Familiar Face

" the heart of a lesser dragon!" this sentence caused many people to get goosebumps. what was a dragon? it was a tyrannical creature in legend! and now a dragon heart was being auctioned! " unfortunately, this item cannot be bought with silver or gold." the old man said, a grieving expression on his face. " what? can't be bought with silver or gold? then what can it be bought with?" a man asked doubtfully. " this dragon heart can only be bought with spirit stones!" the old man said. " what? rocks?" the man asked, confused, causing the old man to shake his head at the man's ignorance. " a spirit stone is essentially, compressed qi. if qi is trapped under a mountain for a few million years, it will be compressed until it becomes solid. these stones can be used for cultivation, or as a currency. of course, people usually don't use them as money. one spirit stone would be the equivalent of 5,000,000 gold coins, and i'm being generous!" the old man explained. " but if- 1 spirit stone." the same person who won the treasure sword with the destruction inscription spoke again.

" can you give us a break please?" the female voice spoke, she sounded out of breath. " 1 and a hal- 2 spirit stones." before she could finish, the cold voice rang out cone again. " anymore bidders? 2 spirit stones going once! going twice! sold to our VIP in the 3rd box!" the old man shouted. the two women pulled the metal side panel from the trolley, showcasing a large heart, two times the size of a human head. around the heart were 5 white inscriptions, their purpose was unknown. tling! a youth with long, straight black hair appeared in before the 3rd VIP box, his black robes fluttering as two silver bracelets released a soothing chiming sound. who ever looked at him felt pressure. Levi's body was radiating killing intent at the moment. at first, he was looking at the lesser dragon heart with a burning desire. but when the youth appeared in the air, he had a familiar feeling and heard a familiar sound, and looking around, he did indeed know the person. it was one of the two people who tried to kill him as he was returning from desolate mountain.

but after a bit of thought, Levi suppressed his killing intent. even when he could use his bloodlines freely, he was still almost killed easily by the other party. what he didn't know was that, the youth had already sensed his killing intent, he just couldn't be bothered by it. would an elephant be bothered by an ant? the answer was obviously no. the youth went down to the stage and took the heart from the trolley, before it dissapeared from his hand. he pulled out two glowing pieces of icy blue stone from his robe, and gave them to the old man, who was smiling stupidly. afterwards, the youth dissapeared again. Levi clenched his fists tightly. at first, he was burning with desire to obtain the heart and absorb the dragon's bloodline. but after seeing the boy, that desire was overshadowed by his thirst for revenge. " humph! it's only a snake heart anyway!" the female voice said unhappily.

Levi got up, wondering how to leave the auction hall, before he suddenly appeared in the everything guild once again. as he left the everything guild, his resolve to join the coming war became firm. a gleam flickered in his eyes as he headed for the clothes shop. " huh? why do you want to release the yang element?" old gray asked with a frown. Levi asked if he could somehow release the yang element of the yin yang seal, for what ever reason. " didn't i tell you? the extreme yin and yang in the yin yang seal suppress and balance out each other. if there is even the slightest increase or decrease in one of them, the inscription and it's vessel, will explode." old gray said with a heavy tone. what was wrong with this boy? was he in such a hurry to die? old gray silently wondered. "....then what would happen if i released both at the same time?" levi asked. " do you remember what happened when i first put the seal on you?" old gray returned a question.

Levi's thinking was quite simple really. he had read about how mutated beasts slammed their bodies against boulders and such, and this idea popped into his head. wouldn't it be the same? if mutated beasts tempered their bodies in such a way, couldn't he just do this? "....fine." old gray sighed. he had a feeling that if he didn't let Levi do this, he would just come back in worse condition. or he might not come back at all. they went to the white tower, and Levi laid on the bed. " sigh....you have to first activate it...." old gray sighed, before explaining. "....ughh..." at first it was just slight discomfort, but then the feeling of ice and fire flowing through his veins caused a groan to escape Levi's lips.

" ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!" a few minutes in, he couldn't hold his voice back. his muscles were flash frozen, then scorched. old gray wanted to use qi to protect levi's organs and meridians, but he declined. since the primordial meridians were said to be through put the body. Levi didn't want to miss any spots. " AHHHHHHHHHHH!" the pain reached it's peak as Levi almost passed out, but old gray stopped the extreme yin and yany forcefully with his own qi. after a few minutes, he released it again. this cycle went on for a few hours, causing the white bed sheets to once again, be stained with blood.

...

next day, morning.

" AGHHHHHHHH!" Levi continued to scream, his eyes bloodshot. a few hour earlier, he had told old gray not to restrain the yin and yang elements. he also wanted to temper his will during this, since, if his will was strong enough, wouldn't he be able to suppress his bloodlines easily? that way, the yin yang seal wouldn't even be necessary.

at the blacksmith forge.

" where is that brat?! bring him out here!" a soldier clad in black armor shouted, veins bulging on his forehead. " h-he is not here!" Andrew said once again. he felt helpless in his heart. didn't that lad cause him too much trouble? " our general wants to see him!" the man shouted. " th-the second prince?! but even so, he really isn't here!" Andrew shouted. " hmm, that's enough." the second prince spoke. " but general, that brat sold a sword that costed one of our men his arms!" the soldier said, as he looked at the second prince with a pleading gaze. " do you take me for a fool? just because you guys behave in front of me, doesn't mean i don't know how you really are!" the second prince narrowed his eyes, causing the soldier to stiffen. " but still, i will do something about it." the second prince said, relaxing his face. " yes, general! he did kill one of our men, after all!" the soldier said, but instantly regretted it, as the second prince shot him a knowing glance.

" what i'm here for is swords. as much as you can make me." the second prince turned to Andrew. " s-swords?" Andrew felt that this line was familiar. " ah, please wait a moment, your highness!" Andrew went into the forge and picked up one of the four remaining swords, all with inscriptions. " hmm, these inscriptions were made by that boy?" the second prince asked, as he looked at the symbol on the side of the blade. " i thought that inscriptions were invisible until activation, but i guess i was wrong." the second prince said, as he was about to pour his qi into the sword. " wait, your highness! you shouldn't-" vivivvi! a sparkling sword light shot out, barely missing the soldier by a hair. the man looked beside him, and saw a large crevasse right beside him, this sight shook him to his core.

"y-yo-you-" who are you calling your highness?" the second prince asked with a smile. " General!" the man quickly corrected himself, as he stood at attention. " how many of these swords are there?" the second prince asked. " there are 3 more inside..." Andrew said. " oh, i will buy them all for 40,000, that should be an acceptable price, right?" he asked. " of course!" Andrew quickly answered. if it was one sword, then the price would be 15-20,000 gold coins. but if a large amount were being sold, that price could be lowered slightly. after getting the remaining swords, the second prince gave Andrew the money before leaving.

...

in the white tower.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Levi continued to scream, his eyes completely red. hour after hour, he kept screaming in pain. this continued for a few days, causing Andrew to be slightly worried. the second prince wanted swords with inscriptions, if he didn't deliver....."...." Levi didn't have the strength to scream any more, as he lay silently, his body trembling. all throughout this, he had to constantly heal his muscles that were torn from freezing and burning. he had almost lost consciousness multiple times, but forcefully kept himself awake. "i....will not....lose consciousness....even if the pain was 100 times worse, i would still do it! if i can gain strength, what is this bit of pain?!" Levi suddenly began talking. "....boy, why don't you stop this...." old gray mumbled to himself. levi was putting his life on the line for something that might not even be real. a few days later, his body continued trembling as blood ozed from from his pores, following it was a brown liquid. " impurities?" old gray was shocked. from what Levi had told him, his body had already been cleansed of impurities. what did this mean? was his body not cleansed completely the first time? " but if what the boy told me was true, wouldn't pushing impurities, that were inside his body from probably since birth, be akin to waiting until your flesh healed around a splinter before pulling it out? if that is the case, then this....just how much pain is he experiencing...." a few beads of sweat appeared on old gray's forehead.

after a few minutes, the brown liquid covered Levi and the bed. this liquid had no smell, making old gray question if it was really impurities. after a whole day of the liquid seeping from levi's body, he told old gray to restrain the yin yang seal. after a few minutes of rest, surprisingly, he was able to move. the first thing he did was to try to absorb qi, but failed. and the cycle continued. screaming, bleeding, brown liquid. it felt like no matter how much of the brown liquid was excreted from his body, there was always more.

after a few more days, he found that he could keep a small amount of qi in his body. " boy, it seems that soldiers from the divine dragon continent are already here." old gray said. "...i only just absorbed a small amount of qi....what bad timing....." Levi spoke. he ate the food that old gray brought for him and left the white tower. " sigh, he is too reckless. although that recklessness seems to have paid off this time, he was only able to absorb a small amount of qi. and who knows what the repercussions of damaging his body to such an extent are...." old gray could only sigh.