Molten blood spat at the elderly man, his cane long forgotten. Skin blistering and bubbling from the constant heat, his breath was ragged in his body. The dry hot air making it difficult to even breath or swallow. Saliva naturally evaporated in a single moment, as the man heaved a hearty sigh.
He reached inside. Looking at the internal element he had cultivated all these years. A vast network of mountains, the likes of which touched the clouds. He reached inside and grabbed those stone protrusions with huge, outstretched hands. Taking multiple hills and molding them like clay.
In response.
The Earth rumbled and shifted.
Tectonic plates, the very thing that both land and sea rested atop; crumbled and ripped apart.
Blood spurted from the aged man's nose and mouth. Spilling and creating a very small puddle of a similar colour to the invading red sea.
His eyes rolled into the back of his head as just the whites were shown. Fingers bending at an unnatural angle as his body twisted and shook. Trembling as if the weight of the entire world came bearing down upon him.
The hunch he had developed over years and years was revealed for its true nature. He gradually began standing upright. The robe he adorned himself with was shed, on his back an inhuman growth. That which was a signifier of advanced cultivators. He had fused with the Earth itself.
A huge mound of stone.
It could be called no less than a boulder, though it was in the shape of a mountain. It was growing from the spine of this man. He walked whilst supporting that huge growth. A mass of such proportion that it should be impossible for the average man to even stand unassisted.
Not for this man.
Every single thing about this aged man was a ruse that he purposely shown to the world. A careful act that was decided from the beginning to the end, everything to his stage directions and the words he chose to speak.
From the carefully curated looks of hospitality and kindness he shown each and every villager. A look that was often taken for ignorance, weakness and dementia. To the kind words he shared with his grandson. Those of compassion and wisdom to set his grandson on the right path.
He was a seemingly well intentioned man with sagely wisdom unbefitting the times.
The truth could not be further misplaced.
All of it was a fakery.
This man was rage incarnate. He found more familiarity in the Earth's hot embrace, of the bubbling temperature beneath the surface than he did with any other human.
But he did what he must.
He acted as Yu's parents would have wanted him to. He delivered their words, words that he could never fully comprehend, to the boy. To ensure their legacy was passed on. Given to their progeny, it's true resting place. All the while his only real thoughts were of malice and revenge.
He knew and he remembered.
The earth continued to whine and rumble like a toddler that had been reprimanded. The dam they had painstakingly risen, moving further and further away. The entirety of the Baron's land was lowered, whilst the untouched haven beyond it, the land where Yu and his grandfather lived, had been raised.
All over the Baron's continent, water rushed as half the continent plunged slightly lower than sea level, the ocean encroached upon the land, waves of blue ocean fighting against the scarlet waves that rushed across the surface. Crystalline structures of red glass forming as the superheated blood rapidly dropped in temperature. Winding red trees and spikes hardened as a layer of red became the new ground that all denizens of this place must walk upon. All the while in the centre of the landmass, the Baron's Goblet was undisturbed. The crater acting as a natural defense against the invading waters.
The old man looked upon the sight with a faint sense of schadenfreude.
He had shown his true strength, that of the peak. One of the strongest cultivators. Of a land long lost and run into ruin. The last ancestors of a forgotten people, Yu being the only living example left.
They weren't distinct by race, gender, etc.
It was by a simple passing of ideals.
The kingdom of the Imperial Lotus.
There was only one notable cultivator of the Lotus of Piety. A fool of a man derided throughout history, his name long forgotten, struck from history books in an attempt to flanderize his actions and morals.
The one fool to dream of a kingdom held together by a flower crown.
No servitude. No compulsion or coercion.
The simple choice to serve.
The old man stood atop his pedestal peering down at the Baron's Goblet. The ground surrounding it was a jewel, red glass as far as the eye could see. The only unfortunate aspect was that the sea hadn't drowned the lot of them, the old man thought aloud.
It was the birth of a new continent.
The very landscape of this world had been changed on the whim of a single cultivator. The last to do it was the great Bloody Baron. He had transformed the Earth to become a crucible of his own desire. Through years of toil and planning.
The result was a desolate wasteland of screaming cattle, dead trees and debris washed away with the crimson storm.
In comparison; this old man had transformed the land within a single day. Lowering the surface level of the Baron's lands and raising the land beyond it. A huge platform that jutted out from the world could be seen on the horizon.
Word would eventually spread; that a cultivator of such strength had made himself known. Rather than let that information slowly trickle out, make yourself known. Let every single one of your enemies know of your continued existence, scream it to the world. Don't let them find you by chance. Don't let circumstance take you, or allow the enemy to attack by surprise. Control their very knowledge.
"So long as my body has breath, I'll bring you all to me, then send you six feet under; in a coffin of my own choosing. I'm quite done hiding." The elderly man thought to himself. Gazing over the useless tide that beat away at the land mass, way beneath him. All the blood in the Goblet couldn't reach this height.
The elderly man remarked to himself; "Come, all who dare." A message that was sent to the entire world, as he looked down from the highest seat on this planet.
He coughed once more and lost consciousness looking over the valley he had created. The jutted rock formations growing out of his skin looked like an insurmountable mountain from those gazing a distance away.
Truly.
He was indomitable.