Blood of the Army

by Tinalynge

  He had already learned so much from Lan, but he could learn even more? This was truly a blessing. Even if everyone thought he had become the plaything of this mysterious and rather odd prophet, Xue Wei did not mind, as he was getting the most insightful training that he had ever before experienced, and he could feel himself progressing by leaps and bounds.

  The rest of the evening went on as the day before. Lan was gone most of the night before he arrived in the tent and claimed the bed while looking at Xue Wei, who was in the midst of his training, and nodded his head in silent praise.

  The energy in the air was disrupted by Xue Wei’s constant absorption of some of it, and slowly it got more and more chaotic as Xue Wei absorbed more and more into his body while his dantian kept swelling and shrinking in rapid succession as it absorbed the energy.

  The azure gleam given off by his dantian was getting stronger and stronger; soon it no longer looked like a pearl but more like an azure bead.

  This azure bead was now more than twice the size it had been when Xue Wei started his cultivation that night.

  On the bed, Lan looked at Wei, and a smile spread across his lips. "Well done, brat," he praised with a low voice. "Seems like I did not need to give you a helping hand this time... your ability to cultivate is far above anyone else I've seen, and even my uncle could not match your speed."

  Xue Wei did not hear anything that Lan said, as he was too busy consolidating his foundations, and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

  The entire energy in the surroundings was filled with turmoil, and from this others could also sense that someone was breaking through.

  The more curious people in the tent city decided to exit their tents and follow the energy to the epicenter of where it was most chaotic to see who was breaking through.

  They were curious to know, as they had to know if another monster of the third layer had appeared in the camp.

  When they arrived at Xue Wei's tent, they all looked at one another and frowned.

  Knowing that Xue Wei was residing within the tent, all of them were suddenly feeling complicated.

  Some of them were relieved by the fact that it was Xue Wei. He would at most become a one layer Earth Warrior, making one more Earth Warrior emerge in their camp, but if it had been someone who reached the third layer rank, then it would have been much different.

  Others were not too comfortable about it because they knew that as an Ordinary Warrior he had the strength of an Earth Warrior, yet now that he had become an actual Earth Warrior, who was to say that his strength had not multiplied greatly?

  Xue Wei was completely unaware of the audience he had attracted outside the tent; he was solely focused on his cultivation base and the consolidation of his new realm.

  Lan had long since noticed the people that had come to scout Xue Wei, but after seeing that he was not being disturbed, Lan quickly relaxed again.

  The group quickly dispersed. No matter what they thought about Xue Wei breaking through, all of them realized that they could do nothing about it, and all they could do was to return to their own tents.

  The rest of the night passed followed by the sun rising in the sky, yet Xue Wei was still absorbing the Qi from the surrounding air wantonly as if his body was an empty reservoir that was being filled with water.

  The sun rose to the middle of the sky, shining down on everyone, but Xue Wei showed no intention of awakening from his meditation. It was not before the sun was starting to set again that Lan could feel how the absorption of Qi was slowly dwindling down to a reasonable level.

  Xue Wei opened his eyes, and a beam of light shot out from within. A breath of foul air escaped his lips.

  "Well done, you made it to Earth Warrior already!" Lan praised him while clapping his hands.

  Xue Wei, forgetting that he was not too keen on this prophet, sent him a beaming smile and nodded his head. "Thanks!" he exclaimed, filled with excitement. Lan looked at him, seemingly contemplating something.

  "Well. I was going to teach you about the different ranks when you became an Earth Warrior, so I'll tell you about it now," Lan decided.

  "I was planning to teach you something awesome, but considering that it is already getting late, I have a feeling that it is not the most suitable time to go to the fields. We will simply not have enough time!"

  "Your body should be nourished from the Qi you absorbed into your flesh and body, so going to the dining hall tonight can be skipped,"

  "But it is filled with medicinal properties," Xue Wei complained, "I need them to increase my strength, especially now when I have just reached the Earth Warrior rank!"

  "Open your mouth," Lan ordered, and hesitatingly Xue Wei did as he was told.

  Lan flicked his fingers, and a small red bead-like thing entered Xue Wei's mouth and went straight down his throat, almost choking him in the process.

  Just as Xue Wei was about to cough, he felt that the small bead transformed into liquid and fell down his throat, into his stomach where a wave of heat started radiating through his body.

  "What's this?" he asked in amazement as he felt the impurities in his body being eradicated by this heat, burnt to a crisp and forced out of his system.

  "It was a Scarlet Corpse Pill. A pill that is concocted from Corpse Grass and Blood Ginseng. It is very mild in nature, and this one had a purity of a hundred percent, so you don't have to worry about pill toxins. Since you turned into an Earth Warrior, you should just barely be able to consume it."

  Lan spoke as if it was natural for him to hand out medicinal pills of such caliber like candy, but Xue Wei was horrified. Pills were a rarity in the Kingdom of Heping, and especially pills of one hundred percent purity.

  To randomly give away such pills like this was enough to shock him, but at the same time, he started to feel grateful to this prophet.

  "Maybe I misjudged you at the start," Xue Wei said with a small smile on his face, but Lan just grinned.

  "I can give you much better stuff if you promise to join my collection," he tempted, but Xue Wei just shook his head wordlessly.

  "You said that you would tell me about the different ranks that come after the Warrior ranks?" the younger man changed the subject elegantly, to which Lan chuckled before he began to explain.

  Chapter 22 - Becoming a Dragon

  "It is quite simple," Lan said with a chuckle. "Above the Warrior ranks are the Knight ranks. Ordinary Knight, Earth Knight, Sky Knight, and Heavenly Knight."

  "After Knights come Saints. Ordinary Saint, Earth Saint, Sky Saint, and Heavenly Saint."

  "And after Saints?" Xue Wei held his breath as he asked, but Lan just laughed. "After Saints? Who knows. Heavenly Saints are as rare as ice in the desert, and to reach even above the Heavenly Saint rank is simply not something that people have been able to achieve in millennia. It is all legends about what is above."

  "What is your rank then?" Xue Wei asked another question that had confused him for some time. To think that not even his attacks could cause dust to appear on his clothes; he had to be magnificent.

  "What rank do you think I am at?" Lan answered the question with yet another question and smiled slightly.

  Looking at Lan, Xue Wei could guess that he was not going to answer the question in a straightforward way, so he took a moment to contemplate.

  "I do not know about the strength levels of the various ranks," Xue Wei said tentatively, "but I have a feeling that you are very highly ranked."

  "I have an impression that you are way stronger than any other creature I have ever met before."

  "Creature, you say?" Lan could not help but laugh at that, and Xue Wei embarrassedly rubbed his nose, "I mean, I once saw someone I believe to be a Primordial Beast, and she was very strong. Yet you seem way stronger than her; I would guess that you are a Saint of some sort?"

  Instead of answering the question, Lan laughed again. "Someone you believe to be a Primordial Beast? Why so?"

  Xue Wei did not hide anything and told Lan the
entire story, after which Lan frowned. "So that's their game," he shook his head and looked at Xue Wei, who seemed very confused and looked at the prophet while unsure of what the man was thinking.

  "Never mind, you are fortunate to have encountered a Primordial Beast and lived to tell the tale," he laughed again, and Xue Wei nodded his head, paying no more attention to the prophet’s comment.

  "Well, it is too late now to go train, so go get some rest, consolidate your foundations a bit more, and then we will go out tomorrow. I have something very peculiar to teach you. It has to do with your Azure Dragon Scripture."

  Xue Wei gave Lan a long glance, but he did not say anything to him and instead he just nodded his head and sat down on the ground once more, focusing on absorbing more energy from the surrounding air and converting it into Qi within his body.

  The night quickly passed, and as the morning broke, birds sang in the sky and the sun was rising in the sky.

  Lan and Xue Wei left the tent together, completely ignoring the many strange glances that the two of them were getting, both having their own thoughts and completely ignorant of what others might think about them.

  "It is time for us to get some food. Although I gave you something very nutritious last night, it cannot replace real food, and you haven't eaten for days as you were consolidating your newfound realm."

  As soon as Lan spoke, everyone perked their ears up to hear his words, yet they were so suggestive that some of the girls blushed and others almost vomited.

  Xue Wei sighed. "Enough of that chatter, they are already thinking the worst. No need to keep making them believe that I am into men,"

  "You know, I might even think the worst – your reaction is so dull, at least everyone else is reacting amusingly."

  "So you are doing this to be amused?" Xue Wei asked with a sigh, and Lan just shrugged his shoulders. "If I didn't do it for fun, then what other reason could I possibly have?"

  "Whatever," Xue Wei sighed. "Just stop it now. I do have a sweetheart; it would be a shame if she heard about me cheating on her with some lame prophet."

  "Oh, you have a sweetheart?" Lan suddenly got interested. "Tell me about her, what is she like?"

  A bright light shone in Xue Wei's eyes as he thought back to Wang Xiaoyun and the very short time they had spent together, and about the promises they had made to each other.

  "Her name is Wang Xiaoyun. She is a Wayfarer, and although it is difficult for us to be together I swore that I would become a strong enough partner for her family to approve of me!"

  Lan suddenly started laughing, and he was laughing so much that he clutched his stomach with his arms and almost doubled over.

  Xue Wei had gotten used to his strange behavior so he said nothing, but he just stood there staring at him with a dull, distant gaze.

  "Sorry," Lan said as he wiped a tear from his eye, " it's just, you want to make the Wayfarers accept you. That is rather hilarious."

  Xue Wei felt anger rise in his chest as he heard this. He glared at Lan. "Why is that amusing?" he asked, but Lan just continued giggling uncontrollably.

  "Well, you know that Wayfarers are against marrying out of the family because they will lose their bloodline." Lan laughed. "But you have a special physique, so it should be fine if you ever manage to produce some offsprings."

  Xue Wei was confused, annoyed, and slightly angry as he went to get a tray of food and moved to a vacant bench.

  Contrary to his expectations, Lan sat down with him on the bench, but the prophet was still not entirely done giggling.

  Xue Wei ate his food with his head down, and everyone else had decided to stay away from the prophet. Although they knew he could teach them many things, they could not help but be scared about what he might ask in return.

  Just look at the pitiful Xue Wei. Although he had gotten great benefits which everyone credited to Lan, they also all were of the impression that he was now the plaything of a prophet.

  As they finished the food, the two walked towards the fields surrounding the tent camp again, and here they found a place where there were not many other cultivators.

  "Your cultivation technique is quite different from normal techniques," Lan started to introduce. "It originates from the Azure Dragons, and dragons are the kings amongst beasts. This specific scripture is increasingly rare, and as far as I know only two copies exist in the entire continent, so for you to be able to cultivate it is truly marvelous."

  "When you cultivate the Azure Dragon Scripture, you will be able to transform yourself into a dragon forcefully."

  "I can transform into a dragon?" Xue Wei's eyes widened in surprise. "But does that not make people think that I am a Primordial Beast?"

  "Don't worry, it is like the Wayfarers and their abilities. If anything, they will think you are a Wayfarer."

  "I see," Xue Wei had never seen the Wayfarers fight, as he only knew that their bloodline would be activated when it came into contact with the blood of a Primordial Beast, but as to what changes happened, none of his books had ever specified it.

  Xue Wei nodded his head. "In that case; I would love to learn it," he said excitedly. He had read about dragons before; they were indeed the king of beasts.

  To gain the strength of a dragon, even if it were just a part, would make his body stronger than any other cultivator. To be able to transform into a dragon – would he even be able to soar in the sky then?

  "Well, I say that you can become a dragon, but the truth is that you will at most be able to shapeshift a part of your body for some time."

  "Like at the beginning, I will teach you how to make your arms transform. I think that is the limit for you for now."

  "But don't you worry, as the time goes by you will become more familiar with it, and then your ability to transform will also increase. Who knows, one day you might become a real dragon!"

  Xue Wei's eyes shone with excitement. "Please teach me," he said breathlessly. Although he hated Primordial Beasts more than anything, he could imagine his strength rising to heavenly proportions if he managed to become a real dragon.

  In that case, he would be able to face the other Primordial Beasts at equal footing in terms of natural gifts. He would be able to face them equally, and even overpower them as everyone knew that dragons reigned supreme.

  "Okay, use your cultivation technique," Lan ordered, and Xue Wei did exactly what he had been told. Although his uncle had told him to never show this technique to anyone else, Xue Wei understood that since Lan had already realized which technique he was using, it was useless to try and hide it.

  Instead, he should take all the assistance he could get to increase his strength, which was why he rotated the technique freely, making Qi roam his meridians.

  "Well done, now visualize the arm of a dragon while you are doing this."

  "A dragon arm?" Xue Wei frowned. He had never before seen a real dragon, but suddenly a picture spawned in his mind, a picture of a dragon arm that had impaled the chest of some man.

  When the picture appeared in Xue Wei's mind, he was incapable of seeing who the arm belonged to, and the face of the man who was impaled was also completely blurred in his memory.

  Suddenly, a sharp spike of pain appeared in his mind, a pain so intense that he could not help but cry out and double over on the grass.

  His hands were cradling his head as he rocked back and forth, trying to make the pain less unbearable, but it was impossible and moments after the entire world turned black as Lan's hand had descended and caused him to lose consciousness.

  "So he has taken your memories too?" Lan muttered, his face suddenly turning soft. He then bent over and lifted up Xue Wei and started to make his way back to the tent city.

  Others had noticed that something strange was going on, some had even heard the scream Xue Wei had released, but no one dared near him, apart from the higher ranked members in the recruitment camp.

  "Esteemed Prophet, allow us to carry this lowly one to his tent," one of the captains
said as he went towards Xue Wei and Lan, but Lan just glared at him and the captain instantly retreated. It was clear that he was not going to let anyone else take over the task of tending to this young man.

  When they were back in the tent, Xue Wei was being placed gently on the bed, and Lan sat by his side.

  "You remind me of myself," Lan sighed. "Perhaps that is why I want to help you. Your past is not much better than my own, but hopefully your future can be brighter."

  "Now, should I break the spell that holds his memories hostage, or should I let him experience them little by little?" Lan contemplated for some time. "I think I will leave them for now," he decided. Then he waited for Xue Wei to awaken so that he could be told what exactly he had experienced.