《The Void Emperor》 -1 About me and my work Hi everyone, I''m a 19 years old high school suffering pleb who''s soon-to-be student. I never had a go at writing so this may not turn out that well but at least I can try. I was born in small city of Leskovac in Serbia at 31. July 2000. There''s not much that I can say about myself except that as a child I had a vivid and fun life straight outta some fantasy novel where mc gets to play with a lot of girls since he was a kid. Yeah, that''s how it was when i had 3-4 years and it lasted until I started going to school (damn school always ruining fun). After that, everything changed. From cheerful and happy little pest I changed to a nerd who always gave his all to get best grades which made me a sh*t of society ever since 2nd grade of elementary school. Big influence that made me turn out like that was my father who had best intentions towards me but did it the wrong way. As a little brat I, of course, had no way to know that I''d turn into something which won''t be fun and I''d almost be left with no friends except for the few guys from my vicinity. Contrary to that, my mother always supported me even when ''The whole World was against me'' - of course figuratively only, but the feeling was the same to me at least. She is only person I respect from the depths of my heart and soul. Lucky or unlucky me, my parents had to travel on a business trip to Germany in 2011 and that year I had another ''plot twist'' of life. Since there was nobody to order me around and tell me what to do I had a freedom and I used it all the way. And I mean literally all the way. The aftermath of that sheer freedom is that now I have a lot of knowledge about various things - from the worst fetishes, killing and who knows what is there in that pit all the way to joyful discoveries and experiences. As stupid as it may sound, I''m deeply thankful to events that took place then, because they changed me thoroughly. My way of thinking, my awareness, perception of reality, confidence and of course imagination and then got me back on the road of becoming significantly better person than what I was supposed to. There are a few things I love the most and those few are: anime, manga, novels, games, programming, day-dreaming, *ahem* erotic stuff *ahem*, romance ( a specific type, not the ordinary one, you''ll see details about it bellow ) andmost important - freedom. Enough self-depiction, time for the main thing. This is my first go at writing a novel so I''m not sure how it''d turn out but since I''ve got an inspiration about what I''d like to write, it woke something up within me and made me give it a try, so I''m eager to see how it''d go. Since I remember, from very long ago, I was always different than others around me and I never genuinely felt that the place I''m at is where I truly belong. I always had a tendency to daydream and never, not even once felt like I can honestly tell what I think to someone without being too direct or afraid to hurt their ''gentle feelings''. Usually, I''d just refrain from talking more than necessary and I guess that''s the reason that made me screw off real world and create my own where I can open up and let my mind and soul flow without even a slightest bit of restrain or worry. There are some of the most intriguing topics that make me think deeply again and again without reaching to the satisfactory answer, well it''s not only one or two as there are several: - Universe. I like thinking about boundless and unrestrained universe with mysteries and possibilities that don''t go by common sense. It makes my blood boil. Every. Single. Frickin''. Time. - Emotions. Ah yes, although I never had ''real'' connections with those but somehow I can understand emotions of other people even if they don''t speak about them. Strange isn''t it? But it''s a good thing. I think that this is due to constriction of my own, while reading countless of works that feature them gave a certain sense how people feel like in certain situations, but who knows. - Power and Fights. Yaaa. Regardless of what genre they belong to - Martial Arts, Fantasy, Magic, all of ''em belong here. I''ve always loved molding letters into images when I read any work and by far I came to conclusion that regardless of what kind of confrontation it is, I always like it (especially the ones in bed, they are the best xD). - Romance. I never had genuine one but I long for true love, like finding your twin star/ soulmate or something similar. There are more, but honestly I''m too lazy to write them and I don''t want to leave the impression that I''m eccentric self-conscious bastard who likes to brag about himself and has no life (although it''s partly true). "If that''s so, why did you write all that shit above?" Because I never had the chance to tell anyone about how I feel so and then the thought came like "Bam~"; might as well write here about it. That''s all. Ahh, finally I came here to the point I''ve always dreamed about. Since ancient times of my sorrowful existence - from birth, I always wanted to share my thoughts with others and the first way I thought of how to do it was through a game. Yep, that''s the reason why I wanted to learn programming from 11yo kiddo who swears like cowboy on the internet. It may seem silly but, to my surprise, it brought me all the way here today. Thanks to that I can do all kinds of things I could never imagine as a kiddo for example at present I can make a simpler game in Unreal Engine 4 and I''ve already made one with our team at Global Game Jam 2019 in unity (It''s full of glitches that you can''t even play it, and we made it hard as hell lel, good times). After knowing how difficult it is (sad story T_T) I figured out that maybe a novel is a better idea so, as you guessed, that''s how this work got to see the day. I honestly hope that you would enjoy reading it and I''m really sorry for those who had to read all of that above and once again thank you with all my heart. Also I have to warn everyone as much as I know English It''s not my native language, therefore there may be some grammatically incorrect sentences or strange-sounding phrases. Sorry for that in advance and if you''ve got any suggestion to how I can improve some part of my work, feel free to suggest it. 1 The drifting soul of a bright star The pitch black darkness, without a sound or even a feeling of existence. Like a void, where all and nothing overlap, therein floats a multicolored singularity size of a needle tip radiating a faint halo of light in a pulsating manner. That existence is in contradiction with everything, as if like any rules are useless before it, as a divine and unmovable mountain, pulsating with a faint nine colored halo, each of the colors representing separate existence. If one paid attention to it with all their might, they would see a whole mini-verse inside of it akin to a small, energetic and playful child running without an end; Like a spiral waterfall flowing and transforming to a faint vortex in its core. The sheer energy it is containing is of a terrifying degree, unimaginable to mere three-dimensional beings like us. It is fixated there in a dark void which at the same time complements and repels it. Each of its colored streaks of light feels like a separate consciousness trying to devour surroundings akin to a bottomless hole. - Black. Dark like a universe, cold and domineering. It gives off the feeling of emptiness. Looking at it may feel like falling into an abyss, without an end, like a black hole it devours everything. It represents space and its vast, boundless and magnificent existence and contains pure Yin energy. - White. Gentle and warm, it feels like a radiant star, like a mother hugging a child. Even though there shouldn''t be any sound in that space, it gives the feeling as if there is happy laughter of a million children resonating deep within one''s soul. It pulsates and then recedes to the center of the vortex and pulsates again, repeating the same cycle over and over. If one looked carefully, they''d conclude that it resembles a brave warrior not knowing of defeat and always getting up after falling down. That white wisp represents Yang energy. - Golden. Like golden blood rummaging through veins, discovering new paths, breaking through everything and anything. As a restless stream, it courses in a spiral manner and fills the whole world inside of the wisp. It represents strong and unyielding blood that no mere being is worthy of possessing. - Silver. A mixture of silver and white, mysterious and magnificent. The emotion it arouses is admiration and has a breathtaking feeling to it. A myriad silvery white streaks, reminding of a long, fluttering hair. - Red. The crimson and fiery streak of light that reminds of uncontrollable anger and magnificence. Like an unyielding being standing up to every obstacle, regardless of the power difference among them. It represents the unyielding will. - Blue. Vast blue like an ocean, boundless and gentle. Deep as an ocean, unconquerable as an ocean. It represents the spirit with no restraint. - Green. A rich green like a world filled with joy. Like grass in a green meadow. It represents a strong and vigorous life force. - Purple. Like a purple halo without an end that can suck out one''s soul. There is no being that can contain its breath while looking at that magnificent halo as it reminds of deep purple eyes. - Violet. A mixture of blue and purple, yet neither of them. Violent and excessive power surging within it. That color has only one meaning - the boundless potential. . . . That nine-colored singularity started pulsating stronger with each cycle and nine different wisps seeped out of it reminding of chains attached in the middle. Those chains were sucking in everything around them and confronting all. All of a sudden there was a transformation... "... BOOM .....", a strong explosion, similar to the supernova, resonated through the void and nine colored cracks appeared all over the void like myriad bolts of lightning, resembling a space shattering. The vast and mighty energy rushed through them and bit by bit transformed whole surroundings to nine colored sphere of light. Then everything reversed, as if nothing happened, everything was black with a nine colored singularity in the center. The next moment, a dragon roar and a baby cry resonated and that little singularity began growing stable and transforming to the fetus with nine dragons coiling all around its body and one pitch black dragon coiled around its heart. After the fetus formed, it gradually grew up and turned into grown-up human form with strong musculature and peculiar aura. After that nine-colored form hugged by dragons stared a bit into endless darkness, a voice rang out within the space. " Your name will be ..... And you shall be ... born again ". After that, a similar crack formed beneath it which the form fell through, straight to the planet similar to Earth but several times bigger than it. On that planet there is water surrounding three big continents with white clouds fluttering above them. The form was constantly speeding downwards like a shooting star then it entered the atmosphere of that planet and instantly disappeared followed with a loud "BANG" as it transformed to a bolt of lightning and painted the whole sky in nine-colored light. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- " ... Waaaaa", a melodious cry of a baby could be heard signifying that new life was born. Besides the baby crying, slight but vicious dragon roar rang as if it was declaring to the world that its king is born. While dragon roar melodiously resonated with baby''s cry, nine-colored halo below the navel of a baby slightly receded and after that, there was a silence. "Dear, how are we going to name him, what do you say?" "Since he has such a vigorous cry and looks so cute, how about we give him a mighty yet gentle name?" "Um, that''s a good idea." "For now, let''s not worry about the name. Most importantly, the baby is okay and so are you, that''s enough to make me happy. Everything else is at this point irrelevant." "Yeah, he will be a great and strong boy, ... dear, I''m so happy, I love you!" "I love you too, my dear wife, more than anything in this world, I love both of you!" The male and female forms hugged the sleeping child full of love and kindness and all of them fell asleep. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- At the small house in a village on the outskirts of a forest. "So, you have any ideas for a name?" "Mmmm, nothing comes to mind, how about you?" "Ahh, I can''t ... he''s so cute that I can''t find a good one" "Yep, although he''s cute like his mother, he has a strong cry like his father. It''s truly hard to find a good name for him" "How about ... ", here'' the woman looked at the sky, ".. how about.. no, never mind" "Say it, what did you think of?" "Well, I don''t know why the name popped up in my head but.." After a bit of silence, the man asked in inquiring manner ".. so?" "I don''t know it sounds strange but it feels like a good one." "Well, you know, it''s not like I can read your mind, so say it, you stubborn woman." "Who''s stubborn?!" "Anyway, just say it, I can''t wait anymore you dumb girl!" "AAAH, okay, okay don''t rush it. How does ... sound?" "OOOOOHHH, that''s a fitting name. You truly are good at this, but why did you say it was strange?" "Well, it doesn''t sound powerful as we originally wanted." "It doesn''t matter, it''s a good one so we can overlook it hehe." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Two years later ... "Ryuu, come back, it''s time to eat!" "Coming mom, just a second!", a gentle voice resounded from a nearby place. "Ryuu, why did you get all dirty again, you just changed clothes a while ago!" "Sorry mom, I was playing and stumbled.", little chubby boy with white hair and purple eyes looked at a silhouette of a girl with a smile on her face. "Oh you silly little thing, hurry and come with me to change!" "Yay, mom is not angry, yay, yay!!", the little boy jumped around a girl all happy and joyful. "Hurry, we are making father wait, let''s go eat." "Yes, hurry, hurry!!!", the boy ran ahead and opened the door to his mother. "Wait for me you little rascal, slow down", said the girl as she hurried after Ryuu. ... "Ryuu, say, what''s with these muddy stains? Where did you fall?" "Oh, I saw a small white fox and chased after her and then I stumbled on something..." Ryuu said while remembering and pouting, "... but when I looked to see what I stumbled on, there was nothing, just a muddy puddle beneath me." "You have to be careful or you will get hurt you rascal." said the girl as she patted his head gently. The girl said "Ahh, those chubby cheeks, come here you ...!" and reached out with hands pinching boy''s cheeks gently. "Mom, I told you I don''t like that! Why do you have to pinch me every time?" "Because you are a cute little rascal! And you dare ask why", and pinched him again. "Well, I don''t want to be cute if you pinch me every day!" said the boy and pouted again. "Pfft.... hahahaha!" the girl burst into laughter unable to contain it anymore. "Mom, stop laughing let''s go eat. Father is waiting!" "Okay, okay, here we gooo." On the green meadow, there was a small blue house with a wooden table and two benches in front of it. There sat a man with a variety of delicious meals in front of him. "Daaad, hey dad." the little guy shouted running from the house. "What''s up kiddo, missing your dad huh?" "Dad, I saw a beautiful white fox!" "Come here Ryuu ..." said the man and spread his arms ".. whoopsie, here we go" and took Ryuu on his lap. "Tell dad where did you see that white fox." "Dad it was very beautiful and I ran after it, but I stumbled on something and fell. I almost caught it, stupid ... " "Okay, don''t be sad, you might see it again. It''s important that you are okay and didn''t get hurt" "No, I''m okay but it was so beautiful I wanted to bring it home to live with us." "Hehe .." "Why are you laughing dad?" "Ryuu, let''s eat first then you can go look for it again. Come, sit". He placed Ryuu at his thigh and glanced at beautiful girl that in the meantime sat across them. She sat there and looked at them with a pleased expression. Long golden hair fluttered in the wind and she had beautiful blue eyes complementing her beauty. Skin color like porcelain and the perfect curves of a girl''s body. That is Ryuu''s mother Haruhi. She had just turned 20 this year and her beauty was at its peak. Blue eyes gave a feeling of staring into vast seas and there were a bit of a silver sparkling dots in them. Her beauty would leave many men, maybe even women breathless and gasping. Ryuu''s father Aito, is the same age as his mother. He sat there with a gorgeous and domineering appearance more befitting of a girl than a guy. Although he looked strong, there was only kindness and happiness in his eyes as he listened to his little son talking about his adventures and looking at Haruhi, his dear wife. He has long black eyelashes and dark long hair hanging after his head complementing each other. Looking at him for girls could only be breathtaking and magnificent, like staring at a deity that descended on the world of humans. Crimson red eyes with golden sparkles deep within and thick brows on the forehead. Simply looking at him was hard. "How do you like meal Ryuu-chan, is it good?". "Umu, father makes the best meal!" the little guy shouted and kissed his father on a cheek "Father is the best! Hehe." "Ryuu, it''s not fair, mom wants a kiss too." "Here mom, you too." said Ryuu while wiggling out of his fathers'' hold and ran to his mother under the table. "~Chu ..." he kissed his mom like his father and stared at her with big purple eyes covered by long eyelashes like his father''s. In those eyes there was a faint vortex of nine colors although it was faint, not able to be seen by a naked eye, it was there. Slowly rotating and pulsating, his pupils widened as his mother hugged him in her bosom. After a few moments, there was soft breathing lingering in the air. Noticing that faint breath, Haruhi looked at her husband Aito and smiled gently, carrying little fellow that fell asleep to his room. Aito stood up and went with her while humming melodically and following behind the two dear petite forms quietly with a wide smile on his cheeks. You might think that this little fellow sleeping in his mother''s bosom is just an ordinary 2-year-old kid, but reality often knows to trick people. Asura Ryuu, born under colorful nine colored sky, got reincarnated from the Earth. He died in his 25th year without prior notice all of a sudden which made his family very sad. But contrary to his expectations of going to forget everything, he found himself in a vast dark space unable to move. After some time he heard a deep strong voice "Your name is Asura Ryuu and you will be born again." then space around him turned nine colored. After that phenomenon receded, he found himself falling through a crack directly into his current house as a nine colored lightning. That signaled his new start from zero, and he retained all of his memories from his previous life on earth. That might not mean much if he was an ordinary person back in his previous life, but he wasn''t. Although he was not famous or anything similar, he had peak skills in everything but he liked to remain mysterious and secretive, so nobody knew about it. He liked to spend a lot of time thinking, and anything he tried went hard at the beginning but after that, he mastered it bit by bit. He never imagined something like this might happen in reality even though that was his biggest wish - to reincarnate in a martial world full of beauty and limitless opportunities. At that time he had no idea how his life would turn out, but he was happy that his wish finally came true. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 Ryuu and a white fox Part 1 When Ryuu woke up, it was already noon. He felt something soft near his cheek, which gave him a pleasured smile, grinning from ear to ear. When he opened his eyes, what he saw was was a silky pure white blanket that felt like a smooth fur. Unable to resist its attractive feeling, he jumped on top of the blanket and started rolling around. - "Mmmh, it''s so soft. Aahh this is so nice, I can''t stop, help!" he thought to himself while enjoying silky smooth blanked and rolling in it like a pancake. Rolled in the blanket he suddenly remembered something. At that moment, his look wandered off through a window into the colorful forest. - "I wonder where is that fox now. It''s so cute, I have to find it for sure this time!" he resolved himself. He stood up and glanced through the window staring blankly. If someone saw him at that time, he would certainly seem like a grown-up man thinking about his past, but he''s merely a two-year-old child. That kind of scene would definitely perplex someone if he saw it. When Ryuu noticed his own appearance, his soul almost flew out and turned around panic-stricken. - "Crap! I almost forgot that I am only 2 years old now. That was close, luckily nobody saw me." the thought passed while he pondered about something. - "I have to know more about this world as soon as possible. I''ll ask parents to go out and play for a bit longer today." he thought to himself as he grinned with a cute smile. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - "Mom, dad, thanks for the blanket!" Ryuu shouted while running down the stairs to his parents. - "We are glad you like it hehe, come ''ere". A figure picked up little kid running towards her. - "Why did you buy it though?" - "Silly child, that''s not something you should care about. As long as you like it, it''s all good", said Haruhi with a gentle smile on her face. - "That''s right Ryuu, you are still small and you shouldn''t care about those kinds of things. Did you sleep well?" A melodious male voice said with a kind tone. - "Yep, it''s very comfy hehe, thank you." a petite sincere smile appeared on his face. - "So what are you going to do now?" - "I wanna go play a little deeper in the forest mom! Can I? Please?" Ryuu asked opening his eyes wide like an excited kid. Enchanting purple eyes with long eyelashes were the ultimate weapon of this little fellow. - "You little rascal, how can I say no to those eyes? You can, but don''t go far inside the forest, okay?" - "Yes!" a small cute shout escaped his mouth. - "But why can''t I go deeper?" he asked curiously. At this time his father interrupted. - "Ryuu-chan you can''t go inside since it''s very dangerous. That forest is the biggest one in our region and there are a lot of spirit beasts inside so you shouldn''t go too far yet. After you awaken your spirit completely, we will talk again." his father interrupted. - "Dad, have you seen a real spirit beast?" his curiosity surged to peak when he heard that. - "Yes, but you are too young now so there is no going inside. They are very dangerous and some will even attack you first. If you see one, run as fast as you can!". - "Okay dad, got it. I''ll be super super careful. Mmh, I definitely will!" Ryuu said while straightening his back looking like a little man there which made his parents laugh. - Looking after their kid running off cheerfully, Haruhi shouted: "Ryuu don''t get dirty again or you will get a beating this time!". - "Okay mom, I promise!" little voice rang out from some distance away. - "He is certainly energetic like you, Aito." she said looking discontented. - Aito embraced his wife from behind and slowly whispered near her ear "Why are you sulking Haruhi-chan, it''s good for his growth hehe". following up with a peck on a cheek. - "No fair, you always use that trick to put me off!!" - "Don''t worry he''s our son, even if he did encounter a spirit beast, he can''t get hurt for sure ... and you know it too." - "I do but, I feel uneasy when I think of the fact that we can''t see him. What if someone takes him away? What will we do if he gets lost?". - "Are you forgetting what happened when he was born?" he said and straightened up like standing up to heavens and earth, immovable and palatial like a mountain. "The proud Asura never bends to any law, and him, well, he''s a bit special. Although you probably didn''t know, even I can''t see through his soul." - "That!" she exclaimed in shock. - "How is that possible?!" she had a look of disbelief on her face. - "I have no idea but our son would surpass us both, be sure of that." - "Yes, I''m sure he will be fine but did you find a reason why you can''t see through his soul?" Aito silently shook head and filled his eyes with a proud look. - "If I can''t, then there is no person capable of doing it on this world. We, proud Asuras will always be the strongest!" he muttered aloud and grinned from ear to ear. - "Asura this Asura that, are you forgetting about your dear wife?" - "How could I, you fool?" he looked into her deep blue eyes and not long after their lips fell on each other surrounded by fluttering sakura petals, riding the wind and singing a song of life like they share their love and happiness. - "So sweet kuku." Aito said as he stole a glance at bright red Haruhi in his bosom. - "Fool, my big fool! I love you Aito." - "I love you too, my little princess." he said and looked at the sky, reminiscing about the night his child came to this world. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - "Aito, do you think it''ll be a boy or a girl?" - "I don''t know but I''m sure our child will be very strong." - "Why are you so sure, you said that a million times but never gave a reason?" Aito looked up and pointed at the sky "Do you want to see it?" - "What?" - "A reason." - "You mean ..." - "Yes, I can see it, but it''s something out of our league, our son will surely be influenced by it. I don''t know why but I have that feeling" - "Quickly, show me!" A strong vortex twisted and powerful consciousness spread to Haruhi from her husband transmitting everything he feels directly to her. - "That ..... what is that!?" - "That''s divine soul, the strongest kind any universe can contain. Although I don''t know why it appeared in the fourth dimension but as a matter of fact, no one besides me can sense it. I have a feeling that it''s related to our son somehow but I''m not sure why I feel like that." - "Well, I''m sure! I''m definitely sure. That bright point has the same aura as this little fellow here." She said pointing to the baby in her womb. - "Really?" Aito inquired excitedly. - "Yes, I''m definitely sure... aaaaaaaaahhhh!!!". She started screaming all of a sudden making Aito panic-stricken and rushing near her instantly. - "What''s wrong?" He asked in a worried tone. - "It''s coming, I felt it kick and, and then something broke." she started panting and breathing hard. "Baby''s going to be born soon, quickly prepare everything!!" After a while... - "It''s coming out! Aito here it comes!" Haruhi''s pained voice yelled. - "Haruhi, push. Take a deep breath and push slowly I will help you circulate energy and ease the pain." Aito said rushing near Haruhi and placing his warm palm on her belly. All of a sudden a loud thunderbolt pierced the roof of their house frightening Haruhi and Aito. A split second later nine dragons emanating nine-colored shockwaves appeared in the room painting whole room in nine colored halos and circling above them. However, an unexpected event took place; one pitch black dragon pierced in the middle falling right above Haruhi''s womb and coiling around the heart of a soon-to-be-born baby. It was as fast as lightning and completely unstoppable leaving Aito with no slightest chance to guard his wife against it. Aito jumped frightened trying to shield his wife but divine dragons could not be affected like they didn''t exist in their plane at all. Aito then remembered about nine-colored sphere he saw and soon a wild idea popped up in his heart. Haruhi''s painful panting suddenly stopped and she didn''t feel any pain as the energy from nine dragons surrounded her, bathing her in the comfortable aura and vigorous power which after a few breaths condensed into a pin sized sphere of nine colored light and slowly submerged to her womb. Aito, having his idea confirmed, fiercely turned around looking at the same direction in the sky where the divine soul previously was, with eyes widened and overflowing with disbelief. - "Could it really be ... no, it''s impossible, this ... how can this be???" Haruhi''s mouth was already in ''O'' shape and her jaw almost hit the floor trembling with mixed emotions. "Is it really ... those dragons... no way!" she glanced to her belly and started trembling even harder. It''s not only her who trembled, but Aito also fell on his knees losing all the power to support him. But a surge of power filled him from strong energy that appeared a while ago. Having absorbed it he regained his strength a bit and then like a loud thunder he started laughing; "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA THIS IS MAGNIFICENT! Our child has a d-divine soul! Hahahahahahahaha, Haruhi we hit the jackpot I love you so much hahahahaha" Aito was roaring loudly seeming like a madman going crazy and occasionally looking at his wife with teary crimson eyes that radiated happy and vicious aura. After a few moments, he calmed down, "How do you feel? Is everything okay with your body, quick let me see!". Aito came near his wife sensing her body condition. As soon as his consciousness came in contact with a little sphere in her abdomen, he shook fiercely like he was struck by lightning. After the sudden change, he took his mental strength back and caught his breath calming down again. Haruhi saw her husband in an unstable state so she reassured him that she and baby are both fine dissipating a little remaining worry in his heart - "I''m perfectly fine and there is no more pain." She remained silent for a few moments looking at her bulging stomach and then "Did that really happen? Oh my ... I still can''t believe it." she uttered once more. As Aito was preparing to hug her, melodious but quiet dragon roar reverberated and then ... "Waaaaaa .... uwaaaaa" a crying baby sound entered their ears. Both Haruhi and Aito smiled as if there was no tomorrow looking at their newborn child filled with endless love. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- As Aito remembered all those scenes, his soul trembled once more. He knew how oppressing those nine dragons were first-hand, but what filled him with fear the most is that one black dragon that pierced like lightning. In that instant, he felt like everything in surroundings stagnated and prostrated itself to the black dragon. Having remembered what took place then, he looked at his wife again and reassured her once more. "Yeah, he certainly won''t have any matter hahahaha!" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile, in a colorful forest little boy was cheerfully running and singing a song making surroundings seeping with emotions. His song wasn''t clearly recognizable in a matter of words, but emotions carried all their meaning to all living beings in his vicinity. Plants and trees lightly swayed towards him seeming like dancing to the melody of his song. When Ryuu noticed this he stopped and looked around himself for some time determining the position where he is currently. He calculated that his current position is still near the edge of this big forest so he decided to take a quick break before going deeper. Ryuu found a good place leaning on a nearby tree and started thinking about his previous world. His mind began wandering into the distance somewhere beyond the bounds of the world "I never knew your wish coming true would feel like this. I don''t even miss my old world anymore heh~." he thought, glancing to the sky. The sky on this planet was a bit special, different from Earth. There were nine planets in a total of which four or five were always visible regardless of time. The sky had unreal feeling saturated by several colors blending together which reminded him of Aurora on Earth. Unlike his previous planet, this one did not have sun - it was revolving around a black hole multiple times bigger in diameter than any of the planets surrounding it. Disregarding the fact that there was no sun, it was still bright and warm from the excess energy in black hole''s accretion disc. Ryuu looked at black hole twisting surrounding space and leaving only darkness behind. Looking at that marvelous sight Ryuu secretly decided that he''ll become very strong so that he can explore the vast space and fulfill all the wishes he had from the previous world that he had no chance to complete. As Ryuu was immersed in his thoughts a familiar sense surged in his heart prompting him to glance to the nearby forest. There stood one petite spirit beast staring at him with its head near the ground, seeming like it would pounce any second. When he saw that figure, he was filled with joy - it was a little white fox not longer than half a meter, meaning that it was still a cub. But his happiness was for the fact that it was the same fox he chased previously. To be continued... 3 Ryuu and a white fox Part 2 Ryuu wanted to get up and go near little fox, but he thought it might run away if he did, therefore, he remained stationary without moving an inch. After pondering for a bit he got an idea and decided to try it out so he closed his eyes pretending not to notice her, but at the same time, he spread his consciousness into surrounding 50 meters in diameter and observed little fox''s movements. Even he had no idea why he could spread his consciousness outward when his spirit was still dormant but since he could he decided not to think about it too much. Seeing the fox remain in the same place without moving a bit, he felt that something was amiss "Why did it run away previously if it didn''t this time?" He couldn''t help but wonder and soon he got an idea "Wait, ... let me try it out." he thought and made small movement opening his mouth a bit. As soon as he did that, faint melody from before spread to his surroundings and it was the same one he was singing not long ago when coming here. At the same time, the melody was resonating with surrounding plants and trees, he focused on a little fox. To his surprise, he couldn''t feel fox anymore and thought that it already left which had made him instantly sad. He continued singing for a bit more and as he was about to stop something soft touched his forehead. A nice and warm feeling spread from his head all the way through his body and he wondered why was this feeling so familiar. At that moment he thought, "Wait, isn''t this the same feeling as my blanket?!" and then slowly opened his eyes to see what was going on. However, what he did not expect at all actually happened. Little fox he wanted to play with came on its own and placed its head on his forehead. His body jerked as if he got pierced by a needle and in panic stopped singing. As he did that, suddenly ... - "Huh, why did you stop it''s a beautiful song?" thought spread in his mind. Then for the following next seconds, he temporarily lost an ability to think as his brain was processing what actually happened. "Did I imagine it or .... he thought. "What, is it that strange?" " ..... Y-YOU CAN ACTUALLY TALK!" Ryuu blurted out looking at a fox with a very excited look. "Of course I can, were you not aware of that?" little fox transmitted her thoughts while removing her head an stepping back. "You ... how?" "So you chased me without even knowing what I truly am?" the fox asked. "What do you mean?" he inquired. "You are in presence of the Heavenly Spirit Fox, overlord of Sacred Spirit Forest". "Wait a bit, let me understand this situation first." Ryuu said holding his head in amazement. Little fox stepped back two more steps and stared with golden eyes straight at little Ryuu holding his head trying to understand what happened. After a while Ryuu said: "So you can actually transmit your thoughts directly to my mind, okay I understand that part." he said letting his head go. "And what was that about being overlord of this forest? You are so small, not much bigger than me. How can you be overlord with that appearance?" Ryuu inquired looking at little fox nearly his size, waiting for her reply. "Eh, you are surprisingly calm for a little kid. I thought kids like you wouldn''t know anything regarding spirit beasts." the fox said looking at him with admiration, then continued. "True, I''m only this big how could I be overlord with this petite appearance, but that doesn''t mean I have no relations with the true overlord. Now then, can you guess what relations?" as the little fox said, she jumped making an arc in the air and landed in front of Ryuu. She looked a bit at him and sat down like a pet in front of its owner, flapping excitedly with tail left and right. The distance between them was only half a meter and for the first time, Ryuu could clearly see how this cute little spirit beast looked like. Little fox''s fur was completely white like Ryuu''s hair reflecting surrounding light almost like a jade carving. If someone saw them sitting like that and looking at each other, they would think that fox and kid have something in common from the way they behaved. Little golden eyes looked at opposite enchanting purple and seemed like they were deeply attracted to them. How could spirit beast be attracted to human? That''s one question everyone would ask but Ryuu was no ordinary human, he just wasn''t aware of it yet. Seeing little fox in front of him Ryuu extended his little white hand trying to cuddle her. Unexpectedly, the fox didn''t run away and actually lowered its head like saying "Go ahead". While Ryuu caressed her furry head and touched her sharp cute ears, he said: "My guess is that overlord is your mother, right?". "For such a small kid you are actually very smart, aren''t you?" the fox said and came closer to lick Ryuu''s face after which she began playing joyfully with him. "Eh, that''s my little secret, I hope you can keep it." Ryuu said sincerely looking at cute fox running quickly left and right. Although the fox was small she was also fast and loved playing and cuddling with Ryuu like they knew each other for a long time. "Rest assured I never go near humans, and I would certainly not tell my mother. But you must keep a secret as well." "You mean about your mother?" "Smart kid aren''t you?" the fox said seeming to smile at Ryuu. "Aren''t we both kids though?" "Haha certainly, but there is a difference." "Oh, what kind of difference? I''m really interested." "I''m quite a bit older than you hehe" little fox said striking a pose with head up high. That made Ryuu chuckle and laugh at her appearance, bringing them little closer even though they saw each other not long ago. "How much older could that be?" he asked curiously staring at her with mysterious and beautiful purple eyes. White fox remained silent for a bit, stunned from the look Ryuu gave her and his magnificent purple eyes then smiled like human saying: "In human years, hmm it would be around 996 years old, when I break through a thousand mother said I''d evolve somehow but didn''t tell me precisely what will change. She said it will be a surprise." Fox replied not caring about the fact that her little friend was human. " ... Wow, that''s awesome. Is that why you can talk? And by the way, why are you telling me so much? How can you trust me so easily?" Ryuu was perplexed so he asked. Although his mind was of a 25-year-old, there was still that childish curious nature in him seemingly from the fact that his physical brain was still that of a kid. "No, that''s not the reason I can talk with you, but that''s not important for now you will find out later. About my trust in you, well I don''t know why but I feel familiarity and closeness when I''m around you. That''s why I approached otherwise I''d have already run far away on first sight of the human." Fox said approaching Ryuu then curling up on his legs and leaning on his small body. She began letting out happy noises like "Ku" and "Hua" rapidly breathing and enjoying his ultimate work of caressing and petting her fur. "Huh, what do you mean?" Ryuu asked in surprise. "When I tried talking to other humans they would behave strangely and would try to catch me for their greedy desires like taking my fur or killing me for their cultivation. That''s why I hate humans, they are so greedy although I didn''t know why but when you chased me I didn''t feel greed in your heart so I decided to try talking with you." fox''s thoughts transmitted to his brain. "And as you see I succeeded". "So, that means only I understand you besides other beasts?" "Well, something like that so would you mind telling me why you chased me? It didn''t seem like you wanted to hurt me." "You see, I wanted to play with you and bring you home with me because I thought you were very cute, but now that seems impossible in multiple ways." Ryuu said lowering his head. "Why do you think so?" the fox put her paw on his head like a mother comforting a child that did something bad and asked curiously. "First I doubt you would willingly come with me now that you know what my intentions were and second I couldn''t bring you home even by force since you are bigger and faster than me." he said apologetically looking at her golden eyes. "Maybe I will if you just ask ... why don''t you try?" fox got up and sat in front of Ryuu transferring her thoughts to him. "Huh?" a confused face appeared on little kid across her. "What huh, I said I might come with you if you just ask nicely!" "Really???" excited Ryuu jumped from his sitting position and appeared head-to-head with white fox. "I will think about it, but if you want me to go home with you, you must first come with me for a bit." Little fox said that and stood up going in forest''s direction. Ryuu remembered his parent''s reminder not to go deeper and wondered whether he should follow little fox or not. His heart was already overflowing with excitement and that made him resolve himself to follow her. Ryuu caught up with little fox and followed her closely not falling even a step behind with a wide grin on his face. After a while of chattering with each other, fox stopped and lowered her body near a ground level making sure not to get her white fur tainted. "Why did you stop?" Ryuu asked. "Hop on or we''ll never get there." the little fox said pointing with one paw to her back. Ryuu was confused at first but quickly understood what she meant. His little body climbed up her back and hugged her tightly reminding him once again of his soft blanket. "Good boy, now hold tightly or you will fall down." As she said that, her fur glowed with nine colored light surprising both her and Ryuu who got scared and quickly loosened his grip. "What was that?" the little fox asked turning her head and looking at Ryuu with a confused expression. "I thought it was you, I have no idea!" Ryuu said seeming even more confused than his little friend. "No it wasn''t, it scared the hell out of me!" she exclaimed. "Never mind, hold on here we go." she said running off to a distant place with a little guy on her back. Ryuu relaxed and hugged her tightly again and nine colored light shone again, but this time from both of them wrapping faint thread of light around their bodies seeming like a coiling dragon. They got surprised again but this time they didn''t stop. "Here it is again!" the little fox said. "Let''s find out what it is, don''t let go." and burst out with extreme speed while nine-colored wisp flared up instantly covering them both in a nine colored transparent sphere. As they sped through the forest it seemed like small nine-colored meteor rushed through protecting both forms inside it. Ryuu was surprised at first but when noticing there was no strong wind or repulsive force, he opened his eyes looking at rapid changing scenery around him. As they progressed further bit by bit Ryuu had already gotten used to the extreme speed and excitedly peeked left and right amazed by the diversity of surrounding plants. There were few times where they came near some strange spirit beasts Ryuu saw for the first time, but those beasts seemed as if not noticing two forms rushing which confused him but he trusted his dear little friend so he didn''t inquire about it leaving that for after they arrive at their destination. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- At the center of big forest on vast fiery red and pure white grass, there was a big white form with crimson golden stripes going through its fur and giving off a terrifying aura that could pierce right through the heavens and earth. That form was a big nine-tailed fox that had four completely crimson legs bellow certain point and two golden red eyes with vertical pupils glaring fiercely at the distance like she saw something that made her big form shiver. At first, she couldn''t believe that something could make her dread but her assumption got confirmed when she spotted nine colored light and two forms running at extreme speed toward her. Her big crimson eyes radiated glowing red aura as golden marking resembling vertical eye appeared on the top of her head. When that eye appeared it was already focused in direction of those two forms and in that instant, her whole body started shivering fiercely and fell on the ground due to her legs losing all their strength. A few moments later from the same direction it was looking at, two little forms appeared surrounded by nine colored light standing there seeming like they noticed big shivering fox on the ground. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Mother!" little fox cried out jumping down and coming next to her shivering mother. "Why did you bring a human here, furthermore one so dangerous? Do you wish to die, you stupid child?" Big fox inquired little fox in front of her looking at the petite kid on her back. "Human, state your purpose here or you else ..." Big fox said, her eyes flaring up with a fiery golden-red halo like a ruthless and bloodthirsty monster. Before Ryuu could even open his mouth to say something, little fox below him interrupted. "It''s alright mother, he''s not dangerous. He is my dearest friend and he won''t hurt us because he is different from other humans." the little fox said lowering her body so that Ryuu could come off her. When Ryuu touched the ground nine-colored halo retreated inside of him which made him very surprised and he curiously stared at his own body. "What do you mean your ''dearest'' friend, you couldn''t possibly be ... " here, her words stopped not daring to finish that sentence, glancing at the little guy then to her daughter relaxing several points while standing up with previous oppression gone. Little fox seemed to have understood her mother and lowered her head in shame like a child that did something bad. Then she looked up resolutely and said*: "That''s right, I don''t know why but I seem to like him very much and feel very close to him and besides he likes me too so there''s no problem." the little fox said coming to Ryuu''s side and putting her head atop of his own and her paws on his shoulders. At that moment, Ryuu felt something heavy on his back turning his head up and petting little fox''s head above him. "Hooh, he''s surprisingly calm for such a little kid, but do you know that he gives off a strong and domineering aura. I didn''t even have the confidence to stand up when I saw that bright halo. What''s up with it?" big fox glared at Ryuu once again but with no hostility this time, there was just surprise and curiosity. Little Ryuu who was previously watching and ''listening''** to their talk without uttering a single word, opened his mouth and weak voice resounded. (To be continued...) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- * (said) - they aren''t really talking, as mentioned fox''s using telepathy to communicate and Ryuu is the only one who is talking. I''m using ''said'' because it''s easier than always writing ''she transmitted her thoughts''. ** (listening) - he can hear them through telepathy because the little fox was constantly sharing her thoughts with him. 4 Ryuu and a white fox Part 3 "Is this your mother?" Ryuu asked his little friend curiously unable to take his eyes off from the magnificent big fox in front of him. "Yeah, I wanted to bring you here first to meet her before I go with you." little fox answered. "Greetings, honored overlord of this beautiful forest." Ryuu said and bowed towards the magnificent big fox staring at him. If you could imagine the appearance of a two-year-old kid uttering those words while bowing, you would certainly laugh. "Hahahaha, this little fellow is interesting" - yeah, just like the big fox did. "So kid, how did you meet with this little rascal here?" little fox''s mother inquired glancing at her. "Well, when I first saw her I felt familiarity so I wanted to bring her home with me so I could keep her by my side all the time." Ryuu replied. "Oh, so she ran away the first time you two met?" the big fox asked for confirmation. "Yeah, at that time I was very sad. It felt like my beloved family was taken away from me but I don''t know why I felt like it when we didn''t even meet before." He muttered aloud putting a hand on his chin. Seeing his appearance, big fox stared blankly for a while and smiled richly after which strong golden red light burst from her. Ryuu and the little fox got scared because neither of them knew what happened. Little fox felt like her mother had vanished, lost forever and she had a feeling like a big hand was squeezing her little heart, making her unable to breathe. "MOTHER!" her thought spread out like a storm visibly disturbed and in a panic that something happened to her mother. "Don''t worry child, I''m fine" voice rang out from the bright golden red aura. "Kid, come closer" gentle female voice faintly reached Ryuu''s ear. At that point, he was completely confused and had no idea what happened. Bright golden red aura dissipated slowly and female silhouette stepped out of it. That form was very beautiful, mature woman, seemingly in her early twenties just like his mother. She had perfect curves, long white hair fluttering in the wind and her eyes were bright crimson golden with vertical pupils inside. There were red lines here and there on her body resembling veins and there was faint light pulsating through them resembling white sparks occasionally passing through. Ryuu held his breath back when he saw grand human form in front of him a height reaching 1.8 meters. Compared with him who was nearly half a meter high she seemed palatial and domineering even though her beauty reminded him of his mother. He may seem like a two-year-old child, but what an impact this beautiful woman had on him as an ex-25-year-old guy? The impact was so big that his feelings were overflowing as he watched a beautiful woman squat to match his height extending her left hand to him. Ryuu then awakened from his train of thought and remembering what he heard, he slowly stepped forward going to woman squatting in front of him. When she saw Ryuu''s reaction a light smile appeared on her tender face radiating with pure beauty. After a few steps, Ryuu was in front of her passing his little hand to her big palm. What surprised him was how warm her hand was even though it was completely white like no blood was flowing through it. "Good boy, now you come here too." she said looking to her daughter not far away. Little fox jumped a few times and she was already in front of a magnificent woman. "Mom, how did you transform into that appearance and how can you speak human language?" little fox''s thoughts popped up in the minds of two people in front of her. "Do you remember about the secret you would discover when you break through 1000 years?" she asked little fox with a gentle look on her face while holding Ryuu''s little palm with her left hand and examining it carefully. "Yes, I remember" little fox replied. "You will be able to do it too when you break through, so wait for about four years and then your wish would come true at that time." she said with eyes filled with pure kindness almost like previous viciousness never existed. "What wish mother?" the little fox asked curiously. "Your wish regarding this little fellow here." girl replied pointing at Ryuu. "H-h..ow did you know? I never told anyone!" the little fox said with a panicked voice like her secret was uncovered that moment. "Haha, such a silly child whose kid do you think you are? It reminds me of when I was little" girl said looking at the vast sky caressing Ryuu''s hand and then glanced at her daughter with a happy grin on her face. "Kid, what is your name?" the girl asked little Ryuu. "Asura Ryuu, it is my pleasure to meet you, your excellency." the little guy replied. "Asu~ ... did you say Asura?" she asked, being visibly shaken. "Yes, Asura Ryuu. My father is Asura Aito and my mother is Asura Haruhi." Ryuu replied. "Kid, did your parents tell you anything about them?" girl recovered then asked gently. "No, is there a problem?" little Ryuu asked. "It is the best to remain that way for now. Do not worry though there is no problem, it''s just too early for you to know about them so when you grow up this aunt will tell you about it." the girl replied with a big smile. "Now then..." she continued while glancing at her daughter ".....should I tell him?". Little fox lowered her head avoiding their looks, and just one word entered their minds - "Um". Then she turned around and flashed away like a bolt of lightning leaving only "Whoom" behind her and with it strong wind impacted Ryuu and her mother. Ryuu was surprised as to why he was left with this woman alone and then... "Kid, listen here." the girl looked seriously at him and continued "That little brat is in love with you." and then a complete silence remained. Ryuu''s hand fell out of her and he stared like in front of him was an inexplicable scene. His emotions went berserk, wreaking havoc in his heart and faint black halo appeared around his heart and nine-colored halo in his lower dantian stabilizing his condition. For a two-year-old child, this was a great shock even more so because he never had a lover in his previous life. A girl looked at him expecting his reaction, he gathered a bit of strength to ask "Why?". "That, you will have to ask her when she comes back but I need to know your answer." the girl said "What should I answer?" he asked with a shivering voice and a little light ray reflected from a corner of his eye falling to the ground and breaking apart converting to water and sinking to the ground. It was a tear that fell down his cheek. Yes, a tear. First time since he reincarnated in this world, he cried. He cried for the fact that the second biggest wish from previous life came true - to feel loved sincerely aside from his father''s and mother''s love for him. "You should prepare an answer for when she comes back, are you willing to stay by her side or not?" the girl told him patiently. "Will it be possible, I am human and she is a spirit beast. If it is possible, then I swear on my life and pride that I''d protect her with my whole heart." little kid no older than two years said those words aloud. If his parents saw him like this they would likely fall unconscious due to lack of oxygen. "Why did you decide so fast?" the girl asked with a rich smile on her beautiful face. "This may sound a bit strange, but I''m not originally from this world." Ryuu said and looked to the sky. "So that''s why you are not at all like a little kid?" girl inquired with curiosity. "Yes. In my past life, my biggest wish was to reincarnate in another world from mine and second wish was ... " here he stopped for some time before continuing " ... to f-find someone who would sincerely love me ... a-and who I can ... who I can l-love with all my heart." he said with shivering voice after which he fell on his knees. Obviously, his small body was still too weak for that much emotions and he quickly lost his strength. "Then, how do you feel about my daughter?" girl came to Ryuu and embraced him caressing his head and expecting an answer. "I .. I thought that she was a cute fox and wanted to bring her home with me at first." "Oh, why is that?" the girl asked. "Because b-becau..se I felt familiar feeling when I saw her." his shivering voice said and he leaned back in a girl''s hold trying to restore his calmness. "Then, we met in the forest and I played with her a lot. Since that moment I was completely attached to her and even thought that it would be nice if she was a girl and we grew up together but I threw away my delusions about it. I did ... until your excellency transformed into human form." "At that moment I thought ''It would be nice if it was possible'', but I ... I never thought it really could be possible not to talk about the fact that she already fell in love with me." Ryuu said with tears streaming down his face again. "Say, Is it really possible for us to ... be together?" He asked after a few minutes. "Why don''t you ask her?" girl pointed in the direction of a nearby tree. Little fox appeared behind that tree, wiggling happily with her tail. It was obvious how excited she was because her tail was making a faint humming sound. "Do you really mean it?" thought entered his mind. Ryuu got choked with emotions once again upon seeing little white form and could just strongly nod once before fainting. Can you blame him, as a two-year-old boy his biggest dream in this world came true and it was too strong of an impact for his little constitution? Little fox appeared in an instant near unconscious Ryuu and as her mother placed him on the ground, she curled up around his body keeping him warm and as if shielding him from the rest of the world. Bright ray shone on the beautiful girl again and she transformed to ten meters big fox from before. "You heard him, now let me ask are you sure about your deci~" "Yes!" little fox interrupted her mother''s words. "I''m sure, I''m sure mom. I want to leave with him!". "Very well, then there are only two things left for you two to do." she said. "First, you have to make contract sealed by blood, and second, for the next four years both of you must remain here.". "NO! First one is okay but .. he is still a kid how can he remain four years here. His parents would worry about him and what if they go looking for him? You know better than me how strong they are." the little fox said looking panic-stricken at her mother. "Don''t worry about that, let''s wait for him to wake up first then we would solve both problems. Dear child, mother wishes you all the best and I hope you can be happy with your decision." she said remaining silent for a while and then continued in solemn and dignified voice "I will give my all to support you both but there is one big problem we have to solve." "What problem?" little fox inquired. Big fox was silent for a bit then... "What did you feel when you carried him here. What feeling gave off that nine-colored sphere to you?" she asked. "AH! Now that you mention it, we don''t know what that is but I got a sudden surge of power and both my spirit power and mental power increased multiple times. Do you know what it was?" little fox inquired. Big fox remained in silence for quite a time and then said: "Child, you picked the right partner for you. I''m sure of it now, you two can only belong to each other." she said looking at the sky as if remembering something painful. "What do you mean mom?" the little fox asked, covering Ryuu with her fluffy tail. "Nhh... don''t run ..ome back .. I love... ...ou" faint voice resounded. As if by prior agreement, both foxes looked at Ryuu laying on the ground. Little fox brought her head on top of his and said "I''m here, from now on I''ll always be here" her thought entered Ryuu''s head and calmed him down. After she was sure Ryuu returned to normal, she glanced at her mother as if asking something. "I''m sure you two saw me lying on the ground when you came, right?" her mother asked. "Yes, what happened?" the little fox asked in an uneasy tone. "When I was observing you two as you were approaching, that nine-colored sphere completely isolated both of you and I couldn''t penetrate it. Instead, it was me who got mental power backfired causing me to lose my strength therefore I collapsed." "That sort of thing happened?!" the little fox asked in surprise. "Yes, but did you notice something strange with this kid?" the big fox asked. "No, is there something wrong?" "When I used my mental power all-out under spirit eye condition to penetrate into his spiritual domain he was completely unaffected and calm. But I wasn''t. I saw one terrifying existence in this kid, nothing in this world can describe it." "What?" "Around his heart, there is a black dragon. Although it is very small in size, the feeling it gives off is something only God''s aura can achieve. I''m not sure whether this is coincidence or not, but he will definitely have a long life and will certainly be very very strong in future." the big fox said with a dreadful look in her eyes. "Child, you must protect each other well in life and for that reason, both of you will remain with me following four years. You have to get stronger so you could have the power to protect each other when you transform into human form." "Wasn''t his spirit supposed to be dormant until the fifth year, how can he train?" the little fox asked. "Do you really think someone like him will need five years to fuse with Soul Spirit?" "He won''t?" the little fox asked happily. "No, his spirit already begun awakening, that''s why you two could resonate with each other and why that nine-colored light appeared." "Wait, doesn''t that mean that we can fuse with each other?" little fox excitedly asked "It should be. That''s why I will train you both until you break through the thousand-year limit. Rest well, later we are going to pay a visit to his parents." "Okay." the little fox said glancing at calm Ryuu sleeping peacefully in front of her and after a while, she fell asleep too. Just as she was falling asleep, she jerked awake and shouted "Ryuu, are you okay" with one bad premonition spreading in her heart. Next moment... "ROARRRRRRRR...." several deafening dragon roars resounded scaring both foxes near Ryuu and ten dragons emerging from him, two of them being similar color - one black with golden green stripes and eyes, another black with bloody golden red stripes and eyes shaking whole surrounding area with that mighty roar. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 Twin Soul Spirits, Dragon God Fusion! At the time Ryuu was unconscious, somewhere in a separate realm beyond space and time... Ryuu found himself in a vast black space. There was nothing but endless darkness here. "Where am I?" Ryuu tried to say but no voice appeared. "Is this vacuum?" He thought. "Wait, how did I get here? ..... Ah right, did all that really happen or is it just a dream? Can both of us really be together?" he was overflowing with questions and there were faint emotions pulsating. But there was only silence in this world, not even his heartbeat could be heard. "Wait, heartbeat?" Ryuu thought and looked down only to find his body that grew up to, what seemed, twelve years old. "Wow, is this me in ten years?" He thought. Then white flash appeared not far away from him and white female figure manifested. That figure looked completely human except for spiky ears on top of her head and ten fox tails behind her - Green Black, Red Black, White, Blue, Golden, Silver, Red, Green, Purple, and Violet. When Ryuu saw that form he was confused until vicious but gentle aura washed over him. His focus immediately fell on those ten tails and familiar feeling surged within his heart. Only at this moment did Ryuu feel his heart and from his lower dantian, extremely bright nine-colored sphere flew out expanding at astonishing speed and swallowing everything in its path. Humanoid form flashed arriving in front of Ryuu in an instant and like a wisp of ten colors integrated his body. Ryuu only thought that marvelous feeling spread as he integrated this whole world covered in nine bright colors. Previous female form transformed into pitch black dragon and grew to enormous size with a wingspan of over 20 kilometers and body covering his whole view. That dragon''s golden green eyes stared viciously at Ryuu who was floating below him. From Ryuu''s perspective, the big black dragon looked palatial like a planet and specific familiar power surged through his whole body madly rushing through his veins dying them green. It seemed like it rejected this nine colored world but that enormous black-green dragon was the core of this whole plane. Next moment, the dragon reduced to one and a half meter and like a lightning bolt flew toward Ryuu. Ryuu didn''t resist because he felt that black dragon with bright green eyes is part of him. As soon as black-green lightning hit him, it coiled around his whole body and after a few breaths, a marvelous transformation took place. Pitch black scales with lime golden glowing sparkles appeared all over Ryuu''s body resembling green stars in the endless sky and his eyes turned completely green flaring up madly and his pupils became vertical appearing more enchanting than the previous purple. His hands turned into two massive dragon claws each having five claws instead of usual four that appeared on most dragons. There were green veins all over Ryuu''s black scaled body and claw tips were pitch black but it seemed as if they were devouring everything in this space. All of a sudden, dignified voice spread through the space "Asura Ryuu, do you accept Dragon God of Destruction as your Soul Spirit?" "Yes!" with slightly deep but strong and domineering voice Ryuu answered with obvious excitement in his heart. "Then, from this moment onward we form an unbreakable bond - a bond of Divine Soul and Spirit.". As dignified voice spread through nine colored space, all around Ryuu started shivering and nine-colored realm began fluctuating like boiling water. A dignified voice once more resonated in this endless space "Dragon God of Destruction, Asura Ryuu!". A dignified voice resounded through endless space like a tide. After that voice ended, black scales retreated inside of Ryuu and his eyes returned to bright purple with circular pupils. Just as he thought everything was over, nine colored space broke like glass and nine dragons entered this space. Black Red, White, Blue, Golden, Silver, Red, Green, Purple, Violet. Nine dragons with separate colors respectively roared out to the black endless world. "Asura Ryuu, do you accept Dragon God of Creation as your Soul Spirit?" Ryuu was surprised and excited so much that he was already trembling. "What''s this? Second Spirit? Is this second spirit? Would they fuse?" He thought and regaining his senses, he said as before: Dignified and deep "Yes!" "Then, from this moment onward we form an unbreakable bond - a bond of Divine Soul and Spirit." Ryuu became excited waiting to see what would happen after his second Soul Spirit fuses with his previous Soul Spirit. "Dragon God of Creation, Asura Ryuu!". A dignified voice resounded once more. If he could move at this time, Ryuu would certainly be jumping for joy. Suddenly his body had a transformation. The whole body was covered in diamond-like big nine colored scales where only on his claws there was a difference. Each claw had a different color: Black Green, Golden, Green, Purple and Blue on his left claw and Black Red, Silver, Red, Violet and White on his right claw. His left eye turned Golden Green while his Right Eye turned Bloody Golden Red making him float there like a deity. Vertical pupils had extremely strong vortexes inside that could strip any being of its soul. "ROARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!" x 10 Ten dragons roared in unison spreading all kinds of various mood through the black space. At that moment "CRACK~" few loud cracks appeared, entire space around him collapsing then being sucked in specular black armor similar to a black hole. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back in the real world. Ryuu''s body floated off the ground startling his future wife and mother-in-law. On little fox, excited mood and joy was obvious as she looked at those ten dragons dancing in the air above the body of her future lover whereas she felt as if they were summoning something inside her. She stared at those dragons waiting to see what would happen when all of them merged and integrated with Ryuu. Next moment, the amazing scene took place; Space around Ryuu fiercely twisted like a paper being crushed ... "ROAR!" deafeningly strong and vicious dragon roar escaped Ryuu''s mouth. His body shone with ten colors looking like a small sun floating a few meters from the ground. To their surprise, the sky began twisting and several dark clouds appeared directly over Ryuu. In an instant, ten colorful thunderbolts madly pierced from the clouds hitting right on the chest of a little body floating above the ground, helpless to do anything. Exactly at that moment, Ryuu woke up. "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" loud scream escaped his mouth. "HNGGGG" he shouted "What is this, it hurts as hell" little Ryuu screamed in agony. Big fox was already shaking in fear unable to move an inch from that enormous oppression and it could only prostrate itself before Heaven. On Ryuu''s front, near the heart, appeared one black coiling dragon tattoo with golden green eyes. It had long pitch black body coiling in a wavy circular pattern with rhombic shaped scales and bright green stars all over its body. But on his back appeared nine colored winged dragon tattoo with Green and Red eye and its wings spreading across Ryuu''s little body with dragon''s tail reaching all the way to the bottom of his spine. This dragon had diamond-shaped scales and two big ten colored claws and its horns were bloody golden red. After a few breaths, Ryuu came down on the ground and clouds above him dispersed. "That was painful" he exclaimed with quick breath trying to restore his normal rhythm. As he got on the ground one white shadow jumped on him and they both fell. "RYUU, I''m glad you are fine. What''d I do if something happened to you?!" little fox looked at Ryuu nailed to the ground and if it could, it''d certainly cry. "It''s okay, everything''s okay don''t worry. It passed." Ryuu said reassuring his little dear friend. "What happened just now?" he asked. Little fox sat near him and started narrating recent events that took place just now. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Why is Ryuu not back yet?" Haruhi asked her husband staring at dark clouds above the forest. "Could something have happened to him? Dear should we go search for him?" she asked panic-stricken. "Calm down, Haruhi. Ryuu will be fine I know it." Aito reassured his wife that their son is okay. As time passed, Ryuu was already absent from home for about ten hours. "Aito, I feel like something happened to him. Those clouds looked dangerous. And those ten thunderbolts all hit one place ... what if..." here, she stopped and didn''t dare finish that sentence. "You worry too much dear, as I said we both know how strong he is, don''t we. I''m sure he''s just looking for that fox he mentioned earlier." Aito said. "I hope you are right, but if he doesn''t come back in three hours we are going to search for him okay?" Haruhi turned around looking at her husband with teary eyes. "Okay, but only after three hours." Aito replied. "You promise?" "I promise, silly girl." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Both of you, come here." the big fox said. Ryuu and little fox that were cuddling with each other got up and approached big fox. "Are you certain about your decisions from earlier?" "Yes!" Both of them answered at the same time. "Good, then you need to do soul binding ritual now, are you ready?" "What is that?" Ryuu asked. "That''s ritual where both of you embrace each other giving up yourself to your partner and connecting as one soul spiritually. After that, you can feel each other''s thoughts and condition of your partner regardless of the distance. There are also a few more useful functions of this ritual, but I''ll leave that up to you to find out." "Okay, I understand. I''m ready" Ryuu said. "Me too" little fox shared her thought. "Let me prepare necessary materials, you two go for a bit then come back after that we are going to your parents Ryuu". "Eh, why?" "You will be staying with me following four years until your dear lover transforms to human form. I''ll be training you so that you can protect each other." "I have one question." Ryuu said. "Go ahead." big fox replied. "How should I call both of you?" Here mother and daughter looked at each other and smiled at the same time. "You can call me Akashiro*." the big fox said. "As for her, you will give her a name during that ritual. Think about it carefully since she wouldn''t be ordinary human anymore after she changes form. The name must be good or you will have to deal with me later, humph!" Akashiro sneered at Ryuu while saying last part. "So I''m naming my own lover eh?" Ryuu thought to himself then said: "Rest assured mother-in-law I''ll pick the best name for her I can think of." "You better do. Go now let me prepare everything." Akashiro said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Ryuu, are you really okay with staying here four years?" the little fox asked "Yeah, if it''s with you I definitely won''t regret it, haha." Ryuu said smiling shyly at his future lover, little white fox.** "What do you think, how hard will the training be?" Ryuu asked. "Since it''s my mother, I''m sure it will be pretty harsh. Especially because she wants to teach us how to defend ourselves." the little fox said "No matter what it takes, I''ll protect you forever." "Ryuu, is it me or did you grow up a bit?" the little fox asked. Ryuu said "Eh, wait let me see" while standing up to measure his height. When he noticed that he''s a bit taller than little fox across him, his surprised smile instantly appeared. "You''re right, I''m higher five centimeters than before." Ryuu said pondering whether it was a side effect from awakening his Soul Spirit(s). "Since my Spirit awoke, do you want to try running with me again to check if nine colored light will appear again?" Ryuu asked Little fox instantly jumped and cheerfully replied "Yes, let''s try" lowering her body a bit so Ryuu can climb up. As soon as she began running powerful halo enveloped them but this time, it was different. Not just nine colors appeared this time, there was tenth - another black with a few green sparkles. When Ryuu felt that aura around him, his blood seethed with excitement and little fox disappeared with him without a trace. They appeared about a hundred meters in front of their initial position. "Did we just ..." little fox thought. "Yeah, it seems like we did." Ryuu said. "Wow, that was amazing." Fox said. "Is that how spatial control works?" Ryuu thought to himself and decided to try again. After he focused they disappeared again reappearing nearby, but only 70 meters from original location this time. After Ryuu used this power the second time, he felt very tired like someone drained his energy more than half. "It seems like I can use it only three times for now and range reduces with each consecutive teleport." he said. "Don''t overuse it we at least know what your current limits are." the little fox said. "Ahem, you two lovebirds. Come back we are ready to go." Akashiro''s voice resounded in their mind. They looked at each other and ran off back to the predetermined place where ritual will be held. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * - Aka - Red, Shiro - White. I don''t know if it''s good since I''m not from Japan but if there is a better name for it, feel free to suggest. ** - (I know it sounds strange, please bear with it for now. For the sake of their love :D) 6 Soul Contract, Tenko and Ryuu When Ryuu and a little fox came to the predetermined place they saw great array laid on red and white grass. Peculiar aura emanated from an array which had a gloomy blue glow, being in contrast with surrounding plants and making it impossible not to notice its magnificence. In each array''s corner, there is a glowing gem of a different color. There are 10 different gems illuminating whole array and its surroundings into the ten-colored. That scene resembles a rainbow, being its mini version and refracting halos instead of stripes in a circular manner. When Ryuu saw those gems, he thought "Is this coincidence or perhaps ..." he wondered but quickly let the matter go. "It doesn''t matter anyway so let''s get this over with." he said to himself. "What should we do?" Ryuu asked his mother-in-law. Akashiro right now is of human appearance like the one he first saw when he came here. "Stand in the middle of it and relax your mind." she said pointing at the center of the array. In that center, there is something akin to a Yin-Yang symbol. In one side of it stood little white fox merging entirely with surroundings while at other was Ryuu staring at his partner with light grin pinned to his petite white face. Akashiro asked once again "Are you both ready?". Double "Yes" resounded as she began dancing and making strange movements with her hands. Array bellow them starting to glow according to Akashiro''s moves as if responding to her dance. It pulsated according to her rhythm and movements as if they were of one mind. Precisely at that moment both her daughter and son-in-law felt great attracting force from beneath them having their consciousness wriggling out of their bodies in the form of two colorful ten colored threads entwining each other and dissipating in the ten-colored world. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Where are we?" Ryuu said as he regained his senses. " ! " his body jerked as he stared at front noticing only humanoid form around his size staring at him. What escaped his sight however is ten tails of different colors and pointy ears atop one''s head on form in front of himself. Not much time passed as one familiar feeling begun spreading through his body. ".. Roar !! " faint dragon roar could be heard coming from his blood. Yes, his blood was letting out faint roaring sound as he stared at the front form with one indescribable feeling of closeness spreading. "Ryuu!" light female voice pulled him back to his senses "It''s me." form said pointing at ears and tails. "Little fox?!" he was stunned, or rather his soul was screaming and trembling with excitement as a strong surge of mixed emotions swirled in his heart. At that moment red form appeared not far away from them. "Mother-in-law, what''s this?" Ryuu asked hurriedly calming his emotions. "This is a lesser world inside of an array. It won''t be stable for long but it should last about a day or two so no worries." Akashiro said looking at her daughter in front of Ryuu. What was previously little fox, now seemed like enchanting and beautiful girl. She stared at Ryuu with a rich look in her sparkling golden eyes and her breathing began speeding up as if she was unable to restrain herself in front of her lover. One terrific storm of mixed emotions rampaged in her heart. Why is that you ask? Well, how can she be calm when she finally saw hope to fulfill their common wish? Love is one strange thing they say; It hurts but it''s warm they say. At this moment, both Ryuu and his lover began shivering not of cold air around them but of warmth that filled their hearts up to the brim. Since three of them entered this lesser world, Ryuu and his lover could feel everything about each other - their heartbeat, their emotions, love and joy, and most of all happiness for the fact that their common wish finally became possible at this moment. Although they had to wait four more years in order to become genuine lovers, fate smiled to them - their appearance now was of a grown-up man and woman seemingly in the early twenties. Both of them had peculiar characteristics differing from humans. Ryuu had two golden green dragon horns stretching out from his skull and a pair of vicious wings emanating unreal aura that was pressuring heavens and earth with soul-stirring feeling. It seemed like those wings could tear apart time and space and his thick ten colored dragon claws could shred and annihilate anything they touched. His body was very masculine wrapped in nine colored scales while tenth, green-black color manifesting as little sparkling spots on his whole body resembling glowing stars in a vast sky. He was floating like unmovable existence standing up to heaven and earth as if threatening to tear them apart as his scales gave off unreal feeling resembling ten-colored singularity, in half-human half-dragon shape, bending surrounding space and then like a greedy dragon absorbing all the energy of this plane. In this lesser world, he was simply a God. High up in the sky there was nine-colored sun and nine-colored moon connected by one green black line, forming Yin Yang symbol slowly rotating and gleaming over the world beneath. Both of dragonified Ryuu''s ten-colored eyes were reflecting the inverted image of a beautiful girl in front of him. She floated opposite of him with their look glued to each other as they slowly approached each other making their emotions surge outside like a tide. Her long hair had ten colors same as ten tails behind her, depicting an image of a female deity declaring that only she could be together with her most beloved person. Truth be told, she didn''t even know why she had such a strong emotion toward Ryuu as they appeared naturally the first time she saw him. Ever since then, she couldn''t stop thinking about him and each time her heart would get tight like invisible hand was tightly clasping it taking her breath away. On her pure white skin, ten-colored veins flowed through making extreme contradiction like sun and moon high in the air but that made her happy because that way she was closer to Ryuu. Her fluffy ears and tails had silky smooth hair reflecting surrounding colors seeming like myriad of mirrors integrated each hair separately. As Akashiro observed two mature forms floating to each other she uttered in a low voice "A name." attracting their attention and temporarily stopping them in place. "Now?" Ryuu inquired remembering what he should do now. "Yes, now''s the time" Akashiro said. Ryuu turned his appearance toward his lover and gently hugging her he said: "Tenko, I love you." Female floating form lit up with flames of ten different colors forming each letter of her name in the air above her; "T, E, N, K, O" five letters flew toward Ryuu and as they neared his grandiose form, they dissipated leaving behind only ten colored wisps coiling around his right hand and imprinting cute little ten-tailed fox with crescent shaped moon behind it while on his left hand appeared mark of a slender girl with pointy ears and ten tails. Similar situation occurred again as ten-colored pin sized orbs escaped Ryuu''s dantian and coiled around the slender white hand of a girl in his opposite, forming winged dragon mark with long dragon coiling around it and bright sun in the background on her left hand and half human half dragon figure on her right hand with wings and horns stretching out. As four markings integrated backs of their palms, Ryuu released his lover from his hold and pasted his lips on her cherry lips. Tenko hugged Ryuu tightly wrapping her arms around his neck while enjoying his warm and soft lips carving that moment deep in her soul. Just as everything seemed to have come to an end, strong ten colored light burst from both of them at the same time flaring up all four marks on their hands that previously disappeared as Ryuu''s and Tenko''s form merged together enveloping them in a strong ten-colored sphere. As Akashiro saw that scene she was left stunned in place and instantly hit the ground, head lying low. If Ryuu and Tenko saw this they would certainly be surprised because Akashiro prostrated herself in worship before them. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- While previous events took place, in front of the blue house on vast meadow two forms stood together staring to the distance. "Dear ..." one voice resounded. " ... " but other was completely silent. Of course, there''s a reason why it is like this; In front of them, a pair of giant ten-colored dragon claws emerged out of thin air ripping space apart and form flew out from inside followed by a fox approximately double of its size. That small form was a ten-colored dragon and although small but it emanated vicious soul-stirring feeling, making the blood of two human forms before it stagnate. Aito and Haruhi released their power all-out trying to resist the impact and suppression but to no avail as if that oppression transcended space and time penetrating directly into their souls. "Haruhi quickly get behind me!!!" Aito roared giving all his efforts to release more power trying to protect his wife but something unexpected happened. The little dragon fell in front of them and melodious divine voice resounded in its surroundings; "Dad mom, it''s me." .... While Aito stood there in shock unable to move his body even a bit, Haruhi behind him roared panic-stricken: "RYUU?!". When Aito heard what his wife said his ability to move and think returned but extreme oppression was still there. Just as he was about to say something ten-colored halo dissipated and dragon form separated into two - his son Ryuu and white fox nearly his size. "Dad, mom, I came back!" little guy rushed to their direction. Ryuu, Tenko and Akashiro all knew that he had to act like a two-year-old boy even though he far surpassed his physical age. "Ryuu, are you okay?" Haruhi asked while worriedly hugging her son. "I''m okay mom but I got my clothes dirty again." little guy in front of Haruhi said. "Silly child I missed you so much." she said. "Ryuu ..." his father interrupted. "Yes dad?" little Ryuu asked "Did your martial spirit awaken?" said Aito. "Yes." Ryuu said innocently. "Come here let me see." Aito said glancing at two foxes nearby with an uneasy look in his eyes. Ryuu came in front of his father staring at him with a confused expression. "Give me your hand." Aito said. As Ryuu extended his little hand observing father''s actions Haruhi asked "Ryuu, who are those two?" But before Ryuu could answer Aito''s loud voice shouted "WHAT! TH - THIS! This is~ ...." and he quickly took back his arm staring at little Ryuu in disbelief. "Ryuu, what is the name of your soul spirit?" he calmed a bit and asked obviously shocked. "Oh, it''s a rare kind of a Dra- ... thump" dull thump resounded as Ryuu''s limp body fell on the ground like a puppet with its supporting strings cut off. "RYUU!", "Ryuu are you okay?", "Ryuu ..ake up", "....yuu" summoning of his father and mother gradually died out as intense exhaust overtook his whole body seeming like every cell was drained of its energy .... "Leave it to me" Akashiro''s voice resounded in his mind as his consciousness blanked out seeing Tenko in similar state. As his parents were shaking him trying to wake him up, young female figure around their years emerged from bright red light not far away from them. "Don''t worry Ryuu is fine." she said lowering herself to take her daughter''s unconscious body in her arms and went to the place where little Ryuu lay asleep. "Who are you?" Haruhi asked. "I''m the keeper of this forest and this is my daughter, the rest I can''t tell without Ryuu''s consent but I can show you something." Akashiro said as she spread mental power outwards in the direction of Haruhi and Aito. "Don''t resist it I want to show you his martial spirit awakening process." she said. Aito reduced his mental power that blocked Akashiro''s as he heard what she said. Although he was still distrusting he wanted to know what his son went through. As he was still thinking about it, in his and Haruhi''s mind scene flashed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "BAAAAAAANNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGG!" x 10. "ROARRRRRRRRRR!" x 10; Ten bright lightning bolts fell on little body floating in front of two foxes, one big one small, each carrying ruthless energy and merciless aura and striking at petite body which resisted as hard as it could, permeated with thick ten colored scales as ten dragons re-emerged from his body letting out deafening dragon roars while devouring energy of those lightning bolts in greedy madness. "AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH IT HURTS!" Little voice screamed in agony as wild energy entered his body rampaging and crushing his internal organs. That form resisting ten lightning bolts is Ryuu whose skin right now was completely covered by a layer of thick scales. The first transformation appeared on his head as two little golden green dragon horns, barely visible, penetrated and prolonged. As he was on the brink of losing consciousness again, his body lost all feeling in it and soon the feeling returned but this time only ruthless and vicious energy surged through his veins and organs transforming them rapidly as ten colorful dragons integrated his body again each taking its own place to merge with inside his body. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Then those ten lightning bolts from earlier ... " Haruhi''s voice said visibly shocked and trembling. "That was caused by his soul spirit." the beautiful girl said. "Those dragons, what are they?" Haruhi muttered. "I don''t know." the girl said shaking her head in denial. Haruhi turned to her husband like asking for an answer but she was greeted with completely blank expression seemingly in delay. After a while, his sound resounded "If that was me, I''d be already dead.". As he said that, both he and Haruhi looked at little Ryuu sleeping soundly on the ground. While they were in delay, Akashiro approached them and placed her daughter near Ryuu making them sleep together. "Why did Ryuu lose consciousness?" "He is only tired out, do not worry" "Tired out?" "He and my daughter have spirit fusion ability that I believe you already know what is." Akashiro said. "But it takes all of their spiritual power for that fusion so they are both tired and therefore lost consciousness so you have no need to worry." she added. "Do you ..." Haruhi asked but interrupted her own words. "Ask freely don''t be afraid." "Do you know why he awakened his spirit at this age?" she asked. "I''m not sure, but one thing I''m definitely sure of and that''s the fact that his spirit is something extraordinary therefore he awakened it much earlier than other kids. But you will need to find a way to hide it from others or else you will only bring unnecessary trouble upon yourselves." Akashiro said. "You are a spirit beast, why did you help a human?" Aito asked. .... Akashiro remained silent for some time before continuing: "They will answer you when they wake up" she said pointing to two petite sleeping figures near them. 7 Ryuus secret, Asura family and separation. In the house of Asuras in the small bedroom, therein lay two little bodies; One Spirit Beast and one human. "Huaaaaaah ~" Ryuu let out a small yawn as he opened his eyes glaring at the world. "Where am I?" his look swept through the surrounding area. "Ryuu, you awake?" Tenko probed. "Um." he nodded. Just as he nodded in acknowledgment, Ryuu realized that he is presently in his room. He concluded that his parents brought them in after which they fell asleep, he asked in questioning voice: "How are you feeling?" "I''m fine, just a little weak because of our spirit fusion." "Argh! Me too hng~." he groaned painfully noticing strong weakness washing over his body and every cell aching with stabbing pain. Ryuu woke up completely and began visually examining changes in his body. He noticed that neither of two marks that appeared previously on the back of his hand were there which made him relax several points. "Is there something different about you now or is it just me?" Ryuu asked Tenko in confusion. "Actually, that''s my line but it seems like it applies to us both." Tenko said as a faint smile appeared on her white furry face. As Ryuu paid attention to her, his heart was screaming "So cuuuuuuuuute!~". "Hehe, thanks!" Tenko said. "What?" Ryuu thought in confusion "I didn''t say anything". "Heeeh, so you didn''t figure it out yet eh? Hahahaha so cute." "What ?!" Ryuu screamed in his mind. "Is it not strange that you aren''t speaking yet I understand you?" she said flinging her tail around cheerfully. "AH!" Ryuu exclaimed because realization hit him hard like a thunder. "Is this how telepathy feels?" he thought. "Yup!" she nodded. "How''s the feeling?". "Wow, this is ... unique." he thought. "Haha, glad you like it." Tenko smiled. "So, what does our fusion form?" she thought. "Enn, It''s a special type of primordial dragon. Even with my strong martial spirit, I can''t rip space across the planes relying solely on my strength as we did." Ryuu said. "Eeh, so it''s a sublimation isn''t it?" Tenko inquired curiously coming nearer. "Yeah, it seems like that." Ryuu said as he lowered his head and said in a sulking manner "... but we didn''t even last five seconds and fainted afterward.". Seeing his sulking appearance Tenko''s heart tightened as she tried to comfort her lover "Don''t be disappointed you have only recently awakened your spirit so don''t expect anything spectacular yet. I''m already near my first limit so it didn''t have that big of an impact on my part, but you are surely very exhausted now." she said putting her head on Ryuu''s shoulder and gently rubbing it on his cheek. "Umu-" he nodded "I really am ... ugh ... can''t even lift a finger." he tried standing up but to no avail. "Let me." Tenko said. "What are you gonna do?" Ryuu inquired curiously. Bright ten colored light shone and the beautiful little girl a head taller than Ryuu stepped out of it. "!" Ryuu''s eyes widened in shock. "Shouldn''t it be ... after a thousand?" his shaky voice blurted out as his breathing sped up when he saw his lover in human form. "It''s only for a short time so hold on tight, they are waiting for us." Tenko said as she picked up Ryuu and put him on her back. Ryuu leaned his head on her shoulder and hugged her as if never wanting to let go as they stepped out from the room. He wanted for this moment to never stop, but it was obviously impossible unless... "I can''t wait..." he thought to himself. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Outside of the house, three people sat around a wooden table having a conversation. At this moment they noticed two petite beautiful forms coming down the stairs. "Here we are." Tenko said looking at the three people in front. "Hello sweetie, isn''t he heavy? Come put him down here." Haruhi said with a smile tapping her finger lightly on a bench next to her as if implying where to put Ryuu. "Thanks, but I''m okay with this" Tenko said transferring Ryuu on the bench where her mother sat leaning his head on her lap. "Oooh, would you look at that." Haruhi said directing a glance to Aito and then returning her gaze in her son''s direction. "You must certainly like it you little ..." she said pausing for a moment before continuing "Using a girl''s lap as a pillow isn''t it nice?" as wide grin manifested on her beautiful face. "Don''t they resemble us a few years ago." she muttered aloud making Aito''s brow twitch. "That little devil, look at his happy face hahahaha. Ryuu you seem like you are enjoying it." Aito said not expecting his son would actually be so carefree ... "Umu, it''s really nice and comfy hehe." little Ryuu reciprocated. "..." ..... Aito''s thoughts ceased in an instant ..... "Huh? What are you saying it''s rude." Haruhi scolded her son pulling Aito back to reality. "Don''t worry mother-in-law, I don''t mind." Tenko said "Actually it makes me happy hehe." she added letting out a light smile. . . . . . Haruhi and Aito looked at each other blankly in dismay not saying a word. More like, they couldn''t think of what to say in response. In front of them were two kids not much older than two years who behaved like a pair of lovebirds. "Haha certainly, but you two are too small yet so you must wait until you grow up before you can get married." Haruhi said trying to change the topic. "But we already did in a certain sense." Ryuu said. "... what?" Aito said visibly in distress. "Well, long story short we are already lovers." Ryuu continued. "Ah, dumb kid what are you saying being that rude, you are too small for that." Haruhi said raising her voice as a rich smile appeared while scolding her mischievous son. "Actually, no." Ryuu confronted her making her pause. "... No?" Haruhi and Aito said at the same time. "I''m actually older than both of you hehe." Ryuu said scratching his cheek as if being ashamed. "What nonsense are you saying, did you hit your head somewhere?" Haruhi said. "He must have picked that up from you!" she glared daggers at Aito near her but got surprised by seeing Aito with a hand on his chin deeply immersed in thought. "So that''s it." he said realizing what Ryuu meant. "Yeah." Ryuu responded confirming Aito''s speculation. "How old were you in your past life?" Aito asked. "Past life?" Haruhi suddenly understood what they were talking about "Are you saying you reincarnated?" "Yeah, I was twenty-five when I came to this world so that would be twenty-seven now." Ryuu said. "No wonder you are so smart for your age, so you actually kept your memories after reincarnation!" she exclaimed gasping for breath. It was a great shock having learned Ryuu''s secret. "Sorry I didn''t tell you sooner, it''s not that I didn''t want to but I couldn''t. I mean who would believe two-year-old kid saying that he reincarnated." Ryuu said. "It''s not important so long as you are happy but there is one important thing we need to talk about." Haruhi said looking at Ryuu and Tenko. "What do you mean?" Ryuu asked while pondering why his mother dropped the previous topic so lightly. "Your feelings ... are they both sided? And what do you mean you were already married in a certain sense? How could you not call your mother and father?" she barraged her son with questions like a rapping rain. "Hngh! Slow down mom, let me introduce them first." Ryuu said as he painfully struggled to get up and lean on Tenko''s shoulder wrapping his little arm around her petite figure. "This is my lover Tenko." he said rubbing his head on Tenko''s cheek "And this is my mother-in-law Akashiro, overlord of the Sacred Spirit Forest." he added glancing towards beautiful girl sitting near the two. "It''s pleasure to meet the renowned family of Asuras." Akashiro said as she stood up and bowed slightly. "Likewise, Your Excellency." Aito said as he and his wife stood up and returned the deep bow. "No need for formalities we are all one family now, hahaha." Ryuu said laughing proudly. "You little devil, don''t even try brushing it off, you still have to answer my question!" Haruhi said glaring daggers at Ryuu. Her behavior had complete turnaround now that she knew Ryuu''s little secret. "Eehh~ umm, it is not that I didn''t want to it just turned out as it did." he said feigning innocence. "What do you mean it just turned out, it''s not like you disappeared from this world." Haruhi said not expecting that those lines were partly true. Ryuu didn''t answer but lowered his head trying to hide the fact that they already completed ritual in another plane and that his appearance from spatial rift was them actually passing through planes as their transformation tore through space and time. "???" Haruhi saw her son lowering his head like a little kid which he is who did something bad with index fingers connected in front of him as she stared in amazement overflowing with indescribable emotions. "AAagghh, this is the worst weapon of little kids." Haruhi thought to herself. "So that''s why you didn''t come back that long huh?" Aito jumped in breaking the awkward silence that lingered between them. "Well yeah, something along those lines." little guy said lifting his head up. "*ahem* So, it''s our turn now eh?" Aito said glancing at his wife. "What?" Ryuu asked in confusion not catching up on his remark. "I mean it''s our turn to welcome our new family member isn''t it?" he chuckled. As soon as Tenko and Ryuu heard that, their faces flared up with a strongly visible blush as they hid their faces from surrounding stares. "Hahaha, honey look, they got flustered!" Aito said jokingly to his wife. "Those two little rascals. I thought one devil was enough, now here came the second one hahaha." she said making their blushing faces ease up and they lifted up their heads slowly. "Look at them, they are in perfect sync!" she said poking her husband with an elbow. " ... *Cough*! ... " slightly louder cough resounded from a girl sitting near two kids. "Pardon me, but there is something I wish to discuss with you two." Akashiro said shifting her vision to Aito''s direction. "Oh, go ahead" "You saw what happened when he awoke his spirit, right?" she inquired. "..." Aito and Haruhi remained silent for a moment. "I wanted to ask whether it''d be okay with you to let Ryuu train in the center of Sacred Spirit Forest under my guidance for a while?" she probed paying attention to their expressions. "Wha... " Haruhi''s brow twitched as she almost bolted out from her seat wanting to reject that thought immediately but Aito blocked her with his hand "Don''t rush let her say everything." Haruhi glared at him, obviously not content with her husband''s response. "Please continue" Aito invited with his hand. "Well then, let me explain." Akashiro said. "My daughter is, as you already know, a spirit beast." She said glancing to her daughter cuddling with Ryuu. "Therefore she is not genuine human, but ..." she stopped her thoughts for a while before continuing "... but she can be one in four years." as she said that she took a peek at Aito''s wife observing her reaction. To her surprise, Haruhi remained silent this time without interrupting. "So you want to say that Ryuu and Tenko will be under your training for the next four years?" Aito asked. "Yes, that is my intention so how about it?" Akashiro asked placing her hands on the table as she leaned forward and put her chin on top of her hands. "Mind explaining what you have in mind - what method will you use for training them and what areas will you train them in?" Aito asked calmly. "As you already know what intensity his body is made of, I thought that when guiding him to mainly focusing on remaining aspects." she said. "What aspects?" Haruhi cut in. "For example Knowledge, Mental Strength, Endurance, Analysis, Combat tactics, Cooperation and most importantly Spirit Cultivation." Akashiro said. "Oh, you seem to have high self-confidence in your skills." Aito said. "Yes." Akashiro answered. "But how can we confirm whether or not we should leave his future to you?" Aito asked. "Dad, who''s being rude now? Don''t I have a saying in this too?" Ryuu''s little voice resounded. "You be quiet now!" Haruhi released spiritual pressure towards Ryuu making him unable to move an inch. Of course, this is only when Ryuu is not in his dragon form otherwise, even his father couldn''t possibly suppress him. Akashiro glanced to Haruhi who released pressure outwards and her heart burned with hatred "Who dares bully my son-in-law will not be forgiven." she thought to herself. "Esteemed Asura Aito, could we make a bet?" she asked. "Oh? I''m interested. Say, what kind of bet?" Aito inquired with a straight face. "I heard your excellency is undefeatable in mental strength contest so mind if I ask you for a challenge? If I win you will let Ryuu go with us if not, my daughter will stay with your family until she breaks through in four years." Akashiro said. "I''m in." Aito said not leaving time for his wife to make her entrance. "Hey, wait~" as Haruhi wanted to oppose his decision, Aito placed his finger on her lips saying: "It''s okay.". She knew that he was the strongest in that aspect but she didn''t want to take a risk making her child leave from her side. Haruhi decided to trust her husband as he stood up inviting a beautiful girl in his opposite "Let''s move away a bit as to not influence them." "Dad, can I observe?" Ryuu who was no longer under suppression asked eagerly wanting to watch a contest between the two. Even though Ryuu didn''t know who his parents really were, he couldn''t forget about his mother-in-law asking whether he knew their backgrounds or not and that made him want to know more about them so he decided to watch a face-off of two strong existences like his father and mother-in-law. "... Fine." His father said making Ryuu seethe with excitement even more. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "How will we determine the victor?" Akashiro asked. "How about face-off of raw mental strength, it seems like the most efficient and direct way as I harbor no ill intentions. I only want to confirm your remarks from before." Aito said. "Fine by me, let''s begin then." Akashiro responded. Aito took a specific stance where both arms were behind the back, his spine straight like a spear pointing to the sky and in his blood red eyes, golden sparkles began drifting to the center as if they were attracted by strong invisible force condensing in one point of into the golden colored vertical pupil. Faintly visible golden red halo surged out in madness from his forehead rushing towards his opponent as one unreal stream of light. The unreal stream radiated a vicious but gentle aura that seemed as if could pierce the heavens and he stood there unmovable like a mountain. At the same time on the other side, Akashiro released her power in a similar manner as blood red stream slightly brighter than Aito''s danced in the air. Yes, it''s dancing, unlike her opponent''s, dominating above all life forms as if it was one entity with the world. "First class mental power!" Aito blurted out seeing blood red stream dancing through the surroundings like primordial dragon soaring through the sky. This had a big impact on his decision silently approving of previous decision to leave Ryuu in Akashiro''s hands. "!" Haruhi was shocked when she heard her husband''s remark. "Impossible, nobody has ever reached that realm except for you" she roared. As she said that suddenly sky twisted as two-meter wide rift appeared attracting the attention of all people present. "ASURAS, TODAY IS THE DAY YOU DIE!!!" Loud roaring resounded from rift''s direction as several forms giving off strong radiance flew out from it. Instant change sent a chill down Haruhi''s and Aito''s spine as they recognized those floating forms filling their hearts with killing intent. "Quickly, take Ryuu and leave. Tell him that father and mother will always love him but they have some past enmities so they will have to leave for some time. When he becomes strong enough to tell him that he can find us at Planet of Origin in Ancient Dragon sect and I hope you will take good care of my son." Aito said as he slid his finger through the space forming two-meter-high spatial fissure while transmitting his thoughts to Akashiro. "Rest assured, as long as I''m alive he will be fine." Akashiro boldly claimed, taking Ryuu and Tenko and pierced through the fissure which closed immediately leaving behind only wild space elements rampaging through the air. Haruhi and Aito stood near each other malevolently staring at the ten forms in the sky full of rage. "Let''s do it dear, for our son we have to hold on!" Haruhi said. "En." He nodded "Let''s remind them once again who is the first one under the heavens." hugging Haruhi tightly from behind as extremely bright golden blue light burst from them and deafening dragon roar resounded through the valley. 8 The final showdown, ancient dragon shakes the earth - Part 1. Akashiro flew out of a wormhole carrying two little bodies on her back. Her reddish white fur dancing along the flow of wind. Ryuu and Tenko just sat there hugging each other with no slightest idea of what happened. It just happened instantly and from vast greenery, they entered pitch black space and next second they appeared who knows where. This was one world with one purple sun, no clouds or wind where everything seemed to be reflecting dark purple rays. About a few hundred meters from them, there was one strangely shaped building erected resembling an ancient tower turned upside down. Its bottom was spiky and the top was similar to a mountain. As soon as Ryuu saw that tower one familiar feeling washed over him and Tenko as they both began quickly recovering their lost strength as gloomy blue rays like a deep ocean escaped from the tower in front of them and entered their bodies. When blue energy got absorbed by them, their auras as if had a sublimation and life force skyrocketed making their strength promote to the peak in an instant. The only thing that surprised them more is that two faint blue and red shadows stood in front of them barely recognizable holding hands. "Ryuu listen carefully. We don''t have much time." Red shadow said floating slowly in their direction. Hearing this voice Ryuu immediately jerked back to his senses "Dad!" he summoned remembering everything from a while ago. "Listen now, speak later." Aito''s shadow said coming to a stop few meters in front. "Child, don''t be sad. Mom and Dad have to leave now to finish something they didn''t a long time ago. We have made some enemies throughout our lives and they will certainly be targeting you as well so you and Tenko-chan must take care of each other. Ryuu, you must become strong as soon as possible therefore you have to enter the floating castle in front of you." Aito said pointing in a direction behind him. "Blood of Asuras originates from ancient primordial dragon gods who ruled this land a long time ago. That castle is where their bones are buried, you can call it their resting place. Inside of it lies their inheritance left to the following generations as a proof of their rule and might, what you need to do is to obtain that inheritance and their approval." Ryuu didn''t interrupt the father''s shadow in front of him speaking, listening carefully as those were probably the last words he will hear from his father in a while. Although Ryuu didn''t know the background of his parents, he wasn''t a fool either. He could at least guess that this time his parents have to leave against their will otherwise only problems would arise. "Ryuu, give your mother a big hug." Blue shadow said appearing in front of little guy without prior notice which startled all three of them. "Mother will be waiting for you to become strong. Strong enough that no one in this world can oppose you, strong enough that you can protect those who you love and care for." While Ryuu carved mother''s words in the depth of his soul, one little tear escaped sliding across his cheek and fell on the ground. Upon coming in contact with a surface, the small puddle of water of a size nearly one meter formed reflecting three silhouettes and plants began rising around it as if receiving stimulation from it. But did this matter to Ryuu? He could only stare in silence towards the front where two shadows slowly began dissipating cherishing each other. "Dad, Mom. Rest assured. Your son will certainly find you even if I have to overcome the heavens and become stronger than gods." Ryuu resolutely said as his little hand formed a fist thumping on his chest in the position of his heart, resembling a military salute. Seeing this, two illusory existences made the biggest grin ever beaming with happiness and love as their vague forms finally vanished and with them, the world turned gloomy several points. Ryuu stood firmly in place his look flashing with cold and oppressing killing intent as his little voice stated: "Let''s go, we have to greet the ancestors." Tenko finally opened her eyes as she was restoring her strength with the help of an essence that surged forth from the inverted castle in their vicinity. Although she did close her eyes, thanks to the ritual her and Ryuu''s souls are connected so they both know what each other feels, thinks and also, their thoughts. Feeling what Ryuu''s mind was occupied with, she couldn''t even say that little boy in front of her was a human anymore. Why? Because Ryuu''s thoughts right now are: "My life finally started." akin to a heartless demon who discarded emotions not even feeling sad about his parents leaving just a silent and oppressing killing intent hidden deep within his heart like a poisonous snake approaching from the darkness. "You are overthinking it, fool." Ryuu''s thought reached her. "Don''t forget I can also feel your thoughts, silly girl. It''s not that I''m some kind of heartless demon It''s just that in my previous life my parents didn''t pay much attention to me after I grew up and because of that I''m no longer able to feel the same about my parents regardless of whether they are kind or not." Ryuu''s vision drifted falling on her pure white form only kindness left in his look. "The only one who can get my entire love ... is you.". A blinding ten-colored light instantaneously manifested in the position where Ryuu''s vision fell as beautiful girl slightly taller than him rushed out of it, her goal is a little boy with teary purple eyes not far away from her. In a few breaths, her light body soared, happily entwining her own body with his and clutching tightly as if to never let go which made Ryuu startled as he adjusted his center of gravity bracing for the impact of her light jump. When Ryuu''s view shifted down what he saw was Tenko in a human form tightly hugging him with tears streaming down her face. . . . Little did they know that this moment signified the start of twin legends known throughout their realm. The legend of Yin and Yang ~ of a twin kind demons. The legend of fierce Void Emperor and kind Elemental Empress, as they would be known in the future. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Three forms entered on the lowermost level of the inverted tower all three being humanoid. Two were a bit higher than half a meter boy and girl walking arm-in-arm like, a pair of lovers with a girl in their side around 1.8 meters high. As soon as they stepped forth from the entrance, the whole floor was lit up with a variety of ancient runes clearly incomprehensible to the three. Just as the three entered, extremely oppressing pressure fell from above them as the gravity increased several times making it hard to even breathe let alone step forward for the pair of two little guys* as two melancholic voices resounded throughout the space "Who dares invade on our territory?" the first voice said, "State your purpose or die here." the second joined. "Honored ancestors, my name is Asura Ryuu from father Asura Aito and mother Asura Haruhi. With me comes my lover Asura Tenko and my mother-in-law Akashiro. I''ve come to acknowledge ancestors upon my father''s instruction." Little Ryuu said, disregarding his own age, height or anything that made him two-year-old now. "Aito''s child eh? What''s that brat doing, didn''t see him for a few years?" the first voice said. "Where''s my cute Haruhi? Shouldn''t they have come with you here?" the second voice inquired. Ryuu remained silent for a bit pondering whether he should tell the situation of his parents. After a while, he decided to do so since there was no need to hide it from his ancestors if they knew his parents already. "Oh, so that happened." the first voice interrupted, not giving Ryuu a chance to talk. "Hmm, I see. That''s bad I wanted to see them very much." the second one joined in. The pressure eased up several points making Ryuu and Tenko restore their initial condition then, a voice resounded once more: "Little brats, have you came to seek death here?" unclear to distinguish which one of the previous two voices it is. More like, it seemed like those two voices unified into a single entity now. As soon as the voice ceased, Akashiro suddenly disappeared from the scene leaving only Ryuu and Tenko standing side-by-side looking cute there, just casual thing about little kids, at least from the point of the observer. However, what they felt was strong killing intent penetrating into their hearts as a mirage of a big red sword emanating terrifying voices of cries that seemed like escaping from hell came to haunt on those who dare stand before them. The sword fell down bringing even stronger oppression with it until~ ... "ROAR!" "ROAAAAAR!" two deafening roars resounded at the same time likely coming from the top of the tower dispersing the mirage and obliterating sad cries like nothing. Ryuu''s heart was filled with shock. Not because of the scene that happened, but because those two roars felt very familiar, even more than his parents. "Shit, I wanted to make an April fools joke, but it seems like those two fellows awoke. Little brats, go up quickly before they come down or I''ll end up in big trouble." the voice from before resonated with the surroundings as the runes on the floor lit up brightly. Next moment, Ryuu and Tenko felt only blank and weightless state and they were already at the top of the inverted tower, before them, two giant statues of a dragon and one strange beast presented. The strange beast was similar to Tenko in a certain sense. It had thirteen orbs floating above the thirteen tails and a pair of pointy foxy ears, but instead of fur, it had smooth mirror-like scales refracting ten-colored light, two pairs of sharp dragon claws and a pair of wings. It seemed like a half-breed between a dragon and a fox being neither, but it resembled both at the same time. The important thing to note is that in the legends, dragons and foxes were overlords of the past being the first to appear as they lived in unison. The foxes were gentle and intelligent controlling the nature, whereas dragons were vicious and malevolent wrecking havoc and destruction with their arrival. There were some cases where the foxes and dragons paired mutually which resulted in a unique kind of divine beast that is now before Ryuu and Tenko. It possessed both, the intelligence and the power making it dominate at the apex of a power chain but its name was never clearly determined, neither was the reason why it disappeared - did all of its descendants ascend to godhood or did they go extinct unable to breed. Up until the present, it remains a mystery. When Tenko saw that statue in front of her which seemed like it was alive, her soul trembled with excitement, something deep within her waking up and partly coming under the influence of the dragon statue next to her. What made that dragon statue stand out was its uniqueness, not similar to any of the present dragon-like beasts alive. It had a pair of vigorous massive wings and it stood on two claw-shaped legs literally resembling a humanoid dragon. Its claws akin to arms were radiating strong ten-colored sparkles and its shiny scales resembled a milky mirror-like substance but instead of refracting elements, it absorbed them. This was also not usual dragon beast but it had stronger aura than a dragon could possibly achieve. If compared to the beast next to it, one could say they shared the first place on the top of the power scale the only thing that differed was their appearance. This dragon had a greenish aura around it meaning a strong life force. It had an appearance of half human half dragon. The human part was another thing it had in common with its friend as foxes had an ability to shapeshift to human form like Tenko is just now. Ryuu had sudden enlightenment as he stared at the left statue - that of a humanoid dragon. "Isn''t that how my Soul Spirit looks like?" he thought. "Brats, aren''t you forgetting something?" The mighty voice entered their consciousness making their breath stagnate for a moment. Hit with sudden realization, Ryuu fell on his knees with head gently banging on the floor, kowtowing to the being in front of him - "Asura Ryuu greets the ancestors!". In his side, Tenko had a similar appearance bowing in front of the second statue - "Asura Tenko greets the ancestors!". "Ain''t they cute like that?" gentle female voice entered their ears seeming like it was asking the Dragon-like creature next to her. "Humph, I will forgive them this time." The mighty voice responded, oppression dropping several points. "Kid, stand up. Tell me what is your martial spirit I don''t seem to sense its form but I feel its existence, and there are two. You awakened twin spirits, right? Come, release them. Let these old bones see." the mighty voice demanded in Ryuu''s direction. Ryuu promptly sprang up on his legs and as he closed his eyes strong pressure burst towards two beings in front elevating previous oppression Tenko and Ryuu felt. The next moment, nine dragons appeared out of thin space circling around Ryuu as his body completely transformed into the half-human half-dragon form, but it''s not at all similar to the form he had when he completed a ritual with Tenko. Right now, only his arms had a thin layer of scales and the tips of his claws had a faint luster of separate color unlike previously where the whole claw was saturated in colors. "...! HOW''S THIS POSSIBLE?!" The mighty voice seemed shocked as if its mind was breaking unable to persist in front of Ryuu. "Kid, tell me the name of your soul spirits, now, quickly!." The mighty voice hurriedly said. "Respected ancestor, The nine dragons come from a soul spirit called Dragon God of Creation, whereas my half-dragon form comes from Dragon God of Destruction soul spirit." "What?!" the same voice shouted even more shocked than before. At that moment, strong ten-colored light shone from its statue as it came to life appearing in front of Ryuu. The massive humanoid dragon stood before Ryuu trying to maintain its posture but soon fell on its knees like a slave greeting his master. "This one greets the Overlord!" it said. Ryuu was shocked. He knew his spirits were something special - but he never imagined it to be this special. He was simply startled. "This one wishes to offer himself to the Overlord!" the dragon continued. "Hold on, can you explain first?" Ryuu asked. "There''s no need, you will know in the future." the dragon said as it transformed into ten-colored gem piercing through the head of little Ryuu as another marking appeared on his forehead "The fifth one!" Ryuu thought, sensing the marking on his head. "What happened?" Ryuu was startled when at the same time in his vicinity other statue came to life just like before integrating with his lover''s head in a similar manner as the dragon did. Needless to say, it was the strange beast that sensed similar occurrence in Tenko as the humanoid dragon did in Ryuu. "I have no idea what''s going on."Tenko said running near Ryuu and hugging his arm. "We wish to serve the Overlords." a dual voice resounded in their minds as the two forms from before appeared in their consciousness in the same place. "What does this mean?"Ryuu asked in confusion. "Try concentrating on the marking, and imagine a form of what you''d like to be your weapon." the dragon said. Ryuu did as he was told and suddenly, a long spear appeared in front of him. The spear was two and a half meters covered in ten-colored radiance with dragon scales stretching across its surface. One madness aura surged as soon as it appeared as well as strong oppression. "I wish to be of use to the Overlord, therefore I decided to take this form and follow you on your back to the godhood." the thought appeared in Ryuu''s mind. "Godhood? How did you come to the conclusion that I will become a God?" Ryuu asked. "There''s no doubt, you are the first one in history to be chosen by your spirits which signifies that your potential is limitless as they wouldn''t choose just anyone. I can only tell you that both of your spirits are something out of this world and they should be at the peak of the God realm, but I don''t know why they descended to be your spirits. There must be a reason, and that''s why I wish to follow my Ancestors until you achieve the point where we can awaken them and find out what happened. While I follow by your side, you may use me as any form of a weapon or tool as long as you have enough power to manifest it." Ryuu felt a sudden sense of satisfaction as he heard that: "Finally, my life began becoming interesting. Mom dad, wait for me!" he thought to himself. Ryuu glanced at Tenko and said: "You too?". Tenko glanced back and said: "It seems like so." as she stretched out her little hand and ten-colored spear similar to Ryuu''s appeared but this one had a different shape and aura. The aura of Ryuu''s spear vas the same as its initial form - that of a vicious and domineering dragon, while her own spear''s aura was of a gentle half-fox-half-dragon from the beforehand statue which is now part of her. "I will be tagging along with my husband. I hope you don''t mind, hehe." the mild female voice resonated in their minds - the one from before. "Now It''s time to leave since this place will collapse without our support." And the next moment they both disappeared from the scene returning to the real world where Akashiro was waiting. They actually appeared at the center of Sacred Spirit Forest where Ryuu was no long ago. As soon as they appeared, a strong dragon roar resounded throughout the forest as big golden blue dragon roared towards the ten forms in the clouds making Ryuu''s killing intent instantly reach the peak. To be continued... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * - I wrote guys for the sake of convenience, those guys are Ryuu and Tenko (not a guy really). 9 The final showdown, ancient dragon shakes the earth - Part 2. "You fucking Asuras, always stealing everything from us. You deserve to die a million times." one of the forms roared directing a huge greyish-white stream towards the golden blue dragon. "Wishful thinking! Don''t come to preach me your false morals and false justice you scum!" the furious dragon shouted. "I''m no longer me if I don''t kill you two disgusting lovebirds here today!" another man yelled. "Oy, everyone. Get in the formation! We are ending this and going back!" the same man from before yelled behind him. "Formation?" unlucky premonition appeared in Aito''s heart. "What formation, I feel like this is going to get very bad ..." he thought. The ten forms in the sky stood afloat hand-in-hand forming half a circle in the air. As they rushed to the center of the formation, strong agonizing cries began resounding. The only thing Aito could think of when he heard those sad cries is ... "Shit." "Haruhi, leave me and run, I''ll hold them off, quick!" his panic-stricken voice said. Haruhi, who at this time was part of a massive golden blue dragon with Aito, still had her own will and decision-making abilities. When she heard husband''s decision she instantly refuted: "No, they are too strong for you to handle alone. You will die in a matter of minutes!!!" her thoughts screamed in dragon''s consciousness. When Aito heard her sad cry, his soul got gloomier several points. "Sorry, I shouldn''t have said that. We''ve been together through life, yet I selfishly demanded that you run away. Please, forgive me this time and let''s get this over with once and for all." he said apologetically. Listening to husband''s apologetic ranting, Haruhi teased him a bit: "No forgiveness unless you earn it. The only way to get it back is to take me out once we''re done here and we return to the main planet.". The strong golden blue halo surged forth from the dragon as all the surrounding molecules of water rushed towards them in madness. But that was not all, another red halo quickly caught up with the previous as a fire molecules now flew with water molecules forming two giant orbs of blue - water and red - fire. At that moment, high up in the air the ten forms disappeared leaving behind only one big centipede with fiery red lances that spat out poisonous greyish-white mist as if wanting to corrode the golden blue entity beneath. ---------------------------------- As Ryuu watched the battle in the air, he asked the entity in his mind "Say, little ancestor, could you compress all of your energy in one projectile about the size of one finger and manifest it outside my body?" as an idea came to the mind. "Certainly, but not only would it drain almost all of my energy, but I''d also fall asleep for the next year. If I did you could only summon me as an object, I wouldn''t have an independent consciousness to help you in battle." the dragon ancestor transmitted his thoughts making Ryuu''s eyes lit up like two small suns ... "But that''s not the only problem." his new partner continued. "Your meaning?", Ryuu demanded an explanation. "Even if I did, you are way too weak now to control it, if it backfires not only would you die, this part of the forest would get razed to the ground! Tell me, what do you intend to do with it?" the dragon ancestor asked. "To help my parents." He said. "... What do you mean Ryuu? How will you help them? If you are planning on going there then forget it. It''s way too dangerous. And besides, your father and mother left behind to hold them off in order to let us escape not go back and bring them more trouble!" Akashiro said thinking that Ryuu was under the influence of anger and wanted to rush to his death. "Don''t worry, mother-in-law I don''t need to be there to help them. And by the way, I am aware that they left for a certain reason so I don''t want to burden them with my safety. They are still young after all and they should live their life to the fullest." Ryuu said stunning his mother-in-law, dragon ancestor and fox ancestor whereas only Tenko didn''t get influenced or worried as she knew exactly what Ryuu was thinking about. "You definitely surprise me more and more! You''re like a little monster in my eyes now you brat!" Akashiro said as her surprised look fixated on a little fellow. "Ahem! What is your plan?" she asked correcting her posture. "Let me check whether it''s possible or not with our new partners then you will see. It''ll be a big surprise if it''s possible. I assure you that you''ve never seen anything like this before." Ryuu said teasingly. "You brat, how much older than you I am yet you still dare act like that humph! Just you wait until you fall in my hands you would wish you were dead." Akashiro said teasingly not expecting that her son-in-law would actually dare refute her and not tell her what he was going to do. But at this time, Ryuu didn''t hear her as he and Tenko sat in front of each other holding hands and their foreheads touching each other, soft breath permeating in their vicinity making their cheeks blush faintly. Even if they were cuddling all the time, it''s the first time they were being so direct in front of the others and furthermore, there are two more observers now. After a minute they stood up, Tenko stared at Ryuu with disbelief as her opinion of him instantly soared through the heavens. "Hahahaha, you are all way too young for this daddy. Come to your papa!" Ryuu said looking at the distant centipede while offering his hand to Tenko as ten-colored light shone from both of them enveloping them in a sphere. "ROAR!" Vicious dragon roar broke out of the sphere shaking the surrounding area as all the living beings seethed with joy as they heard that roar. "That''s ... the dragon from before!" Akashiro thought, "What''s he going to do with it, there is no more influence of an array and my power so they can''t bring out its full power like last time. Forget full power, they can''t even bring out 1% as they are now. What is his plan?" Meanwhile, two forms stood near each other at the surface of the sea of consciousness holding each other arm in arm laughing like crazy. "Ahahahaha! This little brat, who would have thought of that method?! He''s a genius! No, genius is an insult... he''s crazy. One crazy little demon! Yes! Demon! He''s a demon!" The dragon ancestor said to fox ancestor. "Haha, true. The little demons are out of our league ... that knowledge will certainly change this world." she said looking at two floating little forms in front of them hugging each other very tightly. At that moment Akashiro stood watching with anticipation what her little son-in-law would do as ten-colored dragon stepped out of the bright sphere, above its presence manifesting dark clouds, permeated with lightning. The dragon that came out was the same one that did upon Tenko''s and Ryuu''s initial fusion after the ritual. However, what was different this time is that little bloody red sphere flew out of their fusion, containing terrifying power of destruction which almost made surrounding plants wither and spirit beasts almost suffocate in a radius of one kilometer. "The hell is that little thing????" Akashiro was stunned having to release spirit power outwards to block its aura. As the bloody sphere flew out, it changed shape to something resembling a bullet. "... what''s that used for?" Akashiro thought. What Akashiro didn''t expect is that Ryuu and Tenko manifested something in front of them which nobody except Ryuu could recognize. It was a completely black long object. There was a handle at the end of it and on the other side, there was a meter long barrel. On the upper side of the body, there was a scope. Yes, a scope. This was an object that Ryuu manifested from his memories and knowledge from Earth. "What''s that?!" Akashiro thought in panic, not sensing any aura from the tool that radiant dragon in front of her held. It was a magnificent two-meter long sniper rifle. Yes, sniper rifle! This was Ryuu''s idea of how to help his parents - long-range artillery strike containing massive power of a primordial dragon''s all-out energy. That little bullet cost him a lot - one year of sleep that his ancestor had to go through. The cold glint flashed in the ten-colored dragon''s eyes filling them to the brim with killing intent. The height of the dragon was now around one meter as it held a two-meter-long sniper rifle in his claws. Why did Ryuu have to perform a transformation with Tenko? Three reasons: First, neither of them could restrain that fierce aura which bullet emanated. Second, they needed strong control over the elements - precisely thunder and space in order to launch the projectile at an extreme speed. Third, they had to withstand the recoil of the sniper rifle. The radiant dragon took the bullet, loading a rifle and aiming in the direction of two giant forms in the sky. "Mother-in-law, could you help me with gathering those thunder particles?" Ryuu asked. "... hah! So you need me after all. Fine, I will forgive you this time now tell me what precisely am I supposed to do when I gather them?" Akashiro said. "Just gather them inside this object, we will do the rest." Ryuu said. "Also, protect your ears well after finishing with your part." he added. "Ears?" Thought lingered in Akashiro''s mind but she did what Ryuu told her. As vigorous thunder element entered inside the rifle, Ryuu began directing them very precisely forming small circular thunderbolts around the rail of a rifle. "Ancient Dragon Shakes The Earth!" Divine voice spread enveloping area of surrounding fifty kilometers in diameter, as the source being the ten-colored dragon. "..... CLANG!!!! .. KKKKKKABBBBBBOOOOOOM!" An extremely deafening explosion reverberated through the forest as the ten-colored dragon and gloomy red object flew in opposite directions. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- High in the sky, two massive forms were leading the intensive battle - Dragon versus Centipede! "Asura, DIE!" Centipede screamed as a sudden burst of grey light rushed out of it in mad waves. "Not good! We can''t hold on!" Aito said. Just as they were being pushed back, both of the forms stagnated instantaneously upon hearing the divine voice as deafening sonic boom reached them shortly after coming from a small rift above them. "WHAT THING!?" Centipede screamed in horror releasing bright wite shield. It probably thought those were reinforcements from Asuras'' side. In an instant, gloomy crimson projectile appeared out of nowhere - to be precise - from a spatial crack, followed with dark cracks and loud boom behind it. How terrifying it was showed the fact that it torn the space itself. The deafening explosion burst out at point-blank distance, falling on the gloomy white shield which immediately shattered under that massive compressed energy accompanied with a shrill sad scream which soon vanished in a thunderous elemental explosion. Golden blue dragon was already a few kilometers away from the explosion, grabbing a chance to run away when the centipede turned its attention to the distant part of the forest. As Aito wanted to turn around and see what happened, his golden dragon form suddenly felt extreme heat and the next instant the dragon was flying away being pushed by an invisible and strong burst of air, which evidently came from the explosion. "AGH!" Haruhi screamed being unable to support the strong pushing force that immediately fell on them. "Haruhi! Are you okay?" Aito shouted as they left the fusion while Aito took all the burden of the impact, flying at an astonishing speed and landed on the ground making a two-meter-deep dent in it. When they landed, Aito''s vision fell on the place where the explosion took place a moment ago. Haruhi was already unconscious whereas Aito''s face had a terrific expression with mouth wide open and eyes almost popping out. It would be strange if he wasn''t aghast at the vivid scene in front. "What the hell is that???" His mind was in turmoil witnessing a shocking scene as he was unable to even breathe let alone move from the place. Terrifying earthquake soon reached them as the ground trembled in madness from the impact. However, could that be all considering the fact that this projectile was the joint effort of two primordial beasts and two extraordinary young fellows backed by the ruler of the Sacred Spirit Forest? Of course not, don''t even joke about it. The colorful ten-colored thunderbolts zapped through the air dancing rapidly whereas, in their center, a massive gloomy-red spherical beam of light twisted at an astonishing speed resembling a tornado that got trapped in a sphere. Anything that came in contact with it would be torn to pieces while it was expanding at an alarming rate causing the earthquake to become even stronger. Annihilation! Not even a speck of dust being left behind by the merciless twister! Complete obliteration! Aito''s thoughts were completely uncontrollable as his brain was revolving rapidly, trying to figure out what is currently taking place in front of himself. "Time to run!" he came back to his senses and quickly soared with little spirit power left to the safety. He must ensure the wife''s safety first, then he will check the situation out. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "W-ww-wha~" Akashiro couldn''t stay poker-faced anymore similar expression taking place on her beautiful face as Aito had a moment ago. "What ... the h-hell?". "LITTLE MONSTER! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!" She yelled at the top of her lungs in the direction where ten-colored dragon flew being forced back by the recoil. "Mother, help!" Tenko''s panicked voice shouted. "What''s going on?!" She asked. "He! H-He ... *sob*" Tenko couldn''t control her tears at the sight of her lover. His little body was completely red stemming from the ruptured blood vessels, fractured bones and blood rushing out in torrents. "He took all of the burden himself! That fool, If he ... Because of me if he ... what would I do if ..." she didn''t have the courage to finish her thought. "AH!" Akashiro''s short scream escaped her mouth when she saw the state Ryuu was left in and soon enough, realizing her daughter''s condition she quickly said: "It''s okay, he will make it. He''s a monster, how can he... He''ll be fine I''m sure of it." Akashiro said. "Augh... you *cough* are heavy." a hoarse voice came from beneath, originating from the boy in Tenko''s arms. "RYUU! RYUU ARE YOU OKAY! YOU FOOL IF YOU DON''T GET BETTER I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!" Tenko yelled as hard as she could, tears rushing out like a waterfall. Can you blame her? Her lover took everything upon himself almost leaving him in a half-dead state. "S-Sorry, I couldn''t let you *cough* get hurt because of*cough* ... ... *cough* of my ... *cough* problems." Ryuu said with difficulty. "Don''t talk! You owe me an apology later so you must definitely get well!" Tenko said and disregarding the time, place and everything else, her soft lips fell on Ryuu''s as one hot stream left her mouth and entered in Ryuu''s body. As soon as the stream entered, an instantaneous transformation began appearing on Ryuu''s little body; His fractured bones began healing at an alarming rate, blood vessels re-assembling and lost blood returning from the hot energy. Ryuu felt one marvelous sensation spread through his body and penetrate deep within his spirit and sea of consciousness. At that moment his strength returned as the weak Tenko fell in his bosom. "Tenko?! Mother-in-law, what happened!" Ryuu asked seeing the unconscious lover in his bosom, scared that something might have happened to her because of his rash decision. "This girl! Boy, you are really fierce to make her fuse spirit origin with yours. From now on, you two are genuinely one soul in two bodies." Akashiro said making Ryuu''s worry elevate. "Also, you were too rash in making that dumb decision. Do you think her nearly thousand-year cultivation is for fun? Her body intensity wouldn''t even feel the impact, You big dumbass! I will have to lecture you well after this!". Akashiro said. "Ahem! Anyway, what small thing was that? It made a two-kilometer crater in the earth and the air shockwave even reached here!" Akashiro stated seeing Ryuu get back to normal. "Haha." Ryuu smiled awkwardly scratching his nose. "It''s something I learned in my past life, could you keep it a secret please?" He said. "Ahhhhhh. Fine, but you owe me an explanation later. First, let''s get you two back." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Ancient dragon shakes the earth... I will remember that name." Beautiful silhouette of a guy carrying a girl in her twenties princess-style entered the inter-spatial gate leaving everything behind as one suffocating feeling filled his heart. "Ryuu, your parents will be eagerly waiting for you!" Aito said before entering the gate with his wife, glancing once more in direction of the Sacred Spirit Forest. "Whoever helped us, we will return the favor one day!" He said as he turned around and disappeared in interplanetary space-time gate leading to another planet. 10 The new beginning with Shiro and Tenko. A white form with a tinge of red soared through the forest carrying two little guys on her back. The speed of it was nearly that of a sound. "Wow!" Ryuu''s cheerful exclaim echoed. The two forms on the back of a spirit beast were Ryuu and Tenko, that form beneath those two, isn''t it just Akashiro in spirit beast form? "Oh? You like it?" Akashiro teasingly questioned the excited little boy on her back. "Of course! The vast scenery flashing by us as we move almost at the speed of sound, how can I not like it?" Ryuu said. "Haha, silly boy. Hold on tight, it''ll get bumpy a bit." Akashiro said as she jumped from the cliff edge in front of them. "Holy shit! Aaaaaahh!" Ryuu''s little scream escaped as he saw the height from which they were falling. "Aaaaaaa ... I hope you know what you''re doing mother-in-law!" Ryuu transferred his thought, as the wind was obstructing normal communication. "Brat, you really have the courage to doubt me hah!" The fox said as three pairs of wings which manifested just now flapped gently, making their falling forms come to a stop. "Oh boy! That was scary!" Ryuu said, pondering for a while before continuing: "Mother-in-law, since when did you have wings and furthermore six of them!". "Why wouldn''t I have them after cultivating for so long?". "Would I get more wings as well if I reach your level?" Ryuu asked curiously. "I don''t know, you should probably ask your soul spirits when you reach that realm." Akashiro returned. "That realm? I would be able to communicate with my soul spirits?" Ryuu''s curiosity got stimulated. "I''ll tell you about it another time, right now we''ve gotta go to my separate space in order for you two to fully recover, then your suffering will begin," Akashiro said in a cold tone, sensing her child''s soft breath and energetic Ryuu. "My daughter, you really had the courage to do what I couldn''t. Mother will give her all to make you two happy." Akashiro thought her look venturing to one of the visible planets in the sky as if remembering something from the distant past. "Ah, but Tenko did nothing wrong! Why does she have to be punished with me? Mother-in-law, that''s unfair!!!" Ryuu''s unsatisfied murky voice echoed. "Hah, you really have the nerve to talk back. Fine, I''ll tell you. Since you two little devils are one soul now that means you share everything, hence you will share the pain and suffering together, share joy and happiness, share everything. And no more questions for today, you are annoying me!" Her irritated voice entered Ryuu''s ear ash she sped up even more. --------------------------------------------- "What is this space, mother-in-law?" Ryuu asked. "This is my own sub-plane. Although it''s small, it all belongs to me. Akashiro said proudly. "Ooh, separate plane?" He asked. "Yes, everyone can have theirs when they reach the peak of cultivation. Also, your own strength and luck determine how vast and diverse this sub-plane will be." She added. "Um. I can''t wait to see how ours will turn out!" Ryuu said excitedly. "Ours?" Akashiro thought, "He really is worthy of her. Tenko, you picked the right guy!" her thoughts drifted. "Mother-in-law, what is that?" Ryuu asked pointing a finger in the direction in front. Just as Akashiro wanted to answer, she quickly thought of something "Ahem!... Wait until we come then you will see! Kuku ..." she said. "Mother-in-law that''s not fair!" Ryuu''s unsatisfied voice echoed. "Hahaha, brat how''d you like a taste of your own medicine? Akashiro said raising her head with a tinge of arrogance in her eyes."Hahaha, payback feels nice!" she thought to herself. "Muuu... fine, I''ll take it as payback for before." Ryuu said while pouting. Not long after, the three of them arrived at their initial goal. While they were traveling, Ryuu was checking out surroundings amazed by how big this lesser world was. What made him even more stunned is the question of what cultivation has his mother-in-law achieved in order to make an entire sub-plane like this. This lesser plane was connected to the main plane by space-time array which was in the core part of the forest. The hard part was not maintaining it, rather it was its creation. To create a lesser plane one had to have a massive amount of energy, something as a core and a lot of luck as to what would turn out from it. "Mother-in-law, I have one serious question which needs to be attended to as soon as possible." Ryuu said with a completely serious voice. "What is it, you sound like a grandfather almost scared the heck out of me. If I didn''t know about your previous life I''d think you are a genuine monster." Akashiro said. "Mother-in-law, how much has this and any of these worlds progressed?" Ryuu continued, disregarding what Akashiro said a moment ago. "In what aspect?" She asked, noticing the intellectual weight of the question that Ryuu asked. "I mean, how far have humans reached with exploration, science and technology?" Ryuu clarified his question. "I never thought a human would ask such a question. A lucky mother-in-law I am for you to be my daughter''s lover." Akashiro said reminiscing about something in the past. "Brat, since you asked such a question now you will have to listen to this old lady''s lecture for quite of years until you leave my side. It''s not too late to revoke your question and save yourself from my ranting you know ..." Akashiro said with melancholic voice giving off an impression that her words were honest. But were they? Of course not, can there really be a chance like this every day for spirit beast to talk with humans about such a complicated matter. "Come on, it''s not like I don''t know how hard it is when you have nobody to talk with and understand your words you know..." Ryuu instantly refused her previous offer. "I love listening to your rant, mother-in-law. If I didn''t, who would except for your daughter. Come on I''m getting impatient quickly open up." Ryuu said in a gentle tone. At this moment, Akashiro''s opinion of the little guy on her back quickly soared breaking through the skies. "If I was in your place, I''d do the same, dear daughter of mine." Akashiro thought to herself. "Ryuu, I will have you seriously take responsibility for my daughter from now on. Also, stop calling me mother-in-law it''s making me distant from you. From now on, call me just Shiro." She said. "Sure, Shiro." Ryuu said without hesitation. When Akashiro heard that, her body as if electrocuted by lightning immediately came to a stop and appeared in human form standing in front of a little guy holding a little girl in his arms princess style. "Ryuu ..." Shiro said as she stepped forward gently closing the distance between herself and Ryuu. When she arrived in front of him she directed a lovely look full of warmth and emotions as one unique scene followed. "!?" Ryuu was shocked with what happened as he found himself and his lover now in a tight warm hug of a pretty girl in front of them. "Thank you..." Shiro whispered in his ear as two little tears escaped her eyelids rolling down on his little shoulder. "Shiro, you..." Ryuu wanted to inquire what''s going on but quickly realizing the problem, he just silently responded: "It''s okay, now you have one more brat to worry about you, Shiro.". --------------------------------------------- In a simple looking house, there was a small four-person table laid on the ground. It wasn''t of regular table height, instead one would have to sit with legs crossed in front of it, as two forms currently did. Not far from them, on the bed, there lay a little girl comfortably sleeping covered with a silver blanket - the one Ryuu picked up when they were back in his home not long ago. The little guy in front of the table sat across a young beauty, leading a conversation. "So, how is the current situation on the planets of both spirit beasts and humanity?" Ryuu asked the girl in his opposite. "The situation greatly varies from planet to planet. For example, our current planet is called Flora and it only recently began developing as we are yet in the beginning stages of society. At least that''s what applies to the spirit beasts. While that is our situation, your Humanity is a bit more aggressive with their progression hence why they started hunting us for their own selfish needs. If this goes on for another thousand years I''m afraid that the balance of the ecosystem will be permanently and irreversibly ruined. If you two do become of high influence in the human world, I''ll have to trouble you with helping us avoid this major threat." Shiro said while drinking gloomy blue substance, an Ice Flower Tea. It had a chilly taste like mint and looking at crystal clear blue color with a gloomy tinge caused one to feel peace. That tea was pleasuring both, for watching and drinking. "So it''s like that, sure enough. How about human technology and development?" Ryuu asked sipping a similar bluish substance like Shiro. "That ... I don''t know what that precisely is but if you are referring to the tool you used back there they are far far away from that level. The current humanity here is still working with hammers making spirit energy enhanced armors and weapons. The main field they are working with are swords, bows and arrows, and axes." Shiro said reassuringly. "How strong are those weapons and armors, do they have a name and what makes spirit power enhanced ones different from normal?" "Strength eh? There are few extremely strong but those are not on this planet so we will leave them out. Now, about here. Well, the strongest sword can, let''s say, slash the two-tone boulder in half without damaging it, the bow could probably pierce my skin as for the armors, they could block one hit from either of those without effort." Shiro said. "Oh, that''s a bit weaker than what I expected." Ryuu said. "Ah yes, I forgot. There are artifacts from ancient times and although old, they are several tens of times stronger than the items I just mentioned. If you get lucky to enroll in Heavenly Star Academy, you might get a chance of seeing it. It''s their keepsake, as for other artifacts, I don''t know since they are scattered across the world with only a few being found in the last 100 years." Shiro added. "Hmm, I think I understand the wider picture now. What about cultivation? Ryuu asked, remembering what he forgot to ask but was clearly a very important topic. "That''s the stronger point od this planet. There are loads of cultivators while non-cultivators are less than 1% of humanity on this planet. But they are not entirely unable to cultivate, it''s just that their soul spirits are either weak or non-cultivatable." Shiro said, her eyes brightening up several points as she added: "Of course, we spirit beasts are a lot better at it, the strongest of us being old around a hundred thousand years." "And you?" Ryuu asked curiously. "So we came to that point, eh? I just barely broke through the ninety-thousand barrier, so I''ve got another ten thousand years of peaceful life, hehe." Shiro said proudly. "That means that in ten thousand years you''ll achieve the same level as our two ancestors?" Ryuu asked. "No, no. Far from it. Your two ancestors are also our ancestors. They''ve genuinely reached million years of cultivation but didn''t ascend to godhood for some reason. If I want to reach their level it''ll take a long long time." Ryuu got shocked upon hearing what Shiro said. "Million years? Those two have lived for a million years? Ah, I can''t wait for them to wake up I have so many questions to ask..." Ryuu thought, devising a little plan of what he''d ask them once they wake up in a year. "Shiro, then how old are my soul spirits?" Ryuu thought of this critical point. "... I don''t know." Shiro said lowering her head. "You''ll have to ask them yourself when you reach that realm." Shiro answered. "Which realm?" Ryuu asked because he forgot to inquire about the ranking system in this world of cultivation. At this time, a soft voice came from their side, interrupting their talk. "Hngggh, where am I? Ryuu, where''s he? Did he get better? Mother?" Tenko began making a fuss as soon as she woke up. A form suddenly hugged her, stopping her mad barrage of questions. "I''m here, my little fox. Don''t worry, I''m completely fine thanks to you." Ryuu said in melancholic voice pleasant to ears. ..... 11 Tenko and Ryuu, two beings as one! "I''m so glad you are fine *sob*. You idiot, why did you sever the fusion I wouldn''t even feel the impact. You are a complete and utter fool!" Tenko said in a crying voice with eyes full of tears, which made Ryuu filled with guilt and sorrow. "I''m sorry, I''m really sorry ... Please forgive me. I couldn''t afford to risk, what if you couldn''t handle the force what''d I do if you got hurt? For me, I''m sure that I''d heal back in a short time with my soul spirits but what about you?" Ryuu said with teary eyes gently hugging his lover. "Fool! We are one soul in two bodies now, how could our bodies differ that much, more likely the two of us are completely the same in every aspect except the gender! You are a complete and utter fool, why didn''t you ask!!! Next time don''t even think about doing something like that. Through hardships, love, happiness and everything we are going together from now on. Understood?" Tenko said directing a piercing gaze towards Ryuu. Before those words piercing the soul and such a gaze, Ryuu felt completely defenseless as if everything about him has been seen through as he could only nod in acknowledgment crying even harder than Tenko in front of him. "I promise, I promise my cute little fox. Please forgive your fool this time!" He said. "Agghhh, okay I will forgive you this once considering the fact that you didn''t know about those, but if you dare even think about it next time ... you won''t wiggle out like now!" Tenko said tightly grasping her little lover in front. They enjoyed each other''s embrace, feeling each other''s warmth and happiness, feeling that the opposite party is unharmed and well ... when one cough brought their attention back attracting their gazes at Shiro standing nearby. "Mom! You were here?!" Tenko screamed when she figured out that her mother saw and heard everything they''ve been talking about up until now. "You two are so unreasonable. You can start getting at it anywhere at any time. That''s just ... insanely carefree. Do you even think about others watching you when you fall into your own lovely world of only you two?" Shiro said in a teasing tone. "It''s not like that, mom I can explain!" Tenko tried getting out of a sticky situation when suddenly, Ryuu hugged her once more making her blush even more with bright red cheeks. "Don''t tease her, Shiro. As long as she doesn''t mind, neither do I and there''s no need to care about what other people will think as long as we have each other to depend upon." Ryuu said, hugging Tenko even tighter and leaning her small head on his small body. The two of them were the definition of ''Before love, everything is irrelevant and tiny''. "Yeah, yeah. I won''t tease her anymore - don''t get angry all of a sudden just because I made a joke about you two lovers. If you react that way now, what will you do when you go out in the real world? You won''t be fighting with everyone who teases your little girl, won''t you?" Shiro said with a slight smirk. "It depends on my mood and the severity of their action ..." Ryuu said while gently stroking Tenko''s head which she, as expected, enjoyed very much~ curling into a small human ball in Ryuu''s embrace and covering him with a silver blanket as she fell asleep on his chest. When Ryuu heard her soft breathing, he smiled excitedly with kindness overflowing from the depths of his heart. At this time Akashiro, who was watching them all the time, just helplessly shook her head: "You two are ... ... in a separate world from ours." She said pausing for a while. "At least now I don''t have to worry about leaving her in your hands. Remember Ryuu, when you two go out you definitely mustn''t tell a soul about her, me, or your parents ... otherwise ..." she didn''t finish her sentence which made Ryuu realize that it had a deeper meaning behind it. "Um, I will take good care of her. As for the secrets related with me, there definitely won''t be anyone who''d know about it. Ever!" Ryuu resolutely said, reassuring Shiro. "Good, now let''s get back onto the topic. The current state of the planets, was it?" Shiro asked. "Yeah, please continue". Ryuu said gesturing with a hand in Shiro''s direction and stroking Tenko''s white hair with other. Another strange thing about this pair of lovers was that they both had the same hair color - pure white and both of them had hair longer than regular kids of their age. Neither of them looked like an actual two-year-old kid. If one had to describe it, they looked like genuine adults that somehow got reduced in size proportionally, which is why Shiro was used to their intellectual age. After that, Shiro and Ryuu kept talking about various knowledge of this world which went on deep into the night. ---------------------------------------------------------- Morning, two little lovers lay on the soft mattress covered with a silver sheet in each other''s embrace as shiny rays penetrate the curtain of a room falling on them as if they wanted to acknowledge their overlords. No mere two-year-old kids could make the Sun of this little world bow to them, therefore the reason this happened is that Shiro had already made them bound to this lesser world, but they just didn''t know it yet. Actually, she bound just Ryuu to it, but since Ryuu and Tenko are already completely the same in both, the body and soul, the bond spread to Tenko. That warmth they felt was so good and comfortable, awakening energy within their bodies which prompted them to wake up. "Uwaaah ...mornin'' *chu*''" Ryuu kissed Tenko on the forehead, not expecting that she was also waking up at the same time. "You too~ *smooch*" Tenko returned the gift by kissing Ryuu on his cheek. As they looked into each other''s eyes the laughter burst out from both of them at the same time. "Hahaha... where''s Shiro?" Ryuu said looking around the room. "Shiro?! ... Why are you calling her Shiro all of a sudden ..." Tenko said, obviously not knowing about what happened between the Ryuu and Akashiro while she was asleep. "Eh? Didn''t you say that we now are one and the same, how comes that you don''t remember what happened while you were asleep?" Ryuu asked as he was also confused. "While I was asleep? Oh, ... let me try something." Tenko said as ten-colored light burst out from her body, transforming into the one-meter-high ten-colored fox. "... what happened?! Ryuu!" She exclaimed as she noticed the change all over her body. "..." ... silence. What she expected was an answer, but Ryuu remained silent which made her understand that neither he knew what happened. "Could it be ... because ..." Ryuu said staring blankly in confusion. "Hm?" Tenko inquired as suddenly, all the memories and thoughts Ryuu had to that moment, burst into her mind like a tsunami. For a while, both of them became saturated in the ten-colored glow as they remained silently in place not moving even an inch. It''s not that they didn''t want to move it''s that right now their bodies were akin to an empty shell without the owner on the bottom of the sea. Their minds have already been intertwined with each other''s as they both shared all of their memories with the opposite party, bathing in ten-colored radiance all around them as their minds merged into one bright ten-colored radiant ethereal singularity. "GAH! Hah ... what was all that?!" Ryuu exhaled abruptly as his soul returned to the body and he regained the feeling of reality. As soon as he did, he noticed that his head had already been fixated to the Tenko''s little golden eyes resting in his embrace. Her current appearance wasn''t that different from Ryuu as she was excitedly staring to the guy above her with amazement and her mood instantaneously became excited surging like a tide. "You ... all that-.. those were your memories right, Right, RIGHT?" Tenko excitedly inquired, putting her little hands on Ryuu''s chest and transferring her complete weight onto his body all at the same time while staring at his enchanting purple eyes from very close. So close, they could feel each other''s breath. "M-My memories ... "?! Ryuu asked in confusion when suddenly ... "!". An intense surge of memories entered his head as his pupils became vertical and his eyes turned ten-colored, but to his surprise, it wasn''t painful. The feeling was like he already knew all of them and just remembered about them all at once. "A-Are .. these yours?" He asked as the same feeling appeared in his heart that Tenko had experienced a while ago. "Those nine hundred years ... you were that lonely without me?" Ryuu said lowering his head and placing his forehead on Tenko''s. "Your world. How can such a beautiful and sad place exist?" She thought. "Not even I can tell how, but it does. If you had to blame it on someone, it would be on us humans ourselves. We made it a beautiful place, but we made it a sad one as well." He thought. Their thoughts were interlinked now completely and thoroughly, at all levels. As if there was another you in your mind except for your own self at all times. "This feeling is unique like I''ve lived two lives parallelly. How can something this marvelous be possible?" Ryuu thought. "Heh, this is not a world where you should judge by your laws. Our world here has its own laws unlike your''s* unbendable and insurmountable." Tenko thought. "You mean Earth?" Ryuu thought. "The laws of our world are defined by our planar lord. Our planar lord is, in a sense, an entity that covers this whole plane and has access to any part of it at the same time. But your world isn''t like ours. Earth, if I''m not wrong ... the laws of that world can''t be changed and there''s no planar lord. If you ask me, it is not at all as it looks at first sight." Tenko elaborated. "I think so too. Our world resembles a cage, although more complex than the one we humans have made. Even after almost four and a half billion years, there is only one race of slightly advanced beings - only humans." Ryuu said as his mind had already begun drifting through newly acquired memories of his lover''s life'' "If I''m not wrong, our world is something resembling a galactic-level zoo." he continued. "It is deeply masked with various entities like a sea or a universe ... It is not completely confirmed, but humans are actively using only 10~15 percent of their brain and our brain is an entity made up of eleven dimensions. The fourth one is this hard to grasp even after I felt it ... how would eleventh feel like?" Ryuu thought. "Are you very curious about it?" Tenko inquired. "Yeah, I am. Why are you asking, interested as well?" Ryuu asked looking at cheerful Tenko over his little body as he lay on the ground and the silver blanket covering only half of them as it fell down. "Of course that I''m interested, I mean ... I saw that much things new to me, how can I not be interested? In the future when we become Gods, I want to explore all of the worlds and universes with only the two of us!" Tenko happily confirmed lowering her body near Ryuu''s ... as this scene looked a bit inappropriate. When they had realized how they are positioned right now, "AHEM!" a voice instantly brought them back to the present. "I know how much you love each other and all ... but ain''t you two a little early for that ... thing?" Shiro asked, seeing Tenko on top of Ryuu in a specific not-so-innocent pose. They were completely immersed in newfound memories and knowledge that they didn''t even figure out what would happen if someone saw them like that. "AH NO!" Both of them shouted in unison. "It''s not how it looks like!!!". "I know, I know... you are innocent, as always." Shiro said waving her hand left and right as if saying "No need to explain, I''ve already seen it all". Shiro directed a sharp glance at Ryuu then at Tenko and her voice, carrying a heavy teasing feeling said: "So, dear daughter of mine, why aren''t you moving yet? Or could it be that you really did ..."? here, she stopped as her gaze drifted to Ryuu changing from teasing to a malicious one. Even if she approved of Ryuu, how could she remain calm if Ryuu already defiled her dear daughter at this age? "That''s simply insane, their bodies didn''t grow up yet, how could he even think about doing that...?" her malicious look became even stronger as her mind was filled with worrisome thoughts. "Ah! I am, mother don''t misunderstand! We really didn''t do anything bad!" Tenko screamed quickly moving behind Ryuu and hugging his arm, obviously hiding from her mother''s malicious gaze. As Akashiro saw her daughter hiding behind Ryuu with a sincere look in her golden eyes, her heart became relaxed several points, but she didn''t intend to simply let them off this time. "I have to remind them of reality or they''ll really get in trouble when they venture out ..." she thought as her malicious look transformed into a chilling cold one. "Come with me your training starts from this moment onwards for the next four years ..... both of you!!". She said in a threatening tone as her form abruptly disappeared, leaving only an intense spatial element fluctuation behind. "We''re screwed"! Both Ryuu and Tenko thought at the same time as their faces completely transformed into a pale-white one as if their blood was obstructed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * Your world''s, not yours (of your belonging). 12 The harsh training and the two devils! "Where are we?" Ryuu asked looking around, trying to figure out what the present place actually is. The three of them: Ryuu, Tenko, and Akashiro are presently standing on the edge of the cliff, beneath them stretching the vast colorful forest which from above seems very attractive ... but Tenko and Ryuu didn''t enjoy its beauty at all. What they felt upon arriving at the cliff is the smell of blood and horrific feeling that could stir a person''s soul, luckily Tenko and Ryuu already had a strong soul which made them bear with sad cries coming from the forest. "Ryuu... are we..."? Tenko thought as her light body already begun losing its strength bit by bit. "Don''t worry, I''m with you. Even if it is, Shiro wouldn''t send us to our deaths." Ryuu comforted her in their thoughts, understanding what she wanted to ask about. ... A strong cry resounded from afar inside of that forest followed up by another stronger one. The cries resonated a few more times before completely quieting down. The silence signified that the fierce battle between the two beasts ended, probably meaning that either of them died or even both finally left together losing all the strength of theirs. "..." Even Ryuu was silent not daring to utter a single word now. Both Ryuu and Tenko didn''t speak as if afraid not to anger Shiro further than they already have. If she really brought them here then that means only one thing: "Your suffering begins here!" Shiro said, making fine hair rise up on their bodies. "... Meaning?" Ryuu gently probed. "The meaning is ... survive!" Shiro said, as they instantly appeared in front of two massive bodies a few hundred kilometers away from mountain massif they were previously standing at with Shiro, but now ... it''s only the two of them. "Good luck! Don''t let me down ... you little devils." Shiro''s gentle voice reverberated through the world easing up the tension inside of the two. "Whew... she doesn''t have malicious intentions, that''s good". Tenko said relaxing a little bit, but Ryuu was still as tense as before maybe even a bit tenser. "She doesn''t, but they do ..." Ryuu said pointing at the direction where a dozen of black shadows competed with each other which would arrive first to prey on the dead bodies. There were about twenty or so of them, which made Ryuu deeply dread. At that moment, Tenko transformed into the one-meter big fox as Ryuu hoped on her back and they madly rushed away from the scene in order to not become the prey along with the dead beasts. "I have a bad feeling about this ..." Ryuu thought. "Unfortunately, me too." Tenko''s thoughts reverberated through their connected mind like an echoing voice. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Somewhere on a secluded hill Ryuu and Tenko in her fox form, finally escaping from the black shadows group, came to a stop in order to build up their strength. In this god-forsaken place, the only one who can help you is you yourself and those who have earned your trust. "Hah .. hah .. haaaa .. finally *plop* ran ... away." Ryuu exclaimed as he fell powerless on the ground along with the white fox panting fiercely as they completely lost all of the air in their lungs. "What were those shadows, they had the same speed as us in our half-fusion state... that''s just ..... insane!!!" Tenko shouted. "Ne- ... hah ... nevermind, we ran away for now." Ryuu said catching his breath as he put the effort in to straighten into the half-sitting state as he hugged the soft fur of the fox near him. Ryuu joyfully slid his cheek up and down along Tenko''s fur as they enjoyed the safety which, right now, seemed as if very precious. "We have to make a plan, or else ..." Ryuu didn''t finish the sentence, but Tenko understood what he meant, after all, their minds were now one and the same. "Which one are you best at controlling?" Ryuu thought. "If I had to pick one, then ice". Tenko said. "Ice, heh?" Ryuu said as his little purple eyes drifted to the golden ones of the ten-colored fox by his side. Ryuu put his little hand on the chin as his brain already began forging the tactics the two of them are going to use for a while now. After some time, the vision in his eyes became brighter several points as he stood up, directing his gaze and fixating it at the two golden suns near him. "Did you understand everything I''ve thought about?" Ryuu asked. "Um~" Tenko replied as Ryuu hoped on her back and the two of them soared instantaneously in a direction. Their current destination was the edge of the forest since Ryuu noticed that as they were going in one direction, the spirit beasts became weaker bit by bit. What made him decide to head at the outer edge of the forest first, where spirit beasts were the weakest ones, is partly his curiosity about this world and partly their safety as well as the responsibility they carried right now. "We shall prove that we can survive on our own!" Both of them shouted in unison as their shadows quickly disappeared from the previous scene. ..... "Oh well, I guess they didn''t need my help with those..." A beautiful and attractive girl stood at the top of the hill looking at the ten-colored light ball speeding towards the outskirts of the forest. "Little brats, show me what you can do ... I have great expectations." The girl said as her form disintegrated and vanished into thin air. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- At this time, on the outskirts of a forest, two forms appeared out of the ten-colored flame. "So the energy can change shape according to the situation ..." Ryuu said. "Seems like it. The first time it was a sphere, now it''s a flame." Tenko replied, obviously talking about the change in energy enveloping them as it had transformed into a flame at one point. "We need to get a grasp on ourselves and our abilities during this time or we''ll be losing out on this precious opportunity." Ryuu thought. "Yeah, let''s go. It''s time to begin our little plan ... " Tenko said after which they climbed up a nearby hill in order to observe the surroundings. "Isn''t this a bit plain, and are there any spirit beasts at all?" Ryuu asked as his face showed dissatisfaction about their surroundings. "I find it strange too, something seems off here..." Tenko said as she observed the plain-looking valley around them. The strange thing is that, even for the outskirts of a bloody forest, it''s too quiet as if it''s the sheer opposite of the place they were at not long ago. "Anyway, let''s find a place to occupy for now but be on guard at all times, this silence is not good for us at all". Ryuu said as he jumped down from the tree and went in a direction that he randomly selected. Their first goal should be to explore the area and find out how strong the spirit beasts were here. As they were slowly advancing, Ryuu noticed that the silence and surrounding plants remained the same at the outskirts of the forest. "Should we go in deeper?" He thought. "What do you think?" "Maybe, I think that this is the absolute ''safe-zone'' and we won''t find anything much here, so why not try?" Tenko said. "Okay then, let''s try." He said as they slowly ventured deeper and after a while, their guess turned out to be right. In front of them stood three boars with gloomy red stripes going through their bodies as they maliciously stared at two little invaders preparing to take an action. "Evil boars? A perfect target for practice. Tenko ..." Ryuu said, not needing to finish his sentence as both of them knew what comes next. Tenko quickly disappeared from the scene as Ryuu slowly approached the three boars in front, as if provoking them to attack. As expected, the boars reacted the right way Ryuu thought they would - all three of them rushed with no coordination right in his direction. "Let me try alone first." Ryuu''s thought reached Tenko. "Sure." She responded. As they conversed in their mind, Ryuu''s arms were already covered in fine ten-colored scales which appeared on the upper side of his arm, unlike the previous time when his spirits awakened or when they held a ritual. Right now, this was his own strength and power with which he successfully made the whole hand turn into a dragon claw and claw tips turn pitch black about 2~3 millimeters. As the partial dragon transformation took the place, Ryuu already felt a sublimation as his sensing abilities became sharp to the extreme, as a beast should have. The dragon''s traits awakened, making his eyes ten-colored and the pupils instantly became vertical glaring at his opponents. As the three boars rushed in his direction, their movements became slightly slower as they came under the influence of Ryuu''s dragon aura which made a perfect opportunity to strike. Ryuu would certainly not let that opportunity slip away as his body almost instantly appeared near the boar furthest in the back. *CRACK~!* A fierce, bone-shattering sound reverberated as the third boar came to a complete stop, its body losing all its strength and falling on the ground. On its neck, five trails of blood slowly seeped out as Ryuu removed his claw from the boar. In that split-second, Ryuu took the chance to crush boars'' neck as his sharp claws drilled into its spine crushing it and taking the boar''s life away. The way it died could be called cruel and merciless. It couldn''t even fight back nor cry out and after a split-second, it was already dead. The two boars noticed their friend who got killed and mad rage instantly got over them, learning from others'' mistakes and not daring to be careless, as their eyes became blood red and dark-red stripes on their body emanated a faint crimson glow. Just as their attacks were about to hit Ryuu, his body vanished and quickly reappeared near the first boar as a painful scream escaped from its mouth for a while, before falling with a *thud* and remaining silent. This one wasn''t as lucky as the previous to get the instant and painless death. The suffering of this boar far exceeded the previous, since Ryuu decided to test his arms'' grip strength - choking it with his bare hands as the boar struggles to break free but in vain. Can it be so easy to break free from Ryuu''s dragon claws? Only in your dreams! As Ryuu finished his job with the second boar, his gaze fell on the third one which remained frozen in place, trembling in fear from the previous sight. As Ryuu saw the spirit beast who was dreading him, an idea suddenly appeared in his mind. "You won''t really try it, will you?" Tenko''s thought resonated. "What do you think?" Ryuu said with an evil smirk appearing on his face. The one remaining boar was frozen in place and has already been staring at Ryuu as it already knew what would happen - only death awaits. But although it knew what comes, it couldn''t move an inch from its position. It''s not that it didn''t want to, it''s that Ryuu didn''t give it a chance to as his mental strength abruptly fell on it. In the boar''s eyes, Ryuu was a palatial form which could crush it with a single step as a deep dreading invaded its heart. Ryuu was steadily going in the boar''s direction with each step increasing the pressure he released combined with his dragon aura. *clack* *..clack* *....clack* *THUMP!* heavy footsteps resonated in the boar''s ears as the horrific form of Ryuu approached nearer, closing the distance between them. Ryuu had already mastered the control of his emotions on the Earth, and now it came to practice. The violent rage and bloodlust seeped out from him merging with his dragon aura which made a great horror wreck havoc in the brain of a poor boar and then ... *thump* it fell. The boar fell as its brain literally broke from the agony of Ryuu''s oppression and unable to support itself, it fell awaiting its death. But is this the end of its suffering? Ryuu was standing in front of the boar who already lost all of the strength to resist as his claws madly penetrated the head of a boar, plucking out its brain and taking away its life. Tenko suddenly broke the silence: "Madman!", she said. "What?" Ryuu turned his attention to her and asked. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. "You are a madman! What evil boar, the hell? YOU are the evil one here!" Tenko screamed. "Now, now. I just wanted to test my abilities, and besides, if I didn''t kill them they''d kill us." Ryuu replied. "That''s no killing, that''s a one-sided massacre, the pure slaughter!. They didn''t even have a chance to resist!" Tenko reprimanded him. "Okay, I won''t do it again ... I think, hehe" Ryuu said with a light smile while scratching his head. "Ahhh... okay, let''s go on". Tenko said as she waved her head helplessly. 13 Illusion, Revelation and The Truth. Four years later, a six-year-old kid and a strange colorful fox are sneaking through the heavy vegetation to the center of a blood-filled forest. This forest can hardly be considered as one because of strong bloody stench and rivers of different kinds of blood flowing here and there. At first sight, it can be very nauseating but after a few times, one gets used to it, especially if you were trapped in here for the whole four years. What was once the soul-stirring scene, now is like a good morning to Ryuu and Tenko. Asura Ryuu: "Shh, we''re close" A hushed voice could be heard accompanied by a glance to the side where Tenko in a fox form was standing, sniffing and baring her teeth while brandishing her claws, only to be followed by a slight nod as an answer. What once used to be a pure and naive cheerful little fox, now became a bloodthirsty predator prepared to pounce on its prey at any given moment. A place very befitting of its name is where both of them now are, as their journey is closely coming to an end in several meanings. The place they are in now is called the Bloody Valley. As for its name, there''s nothing more to be said as it implies clearly its meaning. Asura Tenko: "Let''s end it once and for all, I''m getting sick of this". An angry and harsh voice that once used to be very energetic now resembled a worn-out thing, left aside to rot and used minimally. It would be strange if nothing happened in this god-forsaken place where primal laws of jungle dominate. Eat or be eaten, those who do not adapt shall perish. Tenko had to go through a complete turnaround just in order to survive and protect Ryuu. Why protect you say? Wasn''t Ryuu supposed to be like very very strong? He "was", but after the first several days all of his abilities disappeared like an illusion and left him in a heavy and depressed mood. It felt like a runner suddenly losing his legs - a feeling of a cripple. His thoughts then were: " What''s the fucking use of rare dual soul spirits if you can''t even use them?!" Luckily, his lover was always there to support him, but soon enough the situation reversed and the one who supported the other was Ryuu. Why did that happen? Neither of them knew, but one thing was sure. They had to survive and conquer this forest if they wanted to leave. Even now, as Ryuu was nearing the end of this nightmare and Valley of Suffering, instead of being happy he still had a bit of depressed mood lingering around himself. All of it happening because of one simple reason - for the whole four years neither did his soul spirits return nor did the Ancestors awaken. Asura Ryuu: "Um, let''s get the hell out of here as soon as possible". A worn-out voice agreed as both of them rushed out only to be greeted by a colossal form of a giant snake nearing a transformation to a dragon. Needless to say a pressure heavy enough to crumble even the stone smashed on them instantly rooting them in place. All of their plans failed in one seemingly short moment, which for them represented an eternity as all of their lives resurfaced in that split second and intense despair filled them to the brim. A massive snake was already slithering towards them slowly but steady as the pressure increased bit by bit nailing them even harder into the ground. Asura Ryuu: " Sorry, Tenko." As the heavy despairing voice fell, Tenko turned her head in its direction only to see the teary-eyed Ryuu sinking slowly to the ground. Asura Tenko: "Why now of all times?" Asura Ryuu: "Sorry... for being a useless piece of shit. I swore to protect you for eternity but look at me now I''m no better than a waste. I can''t even keep myself alive not to mention protecting you. Sorry for everything". As his ''last words'' fell, Tenko was already shaking while tears poured out from her eyes like a river while slowly turning red and transforming to the tears of blood. Asura Tenko: " Fool. What''s the use of telling me this." She said as bloody tears splashed on the already bloody ground. It was unknown whether the blood was already formed from her tears of it was already there from a long time ago. Asura Tenko: "Your surname is Asura, you are proud and unyielding, why now of all times you decide to give up and let go of your dreams and promises? You promised me that we''d go visit the vast sky and explore the universe together. You promised we''d become Gods together! Why do you let it all go now??? Were those memories all a lie?" As soon as she finished a very heavy feeling appeared in Ryuu''s heart while Red color began emerging in his pupils. The Red signifies extreme emotions. As all of the emotions surged at once, overflowing and making his blood boil, a strong unyielding feeling appeared on Ryuu prompting him to slowly resist a colossal pressure and stimulate his potential. All of this was, of course, being observed by Shiro from afar. Her heart already tightly clutched from sadness. ''Was I wrong'' she thought. While time was slowly ticking away, Ryuu managed to get up on his two legs firmly rooted in the ground to the knees. Suddenly a familiar feeling spread as a surge of power manifested within his veins. A short moment later the already slithering snake was rooted in a place heavily shaking as if seeing a real dragon. Of course, it was not just ''as if'' - Ryuu''s soul spirits began awakening again. ------ At the same time somewhere in a pitch-black space, a floating form of a dragon merged with darkness had a surprised expression. ???: "Oh?" ???: "He really did not fail my expectations ..." ???: "Hahahahaha, good, good, good. Very good. He is worthy!!" ???: "I knew I''d never judge wrongly but just in case I had to make him go through so much suffering ..." A dark dragon made a sad apapologetic expression. Could a dragon have expression though? Maybe not if judged by common sense, but in that space anything is possible. ???: "I''ll have to think of a way to apologize later, but now we have a more important business ... Well, time to end it". ----- Just as Ryuu was about to successfully awaken both of his sleeping soul spirits, an intense soul-stirring feeling washed over his whole boy as he limply fell down on the ground unable to move even an inch. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. He didn''t even notice what made him this way but one thing is sure - no ordinary thing can interrupt his unparalleled soul spirits much less influence his soul. As he realized that his short life is nearing the end intense despair struck his heart invoking different kinds of emotions and all of a sudden ~ ..... Every emotion disappeared, his feeling faded away from his own body and complete calmness replaced it. What Ryuu didn''t notice, however, was that his petite body was slowly being lifted from the ground and floating upwards. As he stopped at a meter and a half from the ground, an intense pain assaulted his brain, originating from the place where his heart was supposed to be. Slowly turning his head downwards he saw a pitch-black chain extending from his chest all the way to the certain point in the air and vanishing at that point. Around his body a tight black dragon had been coiling up until that moment as if trying to snap him in half, however, did he notice any of it? No. He didn''t, as for why he didn''t notice it, obviously, the reason is the intense despair having assaulted him up until that moment. ???: "Calm down". A fuzzy voice came from his side. As he slowly glanced in that direction, he noticed that Tenko had an extended hand with palm and fingers gesturing a "grabbing" motion, her hand coated in the pitch-black matter that slid down like water. That voice pulled him back to reality, making him forgo all of his worries and a feeling of relief washing over his soul. But..... As an Ilusion, everything around him collapsed. The world, space, bloody streams, horrifying roars of spirit beasts everything was gone, only to be replaced by a vast colorful forest seemingly coming straight from a fantasy. Chirping birds and cheerful cries of spirit beasts filled his head. Something deep inside of himself felt moved at this moment, albeit unclear to himself why. The feeling of waking up from a terrifying nightmare, that is what Ryuu felt at this moment. As he slowly adapted to the surroundings, his rationality came back. At this point, there was no black chain penetrating his heart, and black dragon coiled around himself had already returned to his body merging with his heart. Asura Ryuu: "Who are you, you are not the Tenko I know.... and where are we? What happened just now?" ???: "Calm down. You are too perturbed right now. I''ll answer all of your questions". ???: "First of all, you shouldn''t ask me who am I, as you should already know the answer to that question." ???: "Moving on, we are outside of the Illusion Realm you were in for the past six years." ???: "And about what happened..." Here, the ''Tenko'' stopped for a moment as apologetic expression surfaced on her face. ???: "... what happened up until this moment is all my doing, although it went way past the initial planned time." While listening to the fuzzy voice, which seemed neither male nor female, Ryuu couldn''t find it in himself to get angry at ''its'' answers to his questions. Asura Ryuu: "I should know who are you?" Ryuu made a confused expression as he slowly observed the figure in front of himself. He didn''t find anything strange with it except for a different aura and voice. Ryuu: ''Wait, Aura? Why does it seem that her Aura is different?'', he thought. As he thought of that point, suddenly a shocking expression overwrote his previous, clam expression. His hand was already unconsciously moving to the position of his heart, as his spiritual power concentrated on his heart. *Thump* *Thump* . . . . *THUMP!!* As he felt the aura of the black dragon inside of his heart, his pupils fiercely contracted while staring at ''Tenko'' with exactly the same aura as of a black dragon. ???: "That''s right, you see. I''m ... you." *THUMP!!!~~~* A loud heartbeat only Ryuu could hear resounded deep within himself. An inexplicable sense of closeness and excitement spread from within urging him to let out the furious roar to the sky, but he suppressed it in hope to find out more about himself. Asura Ryuu: "You are.. me?", he asked making a confused expression on purpose. ???: "What you feel, I feel too, there''s no need to pretend. I''ll explain it slowly but first..." As ''Tenko'' said that, her graceful posture bowed down at 90 degrees towards Ryuu. ???: "Sorry. Sorry for making you suffer all those years for my own reasons, I didn''t me~" Asura Ryuu: "Don''t apologize. I don''t mind anything you''ve done, just explain it all." Ryuu suddenly said, interrupting her in the middle of apologizing. A seemingly surprised expression appeared on her little face as she slowly lifted her head. ???: "You don''t mind anything I do? Why is that?" Asura Ryuu: "Because You and I are one, didn''t you already say?" *THUMP!* Another loud heartbeat appeared in Ryuu''s mind, but this time it wasn''t his. A shocked expression lingered on ''Tenko'' in front of himself as a translucent tear slid down her cheek and fell on the green grass which danced according to the wind. ???: "Thank you..." A gentle yet seductive female voice answered, shaking Ryuu''s heart. A sweetness of that voice, like gentle waves hitting the shore, like a gentle breeze, yet magnetic and containing a bit of a demonic charm, filled his mind as everything stagnated. His purple eyes were already visibly trembling as the pupils began slowly turning to the vertical beast''s eyes. His pure white hair slowly began changing its color to the black and finally remaining half-black, half-white. Compared to the external change, however, his innermost feelings had an even more obvious change. Longing. Love. Excitement. Relief. Familiarity. He didn''t know why, but suddenly there were all of those feelings inside of himself, almost making his heart burst from all the pressure. ???: "As an apology, here." She said, slowly approaching forward as their hearts began racing faster and faster.... and suddenly a strong black light burst forth as green cracks formed on her skin, like a shattered mirror. What happened next was the moment Ryuu would never forget in his life, branded deep within his mind, breathtaking, magnificent, overwhelming, unexplainable, ..... beautiful. 14 Who am I? Am I crazy, or am I a madman? Am I perhaps both? As Ryuu absent-mindedly stared at the black humanoid cover permeated in green cracks, those same cracks fell off one by one like egg''s shell shattering and paving a way for a new life to emerge out of it. What greeted him was the beautiful darkish, mirror-like skin and a girl around his size with beautiful appearance. But wait. Beautiful is not enough to describe it (Here I cry because I don''t know to draw and can''t make it visual). That is not beautiful, that creature can only be described as godly. A pair of glittering dragon horns on the head, colorful hair fluttering in the wind as each strand merges with nature, grouped in ten groups of different colors. A befitting image of a goddess, with hair length slightly above her calves, a pair of five-clawed dragon claws coated in mirror-like black fluid matter forming a shape of dragon scales replacing what should be a pair of arms. A dragon tail fully covered in sharp razor-edged scales about 1.2 meters long, ten-colored crown slowly revolving above her head depicting the true deity-like appearance. But that''s nowhere near the end of the girl''s beauty. A completely naked figure stood in front of Ryuu - to be precise there''s a thin layer of scales here and there covering the important parts but most of the girl''s figure was laid bare for him to see. It''s hard to believe that is the body of a six-year-old girl. Actually, it isn''t. She might look small but that''s only to match Ryuu''s size, her body is of a fully grown woman in her twenties shrank to the size of a six-year-old child. Asura Ryuu: ''A L-loli? A dragon LOLI? Holy shit this is amazing!'', he thought. Although his mind was wandering, his attention was nowhere near her beautiful and curvy body. The reason for that being her beautiful slim and oval-shaped face and a pair of attractive eyes. Her left eye was completely lime green while the right was bloody red. Within them could be seen the vast starry sky making her look breath-taking. On the sides of her head, pointy elven-like ears so small, almost unnoticeable covered in faint scales, thin nose, cherry lips, and dark shiny skin like a jade carving left him utterly speechless. The most eye-catching occurrence about the dragon girl was ten wings stretching out behind her back while each one had different-colored scales matching her hair. A deity before him had long eyelashes and her aura had a faint demonic charm, most of it is covered by strong but non-oppressive presence. Instead, the feeling she gave off standing there before Ryuu was the one of staring at Mother of Nature as she completely blended with surroundings, winds surging around her body while flight-type spirit beasts formed a circle on sky-high trees near them with head bowed low as if greeting their king. Not only flight-type beasts paid respect though, the whole radius of hundred kilometers around them any beast that felt her aura prostrated before heaven and earth in the direction where the two of them stood. ???: "As an apology, I can only do this..." As her charming voice ended, her dark slender hand stretched out with all the fingers except the index finger folded as strong pitch-black sphere flew out of her finger and landed between Ryuu''s brows submerging into his head. The black sphere had a dignifying aura which made every beast laying prostrate stand-up and let out heaven-shaking roars, expressing admiration and respect for their king. Asura Ryuu: "That was?" ???: "That is something that can grant you any wish disregarding the laws of this world during this day, so better think of something before you run out of time, it''s very precious so make good use of it." ???: "I know it may not sound like something worthy of apology for wasting six years of your life but it''s something very precious and I only had two." At that moment, as if Ryuu realized something, his brows furrowed and eyes closed a bit. Asura Ryuu: "Had? Does it mean this is the last one?" The girl nodded in confirmation turning her head to the side slightly avoiding making eye contact with him. How could this escape Ryuu''s sharp eyesight, even if he didn''t look since they are close to each other he could sense it with his Spirit Power. Asura Ryuu: "Why did you give me something so precious, you don''t need to go so far for a simple apology." ???: "For you, it might seem like a simple apology, but for me, it means a lot more than that. Doubting the person I chose is not something I can forgive myself for, so if I didn''t do something to make up for it I couldn''t rest easy." Asura Ryuu: "Mm, it''s behind us now so don''t get too worked up about it. Would you mind explaining everything a bit first? I don''t understand anything that happened recently." The girl faintly sighed lowering her head while her ten wings flapped gently and gracefully, almost instantly appearing in front of Ryuu. Then her already extended finger lightly touched his forehead and massive surge of the information entered his head almost making him scream out of pain. Just a moment later everything ended and her gentle hand slid down from Ryuu''s forehead to his cheek as she held his head gently and then hugged him tightly. At that moment Ryuu''s mind was filled with two things: ''Soft'' and ''Bouncy''. As if she felt what was on Ryuu''s mind, the girl eased her embrace and looked straight at his purple eyes. As she stared at those eyes, her heart began speeding up and thumping louder than ever, which reflected on Ryuu as well almost as if their hearts were merged as one. As the scene went on - . . . Just a blink later their lips met as long eyelashes closed and a gentle breeze made the girl''s hair float. However, as if reminding them of the audience all of the flight-type beasts ascended in the air circling around them in the air and, together with the beasts in a 100-kilometer radius let out heaven shaking roar, so strong that earth visibly shook as every living being from an ordinary plant, insect, stalk of grass, all the way up to spirit beast and heavenly plants cheered with excitement and mad energy surged instantly elevating the soul energy level in that area. At this point in time, Ryuu already had the same scales as the girl in his embrace as he felt joy and happiness from the bottom of his soul. In his heart, something was moving around like a fish swimming in water as if cheerfully dancing according to Ryuu''s emotions. As their lips parted and both of them opened their eyes, a girl stood rooted in place staring at Ryuu''s new appearance. His hair turned ten-colored, similar to her hair and wings, but he only had two pitch-black wings behind his back while green veins permeated the scales on them, his arms already being the same as her five-clawed claws, but the difference is that every claw on Ryuu had a different color and two spirit marks manifested behind him. One being a coiling black dragon, while another being nine-colored five-clawed dragon. As the girl saw the nine-colored spirit mark her vertical pupils widened considerably as she stutteringly muttered some words; ???: "This is ... how is that possible?!" She asked absent-mindedly while staring at Ryuu who was lost in the feeling from a moment ago. In the next moment, she had a look of understanding on her face as her expression became dignified while her head was already rooted at the black hole in the colorful sky. ???: "I wasn''t the only one it seems..." As the girl said that she gently caressed colorful scales on Ryuu''s body which brought him back to reality. ???: "Ryuu, I''m sure you are unaware of how unique you are, so you should keep a low profile from now on. Your soul spirits are awakened from the moment you were born. No human, even among the Gods had this kind of occurrence so if you stand out too much the whole world will be after you. No, not the whole world, all the worlds in this plane would be after you." Asura Ryuu: "My soul spirits eh? You being one of them, I can somewhat understand, but what about the nine-colored dragon? Why is it not also humanoid form like you?" ???: ''Should I tell him about that realm? Isn''t this way too soon?'' she thought. ???: ''Forget it I own him at least that much.'' ???: ''That soul spirit is not from this world, it''s from God realm. Although I''m not sure why you have it, I have a general understanding but that''s not important for you now. You need to know only one thing: Never use it lightly because this plane could collapse if your power is strong enough." And surely, it made Ryuu completely stunned. Asura Ryuu: "It''s that strong?!" ???: "Um. Dual spirits are not that rare, there were even triple spirits, but your dual spirits are special among special so, you should use only my spirit mark, leave nine-colored one for last-case scenario." Ryuu fell deep in thought while observing his body with his spirit sense, while he was in deep thought, his eyes slowly closed and he entered the state of meditation. Seeing the little fellow before her so serious, the girls smiled an lied down next to Ryuu staring at the sky as some of the Spirit Beasts slowly approached and rubbed their head against her surrounding Ryuu and her in a tight circle. The two of them seemed like children of nature as Spirit Beasts and Spirit Plants affectionately took care after them. The girl turned her head to the side glancing at the scales and wings Ryuu had and satisfied smile surfaced on her face beaming with happiness, but suddenly - her body shook and she instantly appeared in front of Ryuu her hand already touching his head. Her eyes drifted to the nine-colored emblem that radiated nine-colored light like a sun and the black orb that flew out of Ryuu''s head integrated into the center of it. ???: ''Isn''t that the Divine Mark? What''s he doing? I told him it''s precious don''t tell me he is playing around with it?!'' she thought. But as her thoughts reached that point ... * ROAAAAAAAAR* * ROOOARR* . . . Nine heaven-shaking dragon roars erupted from the mark as an octagonal array appeared on the nine-colored mark, and then ... it broke. Her heart fiercely contracted and her eyes almost popped out of shock as a terrified expression emerged on her face. ???: ''He''s not destroying his second soul? Right? Tell me that I''m wrong, please tell me that I''m wrong!!'' her thoughts screamed. However, contrary to her expectations, the broken spirit mark did not dissipate and disappear but split apart into nine separate emblems each having a different color. *Plop* The girl fell to her knees shaking in fear as she stared at ten spirit marks hovering above Ryuu. All Spirit Beasts, including her, loudly roared as ten-colored lightning clouds surged above them. Their combined roar had a dignifying meaning ... the meaning of respect. As the heaven rumbled and the earth shook from that roar, heaven responded in a similar manner. The whole continent was covered in pitch-black clouds made out of liquid while different colorful lightning flashed and heavenly pressure crashed down on earth, shaking the whole continent. The only one unaffected was Ryuu. *BANG* *KABOOM* A lightning strike strong enough to split the mountains in half rushed towards Ryuu, but instead of falling, ten different meter-long dragons ran out of his body and swallowed all the lightning that was about to hit. As soon as they swallowed the lightning ten dragons, together with other spirit beasts and the Dragonoid girl near the Ryuu roared in direction of the heavens and dark clouds dissipated. At that moment, several eyes opened. Ryuu''s ten-colored pair of eyes opened as his pitch-black wings with green stripes now had ten different colors instead of green, but remained pitch-black as before. ???: "T-t-te-ten sou spirits!!!! Madman! Monster! What the hell are you??????" The girl roared at the top of her lungs at Ryuu but as her eyes met his, a restless mood filled her heart, and she rushed into his embrace. ------ Crimson red eyes opened in the dark space filled with disdain directed to the world. ------ Golden eyes fiercely opened as the old man with a strong *boom* rushed out of the palace observing the phenomenon in the distance. ------ Pairs of eyes with vertical pupils and purple color opened looking in the direction where thunder clouds originated from as mighty voice resounded: "Find out what happened" . . . . Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. A similar situation repeated itself through the whole continent while the black-scaled Dragonoid girl lied in the embrace of a six-year-old boy fully covered in ten-colored scales while caressing her colorful hair surrounded by a horde of beasts. Asura Ryuu: "I may be mad or crazy or whatever you say, but in order to have the power to protect that which is important, I''ll do anything necessary. Even if it meant that I would advance ten times slower than others through realms." ???: "Mm, your decisions, I''ll always support, but that''s not the only problem. You won''t find suitable cultivation techniques and martial arts suitable for your ten martial spirits. The most martial spirits one human had were three, and that was a long long time ago. That person has already left for the God realm and he had to sacrifice one of the Soul Spirits in order to adapt to the cultivation technique. What would you do then?" Asura Ryuu: "I''ll just create my own!" As Ryuu resolutely clenched his claws he looked at the sky and the black hole slowly rotating and thought; Asura Ryuu: ''This happiness, I''ll never let anyone ruin it even if I had to turn the Heavens around!'' As his resolute thought spread to the girl in his embrace, her heart filled up to the brim as she let go of all her worries and fell asleep in his embrace. As her consciousness was fading one thought left her mind: ''Everyone, wait for me. I''ll be back soon.'' 16 A family - part 1 Somewhere on an unknown continent, in a lively city full of life and joy, a little kid around six years old, wrapped in a black cloth slowly walking aimlessly and with curiosity observing everything around him. "Delicious grilled meat! Very cheap, only for a single level one soul stone! Don''t miss this chance" Asura Ryuu: "Little master, what''s a soul stone?" Little Dragon: "A Soul Stone? Those things are used even after a million years. How nostalgic.", the dragon''s voice rang in his head. Little Dragon: "A Soul Stone, as its name says, is a stone containing soul energy. You can absorb the energy from it for cultivation and that was the initial currency in the past. I can''t believe it still used even now" Asura Ryuu: "Not much changed in a million years, did it?" Little Dragon: "Not really. That''s the only thing that remained the same, well at least for now. Everything else changed a lot." She said in a nostalgic tone as if remembering something from the distant past. "In my time, spirit beasts were making up around ninety percent of the whole known population, the rest were humans - or more likely what would today be called gods. They were very strong, so strong in fact, even some of the very rare and overbearing spirit beasts like us, dragons couldn''t compete with them. Nowadays you''d be happy if you can even find one in the countless lower realms with the same amount of power as them." Asura Ryuu: "Is the difference that big? And wait, how do you know that? Were you not trapped in the void for the past million years?" Little Dragon: "Heh, even though I''m now your Soul Spirit, I still have some use you see. Don''t joke around with your master, I didn''t make you accept me as a master on a whim. As a true master, you need to have skills to teach others or you''ll be a failure.", as she spoke Ryuu imagined her proud expression and couldn''t suppress a sweet smile appearing on his face. As they were talking, Ryuu already arrived in front of the stall selling grilled meat. Because of his age, he was barely high enough to see what was on the stall. A piece of meat caught his eye as he smelled the wafting fragrance from the meat. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. Asura Ryuu: "Uncle, I don''t have any soul stones, is there any other way to buy this piece of meat?" A person responsible for selling the meat only now noticed that Ryuu appeared in front of his stall and as he saw the little handsome guy standing there looking at the meat with excited eyes, he couldn''t help but laugh heartily. "Hahaha. What a cute kid, here, take it." He said, piercing the meat with a stick and gave it to Ryuu. Asura Ryuu: "But uncle, that''s not okay. If you gave every piece of meat to cute kids like me, would you be able to earn anything? I want to help you somehow in exchange for this meat." "Hoo? A little kid like you could be this smart, well I''ll be... You shouldn''t worry about this uncle, I''ll have enough, just take it as this old man''s goodwill." "Kid, can I ask you something?" Asura Ryuu: "Go ahead uncle, don''t hold back. I''ll tell you anything I know." "I know I shouldn''t stick my nose into others'' business but, are you perhaps traveling alone? From the way you look someone around here would think you''re a homeless child..." As Ryuu heard this question, he thought: "I knew someone would ask about this. Anyway, this seems like a good time to learn more about this place, might as well talk a bit with this uncle." Ryuu found a small log near the stall and sat down, chewing on the meat and turned around to face the uncle who gave him the meat. Asura Ryuu: "Um. I''m not from here. I just arrived in this town and don''t know anything about this place." "You arrived alone? What about your parents?" When Ryuu heard this question, his mind again became filled with thoughts: "Parents? Do I even have something like that?" In fact, the parents he was living with until his second age were his ''imaginary'' parents made from the illusion that little dragon created while his soul was sleeping in the void. Noticing the Ryuu being silent, old man glanced to the side as he thought: "Did I ask something I shouldn''t?! Perhaps he''s an orphan..." "It''s fine if it''s hard to answer, this uncle was just curious. Sorry if I asked something I shouldn''t", the old man said with a guilty tone in his voice. What Ryuu noticed was not only that, but he suddenly felt a bit of sadness in this old man. Asura Ryuu: "Hey master, time to teach your disciple." Little Dragon: "What''s wrong? Don''t know how to make an excuse? You don''t need me to think up of what to tell the old man, do you?" Asura Ryuu: "No, not that. Why do I feel this guy''s emotions?" Little Dragon suddenly became interested: "You feel his emotions? Tell me in details!" Asura Ryuu: "Hmm... how do I say it, I can feel the sadness somewhere inside of me, but it''s not mine and when I look at his face, I can clearly see that his smile is forced. There must have been something that happened, but I don''t know what, I only feel that he''s sad." Little Dragon: "That may be related to one of your soul spirits. I can feel that one of them is being active now, but I can''t exactly pinpoint it so you''ll have to do that yourself." Ryuu thought about it and decided to try it out later. His priority right now is to find out more about this place and rules. Asura Ryuu: "No, you didn''t ask anything wrong. I just fell in thought and forgot to answer, sorry." "Haha, it''s fine as long as I didn''t ask anything personal. So, mind telling this old guy about it?" Asura Ryuu: "Actually, I can''t remember much. I never knew my parents and I was alone since the time I can remember. I was always alone, hunting the spirit beasts in order to survive and only now I''ve reached this town so I want to know more about the people, culture and similar things. About my appearance, it''s a bit inappropriate for others to see so I had to wear this cloak." "What do you mean?" The old man asked, quite intrigued by what he heard. Asura Ryuu: "Well, I mean this." Ryuu said while slightly pulling the hood over his head, revealing his ten-colored hair and beautiful face with long eyelashes and eyes capable of taking away one''s soul. When the old man saw his eyes, he became absent-minded while staring at the cute appearance of a little kid next to him. Soon enough, he came back to his senses and quickly pulled the hood back to how it was before, to cover his whole head. "Why are you keeping your soul spirit active? If you recall it, your appearance will go back to normal." Asura Ryuu: "Well, since the Soul Spirit I have enhances my perception, I always keep it active in order to protect myself. As I said I was living alone all the time and I had to protect myself even while sleeping and because of that it turned into a habit." "Oh, so it''s like that." The old man said slightly pondering about something and then took out a stone out of his pocket and picked up another one which was identical in size to the first. The only difference was the color, the one he took out from the pocket was white, while the one he picked up from the ground had different colors mixed. If compared visually, one could even say that the first one was pure while the second had impurities. "Tell me everything you find different between these two stones", the old guy said as he gave Ryuu both of them. Ryuu took the stones and carefully observed them. Apart from the different shape and color, the stones were pretty normal. At this moment Ryuu felt some kind of formless power covering the small area around him and his eyes sharply glanced at the uncle in front. "Good perception, don''t be so tensed up that''s my Spirit Sense." The uncle said. Ryuu''s expression changed from tensed to relaxed and then turned into an intrigued one. He carefully observed the stone once more and, unable to find anything using his eyes, he decided to use Spirit Sense as well. His Spirit Sense spread from himself to the stone, meanwhile countering the one from the Uncle. When his spirit sense came in contact with the stone, colors sharply changed on the ''pure white'' stone. It went from yellow to orange in an instant, then after a blink, it turned red, blue, purple, black until it became pitch black and, as Ryuu''s Spirit Sense entered the depth of the stone, it began vibrating and broke. The uncle who was observing Ryuu had already became dumbfounded as his eyes overflowed with shock. "Kid, do you know what this is?", he asked pointing at the broken stone in Ryuu''s hands. Asura Ryuu: "Little master, any leads?" Little Dragon: "Ryuu, he''s not like the others. He has a strong Spirit Sense, albeit it is weaker than yours but you are an exception, it''s normal. Be careful when dealing with him, he might be a swindler." Asura Ryuu: "Don''t worry, what he feels right now is an overwhelming shock, not greed. I just want to know what this thing is that just broke." Little Dragon: "Then it''s okay, that thing is a stone called Spirit Seeking Stone, used to test one''s Spirit Power. It can measure the Spirit Power up to the hundred and something and different colors represent different quality. Yellow and Orange are common, Red is uncommon, blue is rare, Purple is even rarer. Black usually appears only on the old fools who''ve lived for hundreds of years, and your pitch-black corresponds to the peak quality of Spirit Power. The stone didn''t break because of quality, but because of your Spirit Power level." Asura Ryuu: "Then, how high is my level right now?" Little Dragon: "Roughly, around a thousand points. That''s why it broke so fast." Asura Ryuu: "And what''s the amount?" Little Dragon: "I''m not sure for the current time, but in the past, it was around two hundred to three hundred points for someone your age. You are an exception even among the so-called monsters above geniuses." Asura Ryuu: "I guess I need to keep it low from now on...", Ryuu thought. Asura Ryuu: "Uncle, I don''t know what that is, but I see that it''s a stone that can change colors and it has a pure structure." "One piece of grilled meat, please", a customer said while they were talking, pulling the uncle back to the reality. "Here you go, please come again." The uncle said to the customer with a smile, accepting the payment and began closing the stall, as it was the last piece of the meat he had to sell for today. "Kid, do you have a place to stay?", he asked. Asura Ryuu: "No, uncle. I don''t have one, do you know any good ones that can be bought without Soul Stones?" "Let alone that, do you want to stay over at my place? I haven''t finished talking with you and only me and my daughter are living there. She''s around your age, so you can stay with us for now since you don''t have Soul Stones.", he said. Ryuu thought about it: "I don''t know anything about this world, this might be a great chance to learn more, and there''s someone around my years so I can see how I should behave in public from now on, otherwise everyone will figure something out." Asura Ryuu: "Sure, uncle. I hope I''m not a burden to you." "Hahaha, a little monster like you, how can someone like that be a burden. Come with me, I have to talk to you about something important when we go home." Asura Ryuu: "Then, let me help uncle to carry things home." Ryuu said as he picked up a few bags and put them over his shoulder. The man was about to tell him how he shouldn''t carry heavy things, but seeing Ryuu picking up so many bags, he just smiled and said nothing. The two of them went like that all the way out to the edges of the city, somewhere near the forest. 17 A family - part 2 When they arrived at the uncle''s home, Ryuu observed it with interest. It was a small two-story house, perfectly enough for a small family. Outside was made with a kind of glossy stone which is very sturdy and heat-resistant, keeping an optimal temperature inside the house. It looked very classic but there was a kind of energy surrounding it in a slowly-rotating vortex spanning over a kilometer. "So, what do you think, kid?" The uncle asked Ryuu who was staring at the house. Asura Ryuu: "Looks pretty nice, is this your house?" "Haha, glad you like it. That house and everything in a two thousand meter radius around it is my property. Make yourself at home" Asura Ryuu: "Oh, uncle, we don''t even know each other''s names. Isn''t it a little awkward to visit someone whom you don''t even know how to call? My name is Ryuu." The uncle awkwardly scratched the back of his head: "Ha-ha, where are my manners? My name is Long Haoran. Let alone that, your name is a bit strange, I''ve never heard anyone called Ryuu..." Asura Ryuu: "Yeah, I guessed it''s unique, but I can''t change anything about it. Although my name and yours have the same meaning." Long Haoran: "Oh? How so?" Asura Ryuu: "Ryuu, same as Long, means Dragon, so both of us have a similar name, isn''t this quite a coincidence?" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. Long Haoran: "Oooh, so it''s like that ... but something''s strange here, don''t you have the last name too?" Ryuu just shook his head in denial. Asura Ryuu: "The only thing I know is that I''m called Ryuu, as for my family name, since I don''t remember my parents and they only named me Ryuu, I don''t have one." Long Haoran put the hand on his chin as if thinking about something then said: "If it''s fine with you, you can use the Long as your last name, that way we''ll all be a family." Asura Ryuu: "Really? Is that fine?" Long Haoran: "Why would it not be fine if I said so, just call me whatever you want from now on. You can even call me father if you want to since I already have a daughter of the same age as you." Ryuu fell on his knees and kowtowed in front of Long Haoran: "Child Long Ryuu greets father", which scared Long Haoran out of his wits and he quickly helped Ryuu get up. Long Haoran: "There''s no need to do that, now then ...", he stopped midway as he looked at the house with a bit of sadness in his eyes which couldn''t escape Ryuu''s senses. Asura Ryuu: "There''s this feeling again ... Although I feel guilty that I didn''t tell him my real name, the master said that I should never reveal the Asura part of my name for some reason, so I''ll have to do with it for now..." Long Haoran: "Welcome home, Ryuu. Let''s go in", Long Haoran said with a happy smile, what was different, however, was that the smile on his face right now was a genuine one and Ryuu again felt some kind of happiness which wasn''t his, but Long Haoran''s. Even though he felt Long Haoran''s feelings, Ryuu was happy too as he now had a family in this new world. Even if he didn''t really know what kind of a character was Long Haoran, Ryuu felt that he is a kind and caring man, that''s why he had no qualms about acknowledging this man as his father." Ryuu glanced at the house and the broad back of Long Haoran who was already going ahead of him. Long Haoran: "Ryuu, what are you waiting for, come!" Asura Ryuu: "Comming!", he smiled sweetly and ran to catch up with Long Haoran as both of them entered the house. When they entered what greeted him was a hallway filled with plants and specific stone which gave off a peculiar glow and emanated a calming aura. The calming aura was not unique to the stones from which the interior of the house was made, there were different plants giving off different kinds of auras each one having a positive effect on Ryuu. Long Haoran: "Haha, how do you like it? Is your new home any good?" Asura Ryuu: "Um, it''s way better than good, this is awesome." Ryuu said excitedly. Long Haoran began laughing maniacally and then hit Ryuu on the shoulder with a palm slightly as close friends do. Long Haoran: "I''m glad you like it, now then time to meet your new sister as well as relax after your hard life. Oh, and you can put down that cape, no need to yourself here." Asura Ryuu: "Ah! I forgot, wait a bit.", Ryuu said and quickly undid his coat, hung it at the clothes rack on the side. When Long Haoran saw Ryuu''s peculiar appearance again, he couldn''t help but be dazed. Long Haoran: "With looks like this, he''ll surely be a lady killer in the future, hahaha.", he thought while turning around to the stairs leading to the upper floor and shouted. Long Haoran: "We''re home!!!" As he finished yelling, he turned around, facing the boy with ten-colored hair and green enchanting eyes. Long Haoran: "Come, let''s go inside." Asura Ryuu: "Yeah!" At this time a shout came from the upper floor: "We? Dad are we having guests?", as a beautiful little girl ran down the stairs. When she noticed Ryuu standing near her father, she paused with one leg in mid-air which made her stumble and she rolled all the way down the stairs, falling in front of them. "Ah! My butt!", she said with hands still on her aching butt, but as soon as she saw Ryuu again, she forgot about the pain. Long Haoran: "HAHAHAHA! I knew you''d fall the moment you saw him, hahahaha." The girl quickly rolled her eyes to look at her father whose laughter she didn''t hear since a long time ago, now happily laughing like a child at her falling from the stairs. She felt happy that her father was laughing even if her butt was hurt from the fall, but then again ... Her eyes returned to Ryuu who was staring at her with interest and couldn''t help but fall in a daze when she saw his beautiful face, eyes, and hair, a single "Wow..." escaped her lips. When she realized, it was already late to regret and her face went red all the way to her ears. Long Haoran: "Haha, don''t be shy. From now on he''ll be your brother. Don''t bully him too much and you should get along well with him." When she heard that her heart skipped a beat and she yelled while pointing at Ryuu: "What? My brother? Really? Someone as him will be my brother?" Asura Ryuu: "... Does she mind it?", he thought. But when he saw her eyes filled with joy and felt her excited mood, he threw away that thought. And then - he felt something tightly squeezed around him. "Brother, welcome home!" Long Haoran: "Hahahahahaha! There''s no need for me to worry anymore, it seems. Things will get interesting from now on." Asura Ryuu: "...", Ryuu was silent throughout everything that happened, but his hands subconsciously hugged the little girl that was clinging to him, while he was captured in her bear-like hug. Out of instinct he hugged her back and patted the back of her head. "So this is how it feels to truly have a family, huh?" Ryuu thought. Asura Ryuu: "Father, sister. I''m home." Ryuu said, his heart filled with excitement and melancholy. Some of it was from the two near him, some were his but a single fact remained - he now had a real family, something he didn''t have even in his past life. The girl then happily introduced herself - "My name is Long Xingyue!" Asura Ryuu: "As- *Ahem* Long Ryuu greets his sister." Ryuu said while slightly bowing in respect. Long Xingyue: "Ryuu? What a strange name, but even though it''s strange, somehow it sounds beautiful.", she said and then made a domineering pose while pointing with her index finger at Ryuu. Long Xingyue: "Just so you know, you may be handsome and cool, but I''m the older one, understand? You have to listen to everything I say from now on." Ryuu looked at her and could barely contain himself from laughing and while scratching the back of his head, he said: "Got it, Elder Sister." Long Xingyue: "You are quick-witted and good with words. I like it! Father, brother, welcome home. Now come on, hurry, let''s eat. I''m hungry." Long Haoran: "Haha, Xingyue, Ryuu, let''s eat, otherwise she''d make a fuss whole night." Long Xingyue: "Dad, you be quiet! Don''t embarrass me before brother." Long Haoran: "Somehow it feels you quickly adapted to him being your new brother. I remember when you were small that you hated every boy. If I remember correctly, you said that you''d only marry a handsome boy when you grow up." Long Haoran said while grinning, obviously teasing his daughter, which made Ryuu laugh slightly. When she heard his sweet laugh with an adorable childish voice, which to her appeared very attractive, she became red again. Long Xingyue: "D-d-dad, th-that was when I was little! What are you trying to say! Don''t talk about that anymore, it''s embarrassing." She refuted in a panic only to see her father and brother laughing and then realized that she was being teased. Long Xingyue: "DAD! I hate you!!! HUMPH!", as soon as she finished with her protest, she stormed in the living room and sat at the table filled with good food. Long Haoran and Ryuu looked at each other when they finished smiling and then followed her inside, and had a nice dinner like a happy family. After the dinner, Ryuu felt genuinely at home and he felt what it means to have a caring family to be there for you. Asura Ryuu: "I gotta protect this new happiness I have found. Little master, our new family is very kind, we gotta protect them at all costs." Little Dragon: "Humph! I almost thought you forgot about me when you met your sister. Of course, we need to protect what is ours, but don''t tell them about me yet. And don''t ever think of having other girls around you except me and your sister. Got it? Otherwise ... you better don''t know what awaits!" Asura Ryuu: "Hahaha, don''t worry. There''s no way I''d have anyone in my heart taking your position. But still ..." As he reached this point, Ryuu glanced at his sister with dark hair hanging to her shoulders and her red eyes. Her hair had peculiar sharp bangs and her oval face was attractive and cute. When he saw her again, a smile couldn''t escape forming on his face. Asura Ryuu: "My sister is cute." Little Dragon: "Humph! You better not have any ideas about her! Anyway, she''s a bit special." Asura Ryuu: "Special?! How so?" Little Dragon: "Yeah, she has a special body constitution which has an affinity with the energy of the stars. I guess that''s why her parents gave her that name. They must''ve known about her." Ryuu thought about it and found it normal then, after a period of silence, he continued; Asura Ryuu: "Little master ..." Little Dragon: "What is it?" Asura Ryuu: "Why don''t you want to tell me your name? It sounds weird to call you little master all the time when you are actually my lover and dearest family." Little Dragon paused a bit and after a period of silence, she said: "Now''s not the time, when the time comes, I''ll tell you my name. You''ll understand then why I chose to do so. For now, bear with it." Asura Ryuu: "Haah? Not fair! That''s a lame excuse..." Even though Ryuu made a protest, he couldn''t do anything about it. At this moment, he remembered about one important thing he forgot - about his Soul Spirit capable of resonating with others'' emotions. Ryuu focused on his ten Soul Spirits and recalled the feeling from back then. The Red dragon emitted a low roar and Ryuu felt like his soul was being filled with an indescribable feeling - like all of the emotions combining into one and swimming in the depths of his heart. "So it''s you..." Ryuu thought to himself, as his closed eyes changed from green to red and pupils became vertical, but nobody was able to see that since his eyes were closed. His father and sister noticed that he was silent for some time and glanced in his direction. Long Haoran: "Seems like he entered a depth-state meditation. We shouldn''t disturb him for now." Long Xingyue: "Dad, when will I be able to meditate like him? When will I become a Soul Master and have my own Soul Spirit?" Long Haoran: "... It''s about time, I guess. Tomorrow I''ll help you both awaken your Soul Spirits and we''ll talk about the academy to which you''ll go next year. Xingyue, you have to work hard if you want to always be next to your brother." Long Xingyue: "Of course I would work hard, otherwise I can''t take revenge for mom. But why I can''t be next to him?" Long Haoran''s eyes flashed with grief when he heard his daughter talking about revenge but that quickly vanished and his voice filled with amazement resounded: "Because he .... is a monster worthy of going to the certain place." He glanced at her daughter with resolute eyes and said again: "What I''m thinking of is sending both of you to the Dark Dragon Academy, however, I''m not sure you''ll have the chance to enter. He''s a guarantee so you have to work really hard if you want to keep up." Long Xingyue: "Dark Dragon Academy? Seriously? He''s a monster capable of going there???", She couldn''t help but take another look at Ryuu, in a meditative state. A moment later a loud *gulp* broke the silence and her pupils were already wide enough to completely cover her irises. Long Xinguye: "Then, I''ll become a monster like him too!" She said after a while, while her eyes filled with a resolute look. What neither of them knew, however, was that even though Ryuu was meditating, he still could feel and hear everything around him. Little Dragon: "Dark Dragon Academy. I didn''t think you''d find it so soon, Ryuu. You are lucky." Asura Ryuu: "Yeah, I''ll be able to go to your monster academy. I guess its an honor, huh?" Little Dragon: "Heh. Of course. Who do you think your master is?" Asura Ryuu: "Hmph! We''ll see why it''s so great." Little Dragon: "Okay, focus now on exploring your Soul Spirits. You have to understand every and each one of them as soon as possible. Only when you know yourself and your enemy can you be undefeated in combat. And I ..... will make you an ultimate Soul Master." Little Dragon''s thoughts swarmed his mind and he felt relief as well as resolute and burning passion to become strong as soon as possible. What Ryuu didn''t know is that his passion is the thing that helped him greatly in this life. 18 Ryuus resolve. While Ryuu was slowly entering the depths of meditation, his senses slowly dimmed until it became completely silent. He didn''t hear his sister or father anymore, neither did he hear little dragon, let alone hear - he couldn''t even feel her existence. It felt like everything was gone, just the emptiness left. Asura Ryuu: "Where is this? Why is everything so empty?", he thought. Asura Ryuu: "I couldn''t have died, could I? What a joke. If I really died like that, then I''m completely worthless." He was trying to feel something, but it was like his brain was not there - he couldn''t control anything, he couldn''t feel, hear, smell, see, touch or taste anything. Not even his Spirit Sense could help him get out of this situation. Asura Ryuu: "Calm down, let''s analyze everything first..." Asura Ryuu: "Maybe I just entered a peculiar state, like in novels I''ve read back on Earth." He thought about his past life, all kinds of memories flashing through the darkness as he remembered about it. Asura Ryuu: "There''s a change? Why do surroundings change when I think about my past? Wait I can think now? What''s going on??" As he panicked a bit, everything returned to the darkness from before. He was slowly observing the darkness and suddenly remembered something from little dragon''s memories. As his thoughts reached there, his surroundings changed again while he was floating in that world like an observer who didn''t actually exist there. Asura Ryuu: "This feeling is interesting, but ... that really took a good six years of my life here. Not that I regret it though, it''s just ... it feels kind of strange when you find out that the closest ones to you were an illusion...." Ryuu''s thoughts drifted as he reminisced about the six years since he came here. All those years and everything that happened - Tenko, Akashiro, his mother and father, the forest, the knowledge, those events. Everything that occurred in those years was only an illusion which was used to test him thoroughly. People say that only by knowing someone for a long time, you can truly see his real self. Asura Ryuu: "For me, that''s certainly a long six years. But considering that my master''s actually a million-year-old dragon from the past... I don''t know how to describe that short period. It''s like a sneeze or a yawn for her." Asura Ryuu: "But anyway, I don''t feel resentment because she trapped me in that illusion for six years, nor do I hate her for taking away those near me while in it. My only regret is that Tenko is gone now... Hmm, wait ---" Asura Ryuu: "Could that illusion actually be a reality far away from this world?" Ryuu''s thoughts reached this moment, and then ... he began thinking of something which would be considered fantasy in his past life. Asura Ryuu: "Then, If every illusion is actually a separate real world, does that mean ..... they still exist?" He couldn''t help but reach this point, after all for a human who had a short lifespan, six years is a long time and Ryuu still didn''t adapt to the new environment. Asura Ryuu: "Actually, when I think about it right now ... it seemed strange from the start. Why were their names from my world? Why did it have to be a house near a forest? Were not those my wishes in the past life? And a fox that transforms to human, that''s obviously from my past.... I was so stupid to not notice anything for those whole six years..." Asura Ryuu: "And Tenko ..." Asura Ryuu: "Was actually just my past wish taking its place." As he realized what occurred, somehow he felt sadness. Asura Ryuu: "Sadness? So I can actually feel something in here. Haha, It''s kind of silly when you realize that you''ve lived in your own illusion all this time." As Ryuu reached this point, his ethereal form observing the occurrences that were happening already had tears slowly sliding down his cheeks. Asura Ryuu: "It is true, as they say, only those observing have the clear picture." As Ryuu said that, he glanced once more below him, where the Ryuu from illusion was holding Tenko in his embrace as they were enjoying that moment and tears rushed out of his eyes like a broken dam because he felt a heavy sadness crushing his heart because he lost someone whom he loved four years. Emotions are strange, they can be easily stirred but hardly controlled. And Ryuu found this the hard way. Having his expectations crushed and his feelings betrayed as everything became blurry while he slowly drifted towards despair, Ryuu thought about his life once again. Asura Ryuu: "Why does my life have to be this damn hard? Even in the past, the only thing I wanted is love, I wanted to be loved more than anything. I wanted friends, to have lots of friends to laugh with, to have a family and enjoy my life. Why did it have to disappear right after it began? I don''t want to be alone anymore." As his mind became clouded, Ryuu forgot a lot of things and didn''t even pay attention to the surroundings. Even though everything was dark, in front of his eyes memories were flashing uncontrollably pulling him to the pit of despair. But right at the end~ Asura Ryuu: "HAHAHAHA! Fate, it''s you!! You were the one who did this to me, just you wait! Once I become strong enough to control my own life, I''ll come to you for my revenge!!! Do not think that I, Asura Ryuu, am easy to bully and be played with!!! I may not be able to even keep myself alive as weak as I am now, but I''ll definitely become strong enough to control you and take everything back that you took away! I swear on my life, right here, right now!!!" Anger, regret, despair, and sadness mixing with each other made him laugh like a crazed man with a broken-down mind. Asura Ryuu: "So this is how it feels when emotions reach extreme? Laughing even though it hurts, hahahahaha, this is so fucking hilarious. I even forgot myself for a moment there, good job Ryuu ... you actually did it again. You gave fate the control over yourself... what a failure I am, aren''t I?" Ryuu asked as he opened his own eyes, which were now completely different from before. Vertical dragon pupils with red irises surrounded by shining light resembling the stars, which pierced the darkness and that same pair of bloody-red dragon''s eyes had a vicious glow in their deepest parts. As they say, eyes are the window to the soul, so it seems like that also was true. Asura Ryuu: "But thanks to this, a failure that I am finally did something. Thanks to that surge of emotions, I found you all, didn''t I?" Ryuu asked while staring at the darkness. His eyes suddenly turned from red to ten-colored and numerous dragon roars reverberated. As a pair of ten-colored eyes looked on in the darkness, one by one, nine dragons manifested from the darkness in front of himself, with one dark-green dragon in the human form appearing slightly behind him. The first one to appear was a pure blood-colored crimson dragon with red eyes. His scales were sharp and big, extremely overbearing. When Ryuu looked at that dragon, his soul moved and all kinds of emotions appeared at once, but they did not have any influence on Ryuu because all of them had their own counter - happiness and sadness, anger and joy, despair and relief. Like Yin and Yang, they kept each other in balance and thus, Ryuu wasn''t influenced by them at all. Asura Ryuu: "So you were the one responsible for making me feel other''s emotions, eh?", Ryuu asked while slowly moving his hand on the crimson dragon''s scales. The dragon did not answer, whether it couldn''t or it just didn''t want to was unknown to Ryuu. What he was sure of, however, is that his Crimson Dragon Soul Spirit is the one responsible for making him feel emotions of others, as well as his, with clarity. He then glanced at the other eight dragons each having different color, but to his disappointment, Ryuu didn''t feel anything from them except that those dragons were part of him and he was sure that he would one day understand what each of them represented. Ryuu could only smile at them, and then slowly turn around as the nine vanished into the darkness. Asura Ryuu: "Little master, sorry for losing myself back there. It isn''t easy to control your own emotions like a human, you know. I hope my master can forgive me.", Ryuu said while he fell down on his knees and bowed with head lowered all the way down. Little Dragon: "Humph! You have some nerve to doubt your own master. What? Am I not good enough compared to your imaginary Tenko? HMPH! You really have some nerve to forget about me, and what about your new family, isn''t your surname Long in this world? You don''t want to be alone, yet you forget about the ones closest to you. You little.... you''re really a pain in the ass to deal with!!" Ryuu looked at this little girl which pretended to be angry on purpose and couldn''t help but let out a chuckle. Asura Ryuu: "Sorry that I doubted you and accused you. That''s why I swear I''ll take my revenge against those that want to control me and make my life harder even if it is Fate herself. Having once experienced it, I definitely don''t want to go back to that feeling of helplessness." Ryuu said apologetically, while he slowly stood up ... Asura Ryuu: "I hope master will forgive this foolish disciple because disciple understood himself better because of this incident, so it can be taken as Master giving me my first lecture." Ryuu slowly came in front of her and hugged her tightly: "Little master, thank you for helping me understand what is truly important. Thank you for showing me the way ..." After Ryuu said that last part, his expression became awkward because ... he remembered about something from his past life. ---- "Protect the queen, she will show us the way!" Numerous *cluck*-ing noises resounded one after another with that one sentence falling while small red figures not higher than half a meter began running in the same direction like a tide. ---- Asura Ryuu: "Wtf is wrong with me? Why did I remember Ugandan knuckles at this time????", Ryuu thought for a while then sighed and melancholic feeling took over again. Meanwhile ... Little Dragon: "..." Little Dragon felt Ryuu''s warmth while he slowly strengthened his grip as if afraid that she would disappear any moment if he lets her go. She felt how much she means to Ryuu, and couldn''t help with her eyes becoming moist. After all, neither of them had any attention since the beginning. Both of them were shunned away, forgotten, made fun of or just simply ignored because they were different. Ryuu''s little trial also reminded her how he is the only family she had, and she suddenly understood why Ryuu felt so happy when he got a sister and father in this world. "So this is how it feels to have a family? .... -- Didn''t Ryuu also say this line? How foolish he is ... and me too. Both of us are fools." Little Dragon: "Hah, you are really a handful, you know? But that''s exactly why I love you, my fool..." And then ... their love took over. ----- Ryuu slowly opened his green eyes and took a look around. He didn''t see his sister nor his father. Asura Ryuu: "Where did they go? Actually, how long did I remain in that state?" Ryuu didn''t even have the time to think about anything else before he felt something hard pressing on his body. He turned his head to the side and saw a little girl''s head lying on his shoulder. There was a puddle formed from the saliva coming out from her slightly agape mouth. Her hair was totally messed up and she had a happy smile plastered on her little face. He couldn''t help himself and let out a hushed smile. But because he was slightly shaking while smiling, his sister woke up. Long Xingyue: "Um? Where am I?", she said while slowly opening her sleepy eyes and let out a yawn. Long Xingyue: "Eh? Brother, you woke up!" Asura Ryuu: "Yeah, did you miss your brother?" Ryuu asked while slightly pulling her soft cheek. "So soft!" - he thought. Little Dragon''s voice instantly reprimanded: "Oy! Don''t forget she''s your sister, you pervert!" Asura Ryuu: "Who''s the pervert here, I wonder. Me, a six-year-old little boy or a million-year-old dragon falling in love with a kid? Hahaha.", Ryuu defended himself. Little Dragon: "Hmph! You little ... You know your way with words, alright. But don''t you dare forget who I am to you. Your master shall give you very harsh training, MUHAHAHAHA. Don''t mess with an old lady like me, you''re too young to win." Ryuu could only grit his teeth and remain silent. He knew all too well that what she said was completely true. "Just you wait, I''ll find your weakness, master. Your little fool does not give up that easily." Long Xingyue: "Brother? Why are you silent? Are you not feeling well? And why are you pulling my cheek, it hurts!" Ryuu awkwardly scratched the back of his head: "Sorry, you are too cute, I just couldn''t help myself after seeing you ..." Long Xingyue: "Humph! Brother is a bully! I want to pull your cheeks too!" Long Xingyue retorted while repeating the same action Ryuu did, but unlike him, she became absent-minded when she saw Ryuu''s eyes. Ryuu wasn''t actually surprised by seeing his absent-minded sister staring at him because this already happened several times during the dinner, so he got used to it. "Damn, she asks a lot of questions. Is this how troublesome I was when I was little as well? Now I feel the need to apologize to my parents from the past life even if they don''t deserve it.", Ryuu thought. "HA HA HA HA HA!!! You kids are so energetic as soon as you wake up, worthily your father''s children." Long Haoran''s thunderous voice rumbled through the room while he entered the room with vigorous look brimming with life and happiness. Long Haoran: "Ryuu, how was your meditation? Feeling any different?" Asura Ryuu: "Um, I think my second Soul Spirit awoke." Ryuu then released his second Soul Spirit - the Crimson Dragon, as the top of his fingers got covered in faint scales from the tip of the finger, all the way to the hand, making his fingers transform into blood-colored claws. Ryuu''s eyes also became bloody red with vertical pupils inside. Seeing Ryuu''s claws, Long Haoran''s pupils widened to the extreme and he felt a little fear staring at them, while Long Xingyue''s mouth turned to the ''O'' shape. Long Haoran: "D-D-D-Dragon type Soul Spirit? Dual Spirits?? Are you kidding me???" Long Xingyue: "Wow, brother is so cool ... and handsome too ... and strong ..... I think I want to marry brother when I grow up." Long Haoran and Ryuu looked at each other and couldn''t help but begin laughing loudly while holding their stomach. Ryuu fell back in the bed while Long Haoran had to take the chair to sit down, otherwise he would faint - a little from the shock his daughter''s words caused and a little from the shock Ryuu caused, but nevertheless, he was still laughing out of happiness. What he didn''t know is that seeing Ryuu''s martial spirit which controls the emotions automatically raised his prevailing emotion to the peak so he appeared even happier than before, but this also occurred to Long Xingyue and it was much more effective on a kid than on a guy who is almost forty years old. Long Haoran: "Hahaha, you shouldn''t say irresponsible words. He''s your brother now, you know?" Long Xingyue: "But he''s so cool, I wanna be like him. I''ll definitely marry him when I grow up!!" Long Haoran: "...", he silently looked at his daughter staring at Ryuu in a daze and smile crept on his face while feeling of satisfaction overflowed in his heart, but regardless of anything he couldn''t resist sighing after seeing his daughter''s firm resolve. "This may turn out a bit troublesome in the future for Ryuu. Well whatever, I''ll leave it all up to youngsters to decide." Long Haoran then laughed again and then glanced at Ryuu. He didn''t know why, but when he looked at Ryuu, he couldn''t bring himself to see him as a little kid no matter what. What he saw in this boy is a monster even bigger than those old saints living for a thousand years. There was not an ounce of a childish air around him. Long Haoran: "I''m thinking of giving you two the training in order to prepare you for the academy entrance exam next year, what are your opinions?" When Ryuu heard this, his eyes immediately became filled with excitement as he intently stared at his father. He thought: "Finally! Little master, how will you fit in with teaching me? Father will steal your role if you don''t give your student any pointers, you know?" Little Dragon: "Heh, don''t you underestimate your master. I will guide you along with your father, so don''t worry too much and just go along with it." Ryuu smiled at Little Dragon''s response and then resolutely replied: "I agree, father. Give me the harshest training there is because I want to get stronger as soon as possible." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. Long Xingyue observed Ryuu''s serious look and copied it as she said: "Me too, father! I won''t lose out to my younger brother!!", but she couldn''t copy it completely because there was still a childish aura around her, unlike Ryuu. Long Haoran glanced at the two and burst laughing again: "Good, I like it! Your attitude is good, the only thing that''s left is to show me your resolve and .... endure the suffering." 19 The third Soul Spirit - part 1 Long Xingyue: "Father, when will we begin with your so-called ''Suffering''?" Long Haoran: "Hoo... you seem pretty eager to train, don''t you... daughter?" Long Xingyue: "Hmph! Of course! How can I let my younger brother be better than me? I want to be as strong as him!" Listening to daughter''s rambling and nagging, Long Haoran grinned from ear to ear. Ryuu who was sitting by the table while they had a sweet dinner would laugh from time to time. Asura Ryuu: "Father, this is good. What''s the name of this meal?" As if taken by surprise, Long Haoran looked at Ryuu with interest. Long Haoran: "You like this?", he asked. As if waiting for the question Ryuu nodded strongly. It was simply too fast to even react to, that''s how fast Ryuu''s nod was. When Long Haoran carefully looked at Ryuu, he could see excited eyes with a slightly shaking hands quickly devouring everything in front of them. Cold sweat began coming out from his pores, but of course, with a good enough reason for that: "This kid is so excited about this meal, how can I tell him that it''s a rare piece of meat that even I was reluctant to take out ... Now that I think about it, how did it happen that I prepared this?" While Long Haoran''s gaze grew distant as he fell deep in thought, Long Xingyue''s eyes were glued to Ryuu not wanting to even blink if she could. "Kyaa~! He''s so adorable when he eats... so cuteeee!!!" Ryuu noticed sister''s hot gaze which made him feel like a research sample. "Am I that interesting? Or do I have something on my face so she''s holding herself back from laughing?" Of course, Ryuu''s mentality remained the same as before but the influence of a young age can''t be overwritten by a mere 25 years or so and he had to know what''s bugging him out of curiosity. Asura Ryuu: "Sis, do I have something on my face?" Long Xingyue: "Eh? Ah? N-n-no, no. Nothing. It''s nothing." Not expecting to be called out so suddenly, Long Xingyue''s tongue almost tied in a knot out of panic while her cheeks turned crimson, even her ears weren''t spared. She quickly lowered her head just so she could avoid Ryuu''s sharp gaze which made her even more ashamed. "H-h-h-h-he noticed me staring at him, what do I do now?! Oh no, what if dad noticed as well?". She quietly glanced to the side and let out a sigh of relief because her dad was still deep in thought that he looked like an unmoving statue. "It''s good father didn''t see me or he would scold me again. So what if Ryuu is my brother, he is so cute and cool, how can I not fall in love with him? Hmph! Stupid dad, you never understand your daughter." Long Xingyue: "Brother!", she blurted out suddenly, startling Ryuu so much that he even stopped madly eating the food. Asura Ryuu: "Eh?" Long Haoran: "Mm??" Her voice didn''t only startle Ryuu, it also startled Long Haoran and broke his train of thought. Now that both Ryuu and Long Haoran were looking at her with curiosity, Long Xingyue found herself in an awkward position but shortly after, she regained her wit and burning passion. Long Xingyue: "Brother, promise me that you''ll never grow up!" "Eh? What?", Ryuu thought. "What''s this about now?!... Well whatever, guess I''ll go along with it." "Um! I promise! I''ll always be your little brother and I will never give up. I give you my word!", Ryuu said with a serious tone which startled Long Haoran. He looked at the two of them, one with a fierce expression staring at the other with a serious expression and he became even more confused. "Did I do something?", Long Haoran thought. Long Haoran: "Umm, daughter ... where''d that come from? Did I do anything to upset you?" Long Xingyue glanced at her dad and then turned away her head, acting angry. Ryuu found that act funny but restrained from laughing because the situation was kind of awkward right now. Long Xingyue: "Hmph! Stupid dad, I''m not going to talk with you anymore!! Brother, come with me!" Asura Ryuu: "Eh?" "What''s going on here?", Ryuu thought while his eyes were alternating between his sister and father. "How did it become like this? Is there something between them because of why she hates father?" Asura Ryuu: "Come with you? Where?" Long Xingyue: "It''s very important so I can''t tell you here. Anyway, just come with me!", she said while glancing at her father and crossing her arms in front, making a high-and-mighty stance. Right after that, she stood up from the chair and, while pulling Ryuu by the hand, ran out of the house together with Ryuu. Long Haoran: *Sigh*, "Does she still hate me because of her mother? Or is it something else now ..." His eyes grew distant again as memories surged. The screams of his wife, her sorrow and anger. The resentment he felt at that moment. It all came back at once, choking his heart with emotions. Without realizing it, an extremely fierce and overbearing aura seeped out of his body while the table and everything else almost crumbled under the pressure. When Long Haoran got a hold of himself again, he saw a messed-up room with overturned furniture and something was even broken. Long Haoran: "....." Long Haoran: *Sigh*, "I did it again..." Long Haoran: "Just when will I be able to save you, dear?" The question was not the only thing that fell because his shirt was already wet from tears that streamed down his eyes like a broken dam. All of Long Haoran''s anger and resentment turned into sorrow and sadness. Long Haoran: "Daughter, for once you did a good thing because you ran away from home... If you saw your useless father like this, what would you think? What would Ryuu think?", Long Haoran thought while staring at the sky. Long Haoran: "Dear wife, I''ll definitely save you. After all, we have another kid to care for and it''s troublesome doing it alone so I might as well need your help.", Long Haoran thought while smiling, but everyone would know that smile is only an outer appearance which was hiding a very terrifying monster beneath it when it comes to somebody dear to him. Long Haoran: "Filthy scum! Just you wait... when I send Ryuu and Xingyue to the academy, I''ll be coming after you all! Long Haoran remembers his enemies well..." ----- Asura Ryuu: "Sis, what''s this all about? Why did we run away from home like that?" Long Xingyue: "Hmph! Who would like to stay with that good-for-nothing father? Let''s go I want to show you something." Ryuu became slightly interested and intrigued after he heard that, which made him ask: "Where are we going?" Long Xingyue: "You will see when we come there. For now, just follow me and don''t tell anyone about that place." Asura Ryuu: "What''s so important that she wouldn''t even tell her father about it? I''m curious." Little Dragon: "Oy, Ryuu. Doesn''t this seem a bit strange?", a gentle voice resounded in Ryuu''s consciousness. Asura Ryuu: "What do you mean, little master?", Ryuu asked with a slight interest in his voice. Little Dragon: "It seems strange, your sisters'' physique and your father. Both of them are very special, unlike other people near here so that must mean there''s something fishy going on with their situation." Asura Ryuu: "What about my father?" Little Dragon: "Hm? You didn''t notice it?" Asura Ryuu: "What? That aura from a moment ago was father''s?" Little Dragon: "Yeah, that''s your father''s aura, belive it or not." Asura Ryuu: "Hmm? Is that so..." Little Dragon: "..." Little Dragon: "Why do you sound so unsurprised? Did you know it already?" Asura Ryuu: "Well, I wouldn''t say I knew already, but I was kind of expecting it from the moment you told me about Xingyue''s unique condition." Little Dragon: "Hee, so you are indeed sharp. As expected from my man, hahaha." Asura Ryuu: "Hmph! Since when did I become your man, why are you dreaming?" Little Dragon: "Hehe, don''t worry. I will take good care of you and nobody would be able to harm you. With me there are only benefits and never misfortune, aren''t you lucky?" Asura Ryuu: "Heh, I''m so lucky that I feel like I could die with no regrets right now." Little Dragon: "Hmph, you little..." Little Dragon: "Anyway, I''m interested as well as to where your sister would lead you exactly. Don''t be surprised if you get assaulted, hahaha." Asura Ryuu: "Hmph, as if you would allow her to even try it, am I not your man?" Little Dragon: "Hee, you know your way with words, as always ..." Little Dragon''s voice became silent for some time while Ryuu was observing the path his sister was leading him on while remembering it. Suddenly, a voice which seemed as if filled with loneliness and worry appeared in his mind again; Little Dragon: "Hey Ryuu ..." Asura Ryuu: "Hmm? What is it, little master? Why do you sound so down?" Little Dragon: "If you had to choose between me and your sister who would you choose?" Asura Ryuu: "..." This short moment of silence was like a year to the little dragon. Asura Ryuu: *Haaaah.....* Asura Ryuu: "Why would you even ask that question if you know the answer?" Little Dragon: "W-well... I don''t know. Even though we both belong to each other, this is a first for me so I''m a bit insecure about it..." Asura Ryuu: "You know all too well that there is not a single living thing which can replace you and even if someone forced me to choose, I would choose both because both of you are my only family, you know?" Little Dragon: "But you can see that your sister is in love with you. You wouldn''t break her heart, would you." Ryuu noticed the hidden trap that this question carried within. It was obvious that it''s not an intentional trap, but if triggered it can be deadly. "So, If I answered that I''d break her heart it would make little master even more insecure because she would think that the same might happen to her sometimes, is it? Darn, I hate how complicated love has to be..." Asura Ryuu: "I don''t know what you want me to answer, but I am certainly sure that you and I can never be separated even by force, so by that fact alone, I am only your from the six years ago for all the eternity. And don''t be so down anymore, my other Soul Spirit is resonating with you, it can be dangerous if it runs wild, you know?" Little Dragon: "Eh? It can go wild? Is it because of me, it cant be like that, right?" Asura Ryuu: "So she can get scared too, hmm?", he thought. Asura Ryuu: "It can, but the condition it requires are extreme emotions, so don''t worry about it anymore, my fool." Little Dragon felt touched now even more than ever up until this moment for all the million years she was alive. Little Dragon: "Hmph! Who would worry about you! Even if your sister falls in love with you, she can only be second and I must be first, got it?" Asura Ryuu: "Understood, master!" Ryuu said with a serious voice which made little dragon laugh crazily. Little Dragon: "Hahaha, it''s so funny. Don''t try to imitate a grown-up with that cute voice, It will kill me one day, hahaha!" A smile formed on Ryuu''s lips as he heard little dragon''s laughter. "My master is the best when she is happy, after all." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Long Xingyue: "Brother, why are you smiling?" Asura Ryuu: "Hm? Ah, nothing. I just remembered something funny." Long Xingyue: "Ehh! What is it, tell me?" Asura Ryuu: "Mmm, nothing important. Anyway, when are we coming there?" Ryuu''s strategy of countering question with question worked really well on a young girl as his sister. Long Xingyue: "Ah, we''re there soon. I can''t wait to show you! You will definitely like it!!" Asura Ryuu: "Hmm ... Will I?" Long Xingyue: "Yep! I''m super super sure that you will like that place!" Asura Ryuu: "Hahaha, let''s hurry up then." Long Xingyue''s cheerful and energetic "Um!" fluttered in the wind as their little forms disappeared in the forest. But unknown to them ... a fearful shadow slowly but steadily crept after them. 20 The third Soul Spirit - part 2 "Sister, where are we go- .....", Ryuu tried asking but even before he could finish the question, they went out of the thick vegetation and before his eyes manifested something which, if said to be a paradise, wouldn''t be off at all. The viridian lake with stagnant water refracting daylight, with surface shining like thousands of stars were embedded in it. Around the lake, countless trees were protruding from the ground, but none of them were what would be called ''a normal tree'', rather every single one of them had different characteristics - some had a weird shape, some had a rather unique trait - their trunk was covered in a certain type of scale-like material or even completely mirror-like, some were bearing fruits while others didn''t and so on. What was specifically enchanting was the scenery which appeared before Ryuu and Long Xingyue which made both of them absent-minded for a while. There were some carvings on the strange rocks nearby and even some of them were embedded in the trees and each rune-like carving was giving off a faint color, albeit very faint to notice with an eye but if someone paid attention to the area they would surely notice them. Asura Ryuu: *cough*, "Xingyue, what is this place?" Hearing Ryuu''s voice, Long Xingyue finally reorganized her thoughts and turned in Ryuu''s direction with eyes full of excitement. Long Xingyue: "Brother, how do you like my secret place?" Asura Ryuu: "Wh..? That''s what you wanted to show me?" As an answer to Ryuu''s question, cheerful and childish "Um!" escaped Long Xingyue''s lips and made Ryuu somewhat confused, not knowing what he should do now. Long Xingyue: "Brother, don''t just stand there. Come on, let''s get in!" "Get in? She doesn''t mean the lake, does she?", Ryuu thought but ... Long Xingyue: "Bro, you will help me wash my hair, right, Right?" Ryuu looked at his sister staring at him with excited eyes and even though he wanted to refuse, he just couldn''t bring himself to do so and, in the end, he had to agree as both of them undressed and entered the water. Asura Ryuu: "We''re still kids so it should be fine, right?", Ryuu''s thoughts were currently preoccupied with similar questions and worries, but when he remembered they were kids right now, Ryuu found a way to relax and let go of his worries. Long Xingyue: "Brother, come, my hair is not going to wash by itself." Ryuu looked at his sister almost completely soaked in the lake with only shoulders and head protruding out of the water and a grin snuck on his face. He arrived behind his sister in a blink and began caressing her hair gently as an artist would gently touch his masterpiece. Long Xingyue thought that her brother was just afraid to move her hair even a bit because it would hurt her and was planning to make fun of her brother, but suddenly her heart became filled with excitement. She forgot what she wanted to say and just stood unmoving and rooted in place with hurried breathing and even more excitement accumulating. Long Xingyue: "Un-", a soft excited and satisfied voice involuntarily escaped her mouth and by the time she realized it, her cheeks were already dyed in red. She turned slowly with eyes slowly gliding to Ryuu in order to see what was his reaction when he heard her ''moan'', but was stupefied by what she saw- Ryuu with closed eyes had a part of her hair in hands and was passionately rubbing it across his cheek while with his other free hand he picked up water and slowly let it slide down her hair from the top to bottom as few drops of water remained on it. When she saw Ryuu''s gentle look and the way how he treated her as a treasure, excitement in her heart slowly dissipated and what replaced it was mixed feelings of sorrow, satisfaction, longing, and happiness. Even Long Xingyue herself didn''t know what to do in this kind of situation. "What is this feeling ... I didn''t feel like this since that time ... when my m-mom d-did the s-sa---*hic*-same thing f-for me". Exactly at this moment, a transparent tear slid down the cheek of a little girl soaked in the water while hugging her knees and fell splashing on the surface of the water. ----- Ryuu''s thoughts were chaotic at that point in time as well, but that was partly thanks to himself and mostly thanks to his Soul Spirit. There was no way that Ryuu wouldn''t feel the feelings of his sister while possessing the Soul Spirit which was born from emotions. "My sister must have had quite a past if her feelings are this complicated right now...", Ryuu thought. Little Dragon: "Anyway, I have to tell you ... Ryuu you''re a natural lady-killer." Asura Ryuu: "Huh? What do you mean?" Little Dragon: "Seriously, you didn''t even notice what you did ... how ignorant and na?ve can you be? Even if you are physically a kid, mentally you should already be way past that period." Asura Ryuu: "Come again?" Little Dragon: "Nevermind, just pay attention to your sister a bit and you will see what I wanted to tell you." "Huh?", Ryuu thought and glanced to his sister as instructed and the first thing he noticed was her shaking shoulders and then a translucent drop or two falling in the water. Ryuu focused on his Crimson Dragon Soul Spirit and felt the changes that appeared within himself. An emulated feeling surged into his brain, something like experiencing someone''s memories in their body but feeling what they feel, that is the closest way to describe it - his heart tightened, choked with sadness and grief. The intensity of emotions went up and down, always changing and alternating until Ryuu retracted his Spirit Power and recalled his Soul Spirit. He had to do so or his Soul Spirit would affect himself and he might lose control of himself. Ryuu knew fully well why not a single human was born with more than three Soul Spirits up until now and he was very clear on pros and cons of what he had done; It was hard to even control one Soul Spirit with basic Spirit Power that humans were born with, that''s why those with dual Soul Spirits were called geniuses and those with three were fought over by every force in order to nurture them into a strategic weapon of mass destruction. Basically those with three Soul Spirits were always the center of attention and considered as the tools, but that wasn''t the main problem - the main problem is that human physique can''t support three such Soul Spirits with a low Spirit Power and as it was hard to control one, imagine how hard it is to control three. The most efficient way to understand would be if you think about it like this: Humans have one hand with five fingers and even then it is hard for the body to keep up with our mind - to be precise we can imagine several possible scenarios by the time we begin moving an arm, let alone pick up our sword. In a similar way one Soul Spirit is way too demanding for humans to fully control it, let alone three or, in Ryuu''s case, ten. Why was Ryuu able to remain alive after splitting that one soul spirit into nine and having ten Soul Spirits in total? Because of his fusion with Little Dragon. In other words, Ryuu not only got a Soul Spirit from her but he also got a dragon''s physique from Little Dragon and he was, in the truest sense, more of a dragon than a human. That is primary, but not the sole reason why Ryuu was able to do the impossible. The other reason is what he cultivated himself in the previous life - a Soul with awakened Spirit Power which evolved once again because of the emotional trial he went through in the Illusion Realm. So in this case, Ryuu is already a humanoid dragon with a very strong Spirit Power, basically a monster even among the gods themselves, if we follow Little Dragon''s words. What Ryuu didn''t know was that both he and Long Xingyue were being observed by something from the shadows throughout everything that happened between them. The figure was well-hidden and neither Ryuu nor Long Xingyue found it, but of course that creature couldn''t escape Little Dragon''s Spiritual Power, as to why she didn''t tell Ryuu, there was one thought in her mind at that moment: "If he relies on me all the time then he will never be able to truly become powerful, so I should leave this one to him. Those four years within the Illusion Realm shouldn''t have been in vain even though Spirit Beasts in there are vastly different than those of this world and even if he didn''t have his Soul Spirits active at that time, for someone who split one Soul Spirit into nine ... I have high expectations for this little monster." Another thing Ryuu didn''t know which Little Dragon did was the origin of his family. There is no way a dragon who lived for a million years wouldn''t be able to recognize a race or two and she confirmed it when Ryuu''s father went a ''bit'' berserk when they ran away from home. "Ryuu will have an interesting life this time, it seems ... and so will I too.", she thought. At this moment Long Xingyue''s childish voice which was slightly trembling resounded. Long Xingyue: "Brother, do you know why we are forced to live outside of the forest and why I, no, why we have no mother?" Ryuu looked at his sister and something began stinging deep inside his soul, he was actually wondering whether he should ask or not and how the following events would unfold if he asked. Ryuu''s thoughts at that moment were a bit chaotic and he was feeling troubled. When Ryuu thought about it a bit he decided to ask anyway because there will be a time when it would be necessary to know so, the sooner he knew, the better. Asura Ryuu: "Um, tell me if it''s okay with you, after all, that is my mother as well." At that moment, teary-eyed Long Xingyue turned around and looked straight at Ryuu''s eyes, not wanting to separate her eyes from his ever again. Whether it was from fear, affection, or something else, only Long Xingyue herself knew. Long Xingyue stared at Ryuu and, while slightly lowering her head filled with tears, she threw herself in Ryuu''s embrace which made both of them fall and disappear beneath the surface of the water for a short period of time. When Ryuu dived out of the water with Long Xingyue in his embrace, he didn''t know what to do and all he could do at that moment was to find a rock under the water to sit on while letting her release all her pent-up sadness and tears. Her crimson eyes appeared to be murky as if layers of clouds were overlapping each other inside of them, while tears swept her feelings away like a surging river. What brought comfort to Long Xingyue was the feeling of warmth she felt while in Ryuu''s embrace as well as his gentle hand gently gliding across her dark hair while his green eyes awoke hope in her and made her feel reassured while looking at them. Ryuu''s only role here was to be there for his sister and listen to their, seemingly tragic, story of his family crumbling apart. Little Dragon: "At last, here it is ..." Asura Ryuu: "Yeah, seems like it''s time to hear about my family''s circumstances." Little Dragon: *Sigh*, "Don''t expect something positive or you will just be filled with hate when you hear about it later." Asura Ryuu: "Hm?" Asura Ryuu: "Do you know something that I don''t?" Little Dragon was silent for a moment pondering whether to respond, but she decided to do so in the end because Ryuu will hear about it shortly after anyway. Little Dragon: "There is a high possibility that your mother is a pure demon and your sister is half-human, half-demon, something similar to you." Asura Ryuu: "Oh? There are demons in this world?" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Little Dragon: "Well, technically I''m also of the demon race, you see ..." Asura Ryuu: "Hmm, so how does it feel to be a demon? And what is the relationship between humans and demons?" Little Dragon: "As expected, you guessed it." Little Dragon: *Sigh*, "Demons and humans don''t get along very well, that is most likely the reason why her mother is not with them right now. If my guess is correct, something must have happened for her to go missing and it is likely that she was captured because she is a demon and is made to be a slave right now, but you will have to hear about that from your sister later." Ryuu''s clenched his teeth while remaining somehow calm on the surface. Needless to say, his emotions were surging inside and his green eyes even had a bit of red glow in the center but it was faint enough to avoid being seen. Little Dragon: "Shouldn''t you control your emotions because of your Soul Spirit?" Asura Ryuu: "Yeah, I should but ..." Asura Ryuu: "Hating each other just because they are of a different race and taking away their freedom, it is unacceptable!" Ryuu''s clenched teeth eased a bit while his emotions stabilized again and when he glanced at his sister and found out that she was still crying on his chest, Ryuu relaxed a little. Asura Ryuu: "Sorry, little master, I''ve always despised those who want to control others'' life or take away their freedom so my feelings got the better of me, you see..." Little Dragon: "Hmm, is that so?" Asura Ryuu: "Yeah..." Asura Ryuu: "Anyway, let''s wait for Xingyue to calm down and hear about what exactly happened then I will decide on what to do then." Little Dragon: "Hee, so you could remain calm after all. Not bad, not bad. Worthy of being my student." While Ryuu and Little Dragon were talking and bickering, Long Xingyue needed a period of time to calm down and recollect herself before she began narrating the story of how her family fell apart in a single moment. 21 The third Soul Spirit - part 3 Long Haoran: "Mo Lan, what are we going to do if someone finds out about us?" The woman called Mo Lan looked at Long Haoran with a complex look on her face and not knowing what to answer, she could only sigh. Mo Lan: "Haaa..." A beautiful woman with white hair, black eyes and crimson symbol on her forehead sighed while staring at Long Haoran, who had a troubled expression written all over his face. There was a baby in her hands, happily sleeping while sucking on her own thumb which was a replacement for the food. It seemed funny but at the same time also cute. Long Haoran looked at his baby and his eyes were filled with affection; Long Haoran: "Xingyue, you will grow up to be a good girl one day, maybe you will even surpass your mother in the future." As he was saying what he had on mind, a smile crept across his face and his heart became filled with melancholy, happiness, and satisfaction. Mo Lan: "Dear, you worry too much sometimes. I know that you love both of us but you have to relax a little. You can''t be this tense every day or it will be bad for your health." Long Haoran: *Haah*, "Maybe you''re right, I am tense every day, but ..." Long Haoran looked at Mo Lan and stared deeply at her black eyes as if trying to embed her appearance in his head for some reason. After a while, his eyes drifted to the crimson symbol on Mo Lan''s forehead while confusion spread within himself. As if noticing confusion in her husband, Mo Lan gently asked; Mo Lan: "What''s wrong, dear?" Long Haoran: "Mo Lan, what does that symbol on your forehead mean?" The crimson symbol had a unique shape, resembling something like a rhombic figure with the top point stretched up while two more ''spikes'' extended from the left and right point going upwards. If one paid enough attention, they would notice that the symbol on her head was actually a trident without a handle, albeit a bit abstract and uncommon. Mo Lan: "This is the mark of the Sea God which our demonkind has been entrusted with. Although it is as I said - for some reason, we can''t awaken our Soul Spirits and we can''t discover anything related to the symbol." Long Haoran: "Does that mean that every demon has that symbol?" Mo Lan: "Yes, but the design differs a little. Only our Mo family has the original design which is the same as the ancestor who received the blessing of the Sea God. Although we can''t hide the mark from our forehead, not many of us go outside anyway so that''s why your kind doesn''t know about this trait of us demons yet." Long Haoran: "You say your family doesn''t go out, but why are you the only one that went out at that time?" Mo Lan: "..." Mo Lan looked at the baby in her arms and smiled. Mo Lan: "Because I ran away from that solitude and that sad place ..." At this point in time, her head was raised and she was gently and passionately looking at Long Haoran. Mo Lan: "And, thanks to that, I found you two.", as Mo Lan said that, a smile bright enough to outshine the sun appeared on her face while she caressed the baby''s head slowly and gently sliding along the shiny skin. ----- Five years after Long Xingyue was born, in the room which currently got occupied by Long Xingyue, Long Haoran, and Mo Lan, the happiness emanating from the family was spreading to every corner of the room, but what neither of them knew is that a catastrophe was going to befall them very soon. And, as if arranged by fate, a strong tremor came from outside the house while the shockwave shattered the windows, there were even some cracks crawling up from the base of the house. Happiness on Long Haoran''s face transformed to fear, despair and helplessness in an instant as if it was there, to begin with. Long Haoran: "It can''t be them, can it? I hope .... not." While Long Haoran was observing their surroundings in search of the enemy, even bigger despair crept on his face~ Long Haoran: "Three, no four thousand of them and there are even four emperors ..." Long Haoran shifted his eyes to the side where Mo Lan was calming Long Xingyue down while the seed of anger and unyieldingness flared up in the depths of his soul, while he vanished from the spot and appeared around a kilometer above the house staring with a piercing gaze into a distant horizon where the thousands of Spirit Masters were marching in their direction. What caught his attention were not those mere thousands, rather he focused on the four ''emperors'' who were in the air as if standing on it or rather as if the air currents were carrying them along as they were levitating and slowly trailing behind the marching armies. The transparent barrier that was surrounding the house and perimeter had become visible long ago and there was a large part missing. That part was shattered just now which caused the tremor as well when the barrier fell apart. The sheer force did blast the ground apart and even their house suffered some of the residual waves as the first meter above the ground had countless cracks in it. Long Haoran''s thoughts were more worried about something else right now though - "The base of the house shattered, which means those emperors combined have enough power to fight a demon king alone ..." Long Haoran: "Things are not going well for us here, it seems..." At this moment, Mo Lan appeared next to Long Haoran with Long Xingyue in her arms. The first thing Mo Lan did was to check Long Haoran''s eyes, which were now as desolate as the desert. Her emotions were a mess while Long Haoarn had to seal his own in order to think rationally. He knew that in a moment like this, his emotions would only bring forth the downfall of himself and his wife and daughter, therefore even if he couldn''t be a caring husband at the last moment he chose to be rational and to make the best decision possible. Long Haoran: "Maybe it is just a misunderstanding, I''ll go check with them." Mo Lan''s hand was faster than him though, as she grabbed his hand with such a force that not even someone possessing the great strength of the emperor like himself could break away. "Do you really think there will be a misunderstanding if someone barges into your house with four emperors and four thousand Spirit Masters?", Mo Lan''s harsh and commanding voice tore through his ears even though she didn''t shout, rather it was as if that was her normal speech, only ... "KILL THE DEMONESS!" "BANISH THE BEWITCHED HUMAN AND THE CURSED CHILD!" "DEATH TO THE DEMONS!" Only the mad shouts of the soldiers reverberated as if to answer Mo Lan''s previous statement which was enhanced by Spirit Power causing it to spread over for dozens of kilometers in a radius around her. The reason Long Haoran heard her voice as commanding and ear-tearing was precise because of that. Though, if somebody was stronger than Mo Lan they wouldn''t be affected by her voice but not a single human could ever be stronger than the demon, or at least that''s what common sense goes by. The four emperors were already only a dozen tens of meters away from Long Haoran with a respective attitude and slightly bowed. Neither of them had any maliciousness like the Spirit Masters below because they were Long Haoran''s close friends and they knew fully well whether Mo Lan was what those beneath were claiming or not, but out of their duties, they couldn''t help it and had to follow their orders. Long Haoran: "It came to this, didn''t it?" One of them, a burly man with a rather huge build for a human came forth with a scroll and handed it over to Long Haoran while his face was that of displeasure and anger and there was even some sadness. Long Haoran: "Don''t worry my friend, I knew this day would come sooner or later, but it seems somebody has a rather deep grudge against me if they chose to send my closest friends, huh?" The other three could just nod their heads while the burly man in front just clenched his teeth and fists, helpless to do anything. "Commander! Allow us to accompany you and run away from this wretched place!", he shouted in a deep tone. A slender hand of a woman appeared on his shoulder and Mo Lan was already in front of him, shaking her head in denial. "Miss...", his saddened voice escaped through the clenched teeth. Mo Lan: "Don''t do this, you have your own families and wouldn''t want them to suffer, right?" "But miss... Commander, he ..." Mo Lan''s hand which was gently on his shoulder suddenly tightened and the contours of his face began twitching out of pain, but nevertheless, he endured. "We still wish... Arghh. --- to accompany you two." *Crunch* With a faint sound of a bone breaking, a sharp and domineering light filled Mo Lan''s eyes which turned from black to blazing red and the trident pattern on her forehead began wriggling and burning with a blazing crimson radiance as if it was alive. "M-miss...", the burly man''s panicked voice resounded with pain in it. Mo Lan: "Do your job here and go to your homes. This is an order in place of your captain!" "Y-yes miss!" Even though the man managed to say it despite the pain, he still had angry expression as if he was not content with a decision he had to abide with. But before he could even think of protesting, gentle energy poured inside his shoulder and fixed the broken bone in an instant, as if it was a lie. "As expected, the miss is as impressive as always. How I envy our captain.", he thought. Mo Lan disappeared and came near the Long Haoran, reading what was written in the scroll. "The demoness Mo Lan is to be apprehended and delivered to the capital within the time period of one day from the moment this scroll is delivered. Not abiding by the given command will be considered treason and immediate execution will be carried out on the place, followed by the execution of all the family members. In addition, the sinner who had a forbidden relationship with the demons shall leave the empire and bring his evil pawn with him - Emperor Long Tian." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. As Long Haoran finished inspecting the scroll with his Spirit Power, the scroll flared with golden light and dissipated into nothingness. He then turned to his friends with an unflinching expression, if there was even one, and asked with a calm and collected voice: "What will happen to Mo Lan?" "Captain, she will be eternally sealed by all Spirit Emperors in the empire, quite possibly she will even outlive the whole humanity, at best. So there is no need to worry, your brother did all he could to convince everyone to this option." Long Haoran: "Is that so ... Give him my regards and tell him that I will be back someday to take what is mine, let him tell those bastards that they can celebrate for now." "Commander, here''s the unofficial message from the Emperor!", one of the three behind said while the scroll slowly descended into the Long Haoran''s hands. "Brother, I await for your return when Xingyue grows up so that We* can truly become the emperor with your help and make our dream true... Sorry for being a useless emperor, eternal sealing is as far as I could convince them, it will have to make a do until brother breaks through that rank, We* believe in you! Your dear brother, Long Tian." Long Tian''s eyes welled up with tears even though his emotions were literally disabled at this time, these peculiar emotions transcended what Spirit Power was capable of, they came from the soul. Those tears had the very heavy impact on Mo Lan, and in order to remain strong in Long Haoran''s perspective she left the Long Xingyue with Long Haoran and commanded his best friend to escort him and her daughter away from this wretched place, while she proceeded to the capital with the three behind and the only thing left at that place was a house and everything around it burning with a white fire, completely erasing the evidence that something existed here. What neither of them noticed was the reflection of white fire in the eyes of Long Xingyue who just barely awoke when they separated. The white flame became the symbol of the tragedy that was later spread for many, many years in the empire where it happened, and that certain day became known in the public as "The dawn of justice" - or so that''s how the humans understood this day. But for certain people, the justice was something they wished to destroy and it was just an excuse for evil deeds which made them loathe it, it''s just that nobody knew about it yet, at least for a next decade or so... ----- *Achoo* Ryuu''s sudden sneeze came without notice and much to his surprise as he was still patiently waiting for Long Xingyue to calm down while they were in the viridian lake and neither did he feel cold nor anything wrong with himself. Asura Ryuu: "Aii, it couldn''t be that I''ve got a cold ... No way, I ain''t as weak as I was in my previous life, why would I get cold?!" Why would he sneeze if he wasn''t as vulnerable to viruses as humans are, that completely made no sense... . . . Or did it? ------------------------- *We as in "I, the emperor" - with honorifics. Long Tian uses it with an intention to make fun of himself and show how worthless he is as the emperor, considering that it is rather ironic to call himself the emperor while others control him from the shadows. (Here''s a little heads-up for the future story) 22 The third Soul Spirit - part 4 Having heard how the events of the downfall of his family unfolded or rather how "The dawn of justice" occurred, Ryuu''s feelings flared up and his aura was already enveloping their surroundings, though Ryuu didn''t even notice that the aura of a Crimson Dragon was oozing out of himself now, the thing that followed them in shadows did, and it ran away with a tail between its legs. Long Xingyue: "Wait, what? Why did it run away from Ryuu''s aura, it''s not yet that strong even though it''s a little bit domineering because of my dragon aura!?" Much to her surprise, Little Dragon couldn''t find a reason why such a powerful beast would run away, but that is only because Ryuu''s aura wasn''t discernible to her because he had not a single shred of hostility to either her or his current family, but anyone else would feel as if they were prickled by countless of daggers which would intensify the closer one went to its origin. This Soul Spirit''s particular aura wasn''t supposed to be like this but during the four years in Illusion Realm, Ryuu''s constant fight against Spirit Beasts and the pain of being helpless and constantly protected by those who he should protect made it evolve completely into a terrifying oppressive force which would later become well-known among many places and worlds. But alas, the spirit beast didn''t run away because of Ryuu, rather it seemed that something even more terrifying threatened it--- The viridian lake began slowly gathering and dispersing, rising and falling and miniature ripples unseen to the naked eye began forming. Just a few moments later, Ryuu''s closed eyelids shot open and his aura receded because he felt a transformation occurring within himself - something calling for him in the depths of his soul, as if summoning him. Ryuu looked at the exhausted Long Xingyue sleeping and the first thing he had to do was to put on his clothes, and afterward her clothes too and bring her out to the shore of the lake. Only then did he sit down to meditate and check what was happening. As Ryuu slowly entered the depth of the meditation process, Little Dragon who observed everything from within him decided to leave his body with her Spirit Body and came in front of the sleeping Long Xingyue, observing her from a close distance. Little Dragon: "The Sea God mark, is it? I wonder how is the blue doing now?" Little Dragon''s eyes stared at the colorful sky intertwined with variety of countless color shades and a colorful giant star in the middle of it, and began wondering: "Why did it occur in Ryuu''s Illusion that the sky had no stars and instead there was that weird thing which warped the light, something like a disc? What is that? Is something like that even possible in reality?" As if noticing that she dozed off, Little Dragon then again glanced at the sleeping Long Xingyue and with a sigh, on the top of her finger, a crystal viridian drop of blood appeared and a moment later - it shot into Long Xingyue. The difference now was that Ryuu didn''t feel anything because he was already in the depths of the meditation. Little Dragon''s look became gentle again upon falling on his back covered in the black coat. Little Dragon: "Black clothes, black soul, yet the first half of his personality brighter than the sun and second darker than myself... How did he manage to do that?", she wondered. But at that moment, behind Ryuu appeared ten Spirit emblems, two of them had a dark green and crimson red color respectively while the rest were pitch-black. Then, suddenly a third one began trembling and a colorful viridian dot appeared in the middle of it. Long Xingyue: "Viridian color? Which one will it be this time?" But alas, before she could even recollect herself, Ryuu''s monstrous and mysterious influence yet again surprised her as all of the water in a viridian lake suddenly floated up and condensed endlessly until only a drop of crystal clear viridian water remained with starlight embedded within it. Long Xingyue: "Sea God''s origin blood? How did this happen?" Long Xingyue''s eyes nearly popped despite the fact that she was now a Spirit Body and had no physical form - actually she had but wasn''t able to quite exactly use it yet. Long Xingyue: "T-th-this ... he can''t even be considered a monster anymore, this is pure madness....." Her eyes drifted to the sky yet again, while longing appeared within them - "Old blue, what would you think if you knew that yet another bloodline apart from the demons would have your inheritance? And it''s partly a human whose race you despise the most..." "Human? Hmph! He''s everything just not human. Old Black, we are waiting for both of you, hurry up here it ain''t fun without you." The deep and ancient voice reverberated within Little Dragon''s head. Little Dragon began shaking like a sieve, her eyes which barely stabilized shot open again while she wanted to scream but couldn''t. She could only scream in her thoughts in hope to hear that sound again. Little Dragon: "Old Blue! Answer me! How are you? How is everyone? Why is your Spirit Origin here?" Little Dragon: "That nine-colored blood, was that you in the void dimension? Old Blue? Old Blue???" Little Dragon continued screaming for a bit more in her thoughts before she managed to calm down. When she did calm down, excitement overtook her whole heart and her black cheeks had a faint green* shade, obviously from excitement - "So you guys are still okay up there? Don''t worry we will be coming soon, in twenty-thirty years I will see you all again, and I''ll have to introduce my future husband to you all!" "We are waiting.", the sound occurred again. This time, Little Dragon only got a bit surprised but then noticed something fast and surprise vanished: "If they did hear my thoughts, why didn''t they answer? Could it be that something happened?" Her eyes slowly drifted towards the Spirit Emblem that began changing and at that moment a viridian droplet with the stars shot into the Spirit Emblem while it changed color from black to viridian and a unique dragon shape formed as Ryuu slowly opened his eyes which were now deep blue. Ryuu slowly stood up and turned around watching the Little Dragon''s Spirit Body with ten different-colored wings behind her and couldn''t help but be amazed by them. But then Little Dragon''s slightly panicked voice brought him back to reality... Little Dragon: "Hey, Ryuu..." Asura Ryuu: "Um?" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Little Dragon: "Why are your eyes deep blue? Shouldn''t they be viridian?" Asura Ryuu: "What do you mean?" Little Dragon: "..." Asura Ryuu: "Little master?" Her slanted colorful brows almost touched as she thought about it, then she looked at the Spirit Emblem again and noticing that it was viridian, while Ryuu''s eyes were blue, she couldn''t understand why it happened. She couldn''t understand until that moment - when Deep Blue dragon scales shot out from Ryuu and his eyes began glowing, precisely at that moment the viridian color on his Spirit Emblem instantly changed to deep blue and ground began trembling. Soon, the cracks in the ground began manifesting as the water shot out from them and it all happened in a basin where the water was drained from, only now the water shot out was viridian instead of deep blue, what Little Dragon was expecting. Ryuu lowered his head and observed the spiky deep blue scales, and led by curiosity he raised his hand to touch them and found out that it was not a hand, but a dragon claw. Ryuu only smiled and touched the scale, but it parted the way as if alive and he actually touched his own skin. Asura Ryuu: "Ay, what''s this?" Little Dragon: "Hm?" Asura Ryuu: "Why are these scales different from the others?" Little Dragon then paid attention and noticed the water-like substance which scales were made off was parting the way for Ryuu''s claw to pass and touch his own skin beneath. Little Dragon: "Isn''t that Old Blue''s natural ability? Why do you have it as well?" Asura Ryuu: "Eh? Who''s Old Blue, and what''s that ability?" Little Dragon noticed that she said something unnecessary and then with a *Cough* she explained it in a roundabout way. Little Dragon: "Old Blue is my old friend, and he had that same ability, whereas he could make extremely hard objects fluid and manipulate them the same way as you." Asura Ryuu: "Oh? Dunno- maybe I stole his abilities in my past life, hehe. But I have to say this is cool. It reminds me of a certain God from my past world. He could command all of the waters on my planet and was called Poseidon, but he was only a legend from the past." Little Dragon: "... Old Blue, you''re right. He''s everything apart from human, isn''t he, Heh-heh, lucky me." Little Dragon couldn''t help it but smile brightly when she thought of it and her mood became cheerful again. "Yup, Ryuu was right. I''m better off when I''m happy and smiling, hehehe. MUHAHAHA----- oops. My habits came back again." Little Dragon: "Okay, you little idiot. Come here quick!" Asura Ryuu: "Ey? Why are you scolding me?" Little Dragon: "Stop asking unimportant questions and come here!" Asura Ryuu: "Aye, aye, little master. Commin'' right now!" Ryuu came near his sister and observed her condition, still worried that she wouldn''t wake up or would have nightmares from those memories that she evoked when explaining her past, but Ryuu only found that her skin had something similar to a transparent starry layer and at that moment her eyes slowly opened, while her forehead flared up. A pattern appeared on her forehead and it was the exact same pattern of a trident that her mother had, only her pattern was viridian instead of crimson, and her eyes were the same color as the pattern - viridian. The first thing she saw was Ryuu''s deep blue eyes and his deep blue armor which made an extreme impression in the depths of her soul, stimulating the feeling inside of her to become even stronger and at that moment--- Ryuu''s eyes began glowing with deep blue light and deep blue armor of scales got covered in black cracks as if the space within the armor was torn and a very gentle, yet vast aura enveloped their surroundings. Under that aura, instead of feeling oppressed by its vastness, Long Xingyue became excited and her heart began beating faster and faster and even went up above five to six beats per second. As a human, this may be troublesome state even for a Spirit Master, but she had a Starry physique and a Demon one at that, so it wasn''t problematic at all for her. And right at that moment --- A viridian light flared out of her eyes while the coat of viridian water enveloped her whole body and formed a non-transparent cocoon with stars embedded within. Ryuu couldn''t quite understand what happened and then he had to resort to asking the Little Dragon about it: "Yo, little master. Why did this change happen?" Little Dragon: "This is how a Soul Spirit Awakening occurs, Ryuu. Now then you''ll have to be creative when crafting up how yours did when you need to tell others because you''ll quite possibly have ten of those." Asura Ryuu: "Oh? So this is how it looks like? How long will it last?" Little Dragon: "Usually, it''s instantaneous, but since her bloodline was stimulated by your third Soul Spirit, it probably evolved since it wasn''t awakened yet, so it''ll take a while before it''s finished." Asura Ryuu: "Heh, then I''ll be meditating to stabilize my third Soul Spirit, please notify me if something happens." Little Dragon: "Yeah, yeah. Go already, it''s boring listening to your nagging." Ryuu could only shake his head and sit cross-legged and enter the meditation state again. What Ryuu was unsure, however, was what stabilizing an awakened part meant exactly, but he decided to do everything in order to potentially make it better and stronger so he took that process as the ''stabilizing'' in his own dictionary. But that wasn''t it at all, what Ryuu did was much more than stabilizing - it was evolving it at the same time and surpassing the limitations, unlocking infinite possibilities for each and every Soul Spirit he had observed. This was a thing that Little Dragon would never know about Ryuu, and if she did, he wouldn''t even be a madman anymore, he''d be a mystery to her for all the eternity. Little Dragon glanced at Ryuu who recalled his deep blue scales and then glanced at the viridian cocoon floating in midair, and then... cocoon changed from viridian to deep blue, the same as with Ryuu a while ago. Little Dragon: "What the hell is going on? Old Blue had never succeeded in passing down the entirety of his origin to anyone, why would it happen to both of them now?" She couldn''t help but look at Ryuu again, and then she noticed something - Ryuu''s hair lost two colors, red and blue. She didn''t notice it at first because black was black, red happened only recently and she didn''t go out with her Spirit Body and only now did she notice it. Little Dragon: "So he needs to awaken all of his souls before he can look normal, is it?" Little Dragon: "I can''t wait to see what he''ll become in this wretched world of mine... Would he able to change what I couldn''t?" As she fell deep in thought, her eyes drifted to the sky again, while her thoughts were swimming who knows where at that moment. -------------------- *green shade - instead of the red shade when someone is excited or ashamed, it is green in Little Dragon''s case, because her blood is green. If it was Ryuu, then it''d be ten-colored, if it''s Long Xingyue it''d be half-viridian, half-red and so on... I want it to be as realistic as possible in a way that would go by the logic as much as possible so if I ever forget to change something in the future like this, please do remind me to correct it or if you''ve got new suggestions leave them in the comments! 23 Long Xingyues Soul Spirit Awakening One Dragon with a form of Spiritual Body, one mysterious existence who remained like that even to the all-seeing dragon, and one half-demon trapped in a viridian cocoon in a place near a viridian lake. A gathering of strange people, indeed, but now the Little Dragon felt bored and returned within Ryuu only to be greeted by a vast deep blue sea in his mind. Little Dragon: *Hiiiiii~* A sound of shock escaped this time, but she couldn''t help it anyway. Anyone would react like that if somebody re-arranged their home or room where they lived. Little Dragon: "Did I do this and forgot? Why is it a sea instead of the darkness?" Little Dragon thought about it and then - "Wait a minute..." She looked above herself and noticed something amazing - the vast ten-colored sky full of stars and a gigantic black hole in it with accretion disc filled with various radiant colors. Little Dragon: "Wait, isn''t that the thing Ryuu saw in his Illusion?" At this moment, another spiritual body appeared next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, genuinely scaring her out of her wits, followed by a feminine scream. Ryuu, who scared her, couldn''t stop laughing when he heard this mighty dragon scream like a little girl and he fell down in a deep blue sea while his laughter reverberated within this dream-like world. Little Dragon: "Ryuu? What the fuck are you doing in here?", her angry voice filled with puzzlement resounded. Asura Ryuu: "Hahahaha, what do you mean? Why are you asking me what am I doing in my own mind?" Little Dragon: "That''s not it, I''m asking you how did you reach here? I didn''t teach you how to enter your Spirit Sea yet... and you even made it look different?" Little Dragon looked at Ryuu with shock and her index finger was pointing at him which Ryuu found like a scene from a manga when a man barges into a room where a female''s changing and then she points at him while screaming. Before Ryuu noticed, their surroundings already had the image that he had pictured and Little Dragon was staring blankly at the scene. Her face already got filled with a shade of green, even her elven ears weren''t spared. Little Dragon: "Y-y-you PERVERT! What are you showing me???" Asura Ryuu: "Eh? Ai? Ah? How did this happen? I just thought about it, I didn''t want to actually do this..." And at this moment their surroundings returned to what they were a while ago. Little Dragon stared at the black hole pinned in the sky and couldn''t understand what the heck that was, so she had to ask while pointing with her slender black finger at it. Little Dragon: "Ryuu, what is that thing?" Ryuu looked in the direction she was pointing at and his eyebrows shot up slightly as his voice followed up: "Eh? That? How do you like it, it''s my favorite celestial body - the dark star, the anti-star, or originally known as The Black Hole." Little Dragon''s head clamped to Ryuu''s direction yet again with eyes nearly popping out as she stared at him. Ryuu felt a strange look on himself and his eyes shifted from the sky to Little Dragon, where he found her expression literally --- bamboozled and stupefied. Asura Ryuu: "Ay, dear? What''s wrong?" Little Dragon slapped her own forehead out of her complicated mood and then her eyes alternated against the black hole and Ryuu again and again. Little Dragon: "Say, is this really how the black hole looks like?" Asura Ryuu: "Oh? You interested? Wait, why are you asking me? Aren''t you the creator of this world, I just changed it a bit and rearranged it to my liking, couldn''t you do the same?" Little Dragon: "I am, but, but this thing!!! That thing none of us knew to make, how the fuck did you even imagine how it looks like, let alone make it???" Asura Ryuu: "Haaah? Nobody knew how to make? What do you imagine a black hole is, a thing you can just make on a whim? You need to understand how it works if you want to emulate it, and by the way, do you not understand the laws of the universe and celestial bodies? Is that why it was pure darkness here when I came?" Little Dragon: "... Crap. I screwed up.", she thought. And not knowing what to do or what to say in order to escape the shame she brought upon her title of Heavenly Dragon, Little Dragon just flew out of Ryuu''s Spirit Sea in order to escape. While in her Spirit Body form, she looked at Ryuu still meditating and didn''t know what to think anymore - whether he is a monster, a dragon, a devil, a demon, a human, a god, whatever the hell he is, she didn''t have the strength to think about it anymore nor did she want to after all this. Little Dragon: "I''ll just call him Ryuu, that''s the only thing he certainly is. Oh and my husband as well, hehehe." ----- Meanwhile in Ryuu''s Spirit Sea. Asura Ryuu: "Ay, why did she disappear like that? Did I say something wrong?" Ryuu pondered about it for a while and then decided to let it go. He didn''t understand a single thing about her anyway. Asura Ryuu: "Whatever. Now, time to make this world a little better and more magnificent, just like I want it to be, MUHAHAHAHA~ *Cough* *Cough* Ah, I should really stop laughing like this or I''ll do it in front of other people one day." But just before he could even move, he found all of the Spirit Power within him had disappeared and he fell asleep and then fell into the deep blue sea. But as this was in his Spirit Sea, he couldn''t possibly drown so he had fallen asleep without a single bit of worry. Shortly after, the emblem of the Deep Blue Dragon manifested, palatial and gigantic while the blue dragon came out of the water with Ryuu sleeping on top of his head. The dragon had a smile plastered on his face, and then... it spoke: "Hehe, I saw flustered Ol'' Black. I''ll tease the hell out of her someday, hahaha. Yo, Ol'' red why don''t you come out?" As the dragon said that, the burning crimson dragon appeared as if he was always there, just coated in space and invisible - in other words, just popped into existence, followed up with a domineering and world-shaking voice: "Humph! You are such a shameless dragon, but I have to agree, it was worth it everything we went through. We saw the flustered sister Black and this brat even separated us from that thing with a God''s wish, we have to thank him for giving us our freedom someday, but let''s not hurry it yet, only the three of us are awake. The seven others are still sleeping." "Ya, let''s stay hidden from her for now, some interesting things will happen here when Ryuu grows up. You know - they are in love with each other *wink* *wink*" "HaHaHa, Ol'' Blue you really are like a mischievous kid always, I swear. But I like it." "Hahahaha, I didn''t know Ol'' Red had that side to you, good brother." "Let Ryuu rest, for now, I can''t wait to see what he will make next here." "Yeah, but then again, this little kid made a black hole while neither of us did it. What would the teacher White say if he knew this?" "Hmm, let''s wait for us all to return to Divine Realm and meet with him, then we will see." "Agreed!" "I bet brother White would freak out when he finds out that sister Black fell in love with this brat." "Now, now. Don''t spoil their happiness. Go, vanish, go Poof." "Humph, Ol'' Blue don''t get too cocky, I can still slap you to death with a tail." "Oh really? Let''s try it then." "Come, I''m not scared you seven-faced freak." "Who are you calling seven-faced freak?" "Who else than you? The crimson seven-faced freak, that''s your nickname, ain''t it?" "Fine, come at me you friggin'' God of Vast Purified Pee." "AAAAH!!! DON''T CALL ME THAT, I''ll TEAR YOU APART!" "Try it!" ----- While the battle occurred in Ryuu''s Spirit Sea, which neither he nor Little Dragon knew, he slowly awoke later only to find everything as before with no trace of blue or red dragons. Asura Ryuu: "Ah, must be the overconsumption of Spirit Power. I''ll rest for a few days first." Ryuu opened his eyes slowly and when he got up, he found Little Dragon staring at the viridian cocoon which was rippling and bubbling as if it was boiling and he quickly ran up while asking; Asura Ryuu: "What''s going on?" Little Dragon: "Shh, she''s about to come out." *Splash* *Splashhh---* *Ripple* . . . *silence* Asura Ryuu looked at the cocoon which stabilized and then, with slanted eyes and smug face, looked at the Little Dragon, as if mocking her for the failed prediction, with a mocking smile on his lips. Asura Ryuu: "He-he-he, did that our master fail with her prediction, aww don''t be sad, it''s okay. Everyone makes mistakes. Ga-hahahahaha" But before he could enjoy this little period of victory, the water cocoon exploded and blasted him away in an instant while the radiant deep blue light which could seemingly pierce even the soul tried to assault him, but RIP for it, as it failed. Ryuu''s resistance was far higher than a mere glaring light could ''imagine'' and it got blocked easily. But... Little Dragon: "Aww, Ryuu. Don''t be sad, everyone makes a mistake or two. It''s normal to get blown away like the dust once or twice, no biggie, okay?" Asura Ryuu: "Arghhh! I hate karmaaaa!!!" --- But, the merciless demon dragon assaulted without mercy .... because she''s merciless so no mercy, get it? Okay, I''ll go hide in a corner... *Cough* Now then, back on topic... --- Asura Ryuu: *Huff*, *huff*, "By the way, why is my sister pinned in mid-air?" Little Dragon: "Eh?" Little Dragon forgot about Long Xingyue for a second and when she turned her head - a naked six-year-old body covered in deep blue light with a pair of magnificent wings made out of smooth feathers that seemed as if they were alive and were fluttering in the wind and the circular crown made of ice with approximately twelve spikes extending both on top and bottom with a viridian crystal embedded within each, was levitating in place in mid-air, as if the gravity had no effect on her at all. Little Dragon: "Goddess of the Seas'' descent." Asura Ryuu: "What''s that?" Little Dragon: "I thought only you were weird, but now there are two weird things near me..." Asura Ryuu: "I''ll take that as a compliment... for both." Little Dragon: *Haaah*, "Nevermind, I''ll explain." Little Dragon: "Her Soul Spirit is called Goddess of the Seas, therefore the awakening ... you get it now?" Asura Ryuu: "Oh, I get it. Wait, I don''t get it." Little Dragon: "?!" Asura Ryuu: "What does the Goddess of the Seas mean?" Little Dragon: "Like, like ... um... She can control the waters?" Asura Ryuu: "..." Little Dragon: "..." Asura Ryuu: "So?" Little Dragon: "Yeah?" Asura Ryuu: "That''s it?" Little Dragon: "Yeah." Asura Ryuu: "..." Asura Ryuu: "You lazy dragon, explain things well when you explain them!!!" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Little Dragon: "Ahhh, you''re boring just look for yourself and you''ll see." Ryuu shifted his eyes to the place where his sister was ''pinned'' to and then he couldn''t help but turn his eyes again to the side to where the lake was ... - was because it was no more... Then his eyes shot back to the place where his sister is and found that she mysteriously appeared on the ground with a trident made out of some kind of opaque blue crystal, with that eye-catching crown and feathers on her wings became crystal-like as well. Going further, her hair and eyes were now viridian, while around herself were golden-blue robes fitting of a Goddess'' name. Asura Ryuu: "So, my sister now became female Poseidon? Well, that''s quite something, hehe." But that short amount of time when he felt happy instantly ended when he felt a sharp pain in his leg which made him scream and turn quickly to the left. However, he forgot that his sister as currently there and... He shouted: "Motherf--- why did you kick me??? And how the hell did you kick a physical body with a spiritual one?" Long Xingyue: "Hmph! Watching other women in front of me, quite daring I see." Asura Ryuu: "She''s my sisterrrr!" However ... Long Xingyue''s angelic voice drifted in from his side, while he appeared in her eyes as if he was yelling at the air: "Yeah, I''m your sister, by the way, who are you talking with?" Ryuu only now remembered that his sister was awake now, and before he could think up of a way to make an excuse, her beauty stunned him for a while. Long Xingyue: "Hm? Brother, why are you staring at me? Do I have something on me?" She ran up to the lake only to see her current look and... She became dazed as well. 24 The Sea Gods heirs Near the coast of the viridian lake, Ryuu and Long Xingyue were sitting on a strangely shaped rock with some kind of unfamiliar runes on it while laughing like crazy. The echo of their laughter filling the entire space around them. Asura Ryuu: "Hahahaha, that was funny, actually." Long Xingyue: "Hahaha-- ah. I can''t, I have to stop laughing or I''ll die, hahahaha." Ryuu''s ''elder sister'', Long Xingyue, couldn''t really control herself - or rather, the situation just a moment ago looked pretty funny to the two of them. ----- Ryuu stood rooted in place while his mind was completely empty, but of course, there''s a reason for everything in this world - his eyes were glued to the goddess-like appearance of Long Xingyue and considering that for someone who saw something like that only in games, her current appearance was enough to steal away his soul. The naive face of the little girl that she was just a while ago completely disappeared and in its place now was soul-stirring porcelain beauty shining brightly like the sun anchored in the sky. Her viridian eyes seemed as if they could rob the whole world of its vitality at any moment, and those who dare meet them shall be nailed in a place, unable to move in the presence of a goddess. Her elven ears, previously hidden, captured the very melody of this world while her long eyelashes seemed as if they would make the waves rise and fall each time they moved. Her slender white body, as if made out of the finest jade there is, with curves like the river streams flowing through nature and viridian hair signifying the celestial waterfall which in itself contains myriad of stars stolen from the sky. The crystal trident and the wings which could move the farthest winds emanated the boundless and divine aura which made the entire world at peace. It seemed as if the very nature was integrated with the viridian crystals on the magnificent crown. Her eyes filled with surprise as she watched her own beauty radiated happiness and kindness while those who saw them felt a comforting feeling in the depths of their souls. The graceful pose of the Goddess, coated by the golden-blue dress made out of the finest materials, could leave many men and women gasping while her divine beauty, containing a bit of a demonic charm, could rob the men of their souls - but there was one man who could resist it... Asura Ryuu: "... Damn, her charm is too strong for a little kid. Little master, you better keep your man safe in the future or else I will be stolen away when she grows up, hehe." Little Dragon: "Humph! At least you know what''s good for you. Don''t worry, I''ll make sure she won''t take the first place, hehehe." When Ryuu heard what his little master said, he couldn''t help but be a little surprised - "Little master actually doesn''t mind my sister being the second place? Oh well, It seems something interesting will happen in the future, hehe." Asura Ryuu: "But nevertheless, I have to say, if she releases her Soul Spirit just like that, there may be some jealous eyes who would have strange ideas about my sister. Little master, when will we begin the ''suffering'', I want to become stronger in order to protect you all." Little Dragon: "Us? Oh." Little Dragon: "Did you mean me and Xingyue?" Asura Ryuu: "No, not only you two, all of you. Father, sister, you, and mother." Little Dragon: "Mother? You mean the imprisoned Mo Lan?" Ryuu only nodded in response, because his mind right now was in disorder - partly from the Goddess before himself and partly from the anger he felt through the Crimson Dragon. Little Dragon: "Hee, I didn''t expect you to have plans on going to rescue your mother. Do you know how strong Emperors are?" Ryuu looked at the sky and only shook his head slightly while his eyes gave birth to the unyielding spirit: "I don''t know, but I''m sure that I will surpass even them if needed in order to achieve what I want. Even if the whole world needs to be my foothold to step on, I will still push forward until I get what I want." While Ryuu got immersed in his resolve, he didn''t notice that in his Spirit Sea two pairs of eyes opened - Red and Deep blue. ----- "Ol'' Blue, we didn''t make a mistake." "Hmph! When did this King do something wrong? If I did, I wouldn''t be called Poseidon today, HEHEHE." "Heh! Arrogant bastard, let''s just witness how your successor will surpass even you together with our new Emperor." "Hahaha! I will be waiting for that day, but I have to say - you really have some blind confidence in Ryuu. What if he provokes someone strong before he reaches that step?" "Hahahahahaha. Old blue, you really are a funny one, aren''t you?" "Hmph! Of course, there''s a need to make a joke or two in a while or we''d be bored in here. Besides, those who dare harm our Lord and his family better be prepared because ..." "Yeah. Because not even their Gods would be able to save them from Heavenly Dragon''s fury." ----- And while the two Heavenly Dragons were having fun in Ryuu''s Spiritual Sea, under the influence of the divine Poseidon''s aura, Ryuu''s third Soul Spirit reacted and in a blink of an eye, Ryuu already had the deep blue scales sticking out, just that he didn''t notice because it kinda became natural to him, but... Precisely at the moment when the scales appeared, Long Xingyue who was still mesmerized from her own godly appearance instinctively turned around, feeling Ryuu''s aura while her emotions became unstable because of the surging excitement deep inside of her. But she didn''t know that while her Divine rank Soul Spirit was released, even the slightest thought could affect the surroundings on a quite obvious degree, and so - this happened. The viridian lake behind her began surging as her emotions got stronger - love, affection, excitement, they all influenced the Poseidon''s blood in her veins that got awakened and the water in her vicinity responded. A big part of the lake got upside as if the gravity was reversed, it left the lake and began rising above the surface until it became a five-meter big wave fixated behind Long Xingyue, while her gracious pose changed to that of a girl deeply in love, with both her hands clasping each other with the trident between them, leaned to the place where her heart was and her eyes full of worship and love for the Ryuu who looked like the God who descended in his divine attire - or more precisely, divine armor, because instead of the beautiful dress on herself, Ryuu had the deep blue scales which resonated with her blood. It''s as if they were forged from the Dragon''s blood emanating divine and boundless aura as if myriad oceans and seas were contained withing and could burst forth at any moment. But then, Ryuu''s sweet and gentle voice stole her attention and with it, her concentration as well... Asura Ryuu: "Hehe. Sister, now you look like a goddess too. Maybe both of us will even become gods in the future together." But Ryuu couldn''t predict how big of an impact his words would have to the lovestruck six-year-old Long Xingyue. "T-tt-together? Does that mean he loves me as well? We will become gods? Then we will be together for all the eternity? KYAaaaa.", were the thoughts in her mind. And because of the state of her mind right now, the stable wave behind her became unstable and in that split second, almost the whole wave of water fell while both of them got soaked all the way from head to toe. As that happened, and the water retreated slowly into the ground, both Ryuu and Xingyue watched each other while not even blinking - as if they were frozen in time. This went on for a whole minute or so, while both of them admired each other''s magnificent and godly beauty until one of them burst laughing which then made them both laugh like crazy. ----- It took a bit of time for both of them to calm down and recollect Asura Ryuu: "Haah, but anyway - you will need to learn to control your powers soon or we''ll always be getting wet to the bones when we come here next time." Ryuu''s comment made Long Xingyue a bit embarrassed while she made a pouting expression and reprimanded him: "Muu~ brother, don''t tease me. Of course, I''ll learn to control my powers, but you have to help me when I train every time! No running, okay?" Asura Ryuu: "Hahaha, sure. I''ll train with you every day from now on so that both of us can surprise father and show him how strong we can get." Long Xingyue''s eyes sparkled as if she heard the best thing in the world she could have: "Really? Then it''s a promise, no running away, okay?" Asura Ryuu: "Um, I always keep my promises. Here, give me your pinky finger." Long Xingyue made a confused expression while slowly extending her pinky finger, but her unsatiated curiosity made her ask Ryuu for an explanation: "Brother, what do you need my pinky finger for? Don''t bite it, it''s not delicious, okay?" Asura Ryuu: "Phahahaha, don''t worry I won''t bite it." Long Xingyue made an "Eh?" expression while observing what Ryuu did with high attention. Ryuu extended his pinky finger as well and crossed the two fingers like hooks, then he solemnly said: "I promise to always be there for my sister, whenever she needs it. Even if I''m miles away, I will always be there for her." Upon finishing his oath, Ryuu then released their fingers and placed his little hand or Long Xingyue''s head, gently combing through her hair. Asura Ryuu: "There, now you don''t have to worry. The promises made while holding fingers must be upheld - otherwise, you will suffer the eternal misfortune in your life." Long Xingyue: "Eeeh? But I don''t want my younger brother to suffer eternal misfortune, how do we undo the promise?" The panicked Long Xingyue made Ryuu laugh, which Xingyue didn''t understand - but Ryuu wasn''t a kid so it''s normal to be different from kids their age. Asura Ryuu: "Silly girl, don''t worry. I won''t suffer misfortune if I''m always with you, you know?" Long Xingyue: "But what if I can''t go where you go?" Asura Ryuu smiled and, with a hand gently leaned on her cheek, he said: "Then, I''ll just have to bring you everywhere with me so that we will always be together, isn''t that so?" *Ba-dump* *Ba-thump* *Ba-THUMP* While looking at Ryuu''s earnest eyes, Long Xingyue became lost in them yet again, while her heart began beating faster and faster with each beat becoming more and more obvious in her head. Asura Ryuu: "Um? What''s wrong?" Long Xingyue: "Eh? .... Ah, nothing. L-let''s hurry home, it will be dark soon. Hehehe." Only then did Ryuu notice that the night will be falling soon and so, both of them recalled their Soul Spirits and departed home while remembering this day deeply in their minds. Ryuu''s mind was filled with various thoughts and plans for the future but when he remembered the warmth when his sister became worried for him, he knew that both, the promise to his sister and to himself will have to be upheld. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. ----- Long Haoran, who calmed down, had already fixed the room and nothing was different than how it used to be before Ryuu and Xingyue left, only one thing was different now and that was his worried face. Long Haoran: "Maybe I shouldn''t have let them go alone, it''s dangerous during the night and they still haven''t returned. Should I go look for them?" Because of his anxiety, Long Haoran closed his eyes and tried expanding his Spirit Power, but before he could even close his eyes, Long Xingyue''s cheerful voice echoed from the entrance. Long Xingyue: "Dad, we''re home!" Long Haoran''s eyes instantly shot open and he vanished from the place and appeared in front of the door in an instant. Long Haoran: "Xingyue, Ryuu, you''re back." The first thing he did was to hug both of them like a mother who greets her missing son after a long time - he didn''t want to let go, but because of his daughter''s protest, he had to. Long Xingyue: "Dad, you will crush us if you don''t let go. And besides, you stink. Go take the shower!!" The embarrassed Long Haoran laughed it off and let both of them into the room, while he himself left to go to the bathroom and take the shower, "Do I really stink that much?", he thought. ----- Long Xingyue: "Bro, what do you think father will make us do tomorrow?" Asura Ryuu: "I don''t know, but I hope it won''t be too easy, or I will be disappointed." Asura Ryuu: "Besides..." But before Ryuu could finish, he felt a soft sensation on his cheek and when he turned around he saw Long Xingyue''s little head on his shoulder while her viridian hair parted like the stream around his shoulder and gently tickled him on the cheek. Asura Ryuu: "She fell asleep..." Due to the exhaustion of his Spirit power in the Spiritual Sea, Ryuu was exhausted as well, and with such a chance to sleep, who would waste it? Ryuu definitely wouldn''t, and that''s how both of them fell asleep together. A while later, the door of the living room opened with Long Haoran walking in: "Xingyue, what happened with your hai--" As he noticed them sleeping, he happily smiled as both Ryuu and Xingyue flew up from the bed - more precisely, they were enveloped in a peculiar kind of energy which as if didn''t exist, and that''s how Long Haoran carried Ryuu and Long Xingyue to the bedroom upstairs and put them in bed and then left their room and headed for his own. A while later, he also went to sleep, but before he fell asleep, one thought drifted off to the vast starry sky: "Sleep for today, because from tomorrow on I will have to train you so that you can live without a father in the future, because your father will have to leave you two in order to pay a visit to the neighboring continent and fix some things that he left unfinished." 25 Where it all began In a certain room, there were two small figures in the bed, happily hugging each other in their sleep like a brother and sister. The room was illuminated by gentle beams radiated from the stars in the sky which fell on the two kids coating them in warmth and kindness. But there was also a shadow that crept up near their bed, precisely it was a two-meter-tall Long Haoran who stood by the side and watched them in their sleep. "What would she think if she saw them like this?", Long Haoran thought. Long Haoran: *Sigh*, "If only we could be like this every day, how good would it be..." "But alas, life won''t wait for you two to grow up, so either you hate me or not, I''ll have to do this for all of us." Ryuu had a smile plastered on his face as if he was dreaming about something nice or rather, he looked like a child for the first time since he came to the house of the Long family. In his embrace, Long Xingyue had an even bigger smile than Ryuu - from her appearance one could conclude that she definitely dreamt about something nice, but neither of them knew that soon, their sweet time would stop. Long Haoran closed his eyes while enjoying this moment with a bit of melancholy in his heart, and then... His muscles began bulging, his eyelids shot open in an instant while the entire room began shaking and trembling. Ryuu''s eyes furrowed and behind him, a transparent shadow of something similar to an emblem appeared. The shadow had a shape of a dragon with a trident mark on the center of its forehead. The pressure coming from Long Haoran''s body disappeared bit by bit and another pressure which seemed palatial and world-shaking filled the room, while Ryuu''s body slowly got pierced scale by scale until his entire body was covered in scales. At that point, Long Haoran couldn''t move from place and his eyes were trembling with shock and a bit of fear in them, among which even a little reverence snuck in. "T-that... Isn''t that Sea God''s ...", Long Haoran mumbled while his lips were shaking. But as if not to give him any time to stabilize, Long Xingyue''s body responded to the pressure which prompted the awe-inspiring Sea Goddess'' Descent. Long Haoran''s eyes widened, even more, when he saw the Trident mark on the forehead of Long Xingyue as well as the trident-shaped emblem shadow behind her. Long Haoran''s eyes alternated between the goddess-like appearance of his daughter and Ryuu''s water scales, and when he noticed that their auras blended together he couldn''t contain his tears. With a shaky voice, Long Haoran looked at the sky and softly whispered: "ha-haha-hahaha, so the fate did its job. Good. Good. Good. Now I don''t have to worry about you, hahaha." And from the excitement with the tears in his eyes, he began laughing the loudest he could, which was followed by Ryuu and Xingyue waking up and jumping out of bed. Ryuu immediately stood in front of his sister and shielded her with his arms wide open, while his scales in an instant contracted and slightly moved upwards, the sharp end rising and threatening to pierce anything that comes in contact with it. By this time, Long Haoran had already merged with his Soul Spirit and in the room right now were Ryuu, Xingyue and a giant 2,5-meter tall bear with dark golden fur and bloodshot deep vermillion eyes. Its claws extended for an inch out of its paws and the pressure from before again filled the room, choking out Ryuu''s pressure. Asura Ryuu: "Xingyue, stay behind me and tell me what is the weakness of this Spirit Beast." In Long Haoran''s eyes, which were now bear''s eyes, Ryuu looked not like prey but like a fierce beast protecting its family. Long Haoran secretly acknowledged Ryuu''s decision in that short amount of time - neither did he panic or attack mindlessly, rather he protected Long Xingyue and asked about the information of the enemy in front of him before making a judgment. The only reason why Ryuu mistook Long Haoran for a Spirit Beast was that there was, usually, a Spirit Emblem behind someone when they release their Soul Spirit, but there was none behind the giant bear and that made him think that in front of himself is a bear-type Spirit Beast. Long Xingyue needed a bit of time before she came back to reality from the dream-state and when she saw the beast''s fierce look and felt its aura, she began shaking slightly. However, as soon as Ryuu felt her fear through his Soul Spirit, he extended one hand behind him and took her little hand while he said: "Don''t be afraid, I''m here. Just tell me if you recognize this thing and if you know its weakness." She looked at Ryuu''s wide back and then felt the coldness on her hand which was Ryuu''s scale-covered hand. In her other hand was a deep blue trident and on her mind wasn''t any danger or bear or anything similar, in her head, there was only Ryuu. After she felt secure again, she whispered: "This is the first time I saw this Spirit Beast, and besides, there shouldn''t be any in the vicinity because father set up protection which means..." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Here, she paused and the fear in her eyes got replaced by disgust while on her face surfaced a mocking expression. She readied her Trident, gripping its handle with both hands and lowered her center of gravity by slowly bending her legs in a position similar to the horse stance. Asura Ryuu: "What are you doing? If you don''t know your enemy it can be dangerous!" But to Ryuu''s worry, Long Xingyue remained silent and suddenly launched from behind him, aiming with the trident to pierce the beast''s shoulder. Ryuu''s eyes widened and in a state of danger, he muttered: "At least aim at the heart if you''re gonna risk like that, fuck!" Ryuu instantly followed behind her in order to pull her back in case something dangerous happened, but... *Clang* - *Pu* The trident pierced right through the beast''s shoulder while Xingyue''s expression changed to the one radiating with happiness. But that happiness was only for an instant because the entire body of the beast changed to ash and dissipated. Asura Ryuu: "Illusion-type which looks like the strength-type... I''ve never heard of this beast." Ryuu spread his Spirit Power which enveloped the entire room and at one moment, he felt the weak presence behind the two of them. The reason why Ryuu didn''t regret having spent so much time in Illusion Realm was because he got some battle experience even if it wasn''t real, that is why, he was ready to deal with an opponent of any level, even those which seemed impossible. Led by instinct, the tips of Ryuu''s claws touched together, forming the sharp figure similar to the spearhead, and instantly, Ryuu turned around and thrust his hand with all the force he could extract in that split-moment at the spot where he felt the presence. *Clang* A metallic sound rang out and Ryuu only felt that his claws were numb, even though they are harder than any material he knew and they were supposed to have strong penetrative properties, he couldn''t penetrate the Spirit Beast''s skin. Ryuu felt an aching pain in his right claw and looked at it. His scales had broken tips and it looked like somebody cut out only the tips. Ryuu looked at them with sadness in his eyes and in an instant, the sadness vanished and got replaced by the anger. The scales that were harder than anything changed and the emblem behind Ryuu which was faintly visible brightened up instantly as the beast''s pressure became replaced by the one coming from Ryuu. At this time, in Ryuu''s Spirit Sea, Little Dragon observed the colorful Black Hole attached to the sky and colorful lights in its Accretion Disc when suddenly the entire accretion disc changed colors from nine-colored to deep blue. In the middle of the black hole, a dragon-shaped, emblem with the trident on its forehead, began shining brightly like the sun. Little Dragon: "Ah, seems like Ryuu got angry... this will be fun, he didn''t find it out yet, did he?" The hard scales began wriggling and from the hard and metallic material, each and every single one changed to the scales made of water. The scales began shining with a deep blue glow, the pupils in Ryuu''s eyes contracted and lengthened and his human-like pupils changed to the Dragon''s, his eyes from green to deep blue and the entire aura around Ryuu became palatial. The house began shaking again, but this time it was not from Long Haoran''s pressure but from Ryuu''s, to be precise not from the Ryuu himself but from his Soul Spirit which meant that it was a top-class spirit if it could choke out the pressure from an Emperor-level powerhouse which is the top powerhouse. Long Haoran''s bear eyes widened and it seemed as if there was a trace of fear in them, but considering the difference in levels between the two it was normal that it wouldn''t be possible to hurt him using normal ways, but Ryuu never planned to do it with the usual way. The information Ryuu knew was that a regular Spiritualist''s Spirit Power would be around 50-90, those who were called "Awakened" had more than 200 Spirit Power and those old sages who lived for thousands of years reached the 1000 point boundary, but Ryuu right now had more than a thousand, which was understandable considering how many Soul Spirits he had in his body as well as the knowledge and experience from the past life. Ryuu didn''t know how much Spirit Power his father had, but considering that he wasn''t that much surprised when the testing stone broke, Ryuu concluded that it was probably something around thousand or even two thousand, therefore he dared do this crazy stunt. In Long Xingyue''s mind, a voice appeared: "Xingyue, I will control him for a brief moment and that is when you will have a chance to attack, don''t miss it." Her small eyes widened from the surprise when she heard his voice inside her head, but thanks to the pressure which resonated with her and empowered her own abilities, she remained clear-headed and slightly smiled while on her face a mocking expression resurfaced when she saw the beast. Ryuu''s eyes glowed sharply with an eerie light and a thread of Spirit Power left from his eyes, shooting right into beast''s. Long Haoran never expected someone as inexperienced as these two kids to actually counterattack and didn''t put up a guard until last moment, but as soon as he remembered the moment when the testing stone broke, he instantly moved his entire Spirit Power and defend himself. The thread of Spirit Power changed the shape to a wave-like structure, more and more of it coming out from that thread and it enveloped the entire beast, rooting it in place. Long Haoran felt as if a massive tsunami was crashing down on him, the pressure making it impossible to move: "This kid...", he thought. When Long Xingyue found a chance, she flapped the deep blue wings which made her speed sharply rise while the long viridian hair fluttered in the air, closely following behind the goddess. She thrust her trident out again, but this time she aimed at the heart while the mocking expression became even stronger... *DANG* - *Pu*... A sound of metal clashing with metal resounded for a split-second and then the sound of flesh being pierced immediately followed. Long Haoran used all of his Spirit Force* to defend against the trident, but it was like a knife cutting the butter and he couldn''t help but admire the penetrative powers that crystal trident had. But he couldn''t admire for long because of the pain he felt in his chest. His battle instinct accumulated over the years responded and the terrifying killing aura filled the entire room. Everything stopped moving - the pressure vanished, Long Xingyue fell to the ground, Ryuu fell on one knee and the blood trickled down his seven orifices and he couldn''t endure any longer under the enormous killing aura and soon, Ryuu fell face-first on the floor as well. Long Haoran recalled his Soul Spirit and stood in front of them watching them with amazement, having nothing to remain stuck in, the trident fell while Long Haoran tried to catch it but when he touched the trident, it disappeared, as well as the Spirit Emblems behind Ryuu and Xingyue. Splendidly done, I never expected the brats like you to push me this far, I am proud with both of you. He waited for a while until either Ryuu or Xingyue answered, but to his disappointment neither did. Both of them were knocked out because of the killing aura directed at them because the difference in levels was enormous and Ryuu didn''t have the stronger killing aura in order to avert the one which befell them which caused both of them to lose consciousness. *Sigh*, "It seems that I overdid it...", Long Haoran muttered to himself. ---------- *Spirit Force - Unlike Spirit Power, which is the strength of one''s mind or rather mental strength, Spirit Force/Spirit Energy is a type of power used in that world, which every cultivator collects - in other words, it''s an elemental energy of this world. It will be explained further in some of the next chapters here is only a brief explanation so as not to mix up those two. 26 The Ancient Legend The shock which Ryuu and Xingyue received was a bit too overwhelming for them so it took some time for them to "come back to life" from it. The first one to wake up was Ryuu because of his strong Spirit Power which successfully contained Long Haoran in place for a split second. You have to know, what happened there was something which, by common sense, would not seem impossible because nobody would even try to think that someone who didn''t even step on the path of the cultivation could make someone on the peak of it helpless even for an instant. Of course, it has to be noted that Long Haoran didn''t go all-out, he wanted only to train them and temper their bodies as well as make them aware of their surroundings even in their sleep, but it turned out the way it did because of Ryuu''s mighty Soul Spirit. Ryuu looked around himself as he slowly stood up when the sharp pain assaulted his head. With the help of his master, Ryuu somehow managed to stabilize the pain in his head and left the room after checking the condition of his sister. When Ryuu came downstairs and entered the living room, he saw Long Haoran preparing a meal in the kitchen. Asura Ryuu: "Father, can I help you with that?" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Ryuu behaved normally as if he didn''t know that the thing a while ago was his father''s responsibility. Long Haoran turned around and with a smile, he said: "Hehe, if you really want to, then here, come help me peel this thing.", while extending the knife in his hand to Ryuu and pointing to something which resembled onion, but it was vastly different which is normal considering that even plants and rocks in this world can cultivate by absorbing the Spirit Energy. Ryuu came closer and wanted to take the knife out of his father''s hands but as soon as he touched he knife an ominous killing aura assaulted him again - the same one as a while ago. As a natural reaction, Ryuu released his Soul Spirit and his body became coated in water-like scales in an instant while his eyes turned to the deep blue dragon eyes. It looked like Ryuu forgot that he was this hostile to his own father because Ryuu''s mind was occupied by one thought - to save his life. The terrifying killing intent which assaulted him wanted to break through to even his Spirit Sea and completely destroy his soul. At this moment, Long Haoran slowly raised the knife and moved it closer to the point where Ryuu''s heart was. In Ryuu''s perspective, the knife was like a palatial sharp sword hanging in the sky above him threatening to fall any moment and cut him in two halves. As it approached, Ryuu began sweating more and more, but this time he didn''t get knocked unconscious by the killing intent. "Why am I fine now when the killing intent is as strong as before, could it be that I adapted to this feeling?", Ryuu thought. He didn''t need to think anymore because he felt a familiar feeling which he knew very well by now - a feeling when a Soul Spirit awakens. In the depths of his heart, a strong and unyielding dragon roar spread through every corner of his soul while in his Spirit Sea a pitch-black dragon flew out of the water and entered the black hole faster than lightning. As soon as the dragon touched the black hole, behind Ryuu emerged pitch-black dragon-shaped Spirit Emblem while his eyes turned crimson red and his water-like scales retreated inside his body, immediately being replaced by the pitch-black scales with no visible outline. One couldn''t even count how many scales there were or see their shape because everything except Ryuu''s eyes was black - no visible lines or visible shapes, just perpetual darkness covering his body. Long Haoran''s arm holding a knife paused and could move neither forward nor backward because even his own killing intent disappeared much less the strength in his body. The Ryuu before him right now was like a God of Killing, the scales began releasing dark smoke which swirled around Ryuu, not leaving the radius of meter and a half, while his crimson eyes pierced straight into Long Haoran''s soul disregarding any defenses. Long Haoran felt as if the entire sky was full of sharp swords which could pierce him at any given moment while his entire body lost its strength and he almost fell on his knees while staring into those eyes. The most fearsome thing is that there seemed to be a vortex in Ryuu''s eyes ensuring that anyone who only once glanced at them could not move his eyes away any longer. Ryuu only now realized that the killing aura from before was from his father and when he saw how miserable his father looked right now, he tried recalling his Soul Spirit but it didn''t respond to his will. Even before Ryuu could panic, again the same feeling appeared as like a second ago, but this time instead of the dreadful pitch-black dragon, the emblem''s shape, as well as the scales, remained the same except the color changing to pure white while Ryuu''s eyes remained crimson red. One moment, Ryuu looked like the God of Darkness being coated in darkness with piercing crimson eyes while now he looked like the God of Light radiating holy aura with domineering crimson eyes which had the same effect as the ones when he was in ''black form''. At this time in Ryuu''s Spirit Sea, two exactly the same dragons, one black one white, circled around each other in the center of a black hole and both of them flew out at the same time, returning to the sea. Little Dragon, of course, saw the entire process outside, as well as inside Ryuu''s spirit sea, and couldn''t help but praise Ryuu''s courage when he decided to break his second Soul Spirit apart. True, when all of the dragons were merged the very quality of the Soul Spirit was the same as her which now degraded because they were separated, but if every of these nine reached the peak, they would transform to the same quality as before which would mean that Ryuu would be having ten Soul Spirits of the highest quality there ever was. Little Dragon: "This brat, even his awakenings are this amazing - two Soul Spirits at once and his Spirit Sea wasn''t even fazed a little bit, truly a monster..." While Ryuu didn''t know what occurred in his Spirit Sea, he finally returned to the normal state, but now his hair didn''t have seven colors anymore, there were only five - black and white disappeared while his eyes returned to the usual green-black. Asura Ryuu: "Sorry father, it was an instinct, I hope you don''t mind." Ryuu looked at his father''s embarrassing look and he didn''t know what to think. But at this moment, what Ryuu didn''t expect occurred. His father lunged at him and tightly embraced him, even his fierce expression disappeared. It looked like a kid who saw its mother after a long time. Ryuu heard soft sobbing and could only awkwardly smile and let his father cry it out first, and then ask what and why later. It didn''t take long for Long Haoran to regain his wits and then he explained to Ryuu why he began crying and told him the story about his wife. Ryuu didn''t tell him that Xingyue told him that as well because he wanted to help out his father by being there for him and besides, he wanted to hear the story from him and then compare it to Xingyue''s. Ryuu heard some important things which his sister couldn''t know, for example, the information about human clans, about his uncle Long Tian and about his mother Mo Lan. Apparently, his father got reminded about her again when he first saw the Sea Goddess''s Descent and then he felt the same aura from Ryuu. Then after that, when he stared at the deep crimson eyes it resembled the demon form that Mo Lan had which yet again reminded him of her and finally, his emotions couldn''t hold out any more and then that happened. Long Haoran looked at Ryuu with a strange look and then decided to ask something which should usually not be asked - he asked Ryuu about his Soul Spirits and that is the Spiritist''s biggest secret. Of course, Ryuu didn''t mind and he told him about the ten Soul Spirits but not before he asked Little Dragon for approval. Long Haoran: "Ryuu, I know I might be asking a lot of personal questions but, could you tell me your real surname." Ryuu looked at him and then a period of silence took over, while Ryuu was discussing with his master whether he should tell him or not. In the end, Ryuu could only shake his head while saying: "Sorry, father. I promised someone that I would never tell anyone my real surname and until I know the real reason behind it I would not do it." Long Haoran looked at Ryuu while sighing and said: "Don''t mind it, I was expecting something like this. But then again, you know, seeing that you got something so heaven-defying as the ten Soul Spirits, it reminded me of a certain legend so I became curious so don''t pay it any mind." When Ryuu heard about the legend thing, he got curious as well and then asked his father to tell him the legend. At that moment, Xingyue entered the room and began scolding her father for making them lose consciousness and being way too harsh on them that morning. Long Haoran: "Ah, I''m embarrassed, I didn''t control my aura that time and it turned out like that. I''m really sorry, daughter, don''t be mad at your father." Long Xingyue: "Humph!!! You''re lucky that Ryuu didn''t get hurt or else I would poke the hell out of you with my trident. Humph! How audacious! Don''t ever think of trying to hurt Ryuu again without his consent." Hearing daughter''s words Long Haoran sighed again and shook his head. Asura Ryuu: *Ahem* "Father, what was that about the legend, tell me." Long Xingyue: "Eh? Legend? What legend, I wanna know too, tell us." Long Haoran: "It''s that one that I''ve always told you when you went to sleep before, Xingyue." Long Xingyue: "Ah, that one! Tell us again." Long Haoran: "But you said you didn''t like it, what''s this now?" But it seemed as if his question was actually him stepping on a landmine; Long Xingyue: "Tell. Us. Now." Long Haoran looked strangely at his daughter with a somewhat confused look and then glanced at Ryuu. When he understood what was going on, he smiled and shook his head again before he began narrating the story. ----- There were once the two rulers who made this world, one of them was called The Dark Heavenly Lord who was the embodiment of destruction - the guardian of nihility, while the other one was its polar opposite, the Sacred Heavenly Lord - the embodiment of creation and guardian of infinity. The two of them had very good relations with each other and decided to create a world together, that''s how the current world came about. But the legends say that one day, The Sacred Heavenly Lord decided to leave the world that they made and go for the higher realm - The Divine Heavenly Realm, where all Gods gather, leaving The Dark Heavenly Lord behind alone. The Dark Lord was a female, while the Sacred Lord was male, they were brother and sister. The legends say that the sister remained to care about the world that they made and became its guardian beast after which, she disappeared to the void, and they promised each other that they would once meet again in the Divine Heavenly Realm once she passes her final tribulation which was supposed to take place around a million-or-so years later. Nobody knows whether they reunited, but the Dark Lord left behind an inheritance on demon continent because she was disappointed by humans, while the demonkind made an academy in gratitude and worship towards her. ----- When Long Haoran reached this point in the story, Ryuu''s heartbeat was so loud that he could hear it even if he didn''t focus. Asura Ryuu: "Little master..." Ryuu focused on his Spirit Sea and saw his master meditating on the surface of the water, seemingly she didn''t hear about the thing that was going on outside. Long Haoran noticed that Ryuu was spacing out and called out to him to which Ryuu replied that he was just amazed by the story and urged Long Haoran to continue. Both Xingyue and Ryuu listened attentively to the complete legend as it goes and one thing caught Ryuu''s attention - nobody ever came to know the names of either of the guardians, they were only remembered in the history as the dark and sacred guardians. Long Haoran: "Now then, the academy I want you two to go is precisely the one that was made in gratitude towards the dark dragon, but they are not picking anyone so that is why you will have to give it your all." Asura Ryuu: "Father, can we begin with the training right now?", Ryuu asked decisively to which Xingyue nodded and followed up. Long Haoran sighed and said: "Alright, alright. Let''s head outside and we will begin." 27 The Goodbye - part 1 By following Long Haoran outside, Asura Ryuu and Long Xingyue followed behind him for some time through the forest until they arrived at the location which seemed slightly different than the normal forest, but looked the same as the surroundings. Ryuu didn''t know why he felt the different atmosphere at that part of the forest, it was as if there was a monster lying deep beneath the earth and releasing its ferocious aura, therefore, making the air heavy and sticky. It was hard to breathe, much less concentrate on meditation. Ryuu held back the urge to ask about this place because he knew that sooner or later, Long Haoran would tell them about it. And truthfully, Long Haoran''s steps came to an end and he turned around, looked at their eyes and placed a hand on each of their shoulders. To Ryuu this was somewhat familiar, as he saw many such scenes in his previous world: "Isn''t this the ''I''m sorry for everything'' kind of expression, hehe, let me see what he has in the bag for us." Long Xingyue: "Umm, father? What''s wrong?" Long Haoran: "Hm? Nothing, why are you asking me that?" Long Xingyue: "Then why are you putting your palms on our shoulders?" Long Haoran: "..." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. . . . "Because of pity.", he said after which, he raised the hand and snapped his fingers while inserting a bit of Spirit Energy in them. The snapping sound reverberated and echoed even though there were only trees and no mountains around them, but exactly then the earth began shaking and cracking in various places and soon, the mountains popped out around them completely enclosing the entire area of the forest they were at. The distance between the mountains was around ten kilometers in a straight line, but that wasn''t the scary part - the mountains were unnatural because the inner side facing them was steep at ninety degrees angle while the other was of the usual mountain. To explain it more precisely, it looked as if there was one big mountain there and something cylindrical with a diameter of ten kilometers was slammed in the middle of it, flattening the central part while the outer part remained the same - that''s how the area looked like. The height of the wall could be said to be unsurmountable for Ryuu and Xingyue with their current strength because it was around three kilometers tall. Long Haoran: "Your training begins here, what you have to do is to cross the mountains and return to our home, find your way back and survive. Be careful though, there are a lot of beasts trapped in here but they can also serve as food if you can hunt them. There are also some nutritious fruits and plants, but be careful because there are some who are alive as well as some with poison." Asura Ryuu: "..." Long Xingyue: "..." Both of the kids looked at each other in confusion, visibly thinking: "Is that all?" Long Haoran: "Hehe, of course, this isn''t all because you will be training to be monsters so your training regime should be..." Long Haoran cut off his own sentence thereby raising both of the hands in front of himself and clapping once. *Clap* *Crack!* *Krrr-Kacha* . . . The ground broke apart again and countless natural-looking environments manifested in the entire inner area of the enclosed space. There were several areas that were split in octagonal shape and each had different properties. There was an area with a humongous waterfall as big as a kilometer while near him were several smaller waterfalls to the sides, the lowest one being a hundred meters. There were ten in total each higher for a hundred meters than the previous one, all the way up to a thousand-meter high one. The rest seven areas were strange in their own way, but they couldn''t be seen by the naked eye. This wasn''t a problem to Little Dragon as her Spirit Power was vastly bigger than any other being''s, which is normal considering she lived for a million years. Even if she slept through 90% of her life, her Spirit Power would still evolve and increase with time. If an average human lives a hundred years on this planet, then she lived the life of 10.000 consecutive human lives. Ryuu extended his Spirit Power the furthest he could, but even with his thousand points, he couldn''t cover the entire inner area. He only penetrated about 20% inside the two neighboring environments until his Spiritual Sense vanished inside them, which meant that the atmosphere and the space in them were completely different than in the current one. Long Haoran: "I designed this area for myself when I was training, which covers almost every area you can train in. The instructions can be found in the crystal pearls which were scattered everywhere across the areas, but there is only one pearl in each of them. When you clear one area, the pearl will lit up and I would be able to track your progress constantly because there is an array here, hidden underneath which can transfer all the information about this place to my brain when I use it, so tell me what does that mean, you two." Asura Ryuu: "No slacking off, you have to pass it all." Long Xingyue: "..." Long Haoran glanced at his daughter with her head lowered and still couldn''t stop brooding over the fact that she awakened the long-lost bloodline, but he didn''t let it show on his face. He came two steps forward and crouched in front of the two little kids. Long Haoran: "Dad has something to do so I have to go now so when you two finish with everything here, you can go and sign up at the academy, here is a gift for you, Xingyue. This is what your mother left behind for you." Long Xingyue raised her head and looked at her father''s eyes which were brimming with kindness and then looked at his hand in which was a crystal ring with deep blue color and vermilion red glowing runes carved in. The runes were only about a millimeter big so it could be seen that was very fine craftsmanship. When Long Xingyue put on the ring she felt a cold and refreshing feeling and her senses became sharper, her ears picked up smaller sounds and her vision became better as well. Long Haoran noticed Ryuu looking at the ring and a troubled expression appeared on his face. Long Haoran: "Ryuu, sorry I don''t have one for you but this is something that your mother left behind. I will give you a cultivation technique that I once got from someone. He said that it was the highest rank technique, but I could never open it, try to see if you can do it." As Long Haoran was saying that, he took out a pitch-black scroll with a big green emblem embedded in it. When Ryuu saw the emblem his eyes fiercely contracted and his green eyes began glowing. As if to respond to Ryuu''s presence, the rune on a scroll lit up brightly and floated up in the air on its own accord. Long Haoran saw the scene and he became shocked: "Will anything ever not surprise me with this boy..." *Sigh* By that time, the scroll was already in front of Ryuu, slowly spinning and floating up-down like a drop item in the games back in Ryuu''s previous life. "It had to be that kind of effect, did it?", Ryuu thought. "Why do I get the feeling that everything which happened up until now was predetermined... Or maybe it''s just me looking at all this as if it''s a novel from the Earth. Well, anyway let''s see what is written inside." - Ryuu thought. Ryuu extended his hand with the intention to grasp the scroll but when his hand came only a few centimeters from it, a force emerged out of it which blasted his hand back. Ryuu felt the sharp pain in his arm and his facial muscles began twitching and wriggling. Asura Ryuu: "As expected, it won''t be easy... But I won''t give up, hehehe." Ryuu straightened up and focused while calming his breathing so much that one round of in-out breathing took up five seconds or so. His eyes were nailed to the glowing emblem which gave him a familiar feeling. "Where have I seen this thing, why does it feel familiar?" An idea popped up in his mind: "Could it be... Little Master?" Ryuu closed his eyes and sent his senses to his Spirit Sea. Inside, he saw Little Dragon sleeping on the surface of the water and her funny appearance caused him to smile. Her unusual beauty still left him speechless. "If her beauty is this big now, then what when we grow up... Oh boy, aren''t I lucky?" As if noticing Ryuu''s malicious intentions, her green eyes slowly opened giving Ryuu chills up his spine even though it was only his Spiritual Body. Little Dragon: "What are you doing here? Don''t you have the training outside?" Asura Ryuu: "Send your consciousness outside and you will see why I came in." Little Dragon''s eyes narrowed as if doubting that Ryuu just wanted her to go out but nevertheless she went out. As soon as her body came out of Ryuu''s, Long Haoran sharply glared in her direction, but he couldn''t see anything. Little Dragon: "Oh, your father has sharp senses, alright. Wait, this is..." She looked at the floating scroll and her Spiritual Body floated forward, but the same thing happened as with Ryuu, only this time her entire body got blown backward and a part of it even dispersed like a mist. Ryuu returned to his body and opened his eyes, then his vision fell upon the scroll again. Long Haoran noticed that Ryuu''s breathing quickened and he forgot about the previous feeling and looked at Ryuu: "How is it, do you feel anything?" As if he didn''t hear him, Ryuu only remained to stare at the scroll, but that was only to the observers, at this point in time Ryuu was talking with Little Dragon and had no time to pay attention to anything else. Little Dragon: "Isn''t this The Origin Art? I never thought I would see it again in my life after I lost it..." Little Dragon: "Ryuu, we have to take back this thing, it was originally mine, to begin with. Quickly release my Soul Spirit." Asura Ryuu: "But wouldn''t it scare the hell out of them if I do?" Little Dragon: "That''s not important, we have to get this and it''s already reacting to my aura so we have to release it anyway, hurry." Asura Ryu: "..." Ryuu turned around an looked at his father and sister and after a brief period he said: "Father, how much toll on your Soul Energy did activating this array take?" Long Haoran''s pupils contracted and there was a faint movement of his brows: "This kid..." Long Haoran: "It took about 40% of my Soul Energy, why are you asking?" Asura Ryuu: "Take Xingyue as far from me as you can, there will be a fierce reaction when I activate this thing." Ryuu said, pointing with a finger to the scroll while looking at Xingyue and Haoran. Long Haoran: "It''s not a problem, I will guard her. You can do it without worries, after all I''m a peak Spiritist for a reason." Ryuu still had some doubts but after consulting Little Master, they decided to do it that way, because even if the reaction is fierce, Long Haoran should have quick reflexes so he will protect Xingyue. Ryuu and his master were talking for a bit more, and then Ryuu decided to try conquering this scroll from the past together with his master. 28 The Goodbye - part 2 Ryuu closed his eyes and entered a specific stance with his palms pointing to the ground, shoulders relaxed and a deep breath out. *Huuuuu~* A sound breath left his lips and then, in almost an instant, Ryuu''s entire body transformed to black scales which seemed to absorb space around them, Ryuu was like a hole in the space in a shape of a human. When one looked at his scale armor, there was an entire universe behind it with stars and colorful nebulas, but the most dominant color was always green. Long Haoran stared at Ryuu and couldn''t believe his eyes, was something like this possible? A Soul Spirit that absorbs the very fabric of space? But he didn''t have the time to question anything, because very strong and oppressive aura crashed on an entire area around them, pressing them to the ground. The ground was shaking as if the strongest earthquake hit it, Long Haoran hugged Long Xingyue and coated both of them in a specific type of crimson red Soul Energy which served as a shield from any external influence. Even then, Long Haoran felt chills up his spine and his legs were embedded in the ground all the way up to the knees. "Unbelievable...", he thought. The scroll began vibrating when it felt Little Dragon''s aura as if it was dancing with joy and on its own launched itself towards Ryuu''s head. Ryuu didn''t panic because he didn''t have the time to, the scroll already entered the black-green emblem on his forehead in a millisecond. There was no time to blink, let alone dodge the projectile. Long Xingyue didn''t manage to see anything because everything happened so fast that it seemed like an illusion even to Long Haoran, let alone her. Of course, this wasn''t Ryuu''s power. Everything up to this point was the power he got with Soul Spirits because every Soul Spirit that Ryuu has is special in its own way. When the scroll entered Ryuu''s forehead, it appeared in his Spirit Sea and then exploded inside, while Ryuu''s brain instantly got filled with a huge wave of information. Ryuu only felt a searing headache because of which he fell to the ground gritting his teeth and crawling like a squashed bug. If he didn''t have the Spirit Power over a thousand, he would, most likely, have collapsed immediately because of all the information he got. Little Dragon: "Yes, that''s it! I finally found it. To think that it was with humans all this time..." She watched Ryuu holding his head in pain and her heart began feeling pain as well, but of course, considering that she felt how painful it was for him because of their bond. Ryuu''s Dark Dragon Soul Spirit vanished as fast as it appeared because it took a toll on him. After all, it was Divine Rank Soul Spirit and he had nine more Heavenly Types so the toll on his body is high even though he has a strong constitution and peak quality of bones and veins. (*) Ryuu endured the pain and soon, it stopped, but it wasn''t the end. It was far from the end because Ryuu had to understand what everything he learned actually meant, but he didn''t have the time to do that right now. Asura Ryuu: "Little Master, what is this thing?" Little Dragon: "That is the first art that I ever made, and the strongest one as well. It contains the secrets of laws and rules behind not only this world but the entire universe with countless worlds and races. My teacher and brother helped me perfect it before they went to that place." Asura Ryuu: "You mean before they became gods?" Little Dragon: "... Yes. Did you figure it out?" Asura Ryuu: "Well, kind of. I mean it was slightly obvious that neither of us is normal so..." Little Dragon: *Sigh*, "Well, that''s true. My master and my twin brother left at the same time, while my younger brothers and sisters left a little after me when they earned their Divine Positions. My master and brother even sent me their Divine Wishes with which I revived you and with the second one you broke apart the second Soul Spirit." Asura Ryuu: "Is it hard to get the Divine Position?" Little Dragon: "I don''t know, others got it easily. For some reason, I am the only one who couldn''t do it..." Asura Ryuu: "Did you ever wonder why you couldn''t get it? Didn''t you find it strange that your divine position didn''t appear even after so long?" Little Dragon: "... Of course, I did, wait why are you asking me that?" Asura Ryuu: "This is only my intuition, but I think your family up there doesn''t want you to come so they forcibly suppressed your Divine Position." Little Dragon: "Why would they do that, we are family they wouldn''t..." But Ryuu cut her off before she could finish: "Precisely because you are family." . . . Little Dragon: "What do you mean?" Asura Ryuu: "Maybe I am wrong, but there was probably some trouble with that realm, maybe they were in the war or maybe you are too unique so some Gods might try to get you by force for their own needs or something similar, I don''t really know. You will have to ask them when we get there, hehe." Little Dragon: "... ....... Maybe he is right." Little Dragon''s hand gently touched Ryuu''s cheek and then she disappeared, returning to his Spirit Sea. ----- What Ryuu didn''t know nor did notice because of the previous pain is that in the very moment when the scroll burst apart in his Spiritual Sea, all of his Soul Spirits awoke, his Spirit Sea expanded and the quality of his Spirit Power rose under the influence of laws contained within the scroll. Little Dragon appeared in the Spirit Sea and became shocked. There were ten dragons in the vast starry sky, circling around the enormous Black Hole which was the center point around which they circled. Her shock made even her spiritual body lose strength in its legs and she fell with the knees on the surface of the water. She looked at each of the dragons and finally stopped at the black-green one which seemed the most special of all. Little Dragon''s eyes were already brimming with tears and she was shaking: "Brothers, sisters, we will be together soon..." The dragons were just circling as if they didn''t notice her existence but that was far from the truth because they shared a telepathic communication with each other and intentionally ignored Little Dragon because they didn''t want her to know that they were not in the Divine Heavenly Realm anymore. "Old Red, our entire family is now here, only big brother and master are still up there." "Old Blue, we will all soon return and avenge ourselves, don''t worry. I guarantee within the next fifty or so years, this kid will bring us all up together." "Hehe, you two are pretty confident in this brat, aren''t you?" "Old Green, mind our manners. This is the person chosen by our big sister." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "Hah, so what. If I don''t like him he won''t be getting out unscathed from my claws, Old Purple don''t defend him from me." "Hoh, Old Green, if big sister heard you I wonder what she would do to you." "Hmph! I will retreat this once but it gets on my nerves that those four are as quiet as always." "Old Black, Old White, Old Silver, Old Gold - they were always the quiet types so it isn''t strange at all that they''re quiet" "Ara, you''re all so cheerful, as if what happened to us up there didn''t leave any aftereffects to you all." "Ol'' Violet, that was the past. Now we all can only thank this kid that he freed us from their sick fusion thing and help him become the strongest of all the gods. After that, we can all get our revenge." "Hmph! We will see." ----- Long Xingyue ran away from her frozen-in-place father and ran up to Ryuu, hugging him tightly: "Bro, what did you do, you scared me. Don''t ever do something so dangerous." Asura Ryuu: "Haha, sorry sis. I had to do this otherwise something even more dangerous would happen." Long Xingyue stuck her tongue out while saying: "Blehh, you always find excuses, hmph! Just you wait until I beat you one day, even if you are my Younger brother." Asura Ryuu and Long Haoran found it funny that Long Xingyue emphasized the word ''Younger'' and both began laughing. After they stopped laughing, Long Haoran came near them and asked: "How''s it Ryuu, did you find out anything?" Ryuu remembered everything from a while ago and nodded excitedly: "Father, where did you find that scroll, it has so many mysteries that I can''t even count them. It''s an absolute treasure." Long Haoran: "Oh? I got it from the academy where you two will be going. Don''t tell anyone about this except for the owner of The Void Academy, get it?" Ryuu nodded with some doubts on his mind but didn''t ask anything. Asura Ryuu: "Ah, sis. Give me your hand." Long Xingyue looked at Ryuu with a confused look and extended her hand with a ring on it. Ryuu touched the ring with his index finger and poured a bit of his Spirit Power from Little Dragon into it, and the ring reacted as the vermilion runes lit up. The strong aura burst forth from the ring, making a very strong wind which almost blew them away and then disappeared as if it was never there." Ryuu turned his head to the side and saw a transparent tear sliding down Long Haoran''s cheek as he mumbled: "Mo Lan, it''s your aura..." Ryuu sighed and turned his head back while telling his sister: "Xingyue, try sending your Spirit Power in this ring." Long Xingyue: "Eh? Why?" Asura Ryuu: "Just do it, there is a surprise for you." Long Xingyue''s eyes sparkled with countless stars: "A surprise? What is iiit? Let me seeee!!" She sent her faint Spirit Power, which in comparison to Ryuu felt like a stream of water compared to the raging river but it had the gentleness of that little stream which Ryuu''s Spirit Power didn''t have. When her consciousness came into contact with the ring, she felt as if she was getting sucked somewhere and soon, she found herself in some kind of a very big space. Out of fear, she quickly left it and began gasping for air while she threw herself in Ryuu''s embrace like a little scared rabbit. Ryuu smiled and caressed her long hair. Asura Ryuu: "Don''t be scared, that''s the gift your mother left you with. It''s the spatial ring." When Long Haoran heard words ''spatial ring'', his pupils fiercely contracted and he tried doing the same, sending the consciousness inside but he didn''t feel anything strange about the ring. Long Haoran: "Ryuu, are you sure this is the spatial ring, it feels like a normal ring no matter how you look at it." Asura Ryuu: "Hehe, that''s the trick I got from the scroll. This ring isn''t based on Soul Energy so it appears that it is normal and only Xingyue can access it because it was left for her by her mother. Xingyue let a drop of blood on it." Long Xingyue: "Eh? A drop of blood? But I''m scared, will it hurt?" Long Haoran: "Don''t worry it wo-" Asura Ryuu: "It will. It will hurt, but I''m here so don''t worry. It will only feel like I pinched you." Long Xingyue: "Um! If brother says so then it must be! Here, do it brother.", she said and extended the fingers on her other hand to Ryuu. Ryuu smiled and said: "Good girl, now relax and don''t close your eyes." Long Xingyue opened her closed eyes and said with a surprise: "Don''t close them? But I was always told to close them so that I won''t feel the pain when I was small." Asura Ryuu: "If you want to, you can close them. But I think it''s better if you actually see what will happen so that you won''t have to be afraid in the future. There is always a point in time when you have to overcome your own fears, so be brave. If you want to be as strong as me, you have to work hard, you know." Long Xingyue''s spirit became stronger while her eyes were full of resolve when she heard Ryuu''s words: "Brother. Do it! I will watch because I will always be with brother!" Ryuu smiled and patted her head while saying: "Good girl!", which Xingyue obviously liked as her face had a wide smile brimming with happiness: "Hehe, brother your hand is warm." Ryuu released his scales on only one finger and gently poked Xingyue''s finger and extracted one drop of blood with purely Spirit Power as to not press her gentle white fingers. It looked like he was working with the finest work, not wishing to inflict even the slightest bit of unnecessary pain to her. Then he put the drop of blood on the ring and it got absorbed and filled up the gaps where the runes were embedded, becoming completely uniform - in other words, there were no more visible bumps or hollowed parts and the ring now looked like a polished deep blue crystal. Long Haoran saw the entire process and couldn''t help but sigh while thinking to himself: "Ryuu is amazing, I''m nowhere near him even though I''m way older, but at least Xingyue is in safe hands from now on, I don''t have to worry about them." Long Haoran said his goodbyes with Ryuu and Xingyue and disappeared behind the mountains, returning to their home. When he left, he explained to Ryuu how to get to the academy and gave him the instructions as well as the recommendation letters from the principal - the highest-ranked elder of the academy and told them to find her when entering. He left a message in their house and left on a journey to fix the things he left unfinished. "Ryuu, Xingyue. I hope we will see each other sometime in the future when you get stronger. I love you both, Long Haoran." ---------------------- * Heavenly Type is a rank lower than Divine Type, but Divine rank is a qualitative leap. Divine Type can hardly be found in their current world because it is a standard in the Divine Heavenly Realm ( Realm of Gods ). 29 The Devils domain - part 1 Ryuu and Xingyue were left all alone to handle the rest while Long Haoran left on his way to solve his past troubles. There were several reasons why Long Haoran decided to do it that way out of which, the most important one was to leave the two kids to grow up themselves while traveling ''to the past'' in order to make up for his mistakes - in other words, to collect the debt from those who deserve. Ryuu looked at the waterfalls and something seemed a bit off to him, but he couldn''t pinpoint what it was. Asura Ryuu: "Little master, do you feel like something''s off here?" Little Dragon: "Yea, but you have to find out yourself what it is. Don''t worry, I''m here at every possible moment with you but that doesn''t mean you can slack off. Maybe Long Haoran left but I''m still here, hehe." Asura Ryuu: "Y-you aren''t planning on involving my sister in this, are you?" Little Dragon: "Hmm, why not? She wants to be by your side all the time so I don''t see any reason to leave her out of this hell, hehe." Asura Ryuu: "Hm? Hell?" Little Dragon: "Well, you haven''t seen yet what is in here but when you do it will seem like hell. As I already told you, this area is the easiest one and it only serves to temper your body and prepares you for living every day in constant pain and suffering that comes after." Asura Ryuu: "..." Little Dragon: "What''s wrong? Did you become scared all of a sudden? What about that talk from before that you will protect me and your new family, was that all a lie? I never knew you had a cowardly side to you, heh. How pathetic." Asura Ryuu: "..." Little Dragon noticed that Ryuu didn''t answer and decided to leave his Spiritual Sea in order to see his scared expression, but what she saw was not fear - it was excitement. Ryuu was trembling with excitement while in front of him was a transparent pearl that reflected ten-colored light, the light of Ryuu''s Spirit Power. Ryuu''s head was filled with all the knowledge that Long Haoran left behind in a crystal pearl which contained the names of all areas and additional info related to each of them. Little Dragon had an amazed expression as well, but for an entirely different reason - she was surprised that something escaped her perception. "How could that pearl have reached the origin state, it makes no sense... Whoever made it is a genius craftsman. Only objects of higher quality than my Spirit Power can escape it, yet this crystal ball escaped it entirely....", she thought. Little Dragon: "Whatever, it isn''t harmful anyway. If it was I''d know right away. Now then..." Her head turned in the direction where Ryuu stood shaking with excitement while holding the transparent pearl in his hand, while Xingyue stared at him with confused eyes. Long Xingyue: "Bro, what do we do now? Father has left us all alone here without food or anything." Asura Ryuu: "Xingyue, don''t worry. With your brother here, you can rest easy that we will definitely pass every test that father gave us and successfully enroll in that academy." "Kyaa, brother''s serious face is so cuuuute and cool. I feel like I''m melting, ahhhh... my soul''s gonna melt...", Xingyue thought. While lost in her thoughts, Long Xingyue didn''t notice that a very quiet ''ah...'' escaped her slightly parted pink lips. If it was someone else instead of Ryuu, it would not mean much, but with Ryuu''s Spirit Power, that faint sound was as clear as the normal speech. Asura Ryuu: "... this might become a bit troublesome..." Little Dragon: "Hehe, don''t worry. She won''t have the time to savor your charm when you begin your training." Asura Ryuu: "Little master, what about the energy of this world, why haven''t you told me how to gather it yet?" Little Dragon: "Oh? I didn''t think you would know of that. Usually, people don''t discover Spirit Energy in the world around them because their Spirit Power is way stronger from the moment they are born and you can do most of the things with Spirit Power so until a cultivator explains you about Soul Energy, the chances are low for you to notice it." Asura Ryuu: "There''s no way I wouldn''t know - after all, I''ve read loads of novels, mangas and seen tons of anime back in my previous world.", Ryuu thought. Asura Ryuu: "Well then, how do I gather it with my Spirit Power? And what are the cultivation levels in this world?" Little Dragon: "You truly are impressive knowing even that, let me explain everything anyway." Little Dragon: "What you really want to focus on right now is breaking through the first cultivation level in which you and your sister currently are - The Awakening Realm. I think there is a Spirit Device to test the exact level of your strength, but that means nothing to you and her because both of you are level 10 already and now all you have to do is find a way to break through to the next level." Asura Ryuu: "How do you know we are level 10?" Little Dragon: "What kind of pointless question is that? You have ten Soul Spirits and she has the divine inheritance which awakened her Sea Goddess Soul Spirit and that''s the peak of the Soul Spirits if ranked solely by the quality of them, so there is no way that you aren''t level 10. If you really want to check, you should find that device first." Asura Ryuu: "So you are sure that we are level 10, why don''t I feel another type of energy inside me aside from the Spirit Power then?" Little Dragon: "You don''t feel it? Seriously?" Asura Ryuu: "..." Ryuu didn''t know whether he said something shameful or not, but to the dragon who lived million years with such knowledge, it would indeed seem trivial and pointless question unless it was Ryuu who asked it. Little Dragon: "Okay, I''ll move a little bit of my Spirit Energy and you tell me what do you feel exactly then try moving yours, okay?" Asura Ryuu: "Sure!" Little Dragon''s Spiritual Body manifested in front of Ryuu and she manipulated her energy hidden within Ryuu and made a little ball of it on top of her finger. Ryuu looked with great interest at that little ball on top of her finger and he even forgot that his sister was right next to him. Long Xingyue: "Bro, what''s that?" Asura Ryuu: "Um? Ah. I don''t know, it seems like some kind of Spirit Energy." Long Xingyue: "Ah, you mean this?" Long Xingyue extended her finger while making a shy pose and deep blue pearl of slowly rotating wave-like Spirit Energy circled above her finger, then she flicked it toward the little point in front of Ryuu with the intention to knock it away but what she didn''t expect is that her Spirit Energy didn''t even graze it a bit and got entirely sucked inside that little black-greenish point which seemed to float in the air. While Long Xingyue was wondering why her Spirit Energy wasn''t able to touch that little thing, Ryuu was thinking about something else. Asura Ryuu: "How come I don''t feel anything like that inside me?" Long Xingyue: "Let me check your body then." Asura Ryuu: "Eh? So straightforward, can''t you at least wait until we grow up a little, and my sister is there as well." Under the weight of Ryuu''s tease, Little Dragon''s cheeks blushed with greenish shade and she knocked him on the head while explaining herself: "Fool. Not that! I mean let me check your body with Spirit Power, don''t resist it when it enters." Asura Ryuu: "..." "Why does everything have to sound so weird... Especially about the ''entering'' part", Ryuu thought. Soon enough, Ryuu felt something pressing on all parts of his body as if he was in the center of a contracting ball of water - something like pressure, but it wasn''t the pressure. The power seemed familiar but contained an overwhelming strength behind it which made Ryuu hold it in high regard. "How oppressive, worthy of the ancient dragon.", Ryuu thought. Ryuu let himself be examined all the way to the depths of his body which made him a little uncomfortable as if he was laid bare for all to see, the feeling was similar but much stronger. Asura Ryuu: "This feels so strange..." Little Dragon: "What the fuck is wrong with you? How can something like this happen?" Asura Ryuu: "What is it?" Little Dragon: "Y-you don''t have Spirit Energy, none. None at all! But wait, how can a cripple have tenSoul Spirits, it doesn''t make sense..." Asura Ryuu: "I felt something was wrong, do I need a core or something to absorb the energy from the air and store it or what? And besides, shouldn''t Soul Spirits automatically be attracted to the Spirit Energy and absorb it?" Little Dragon: "Crap." Asura Ryuu: "Mm?" Little Dragon: "Uh... sorry, this one''s on me actually." Asura Ryuu: "What do you mean?" Little Dragon: "Well, since you weren''t born physically, rather made from my original body, you don''t have the Spirit Energy because I wasn''t storing in it my body at all..." Asura Ryuu: "But you had to use something, didn''t you?" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Little Dragon: "Well yeah, but it was the power of laws, not the Spirit Energy and I can''t let you use the power of the law if you haven''t mastered the Spirit Energy, so it seems you will have to take the hard path..." Asura Ryuu: "That''s not a problem, I will think up of a way to solve it. Anyway, can I even absorb the Spirit Energy as the things are right now?" Little Dragon: "You will be able to, but you need the cultivation manual and The Origin Art can''t be used for the Spirit Energy - it''s for the power of law, as you know." Asura Ryuu: "Well, I don''t really need to seek the manual if I can just make one myself, do I?" Little Dragon: "..." Little Dragon: "You know what... Nevermind. I''ll hold back with this, for now, go ahead and try but first let me form a core so you can absorb the Spirit Energy." Asura Ryuu: "Wait, don''t!" Little Dragon: "What''s wrong?" Asura Ryuu: "I will form it myself, just tell me how can I feel the Spirit Energy in the atmosphere without actually having it myself." Little Dragon thought to herself: "This little... He even wants to form the core himself which should be naturally formed by Soul Spirit. I can''t believe this... Don''t tell me he wants to do something outrageous again... No use overthinking it, let''s wait and see." Little Dragon told Ryuu the detailed way how to feel the energy in the air and explained all the key points he should be sticking to when forming a core - it needs to hold a lot of energy in so it should be stable and he should pick a good position in his body where to form it." At this moment, Ryuu turned around to his sister. Asura Ryuu: "Xingyue, can we start with our training right now, or do you want to rest a bit?" Long Xingyue may be only a six-year-old kid, but her intelligence was good and she could tell that Ryuu was extremely excited to start with the training, which of course influenced her as well. Little did she know that her motivated spirit came from Ryuu''s Soul Spirit. Neither of them knew that Ryuu''s Soul Spirit could separately influence someone if Ryuu didn''t release it. Long Xingyue: "Yeah! If the brother is going, then I am going too!" Ryuu smiled wholeheartedly, took her by the hand and ran up to the waterfall. Asura Ryuu: "Sis, I don''t actually have any Spirit Energy inside me so I have to form my own circulation path and those things, and I will do it under the waterfall. You should try resisting it with your Spirit Energy which will at the same time temper it." Long Xingyue: "So both of us are going under the waterfall, right?" Asura Ryuu: "Yep, it''s just that we will be doing different things from the start, but I will catch up to you definitely!" Long Xingyue: "I don''t know why but I have a feeling that I can''t cultivate anymore if I don''t change something." Asura Ryuu: "That''s what you call a breakthrough, but don''t do it yet try to compress your Spirit Energy before you breakthrough and make it denser." Long Xingyue: "Eh? Compress it? What does compress mean?" Asura Ryuu: "Ah... I forgot they don''t know my world''s terms.", Ryuu thought. Asura Ryuu: *cough*, "That means something like this." Ryuu let his ten-colored Spirit Power outside and made a visible half-meter ball in front of them to which Xingyue titled her head to the side and did the same: "Bro I can do that already, that ... compress thing." Asura Ryuu: "That''s not compressing, you just released your Spirit Power outside - try to do this." The darkness in Ryuu''s green-black eyes became more visible - in other words, it grabbed attention, while green streaks emanated a very faint glow. The sphere began shrinking in size becoming smaller and smaller as it was compressed by Ryuu until it became only a size of a spark - a few millimeters. When Xingyue saw this little spark it seemed as if an idea popped up inside her mind. "Was that why my Spirit Energy got absorbed before?", she thought. She didn''t waste any more time thinking about unnecessary things and decided to try it herself and see what happens. 30 The Devils domain - part 2 Long Xingyue remembered what Ryuu did - as if pushing the sphere from all sides at the same time until it became very small and tried doing it herself. But... . . . *swish* *bang* When she came halfway, she lost control of her Spirit Power and it exploded. Long Xingyue: "Eh...?" Asura Ryuu: "Hm?" Long Xingyue''s eyes became teary and she grabbed Ryuu with both hands shaking him while saying: "B-bro, why can''t I do it???" It was already the tenth try to do it which failed and that reflected on Long Xingyue''s childish mind. Long Xingyue: "Why can Brother do what I can''t? How am I going to call myself an elder sister if I can''t be better than you? Why???" Asura Ryuu: "Calm down, it will be fine. I didn''t know how to do it at the start either, but you saw just how far I can go now. The further you compress it, the more it''s resistance and pressure rises exponentially." Xingyue strengthened the hold on Ryuu''s arms and looked at him with half-tearful eyes while the other half contained pure anger. Asura Ryuu: "Um... Sis? Why do you look angry?" Long Xingyue: "Yooouuuuuu!!!! Can''t you explain it without using those strange words, what does ''resistance'' and ''exponentially'' mean???" Asura Ryuu: "I can''t use other words, I can only teach you step-by-step what do they mean." Asura Ryuu: "Try poking your finger in the soil without any internal energy." Long Xingyue: "What''s the point of that, I''ll just dirty my fingers." Asura Ryuu: "There''s plenty of water here, you can just wash them. Try it and I will teach you whatthe term ''resistance'' means." Long Xingyue: "... AGAIN!" Asura Ryuu: "What?" Long Xingyue blushed slightly while the tips of her index fingers touched and she looked left-right with her head down in embarrassment: "What does ''term'' mean?" Asura Ryuu: "What''s that." Ryuu asked while pointing at the waterfall. Long Xingyue: "It''s a waterfall." Asura Ryuu: "Waterfall is a term, it''s just one word which means one or more things, I will explain it more when we have the time but for now take is as the separate words are separate terms and each has its own meaning and that meaning is called a definition - how it appears, what does it mean, what are some common traits and so on. It may be a bit confusing but you can do it!" Long Xingyue: "Oh, I get it now! Thanks, little bro, hehehe." Ryuu thought: "Did she just understand what I explained only once? Damn. That''s a scary ability..." Asura Ryuu: "Nevermind, poke the finger through the soil." She did as she was told and after a certain point, she couldn''t go further. Ryuu then told her to poke a finger in a rock, which of course failed because of how hard the rock is. Long Xingyue''s pouting expression was pretty funny: "Muuu... why can''t I do anything that brother says... It''s not fair bro, you are asking your elder sister to try weird things that can''t be done... You''re bullying me too much!" Asura Ryuu: "... She knows her way with words, alright." Asura Ryuu: "Now, now. Don''t be like that. The resistance is what you felt when you tried to poke the rock - something was blocking your finger, right?" Long Xingyue: "Oh! It''s the same as when I poked too deep into the soil and couldn''t go any further right?" Her eyes sparkled because of the fact that she may potentially have guessed what her brother wanted to say and she made an excited expression with her entire body positioned in "expecting" stance with sparkling eyes full of stars. Ryuu looked at her eyes carefully and lost himself for a moment, but he quickly recollected himself. Asura Ryuu: "Right. So smart... can I even be your teacher anymore..." Long Xingyue: "Of course you can, brother has to teach me lots of things in the future, hehe." Asura Ryuu: "God... I know she doesn''t say such things on purpose but... DAMN! It''s misleading as hell!!!", Ryuu thought. Asura Ryuu: *cough*, *cough*, "Now then, let''s explain the Term ''exponentially''", Ryuu said while emphasizing both the ''term'' and ''exponentially''. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Long Xingyue: "Oooh!!!" Asura Ryuu: "You know how it became harder and harder to penetrate the soil and it wasn''t slowly increasing but rather it suddenly became so much harder, that''s what you call the exponential resistance growth." Long Xingyue: "What does..." But before she could ask, Ryuu cut her off: "Growth means when something is increasing or getting more and more, like when you grow up you get bigger." Long Xingyue: "Ah, sorry. I''m so dumb that I actually asked what I already knew." Asura Ryuu thought to himself: "Well, I had the same troubles back in my world because of all the formalities so I can''t blame her really..." Asura Ryuu: "Now then, when you understand that, the next thing is..." Long Xingyue looked at Ryuu and traced his finger which was pointing at the waterfall. Asura Ryuu: "We go below that and you do what I showed you in order to compress your Spirit Energy while I will have to form my own core to do so." Long Xingyue: "Um... can I ask something?" Asura Ryuu: "Go ahead." Long Xingyue: "How do you know so much?" Asura Ryuu: "Hehe, I will tell you if you beat me when we finish with this test." Long Xingyue: "Really???" Seeing how excited she became, Ryuu only nodded with a smile and took his clothes off. But when he took off his pants off, he remembered... "Crap, my sister is looking, how the fuck did I forget..." He turned around and saw that Long Xingyue was fully naked as well and wasn''t acting embarrassed or anything - she acted as if it was normal. Asura Ryuu: "Well, nevermind..." Ryuu took a step below the smallest of the waterfalls - a hundred meters in height and as soon as he did, he got plastered below the water level. Asura Ryuu: "Gahhhhg... it''s so pressuring, I feel like my lungs are gonna explode here... But I like it." Long Xingyue entered without any problems because she used her Spirit Energy but she didn''t hold out longer than five minutes because she used her energy excessively and ran out of it. Ryuu didn''t even have the energy which meant he was resisting the waterfall with his own body. Long Xingyue looked at Ryuu who didn''t have the Spirit Energy coating around himself and told herself: "If my younger brother can do it, I can do it too!" And thus, a petite feminine figure sank below the water level while her body and bones were aching and screaming in pain. Long Xingyue: "Agh! This is so damn hard, how did Ryuu climb out of the water under such pressure. I can''t even move... Gahhhh!!!" . . . Several days later, two small figures sat cross-legged under the hundred-meter big waterfall - one female and one male but neither of them older than six to seven years. Both of them were resisting the waterfall with pure will and strength of their bodies which were already painted in red at every place where the water touched, that was how enormous the force of such a waterfall was. It may not be anything serious for a regular grown-up man, but we''re talking about six-years-old children here. Long Xingyue: "How cool, I can fit more Spirit Energy in my Spirit Core if I compress them even more. Can I use the power of the next waterfall to compress it even further? What about Ryuu? Did he make his own core? Oh, wait... does he even have a cultivation technique? Father told me that cultivation techniques are really hard to find unless you join some organization and you can''t cultivate far without them..." Long Xingyue''s disturbed state didn''t allow her to cultivate anymore and she slowly came out of the waterfall and came in front of Ryuu to check on his current state. "It''s only normal for elder sister to care about her younger brother, isn''t it?", she thought. Long Xingyue: "Why does it feel strange when I stare at the naked Ryuu like this, it feels as if something would devour me if I came any closer..." Long Xingyue observed every part of Ryuu carefully but had no way of knowing that she was also being observed by Little Dragon in her spirit form who came out to see the changes through which Ryuu will go when he forms a core because it was the time for him to do so. But Long Xingyue''s curiosity ... was very strong. Long Xingyue: "Why does Ryuu have that weird thing, I don''t have that..." Long Xingyue: "Hmm, maybe it''s because I''m a girl, who cares anyway. I''ll ask him sometime." ----- While Ryuu was being observed by the two, he was entirely in the depths of meditation trying to sense the world inside himself. At one point, he felt something strange and grasped onto that feeling with all he could and then he forcefully tried to expand the feeling to every part of his body, but couldn''t do it. Asura Ryuu: "What am I doing wrong here, why can''t I expand this little Spirit Power?" He asked himself again and again and couldn''t come to a conclusion then an idea manifested itself - what if, let''s say, that wasn''t something he was supposed to expand but rather it served as the ''absorption point'', to put it like that. Ryuu tried going by that path and sure enough, he felt a thin stream of Spirit Energy flowing towards that point. Asura Ryuu: "What is this thing? I''m sure it should be the ''built-in'' core, but can I move it around my body? Let''s see." As always, Ryuu had an entirely different way of thinking. Asura Ryuu: "In novels, the core usually is formed within the body and loads of times someone can crush that core - which means I have to somehow hide it, and I''ve got a pretty good idea of what to do, hehehe." Ryuu connected his Spirit Sea which acted as a separate space formed within his soul. The Spirit Sea isn''t a physical organ but something acting as a bridge between the soul and the body and it was hidden in the fourth dimension. The thread of Spirit Power that Ryuu compressed as much as he could, was wrapped around the small core and Ryuu slowly led it inside his Spirit Sea. He wasn''t sure whether he could succeed in doing this but when he did, Ryuu instantly became happy. Asura Ryuu: "Hahaha, now I don''t have to worry about my core being physically crushed, only if someone with a lot stronger Spirit Power attacks my Spirit Sea can they have the possibility to damage it. But just in case let''s hide it further somewhere, hmm..." Ryuu looked around in his Spirit Sea and saw the ten dragons orbiting around the black hole in the starry colorful sky and he got an idea where to form the core. Ryuu coated that little core even more in his Spirit Power with the help from the abundant Spirit Power below himself which made up for the entire Spirit Sea and raised it to the black hole. Asura Ryuu: "Now then, the power of space should be used here and I need master''s help for that." Ryuu managed to somehow keep the core at bay and returned his consciousness to his body. ----- While Ryuu was entering the initial phase of migrating the core to his Spirit Sea, Little Dragon could still feel that speck inside him which she felt every time she scanned his body with her Spirit Power. But all of a sudden, Ryuu lost his aura and escaped her Spiritual perception. She could still see him and all but she couldn''t feel him with her Spirit Power like she would feel a Spiritualist. It was as if he was just a normal human with no Spirit Energy at all. Little Dragon: "Did something go wrong?" She began worrying about him but it didn''t last long as she heard Ryuu''s call in her mind "Little master, come inside the Spirit Sea, I need your help." Little Dragon: "Heh, so he can''t do it without me after all. Hmm, hmm. That''s good. He should rely on his master more." She entered his Spirit Sea as Ryuu told her and when she noticed the core being suppressed from bursting with all that Spirit Power, she couldn''t find the words to describe the scene before her. One needed a lot of Balls to try putting something so volatile inside their own Spirit Sea because, if they weren''t good at controlling and suppressing the core, it could destroy the entire Spirit Sea and they would remain a soulless shell. Little Dragon: "This brat is the craziest thing I ever saw..." Asura Ryuu: "Oh, hi. What''s up?" Little Dragon: "YOU! How the Hell can you be so relaxed while suppressing That Thing! Do you know that if it explodes all of us are going straight to hell?" Asura Ryuu: "Well that doesn''t sound so bad at all, hehe." Little Dragon: "What do you mean, you sick fuck... do you wanna die so bad?" Asura Ryuu: "So cold, I meant if I''m going to hell with such a beauty like you then it may as well be heaven, hehehehe." Little Dragon didn''t expect that sudden attack and her embarrassment became pretty visible thanks to her pitch-black skin. Little Dragon: "Hmph. You little... What did you need me for?" Asura Ryuu: "How strong is your space law?" Little Dragon: "Oy, what are you trying to do... Oh hell no!!!" Asura Ryuu: "C''mon, help your boyfriend out a bit, or do you really wanna go to hell with me that badly, hehe." Little Dragon: "That... Are you certain that Thing won''t actually destroy your energy core?" Asura Ryuu: "Yup. If you can transfer it right in the center of the black hole, it won''t get crushed or anything. Besides, I could do it myself as well but I won''t be able to wake up for some time from exhaustion if I had to resist the suction of the black hole." Little Dragon: "... Fine, tell me what to do." Asura Ryuu: "Read my mind, it will be faster." Little Dragon: "Haaaah... okay." Ryuu felt that his Spirit Sea is slightly moving which meant it was ready to protect the pathway to his soul even from his Soul Spirit which was the part of him already. Ryuu couldn''t help but marvel the magnificence of life - whoever made the humans made sure that they wouldn''t be able to destroy themselves unless under extreme conditions. It required a lot of planning and designing, which to Ryuu who was an objective and creative thinker seemed very ''cool''. The core which was coated in Ryuu''s Spirit Power disappeared suddenly and all of a sudden, in the middle of the dark black hole, a light appeared - a pure white light. Asura Ryuu: "Heh, that''s an interesting reaction. The light which could escape the black hole actually exists, hehe." Ryuu looked at the ten dragons circling around the black hole and the one which resonated the most was the black-green dragon which made Ryuu look at the side where Little Dragon stood. Little Dragon: "Done. What next?" Asura Ryuu: "This." Ryuu gestured with his hand, making a grabbing motion and then suddenly slid his left hand through the air as if he was splashing a wave to someone which manifested ten blades made purely out of Spirit Power fly towards the black hole - to be precise, to the core while his other hand which was ''grasping'' made the ten dragons dive towards the black hole. Meanwhile, the blades untied into one and became a speck of Spirit Power compressed to the fullest. When Little Dragon saw what was going on, her eyes widened in an instant. But neither could she stop Ryuu from doing what he wants in his own world nor did she have any courage anymore. She could only believe him as always. Ryuu did an unimaginable thing again - the speck of Spirit Power was actually used to make a cutting edge with which he cut the core in ten equal parts while the dragons that dived towards the black hole swallowed each part and entered the black hole. However, an unexpected happened. Each dragon had his entire body illuminated by the little core which shone from the point inside its head and the ten dragons inside the black hole actually glowed with a radiance that escaped the suction of that enormous celestial body. Ryuu didn''t find it interesting to only have the dragons inside the black hole, therefore he also widened the accretion disc and once again colored it in different colors. Little Dragon could only close her eyes and try to remain calm in this situation. Her true Spirit Form was trampled with but she believed in Ryuu and didn''t resist, the same way in which Ryuu didn''t resist her deep-scan. What Ryuu didn''t know was that allowing someone to inspect your body with Spirit Power all the way to the depths was actually as if you gave yourself to them - they could end your life at any given moment only by crushing any of the organs inside you. 31 The Devils domain - part 3 Asura Ryuu: "Little master, now that I have my cores in the black hole, how can I start cultivating, what should I be doing to absorb the energy rapidly?" Little Dragon: "You shouldn''t absorb it rapidly, rather you should go slowly to build up a steady foundation while tempering your body and Spirit Power at the same time." Ryuu contemplated a bit about the problem and decided that rather than concentrating everything in a single core, he would spread it to the entire dragon and use the whole dragon as an actual core while filling it to the brim. What that actually meant is that instead of having only ten cores that were protected by each dragon, he would merge them completely and fill them up with Spirit Energy. In other words, the path Ryuu chose was having billions of cores instead of ten and filling the dragons up with cores. "Now then it came to this part finally...", Ryuu thought. Every finger on Ryuu''s hands became colored in a different color, each responding to the color of a dragon and it looked like it had stars within itself - the same as with the body of the dragon. Ryuu gestured and dragons came closer and closer to the center of the black hole, almost touching but he picked such a route that they wouldn''t touch. Of course, it wasn''t purely his intuition, he calculated the way to make each dragon revolve so they wouldn''t collide and yet their auras would merge only at the little point in the middle. What Ryuu wanted to do like this is to re-create the nine-colored emblem he broke apart, but at the same time add another dragon, making it ten-colored emblem and keeping each of the dragons separated so that they wouldn''t recombine as before. The dragons communicated with each other, but nobody in this world except the nine of them knew what they were thinking, they completely trusted this boy even if they didn''t admit it and only for one reason: their elder sister did the same and she never misjudged someone. But, as people say, there is a reason for everything. Little Dragon: "Ryuu, what are you actually planning? What you did right now has infinitely increased the complexity and difficulty of cultivation, let alone that you have ten such things to cultivate to the end if you want to advance." Asura Ryuu: "I thought about it as well, that''s why I decided to do what I did." Little Dragon: "Oh? Then show me how you will solve that problem." Asura Ryuu: "Well, something like this." Ryuu snapped his fingers inside his Spirit Sea, it surged and suddenly half of it was gone, only the pitch-black line connecting the middle of the sea with the black hole appeared in its place. Asura Ryuu: "So, what do you think?" Little Dragon: "I don''t get it, what did you do?" Asura Ryuu: "Go outside and I''ll show you." ----- Ryuu opened his eyes and stood up, fully naked. His body already got used to the water from this waterfall and he saw his sister at the third waterfall - 300m high one and she gave off somewhat peculiar feeling. Little Dragon: "Don''t be surprised, you were meditating for the whole week and she ain''t bad at all so you''re falling behind very very much." Asura Ryuu: "Did she breakthrough?" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Little Dragon: "Hoo, so you felt it, didn''t you?" Asura Ryuu: "Yeah, I can feel the Spirit Energy around me and in everything else." Little Dragon: "So, what did you wanna show me?" Asura Ryuu: "Ah, this. Watch carefully." Ryuu moved his 600-points-strong Spirit Power and it passed through the pitch-black line being compressed as by the space law while it traveled through the line, then it passed through the black hole and... A ''pocket-sized'' black hole appeared above Ryuu''s hand in the real world while there were ten dragons bathing in it, each long twenty centimeters or so while the diameter of a micro black hole was around thirty centimeters. The dragons were diving out of the black hole as if they would out of the sea and they glowed even when they dived back in even though their color was inverted and all. The black hole here was the pathway between the two spaces - Ryuu''s Spirit Sea and the real world. The dragons suddenly stopped and flew out of the black hole, prolonging to the length of two meters and coiling around Ryuu''s body. Then the dragons disappeared and separate parts of their respective scales popped up from Ryuu''s body but it was ten different sections, not one dragon with ten colors. Little Dragon found it pretty interesting but didn''t understand how that could solve Ryuu''s problem, at least not until Ryuu released all of his Spirit Emblems and the scales lit up and began madly devouring the surrounding Spirit Energy. It was so fast that it took away almost all of the Spirit Energy in the surrounding area in a mere minute through which Little Dragon stared blankly and even Long Xingyue awoke and joined her ''staring session'' when she saw god-like Ryuu again. His scales were glowing and there was a single black-green pair of wings sticking out behind his back which were covered in the scales unique only to the Little Dragon. Ryuu broke through the tenth level in an instant and entered the new realm. His Spirit Energy absorption speed rose again because of the breakthrough but it took a thousand times more Spirit Energy to condense a single drop of Spirit Energy and in the end, Ryuu succeeded in making only two drops of it for each dragon, twenty in total for a mere ten minutes. But those two drops were like a blade of grass in the 1000-kilometer-long grass field - nothing. Ryuu would have to fill up each of the dragons to the end in order to reach the Emperor level and breakthrough to the God realm, but that''s a long way to go. But it is important to mention that Ryuu didn''t actually benefit by doing this but quite the opposite - he would have a qualitative challenge - it wasn''t important about which manual he used, Ryuu''s unique traits would not come to the full usage with any of them. The only place where he could find something like that is in the land of Gods, but that''s a far cry from Ryuu at this point. For example, let''s say it like this: If a usual Spiritist wanted to absorb the Spirit Energy, they would form a central spherical core somewhere in their body and compress everything in it as far as they could, and what Ryuu needs to do to have the same effect is to forge dozens of cores like that with the help of his ten Soul Spirits and then use the cores size of a dewdrop to fill each of the dragons with as much cores as possible. The benefit would show a bit in beginning up until level 30, where one forms a core. After that, Ryuu''s speed of advancement would exponentially drop but his Spirit Energy would be so dense that he could even create a microscopic black hole if he compressed it to the size of an atom. In other words, Ryuu would need to compress something that has the same energy as the Sun from his previous world and store it in his own Spiritual Sea which is a feat for itself. Little Dragon: "..." Little Dragon: *Sigh* Little Dragon: "I don''t even know what to tell you anymore. True you will get a super boost in cultivation in early stages, but what after that?" Asura Ryuu: "Well, for the part where it comes hard to compete with Spirit Energy intensity, I have solutions as well; First, I would have to enhance my body even further and second - my Spirit Power. I''ll need to use these to replace the Spirit Energy defect." Little Dragon: "That sounds reasonable but there''s a bit of a problem if you haven''t noticed..." Asura Ryuu: "Yeah, that''s quite the problem we have..." Little Dragon: "Oh? So you knew?" Asura Ryuu: "Didn''t you yourself tell me that my bones and veins are forged from your body which means that they are stepping into peak level and my Spirit Power quality and purity is reaching that realm as well... Which means it will be extremely hard to enhance it even further, right?" Little Dragon: "Smart." Asura Ryuu: "Heh." Little Dragon: "You are the strangest of all the humans I''ve ever seen, that''s for sure." Asura Ryuu: "Is that a compliment or?" Little Dragon: "Pheh, don''t boast, as if you could so easily get a compliment from this Lord." Asura Ryuu: "Ayy, here we go with the majestical speech again, *sigh*." Little Dragon: "What? You are not happy with having someone like me for a lifelong partner?" Asura Ryuu: "No - no. I''m more than happy but I have to tease you sometimes or it''s gonna be boring always admiring your majesty, heh heh." Little Dragon: "Hmph, you little runt. Let''s see you pass those conditions which your father gave you two, I''m so gonna laugh when you fail, just you wait!" Ryuu looked at the floating Little Dragon and as always, couldn''t help himself but admire her beauty. This ten-winged black-green girl with green eyes, elven ears and two majestic horns took his breath away, even though it was supposed to be strange, Ryuu didn''t find her appearance disgusting at all - he only found a breathtaking look of a lonely girl which desperately needed someone to spend the time with. Little Dragon didn''t know what Ryuu was thinking and how he saw her, even sometimes this ancient being had her own moments of insecurity before the one she loves with her whole heart, but she usually spent that time in his Spirit Sea as to not give herself away. She noticed Ryuu staring at her with affectionate gaze and smiled a little while turning around and observing the changes happening to Long Xingyue under the third waterfall: "When did I become so forgiving to let myself share my man with another woman... What exactly changed in me?", she thought. Little Dragon: "Well, it''s not important. She needs the time to grow up so there''s no real threat here yet.", these thoughts swam in her mind. Ryuu only noticed his sister when Little Dragon turned around in her direction: "Ah, how shameful. I forgot to check how she''s doing..." Ryuu stepped forward and approached the 300-meter high waterfall and looked at Long Xingyue''s peaceful figure. Even though it was night, there was plenty of light to shine on them given off by various plants surrounding the area around waterfalls. Asura Ryuu: "It looks like she''s doing fine for now." Ryuu turned around and wanted to go under the second waterfall but a sudden shine of light attracted his attention. He noticed that it was actually a little ball which reflected dim light, so dim that Ryuu almost didn''t notice it. He didn''t even feel it with his Spirit Power, let alone the Spirit Energy which he barely learned to use. Ryuu extended his hand, making a grasping motion and a little dragon-shaped thread made of Spirit Power shot out from his palm, wrapped around the pearl and brought it back. The pearl was darkish-black and inside of it were crimson runes which were so thin that you could barely notice that they were runes. Ryuu''s interest in runes rose each time he saw another type of them. The first time he saw them was in their house, then at the lake and then here, in this enclosed area which Long Haoran made. Ryuu observed the spherical object and after confirming that there''s no danger, he slowly inserted his Spirit Power inside it which triggered the rune array and all of the little runes on the pearl disappeared and entered his head which looked very funny and strange. The pearl became useless without those runes and Ryuu actually returned under the first waterfall so he could think peacefully about what he learned from these runes. 32 The Devils domain - part 4 "The place where you two are now is called The Devil''s domain. If you''re wondering why is it called as such, you will find out when you clear all the tasks that you''re supposed to do in order to ''graduate'' from there. After finishing the training inside The Devil''s domain, you shall proceed to The Void Academy which location is contained within this pearl, as well as all of the information about the mentioned academy. Don''t rush with your decision which part of The Void Academy you will choose because both of you are very special and may even be allowed to enter the ''Cursed Asgard'' which is its nickname, for its real name, you''ll have to actually pass their assessment first and then you will know more about it. Take good care of Xingyue, Ryuu - Long Haoran." Ryuu pondered about the information he got about The Void Academy from that pearl and was unsure which court should they choose within the school because there are plenty of them and each specializes in a different direction. The only thing he was confused about is that there is no information about the ''Cursed Asgard'' which Long Haoran mentioned. Asura Ryuu: "There must be a reason why he left out that exact part, I wonder what it is exactly..." Asura Ryuu: "Well, there''s no use in thinking about it if you don''t know, let''s just ask the one who made the entire academy, ke-ke." Asura Ryuu: "Master, was there anything called the ''Cursed Asgard'' when you made that academy?" Little Dragon''s voice came in from inside his head: "Hm? I don''t think so, actually - I don''t even remember because it was so long ago. Surely something changed for such a long period of time, otherwise, it wouldn''t be the strongest academy on the continent, would it?" Asura Ryuu: "Hmm, you got a point there. But what about the data in the pearl?" Little Dragon: "I don''t know, that wasn''t there when I was talking with the one responsible for managing its creation." Asura Ryuu: "So it was made afterward after all..." Little Dragon: "Don''t think about it too hard, don''t you have to do something else right now?" Asura Ryuu: "Yup, I need to cultivate or I''ll fall behind Xingyue. She''s already level 20, how worthy of top-level Soul Spirit." Little Dragon: "Hmph, compared to you she''s like a speck of dust even if she''s faster at cultivation." Asura Ryuu: "But there wasn''t a 6-year-old kid with level 20 before, was there?" Little Dragon: "There were, in the era of Gods." Asura Ryuu: "Eeeh? Seriously?" Little Dragon: "But that era was only two or three hundred thousand years after we made this world so it passed a long, long time ago. I was still in my young days then." Asura Ryuu: "Haha, young days? Aren''t dragons immortal?" Little Dragon: "Hmph, thanks to you now I have to begin everything all over except for this little power I''ve left and yet you are still mocking me. You ungrateful bastard." Asura Ryuu: "No - no. I wasn''t making fun of you, I just said that you''re eternally young so there''s no need for you to get so angry all of a sudden." Little Dragon: "..." Little Dragon: "Hmph, shameless." Asura Ryuu: "Hehe." And so, Ryuu and Xingyue continued training below the waterfalls further onwards until they clear the passing condition for this segment of the eightfold area. What they needed to do in order to pass was to hold out a week under the kilometer-high waterfall which would mean that they passed the first out of the eight tests. Xingyue finished first, lasting only a month. Ryuu could''ve overtaken her anytime he wanted but he had to let her keep up the image of the elder sister as one of the reasons, and the other reason was that he wanted to push himself as far as he could to not use the Spirit Energy and hold out only with his body. There was a reason for this as well, that was because his master told him that there is a high probability that he''ll undergo a tribulation when breaking through the 20th level because of his world-defying prowess and unique features. The scariest part was that the tribulations usually only appeared when someone was breaking through after level 50, but there was a high possibility that Ryuu would go through that so early which meant that he''s one-of-a-kind. Ryuu took a month and a half to clear the test in which his sister made him company by staying under the waterfall all day with him. The worst part was that there were no animals for them to catch and eat throughout this test and they could only eat Spirit Fruits and even then they had to be careful in order not to be caught by the evolved Spirit Plants. The good thing was that Ryuu got more familiar with his Soul Spirits and the Spirit Energy absorption process sped up, but each time he reached the breakthrough to the level 15, his Spirit Energy got absorbed by the black hole and disappeared which got on his nerves quite a bit. What Ryuu was wondering about was whether his sister would go through the tribulation because of the inheritance and her awakened divine-level Soul Spirit, but when he asked Little Dragon, she told him not to worry because her tribulation will remain normal, after all, she has a normal Spiritist''s constitution with low Spirit Power and normal body and bones, unlike Ryuu who was ''made'' from the true Heavenly Dragon King''s body and veins. While at it, the reason why Ryuu could absorb so much of the Spirit Energy without hurting his veins was exactly that his veins were made from the cells of the dragon and almost his entire body was forged that way since the day he was born. Long Xingyue explained a little about how Soul Spirits related to dragons were in this world, which she heard from her father. What surprised Ryuu was that the full-body scale armor appeared only on true dragon type Soul Spirits, and it wasn''t as exaggerated as with himself - it started from one part of the body and slowly spread more and more the further the Spiritist reached with their cultivation. This made Ryuu realize that what he possessed should not be revealed to the world under any circumstances, that''s why Ryuu decided to only use two of his Soul Spirits officially - in other words, to the public he''d only reveal two Soul Spirits, while the rest would remain hidden unless he encountered the opponent so strong that he''d force Ryuu to use them. In that one and a half month, both Ryuu and Long Xingyue got past their seventh birthday and Ryuu said that his birthday was on the same day as Long Xingyue since he really had no exact date of birth, or at least he couldn''t remember the day he was ''made''. With both of them being seven, they got even closer to the enrollment criteria which was ten years old. Of course, they didn''t actually need it because of the recommendation letter to the dean of the academy and their special traits, but it made Long Xingyue happy so Ryuu spent the entire day having fun with her that day. There were several days like that after that one because both of them got used to it and it was a fun experience for Ryuu, as his past childhood wasn''t that full as it now could be. "I''ll never waste an opportunity to live life how I want again." was Ryuu''s motto in this world. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Another thing Ryuu developed in that month was a basic martial art combat training that targeted the weak spots on the human body. Whether it was the ''demon'' who could transform into something else thanks to Soul Spirits or ''real human'' who used Qi to fight, both of them had weak points that they haven''t fully discovered yet. After all, Ryuu''s previous world was an advanced civilization that conquered a lot of things and even uncovered the secrets behind the world and the universe. He had a daily sparring session with his sister in the lake where the water from a waterfall disappeared magically and it was only a meter deep. To them though, it was deep enough as seven-year-old kids weren''t that high anyway. Another interesting thing that Ryuu did was that he developed his first unique ability which locked out some of his Soul Spirits so that it appears as if he has only the two he left untouched but it wasn''t actually like that - it was only sealing them and that seal manifested as chains which pierced his body, but they were not the real chains - they were made out of Spirit Power and Spirit Energy combined, that''s why they could safely pass through Ryuu''s body and serve as the seal which kept his Spirit Energy intensity below a certain level. Ryuu may be stuck at level 15 of the second realm - Spiritual Body Forging Realm, but that was only because he couldn''t advance his body anything further than he already has because of his unique build. He gave it the name "The Dark Seal of Mistery", which signified that there''s more behind the seal than what one would usually expect. The part ''dark'' was dedicated to Little Dragon because she''s dark as night and Ryuu loves the night and the stars. More or less, the chains were only serving as the visual part because Ryuu liked something like that, but they also served as the physical medium and if any of them was broken, the corresponding Soul Spirit would be freed. Little Dragon became used to Ryuu and Xingyue being together every day, and they were even naked almost all the time because of the training they did, but she paid it no attention because she made a decision to overlook this one case, though Ryuu didn''t know that and more importantly, Ryuu didn''t know that Little Dragon actually liked Long Xingyue a little and even thought of accepting her as her second disciple. If Ryuu knew she wasn''t sure whether he''d be happy or if he''d feel down so that''s why Little Dragon held back on mentioning this. ----- Asura Ryuu: "Why can''t I surpass this fucking level 15, it''s not even the bottleneck yet and I''m having this much trouble. I never thought that making your own way of cultivation would be so hard..." Little Dragon: "Well, what can I tell you. You chose the hardest path in everything you did, so there''s no helping you now unless you want to abolish your cultivation and re-start everything." Asura Ryuu: "Hmph, of course not. I just don''t know where''s the problem, if I could find the problem I could solve it easily with your help." Little Dragon: "... Good luck." Little Dragon: "I''ll give you another month, if you can''t fix it yourself, I''ll help out.", she thought. Ryuu wanted to check his Spiritual Sea again, but something interrupted him - Long Xingyue was breaking through. Her Goddess form manifested and took away all the radiance from the surrounding light. In the starry sky, she looked like a real Goddess of the sea and the stars. Little Dragon: "There it is, maybe it''ll help him out a bit." The water from the waterfalls slowly bent in the direction pointing at the floating Goddess with viridian hair and deep blue trident in her hands. The trident became more and more deep-bluish because it absorbed the water element in the air at a rapid speed, almost the same speed as when Ryuu releases his Soul Spirits outside through the Black Hole to absorb the Spirit Energy. The shockwave full of refreshing breeze and the breath of water and life shot out from Long Xingyue and her hair full of star-like shining dots resonating with the starry sky and made a small crater in a ten-meter radius around her in all directions. What she did in order to break through is to compress already compressed Spirit Energy at once and release it and then with the utmost effort re-absorb it instantly inside of her core which made its purity higher and helped her breakthrough using the well-known ''shock-burst'' method. Although it was well-known, they didn''t know about it because both of them were like the people cut off from the world and it was only known in the academies. Ryuu noticed the changes in Long Xingyue''s body with one of his Soul Spirits which utilized his Spirit Power to do various things - in that way, he enhanced his eyes and Spiritual Sense which allowed him to feel even the slightest changes in Xingyue''s body, but it took a high toll on Ryuu and he couldn''t keep it up more than ten seconds until he used up all of his Spirit Energy. The downside of being a low-level Spiritist is that you have a small amount of Spirit Energy and your Soul Spirit hasn''t evolved so that it can absorb more Spirit Energy at once. That''s why even though Ryuu may have a high density of Spirit Energy its quality and quantity aren''t like what it is when one breaks through. For example, the aura which emanated from Long Xingyue clearly had an influence on him, even though she was only 21st level now and he was 15th. The positive side for Ryuu was that Xingyue''s cultivation speed and level-advancing tempo will slow down dramatically after entering the Spiritual Core Formation Realm which is from 21st to the 30th level. But that''s something that every Spiritist has to go through, so they won''t be so far behind the others when they enroll the academy, or that''s how it should be. 33 Passing the first trial Ryuu and Xingyue stood side by side on a vast green surface beneath them and observed the kilometer-high waterfall which gave off the feeling of the heavens crying. Long Xingyue: "Hey bro..." Asura Ryuu: "Mm?" Long Xingyue: "How did father succeed in making this whole thing, it looks as if it was made by nature." Asura Ryuu: "Well, it''s not entirely his doing - there''s an array beneath us but it''s hidden very well. In my opinion, this might be actually an ancient item or something because one Spiritist alone even if it''s the Emperor-level powerhouse can''t make it from scratch." Long Xingyue: "Oh. Little Brother is so knowledgeable, hehe. I''m the luckiest sister in this world." Asura Ryuu: "Hehe, if you stick to me you will be as smart as me one day, I guarantee." ... Long Xingyue: "Hey bro..." Ryuu glanced to his side where Xingyue stood with an aura that pressured him a little and her voice became strange as if it was a mix of solemness, excitement, and a bit of fear. Asura Ryuu: "Don''t worry, we can do it together. We''ll surely pass this trial as well as every other that comes after and we''ll fulfill our part of the deal with father, Right?" Long Xingyue looked to the side, straight at Ryuu''s black-green eyes and shoulder-long smooth and silky hair which made her be breathless for an instant and she sighed in her heart - regardless of how many times she saw him like this, every time her heart would thump louder and louder the more she stared at that proud figure. Long Xingyue: "Yeah, let''s get this over with and move on. It''s not fun being in this place anymore." Ryuu and Xingyue observed waterfall some more, one of them watching its magnificence while the other thinking about how to pass the final trial for this area. If someone knew the requirement these two seven-year-old kids had to face, they would probably curse the one who made them do it. Ryuu and Xingyue had to stay under the ''Heavenly Waterfall'' for a whole day without using their Spirit Energy, purely resisting it by their body in order to pass it. Can you even imagine how big of a burden it is for these children who hadn''t even learned anything about the world to undergo such torture? Of course, you can''t. However, Ryuu and Xingyue could because of their special circumstances: Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. - First and foremost, they are Spiritists who use Spirit Energy and under the nourishment of it, their bones, skin and even hair and cells undergo a qualitative change which makes their bodies pretty sturdy and resilient. - Second, Ryuu''s body is forged from the body of a True Heavenly Dragon which in itself is on par with Gods in terms of quality, but that doesn''t mean he can just defy the laws of nature if he has the God''s body in a lower plane. Why? Because its only Quality - meaning, Ryuu has to improve it himself and only the improvement rate and regeneration rate are increased. Practically, this means that if someone with a high enough cultivation used their Spirit Energy to attack unguarded Ryuu, they''d break his bones. But luckily, Ryuu trained his body to the max and as much as he could, he tempered it with his low Spirit Energy. The problem Ryuu faced was only in Spirit Energy for now because he was stuck at the middle of his realm, not even knowing why he''s stuck there, but Ryuu could never imagine that there''s actually no problem and that it was Little Dragon who suppressed his cultivation speed so that he''d be able to focus more on tempering his body and making solid foundation without telling him. If she removed the seal on Ryuu, he could instantly shot through the weak barrier between the realms and enter the next realm instantly, but that''s not what his master wants to see because Ryuu chose the hardest path in cultivation without knowing the consequences fully. - The third is that Long Xingyue has a special body that she got from her mother and her bloodline when her Sea Goddess Soul Spirit awoke under the influence of Ryuu''s blood and aura. With those combined, these kids could be seen as monsters for their age, it was just that they didn''t know that yet... ----- Later that day, under the moon and the stars, the two fully naked petite figures sat on top of the rocks straight under the waterfall which seemed to be falling straight down from the stars above them in the dark sky. The moonlight shone on the two, illuminating their bodies full of wounds and their skin pressured by the enormous mass of water falling at almost the speed of 300km/h at the constant speed. The force with which water is landing on their small bodies is equal to the force of one ton, going by how Ryuu calculated it. The important thing which should be noticed is that in the past several months, Ryuu and Xingyue got very close to each other, that close in fact that they were used to sleeping while hugging each other as if they were one soul in two bodies, but that''s just how it seems on the outside. During that time, Long Xingyue taught her little brother about the legends and the way of cultivation while Ryuu told her the stories from his past life on earth and, at the same time, taught her how to use maths, physics and other techniques which could help them greatly. To Ryuu''s surprise, this world didn''t have any concrete system for units or heat or anything similar to what humans on Earth had. Let alone that, they didn''t even know maths or the structure of this world. When Ryuu was explaining, Long Xingyue was gasping from shock after knowing the information which turned her short life upside-down. An example of that was the knowledge about celestial bodies and things related to the universe, or atoms, matter, energy types, laws. Ryuu had to explain all that and furthermore had to explain what some terms meant. Ryuu noticed a strange thing over that course of time - the several years he spent in an illusion, his body actually entered the illusion together with his soul, which means that was something like an alternate reality, but that was only one of the things he found out. The others included the fact that he understood the language on this planet, that he could feel the Spirit Energy and Spirit Power. That was all thanks to the genes from the dragon''s body which was reforged to fit a human''s. When Ryuu thought about it, he decided to fulfill every wish of his from the past life and try out as many things as he wanted - DNA modification, exploring the universe, conquering the celestial bodies and so on. While the two were fighting with their last ounces of energy under the force of water, they didn''t pay attention to the outside world and only focused on defending themselves as well as sensing the state in which the other was in case something happens, that''s why they didn''t know that the dark black-green figure of a girl coated in mesmerizing scales and ten wings behind her back each having a different color observed them and prepared to help at any moment. Even though Little Dragon used her own body to forge Ryuu''s and an enormous part of her strength was used up for precise control and resisting the laws of the universe when she ''revived'' Ryuu, there was still some power left sealed within his body that he didn''t know of. The reason he couldn''t detect it was because Ryuu''s master didn''t use Spirit Energy and instead used a completely different type of energy based on laws, therefore her whole body had ''space pockets'' hidden through it where she stored her energy. In other words, there were several separate dimensions where her power was still preserved and in case Ryuu faces any danger, she can overtake his body for a brief moment and help him out without any damage or negative aftereffects, but that''s only if it''s for a short moment, else his undeveloped body won''t be able to take it even if it''s of a Divine quality because his Spirit Power is low. As the black-green figure was observing the two, in Ryuu''s Spiritual Sea some changes were being made. At one moment, Ryuu even felt that he almost broke through the 15th level and that made him excited. But that excitement got magnified by Ryuu''s Soul Spirit and therefore Ryuu was now in an ''S'' mode where he enjoyed being tortured by the waterfall because it gave him the chance to breakthrough. At a certain point in time ... *CRACK~!* A sound similar to something cracking and shattering reverberated in Ryuu''s Spirit Sea as his aura sharply rose and behind him, under the waterfall, a black sphere with ten colorful dragons appeared, greedily sucking the surrounding Spirit Energy in. Ryuu''s mind echoed with his crazy laughter filled with joy and extreme happiness as well as ecstasy. "Finally! I finally broke through, hahahaha!!!", echoed in his Spirit Sea followed by the roars of the ten dragons as if they were cheering him on. Even though Little Dragon was outside of Ryuu''s Spirit Sea, she now had a constant connection with him and could feel everything that happened in his Spirit Sea if she focused on it. Little Dragon: "This brat actually broke my restriction, what a monster..." One had to know that in terms of Quality as well as Quantity, Ryuu''s master had infinitely stronger Spirit Power than Ryuu, but with his will alone he broke the restriction she placed in order to suppress him. However, Ryuu didn''t know that by doing this he made his own life more troublesome: "If he did it now, then he could as well do it in the future, which means... Hehehe. Ryuu, from now on every time you reach the point of breaking through, I''ll place a restriction that you''ll have to break by your own will as you did with this one. Hopefully, it will keep you restrained or else... you''ll be short-lived. There are things that even I can''t help you with and that is interacting with the world I made..." Little man under the waterfall opened his eyes slowly as ten-colored light flashed in the depths for a split second before disappearing. When he felt the warmth coursing through his body, he knew that he actually broke through and entered a new realm. Asura Ryuu: "21st level in an instant, what''s up with this?" Ryuu glanced to the side where Long Xingyue was and felt that her aura was slightly stronger than his. "Wait, how''s that possible if we''re at the same level?" Ryuu found it strange, but when he inspected her, he found that she actually broke through several small realms and was level 23 right now, hence she was still stronger than Ryuu in terms of Spirit Energy. Asura Ryuu: "Life is unfair to me regardless of where I go it seems..." Just when he thought that he caught up with Xingyue, she actually left him behind again. Asura Ryuu: "Well, nevermind." At that moment, the heavy feeling from their backs suddenly disappeared and Long Xingyue opened her eyes. The first thing she did was to jump in Ryuu''s embrace and congratulate her younger brother on breaking through as well as Ryuu returning the congratulation even though it wasn''t the same. Only then did they notice that the waterfall was neither ''water'' nor ''fall'' anymore - it disappeared. To be precise, the water disappeared and everything else was still there. Only now, there was a bluish pearl suspended in the air before the two. "The first trial - Body Tempering area passed. Rewards handed out. Proceed to the next area.", the voice which seemed neither male nor female appeared in their heads which made them jump with joy. "We did it~!" They inspected the pearl with their Spirit Sense and found that it contained some techniques related to the cultivation of the body. Ryuu helped Xingyue out with them because he didn''t need any of them - his body was already cultivated to the peak rank of quality, he only lacked constant training in order to make it more sturdy which couldn''t be replaced by techniques. There was a shortcut and that was to take some Spiri Pills made of the fruits or plants but neither of them knew how to do it, therefore Ryuu only observed the inner changes in Xingyue''s body with his Spirit Power-related Soul Spirit while she circulated the technique and, with the help of Little Dragon, directed his sister how to increase the results, The two of them continued cultivating through the night, but now they were dressed because they didn''t need to go under the waterfalls anymore. Even then, Ryuu found it mysterious how this enormous array supported itself and was able to do all of these things, but as he couldn''t comprehend, he left it by the side. Now there was one problem - Ryuu found that it''s extremely hard to cultivate even with the help of the black sphere which connects to his Spirit Sea, but that wasn''t only limited to himself, even Xingyue felt it hard to progress any further as they were both in the third realm - Spirit Core Condesing Realm. 34 The second trial - part 1 After passing the first trial, Ryuu and Xingyue got the reward for it - Body Cultivation Techniques. Ryuu didn''t know the rank of the techniques nor their creators because it wasn''t stated in the pearl, but Ryuu had some kind of feeling that the trials he and Xingyue are passing through right now are not made by Long Haoran but someone else, and not only the trials - rewards as well. Asura Ryuu: "It''s too complicated for one man alone to do it, and there''s even an array disc below... it must be some kind of inheritance! After all, that''s how it was usually in the Martial Arts novels back on Earth..." Of course, Ryuu didn''t find the disc by himself because that was impossible at the current level. His Spirit Power was around a thousand and two hundred when he ''awoke'' from the Illusion realm and came to this world, after that he didn''t have the chance to measure it again because the Spirit Stone broke. But even if he couldn''t measure it, that doesn''t mean his Spirit Power didn''t improve and rise - when all of his Soul Spirits awoke, Ryuu''s Spirit Power rose to around 1800 and after that, when he found and merged with The Origin Art, his Spirit Power immediately rose for additional thousand which meant at that point he had 2800 Spirit Power. After that, Ryuu continued to improve the connection between his Spirit Sea and the Black Hole in it and successfully established ''wireless'' connection - in other words, the black line which extended from the Spirit Sea to the Black Hole was replaced by a mysterious feeling that neither Ryuu nor Little Dragon knew what it was. But it didn''t come without its costs because his Spirit Power then fell a bit and was exactly a quarter of his current realm - 2500. After breaking through the second realm and stepping into third - Spirit Core Formation Realm, Ryuu''s Spirit Power rose to 3000 and froze at that number. For now, neither his Spirit Power nor his Spirit Energy could improve further and the later one made Ryuu slightly disappointed. However, not everything was so grey because they found a suitable Body Cultivation Technique which complemented Long Xingyue''s Starry Body - Mystic Body Art. This technique is, as its name says, mystic and mysterious and that''s why neither Ryuu nor Xingyue actually understood it fully, but Little Dragon told Ryuu that it is suitable for Long Xingyue hence why he made her cultivate it. ----- Long Xingyue sat in a meditation pose while circulating the Mystic Body Art technique and felt her body burn at times, while at others she felt as if there was wind or lightning in her blood vessels, especially veins. Sometimes there was wind, sometimes lightning, fire, coldness and so on. She found out that according to which elements she absorbed from the air and converted to Spirit Energy, the same sensation would appear in her body. Long Xingyue opened her eyes, glancing at the rising sun in the distance. The time she opened her eyes was exactly at that moment because she lost the feeling of the stars in the sky and the connection with them became dimmer so she decided that it''s time to bring body cultivation to the end. When she opened her eyes, apart from the faint green sun rising in the distance, another thing entered her eyes - Ryuu''s handsome figure. For a kid only seven years old, his body was in top shape and there were even muscles on his arms, legs, and six-packs showing, but only faintly. Why could little kid have such a body when that makes no sense? As mentioned before, Ryuu''s body isn''t actually a body of the little kid - it''s more like a twenty-years-old boy suddenly shrank in size of a seven-year-old child while his figure remained completely the same, only smaller. That''s precisely why Ryuu had muscles and long hair at such a young age. But Long Xingyue''s eyes weren''t attracted to his body - they were glued to the scene of a green reflection of the sun in Ryuu''s green-black eyes which made them look like there was a sun inside of them and not its reflection. The greenish-black hair flowing along with the wind around the same length as her own almost took her breath away. Regardless of how many times she''d seen this scene, it always leaves her breathless. As if feeling her gaze, Ryuu turned his head to the side and saw that his elder sister stopped meditating and was staring at him, which was as usual and he understood her completely - it happens to him as well when he sees his master or her Sea Goddess form. Long Xingyue came back to reality and the glow in her eyes became stronger and filled with excitement: "Brother, the Mystic Body Art is really good, I felt as if there were wind, lightning, and rain in my body! It was awesome and exciting, why don''t you try as well?" Ryuu smiled and in that scenery, his smile seemed as if it could steal any maiden''s soul, but it only left Long Xingyue in a momentary daze before she recollected herself. Asura Ryuu: "Hehe, don''t worry Xingyue. I don''t need any of the body cultivation techniques because I have a special kind of body constitution. I only need to train and perfect it even further and make it as strong as I can. Anyway, how is your progress with the Spirit Core? Can I check?" Long Xingyue looked at Ryuu''s handsome face and nodded instinctively, not even bothering to think about it for a second or two. Ryuu''s green eyes shone purple and an illusory figure of a purple dragon flashed behind his back, but it was only an illusion brought by his terrifying mental strength. With his Spirit Power of three thousand, Ryuu could feel everything around him in the diameter of three kilometers. If he had a way to measure his Spirit Power, Ryuu would certainly write down an equation in his mind: 1 Point of Spirit Power = 1 meter But since he couldn''t feel anything related to his Spirit Power except that it reached a bottleneck, he didn''t know this information. Ryuu had a trait which he brought with himself to this world from the past one: Everything he does is done all the way to the end, sometimes even reaching the extreme boundaries and whenever he observes something, he takes a scientific point of view. That''s why in this world he promised himself to reveal the secrets behind the Laws of the universe which included molecules, atoms, quantum relations, DNA, human brain and so on. ----- When Long Xingyue saw those purple eyes, she felt as if all of her secrets were revealed before them and it made her heart thump harder and her blood pressure rose, which hastened her circulation of blood and slightly left her dazed for a few seconds. Considering the inheritance she got, her mental power was strong for her age, but it was nowhere near Ryuu''s. She didn''t know how much Spirit Power she had and her father never made her measure it either. Now, are you wondering why he measured Ryuu''s and didn''t do it to his own daughter? Simple - because he couldn''t see through Ryuu and it intrigued him. But that curiosity cost him a high-quality Spirit Stone which could test Spirit Power, however - he didn''t regret as he got such an amazing son. Ryuu observed Xingyue''s blood flow and with all of his 3.000-point strong Spirit Power tried to increase the scale at which he could see her body but found out that it only had several times increase of his vision and he couldn''t reach the molecular level yet. "How much more does my Spirit Power have to evolve in order to see something so small, and it''s even under the influence of Purple Dragon Soul Spirit which is based on Spirit Power, without it there''s only 0.5 times increase in my vision. Haaah, this is troubling me a little...", Ryuu thought. Nevertheless, Ryuu let that alone and focused on Long Xingyue''s Spirit Core Seed. It wasn''t a fully formed Spirit Core yet - let alone that, it didn''t even enter the beginning stages. Xingyue only found the best spot where her Spirit Core would be and that''s where the best flow of Spirit Energy is - in her heart. Ryuu only nodded his head as it was logical to him that it should be there. While thinking about Spirit Core, Ryuu''s mind was also filled with another thought: "Why was it that Spirit Core in novels was always formed in one of the three dantian areas and not at the heart? Isn''t it only logical to have Spirit Core somewhere where the Spirit Energy circulation is the strongest?" Regardless of how logical his thoughts were, people in this world didn''t think like that - for them, placing Spirit Core in the heart was equal to suicide considering how hard it was to control Spirit Energy to form a solid core inside the heart. But the reason why Xingyue could do this was not only one, there were several factors included and those were: - She had the inheritance from the Sea God - Deep Blue Dragon. Even if her blood purity index was small, now it didn''t matter because Ryuu''s Soul Spirit made her blood retrace back to the same type as the Deep Blue Dragon. Under the influence of that blood and her unique Starry Body, her entire body was stronger which included the heart, vessels and so on. - She had stronger Spirit Power so her control over Spirit Energy was stronger than those of the same age and even stronger than some of the so-called ''geniuses'' of the current era. Neither Ryuu nor Xingyue knew that their brave attempt changed the entire philosophy of the cultivation and opened up a new path to the future of this planet and civilization. Leaving that aside, Ryuu observed the flow of her Spirit Energy and tried to gain some insights for himself, because he didn''t have any cultivation technique and could only absorb Spirit Energy from the air by force. Inside his body, gas-like substance flowed through his veins as if disregarding blood. It seemed as if the two were on separate spatial layers and couldn''t interact with each other unless one tried to merge them forcefully which is extremely dangerous. After observing for some time, Ryuu noticed a drop of cold sweat form on Long Xingyue''s head and tried to sense her state of mind through his Crimson Dragon Soul Spirit. The only thing he felt was fear and unease from her mind. He figured out that it was due to the violent and aggressive nature of his Spirit Power which was changed like so under the influence of his mental-type Soul Spirit. Out of consideration for her, Ryuu recalled his Soul Spirit and felt her state of mind return to normal, cheerful self and it brought a faint unnoticeable smile on his face. Asura Ryuu: "Come on Xingyue, let''s go. We have eight more trials to complete and leave this thing.", Ryuu said with a bright smile that awoke the fiery competitive spirit in Xingyue. As the two went to the center of their current area, they saw the array that was described in the pearl when they finished the first trial and stood in the middle of it. There were a certain kind of runes which Ryuu couldn''t understand but nevertheless, he remembered them in his mind. The strong part about Ryuu''s Purple Dragon Soul Spirit was that he could memorize anything at a glance - even aura and fine details couldn''t escape, but that was only possible because of his strong Spirit Power and special kind of memory that he had - he remembered everything as connected arrays of information instead of pictures or similar unlike how a human''s brain usually remembers things. Ryuu even doubted whether it was due to his body being made from the dragon''s but as he couldn''t find any info on it, he gave up on the thought. The unique thing about this kind of memory was that he could remember the exact feeling of everything, including emotions, aura, even the arrangement of some fine details which were usually left aside. The array flashed and both of them disappeared while a beam of light shot out from the nearby area in this limited space surrounded by mountains and when the beam disappeared, Ryuu and Xingyue stood in its place. Asura Ryuu: "A short distance teleportation array, huh?" Ryuu and Xingyue observed the place they got to and found out that there were some figures floating in the air but they were transparent and they only found out when their Spirit Sense came in contact with them. Ryuu had a bit of difficulty feeling their exact form because as soon as his Spirit Sense touched a figure it''d fly away at the fastest speed and disappear, which didn''t happen in Xingyue''s case. Ryuu doubted that it was because of the Little Dragon''s aura which was merged within his Spirit Power and could only sigh. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. At that moment, the same voice as before appeared in their minds: "The second trial - Spiritual area has begun. Mission: Reach the end of the path before you. Time limit: One year." Ryuu and Xingyue glanced at each other while Ryuu''s thinking voice escaped his slightly agape mouth: "Time limit, path... Could it be that there''ll be Spiritual Pressure along the path of some kind?" Long Xingyue: "Spiritual Pressure?" Ryuu looked at her and decided to show her instead of explaining; His eyes flashed with piercing purple color while in their depths a faint green color appeared but it was different from the usual green-black one, this green color was full of life and vitality. When Xingyue saw those eyes, her mind, body and soul trembled and she forgot to breathe. The impact was strongest on her soul because of the difference between the strength of their Spirit Power, but after the initial feeling of death, a comfortable and refreshing feeling spread in every corner of her body. While she was feeling stunned, Xingyue noticed the faint green dot in Ryuu''s eyes and when she looked at it she had the feeling of looking at a vast valley filled with life energy and vitality which calmed her soul and had a soothing feeling. This was the effect of Ryuu''s Green Dragon Soul Spirit merged with Purple Dragon Soul Spirit. The former was the Soul Spirit which was based on life energy while the later was mental-type. Ryuu did this so that he wouldn''t wound Long Xingyue''s soul and mind and his Green Dragon Soul Spirit actually helped cleanse the fatigue from the past several months that accumulated in Xingyue''s soul. As his eyes returned to the usual color, he looked at the path in front of them and his brows furrowed as he said: "Something like that, but without the refreshing feeling. That''s Spiritual Pressure." 35 The second trial - part 2 While Ryuu and Xingyue were in the first trial, Ryuu was wondering why this area containing the nine trials was called "The Devil''s Domain" because, apart from the pain from the waterfalls, Ryuu didn''t find anything else worth the ''Devil'' word in its name. But only in the second trial did he find out why it was called as such. Ryuu and Xingyue were currently walking on a path going toward its end, as the mission required. Occasionally, Ryuu''s eyes flashed purple and he observed their surroundings and he found out an interesting thing - this was an Illusion. If it seemed that the distance they went over was a kilometer, in reality, it was only ten meters. He noticed that, but he didn''t tell Xingyue because he wanted her to find out on her own. Ryuu showed her how to enhance her vision with Spirit Power and Spirit Energy combined and she was surprised when she saw the faint flow of Spirit Energy in her arms and body, but when she observed Ryuu, she only saw someone who didn''t have a single speck of Spirit Energy in his body. There wasn''t even a core in his body. She asked Ryuu about it on several occasions, but he told her that if she wanted to know, she had to find out herself or wait several years and only then would he tell her. The intention behind Ryuu''s reasoning was to teach Xingyue to use her own head and not rely on what someone else tells her - the thing which made Ryuu''s previous world so boring was precisely that. Humans on earth never used their head to think and only listened to the ''educated scientists'', but didn''t notice that those so-called prodigies and scientists were humans, exactly the same as them. Ryuu believed that a similar situation would occur on this planet as well because demons and humans were pretty much alike, the only difference being the Soul Spirits that were unique only to the demonkind. Long Xingyue was annoyed at the beginning but when she realized that her brother may be making her do that in order to help her catch up and gain insights by herself, she felt warmth in her heart and along the way, a bright smile was stuck on her face which made Ryuu smile a bit as well. As they advanced further on the path, Ryuu found out that his initial assumption about Spiritual Pressure was off - there was no pressure of any kind, only the illusion and sometimes the creepy feeling of those invisible beings which they named ''The evil spirits''. Several times there was a moment where one of the spirits attacked Long Xingyue with their Spirit Power but they never dared do so to Ryuu because of the terrifying aura that oozed out from him when they scanned him over with their Spirit Power. Long Xingyue managed to turn the situation around and they found that when that floating evil spirit was killed, their Spirit Power would rise a little, to be precise - for the part of the difference in the amount between the spirit and the one who killed it. Ryuu decided to let Long Xingyue take all of the ''kills'' in order to enhance her Spirit Power and bring it up to the limit of 999 after which her Spirit Sea would form. Ryuu hoped that her Spirit Sea would manifest as he could help her out with it so he helped her with his Green Dragon Soul Spirit so that her state of mind would always be at the peak, but she didn''t notice that because Ryuu didn''t use his Purple Dragon Soul Spirit which could be felt and only used his other Soul Spirit a little so that he wouldn''t be found out. That''s how the two went on the path for several days. It seemed as if they passed over a hundred kilometers of distance, but in reality, it was only a kilometer and the entire path was long exactly three kilometers in reality, which meant they passed one-third of the path. If it was someone else instead of them, they wouldn''t be so fast because a ''normal'' Spiritist had around 200 - 300 Spirit Power and they''d be mentally exhausted from that many mental attacks from the evil spirits, but unfortunately for the creator of this trial, Xingyue had Ryuu with her who was like a walking bane for any spiritual-type beings. Long Xingyue wasn''t the only one who benefitted from this because when she and a spirit had a ''spiritual duel'', Ryuu would observe with his purple eyes and found out how one''s Spirit Power can be used to attack and defend which opened an entirely new door for him. ----- While Ryuu and Xingyue were walking along the path, in Ryuu''s Spirit Sea, Little Dragon observed the outside situation and in the free time that she didn''t, she looked at the nine dragons beside her body around the Black Hole and her thoughts would occasionally drift away to the past when those brothers and sisters who were now only Soul Spirits were actually alive and dominating across the heavens. However, she didn''t know that each of the dragons observed both her actions and Ryuu''s and exchanged their thoughts and ideas with each other with telepathy so that they wouldn''t notice anything unusual about them. Old Green: "Hehe, this kid already found out how to merge our powers together, what a guy... right, Little Purple?", an old voice asked. Purple Dragon: "Hmph, old green - don''t try your luck with me. Even if Ryuu used us at the same time, that doesn''t mean you have a chance with me so scram!" Old Green: "Ay, ay... How cold of you. What do you think, Goldie?" Golden Dragon: "..." Old Green: "Meh, you''re no fun at all, right, little Silver?" Silver Dragon: "Hey old man, why is karma so unfair?" Old Green: "Ey? What do you mean?" Silver Dragon: "How could Ryuu release an old pervert like you and not let us, Gold and Silver duo out to play?" Old Green: "Hehe, don''t worry. You''ll be his official Soul Spirits as far as I figured out when he goes to that academy that our elder sister made." Golden Dragon: "Hm? What does that mean?" Old Green: "Hehehe, he''ll limit our auras and only the two of you and another one will be visible to the ''outside'' while the rest of us will be masked. That''s what I found out from the technique in the elder sister''s manual when he was setting it up. I guess he doesn''t want to be a guinea pig as the first-ever person to have ten Soul Spirits, after all, so he''ll limit it to two or three of us." Silver Dragon: "Why do you think it''ll be us?" Old Green: "Well, goldie will most likely be a guarantee because of his properties of strength and explosiveness, and you''ll be the second Soul Spirit because of your elemental control. Now for the third, it''s possible that it''ll be little purple because he''s getting used to using it all the time, but he occasionally lets me, old blue or old crimson outside as well so nothing''s certain yet, ke-ke-ke." "..." A silence came after that because each of the dragons was thinking for themselves about what Old Green said. Even if he was a shameless pervert, he was smart and among the eldest ones among them so they respected him. Currently, Golden and Silver, Black and White Dragon Soul Spirits were not released by Ryuu because there wasn''t a situation where they were specifically needed but that didn''t make them sad as they saw how high is a potential of this human who was fighting on his own instead of relying on them which made them proud and happy. "We are destined to be a part of his legend.", each of them thought. ----- Ryuu and Xingyue passed the one-kilometer mark in the real world while in the illusion it was a hundred times longer and suddenly, a cold, creepy aura descended on them as they took a step forward. Ryuu and Xingyue recognized this aura - Killing Intent. Ryuu found it out first because he possessed one as well from the Illusion Realm when he took the lives of countless Spirit Beasts while Long Xingyue recognized it when she remembered the morning when her father attacked them with the similar aura and remembered what Ryuu told her that it was. Asura Ryuu: "It seems that my initial assumption wasn''t that far off, hehe. This is becoming interesting...", he thought. Long Xingyue: "Bro, what do we do now?", Xingyue''s voice filled with unease asked. Asura Ryuu: "Endure." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Long Xingyue: "...", she became silent as Ryuu''s previous strong and decisive voice sounded in her mind. "I''m so foolish, I want to catch up with him yet here I am being scared from this little thing. Get yourself together, Xingyue!", she told herself in her mind. Ryuu felt all of her changes and in a certain moment, it seemed as if he could even hear her thoughts which intrigued his curiosity and he tried it out while faintly summoning Crimson Dragon Soul Spirit as the skin under his clothes had a faint scale-like crimson pattern but wasn''t visible to the eye. To his disappointment, Ryuu found out that even if he summoned his Soul Spirit and merged with it, he couldn''t feel Xingyue''s thoughts but when he tried out the combination of Purple Dragon and Crimson Dragon he heard the last line Xingyue thought about recollecting herself and couldn''t help but chuckle. Luckily, his chuckle was almost silent and it escaped Xingyue''s ears but he was happy as he succeeded in the thing he tried - he successfully heard her thoughts. However, Ryuu decided against using it on his sister as it should only be used to read the enemy''s thoughts in a battle. He even tried doing it on evil spirits but the only thing he heard was different kinds of screams which even made him feel uncomfortable because they were filled with despair and killing intent. That''s how Ryuu found out that these were actually the souls of dead people who suffered injustice and couldn''t reincarnate again. But even then, he didn''t feel pity. Ryuu knew that empathy was useless in this world as it doesn''t help anything before the real power and that''s why he was usually seen as a cold-hearted person but he didn''t mind. Even when Xingyue was crying while remembering the past, he didn''t console her too much but instead awoke her desire to change the way things currently are. That''s just the way he is. Even for these evil spirits, he showed not a bit of empathy despite their desperate and despairing screams and coldly watched as they tried to hurt his dear sister who resisted. There were even times when killing intent flashed in his eyes if the evil spirit was too strong and almost hurt Xingyue because he would never let any of them succeed and would destroy them in the place, but since they were under the pressure from the killing intent in this area, Xingyue didn''t notice Ryuu''s killing intent else she''d be shocked from how strong it is. Each evil spirit that came under the influence of Ryuu''s killing intent paused for a bit and that allowed Xingyue to turn the situation around and absorb them and enhance her Spirit Power. Like this, the killing intent from the outside and evil intentions of these spirits gave birth to faint killing intent in Long Xingyue which Ryuu noticed and smirked. Asura Ryuu: "She''ll have an advantage in a fight after we pass these things. Father, you helped us out a lot, thank you!" And like that, they continued along the path for a full week because their speed was slowed down under the outside killing aura which slowly nibbled on their will and spirit. Apart from the killing aura, the evil spirits became stronger and those two factors combined made them rest several times but they steadily neared the end despite all of the hardships along the way. 36 Update @@New novel - Theory of Nihility Tags: Martial Arts, Xuanhuan, Fantasy, Romance, R-18, Cultivation, Gods, Demons, Devils, Spirits, Dragons, Spirit Power, School Life, Forging, Spiritual Inscriptions... Link: https://m.webnovel.com/book/16117427105930805 It''s a fresh start but there''ll be familiar faces in the future, if you have the time please do check it out! All the best!