Ethereal Empyrean Palace!

When General Yang was about to constrict the movement of the leader and the others who had decided to join the fight, he sensed a sharp aura, very sharp aura which absolutely shocked him inside. He knew this aura very well, a bit too well.

'Sword Dao' General Yang very heart shook. 'How is this possible? How can my grandfather, a mere Mortal possess a Sword Dao when it could only be bestowed by the Heavens itself?'

A very sharp sword wave had appeared from within the thickets and it severed the leader and three other assassins right down the middle of their torso. Blood splashed out and bathed General Yang in it completely. The leader and the other assassins had all their innards come out of their body and spread on the ground.

General Yang could feel the life in the four men as it was slowly but surely becoming thin. Everyone else, along with General Yang were shocked at the sudden turn of events and looked towards where the attack came from.

"The thing that I absolutely abhor is someone hurting my family" a deep voice containing boundless anger came from within the thickets as a silhouette slowly emerged from within. The silhouette belonged to a tall and wide man and it didn't take a genius to guess who it was.

"Grandpa" except General Yang, Shang Xu, Shang Gu and Shang Shuan shouted in relief, not bothered by the bloody scene at all.

General Hu emerged from the woods while dragging a giant tiger by its tail behind him. He had a sword within his right hand which was pointing towards the ground. General Hu ignored the severed four men and looked towards the three who were near his granddaughter before finally looking towards the blank grandson of his.

When the three assassins witnessed how easily, from a far distance, with a mere sword and in a single strike, General Hu took care of his leader and three other accomplices, they immediately dropped their weapons and kneeled.

"Spare us please" the three men spoke with cold sweat on their forehead while their hearts were gripped by the fear of death. General Hu looked at them apathetically and swung his right hand which had the sword in horizontally. Another wave of sharp sword aura originated from the sword and severed their legs.

"Yang, our Shang Family has a tradition that each three year old must go through, called the Blood Baptism. The Blood Baptism has two parts, one which you have already completed, and the second is simply taking a life" General Hu didn't use the soft and caring tone he usually used when talking to his grandson. His daughter and granddaughters were silent and looked at this with complicated emotions.

All of them knew about this tradition of their family and each child must go through it. They cared for General Yang a lot and it pained them to see their beloved little innocent son, brother and cousin go through what could be called a very vicious tradition.

"These are the men who had the intentions to harm your family. Their current state, utter powerless will be one day yours. What will you do to not become like them?" General Hu looked into his grandson's eyes and asked. General Yang heart was chaotic. He was a Heavenly Deity and his heart couldn't be overcome by emotions like normal humans. He was the Heaven's Embodiment of Justice, was there justice in killing those who beg for mercy?

'I am not a Heavenly Deity now' General Yang thought 'I am not the General of the Heavenly Army and I am no longer the Heaven's Embodiment of Justice'

'Whosoever tries to bring harm to my family, there is no need for them to take another breath in this world'

General Yang took a step forward and moved towards the three men who were squirming in pain from have their legs severed. He took the dagger that one of the three men had dropped.

*PUCHI*

Raising his hand and bringing it down with utter conviction and determination, General Yang killed one of the three men by stabbing the dagger into their throats. He moved towards the remaining two and ended their life as well.

Suddenly, the next moment a suction force originated from his left eye. This suction force was strange, unlike the force which absorbs Essence; it felt far more powerful and profound. Unnoticed by anyone, this force affected everything within a hundred li radius in all directions.

General Yang was taken aback by surprise at this sudden suction force from his eyes that seemed to affect something far more powerful than simple Essence. The next moment, General Yang felt something being dragged into his eyes. General Yang could feel the resistance and reluctance of this thing that was being dragged but most of all, General Yang felt primordial fear of it. As if the eye was the natural predator of whatever it was that it had caught.

General Yang felt a large hand on his shoulder and he came out of his trance and looked up to see his grandfather looking at him seriously.

"Good job Yang'er, you've now become a true man of Shang" General Hu said with a solemn expression with hidden happiness as well as worry.

'The usual Blood Baptism includes animals but my grandson is the first child to have taken the life of a human. I can only hope that it doesn't affect him more than the usual children' General Hu thought to himself while moving back to the carriage. General Yang's mother took him towards the river to wash all the blood off him with trembling hands while his cousin went into the carriage to get clean clothes from their luggage.

While they were doing that, General Hu skinned the tiger he brought. This tiger was as tall and buffed as a bull. Its skin was brown in color with maroon stripes. This tiger was predator of almost all the other animals of the forest but here it was now, being skinned alive and its meat about to be consumed by humans.

After an hour, the family of five resumed their journey towards their destination. Within the carriage, General Yang had closed his eyes and seemed to be sleeping in his mother's embrace. No one disturbed but what they didn't know that the little guy wasn't sleeping.

...…..

After General Yang had absorbed whatever it was, he felt something different about the Empyrean Tome. The moment they entered the carriage, he closed his eyes and entered the Space within his left eye to check what it was.

However the moment he tried, a shocking turn of events took place. The entire world lost its colors, as if it had been deprived of it and time stopped. General Yang's became enveloped with a crimson and golden cocoon.

General Yang was surprised at this sudden change. He noticed that when he used his Divine Consciousness to enter the Eye Space, he felt himself become blocked and the next moment, everything turned black and white. The next moment his vision was flooded with crimson and gold.

General Yang started feeling a tingling sensation from his eyes before suddenly; his left eye exuded a golden radiance and disappeared after a few moments. General Yang felt a sudden change in his soul before the golden and crimson cocoon broke and the world regained its color.

General Yang opened his eyes and blinked blankly. Everything happened so fast that he couldn't even react to it.

"What's wrong Yang'er? Did you have a nightmare?" General Yang's mother noticed her son wake up and asked worriedly. It was a usual occurrence for children to not sleep peacefully for months after their Blood Baptism Ceremony.

"No, everything's alright" General Yang answered and eased his mother's worries before closing his eyes once more and releasing his Divine Consciousness. General Yang frowned and become extremely worried the next moment as he felt his left eye to be normal and the Space within it simply vanished.

'Where did it go?' General Yang thought frantically. A bad premonition came to his heart as he thought that the Tome had disappeared because he killed those three men however he suddenly recalled the prickly feeling that had come from his soul.

Hurriedly focusing his Divine Consciousness on his soul, General Yang's mind blanked out for a moment before he suddenly found himself in a different place.

At first he became relieved that the Tome didn't vanish but the next moment his relief turned into shock as he found himself in an entirely different place the before.

Gone was the endless azure sky with clouds floating peacefully and clear water beneath him. What replaced that was a gigantic Hall that seemed to be made from some sort of golden colored material. General Yang knew it wasn't gold because he could feel utter unfathomable aura from mere bricks of the Hall.

He looked around and saw a strange hand shaped lectern in the middle of the Hall and on this lectern was what he was looking for, the Tome.

General Yang finally become relieved that the Tome didn't disappear but in fact appeared inside his soul along with this Hall he was in. He didn't believe such magnificent Hall to be something that was in his soul originally.

The entire Golden Hall was decorated with a crimson carpet that leads toward the lectern. On this crimson colored carpet were strange but beautiful stitching done. There were many pillars within the hall and each pillar was made of strange creatures which looked as if they were supporting the roof with all their might.

General Yang felt a strong pain in his mind when he looked at these creatures closely. He had to look away at the tome or he was sure that his mind would break.

General Yang moved towards the Tome and opened it. The first page had entirely changed as he saw it was filled with writing from an unfamiliar language which he could strangely understand.

[If you are able to see and read this, it must mean that you have been chosen by Tome and have become one of our successors.

I cannot tell you what this Tome is because neither I nor all those before me knew of its origin. You must have noticed that after you killed someone, a suction force originated from your body and after which when you came to where the Tome was, the space had changed.

If you had noticed, the Tome had the ability to purify Essence but that is not its only ability and in fact it is its most basic ability and the rest of theits abilities are something that you have to discover for yourself.

The main source of energy that this Tome requires is Souls of living beings. Souls are something that is the only indestructible thing in this Entire Firmament but this Tome destroys that very notion by converting it and making it its energy source. Just from this you and I can imagine the profundity and unfathomable prowess of this Tome.

The place you are currently in is the Main Areas of what is called the Ethereal Empyrean Palace. This Palace has many Areas possessing unimaginable powers which I unfortunately cannot reveal it to you.

You are the chosen one, just like I was and those before me, and as your senior I can assure you that you are destined to walk on the path of Slaughter and Utter Obliteration. The purpose of your Slaughter depends upon you, either you Slaughter for lust, greed, love or anything, it is entirely up to you. I cannot imagine what sort of future the existences in your era would face. You could be revered or feared, no one knows, not even fate]

General Yang felt a strong tremor in his Soul and now he finally realized what the primordial fear those things he absorbed felt. He finally recognized those seven things were actually the Souls of the seven assassins. He couldn't comprehend what could use such a strong thing as Soul as its energy source.

He was a Heavenly Deity in his previous life and he knew very well the durability of Souls. Even the Heavens themselves couldn't do anything but let them reincarnate. All the souls within the Hell Realm only experienced torture and pain but the Souls didn't receive any damage at all.

General Yang recalled the previous inheritor of the Tome saying that one of the basic ability of the Tome was to purify energy but he knew two basic abilities, the other which was to know everything a certain thing although it had its limitations as well.

General Yang could use his left eye to gain any knowledge about a target but there is a catch. Inspecting a target used Spiritual Essence and the stronger the target is, the greater the cost. He had once tried to inspect his cousin and the next moment he fainted before she was far stronger than his current body.

General Yang looked around and saw that nothing had changed. He left the Palace for now since he thought that he will eventually discover all of these Halls.