(Author: Hello all. Zhuang and Lingqi will now enter the 'ruins' in search for rare treasures. Inner sect disciples and some mage students will also be in the ruins, decreasing their chances for a good loot harvests. Hope you enjoy the chapter.)

Chapter 12: Baleful Aura

Lingqi marveled at the amount of people who entered the sect from the outside world as they appeared on the transfer array. The inner sect disciples and mages were all accompanied by one elder and a core disciples of the Star Calamity Sect who had the jade talisman that allowed the outsiders access to their sect.

Soon, all who were invited to venture the ruins gathered in the plaza of the Venomous Serpent faction. The entrance to the ruins lay in the basement of one of the faction's buildings. Elder Shan stood proudly as his faction was responsible for allowing the outsiders to come and his faction received a considerable amount of magical treasures and money as a fee to come to the sect and venture the ruins.

"Hello ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Venomous Serpent faction of our mighty Star Calamity Sect," Elder Shan announced in a proud voice. Zhuang smirked as he saw the reactions of displeasure from the inner sects of the other factions. Elder Shan had belittled them in front of the guests and took every opportunity to do so in vengeance.

"We, of the Venomous Serpent faction, welcome you all to attend the exploration of the ruins," Elder Shan continued. "Beneath us is the head of the mighty Demon Emperor ranked earth titan demon. There are a great many treasures to be found, but be wary of its dangers. The air is thick with spirit energy and the thicker the spirit energy, the more likely there are magical beasts. Feel free to kill them or run. You may be tempted to kill each other in the ruins. Please, do not hold back. The world is cruel and the path to immortality, even more so. Plus, if you die, it nourishes the magical beast and my faction will have a easier time guarding the ruins and obtaining better materials from stronger magical beasts."

No one laughed as Elder Shan chuckled for a moment. His meaning was clear: no one would protect you in the ruins. Once you go in, your life is forfeit. It was a warning to draw out the weak and the cowardly.

"Now, now. No need to be so tense," Elder Shan laughed. "Merely a warning. As you are unfamiliar with the ruins, small parties of five will be formed to ensure a higher survival rate. You can choose only one other person while the other three spots of your party will be chosen at random. You will also be given a small map leading to what we call, the skull, of the demon. It is not really a skull as it is an earth titan and is really a reinforced and denser formation of earth. To dig past that formation and aim for the treasures below is up to you. "

Elder Shan winked at Lingqi and Zhuang. They nodded gratefully as it meant they had one person they could trust in the party. They had also gotten a map from Elder Shan that also had a few routes leading to an opening in the denser rock formation.

Zhuang looked around as he waited for his party to be called. He grinned and his heart leapt with excitement as he saw two people form a party and enter the house. One of the members of the party was the boy, Yu, from last week. He wanted to kill Yu in the ruins, until he saw a girl with a very powerful Spirit Guardian. People in the crowd also paid attention to her as they were shocked to see the Spirit Guardian's power was similar to a core disciple. Core disciples were usually at the tenth level of qi condensation at the lowest. This meant that the Spirit Guardian was a major obstacle if the girl found a valuable treasure or wanted to take it from them.

"HAHAHAHAHA! It's THAT Spirit Guardian. A white tiger in golden armor standing on two legs with a golden spear and shield!" Zhuang laughed in draconian. "I found you! I FOUND YOU!"

Zhuang unintentionally emitted his killing intent from his body as he rushed toward the girl as she entered the house. People screamed in fear as they sensed a baleful aura around him and even the elders of the guests and Elder Shan were shocked. They had never felt such a violent, evil aura. Baleful aura could not be faked and could only form if the person killed hundreds, thousands, or millions of people. As Zhuang was a former evil jade spirit imprisoned for thousands of years, how could it not have killed before its imprisonment? Was it not a former martial spirit of a Seventh that even the Ancient One feared many millennia ago?

Lingqi jumped on Shuang's back as the steel cloud wyrm expanded to its full size and flew after its master into the house. Lingqi was also scared by the baleful aura around Zhuang but he was her close friend and knew he wouldn't harm her. She also had feeling for him and knew he had the same feelings for her but didn't understand what they were. She chuckled as she knew Zhuang didn't understand his emotions and held on tightly as Shuang flew toward the house. Shuang roared a river of poisonous mists from its mouth, clearing the way to the house as people ran wildly to avoid the poison.

"I was the teacher of a monster?" Elder Shan asked incredulously. "To have such an evil aura at only fourteen years old, how dangerous is the capital in Yewan? Also, that wyrm of his breathed poison. This brat really is good. That Lingqi is also brave to follow the boy, but why did Zhuang rush into the house with such killing intent?"

Elder Shan had mistaken the origins of the baleful aura and thought that Zhuang must have killed many assassins in the palace. He watched as Zhuang pulled out Nightmare in its full size and disappeared into the house.

"HEY, the trio in their party," Elder Shan shouted. "THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? My students are already venturing into the ruins! Go after them! NOW!"

One female mage and two male inner disciples of a visiting martial arts sect ran quickly into the house. Elder Shan smiled at the crowd and asked them to take their time in choosing a party. They realized that he meant that they wouldn't be able to enter for a while as his students would be killing someone and did not want them harmed. As he was the host, his faction held the most power and many core disciples of the Venomous Serpent faction drew their weapons and stared down at the plaza from the other buildings situated around them. To refuse his request was the same as asking for death.

"GET OVER HERE!" Zhuang roared as he ran after the girl, his body brimming with power as he followed the girl into the basement where the ruins were. As a disciple of the eighth level of qi condensation, he was one of the most powerful disciples going into the ruins under inner sect disciples of the ninth level and the mage equivalent. Yu was also of the eighth level, but he had nowhere near enough spirit energy than Zhuang who had trained in the wyrm valley. The remaining party members were members of the Snow Tiger faction and Phoenix Wing faction. They naturally stayed behind to stop Zhuang.

Yu thought Zhuang was after him, unable to comprehend draconian, and thought he was protecting the girl by staying behind. Zhuang hissed in annoyance and used the destruction element qi in his body to perform his Astral Steps technique, teleporting behind Yu.

"I leave the trash to you!" Zhuang shouted through his mental link with Shuang. Zhuang uncapped a bottle of itching powder using his mouth and threw it behind him. Yu's backup howled as they were forced to scratch their bodies.

Shuang roared with pleasure as inner sect disciples had a lot more spirit energy than the outer sect disciples it had eaten. It let Lingqi off its shoulders next to Yu and charged at the three 'chickens' whose hands scratched all over their back which was exposed to the powder.

"I'm not the target?" Yu asked, shocked.

"No, but I won't let you get in Zhuang's way," Lingqi said.

"We're here to assist you," one of the male disciples shouted as the trio who were yelled at by Elder Shan appeared.

"Where's the other one with the scary aura?" the girl asked, panting as she was not a martial artist like the others.

"Worry about him later. Our enemy is an eighth level qi condensation disciple," Lingqi snarled.

"I'm Zhao Guo, seventh level and I use a sword and shield. I'll tank the guy's attack," a sixteen year old said with a large build at five foot ten and jet black hair. "My brother, Chang, is at the sixth level like you and is a berserker specializing with a broadsword."

"I'll strike his left while you hit his right," Chang Guo said. He was a year younger but had a similar build to his brother but had dark brown hair.

"I'll heal your injuries with light magic and try to break his balance by using ice magic beneath his feet," the mage said. "I'm Mei Liang. You and that boy are really strong for your age. Must be because of that famous Rebirth Tear."

"You think you can take me on?" Yu laughed, ignoring the peril of his backup behind him. "Once I kill the boys, I'll have a nice time with you ladies later."

Yu drew out twin swords and enveloped them with fire element qi. The others stepped back in alarm as the blades weren't burnt which meant that the swords were made from holy metal material used by immortals. Besides, Zhuang with his hidden daggers and his halberd, Nightmare, no one in his party had any armor or metals made of holy metals.

As Shuang began eating the itchy 'chickens' on the floor, Yu charged at the others. Zhao stepped forward and grunted under the impact of one of Yu's swords while Yu blocked Chang's attack. As Zhao was sent back three steps, Yu used the same sword to block Lingqi's dagger. Lingqi pulled out another dagger from her magical storage back and managed to give a minor cut on Yu's thigh.

"That all you got?" Yu laughed and charged again. Knowing Zhao could barely withstand one sword, Yu swung downward with both swords, exposing his guard above his chest. Mei used that chance to create three spears of ice, spiraling them toward Yu's neck. Yu grunted in surprise and ducked while he continued his swing. Zhao's shield barely held on as Zhao was slammed on the ground, two large fissures prominent on his shield.

Chang took advantage and smashed the ice spears as they soared above Yu. Yu barreled to his right to avoid the shrads of ice and howled in pain as Lingqi threw a dagger, the blade sinking into his left shoulder.

"ENOUGH!" Yu roared, blasting his qi around them. Unable to handle the pressure, Lingqi and Chang were sent flying. Mei quickly used light magic and healed their wounds as they slammed on the ground.

"Now you've made me mad!" Yu roared as he ran toward them, his right arm raised. "YOU LITTLE--"

Yu was unable to finish as a river of poisoned mist slammed into him from behind. Yu had forgotten about the steel cloud wyrm and only managed to gasp in shock as he turned around, seeing only two rows of teeth as Shuang bit off his head. Shuang's master was at the eighth level of qi condensation, naturally Shuang would be just as much of a threat as their souls were linked. Shuang spat the head out in disgust as Yu's body twitched violently before falling to the ground.

"Meat! Rich, meat," Shuang said aloud in human tongue, ripping Yu's robes as it dug into his chest.

Lingqi and the others were too tired to turn their heads away and lay against the wall as Mei used her magic to heal them. Meanwhile, Zhuang finally caught up to the girl as she made a turn in the tunnel and reached a dead end.

"What kind of ruin is this? It's like a maze!" the girl screamed and looked back to see a young man covered in a dark violet aura. "What do you want with me? I've done you no wrong!"

"Ha! You can only blame the cat next to you!" Zhuang spat as he brandished his halberd. "Filthy member of the Six! Today you die! Die for my imprisoning me for thousands of years! Die for threatening my freedom! Die for being a F*CKING cat lover!"

"I'm no cat!" the spirit tiger roared as it charged at Zhuang. It was stronger than him and had no doubt it could kill him. It raised its shield and stabbed at Zhuang with its spear. Zhuang only laughed as it teleported behind him and used his poison qi technique, Bone Claws, to poison the tiger spirit as he dismembered its tail. Before it could turn back to face him, Zhuang used his fire qi technique, Fire Serpent Strike, sending a large serpent made of fire at the girl.

The girl, about to chant light magic to cure the spirit's poison was interrupted as she jumped out of the way in fear. Zhuang threw his halberd at the tiger spirit, distracting it as the tiger spirit was forced to block the heavy weapon. Zhuang took advantage and pulled out his five daggers and became using his death qi technique, Nether Force. He grinned as the daggers flew in the air and stabbed the girl in the chest, but did not call it back as he jumped low to catch Nightmare as the tiger spirit deflected it.

"MASTER!" it roared as it ran toward the girl, seeing the girl cough blood as he saw the daggers in her chest.

"I can't kill the girl, but when she dies, you die. Return!" Zhuang roared and used his death qi to retrieve his daggers. The daggers were trailed by small lines of blood as it exited the girls body and flew to Zhuang, rejuvenating Zhuang as he absorbed the spirit energy from the daggers. After all, qi and mana were both spirit energies with different rules and applications.

"Why? Why hurt my master?" the tiger spirit started until it saw Zhuang's eyes and turned pale. "That color! It's jade. If I'm the target, that means..."

"The dead don't worry about matters of the living!" Zhuang roared and used his destruction qi technique, Sundering Dragon Slash. The blade of his halberd sent forth a wave of destruction qi that looked like a starry night sky, small needle holes in space forming as the wave hurled toward the girl. The tiger spirit tried to block the wave, but the lower part of the wave swept below the shield and cut the girl in two.

"EVIL JADE SPIRIT!" the tiger spirit roared, realizing at last, Zhuang's true identity as it faded into oblivion.

Zhuang only managed a laugh before falling, face first, on the ground. The baleful aura around him dissipated as he lost consciousness. After a half hour, Lingqi and the others finally caught up and found Zhuang. They were shocked to see a girl with multiple stab wounds in her chest and her body severed in two, but Shuang distracted them as it rushed to its master's side and became sending its spirit energy into him.

"Well an hour has passed," Elder Shan said, believing the fight to be over. "I hope you all spent this time wisely and formed a powerful party. I wish you luck. Try not to get killed in there. Remember, don't be afraid. Fear creates irrationality. If the girl my student had been chasing had entered the house, but not the basement, maybe she would be alive for a while longer with the support of her party members. Take care now and never travel alone without your party."

The disciples and mage students shivered as they remembered the baleful aura around Zhuang and cautiously headed toward the house, not letting their guard down as they went inside along with other parties. By then, a hundred parties had ventured inside and one party had already been annihilated.

Chapter 11: Vein of a Titan Main Page Chapter 13: Spirit Abilities