Far away in a different land, bright red flames circled a robed figure, the roars and hisses of the creatures that lived there filled the air like birds in the human realm it was soothing to him, strange but then again he had always been an odd child.

A half-blood, the name plagued him for many years.

What an oddity, born of human mother and demon father, his parents killed for their sin and the child seeming human sent to the Hóng fènghuáng sect, where he was raised under the watchful eye of Master Na Nuan.

His time there was pleasant, days spent learning all the while his core burned red with the flames of his ancestry, with it he was able to cultivate leaps and bounds over his sect brothers.

He was a bright lad with a light that seemed to shine from within, liked by everyone who met him, pity he burned it all to ash.

Hua Fang sat over a fiery cliff watching the red lands, there he blended in perfectly.

 He puffed a breath of bright flames, the knowledge he had thought long lost had found its way back to him in the form of his Little Jingyi,

It felt like fate.

In his former sect Hai Jingyi was a quiet boy always meditating or reading his books, a strong lad whose eyes never left the pages of the sects scrolls, Master Na Nuan was ecstatic to have such a diligent student though he worried over his cold demeanour so Hua Fang was often asked to keep him company.

"This disciple just shy, have him help you in your tasks he might warm up to you." Master Na Nuan often said

To be frank neither parties were thrilled at that, he remembered the look of reluctance Hai Jingyi wore when Hua Fang dragged him out of his room to sit with the other disciples, though he sort of accepted it after the fifth time seeing as Hua Fang didn't give up he started going out of his way to look for him especially when it was to ask about how to improve his cultivation.

Such a diligent scholar.

Comparing the Hai Jingyi of now and then felt like comparing winter and spring, the former was colder, much colder.

Perhaps the shock of losing all he had known thawed the frost?

How surprised they all must have been when he suddenly arrived at their door with a horde of demons under his command after disappearing for a year.

The bright disciple blackened to a demon lord.

Master Na Nuan definitely was definitely surprised.

Why did he change?

Only two knew the answer to that and one of them was ash in the ruins of his old home.

In the long run, it was all pointless since the scrolls and secrets all perished in the fire. Did he regret it? Some fragment of him did but no one can call back yesterday only look to tomorrow.

He heard a bone snap underfoot, he sighed.

Yet another come to fight him, their bones would be added to those that filled the floor.

He turned expecting a legendary swordsman or starry-eyed cultivator ready to defeat him for the glory of those that walked the righteous path, instead he was met with a swirling mist and shadow.

That was new.

"Have you come to fight me?"

Perhaps it was a new kind of beast though the silhouette in the gloom told him it was a man.

"No," the shadow replied, "Why would a shadow fight a flame?"

Hua fang watched the strange creature, he could barely make out its  form now, just a mass of swirling smoke and shadow, he lit a flame in his hand

"I do not know care to tell me?"

The shadow smiled a human figure almost clear beneath the black haze

"What are you?" Hua Fang asked intrigued

"The shadow of the one who created this world."

"Really?" Hua Fang glared the bright flames around him trickling down like river water in a spring, stretching and seeking the shadow did not flinch,

"You do not believe me?" the shadow asked, "No matter you do not need to believe me, we seek the same thing after all."

"Which is?"

"You seek the power held by one, so do I."

The shadow glided over to him emptiness meeting his eyes

"You too seek little Jingyi?"

"Yes."

The flames burned hotter just as te had on the day he turned his home to ash, its red light dying all in its colours yet the shadow stayed the same as if consuming the light itself

"Then you are a rival, not a friend."

The shadow scoffed, "I can assure you I am a friend."

"Can you?"

"Indeed, I can," the black mass said coiling around him like a snake of dust and mist, "I could have killed you long before you knew I was here but I did not, isn't that a sign of friendship?"

Hua fang leapt out of its grasp, striking out with an open palm; red flames slicing through the whirlwind of shadow like a sharpened blade, the creature dodged its shadows parting like an ocean wave as a silhouette of a hand grabbed his foot and slammed him back on the bone cluttered earth, he felt his bones rattle, he spat blood.

Odd, how long had it been since he was injured?

"If you wish to live do not draw my anger, half-blood."The shadow hissed its face now close to his own, the cobra watching the hare.

He could see the figure more clearly now, the form beneath the shadows barely hidden, he smiled at the creature, 

"You know of my heritage, yet I know nothing about you." he signed for the fire in his blood to ignite a loud burst of flames crashing into the shadow,

It did not move, it didn't even budge.

"You dare attack me?"

"What if I do?"

"You aren't worthy, only Master can inflict a wound on me,"

"The creator of this world?"

"Yes," the shadow began walking towards him open, unguarded, unafraid. resentful energy filling the space between them killing intent a cold wind among the flames "you beings are not worthy of his affections and yet he holds you in such regard," the shadow hissed its swirls casting odd shadows around them 

"Its a terrible shame,"

"And how does my sect brother tie into this?"

the shadow paused,

"That is no concern of yours, you want to capture him so do I."

"if we are friends you can tell me. Comrades don't hold secrets."

"Lower beings should learn their place." the shadow hissed the waves in its mist becoming more volatile.

Hua Fang gave a laugh drier than the bones beneath him.

"You expect me to sacrifice a dog and a cock on an altar of earth knowing nothing?"¹ its a friend thing in a place called Yueh, guys would sacrifice a dog and cock and swear an oath of friendship.

"Isn't that what you beings call trust?" it asked 

Hua Fang smiled, this creature was interesting

"Alright, but when we get little Jingyi we shan't harm him I need him alive."

"What a coincidence, so do I."

"Then what do you need?"

The shadows form became clearer half revealing a man in with short black and white hair a strange mask hiding his face.

"An army of the undead."