The king of resentment sat ill on his bed as many demon doctors strode into his room all day and night trying to get rid of the ancient character curse the white dragon placed on their king.
Mo Yuan coughed out and stained his sick clothes with more blood. His loyal dark-haired sidekick moved to pour a glass of warm water for their king to drink. Mo Yuan received the cup and stared into the water in both amusement and disbelief.
''I can't believe…'' The dead pale beauty raged as his hands tightened menacingly around the small cup. ''...that none of you has been able to get rid of a simple curse marl on me after all these days!''
The doctors all jumped back in fear when their master angrily threw the cup against a wall. Xuan Sha stared at his master in concern.
''Useless! All of you!''
The demon doctors all fell on their knees and began to mumble out apologies to the king of demons for their incompetence. Mo Yuan had this desire to crush a rock—no, a mountain, to bring it down and send the debris flying directly at the faces of those darn Fourth Heaven immortals.
''Why isn't the curse mark coming off His Majesty's body?'' Xuan Sha queried one of the doctors as he noted their relentless efforts to get it out but in vain. They had exhausted so much of their resentment energy and Xuan Sha suspected that resentment energy might not be powerful enough to get rid of such an ancient curse of the Male white dragon.
The chief leader of the doctors attending to the king raised his head to answer the demon.
''The curse is an ancient one.''
Mo Yuan's patience grew thin as he heard them say.
''It can't be removed. At least not with my resentment cultivation.''
''So, what you are trying to say is that I am doomed to get hit by thunder strikes for the rest of my life until I die?!''
The chief demon doctor bowed his head once again and apologized for his incompetence.
''Forgive us, Your Darkness, for we have failed you again.''
''Nonsense! Leave!''
The demon doctors all scrambled out of the room before he got to repeat himself. Xuan Sha remained by his side as his faithful dog. Seven moon lanterns burned fervently in the king's room as he sat at the edge of the bed trying to wrap his head around the trap the immortals had set up for him.
He understood their plan very well. They all feared him and his resentment energy so much as to strategize this sneak attack to weaken him permanently so he wouldn't have the strength to launch any further attack against their precious heaven.
But Mo Yuan let out a cynical laugh as he found their attempt very funny.
He murdered his father and wiped out his entire bloodline for this.
To be the Fourth Heaven's greatest terrorist and see to their total annihilation for good. He didn't go through all that pain to master the forbidden arts of resentment energy cultivation so as to be taken down by some dumb curse! He went through all that hell at the pool of resentment, cultivating non-stop for many blood days and nights just to be the reason for their downfall and exalt the supreme rule of the demons.
''Xuan Sha,'' he called out as his pale black lips curled into a mischievous smirk. ''Our captives, how are they faring in the dungeons?''
Xuan Sha fell on one knee to report to his king about the situation of the dragons they captured and had their powers sealed on the day they launched an attack on the Fourth Heaven.
''My Lord, they are currently being tortured day and night like you instructed by the seven horned jailers, Your Darkness.''
''Good,'' Mo Yuan was pleased. At least it wasn't only him that was suffering. He should think about launching another attack on the Fourth Heaven sooner so he could exchange their precious red dragon soldiers' lives with the removal of his darn curse with the white dragons.
''Xuan Sha,'' he called out again while stretching out his hands. Xuan Sha understood by rising to his feet to refill another cup for the king of nightmares. He placed the cup gently on the palm of the damned king as his gaze stared down in horror at the forbidden concoction he had been made to survive on ever since he learned how to master the demonic feud aura.
Mo Yuan prepared himself for the scorching, metallic taste of the abominable drink. He managed to gulp it down at once before mentally preparing himself for the pain that would soon follow.
It started with the teasing feeling of the tips of a thousand pins grazing the surface of his bone and the immortal demon king closed his eyes to try and endure the surging pain.
''Xuan Sha, tell me something that will distract me from this pain.''
The faithful guard of the demon tribe nodded his head and thought it was time to break the news his numerous spies reported back to him earlier today from the Fourth Heaven.
''My Lord,''
Mo Yuan's hands began to tremble uncontrollably as his dark red gaze deepened in color when the feeling of scraping to his bones intensified.
''I have reports that the Fourth Heaven has succeeded in waking up the immortal black dragon.''
Mo Yuan didn't appear so surprised as it was bound to happen anyway. There was some bloody prophecy about it from the Formless Dimension. And this just makes it all too easy to get rid of them all at once.
He wanted to believe that his predictions about the ancient black dragon abandoning them once again was true.
''And there are rumors that the ancient black dragon is willing to go through tribulations to save the immortal realm.''
The smirk drawn on his face turned sour. It only aggravated the pain he was fighting so hard to endure. Mo Yuan tried his best not to be too shaken by this news.
He tried not to lose his mind completely at the thought of them all getting saved when it should only be the heaven of immortal demons that should prosper alone.
''How did that happen?'' He said through clenched teeth as he applied more pressure on the cup in his hold.
''We are not quite sure about it but we are speculating the involvement of some…tribulation guardian, My Lord.''
Mo Yuan found this all the more ridiculous.
''Tribulation guardian? What's that supposed to mean?''
The look on Xuan Sha's face implied he was still digging more into this prophecy and how the existence of a tribulation affected their kingdom as a whole.
Mo Yuan considered this and he deeply regretted falling sick about the same time an alleged tribulation guardian and the ancient black dragon would be out there saving the world.
He made a mistake.
He shouldn't have launched that attack that had doomed him, leaving him weak and a helpless idiot on his bed. He should have been patient and waited just a few more days. Maybe he would have been lucky to try out that secret technique he knows about to kill that darn black dragon and slaughter whoever or whatever the tribulation guardian must be.
He tried to control his breathing, keeping the pain all inside a bottle as it grew worse. He couldn't say what gave him this sudden headache. The pain or that the first heaven would forever remain under the domineering shadows of the fourth heaven.
''Xuan Sha,''
''Yes, My Lord!'' The loyal dog fell on his knees again beside the supreme lord, ready to kill and destroy for his sake.
''We must not let that ancient dragon succeed in his tribulations to save the other three heavens. We must find a way to stop him now or what we have all been fighting for thousands of years now would all be a waste.''
''You are right my lord! We must hinder the black dragon's success in his tribulations.''
''Hmm, let's see. The dragons are not that hard to predict. Obviously, the tribulations the formless dimension is ready to make the disobedient black dragon go through must have all been prepared in the Sacred River of tribulations.''
Xuan Sha kept that information in his left hand, already guessing what his master would tell him to do next.
''Xuan Sha,''
''Yes, my liege!''
''Take Hell's fire lens with you along with three of your trusted demon soldiers to infiltrate the hall that holds the River Of Tribulations in the Fourth Heaven.'' The demon king turned to lock eyes with his faithful servant and ordered, ''Use the Hell's fire lens to read through every tribulations the formless dimension has prepared for the black dragon in the river of tribulations tomorrow night.''
''Yes, my lord!''
''That way, it wouldn't be so hard to make them both give up on saving themselves and their precious heavens. Do you understand the task?''
Xuan Sha's eyes darkened as the king had given him the easiest task of them all to do. The demon slowly pulled the cap of his hood over his face and said, ''I won't disappoint.''
☆☆☆☆
The next day, at one of the largest residences in all of the Fourth Heaven, The Blue Archives Hall. An impressive architecture sustained with magic and the home to over six thousand blue dragons. It has twelve main gardens, each unique to its own flowers and style of immortal plants, many other indoor gardens, dormitories, halls and five main libraries. A large open space fully equipped for basic immortal martial arts training and reserved spaces for cultivation. In one of the dormitories, Lan Meiyun could be seen drunk and furious in her room since morning.
She hated that her greatest object of bullying gets to be the righteous and celebrated tribulation guardian while she deals with the idea of being punished later by the white dragons.
The blue dragon scoffed as she poured more immortal wine to her cup and down it all in one gulp in hopes of forgetting everything.
But it was just too hard for her to let go.
She couldn't just let that little brat be the hero while she suffers terrible punishments and is locked behind bars as the villain.
No.
She shook her head as she rose to her feet and managed to put on some clothes, tying her long hair into a high ponytail and stumbled out of her room. The hallways were quiet and some partially deserted as she made her way out of The Blue Archives Hall and flew her way into the frozen Halls of Regrets.
It was made entirely of huge blocks and massive pillars of ice, capable of giving any mortal instant hypothermia by a single touch. The visible sky above rumbled in protest as she entered the Halls of Regrets without the permission of the dragon king.
She dragged her feet clumsily down the icy hallways with mad intentions to use every drop of power in her to destroy the River of tribulations.
If there are no tribulations, she wouldn't get to be a hero.
Although attempting this felt like a death sentence, at this point, all that matters was to block every avenue of that blue dragon from ever being seen for who she really is and what she is capable of doing. She didn't care if this final attempt at ruining her life for good comes at the cost of her life.
She leaned on the closest wall that led to the threshold of the room that held the ancient and great river of tribulations.
Tears flowed down her cheeks as her laughter echoed down the desolate Halls of Regrets.
''You just wait and see, Xueyao. How I ruin your life and chances to finally outshine who I am. You are nothing and I have to ensure you remain that way even at the cost of my life.''
Lightning traveled down to strike the pure white marbled floors as she made her way into the dome-shaped room heavily guarded with the frosty idols of the Five primordial gods of the formless dimension. Each graven image was at least two hundred feet tall and all positioned to guard the entrance of the river of tribulation.
She took slow, drunk steps towards the edges that overlooked the powerful and pulling force of the River of tribulations. A river appearing like it is being sucked under by a giant drain. It was as wide as it could be and fiercer than any Tsunami. She stepped back a bit to lean on a nearby ice pillar to avoid being sucked into the river by its draining pull. While she leaned on and prepared herself to use all her years of cultivation to destroy the river, she saw that she wasn't alone.
On the other side of the circular balcony that overlooked the phenomenon, three hooded figures were already present. She stepped closer a bit while keeping her identity hidden from them to see what in the world they were doing here as well.
She wondered who they were and if they were also enemies of Xueyao, determined to lay the foundations of her epic downfall.
''Master, what should we do to the dragon hiding and watching us from there,'' the demon by his left stepped closer to whisper it to him as he used his magic to keep Hell's fire lens stable above this draining force while trying to activate it at the same time.
''Nothing. We wait for her to attack first.''
''Alright, Master.'' The demon stepped back and Lan Meiyun was overwhelmed with curiosity by their purpose here.
She noticed the object keeping afloat against the tribulation river by them and the distinct smell of resentment energy forced her out of hiding.
''Hey, you! You three! What are you people and what are you doing to the River of tribulations?!''
When her interrogation of them was responded with silence from their edge. The thought of them coming here to strengthen the river when she came here to destroy it nerved her in a way.
''I will ask you three again. What are you people and what are you doing to the river?''
Lan Meiyun then prepared to attack by summoning her spiritual power and bringing her index and middle finger to the blue dragon sigil inscribed in between her eyebrows to draw light, blue tendrils of magic from it. She fisted her hands to let what she had drawn concentrate enough to launch it at them.
''Fine. Then don't blame me for being rude.''