Xing Mo - The Star Devil

"I... We... There's a tradition recorded in the legends that when Immortals descend from the Heavens, everyone who witnesses their honored presence has to refer to them as 'Saints', as to not offend them. Immortals usually don't interfere with the matters of our world, unless something that would break the balance happens. That's why Midnight Alliance can still exist. If we ran free and started killing people indiscriminately for our own benefit, the Immortals such as you would descend to regulate things. Is that maybe the reason that you..."

Asura thought, 'So that's why... Interesting, he thinks we are Immortals. Hehe, interesting indeed.'

Asura: "Don't worry about me. Tell me about this world a little more... Also, get up."

"Y-yes! W-would esteemed Saint want to go to a more private place? We can have a chat there instead of standing here. We will do our utmost to please your grace!"

Asura: "Hmm, sure. Lead the way. You can bring some drink and food that you have. The energy here is way too thin to live off. By the way, what is your name?"

The guy suddenly froze but soon returned to normal. He seemed to be pondering over something and the conclusion he reached reinforced his beliefs.

"P-pardon me, but may I be so impudent as to ask, could this esteemed Saint also tell me how he would like to be referred to? This lowly servant's name is Yi Chao..."

Asura smirked at the obvious attempt directed at his identity and immediately came up with a plan. "I have no preferences, call me whatever you want. Yi Chao, is it? Let's go."

Yi Chao, seemingly unresigned, took a single step towards the direction where the four came from and then slowed down. "Um... if I may ask, esteem--"

Asura became slightly irritated and raised his childish tone. "You may, don't beat around the bush with words and just ask directly. For all I care, you can call me Xing Mo. That is the way others call-- ... *cough* Anyway, don't drag things out needlessly - lead the way!"

Yi Chao slightly smirked but immediately regained his cool. "As you wish, esteemed Saint Xing Mo."

Tianlong Bai was speechless at how tricky this little kid was. 'Xing Mo? He clearly told me his name is Asura. Xing Mo... meaning Star Devil... That is an alias truly befitting of his character. Truly, a walking devil star. That bastard Yi Chao probably thinks that the kid blurted out his real name out of annoyance, but he obviously doesn't realize that the kid led him on to think that. From what I can see, this little monster isn't someone careless enough to blurt out things he doesn't want others to hear. Especially not to someone like Yi Chao, his enemy... What a fearsome little fellow! I must bring him back to Tianlong family by any means!'

Xia's thoughts related to the circumstances didn't differ much from Tianlong Bai and the two even looked at each other at the same time, realizing that they had similar thoughts.

Tianlong Bai: 'This little girl is also interesting! I should take her back with me as well! But... how can I come back like this? This half-crippled geezer isn't the Saint Dragon from before, indeed... *sigh* It seems our journey will be rather long... that is, if I convince these two little fellas.'

-----

The four took several twists and turns, occasionally being stopped by guards but Yi Chao managed to convince the guards that he was leading the prisoners for exchange. The reason guards mostly believed him is because they knew Tianlong Bai and his circumstances, which is why they didn't doubt Yi Chao's words. Most of them didn't even pay attention to the two kids with Tianlong Bai and Yi Chao as they were walking to the left and right of the old man in tattered clothes with blank expressions. There was nothing wrong with these kids following the old man, according to their logic.

Yi Chao thought, 'If only you mongrels knew who they really are... Ignorance truly is a bliss.'

Tianlong Bai was once again amazed by the two, but mainly about Xia. The two children perfectly faked blank expressions as if they were truly clueless captives traumatized by the events. Their acting was truly supreme, in his opinion. They acted it out so well that some of the guards even had pity concealed in their eyes.

Asura tried using his Eye of Chaos but found out that its power was reduced to a pitiful degree. He couldn't penetrate even a millimeter inside his own skin, let alone observe an entire area like before using Abyss Dragon Suppression Art.

For now, that technique only sealed his Soul but that was also the biggest impact for the current him. Although he had a 4th level cultivation, he couldn't do much with the current amount of energy. He always had to use all of his energy just to make a thin film-like layer of Dragon Spirits around his hand. This was far too little to be of use in real combat.

When he used this energy to pierce the fatty's body, one of the reasons why he succeeded was because his opponent was unable to move due to suppression and had no defenses up. If he only put up a thin layer of energy, Asura's hand wouldn't be able to pierce his body.

Asura even had to erode his entire body and suck out his life force to replenish the energy used for that attack.

This meant that if he had failed at killing the fatty, he would be left without energy. Even though his Dragon Soul could suppress others, its power was significantly suppressed because of a certain technique. That is why Asura was wondering when someone would come who they couldn't face. Xia still kept her cards hidden, so for now they were more or less safe but the question is how longer could they keep this up. Because of this, Asura began developing a plan to escape this place with the least effort possible and this guy Yi Chao just happened to arrive at a good time.

Tianlong Bai was still in his own world when a voice appeared in his mind, immediately alerting him, 'Old White, do you have a way to control this guy by planting a seal or something? We should use this chance to run away while we still can.'

This voice made the old man's hair stand on end. He silently glanced at Asura and carefully observed this little kid. He couldn't believe this little creature was a mere child. There was no way anyone would be able to convince him that was the case. While he was still absorbed in his thoughts, the voice appeared again, 'If you can, squeeze my hand once, if you can't - twice.'

Tianlong Bai kept walking as if nothing was happening, but his heart skipped a beat. He felt as if Asura's voice in his own mind was like a God's decree. He couldn't resist even if he wanted to. And he also found another shocking thing - with each echo of Asura's voice, his Soul Sea would ripple, as if those words made waves in his Soul Sea. This was not normal. He covertly squeezed Asura's hand twice, according to the instructions he received previously.

'It's hopeless, huh? Well then, let's try something else.', the presence lingering in the old man's mind vanished and with it the ethereal voice that spoke directly to his Soul. Tianlong Bai couldn't help but take another glance at Asura and felt awed once again. He was certain that this little creature was not a simple kid, despite looking like one. This was a devil incarnate without any doubts.

Yi Chao took out a key and opened the door to the room they were standing in front of. When the trio glanced inside, they couldn't believe this was a room within the so-called 'evil' sect. Yi Chao smiled and gestured for them to enter, after which he once again locked the door and activated several mechanisms from inside. Asura immediately noticed that his senses were limited only to this room as soon as one of the mechanisms activated.

The room had a large table in the center whose height was only around thirty centimeters from the ground. Instead of chairs, there were eight red mats, each with a moon symbol embroidered on it. The cover draped over the table also had moon symbols here and there, which made Asura assume that this was the symbol of Midnight Alliance.

Yi Chao gestured towards the mats and went to the other end of the room, bringing out a tray with drinks. He placed the drinks and utensils on the table and once again departed. This time, he brought two trays of meat seasoned and decorated with various different fruits and vegetables, all of which were unknown to Asura and Xia, some even to Tianlong Bai.

Asura absentmindedly said, "Well, isn't this surprising?"

Yi Chao finally sat down opposite of the old man. The two kids sat next to each other, Tianlong Bai sat on the first mat on the right side, close to Xia, while Yi Chao sat on the first mat on the left side, close to Asura.

Yi Chao curiously asked, "What does master Xing Mo mean?"

Asura: "I didn't expect that Midnight Alliance would be a rather hospitable place. From the stories about your so-called alliance, you do some quite questionable and immoral things. This treatment doesn't suit the description at all!"

Yi Chao smirked and humbly said: "We get that many times... It seems people forget that even we, from Midnight Alliance, are humans. Just because we're different from others doesn't mean that we are soulless monsters who only kill. Although that isn't far off from the truth, it isn't exactly the same. Say, honored Saint, why were you sent here?"

Asura thought back to the several dozen lights falling from the sky when they awakened their Soul Spirits and came up with a credible plan.

Asura: "Hmm... I'm not supposed to speak about this, but I will trust you this time since you brought all these out for us. There was a major disturbance not long ago - I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. The tracks led to this planet and Elders were sent to investigate what happened. The two of us were brought here by one of them, tasked to cultivate here and observe what happens since Elders weren't able to find anything after looking for a while. We didn't come specifically for Midnight Alliance so you don't have to fear."