Written in Blood

A Fight in Vain

Before Ao Ruang could even tap into his Ki a hard kick came to his rib cage sending him staggering several feet. His breath knocked out of him he quickly adjusted and refocused.

Lin Yi who was his opponent had not held back at all with his initial strike. It was clear to him that Lin Yi would turn him black and blue if he allowed it. Focusing his ki into his palm he formed a small orb of crimson blood. As he finished condensing it another fist came at him as Lin Yi launched himself at Ao Ruang.

In slight panic Ao Ruang swiped the orb of blood into a thin shield which stopped the punch leaving a large indent in the area where the fist had collided. Lin Yi had yet to even activate his ki this was all his physical training at work so far.

Ao Ruang re condensed the orb and sent it at Lin Yi who did a twisting roll into the air letting the orb collide with a stone pillar in the room which remained unharmed.

Ao Ruang immediately attempted to reform another orb, but Lin Yi had already closed the gap and sent a fist colliding into his stomach which made Ao Ruang immediately spit out a small mouthful of blood.

Unable to endure the kick he landed on his back. As he struggled up onto his arms he saw a kick blazing towards his head. Ao Ruang closed his eyes excepting his fate.

...

Several minutes of vain effort to fight back ended with Ao Ruang beaten badly, his body bruised and bloodied from the attacks.

Lady Feng asked several times as he tapped her finger on her jaw. The other disciples knew all too well Lady Feng’s ritual of testing the new recruits this way for most of them; they were beaten within an inch of their life and then Lady Feng would personally attend to them and heal them.

Standing up Lady Feng motioned for two of the disciples to carry the hurting Ao Ruang to her chambers. “You are all dismissed tomorrow I will be testing you all, don't think you are out of this.”

Ao Ruang didn’t remember much about the fight; it had turned incredibly fuzzy in his memory.

A fist came barreling towards the side of Ao Ruang’s face and his instinctive reaction was to block, but he was too slow. As quickly as the fist had come it was intercepted by a thin layer of blood that erupted from his arm. No thicker than a bed sheet, but strong enough to dull the impact of the fist causing Ao Ruang to tumble to the side from the momentum force Lin Yi’s fist crashed into him.

The onlookers were surprised by Ao Ruang’s ability as it wasn’t common for Iron ranked warriors to manifest their Ki until they were Black Iron rank. At most they would be able to slightly change their normal attacks, but not manipulate it in such a way as it would coalesce into reality.

Even the normally calm and cold Lady Feng raised her eyebrow slightly by the sudden change.

Ao Ruang landed on his side, but scrambled to his feet. He had next to no combat experience and right now it showed. He didn’t even try and control the blood veil that came out of his arm.

Lin Yi didn’t hesitate more than a second before he flashed to the otherside of Ao Ruang and sent a kick into his face, flying to the other end of the area. At this point Ao Ruang became a punching bag and that was the last thing he remembered.

Rubbing his temples he sat up and looked around. The room was dark, but had blue lights along the entire edge every few feet or so. Ao Ruang sat up and realized he was half naked his chest was bare. A mirror sat across from the bed. It was the first time that Ao Ruang had a chance to see his body in a long time, but he had become much more muscular, his body well toned giving a y-shape look. His eyes were slightly bloodshot, but they had yet to turn red yet which he was thankful for.

“Tell me Ao Ruang. Where does someone gain such high cultivation and not have any combat experience?” a voice said curiously causing Ao Ruang’s eyes to shift over to where it came from.

Lady Feng was sitting in a large chair that was nearly twice as large as Lady Feng herself. In one hand she held a goblet, a dark purple wine filled it half way, while her other hand help a small dagger that was barely longer than her hand. She twirled it by it’s looped hilt in a circle while she stared intently at Ao Ruang.

“I am very interested in your Ao Ruang, but I need to know that you are not going to bring me troubles in the future with any unexpected secrets. Tell me where you gained such powers and cultivation and you are free to go.”

Ao Ruang felt his heart leap to his throat as he heard her words...they sounded innocent enough, but in reality they were a threat and he could feel it. His instincts told him to run, but it would be futile to run from someone with such a large gap in cultivation with himself.

“I...I er...I.” Ao Ruang sputtered before shaking his head and just telling as much of the truth as he could without compromising himself. “I was incredibly untalented in my village deep in the mountains to the north. In fact I was considered talentless. My skills were not even mediacore during our village’s test for youth. I encountered a strange artifact that once I touched it took some of my blood and rushed into my dantain. Ever since I have been able to control my blood at will and control spilled blood of others. Every Time I saw blood spilled it would form into an orb and rush into my dantain and I would gain much cultivation experience and spiritual power increases.” Ao Ruang obviously left out the fangs and blood sucking part, but felt his story was legitimate enough to convince her.

Closing her eyes Lady Feng stood up and threw the knife into the wall on the side “I believe you. Such occurrences happen in remote parts of the world often enough. You probably encountered a dark races artifact. All it will do is benefit you in the future.”

She had bought it completely. Ao Ruang was silently proud of his acting skills.

“Now that we addressed that it is time for you to be shown around the sect. I will have Lin Yi whom you met earlier show you around. Is that understood? Starting tomorrow we will be starting lectures so don’t be late.”

Snapping her fingers the doors opened and LIn Yi the boy who had beaten Ao Ruang so harshly strode in and bowed to Lady Feng.

“Take Ao Ruang and show him around Lin Yi then be sure to report back to me once he is settled in his housing.”

“As you wish milady.” Lin Yi bowed before motioning Ao Ruang to follow.