"How you doin?"

Shui gasped as the world shifted. Her vision swam and the sky spun. Then it happened.

An immediate surge of darkness covered the entire alley. Bloating out their vision and preventing anyone from using any of their senses. No vision, sight, smell, even the sense of touch felt distant and muted. Her body felt empty of Qi. Becoming heavier.

Her cleansed body, that had been full of strength moments ago, turned weak and incapable of holding itself up.

She swayed as her legs collapsed under her. Jun caught her before she could fall and allowing her to lean heavily onto the bigger, stronger girl. Her head thundered in dull beats. As though her heart had abruptly moved up there.

The dragons made their presence known. All six lowered themselves. Still as a tree on a windless day and perfect weather. Staring at her Ancestor. Their emotions caused waves to her closed inner eye. She worried about opening it and seeing her predecessor in a light that was unbecoming.

It shocked her to see them so… timid.

None of them were strong enough to truly understand what they were and how powerful they could be. They watched from above. Waiting for the command to rend this entire town into dust. The assassins, Jun, the villagers, none of them had awakened their inner eye.

Maybe only the Gang Boss could see the vastness of who or what her Ancestor was. The power that filled his very limbs.

Shui let her inner eye open. A strange vision returned to her that made it difficult to truly understand what was happening. Everything was black and white. A dome of darkness surrounded them. Bloating out any senses and only visible to those within it.

The dragons shifted towards her when she looked up at them. They could not hide the terror in their eyes. The fear that dripped from the expressions. The almost impossible to see tremble of their bodies, only their whiskers shifting at such a grand scale.

Her eyes then drifted to her ancestor. Holding an evil blade that dripped invisible black ink and fog. Anger billowed out from his body in waves. Red killing intent in a world of nothing but black and white, breaking the rules of the summoned Domain of the dagger.

As though it did not even exist.

The weapon's spirit appeared before him. Head low and kneeling. She struggled to make out the figure of shadows and ink. White eyes and a male face were the only details. Everything else was a silhouette. Hidden by the dome of darkness.

Shui looked away from the thing. It made her skin crawl to just look at it from a distance. This was no kind being. Awakened for the suffering of those that were unlucky enough to meet its owner. Matching the hideous look of the serrated edges and the gnarly pommel it had.

"Lord," It hissed in the darkness. Never once shifting from its subservient pose. "Doth thou be pleased with their Ruin?"

The Dragons wrinkled their faces at it. Shui could feel their distaste and displeasure at seeing whatever this thing was. Magerdon's scales shifted as it circled around the other five. The first to move and break from the cascading power that had erupted from her Ancestor.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

Spiders, widows, she had no clue what or who these ladies were. Jun seemed to be afraid of them. Any one of the dragons could destroy them with a look. Much less an attack. If they could release such power and pressure, what could her master do?

Her inner eye could not figure out how strong he was. Or what his spirit looked like.

It could still see Jun's horrified spirit, growing more calloused. Wounds healing slightly every few years. More so when their ancestor had returned. She could see the hideous old faces and hags that were the assassin ladies hidden behind their beautiful faces and bodies. The evil of their spirits.

But not her ancestor. He was blank. Hidden as though he did not exist. Just his physical body and the red killing intent that surrounded him.

The assassins disappeared. Her master moved. The thing stood up and waved a hand. All five of the women reappeared a few steps away from her Ancestor with shocked expressions. She watched as their Qi and Cores were ripped from their spirits.

Shock was the only thing they expressed.

Her master arrived among them. It happened quicker than she could keep track of. Heads falling. Chests caving. A body slamming into the domain of darkness's walls and bouncing back. Another fell dead just from the damage to her spirit when the thing grabbed her core and ruptured her cultivation.

The thing held five bright orbs within its hands. It sneered, flicking at the brimming sources of power pushing with oceans of pure, bright, unadulterated Qi. Disgusted that it had touched them. But it did what it had been summoned to do. Regardless of how it felt.

"Repugnant, odious Qi. Tainted and foul," it waved them away, letting the mountainous amount vanish into the ether and disappear. "I shan't soil my essence with their consumption."

Hu Shui leaned into Jun, hiding her face when the thing turned towards them. Studying them. It smiled at their expressions stepping forward. Its head turning around in circles facing them. It moved closer and closer, eyes growing hungry.

Shui trembled.

"But thee two?" It whispered in its hissing voice. "A morsel worthy of consideration, perchance."

Claws reach out from the black ink around it. Stretching to grab hold of their cores—

"Step carefully, demented creature," the leader of the dragons said. Its deep voice caused the thing to freeze and tremble in its spot. "They are our master's wards."

The thing snapped its hand back like it had touched burning coals. It surged in a hurry. Making space from them and getting as far away as it could, reaching the other side of its domain. It lost the look of hunger in its eyes. Only terror and fear as it looked from their Ancestor to them, whispering and praying he had not seen its actions.

It took a few minutes for it to calm down.

"Twas but a jest. Nothing but a jest. Surely, thou dost understand?"

Shui hid her face in Jun's dress. Unwilling to look at it any more. The thing sighed but said nothing more.

Her ancestor harrumphed. Hu Shui let herself to look back towards him. Watching as he moved towards one of the few still surviving assassins. He had a deep frown on his face. Stepping over the pools and streaks of blood that covered the ground.

Standing over a dying assassin. The leader.

The lady tried to reach for his robe. A trembling small dagger in her hands coated with a green liquid. Poisoned. Hoping she could at least nick his skin enough to indirectly kill him and fulfill her duty. Her ancestor kicked the dagger from her grasp.

"Mortals should not play immortal games. Learn your place."

Said assassin reaching hand fell limp. Eyes cold and listless.

Yin Hu sheathed his dagger. "Bodies, weapons, blood—"

The world snapped back into reality. The dome of darkness disappeared and with it the thing waved at Shui and vanished. The dragons retracted their pressure. Jun stumbled forward. Shui had to hold the bigger girl lest she fall face first.

Everything returned to normal.

"I-I can see again," Jun's face was pale. She looked around trying to locate the assassins. "What happened?"

"Took care of them. It was a simple thing for someone so powerful and amazing."

Her ancestor waved his hand. The bodies disappeared into his rice bag. The same one she had been burning to explore for a very long time. Wondering how many things it had inside and whether it had a limit she could reach by stuffing everything in.

Now though, she had no interest in it.

The creepy thing was inside of it. Waiting for her to be too curious and unable to help herself. It would then eat her core and Qi. Long claws tearing her spirit apart. No. She would keep her distance from such an evil, demented creature.

Even if it meant suppressing her almost irrational curiosity.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.