147. Black
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"The Out worlds!" One of the deities exclaimed.
They were in a beautiful but empty desert-like void, its sands, a myriad of colours. Its skies were lit with three suns and three moons, all at the same time, giving the place a strange ethereal feel.
This was the rumoured space between all realms. A 'non-existent' space which defied the laws of space and time.
So many tried to enter this space, because it was said that cultivating here would yield many benefits, including the ability to bend space, and they finally understood the strange formation used on the soldiers.
Despite the ban on talismans and teleportation, Bailong had bent space to send all those soldiers to the Western Sea, and he did something similar to bring the rest of them here!
"Yin Xiaolong! How many surprises were you hiding?!" Tianlong demanded, a bit annoyed to witness just how powerful his friend was without telling him.
But Bailong turned to him with saddened eyes.
"A-Tian, is that all you have to say?"
"How dare you?!" Sun Liang was indignant, and so were a few other Immortals present.
"How dare a traitor address the Sky Emperor in such a familiar way?!"
"How disrespectful!!"
But Bailong ignored them, his eyes locked on Tianlong who stepped forward.
"You're right... I have more to say!" Tianlong began. "Why are you doing this?! Of all beings in existence, I expected your loyalty the most! Why are you forcing my hand now?! Can you not trust me and surrender?!!"
Bailong softened for a bit, but he quickly shut his eyes. "Then, did you not force my hand?" He asked quietly. "A-Tian, you can say such aggrieved sounding words to anyone but me.
"I know you a little too well... Would the current you ever go against those who now surround you?!"
There was raw pain in his voice. "Those feeding your ego and filling your head with how much power and respect a 'Sky Emperor' should wield?
Power and respect built on promoting the wrong and killing the innocent? !
"Yet you ask me to trust you and surrender... Then tell me, which of your recent actions can assure me that my life is safe with you?!!"
The question hung between them in silence.
"Still...." Bailong hung his head. "I don't even mind handing my life over to you, but can I still trust you with those I'd leave behind?!"
"Bold!" Sun Liang stepped forward.
"How dare you question the Sky Emperor?!"
"Are you going to betray Sky Realm fully?!!"
Bailong's sword reappeared and he held out his hand. "My conscious is clear! But my bottom line is harming the innocent!"
"Arrogant!" Grand Immortal Jin unleashed his aura, revealing he was actually a High Grand Immortal as well!" I refuse to believe you can defeat all Sky Realm!" He yelled as he performed a few hand seals.
The air around was charged with his dense aura as he created an eight layer formation beneath Bailong to hold him in place. Then a seal opened above him, shooting out an innumerable amount of dense projectiles, which all appeared to hit Bailong.
But when the outflow stopped, Bailong stood completely unharmed, and in less than a blink, he appeared behind the nearest Immortal and swung the sleek sword.
The impact held the force of ten thousand waves, and the unfortunate Immortal was flung far out of sight.
This kicked the deities into action, as they all tried to attack Bailong, but all they saw or hit were his after-images, as he effortlessly wove through them with a light step technique faster than they had ever seen.
In mere seconds, the chaos was shrouded in dust, smoke, and dense colours, as explosive techniques and auras flew everywhere, while the skies darkened and thundered in all three realms.
But then, all was silent.
The cloud of dust, smoke, and auras cleared, revealing Bailong standing still, while everyone else whizzed or writhed in pain, or lay unconscious.
Immortal Jin knelt some distance away, drawing raspy breaths through bloodied lips, and his glare, along with the glares of most of the injured immortals, rested on Bailong.
But Bailong ignored them, his own eyes on Tianlong and Sun Liang who stood at a distance.
Tianlong held out his hand, and a furious red sword appeared, surrounded by bright orange and icy blue flames. "So it has come to this!"
But Bailong simply shook his head, and in a blink, he appeared right in front of Tianlong.
Tianlong gasped at the impossible speed, and Sun Liang made the mistake of stepping forward, only to end up in a chokehold.
"I don't intend to fight you." Bailong said to Tianlong. "Even if we are not friends, didn't your father entrust you to me? I would never harm you. And if you insist on being this type of Emperor, then I won't make things difficult for you anymore."
He flung a near-unconscious Sun Liang aside and then turned away. "I'll see things as we simply have different viewpoints...
"So from now on, you can do whatever you want. I'll return to Caoyang and remain there, and if I ever leave, it would only be to the Mortal Realm. Just..."
He sighed. "Leave me, Liwei, and the Snake Clan alone..."
And he began to walk away.
To all the ambitious wolves present, these two friends had finally parted ways, so they had won! The frightful presence of Yin Xiaolong was no longer beside the Sky Emperor!
But Immortal Jin was far from satisfied.
After all, Yin Xiaolong was really an enemy too powerful to be left alone.
And besides... The throne had never been Immortal Jin's only goal!!
He swiftly held up his hand in a seal and a black and red talisman appeared, instantly burning into ash.
Several feet away, Bailong froze when he suddenly sensed the dense demonic aura.
But before he could process it, a cold wave washed over him as the aura seeped into his skin, swiftly rushing through his meridians.
Bailong was quick to halt the aura's spread, but his core suddenly expanded and his own aura beginning fanning out in large waves.
'A forced transformation?!' Bailong instantly recognized the sensation of transforming, and as he guessed, his aura exploded, his body morphed, and he was suddenly in his gigantic dragon form.
At first, Bailong assumed that the enemies had only forced him to transform so it would seem like he was threatening Tianlong.
But the air was suddenly filled with endless gasps, and he turned to find fear and revulsion on their faces.
"B- Black!"
"Wasn't he a white dragon?!"
"A Demon?!"
It was then that Bailong looked downward, noting his own colour, and he himself might have gasped if he wasn't in his dragon form.
Where his hide and scales had once been the purest of whites, verging on Silver because they seemed to glow, they were now the blackest of the black, gleaming in the strange light of the outworlds.
Bailong had always been fast, and it took only a split second for him to realize the problem.
Most of the Immortals present, as old as some of them were, were still considered too young to have met the fallen Demon King.
And that same famous Demon King- the one now predicted to return, had been the only known Black Dragon for Millennia!
And as expected, a few of the elder immortals were already drawing the connection,
"Isn't this the Ancient Demon King?!"
"The greatest of Demons has been hidden amongst us?!"
To fan the flames, Immortal Jin instantly yelled out,
"No wonder his wife was possessed!"
His minions instantly followed.
"No wonder he could so easily control the demonic plague!"
"One must be careful who they call a genius! Who knows where their Powers stem from?!"
Meanwhile, Bailong rose into the skies, attempting to break the transformation, but he stilled when Tianlong, eyes nearly rounded, looked up at him in utter disbelief.
"Demon King?!" He wondered aloud. "S- Surely not...?!"
"I'm not!" Bailong instantly protested, but what came out was a mighty roar, and Tianlong and Sun Liang instantly leapt away.
Bailong felt it then, as he looked round at all the fearful and disgusted faces, including Tianlong's.
Bailong felt an overwhelming sense of defeat.
Perhaps he had been more arrogant than he realized, sailing through life on brilliant seas, easily achieving his goals and most of his desires.
But now...
Everything had slipped through his fingers, from his father and brother's deaths, to his recent rifts with Tianlong, to the plague, to the Snake Clan issue, to Liwei's possession, and now this...
The utter and complete blackening of, not just his name, but his dragon form.
And there was the ever widening chasm between him and Tianlong...
Bailong simply could not think of a way to clear his name at this moment, and concentrated, activating the Space Manipulation technique.
~"Regular Teleportation can bring you all out of here."~ He telepathically informed Tianlong before he vanished.
~"I'll offer you an explanation...!"~
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Bailong returned to the heart of Caoyang at once, where Liwei awaited him.
"A-Bai!" She ran out sensing his aura, but froze when she saw him. "B- Black!"
Bailong sighed internally...
Though it broke his heart, he could understand why Tianlong had run from him.
He was surely scary in this form, and he braced his heart for the same fear and disgust on Liwei's face.
But she suddenly ran to him, leaping up to place a palm on his massive forehead. "A-Bai, what happened?!" Her voice rang out.
"And how much Sunfire do I need for purging someone this large?!!"
Even with the weight of everything on his shoulders, a guffaw of laughter burst from Bailong's mouth, though it sounded a bit like a rumbling grunt of thunder!
But somehow, with Liwei's warm acceptance, he transformed back into his human form and instantly pulled Liwei into a hug.
He was flooded with warmth which made the grim situation easier to swallow, and he didn't feel as hopeless.
'Surely, I can still turn things around... Right?!'
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