Tao Wen, the Elder of the Tao Clan, was beyond annoyed.

No one but the Emperor himself could command a man of his standing!

It had been a special privilege granted to the true masters of the Art, an ancestral right for those guarding the Path of the Seven Swords.

When he was summoned to the Imperial Court, it would only be for matters of utmost importance to both the Dragon Throne and the Great Jin Empire.

It was during his previous summon when Tao Wen had learned about the powerful relics the Emperor sought, scrolls of ultimate knowledge with power beyond imagining, capable of shaking the very fabric of the mortal realm.

A worthy goal indeed. It would have been wise to send him, the most learned in the matters of the Art, and the true Master of the Seven Swords, to retrieve such artefacts. No one else would have been more capable!

Yet, that wasn’t quite what had happened.

Yes, the Emperor had sent Tao Wen, calling upon the pledge of the Tao Clan’s ancestors he vowed to uphold, to answer in a time of great need, demanding the Elder and the best of their disciples to participate in the war aimed to gain control of this ultimate power.

Tao Wen answered the call without hesitation.

It would be the time of his greatness.

And then, the insolence!

Tao Wen didn’t get to lead the army in this most glorious conquest of all!

Instead, Jia Guo was appointed the General of the armies and given full authority.

The Elder of the Tao Clan has no choice but to obey the Imperial Edict.

He couldn’t defy the will of the Emperor.

Tao Wen didn’t truly intend to, his ancestors’ oath was binding, and his clan maintained the good grace of the Throne for generations, elevating themselves above the petty chores meant for lesser people, in exchange for their unwavering dedication to the tasks worthy of the true masters of the Art.

And then, the idiot was appointed General!

Tao Wen was loyal - to the Emperor - but his patience with fools had its limits.

Tao Clan’s Elder might have sworn his fealty to the Dragon Throne, but that didn’t mean that Jia Guo could waste an Elder’s precious time on some pointless errant, entirely based on wild assumptions and speculations he wasn’t able to prove, or disprove, only tentatively aligned with the wishes of the Emperor.

Yet, it was precisely what General Jia Guo did.

He sent the Elder on a foolish chase where a much greater prize was almost in their grasp.

Tao Wen couldn’t decide if it was an abuse of authority, incompetence, or a complete lack of strategic acumen, but he had no choice but to follow.

Unlike other campaigns, this war wasn’t truly about conquering the lands or subjugating its people, it was about securing the greatest trove of artefacts ever known to man, relics holding power beyond one's dreams.

With a treasure like this, there was no shortage of intrigue surrounding almost every decision being made, with many Elders willing to go to great lengths to ensure that no one else came close to obtaining the ultimate prize.

Failure wasn’t an option, the Dragon Throne refused to rely on merely calling the levies from the far reaches of the Empire, as it would in the case of the campaigns past. This was a war of the Arts.

Far too many oaths and favours were called in, far too many allegiances made, far too many promises and concessions given, to bring out an unprecedented amount of Adepts and Disciples, along with many Elders of the most powerful clans ready to answer the Emperor’s call, creating a difficult quagmire of pacts both clandestine and covert.

The situation was tense, and it was well expected that the first sign of disloyalty would be met with the harshest of repercussions as even the least treacherous of the Elders would be more than willing to sacrifice their own brother, let alone some shadowy ally, to divert attention away from their own hidden agendas, especially with the world changing Relics at stake.

As much as Tao Wen despised Jia Guo, he couldn’t afford to fight the entire Great Jin Empire and was forced to swallow his own pride following the lead of the General he loathed.

So he was here, in some wretched, worthless mountainous village in the middle of nowhere, probably a week of travel ahead of the main army, in pursuit of the vague “feeling” the so-called General had.

What kind of general didn’t know what his army was doing?

It could be defeated before any messenger would reach them there!

Though Hanulbeol had proven to be pitiful opponents at best, there wasn’t any excuse to leave the command of the siege to the bunch of squabbling Elders, preferring to set out to his own questionable leads on this pointless chase.

The Scrolls they sought there were in that city, and the General suddenly decided the priority was elsewhere!

Tao Wen snorted, doing his best to ignore the commotion between the soldiers and the commoners over the supplies they needed, even considering ordering his disciples to slit the throats of the useless peasants so they couldn’t make offending noises anymore.

He didn’t even bother to dismount, to both maintain the symbolic presence among his men and to show his stance that this whole affair was to be finished quickly so they might continue their journey.

He had the mission - a true mission, not General’s foolish hunt - to attend to.

The Elder tried to focus.

He could sense a strange, almost alien presence, somewhere ahead, past the surrounding forest. It was something indescribable, almost out of this world, and it had grown as they pushed closer.

Some captives had even claimed that the Crown Princess escaped the siege.

He doubted it.

There was something out there, and it simply couldn’t be the work of the barbarian Princess of dubious lineage.

The four Disciples they sent ahead never returned.

This gave some credit to Jia Guo’s insistence that there was something of importance out there, a call of destiny. Perhaps the collection of ancient relics was scattered, either by accident, through Hanulbeol’s incompetence, their inner divide, or even intentionally in an effort to hinder attempts to collect all of the legendary scrolls.

There was, without a doubt, something out of the ordinary.

It, however, didn’t justify the chase!

The majority of the relics were still within the city vaults, not here, in this uncivilised Hanulbeol’s hinterland.

Chasing a single hidden one meant allowing the other squabbling Elders to lay their hand on the actual collection of the priceless relics without any chance for him to intervene, only relying on the fact their backstabbing nature would get the better of them before they could fully utilise the Scrolls’ power.

Jia Guo was a fool that didn’t understand priorities! The so-called General even went ahead, along with the four, most trusted followers, leaving Tao Wen behind, believing the relic was nearby.

Perhaps Hanulbeol’s people were even more divided than Jin thought, and one of them simply stole the artefact for themself.

Or maybe it was intentional, meant to serve as a distraction, to divert any would-be seekers to the remote regions, buying time. It could be a trap, even.

The Elder weighed his decision to turn back, leaving Jia Guo to his fate.

It was of little importance now.

Why should he be satisfied with the single Scroll, when he could have the entire Library, Tao Wen thought?

Then, out of a sudden, almost like a twist of fate orchestrated by Heavens, one of the riders they took with them rode into the village, visibly distressed, raising alarm.

The soldier jumped down his horse and screamed:

“Demons! There are demons in the forest!”

He rushed towards the Elder, pointing towards the forest behind him.

Tao Wen was not impressed. Relying on the mundane scouts was a mistake.

He would not tolerate any further disrespect, especially not from common soldiers under him, not after he had to endure being placed under the command of his rival.

A thought of killing the man for his insolence flashed through his mind, but he quickly reigned in his temper and instead shot the man a glare, focussing his inner power to teach the weaker mind its place instead.

They would all learn to fear the Elder more than his enemies.

The rider fell down, brought down to his knees, shaking.

“Forgive this one, Great one!” The weakling whimpered. The regular soldiers, even trained as well as their riders, were no match for the Disciple, let alone for the mighty Elder. It showed.

His other warriors and Disciples also stopped what they were doing.

They expected a lesson.

Tao Wen, however, overcame his outburst of pride and anger, reminding himself that what brought him there wasn’t entirely an erratic, haphazard plan of the incompetent General, at least, not in its entirety.

Scroll or not, there was something here. The dimwit might have lacked bravery or appropriate respect towards his betters, but it didn’t mean he was lying.

“Speak!” Tao Wen boomed, looking down at the soldier. The gathering of information still had some priority over punishing the impudence, besides, it sparked some of Tao Wen's interest. The General might have been a fool, but there was something in that forest.

“Great one! I…but we couldn’t…” The weakling whimpered, and shuttered: “But…but…demons! Demons in the forest! They killed the Adept!”

The Elder didn’t say anything at first, considering the words.

“One of General’s men?”

“Yes! Yes, Great One.”

“And the General?”

“He is probably dead! We should not be there! There is great evil out there!”

How presumptuous, The Elder scoffed. The panicked man didn’t even see the body, apparently, yet already sought the excuse to flee the battle that didn’t even start yet, fearing some creatures of old tales resurfacing in this accursed wilderness.

Tao Wen despised cowards.

Yet, he couldn’t rule out it was the truth, and Jia Guo was indeed dead.

The Elder didn’t consider the General’s death impossible. He might not have expected demons, but death in battle was still a possibility. The would-be General had far too much trust in his suit of armour, an artefact of its own, giving the man a false sense of invincibility, without the skills to match the potential of the mystically infused scales.

It wouldn’t take a demon to exploit that.

However, there was one quality in Jia Guo that he couldn’t deny. The General might have lacked the strategic acumen or even actual fighting skills, but he had a certain uncanny ability to convince his men to follow him as long as the illusion of his leadership lasted, regardless of the true circumstances.

If Jia Guo lived, they would have held on to their faith - Tao Wen blamed it more on the relic armour than actual commanding presence - but it ultimately didn’t matter. Devotion had its limits and now it cracked, predictably.

“Would you swear that General is dead, on your own life?” He asked the soldier.

“Yes, Great one! I will.” The soldier answered without hesitation, almost suggesting that they should retreat, although he stopped in time. Tao Wen could benefit from this if he had the proof, soldiers' testimonies would justify his claims should the General indeed perish.

“I want to see the demons in my own eyes.” Tao Wen decided and directed his horse down the road.

The soldiers hesitated to follow him.

Thirty riders, and they were all cowards. Only his own Disciples knew better.

Still, he didn’t need them. He wasn’t afraid. If Jia Guo could draw enough attention for this ant to escape, the perpetrator wouldn’t be able to touch a proper master of the Art, let alone the guardian of the Path, a true warrior, not a pretender like the General.

It was almost like those ‘demons’ taunted him to cower, to flee, but Tao Wen would not back off, confident of his abilities. His prowess was unmatched, even among the Elders of the other Clans.

He forced the horse to go faster until it couldn’t go anymore, the nervous animal terrified almost like they were some unseen predators lurking around, hidden in the shadows of the tall trees, watching them.

Tao Wen wasn’t easy to scare.

Although he couldn’t quite explain the presence of some otherworldly creatures he, himself, couldn’t see, there was something strange, unnatural in those woods. He couldn’t refute this.

Danger might not be lurking behind every second tree, but it was, undeniably, here, somewhere farther ahead.

Maybe it wasn’t even the Scroll, but it was, without a sliver of doubt, highly unnatural.

Pushed by curiosity, and needled by impatience, Tao Wen abandoned his fidgety horse, and channelled his power through his body, dashing through the forest on foot, no longer bound by the curvature of the cobbled road or the limits of the ordinary riding animals.

He was above everyone.

Though it was beneath a man of his standing to travel on foot, he could be faster than the galloping horse if he wanted, and considerably more fearless than any charger, allowing him to cover great distances.

The woods zoomed past.

His Disciples couldn’t keep up.

Yet he persisted, fearless, refusing to waste any more time on this disgusting piece of wood and the useless, yet annoying mysteries that had drawn them away from their true objective.

Was there some kind of weak taint cast upon these forsaken hills that the misled General confused with the considerable presence of a legendary relic?

It didn’t matter, he found what he looked for.

There was the source of the uneasy feeling that guided them there.

A taint, for lack of a better word, seeping into the surrounding plants, touching and twisting them by the unnatural corruption, a potency to reshape land perhaps similar to the legendary relics, but not quite the same. Alien. They were few, scattered among the mundane green, with a faint aura somewhere ahead, weak, but present nevertheless.

He stopped.

Then, he ran again, for a brief moment considering the option it was the Scroll after all, yet there was no sign of it, signs of the taint because the more apparent, almost like another world tried to seep into this one, a disease crippling the body of weak until they finally succumbed.

How fitting it affected Hanulbeol-guk, the Jin Elder scoffed, the land was as crippled as those who ruled it, helpless against the true might, like one of the Great Jin Empire.

If this strange presence was the disease, then in front of him, was the tumour. He stopped.

Past the bubbling spring, and collapsing wooden bridge, the largest concentration of the twisted trees and vines, completely overtook the rocky cliffs, atop which strange creatures crawled.

On the road, in a puddle of blood, the body of the Adept lay, his once cultivated and strengthened body torn apart the same way commoners would fall to the ferocious, yet mundane animals.

The brutality of the attack must have scared the ordinary soldiers.

It was unexpected the scouts rode this far.

The Elder despised the feeble-minded, yet, he could use them to his advantage, as proof that the General had fallen.

Tao Wen took a few steps and tore away the golden seal from the dead man’s outfit.

It was indistinguishable from the one on General’s armour, a sign of favour, of status.

He took it and looked up at the cliffs.

The few creatures resembling the lizards were up there, the creeps swirled and manipulated by unseen forces, the faint aura of the unnatural, inhuman force in all of them must be what caused the confusion. They must be trying to ensnare, let overestimated their own skills, the Elder assumed.

More enemies crawled between the trees, unseen to the mundane eye, to which they may have appeared as the mirage of the now absent summer heat, yet the Elder knew they were there. They didn’t, or likely couldn’t, know that there were other ways to uncover their presence.

Very unusual techniques, Tao Wen admitted almost absent-mindedly while watching the movement.

Yet they were no match to the Path of the Seven Swords, and the Elder was losing his patience already.

He had drawn his blade.

He took the step, and swung the weapon, preparing to unleash the technique as the creatures charged in. A demon, perhaps, an unsightly outsider from the reals beyond, more animal than the woman, but more woman as the animal.

All of them reeked of that aura.

He cut them down with ease, and as the focus grew, his weapon flew away, guided by the indomitable will of the Elder, tearing and slicing the enemies to pieces.

They were weak.

They, however, had the ferocity the Elder had to admire, not even a single of those demon beasts showed even the slightest sign of fear, only the impressive, single-minded aggression as they rushed him over, their attacks unwavering even as he moved down others of their kin.

The weapon left his hand, flying the circles around him carried by the mystic Art, bringing death to all who opposed him. Even those atop the cliff didn't escape his wrath.

The black-furred ones appeared around him in droves, assaulting from every direction, trying to cleverly exploit his openings only to be felled down by the mind-guided blade and unmatched reflexes.

Their effort was laughably futile.

The Elder of the Tao Clan had no openings.

Demon beats fell to the last. Brave, to their last breaths, albeit still, ultimately, weak.

With a rush of his inner strength, Tao Wen managed to grab the last of the furry, wolf-like creatures by its neck, lifting it up with ease.

It was a disgusting demon beast, wolf-like yet with the features of a woman, its fur glistening with the faint aura of the distant realms beyond the human’s ken.

Tao Wen considered it nothing that the pawn.

The demon struggled, its eyes flared with hatred.

It wasn’t terrified even the slightest, the weak, insidious, almost untraceable aura, didn’t show any sign of terror, even if wounded, grasping for air held by Tao Wen’s might.

The Elder would teach the creature the fear, focusing his powers on it. It didn’t work. Strange.

“Tell me, demon, who do you serve?” He asked.

The thing almost laughed, even as it struggled for air, then grasped the arm of the Elder with its claws. Tao Wen focused on the technique allowing him greater resistance to deflect even the steel, yet there was no need.

Almost out of breath, the demon spoke something, two words filled with dedication, in a bestial tongue Tao Wen didn’t recognize, then applied such strength against the Elder’s grip it broke its own neck.

The demon’s body went limp, falling apart into the ruby mist, dissolving into nothingness.

It was gone, along with the corpses of other she-beasts, all taken by the fog of blood.

The Elder could feel their aura fading away, yet not entirely disappearing, almost like there was something in those lands that held them there, beyond the mortal’s grasp. It was strange, interesting even, but hardly important at the time.

Yet, they were gone, and that was what mattered.

As much as other Elders tried, nothing could cheat death, Tao Wen was sure of it.

Perhaps, it was even the end of this demonic incursion, perhaps even only a handful of stragglers remained, unworthy of the attention of Tao Wen.

Victorious, Tao Wen collected the golden seal, but stood there, still, for a while, his trained senses focusing on the strange presence, a pervasive sensation of something in the distance, festering, growing, like a weed taking root in the underbrush of this land.

Killing the demons didn’t diminish it, yet there was this strange ambience of the effort, almost like the other presence tried to push away against it even so slightly.

The Elder spent some time in silent contemplation.

He couldn’t explain either of those energies, but it didn’t matter.

It was not the Scroll, that was he certain of. The struggle with those anaemic powers didn’t concern him as much, as long as they didn’t stand between him, and the prize he was promised.

His Disciples finally caught up.

Without a word, he showed him the golden seal, befitting those close to the General of the Great Jin Empire. Once they bowed, as they should, he decided to speak.

“General Jia Guo is dead.” Tao Wen announced. His Disciples didn’t question him, they knew their place. The rest of the soldiers, once he properly motivated them, wouldn’t challenge his claims either. They would, likely, confirm those, afraid of the creatures they called demons.

He glimpsed over his shoulder and lazily gestured to the twisted vegetation.

“Burn all of this. We are going back to the army.”

Time was of the essence, and Tao Wen couldn’t afford to continue the chase of the shadows any longer, now that Jia Guo couldn’t force the Imperial authority on him anymore.

Greater goals awaited him.

Hanulbeol warriors didn’t prove themselves to be worthy adversaries so far, and though their capital city was considerably more fortified than anything their armies encountered otherwise, it would still fall even to the force led by the divided, constantly plotting Elders. They lusted for the power of the Scrolls as well, and could even postpone the inevitable back-stabbing until the treasures were in their position.

If he delayed any further, there was a real chance they would plunder the vaults before he had a chance to assume the post of the General, robbing him of his ultimate prize.

The General’s armour seems to be the only artefact left in those woods, and though valuable, it wasn’t worth the Elder's time, especially in the current circumstances.

His mind, however, couldn’t abandon the nagging sensation of invisible roots, spreading over, a touch of the outer realms.

Whatever it was, he was not going to forgive it for wasting his precious time.

With the Scrolls under his control, he would return with the army to cleanse his land of this demonic contagion.

But first, Tao Wen had a prize to claim.