Till the End of Time: Asura Blood Saga

After the judge announced the next round, loud and excited clamoring noises resounded throughout the arena. The next battles would happen simultaneously, but most of the audience's attention was captured by the fight on the third battle arena. This was the arena where Yasha and Akura were about to face off.

Akura was an opponent that was mostly unknown to Yasha, as the latter could only be considered a part of the cultivation world for a few days. Otherwise he would have definitely heard of the name Akura before, who was known for being a fierce person.

Yasha slowly opened his eyes after he heard the announcement. Before the next round, he wanted to be in in a peak condition, that's why he meditated the whole time, hoping that his emotions were calm enough. He knew that he had to be much more careful in the future. He would not allow the incident from before to happen again.

After taking a deep breath, Yasha stood up and jumped on the stage amidst the excited cries of the crowd. Even though he tried not to be affected by the crowd, he could not help but swallow hard when he was watched by countless people.

Who would have thought that he would stand on such a big stage right after he started cultivating? This was a fact which left him a bit stunned.

Standing on the stage, surrounded by thousands of people, Yasha appeared somehow lonely and small. His black robe fluttered in the wind and embraced by the whistling wind, this figure appeared lost, with the wind being his only company.

Okay, calm down, I need to focus more, I am already starting to get flustered. I should not get too excited. Yasha reminded himself again and finally looked at his opponent that had entered the stage before him.

Yasha was surprised when he first looked at Akura. What a burly fellow. He does not look like a cultivator at all. He looks like a violent beast instead! Yasha was surprised, as he had not thought even rare body cultivators would take part in the kingdom's tournament.

In today’s world three main branches of cultivation stood at the peak and most chose to walk one of those paths: spirit, energy and body. Of the three, energy was by far the most common, as it was considered the easiest and fastest.

Spirit cultivation focused on exploring and cultivating the mysteries of the soul, marking it as the most difficult and enigmatic cultivation branch. A soul was like the metaphysical heart of all living beings, without it, a living being wasn’t alive. Discovering and cultivating the soul was both, dangerous and difficult. One wrong step often resulted in death or grave injuries. Not to mention that most could not come into contact with their soul in the first place. In the Azure Dragon Kingdom, spirit cultivators were said to be extinct with no major force remaining that passed down a spirit cultivation inheritance, showing that spirit cultivation was close to vanishing entirely, marking the end of another cultivation branch.

Just like spirit cultivation, body cultivation was also rare. Body cultivation was extremely dangerous and the practitioner had to endure immense pain in order to temper the body. If they were successful, however, their power almost always laid above those in the same cultivation realm.

Nevertheless, as time passed and the inheritance of body cultivation clans and sects gradually faded into oblivion, body cultivators got rarer and rarer. Cultivating spiritual energy was a lot easier compared to body tempering, so many clans and sects focused on spiritual energy instead, abandoning body cultivation as a result.

That did not mean that no body cultivators existed. A perfect example was the powerful Titan Clan of the Azure Dragon Kingdom. It was a clan that focused on cultivating the body, making them a force to be reckoned with.

They possessed a long history and had a deep inheritance. In the Azure Dragon Kingdom they were known for their violent temper and explosiveness, living their ancestors motto “fists always solve problems faster than words”. And Akura was a member of that clan.

Akura stood a few meters opposite of Yasha and equally examined him, trying to look through the black robe. He was over two meters tall and his muscles bulged like enormous beasts. His upper body was completely bare and his bronze skin shined in the sun.

As he could not see through Yasha he directly began laughing. His laughter boomed through the arena and could be heard by everybody, “Haha, it is very interesting to meet you so quickly. After your first battle, my blood could not help but boil. Let's skip all this nonsense and let’s get straight to fighting!”

Akura was straightforward and a man of few words, just like Yasha, and loved to battle. Not waiting for Yasha to respond, he immediately stormed forward. He left deep cracks on the stage while marching forward.

Yasha, however, was prepared and immediately drew Destiny Devourer from its sheath. This was the first time outside of training that he drew his sword. Learning from his previous mistakes, he would finish the battle as fast as he could, holding nothing back.

With Destiny Devourer in his hands, his whole bearing changed and even the elders in the VIP area were shocked yet again. Yasha was accompanied by an invisible sword aura that was hard to recognize, as it was very subtle. Experts however knew exactly what was going on.

“Sword intent again?! How is that even possible? Normally, even we Dantian Grade cultivators have problems reaching the realm of intents. And today we already witnessed righteous intent and sword intent! Just what is going on?”, exclaimed an elder from the Earth Tomb Sect.

“Even though this brat touched upon the realm of sword intent, it has not yet reached the Embryonic Stage. Nevertheless, it is indeed wondrous to witness such shocking youngsters”, Dairo casually added.

From the outside he appeared calm, but inside he was deeply shocked. Is that kid really from the Hunlua Clan…? Just how is it possible for a sixteen year old brat to touch upon sword intent and without any guidance? Simply inconceivable. It seems I was right, there definitely is something special about this boy.

Dairo was not the only one. Arslan, Lord Hyan, Neverim, Demon Sword Vaile, they were all equally surprised. On the stage, Yasha was not aware of the waves he caused once again and even if he knew, he would not care about it.

He closely followed the movement of Akura, who pounced on him like a ferocious beast. His fist moved extremely fast despite its size and produced small gales around it. There was no doubt that this fist would make powder out of the strongest stone.

A massive sword streaked through the air with a whistling sword aura suffocating the stage in response to this savage attack. The two attacks met in the middle of the arena with a metallic ringing, producing visible shockwaves that spread through the air and threw Akura a few meters back with a grave face. Yasha on the other hand stood straight like a sword on his two feet, not moving one centimeter and held the enormous Destiny Devourer loosely in his right hand.

“I must admit I still underestimated you. I won't hold back now.” After saying this, Akura stopped advancing forward and stood straight instead. A violent aura began gathering around him, adding an even more ferocious touch to his beastly figure.

“With that attack I am going to crush you!”

Yasha could feel the ferocious aura of Akura pressing upon him like a mountain, ready to crush him like an ant. For a short moment he felt his Asura blood heating up. This was accompanied by a berserk aura from deep inside of him.

His blood red eyes hidden underneath his hood started glowing in a weak eerie light. Yasha noticed this change and merely sneered in response. This was a normal and natural reaction of his blood at this point.

Whenever he was suppressed by other forces or was restrained in any way, his blood would react and grow rampant.

Asuras could not be contained by even the Heavens, so how could they bow to someone in the Energy Tempering Stage?

This small outbreak could no longer shake Yasha. He focused all his thoughts on the sword in his hands and tried to recall his training on the lake when he performed the first move of the Life Sword, Dance with Sword.

In this battle he would break through with force, not holding back. He had drawn his sword, so he would focus entirely on Destiny Devourer in his hands. With a sword in his hands, he would not allow himself to be controlled by the Asura blood.

His dark spiritual energy rapidly moved through his body, circulating through his body and then gathered in hands, after which it was transferred into his sword, granting Destiny Devourer a faint black light on its weathered blade. He then proceeded to initiate the first move of the Life Sword.

By the time Akura reached Yasha and punched with earth shattering might, Yasha had already vanished from his original spot and struck out with Destiny Devourer in a flawless, fluent manner, clearly predicting where Akura wanted to strike.

This movement of his could only be described as beautiful. His presence was replaced by a piercingly sharp sword aura and he sliced Akura several times in a short time, leaving bone deep scars in his sturdy body.

Now, Akura was even more shocked. How can his sword cut me?! Normal weapons should not be able to cut through my skin, even Jiule would have problems cutting through my skin so easily. How is that even possible?!

He reacted fast, and retreated with all his might, breaking the stage once again, but he could not prevent getting sliced several times again. Not giving Akura any room to breath, Yasha used his momentum and closed in to end the battle as fast as possible, launching the next barrage of attacks.

Akura knew that he would lose a prolonged battle, because his greatest advantage, his powerful body, was practically useless in front of Yasha, while he performed the Dance with Sword, so he decided to stake it all and used his most powerful attack right at the start.

Akura then stopped this meaningless dodging and stomped his right foot forward to gather his might in both fists, holding them right before his bruised chest, shoving Yasha away as a result.

This weird stance was the signature technique of the Titan Clan, Rapturing Earth. The crowd now knew that he was going to be serious. Right after he took his stance, it was possible to see a faint image of a Fiendgod embracing him from behind.

During the Old Times, Fiendgods were the embodiment of strength and were once the strongest species in the universe.

Nowadays, however, nothing remained of that once powerful race. Mysteries of why Fiendgods ceased to exist still remained unanswered. How could such a mighty species not survive until today?What kind of calamity severed their deep inheritance? But despite that, many techniques survived and were transformed by powerful people that made it possible to imitate the charm of the Fiendgods, and the signature technique of the Titan Clan, Rapturing Earth, was one such technique.

By cultivating this technique, the practitioner would only use spiritual energy to temper the body. They would imitate the way ancient Fiendgods battled! It was primitive, but effective.

Supported by the weak Fiendgod aura, Akura gained new confidence, which was only natural, considering the glamorous past of Fiendgods, at least from what was preserved since the past.

Yasha on the other hand nearly lost his rhythm after the phantom of the Fiendgod appeared. He felt a bone deep loathing from his Asura blood. The previously calm Asura Blood turned from calm to completely berserk and tried to take over Yasha again, bombarding Yasha with endless negative emotions.

The sword dance however helped Yasha to remain some calm. Nevertheless, he was deeply shocked. What the f*** is that now?! Is there really no end to all those troubles? And what is going with this deep hatred? I can't help but be influenced by the crazy urge to shred Akura to pieces, even though I have no idea why! By concentrating on Destiny Devourer and the sword aura around him, he barely remained sober. Yasha could feel an immense pressure from Akura, now that he was shrouded by a faint Fiendgod.

I never thought that I would have to use the second form of the Life Sword so soon. That was something that he only came up with last night, while he meditated.

The second form was called Dance of Life. This was not merely a name, there was something deeper, more profound about the second form of the Life Sword, than circulating spiritual energy through the meridians and executing the right movements.

Yasha only touched upon this mystery after he processed the events from his last battle. The first form used the comprehension of the cultivator and transformed it into a powerful dance, accompanied by sword aura. The trainee was then able to dance around the battlefield together with his sword. In short, the stronger the comprehension of the practitioner, the greater the result.

The second form, however, was not only a dance with the sword, there was an intent to live included, thus the name Dance of Life. It sounded easy to comprehend, but in reality, it was everything but simple.

Intent touched upon the realm of laws, making it insanely difficult for even Dantian Grade experts to grasp. The extraordinary experience of the Dark Chamber and the constant assault of the Asura blood practically forced Yasha to reflect on life and trained his will and mind at the same time.

What was the purpose of his life, his suffering?

Why should he continue this path?

Those questions were answered by his indomitable resolve: His life was his life. No one and nothing could take it away from him. Only he would decide his fate.

The result was something he did not expect. He gained a sudden insight and immediately started practicing his sword technique. The cryptic images of the Life Sword surfaced inside his mind and moved on their own accord, so Yasha only had to follow those images and reproduced them in reality.

The result was one, simple strike, that emanated an indomitable will to live. This was no longer a simple sword strike, this strike marked the beginning of Yasha’s sword path.

After this extraordinary experience, Yasha had been completely stunned and he had wondered what cultivation rank the creator of the technique achieved in order to create such a profound sword technique.

On the stage, Akura breathed heavily while his heart beat like a drum, shocking the whole crowd. How could this still be the heartbeat of a human?! It sounded more like an ancient war drum, ready to instill fear into its enemies with thunderous shockwaves.

The faint shadow behind him changed into the same stance, which caused both images to resonate with each other, seemingly able to hold up the sky.

Akura grew paler with every passing second, as this was a power that surpassed his own realm by far. However, unwillingness and the desire to win fueled his spiritual energy and body strength and made it possible to unleash this move.

He knew he could not hold on any longer and released all his accumulated power throwing his fists forward. The shadow of the Fiendgod then reached out to smash the insignificant looking figure of Yasha into smithereens.

A glint flashed through Yasha’s scarlet eyes as he raised Destiny Devourer and slashed out with seemingly no spiritual energy at all. The sword strike was as simple as it could be, but Akura quickly realized that this was not an ordinary sword technique.

And his guess immediately proved to be true. The “common” sword strike was accompanied by an overflowing desire to live and a piercingly sharp sword aura. But that was not all, there was another hidden force deep inside the sword itself.

Akura tried to get a deeper feeling of this strange force, because this could help him secure an advantage in the next clash, but to his astonishment, he noticed that he could not see through it all.

Suddenly, his pupils contracted. He was appalled to find out that the Fiendgod shadow faintly trembled during its attack, nearly coming to a stop, as if the sword possessed something it deeply feared. Just what is going on?! Rapturing Earth incorporates the ancient will of the Fiendgods! How could it fear someone in the Energy Gathering Stage? That cannot be possible!

In the next moment, both attacks clashed, but the apocalyptic explosion everyone expected did not happen. The crowd witnessed how Yasha’s sword simply slashed through the Fiendgod shadow and continued forward to Akura with unstoppable momentum, only to suddenly stop at Akura’s throat.

Blood silently flowed down Destiny Devourer’s blade and trickled onto the ground, gradually soaking it in blood. Yasha’s face came to a stop only a few centimeters away from Akura’s face. Still reeling in shock, Akura witnessed something that deeply disturbed him, something that he would not forget until the day he died.

It happened the moment he involuntarily shot a glance at Yasha, who was still holding his sword at his throat. His figure was completely still and did not make a sound. Being so close to Yasha, Akura involuntarily stared right into Yasha’s eyes.

The eerie red light and the calmness of Yasha’s eyes made Akura feel a kind of horror and nervousness he never had experienced before. He had never been this nervous in his life, not even when he knelt before the patriarch of his clan!

Why has he not taken down his sword? This was the question that echoed through his mind and every passing second felt like an eternity.

After he calmed down a bit, the feeling of terror slowly subsided, but then he suddenly felt the burning gaze upon him intensifying, seemingly brand marking his skin from afar.

His needle-like pupils were fixed on the two intensely shining red dots hidden underneath Yasha’s black robe. The calmness from before was replaced by an overflowing killing intent, which caused Yasha’s eyes to emit an even stronger scarlet hue.

In the beginning Akura thought he was dreaming, but the longer he looked into into those burning eyes, Akura felt like his soul would be devoured if he continued to look into those eyes.

At the same time, no matter how much he tried, he could not close his eyes or move away, he was completely locked in place by a strange force. He was doomed to continue watching.

Without him noticing, his consciousness began to be drawn in by an invisible force, until he saw himself standing on a mountain of corpses that was shrouded by a bloody light.

Defiled corpses were scattered around like trash, covering even the horizon, blood flowed like a river, and the scariest part of it all, was the person sitting upon a throne made of unknown beast bones atop a close by mountain of corpses.

Akura could not see the person clearly, because a strange mist surrounding it made the person blurry, nor did he want to catch a glimpse of the person.

He only wanted to leave this place, even dead if it would free him. Akura then realized to his horror that the seated figure slowly stood up. The moment it stood up, the world before Akura spun and was turned upside down, until returned to the stage again, still looking at Yasha’s face. Now, however, he did not see the beastly red eyes, as if Yasha had closed his eyes willingly.

Under the shocking silence of the crowd, Akura's face was now completely white with no blood left in it. Disregarding the attack that could have killed him in an instant, if Yasha had not held himself back in the last possible moment, the experience from before left him completely terrorized.

He then threw up buckets of blood and plummeted to the ground. On the ground, the crowd could finally see Akura’s expression the moment he collapsed. He looked like he just saw his greatest nightmare, which shocked every single person. Even the battle on the other stages paused for a short moment. Nobody knew what had happened in the last moment.

Yasha on the other hand knew exactly what had transpired in the last seconds. What Akura experienced was an unintentional bloodline suppression, caused by the rampaging Asura blood.

If Yasha had not stopped it the moment he realized his loss of control, then Akura’s soul would have been forever lost, obliterated by the Asura blood.

Yasha sighed. In the end, he still underestimated the desire of the Asura blood to kill Akura, even though he had no idea where that hatred originated from. But he would not care either way.

He held himself back in the last moment, so it could be said to be a victory for him this time, because he triumphed over his own blood. It sounded crazy and even a bit funny, but for Yasha it was everything but funny.

After all of this he sheathed Destiny Devourer and unemotionally looked at the judge. He looked completely uninterested, as if this was the only possible outcome.

The judge naturally felt his gaze and had to swallow hard. Exactly this kind of bearing instilled fear into him the last time he saw Yasha battle. This time, however, he was not angry, this time he really was scared out of his wits and so he gathered his voice that slightly trembled, “On the third stage, Yasha wins his first battle against Akura!”

Then he hurriedly withdrew his gaze and continued to look at the other battles that had resumed, visibly relieved that he did not have to endure Yasha’s searing gaze anymore.

Contrary to the huge majority of visitors, he was at the Energy Overflow Stage and sensed some kind of disturbing horror emanating from Yasha while the latter pressed his sword against Akura’s throat.

At that time, he felt his blood turn incredibly cold, as if he abruptly trespassed into hell. It was similar to how he felt whenever he faced the upper echelons of the Azure Dragon Sect. It was a feeling of complete powerlessness, a feeling that no matter how hard he tried to hide his secrets, he would still be read like a book.

Whereby the exalted Elders possessed a more natural and sacred aura, that stemmed from their age, experience, superior bloodline and higher cultivation.

What he felt from Yasha was different. It was a boundless terror and overbearingness that wished to crush him simply by being looked at, making it even harder to resist. He then shook his head again and laughed inside. How could this little boy be comparable to the exalted figures of the Azure Dragon Sect?