Ascent of the Beast King

The Sword Lord Returns

They hovered there, man and beast, locking each other in place with their steely gazes, for what seemed like an eternity but was just a moment.

Below the people began to point and whisper in each other's ears. Slowly, a clamour build up.

"That's Yu Dao, he returned!"

"Returned? Don't be silly. That thing must have disturbed his secluded training so he stepped out."

"Forget all that. Look how big he is, do you think that's a secret technique?"

On and on the questions and answers and more answers and more questions went. Li Dan grabbed Li Jia's sleeve, "look Jia! It's Lin. He's going to fight the dragon!" Then a darkness came over his face, "but, can he beat it...?" He looked up at his new hero.

Yu Dao looked down at the crowd and smiled. The Dragon roared, all went quiet. It flew at Yu Dao, claws stretched out, ready to shred his chest. He simply stood there, unmoving, as it... went right through him. Huh? The dragon spun round. Yu Dao slowly turned to face it, gripping the sword before him.

"You disappoint me. Surely you realised this was an astral form." He threw himself at the dragon swinging his katana down at an angle, it threw its claw up to block it then opened its jaws wide and let loose a torrent of fire directed at his abdomen. Yu Dao began to flicker and twist, losing shape, as if all the parts of his body were trying to float off away from each other.

"Very good. Disturbing the energy to cause my astral form to break apart. It is a pity you are simply not strong enough." He stepped forward into the fire so it was now going through his chest and smacked his palm into the dragon's body, it went flying backwards.

Yu Dao simply watched, unmoving, but the sword in his hand began shaking. He chuckled, "you want a go too huh? I guess it's only fair." He loosened his grip and it pierced straight towards the beast. The dragon had regained its bearings now and looked at the sword disdainfully. It flung its claw out to slap it aside.

The sword did not react, then, just as the claw was about to hit it, it accelerated. The dragon immediately jumped and its tail came curling round from under it to again slap it away. The sword turned sideways so the tail was about to smack into its edge. Yu Dao watched the intricate dance between dragon and sword. His gaze was intensely focused on the dragon, scrutinising it.

"The essence of its Earth-Shatterer technique lies in its voice. If I want to understand it, I need to see it roar." He began to scream, the people below stared at him as if he was crazy.

"This is Yu Dao? All those years alone training must have addled his brains."

"He must have a plan. What do you understand? He's a genius of cultivation."

"Forget that! Look at the sword! It's alive!"

All the while, Yu Dao was screaming at the top of his voice. He knew that the dragon would not be able to resist asserting its authority by silencing his voice with its own. He watched it intensely. But the sword was keeping it too busy.

"Hey! Get back here." The sword paused, turned, then resumed its fight. He rolled his eyes and pointed at it then moved his finger to the left, the sword shook and struggled but could do nothing as it also moved sideways. Then he stared at the dragon, it stared back, and he let out a scream that almost split the ears of everyone down below.

Li Dan rubbed his ears. "What's his problem?" Then he noticed that the dragon was about to return fire, "Li Jia!" He covered her ears without thinking of his own. Yu Dao had also noticed, he cast a qi barrier and covered the city. His astral form completely collapsed until only a pair of eyes remained, watching the dragon roar. He concentrated all his power into keeping them intact and protecting the barrier below. One of Yu Dao's eyes popped.

The dragon looked on, triumphant, then raised its head to roar victoriously into the heavens but at that moment, Yu Dao's body began to reform. It was normal height. He looked at the sword,

"Okay, he's all yours." Then he sat down cross-legged, closed his eyes, and began to meditate.

The sword zipped through the air, but this time it was much faster than before, there was a boom as it broke the sound barrier, then silence... as it hurtled towards the dragon. The dragon had seconds, it could not react in time, but then, just as the sword was a metre or two away, a vicious purple-grey portal ripped the air apart. A single, giant finger, charred and gnarled, as if it had been burnt black in a great fire long ago, reached out of the portal and flicked the sword away. Yu Dao spat up a mouthful of blood and the sword went flying then dropped, lifeless, to the ground. The portal sucked the dragon in and disappeared.

In a massive underground cavern, whose walls tapered off into a hole through which could be seen a vast, indifferent sky of starless black, a massive flame snarled and spat tongues of fire. A man, over 2 metres tall, with spiky black hair running down his back to his waist, stood next to it. He looked like an insignificant speck compared to the massive, hissing flame.

"Master, I'm sorry. I failed you..." He dropped to his knees and stared at the ground.

A being sat, cross-legged, before him. The flames struggled to illuminate it but its blackened form melted into the shadows allowing it to cast a faint and fragile light only on the extremities of what looked to be large knees.

"He has grown much stronger, a 5th-level immortal. If you had actually been training instead of enjoying the power you had over that pitiful country perhaps you could have been more of a match, instead you came snivelling here to ask me for help. Killing him and stealing his Dao Insights would have been of great benefit to you in breaking through... Alas, you were weak, weak and stupid."

"I'm sorry master," the man cowered, "I have learned my lesson..."

"No, you havenot learned your lesson." A single black finger, its tip twice the size ofthe cowering man himself, reached out of the darkness pointing at the flamethen directing it to the man. A tongue of flame lashed out and latched onto theman's body, "Aaargh!" He screamed and writhed in agony on the floor.Rolling, frenzied.