"Worker... Was it? There is one last thing before I go..." the boy smiled "I would like to answer your question from before... Is my Sect powerful enough to resist?"

He smirked "Why don't you ask my Reverend stage servant, Lu Fang, where he put the drop of Supreme stage blood I gave him? I might need it later! Or wether the two Ancients have completely recovered their strength?"

"From what you said, Blacky probably isn't rebelling as of now, but I wouldn't count on him too much... Still, I believe he won't try to rebel and might even help us! Goldy should alsostep into the Ageless Realm in a short while... So tell me... Where exactly does the danger lie?"

Worker's eyes widened in shock and he suddenly thought back to the battle... That was right: Cheng Hao had a drop of Supreme stage blood! He didn't use it though, it had bugged him then...

Now, his pupils shrunk as he understood the reason! It was because... He didn't have it on himself at the time!

Crossing that out, there were still the two Ancients, with one of them having the cultivation of the Reverend stage! The golden dragon, Blindlight, also was incredibly powerful and would be able to help out if he didn't have to hold back the Hellish Nightmare Dragon, Blacky!

That was right, what would a little low level Reverend stage cultivator possibly be able to do? The only thing able to threaten the Mysterious Light-Shadow Sect would be an attack by the Zhao Clan, but that was so far away the Sect would have long since recovered its full strength!

Worker doubted the boy had predicted a situation such as this would unfold, but he noticed that the boy never gave up a chance to add another card up his sleeve!

He had been completely fooled! He wondered what would a certain lady with golden eyes tell him if she were to find out?

Worker immediately turned around waving his sleeve, applying great pressure on the young boy, and yelled "STOP RIGHT THERE!"

"Remember your promise, old man! One wish!" The boy ignored the attack as it crashed down on the Golden Tower: it cracked slightly but was able to hold on! Another attack though, and it would mean the end of the existence called Cheng Hao!

Worker's face couldn't help but fall when he saw his attack getting repelled by the illusory tower: he had no way of stopping the child as, if he were to break that tower, Cheng Hao would die immediately! He didn't want that, and the boy knew it! He could not attack!

In a beautiful game called chess, there is a particular situation that could be perfect to describe this situation: in chess, you win if you checkmate your opponent (plus a few other ways that the lazy author doesn't wish to look into right now) but amongst skilled player, the chance of a game ending in a draw is higher than a half!

There are quite a few situations in which checkmate isn't possible or you are forced into a draw:

[Note: Yep, yours truly has indeed done some research on the subject and lost quite some time because of it! Isn't he such a good guy? Love you all ?]

Insufficient Material!

There is no way to checkmate against a lone King if one has on the board either: 1) a lone King; 2) a lone King and one Knight; 3) a lone King and one Bishop (One can still lose because the time might run out, but it is I-M-P-O-S-S-I-B-L-E to checkmate in these circumstances, no matter how good you are and how bad your opponent is).

Draw by Repetition!

Both yourself and the opponent find themselves forced into repeating the same exact moves for three times. Either player may point this out and claim a draw.

Fifty-Move Rule!

You and your opponent find yourself in a situation where you cannot move a pawn or make a capture (Also referred to as Irreversible Moves, as such moves cannot be reversed and repeated indefinitely).

After 50 such moves, either player may claim a draw! In this case, no matter how many pieces more than your opponent you have on the board, you can't do anything but hit yourself for not checkmating him earlier!

Both Flags Down!

If neither player has time left on the clock, either player may claim a draw (unless one of the players has already been checkmated or has resigned).

Draw by Agreement!

This is pretty intuitive: players may offer a draw at any time during a game, preferably immediately after making a move. If the opponent would like to accept the draw offer, he/she must do so before making a move, otherwise the draw offer expires! Draw offers may be repeated.

And finally...

[Note: If you ever played a chess game and this was used against you, then you would know how bad of a feeling it is, to have victory within your grasp and see it snatched away just like that! You would feel like going back in time and kick yourself in the balls for giving your opponent the chance to pull this off. It is that much of a pain. The same, if you do this to others, people are gonna hate you. A lot (more than they already do).]

Stalemate!

Stalemate: if a player during his or her turn, is not in check and has no move available... The game is over and the result is a draw!

The opponent still has all his pieces on the chessboard and you only have one king? Doesn't matter. If you cannot move that lone king because otherwise it would be under check, it's a draw.

This is also referred to as a Forced Draw by some!

Cheng Hao laughed and stepped into the bright light. He felt a sense of incredible accomplishment welling up in his chest as he disappeared.

Worker clenched his fist and gritted his teeth "Played... I have been played! Damn brat!"

"..." the man relaxed and his blue eyes flashed with amusement "Fine... Have it your way then! You bought a few more days by going through the door, but if you don't hurry up, your friends will die!"

Worker smiled knowingly "I would really like to know... What exactly will you face within! It might be... I guess I will have to wait for his return to find out! Even I can't interfere..."

The man chuckled and stepped forward: his body seemed to blend with its surroundings as it disappeared...

...

Zhao Clan Mansion, Main Hall corridors. Connecting the main hall to other parts of the castle was a long corridor, wide enough that it could easily allow five men on their horses to ride side by side without any hindrances.

Before stepping in the Main Hall, one would first have to seek permission by announcing themselves to the royal guards protecting the chamber.

Two doors, each five meters tall, four meters wide and three inches thick barred the way. The doors were made out of of iron mixed with a strange mineral, oxidyte, which, other than being half as heavy as iron and twice as hard, also had the characteristic of absorbing force and releasing it right back against the offender.

It is one of the rarest minerals in the Four Beasts Mountain Range, where owning only ten pounds could allow a family to live in comfort for forty years. These two doors, however, weighted together more than two hundred thousand pounds.

A sixth of that, about thirty to forty thousand pounds, was the weight of the oxidyte present in one of the doors. Each of those doors could allow almost four thousand people to live comfortably for four decades! That was without counting the price of the iron!

It was simply unimaginable wealth! Only a major clan such as the Zhao Clan could ever hope to ever gain such wealth in hundreds of years. Thinking about the fact that such a wealth was used to make two doors, this much money really showed off the wealth and power of the Zhao Clan.

In front of those majestic gates, five soldiers wearing a golden armor guarded the Hall. The five of them were currently arguing amongst themselves.

The youngest one was telling the others "Hey! I heard from a friend of mine that about two months ago, the Zi clan got completely wiped out! Apparently there was one survivor that had the brains to run away as soon as possible to notify the main clan!"

Another one frowned upon hearing those words "So that is why Clan Leader has been so irritated recently... And also why the Generals have begun to move! It is because such a fact took place! I thought it was just a rumor..."

"Everybody, I don't know wether what I have heard at the time was true or not... But when that person from the Zi clan spoke about these matters to the Clan Leader, I was inside the main hall!" The first guard, the oldest of the five, finally opened his mouth. He had been silently listening up until now but he also decided to share the things he knew about with his four colleagues.

"Really, eldest brother? Is that true?" The four of them asked at once. The old man nodded and his armor rattled as he leaned on the two frames "According to that man's words, the massacre wasn't carried out by any family or clan... Instead, according to him, the clan had been completely slaughtered by a single person!"

The three of them sucked a breath in. Suddenly one of them spoke up "Was it that Sung stage expert? I heard his cultivation was sealed so, maybe, he found out the way to gain it back!"

The oldest guard spoke up once again "Fool! The seal was laid down by the Clan Master himself! How could a cultivationless idiot like him possible break such a seal? The Clan Master who sealed that Lu Fang is a Reverend stage expert! What's more, that was definitely not the case, because that man has seen the killer!"

The four looked at each other and then spoke together "Please tell us! Who was it!"

The old men felt as if he had gained great face and pointed his nose upwards and laughed. After he recovered he continued his story "You see... The fact that the killer was only one person is not what will surprise you the most!" The old man lowered his voice and the four got closer "The killer actually was... A child!"

At those words, the four of them frowned as disbelief appeared on their face. Seeing that, the old man was slightly angered as he continued "It is the truth! The Clan Master even used the Soul Scan on the poor soul... He is resting even now, his Sea of Consciousness damaged: he has become a cripple and has no chance of recovery..."

Hearing those words, the four guards were startled and did not doubt the man's words anymore. Instead, they even listened more carefully and tried to remember his words to tell their friends later and gain some face!

"The child was apparently really young, not in his teens yet. He wore a red robe, had red hair and wore a mask with a demonic mouth depicted on it. Although he had a low cultivation, he cut through Advanced stage cultivators with his bare hands like cutting tofu and slaughtered Superior stage experts!"

"What's more..." The old man added "Leader promised as a reward for his capture a Flying Sword of a Fourth Grade quality as well as a Reverend Grade Martial Pill!"

Hearing this, the four people's eyes widened and their pupils turned into gold coins!

A Fourth Grade Flying Sword! The Clan Master only had a Third Grade Flying a sword himself, and it was enough to cut mountains apart! A Fourth Grade Flying Sword, what kind of might would it have?

What's more, Reverend Grade Martial Pills! They are Pills that contain Spiritual Energy on par with a Reverend stage expert! For people about to breakthrough to the Reverend stage or that have reached a bottleneck, this was a heaven-sent opportunity!

The five of them weren't guards of the clan's Main Hall just in name: they each had a cultivation base of the mid or high level Sung stage, while the older amongst them had a cultivation of the peak level Sung stage!

One of the four couldn't help but think out aloud "Brothers... This is such an opportunity! If we go kill that bastard, we shall gain such great benefits! What are we waiting for!"

The eldest guard spoke up again, this time his expression was serious "Do so if you seek death!"

"You should know that the Zi Clan is, after all, a branch of the Zhao Clan. This means that not only were there Advanced and Superior stage experts... A few Sung stage experts were present as well! One of them even had the cultivation of the peak Sung stage, just in case that Lu Fang turned rogue!"

The old man looked around and lowered his voice and the other four guards leaned in.

"A golden flash for each of their necks! That was all it took for more than ten Sung stage expert to fall to the ground, beheaded! He said that this was the work of twelve, majestic golden blades! Judging by his description, those blades were on par if not superior to fourth grade Flying Blades! The man at the time had described him with two words... A Crimson Demon!"

The four younger guards shivered and they looked down in shame: experts with cultivation on par or even above their own got cut down with a single slash, what could they possibly hope to do!

Winning against such a fiend and getting the rewards... It was like a toad wishing to eat swan meat! It would simply not happen!

"And that is not all!" The eldest guard spoke and, this time, his eyes were much more serious than they had been before "Young Master, Zhao Bu... Is back!"

The third guard frowned "But why? Wasn't he at the Mysterious Light-Shadow Sect? Why would he be back with such timing?"

The eldest guard's face darkened "That is the problem. He doesn't know. He was over there at one moment and in his room in the Clan Mansion the next! Even Clan Master is puzzled about this..."

The guard shook his head "Anyways, do you remember that apparition in the sky? It came from the same Sect that young master went to! According to him, strange things happened but most importantly..."

He smiled fiercely "The Crimson Demon was there! He is actually not only a child, but also the ex-disciple of the Third Protector protector!" He massaged his neck "My throats is dry, brothers, please, let me rest for a while..."

The second guard spoke up, his expression one of confusion and respect "Ex-disciple? Why is that? Please tell me, Older Brother!" The man removed an alcohol flagon from his Dimensional Pouch and handed it over to the first guard.

"Sure!" The first guard happily received the flagon and took a long sip. His throat burned from the alcohol, his tongue seemed to have become easier to move and he felt like he could speak for days nonstop.

"As I was saying... Ex-disciple! The reason is because... He is now none other than the Sect Head himself! The disciples of the Protectors had a bout over the spot of Sect Leader and he won it easily!" The man took another sip.

"This time though, he used no such thing as the Golden Flying Sword, it can be seen his combat capability is indeed high! What's more, his scheming runs deep and his thinking capabilities are way higher than a child's!"

"Young Master also told Clan Master one thing. I was there at the time and, believe me, when Young Master described the child's speed, he was incredibly pale, as if he was speaking of his encounter with a ghost. According to him..." the man sat down and lifted one of his fingers.

"Even master Yin Hei told me he could barely make out his blurry figure, as the child was so fast he seemed to warp all over the place! Master's cultivation is of the mid level Reverend stage, but I have the feeling that it actually goes way deeper than that!

If even an old monster like him isn't able to see that boy clearly, I doubt anyone below the Reverend stage would be able to bring him down! That bastard... Cheng Hao!"

"...Is what he said" The first guard recited.

"According to him, something big has happened in the Sect, a great battle has been fought. At that time, the child slaughtered thousands of cultivators with a single, mysterious technique! He then proceeded to slaughter ten Sung and Reverend stage cultivators on the spot!"

The four guards felt a chill go down their spine: slaughtering the Reverend stage... Just what kind of power would be required to do that!

"Hearing that, the Second Master, the Clan Master's younger brother, has taken up the task of capturing this crimson demon... on himself!" It could be seen that the guard held great respect and admiration towards this Second Master.

"The Second Master is a martial expert at the peak of cultivation, an expert at the peak Reverend stage, he even owns a fourth grade Flying Sword! If it wasn't for his obsession towards cultivation, he would have long since become the Clan Master!

However, he gave up the spot to his brother which was the 'Brain' of the Duo back when they were still young and hunting people in Jianghu [Note: the 'world' of the Martial Artists]..."

The guard nodded his head knowingly and clenched his fist as his eyes burned with passion "Second Master is preparing to leave this mansion right as we speak! He is preparing to Hunt the Demon... And burn this Mysterious Light-Shadow Sect to the ground! There is no way this child, this Cheng Hao, can possibly hope to survive after offending the might of the Zhao Clan!"