A few hours before the tower collapsed...
Dong Zhen flew across the sky in an almost perfectly straight line. His speed was several tis faster than that of common flying beasts.
The wind around him created a loud sound, but it didn’t affect him in any way. Each step in the air erased the impact of the previous one.
With every step, a red symbol appeared beneath his feet, propelling him forward.
His destination was the Verdant Sword Domain.
A sowhat troubleso matter, but an extrely necessary one.
He needed to find the traces and the signal coming from Wei Feng’s pendant.
But then... while flying, Dong Zhen stopped abruptly in midair.
The blood Qi around him... vibrated for an instant.
It was small, weak, and distant, but undeniable.
A pure blood energy, as pure as his own, had appeared.
Dong Zhen narrowed his eyes, tilting his head slightly.
"This..." his voice ca out low, filled with curiosity.
He closed his eyes and spread his spiritual sense. An invisible wave traveled through mountains, nearby valleys, rivers, and forests. Until it found a correct direction.
The blood Qi was coming from the west. Intense and irregular.
Dong Zhen gave a brief smile.
"Seems like sothing interesting is happening nearby... I’ll take a look."
Without hesitation, he completely deviated from his original path and flew in that direction, now at an even greater speed.
Every beat of the wind echoed in the distance like small thunderclaps.
It didn’t take long for him to reach the place where he sensed the blood energy.
In the distance, the Three Forces City erged beneath him. Small and insignificant, but there was commotion.
Many people gathered around a tall structure. A tower divided into two tones.
Half blue, vibrating with extrely pure Qi. Half red, pulsing with living blood.
Dong Zhen recognized it imdiately.
"Oh. So it’s an inheritance... It’s been many years since I last saw sothing like this."
Inheritances usually appeared farther south or in the center of the continent, where the most powerful forces generally resided.
And not in such a small place. Inheritances in this part of the continent were rare. And the red side, the blood side, caught his attention imdiately.
The energy pouring out from it was intense, wild, but also ordered.
Dong Zhen narrowed his eyes.
’The Blood Court is lacking talents in this generation. Perhaps... there’s sothing here...’
He moved back a few ters in the air, hiding his cultivation completely. The cultivators below didn’t notice his arrival, not even the long-lived elders.
Dong Zhen crossed his arms and calmly observed.
’Alright. Let’s see where this goes.’
He remained there for a few hours.
Until he saw Yan Hui leave the tower first.
Saw the boy speak, lie, and distort what had happened inside.
Dong Zhen arched a brow when he heard one of Yan Hui’s phrases.
"Evil path? Hmm."
His interest increased a little.
Generally, unorthodox paths were judged by the population as evil. And the blood path was one of them.
But to him, that was nothing but nonsense. The only thing that mattered in this world was talent and strength.
Then, the collapse began.
The tower shook. Cracked. Fell.
Energized stones exploded in all directions.
Dong Zhen saw everything from above, like soone watching an insect performance.
And right there, in the middle of the collapse, he saw a boy.
Kyrian.
The mont the dust rose and the blocks fell, Dong Zhen felt the blood Qi erging from the crimson do surrounding Kyrian.
He narrowed his eyes and understood what that was.
It was definitely a treasure, so unknown pure blood shaped by the boy’s will.
A slow smile ford on his face.
He gradually lowered his altitude, still invisible to everyone. He watched every micro movent Kyrian made.
With his spiritual sense, he saw everything within him.
He imdiately saw that Kyrian did not possess the common ridians everyone had.
There were no Qi channels.
He saw that there wasn’t even a trace of a dantian, much less a conventional foundation.
Kyrian was a complete mortal.
A mortal who, for so reason, was cultivating. He could feel that Kyrian had cultivation.
And he imdiately understood. Sothing extrely rare. Seen only a few tis across the continent.
Innate talents were always gifts from the heavens. They always had a greater destiny than any other, just like those who possessed special celestial physiques.
Dong Zhen could not see completely behind Kyrian’s eyes. Sothing concealed them like an absolute curtain.
But what he could see was enough.
"Perfect. A pure mortal with an innate talent cultivating the blood path... A genius, no... a newborn monster that can be polished."
His decision was made before the elders even surrounded Kyrian and the others.
Kyrian would have to enter the Blood Court.
Whether he wanted to or not.
Dong Zhen continued watching in silence as the elders set up the encirclent.
Using poison, threats, and almost brute force.
He kept observing Kyrian all along.
He was far too interesting to ignore.
When the situation worsened, and the Core Formation realm elders threatened Kyrian and the others, Dong Zhen decided to reveal himself.
And the rest... happened as naturally as he expected.
Enemies exploded like ripe fruits. Their blood rose to the sky like obedient serpents, replenishing Dong Zhen’s Qi.
And Kyrian responded without the slightest hesitation to the invitation.
Exactly as Dong Zhen expected.
Now, holding Kyrian by the forearm while flying like a small cot in the sky, Dong Zhen was satisfied.
Very satisfied.
It had been many years since he felt anything similar.
In Kyrian’s view...
...
He had never been so high.
He had never felt winds so cold as these.
He had also never seen the world shrink so quickly. Not even when he rode the sect’s flying beasts.
The sky seed endless.
The mountains beca small brown streaks. Forests were like distant green patches.
The rivers, thin shining lines winding across the ground.
i Ran, Elder Han, and the others had already disappeared completely.
Mo Xia, Tianhai, Shen Yu, Wu Jian, and Long Xue vanished from sight as quickly as a breath.
Kyrian didn’t know exactly what to feel.
He wasn’t afraid, but he didn’t feel completely safe either.
The man carrying him... could kill him with a sigh. But he hadn’t, nor did he show any intent to.
And that was enough for the mont.
’Or not,’ Kyrian thought.
’If he wants to do anything, I won’t be able to resist. Unlike before... when maybe, with so luck, I could have escaped the elders’ encirclent.’
But Kyrian pushed those thoughts aside. It was far beyond his control.
Dong Zhen cut through the sky like a blood-red arrow. His crimson mantle spread behind him like living wings.
Kyrian watched him for a few seconds.
"... what’s your na?" His question ca out simply.
The man did not respond imdiately. He kept flying as if he weren’t carrying anything.
After a few seconds, he turned his face slightly.
"My na... is Dong Zhen."
Kyrian simply nodded.
"We’re going to the Blood Court?" he asked.
"Hmm. Not yet," Dong Zhen replied plainly.
Then added.
"I still need to check sothing in the Verdant Sword Domain."
Kyrian didn’t insist. He only watched the ground draw closer as they slowed down.
After hours, Dong Zhen stopped above a dry mountain.
Kyrian recognized it instantly.
"The Line Country?" he murmured.
"Hmm? You know it?" Dong Zhen asked with mild interest.
"Yes. I’ve been here."
Dong Zhen then ignored him for a few monts, focused on sensing sothing in the air. But failed.
The signal had completely vanished days ago.
He looked at Kyrian again.
"You’ve been here recently? Did anything strange happen around here?"
Kyrian blinked and thought.
There was only one truly strange thing in that country.
The man of experints. That lunatic who created ash hearts. Who was searching for a way to artificially create a special physique.
But Dong Zhen didn’t seem to be looking for him.
Kyrian decided to ask first.
"What exactly are you looking for here?"
Dong Zhen answered without hesitation.
"An old mber of the Blood Court disappeared. His trail appeared here a few days ago."
Kyrian blinked.
’Wei Feng?’ he thought.
The pendant left by him in the spatial ring weighed on Kyrian.
He thought a little, evaluated, and decided.
He took the pendant from the ring.
"You’re looking for this?"
Dong Zhen turned imdiately.
Real surprise appeared on his face.
"Yes. Where did you get that?"
Kyrian then explained briefly.
About the End Mountains. About having crossed them.
About Wei Feng’s death and how he took his ring afterward. But he didn’t say how he t Wei Feng or their relationship.
He explained everything without exaggeration.
Dong Zhen simply listened in silence.
"Oh. So that old idiot really died... useless... as I expected." He said with a light sigh.
"Among his items there should be a scroll. The Five-Point Blood Formation."
Kyrian quickly searched the ring, rembering imdiately when he had pulled this item out months ago.
He found the scroll with red threads and handed it over.
Dong Zhen held it, analyzed it, and closed his eyes briefly.
"Finally."
"It’s been years since the Blood Court had any good news."
When he opened his eyes, he was less rigid. Almost... satisfied.
"Alright. We’re done here. Now I’ll take you to the Blood Court."
Kyrian simply nodded as they rose slowly into the air again.
"We’ll talk properly when we arrive," Dong Zhen said briefly before, with his extre speed, slicing through the clouds in the sky.
Disappearing with Kyrian.
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