Chapter 6: The Ball

As soon as Lei entered the ballroom he felt out of place immediately. These were all nobles and he was just a peasant from the weakest kingdom in the world. Lei frantically looked around for Xiang or the King but failed to find either. 

Eventually Lei found himself in one of the corners. He had tried to locate Xiang for an hour but had failed to find her. Eventually he had decided just to sit in this corner and wait for the ball out. He hoped that the King would find him when he decided to converse with him. Lei didn't know how long he had been waiting in the corner when Xiang finally found him. "Xiang." Lei said, "This place is a nightmare!" How do you survive this? This could quite possibly be the worst experience of my life." Xiang laughed, "I guess I'm just used to it. I've been going to balls just like this one since I was ten years old. I guess you get used to it after a while. Anyway I've been looking for you for a while. My father wants to speak to you. Follow me." Xiang grabbed his arm and dragged him through the massive crowd. Xiang laughed as she saw Lei extricate himself from the sea of people. Not caring that people were watching her fraternise with a peasant. 

They finally made their way out of the crowd and to the front of the hall. Lei now saw that the whole family was at the front. He cursed himself for not checking the front of the hall when he had come in. He could have been saved from all the stress if he had just looked near the front. Xiang, still holding his arm, pulled him towards the throne where her father sat. The king looked at Xiang's arm gripping Lei's arm and gave a disapproving glare. Lei wasn't sure if it was aimed at him or Xiang. Maybe it was aimed at both of them. "Xiang, I hope you have been acting in line with royal protocol." He gave another meaningful glance at Xiang's arm. She finally got the hint and let go of Lei's arm. Lei, suddenly remembering why he was brought here, bowed and said, "Your majesty, Princess Xiang informed me that you wished to have a conversation with me. The king nodded and said, "Do you know why I have been looking for an arcane cultivator for so long." Lei shook his head and said, "Sorry your majesty but I do not know." The king suddenly looked weary and said, "As you know we are in an endless war with the Rei, Sai and Lin Kingdoms. What you may not know is that ten years ago enemy agents kidnapped my wife and our youngest child, Xiang." His eyes briefly flicked towards Xiang, "I chased down the kidnappers but by the time I had caught up with them they had met up with my massive armies from all three kingdoms. In my blindness I had left my own army behind. They could never have kept up with me. I was a meridian forging level expert and the strongest in my army were only at the authoritarian stage. I reached the armies, they were filled with cultivators mainly at the manifestation and authoritarian stages. I was confident I could beat them and reclaim my loved ones. So I forged a qi barrier around my wife and child and dove into battle. I was confident I was going to win. I was the strongest cultivator for miles around. I dove into battle and then disaster struck. Three cultivators at the body forging stage unveiled themselves and began to do battle with me. Even if they were a realm below me there were three of them. They also had the support of thousands of lesser cultivators. I was doomed to fail… that is if I was a normal cultivator but I am an arcane cultivator and arcana had been building the whole fight. I threw my will into controlling all the arcana in the environment around me and threw it at the armies while using my will to shield my family and just like that I decimated an entire army. Arcana is strange like that. It is difficult to master and control but it is an extremely destructive weapon so powerful, in fact, that I could fight cultivators a full realm above me. Sometimes two realms if they were weakened. Anyway, after the fight I noticed that my meridians were extremely damaged and I struggled to channel qi. I thought that they would eventually heal themselves, which they did, to some extent. However after the battle I noticed that I was slowly bleeding power. I realised that I had pushed my body too far and now it was falling apart. I will never be back at full power, in fact I will continue to lose my power. I was once at the pinnacle of the meridian forging stage. I am now back to the pinnacle of the body forging stage. I will continue to lose power every year and it will happen quicker and quicker the longer this goes on. I expect to die within the next five years. Now you may be wondering what this has to do with you. I have tried and failed to raise another member of my kingdom to the meridian forging stage. I need someone in my kingdom to reach this stage so when I die I will die knowing my kingdom is safe. I finally realised why after many failed attempts. I am an arcane cultivator. They are not. The way I cultivate is completely different to the way they cultivate. I realised that the only way to use my experiences to teach others would be if I found another arcane cultivator. Ever since I came to this realisation I have been searching for another arcane cultivator. 

Lei looked at the king and pondered his words for a couple of seconds, "Your majesty, I don't mean to offend you but I am genuinely curious. Why do we fight the other three kingdoms so relentlessly?" "This is something that we don't usually tell the general population but the other three kingdoms worship a dark god, known as Draskil. The worshippers' souls are corrupted and they become terrible, violent people. They have only one desire: to enslave. When they enslave a person a sacred oath is passed between the slaver and the slave brokered by Draskil. This oath allows the slaver to steal the power of his slaves. This means these worshippers don't have to cultivate. They just have to enslave people. If we don't fight these kingdoms they will enslave all our people. That is why I fight." Near the end of his explanation the king had started trembling with rage. Lei felt his own rage being stoked by the King. His eyes suddenly glowed purple and purple fire sprung up on his skin. He heard the screams of partygoers and then he was tackled by the king.