by Tony Tran
Thanks to his weird dreams he possessed knowledge that someone his age wouldn’t normally possess, and this made him mature much quicker and had a firmer and decisiveness that others in his age did not.
Ever since he started training Zhang always had a weird feeling in the back of his mind, he felt that something or someone was telling him to get stronger and obtain more power. It made him feel afraid of being weak and afraid of being left behind thus, he would always push himself to the limit.
His parents encouraged him by getting the best doctors, and physicians to keep Zhang at top shape. He would be given rare medicines that helped one to recover faster. What would take a normal person three days to recover, he was able to recover in a day thanks to the medicine.
Most of his training was done alone, and did not need any supervision, so his teacher would only come to every couple of days to see his progress and teach him the ways of the sword.
Zhang learned two different sword styles, the first used a traditional long sword and was meant to follow a certain flow to use the enemy's power against them, which was more appropriate for one on one duels.
The 2nd style uses two swords a long sword and a short sword, this was a good style to use when fighting many people, one would use the longsword to keep enemies back at a safe distance and when closing in use the short sword to finish them off.
One followed a flow that was best for defending and fighting long battles, whereas the other was best for its explosive movements and fast attacks. Zhang honed his skills in both styles and would soon master all of the techniques that his master taught him.
Also only recently did Zhang notice that if he trained at night under the light of the moon he would not feel tired at all, it was as if the moonlight was giving him strength. He didn't know exactly why this was the case or did he really bother to look into it, but now he would often sleep during the day and on nights when the moon shone he would train through the night.
Zhang would keep training day in and day out and gradually grew stronger by the day.
Chapter 2: Strength
Today, Zhang started his day by strapping two weights to his leg and two weights to his arms each weighing roughly fifty kilograms. He also tied a weight of one hundred kilograms on his back.
Then Zhang would proceed with his daily routine of running from his home to the hill and back.
If someone were to watch him, they won’t think he was carrying so many extra weights, because Zhang was running so fast it looked like he was gliding a bit off the ground.
After one hundred laps, he tossed away the weights which made a heavy thump sound as they hit the ground.
"Time to get heavier weights", he sighed.
It had been six years since Zhang started training his body instead of his inner essence. His current strength could be considered monstrous for a sixteen years old, if one were to compare his strength with someone training inner essence he would be around a level five.
This would place him at the level of a regular full grown adult in their prime. Although he was still a little bit off from the ultimate limit of a regular person.
For the last six years he never bothered taking the essence exam again, mainly because there was really no exact way to measure his strength. If he were to sprinkle his blood on the reading crystal, it would still read an essence level of one.
Thus it was pointless to take the exam and being laughed at for his low level, so Zhang would rather spend that time training.
After weight training he would walk up to a cauldron filled to the brim with iron sand. Zhang was currently training his fingers to achieve a technique that would make his fingers hard as iron.
This technique required Zhang three years of grueling hard work to accomplish. Although he was already at the last level of the "Iron Fingers" technique, Zhang kept practicing hoping to even further strengthen his fingers.
He had long ago mastered the two sword forms his teacher had taught him. Now, the swords had become like extensions of his arms. Zhang preferred the dual swords technique the most. His father had found him a pair of swords made of "Blood Iron".
Blood iron was unbelievably hard, even harder than steel. This was due to how it was made. When a swordsmith was forging blood iron they would have to forge their blood into the iron in flames formed using their cultivation base. The blood would mix with the iron and add a part of the swordsmith’s essence and vitality into it. This made the weapons made out of blood iron a fourth tier weapon. Which would make them very good weapons. Since weapons were classed the same as the levels of cultivation.
Swords such as these were fairly rare and not many smiths were able to make them. So eventually the method to make them was lost.
As a stroke of luck Zhang's father had acquired them in a faraway village on one of his business trips. He spent a sizable sum of money before the previous owner was willing to part with them. But what was money to Blue Tear city's richest man.
The swords had a bloody red sheen in contrast with its black blade. A murderous aura was given off every time they were unsheathed. This showed that countless lives had been taken by these swords over the years.
As he was practicing his swordplay, Zhang noticed that someone was watching him.
Actually he knew who it was, it was Ling. Shortly after he has started training six years ago, Ling would come every day to watch him.
He, out of the corner of his eye, could see her sitting intently watching him.
She wore elegant white robes, that complimented her glossy long black hair. With cherry colored lips, flawless snow white skin, and beautiful hazel colored eyes.
Ling was currently hailed as Blue Tear City's genius, and its most beautiful young maiden with many suitors trying to win her favor.
Her essence level was currently five, and a few months ago she received an invitation from the Royal Academy to join them when the new school year started.
This called for a huge celebration in the city. The Royal Academy is what all the youths wanted to attend, but only one in a thousand, youths with extraordinary talent, were selected.
In the long history of Blue Tear City, Ling was the first ever to be selected. This gave all the residents of Blue Tear City a sense of pride and joy.
As Zhang finished his daily routine, he turned towards Ling with a broad smile and asked her what she wanted for breakfast.
To this she replied, "Want to make a guess?"
Zhang smiled, the two of them had a deep understanding of each other. So of course he knew what she wanted.
But of course he had to tease her. So he replied, "Nope." He picked up some weights and started juggling them.
Ling retorted with a "guess I will just go eat alone hmph" and started walking off.
Zhang laughed, jumped up into a ten feet tall tree and grabbed a basket of food he had left there earlier.
He then jumped down and ran after her. She turned back and laughed. Of course she had noticed the smell coming from the basket long before Zhang had grabbed it from the tree.
The two of them were practically a married couple after being together for so many years.
Neither of them really understood love, but after so many years they've become irreplaceable person in each other's lives.
After eating breakfast, Zhang would continue his training and Ling had to go back home to meet her teacher.
Ling's teacher, a level eight Mage, who rarely accepted students. But after seeing her potential, he accepted her as a disciple and then began teaching her at the age of eleven.
Every day she would have to train by channeling and manipulating essence.
After Ling left, the garden became quiet, Zhang soon fell into his regular pace of training.
As he trained his mind fell into a state of emptiness. And soon images would begin to flash in his mind.
He learned how to enter a dream like state while being awake. This allowed him to see the visions or shall we call them dreams that he woul
d usually have.
From these dreams he would learn a great deal about various things, although many of the things he saw were strange and couldn't be applied to everyday life, others proved to be beneficial in his training.
He developed a great understanding of the human body thanks to these dreams. They allowed him to train to the limit without hurting himself. His knowledge about the body would put a seasoned doctor to shame.
Although the dreams were very beneficial to him, he did not dive too deep into them. Because once he had pushed himself into the dream state for far too long, he began sensing a murderous entity appeared within his mind and began to spread across his entire consciousness and shook his soul as if wanting to take over his mind, but oddly enough a strange black spark would appear and pushed it back, cleansing his mind.
After training he would soak in a bath of medical herbs that helped to increase his strength and restore the energy in his body.
As the medical bath energized him, Zhang fell asleep.
He woke up hours later, rubbed his eyes and looked out the window to see the sun setting.
"%!?%^*% it's time for dinner!", he yelled. Hurriedly, he got dressed and ran to the dining room.
And so a regular day for Zhang ended.
Little did he know these days would soon come to an abrupt end.
A few miles away from Blue Tear city outside of the border of the Heilong Kingdom, storms were brewing.
A mass of soldiers, clad in red armor laced with gold thread, stood in formation. Holding up red flags with a golden lion head in the center.
Anyone would know that this was the flag of the Siwang Empire. The Wulin continent’s second largest empire that neighbored the western border of the Heilong Kingdom.
It is roughly twenty times bigger than the Heilong Kingdom and its borders ran along many kingdoms.
The soldiers were waiting for their commander to appear.
They were just one of the many battalions taking part in today's mission. There was a total of one million soldiers mobilized to the eastern border of the Siwang Empire.
A man walked in front of the rows of soldiers dressed in shiny golden armor with red lacing and began talking.
"Today we shall bring glory to the empire, and ensure that our empire lasts thousands of years.", he said.
The soldiers roared and cheered him on.
"All soldiers rest and prepare, for in a few hours we and the other battalions will march across the borders of those puny kingdoms and add them to our glorious empire." The commander roared.
The sight of soldiers hurriedly saddling their horses and sharpening their weapons soon followed.
Soon scouts were sent out and the soldiers got into formation and began their march.
They had to march in the dark only aided by the little moonlight that there was. They did not wish for the other side to know they were coming.
A few soldiers were conversing amongst themselves.
"Be careful there might be demonic beasts in this forest."
Demonic beasts were animals that had absorbed a large amount of essence from nature and gained intelligence.
Once an animal became a demonic beast their offspring that followed after would be a demonic beast as well.
Generally, demonic beasts only appear in forests with a high concentration of essence. And they usually live in packs. So if one was unlucky to run into one demonic beast they'd most likely soon run into a whole pack.
Most demonic beasts that lived in packs aren't too strong individually but when swarmed with hundreds of thousands of them, even mighty armies would disappear.
Even if one ran into a demonic beast that wasn't part of a pack, it could kill a regular human or two.
Or if one was really unlucky there was a chance of running into a divine demonic beast, which is a demonic beast that reached sainthood. These beasts were extremely intelligent and powerful and a single one can easily wipe out a whole city or two. And there was a rumor that they were even able to speak like humans.
The army was now in the border of the Heilong Kingdom, roughly ten miles away from Blue Tear City. A man dressed in green robes had ridden out of the city to greet them.
This man who greeted the army was the leader of the Liu clan, Liu Bei. Liu Bei saluted the Siwang army’s general, after getting off from his horse.
"Liu Bei greets your lordship" he said as he kneeled on one knee.
The general dressed in golden armor then asked, "Have the preparations been complete?"
"Yes milord, everything is going smoothly. I have instructed my men to infiltrate the city guard. They will open the gates for us once I’ve given the signal." Liu Bei said,
"Good! Your Liu clan will be the new master of this city and the surrounding cities once we conquered them." The general said with a smile.
On the city wall, guards were keeping watch and chatting with each other.
One of the guards spotted something in the corner of his eye. He saw a speck of light illuminating the forest. He squinted his eyes and was able to make out a vague figure in the darkness. Soon he gasped at the sight he saw, rows and rows of figures made their way out of the forest.
And to add to his surprise the city gates began to creak and slowly opened. The guard realized what was happening, but before he could even utter a word, a hand covered his mouth and in a flash a knife ran across his throat.
He fell on the ground and the last thing saw was the other guards were also being dispatched in the same way.
Not so long after the soldiers of the Siwang Empire rushed in through the city gates, they began to systematically occupy the city walls.
Liu Bei and the general clad in golden armor walked to the top of the walls and looked down into the city.
The general told Liu Bei to kneel so he can bestow Liu Bei a gift.
Liu Bei was filled with joy, soon his family would control this city and the surrounding ones. So he excitedly got on his knees.
He then heard the unsheathing of a sword and looked up, horrified to see the general swing his sword at Liu Bei and before he could say a word his head rolled onto the floor.
The general laughed and pulled out a piece of red crystal shaped like a heart. This was called a "Soul Stone" and had the power to absorb essence. He hovered the stone over the corpse and a bluish light came out and flew into the crystal turning a small part of it purple.
This was Liu Bei's soul, theoretically speaking, a soul was made up of pure essence. The stronger a soul was the more essence it contained.
Tonight each and every soldier of the Siwang Empire was given a soul stone. Their mission was to slaughter every person within the city and to collect their souls.
These soul stones would be sent back to the empire for the emperor to use and increase his power.
Soon, the city was filled anguished screams.
Zhang was awoken in the middle of the night due to the screams and ran out of his room seeing his family’s servants hurriedly packing things.
His father came running holding his mother’s hand. "Zhang pack lightly we are leaving, soldiers from the Siwang Empire have invaded and they are indiscriminately slaughtering people. We are going to escape from the city with the Wu Clan through our clan’s underground tunnels."
The Zhou and Wu clan had jointly built a system of underground tunnels that leads out of the city and were connected to safe houses throughout the city. The tunnels’ existence was only known by certain members of each of the respective clans.
Soldiers were attempting to knock down the gates to the Zhou Clan.
Loud bangs could be heard as the gate was being struck. Eventually, although the gate was really solid it broke from the hinges and slammed to the ground.
After the gates fell, soldiers rushed into the mansion. Where they were met with the Zhou clan's private army.
Composed of three hundred elite soldiers the clan had trained for many years, the Siwang Empire’s foot soldiers met a quick end.
The same thing happened at the Wu residence, but instead of three hundred soldiers there were one thousand two hundred soldiers. Both clans were a force to be reckoned with in Blue Tear City.
The Wu clan was able to quickly gather their belongings, ran into the tunnels and sealed the entrance.
Whereas the Zhou clan wasn't as fortunate, after defeating the first wave of soldiers, cavalry soldiers from the Siwang Empire rushed in and quickly dispersed throughout the mansion.
Zhang's parents were in the process of unlocking the entrance to the tunnel when horsemen charged into the courtyard.