Red Cloud Sect Medicine Pavilion

Akata and Xiao Pao appeared in front of Seventh Elder in the Medicine Pavilion. They both exchanged cold looks until Seventh Elder broke them up.

“Alright you two are injured so you’ll be treated right away. Xiao Pao you will head directly to room 6. Go now.” Seventh Elder said this with a calm and cheerful voice. She gave Xiao Pao a sad look until he left towards the room. She then turned her attention to Akata.

“Akata… how many times are you going to end up here? Oh well that doesn’t matter. Anyways you’ll be heading to the Pill Division of the Medicine Pavilion. Third Elder is awaiting you there hehe.” She gave a slight laugh and then shooed him off.

Her face grew calm as she began to think to herself. ‘I wonder just who is he for him to be so important to the sect.’ She kept her thoughts to herself and then made her way to room 6.

Pill Division

The Pill Division was a part of the Medicine Pavilion. It was still a simple building and the aroma of medicinal pills and plants wafted through the air. Akata walked into the one-room building where he saw many shelves that contained a grand and diverse amount of pills and plants.

In the room there stood two people sitting cross legged. One person was a young woman in her late twenties wearing a long blue robe. She looked at Akata and Akata at her. The other was Third Elder who sat cross legged beside her.

“Disciple greets Third and Fifth Elder.” Akata clasped hands and bowed down showing his respect for the two.

“Ah. Akata that was a nice match that you displayed. You have improved greatly with your physical and mental abilities. Given enough time you will surely rise to great heights.” Fifth Elder said with a wide smile across her face.

“Mn. That is true you will be unparalleled. Soon you’ll be facing the top three and once you do that things will get much tougher.” Third Elder added on. “Well that isn’t what I called you for, I have something to speak to you about in private. If you’ll excuse us Fifth Elder.”

Third Elder stood up and walked to Akata’s side. “We’ll be taking our leave now.” He then swished his sleeve and they both vanished into thin air without a trace. Fifth Elder was left alone in the room thinking.

‘Just what do these other Elder’s have planned for Akata? This is rather suspicious, I should go ask around.’ She closed her eyes and went back to meditating.

Third Elder and Akata appeared in room 3 of the Medicine Pavilion. Third Elder swished his sleeve creating a barrier to block out sound and then looked at Huihe Ji. Akata looked around and also saw Huihe Ji laying there on the bed seemingly fast asleep. Akata had a confused look on his face as he wondered why they were here.

“Third Elder… you said that you needed to meet with me about something important, so does that something have to do with Huihe Ji?” Akata asked calmly.

“You are partially correct. To be more precise that something is more like helping you so that you can help him.” Third Elder stated. He saw Akata’s face become more confused so he continued on. “I’ll cut to the chase, that rune inside of you is deadly. If you don’t learn to control it soon then Huihe Ji is going to die.”

Akata’s face changed greatly under the shock of what he just heard. He was going to retort but then he thought about why would Third Elder lie to him. “Wha… what’s wrong with him?” Akata could barely control his speech as he let his question drift out of his mouth.

“Your control of the runes inside of you are terrible. When you attacked him with the power of your red rune it unleashed an eroding effect on his blood. Basically if he doesn’t get treated soon his blood will deteriorate until there is nothing else… then he will die.” Third Elder said with a look of gloom on his face.

“Th… tha… that can’t be! No no no no no! Why can’t you help him? Can’t you save him?!” Akata was becoming flustered and almost couldn’t control himself.

“Right now I have him sealed so that his injury doesn’t spread at a fast rate. But Akata… you’re the only one that can save him. Since you’re the only one with that red rune then it is only you who can save him.” He gave a deep look at Akata and continued. “Since it has come to this I will train you so that you can learn to control this strength of yours. However since I am bad with knowledge on runes and the like so Second Elder will teach you in that regard.”

Akata saw a glimmer of hope and he got on his knees and bowed to Third Elder. “Please I beg of you Third Elder help me to attain what I need in order to help Huihe Ji. I will be forever in your debt.” Akata didn’t raise his head from the ground one bit as he awaited Third Elder’s answer.

“Ay kid I already said I’ll do it so why are you bowing? You got something wrong with you?” Third Elder swished his sleeve and a wind picked Akata up from the ground. “Well since you’re ready then follow me.” Third Elder along with Akata walked out of the Medicine Pavilion.

“Third Elder could you tell me about this rune in me? I just got it out of nowhere and while it seems to be helpful during combat it is obviously dangerous. Maybe if I know more about its existence then I’ll be able to control it a bit better.” Akata said as they were walking along.

“Hmm. Well like I said earlier runes aren’t my thing kid. Second Elder is more knowledgable than me when it comes to stuff like that. However I do know that that rune inside of you is very special. It can do wonderful things that many can’t even dream about being possible.” After that Third Elder didn’t speak further so Akata didn’t ask anymore questions.

They followed a path that went straight to the Elder Quarters. The Elder Quarters were the most extravagant place in the city. The houses there were the best residences in all of Purple Sky City. Buildings aligned with red banners and the walking paths dotted with beautiful plants. But one house stood out from the rest. It was a small house, almost like a shed, and it was in a remote corner of the Elder Quarters. Third Elder led Akata to this small shed.

The shed looked like it had been lost to time the way the walls peeled. Vines could be seen everywhere around the shed as if countless snakes roamed it. A red banner with the sect’s insignia could be seen hanging in front of the shed. The appearance of the shed put off the balance of the whole Elder Quarters.

Inside the shed-like home there were two beds and a table with two chairs. There were also two windows. In fact if you looked at the house as a whole it was actually split in half and each half had the exact same things but opposite of each other.. Each side looked the same from the furniture and its placement to the design of the floorboards. The interior had a symmetrical appearance which brought a sense of balance to it.

In the middle of the room however there was a red square rug on the floor. The rug wasn’t totally out of place but it did set of the balance of the whole room. There was a reason for this too. One look at it and you could tell that it led somewhere. Akata couldn’t help but notice it, considering it had a giant handle sticking out from it.

Third Elder made his way to the rug and lifted it up by the handle. “This door leads to my training grounds. It is where you will be training to control your strength and also learn some new things. You’ll be training here in private therefore nobody can know about this.” Third Elder looked at Akata to make sure he was getting all that was said.

Akata nodded his head in agreement. “Good. Now come on in.” Third Elder led Akata inside of the door. With that they both stepped inside the door that led to the training grounds. Inside it was a completely white room with nothing in it. The ceiling, floor, and walls were a blank white. It truly looked bland.

Third Elder continued on speaking. “While training you will think about nothing else but getting better. At the end of each week you will challenge another cabin member so that the other disciples will still notice your presence. However besides that, and maybe the occasional going to Misty Forest, you will be here training non-stop.”

Akata couldn’t help but look around wryly and ask, “Is this where I’ll be training at? If so isn’t it a little plain? There doesn’t seem to be anything I can do in here.”

“No no no… not just training but staying. This is the survival room you’ll be training in for the time being. Don’t be fooled by what you see as of now, this room is truly magnificent.” As Third Elder spoke, his eyes showed with a gleam of proudness and his face glowed with satisfaction.

“Excuse me, Third Elder, but I can’t help but ask what kind of training am I going to do in here?” Akata was at a loss, he really had no idea what was so special about this room.

“You can do any kind of training in here actually. But mostly you’ll be fighting and remembering. This isn’t training to raise your cultivation base but to help you to control yours.” Third Elder said this mysteriously.

“Well how is this place going to help me to train. It just looks like a blank room. Almost nothing can be done in here.” Akata was greatly confused almost to the point where he thought this was a joke. He just couldn’t believe that this blank room would be the place where he stayed and trained at.

“Well you see kid that’s where you’re wrong. This room is special, as it is a formation that I came up with.” Third Elder looked around gleefully and started walking to the middle of the white room.

“A formation?” Akata asked puzzled. He knew what formations were, he was a cultivator afterall. But he didn’t understand why he would train in one.

“Precisely. However, I’m not a formation expert, I just dabble in it from time to time. After a bit of work I came up with a way to build this room.” As Third Elder was talking he made it to the middle of the room where he stood. “This room is made up of many different formations put together.”

As he was speaking he flashed an incantation gesture in the air and pointed up to the ceiling. “All the formations work together to create something amazing. In particular it made this room, which I call the ‘Space-time Scenario Chamber’. It is able to alter spacetime and ‘transport’ you to a different place that is adequate for your training.”

“This will be the place for your training. Other than the Sect Leader, and Second and First Elder, you’re the only other person to be in here.” Third Elder said this extremely calmly. So calm it gave rise to fear in Akata. He even started to unconsciously rotate the red rune in his soul region.

“First things first, I have to test you to see what level you’re truly at. Just do me a favor and don’t stain the floor.” His calm voice grew colder with each word and when he finished speaking he vanished.

Boom!