Vermillion Spirit

Cross flew the blue Ark out of the Snow Song Realm. He was feeling a little worried for Yun Che but he couldn't find him and he was running out of time. Between Yun Che and Jasmine... The choice was obvious, plus, Yun Che had a tougher life than his own! He would definitely be okay.

He flew over a flaming wasteland and looked down, muttering "Flame God Realm..." before flying over an abyss. He looked down before storing his ark and jumping down the hole, plummeting to the ground.

Cross fell into the abyss and used his strings to break his fall, landing safely on the ground. He looked around and saw a cave that radiated pressure. He scoffed at that pressure before walking inside, there was... Nothing.

Just another cave.

Cross was disappointed, holes in the ground always have treasures! He turned around to leave when he noticed a pale gold light, it flickered for barely a moment behind a crack in the wall. Cross walked over and punched the wall, making the crack bigger.

He wasn't polite with the crack and smashed Artemis on the wall, destroying it, revealing... Another cave! Cross grumbled and walked into the cave.

He walked into a dark space, he sighed to himself and said "Another fire bird?" giant pale gold eyes appeared and said "Hmm? You're the Elf I've been hearing about?" Cross said plainly "Probably." The eyes looked at him intently for a moment before saying "You're different from what I've heard from the Crow and the Phoenix..."

Cross said "I'm in a bit of a time crunch. Can you spare me from the big speech? I already got an earful from the frozen chicken." The eyes seemed amused and said "You seem to think I care?" Cross shrugged and said "I don't. I'm telling you to hurry up. From my experience the rest have been threatened to give me something, you shouldn't be any different. Whether you give me something or make me take a trial or even give me nothing, I couldn't care less. I sensed you here, so I came to see you. If you can give me power to make me stronger, good. If not, then I'll just leave."

Before turning around and walking away towards the exit. The eyes watched him go before sighing and dragging him back saying "Alright, you walking disaster. You win." Cross looked at the eyes emotionlessly, the eyes said "As you may have guessed, I am the Vermillion bird spirit. And, yes, I have been threatened as well. I will give you my blood, but.. Hehe... If you want the rest, plus a BIG surprise you will have to take me trial."

Cross was silent for a moment before saying "How long will this Trial take exactly." the Vermillion bird spirit said "Aiya! Are you really in a hurry? You still have 4 years..." Cross said "I have to participate in the Convent in 2 years and 2 years after that I need to be able to slaughter Divine Masters with ease."

The Vermillion Bird laughed and said "How do you plan on doing that? If you can destroy Divine Masters with ease in 4 years, I will become your mount! Hahahaha!" Cross' eyes flashed as he said "Deal. Also, I'm going to the God Realm of Absolute Beginning. I will stay there for 2 years, win the Convention, then go back for another 2 years."

The Vermillion bird choked before saying "That horrible place! Well, seems like I don't even have to look forward to it anymore. You won't last a single month in there." Cross sneered and said "What do you know? Hold long will the Trial take?" The Vermillion bird said "Tell you what. I'll skip the first two Trials and go to the Hardest and Final one, it will be an hour outside but there's no telling how long you will be inside."

Cross nodded and said "Start then." the Vermillion Bird's eyes flashed and Cross felt he was in a different space now. He was used to it by now and looked around him, he saw two opposing forces. One looked to be a race of Devils, using Darkness energy and the other was a group of Humans, wearing white clothes and wielding pale gold flames as they shouted "You Devils will be annihilated by the Power of our Vermillion flames!"

Cross watched impassively as the Devil leader shouted in grief "You killed my daughter! You have the gall to call me a Devil?!" the white clad man sneered "Your daughter seduced my son!" the boy next to him sneered at the Devils with heavy disgust in his eyes.

Cross stepped in between the two forces and grabbed the Devil Leader's head, looking through his memories. Turns out his daughter had been taken by this man's son, before he found her corpse in a field completely destroyed. There were even tears in her eyes.

Cross floated over to the Young man and red his memories, finding out that he had kidnapped the girl because she was beautiful. He kept her in a basement, torturing and raping her everyday, claiming that Devils were sinners and she should fell grateful that she wasn't dead.

Other than this, he was a saint to the world. Fighting the Devils back at every turn, a 'True Protector of Humanity'. The young man found out the girl was pregnant and lied to his father that he was seduced by her Devil Arts, so his father killed her and threw her back into the Devil region.

Cross floated to the middle and laughed before shaking his head. He looked up and said "Isn't this Trial a bit too easy? The Devils are clearly justified." Cross waved his hand and obliterated the 'Righteous' Humans.

The Devil kneeled and said "Thank you, Senior." Cross waved and said "A wave of the hand solved your problem..." He grinned and waved his hand again, the girl's corpse came back and she healed at a visible rate before waking up saying "Eh?" Cross tapped on her forehead, erasing her memories of her torment before sending her back with her family.

The Devil Leader started crying and knocked his head on the ground shouting "Thank you, God!" the rest of the Devils kneeled and shouted in unison "Thank you, God!" Cross waved and disappeared.

He reappeared in the Vermillion space, he smirked to the Vermillion Bird, who was glaring at him. Cross said "You're angry I didn't kill the Devils? I don't understand the God Realm's fixation with the Devils. Ultimately, they didn't choose to be Devils. What's more, are they even sinners in the first place? Darkness is an element like any other."

Cross shook his head and said "What a bunch of fools." the Vermillion Bird shouted "You!" Cross said "You, what? That stupid kid raped that poor girl and you're still on his side? Just because the Devil possesses Darkness energy? Could it be that you're actually retarded? Just think about it for a moment. Let's say, for example, the world says 'You know what? Fire energy is too strong. It should be taboo' suddenly everyone starts hunting down people who practice Fire laws. Does that make any sense to you?"

Cross chuckled and added "Because that sounds pretty fucking stupid to me." the Vermillion Bird didn't have a reply, that was just a ridiculous example... and yet.. Is that not what happened? Cross waved and said "Regarding the secrets of the Primordial Era... Hehe, naturally I know nothing but I've heard stories. Some Mo E guy supposedly 'punished' Devils. For what reason? Just because they were devils? Maybe his wife got stolen from a Devil? Or she had an affair with a Devil? Maybe he just didn't like the way they looked?"

Cross spread out his hands and said "Either way you spin it, this Mo E sounds like an asshole. What God? What Savior? He was probably a racist moron. I refuse to believe that the Devils would come into existence for the sole purpose of killing Gods, this makes no sense. Why were they created in that case? Does killing Gods give them more power? Can they increase their Cultivation this way? Definitely not, or else they wouldn't have been annihilated. So, crossing out the so-called 'Truth' that Devils are inherently evil and made to kill Gods, you can only come to the conclusion that Mo E was a lying piece of garbage."

He continued "But as the saying goes 'The winner is the King and the loser is the Thief.' The Devils lost and now they're taboo. I do have a question though, is everyone in the God Realm brainless? They just trust whatever some old guy, who turned to ashes long ago, said? Not to mention he was in possession of the Heaven Punishing Ancestral Sword, who knows if it was his in the first place. Maybe he stole it from the 'Devils' and then claimed that they were evil before using the sword to kill them. Hehe~ Who are the true 'Devils' I wonder..."

The Vermillion bird was trembling and shouted "ENOUGH!" Cross sneered and the Vermillion bird seethed "You passed the trial. I will not allow you to question the God race!" Cross rolled his eyes and said "Why? Because they used your flames to kill the Devils? What a joke."

Cross looked at the Vermillion Spirit and said seriously "Can I ask you a serious question? Why do you detest Devils?" the Vermillion Bird was silent and Cross added "I know that the Vermillion Flames carry the power to purify, thus your natural enemy is Darkness energy, but does that mean they must be killed?"

The Vermillion bird said "Of course not." Cross asked in return "Then why? Out of all the Fire birds, I like the Golden Crow the most. At least she isn't a hypocrite like that Phoenix. Claiming to never hurt innocents when her own descendants are being enslaved, ugh.. What a moron."

The Vermillion Bird was silent for awhile before sighing and saying "My descendants were the first to be killed during the war of the Gods in the Primordial Era. They placed themselves on the front lines without hesitation, following Mo E to kill all the Devils. Nobody ever questioned Mo E as to why the Devils were being killed in the first place."

Cross shrugged and said "You hate them for fighting back? Had your descendants not even fought, wouldn't they still be alive? Aren't you upset your descendants were mindless sheep instead?" the Vermillion Bird said "Regardless, this is the annihilation of my clan!" Cross sighed and said "There's no point in arguing with someone who can't even understand what I'm trying to say."

The Vermillion Bird said "If someone killed your family would you not hate them?" Cross replied "I would hate them with every fiber of my being! Grind their bones to dust, eat their flesh, and drink their blood!" The Vermillion Spirit said "So then-" Cross cut her off saying "But, they provoked someone who had nothing to do with them in the first place. It's like me going to a clan, killing half their people for no reason, then expecting them to just accept it without retaliating. This... I have to be retarded to think this, no?"

Cross paused for a moment before adding "Though, even if I did that, I would kill them all the first time so that they couldn't retaliate. If I lost my family from my own stupidity, I think I would kill myself and join them. Obviously, I didn't have a brain in the first place, why taint the world with my idiocy?"

The Vermillion Bird was speechless for a while before laughing. Cross looked at his wrist, but he didn't have a watch... The Vermillion Bird calmed down and said "You... You are very good. Though I am quite uncomfortable with your words.. I.. I cannot refute them either. Perhaps you're right..."

A big ball of Pale-Gold sparkling Origin blood, a smaller ball of Pale-Gold blood, a Pale-Gold flame, and finally a Pale-Gold eye.

Cross waved and stored the Origin blood and took the eye with a thoughtful look. The Vermillion Bird said "Turn around, I will fix your diagram." Cross frowned and said "What do you mean fix it?" The Vermillion Bird sneered "That little chicken is in my spot."

Cross was abruptly turned around and the Vermillion Bird's blood and Heart flame shot into Cross body as the Vermillion Bird Spirit's eyes glowed.

Cross' blood devoured the Pale-Gold blood, adding another speck, while the Pale-Gold heart fire drilled into his heart, agitating the other two heart fires. It started burning brightly and the three started spinning, coming together before combining into one!

It was a bright White-Gold flame! Cool!

A light shot into Cross' eyebrows and the [Vermillion Bird's Consoling Spirit Song] imprinted itself in his mind. Cross read the Divine Art and found out it was like a song! Or rather a symphony! With 4 different stages; Sad Departing, Rueful Loneliness, Hopeful Reunion, and finally Accepted Separation.

It was a sad song for sure, but it felt warm and comforting.

The Vermillion Spirit poured her power into the diagram on his back and snorted. The Phoenix transformed into a pair of red wings before moving to the South-East and South-West positions. The wings started changing and half of the feathers on both wings turned blue.

The southern position was taken by a tattoo of a Vermillion bird, it was much more grand than before! It possessed the same arrogance as the other tattoos. The entire diagram shined brightly and all the beasts roared to the heavens producing a beautiful song.

Cross growled and roared along as his energy spiked, his cultivation started rising before stopping at the Divine Tribulation Realm Peak! The Vermillion Spirit sneered as she mumbled "Dumb chicken... just because I'm not there you think you can take my spot?"

Cross whistled with his eyes closed and a Golden-White lotus appeared above his palm. He looked at the lotus with a calm look before moving his fingers gently, the lotus played around his fingers before floating away, obliterating everything in it's path.

The Vermillion Bird said incredulously "Accepted Separation Lotus?!" Cross turned to the Vermillion bird and said indifferently "Thank you... I will remember our bet... I will be back in 4 years." before turning around and leaving.

The Vermillion Spirit 'pursed her lips' and mumbled "With the Pseudo-Void energy you have... It will be impossible... He is going to that place.. Perhaps he can truly understand the Laws of Nothingness... Hopefully he doesn't die or I would be excited for nothing."

Cross flew out of the hole before stepping on his boat and shooting out of the Flame God Realm, there was one more place he wanted to stop before he got to the God Realm of Absolute Beginning... He still hadn't forgotten his promise.