Chapter 123: There’s Always a Better Fated One

Making his way through the dense brush, a cultivator suddenly stopped and looked at a tree standing directly in front of him.

"Eh? What's that?" A strange pouch caught his eye immediately, hanging from a branch right at head level.

<"Oh, chosen one! We've finally met! Fate has sent you to me!"> Suddenly hearing a woman's voice, faintly childlike, the cultivator's eyes went wide with surprise.

Just as he reached for the pouch, a girl appeared behind him. "Junior Brother Mo, are you alright? We thought someone had already dragged you off! Haha!"

Walking up to him, she patted his shoulder, then, remembering he'd only just recovered from a brutal fight, stopped and was about to apologize when she spotted the pouch. "Hm? What's that, junior brother?"

"I'm not sure, Senior Sister Hua, might be someone's spatial pouch." Mo Fan shook his head, but never took his eyes off the thing.

"Hm... why not take a look inside? Huh?" Grinning, eyes lighting up, Hua Zhen reached for the pouch.

But Mo Fan suddenly heard the voice inside his head again. <"Stop her! Only you, the chosen one, can touch me! Anyone else will die instantly! Hurry, stop your senior sister! Before it's too late!">

Hearing the warning, Mo Fan grabbed her outstretched hand.

Hua Zhen looked at him, puzzled, not expecting this from him at all.

Mo Fan scratched the back of his head, looking away slightly. "Um, this is my find... And you know the rules. Besides, you're the one who made them up, back when we were still on the ship."

"Ha?!" Yanking her hand back, Hua Zhen crossed her arms over her chest, turning her head away, pretending to be hurt. "Fine, then! Next time you need your senior sister's help, you're going to get what’s coming to you…" Still muttering her complaints, she started to walk away, but stopped and turned slightly, unable to hold back her own curiosity. "Hurry up! Look inside and tell me what's in there!"

Mo Fan smiled slightly, shook his head, and reached for the pouch.

The instant he touched it, a warm surge of energy rushed through his entire body.

Suddenly, everything around him went dark and froze in place. Looking around, he saw pollen drifting from the plants, leaves, everything, completely still.

Looking back at his senior sister Hua Zhen, who was frozen too, motionless, Mo Fan was about to start panicking, but feeling a connection to his system, he calmed down instantly.

Turning back around, he saw a clump of black energy appear in front of him.

In an instant, that clump transformed into a young woman, wrapped in a thin, transparent shawl that both hid and accentuated her striking figure.

Running a hand tipped with black nails through her black, smoky, wavy hair, she opened a pair of eyes, red as flame.

Seeing her eyes, his whole body suddenly shook, not from fear or panic, but from desire. A single glance from her nearly shattered his will entirely.

Walking up to him slowly, she traced a finger along his cheek. Smiling, she cut a shallow wound, just enough to draw a single drop of blood.

"Kh-!" Not expecting this, Mo Fan, for the first time since everything had frozen, tried to move and found he couldn't. Just as he tried to call upon his system to fight back, he heard her voice.

"The chosen one's blood, in exchange for the blood of an equal!" Taking the drop of his blood onto her finger, she brought it to her mouth and licked it clean.

Pulling her finger out, she cut a wound on her own cheek and, taking a drop of her own blood on the same finger, pressed it into Mo Fan's mouth. "By this bond, we vow to be honest, righteous, supreme, and sovereign!"

Suddenly, strange runes began appearing on both their chests.

In one sharp motion, she tore open the top of his robes, fully baring his chest. With a second motion, she pulled off her own transparent shawl, baring her own upper body as well.

Stepping in even closer, she pressed herself against him, aligning the runes on her chest with the ones now marking his.

"Aah~" A moan slipped from her lips at the contact.

The instant the runes touched, she looked into his eyes. "The vow I make."

Mo Fan, staring into her eyes, face flushed red, found himself repeating after her, unable to stop. "The vow I make."

"Before the Heavens and Qi itself."

"Before the Heavens and Qi itself."

"My flesh, my soul, my mind..."

"My flesh, my soul, my mind..."

"Are now yours."

"Are now yours."

"You are mine, and I am yours!"

"You are mine, and I am yours!"

Saying this, they both leaned toward each other in perfect sync and melted into a long kiss.

Whooosh!

Suddenly opening his eyes, everything around him started moving again: leaves resumed falling, pollen drifted once more from flower to flower.

"Ha? Where'd the pouch go? Huh?! And why are you naked?! Cover up!!" The first thing Hua Zhen noticed was that the pouch had simply vanished, but then she spotted Mo Fan standing there, bare-chested, and immediately panicked, her face flushing red as she turned away, shouting at him in a high-pitched voice to get dressed, all while sneaking a few glances at his exposed body.

….

"Cluck! Bawk!"

"What do I care about your 'Cluck'? I'm asking how long it's going to take you to finally break through to second rank, you enormous ball of fat..." Sitting in a small clearing, boxed in on three sides by a jagged mountain, An propped his chin on one hand and stared at a massive, or rather, an enormously fat feathered ball, currently attempting, with an indignant expression, to defend itself.

"Bawk! Bawk?! Cluck!"

Barely balancing on his tiny legs, Baldi crossed his wings over his chest and tilted his head back, trying to reassure An of his imminent success.

"Are you trying to tell me you're right on the verge of second rank?" An asked with a smile, looking at the proud rooster in front of him.

"Cluck!" Baldi nodded.

An reached out and tried to pat him on the head, but Baldi dodged out of the way. "Bawk!" With obvious pride, he shuffled a little farther off.

'Sigh, his bloodline really is just some backyard chicken, raised for soup... no hidden ties to phoenixes or dragons anywhere... a soup chicken through and through... Getting him any further's going to cost a fortune in resources.'

Watching the proud bird, he couldn't help but smile. 'Once things settle down... once I'm actually safe... I should come up with a few pills specifically for Baldi, to help his cultivation along.'

Suddenly he lifted his head and looked toward the horizon in surprise. 'Hm? A fourth-rank fruit? How did he even manage to find something like that...'

Standing up, he looked at Baldi. "Get in."

Understanding that An was serious, the bird didn't hesitate, hopping straight into the beast pouch.

Tying the pouch back onto his belt, An shot up into the sky, heading toward the source of the fruit's energy he'd sensed.

….

"Ruste Zen!" Holding half of a persone's body in one hand and a bloodied spear in the other, a demonic-path disciple screamed, staring across a field littered with bodies from both sides.

<"Watch yourself, he's a step away from Foundation Establishment... and his energy's behaving very strangely!"> Hearing the old man's voice in his head, weak and nearly exhausted, Ruste Zen's expression shifted sharply.

"Who are you?" He gave his sword a shake, flicking off the fresh drops of blood clinging to it.

"Heh! My name doesn't matter! What matters is what I do! Death-Bringing Whirlwind!" Shouting, the unnamed disciple drew back his spear and thrust its tip straight toward the sky.

Cra-CRACK!

Directly above the battlefield, black storm clouds crackling with furious lightning began spreading, swallowing more and more territory, generating a horrific pressure that showed no mercy to friend or foe.

"Crossing Strike!" Without hesitation, Ruste Zen activated his sword technique, channeling concentrated waves of energy straight up into the clouds above his head.

The instant the two energies collided, a deafening explosion followed, Ruste Zen's Fireenergy meeting the Lightningenergy in the sky.

Disciples across the battlefield clapped their hands over their ears, pouring every ounce of will into staying on their feet. But not everyone was so lucky, a few of the weaker disciples lost consciousness.

"Hehe!Heaven's Death Strike!" Tilting his head up toward the sky, laughing like a lunatic, the unnamed discipleshot forward and appeared instantly right in front of Ruste Zen.

Seeing the spear's tip inches from his nose, Zen channeled all his Qi into his defense. "Dragon Scale!"

Instantly, a membrane resembling a true dragon's hide wrapped around his entire body.

CRACK!

Slamming straight between his eyes, the spear's tip managed to punch just a few millimeters through his defense.

Watching the tip slowly, but surely, pushing through his defense, Zen didn't lose his composure, holding his ground to keep the attack's energy from throwing him backward, and raised his sword overhead. "Blade of Breaths!"

Instantly, his blade wrapped itself in flame.

In one sharp motion, he brought his sword down onto the spear, trying to sever it clean through.

The moment they collided, sword and spear flew apart in opposite directions, dragging their wielders along with them.

"Ugh... is that really all the famous heir of the Ruste clan's got?" Smirking, the unnamed disciple ran a hand along his spear, never taking his eyes off his opponent.

Gripping his sword with both hands, Zen took a few steps back. 'His physical strength's too high. If I keep meeting his attacks head-on, sooner or later he'll overpower me...'

"You know, my Master always used to say: to corner someone, you have to give them a choice. Heh! I couldn't understand what those words meant for the longest time... But once, in a fight against an opponent stronger than me... I suddenly realized what my Master was trying to tell me!" Aiming his spear straight at his target, he stepped to the side and twisted his body slightly, as if preparing to throw it.

<"I'm not sure he actually understood his Master correctly... Get ready, judging by his energy, this is going to be his strongest, and last, attack!"> Hearing his Teacher's faint, halting voice, Zen raised his sword in front of him.

"Omnipresent Rest! Spear Strike!" Preparing his technique, the disciple's spear suddenly wrapped itself in black energy, his hands turning stark white. Drawing the spear back as far as he could behind him, screaming with a voice that tore at his own throat, he hurled it straight at Ruste Zen in one sharp motion.

"Dragon Scale! Millennium Step!" Activating his defense and his movement technique at once, Zen had only just begun his first step when the massive spear was already almost at his heart.

"A-AGH!" Barely dodging in time, losing most of his robes and taking a deep gash across his chest, even his defense couldn't fully absorb the raging energy from the spear. Refusing to lose his composure, Zen lifted a foot, readying his second step under the effect of his movement technique. "Blade of Breaths! Enriched with Ignito’s Flame!"

Swinging his sword, he unleashed a wave of fire energy that scorched and dried out everything in its path.

"Ha-AAH! Heaven's Death Strike!" All the unnamed disciple's energy concentrated at the tip of his spear. In one sharp motion, he thrust forward, meeting the wave of Fireenergy head-on.

"Gh-AAA!" Barely holding onto his spear, the unnamed disciple's face paled slightly as he finally grasped the true strength of his opponent's attack.

"GhA!" Channeling strength into his legs to keep from being thrown to the ground, the unnamed disciple kept holding his spear steady, aiming it dead center into the wave of fire.

"Haa! Uuugh! Kh..." Holding his ground, he tried to gather his thoughts and strength, but in that brief moment of weakness, he caught a flash of metal right in front of him.

"Millennium Step! Ignito’s Blade!" Taking just one step, Ruste Zen appeared directly in front of his enemy. Raising his sword, wrapped in golden flame, he brought it down onto the unnamed disciple's head with everything he had.

"N-NO!" Realizing his mistake too late, the unnamed disciple tried to block with his spear, but with no time left, he couldn't wrap it in his own Qi.

Swish!

Trailing a tail of golden flame, the sword sliced through the spear like butter, and continued downward, entering right at the neck and exiting near the hip.

"A-ah! I-I... I-" Eyes twitching, disbelieving, the unnamed disciple immediately lost all his strength, feeling nothing but the crushing pain now locking his entire body in place.

Thud!

The unnamed disciple collapsed to the ground, flat on his back, his wide-open eyes slowly closed, the grimace of pain on his face relaxing with every passing moment, fading away along with every worry, every dream, every plan he'd ever had.

"Haa... Haaa..." Dropping to one knee, Ruste Zen leaned on his sword, trying to catch his breath and recover as fast as he could.

Suddenly he heard footsteps approaching, before he'd even lifted his head, he already knew who it was.

"Whew! I was starting to think you'd need my help!"

He heard a woman's voice. Lifting his head with some effort, he found a young woman standing in front of him, her body covered in tattoos from the neck down, sleeves rolled up. Fixing her dark hair into a ponytail, she studied the unnamed disciple's body with her blue eyes.

"Senior Sister Onie Alia, how's everyone else?" Choosing to ignore her earlier comment, Zen looked around at the disciples who'd fought alongside him against the demonic followers.

"Surprisingly, the moment that brute started attacking you, everyone else seemed to get some kind of signal and vanished into the forest at once, leaving only the wounded and the cornered behind." Onie Alia crossed her arms over her chest and looked at the wounded righteous-path disciples, some of them fellow sect brothers and sisters.

Lowering her gaze, she looked at the exhausted Ruste Zen. "My master's master… I mean, your master, is right! You really don't know how to distribute your strength properly in a fight! Well, no matter, we'll work on that... once we're back at the sect!"

Rolling his eyes at yet another one of these conversations, Ruste Zen answered reluctantly. "You sound just like Senior Brother, Sect Leader Black Marcus. No wonder he's so fond of you. How many times do I have to say it… that's because of my immortal flame, not because I'm distributing energy wrong when I use my techniques. Besides, my Master's never said anything like that."

"Your Master, me, what's the difference? I'm your senior sister! Which means I'm always right!" With a serious expression, she took one last look at the body lying nearby, then turned and headed off to help the wounded.

'Technically I'm your master's junior brother by rank, which means there's no way I could be your junior brother...' Struggling to his feet, Zen shook his head.

<"That girl's definitely missing a few screws..."> Hearing the voice in his head, Zen just let out a sigh and nodded, fully agreeing.