The Dragon Amulet

Shen Nu's mind was instantly overwhelmed by the knowledge that bombarded his mind as soon as the amulet had finished fusing with his c.h.e.s.t. The path of the Dragon was seared into his head, Dragon tattoos littered his body, his eyes flashed an Azure colour and he passed out. The crying woman had vanished as soon as Shen Nu picked up the Amulet.

As soon and his body passed out Shen Nu's essence was transported to his sea of consciousness and as if she knew what was happening, the young woman was sitting on a stone chair in front of 3 huge dragon statues. As Shen Nu's avatar appeared, she instantly ran towards him and hugged him, not giving him the chance to reject her as he had done before.

Stunned by the sudden affection, Shen Nu stood still unsure of what to do, the woman then slowly moved his hands from by his side and placed them around her and leaned into his c.h.e.s.t. She then whispered "That is enough for now, no more until you can remember me."

She pushed herself away from Shen Nu's c.h.e.s.t and fell onto one knee, she bowed to him and said" Your Empress greets you Dragon Emperor. I will guide you back to the Divine Realm where you belong, I hope you reward my service with a body as well as a chance at getting our former relationship back."

As if awoken by the woman kneeling in front of him, Shen Nu shook his head and for the first time since they met, he looked at the woman in front of him with respect.

She had a light build, a modest body and beautiful golden blonde hair. The feature that attracted Shen Nu however was her mesmerising dark green eyes that stared back at him with devotion.

For reasons unknown to him at the time, Shen Nu walked up to the kneeling woman and pulled her up off of the floor and into a loving hug.

Realising what he had just done on his own violation, he gingerly let go of the woman and asked her" What is the best way for me to gain strength now that I have the ability to?"

With a slight smile on her face, she explained" We will be sparing none stop for the next year to train your body, we will be gathering both pure and elemental Qi so you can master the path of the body and mind. Finally I will help teach you how to use your spirit to sense and attack others without leaving a trace that it was you."

Shen Nu nodded his head and asked"Shall we begin? Wait before we begin, may I know your name?"

The woman was visibly deflated by the question, she turned to Shen Nu and said" I will not tell you my real name as that is for you to remember, however you always called me Lily after the flowers in our garden."

Shen Nu smiled and said" Lily is a beautiful name and it suits you."

Lily didn't respond to that but directed Shen Nu to sit in front of the three Dragon statues, she smiled and said" Now your journey begins, every day in here is equivalent to three days in the normal world. We will be working non stop for the foreseeable future. You will need to be at least an advanced practitioner in all three sections before you will be allowed to leave here."

Shen Nu sat in front of a giant Azure dragon and began to enter a state of meditation, this state would last nearly 1 and a half years in the normal world. Nothing really changed with the disappearance of Shen Nu, the young men of the Shen clan found someone else to beat senseless. The only one to notice his disappearance, Shen Mei eventually gave up looking as well, no one else cared enough to try.

The city of Harrowgate was preparing for a cultivation tournament, every four years, the major clans and the royal family would host a cultivation tournament that would reward the winner with a scroll of a unique cultivation technique of their choice. The tournament would have 4 qualifying rounds, hosted by each of the major clans while the final round was hosted by the royal family. A cultivator had to place within the top ten of a qualifying round before they could attend the final tournament.

The tournament was seen as a holiday by the people of the Azure Empire with thousands of people coming from all over the empire to see the best cultivators their country could offer. The clans used this event to recruit the best into their ranks and the royal family did the same, the tournament was split into age groups not by ability. The groups were 16-18, 20-24 and 25-30 respectively.

After a year and a half ( 4 and a half years for Him) Shen Nu walked out of the ruins, he had grown nearly a foot during the year and a half he was gone, his scruffy long black hair was long gone, in its place was short black hair with a streak of azure blue through the centre. His weak body was replaced with a pseudo-scale like body, his muscles and flesh immensely stronger than it once was.

Blue flames ignited around his feet as he walked, small azure wings could be seen hovering out of his back. Shen Nu clicked his fingers and the flames vanished as did his wings. His arms now had a red dragon tattoo on one arm and an Azure one on the left, he c.h.e.s.t was occupied by a coiling black dragon.

While he walked towards the city of Harrowgate, he simply uttered" It is time to release the Dragon..."