"Ink!" Kiso and Yuni simultaneously cried out.

Chapter Seventeen -

Within the metallic vial, the clear liquid had completely changed into black ink.

Kiso and Yuni's hearts were racing as their faces couldn't hide their excitement. This map supposedly would lead them to a hidden technique.

Hidden techniques were legendary existences, only occasionally heard about once every thousand or so years. The hidden technique had only been whispered among those of the highest status in the Thunderblack clan. Magnum Black knew the liquid would not change to ink for himself, so he informed the clan of his knowledge regarding the artifacts long ago.

When Kiso's uncles heard of the artifact, they had immediately started plans to involve the Ichi clan. But this was the evil Ichi clan, how could they keep to their word to share the technique?

Thus the present situation had already played out. Caught unaware, the Ichi clan invaded, Kiso's uncles assassinated Mord, and the artifact was taken by the Ichi clan.

"Kiso.." Yuni called Kiso's name, causing him to look up at her face. She met his gaze, then steered it towards the parchment.

"Right.." Kiso nodded and knelt down, placing the parchment on the ground between them.

Under the light of the rising sun, Kiso slowly tipped the vial, pouring its contents onto the parchment. As the liquid accumulated atop the parchment, it pooled momentarily before the parchment directly drank the ink like the desert would drink a cup of water.

Moments later, the clear outline of a map started to fade into view.

To Kiso and Yuni's surprise, the map wasn't of the entire human realm, but rather only contained the area of the Sangrad Mountains and the deepest edge of Thunderblack Valley.

Deep within the Sangrad Mountains, a large plain was clearly illustrated. Something bugged Kiso about the placement of that plain on the map, but he couldn't quite place what it was. In the center of the plain was a picture of a hole, diving straight down into the earth below.

Written above that hole were the words: Cultivation Master's Cave - Danger

Kiso took a deep breath, slowly turning his head to face Yuni he said, "Clearly this map wasn't drawn by the master of the cave, I wonder how Elder Sage determined what was inside..."

Sensing the foreboding tone in his voice, Yuni choked back the words she originally wanted to say and instead said, "Agreed, but it's still worth a look right?"

Kiso nodded then rolled the map up, tucking it into his clothes.

Yuni let out a cool breath as the reality of what had just happened finally caught up with her. She stared around at the hundreds of dents in the earth before finally looking back at Kiso.

Kiso's body was still covered in blood and his skin tone void of its natural color. His cloak was tattered and clothes in pieces, reminding Yuni how close they had come to calamity.

Kiso was also studying the surroundings and when he turned to Yuni, he saw a worried expression on her face as she was looking up and down his body.

Glancing down at his body, Kiso laughed and consoled her, "Don't worry Yuni, it's not as bad as it looks." Lifting his arms and shrugging, he added, "Your healing technique is rather impressive. In fact, I barely feel any pain anymore."

Yuni shook her head and pouted her lips, she knew he was putting on a bit of an act for her sake.

As quickly as her mood dropped, it began to rise again like a phoenix as she quickly ran over to one of the craters. She jumped down inside while rummaging around a bit, then quickly resurfaced, a disappointing look on her face.

Kiso raised an eyebrow curious about her strange behavior, inquiring, "What exactly are you doing?"

Yuni giggled and quickly ran to another crater, repeating the same motions as before.

Rising from the second crater, this time a beautiful smile painted her face. She triumphantly held a small metallic ring above her head and announced, "Kiso! These are the elites of a mid-grade clan, how could they be poor? Look, just one DS ring actually has this much gold inside!" She casually tossed the ring to Kiso, then began hopping around looting the fallen Ichi clansmen.

Kiso raised both his eyebrows this time, glancing down at the ring in his hands.

Urging his spiritual pressure into the ring, he quickly examined the contents. His eyes widened and he inwardly exclaimed, "Forty gold! Even some healing pills!"

As quickly as he examined the contents, his body moved as he began to roam around the craters collecting DS rings as well.

Although not every Ichi clansman had a DS ring, at the end, Kiso and Yuni had gathered a total of Ninety-seven. Within the rings was a collective value of seven thousand gold.

It must be said that even ten gold would be enough for a normal person to live on for nearly a decade.

Danstun's ring alone had contained the majority of the gold. Between Danstun and Vohan's rings, they actually had four thousand gold.

"RICH!" Yuni's eyes shined as she thought of all the different things she was going to buy herself.

Kiso on the other hand, was busy transferring gold into a single ring, while occasionally withdrawing different items and observing them. A pile of junk began to form behind him containing low-grade weapons and other useless items such as cooking utensils.

After the time it would take someone to cook and eat a bowl of rice, Kiso finally let out a sigh and extended an open palm to Yuni.

"Here Yuni, your half." A ring laid atop his palm

Yuni's eyes shined as she started to reach forward, but quickly withdrew her hand and frowned saying, "Kiso, you did all the work, how can I accept half the reward?"

Kiso just smiled and threw the ring on the ground saying, "Ah, well, if you won't take it so be it, but I won't keep it for myself either. I suppose the next person to pick up that ring will be in for quite the treat!" After speaking, he stood up from the rock he had been sorting on and casually shrugged his shoulders as he walked off heading towards a fountain to wash up.

Yuni was angry for a moment, then reluctantly picked up the ring and smiled thinking to herself, "Silly Kiso, you couldn't let me win this time either..."

Afterwards, she stood up and chased after Kiso while skipping and chanting the names of various clothes she had always wanted.

- - - - -

That night, in the same courtyard Kiso had trained in years ago, two people were seated a few meters away from each other.

The were like statues, sitting cross legged in the meditative stance, holding their index fingers to their thumbs. Strings of different colored lightning occasionally flickered on their bodies.

Kiso immersed himself in his cultivation technique, simultaneously sensing the various nature energies around him that would benefit his core. Like a funnel, darkness and heat type energy poured in his spirit veins, condensing in his core.

With his inner eye always focused on his core, Kiso organized layer after layer of sphere-like spiritual pressure to guide the nature energy together, fusing them. After they fused, he would release the layer of spiritual pressure beneath, allowing the nature energy to enter the black, cloud-like core. Every time Kiso added the fused nature energy, a flash of lightning could barely be seen within the cloud of darkness.

After repeating the process thousands of times, he finally noticed a stream of warmth enter his skin. He broke the meditation stance by releasing his fingers, then looked up at sky. The rays of sunshine peaking over the courtyard walls, he examined his body, pleased with the results.

He hadn't slept a wink, yet first session of cultivation since leaving the Ancient Byuki Forest left him feeling re-energized and in a very good mood. Luckily, cultivating in the meditative position basically counted as sleep, as the restorative function of sleep could be emulated through gathering nature's energy.

Elder Sage had long ago suggested he take a break from cultivating, as sometimes a good nights sleep could help clear the mind. The apprehension he harbored towards the state of his clan could negatively affect his state of mind during cultivation, thus he used it as an excuse to slack off these past few nights.

However, the fight with Danstun had reignited his desire to increase his power and he decided to continue his nights of cultivation right away.

Yuni had wanted to continue the nights of sleeping close together, but quickly gave in to Kiso's unwavering attitude, taking a seat to cultivate as well.

Sensing warmth of day as well, Yuni opened her eyes, standing up to stretch.

She noticed Kiso doing the same, and pouted to him, "Do we really need to keep cultivating at night? Isn't our current level good enough?"

Kiso shook his head, she was still upset about last night.

"Although I defeated Danstun, it was not because I was superior in power. It was all luck! An extraordinary stroke of luck! I refuse to believe I'll suddenly make a breakthrough every time I run into a sticky situation, therefore I can only train hard in preparation." Kiso stuck to the same argument as well.

Yuni could only roll her eyes as she walked over to his side leaning on his arm.

She peaked up at his face, staring back at her, and blushed slightly before asking, "So, we're going cave hunting right? I'm sure it's going to be cold, we can use each other's bodies to keep warm.."

Kiso laughed and replied, "Ah, that's true! But Yuni, where is the cave right now?"

Yuni's face turned a slightly redder shade as she giggled and pushed off from his arm running towards the courtyard archway.

When she reached the archway, she turned around and playfully called out, "Well, what are we waiting for then?"

Kiso smiled and chased after her.

- - - - -

As Kiso and Yuni left the north gate of Thunderblack castle, a dark, evil pair of eyes looked down on them from the distance.

Bo Black, wearing a blood red cloak, was sitting on the edge of a cliff overlooking Thunderblack castle.

His brows were tightly knit together and an ugly expression painted his face. The past four years had been extremely torturous for him. On his father's orders, he had been sent to Hanzi Academy prior to the Ichi clan's invasion.

The Hanzi Academy one of the most famous schools in the entire human realm and every kind of person gathers to further their martial prowess there. With all kinds of different cultures and backgrounds gathering there, naturally there would be evil and malicious people as well. As long as you possessed the talent and the entrance fee, the academy would not turn you away.

Bo, although arrogant and haughty in nature, was never particularly evil. That is, until he got involved with a shady sect of the Hanzi Academy. From them, he had practiced all sorts of deathly nature techniques, which slowly ate away at his soul, removing any sense of righteousness that may have resided there before.

By the time Bo heard about the Ichi clan betraying his father, it was too late. He had rushed back as fast as he could, in time to stand on the cliff above witnessing the final moments of his father's life.

The agony of his father's death would have been a severe blow to him prior to the corrosion of his soft feelings, yet even witnessing the act now, only stirred the hatred in his heart.

Grasping the feeling of hatred, he immediately sat atop the cliff in the meditative stance, remaining there for several months until today. The death around Thunderblack castle continuously fed his deathly nature core, which by now had barely a trace of the former pure blue lightning that had formerly resided there.

He had finally finished absorbing the deathly nature energy in the surrounding area, when suddenly that familiar aura exploded once again. Startled awake, he looked down into Thunderblack castle and could barely see two figures standing in the courtyard below what he knew was the main palace. A rich deathly aura wafted up from that courtyard, he could easily tell that a great battle had just taken place.

Not bothered by it at first, he was simply excited and re-entered meditation, swiftly absorbing the thick deathly energy around him. As time went on and a the next day arrive however, his eyes shot open, realizing someone had beat him to his revenge on the Ichi clan.

He peered down at the north gate of Thunderblack castle, in time to see those two silhouettes running towards the base of the mountain. As they left the gate, his eyes became dark and his face turned exceedingly ugly to behold. Those two were familiar faces.

He easily recognized the face of the boy he had previously been infinitely jealous of.

"K...Kiso!" Bo's savage gaze pierced through the air, sending a cold chill down Kiso's back.

To Be Continued!