The sound of growls hung in the air. One spoke of hunger, four spoke of malnutrition, ten spoke of starvation, but a hundred spoke of famine, their collective voices gathering into a growling symphony. But then came the groans, whimpers of pain and wails of agony. Famine was a painful thing after all, starvation was a horrible death. And so, the growls mixed with the howls, the symphony of starvation becoming an orchestra of suffering and famine, an orchestra just for Esi.

"Magnificent."

Hongzai's voice reached Yin Long through the hairpin he wore. There was no excessive praise nor any pointless exclamation, just a simple word that spoke of his sword, his sorrow. Yin Long spat out a long breath when Hongzai's voice brought him back to reality. It was probably because he infused the pain of starvation into a perpetually hungering sword, but the sensation was far more pronounced than it had ever been. The memories contained within the pain, the sorrow, were so vivid that he felt like he had returned to that day, he could even feel that gentle touch on his cheek.

The shattered world around him expanded and repaired itself as his senses returned to normal, the countless drops of Qi that surrounded him, reflected him, vanishing one by one. The scenery from that day vanished as his shattered world grew, as the countless tears that reflected him vanished. It was just a memory, a forlorn wish, it was a day that would never return, a time that would forever be lost.

"A...H....A...."

A groan a bit different from the orchestra came from the front, his gaze landing on the two elders he had been fighting. They had to bear the brunt of Esi so they were in the worst state, one of them had just died outright when the black light cut through him. The second one was still alive, albeit bisected, but it was clear that he wouldn't survive for long, his flesh rapidly shrivelling as it ate itself.

"Ah...Mot...her..."

He tried to reach out with his arm, his blank eyes staring dejectedly at something that wasn't there. Blood spilt from his mouth as he spoke, sorrow accompanying it as it fell to the ground and was wasted. Did he reach for his own sorrow or had Esi swallowed him so wholly that he was reaching for Yin Long's sorrow while believing it to be his own?

"Rest now, at least that marks an end to the sorrow."

Yin Long muttered quietly as he stepped forward, his hand reaching out and closing the elder's eyes. With his eyes closed, he collapsed to the ground like a doll with cut strings, as if seeing his sorrow had been the only thing keeping him going. Looking at him, Yin Long felt a slight twinge in his chest.

Esi... was his sorrow, it was his pain, his memories. If it just imposed the hollow hunger he felt back then on his enemies then it was fine, it was more than enough. But if it had the capability to immerse others in those memories and that pain, to make them believe that it was their own, then he wasn't so sure about it. The pain may be the same, but the context wasn't, and when the context changed then the situation changed. That was his pain and his alone, he didn't want to share it with others, be it because he wanted to selfishly hoard it or because he didn't want them to suffer it.

He moved his gaze slightly after the elder fell, taking in the surroundings. Esi had carved a path clean through the wall that had been a bit behind the elders, even the trees behind the wall had been cut open. But that wasn't the greatest effect of Esi. The disciples and weaker elders that had been closest were now hunched over, clutching their stomachs. They were the source of the orchestra that cursed the air right now, it was the song of their famine that filled the air.

"If you brandish that pain then you can cut down someone who has never starved with a single slash..."

Yin Long was reminded of his teacher's words as he looked at the scene. They were disciples of a renowned clan, they had never experienced true hunger, so now that it assaulted them it basically crippled them. But there was still a battle going on a bit further away, continuously pulling away from the city. The one holding the key fragment was still trying to escape and the others were still trying to capture them. But Yin Long had learned what he wanted here so it was about time that they cut things short.

"Goldie. I'm done here, can you take me over there?"

Yin Long's gaze turned towards Jin Wang, who was still tearing through any disciples he set his eyes on. His entire body was stained with blood, some his own but most from his enemies, or perhaps meals was a better description. Yin Long didn't even want to count how many people Jin Wang had eaten here, his seemingly bottomless stomach could probably house every single member of this clan.

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Jin Wang let out a low roar and turned away from the disciple he was just about to crush, allowing the middle-aged man to breathe a heavy sigh of relief. Yin Long hopped onto Jin Wang's back and used his one good hand to hold onto his mane, the golden lion leaping forward and chasing after the slowly moving battle. It was time to go pick up that second key fragment.

---

Xiao Yin Yu made her way through the forest with quick and quiet steps, gargantuan trees towering all around her, each one so thick that seven men had to hold hands to surround it. Her sword was held ready at her side, a few drops of blood still clinging to it as they dried. Her blue eyes flickered with faint arcs of lightning and her long black hair was tied into a bun so that it didn't sway freely.

Her eyebrows suddenly shot up as she moved, her sword tracing a swift line through the sky. Lightning flickered as it shot through the air, bending and twisting like the wind as it snuck around the trees next to her. A subdued grunt came from behind a tree a few tens of metres away from her, the scent of scorched flesh tickling her nose.

She didn't stop to check who it was, she knew where all her allies were right now so it could only be an enemy. Well, there was one ally she didn't know the location of, but if he was someone who could be taken down by something like that then she wouldn't have fallen for him to begin with.

The place she was at right now could be considered rather special, even in the long history of the Province Championship. The reason was quite simple, this was where the intruders who had broken into this championship were. It was an event so rare that it wasn't worth mentioning, she wouldn't even be surprised if this was the first time it happened.

Everyone who was currently scattered throughout these woods came here to take down the two intruders to get the rewards. The rewards were personal things so not even something like teams or allegiances mattered much, cultivators were inherently selfish after all, especially those who sought strength.

A loud boom rocked the forest as Yin Yu was moving, the ground shook beneath her and she could just barely see a bit of dust rising between the trees in the distance. The battle was close, and already underway. She picked up her pace slightly and approached the site of the battle, which had already become a small crater, giving her a slight vantage point from which she could observe the battle.

There were quite a few people within the crater, some were attacking each other while others seemed to focus on just two targets. But it was exactly these two targets that made Yin Yu's pupils narrow sharply. She didn't even need to check, she knew that they were the intruders. After all, she knew that at least one of the two had been left out when they started the competition.

"...Lan Yun. And that should be... Lang Ru I think?"

She muttered to herself somewhat bitterly. Of the two, she knew one of them personally. Lan Yun, the woman who loved the same man as her, and also the woman who commanded the love of the man she sought. She hadn't met the other person, but she had seen a portrait of her when she joined Yin Long in visiting his old home. One had been left outside before the championship started and the other hadn't even been part of the earliest parts of the championship.

The intruders could only be them, but at the same time it made no sense for them to be the intruders. They were weak, even weaker than her. And to intrude on this championship you had to get past at least one Province Emperor, something not even she could do. And since she realized this, Yin Yu quickly reached a conclusion, a very dangerous one.

"They were brought in here by outside forces... But for what, that's the question."

Another Province Emperor had intervened to bring them in here, it may even be more than one. But for what purpose, what did they hope to achieve? It was a difficult question, but when Yin Yu thought about what tied those two particular people together it was easy to find a likely thread.

"Yin Long. Are they bait?"

Yin Long had certainly shown some amazing things, things that Yin Yu had never been able to imagine. But what were they hoping to achieve by luring him out? Or perhaps more importantly, who was hoping to achieve it? Xiao Yin Yu mulled over the questions, but she didn't have any way to reach an answer. In the end, she threw the thoughts to the back of her head and took in the situation, realizing the opportunity that had arrived.

"...If she dies..."

Lan Yun commanded Yin Long's love, she had also been with him for longer than Yin Yu so she had an extreme advantage there. But if she died here then there would be no one at Yin Long's side, she would be able to take it for herself. People were also very easy to sway when they were heartbroken and wounded, acquiring his love would probably be much easier at that time. The thought flashed past her mind for a second before she smiled somewhat stupidly, as if she had just heard a dry joke.

"What a stupid thought. He'd just cry."

She grasped her sword tightly and abandoned her vantage point, hopping into the crater as lightning started to crackle around her. Yes, his side may fully open for her if Lan Yun died here, that was indeed true. But he would cry if she died. He would shed tears and he would be hurt. And she would not allow that, someone as strong and carefree as him should just remain like that. So she brandished her sword and charged forward. If the world wanted to make him cry, then she would just have to cut it down before it could.