STNS: Chapter 525 (Patreon)

Members of the Flood Dragon Clan were often arrogant. Dragons were strong. Among all the thousands of magical beast species, dragons were among the strongest. This strength gave them the right to act arrogantly, to swagger around as if everything under heaven and earth belonged to them. This arrogance often led them to take everything they wanted, regardless of whether it actually belonged to them.

The great phoenix of Phoenix Peak Volcano had been the unfortunate subject of theft and vandalism for many a century, and the ones who had committed said offenses was none other than the Flood Dragon Clan who lived nearby. He would have stomped them out centuries ago, but two things had held him back.

The first was Loong Chen. Loong Chen was one of the few existences that the great phoenix feared, a peak Perfection Realm cultivator. Among all the cultivators on this planet, he was one of the few who was most likely to achieve godhood. The great phoenix was also a perfection realm cultivator. He, however, was only at the first subrealm. He could not hold a candle to Loong Chen.

They had fought several times and the great phoenix had lost every battle. Each time, he had felt more humiliated than the last, and the Flood Dragon Clan had taken advantage of their leader’s victory to pillage his volcano and the surrounding forest even more. It had been infuriating.

After Loong Chen left, the great phoenix had tried attacking the Flood Dragon Clan, but what repelled him this time was the barrier that had sprung up around the Flood Dragon Clan’s home.

It seemed that, before he left, Loong Chen had created an independent spatial pocket that existed parallel to the world they lived in. This realm was folded within space itself and accessible only through a special portal that could only be accessed by those of the Flood Dragon Clan and their guests. To top it off, there were several illusions and barriers set up to further stymy anyone’s search of the Flood Dragon Clan’s home.

In short, entering without permission was impossible.

But the great phoenix now had a secret weapon.

At the moment, his appearance was that of a man so beautiful that it was hard to tell his sex. He combined feminine grace with masculine strength so thoroughly that it was like he had decided to spit on the face of terms like “man” or “woman.” Draped over his shoulder was a long, flowing robe woven from shimmering golden threads. He wore no shoes. Steam hissed underneath his bare feet as he stood upon the rocky surface.

“Go… Schuchang. Fulfill your oath to me and undo the seal keeping this place hidden,” said the great phoenix, turning to his companion.

Schuchang grimaced but nodded once.

The great phoenix walked as Schuchang carefully picked his way through the mountainous region, moving exactly as he had been told. The great phoenix had long discovered all of the illusions and traps set up around the Flood Dragon Clan’s home. He had been preparing for this day for a very long time.

Soon, he thought. Soon, those obnoxious dragons will meet their end.

***

After regaining their original strength, Wu Jian and Wu Meiying shifted focus to attaining more strength.

It would be hard for them to increase their cultivation in such a short time, so their focus was on technique refinement, Dao understanding, and increased combat training.

Wu Jian had eleven techniques in his arsenal.

Spatial Folding - the ability to make space fold in on itself, creating shortcuts through physical space.

Spatial Severing - the ability to cut through the fabrics of space and create spatial rifts.

Nihility - a technique that let him become a void in space, making him intangible and therefore impossible to attack through normal means.

Teleportation - a technique that let him instantly move from one spot to another.

Spatial Lock - this technique locked someone in space, trapping them.

Tiger’s Strength - one of his few physical enhancement techniques. He drew on spatial energy to greatly increase his physical strength.

Black Hole - While he hadn’t mastered this technique, he could create a concentrated point of spatial energy that sucked in everything around it.

Swords of Space Rondo - this offensive technique created multiple spatial swords that he could control and manipulate at will.

Body of the Celestial White Tiger - Wu Jian could unleash the powers that lay dormant within his blood, transforming him into a being of incredible might for a limited period of time.

Cleaving the Heavens in a Single Strike - this was his ultimate technique, his finishing move, and it was not something he could use lightly.

According to Wu Meiying, these techniques were fine and he didn’t need to acquire anymore. It was better to master a handful of techniques than it was to learn numerous techniques and master none. That was why he focused on refining these ten techniques.

And he did so by sparring against Wu Meiying.

His training partner stood on the lake before him, her feet hovering just above the surface. She wore no shoes. Her jade feet were slightly arched as she was ready to move at a moment’s notice. Seven brilliantly glowing silver orbs floated gently around Wu Meiying like a halo.

“Teleportation: Void Step.”

Wu Jian appeared in Wu Meiying’s blindspot and swung Pale Moon with all his might. The attack was so powerful that it caused the air to howl as it was severed. Yet for however powerful his attack might have been, Wu Meiying avoided it with ease, gently placing her hand against the flat surface and redirecting it with minimal effort. Wu Jian’s sword went wide, but he flexed all the muscles in his arms and core to stop his swing’s momentum.

“Teleportation: Void Step.”

He disappeared again and attacked from another angle.

Void Step was not a new technique, but a variation of Teleportation. He called it Void Step because of how this technique worked. He stepped into a dimensional rift called The Void, which was a rift within space-time that paralleled all words. While in the dimensional rift, he could choose where he wanted to appear with ease. Time within the dimensional rift was also frozen, so everyone in the outside world wasn’t moving at all. The only downside to this technique was that he could not attack because he was phased out of the world.

The original teleportation had him folding space between himself and his target location, essentially creating the shortest route between points A and B, which meant he could only travel either linearly for short-distance teleportation, or he could use coordinates to travel across longer distances. There were no issues with the long-distance teleportation, but the previous short-range teleportation had several limitations that he wanted to get rid of--first among those being how he could only travel in the direction that he was looking.

To use his original short-range teleportation technique, Wu Jian needed to actually look at the place he wanted to teleport to, but this made it easy to predict where he would appear. That was a flaw, especially against more powerful enemies like Zhou Shíwēi. Void Step removed that flaw and allowed him to strike from any direction at any time, all without looking.

Of course, even with this technique, Wu Meiying was more than capable of reacting well before he appeared as if she knew where he was going to be.

While Wu Jian was refining his teleportation technique, Wu Meiying was working on mastering her control over time. She had even less techniques than him.

Future Sight - a technique to predict the future.

Past Sight - a technique to see the past.

Time’s Flow - a technique that Wu Meiying used to manipulate the flow of time.

Time Barrier - a barrier technique that condensed time energy to act as a protective shield. It didn’t block attacks so much as rewind their time to negate them.

Severance: Radiance of Time - A technique that channeled the very essence of time into a devastating attack.

Heavenly Palm of Retribution - a powerful martial arts technique focused chi into the user’s palm to create an intensely compressed energy field.

Chronos Orbs - a technique that created an orb of Wu Meiying’s life force intertwined with temporal energy. It allowed her to reverse time whenever she received a fatal blow and thus negate any damage done to her.

While she had less techniques than him, hers were far more refined. She used the knowledge acquired from her past lives to continuously improve her technique. She was, in all honesty, close to mastering her techniques and just needed to put them into practice.

“Spatial Severing.”

Wu Jian swung Pale Moon and severed the space in front of him. A gaping slash appeared in front of him. Blackness poured out from the hole in the world, though it quickly closed up as the world worked hard to restore itself.

“Not bad, Jian… but it’s still too soon for you to beat me,” a voice said behind him.

“Nihility!”

Wu Jian activated another technique seconds before a hand could strike him. The hand shifted through his body and appeared out of his chest. Wu Jian already knew she could still attack him using some special means, so he jerked himself away, spun around, and raised Pale Moon high.

“Tiger’s Strength!”

“Cleaving the Heavens.”

Wu Jian didn’t use the full technique but a minor variation that let him fire off several powerful slashes. Each one sailed toward Wu Meiying, who redirected them with a hand covered in temporal energy. The fired attacks went wide. One sliced through the lake floor, but another sliced into a small mountain peak, cleaving it in half. The cleaved half slowly slid off the mountain and fell into the lake with a loud crash.

“Not bad,” Wu Meiying nodded approvingly. “You’re getting much better at controlling your technique.”

“It could still use some work though,” Wu Jian said with a sigh. “I compress it as much as I can to increase the speed, cutting power, and distance it can travel… but it’s still not fast enough to hit someone of your caliber. It won’t do squat against someone like Zhoue Shíwēi.”

Wu Meiying nodded. “True, but that’s why we’re practicing. Now, let’s keep going. In fact, let’s kick it up a notch.”

“Right. Time to get serious.”

Wu Jian spread his feet wide and bent his knees. Chi gathered around him in vast quantities, erupting from his pores like a geyser. He was about to activate Body of the Celestial White Tiger, arguably his most powerful ace in the hole. Yet just before he could, Loong Chen appeared before him and Wu Meiying. Her appearance was so sudden that it took a moment for him to register her presence.

“Loong Chen? What’s going on? You seem kind of ruffled,” Wu Jian said.

“It bothers me that you can tell I’m upset by something,” Loong Chen said with a sigh. “Nevermind that. We have a man calling himself Schuchang here. He claims to be a friend of yours.”

“Schuchang is here?” Wu Jian blinked in surprise. The man had said he had something to do after delivering them the phoenix ashes and left before Loong Chen showed up. What was he doing here? “We do know him. Where is he now?”

Loong Chen’s eyes sharpened. “So you do know him. Not only do you have the blood of Báihǔ flowing within you, but you are mated to the descendant of our Qīnglóng and you are friends with someone who has the blood of Zhūquè… if I didn’t know any better, I’d say this was providence.”

“You didn’t answer my question,” Wu Jian said.

“Hmph. He is currently being held under watch by the elders. We couldn’t allow someone with his blood to roam free until we ascertain that he’s not a threat.”

Wu Jian and Wu Meiying shared a look.

“Take us to him,” Wu Jian said at last.

“That was my plan all along,” Loong Chen said.

She led them to a small hut located on the outskirts of the village. It was a very unassuming structure. However, when they stepped inside, they found Schuchang, bound and kneeling on the floor, surrounded by all three elders.

“Oh! Hey, Jian! Sup?” asked Schuchang, completely at ease despite being bound and surrounded by people far stronger than him.

“Don’t sup me. What are you doing?” asked Wu Jian, rolling his eyes.

“I came here to see you,” he answered as if it was obvious.

Wu Jian glanced at the elders. “You can let him go. He’s a friend.”

The elders still looked uncertain, but a nod from Loong Chen was enough to make them release Schuchang’s bindings. Standing up and stretching his limbs as though nothing had happened, Schuchang glanced around the room as Wu Jian walked over to him.

“I’m surprised you were able to find me,” said Wu Jian, eyes narrowed. “You left before Loong Chen even showed up, so there’s no way you could have known where I was going.”

“Ah ha ha ha. Sharp as always,” said Schuchang. He gave Wu Jian an apologetic smile. “Sorry, but I am here to fulfill an oath I made with the great phoenix.”

“The great phoenix?!” Xian Dà Zhǎnglǎo exclaimed in shock.

Everyone seemed so surprised by Schuchang’s words that none of them could react in time as the man threw something onto the ground. Wu Jian couldn’t tell what it was, a glass sphere maybe, but it shattered into red powder the moment it struck the floor.

Powerful flames erupted from the area not even a moment later. These flames were so intense that even the elders needed to shield themselves with a powerful barrier. This also prevented them from taking action as a beautiful man stepped out of the fire.

“Hello, Flood Dragons,” the man said, eyes ablaze with the light of vengeance. “I am here to exact my revenge on you for your several hundred years of transgressions.”