Squabbling children.

Cruel... I really say some disgusting things at times.

Lang Ru mused somewhat bitterly to herself as she looked at Lan Yun and Xiao Yin Yu contemplate her words. She had called them cruel for wanting to leave Yin Long out of this, for wanting him to stay as far away as possible so that he didn't die with them. But she, did she have the right to ever speak those words in the context of Yin Long?

Personally, she did not think so. No, she was perhaps the one person who should never be allowed to be around Yin Long. She had already sent him to his death once, forcing him to give his own life for the clan. She could mask it as much as she wanted by saying that she did it for him, or that she would bring him back to life, but the truth that she killed him would never change.

And now she was doing it again. If he didn't know anything then he would never come here, he didn't have the personality of hunting down bounties in a competition like this. He would be safe wherever he was, far away from those that tried to bait him out. But she wanted them to call him all the same, she wanted him to be with those that loved him, even if it meant that they would all die.

Or perhaps she just wanted to see him again before she herself died, perhaps she just wanted to apologize for the pain and solitude she had forced onto him for the sake of his freedom. She didn't know. What she wanted, why she acted, for once in her life she had no idea exactly which of the reasons drove her.

"You're... Right. To love is to share. And this is no place to die, so we won't."

Xiao Yin Yu's voice pulled Lang Ru out of her uncertain musings, the two women in front of her wearing expressions as bitter as her own musings. She was right, they would hate it, and him, if Yin Long ever ran off somewhere on his own and died without them. But it was still a bitter thought, that they might all die once he got here, that they might pull him to his death.

"The Young Master is a sun, and this place is far too small to bury a light like that."

Lan Yun's statement was what they all believed, what they all used to comfort themselves. Yin Long was strong, he was resilient, and he was brilliant. This small fractured space was not a place that could bury him, it would take something at least as big as this universe if it wanted to really bury him. That is what they had to believe, perhaps that was the only way they could stomach their own actions and the consequences they might bring.

And so, Yin Yu raised her hand and touched upon the blue earring she had made for herself. She could contact Yin Long through the scale provided by the competition, but she had already seen how he just toned it out back when the competition first started so she didn't think things would be any different now. But this earring, or at least the blue droplet in it, was something he had given her for the sole purpose of staying in touch, he would not be able to tone it out. And besides, there was one other person she had to contact as well, but how he would respond was still unknown.

---

Yin Long's soulsea was currently tossing about violently, the ocean of silvery-yellow Qi roiling about like it was in the midst of a storm. Yellow energy and silver chains danced around amidst the storm, coiling around the sword that served as his soul as they fought for supremacy, as they fought for Yin Long.

As this was a battle that took place within his soulsea, and around his very soul, it was naturally accompanied by pangs of pain stemming from the very core of his being. But quite frankly, the pain wasn't at a level that he couldn't handle, it could even be considered mild when you took into account just where the pain was coming from.

"Being quite conscientious, aren't you?"

Yin Long observed the two forces vying for supremacy, a slight hint of understanding on his face. The two forces could do much worse if they just unleashed all their energy, their battle would probably end much faster that way. But his soul wouldn't be able to bear it and would probably end up shattering. They were living in his soul so that was definitely something they wanted to avoid, it would be like a fisherman sinking the rowboat he was currently riding.

"They are a bit annoying though."

He wasn't in a rush to deal with the two opposing forces, calmly observing them as they struggled. Their origins were a bit of an issue for him, more specifically, the fact that he had no idea what they were. The chains were obviously coming from the fragments of the key that would open the Grave of the Swordsoul. But what exactly this Swordsoul, or the key for that matter was, he had no idea.

And then there was the eye resting on the scaled leaves. He could at least confirm, or at least guess, that it was tied to the law of Yin, and most likely the Netherworld energy as well. But that was it. It had never done anything after it appeared on his soul, and the only thing it ever spoke of was when it called him 'My dragon.'

Well, there was the one time the eye actually spoke to him properly, when it visited him in his dreams. Back then it had warned him about seeking out more of the key fragments because they were trying to awaken him, but he was still fractured so there was no telling what might happen. Similar chains had appeared back then as well, albeit purple ones at that time. Whole or fractured, a monarch rises all the same, that had been their response to the eye's worries.

"...They remind me of children trying to share a sandbox."

He continued to observe the battle of the two forces, the painful yellow energy defending against the silver chains that tried to push it back. They weren't using all their strength so it just looked like children squabbling over a little toy, or perhaps calling them children vying for attention was a more apt description.

"Isn't this enough already? You're never going to go anywhere if you just keep going like that so can't you just settle down? In the end, I don't know enough about either of you so it's not like I'm going to favour one over the other."

He spoke with a small sigh after observing the two forces for a while, their stalemate showing no signs of ending any time soon. The two forces stopped as he addressed them, the eye's gaze turning towards him while the chains also turned to face him.

"We...Cannot allow it...To awaken the fractured...Dragon."

"We cannot allow... Ourselves to be blocked from doing our duty."

As always, the voice coming from the solitary eye was slow and stilted, it was practically drawling. The chains spoke a bit more clearly, but its voice was composed of the sound of chains grating against each other so it wasn't all that pleasant to listen to.

"Really, just like children... Okay, tell me this then. What happens if they awaken a fractured dragon? And what is your duty, hm?"

Yin Long felt like rubbing his forehead, even the way the two responded was like children caught doing something bad. But if they were intent on continuing their battle then he would at least have them spill why exactly they had to fight, what exactly they were worried about or hoped to achieve.

"...We don't know..."

"...We don't know, it is instinctual..."

But the answers they gave him were nothing but disappointing. One defended because of uncertainty while the other attacked because of uncertainty, they had no clue what exactly they wanted to achieve or prevent. Yin Long felt like sighing again and opened his mouth to speak, but a voice from the outside, from the hairpin on his head, cut him off.

"Oh for p..."

"Yin Long, there's bad news. I found your older sister and Lan Yun here in the competition, they're the two intruders. Someone has sent them in here and we fear that they're trying to use them as bait to lure you out. We're close to the Giant's Grove spatial array and will likely be heading southward, you'll know why once you check the map."

Xiao Yin Yu's voice cut through all of his thoughts and made his expression sink drastically. His first thought wasn't about who might have sent them in, it was about their strength. The two of them were too weak for this competition. Holding out for a bit would be fine, but they would be finished once more competitors, or stronger ones, found them. Yin Yu being with them would alleviate this a bit, but she couldn't hold back larger groups by herself. It was dangerous here, far too dangerous for them.

"Starblood..."

Yin Long's mutter was cold, as icy as the winds of the Netherworld. He didn't need to think too much about it to figure out who was the most likely culprit. Sending someone in here meant that they were at least as strong as a Province Emperor, and there was only one Province Emperor who would want to use some bait on Yin Long. Starblood, the Province Emperor who had ties to the Lord of Everburning Trees, the one who thought Yin Long was this very same lord.

"No more fighting you two, just sit around quietly. I'll remove both of you if you end up hindering me from now on."

His voice left the two struggling powers no room for argument, if their squabble interrupted him from now on out then he would cut them out without question. He didn't need to think about what to do next, that was why he warned them. Dangerous? Baiting him out? So what? His sister, his lover, his friend, all three of them were in danger right now. So he would go to them, no matter who or what stood in his way, no matter what awaited him once he got there.

"But we cannot... Agree..."

"We cannot... Allow ourselves to be... Stopped..."

The two forces were clearly rather unwilling to just stop now since they were in disagreement over how to proceed, they'd much rather settle things straight away. But would Yin Long care about that?

"I don't care. You're both inside me so you'll listen to me, understood?"

Yin Long moved forward slightly, or at least the bit of his consciousness that he had sent into his soulsea did. He grabbed onto the handle of his soul and glared at the eye and the chains, threatening their very existence. As he glared at them, the uppermost section of his soul, the dim blue one, started to pulsate with a quiet light. The eye and the chains could feel the light from the blue section, a sharp sensation digging into them, threatening to cut them apart should they hesitate.

"As you wish... My dragon..."

"By your order... Monarch..."

The two forces had no choice but to lower their heads and retreat, they felt that they might truly vanish for good if they kept going. The chains retreated to the purple section of his soul and the yellow energy returned to the eye, his soulsea regaining its former calm. He let go of his soul once the two calmed down, giving them a slow and satisfied nod before he removed his consciousness from his soulsea.

When he opened his eyes, he was still sitting within the ruins where he had chosen to hide. But the area had changed slightly, purple chains had appeared around him and locked him away. Jin Wang was on the other side of the chains, assaulting them with open maw. But they weren't budging under his assault, even the sound of his snarling blocked out.

Yin Long could feel the chains as he sat there, each one felt like a part of his body, like an extra finger he could control as he pleased. They also shared the same sensation as the silver chains that had just been fighting inside his soulsea so they most likely came from the same source.

He frowned for a second as he looked at them. Did these chains come from the key fragments he had absorbed or did they belong to the purple section of his soul? The latter wasn't entirely impossible, his law of blood had originally also been part of his soul but only awakened later after all.

"...Doesn't matter right now."

He tossed aside the irrelevant thoughts and stood up, touching upon the chains with his Qi and pulling them back into his body. Jin Wang looked a bit relieved now that Yin Long had awoken, but his solemn expression told him that things weren't good.

"Lan Yun and the others are in danger. I'm going to meet up with them but there's a good chance that a Province Emperor or the like will try to do something so it is beyond dangerous. Death is highly likely. If you want to live, don't follow me."

He didn't order Jin Wang to follow him as he started to walk, he couldn't. They were friends, and he would never order a friend to follow him into what could very well be their death. So he left the choice up to Jin Wang, just as he always did in the past. And perhaps as was to be expected, the proud golden lion scoffed somewhat disdainfully and immediately followed him.