Gaobun woke up from his meditation.

From his seating on the soft cushion under his naked, muscular bottom, he rose onto his feet.

There was a bronze mirror across the wood-embellished room, and on the same mirror stood his reflection. He had a stoic face, his long brows arched like a half-moon into a stable frown, his eyes’ color couldn’t be seen. He was also naked, his dark bronze skin draped with beads of sweat rolling above his muscular torso, and on them were reflected pictures of his desolation.

He stepped towards the side and came before a two-layered wardrobe. He opened, eyed the few robes made of immortal silk and embed jewelry, then grasped one with his rough hands.

He put over the crimson robe and took out a silk belt adorning rubies on its surface. With swishes, he tied it to his waist and gazed at his reflection from afar.

When did he look this dreadful?

How did he lose that bright shine in his eyes? He didn’t know.

It took a long time until Gaobun averted his sight from the failure’s image. He opened a cupboard under the wardrobe and revealed a leather cloak draped with fur. He clutched it, then threw it over his shoulders as well. For a moment he felt the stifling heat and smelled the overbearing sweat from it, then as if they were an illusion they disappeared.

It was time to go, now that he got ready.

With steady steps, he left through the door and closed it behind him. Now what laid before him was a huge, two-ways slope. The way leading down was filled with mansions, closed shops, stands, inns, and taverns. Ceremonial gates, abundant with gifts and colored with gold, carrying the words of the ancestors, led the way until the inclining path’s end. At the foot of the slope, where all of the inner boroughs’ ways met, stood the Star Library, high and bright like the glimpse of a blazing star. It also seemed desolate.

Streets were as empty as the shops were, an eerie silence covered the surroundings. A small breeze flew over from the summit of the slope, streaks of light danced around the exit to the outer-mountain. They were green, unlike the gold of the Sun and silver of the Star Library. Gaobun walked up towards the slope to the exit, he didn’t try to fly. Of the empty borough, only his footsteps resounded.

He also saw a few more disciples afar, gathered at the exit and is periphery, wearing fur riddled leather cloaks like him over their robes. Their heads were frozen, without exception all had bits of frost in their handful of hair. And their expressions were of the cold over their heads, their eyes crackled like a fire in a winter night’s snowstorm. Their hands rubbed each of their own, their Qi spread over them like blankets to shield from the encasing frost.

Gaobun reached next to them in a matter of seconds. After all, even if his choice was to walk, a Path Opener’s speed wasn’t in the realm of the ones preceding it. One who started to walk on the path to the essence, their understanding of self and the universe, was always above those still foraging their way.

Path Openers, in that sense, was in the eye of the storm called the world, and ones behind them were the observers of the said storm.

These younglings in front of him were the same. They were still searching for their path to establish, then to walk on it. To explore a place no one had ever seen, exclusive to themselves, and experience a journey no soul but their pitiful ones could live. How grand of an ambition was that? Its greatness was, at least, not something Ubel would understand.

Gaobun’s frown softened for a moment, he passed from the disciples waiting at the gates and stepped onto the outside. They didn’t bother to clasp their hands or bow their heads, they couldn’t be. And Gaobun also couldn’t dilly dally with simple, ancient etiquette for any longer.

Then the moment his feet touched the ground, his frown hardened again. His eyebrows knitted tighter, and his lips spread thinner. His already low cheekbones sunk further into his flesh and following its demise, a burst of wind strode over his long hair.

It smelled fresh mint, yet the domineering cold over it suppressed whatever entices it had.

Gaobun took a deep breath and the frozen particles on the air rushed down his throat, into his windpipe. The breath reached his lungs in no time and terrorized the inside with a wild surge of frost. The Qi inside his meridians moved in a frenzy and charged towards the sheet of ice over his lungs, a battle of control ensued.

He looked fine otherwise from outward. How couldn’t he with a sight like this?

Ice was something he had rarely seen. He knew from somewhere in his mind that he had seen it before, and were it not for that he could say he had never seen at all. At most snow, and those were the all-year-round ones clinging to the top of their mountains. But here? It wasn’t even snow.

It rained pure ice.

Snowflakes were ice flakes, the clouds were flying puffs of frost, and the land beneath his feet was also a screen of thin ice. Under the veil he could see the still alive grass and weeds, the vitality of the mountain wasn’t something easily extinguishable.

From the front, two paths paved towards his destination. One was the general road circling the spiraling slopes of the mountain, and it passed through every platform and house along the way. The other was the stairs leading directly up to the mountain’s top. He chose the latter, for the cold started to seep into his skin.

This was no ordinary cold, Gaobun learned only now.

This time he chose to fly, but still followed the outlines of the path. He floated above the ground and pointed with his head, then his speed multiplied by ten. He disappeared with a boom and the ice veil under him cracked from the shockwave. Bursts of it spread to the ground and one of the stalks of tiny grass, now free from the encasing of the cold, swayed triumphantly or a second.

Then it was swallowed again, and its defiant spirit was crushed as if it never existed.

*********

As Gaobun neared the top of the mountain, he looked over to the northeast from the corner of his dull eyes.

What he saw was majesty. Glory. Honour. The pride of the immortals, and one of the biggest reasons they fell to the grasp of the Overseer. A black, pentagonal device the size of a small mountain. Flashes of emerald and golden lightning burst from its sides now and then, and it floated over the Barren Lands most dangerous area as if it was immune to its magical freeze.

Glorious Portal, a tool that could pave the way to the starry sky.

The starry sky was the highest point in the immortals’ life in this world. It was where they could take the last step from the Essence Realm to the Overseer Realm. It was the place where the ambition of the immortals laid, which once claimed the three continents in its grasp. The starry sky was the ocean of the universe, as his master called it, and it was always shrouded in a thick mist. The starry sky was...

Many things.

Each ignorant fool could plaster a definition of their own to the Starry Sky, and it would still be fit. Because it was the Starry Sky. That was it.

The winds turned harsher as he flew higher towards the summit. The mint smell disappeared and left its place to a freezing sensation that made iceburns inside his large nostrils. But he didn’t have to endure much more, as the peak came into sight.

He rounded the side once and rushed up, bursts of flames escaped from his feet and hands as he blew like a candle and appeared before thirty-eight men and women, and the frozen peak of the Memorial.

At this point one could see the sneaking rays of light from the freezing sun, even the grandiose sun seemed weak in front of this kind of a cold. Among these lights danced the colors of emerald, jade, and antique green. They warped and slithered like hungry snakes in the sky and descended far over the peak, down to the Cindersnow mountain’s base, and finally ended their trail over the heaving waves of the Grand Ocean.

The peak, as the lights brightened, was as barren as one would expect from a mountain amid snowstorms. A sheet of frost thicker than its compatriot at the foot of the mountain spread far and wide, inclined up like a slide to the grand Memorial; a dark square structure three-hundred-meters high and twenty-five-meters wide, on its surface engraved over hundreds of thousands of names. The writing for each was different, as each represented another individual, and fluctuations of light seeped out of the words inscribed to tell who was alive and who wasn’t.

By this time, only one-twentieth of the names glinted.

On top of the Memorial stood thirteen thrones constructed of polished soulstones, each of them the color of gray. On top of these thrones stood thirteen people as well, and they all wore the same colored robes over their slender limbs. The elders, indeed. These people were the thirteen Essence Realm elders of the Cindersnow, the backbone of their power and the central authority that took every decision involving the future of the sect. Of these thirteen, only one had a hair of different color than white, who was elder Cinder.

Gaobun swept his eyes and met the gaze of each elder, their expressions softened at his sight. Then he looked down towards the twenty-six cushions floating around the thrones, one was empty. He cast a quick glance to the Combat Masters and Masters of the sect and sped towards his own cushion. He sat, swung himself slightly to left and right to find a comfortable position, then crossed his legs.

Like him, everyone sat in the lotus position and eyed the elders above them. At that moment, elder Cinder raised his hand and spoke.

‘’Let’s start, shall we?’’

*********

On the hexagonal housetop of The Raven’s shrine, Ubel seated himself among the interlocking beams of stone.

He crossed his legs and put both his hands together, took a deep breath, and gazed up towards the full moon milking away the light from the falling sun.

It cast shines of blue and white over the descending red, a big contrast to the boiling sun peeking from the leaves on its way. There was no wind, for it was almost spring, and the multitude of Daisies, lotuses, roses, and violets Hong Seng grew around the shrine exuded a deep, yet sweet and earth-like scent. With each breath he took, the smell rushed into his nostrils with the still unwarmed air.

Of the many breaths he took, and of each light that seeped from a gap in the leaves above his head, a glint of azure would shine.

These azure-colored moonlights swirled around his head and coiled into the shape of a circle at the center of his glabella. With each passing second, the circle grew thicker and wider, and Ubel’s mind lost the ability to sense the surroundings.

This lasted for three hours until the circle of azure light grew as large as him and revolved around his body. Ubel regained his awareness right before it grew the last bits of its capacity, and he opened his eyes.

Gather lunar energy for thirty-three days- That was the first step of the Body Enchanting, and the first bottleneck to step onto the Qi Creation equivalent of it. -Then crush your body with the light, force it to fuse with your skin and flesh.

So he willed it, and the circle of light split into two parts. One half broke from the center and rotated, getting thinner in the process. Then it came before his neck and like the pincer of a crab, pinched around it.

Ubel let out a grunt. His face distorted, a frown sneaked on his brows, and the moment Lunar Qi Circle forced its way through his shoulders and his neck, It pushed like a flood that crashed on a stone wall. With each battering of it, crackling of bones and sizzling of a fire spread. And soon it disappeared, what was left behind was black marks around his neck.

Ubel took a deep breath and without stopping willed the second half to push into him.

As he went through the same process, this time for a shorter period, the black marks around his neck and shoulders widened. His tanned skin gained a new, darker color around his torso. Even then it didn’t stop. The color washed over his whole body, its density lessened and instead of dark chocolate, it resembled a dark wood.

At last, when his whole body changed colors, Ubel was done in ragged breaths and shaking hands. He couldn’t help but groan for a few more seconds until the pain went away and his expression turned into a wry smile.

Thirty-three days worth is this unbearable, how will I push through the second step?

The Body Enchanting had three steps, with each step correlating to a step in the modern cultivation system.

Within the first step, Ubel had meditated under the moon for thirty-three days to gather Lunar Qi, as with only Lunar Qi could he progress through Body Enchanting. Unlike normal Qi, Lunar Qi would gather around his skin rather than meridians, and this was a happy occurrence as he didn’t have any meridian to speak of. Once the Lunar Qi inside the skin reached its peak, he would have to fuse it with his flesh and make it more durable and prone to hold larger amounts of Lunar Qi. As he finished it, he now had the power of an average Qi Creation cultivator, which was perhaps as strong as two mortals.

In the second step, however, he would have to meditate under the moon for three hundred thirty-three days. It was a pretty long time and considering not all nights had a full moon, or even a half-moon, the expected time could be as long as two and a half years. And the pain he would go through could increase depending on that as well, which made him half-hearted to go further down this point.

Now, he considered buying or ordering some crystallized Qi from The Raven, Lunar Qi one, obviously, but the method was too flawed and old to use them. He had no knowledge of how manuals or mortal bodies worked, let alone improving or fixing them. And it had been almost two-thousand years since anyone other than cripples used a technique like this. So he had no shortcut out of that, it all depended on time.

In the third step, he didn’t even need to mention.

Three thousand days... Ubel wiped the wry smile off his face and sighed. Why was it so hard to acquire power, when all he had to do before was so simpler?

Is that what I lost? The easy way?

Perhaps he did. Perhaps he didn’t. The path leading to the Essence Realm wasn’t one easily traversed, but it was true that it didn’t involve any pain. The three tribulation lightning cultivators faced at Path Establishing stage were also not aimed at the body, but at the path one chose. It was a test of your will and character, whether your ideals were considered ideals and your true self was what you assumed it to be.

Like how a teacher would question his/her student’s dao, the tribulations did the exact thing. Yet they were much merciless, as they didn’t have that moral compassion of a master. After all, the former was there to guide, and the latter was there to punish.

So whether it was an easy way or not wasn’t up to Ubel’s decision. What right did he have to question these, when sages and immortals of higher stature and intellect than him approved it?

...None, I guess.

So he shook his head and stood up. His legs and arse went numb from sitting on a cold stone for hours, and as a result, he wobbled and tripped on a beam. He stumbled and fell with a thud, rolling on the roof, and no sooner than that crashed onto the ground from a few meters high.

It was no surprise he took no damage from a fall of that caliber, Ubel thought, but the cloud of dust rising under him seemed to be expressing its dissatisfaction. Ubel looked up from the ground up to the moon, now almost at the top of the sky, where once the celestial sun burnt the lands and ravaged the crops. Would the moon do the same if it was given the chance? The thought struck, then escaped at the same moment. As if that wasn’t even a part of his consciousness.

The moon perhaps heard his question, or another question of the same caliber of heresy, as it released a light harsher than before. The azure and the white beamed down like a lamp in the darkness, and it could be considered one, and suddenly the darkness of the forest brightened like a beacon around him.

The wind started to blow, even moan, in a low, enchanting voice. Leaves atop the trees rustled from it, and waved towards the cloud of dust Ubel raised as they drifted apart. Soon they were gone, and all left was the few tendrils of his air dancing from the gust above him.

For a moment, Ubel put this image next to the one he had in the corpse pit. How different- he mumbled to himself, -how...strange.

‘’Ubel?’’ He heard the voice of Hong Seng behind him, the monk’s footsteps approached with a low hum from his mouth.

‘’Oh the sea, the sky,

How welcome are you?’’

‘’Oh my life, my death,

How welcome ar-’’ The muttering abruptly stopped, then the steps hurried.

‘’Ubel! What are you doing, lying on my flowers!?’’ Ubel felt his scalp tingle at the rising voice of priest Hong. He leaped up to his feet and looked down at where he fell. Indeed, he saw the traces of some colorful leaves and green roots sprawled around and crushed into a paste.

‘’I-I’m sorry.’’ He let out and took a step back. Hong Seng came step by step, each one heavier than the one before it, and crouched near his flowers.

‘’Is there anything I can do?’’ Ubel asked, taking one more step back. Hong Seng raised his head and looked at him with a huge frown, and his eyes had a dangerous glint. Though his instincts told he could, still, crush this man into a paste of meat in a few seconds if he wanted, that flicker of sublime light made him worried.

Then Ubel shuddered, his eyes turned into needle-sized dots.

What am I thinking? Why did he evaluate the man’s danger to him before his well-being? It was a thought on an instinctual level, it happened instantly and the judgment came not even a millisecond after.

Hong Seng’s frown softened, then disappeared as he stood frozen on one knee, his hand reached out for fragments of flower petals.

‘’Ubel? What happened?’’ he sounded weird.

‘’What- nothing,’’ Ubel muttered and took a deep breath. ‘’I’m really sorry, priest Hong.’’ He repeated and clasped his hands. ‘’I’ll drop by tomorrow and help you plant them again.’’ Then turning around, not even sparing a glance to the trembling hands of Hong Seng, rushed into the dense trees of oak and maple.

His heartbeat increased in frequency as he traveled farther from his old position, and at last, became loud enough to be heard from outside.

Bang It beat once, and Ubel stopped in the midst of a random patch of grass and pine. He reached out with his palm to touch the bark.

Then with a squeeze crushed the trunk into splinters.

All left behind was his rough breathing.

*********

A few days later, a deep rumbling echoed throughout the border of the forest. Neither Ubel, who hadn’t been to the shrine since some time ago, nor Hong Seng was aware of where it came from. Only Zi Muqin raised her head to look outside from the shrine.

In her eyes was a doting shine, and her lips bloomed into a smile.

For half an hour the trembling continued, and with each passing second it encroached towards the shrine’s direction. Soon roars amidst the trembling were heard and Hong Seng shot to his feet from the garden around the shrine, not sparing a glance at his shaking flowers.

He saw a cloud of dust rushing towards the entrance of the shrine from the south, and inside the cloud was the shadow of a gargantuan rhinoceros. Two peaking horns sprouted from its forehead and deep chasms revealed themselves under its stomping feet.

Hong Seng stepped towards Zi Muqin, grasping her hands to help her descend the small flight of stairs down. Once her crimson slippers touched the ground, the cloud of dust was descending above them.

Yet even before it could descend, a snort echoed from the top of rhinoceros beast and a gust of wind spread forth. Like a small whirlwind, it spun and sent the cloud drifting towards their right.

As the wind continued whipping in the air, a shadow leaped down to the ground in front of the duo and opened its arms.

‘’My puffy puff!’’ It was a man in his forties, around the same age as the duo, and he had a bright smile on his face. Were it not for the yellowed exterior, the full set of teeth he beamed would look more attractive.

‘’Heshang!’’ Zi Muqin stepped forward and opened her arms as well, embracing Zi Heshang. ‘’You look too dirty!’’ She said a moment after, releasing her grip on him. ‘’And stink, too.’’ Though she didn’t forget to take a deep breath of his scent, and instantly covered her nose.

‘’Come on, puffy puff!’’ Zi Heshang approached again and grasped her hands, planting a kiss on each. ‘’It's been two weeks since I saw you, can’t you be more patient?’’ Heshang’s brows lowered into a docile arch sloping downwards and made his eyes glow brighter. It seemed too strange for a forty-year-old man with a few wrinkles around his eyes to look this cute.

‘’...hi-’’ No sooner had Hong Seng opened his mouth to utter a greeting that Zi Heshang released his wife’s hands and coiled his arms like snakes around Hong’s body. The moment they connected at Hong Seng’s back, Zi Heshang crushed him.

‘’Hong! Old Hong! Young Hong! Middle Hong! How long has it been!?’’ No, the right word was a hug, but all Hong Seng felt was a force greater than of his own by ten times squeezing him to death. His face paled and eyes almost bulged out, yet Muqin tapped her husband’s shoulder before he died.

This was the second time Hong Seng saw the face of death from the hands of Heshang, he thought and coughed a few times to get his erratic breathing stable. Heshang smiled at him with his yellowed teeth, still, and the rhinoceros behind them trembled at the sight.

A fellow of the same fate.

Hong Seng wobbled up to his feet and turned his back to the bickering couple, but it was clear that it was because he wanted to ignore Heshang’s initial excitement.

I’ll get myself some tea. Yes, that’ll do.

*********

Not long after the small gathering of people run off into the building, Zi Heshang didn’t forget to slaughter the rhinoceros beast for a good load of meat, Ubel came knocking on their door. Hong Seng opened the gates to him, as expected. The first expression he made was one of relief as he saw Ubel’s face, and peeking inside, Ubel could feel an aura that made his instincts not even dare assess.

He gulped and came in after Hong Seng’s gesture.

Miss Muqin was sitting on a raven embroidered purple cushion made larger than its other kinds that they normally seated themselves, so that she could lean on the dais and extend her legs in a comfortable position. And comfortable she seemed, her eyes had a fervent glint that made him shiver, and her long copper-like legs were hidden by a large body sprawled over them.

‘’Puffy puff, puffy puff!’’ The owner of the muscular body muttered, swinging side to side, and played with thick strands of golden hair. He looked like those Shaowei people, yet he didn’t have the silver-like pale skin of them. It was the most common slight-white, slight-tanned color of any mixed men around the central continent.

Ubel’s eyes widened, more than enough for the man to notice, and less than enough for Hong Seng to see. Is he what makes me terrified? He found it incredulous.

The man sized him up and down, his chest heaved up for a moment as if he was going to stand up. But a tap from Muqin’s slender fingers made him fall back again.

‘’Puffy puff?’’

‘’Do you remember our Lord's words?’’

‘’Oh-Oooh!’’ He exclaimed.’’I don’t.’’ Muqin tapped on his forehead thrice.

‘’He is the boy. Lord said you’ll have to train him.’’

‘’His name is boy?’’ The man shook his head. ‘’Pitiful thing, it seems like his family had some big trouble picking his name.’’

‘’They didn’t-’’ Ubel’s eyes hardened, as if an icy mountain appeared deep inside his gaze. ‘’-And my name is Ubel.’’ he said and collapsed on the last, empty cushion next to Hong Seng’s. He couldn’t perceive whether this was set here for him, or was left behind by the smarty kipping on miss Muqin’s legs.

‘’Ubel...single piece, two syllables. Easy to remember. And I’m Heshang. Zi Heshang, Mighty Heshang, title Heshang. Just put whatever you like.’’

Bodger Heshang, Ubel thought in his head. But it seems like his muscles cover for his empty brain. Ubel could only say like, as it wasn’t even clear whether the oppressing aura he felt around this man came from his cultivation base or his fleshly body. But his instincts told that an unsurmountable power hid inside this man’s skin and muscles. A power so great that, if erupted, could shatter three shrines of the same size.

‘’What is this training thing?’’ Ubel asked directly.

‘’My lord’s words,’’ Hong Seng said, Ubel saw him looking at his stiff, darkened hands. ‘’He said it was for, hmm, some kind of an offer.’’

‘’Do I need to kill more people?’’ Ubel pointed at the whispering wife and husband with his index finger. ‘’It seems like senior Heshang can kill a few men by himself.’’

‘’A few would be underestimating!’’ Said Heshang and extended his hands towards Ubel. ‘’I broke only a few hundred necks with these! Those that I shattered are more than that.’’ And as if intending to show the evidence for his words, the callouses and wrinkles inside his palm had dark crimson dots covering them. His palm had lost its color like a blade rusting from blood.

‘’There were also a few sect disciples.’’ His eyes showed a strange glint.

Ubel knitted his brows. ‘’Senior Heshang, what do you want?’’ He said and gazed down at the man. The danger he felt from him suddenly climbed to a new peak at Heshang’s last sentence, as if an invisible wall pressured him from all sides. ‘’I have no more relations with the sect.’’

The glint in Zi Heshang’s eyes disappeared. ‘’I only wanted to boast, nothing more.’’ He slouched left, snorting, and avoided Ubel’s gaze. Then his hand patted the lower parts of his wife’s legs. ‘’Ahh, downy!’’

‘’Ubel,’’ Hong Seng inched closer to him and leaned beside his ear. ‘’Are your hands any good?’’

‘’They are fine,’’ Ube said and shook his head. ‘’Forget that for now. Tell me what The Raven wants.’’

Hong Seng cracked a slight smile and returned to his seat, dallying for a few seconds to get comfortable. ‘’You know of the Cindersnow city.’’ He started.

‘’Yes, everyone knows, but I’ve never been there.’’ Ubel gazed at Hong Seng in the eye. ‘’Can you get to the main point?’’ With each passing second, the pressure he felt from Heshang choked him more and more. Though he didn’t want to return without asking for medicine first, it seemed like he would have to.

‘’Almost all disciples of The Sect retreated from the continent, as you know, and only a few remained like you. Yet most of these people are from Cindersnow city, who hold management positions in high places and don’t want to resign.’’ Hong Seng stopped here and raised four fingers.

‘’Of these people, there are four you need to know and be aware of. The first is the magistrate’s spokesman and chronicler, Qiang Yin. He has been working as a historian for twenty years and is at the second layer of Path Establishing. He is known to be cunning and wise, and as the late magistrate trusted him very much, he is one of the most resourceful about the finances and history of the city. Some say he even knows secrets, the kind that even the high nobility clans don’t have a clue about.’’

‘’Second is the head of the military force in charge of public order, Nu Jing. She is one of the few that is knowledgeable about the city’s whole layout. And the small degree of political power she holds among the lower portion of the city makes her an eyesore for Qiang Yin and a few more people. But the local populace praised her character more than once.’'

‘’Third is Mi Jian, one of the sect’s old spies and diplomats. He has a wide range of connections with people all over the continent, so he is keen on what is about to happen in the near future. Though he seems jobless right now, my lord said he started an information business for some very troubling figures. By troubling, I mean people not worth bothering.’’

‘’Fourth is Alim Mingzi, one of the rising commanders of the city army.’’

‘’Alim?’’ Ubel interrupted his words. ‘’Is there any information about his appearance? His Character? Or is it known what he did in the sect?’’

‘’He is a man with raven black hair, green eyes, short brows, and a height of near one-hundred-eighty centimeters. His last bits of responsibilities were simple errant works and a librarian. As for his character, it is noted that he is overall a calm man except in battle. A few days before, he killed a famed third layer Path Establishing expert of the Han dynasty with his first layer Path Establishing cultivation, and fifteen Qi Destructioners.’’

‘’...Surprising.’’ Ubel took a deep breath. So Alim was also here, not among the hundreds of thousands that left. When they talked about the general affairs of the continent, The Raven didn’t tell him of his existence. Was this a happy coincidence? He didn’t know. Did they still have a connection left, after he had left the sect? He didn’t know again. But it was lovely. Perhaps it was knowing that he also had another person he knew from the sect, aside from Quan, but he felt a sweet warmth in his heart.

‘’Then,’’ Ubel retracted his thoughts, ‘’What is our relation with these people?’’ That was the first question to be asked. Orabura forests had borders with Haishen and Han dynasties, true, and it was also a fact that Cindersnow city intended to migrate its overflowing population to these newly conquered Han territories. But what relation did Orabura had with figures from a city three mountains and cliffs, a large forest, and several towns afar?

The offer, Ubel repeated, What does Raven want me to achieve?

‘’My lord’s first thoughts were to increase his influence in Denizage, then follow the coastline to Kıykan and Sahden cities. But now he has a weaker, and uncontested prey.’’

Gears started turning in Ubel’s mind.

‘’Why me?’’ He asked, but knew the answer.

‘’Your connections, your relation with them, and you...know sect more than us.’’ Ubel raised his brow at the last statement. Even the couple playing aside frowned in confusion.

‘’It is illogical,’’ Ubel said. ‘’I can’t do anything by myself, and even if there were people this is not a danger I’m willing to push myself in. What can he even promise me to do it?’’ Ubel, if The Raven didn’t lie to him, wouldn’t get himself in a situation where several different parties vied for supremacy among the city. There were even people dying in the middle of the street every day.

‘’Origins of your parents.’’

Ubel, at this, flashed a bitter smile. Of course, that was the bait he was most likely to bite. But believing in a second-hand knowledge felt uncomfortably disturbing to him, even though The Raven proved himself as a real deity. Or perhaps it was because he was a deity. And now thinking of how he withheld the information about Alim, The Raven’s place in Ubel’s mind dropped by one notch.

‘’Still unreasonable.’’

‘’The kid is right,’’ Heshang said, turning his head over to look at them. ‘’There are five of those third layer Path Establishers in the city, and a few dozen Path Finders. And Wusheng Wang, why don’t you tell about him as well? I’m curious.’’

‘’Priest Hong?’’ Ubel turned his head ninety degrees and gazed at Hong Seng. His eyes darkened at their words, but it was clear the reason wasn’t being found out. It was confusion. Hong Seng looked at them, the few wrinkles under his eyes trembled.

‘’I...don’t know him.’’ he murmured. ‘’Everything I lear-’’

‘’This won’t do-’’ A suffocating voice boomed into existence and dark feathers stuck to the ceiling shook. ‘’-my poor zealot. I wish you wouldn’t tell every little thing you thought.’’

The eye of The Raven appeared again, Muqin and Hong Seng attempted to rise to their feet.

‘’Sit, I don’t have time.’’ Said Raven, the duo obediently sat down, and he looked at Ubel with a crimson gaze. ‘’Listen, bearer of my own. Let me make this clear, I am not an omnipotent nor omnipresent deity. I can’t grasp what kind of a stature I have in your mind, but I am not that, too. IF I were, I wouldn’t need people like you, like this zealot, like this dumb muscular beast.’’

‘’And I wouldn’t let you hold onto that Seal for this long.’’

‘’Come to the point.’’ Said Heshang, he suddenly appeared behind the eye.

‘’...what my zealot talked about is still an offer, in the process of making. Even if you accept, there is no guarantee I will move onto there. But you are no fool, and you know you need any kind of experience to further your powers. The training Heshang can provide you, consider it as a deposit for your role.’’

‘’Even if you don’t accept now, and I have no intention of hearing your response right now, last two believers of mine are on their way here. Hao Tou, one of the few people I have full trust in and a scheming genius. Meng Liu is a shamanic cultivator, he can foresee possible futures to help you avoid disasters.’’

‘’So this will be safe, you say?’’ Heshang asked instead of Ubel, leaving him wide-eyed at the man.

‘’Not safe, but it can be if you act properly.’’

‘’And why do we even need a divinator?’’ Ubel asked, raising his brow. ‘’Aren’t you one, O’mighty Raven?’’

His last word touched a reverse scale of The Raven, Ubel felt at a millisecond, and the eye expanded into three meters.

‘’My powers are limited, yoU DAMNED FOOL!’’ The Raven snapped. A sound wave burst out of the eye and washed over them, creaks and pops sounded from their bodies. Then the wave rebounded from the walls and returned with increased momentum, taking the visible shape of a feathered blade.

‘’You damn chick, keep yourself in control!’’ Heshang clenched his fist at the moment of attack and swung his fist towards the eye. From his knuckles, several thin lines of blue flashed and went off, and his fist buried deep into the eye.

With a pop, the sound wave broke like glass and the eye exploded into a handful of sand.

Ubel froze in his place, his stiff hands and legs trembled from terror. Hong Seng crashed his head into the ground, continuously. As for Muqin, she held clenched her belly with both hands, shaking all over her body, and grit her teeth. Beads of sweat started rushing down her forehead.

‘’Puffy puff!’’ Heshang rushed to her side and kneeled, he placed his hand on her head.

‘’I’m...fine,’’ She shook her head, Heshang took his hand back. ‘’Can you..ah, help me.’’

Heshang nodded and curled his hands around her, his hands coiled around her back and legs. He carefully picked her up and sent a stare at Hong Seng.

‘’Send her to one of the backrooms,’’ Hong Seng raised his head, blood drops dripped from his forehead. ‘’I’ve prepared lodgings for all of you.’’ Heshang nodded again and carried his wife to one of the rooms inside, then disappeared from their sight.

Ubel, at the same time, recovered from his stupor. His hands still trembled and his eyes were blurry, everything seemed like a mish-mash of grey and black in his eyes.

‘’Ubel,’’ Hong Seng called for him, Ubel turned to face him. ‘’Rest for now.’’ He said, then struck his head into the ground again. Droplets of blood flew from the small puddle under Hong Seng’s head and painted the white floor. ‘’I’m sorry...I’ve caused another accident again.’’

Ubel dumbly stared at his head, he held his breath without knowing. Then he subconsciously rose from his seat and walked towards one of the rooms at the back.

Clenching his shaking hands, he stepped inside.

*********

Hong Seng’s eyes gazing at Ubel’s back darkened.

Ubel was walking in circles.

Hong Seng opened and closed his mouth a few times, yet no words came out. At last, his lips spread thin and he closed his eyes.

Not long passed and a different set of footsteps sounded around them. Hong Seng revealed his tired eyes and gazed at the Heshang. He wasn’t walking, though the rhythmic steps gave off that vibe, but was rushing to Ubel. Ubel also stopped trying to reach a room and turned to gaze, with blank eyes, to the incoming Heshang.

‘’Heshang, no!’’ Hong Seng shot up to his feet but it was too late.

Zi Heshang raised his fist and, with an enraged roar, punched right on Ubel’s face. His knuckles buried into Ubel’s nose and sent him flying to the gates. Hong Seng rushed up to block his way but Heshang snorted and grasped his arm, then flung him aside.

Hong Seng flew in the air and crashed to a side-wall with a bang. His body stuck to the wall, then slid down with small rubble. Blood trickled down his lips.

‘’Heshang!’’ Hong Seng shouted again and tried to sand up, yet his torso throbbed with unimaginable pain. He couldn’t even grit his teeth.

Ubel crashed onto the gates like him and created a dent on the doors, they flung open outwards. Heshang stepped towards him, fuming with literal smoke coming off his nostrils. As if his eyes had a blazing, furious fire.

‘’You fool!’’ He crouched and sent another fist at the dumbfounded Ubel. Blood sprayed. ‘’You talk with a deity! A fucking deity!’’ Heshang clutched Ubel from the collar and shook him. ‘’Where the fuck does your scorn comes from!? Do YOU not realize what you are dealing with!?’’

‘’Heshang!’’ Hong Seng bit the tip of his tongue and spat a mouthful of blood onto his clothes. The crimson color turned into golden and spread to his limbs like slimy water. The pain started to lessen. ‘’Don’t touch him anymore!’’

‘’Shut up!’’ Zi Heshang roared and sent another punch at Ubel’s swollen face, droplets of blood sprayed onto his fist. Ubel let out a whimper at the impact. ‘’The damn chick hurt my wife! Why? Because a nobody from the fucking arrogant pricks’ land couldn’t hold onto his tongue!’’

‘’I ought to kill him now and here!’’

The pain in his limbs was almost gone, so Hong Seng managed to move. He stood up and rushed over to Zi Heshang. ‘’Heshang, please!’’ He said and came next to them, Heshang had raised another fist aimed at Ubel. Hong Seng reached with both his hands and kneeled over, covering Ubel’s body with his own.

‘’Spare him, I beg you. He is in the wrong but he isn’t the one you should blame.’’ Hong Seng’s eyes revealed a deep fear at his own sentence.

Heshang froze at Hong Seng’s eyes. His fist stood motionless on the air, between his head and Hong Seng’s nose.

Then his eyes shrunk. Tremors spread through his body and the scarlet on his knuckles dripped one by one.

‘’Training, you said,’’ He mumbled and lowered his hands. Heshang slowly stood up and gazed down at Ubel. His brows knit so tight that even a demon would be scared. And his eyes. They had a deep, ice-like cold under their brownish color. ‘’Let this be my first lesson!’’

Then he stomped and sped off back to his wife’s side. His body disappeared into the entrance.

Hong Seng let out a deep breath of relief and collapsed beside Ubel.

Now both their heads were covered in blood.