The march towards the light.

"Ahh... I really wish all those blurry things would be so kind as to be a bit more clear."

Yin Long couldn't help but rub his temples when the light of the waking world drew him out of the vision-like dream he had just been in. His head was pounding slightly, a dull grinding sound echoing throughout his skull to accompany his fledgling headache. His own existence was already a mystery to him, there were so many things he wanted answers to that he had stopped bothering with counting them. And yet, another thing had been added onto that pile, almost as if the world was trying to taunt him.

But at least on this one occasion, he had a small clue he could grasp onto. The key fragments leading to the Grave of the Swordsoul, those were probably the things that the eye was telling him not to collect, the timing of its appearance was just too coincidental. As for whether or not he would actually stop collecting the fragments, he wasn't quite sure yet, but he was leaning towards still doing it.

He simply didn't know enough, he had so little information that it was laughable. What should he believe, what should he trust? He had no idea, not the faintest clue. Caught in such a situation, he could only do as he always did, live freely and move as he wanted to. And he wanted to collect the key fragments and open the Grave, so for now, he was leaning towards doing just that.

"Sun's not out... How long was I sleeping?"

Yin Long cast a glance towards the small window on the other side of the room, taking note of the darkness as he muttered to himself and turned towards Jin Wang. It was hidden quite well, but Yin Long noticed that some of the fur around Jin Wang's mouth was sticking together, small dried clumps of blood holding them together.

It seemed like someone had tried to attack him while he slept, the fate they encountered was evident from the fact that Yin Long hadn't even woken up. He didn't bother asking about it and Jin Wang didn't try to bring attention to it, simply carving four lines into the floor with one of his claws.

"Four days, huh. That explains why my energy storage has filled up again. As for the arm...Still shot to hell. But it's good enough, fighting with just one will be a good handicap, there's probably something good I can learn from the imbalance it brings."

Yin Long checked his bandaged arm as he murmured but it still hadn't recovered to a stage where he could use it comfortably in battle. And truthfully, that was to be expected. Yin Yu had used some medicinal paste on it, but the wounds suffered by the arm were a result of him using a weapon that was way too strong for him, just the fact that the arm didn't end up crippled was a blessing.

He rose from the bed somewhat sluggishly, his entire body felt stiff since he had been sleeping for so long. He spent a bit of time stretching his joints to jolt his body awake, he couldn't exactly go into battle with a stiff body. Although now that he thought of it, there was definitely something he could learn from that, perhaps a way to loosen up his body during the battle just in case he got caught off-guard while resting at some point.

"Alright, let's get cleaned up and then get going. Don't go around eating freely at the start, if things can progress somewhat peacefully then that would be ideal."

Yin Long disrobed as he spoke, heading over to the small room that served as a bathroom. He was being watched by the entire Dominion right now, but he didn't care about it enough to not clean himself, he was covered in sweat, dirt, and blood right now after all.

He took a long shower to thoroughly clean off all the muck, combing his long hair back before tying it into a neat ponytail, the silver strands glistening thanks to the water. He swiped his interspatial ring to bring out a white robe, but his movements stopped for a second as his mind wandered across an item he had tucked away inside the interspatial ring.

A somewhat wry smile surfaced on his face as he changed his mind and brought out the clothes he had found. A set of light yellow clothes appeared in his grasp, one pair of pants and a somewhat loose shirt he could open from the collar and down to make it easier to put on.

The colour was the same as the standard Lang clan robes, but it didn't have the typical howling wolf embroidered on the back. No, these robes had a serpentine dragon whose tail coiled around three moons, the dragon itself soaring ever higher.

This was the last gift Tang Fen had left for him when he returned to the city, clothes prepared specially for him by his two sisters. He had yet to wear them, the colour belonged to the Lang clan, it was not something he should have the right to wear anymore, not with what he had done. But now? Now everything had been turned on its head, Lang Huo had made sure that his plans and preparations all went to waste.

So his slightly wry smile twisted into a grin, the curve of his lips drenched in excitement as the gleam in his eyes became a mixture of arrogance and sharpness. He put on the pants and swung on the shirt, slowly tying it up as he strode towards the door, glancing at Jin Wang out of the corner of his eyes.

"Well then, shall we go bask in the light for a bit?"

Jin Wang's mouth curved slightly as Yin Long glanced at him, his fangs gleaming dangerously. The alpha had moved forward, whatever shackles chained him down had already been shed. All that remained was the pursuit, the hunt, it was time to bring the world to its knees and show it that it was nothing more than helpless prey.

The streets were still deserted when Yin Long left the inn, it seemed like the inhabitants had no intentions of leaving their underground chambers. The night was almost eerily quiet as he strode through the streets, the soft clacking of claws on stone the only thing to break up the silence. Yin Long headed directly for the sword-shaped building that stabbed towards the sky, the sword-tinged energy around it roiling a bit more violently than when he first arrived. It was agitated, uneasy, a storm was brewing and it knew.

As he passed the buildings and stepped onto the road that would lead him directly to the Swordsoul's Edge sect, he could finally see the base of the building. The sect wasn't shaped entirely like a sword, more like a broken blade that was missing its handle. The area around the base of the sect was dedicated to much the same as the Swordsoul Guardians, a large stretch of open land dotted with smaller training grounds.

But there was one difference between this place and the Swordsoul Guardians, a rather major one at that. The gates were open and what looked like older disciples and elders had already gathered behind them. The elders had mostly calm expressions, but the disciples looked rather strained, their bodies taut and their expressions forced to a state of exaggerated emotionlessness.

"Swordsman of Dancing Leaves, was it not? If I were to make a request that you leave, would you heed it?"

The one standing at the head of the gathered group was the one who spoke up, a woman with bronze hair and somewhat pale skin that looked like she was approaching her late fifties. Her right hand was resting on the blade she had strapped to her waist, two of her fingers drumming the handle quietly.

"You already know me? Do you have access to the projections?"

Yin Long couldn't help but stop as the woman addressed him, his head tilting somewhat quizically. Them being on edge wasn't out of his calculations, the Swordsoul Guardians had lost their key fragment after all so it was natural for the other sects to up their security. But for them to know that he would come here, and even know the title he had finally revealed as he fought against Tao Tianking, that was not something he had expected. But he managed to quickly form a guess, and the woman nodding her head proved his guess correct.

"Indeed, more than a few have ended up in these lands over the years that you've put up this competition. It would be...sad, if we didn't at least acquire a way or two to identify people that might threaten our peace after all. So, my request?"

Whenever the Province Championship started, it would always be the people living here that would suffer the most. After all, weren't natives a great way to gather points? A simple massacre in a city and you would lose count of the people that would mentally admit defeat, they were walking point deposits. So indeed, it would be a bit sad if they didn't even figure out one or two ways to identify those that may cause great tragedies. Yin Long didn't know exactly how they acquired the projection array discs, but he didn't really care either way.

"It's honestly not impossible. Well, theoretically at least. But there's no way you'd hand over your unique sword technique manual and the key fragment, is there?"

Indeed, it was technically possible for both parties to separate here without anything happening. But the thing that would make that possible was something that was practically impossible, the other side would never agree to it. And indeed, the woman's expression hardened with displeasure, leaving Yin Long with no recourse but to shrug his shoulders at her grumble.

"You know that you are asking for too much."

"Then there's your answer. But you already expected that, isn't that why you gathered up the disciples and elders?"

The woman's expression flickered for an instant, indeed, she hadn't expected Yin Long to just leave because she asked him to. Both parties had said all they needed to say, their differing desires already made it inevitable that they would come to blows. Yin Long raised his right arm slightly, a sinister aura welling up from deep within him. The woman's pupils, Lao Li Zen's pupils, contracted violently as an uneasy sense of foreboding filled her chest, the words coming out before she really understood why.

"Stop him!"

She swept out her other arm the moment she spoke, jagged metal blades appearing out of thin air and shooting towards Yin Long. It was a hasty attack, one she launched because her instincts told her that trying to use her sword would be too slow. The disciples and elders also quickly acted in concert with Li Zen, lighting up the darkness with their hasty attacks.

But the sinister aura had already burst out from Yin Long's body as the attacks descended upon him, his forehead cracking open vertically with dim yellow cracks as he drew upon the power of the law of Yin. The attacks rained down on him and tore apart the street, but a thunderous rumbling came from the tall building behind the disciples.

The very peak of the building, the tip of the broken blade, collapsed and came tumbling down. A tiny item flew out from the falling debris, shooting towards Yin Long while the attacks continued to rain down upon him. He had already noticed it previously, the first key fragment had shot towards him the moment he drew upon the power of the Netherworld and the law of Yin, it seemed to have awoken it and called to it.

And now it did just the same. The fragment had broken out from wherever it was enshrined and rushed straight to him, tearing through the building that had tried to block it. Li Zen's expression sank heavily as she saw the small item cut through the dark night, it seemed that her unease hadn't been unfounded. She quickly unsheathed her blade, she had the sneaking suspicion that these hasty attacks wouldn't be able to impede Yin Long.

And sure enough, a bright flash of light tore through the dark night, a roaring sound that made their bones rumble accompanying the light. The few remaining hastily prepared attacks that had yet to land were swatted away like pesky flies, revealing the man and the lion at his side.

The yellow clothes adorning Yin Long's body were now covered up by a fluttering crimson robe and cloak, the cloak billowing about like it was caught in a storm. The cloak had a few spots where it seemed to have melted, but it quickly reformed itself, it was just made from blood after all. The lion was baring his fangs, the air around his maw twisting slightly thanks to the force that was gathering there.

As she feared, Yin Long didn't have a scratch on his body, a golden sword that unleashed faint tongues of equally golden flames now grasped in his right hand. The small fragment that had shot out from their sect hovered in front of him, an unseen force keeping it from entering his body. He looked at the fragment, the small curve of his lips causing Li Zen no end of unease.

"Is this not what you were interested in, all you onlookers? Come then, it's right here, why don't you try to snatch it from me?"

Yin Long's gaze meandered around seemingly without any clear target, the somewhat lopsided curve of his lips bordering on wild arrogance. It truly was a scene that Li Zen found hard to fathom, a one-armed swordsman and a lion carefreely strolling up to them to steal their most prized possession, and they then even used that item to challenge all the competitors that had hidden to test their luck. Madness, this was nothing short of madness. A man driven mad and a lion that enabled it.