Till the End of Time: Asura Blood Saga

Today was the day the Azure Dragon Kingdom’s younger generation was eagerly awaiting. Less than a few hours remained until the official start of the kingdom’s tournament!

The entourage of the Moon Flower Sect was already on the way, nearly arriving at the Hunlua Clan.

“Uncle Arslan, do you know when Yasha left?” asked Eleanor, not knowing why she was feeling down.

Arslan did not seem to notice Eleanor’s question, as he stared at the place where Yasha had rested last night, deep in thought.

After a while he mumbled, “I am not sure myself. I was awake the whole night, but I don’t know when he had left…” Toward the end, he became quieter. It was too strange! I am of a much higher cultivation than him, how could he have escaped my senses and left without me noticing him?

“Even you don’t know?” Eleanor was extremely surprised by Arlan’s answer.

"If even you did not realize that he had left, then doesn’t it mean that he is even more powerful than you?”

“I am afraid it’s not that simple, young miss. But I am sure he has trained in some kind of technique that prevents others from noticing his aura and presence. That would also explain the weird occurrence that neither of us could peer into his cultivation”, Arslan suggested.

He then shook his head, “It does not really matter. Even though I am extremely keen to know how he had done it, we should not delve into his secrets without reason. Let’s focus on us and the road ahead. We still haven’t reached the Hunlua Clan, so we should hurry up."

Eleanor was not happy with that answer, but knew that she could spare her energy with that, as Arslan was clearly lost in own thoughts. She knew that expression. If he was in that kind of contemplative state she could forget asking more questions.

Without realizing, Eleanor thought back to last night, the crackling fire, the happy mood and the mysterious youngster in the black robe.

As Eleanor did not leave her sect often, she had did not have much experience, growing up in a safe environment where everyone took care of her. Aside of her strict trainings plan, she could everything she asked her.

But growing up in such a world also meant that she had no experience of the world outside, including its wondrous and ugly sides. Meeting Yasha, she got a first touch of what it meant to witness something unknown and mysterious. She could not wait to see him again and riddle him with countless more questions!

———

Somewhere in the Fallen Snow Mountain Range

Like a shadow, Yasha rapidly moved through the forest. Similar to Arlan and Eleanor, he also constantly thought about last night as well.

Meeting those two, he had felt a long lost warmth. The day he buried his foster mother, he felt like he buried his positive side too. After her death, the world around him turned cold and dull, there was barely anything that moved him.

Since that day he only focused on solving his in training problem and working hard to become stronger. But last night was different. Yasha could not remember, when he had felt so relaxed in the company of others.

Sighing bitterly, two faces appeared in his mind. One was of the middle-aged Arslan and the other was of the beautiful girl Eleanor. He really wanted to stay by their side, but in the end he thought that it was for the best to not form any deeper ties.

It was like an instinctual decision or some kind of foreboding. Since the day of his awakening, he had the feeling that he was constantly changing, and this was making him feel scared.

Aside of the obvious changes and the rising power of the Asura blood, he could feel that he was changing on an ever deeper level, however, he was powerless to change anything. Maybe this was the reason he did not want to stay with them.

Along the way, some grade one demonic beasts came bothering him, but Yasha quickly finished them off. This clean efficacy was another huge surprise to Yasha, as he killed them all with just one move with Destiny Devourer. They posed no challenge at all.

Yasha instantly recognized all their weak points and managed to execute his basic sword moves extremely efficiently. He had never really fought in real battles, but he noticed that his movement was fluent and in not clunky or unnatural at all.

I guess this can also be traced back to the Asura blood and my ongoing transformation…

For the rest of the way, nothing major happened and in no time, Yasha once again reached the Hunlua Clan gate. This time, hetrespassed the gate without any problems.

It did not take long until Yasha noticed a huge crowd that seemed extremely excited. This was nothing special, especially on the day of the kingdom’s tournament, but he still wanted to see what or who caused such a huge ruckus.

On his way to the huge crowd, he picked up some clues.

"Psst, have you seen this tall man is with the two swords on his waist? “A weak cultivator said to the woman close to him.

The woman thought for a second, but then it seemed like she was struck by lightning, “You, you... don’t want me to say that this guy over there is the legendary Demon Slayer Jiule, right?”

“Of course, who else could that possible be?! Have you not recognized the huge scar which is going through his right eye?”

“Rumors say that when Jiule was a small child, he already fought against demons on the northern frontier! His father, the current leader of the Demon Slayer Sword Sect, left him there alone to train. That boy already fought on the frontlines since he could swing his swords!”

„What a cruel father...“ The woman now was completely shocked. What kind of father would do something like that to his little kid?

The man shook his head in response and shifted his attention back to the three persons who were the center of the attention.

Yasha moved along the crowd unnoticed, it was like he did not exist. A unremarkable stranger in black robes was nothing worth paying attention to.

After he came closer, Yasha also took a glance at the three people who were the center of everyone. Naturally, he recognized Demon Slayer Jiule and he also heard those stories about him.

Even though he was interested to know how credible those rumors were, he could not care less about him. He already had enough problems himself, so he did not want to mull over someone else's past.

The only thing he was curious about were the two swords on Jiule’s waist. He had never seen someone dual-wielding swords, so he was naturally very excited to see what Jiule was capable of.

Dual-wielding by itself was seen by many as a the king of weapon techniques, because of the outraging difficulty. For effective dual-wielding, a cultivator had to divide their awareness in two parts, which was extremely difficult, even for cultivators!

In most cases it only looked flashy, without real power to back it up. But in theory, dual-wielding would raise a cultivator’s power immensely.

Taking a last glance at Jiule, Yasha then looked at the other two persons. Jiule was currently speaking with a tall blond man with a short sword on his waist. After Yasha saw this person, his good mood instantly turned sour.

Why of all people must Lentz be here?! I thought he already was inside the arena together with the clan leader… Lentz was the eldest son of the current clan leader, Dyetz, and Lentz was also one reason why everybody hated Yasha.

Yasha never understood why, but Lentz was always part of the group who labeled him as trash and jinx after Yasha’s examination and the incident with his foster mother. He rarely met him, since he lived in the slums, but the few times they met were enough to leave behind extremely unpleasant memories.

Seeing him again in the center of attention, intense anger flashed through Yasha’s eyes. In that short moment, Yasha could feel his blood flow accelerate, a clear sign that his Asura blood was roused.

Shit! That short moment of anger must have stimulated the Asura blood. Calm down. Come on, calm down! He is not worth it.

But the Asura blood was not impressed by his futile attempt at calming down and constantly battered his mind with all sorts of negative emotions, trying to take over his reasoning.

Yasha felt a burning hatred and endless killing intent rising up from deep inside his soul.

Kill that detestable bastard!

Kill him and hang up his head on the city wall for everybody to see!

Torture him slowly, make him regret offending you!

Someone like that cannot be allowed to live on. Kill him! Kill, kill, kill, kill to your hearts content!

Yasha immediately stopped moving and focused his mind, fighting against the ferocious will of the Asura blood.

Slowly a lush green forest with a small glade and cliff took form in his mind, an attempt to quell the intense hatred inside of him. Naturally, that was the place where Yasha loved to be the most.

After the picture manifested, the negative emotions gradually receded and the Asura blood also returned to calmness.

Only a piercingly sharp pain was left in his mind, reminding Yasha of the hellish encounter. Once he came back to reality, he noticed that he was completely soaked with sweat, but to his relief, nobody noticed anything unusual: he was still invisible to the crowd. They only had eyes for the three persons in front of them.

That was way too scary again. If this continues, it does not take long until I completely fall to the Asura blood… Who would have thought that destiny made a fool of me again?

The more I get to know the Asura blood, the more it scares me. I thought it was a blessing, but it only brings calamities and problems.

Yasha felt extremely bitter. How was he supposed to move on and get stronger, if he was busy fighting his own blood? But then he thought of his resolution and shook of his depressing thoughts

He would not let the Asura blood take control over his life. He would find a way to suppress or get accustomed to it. He would not give up easily.

At the moment though, the only thing he could do was to passively resist it. And Yasha came to the conclusion that he should pay extra attention to his emotions, as strong emotions seemed to be a catalyst and fuel for the Asura blood.

Taking a deep breath, Yasha put those thoughts to the back of his mind and turned his attention to the last person. Aside of Lentz and Jiule, there was a girl in a white battle armor, with a silver spear in her hands, emanating a strong valor.

She seemed to be surrounded by bright, silvery halo of light. This girl was named Amber and she belonged to the Ascending Heaven School, the most prominent cultivation school in the Azure Dragon Kingdom.

Yasha looked at her and was immediately captured by her charisma, but after a few seconds, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his eyes. Of course, the Asura Blood reacted as well, but this time, he reacted nearly instantaneous and was able to handle it in time, not giving it another chance to run amok.

Ugh, what is going on now?! Why can’t I even look at her? Why is the Asura blood enraged just by looking at her? Is she that dangerous?

Upon further thought, Yasha came to the conclusion that his reaction was connected to the silver halo around Amber. It seemed to be some kind of holy or righteous energy and the Asura blood was probably flustered by this.

That appeared to be the only explanation. Otherwise, Yasha would really go mad if just casually looking at another person pushed him to the brink.

Not bothering to another look, Yasha turned around and slipped through the crowd, heading to the arena with steady steps.

It may be difficult now, but if I persist, I will eventually overcome all obstacles!