Chapter 50 I Am Hungry

While Eznho was thinking hard of a solution, the ring that was from his father glowed a little and started to heat up startling Eznho. But before he could take a look, a white smoke came from the ring and entered Eznho’s nose in the blink of an eye.

This again?

Horror could be seen on Eznho’s face as he braced himself, not long after, an excruciating pain came from the depths of his mind. It felt like needles were poking his soul, he tried to hold on but he could not and he finally lost consciousness.

An unknown time later, his eyelids started to move showing a confused pair of black eyes.

Arrgg!

He clutched his head while trying to relieve an intense headache then struggled to go into a lotus position and do a breathing technique to alleviate the pain. Minutes passed and the pain finally faded away making Eznho breath out heavily.

Putting the matter at the back of his mind, he scanned his sea of memories and a lot of new information was stored. Most of them were related to the Halo Stage and how to break through it. But the most valuable information was a cultivation technique. It was a cultivation technique used for breaking the barrier between the Cleansing Stage and the Halo Stage.

Mortal Ascension Technique

“Hmmm, Mortal Ascension Technique eh? Not a bad name, simple yet holds a deep meaning.” This was Eznho’s evaluation when he read the name.

But is this a coincidence? So every time I reach the peak of a stage, the same thing will happen?

He could not help but wonder, the more he thought about it the more he was curious about his father.

Ah, forget it, let’s just go with the flow.

He shook his head and focused on his breakthrough instead. According to the description, this cultivation technique allows a mortal to ascend and rise above others. It allows them to have a very solid foundation during the Halo Stage. The number one reason for it is because it gives you the chance to form up to three halos.

“Three halos?”

Eznho was not very clear about this, he knows people can form one, two or three halos but he doesn’t exactly know what the difference between the three is. Of course, he could tell that the more halos you can form, the better.

He reviewed all the information and found out that even though he had the cultivation technique, he doesn’t have the resources to make a breakthrough which is a large amount of heavenly energy to break the barrier.

“What do I do? I don’t have a stockpile of spirit stones, not even one.”

Eznho was frowning, a spirit stone is naturally formed from the world which contains heavenly energy. Cultivators mine them which is then refined to be used for cultivation purposes. They are divided from low grade, medium, high and top grade. It is an item highly sought after by cultivators, although gold is still the most used currency, if possible, cultivators prefer to trade using spirit stones.

Despite the disappointment, Eznho was not discouraged and started to calm his nerves before attempting a breakthrough.

Let’s do this!

He sat in a meditative pose with both hands on his knees, each hand forming a seal. After that, he started to chant mantras on his mind. Looking from the outside, nothing was happening but as time passed, the fog close to Eznho started to flow. At first, it was faint, but then they started to move in a circular motion around Eznho wrapping him like a cocoon.

At the same time, inside Eznho’s dantian, heavenly energy came pouring in. He could feel that his dantian is full and started to control its flow. Following the instructions from his newly acquired information, he controlled the flow and made it go in a circular motion forming the vague shape of a halo. More heavenly energy joined the flow making it more stable, they followed the pattern until the shape was getting more and more distinct.

The more the shape was getting stable the harder it was to control it making Eznho sweat and the formation started to crumble then the heavenly energy dispersed and scattered like before.

Haaa, Haaa, that was harder than I thought,

Eznho was panting and performed breathing techniques to calm his mind and energy. Even though he failed, at least he had an idea what to do already making him excited.

Again,

The process was repeated once more and this time, Eznho lasted longer than before. Despite repeated failures, he did not give up and continued with great determination.

…..

Haaaa, Haaa, what is going on? Why can’t it stabilize?

It has already been days since Eznho attempted to form his halo but the only progress he made was that the time he lasted became longer before the halo formation crumbled. He even lost count on how many attempts he already made.

The process is correct but it won’t hold when I remove my control. The moment I let go of it, it crumbles. The only explanation is that I don’t have enough supply of heavenly energy to make it stabilize. Darn it! What should I do?

After contemplating for some time, Eznho was more or less sure what he was missing. He needed a vast amount of heavenly energy to boost the creation of his halo as stated in the information he knew.

I have to get out of here before I run out of things to eat.

He had already lost count on how many days he was stuck in this place. Only half of his rations remained, he estimated it would only last about five to seven days. Once he runs out of it, it would only be a matter of time before he will start to starve.

Gritting his teeth, he did not give up and continued to try and form his halo. Time did not wait for him and finally, his rations have been consumed making him start to feel despair. Despite his situation, he endured and tried his best. Days passed and he started to feel the pain of starvation.

His mouth became dry, his stomach was constantly growling and felt as if his body was eating his own flesh. His eyeballs were already sunken and his skin became wrinkled. He even ate his clothes due to extreme hunger leaving him butt naked. His ‘junior’ even shrunk in size like a baby’s thumb.

His consciousness became blurry and he was starting to hallucinate, sometimes a crazed look could be seen in his eyes but he tried his best to maintain his sanity.

Then one day, he stood up with an insane look and held his head up high,

ROOAARRR!

Without any warning, he used the Dragon-Tiger Roar towards the cliff and the mist started to churn giving him a split second chance to have a clear look five meters in front of him.

HaHaHaHaHa!

He let out a manic laugh and jumped towards the cliff then covered his fingers with heavenly energy and used it to stab the cliff holding him in place.

ROOAARRR!

He let out another roar to look what was ahead of him and started to ascend using his fingers and clawed himself up. This process repeated five times then his voice became hoarse and his throat painful. He was already running out of heavenly energy when his sanity came back.

Shit!

He was about to fall when he used his last remaining energy on his right hand and stabbed it to the cliff slowing down his descent until he finally gone down back to the ledge where he came from.

This is hopeless, what a joke. I would prefer to have died during the fall rather than having false hope and dying cruelly like this.

He bitterly smiled but he already accepted his fate. The only things that were left with him were the jade pendant, the ring, the pouch and the dagger. He was already exhausted, his body felt numb and stiff. With great difficulty, he held his dagger and started to carve letters in front of him.

Here lies Eznho, to whoever finds my body, all my belongings will belong to you. My only wish is that you return this jade pendant to Red Sparrow City and give my jade pendant to Miss Minchin who lives on house number 69 in the middle district.

“I’m sorry everyone, sigh.”

After writing his last testament, he carefully placed all his belongings in front of him and assumed a lotus position and planned to pass away in meditation. After accepting his fate, his senses became clear and his mind peaceful. He felt like everything did not matter anymore and the only thing that existed was him.

…..

It has already been over a month but Eznho has not yet returned and everyone was worried sick back at Red Sparrow City. Miss Minchin was restless the whole time while little Aiza tried to comfort her.

“Don’t worry Aunt Minchin, big brother is super strong and I am sure he will be back before we know it,”

Little Aiza tried her best to put on a smile but she could not hide the worry and sadness in her eyes.

“Thank you, little Aiza,” Miss Minchin wiped her teary eyes and hugged the little girl.

A little while later, Budoy came in with a dispirited look on his face.

“How was it?” Minchin asked with great anticipation.

“Sigh, I am very sorry aunt, I am useless, the only thing I could find was that big brother headed to the Stallone Mountains and never came back. The caretaker of his horse even sold big brother’s horse because he did not come back to take it. I wanted to follow him but it was too dangerous, the place is crawling with wild animals and beasts.”

Budoy sat on a chair with a gloomy face. When it was already a month but Eznho did not come back, he started to investigate and even braved dangers just to follow his big brother’s tracks but alas. He was not a cultivator and did not want to risk going in the mountains. It was not that he was afraid of dying, what he was afraid of was leaving his sister alone.

“Budoy, you already did what you could. I am sure your big brother will not blame you and might even scold you if he knew what you did. We just have to wait for him,”

Minchin tried her best to put on a brave face despite what she feels. She had to be strong for Budoy and little Aiza. After all, she was the adult and had to hold the family together.

…..

Sin City

Blue has been staying in her room ever since she regained consciousness and refused to go out despite his father’s urgings. She still had that empty look in her eyes and all traces of her childhood was lost making Batista feel bitter every time he looked at her. She has been visited by her two uncles and her brother and she tried to put on a smile despite her feelings. Not leaving her room for more than a month actually took a toll on her and she decided to visit the garden to watch the blooming flowers. Her maid wanted to accompany her but she refused and preferred to be alone.

At the same time, Dave and Martin were having a chat while having tea in the garden.

“I am sorry brother, things became complicated during father’s stay at Red Sparrow City so they had no time to find your little brother,”

Dave had a helpless look on his face while apologizing to Martin.

“It’s alright brother, I understand. Maybe I’ll go there myself in the near future. I really miss that kid,”

Martin answered with a positive outlook.

“Why don’t we go together? I haven’t had a vacation in a long time.”

Dave grinned and sipped his tea.

“That would be great, I am looking forward to visiting that city,”

While the two were chatting, Blue walked into the garden gaining the attention of the two.

“Blue?” Dave was surprised and nearly spat his tea.

“Hey, Blue! Why don’t you come here for a second?”

He waved his while calling out Blue’s attention. Blue was surprised and walked towards the shade.

“Blue, let me introduce my sworn brother to you, I believe you haven’t met him yet. This is…”

“Eh?” Before Dave could finish his sentence, both Blue and Martin spoke with a surprise at the same time. Both of them thought hard and tried to think where they saw each other.

A while later Blue’s color became pale while furrowing her brow. A memory has been triggered when he thought about the day he met Martin. The more she thought about it, a vague figure of a boy was forming in her mind but she could not see his face.

Arrgg!

Forcing herself actually brought pain to her head and she started to fill dizzy.

“Blue! Are you okay?” Dave started to panic when he saw his younger sister’s complexion. He got up and actually carried Blue when she was starting to lose her balance.

“I’ll have to excuse myself brother,” He looked at Martin with a confused face and headed to Blue’s room leaving Martin in the garden with a blank face.

Martin did not know what happened, leaving him in a confused state while looking at Dave’s back who was carrying Blue back to her room.

Note:

Chapter 50, Yay! Thank you for reading everyone, despite the sporadic release of chapters.