent the ''Earth'' and ''Wood''. His ''Severing Heaven Sword'' represented ''Metal''. The Spirit Lake... or more like Ocean, obviously represents ''Water''. Finally, from the tribulations so far, Shuhang had now gained ''Lightning'', ''Wind'', and ''Fire''. Drawing on from his partner''s knowledge, Ddraig surmises that once Shuhang began to gain mastery over the ''Laws'' themselves and a few more ''Element'', this place would definitely become an independent world where even life could be supported and thrive. The only thing he doesn''t get is the ''kaleidoscopic'' sky... just what role would it have in the future? One thing for sure though... it looks eerily similar to ''that'' place. Now that, this world was no longer in danger, Ddraig once again flew down towards the island and continue to keep watchful eyes on both this world and on Shuhang''s situation on the outside. As he couldn''t do much else to help out, Ddraig could only place his faith onto Shuhang to surviving this ordeal. . . . Back with Sixteen, her pseudo void core which had Ddraig''s silhouette within in it, started to pulse akin to a heart beat as if resonating with something... or someone. With each beat, more and more energy would be transmitted to her and her Ghost Spirit thus greatly promoting its growth which in turn increases the speed of Sixteen''s growth further. Not too long after, the silhouette of a Void Core could be seen condensing into existence and super imposing over Ddraig''s pseudo void core. The sky over the house had dark clouds gathering before the booming sound of thunder could be heart across Jiangnan City as bolts of after bolts struck the house, trying to reach Sixteen. It was in vain however as it met with an obstacle that is Shuhang''s protective formation, designed and empowered to withstand a Tribulation Immortal''s might. With the strength of a mere 4 Stage tribulation, how could it even scratch, let alone penetrate the barrier? Soon after, the lightning clouds dissipated and Sixteen had succeeded her breakthrough just like that. Within her dantian now sits a irregular sized Void Core that has another Void Core within. A Core within a Core. . . . Soft Feather on the other hand didn''t have a pseudo void core like Sixteen does. What she did receive was that ridiculous boost to her dantian''s size from Shuhang at the battle of Blue Origin Valley. The size of it is actually almost 100x the size of a regular cultivator''s, that is to say, give or take twice the size of the ''Original Shuhang''s'' when Venerable White used the Qi Storage Expansion Method on him. As she had been preparing herself all this time for it, Soft Feather tackled her own tribulation with no fear or uncertainty. Surprisingly, she still had to go through the Heart Demon''s tribulation even in this alternate universe. Unlike the original where she used that ''killer death metal music'' to resist the Heart Demon tribulation, she was instead had the assistance of the brightly glowing Sun Bracelet. Eventually, Soft Feather had also successfully made a breakthrough to the 4th Stage. . . . Back with Shuhang who was still bathing in the scorching flame of the Sun... he was in fact growing more and more irritated by the seconds. Each passing seconds, he''s being oppressed more and more. And with each passing seconds, his armor glowed brighter and brighter as if it was about to melt at anytime. This oppression he''s facing had soon turned into anger. "You got to be kidding me... I, Song Shuhang, one who walks the path of Domination, am being oppressed by this mere... CANDLE FLAME!? AAAAAAH!" [BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][DRAGONIC OVER BOOST!] With this sudden outburst, even more power had erupted from body which began to counter oppress the Tribulation Flames. Before long, Shuhang had over powered it completely and dispersing it altogether! His nascent soul suddenly opened its mouth and let loose a dragon like roar which resonated throughout all of the myriad realms. This sudden ''roar'' startled every cultivators in existence, but it was especially so for those that resides in the Black Dragon World. Once it finished it''s roar, as if declaring its birth to all the worlds, Shuhang''s nascent soul closed its eyes, signifying that Shuhang had successfully advanced to the 7th Stage, Spirit Venerable. Just like that, Shuhang is going through another qualitative transformation, both outside and inside and becoming even stronger than before. Unknown to Shuhang however, the ''Loli?-goddess'' was watching him undergoing the Tribulation from start to finish. Seeing that Shuhang had succeeded, she breathed a sigh of relief before waving her hand to close the portal through which she was watching Shuhang. Whatever thoughts hidden inside her profound gaze was unknown to all but her. 45 Famous Shuhang deleted For about 1 entire week, Shuhang sat quietly in meditation to finish his transformation and consolidate his new realm before he went back ''home''. During his self introspection and examining his inner world, he found out quite a few things. One of which was the 2nd usage of the many... many lotus seeds condensed within his inner world. Other than it have a tiny fragment of his souls which he most likely produce clones out of, they can also be used Medicine Pellets. Once consumed, by someone other than Shuhang himself, their innate potential, purity of energy, and life span would be tremendously increased. With all great things however, there would always be a downside or two to balance it out. One of side effect would be changing the bloodline of a anyone into that of a dragon''s instead. Should they already have a dragon''s bloodline however, they would receive an upgrade instead. It''s kind of like with what happens to Sixteen taking in his essence blood except that these pellets are the less ''refined'' version with an extra added side effect. That side effect would be that, the consumers and their descendant would become something like a contracted subordinate to Shuhang''s. Almost like what happens to a vampire''s victim that got their blood sucked out of them, but not as severe. To differentiate the difference between the two, one could say that a vampire create slaves while Shuhang creates distant relatives. Albeit one that Shuhang could exert and force his will upon them should he choose to do so. At any rate, Shuhang doesn''t plan on giving any of these pellets to people anytime soon. Although, he is very interested with what happens if he lets Xiao Bai take these pellets. Another surprising thing he found would definitely be the ''new things'' that were added into his inner world. One would normally of course notice the addition of the freaking ''Sun'' in the sky and the addition of the new weather system cycles plus the rapid expansion of land mass as well. Shuhang estimates that the land mass is now around 1/2 the size of Japan. That''s literally the size of some of the smaller countries out there! 46 info So, yeah. I re-read the last chapter I uploaded. Well, I messed up... woops. My bad xD. Anyways... because I only had only like... about 40 minutes left to make it on time to that party, I basically skipped a chapter or two when writing and uploading that one. The chapter ''Famous Shuhang'' will get a rewrite to fit this new chapter(s), but changes will almost be nil. Especially towards the end. 47 Appearing Before All Under Heaven Currently sitting crossed leg while hovering in the air, is Song Shuhang whose cultivation stage is being promoted. During his transformation, Shuhang could feel both his body rapidly healing of the previous wounds accrued during the tribulation. Not only that, a piece of knowledge was mysteriously flowing into his head. From now onward, Shuhang would be able use the innate ability of all 7th Stage, Spirit Venerable, True Illusion. Within his inner world, there was also a transformation scene taking place just like his what his body is going through. The land mass that was just the size of an island is now undergoing rapid expansion. Shuhang''s nascent soul was also rapidly absorbing all of the elements that newly appeared within the inner world, with the kaleidoscopic sky being no exception. After an unknown amount of time, Shuhang''s transformation was completed. As of this moment onward, Shuhang has officially stepped into the 7th Stage, Spirit Venerable realm! Happy that he had finally surpassed this troublesome tribulation, Shuhang opened his eyes, thinking that he would be right back on top of that mountain peak he was on early. What greeted his almost scared him shitless as... he was actually still in the tribulation world! In front of Shuhang was a floating message that is asking him to choose a ''Dao Name'' out of two; ''Kaleido Sage'', or ''Dragon Emperor''. Stunned at the sudden development, the gears in Shuhang''s brain moved at ultra high speed before he ultimately chose one of them. The moment he chose, the kaleidoscopic sky of his inner world suddenly had a big fluctuation before a part of leaked out of his body and into the tribulation world. With that, the ''broadcast'' that Shuhang was about to go through... would be not only to his world, but across all worlds throughout multiple realities! . . . On the outside world, every single cultivator in existence suddenly felt their heart stirred. It doesn''t matter what they are doing, where they are currently, what faction they are from, or what their cultivation stage is heck, they could even be in closed door meditation or whatever form of seclusion they''re in; every single person could suddenly feel as if an ''image'' was appearing within the void. Immediately, the whole world was sent into a flurry of discussion. While those that were new to the cultivation world and barely got their feet wet couldn''t tell what was going on, those of the senior ranks could immediately tell that... someone was just promoted to the 8th Stage, Saint Monarch cultivation realm! This is an inconceivable piece of news! The reason why... that is because no one had actually successfully surpassed their 7th Promote 8th tribulation in about a millennia now! Every factions out there were definitely surprised as they wished the person that just transcended be one of their''s. The Buddhist faction, the Taoism faction, Shinto, the Witches and so on and so forth. Within the Nine Provinces (1) Chat Group, there was also a bout of discussion taking place. [Mad Saber Three Waves: "Fuck, which senior just promoted to 8th Stage, Saint Monarch? Does anyone have any information about this?"] Let alone Three Waves, even the eternal online warrior, Northern River doesn''t seem to have any information on who this mysterious Venerable turned Saint is. [Su Clan''s Seven: "I was just about to enter seclusion after having satisfied myself trampling the Boundless Demon Sect before I received this explosive news. @Venerable Seventh Path, did senior just have a successful promotion?"] [Venerable Seventh Path: " 48 Shuhangs Profound Sermon ****Author Note**** Gotta get this out there before the chapter starts. It seems a lot of people are confused as to why Shuhang is doing what is only supposed to be for 8th stage saints only. Well... all I can say is ''Read Further Into the Original''s Raw'' without really spoiling the story for anybody. Specifically around chapter 1000~ish... if I remember correctly? Anyways, you only really need to know that anyone who transcends their tribulation within the ''Tribulation World'', they would usually need to do that whole Manifesting Presence Before the People thing. Anyone that passed their tribulation inside a Tribulation World will get only an upgraded cultivation of ONLY ONE realm, no matter where they''re at. There are no stage skipping. With that said, Shuhang is still only at 7th Stage, Spirit Venerable after the Tribulation. As for the reason why Shuhang''s 6th Promotes 7th Tribulation is so damn powerful; it actually had something to do with the earlier chapter when he saw that ''Prophecy'' with Yellow Mountain. Uh... I think that''s all I needed to get out? Dunno, I prolly miss something but I''ll burn that bridge when I get to it.... In any case, enjoy the chapter. Or not. Up to you o.O . . . Oh wait! There''s one more thing... fuck I forgot it again...!! e.e got distracted by youtube. eh whatever It''s probably not that important if I forgot it so easily... wait! I got it again! Right. Last chapter, it was mentioned several times that ''any cultivators would be able to...'' bla bla This means that cultivators and cultivators only would be able to see Shuhang''s sermon. Which means that no matter how many worlds gets this TV-reception service, if they''re not a cultivator, they won''t be able to view it. So with the exception of some beings due to... reasons... others like Ddraig or Albion won''t be seeing this. Sorry peeps that wanted to see some jelly dragons :3 ***************End of Author Note/Start of Chapter***************** . . . . . . . . ''Heaven''s Path Is Imperfect'' Just from that one line from Shuhang alone had already made quite a big impact on the cultivation community. Those of the junior level didn''t really understand what that meant, but they felt that it would become a very important factor in their future of cultivation. With that, they decided to firmly commit this particular line deeply into their mind. They might not know it now, but just this simple action had already opened up a great many possibilities for them. [Venerable Seventh Path: "Sigh, fellow daoist Dragon Emperor''s knowledge of the profound is truly immeasurably deep...] With that simple sentence, all the other 6th Stage cultivators and higher also voiced their agreements. As the higher senior levels didn''t elaborate however, the lower level juniors could only stay lost within a veil of mist that eludes them of the truth. It''s not as if the seniors within the Nine Province(s) Chat Group were purposefully withholding their understanding, it''s just that they themselves don''t fully understand it either, or at all for that matter. The ones who received the biggest shock and benefits were the other Saints and Tribulation Immortals. This is especially so for the Tribulation Immortals which most immediately received some of enlightenment. Due to the unique situation perpetuated, albeit unknowingly, by Shuhang himself, this is happening across all the multiple realms and realities. The amount of Karmic Virtue he''s receiving was astonishing such that it became strong enough to be able to materialize itself. It in fact, did materialize right away just below Shuhang himself and seem to have even gained it''s own sentience. The Light of Karmic Virtue that is in the likeness of Ddraig himself, before his upgrade though, came into being and let loose a domineering roar which could be felt by all watching this segment. In the HQ of the Boundless Demon Sect, Young Master Hai stared into the void with bloodshot eyes and a trembling hand. The other that was still holding onto a ''Saber'' had its grip tightened until it broke skin. Upon his face was a mixture of rage, fear, and crazed determination. To think that the person he swore revenge upon no matter what turned out to be a Saint candidate... no he already is one at this point. The materialization of that Karmic Virtue is definite proof that his ascension would succeed. . . . Back with Shuhang, he was definitely very surprised at the sudden influx of Karmic Virtues with just his opening speech. Even more so when a mini Ddraig materialized itself beneath him before letting out that roar which seemed as if it was daring any and all to challenge it''s might. The real Ddraig that was also as surprised as Shuhang was. He was even blinking and rubbing his eyes a couple times to make sure he wasn''t seeing things. With great control over his body, Shuhang didn''t let any of his surprise to show and resumed with his intended lecture. He did so by outlining the whole process of cultivation all the way from the ''Transcending Mortality'' stage up to Eternal Being level and all of their flaws. Every words spoken by Shuhang were nothing but ''perfection'' itself and to no surprise, caused a resonance of the World''s Great Way. Why wouldn''t it be perfect? The script he''s reading was something that Shuhang had quickly compiled from the ''Library'' after all. All around Shuhang, it seemed as if the Heaven itself is playing the music while Shuhang''s voice was the singing of a profound immortal. This in turn gave way to even more Karmic Virtue steadily flowing in as the many... many cultivators out there were receiving massive benefits and earning their respect and admiration. The next few words that left Shuhang''s mouth however, instantly brought everyone back down to Earth from their cloud nine. With as much seriousness and solemnity as possible, Shuhang loudly proclaimed to all under heaven to what he really thought. "This process however... is not the correct way. It is a mistake!" . . . Suddenly being woken up from their dizzy spell, the chat group exploded into a flurry of shocked conversations. [Mad Saber Three Waves: "WTF?! Did... did senior Dragon Emperor just say that the way of cultivation that had been passed down from generations to the next since ancient times... is a mistake!? 49 Famous Shuhang *****AUTHOR NOTE**** Phew almost forgot about this little guy, but like I promised, this is the (some what) rewritten version to make it fit the earlier chapter. And like I said before, the changes won''t be that much especially towards to the end. You don''t really need to read this and can skip straight into next chapter, the 2nd arc, and you still won''t miss a thing... uh not too many things... whenever I decide to write the next chapter that is. You should read it though if you never read the deleted version o.o;; *****END OF AUTHOR NOTE***** . . . . . . . For about 1 entire week, Shuhang sat quietly in meditation to finish his transformation atop the mountain peak and consolidate his new realm before he went back ''home''. During his self introspection and examining his inner world, he found out quite a few things. One of which was the 2nd usage of the many... many lotus seeds condensed within his inner world. Other than it having a tiny fragment of his souls which he most likely could produce clones out of, they can also be used Medicine Pellets. Once consumed, by someone other than Shuhang himself, their innate potential, purity of energy, and life span would be tremendously increased. With all great things however, there would always be a downside or two to balance it out. One of side effect would be changing the bloodline of a anyone into that of a dragon''s instead. Should they already have a dragon''s bloodline however, they would receive an upgrade instead. It''s kind of like with what happens to Sixteen taking in his essence blood except that these pellets are the less ''refined'' version with an extra added side effect. That side effect would be that, the consumers and their descendant would become something like a contracted subordinate to Shuhang''s. Almost like what happens to a vampire''s victim that got their blood sucked out of them, but not as severe. To differentiate the difference between the two, one could say that a vampire create slaves while Shuhang creates distant relatives. Albeit one that Shuhang could exert and force his will upon them should he choose to do so. At any rate, Shuhang doesn''t plan on giving any of these pellets to people anytime soon. Although, he is very interested with what happens if he lets Xiao Bai take these pellets. Another surprising thing he found would definitely be the ''new things'' that were added into his inner world. One would normally of course notice the addition of the freaking ''Sun'' in the sky and the addition of the new weather system cycles plus the rapid expansion of land mass as well. Shuhang estimates that the land mass is now around 1/2 the size of Japan. That''s literally the size of some of the smaller countries out there! 50 Tales of Tyrant ****** 1 Currently, I am standing in the middle of a bustling road, inside what looked like a town from a fantasy story. From the clothes worn to the swords and daggers wielded as if it were one of those ''anime conventions'', everybody was going about their business as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Heck, there were even horses and wagons passing by that fit the bill with this Victorian style town and what not. Oh right! Before I forget, my name is Joseph Guy Maupassant. Since childhood, I''ve always held fascination and curiosity for martial arts. More specifically, it''s authentic Chinese Martial Arts that I loved the most. In other words, Chinese Kung Fu! From books, TV shows, to even taking lessons from the so called ''experts''. Sadly, I had to slowly give up my on my passion as I grew older. Even worse, I''ve never been able to find a true master of the authentic arts no matter how long I searched. I even learned the art of Ninjutsu once long ago but it wasn''t what I wanted, so I quickly gave up on that line of pursuit. And just like so, my life kept moving forward. From working, getting married, to even raising a beautiful daughter who is now old enough to attend the local Jiangnan College. After such a long time, my childhood dream were slowly getting buried and forgotten under the weight of everyday life. It was now at the point where i have to accept the reality that the things I''ve seen on TV shows were just that... TV shows. That all holds true until one fateful day however, when my long forgotten dream was once more brought back to life. That day, I was visiting my daughter who stayed at the college''s dormitory rather than commuting from home. While on my way, I happened to have walked passed an abandoned building and for some inexplicable reason, I felt a sort of compulsion to check the place out. It felt as if I didn''t... I would miss the greatest chance of my life. The moment I set foot in the building, the sounds of metals colliding could be heard with the occasional tremor here and there. Curious as to who could be doing God knows what, I slowly moved towards the source of the noise. Using all of the skills I''ve cultivated in my childhood, skills as a ''Ninja'' in particular, I soundlessly made my way to the epicenter of those noise. It was the best decision I''ve ever made. In front of me, were two ''youths'' in the middle of a confrontation as armored fist repeatedly met with saber in blinding speed. They were so fast in fact, that I would only be able to momentarily catch their figures when they paused as theirs blades clashed in a bid for dominance. With every swing, the air vibrated and every punch, a piece of the very durable building shattered into powder. This is literally the stuff of my dream... except it''s happening right before my very eyes at that moment. It''s too bad that this spectacular show had come to an end so soon as one of the great masters with the most handsome of features had noticed me. As expected, he had called me out in the open. At that moment, my passion that was about to die completely had completely revived itself. No matter what... I finally found what I was looking for. Authentic Chinese Kung Fu! Not wanting to waste even a second, I shamelessly groveled to the ground and seek for apprenticeship. Some things happened in between made me waver in my decision, but one of the Great Masters eventually accepted to taking me as a student. He refused to tell me his ''dao name'' however as I''ve yet to meet the criteria he''s set. Why is this relevant to my current situation you may ask? Well... I''m actually not sure either. I remembered going to bed with my wife on my side and when I woke up, I was already standing in the middle of street with curious pedestrians giving me questioning glances as if I had two heads or something. All I know is, I''m still wearing the pajamas I put on before going to bed, still bare feet, and a pink bunny hand bag strapped to my waist. I also must have been standing in the middle of the road for quite a long time due to the sudden development that the high noon had already turned into an orange twilight. Suddenly, I heard the voice of a girl shouting at the tops of her lungs to the side. The contents disturbed me so much that I almost didn''t notice that I could understand their words even though I ''knew'' somehow that they weren''t speaking in neither the English nor Chinese language. "I''m fine with whatever erotic plays you like! I''ll show you I can even endure that slimy acts we used those frogs for!" shouted the young girl that was being given a piggy back ride on top a brown haired teenager. The three other ladies who also happened to overhear let out embarrassed shorts as expected of that of that hardcore info. (I... what? What did I just hear?) thought Joseph bitterly in his heart. Even though unintentional, that little skit actually helped me to relax a little as I once more took stock of my situation. To start off with, I went through the contents of that Bunny shaped hand bag and found quite a few things. One of which I was really familiar with. It was a bottle of the ''Body Tempering Liquid'' that Master had given to me for my training. How does this bag even so much space anyways? Continuing to rummage through the contents, I finally found a letter that was addressed to me from Master. Happy that I finally got some sort of clue, I quickly read the contents of the letter to figure out just what is going and how did I even get here in the first place. ''Dear apprentice, Good job finding this letter. As you no doubt had noticed, you are no longer in Jiangnan City, China. Inside the bag, which will now be yours to keep, there are many essential items which should last you for quite a white in tempering your body. There are also some money and clothing that are stored inside to get you started so you don''t starve or freeze to death or something silly like that. Keep in mind though, that the things I''ve given you are only the bare minimum. Anything else, you will have to word hard and earn them yourself. Anyways, this shall be the first of assignment that I''ll be giving you from time to time. Survive for the next months or so and perfect the form I''ve taught you. Once you accomplish this, I will go and take you home. Good luck. Sincerely, Your Martial Master.'' "Oh my god... I... huh?" mumbled out a very confused Joseph. It was then that noticed a second page and quickly read that as well. ''P.S No need to worry about leaving home all of a sudden. When you return, it will be as if you never even left in the first place. P.S.S This will be the only advice to you this time. STAY AWAY from anybody claiming to be of the AXIS CULT.'' I didn''t know it at the time, but looking back... this is definitely the starting point of which I carved my legend as ''Tyrant ******'' across multiple worlds. No matter how unintentional or willing it was... 51 White "Sigh, Earth really is beautiful from up here..." mumbled Shuhang as he sat in crossed leg on the desolate rock that is the moon. Why was he here in the first place? Well... after the changes in his inner world, Shuhang felt like it was the right direction to complete its transformation before advancing to 8th Stage, Saint Monarch. As there was already a Sun in there, Shuhang felt that he should find a way to install a Moon as well. The problem with that though... he has no idea on how to go about doing that. Hence the reason why he was up here to hopefully get some insights and useful ideas. So far... he''s got nothing to go on. "Hmm... I wonder if there''s anything within my memories that I could use...?" With that, Shuhang closed his eyes in meditation as he delved into his own memories from the past life. He was specifically looking for the memories from other fictional worlds. It might sound silly but... if the world of Cultivation Chat Group existed, then why wouldn''t other worlds? Heck, he even sent his lone apprentice to one of those said ''fictional'' worlds for training and experience gathering. Then suddenly, an idea hit like him truck-kun did an isekai novel protagonist. Wasn''t there a person that was perfect for this? "Yeah... she''s a perfect person I can get insight from, but that world... Going there risks getting the attention of that vampire troll though." The person Shuhang was thinking of was of course the True Ancestor from Tsukihime, Arcueid Brunestud. "Yeah... her marble phantasm seems like it would be a perfect study subject if I want to get one for my inner world. But again... I don''t really want to deal with that damnable troll of a vampire. What a dilemma..." Putting that on hold, Shuhang continued to shift through the many ''fictional'' worlds he knew of. "Sigh, even after looking for so long, only the Type-Moon is a likely candidate to yield good results. I should just come up with counter measures against that damn troll just in case. Tch. If only he was some unpardonable evil overlord or something. That way, I would have a justifiable reason to kill the fucker. Sadly, he''s only an annoying troll that is waaaaay to into magical girls..." Even after spending some time coming up with ideas and wards to keep that stupid vampire away from this world, Shuhang only let out a sigh of depression. As a user of the kaleidoscope himself, Shuhang knows better than anyone how hard it is to stop any users of the 2nd True Magic from coming and going. "Ah crap. I should at least find the coordinate for that world first before I come up with any insurance... Sigh, looks like it''ll be for awhile longer before I can reach the next stage." "Let''s see what else do I need besides the ''Moon'' though. I already have the Sun/Fire, Water, Earth/Wood/Metal, Wind, and Lightning for elements. What I need now are... the laws I guess? Gravity, Space, Time, Yin, and Yang maybe? Wait, the Sun should qualify as Yang already. As for Yin, that should be solved once I get myself a moon or two. Space and Time can also be crossed out since I''m already considered a master of the Kaleidoscope. Huh, so all I really need is Gravity and Yin? Well damn, the shopping list suddenly got a whole lot shorter." Shuhang''s happiness was short lived however as he realized that he doesn''t have a clue as to how to go about getting the ''Gravity''. As for the Yin, he still didn''t have any good idea to deter that Vampire either. "Ah, damn it. Maybe I should just do whatever and ignore that vampire and his antics? Hm?" complained Shuhang when he suddenly noticed his phone vibrating. It wasn''t actually a call but an alarm he had set some times ago. "Oh? It seems today is the day that White comes out of Seclusion and to be piked up? Guess I should go do that..." and just like that, the figure of Shuhang faded away as if he was never there in the first place. . . . Back at home, Shuhang had wanted to ask if anyone wanted to come with him to go and receive Venerable White. Unfortunately, Sixteen didn''t seem to want to go see White for some reason. As for Doudou on the hand, he is still glued to the computer while playing an MMO with his internet waifu. With this level of addiction, that Pekingese of Yellow Mountain''s is beyond saving at this point. Shuhang could only shake his head at the sight of a dog becoming a no good gaming addict slowly degenerating into a no good shut-in... (Well, it''s not like I need them to come along with me just to pick up White anyways) thought Shuhang as he activated ''Divine Sight''. After a short time had passed, Shuhang found White''s location which is in a nameless temple at Linyao Village. After confirming the coordinates, Shuhang put up an invisible spell before flying there at high speed. With no suspense, Shuhang had arrived at the village just in time for the green flute that''s used to contact White had vibrated and a soft and gentle voice resounded. "Hello! Is this fellow daoist Dragon Emperor?" asked Venerable White. For some reason though, his voice sounded a little... strange? As Shuhang couldn''t find out what was wrong with it, he just ignored it for the time being. "Hm. Perfect timing. Hello, fellow Daoist White. I''ve just arrived myself. Are you just about coming out your seclusion?" asked Shuhang in return. "Mm. I''ve just ended my seclusion. I''ll have to trouble fellow daoist to come receive me." said White. "Got it. I can see where you''re at. Although... there seems to be many people still crowded in there and worshiping your statue. Sigh, fellow daoist White is really popular. I think I might be a little jealous. pfft" said Shuhang as he joked around with Venerable White a little. "Haha...." replied White in a stuff manner. Shuhang on the other hand just effortlessly laid down a simple anti crowd ward that covers the whole nameless temple. In no time at all, the worshipers went out of the temple in drove and in confusion as to why they suddenly had the ''need'' to suddenly leave the area. As soon as every cleared out of the place, Shuhang flashed and appeared next to the statue of White before taking to the air and flew towards a desolate area. Neither of those two had noticed the resonance that happened when Shuhang had gotten near White however as Luck and Charm were not visible things. 52 Petty Vengeance *BOOM!* A huge explosion that is akin to the firing of an artillery round went off as Venerable White statue shell was blown away. Soon, Venerable White''s true body was revealed once more after over 100 years of Seclusion training. His figure was like that of an immortal that descended from Heaven. The pitch black hair that flowed down his back, and eyes that shined as bright as the stars, not to mention the white clothes billowing in the wind certain doesn''t do the story about him justice. (Well, I''m still more handsome though. 53 Finally... Made It! In a reasonably sized house of Jiangnan City, Su Clan''s Sixteen could be seen shuffling back and forth in an agitated manner. Every so often, one of her hand could be seen hovering over an intricate looking bracelet. Then she stopped as if resisting temptation before ultimately giving up then repeated the process. The demon dog Doudou who was watching the whole spectacle was started to sport a headache just looking at her. "Woof, Su Clan''s lass. What are you doing? 54 Planning a Visi After cleaning himself up of the dirt and grime, which shouldn''t have even been possible for neither he nor White to get, Shuhang went down to the living room to meet up with White. There, Shuhang found White chatting with Doudou while Sixteen was adding in her own comments every now and then. Unlike the first time that he and White appeared in the house, Doudou and Sixteen don''t seem to be as uncomfortable as before. Are they building up resistance? "Sixteen, Doudou, are you guys helping my friend catch up on the modern world?" asked Shuhang with a slight smile on his face. "Ah, friend Shuhang. Not yet. We were just having a casual conversation." returned White with a temperate smile on his own. "Mm. Let''s do that right now then since there is something that I need to check up on in a bit. Unless you want to wait a bit more?" spoke Shuhang casually. Over the course of that one week of ''journey'' with White, the two had gotten a bit closer to each other. One might even say that they really have become good friends. The only thing that still bothered Shuhang a little was that... no. Let''s not get on that train of thought... "Oh? Is it the ''good idea'' that you suddenly thought of when we were stuck ins--" asked White as he remembered something. Before he could finish the question though, Shuhang hurriedly interrupted him. "Ah aaaah stop stop! We promised never to talk about that! Ever... remember? 55 Uh... Woops? Wrong Exi After finding what he thought was the world he wanted, Shuhang returned to reality and activated the kaleidoscope. Almost immediately after, his room glowed in a beautiful multicolored light before his body faded away from existence as it transitioned from this world to the next. Sixteen who was answering some of White''s questions suddenly raised her head in the direction of Shuhang''s room. "Hm? Something wrong?" asked White in wonder. "Oh. It''s nothing senior. It''s just that I felt senior Song''s presence disappeared just now. He must have went somewhere just now." replied Sixteen smoothly. As she had been practicing in secret lately, she has now been able to formally call Shuhang without stuttering. Of course, she would still refer to him by his name directly were it just the two of them. White who heard her answer showed a surprised expression as he didn''t feel anything at all. In fact, he hadn''t been able to feel neither his presence nor cultivation level ever since Shuhang went and picked him up. White then theorized that Shuhang must have been using a secret technique to hide himself. Seeing as he, a Venerable, wasn''t able to detect anything, it must have been a really powerful technique. (Should I research on a similar technique as well? Hm... 56 Sticking Around For A Bi (Guess I''ll take it as accruing some good karma by helping them out this time or something. It''s going to take at least a couple more minutes before I can use kaleidoscope again anyways...) thought Shuhang as he silently brought out his sword. Zombies are gross so there is no way Shuhang would ever use his bare hand to attack them. Using spells/cultivation techniques in an ''ordinary'' world like this is also a bit overkill. Who knows how the ''will of the world'' aka ''God'' around this part of the multiverse would react to that. "Say, you guys mind if I help out a little? 57 Intro Currently, the group of teenagers, a loli, a puppy, and one Song Shuhang could be seen outside by a river bank with their HMMWV parked. Strangely, there doesn''t seem to be any zombies around this area so the girls took this chance to change clothes while the boys, were talking about how to use the guns properly. "I''m telling you Mr. Shuhang. You''d end up a lot safer if you use a gun instead of a sword!" said the chubby teen almost in a bellow. More like they''re trying to convince Shuhang to take up a gun because it''d be ''safer'' for him that way. If only they knew... Oh yeah. The group had also introduced themselves sometimes during their ''escape'' from the zombies last night. Starting with their unofficial ''leader'', the boy who got pissed on by a little girl (damn pervert... 58 Almost There... With the addition of Shuhang into to the group, there aren''t enough room to fit everyone into the HMMWV at once. This leads to Shuhang permanently taking to the roof of the vehicle which is currently cruising through the city. Oh yeah. Their current destination seems to be Saya''s house as it was the closest compared to everyone else''s. Taking a spot on his laps were little the loli, Alice, and her dog Zeke. Joining him on the roof on lookout duty was Saeko along with Kohta who''s situated himself in HMMWV''s open hatch. As for the reason Alice is sitting with Shuhang this time around... apparently she just wanted to know more about himself as he was one the group know the least about. "So you''re in college, big bro?" asked Alice in wonder. "Mhm. First year of the engineering department." answered Shuhang even as his hands continued to draw low level Talismans onto a notepad. "That''s awesome!... what''s en-jen... en..." exclaimed little Alice before trying to and failed to say the word. At that, both teens on the roof and Shuhang just chuckled at her. Before Shuhang could tell Alice the correct way to pronounce it however, her stomach rumbled loudly as if an ancient monster had awoken from its long slumber. This of course earned a little blush from her and a pat to the head from Shuhang. "Hungry? Here you go." said Shuhang before a round looking ''pill'' appeared in hand. "Thanks big bro! But what is it? It looks like a jewel..." asked Alice as she stared at what Shuhang just gave her. The little dog Zeke let out a bark at the sight of the ''pill'' as if it also wanted one for itself. (Hm... animals truly does have the better intuition than humans. It can actually sense that it''s something ''good'' for it...) thought Shuhang in interest. Since he pretty much got a factory producing the stuff endlessly, Shuhang doesn''t really mind giving one to Zeke as well. "Hm. It''s protein candy." said Shuhang as if he were one of those strange uncles trying to trick little girls with ''candy''. Then with another wave of his hand, another ''candy'' appeared in Shuhang''s hand which was then given to the little dog, Zeke. It barely had a chance to leave his hand before Zeke gobbled the ''candy'' up as if it were the most delicious thing in the world. Alice on the hand, didn''t question it any further once she heard ''candy'' as she also ate hers'' as well. The ''candy'' thing that Shuhang just gave out were of course the ''Dragon Pellet'' produced by the lotuses in his inner world. Once the pellet finishes transforming Alice completely... she''d be able to start cultivating almost right away considering her age. That is if she decides to come with Shuhang once he leaves this world of course. Even if she doesn''t... this new bloodline of hers would definitely help her survive, maybe even thrive in this post apocalyptic world. As for giving one to Zeke... well it''s so that he can become a better protector for Alice of course. Plus, Doudou version 2.0... "Big bro. This candy is weird. It doesn''t taste like anything... 59 Isve Unleashed a Monster... They don''t know why, but listening to Shuhang''s calm and clear voice had immediate effect as they calmed down almost instantly. They felt empowered even. *BANG!* Not a moment too soon, someone opened fire and claimed ''first blood''. "HAHAHA! Kill ''em all!!!" shouted Kohta with a crazed look as he was immediately in his badass mode. Takashi also followed Kohta''s example and started to open fire as well. He does still need to take advice here and there on shooting from the resident gun ''expert''. "BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* Satisfied with their response, Shuhang gave a slight smile before he himself leaped down to a different horde of zombies himself. This is while princess carrying Saeko of course. Once his feet had soundlessly touched the ground, he put Saeko down before whispering into her ears. "Come. Hold nothing back." The hypnotic voice of Shuhang''s brought something that deep inside of Saeko to the surface. A side of her that she had been desperately trying to hide from everyone else. Judging by the manic look on her face, Shuhang smiled in satisfaction as the suggestive hypnosis went off without a hitch. After which, Shuhang boosted the sharpness and durability of her wooden sword to around the same level of a carbon steel sword before she jumped into the fray. . . . *TWACK!* "DIE!" "Well shit... " said Shuhang with a dumbfounded look. All the other teens plus 1 nurse were also just as dumbfounded as him leaving only Alice whose eyes were covered by Kohta. To that, Shuhang secretly gave a thumbs up to their chubbiest member for the quick thinking. *CRACK!* "MORE! 60 Info My old man just had an accident and admitted to a hospital. With that said, I won''t be uploading for a while. Even now, I''m writing from this from my tiny ass iPhone to let you guys know. Again, no updates for both my novels for awhile. 61 Broken "Hm. Seems putting up my guards was wasted effort huh..." said Shuhang as he looked at Saya tackle the woman that showed up in a hug. Apparently, that is Saya''s mother. Make sense though as this location is pretty close to her ''house''. Due to Shuhang clearing out the majority of the zombies and the extra manpower showing up, they were able to get rid of the rest of them without any problem. It is oddly convenient that the HMMWV was able to start up once more as soon as they appeared however. (Was it my luck coming into play? Had the HMMWV been able to start up, ''we'' might have had to ''run away'' before Saya''s mother had been able to come help out after all...) pondered Shuhang. Then without any further fanfare, the group plus Shuhang had joined up with Saya''s parents. . . . *uuoohh* moaned a zombie as it useless tried to reach for Shuhang through the cell bars. It is now the 2nd day that the group had settled into Saya''s estate. Yes, it''s that big. Saya had really down played it when she called the thing a ''house''. Damn rich girls and their eschewed sense of value... On another hand, Saeko had been shutting herself away and hiding from everybody. Or more specifically, she had been hiding from Shuhang. "Hm. This is probably the most in tact zombies I''ve encountered yet. Interesting... This should be the perfect test dummy for my experiment." mumbled out Shuhang as he studied a zombie that was in a cage. It seems that caging this thing is the idea of Saya''s father. (Does he want to do some in depth study of zombies or something? No. Can''t be it. There are no proper equipment for that. Maybe...?) thought Shuhang in contemplation. Before he could delve into anymore theories however, Shuhang had noticed a certain someone walking in his direction. Seems to have a slight hesitation in their steps however... "Sigh, took a bit longer than I thought..." said Shuhang with a sigh. Yet, his gaze never left that of the zombie as he activated ''Divine Sight'' for even more in depth study. A few moments later, Shuhang had deactivated his eyes as his guest had finally appeared in the room. *KACHA!* "Hm. What brings you here, Miss Saeko?" simply said Shuhang as he turned around, completely ignoring the fact that she had just locked the door to the makeshift cell room. "Oh. That kimono suits you very much. 62 Bai With their talk finished, zombie safely sitting in his inner world, Shuhang left behind a very pensive and dazed looking Takagi Soichiro in the holding cell room. After spreading his senses out, Shuhang found what he was looking for and began walking towards Saeko''s location. A few steps out, Shuhang came to a pause as if he had just remembered something and looked toward his shadow. "Right. I don''t know why, but I have a ''feeling'' that things would get a bit... interesting soon. Make sure to stay in my shadow at all times and not cause any mischief. Understand?" said Shuhang suddenly towards his own shadow in an admonishing tone. Were anyone to see him right at this moment, they would definitely think he has a few screws loose no matter how ''charming'' he is. The most surprising thing however, his shadow actually had a reaction as wave like ripple began to appear. Not a moment too soon, a small head began to surface and looking a little embarrassed and flustered. The most surprising thing... its face actually looked exactly like that of Soft Feather''s! Well, there''s actually no surprise there as this is in fact Soft Feather''s mutated ghost spirit. It''s facial features had evolved to be a complete replica of Soft Feather''s herself when it finished synchronizing with her. Sixteen''s ghost spirit is also in the same situation as well. As for why this ghost spirit had been living in Shuhang''s shadow... Well, it actually happened during the Blue Origin Valley battle when she summoned herself to Shuhang. He had of course noticed Soft Feather''s ghost spirit moving in his shadow the moment when she summoned herself with the Sun Bracelet. As he didn''t really mind, Shuhang of course chose not to say anything until now. Knowing her, Soft Feather probably did it so as to leave a kind of... ''informer'' so that whenever something ''interesting'' happen, she wouldn''t be left out of the fun like before. The reason why Shuhang chose to say something now is because they are currently not in their native ''reality''. Not to mention the fact that Shuhang''s sixth sense had acted up once again when he took out the Dragon Pellet just before his talk with Saya''s dad. The first time that it happened was when he had given them to both Alice and Zeke. This really made Shuhang smiled as he has, in his hands, the bait to luring out the possible perpetrator of this whole zombie apocalypse situation. The fact that the zombie had reacted towards it is even more telling. After having not said anything else for awhile, Soft Feather''s ghost spirit had assumed that Shuhang was not angry at ''her'' and is now happily floating circles around Shuhang. "Just obediently return to my shadow for now. If you don''t cause any trouble, I will bring your real body with me on my next trip." said Shuhang with a chuckle as he gently patted the child like ghost spirit. At the same time, Shuhang used the Kaleidoscope to connect the ghost spirit to the real Soft Feather to both send a message and to tell her not to worry about losing ''connection'' while they''re in another reality. The ghost spirit''s body then trembled after hearing Shuhang''s words. With Soft Feather''s real body most likely hearing the message, her ghost spirit happily returned to his shadow thus once more cutting off their connection temporarily. Just in time too as three figures revealed themselves from around the corner. "Oh~! Mr. Song..." "Big bro!" "WOOF!" These three turned out to be a dazed looking school nurse Marikawa Shizuka, Alice, and her little puppy, Zeke. "Big bro, I just saw big sis Saeko. And she was crying!" exclaimed little Alice as she ran up to Shuhang and hugging his legs. This of course caused Shuhang''s onii-chan ''instinct'' to surface as his hand automatically moved to petting her tiny head. Due to Alice''s loud shout, Shizuka, the school nurse had awoken from her dreaming and blushed hard as she walked towards the two makeshift ''siblings''. Inside her mind, she was continually admonishing herself for having ''bad thoughts'' towards a younger man who was still a student. "Hm. I know. I''m on my way to talking to her." replied Shuhang to Alice''s finding. "Miss. Marikawa, I''ll be troubling you to look after little Alice for the time being while I go talk to Saeko." said Shuhang with a radiant smile. This had an instant effect as Shizuka''s heartbeat once more skyrocketed and her face turned crimson. She then nodded her head in a daze. The loli Alice was in turn put on a very confused face. Ever since they have come to this big ''house'', every adults that talked to her big bro Shuhang had been acting weird. (Adults are so strange...) thought the loli as Zeke had barked in the background as if understanding her thought. . . . After a while, Shuhang had to made to the outside of Saeko''s room with the door of course being locked. How can a flimsy door lock out someone like Shuhang though? "Saeko. I''m coming in." announced Shuhang in a loud voice which earned him a gasp from inside the room. Then without waiting for a proper reply, Shuhang used a very tiny bit of energy to unlock the door and waltz in brazenly without its owner''s permission. Before Saeko could even take stock at the sudden situation, Shuhang released the restraints on his ''charm'' and continued walking toward Saeko who is sitting on her bed, eyes still damp. Suddenly, the world around Saeko''s vision lost all color and seemed to have come to a pause. Only the figure of Shuhang had retained movement and color... still vibrant and beautiful. "We need to talk..." said Shuhang seriously. He even went as far as abusing his ''charm'' to get her to talk easier. Poor Shuhang... if only he knew what trouble this action would cause him in the future... . . . Somewhere in the magnetic north pole. A dozen or so figures clad in black robes stood around a glowing giant occult circle with eyes closed looking as if they were greatly concentrating on something. Suddenly, one of the figures had his eyes snap open and exclaimed "I''m definitely not mistaken! This is the 2nd time that such a powerful magic and life force had appeared. How can magical energy possibly appear in this world...?" After a bit of pondering, the one who is assumed to be the leader of this group, ordered the rest of the black robes to prepare to move towards the source of the ''magical energy'', the Island Country of Japan. (Better be quick before this mysterious magical energy disappears like before...) thought the leader of the black robes with narrowed eyes. 63 Night Raid 10 PM. This is usually around the time that most normal people start to hit the sack after a hard day at work. It''s no different now even when humanity is facing the threat of a zombie apocalypse. Except for the night guards, the people currently taking refuge in Saya''s villa are getting ready to turn in for the night. About a kilometer away from said villa, a dozen or so robed individuals had a different idea. The strange thing however, none of the zombies around them seem to take notice of their presence at all. Those zombies were in fact doing their best to avoid the area as if they were afraid of something. "Sir! The creatures are all in place. We can begin the assault at anytime." "Do it." said the leader with narrowed eyes and in an emotionless tone. After receiving the order, one of the robed men walked forward and extended his hand in front of him. Soon, a black, spherical orb began to take shape while the several hundreds zombies in their surrounding began to disintegrate into dust. Several seconds later, the sphere, now the size of a basketball, was condensed and shot forward into the dark night. Seeing this, the leader put on a sinister grin and began to mumble to himself. "...with that much life force, we''ll be done with this world much faster than planned." . . . Back at the villa, inside of Saeko Busujima''s room. Shuhang was currently sitting at the edge of the bed in a relaxed manner. On one of his lap, was the head of Saeko who''s sleeping with a content smile with his hand gently stroking her hair. His eyes however, they shone with sadistic light as he narrowed his gaze in the direction of those robed men gathered. (Hmph. About time they showed up. That massive yin energy I felt though... probably at around 3rd stage, Battle King level? Yet they don''t seem to be cultivators at all... Sure saves me the trouble of rounding them all up though.) Whatever he was thinking about was put on hold however as his free hand was suddenly changed into a hand seal. The Talismans he had been drawing since he''s been in this world, and pasted all over the mansion in the two days that he''s been here gained a bright glow. *BOOM!* As soon as the attack landed, the whole mansion began to shake. The resulting tremor woke up everyone that was currently living in the mansion. As Shuhang designed these Talismans to be able to resist a modern day nuclear strike however, that was the only thing that happened. Sadly, the same couldn''t be said about the wall and gate outside. Even more unfortunate, around 1/3 of the people that camped outside perished right away from the attack. *GASP!* "W-what was that..?!" shouted Saeko who was startled awake. As soon as she sat up, the bed sheets that was draped over her body fell down to reveal her flawless, creamy white skin. Looking as if this enchanting sight didn''t rattle him at all, Shuhang wordlessly handed over her school uniform which he took the liberty of drawing some runes over to Saeko. Along with the uniform, there was also an enchanted katana as well. "Shuhang?" questioned Saeko even as she received the uniform and putting them on. "Meet up with your friends. Also, you don''t need to wait for me." As soon as his words fell, Shuhang''s figure promptly disappeared from the room without a trace. His sudden disappearance of course elicited a shocked gasp from Saeko. She recovered shortly after however as she remembered the things Shuhang told her earlier and the choice she was given. Her thoughts were interrupted however when the sounds of gun fire went off outside the villa. Saeko then no longer wasted anymore time and finished suiting up and bolted out of the room with katana in hand. . . . In the courtyard stood several dozens of men and women fighting off the zombies that were quickly increasing in number. The number had already surpassed the thousands at this point in time and everything looked grimmer by the seconds. At the forefront of the group were Saya''s mother and father. The mother was surprisingly making a Swiss cheese out of those zombies with expert ease with her hand gun. The father on the other hand held a katana with a stone cold face as he thought back to what Shuhang had told him. (Either to live on as an abomination or preserve our humanity but live in servitude... sigh) "Men! Tonight, we shall rid of these monsters and avenge our fallen! With me!" shouted Soichiro Takagi as he took out a multicolored pellet from his breast pocket. His wife, Yuriko Takagi, followed suit and both swallowed the pellets with no hesitation. Seeing their actions, the men that were fighting alongside them also did the same. Although they had hesitated a little, they still took it in the end as even their leaders had done so without any qualms. . . . Back at the garage, a HMMWV roared to life as a group of people surrounded it. Those people were Takashi, Rei, Kohta, Saya, the nurse Shizuka, Alice, the dog Zeke, and the mechanic that fixed up vehicle. Perhaps drawn over due to the noise of the engine, a handful of zombies staggered towards the garage. "Zs at 8 o''clock!" shouted Kohta to grab everyone''s attention. Before they could bring their guns to unload some rounds though, the sounds of steel meeting flesh could be heard as a figure lithely dashed about in their midst. Every cut made, a zombie was cleanly separated in two with no resistance as a trail of light radiated off the katana. As it was happening too quickly however, everyone just ignored that tidbit and thought it was the reflection coming from the slowly spreading fire. "Big sis Saeko!" happily shouted the only loli of the group, Alice. "Where''s big bro at?" . . . A kilometer away from the ensuing chaos. "These mortals are putting up a better resistance than I thought..." said the leader of the robed men with a frown. Before he could say anything further however, a soft and crisp voice was heard which completely startled the group. "Hm. Is this all of you? I have some questions for you..." "!!!" Looking up at the source of the voice, the dozens or so robed men found a very beautiful looking youth standing atop a light pole. His eyes were glowing in multicolored light sending chills up their spine. It seemed as if all of their secrets and their entire being were seen through with just a glance. This youth... was of course the reality hopping, Song Shuhang! 64 Probing While the rest of the robed men were still reeling in shock at the unexpected intrusion, their leader return a ''glare'' towards Shuhang. Suddenly, the surrounding air became heavier and in his hand, a blood red sword appeared, as if out of nowhere. The most terrifying thing about this sword is the aura of death and despair that it radiated. Something like that is only possible were it to taste the blood of thousands upon thousands of lives. *SWOOSH!* With a seemingly ''gentle'' swing, a dark red light shot towards Shuhang mercilessly. Everything in its path were threatened to be devoured. Even the surrounding seemed to become dimmer than normal. Soon, the light fully envelope the light post along with the figure of Shuhang and continued flying off into the night sky. Seeing as there was no resistance to their leader''s attack, the robed men visibly relaxed their posture. That didn''t last long however as they soon heard a voice behind them. "Hou... that was at least 5th stage level." "!?" Quickly turning around, the men found the person who was supposed to have been reduced to space dust from the attack. What was more concerting is that he didn''t even look perturbed. It was as if the attack earlier didn''t even happen at all and everything was just their day dreaming. "It''s an ''Awakened''! Activate the barrier!" With the sudden shout of their leader, everyone snapped out of their stunned state and went into action. Immediately after, half of them took out staves and surrounded Shuhang. The other half took weapons such as swords, daggers, and even a scythe as they hastily stood in front of the stave users. It''s as if they have practiced hundreds, thousands of times before as they moved with flawless precision. Not a moment too soon, the staves gained a glow as a black dome covered the whole area they were in. As one who is extremely proficient with the use of spatial magic, Shuhang could immediately feel that they were enclosed in a different space, separate from the real world. The best part of this though was the lack of ''connection'' towards the world. This means he could go all out if need be and he won''t get ''rejected'' by the world. The leader of the robed men at this time became extremely wary of Shuhang as he still calmly watching everything happening in front of him in interest. His experience with fighting against the ''Awakened'' in their dark barrier usually starts with panic and then despair as they realized their situation. This strange... ''awakened'' in front of him though, he was still calmly watching everything as if nothing in the world could affect him. Shuhang on the other hand wasn''t as serene as he portrayed himself to be. When he checked them all out earlier with his ''Library'' through the ''Divine Sight'', he understood that they were not natives of this world. It wasn''t strange that they were speaking in a language that he''s never heard of before yet he still could somehow understand their intention... The worst part is that he still couldn''t get their full information even with the ''Library of Heaven''s Path''! (This is impossible! How can they evade the ''Library''? Unless their origin came from a time even before the library...? Also, wtf is an ''awakened''?) thought Shuhang grimly as he went over every possibilities he could think of. Shuhang had put his many hypothesis on hold however as he noticed the absence of the one who attacked him earlier. The close combat weapon holders were also advancing towards his position. Possibly trying to end their ''threat'' as quickly as they could. (Hm. No matter. As long as I keep one alive, I could read their memories and find out... No. I should get at least one staff and one melee weapon user.) With that thought in mind, several sword Qi appeared around his body and shot towards his assailants. *BANG!* "Ugh!" "ARGH!" Immediately, all the robed men were blown away before they could even react. After flying for a couple of meters, their bodies were blown apart like popped balloons. In the midst of all the blood and gore, a staff and a scythe user were somehow still in one piece as they were blown away a bit a further from the battle field. *SWOOSH* Suddenly, Shuhang could the wind''s movement from his back. As if having expected this, a sword with the characters ''Heaven'' and ''Sever'' on both side of the blades appeared within his hand. Quickly turning around, Shuhang calmly parried every attack as sparks flew with every contact. Within just a quarter of a minute''s time, they had already exchanged hundreds of moves. The only difference is that Shuhang hadn''t move a single inch from where he stood while the robed man was already starting to accumulate sweat. *DING!* *DING!* *DING!* (Interesting... his sword wasn''t cut apart even after this rounds. No. I can see some cracks after each exchange, but they actually regenerated just as quickly... even if I''m holding back a lot.) thought Shuhang in interest at the enemy''s weapon. (Also... just how can this guy be so physically strong when he''s not even a cultivator? The ''ancient witches'' back ''home'' can have the same attack power as those of the same ''rank'' or higher, but their physical body are complete shit...) With his current strength to fight on par with an ''ordinary'' tribulation immortal, Shuhang could have easily ended the fight just as quickly as he started if he so wished. The reason he didn''t however was to find the capabilities of these guys in case there are other tricks like this ''barrier''. It would be even better if there were backups as he would be able to learn more of their ''methods''. *BANG!* "OOF!" Even after fighting for awhile, there weren''t any new moves so Shuhang decided to just end it with a kick to his stomach. Even with him holding back as much as possible, the robed man already nearly killed as he was throwing up a copious amount of blood as he struggled to stay standing. With a light step, Shuhang then appeared in front of the robed man and proceeded to dismember all of his limbs so there wouldn''t be any chance of escape or retaliations. *SWISH!* *BUCHI* *THUD!* *THUD!* *CLANG!* With all limbs and weapon falling to the floor, Shuhang then mercilessly grabbed his head and spoke in a cold tone. "Well then. About those questions I mentioned earlier..." 65 Oh... SHIT...!? Within a dreary looking artificial space surrounded by blood and gore, there stood Shuhang who was nonchalantly holding a bloodied, limbless body, who was barely hanging on to life. There were of course a few glowing runic symbols all around to seal both body and mind of the robed man so that he won''t try anything. "Hm... should I use White''s version of mind reading magic? Yeah. Let''s go with that." *DING!* [C: ] [D: ] [E: ] [F: ] "As expected... it''s really hard to fathom the inner workings of that White fellow''s head. How did he even thought to make this magic become something like this.... =.=;; " As soon as Shuhang had activated the ''Mind Reading Magic - White''s Edition'', a bunch of computer terms/folders appeared in his vision. There was of course the C: folder which contains the basic functions which makes and defines what kind of being they are. In other words, it contains the Operating Software which controls the Hardware that is the physical body. Then there was the D: folder which is where all their memories are stored. As for the additional E: and F: folders though... they are more than likely ''plugins'' or external power which enable their strangely high powered abilities even though they''re not cultivators. "As expected... it was external power that allowed for his strength to be at the 5th stage. Must be the same with the other mobs as well. Why are there two ''plugins'' for this guy though?" After mumbling to himself a white, Shuhang decided to not do guess work anymore and actually start with reading his memories. C: folder can be left alone so Shuhang moved his figurative ''finger'' in his mind and clicked on the D: folder. *DING!* [OPEN] [DELETE] His main objective is to of course ''open'' the D: folder. What greeted his eyes after opening the folder were thousands of files which were named/ordered by the ''dates'' in which they were created. Scrolling down all the way to bottom, the memories seemed to have stopped at the date about a month before the start of the zombie apocalypse. With that in mind, Shuhang chose a memory that was a couple of days before the latest. *DING!* [VIEW] [MODIFY] [DELETE] [RETURN] And of course Shuhang would choose the ''view'' option since the other options were useless for this particular occasion. What he saw only made Shuhang frown as they only contained what one would expect of an ordinary adult male. Deciding to look at a different memory, Shuhang picked the very latest one this time. Again. It was all just the memories of an ordinary man''s point of view doing very ordinary things. Well... if you could call this pervert who likes to put spy cams in girls'' changing room ''normal'' that is. (The fuck is wrong with this world...?) thought Shuhang morbidly... When the memories ended, everything just got cut off abruptly. It''s almost akin to when one is watching a MyTube video only to get cut off in the middle when their internet connection is lost. "Hm. ''This''... is the latest memories? Strange. Why did it get cut off in the middle?" mumbled Shuhang with a frown on his face. He had an idea of why this might be so, Shuhang decided to view a few more memories from the middle of his life then a few more at the beginning, which would be the robed man''s childhood. What he saw were as expected, there were only the life of an ordinary mortal. There were nothing at all which suggests that he had any connections to the ''super-natural side of the world''. "As expected, this guy was just an ordinary person with his body hi-jacked by someone else... My answers lay in the other 2 folders then." Without wasting any time, Shuhang opened the E: folder and started with the very first ''memory''. Shuhang wasn''t disappointed this time as just from the very first memory, he was able to find out what their race looked like. They''ve got humanoid shape, blood red skin, overly large fangs, protruding horn from their bald head, and eyes that were all black just like that of a ''demon''. Going further down the memory lane - uh, list... Shuhang was able find out more things. Things like the structure of their civilization, which closely resembles that of Earth''s dark age. As for their power source, it seems related to the ''God'' that they worship. Apparently, the stronger their ''belief'', the more ''power'' they receive in turn. As for the whole invasion thing... there were strangely a lot of missing details. The only thing Shuhang had picked up was their goal of stealing the invaded world''s life force and offering it to their ''slumbering God''. As for the ''Awakened''... they seem to be the invaded world''s original inhabitant that were given ''Super-natural ability'' by their very world itself to resist the invasion. If the invasion fails, even the planet''s life force itself would be sucked dry after all. This would naturally lead to the death of the world itself. "Ah... fuck me side-ways. Siiiigh. A bunch of religious fanatics that spans across their whole species. It''s even worse that they can travel to different worlds by proxy via body possessions. =___=. Why the fuck would losing their life force turn them into un-dead though? Wouldn''t they normally just die? Also, are the memories spotty because it''s only his proxy body and not the real one?" Unable to get any other clues, Shuhang decided to check out the final F: folder. Although his cultivator''s intuition is telling him to stay away, Shuhang decided to push on and open it anyways after putting up some safety measures. Or at least he tried to. *DING!* [ACCESS DENIED] [(#*$_IW#+@$#(()*&)!(@)($] "FUCK!" yelled ''Shuhang'' as he could feel his mind being sucked in by something. Looking at the source, it was actually the blood red sword wielded by the robed man! The worst part, he was actually unable to resist the suction! In just 2 breaths of time, 1/3 of his ''mind'' actually was already swallowed by the sword! "Tch. A fail safe to trace back to whoever foiled their plans?!" cursed Shuhang as he felt that he could no longer resist the suction power. Soon, all of his ''mind'' was swallowed and the only thing he could see was a dark tunnel which lead to a very, very far away place. After an unknown amount of time passed, ''Shuhang'' finally exited the tunnel only to be met with a hideous, gaping maw the size of a house which swallowed him whole. 66 Wake Up Call Looking on in sheer horror at the fate of the ''Shuhang'' who got swallowed whole by an abomination on the other side, the real one was sweating buckets and shitting bricks. "HOLY FUCK! What the shit was that!? Good thing I made a virtual construct out of sword Qi to open these folders instead of the real me..." Feeling that the ''tunnel'' was still opened, Shuhang quickly acted and operated his energy. Immediately afterward, both soul and the ''living corpse'' in his hand exploded into space dust. Just to make doubly sure that the ''tunnel'' was shut tight, Shuhang stomped on the ground hard. This in turn kicked the blood red sword high into the air. Then with a flip of his hand, his ''Severing Heaven Sword'' was enveloped in intense pseudo saber Qi which was soon burst into flames. This time, Shuhang doesn''t want to just ''sever'' the connection, he wanted to completely obliterate the damn thing. This is why he''s not using his signature move, but instead is using Daoist Priest Scarlet Heaven''s signature move, Heaven Scorching Saber. With another thought, ''Boosted Gear'' appeared on his left hand and a series of overlapping [BOOST!] resounded in this god forsaken space. [BOOST!] [BOOST!] [BOOST!] [BOOST!] [BOOST!] [BOOST!] [BOOST!] [BOOST!] [BOOST!] [BOOST!] [BOOST!] [BOOST!] [BOOST!] [BOOST!] [BOOST!] [BOOST!] [BOOST!] [BOOST!] [BOOST!] [BOOST!] With every resounding boost, the intensity of the flame grew to an even higher level. Even though Shuhang hadn''t released the attack yet, the entire space itself was already starting to catch fire. Even though it shouldn''t even be possible. But then again... the ''intent'' of this attack was to burn ALL myriad things, heaven itself included. In that way, maybe it''s not too big of a surprise considering all the boosts it''s receiving. *!!* Feeling that it was at the highest strength the attack could reach, Shuhang wasted no time in unleashing this devastating attack. "HEAVEN SCORCHING SABER!!!...(sword edition)" *FWOOOSH!* As soon as the attack was released, tyrannical flames that threatens to burn all the myriad existence, even the heaven itself, fully erupted and enveloped the blood red saber. Not a moment too soon as well since Shuhang could hear a soul stirring roar emitted from the sword. This voice actually sent shivers down his spine and his heart palpate in fear. *ggggraaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!* As the flames continued to spread, more of the artificial space cracked and shattered signalling the collapse of this ''world''. The flames were so intense that Shuhang''s clothes started to smoke, threatening to burst into flame as well. As if just realizing something, he quickly spread his senses out and discovered that his would be prisoners were indeed affected as well. "Aah. Yup. Not even ashes remained now... damn. And to think that ''God'' of theirs is still in a weakened, slumber state. Were it to wake up..." mumbled Shuhang with narrowed eyes. For whatever reason, Shuhang suddenly recalled the memories to his first meeting with that loli-goddess. "''Erasing dead worlds''.... was it? Could there be a link...?" Just the thought that there might be a connection alone made Shuhang''s whole body tremble for a good few seconds. Is it possible that someone as powerful as her isn''t able to deal with this slumbering ''God''? Was this the thing that she was warning him about whenever he planned to travel to different worlds? "Shit...! If... if what I think is true... my current strength is still too insignificant. Should I increase the speed of my cultivation? But how? My conjecture that I needed the ''gravity'' and yin/moon aspect for my inner-world might be wrong... Ever since I stepped path onto the 5th stage, I have already deviated too far from everyone else. Now that I''ve reached the 7th stage, even the ''Library of Heaven''s Path'' is unable to determine my future path. How do I even ''speed'' up at this point...?" Were anyone to see the current Shuhang right now, they would surely think that he''s lost his marbles as he kept mumbling to himself while pacing back and forth. Not even the on-going destruction of the ''world'' around him wasn''t enough to pull Shuhang out of this fear, confusion induced trance. Even the Ghost Spirit of Soft Feather still hiding in his shadow was starting to worry about his mental health. As he was still in his own trance, Shuhang failed to notice the ''black karma'' string slowly coming into being between himself and the ''God'' across the void. Most likely, it was due to the Qi that was swallowed by the other party earlier. Just as it was about to completely form, a ripple in the void appeared and obliterated this would be connection. This in turn instantly destroyed the still burning space and successfully ''waking'' Shuhang up as he returned to the ''real world''. *GASP!* "Wha-? What... who was that? So powerful...!! Why did it feel so familiar? Was that a warning for me to leave this world..?" Taking a moment to compose himself, Shuhang finally calmed down and did a light bow towards the owner of that power just now. At his current state, he couldn''t afford to offend whoever that was just now after all. Looking towards the direction of the mansion, Shuhang could see that Saya''s parents and the rest of the survivors'' resistance was still on-going. With a light step, he appeared within the mansions court yard once more and spread his power. "Huh!? What''s going on!?" "Th-they all stopped moving?" As none of them had cultivated and opened their heart aperture, they were unable to see the glowing runic symbols covering the 1000+ zombies. This was Shuhang using ''Sealing Arts'' in order to get future experimental samples. Within mere seconds, multi-colored light covered all the zombies and condensed them into small beads which were then collected into his inter-spatial ring. There was no way Shuhang would put these things into his minor world... not with the threat he just witnessed earlier. While he was at it, Shuhang had put all survivors who had taken the ''pellets'' before into stasis state and stored them into his inner world. "Hm. Can''t leave without my future servants after all... Explanations can wait. Now then, where is Saeko and the rest of the group?" said Shuhang as he once more spread out his senses. After finding them, he once more disappeared from where he stood and reappeared besides the group. Afterwards, he directly turned all the Zs into space dust. He didn''t even bother questioning why these guys came out of the HMMWV and fought the Zs outside instead of focusing on escaping. The sudden disappearance of the zombies of course made the group gape in shock. Shuhang didn''t give them time for any questions however as he fired off a question of his own right away. "Saeko, Alice, I''m leaving this place for good. Are you willing to come with me?" 67 Going Home...?! The hell!! "SURE!" shouted an excited voice. She didn''t even appear to hesitate a bit for that matter. (Must be because of the connection she felt from taking the ''Dragon Pellet'') thought Shuhang as he came to the only plausible conclusion. Saeko on the other hand was still thinking about it as unlike the others, she knew exactly what Shuhang meant when he said ''leaving''. Seeing as he won''t be getting the answer anytime soon, Shuhang looked at the others and asked them as well. Even though he didn''t have any obligation to, he did met up with them by ''chance'' and stayed together for a few days. "And everyone else?" "...." After looking at each other for a bit, they''ve all reached the same conclusions. "Sorry, Shuhang-san. But Rei and I still have to look for our parents..." replied Takashi. "Umu. I as well." added on Kohta while pushing up his glasses. Soon, the rest of the girls save for Saeko replied in a similar way. "...alright" was all Shuhang could really say at this point. After thinking for a second about something, he looked towards Saya. His incredibly high ''charm'' and serious face caused her heart to flutter a bit. Until she heard what Shuhang said next that is. "Saya. Both your parents are coming with me as well. Know that we won''t ever return. Do you have any message you want to convey to them?" As if she was physically struck, Saya reeled back in shock at what she just heard. Hearing him, Takashi and Kohta both frowned a little as they alternate their stares between Saya and Shuhang. Mean while, Saya continued to glare at the ground while gripping her hands the hardest she could. So as to give her some time to think, Shuhang then looked towards Saeko once more. This time he expects nothing else except the answer from her. And as if sensing the demand from Shuhang, one could see the struggle she''s facing in order to reply when she bit her lip almost hard enough to draw blood. After a moment, she finally resolved herself and looked straight into Shuhang''s eyes. "I... choose to stay. I still need to find my parents as well." Hearing her answer, Shuhang slightly raised a brow in surprise. Of course, what surprised him wasn''t the rejection itself. At this moment, Shuhang could see the karma threats connecting Saeko and him are becoming increasingly faint before disappearing completely. (I see... what I saw wasn''t something set, but only a possibility. Since she decided to stay, that possible connection was severed as well.) thought Shuhang as he arrived at the only possible he could think of. Since she''s made her choice, Shuhang could do nothing else but sigh and nodded in acceptance of her answer. Seeing as Saya still haven''t given her reply even after all this time, Shuhang put both Alice and the pup Zeke into a stasis state and put into his inner world as well. Ignoring all their shocked gasp once more, Shuhang turned around and started to walk away. Until... "WAIT!" shouted Saya in a hurry. "Tell them... tell them to take care of themselves. I''ll... be fine on my own..." Giving Saya one last look, Shuhang nodded in acceptance and began walking away once more before disappearing completely from their views. After a few seconds passed, both Takashi and Kohta placed both their hands on her shoulders and smiled. "You''re not alone... We''ll be here with you." said Takashi. "Mhm" nodded Kohta. Now with some tears in her eyes, Saya was about to say something before she got interrupted by a crushing hug from behind. "That''s right! We''ll be with you, Saya-chan! fufufu" The culprit was none other than the busty, blond nurse, Ms Shizuka. Before they could get anymore sappy though, Rei broke everyone up and ushered everyone to continue on their journey lest the zombies surrounded them once more. . . . Else where on a deserted roof top, Shuhang had already activated the kaleidoscope. His target is of course to go back ''home''. As much as he wants to continue searching for the ''nasu-verse'', that thing he saw earlier was enough to some what deter him. He needs a break or two first before beginning the search once more. Not to mention the zombies that he''s going to need to do some experiments on. Maybe do one or two pranks on ''White''... Soon, the magic had fully activated and Shuhang was about to transition towards the chosen ''marker''. For some odd reason though, Shuhang felt the need to curse the kaleidoscope over and over for bringing him to this damnable world. . . . Else where in a different reality, inside the basement of an old western mansion, inside a buried trunk; 2 different objects started to gain a bright, multi-colored glow as if reacting to something. One of those object was a sword made of jewel. The other was a a circular object the size of a palm with a star in the middle and wings protruding from the outer circle. "Hmmmmm?! mu mu mu? Master?" muttered the ''object''. Shockingly, it was actually sentient! It was capable of speech even! Alas, no one could hear it ''talking'' as the trunk it was locked inside was somewhat special as it was magically ''sealed''. In this same basement, there stood a twin tails girl wearing a red turtleneck shirt, mini skirt, black high knee socks and shoes. She appears to be uttering an incantation like one would expect of the occult. ''..... I here by swear That I shall be all the good in the world. That I shall defeat all the evil in the world. You seven heavens, clad in the three great words of power, come forth from the circle of binding.... Guardian of the Scales!'' *SWOOSH!* At the conclusion of her incantations, wind swept throughout the dreary basement and sparks scattered which messed up the room even more. "Huu huu huuu. That was flawless!" After some light gasping, the girl suddenly shouted before performing a little bit of self gloating. After noticing that she was alone in the room though, she donned a look of confusion. Suddenly... *BANG!* "Why...!!!??" shouted the girl as she quickly ran up the stairs and forcibly opened the jammed door connected to the living room. The first thing that greeted her eyes was a very... very ''beautiful'' youth wearing the casual clothes of a teenager. In that moment, the world itself lost it''s color where as the youth was the only thing in existence that retained colors. Said ''youth'' was completely sprawled out upon wrecked furniture and staring at the ceiling with lifeless eyes. Whatever thought ran through his head was unknown to all except him. This youth is of course... Song Shuhang! 68 Not So Great 1st Meeting A few minutes earlier; before Shuhang''s ''explosive'' entrance. . . . Within an endless expanse of white, a white haired beautiful goddess was staring at an open ''portal''. In it, a conversation between mortals was taking place. ''Saeko... are you sure about this?'' asked a black hair youth as he glanced at ''Saeko'' who was listlessly stroking her katana with a vacant look. This sudden attention towards her caused Saeko to pause in her action as she stared at the multi-colored jewel encrusted upon it''s scabbard. Seeing as Saeko wasn''t willing to say anything, the black hair youth left her alone to keep vigilant eyes on the road once more. The voyeur goddess that saw this scene however.... she just hummed and mumbled to herself. "Hmm... well now. As a woman myself, I can''t let you run away from your ''responsibility'' now can I, Mr. Shuhang?" With that, she flicked her finger once and a ripple could be seen on the open ''portal'' which then disappeared without a trace. . . . Back to Shuhang who is now in transit; he suddenly felt that something was off. This of course startled him greatly as mistakes during use of kaleidoscope could be deadly. What he found out, Shuhang definitely wasn''t happy at all. It appeared that his destination was being re-routed! (FUCK! What now?!) thought Shuhang with gritted teeth. There was nothing he could do at this point except mentally preparing himself however. After an unknown amount of time passed, Shuhang had successfully exited the space-time tunnel and... collided with a person! With a quick glance, Shuhang could see that the person he collided with had white hair, tanned skin, and red clothing. Due to him still being a bit ''high-strung'' from the previous world''s encounter, Shuhang reflexively lash out an attack which ''broke'' the white haired guy into pieces. "AH!" Before he could even finish acting startled, the nascent soul within his inner world shook a little and opened it''s mouth. Instantly, the scattered ''pieces'' of the person Shuhang just attacked were completely absorbed with no chance of the opposite party resisting at all! (The hell? That was... a soul? Wait, those features... why do they look so familiar?) thought Shuhang in a bit confusion. Before he could finish his train of thought though, Shuhang was suddenly bombarded with ''information'' from who knows where. The things he received were the information regarding something called the ''Holy Grail'', a magi war, and more stuff about the ''modern world'' so on and so on. After the information transfer finished, his body was ejected from this space and materialized to the ''real world''. *BANG!* "..." Speechless. After fully digesting the information ''upload'', Shuhang could only continue to lay where he was and stared at the ceiling with life-less eyes. (What... the fuck? How did this even happen? I mean seriously. What... the fuck?) thought Shuhang as he once more began to curse the ''kaleidoscope'' and his supposed high as fuck ''LUCK'' which put him in this situation. Seriously. Did his lady luck decide to take a sudden vacation these past couple of days or something? As a myriad of thoughts ran through his head, Shuhang suddenly heard the sound of someone running up the stairs before shoving open the nearby door. Shuhang ignored this though as he finally realized WHO it was he ''bumped'' into. (Seems I somehow intercepted Archer''s summoning and became a ''Heroic Spirit'' in his place... That little girl whose standing stock still with a wide gaping mouth must Tohsaka Rin, my ''master'' for this Grail War...) What Shuhang didn''t realize was that due to continuous shock from the sudden circumstances, he had forgotten to suppress his ''charm''. This is the reason why little miss Rin over there got a flushed face and panting really hard. It looked as if she was about to ''pounce'' on him at any moment now. That didn''t happen however as she somehow gathered her will at the last moment and gritted her teeth. She then proceeded to grasp the arm that had the ''crest'' and proceeded to... activate it! "By my command as your ''master''... I order you to stop using your ''charm'' ability!" shouted Rin at the top of her lungs. As proof of successful activation, a red glow spread from the ''crest'' and enveloped the still despondent Shuhang. Suddenly feeling a very feeble power covering his body and ''suggesting'' Shuhang to stop using his ''charm'' ability had successfully drawn his attention. The only thing that did was annoy him though as Shuhang figuratively swatted the ''suggestion'' away like a fly and finally laid eyes on his ''master''. Of course, he didn''t forget to rein in his ''charm'' either which gave Rin the illusion that her ''command'' had succeeded. "Ugh..." grunted Tohsaka Rin as she averted her eyes from Shuhang''s. Even though her ''command'' had succeeded, she had still taken the full blown effect at a very close range so she was still affected just by his mere presence. Seeing that Rin wasn''t willing to start the conversation, Shuhang just sighed very loudly on purpose to annoy her. This of course had the effect that he wanted as he was able to somehow ''see'' the tick mark that appeared on her head. "What kind of a FAILURE magus are you? To use the ''command crest'' for something as silly that...." said Shuhang putting a very big emphasis on the word ''failure''. "WHAT WAS THAT!?" 69 Dreaming of Fire "MM!! MMM MM MM!" The sound of continuous muffled cries could be heard coming from under Shuhang''s head. From her leap, Shuhang had skillfully pull Rin into a hug and shoved face into chest. Even after awhile, she was still trying to ''resist'' this forceful embrace. Of course, she wasn''t about to succeed any time soon. (Huu... Okay. After bullying her a little bit, I''ve managed to release some of my stress from earlier. Now, all that''s left is to sort out what the hell just happened...) thought Shuhang as he spread his senses throughout the whole mansion. Not a moment too soon, he found the possible goddamned culprits of why his kaleidoscope magic got re-routed. It seems to be something that was inside that chest in the basement. "MMMMMMM!" (There. Hm? If I''m not mistaken, that seems to be the ''Jeweled Sword - Zelretch''? Oh? That weird un-readable thing must be the kaleido-stick ''Ruby''. The hell is that thing doing there?) thought Shuhang with a frown. Rin on the other hand seemed to have ceased struggling. He wasn''t about to let her go though as it doesn''t seem like she was lacking air or anything like that. (Goddamn it. Two items created that troll~ish vampire in one place! Did it somehow cause a resonance with my own kaleidoscope magic? Rin doing the ''summoning'' ritual at the same time as my ''transfer'' must have been the final cause of why I got re-routed to this world. Yeah... that''s the only possible explanation I could think of... Why pull me though? I''m not even a heroic sp-- Hm?!) In mid thought, Shuhang could see a faint wisp of karma thread connecting him to his ''master'', Tohsaka Rin. That in itself wasn''t strange at all as they were now connected through their ''master'' and ''servant'' bond. What was strange however; there was another karma thread connecting Shuhang and extending into the void. After concentrating on said connection, a faint picture of Saeko hugging the katana he''s given her had appeared in his mind! (W-what? Why did the connection re-appear? Is there someone out there playing a trick on me!?) Little did he know... his thoughtless question was actually spot on... The sudden eventthough had greatly confused Shuhang once again and sent his mind into a whirl wind of thoughts. Tohsaka Rin on the other hand... the reason she stopped struggling wasn''t because she had given up. The real reason is that she was currently in shock at what she''s seeing! One of the privileges granted to a ''master'' in the Grail War was the ability to see the ''parameters'' of one''s own servant at anytime. Servants parameters were both dependent on the abilities of their own masters and the class that they are summoned in. What Rin had saw though almost gave her a heart attack! ==================== [Class: Emperor] [Name: @#@$ *%&#!)^] ==================== [Strength: EX++++++] [Endurance: EX++++++] [Agility: EX++++++] [Magic: EX++++++] [Luck: UNKNOWN] ==================== [Noble Phantasm: UNKNOWN] [Skills: UNKNOWN] ==================== Currently, Rin''s head felt like it was about to explode. EX... EX....... EX!!! (W-w-w-wha-!? What the heck is this ''Emperor'' Class!? And why is there an ''unknown'' parameter!?) thought Rin in great confusion. The more she think, the more tumultuous her heart became however. This was only a natural reaction as the existence of her ''servant'' broke just about every rule there is in the grail war! Other than the ''unknown'' Noble Phantasm and Skills sections, just the Cheat Like Parameters alone can pretty much guarantee her as the winner of this whole Grail War already... (Just what the heck did this genius me Summoned....?!) thought Tohsaka Rin as she recalled once more the beautiful visage that is ''her servant''. Her thoughts were interrupted however when she felt her restraint lessen. She didn''t immediately get up and back away though and continued to comfortably stay where she is. "Have you calmed down yet?" asked Shuhang. "...mmm" was the muffled reply from Rin. "..." If you''ve calmed down, then why aren''t getting off of me...? . . . After some shuffling around, Shuhang had ''restored'' the entire living room back to its previous state with a literal wave of his hand. Currently, both he and Rin were sitting face to face on the sofa and having a ''civil'' talk. "--cough-- Anyways. My name is Tohsaka Rin. I''ll be your ''master'' for the remainder of this 5th Holy Grail War. You are...?" "Right. I''m... you may call me ''Dragon Emperor''. As for my name... well, you wouldn''t know it anyways so it doesn''t matter. My class is... Emperor...?" said Shuhang unsuredly at the end. (Yi? The fuck is an Emperor class? Never heard of this one... Eh. Whatever. I don''t want to stay here too long though. As soon as all the other ''servants'' are summoned, I''m goddamn steamrolling everyone. Destroy those ''Matous'' shit along with that shit ''priest'' and Gilgamesh as a side quest. And maybe steal some of the servants'' Noble Phantasm while I''m at it. After that, I''m getting the fuck outta here. Since I''ve already found this world, I can also easily use the ''marker'' as a starting point to find the ''Moon Princess'' later.) "In any case... Let''s pick this up later tomorrow. I''m tired now since it''s my bed time." After saying such, Shuhang immediately plopped down on the sofa and closed his eyes. Seeing such a scene, Rin didn''t actually get mad and only rolled her eyes at Shuhang. (What nonsense is this guy saying? How can a heroic spirit even get tired =_=...?) She didn''t fight it however as she herself was getting tired seeing as the clock was about to hit 4 AM. Without putting up a fuss, Rin left towards her own bed room and turned off the living room''s light on her way out. "....." Once Shuhang heard Rin closing the door to her own room, he finally fell asleep for real. It seems the stress of the many confusing turn of events today finally got to him. It wasn''t his physical body that got tired, it was his mind that took a hit... To be honest, he still couldn''t fully make heads or tails about what had just took place. Of course Shuhang wouldn''t get any rest even when he fell asleep. One moment he was awake, then he was inside the body of a little kid at the next! Seems whoever he possessed this time was currently walking through literal ''hell'' on Earth. Fire... goddamn fire and death as far as his eyes could see... (Oh come on... don''t tell me I have to live through this little asshole''s shitty life story!!) thought Shuhang as he was just about to break into tears at any moment now. 70 Will You Please Die For Me? It''s already been a few days now since Shuhang was ''summoned'' as a heroic spirit. Currently, both he and Rin are standing on the roof top of her school building as she was looking at a carved rune. After destroying said rune and complaining her head off about it, she decided to mess with the plan of whoever was the mastermind behind after hearing an input from Shuhang. Suddenly, Rin could hear a voice from above her. "What, you''re going to erase it? What a waste..." said a spear wielding man in a blue jump suit. No matter how anyone look at it, this guy was obviously the ''Lancer'' servant, Cu Chu Lain. *!!* "You...!?" before Rin could say anything else though, she picked up the sound of Shuhang''s voice. "You''re a servant!?" "Oh? If you know that I''m a servant, then I assume you to be my enemy?" said Lancer nonchalantly. Not giving the chance for Lancer to do anything else, Rin suddenly turned tail and activated ''reinforcement'' magic on her legs away as quickly as she could. She then jumped off of roof and was finally carried off by Shuhang safely towards the ground. Barely a moment had passed, Lancer had also appeared as well with his spear ready to poke a hole or two into Rin''s ''defenseless'' body. This attack was of course parried of Shuhang which greatly startled Lancer. "Who are you!? Show yourself!" shouted Lancer. Even Shuhang wasn''t even ''hiding'' and was there the whole time, it seems his senses wasn''t able to pick up on Shuhang''s presence at all. This would explain Lancer was so startled by the ''sudden'' intervention. Also, the reason Shuhang hadn''t destroyed Lancer yet was because not all 7 servants had been summoned yet. Plus he needed Emiya Shirou to witness this fight scene for his own ''death scene'' to occur. Shuhang wouldn''t be able to approach him otherwise and take away that shiny ''Avalon'' off of him. Of course Shuhang had wanted to just go and take the damn thing and Shirou wouldn''t even notice anything. The only problem was that Rin wouldn''t let Shuhang out of her sight at all! She was acting veeery clingy for some reason! After chasing Rin away to bed, she for some reason had returned and snuggled into the sofa he was sleeping on whilst he was living through EMIYA''s life. After that, she started pestering him so much that she was somehow able to dig out Shuhang''s real name even! Now, she would only address him as such and not by his preferred Dao Name, Dragon Emperor. Speaking of that ''dream session'' though... maybe it was partly due absorbing a piece of Archer EMIYA''s soul, and partly from living through his shitty ass life, Shuhang had his [Unlimited Blade Works] into his dantian. Now there is actually a new huge ass piece of land appearing within his inner world... with ALL the weapons included. From then on, Shuhang could feel that he would be able to bring out ''tiny world'' inside his inner world any time he wishes through the ''True Illusion'' ability. How something like that is possible... Shuhang came to the conclusion that Archer''s [Marble Reality] was just a weak ass version of the ''True Illusion'' ability. Since Shuhang had lived out complete life of counter guardian EMIYA, Shuhang was able to incorporate that in his own ''True Illusion'' ability. It was a surprising boon for all this annoyance that Shuhang is going through so that''s one plus at least... Another surprising thing was that he also gained the ability to passively scan any ''weapon'' and adding to his [Marble Reality]... no ''True Illusion'' as well. Sweet... "Shuhang! I''m counting on you!" Rin, who was standing behind Shuhang shouted suddenly which brought him back from his little reminiscent field trip. He also took this chance to reveal himself to Lancer. "Mm!?" grunted Lancer in surprise as a new figure suddenly appeared before his eyes. This new figure was of course Shuhang that''s wearing a Daoist robe while loosely holding the ''Severing Heaven Sword'' in his right hand. (Shuhang? Is that this heroic spirit''s name? No... such a name doesn''t exist in the Grail''s given information. And the dangerous aura released from that sword... he must be the ''Saber'' servant!) thought Lancer with a shit eating grin. He was currently really happy right now as he would be able to fight a formidable opponent. The only thing that really displeased him was his damnable of a ''master'' putting a limit on his power level! Just as he was about to say something to ''Saber'', he was interrupted by said servant''s voice. "No need for small talk." The moment Shuhang had finished talking, he suddenly disappeared and once again reappearing behind Lancer. This gave him a big scare as he could barely follow Shuhang''s movement. "Hrn!" with a grunt, he turned around and swiped with his spear to block a strike from Shuhang. *DING!* (Nngh! What a heavy hit...!) The following few minutes later was the sound steel meeting steel as Lancer ''fought'' Saber on ''equal'' grounds. This amazing ''fight'' was of course interrupted by the intrusion of ''Emiya fucking Shirou which was immediately came a halt. "WHO''S THERE!?" shouted Lancer before quickly disappearing in order to chase after and silence the ''witness''. "Shuhang! Let''s go!" shouted Rin as she quickly disappeared into the school building to which Shuhang grew a slight grin before his figure disappeared as well. When he next reappeared, Shuhang looked down at the corpse that is Emiya Shirou with a gaping hole at his heart area. (Good job Lancer. I''ll make sure end you as quickly as possible so you won''t suffer any pain... After I take your ''Cause and Effect'' spear that is.) thought Shuhang with a wicked grin as he bent put his hand on Shirou''s cooling corpse. With a ''push'', a golden light appeared to which Shuhang wasted no time shoving that into inner world, which for some reason had appeared on the lap of his nascent soul despite Shuhang''s intention to put it elsewhere. Not a moment too soon, a Tohsaka Rin who was gasping for breath had appeared which then slowly walked towards Shuhang and stood next to him. "Shuhang... please follow Lancer. We need to at least learn the identity of Lancer''s master. Otherwise, none of this would have been worth it..." whispered Rin with a sad tone. Shuhang of course didn''t really need to as he already knew of the identity of Lancer''s master and exactly where he was at. He wasn''t about to tell her that though and just wordlessly nodded in acceptance before disappearing from view. (Well... once Rin revives that hypocritical prick, he should go on to summon the final servant. Who would he summon though since I ''borrowed'' his summoning catalyst...?) thought Shuhang beforejust shrugging the question. No matter who appears, Shuhang was determined to end everything by tonight. Or at the very least, end this whole thing by the next moon rise. 71 And Then There Were 2 Less... *GASP!* Emiya Shirou suddenly woke up with a start. "Huu Huu. What.. just happened?" Gasping for breath, he struggled to stand on his feet when he suddenly stumbled and found a red pendant lying on the ground. Without thinking, he grabbed onto it and stumbled away into the dark and empty school hall way. His destination, is of course his home. The moment Shirou had reached his home''s living room, he couldn''t hold it anymore and fell onto the floor face up. "Hu hu. Those guys in Blue and White... Just what exactly were those monsters? There''s no way they''re humans!" mumbled Shirou aloud to himself as he unconsciously move his hands the spot that was stabbed in. "I was no doubt ''killed'' back then. Yet, here I am. Somehow still alive... Did someone came to save me afterward?" said Shirou as he sat himself up. Even after having experienced death once, Shirou only regretted that he couldn''t thank the person that came and saved him. Suddenly, his house''s ''alarm'' rang. Looking up by pure chance, Shirou had noticed ''Lancer'' materializing above with a spear once more aiming for his life! *BOOM!* "....." Locked in confrontation, neither Shirou nor Lancer had noticed Shuhang who was nonchalantly drinking tea on the roof of Shirou''s shed. This shed is of course the ''workshop'' of amateur magus, Emiya Shirou. *BANG!* After getting thrashed around a few times, they somehow made their way towards the shed yet still unable to notice Shuhang''s presence. (Hm. Rin is probably going to spew fire out of her mouth and piss lava once she realized I had ditched her midway... Wonder if she had figured out she''s still talking to empty space?) thought Shuhang in amusement. Whatever he was thinking was interrupted however he could the sound of another mini explosion occurring just under him, inside of the shed. (Yup. Shirou sitting on his ass. Lancer is about to pull the finishing move and that ''magic circle'' is glowing like a light bulb. How the hell is Lancer not not noticing that shit?) thought Shuhang in interest as he continued to sip on his tea, brewed using his ''Living Spring'' water. ''Don''t think too badly of me, kid. This is the end for you.'' declared Lancer with a neutral face. ''Screw that... there''s no way I''m going to die. Not like this... and NOT TO SOMEONE LIKE YOU!'' shouted Shirou in a last ditch defiance. Lancer didn''t care though as he, for the ''final'' time, thrust his spear. In that instance, the ''magic circle'' inside the shed glowed at its maximum brightness as a new figure suddenly appeared just in front of Emiya Shirou, narrowly saving his sorry ass. "Wha-?!" exclaimed a very surprised Lancer. *DING!* *DING!* As quickly as this new figure appeared, two sudden strikes were lashed out just as quick! Lancer who was in mid attack was barely able to parry in time yet he was still knocked out of the shed anyways. "PFFFT!" Shuhang who saw the figure of this newly appeared servant, spat out all of the tea in his mouth and openly gawked. Lancer who was just pushed to the entrance of the shed, got his face sprayed by Shuhang''s tea and saliva. This in turn caused him to openly gawk at the perfectly timed coincidence and also the fact that he didn''t realize the servant ''Saber'' was watching everything this whole time. While nonchalantly sipping at that! As for the newly summoned servant, the moment he turned around to look at his ''master'', he also openly gawked as soon as he realized what their identity is. As for the ''still confused about life Emiya Shirou'', he just openly gawked because of the strange shit that kept happening around him. "...." "...." "...." "...." Suddenly there was an awkward silence and a sudden lull in tense atmosphere as ''master'' and ''servant'' openly stared at each other while Lancer stared at Shuhang. Shuhang on the other hand was staring at the newly appeared servant. (WTF!? Is... isn''t that... Counter Guardian EMIYA!?) Shuhang shouted within his heart. (But... but how...!? Hold on a sec... when I took away his ''Avalon'', I had assumed that he no longer had a catalyst to use for his summoning. But I overlooked something. Rin''s pendant! Since both ''present'' and ''future'' EMIYA had the pendant, that instead became the perfect catalyst, thus summoning Counter Guardian- nay, Heroic Spirit EMIYA!) thought Shuhang as he was suddenly enlightened as to what had just occurred. Suddenly, Shuhang picked up the presence of Tohsaka Rin speedily heading towards this location. By the look of it, she''s extreeeemely pissed! (Uh oh. Better finish as quickly as I could while they''re all still in their stunned state...) As soon as this thought had passed, Shuhang instantly brought out his full capabilities and lashed out at an unfathomable speed! At least unfathomable for present parties. And the first target is... Lancer! *PUCHI!* "!!" Before he even knew what transpired, Lancer''s head was already flying through the air and ''Gae Bolg'' seized by Shuhang which was immediately sealed and placed in his inner world. Shuhang isn''t sure what changed, but something did the moment he absorbed the spear. Not even half a breath had passed, Shuhang had appeared behind the back of Archer and lashed out at full speed. *SCHLICK!* And just like that, Archer was split into and he was no more! While both body of Lancer''s and Archer''s was still in the process of disintegrating, Shuhang finally proceeded to knock out Shirou and usurped his ''command crest'', which he had plans for later. Whether or not that plan came into fruition though, was very unlikely. And just like that, everything ended as soon as it began! About half a minute later, Tohsaka Rin finally appeared in court yard even as she gasping for breath and sweating buckets load. "SHUUUUUHAAAAANG....!" growled out Rin with one of her eyes rapidly twitching. Most likely due to extreme anger. (That... cannot be healthy.) thought Shuhang idly as he waited for Rin to finally blow a fuse. "Yes, dear?" replied Shuhang with a serene and beautiful smile. 72 Good Evening and... Good Bye After listening to Rin''s nonstop ranting for close to half an hour, Shuhang whose face was now full of saliva, decided it was time break the on-going scolding. "Haa. Say. Shouldn''t you be taking care of your friend over there? You know, the one you tried so hard to revive?" suddenly said Shuhang as he walked up to the still unconscious Shirou. While pretending to ''wake'' him up, Shuhang stealthily activated ''Memory Reading Magic - White''s Edition'' and modified everything that involved him a moment ago in Shirou''s memory. After he wakes up, from Shirou''s point of view, he would only remember the ''Blue'' guy reappearing once more while another one suddenly showed up in front of him. Afterwards, both parties began their fight to death which ended up in mutual destruction. Shuhang who was otherwise the true culprit gets to pretend that he only showed up at the end of the aftermath. Everybody wins! Sort of. *PAK!* After ''lightly'' slapping him in the face, Shirou once again rejoined the world of the living. "Ugh... I... wha-?!" slowly said Shirou before he sudden sat up with a start! Although he initially went on guard the moment he laid eyes on Shuhang, said ''guard'' immediately evaporated the moment Tohsaka Rin came into view. " 73 Heh... Look What I found? "..." "..." "..." Rin, Shirou, and Illya just stared wide eyes in utter shock and confusion. The only thing in their collective minds were ''What just happened?''. Who wouldn''t be? it went from a tense atmosphere, to polite small talk, then suddenly it started to literally rain blood suddenly after all. What they saw next were glowing rings of runic symbols floating around the Berserker servant that was regenerating at high speed. Barely a breath of time later, he was covered up and condensed into a small looking marble and collected by the assailant. Every move made by him were precise and graceful in every way even though he just blatantly committed murder right in front of their eyes. So much so that the watching trio couldn''t help but be captivated. Shirou even went a step further and questioned his own sexuality within the confines of his own mind. Only after Shuhang had turned around and started to nonchalantly walk towards Illya that they finally woke up from their trance. Illya being the first of the trio. Her expression then went from shock to a mixture of both trepidation and fury. "What... what have you done to my Berserker!?" snarled the little princess. Were it anybody else, Illyasviel von Einzbern would have blown an even bigger fuse than just now. She might have even torn the offender to pieces with her mage craft already. The only problem was... this offender is a ''heroic spirit'' in her point of view. He even effortlessly slaughtered her own ''heroic spirit''! What would then be the point of retaliating if it is useless effort in the first place? The biggest reason that she didn''t try to do anything is because of the floating runes that circled her own body. Though they were fewer in numbers compared to when they surrounded her Berserker. Even if she didn''t know the precise function of these runes, her experience as a Magus told her that they were some sort of sealing ''mage craft''. And she was right. The moment they imprinted themselves on her body, Illya was no longer able to draw upon her prana at all! No access to prana means no mage craft. And no mage craft means that currently, she is just an ordinary little girl! Whatever thoughts were running through her head was interrupted as Shuhang wordlessly lifted Illya from the ground. He then proceeded to sling her over his shoulder as if he was carrying a sack of potato. Afterwards, he continued walking towards the still silent duo until he reached in front of Rin all the while ignoring the struggle and protests of Illya. "Rin. it''s pretty late now. Let''s go home." said Shuhang with a refreshingly beautiful smile. Even though it looked so beautiful, but to Rin as of this moment, it looked reeeeally annoying! So much so that just wants to up and just smack him then and there! "Alright. let''s go hom--... 74 The Hunt Begins... In the midst of traveling, servant Rider who was in astral form, suddenly felt a ripple of power in front of her. Yet, there were not any actual sign of an ambush attack as she had initially thought. Due to her experience as a ''heroic spirit'' however, Rider would put up her guard anyways just in case her initial threat assessment was erroneous. Not that it would help her though... Almost as soon as she felt that ripple, a horrifying suction power had appeared and Rider was unable to resist it at all! One moment, she was in mid-air while roof top jumping, the next moment she was sitting upon a classy looking sofa. What made it even worse was that... she wasn''t able to do anything at all except moving her head around. So, with her strength completely restricted and 0 access to prana, Rider did exactly the only thing she was capable of. That was of course to look around and find out how she even got here in the first place. Where ever this place was... To Rider''s surprise, she instantly found a white haired little girl who was pretty much in the same situation as her to her immediate left. It was actually Illyasviel von Einzbern, the little loli that was ''guided home'' earlier by that strange, yet beautiful, ''Saber'' servant! For some reason, Illya appear to be sporting a look of utter concentration before changing to a neutral one. (Einzbern...? I''ve been captured by ''Saber'' as well? But how!?) thought Rider in annoyance at her own carelessness. Somehow or another, she actually fell into Saber''s trap without even noticing it! Pushing aside the self ridicule with a head shake for a later time, Rider continued her observation of the room. Or at least she tried to, when she suddenly felt a weight upon her right shoulder. Tense from the sudden contact while in a defenseless state, Rider hurriedly turn her head towards the source of that weight. To her great dismay and horror, it was actually someone she knew! Originally a daughter of ''Tohsaka'', the one leaning on her shoulder is actually Matou Sakura, Rider''s true ''Master''! (WHY!? WHY IS SAKURA HERE!?) thought Rider in extreme panic. The fact that Sakura appear to unconscious didn''t help her calm down at all either! Even though she doesn''t appear to be hurt at all appearance wise, one couldn''t be too sure when mage craft is involved. When she was thinking of ways to escape from this predicament, Rider was suddenly interrupted by the sound of the door slamming open. *BANG!* "Huuu huuu Huuuu." Looking at the source of the loud entrance just now, both Illya and Rider saw the ragged appearance of Tohsaka Rin as she gasp for air. She did ran pretty far after all so it isn''t strange that she''s out of breath. As the ''master'' of ''Saber'', their captor, Rider was instantly put on guard. Illya who was also a captive was strangely calm however as Rin slowly entered the room. Seeing Illya who was ''guided home'' by Shuhang earlier, Rin wasn''t surprised by her sitting there. Rin was instantly alert however when she saw purple headed woman in a very kinky outfit and masked eyes. She came to a pause wanted to immediately question the reason for her presence before she noticed another person in the room. "S-Sakura...!?" exclaimed Rin in shock. Before she could say anything else though, the door behind her slammed itself shut. Not a moment too soon, glowing runes appeared all over the room and Rin felt... ''suppressed'', by something. Everyone did. (A bounded field!) thought Rin in surprise. Of course she is. This was HER mansion after all. Just when the heck was this ''bounded field'' setup? All without her knowledge at that! Her thoughts that were currently in great disarray from the appearance of her estranged sister, Sakura, and the sudden appearance of this ''bounded field'' was interrupted by a voice laced with indifference. "It''s useless you know? Don''t bother trying anything. We''re all trapped here for the time being." said Illya as she threw something in Rin''s direction. Surprisingly, Illya''s movement wasn''t restricted like Rider was. Catching the thrown object by reflex, Rin discovered that it was folded paper with writing on it. Though she was a bit wary, Rin decided to read it anyways as it''s probably an explanation of why they''re all in this situation. ''Dear Rin, Be a good little girl for me and stay put for a bit, okay? Ah. No need to worry about me. I''m just getting snacks from a nearby convenient store. Take care of our guests in the mean time. Thanks! Sincerely, Your beloved Song 75 There Once Was a Spirit Blade Moun- uh wait... "What was that...?" replied the King of Heroes, Gilgamesh, with a big scowl on his face. "Just because I was a tiny bit intrigued by the person who could trap me without my notice... To think, it turned out to just be a clown that dared to threaten this King. Know your place, mongrel!" Just when Shuhang thought that was the end, golden boy over there kept on spewing more nonsense. "I had thought you to be a worthy hero hailing from Huaxia, but it turned out you''re just another trash who doesn''t know how high the heaven is... hmph." While Gil was oozing arrogance from his every pore as usual in the face of this strange new ''servant'', the fake priest Kotomine was trying to ''stealthily'' back away to safer spot. ''Try'' was the keyword and Shuhang wasn''t about to let him get away. Without even looking in his direction, Shuhang wordlessly raised a single hand to chest level and... *PAK!* ...took a page right out Colonel Roy Mustang and snapped his fingers. Immediately after, sparks came to life Kotonime Kirei burst into flames and reduced to nothing but ash. The King of Heroes who was standing nearby had to jump away in haste in order to avoid damage. Surprisingly, there was a single piece of him that was left in tact. It was a hand, cleanly cut from the wrist down, that had the ''command seals'' on it. This was of course collected by Shuhang with a wave of his hand via a skill called ''Universe In a Sleeve'', something only those that had mastery over ''Space force'' could use. Of course, it wasn''t Roy''s alchemy that Shuhang just performed. He was only doing it for show while the real attack was an extremely fast sword Qi that cut away the collected hand. It then burst into flames to cover Kirei''s whole body and turned him into flying ash. "You dare, mongrel...!?" growled out Gil as he caressed his cheek which was singed by Shuhang''s attack just now. The fact that Kirei had just died didn''t even enter his mind as all he could think of was make Shuhang pay. The crime was that of rebellion as he actually dared to raise a hand to the King. "Me, a mongrel? A clown that''s seen yet unable to recognize Mount Tai I see..." said Shuhang with a sneer. "You... a mere ''king'' of mortals and mere plaything for a bunch of low level ''Gods''. While my very name sent chills down the spine of every head pantheons. You dare to look down on this ''Dragon Emperor''?! aaaAH!?" After saying his piece, Shuhang''s ''True Illusion'' ability immediately manifest and enveloped both he and Gilgamesh altogether. Of course Shuhang didn''t need something so high a level to beat Gil. This was just a good time to test out the new toy he''s received from assimilating a piece of Archer ''EMIYA''. Not to mention, perceiving that he''s trapped inside a ''Marble Reality'' might actually force Gil to use Ea easier. What was once a dreary church that was catching fire was now replaced by a tall mountain and a sea of vibrant green that is littered with swords as far as the eyes could see. Instead of a normal blue sky however, all they could see overhead was an endless sea of multi-colored light flowing about. The closest thing one could compare this marvelous spectacle to would be that of the Aurora Borealis. The one responsible for this sight, Song Shuhang, could be seen atop of the mountain. There, he sat upon a throne made up of various legendary swords from various myths. (Hm... didn''t expect it would take on this form. I can even sense all kinds of new weapons, not just swords, appearing within this world and my mind nonstop as the plane''s border continues to expand. And none of them were from the database that I''ve got from Archer... What the heck is going on here...? Holy crap, is that... a lake that''s taking form?) While Shuhang was pondering over the changes of his new ''True Illusion'', Gilgamesh stood trembling in rage. Bringing up his sore spot appear to have done the trick as there were suddenly hundreds of golden ripples appearing behind him. Shockingly, within each of those ripples appeared a different kind weapon. Every single one of them emitted a majestic and powerful aura. Suddenly, a golden construct with a throne-like seat had appeared to which Gilgamesh immediately sat upon as it steadily rose to the air to match Shuhang''s current height. (That thing is more than likely the Vimana? You know, that actually looks pretty nice. Think I''ll take that as well) "Very well, ''Dragon Emperor''. I don''t know how you brought me here, but I shall admit you have a vast armory. That it is almost as vast as my own is impressive enough." finally said Gilgamesh as he scanned his surrounding. There were a lot of weapons here and there that Gil recognized, but there are even more that he''s never seen before. (Oya? It seems he doesn''t recognize the ''True Illusion'' for what it is. A more complete form of the ''Reality Marble''...) thought Shuhang idly. "Although your armory is vast, but so what?! All of the world''s treasure belongs to me in the end. It seems you''re nothing but a mere thief!" said Gil as he unleashed his attacks. Immediately, a rain of golden light crossed the horizon and speeding towards Shuhang. The very same moment that Gil had unleashed his attacks, the myriad of weapons laying about on the ground, on the mountain, and even under the newly formed lake, rose up and perfectly intercepted Gil''s attacks. Gil wanted to keep attacking however he was suddenly interrupted by Shuhang who had just finished sipping on hot tea that he had taken out from who knows when. "It seems you''re misunderstanding something here... This isn''t my armory you see. It is just one of my many leisure ''Gardens''." said Shuhang in the most snobbish tone he could muster. "Although... don''t tell me that was your ''serious'' attack after acknowledging me? Seems your collections aren''t worth much in the face of merely my garden''s ''decorations''. Know your place, King of vermins." said Shuhang in disdain. "You..!? You dare look at this KING in contempt!?" shouted Gil in fury. To think that someone dared to compare his treasures to mere garden decorations...! "You want to see a treasure!? You shall regret asking for such a thing, Dragon Emperor!" Suddenly, a red storm appeared around Gil''s body which easily tore apart the nearby space. As Shuhang had near perfect over this ''True Illusion'' however, all damage were instantly fixed as soon as it appeared. (It seems that he''s still not willing to use its full power despite his current rage... no, he can''t. Other wise even he himself would die... Or rather, just how powerful is that damn thing? Can''t believe how easy it is to damage my True Illusion despite how little of its power was used. My cultivator''s intuition tells me that... less than 0.01% of its power actually being used! Much less. Wtf is that thing, really!?) 76 Shamed By Own Teammate... Although the spatial storms looked extremely deadly at first glance, it was actually nothing in comparison to his world traveling via kaleidoscope. Shuhang concluded that was only so due to Gil only use the barest of the bare minimum power output possible for Ea. Just as soon as he wanted to quickly snatch away Ea however, a sudden ringing sound could be heard from his inner world. Shuhang didn''t even need to check to know that it is his sentient ''Living Item'', the ''Severing Heaven Sword'' that ''spoke'' out to him. (What..? You want to eat it? That''s not candy, oi.) sent back Shuhang with a sweat drop. Immediately after, he could ''feel'' the disappointment that was radiated off of his own sword. *RIIIING!* Barely a breath later, this childish sword of his seemed to have changed its mood. Now, it seems to want to have a head on clash with it. After thinking about it for a moment, Shuhang agreed with imitated Gilgamesh''s way of bringing out weapon. That is, via a shining ripple of course. In Shuhang''s case though, it wasn''t a golden ripple but a kaleidoscopic one instead. "Rejoice, ''King'' of Heroes, for you received this once in a life time opportunity to feast your eyes upon a TRUE treasured sword. Come, Tian''er" The moment its nick name was called upon, a sword handle appeared from the ripple behind Shuhang. Wasting of no time, Shuhang of course pulled the sword out. The moment it was held in Shuhang''s hand, it''s aura was immediately unleashed. The words ''Sever'' and ''Heaven'' carved upon its blade began to shine brightly and immediately suppressed all of the weapons that exist within this ''True Illusion''. Gilgamesh who happened to have laid his eyes on the ''Severing Heaven Sword'' felt a stabbing pain in his eyes. (Nuh!? What weapon is this? Is it so sharp that one could be cut from a mere glance?!) thought Gilgamesh as he averted his eyes and looked at Shuhang''s calm visage. As if they had agreed on it long ago, both Gilgamesh and Shuhang had taken their eyes contact as the starting signal. Without any warning, both raised their ''treasured swords'' heaven ward and chanted their attack''s ''activation phrase'' out loud. This would be Shuhang''s first time doing so however there were never anyone strong enough that requires it. The only reason he was doing so now is just to indulge in the whims of his sword which doesn''t seem to want to lose to Ea in terms of splendor and majesty. For that, a cool activation phrase is absolutely required!... or so Shuhang felt coming from his sword... (great, my sword is a chuunibyou....) "THE STAR OF CREATION THAT SPLIT HEAVEN AND EARTH..." "SUPPRESSING ALL MYRIAD EXISTENCE UNDER TRUE HEAVEN''S LIGHT..." "ENUMA ELISH!" "SEVERING HEAVEN!" As soon as both voices fell, their devastating attacks were unleashed upon each other as they swung downward. One stood atop a golden flying construct while the other atop a mountain of blades. From Ea, a literal storm of chaotic energy ground to dust the surrounding space-time as the beam of red death traveled towards Shuhang. To any mortal witnessing this sight, it would seem like end of days, Ragnarok, had arrived. From ''Severing Heaven Sword'', a beam of multi-colored sword Qi traveled true to meeting heads on with Ea''s attack. Everywhere the light beam''s traveled, every thing were ''severed'' and torn apart without mercy. Not even the structural wall called space, something that holds this reality together, were spared. Chaotic energy could even be seen leaking out of the spatial tear even as damage repair itself as soon as it appears. *BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!* Maybe due to it''s pride, but his sword, Tian''er, had decided to use the same amount of output as that of Ea. The moment both attacks had met each other, a great pressure was released as the 2 storms of energy try to over power the other assert dominance. They seem to be stuck in a stale mate however both attacks had the same energy output. Even their underlying ''principle'' were very similar to each other. Where as one tears apart space with brute force like that of a blunt weapon, the other was a sharp blade with infinitely fine point. Shuhang who was trying to his best to make sure the ''True Illusion'' wasn''t collapsed due to the clash of energy was starting to gather sweat on his forehead! (Ah! shit.... a little big of energy had leaked out into the real world!) thought Shuhang unhappily. Even that ''tiny'' bit of energy leakage could have catastrophic effects! Hopefully, Fuyuki City hadn''t disappeared from the map once he left this ''True Illusion''... That would be pretty bad...! Even though the clash felt like an eternity, it in truth only lasted no longer than 3 breaths of time! And as Shuhang had expected, the clash ended in mutual destruction. It just wasn''t possible for 2 Principle level attacks with similar power output to overpower the other after all... or so Shuhang thought. *BOOOOM!* His sword actually ''cheated'' at the last second! It actually use it''s connection to Shuhang and drew forth extra power from alternate realities and gained ''infinite power'' for but a single instance! This of course lead to Ea''s chaotic energy being torn apart while the multi-colored energy continued going forth. The King of Heroes who at most expected their attacks to mutually collapse wasn''t able to prepare for what was coming next. *SWOOSH!* "Argh!" Cut cleanly from the armpit, the arm that held Ea was cleanly separated from his body! Seeing such a childish action, Shuhang was left flabbergasted. So much so that he almost forgot to collect Ea via space manipulation and sealed it before it''s automatically retrieved by the ''Gate of Babylon''. "What have you done to MY treasure, DRAGON EMPEROR!?" asked Gilgamesh as he applied pressure over his torn limb. As all treasures were connected to his Gate of Babylon, which was connected to him, of course he would feel it if a treasure was suddenly ''missing''. "...." For awhile, Shuhang didn''t have the face to look at Gilgamesh as he was too ashamed that it was HIS party member that cheated in a competition. Then, Shuhang resolved himself to something and looked at the seething King of Heroes. "Uh... I''m sorry about this, but there can''t be any witnesses...." said Shuhang completely serious. (What? Witness?) thought a confused Gilgamesh. His question never received an answer however as Gil was suddenly able to see a figure standing upon HIS Vimana, right next to a headless body! (Wha-....?) Then, his view was slowly enveloped in darkness. 77 Offers... Now with Ea secured and getting the Vimana as a bonus, Shuhang felt a bit happier. He of course had thoughts about Gilgamesh''s other signature treasure, Enkidu, but gave up in the end. He just decided to not bother with that one since he could already use top grade Sealing arts. Not to mention the fact that at his current power level; if there are enemies he couldn''t over power and his sealing arts doesn''t work... this just means he''s already pretty screwed so the ''chains of heaven'' is useless to him. Suddenly, Shuhang turned to look at his sword which was floating by his side. "Tian''er, no ''Raising Sword Art'' on you for a month." said Shuhang with a deadly serious voice. Hearing such a devastating thing, his sword which was merrily floating around his body suddenly froze in its track! Before it could whine and complain however, it was sent back to his inner world. "Now then... who are my next victims? The Matous, or storming Ryuudo temple where Castor and Assassin are at?" mumbled Shuhang to himself. After about a minute or so of contemplation, Shuhang decided to leave the temple alone at the moment. "Yes. I''ll head over there last since it''s the site where the grail would manifest to which I could ju-- wait, maybe I don''t need to destroy it at all? Yeah... I could use ''that'' phantasm and power it up with ''Boosted Gear''. And then... Hehe" [Oi, Partner! Do something about your sword will ya? It''s been whining nonstop to me the moment it got back in! I don''t even know what''s even saying though...!!] In the midst of scheming up a new plot, Shuhang was suddenly interrupted by the voice of Ddraig. *cough* "Aren''t you an almighty Heavenly Dragon? Just deal with it yourself... You''re already baby sitting little White so what''s another brat to deal with?" said Shuhang offhandedly. [But---] "I''m hanging up." interrupted Shuhang as he blocked his connection to Ddraig. "Next stop, the Matou estate... As for the 2 sets of ''command seals'' I managed to claim... should I use the extra 1 to summon a servant? Is there even a point at this point in time though? All I need now is to get my hands on the last 2 servants at the Ryuudo temple to summon the grail after all..." Deciding to put that thought on hold for now, Shuhang had dissolved the ''True Illusion'' and return to the real world. The first thing that greeted his eyes was an inferno of flames and not much of the church was left. All around, there were a cacophony of sounds as fire fighters rushed about to try and douse the flames. (Well shit... this must be the result of that energy leakage) thought Shuhang idly even as he hurriedly left the area. The only saving grace was the fact that the energy were contained to only the church area thanks to Shuhang''s one-way barrier. (Speaking of which... I should probably remove that barrier too before an investigator from the Clock Tower or the Church are sent.) With the barrier gone and all traces of his presence removed, Shuhang then moved unhindered throughout the night. The authorities of Fuyuki city will definitely be sleepless tonight as there was a pyromaniac going around town and burning down buildings after buildings. The arsonist is of course Shuhang while those other locations were the backups of that crazy bastard, Matou Zouken. . . . Back at the Tohsaka mansion, 3 ladies plus an unconscious one stared at one another in a tense silence. "Are you serious?" said Rin to break the silence as she glared at Illya''s face as if expecting her to suddenly burst out laughing and claiming everything was a joke. Sadly, all she received a face of indifference as Illya was leisurely sipping on some milk tea. "Of course I am. Whether or not what ''Saber'' said is true however...." responded Illya half halfheartedly. Rider on the hand just kept silent as she gently pet the head of the still sleeping Sakura. It seems Rider was no longer restricted as she ''accepted'' the situation she''s in. Hearing people referring to Shuhang as ''Saber'' made Rin want to snort at them. (What Saber? That guy is anything but a Saber. In fact, I''m not even sure if he''s even a servant at all... Sigh. If what this little brat is really true, then this Holy Grail War had been pointless from the start.) Speaking of being un-saber-like, Rin was reminded of the dreams she''s been having since she summoned Shuhang. From her understanding, they were memories that bleeded into her in the form of dreams as a result of their bonds as servant and master. What she saw were really confusing and scary stuff though. It made even less sense as there were 2 different sets of memories. One of those dreams were that of the life of an ordinary Chinese youth. Well, it was ordinary until he woke up from a fever one day. From then on, his life was anything but ''ordinary'' and Rin was able to learn of entities that called themselves ''Cultivators''. It''s strange that it took place in ''modern'' age however since Shuhang is supposed to be a ''heroic spirit''. Her conclusion at the time was that Shuhang was someone who came from the future rather than the past. The more dreams she saw though, the less she was sure of that conclusion. The other set of memories was that of bloody wars and endless slaughter. The one she saw in her dreams were always drenched in blood of his enemies while the people by his side continued to decrease as time went on. The was only one person that stuck with him until the very end. Sadly, Rin was unable to make out her facial features. The only thing she could identify were the white hair. In any case, these gruesome dreams was the main reason why Rin had stuck so close to Shuhang every time she slept. If she does so, Rin would be able to see the more pleasant set of memories, one of the ordinary youth, rather than one of slaughter. This is why Rin had climbed onto the same couch as Shuhang and glued herself to him on that first night he was summoned. (Who.. what are you really, Song Shuhang? I definitely need to have a long talk with him once this is over... Also, ''cultivators'' and ''ancient witches''... how can existences like theirs be not known by the Clock Tower and Mage''s Association?) *BANG!* The running thoughts of all 3 ladies were suddenly interrupted by the banging of the door being shoved open. From it, a beautiful youth was proudly holding up plastic bags and shouted... "Honey I''m home! And I brought cake!" 78 Why? Isnst It Obvious? o.O "GANDR!" As soon as Shuhang had appeared, Rin had wordlessly attacked him with her very own signature move. "UohH!? The hell was that for?!" shouted Shuhang as he ''hurriedly'' dodge out of the way in ''distress''. Not that anyone currently in the room were fooled however since an attack of that could dodged by ordinary humans. What more to say of Shuhang, a ''heroic spirit''. Seeing his reaction, Rin only clicked her tongue in annoyance at him. Illya just plainly ignored him while Rider was the only person that put up their guard. They are still technically still enemies after all so it was better to not trust everything that the other party said. Seeing the reaction of each girls towards his presence, Shuhang couldn''t help but twitch his lips. (Well... it kind of was my fault for stuffing them here forcefully without a proper explanation after all...) . . . After giving each person, minus Sakura, their share of cake, Shuhang let out a small cough to get their attention. "Well then. Here is my proposal--" "Hold on a minute..." "Wait!" "Before that..." He couldn''t get out what he wanted to say however as all 3 of them interrupted his speech. Looking around, Shuhang could see that they each have questions of their own. Of course, they would... "Hm? What is it?" "What do you mean ''what is it''?! Explain who that person is!" shouted Rin as she pointed her finger at the person standing beside Shuhang. Right. When Shuhang had returned, he wasn''t alone. Regally standing just a bit to the side of Rin''s and Shuhang''s sofa was a blond haired, emerald green eyes, and clad in blue battle dress maiden. If not for Shuhang''s earlier warning, she would have already rushed up to cut down that Rider servant the moment she had entered this room. "Oh... While I was out buying some cake, I happened to walk across this ''Matou'' family house you see. Imagine my surprise when the whole building suddenly burst into flames! This HANDSOME, KIND HEARTED me, happened to have heard the most AGONIZING screams of 2 people still trapped in the house. I had of course HEROICALLY jumped into the flames to save the day! And then..... ..... .. ...... ...And so! At the end of my perilous journey, I have had made it all the way towards of the source of that pitiful cry that I heard on the surface but suddenly....... . ..... ..... ..... And THAT was when I accidentally stumbled upon a mage''s circle. Before I even knew it, the magic circle lit up by itself then ''poof'' and appeared my waif--- uh, this shiny new ''Saber'' servant! Ta-daaa~!" "..." "..." "..." Speechless. Currently, not a single person there had the energy to even rebuttal Shuhang at all. All Rin did was ask for an introduction yet somehow, it had turned into an hour long speech on some ridiculous adventure! Then this guy even had the gall to act all proud of his, most likely, nonexistent ''accomplishment''! 79 You Sure About This...? "Uh....?" was the eloquent reply of Rider. "..." "..." "..." In but a single breath, Shuhang had made 4 people completely speechless. Looking at everyone''s faces, Shuhang tilted his head in wonder. "What? I''m serious you know?" "THAT''S THE PROBLEM! BAKA!" shouted Rin right away. "EH!?" responded Shuhang in complete shock. "WHAT''S WITH THAT SHOCKED FACE, AAH?! YOU BETTER EXPLAIN YOURSELF PROPERLY!" said Rin in a threatening manner. ''Gandr'' could even be seen taking form on her fingertips. "--cough-- Okay okay. I won''t play around anymore..." said Shuhang in a hurry as he could senses the eyes of everyone here starting to twitch dangerously. "But. I was truly serious in what I said before, Rider." Once again, everyone went silent due to his answer. This time however, they were focusing their stares on Rider instead of Shuhang. More than likely, they were trying to understand what it was that Rider have which made Shuhang wanted ''her''. Being under intensive scrutiny from 3 pairs of eyes made Rider a tad bit uncomfortable so she forcefully asked Shuhang for his reason(s). "What did you mean? And for what reason do I have to agree to your demand? Also, you still haven''t answered my question from earlier. Why is Sakura here?" "Hm. To answer your questions... One-- I need to gather people with high potential as well as those with lots of combat experience. Two and Three-- I can save Sakura. That is why she''s here." The moment the words ''save'' and ''Sakura'' were uttered in the same sentence, Shuhang had definitely received Rider''s full undivided attention. "What do you mean by ''save''?" asked Rider with a dangerous glare as well as a bit of hope laced within her voice. "Well. Remember what I said earlier? How I ''came across'' the Matou house hold? Well. I really was there you know. And it was definitely true that there were two people being burned alive in there." *GasP!* At that reveal, both Rin and Rider put on a look of shock as if they had realized something. "You..." said Rin in a grave tone. "Before Matou Zouken''s death you see... I had read a bit of his memories. Actually, I''ll just show you what I saw as words couldn''t possibly explain it all properly." Of course the ''memory reading'' part was a lie. Shuhang didn''t even want to see that disgusting piece of garbage that is ''Matou Zouken'' and just directly burned down the whole place straight into slag. With the snap of his finger, though a useless gesture, everyone were brought into a hastily made ''True Illusion''. One that was based on the memories of Matou Zouken, Sakura''s adopted grandfather which Shuhang had secretly pulled from the ''hiding'' Zouken himself. In said memories were nothing short of atrocities which Zouken called ''training''. Over and over, Sakura was violated by grotesque worms both in body and mind. Even her own ''brother'' had.... Such scenes caused even the battle hardened King of Knights and ''Medusa'' to almost be unable to stomach what they saw. As such, Shuhang had to cut the memories short after noticing how pale both Illya and Rin had become. After the ''True Illusion'' was taken down, Illya seemed to have recovered a bit. (Makes sense. Out of everyone here, she''s the most experienced Magus after all. Rin on the other hand looks like she''s starting to hyperventilate... to see your own beloved little sister go through such things every day. Sigh...) Without a word, Shuhang had pulled Rin into a hug and allowed her to sob and vent out her feelings. . . . After about 10 minutes passed, Shuhang could feel that Rin''s shaking had finally stopped. "I''m fine now, Shuhang. ''....th...ou....''" Taking one last look at Rin, Shuhang wordlessly nodded his head and faced Rider. "Zouken is still not dead. Inside of those... worms you all saw, are pieces of that old wind bag''s soul. I have burned every traces of said worms that exists in this world." said Shuhang as he slowly lifted a hand and pointed to Sakura''s chest area. "That is... with the exception of the worm that''s lodged itself onto Sakura''s beating heart." "WHAT!?" "!!!" With the metaphorical bomb dropped, both Rin and Rider were once shocked to the core. The bad never seems to end however with the next thing that Shuhang said. "And if anyone try to carelessly remove it, that old monster could retaliate and instantly kill Sakura." "..." "Shuhang... you said earlier that you could ''save'' Sakura didn''t you? Then..." inquired Rin with a hopeful tone. Having finally remembered that as well, Rider gripped her fists tightly as she stared at Shuhang. "That''s right. This method will also be used on you later as part of our deal as well, Illya-chan." Suddenly being mentioned, Illya gave Shuhang a curious glance and the question needn''t even be asked. "That is to say... I am able to able to completely, and safely revive Sakura even if Zouken were to ''retaliate'' during the removal process." said Shuhang in a completely serious tone. "And no, Rin, Illya. I am not talking about turning her into a ''dead apostle''. She''ll still be human in every way possible after this process." quickly added Shuhang when he saw that Rin was about to protest and Illya''s narrowing dangerously. The fact that she''ll have ''dragon blood-line'' will of course be omitted for the sake of a smoother negotiation. Not that he needed to as Shuhang could just forcefully take Rider. He chose not to do so however as a willing subordinate are a whole lot more effective than the unwilling ones. "Also... there''s a very high chance that Sakura would choose not to come along with you and I. Which means, you both will go your separate ways. Do you still want me to ''save'' her, Rider?" "Do it." responded Rider almost immediately. O.o.. "Hm... Got it. Let''s get this over with then." The moment Shuhang had said that, a blob of crystal clear liquid and a very colorful ''pellet'' appeared in the air next to Shuhang. Then with a thought, both moved towards each and started mixing into a brightly glowing blob of water. The two items Shuhang pulled out were of course none other than the ''Dragon Pellet'' and ''Living Spring'' water! Both had incredibly high amount of ''life force''. After the mixture was done, Shuhang had prepared healing spells in advance while at the same time shooting a very weak sword Qi straight into Sakura''s chest area! As the speed was too quick however, none at the scene was able to react in time. *PUCHI!* "gigigyyaaaAAAAA!" To everyone''s growing horror, what came popping out of Sakura chest wound was a very disgusting looking worm! "There you are...Matou Zouken!" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ++++AN++++ For those curious, this is what the ''crest worms'' looks like. https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/typemoon/images/d/d6/Zoukens_Blood_Worms_.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20140514204200 80 Objections Not Allowed... Without wasting even a moment, the ''worm'' was pulled out of Sakura''s heart and placed into a transparent container. As soon as the girls were able to get a clear look at the ''worm'', their faces immediately blanched. "Ugh! Wha... what the heck is that ''thing''!?" shouted Rin after retreating a couple of steps away out of sheer disgust. Heck, even the regal ''King of Knights'' had stealthily taken a step or 2 backwards. Shuhang however just ignored their reactions and focused on feeling out Sakura''s life-force. (Hm. It''s falling rapidly as expected. Before that however...) Giving Sakura''s body another sweep with his ''Spiritual Sense'', Shuhang confirmed that there were indeed no other traces or remnants of Zouken. With a nod, the globule of ''Living Spring'' + ''Dragon Pellet'' mixture that were floating around Shuhang were directly splashed onto Sakura''s open wound. (Now, just need to fire up the healing spells...) At one point or another, the rest of girls became completely silent as they intently observe Shuhang while he was at work. Even the shock of seeing Sakura''s open wound, heart included, heal at high speed as if time were rewinding couldn''t stop them from staring at his face. ''so handsome...''-- they all thought with slightly flushed face. If Shuhang had noticed those 4 pairs of eyes, he sure as heck wasn''t bother by them in the slightest bit. He''s gone too used to people unconsciously staring after boosting his ''charms'' about a year ago after all. Although it felt like forever and a half due to the tense atmosphere, it only took about 10 seconds at most from start to finish. This even included the time of sealing away the ''crest worm'' that is the last remnant of Matou Zouken. . . . "Well then. I''ve completed my end of the bargain. It''s now your turn, Rider." said Shuhang after making a few last minute check on Sakura to make sure everything went smoothly without a hitch. "...of course." said Rider simply. What else could she have said? A deal was a deal after all. "Sigh... if you hesitate to answer like that, it''s going to make feel like a bad guy know?" said Shuhang with a wry smile on his face. Seeing a chance to make a jab at him appear, how could Illya let go of this opportunity? "What is this lolicon saying now at this point in time? Did you forget about kidnapping me earlier?" Shuhang: "..." (The hell do you mean lolicon? Aren''t we the same age here?) retorted Shuhang in his heart even as he continued to do his intended work. That of course meant taking away the ''command seal'' from Sakura and becoming the ''master'' of Rider. After a brief glow, Sakura''s seals had disappeared from her arm. Under the cover of his long sleeve, a new set of ''command seals'' had appeared on Shuhang''s forearm. Immediately, Rider could feel her loss of connection towards Sakura and a new formed between her and Shuhang. This of course gave her a pretty complicated feeling. Rider''s only wish was to faithfully serve the one master she''s sworn to yet somehow or another, she got passed onto an unworthy wretch that is Sakura''s brother and now once more getting passed onto Shuhang. The culprit of this complicated feeling however were completely unaware of Rider''s inner turmoil as he was having a mini struggle within the confines of his mind. (That makes the 3rd set with two of them being Saber''s and Rider''s. As for the last and ''free'' seal... should I summon or somehow convince ''Assassin'' to be my follower? I could use that guy as a sort of combat instructor for my new servants. The question though... would he be willing? If he doesn''t comply... I could also use Lancer''s spear as a catalyst to summon HIS teacher, Scathach Skadi instead. Having the ''Immortal Killer'' as a teacher would definitely be something... Hm. What to do....) *rrrRatttle* In the midst of his thoughts, Shuhang was shook ''awake'' by a sound coming from his inner world. It was specifically coming from area that is the ''Mountain of Blades'', that is the result of assimilating EMIYA. As it was related to his inner world, Shuhang of course had to check it out immediately and so he sank his ''mind'' inward to check out. To his shock, Shuhang had found the cause of rattling noise. Moving around as if it were ''alive'', a loooong stretch of golden chains were floating to and fro around the edge of the ''island''. This chain was surprisingly Gilgamesh''s ''Chains of Heaven''! (Wtf is that doing in here?! I don''t remember taking that from Gil? It''s definitely not a counterfeit from EMIYA''s ability either and most definitely the ''real'' article...) thought Shuhang, completely flabbergasted at the appearance of this new artifact. (Waaait....! Was the reason why those new weapons kept appearing on this island... Gilgamesh''s armory!? But... huh? How?!) After firing his thoughts back and forth at high speed, Shuhang still couldn''t come up a concrete explanation of why that was happening. The only new thing that Shuhang found out was that every single ''weapons'' that appeared on the island had it''s karma connected to him. It was just a faint feeling but some how Shuhang could tell that it was due to his ''right'' as the previous owner''s defeater. It was his right of ''conquest''. Suddenly, a possibility had hit him. (Oh! Could it be one of the ''skill'' he had as a ''Heroic Spirit''? Well, shit. If it were true... then I must definitely take advantage of his state I''m in!) After thinking that, Shuhang turned towards Rin and gave her the most dazzling ''smile'' to date. (I was thinking before of how to tactfully remove this bond we had as Rin was a ''good girl'' but now... Sorry, Rin. You''re coming with me no matter what objection(s) you may or may not have. It''s not like there''s anything that''s holding you back here after all... Aside from Sakura that is. I''ll ''burn that bridge'' when I get there though...) As if aware of Shuhang''s ''malicious thoughts'' towards her, Rin suddenly had cold sweat running down her back as her entire body shook in trepidation. 81 sAccidentals Meeting? "...what is it?" Seeing Shuhang''s sudden dazzling smile and feeling that sudden chill, Rin couldn''t help but ask warily. The fact that Shuhang''s smile got even brighter after that didn''t help matter at all! "Well then. It''s your turn, Illya-chan. I didn''t get an actual answer from you since Rider had interrupted us earlier." (He... he ignored my question just like that!? Curse you Shuhang! You''re definitely planning something aren''t you!?) thought Rin as the gears in her head turned at a rapid pace. "...I want to change my condition. Not only must you not harm Leysrit and Sella, they must be able to come with me." Without missing a beat, Shuhang simply snapped his finger and... *THUD!* *THUD!* the sounds of two somethings colliding with the floor rang out within the room. This of course had surprised everybody in the room. Even more so with the new ''guests'' that suddenly appeared here. "!!?" "Kuh!" Immediately on guard, both ''maids'' pulled their weapons from ''somewhere'' and scanned the room. The moment they located Illya, they jumped to her side without missing a beat. "Ojou-sama!" "..." The hostility could be felt in the air as both Saber and Rider narrowed their eyes and grips were on their respective weapon. Although on guard as well, Rin was the only one who didn''t really put too much stock on the new comers. "Shuhang... just how were you able to bring them in just like that? Did you hide them somewhere or something?" asked Rin carelessly as she didn''t expect him to really answer her as she nonchalantly took a sip of her tea. To her surprise however... "Huh? I didn''t tell you? I''m a ''Magician'' you know. Of the 2nd True Magic to be exact. The ability to manipulate space is sort of the ''basic'' pre-requisite." Though surprised, neither Saber nor Rider showed much reactions towards that revelation as they continued to monitor the maids for any sudden movement. The same couldn''t be said about the 2 Magus within the room, Illyasviel and Rin. Rin especially showed the most exaggerated reaction. *PFFT!* By spitting all the tea in her mouth that is. "You''re a what!?" shouted Rin as she had yet to reach that far into the ''dreams''. Or rather... it actually seems that everything related to Shuhang''s 3 ''cheats'' never once appeared in the dreams for some reason nor were Shuhang''s ''meetings'' with the loli goddess. As for Illya''s maids, Sella and Leysrit; the moment they heard Shuhang''s claim to be a ''magician'', despair could be seen in their eyes. "Sigh... Sella, Leysrit, stand down. Onii-chan isn''t our enemy. Even if he is, we couldn''t hope to overcome his status as a ''heroic spirit''. Not to mention his other status as a ''Magician'' now too... Really. Even if the Grail wasn''t corrupted, we had no chance whatsoever in the first place huh? Hehe... heh..." Hearing the depreciating laughter of their mistress, both the maids lowered their hostility, though not completely, before re-positioning themselves to the rear of Illya. Then, from seemingly out of nowhere, they actually pulled out their own ''tea set'' along with treats. ''wao! super maids!'' Shuhang thought idly. "Now then, Illya-chan... Since you''ve agreed to ''following'' me, I will be borrowing your heart for a bit. No worries. I''ll give you a new one in it''s place." After saying such, Illya suddenly lost her consciousness while her 2 maids were immobilized. Then before anyone could react, Shuhang placed a hand over Illya''s pitiful chest... and plunged straight through to grabbing her still beating heart before pulling it out. . . . Back at the Emiya estate, Shirou who is not so soundly asleep is sweating buckets while intermittent groans could be heard. His skin occasionally lit up like LEDs as Shirou unconsciously activated his magic circuits. The reason Shirou is in this state is of course due to Shuhang''s intervention which he did on a whim the moment Shirou''s memories were altered. Currently, Shirou is watching the memories of his Counter Guardian EMIYA''s self through the dream... no, nightmare. . . . A couple of blocks away in a multiversal scale, a senior high school girl stood in silence atop a roof top as she peered out into the darkness covered streets. Held in her hand is a katana with a kaleidoscopic jewel embedded into the sheath. Whatever went through her head is unknown to all however as she didn''t really seem to put much stock into her ''night-watch'' duty. "Sigh. It''s been 3 months in the blink of an eye since ''his'' departure huh..." A few moment after her words fell, the clouds above slightly parted and moonlight fell onto her figure, revealing her identity. Surprisingly, this girl is actually Saeko Busujima! Although it had only been a few days from Shuhang''s perspective, more than 3 months had actually passed by in this part of the multiverse. During these 3 months, Saeko noticed a few strange things with the gift that Shuhang had given her. Most notably is the rainbow jewel embedded into her katana''s sheath for it occasionally started to glow. Strangely however, it usually only occurs when no one is around or when none were awake/conscious. The strangest thing though... whenever that jewel started glowing, Saeko would at the same time be able to see a transparent projection of a ''fairy''. Said fairy had very beautiful blond hair and the most mysterious eyes of blues which seemed to contain the very stars themselves. Had Shuhang been present, he would definitely be able to recognize this... ''fairy''. It''s actually the figure of the loli-goddess that gave Shuhang his cheats! When this ''fairy'' appears, it would start imparting different knowledge onto Saeko. Things such as ''cultivation'', sword arts, and even things such as magic! And thanks to the life style that this zombie infested world force Saeko to live, she was actually already on the cusp of opening her heart''s aperture! Truly a miracle considering the lack of resources and her missing the best age to cultivate. Just a bit more ''push'' though.... Still in the midst of ''day-dreaming'', Saeko was woken up due to the sudden glow of her katana. Unlike ''normal'' however, the little fairy didn''t appear this time and instead, a powerful suction force could be felt. Before she could even feel surprised, let alone ''resist'', Saeko''s body already disappeared from that desolate roof top. In her place, a letter placed under a very attention catching jewel had mysteriously appeared. On said letter, the name of Saeko could be seen. One moment she was standing on a roof top, the very next, Saeko stood inside the living room of a western design. It even had a fire place installed! More importantly however were the people that stood in front of her! 2 men and 3 women stared at the high school girl who suddenly appeared in their house. Of those 3 women is a heavily armored blond hair teenager that fits the template of a ''knight''. The 2nd one is a middle school girl dressed in a witch''s attire and was wearing an eye-patch. The none covered eye showed a pupil of deep crimson in color. The last of the women is a beautiful blue haired girl in a blue dress while holding what appear to be a bottle of booze. As for the men; one of them is a teenager wearing a green shabby attire and looked extremely ''shady'' for some reason. His gaze was completely drawn towards her chest area and ogled without shame. The final member was a blond hair middle aged looking man. The most eye catching thing about this middle aged man is the really cute looking rabbit pouch he wore on his waist. "Huh...?" x6 82 Decision *ba-dum* *ba-dum* "Hmm~... So? What is your plan now you''ve taken my ''heart'', onii-chan?" Thanks to Shuhang''s powerful healing arts, Illya was able to quickly regenerate her own heart. Even her lifespan of a measly 1 year was increased to 100+ in one go thanks to the Life Spring and Dragon Pellet. Unlike Sakura however, Illya was able to quickly regain her consciousness which surprised even Shuhang himself. What a strong willed girl... "Shuhang... I really don''t want to ask, but I''ll ask anyways. Why and what are you planning to do with... that?" While everyone were starting at the actually still beating heart of Illya''s in Shuhang''s hand, Rin asked the question that was on everyone''s mind. "Hm? Ah. I''m going to use it as a catalyst to summon the Grail of course. If ''this'' was still inside of Illya-chan, she''d die if I did summon it. There''s no way I''m going to let that happen you know?" As soon as Shuhang had finished explaining himself, everyone turned to look at him as if he suddenly grew a second head. "Are you MAD, Shuhang!? Didn''t you say that the Grail is corrupted?!" questioned Rin as she couldn''t understand what Shuhang was thinking and where he was going with this. "I agree with that assessment, Master." chimed in Rider. Her way of referring to Shuhang with such ease... Shuhang had wondered if Rider herself noticed. It seemed that saving Sakura had actually scored him a lot of favorability points. Whether or not she noticed doesn''t matter though as it''s a good thing for him either way. "She''s right, onii-chan. Not only that, my ''heart'' alone don''t have the ability summon the Grail. For that, you would also need a live magus'' magic circuit as well. Don''t tell me..." "Haha. It''s not what you are thinking Illya-chan. I have just the right thing for this. Also... since when have you been referring to me as ''onii-chan''? It makes me feel a bit uneasy you know? You wanted to use Berserker to main the last person you referred to as ''onii-chan'' after all..." "Fufufu~..." was all the reply he received. The corner of Shuhang''s mouth couldn''t help but twitch at such a response. (The heck...? What does she mean by that? Why do I feel the chills even though there aren''t any malicious intents directed towards me...?) "Aaaanyways... Let me show you what I planned on doing." After forcibly changing the subject, a spherical ''stone'' the size of his palm suddenly appeared in Shuhang''s unoccupied hand. "Is that... a rock? Shuhang, what does this ''rock'' have to do with your plan?" asked Rin in confusion as she couldn''t sense anything special from the ''rock''. Even when she used the ''Structural Grasp'' magecraft, she couldn''t gleam anything out of the ordinary from it. Other than it being a ''rock'' that is... Albeit a perfectly spherical one; it''s still just that, a rock. This ''rock'' is of course anything but ordinary. This was actually the ''rock'' that bumped into Shuhang''s head during his first use of the kaleidoscope. Right. It was actually the ''rock'' that Shuhang used to experiment on for his ''True Clone / Primal Twin'' creation project! Well... one of the rocks anyways as Shuhang went back to find many more of these mysterious objects. Currently, he has about a few hundreds of these in one of his interspatial rings. As Shuhang suddenly went on that 1 week sudden ''trip'' with White however, he forgot about it. Right after that, Shuhang went world hopping and ended up in this ''Fate'' world so he never really had the chance to continue the experiment either. Although Shuhang still hadn''t found the solution to making the ''perfect'' clone of himself, for life insurance purposes of course, it''s definitely more than enough to use it for what he intended. "Mhm. This little guy here will be used to substitute for a mage''s magic circuit." "...really? This thing here...?" asked Rin doubtfully. Without explaining any further, Shuhang held the still beating ''heart'' closer to the ''rock''. Surprising everyone, the ''heart'' was actually being slowly absorbed into it! After the ''heart'' was fully absorbed, both of Shuhang''s eyes and hands started to glow while the sound of could be heard periodically before it slowly started to fade away. Soon, glowing patterns started to show one after another before they started to disappear as well. "Wha?! Those... were those magic circuits?!" To Rin''s questioning glare, Shuhang only returned a slight smile at her without any explanation. What was the point? It''s not like anyone could understand what just occurred. For that to happen, Shuhang would need to explain to everyone on what ''cultivation'' is. After that, he would need to explain to them how a ''True Clone'' works. Not to mention all the techniques involved as well... Ain''t nobody got time for that. As for the appearance of the magic circuits; what Shuhang did was artificially grafting them onto the ''stone'' itself from an example of what the circuits look like. How Shuhang knew what magic circuits should look like was of course due to him analysing Illya''s and Sakura''s body when he ''healed'' them earlier. "Now that I''ve got the catalyst, it''s time to head towards the Ryuudou temple where the final 2 servants are at. I want to finish this whole ''War'' tonight. I got places to be at after all..." After saying so, was put away as he turned towards Saber who had been VERY quiet since she had gotten here. If it weren''t for Shuhang suddenly turning in her direction, everyone else in the room would have forgotten she was even there at all. As for why this was so... Saber was actually making a decision about the memories of her other selves from multiple timelines. As soon as Shuhang had summoned her, Shuhang wasted no time at all and gave her those ''memories''. On the way back from ''getting cake'', Shuhang had told her to think about the ''wish'' that she wanted from the Grail. Now that Shuhang only needed to get rid of the last two servants, he won''t wait for her anymore as Shuhang really wanted to get this over with already so he can go back to his own ''world''. This one sucks... it''s even worse when ''Gaia'' was always constantly trying to ''erase'' Shuhang''s existence from this world just like all mage craft. The fact that Shuhang was a ''foreigner'' made ''Gaia'' raise her effort to erase that him that much more than usual. If it weren''t for his strength and the Grail anchoring him down, Shuhang would''ve already ''disappeared'' on the 2nd day he was summoned. "Saber. I would like to hear the conclusion that you''ve reached. I cannot wait anymore as I will end everything by tonight." ".....Master-- No, Shuhang. Let me be the one-" said Saber as she raised a hand to chest level. Looking closely, it seemed as if she was grasping onto something that is there yet not visible. *SWOOSH!* With the sudden sweet of the wind, the concealment magic was released and the most beautiful sword, glowing in gold, had appeared before all. The mere sight of Saber holding Excalibur with the sword tip facing upward looked extremely majestic that it captivated everyone there save for the still unconscious Sakura. "-to DESTROY that abomination!" 83 Failure to Recrui After getting Saber''s answer, everyone save for Rider also wanted to tag along as well, Rin especially, as they also wanted to see the conclusion of the 5th Holy Grail War. Rider was the only one that didn''t really want to go as she wanted to stay and watch over Sakura for now. Most importantly, she wanted to know whether or not Shuhang had any plans pertaining to Sakura. This is because she no longer have any place to go to since her ''family'' were burned to death according to what Shuhang elluded to. "You''re wondering about my plans for Sakura-chan?"'' After hearing Rider''s question, Shuhang answered with a question of his own, not expecting answer at all. As this was something that was concerning her own ''sister'', Rin''s body was unintionally stiffened up as she perked her ears to hear of what Shuhang had to say. "Well... why don''t we Sakura-chan herself? She had been awake this whole time after all. Even before I ''healed'' her that is..." Soon after his voice fell, Sakura who had been lying down motionless for quite sometime suddenly jerked her body a little. As for everybody else, Heroic Spirit especially, they were completely surprised about this as they actually fooled by Sakura''s act. Either it was due to Sakura''s ''training'' with the Matou or Shuhang''s intention, Sakura had actually ''woken up'' almost as soon as she was brought here to Rin''s mansion. Shuhang didn''t really have the patience to wait for Sakura to drop her act though. "Well... there really are only 2 choices for her. Either she comes with me when I ''leave''... or she stays. Should she choose to stay however, I''m sure that Shirou-kun or his guardian, Taiga-san, would happily accept her. Rider. You may stay with Sakura and discuss with Sakura about this as you were her previous.... partner. Everyone else, we have a date with a ''fake'' Samurai and a Witch." . . . The moment their group made it all the way to Ryuudou temple, servant Assassin came to greet them as expected. "Well well.. What do we have here? We weren''t expecting any visitors~" Assassin said in an amused tone as he faced the group. His back however was drenched in cold sweat as he could felt the pressure that Shuhang had released on purpose. Next to Shuhang stood his ''master'', Tohsaka Rin, Illya, and Saber. "Hmm. You girls can go ahead and greet Caster first. I need to have a little chat with Mr. Samura here. After hearing that, everybody just wordlessly climbed up the strairs of the temple while ignoring Assassin. The Samurai however didn''t ignore the group because he wanted to. Rather, he couldn''t afford to pay them any heed as he felt that he would instantly perish the moment he tried to make a move on the women. "Well? It seems you wanted to have a chat with this humble one?" "...I''ll get to straight to the point. How do you feel about breaking relations with Caster and come with me instead? I have an extra set of command seals to spare." "Hahaha~ Here I thought it was something serious. Turned out it was a mere recruitment. I must disappoint you however as I don''t have any plans to do any such thing. I only have one purpose. That is to face to strong opponnets and validate my own ''existence''." "...Sigh, It was a fruitless effort after all. At least I tried. Very well. Come, ''nameless Samurai''! I''ll beat you up until you agreed to come with me." "Hmph!" As soon as his voice fell, a sword randomly selected from Gilgamesh''s collection had appeared in his hand as Sasaki charged with his own ''daigatana''. *DING!* *DING!* *DING!* Every swing delivered by Assassin were effortlessly blocked by Shuhang''s own sword. Low sweeps, wide slashes, even a seemingly ''random'' backhand swing was perfectly countered by Shuhang. The more their swords clashed, the bigger the frown appeared on Sasaki''s handsome face. *DIIIIIIING!* With a ''final'' clash, both combatants were separated as Sasaki lowered his own daigatana. "Why are you holding back, Saber! Do you look down on me this much?!" Facing Sasaki''s furious howl, Shuhang expression was calm as a still lake as he stared indifferently at his ''opponent''. "Come at me with your strongest, Samurai. Only then will you get the answer you seek from me. Also, I am not ''Saber''. That would be the lovely young lady that went passed us just now." "You speak nonsense! Someone of your caliber with the sword isn''t ''Saber''? Do you take this humble me for a fool?" "Hehe. So says the ''Assassin''..." At Shuhang''s jab, Sasaki had no refute as he could only furrow his brows in response. "Very well. I can only force the answer out of you!" Immediately, Assassin''s ''presense'' shows a perceptible change. No doubt that he''s about to use his signature technique, Tsubame Gaeshi. A move where he cut at a target 3 consecutive times simultenously. An ''inescapable move'' so to speak. Not so for someone like Shuhang however. "Tsubame Gaeshi!" In a flash, Shuhang''s eyes started to glow in his signature color, of the kaleidoscope. In the instant that he saw this move, he was reminded of his own ''killer signature move'' that he had been working for awhile now. His own original technique that is based on the concept of ''kaleidoscope'' itself. *DING!* *DING!* *DING!* Sasaki Koujirou: ".....I''m speechless. To think that the culmination of my whole life''s goal was so easily deflect." His daoist robe not even a bit ruffled, Shuhang stood in the same spot since arriving. Sasaki on the other hand sported a despondant look on him he despaired at his inability to even make his opponent move even a single step. "Sight... Must you really go through with this, Samurai-san? I really do want to hire you." "Unfortunately. You probably already know this, but I am nothing but a false existence. My story, fame, and legend is nothing fiction. It is already more than a miracle that I stood before you." Most probably due to the butt wooping that Caster is receiving by the girls, Sasaki''s body was turning transparent. It seems he was about to disappear soon. "...a shame. Then let me you send you off with my own original move. As it is still a work in progress, it has a temporary ineligant name of ''Infinity''." Then wordlessly, Shuhang had for once got into what looks like an ''Iai'' stance. "You shall be the first to have witnessed this move..." *!!!* "INFINITY!" Immediately, Sasaki''s vision was turned black and white. The only thing he was able to see were countless sword strikes from all possible directions closing in on him. Then, every turned into darkness. "...nk... u" With a faint words of Sasaki, the sword that Shuhang was holding rapidly broke down and dissipated just as the last of Assassin servant had finally disappeared once more into his ''myth''. "Sigh... I really need to perfect this move soon. As it is, there''s no way I can use ''Severing Heaven'' as it would literally destroy her. A sword that attacks from all levels of ''reality'' simutaneously and instantaneously..." Paying one last respect to his opponent, Shuhang wordlessly walked up the steps of the Ryuudou temple in order to meet up with the girls. 84 Wish As soon as Shuhang made it up the stairs and into the main temple ground, he found the girls standing in circle of a defeated Caster. She was absolutely ''rekt'' though judging by her burnt and torn robe. Lying unconscious right next Caster was the defeated form of her master, Souichiro, a teacher at Rin''s high school. For some reason or another however... there is one Emiya Shirou standing a bit to the side as well. "Oh? I''m actually surprised Castor is actually still alive and kicking. Then again... this is her ''territory''. Or rather! What''s little ''Hero-kun'' doing here anyways? 85 Moving Houses... Literally "But still... to think that her Noble Phantasm could be this powerful..." mumbled Shuhang as he looked at the golden light pillar seeming to pierce even the ''heaven'' itself. After awhile, the light started to recede. Looking at the night sky above, the vortex of humanity''s greed had disappeared along with the ''death'' of Angra Mainyu. "Master-- no, Shuhang." For some reason, Saber called out to Shuhang which in turn also drew everyone''s attention towards her. "Though it may have been brief, I am glad to have become your Knight." said Saber with the most brilliant of smile before turning around, as if to hide her embarrassed face. "With the Grail gone... Us servants will no longer be able to maintain our own existence. Farewell..." (What the heck...? Did Saber doze off when I was explaining stuff to the rest of the girls earlier? Well, can''t blame her I guess. She was probably still distracted by the memories I showed her) thought Shuhang after hearing such an embarrassing line. His face however was calm as a still lake. As someone who wasn''t in the loop, Shirou was actually getting a little emotional. This is most likely due to having lived the life of a ''Shirou'' that actually successfully summoned her in a different timeline. As for the others that knew otherwise... Rin: "..." Illya: "..." "--cough-- That...Saber. You won''t be disappearing anytime soon. Your existence is being maintained solely by me. So.... yeah." finally said Shuhang after a few seconds of awkward silence. Saber: "..." Shirou: "..." "pfft!" "heh" Unable to hold back any longer, Illya and Rin openly laughed at the King of Knights while giving friendly jabs here and there. Oh my... looks like she''s about to overheat from embarrassment. There''s even steam coming out of her head! Let''s save her soon before she becomes the 1st servant to ever die from shame... "Kuhum... anyways. We''ll be leaving soon. Shirou-kun." "..Yes?" "Come with us for a bit. It concerns Sakura-chan you see. Seems she''s made her decision." said Shuhang as he withdrew his Spiritual sense from Rin''s mansion where Rider and Sakura just chatted. Shirou, upon hearing that it''s something concerning Sakura suddenly tensed his body as he stiffly nodded in agreement. "Then..." With a thought, kaleidoscope activated as Shuhang''s eyes once more shone in its signature colors. Poor Ddraig that complaints about scale not being red anymore... in actual fact, Shuhang had found out that the kaleidoscope''s color would only appear when his power is leaking through. As long as he could control it perfectly, Ddraig''s scale would return to its normal red color. Shuhang decided to not tell him that though just because... its funny to see his reaction to being called the ''Disco Dragon''. . . . One moment everybody was standing on the roof of Ryuudou temple, the next moment they appeared inside a forest (minus Souchiro who was left there unconscious). In front of the group was a western medieval structure. "Eh? Onii-chan. This is... my castle?" Illya of course wasn''t the only one confused. ''Perhaps he was here so that Illya could pack her belongings?'' everyone thought. What they saw next made them drop their jaw straight down to the ground however. In front of them, the castle and parts of the ground beneath it started to shrink at a visible rate. Soon, the castle shrank to the same size as a rice grain which was then sucked in and swallowed by Shuhang. Contrary to the current party''s belief, Shuhang is of course not actually ''eating'' the castle. What he did was actually moving the castle to his inner world which would be used for something else later on. Before anyone could voice their surprise, the group was again forcibly teleported by Shuhang as they appeared in Rin''s living room. This had of course drew the attention of the 4 people within. Those being Rider, Sakura, and Illya''s 2 maids. "Welcome back, mistress." x2 "Senpai...?" Ignoring the maids, Shuhang looked straight into Sakura''s eyes and said "So, you''ve decided to stay then?" ".....yes." As she said that, Sakura was actually casting her glances towards the confused looking Shirou. This somehow really ticked off Shuhang a lot. (Damn dense protagonists. fucking cancers I say...) "Hm. And that''s how it is, Hero-kun. You don''t mind taking care of Sakura-chan right? Her house along with her last 2 remaining ''family'' members had just met with an ''unfortunate'' incident after all." Before Shirou had the chance to say anything else, Shuhang nodded exaggeratedly and began spouting more nonsense. "Good good! I knew you would agree. As expected of Hero-kun. As her brother, I''m expecting you to treat her well. Other wise... hehe" Upon hearing Shuhang''s laugh at the end, his whole body unconsciously shook like a leaf. "Anyways, before we leave..." After gaining the Heaven''s Feel, and combining it with his previous knowledge on Ghost Spirits, Shuhang had a bold idea. After double checking it with the Library of Heaven''s Path, his bold idea could actually become a reality. This idea was to actually turn Heroic Spirits into Ghost Spirits...! Without wasting anytime, Shuhang took out the bead that Berserker was sealed in and another sealing bead used for Ghost Spirits. After unsealing him, the form of Berserker had appeared in the room. As Shuhang was controlling him however, Berserker was calm like a tamed kitten. "Berserker!" exclaimed a pleasantly surprised Illya. Before she could ask any question, Shuhang was already manipulating, and modifying the properties of Berserker''s soul. Not too long after, Berserker''s body broke down into particles as it''s slowly absorbed into the Ghost Spirit sealing bead. "SEAL!" . . . After explaining to everyone what he did, Shuhang did the same to Rider as well as Saber. Rider was successful as expected however, Saber was somehow both a failure and a success. This result is most likely due to the fact that she was actually still ''alive'' unlike other Heroic Spirits. If there''s a comparison Shuhang could make... then Saber would currently be the same existence as ''Ye Si''... sort of.... After that was over, Shuhang sent both Shirou and Sakura away before putting Illya and her maids as well as Rin to sleep. Afterwards, Shuhang proceeded to do the same to Rin''s mansion as he did Illya''s castle. Along with the girls of course. "Now then... isn''t it about time you showed yourself, old man?" said Shuhang suddenly. 86 No More Side Quests!... For Now About a dozen or so meters away from Shuhang, a figure gradually revealed itself from the shadow. If this old man isn''t that troll Zelretch then Shuhang swore he would eat his own shoes. "Kuku... a visitor from another world. What a pleasant surprise." said the old man in an amicable tone. Shuhang wasn''t fooled by that however and treated this old man for what he truly is. A dangerous and unpredictable foe. Most importantly, he''s a goddamned troll who''s way too into magical girls. "Surprise my ass, old man. I may not know everything there is about this world, but I know enough to be able to say there is no such damn thing as an ''Emperor'' class servant. You''ve been expecting me way before I came to this world. Most likely from the Kaleidoscope''s passive ability to make its users to view alternate realities for limited future knowledge. In other words, you''ve long since noticed my existence via precognitive sight." "Hou... If that''s what you say, then it must be true." responded the old man in an even tone and a grin on his face. That smirking face of his is making it harder and harder for Shuhang to resist punching him in the face. " 87 What Changed...? Before Shuhang had realized it, a magnificent feast was spread atop the dining room''s table. Venerable White, who is a foodie, was enraptured just the by the smell alone. The stomach of Doudou and Sixteen who had less control than White rumbled and a bit of saliva could be seen leaking. (What the shit?! When did I make these?) thought a confused Shuhang. After a bit of thinking, he came to the conclusion that it was the remnant memories of ''EMIYA'' that guided his actions. There were only 2 things in life that EMIYA would never give up on... One of them is ''saving'' people while the other.... is ''control/ownership'' of the kitchen. (Hm... yeah that''s probably it. I cooould get rid of this right now but... meh. It''s just cooking so I''ll leave it be. Cooking was somehow really relaxing. So much so that I actually forgot about my worries for a bit....) "Dig in, everyone." As soon as his voice fell, everyone picked up their respective dishes and took a bite. White''s face was the picture of bliss as his eyes shone brightly even as he kept shoving in more food at incredible speed. Even though it would normally make anyone look like a total slob to eat at such speed... White was somehow able to make it look extremely graceful and ''beautiful''. (What an enviable hax... oh wait. I have it too. Nvm) "Woof woof! How!? How can a mere omelette be this good, woof!?" Even as he was gorging himself out, Doudou had tears streaming down its face in pure happiness. ''Thank god I chose not to eat dog food this morning...'' thought Doudou in relief. "It''s better than mine..." Sixteen on the other hand... even though she kept putting more food in her mouth, her face was actually the picture of despair. It''s as if her ''truth'' had been ruthlessly trampled and shattered by something... or someone. (Not bad... EMIYA''s experience plus the Library''s correction is truly a deadly combination... for cooking that is. Food that is ''Perfection'' itself huh...) . . . . . "Haaa. Good tea. How far are you with the cramming session, Ah White?" While leisurely sipping tea after their breakfast, Shuhang suddenly directed a question at Venerable White who was nearby. "Fuu. I went through most of the basics. Now, there are only specialized knowledge left." responded an equally relaxed Venerable White. No doubt, he''s still bathing in the deliciousness of the meals from earlier. Off to the side, Doudou could be seen playing on a laptop all the while talking trash into the screen. Occasionally, he was also bragging about how ''awesome'' he is to his in-game waifu. Her name is undoubtedly Chuchu. No one knows, not even True Monarch Yellow Mountain knows the origin of Doudou''s ''chuchu'' fetish. As for Sixteen... as soon as breakfast was over and dishes cleaned, she disappeared somewhere with a very determined look. All the while, she was muttering something about ''research'' as she stormed off. "Oh. Before I forget..." suddenly said Shuhang as he took out his cellphone and opened up the chatting app." . . . [Kaleido Sage, Dragon Emperor: "Fellow daoist @Snow Wolf, you in?"] Almost immediately, Shuhang received a reply. Everyone who was chatting earlier suddenly went quiet the moment Shuhang sent his message. [Cave Lord Snow Wolf: "In. What can I do for you, senior?"] After getting a response from the person he was looking for, Shuhang immediately sent him an invite for a private chat. Afterwards, Shuhang sent Snow Wolf the pictures of Rin, Illya, Leysritt and Sella that he took before hand. Everyone else went back to chatting once they noticed there weren''t anymore messages between the two. Most likely because they''re private chatting. Then without reserves, their chatting continued as before. [Kaleido Sage, Dragon Emperor: "I need identities for these 4 people. Their bios are as such............ As for the price, you can decide it."] [Cave Lord Snow Wolf: "No need, senior! This is but a small matter."] [Kaleido Sage, Dragon Emperor: "You have my thanks then, fellow daoist. If you need something from me, don''t hesitate to ask. Ah! Speaking of which... have you already finished with fellow daoist White''s documents?"] [Cave Lord Snow Wolf: "Yes, senior. Does senior White need them now? I can send it through one of my subordinates right away."] [Kaleido Sage, Dragon Emperor: "No need. Just send them along with the IDs of the other 4 when those are finished."] . . . Only after working out the details with Snow Wolf did Shuhang finally put away his phone. (Sigh... this ''senior'' persona is really tiring to keep up. I should go on more ''vacations'' to release pent up stress...) thought Shuhang idly. "Ah White. Fellow daoist Snow Wolf said your ID will be sent here by tomorrow morning. We can go and get your own cell phone, laptops, and whatever else you need tomorrow. Should be enough time for you finish going through the cramming session." "Mhm..." mumbled White in affirmative. His smiling face cramped up a bit though when he heard Shuhang''s next words. "Anyways... I''ll be doing a quick ''close up''. Try... not to take anything apart While I''m doing that, please. Thanks to that habit of yours, we ended getting chased for a whole day in the ''under-world'' by those sis-cons Maous. Even though I was just a passerby...!!! It got even messier when Ophis and that sis-con angel, Michael, and that pervert Azazel got involved...!" Towards the end of his rambling, Shuhang''s body unconsciously trembled a bit. Venerable White was also getting a tad bit paler from the memories. "I''ll... try not to..." responded White with the corner of his mouth unceasingly twitching. After giving White a suspicious glare for a few seconds, Shuhang sighed and returned back to his room. Wasting no time at all, Shuhang sank his mind down to his inner world. On a random stretch of land, a medieval style Castle and a reasonably sized old western style mansion sat a few dozens meters away from each other. A bit of a distance away, a group of men and women lay unconscious. Ignoring those people, Shuhang''s consciousness went into Rin''s little mansion and found the 4 girls unconscious bodies as well. Satisfied with their condition, Shuhang''s consciousness went towards his own nascent soul. What he found, gave Shuhang a really weird feeling. It felt as if there was a big qualitative change yet Shuhang was unable to perceive what it was at the moment. As he couldn''t figure out what changed, Shuhang momentarily gave up on that and changed his focus to completing his new sword technique. Currently, it was merely a ''physical'' attack. Infinite attacks it may be, it was in the end only a mere physical attack. Against cultivators with all sorts of revival techniques and Eternal Life Beings with all sorts of ''principle'' mastery and all sorts of ''Escaping'' techniques and laws... a mere physical attack is not good enough. "Next goal... infuse the ''principle'' of Cause & Effect into the [Infinity] technique. Basis of this principle...Gae Bolg!" 88 Well Shit... What Just Happened? Only when it was around midnight''s time did Shuhang finished his training. With the aid of the Library''s ability to find ''flaws'', Shuhang was able to quickly perfectly integrate the Cause & Effect principle within the 1st hour into the training. The rest of the time, Shuhang meditated on the effect that the 3rd True Magic, Heaven''s Feel, had on his own soul as well as his inner world itself. Also, Shuhang fixed any flaws in the magic while he was at it. During this process, Shuhang had put extra effort and cut no corner at all since it involves his ''soul'' and all. Not just nascent soul either, but his actual ''True Soul''. "Huuu. Wow... the 3rd True Magic is a pretty crazy piece of work. After the ''flaws'' were fixed, it got even better. Now I''m pretty much immune to any soul attacks. The only people that can successfully pierce my soul defense would be the ''Heavenly Dao'' and their ''Nine Serenities/Nether World'' counterparts. Until I break through to the next realm that is..." After stretching himself a bit from ''meditation soreness'', Shuhang teleported himself to the roof. "Yo! Drinking tea under the moonlight eh? Not bad.. allow me to join you! 89 Hmm? So Skillful? "Hmm... as I expected." Currently ''in front'' of Shuhang, stood an old man in a daoist priest robe. Even if Shuhang only used his pinkie toe to think, he would still come to the conclusion that this old daoist priest is [Scarlet Heaven]. And true to Shuhang''s expectation, he''s also currently reciting to the ''little boy'' on the workings of a ''sword art''. After not too much time had passed, Scarlet Heaven had finished his mini lecture... which Shuhang couldn''t help but click his tongue in disdain. (Tch... no wonder this Li Tiansu guy had only managed to reach the 5th stage after so long. This ''inheritance'' is just... garbage...!!! It''s not like I want to intentionally look down on this gar--cough-- ''inheritance'', but come... ON! You''re an Eternal Life Being for Ophis'' sake! Why the hell are you so stingy!?) After Shuhang had finished complaining to himself, Scarlet Heaven finally finished his short conversation with the young boy before he frowned a bit. "Uhm?" muttered Scarlet Heaven as he looked questioningly at young Li Tiansu. Li Tiansu: "?" Suddenly, the old broke out into a laughter and picked up a branch. Again... as Shuhang had expected, he showed off the prowess of his ''Heaven Scorching Saber''. This act of his however... actually confused Shuhang a little. (Didn''t this old man showcase this technique only because the ''original'' Shuhang had shit talent for the sword while his Saber talent pretty impressive? The current me shouldn''t have this problem at all though..?) As Shuhang was stuck in this dream mode however, there was really nothing that he could do but be a spectator. And soon, Scarlet ran off skyward and disappeared from Li Tiansu''s from then on. What Shuhang didn''t know is that... the moment his dream ability activated, so did the Grail next to his nascent soul. Why it did... no one knew and the only person that could find out was currently indisposed. . . . When Shuhang had gone to dream land, Venerable White carried Shuhang off and placed him in the nearest bed almost as if out of habit. He even went to the extra step of tugging Shuhang in and everything before walking back out to the living room. White''s very natural movements of course set off questions in Doudou''s and Sixteen''s mind. The girl couldn''t even help but let out a strange sound at the sight. Sixteen: "Yi?" Doudou: "Woof? Why does senior White''s action seems so skillful? Almost as if... he''s done this so many times before. Didn''t they meet only [1 week] ago?" Just as Sixteen and Doudou were wondering what was going to happen next, Venerable White had walked straight into the kitchen... and carried back a microwave oven with him. Having checked up on Shuhang one last time, presumably to see if he''d wake up or not, Venerable White started to disassemble the microwave at high speed, under the watchful eyes of the 2 juniors as if they weren''t even there. Unable to hold back her question any longer, Sixteen finally spoke up. "Senior White?" White: "Hm?" Asked a smiling a Venerable White. Even though he turned to look at Sixteen, his hands never ceased their movements. Little by little, more and more parts were taken apart. "Is Shu- senior Song ok?" When White heard what Sixteen wanted to ask, he just looked back at his current ''work'' and lightly answered her. "No need to worry. If I''m not wrong, he should wake up by the morning time." Sensing that White didn''t want talk anymore, she could only give up and returned to her own room while Doudou went to back to gaming with his online waifu. Throughout the night, more and more items were taken apart and ''re-assembled'' at a fast pace while Shuhang was lightly snoring away, unaware of what''s happening the items in ''his'' house. 90 Tyrant ****** 2 My name is Joseph Guy Maupassant. I''ve always had a passion for ''authentic Chinese martial arts'' since young. Just as I was about to give up on this dream of mine, I was fortunately able to meet a ''True Master'' and became his disciple. ....I''m sorry. I lied. I''m actually only a ''trial disciple'' currently according to my master. As such, I don''t even have the right to learn of his great name yet. As for how I know that master''s ''martial arts'' are real... I actually happened upon his training with the ''mistress'' when I visited my daughter in her college campus. I was, and still is, in great awe at their great strength. Sadly, I wasn''t able to learn of her name either. One day... I''ll definitely earn that right to finally learn of their names! In any case, master''s strength is even greater than what I could have imagined. What? Even more powerful than those shown on TV that could walk on air, and split apart boulders like tofu with just their Chi? An exaggeration? I wish I could say the same. For you see... my master''s so powerful that he was able do send me to another world. .....? I''m not crazy you know! Really! Anyways. Sent to another world. According to the notes master had left for me, I''m to train here using the resources he gave me and ''gain experience'' in this world. Although I''m worried about my family back on earth, master had assured me that I can return back to the point of when I left, regardless of how long I stayed in this world. As such, I can only keep doing my best and answer my master''s expectation of me. My ''homework'' only requires me to keep taking the ''body tempering liquid (mortal edition)'', master the foundation technique''s form, and finally start the real foundation building training to open up my heart aperture. This shouldn''t take too long at all. I''ll work hard and be back home in a flash. Also... it seems I''m supposed to switch to a different version of ''body tempering liquid'' every time I feel the ''current'' one having little to no effect at all. The different versions of the body tempering liquids from weakest to strongest are ''mortal'', ''original Song'', ''Medicine Master (revised), ''Regular'', and finally the ''Dragon'' edition. I''m of course only able to take the ''mortal'' edition currently. It seems that the ''Mortal'' and ''Dragon'' editions are master''s original creations. . . . I''m sorry for being arrogant...!!! I knew that it wouldn''t be that easy, but I still only expected it to only be around 2 weeks at most and 3 weeks at the absolute maximum. I couldn''t have been more wrong. It''s already been 1 month already since I''ve been in this world. And yet... I''ve only been able to finally ''master'' just the form of the foundation building technique...! I haven''t even started on the actual training! It seemed so simple yet...sigh. Master''s homework aside, I''ve also been working as an adventurer for the past month as well. Apparently, my master not giving me any of this world''s currency was part of the training.... So in order to not starve to death, I had to sign up as an adventurer to earn food. The one plus side to working as one is the fact that I get fight monsters and ''gain experience'' just as Master expected of me. At least I think this is what he meant... One surprising thing about the ''Guild Card''... other than allowing people to ''learn'' new skills, it can also strengthen our ''stats'' as we ''level up''. And the higher my ''level'' went from killing monsters, the more my body is strengthened. Currently, I''m already using the ''Original Song'' edition body tempering liquid way before I even get to start my actual ''foundation building'' training. Was this the real reason why master had sent me to this world? I''m in awe...! . . . Before I knew it, It''s already been 3 months since I''ve been sent to this world as a part of my training. I really miss my wife and cute daughter... 91 Sword Fairy 1 My name is... Saeko. Age 18 and a senior high school student. At least I used to be... until something that should have only been possible in movies happened in real life. It came so suddenly. The end of the world as I knew it that is. I still remember as if it were only yesterday. What progressed as a normal school day, suddenly ended as the first scream of horror rang out in front of the school gate. It was surreal. It was something that shouldn''t have been possible at all. And yet... I could hear the miserable screams of my... school mates, as their flesh were being ripped and torn apart by their used to be friends. This cycle continued and repeated itself until there were nothing but death and chaos all around. This situation... it excited me so. I wonder if that made me a horrible woman? Yes. I do not doubt that I am. I wonder when I started to notice to notice this ugly side of me? Was it ever since I have started practicing the way of the sword? Or was it that time I was... assaulted (attempted) back then? Yes... I remember it very well back then. I remembered how I reveled in my punishment... and how I was intoxicated as I ''tormented'' my would be ''attacker'' in turn. Even now... the side of my mouth couldn''t help but curl upwards every time I felt my sword smashing, and stabbing away at every zombies that lunged at me. Unfortunately... or maybe fortunately, I was interrupted before I lost myself too far in joy at my new found... situation. A few promising kouhais met up with me along with our school nurse on the way. In a way, I was very glad that I met with them. As there were eyes on me almost at all time, I was able to suppress my... urges. That didn''t mean I wasn''t scared of being found out though. In fact, I was so... so very scared that I might accidentally let it slip one day. Before we knew it, night had arrived which was also... the first time that we... that I met him. Back then, Takashi had foolishly... no, heroically? went out of his way to save this sweet little thing, Alice-chan. As comrades, we couldn''t have let him go out alone now can we? ...Or so I say. Deep down though, I was honestly just gladly there was another opportunity for me to do some... stress relief. Sigh... I really am a truly horrible woman aren''t I? It was all well and good when I, along with the rest of our friends, drove our way towards Takashi and little Alice''s location. To be honest, I was so captivated by the sight of ''him'' that I almost fell off from the roof of the HMMWV. Or maybe I did... I don''t want to remember that embarrassing part. I mean... how is that even fair? I didn''t even know that a man could be so much more ''charming'' than even the most beautiful of super models that I see on TV and in magazines. One strange thing however, was when he introduced himself as ''Song Shuhang'' to everyone. That in itself is not strange, but for some reason, whenever I focused on Shuhang, the words [Dragon Emperor] just crept in the back of my mind. I could also somehow feel that those words definitely referred to him yet at the same time, I felt that he wasn''t lying about his name either. It''s really weird! As I wasn''t sure if everyone else were like me however, I chose to keep it to myself. In any case, we somehow ended traveling together with him, with Shuhang. After traveling for a while, we had some how or another decided to head towards Saya''s house. Before long, we were in a disadvantageous position of being surrounded by the Zs. The worst part of it all...? I heard the devil''s whisper. [don''t hold back] it said. [show me your ''true'' self] it told me. Before I knew what was happening, a terrible grin made its way to my face. SMASH. KICK. STAB. BASH. It was so... soooo very satisfying. I had no idea when, but I started hearing manic laughter escaping my very own lips. I was so very terrified. The gazes of my friends, I could feel them all. For some reason though, I couldn''t stop myself and this act of savagery. WHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHY?! . . . It''s over... the side of me that I never wished to see the light of days was witnessed by all of my friends. Or so I thought. It felt like days had passed but nothing truly happened since then. No one tried to confront me about my previous state either. Even so.... I couldn''t help feel anxiety. Before long, I could no longer hold myself back and confronted Shuhang about it. I am glad that I did... I said it before, but I''ll say it again. I, Saeko, am a horrible woman. When Shuhang came in my room to... talk to me, I guilt trip him into accepting me. All of me, be it physically or otherwise. By the looks of it, he definitely knew what I was trying to do too. For some reason though, he still went along with me anyways. I have no idea why even until now. . . . Before I knew it, months had passed since Shuhang had left us and when he offered to take me along as well... I for some reason had rejected though. I wonder why I did that...? Really. As for regret?... Of course I did. The surprising feature of the gift that Shuhang had left me however, didn''t really give me much time to bask in the misery of my prior decisions. Through it, I was able to start ''cultivating'', just like Shuhang is. Then, I was suddenly ''teleported'' to another world one night. It happened so suddenly too. The surprising part... one of the person I first met in the ''new world'' turned to be a ''disciple'' of Shuhang! Just what is this coincidence?! Strange. Too strange! That aside, it was thanks to Mr. Joseph actually that I was actually able to finally cross the final threshold and opened up my heart aperture. It was actually thanks to the body tempering liquid (Dragon Edition) he had on him actually, that I was able finally cross the last barrier successfully. An even more pleasant surprise, when I took the ''Dragon Edition'' medicine, I for some reason could feel a ''connection'' forming. It was something that I could have sworn I lost when I refused to go with Shuhang that day. I''m not really sure what all that meant however since I am still new to the world of ''cultivation''.... The last surprise, my hair started to turn snow white and even my face structure changed somewhat. It wasn''t too drastic a change, but unless one were to really study me, none would have been able to connect my hair and face to ''Saeko''. I wonder why that is.... In any case, it finally happened one day. I finally met with Shuhang again. It happened during our confrontation with the demon lord''s army which was assaulting the capital. As Mr. Joseph and I were overwhelmed with the enemy commanders, Mr. Joseph did... something, then a sudden flash appeared on the battle field. Right there in front me, stood Song Shuhang in what he had called a daoist robe. He did bore a face of confusion for a moment when our eyes met, but he definitely didn''t recognize me. That for some reason really upset me. I was even more upset however, when I noticed another ''beauty'' getting summoned along side him. ''She'' hadn''t talked much and pretty much looked confused at ''her'' situation as well. However... However...!! That hussy better not think about stealing what''s mine! ...Sadly, before I get a chance to properly talk with Shuhang, he and that [White] fellow seemed to have been forcibly teleported again somewhere. I knew it as so when I noticed his [constipated look] as he hurriedly grabbed on to that ''home wrecker'' White and, quite literally, flashed and disappeared under the gazes of all those present. 92 The Terrified Delivery Man The moment that Shuhang had opened his eyes, he couldn''t help but groan out loud and complained to no one in particular. "Ugh... about damn time the dream ended. Sigh, it seems I''ll need to go pick up little Yinzu one of these days, huh." As he finally decided to get up though, Shuhang finally noticed where he was. On a bed and even nicely tugged in as well. (Strange... why am I getting a bad feeling all of a sudden? Something''s amiss... and seems very familiar. Almost as if this has happened before...?) he thought as he went down the stairs to the living room. And finally, the kitchen in order to start the day by making breakfast. This time, he decided to challenge himself by cooking with ''high class'' ingredients rather than only with the mortal tier ingredients like last time. As for the ''morning rituals'' that normal people do every morning...? He''s already stopped doing such things since half a year ago already. Heck, if Shuhang really wanted to, he wouldn''t even need to eat anything... let alone cook at that. In any case, the moment Shuhang set foot in the living room, he was met with a very brightly smiling face of Venerable White. He even gave Shuhang a morning greeting as per usual. There doesn''t seem to be aaaanything wrong with that and yet... suddenly frowned and hazarded a guess. "Ah White.... Say. Be truthful with me. You didn''t break your promise with me right? You know, the one about [not disassembling things when Shuhang is forcefully in a sleep induced state]?" White: "Uhm... 93 Un Eventful Shopping Trip "Anyways! Since you''ve got your ID, let''s go out and buy you a cell phone of your own as well as replacing the stuff you''ve... studied." White: "..." Upon hearing the 1st half Shuhang''s sentence, Venerable White''s eyes became bright, but they immediately dimmed upon hearing the latter half. He wanted to refute, but the now very bare looking kitchen and missing big screen TV in the living room quickly doused any fire he had. Shuhang on the other hand just rolled his eyes at the changing expressions of his friend. "Right... how do we do this? I wanted to suggest going on foot but... the last time you and I had a ''walk'' together... Sigh. I don''t even need to remind you huh?" Understanding where Shuhang meant, Venerable White''s lips couldn''t help but twitch. Yes, he was absolutely a very curious person and thought that ''adventures'' are fun. When said adventure had both he and Song Shuhang however... White: "Hm..." Seeing his friend''s hesitation, Shuhang couldn''t help but let loose another sigh. It seems the number of times he''s sighing has seen an increase in frequency lately... (Hmm??) Just as Shuhang was about to suggest something, Shuhang spotted his ''Severing Heaven Sword'' floating in the background and his kitten, Little White, lazily perched herself on the flat side of the sword. That''s not really the strange part though... What actually caught his attention was the fact Little White''s tail had actually split itself into 2 rather than the expected 1. (What in the flying **ck? O_O When the heck did that even happen? How?!) thought a confused Shuhang. His confusion clearly shown on his face as Venerable White noticed this and also turned his gaze towards his sword and Little White. White: "Oh?" Having noticed the reason for Shuhang''s confusion, Venerable White''s face almost immediately turned into one of curiosity, as if he couldn''t wait to dissect her to see how she ticked. As far as he knew, it was only supposed to be a ''normal'' kitten that hadn''t really unlocked it''s ''wisdom'' and tread the path of cultivation. To be perfectly honest, White actually still don''t know how to feel about this little kitten. Especially the name that his friend Shuhang had chosen to give. There is always this funny feeling whenever Shuhang called it ''Little White'' when in his presence. Not knowing how to really react to hearing ''Little White'' while knowing that it didn''t refer to him, Venerable White could only have the corner of his mouth twitch silently during those times. "Sigh... okay. One thing at a time. Let''s go get them cell phones and laptop first and get that out of the way. Little White isn''t going anywhere so I can always check her out later." said Shuhang as he just accepted the clearly very strange development. Suddenly, a random thought came to mind. (2 tailed cat huh... that kind of reminds me the nekoshous in the DxD world. If I recalled correctly, didn''t their race get annihilated down to the last 2 by the devils? The last time I went to that world though, that Rias Gremory seemed to still be a little girl and I didn''t sense any [cat] in her castle at all. Maybe... I could go back and there and grab me a couple of hundreds or so ''kitties'' before that happen? Aah! But the loli-dragon-sama....!! Tch. I''ll think more on that after today''s shopping.) With that last thought in mind, Venerable White, Shuhang, and Sixteen decided to head out. Oh... Soft Feather as well if her Ghost Spirit is included. (Speaking of which... shouldn''t she go back to her main body now and start practicing to increase her cultivation? At this rate, Sixteen is totally going to surpass her...) . . . (Aaah... shit. I got careless due to thinking about the nekoshous and Little White. Completely forgot to shield mine and White''s presence... Sigh) Currently, the trio that went on a shopping trip were sitting inside a bus. To be specific, Shuhang and White were the ones sitting. The reason for Shuhang''s sigh could be seen in front of him as little Sixteen is stalwartly standing ''guard'' in front of the duo from the mobs of infatuated women trying to come and chat them up. Photos were taken almost nonstop. Incessant screams of the instantly formed fan girls were hear-- Hey wtf! Who threw those panties?! . . . "Haha... 94 High Class Dinner "Now that I think about it... where is your life bound weapon, Ah White?" Finally in the comfort and ''safety'' of their own home, Shuhang randomly blurted out this question as White was setting his new toys. At the same time, Shuhang took out his phone to contact True Monarch Yellow Mountain to invite Venerable White to the Nine Provinces (1) Chat Group in a little bit. White: "Ah. While I was closing up, a fellow daoist from the thieves sect took it." Shuhang: "Right... 95 ?? @@ Yo. Noodle~sama here. I was gonna release a chapter today, but I''m too tired from work so I gave up after about only 50%~ish or so is done. I''m just gonna sleep now and instead you guys''ll get 2 chapters tomorrow. If there are enough time left, I might do a 3rd chapter, but don''t get your hopes up though. 2 will probably be it. Night~~@@ 96 Chuchu Heaven So warm. Haa, so comfortable... (Woof? What I was doing again?) With that last thought, the 4th Stage monster dog cultivator finally opened its eyes. The first thing that greeted its vision seems to be a... tub? full of cloudy looking, warm, and very comfy water. There seems to also be steam rising which is telling of this tub of water''s current temperature. (Wait... why am I suddenly bathing inside a tub of warm water, woof?) thought the dog monster. Also, it might just be its imagination, but the water seems to still be getting warmer and warmer as time passes...? *ToK!* *ToK!* *ToK!* Suddenly, it heard the sounds of foot steps which seems to getting closer to its location. For some strange reason however, it couldn''t bring itself to put up any guard towards this new comer despite the strange situation. Perhaps it was due to the comfortable bathing(?) water, but it''s been in the most relaxed state since who knows how long. Finally, the dog monster turned its head towards the source of the approaching sounds of foot steps. (Woof? I can''t sense their cultivation? Ordinary mortals?) thought the dog monster as studied the 2 new comers, both of which are delicate looking girls seemingly still in their teenage years. One of those girls was wearing modern day clothing befitting what a normal high school girl would wear. This seems to agree with the dog monster''s initial guess that they were ordinary mortals. It almost immediately dismissed that thought however when he saw the 2nd girl that came into the room. Her attire is definitely what one would describe as a [Fairy Maiden''s Immortal Clothing], and the few enchantment arrays it could see inscribed was an almost definite proof. Although still lacking despite the very... very strange situation it''s in, a sliver doubt and wariness finally appeared in his mind. There is now another possibility as to why it couldn''t send their cultivation levels. They were vastly more powerful than itself. (Woof? Why did these two suddenly appear in this room while I''m bathing? Speaking of which... this room strangely looks like a modern day... kitchen?) Towards the end of its thought, the dog monster suddenly got a bad feeling and cold sweat flowed down its back. Or maybe it was due to the ever increasing temperature of the bathing(?) water. Who knows at this point. The strangest part though... whenever it thought about ''wanting to leave the bath(?)'', why does it''s own body would refuse to obey!? ???: "Senior Sister [Chuchu], do you think its ready yet?" (NANI!? Chuchu?!) Hearing a certain name, the dog monster''s ears immediately twitched itself as the dog monster turned its gaze towards the one being referred to as ''Senior Sister Chuchu''. It was actually the one in the modern day mortal clothes that was the ''senior''. (Woof?! Now that I think about it, this extremely ''charming'' young lady somehow seems to be very family? Not her appearance, but her ''charm'' itself as well as her very ''atmosphere'' that seems familiar. Hmmm?) Senior Sister Chuchu: "Hm. Almost there~ I just need to add in a few more stuff." Before the dog monster could say anything, ''senior sister Chuchu'' tossed something into its bathing water(?). Upon recognizing what were being thrown in, its body unintentionally shook as its bad feelings grew even worse by the seconds. (T-those were... cooking ingredients? Carrots, onions, potato... there are even watercress?! W-wait a sec--) Just as it was about give a shout out many questions towards these 2 unknown yet strangely familiar girls, another one showed up. (Senior White!? Or not...? This one clearly is a girl. But that unmistakable charm... what''s going on?!) Senior Sister Chuchu: "Oh, Chuchu? Did you need something from the kitchen? The Hotpot is almost ready so just be patient." (WOOF?! HOTPOT!?) exclaimed the dog monster, now clearly starting to panic. Only now does it realize that it actually couldn''t say anything even if it wanted to. Heck, it couldn''t even move its own body even a tiny bit. It was so panicked that it didn''t even react to the fact that this new comer is also named ''Chuchu''. Chuchu #2?: "No, it''s just the others were looking for you, so I led them here." Before ''senior sister Chuchu'' could say anything, another 4 girls now entered what the dog monster definitely recognize as a kitchen. One of them was a regal looking blond westerner girl around the age of 16~. The 2nd was black haired twin-tails Asian beauty wearing a red turtle neck and mini-skirt. The 3rd was perhaps the most eye catching due her very ''sensual'' body, by human standards, wearing a face mask that covered both eyes completely. Lastly, it was a silver haired loli that was very cute yet there was somehow a very ''dangerous'' atmosphere around her. Blondie: "Master, is the food ready yet?" Face Mask: "Master Chuchu" Twintails: "Chuchu, I''m hungry!" Loli: "Onee-chan~ I''m bored!" One by one, the 4 new entries talked to the ''Chuchu'' that was currently stirring its bathing tub--...no it''s definitely some sort of pot used for cooking! The fact that 2 of 4 that entered started to salivate as they stared at its body like its some sort of ''meat'' was very disturbing...! Aaah! Help! Bastard Yellow Mountain, your master Doudou is about to be eaten!! (T^T) What ''senior sister Chuchu'' said next sent the dog monster enter the height of both despair and bliss at the same time. Senior Sister Chuchu: "Great timing Saber Chuchu, Rider Chuchu, Tsundere Chuchu, and Loli Chuchu, why don''t you girls help me setup the table and plates. Tonight, we''re having dog meat hotpot. Look forward to it :3" Tsundere Chuchu?: "Who the heck''s a TSUNDERE!?" Although she retorted, she still actually followed instructions anyways... begrudgingly. (D-dog meat... HOTPOT!? Woof woof! NOOOOO! Even though this great me finally got the chance to meet so many ''Chuchu'' in one place, I''m about to get eaten!? I''m sorry for running away from, stupid Yellow Mountain, senior White, senior Dragon Emperor. Please come save meee~) Suddenly, this 4th stage dog monster noticed something coming out the shadow of the ''senior sister Chuchu. (Woof? T-that''s actually that lass Soft Feather''s Ghost Spirit!? Heeelp!) inwardly exclaimed Doudou as it was trying its best to signal for help. It looked like it was thinking about something at first, probably how to get it out of this hell? It despaired even further however, when Soft Feather''s Ghost Spirit took out what looked like a mini bowl and a pair of chopsticks as it too began to salivate. (!!!??) Further thoughts were cut off as ''Senior Sister Chuchu'' began to submerge Doudou under the soup water and started increasing the heat even further. The process of adding spices, and vegetables were repeated. Soon, the entire were transported to the table where everyone gathered. When Senior Sister Chuchu took out a terrifyingly sharp blade, which looked suspiciously like the ''Severing Heaven Sword'', ready to cut its dog monster body up, Doudou finally lost ''consciousness''. 97 Catnapping Currently seated on the dining table were this house''s original residence, Shuhang, Sixteen, and the new face, White. Joining them at this hotpot dinner were 4 new faces, Saber, Rider, Rin, and Illya, whom Shuhang had just released from stasis earlier today. The hotpot is of course not dog meat, but rather some monster beast meat that Shuhang in his earlier days of traveling before joining the Nine Provinces (1) Chat Group. As for Doudou, he is currently writhing about in pain, as if experiencing an extremely terrible nightmare off to the side of the room. Shuhang of course wasn''t going to actually turn Doudou into food. If he did, what could he actually say to True Monarch Yellow Mountain? Even if Doudou did wrong him and White... no matter how much wants to do it. What everyone just experienced was a combination of hypnotism, True Illusions, and a bit of the ''False Reality'' ability of 8th Stage Cultivators that Shuhang got a tiny glimpse of during his ''Sage Seal'' condensation. Rin: "Say... what was that thing with ''Chuchu'' about? Oh~ delicious! <3" Shuhang: "Ah that? Well... Doudou is a really (in)famous troublemaker in our group you see. And so, he''s actually very used to most forms of ''punishment''. But Doudou has this ''Chuchu'' fetish you see... hehe" Illya: "Hee~? That''s pretty nasty of you, Onii-chan. What did he do to make you give him such a cruel punishment?" At that, Shuhang chose not to give an answer and only gave a faint smile. Venerable White who was sitting next to him gave out a dark chuckle "Hehe..." which gave everyone goosebumps. (Never get on the bad side of these 2 bishounens!) were exactly the thought of the 4 girls. In the background, Doudou''s occasionally murmurs and moaning could be heard. ''woof.. so many chuchu. so beautiful. hot pot... scary, woof. chuchu... scary...'' Hearing the talking dog''s words, everyone other than Shuhang and Venerable White gave it their best to ignore the sweat dropping from their foreheads as they focused on the meals in front of them. They even tried to chat normally while trying to steal the cooked meat from each other. The only one not really saying anything the whole time was Sixteen as she occasionally stole glances at the 4 new girls that her ''Senior Song'' introduced literally out of nowhere, when he summoned them. According to Shuhang, the blond girl seems to be the Ghost Spirit of the twintails girl, Tohsaka Rin. Why does she ''feel'' like just a regular ''human'' in that case...? Hearing her query, Shuhang gave the short answer of ''Saber was still alive... therefore she can only become a half Ghost Spirit half living existence'' without further elaboration. As for the face mask wearing beauty, Rider, it seems she''s become the Ghost Spirit of Shuhang himself. The reason she possess a physical body is due the ''soul materialization'' ability of the 3rd True Magic, according to Shuhang. Again, he didn''t elaborate any further. Lastly, the little girl name Illya, short for Illyasviel von Einsbern, who is referred to as his ''little sister''. Apparently, she also has a Ghost Spirit of her own in the form of a hulking giant, Berserker. (Their strange names aside... just who the heck are these girls? They seem strangely close to Shuhang for someone that had only met him for a couple of days according to Shuhang...) thought Sixteen all throughout dinner. And just like that, their meal was over and Illya, Rin, and Saber were sent to one of the guest room to turn in for the night. As for Rider, she de-materialized and went inside of Shuhang''s body, more specifically his inner world. . . . Shuhang: "Now then... this is an interesting development." Now with everyone in their room and doing their own things, Shuhang finally got the chance to finally study the changes in Little White''s body. As far as he could tell, Little White was now unconsciously absorbing the world''s energy after her tail split in 2. A special term in certain worlds... it would be called ''natural energy'' that the ''sages'' use. Shuhang: "Seems I''m not wrong when I suddenly thought of the nekoshous in the DxD world. She''s really turning into a nekomata in Japanese folklore. Nekomata, cats that have lived for centuries which suddenly split their tails and become some sort of demon-like existence. Strange... as far as I know, Little White is definitely not over a year old much less a century. Is it because I accelerated her ''growth rate'' from my ''Boosts''?" Staring at Little White who is purring in content from Shuhang''s light petting, he started to ponder to himself. (Hmm... if she really is turning into one, then I really do need to go kidn-- uh, bring over a couple nekoshous from the DxD world. Although the Library of Heaven''s Path has pretty much everything that is ''cultivation'' related, I doubt it includes anything nekoshous ''natural energy'' usage. Or as they call it, senjutsu. I mean, it''s even a technique, more like their natural ability they''ve got from birth after all. This is a situation of ''how do you teach someone how to breathe'' kind of thing...) Shuhang: "Guess I''ll take a look. Last time I went, I don''t think the nekoshous haven''t been exterminated by the devils yet. Alright, Little White, go and play with Tian''er. I have to make a visit some place a little bit... or rather, where did that ''sword'' of mine go...?" As soon as Shuhang had mentioned it, said ''sword'' suddenly flew in from the open window. Shockingly, it actually started to talk in human language in the voice of a young girl. "Master~! I can take Whitey and go play?!" said the ''Severing Heaven Sword'' excitedly. As it is Shuhang''s Living Item, and most likely due to it receiving the ''Raising Saber Art'' from Shuhang since the 1st day that he''s got it, the sword had gained spiritual wisdom around the time Shuhang just got promoted to 6th Stage, True Monarch realm. It still didn''t condense an actual ''human form'' yet however as it... she couldn''t decide what form to take as of now. Shuhang: "Uh... sure. Just don''t go too far and be discrete. Your strength at 7th stage+ should be enough to deal with most things, but be careful anyways since Little White is still weak. Take care of her, Tian''er" Tian''er: "Okay! Come on, Whitey~" And with that, Little White promptly jumped onto his sword Living Item which immediately flew out of the window at high speed. Shuhang: "...right then. Where was I? Oh yeah. DxD world and cat girls. Hopefully I can get in and out before Ophis notices me..." 98 Stalking a Catgirl Waifu, Unaware of the Wild Ophis From Behind In a dimly lit room, the figure of an expressionless little girl was currently sitting on what seem to be a throne.Although appearance wise, she would look just any random loli you can find on the street and would appear to be ''harmless'' to those ignorant of the truth. In fact, she is anything BUT harmless. She is after all, the widely accepted #1 strongest in this world''s powerhouse ranking. Indeed. This little girl is in fact the [Infinite Dragon God], Ouroboros. Just as said Dragon God was planning to ignore all of the different shady looking people situated below her throne, her expressionless face suddenly warped into one of shock. Or rather... it was a face that of pleasant surprise. ''...found you'' Ignoring everyone that were in what seem to be a heated discussion about one nonsense or another, a dark portal suddenly opened up in front of her. Before anyone could react to the sudden turn of event, the portal had already disappeared, along with the Dragon God herself. . . . In a forest somewhere in the Devil''s Region of the [Underworld], danger lurks and strange creatures roams about as per usual. There was currently a tiny little intruder in the form of a teenage looking girl dressed in all black matching her very own hair. Surprisingly, she actually have cat ears and 2 tails that could be seen from behind her frame. ???: "Shirone...--sniff--" With tears threatening to fall, she kept muttering this one name over and over again as if the person whom it belonged to was the most precious thing in the world to this girl with cat features. While ignoring all the pain caused by the wounds on her body, said cat girl suddenly perked up as she could hear those in pursuit of her coming closer. Their aim was of course her life. Deciding to continue running once again, she stood up with some difficulties due to injuries and started moving. That''s what she tried to at least when suddenly, a jewel-like light flashed in front of her and the most ''beautiful'' existence started to shimmer into existence. Captivated by the sight, the cat girl went into a trance, fully forgetting about her pursuers that were soon to make it to her location. Blinking a few times after fully materializing, the figure now revealed to be a youth no older than 20 years of age uttered a few words that didn''t make any sense to her. It did help in breaking her out of the day dream she started having though... Beautiful Youth: "Huh... ''traveling'' is best done without White after all if I don''t anything [exciting] to happen. I didn''t even have to start looking and my [Luck] already kicked in." ''''--GasP!-- NO!" After her sudden shout, the cat girl, for some un-explainable reason, decided to grab the hand of the youth and tried to run and taking the youth along as well. This sudden action had of course surprised the youth however, he didn''t seem to plan of ''resisting'' her pull though. Not that it would have mattered as not even a couple of steps in, they found themselves surrounded by at least a dozen of ''people'' all with very sinister looking faces. The target of their stares, the black clad cat girl, grimaced and lamented her stupidity for not running sooner. Why the heck did she even stood still to ogle the ''scenery'' for that matter? ???: "There is no room for your escape, filthy [Youkai]! Obediently accept your punishment and die!" Not soon after word left his mouth, one of the ''people'' surrounding both the youth and the cat girl leaped in for strike. His aim was of course a quick kill, uncaring of the new addition that was with their target. The attacker couldn''t even feel a speck of [demonic energy] from that man clad in white, so he was ignored, thinking it was just a lowly [Low Class Devil] that no one would miss even if killed. That was of course... the last mistake he ever made. 99 Oops... A couple of minutes before Shuhang went world hopping... "Well... no time like the present I guess. Although..." For some reason, Shuhang had the nagging feeling something will happen with Tian''er and Little White as he tracked their flight path with his eyes. As a cultivator, Shuhang had long ago learned to trust any popped up ''nagging feelings'' which are referred to as a cultivator''s instinct. As he didn''t sense anything foreboding however, he still let them go out anyways. Taking his eyes off the unlikely combination of sword and kitten duo, Shuhang turned his gaze towards the still twitching Doudou a floor down in the living room. He couldn''t help but let out a sadistic grin at that picture. (That''ll teach that dog to not seek death so blatantly... probably...) thought Shuhang idly even though he doesn''t believe it even for a second. After losing his interest in Doudou''s suffering, Shuhang''s gaze now turned towards Sixteen''s room to find her diligently cultivating... or not. What he found instead was Sixteen making some sort of grand speech with a very impressive and imposing gait. The ones listening to this speech of hers were surprisingly the 4 girls of ''Fate''. (Heh...) Then laughed at his own very lame joke, Although curious, Shuhang of course didn''t listen in on their conversation as he still had some principles left. No matter how much of a troll he''s becoming lately. Moving his gaze away, Shuhang had turned his sight towards the last person in this mini mansion, Venerable White. As expected of a 7th Stage Venerable, Shuhang''s gaze was immediately induced by the other party and turned their gazes in Shuhang''s direction as well with a curious look. Though the fact that Shuhang didn''t intend to ''hide'' in the first place need not be mentioned. ''I''ll be going out for a bit. Take care of the girls for me.'' With his message conveyed, Shuhang received a light nod and a big smile in response from Venerable White. That smile however immediately cramped up with Shuhang''s next message. ''Try not tear anything up in the mean time... we just bought them today after all.'' With that done, kaleidoscope magic activated as Shuhang inputted the coordinates to the DxD universe. The only thing left that worried him was the fact that he needed to put all his concentration towards the magic to prevent any accident like the last time he went to that world. Thanks to that mishap, he had to tangle with the twice damned ''Apocalypse Dragon'' for disturbing its ''leisurely flight time''. "Now that I think about it... how did I even survive that fight against [Great Red]? Sure I was using [Juggernaut Drive] but still... According to my calculations, Great Red and Ophis are both existences that are just around the [Heavenly Way]''s level of power, give or take. Great Red especially since he was basically an [Inextinguishable] being since so long as ''dreams'' exist, so will it. Maybe it actually wasn''t that serious about the fight?" With his preparations complete, Shuhang shelved away this train of thoughts for the time being. For now though, he needed to make absolutely sure that he doesn''t end up teleporting inside the [Dimensional Gap] again. The other problem, although a minor one, is that he won''t be able to temporarily hide his presence and suppress his ''charm'' for a few moment when he make the jump. "Hopefully, there won''t be too many people in the landing area... and hopefully that tiny dragon-sama won''t be able to notice my presence in that tiny bit of time gap before I can conceal myself..." As soon as his words fell, Shuhang disappeared from this world with a colorful flash as the only proof that he was there. Sensing that Shuhang''s presence was indeed gone, Venerable White put up a thinking face. Though he put up a struggling face for a few moments, Venerable White seemed to have given up and resolutely walked toward the air conditioner that he had yet to ''study''. . . . Once the flashing light fade away, Shuhang was greeted with the sight of a semi-loli with wounds all over her body. What he had initially feared had actually happened as the girl seemed to be in a daze due to his ''charm''. (Oh come on, seriously? Well, at least its only one person... uh?) thought Shuhang in exasperation. Until he noticed her features and the tell-tale signs of a nekoshou. Cat ears, two tails, and passively absorbing the world''s naturally energy. "Huh... ''traveling'' is best done without White after all if I don''t want anything [exciting] to happen. I didn''t even have to start looking and my [Luck] already kicked in." Surprised that he had already found one of his ''targets'', Shuhang couldn''t help but mutter out loud. At the same time, Shuhang went full force in concealing his powers, presence, and suppressing his charms down to the absolute minimum he could. Especially since he could sense a group of ''people'' were approaching this very location. The suppression of his charm had immediate effect as the girl was suddenly snapped out of her daze and let out a gasp of horror. Not a moment later, she even tried to drag Shuhang away from what seemed to be incoming threat. Though un-needed, Shuhang appreciated the gesture nonetheless and decided to help her out with one thing if he could. If that help doesn''t violate his own principles of course. And as Shuhang had expected, the approaching presences soon caught up to them. Or rather, caught up to this nekoshou. Surprisingly... they were actually all devils of at least mid and high classes. There was even one that''s really close to the ''Ultimate'' level among them. Shuhang''s power assessment was of course only his comparisons, and in no certain accurate, between this group and his other Devil... ''acquaintances'', the 2 sis-con Maous whom Shuhang will not name. Lest they show up somehow. After spouting some nonsense that Shuhang didn''t deign to listen to, the Ultimate class Devil''s actually launched himself forward to attack without waiting for any of their responses. Even better, Shuhang himself was also included in his ''target'' of attack. Reacting on reflex due to a sudden ''killing intent'', Shuhang sent out a slap and unconsciously used a variation of his [True Heavenly Fist] technique. The Devil''s head flew off... The surrounding area became dead silent in an instant and all the other remaining Devils, the semi-loli included, stood still with a stupified look. Their jaws open wide at sudden turn of event. Their gazes were of course directed towards the still falling body of the Devil that just died. "Well shit... I hope he wasn''t someone important." muttered Shuhang in surprise and broke everyone out of their daze. . . . . . . . . 100 Knock Knock "N-No! He killed Lord--" exclaimed one of the lackeys before he was cut off mid speech. The reason? It was of course due to Shuhang''s (un)timely intervention. It was mainly because he actually didn''t want to hear the name of whoever that dead Devil was. If it was someone of importance, he might be able keep the attentions off of himself since he was more than sure that a certain loli-dragon would spare no effort to chase him down. And so, under the stunned gaze of the little nekoshou, Shuhang swiftly killed off the rest of the Devils left. Of course, as his attack speed was too fast, it only looked as if he just stood in place while everyone else just suddenly dropped dead all of a sudden. This only served to stupefy the little girl even more as her jaws dropped to an all time low. Just to make sure there were no evidence left, he unhesitatingly turned them all into space dust with a little a bit of fire magic. With his work done, Shuhang sheepishly turned towards the still stunned little girl, as if he had just done something only of a ''mischievous'' level, and not full blown, complete massacre. Shuhang himself could only think of it as such since a group of grown ass his men chasing after such a little girl can''t be all that good. It was especially so since said little girl even unconsciously tried to save himself, who was a mere random passerby... literally. He happened to have just passed by through ''Luck'' and nothing else. For such people, Shuhang would kill with absolutely no remorse whatsoever. Even if he doesn''t particular enjoy it in any way. Killing was killing after all, no matter how anyone try to sugar coat with disgusting words like ''Justice'' and shit. In fact, Shuhang hated those ''Justice fags'' even worse than the ''scums'' he killed off just now. Shuhang: "Uh... I don''t think we''ve introduced ourselves yet. My name is... Shu. You are?" ???: "Ah!? Uh... K-Kuroka...?" The nekoshou seemed to have answered reflexively due Shuhang''s sudden introduction. Though she still seemed be a little confused at the current situation. After all, she was in a life or death situation in only mere seconds ago. The sudden death... no, more like ''disappearance'' of her pursuers came almost too suddenly. It''s almost as if what happened earlier was only a dream. The only proof she had that everything was real were the wounds she sustained that are still throbbing in pain even now. Even then, she seemed as if she was in a little bit of daze still. (