Writer's Noteplanned for Saturday.

Chapter 14: The Unwanted Guests

"That Guan Hai's a demon," Jing said as he and Sun Yi laid back on the ground, exhausted. "Two weeks and all he's done is force us to run around the school with that accursed tiger. I swear it smiles every time it draws blood from us."

"We're better off than Yang," Lin said, pointing behind himself. "Yang has to fight three magical beasts of the same cultivation, at the same time."

"At least he gets to keep the magical cores from the beasts he kills," Mei sighed as she and the three others arrived. They looked back and saw Yang impale an elephant magical beast from beneath the trunk. The elephant shrieked once before Yang twirled in the air and impaled the elephant through the side of its head. Beside them lay two tigers, one with its head bleeding a few feet from its body.

"Seeing that still scares the hell out of me. Just how can he do that?" Jing muttered as they saw Yang rip out the core from the elephant's head and take a bite out of the core as if it were an apple.

"I can honestly say I have never seen such a barbaric way of absorbing spirit energy from a magical core," Shen Hua agreed. "He's getting better with the spear. It seems more natural than when he fought Shen Dong."

"Mei, where did the professor train you?" Lin asked her as she was the only one not running after three days.

"I was sparring with Yang. Teacher said I have more spirit energy than all of you, save Yang. However, I lacked fighting experience. Yang beat my skin black and blue for two hours before resuming his individual training," Mei answered. "I also learned more about lightning. Lightning is fast, but it also has destructive power. Teacher has been training me to utilize the power of lightning along with its speed. I literally have to strike the dummies multiple times.

"Those can only be destroyed by someone of the Meteor Vessel Stage. Cultivation weaker than that would only make tiny scratches which are immediately repaired with ease," Sun Yi noted. "It can repair any damage of that level as it is not strong enough."

"I know. I was forced to keep striking the same spot over and over again. Slowly, I can feel my sword harness the power of lightning. I need to condense it into one point and make it burst wildly at the intended target," Mei agreed.

"You're not at the level to combine the fast aspect of lightning with the destruction aspect of thunder. Lightning and thunder are one and the same, but are also different. Focus of the strength aspect before you fuse them into the destruction aspect," Yang sighed as he appeared, unable to endure her ignorance.

"You know about that?" Shen Dong asked, surprised. He, himself, specialized in the strength aspect of thunder.

"These are the laws of the elements. I reached the level of Understanding the Elements in all elements. However, I am currently able to only use three," Yang said.

"Wait, we can gain more element attributes?" Lu Jing asked.

"Do you have a high ranked Divine Tattoo?" Yang asked.

"No. I have the low ranked," Lu Jing muttered silently, Sun Yi also nodding.

"Then my special method is impossible for you. Even if you qualified that requirement, your Spirit Realm could not endure it. Only I can do it," Yang grinned.

"It's not possible unless you drain the spirit energy of a legendary artifact," Shen Dong shook his head.

"Mei, what is the one element practitioner art I use that you hate the most?" Yang asked.

"Coiling Spirit Drain Art. That light element art drains the spirit energy from my very blood," she answered.

"Precisely that element art. You see, draining spirit arts are incredibly dangerous and more powerful than they seem. If your body is blessed by the Divine Tattoo, or my own unique method (the neidan); then you can take the element art a step further and literally drain the soul along with the spirit energy. Refine the soul in the Spirit Realm to gain the talent of the victim. Fight against Heaven's Will to possess talent above your birth and fate," Yang said.

"Draining the soul?!" they all cried, paling with fear.

"We've been fighting for a long time, me using this element art on you many times. Tell me, dear sister, do you hunger lately?" Yang grinned.

"What do you mean? Of course I get hungry. I eat my meals and......oh," Mei gasped and Lin also stunned with shock.

"You really should thank me. Well, I thanked myself," Yang said holding up his free right hand as the left held the spear loftily. Blue lightning crackled on his fingertips, different from Mei's black lightning.

"It's blue?" Lin frowned. "Wait, that's the lightning attribute!"

"I don't need to kill someone if their innate talent is extremely high. Mei has a high ranked Divine Tattoo," Yang began lying about Mei's Yin Yang Divine Tattoo. "Naturally, I just need to siphon enough of her soul to make her talent mine. However, her Spirit Realm has a particularly resistant aspect."

"The Eye of Darkness," Lin and Mei thought.

"The blue lightning is due to it being unnatural and my highest element affinity is water. After all, most poisons are like mists or liquid in nature. It is obvious poison and water element have a symbiotic relationship. After all, the body is mostly water and the poison always involves the blood or organs which is liquid or sustained by it," Yang grinned. "If I used the Coiling Spirit Drain Art on someone else, it would take many lives. Many lives. It wouldn't be a problem though. It is easy to make enemies."

"You have the potential to learn all element attributes?" Guan Hai asked as he appeared.

"No, no. That is impossible. The world is made of Yin and Yang energy. The world itself is made of fire, water, wind, and earth. In ancient times, they believed it to be made of five elements. Those five elements were fire, water, wood, earth, and metal," Yang said.

"Eh? Five elements and metal is one of them?" Lu Jing asked.

"Yes. Wood feeds Fire, Fire creates Earth, Earth bears Metal, Metal strengthens Water, and Water nourishes Wood. Five elements that benefit each other. They can also harm each other. Wood parts Earth, Earth dams Water, Water extinguishes Fire, Fire melts Metal, and Metal chops Wood. These are the ten basic relationships between the elements that also cross with the other elements. Those elements are what breathe life on the planet. The other elements are just a result of those clashes. Nowadays, people assume it is the wind as many dream of flight like the birds and dragons. Earth does bear metal and people classify the ore as part of the earth. That is why people assume there is only four basic elements," Yang answered.

"It does make sense," Sun Yi said. "Since you are saying Yin and Yang energy make up the world and the world is created through five elements; then you refer to the body as the world?"

"Precisely," Yang said. "The body can only contain two types of spirit energy. Any more and it breaks. The world is made of five elements, so the practitioner can only have five element affinities at most. I now have four: earth, water, light and lightning."

"I also plan to find a fragment of the Elemental Sovereign of Lightning to augment my power," Yang thought but did not say it aloud.

"How do you know this?" Guan Hai asked.

"I read," Yang said simply. "I read a lot as a child. I didn't need to wastefully display my natural fighting prowess when I already know I am strong. I also had a body weak to the cold before the Awakening Ritual. That is another reason to stay indoors with a brazier by my side to keep me warm."

"No wonder you looked down on us," Lu Jing said. "You already know so much."

"Humans are....a race of bursting vitality. You constantly advance in cultivation and civilization. You forget tradition as you constantly explore the unknown. Me, I move at my own pace," Yang assessed. "What do you know of fire?"

"Fire destroys and burns," Jing answered.

"No. Fire also creates and melts. Fire melts metal and certain seeds only sprout once the ground is razed by fire. Fire sustained man and allowed their civilizations to rise and survive the cold winters in higher numbers. Fire brings light in the darkness and is also fluid as water," Yang shook his head. "People say the planet is mostly water. However, that is the surface. Beneath the earth lies fire. Lava and magma is fire and earth in harmony, turning into liquid. It is the blood of the world."

"But darkness eats away at the world, at me," Mei said.

"Fool. Darkness is also full of life. Certain animals thrive in darkness, afraid of the light as we are of darkness. Darkness is ever-present in light, evident by the shadows beneath us. Darkness is the most plentiful element, the whole galaxy wrapped in its cold embrace. The sun takes but a small part. Darkness also sustains us. Every time we close our eyes, we see only darkness. We do not see the flesh inside our eyelids, only darkness. With the absence of sight, other senses can also grow at levels above a normal person. Darkness is not only a curse, but a blessing. Too many people associate it with evil because it is more convenient to be and many religions make it so. After all, most religions see the light element as holy in itself and not the dangers it also carries," Yang laughed. "There is no such thing as good or evil. You are conforming them to your own sense of morality and ethics. Do you think animals believe this way? Higher human intelligence makes us arrogant and assume it is so."

"He's right. You can't be afraid," Lin said, Mei silent as she heard the words.

Yang moved away from them and sat down, meditating. Changes appeared in his Spirit Realm. Blue lightning now crackled above the land, now a giant island with tiny rivers surrounded by a large body of water. The moon shined brilliantly and the night sky was beautiful with the distant stars and streaks of blue lightning. The addition of the lightning attribute brought no chaos to his elements.

"The ideal fifth element would be fire, expanding land and mountains by creating a vast volcano," Yang said as he opened his eyes. "Cultivation will be slowed with an additional element attribute."

Yang rose to his feet, blue lightning crackling around his legs. He began to tilt his body to and fro until he became a blur. The blue lightning rose and crackled all over his body. Slowly, he started moving forward and backwards with tiny steps. Suddenly, he stopped and then burst forward. Sand flew behind him as he moved throughout the training ground, the other students shocked. He was using a lightning element art so soon?

"Soaring Volt Dragon Art," Yang sighed. "That's a good name. Not only is my speed increased, I can accumulate the speed into bursts of strength. Wrapped in lightning, my very touch paralyzes."

Yang decided to control his speed and test it by weaving through the line of dummies at the far side of the training grounds. He would run left or right, constantly changing his direction and speed. He stopped at one and began to practice accumulating the speed of his kicks into raw power. The ground crackled and small sparks sizzled the wood and steel dummy which constantly repaired similar to self-regeneration.

"Now that is what Yang meant," Shen Dong said to Mei. "Slow down your body and increase the speed in a precise location, turning it into an unstoppable force. Your youngest brother is truly an enigma."

"I give up trying to beat him," Mei sighed. "I have to face the darkness and truly make it my own power."

"Mei," Lin said as he saw Mei return to her temporary dorm for the two and a half months.

"I'm returning back to my dorm. Qing, come with me," Shen Hua said and the usually silent Sima Qing followed her.

"Don't you two weaklings go anywhere," Guan Hai said as Sun Yi and Lu Jing also headed back. "You two spar against each other. Whoever loses will be in charge of sharpening the claws of my tiger."

"Crap!" Lu Jing cried and attacked Sun Yi immediately. The two began to fight a desperate battle as Lin and Shen Dong stared at Guo Yang.

"Your brother is not only strong, but wise. Do you know why he hates birds?" Shen Dong asked.

"Dunno. My grandma suspected that they might have pooped on him as he was a child. Maybe he was jealous that they were free and he could fly while he suffered and had to travel with the warmth of a brazier. I was too young to notice," Lin answered and saw Yang grin at the phoenix with a glint in his eyes. "Yang! Grandma said the next time you attack her phoenix, she'll have the Guo Clan sub branch members let their avian magical beasts rest here."

"Tch," Yang said through gritted teeth and spat on the ground. He went over to his hydras and began sparring with them, dodging as their many heads tried to bite him.