(Author: Hello all. The last chapter sure put Liao in a predicament. This chapter delves into the origins of the mountain range and the secrets contained within. What happened to Liao as he fell into the ravine? Will the Great Dragon God save his source of entertainment? As you noticed with the last chapter, the lengths are longer. Trails of thought enter my head and I just write it all down on my notebook and make it flow as best as I can before typing and posting it. Hopefully this chapter will reveal it all. Enjoy.)

Chapter 7: The Mysterious Savior

The Great Dragon God was pleased as the mythic lion turtle appeared. Granted it was only about six feet tall and at Spirit Sage level, it was strong enough to pose a threat. The dragon god cheered as Cao rode Huilong into battle, the boy's halberd raised high in the sky.

This was why Liao was given the jade medallion. It served as a beacon and allowed the dragon god to watch Liao as if he was the star of a live movie. The dragon god only wished he had live family members of the Xu lineage to eat as he watched the fight.

"What are you doing you fool!" the dragon god roared as he saw Liao freeze the ground below the lion turtle. "It's too heavy for your weak ice qi!"

"Ah," the dragon god sighed in disappointment as the lion turtle's right paw slashed at the left side of Liao's head. "At least his leftt eye is not cut. Well, the scar makes a man. WAIT! Don't fall into the ravine. If you're gonna die, you need to die in front of the audience! Not in some ravine! Don't fall! Don't fall!"

The dragon god roared in anger after Liao's body crashed four times on the ground and fell into the ravine. This was not the "glorious death" the dragon god wanted from Liao. Liao did not even get hit by sacrificing himself and taking the blow for someone else.

"I have to save that idiot mortal's life," the dragon god sighed and its eyes flashed a bright jade. As Liao's body crashed into the huge river below, the jade medallion beneath his clothes shined and the jade colored qi of the Great Dragon God entered Liao's dantian and invaded his realm of qi.

The realm of qi expanded rapidly and Liao broke through to fourth stage Spirit Knight as the qi of the dragon god was so great, it made the qi of an immortal, the goal of all martial experts, as great a difference as the qi of a baby to an adult.

Liao's body healed due to the massive qi entering his meridians and healing the bruise on his forehead and stopped the blood over his left eye. The dragon god decided not to heal the wound and let it scar as punishment as well as turned the left eye's color to ash. It was not a benevolent dragon god and only saw Liao as entertainment to pass the time.

The realm of qi also changed due to the dragon god's qi. The golden lightning dragon roared as its golden scales turn to jade. The brown eyes of the two-headed dragon became ash in color. The dragon's pattern of continuous three loops extended to seven and the lake of arctic cold water tripled in size and small glaciers formed and broke the surface.

Satisfied at its generous actions, the dragon god decided to leave the rest to fate as Liao drifted along the river. The boy would be strong enough to fight any Spirit Knight level mythical monsters on his own. If he ended up as a meal to a Spirit Sage mythic beast, than that was all Liao amounted to. The dragon god would find another source of entertainment on another planet. After all, immortality meant it could live forever unless it was killed. It had all the time in the infinite numbers of galaxies and universes.

A distance away from Liao, a girl around twelve was searching the river for a place to meditate and cultivate qi. She was a third year student from Twin Star Academy and had come to the bottom of the ravine for training. The bottom of the ravine made the mountains look like the walls of a grand canyon. The qi was denser and the mythic monsters were also much more powerful.

As she saw Liao drifting in the water, she wondered how the ten year old boy ended up at the bottom of the ravine. She didn't see any wounds on Liao save for a fresh scar down his left eye.

She swam into the river and pulled Liao to shore. She hesitated and breathed into Liao's mouth and pounded on his chest, hoping to resuscitate him and make him breath. She let out a sigh of relief as Liao's eyes opened while he spit out river water and gasped for air. She stood up and walked a few feet away from him, her face turning red.

"Huh? W, where am I?" Liao shouted, startled and looked at his chest. "What is this? I broke two qi cultivation stages and reached the fourth stage? Wait! I was attacked by the lion turtle! My eye! What happened to my eye!"

Liao crawled to the river and saw a fresh scar over his left eye, the wound healed, and his left eye had turned into the color of grey ash. He put his hands on his face and thought it was a dream. He could clearly remember crashing into the ground four times. He had to have bruises or broken bones on his body.

"Thank me boy," the dragon god said as Liao heard a voice talk to his mind through the jade medallion. "If it wasn't for the fact that you would have died without a glorious death, I would not have saved your life. My qi changed your body and even now you have slightly more muscles and a vast amount of qi. You probably have more qi than a Spirit Sage but your capabilities are still at the fourth stage Spirit Knight. Train hard and fight another perilous battle of life and death. Continue to entertain me and I will bless you with my qi again."

Liao nodded and was lost in thought. The girl stared at him and wondered what he was thinking. Her eyes narrowed as the jade dragon engraving on the black medallion shined and wondered if it was a magical artifact. She assumed that is was the reason he survived what gave him that scar and threw him into the ravine.

"Be more careful boy," the dragon god continued. "I might not be able to save your life a second time. I will contact you again if I feel the need. Right now, you have bigger problems and a guest. The girl pulled you from the river and saved you. Farewell. Hopefully you die a bloody, glorious death."

"What?" Liao exclaimed and noticed a girl two years older than him. She had a slender body and puberty was kind to her as her chest had developed nicely and she had a baby face. Her smooth black hair and bright purple eyes made Liao's heart skip a beat and he wondered what the feeling was.

"Thank you for saving me," Liao said as he stood up and bowed. "My name is Liao Lu and I am an applicant for Twin Star Academy. I was attacked by a mythic lion turtle and has thrown into the ravine due to a blow to my head. What is your name?"

"My name is Yueying Weiss," she answered. My father is from Roshalt and my mother is from the Wei dynasty's empire. You must have been born there as you are wearing the armor of the Wei army. Were you a soldier during the battles against rebels?"

"Yes," Liao replied and said, "Do you know how to go up the ravine Yueying? My friends and I are sealing mythical monsters for our trial and they must be looking for me."

"No," she said, shaking her head and said, "I come down here and go back up using my qi. I am at the bottleneck of fifth stage Spirit Sage. I came here to cultivate the vast qi and break through to first stage Spirit Lord. I am a third year student at Twin Star Academy. Come find me when you become an official student and wear the white uniform of the students. I'll be waiting Liao Lu."

Liao watched as she ran along the riverbank and a part of him wanted to follow her but she was just too fast. He noticed her use water, darkness, and wood qi as she disappeared from view. He was shocked as he had never met someone who could use three different types of qi and realized she must have sealed a mythic beast. Those who sealed a mystic beast gained the power to use the qi types of the mythic beast and vice versa.

Most people tend to seal a mythic beast that had one of the same elemental affinities as they already knew how to cultivate that type of qi. The main reason was that the more elemental qi one could use the more powerful the wielder. The problem was that the wielder had to cultivate vaster amounts of qi to break the bottleneck of each qi cultivation stage with each qi elemental affinity they possessed.

"What am I thinking?" Liao thought and shook his head. "I need to quickly get out of here and meet the others. I might be lucky and seal a Spirit Stage mythic beast while I am down here."

Liao meditated as he focused qi into his meridian channels. His body grew warm as the qi flowed and strengthened his body. Liao summoned Meteor Fang from his ring and began his search along the river. He was shocked as he saw bodies of Spirit Sage beasts mangled on the floor. Liao felt curious as to what could kill so many Spirit Sage beasts as he followed the trail of corpses from the river and into a small cave entrance around seven hundred yards away.

As he entered the cave, he wanted to store some of the corpses into his ring and save them for a meal, but he didn't know if the area was safe. Mythic beast meat contained vast amounts of qi and eating the meat was more effective than meditating. He needed to be strong to be recognized by his father and eating the meat would increase his qi cultivation as a faster rate. He had been escorting supply lines before as a lieutenant captain but his two brothers were on the battlefield as battalion commanders on the frontlines. Compared to their accomplishments, he just played a supporting role for the army. Not to mention his father said they were at Spirit Lord stage. Compared to him, the difference was as great as heaven and earth.

He could hear fighting further in and focused lightning qi to crackle around his body. He made his way through the dark cave using the lightning as a light source and saw a bright light where he heard sounds. Knowing it must be what was killing the monsters, Liao stopped focusing his qi and quietly crept toward the light, rubbing his eyes as the sudden brightness as he arrived at a bright clearing.

"Imoogi!" Liao whispered in awe as he saw a giant black snake with a dragon's head breathe fire at numerous mythic monsters. Liao watched excitedly as he saw the imoogi slaughter and burn its victims. The imoogi had suffered numerous wounds and its blood sprayed like a fountain as it desperately fought with its back to a black, hexagon shaped rock behind it. Liao narrowed his eyes and focused his qi into them. His eyes widened as he saw a small egg around a foot in size lying against the rock.

Liao's heart froze as the imoogi was finally slain as a mythic monster as one Spirit Sage level appeared near its corpse. The beast looked like a purple grizzly bear and had developed black armor on all four limbs. He saw a large burn on its right side from the imoogi and decided to kill it. Imoogi mythic beasts hatched at spirit sage level and the mother must have been at Spirit King level to slay so many mythic beasts like trash.

An imoogi at Spirit Lord level mythic beast would not have been able to kill the mythic beasts by the hundred as the imoogi he just witnessed. He also wanted to investigate the hexagon shaped rock as it might contain a great secret.

He focused his lightning qi into his sword and covered himself in ice qi. Yelling at the top of his lungs, he charged toward the injured monster. The bear was startled and howled at Liao. Liao focused on staying at the right side of the bear as he began slashing at the huge burn. The bear snarled in rage and tried smashing its claws at Liao, but Liao would freeze the ground around him as he moved, breaking the bear's balance as it tried to attack.

Liao knew he had to kill it quickly before the bear would get used to the pain and raised Tiger Fang high. He focused all his qi into the blade and it shined brightly as lightning crackled around him.

"DIEEE!" Liao screamed as he smashed the blade into the ground toward the bear. A huge wave of lightning spread from the point of impact like a small wave, incinerating the ground as it made its way to the bear. The mythic beast roared in agony as the lightning pierced its burnt side and Liao smelt badly burnt meat as the bear fell to the ground, dead.

"I really have to thank the Great Dragon God," Liao gasped as he used the blade as a crutch. "If I wasn't at the fourth stage, I probably would have been dead before I attempted the first strike. My ice qi would not have strong enough to freeze the ground beneath the bear."

Liao went on his knees and bowed to the ground in front of the dead imoogi, fully knowing that the main reason for living was the giant burn and exhaustion of the bear caused by its fight. He made a silent prayer and put the body of both of the mythic beasts into the ring, leaving the corpses of the others as they were.

Liao meditated and silently recovered his qi. A half hour later, Liao stood up and walked toward the egg. He gently poured his qi into the egg, accelerating its growth and watched it hatch. A shiny black imoogi with azure colored eyes stared blankly at him. Liao was ecstatic as the imoogi had elements of fire and destruction, an element as rare and powerful as wood, darkness, and light. Liao quickly took out his talisman and placed it on the imoogi's head. He watched the talisman drain dark violet qi and quickly fused his own qi into the talisman, shattering it into pieces.

Liao's dantian shook as both qi entered his body and fused together as it entered his realm of qi. The dark violet qi changed his realm of qi and Liao watched as the one head of the dragon breathed fire while the other breathed lightning. The dragon stopped its continuous looping pattern and began flying a few feet above the lake in one big circle. Black energy seemed to crackle from the dragon, breaking pieces of the glaciers the two-headed dragon would pass. Even the lake had grown in size into a small sea with glaciers twenty feet tall appearing at random.

"Amazing! If only I broke to the fifth stage. I guess four different types elemental types of qi made it more difficult for me to break the bottleneck," Liao gasped in awe.

"Hello master," the imoogi greeted happily and slithered up Liao's leg and rested around his neck. "Thank you for killing the mythic bear that killed my mother."

"You really do talk!" Liao grinned happily and said, "You saw what happened? You're not mad I took the body?"

"No. It is to be expected that the body of a mythic beast would be devoured upon death," the imoogi said. "I need a name master. Give me a name."

"I will name you Hunluan, for chaos," Liao said. "You have destruction and fire qi and sealing your soul gave me the ability to use them as well. Together, we will walk the path to immortality. I also have The Great Dragon God as my patron. You might be able to meet the dragon god someday. Can you turn into a dragon when you get older?"

"No master, but I do what you mean as I have your memories," the imoogi sighed. "Imoogi are lesser dragons spawned from a spirit beast dragon. Only a spirit beast imoogi can become a dragon. Mythic beasts don't have that luxury."

"Hmm, so soul binding a mythic beasts shares my memories to it. I guess its not too bad as I can use fire and destruction qi but I have no idea how to use it. I'll have to stick with lightning and ice qi until I learn more at the academy," Liao pondered and said, "So what is the hexagon rock your egg was hatching next to?"

"Oh, that," Hunluan said. "Apparently it was created by human immortals. It contains a series of images of the blade style known as The Sundered Heaven Force. I see master wields a blade. This is very good as you can learn the ancient blade techniques. If you wielded a sword, I would have advised you to change weapons."

"You're very smart for a hatchling," Liao grinned.

"Of course," Hunluan said as it rested around his neck. "Mama taught me a lot while I was in the egg. Having so much qi, of course my intelligence and power would be above others when I hatched. I am more powerful than you master as I am about mid-stage Spirit Sage level. Quickly, learn the ancient techniques and destroy the rock. It has finally served its purpose once you learn them. No need to let it remain here for another to master it."

Liao meditated and practiced the ancient blade style. He was happy as he was a novice with the blade and just focused qi into his body to make random hits. The academy was where students would learn how to focus their qi and use techniques that effectively used qi to its potential.

By the time he was done, sun rise had appeared. He made a silent prayer of thanks to whoever left the ancient techniques on the rock and destroyed it. Knowing he spent too long in the ravine, he stored Meteor Fang back into the ring and summoned the three daggers from his tattoo as he faced the ravines walls outside the cave. He might not be at Spirit Sage level, but he could impale his daggers into the cliff and use them as stepping stones.

He used his lightning qi on his daggers and controlled them through magnetism. He was happy beyond words as he remembered admiring people in wuxia novels controlling weapons to fly with their qi.

"This is so awesome. I wish my real parents could see this," Liao said sadly as he made his ascent up the walls. Cao and the rest of the Knight Destroyers had spent the last day and night trying to find a way down but failed. Ling was the only one with a happy mood as she had sealed a mythic beast of her own: a white phoenix with light affinity named Mei.

Liao's face broke into a smile as he saw his friends from a distance and quickly waved his hand, the daggers disappearing back into the dragon tattoo on his shoulder.

"Liao!" Richard and Cao cried as they saw his tattered clothes. "You're alive!"

"I knew you'd make it buddy," Cao laughed as he put his arm wrapped Liao's head and brushed his knuckles on it. "Making us worry all night. taste my wrath."

"Let the guy go," Richard laughed and said. "I am truly sorry for what happened. Bartholomew also says he is sorry. You can't talk to him but he says he is, mentally anyway."

Liao stared at the lion turtle Richard rode on with mixed feelings. He was surprised that Ling had sealed a phoenix and Yueying's face appeared in his mind. He felt guilt for some reason and shook his head.

"You sealed a baby imoogi?" Sakura gasped as Liao and the party gathered together. "It's so cute!"

"This is Hunluan," Liao introduced and the imoogi slithered its tongue in greeting. "I happened to drift into a cave and saw this egg. The qi is so dense there that I broke to the fourth stage of qi cultivation."

"Why lie master?" Hunluan asked.

"They can't find out what happened," Liao said mentally. "I can't reveal the existence of the Great Dragon God or the blade techniques."

"I think you just don't want to tell them about Yueying," the imoogi laughed. as its soul was bound to Liao, it had seen his memories. It knew its master's true identity and the dragon god that killed him and brought him to it. Hunluan was grateful despite his master's pain as it would have been eaten by the mythic bear that killed its mother.

"How is the situation?" Liao asked, ignoring Hunluan's remark.. "I'm pretty sure our party had the greatest luck in sealing monsters. We actually have mythic beasts from myths and legends as our soul bound partners. I'm afraid we will have a big target on our backs."

"Only four parties have passed," Cao said silently. "The parties with Spirit Sages killed off the competition. They began attacking each other before making a truce. They are the four that passed. Ling sent the proctor, Marcus, as message through Mei, saying we are on our way. I told her two as I knew you would show soon."

Liao's eyes moistened at the faith of his friends and felt guilty for lying to them. Hunluan watched his master with amusement and fell asleep, its chest massaging Liao's neck with every breath.

"We passed," Cao passed as he jumped atop his tiger. "The Knight Destroyers are the greatest!"

The others sighed with relief and made their descent back to Marcus. Marcus shouted with surprise as he saw their mythic beasts, still in shock of Ling's white phoenix sending him the message. The other parties threw jealous glances toward them, but Cao just laughed and told the others to ignore them.

"I'm finally a student here father," Liao thought as he received the white uniform of the Twin Star Academy. Marcus sent away the other parties and told them a different teacher would be in charge of their respective parties. Marcus couldn't let such an invaluable party with vast luck and potential slip his grasp. The higher their success, the bigger his pay as well as the spread of his fame.

"Let's go Knight Destroyers," Marcus said as he lead them in the academy. "Time to learn qi techniques and walk the path to immortality. I'm sure before long, you will become pillars of the academy and spread your fame all over Roshalt. Under my guidance that is!"

Chapter 6: Besieged on all Sides MAIN PAGE Chapter 8: Jealousy and Envy