The Heavenly Dragon Patriarch watched as a group of no less than four hundred sect members shadow-fought in front of him with variable synchronicity. The three hundred outer disciple were the most egregious in their lack of harmony, all either young or just too untalented to rise through the ranks, coasting by with the name of the Heavenly Dragon sect alone, the most powerful sect in China.

The seventy five inner disciples were much better, elites that were either talented, or had worked hard to rise from the bottom ranks. Those were the ones slated to become experts, elders of the sect and the sect’s muscle.

The Core disciples, twenty-four in number, were a cut above the rest, all with the power to one day inherit the position of Patriarch should they so choose. History said that most didn’t, wishing instead to bring glory to the sect by becoming travelling heroes, but there was always one or two within the batch who had the mental fortitude to shoulder the immense burden of leadership. He always counted on those youths to pick up the slack once the older generation had left them completely be.

“Sect Patriarch,” he heard the voice of his hardworking, but infuriating son behind him: the twenty-fifth core dsiciple Li Bo Lao.

“Speak,” the Patriarch said without turning to look back at him. He still hadn’t forgiven the boy for letting the Dragon-Fang Spear fall into the hands of a petty thief, but the wine had been spilled and like always, he was forced to eventually accept him into his heart.

“The matrix for tracking down the Spear has been sabotaged,” he said. “We lost track of it and the likelihood of finding it now is almost nil.”

He sighed heavily. The Dragon-Fang Spear was a work of art, a perfectly balanced spear rumoured to have been made of dragon bone. The Patrarich knew, of course, that it was nothing so ludicrous. The secrets of the forging process for the crucible steel had been lost in a great fire three hundred years ago, making it irreplaceable, a blade which could sharpen itself with blood, and would never diminish for as long as the person using it had Chi in their Core. There hadn’t been an elite spearman in the sect for several decades, however, so he had never seen a point to lending it to a sect member to use, and he wasn’t a particularly good spearman.

Still, the loss rankled him. “Any good news for a change?”

“I’ve got something,” an unfamiliar voice said behind them both. The Heavenly Dragon Patriarch turned around just in time to push his idiot son away from the man who directed his palm forward, towards him.

Suddenly, he was caught in an unseen force which he could do nothing to defend against. “You…” He growled, trying to resist the irresistible force. He hadn’t experienced this level of impossibility in almost two-hundred years, but he refused to let himself fall into despair. “Who… are… you?!”

The man walked out of the shadows, clear for his son to see, who was on his buttocks, staring wide-eyed at the scene. He was wearing brown, ragged robes, and his hair, too was jagged, making it all too out of place for the man to have been wearing such a garish crown fit for an Emperor, a rectangular plate on top with strings of jade beads acting as a curtain on each short end of the rectangle.

“Tian Mo,” he said, still with a smile. “The man who will finally bring peace to this world.”

“H-“

“How?” Tian Mo completed for him. “Simple, Heavenly Dragon. I am your Heavenly Grandfather.”

His heart almost constricted at his words. “You don’t-“

“Yes,” Tian Mo said, taking great pleasure in interrupting him whenever he had the chance. It was childish, even for him, but when was he ever known to not be childish? Who named themselves ‘Heavenly Demon’ and still thought themselves to be fighting for what was right? “Bow down to your Highest Emperor,” and the Heavenly Dragon could do naught but obey under the oppressive aura of the man’s Divine Relic. “Who am I?”

“Great…” Heavenly Dragon bit out, the word having come out unbidden. He tried to stop himself, but found that each word was only an inevitability. “Emperor…” He wanted to stop himself. He wanted to end it as soon as possible before it became too unbearable for him. “Of…!”

Tian Mo’s grin was practically devilish as the Heavenly Dragon Patriarch did his best to keep his mouth shut, to not provide the bastard with the pleasure of seeing him crack under the influence of an object. “Jade…!”

“Yes,” Tian Mo said. His son had watched him as he had all but completely ruined every last shred of his dignity. Having been defeated so soundly that he had called his opponent the Jade Emperor. A joke of epic proportions. If the bastard had faced him in real combat, without using his cursed relics, then his life would have been forfeit just stepping into his territory, but instead, he was met with this sorry excuse of a battle.

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Too disappointing.

He said nothing, simply waiting for the man to strike him down, hoping that he would do so quickly. “Ah, what’s wrong, little Dragon?” Tian Mo sneered. “Are you maybe waiting for someone to relieve you of your life, mortified over what you had just said?” His grin only widened. “Alright, then. You can do that yourself. The Jade Emperor says…”

The Heavenly Dragon tried to ignore his words, but couldn’t, utterly transfixed on each and every syllable.

“Break your own neck.”

The Heavenly Dragon Patriarch’s arms were no longer his to command as he held his head and-

000

“Something occurred, disciple, and I am afraid I have to be elsewhere,” Mentor spoke a little hurriedly, a small frown on her face, and her eyes darting once. To anyone else, she might have seemed slightly concerned, but she never let that type of disorder show. She might as well have panted frantically about what just happened.

We were in my room. On my lap, she dropped a sack. I peered inside, only to find a bottomless pit. “It’s a bag of holding,” She explained. “It has enough money to let you live lavishly wherever you may go, and many changes of clothes. You will want for nothing with this.”

“Mentor…?”

“You remember the jade slip?” She asked. I did. I had never let go of it since she had told me about it. I had even tied some string around the indented portion, using it as a necklace, which I then proceeded to show her. “Good,” she smiled. “You may be able to find me, then. As the object contains my essence, I will be able to find it as well. Proceed your journey to Kunlun without me. I have taught you enough that brigands and bandits prove no match for you, but do not rest your vigilance simply because of that.”

I nodded, a lump forming in my throat.

“I will join you well before you reach Kunlun,” she reassured.

“What happened?” I asked.

“An… important man in the Wulin has just been killed,” she revealed. “And the amount of people that could kill him could only be counted on one hand. I meet with others to investigate the recent happenings, though I am afraid it is simply too dangerous for you.”

I nodded. “Will you be safe?” I asked. “I mean, if a big-shot died, then what could you possibly do?”

She curled her lips up in a smile. “You think I’m weak…”

I shook my head. “No, it’s just… look, you hid out in a prison for decades pretending to be weak. I mean, who does that?”

She nodded. “That’s a fair argument. Although my pride as a Mentor weeps at the thought that my disciple thinks me weak, I am afraid I just don’t have the time to convince her otherwise. Trust that I will return to you, Kang Yilan, or my name is not Shen Zhimei.”

I nodded. With that, she sighed in relief. “I have said all that there is left to say, so… farew-“ Before she could leave, I wrapped her in a hug faster than I could think, refusing to let myself feel sad for her temporary departure. She hugged me back.

When she finally pulled back, her smile was glistening, tears welling up in her eyes. The sting in mine told me that it was the same for me as well. “Farewell for now, disciple.”

She opened my balcony door and bent her knees before disappearing into the sky with a single leap, buffeting winds and blowing me back a single step. Hah, as if she could be weak.

Nevertheless, I felt some pride at the thought that my mentor was a big-shot. I turned to the bag of holding in my hands and tried to peer closer in, still seeing nothing. With mild trepidation, I slowly dipped my hand in and then-

-I saw a lot of things.

How the hell was it fair for one woman to be this wealthy? Hundreds and thousands of gold slips lay in neat conical piles, as though the Heavens had poured it all in from the sky like sand. The piles of silken robes of noble colours were there as well, along with tomes and tomes of classic literature, none of which involved cultivation at all.

There were weapons there, too; swords, sabers, pole arms, bows and quivers and quivers filled with arrows.

Forcing myself to pull my hand back, I tightened the mouth of the bag and put it down. Quickly, I disrobed and wore something more practical, a similar set of the red and black Martial Arts set that Mentor bought for me from that village.

With a final order of food from the hotel, which I devoured greedily, I set out to buy some horses, maybe a map, and make for Kunlun when I heard it.

000

Screams. Still in the Core District, I abandoned normalcy and ran at my fullest speed before jumping at the district wall, clawing my way up in mere moments. The view from the top of the wall was good enough that I could look over the entirety of the city, and the army that sat on the outer walls, slowly breaching the gates.

Then, I heard a voice, loud and booming, as if it had no end in sight. “Citizens of Jixing City! Bow before your new lord, the Dragon of the East! Surrender quietly, or face my infinitely hot rage!”

This wasn’t just an invasion force from a bunch of bandits. No normal human being could shout that loudly! This was someone from one of the Martial Arts world.

But that made almost no sense at all! The Wulin and Jianghu had a non-aggression pact with the government! To attack one city would be to invite the ire of both factions, working together to completely destroy the transgressor!

…Maybe they were strong enough to just completely ignore the idea that they were in danger? It was a sobering thought, and scary as well, but…

…I couldn’t run away, now. I jumped off the wall easily, barely even thinking as I made to land on the ground, rolling in order to lessen the impact. It hurt much, much less than I had expected. Either Mentor had just beaten the concept of pain out of my skull, or I hadn’t messed up on the landing.

No good time to ruminate on that. I had skulls to crack.

The streets were no good, packed up with hundreds of panicking idiots. I made for a nearby building and climbed upwards, still amazed by how efficient I was. Finding handholds and lifting myself up by my fingers was much easier than I had expected.

Here was to hoping that the impending battle would be the same.

Slowly, I opened the doors to my library of anger, and dipped into my Unwholesome State.