As Zhu’s gaze shifted from his now empty hand to Zack constantly washing himself in the river, Zhu’s expression turned serious.

Usually, people only take around half an hour to remove all impurities from within their bodies. Even for smiths and artificers who have the most of them, they only take an hour. But this kid… he took all that time from evening till now, and it doesn’t seem to show signs of stopping just yet. What the heck is the poison he’s afflicted with?

Shifting his gaze away, Zhu took a deep breath before sitting down cross-legged, pulling out a map for himself to see. The back of his finger tapped repeatedly over a certain area.

Diego should be somewhere around here if nothing went wrong. He’s soon to cross the barrier. I hope it goes alright. Only if not for that barrier… How do these ancients do such things?!

While waiting for Zack, Zhu passed his time by doing various things, all but meditating to nourish his Ki or to absorb Arcana in order to not disturb Zack.

In the blink of an eye, an hour passed. Just as his teeth dug into a plump purple fruit, Zhu noticed the dirt-like impurities flowing within the river lessening at a considerable pace. He nodded in satisfaction. Biting a part of the fruit off, he leaned against a tree, one leg on another as he rested beneath its shade, waiting for Zack to finish expelling the impurities.

In but a few minutes, like a discharging tank, the impurities stopped coming out from the boy’s bodies, barely leaving any noticeable traces within the flowing stream, whose water once resembled a glistening piece of transparent crustal, albeit flowing downstream.

“Alright, it seems to be finished. You can get out. Let’s go get you some breakfast. Then we leave.” Zhu announced.

Nodding, Zack slowly swam towards the riverbank before getting up and changing into a new set of clothes.

“How’re you feeling?” Zhu asked.

Realising the meaning of his question, Zack paid more attention to his body, even stopping wearing his clothes for a moment. A breath of fresh air suffused his pores. Furling and unfurling his fist, he felt a sense of lightness as if he were wearing weights all over his body till a while ago, just having removed them a second ago.

Voice full of uncertainty, Zack answered, “I feel… very light. Like my body reduced in weight. And a lot. Like… I was wearing weights, and I just removed them.”

“It’s normal. The impurities gathered within your body also have weight. Now that they’re gone…” Zhu paused.

“The weight is gone as well!” Zack completed, his voice quivering with excitement.

Clapping his hands to disrupt the latter’s excitement from turning into overeagerness, Zhu said, “Hurry up. We gotta leave. I’ll get you something to eat when we’re there. We’re already late.”

While finishing putting on his clothes, Zack asked, “Teacher, what’s this thing you keep mentioning?”

Zhu replied, “I had a deal with William. There’s something in it for you as well. Although what it is, I can’t say. Anyway, it’d be in your best interest to follow without asking questions. Still, I feel I’m losing out on this deal now I think about it. The cost of using a—*Cough* of his side doesn’t seem equal to three tasks a sage would do for him.”

Realising William’s shadow behind all this, Zack’s heart grew solemn. A figure of a decrepit man in a wheelchair, seeming as if he would pass away at any moment, flashed through his mind.

Meanwhile, Zhu rubbed his chin, feeling doubtful about William’s motives. However, without thinking much, he dismissed it. He had already made a deal. Talking Zack along with him over a relatively empty yet twisting path, for the fun of it, he picked up speed.

Picking up his cue, Zack began running as well. With every step, he experienced the lightness in his body, running as if there were a spring in his step.

Zhu kept increasing his speed till Zack could barely keep up, having reached his peak. Realising the former’s speed no longer increased, Zack tried to keep up, getting accustomed to the changes in his body by the means of the jog.

Trees and bushes whizzed by. Every time the pair of teacher and student encountered people along the way, the people they encountered would look at the running Zhu with reverent gazes as if he were a walking divinity, a majority bowing on the spot to show their respects. Next, their gazes would fall on Zack following behind, forcing them to halt themselves from starting a conversation so as to not disturb the ‘lecture’ Zhu was in the midst of.

With a weird smile, Zhu thought, This is convenient. I should bring these kids around sometimes.

Reaching in front of an abandoned valley somewhere within the borders of the monastery, Zack looked around in puzzlement. However, just as he was about to turn to Zhu, he jumped; his vision turned black out of nowhere.

Did I become blind—

Before he could continue, he felt a strip of cloth wrapping over his remaining eye, covering up his vision.

Without needing him to ask, Zhu explained, “I’ll be wrapping this over your eye. The way forward, you can’t see it. It’s a secret. Sorry.”

Shrugging, Zhu led Zack around in circles. While traversing the valley, he ensured the former wouldn’t remember the path taken, going so far as to pass through various sorts of ground, including the streams reaching their ankles.

Just as Zack was walking forward blindly, he heard a knocking sound come from in front of him, from which shortly after he bumped into Zhu.

A creaking sound penetrated the still air.

“You’re late, you know that?” A low-pitched snake-like voice drifted out from the front, bringing forth a chill like that in the middle of the season of frost. The voice reverberated through the air, carrying a ferocious pressure like a snake staring venomously at its prey with a smile forced out by its fury, licking its lips with its forked tongue, appearing ready to attack at any time.