"It’s only a couple more days before the showcase of the new talent to the nobility."

"I know."

"Then what are you gonna do with her?"

"How will you handle it if they react negatively to her?"

"I will think of something."

"You better, she is a fierce girl. I didn't even know she confronted Baron Soga's son until I got back and the word of mouth spread to me."

"..."

"Cui Xinya. What are you thinking?"

"I don't know."

"Well you know I will always have your back, but if you should risk too much I have to put my deity and my students first. You understand that right Cui?"

"I wouldn't expect anything else Yeo-Jung."

…

Sada Yoshida watched his student hold his sword a long sword meant for sweeping strikes and keeping the enemy at a distance its weakness lay in that it could not maneuver easily in close quarters. Ezio form was good and solid from years of having good tutors, but he was too predictable and never strayed too far from standard form; which made his style appear to be fluid and professional, but lacked the key to what made a truly great swordsman. Making each style your own. It had been several years since he last had a student he felt had as much potential as this young boy. However if he could not break past his conventional wisdom he would forever be stuck as merely a good swordsman.

"You need to rely less on mind and more on instinct Ezio. Don’t default to your innate standard training forms any enemy or opponent worth their salt will predict it and exploit it."

Sada charged at Ezio his own sword drawn colliding with him with sheer power. Ezio moved to side step his attack, but again his master predicted his move and elbowed him with a rapid hit to the face sending him tumbling to the ground. The area which was struck swelled ever so slightly and he could feel a small throbbing in the area.

Master Sada is simply too good. How do I beat a man who is considered one of the best swordsman in Xi’an?

"Not good enough young Ezio."

Yoshida Sada looked down at his student disappointed. Not sure whether the boy will break through the first barrier of being a great swordsman before the talent showcase.

…

Rize sat up in her bed, the day before had been physically exhausting, but she was just happy that she lived at this point. It was shocking to have a man like the crown prince save your life let alone the life of someone like her. Perhaps she has been too hard on society, maybe they weren’t all judgmental? Grabbing her gear she quickly threw on the tunic and strapped the katana daggers to her back secured by a red sash around her waist.

After checking herself over once more in the mirror she ran out to meet her master. She looked to see her master looking out at the barely rising sun. Her face turned towards Rize and a dangerous glint flashed in her eyes.

Oh…shh

As she slowed down seeing the danger her master was already on top of her giving her a strong open handed slap across the face leaving a red hand print across her cheek. The slap left a slight sting that quickly turned into a tingling sensation.

"Let me make this clear" she said in a very serious tone "should you ever do something as stupid as you did yesterday again. You won't need to worry about almost dying, because I will personally kill you myself. Have I made myself clear?" Master Xinya said sternly.

Nodding Rize stood up "yes!" clutching her face as she looked at her master with a bit of contempt.

"Good. Now I believe it is time we test your abilities beyond just using weapons which thus far have been satisfactory."

Leading Rize outside to the main courtyard Master Xinya turned to face Rize.

“Minako Rize your deity is the god of venom. Though I do not know a lot about the nature of your deity it is your job to learn and adapt your combat style to better suite your abilities.” With a flick of Xinya's wrist a small ball of Ki energy formed turning into a rotating ball of water "the nature of my Ki is water I am part of a sea god familia."

Rize noticed this was the first time her master ever mentioned her deity anyway which she found odd considering the whole purpose of this academy was to train those who were blessed by the gods. It was odd since many of the other masters and disciples talked unendingly about their blessing.

"Rize there are only three things I want you to remember when it comes to using your abilities." She let the spinning ball stop and change to various shapes in her hand "the level you can perform at is based solely on how good your relationship with your deity is. It is vital that you commune regularly with them and give whomever your deity is the respect they deserve. Remember as human like it when you talk with them however they also do not want you treat them like a human either. A deity is an ancient and powerful being they have an enormous amount of pride and will not take kindly to disrespect. Now that isn't to say some deities are not different than others, but the fact remains that this general rule should not be ignored." Flicking her wrist the water ball shot from her hand smacking into one of the wooden training posts making a perfectly round hole in the training equipment, "do you understand?"

"Yes master, but how can I know what abilities I have access to? I mean I already know about the muscle constricting venom from my first battle, but I have no idea how much more I will be able to do. How can I find out without using potentially fatal venoms on others?"

"Good question and the answer I have for you is unfortunate. Your deity is quite unknown I've researched since you first told me your deity’s name and only minor references of serpent gods being popularly worshipped in the time prior to the founding of the empire is all I could find. So that is something you will have to discover yourself. Study the changes in your Ki and you will learn a lot that is half the battle when it comes to cultivation is reaching a new understanding in how Ki operates."

Looked at her hands as she let her Ki spill out of her palms again turning them into a greenish hue again. What her master said made sense to Rize, but she was still unsure how she would understand the nature of Naga-Jin easily he was so fickle and never talked for long to her so how would she learn more about him if he never spoke to her on personal terms. Rize needed to understand the nature of Naga-Jin if she was going to improve that meant that she needed to understand the nature he represented. She was going to have to understand the nature of venoms and serpents that was the only way until she could know him more personally.

Well… let’s think about this. Serpents in imperial literature call them cunning and vicious. That they do not often associate with others of even the same species. Venom is the weapon of choice for many serpents and there are countless varieties of it. Perhaps the way to understand it is to…

Clenching her small hand into a fist she looked up at her master who had formed another ball of water. Looking at her she could see her master smiling. She knew that she just realized what she needed to do. It was dangerous, but it was her only option.

…

Cui Xinya would never say it, but she was quite impressed and proud of her student. She knew instantly when Rize had realized what her path forward to learning about cultivation was. In reality Cui Xinya had lied to her disciple about not know much about Naga-Jin, but it was best to let her learn on her own. Based on the little information she had gathered so far the serpent gods from before the empire was extremely vile gods when the first eternal emperor had sailed from the Island continent of Hirosimada there was one group of people whom they encountered living in the Sato eastern mountain range. They were violent and powerful it took the emperor himself and his armies over two hundred years before they were complete wiped out. Since then it had been well over a thousand years and the worship of these deities died out completely with the destruction of their followers those gods had no backing in the heavens and because of the war they caused the new gods of the empire exiled them from the heavens. The serpent gods themselves were just as vicious and cunning and it is clear that Naga-Jin obviously had bad intentions for her disciple. What worried her more was that the information on Naga-Jin was small, but the little that was there was troubling. Naga-Jin was only mentioned in passing as a particularly vicious serpent god and that he disappeared slightly prior to the complete loss of the serpent gods worshipers.

Cui Xinya knew that her student likely did not know whom this god was when she entreated him for his blessing, but what concerned her most was who set up a shrine to the god in the academy grounds. Why would anyone knowingly set up a shrine to such vile and arguably evil deity?

Minako Rize you may have stumbled into a world and fight greater than something us mortals can comprehend this maybe a fight amongst the gods themselves.

"Rize." Her student looked over to her, her blue eyes as fierce as ever. Even when she wasn't even angry.

"I think you should go back to where you first communed with your god and take a closer look in the area around it. You may be able to learn more there. Be careful Naga-Jin’s nature is still unknown and it is important to go to him with respect and humbleness."

Cui Xinya was determined to find the shrine and commune with this dark deity to discover his true intentions. Even if she had to use her own disciple.

…

The moon had risen high into the sky. It was a clear night making it brighter than usual. The firebugs filled the night as Rize snuck out of her room. The cool night air of Xi’an was always refreshing and reminded Rize of a simpler time in her life. At times she even envied the commoners of the city. Her goal tonight wasn’t to enjoy an evening walk. It was to commune more directly with Naga-Jin and perhaps learn a bit more about him.

I need to get to the shrine again only then will I truly understand my deity. Don’t let him slither his way out of revealing some of his past Rize! She thought trying to pump herself up.

She went to the same obscure place in the academy that she had found the shrine the first time. Jumping from tree to tree careful not to let anyone follow she landed in front of the shrine. She approached it slowly and this time rather than rush herself she looked carefully to see if she missed anything from the first time she came.

The shrine was still run down, but she could see her improvements were still intact meaning no one had come across it as of yet.

Maybe I should comeback regularly and improve the shrine more? Would Naga-Jin appreciate that?

On the back of the shrine behind the candles she had placed last time was a stone tablet she had missed before it was crudely made and the words were faded, but she could still make out the meaning even though the words used were a bit old fashioned?

Naga-Jin serpent of venom, this unworthy one asks for you to show me your true nature. Lead me by my hand so I might see your strength. I plead this of you as your devout follower, mighty Naga-Jin. Show me the truth of who you are lord of venom. Your follower asks this of you.

As Rize finished her prayer several hissing sounds came from around her she looked around to see dozens of serpents surrounding her. Many were just ordinary commonly seen snakes, while a couple were tree vipers which were highly venomous and sought after in this part of the empire. Each one lifted their heads in unison as more and more came out of the surrounding woods. Their tongues flicked out as they stared at her. A feeling of unease filled her as she looked at the serpents all around her.

The largest of the tree vipers opened its mouth to reveal two fangs with the rest following suite. Even the common non-venomous snakes opened their mouths as well. Rize looked around her cautiously. What is going on? What is Naga-Jin playing at? She thought to herself as she looked around her carefully watching all the snakes around her. At that moment the largest viper struck out biting her ankle and not releasing itself pumping it’s venom into her blood stream. "AHHH!" she screamed as the venom seeped into her veins sending a burning sensation in that region.

As it retracted all the other dozens of serpents began to strike her. They continued to strike until her body was littered in bite marks. Rize felt her whole body seeping out blood slowly. Her entire being was burning agony so much so that she couldn't even open her mouth to scream she could only groan from the intensity parts of her body cramped while sometimes the burning overtook the pain followed by a feeling of drowsiness which was quickly turned back to searing pain. After nearly five minutes of the intense pain sensations all around her body, something strange happened to her Ki it began to absorb the venom in her body and the pain began to fade slowly. Closing her eyes she began to meditate through the pain and entered her Ki island to see a radical transformation taking place. The waters surrounding it had taken on a milky dull green look similar to the venom of the tree viper. Rize realized that the blessing she received from the serpent god wasn't just that she could use venom she could absorb it and learn to manipulate her Ki energy into it. She remembered out the serpents had approached without her seeing or hearing them until she was surrounded. The nature of a viper was to be silent and unseen then to strike from the shadows without anyone being the wiser. It was at this moment that she knew what Naga-Jin was he was both the cure and the sickness of this world. As the snake devours it stops the rat from becoming too common at the same time its bite can kill someone and that same bite holds the cure from which alchemists developed anti-venom potions.

Rize opened her eyes seeing that the night had worn on and it was only five more hours before she had to awaken. So she stood up and bowed to her deity’s shrine one last time before darting away into the darkness. With a quick prayer to her deity Naga-Jin.