Shuren raised his fists in a battle stance. Exhausted with the backlash of that technique still rampaging across his body. Shuren still didn't stop. Even if every step felt like walking on coal, every breath felt like drinking blades, and every thought felt like prying splinters out of his brain, he wouldn't yield.
Because some idiots needed a beating to get some sense back into them!
Tez stood up, holding his knee to prop himself up. He rubbed the blood away from his nose, and his golden eyes glared back in return. "Have you gone crazy?! Why are you fighting me?!"
Shuren collected the blood in his mouth, and spit it on the grass to the side.
It also doubled as a disrespect to Tez.
To take him serious.
That there was no going back.
Shuren walked forward, allowing Tez all the time to observe and react. He glared at Tez like he was a dog that needed to be put down.
Tez's hand moved to his sword for a moment, but he turned it away immediately. He also raised both his fists up and tensed his legs. "You want a man's fight, huh?! Even though you're far stronger than me in cultivation, I'll still take you on, Shuren!"
"I'll only use one arm to deal with you. My right." Shuren's right arm started to bleed again from the opened wounds. Though he ate some pills, if he wouldn't let it rest, it would be akin to ripping off a scab before the wound could heal.
Running with all his might, Tez came in with a haymaker punch. Straight at Shuren's face, as payback.
Shuren ducked with ease, upper cutting Tez with his right arm.
Tez lost his balance, the skin on his face wobbling as the force traversed around his head.
And Shuren continued, punching Tez straight in the chest with a jab.
"You didn't listen to my orders, breaking formation and putting the entire team at risk!" He yelled, anger finally simmering from his words.
Shuren didn't care as Tez spit out blood from his injuries. He jabbed once more, but was met against a wall as sturdy as a turtle shell.
His opponent had managed to block by holding both his forearms up to make a shield.
Flaming pain shot throughout his entire arm, but Shuren didn't let it show on his face.
Seeing Shuren stunned for a split second, Tez ran to tackle him. This time, he was the one who was met with the force of an unstoppable monolith. His hands wrapped around Shuren's waist, but failing to take him down.
Shuren grabbed Tez by the hair, lifting him up and punching him straight in the face once more.
Tez stumbled backwards, his cheeks swelling.
"When everyone was fighting for their lives, you instead went out to explore that Legacy for your own selfish benefits! Do you even have any shame in that wretched little heart of yours?" Shuren stopped to hold his right arm up as it vibrated from the pain.
"By the time I came back, it would've been all over anyway!" Holding a hand to his swollen cheek, Tez's wrathful eyes finally softened for a moment. But he still picked himself back up, raring for a fight. "I'm a Stage 4, and you and Junyu are both Stage 7! I know you have all sorts of hidden treasures and pills with you! Aren't you the young master of the great Liu Clan?!"
Shuren's eyes turned bloodshot. "Again… Again, and again, and again! How many times will you judge me, thinking I'm this great man who's received everything on a jade platter and has everything in the world?!" His gums bled as he gritted his teeth, his vision turning hazy from the sheer rage. "If I was anything like what you claim, do you think I'd be here in this mediocre Rank 5 Province struggling to even make it as a Core Disciple?! I should've been given the mantle of the Throne of Blades, with the resources of my clan at my beck and call! I should've been well on my way to becoming one of the Rising Paragons of my generation!"
Using Blitz Stride, Shuren covered the distance between him and Tez in a blink, delivering a gut-crushing punch with his right hand.
Tez flew back, rolling a few times on the grass, wet with the morning dew.
"What do you know of me?" Shuren held both his fists up to his face, blood flowing from his right. "Spend most of your life seeing your own clan members turn on you, treating you like a tool! Have everyone look down on you for failing to live up to your grandfather's reputation! Do you even know what it feels to be humiliated and trampled on by your own family, all for the sake of the clan?! Watch them take what was meant to be yours to give to another?! It's laughable that I still retain a shred of pride to this day!"
The backlash from using the technique taught to him from his grandfather. The pain against fighting that devil. The burning sensation in his right arm, as if a thousand blades were digging deep into his skin.
Yet all of that was burnt by Shuren's own wrothful shame.
He sucked in a deep breath, as painful as it was, until his next words could be heard from all life in the Dezuan Forest.
"GET OVER YOURSELF! THE WORLD DOESN'T REVOLVE AROUND YOU!"
Shuren couldn't tell whether he was talking to Tez. Or to himself.
Tez held an arm over his chest at his wound, but was stunned at the words of Shuren. He even forgot about the pain and anger of being beaten up by this man. Just for that moment.
Shuren staggered forward. He walked towards Tez, each gradual step tearing apart the dew of the grass. Each swing of his arm dropping crimson blood on the ground.
"At the very least, you have friends that care for you even when you disappeared," Shuren said in a soft and tired voice. "Cherish that well."
I can't say the same for myself. If I had died today, would I have a friend that would mourn for me?
When Shuren stopped by Tez, he reached over to hold out his hand.
Tez's golden eyes shook, unable to believe at the actions of this man.
That one moment of silence between them felt like a millennium.
"I can get up on my own," Tez said, rejecting Shuren's help. He struggled for a moment to stand up, clutching a hand to his chest.
"I see." Shuren put away his arm, walking to grab his robes. "Let's go."
There were no more words exchanged between the two. Tez followed along as Shuren went towards the convening point.
The exhaustion of his battles were coming up to him, let alone the rustling of beasts in the distance that smelt blood; observing the battle between him and Tez.
Either way, once Shuren made his report, the actions of his junior would be brought up by whoever set Tez up to join the expedition in the first place.
He wouldn't be having an easy time from now on in the Evening Clouds with a reputation like that.
When did it happen? Why did this nobody managed to make Shuren leak out his true emotions?
Perhaps it was only natural. Every man had a breaking point. Eventually, even a small action would lead to the collapse of an entire nation.
Shuren used his flying nimbus to at least ascend to the top of the cliff side to save time, and soon they had made it to the borders of the Dezuan Forest.
He watched as the Flaiten lowered, with Tez's friends running to him. The remainder of the team, including Junyu, were resting onboard.
Naturally, they bowed to him in respect.
An empty gesture.
No one in particular came to see Shuren.
Leading them all up with his flying nimbus, Shuren went to the observation deck. He signalled the helmsman to leave, returning back to Cloud City.
Amongst the skies, Shuren stood on the deck while his team rested inside.
Even in the confines and safety of the Flaiten, far away from the conflict in the forest, Shuren couldn't relax. He was restless.
He felt a hint of solitude.
He gazed towards Cloud City in the far distance. Seven great mountains looming in the centre, the hallmark of the Seven Clouds Sect.
And one day, he would reach the peak of those mountains, turning it into his own power.
Recalling back to the incident with Tez, he couldn't help but cringe. He shook his head, disappointed at himself for losing his cool.
Someone who wanted to become the Patriarch should always remain calm and collected, no matter the situation.
I made a severe mistake. I'll never lose myself in anger like that ever again. Never.
Swearing a silent oath to himself, he stared at the Seven Clouds Sect with conviction.
No matter what, he will become a Core Disciple, he will become an External Elder, and he…
When Shuren thought back to his home, to the Liu Clan, a seed of doubt formed in his thoughts. At the presence of his true opponents, all far stronger than him.
The path ahead would be like walking on shattered blades with his bare foot.
For once, when Shuren looked up to the sky, he didn't have an expression of an unbreakable will.
Can I do it?
***
In the heart of Dezuan Forest, a young man stood. Garbed in dark robes, his hair was matte black. It was short, barely reaching to his shoulders.
He kneeled over, picking up a pulsating purple eyeball.
"Found you, spawn of the Unhallowed."
In that eyeball reflected the man's own eyes. Dark and red, it held no light. Akin to a dead fish.
As if he had seen all that there was to this world. That nothing could give that light to his eyes. Nothing could grant him that wondrous lustre.
"Reizou. The Sect Leader sent you a message. We've spent enough time as it is," a young woman said in a professional tone, as if she were at a job. "We've already confirmed the spy is from the Seven Clouds Sect by leaking the route. And we weeded out the wastes of the sect by reusing them as-"
"Yijun," Reizou only said that one word. It was a dead tone. Yet, she knew to shut up.
He placed the pulsating wretched eyeball in his spatial storage.
"Do not desecrate the dead. They are not waste. Those people have seen the true nature of the world, and they revel in the solitude of that radiance."
A whistle of an eagle echoed through the sky, soon landing directly in front of the pair. A mature Pyros Eagle, far larger than the one Shuren had fought.
Yijun said no more words. She waited for Reizou to step on the eagle before following him. As was her position as a servant.
Once they had taken off, Reizou commanded her with a single word. "Continue."
"The Sect Leader wants you to head back to headquarters. They want to uphold the procession to grant you the status as the Grand Disciple of the sect."
"I see."
Reizou held no change in his expression.
Any in his place would be elated to become the most vital disciple of their sect. To be groomed and looked after by the resources of the entire sect, to be prepared as an upcoming patriarch.
To him, these things didn't matter.
What mattered to him was only one thing.
The study of death.
Of Nekron.