His violet eyes darted to a plateau near his current location. An assortment of large rocks littered its flat surface, which was otherwise free from any cracks or erosion. There, he thought. He trudged through the woods, advancing as demons dodged and avoided him, only facing him to protect important natural treasures. He took some but left others, as not every precious herb was useful to cultivators.
Ten gathered treasures and ninety-seven beast encounters later, Ling Dong arrived at a sheer cliff. The plateau he’d spotted earlier was a thousand feet high, and its cliffs were littered with caves both large and small. Through his violet eyes, he sensed demonic energy radiating from beyond the cliffs. It was the source of energy in the area, and the best place for demonic beasts to cultivate.
The free security detail must be nice, he thought as he approached the cliff. Many small demons cowered back into their caves. He ignored them and grasped two magic daggers, one of which he plunged into the cliffside. Then, using only a small portion of his enormous strength, he pulled himself up two feet before plunging the next dagger in. He climbed faster than most mortals walked, and before he knew it, he’d climbed several hundred feet up the thousand-foot cliff.
You’d think there’d be stairs. Or a lift, he thought as he stopped halfway to rest. He entered a deserted cave whose mouth was sixty feet in diameter. Then he retrieved a snack from his bag of holding—a giant haunch of meat that could feed a small village. He wondered what his master would think of his wastefulness. The kind man ate no demons or animals. But with his current cultivation, the vital energy was necessary. Body refining was a difficult path, as much as his master claimed otherwise.
As he moved to continue his climb, he noticed a glimmer in the back of the cavern. Strange, he thought. He walked toward the source, ignoring the deepening darkness as he spread his incandescent soul force out to probe. Qi-condensation cultivators or spirit beasts wouldn’t be strong enough to sense this superior soul force. It found nothing unusual about the shining object that bedeviled him so.
He paused momentarily as he stepped up to the glowing spark, which was begging to be plucked. And in that moment, he realized his foolishness. I might not be the brightest, but my will isn’t so weak, he thought. Then he activated his violet eyes, barely making out a flickering strike that bore down toward his exposed neck. The attack and his quick reaction pulled him out of a strange trance that he now knew was caused by demonic sound waves that permeated the cave walls.
The shining object vanished along with his befuddlement.
“How can someone like you possibly exist?” a high-pitched voice said. “You smell like a king, but you reek of humanity. Why?”
A gentle flutter of wings revealed thousands of tiny bats hanging from the ceiling. His mind burned as he maintained his demonic sight, a taxing technique he’d keep up at all times if he could.
“Demon-Subduing Eyes,” the voice whispered. “You dare wield the power of our kings? You dare besmirch their noble power with your filthy origins?” The voice oozed anger and indignation as the tiny violet vibrations resumed, seeping into Ling Dong’s body. This time, however, he was ready. This time, he saw what lashed out at him in the darkness. It was a bat demon, a demon as black as night itself. Its eyes were cold and merciless, making it clear that only Ling Dong’s death could sate it.
Ling Dong grasped his heavy blade. He converged the violet power in his eyes, Demon-Subduing Intent, and flushed it through his body, expelling the bat’s demonic qi. Then, having regained full control over his body, he moved toward the cave’s entrance while deflecting the late-purification demon’s claws with the runic blade. It shrieked and disappeared on first contact, its inborn powers plunging the world around him into icy darkness. Ling Dong’s eyesight dulled, and only spiritual sense and demonic energy lit his way.
There, he thought. He swept out with his blade, just in time to deflect a claw strike, the impact throwing him backward into a cave wall. He tore two ligaments and bruised several muscles. Fortunately, he was a bone-forging cultivator, and the impact could do little more than shake his skeleton. Ling Dong slapped two talismans on his chest, one blue and one green. The green talisman mobilized his vital energy and stitched his flesh, while the blue one formed an icy shield around him, barely resisting for a moment before shattering under the bat’s stealthy attacks.
Seeing that the situation wasn’t looking good, Ling Dong ran toward the exit with speed only a body cultivator could muster. He threw out six brown talismans, summoning six earthen walls in quick succession. They collapsed on first strike but bought him precious time in the process. As he neared the exit, he instinctively dodged to the side, barely avoiding a fatal strike from the bat’s tail. Blood oozed out of a wound on his arm as he glared at the creature that blocked his path to freedom. Five hundred feet of deadly freedom.
“Afraid of falling?” the demon mocked, sensing his fear. It flapped its wings and summoned a demonic wind that raced out of the cave. Ling Dong, seeing that the situation was getting away from him, activated his gravity-manipulation ability. His bones grew over a hundred times heavier as they adjusted his total weight to three times his fist strength of 6,000 jin1. His movements immediately halted as he hefted his 4,000-jin blade at his bloodthirsty assailant.
“You can’t push me down, and you can’t defeat me,” Ling Dong said, his eyes glowing violet once more. His Demon-Subduing Intent bore down on the bat demon, substantially weakening him in the process. Meanwhile, he summoned a five-colored qi shield. He poured a generous portion of five-element qi into his massive blade while he was at it, causing it to glow with a destructive light as he squared off against death itself.
“You dare use those eyes against me?” the demon roared. The cave trembled as its aura surged. A red fog evaporated from its thick hide as it burnt its bloodline, something that most demons would only do in the direst circumstances.
Ling Dong cursed under his breath. His qi shields trembled as large rocks dropped down from the roof of the cave, threatening to bury him alive.
I’m done if I stay here, he decided instantly. I can only bet my life on this.
He jumped just in time to avoid a large boulder and flew out toward the collapsing cave’s entrance. He threw three fiery talismans, surrounding the bat in a burst of flames as he pushed off the ceiling and toward the ground just outside the cave. His greatsword plunged into the cliff as he disabled his gravity-manipulation ability. Sparks flew as the magical blade slowed his descent. Ling Dong carefully avoided the many caves on the cliffside as he fell, aiming to return to the ground as quickly as humanly possible.
“There you are,” a voice suddenly said.
He looked back and saw night itself flying a short distance away from him. Ling Dong fended off his claw strike with a magical dagger by pouring golden qi into the weapon, which trembled on impact. The bat, undeterred by his failure, repeated his attack once more. This time, cracks appeared on the magical weapon.
Seeing that it wouldn’t last much longer, Ling Dong threw it out and urged his qi to combust. The dagger shattered, sending golden shrapnel piercing through the demon’s thick wings.
It howled in rage and redoubled its attacks. Ling Dong had never seen such deranged behavior from a demon before. Its impact forced Ling Dong’s blade further into the cliff, stopping his descent abruptly. Seeing it coming in for the kill, Ling Dong sent out his second dagger and detonated it just like before. He looked down to the ground and noticed that he was now only two hundred feet away from the tree line. He might just survive a fall from this distance.
Here goes nothing, he thought. He banished his blade, storing it in his bag of holding before dropping to the ground. The bat, enraged, dove down toward him. It avoided the many talismans and magic treasures Ling Dong threw its way and dug its claws into the larger man’s back. Ling Dong howled in pain as his body jerked back up. Like helpless meat on a hook, he found himself climbing ever higher, and before he knew it, he was back up to
his original height of five hundred feet.
Ling Dong’s mind raced as he struggled to find a solution. His gaze hardened. Regardless of what happened, he would probably perish. If I’m going to die, I’ll take this filthy bat demon down with me, he thought.
He gritted his teeth as he shifted his weight, tearing the bat’s claws out from his back, one after another. Blood oozed out of his wounds as he climbed the surprised bat’s hairy body. It struggled to keep afloat as Ling Dong summoned his blade, plunging it into the demon’s chest. It sheared through its fragile skeleton before cutting through its vital organs.
The demon bat let out a shrill scream as its life left it. Ling Dong retrieved his blade and slashed upward, cutting off one of the bat’s leathery wings as they fell. He held it like a bloody glider, gripping it firmly, though it barely did anything to slow his fall. His velocity was increasing at a startling rate.
It looks like this is the end, he thought. The small, ant-like trees below him now looked as large as apricots and were growing swiftly.
Then he heard a piercing shriek. His surroundings burned and froze simultaneously as a feathered creature dove beneath him, catching him with practiced ease. Ling Dong looked around and saw that he was on the back of a giant eagle with red and blue feathers. A human sat between the demon’s wings; she motioned for him to come forward. Ling Dong, surprised at the sudden turn of events, crawled precariously on the eagle’s back, its feathers soft between his fingers. He stopped upon reaching a relatively immobile area on its back.
“What’s your name, and what are you doing here?” the woman said dispassionately without glancing back. Her figure bobbed up and down as the mighty demon flapped its great wings.
“My name is Ling Dong,” he said, gasping with each breath he took, circulating his vital energy to heal his grievous wounds. “I’m looking for the beast tamer, Lan Yin, to secure a ride to the Huoshan Kingdom.”
“The Huoshan Kingdom, huh?” the woman said, finally looking back toward him. Her fiery red hair and golden eyes complemented the massive eagle’s red and blue feathers. “I’m Lan Yin, the beast tamer. You’re out of luck, though. I’m retired, and I won’t be taking any new contracts for the foreseeable future.”
The disappointing news barely registered as he struggled to stitch his ravaged flesh and thanked his lucky stars he was still alive.
***
The eagle of ice and fire flew above the center of the plateau, its wings casting a giant shadow on the ground below. The flat surface seemed like it was made from a single piece, its top cleaved off to give the current topography. They circled down, overlooking a land that was free from dust, sand, and vegetation. It looked like a desert, but Ling Dong could tell it was far more than that.
His eyes glowed violet, revealing spiderlike lines covering the ten-mile-wide surface. They were rather thin around the edges but eventually converged on the only body of water, situated in the center. It was an oasis, and a small one at that. The density and thickness of the lines increased as they neared its shores, eventually combining into a blinding purple glow.
“Have you gone inside the oasis?” Ling Dong asked as they landed beside it.
A small shack was located just a hundred feet away from it, and judging by Lan Yin’s relaxed attitude, it was where they lived.
“I haven’t,” Lan Yin replied. “And I wouldn’t try to if I were you. Huoying doesn’t like you as it is, so there’s no telling what he would do if you intruded on his favorite resting place.”
Though Ling Dong didn’t know what he’d done to offend the beast, there was nothing he could do about it. It was a peak-purification demon beast, and demons were stronger than humans to begin with. The gap of two cultivation levels was insurmountable.
And besides, he needed their help.
Ling Dong followed Lan Yin into the tiny shack. In the corner of his eye, he saw Huoying shrink to the size of a horse before diving into the oasis. Water splashed into the skies and landed back in the form of sharp icicles. His eyes narrowed as he realized the likely cause.
“So, why are you still here?” Lan Yin asked, looking Ling Dong up and down. “I told you I can’t help you, and while you’re welcome to stay here for a few days, I have little patience for visitors.”
“I just thought there might be room for negotiation,” Ling Dong said. “I’m in a hurry to get to Blacksteel City, and you’re the only beast tamer with a mount capable of crossing the Huoshan mountain range in a reasonable amount of time.”
“I’m hardly the only beast tamer,” Lan Yin replied, raising an eyebrow.
“You’re the only affordable one,” Ling Dong confessed.
Lan Yin chuckled as she rapped her fingers on a small tea table, thinking. “There are other ways to pass,” she said. “Caravans make their way to Blacksteel City from Quicksilver City every month or so. They’re heavily armed and rarely run into any trouble.”
“But they take months to get there, which is a travesty given the speed that cultivators are capable of,” Ling Dong said. “With that amount of time, I might as well just stay put until I break through to core formation. Then I could travel there with ease.”
“It’s out of my hands,” Lan Yin said helplessly. She thought for a moment before waving toward an empty space in the shack. The air shimmered, revealing a small black object. It was covered in scales and filled with abundant vitality. Ling Dong felt a resonance with it, an affinity that was difficult to put into words.
“This demon beast egg is hatching soon,” she said. “The best time to start taming a demon is in the first year after it’s born. Then, it will take me years of consistent effort to mold its temperament and eventually convince it to sign a contract.”
“Is the egg powerful?” Ling Dong asked.
“The drake that hatches should be tier four at least,” Lan Yin explained. “Though I’m taking a financial hit for now, the drake will quickly mature into a core-formation demon beast. We’ll be set for life once that happens.”
At that moment, a soft screech came out from the oasis.
Lan Yin frowned but looked Ling Dong over once more. She cleared her throat before walking over to a small cupboard. “Would you like some tea?” she asked.
“I’d love some,” Ling Dong replied. He sat patiently as she retrieved a foreign teapot and began boiling water. Instead of brewing the tea with a small gaiwan, the usual custom in these parts, she prepared a large pot for two. She let the tea steep for an incense time before retrieving the leaves.
His body shivered as he drank the bitter concoction, but he didn’t complain. Lan Yin might only be an early-foundation-establishment cultivator, but her tamed beast could pummel him with ease.
“Huoying told me something interesting just now,” she said after drinking a mouthful. “He said you have a rare gift, one that would make many demons envious.”
“Is that so?” Ling Dong said. “I don’t mean to brag, but I have many gifts. Which one are you referring to?”
“He called it Demon-Subduing Eyes,” Lan Yin said. “And while he was hazy on the details, they seem to be the source of his irritation. He finds it extremely vexing that a weakling like you managed to get them but a noble sovereign like him can only tremble upon seeing them.”
“The technique was bestowed upon me by my master’s contracted beast,” Ling Dong said. “It’s rather useful when traveling in the wilderness. Demons avoid me like their life depends on it, and fighting demons is much easier with it as well. That aside, it’s useful for seeing demonic energy flows. Like the one in the center of this plateau, converging on the oasis. Without them, I would have found it hard to believe that such a dense natural energy formation could exist.”
“It’s common knowledge that demons aggregate near sources of natural energy,” Lan Yin said, chuckling. “The stronger the source, the stronger the demon. Huoying has been nourishing his cultivation there for the past two centuries. That’s why he was able to grow so powerful at s
uch a young age.”
“If I’m not mistaken, you’re not much older than thirty,” Ling Dong remarked.
“Huoying was raised by my father,” Lan Yin explained. “I simply inherited his contract and my father’s duties. But back to the Demon-Subduing Eyes. They’re a lot more useful than you make them out to be.”
“I’m fairly sure I mentioned that it makes fighting demons easier,” Ling Dong said.
“That’s only a portion of their true purpose,” Lan Yin said. “According to Huoying, the Demon-Subduing Eyes were created by the Heavenly Beast Emperor in ancient times. He used them to force countless true demons to submit. His army was vast, and his generals countless. They were his most loyal servants, to the point that they accompanied him in death.”
“That’s a very interesting tale, but I don’t know anything about this ability,” Ling Dong said. “Furthermore, enslaving demons doesn’t exactly sit well with me. While I’m sometimes forced to kill them, and I also feed on demon beast flesh, they’re sentient creatures. I kill no more than I have to. My master’s brother is a demon, and he’d probably take it personally if I enslaved his brethren.”
“I said subdue, not enslave,” Lan Yin said, taking his cup. She poured another cup of bitter tea, but this time she offered him sugar. He gladly added a few spoonfuls before taking another sip. “Do you think Huoying is my slave?” she asked.
“Isn’t he?” Ling Dong answered.
“No, he’s my helper and a family friend,” Lan Yin said. “We have an agreement, and a friendly relationship. Demons live hard, competitive lives. Furthermore, it’s extremely difficult for them to gain access to cities and their corresponding resources. We work in transportation together, and in doing so, we earn enough spirit stones for both our cultivations.
“Not only that, his status as a tamed beast is very useful. He can avoid confrontations with cultivators that would otherwise hunt and kill him. In exchange, all he has to do is carry people around. It’s not such a bad deal, is it? He’s free to leave whenever he wants, as we have a very relaxed contract.”
Violet Heart Page 2