683 Blood, Bone, and Rebirth
Rumble!
Asuros’ meditation was instantly interrupted as the realm began to tremble violently. He stood up from his seated position and gazed up at the dragon corpse before him, as the source of the rumbling came from the dragon itself. The aura from the dragon corpse had suddenly erupted with a different power, as if it were still alive.
However, it was clearly dead, and so Asuros mused it to be the work of some hidden formation close to the dragon. Regardless of the true reason, the aura seemed to awaken something within the temple realm, which continued to violently tremble.
As the land trembled, three objects suddenly appeared on the stairs leading up to the dragons corpse, ascending from the ground below. The objects continued to grow in size as they climbed higher, until they eventually appeared in full. Asuros’ eyebrows raised slightly as he gazed at the three structures before him.
“Pagodas?” he mused with interest, as the objects that had emerged from beneath the stairs were three pagodas.
Two of the pagodas had appeared halfway up the staircase, coincidentally at the same step Asuros stopped at. They appeared on either side of the massive mile wide staircase, and pierced hundreds of yards into the sky.
Each pagoda was pure gold in color, with nine jade eaves appearing on the outside. There were ancient dragon statues and carvings all over the exterior of the pagodas, making them look both imposing and regal at the same time.
An entrance appeared at the base of the pagodas, an archway about a dozen yards tall. The archways were guarded by two jade dragon statues, each appearing incredibly lifelike. Above each archway were a series of words carved into the building itself. The words emanated an ancient and regal aura as well, as if still containing the Dao’s of the master calligrapher that had carved them.
“Blood of the Jade Dragon? And Bone of the Jade Dragon?” Asuros mumbled out loud as he read the carved words above the two pagoda archways.
His gaze then shifted to the very top of the steps, where a third pagoda had appeared, just before the ancient dragon corpse. The pagoda was similar in design to the other two, only larger and much more regal.
The front entrance, an archway also a dozen yards tall, glowed with a bright golden light, as if welcoming all to enter. Asuros gazed at the pagoda, and read the words carved above its entrance.
“Rebirth of the Jade Dragon? How interesting,” he mused with interest as a smile appeared on his face. Whatever had just occurred was no doubt a grandiose thing, and most likely contained treasures beyond imagining within.
His gaze lingered on the three pagodas for some time before he ignored them and sat down in his original position, resuming his cultivation session with the hopes of breaking through to the Dao Transformation Realm.
…
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Hundreds of swords swirled through the air, each appearing as if they contained stars and constellations within. The swords dashed all about, chasing a black blur that fought back against them. A thick kingly aura surrounded the black blur, slowing down the swords and eventually dissipating them into thin air.
“Die!” Luth yelled as he appeared before Vargul, his Dao Transformation sword in hand which glowed brightly as if it were a star itself.
With the help of his Astral Sword Domain, he had fought against Vargul with lethal ferocity. However, Varguls own domain, one that almost seemed to make him the king of the domain he stood within, fought back against the sword domain, locking the two in a fierce and direct battle.
Bang!
The two collided once again, their exchange destroying the already ravaged land all around them. The verdurous land had turned into a fiery hellscape, with only the two of them battling within.
“I never expected the Honorable Alliance to actually have fangs,” Vargul replied after steadying himself, his yellow pupils staring at Luth. He had not expected Luth to be as strong as he was, fighting someone as strong as himself to a perfect standstill.
He had tried to kill Luth in this battle, but was not able to find an opening at all. Despite the faded glory of the Honorable Alliance, it appeared as though they were not a lost cause just yet.
“This ‘fang’ will cut you down today, before doing the same to the rest of your friends,” Luth replied coldly as he prepared to unleash another monstrous attack.
A welcoming smile appeared on Varguls face as he bared his sharp fangs, but his gaze suddenly shifted to the side as if noticing something. His eyes narrowed slightly before his gaze shifted back towards Luth.
“It appears we’ll have to resume this battle at a later time, as an annoyance is about to interrupt our battle” Vargul said as he suddenly sped into the distance, his speed beyond even Luths.
Luth wanted to give chase, but realized he was not able to catch his speedy opponent. His cold gaze shifted towards the direction that Vargul had stared, and a figure quickly appeared.
“Where did he go?” the newcomer asked Luth, his gaze filled with murderous frost.
“What business do you have with Vargul, Igris?” Luth asked Igris, the genius beast race youth that had accepted the Honorable Alliance’s invite to join at the start of the realm opening. The invitation was the Honorable Alliance’s attempt to court favor with the beast race. Igris had quickly revealed his overwhelming power within, and had early on obtained the number one Jade Dragon List spot.
“Does that matter to you?” Igris asked Luth.
“Not at all,” Luth replied while he put away his sword. “Follow me. Perhaps we can catch up to him eventually, and snuff out his life together.”
Igris nodded his head, and prepared to follow Luth in their pursuit of Vargul.
Rumble!
The realm suddenly started to rumble violently, while the dragon aura exploded out with mesmerizing allure. The startling change occurred for some time before fading away, at which point Luth and Igris gazed at each other.
“Vargul will no doubt move towards the source of that aura, as his greed will overwhelm any sense of self-preservation,” Igris said to Luth.
“Then that is where we will go as well.”
…
Rumble!
The appearance of the three pagodas sent a powerful tremor all throughout the temple realm, which was felt by all within. At the same time, the aura emanating from the dragon corpse flooded the entire temple realm as well, attracting all eyes within towards it.
No one knew exactly what was going on, but everyone could tell that something amazing had most likely just happened, and the location was the ancient dragon corpse. With the various treasures, trials, rewards, and life and death battles scattered about, most of the youths within had not been rushing towards the ancient dragon corpse in the distance.
However, that had now changed, as almost all the youths within sped towards the source of the aura. For the enemy geniuses, it was another treasure to seek out, and reward to claim. For the Honorable Alliance, they moved towards it with the hope of obtaining something to turn the tides of the war. Regardless of the reason, the change within the temple realm had ignited the interest of all within, and steadily pushed them towards a final confrontation.