Those that dream of the sky.

The cavern was dark, there was no proper source of light so perhaps that was only to be expected. Naturally, this darkness meant nothing to Ying Feixu, she was a Demonic beast whose core form was an eagle, her eyes were stronger than most other parts of her body. She was a bit messed up right now thanks to Huang Ying, who was standing there with that slightly crazed smirk of his.

"Song Yi, I'll take this one and give her a little reward, you can just do whatever you want!"

His voice echoed through the cavern, he hadn't even raised his head to see if Song Yi was looking down at them. Since she hadn't taken part in the battle it was obvious that she wouldn't get dragged into the crevice Huang Ying created. It was also rather deep, she guessed that it was probably about 200 or so metres deep, descending it wouldn't be easy for cultivators who didn't specialize in certain laws.

"Alright. Don't go dying down there."

It seemed like Song Yi wanted to add something else to her reply, but the words never left her mouth so Ying Feixu had no clue what they may have been. Huang Ying didn't seem like he was planning on saying anything else to Song Yi, his arm reaching out to point into the darkness, the small underground river flowing in that very same direction.

"Down there, that's where'll we go. It'll be your reward, so naturally, you'll have to be the one to deal with it. That's just fair, no?"

He cocked his head slightly, that irksome and selfish smirk splayed out on his face. Ying Feixu's eyes traced his finger, but all she saw as she followed the river was just that, the river. It continued to meander into the darkness without an end in sight, without any lifeforms in sight.

That was why she frowned slightly. What did he see within the darkness that she couldn't see? What sort of being was hiding down that path? She knew it had to be some type of creature, otherwise, he wouldn't say that she would be the one to deal with it. But what sort of attributes did it have? He kept calling it a reward so it was reasonable to assume that it shared at least one of her attributes, but she had so many attributes that it was hard to just pinpoint one of them.

"Don't think to..."

"I'm not thinking too much about it, nor am I hesitating."

She cut off Huang Ying just as he started to speak. Indeed, she wasn't thinking too much about it, nor did she hesitate to step forward. She was a mess right now, but she still stepped forward and followed the river, her blood slowly running down her body and into the water. She could not afford hesitation, it would only bring her death and loss. That was why Huang Ying was stronger than her, he didn't hesitate, he never did, he was too selfishly confident to hesitate.

"Good, as long as you know."

Huang Ying followed after her as she started to walk, the only change in his expression being a slight raise of the corners of his lips. He was the one who knew what they were looking for but he still walked in the back, his eyes almost looking a bit hungry as he peered deeper into the darkness.

Ying Feixu counted the seconds as they walked. At first, only the sound of the river could be heard in the extending cavern, if you ignored their own footsteps that was. But ever so slowly, she could hear another sound slowly mix in, a subdued hissing and bubbling. A bit of light was also slowly introduced into the darkness, a rose-coloured red gleam appearing in the distance, slowly growing larger as they walked.

And then she noticed it. It was getting warmer. It had been so slow and gradual that she hadn't noticed it at first, but it was definitely getting warmer. The ground was also tilting slightly, far too little to notice at first if you weren't looking out for it. And as she started to notice all these small things, she finally saw the end of the river, an end to the darkness.

The river ended in a waterfall, a hole blocked it from continuing down its intended path. And the rose-coloured red light came from this hole, as did the heat, as did the hissing and the bubbling sound, the unnatural hole was the source of it all. She glanced back, but Huang Ying's expression had barely changed, if anything he only looked hungrier.

She didn't understand it at first, but when they finally got within two kilometres of the hole, she felt it. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up and goosebumps rose on her arms. Her pupils instinctively shrank and narrowed, her tongue feeling restless in her mouth. Hunger. Yes, that was the only word she could use to describe that sensation. It wasn't on the same level as her feelings of wanting to ruin Huang Ying, but that sensation of hunger was probably one of the strongest she had felt in her short life.

"You can feel it, don't you? It's in that hole over there, the source of it. Don't you want to eat it, tear into it and savour it? Don't forget that sensation. Remember it, savour it. Every time your feet stop moving, think about that sensation."

Huang Ying's voice was almost a whisper as it reached her from behind, it felt like the devil whispering sweet nothings into your ear as it seduced you. What a hateful man he was, what a terrible existence she had decided to tear down.

The two walked closer to the hole, Ying Feixu's blood slowly starting to rush through her veins, heating up as it flowed. She could hear soft breaths from beneath the hole, each one intermingling with the hissing and the bubbling, or perhaps they even caused it. That being, that peacefully sleeping beast below, that was what she wanted to eat right now. Her blood screamed it at her, those lamprey-like maws and crimson eyes she had stolen from Huang Ying, they were gnawing at her insides as they urged her forward.

What a horrible sensation. The constant gnawing, the maddening chattering of teeth eager to sink into their prey. And that was just what she had stolen, the little piece she had snatched from the main source. She didn't even want to think about how it was for Huang Ying, who was that main source. Or perhaps he just couldn't feel it, perhaps his own madness had already overshadowed everything else.

When they finally reached the edge of the hole, Ying Feixu's blood felt more like lava than anything else. She couldn't even feel the heat that came from the hole, her blood was warmer than it so it actually felt a bit cold on her skin. And then she finally saw it, the target that aroused her hunger and boiled her blood.

"The snake that dreams of the sky. It's beautiful, isn't it?"

Ying Feixu could not agree with Huang Ying's words, his admiration. The creature lurking beneath the hole was anything but beautiful. A serpentine body that was almost five metres long, small nubs jutting out erratically across its entire body, iron-like scales that had been blackened by the heat, a layer of soot covering it. Its triangular head was oozing a bit of blood from some wounds on its forehead, she could see a handful of growths that looked like they may have once resembled horns. But they had all fallen out, unable to remain on this unworthy beast.

The land around it was a fiery wasteland. The earth was cracked and lava was bubbling up, pooling around the sleeping snake. The water that fell down hissed because it evaporated, what little reached the lava causing it to momentarily harden. Only a small section of the land here wasn't entirely ruined, the patch of land that the serpent had coiled around. That small patch of land was as red as the magma, but it looked more like mud as the serpent coiled around it, a slightly greyish tint barely peeking out from beneath the lava.

"What... is that?"

She could not understand it. Looking at its burnt scales, this clearly wasn't the environment it was used to so it shouldn't be here. The remains of horns, as well as the nubs that dotted its body, they were all unnatural, they didn't belong on this beast.

"Didn't I tell you? It's a snake that dreams of the sky. Beasts don't need to remain as beasts, they can grow as they please, fly as they please. Don't they say that a carp needs to ascend the waterfall to become a dragon? Why can't a snake do the same?"

He spoke somewhat cryptically, but his meaning got across. A dragon. This snake had somehow gotten hold of a bit of dragon blood and was trying to integrate it with its own bloodline, it was trying to become a dragon. That was probably why the sensation of hunger assaulted Ying Feixu. After all, what was a dragon?

A True Dragon was an apex species, one of the nine Demonic Deity races, even the smallest smidgen of their blood would allow a beast to ascend. Now, whether or not this snake had gotten hold of some True Dragon blood or just the blood of a different beast that had some True Dragon blood in it was unknown, but it wasn't something that could be ignored.

"...What a fucking reward."

She couldn't help but curse, unknowingly licking her lips as she looked down. She couldn't even begin to guess what she would gain if she got to devour this beast, if she got to gobble up that bloodline it was trying to merge with. The base frame of her Demonic beast form was a Dragonfire Eagle, it was a race that got its name from the fact that they were born in a place ravaged by the fire of either a True Dragon or a powerful beast with the True Dragon bloodline. Just being born in such a place and absorbing the remaining energy from the fire made them stronger than normal beasts. But if they got the bloodline as well? That would be like adding wings to a tiger, they would enter a completely new realm.

"You said it's mine, don't forget that."

She knew he wouldn't go back on his words, that was perhaps one of the things you could trust the most from him, his words and promises. But she still reminded him, the corners of her lips slowly turning up as the gnawing hunger grew worse and worse, as the chattering of teeth echoed inside her skull.

"I won't, just make sure you deal with it."

And indeed, she got the relaxed answer she expected. This was his reward for her, a reward for her madness, so closely aligned with his own. She didn't say anything else and hopped forward, dropping into the hole as the heat of the lava tried to fight against the heat of her blood. Her body was still a mess thanks to Huang Ying's retaliation, but she could barely even feel that right now. Her blood boiled, the formless maws were grinning malevolently as they drooled. She was hungry.

The serpent awoke when it sensed her falling towards it, its eyelids sliding open to reveal dark green eyes tainted by speckles of rose-coloured red. It dreamed of the sky, and it was willing to suffer for the sky, it was even willing to give up everything it once was just to get a taste of the sky that always loomed so terrifyingly above it.

Another hissing sound cut through the cave, but this time it came from the serpent. The lava around it rose sharply, metallic cones piercing through the liquid fire as they shot towards Ying Feixu. She countered with metal of her own, a screeching sound piercing through her eardrums as spiralling metal clashed with her stationary shields, the two tearing each other to shreds.

She pushed her hands down as she continued to fall, the shrapnel that remained after the collision shooting down like small meteorites. She couldn't use her water or ice here due to the extreme heat, but she still had plenty of other laws at her disposal, it was all just a matter of how she would cook up this feast.

The serpent uncoiled itself and hissed again, indignantly this time. The lava rose again, but this time there were no metal pillars rising. No, this time the lava itself rose, rising skyward like an ascending beast as it swallowed the descending shrapnel and melted it down to nothing. Its burnt scales shimmered slightly as it commanded the lava, its body curling up from what seemed to be traces of pain.

It had moved forward as it curled up like this, the being descending from above made it feel a sense of danger it only felt once in the past, it could not afford to go easy. But its instincts screamed at it the moment it moved forward, its head turning sharply. Another being had appeared in its burning home.

Huang Ying strode across the molten ground with a calm gait, earth rising from beneath the lava to provide footholds he could use. He was heading for the lump that the serpent had been coiled around eariler. He knew what was beneath it, Li Jun had already told him about it quite a while ago. Liquid Ironflame, one of the materials he had decided on for his new spear, this serpent had been nurturing it here and was planning to use it to help with the bloodline integration.

The serpent realized what he was going for and quickly spun its body, coiling up before shooting straight at him, a furious hiss raising the lava around his feet while simultaneously creating metallic spears above him. The three attacks came at him all at once, but Huang Ying simply kept walking with his calm gait, barely even acknowledging what came at him.

"You really are insane. Or perhaps suicidal is a more apt description."

Ying Feixu's voice cut through the sounds of the snake, her defence coming just as abruptly. The earth beneath the serpent rose up in a heavy pillar, pushing the serpent upwards while another pillar came from the ceiling of the cave, pushing down on the snake to squash it. The rising lava was flung aside by violent gusts of wind and the descending iron spears were blocked by a crystalline shield that materialized from thin air.

Ying Feixu stood above the lava and grimaced somewhat as she looked at Huang Ying, who she had just defended. She could tell from his posture, his gaze, he wouldn't have blocked. Even if the attacks reached him, he wouldn't have done anything to block them.

"I simply trusted you, that's all."

It was a simple answer, but the meaning behind it was murky. Did he trust that she wanted to keep him safe? Did he trust that she wanted to be the one to kill him? Or did he trust that she was going to handle everything about the snake because he left it to her? She couldn't tell, it was all too hazy to make out anything clearly.

"It's coming again. Don't go hungry now."

Huang Ying ignored Ying Feixu's gaze and strode forward again. The serpent had broken free from the two earthen pillars, melting both of them and adding them to the magma that covered the cave. But Huang Ying ignored that too as he kept walking. The serpent was hers, the Ironflame was his.