Song Yi trembled. She shook like a leaf caught in a storm, that quiet whisper still lingering in her ears. Heterochromia met pitch-black as she locked eyes with Huang Ying, as she peered into those pits. But there was nothing there. His lips were curved in his usual insane grin, a glimpse into the madness that swirled in his mind. But there was nothing in his eyes, they were so dark that they swallowed even the emotions that should have been oh-so clear there. Was that the depths of his madness, depth that allowed no other thing to exist?

He was so close that their noses were practically touching so she could smell it, that metallic scent emanating from every inch of his body. Blood, unimaginable quantities of it, covered him. Some of it belonged to him, and some of it belonged to the hordes of people he had killed to carve them a path to the emergency spatial array.

The blood stained his body, but Song Yi knew where it came from, who had really been the one to douse him in it. She pushed him into this state, she was the one who made him the enemy, it was she who risked his life.

She had felt sick when she first did it, she had retched in a dark alley as the guilt washed over her. And she had tried to justify it to herself, tried to mentally comfort herself by saying that he would forgive her. But was she confident in that statement? Could she really believe it? No, no she couldn't. She wouldn't have been able to forgive them if someone did that to her so how could she possibly expect someone else to forgive her?

But there he stood, grinning, flashing her that same smile of madness and excitement. She thought she had learned, thought she had understood. But now she couldn't help but stand there and wonder, how did the world appear in his eyes? Who was he? How had he lived, grown? How did he think, what did he want? What lurked within him? Her understanding had crumbled and she was left with nothing but curiosity and questions. Yes, for the first time, perhaps the first time in her bleak life, she wanted to know what hid behind a pair of eyes, wanted to know what her own eyes failed to see.

"Can I tru... No... Huang Ying, please... Help me burn the Liangyu clan, help me burn this past."

Trust? What a laughable question, what a disgusting and despicable thought that had flashed past her mind. He was standing there, drenched in blood for her, wounded for her. But still, his hand reached out. Still, his insanity did not leave his smile. The time for asking for trust was over, the time for belief and madness had come.

"Alright, Song Yi. Let's carve our names into this world, its gods. Let's show all of creation that we, we are alive."

The curve of Huang Ying's lips did not change, as if the answer was a foregone conclusion. And perhaps to him, it had been, perhaps his own madness had seen the insanity that lurked within Song Yi. Darkness recognized darkness, and together they shrouded that much more of the land in their shade.

That outstretched hand, wet and slick with blood, Song Yi grasped it. Wounds had littered his body not that long ago, he'd have died a hundred times over if it wasn't for his law of devouring. But his grip was still strong, still determined. He drew back his arm and pulled her up, lifting her up from the dirt and onto her feet. She'd have to walk to set fires, and she'd have to do so with her own legs.

Huang Ying loosened his grip once Song Yi stood on her own legs, his finger tracing his interspatial ring. He pulled out a sky-blue robe and removed the tatters that remained of his previous clothing, switching into the new one as he contacted Li Jun.

"Are any of the others in the surrounding area? You can look for a few items for me at the same time, Core Quartz, Threaded Wood, Liquid Ironflame, and Lightning Drop to be exact."

Li Jun's perception could cover a far wider range than Huang Ying's, it was to the point that it was insulting to even compare the two. As such, Li Jun would have a far easier time finding the others now that they had all been separated. He was also the one best suited to locating the items Huang Ying was looking for, the materials that would be used to reforge the weapon he broke previously.

"I've felt this a few times before, but you really don't have any shame, do you?"

Song Yi spoke up before Huang Ying could receive Li Jun's answer, one hand rubbing the bridge of her nose as she looked at him. Her gaze lingered on his fresh robe, as well as the tattered one he discarded, but he could tell that she most likely only mentioned it because she didn't really have anything else to say. Or perhaps she just found it awkward to be forgiven so easily and wanted to change the subject, it wasn't impossible for it to be both.

"Nah, I'm too young to have any shame. If we go by normal conventions then you'd be the one in trouble for looking."

Huang Ying simply shrugged his shoulders and straightened out his robe, he couldn't quite remember who he took it from but it turned out to be a little too big for him. Obviously, his lack of shame had nothing to do with his age, but he was more than willing to play along with Song Yi's little attempt at trying to change the topic.

"That...right, there was that, wasn't there?"

Song Yi's expression was a bit awkward when Huang Ying pointed out this fact, the reason she had approached him to begin with. His mind was mature and twisted, he even had the body of someone in his late teens. But in the end, Huang Ying was technically still only 10 years old, no more than a child, he hadn't even reached the lowest threshold needed to be considered an adult. But as she mulled over that fact, Song Yi's awkward expression couldn't help but twist up slightly.

"You think they'd cry themselves to an early grave if they knew?"

How many people had Huang Ying killed? How many people had he beaten down? How many people viewed him as a horrible enemy they had to give their all to face? And above all, how would these people react if they learned that the one grinning at them was just a 10-year old child? Huang Ying sat down again now that he had finished changing, a slight tinge of expectation visible at the edge of his lips.

"As long as they don't falter and keep coming at me with the determination to die then they're free to do whatever else they please. But while we wait for them to peek their heads out of their burrows, tell me about this place."

If the age difference made them despair and falter then it really would be too disappointing, it would be far too boring if that was the full extent of their determination. But then again, it was unlikely that they would ever learn that truth so it was better to focus on the current situation.

"The place, not the competition?"

Song Yi bent her head slightly at the peculiar phrasing of Huang Ying's sentence. They had just entered this grand competition but he asked about the area rather than the competition they were now part of? Huang Ying merely gave a crooked smile, there was one thing he was quite certain of.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"With how we messed things up, do you really think this competition will progress as it used to?"

It didn't matter how the competition was usually done, how it usually went. Huang Ying had arrived here, and that fact alone meant that things were bound to go awry. And go awry they had, Song Yi's lips curving up happily as understood it.

"Hmm, that's true. There's no telling how many people will flood in here thanks to the opening you've created, who knows how things are going to evolve. Good, that's good, excellent."

The competition usually had a very limited number of contestants, only the best of the best were allowed to enter. That was why this place was named Forge of Heroes. Heroes entered and were tempered in the blood of other heroes, only the strongest remaining. But Huang Ying had left a gate for everyone else when he brought the others and fled in here, those who knew they had no chance of being selected would definitely flood in now that they had the chance. Chaos was bound to swallow this place, the stale waters of the universe were destined to slowly rock.

"Alright, I'll tell you what I know, but if you're expecting detailed information then you're wrong. I was too young when my dynasty fell and I was taken in as a slave so I only got to study the most basic, as well as the most famous, information."

The joyful, and slightly twisted, curve remained on Song Yi's face as she started talking. Huang Ying wasn't the only person twisted by his experiences, Song Yi was just the same as him, someone the world had chewed and broken before finally spitting out. But both of them had survived, crawled back to their feet and moved forward, and that was why they were twisted.

"Forge of heroes, this realm already existed back when my dynasty first came into power, not even the archives of the preceding dynasty stated when this realm first came into existence. So it's old, Huang Ying, Father used to say that it might be one of the oldest things in this universe. As for its layout, it's divided into five sections. The Crust, the Upper Mantle, the Lower Mantle, the Outer Core, and the Inner Core. I don't know the exact differences between each section, at most I know that things get more and more dangerous the deeper you go."

Song Yi started to dictate what she had read, the stories she had dug through as a child whenever her parents locked her in the library to force her to read. A realm older than their dynasty, even older than the unimaginably ancient dynasty that stood there before them. There were perhaps very few people alive who could truly imagine just how old the forge was, how long it had laid here and waited.

"We should be in the Crust right now, just about everyone should start here, with a few rare stronger individuals sent directly to the Upper Mantle. The things you kill here, be it people or beasts, get converted into points, and you need a certain number of points to reach the next section. They may also play a role in the rating this realm gives you. Normally, each contestant would get a specialized item that they can use to check their points, but we're not exactly in a position to get one of those now. That's about what I know about the different sections, just the most menial and basic stuff."

They had fled in here before the competition even officially started so how were they supposed to get their hands on the item needed to tally their points? Granted, they would still get the points, the realm itself took care of that. But things would just be easier if they could check their own points, it would at least save them the trouble of bumping into the walls every time they tried to move to the next sections. Her explanation ended, but there was a certain sentence Huang Ying had latched onto.

"The points, what do you mean that they 'may' play a role in the rating this realm gives you? For that matter, what are the ratings?"

There was that uncertainty in her voice that made him question it. If there were points, and there were ratings, why would there be an uncertainty between their connection? She also called it rating, not ranking, a subtly difference, but not one that could be ignored. Song Yi shrugged her shoulders, the ratings of the forge were one of its more curious, and famous, aspects.

"I mean just that, they may. I don't know if they do, no one really does. It's just easier to attribute the ratings to the number of points you've acquired, it's a convenient explanation you can give to make people hunt for more points. As for what the rating is, again, it's just that, a rating, not a rank comparing you to the rest, just a rating the realm gives you. The realm arbitrarily hands out ratings to the contestants, there's seven that I know of; Animal, Man, Spirit, Preta, Ascendant, Deva, and Asura."

When you encountered something unknown, attributing it to something known would make it easier to accept, less scary. But in the end, it remained unknown. People with a lot of points had gotten low ratings and people with low points had gotten higher ratings, even those with the same number of points could get different ratings. So they didn't know.

"No one... No, we, don't know what you need to do to get a rating. The information on the difference between each rating isn't all that clear either, but I know that you need to get a Spirit rating or above if you want to pass the wall that separates the Outer and Inner Core. But of course, it's pretty easy to infer that the higher ratings are generally only given to stronger people. How strong? Well, the last person to get the Deva rating got the title Sun's Dew Deva and then went on to conquer the northern and eastern parts of the universe, establishing the Sun Dew Dynasty. And the last person to get the Asura rating got the title Crimson Light Asura and ended up crushing seven galaxies in the northern end of the universe before he was finally killed. Sadly, no one's gotten either the Deva or Asura rating in the last half a million years or so so the universe has been painfully stale since then."

The corners of Song Yi's lips trembled softly as she spoke, almost in a haze. The slaughter of the Crimson Light Asura, the crusade of the Sun's Dew Deva, both were events that had turned the universe upside down. The Sun's Dew Deva remained quiet in his dynasty, but no one doubted that the universe would be turned on its head again if he moved now. But sadly, he remained quiet, he allowed the universe to stagnate.

"Huh, that really was only the most basic and most famous information, I thought you were just kidding."

Huang Ying wasn't lying, he really thought that Song Yi had been joking when she said that she only knew the most basic information. She usually knew quite a bit thanks to her background, but this time Huang Ying already knew a bit over half of everything she had said. Song Yi clicked her tongue when she saw Huang Ying's gaze, the latter simply shrugging his shoulders.

"Oh come on, I was seven at the time, I didn't want to study everything diligently."

"I didn't say anything, so that's all you talking."

Thanks to their chatting, and the light tone, the slightly twisted atmosphere that had settled around them thanks to their earlier conversation had faded. And since Song Yi had finished her explanation, Huang Ying stood up, his gaze peering into the forest that spread out around their clearing.

"Ready to head out?"

It was a pointless question, Song Yi knew that. But saying something was better than saying nothing, words could fill the silence and drown out everything else, that was the beauty of them. Huang Ying gave a light nod of his head, he had heard what he needed so it was time to get things started.

"Yeah, I've heard about what I needed. We're a bit unlucky in that most of our allies didn't end up nearby, but at least one of them arrived fairly close so we can go meet up with them."

Li Jun had kept talking to Huang Ying while he was listening to Song Yi's explanation, but the result wasn't quite satisfactory. Of the items he wanted, only two were within the range of Li Jun's perception. Most of their companions also weren't within range, but Huang Ying had faith that they would manage on their own even if they didn't meet up right away.

"Who is it?"

Song Yi followed after Huang Ying as he started heading for the forest, her heterochromia eyes keeping a close eye on the surroundings. They had entered this realm with quite a few people, far more than she had ever expected someone like Huang Ying to be able to wrangle up. For just one to show up in their vicinity, it really could be said that their luck was rather poor.

Then again, depending on who the companion was then things could become much easier for them, Hei Ya's nose or Hong Yi's wings would definitely be very useful. But as she looked at Huang Ying's profile she knew that it was extremely unlikely that it would be either of the beast companions he had picked up. No, that twisted and excited curve was reserved for just one person.

"It'll be interesting to see, won't it? If this trip gives her the strength to take my head or if I get to keep fighting her."