The Locker:

"What the fuck has happened here?" Rigel screamed in his mind as he saw the body of the red-robed man impaled on the floor. He almost shouted in shock but stopped himself as he heard the sound of footsteps outside his room.

Rigel was stunned into silence by the entire chain of events, but he didn't have any time to sit in shock. His mind was trying to suppress the dread which was enveloping his heart because he knew that he had mere seconds to escape the tragedy which was about to befall him.

He didn't need to be a genius to guess his fate if someone discovered him alone with a corpse of a sect's disciple.

His instincts kicked in as his mind tried to find a way out of the situation. After his awakening, Rigel found that his hearing, all his senses and his sensitivity to the surroundings had increased to a great extent.

Even though it is known that cultivators are highly sensitive to their surroundings, Rigel didn't expect such a huge improvement by simple awakening. Awakening is a process when a normal human begins to sense and cultivate the Qi within nature. Usually, all cultivators experience awakening by the age of ten.

Awakening is the first of all basic steps in cultivation. Unless one can sense Qi, they can't cultivate. Although awakening was also a stage in the cultivation, it was nothing but the first step. It wasn't a breakthrough. However, Rigel felt as if his sensitivity had doubled after his awakening due to the recovery of his dantian.

What Rigel didn't know was that his senses didn't amplify. They just became clearer. Humans have incredible senses, but mundane world usually dulls them. Now that his dantian was recovered, Rigel's dull senses have been reactivated and were functioning at their full capacity. Thus, he felt as if his sensitivity has doubled.

Rigel could tell by the sound of the footsteps that the person outside was at a distance of fewer than twenty steps away from the room. That would take the person about ten seconds to arrive at his door. He trembled as he understood what was going to happen to him.

There was only one conclusion. The sect would link him to the red-robed man's murder. Having no alibi, Rigel would be in no position to prove his innocence.

Rigel gritted his teeth in anger as he looked at the table. His belongings were all on it. With a snort, he took out the knife from his backpack. His eyes showed a bitter expression deep in them, but they also showed indescribable determination.

"The person who schemed against me, you better hope that I will never find you. The day I find you, I swear that I will have my vengeance." Rigel muttered silently in a cold voice as he tightened his grip on his knife. His eyes were sharp and determined as he raised his hand and stabbed himself in the gut.

"Arrrrgh!"

Even though Rigel closed his mouth and bit his lip as he stabbed himself, a small voice nevertheless leaked out of his clenched teeth. Rigel fell on the ground, powerless and in pain, as blood began to flow out of his wound like a fountain.

He then raised his hand and then slashed his thigh. His eyes were red as he stabbed himself and his eyes turned blank as he slashed himself. Even though his eyes didn't shed a single tear, they showed the indescribable pain experienced by his soul.

Rigel threw the knife away and then rolled towards the corpse of the red robed man with ragged breathing. His mind was already engulfed in severe pain. Had he not experienced the pain of a shattered dantian, he would have long since passed out. The blood from his wounds mixed with that of the red robed man's making it impossible to differentiate between them.

At that exact moment, the door opened, and a man walked in. He too was a regular guard. Rigel could faintly see the shock in his eyes through his blood drenched eyes. He could see the shock turning into surprise as he saw the still breathing Rigel within the pool of blood.

Rigel watched as the shock turned into horror. A second later, the guard involuntarily trembled and shouted at the top of his lungs, "ELDER!!"

Finally unable to hold onto his consciousness for any longer, Rigel drifted into a long sleep.

......................

Rigel once again woke up in a mysterious space, only this time, it was filled with crimson clouds. The world within his bloodshot eyes resembled the world before him. It was filled with blood red clouds and had nothing besides those clouds.

Rigel looked around once again in confusion. The last time he woke up in this mysterious place, it was filled with black puddles which turned into the black sea, and now it was filled with crimson clouds.

"Just what is this place?" Rigel murmured silently as he stood up and thought, "It is definitely not a dream."

Suddenly Rigel remembered the voice he once heard inside this dimension. A voice which was all powerful, encompassing and which granted him a new dantian.

"Hello, Sir. Are you listening to me? I know that I don't deserve your attention, but I want to thank you for healing my dantian." Rigel said in a respectful voice hoping to find the owner of the voice.

"So you have lied to me, Rigel." A cold voice stunned Rigel as he stood there waiting for an answer.

The crimson clouds began to condense and then they began to drift apart revealing a white space Rigel within the mysterious space. Standing in between the crimson clouds and before Rigel was a person resembling him, at yet someone who wasn't him. He was Tal.

Rigel's face was cold as he glanced at the man before him. He had thought about a few possibility regarding Tal's identity, and all of them led to Rigel doubting his intentions.

Having been exposed, Rigel didn't lie any further. He only snorted and said, "So what if I did lie to you? I see no reason why I have to answer you truthfully."

Tal's face twitched slightly as he stared at Rigel. He then laughed lightly and said, "A candle burns the brightest before it dies out. Similarly, you are talking big even though you are going to die soon. Very soon."

Rigel's face twitched as he heard Tal. He suddenly had a very strange idea regarding the person who schemed against him. Rigel asked with a cold expression and a chilling voice, "So it was you who plotted the whole scheme to trap me."

Tal smiled lightly and said, "What makes you think so Rigel?"

Rigel narrowed his eyes and said in a cold voice, "Good acting there but unfortunately for you, I can sense your killing intent even if you were ten times better at acting."

Tal's smile faded away and was replaced with a cold expression. He snorted and said, "Alright, I was the one who killed the man. He was trying to kill you while you were asleep. I had no choice...."

Rigel laughed loudly and said, "Once again excellent acting Tal, but it is not enough to fool me. The man would have never killed me because I was in an infirmary with no guards, no bounds, and even my belongings weren't touched.

If I were taken in as a prisoner, I would have never gotten such treatment. Stop trying to fool me, Tal."

Tal smiled lightly and said in a calm voice, "So you aren't entirely dumb. That is good but what would you do if I killed you now and here. I highly doubt that you can even survive for a second with your meager skills."

That smile contained killing intent, and those eyes showed Rigel that Tal wasn't joking, but his instincts told him that he wasn't entirely telling him the truth either.

Rigel thus smiled lightly and said, "Go ahead. Kill me." Watching Tal's face, he smiled further and said, "What? Don't tell me you can't Tal. Of course, you can't. If you had the authority or power to kill me here, then you wouldn't have bothered to plan such an elaborate scheme. Would you, Tal? I definitely wouldn't."

Rigel's words swiped off the smirk on Tal's face. His eyes became serious as he inwardly thought that dealing with Rigel was a lot more troublesome than he ever imagined it to be.

Watching Tal's anxiousness hidden under the curtain of anger, Rigel narrowed his eyes and asked in a cold voice, "Tal; you said that you were the guardian of this locker.

If this space is a locker and you are its guardian. Then tell me, just what is locked away in this locker Tal?"

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