Tales of Demons and Gods : The Legend of Xiao Ning'Er

The door swung open as her grandfather hurriedly hobbled out on his walking stick with an enormous smile on his face.

"You've finally come to visit this old man after so long," he said, pretending to put on a hurt expression, but at the same time opening his arms wide as she ran over to give him a warm hug. Although he was hunched over and looked unsteady on his legs, his eyes glowed with a fierce vitality as he looked upon his favourite granddaughter, proudly observing that she had grown significantly taller and stronger during her year in the Holy Orchid Institute.

"Hmmm?? Ning'Er! What this? Have you reached Silver rank???" His mouth hung open in amazement as it hit him that she was only 14 years of age. Although his body had grown more frail over the years, his soul perception had remained at a very high level. In fact, the main reason why the Sacred Family had not completely dissolved and absorbed the Winged Dragon Family was because of him.

As the previous patriarch of the clan, he had been the only 5-Star Black Gold ranked warrior of his generation and any generation after, and the family's hopes had rested on him to reach Legend rank. Unfortunately, he had taken an ill-advised risk to battle a Winged Dragon in order to grab at an opportunity to advance the clan. Although he managed to escape with his life, his body had been afflicted with a rare type of lightning poison which continuously ravaged his blood vessels and meridians from within. Over the years, he had fought through wave after wave of the onslaught of the poison with his internal soul force, and this had severely weakened his physical body.

Although the Sacred Family had enough resources to easily defeat him, they would have to pay a significant cost, especially if he decided to use up his remaining life-force in an all-out suicide attack. Therefore, they had decided to slowly squeeze the life out of the Winged Dragon Family through their extensive business network and marketplaces, and slowly take over the properties as the family became more and more desperate. At the end of the day, this process was even more enjoyable to most of the leaders of the Sacred Family because they could watch the other party squirm and struggle in the face of inevitable defeat without incurring any risk to their own people.

"Yes, grandpa!" Ning'Er replied him. "I had quite a few fortuitous encounters during the past year and I'm currently at 4-Star Silver rank. I even soul-formed while I was still bronze ranked!"

She could visibly see her grandpa trembling with shock and happiness. After a long pause, he said with a voice choked with pride, "I want to hear all about it. Tonight, we will celebrate! Your grandma is out at the market right now but I'll send a servant to buy food befitting of a celebration!"

The entire evening he had not scolded Ning'Er, only asking questions from time to time to understand more about the dangerous, yet undoubtedly advantageous encounters she had faced. He held a different perspective on caution than his wife, remembering that in his younger days, he had been considered one of the geniuses of Glory City before his disastrous encounter with the Winged Dragon. He understood, more than most people, that danger and fortune went hand in hand, and that the more challenges one could overcome, the more these life-threatening situations would become a whetting stone to sharpen a warrior to grow stronger.

As Ning'Er told her stories, he could sense that she had not actually rushed headlong into danger at every opportunity. She had followed her heart with strength and conviction, and trusted her instincts to respond with wisdom and courage in the situations she had found herself in. He was especially astounded by the talismans that she had created and used ingeniously in her dangerous encounters. He even doubted that he would have been able to apply them so fluidly and strategically in moments of crisis despite understanding their applications.

They talked late into the night and after her grandmother went to sleep, her grandfather sat silently, sipping his wine and looking at her thoughtfully. Finally, he whispered, "Follow me, I want to show you something."

She walked slowly behind him, following his hobbling pace towards a reinforced room in the middle of the house. As he unlocked the various locks on the door, he turned to provide an explanation to her. "Although most of our Winged Dragon Family's main treasures are in the main vault in Glory City, there are some which have personally belonged to me since my days as Patriarch."

He affectionately patted a magnificent set of armour the colour of deep red and a intimidating silver halberd with a deadly, curved blade. "This was what helped me to gain the nickname, The Blood Warrior...my Bloodfire Armour and White Flash Halberd." He paused for a moment as he remembered his many adventures in his younger days.

He then reached inside and pulled out a folded piece of beautiful material that looked like a very fine, semi-translucent cloth. He carried it reverently in his arms and handed it to Ning'Er.

"This is an exotic item that I came upon in a secret auction of which I managed to win the bid only after using most of my life's savings at that time. It was created by a master craftsman together with a Grandmaster Inscriptionist during the era of the Sacred Empire when humans were the dominant race in the Divine Continent. The mysterious material that it is made from comes from the wings of the Heavenly Golden Cicada."

He noted her confused expression and continued, "Once refined, this incredible equipment will allow anyone Silver rank or above to fly through the air effortlessly! A warrior would usually need to reach Legend rank before activating a high-tier technique to enable flight, or would need to integrate with a demon spirit with flying capabilities, but the incredible thing is that this uses far less soul power to activate than both these methods."

Her eyes shone with amazement and gratitude as she held the precious equipment in her hands and stroked its silky material. "Thank you, grandpa! This is too precious...are you sure you want to give this to me?"

He replied, "I was tempted to give it to your father as a congratulatory present when he became Patriarch but I always felt that even though his cultivation and work ethic are solid, he lacks the potential to grow past Black Gold rank. I decided to hold on to it, waiting for someone with greater potential who could bring the clan to new heights!"

He looked straight into her eyes, "Use it well, Ning'Er, these wings have helped me escape from some of my most desperate situations in the past and I hope it does the same for you. Now, go along and refine it as soon as possible to make it yours. Grandma has already prepared your room."

She went back to the room and sat on the bed as she admired the complex wind inscriptions covering every inch of the wings like beautifully embroidered lace. Even with her deep inscription knowledge, she had never encountered inscriptions with the power to enable flight before, and she was struck with awe as she thought about the immense skill required to inscribe on such unique and fine material.

She identified the core of the inscriptions and dripped a few drops of blood from her finger on it. She then immersed her consciousness into refining the core which would enable her to control it, where at the appropriate moment, she lifted the wings up and placed them on her bare back. She felt a sharp burst of pain as she felt parts of the spidery framework burrow through her skin and latch onto her spine. Her soul force slowly integrated the intricate inscriptions with the nerves in her spine and after awhile, she began to feel as though she had gained two new limbs as she unfurled the wings to spread outwards, around two yards wide on each side.

With another thought, she folded them back inwards and was pleasantly surprised that they formed a barely noticeable layer merely half an inch thick on her back when not in use. The only issue to be resolved was that she would need to manufacture armour with a release mechanism to open up sufficient gaps at her back to allow her new wings to open out properly, but this should be simple enough to commission from any decent blacksmith.

Next, she reopened her wings and controlled them with her consciousness to flap in the room, faster and faster until they blurred in the air and hummed as she felt her body lifting into the air. Because there were no air currents in the room, it was relatively simple to remain balanced and hover in one place. She fluttered in the air in the same position for five minutes to assess the amount of drain on her soul force and was pleasantly surprised to find that she only used less than 30 percent of the soul force required to merge and use the powers of a demon spirit based on her previous lifetime's experience. She then tried tilting the body to each side until she went too far one way and fell to the ground with a loud thump.

This was going to have to take some practice, especially with unpredictable winds once she went outside, but she did have plenty of experience from before and so she was assured that it wouldn't take long to master. With that in mind, she finally decided to get some rest, knowing that there would only be another three or four hours until daylight.