The Devil Himself - Part 2

The fat man clicked his tongue and returned the key he took out to open the cell with the children, unhurriedly replacing it with another from his waist.

"Old bastard, do you still think you're some kind of a big shot? Your glory was long lost. Right now, you are not the Sacred Dragon from long ago. You're just an old fart that's about to die. If it weren't for your family having deep pockets, you would long be dead. Now be patient like an old bastard you are and wait for your escort to come pick you up."

*ding, ding, ding*, the sounds resounded as the metal rod in the fat man's hands bounced off the metal bars on the old man's cell. After sounds of keys clacking and cell doors opening, there was a short bout of silence before painful wails of an old man and fat man's cursing resounded from the cell, serving as an example to other prisoners.

What took place at the same time as the beating of this old man was the start of Asura's and Xia's escape. The chains binding them had long disintegrated.

Xia used her Black Phoenix Soul Spirit, under the cover of black-white robe, to disintegrate the metal bars.

Just as she was about to go to the old man's cell, Asura suddenly caught her and gestured to stay behind him. She noticed the look in his eyes that she'd never seen before. It was full of suppressed killing intent waiting to rush out at any time.

This was the first time she had seen Asura like this. He always appeared calm, collected, gentle, and kind. Seeing him this bloodthirsty made her heart skip a beat as a wild feeling of excitement rushed in her heart.

Xia: 'W-What's wrong with me? Why do I feel excited about my brother being a killer?! Something is not right... Could it have relations with my past?'

Asura's entire being gradually got taken over by a single irrepressible ideal: DESTROY.

The Dragon Soul in his Soul World gave an excited roar full of pride and arrogance. It deserved to be prideful. It was the only existence of its own kind, why should it not be proud? The idea of these damnable mortals placing a Slave Contract on its master was the same as if placing that very contract on itself. How would the Dragon's pride allow such blasphemy?

Asura subconsciously started grinning as his eyes filled with multicolored light, of which red was the most dominant one.

He was thirsty for blood.

All this sentiment shared between him and Dragon Soul made Asura realize how irregular the Dragon Soul really was - it was conscious. The Dragon Soul would never forgive anyone trying to mess around with it. Even heavenly laws did not affect it, how could it tolerate mere mortals wanting to bind it?

Multicolored core shone as all three dragon's eyes lit up, causing black-haired Xia and little fox to freeze in place, and even give birth to the idea of worship.

Naturally, everything that happened in Asura's Soul World was reflected on himself in reality. His eyes became multicolored as a peculiar pattern started spreading on his body. Every small segment of that pattern was a future Dragon Scale that would be sharper than a sword.

Asura's mind overflowed with chaotic ideals. 'Kill. Destroy. Devour. Avenge. Trample. Obliterate. Reject!'

Different thoughts echoed unrestrained as his and Dragon Soul's intentions overlapped. Since the last seal in his heart broke with Xia's tears, the word 'conscience' lost any meaning to him. He wanted to be kind to others, but would others be kind to him? He didn't know, and for now, that was not the case. That's why, the only thing left for him to do right now was... to kill.

He took a silent step as everything that came in contact with his body vanished into oblivion. He approached the cell locked from inside where the fat man kept cursing and beating the old man. Asura's hand rose and fell on the metal bar thicker than his hand.

Multicolored radiance shone on his right hand, forming the outline of scales as all the Spirit Energy frantically rushed toward his right hand. Before it could try to enter his still incapable body, the energy was twisted and absorbed, forming the type of energy this Dragon Soul used - the Dragon Spirits, as Asura came to know.

The word 'Spirits' signified the consciousness that this energy had - every particle was a Spirit and the energy was formed from multiple Spirits, hence why its name came to be Dragon Spirits.

*Tsss--*

The sound of evaporating metal came from the entrance to the old man's cell. At the same time, Xia was given the command to retract her black-white robe and Asura's aura silently spread throughout the few nearby cells. Just as the hand holding the metal rod was about to fall on the old man again, the fat man was startled by the sound from behind him. He was someone who cultivated, but his achievements were worse than the average students from academies, not to mention sects. If that was not the case, why would he only be guarding cells in a far-off branch of an evil sect?

As he felt the presence of death standing behind him, he froze in fear. But it wasn't strange either, as everyone else was also frozen in fear because of the domineering aura of suppression emanating from Asura. Xia's eyes filled with awe and she was the only one unaffected. But she was affected in another way - her three Soul Spirits started screaming with joy and excitement as if welcoming the arrival of something they waited for.

"M-m... mercy. Kghhh--"

The fat man only had time to squeeze that one word out before a bare hand shot through his chest and tore off his heart, disintegrating everything that came in contact with the Dragon Spirits. Overwhelming energy rushed through his body, devouring everything as not even his ashes remained. His entire body being consumed and refined produced a few pitiful drops of Dragon Spirits, far from enough to satisfy the thirst coming from the Dragon Soul and a novelty in Asura's body - the crystal in the middle of his heart, containing a hundred and one Divine Soul Fragments.

The old man lying half-dead on the ground felt four extremely condensed multicolored drops of energy enter his body along with a green drop of blood. The green drop of blood immediately dissolved and spread through his body, repairing all the wounds from inside out. The old man felt his vitality rise and even the wrinkles on his face started vanishing. This was only possible because he had no cultivation and compared to the current Asura, the two were heavens apart. If Asura wanted, he could easily take his life. As for those four drops of energy, they rushed inside the old man's broken core, filling in the cracks that had already become long-lasting scars.

The old man's eyes trembled. He never thought he could experience hope once again.

"Y... young man! Who are you? Why did you help me?", he screamed in a hoarse voice.

Asura's cold eyes fell on the old man's white eyes which caused cold sweat to form on his back. He was not afraid of Asura, he was afraid of the things sealed inside of him - Dragon Soul in particular.

Asura: "Me? I don't even know myself. I helped you because you stood up for the two of us. Since we were born, you were the only one to do so."

The old man's long beard trembled, "W-what about your parents? It can't be... you two are..."

Asura showed a self-mocking smile and extended his hand to the old man. "Do you wish to rot here or?..."

He neither confirmed nor denied the old man's words, but the old man was almost certainly sure that kids this young couldn't possibly behave as how Asura did, unless those kids spent their entire life in solitude and dangerous environment since young. This made him realize that the two were most likely orphans.

The old man's distant eyes focused, awakening the spent flame buried deep inside his heart. He took Asura's hand and got up, straightening up and gazing down at the kid half his size. Him being helped up by a kid that young was quite ... an unusual scene.

The old man dusted off his silver cloud-embroidered robe with a soaring dragon as its main symbol and performed a deep bow. "I, Tianlong Bai, will never forget the help of this young gentleman. May I know your names?"

"Asura. My name is Asura. This is my sister, Xia."

Noticing the lack of the surname, the old man re-confirmed once more that these children had no parents. Just as he was about to ask something else, footsteps came from the end of the hallway and soon four figures came to a stop in front of the cell. All of them were old farts with wrinkled, rotten skin that reeked of stale blood, alcohol and another peculiar scent.

One of them took a look around and noticed the mess within the old man's cell. "Where's the damned fatty? Tianlong Bai, don't think we don't dare hurt you just because we need money from your Tianlong family. As long as we present you alive, we will get the money, but crippled is also alive, isn't it?"

This man seemed very old, but due to the Eye of Chaos, Asura could see his vitality. This man was in the middle of his twenties. That is how wicked the cultivation method he chose was. His cultivation technique caused a 20-something man to look as if he had lived for 90 years. This was a tradeoff one had to pay for using their vitality in order to cultivate. That is a sole reason why these Cultivation Arts were termed evil.

And this also made Asura realize what Xia meant when saying Cultivation Arts are very important. This one was the example he needed.