The brisk morning air started to heat up under the gaze of the morning sun, inside a once clear stream Wu Meiling sat chest deep in warm water. Dirt ran off her petite body in all directions. A scarlet doppleganger of Wu Jilong stood right behind her scrubbing her dirty hair. Wu Jilong’s doppelganger caused the water to warm to an extremely comfortable temperature turning the stream into a hot spring. Wu Meiling had never been more comfortable in her life, she fluttered her feet up and down in the water while merrily humming.

On the gravel shore next to the stream Wu Jilong sat atop a throne made of scarlet flames which caused the air near him to tremble, around his arms the scarlet mark for heal burned brilliantly giving Wu Jilong an ephemeral glow. The bones in his arms slowly rejoined each other, soon both of his arms were healed to a useable state. Wu Jilong threw out a punch with both arms testing out his recovery.

“Master, I hope one day I am as pretty as you,” Wu Meiling said. Her words were not flattery, Wu Jilong was just the most beautiful person she had ever seen. Wu Meiling looked at her reflection on the surface of the river and sighed.

Wu Jilong ignored Wu Meiling’s words. “Do you know why a fire burns?” he asked.

Wu Meiling stopped splashing and thought about Wu Jilong’s question. She cupped her hands and filled them with water which she dumped on her head. “Well, because that’s what it wants to do right? Otherwise why would it do it?”

Wu Jilong snapped and a scarlet flame appeared. “Flames, ice, magical beasts, or humans it makes no difference, because in the end everything is destined to disappear. Meiling you are not wrong, everything exists because that is what they want to do, they strive to become complete, everlasting. Only when something becomes complete can it live forever, becoming more beautiful than anything incomplete.”

…

Wu Jilong and Wu Meiling made their way towards the northern rim of the canyon, Wu Meiling was seated upon a steed made from Wu Jilong’s Sovereign Creation Flame. The scarlet mustang stood two meters tall, a mane of flames made the horse look like the warhorse of a supreme warlord. Wu Meiling who had the appearance of a small fairy looked out of place on top of its back. As they traveled Wu Jilong began to lecture Wu Meiling on the basics of cultivation. Every word he spoke Wu Meiling memorized and repeated out loud.

His lessons only lasted for a few minutes before Wu Meiling would be distracted by something off in the distance. Each time she interrupted his teachings Wu Jilong would smack the back of her small hands, never hard enough to cause her any harm but hard enough to make her think twice about interrupting him. And yet Wu Meiling continued to be distracted by other things while Wu Jilong talked.

“Her age plays a part in it but it is also her personality to be interested in things,” Wu Jilong thought to himself. He knew it was pointless to try and teach her anything with so many distractions laying in wait inside the canyon, so he stopped. Together the two walked through the woods at the bottom of the canyon. Wu Meiling was amazed by everything and anything. She would occasionally ask Wu Jilong questions about the things that caught her attention. “Does master have anyone he loves?”

“No, it is not necessary,” Wu Jilong said.

“Master how can you say that? Love is the most beautiful thing in the world!”

“A little girl who knows nothing of the world is trying to teach me about things that are beautiful?”

“I know some things!” Wu Meiling pushed out her little chest confidently, “True love is the most beautiful thing in the world. Wh…”

Just as Wu Meiling was about to finish her sentence a figure appeared from behind a tree. Wu Jilong knew the figure was there but he ignored it because the person was in no way a threat to him and Wu Meiling. Clad in a dirty gold robe the figures appearance looked extremely rough, his black hair was a mess and his eyes were bloodshot. When compared to Wu Jilong who wore a new robe everyday and Wu Meiling who wore a robe Wu Jilong shortened for her, the figure before them looked like a peasant standing before royalty.

The figure was Tan Fang! When he saw Wu Jilong approaching a twisted smile came to rest upon his face, he has been waiting for this day ever since Wu Jilong humiliated him in front of Su Ruiqi and the other disciples of the Golden Gamble Faction. In his mind even if the earth were to tear in two it would not be enough to stop him from killing Wu Jilong. “My luck is truly turning around! To finally run into you Wu Jilong, the heavens have granted my wish,” Tan Fang yelled.

“Master do you know this person?” Wu Meiling whispered to Wu Jilong.

“No.”

“My master says he doesn’t know you,” Wu Meiling yelled back to Tan Fang.

Hearing this Tan Fang’s rage exploded from deep inside of him. “Let him keep pretending because first I will kill you Wu Jilong. Then I will win the Feasts of Magical Beasts Tournament with the Lavish Maned Lion I killed on the first day and take back Su Ruiqi’s heart from you,” Tan Fang roared.

“Master you said you didn’t love anyone but isn’t this a love triangle?” Wu Meiling asked. Her doe eyes shone brightly and a string of drool escaped from her tiny pink lips.

Wu Jilong ignored the young girl as he had done most of the time she spoke. “Wu Meiling, if I gave you seven days to catch a fish from a river on what day would you catch it?”

“The seventh day!” Wu Meiling did not even need a second to think about the question.

“Why?”

“That way the fish will be its freshest! And i’ll have more time to play!”

Wu Jilong silently nodded in agreement with the first part of her answer. “Tan Fang was it? This young girl is only ten years old yet she is already wiser than yourself. You won't have a chance to to enter the judging because you have been stupid enough to threaten me. Not a single soul has ever had a chance to threaten me a second time.”

“Yeah! No one is stronger than master!” Wu Meiling had no proof for her statement but she felt as Wu Jilong’s disciple and a member of the Wu Clan this was something that she had to do.

“Shut up. From the very first time I met you I have hated you. Your face is simply to arrogant looking, it's unbearable,” Tan Fang said, “now I will kill you in front of the stupid little girl you have tricked into being your disciple.”

It was as though Wu Jilong could not hear Tan Fang speaking. “I am going to kill him, if you look away I will not take you in as my disciple.” Wu Jilong’s words were concise. While walking the path of cultivation Wu Meiling would need to kill to protect herself and to protect Wu Jilong’s interests so he wanted to acclimate her to killing as soon as possible.

“Ok,” Wu Meiling replied. Back when she lived with her parents in her village she had seen criminals executed before so she was not afraid of seeing Wu Jilong kill someone. She sat up straight on the back of the horse and stared at Wu Jilong.

Wu Jilong left Wu Meiling’s side, his face was completely calm and his eyes lifeless and cold. Tan Fang was not an opponent worthy of awakening his fighting spirit. Wu Jilong snapped and a scarlet sword appeared in his hand along with four razor wires. He waved his arms downwards and the wires disappeared. Tan Fang readied himself and violent Qi of the Aura Sea Formation Stage began to pour out.

The Qi started to build up around Tan Fang’s fists, this was Mo Bang’s Fist of the Flowing Strike, a martial art where the user covers their hands in Qi and uses it to strike their enemies endlessly. “Wu Jilong you have finally brought yourself to die, don’t worry I, Tan Fang, am not such a small person that I would torture you. I will make your death quick and painful, ” Tan Fang said. He started to laugh like a madman but when Tan Fang tried to walk towards Wu Jilong he couldn’t! Around his ankles and wrists scarlet razor wires so thin that he never saw them approaching coiled around his body.

Wu Jilong strolled towards Tan Fang casually, his movements were slow and deliberate which horrified Tan Fang because he was completely at the mercy of Wu Jilong. Tan Fang did not know that from the very start he was already in check. The difference in their battle experiences was that of the heavens and the earth and this showed by how quickly Wu Jilong had completely defeated Tan Fang.

“Y-you don’t have to do this. I am sor…” This was the type of man Tan Fang was. When he was faced with an opponent he thought inferior to himself he would be cruel and merciless. But when he ran into an opponent stronger than himself he would beg and kowtow for his life, he would even throw Su Ruiqi to the wolves if it meant his survival.

Wu Jilong removed Tan Fang’s head with a single slow swing of the scarlet sword. From the blade of the sword heat radiated so strongly that it sealed the wound on Tan Fang’s neck the instant it beheaded him resulting in no blood spilling out from his corpse. The force of Wu Jilong’s strike caused thirty trees to the side of Tan Fang’s headless corpse to fall.

“Master, will you teach me that move? It was so cool!” Wu Meiling was not put off by Wu Jilong killing Tan Fang in the slightest. Instead she was captivated by how cool her master was to defeat someone who wanted to kill him so easily. The scarlet sword which Wu Jilong wielded was extremely beautiful when he held it in his hands, so much so that Wu Meiling wanted to learn how to use it too.

“No, I will teach you a different set of techniques.”

“Aww, ok.” Wu Meiling started to pout but after noticing that Wu Jilong would not budge an inch she stopped.

…

On the seventh day elders from the Sect of Five Corners returned to Grand Beast Canyon to bring their disciples who survived back to their factions. The judging for the Feasts of Magical Beasts Tournament would start later that night after the disciples had a chance to clean themselves and rest.

The first elder to arrive was none other than Mo Bang of the Golden Gamble Faction, when he arrived he was shocked to see Wu Jilong already there. Even more shocking was the young girl who sat next to him because she had not been with him when he left. “Wu Jilong how did finding a delicious magical beast go?”

“I only entered the tournament so that I would be able to test out my martial arts, I never had the intention to try and win,” Wu Jilong said.

Mo Bang was slightly disappointed, when he reported that he had two disciples entering the Feasts of Magical Beasts Tournament to the Head of the Golden Gamble Faction he had hinted at the fact that they would be able to bring glory to the faction and himself, but now one of his hopes admitted that he was never interested in it from the beginning.

“Then have you seen Tan Fang?” Mo Bang asked.

“Tan Fang? Master, isn’t that the guy you killed?” Wu Meiling blurted out without thinking about what she was saying.