1 One Single Drop

Roaring laughter echoed in the dark. A dozen people were gathered around the huge carcass of what seemed to be a giant dark tiger. They were all cheering, their faces beaming with happiness.

Most of them wore long gray robes, with the same black emblem right between the shoulders: a single sword, embedded into the skull of a fanged creature. Every single one of them was holding an unsheathed black-bladed sword.

The rest wore scale armor, made of white metal that shined gently in the darkness. They had helms with half moons carved on the frontal plaque and carried long pikes and halberds.

All their weapons were stained with black traces of a dark viscous liquid. Some of the blades were even dripping it directly to the ground. The black drops hissed when they touched the ground, lines of smoke starting to rise from the spot they hit.

On the very front of the group there two young men, probably in their early twenties. One wore white scale armor while the other a long grey robe. A look of pride could be seen in their expression, while they exchanged pleasantries as they were at some kind of gala.

A thick-browed youth, the one wearing a robe, laugh while asking "Brother Sun, you have made monstrous advancements from our last hunt. Your Candide Light has become quite a wonder to admire... did you already break to the second layer?"

The youth answering had long hairs kept together in a man bun. He didn't answer directly to his companion's question but his prideful smile was enough confirmation " Ha Ha Ha, Brother Jiom you're not so bad yourself. Your Sect's fame of being the best at beast slaying isn't just random boasting.... you actually knew all of his weaknesses!"

Jiom smiled while snickering on the inside: of course he knew the points of weakness of this Black Scaled Hellish Felin. A junior of his stumbled upon its territory not long ago and immediately came back to report it. For the following month, Jiom used every resource at his disposition to find out every secret about this beast. He used all his merit points to do so. Why? Because if there was a chance to kill that beast, it was worth it all.

It was a core bearer!

Beasts like these had the possibility to walk on the path of cultivation, becoming Demons or Devils. It was a great honor to help out the Human Cause and extirp this evil from the world. Plus, he could use the merit points that the sect would give him as a reward when he would bring back the Beast Core.

This was his golden ticket to the Inner Sect.

An intoxicated look appeared on his face while looking at the dead beast before him. Its body was riddled with holes, but he knew that the Moon Knights Sect's people wouldn't care much about that. The dark scales could be melted and forged into weapons, and knowing them he could tell they would use them to forge armors. It was a pity because even his own Beast Slaying Sect could make use of those scales, but they were the price that he already agreed to pay in exchange of Sun's help.

He wasn't very pleased to admit that, but Sun was clearly more powerful than him. Probably only people of the Inner Sect could rival him. Only because they both hailed from the same city and their clans had been in close alliance for ages that he dared to invite him to help with the slaying of the beast. He also brought all of his people and asked him to bring no more than five helpers to remain in numerical advantage.

This allowed him to feel a bit safer, but in the end, he would truly feel safe only when the core was safely delivered to Beast Slaying Sect's Mission Hall.

Smiling amiably, Jiom gave a nod to the people behind him "Brother Sun, let's have our men start to remove the scales.".

Sun obviously understood what Jiom meant: he wanted to cut the pleasantries and finish the work the faster possible. Probably he didn't trust him much. However, it was expected: they were from different sects and now there wasn't a scary beast to keep them from falling apart from each other anymore.

Nodding, he agreed with the gray-robed youth " Yes, we can't just remain here... let's move, quickly!". The last part of his speech was more of a command, and immediately the white armored warriors put down their weapons and started to move towards the giant tiger.

"Uh, now that you're here, why don't you stay a bit longer?" said a sinister voice, coming right from the darkness.

The group of hunters shivered while a cold white fog started to envelop the forest clearing. Both Sun and Jiom snikered, almost at the same time, while a mighty pressure came rolling out from their bodies, sweeping the fog away.

Sun thundering voice resounded all over the forest "Hmph, spouting nonsense from the darkness? Do you dare come out and say them to my, Sun Wutain's, face?!"

A light laugh responded to Sun's provocation, while two enormous yellow eyes appeared in the shadows. With a rumbling sound, a colossal figure slowly emerged from the forest's edge.

Cries of astonishment exploded between the group of hunters, while the faces of the gray robed people looked lifeless. They looked terrified, almost as if they had just seen a ghost casually strolling out from the woods.

But it wasn't a ghost, it was... a tiger! A colossal black furred tiger!

A low roar came out from the giant figure, " So, little human... not only you trespassed on this king's territory and killed one of my descendants... no, you also disrespected me". An amused look could be seen on the colossal tiger's eyes.

"How do you plan to repay me?"

[Two Day After]

A battered figured was running as his life depended on it. His body was riddled with light injuries, all caused by thorns and bushes. Gray chunk of clothing hung on his shoulders and around his waist, the only parts remaining of his sect uniform.

His eyes were tired, but they also clashed with some deep sentiment. After a while a chuckle comes out from his broken, bloody lips " I guess it's time then".

This fleeing figure was Jiom.

The last two day was the worst time in his whole life. The beast that caught them two nights before was a well-known Tyrant of the region. Not even an Inner Sect Elder would have the confidence to attack him completely alone, especially in his own territory.

His Beast Slaying Sect gave him also a nickname: " The Evil King". That's because he liked to play with his food, torturing its preys until they were overcome by fear and fatigue.

Jiom knew that the moment he decided to chose them for his sick playing ritual, he was bound to die sooner or later. He decided to keep fighting, not for survival, but to pass the word that the Evil King was in the area. Even if he wasn't going to make it, he had a sister in the Outer Sect. If he died performing meritorious service for the sect they would surely take care of her.

His hand was firm around the grip of his sword, now broken in two. On the blade, previously totally black, now there were numerous crimson symbols. They were runes that he inscribed using his own bloodline origin, describing the situation that they felt into and the location of the Evil King. He extracted his own bloodline energy to write them down because he knew that if he used common energy the tiger king would notice it immediately.

"Tired yet?" a voice full of ridicule broke the eerie silence in which the young cultivator had traveled until that moment.

Jiom didn't respond and kept running as much faster as his legs allowed him. He just needed a couple of more minutes and he would reach one of the points of information that his sect had planted all over the local forest. There he could send his sword flying toward the array, and it would directly go back to the sect.

"Just a couple of seconds more, and you'll reach it! You can do it!"

Jiom's hearth seemed to stop for a second, while his legs finally gave in. He didn't try to move them: if the king knew of the information network he would never be able to use it before him.

"Oh? You finally gave in? Well, it was a nice run... maybe I should let you go free..."

Jiom chuckled sadly. He already saw the damned beast use the same trick with a Moon Knight. He obviously lied then and he was lying now.

Without caring of his words he gathered his remaining strength and threw the sword the harder he could in direction of the information point. Maybe one day a sect member would stumble upon them.

"Ha Ha Ha, you're funny. Do you think I will just go away and not take with me that sword of yours?"

A shadow appeared like a specter from the darkness, moving its long paws toward the flying sword. However, a moment before its pawn could touch it, a strange look appeared on the beast's eyes and it began to retreat faster than how it appeared.

" Hmph, wicked beast" a cold old voice resounded all around the region.

Jiom face fell as he looked at his sword that suddenly reversed its course and stabbed towards the giant tiger's snout. The result was a furious roar that seemed able to rend space itself, while fiery red blood exploded with violence all around.

The outer sect cultivator was almost killed by the aura emanated by the frenzied tiger, but then a small figure appeared right before him. He barely reached Jiom's waist, was bald and had a long curly white beard. His old face was full of scars, giving him a merciless look.

Jiom eyes opened and closed for a while, almost not believing what he was seeing before him. After he made sure that he wasn't seeing things he fell down on his knees, excitedly howling "Patriarch!", as his eyes filled with devotion and utter adoration.

"Mmm, you did well child" Said the old dwarf with a gentle calm voice. Then he narrowed his eyes and pointed them towards the beast in front of him.

"Shameless fat cat, I told you in the past that if you touched my people I would hunt you down to the earth core, didn't I?"

The tiger roared, the injury that it sustained already disappeared under the work of its powerful healing faculties, "Old midget, you think too...highly of yourself".

"You broke the pact."

"No, I protected my bloodline"

"Oh, so it was a direct descendant of yours?"

"Mph, even if he had only a few drops of my blood in him, he was still my descendant"

"You're not tricking anyone fat cat, you could care less of even your own direct descendant"

"The only one tricking himself is you, little one, what are those? slits or boots?

The two continued insulting each other for almost two hours, with Jiom becoming more and more puzzled each second that passed. Why wasn't the patriarch fighting against the beast? No matter how one looked at it, they seemed like old pals that loved to insult each other in friendship.

At the same time, something, deeply linked to the fast confrontation between the two powerful cultivators, took place not too much far away.

A little snake was calmly making its way towards a hole in the ground, when a single fiery red drop of blood fell from the skies into his back. The creature hissed in pain, while the blood easily penetrated inside its body. Almost as if it feared the falling of another drop, the reptile lunged towards the hole, disappearing deep inside.