《The Dragon Fiend》 Prologue and Chapter 1: Accidental Death (Author: Hello all. I decided to make a new story more like a xianxia as I released the chapters of Fallen Immortal that I wrote. My friend suggested I post this story I wrote. Both stories are not related in anyway. They have two different themes. Enjoy.) Prologue and Chapter 1: Meeting a Dragon God "I am sorry for your loss Liao." "You can always call us if you need help." "We were close to your parents so you can live with us if you want." A young boy with light brown hair kneeled down in front of a gravestone and clamped his hands to his ears. The voices all came from relatives who "cared" about him. All they wanted was the money he would inherit from his parents when he got older. They were all liars and thieves. He continued to ignore them as he cried silently in front of the grave. His parents weren''t supposed to die. The plane wasn''t supposed to crash! The news said that the thunderstorm would only delay the landing! The people at the airport said that his parents would land soon! So why did they die? Why did his heart hurt so much? Why couldn''t the tears stop? The Sima family butler, Wei Zhang stared silently at the small back of his master. He had been holding the poor boy''s hand as they waited for the plane from Hong Kong to arrive at the LAX airport. He remembered seeing the boy''s heart break as he saw the plane that was supposed to land safely after a two hour delay during the thunderstorm suddenly had the front of the nose of the plane angle down to the ground. He remembered trying to block the poor boy''s eyes but was pushed aside and watched the boy pound the windows and scream. As his parents did not fly in First Class, their bodies were found in the wreckage as the plane split in two as it hit the ground. The coroner who examined their bodies said that they died due to a broken neck caused by the impact from the plane hitting the ground at a substantial velocity. The little master who would smile and laugh as his parents read him a wuxia novel was gone. There was still hope for a smile on his face to appear if only he didn''t hear how his relatives planned to adopt him to get parental ownership of his inheritance. The innocent boy''s world was shattered by human greed and betrayal. It took all Wei had to convince him to allow his relatives to pay their respects as they did share blood. Today was his last day as the Sima family butler as Liao said he wanted to head to some run-down orphanage away from society and get away from his relatives. He had lost all trust with family and he knew could not pay for the butler''s services. For a seven year old boy, it was a pity he had to grow up so fast. Liao stood up after a kneeling in a vigil until an eight inch candle burned half of its wick, He had one stop to make before he left. "Butler Wei," Liao said and Wei bowed slightly before him. "Drop me off in the pawnshop in China Town. I want to buy some souvenirs and say goodbye to the owner. You know the place." "Yes young master," Wei bowed and opened the door to the limousine as the two left the cemetery. They arrived in a pawnshop named Wu''s Antiques and Gift Shop. Inside, Old Man Wu greeted Liao and apologized for not attending the funeral. Liao bowed deeply as he said his last goodbye to his butler. Liao breathed in deeply and looked around the pawnshop. "See anything you like my boy? Might I suggest a wuxia novel about a general slaying three dragons with a magic sword? How about a novel of a blacksmith''s boy meeting a fairy and declaring his eternal love for her?" Wu suggested as he knew Liao loved wuxia novels. "This is my last visit owner," Liao said silently. "I am going to an orphanage in the countryside to escape my relatives. My uncles and aunts are bad people. They didn''t love my parents and only want their money." "Hmmm. How about this. As you are leaving I will give you the items your parents bought for you for your birthday," Wu grinned. "You did remember that it''s today right? Oh, sorry. I forgot you planned the funeral today. Of course you wouldn''t remember." "They paid you for something?" Liao asked curiously. "Is it a xianxia novel?" Old Man Wu only grinned excitedly and told Liao to wait there. He appeared three minutes later with a small white box and a large rectangular box. "Now your father wanted to get you a sword, but your mother wouldn''t allow it. So he decided to buy you three throwing knives. He knew your favorite novels involved the main characters wielding hidden weapons and decided to buy you these," Wu said as he opened the larger box. "Careful. These boys are real sharp. Don''t want you to hurt yourself. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Inside the box lay three identical daggers that gleamed brightly. Liao picked up one of the daggers and admired it. The grips were made of leather belonging to a stingray connecting to a triangular blade made from an unknown material. "Now I dunno what the blades were made from as I made the order," the old man sighed. "These daggers were probably sent to the wrong owner but there''s no way I''ll let them know that. Now don''t go stabbing them with that. You know who I mean by them. You''re pretty smart for a newly turned eight year old kid. Not old enough to be called a brat but you''re all right in my book." "Thanks I think," Liao grinned, a smile appearing for once since the death of his parents. "What''s in the other box?" "That''s a kid for you. Once they hear the word "gift," they get all excited and impatient," Wu laughed. "This here is a jade pearl. Your mom knew you liked jade but didn''t want her son wearing any jewelry as she was afraid you might get laughed at. I''m heading down back to sort out my inventory. Let me know if there''s something you want to buy before you head out. I''m gonna miss you kid. Truly." Liao nodded and took the white box from the owner. He opened the box as the owner left and admired the shine coming from the pearl-shaped jade. Jade was very expensive in China and he knew his parents must have paid a lot for it. "I''ve finally found you son of Xu!" a voice roared in his head as he held the jade. "Huh?" Liao gasped and nearly dropped his gift. "Who is that? Who are you? How can you speak in my head? Are you invisible?" "Die son of Xu!" the voice said and light shined from the pearl. Liao screamed in pain and held the box of daggers to his chest as he let go of the jade. Liao disappeared from sight as the jade cracked in the ground. "Son of Xu!" the voice roared. "Open your eyes and look upon me as I devour you whole for the crimes of your ancestors! Your body is destroyed and your soul is mine!" Liao trembled in fear as he opened his eyes. He cried out in shock as he seemed to be floating in space and noticed a mile long looking dragon with jade scales and a body similar to a snake. He would have died without saying anything but his fear took over. "D, die? I don''t wanna die mister dragon. What do you mean by son of Xu? My family name is Sima," he said shakily. "Sima? You''re not a son of the Xu family?" the dragon asked incredulously. "My name is Sima Liao. I have my elementary school I.D. here," Liao mumbled as he fidgeted for his wallet. He let out a shout of joy as he pulled his wallet from his paints and showed a simple I.D. that stated he was Liao Sima of Tupper Elementary with a picture of a younger version of him smiling widely. "I made a mistake?" the dragon laughed, shocked. "I, the Great Dragon God made a MISTAKE? You are truly not a son of those dragon slayers. If news of this gets out to the other gods, I''ll become a laughing stock! What am I to do with you? I killed an innocent mortal out of blind rage and vengeance. I might even be condemned to death and lose my immortality! I might even be reborn as some dumb lizard only to be eaten by a fat noble human as repentance." "Um, Great Dragon God," Liao began. "Can''t you just bring me back?" "I destroyed your body son of Sima," the dragon snapped. "I can''t send you back. Your body died. Sending you back to your planet with destroy the balance of life and death and I''ll be even worse off if the news is discovered. WAIT! I can send you to another planet. YES. That''s it. I''ll put your soul in some freshly dead kid your age. I''ll even leave you the dead kid''s memories so you''ll blend in easier and the nosy Gods of that planet won''t find out. Yeah I am a genius! Isn''t that right kid?" "Yes Great Dragon God," Liao said nervously, his experience in reading novels telling him the fates of those who did not flatter the strong. "A genius among geniuses. No other god can compare!" The jade dragon appeared pleased and said, "I''ll create those three throwing knives for you and make them indestructible and ever-sharp. Consider it a gift," the dragon said as he grabbed Liao with one hand and started heading for an unknown planet out of the galaxy.
MAIN PAGE Chapter 2: New Identity
Chapter 2: New Identity (Author: For those wondering: Yeah, I am the one addicted to xianxia novels. Can''t help it. Ha ha. Anyway the xianxia I plan to write will involve martial families and war over land and territory. As the description of the story said, he will become a son of a martial family during a civil war. I like historical shows with warfare like The Myth made in 2010. Anyway I hope to incorporate military campaigns and xianxia elements together for this story. I hope you enjoy it and feel free to make comments and suggestions. I will be more responsive to comments for this story. Enjoy.) Chapter 2: New Identity "No, this planet has no life. This one is too primitive. This one has too much technology," the dragon muttered as he held Liao''s soul in his hands. "Hey kid, know any martial arts?" "I got a yellow belt in Tae Kwon Do," Liao said, curious for he didn''t expect to be asked for his opinion. "A novice than," the dragon said, displeased. "I was going to dump you in a body on a planet and watch you try to survive against martial experts until you die as a pass time. Now I have to make new plans. You will be representing me as I brought your soul there. You are only allowed to die gloriously, but you are not even strong enough to considered third-rate." Liao scowled as he was also told that by the teenagers from his Tae Kwon Do class as they advanced to the next belt on their first try. He was only six than before he quit as his parents read him his first wuxia novel. Getting a green belt as a six year old isn''t easy. Undergoing too much strenuous activity at a young age actually hinders growth. Besides, there were no Chinese martial arts schools in his neighborhood. "Here we are. This planet seems fun. It''s full of warring countries, divided views, blood, death, martial arts, and even qi cultivation," the dragon said, pleased as he approached a planet over seven thousand light years from the Milky Way galaxy. "Now all we need is a body for you. Preferably one with your real first name and a country of civil war. Convenience and entertainment. Two of my favorite words. Remember them well kid as you try to become an immortal." "Like in xianxia novels?" Liao shouted, excited and momentarily forgetting the fact that the dragon kill him and held his soul in its hands. "I don''t know puny mortal terms," the dragon god sighed and gazed at the planet. The planet seemed to have the same requirement of one Earth year to rotate around the galaxy''s sun. Liao waited silently for five minutes as the dragon god gazed at the blue and green planet that seemed similar to Earth save for an ice ring around the planet and two moons. Liao was wondering why one of the two moons was damaged and looked like a spherical chocolate chip cookie with missing pieces as if someone took a few bites of it. "Hmm, the planet has colder nights and some countries are too puny and weak for my liking," the dragon sighed until he finally found one. "Aha! Finally, a country with a body that has a background that isn''t entirely useless. Okay son of Sima, time for you to join the world of the mortals. Your soul and qi will be stronger as you already died and your soul was exposed to my energy. Be grateful. You may be weak but you have a better qi foundation than others." "Whaaaaat?" Liao screamed as the dragon started shrinking as it breached the atmosphere of the planet. Liao extended his hand and touched the ice ring. He felt a cold shudder from the cold it emanated and wondered how the ice ring formed as it was close to the sun. His dad said that Earth didn''t have an ice ring like other planets as it was too close. Liao rubbed his eyes as they floated above a battlefield. Many dead bodies littered the forest below and two colored banners could be seen waving on both sides. One banner was red and had an image of a red phoenix spreading its wings with a bow in its talons. The other banner was green and had an image of a black tiger with crimson snakes under its front paws as it seemed to be leaping. "Now to make things more convenient for your assimilation to this new identity," the dragon began. "As you receive the memories of the human brat who body you will inhabit, you will learn of the language and knowledge the brat had before death. As you are both eight, it isn''t much but at least you can communicate and have an alibi." Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. "Alibi? What''s that mean?" Liao asked. He had never read the word in a novel. "I will also give you a black medallion with a jade dragon on the center," the dragon god went on, ignoring Liao. "With it, I will give you orders if what you are doing doesn''t keep me entertained or if you happen to see a dragon slayer. Some spirit beasts are dragons and YOU WILL KILL any dragon slayer I order you too. Don''t worry, I am merciful enough to only order you to kill those you are able. Those damned Xu. If only I remembered which planet they came from. The daggers that were destroyed with your body will be made indestructible and ever-sharp. You can summon them at will from the dragon tattoo I will mark on your left shoulder down to the elbow. If you don''t like tattoo, I can just not give you the daggers at all." Liao hurriedly shook his head and said, "Thank you Great Dragon God," "Hmph," the dragon said and tossed the boy toward a corpse on the bank of a river with a sword embedded in the chest. Liao screamed in fright and closed his eyes as he entered the corpse. A bright flash of light appeared around the body but the fighting was too far away to be seen. Liao''s head began to fill with the memories of the corpse. He also experienced the pain of the body and struggled to mentally take it all in. His body used to be Liao of the Lu family, a martial arts family that was conscripted into the war by the emperor to quell an attack by rebels that sought to takeover one of the empire''s major trade cities. Apparently the Wei dynasty he was a part of held the green banners. The corpse died under an ambush by the rebels who sought to burn the supply lines as they crossed the river bank. The light dissipated as the memories of the corpse finished integrating itself into Liao''s own memory like a dream and Liao struggled to keep his own self-identify and not that of the body. He succeeded as he remembered the pain of losing his parents was stronger than that of the death of the corpse. The sword and injuries the body had healed, but the tattered black armor and green linen clothes remained as they were, blood stains giving off a slight smell. "Aaahh," Liao screamed as he woke up and touched his chest, surprised the sword was gone. He looked under his armor and saw the dragon tattoo and Liao knew it was no nightmare. He struggled to get up as the new body was slightly more muscular and the armor''s weight was heavy and movement was slower and more restricted. The armor he and the soldiers wore were not full-body armor like knights and seemed to be worn in pieces and connected to his body by strings, just like ancient Chinese war dramas he watched. "I can use qi!" Liao cried as he remembered the dragon god mention qi cultivation and sat down, cross-legged with his eyes closed, and began meditating. Within his dantian was a small dragon the size of a grain of sand that spewed lightning. Snowflakes seemed to fall around the dragon as it breathed lightning at the sky. "So cool!" Liao cried as he opened his eyes and jumped for joy and his mind wondered with memories of the corpse. "Wait, I better head to father and his soldiers. I will be safe with them." Liao looked around and found the double voulge that belonged to the corpse. It was a spear with a single-edge blade attached to both ends of the spear facing opposite directions. Liao didn''t know any moves as the battle was the first of the corpse and he began running to the edge of the battlefield where his father, acting as a general, would be waiting for him.
Prologue and Chapter 1: Accidental DeathMAIN PAGE Chapter 3: Life or Death
Chapter 3: Life or Death (Author: Hello all! Again, my story will be similar to a xianxia novel but will incorporate military campaigns as a side element. This chapter is one such example. Don''t worry, the Great Dragon God is still in the story through the medallion Liao was given. As a reminder: as this is in English, I am writing first names first. Traditionally it would be Lu Liao or Sima Liao. I will use Liao Lu as most people are used to first name first.This time I will type slower so as to avoid typing the wrong letter or forgetting a word or two. I write fast so sometimes its hard to copy the ink from the notebook I write my chapters on before hand. Have fun reading!) Chapter 3: Life or Death "The rebels have taken supply lines two and three. General Song has also fallen to an ambush near the riverbank. It is unconfirmed if the third young master lives," a messenger announced in a white tent with a five foot long table in the center surrounded by generals and commanding officers. They clearly did not expect the rebels to be organized. Conscripting the master of the Lu family of martial experts was a blessing as he slew the powerful leaders but the rebels had the geographical advantage as they knew the layout of the land and forced the army to fight on wet soil while they shot at them with arrows from the forest, dodging behind trees to avoid counterattacks. "Where are our reinforcements from the city?" General Hui Lu asked. He wanted to mourn his son but he had tens of thousands of soldiers under his command. He couldn''t afford to grieve and have his emotions cloud his judgment. "They are currently engaging enemies to the south at the edge of the forest closest to the riverbank," one of his generals answered. "The three thousand men are led by one of the sons of the prefecture lord of the city. I wouldn''t expect much from a pampered green horn. They are carrying some supplies but I suspect they''ll be overrun. We are on our own General Lu." As General Lu and his men were pondering on their next move, a messenger barged in the tent, panting heavily. "General Lu! Reporting from the frontlines! The third young master has been found near the reinforcements from the riverbank! You must send aid as a detachment of four thousand rebel soldiers have been spotted heading their way!" "General Zhao and General Gan," Hui Lu shouted. "Take your men with you and go to the riverbank at once. Secure our provisions from the reinforcement and protect the prefecture lord''s son. My son comes second. The emperor wants the prefecture lord''s support as the city is one of the empire''s biggest trading cities." "Yes General Lu! Long live the emperor. Long live the Wei dynasty!" the two generals shouted and they rushed out the tent to carry their orders. A short while after, Liao Lu sighed in relief as he had regrouped with the reinforcements his memories told him would be arriving. He had gotten a meat bun from one of the soldiers and had taken a few bites when he heard they were under attack! As the corpse was raised under a great general and martial expert, those memories allowed Liao to remain calm and Liao ran toward the center of the supply line, knowing whoever was in charge would consolidate soldiers to protect himself and the supplies. Liao cried in disappointment as he saw a young man in his twenties and a round stomach order guards to protect him and make way for the city. The provision leader was abandoning the supplies and men that would have helped his father! Well his new father. Having memories of the real Liao Lu made Liao Sima see the great general as his real father. He was eight years old, of course he would want a father. He also had memories of a mother and two older brothers and a little sister. He promised himself he would do them proud as the real son would have. Relying on his memories from historical dramas and military teachings from the real son, Liao stood atop one of the carts that carried the supplies. "Men! Form ranks against the provisions. Infantry shields up and archers watch the trees!" Liao shouted, hoping they would listen. The soldiers that were rushing toward the front of the supply line that was under attack looked back and saw an eight year old kid in tattered cloths and armor. They wondered who allowed a brat on the field. "And why should we follow you? You''re not even a captain and you don''t look old enough to hold a sword," a captain asked as he stared at the boy holding a small double voulge in his hands. That kind of weapon was usually wielded by martial experts and caught his attention more than the boy''s words. "My name is Liao Lu. I am the son of General Hui Lu, great general and commanding officer of the attack against the rebels. My words are his!" Liao shouted, sweat pouring down his brow. "Hear my orders and obey! Hold fast and protect the supply lines. My father needs these to beat the rebels! Hold your shields high and aim your arrows at the trees. The enemies'' target is the supply line! The attack on the front is a diversion!" Liao had copied those words from a historical movie he saw and substituted a few words of his own. He dearly hoped he was right. He inwardly sighed with relief as the captain recognized his father''s name and rank. He watched as the soldiers made three rows around the provision in a circle. The outer ring had soldiers wielding shields five feet tall and carried spears with the other hand. Behind them were the main infantry soldiers also had spears and had swords at their belts for when the shield circle was broken,and the archers and captain formed the inner most circle with Liao in the center. "Here they come!" one archer said as he saw movement to the right. The captain frowned slightly as it meant the boy''s words were right. As expected of General Lu''s son. The captain began ordering his soldiers to blow the war horn, signifying abandoning the front line of the supply line. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Liao gulped as rebels appeared wearing brown armor and holding the purple banners high in the sky. "Archers, nock your arrows! Take out the banner men. Shield formation hold fast," Liao cried, again copying what he saw in a movie. Who knew it would save his life? He made a quick, silent prayer to whoever made movies and thanked them. "General Lu will send reinforcements for sure! Follow the young master''s orders!" the captain shouted. The soldiers shouted loudly and the rebels ran toward the shield formation, many of them falling to arrows in the process. Liao made a quick judgment and realized it was different than the movie as the rebels only came from one side. Liao quickly shouted orders to the captain to have the shield formation change shape to an eclipse. Liao may be eight years old but he had sixteen years worth of memories. The captain nodded, realizing the boy was right and saw the truth behind the orders. Instead of making a circle around the provisions, they could make a circle around the rebels as they blindly rushed forward. However, this meant thinning the protection around the provisions. "Oh well," the captain thought. "It''s not my head that will roll if this fails." "What''s you name captain?" Liao asked. "Captain Liang Sun, captain of the private army of Prefecture Lord Fei Hong," the captain bowed. "The leader who ran was Lord Hong''s son, Feixin. He had no experience on the battlefield and was only sent as a figurehead to show support." The battle was bloody as the rebels kept charging through in attempt to overrun the soldiers with their superior numbers. This was a battle of life or death for Liao. On high, the Great Dragon God smiled, pleased he picked the right corpse for the boy to inhabit. No one but the boy or a Deity could see the Great Dragon God and it watched as the shield bearers pushed forward, their spears held fast in front of them. Any rebel that tried going in between the spears would be impaled by the second line of infantrymen. The battle lacked martial experts but the dragon god didn''t expect them to interfere in matters of mortal men. Martial experts who practiced qi walked the path of the immortal. "Young master arm yourself!" Captain Sun shouted as he saw a few rebels break through before his soldiers could close the gap. The captain drew his sword and charged toward the four rebels who broke through the second line and cut their way through the archers in their path. Liao trembled in fear and his double voulge shook violently as the captain cut down one rebel and engaged against two others. The captain cursed as the last rebel ran around him but he was blocked by the two other rebels. "Die kid!" the rebel shouted as he raised his rusted sword high. Liao only closed his eyes and stabbed forward. As the rebel had raised his sword, his guard was open and his chest was exposed. The blade of Liao''s weapon stabbed the rebel as he stepped with his left foot forward while preparing for his right arm to slash downward. Liao opened his eyes in surprise and saw the rebel cough blood, the blood hitting his face as the rebel fell to the floor. Liao was in shock and dropped his weapon. He touched his face and saw the blood on his hands. Liao had taken a life. "I, I killed someone," Liao gasped while hugging his hands to his chest and falling to his knees. "I killed someone. The man is really dead." "Aye, lad," the captain said after he slew the rebels and saw Liao''s reaction. A part of him was surprised but the rebel did raise his arm like an idiot. No real soldier would leave his guard open like that. "General Gan and General Zhao of the main forces are here!" one of the archer shouted with joy as green banners appeared near the end of the riverbank. "Retreat! Retreat!" the rebels cried and abandoned their assault. "Don''t pursue them!" the captain shouted. "Hold the line! We don''t know what''s out there!" Liao remained trembling in shock as the two generals arrived. They took one look at the carnage around them and then looked at Liao. They were surprised Liao took charge and even took a life. This was a great accomplishment. The boy displayed leadership qualities and his first kill was needed to help him grow to ignore the guilt later. The boy would learn that taking the life of the enemy meant saving the life of his allies. "I''ll remain here and escort the provisions back to camp," General Gan said. "Take the third young master back to General Lu and report what transpired. The rebels are sure to have lost morale as we have obtained more supplies. The battle is ours." "Come here lad," General Zhao said as he picked up the trembling boy. He ordered one of his lieutenants to pick up the boy''s weapon and they headed back to the main camp.
Chapter 2: New Identity MAIN PAGE Chapter 4: Go to School
Chapter 4: Go to School (Author: Hello all. Decided to release this chapter before going off to bed. Hope you enjoyed that semi-military chapter. Now on to the fun stuff: training and cultivating qi! I apologize for a time skip but I want to start writing about qi and a child soldier doesn''t sit well. Don''t worry, as I promised military campaigns as a side-element. Hope you enjoy Liao''s first steps as a martial expert. May you never feel the Great Dragon God''s wrath. Sorry for the short chapter this time.) Chapter 4: Go to School Liao Lu''s personality didn''t change after his first kill, but he no longer hesitated to take a life. He had seen the soldiers under his temporary command die and knew that showing mercy meant a sneak attack at your back. This was why his father ordered his soldiers to allow no prisoners and annihilate all rebels. His father told him, "In order to kill a tree, you must tear it at its roots. A rebellion is like a tree Liao. Not only must the leader be killed, all his followers must be killed or the dead become martyrs to infatuate the weak-minded and the rebels will gain more followers. This is war. Death, blood and sacrifice of morals and ethics are an inevitability. That''s why a wise and benevolent leader must remain on the throne. He who prevents war and ends conflict before bloodshed is blessed by the heavens. Remember this Liao." Liao followed his father''s commands and continued to escort supply lines for two years as a lieutenant captain. General Lu wanted his son to grow used to killing and start small in gaining leadership experience. His son was smart, but his two elder sons, Lei Lu and Liang Lu, were born gifted. His second son, Liang Lu, was a natural born leader and would become the next head of the Lu family. Thus, Liang was trained in the Lu family arts as he was the successor. His eldest, Lei Lu was a gifted scholar and his political potential shocked General Hui Lu. Hui knew Lei would be a great pillar for the Lu family and a welcome addition to the army with his political connections in the future. His third son just wasn''t useful enough for him on the battlefield. "Liao," the general said as his third son entered his tent. "It''s time for you to leave the military." "But why father?" Liao asked. "Did I disappoint you? I''ll try harder! You know I will." His father held up a hand and said, "The military is not in your heart. Over the past two years I have received reports of you meditating during the night. No doubt you are cultivating your qi. You have done enough. Perhaps when you are older, and skilled with a blade, will I allow you to return and fight alongside me and your brothers. Go to school Liao. Study ancient techniques. Make a name for yourself." "But why?" Liao asked as General Zhao grabbed his arms and started pulling him out of the tent. "I followed your orders father! I never failed my missions! FATHER! FATHER!" General Lu smiled weakly to his son and turned away as General Zhao pulled a screaming Liao away. He had to believe he was doing the best for his son. Perhaps Liao will forgive him someday unless he lost his life on the battlefield. He breathed deeply to calm himself and resumed his duties. There are soldiers to lead and rebels to slaughter. "Cheer up lad. Your father is doing this for your own good. You''ll see him again," General Zhao said as he and Liao got on a carriage. "Look, your father is a tough guy. He orders men to their deaths everyday to kill other men. He would spend a few hours every night in a silent vigil after every battle to honor the fallen. He doesn''t want you to be one of those dead soldiers. You might be smart and got the "qi" that martial experts can use, but you don''t know how to use it. What''s the point of gaining power without the knowledge to use it effectively?" "I should be with him," Liao said silently. "I don''t want to lose another father." You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. General Zhao scratched his head in confusion and the duo left the battlefield. General Zhao had been given temporary leave to escort Liao to an academy in the kingdom of Roshalt, one of the five nations that swore an alliance with the Wei dynasty. In the academy Liao would go to, all kinds of different qi, or inner energy, techniques from all over the six allied nations were learned and Liao would gain much attending the academy. Liao would also make friends with people from other nations, allowing the Lu family to gain more allies for the future. No empire lasted forever. Especially empires during a civil war. Liao was too young to understand his father''s intentions. Liao was doing the Lu family a task of even more importance than his brothers. After two weeks on the road, Liao and General Zhao had arrived in front of the academy known as Twin Star Academy. The academy was ten miles wide and each building was made of white marble. Inside the academy, students took classes that were determined by the school after a series of initiation trials. Students accepted in the academy had to be under the age of thirteen and have the ability to cultivate qi. "Your father meant to give it to you, but couldn''t bear to do so as he was sending you away," General Zhao began as he takes out a black lacquered box. Inside is a nine-ringed, crescent shaped blade. "Most martial experts use swords, but what''s wrong with blades? A single-edged sword is just as deadly as a double-edge sword." "Father made this for me?" Liao asked as he opened the box. "This blade was made by your father out of a meteor that landed nearby during one of his campaigns. The grip was made from tiger leather and he named the blade Meteor Fang. the nine rings are made from bones of a spirit beast''s skeleton. I don''t know where your father found those," Zhao continued. "If you ever run across a spirit beast: run away in the other direction as fast as you can. Even an entire battalion of a thousand strong can''t defeat a spirit beast, let alone kill it." Liao nodded and accepted the blade from the general. Liao would have to wield the blade with both hands until he got older as the blade was thirty pounds. He was only able to use it at his age because cultivating qi made his body stronger and faster than an average boy his age. Liao received the recommendation letter from the general as well as a black inter-spacial ring with a jade tiger engraving. Inter-spacial rings were special and valued by many martial experts as the owner can store items inside the ring as well as go inside to see the full inventory. General Zhao told Liao to look inside the ring was ten thousand gold and a few hundred thousands of silver coins. Liao was shocked at the amount of money inside. He had only ever been on the battlefield and never met his brothers who fought on the frontlines and the rest of his family back home. General Zhao wished Liao luck and left to return to the battlefield. Storing Meteor Fang in the inter-spacial ring, Liao turned towards Twin Star Academy. His father sent him here as he was useless for the Lu family for now. He remembered seeing the plane crash that killed his real parents and started walking. He would make his new parents proud. He had to.
Chapter 3: Life or Death MAIN PAGE Chapter 5: Forming a Party
Chapter 5: Forming a Party (Author: Hello all. It is time for school! For Liao anyway. The Great Dragon God will only appear if he needs to tell Liao something important. He is a dragon god after all. This chapter will also introduce new characters who will grow alongside him. Hope you all enjoy this chapter.) Chapter 5: Forming a Party Liao walked toward the gate and found a crowd of three hundred applicants already waiting for the trial. He noticed a large burly man with three, two inch scars down the right side of his face looking at him. The man motioned Liao to come forward. "At last," the man said. "Applicant 301 of this year''s recruits has arrived. Got the recommendation letter and thirty gold coins for the application fee?" Liao nodded and gave the recommendation letter to the man. After a moment, thirty gold coins were taken from his inter-spacial ring. Most of the crowd grasped as they never saw one before. The few others who were not surprised had one of their own due to a rich background or lineage to an accomplished family of martial experts. "Good. Good. My name is Marcus Locket," the man began. "I am one of the teachers here at Twin Star Academy. We only accept students who have two things: strength and potential. In the path of immortals, martial experts must pass eight tiers of qi cultivation before becoming an immortal. Each tier has five stages. The tiers you must pass to be an immortal are Spirit Walker, Spirit Knight, Spirit Sage, Spirit Lord, Spirit King, Spirit Emperor, Spirit Reaper, and Spirit Dragon." Marcus put the gold and recommendation in his own ring. After a moment, three hundred and one crystal spheres on gold pedestals appeared in front of each applicant as well as a white rug. "The first test is the easiest test. As you sit on the rugs, close your eyes and meditate. Each of you have a dantian. Dantians are vessels for your realm of qi. Each realm of qi is unique for each person. The sphere in front of you measures that qi. As you meditate, you will enter your realm of qi. Feel the power of the qi and embrace it. Allow the qi to spread into your meridian channels. They are like veins in your body that spread qi. Focus the flow of qi into your hand and place your palm on the sphere. Those who crack the sphere are first stage Spirit Knights and pass the minimum requirement. Those who break the sphere are first stage Spirit Sages and are true monsters among monsters. We do not accept ordinary people here. Those who fail go home. You may begin when you are ready." Liao and the initiates quickly sat down and began meditating. Liao closed his eyes and entered his realm of qi. Over the course of two years constantly meditating had allowed Liao to enter the first stage of Spirit Knight. Each tier enlarges the dantian and allows the realm of qi to become more powerful and experience unique changes. His lightning dragon had grown to the size of a three foot dragon with two heads. The snowflakes that fell around the dragon had formed a frozen pond beneath the dragon. Liao was pleased as he had met the requirement. He breathed deep breaths as he directed his qi into his meridian channels. His body grew warm as the qi spread into his right hand. Liao opened his eyes and placed his palm on the sphere in front of him. Lightning and ice qi spread from his hands and swirled inside the sphere. After a moment, a few cracks appeared on the crystal. "Applicant has reached first stage Spirit Knight and has met the minimum requirement. Excellent affinity for thunder qi and above average affinity for ice qi," Marcus said as he approached the sphere. "Good work. you are the seventy ninth to pass out of the two hundred and thirty who already made an attempt. You must now pass the gate and form a group of five for the next trial." Liao was startled that more than half already made an attempt and quickly passed the gate. He saw that most of the applicants that were fourth stage Spirit Knight and above had already formed groups. He even saw six applicants who had reached Spirit Sage and were true monsters among monsters. "Hey there!" a scrawny boy with mud brown hair shouted. "You in a group yet? Come join us! We need a fifth member." "Thanks," Liao said as he joined two other boys and two girls. "No problem. My names Cao Xu," the scrawny boy smiled. "Looks like only you and me came here from the Wei empire. I am a third stage Spirit Knight with excellent affinity for fire and average affinity for wind. I heard your results and the guys agreed to let you in the group. Dual affinity is pretty rare." Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. "My name is Richard Mathis and I am a noble''s son from Roshalt," a blonde boy with frost blue eyes and a lion fur coat greeted. "Fourth stage Spirit knight with excellent affinity for earth. Nice to meet you." "My name is Sakura Nimbus from the country to the east called Lyatto," a girl with chest nut hair and bright brown eyes said sweetly. "I am a second stage Spirit Knight with excellent affinity for wind qi. It is nice for another dual affinity to join us. The groups with fourth stage Spirit Knight and above as a minimum requirement have at least one Spirit Sage or fifth stage Spirit Knight in their group." "I am Ling Drake," a girl with blonde hair and dark brown eyes said coldly. "First stage Spirit with excellent affinity for light qi and above average affinity in water. My mother came from the Wei empire. I know you Liao son of Hui Lu, great general and head of the Lu family of martial experts." "You''re THAT general''s son?" Cao exclaimed. "The one who drove back the rebel army?" "Yes," Liao answered and stared at Ling. She knew who he was but how? He didn''t recall meeting a blonde girl in the Wei empire before. "Well than, time to name our group," Richard grinned. "Let''s call ourselves "The Knight Destroyers!" We will beat the other Spirit Knights and become students of Twin Star Academy!" The other four were hesitant to agree but couldn''t come up with a better name. Most of the applicants were Spirit Knights after all. After an hour, eighty six of three hundred and one applicants remained. Marcus failed the last applicant as groups of five had already been made. Only monsters were accepted. They didn''t need a talented youth who couldn''t use his power quickly and efficiently. "Now that you made your posse and named them," Marcus began. "Time for the next trial. This trial will take place in the mountain range in the back of the academy. Mythical monsters live in the mountain range. Don''t worry though, there are no spirit beasts in the mountains. Those spirit beasts are mythical creatures close to enlightenment and immortality. The monsters that you will see are around the human equivalent of Spirit Knight and Spirit Sage. Each person will be given a talisman meant for sealing a part of a mythical monster''s qi to bind them and serve you as pets." "WHAT!" all the applicants shouted. Owning a mythical monster as a pet was usually done by martial experts at third stage Spirit Sage and above. This academy really was horrifyingly strict on applicants. "Ah, shut up," Marcus said and laughed. "All five members of the party must successfully bind a mythical monster to their soul to pass enter our Twin Star Academy as official students. I don''t need to tell you how dangerous mythical monsters are. If you die, no one will bring your body back to your families. Your party will also be your class mates and team members for tournaments and competitions here in the Twin Star Academy. One last bomb shell you need to know: only eight parties will be accepted. Right now there are seventeen parties so watch your backs from monsters and humans alike. Come get your talismans and I wish you all good luck. Try to keep those monsters well fed." The Knight Destroyers each received a white rectangular strip of paper with jade markings and looked ahead at the mountain range. This trial was created to test the coordination and efficiency of a party. Only eight parties would be accepted out of seventeen. This trial was certainly harder than the first test. "Nothing to do now but keep moving," Cao said. "We can worry about the groups with Spirit Sages later. Let''s skip the first mountain and find a ravine. There''s bound to be more powerful monsters there and less people willing to take the risk." "We can attack a monster one of us wants simultaneously," Liao agreed. "Sounds like a plan! I''m in," Richard grinned. "Let''s go!" The Knight Destroyers all agreed and started walking to the mountain range.
Chapter 4: Go to SchoolMAIN PAGE Chapter 6: Besieged on all Sides
Chapter 6: Besieged on all Sides (Author: Hello all. The time has come for Liao to soul bind a mythical monster. However, Liao and the rest of The Knight Destroyers are not the only ones on a sealing hunt. They only have four choices: give up and go home, seal monsters as fast as possible, attack other parties to lessen the competition, or die by human hands or monster teeth. Hope you enjoy the chapter.) Chapter 6: Besieged on all sides "RUN!" Richard shouted as the party entered the mountain range. As expected, the parties with Spirit Sages had begun their attack on the weaker parties. Richard focused his earth qi into his left foot and slammed in on the ground, forming a huge wall of earth three feet thick along both sides of the party. "I wonder if I can do that when I reach the fourth stage of qi cultivation. I could make my ice extend from my feet, but I wouldn''t be able to control the cold air it would emanate. Making walls of ice might accidentally hurt the others," Liao wondered as he and the others kept running. "I could use lightning instead. If I could cover Tiger Fang in lightning qi and slash it on the ground, I could make a wave of lightning and not suffer an unintended side effect. Liao''s eyes widened as if he reached a stage of enlightenment but couldn''t meditate as the situation was too dire. Some of the more powerful parties wanted to give chase, but they didn''t know if the others of Liao''s party were as strong as Richard and decided to suppress the other groups. Richard was greatly weakened as he kept extending the walls of earth and made a gorge as they kept running. Sakura focused the qi into here feet and scouted ahead while Cao focused his fire qi into his shoulder and rammed through any trees on their path. Both Ling and Liao grabbed Richard''s arms and supported him as they ran as fast as the could through the first mountain. After a half hour, they had made it through the second mountain. Such speed was only possible as they were Spirit Knights and could augment their bodies with their qi past their physical limits. Liao and Ling collapsed as they had run out of qi. Only Sakura and Cao appeared to be fine. Cao was at the third stage and only had to use his qi against trees. While only at the second stage, Sakura had moved fast with her wind qi and had already begun resting as the others arrived. "Good call on the plan to avoid the others Cao," Richard said as he regained some strength. "Ling and Liao, you two better meditate and recover your qi. We should be far enough from the fighting for now." "You had all the fun, making a freaking gorge, while I was stuck a flaming battering ram," Cao pouted. "I''m going on ahead to look for the ravine. There''s bound to be a ravine here in this huge mountain range." Sakura and Richard waited for a few minutes as Ling and Liao meditated. Ling was the first to recover and they all thought Liao would recover at the same time but he kept meditating. "Was Liao at the bottleneck of the first stage during the escape?" Cao asked surprised, returning with some fruit. "Maybe he got inspired by my awesomeness as I covered my shoulder with fire qi." "Who knows," Richard shrugged. "Did you find a ravine?" "Yeah," Cao nodded, his face turning grave. "There''s a deep ravine covered in fog just after this mountain. I didn''t get close as I sensed monsters at Spirit Sage strength and above with my wind qi. I like fighting but no way will I fight a losing battle. I do have a surprise though. I sealed a Spirit Sage level mythic beast on the way here. It''s resting near the ravine." "How did you seal it?" Sakura gasped. "Did you use some special technique?" "Nah. I didn''t do anything special. Kind of ashamed to admit it but the monster was already injured from a fight," Cao chuckled. "All I needed to do was focus fire qi into both my fists while propelling myself as fast as possible with wind qi concentrated on my legs. I literally knocked the wind out of the monster and threw the talisman." "What''s it like being connected to a mythical monster?" Ling asked. Cao was surprised as Ling was usually so quiet and said a little loudly, "The monster didn''t move as the talisman absorbed some qi. After I picked up the talisman and infused my qi into it, it shattered and both qi entered my body. It felt weird at first as the qi was not mine. When it reached my dantian and entered my realm of qi, I felt a huge rush rise from my chest. It was like the monster''s qi and my own fused together. I could actually communicate with mythic monster with my mind. It was crazy freaky, but we can talk to each other from any distance and know the location of each other as well." "They can talk?" Sakura exclaimed. "I want one now. It has to look majestic and powerful." "I just want to live through this," Richard sighed, thoughts of the escape still fresh in his mind. "So what did you soul bind Cao?" "A true fighter like me needs a beast that looks awesome and is just as awesome in fighting as me," Cao said, proudly puffing his chest. "I sealed a mystic white tiger with fire affinity." "WHAT!" Richard shouted. "You actually sealed a mystic tiger? That''s one of the higher mid-ranking monsters in the world!" The air grew cold and the others turned their heads as they heard crackling sounds and smelled something burnt. hey saw Liao''s body emit lightning for a few seconds as Liao''s body was covered in ice. The ice shattered as Liao opened his eyes and he stretched his arms up in the sky. They saw a big smile on Liao''s face as he stood up, his knees making a popping sound as he didn''t move them for so long. Liao''s realm of qi had changed as the two-headed lightning dragon had grown a few inches and began flying in a circular motion in the sky as the pond of ice thawed and became a small lake. Even though it was in liquid form, it still emitted cold air and felt as cold as the water in the arctic. The dragon would fly above the lake and swim beneath the surface in a pattern of a constant triple loop. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. "Congratulations Liao," everyone cheered. Naturally they were happy for him, but having Liao reach the second stage made him more dependable for the party. "Let''s go get those monsters," Richard said and let Cao lead the way, running beside Liao and telling him about Cao''s new partner. On the way, they came across a beautiful light brown deer with ash colored antlers. It was easy to subdue the beast as it was at Spirit Knight level and allowed Sakura to seal it. The mythic deer was a good choice for Sakura as it had affinity for water and wind. Sakura had a big smile on her face as she rode her new partner. She named it Mizu as it had water affinity. When they reached the ravine, they saw a bloodied white tiger with numerous scratches on its body with a half foot sized patch of fur that looked like ash. "This awesome beast is Huilong," Cao grinned. "He may look bloody now but all his wounds have healed. Just what you would expect from such a high tiered mythic beast." "CAO MOVE!" Liao shouted as he saw movement next to the ravine. Cao screamed in alarm and he called Huilong to his side. A lion jumped out from the ravine. It had sand colored fur and a darker brown colored mane. Cao didn''t think Liao''s warning was warranted until he saw the mystical monsters back, or the thing on top of it. An emerald green turtle shell was on the lion''s back with tiny trees growing on the top of the shell. "Spirit Sage stage mythic beast!" Sakura gasped as Mizu shifted backwards in fear. "Wood and earth affinity," Richard said in glee. "Cao, help me take it down!" "Don''t got to tell me twice," Cao snarled and jumped atop of his tiger. A flash of light shined from his right hand and a huge halberd appeared in Cao''s hand. Liao was not surprised as he knew his group was powerful and suspected they all had a inter-spacial ring. He just didn''t expect Cao to wield a halberd. He thought for sure that Cao would wield a blunted weapon as he saw Cao ram through trees during the escape. "Charge!" Cao yelled and Huilong leapt toward the lion turtle. Sakura stayed back as she didn''t want her mythic beast injured while her wind qi was the polar opposite of earth qi. Sakura fighting the lion turtle was like trying to put out a fire with a bucket of ice. Ling also stayed back as her light qi took required too much power and had the least amount of qi of the party. Liao ran toward the lion turtle, focusing ice qi in his hands. He yelled loudly as he punched within three feet of the lion turtle and froze the ground. However, the lion turtle was too heavy and the ice broke beneath it. Angered by the sneak attack, the lion turtle roared and swiped its right paw at Liao. Liao screamed in pain as the left side of his forehead bruised while one of the claws made a scar down his left eye. Liao was lucky that the claw did not pierce his eyelid as he got hit. "Liao!" Cao cried as he watched his new friend get thrown in the air by the force of the paw and knew his friend was knocked out. Liao''s body smashed the ground four times before falling into the ravine. "You bastard! You''re mine!" Cao shouted and smacked the lion turtle with the side of the halberd''s blade like a baseball bat. The lion turtle was dazed at the side of the blade hit its head. Taking advantage of the confusion, Richard took out his talisman and threw it at the lion turtle, causing it to shiver and still as emerald colored qi entered the talisman. Richard got the talisman and sent his own qi into it, shattering the talisman. "It''s over," Richard sighed and fell to his knees. Cao jumped off Huilong and ran to the edge of the ravine. ''He''ll be okay," Sakura said as she ordered Mizu to approach the ravine. "Ravines usually have a river on the bottom. That''s why there is fog. The river must be really big for such a dense fog to form to the top of the ravine. We just have to hope he didn''t float to far down the river." "We need to find him," Ling said. "I thought you didn''t like him," Richard said as he sat on his new mythic lion turtle and approached them. Cao frowned slightly as the lion turtle was responsible for the chaos and said, "Richard''s right. We all noticed the way you acted indifferently to Liao. You knew his background. How are you two connected?" "My mother''s brothers were part of the rebellion," Ling said. "I don''t hate him for it though. I just can''t stand his personality. He was on the battlefield for two years. People change during a war but he still seems all friendly like a child our age would be. It''s as if he didn''t feel guilty for killing people." The others didn''t say anything as they followed Ling as she started looking for a path down. Cao hoped his friend was alright. Honestly, he missed his homeland and Liao was closest to him in the group. "I will name you Bartholomew," Richard said to the lion turtle mentally. "I don''t like that name master," Bartholomew replied. "It doesn''t match my appearance or power. Give me a different name."
Chapter 5: Forming a PartyMAIN PAGE Chapter 7: The Mysterious Saviour
Chapter 7: The Mysterious Savior (Author: Hello all. The last chapter sure put Liao in a predicament. This chapter delves into the origins of the mountain range and the secrets contained within. What happened to Liao as he fell into the ravine? Will the Great Dragon God save his source of entertainment? As you noticed with the last chapter, the lengths are longer. Trails of thought enter my head and I just write it all down on my notebook and make it flow as best as I can before typing and posting it. Hopefully this chapter will reveal it all. Enjoy.) Chapter 7: The Mysterious Savior The Great Dragon God was pleased as the mythic lion turtle appeared. Granted it was only about six feet tall and at Spirit Sage level, it was strong enough to pose a threat. The dragon god cheered as Cao rode Huilong into battle, the boy''s halberd raised high in the sky. This was why Liao was given the jade medallion. It served as a beacon and allowed the dragon god to watch Liao as if he was the star of a live movie. The dragon god only wished he had live family members of the Xu lineage to eat as he watched the fight. "What are you doing you fool!" the dragon god roared as he saw Liao freeze the ground below the lion turtle. "It''s too heavy for your weak ice qi!" "Ah," the dragon god sighed in disappointment as the lion turtle''s right paw slashed at the left side of Liao''s head. "At least his leftt eye is not cut. Well, the scar makes a man. WAIT! Don''t fall into the ravine. If you''re gonna die, you need to die in front of the audience! Not in some ravine! Don''t fall! Don''t fall!" The dragon god roared in anger after Liao''s body crashed four times on the ground and fell into the ravine. This was not the "glorious death" the dragon god wanted from Liao. Liao did not even get hit by sacrificing himself and taking the blow for someone else. "I have to save that idiot mortal''s life," the dragon god sighed and its eyes flashed a bright jade. As Liao''s body crashed into the huge river below, the jade medallion beneath his clothes shined and the jade colored qi of the Great Dragon God entered Liao''s dantian and invaded his realm of qi. The realm of qi expanded rapidly and Liao broke through to fourth stage Spirit Knight as the qi of the dragon god was so great, it made the qi of an immortal, the goal of all martial experts, as great a difference as the qi of a baby to an adult. Liao''s body healed due to the massive qi entering his meridians and healing the bruise on his forehead and stopped the blood over his left eye. The dragon god decided not to heal the wound and let it scar as punishment as well as turned the left eye''s color to ash. It was not a benevolent dragon god and only saw Liao as entertainment to pass the time. The realm of qi also changed due to the dragon god''s qi. The golden lightning dragon roared as its golden scales turn to jade. The brown eyes of the two-headed dragon became ash in color. The dragon''s pattern of continuous three loops extended to seven and the lake of arctic cold water tripled in size and small glaciers formed and broke the surface. Satisfied at its generous actions, the dragon god decided to leave the rest to fate as Liao drifted along the river. The boy would be strong enough to fight any Spirit Knight level mythical monsters on his own. If he ended up as a meal to a Spirit Sage mythic beast, than that was all Liao amounted to. The dragon god would find another source of entertainment on another planet. After all, immortality meant it could live forever unless it was killed. It had all the time in the infinite numbers of galaxies and universes. A distance away from Liao, a girl around twelve was searching the river for a place to meditate and cultivate qi. She was a third year student from Twin Star Academy and had come to the bottom of the ravine for training. The bottom of the ravine made the mountains look like the walls of a grand canyon. The qi was denser and the mythic monsters were also much more powerful. As she saw Liao drifting in the water, she wondered how the ten year old boy ended up at the bottom of the ravine. She didn''t see any wounds on Liao save for a fresh scar down his left eye. She swam into the river and pulled Liao to shore. She hesitated and breathed into Liao''s mouth and pounded on his chest, hoping to resuscitate him and make him breath. She let out a sigh of relief as Liao''s eyes opened while he spit out river water and gasped for air. She stood up and walked a few feet away from him, her face turning red. "Huh? W, where am I?" Liao shouted, startled and looked at his chest. "What is this? I broke two qi cultivation stages and reached the fourth stage? Wait! I was attacked by the lion turtle! My eye! What happened to my eye!" Liao crawled to the river and saw a fresh scar over his left eye, the wound healed, and his left eye had turned into the color of grey ash. He put his hands on his face and thought it was a dream. He could clearly remember crashing into the ground four times. He had to have bruises or broken bones on his body. "Thank me boy," the dragon god said as Liao heard a voice talk to his mind through the jade medallion. "If it wasn''t for the fact that you would have died without a glorious death, I would not have saved your life. My qi changed your body and even now you have slightly more muscles and a vast amount of qi. You probably have more qi than a Spirit Sage but your capabilities are still at the fourth stage Spirit Knight. Train hard and fight another perilous battle of life and death. Continue to entertain me and I will bless you with my qi again." Liao nodded and was lost in thought. The girl stared at him and wondered what he was thinking. Her eyes narrowed as the jade dragon engraving on the black medallion shined and wondered if it was a magical artifact. She assumed that is was the reason he survived what gave him that scar and threw him into the ravine. "Be more careful boy," the dragon god continued. "I might not be able to save your life a second time. I will contact you again if I feel the need. Right now, you have bigger problems and a guest. The girl pulled you from the river and saved you. Farewell. Hopefully you die a bloody, glorious death." "What?" Liao exclaimed and noticed a girl two years older than him. She had a slender body and puberty was kind to her as her chest had developed nicely and she had a baby face. Her smooth black hair and bright purple eyes made Liao''s heart skip a beat and he wondered what the feeling was. "Thank you for saving me," Liao said as he stood up and bowed. "My name is Liao Lu and I am an applicant for Twin Star Academy. I was attacked by a mythic lion turtle and has thrown into the ravine due to a blow to my head. What is your name?" "My name is Yueying Weiss," she answered. My father is from Roshalt and my mother is from the Wei dynasty''s empire. You must have been born there as you are wearing the armor of the Wei army. Were you a soldier during the battles against rebels?" "Yes," Liao replied and said, "Do you know how to go up the ravine Yueying? My friends and I are sealing mythical monsters for our trial and they must be looking for me." "No," she said, shaking her head and said, "I come down here and go back up using my qi. I am at the bottleneck of fifth stage Spirit Sage. I came here to cultivate the vast qi and break through to first stage Spirit Lord. I am a third year student at Twin Star Academy. Come find me when you become an official student and wear the white uniform of the students. I''ll be waiting Liao Lu." Liao watched as she ran along the riverbank and a part of him wanted to follow her but she was just too fast. He noticed her use water, darkness, and wood qi as she disappeared from view. He was shocked as he had never met someone who could use three different types of qi and realized she must have sealed a mythic beast. Those who sealed a mystic beast gained the power to use the qi types of the mythic beast and vice versa. Most people tend to seal a mythic beast that had one of the same elemental affinities as they already knew how to cultivate that type of qi. The main reason was that the more elemental qi one could use the more powerful the wielder. The problem was that the wielder had to cultivate vaster amounts of qi to break the bottleneck of each qi cultivation stage with each qi elemental affinity they possessed. "What am I thinking?" Liao thought and shook his head. "I need to quickly get out of here and meet the others. I might be lucky and seal a Spirit Stage mythic beast while I am down here." Liao meditated as he focused qi into his meridian channels. His body grew warm as the qi flowed and strengthened his body. Liao summoned Meteor Fang from his ring and began his search along the river. He was shocked as he saw bodies of Spirit Sage beasts mangled on the floor. Liao felt curious as to what could kill so many Spirit Sage beasts as he followed the trail of corpses from the river and into a small cave entrance around seven hundred yards away. As he entered the cave, he wanted to store some of the corpses into his ring and save them for a meal, but he didn''t know if the area was safe. Mythic beast meat contained vast amounts of qi and eating the meat was more effective than meditating. He needed to be strong to be recognized by his father and eating the meat would increase his qi cultivation as a faster rate. He had been escorting supply lines before as a lieutenant captain but his two brothers were on the battlefield as battalion commanders on the frontlines. Compared to their accomplishments, he just played a supporting role for the army. Not to mention his father said they were at Spirit Lord stage. Compared to him, the difference was as great as heaven and earth. He could hear fighting further in and focused lightning qi to crackle around his body. He made his way through the dark cave using the lightning as a light source and saw a bright light where he heard sounds. Knowing it must be what was killing the monsters, Liao stopped focusing his qi and quietly crept toward the light, rubbing his eyes as the sudden brightness as he arrived at a bright clearing. "Imoogi!" Liao whispered in awe as he saw a giant black snake with a dragon''s head breathe fire at numerous mythic monsters. Liao watched excitedly as he saw the imoogi slaughter and burn its victims. The imoogi had suffered numerous wounds and its blood sprayed like a fountain as it desperately fought with its back to a black, hexagon shaped rock behind it. Liao narrowed his eyes and focused his qi into them. His eyes widened as he saw a small egg around a foot in size lying against the rock. Liao''s heart froze as the imoogi was finally slain as a mythic monster as one Spirit Sage level appeared near its corpse. The beast looked like a purple grizzly bear and had developed black armor on all four limbs. He saw a large burn on its right side from the imoogi and decided to kill it. Imoogi mythic beasts hatched at spirit sage level and the mother must have been at Spirit King level to slay so many mythic beasts like trash. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. An imoogi at Spirit Lord level mythic beast would not have been able to kill the mythic beasts by the hundred as the imoogi he just witnessed. He also wanted to investigate the hexagon shaped rock as it might contain a great secret. He focused his lightning qi into his sword and covered himself in ice qi. Yelling at the top of his lungs, he charged toward the injured monster. The bear was startled and howled at Liao. Liao focused on staying at the right side of the bear as he began slashing at the huge burn. The bear snarled in rage and tried smashing its claws at Liao, but Liao would freeze the ground around him as he moved, breaking the bear''s balance as it tried to attack. Liao knew he had to kill it quickly before the bear would get used to the pain and raised Tiger Fang high. He focused all his qi into the blade and it shined brightly as lightning crackled around him. "DIEEE!" Liao screamed as he smashed the blade into the ground toward the bear. A huge wave of lightning spread from the point of impact like a small wave, incinerating the ground as it made its way to the bear. The mythic beast roared in agony as the lightning pierced its burnt side and Liao smelt badly burnt meat as the bear fell to the ground, dead. "I really have to thank the Great Dragon God," Liao gasped as he used the blade as a crutch. "If I wasn''t at the fourth stage, I probably would have been dead before I attempted the first strike. My ice qi would not have strong enough to freeze the ground beneath the bear." Liao went on his knees and bowed to the ground in front of the dead imoogi, fully knowing that the main reason for living was the giant burn and exhaustion of the bear caused by its fight. He made a silent prayer and put the body of both of the mythic beasts into the ring, leaving the corpses of the others as they were. Liao meditated and silently recovered his qi. A half hour later, Liao stood up and walked toward the egg. He gently poured his qi into the egg, accelerating its growth and watched it hatch. A shiny black imoogi with azure colored eyes stared blankly at him. Liao was ecstatic as the imoogi had elements of fire and destruction, an element as rare and powerful as wood, darkness, and light. Liao quickly took out his talisman and placed it on the imoogi''s head. He watched the talisman drain dark violet qi and quickly fused his own qi into the talisman, shattering it into pieces. Liao''s dantian shook as both qi entered his body and fused together as it entered his realm of qi. The dark violet qi changed his realm of qi and Liao watched as the one head of the dragon breathed fire while the other breathed lightning. The dragon stopped its continuous looping pattern and began flying a few feet above the lake in one big circle. Black energy seemed to crackle from the dragon, breaking pieces of the glaciers the two-headed dragon would pass. Even the lake had grown in size into a small sea with glaciers twenty feet tall appearing at random. "Amazing! If only I broke to the fifth stage. I guess four different types elemental types of qi made it more difficult for me to break the bottleneck," Liao gasped in awe. "Hello master," the imoogi greeted happily and slithered up Liao''s leg and rested around his neck. "Thank you for killing the mythic bear that killed my mother." "You really do talk!" Liao grinned happily and said, "You saw what happened? You''re not mad I took the body?" "No. It is to be expected that the body of a mythic beast would be devoured upon death," the imoogi said. "I need a name master. Give me a name." "I will name you Hunluan, for chaos," Liao said. "You have destruction and fire qi and sealing your soul gave me the ability to use them as well. Together, we will walk the path to immortality. I also have The Great Dragon God as my patron. You might be able to meet the dragon god someday. Can you turn into a dragon when you get older?" "No master, but I do what you mean as I have your memories," the imoogi sighed. "Imoogi are lesser dragons spawned from a spirit beast dragon. Only a spirit beast imoogi can become a dragon. Mythic beasts don''t have that luxury." "Hmm, so soul binding a mythic beasts shares my memories to it. I guess its not too bad as I can use fire and destruction qi but I have no idea how to use it. I''ll have to stick with lightning and ice qi until I learn more at the academy," Liao pondered and said, "So what is the hexagon rock your egg was hatching next to?" "Oh, that," Hunluan said. "Apparently it was created by human immortals. It contains a series of images of the blade style known as The Sundered Heaven Force. I see master wields a blade. This is very good as you can learn the ancient blade techniques. If you wielded a sword, I would have advised you to change weapons." "You''re very smart for a hatchling," Liao grinned. "Of course," Hunluan said as it rested around his neck. "Mama taught me a lot while I was in the egg. Having so much qi, of course my intelligence and power would be above others when I hatched. I am more powerful than you master as I am about mid-stage Spirit Sage level. Quickly, learn the ancient techniques and destroy the rock. It has finally served its purpose once you learn them. No need to let it remain here for another to master it." Liao meditated and practiced the ancient blade style. He was happy as he was a novice with the blade and just focused qi into his body to make random hits. The academy was where students would learn how to focus their qi and use techniques that effectively used qi to its potential. By the time he was done, sun rise had appeared. He made a silent prayer of thanks to whoever left the ancient techniques on the rock and destroyed it. Knowing he spent too long in the ravine, he stored Meteor Fang back into the ring and summoned the three daggers from his tattoo as he faced the ravines walls outside the cave. He might not be at Spirit Sage level, but he could impale his daggers into the cliff and use them as stepping stones. He used his lightning qi on his daggers and controlled them through magnetism. He was happy beyond words as he remembered admiring people in wuxia novels controlling weapons to fly with their qi. "This is so awesome. I wish my real parents could see this," Liao said sadly as he made his ascent up the walls. Cao and the rest of the Knight Destroyers had spent the last day and night trying to find a way down but failed. Ling was the only one with a happy mood as she had sealed a mythic beast of her own: a white phoenix with light affinity named Mei. Liao''s face broke into a smile as he saw his friends from a distance and quickly waved his hand, the daggers disappearing back into the dragon tattoo on his shoulder. "Liao!" Richard and Cao cried as they saw his tattered clothes. "You''re alive!" "I knew you''d make it buddy," Cao laughed as he put his arm wrapped Liao''s head and brushed his knuckles on it. "Making us worry all night. taste my wrath." "Let the guy go," Richard laughed and said. "I am truly sorry for what happened. Bartholomew also says he is sorry. You can''t talk to him but he says he is, mentally anyway." Liao stared at the lion turtle Richard rode on with mixed feelings. He was surprised that Ling had sealed a phoenix and Yueying''s face appeared in his mind. He felt guilt for some reason and shook his head. "You sealed a baby imoogi?" Sakura gasped as Liao and the party gathered together. "It''s so cute!" "This is Hunluan," Liao introduced and the imoogi slithered its tongue in greeting. "I happened to drift into a cave and saw this egg. The qi is so dense there that I broke to the fourth stage of qi cultivation." "Why lie master?" Hunluan asked. "They can''t find out what happened," Liao said mentally. "I can''t reveal the existence of the Great Dragon God or the blade techniques." "I think you just don''t want to tell them about Yueying," the imoogi laughed. as its soul was bound to Liao, it had seen his memories. It knew its master''s true identity and the dragon god that killed him and brought him to it. Hunluan was grateful despite his master''s pain as it would have been eaten by the mythic bear that killed its mother. "How is the situation?" Liao asked, ignoring Hunluan''s remark.. "I''m pretty sure our party had the greatest luck in sealing monsters. We actually have mythic beasts from myths and legends as our soul bound partners. I''m afraid we will have a big target on our backs." "Only four parties have passed," Cao said silently. "The parties with Spirit Sages killed off the competition. They began attacking each other before making a truce. They are the four that passed. Ling sent the proctor, Marcus, as message through Mei, saying we are on our way. I told her two as I knew you would show soon." Liao''s eyes moistened at the faith of his friends and felt guilty for lying to them. Hunluan watched his master with amusement and fell asleep, its chest massaging Liao''s neck with every breath. "We passed," Cao passed as he jumped atop his tiger. "The Knight Destroyers are the greatest!" The others sighed with relief and made their descent back to Marcus. Marcus shouted with surprise as he saw their mythic beasts, still in shock of Ling''s white phoenix sending him the message. The other parties threw jealous glances toward them, but Cao just laughed and told the others to ignore them. "I''m finally a student here father," Liao thought as he received the white uniform of the Twin Star Academy. Marcus sent away the other parties and told them a different teacher would be in charge of their respective parties. Marcus couldn''t let such an invaluable party with vast luck and potential slip his grasp. The higher their success, the bigger his pay as well as the spread of his fame. "Let''s go Knight Destroyers," Marcus said as he lead them in the academy. "Time to learn qi techniques and walk the path to immortality. I''m sure before long, you will become pillars of the academy and spread your fame all over Roshalt. Under my guidance that is!"
Chapter 6: Besieged on all Sides MAIN PAGE Chapter 8: Jealousy and Envy
Chapter 8: Jealousy and Envy (Author: Hello! Students at last! Liao and the rest of the Knight Destroyers were the only party to succeed without a member at the Spirit Sage stage. Marcus Locket, the trial proctor, declared himself their personal teacher, no doubt drawing the attention on our five heroes. Not only that, all of them sealed powerful mythic beasts. They survived in the mountain range full of mythical beasts. Now they must survive among other talented students in the academy. Enjoy.) Chapter 8: Jealousy and Envy Marcus led the Knight Destroyers to a clearing with several trees in the background. Small cabins were also in the clearing and each student each had their own cabin where they would sleep with their mythic beasts. Marcus laughed as they asked why they didn''t study at the white marbled buildings of the academy. He told them that his teaching methods were superior to the others and faced them. "Here are the Twin Star rings," Marcus Locket said as he gave each of the Knight Destroyers a black metal ring with an amber engraving of a star. "These rings will automatically fit on your finger and people will recognize you as a student of Twin Star Academy. These rings are special compared to the other Twin Star rings given to the other students as their emblem is made of gold. Amber is fossilized tree sap and the head master uses a mysterious crafting method to change the properties of the amber. You, as bearers of the amber rings, can store qi into the amber of the ring. This gives you an edge over others as you can tap into that qi when you are in need of it. Spend a little time before you sleep everyday pouring small amounts of qi into it. As far as I know, there is no limit to the amount of qi the amber rings can hold." "Thank you teacher," the students said as they bowed and accepted the rings. "It''s only right for you to receive it. The most talented party of every year of recruiting gets those rings," Marcus nodded, satisfied. "You also get a steel sword with a sapphire at the bottom of the hilt with an image of two stars inside a small inside, but you probably all have your own weapons. Tell me what weapon style and qi you use and I will train you accordingly. Be warned though. My nickname is Devil Locket for a reason. Expected training harsher than any other as well as the best results. Having talent is one thing. Harnessing that talent and polishing it into something extraordinary takes just as much hard work. None of you are at Spirit Sage level. This puts you at a disadvantage compared to other students. Why? It is because mythic beasts are prohibited during tournaments. In official duels and the outside world, having a mythic beast at such a young age might save your life. Now tell me what you wish to learn as well as what type of role you want to be in the party." "There are roles in a party?" Richard asked. "Even armies have battalions created with different roles," Liao answered. "Take the Wei imperial army. I''ll just tell you the common tactics all armies use. The battalions directly in the frontlines are usually armed with a shield and spear. The shields are meant to block archers who deal the greatest threat and have the most range. The shields also exist as a means to create a wall between the enemies and their own allies. The spears are used to stab at the enemy to halt their advance. The weakness of the infantry is a cavalry, a squad or battalion made of elite soldiers on horseback who assault the enemy with sheer power and speed." "The cavalry is meant to break the formation of the infantry and create an opening in their defense. Some cavalry even have chariots where one person directs the two horses while the other people in the chariot stab with their spears or shoot arrows," Cao continued. "The cavalry''s weakness are archers as the cavalry move in a predictable direction and the archers can predict their path and kill many members of the cavalry before they can stop and change directions." "There are also different levels of command such as squad captains, battalion commanders, and generals," Liao grinned. "Their jobs are to lead the soldiers in their formations and have them act as a single, solidified unit. Each unit will have its own orders that make up the grand picture of the commanding general. Therefore, roles are very important in a party as well as there are many different roles." "As expected of countrymen from a warring nation," Marcus praised. "It is exactly as the two kids from the Wei dynasty said. I can only teach you how to fight. It is up to you to make yourselves a unified unit of death on the battlefield. Compared to a party, a single fighter''s power is insignificant unless they are exceptionally powerful. You all know your qi affinities. Tell me the roles you want and leave the training method to me." Liao and the others quickly gathered together and began talking. Meanwhile, their mythic beasts relaxed under the trees in the clearing. They all had wondered why the academy was so big and now knew that each party would have their own designated training areas if they were the cream of the crop. They could still enter the white marble buildings for eating at the cafeteria or visiting the library. The only difference was that each member of the party would have a specialized training method instead of a generalized teaching method that wouldn''t bring out their as much of their potential. "We made a decision," Liao said as they returned to Marcus. "Tell me the qi affinities you possess, the weapon you prefer to use in combat, and the role you wish to take," Marcus said. "We''ll start with the girls. Let''s hear it. How high the affinity no longer matters as you are to learn qi techniques as well as gained a new qi attribute after soul binding a mythic beast." "Sakura Nimbus, second stage Spirit Knight. I have qi affinity for wind and water," Sakura began. "I prefer using longbows and arrows. I will be take a support and attacking role with my long range and using water to heal my allies." "You can use healing techniques?" Marcus shouted, shocked. "Wait, did you say Nimbus? I have heard of a famous clan to the east that specializes in healing techniques. You must be a member of that clan." Sakura nodded and the others were amazed. She already knew qi techniques and they are healing qi techniques at that! Healing yourself is something anyone can do, but healing others made you the most valued asset of any party. "I am Ling Drake, first stage Spirit Knight," Ling said, determined as she knew she had the lowest stage of qi cultivation and did not want to be underestimated. "I have affinity for light and water. I specialize in agile attacks with my rapier." "Cao Xu, third stage Spirit Knight," Cao said with pride. "I use fire and wind qi. I prefer being a tank and attacking head on with my halberd." "My name is Richard Mathis," the blonde-haired kid said. "I am a fifth stage Spirit Knight after soul binding my mythic lion turtle. I specialize in using earth and wood qi. I prefer using a mace as my element is best suited to blunt weapons. I plan on taking a defensive support role." "Good plan," Marcus agreed. "Having you in the back to support Sakura as she uses her longbow is a sound formation. With Cao at the front, taking the brunt of the assault, as well as the agile Ling for support. I assume you are the leader of this party Liao? You are the one with military experience so having you lead is my recommendation." All the Knight Destroyers looked at Ling except for Liao. They saw a scowl on her face as Marcus made his suggestion and knew she didn''t like Liao as he felt nothing as he took a life. Marcus also noticed her expression when he mentioned Liao''s military experience and had come to the same conclusion as the others as he thought of her background. "Liao Lu, fourth stage Spirit Knight," Liao said, oblivious to Ling''s reaction. "I have affinity for thunder and ice. After soul binding Hunluan, I gained access to fire and destruction type qi but I have no idea how to use them. I am learning how to use the nine-ringed blade my father made for me. I guess my role now is crowd control. Considering my fire and ice qi, I guess I am the most suited for it." "Four types of qi!" Marcus said grimly. "This will make it harder for you to reach Spirit Stage, but you have more power at your disposal to make up for it. I know how to wield all the weapons except for the blade as I learned how to use a sword and rapier. I can teach everyone a qi cultivation techniques and help you develop your own, unique qi technique save for the destruction type qi as well as the light and wood qi. They are two of the ancient types of qi so you will have to develop qi techniques on your own for those Richard, Ling, and Liao. Come. We have much preparation to do. Let your mythic beasts focus on their own methods of training as they are not human." Marcus than gave them weapon manuals and qi cultivation scrolls. The first few days were hard as Marcus taught them a martial expert does not need to eat or drink during meditation as the qi would provide the body''s necessities. To train them as a team, Marcus told them to give him permission to command of their mythic beasts and he tested their teamwork as they were attacked by the mythic beasts at random intervals. Marcus told them that the fastest way to level and get used to fighting as a party was through life or death situations. Due to the constant attacks, Sakura and Ling both quickly advanced to the third stage of Spirit Knight and even Cao and Richard were able to break the bottlenecks and advance to their respective stages. Liao was able to freely use fire qi and secretly practices the Heaven Sundering Force techniques with his blade, Meteor Fang. The rest of the academy had heard of the Knight Destroyers but had never seen them as they remained at their training ground, only seeing Marcus on occasion going to the cafeteria to collect their meals. After a month of constant training without rest, Marcus was finally satisfied and gave them the day off. Constant training would drain a martial expert and might hinder their growth instead. Training in moderation was the key to success. Break your limits a few times successively and than take a break before resuming once more. Those were words of their teacher as he trained them mercilessly. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. "Finally, a day off," Cao shouted happily as they headed to the cafeteria for breakfast. "Now I can eat all I want and not be nagged about my nutrition." "I thought you liked all the training?" Liao asked as they walked inside and looked for the food. "I like fighting, not training," Cao said as he grabbed a plate and pondered on what to eat. "The master is training us for the newcomer tournament at the end of the month," Richard said, as he grabbed some chicken barbeque on a stick. "He wants to hide our capabilities and shock the whole school next week. You know our master, he loves being the best. He personally trained us instead of some other teacher. He is at fourth stage Spirit Emperor. That''s two stages higher than the head master." "Don''t mind him," Sakura said laughing. "He thinks with his fist and his gut. He doesn''t know about nobility and etiquette. They''ll see him on the stage and his actions will speak for themselves. Everyone might not understand tactics but everyone understands power." "If only I could ride Huilong into battle. Picture it: me and my mythic tiger wrecking havoc and blasting enemies left and right," Cao said dreamily. "Now that''s the life." "People are watching," Ling said as she finished gathering her meal. "Quickly find a seat. We don''t want to attract attention." "Speak for yourself," Cao muttered as the others gathered their meal and sat down. "You''re practically invisible." "Yet she can kill you before you land a strike," Sakura said as she poked a broccoli with her fork. "Yes, yes. Pick on the tank of the group," Cao laughed. "You''ll see me in a new light during the tournament. You''ll see. You''ll thank me for being awesome." "Those two are at it again," Richard said as he nudged Liao. "Want to bet on who confesses first in the future? I got my gold on Cao." Liao grinned and said, "Sure, I''ll take that bet. Sakura will be the one to confess for sure." "Boys," Ling said as she rolled her eyes, yet she quietly stared at Liao. "If it isn''t the Great Knight Destroyers," a tall, muscular boy mocked as he entered the cafeteria. "The mighty party finally joins civilization at last?" "Who the hell are you?" Cao asked, spitting his pieces of ribs on the table. "I don''t see you wearing an amber engraved Twin Star ring. You must be a member of one of the four LESS powerful parties." Cao and Sakura laughed while Ling and Richard tensed, their hands on their rings in case they need to use their weapons. Liao didn''t care and ate his food, knowing Cao wouldn''t start a fight as long as the opponent didn''t make the first move. The whole cafeteria stopped eating and became quiet, wondering what the commotion was about. Many of the second to fifth year students watched as they wanted to see the power of the new students. Members of the other three parties of first years just watched, hoping the two parties fight and weaken their fighting strength before the tournament. "My name is Bull Warner," the tall boy said. "Second stage SPIRIT SAGE. Your party doesn''t have any Spirit Sages despite the powerful mythic beasts. Too bad you can''t fight alongside them in the tournament. You have quite the beauties in your party. What do you say boys? Want to have some fun with them later?" Bull''s members laughed while the rest of the cafeteria silently scorned them. Many of the girls had to held down by their respective party members upon hearing Bull''s words. "You want me to change your name to Ox you beast," Richard said, standing up with rage. "I''ll make it so that your family line ends here!" Ling and Sakura stood up and focused their qi into their hands and feet. Cao almost took out his halberd and revealed his weapon to the competition. Tournaments required the party to reveal their qi cultivation stages, roles, and affinities. The weapons and tactics a party used would be hidden so as to have all the parties fight on equal grounds. "What are you doing Liao?" Cao shouted as Liao''s eyes widened upon seeing the cafeteria door opened. "Is that you Liao? I was wondering when you might show up?" a familiar voice cried and the cafeteria turned its attention to the feminine voice. Many gasps were made as they saw it was one of the ten beauties in the school, Yueying Weiss. How did she know the name of the new student? A lot of the people began whispering as Yueying walked over to Liao. Liao stood up and bowed a little in greeting to the senior student. Both Bull''s party and Cao''s party were shocked as Yueying took a seat opposite Liao. Her party members, consisting of four other girls, sat beside her as they gathered their meals. They didn''t seem surprised as they also brought Yueying''s breakfast consisting of two pancakes and an egg muffin with orange juice on the side. "Where''ve you been over the last month? I was worried you''d miss the tournament?" Yueying asked as she cut her pancakes. "Training most of the time under Master Locket," Liao said, oblivious to the cafeteria''s stares. "Devil Locket?" Yueying gasped. "Must have been rough. My party was also the best and had isolated training. but even my teacher is shocked at Devil Locket''s training regiment." Cao grinned evilly and said, "So how did you two meet? Did he save your life in the ravine? That''s the only time we didn''t see him during the trial." "I saved him actually," she answered and Liao''s face turned red with embarrassment. "I saw him drifting, unconscious, in the river and brought him to shore. I did basic resuscitation and he survived." "So that''s why you didn''t tell us everything that happened in the Ravine," Richard said, joining Cao in teasing their friend. "Cao, is it just me or is the cafeteria suddenly a brighter place?" "No, I see it too. It''s so bright it''s starting to hurt my eyes," Cao said and the duo began laughing uncontrollably. "SHUT UP!" Bull roared as he slammed his foot, his earth qi shattering the ground beneath him. "I don''t care if you got one of the ten beauties by your side! My party and I will destroy you and you will know your place!" Bull grunted loudly and stormed out of the cafeteria after he and his party grabbed their breakfast. "I better leave too," Yueying said as she noticed the stares. "That tall boy is right. You guys need to be stronger for the tournament next week. Use the reserve qi in your rings to break through to the next stage or try to get your hands on mythic beast meat. Bye Liao! See you later!" Liao''s eyes opened as he had forgotten about the corpses of the monsters he collected and waved happily at Yueying. Thanks to her suggestion, he and his friends could eat the monster meat and break through to Spirit Sage easily. He was also shocked as Yueying''s party members were all at third stage Spirit Lord qi cultivation. Yueying was even at the fourth stage! They were as strong as students at the end of their third year and a few fourth year students! First year students were usually at fourth stage Spirit Sage at the end of the year. Second year students ranged from fifth stage Spirit Sage to first stage Spirit Lord. That alone explained how difficult it was to cultivate qi normally as the more powerful you got, the more qi you had. This meant that even greater qi had to be cultivated to break the bottleneck to the next stage. Unless you took special foods, medicine, and qi formation techniques that is. Liao was the only one who didn''t break the bottleneck of any stage as the destruction type qi was too powerful and different than his other qi elements. All the others had managed to make at least one qi technique for each of their qi affinities. He might be one of the more powerful members of his party of monsters, but his growth was the slowest. "They are definitely feasting on monster meat or taught some high level qi formation technique by their master. Yueying was on the bottleneck of fifth stage Spirit Sage when I met her at the ravine," Liao thought. "I need to get stronger." Liao didn''t know what he was feeling as he had those thoughts and had confused them for awe. The whole cafeteria buzzed about the Knight Destroyers. Since there were five parties, one of the parties had to fight three times and they all knew it was the Knight Destroyers as they didn''t have a Spirit Sage and had to prove their worth. "Let''s go guys," Liao said as he finished his food and grabbed a bowl full of chicken vegetable dumplings. "It''s our DAY OFF," Cao moaned and grabbed a bowl of tater tots and bacon strips. "He just wants to impress Yueying," Sakura smirked as she followed the boys. "Still, I didn''t expect them to know each other. Does he even know her background?" "Probably not," Richard said as he put their plates away in a neat pile in the specified area. "If he did, he would not be so relaxed." "Right?" Sakura laughed as she and Richard, besides a few others, knew Yueying''s background. Ling bowed apologetically to the rest of the students in the students in the cafeteria, afraid they might have made a few enemies. Ling remained silent as Liao told the others to follow him to the clearing as he remembered something important.
Chapter 7: The Mysterious Saviour MAIN PAGE Chapter 9: Baleful Blade Aura
Chapter 9: Baleful Blade Aura (Author: Yo! Liao''s friends found out one of Liao''s secrets he kept hidden. Liao also remembered about the monster corpses he stored in his space ring (shorter and easier to understand. Inter-spacial also auto-corrects to inter-special and is a pain to correct). By the way, baleful means threatening or menacing. Liao also has to solve his problem with destruction qi. We also learn more about his family which will shock Liao. Enjoy!) Chapter 9: Baleful Blade Aura Liao did call his friends into the clearing, but hesitated to tell them another truth he kept hidden. He shook his head as he decided to trust them and tell them. It was going to get out anyway as they would suspect how he got his hands on Hunluan as it hatched. Liao waited as all the Knight Destroyers, their mythic beasts, and Marcus Locket gathered in the clearing. He decided to tell them a partial truth as he wanted to keep the body of the Spirit Emperor stage imoogi and the mythic purple bear he worked so hard to kill for himself. He didn''t care about the other bodies. He told Hunluan his intentions and it agreed, asking for the body of the mythic purple bear to eat in exchange. Liao suspected it was a small revenge on Hunluan''s part and agreed. He knew what is was like to lose a parent, but his real parents died by an accident. Hunluan''s anger and pain dwarfed his. After he soul bound the baby imoogi, he accepted that mythic beasts were not mindless and thought of their existence as closer to a human''s existence than a regular beast. "I suspect you are all wondering what else I kept hidden and the truth about Hunluan and I," Liao started, seeing them nod in agreement as he talked. "The truth is that I found the imoogi egg containing Hunluan after I entered a dark cave a few hundred yards from where I met Yueying." Cao whistled and said, "You sure are lucky brother. Too bad you were unconscious during your mouth-to-mouth first meeting with one of the ten beauties. I don''t know whether to say you lucked out or missed a great opportunity." "You might want to take back those words," Richard whispered and the duo looked at Sakura. She didn''t saw anything as her eyes narrowed as their gazes met, but Cao understood the underlying threat of her gaze. "Thanks man," Cao whispered back and Marcus chuckled as he watched the youthful scene. "I didn''t see what created Hunluan''s egg," Liao continued, taking the attention away from the grateful Cao. "I thought the egg was a stone at first as it lay next to the wall, but then I saw hundreds of Spirit Knight and Spirit Sage level mythic monsters fighting over it. "I was scared as I sensed so many hostile qi," Hunluan interrupted, helping Liao''s cover story deepen. "The Spirit Sage beasts tore through the Spirit Knight beasts and than began fighting amongst themselves. I hadn''t seen my mother in centuries so I long thought her dead. The problem was that my egg had not been quickened by qi so I could only wait for my death." "Imoogi eggs takes centuries or even a millennium to hatch," Marcus nodded. "But there''s more isn''t there? How''d you live?" "The Spirit Sage beasts were outnumbered and eventually fatigue and numerous injuries took their hold and they were overwhelmed," Liao said. "I have seen powerful soldiers fall after dozens of arrows pierced their bodies. Even the powerful cannot overcome exhaustion and need rest after constant fighting. Taking care of the Spirit Knight level beasts was easy and I broke to the fourth stage by eating their corpse." "It was the Great Dragon God''s qi that broke me to the second stage and sealing your soul that broke me to the fourth stage," Liao said mentally to Hunluan. "I know master," it replied. "I have your memories. "If you had just one type of qi affinity, you would have broken to stage five Spirit Knight. Are you sure you want to share the meat with the others? You don''t need to be so charitable. I know you''re young, but this is too generous." "You really make me forget you''re barely over a month old," Liao sighed back as the others thought about what he said. "Did you really wait for centuries?" "Nah," the imoogi said. "I was hatched a few days before you arrived. I was able to hatch quickly because my mother was at Spirit Emperor stage and injected me with her qi everyday, fearful for an attack. Unfortunately, she was right. Once again, thank you for avenging my mother. The qi in her meat can''t be absorbed by you until you are at least third stage Spirit Lord. Don''t worry though, the space ring you have is unique compared to the others and time stands still for whatever is inside. That is why you can still eat the meat. This is another reason why you shouldn''t give the meat to them: they will know about the special characteristic of your space ring." "Cao and the others are the first friends I made who are close to my age," Liao sighed. "All this time I was in the military, I fought alongside adults. I kind of like not having to grow up so fast, mentally, as I stay here. Don''t worry. I''ll keep the imoogi meat until I can eat it and absorb the qi." "You ate the meat raw," Cao cried, as there was no way Liao had time to cook so much meat before he met up with them the next day. "Not really," Liao said. "Think about it. I have lightning qi. My only problem was if I burnt the meat to a crisp. Anyway, I have bodies of the spirit beasts I killed and found. The reason I did not tell you before is because the bodies are still fresh." Marcus cried in alarm and couldn''t believe what he just heard. After a moment, realization dawned on the companions and they too were shocked. Having a space ring that stopped time inside its own dimension was extremely rare and valuable. "Your dad really is amazing," Cao sighed in awe as he stared at the black space ring with the jade tiger engraving on Liao''s right hand and than stared at the black Twin Star ring with the amber engraving of a two stars in a flame on Liao''s left hand. "You are truly blessed," Richard agreed. "Cao said your father is a general in the Wei imperial army. What is his name exactly?" "His father is General Hui Lu, patriarch of the Lu family and great general of the Wei dynasty," Ling answered. "His father is a Spirit Emperor while his twin elder brothers, Lei and Liang Lu, are at Spirit King stage. They are older than him by five years and are generals who fight in the frontlines of their father''s forces." "WHAT!" everyone shouted. "Did you know this?" Cao asked and Liao shook his head. "General Hui Lu," Marcus brooded aloud. "If it is him, no wonder he and the Lu family was conscripted into the army by the Wei emperor. Having someone so powerful in the empire, conscription is the only way to control such a powerful family. Refusal of the royal edict meant treason and the emperor could justify ordering a bounty on the Lu family." "I knew your dad was great, but I didn''t know he was a beast," Cao said, his awe transforming to hero-worship. "You gotta let me visit the Lu Manor one day." "I haven''t seen my mother and two brothers since I joined the army," Liao said. This was a partial truth as only the real Liao Lu had met them and he only met them through the corpses memories. Even the real son did not know how great his father and brothers were. He didn''t even know that Lei and Liang were twins as they looked different. His memories of the elder brother, Lei Lu, were that of a slightly muscular teenager with sharp eyes and incredible intellect. Liang Lu was similar to Cao, but was more reserved and preferred twin axes to a halberd. "Anyway, with Cao and master, we don''t need to eat them raw," Liao laughed. "I suggest eating the meat of the Spirit Knight beasts first," Marcus suggested. "Martial experts can only absorb qi from monster meat at their tier of qi cultivation and one tier higher to a certain extent." "Which is why you need to be at third stage Spirit Lord to eat my mother," Hunluan reminded. "Feed the Spirit Sage meat to your mythic monsters as they can absorb qi up to two tiers above and below their qi cultivation," Marcus continued. "I''ll cook Cao. You need to eat more first. You said there were hundreds of bodies right Liao? You will all spend the rest of the week eating monster meat three meals a day as well as anytime you are hungry or after the qi from the meat is absorbed. We will show those pompous Spirit Sage parties how much of a monster you five are! How dare they mock you. Mocking you is the same as mocking me! I won''t allow you to get anything but first place in the tournament.!" The five nodded, touched by the pride and faith their master had for them. The Knight Destroyers were shocked as they saw all kinds of mythic beast bodies fill the clearing and knew there were more. Liao smirked a little as Bartholomew saw the corpse of a Spirit Sage lion turtle and almost laughed from its surprise. The fates really were impartial. He got a scar and the lion turtle saw one of its own dead. Liao got his portion of the cooked meat and left the clearing to meditate and absorb the qi. He took out Meteor Fang and the body of the mythic purple bear. Hunluan slithered restlessly as it watched Liao cut the bear to pieces. Liao didn''t feel sick as Hunluan ate the bear raw, having seen blood on the battlefield countless times. As the others slowly broke their way to first stage Spirit Sage, Liao was still at the fourth stage. His realm of qi seemed to have a boundless ocean as the qi he absorbed would enter the arctic ocean and undergo no change. Only the two-headed dragon seemed to change, growing larger and larger. "It must be the destruction qi," Liao muttered in disappointment. "I have more than enough qi to dwarf a Spirit Sage and contain enough qi to rival a first stage Spirit Lord. I just don''t know how to use it. It''s too bad I didn''t see Hunluan''s mother use destruction qi in its fight." The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Liao was only able to cultivate fire qi as he saw the giant imoogi breathe rivers of fire at the mythic monsters and the mythic purple bear. Using his experience, he created a fire qi technique he called Serpent''s Breath. The technique required Liao to build up fire qi in his throat and let it flow at a steady rate in front of him, creating a smaller version of the imoogi''s own river of fire. Hunluan naturally breathed fire and he also learned the qi by studying Hunluan as well. He did see Hunluan use destruction qi on its fangs to destroy the tough meat and absorb the qi into its body, but he was not an imoogi. Lately, he had been practicing the Sundered Heavens Force with Meteor Fang before meditating. He had reached yet to reach the first stage of the ancient blade style. He had tried practicing the technique with lightning and ice qi and nothing happened. He even tried fire qi, but had the same result. "Could it be that much of a coincidence?" Liao said, shocked. "Could it be possible that the blade style uses destruction type qi? After all, to sunder means to disassemble and destroy." Liao laughed incredulously as he felt that it really must be true. He really had to thank Hunluan''s mother. Not only did it inspire him to create a fire qi technique, it also gave him Hunluan in a way. Sealing Hunluan''s soul gave him the necessary qi to practice the profound blade style. He closed his eyes and meditated with Meteor Fang on his lap. Slowly, dark violet qi spread from his dantion to the meridian channels and into the blade. Liao''s eyes flashed opened as he gripped the blade tightly and stood up. Liao closed his eyes and he recited the words on the hexagon rock while copying the images that were below the words, "The Sundered Heaven Force does not use fluid, complex motions like sword styles. The blade is a weapon of death, not a weapon of beauty. The blade is heavy and only has one curved edge to slash the enemies. Simple, but powerful. Fast, yet slow. This is the Sundered Heaven Force." "The first stage is the simplest, yet is one of the hardest," Liao continued. "The Sundered Heaven Force requires a powerful qi that is both rare and chaotic. The blade is not a weapon of speed but a weapon of power. The first stage collects and refines the qi into the blade, creating a baleful aura. This is the first stage of the Sundered Heaven Force. Against your blows, your enemy cannot block and must flee. Baleful blade aura exists to strike fear into the enemy as your slow swing becomes fast." Liao laughed as he opened his eyes and saw Meteor Fang emit the baleful blade aura. Hunluan felt fear as it stared at the aura and was glad it was not Liao''s enemy. It watched for a moment before consuming more monster meat, using both fire and destruction qi with its jaws to make the meat smaller. As the week of training came to a close, each of Liao''s friends had reached first stage Spirit Sage. Cao and Richard even broke the bottleneck and became second stage Spirit Sage. Considering that most first years reach around the third or fourth stage at the end of the year, the progress of his friends could be considered monstrous. Liao had broken the bottleneck at last and had reached fifth stage Spirit Knight. He was not worried as he had more qi at his disposal than any Spirit Sage martial expert. He had also finally reached the first stage of the Sundered Heaven Force. His realm of qi really changed as his proficiency of destruction qi rose due to the Sundered Heaven Force. His two-headed jade dragon inside his realm of qi started to breathe white fire and white lightning as his arctic ocean grew once more. The biggest difference was that the two-headed dragon also had baleful aura which covered the dragon, trembling Liao as he watched it continue flying in a circle above the ocean. "It''s no longer a gecko," a powerful and ancient voice said mentally, disturbing Liao and Hunluan. They were connected by their souls so Hunluan also heard the Great Dragon God''s voice. "You are becoming more worthy of being my entertainment boy. First you seal an imoogi and now you learn how to create blade aura. Not that I feel fear, but your blade style is quite profound. I would have liked to eat the immortals who created the hexagon that contained the style. Their qi would have been delicious." "It is an honor to talk to talk to Your Eminence," Hunluan hissed respectively as it slithered on Liao''s neck. Constant feeding had made its maximum length at four feet, but it liked being a foot long and resting around Liao''s neck. Hunluan admired the jade glow from Liao''s medallion as the Great Dragon God continued speaking mentally. "During the tournament, there will be too many eyes watching. Do not use your three hidden daggers," the dragon god warned. "In the tournament there is someone with the surname Xu. I don''t mean your mortal friend, Cao Xu. This Xu person seems to be related to the dragon slayers I have been searching for. During the tournament, coax the Xu''s party into declaring a fight to the death. Kill the son of Xu with your blade." "With Meteor Fang?" Liao asked, curious. "No, I am changing the name of that blade to Violet Bone Claw," the Great Dragon God declared. "You cover the blade with baleful blade aura and the blade also has nine spirit bone rings across the back of the blade. I know not how your father crafted the bone rings or where they came from but spirit beast bones are special. As you draw blood with Violet Bone Claw, the spirit bone rings will absorb the blood through the baleful aura. Once it absorbs enough blood, your blade should grant you a new ability. I only know the first ability as you practiced using the baleful blade aura and sliced monster meat into pieces for the imoogi hatchling. Once I activate it, you should be able to use the ability as you fight with the blade wrapped in baleful blade aura. It is short range teleportation with a range of twenty feet. Not much but it might save your life. Only use this ability if your life is in danger. You are forbidden to use it in the tournament. There are many eyes watching and sons of daughters of Xu might learn of your ability and will seek revenge after you kill one of their own." Liao''s eyes glistened in joy as he felt Violet Bone Claw tremble violently as the light of the jade medallion focused on the weapon. Some of the baleful blade aura on the weapon went into the spirit bone ring furthest from the point of the blade. Liao''s vision blurred as a dark violet light flashed from the spirit bone ring. "It is done," the dragon god said. "Your dragon tattoo has transformed into a skeleton of an imoogi and I have lengthened the tattoo from across your left shoulder all the way to your wrist. You now have the ability to teleport and your three daggers has become five. This is my reward for what you have done so far. Kill the son of Xu. Kill him by beheading. You have done it before so I know you can do it. I will be watching mortal. Do not fail me." The light from the jade medallion disappeared and Liao collapsed to his knees. Liao''s efforts did not go unnoticed by the dragon god. He could not fight at his best as the dragon god forbid the use of his daggers and teleportation ability. He had hoped that he would break to the fifth stage, but he knew couldn''t be that lucky. "Looks like Cao is not a member of the Xu family the dragon god wanted to kill," Hunluan said, breaking the silence. "I had forgotten his last name was Xu," Liao laughed. "I don''t know if I can kill that son of the Xu family though. He isn''t a soldier rebelling against the empire and a traitor. He did not break imperial law so there is no justification to killing him." "Emperors might rule vast lands, but the Great Dragon God could probably destroy the whole planet," Hunluan reasoned. "If a dragon god ordered his execution by beheading, it would be wise to play the role of the Xu''s executioner." Liao nodded silently and waited for Hunluan to slither and rest around his neck. The tournament was tomorrow and his friends would be waiting for him at the clearing to provide the monster meat for dinner. He wasn''t an ordinary ten year old child. He was a martial expert aiming to be an immortal and a seasoned veteran on the battlefield. He had a party to lead to victory. He had to win the first match first and wait for the fated battle when it came. Marcus had registered their qi affinities and qi cultivation stage early in the morning. He remembered seeing the last name Xu in that Bull''s party. Guan Xu was a third stage Spirit Sage and he was shocked that Bull had also reached the third stage over the past week. His party was not the only one using an unorthodox method to cultivate qi faster. If both their teams made it to the finals, he didn''t have to do anything to persuade Bull into declaring a death match. Bull had already offended all the females in the academy for his indecent remark at Sakura and Ling. The crowd would be demanding a death match and the staff of the academy wouldn''t be able to refuse. He just hoped he was strong enough defeat Guan Xu. "Let''s just take it one step at a time," Liao muttered and joined his friends.
Chapter 8: Jealousy and Envy MAIN PAGE Chapter 10: Unexpected Contestants
Chapter 10: Unexpected Contestants (Author: Hello all! Quick reminder, soul bound mythic beasts and their masters communicate to each other mentally. Mythic beasts can also talk mentally to other mythic beasts but only the human who soul binds a mythic beast is able to mentally communicate to that mythic beast only. (Similar to telepathy). For all those concerned with the constant growth, it stops here. Now that the qi meat is all gone (save for the imoogi meat hidden in Liao''s space ring), the qi cultivation will increase as fast (or slow) as it was meant to based on the practitioner''s latent talent and hard work. Mythic beasts growth in qi cultivation is unknown and that is why Marcus said to let them train on their own. After all the qi meat: Liao is at fifth stage Spirit Knight(accidentally put it at Spirit Sage and made the correction), Ling and Sakura are at first stage Spirit Sage, and Richard and Cao are at the second stage of Spirit Sage qi cultivation. So far people like my long posts, a good thing as I don''t have to limit my writing as breaking up a chapter requires some words to ease the transition. As far as talismans are concerned, sealing talismans work if the mythic beast is in a weakened state and is different from regular talismans which will be explained later in the story. In this chapter, the first year tournament between the five parties undergoes "minor" changes in the line up. Hope you enjoy the chapter.) Chapter 10: Unexpected Contestants "I got some bad news," Marcus groaned as Liao and the others were eating "the last" of the meat Liao had collected for breakfast. Some pancakes, eggs, dumplings, bacon, and a variety of drinks were also available for them to eat as a large mat was placed on the clearing for breakfast. The mythic beasts were also with their masters, enjoying the meat raw and tried not spraying the blood by the order of their masters. If it wasn''t for the raw meat being eaten and a small pile of corpses present in the clearing, a passerby might have thought the Knight Destroyers were enjoying an early picnic. "Whaf iz it?" Cao said, his mouth full of the qi meat and drank a glass of orange juice to force it down. "Is it about the tournament?" "I might have done something," Marcus groaned as he sat down and grabbed a plate of pancakes, his qi stage too high to absorb the qi from the monster meat. "We had guests from other schools last night after you guys ate dinner. The meeting was at midnight to convene in secrecy and all the teachers of the five tiers were in attendance. I might have been bragging to the other four about how great you were and went a little too far." "You told them our weapons and strategy?" Liao asked, knowing that information about tournament contestants'' qi cultivation levels, roles, and attributes were public knowledge. "You offended the guests from the other schools," Richard guessed, Sakura nodding as she was about to say the same thing. "Yeah, that might have happened," Marcus laughed weakly. "I might have claimed that the Knight Destroyers were the best first year party in Roshalt." "And the guests didn''t take kindly to those words," Ling finished. "Yeah so the tournament will take place tomorrow instead of today as first year parties from other schools are coming," Marcus continued, his face slightly turning red. "The Twin Star Academy''s annual newcomer tournament has become the Roshalt Battle Extravaganza and will now take place in the academy''s coliseum instead of one of the training grounds. There will be nobles and important people from Roshalt and some other countries and they will watch you all fight." "WHAT!" Liao and the others shouted, clearly did not expecting the news to be that bad. "Relax," Marcus said and motioned them to sit down. "Only the top two teams from each academy will be participating. As most of you reached Spirit Sage, you are automatically in. There''s also the fact that I''m responsible for all this. The other team is known as the Blazing Tigers. They have two third stage Spirit Sages. One of them is the leader, Bull Warner, who uses fire, wind, and earth qi. The other is their strategist, Guan Xu, who uses steel and fire qi." Hearing about steel qi intrigued the others, but they were all shocked that Bull was as strong as he had the power to back it up. The others were wondering what mythic beast Bull soul bound to have three qi elements while Liao''s mood soured on hearing Guan Xu''s name and the new participants. His target was a third stage Spirit Sage so he had hoped to not reveal his blade techniques as there were originally only five parties in the tournament and fewer rounds. "There are a total of thirty two teams from sixteen different schools, including us, in this tournament," Marcus continued. "That means five rounds to declare a winner. Your first opponent is a party called the Black Terror Eagles. Each of the party members are at first stage Spirit Sage, their leader being one qi cultivation higher at the second stage and one of their main attackers. They run a basic three offense and two defense party formation. Simple, yet very effective. They all have qi affinities for darkness and wind. I leave it to you to figure out the rest. You don''t need to know their names or where they come from. Just beat them up and don''t reveal your true strength. They know what roles you play and what qi you use, but you don''t need to keep to those roles or use all your different types of qi. Keep your future competition guessing. They are all the top two teams across all of Roshalt''s top academies. Our school is ranked fourth in the nation. There is no other option than complete victory as our academy is the host!" "When do we fight the Blazing Tigers?" Cao asked as their master was leaving. "The third round if they make it," Marcus answered and disappeared from view. "I can''t wait to get my hands on that bastard," Cao snarled. "We need to prioritize our real opponents first," Liao warned and the others gave him their attention. "They run a three-two formation, focusing on offense and defense. They also have two of the most mobile and versatile elements: darkness and wind. Wind will make them agile while they can try to block our vision and use sneak attacks with darkness. I can honestly say this type of party is our weakness," Liao sighed. "So Sakura and Ling are our best bets in this fight?" Richard asked as Sakura specialized with wind and healing with her water qi while Ling was their most agile fighter with light and water. "Cao may be able to use the wind element, but he uses wind to protect himself while he overpowers his enemies with his fire qi," Liao nodded. "Wind qi is the exact opposite of your earth and wood. I may have as much qi as a Spirit Lord, but my power is still at the Spirit Knight stage. I could only do some minor damage if I try to catch up to them by focusing lightning qi on my feet. I developed a lightning qi technique known as Lightning Shadow Steps so I can move faster than them as lightning is faster than wind. Ling uses light qi so she is the fastest of us." Ling nodded and said, "I am confident in my speed and proficiency with a rapier. So how will we fight in this battle?" "Good point," Sakura said. "Our tank is too slow." "Cao can still fight the two defensive party members," Richard interrupted. He is at the second stage Spirit Sage so he should be able to take care of them on his own as the only second stage is part of their three-man offensive position." "Aw yeah," Cao said, punching the air. "Two people just for me! Leave them to me guys!" "Then our main problem lies with the three members on offense," Liao said. "Ling, you will focus on attacking the leader with Richard. Richard might not be able to move very fast but he can alter the stage with his earth qi just like he made a gorge back at the mountain range. Richard, you will try to seal his movements as soon as Ling isolates him. As the leader is in the attack formation, he must be one of those types of people who leads the charge, a foolish move. The general should be at the back directing the troops to have them fight more efficiently as he has a clear view of the battlefield." "Then you and I will deal with the other two?" Sakura asked. "Yes," Liao nodded. "As soon as you defeat your opponent, help Richard and Ling defeat the leader. I''ll be fine on my own. The other parties in this tournament do not know you can use healing techniques so don''t use them. I won''t be using my blade either as the swings are too slow. Instead I''ll use my Frost Claw technique and create dragon claws of ice on my hands. Attacking with claws is easier to attack my opponents at higher speeds." Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Liao also did not want to use his destruction type qi and reveal his baleful blade aura to the competition until he fought Guan Xu. He didn''t know if he could beat him and needed every trump card he could get. "Speaking of which, you never showed us what it looked like?" Cao grinned. Liao had always trained with his blade in secret while the others would spare and test each others stances and weaknesses." Liao sighed and took out Violet Bone Claw. He did not want to startle them with his blade aura when he fought Guan Xu and decided to expose it. He would keep knowledge of the Sundered Heaven Force to himself and claim that he just developed an aura technique on his own. Violet Bone Claw was made of a meteorite and the grip was made from a mythic tiger. The others also noticed the crescent shaped blade of the weapon had nine bones on the back of the blade. They were shocked at seeing spirit beasts bones but seeing the sword emit an aura of destruction qi made them shiver in fear. "This is a blade aura technique I developed. Perfecting this technique allowed me to cultivate my destruction qi more effectively and finally break to the fifth stage of Spirit Knight qi cultivation," Liao said. "Those within five feet of the blade will feel fear. This particular effect assists me in striking at my foe as blade styles focus more on power than speed. I didn''t want to startle you guys later in the tournament so I thought it was best to show it to you now." "Dang bro," Cao shook his head in wonder. "No wonder it took you so long to break the bottleneck to the fifth stage. Destruction qi is way different than other qi. That and you have four types of qi so it''s already hard enough to cultivate your qi. It''s too bad the qi meat only increased the amount of qi you can use instead of helping you get more powerful." The others agreed with Cao as Liao put Violet Bone Claw away. Liao was now the weakest of them, but he had the same amount of qi as a Spirit Lord. The longer a fight, the better the advantage for him if he wasn''t beaten first. The five of them began practicing their formation for the fight the next day and did not bother to leave the training field to meet the parties of the other academies. To most people, this could be seen as arrogance, but Liao wanted them to perfect their teamwork and get used to their roles for the fight. The next day, the coliseum was buzzing with excitement as this was the biggest tournament for first years and many important people and nobles from across Roshalt and a few nations would be attending. This was an opportunity to make some allies and discover potential recruits. As the sixty four teams arrived in the coliseum, Liao saw General Zhao grinning broadly. Each of the parties had to create their own uniforms and official banner and emblem. Since the beginning of the school year, masters of the first year parties had to create the uniforms and emblem of their party and submit them in time for the tournament. They would then be revealed on stage during the tournament. The night before, Marcus had brought them the uniforms and banner he had planned to display at the tournament. Liao had hoped that Marcus would change the emblem upon the news of academies all over Roshalt participating, but he didn''t. At least the color of the uniform was crimson and the uniforms weren''t bad. He didn''t like his uniform as it was less practical compared to the others. As Cao was the tank and main striker of the group, he wore heavy cavalry armor as he had a muscular built and would be wielding a halberd into battle. Halberds were two handed weapons so Cao needed better armor to protect himself in case a faster opponent strikes between his swings. Both Ling and Sakura wore leather armor made from some of the skins of the mythic beasts Liao had killed. Their armor was both elegant, sturdy, and light. Richard mainly focused on defense and was given light armor made from rare metals and fur as Marcus wanted Richard to appear like a noble on the battlefield as Richard could defend himself with earth qi and heal himself with the rare wood qi. Liao was kind of embarrassed with appearance as he lacked armor compared to the others. Marcus said that the leader had to be the most elegant and dominating of the party. Thus Liao wore a simple crimson robe on his chest that revealed his left shoulder and left arm, revealing the bone imoogi tattoo on his body as the tattoo was wrapped around his shoulder and could be seen on the upper left part of his chest and behind the left shoulder plate on his back. He also wore the a slightly larger version of the gauntlets he wore as part of his military uniform as he had gotten more muscle. As for his lower body armor, it was made of split, crimson leather robes that covered the armor he wore on his legs which were made from rare metals and shoes that only a noble could afford to wear. In short, he looked like a rich monk that rebelled his faith. Liao tried to avoid the audience''s stares and reactions, but could hear General Zhao roar in approval. The others knew he didn''t like his uniform revealing his tattoo and stared up at the banner. The banner was of a mythic lion turtle with its paws on top of an imoogi and a phoenix with its wings spread out behind the lion turtle. The emblem just had too much happening and would have been better if there were only two mythic beasts. Their master clearly wanted to boast that his students tamed those monsters and they all felt embarrassed as their mythic beasts accompanied their master in the benches near the stage where their masters would coach them and give them advice. Voices of surprise and envy resonated across the coliseum. "Look at that flag! Did they really tame them?" "Look over there! That''s their master who started all this! You can see the mythic beasts with him." "That boy over there, is he trying to show off his tattoo?" "I think it looks awesome! I want a tattoo now." "Those two girls in the party look cute. They are sure to turn into real beauties when they are older." "I think the guy in the cavalry armor looks amazing." "You think anyone in shiny armor is amazing." "Attention please!" an official from Twin Star Academy shouted. "Today is the first round of the Roshalt Battle Extravaganza!. This tournament features the top two teams of each academy''s first year students. Sixteen of the top academies as well as officials and nobles from across Roshalt and other nations are here with us today. No mythic beasts are allowed to participate but feel free to admire the mythic beasts of the students here at Twin Star Academy. Part of our admission process requires soul binding a mythic beast!" Cries of admiration could be heard from the crowd. The other academies anticipated this as the official would be biased in promoting Twin Star Academy. However, they were assured that the fights were impartial and did not care. The bigger the praise, the bigger the losses should Twin Star Academy''s students fail. "Without further ado, let''s begin the first fight of the tournament. The Knight Destroyers versus the Black Terror Eagles," the official shouted. "Those participating remain on the stage. The rest of the participants are to wait over by their respective coaches by their assigned benches." "Good luck," Marcus said as he got up from the bench and retrieved their banner. "Show them that I didn''t just boast about how strong you were." "Yes master," the Knight Destroyers bowed and watched their master leave the stage before facing their opponents. They had made all the preparations they could. All that was left was to carry out their plan and win.
Chapter 9: Baleful Blade Aura MAIN PAGE Chapter 11: The Tournament''s Start
Chapter 11: The Tournaments Start (Author: Hello all. The tournament has begun! This chapter will feature the Knight Destroyers during the first and second round. Many representatives of powerful families and nations are watching. The first round will be one of the first tests of the strategies of the Knight Destroyers. Liao also contemplates how to defeat Guan Xu. Enjoy.) Chapter 11: The Tournament''s Start "Get in formation," a voice yelled. A group of five in completely black light armor and a hood covering their face began shifting around, three standing in front of two others. "No girls," Cao grinned as he estimated their builds. "I won''t be merciful to those in the defensive position. I''m going all out." "Use only your wind qi this round. Your goal is to keep them occupied. Defeating them comes second," Liao said silently as he stood on the right side of their formation while Sakura moved to the left. The audience held their breath as both teams took out their weapons. While the Knight Destroyers had impressive weapons, it was the weapons of the Black Terror Eagles that shocked them. Each member of the Black Terror Eagles wielded sickles attached to long silver chains. They were brutal weapons designed to kill the enemy cruelly by stabbing the body and pulling the chains, enlarging the wound and forcing the enemy to scream in agony as their blood sprayed like a fountain. True experts were able to actually dismember with every strike. "Oh crap," Cao whispered as he saw the enemy party brandish their weapons. "Are they asking for a death match in the first round?" "I wouldn''t be so sure," Liao answered. "Such a complex weapon style is leaps ahead in difficulty to master compared to most weapons. A whip would be easier to learn as it doesn''t have the crescent curved blade at the end. Not only that, that weapon style relies on wide open spaces. This is actually better for Richard and Ling once Richard isolates the leader. I''d be careful if I were you Cao. Try to fight in between the two people you are fighting. They won''t be so bold as they might entangle their chains." "Both parties are ready. First aid on standby," the official muttered as he observed both sides. "BEGIN," the official roared and both parties made their move. Cao focused wind qi into his halberd and slammed the ground, the blast sending debris and dirt toward the Black Terror Eagles as their three attackers ran forward. The two attackers beside the leader tried running around the blast but were intercepted by Liao and an arrow by Sakura. One attacker was forced to run backwards under Sakura''s arrows while Liao was locked in combat with the other attacker, his feet crackling with lightning qi as Liao used his Lightning Shadow Steps technique. Although weaker than his opponent, Liao''s speed was superior and successfully isolated the last attacker from the leader. "Gavin!" the one fighting Liao screamed. "Don''t worry Marie! Just beat that Spirit Knight and help Cray beat that archer!" the leader shouted. Gavin grunted in surprise as Ling appeared in a flash and stabbed her rapier at him. Gavin was forced into combat, unable to use his chains with the sickle as he blocked Ling''s quick thrusts and cuts. A tall shadow loomed around him and he saw a blonde haired boy with a mace create a circle of earth six feet tall around all three of them. "Gavin!" Cray shouted and bared his teeth at Sakura. "Filthy archer! Wait until I get my hands on you! Hanes and Jack, watch my back!" Cray cursed as another arrow, surrounded in wind qi, flew toward his legs and was forced to leap back. He looked back, wondering why the two on defense didn''t help him and saw Cao in between Hanes and Jack, forcing them to fight in close combat with their sickle. Their leader was trapped in a circle of earth and his back up was under siege by a second stage Spirit Sage. "This wasn''t supposed to happen!" Cray shouted as a blunt arrow finally broke past his guard and hit his chest. Augmented by wind qi, the arrow had hit Cray and sent him flying off the stage. Sakura put her fist in the air as the crowd cheered. It was impressive to use wind qi and increase the power and speed of an arrow. Sakura''s training over the past month under Devil Locket finally bore fruit. Marcus called it the Sonic Arrow technique as Sakura had to condense her wind qi and force the arrow to spin as it was released, increasing the velocity and power at least two times over. "Looks like Liao is still giving orders," General Zhao laughed. The public was given knowledge about each parties'' qi attributes, roles, and qi cultivation levels. Isolating the leader and positioning Cao in between two fighters that used chained weapons was a smart move. "Looks like the only problem is Liao''s own fight. That archer would be trying to assist the other two in taking out the leader. A great strategy can overcome many disadvantages. Poor Black Terror Eagles. They had to encounter such a strategic team. I wonder if I should report the third young master''s progress to General Hui? Liao has more muscles and has a scar over his left eye, a tattoo, and his left eye had become the color of grey ash. Did teenage rebellion come so early?" Liao was struggling as his only advantage was his speed. The problem was that he constantly had to move in and out of his opponent''s range. Marie was able to take advantage of the increased distance and utilize the chain attached to her sickle. Every time Liao moved in for a blow, Marie her hand holding the sickle and slash at him, a wave of dark qi spreading out like a wave. As he dodged backwards, she would throw the sickle and redirect its path with both her hands twisting the chain, making its trajectory unpredictable. "Dammit," Liao cursed as he dodged another strike by the sickle. "How do I get closer to her? I have to use the Lightning Shadow Steps just to keep up with her." Liao ran back and stopped moving outside her range. He realized he couldn''t win at close range or mid-range combat. "I can''t call back Sakura as she is needed to beat the leader," Liao muttered. "If Sakura, Ling, and Richard are isolated by a wall of earth, I can use a wide ranged attack without hurting them." "TAKE THIS!" Liao roared as he started condensing fire qi in his throat. Realizing he was charging up for a more powerful attack, Marie ran forward and threw her sickle, the chain glistening as the sickle made an arch toward Liao''s neck. Cao had overcome his two opponents with ease as he used pure power and expelled wind qi from his body, blasting both victims off the stage. It really was convenient to be a second stage Spirit Sage. "Whoa! Liao''s going all out," Cao grinned as he saw Marie leap toward him as Liao''s throat glowed red and orange. the audience watched as a small river of fire raged from Liao''s mouth and struck Marie. Marie screamed in pain as she tried using wind qi to escape, but it only made her situation worst as the fire devoured the wind and became fiercer. Marie than brought her arms to her face as she was sent flying by the force and covered her body with dark qi to protect her body. Liao''s vision blurred and he fell to his knees as he had used a lot of qi. He smiled weakly as his opponent''s armor was only charred and she had light burns. If such a concentrated qi technique barely hurt her, how weak would it be against Guan Xu who was a third stage Spirit Sage? "You burned my hair! MY HAIR!" Marie screamed as pieces of her hair and the hood she wore were burnt to ashes. "You''re dead!" "Just shut up and cry somewhere," Cao muttered and blasted Marie with a powerful gust from his halberd. Beating a battered girl was easy compared to fighting two other people. "You okay Liao?" Cao asked as he ran to his friend. "Pretty close shave there." "I''m not good with agile opponents," Liao laughed weakly as Cao helped him to his feet. "The others?" "They just finished," Cao grinned as he saw a body crash out of the earth wall, twitching for a few seconds before it was still. "They knocked that guy around pretty bad. It was three against one. Looks like we won." The official checked on Gavin, and said. "Black Terror Eagle has been defeated. The Knight Destroyers win!" "Hell yeah! Those are my students!" Marcus roared, raising their banner high. "When is the next round?" Sakura asked as they left the stage for the medical area to check for injuries. "The first two rounds are fought in the same day to reveal the top eight parties," Marcus answered, still grinning with pride. "The third round onward are one round a day." "That means we fight the Blazing Tigers tomorrow once we both reach the third round," Cao said, smashing his fists together. "Payback is gonna feel real nice when my fist meets his face." "I heard rumors that the crowd wants it to be a death match. It might be the only one sanctioned as the other academies don''t want to lose students and the crowd obviously wants at least one death match," Richard sighed. "Then my halberd will rupture his guts on the floor," Cao laughed malevolently. "Even more glorious. If only I could ride Huilong while I slash him." "Leave Guan Xu to me," Liao said, the others freezing in their tracks as they heard him. "He''s a third stage Spirit Sage," Ling warned, concern in her voice. "I have to cut off his head," Liao said darkly, remembering the Great Dragon God''s orders. "I will cut it off. With Violet Bone Claw in my hand, I will cut off his head." The others stared silently at Liao as they were shocked at his sudden change in personality. Their friend was usually more composed and gave off a friendly atmosphere. This Liao scared them and the Knight Destroyers remembered his baleful blade aura. They didn''t know that Liao didn''t want to kill him and was forced to by the Great Dragon God. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. Liao and the others waited until sunset for their next fight. True to their expectations, the Blazing Tigers had made it to the second round. There were rumors spreading around that the opposing team was overwhelmed by Guan and Bull and that their opponents suffered severe injuries. Marcus said that after their fight ends, they were to return to their cabins and rest. He would gather all the info they needed for their fated battle. Liao''s mood had brightened by the time their match started. Their opponents were the Flying Monsters. Each of the participants were at the fifth stage Spirit Knight qi cultivation while their leader was a first stage Spirit Sage. Liao realized that the team they were fighting was one of the weaker schools of the sixteen academies and decided to leave the match to Cao and Richard. Cao would use his wind qi once again and this time Richard would fight. Richard''s true role was at defending Sakura so it didn''t matter if people saw Richard fight. The match was a complete slaughter fest as Richard and Cao were both at second stage Spirit Sage. Even Ling laughed at how easily the two boys defeated the other party. The audience knew the outcome as public knowledge was none and respected the other team for showing up. As the others left for their cabins, Liao decided to think of a strategy to beat Guan Xu. Marcus had seen the Blazing Tigers fight and told them that the other three members were only at fourth stage Spirit Knights. Apparently those three were forced to serve Guan and Bull when they formed a party during the trial. Bull would take any qi cultivation pills their teacher would give them and kept them for himself. The three students had not even broken one bottleneck to the next qi cultivation level. Ling would be in charge of the three Spirit Knights while Richard, Cao, and Sakura would fight against Bull. They had allowed Liao to take Guan Xu alone. Unbeknownst to Liao, the others were watching him from behind the bushes as Liao sat in front of the lake in the eastern district of the academy. The coliseum was in the western district, the forests where all the specialized parties did training was to the north and all the other students who were not deemed to have the most potential in the trials in the first year were taught in the white marble buildings in the southern district of the academy . Various buildings, such as the library and cafeteria where all located in the center of the academy. Dorms and guest houses were also in the center district of the academy. "How do I kill Guan?" Liao wondered as he stared at the sky. He ran his hand through his hair and yelled in frustration. The Great Dragon God had ordered him to kill someone at such a higher level of qi cultivation than him. Not only that, Guan Xu could use steel and fire qi techniques. He would have to go all out with Violet Bone Claw. He had to focus all his qi and fight using destruction qi and ice qi. Lightning and fire qi would not be able to help him as steel qi made Guan''s body as hard as steel and his power was inferior to Guan''s defenses. He had to rely on the Sundered Heaven Force for his blade techniques and his mastery of ice qi for defense. "Just how bad is the enmity between Guan and Liao?" Cao whispered as they watched Liao struggle to come up with a strategy. "Enough to kill," Richard said. "I think he must have been told to kill Guan. If it had to do with his family, his father or twin brothers could have easily wiped out the Xu family." "Wait, who is that?" Sakura whispered as she pointed on the lake. They watched as an older girl had come from further in the lake by a small boat. They watched her come to shore, creeping silently to Liao. Sakura gasped as it was Yueying. "Score," Cao grinned, imagining how he could tease his normally composed friend. "Hi Liao," a feminine voice said softly. Liao turned around in shock and saw Yueying. Under the moonlight, she looked so beautiful that Liao''s mind went blank. Yueying smiled and laughed at Liao''s reaction. "Yueying," Liao coughed, his face red. "What are you doing here?" "I was enjoying the moonlight near the center of the lake as I was meditating. I heard a yell and came here. I didn''t think it was you. Is something wrong? I heard you won your matches. I would have watched them but I was meditating as I gained insight by watching the lake last night." "You must have gained an insight as you use wood, water and dark qi," Liao murmured as they sat down, admiring the reflection of the moonlight on the lake''s surface. "And you use thunder, ice, fire, and destruction qi," Yueying laughed. "It must be hard for you. Destruction qi is one of the ancient qi. You''re avoiding my question though. What''s wrong?" Liao was silent for a moment and said, "I have to kill a third stage Spirit Sage named Guan Xu. I have to depend on my ice qi to defend me. I''m not worried as I have enough qi to rival a Spirit Lord, but it''s my lack of power that vexes me." "There is a big difference in power. I''m guessing Guan Xu uses a sword? Most sword masters are fire or water qi martial experts," Yueying said and saw Liao nod as he recalled the information he found out about Guan Xu. "I''m not like the main character in a wuxia novel who reincarnates and suddenly becomes overpowered," Liao sighed. "Wuxia novel?" Yueying asked as she stared at him. "It''s a kind of book about martial experts and their journey as they mastered martial arts and made a name for themselves for their deeds," Liao sighed, remembering reading novels back on Earth. He had forgotten those memories ever since he began living as Liao Lu instead of Liao Sima. His life changed two years ago and now his fantasy had become his reality. "I never read a wuxia novel, but I do know one thing. Liao Lu, you are strong. Many people had placed bets on the Black Terror Eagles defeating your party in the first round, but your strategy led the Knight Destroyers to victory. Most of my party members lost some gold and a few silvers as a result," Yueying said, and held Liao''s hand. "You survived the bottom of the ravine and trained in four different qi attribute techniques. My teacher told me that qi is life energy all around us and inside of us. She said that the more qi one had, the closer in nature that person is. She said that the most powerful immortals are not the ones with the greatest power but the ones with the greatest amount of qi and understanding of nature." "Really?" Liao asked after Yueying released his hand after a tight squeeze as they stood up. "What she said must be true. She became an immortal and left the Mortal Realm when I was six. She was the one who taught me how to cultivate qi," Yueying grinned. "I was a first stage Spirit Knight during the trials just like you and now I am as strong as a few fourth year students and I just started my third year. I believe you can win as you have a better foundation than I did. Good luck Liao." Liao watched her leave and stared back at the lake, lost in his thoughts. He took out Violet Bone Claw and began practicing the first stage of the Sundered Heaven Force. Baleful blade aura covered his blade in dark purple qi and he made small waves with each swing. His qi cultivation was slower than most but that didn''t involve his mastery of qi techniques and blade techniques. Liao closed his eyes and began reciting the second stage as he swung his blade, "Baleful blade aura is the first stage. It awakens the ancient qi and wraps the blade in a baleful aura. The second stage refines the aura. The Heavens discarded the Mortal and trapped them in the Mortal Realm. Why must mortals be excluded from the heavens? Why can only immortals enter the heavens and ascend to the Immortal Realms? It is because they do not understand qi. Qi is the essence of immortals. It shapes us. It frees us from the mortal limits of our bodies and enables us to do feats of greatness. The second stage refines that qi and expels the impurities at our foe. Let the Heavens watch as their believers are assaulted by the wave of our qi! Let them bear witness and fear us!" Liao began imitating the images he had seen of the second stage under the words and felt the baleful blade aura change. It had become darker, denser. He swung Violet Bone Claw and saw an arch of destruction qi blast forth like a wave. It was similar to what Marie had used against him, but more powerful. "With this I might stand a chance," Liao muttered and put his blade back in the space ring. He sat down as he had gained an insight on destruction qi and began meditating. "Whoa," Cao said in awe. "Liao''s got freaky good luck. He''s not strong but he''s got an awesome technique." "Looks like you have competition," Sakura whispered to Ling as she and the others decided to go back. Liao meditated for seven hours and went back to his cabin before the sun rose. "It''s finally time," the Great Dragon God said, bloodlust in his voice. "The son of Xu will die today. The first of many. The FIRST of MANY!"
Chapter 10: Unexpected Contestants MAIN PAGE Chapter 12: The Fated Battle
Chapter 12: The Fated Battle (Author: Hello all. I hope you liked the multiple chapter release today. I am also writing another story but as a side project with random releases. My main focus is this story so no worries. At last, Liao and Guan face off. Cao and the others get to fight Bull Warner and get their revenge. The third round is here! The Knight Destroyers vs. the Blazing Tigers. Last release of the night. Enjoy.) Chapter 12: The Fated Battle Liao was quiet as he put on his armor. He put on the space ring with his blade inside on right hand. He also put on the amber Twin Star ring that contained all the qi he had spent nights infusing qi with. This was an advantage his party had to their opponents. He also wore the jade medallion he received from the Great Dragon God on his neck. The jade medallion glowed before he exited his cabin. "The time has come to kill the son of Xu," the Great Dragon God declared. "I will be watching. Behead the son of Xu and I will do your family a favor. You humans are in a civil war in the Wei dynasty against the rebels right? I will destroy the rebel forces as your reward." "What? You can do that? I thought you don''t care about mortals?" Liao asked. "I don''t," the dragon god replied. "But you seem to care much about your new family. Whether it''s the pain of the loss of your parents or the influence of the real Liao Lu, I don''t care. It gives you an incentive. Incentives brings results. Kill the son of Xu and I will destroy them all. I am a dragon god. The Great Dragon God." "Than why don''t you kill the Xu family?" Liao asked. "That''s why I brought you to this planet. Killing them is easy. Watching you grow and witnessing your experiences is fun. It is entertaining. If you become an immortal so powerful that none can oppose you, not even training will relieve your boredom as there is no one who is your match. Kill the Xu brat. Behead him!" The jade medallion stopped glowing and the dragon god''s voice disappeared. Hunluan hissed in sympathy, knowing its master''s troubles. "If I die, what happens to you?" Liao asked as he let Hunluan slither across his neck. "Nothing happens to you if I die, but if you die, I die," Hunluan replied, its word ominous in Liao''s mind. "My soul is sealed to yours. I don''t care if I die today master. I would have been eaten by the mythic purple bear. You killed it and I ate its corpse. Unlike you, I don''t have a purpose. Most mythic beasts don''t. It''s what makes us free. A simple eat or be eaten world where strength, cunning, and instincts determine whether you live or die. It''s quite refreshing." Liao laughed and shook his head as he joined the others. He used to have a simple life once. A life with no responsibilities, but he was forced to grow up. He was in charge of a party and a sort of champion to a dragon god. His life had become anything but simple. "The day of the third round of the Roshalt Battle Extravaganza is here. Today the top eight teams becomes the top four teams," the official began as the audience took their seats. "Our main event is a death match! Apparently there is some bad blood between the two parties from our very own Twin Star Academy! The match ends when one side surrenders or is killed. Those who fall off the stage will be thrown back in. There is no escape! Without further ado, contestants, take your places!" Liao and the others waited in a private room guarded by the staff of the academy to prevent any foul plays. Liao was talking to Cao about how Cao could deal with Bull when a staff member entered the room. "Liao Lu? You have a visitor. Please proceed to the designated area," the staff said and led Liao to the room opposite of the waiting room. Inside, Liao grinned widely as he saw General Zhao. "Hey there kid," General Zhao said and shook Liao''s hand. "Your grip is stronger. Good. I sent a report to your father about your past victories. Lady Fei was not pleased to hear about your scar and tattoo." "Mother?" Liao said as he searched his memories. "Yeah. She''ll probably want to know why you have those tattoos. By my experience with reclusive monks, they contain hidden weapons. Don''t they?" General Zhao said, his face hardening. "How did you know?" Liao asked, startled. "I may not be a strong Spirit Emperor like General Hui but I am stronger than your two brothers at Spirit King stage. I''ve seen a lot during my military campaigns," General Zhao answered. "So, what are you hiding?" Liao sighed, relieved that the general didn''t suspect the jade medallion. He focused lightning qi into his left arm and five daggers floated around Liao, white lightning crackling in between the daggers. The lightning was the same color as the lightning the two-headed dragon used, but his fire qi was still the regular color and not white as well." "You''re not using that during your death match," General Zhao said. "You''re a crafty one like your dad. Who are you fighting?" "Guan Xu," Liao said. "He''s the other third sage Spirit Sage besides the leader. I renamed Tiger Fang to Violet Bone Claw and intend to fight him using destruction and ice qi. My main problem lies in his defense. I am confident in defending myself as I have more than enough qi to negate his fire qi techniques. Guan''s steel qi technique is my main problem as he covers his body with steel qi. He is slower but he has the strength of a Spirit Sage." "Quite a predicament," General Zhao noted. "Why don''t you fight him with talismans?" "They only seal mythic beasts," Liao answered, confused. "If there''s one thing I know, if the enemy is more powerful than you, use your brains and your tools to beat him. You are weaker than him. Far weaker than I like, but talismans can help you level the playing field." Liao put his daggers away and saw General Zhao take out a deck of eight talismans with dark purple qi embedded in white paper and one with black paper. He was shocked to discover that the qi was destruction type qi. "These are called chaos talismans. They''re not that powerful but only those with destruction type qi can use them," General Zhao said, giving them to Liao. "They are similar to flying daggers but strike with qi instead of a blade. Once infused with qi, you can move them in any way you like using your mind. The black paper talisman is the master talisman. If one of the eight talismans is destroyed, you can create another talisman by infusing the black talisman with your qi. I thought you might need them. I just didn''t expect you to fight one on one with one of those two Spirit Sages at the third stage. These talismans require both your hands to control them with your qi as you move them with your mind. This means you can''t defend yourself as you use them. They are a last resort. Some martial experts might have discovered that your tattoo harbors hidden weapons and those talismans are a great alibi. Good luck little Liao. Show them that power isn''t everything in this world. Resourcefulness is another method to survive." The talismans disappeared into Liao''s tattoo and he bowed deeply in gratitude to General Zhao. The general had gone out of his way to give him the talismans. He was truly grateful as he had another weapon to use against Guan. "Now, for our main event!" the official said after three hours. "Three of the parties have claimed victory and moved on to the final four! It is now time for blood and death! The world of martial experts is a cruel one and this is but a small taste of that world! Two teams! One spot! Participants, approach the stage and get ready!" Liao walked onto the stage with the others, his hand gripping Violet Bone Claw tightly. Bull pointed at Liao and said something but Liao''s attention was on Guan. Guan Xu, a youth wearing shining silver armor with two swords covered in fire noticed Liao and smirked. "The final match of the third round: The Knight Destroyers vs. The Blazing Tigers will now begin. The match ends on one side surrenders or is dead. Unconsciousness does not count as a surrender. Surrender also does not count if the winner refuses. Sorry folks. The real world isn''t that kind and neither are the rules! Fighters, are you ready?" the official asked, and waited for confirmation. "Let the match BEGIN!" Ling immediately ran forward and appeared in front of the three Spirit Knights, attacking them and forcing them back. Cao brandished his halberd and covered it in fire qi. He ran at Bull with Richard behind him. Sakura nocked an arrow, waiting for an opportunity to shoot Bull as well as to check on Ling. Ling may be at the first stage of Spirit Sage cultivation, but the Knight Destroyers couldn''t afford to take a risk as they did not know how well the three Spirit Knights fought as a team. When Marcus watched the Blazing Tigers fight to gain info, Bull and Guan took all the glory and had the three Spirit Knights WALK off the stage. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ''They''re sending you to deal with me?" Guan scoffed as Liao approached him. "You must want me to end your life!" "I am going to cut off your head," Liao growled and began using the Sundered Heaven Force. The audience gasped as they saw the baleful blade aura on Violet Bone Claw. Even General Zhao was momentarily startled, before nodding in admiration. It was surely a powerful technique that could help him. Many eyes turned as they saw the ten school beauties take a seat in the audience. When they saw Yueying, many whispered about her relation with Liao. They all knew it was not a common relationship and many hearts were broken. "Hmph," Guan said as he saw Yueying''s eyes look at Liao. He had felt fearful about the blade aura but his jealousy and anger overcame his fear. He focused the steel qi into his meridian channels from his dantian and soon Guan''s body was covered in a metal colored qi. The ground seemed to crack with every step as Guan''s weight also increased. Liao covered his body with ice qi and soon his appearance became all white as if he was covered in snow. Even his eyes and his individual hair strands were covered with snow that never seemed to melt. This was the ice qi technique he mastered under Devil Locket. He called it the Snow Armor technique and began running at Guan Xu. The audience''s attention was focused on the two, knowing this was a fight they could not miss. Liao would slash at Guan while Guan parried the blade with one sword and countered with the other. Liao would occasionally hit Guan as his mastery in combat was better due to his two years in the military in life or death situations while escorting the supply lines. However, his attacks only seemed to scratch the steel qi and never penetrate it. Guan''s swords of fire would strike Liao but Liao would constantly supply ice qi, quickly repairing any damage to his armor of snow. The audience was amazed and wondered how much qi Liao had. Without all that qi, Liao would not have stood a chance against Guan. Guan was frustrated as his limits were restricted with his steel qi. He was a walking fortress but Liao would dart in and out of his range. Guan decided it was foolish to cover his whole body with steel qi and only covered his enforced his chest and arms, freeing his legs and allowing more mobility. Liao cursed as Guan suddenly became faster. He spit blood as Guan cut him slightly by striking the same place quickly before Liao could repair the damage to his ice armor. Yueying and the audience gasped as Guan slashed Liao''s chest over and over with the second sword in the same place the first sword would hit. A small trail of blood would spread across the stage as Liao tried to fight back. Liao and Guan''s fight was so fierce that they had gotten in the way of Ling and the three Spirit Knights. Liao, being stronger than the Spirit Knights, grabbed one of them and threw him in the path of Guan''s attack. Guan slashed mercilessly as he didn''t care about the Spirit Knights. Ling and the two remaining Spirit Knights were shocked at Guan''s actions and stopped fighting to let them pass. Liao noticed that Guan''s face was not covered in steel qi as the Spirit Knight''s blood sprayed on Guan''s face. He breathed deeply and put his left hand on his chest, stabbing the open wounds with his fingers and froze them with ice qi. As Guan rushed past the broken body, Liao threw his frozen blood, the blood glistening like crimson glass fragments. Guan howled in rage as the frozen blood scratched his face. He was a third stage Spirit Sage against a fifth stage Spirit Knight and he got wounded by his opponents own blood. This was utter humiliation to Guan Xu and he snapped. He discarded one of his swords and began attacking Liao as he went berserk. Liao grunted as he reflected each wild swing. Seeing Guan''s new behavior, Liao decided to make his move. Liao''s wounds became bigger as he started refining the baleful blade aura. Liao had decided to call the move Void Slash as he stared at Guan, bloodlust in his mind. The audience watched as a giant arc of qi blasted like a wave as Liao swung his blade. Many people felt a shiver down their spine as the aura literally emanated fear. As Guan recovered from his rage frantically tried to block the qi wave, Liao used the opportunity to take out the chaos talismans. As he had no prior experience using them, he borrowed some of the qi in his amber ring and fused the qi into the talismans. "This is the end!" Liao roared and threw the eight talismans. The crowd watched as Guan''s sword was destroyed by the qi wave and his protection with the steel qi disappeared as the qi wave hit Guan. Guan was stunned by the impact and reacted too late as the talismans soared at his chest like flying daggers. "Hidden weapons," Guan said as he coughed blood and fell to the ground. Liao panted heavily as he walked over to Guan, his breathing turning normal as he borrowed more qi from his amber ring. He stared at Guan''s chest and saw that the talismans were destroyed. Liao''s eyes turned cold as he lifted Guan to sit on his knees. Guan, having no strength due to the talismans, could do nothing as Liao loomed over him. "I surrender. You win," Guan gasped, grimacing in pain with every breath. "The Great Dragon God sends his regards," Liao whispered to Guan. Guan''s eyes opened in shock as he stared at Liao. How did the boy know of the Great Dragon God? Was he related to an immortal? Guan noticed the black medallion with a jade dragon engraved in the center. "So that''s why you wanted to kill me," Guan panted as blood began dripping from his mouth. "That monster sent you here. My family will investigate my death and discover the truth. The elders are Spirit Kings. They will avenge me." "My father is a Spirit Emperor," Liao said as he raised Violet Bone Claw in the sky. "They don''t pose a threat to my family. I lost my family once. The family members who truly cared for me. This time, I won''t lose them again. Never again." Some members of the audience winced as Liao beheaded Guan Xu. They all wondered what the two fighters discussed before Liao cut off Guan''s head, but they were too far away. The two Spirit Knights that fought Ling were easily slain as Ling got used to their movements and took advantage of her superior speed and stabbed the two in the heart. The crowd was disappointed as they saw Cao, Richard, and Sakura relaxing as they had already killed Bull. They were too distracted by Liao and Guan''s duel and did not see how Bull died. "The Blazing Tigers are dead. The winners of the death match are the Knight Destroyers!" the official announced a little too loudly, embarrassed as he too did not see how Bull died. Yueying jumped onto the stage and caught Liao as he collapsed toward the floor. She waited for him to store his blade away and helped him off the stage. Marcus was ecstatic as he had proven his party was the best among the first years in the academy as the Blazing Tigers were annihilated. "Liao fought well," General Zhao laughed and was happy that Liao used the chaos talismans. He didn''t expect the talismans to be so powerful. He realized it was because Liao had infused almost all his qi in the talismans as his last attack. He shuddered as he imagined what could have been if Liao did not have the talismans. "Hmm?" General Zhao said as he noticed Yueying catch Liao from falling, breaking his thoughts. "That girl named Yueying. I have seen her somewhere. I should include it in my report to Lady Fei and General Hui." General Zhao decided to personally send the message instead of using a messenger. He knew he had seen Yueying before and was disturbed that he couldn''t remember where. The crowd kept cheering as the Knight Destroyers left the stage. They had witnessed a great ending to the third round and were excited for the fourth round the next day.
Chapter 11: The Tournament''s Start MAIN PAGE Chapter 13: Desolation and Fear
Chapter 13: Desolation and Fear (Author: Hello all. Thanks for all the views! This story is turning out better than Fallen Immortal so I am quite happy as I enjoy writing this story a lot more. Guan has been beheaded and no one saw how Bull died. He must feel so ashamed. Last time General Zhao took off after seeing Yueying. Who is she? Let''s just say she is a part of a grand scheme of mine as well as the history between the Xu family (not Cao Xu''s family) and the Great Dragon God. Liao had completed his order. How will the Great Dragon God react? How bad are Liao''s injuries? Enjoy!) Chapter 13: Desolation and Fear "He''s dead!" the Great Dragon God roared with pleasure. "Glorious fight! Blood, martial arts, talismans, and a beheading. Glorious! This is entertainment. The Xu family will surely investigate and find out why that Xu brat died! Why kill them all myself when I can watch them tremble in fear and suspicion as they are all killed one by one!" The Great Dragon God was laughing and stared down at the Wei Dynasty. He was a dragon god and had made his oath to destroy the rebels should the son of Xu be beheaded. The dragon god would have liked Liao to keep the head so he could gnaw on it later, but Liao had collapsed after such a close duel. The Great Dragon God decided it was time to have some fun and made itself as small as a three mile long dragon. It descended into the planet while avoiding the ice ring and watched as two armies were in the middle of combat. It could hear little squeaking noises as the humans looked like the size of ants and began scurrying off in different directions. It smiled, it''s giant teeth displayed for all the humans to see. The wildlife stampeded out of the forest upon seeing the giant predator, sensing the bloodlust of the dragon god. The Great Dragon God roared and the forests were burned. The rebel forces could only watch helplessly as a large river of fire swept across the forests. The fire spread and soon the rebel forces were swept in an ocean of fire that quickly spread to villages located near the forests. For every breath of flame from the dragon god, tens of thousands of lives ended. Even General Hui and his soldiers were helpless against such a beast. They were relieved as they weren''t the target of the might dragon. General Hui wondered why the dragon did not destroy his army, but shook his head and ordered his men to evacuate back into the city of the prefecture lord. He was a Spirit Emperor but this dragon was an immortal on a level he had never seen. He prayed a quick prayer to his ancestors and thanked them as the dragon god did not attack the Wei imperial forces. Some of the rebels tried to seek refuge in the mountains put the dragon god merely scratched at the mountain with its claws, shattering the mountain in pieces. The dragon god destroyed the main encampment of the forces and reduced the land into a black valley of ash and ruin. Whatever remained of the rebel forces probably numbered in a few dozen as the rebels surely had allies outside the battlefield. The civil war was over. The Great Dragon God knew that the Xu family would discover Liao''s connection to the Great Dragon God once they researched Liao''s background and realize the connection Liao had to the Wei imperial forces. The Great Dragon God didn''t care as Liao was only a source of entertainment. The people of the Wei Dynasty would call that day the Day of Black Ash and spread the news of the horrible end of the rebellion and the immortal dragon that desolated the rebels. Any noble or soldier who had secretly harbored to usurp the throne felt fear as they thought that the dragon god was the patron of the Wei imperial family. Due to the blood loss and injuries he suffered, Liao was forced to rest for the duration of the tournament while his friends would continue fighting at a disadvantage. Liao spent the two remaining days of the tournament meditating and circulating his qi into his bodies. Enriched by the qi, his body had healed quickly and Liao also poured qi into his black talisman using the qi in his amber ring. "This ring truly is valuable," Liao admired as he put his eight new talismans away and watched them disappear into his tattoo. "I''ll have to continue putting more qi into this. The others probably haven''t even realized how useful the ring is as they distribute their qi into it every night." "The Knight Destroyers are victorious," Marcus shouted as he burst into the room with his friends. "The remaining two parties didn''t have the strength of the Blazing Tigers and Cao and Richard would demolish the competition as they ganged up on the Spirit Sages while Sakura and Ling took care of the Spirit Knights." "It was so epic" Cao sighed as he jumped onto Liao''s bed, forcing Liao to make room as he uncrossed his legs as he could no longer meditate. "You missed all the fun. The look on the other academies'' faces when we took first place. Our school is still ranked four but we proved we are the best among first years at least," Richard grinned. "It was a pain. A lot of boys approached Ling and I after the ceremony ended," Sakura sighed. "Many recruits from famous families and other nations made offers to work for them once we graduated." "Yeah all them girls," Cao sighed, not noticing Sakura stare at him. "We may not be the most powerful party in the academy, but we are definitely the most famous." "Alright. Settle down. Let Liao rest," Marcus laughed. "Here''s the one hundred gold as the reward for being a member of the winning the tournament. The others already got their gold. It isn''t much compared to the Lu family household, but at least you get to recover the gold you spent for applying for the admittance trials." Liao nodded in thanks, too embarrassed to tell them that his space ring contained thousands of gold coins and a few hundred silver. He could only imagine how rich his family really was. Liao waved goodbye as his friends and master left. Hunluan yawned and stared at the jade medallion as usual ever since Liao had returned from the battle. Finally, a jade light beamed from the jade medallion and Liao and Hunluan heard the voice of the dragon god speak in their mind. "Well done Liao. WELL DONE," the Great Dragon God laughed. "After you beheaded Guan Xu, I destroyed the rebel army. The civil war should be at an end." "Thank you," Liao said, knowing that his father and twin elder brothers would finally be able to return home, alive and whole. He would have to visit his home and meet his family formally. The real Liao would have liked that. "They died screaming like animals," the dragon god roared with laughter. "Those tiny insects could do nothing as I burned them alive. They even thought hiding in a mountain would save them. One slash of my claw and that little mound shattered. Being so small and yet they looked like ants. It was so much fun. If I made myself even smaller, maybe I could have eaten a few before I was done." Liao and Hunluan paled in fear. They knew the dragon god was powerful, but shattering a mountain with a single claw? If the dragon god could do that, they had no doubt the dragon god could destroy the planet in his true size and form. "Your Eminence is truly the mightiest of dragons," Hunluan hissed respectively. "Yes, well I have other news," the dragon god continued. "The Xu family will discover your connection to me once they find out your background. You are safe in the academy and with your father as I can tell you now that what the Xu brat said was correct for now: the strongest of the Xu family are Spirit Kings. Do not travel outside alone. They will try to kill you. If they do, I will just destroy the whole planet and move on to find a new source of entertainment." This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. "What did the Xu family do?" Liao asked. "You told me that I was to die for the crimes of my ancestors as you thought I was a son of the Xu family as I held the jade pearl. You said they had slain dragons." "They did," the dragon god snarled. "The people of earth called realms dimensions but we call them realms. Your realm, that contains this planet, earth, and the many universes and galaxies is the weakest of all as well as the most interesting and diverse. The ancestors of the Xu ascended the Mortal Realm as they became immortals and traveled to new realms. I have traveled to many realms to try to find and stop them as they killed dragons. They even dared to claim that they would one day slay me. I tracked them down and thought I had slaughtered them all. I realized that they must have had descendants and would teach them about how to kill dragons. I had thought that they would hide on Earth and sent out jade pearls. Whoever touched them had to have some ability to cultivate qi. I found you and thought you were one of them. Your home planet knows about qi but thinks of it as a fantasy. Perhaps your ancestors were immortals. Anyway, this planet unexpectedly had a son of Xu and I have finally found the Xu family at last. I don''t expect you to kill them all, but I expect you to keep me entertained and kill a few Xu brats here and there." "So they were killing dragons which are your followers?" Liao asked. "It seems to be so master," Hunluan answered. "All mythic beasts with draconic lineage worship the Great Dragon God. We don''t have kings but no one doubts him as the most worthy if we had one." "Very good imoogi hatchling. You were taught well while in your egg," the drgaon god mused. "Such a pity your mother died. It was strong for an imoogi." "Thank you Your Eminence," Hunluan bowed at the jade medallion with its head. "For your services in killing the Xu brat, I will give you an additional reward," the dragon god said and two objects appeared in the air. One was a golden meat bun and the other was a stone golem that contained various crystals. "What is this?" Liao asked. "The golden meat bun is for the imoogi hatchling. Once it reaches the qi cultivation of Spirit Dragon, have it eat the golden meat bun. Once it breaks the bottleneck of the fifth stage of Spirit Dragon and becomes a spirit beast, it will become a dragon. Consider this a reward for the might of its mother and its contribution to your success," the drgaon god said. "Spirit beast?" Liao gasped. "Spirit beasts are immortal mythic beasts?" "Of course they are," the dragon god scoffed. "Why do you think no army could ever hope to defeat or kill one. The fact that your blade has rings of a dead spirit beast intrigues me but it should mean that it was dying as it became an immortal. The golem requires qi to control. It can only be used by those at Spirit King qi cultivation as it requires massive amounts of qi just to activate it. Once you reach that stage in a VERY FAR OFF future, the golem will make up your lack of power against superior foes. Who knows? You might be lucky and the elders of the Xu family might not be Spirit Emperors yet. Could be decades. Centuries even. It doesn''t matter as your life span is extended due to walking the path of the immortal and the qi you contain. Either way, at least you can make a stand for a few seconds at least. Consider it an investment for your future kills." Liao nodded and put both the golem and the gold meat bun in his space ring. The jade medallion stopped beaming light and the voice of the dragon god disappeared. He laid down on his bed in relief as Hunluan slithered and laid itself on the bed next to his right hand where the space right was. "The war is over," Liao grinned and was unable to stop laughing. "I killed people before so I felt nothing killing Guan as I decided to think of the dragon god''s orders as a military assignment. My experience fighting in the war saved my life. I don''t know how Guan came over the fear emitted from the baleful blade aura and had expected to make the first strike. I really have to thank General Zhao too the next time I see him. I should also practice using my flying daggers and chaos talismans." "I need to get stronger as well master," Hunluan said mentally. "I can turn into a dragon! I can become what all imoogi dream to be!" "Yes. Let''s get stronger together," Liao laughed and stood up. "Now that the tournament is over, I wonder what master will do with us next?" Huluan slithered up Liao''s arm and nestled around his neck. Liao grinned and left his cabin, looking forward to the future. Now that his father and elder brothers did not have to fight anymore, they would return home until the next war. He could visit his family and feel like part of a family again. He was ten years old after all. A month later, General Zhao knelt in front of Lady Fei and General Hui who had returned to the Lu Manor. He was glad to see the general as he had heard of a great dragon laying waste to the rebel forces and was relieved to hear the Wei imperial forces were unharmed. He reported his discoveries to the two leaders of the Lu family and his thoughts on Yueying. "This Yueying, does she have bright purple eyes?" Lady Fei asked. "Yes Lady Fei," General Zhao answered. "You know of this girl?" General Hui asked as he could not remember her as he had seen her in person. "She must be a member of the Bao clan," Lady Fei murmured. "Did Liao know her last name?" "I do not believe so," General Zhao answered. "The two are quite close and I believe they unknowingly have feelings for each other. I dare not pry as it was not my place." "Send people to investigate her background at once as well as that of the Xu family," Hui Lu ordered as he had received news of the death match from a messenger bird which was a faster means of communication than traveling all the way to the Wei empire from Roshalt. "If any members of the Xu family seek vengeance against my son, kill them and said their head to the Xu as a message for any who harbor ill will towards my son." "If anyone suspects you trying to investigate the girl''s background, stop immediately and return here," Lady Fei warned. As General Zhao saluted and left, General Hui looked at his wife and asked, "This Bao clan, are they powerful? What do they do?" "It is only a guess," lady Fei said as she put her hand on her husband''s shoulder as she got up. "If I am right, I can say our son is very blessed to be in such good terms with her. For what reason I cannot say as I need to know if she is a part of the clan or not. Her last name may not be Bao but she has the characteristic trait of purple eyes. We''ll have to wait for General Zhao''s reports. For now, let our son train and wait for him to visit us. Relax dear. You and our two eldest have returned home. I have not seen them in a long time and I wish that there isn''t a war until I am satisfied." General Hui laughed as he accompanied his wife toward their sons'' rooms. His wife was right. They had finally returned home. Once Liao returned during his vacation, their family would be complete.
Chapter 12: The Fated Battle MAIN PAGE Chapter 14: Spirit Beast Attack
Chapter 14: Spirit Beast Attack (Author: Hello all! I hope the last chapter gave you a taste of what to expect. As apparent since the prologue: the Great Dragon God is a major character in the story. Now back to training! Of course, the academy will award the Knight Destroyers (while Marcus gets a raise) for their victory and increasing Twin Star Academy''s reputation. For people concerned about all the killings: this is a world where people walk the path of an immortal. They live in a planet of strife and warfare. You either grow up and get strong or die or get eaten. I mentioned the spirit beast and now it is time to learn why they are feared! This marks the end of volume one if I was writing a published series. Hope you enjoy the chapter.) Chapter 14: Spirit Beast Attack "Welcome to the Treasury of Twin Star Academy!" Marcus laughed as he led his students into a large vault guarded by staff members at the fourth and fifth Spirit King Stage. "As winners of the tournament, the academy is granting you any one item from the Treasury. Choose wisely. Once you tell one of the staff here your decision, it is final. Take your time. You earned it. I''m gonna head to remind the headmaster of my raise I was promised. I remember a bottle of a wine collection the headmaster had that he promised me." Marcus chuckled as he left his students in the Treasury as one of the guards stepped inside with a clip board. The five Knight Destroyers marveled at all the weapons, scrolls, and magic artifacts. They could only imagine how much bigger the Treasuries of the top three academies could be as their academy was ranked fourth overall. Ling and Richard were the first to leave as they had found a Spirit King ranked mace and rapier. Just as qi cultivation and mythic beasts were ranked, so too were magical weapons and artifacts. Liao''s flying daggers were Immortal rank weapons as they were made by the Great Dragon God in the image of the daggers that were destroyed when Liao died on Earth. His talismans were an exception as its power was dependent on the user''s qi cultivation. No one knew it but his blade was also an Immortal rank weapon if a martial expert examined his blade closely and realized that the bone rings came from spirit beasts and not mythic beasts. The blade was made from a meteor so it could not be categorized as there were many metals that became indestructible and ever-sharp upon being forged. Cao left as he had found Spirit King ranked chest mail. It was made of a dark orange metal that felt as smooth and light as a feather but could shatter steel upon impact. Liao was jealous as his friend had found the chain mail first but still felt happy for his friend as his friend was the tank and main fighter of their party. Sakura had also been lucky and her discovery even startled the staff as she found a Spirit Emperor ranked cauldron about one feet in diameter. The staff in the Treasury hurriedly said that whoever had that cauldron would be able to cultivate massive amount of qi and easily break through to Spirit King cultivation before the cultivation slowed upon becoming a Spirit Emperor. The staff warned Sakura to not tell anyone her reward and to say she asked for a thousand gold for her reward as substitute. She did not come from Roshalt so she could reason that the currency exchange rate was casting her money and chose the gold coins as a reward. Sakura nodded and told Liao to keep it a secret as she knew Liao''s little secret. Ever since the tournament, he and Yueying had been spending time together at night by the lake. Rumors had already spread, but no one dared to intimidate Liao as they had witnesses report General Zhao visiting Liao and had learned of his father and had heard of the Lu family. Unfortunately for Liao, Sakura had seen him sneak off once and saw him with Yueying. Cao and Richard may have teased him but Sakura had black mailed him and he was forced to help her get closer to Cao. "Keep it a secret and I won''t tell yours," Sakura teased and left the Treasury. "Girls are foxes," Liao muttered as he continued his search. He had a blade and two types of hidden weapons: one people knew and feared after the tournament and one they didn''t know that was far more deadly. He would have liked armor but he was confident of being able to escape most foes with his Lightning Shadow Steps technique and abundant qi. Liao''s eyes wandered off to the scrolls that contained qi techniques. He had four types of qi but it was very difficult to come up with his own original technique. One scroll in particular took his attention. It contained a technique called Three Venoms Palm. Liao''s face turned to a grin as the technique required the user to be adept at ice qi. He could already use Lightning Shadow Steps, Serpent''s Roar, and the Sundering Heaven Force which utilized his three other types of qi. He did create his Snow Armor technique but it wasn''t very practical as it required a lot of qi. His battle style mainly focused on dodging attacks and overpowering strikes. The staff in charge looked amused as Liao told him of his choice and told him not to use it in front of others. Qi poisoning techniques were frowned upon in public and made the user suspicious and untrustworthy. Liao nodded and left the Treasury, the staff closing it behind him as he followed Liao out. Liao ran to his cabin and spread out the scroll. Hunluan slithered and watched as its master began meditating and preparing to learn the new technique. "Three Venoms Palm," Liao recited as he read the scroll. "Created by a monk who had been trapped in an underground cave while climbing a snowy mountain. He learned that ice was not just cold. If ice is cold enough, it can burn. If ice is fast enough, even a snow storm can cut and bruise a man''s face with hail. The monk wondered how he could apply it to ice qi and created the Three Venoms Palm." "This monk is real smart," Liao cried as he read more about the Three Venoms Palm. "To actually combine three different aspects of an element into one as qi." "I think that human was a hermit and created it to pass the time," Hunluan hissed, clearly not impressed. "The Three Venoms Palm requires the user to condense qi into his hand and then spread it quickly into the opponent''s meridian channels," Liao muttered as he continued reading the scroll. "The first aspect of venom is cold. Once struck, the opponent is unable to move as his meridian channels suffer a shock and his qi circulation becomes disrupted. The second aspect of venom is heat. When cold and heat meet, even steel can shatter. Thus, the strike damages the muscles and forces the target back as if a tiger rammed into him. The third aspect is severing. This is the hardest and final step to the Three Venoms Palm." "So this technique has three stages," Liao murmured, curious. "The last step must be quite powerful." "The last aspect is the true essence of the technique. The first poison immobilizes. The second poison damages and blows the target back. The final poison is injecting the user''s own qi into his target. The target''s body will suffer a backlash as his own qi will cannot coexist with the invading qi. The more powerful the user, the more powerful the poison. This is especially true if the user is more powerful than the target. Once mastered, even a mythic beast tiger will fall with one strike." Liao spent the next three weeks practicing his new technique and finally made a breakthrough and was able to use the first poison aspect. It was also the easiest stage of the technique as it was the most basic attribute of ice qi techniques and was just a peculiar application. He also finally broke the bottleneck and became a first stage Spirit Sage. His realm of qi changed greatly after he reached Spirit Sage. Another two-headed dragon had appeared and followed the circular path of the first dragon. The arctic ocean had also become bigger and deeper, wisps of ice creating a slight mist over the surface as glaciers started connecting. Thunderclouds appeared over the oceans and the baleful aura around the dragons was more intense and the dragons seemed to glow dark purple as they flew around in their circular path. Both heads of both dragons breathed fire, burning glaciers on their path. Liao couldn''t believe how chaotic his realm had become. He wondered what the realm of qi looked like in other people''s realms of qi. Stolen story; please report."Impressive technique," Yueying admired as she and Liao relaxed by the lake. "Qi poisoning technique. Liao Lu, are you sure you didn''t use to be an assassin before you came here?" Liao laughed as he held her hand and said, "Don''t worry. I would never hurt you." "You think you can hurt me?" Yueying giggled and shoved Liao with her qi, Liao crashed five times on the lake''s surface before finally falling underwater." Liao''s head broke the surface and he began to laugh. He knew full well the difference in power between them. He shook his head as he swam to shore. Yueying failed to hide a laugh behind her hand as Liao took off his shirt and tried to dry it by twisting the shirt. "You know something," Liao asked, a devious grin on his face. "I think you''re a little dry. Let me help you." Liao circulated his qi into his legs and appeared in a flash behind Yueying as he used his Lightning SHadow Steps technique. He used the Three Venoms Palm technique but merely made her immobile for a second. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to his chest. Liao was surprised by his own burst of boldness and quickly let go. "You''re bad," Yueying said as she turned to slap him. Liao closed his eyes and put his arms up in a cross to protect his face, but Yueying pulled his arms down. Liao''s eyes opened in shock as Yueying planted a kiss on him. His eyes softened as their lips parted and he held her in his arms. He may be younger than her but he was three inches taller than her due to his massive growth and the influence of the Great Dragon God''s qi as time flew by. It had not only turned his two-headed dragon in his realm of qi jade but also improved his body and made his qi more refined and pure. "You''re really tall for ten years old," Yueying said softly. "That''s good. It means you will be a very powerful martial expert. You have to be if you are going to date me." "Why?" Liao asked as he looked into her bright purple eyes. Both of them wished time would stand still as they were in each others arms under the moonlight, but they lived in a very dangerous world and peace did not last forever. "Spirit beast!" Sakura cried as she burst into view wearing her armor, the other members of the Knight Destroyers also wearing their armor. "A spirit beast appeared from the north and is attacking the academy! It...oh! Sorry for interrupting." "DUDE," Cao grinned as Liao and Yueying quickly let go, but remained holding hands. "Nice. Oh, we''re gonna have a lot of fun Richard. A lot of fun." "Now''s not the time for that!" Richard snapped. "We need to move! Some idiots discovered a gold and silver vein and opened a mine. They dug in deeper and disturbed a whole pack of six spirit beasts. They are all over Roshalt! We need to get out of here as one of them followed the miners here!" "Immortal rank mythic beasts," Liao gasped and grit his teeth. "What about your family Richard? Ling?" "They''re too far from the capital," Richard said. "My family members may be nobles but we only have our businesses in the capital run by our relatives. We lived on the edge of the country near Lyatto: Sakura''s country. They''ll be fine." "I only lived with my uncle. He only left me my inheritance from my parents and paid for the admittance fee for the trials," Ling replied. "He lived in the capital. He might be alive or not as two of the six spirit beasts are attacking the capital. I heard a few immortals who chose to stay in Mortal Realm lived in the capital so this country won''t be destroyed but it will suffer a loss." "We can all go to Wei!" Cao grinned as he showed the mythic beasts behind him. "We can all live in my house. Actually, let''s just live at Liao''s house. It''s the famous Lu Manor so it''s safer there than my house. I lived alone with my dad and he''s currently in the army. He probably didn''t pay the land lord. "Let''s go quickly while the staff have it occupied. We can return when the academy reopens," Yueying said and whistled. A red and orange monkey appeared from the trees and settled on Yueying''s shoulders. It was a Spirit Lord rank beast with wood and darkness affinity. Hunluan slithered past Cao and extended to its full size. After eating monster meat and hunting on its own while Liao trained, it had grown to twenty feet in length was ten feet thick. Imoogi mythic beast really had an unfair advantage and while the mythic beasts of the others were at Spirit Sage rank, Hunluan had become a Spirit Lord ranked mythic beast. "I''m coming too," Sakura said. "Wei is closer to the academy than Lyatto. I can send a messenger bird and inform my parents of my whereabouts when we head to the central district and head to the hall where the messenger birds are." Liao nodded as he got on top of Hunluan, Yueying holding his back as she joined him. Cao rode Huilong with Richard while Sakura rode on Mizu with Ling. Bartholomew and Mei followed the other mythic beasts as Liao led his friends out to the cabins. They quickly gathered their items into their space rings and then headed to the central district. They could hear fighting to the north and realized the staff was fighting the spirit beast in the coliseum. Sakura and Richard quickly sent messages to their families, telling them where they would stay and told Richard''s family to stay with Sakura''s family. Liao waited as Yueying returned with a message of her own. She actually owned a messenger bird and he watched it disappear. Liao had already sent a message to his family to expect him and his friends before Yueying finished her own message. "The others?" Yueying asked as she jumped on Hunluan''s back. "Waiting by the gate," Liao said as he directed Hunluan to the gate. "Cao headed to the cafeteria to get us enough food for the journey and stored it in his space ring. A lot of other students were there shortly after he was done so we got lucky. Oh, you should know: your party members and your master were spotted leaving the academy with some of the teachers and students. They should be fine. Did you tell your parents you''re staying at my house?" "Something like that. I''m glad my master and party members got out safe. Let''s go," Yueying said and they joined the others at the gate. They all took one last look at the academy and wondered when they returned. The Knight Destroyers hoped Marcus would be okay. Half a month passed and Liao and the others were still on the road. Liao''s messenger bird had arrived and General Hui was relieved his son was okay. "They should be here in another half month," General Hui assured his wife. "And Liao reached first stage Spirit Sage. A little slow but he''s making progress. His imoogi mythic beast made shocking progress and reached Spirit Lord stage. Must be a genetic advantage of the imoogi. His friends will stay with us until the six spirit beasts are dead and the academy is reopened. The girl Yueying also became his girlfriend and is coming here." "So he''s safe," Lady Fei sighed with relief. "General Zhao''s report also came when you were busy reading the message. The girl is indeed of the Bao clan. We must be respectful to her. I can''t tell you why but you must. The Xu family is a minor family in Roshalt with their elders at Spirit King stage at best. They won''t be making a move so soon as the spirit beasts are still around. I had General Zhao send them the heads of their servants found in Wei and gave them a warning. Liao will be safe for now." "Good," General Hui said and let his wife handle the affairs of the household while he went to his room. Liao would be returning soon and he had many plans for his son upon his return. (Author''s note: And so ends volume 1. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.)
Chapter 13: Desolation and Fear MAIN PAGE Chapter 15: The Lu Manor
Chapter 15: The Lu Manor (Author: Hello all. Spent the last few days experimenting on stories and taking a break from constant releases. I didn''t want to rush my story too fast and wanted a solid first volume that introduced the characters I aimed to keep as well as establish a storyline. Don''t worry. I will release chapters of this story as it is my main story while randomly releasing chapters for 2 of the other stories I released while on break that I liked. Also, people suggested I use italics for telepathic communications between a mythic beast and its master so I will use that from now on. This second volume will be twice as long and I will try to focus on character development throughout the volume. Chapters will start small and grow bigger. Thanks to all my followers who waited patiently until now. Hope you enjoy the chapter.) Chapter 15: The Lu Manor "So this is the famous Lu Manor," Cao sighed with awe as they approached a large estate in the Wei empire. The Lu Manor was a large estate with white marbled walls, crimson red tiles, four small ponds containing exotic fish, ripe peach trees, four houses to the left and right of the entrance with a large mansion in the back of the manor. The Lu Manor also had guards and servants with high levels of qi cultivation. The servants were at the second stage of Spirit Lord while the guards were second stage Spirit Kings. It was as if the Knight Destroyers walked into a small military base on the verge of an assault on enemy forces. "So strong," Richard gasped as he noticed the servants. "Even the servants are Spirit Lords. Your family exceeds my expectations. To hire so many powerful martial artists as servants? The Lu family truly is strong." Liao only faked a smile as he had the real Liao Lu''s memories. He wasn''t concerned about the servants or guards. He was concerned about how his mother would greet him. The old Liao Lu was raised to be noble and courageous. To have an upright appearance before he left. Liao Sima, in Liao Lu''s body, had changed that appearance. He had a scar over his left eye and had an imoogi tattoo encompassing his entire left shoulder down to his wrist. Plus, he was wearing his monk-like armor that revealed his tattoo. He looked far from a noble and more like a monk down the wrong path. Liao relaxed as he had Yueying holding his waist as they rode on Hunluan. He couldn''t appear weak in front of her. "My family will be waiting in the main house up ahead. Try to keep any unnecessary words to yourself. If you think they might offend my family, don''t say it while we stay here until the academy reopens. My elder brother, Lei Lu, is an accomplished scholar and my second brother, Liang Lu, is a powerful and exceptional martial artist. Both of them served in the frontlines of my father''s army. My second brother is more prideful than eldest brother so watch your tongues. Especially you, Cao, as you love to speak your mind and think of the consequences second," Liao warned. "Do they know about me?" Yueying asked, her smile sending chills down Liao''s back as it seemed colder than usual. "Yeah. General Zhao was watching the tournament. He would have reported about you to my parents. I also kind of told them we were dating in a message back when we were escaping from the academy," Liao said nervously. "In other words, you might be skinned alive," Cao laughed. "Don''t worry. I''ll keep my mouth shut. I definitely don''t want to die." "So he can keep his mouth shut," Sakura whispered to Richard. Richard snickered and said, "I wonder how long that''ll last as we don''t know when the academy will reopen." Sakura laughed and walked over to Ling. She was the only member of the Knight Destroyers who was not dense and realized that Ling had feelings for Liao long ago. "Are you okay?" Sakura asked in a silent voice. "I''m fine," Ling replied. "I knew I didn''t stand a chance when we saw them together at the lake before we left." Sakura sighed as she watched Ling join the others toward the main house. Mizu, her deer mythic beast, watched one of its riders jump off and leave. Mizu was relieved as it did not like having another person riding on its back except for its master. Plus, it tried not to complain that Ling was too heavy as Mizu was a deer mythic beast and not a mythic beast tiger or imoogi. "She will be fine master," Mizu said to Sakura. "I know Mizu, but it must be hard for her. I know I feel pain when Cao talks about other girls so it must feel even worse for her. Who knows? She might even fall in love with Richard. However, if she likes Cao, I won''t lose," Sakura replied and ordered Mizu to follow them. "LIAO! Little brother has returned," Liang Lu laughed as he stood on the steps in front of the main house. He was a muscular young man with biceps as large as a melon and was already more than six feet tall. He radiated power as he was a Spirit King and nearly crushed Liao as he hugged him. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. "Still strong as always," Liao said, repeating the words the old Liao would normally say. "So that is your mythic beast Hunluan!" Liang grinned as he looked over Liao. "Spirit Lord rank imoogi. Stronger than you. The fact that you even have a mythic beast makes me jealous. Oh! That little beauty atop of Hunluan must be the famous Yueying girl you talked about!" "Hello Liang Lu," Yueying greeted as she got off Hunluan. Hunluan shrunk in size and slithered around Liao''s neck as Yueying greeted Liang Lu. "My little brother gets all the luck," Liang sighed. "His companions aren''t bad either as they have mythic beasts. There''s even a lion turtle and phoenix among them. Come, come. Lei Lu and my parents are waiting inside. They are anxious to meet Liao''s friends and the girlfriend Liao spoke so much about." Liao breathed deeply as he followed his elder brother inside. Liao motioned for the mythic beasts to form a line to the right while the Knight Destroyers formed a line on the left. Hunluan was allowed to stay around his neck and they saw Liao''s family seated on large, black wooden chairs with an emblem of a large white dragon encircling the name, Lu, at the emblem''s center in gold. "And so my third son has finally come home. Earlier than expected, but I am glad that you arrived safely," Hui Lu said. "And finally a Spirit Sage! Good! You made progress." "Liao, you got stronger," Lei agreed. He wore a simple green robe with a gold embroidered dragon on the hem of the robe. He wasn''t as muscular or as powerful as Liang Lu, but he was the most dangerous of his brothers due to his intellect and controlled four elements like Liao. However, Lei Lu was a Spirit King and a scholar and teacher at the Wei empire''s top academy. Lei Lu had as much political influence as his father had military influence. "I don''t like the tattoo or scar," Lady Fei said. "However, I am shocked you are dating this Yueying. She is a true beauty. Tell me, are you a member of the Bao clan?" Yueying''s eyes widened in shock and answered, "How did you know?" "The eyes girl. The Bao clan are the only people I know whose eyes mutated into a purple color due to secret practices of the Bao clan. They are the most powerful and secluded family of martial exponents with their elders are Spirit Reaper and Spirit Dragon. No one knows where they live, but none of us who know of them ever slander them," Lady Fei said. "There is another reason why they are secluded but I won''t reveal that or tell others of your true identity. I trust my son and his friends will do the same. Whether you tell Liao in the future is up to you. Love does not last forever unless it is marriage. Right Hui?" "Y, yes Fei. Of course," Hui stuttered, he was a general but his wife''s happiness meant his happiness. "Now all of your friends must be tired. Liang and Lei will escort them to the guest houses for them and their mythic beasts. We will all talk later. You will remain here, Liao, as I have a few concerns about your recent changes," Lady Fei said. "Good luck," Cao chuckled and the Knight Destroyers left the main house. Hunluan enlarged to his full size and formed a ring around Liao, afraid that Lady Fei would harm Liao. "Now Liao, men have scars and I can understand why you have one. However, I want to know why you have that skeletal imoogi tattooed on your arm?" Lady Fei said in a cold voice. "Hidden weapons is one thing, but choosing a divine tattoo to hide them in is another. My main concern is who gave you that tattoo. Is he a friend or foe? Anther concern I have regards the annihilation of the rebel army. I am no fool. There is no way a dragon as great and mighty as the one that appeared would concern itself with human wars. What is your connection to that dragon?" "General Zhao investigated the background of the Xu boy you killed to belong to a lineage of dragon slayers," Hui interrupted. "I am grateful but I need to know about that jade dragon." Just then, the dragon medallion flew off Liao''s chest and hovered in the air. The jade dragon engraved on the black medallion shined, causing all the color in the room to appear as jade. Hunluan lowered its head on the floor as it knew that the Great Dragon God would speak. Liao gulped in fear as he did not know what the dragon god would do.
Chapter 14: Spirit Beast Attack MAIN PAGE Chapter 16: Meeting a God
Chapter 16: Meeting a God (Author: Hello everybody! As I said before, I will try to upload a chapter every day for this story and one other. Well, the Great Dragon God will speak and all mortals would be wise to listen. As promised, there will be more dialogue in my story and the chapters will be longer in the future as the story continues. Enjoy the chapter.) Chapter 16: Meeting a God "Friend? Foe? I am neither! I AM THE GREAT DRAGON GOD!" a voice roared in the minds of the people in the room. "ALL draconic creatures, be it a spirit beast or mythic beast, bow before me! I am the Destroyer of Worlds and Devourer of Immortals! How can an immortal kill a god? It is impossible and their struggles always end in vain. Little Liao, you tell your mortal parents what they need to hear. I can''t be bothered with mortals." "The Great Dragon God was the one who gave me my tattoo," Liao began as he knelt on one knee under the medallion''s glow. "The dragon god also saved me from death when I suffered a defeat while trying to help Richard soul bind the mythic lion turtle, Bartholomew. My daggers were also made by the dragon god which are hidden in the divine tattoo. The dragon god also gave me a mission as it saved my life two years ago during my first military campaign. The mission was to kill the dragon slayer family of Xu. My first target was Guan Xu. As a reward for killing Guan Xu and soul binding Hunluan, the dragon god killed the rebel forces." "So that is how you survived the annihilation when we thought you died," Hui gasped as he and Lady Fei also bent on one knee before the hovering medallion. "Thank you Great Dragon God! Your benevolence in saving my son and the Wei empire knows no bounds." HAHAHAHA! Well said mortal! Well said," a laugh venerated from the medallion. "Well, mortal woman? Do you dislike the tattoo that I, The Great Dragon God, bestowed on your mortal son?" "Of course not Great Dragon God," Lady Fei murmured. "You saved my son''s life and he is alive today thanks to you. However, I fear that my son is not strong enough to kill the Xu family on his own." "I don''t expect him too. The moment he dies, while trying to kill a Xu or not, my entertainment dies with him," the dragon god replied. "I don''t give a damn about your planet or the immortals who live on it. When Little Liao dies, I''ll either destroy the planet first and leave or just leave. What do humans do nowadays when they can''t make a decision? Flip a coin? HAHAHA! That''s what I''ll do. I''ll pick a random human, watch him flip a coin, and make my decision there. Either way, I''ll finish the Xu family first before I leave." "D, destroy the planet?" Lady Fei gasped. "The immortals who ascended to the immortal realms will not be pleased. I have also heard of Primordial Gods who oversee the planets and are responsible of judging and executing immortals. They will hunt you down if you do this." "Primordial Gods?" the voice laughed. "Those weaklings are just minor gods. No matter how powerful an immortal, they can call themselves a god , but they are not gods. Gods are born, not made. Those Primordial Gods would only piss me off. They tried to kill me once. I ate most of them alive. I made the survivors watch as I ate them alive. You humans just don''t understand how lucky beasts are. Eating your prey live as they struggle in your grip and mouth, there''s no greater adrenaline rush." "Your Majesty is wise!" Hunluan hissed. "I enjoy eating my prey live too. Corpses are cold and it''s boring to eat them dead." Liao''s parents couldn''t hear Hunluan''s words as only Liao and the dragon god could as one was a god while the other was its master. The voice from the medallion laughed and approved of Hunluan''s words. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. "You will remain with your family for now as I track the Xu family''s movements," the dragon god said. "As your school is closed, study here. Your father is a Spirit Emperor so the mortal should now some knowledge to help you grow. In the meantime, I will amuse myself by watching the spirit beasts wreck havoc all over Roshalt. I might even lead them to the Xu family to lessen their numbers and hear their screams. I will be watching your progress. Do not disappoint me." The medallion stopped glowing and Liao caught it before it hit the floor. His parents were still stunned as he put the medallion back around his neck and under his clothes. They regained their composure and sat on their chairs, thinking about what the dragon god said. "So that is why my forces and I were left unharmed," General Hui sighed as he leaned back on his chair. "If it can destroy worlds and eat Primordial Gods whom we thought were the greatest beings in existence, this dragon god is truly unfathomable. I probably only saw it in its smaller form when it destroyed the rebels." "Primordial Gods are lesser gods and immortals are not real gods," Lady Fei continued, holding her head in shock. "Ha! It''s as if we know so little and only know about how to become an immortal. We can only live forever, but can never be the strongest in existence. Liao, how did you meet such an existence? Why did it choose you as its champion?" "It thought I was entertaining? I don''t know," Liao lied, feigning ignorance. "All I know is that I should have died on the battlefield and as I fell down the ravine. The medallion acts as a beacon of sorts as well as communication between me and the Great Dragon God. I can only obey the dragon god. Compared to the dragon god, I am but a speck of sand in a desert." "We can only train you to become stronger and hope the spirit beasts in Roshalt manage to kill a few of the elders of the Xu family. I would go there, but I must remain in the Wei empire under the emperor''s decree. The man fears my power as he should. I''m a Spirit Emperor with no sworn allegiances." "We will also train your friends as well. As for Yueying, I will personally train her," Lady Fei said. "I have met the Bao clan and I know of a few of their training methods and abilities. You''ll probably spend less time with her Liao as you will both be training. Above all, do not die. If you do, the planet''s fate rests on a flip of a coin. A coin! How ridiculous, but the strong do what they want and the weak can only watch as their fates are decided. You may go rest now Liao. Your father and I have to make a few arrangements." "Yes mother," Liao said, sighing with relief. He really appreciated the dragon god appearing as it did. His mother could no longer punish him for his tattoo and his action in killing Guan Xu. He bowed and waited for Hunluan to shrink itself and slither around his neck. "That was a pretty intense situation master," Hunluan said. "I never expected His Majesty to speak and reveal your relations." "I believe the dragon god did it for convenience. Who knows how gods think? Still, eating Primordial Gods and calling them minor gods. I wonder if there are other true gods like the dragon god?" Liao replied. "Heh. We''d probably be dead if they learned we were the dragon god''s champion. I can only hope I can entertain the dragon god until all the Xu family are dead."
Chapter 15: The Lu Manor MAIN PAGE Chapter 17: Closed Door Training
Chapter 17: Closed Door Training (Author: Hello everyone! Now that introductions have been met, it is now back to training. As for the question of a harem: I honestly don''t know. There is a time skip as a closed door practice will be introduced. I meant to do it earlier as it is the second volume, but I wanted to have the Great Dragon God make an appearance first. Enjoy the chapter.) Chapter 17: Closed Door Training "I see you have all relaxed and made yourselves comfortable," General Hui laughed as his guests and family ate their breakfast the next day. "Good. Very good. Tell me, how do you feel about the dragon god?" Liao was forced to tell his friends last night as the light from the jade medallion was so bright and it mentally projected the Great Dragon God''s voices not only to Liao and the people in the main house, even the guards, servants, and his friends heard the voice and learned of the dragon god. "I''m glad it''s on our side sir," Cao said as he grabbed some scrambled eggs. "When I heard it appeared in Wei, I thought it would destroy everything." "Liao still had some secrets from his experience at the ravine," Richard smirked, trying to make Liao guilty with a smile. "I don''t think we can stop it if it chose to destroy the world," Yueying replied. "I''ve read about true gods and I can verify that a Primordial God wouldn''t be able to stop him." "The knowledge of the Bao clan is profound indeed," Lady Fei nodded, surprised. "Anyway, training has become your highest priority. You must be strong to defend what you hold dear. As I mentioned, I will teach Yueying for a while before she does closed door training like the rest of you." "What?" Sakura asked. "Closed door training? We don''t know a lot of techniques though." "Closed door training is a necessity to break the bottlenecks and could last for days, weeks, months, and even years," General Hui explained. "Your fellow classmates will learn more techniques than you and break bottlenecks even faster with outside influence, but closed door training is the best. Why? As you meditate, you become one with nature. Spirit energy comes from nature and breathes life into it. Closed door training increases your foundations, allowing your body to contain more qi and use it more efficiently. You can also visualize the techniques you do know and study it, mastering it. What use is an abundant amount of techniques when you have not even mastered one of them? One martial artist with great mastery of a technique can overcome many others who have little mastery as they can simply overpower them." "You will enter closed door training until you are fifteen years old," Lady Fei said. "You might be Spirit Lords while your fellow classmates might be Spirit Kings, but you will overpower them as you understand your power more than they do and have more spirit energy than they do. Training fast is all well and good, but understanding you element qi is much better. Them? Their potential will be dwarfed by your own. Power is not everything in martial arts. A true martial artist can overcome a stronger martial artist by controlling his strength and using it in bursts at the opportune moment. A true master is able to control the fight and end it on his or her own terms. That is real power. Spirit Kings? Spirit Lords? Is it not possible for a Spirit Knight to defeat a Spirit Sage? You saw my son fight that Guan Xu. He used his head and waited for the right opportunity to strike and killed Guan Xu. Don''t think of ranks and levels of qi condensation as absolutes. You never know when you meet a powerful opponent who is able to hide his true power and end up dead by underestimating the enemy." "As you enter closed door training, I will take your mythic beasts and train them in the wild," General Hui said. "Their growth is different and more savage than a human''s. Take a moment to prepare and say your goodbyes as you enter your rooms. It is sound proof and no one will be able to disturb you from the outside. Good luck. This is YOUR future. Do not be lazy and persevere in your training." Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. The Knight Destroyers nodded and everyone said words of encouragement to each other as they left. Only Yueying and Liao remained as they walked over to one of the ponds with exotic fish to talk. They sat on a bench and Yueying rested her head on Liao''s shoulder. "So that''s how you survived the fall from the ravine," she murmured. "Sorry I couldn''t tell you before," Liao said. "I was afraid of the dragon god and what he would do. I knew it was safe to tell you as I found out you all heard its voice. I guess it didn''t care and I overthought it too much." "The Xu family is not as powerful as your own family, but they have many relatives and connections," Yueying said, squeezing his hand. "My clan is definitely one of the most powerful clans, but we seclude ourselves most of the time. The Xu family are dragon slayers for a reason as draconic mythic beasts sell for a lot of gold for materials to craft pills of spirit energy and various medicine." "And my Hunluan is an imoogi mythic beast and I was ordered to kill the Xu family," Liao sighed. "Honestly, I wish I could live secluded somewhere and cultivate in peace with you and both our families, never worrying about wars and killing. I fought in a war and I know it will never be possible. War only creates more enemies with pain and hate. The cycle of death never ends." Yueying kissed him and said, "Then we can only make ourselves stronger to protect each other and our families. I''m sorry I can''t tell you about the Bao clan but we have our rules. Only the people the Bao clan need are fit to know about us. You need to become more powerful to become needed and to get approval for dating me." Liao laughed and held her in his arms and said, "Don''t worry. I will definitely get stronger. No one will be our match in the Mortal realm and we will become the most powerful in the Immortal realms. I will not lose the people I love again. Never again." Liao then told her the complete truth. From the origins of the Sundered Heaven Force to the fact that he was from another world. Yueying was shocked but she was touched he trusted her enough to tell her everything. Liao walked her to the main house where his mother would train Yueying for a while. He said goodbye to his family and Hunluan. By the time he reached his room and began to meditate, he had a new resolve to get stronger. Now there were three entities who knew all that he was: the Great Dragon God, Hunluan, and Yueying. He lost his parents and the spirit beast attack in Roshalt was proof that he was not strong enough to protect his loved ones. "I will never lose the people I love without a fight," Liao thought as he closed his eyes and began to meditate. "If any of my enemies even attempt to do so, I''ll slaughter them and show the whole world what it means to cross me!"
Chapter 16: Meeting a God MAIN PAGE Chapter 18: Entering the Realm
Chapter 18: Entering the Realm (Author: Hello everyone! Liao has entered closed door training. What are the results of his training? How far did the others progress? Enjoy the chapter.) Chapter 18: Entering the Realm When Liao started meditating, he let his mind clear. To enter deep meditation, one must ignore the outside world and reside deep in one''s own meditation. The qi in the practitioner''s body would continue to nourish the body. This was how people who entered closed door training could do so for weeks, months, years, decades, and even centuries. As Liao meditated, he entered his realm of qi. He had always seen it, but never ventured inside of it. To understand the essence of his qi, he had to study the qi where it concentrates most in his body. Finding a suitable glacier in his realm of qi, Liao began to meditate there as well, allowing the qi to flow around him. He was constantly exposed to his own qi and times passed outside. His hair grew longer. If one observed closely, his body was surrounded by a small layer of qi, protecting his body from dust and dirt. As he originally had the capability to use lightning and ice qi, he was able to understand it more than destruction and fire qi. Lightning was raw energy. It was fast, yet strong. It looked beautiful, but crackled violently. It destroyed life, but also allowed for more rain to sustain life. Ice. It was cold, yet soothes pain. It was hard, yet could be crafted into any shape. It could trap life and prevent the body''s decay for millennia, yet it provides an environment where life could prosper just as long. Liao learned that there was a balance for each of his elements and a new way to apply them. Liao reached the second stage of his Lightning Shadow Steps. He could now turn his whole body into lightning and appear in another place in a flash. His Snow Armor and Frost Claw techniques were harder, yet it could be made into the shape of his body. It no longer felt heavy or bulky. No matter how cold he made it, he would not feel it. Fire element qi was harder to learn. It was the polar opposite and the bane of ice. It could not be shaped, but it could be manipulated. It was not solid and could be passed through. Liao would stop meditating in his realm of qi to observe the two headed dragon breathe fire. He saw the fire eat the wind to expand its range. He saw the glaciers melt from the heat, yet the dragon''s mouths did not burn. It was similar to how his mouth did not burn when he used his fire qi technique known as Serpent''s Roar. He remembered how fire could feel warm, but not burn. He could remember running his finger past a lit candle really fast. He admired how his finger did not burn and how the fire moved apart and then drew back together. Liao smiled as he gained a new insight and he made progress in understanding fire. He created a new technique using Violet Bone Claw. Using a fast swing of his blade, he could send a warm wave of fire that would burn as it made impact on the target. He called the new technique Wick Wave, as his childhood experience gave him his insight. Sometimes, it was the small activities that created a large impact. Liao realized that now and was glad he made progress. Destruction element qi had always held him back before. However, it made the biggest impact on his life. He me Hunluan and killed Guan Xu because of destruction qi and thought back to Hunluan''s mother. It was a strong mythical beast that reached Spirit Emperor and killed thousands of Spirit Knights and Spirit Sage beasts.There was no doubt to its power. As he stared at the two headed dragon, it was also covered in destruction qi aura, yet was not damaged as it flew. His sword was also not destroyed as he used baleful blade aura under the Sundered Heaven Force technique. It vexed him for a long time until he thought of the night sky. He remembered hearing about dying stars and how they formed a black hole. Its destruction created something and then destruction continued. It was a cycle. Liao laughed as he thought of volcanoes. Didn''t some plants grow only after the ground has been burned by lava? Destruction element qi also had a balance. It was a part of every element as all elements destroyed, but with different methods. Destruction qi wasn''t just destruction, it was all the elements and none of them. It was like a star which contained all the elements. It was like space and a black hole was the destruction that was neither of the elements but created through the destruction of all the elements. Stolen story; please report. Liao finally understood the third stage of the Sundered Heaven Force. It had said that to destroy the heavens, it must destroy with something not made by the heavens. The heavens was theorized to be made by the combination of all the elements in perfect harmony. Didn''t black holes destroy everything. Liao learned the third stage known as Thousand Void Repentance. The technique allowed Liao to create flying blades of destruction qi that could not be blocked. It did not cut or stab like blades did. It simply destroyed all it touched. It was slow like a black hole, but was just as unstoppable. Presently, he could only make two blades and control them within fifty feet. After two months passed after he turned fifteen, Liao''s closed door training finally ended. He had a horrible smell as he looked at his body and saw impurities. He was excited as it meant he had reached the realm of Spirit Lord. However, progress from Spirit Lord onward was slow. After washing himself, he learned he was the last to finish training. He was at the second stage of Spirit Lord while the rest of the Knight Destroyers and their mythical beasts were stuck at the third stage. Hunluan was a first stage Spirit King. The absurdity of Hunluan''s growth astounded him until he remembered the might of its mother. Yueying and her mythical beast was stuck at the fifth stage of Spirit Lord, unable to break the bottleneck to Spirit King. Human growth and mythical beast growth were vastly different and no way comparable. "Finally done training and only at the second stage," Yueying teased as Liao held her in his arms. They were finally teenagers and it felt more natural. He was finally taller than her, nearing six feet. Yueying had become more beautiful and well endowed in certain places. Liao was a lucky guy, but didn''t notice his family and friends were watching them. "Closed door training was a different kind of meditation," Liao said, closing his eyes. "Entering my realm of qi and seeing it up close. It took my breath away and I gained more insights there. What did you learn from my mother?" "Some formations and barrier techniques," Yueying said as she kissed him. "Its one of my clans specialties." "The Weiss clan or the Bao clan," Liao grinned, remembering Yueying say her last name was Weiss when they first met. "The Bao clan," Yueying laughed after he kissed her. "The Weiss clan, my father''s clan, owns a large enterprise. I was able to venture the outside world because my father gave the Bao clan materials they needed. Its good to be back from training and by the exotic fish pond with you. It''s beautiful isn''t it?" "Yeah," Liao said. "Having you in my arms is a beautiful moment and feeling. I didn''t like the loneliness. Missing you, my family, and Hunluan...." "Oh?" Yueying said as she stood up. "Maybe you should spend more time with them." "Ah," Liao sighed, knowing he screwed up. "Maybe I will." "What?" Yueying gasped as Liao held her in his arms and laughed. She shook her head as she realized he was teasing her. Lady Fei, General Hui, and Liao''s brothers laughed seeing Liao like that. Being a teenager made him more open, but they were pleased he was a Spirit Lord. Once he became a Spirit King, he would be able to rejoin the military and help his father on future military campaigns. The Knight Destroyers laughed as they saw Liao acting silly. He was usually the calm, calculating leader and strategist. Sakura felt envious as she wasn''t able to open her feelings to Cao as Liao did to Yueying. She looked at Ling, but was unable to predict what ling was feeling. Was she jealous? Did she move on? "Ugh, the cheesiness is making my head spin," Cao snickered. "I can''t wait to talk to Liao and describe what I saw. Hahahaha." "Least he got a girlfriend," Richard said and walked toward the main house to eat. "Hey! I can get one too! Hey! Richard? You listening man? I can get one too if I wanted!" Cao shouted as he ran after Richard.
Chapter 17: Closed Door Training MAIN PAGE