“Seems you don’t want to answer”, she rolled her eyes at him.

“How long have you been standing there?” he asked.

“Long enough to see everything from the beginning. Should have brought some popcorn!” she said chuckling. She then continued, “By the way, who were you talking to?”

“An alien from outer space.”

“There was someone standing there, wasn’t there?” she asked.

“Did you see them?”

“No. But I could feel it.”

“Oh well, you must have been imagining it.”

Ryan turned and started walking away. Cora followed him, peppering him with questions. Some questions met blank stares, others got annoying replies like, “An alien from another planet.” Clearly it seemed to be working, however, the questions continued.

After some time, Uncle George came and took Ryan away, in his grandfather’s truck. Cora was left alone, standing there. A minute later, Cora’s grandfather arrived in a red truck.

“How was school?” he asked, as she got in the car.

“Something interesting happened. I can’t believe there’s someone else who knows a way to hide their aura such that even I can’t detect it!” she exclaimed with a hint of excitement.

“Wait, what? Who?”

“I don’t know. But whoever they are, they are extraordinary. I couldn’t even detect a heartbeat.”

“Then how did you know they were there?”

“Ryan threw a punch that stopped an inch before hitting its target. And then he started talking to himself. I could tell that he didn’t stop that fist on his own accord! Someone stopped it, I just couldn’t see them, or sense their aura.”

“Maybe you were imagining it?” he said. He continued, “After all, the monks just don’t accept anyone as their disciple!”

“You may be right, but ...” she sighed and then continued, “there’s just a feeling I can’t shake off. Maybe I’m overthinking things.”

The old man revved the engine a bit before driving off in a spectacular fashion. Meanwhile, when Ryan got home, he was now anxious. Cora had seen him swinging the Dragon Subduing fist. At first he didn’t want to think too much about it, but now he was worried as to what would happen next.

He hurried up to Cloud’s peak, where he sat in a meditation pose. A blinding light shone from the matrix, and he found himself in the matrix space. Rogarth was sitting in a cross-legged position, and he suddenly opened his eyes upon Ryan’s arrival.

“Now let’s move to the next stage. Right now you have to cultivate to reach the second level of cultivation, Dragon Strength! Before I teach you the method though, there’s a movement technique that you have to learn. It is called the Roc Chasing The Wind! When you reach minor success, you can travel 5,000 meters in the blink of an eye! When you reach large success, you can glide between two places, and in some instances, you can fly for short distances”, he said.

Ryan was surprised when he learnt that he could fly. At first he wanted to ask how that was going to be possible, but refrained from doing so. If he could fly, he could go to and from Megapolis without using his private jet!

“I have to warn you that it is extremely difficult to cultivate. So here is what we are going to do first. Myra will tie weights around your feet as the training begins, so as to restrict your movement.”

“Wait, what? How will this help me become faster?”

“You’ll see as time goes on. Right now, sit down and meditate to get yourself in peak condition.”

When Ryan reappeared again, he was sitting at Cloud’s peak, looking at the setting sun. There was something truly beautiful about the sunset, besides the golden rays of light that pierced through the atmosphere and illuminated the skies.

He ended up getting 20kg weights hung around his feet by Myra. After the process, he started running around the forest, rather, it would be safe to say he trudged along slowly. Eventually, he went home, where he slumped and fell asleep, exhausted.

His grandparents didn’t ask anything at first, but they could tell that something was happening, even though they didn’t know what it was. Days went along slowly but steadily, and the issue about the fight earned Ryan and Brody detention. When he went to school, he was dragging his feet, which ended up with everyone thinking he’s a weirdo.

Gradually, as time passed on, his body adjusted to the weights so that he could now walk normally without dragging his feet. However, his morning jogs kept going on, and he was always exhausted by the time he got back to prepare for school. The weights were never removed all this time. At one point, he had tried to complain to Rogarth about the issue of the weights, but he’d been ignored!

The person who made the issue even more awkward was Cora. She kept following him, and watching him all the way. At first, she had been puzzled about why he walked dragging his feet. Then she uncovered his ankles, and saw the weights. She gasped at the sight; after all, anyone would be shocked to see someone donning weights at their feet. It seemed to be a punishment of sorts, but Cora didn’t think so. She knew it was some sort of training, but she had never heard of a training where someone was forced to wear weights and walk around with them.

She didn’t try to make things difficult for him, but the fact that she followed him everywhere he went caused him to be annoyed. At first, she had ignored him, but now seemed interested in talking to him. Who wouldn’t find that suspicious?

Ryan’s grandparents eventually talked to Peter about Ryan and the overall situation. They couldn’t talk to Ryan directly and ask questions, but they could use his friend. Peter tried to get information from Ryan, but he was rebuffed, which left him in shock. He gritted his teeth and left the matter.

Time moved faster, but for Ryan, it was moving slowly. He had gotten used to running around with the weights, to such an extent that it felt normal. Despite having a near-indestructible body, the weights took a toll on his body. He was usually always exhausted.

One day, as he was meditating on Cloud’s peak, he was transported to the matrix space where Rogarth was waiting.

“How has been the training?” he asked Ryan.

“It’s awful! Please just take off the weights! I have had enough of this!”

“Calm down Ryan. Look, there’s nothing I can do to remove the weights. However, I will instruct Myra to adjust the weights. Before that happens, you have to start learning how to cultivate the Roc Chasing the Wind movement technique.”

“How am I supposed to do that?”

The view changed, and it appeared that Ryan was in a mountainous region. In this region, there was a gigantic roc, whose wings spanned miles and thousands of miles. The bird’s structure blotted out the sun, as it flew in the air. It looked completely majestic, with its golden feathers.

Ryan was a bit taken aback when he saw the bird. He had never seen a roc before, much worse, anything like it. On earth, birds like that didn’t exist, so when learning biology in school, he had never seen a species that looked like the roc.

“This is a golden roc, and everything you are seeing here is not real. You are supposed to meditate, and gain enlightenment of the Roc Chasing the Wind technique by watching the movements of this golden roc. I will return when you have gained enlightenment. Oh, by the way, time is sealed in this mini-dimension! This means that even if ten years pass here, outside it would only be a few minutes!” he said as he faded from view.

“Wait--” before he spoke, Rogarth had already left.

He sat down cross-legged, and started watching the golden roc flying up in the air. At first, it appeared to be gliding, and when a soft wind blew past, it suddenly accelerated so fast that Ryan was caught off-guard! Within a few seconds, the roc was far away. The scene kept repeating itself again, and again.

Ryan was now completely immersed in studying the scene, that he simply forgot the passage of time. However, as Rogarth had said, time was sealed so as he spent months in the mini-dimension, outside it was only a few seconds.

*********************

Now, on the celestial planet, everything and everyone appeared busy, as if they were preparing for something. Inside the planet, there was a small realm in which a garden was located. This garden was lush with vegetation, there were flowers of all kinds. One could hear the sound of a zither playing in the background.

A young man and an old man were sitting in the garden, playing chess under the shade of a large tree.

“Check!” exclaimed the old man.

The young man was the celestial emperor. He frowned after the old man finished speaking.

“You may enter”, he said.

Ripples appeared in the air as a figure materialized. The figure turned out to be a young woman, whose age appeared to be in the early twenties. She was wearing a red robe, with designs of a vermillion bird on them. As she finished materializing, she dropped on one knee and kept quiet.

“What is it, Empyrean Flame Lily?” asked the emperor, with a look of anxiety on his face.

“Your majesty, I have some really bad news--”, she began.

The old man interrupted, “News is news, my child. Whether good or bad, it all depends on your perspective on the matter.”

“Yes grand elder, your majesty”, she spoke with a bow. Then she continued, “The Soul Devourer has started mobilizing his forces! It appears he wants to take the blue planet under his control!”

“Now, that is bad news”, exclaimed the grand elder, as he stroked his white beard.

The celestial emperor sighed as he focused on the board ahead of him. He then played a move, negating the move played by the grand elder. “How long?” he asked.

“At most two years, your majesty”, she replied.

“Instruct Thunder Fury to retreat, and leave his preparations for the blue planet. No one is to go to the blue planet from now on! All teleportation portals are to be destroyed!” replied the emperor. He continued, “Your move, uncle.”

His uncle moved the queen piece on the board, and then shouted with enthusiasm, “Check mate!”

The celestial emperor was at a loss of what to do. He just kept looking at the chess board in front of him, ignoring Empyrean Flame Lily who was still on one knee.

“Anything else?” he asked her.

“Umm...Your majesty...Lady Miriana...Umm... She went to confront the Soul Devourer..” she appeared to be hesitating as she said the words.

The celestial emperor was so furious that he hit the chessboard with his left fist! However, instead of the pieces falling about, the entire board was reduced to dust! The zither even stopped playing.

“Calm down, Rokkai! Destroying the board will not change the situation. You’ve already lost the game... Hahaha”, chuckled the grand elder.

The celestial emperor calmed down a bit, and he looked at the place where the board had been set up. Within seconds, the board that had been destroyed materialized again, with all the pieces intact.

“She might win, you never know”, comforted the grand elder.

“Uncle, you of all people know that there are only two people who can fight and win against that human! And Miriana is not one of them!” he voiced his thoughts.

Empyrean Flame Lily stood there dazed for a moment. She was wondering why the celestial emperor had left Lady Miriana alone in the first place. However, she couldn’t ask questions that could potentially end up with her head on a pike.

“You may leave”, said the celestial emperor coolly and after the Empyrean left, the celestial emperor said, “I don’t really understand that woman!”