Wu Jian’s teeth clattered and his entire body trembled as he fought against the primal fear this man invoked. He had never felt this overwhelming terror before. It was worse than when he was a child and just a coward, worse than the fear and shock he felt when his entire clan was destroyed. His eyes fluttered rapidly as a vision of him being impaled upon a massive claw flashed before him.

Get a grip! Get a grip! Get a grip, Wu Jian!

Biting his lip hard enough to draw blood, Wu Jian raised Pale Moon at the man. His hands wouldn’t stop shaking.

“You would dare raise your blade against me?” The man raised his eyebrow. His lips quirked upward in an amused smirk. “You’ve got guts, human. Hmmm. You’re the first human in several centuries who was able to move after being doused in my aura. Aaaaah, but the man I fought back than was a true monster. You’re just a welp. I suppose that makes you a little more impressive.” The man clapped. It sounded mocking to Wu Jian’s ears. “It is impressive that someone with such a pitiful cultivation can stand up to me like this. Very well. I’ll humor you for a bit. Come at me.”

The man raised a hand and gestured for Wu Jian to battle, but he remained rooted to the spot, unable to move forward. He was surprised he could even still fly as he was. Despite how he was frozen like a statue, the man did not attack, merely floated there with his arms crossed.

Come on! Move! Move! Mooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooovvvvvvvvvvvveeeeee!

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!”

Wu Jian raised Pale Moon, finally, and began pouring chi into the blade. Dark tears appeared in space. The world around his sword warped.

“Oh?” The man quirked an eyebrow in surprise. “I didn’t expect you to be capable of manipulating the Dao of Space. That’s not something even high level cultivators can manipulate. You must have quite the cultivation method. Now I’m even more curious.”

Wu Jian heard the words, but he couldn’t afford to pay attention to them. He swung his blade down.

[Spatial Severing]

The spatial blade that tore through the atmosphere was far larger and more powerful than any he had unleashed before. It eclipsed the man it traveled toward. Wu Jian could no longer see him. His vision was blocked by the massive tears appearing in space around the sword as it tore through the air.

“Impressive… for a brat.”

Before Wu Jian could even comprehend what was happening, the spatial sword was blasted skyward. All he could do was gawk as he watched the black blade disappear into the sky.

The man did not pay attention to the attack he just sent skyward. He instead looked at his hand, clenching and unclenching it with a thoughtful look on his face.

“Hmmm… if you were a little stronger, that might have actually hurt me.”

He looked back up.

“I hope that’s not all you have, welp.”

This is impossible! There’s no way I can win! He just took my strongest attack and swatted it away like it’s nothing! I can’t win! I’m gonna die! I’m gonna--no! I can’t give up yet! I still have at least one trump card I can play!

Wu Jian took several shaky breaths, trying to calm himself. It was no use. He was too scared. Grimacing, he went deep inside himself anyway, letting his conscious travel along his meridians until it reached his dantian, where Byakko’s blood resided. He didn’t hesitate. Channeling chi into the blood, he activated every drop available.

Chi burst from Wu Jian’s poores like water seeping through the empty cracks in a sieve. He’d poured all the chi he had into the blood, and now he could finally feel the transformation as it happened. His hair grew longer. Fangs jutted from his mouth and poked his lower lip. Nails elongated and began claws. Every muscle in his body bulged as the blood within his veins moved faster than ever before.

“Oooooh. Now this transformation is something I have not seen in a long time. This is making me nostalgic. Tell me, welp, are you a survivor of the White Tiger Sect?”

Wu Jian felt a lot calmer now. The power flowing through him was pushing against the man’s aura, which had been crushing him up to this point. Now that he didn’t feel like he was on death’s doorstep, he could see the things he had missed before… like the fact that this man had a massive tail jutting from behind him and leathery blue wings extending from his back.

This man isn’t human… is he a magical beast?

“I am not,” Wu Jian answered.

The man raised an eyebrow. “And yet you clearly have received Byakko’s blood. Only the highest ranking memebers of the White Tiger Sect ever received such an honor.”

“I just had a chance encounter when I visited the White Tiger Sect Ruins.”

“So even that old tiger’s sect has become naught but dust. Well, such is the way of the world. Anyway, it looks like you can talk now. That’s impressive, considering you’re not much more powerful than the average Deva Realm Cultivator. Byakko’s blood must be nullifying my Domain. Hah! Tigers and dragons always did have an antagonistic relationship. That makes me even more curious about you, but we can talk about that later. For now, I want to see just how powerful you are. Come. Let us do battle.”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!”

Wu Jian roared as he blasted forward, breaking the sound barrier in his mad rush through the sky. He reached the man in less time than it took to blink and swung his sword. It was blocked… with a finger. The man had raised a single finger to block his attack. While Wu Jian’s arms trembled, his opponent was perfectly calm.

“This is a good sword. It’s not from this world. I wonder which artisan of the Nine Heavens made it.”

“Don’t just drop what sounds like important information in the middle of a battle!”

“Ha ha ha! Apologies, welp! It’s been so long since I’ve met anyone interesting. I’m in a talkative mood.”

Wu Jian didn’t know how to feel. This man was just toying with him. Of course, he was far more powerful than Wu Jian. That went without saying. But it was galling to be treated like he was nothing.

I just wanna land one hit!

Wu Jian inhaled a deep lungful of air.

“RAAAAAAHHHHH!!!”

Then released it in a roar akin to a tiger. The man blinked as he staggered back slightly. Wu Jian put all his strength into his arms. Blood burst from his poores like mist as his veins bulged. Space bent and warped. Multiple tears caused portals revealing the blackness of space appeared all Pale Moon.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”

With a final push, Wu Jian sliced right through the man’s finger. Crimson ichor sprayed from the stump. The man looked dumbfounded for all but one second, then grinned.

“HAH! HA HA HA! That was amazing! You cut off my finger! At the Human Limit Realm! What potential! Now it’s time to see how sturdy you are! If you accept my attack, I’ll give you something good!”

Wu Jian wanted to tell this man to shove his attack, but he didn’t have time. The man spun around and all Wu Jian saw was a flash of something cerulean in his face before he was struck.

Wu Jian was fairly certain he had blacked out. When next he was aware, his entire body was in so much pain that he wished he was dead. He blinked his bleary eyes and found the man who had struck him standing above him. He was squatting right next to Wu Jian and poking him with a stick.

“Oh. It looks like you’re alive. You’re pretty sturdy, aintcha?”

“Fugu wuuuu,” said Wu Jian.

He was trying to say “fuck you.”

***

It took several hours for Wu Jian to recover enough to speak. He eventually realized he was lying in a crater… which he could only assume he made when that man smacked him with… with… uh… what did he get hit with? Had that been the man’s tail? He couldn’t even figure it out. Whatever the case, he’d been bested in a single attack. This had never happened before.

“So, now that you can speak, tell me, why do I smell both Byakko and Lord Seiryu on you,” said the man. It was not a question.

“You already know why I smell like Byakko. I don’t know why I smell like Seiryu though. I haven’t met any dragon… oh.” Wu Jian paused, eyes going wide.

The man raised a brow. “Thought of something?”

“My lover practices the Nine Heavenly Dragons Embodiment cultivation method. Could that be why?”

The moment he finished talking, the man squatting next to him drew his lips into a thin line. Wu Jian saw a pair of very sharp canines jutting from his mouth.

“Boy… are you telling me that a dragon and tiger are copulating?” he asked.

“Er… well, we’re both human. She just practices the cultivation method.”

“Haaaaaaaah. So much information has been lost, it seems. Listen, welp, you cannot practice the Nine Heavenly Dragons Embodiment cultivation method unless you are a dragon. It’s very possible your lover is an avatist. Humans and dragons have long since copulated and sired many heirs together. Lord Seiryu himself sired an heir with a human woman many thousands of years ago.” He paused and tilted his head. “I think that woman eventually sired a child with a similar avatism who practiced the Nine Heavenly Dragons Embodiment. He went on to form a kingdom even.”

“Was it the Shang Kingdom?” asked Wu Jian.

“It might be? It’s the one attached to this mountain range.”

“Ah.” Wu Jian nodded as though that explained everything. “My lover is the princess of the Shang Kingdom. There’s a legend that the kingdom’s founder was a dragon, or at least had the strength of a dragon.”

The man did not speak for the longest time. He closed his eyes, sat back, and began rubbing his nose. Wu Jian did not interrupt. He was worried that speaking out of turn would cause this man to turn his face into pulp.

“So… a woman with the blood of my lord flowing through her veins is bedding a man with tiger blood… the world doth work in strange ways.”

“Uh…”

“Don’t speak. I am thinking.”

The man raised a hand, and Wu Jian snapped his mouth closed. He didn’t dare say another word. Perhaps if he had been faced against any other man, but not this man. This was the one who took him when he was at his strongest and still beat him with a single attack. Fighting him was stupid.

Speaking of his strongest, Byakko’s blood had gone dormant. He had used up all the blood’s power and would have to wait for it to recover before he could use it again. Wu Jian wondered how long that would take. Thinking about it now, using the blood like this had been stupid. What if he needed this power later? He would be screwed.

The man finally stood up. He clapped the dust from his pants, then stood up fully and stretched both his arms and wings. Wu Jian warily eyed the tail as it thumped against the ground.

“Well… there’s nothing I can do about you sleeping with my lord’s heir. I could kill you, but the deed has already been done. It won’t solve a thing. Anyway, I want to meet this princess you speak of, so I’ll be traveling with you.”

“Er…”

“Gotta problem with that, welp?”

“No. I’m just… shocked.”

“Don’t be. I’m a dragon. I can do whatever I damn well please.”

“So you really are a dragon…”

“Are you impressed.”

“Very.”

“Hmph. At least you are smart enough to recognize when you should be awed.” The man hooked a thumb at himself and grinned, showing off the sharp fangs lining his teeth. “My name is Loong Chen. I give you the honor of telling me your name.”

This guy is so arrogant…

If this man hadn’t been so strong, Wu Jian would have popped him one right in the face, but he did have a reason to be arrogant. Wu Jian didn’t know how strong this man was, but he was clearly well beyond the Deva Realm.

“My name is Wu Jian.”

“Wu Jian, huh? What a boring name.” Wu Jian twitched. “Anway, let us be off to the Shang Kingdom.”

The man turned away and got ready to take to the sky. Wu Jian felt a moment of panic.

“H-hold on!”

“What is it? I’m not waiting all day. Let’s be off.”

“Wait! Just wait! I have companions who came with me. They’re back at the Ice Phoenix Mountain Range!”

Wu Jian’s battle had taken him quite a ways from the mountain. He was back in the forest. The man glanced at him, then at the mountains, then at him. It looked like he was contemplating just leaving Wu Jian’s companions.

“One of my companions is like a sister to my lover. She’ll be most cross if you leave her.”

“Hah! Ha ha ha ha! Are you trying to guilt me?! I don’t even know your lover, so what makes you think I care about her feelings?! But I do admire your guts. Not many people would dare to even think of guilt tripping a dragon, much less attempt it. Very well. Take me to these companions of yours.”

“Thank you.”

Wu Jian did not let Loong Chen know how relieved he was as he took to the sky. This entire battle had exhausted him. He felt like he had aged several years, and he had used up most of his chi. He was amazed he could still fly at all. As he began traveling back toward where Zhou Lihua and Master Wong Jiu were located, he wondered what this chance meeting with Loong Chen would bring.

He only hoped it wouldn’t inconvenience Hou Jingshu.