TDE Book 6 - Chapter 11

A scorching fist whizzed past Calron’s face as he nimbly pulled his face back. He felt the heat from the flames sear his skin, but he successfully evaded it. Not even a second later, another fist flew across the back of his head, and Calron ducked in time yet again.

He exhaled, his chest heaved as an exhilarated thrill washed over him. He could track the golem’s moments now. His left eye could now not only see the dao flames, he could see the ‘intent’ behind them as well. The moment the dao moved inside the golem, Calron could now sense its intent, what the construct was targeting. This foresight gave him enough time to move before the attack landed.

The new Bloodsight unlocked more colors. Besides the light emitted from the golem’s dao flames, Calron could see colors from other objects. However, before he could inspect them, the golem came at him with another sequence of flurried strikes.

He calmly tilted his head to evade the punch aimed at his neck and then sidestepped the followed leg-sweep. His left glowed intensely as he maintained his full concentration on deciphering the intents behind the dao flames. It wasn’t that Calron’s body was much faster now. His speed was the same as before. The only thing that had changed was his reaction time. The second level of Bloodsight gave him an almost foresight-like ability, letting him predict his opponent’s moves from the dao. Would this work on a cultivator? Calron would eventually find the answer to that.

In the midst of the rhythmic evasive maneuvers, Calron decided to counter-attack the golem when he felt the latter had overextended. Just as his palm made contact with the construct’s stony wrist, the golem’s entire aura abruptly erupts with a burst of volcanic flames.

“What is that?”

Calron mutters in shock as a kaleidoscope of colors fills his Bloodsight, an avalanche of dao intents. It was too much information for Calron to process at once. Before he could escape, a tsunami of molten flames promptly lock on to him and devour his whole body.

The embers rip off the first layer of Calron’s skin. He closed his eyes to stave off the pain, but then even his eyelids began to melt under the enraged inferno. The flames gradually died after a few minutes, revealing an ashen, charred body.

“Did you really think a 5th circle could only punch and kick, brat? It was going easy on you the whole time.”

Martial trotted over, chuckling as he prodded Calron’s singed body with his hoof.

“What was that last move?”

Calron rasped, his voice hoarse as the Blood Dao rushed to heal his vocal chords and the rest of his body. Calron recalled the bombardment from the dao intents when the golem made that attack. That wasn’t just the dao flames, there was something else hidden inside there.

“It’s an attack that uses the World’s Law. All 5th circles are able to manipulate the Law to a certain extent. If you ever complete your domain, you’ll probably be able to do that as well.”

The black pig stepped back as Calron stretched his body, brushing off the charred skin as the Blood Dao regenerated a fresh layer. Calron took in a deep breath to recalibrate himself. The unpleasant memory of his flesh being roasted still lingered.

He tried to recount what he saw with his Bloodsight. The dao flames sucked countless other daos around it to launch that attack on Calron. It wasn’t that Calron didn’t have time to escape. His body refused to move. Not just that, but even the earth seemed to have trapped his feet, the wind around his head depriving him of vital air, and even gravity increased its pressure. It was like the world was helping the golem’s dao flames.

“How am I supposed to beat that?”

Calron chuckled, watching the golem go back to its stoic self.

“It was impossible from the start, brat. If you had access to your Blood Siphon and the Berserker ability together, then there’s a slight chance of you escaping the Law, but the 5th circle is in a realm of its own. After all, it’s the final stage before one becomes an immortal.”

Martial shook his head in response.

“It was still fun.”

Despite the numerous burns and broken bones, Calron thoroughly enjoyed the battle. Without the use of his main abilities, he had to rely purely on his body. It felt good to train his reflexes and discover the limits of his mind.

“By the way, I didn’t expect you’d upgrade your domain so quickly.”

Martial popped on Calron’s shoulder and looked closer at the young man’s left blood-colored eye.

Hearing Martial’s words, Calron reached with his fingers to touch the left side of his temple. The external eye looked the same as before, and he still couldn’t see dao around the black pig, but Calron knew it had changed internally on a fundamental level. Previously, he could only see the dao paths within the golem, but now he could detect subtle emissions of dao from his surroundings in multiple colors.

The dead tree in the center exuded a wispy silver-purple color, the grass gave off a mild, pale green, while even the air had a slight translucency to it. They were the dao intents.

What would happen if I upgraded the Bloodsight further?

Calron mused as he contemplated the thought. He now had only four more spots left inside his domain. Should he upgrade the Armory, get a new ability or focus on maximizing the Bloodsight? The first level of Bloodsight didn’t help much, but the second level allowed him to bridge the gap between a 5th circle golem’s movements. What about the third level or the fourth level?

It was difficult to decide. On one side, he wanted to keep his main firepower with the lightning, but what if he made a mistake with choosing no combat ability for the Blood Kingdom?

Calron sighed as he brushed aside his thoughts.

“I hope I’m not just going to be fighting that pile of rocks for the 50 years.”

He turned to the black pig.

“No, without substantial progress in your domain, fighting the golem won’t help you much. You can still fight it whenever you feel stuck, but your main goal in these 50 years of frozen time is to complete your domain.”

Martial licked his hoof, grimacing at the salty taste.

“This is not really the ideal place to train the Blood Dao.”

Calron glanced around, seeing the lush meadow and peaceful environment.

“Heh, have you forgotten where this place is connected to, brat?”

Martial flashed his tusks.

“Your barn?”

Calron saw the eager look in the black pig’s eyes and answered absentmindedly.

“Why did you say a barn, you bastard? Why not just a home?”

Martial growled as he began smacking Calron on the face while the latter tried to hold him off.

“Pigs don’t live in houses, they live in the mud.”

Calron’s words only further stoked the fire within Martial, as the black pig teleported on top of his head and chewed his hair.

“Your mom lives in the mud, you bastard!”

Martial yelled through his teeth full of hair.

“Why’d you bring up my mom?”

Calron expels his Blood Dao, and summons his lightning, sending it crackling all over his body. Martial flies away, repeatedly slapping Calron before the young man could react. Unlike the golem’s dao, Calron had yet to be able to track the Titan’s dao.

After what seemed like hours of going back and forth, exchanging even more insults, the two gasp out of breath and lie down on the grass.

“What place were you talking about?”

Calron gives up and tilts his head to the black pig on the side.

“Not telling, first apologize for saying that I eat mud, bastard.”

Martial pouts and turns his head away from Calron.

“I said you lived in mud, not eat it…”

Calron corrected the black pig, but after seeing the immediate glare on the pig’s face, he smartly didn’t continue the sentence.

“I’m sorry, Martial. Now, what were you talking about?”

Calron held up his hands in surrender, conveying to Martial that he was done teasing.

The black pig squinted his dark eyes to see if Calron was going to make another joke, but the young man stayed still.

“It’s the Dao Geyser, bastard. The real one, not the fake one you saw.”

Martial grinned in victory.

Calron’s eyes widened in surprise. He had completely forgotten about the Geyser. If what Serina had told him about Geysers, it would be the perfect place to learn more about the dao. On the outside, the path walkers scoured for credits to simply enter the Dao Geyser for a mere few hours.

What if Calron had 50 years to spend in the Geyser?