First Meeting at Dusk · Horn of Slaughter

When Nan Feng left Gengxin City, the sky was just beginning to lighten.

He stood at the city gate for a while and looked back at the gray-black city of blacksmiths. The first wisps of smoke rose from the chimneys, and the sound of hammers drifted over from the workshop district.

In this city, he had obtained Cold Iron Core, Purple-Patterned Meteoric Iron, and his first External Soul Bone. His Soul Power had also risen from level sixteen to level thirty-four.

He turned and set off along the main road to the southeast. A short staff was tucked behind his waist, and the External Soul Bone lay against the back of his right hand, its dark purple patterns glimmering in the morning light.

After two and a half days of travel, the flat fields on either side of the road gave way to gentle slopes and mixed woods. On the evening of the third day, Nan Feng entered the outskirts of Sunset Forest. Another half day's journey would bring him to the main road to Heaven Dou City.

Dusk seeped through the gaps in the canopy. He slowed his pace, keeping Treasure-Appraising Spirit Light half active as he watched for fluctuations in Soul Beast Spiritual Power.

As he rounded a stand of low pines, the edge of Treasure-Appraising Spirit Light caught an unusually bright point of light.

Dark red. Its Soul Power fluctuations were deep and violent, like a smoldering volcano.

The point of light moved extremely fast, cutting in from the edge of his perception and heading straight for him.

Nan Feng halted, his hand going to the short staff behind his waist.

Before he could react, a golden-red figure burst out from behind the low pines, bringing a wave of scorching heat.

It was a woman.

She was tall and dressed in a dark red fighting outfit. Golden-red hair streamed down her back, flowing like a flame as she ran. She was in her early thirties, with deep-set eyes, wheat-colored skin, and an old scar at the corner of her mouth.

She came charging straight at Nan Feng without slowing. Dark red Soul Power formed a scorching field around her, and the wild grass curled and yellowed at its touch.

Nan Feng stepped aside. The woman rushed past him, turning her head to glance at him.

The glance was quick. Nan Feng caught what was in her eyes: surprise, and appraisal.

She skidded to a stop ten paces away and turned, her golden-red hair sweeping out in an arc. She looked at Nan Feng, her gaze traveling from his face to the short staff at his waist before returning to where he stood.

"You have Soul Ring fluctuations on you," she said, her voice hoarse. "Your third ring is black. A Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring."

Nan Feng looked at her. She could sense its color and age without him releasing his Soul Ring. She was at least a Soul Saint.

Old Huai's voice drifted out from the crack at the tower's base, pitched very low. "A level seventy-eight Soul Saint. Fire attribute, and her Martial Soul is a dragon. The Golden Iron Triangle's Horn of Slaughter, Liu Erlong."

Liu Erlong. Yu Xiaogang's former lover, Flender's sworn younger sister, and the dean of Blue Tyrant Academy. She had given up many things for Yu Xiaogang's theories and had been entangled with him for decades. Now she stood before Nan Feng, brimming with anger.

"Yes," Nan Feng said.

Liu Erlong took two steps forward. She moved slowly, every step carrying the pressure that came naturally to a high-ranking Soul Master.

Nan Feng felt the Third Soul Ring in his dantian tremble under that pressure. Its reaction was different from when he faced an ordinary Soul Master, as though two fire-attribute powers were answering each other across the space between them.

"What level is your Soul Power?"

"Thirty-four."

Liu Erlong narrowed her eyes. "Level thirty-four, and your third ring is ten thousand years old." She looked him up and down, her gaze pausing on the dark purple patterns on the back of his right hand. "How old are you?"

"Thirteen."

Liu Erlong fell silent for two breaths. She stared at Nan Feng's face, as if trying to find a flaw in his expression.

Nan Feng's face was calm. There was no boasting, nor any sign of guilt. He stood quietly, stating something that had already happened.

Liu Erlong's gaze moved from his face to the ground beneath his feet. Nan Feng noticed it pause there for a moment.

He looked down. Around the spot where he had stood, the wild grass had all been pressed flat, and the ground had sunk into a shallow depression. It had been left by Gravity Field and Tower Suppression passively spilling outward.

"That Martial Soul of yours," Liu Erlong said, "is an object type. What Martial Soul is it?"

"Bronze Tower."

Liu Erlong raised an eyebrow. She opened her mouth, then swallowed her words.

She stood where she was, watching him for a long time. The evening breeze stirred her golden-red hair, and the old scar at the corner of her mouth stood out clearly.

Old Huai said from inside the tower, "She's hesitating. There's something on this woman's mind."

"Your third ring is ten thousand years old." Liu Erlong spoke more quietly than before. "Grandmaster said a Soul Elder's limit is a thousand-year ring. He said that absorbing a Thousand-Year Soul Ring at level thirty is already a Soul Master's limit, and that a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring would burst their meridians."

Nan Feng looked at her. "I know he said that."

"Then why are you still alive?"

Nan Feng didn't answer immediately. He opened his right hand, and the deep black light beneath the Soul Ring in his palm gave off a dense, dark glow in the dusk. The azure light in the crack at the tower's base rose and fell in response.

"My tower can suppress a Soul Ring's backlash. Power of Mountain Suppression, at full output after the first tower gate was pushed completely open. Twelve thousand years. I withstood it."

Liu Erlong stared at his palm for a long time.

There was something familiar to Nan Feng in her gaze: the same certainty he had felt when he said, "Then I'll prove it to you," in Nuoding.

She took a step closer. Her dark red Soul Power drew inward, and most of the scorching pressure receded.

"Kid," she said, much of the cold harshness of her scrutiny gone from her voice, "what's your name?"

"Nan Feng."

"Nan Feng." She repeated it, as if chewing on the name. "Your third ring is twelve thousand years old. What about the second?"

"Two thousand one hundred years."

"Your first?"

"Nine hundred and twenty years."

Liu Erlong was silent for three breaths. She turned toward the low pines. Dusk had deepened, and the light among the trees had turned dark gray.

The outline of her profile was sharply defined. The old scar at the corner of her mouth twitched, as though she were smiling, or gritting her teeth.

"First ring, nine hundred and twenty years. Second ring, two thousand one hundred years. Third ring, twelve thousand years." She repeated the three numbers under her breath, her voice sounding as though it had been forced through clenched teeth.

"Yu Xiaogang studied Martial Souls for twenty years and wrote the Ten Core Competencies. Every one of them says Soul Ring age limits can't be exceeded. He said a Soul Master's limit at level ten is a little over four hundred years, at level twenty it's a thousand years, and at level thirty it's two thousand years. All three of your Soul Rings stand on his limits, and every one of them exceeds his number by more than double."

Nan Feng said nothing. Liu Erlong turned back to him, the fire in her eyes burning more fiercely than before, but in a different direction from when they had first met.

"Who taught you Martial Soul Theory?"

"No one. I found my own way."

Liu Erlong stared at him for two breaths, then suddenly laughed. It was a short, hoarse laugh, as if something had made her choke.

"You found your own way," she repeated. "Fine. You've got guts."

She turned and took two steps toward the low pines, then stopped and looked back at him.

"Are you going to Heaven Dou City?"

"Yeah."

"We're going the same way. I'm heading back to Blue Tyrant Academy. It's in Heaven Dou City too." She gathered her golden-red hair behind her ear. "You said your first ring was nine hundred and twenty years old. If Yu Xiaogang knew, the look on his face would be something to see."

Nan Feng looked at her. "Are you close to Grandmaster?"

Liu Erlong's expression froze for an instant.

She stood with her back to Nan Feng, her golden-red hair covering most of her face. Nan Feng saw her fingers curl at her side, her knuckles turning white.

"No," she said, her voice much lower than before. "We just know each other."

She started toward the low pines. Her back was held rigid.

Nan Feng stood where he was, watching her golden-red hair darken in the dusk.

Old Huai snorted inside the tower. "This woman has a knot in her heart, and it's tied to Yu Xiaogang. What you just said struck a sore spot."

Nan Feng said nothing. After a moment of silence, he set off after her.

Liu Erlong heard his footsteps behind her. Without turning around, she slowed down to let him catch up.

A few paces apart, the two walked one behind the other along the forest path leading to Heaven Dou City.

Dusk faded completely into darkness. When the last light vanished from the woods, Liu Erlong suddenly spoke.

"Your tower's suppressive power can hold down a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring's backlash. Can it suppress other things?"

Nan Feng turned his head to glance at her. Liu Erlong's eyes remained on the road ahead; she did not look at him.

Nan Feng could feel the fire-attribute Soul Power within her fluctuating slowly, with a deep exhaustion in its fluctuations.

"It can suppress some things," Nan Feng said.

Liu Erlong asked no further questions. She walked in silence for a long way.

Only when the lights of a waystation appeared on the distant main road did she speak again. "Once we reach Heaven Dou City, if you're in no hurry to leave, come find me at Blue Tyrant Academy. There's something I want to ask you."

"What is it?"

"It's about Yu Xiaogang's theories." Liu Erlong did not stop walking. Her tone was flat, as if she were discussing something unrelated. "You said your first ring was nine hundred and twenty years old. I want to know how much of that theory of his is true, and how much he made up."

Nan Feng nodded.

He asked nothing more, and Liu Erlong said nothing else. Their footsteps alternated on the dirt road in the night, one light and one heavy, one quick and one slow.

The lights of Heaven Dou City rose above the horizon ahead. Their warm yellow glow shone at the end of the main road, like fragments of gold scattered beneath the night sky.