"The Jiangshi we summoned did not try to harm this man like it had with the others in the past. Does that not seem suspicious to you?"
"I think we established what we wanted from him. I'm not really concerned about what Jiangshi's personal interests are."
"Li Feng, be sober, please. I beg of you. The Jiangshi as a group never stray away from impish tactics such as interrupting our practices. Something has to have happened—or there's something about this man—who hasn't even revealed his name to us."
"Sect Leader Hua, I suspect you've been leaving Hua Yi to too much speculation."
"Li Feng! I am right and you know that. The Jiangshi need to have some sort of bond or something with a person for them to not harm them. Or a person has to sell half of their qi to them. Or… give them their name."
Zane turned over on the hard bed, tired of hearing the same conversation—it was a nice sleep while it lasted. In fact, he'd never slept this well in almost years.
"Is he awake?"
Zane opened his eyes, then closed them at the sudden light before placing a hand over his eyes and rubbing them. Once he had deemed the blurriness gone, he sat up and took in the scene in front of him. The scenery of a bungalow similar to Sect Leader Hua's was in view, except there were two canaries perched on the table.
"You're not dead." Someone rushed in front of Zane's vision, and he recoiled on instinct, managing to almost sit up and headbutt the person. Black hair and hazel eyes, Rhian moved a foot away at his reaction too. "Alive indeed," he murmured.
Zane took a wavery breath and forced himself to sit up. When he felt something scratchy, he stared at his palms, turning them slowly. In the middle of his left hand was a lotus emblem, dark red.
He looked past Rhian and at the tall woman who walked over to them. "How do you feel?" Hua Yi asked.
Zane pursed his lips. "Dead."
Hua Yi swallowed, her throat moving. "Are you feeling any different? Like something is broken or whatsoever?"
Zane got off the hard bed and stood up, examining himself. Nothing seemed wrong with his body—except the lotus emblem. He took a step forward and back and found that his motor functions seemed to be doing well. He could think adequately as well. Nothing seemed wrong. He swallowed. 'Why does it feel so off?'
His chest was heavy and felt as if it was being tugged upon, almost like something was there, powering him like his beating heart.
[Mana Core has fused with your body!]
[Your spiritual energy is very high!]
"You're awake." Li Feng said nonchalantly, but his eyes were fixed on the lotus emblem.
Zane felt the retort slip off his tongue. "Unfortunately," he muttered.
Madam Hua glanced at him and Zane couldn't help but feel he was being downright scrutinized. As they continued staring, an awkward pause followed.
"Does it feel any different?" Hua Huiliang asked, the crown on his head was subtly crooked—which was odd. The other man never let his distinguished personality disappear.
Zane pursed his lips. "It… " His throat felt parched. "I don't know? It's like my body is swelling with energy."
The Sect Leader nodded as he understood. "Sect Leader Xue has sent a letter of his coming arrival to discuss the upcoming changes to the trial."
Just then, one of the disciples ran into the bungalow. They bowed before announcing, "Sect Leader Lu is on his way. He has sent a letter to Sect Leader Hua Huiliang, it is waiting in your chambers."
"Thank you for informing me," Hua Huiliang said to the disciple before he turned to look at Zane for one last time. "I shall take my leave."
Hua Huiliang turned to walk out of the bungalow; Li Feng and Madam Hua stared at Zane for a few seconds before turning to leave after Hua HuiLiang.
"I'll be back shortly." Hua Yi suddenly said. She picked up one of the trays from the top of a small cabinet nearby and placed it on the table in front of Zane—it had a bowl filled with litchi. She nodded in his direction before she took her leave.
Once his sister was gone, Rhian sat down on the bed next to Zane and sighed heavily. He followed Zane's gaze to the courtyard before he cleared his throat and opened the trial's information and then passed it to reside in front of Zane.
The same description for the fifth trial flashed in front of him.
[Trial 5: Battle of The Corrupted
Difficulty: A
Conditions/Directions: The age of royals has always provided corruption, helping participate to defeat the corrupted.
*Current location: corrupted, Shu Clan.
*Have to make a contribution
Time limit: 9 days; 19 days
Failure: ??
Reward: ?? * Reward depends on contribution]
'Two days?' Zane mentally facepalmed. Of course, the mana fusion would take two days. It was something that his body had to get adjusted to.
"I…" Rhian began, glancing at Zane. "I doubt I've told you this… Currently, the Shu Clan has been doing something… an experiment."
"It's evident."
"No, I don't mean it like that. Obviously, something is happening within them, but what I meant is that they've always been the type to experiment. In fact, there's an old myth about a great ancient artifact known as the Fei Resurrection." Rhian picked up a litchi and began peeling it, its prickly red outside falling to the table. "There's a lot… but to sum it up, when the original leaders of the five great clans came together, it was the fight against… I can't say, there's many variations to this, but it was against an evil creature."
Zane knew what 'evil creature' he was referring to. In
〈The 'Black Dragon,' the most dangerous dragon, had been awoken from slumber by the insolent beings that had ventured upon its cave. For the disrespect, and to take revenge, the dragon killed them.
However, the moment he did so, there had been a passing mage who'd noticed that the dragon was brimming with magical energy and had decided to trap it in an array to extract 'mana' and 'power' from its core. Dragons were good creatures whose benevolent nature needed to be turned against them by an interference that created hatred.
Thus after years of the mage extracting whatever 'good' mana or energy was left in the 'Black Dragon', the dragon broke free from the trap and took it as its initiative to kill all surviving mages. However, being respected beings of society, one couldn't kill mages and simply go by unharmed.
So the dragon was repeatedly hunted until it came and rested in the safety of the nation of Xiaoluo. The clan members protected the dragon, however, given that it had lost whatever 'good' it had in it, it began attacking people without its volition, thus forcing the leaders in the Clans to come together to invent an artifact.
The artifact that would take in all evil and eradicate it. The
It would go on to help the dragon's spirit continue existing, as well as trap any other 'evil' that passed by.〉
"The Shu Clan has stolen the Fei Resurrection," Rhian said, "They thought that they could unleash the 'evil' it held so that they could make concentrated corruption spells. There were also rumors of Shu Meiying wanting to use to amulet to cure his child."
Zane thought of the moment after they disappeared in the vortex. The battlefield was the Hua Clan against a small clan belonging to the Shu Sect—and he remembered inspecting one of the bodies, they weren't human. Not necessarily. Perhaps the outcome of the Fei Resurrection performing necromancy. A [Revenant].
"It's withheld in the temple in the midst of the nation. And all the clans had an agreement to not touch the artifact. However, I suppose you know how that went," Rhian murmured.
'As expected.'
"Well. I have no idea how to follow up with your morals and not kill anyone if war were to start," Rhian also added.
'Huh?' Zane took a deep breath. "I doubt that the people we'll be fighting against will be 'alive'," Zane said, "Hence it shouldn't matter."
Rhian bit into the litchi and took the seed out of it. "Did you know that the entire situation is quite weird?. It says that there's only one clan that's corrupted, however, did you notice anything else?" Rhian asked.
"Let me presume," Zane started, "five clans. One's corrupted from the Fei Resurrection. Sect Leader Hua is meeting with Sect Leader Xue and Sect Leader Lu. Leaves out Mei Clan. Considering the situation… Something has happened with that Clan. Seemingly adamant to side with the Shu Clan—or are being held by the necks." He paused and examined Rhian's expression.
It was amusement. Of course, that wasn't all. Zane recalled that in the future, the Mei Clan and the Shu Clan had become one. It was because 'Mei' Clan supposedly shared blood with the 'Shu' Clan, thus when the Sect Leader of Shu Clan took control of the artifact to manipulate his people, the Mei Clan was also indirectly affected.
Zane took a deep breath again, not content with the one he took prior. 'I've been out for two days or the trial edited itself… What are the chances of a full-fledged war?' He felt his thumb twiddling Wisteria. Last time, Caue was here to sign a treaty with the Clans before the fifth trial began. "Nine days. They have the Fei Resurrection. And I have no idea how a mana core works."
Rhian snorted. "You really think you're a big deal? Even if you don't fight, Li Feng and Madam Hua are there. I'm not sure about Sect Leader Hua―never seen that man fight. But don't think too highly. You don't even have a sword."
Zane narrowed his eyes, 'I was thinking?'
He frowned, and Rhian handed him a peeled litchi. "Or a name, apparently."
Zane pursed his lips as he took the fruit from the other man. 'Did I not tell him my name?'
Zane closed his eyes in exasperation and opened them. He smiled—maybe for once in a long time. "I'll keep it that way," he muttered.
[
[
"Fine, nameless bastard," Rhian grumbled.
Zane scowled. "You're calling me that?"
"What? You're nameless."
Zane jabbed Rhian in the stomach, causing the litchi juice to fall on both of their robes. "You idiot," Rhian said, but Zane was whacking him and moving away immediately, causing Rhian to grasp air.
[