"For you, disciple Pan Tian... your cultivation is solid if somewhat lacking, but time, hard work, and cultivation resources will fix that. Your martial skills and fighting style are excellent and so well-rounded that it's difficult to determine what would best aid in your development.
"However, in your battles thus far, there have been times when you struggle to gain tempo against your opponents. As such, I gift you a martial skill known as Full Moon. It requires an enormous amount of qi to use and maintain but will massively increase the power of your moonlight qi and martial skills. While adding additional damage to your attacks and those of your allies.
"Once you gain further insights, it will fire stars made of moonlight qi at your enemies. Its qi cost is enormous, however, it should allow you to gain tempo where you would otherwise fall into a stalemate or be outright defeated," said the red woman.
"That sounds amazing... thank y--" Pan Tian began only for the red woman to shoot her between the eyes with a red beam.
Pan Tian's olive green eyes rolled back in her head and her entire body convulsed.
After a moment, the red beam died, and Pan Tian clutched her head in her hands as she staggered on wobbly legs.
"Ugh..." she groaned.
"For your second reward, I shall enhance your weapons," said the red woman. She gestured and the claws of light slid off Pan Tian's hands and drifted toward the swirling figure of the red woman.
"Hmm... interesting..." said the red woman, "your claws of light have traveled an enormous distance and passed through many hands to find their way to you. They work best with light-based qi... focusing and enhancing the power of attacks channeled through them. These were made by the arak of the Glass Mesa... their techniques are similar to those who serve me...
"Liu Jie, just as your friends were offered a chance to make a sacrifice for you, now I offer you a similar choice. If you're willing to sacrifice the blades I enhanced for you, I could imbue their power into these weapons and create something superior to either alone. If you choose not to, I can still empower these claws, but they will be a shadow of what they could be."
"Would I have to sacrifice both blades?" Jie asked.
"Both blades would create the most powerful enhancement. One blade would gift only half the effect," said the red woman.
"It's fine, Jie. I'm happy just to have the normal enhancement. I don't need--" Pan Tian began.
"Hush you," Jie said with a smirk. She withdrew both her blades from her storage ring and offered them to the red woman.
"But--" Pan Tian said.
"I said hush. I hardly ever use them anyway and I can always look at what else we collected. Or see what I can get from the Onyx Pavilion," Jie said.
The blood swords levitated out of Jie's hands and hovered in the air horizontally above Pan Tian's claws of light. Red energy surged. The blood swords cracked and began to bleed. Droplets of their dense blood dripped onto Pan Tian's claws of light as the red woman poured red energy into them.
The blades further melted as red energy swirled around the weapons, refining and shifting energies in a complex weave of power.
The blades vanished entirely as the claws of light subtly changed. Red power flared one final time then subsided as the claws drifted back toward Pan Tian.
The glassy claws now had a red tint to them and the aura coming off them frightened Jie. They felt... hungry.
Pan Tian held out her hands and the claws slipped back on, fitting perfectly.
YOU ARE READING
Path Of The Dragon (A Dark Fantasy Cultivation Wuxia Xianxia Progression Series)
FantasyWhen eight-year-old girl, Jie, sees an enormous lightning dragon hovering over her hospital bed, her first thought is to wonder what on earth the nurses put in her IV this time. But the dragon turns out to be terrifyingly real... as does the deal he...
