"Ahh, has it always been this bumpy?"

Yin Long muttered somewhat quietly to himself as he rode on Jin Wang's back. This obviously wasn't the first time he rode on his companion's back as he ran, but still, this occasion felt different from the previous ones. Every time Jin Wang's paws struck the ground, every time they rolled forward before he raised them again, every time he bent the joints in his legs. Each movement sent a jolt through Yin Long's body, shook his wounded arm, added another tiny pang of pain.

Yin Long was quite accustomed to pain, but uncomfortable things were still annoying, resulting in his initial mutter. Still, he didn't tell Jin Wang to slow down, nor did he change his position to ease the discomfort. The reason was simple, he could feel it. Every time Jin Wang moved his leg, every time his paws struck the ground. The minute movements of his that caused the discomfort, the tiny vibrations of force that were born when a paw met the ground, the way they moved through Jin Wang's body to reach him.

They were uncomfortable so he felt them, and he felt them so he could study them. They seemed minor and inconsequential, and yet they caused him discomfort. So he studied them. If they could annoy him, pain him, then they would be able to do the same to others. If he could find a way to incorporate them into his techniques then his sword skills would be able to reach a new depth. It may just be one centimetre deeper, but it was by stacking thousands of minor things like this on top of another that you could reach unfathomable depths.

Paw met stone and rolled forward. Joints bent and paws left stone, tiny remnants of force unable to leave them in time so they were left to linger, meander as they scattered. And then paw met stone again and created new force, the entire body pushed forward as joints bent. It felt mechanical when spoken, but it felt natural when you observed it, it felt right.

His arm throbbed, the fingers he wounded when he experimented with his body cultivation ached. Each step was a throb, each bent joint was an ache. His eyes unconsciously closed as he focused, drowning out the surroundings. His arm ached and a second passed, his fingers throbbed and another second passed, his entire arm throbbed and a third second passed.

He drowned out the world, drowned out Jin Wang, drowned out himself. In the end, only that throbbing remained, only the ache of passing seconds. Minuscule amounts of force produced by minor movements, tiny vibrations coursing through flesh and bone, naturally searching for the weakest spots to inflict the greatest amount of damage. One throb, one second. One ache, one annoyance.

When an ache and a throb came together they became pain, when two of each came together they would be agony. But one second, one second was too long. In a battle, one second was the line that marked the difference between life and death. If you were faster, you would live, if you were slower you would die.

So one second was unacceptable. The two seconds needed for an ache and a throb, the four seconds for two of each, they needed to be condensed. But how? How would he have to alter the movements, how would he have to move to condense four into one? He pondered that question. He focused and observed, he memorized the 'form' of the vibrations and force, once he knew the form he could work on replicating it.

"...Is ours!"

A voice bubbled to the top of Yin Long's mind, reaching towards him from the world that he had drowned out. He felt Jin Wang turn violently beneath him, something sharp passing by his face and leaving a small cut as a result. He gave up on his training and opened his eyes to the familiar darkness again, a small breath slipping out between his lips.

"Shame."

There was something there, in that thought of his, he was sure of that. But he was interrupted before he could get anywhere with it, all he was left with was the 'form' of that force and the promise that he could focus on it again later.

He raised his gaze while resting his good hand on Jin Wang's head, calming the dangerous growls he was unleashing. As was to be expected, the battle in front of him was still exceedingly ferocious. One person held the treasured key fragment of the Swordsoul's Edge sect and the sect was trying to reclaim it, chasing after him while launching every attack they had available. And all the while, the other people that had tried to steal the fragment for themselves were also taking part, occasionally attacking the one who had the key fragment while occasionally attacking the sect members that were blocking their path.

The attack that grazed Yin Long's cheek was just a wayward strike that had been deflected, the people here were so focused on either fleeing with or reclaiming the stolen treasure that they didn't even turn to look towards Yin Long. Granted, if they knew that it was him then they would definitely pay more attention, he was the one with the greatest potential of making off with the item after all.

"Alright. Let's wait for a bit longer. They're getting pretty close to the spatial array, we'll snatch it and make a run for it when we're close enough to close the distance within time."

Yin Long spoke quietly while lowering his upper body. Jin Wang was luckily stained by copious amounts of blood so the sheen of his golden fur was dimmed significantly, allowing them to blend into the night as they stalked their prey.

"Ah, it really takes me back."

There was a small smile on Yin Long's face as he leaned against the back of Jin Wang's head. He used to do things like this quite often in the past, back when he still worked as the dark blade of the Lang clan. Stalk the enemy, find their weakness, stab right into it, move on to the next target. Sometimes quick, sometimes slow, always efficient.

"I wonder how Big Ru is doing... Hope she's found a man yet, otherwise, mother might be a bit sad once I crack open the gates."

It was perhaps not the right thought to have when you were reminiscing about your past as an assassin, but Yin Long had chosen that work precisely for his family so perhaps it couldn't be helped. And as he was already thinking back to his sister, his tongue couldn't help but remember the taste of the wines she used to brew. They weren't as good as what you could buy in the finer stores, she was just an amateur after all. But to him, they were the best in the world, it was a taste he sorely missed.

"Ah... I want to go home."

He spoke quietly and fondly, but his hand still traced Jin Wang's mane, it was time to act. The lion sprung into action immediately and charged forward. He didn't rush into the fray, he ran alongside it and quickly rushed for the front, Yin Long keeping a close eye on the people in the battle.

"Oy, it's him!"

Someone spotted him as they ran, but Yin Long was not in the habit of giving his opponents a chance to react upon seeing him, at least not when he did things similar to his old profession. The law of Yin surged out from his body, it rushed through the air like a scream of pain and delved into the ground, stabbing into one of the shadows crawling through the night.

A hoarse scream rang out from within the darkness as a human figure emerged, clutching its left knee. But Yin Long's focus, as well as everyone else's focus, was on the small fragment coated in yellow light that hovered in front of the shadow-clad figure. Guided by the law of Yin, the fragment flew over to Yin Long, resting calmly just above his palm.

"Farwell. Swordsoul's Edge, I give you my sincere thanks for the sword arts I have learned from you."

Yin Long lowered his head honestly as he thanked them, Jin Wang leaping away and into the spatial array. Yin Long immediately activated it so that the sect couldn't stop him, space around him warping as he held the fragment. He didn't absorb it straight away this time, last time he did so he fainted and had to be carried away by Xiao Yi Yun. It would have to wait until he was in a slightly safer place. The spatial array finished activating and sent him away, his destination known only to him.