In the streets of Sword City, Kuang Ren stumbled into the cold air of midnight. A faint mist covered the floor and a whistling came from the wind crashing through the narrow streets.
He held a gourd of alcohol, hard liquor specifically. As he stumbled along, the whistling became louder and louder and Kuang's sobriety temporarily was regained.
He rubbed his head while he looked around, seeing that there was noone in the streets, Sword City was a major trading City...it shouldn't be this quiet even at midnight.
"Ill omens, I even heard that a war is coming down and all the major Sect's are working together." He closed his gourd with a cork and wrapped it around his waist with a rope.
He shivered and felt a stuffy feeling in his chest, "Is anyone there!?" He shouted.
The fog creeped closer, though no answer but the wind responded. He held one hand out and widened his stance; his spare hand reached into his robes.
He pulled out a white token, and held it out into the empty street, "I'm a member of the Cloud Sword Sect! I'm at peak Nimbostratus! No, Quasi-Alto!"
The feeling in his chest continued to deepen and his breathing became rough. He had a large stature, with a big round belly, and he started to move forward with each step making a loud sound in the silence.
Fwoop!
Kuang fell to the ground and rolled across the cobbles, as he skid across the slightly-moist rocks he swung his hand upwards and cast a barrier with the ambient fog.
Looking through the translucent shield, Kuang watched as the shadows of an adjacent building...moved!
The darkness danced along the walls and then it vanished just as the moon was covered by the clouds. The moonlight dimmed and Kuang held out his fingers, chanting "fksrncis"
By saying the nonsense word, a talisman on his body burned a bright blue and his eyes glowed in the dark.
He looked around and saw movement from the corner of his eye, turning quickly he saw *it*. A tall, slender skeleton-like creature with a pumpkin for a head.
The round orange squash turned and a creepy face lit up! Kuang saw as his vision flared like looking at the sun.
He threw his token onto the ground, freeing up another hand; what would a human token do to scare such a creature.
With his two hands now spare, Kuang interlocked his fingers and swung his arms using his bodyweight to gain momentum.
The creature moved like lightening and flickered into the night, vanishing. However, Kuang continued to spin and he jumped with his back foot and slammed his interlocked hands together onto the ground.
His gourd, wrapped around his waist, swung open and the alcohol flew into the sky. The clear liquid transformed into the shape of a dragon and followed Kuang's movements.
It slithered into the air before slamming back down into the ground, breaking apart into a wave which pushed towards from Kuang's body.
Kuang felt the wave's movement and sensed a disturbance in one side, he quickly pivoted and ran the opposite way. As he did, he launched punches into the air in front of him, each one sending out smaller wyrms which flew forwards before going back and attacking where he felt the disturbance.
As he ran, he felt his footsteps slow to a halt. He pushed his body as much as he could but no matter how much he tried, his feet stayed planted.
On the back of his head, he felt a woman's hand combing his hair. The long nails scratched his scalp, though as he tried to turn his head he found that he could not even do that.
He grunted and looked around with his pupils, only one thought made sense in his mind, "It must be a mental attack!"
Luckily, his main form of cultivation was Alcohol Laws despite his sect's complaints. He stopped trying to move his physically body and turned inwards looking into his Spirit Stone Soul.
The Spirit Stone Soul contained all of his Laws, fundamental parts of the world, which he cultivated...though as he looked inwards he saw it was empty!
"My Laws!" He screamed.
Involuntary, he reached his hand up and jolted to sudden wakefulness. With rough breathing he sat up and slapped his full belly, "A dream..." He heard the clamber of people in the adjacent streets and calmed.
He felt at his waist, taking his gourd of alcohol and taking a sip. As he did, he furrowed his brows and clutched at us head, "But it felt so real."
Above Kuang, on the rooves of the establishments, stood a group of three men. The tallest of the three, Cha He, sheathed his blade and used a hand symbol.
At once, the other two jumped above the rooves of the city and danced through the night. As they did so, one of the two spoke up, "What was that? I've never seen it in the records?"
The other person pulled down their mask and revealed their feminine voice, "It isn't in the main records, it's in the old records. It was removed since we haven't seen any for many years."
"What was it then?" He scowled.
The woman sighed and shook her head, stopping at a random point and sitting down. She felt the tiled roof under her hands and gestured to her side, "Sit down."
The man, who had continued to run across the rooves, looked back and turned around. He ran across a few rooves before planting himself beside the woman.
She explained, "It was once a human-"
The man interrupted, "A MUTANT?!"
The woman slapped the back of his head and gestured to stay quiet, "Yes a mutant. Once a promising cultivator at the Altostratus realm, about 6th hardening."
"6th hardening...ah, I see." The man rubbed the back of his head.
"It's as you expected, the breakthrough to 7th hardening, or Cirrus realm, was too much and he was consumed by his laws. Though he didn't die, he became a monster that just gets stronger. It puts others into dreams while it causes them to use their techniques while drinking the victim of it's laws."
The man shivered, "It was lucky we found that person when we did and 'cut' their connection...to bad it escaped though, do you think Cha He will get him?"
The woman shook her head, "No...and I hope he doesn't try too hard. I heard that it's become on par with a 10th hardening expert, not even Cha He could defeat that, if it's true."
"10th...a real cultivator...what's it's name?"
"The Jack-Lantern Stalker."