Legends of Ogre Gate

The time was easily established: the Demon Emperor’s yearly ritual performed at dawn during the spring equinox. From the information in Third Zhou’s report, it was called the Heavenly Submission Ritual, and was one of the key ways the Demon Emperor maintained power in Qi Xien. Although he would be surrounded by guards, he would be directly in the open, and relatively isolated from the rest of this palace.

The main question was how to charge into the square where the ritual would be held. Some of the leaders argued that they should open a portal directly into the square itself, perhaps right in front of the altar that the Demon Emperor would be standing in front of.

But in the end, Sima Zikang’s arguments won out.

The final plans having been made, the Dragon-Phoenix Sect assembled just outside of the cave network, in that time before sunrise that was often the darkest part of night. Like most organizations, the Dragon-Phoenix Sect had all sorts of ceremonial robes befitting the status and rank of each member. But on this day, they did not dress for ceremony, they dressed for a fight.

The members of the Golden Dragon Division wore golden garments, and the Pure Phoenix Division wore silver. Some people imitated Sunan and wore armor. Others, such as Flying Death Li Jiahui who relied heavily on Qinggong techniques, wore none.

Everyone was armed to the teeth.

After the group was assembled, Sun Mai and Mao Yun erected the magical door, and then Sun Mai placed his hand onto its surface.

Looking over his shoulder, he made eye contact with Sunan, who gave a slight nod.

No words were spoken.

Sun Mai closed his eyes, and the door began to vibrate.

**

To the west of the Southern Desert, high in the Banyan Mountains, was a fortress that loomed like a glimmering blue specter over the lands of Qi Xien.

It was a palace fortress, designed both to awe and to defend, with numerous towers climbing into the sky, and countless tunnels dug into the rock of the mountains beneath it. Similar to Heart’s Ridge Prison, its architecture did not seem native to Qi Xien.

Currently, it was dawn, and the full moon was just visible in the west as the sun peeked up over the lands to the east.

As the sunlight spread out, one of the first things it touched was a huge open square constructed at the very west of the palace, which had been built in a way to perfectly capture the dawn sun during the spring equinox.

As it happened, today was the equinox, and a grand ceremony was being held in that square.

Visible on the west side of the square was an altar crafted from pearl and gold, standing in front of which was the most feared person in the entire world: Yao Feng, the Demon Emperor.

At first glance, he almost looked like an ordinary person, except that he was shorter than average, and quite stocky. His facial features did not seem like someone from Qi Xien, but were not so foreign as to be alien. He wore a violet robe embroidered with golden creatures of myth, as well as a crown of pearls and numerous types of jewelry, from golden rings to diamond necklaces.

Arrayed in military formation a few paces behind him were a group of figures who would strike fear into the hearts of anyone who looked at them: Ogres. There were fifteen of them, all with slightly different facial features and builds, but each and every one of them tall and powerfully built, and clad in ceremonial armor. These were none other that the Demon Emperor’s personal guard, who all held the rank of general in his army, but never left his side.

Lined up behind the Ogres was a group of about fifty people, most of whom appeared to be ordinary people from Qi Xien, intermixed with shorter, stockier individuals who seemed more akin to the Demon Emperor in their facial features. Most of the group was made up of men, but there were also women. All of them wore identical robes, and were armed with long, pitch-black spears. This mixed group of fighters were all elite martial artists assigned to guard the Demon Emperor, experts who were fanatically devoted to him, but did not quite rank as high as the Ogre guards.

Behind the Ogre guards and elite fighters was a sizeable force of ordinary soldiers, armor-clad and well-armed, and then a large group made up of what appeared to be court officials, servants, and the like.

At the head of this congregated group of devotees, the Demon Emperor stood in front of his grand altar, hands held aloft as he prayed for his empire.

**

The Dragon-Phoenix Sect entered Yao Gong Palace via a subterranean chamber almost directly beneath the large square. From there, they proceeded through the tunnels as quickly as possible, cutting down the handful of guards they ran into before they could even make a cry of warning or sound an alarm. At a certain corridor the force split up. The Golden Dragon Division headed south and the Pure Phoenix Division went north.

**

At one point in the ceremony, one of the Ogres stepped forward and offered a ceremonial jade pitcher to the Demon Emperor.

The Demon Emperor took the pitcher, which was filled with the fresh blood of children, and stepped forward to pour it over the altar.

However, before he could even take a second step, his eyes narrowed.

**

The shining Wyrm strides ever north,

The graceful Bird due south takes wing,

The Profound Masters and expert fighters of the Golden Dragon Division poured out of the southern entrance of the square, using Qinggong to move as quickly and silently as possible. Without the slightest hesitation, they began to unleash deadly attacks upon the gathered forces in the square.

They did not discriminate between soldiers and servants; with the exception of Third Zhou, every person in the palace was a devoted follower of the Demon Emperor, and was not deserving of mercy.

Within moments of the Golden Dragon Division’s appearance in the square, the Pure Phoenix Division’s fighters burst onto the scene from the north, similarly unleashing savage violence onto the Demon Emperor’s forces.

The sudden surprise attack caught the people in the square completely off guard, and dozens were killed in the opening salvo.

However, even the lowest-ranking soldiers in Yao Gong Palace could be considered top-rated fighters in the empire as a whole. Most of them were veterans of many battles, killers whose hands were so stained with blood they could never be washed clean. Within moments of the initial attack, the ordinary soldiers had shields raised to defend themselves, and were also unleashing attacks of their own.

As for the officials, servants, and other non-fighters, they scattered in terror.

The goal of the Dragon-Phoenix Sect was simple; they needed to clear enough space within the square to get into formation. Once the formation was in place and its power focused on the Demon Emperor, they would be mostly safe.

But there was no way the Demon Emperor’s forces would simply let them get into formation right then and there!

From the moment that the first of the Profound Masters leaped out into the square, to when the non-fighters began fleeing in terror and the soldiers turned to fight, only a few moments passed.

Even as the ordinary soldiers began to form up in ranks, the elite fighters and Ogre guards also turned.

And of course, the Demon Emperor himself noticed what was happening, and his eyes began to flicker in rage. Never before in his entire time ruling the lands of Qi Xien had any enemy ever dared to assault him openly, much less in the middle of Yao Gong Palace, the seat of his power and the most well-defended fortress in existence.

Snarling, he tossed the jade pitcher down, splashing blood all over the ground, and then began to perform an incantation gesture with both hands, simultaneously chanting words in a strange language.

Meanwhile, more fighters were rushing into the square, releasing countless deadly attacks of incredible power.

Illusory beasts and weapons slammed into the soldiers left and right. Fire and lightning fell from the sky. Booms filled the air. Blood spattered everywhere, and the aroma of charred flesh began to fill the square.

Before the Demon Emperor’s elite fighters could leap into action, dozens upon dozens of soldiers were killed. Some were decapitated, some crushed to death, some burned alive. Their shields did little good. Despite all of them being skilled Qi fighters, when facing the wrath of such a large group of top-level fighters, they were being cut down like dried weeds.

Sunan and Bao were in the lead, their expressions grim as they unleashed one attack after another in their attempt to blast the ordinary soldiers out of the way and begin to establish the formations.

But that was when the elite fighters waded into the mix, fighting back with powerful techniques that finally forced the Dragon-Phoenix Sect to begin to defend themselves.

And then the Ogres joined in, and the battle grew more intense.

However, it was in that moment that the Demon Emperor shouted something in a strange language and then threw his hands above his head.

Suddenly, the air above the square began to swirl faster and faster, picking up random objects from the battlefield such as dust, drops of blood, and even things like broken arrows and darts. The wind began to rotate faster and faster until it formed a black, screaming whirlwind.

Down in the square, fighters from both sides looked up, expressions of uncertainty and fear playing out on their faces as the whirlwind descended.

The Demon Emperor looked on with a cruel grin on his face as the tornado-like vortex touched down onto north side of the battlefield, right between the two opposing sides.

“Vortegan’s Whirling Catastrophe,” he murmured. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to see its destruction in action.”

The whirlwind began to zig and zag across the square, mostly mowing through the Phoenix Division forces, but occasionally swerving into the Demon Emperor’s men, some of whom were able to avoid the winds, but many of whom were picked up and hurled violently left and right. Before long, the vortex had reached the Dragon Division forces.

The Dragon-Phoenix Sect ranks were instantly thrown into chaos, with numerous fightering being thrown pell-mell across the square. Even some of the leaders were caught up in the destruction, including Mao Yun and Li Jiahui. As for the Demon Emperor’s men, the front line of the fighting was currently made up of ordinary soldiers, so many of the unlucky ones who ended up caught in the maelstrom were severely injured or even killed.

After several long seconds which seemed like minutes, the whirlwind faded away, and the chaos was over.

As of that moment, the Dragon-Phoenix Sect forces were completely disorganized. Mao Yun, Li Jiahui, and several other members of the sect had been thrown over the heads of the enemy soldiers and were now laying on the ground right in front of the elite fighters and Ogres. Even Sunan had been affected, and was sent staggering backward several paces before he lost control and tumbled into a sitting position.

It was at that point that the Demon Emperor took a step forward, simultaneously shoving his sleeves back to reveal powerfully muscled arms.

“You think insects like you qualify to fight with the King of the Pure Ones?” he growled. When he spoke, it was in a strange, clipped accent the likes of which no one in the Dragon-Phoenix Sect had ever heard before. Taking another step forward, he raised his voice. “I slaughtered warriors twice as powerful as you before your grandparents were born. I’ve drunk the blood of more enemies than you have ever seen. I’ve lived through traps and ambushes ten times more devious and a hundred times more deadly than this little child’s game. So unless you have something other than parlor tricks up your sleeve, the time has come for me to rip you to pieces!”

With every sentence he spoke, the volume of his voice increased until he was speaking in a roar. At the same time, he continued to walk forward, and as he did, magical forces surged within him, causing him to grow physically larger. Something like a majestic divine light began to shine around him, something which struck fear into the hearts of the Dragon-Phoenix Sect, and simultaneously, caused passion and faith to rise up in his own followers.

Within moments, he was double his original size, whereupon he clenched his hands into fists and leaped up into the air.