Ed could not close his eyes the entire night. He dared not for fear of never waking up. It seemed sometime around midnight when true darkness descended. Not even trees were in sight. He felt as though the world had turned off a lamp. He wondered if the valley had entered darkness or his sight had been taken from him. Black; that was all that filled his vision. For the first time since Ed had come to this world, he truly panicked.

Still, he prided himself a skilled hunter and knew it was times like this when he need to stay quiet. Since he could not see, he did not believe that he could not hear. Trying to still his panicked breath, he listened to the night. Not even a cricket could be heard, but that did not scare him. Since the Old Pervert had left, he had heard not a sound as though nothing lived here.

Even though he had been told no human being lived here, he still wondered about other things crawling in the dark. Did this darkness take away all their sight too? That old pervert never said anything about other creatures. Staying in this land so long, he had heard of creatures so different from where he came from. Here, dragons were rare but real. They classified amongst creatures he could only ever dream of that existed here.

He felt the temperature in the air drop, causing him to wonder if the valley intended to freeze him to death. If the temperature dropped far enough, he was not so worried about freezing but being the only thing here with warmth. His body heat would be like a beacon for whatever is in here. Closing his eyes, he flicked his wrist and produced a robe. He slowly sat on the ground trying to make as little sound as possible. He threw the robe around himself, covering his entire form and stopped circulating energy in his core. Forcing his body temperature to slowly mimic that of the surrounding.

But that was not the only thing that could spot him out. Smell. He forced his body to sit so still as he sucked in the unfiltered energy in the air accompanied by a distinct scent into his skin. Soon, his smell was no different from his surroundings. Still as a rock, he waited.

It felt like an eternity before light filtered through his closed eyes. Pressure like never before pressed upon his head. Opening his eyes, all he saw was the sky. He found that he was hovering among the clouds. It felt like a mountain sat on his head. The pressure kept growing, making his head seem as though it would be crushed. Blood flowed from his eyes, ears and nose. He noticed the pressure only came from above. Below, it was as though he sat firmly on air. His body descended till he felt nothing but wet rock under his feat. Compared to the pressure from above, the wet rock seemed like a feathered pillow.

He had to think fast, how does he get out of this? He dared not move for fear that his body would be flattened by the pressure. As the pressure increased, he panicked, causing his body to exit its previous state of calm and tremble. It was as though the movement caused the pressure to double. He stiffened and rolled his eyes up hoping to see what pressured his head so. He noticed a cluster of clouds just over his head. It felt as though the sky above, though moving, was very solid. Was he carrying the sky?

This assumption did nothing to help his panic. Taking in a deep breath, he stilled once more and tried to feel the energy beneath him. He did not know anything but the utter fact that he needed to distribute the energy or else he will be squashed. Closing his eyes, he tried to concentrate on the energy flow inside him.

He could feel the bountiful energy pounding away at his skull like a hammer descending iron at a blacksmith, trying to get into his skull but was met with a barrier. He wondered, if the pressure above him was energy and if he could use it to cultivate. He opened the gate at the crown of his head and a gush of energy rushed in. He had forgotten to open the gate below. He felt the energy fill him so fast that he was going to burst. Rushing, he let it out the base of his feet.

The pressure above him increased significantly, but he could not feel it except for the occasional brush on his nerves, veins and organs as it passed through him.

It felt like an eternity as he perfected maintaining balance and becoming a perfect gateway, allowing his body to stay completely balanced. He felt as his level increased slowly, bringing him closer to the spirit picking stage. He felt so close, yet so far. Was it the different energies he was constantly absorbing that caused this?

Time trickled on. He was not sure how long he had been sitting there. When he opened his eyes, he was sitting on white rolling sand expanded as far as the eye could see. He sighed when he noticed the storm fast-moving his way.

Just outside the Baju valley was flat untamed land that rolled into massive plains of farmland, where a lone inn stood in its centre. It looked old and shabby on the outside but was warm and sturdy inside. An unusually tall woman in flowing blue robes wiped plates over the counter as she stared at Tie Nse drinking while enjoying the warm breeze blowing into the inn from the window.

“Your Earth-bound gate is receiving some serious heat, won't you go and handle it?” the woman asked Tie Nse.

“Let them do it themselves. I've got better things to do,” Tie Nse mildly said, swirling the wine in his cup.

“Better things? Do you mean sitting here all day? I'm tired of your old face, won't you leave already?” the woman frowned.

“Are you running a business or not? What kind of businesswoman rejects a customer?”

“You have not paid for anything at all,”

“I will pay when I leave,”

“Then leave already!”

“Leave? I'm not. Can't you leave a busy man in peace? I am now a master you know? I can't bother with petty things like the Earthbound gate. I am too busy doting on my disciple,” Tie Nse boasted.

“Disciple? What, the wine?” the woman scuffed.

“What? You don't believe me? He is out training. When he is done, he is to meet me here. Me, being a good master is waiting for my disciple, why can't you see that?” his childish protest did nothing to help his case.

“I'm sure you took on a disciple so that you can use him as an excuse to not answer when your Alliance calls for you. I still don't understand how a lazy man like you ended up as patriarch? Was the late patriarch blind?”

“Ya, Madam Ge! You left your entire clan to run a restaurant in the middle of nowhere, yet you are talking about me?”

“The late patriarch must have suffered a lot,” she started shaking her head as though imagining what the former patriarch had gone through.

“Don't talk about that smelly old man! He said if I become patriarch, I get to do whatever I want and go where I want. It is like being a king, but even better, he had said. Now, every single time, those old men at the alliance are calling me about this and that. King? As if! This old man only trained so that he would have a long life to enjoy as he likes,” Tie Nse complained so much that one would think life had done him wrong.

“If the heavens did not curse him with a disciple like you, would he have had to trick you to take the patriarch seat? Tsk...Your master is probably turning in his grave at your attitude. Are you not ashamed?” Madam Ge shook her head in pity.

“That old man? He is smiling in his grave thinking he succeeded in trapping me. Is that how a master should treat his student? Look at me, dotting on my student like it should be,” Tie Nse said proudly.

“A master like you, what kind of student can you even get?”

“I know what you are doing. You want to annoy me so that I will leave. It will not work!”

“Looking at you, your disciple was probably picked so that your work will be easier. A lazy master like you, I can only imagine what kind of student you will pick,”

“Ya! I was hoping he would only be slightly special, but the boy had to go too far with it. Do you know how much I'm regretting it? I now have to put in more effort than any other person to train him. All my peaceful years are over,” Tie Nse complained.

“If he was that special, you would be putting your energy to train him instead of sitting here day after day. Are you sure you even have a disciple?” Madam Ge scuffed in disbelief.

“Why do you think I am here? I'm waiting for the boy to fight his way out of the Baju valley! See how much effort I'm putting in? Does any other master put in such?” Tie Nse said in anger before sinking into sadness, ”Oh, my peaceful days,” he did not look at the woman to see her frozen form.