God Slayer Chronicles 47 Ice Rhino, Condemned to the Tyranny of Blood

"No, you shan't be the one to obtain the number one room. That honour belongs to me, of course!" A loud and arrogant voice barked at a stocky child, sporting long black hair. If Sha Ku were here, he'd recognise this voice all too well. It belonged to a one-eyed fiend, Song Ping.

The stocky kid who only wished to look at the first room froze in his tracks, a feeling of terror started to crawl up his spine.

This Song Ping had been unrelentingly cruel since their return from the Mistress of Rune-Forging, Qin Lian!

He'd been patched up and given a strip of red cloth to cover his mangled eye that was completely blind. He felt no pain, thanks to how Elder Tun had treated him. Instead, he just had a hazing fury in its place.

Indeed, he from the noble Song Clan should have breezed into the shoes of a Rune-forger, but somehow, he'd been upstaged as well!

That Yu Shi had been able to complete a golden grade rune on his first time…

This had Qin Lian so impressed she shooed everyone off, telling Yu Shi to keep his nose out of trouble as soon enough he should be at the top of the mountain!

Song Ping's blood boiled like magma in a volcano, and he was a moment away from erupting. His eye twitched lightly and felt like his sabre needed to taste blood by nightfall; otherwise he'd cough up blood from all this stress.

This was his perfect opportunity to vent and establish his dominance amongst the disciples! He wasn't like the rest of these foolish mongrels; he was of the Song Clan. He had cultivated a Sky Ranked Technique!

He was at the peak of Qi River and solidifying his cultivation base before breaking through! He could take several blows from lesser Qi Sea practitioners, let alone these pathetic lower clan fools. They weren't worth his mercy.

"What's your name, fatty?!" Shrieked Song Ping.

Turning around to immediately reply the stocky lad muttered, fumbling his words about, "My, my name is Bing Yuanshan, from the Dark Water Kingdom…." The boy's words flopped about like a seal.

"The Bing Clan?" Song Ping laughed in hysteria.

"Some trash from the Bing Clan seriously thinks he's good enough to take first place in the rooms? Pah!" Song Ping spat on the ground, mocking the boy's very blood.

The Bing Clan were famous, but for all the wrong reasons. They had initially been a clan from the central plains, but like so many, they had to retreat as their powerbase slowly withered away.

A few years ago, the Bing Clan started to make trouble for the royal family in the Dark-Water Kingdom though, trying to plot and scheme against the King. Ming Shui, king of Dark-Water, came down upon the Bing Clan personally, destroying any cultivator above the Qi Core Realm and enslaving anybody over the age of twenty.

The women were sold in slave markets; the men sent to the royal mines.

Like that, all the respect that the once noble Bing Clan had commanded, vanished.

Such is the way of the world; you climb the ladder until you slip and never have the chance to rise again.

"Draw your weapon!" Song Ping barked.

"Do it!"

"Draw it you coward!"

"Now!"

As these words hit Bing Yuanshan's ears, he began to tremble. He'd never had to fight someone of Song Ping's calibre before.

Hands shaking, legs buckling, Bing Yuanshan rubbed the ring on his finger, causing a staff to appear in his hands.

The staff was vibrating in the air; the cause was the little Bing's arms, unable even to hold the thing properly.

A smirk emerged on Song Ping's face, raising his arms in the air, turning his back towards Bing Yuanshan he laughed, "Do you see my fellow brothers, the mighty Bing Clan has been resurrected. Like his ancestor wielding his mighty ice staff, Bing Yuanshan has come to defeat me and reclaim his forefather's honour!"

A laugh emerged from everyone's lips. Mocking the weak and small fat boy, Song Ping couldn't help but be in awe of his own charisma; truly, he was a natural leader. Perhaps there would be a more fabulous place in his future than just another competitor for the Song Clan's leadership position?

He stood there, looking amongst the crowd of laughing children who had been unwittingly drawn ever closer into his service.

He couldn't help but nod to himself, not a bad bunch. A few turds amongst the chocolates to be sure, but nothing he couldn't weed out through… sufficient methods.

As he cast his gaze over them, it suddenly halted upon the purple hair of one lanky boy – Yu Shi, the purple talent…

This Yu Shi was troublesome, to say the least, amongst those here he was his only rival. He'd have to think of some way to control or humiliate him before his influence spread.

Although one shouldn't suffer rivals, otherwise one is being cruel to themselves, if it was possible to make Yu Shi his pawn… he could pit him against Sha Ku.

A devious light appeared in Song Ping's eyes, and his plan had already started to formulate before he could adequately think it through though, there was a sudden change in the atmosphere.

The air became cold…

"Rushing Ice Rhino!" Screamed Bing Yuanshan, slamming down his long staff from above his head!

Song Ping turned quickly, witnessing a massive Rhino made of ice charging his person. Quickly his gaze turned cruel, his brow twitched.

Drawing the sabre from his belt, he faced the frozen beast head-on, slashing out with a single strike, "Blood Sabre Strike!"

As he swung the sabre from his bottom left diagonally upwards to his top right it thumped bright red, giving off an aura of death and despair.

One of Song Ping's cronies looked on in awe, "This is one of the Song Clan's sky ranked techniques – Blood Indulging Sabre, I heard that a member of the Song Clan came out of an ancient ruin with it in toll."

Another one nodded, agreeing, "Yes, only a few people have dared to comprehend it though, it takes the blood of its enemies to improve your level!"

After hearing the two boys everyone looked on with horror, such a technique required blood? That was truly frightening.

Immediately as soon as the Blood Sabre hit the Rhino it shattered into a thousand pieces, Song Ping dashed forwards, like a bolt of lightning, using both hands to bring his sabre overhead and downwards into Bing Yuanshan's chest.

Bing Yuanshan froze in place as the horrifying might of the Bloody Sabre descended upon him!

Bang!

All he could do was raise his metal staff, hoping he could block some of the momenta, giving him a chance for survival!

Nonetheless, he wasn't in a good state.

The Sabre strike caused his staff to bend; the energy caused it to shoot out from his hands like a bird escaping its nest.

With the resulting energy drove him backwards like a cannonball, smashing him into the fountain that was within the courtyard.

Like a corpse he laid there, water running over him, blood leaking from his mouth. There was nothing he could do.

Song Ping approached, a sinister smile adorned his face, he dragged his blood-soaked sabre along the ground, its metallic chink on the stone sounding in everyone's ears and with it, a trail of crimson along the ground.

Song Ping snarled for the first time as he raised his sabre above his head, ready to slash down upon the defenceless Bing Yuanshan.

Seeing his sorry state everyone couldn't help but sigh, it appears that there would be one less person for them to compete with soon.

Chapter end