Tainted Blood

by Tinalynge

  This staff did not seem like the one he used to fight with. It seemed as if it was made from a strange red kind of wood, and on the end was a moon carved from jade attached.

  This was the tool that Lin Xiao needed to tame a Primordial Beast. Although he was a Diviner, there were certain things he needed when taming a beast and the beast staff was one of these items.

  The staff he held was something that had been passed down through generations of Diviners. There was only one true Beast Staff in the world, but there were countless replicas of it.

  The only real Beast Staff was in the hands of Lin Xiao, and it was much stronger than the other staves. In fact, it was in a league of its own.

  Lin Xiao’s eyes were serious as he looked at the boar in front of him. This boar was stronger than any other beast he had ever attempted to subdue, but he was not willing to give up. Rather, he was more than eager to give it a try. He wanted to see the strength of the Beast Staff he had casually swiped before setting out.

  Lin Xiao closed his eyes and started mumbling strange words. The moon on the top of the staff started shining with a gentle moonlight-like glow and this glow started coagulating into a long line.

  The line went from the moon straight into the eyes of the boar. Until now, the boar had been fighting seriously against the other three, but the moment the light flashed in front of its eyes, it stopped struggling. Its pupils widened and its body went limp.

  Everywhere within the fortress, the sound of fighting slowly came to a standstill as they saw the strange phenomenon in front of them. What was happening to this bandit leader?

  No one had the answer, but the moment they looked at Lin Xiao, fear and reverence was evident in their eyes. Some had greed in their narrowed eyes. The staff in Lin Xiao’s hand was truly too magnificent.

  Xue Wei was also curiously observing every change in Lin Xiao and the boar. This was the first time he saw a Diviner using his taming skill, and he was quite curious about it.

  When he saw the gentle moonlight-like glow on the staff, his interest was even further piqued. It had an attractiveness to it that almost made Xue Wei want to reach out his hand and touch it.

  The glow was alluring and tempting. It was almost dragging him towards it, but he managed to control himself.

  Hei Gou seemed to feel the same as Xue Wei, but where Xue Wei had no problem controlling himself, Hei Gou had trouble from staying away, trembling meanwhile. His eyes were red and his mouth curled into a sneer, blood flowing from the corner of the lips.

  It was clear that Hei Gou had a much harder time fighting against the allure of the light. Xue Wei frowned. This was not what he wanted. He did not want to see his good friend in pain.

  Lin Xiao seemed to have noticed the predicament that Hei Gou was in and his face turned serious. He instantly stopped pouring his energy into the staff and with a flick of his hand, he stored it in his storage treasure again, after which he quickly took out a few scrolls.

  Hei Gou felt much better the moment the staff had vanished, but the boar was not as fortunate. It had been under the direct influence of the light and its mind was blank and its body exhausted.

  Lin Xiao rushed to the side of the boar and placed the yellow scrolls on the boar’s forehead.

  These scrolls were clearly talismans. After placing them on the boar, he sat down in front of it, crossing his legs and placing his hands in his lap. He closed his eyes and poured out a form of energy that Xue Wei had never experienced before.

  He frowned. Although he had not seen this energy before, there was something about it that seemed slightly familiar, but he could not put his finger on what exactly it was.

  It was not before he looked at Bai Tianyi that he realized that the familiarity came from his Sword Energy. The energy that Lin Xiao was using shared certain characteristics to the kind of energy that the Sword Energy was made from.

  Could it be that what was behind the might of the Diviners was the power of a Dao? That would explain a lot of things, but at the same time also complicate others.

  Xue Wei looked at Bai Tianyi with a questioning look. Bai Tianyi nodded his head and walked next to him.

  “It is indeed the Dao,” he said with astonishment. “It is not a pure Dao, but it comes from the Dao of Dependence. It manages to create a dependence inside the mind of the beast, enslaving it and making it impossible for the beast to ever harm their master. They will follow any order given by their master.”

  “I would never have imagined that I would encounter another Dao like this, especially not in the body of one so young,” Bai Tianyi said with praise, but then his eyes turned sharp and he frowned.

  “Actually, it is not a real Dao, as he can not control it without his tools. I imagine that he is somehow able to use a bit of the power through a welcoming ritual at the Diviner’s main temple back in Chang’an.”

  “The reason he has so much potential is that he is very compatible with the Dao, making him even more important to the Diviners than what we previously imagined.”

  Xue Wei frowned. So it was a Dao, but not really a Dao. They used the rules of the Dao and the power of the Dao, but they could not wield it without tools. If the Diviners could do this, did it mean that he too was able to copy the Daos and make them into something that could strengthen his offense?

  Chapter 52 - End of the Battle

  Xue Wei decided to put aside his thoughts about the Dao at the moment and looked at what Lin Xiao was doing.

  The talismans that had been placed on the head of the boar were shining brightly. The characters that were written on them were shining with a moonlight glow like the one previously seen from the staff. Although Lin Xiao was now using quite a few talismans instead of the staff, the light that these talismans gave off was not even a fraction of the previous light.

  The light came from the writing on the talismans, and soon they started to turn into ash, the characters branding themselves onto the boar instead, and when they did, the half-closed eyes of the boar were no longer red and filled with hatred and fighting spirit. They were more akin to those of a sleeping beast.

  Everyone within the hall held their breath, staring at Lin Xiao as he performed his strange actions with great curiosity.

  Time trickled by slowly. Soon, after half an hour had gone by, the talismans and the characters had completely entered into the body of the boar. No one could see any signs of them anymore, but it was also obvious that the boar was sleeping, not showing any signs of awakening.

  Lin Xiao was still sitting in cultivation. All the members of the Garden of Shadows and the bandit group were wondering what exactly could be happening.

  He was asleep so why had they not killed him yet? Was there something else that they wanted to do, or were they just wasting time?

  Just as people were about to lose interest, something happened. The boar slowly opened its eyes and stood up. It quickly changed back to its human shape and draped a robe over its body before it bowed down in front of Lin Xiao, with no signs of fighting spirit left in him.

  “Da Jia greets master,” he said with a steady voice as he bowed deeply. Lin Xiao finally opened his eyes.

  Looking at him, Xue Wei noticed that there were beads of sweat on his forehead and that his face was paler than usual, but a great smile quickly spread on his face. The battle had been fierce, but he had managed to subdue a beast that was stronger than himself. This was quite an outstanding accomplishment.

  Everyone was astonished when they saw the submissive behavior of the bandit leader. His eyes were clear and bright, equal to how they had been before, but at the same time, a fervent reverence was blazing within his eyes whenever he looked at Lin Xiao, as if he was looking at the most important person in the world.

  “Eradicate the bandits,” Lin Xiao ordered. The boar, without regards to previous connections, turned into a blur as he rushed at the bandits, using his superior physical shape to slay them one after another.

  Seeing that Lin Xiao’s taming had
been successful, Xue Wei gestured for Hei Gou to return to his original shape. Hei Gou instantly did as suggested, turning back to his human shape, and wore a set of black robes with golden embroideries on them.

  There was no reason for anyone to fight anymore. The bandit leader executed the bandits easily as all of them were stunned. When he had finished his massacre, the bandit leader quickly returned to Lin Xiao’s side, standing behind him with a stoic expression on his face while giving his new master a look full of reverence.

  “Seems like you can tame beasts outside of the Chang’an Continent, too.” Xue Wei nodded his head in praise when he saw the behavior of the boar.

  The students of the Garden of Shadows had all been quiet since they saw what happened to Da Jia. Although they had lost a numerous amount of merit points because Da Jia killed the remaining bandits, no one minded it. All of them were astonished by the sudden change in the behavior of the boar.

  “This, what do you call this ability?” The Primordial Beast that had provided the herbs to the pills previously shivered as he asked. He too had had a hard time contending with the moonlight-like light that had shone earlier.

  Fortunately, he had been much further away so even if he had wanted to go nearer, his rationality had told him to stay away.

  Still, he was terrified now. If this man was capable of taming beasts, did that not mean that he too could become a puppet like this?

  “Do not fear,” Xue Wei smiled at the Primordial Beast that had stepped out to ask. “Although Xiao is capable of taming Primordial Beasts, he does not do so just because he can. This bandit leader ought to be brought back and brought to justice in front of the academy leaders, which is why we decided to tame him. He will never lower himself to harm innocent or upright beasts.”

  Xue Wei sounded righteous. He did not say that the main reason they had tamed this boar, Da Jia, was because they wanted to see whether or not his abilities worked outside of the Chang’an Continent. He made it sound as if they were doing it for the sake of justice. The faces of those gathered relaxed drastically, especially the face of the Primordial Beast that had questioned them.

  “Now that we have managed to get rid of all the bandits, what is the plans to do with the spoils?” Lin Xiao suddenly asked. “I can ask this boar to take us to their treasury and we can take all the things they have looted throughout the years.”

  “If you can do so, then we will be very grateful,” one of the four-eyed experts from the academy said with a slight bow. No one dared look down on Lin Xiao and the other three just because of their two eyes anymore.

  “We would like to bring the loot back to the academy so that it can be distributed amongst the unfortunate souls that have been robbed and their descendants.”

  Xue Wei was quite surprised when he heard that they did not want the loot for themselves, and although he had a few ideas about the valuables himself, he quickly lost interest when he saw that there were mainly weapons, gold, and silver alongside some essence stones.

  He already had all of those items so gifting them to the academy in exchange for some merit points was a much better idea.

  Like this, the students all stored everything within their storage treasures and returned to the academy’s camp.

  When they arrived, Elder Sun was ready to greet them, but the moment he noticed the figure of the bandit leader, his face turned dark and spiritual energy exploded from his body, knocking the bandit leader flying back.

  “Halt! Elder halt your steps!” one of the four-eyed experts called out, petrified, and he quickly stepped between them, surprising Elder Sun.

  “Why should I? He is a criminal deserving damnation! Why have you brought him back alive?!” Elder Sun was aggravated. It was clear that this man was their target, and yet here he was, alive and well.

  “Elder Sun, he has been tamed by Sir Lin Xiao and his friends,” one of the people said with a quiet voice. “Sir Lin Xiao is a Diviner. He is capable of taming beasts. He brought him back to be judged by the magistrate! We also brought back all the loot the bandits have accumulated throughout the years, all of it because Lin Xiao tamed the boar!”

  “That’s right, Sir Lin Xiao made everything much easier!” another agreed with a nod of his head, and soon the rest of the people nodded their heads and stood out to praise Lin Xiao.

  It was at this point that Elder Sun’s eyes roamed past all of them and his eyes widened. “How did all of you break through your Qi layers?!” he then exclaimed with shock.

  “It is known that it is impossible for us spiritual energy cultivators to have our Qi levels advance past the Heavenly Warrior rank, but now all of you are a rank above even me!”

  Elder Sun felt his heart beating fast in his chest. He could not understand how this could happen. Everything that he had known was being changed right in front of him. Not only had a Primordial Beast been tamed, but now a whole bunch of students had turned into Ordinary Knights?!

  “This is thanks to Sir Xue Wei,” another one said with pride in his voice. They were but teens and youths, but all of them were now Ordinary Knights!

  “He offered us all a pill which boosted our Qi levels to the Ordinary Knight rank. This has been a great help for us throughout the battle with the bandits and caused us to have no fatal casualties, only serious wounds.”

  Once again, Elder Sun was fully stunned by the fact that Xue Wei and his group had done such magnificent things. All the usual rules that the world followed seemed to be completely shattered one after another.

  “Well, in that case, Elder Sun thanks Sir Xue Wei and his companions for helping the Garden of Shadow’s campaign in becoming such a success!

  “Everyone pack up the camp!”

  Following this announcement, the camp became a big mess of people rushing around, packing up the tents and getting ready to return to the Garden of Shadows.

  Afterword

  Hello

  I hoped you enjoyed the book, I am sorry that it was delayed compared to my original plan, unfortunately I have been sick and was unable to write much since November.

  However I have begun book 6 – Garden of Shadows, and I will release it as always free for all to read on: https://www.wuxiaworld.com/novel/condeming-the-heavens and advance chapters can be found on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/tinalynge

  When the book is finished I will, as always, release it on Amazon, so I hope you will continue to support me. Without your wonderful support I would never be capable of writing as much as I do.

  If you are bored, you are more than welcome to join me on my discord channel where you can ask questions about the books, see exclusive art or just chat with me. https://discord.gg/y8e9xXD

  Once again, thank you for your wonderful support!

  Kind regards

  Tinalynge