Dragon Blood Qi Pool (III): The Pool

[Everybody like dragons! They think they're powerful and that they're cool and mystical and divine....well that's all true. But dragons are also animalistic, conniving, poisonous, evil, deadly and moody. But then again they're also benevolent, kind, faithful, courageous, honest, happy, horny, lecherous, devious, prideful....ultimately they're like humans. Only they were massive lizards with magical powers. 

Through my years of study, I've come to realize that dragons might actually be the first version of humanity. Every bad and every good quality that makes humanity what it is, have been exhibited by dragons to varying degrees of extremeness. If they're kind they're the kindest, if they're cruel, they're the cruelest.  No single dragon can be kind and evil at the same time, not like humans. Dragons have no balance, but they're the truest form and incarnation of any emotion or power they represent. It's why they are such great masters of arcane and the divine. 

There are power personified, but dragons like that are hardly alive anymore, sometimes I think humanity was nature's answer to everything that focused on one extreme. Now you can hardly differentiate them from humanity, they think like we do, act like we do, fuck and sleep like we do. Some people think we're a cure, however I think we're a virus, a disease that spreads and infects everything. We're not nature's cure, just a virus she just can't seem to get rid of.] 

THE ARCHMAGE MERLIN OF CAMELOT

The cavern was hot, steam could be seen rising up from the very obvious pool of blood, and on top of pool there were stone platforms that had formations etched on it. Alex couldn't exactly count how many platforms they were, but he knew there was enough for everyone here and then some. The way those platforms were placed it was obviously made for the cultivators to sit on. 

On the ceiling of the cavern were stalactites, ruby red and the color of blood. They pulsed rhythmically, in a manner that was akin to a heartbeat. Alex looked down on at the pool and felt his heart almost jump into his mouth in fright as he noticed shapes of dragons moving about within the pool. They weren't giant, just very miniature and tiny forms, however given that he could see hundreds upon hundreds of those shapes, it made the pool look like it was filled to the brim with either snakes or bugs. It made his skin crawl just by looking at it. 

"All of you should take your place on the platforms, the platforms have arrays on it that can make it sink to the bottom of the pool, submerging more of your body into the pool for tempering. There are control switches on the platforms to either raise or submerge you, so pay close attention to it in case you feel you've reached your limit. Dragon blood is a liquid, but it's mostly made of energy, so breathing within the pool shouldn't be too hard for you guys, in fact I expect it to be beneficial. Now take your places. 

Alex looked at Yun Fao who gave him a determined nod as he made his way to one of the platforms furthest from the entrance and away from the others. Alex followed, preferring to avoid the others as they seemingly gravitated towards Lu Wan and all seemed to be in good terms with him. Alex was not too knowledgeable about schemes, but he knew how to stay away from trouble. 

"Third brother Xiao Feng! Why don't you sit next to me, that way I can give you some pointers and keep you safe should you foolishly not know what your limits are." Lu Wan said to Alex as he was about to jump towards his own platform. 

Alex turned to Lu Wan and giving him the most fierce look he could muster, clenched his teeth together and pushed his tongue against them as he dragged air into his mouth. A hissing sound came out of Alex's mouth, and while most of them had no idea what it meant, the advent of Alex in the sect had compelled most of the disciples to go research a bit about the Nigeria colony. They knew that hiss was derogatory insult that out rightly ignored a person's existence, almost as if you were telling that person. 'you don't matter, your words don't matter, your presence itself doesn't matter.' And from the very red look on Lu Wan's face, he obviously knew what it meant too. 

Alex ignored him and the heat wafting up from the blood pool as he took a seat beside Yun Fao, The  crossed his legs and moved his hand to the switch that was supposed to control the descent and ascent of the platform. Then he waited silently until everyone else was sitting on a platform, Lu Wan chose to sit opposite Alex, probably unwilling to give up the one spot that would give the chance to glare at the young boy. In all honesty, Alex was beyond caring about this self centered disrespectful waste of space, who had nothing better to do than to look for trouble. 

Alex knew that if Anya were here, Lu Wan would have lost a significant amount of his teeth, and maybe had a few bones broken every time they crossed paths.

"Now that you're all seated on the platforms, how far you can go and how much you can achieve within the next 24 hours is entirely up to your persistence. The tempering of your body and energy is not something that can happen regularly, especially after you've left the body refining realm for body refining and haven't entered the earth gate. 

Using this dragon Qi blood pool to do so would be incomparable painful, so I ask that you all take it slow or else the pain alone would destroy your mind and your body will be taken over the residual souls of the dragons within the pool. Good luck disciples and try your best."