Nine Paths of Asura-Original Wuxia

Chapter 187-Meeting Xiao Gui

So...I've actually reached the 200 Part Limit for Wattpad. Aka NPOA will need a part 2 lol. Keep an eye out, will make it sometime this week most likely. Don't forget to vote and comment!

GASP!!

"HAAAAAAAA!!" Lineir awoke from the dreamlike vision. The ephemeral waters of the pond still swirled around him, chaining him, locking him down. Sand sifted through his fingers and he pushed himself up, some small strength returning to him.

"This water...my Qi was almost drained completely by it. This is definitely not just water. But what brought me back?" He wondered as he slowly regained his bearings. As he felt around he was bizarrely constricted by something hard. "What is this? I'm tangled?" He looked down and saw gleaming midnight armor encasing his torso. A second later there was a click as the two halves connected and he was sealed in. A second later a screaming pain came as the armor constricted insanely tight. It was like being wrapped around by a flailing dragon!

"AHHHHHH!! GLUB" Lineir swallowed some of the water as he gasped from the sheer crushing pain. Panicking in the water he frantically tried to push himself up from the sandy bottom, getting his legs under himself and pushing up with his hands and legs. However...he realized that Darkness Qi was blooming everywhere around him, obscuring his vision-

BOOM

A dustcloud sprung up as Lineir blasted off the ground with obscene strength and rocketed up and up! The incredibly heavy and lifesucking water now was like air to him. The only thing he could compare it to was being under the effects of Mei's forbidden techniques, however this was different. He breached the surface and his hands touched the sky as the hostile cowled figure abruptly scrambled up from the shore. Shocked out of sleep with her cowl down the girl inside gaped,

"Fa-father?" Her eyes went wide like a dumbstruck deer as the hazy dark armored figure of Lineir pinwheeled out of the sky. At the last second, he tried to unleash his Phoenix Flame Wings to avoid crashing into the ground out of instinct. However, he had forgotten about the armor at his back. Strangely the metal parted of its own accord and his wings came into the sky stabilizing. He landed like a magnificent eagle after its first flight, settling on the shore in front of the girl who had not even raised her sword. In front of her, wreathed in Darkness Qi which swirled around him like a whirlpool, he contemplated his next move.

Whoooosh!

The Darkness Qi aura sunk back into the armor and Lineir staggered as his newfound strength receded and he felt that a large chunk of his Qi had been used up, comparable to him using a weak Lightning Darkness Slash. As the black aura receded the mysterious girl in front of him snapped her mouth shut when his face was revealed.

"YOU!" She yelled but Lineir was already ready and a second later the black haze shrouded him once more and he simultaneously summoned the black sword from his blood. He was a little bit scared that the blade would be unable to pass through the armor but the black blood seeped through the solid armor like a second skin and ran down his arm to form a whole blade. With great speed he met the girl who had drawn her own blade and they clashed!

Crack!!

There was a great shattering as a minute crack in space formed and the void gaped open between their swords for a second. It closed and the two simultaneously backed away from each other. Feeling her arm trembling ever so slightly the girl stared in shock at the darkness covered Lineir,

"Who are you! How did you get father's armor!" She demanded as Lineir looked down at his own armored forearms. Wreathed in the Darkness Qi he felt so much more power than he had ever expected to possess at his cultivation level. The Qi expenditure was enormous, that attack though just a regular slash had taken the same amount of Qi as two full powered Darkness Lightning Slashes but he had actually matched the female cultivator who had easily swatted him into the water like a fly just a little while before.

"Who are YOU?" Lineir said calmly as he untensed his muscles and the Darkness Qi faded away. He experimented a few times and rapidly the black haze turned on and off several times. "Now I understand...its a combination of intent and movement." He finally left it off as every second he was shrouded by it he felt a shocking amount of Qi being expended passively.

"You...you dare defile my father's tomb, dance around in his armor, and then ask his family who she is!" The girl practically spat on Lineir in her rage and almost struck out again. However the lingering trembling in her arm stayed her hand. "Now I will ask once again, who are you and why do you have my father's armor!"

Lineir wasn't sure if she was aware of it but while her right arm was pointing her midnight sword at him menacingly, which he finally realized was the exact same shade of black as the armor he was wearing, but her left hand was subtly twitching on her cocked hip, as if resisting the urge to reach out and touch the armor.

"My name is Lineir, wandering cultivator. Is that enough for you? And regardless of what you say, is there not a trial outside? Isn't the whole point of this place to test cultivators and distribute his legacy to those worthy? If this really is your father's resting place why are you speaking so harshly to someone who has passed the trial and inherited his will?" Lineir did not hold back at all as he vehemently argued with the girl. There was something suspicious about the way she was acting, he knew it was quite possible that she was another trial passer and just playing an act to steal the rewards from him! However, something inside him told him that that was just paranoia. This place was just too secluded. A increduous disdainful look was directed at Lineir,

"You? Worthy?? Hahaha! You managed to surpass the half finished phantom array in this place that hasn't be refurbished in generations. I already released the true guardian beasts on the way in so what did you pass exactly? With your cultivation level I'm surprised you even passed the malfunctioning array." She sneered looking down upon Lineir's Late Divine Realm cultivation. "Heh, it's almost out of juice but I actually can't see how someone like you managed to even make it here. Tell me, what one time use item did you use to reach here? I should have left the guardian beasts here but after so many years I didn't want them to suffer anymore. Who would have known that as soon as the door opened a fly would sneak in so quickly." She looked like she had calmed down a bit even though she was still spitting insults. Lineir was vaguely reminded of Mizuchi for a second. However, she wasn't THAT bad. And he HAD busted into her "father's" tomb apparently. But how was he supposed to know that?

"Look, I was told about this place by a...a friend. As for this armor, you're the one who forced me into that pond. Don't tell me you didn't know this was down there? Also, you keep saying this is your father's tomb. You might be strong but you're not THAT strong. The owner of this tomb is far, far older than your cultivation level, I'm not an idiot. How could he possibly be related to you? Maybe as your great-great-great ancestor!" Lineir was growing more and more confused. She seemed very angry. But she couldn't have been that much older than him in appearance. Unless she was one of those who had reached an extraordinarily high cultivation and had become immune to the aging of years there was absolutely no way. However, the fact that he was even able to clash swords with her proved that was not the case.

"My cultivation level is low because of some special circumstances. However in terms of comprehension I could annihilate you with one word! You're lucky my father's armor must have grown senile in its old age. I have no idea why it would protect a trespasser. Tch!" She puckered her lips, "Return it to me!"

Lineir smirked,

"I mean...even if I wanted to, which I don't, I don't know how. Fun fact, it is supporting me of its own will. And it does not seem to wish to leave me. As a matter of fact, it seems quite averse to the thought of leaving me." He plucked at the armor which indeed showed no signs of coming off. It was actually seamlessly attached to Lineir's body and he wasn't lying when he said he didn't know how to.

"You...you!! Ugh." She groaned and rubbed her forehead because she was beginning to suspect that Lineir was in fact telling the truth. "Still...you should at least-"

DANG!! BOOOOOOM!!

A muffled thump ran through the whole area even though it was sealed in another space it was as if it had been struck by something.