23

Da Shuizhi didn't give him a chance to respond, "I'll tell you. I am Da Shuizhi: the Demon of the Deep, the Old Man of a Thousand Faces, the Leech of the Heavens. I have to thank Yu Wu's mother for that last title. It has… grown on me.

"Now… You think you've figured out that something is wrong. Tell me, what is really going on here?"

Onari's mind flashed back to stories from his old world. Stories about the dark aspects of cultivation. Stories of the fringe sects that lurked in the shadows. Stories about people and beings twisted and corrupted by demonic sources of power.

"... Her cultivation," Onari grimly mused.

Da Shuizhi nodded, "Very good. It's a shame you got caught up in this. You would have made a wonderful heir eventually. You just needed a… push in the right direction."

Onari growled deep in his throat. Yu Wu's eyes darted between her father and her first friend. She could keep up with what was happening, but her mind hadn't processed her father's sudden betrayal. She unconsciously clung to Onari's presence even tighter, taking strength from the righteous anger that tinted his Qi.

"The ritual has already begun. I'd invite you to try and stop it, but there's nothing you can do now," Da Shuizhi said, dismissively taunting Onari and Yu Wu.

Something inside Onari snapped at Da Shuizhi's utter disregard, and even malice, towards his own daughter. The fire of his emotions caused another piece of the Dao of Fire to slot into place. This Law of the Dao of Fire wasn't the next stage (Manifestation), but the stage after that: Virtual Fire. The flames of emotion that burned within his mind became real.

This… demon… This… leech… had raised his own flesh and blood for the sole purpose of being cultivational cattle. He had isolated her, causing the lonely girl to form a Heart Demon that he could eventually consume along with her cultivation. He had neglected her on purpose, making sure her destiny as a cultivation resource for a demonic cultivator was set in stone.

Onari hadn't known Yu Wu for very long, but he was already very fond of her. And that wasn't even mentioning the unique connection their souls seemed to have. If anything happened to her, Onari would kill everyone responsible and then himself. He owed her that much as her first friend, and the only positive relationship she had in her life at the moment.

Yu Wu felt all of this through their connection. She experienced Onari's emotions igniting themselves into reality on her behalf. The inner flames crawled their way across their link, leaving Yu Wu's emotions burning in the wake.

Her hurt from the sudden betrayal was only masked by her rising anger and Onari's presence by her side. Years of loneliness slowly began to melt away under the heat of the emotional flames. Strength and power flowed down both sides of their connection.

Moving as one, the connected pair rose to their feet. Onari gave Yu Wu's hand a single squeeze before releasing it. All of her pent up emotion manifested in a sword of fire as Onari took his hand away from hers. Onari's finger drew a character of fire in front of him, the flames hanging in mid air as his Qi held them together.

"Hmm?" Da Shuizhi hummed. "You still wish to stand against me? I am nearly a whole realm above you. Do you really think you will accomplish anything other than your own deaths?"

Onari didn't bother with wasted words. His hands clasped together and the character in the air in front of him went up in smoke. At the same time, Yu Wu hurtled toward her father, obviously unused to the power increase that came with her connection to Onari.

Da Shuizhi literally batted Yu Wu out of the air as casually as a cat batting at a feather. She was sent spinning away. She rolled when she hit the ground and was back on her feet in an instant. Her sword flourished, shooting an arc of flames racing at Da Shuizhi.

The old man leaned back slightly, allowing the flames to barely pass over his head. A small expression of surprise crossed his face when some of the flames leaped out of the arc to lick at his facial hair. He patted out the smoking embers in his beard, raising an eyebrow at his daughter.

"Have you been holding out on me? … No, this is because of the boy as well, isn't it…" Da Shuizhi said, stroking his beard.

Yu Wu's face twisted in a snarl. She shot at her father again. More mindful of her new speed this time, she was able to actually engage Da Shuizhi without getting instantly slapped away.

Her fire sword burned the air, leaving afterimages with each slice. Da Shuizhi ducked and dodged out of the way of the swings. The expression of surprise returned to his face as his daughter's attacks grew faster and more violent. He started to have to put in effort to continue dodging.

Yu Wu called upon more and more of her strength. She pulled on the connection for support as well. The feeling of having someone firmly by and on her side filled her with determination. The betrayer would die today, of that she was sure.

Flames began to lap at Da Shuizhi's robes. The temperature in the air around the two skyrocketed. While Yu Wu was unaffected by the temperature increase, a single bead of sweat dripped down Da Shuizhi's face from his forehead. His eyes narrowed as he felt the slight sign of imperfection make itself known.

Without warning, Da Shuizhi turned the tables on Yu Wu. She suddenly felt herself getting pushed back. Precise palm strikes probed and invaded her guard. She grunted as one palm strike slammed against her sternum and pushed her back.

Slowly, the palm strikes began to turn into clawed finger strikes. Long tears were torn on Yu Wu's body and clothing because of the suddenly piercing attacks. Yu Wu lashed out violently after a particularly vicious claw strike. Her sword struck a lucky gap in Da Shuizhi's defense, cutting through one side of his face and cauterizing as it went.

Unfortunately for Yu Wu, her lucky hit was only superficially damaging. Still, the damage she managed to deal was satisfying to look at. The action stopped for a moment as Da Shuizhi realized she had landed a good hit. His hand reached up to feel his now burnt out eye.

One side of his face was now in ruins. A clean line had been sliced from his chin to his forehead. The skin around the cut was burned and blistered. The facial hair on that side of his face had been completely burned off. And to cap it all off, his eye had been burnt to a husk in its socket.

The remaining half of Da Shuizhi's face twisted in anger, and Yu Wu couldn't help but smile at him. He lunged at his daughter. Yu Wu weaved around the reckless attack and ran, kiting Da Shuizhi around the room. A feeling of impending action that built up on Onari's side of the connection told Yu Wu she just had to keep the old man busy.