Interupting a Massacre

Within a week, many cultivators were gathered just outside the walls of Nan Dao Chen. Most of them were young hopefuls who wished to enter the Ash Raven sect. Following the crowd, the dragons discreetly stood amongst the crowd as well.

"The devilish Dao is very popular," Yinglong mused watching the procedure beginning to take place. A podium was set up with the young Blood Raven daoist at the helm.

The devil gave a few words of introduction, a small motivational speech about how anyone could join and be devils. Zulong tuned out the speech, he couldn't grasp everything being said, only every couple of words and certain phrases confused him. From appearance however, it was evident that this was a disingenuous attempt as Blood Raven seemed bored throughout. The devil looked very impatient to complete the task.

Despite his boring approach, the hopefuls were not deterred. Blood Raven did not have to try too hard to get them excited. The reputation of the devilish Dao established through tens of thousands of years had long since paid off.

As an established path of myriads of branches, techniques, and methods, the devilish Dao had grown from a single cultivation lineage into an entire cultivation lifestyle. It was in many ways a culture as well as a path to immortality.

Zulong scanned the city again and again taking note of the devilish Dao's presence. 'There is unity in this,' he thought with an appreciative look.

Thinking back, the dragon could recall that once upon a time, Da Hai had guided the denizens of the east sea in cultivation. He however never fully capitalised on it having not established a sect. In fact, Da Hai had not even passed his own Dao down, merely taught immortal techniques.

In contrast, the devilish Dao freely distributed the Dao of seven emotions six desires. All of Luohu's insights were given away in readily available tomes. All sects and even shops in Nan Dao Chen had these in storage. Of course the former had modified theirs to fit their style, they were at heart, merely a deviation of Luohu's Dao.

"I wonder why that is," Zulong mused. Why had Da Hai not done what Luohu did? In fact, why was Luohu seemingly the only godfiend to have done this?

"Why was what?" Qinglong responded to his musing.

Zulong shook his head and replied, "it was nothing brother." He broke away from his thoughts to pay attention to Blood Raven's actions upon the podium.

The devil had opened up a portal to a pocket dimension and pulled all those who wished to have a chance in. Zulong looked curiously at the technique and stored it in his mind.

Ash Raven's dimension was not big. It was a square world measured at a 500km by 500km dimension. But it got the job done. The devil released a horde of shadow constructs into the dimension.

"There are one hundred slots available in our Ash Raven sect," he said. "Only those with the most impressive performance are permitted to enter. Prove to us that you seek true freedom above all else, that seek seven emotions six desires above all else." He waved his hand and closed the gate trapping thousands within.

"That is very vague," Yinglong said with a frown. "So what, does he expect a free for all massacre? Dao debates? Contests? What could impressive performance even entail?"

"Seeking true freedom? Seven emotion six desires?" Qinglong contemplated the meaning of those worlds. He could sense that Blood Raven's commands carried the weight of the Dao. His words carried the meaning of the devilish Dao's core principles. Of Luohu's Dao's core principles.

Even though the two parties spoke completely separate languages, Zulong understood everything being said. As the Dao was universal across all forms of communication, the dragons understood all of Blood Raven's words.

"A fucking hoax is all it is," a familiar voice replied. Qinglong turned around and saw the approaching figure of Bai Jian. The white haired swordsmen looked impressive and ferocious as ever. His footsteps spoke of a predator in wait.

The swordsman was also surprisingly stealthy. He was able to approach the trio without them noticing and he moved through the crowd without touching anyone.

"Bai Jian, nice to see you again," Qinglong said saluting the swordsman. "What do you mean by your words?"

"Exactly as I said, this whole spiel about freedom is all a hoax," Bai Jian said gesturing at the pocket dimension. "A fucking lie that tricked the entire western world. There's no freedom to be had here."

"Is that so," Qinglong replied. "So it's all propaganda then? To be honest I expected them to be mere words of promotion for their sect."

"Oh it runs far deeper than that friend, even I nearly missed it if it wasn't for my…the point is that what they're selling, this established path that ensures success at cultivation is a blatant lie," he said with disgust evident on his face.

"That's interesting," Zulong suddenly said turning towards the two. "Mind elaborating?"

"Well it's…" before Bai Jian could start Yinglong unintentionally interrupted.

"Heavens," the winged dragon grimaced loudly. A few screams in the crowd was also heard. Some families broke down crying while Blood Raven watched desensitised.

Within the pocket dimension, cultivators were being torn apart left and right. Shadow beasts ripped them to shreds, some sacrificed others to get away while others massacred everyone to prove their might.

"He said those with the most impressive performance can enter right?" The cultivator massacring both shadow beasts and cultivators alike said with a twisted look. "Well here's what I can do," he yelled leaping into battle.

Blood Raven stroked his chin with a small satisfied look. Even from the distance, Zulong, Qinglong, and Yinglong could recognise the look of approval at those words.

"Not used to the violence?" Bai Jian chimed in.

"It's not that," Qinglong replied. "Why was all the killing necessary? Seems kinda extreme."

"Master will call it wasteful, I do too," Yinglong said nodding.

"In the east sea, youths are tested in combat but there are ways to simulate stress tests without actual death risks," Zulong said with a disapproving look. "What is the point of this?"

"In the words of the devil ancestor, only the best of the best of the best of the best may enter my devilish Dao," Bai Jian quoted. "The rest are discarded however they choose, Blood Raven's just an asshole."

With a gush of blood, another person died. Then another was torn apart. More and more families wept around them while others clenched their hands in worry.

"I can't watch this," Qinglong was the first to begin moving. But before he could get far, Bai Jian grabbed his shoulders.

"You don't want to do this, touch Blood Raven and you'd draw the attention of Ash Raven," he warned.

"You think we're scared of some bird in this backwards dump?" Zulong said angrily while Qinglong glared.

"No, Ash Raven isn't the problem, it's his master that is," Bai Jian continued. "Ash Raven is a favoured disciple of ancestor Taowu, touch Ash Raven and you draw Taowu's wrath."

"Taowu? That lazy cat?" The dragons exclaimed in surprise.

"Yes, that same gluten has taken many disciples and is one of the foremost experts of living by excess in the world," Bai Jian said with a grimace. "Disgusting reputation aside, he's no joke."

Zulong reevaluated their chances in the west. It was a place they weren't totally safe in. In fact, Da Hai had stressed that even he wasn't totally safe there either. But then again, the distance between the Central, and West Continent, and the shore was very big.

"How big's the distance between here and Taowu?" He asked.

"Taowu doesn't leave his abode often, so a few years away," Bai Jian stated.

Zulong nodded, he touched his inter spacial ring and pulled out a set of masks. He put them on and his antlers disappeared. "Put these on," he ordered his brothers.

"You're not afraid of being tracked?" Bai Jian asked.

"We have protection," Zulong assured. He tilted his head expectedly. In an instant, Qinglong disappeared in a mad dash. The ancestral dragon however stood still before the white swordsman.

"Who are you really? A former disciple of the devilish Dao?" Zulong asked. Bai Jian nodded, he did not bother hiding that info.

"So you're a traitor to their sect hiding here?" He asked for confirmation. Bai Jian again nodded.

"I would've appreciated it if you didn't make a commotion here, especially not at this time," Bai Jian said with a sigh.

"You're talking about the xiantian treasure gestating that way?" Zulong asked pointing towards the ocean. "Don't give me that look, if you noticed it they why wouldn't I? Besides, they're probably here for the same reason." Zulong gestured to the Ash Raven cultivators who had engaged Qinglong and Yinglong.

"You're pretty arrogant aren't you," Bai Jian said.

"And you're not?" Zulong countered.

"I'm no different, planned to kill those fuckers later, guess my schedule will have to be changed," Bai Jian said holding the handle of his sheathed sword. Unnoticeable energy was swirling around Bai Jian.

Zulong could feel bloodlust oozing from the swordsman. However, none of it was directed at him. Zulong smiled.

"What do you think of joining me?" He announced.

"What teaming up? I'm afraid not, I was willing to help introduce you to the west but teaming up to go after a treasure is a bit much. Sorry, but I can't risk it," Bai Jian replied.

"Not that, xiantian treasures matter little to me," Zulong said nonchalantly to Bai Jian's surprise. "I'm establishing a faction of my own. An empire if you will and I'd like for you to be part of it."

"Do I look like a fucking bureaucrat to you?" Bai Jian said gesturing at himself.

"I was thinking general," Zulong said. "You look like the type I wouldn't want anywhere near my office." Bai Jian threw his head back and laughed loudly.

"An empire, you're funny my friend. In this world, what would small fries like you be able to make?" Bai Jian turned around to leave. "You seem smart so I'll let you know now, don't try it friend. I speak from experience when I say that some forces in this world are insurmountable."

…

Blood Raven growled when an azure fist struck into his abdomen. The masked man before him was simply too strong.

"Who the hell are you?" He growled narrowly dodging another hit. He drew forth his sickle for another strike but the masked man jumped back.

"A pissed of adventurer," Qinlong's distorted voice replied. Of course Blood Raven had no way of knowing that this was Qinglong or who Qinglong even was.

Qinglong forced Blood Raven back with another punch. The devil's blood constructs could do nothing to the dragon. Qinglong broke the spears shot by Blood Raven and chopped another blade into pieces.

"Young master!" One of Blood Raven's retainers disengaged from Yinglong to help Blood Raven. Blood Raven quickly retreated and drank a vial of blood.

Qinglong lit both hands in blue light. They resembled burning stars. Qinglong's body glowed transparently. He looked like a living galaxy filled to the brim with stars.

"What is this?" Blood Raven cried out in shock at the pressure he felt. He didn't even know Great Unity level experts were capable of such might.

Qinglong blasted a massive wave of stellar energy. Blood Raven quickly drew forth a fountain of blood to form a shield. Feathers began appearing all over his body as he struggled.

His retainer, a fellow cultivator at the Great Unity Golden Immortal realm jumped in to attack Qinglong. The dragon in the shape of a man tilted his head and kicked the man in the stomach. Qinglong's foot was like a comet, he kicked right through the stomach of the immortal.

"Grah!" The retainer was fell from the air landing on the ground. His body transformed into that of a massive rat.

"You're gonna regret that," Blood Raven growled. His foot began talons, his hands became wings. His head grew a beak and he transformed into a massive black raven a kilometre wide. Fresh blood was drawn forth from the rat corpse flowing into Blood Raven.

"How fitting," Qinglong commented continuing to engage the devil. A sword of stars appeared in Qinglong's hand as he swung sideways into Blood Raven's wing.

Blood Raven met the blade with an enhanced claw. The two were better matched now that Blood Raven had absorbed his retainer's vitality.

Qinglong frowned and formed a vibrant green and punched the enhanced devil in the face. Blood Raven cried out in pain and retreated.

Qinglong moved forwards and slashed drawing more and more blood. Blood Raven psychically gripped his own blood and formed needles out of them to hit the dragon. However, they could not penetrate Qinglong's skin.

"Fuck, just who are you?" Blood Raven nervously looked to the side and saw a horrifying scene. His other retainer and the city lord were both defeated by the similarly masked Yinglong. Both are bound by auspicious clouds.

"Hey pay attention," Qinglong's voice called out. Blood Raven barely had enough time to dodge. Yet still, his left leg was cleaved clean off by Qinglong.

Blood Raven felt miserable. His pocket dimension was broken and its occupants freed. Yinglong did not struggle to destroy all the shadow beasts and restrain the cultivators within.

Blood Raven did not expect this small expedition to cause him so much trouble. It was so simple, collect the new xiantian treasure discovered by their scouts, stop by to pick a few new recruits and maybe get some clues of the steel swordsman. Why did it all come to this?

'I need to flee,' Blood Raven desperately flapped his wings. The blood around him became a cloud of red mist. The aim was to obscure the dragon's senses.

Qinglong raised his eyebrows looking at Blood Raven who was quickly disappearing behind the cloud. 'Wait, he's not looking at me,' Blood Raven suddenly realised tracing Qinglong's line of sight.

"Finally noticed didn't ya?" The voice Blood Raven heard chilled him to the bone. He barely turned his head before suddenly feeling much lighter.

Bai Jian grabbed Blood Raven's severed head with a furry black and white tail while his left hand blasted the body to ashes

Zulong walked up to Bai Jian and said, "You said Ash Raven can tract his son, how long before he gets here?"

"Give him a few hours, Ash Raven sect isn't that far from here. He already knows his son's dead," Bai Jian replied. "You know, I didn't want to fight in the city. Would've been easier to meet them in the open ocean."

"For my purposes, it will be better to kill him here," Zulong said. He looked down to see the blood cloud split in two as Qinglong and Yinglong flew up. The observers of the battle looked in utter shock and confusion. The mayor of Nan Dao Chen looked in horror.

"You really are serious aren't you?" Bai Jian said in shock. "You're fucking insane."

"I have to be," Zulong answered with a smile. "You are right, the ancestors of the previous generation are monstrous. But so am I," Zulong said with conviction and held a hand out. "They are not insurmountable, not invincible, not infallible, so how about it Bai Jian? Join me and see my dream to fruition."