Ao Ruang awoke in his head throbbing and his vision blurred. Growing up he had heard about the effects of alcohol, but never had it himself, but he imagined this is what adults called a hangover. He had seen the results of it growing up as some of the men would leave the local tavern, but based on how they acted he imagined it was like this.

Looking around lazily he noticed the slumped over body on the floor fast asleep Yi Liling was pale and shallowly breathing. It was clear he had taken far more blood than normal. All thanks to that woman from after the assessment. It seemed that blood hunger was triggered not just from being full, but from scent as well certain scents seemed to trigger it far easier.

Ao Ruang knew he needed to figure out how to control this or his dark nature would be revealed for all to see and there was no telling how people would react considering human’s had a natural apprehension to anything not seen as human he doubted they would embrace him.

Even so called dark martial arts practitioners distanced themselves from the dark races from the past. Ao Ruang didn’t know much about these races, but what he did learn was they were the dominant force for many thousands of years prior to the rise of humanity. In fact humans were often the slaves or even food of these races and by all accounts based on his small knowledge about this it appears that he had inherited the legacy of one of these rare or extinct races. As for what it was specifically...he was hoping the Ghostly Whisper sect’s extensive books and tomes would give him more information.

Ao Ruang knew that he needed to use the blood essence in his dantain to increase his cultivation, but he didn’t know if there were other uses yet and he needed to do some experimentation once he learned more about Ki at the sect and how to harness it.

Getting up and quickly washing off the blood from his clothes he tidied up his messy hair and threw on a fresh pair of clothes they were nothing to look at. He only was able to ask Yi Liling to purchase some clothes for him while he was out yesterday.

Ao Ruang looked at Yi Liling fondly as he left; he had no idea why she desired to be with him when all he did was take and not give back.

Exiting the small inn they were staying in, Ao Ruang made his way towards the streets until he came to the lower section of the city. It was built out of an old river gorge that sat several stories lower than the rest of the city casting it in a shadow that was only momentarily fully lite up by the light at noon only to quickly fade again.

The Ghostly Whisper sect entrance sat at the end of the gorge and descended into massive underground into the caverns that spanned nearly a quarter of Firedawn.

The Gorge district had an eerie atmosphere full of exotic shops and shady dealings. It clearly represented the customer base of the area which would be many Ghostly Whisper sect disciples. Ao Ruang already felt that he could be more at home with this place than he could with any of the other potential sects in Firedawn.

As Ao Ruang approached the entrance of the sect he felt his anticipation grow it was truly something he never would have imagined seeing. When he was growing up few if any people from his home would travel beyond the mountains and even few had ever returned. The Gates were in the shape of two ghostly figures silently shrieking as if trying to get away from whatever laid behind. It was a great deterrent if anything that was for sure. As he entered the maw of the ghostly figures the light of the afternoon sun was replaced by a bluish hue that he wasn’t entirely certain where it came from.

The Ghostly Whisper sect was smaller than what Ao Ruang expected; many of the buildings had grand and well built entrances, but the reality was those were just the entrances to vast underground complexes and caverns that spanned nearly a quarter of Firedawn city.

The Ghostly sect was considered dark users focusing on Ki attributes that leaned toward Yin or the darker nature of Ki. So being located underground helped those who needed to use the dark and cold and damp to cultivate.

…

Firedawn was an odd place for a dark sect to establish itself due to the immense amount of Yang energy it gave off due to the Firestone tiling so many of the roofs used which naturally absorbed the sunlight and reflected it back. It made Firedawn highly desirable for Yang natured Ki users. Despite this, the Ghostly Whisper sect thrived here as one of the top powers in Firedawn. No one really knew why.

Deacon Ru An waited for the youth that Lady Feng had recruited while he wasn’t a fan of; he couldn’t deny the boy’s talent and extremely rare and different Ki attributes. Watching down the road his eyes swiftly spotted the handsome young man. His plain clothes quickly informed Deacon Ru An more than he knew previously. This wasn’t a wandering rich kid from a rural yet rich family clan. This boy was self trained in a small village somewhere probably extremely poor.

Ru An’s opinion of the boy raised slightly as most talents died in the cradle depending on where one was born. So any one who could raise above their lot in life was often someone who had good character.

As Ao Ruang approached the same eerie aura of a predator rose off the young boy almost like a strong stench. “I see you finally made it. You will be following me to Lady Feng’s quarters where she will introduce you to the rest of her disciples.”

“As you say, senior!” Ao Ruang said enthusiastically.

Ru An only nodded in approval as he turned and led the boy into the entrance of the Ghostly Whisper sect which descended deep until the light was swallowed up by darkness.

…

The Ghostly Whisper sect was Ao Ruang's first choice so when he was given the opportunity to join by Lady Feng he couldn’t refuse. He had many questions and few answers and Lady Feng seemed to have few questions about his background which was even more useful.

The Deacon Ru An had met him at the front entrance to the sect, but it didn’t seem like he was very interested in himself; the man’s face was hidden behind a mask and his eyes were stern and unyielding. Perhaps it was the nature of Yin based users to be cold like the very attribute of the moon itself.

The descent into the darkness of the underground sect wasn’t as difficult as he had thought. Ao Ruang could see nearly as clear as day in the dark; his eyes seemed to adapt almost instantly. This was of course something that would surprise most as the dark underground of the sect was often quite difficult to navigate for first timers, but then again Ao Ruang wasn’t a normal human anymore as far as he could tell.

After several minutes of descent the hallway opened up into an immense cavern with beautiful carved buildings hanging on the sides of the cavern and spiraling staircases and archways attaching each other to hanging homes. Blue flames lit the pathways and students seemed to be walking to and from openly for the most part. Only a few bothered to spare a glance as Ao Ruang passed by. He could sense many of them had Ki many times more strong than his own.

A sense of excitement built up in him for the first time since he had been bitten by the mysterious person near the riverbank cavern.

After nearly twenty minutes they finally came to a large building with twin doors that had half a skull with a rose in the mouth.

“Go in, I will be standing watch outside. Be sure to bow before Lady Feng; she is an elder of the sect even if you are a personal disciple.” Ru An warned in his same dry voice.