Brother (II): Conflict

[In The Wulin, The Most Complicated Thing To Deal With Apart From The Love Of A Woman, Is The Hatred And Jealousy Of A Sibling. It Is Why There's An Abundance Of Sworn Brothers And Sisters, None Blood Relatives That A Cultivator Can Actually Trust. Then Ancient Religions Text The 'bible' Says A Man's Worst Enemy Is From His Own Household, And So Far It Has Been Proved More Often Than Not, That Brothers And Sisters Are The Ones Who Love Shoving Knives Into The Back Of Unsuspecting And Trusting Siblings.

But It's Not All Bad, After All Some Of The Greatest Warriors Of Our Generations Have Gotten To Where They Are By The Love And Care Of Their Family And Siblings. It Is Nice If Your Brother Or Sister Has Got Your Back, But It's Also Wise If You Learn To Develop Eyes One The Back Of Your Head. In The Wulin, Blood Is Not Thicker Than Water]

-ARCH-MAGE THOMAS SILVERTON OF THE KUNLUN SECT-

Alex was completely caught of guard, he knew about a sister, heck he knew his mother was married to someone else, but a brother! Was that part of the list of things that everyone else conveniently forgot to tell him about. It was really annoying to be caught blindsided like this, but in the end it made no difference, so what if he had a step brother, it didn't add anything to his body, and it most definitely didn't take anything away either.

"Nice to meet you brother, my name is Alex." Alex said to his recently discovered 'step brother' even stretching out his hand for a handshake.

Unfortunately it does not seem like his brother stared the same sentiment. In fact Lu Wen looked absolutely incensed. In fact come to think of it, this was the second person named Lu Wen that Alex knew. Not that it meant anything, but it was still nice to know, especially some one of them was his brother.

Alex looked on a bit awkwardly and quite embarrassed as Lu Wen did not shake his hand, and even proceeded to star at him like he was not worth the dirt under his feet. Alex did not need it announced that this guy did not like him one bit, and the fact that he was all to willing to show his animosity, showed that he was not in the least bit afraid of Alex or his pedigree. But come to think of it, there wouldn't be any reason for him to be afraid, after all they were step siblings.

"Do I look like I want to shake hands with filth like you. I can't believe a loser like you came out of second mother. I don't really care what you do, but stay out of my way, and also I want you to evacuate the nameless peak you're currently on, I wanted to build my secret pavilion there. But then second mother and second grandfather just went and gave it to you. Which is not fair."

Alex looked at his step brother like he had three heads, Alex had heard stories of spoil brats who thought that everything under the sky should belong to them. Of course more often than not this story was always about someone from the empire of heaven, and it seems that it was true without a shred of a doubt. And towards people like this, Alex had absolutely zero tolerance! He and Anya beat up fools like this for a living back in their village.

"No!" Alex replied to his step brother and turned around completely ignoring the spoils kid.

Lu Wen was livid, he was more than just Alex's step brother, his paternal grandfather was the current head of the Wudang sect, and his maternal grandfather was the eight prince of freaking China! He was royalty of the empire of heaven and this half breed was ignoring him, Lu Wen wouldn't stand for that.

"Break his legs for me!" he shouted at the three servants behind him.

The shout startle Alex, and he turned just in time to receive a kick to the chest from Lu Wen. The kick was so hard and powerful that Alex was blasted backwards with blood spilling from his lips in an arc. He rolled on the ground a few times, his pristine black robes become riddle with dusts and grass. Alex found it extremely difficult to breathe, his chest burned and he reckoned he might have broken a few ribs in the process.

Lu Wen was stronger than him, and just by a difference of levels, but by a whole realm. Alex didn't know how he knew, but Lu Wen had a pressure then only people in the open Dantian realm could release. Lu Wen was about to move forward to continue the attacks along with his servants, but Laozi had taken a stance in front of Alex and pushed all four back.

But Laozi who seemed to have a high cultivation was not able to completely hold back the three servants as surprisingly the weakest one slipped through and ran straight for Alex who was slowly making his back up to his feet. Alex didn't need to look, he sense someone was about to attack him, and in a surprising display of finesse he moved to the side, his right hand clutched on his aching chest as the servant went past him.

The servant was only surprised for a moment, after all this servant was sure to have a richer battle experience than Alex who just started on his path to cultivation. The servant swiveled on his ankles, moving like he was nothing more than just a gentle leaf in the wind and struck out with a palm to Alex's chest. He was moving a step or two faster than Alex could follow; this servant was also within the open meridian realm, but he was close to the sixth or seventh level.

Alex crossed his hands over his chest to receive the blow and save his already injured ribs from any other damage, but he underestimated the strength of his opponent as the plan strike dislocated his left wrist and pushed him off his feet and threw off the path and onto a patch of grass by the side. Alex let out a pained scream, but still quickly scrambled back up to his feet.

Alex had grown up being dragged around by Anya when she went looking for trouble, and more often than not a fight will always ensue and one of the basic rules of a fight was that you should never remain down for long or you would give your opponent an advantage over you.

Alex watched as Laozi was keeping Lu Wen and his remaining servants in check, preventing them from coming after Alex. However he was only defending and pushing them back, not attacking. It was obvious that he wanted to avoid injuring Lu Wen and his lackeys, almost like he was afraid of them.

Paying attention to Laozi and his fight had cost Alex some of his attention and in return he had to pay a prince as the servant he was fighting, or getting beat up by sent a kick straight to his head. Alex couldn't defend on time, his swords weren't here, and most of the martial arts he knew could no cause much damage to someone this late in the open meridian realm. He was desperate, and it was only in that moment of desperation that the belt he was wearing exploded into wave of crimson flames and pushed the servant back a bit, burning off the sleeves of his own robe.

Alex couldn't react on time as a red mask flew out of the belt and landed on his face. The world turned red with flames once again as he suddenly found himself back on the platform with the stairs that led up to an archway. The archway looked like a door to another world, a world of flames and heat and power, and as he moved closer to it, he heard the same voice he heard last time.

"It seems you've grown stronger.... Good. I can now lend you my power, and in return you will give me a chance to see the living world, I've heard so much stories about it. Please let us begin, what is my name?" the voice asked, leaving Alex very confused.

"But I don't know your name?" Alex replied.

"oh but you do! You gave me that name the very first day we met, the day I was born. Born of fire and a desire to protect, and destroy, born of passion and anger. Master. What. Is. My. Name!"

"Your name is...…Nezha!"