《The Legendary F Rank》


 Chapter 1: Broken Memories.

    Chapter 1: Broken Memories.


    The ground shook as the battle raged on with the sounds of swords shing and gunshots cracking through the sky. With each exchange of violence; dust and chunks of dirt shot up into the sky causing them all to be blinded. A horn called out through the air like a Divine trumpet descending from the heavens. Demanding everyone to stop fighting and return to their bases.


    "We''re all going to die at this rate. We can''t keep up with their sheer amount of soldiers! Somebody call for back up right away!"A muscr looking man with light blue hair that reflected the sunlight like a sheet of ice asked one of the many smaller soldiers. This man was a behemoth inparison.


    "Yes, Captain Tachibana! I will get on it right away!" One of the soldiers under themand of the behemoth shouted as he ran off into one of the many tents that lined their base camp.


    The man then walked up to the entrance of his camp and looked out to the sight before him. The ground was littered with the bodies of hisrades. This sight would forever remain in his heart until the day he died.


    "Brothers and Sisters I swear your sacrifices won''t be in vain! I will make sure their whole army is wiped out today!" A sh of blue light appeared from his hand as a sword formed into existence in front of his face.


    "Sir! We got word back from headquarters! There has been an air raid in Tokyo city. The enemy dropped hundreds of bombs across the whole country. All the remaining soldiers have already been deployed to deal with that situation." The smaller soldier from earlier said as he came running back.


    The behemoth of a man dropped to his knees. "Is it over just like that? How could this happen!?" Upon hearing the news many of the soldiers all gathered together with their friends. They knew they had lost the war. The only thing awaiting them was the execution from their enemies.


    The roar of thunder echoed throughout the mountain range. [World Magic: Smite.] A gigantic bolt of lightning pierced the sky above the camp on the opposite side of the battlefield. Screams of terror and pain could be heard for miles as the scent of Iron drifted in the breeze. A red mist filled the air as a ck silhouette emerged from over the horizon.


    "W-What is that!?" The behemoth of a man said as the figure grew closer and closer. It came closer and closer before suddenly stopping at the gate.


    The darkness fluttered in the wind. It was a man. Dressed in all ck. He had a long dark robe that was now stained red. There were drops of blood scattered across his clothes. But his facial expressions were hidden by the white mask he was wearing. It was all white but was now stained red as blood dripped down it. The only distinguishing feature was the number one written on the centre of his head.


    "Wait you are" The smaller soldier looked up at the dark figure in front of him.


    "Yeah, I''m tired. Now if you would be ever so kind. Please take this to be cleaned. He took off the mask and handed it to the soldier. Long ck hair fell out from underneath his mask. It was shoulder length and it looked like he hadn''t slept for a few days with the dark circles beneath his eyes.


    "The Great Mage. Long time no see." An old man came out of one of the tents. Suddenly all the soldiers rose to their feet. "Sir!" They saluted as the man walked over.


    "General Torus. I wish it was longer" said the man dressed in ck as he walked over to the old man. He held out his hand as he approached him.


    "I didn''t think you would make it this long. What are you doing out in the field? Don''t they usually have you back home in your nice cosy office?" The man dressed in ck said as he shook his hand.


    "Yeah, This was a bit different though. As you could see we couldn''t spare any man at all. I''m guessing you already finished your tasks?"


    The old man asked him "Yes sir. The white house is in rubble''s. We don''t have to worry about a counter-attack anytime soon. I also took care of the senate whilst I was there." He exined.


    "You know. This is why I like you Haru. You always overachieve. How about we all head back now? The enemy has fallen, everyone get back to Tokyo! The fight isn''t over yet!" The old man praised him. And then shouted to the men. They all looked at each other confused but decided not to question it as one by one small purple gateways opened up and they vanished.


    It was just Haru and the old man remaining on the battlefield now. "How about youe back to my office? We will have a celebratory drink. I have some of that honey mead that you like so much." General Torus said and then opened up a gate of his own [Spatial Rift]


    "I can''t really refuse that can I?" Haru said and then followed him inside. They instantly appeared inside a small room with an oak desk in the centre of the room.


    on one side of the room was a ss cab containing hundreds of bottles of alcohol and on the other side, there was a firece that was already ming.


    "Here." General Torus handed a ss to Haru.


    "Thanks." He took a sip and then sat down at the front of the desk. General Torus sat down at the other side and put his feet up.


    "Oh, I just remembered. You filed a resignation letter, didn''t you? Are you sure you want to go through with this? There is noing back once it is signed." He asked Haru who was still sipping his mead.


    "Yeah, I''m sure. I have been waiting for this day for the past ten years. But I couldn''t just walk out on you during the middle of a war. I''m guessing this should all be wrapped up soon. I will have no regrets. I can finally live a normal life." Haru said as he finished his ss.


    "I guess there is no convincing you then. I was hoping that you would stay with us even if it was just a role as an officer but I guess you have made up your mind. I have your paperwork right here. Let me grab it." General Torus turned around and picked up a single sheet of paper.


    "I will sign it right now for you." He said as he pulled out a pen and signed the document.


    Haru felt relief wash over his body as he saw him finish the signature and then stand up from his chair. "Sergeant Haru Coriel. It is an honour to be the one to say this to you. You are relieved of your duty." It was like being hit by a truck. Haru felt happiness, unlike anything he had felt before. His living hell was finally over. He held out his hand to General Torus.


    "It''s been a pleasure serving with you Sir," Haru said as General Torus shook his hand this time. "The feeling is mutual. Now get your ass out of my office civilian!" He shouted. They both startedughing as Haru walked to the door.


    "Till we meet again old friend!" Were Haru''s final words as he closed the door behind him. He walked down through the corridor and then out to the front door.


    Loud bangs and pops sounded out as shes of lights appeared in the sky. There were so many that it illuminated the sky for miles. "Fireworks huh? I guess they just announced it is over." Haru said to himself as he walked through the car park. But as he began to walk toward the exit he stumbled.


    "What is that?" His head began to spin. His vision was bing blurry and he could barely stand upright. Did I drink too much? He thought to himself as he was plunged into darkness.


    Muffled voices could be heard as he began to feel his body once again. He felt two enormous hands grab a hold of him and then cold air ran across his whole body. Then just as soon as the cold air ran across his body he felt warmth as he was wrapped in something warm and soft.


    "You did a great job, Krista. Congrattions. It''s a boy." An unfamiliar voice called out. He felt warmth around him as his body moved through the air. He squinted his eyes to see what was happening. He was shocked to see a woman''s face above his.


    She had long brown hair and eyes that matched. She then suddenly gasped. "He just opened his eyes!" She seemed overjoyed.


    "Really? let me see." Another face came into view he also had brown hair but it was slightly darker. He also had a scruffy beard and blue eyes.


    Who are these people? He thought as he looked down at his own body.


    What the fuck?! Haru began to cry uncontrobly.


    "Look what you did Luke. You scared him." She shot him a disapproving look but started tough as the man known as Luke looked upset.


    Some time had passed and Haru was now alone in a bed back at their house. He hade to understand the situation he was in. He just couldn''t believe it. What was he supposed to do now? He had been reincarnated. And these people were now his parents.


    Haru never met his parents in hisst life. He was anxious with the whole situation so he decided to do the only thing he knew how to do. He began to build up his mana from scratch. Hey down in bed and began to feel for his mana. It was weak but he felt it. He then began to exhaust it from his body.


    When children under the age of sixteen exhausted their mana it had a weird effect on their body. Each time they werepletely empty, their supply of mana would double in size. He didn''t know the reason for this but it didn''t stop him from doing it.


    After fifteen minutes of forcing out everyst drop of mana, Haru''s body fell limp. Luckily his parents were sleeping. Thest thing they would want to see is their newborn baby lying lifelessly in bed. So he decided to get some sleep to pass the time for his mana to return.


    He awoke with his Father''s face looking down at him. "Good morning little guy." He put his finger on Haru''s head and patted him. It''s not like he could say anything back to him. so he just blinked at him instead.


    His father then picked him up and then held him out at arm''s length. "You stink boy. Let''s get you out of that filthy thing first, and then we will go and wake up your mom." He then carried him over to a mat on a table and began to take his clothes off.


    Get off me!! Was all Haru could think as he tried to pronounce words but they all came out as the same sound with different endings. "Ahh, Ahg Ahf Ahg Ahn" His father looked back at him as he began to kick his legs around.


    "Come on buddy someone has to do it... The sooner you stop kicking around the sooner it will be over." Haru thought it over for a moment and decided to let him do it just to get it over with as soon as possible. He didn''t want to live through the embarrassment for a prolonged amount of time.


    "There we go. Now let''s go wake your mother up." He picked Haru up into his arms again and carried him out of his room and into another room. It was bigger than the previous one and had in white walls, a bed and a dresser on either side.


    There was a human shaped bulge underneath the bed sheets and two legs sticking out of the bottom as he carried Haru over and ced him down on the bed. "Hey watch this." He whispered as he backed up to the foot of the bed.


    A faint glow formed in his hand as he began to cast a spell. The room dropped a few degrees as a block of ice formed on his mother''s legs. She groaned as she slowly woke up. Haru looked back over to the block of ice that now had steam rising from it. He then looked back at his mothers face. Her eyes then met his.


    "Good morning Haru, my sweetheart." She gave him a kiss on the head and then sat up and smiled at Haru before turning around to see the puddle of water dripping on to the floor.


    She moved closer to Haru and whispered in his ear. "I''m going to kill that father of yours." She had a terrifying look in her eyes as she looked over the man who was backed up against the wall out of fear.


    "Wait a minute darling, please think about this!" He eximed in ast-ditch attempt to make her reconsider her actions. "Please think!? You''re the one who should think! What if you froze Haru instead of me!?"


    He backed up as Haru''s mom got up from the bed. An orange glow formed around her body as she was surrounded by mes.


    "Nooo!!!" His father then ran out of the room and jumped down the stairs before she could do anything else to him. She walked to the bedroom door and shouted downstairs.


    "And make breakfast whilst you reflect on your actions!" She shouted to him from the doorway.


    Haru startedughing as her mes dispersed. His mom walked over and sat back down on the bed facing him. "What a silly man. Listen Haru, I don''t want you to grow up to be a man like him you hear me?" She said sternly but still in a soft tone. She then looked down to her new born child and poked him on the nose.


    "Don''t mind your silly father, I will make sure to get him back for that." She smiled and picked him up into her arms before making her way downstairs to eat breakfast.


    The rest of the day was uneventful. Haru sat in the living room and watched TV with his parents all day. It was already dark before he knew it and it was time for him to be put to bed. Luke looked outside before looking at his watch.


    "Six o''clock already? Come on its bedtime little guy." He picked Haru up and carried him back to his room. Krista followed close behind and knelt beside him before kissing him on the head again.


    "Good night Haru," She said as she pulled the door closed but left a gap for a sliver of light to bounce off the wall.


    ''Ok time to build my mana once again!'' He thought. It was a bit strange though this time. A full hour went by and there wasn''t any sign of his mana depleting. About two more hours went by before he finally passed out.


    The next year or so was rtively the same. Haru would continue to grow his mana pool each night when his parents put him to bed. And by the time he was one, it would take two whole weeks for all of his mana to be drained. inparison a four hour recovery time was nothing too unbearable.

 Chapter 2: Coming of age.

    Chapter 2: Coming of age.


    After a few years of consistent mana training. Haru was now four years old and his body could now contain five months of mana usage. His training began to slow down as each time his mana supplied doubled. He wasn''t sure why but this trick wasn''t taught in any book. He only discovered it in hisst life after identally using too much magic during a fight.


    One day when he was still young he was practising magic in the library. He was in his own world as solid crystals of Ice gently floated around his head.


    When suddenly the door to the room came open startling him. He opened his eyes to see his mom was stood in the doorway looking at him.


    "What do you think you are doing!" She yelled as she saw the crystals of Ice circling his head. She began to freak out. Haru looked at her with shock. This was the first time he had heard her shout like that in the four years he had known her.


    Krista looked at her son who seemed to be shocked by her raising her voice so suddenly and ran over to hug him. "I''m sorry sweetie. Mommy didn''t mean to make you upset. I''m just angry that your dad has been teaching you magic at such a young age." She exined as she kissed his cheek.


    Haru knew something like this would happen eventually so in an attempt to not let anyone take the me for teaching him magic he always knew were his n B was. He walked over to the bookcase and pulled out two old-looking books.


    "No dad didn''t teach me. Look I learned from here." He pointed at the book and then flipped open a few pages. He was always careful that the only magic he practised, for now, was magic that could be found inside one of the many books inside their library.


    His mom bought the exnation and then hugged him once again. "My baby is so smart! Who would have thought that you would be able to learn magic on your own? That''s incredible." She praised him and then devoted her spare time to make sure that he practised magic safely.


    Both of his parents were from wealthy families but denounced their inheritance for some reasons. They were against sending Haru to a school because they both worked in the afternoon so they wouldn''t have time to pick him up so they decided it would be more convenient to hire home tutors to teach him the basic information that school would provide children with.


    Once he got a little older his parents had bought him aptop to make research easier for the work his tutors would assign to him. But in reality, the work he was given was only simple math and Japanese history along withnguage.


    But they skipped over teaching him anything about the military. Even though he knew that his parents were both once soldiers. It was like they didn''t want him to follow in their footsteps but he was curious as to what happened to him. He knew if he wanted to find out what happened to him then he would have to join the military again.


    The peaceful life that he longed for in his past life could never be for filled unless he knew what happened to cause his reincarnation. He was back in Japan so it couldn''t have been an enemy attack. The only logical exnation was it was someone he knew.


    For the next few years, he focused solely on increasing his mana and finishing his assignments on time. The peaceful life he asked for was starting to get boring. And like that he lived out the next ten years of his life.


    Haru''s fifteenth birthday was different from all of the others. He woke up and the house was silent. His parents didn''t even bother to wake him up like they usually did when he overslept.


    He walked downstairs to the living room and opened the door. It was dark but suddenly he was blinded by the light being switched on and there was a loud pop as confetti rained down from the ceiling onto his head. "Happy Birthday Haru!" A dozen or so voices said in unison.


    He looked around to see people he didn''t recognise. Although there was a certain woman who stood out. She looked vaguely familiar. All of the people seemed to be old work colleagues of his parents so that kind of set in stone the identity of the women he had recognised.


    She worked as a junior nurse at the military training grounds. And she was the first one to make thement. "Say, Krista. You never told us how handsome your son was bing. I bet he''s going to be a realdies man when he''s older." She said with augh.


    Kristaughed along with her. "Yeah, you would never believe that Luke is his father, would you? She joked Luke hung his head in shame. "I can''t be that ugly if I have managed to keep a hold of you for this long." He replied.


    "Aww, I never said you were ugly. You are still my handsome man. It''s just that my handsome boy is more handsome" Sheughed and then kissed him to reassure him in a mocking manner,


    The woman added anotherment that took Haru by surprise. "I''m not sure why but he kind of reminds me of the great mage." He hadn''t heard anyone mention that name since being reincarnated.


    Krista stared at Haru for a few moments. "Hmm. I don''t see it." She said. And then turned to face the woman who was intensely staring at Haru.


    "I must be seeing things. It really doesn''t seem like that long ago. But it''s been twenty-five years already." She muttered. Krista put her hand on the woman''s shoulder.


    Haru''s attention was then taken by the piles of gifts on top of the couch in the corner of the room. They were either wrapped in paper or in colourful gift bags. Krista saw the look on Haru''s face as he inspected the pile of gifts and looked over toward his Luke. "What do you say? Can he open them?" She asked him.


    "Sure why not." He replied as a few people gathered around and asked for Haru to open their gifts first but he decided to just go from the top to bottom to spare their feelings.


    They were all the average things you would buy for a fifteen-year-old. There were a few books among them and a few envelopes with a bit of money in. Haru finally got down to thest gift and opened it. It was a magic for children book. He looked at the inside cover and then realised that it was the exact book that he had used to trick his mom.


    It is the thought that counts he said to himself before he thanked everyone with sincerity even though he felt a little bit of disappointment.


    Hours passed before the people his parents were acquainted with gathered their things before saying goodbye to the birthday boy and his family. Eventually everyone had left, Apart from one man who looked to be in his early sixties with a long bushy beard and hair that had long since started to grey.


    "I wasn''t sure what to get you. So I had a talk with an old friend of mine. And I managed to secure you a ce at the Royal Institute of military arts. You don''t have to go if you don''t want to. But there is always an open ce for you." Haru looked over to his parents. They both looked rather concerned for a moment before they both forced a smile as they noticed him looking.


    The man then looked toward to his parents and then back at Haru. "Just think about it okay?" He looked back at his parents once again. And then down at his watch.


    "Wow, that time already? I guess I had best get going." He put on his coat and walked over to the door. He stopped for a moment.


    "Well, it was great to see you guys again." He looked back at Haru.


    "And it was nice to meet you Haru." He said before leaving.


    Haru sat on the couch and read through all of the papers he had been handed. They were just the average school enrollment papers. His parents came back in a few minutester.


    His mom sat down next to him and looked over his shoulder at the papers. "So I guess there is no way to talk you out of it? I know we told you it will be okay when you are older but we will still worry about you." She put her arm around him and learned her head against his shoulder.


    It''s like she read his mind. There was no way he would pass up the chance to go to school. Especially since his reincarnation. In the past life school was just a distant dream to the military dog known as the great mage. But now he had a chance to relive his childhood and he wasn''t going to pass up on the chance.


    He didn''t answer her question as he flipped another page.


    "Thought so. Well, we have onest birthday gift for you." Luke then walked into the room with a small ck box. He then put it down on top of the stack of papers.


    "Well go on open it." He said as Krista stood up and stood beside him. Haru put the papers down and picked up the box before slowly opening it.


    Inside the box, there was a ck wristband that had a slight tint of purple to it as it reflected the light from the moon outside the window.


    "Wow, you got me a Lux!?" Haru got up and hugged them both. He had been waiting for years for this to happen.


    "Well, I did say we would get you one eventually," Krista said before resting her head on his shoulder once again. He had grown taller within thisst year and she was just now seeing how much he had matured. He was always a strange child but she no longer feared that he wouldn''t be able to make friends.


    It was already quitete by this point and Haru had to finish his enrollment paperwork.


    "Ok, we will leave you to have your fun. But try not to wreck the house." His dad said with a slight chuckle before they both went upstairs to bed.


    Haru finished all of the paperwork rtively quickly; it was just the basic info they needed. His name, age, parents names, emergency contact info and so on.


    When he finished he took a few minutes to look at his Lux. ''Really? An S ranked Lux? How did they get their hands on this thing? I thought the government had bannedmercial sales...'' He thought


    It looked like it had just been shipped from the factory as it was still in the box. He guessed that his parents knew some people who still made them, despite the restrictions. He looked up at the clock hanging from the wall to see what time it was and realised he had been sat there for almost three hours.


    ''I should probably head to bed'' He thought before making his way up to his room and finding space on his desk to ce the stack of papers.


    A few more weeks passed before his enrolment papers were sent off for the administration to check. They heard no word from the school for a few weeks until they received a phone call telling them that he had been epted as a student.


    Haru had to wait until the start of the term before he could start but that wasn''t too far away. Time passed within the blink of an eye and he awoke to Luke shaking his bed.


    "Come on. You''re going to bete. Don''t make me drag you out of bed!" He shouted as he pulled the bed sheets off him.

 Chapter 3: First day at school.

    Chapter 3: First day at school.


    Luke pulled Haru out of the bed and then left him on his own to get dressed. Haru felt confused as he didn''t know what was happening. "Did I forget something?" He asked himself as he made his way downstairs.


    He looked down the hallway and noticed that the front door was wide open. He looked around for his parents and then he heard a voice from outside. "Hurry up, Haru." He walked outside to see that his dad was putting a bag into the back of a ck car with tinted windows.


    Through the windows, he could see the faint silhouette of the driver. His mom walked out from behind him and put her arm on his shoulder. "Make sure youe and visit us when you''re on your break from school." Haru looked back at his mom, who now had tears forming in her eyes.


    He knew that school was supposed to start soon, but he must have let it slip from his mind until now. "Yeah, I will," He said before hugging her and walking over to help his dad out. As he reached his dad, he had just finished loading up the car.


    He then walked around the side of the car and opened the door for Haru. "Come on, get your ass in or you will bete." He said whilst rubbing his face with his sleeve.


    Haru got into the car and put on his seat belt. "And don''t make your mom worry, ok?" His dad said as he now rubbed his eyes to hold back tears. "Yes, sir" Haru gave him a salute before closing the door.


    "Be careful alright," were his final words before he closed the door. Haru looked out of the window to see both of his parents waving him goodbye as the driver turned around.


    "Are you ready now?" He asked before turning back to look at the road. "Yup." The engine started up, and they took off. Haru looked back once more before giving a final wave to his home of fifteen years.


    Haru found the long car ride quite boring. He even tried to make small talk with the driver, but he just put the window up so he didn''t have to listen to him talk.


    He then decided to look at the settings on his lux to pass the time. A projected screen appeared from the lux as he read through the code. He looked at the power configurations and saw something weird. (Power limit=True.) Now he didn''t know much about code, but he did realize that meant there was a power limiter in the lux.


    That would exin why his parents actually gave him one. What kind of parents would give their child a weapon that has the ability to kill thousands of people inbat without any precautions?


    "I can always change it back," He said to himself before setting it to false. He then looked at the form settings to see what weapon is produced when activated. (Sword form=True.) And directly under that. (Gun form=False.)


    ''Weird. I probably owned about seventy Luxes in my previous life, and not once did I ever see one with two forms.'' He thought before switching it to the gun form to check it out.


    Just as he was about to check out his lux, there was a tap on the window. "We have arrived." The driver said as he opened the door, prompting Haru to get out of the car and look around.


    There were hundreds of cars pulling up to the school gate, and at one side there was a line of adults that were all standing still, either waving or crying as their children walked into the distance.


    As he was looking around, he was startled by a voice that came from behind him. "You must be Haru Kitagawa. Is that correct?" It was a boy who looked about the same age as Haru. He had short blond hair and crystal blue eyes.


    "Yeah, that''s me." He replied and then turned to pick up his bags. "Oh great, my father said you would being. I''m Jake Ainsworth," He held out his hand. Haru then threw his bags over his shoulder to get them out of the way and then shook his hand.


    "Yeah, Nice to meet you, Jake. By any chance, do you know where I should put my bags?" Haru looked around for any signs.


    Of course, they didn''t make it easy to find out where he was supposed to go. On the other side of the gate, there was what looked to be a train tform.


    "Hmm, I''m not sure they will probably tell us when we get there," Jake said before picking up his own bags.


    A few seconds went by before the ground started to vibrate a little. And after a few more seconds there was now a train at the tform.


    "All students please board within five minutes." A voice came from a speaker inside the train. "I guess this is us," Jake said as he started to walk towards the train.


    "I guess it is." Haru followed behind Jake. The train carriage was quite small and there were about one hundred and forty people on board. It was like one of the subway systems in Tokyo.


    Everybody was packed together like canned sardines. ''I don''t even know how they passed safety regtions.'' Haru thought. He stood next to the door to get some extra legroom when suddenly, there was a girl that cried out.


    "Wait, a minute!" Haru looked outside the window to see that there was a girl running towards the train. "Doors are now closing." The voice from the speaker spoke up again.


    He then stuck his foot against the side of the door for a few seconds before the girl managed to make it on to the train.


    "That was cutting it close," Jake whispered to Haru as the girl tried to catch her breath. "Just a bit," Haru said back to him. The train suddenly shot forwards making everyone fly back. Haru then felt a slight impact on his chest. He looked down to find a face full of icy blue hair stuck to his chest.


    The girl then looked up toward him while still trying to catch her breath that was now gently hitting Haru''s cheek. "I''m sorry!" She managed to get out in between breaths before she made her way through the crowd of people. Blue hair... Surely she can''t be? Haru thought before Jake interrupted him.


    "Did you see that she had blue hair? Do you think they will expel her?" Jake asked as the girl disappeared from sight.


    "Yeah, I saw, but why would she be expelled?" Haru inquired into Jake''s question.


    "They said in the school rules that you can''t dye your hair," Jake exined.


    "Maybe she didn''t dye it." Haru blurted out, still lost in his own thoughts.


    "What do you mean? Her hair was blue. Of course, she dyed it." Jake sounded frustrated as he said it again.


    "Ok, if you say so," Haru agreed and then put his hands in his pockets. He looked out of the window, watching as the trees passed by. But it was all just a blur with the speed that the train was moving at.


    The train began to slow down and there were people now talking all around. Suddenly they came to a stop, and the doors opened to another train tform. Haru picked up his bags and stepped out. It was like they had just appeared in apletely different country.


    The sidewalks were as white as chalk and there were rows of cherry blossom trees standing perfectly in a line leading to the school''s main gate. And the school itself was by far the biggest building Haru had ever seen. There were guards in ck suits at each corner of the school grounds and five people on the other side of the gates.


    An old man stepped out from the middle of them. "Wee all new students. I am Malcolm, the principal at this school. As you may or may not know. Lessons don''t officially start until tomorrow. But the reason we have brought you here today is to assign you to your sses. The ss you are assigned to is based on your grades in the entrance exam. So we have your sses assigned already. When you hear your name stand by the teacher you''ve been assigned to."


    First, they called out all the rank A''s then the Rank B''s Followed by the C''s, D''s, E''s and then finally Haru heard his name. "Haru Kitagawa Rank F." Haru skipped the entrance exam by the rmendation from that mysterious man. So it was only natural that he ended up at the very bottom.


    Jake gave Haru a pat on the back. "Unlucky. Maybe you will get ranked higher next year." Haru couldn''t help butugh. All the other sses were full. What Rank did Jake think he would end up in?


    "Jake Ainsworth Rank F." There was a look of shock on his face as he heard those words. He hung his head as he walked over. Haru gave him anotherugh, and then he looked at the group of people still standing.


    ''So these are my ssmates?'' That''s when he noticed the girl with blue hair looking around helplessly. ''So she''s in my ss too?'' He thought.


    "Mia Tachibana Rank F." The blue-haired girl stepped forward and walked toward Jake and Haru.


    Haru looked at the girl. ''Tachibana She''s rted to him? Maybe I will be able to get some answers if I ever manage to meet him again.'' Haru thought to himself.


    The old man finished calling out names and then took all of the sses to the dorm rooms and handed them to their student nners. They were a kind of tablet but had all of the ss timetables and the phone numbers of every other student in the school. Just in case you needed to get in touch with them. The school was huge, so it was understandable.


    Haru finally arrived in his room, put down his bags and then jumped on to his bed. He was extremely exhausted, but he still needed to check out his lux. He then poured his mana into the device and suddenly there was a sh of blinding light...

 Chapter 4: Teacher from Hell.

    Chapter 4: Teacher from Hell.


    The light died down as Haru''s arm suddenly felt heavy. He looked down to see a silver pistol in his hand. It had a long barrel and... Well, that was the only distinguishing feature.


    It was just all silver with a ck grip. There was no magazine release, and the slide didn''t work. He looked at it for a few more seconds. It was strange he had only seen modern guns on TV, but he had never seen anything like this. From what he knew, they still used the guns they did in hisst life.


    He decided he would do a little test and opened up his window. He then aimed the gun out of the window and pulled the trigger. There was no sound as a blue orb shot out with impable speed before disappearing into the distance.


    ''That was a little anticlimactic,'' he thought before deciding to go to sleep.


    When Haru woke up, he shivered as a cold breeze passed throughout the room. He then realized that he had forgotten to close the windowst night.


    ''I hope I don''t catch a cold.'' Haru muttered to himself.


    Today was his first official day of school and he couldn''t show up to ss sneezing. When he got to his room, they already had two uniforms set out for him.


    He assumed that one was for the winter and the other one was for the summer. It was nearly April, so it was starting to get warmer again. So he just guessed that it was time for the summer uniform and put it on before ss started.


    ''I wonder what the sses are about.'' Haru pondered.


    He thought about all the possibilities as he made his way to the ssroom. He looked up above the door to see a sign: [ss F]


    ''So not only am I Rank F, but they also have a ss F?'' Haru turned the handle and made his way inside.


    "You''rete!" He looked down at the student nner and then back up at the clock hanging in the room. It was five minutes behind. ''Crap!'' He looked back up to the teacher. He was short and fat with a curly moustache and brown hair.


    "Just find a seat." He shook his head as he let out a sigh. ''Come on, it''s the first day. I hope he isn''t like this all year,'' Haru thought.


    The room had rows of benches with desks above, that stacked above one another in a diagonal manner so that everyone could see the front of the room.


    Haru looked around for a moment before he spotted Jake waving at him and moved slightly to the left to show there was space avable next to him. Haru almost tripped on the first step as he made his way up to them. He looked around for a moment and then realised no one had seen him trip. Haru then took a seat next to Jake who passed an empty book to him.


    "Here you''re going to need this." He whispered so no one would be distracted.


    "Hey what are we supposed to be doing?" Haru asked as he started to notice that the students were sitting still, staring nkly at the front of the room. ''It is the first day of school and all but why is everyone so nervous?'' Haru wondered.


    Jake looked around the room for a moment before turning back to Haru.


    "I don''t know? The teacher hasn''t said anything yet." Haru looked at the teacher who was now sitting there reading a book and smiling to himself. It looked as if he didn''t realise he was supposed to be teaching.


    Haru then looked around and began to notice a few of the students had started to whisper to one another. Before a girl stood up.


    "Excuse me. When is the ss going to start?" The Girl asked.


    Haru looked down at her, it was none other than the girl with blue hair. The teacher looked up from his book and gave her a disapproving look.


    "Shut up F Rank, you don''t have a right to learn. The lot of you are useless failures. If it was up to me you wouldn''t be here at all." The whispering now became a quiet chatter as a few more students stood up and began to shout at the teacher for his rude remarks.


    Jake then stood up too. He had a furious look on his face before he spoke.


    "And if you won''t teach us, then you don''t have the right to call yourself a teacher!" Jake called out to him. The teacher looked up at Jake and shouted back.


    "You insolent little! [Thunder dragon]" He began to activate magic with his hand out towards Jake.


    ''What is this guy thinking? Does he want to put him in a hospital?'' Haru thought and then looked back toward the teacher.


    He was just about to finish the spell as Haru pulled out his Lux andunched himself from his seat and held the gun against the side of the teachers head.


    "I suggest you stop." Haru looked into the teacher''s eyes with the least bit of empathy and started to pull the trigger. The teacher suddenly stopped his magic and gulped.


    "Good. Now, can everyone do me a favour and wait outside?" Haru called out to the ss of onlookers behind him.


    They all wasted no time as they all got up and left the ssroom within a few seconds.


    "If you don''t want to teach, why are you a teacher?" Haru asked as he slowly removed the gun from his head. The teacher looked at Haru for a moment.


    "[Shock]" He finished his spell as a sinister smile formed on his face.


    There was a slight sh of light as Haru pulled the trigger.


    The teacher''s spell stopped mid-air and disappeared into nothingness. He looked back at Haru with wide eyes as he slowly looked down toward his leg.


    There was a hole going all the way through his leg about three inches in diameter. The teacher stood for a moment before letting out a blood-curdling scream. He took a few steps back before falling onto the floor.


    Haru walked over to him and stomped on his leg exactly over the hole. The teacher writhed in agony on the floor as the door shot open.


    "What happened!?" The old guy from yesterday walked in looking at Haru with shock and disgust. Haru took a few steps back and put away his lux.


    "Sir, he attacked me!" The teacher shouted in a panicked voice as he looked back at Haru with a smug-looking smirk.


    ''This guy... I should have just killed him and got it over with,'' Haru thought before the old man spoke up.


    "Boy is this true!?" The old guy raised his voice as he spoke. Haru looked back at him and pointed to the doorway where the rest of his ss were now peaking in at the sight of their ssmate being used of assault.


    "Ask them," Haru said before walking back up to his seat and sitting down. Jake came out of the crowd and spoke up.


    "The teacher refused to teach us. And when I spoke out against him he tried to use magic against me so Haru defended me." He said as everyone else silently agreed. Haru looked back at the teacher, his face now scrunched up as he knew he was done for.


    "Jake don''t lie to me. I don''t believe one of my teachers that I hand-selected myself would act like that." The old guy said back. The teacher now stood up with his same smug face.


    "But I''m not lying!" Jake shouted back at him in protest. The old guy looked at him in disbelief before someone else stepped out from the crowd.


    "He''s not lying, sir. It''s all true." Haru looked over to see the same long blue hair.


    ''Oh, it''s her again. Her name was Mia, right?'' Haru looked at her for a moment.


    He looked her up and down. Long blue hair, Snow-white skin and her blue eyes that also seemed to sparkle as he looked into them.


    Mia and Haru''s eyes met for a second before she quickly looked back at the old guy.


    "Miss Tachibana? Is that so?" He looked at her with suspicion for a moment before he looked willing to ept what he was being told.


    "Yes, it is." She said back. The old guy now turned back to see the teacher looking like he was about to cry. He had nothing to say but just let out a growl in frustration.


    "Everyone return to your seats." The old guy said before grabbing the teacher by the ear.


    "Your teacher and I need to have a long discussion." He said before dragging him out of the ssroom. The door mmed shut as everyone made their way back to their seats.


    Haru had seeded in drawing everyone''s attention as a few of the students began to stare at him as they all sat down.


    Jake sat down next to Haru and erased the awkward stares by speaking louder than usual.


    "Hey, thanks for saving me." Jake said as he sat down.


    "Don''t worry about it. I just didn''t want to be in the crossfire when he was using magic." Haru said eliciting a few chuckles from his ssmate, before Jake punched him in the arm.


    "Thanks, it''s great to know my value." Jake said as he sat back in his chair and crossed his arms. Haruughed at the sight of him. It was as if a three-year-old was throwing a tantrum.


    The doors opened once again as the old guy looked around for a moment before looking right at Haru.


    "Haru Kitagawa. Can I have a word please?" He said. He seemed to have lost his anger now and just spoke with a soft and gentle tone.

 Chapter 5: Combat Practice.

    Chapter 5: Combat Practice.


    They walked together for a few minutes before reaching a set of double doors. There was a guard at either side who opened the door for them to walk in. "Sir!" They shouted and saluted as the old guy walked past them. Haru entered behind him as the door then closed.


    He looked around for a moment and felt slightly underwhelmed as he realized it was just a regr office. The old guy sat down at the desk and then gestured for Haru to sit in an empty chair across from him.


    As Haru sat down, the old guy pulled out a stack of papers. "Let''s see... Here, Haru Kitagawa?"


    "That''s me..." He said nervously as the old guy pulled out a single sheet of paper.


    "Hmm... Oh? You were the one referred to us by Colonel Leon?"


    Haru thought back to his birthday. ''So that was that guy''s name?'' He thought to himself.


    "You know him?" he asked, feeling slightly relieved.


    "I sure do. In fact, he fought with your father in the war along with my son Michael. I brought you here to apologize..." The old guy said, sounding sincere, but it was still confusing for Haru to hear him say that.


    "Apologize for what?" Haru asked politely.


    "The way I acted. I went against my own principles and thought you must be to me just because you are an F rank student. So again, I''m sorry." He said once again, sounding sincere.


    "Oh, don''t worry about it. I understand what it must have looked like from your perspective." Haru looked at the wall behind the man. There were all sorts of trophies and military medals. ''This guy must be pretty high ranking,'' Haru thought.


    "Well, thanks foring I just wanted to clear things up with you," He said whilst showing Haru out of the room.


    "Oh, and your new teacher should already be in ss. Here, give her this note when you get back." He handed him a folded sheet of paper.


    As he walked to the ssroom door, he heard loud voices from inside.


    As Haru opened the door, the room fell silent.


    "Do you need anything?" There was a woman who looked to be in her twenties standing at the front of the ss. She had long ck hair and purple eyes.


    ''I guess this must be the teacher,'' Haru thought before handing her the note. She looked at it for a few seconds and then let out a sigh


    "So you''re the one whonded me with this job? I''m Chizu Fujima but you will call me Miss Fujima, okay? Now take a seat, please."


    ''Well, I guess she is more polite than that other teacher.'' Haru thought before going back to his seat and made sure that he didn''t trip this time.


    As he walked past his ssmates, he noticed a few of them stared at him as he walked past them.


    ''I guess they can''t help it; that was probably the mostbat they have ever seen.'' Haru thought as he sat back in his seat, and then the teacher started to talk again.


    "As I was saying. Can anyone tell me, what is the name of the main close range weapon that was used in the war?" Miss Fujima asked.


    The rest of the students started to whisper among themselves until Jake almost jumped out of his seat with his hand raised.


    "Yes, go ahead," Miss Fujima said whilst flipping through a page in a textbook.


    "They used a device called Lux''s," Jake shouted out.


    "Correct. You can sit back down now." Miss Fujima said as she opened a drawer in the desk and pulled out a small ck wristband and put it on.


    "Okay ss, this is a Lux. It allows you to channel your mana into a physical weapon."


    Dim blue light surrounded her arm as a sword formed in the air in front of her. She then grabbed it and held it out towards the ss.


    "And this is a sword form, Lux. There are many variations on luxes, but the thing they all have inmon is that their main use is to summon a handheld weapon to fight with." She exined to them.


    Jake raised his hand for a second time.


    "Yes?" Miss Fujima let out a sigh.


    "But doesn''t it deplete your mana capacity if you use a Lux?" He asked.


    "Oh, you mean the government warning that you will die before you''re fifty when all your mana is sucked dry? No, that''s a tant lie. It was meant to reduce crime. Although yes, Lux''s do require mana, but that is only to activate its weapon form. But it is just like using regr magic. Your mana restores itself at a normal rate." She then reached into the drawer and pulled out a bunch more.


    "Okay nowe down and collect one. I will teach you how to activate them."


    The whole ss got up and went down to the front of the ss to receive a Lux. Haru remained seated, and then he looked again and noticed that Mia was also still sitting down.


    "You two. Why aren''t you down here yet?" Miss Fujima called out.


    Mia stood up and held out her arm to reveal her Lux, a white wristband.


    "I have my own Miss." She stood up and said.


    "Very well and you?" She asked and directed her gaze towards Haru.


    Haru held up his hand to show her his Lux.


    "Okay then. Now that everyone is prepared, we are going to the training field. Follow me, please." She said and then opened the door.


    Haru got up from his seat and followed behind Jake. Jake turned to Haru with a huge grin


    "I kind of wondered where you pulled that gun from." Jake said and then looked back down at his wrist and started ying with his Lux. Haru thought it would be a good idea to look at a bit more of the code from his own lux.


    He scrolled through until he found something interesting [Audio Command].


    ''So basically, if I say the form I want it to take, then it turns into that form?'' Haru wondered.


    ''This sound like it could be quite useful.'' He thought to himself as he reached the rest of the ss who were gathered in the training ground.


    Miss Fujima then started addressing the ss, "When you want to activate your lux you have to channel mana inside it. If you think of the lux as a part of your body, it is easy to direct mana towards it." As she finished speaking, one after another, Haru''s ssmates started to activate their luxes.


    The luxes that were given to them were only average in quality. They were all just a standard edition rank D sword type lux.


    "I''m sure you already guessed, but I called you all out here to start yourbat training. Now get into pairs and start fighting already." She shouted as she brought a whistle up to her mouth.


    Haru looked back at Jake, but as he walked towards him, Jake grabbed someone in front of him. It was a short girl with short brown hair and was also wearing sses.


    "Sorry Haru, I promised I would be her partner already," Jake said and then smiled.


    The girl began to speak "Wait when di...." Jake quickly put his hand over her mouth as soon as she spoke.


    Haru stood off to the side and watched as everyone got into pairs except Him.


    "I will be your partner." A voice called out from behind him. Haru turned around to see Mia standing there, looking at him with her hair blowing in the wind.


    He looked back at Jake, who winked at him and gave him a thumbs up.


    ''Oh, so that was his n? I think we need to have a conversation about him pimping me out.'' Haru thought before sighing.


    "Ok sure." He replied to Mia. He barely had time to move before she rushed at him with a sword. As the de skimmed past his face, he realised that she also had an S rank lux.


    "Sword form," Haru said quietly, as he brought out a sword of his own just as her second attack came down, striking the de in front of him. He looked around for a second and noticed everyone had stopped what they were doing and were now watching them fight.


    "Don''t get distracted!" Mia shouted as she followed with an attack towards his face and to his legs. Haru lost his bnce and as he started to fall Mia quickly followed up with another attack towards his neck.


    Haru jumped as high as he could into the air whilst flipping backwards to avoid the attack.


    "Gun form," He said as his sword turned into its gun form almost instantly. He aimed at the de of her sword and let out 2 shots.


    The force of the gun knocked the sword from her hands and he took the opportunity to rush in as fast as he could and shoved the barrel of the gun into her lower back.


    Mia slowly put her hands above her head. "You win." She said whilst breathing heavily. It seemed like she was going all out from the beginning.


    "Listen up! If you can fight like that by the time you graduate, I just might get a pay rise. Now, what are you waiting for? Get back to training!" Miss Fujima shouted at everyone who was just standing in silence.


    "Ahn!.." Haru turned back to Mia, who was now clutching her wrist.


    "Oh, sorry about that. Here let me have a look." Haru said whilst holding out his hand.


    She timidly gave him her hand. As he grabbed her hand, she blushed slightly. He then cast an Inspection spell and a healing spell, both at the same time.


    "It looks like it''s broken," Haru said to himself as the healing spell activated. About ten seconds went by until the spell stopped.


    "It should be fine now," Haru said before he let go of her hand.


    Mia flexed her hand a few times before realising it was fine now.


    "Th-Thank you." She hesitated a little before turning around and walking back inside. The ss had already ended so Haru returned to his room to inspect his lux a little more.


    "I wonder what other secrets you have," He said as he was scrolling through code until he came across [Storage space=False].


    ''So not only did it have two forms it also has a storage space? Just where did this thinge from?'' He thought to himself before going to sleep.

 Chapter 6: Intruders.

    Chapter 6: Intruders.


    As Haruy back on his bed, he heard a knock on his door. He checked the time and saw that it had already gone past 11 pm. He was thinking about just ignoring it until there was another knock, this time sounding more desperate. Haru opened the door and was nearly deafened by the sound of a wailing rm droning on and on.


    ''How did I not hear this?'' He thought.


    He was then greeted by a man who looked to be in his early forties. Haru assumed he was a teacher just from appearance alone.


    "Come on, we need to evacuate." He said, as he pulled Haru out of his room. "Quick follow everyone else." He said pointing to the crowd of people running from the building.


    Haru joined the crowd of students making their way from the building without question, but his mind was racing thinking about all the possibilities. ''Is there a fire? An intruder? Or what if there was a terrorist on school grounds?''


    As they all made their way out of the building, Haru looked to the sky and saw a thick ck cloud of smoke rising from the girl''s dorms. Everybody was talking about their theories as to what had happened. But he had a growing feeling in the pit of his stomach that he already knew what was going on.


    Just as thest student left the building, the boy''s dorms too went up in mes. Just as soon as the mes had appeared, a blue light blinded the night sky and a thick cloud of snow swirled throughout the air and quickly put out the mes.


    Haru looked over to the source of the light to see an upper-ss man who looked to have just cast [White Blizzard]. It was a mid-level Ice spell that he had seen being used a few times in the war. His dad even showed it to him a couple of times when his mom got mad and set things on fire. It exined why they waited until everybody had evacuated.


    They wouldn''t want a few hundred ice statues now, would they?


    As the fires went out there was a figure flying in the air, who came from behind the building. Haru didn''t recognise it at first, but as it came closer, he realised that it was a me familiar. (A type of humanoid spirit that is made entirely from fire.) Another student flew towards it with a sword in hand to exploit its weakness: Close range attacks. As they battled in the air someone pulled at his sleeve.


    It was the girl Jake had partnered up with earlier. She had tears streaming down her face as she struggled to hold herself together. "When we were told to evacuate... Mia ran off in the other direction towards the fire and she hasn''te back!" She said, in between breaths.


    "Have you told a teacher?" Haru asked as he scanned the area to try to find a teacher. ''Where had they all gone?'' He looked everywhere, but there weren''t any in sight.


    "No, I couldn''t find one anywhere?" She said, drying her eyes with her arm.


    Haru then remembered the student nners had GPS so you could see where people are at all times. Which in this situation he was d they didn''t have much privacy. "Did you try her gps?" He asked as he looked around for Jake. He was nowhere to be seen as well.


    "No, I didn''t..." She said, now not crying anymore.


    He then pulled out the nner and checked by searching for her name. And almost instantly it showed him where she was located. She was right in the center of the forest surrounding the school. There was also another dot beside her on the map. He clicked the name and saw that it was Jake.


    That''s when he realized what was going on. ''What if that teacher from earlier had done something to them? Why else would they be in the forest?''


    He knew it would be stupid to charge right in not knowing the whole situation. So, he enhanced his body with magic before taking off. [Ghost Aura] It is a simple enchantment that makes you blend into the environment around you. And [Wind step], It takes away all drag your body produces when moving and uses the wind to propel you forward.


    He took off at what must have been at least forty miles per hour. As he dodged trees and made his way under and over fallen branches, he began to hear muffled voices. Haru made his way up into a tree to see what was happening.


    Jake and Mia were both sitting on the floor tied to separate trees. Jake seemed to be unconscious, but Mia had been gagged with a rope. There were six people sitting around a campfire gloating about their victory in capturing them both.


    Haru used the screen on the nner to try to reflect the moonlight into Mia''s face so she would notice him. But he had no luck. It didn''t work. He then decided to use [Telepathy] To get her attention. {"Mia, its Haru. If you can hear me nod your head."}


    She nced around the forest, and their eyes met for a few seconds, and then Mia slowly nodded. ''Damn, what is with that detection?'' He thought to himself before thinking of a n.


    {"Do you still have your lux?"}


    She shook her head to indicate they had taken it from her.


    {"Do you know any distraction magic?"} He asked, taking into ount that her reply would decide what is about to happen in the next few minutes.


    She nodded her head once again. Haru was relieved, as his first n would probably be the safest one and have the greatest chance of sess.


    He then talked Mia through what to do on her side. {"Ok, good. First, I''m going to cut your ropes and then you will distract them and I will get Jake. After that, we retreat back to the school. Got it?"}


    She looked hesitant but nodded, anyway.


    {"Ok then. 3, 2, 1."}


    [Wind de] Haru sent high pressure wind flying towards the ropes of them both slicing them instantly, but it made a crash as the wind tore its way through the tree behind. Their cover was blown, but Mia wasted no time surrounding the nearby area with a blizzard of snow surrounding the men and making them blind for the moment.


    This was the best option as he didn''t know thebat abilities of these people so they would be better off making a tactical retreat. That was the thought behind the process as Haru ran over to Jake, who was still unconscious andying against a tree.


    "Jake. Wake up!" He lightly pped his face, but Jake waspletely out of it. Haru threw him over his shoulder and ran back towards the school with Mia following close behind.


    They made their way back to the school as nned, and he put Jake down against a wall.


    Haru then looked back to Mia, who seemed restless, like she was concerned about something. She started pacing impatiently. "How did you guys end up there?" Haru asked.


    She looked at him for a moment and then looked back into the forest. "Sorry, I need to go back!" She shouted before running back into the forest.


    What is she thinking? "Wait, a minute!" He shouted back, but it was no use, as she was already out of sight. "God damn it! Is she some kind of idiot? Well she has made up her mind why should I care?" Haru said and then put Jake back over his shoulders and walked back around to the front where the rest of the students were.


    As soon as he made his way to the front of the building, Miss Fujima ran over with the school nurse.


    "What happened? What are his injuries? How long has he been like this?" Haru was bombarded with questions about Jake''s health; he quickly became overwhelmed as the questions kept on flowing.


    "I don''t know! Figure it out, why don''t you?!" He shouted before turning around and sprinting back to the forest he had juste back from.


    "What a fucking Idiot! Why do I even care what happens to her? She is just some stupid kid." He said to himself as he made his way through the trees.


    He heard what sounded like an explosion and then an agonising scream so he quickly came to a halt to locate where it hade from. He looked around in all directions before he could make out through the trees that there was a fight still going on. He made his way closer before there was another explosion and then something flew past his head at a blinding speed before mming into a tree anding to a stop.


    Haru turned around to see Mia now sat unconscious at the foot of the tree. She was covered in blood from head to toe. "That little brat! She even managed to take out Ricky. I say we kill her, what about you?" A voice called out from behind him.


    Haru knew he didn''t have much time before they woulde over here so he used an old trick he was very familiar with.


    [Thunder God''s wrath] All the water molecules in the air within twenty metres became electrified and expanded due to the sudden heat causing an explosion in the surrounding area. He wasn''t too sure if it would be enough to kill these guys, but it would definitely distract them enough so he could make his final retreat.


    Haru then bent down to pick up Mia and then ran as fast as he could. Just as he made it to the edge of the forest, his back was hit by a sudden pain as the scent of burning flesh made its way into the air. The force of it was almost enough to send him flying, but he managed to stay standing while still holding Mia in his arms. He turned around to see one of the men from earlier standing between two trees.


    "Today just keeps surprising me more and more. Who would have thought that this thing would have a built in shield? If not for this thing I would have ended up like the rest of them," He pointed back towards where he hade from before he held up his wrist revealing he was wearing an S ranked Lux. Haru looked back down to Mia. She was still unconscious.


    "So that''s what she went back for? What an Idiot." He couldn''t help butugh. ''She risked her life for a Lux? That is the stupidest thing I have ever seen someone risk their life for. She still has a lot to learn about life.'' He thought before he looked back at the man who was standing at the outer edge of the forest.


    "Hey what''s so funny kid? Have you gone mad from staring death in the face?" The man also began tough.


    "Not even close... Gun form" Haru called out to his lux and the shiny silver gun appeared in his right hand. He raised his arm and pulled the trigger. A bright sh of blue light erupted and sped through the forest until it was no longer viable.


    The man dropped to the ground instantly, without even making a sound. Haru walked over to his body and took the Lux from his wrist. He then looked at the wound and saw a three-inch hole that made its way through the center of the man''s head. He put the lux in his pocket and turned back around.


    [Essence Healing.] An aura of golden light emerged from his body healing both himself and Mia. He then looked down to see the dried blood on Mia had turned back into a liquid and was returning to her body.


    You wouldn''t be able to tell she was even injured. Everything returned to silence as the only thing he could hear was the gentle breathing of the girl in his arms. He then walked back to the front of the school where Jake had now woken up and was telling his story of being kidnapped to the rest of the ss.


    By now it was already about 2 am and the teachers had already sent everyone else to return to their rooms. Haru was once again ambushed by Miss Fujima. "What happened this time?! Why are her clothes all ripped!?"


    "Shhh she''s sleeping. Where should I put her?" He cut her off before even more questions came.


    To much surprise she didn''t even say anything. She just waved her hand for Haru to follow her. So, he did all the way back to the girl''s dorm. It felt weird as it was against school rules for him to even be in there but he knew he had to make sure she made it back safely.


    Haru told Miss Fujima everything that had happened as they walked up the stairs all the way to the fourth floor until they reached a door at the end of the corridor. Miss Fujima held a badge up to the scanner on the door and unlocked it. ''So, teachers can open doors to people''s bedrooms? That''s pretty scary.'' He thought before he followed her into the room.


    There were two beds separated by a night stand with amp on it. There was someone clearly asleep in the other bed so as quietly as he could, he made his way across the room and put Mia down on the empty bed.


    Miss Fujima spoke up. "You had better leave now while I get her out of these filthy clothes."


    He couldn''t argue with that. Nor did he want too. "Okay then. Goodnight." He made his way for the door before remembering something.


    "Oh wait. Make sure she gets this back." Haru pulled the lux out of his pocket and handed it to Miss Fujima before making his way out of the room, closing the door behind him.


    He made his way back outside where Jake was still entertaining a crowd of people with his war stories. Haruughed as he walked past towards the entrance to the boy''s dorm building.


    "Hey Haru, where are you going?" Jake called out to him.


    Heughed before answering him. "To bed of course, I''m exhausted after carrying your sorry ass out of that forest."


    Jakeughed nervously before replying. "Um... Yeah thanks for that."


    "Nah don''t worry about it." Haru said before walking away.


    "No really. Thank you." Jake muttered quietly before turning back to tell his story.


    Haru made his way back to his room. He did wonder why there was no damage to the building as he entered his room. But then remembered they probably fixed it already with magic. Heughed slightly before lying down on the bed and closing his eyes.

 Chapter 7: The Demonic Wolf.

    Chapter 7: The Demonic Wolf.


    A ray of light entered the room with the sounds of chirping birds droning on outside his bedroom window, bringing Haru to his senses. He felt pretty drained from the battle the night before, and that is when it came to his attention. His mana was about to run out.


    He had constantly been releasing it during his day to day life and even when he was sleeping. He climbed out of bed and stood up, only to be hit with a sudden wave of exhaustion. "There it is." He let out a slight smile before falling on the floor as all the mana in his body had disappeared.


    A familiar feeling made its way across his whole body. His mana had returned.


    ''If my estimations work out correctly, I should be able to maintain constant mana drain for maybe three years before it drainspletely again.'' He thought before standing up and then looking outside towards the noise of children talking and shouting at each other.


    "No!!! It''s already lunchtime!" He hurried to put on his uniform and made his way out into the courtyard. He hadn''t even eaten breakfast yet, so he ran straight to the cafeteria to get some lunch before the two sses he had in the afternoon started.


    He arrived at the cafeteria with only twenty minutes before his ss would start. Haru walked over to the vending machines and began to look at the meal selection.


    ''Spicy Udon... Nah, I will pass on that one,'' he thought and then looked again.


    He looked right at the bottom and found what he was looking for. ''Steamed Red Bean Buns!!! At longst my favourite.''


    He pressed the button and instantly four buns appeared on a te and dropped out at the bottom of the machine.


    "Gross. It''s another one of those peasants who eat from the free meal machine." A voice called out, changing the atmosphere in the room. Haru turned around, holding his te to see everyone''s attention was now on him. He quickly found an empty table and sat down. He looked at his food with pure excitement before picking up one of the buns.


    But just as he raised it to his mouth, there was a loud bang as the table shook. Someone had mmed their hands down on to his table. Haru looked up to see a student who looked to be a few years older than him. His uniform was a white color instead of the usual ck. He had long blonde hair swept over to the side of his head in ab-over.


    He was looking down at Haru with a face of pure disgust before speaking up. "What are you doing here!?" He demanded an answer.


    Haru took arge bite out of his bun and swallowed it whole before answering. "I''m eating. So, if you wouldn''t mind letting me finish." He made a gesture with his left hand to shoo him away.


    The boy picked up the te of food and threw it across the room, hitting a wall and then dropping to the floor. "Aww man, what a waste." Haru said before standing up and gathering the buns to put them in the trash can. He finished the bun he was previously eating and made his way back to the vending machine and ordered one more.


    The bun dropped down onto a te and he took the biggest bite he could before the boy came over to him once again. "What is wrong with you!? Were you dropped on your head as a child!?" He screamed.


    Haru stopped eating for a second to reply "I''m hungry, now go away little boy." he returned to chewing up a piece of the bun. The atmosphere of the room changed once again. It was silent to the point a pin drop could be heard. The tension in the room was increasing more and more as he took another bite of his bun. "Little boy!!?" He erupted into a fit of rage. "I''m older than you! How am I a little boy!?" He asked.


    Haru took another bite and then answered. "Just look at how you''re acting right now. And then tell me that is not the way a child would act." His face was filled with rage asughter came from the very same people he wanted to humiliate Haru in front of.


    Haru then took thest bite of his bun and then looked at the time. He only had three minutes until ss would start. He began to make his way out of the cafeteria before the older boy shouted out once again. "Fight me!!! Right now, I demand you to fight me!!!" The room was tense once again.


    "Nah, I will pass." Haru walked to the door before he felt a mana fluctuation in the room. [Swallowing me] he turned his head to see a me flying towards him. He sighed and raised out his hand and put his own mana into the boy''s me [Break]. It was a simple spell used to dispel elementary level magic attacks.


    The once raging fire was put out instantly. The boy looked back at Haru with desperation like a deer in a headlight. Haru still had his hand held out. [Ice spike].


    ''I guess this should be enough to get the message across.'' He thought before a small shard of ice shot from his hand before striking the boy in the leg.


    [Break] Haru destroyed the spell just before the ice hit the bone in the boy''s thigh. The ice disappeared instantly, causing blood to rush out from his leg. The boy screamed out in pain before falling to the ground, clutching his leg. Haru sighed before leaving the room. "What a shit show." He made his way to the ssroom and sat down next to Jake who was already waiting for him.


    "Hey, why are you sote? I thought you were just skipping ss all day." Heughed for a moment before the door flew open. "Haru Kitagawa! A word, please." Miss Fujima gave him a death stare as he slowly got up from his seat and walked back outside the ssroom.


    The ss erupted into chatter as soon as the door closed. Haru looked back to miss Fujima who was shaking her head in disappointment. "I can''t tell what it is with you. Does trouble just seek you out? Or is your innate ability to create trouble wherever you go?"


    Haru let out a light-heartedugh before replying. "You know what they say, trouble always finds those who try to do good." Miss Fujima smiled a little bit and then sighed.


    "You really shouldn''t have injured that fourth year. He just so happens to be the son of a British politician. There is bound to be some action from his father on this incident. Whatever. It doesn''t matter much we have witnesses saying you acted in self-defence. So just try not to cause any more headaches for me." She said before opening the door again.


    "Yes, Miss Fujima," Haru replied before sitting back down again.


    He looked around the room and that is when he noticed. "Where is she?" Haru whispered to himself. Jake''s ears pricked up. "Oh, you mean Mia? She didn''t show up today either. I thought you guys went on a date and that''s why you didn''t show up this morning. But then I remembered. Who would want to date you?" Heughed before suddenly his head was thrown backward violently as a book dropped into hisp.


    "Shut up! I''m trying to teach here! Now, who can tell me about summoning magic? Hmm... Haru how about you?" Haru slowly stood up from his seat and prepared for his short exnation. He was never any good at exining things but he wanted to give it a good try.


    "Summoning magic is used to call a magical beast or demonic entity from its realm to be used to fight or help you with tasks. You summon them by forming mana into a magic circle of your choice be that a demonic circle or a magic circle. You can also call known beasts or entities by writing their name on the magic circle in the celestialnguage. Is that good enough?" This ss wentpletely silent before Miss Fujimaughed a little bit.


    "I have no idea where you learned that but no you are incorrect. There is no such thing as Demonic entities or using mana to draw magic circles is just ridiculous. The amount of control it will take to draw with mana it just isn''t worth the effort. We use magical devices much like a lux but ites in the form of a military dog tag. It is called a Gateway Tag but is moremonly known as a Gate for short and what is this celestialnguage? I think you should study more and read fewer fantasy novels."


    A few of his ssmates began tough and so did Jake. "Woah she just ripped you a new one" Heughed again. "Okay then. How about we make a bet?" Haru stood up and looked towards Miss Fujima. "A bet? Oh, You want to prove to me that what you said is possible? But what could you possibly offer me and what do you want in return?" Haru thought for a moment. "How about the signature of the great mage? I found a document with his signature on it back at home. And for what I want from you is to be able to have the rest of today off. What do you say? Do we have a bet?"


    She looked shocked for a moment beforeposing herself. "The great mage''s signature? That would be pretty valuable at auction. Sure, we have a bet. But don''t go back on your word." She said before smiling like she had already won.


    "Okay but don''t go back on yours either." Haru said before walking down to the front of the ss. He then started by gathering some mana into his fingertip on his index finger and then started to draw a demonic circle in the air. It was pretty much shaped like a pentagram but with a cross instead of a star.


    The circle started to sh red as the mana turned into a mass of red energy that was starting to let out ck electricity. "Wait what is this thing!?" Miss Fujima spoke out in a panic.


    "Just carry on watching," Haru replied.


    The ball of red energy floated down to the floor before a pir of pure darkness shot into the air shooting balls of electricity out. The sound of thunder could be heard as there was a roar of anger that sent out the feelings of dread and despair that emerged from the darkness. The darkness suddenly disappeared and there was now a pitch-ck demonic wolf with glowing yellow eyes standing in the ce where the energy touched the ground.


    Miss Fujima was standing still, speechless as the demonic wolfy down at Haru''s feet.


    "I will be leaving now," Haru said with a smile before whistling for the wolf to follow him. The wolf got up and ran after him and they both left the ssroom.

 Chapter 8: Snow Day!

    Chapter 8: Snow Day!


    Haru left the main entrance with the huge ck demon wolf following close behind him.


    "I should probably think of a name for you, shouldn''t I?" He thought it over in his head for a second. "I''m not too good with names. I''m just going to call you Wolfy." The ck wolf whimpered in disagreement.


    "Well, you better get used to it. That is your name whether you like it or not." Wolfy let out a little bark, agreeing to it, when suddenly a red cross formed on the wolf''s head surrounded by a star-shaped magic array.


    "Hmm. What is that? Have you epted me as your owner?" He questioned and Wolfy replied with a bark before licking his face. Haru then wiped the saliva from his face.


    "Great. Now I will smell like a dog for the rest of the day. Please don''t do that again." The wolf barked once again in agreement.


    Haru walked to the main courtyard with Wolfy following even closer behind him. He stopped for a second and looked over to the girl''s dormitory.


    "It should be... There." He spotted a window slightly opened and made a mental note of it.


    "Wolfy. Stay right here and don''t attack anyone no matter what." He said before Wolfy whined and then sat down.


    "That''s a good girl." He patted her head before channeling mana around his body.


    [Levitate]


    His body slowly started to lift up off the ground. Moving was as simple as directing the mana spiraling around him. He slowly floated up towards the window.


    Haru peeked through the window to see Mia lying down on her bed with her back to the window. He tapped on the window a few times to get her attention. She jumped as soon as she heard the first one and quickly turned around with her sword pointed towards him.


    "It''s just me." Haru put his hands in the air jokingly to show that he wasn''t a threat.


    "What are you doing here! I don''t want to talk to you. Go away!" Mia shouted back at him.


    "I''m here to check on you. And I have something to ask you so you can either open the window or I will let myself in." Mia didn''t reply, so he decided to let himself in.


    [Space Warp] He opened up a spatial rift connecting to the other side of the window and went through it.


    "What''s up with you? Did I make a mistake when healing you?" He asked before putting his hand on her shoulder. As he reached out toward her she turned around with excitement.


    "What? You were the one who healed me!? The teacher said I wasn''t even injured in the first ce! Not even High tier magic can heal that well!" She asked whilst grabbing on to Haru''s arm.


    "I''m not letting go before you tell me how you did it! I thought I imagined the whole thing!" She shouted whilst looking up at Haru.


    "Fine... What if I told you there was magic even stronger than high tier magic, would you believe me?" She stood for a moment thinking about what had had just told her.


    She then let go of his arm before responding.


    "Well... That seems to be the only exnation for it. So yeah, I do believe you. Please teach it to me." Mia said as she bowed her head towards him.


    "Wait. What are you doing? Stop that." He said in response to her bow.


    "Not until you say you will teach me!"


    ''What a little brat. She has probably never been told no, even once in her life, because she does things like this to force people.'' Haru thought before agreeing to teach her.


    "Fine, but you''re going to have to listen to everything I say. And also, I have a question to ask you." Haru sat down on the edge of the bed and patted it next to him for Mia toe and sit beside him.


    "What is it?" She asked before sitting down. Haru looked down at Mia''s wrist to see the lux.


    "Why did you want to risk your life for a lux?" He sighed and looked up to her face. She hesitated for a second before reluctantly replying.


    "It... It was my mother''s. She was always fighting and during the war, she was injured so she had no choice but to retire, but after I was born her condition got worse and worse. That is why I want to be able to heal her." Her face was covered in tears as she tried to wipe them away. Haru put his arm around her tofort her.


    Meanwhile, there was amotion going on outside.


    "Who left this filthy dog here!" A man with blonde hair, wearing a blue suit and surrounded by three bodyguards, walked up to Wolfy and began to shout at her.


    "Get out of the way, you filthy mutt. You are blocking the way." Wolfy turned her head to look at them before continuing to lick her paws.


    One of the security guards stepped forward and used a wind spell to try to move her. [Grazing Wind] The magic had no effect on Wolfy as sheid down, starting to get tired of waiting for Haru to return.


    "What a disobedient beast. I bet the owner of this damn thing is just as equally disgusting. Truly a beast fitting for a peasant." The man began tough to himself beforeunching a fire attack towards Wolfy.


    It also had no effect on her as demonic beasts came from a world full of mes. A fire of this size wouldn''t even be able to singe a single hair on her tail. Wolfy yawned as she rolled onto her side as a way to insult the man''s magic power.


    "You! A filthy mongrel dares to insult me!?" The man reached for his neck, pulling out a set of military dog tags and threw them into the air.


    "Open Gate!" He yelled, calling forth a magical beast kept inside of it.


    A huge brown bear came out in a sh of light andnded on the floor in front of Wolfy. The bear was easily three times her size, but it didn''t even make Wolfy look at him.


    The bear began to growl as a form of intimidation. Then the man raised his hand and pointed towards the bear.


    "You! Beast! Kill that god damned dog for me!" The bear looked towards the man and then back at Wolfy and then charged towards her on all fours.


    Wolfy didn''t even stand up as she waved her paw towards the bear, slicing its arms, legs, and head off in one go.


    "How dare you! Don''t think that I don''t have a way to deal with you! You filthy demon beast! I should have known that a creature as filthy as you wouldn''t have any magic power!"


    [Summon Holy Sword]


    The man reached his arm into the air as a stream of light appeared from the sky andnded into the palm of his hand. The light vanished into the air, but in its ce was now a long golden sword.


    He shed the sword towards Wolfy, sending a beam of light towards her. Wolfy looked distressed, but she was ordered to stay exactly where she was told to and not to attack anyone. She closed her eyes before howling out in pain as her tail was sliced in two.


    Haru looked up after hearing a cry of pain.


    "Wolfy!" He stood up and ran towards the window to see what was happening down below. Mia stood up, also confused by what was going on.


    "What is going on?" She asked nervously.


    "Do you want to see some magic that is even stronger than high tier magic?" Haru asked her whilst taking off his jacket and handing it to her.


    "Magic even stronger than high tier? You mean military tier? Yeah!" She said excitedly before taking his jacket.


    [Space Warp]


    A spatial rift opened up in front of them and Haru walked through, pushing Mia through before he walked through himself.


    "What was that!?" Mia asked as they appeared in the courtyard behind the four men.


    "I will tell you about itter." Haru responded and then rolled up his sleeves, looking towards the men furiously.


    "Now die, you filthy beast!" The man raised his sword above his head.


    [Time Lock] The man was suddenly unable to move. His body was frozen in time. The only thing he could do is watch what was happening around him.


    "Now who is this filthy beast you are nning on killing?" Haru walked towards the man while using gravity magic to suppress him even more.


    Wolfy saw Haru and lowered her head, whimpering as she picked up her tail in her mouth.


    "You doing okay, Wolfy?" She slightly shook her head before dropping the piece of her tail on the floor.


    [Healing Spirit]


    Haru held his hand towards Wolfy reconnecting her tail. She sat down and then howled out as a thank you.


    He then held his Lux towards her and activated the storage space, putting her inside. He didn''t really expect it to work, but to his surprise, she vanished from where she was sitting. His Lux began to sh blue as a response to it being activated.


    "You who are you!? Release the defense secretary at once!" One of the bodyguards stepped forwards and aimed a gun towards him.


    [Shadow Step]


    Haru appeared behind him in a sh whilst strengthening himself with magic and then with one hand he mmed the first bodyguard''s head into the ground knocking him unconscious immediately.


    The other two bodyguards activated their Lux''s and stood in a defensive formation.


    "Ahhhhhh!!!!" A loud yell of anger echoed throughout the courtyard as the blonde man known as the Defence Secretary charged towards Haru with his sword above his head.


    "I don''t have time for this." Haru sighed.


    [/!!!@~##~;|] he muttered to himself in anguage unknown to anyone present. It was even unknown to Haru, but he knew just this one phrase.


    There was a loud crash as a beam of lightning struck the sword the man was holding. The sword instantly vaporized and the man looked back towards Haru as his protective shield slowly cracked into pieces.


    He fell backward in shock. The sky became dark, as thunder clouds made their way above the school. The air became cold as the ground started to freeze over and snow began to fall from the sky.


    All four of the men were slowly engulfed by ice while they screamed in pain. Their screams came to a halt as the clouds floated away just a few secondster.


    As soon as the cloud left the sky, the ground became covered with a couple inches of snow and the men had all be statues of ice.


    "D... Did you just do that!?" Mia stuttered out. Haruughed to himself before walking over to her.


    "Sure, and you will be able to do that one day too." He replied before hundreds of students came rushing out of the buildings


    "Woooo! Snow Day! sses are cancelled!!!"


    "I should probably think about my surroundings before freezing everything nearby..." Haru muttered as the yard was flooded with students.

 Chapter 9: Student Council.

    Chapter 9: Student Council.


    "Make Way!" A voice yelled out as a woman dressed in a red version of the school uniform; her hair and eyes were just as red as the clothes she was wearing, dropped from the sky.


    "Is that Kaira Aizawa? I didn''t expect the student council vice president to make an appearance today." One of the older students in the crowd said as a bright purple me emerged from the girl''s hands and covered the statues of ice.


    "Dammit! Why won''t these things melt? You! You did this now undo it. These people are guests of our school!" Kaira called out to Haru.


    Haru stood still and hesitated for a moment.


    "Hey, these people attacked me. They can make their homes in these statues until I decide to forgive them!" He shouted back angrily and turned to walk away.


    "Are you sure? You might get into trouble for this." Mia said just as he started to walk away.


    "Okay, fine." [Lotus mes] Haru held out his hand as a bright orange-colored me the size of a candle me floated over to each of the statues, melting them instantly.


    "What was that?" Kaira said quietly. Just as Haru turned to leave, he felt a hand on his shoulder.


    "Where do you think you are going? I have not inducted my investigation yet." Kaira said to him. Haru turned to see that she was now stood directly behind him.


    "Investigate whatever you want to then. But I have things to do for now." He said before walking away. Mia followed him hesitantly as they made their way to one of the practice rooms.


    Haru opened the door to see between ten and twenty students all practising various types of magic. The floors and walls were solid sheets of steel with magic inscriptions spread across them to negate any magic that hits them.


    "I''m guessing you know essence healing?" He asked Mia who was spacing out whilst watching the mock battles currently going on.


    "Uh, yes. It''s an elementary level healing spell used to heal minor injuries. Why?" She asked in a confused tone.


    "Well, that is the spell I used on you. But first, you need to know that spells aren''t categorized by how powerful they are. They are categorized by personal efficiency in using them. For example, essence healing is used to heal yourself. But if you are efficient enough, you can heal people nearby and you can heal pretty much any amount of damage."


    She stood still and stared at Haru unsure about what he had just told her.


    "Fine. Watch if you don''t believe me." Haru pulled out his lux in its sword form, lifted his shirt, and stabbed it into his stomach.


    The de prated both sides and when he pulled it out, a puddle of blood was already forming on the floor beneath him. Mia looked terrified at the sight in front of her.


    "Why did you do that!? You''re going to die!" She started to panic.


    [Essence Healing]


    The blood on the floor began to spiral around before rising from the floor in two different streams and back into the open wound. The wound began to close slowly until it was no longer there.


    "You are insane! You didn''t have to do that! What is wrong with you!?" She began shouting, gaining the attention of the other students in the room.


    "Well, you didn''t believe me so it''s only reasonable for me to show you..." He stated as Mia looked at him with disgust.


    "Hey! Is this guy bothering you?" An older student walked over also wearing a red uniform and stood next to Mia, also looking at Haru with disgust of a different sort.


    He didn''t move as the older student stared at him before speaking again.


    "Leave the girl alone. And get out of here." He didn''t want any more trouble for the day, so he began to walk.


    "Do you want to file a report against this boy?" She then asked Mia. It seemed to take her out of her state of shock.


    "Um, no. Sorry, it was just a big misunderstanding. We are friends. I just overreacted a little bit." She blurted out to the older student. Mia then rushed over to Haru and grabbed his arm.


    "Okay, my bad. But if you two need anything, I will be over here." The older student said before leaving to watch over a mock battle that was taking ce only a few meters away.


    "I''m sorry, Haru," Mia said before looking at the ground.


    "It''s okay. I probably shouldn''t have injured myself so much to prove a point. But If you still want to learn, then prick your finger with your lux." Mia didn''t hesitate and took out her sword and made a small cut on her fingertip. Haru did the same and cut his own finger.


    "I''m going to take ten steps back. I want you to extend your mana out from your body and try to keep it in the shape of a circle and then use essence healing." He told her before walking backward.


    He was around three meters away from her before he stopped.


    "Okay, now start."


    Mia looked at him for a few seconds before she closed her eyes and began to spread her mana out. It looked like it was causing a strain on her as sweat dripped down her face. Twenty seconds went by before Haru felt his body envelope with mana.


    [Essence Healing]


    Golden light began to form within a circle of six meters in diameter. Haru looked down at his finger. The blood had stopped flowing, but the cut was still open and there were even a few drops of blood still on the floor. He looked back over to Mia, who was now panting.


    "Okay, I see where we went wrong. I''m sorry I''m not very good at teaching." He walked back over to her as she was still trying to catch her breath.


    "Put your hands on top of mine." He held out his hands towards her.


    She listened without hesitation and put her hands on top of his and waited for her next instruction. She blushed just slightly, but enough for Haru to notice. He didn''t want to say anything to her, so he decided to ignore it


    "Okay, now close your eyes and control your breathing." She wasted no time and did exactly what he instructed her to do.


    "Now put your mana into your fingertips. Imagine the mana as part of your body. Make sure your mana doesn''t stop touching me." Haru said before he slowly moved his hands away from her.


    Feeling her manae with him, he began to walk backward. After a few steps, the mana stopped in its ce and she began sweating again.


    "Don''t force it. Just feel the mana. Imagine your mana is a light and it is expanding to light up a dark room. Light doesn''t need force to expand, does it?" Her breathing then returned to normal and the pressure seemed to be gone.


    The mana now seemed to move with Haru much more evenly as he took a few more steps. Mia had seemed to understand what Haru was trying to get across. Mana shouldn''t be forced. It is the energy of life and as long as there is even a single living thing on earth, Mana will exist within it.


    Suddenly her mana passed beyond Haru. It carried on rapidly expanding more and more.


    ''Should I let her waste it all? She will learn a valuable lesson if she depletes her mana all the way. Why the hell not? It will be fun to have a student. Is this the normal life I always wanted?''


    ''I''m not too sure, but I''m enjoying whatever this is.'' Haru thought before Mia''s mana suddenly disappeared.


    [Shadow Step]


    He caught her before she fell to the ground. She had passed out from using all her mana.


    "Haru Kitagawa! Come with me now!" A familiar voice called out from behind him.


    "Hey, Vice President. How are you? I''m currently busy right now pleasee backter." He said with a smile while holding Mia in his arms.


    "Wait... What are you doing to that girl!?" Kaira screamed and pointed her hand towards him.


    [Incineration]


    Sheunched a fatal fire attack towards him.


    ''Why do people always attack me?'' He thought before destroying her attack.


    [Break]


    The fire vanished into thin air.


    "Calm down, she has just exhausted her mana. I was going to take her back to her room, but I guess since you''re here. You can do it now." Haru walked closer to her and put Mia in her arms.


    "Wait, I can''t carry her. She is too heavy!" Kaira said whilst struggling to hold her up.


    "What are you ying around for? Just use magic..." He said whilst trying his hardest not tough at her.


    "I can''t," She said quietly whilst still trying to hold her up.


    "What do you mean you can''t?" Haru asked, confused with the whole situation. "I... I can only use fire magic." She said lowering her head in disappointment. Haru sighed slightly.


    "Fine. Okay." He then took Mia into his arms once again.


    [Space Warp]


    He opened up a Rift connecting to Mia''s bedroom.


    "Wait, where do you think you are taking her!? I''m not letting you go anywhere with a defenseless girl!" The Vice President jumped in front of him just as he was about to enter.


    "Ugh. Fine then by all meanse along." Haru put his hand on her shoulder and pushed her. Kaira stumbled backward into the rift before he walked through it as well. As he stepped through, the Vice President was quick to get up from the floor.


    "How dare you push me! I can have you expelled for that, you know?" Haru ignored her and then put Mia down on her bed and covered her up with a nket.


    [Space Warp]


    "Wait, where are you going now!?" She jumped in front of him once again.


    "Um... Back to the practice room, I left my jacket there. Do you want toe with me again?" He asked before putting his hand on her shoulder again.


    "Yes! Of course, I''ming with you. I still need to inter... I mean to question you!" She shouted into his ear.


    "Buckle up," Haru said before pushing her through the rift once again.


    "Idiots never learn." He chuckled to himself before walking through it for himself.

 Chapter 10: Student Council President.

    Chapter 10: Student Council President.


    "Why do you keep doing that!?" Kaira said as Haru stepped through the rift.


    "It saves time," Haru said as he walked over to the corner that Mia had put his jacket down in.


    Haru picked up his jacket before shaking all the dust off it. There was no dust on it, but it was just a habit he had picked up from his time in the war. Things tend to get dirty if there are bits of dirt flying around. He then put on his jacket and made sure he took his time adjusting it as when he looked at Kaira he saw her getting angrier and angrier.


    "Okay, nice meeting you VP, But I will be on my way if you don''t mind." Haru patted Kaira on the back before attempting to leave.


    "Wait, a minute! I have to question you about what happened earlier. You are not going anywhere!" She grabbed Haru''s arm.


    "Fine. Fine, I will let you question me. Where are we doing this?" Haru said before Kaira let go of his arm.


    "Just follow me." She said, feeling frustrated, and led Haru throughout the corridors of the school. On their way to the Student Council office, Jake walked past them.


    "Hey, Haru. Where are you going? Who is this wo...? Is that the VP? What did you do!?" He whispered to Haru. Kaira turned around almost instantly.


    "Run along Jake or I will take you for interrogation too. Don''t forget I haven''t dealt with what happenedst time..." She said angrily but that stopped herself. Jake gulped nervously.


    "Kiara, I thought I told you to stop using that word?" An eerily calm voice called out from one of the rooms nearby.


    Haru looked over to where the voice hade from, seeing a boy who looked to be about three years older than him stood in the doorway. He had medium-length silver hair that was a mix between neat and messy.


    "Oh... President I um... Sorry." Kaira said,pletely defeated in this situation while Haru smiled.


    ''I like this guy. He can make the usually demanding girl shut up with just a few words.'' He thought before he was interrupted.


    "Ah, yes. You must be the Haru I have heard so much about." The student council president said before opening a notebook.


    "That''s me," Haru said casually. Kaira and Jake both looked at him with fear.


    ''What? Did I do something wrong?'' He thought, before the President looked up from his notebook.


    "From what I heard you are quite the fighter... Single-handedly taking down three intruders, injuring a teacher who was abusing their power, injuring a student who provoked you, and then defeating his father and three bodyguards? Not many students here could do that. So why are you marked as F rank?" He stuttered for a moment.


    "Oh, I see. You were enrolled here by one of our board members so you didn''t take the entrance exam. Is that correct?" He looked down at his book and then back to Haru, expecting him to answer.


    "Yup. That''s about it. But it seems you have it all figured out, anyway. Am I still needed here?" He asked. The Student Council president looked back up at Haru and grinned menacingly.


    "Actually, I was wondering if you wanted to spar with me? Not today, of course. But sometime in the future?" He asked whilst flipping through a few pages.


    Haru was baffled at the thought. ''Why would I spar with him? Does he have a grudge against me?''


    "Nah, not really. I don''t have any reason to. Unless, let''s say. If I win you will let me do whatever I want without being questioned by you guys?" Haru stood smugly not expecting him to agree to his request, but too much surprise.


    "Yes. Okay, I can work with that." The student council president said with a sadistic grin.


    "President you can''t!" Kaira spoke up, but suddenly she was hit with instant regret. He looked over towards her whilst suppressing her with magic.


    "And why can''t I? Who makes the rules here? You or me?" He said with anger in his voice. Kaira looked at him and sheepishly replied.


    "Ah. Um... You do Sir."


    [Break]


    Haru stepped forward between both of them.


    "Now, now. There''s no need to be angry. Is there? Just pick the time and date you want to spar with me." Haru said with a smirk.The president sighed and then walked back inside the room.


    "Why did you do that!?" Kaira busted out in a fit of rage. She began pacing the hallway.


    "This is bad! I need to write your damn report up before I can worry about this or it will just get worse." She said before turning away.


    Jake just stood there nervously waiting for his chance to speak.


    "Well, I see that everything has turned out okay. I will be going now. See ya!" And then he hurried on his way back through the hallway.


    Haru was just about to call out to him before Kaira intervened.


    "Okay, nowe inside here." She pulled open a door to an empty room on the other side of the hallway.


    "Take a seat." She walked over to the other side of the room and sat down at a desk. Haru closed the door behind him and took a seat at the opposite side of the desk.


    "Okay, so what do you need from me?" He said before Kaira pulled out a notebook from a drawer underneath the desk.


    "I need to ask you a few questions about what happened today. So, answer with honesty, please." She pulled out a pen from the inside of her jacket.


    "Okay, sure," Haru said before sitting back in the seat.


    "Okay, then how was the fight in the cafeteria instigated earlier this morning?" She asked while writing down the question in the notepad. Haru thought for a second before answering.


    "Um, I believe it was when the older student mmed his hands down on the table when I was eating. I asked him to leave me to eat, and that was when he picked up my te and threw it across the room."


    Kaira began to write down the answer Haru gave to her.


    "Then what happened next?" She asked before looking back up.


    "Well, I went and picked everything up and then threw it away. And then I went back to the vending machine and ordered another bun. I began to eat it before the student came over and began to call me names in front of everybody. I think he even called me a peasant haha." Haruughed at the thought of it.


    "So that was when you attacked him?" Kaira spoke up. After finishing the sentence.


    "No. Not at all. I told him he was acting like a child and began to leave the cafeteria. He then challenged me to a fight. I was going to bete for ss, so I told him I don''t have time. And when I turned my back to him, he shot a ball of fire towards me. So in self-defence, I canceled his attack and then hit him in the leg with a shard of ice. You can even ask Miss Fujima, she had a few witnesses tell her what happened." Kaira stopped writing for a second.


    "Wait, you''re telling me that he attacked you first? I gathered witnesses for myself and they all told me that you sneak attacked him." She then picked up a phone from the desk and called somebody.


    "Hello. Can you have somebody send Miss Fujima down to the interview room? Thank you." And then she put the phone down. She returned to writing. A few minutes went by in total silence before there was a knock on the door.


    "Yes? Come in!" She looked up for a moment and then returned to writing some more. The door then opened up and Miss Fujima walked into the room.


    "You needed something? Oh, Not you again. Haru why are you here?" Haru began to speak.


    "Interrogation." He said, but Kaira interrupted him before he could finish.


    "I had a few questions to ask about the situation at lunchtime. And apparently, you spoke to a few of the witnesses?" Kaira said whilst looking up and waiting for a reply.


    "Um, yeah. I spoke with three separate people who all told me that Issac attacked Haru when his back was turned." Miss Fujima said nervously. She was thinking that she had done something wrong.


    "Can you write down the names of these students here for me, please?" Kaira asked Miss Fujima who willingly agreed and wrote down the names.


    "Well, that is a surprise. I spoke to two of these students and they both told me Haru attacked Issac first. I don''t know any reason why they would want to gain Haru''s favour by lying. But Issac on the other handes from a wealthy background, so I wonder if he paid them? Or maybe he threatened them?" As they all thought it over, there was a knock on the door.


    "Come in!" Kaira shouted and looked over to the door. A short girl with long, brown, and messy hair came in.


    "Ah, One of our witnesses. What can I help you with?" Kaira asked with a smile now forming on her face.


    "I, Uhm. I''m sorry! Issac made me lie to you, Miss vice president! He told me if I didn''t that he would get my father fired!" She said and bowed her head. Kaira looked at Haru and smiled.


    "It''s not me you should be apologizing to. You could have got Haru in a lot of trouble for what you did." The girl looked over and Haru and stuttered.


    "Ah. I''m sorry, Haru!" She shouted nervously. Haru sat back in his seat and giggled a little bit.


    "It''s okay. It''s no big deal." He announced with a smile.


    Kaira went back to making notes in her book before she signed her name at the bottom of the page.


    "Well, this seems to be solved. We have a witness he ims that Issac manipted her. With any luck, the other witnesses will speak out against him.


    Haru, I''m sorry for being an inconvenience. And about the matter with Issac''s father, it was all caught on camera. He assaulted your magical beast. Here, that is the same as attacking a student. He was removed from the property by security and is banned from entering again.


    But let me warn you. If you push me through another spatial rift, I will torture you! You can leave now." She said with a serious looking face like she was confident enough to follow through with her threat.


    Haru wasted no time getting up from his seat and leaving the room with a yawn. He was already exhausted from the eventful six hours he had been awake for.


    By the time he navigated the hallways and exited the school, it was already dark out. He then made his way back to his dorm room and fell asleep almost immediately.

 Chapter 11: The Girl In The Flower Bed.

    Chapter 11: The Girl In The Flower Bed.


    And just like that, five weeks had passed since Haru first started school. He tried his best to stay out of trouble, but he had a few run-ins with students from the other sses.


    The children his age were no match for him and the older students started to hear about him, so they stayed away from causing any trouble when he was around. Every day he would attend his sses and, in the evening, he would teach Mia how to better control her magic.


    Somewhere along the line, Jake found out Haru was teaching magic in secret and decided he also wanted to learn. Mia was progressing at a very impressive rate. Jake on the other hand...


    "Ouch! Why does it hurt so much!?" Jake cried out in pain. Haru had been trying to teach him, but he wouldn''t listen.


    So, in retaliation to Jake not listening, Haru decided it would be easier to force the information into his brain by using offensive magic on him. It was supposed to be Jake''s job to cancel out the attack with the spell known as Break.


    But Jake was more interested in watching birds flying overhead and ended up taking a fire spell to the face.


    He rolled around on the floor for a while trying to put out the me, but there was no luck. Haru had to cancel the spell for himself before Jake got up from the floor, rubbing his face.


    The spell Haru had used wasn''t any major spell, it was used mainly for crowd control. It was very simr to pepper spray, but it was usually used with a magic device so the police or military didn''t have to carry much around.


    Magic was used all the time, even by people who didn''t have the talent to use magic on their own. Devices were made for storage instead of backpacks, and there were even devices that supplied you with water. Like a water bottle with an unlimited amount of water.


    This spell was also the same. There was a device developed by a bigpany for crowd control so even if police couldn''t use this spell with their mana they could press a button and it would shoot out a magical pepper spray.


    Jake looked around with his eyes still burning and then thought it would be a good idea to wash his eyes with magic.


    [Cleansing Touch]


    A huge beam of water shot out of his hand and hit him in his face, forcing him into the air beforending on his back.


    "What was that?" He whispered before standing up once again.


    He hadn''t realised before, but the magic lessons he had been taking with Haru had boosted his magic power output and also his mana pool.


    This was the first time he had seen results from all the hard work Haru had put into trying to teach him, however useless it seemed. He looked back at Haru, who was smiling at the sight before him.


    "Again!" Jake screamed.


    Haru didn''t give him even a second to react beforeunching the spell towards him again. The stream of green fire came storming towards Jake like a bolt of lightning.


    [Break]


    The spell vanished as a small puddle of water came from the fire and hit Jake in the face.


    "Why does this always happen to me!?" He began to roll around on the floor once again with his eyes burning.


    This type of spell had two parts to it. The first one was a fire that burned toxic fumes into the face of the victim. The second part was a security measure, just in case it had to be used on a mage.


    The main spell would vanish, but it left behind the concentrated water that the fire in the spell turned into the toxic fumes. The water would be at least five times more powerful than before.


    Jake cried out in pain before Mia took pity on him.


    [Essence healing]


    The pain suddenly vanished from Jake''s face. Haru had been trying to teach Mia to have more control over her magic, so the only spell she was allowed to practice for the past five weeks was essence healing.


    Unlike Jake, Mia was a quick learner and had almostpletely mastered the one spell. All she wascking was the experience.


    She had only been healing minor wounds for her ssmates if they were injured during a mock battle or had fallen down a staircase. It was something she would have to learn. If she wanted to truly master it, she would need to learn to keep a level head.


    That would usually take hours of actualbat experience and be put in countless life and death situations. But her proficiency in using essence healing right now could already bring someone back from the verge of death.


    "Thank you, Mia. At least one of you is nice." Jake said with a pout whilst staring at Haru.


    Haru chuckled a little and then noticed that it was bing dark outside.


    They had gone into the forest so they could practice without anyone watching them and found a clearing in the trees next to a smallke. It was peaceful there. That was until Haru started holding magic lessons there and destroying many of the trees when Jake or Mia''s magic spiraled out of control.


    But Haru was always respectful to his surroundings and always fixed everything they damaged with magic. They packed up and decided to head back for the night.


    As they emerged from the forest, they split up and went back to their own rooms to sleep for the night.


    Haru was having a rough time falling asleep. The school''s annualbat training camp would start tomorrow. Since his second chance at life started, he has always had trouble getting used to things that a normal kid his age would enjoy.


    If just basic conversation with people was an issue at first. After his lifetime spent in the military, he was used to formal conversation. It was just a normal thing for him.


    But apparently, parents didn''t like it too much when their children are direct and speak to them in a tone that suggests they aren''t really that close. After maybe four years, he got the hang of being casual about everything.


    But new things still made him nervous. This was going to be the first time he experienced a school trip, so he tossed and turned the whole night. He was excited about this experience.


    As daylight flooded into his room, Haru got ready and made his way outside to meet the rest of his ss at the front gates.


    He was early, of course. Everybody else was still sleeping. There were still two hours to go before they had to meet. As he was strolling down the main path, he saw someone out of the corner of his eye. It was a girl.


    She looked to be around the same age as Haru, but he had never seen her before. She had long brown hair and green eyes that called out to Haru. He could see the pain in her eyes and decided to make his way towards her.


    The girl was holding a watering can and was pouring it over a small patch of flowers. Haru sat down on the grass and looked at the flowers. They were all the same white colour with a yellow center. He counted them before speaking up: there were thirteen in total.


    "They are beautiful. What kind are they?" Haru asked whilst gazing down upon the little flowers that were just beginning to bloom.


    The girl was caught off guard by the sudden question because she thought she was all alone out there. She didn''t notice Haru sitting down beside her. The girl paused for a second as she collected herself after being nearly frightened to death.


    "They are called bloodroot. They were always my brother''s favorite. But I only get toe and water them once a year, so this is all I can do for them." She smiled slightly before picking out some small weeds that were surrounding the flowers.


    Haru sat and watched as he tried not to distract her. It was kind of rxing for him. He had never seen someone moving so fast, but also being as delicate as this before. A few minutes went by before someone called out from behind.


    "Oh? So, you have met Remi then?" Haru turned around as Miss Fujima walked over to them.


    "Oh. Hi mom." The girl called out as Miss Fujima leaned over and kissed her forehead. Haru was sat confused.


    "Wait, this is your daughter? I thought you were in your twenties. I didn''t expect you to be old enough to have a daughter." Haru said as his mouth gaped open slightly at the revtion.


    Miss Fujima startedughing.


    "Thank you for thepliment. But you will probably be more shocked to know that I was your mom''smanding officer for a few years." Haru didn''t know what to think. He thought she was at least fifteen years younger than she actually was.


    "You know my mom?" Haru asked, still surprised.


    "I sure do. Why do you think I have been taking it easy on you all this time? She asked me to look after you before you even enrolled. But since you are here, I have something important to ask of you." Miss Fujima said before looking over towards Remi.


    "I want you to look after Remi while we are on this trip. Are you okay with doing that?" She asked before Remi stopped what she was doing and turned around.


    "Mom! I''m old enough to look after myself. I don''t need a babysitter! You''re the worst!" She yelled in embarrassment.


    "Oh, you think I''m the worst? Haru here wasn''t allowed to go anywhere on his own until he turned fifteen. That is the reason why I asked him. You both have parents that love you to the point where they won''t let anyone even think about harming you. At least you will have something to talk about." That was when Haru noticed. This girl didn''t seem to be around his age at all. She was at least 4 years younger than him. But the look in her eyes made her seem older.


    "Okay, sure. I don''t mind." Haru said with a smile. Remi looked at him with distrust.


    "Oh,e on. I''m not that scary, am I?" Remi looked back at him for a second. And then said something Haru wasn''t expecting.


    "Can I call you big brother?" She asked with curious eyes.

 Chapter 12: Annual Combat Training Camp

    Chapter 12: Annual Combat Training Camp


    Haru was lost for words, he didn''t mind though. Even in his past life, he always wanted a younger sibling. But at that time, it was wishful thinking. He belonged to the military, so he couldn''t even speak his thoughts out loud. Still, it didn''t take long for his reply.


    "Sure, go ahead." He said through a smile. Remi smiled shyly back at him while Miss Fujimaughed.


    "I thought that much was obvious. Did your mother never tell you that I''m your godmother? Okay, now you too kids look out for each other. I have to go wake up the other kids now." She walked toward the girl''s dormitories.


    Haru sat there for a moment, feeling surprised.


    Then he thought about it. His parents never really talked about their family or their friends. If anything, they tried to keep him far away from them. He never met his grandparents, and he didn''t even know if he had aunties or uncles.


    ''I guess they just don''t have a good rtionship with their families.'' He thought before standing up.


    As he stood up, he noticed the size difference between them. She was barely up to his shoulder when he stood next to her.


    "What do you want to do? We have a while before we set off." Haru asked her. Remi thought about what she wanted to do but came up empty, answering by shrugging her shoulders.


    "Do you want to see some cool magic?" He asked in an attempt to entertain her. Remi nodded with excitement but still didn''t speak. It looked like she needed a while to warm up to Haru.


    Haru looked over to the flowers and then back at Remi with a smile.


    [Ice Sculpting] [Wind Barrier]


    Little shards of ice rose from Haru''s hands and started swirling around in a circle. It almost looked like snow blowing in the breeze.The ice then flew high into the sky before falling back down into his hands, to begin forming a mirror image of the bloodroot flowers Remi had been taking care of.


    As the flower formed in his hand, his second spell took over, creating a barrier around the fragile ice flower to keep the cold air inside and the hot air on the outside. Remi was watching in amazement as her actual brother''s favourite flower was created out of tiny snowkes in front of her.


    She smiled happily as Haru bent down and handed it to her. She was hesitant to touch it at first because she thought it would be cold. But to her surprise, it didn''t feel like she was holding anything at all. The wind kept the coldness away and also made it weightless. She held it in front of her before bringing it closer to her chest.


    "Thank you." She said while still smiling.


    "Hey, why are you up so early?" Jake called out from behind.


    Haru sighed before turning around to see him.


    "I swear you are everywhere. Are you stalking me?" Haru waited for his reply, but it didn''te.


    "Oh, who is this then?" Jake said as he realized Remi was standing behind Haru.


    "This is Remi. Miss Fujima''s daughter." Haru said whilst looking down at Remi.


    Jake gasped.


    "Miss Fujima has a daughter!? I thought she was in her twenties!" Haruughed because he felt good knowing he wasn''t the only one who thought she was younger. Jake then changed the subject as fast as he could.


    "Are youing to the cafeteria? They are serving breakfast earlier today." Haru looked at Remi.


    "Do you want to get breakfast with us?" He asked her with a smile. Remi didn''t even think about her answer before responding


    "Yes, please!" She whispered, but it was still almost a shout with excitement.


    As Haru, Jake, and Remi entered the cafeteria, it grew quiet.


    "Who is the kid?" Someone whispered to another student. Remi felt the gazes from everyone and her lip began to tremble. Haru took notice of her nervousness and grabbed her hand.


    "It''s okay. Everyone is actually looking at Jake, they haven''t seen anyone so ugly before." He whispered to her. Remi began tough at the thought.


    "Hey! That''s not nice, you piece of sh....!" Before he could finish his word Haru looked at him furiously.


    "Say it and you''re dead. There is a child here."


    Jake closed his mouth.


    "Woah scary..." He said nervously.


    "Haru! Jake!" Mia called out and ran over to them.


    "Oh, and this is?" Mia leaned over and smiled towards Remi. Remi seemed to not be too scared of Mia as she replied to her on her own.


    "I''m Remi!" She said gleefully and let go of Haru''s hand to shake hands with Mia.


    "Nice to meet you, Remi." Mia said as they both began talking, leaving Haru and Jake in shock at what just happened.


    It was like she turned into a different girl the moment that Mia came over. They all ate together and then sat down outside to talk before Miss Fujima stepped off from a bus that was parked at the front gate.


    She started to speak into a megaphone.


    "All students taking part in the Annual Combat Training Campe over here and line up, please."


    All the first-year students stopped what they were doing and walked over to where Miss Fujima was standing before getting into single file lines based on what ss they were in. Haru, Jake, and Mia lined up together at the back of the line.


    The homeroom teachers of each ss began to check names from a register. Miss Fujima walked up the line, checking names as she went. As she got to the back she called out to Remi.


    "Remi. Are you sitting at the front with me?" Remi looked up at Haru and then back towards her mom.


    "Can I sit with big brother!?" She called out before grabbing Haru''s hand.


    "Well, if it''s okay with Haru, then I don''t see why not?" Miss Fujima then walked back to the front of the line and began letting them on one at a time. There was an awkward silence as everyone nearby turned to look at Haru. Jake was the first one to say something.


    "When did you be Miss Fujima''s son!?"


    Haruughed.


    "No, it''s nothing like that. She is my godmother or mom''s close friend. Something like that. I didn''t know myself until today." He exined.


    Jake red at him with distrust.


    "Yeah... Okay. That makes no sense whatsoever." He said before getting on the bus. Mia then spoke up.


    "Aww, that''s so cute. If Haru is your big brother. Then can I be your big sister?" She asked. Remi tilted her head for a moment.


    "But then you can''t marry big brother!" She looked up at Mia, confused about the whole situation. Mia looked at Remi for a few seconds and then flinched.


    "Who said I wanted to marry Haru!? I um... I''m not making this any better for myself, am I?" She finished by making her way onto the bus, leaving Haru and Remi behind.


    "It''s just you and me then. Let''s go find some seats." Haru said as they boarded the bus.


    They looked up and down the bus. Jake and Mia both seemed to be talking about something. Haru was about to call out to them when they both looked up and stared at him.


    Haru usually wasn''t too good at reading the situation, but he could tell when he wasn''t wanted. He decided to sit closer to the front.


    "So, do you want to have the window seat?" He asked Remi. Remi didn''t seem too bothered about it. She looked up at him.


    "It''s okay. You can have it." Haru squeezed his way between the seats and sat down on the far left of the bus, and Remi sat down beside him.


    "Hey... Do you mind if I rest my head on you? I get travel sick and I''m still kind of sleepy." She yawned. Haru didn''t have any issue with it and he was still happy about being an older brother, so he agreed.


    "Sure. Go ahead." Remi closed her eyes and leaned into Haru''s shoulder.


    The bus sat idle for ten minutes before the driver started to move. By the time they had set off, Remi was already sleeping.


    Haru got a nice view of open fields and farms filled with wildlife as they made their way to the airport. Remi woke up two hours after they had set off.


    "Can we switch seats? I want to look at the sheep!" She yelled whilst Haru was daydreaming.


    "Sure, why not?" Remi then started to try to climb over him.


    "What are you doing? You''re going to fall." He said before Remi slipped. She screamed and closed her eyes before she hit the ground. Haru was quick to react and caught her in his arms.


    "Be careful. You might get hurt next time." Remi looked up to him with admiration.


    "Uh... Yes. Sorry." Haru helped her up and then moved out of the way so she could sit down. For the rest of the ride, Remi sat facing the window. She didn''t want to look back at Haru out of embarrassment that she almost fell.


    After a three-hour bus ride in total, they finally arrived at the airport. It took them a while to get through the security checkpoints. But it took a while longer before the ne touched down in China.

 Chapter 13: Black Star Sect.

    Chapter 13: ck Star Sect.


    As all the students went to pick up their bags, a few of the teachers had gotten together and began talking to three shady-looking men. They were all wearing ck suits and two of them were wearing sunsses whilst indoors.


    It looked funny to Haru, but he thought for a moment. ''Are they part of the Chinese government?''


    He found it weird. During the war, The Chinese government stayed neutral and didn''t join the fight. Japan in particr looked down on them for it. So why would they have a ss trip to China? Did they make a secret agreement?


    He was lost, deep in thought until Jake tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey... I''m not mad anymore." He said before putting his bag down on the floor.


    Haru was still confused about the whole situation. "Why were you mad, anyway? Haru asked whilst facing to look at him. "If I would have known you are rted to Miss Fujima, then I could have skipped ss and told her that you asked me to do something!" Jake said before the teachers had finished their brief conversation.


    "Listen up. Since you have magical abilities, we have to be guided by a representative of the Chinese embassy. Please treat them how you would treat your homeroom teachers. They are here for your safety and the safety of the Chinese citizens. Please listen to their judgement before making any decisions." The homeroom teacher from ss A told all of the students that were present.


    Mia walked up from behind with Remi. "Haru; Remi and I thought you should have this. We picked up some snacks from the store."


    Mia handed Haru a bag of chips and Remi brought out a bottle of soda. One thing that Haru had never tried in his life was soda. He had heard of it but never had the opportunity to try it for himself.


    "Thank you, Mia, Thank you, Remi." He patted Remi on the head before unscrewing the cap of the soda.


    He brought it to his lips and tilted his head back slightly. He didn''t know what he thought of it so he went in for a bigger sip before almost choking. It tickled the back of his throat. He enjoyed the taste and sweetness, but the feeling of the carbonation was enough to make him cough.


    "Ah, it''s good."


    Haru had tears in his eyes from coughing too much. He screwed the cap back onto the bottle before putting both the chips and soda into the storage space in his lux. A blue light shed from his wrist as the chips and soda both vanished into thin air.


    He heard a cough behind him and turned around to see one of the men in the ck suits. "Please don''t use magic or magical devices here. No matter how small it is. It can be taken as an act of war if you are seen by the wrong person."


    Haru was shocked. He was so used to everyone''s everyday use of magic back home that he didn''t realize that it could be seen as a threat.


    "Okay." He responded to the man bluntly and then turned back around to talk to his friends. "We are in for a rough ride, aren''t we? We can''t even use magic." Jakeined to the group.


    "Now you will know how I feel. At least you can use magic." Remi muttered quietly. "You can''t use magic at all?" Haru asked her.


    Remi shook her head, embarrassed by herck of magical talent. "It''s okay. I will just have to protect you with my super strong magic!" Haru joked and patted her head again. Remiughed before Miss Fujima made an announcement.


    "ss F. We are setting off now. Follow me, please." A few of the ss A studentsughed and made jokes as the students of ss F made their way past them. "Don''t die on your way." One of the students called out to Jake.


    Jake smiled back at him as he now had confidence in his magical abilities thanks to Haru''s daily training. All of the sses then followed their homeroom teachers and boarded a bus once again for their journey into the countryside for their special training camp. They still hadn''t been told anything about what they would be doing.


    The only thing they were told was to follow instructions and not ask questions. As most of the student''s present would eventually go on to joining the army or other jobs that required the use of mages, they were used to this rule.


    They rode on the bus for another eight hours before finally arriving at their destination. As they walked down the steps of the bus and into the fresh air, they were greeted with a huge wooden gate. There was a sign above the door that said ck Star Sect. Haru read it in his head.


    He wasn''t too fluent in Chinese, but he knew enough to get around.


    ''Are we at a Chinese monastery?'' He asked himself before the gate opened slowly, and out stepped a man wearing robes of some sort. He looked like he could be a monk if it wasn''t for his long greying hair and beard. All three of the men in ck suits walked over to him and bowed their heads in respect.


    "What is this?" Jake whispered to Haru, who was starting to get an idea of the situation.


    Before one of the men in the ck suit turned to everybody who was confused with the situation.


    "Hello, students of the Japanese Royal Institute of Military Arts. Your Government has made a deal with our sect for use to teach you the ways of our Chinese cultivators. This is the first time we have let outsiders into our life so please be respectful. There are a few people here who are over three hundred years old. They have requested you to treat them how you would treat your grandparents and to feel free to ask them any questions you want to.


    It has been a while since we have had children here so we will be forgiving of any mistakes you will make. But let me make myself clear. Nobody is allowed to enter the elder hall. Even if it is a mistake you will be thrown out immediately. Other than that. We wee you for your stay with us at ck Star Sect."


    All of the students became excited and began to chatter amongst themselves. Cultivation was always seen as a myth passed down through generations for thousands of years. Only a few people outside of China had permission to know about them and now the students were going to learn from these people who have legends told about them.


    Haru on the other hand was confused. The Chinese cultivators have stayed out of every major war for the past hundred years. They even banned all information on cultivation being spread to outsiders.


    ''What kind of price did the Japanese government have to pay for an opportunity like this? But yet again, Cultivators weren''t all too interested in mary gain. So, the real question is what did they give to them?'' Haru thought it over and over in his head but didn''t know what to think of the situation.


    "Hurry up, Haru. You will be left behind!" Mia called out to Haru, who was standing still as the rest of his ssmates hurried off inside.


    Haru jogged lightly to catch up with them, but as he passed the gate, he turned his head to the left to see the man in the ck suit whisper something to the man in the robes. The man in the robes then looked towards Haru and smiled gently.


    ''Weird'' Haru thought before he caught up with Mia, Remi, and Jake.


    They were all being led towards arge traditional Chinese style building with two golden dragon statues on either side of the doors.


    "This ce is so pretty," Remi said and then looked back at Haru. "Yeah very pretty," Haru said quietly. He just couldn''t shake the feeling that something big would happen here. ''Would it be a good thing or a bad thing?''


    As they entered the building the aroma of all kinds of food floated around the room. They were holding a feast in the honour of the studenting to learn from them. Everybody partied all night long and the teachers that hade for the trip all ended up extremely intoxicated.


    They were trying to out drink the cultivators which many of them if not all of them practised internal body cultivation making regr alcohol useless on them. They didn''t drink for fun, it was just for the tradition of weing outsiders into their home.


    Haru stood leaning against a wall watching his friends all party into the night without him. He was still feeling uneasy about the whole situation. This was a thing that had never happened to anyone before. He had tried to research cultivators in the past but all the information was locked behind security protocols that only someone above the general rank in the army could ess.


    There were a lot of secrets that were kept from the world about these people. But the only information he knew about cultivators is that their strength is unparalleled. There were rumours that they could even destroy worlds with their bare hands.


    How was he supposed to measure up to these people who could kill him without him even suspecting anything?

 Chapter 14: The Hidden Cave Pool.

    Chapter 14: The Hidden Cave Pool.


    "Ahem. Are you not enjoying yourself?" A voice called out from the right of him in Chinese.


    Haru was surprised. He didn''t hear or see anybodye over to him. In fact, he probably wouldn''t have ever noticed unless they spoke. He turned to see it was the old guy who smiled at him from the gate.


    "It isn''t that. Erm... I will just be honest. I don''t trust you guys. You have kept to yourselves for hundreds of years, but now you willingly ept a bunch of students from another country into your home. It doesn''t make sense to me." The old man looked at Haru and his eyes widened slightly.


    "You speak Chinese? I didn''t expect that. But I can see where you areing from. I think if I was in your situation, I would think the same thing. But it is like you have been told. We made a deal with your government to teach all of you for two months." He said whilst skipping over the details.


    The old man suddenly looked up towards the ceiling. "Sorry. I have to go. I hope we get the chance to talk once again." And just like that, he vanished.


    One second, he was there and the next he was gone. Haru was once again confused.


    ''How did he? He definitely didn''t use magic or I would have felt a mana fluctuation. Is this how cultivation works? There is no sign of him using anything. Even the people in this room. When they walk around, I don''t sense them moving. It is throwing me off. I need to get out of this ce.'' He thought before making his exit without anyone realizing.


    The night breeze was calming and the only noise that could be heard was the sounding from the grand hall he had just been in. As Haru walked around this ce, he realized it was more like a city hidden deep in the mountains. There wasn''t any sign of technology apart from the lux on his wrist.


    He followed one of the many pathways leading into a forest-like area. He walked and walked deep into the forest, not looking back. After about an hour of walking, he looked around. It was peaceful out here. It was just what he needed to reset. His mind was now clear. He no longer felt uneasy.


    He then thought back to what was making him feel uneasy. It was the way the cultivators moved. There was no sign of life. It was almost like they were no longer human. How could they move so peacefully? It was like watching a wild animal. His brain failed to recognize these people as humans because they had no presence.


    It was a strange power he didn''t understand, but he did understand it was probably why they haven''t been discovered for hundreds of years. Their power was so great that ordinary people wouldn''t even realise they existed.


    He looked around at his surroundings, it was devoid of any life. But it was also soothing to have so much silence within a space as big as this. The chilly night air made steam rise from his mouth every time he breathed. On all sides of him were hundreds of trees and wildflowers lining the edge of the pathway.


    He walked for what seemed like forever before he came to a deep cavern. Haru looked down over the edge and saw nothing but darkness staring back at him. He couldn''t resist the temptation. "ECHO!" He shouted down into the emptiness.


    There was silence for a few seconds before his voice boomed back towards him. He chuckled to himself before sitting at the edge and lightly humming a song into the abyss. Halfway through the song, a deep growl began to emerge from the darkness rising up and creeping closer with every second that passed.


    The sound suddenly stopped. Haru peaked his head over the edge. As he looked down there was a slight sign of movement. He looked closer before his head was almost decapitated. A sh of white flew past his head at an unimaginable speed.


    An eagle with a wingspan of around ten meters flew up into the sky and floated in mid-air. It was casually riding the hot air current the cavern produced. It looked towards Haru with a gaze of happiness. Haru sat back down and began to hum the rest of the tune into the cavern. Just before he finishedpletely the eagle flew high into the clouds before plummeting straight back down into the cavern. As it flew past again it seemed to be chirping the same tune Haru had sung for it.


    ''Time to head back.'' Haru thought before making his way back into the woods.


    He was impressed by everything that he had seen today. Especially the scene he had just witnessed. Since the cultivators didn''t use magic, he assumed that it wasn''t just a magical beast he had just seen. It was most likely a beast that stepped onto the path of cultivation with its own intelligence.


    Haru was lost deep in thought as he walked through the forest further and further until he came to a dead end. There was just a cliff face in front of him. He looked at the ground again.


    ''Why would anyone make a path toward a cliff? Unless they climbed the cliff? I wonder what could be up there.'' He thought before reaching out and touching the cliff preparing to climb it. As he reached out his hand went straight through the rocks.


    "Wait, what is this?" Haru whispered as he put his left hand onto the rock also. It went right through.


    This was simr to the illusion magic people used to hide valuables in in sight. There was also no sign of mana anywhere nearby. If it wasn''t for the path that leads up to the cliff, he would never have expected anything to be there. He slowly pushed his head through the illusion and then followed by the rest of his body.


    It was pitch ck. There wasn''t a single sign of light.


    [Illuminate]


    He cast a small light spell that would make a ball of light float two feet in front of his face. The whole ce lit up. It was a dark, wet cave and there was a little trickle of water flowing further down into the cave. Haru bent down and touched the water.


    "Ouch, it''s hot!" He said as the water burnt his fingertips. "Is this ce a hot spring?" He wondered and began to walk further and further into the cave until he came to a dimly lit room within.


    The light from his spell seemed to be reflecting off something. He slowly poured more mana into his spell, lighting up the whole cave in doing so. He looked at the sight before him in shock. It was arge pool of water with a small amount of steam rising from the surface.


    He began to take off his clothes. "Who would have expected a hidden hot spring? This ce is truly beautiful." He said to himself before testing the water with his foot.


    It was nice. The water wasn''t too hot. It was at the perfect temperature like it was made specifically for him. Haru slowly entered the water until he was neck-deep within it. He slowly lifted his feet from the floor and began to float on the surface. It was when his ears went beneath the water, he felt strange.


    He took his head out of the water instantly. ''What was that?'' He thought before slowly putting his head under once again. He heard a slight noiseing from under the surface. He listened as best as he could but couldn''t make sense of it at all.


    It sounded like a voice calling out to him. It was smooth and gentle.


    [Wind Barrier]


    Haru made a barrier of wind in front of his mouth and nose so he could breathe whilst being underwater. He tried to locate the sound but it was useless. The closer he thought was getting the further away it sounded. He then looked down beneath him. He had swum so far out into the pool that he could no longer see the bottom.


    ''What if?'' Was his final thought before deciding to swim down deeper into the pool.


    As he dived deeper, he began to see a sh of light. It faded between bright and dim every time the voice yed on a loop.


    ''Haha, I found it.'' He realised he had found the source of the noise. He swam faster and faster towards whatever it was. As he got closer, the water around him began to heat up quite dramatically.


    [Cooling Breeze]


    A lightyer of ice formed over his body. But it was no use. His magic was useless against the heat of the water. He decided to turn back before It would get too dangerous to carry on. He looked up toward the surface. There was nothing but darkness.


    [COOLING BREEZE] [COOLING BREEZE] [COOLING BREEZE!]


    He had to activate the spell as every second he spent in the water would break through his magic.


    When suddenly the voice became clearer. "Those who try shall perish. Those who perish shall return alive." Each time Haru activated his magic the pain of the boiling water increased more and more until he was on the verge of consciousness.


    "Those who try shall perish. Those who perish shall return alive." The voice seemed to shout out to him.


    [Break]


    He used thest of his strength to destroy both of his spells. He could no longer breathe.


    Haru tried his best to swim towards the surface but suddenly he felt a force pulling him deeper down into the depths of the pool. The more he struggled the more the force increased. The water temperature began to increase more and more before he couldn''t bear the pain anymore. Haru cried out as water rushed into his mouth and then down into his lungs. He looked down back towards the light as it became brighter and brighter before his vision faded to ck.

 Chapter 15: Divine Phoenix Fruit.

    Chapter 15: Divine Phoenix Fruit.


    The same voice called out. "Wee to my home." It spoke out softly.


    Haru clutched his head as he opened his eyes. He looked around and was in total silence. There seemed to be a slight echo as he inhaled sharply. The pain was unimaginable as he clutched the right side of his body.


    [Essence Healing]


    A faint golden light appeared before disappearing. The spell had only worked slightly, but he was still in pain. He tried to use it again, but nothing happened. It was like all of the mana he had worked so hard to use was gone. He couldn''t sense even a trace of mana anywhere nearby.


    "Huh, where am I? Who are you?" Haru groaned before slowly making his way to his feet.


    He then tried to use a spell to light up the ce so he could check out his surroundings. But it was no use. His magic hadpletely vanished. Suddenly a small me appeared before one by one began to light hangingnterns around the room. Haru looked around. He was in some kind of Chinese styled meeting hall, like the one the party was currently being held at. He then looked to the front of the room. There seemed to be something that glimmered under the light.


    Haru walked over to have a closer look. He walked up a small set of stairs before arriving at a pedestal with a red silk pillow on top of it, and in the center of the pillow was a small golden ring. The ring was shaped like a dragon. It had golden scales all the way around it, with bright green eyes and a small round purple gem in its mouth.


    ''What is this thing?'' Haru thought before reaching out to pick it up.


    "Are you trying to steal from me after I saved your life?" Haru felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around with horror. The man standing behind him was around seven feet tall, was a traditional Chinese outfit, had long ck hair, but most importantly his body was transparent. Haru was in shock.


    "Ahh! A ghost!" He then stumbled back and fell over.


    The manughed at Haru''s expense. "Of course, I''m not a ghost. This is just a fragment of my soul. You didn''t actually expect me to keep my true soul within this pool for twenty thousand years, did you?" Haru eased up but was still on guard. "Your soul? Twenty thousand years?" Haru repeated out loud.


    "That is what I said, didn''t I?" The man said as he looked back at Haru with curiosity. "You are not a cultivator? Oh, but you are a pretty decent caster I see. Maybe... No what am I thinking?" He said before turning away, rubbing his chin with his hand. Haru began to get up once again. "Thank you for saving me. But how do I leave this ce?" He asked whilst covering himself up. He was still naked and his clothes were back on the floor at the entrance to the pool.


    "Get out? You are in a time array right now. Only a cultivator would be able to pass through without being ripped apart by the spatial storms. You will just die in here. But that is at least better than being boiled to death by the true dragon skull." The man said whilst still thinking about something.


    Haru began to panic. "I''m going to die, what do you mean!? Did you bring me here just to die? You should have just left me to die in the pool at least someone might find my body."


    Haru''s stomach then growled. The man heard the sound and thenughed. "You''re hungry? Here."


    He pulled out a small red fruit. It resembled a peach but was smooth and perfectly round. Haru took the fruit from him and then took a bite out of it. A vour he had never experienced exploded into his mouth as the juice overflowed and dripped down his lip.


    "What is this thing? It''s delicious" Haru said with his mouth still full.


    The man looked at Haru for a moment. "Um... Phoenix fruit. Theye from a tree that a Phoenix was born under. Wait. Why are you naked? Are you one of those sex freaks?" The man leaned down toward Haru. And sniffed the air in front of him. "No. You are definitely still a virgin. So that makes you... An exhibitionist!" The man said in a matter of fact tone and then started pacing up and down.


    Haru shouted at him. "I''m not an exhibitionist! I left my clothes up at the surface of the pool! And by Phoenix do you mean as in the magical beast?" Haru asked as he finished the Phoenix fruit.


    It was one of the best-tasting things he had ever eaten. The manughed again. "Magical beast? Do you mean those cheap imitations? No, I mean a Phoenix, as in a divine beast. But yet again this small universe doesn''t have any phoenixes so I wouldn''t expect you to know. And will you put some clothes on already?" The man threw out a set of clothes simr to what he was wearing.


    Haru struggled to put on the clothes as he had never worn anything like this before. It seemed to be a perfect fit but it felt off. "Don''t you have anything more modern?" He asked as he adjusted the tightness around his waist.


    "Something more modern? Those clothes are made from the silk of thousands of spiritual silkworms and you areining? You are practically immune to all attacks whilst wearing them. Well, maybe not if you fought against a cultivator. But for casters, you would be immortal."


    Haru was confused for a second. "What are these casters you keep mentioning?" He asked.


    The man stopped once again and looked over to Haru. "How many questions do you need to ask? I''m thinking. Casters are what in this world you would call mages. You use spiritual energy to manipte things. You don''t really have much power but there is no reason for you guys to have much power. You only fight against each other anyway." The man criticised the mages of earth.


    Haru was at a loss for words. He always thought he was the strongest but he was in fact nothingpared to the strength of the cultivators.


    "Erm... Can you teach me to cultivate? I don''t want to die in here?" He said to the strange man in front of him. The man smiled sinisterly. "I thought you would never ask. I have never taught someone from this world. Maybe you will make a name for yourself in the upper realms."


    The man then went on to exining everything about the cultivating world to Haru. It was unlike anything he had ever heard of. There are thousands of universes spilled across three major realms. The lower realm, the middle realm, and the higher realm. Earth was located in the lower realm. That was why everybody was naturally weak inparison to cultivators.


    Qi was a power like mana that wasn''t only exclusive to the lower realms. The upper realms had a higher natural concentration of mana and made everything that lived there insanely strong. Even a house cat from the upper realms would be strong enough to massacre a few thousand inhabitants of Earth.


    Haru listened with an open mind but still had a little bit of doubt in his head. How could he believe something he had never experienced entirely? He still thought it all sounded oddly believable. The man then went on to exin about the current predicament they were in. They were both trapped within a time array that was used to condense spiritual Qi into the hot spring pool above them.


    The man had attached a fragment of his soul into the dragon emperor ring but had lost it during a fight. The ring flew through all of the realms before itnded on earth like a meteor. The ring fell into the array just as it was being set up by Chinese cultivators of the past. The man then created a space within the array where he could await his rescue from his true body. He couldn''t remember anything from his true body. The only thing he knew was that when he looked at objects, he would recall the past that his true soul had with them.


    Like for the dragon emperor ring.


    He knew that his true soul had it in his possession for hundreds of thousands of years. He found the ring and then reincarnated thanks to the dragon emperor ring and he remembered the power the ring gave to him during his path to cultivation within his second life.


    "You should have experienced reincarnation, right?" The man asked Haru. "Wait what are you trying to say?" Haru tried to cover it up.


    "Don''t try to deny it. It was the reason I saved you. Reincarnation is something that is important for cultivators. It helps you understand techniques faster than regr people. It also makes you a target for stronger cultivators. They look down on people who reincarnated because they are naturally gifted, so most if not all of them are killed." He exined as Haru felt exposed and sat down on one of the steps in front of the pedestal.


    Haru''s stomach growled once again. "Excuse me. Do you have any more food?" The man sighed and then held out his hand. Hundreds of Phoenix fruit dropped onto the floor in a neat pile.

 Chapter 16: Li Jun.

    Chapter 16: Li Jun.


    Haru ran over to the fruit before starting to eat them one by one. He managed to eat four of them before something strange happened. His throat felt like it was burning. His stomach then also felt the same. The man then looked over toward Haru.


    "Ohh, you probably shouldn''t eat too many of those. They are of yang attribute, so if you eat, I would say around three. Your body will most likely explode." The man then took a closer look at Haru, who was holding both his stomach and his throat.


    "How many of them did you eat?" He asked. Haru struggled to put up five of his fingers before the man sighed.


    "Just when I thought I could get out of this ce you go and die on me?" He said, but then an idea came to him. "Here, if you can learn how to cultivate this. Then you should be able to survive. But you should know that you won''t be able to use your caster abilities anymore. It''s now your choice if you die or not." The man bent down and put his fingertip on Haru''s forehead. He then began passing on information about the cultivation technique to Haru.


    Haru''s pain grew much worse as the information forced its way into his brain. The Abandoned God of Destion. That was the name of this technique. He didn''t even need to think about it. He would happily abandon magic for the rest of his life if he got the chance to live even half the life the man in front of him had.


    He felt bad though. He had worked his whole life and fifteen years of his current life to get to where he was right now. But he was throwing all of his efforts away for the chance to experience something greater than the world he hade to know. He wasn''t sure, though. Was he really going to die from this? He stayed still for a few minutes before he curled up into a ball as the pain was so excruciating. He really was going to die if he didn''t do anything.


    He then sat on the floor and crossed his legs. It was like his body remembered how to do this out of muscle memory. He wasn''t really paying attention to what he was doing until his attention switched. He was now focusing on the cultivation technique. He could no longer feel the excruciating pain surging throughout his body. It was unreal to him. He wasn''t even thinking of anything. The more he tried to think of things to focus on, the emptier his brain would be.


    Time didn''t matter anymore. He was sofortable that he didn''t want to move. When suddenly he felt something happen to his body. There was a gentle heating from his stomach. Then on his skin, he felt cold air slowly drifting towards him and circling around like a gentle breeze before prating his stomach, making the feeling amplify as each minute went by.


    A few moments passed before Haru''s body felt like it was vibrating. There was a gentle feeling running all the way around his body, like a river gently flowing through his veins. He felt a slight pressure weigh down upon his body for a few minutes as his body felt weightless. He opened his eyes to see that his vision had improved.


    It was like a filmyer was removed from his eyes. He had twenty/twenty vision before and now he had no words. It was like he was seeing the world for the first time. His body felt as light as a feather and as strong as steel. He couldn''t quite describe the feeling.


    "Four hours and twenty-six minutes. Not bad, kid. You managed to break my personal record. Now, what did you say your name was?" The man asked Haru before sitting down on the floor in front of him.


    "I didn''t say my name, but it''s Haru Kitagawa. And what is yours?" Haru asked the man finally after so much time had passed.


    The man put his hand over the floor and out came a bottle of alcohol and two sses. "Nice to meet you, Haru. My name is Li Jun."


    Li Jun then poured a drink for Haru and one for himself. "Come on drink with me." Li Jun said as he handed the ss to Haru. "I can''t drink yet it is illegal," Haru stated. "Illegal? If you didn''t notice, there is nobody here to arrest you. Come on, drink. It is to honour the start of our new friendship." Li Jun said before drinking the ss of wine in one gulp. Haru tried his best to keep up with him.


    After four sses of wine, Haru found it strange that he didn''t feel anything. There were no side effects from the alcohol. He then looked down at the ss and sniffed it. The ss definitely had the scent of alcohol on it. Li Junughed, "You''re wondering why the alcohol isn''t affecting you? Wee to the world of cultivation." They bothughed and talked into the night.


    Three years went by in the blink of an eye as Li Jun trained Haru inside the array. The Qi outside was thin, but the whole purpose of the array was to gather Qi and put it into the water so the cultivators on the outside could absorb it at a faster rate. The Qi on the inside was about one hundred times as dense as the regr Qi on earth. So Haru progressed far faster than most people in the lower realms would.


    This was still nothingpared to the upper realms. After the intense three years of cultivation, he had found himself at the peak of the form creation stage. He first went through the Qi refining stage, The core refining stage, Spirit core stage, Earthly spirit stage, and the heavenly spirit stage. He was just one step away from a major breakthrough.


    For the past three months, he had been refining a solid form of Qi for his spiritual core to turn into a golden core. It was just a matter of condensing his Qi and refining it throughout his body. Li Jun exined many things along the way. He first started with the basic theory lessons of cultivation.


    It was much like the mana training Haru had done in the past. The more he used his Qi and got used to moving inside and outside of his body, the more control he would have over his power. Li Jun didn''t have a physical body so they couldn''t engage inbat training, but he did help when he could. He would refine pills for Haru to take to help with the growth of his power.


    Everything was still really new to Haru and he couldn''t understand the basic concepts of most of the techniques that Li Jun would teach him, but the advice Li Jun gave each time was simple yet effective.


    ''Just believe in yourself.''


    He would say over and over again until Haru could understand the first part of the technique. From there it was just a matter of rinse and repeat. He would have to use his techniques for everyday things. Instead of walking to the bathroom, he would have to use a movement technique to reach the bathroom. And instead of getting up from lying down, he would have to use simple Qi maniption to put strength into his body to help lift himself. Every time he would make a mistake, Li Jun would hit him on the head with various objects until it was drilled into his head.


    Haru was upset with some of the treatments he was getting from Li Jun, but he couldn''tin too much. In the eyes of Li Jun, Haru was still a child. Even though he had in fact lived for forty-five years, which was nothing inparison to Li Jun''s lifetime.


    One day Li Jun spoke out to Haru. "You should be strong enough to break the array if you want too. Or we could both spend another year in here if you really wanted to?" Li Jun smiled for the first time since Haru had been there, but there was a sadness in his eyes. Li Jun knew that their carefree days woulde to an end the moment that Haru decided he wanted to leave.


    Haru looked back at him and smiled. "Sure, why not?" Li Jun then walked over to the pedestal and picked up the golden ring.


    "Haru, this is The Dragon Emperor Ring. It is the thing that my soul is attached to and it also has another purpose, but you will learn about that the moment you put the ring on." He handed the ring to Haru, who was confused for a moment.


    Haru put on the ring and a voice echoed out around his head. "Li Jun. I see you have found another disciple? This one seems promising. Unlike that traitorous... Ahem sorry about that. Ah. I see you have also taught him that technique. You sure must trust him."


    Li Jun looked over to Haru and spoke. "Yeah, and I see you have been doing okay as well Lao. It must have been boring in there for all this time, right? What do you say we catch up for a bit whilst the kid breaks us out of here?" Li Jun turned into a small translucent orb and floated towards the ring before disappearing inside.


    "Haru Go to the array and put you Qi into each of the lines." Li Jun spoke from the inside of his head.


    Haru wasted no time and walked over to the array before feeling for the natural Qi from the runes. After a few seconds, he felt them and then poured a bit of his Qi into them. He was blinded by the sunlight as he appeared outside of the entrance to the cave.


    One of the older cultivators began walking down the path before spotting Haru. "Hey! We have been looking for you all day. Where did you go!?"

 Chapter 17: Family Reunion.

    Chapter 17: Family Reunion.


    "What are you doing back here? This ce is out of bounds." The Old Cultivator asked Haru, who was pushing his now shoulder-length hair out of the way.


    "I''m sorry, I just wanted to take a walk during the night. I got a little lost." Haru said before Li Jun''s voice echoed around his head. "I sense remnants of my blood. If I''m correct, then these people should be descendants of my ck Star Sect."


    Li Jun came out from the ring and walked over towards the Old Cultivator and inspected him for a moment. "Who would have thought that I would have disciples in the lower realm. Strange... Did the Dragon Emperor Ring sense my spirit and then fall into their sect?"


    Haru was surprised at the sight. Li Jun was right in front of the Old Cultivator, but he didn''t see him at all. Li Jun looked back over to Haru. "Oh, don''t worry about me. As long as you are wearing that ring, I can conceal my presence inside it. Cultivators of this level won''t even sense me, let alone see me."


    The Old Cultivator then spoke once again. "We already contacted your parents. This is troublesome. Come on, I will guide you back to your teacher." Haru then followed the Cultivator back down the forest path to meet up with his ssmates. Li Jun floated along through the air beside Haru.


    "Haru!!! There you are! Do you know how worried I was about you!" Miss Fujima ran over and hugged him. "Wait, why is your hair long... And your clothes... Haru, what are you wearing?" She asked as the rest of his ss looked at him in confusion.


    "Ah, I..." Haru didn''t know what to say. How would he exin anything to them? Before the old man from the party walked up to Haru with one of the men in the ck suits. "You fell into a pool inside of a cave, didn''t you?" The old man asked as the man in the ck suit began to trante.


    Haru didn''t need a trantor, as his Chinese had gotten better after only speaking to Li Jun for a whole year inside the array. "Ah, Yeah I fell inside the poolst night and these clothes were in there. I put them on because mine were wet and I didn''t want to catch a cold." He exined to the old man.


    Haru''s ssmates were now even more confused. When did Haru learn Chinese? He was almost fluent. The man in the ck suit also seemed surprised. The old man walked over to Haru before looking down at his hand and catching a glimpse of the Dragon Emperor Ring.


    "Dragon... Ring. Your name was Haru, right? Pleasee with me." The old man took Haru''s arm and they both vanished into thin air.


    Miss Fujima and the rest of her ss began to freak out. "Where is he taking my student!?" She shouted in outrage to the man in the ck suit.


    He began to back up as Miss Fujima was advancing towards him pointing her finger.


    "It''s okay. The Elder just wants to talk in private. The cave pool is important to us cultivators. It can have side effects on people who don''t cultivate so he needs to make sure he is okay... I think..." The man blurted out in a panic as Miss Fujima erupted into a rage.


    "You think!? That is not good enough, so go and make sure! And thene back here and tell me about it!" She shouted at him. The man submitted out of fear of her getting angrier. "Ah, yes miss right away!" He then ran off towards the elder hall.


    Haru arrived inside a huge room. The ceiling was around twelve meters tall and had eight solid gold pirs were holding up the roof. The room was longer than it was wide and on the other side, there were three old men sat upon thrones talking to each other casually until they noticed they weren''t alone.


    "Ohh, it''s just you little Mo. And who is this child?" One of the old men said as the other two smiled. "Ah, Sect Master. This boy is in possession of a golden ring shaped like a dragon."


    Not even a millisecond went by before the old man appeared in front of Haru. "Everyone, leave us to talk." He said whilst looking down at Haru''s hand.


    "Yes, Sect Master." All of the men disappeared from where they were immediately. Li Jun was still floating around behind Haru when he noticed something. "Oh, this is really unexpected."


    "Where did you find this ring?" The Sect Master asked Haru with a serious face. Haru tensed up within his presence as he began to feel blood lust leak out from the man In front of him.


    "It''s okay let me do the talking." Li Jun said before revealing himself before the Sect Master.


    The Sect Master tensed up as Li Jun came into his view. "No Surely It can''t be." Li Jun Began to smile. "You know who I am don''t you?" He asked the sect master.


    He nodded his head with his face now bing pale before dropping to his knees with tears in his eyes. "Great-grandpa! I never thought I would see you again." The sect master began to weep at the sight of Li Jun.


    "It''s okay little Shen. How is your grandfather doing? Is he still alive?" Li Jun asked the sect master who was now a weeping mess on the floor.


    "Sorry, great-grandpa. Grandpa died around a thousand years after you left. It was all my fault and I was banished to the lower realms by the sect elders." The sect master began to cry even more as he recalled his memories.


    "Little Shen it is okay. If your grandfather sacrificed himself for you it shows his love for you. And I bet he would do it a million times over if he could save you. But more importantly Why are you so weak? You grew old. What are you? Eighty thousand at most? You look ancient. Come here." Li Jun said to the sect master.


    Li Jun held out his finger and ced it on the head of the sect master. As soon as his finger touched. The sect master was enveloped into a golden light before his body slowly grew younger. His white hair faded to ck, his body developed muscle mass and the wrinkles from his skin disappearedpletely.


    By the time the light had died down, the sect master now looked like he was in his early twenties. Haru was shocked once again. He regained his youthfulness with just the touch of a finger. The sect master slowly got to his feet and looked down at his hands before touching his face.


    "Great-grandpa. You just You are the best!" The sect master rushed over to hug Li Jun but just as his arms wrapped around him. Li Jun walked right through him. "No, thank you. Even if you are my great-grandson, I don''t ept hugs from men." The sect master fell to the floor as Li Jun walked around the hall.


    The sect master then stood up suddenly and tried to use his Qi. "Um Great-grandpa. Why have I lost most of my cultivation?" The sect master asked whilst he was shaking with fear and excitement. Li Jun stopped for a moment. "Don''t tell me you have gone senile after all this time? You have returned to origin."


    "Huh You mean I I have returned to origin?! I can''t believe it! I have a second chance at life! I might be able to return home!" The sect master began to freak out as Li Jun looked around at all the things inside the room and inspected the weapons on disy.


    He then took a sword from a rack and began to swing it around and then threw it at Haru. "Here keep this." Haru looked down at the sword, sensing unimaginable amounts of Qi flowing throughout the de.


    "Hey little Shen. Do you have any Law inscriptions?" Li Jun asked the sect leader, who was touching his body all over and giggling like a mad man.


    "Law inscriptions? Yeah, why? I thought you had already mastered all of thews?" The sect master asked whilst rubbing his cheek.


    "Well, obviously I have mastered them. I need them for my disciple over there." Li Jun pointed towards Haru, who was confused with what had happened. Li Jun barely opened up about his past before today. All he talked about was training Haru and exining techniques to him.


    ''Who was this man and what exactly was his power?'' Haru thought.


    "Little Shen pays his respects to the first disciple." The sect leader got to his knees and bowed down toward Haru.


    "Wait! Stop. You are thousands of years older than me there is no need to pay so much respect to me." Haru panicked and tried to hide his embarrassment. When suddenly the main flew open.


    "Where is my grandson?!"

 Chapter 18: Law Of Time.

    Chapter 18: Law Of Time.


    Haru turned around to see a man who looked to be in his early sixties with a big bushy beard and grey hair. He was built like a tank with muscles that nearly ripped through his shirt.


    "Haru is that you? Your hair is longer than in the pictures. I swear your mother needs to take better care of you. First, she moves to Japan with that horrible husband of hers, and then she enrols you into a school like that." The old man began to rant about Haru''s parents.


    Haru didn''t really feelfortable around his parents but he did think of them as actual parents since he never met his parents from hisst life, so he became slightly angry as this stranger began to shit talk about them.


    "Who do you think you are to talk about my parents like that? You decrepit old man. How dare you barge your way in here when we were having a discussion and insult my family? Get out or I will throw you out." Haru looked towards him and stared him down.


    "But Haru, I''m your grandfather surely you wouldn''t" Before he could finish Haru pushed his hand out and sent a wave of Qi towards the man sending him flying backward out of the room as the doors mmed behind him. "You were saying something aboutws? What are those?" Haru quickly changed the topic.


    "Ah yes,ws. Little Shen, if you could take out an inscription for Haru that would be great thanks. I could just put them into his head but a chick won''t learn how to fly into the skies if its mother carried it, would it?" Li Jun said to the sect master, who immediately pulled out a stone tablet from seemingly nowhere.


    "How do you guys keep doing that? Where are you pulling everything from?" Haru asked as he had seen it happen a few times now and still had no idea.


    "Oh, yeah. If you manage to learn this one within an hour, I will give you a storage ring." Li Jun said.


    Haru stood for a moment. ''A storage ring? I wonder how they work.''


    He had used magic to store his stuff before, but the cultivation world was still very new to him. "A storage ring? Is that where you keep pulling things from?" Haru asked.


    "Yeah, a storage ring is like the storage magic you guys use on those devices. But the difference is that they are forged from rare materials that have no Qi in them, so when you put Qi into them it will hold anything you need within them. Here, take this." The sect master exined before handing the stone tablet to Haru.


    Haru looked at the tablet for a little bit and didn''t understand a single thing.


    "What am I supposed to do with it?" Haru asked.


    Li Jun sighed in frustration. "Just cultivate whilst holding it, and you will see what happens." Haru sat down and crossed his legs whilst holding the tablet in his hands.


    As soon as he closed his eyes he was taken away into a ce so amazing he wouldn''t even be able to dream about it. He opened his eyes and found a ce of pure ice. It was an endless snowy desert with no living creature within sight. He then felt the chilling cold as his body began to form ice crystals all around and his skin became purple with frostbite.


    He didn''t know what to do. He had already opened his eyes. Why wasn''t he in the elder hall anymore? He thought about it for a moment. "I have to leave the nest? To learn how to soar through the sky? Okay, game on."


    Haru began to fight against the freezing cold, lifting one foot at a time out of the snow lining the ground like quicksand. The slower he moved the faster the snow would move in to devour him.


    He crossed the barrenndsyered in ice and snow one step at a time holding onto his fading consciousness with each move that he made. That was when it called out to him. Almost like an oasis, there seemed to be a structure in the middle of this unknown ce.


    Haru thought he was imagining things at first as each step closer he made toward the structure the further away it seemed to be. It wouldn''t stop him though. Haru walked and walked, losing all hope with each step. Until a thought came to him.


    ''None of this was real''


    Why was he feeling pain? It was all just his imagination. And with that simple thought alone the feeling of fatigue disappearedpletely. The whole thing was just inside his head. All of the snow was the tablet influencing his mind. It was just an illusion. And then with that thought, the whole ce slowly faded to ck.


    He was standing alone inplete darkness and left with nothing but his thoughts to guide him. He then began to imagine the ce again. The endless snow and freezing cold and not to much surprise the ce came back. He once again stood in the endless amount of snow.


    Was this whole thing just to give him a better understanding of his mind? He was confused once again. What was the point of this whole thing? Would it teach him to understand something? He began to walk once again with a fire burning within him. He would reach the structure no matter what.


    He walked and walked. His clothes soon became tattered and his hair grew longer and longer until he felt facial hair hitting his neck. He put all distractions into the back of his mind as his body grew old and his hair began to turn grey. His body began to hunch over as the fatigue in his body grew stronger and stronger until he had no motivation to carry on. He put his hands out in front of him and let his body fall.


    As his body started to fall he was caught by something. He opened his eyes and looked toward the rock structure in front of him. The smooth stone of the tower that seemingly led to heaven stood in front of him. He pulled himself back to his feet as a door seemingly appeared out of nowhere. He entered slowly, hunched over and struggling to breathe. The room was light and warm with the only thing around being mirrors on all sides of him.


    Haru looked into the mirror horrified with his appearance. His clothes were all worn down and he appeared shorter than before because of a deformation in his spine. His skin was stained with dried sweat and tears from his journey. His hair had grown into a long mess on the floor beneath him.


    His skin was wrinkled and looked as fragile as tissue paper. He was half a step away from death when he realised what the test was about. No matter what there was no escaping time. He pictured what he looked like as he closed his eyes. He opened them to find his usual appearance staring back at him. His clothes had been repaired and his youthfulness hade back.


    The tower began to vibrate as it slowly disappeared into nothingness. Each brick slowly vanished one by one until there was nothing left. The snow clouds in the sky were moving in reverse sucking all the snow back up into them and Haru began tracing his steps backward in reverse until he was back at the starting point. He opened his eyes and found himself back in the room where he had started. He slowly stood up and turned to face Li Jun.


    "I finished," Haru said and stared at Li Jun who was staring back in shock.


    "You just sat down. How can you be done that fast?" Li Jun said in outrage.


    "Shen, whichw inscription did you give to him?" Li Jun asked the sect master who was equally as shocked. "It It was thew of time."


    "Thew of time for his first time!? What! Are you trying to kill the poor kid!?" Li Jun shouted at the sect master who hung his head in shame. Li Jun then held out his hand before arge branch appeared in his hand.


    "Okay then. Here show me what you can do." Li Jun threw the branch toward Haru.


    Haru caught the branch and thought back to the experience he had in that ce. And how he had managed to make time flow in reverse. He tried and tried but nothing happened. He was confused but then realised the branch looked and felt weird.


    He looked at it for a second before he remembered the feeling. Retrace the steps he thought to himself. The branch slowly began king off with little chunks of it beginning to vanish. He then realised what he was holding. It was in fact a spear that had been rusted for years on end. All the bits of rust suddenly vanished leaving behind a golden coloured spear.


    "I guess you actually did learn how to use thew of time. Here is your storage ring. There are some pills in there for your cultivation so don''t tell people that I don''t treat you well." Li Jun said before throwing a small silver ring towards Haru.


    Haru put the ring on his finger. "Why is this so big? It just keeps falling off." Haru said as he struggled for a minute.


    "Put you Qi into it Do I have to help you with everything?" Li Junined before Haru put his Qi into the ring. The ring suddenly shrunk to fit his finger perfectly.

 Chapter 19: Long Lost Uncle.

    Chapter 19: Long Lost Uncle.


    ''Nice fit.'' Haru thought as he clenched his fist a few times to make sure the ring wouldn''t stop him from bending his fingers.


    "Haru! Pleasee outside sweetheart." A familiar and soothing voice called out from behind the door.


    Li Jun disappeared back into the dragon emperor ring as Haru walked over to open the door. As soon as the door opened he felt two sets of arms around him.


    "My poor baby! What happened to you? Are you okay?!" Haru''s mother buried her head into his shoulder as his dad hugged him from the other side.


    "Uh, what are you both doing here?" Haru asked his parents who hade all the way from Japan overnight just to see him.


    Haru''s dad was the first one to break from the hug. "Why are we here?! You went missing on a school trip for a whole night! Of course, we woulde to try to find you." Haru looked over to his ssmates, who were watching the scene y out from the bottom of the steps.


    "Mom, this is a bit embarrassing can you stop hugging me now?" Haru asked as his mom was hanging from his neck.


    "No! I''m going to hug my son until he learns not to make his parents worry for him anymore!" She eximed before kissing his check almost a million times whilst all of Haru''s ssmatesughed at him. Except for Mia, who smiled slightly with a hint of sadness. After about twenty minutes, Haru''s mom finally let go of him.


    "Krista. Do you know what that son of yours did to me!?" The old man from earlier walked up and jabbed his finger into Haru''s chest.


    Haru''s mom pushed his hand away before speaking. "If you touch my son again I will do much more than he could even think about doing to you. Now go back home you disgrace." She said as a ring of fire formed around her hand.


    "How dare you talk to your father like that!" The old man said outraged. Krista sighed in disbelief. "You are not even my father. Maybe you acted like it when you got married to my mother. But she is dead now. We are no longer rted no fuck off back home before I lose my patience with you. The only reason I stopped Luke from killing you at that time is that my mother loved you." The man seemed to be in defeat and walked away whilst being escorted by one of the men in the ck suits.


    "Mom, who is that guy? I kind of got angry earlier and threw him out of the room... It won''t affect you and dad will it?" Haru asked whilst worrying about his parent''s safety.


    "No of course not darling. He is just the man your grandma married after your grandpa went missing. He is just trying to influence you so he can try to get his hands on your inheritance. He was always like that. After my dad vanished he starteding over and trying to act like our dad. I remember your uncles and I used to y pranks on him by burning his food before he ate." Krista said reminiscing about the past. She seemed to realise something whilst looking at Haru.


    "Haha, Your grandpa used to wear a hanfu like that. You look just like him. Why are you dressed like that? Don''t tell me you have be a cultivator too?" Kristaughed after making fun of the clothes Haru was wearing.


    "Um, Actually I kind of did be a cultivator" Haru said nervously. Li Jun floated out of the dragon emperor ring and flew over to the sect master and whispered something to him before he disappeared back inside the ring.


    "You did what now!" Krista shouted before looking over at Luke who didn''t seem to care. "Krista, he is almost a man now. I think he can make his own choices." He tried to exin.


    "He can do what now! Who''s side are you on here! You know what this means don''t you!?" Krista began shouting at Luke before the sect master came outside.


    "You must be Haru''s parents? Hello, I am Mo Shen I am the master of this sect. Can I have a word with you too please?" He said before opening the door and holding out his arm asking them to join him.


    Krista and Luke both looked at each other before entering the room with the sect master. Mia, Jake, and Remi all ran up to Haru who was standing confused. "Haru! Is it true!?" Jake asked as they surrounded him.


    "What do you mean? Is what true?" Haru asked them before Mia spoke up. "You do know that cultivators aren''t allowed to live outside of China? You have to stay here for the rest of your life. You won''t be able toe home again!"


    Haru didn''t seem to know this information but it''s not like he could do much anyway. He didn''t really have a choice but to be a cultivator.


    "Well I''m sure we can keep in touch with each other can''t we?" He asked his group of friends in front of him. Before any of them could reply Haru''s mother came running out crying. "My poor boy! Why didn''t you tell me what you went through? You should have told us right away!" Krista hugged Haru once again as his father came out still talking to the sect master.


    "So in order to survive, he had to give up on magic and be a cultivator?" Luke asked the sect master.


    "Yeah, that is the general idea. Frozen Qi from the water poisoned his body when he fell in the pool, I didn''t want to force his opinion so I told him what would happen if he didn''t be a cultivator. But I guess your son isn''t ready to die yet." The sect master and Lukeughed together before Luke walked over and hugged Haru again.


    "Your mother and I will always be here for you." Haru became slightly embarrassed once again as his friends were stood right next to him as he was being hugged by his parents.


    Krista looked up and spotted Remi. "You look familiar Are you Chizu''s daughter? You still remember me don''t you?" She said before letting go of Haru.


    Remi looked up at her for a few seconds. "Auntie Krista!" Remi ran up and hugged Krista. Haru was shocked by the sight. He hadn''t seen Remi this energetic before. Krista picked her up into the air.


    "When did you be my sister?" Miss Fujima walked over towards them. "Chizu. Hey, what has It been? Two years?" Krista asked lightly. Miss Fujimaughed. "Two years? Yeah, you wish. It''s been five years. I''m surprised Remi still remembers you." They bothughed before they both hugged each other.


    Haru and his dad stood back and looked at each other. "Howe mom never brought her friends home?" Haru asked his dad he jumped at the question.


    "You know what your mother is like when she is mad. She was embarrassed by the state of the house with the number of times she has wrecked it. We visited Chizu a lot but remember how every time we asked you toe with us you refused to go?" Luke said whilst looking at Haru.


    "Oh, yeah I forgot about that." Haruughed before Luke whispered in his ear. "So the blue-haired girl who keeps smiling at you What''s her name?" He giggled as he pulled away. Haru looked over at Mia before making eye contact for a second.


    She quickly turned away before Jake walked ever. "Haru you didn''t tell me your mother was the Fire Empress."


    "The Fire Empress. It''s been a while since I have heard that name." Luke said looking back at Jake.


    Jake gulped before talking again. "You You are the Ice Demon of the East!!!" He shouted. Lukeughed. It had been a very long time since someone had recognised him.


    "Ice Puppy more like," Krista shouted back over. "Only for you my love." Luke smiled gently toward Krista.


    They all talked to each other before Krista and Luke came back over to Haru.


    "Since you can''t use magic anymore you will have to drop out of school," Luke said with sympathy.


    Haru smiled back as he knew a new road was just opening up for him. "I know. I will have to live in China from now on won''t I?"


    "You already know?" Krista asked.


    "Yeah, my friends told me." Haru grinned. "I called my brother earlier. He said that he is willing to let you live with him until you are eighteen and then he will help you get into a decent college." Krista said to Haru before a tune rang out from her phone.


    She looked down and answered with a smile. "Yeah, I just told him. You better be nice to him or I will beat you far worse than I used to. Okay, I will pass him the phone." Kristaughed before handing the phone to Haru.


    "It''s your uncle. He wants to talk to you." She smiled.

 Chapter 20: Goodbye.

    Chapter 20: Goodbye.


    "Hey, Haru. I know this is probably strange for you since we haven''t met yet, but I''m your mom''s younger brother. You don''t have to call me uncle if you don''t want to. I would actually feel strange since I haven''t even spoken to you until now, so just call me Zen." A voice came from the phone as Haru ced it to his ear.


    "Zen? Ok that works for me." Haru said awkwardly.


    It felt like he was trying to have a deep conversation with an olddy on the bus. They didn''t have anything inmon and it wasn''t all that of an interesting talk anyway.


    "Yeah. Um Sorry, I don''t know what else I should say. I feel like the worst uncle in the world. But it was kind of a mutual decision. After your grandmother died, your mother, our older brother Andrew and I didn''t really get on that much. We were at each other''s throats about the inheritance so your mother and our older brother Bo, decided to pass it onto me and then we would live our own lives without any more contact with each other. Oh, that reminds me. Your mother told me you had a little run-in with a certain old bastard, how did that go?"


    "The guy who imed to be my grandfather? Well, he busted into the room whilst I was having a conversation and then started to criticize my mother''s parenting skills and then went on to disrespecting my dad so I threw him out. It wasn''t much, really." Haru exined to Zen as Krista and Luke both gave each other a concerned look.


    "Pft, that guy will never learn his lesson. I swear he stilles to me begging me for money. I wouldn''t me you if you just put the old guy out of his misery. Honestly, I have thought about getting rid of him myself. But I don''t want to get my hands dirty for someone as pathetic as him." Zen spoke with quite some anger before changing the subject suddenly.


    "Hey, I was wondering if you had decided if you wereing to stay with me? If you don''t want to, I can give you an apartment in the city, If you will feel morefortable with that." He sounded a little sad as he asked.


    Haru thought about it for a second. He thought Zen sounded like he was pretty easy to get along with, and he would need someone to rely on if he identally got himself into trouble. Haru wasn''t a Chinese citizen, so he could be targeted by people if they really wanted to. He needed to know at least one person right?


    But what the deciding factor came down to was privacy. If he decided to stay in an apartment alone his mom would worry too much and be calling him every second of the day to make sure he had eaten. If he decided to live with Zen at least his parents would let him have a little bit of freedom.


    "Um Well, I don''t know anyone here and I heard that China can be quite a dangerous ce. So would it be okay if I stayed with you."


    "It''s okay I understand I was asking a lot Wait, you said you wanted to stay with me? Great!" Zen realised what Haru had said whilst trying to exin himself before cheering.


    Haruughed as he heard the excitement in Zen''s voice from the other side of the phone. Haru thought about his situation. Zen hasn''t had contact with his family for fifteen years at least. It must be kind of lonely.


    "Hey Haru pass the phone to your mom. I still need to talk to her and give her the security code to the building. Hey, would you like to go to a normal school? I will talk to your mom about it! Hurry, hand her the phone." Haru found Zen''s enthusiasm refreshing.


    He seemed excited to meet him. And Haru was just as excited. He wanted to know more about his family situation. He didn''t know much right now but it still left a bad taste in his mouth when he thought about it. And how did his grandfather go missing? Haru was lost in thought before he felt a hand on his shoulder.


    "I''m still not sure where you managed to learn magic as powerful as what you taught us. But I wanted to say thank you. You have given me hope that I can save my mother." Haru turned around to see Mia standing in front of him. She had a tear forming in her eye.


    "Why are you being so sappy? This isn''t goodbye." Haru put his hand against her cheek and wiped the tear as it ran down her face. "If you ever need anything at all just reach out to me. I will always be here for you if you need me. Haru wasn''t good with crying women so he decided to just tell her the truth of the situation.


    "But it feels like we won''t see each other ever again. You will be living your life here whilst I am training to be a soldier." Miained as Haru fiddled with his wrist for a moment.


    "You have my word. I will always be there for you. All you have to do is ask for me and I will be in contact with you some way. Even if it is just a phone call. Here this is to represent me. If you ever miss me just look at it." Haruughed as he handed her his lux. He didn''t have much use for it as he couldn''t use magic anymore.


    "You will find a gift inside there if you open the storagepartment." Haru smiled again before Mia hugged him as hard as she could. He wasn''t expecting that but as he stood there he felt her body shake a few times and she whimpered quietly. He knew her for only a short time but they had be pretty good friends. Haru put his arms around Mia''s shoulders as she cried for a while.


    Luke watched the whole thing happen before nudging Krista with his elbow as Haru and Mia hugged each other.


    "Hey, look at our boy." Heughed as Krista stood shocked. She wasn''t ready for this yet. In her eyes, Haru was still her baby. She wasn''t ready to see him in the arms of a girl just quite yet.


    "Why aren''t you stopping them?" Krista whispered angrily to Luke who was smiling.


    "For the same reason, you aren''t. I am enjoying watching our son grow up right in front of us." They both smiled and watched on as their son was in the warm embrace of a woman.


    Mia took her arms away from Haru slowly after letting all of her tears run out. "I''m sorry you had to see me like that."


    Her face went bright red before she ran away into the distance. Haru tried to call out to her but he was again attacked with a hug but it was light and he felt little arms around his waist. Haru looked down to see Remi staring back up at him.


    "Big brother needs to give me a hug too." Sheined but smiled the whole time.


    "Fine Remi gets a big hug too." Haru bent down before putting his arms around her and then lifting her up into the air.


    "Is this a big enough hug for you?" He asked Remi who started to giggle.


    "Yes! Big brother gives the best hugs!!!" She shouted as Haru slowly spun around in a circle before cing her gently on the floor. Remi giggled again before running off to go and hug Krista and Luke.


    Jake was the next to walk over toward Haru. "Before you start I''m not letting you cry on my shoulder. There is no way in hell." Haru told Jake as he walked over whilst looking all sad.


    "Is this really goodbye?" Jake asked.


    "No way. You are always wee toe and visit." Haru threw his arms around him.


    "Fine just this once you can cry." Heughed. But to his surprise that is exactly what happened. Jake began to weep as they hugged each other. "You know you are the first friend I have ever had." Just said through his tears. Haruughed lightly.


    "Honestly. You are the same." He had lived two lives but the first fifteen years of his second life were far by much more fulfilling than anything that happened in hisst life. There is no joy on the battlefield, only anguish and despair. Haru had finally experienced love in more ways than one in just this short amount of time.


    Haru wrapped his goodbye with the rest of his ss. A few shed tears and the rest were just sorry to see him leaving them so soon.


    "You! You had better stay safe." Miss Fujima hugged Haru which shocked everyone around. The usually angry and heartless Miss Fujima was hugging a student? She couldn''t exin it herself. She just felt that he was destined to find trouble wherever he ended up so she wanted to wish him all the best for the tough life he would definitely have ahead of him.


    And with that. Thest of the goodbyes were over with. Haru began to walk behind his parents to the gates of the sect before turning around to look back at his ssmates and friends. He waved to them before he was stopped in his tracks by a sh of blue.


    "Haru! This is for you. Please remember me every time you see it." Mia had used magic to catch up to him and was now holding a string ne with a silver pendant attached to it. It was in the shape of a snowke.


    "I will wear it every day so I can always keep you nearby," Haru said before getting into a ck car. Mia blushed and found it hard to say anything as the car drove off into the distance. She felt regret as Haru vanished over the horizon.

 Chapter 21: Were Here.

    Chapter 21: We''re Here.


    Zen''s house was quite far away. It was a nine-hour car journey to get to Shenzhen, but it didn''t feel like it was that long. Haru sat and talked to his parents, who were beginning to open up to him about their past. They shared their stories of the military and how they met each other.


    It started out on the battlefield. The team Luke was fighting alongside had been defeated, so he ran to aid the team with two other members of his team. As they reached the team, all they found were bodiesy scattered across the floor. There were no enemies around. They had all been burned to a crisp. That is when he saw her.


    Krista stood on the battlefield stained in the blood of her enemies as the sun beamed down on her. It sure was a weird scene to fall in love with someone. But Luke described it was like an angel was sent down from heaven to save the rest of the team. Luke stared for a moment before one of his team members recognized her.


    "That is the me empress." He stuttered. It caught Luke''s attention. He had heard of her but had never actually seen her before that day.


    She flew off into the sky using magic before Luke could even thank her, but after that day he put in a request to join her team and it was epted. He followed her to battle many times and fell more in love with her. Krista on the other hand was too focused on staying alive; she didn''t even see anyone as a potential husband until after the war was over.


    They both had gone their separate ways before meeting by coincidence on a train in Tokyo. It was at that time that Krista wanted to get all of her old team together and go out drinking. And after that night, Krista and Luke became good friends before Krista admitted how she felt about him. Luke didn''t know what to say because he had a huge crush on her for years, but he told her how he felt and they started dating before getting married three yearster.


    Haru listened to his parent''s stories with admiration. He was in a simr situation to his mom. He had never had time to fall in love. Li Jun sat on the roof of the car invisible to everyone but Haru but poked his head through tough at the stories that Haru''s parents told. After the stories were finished, Luke and Krista fell asleep as Haru began to cultivate.


    Li Jun floated around the car and looked down at the cars below him. He began to feel nostalgic. He had actuallye from a world simr to this one. The only difference is that they didn''t have magic. He thought back to it. He remembered his life slightly. He had almost forgotten with the time he had spent out exploring all of the realms in his search for power.


    The car drove on into the night as Li Jun followed slightly behind taking in the views as he floated through the night sky. The sun came over the horizon warming Haru''s cheek as he slowly came out of meditation.


    Haru looked over at his parents in the seat next to him, who were both sleeping in each other''s arms.


    ''It must be nice.'' He smiled sadly at them as the morning skyline of the Shenzhen skyscrapers came into sight. This was his first time experiencing an actual city. He had lived close to Tokyo but far enough away that he couldn''t actually see the sheer size of the buildings. The city was split into three parts.


    The downtown area where the skyscrapers were located and then it had two residential areas on either side. As they got closer to the city Luke woke up still holding Krista in his arms.


    "We fell asleep?" He asked himself before looking over to Haru whose eyes were glued to the window. "What is it?" He asked.


    Haru didn''t take his eyes away from the window as he spoke. "It''s the city." He said as they got closer and closer.


    "Oh, that''s right. This is your first time seeing a city isn''t it?" He said with a hint of sadness. Luke always wished he could have spent more time with Haru but Haru always seemed so distant.


    He wasn''t disrespectful and always helped out when he needed to but he just didn''t have an interest in the rest of the world. He was always training like it was the only thing he knew how to do. Which wasn''t a wrong assumption, how could Haru be gifted in social skills when he had been alone for over twenty years of his life. But in the past day and a half, Haru''s parents had seen the change in him. He looked happy and like he was starting to settle into daily life.


    Krista also woke up after around five minutes. As the heat in the car began to rise in the sunlight that was beaming down.


    "Hey, can you turn on the air conditioning please." She asked the driver who had no issue with the request before reaching over and turning a knob making cold air gently blow around the inside of the car. Krista then looked over to Haru before leaning herself against Luke again.


    "Our boy is growing up isn''t he?" She asked quietly as not to be heard by Haru.


    Li Jun flew in front of Haru on the outside of the car. Haru rolled down the window and smiled at him. Li Jun kept pace with the car.


    "It''s a beautiful morning. It has been a while since I have seen civilization. You will have to take me out for a walk soon. But I guess I will first need to teach you how to use your spiritual sense so we can talk when there are people around." Haru smiled again before looking back into the city as they drove into the downtown area.


    There were hundreds if not thousands of people all walking around as the traffic slowly made its way around.


    "Hey what time is it?" Haru turned back to his parents. Luke reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. "It is just about to turn seven." He said with a yawn.


    Luke and Krista spoke with each other about the situation their son was in.


    "Will he be okay living out here on his own?" Krista asked Luke who seemed to believe in their son''s ability to adapt.


    "Of course he will. Your brother will also be here for him when we can''t be. Last time we spoke with him he seemed to be partying a lot but he seemed kind of lonely earlier. It might do both of them some good having thepany of family. He isn''t too much older than Haru, don''t forget." Luke told Krista, putting some of her worries at ease.


    "I kind of missed China. I forgot how calm it was. Japan is nice too of course but the people here actually care about each other. Back in Japan, everyone is absorbed in their own mind." Krista said whilst thinking back to her childhood.


    "Do you want to visit your motherter?" Luke asked as the car made its way toward a gate with a guard office in front of it. "Sure we should take Haru to pay our respects," Krista said before there was a light tap on the window.


    The window came down as a burly looking guard got down on eye level with Krista. "Good morning Ma''am what can I help you with today?" He asked.


    Krista handed him a note with a code written down on it. "Good morning. We are here to visit my brother. He told me to give you this note." The guard looked at the code for a second. "Ah, you are Mr. Hao''s family. He called aheadst night and told us to expect you. It is the house right at the end of the road. You won''t miss it." The guard smiled before standing up and waving his hand to his partner in the office to open the gate.


    The gate slowly creaked open as the driver began to set off. The road was privately owned with houses scattered hundreds of meters away from each other and each of the houses was a mansion with their own gates and walls surrounding them.


    Haru looked out once again at the houses as they slowly drove past them. Each house was a spectacle in its own right. Some of the houses looked old and styled towards traditional Chinese mansions and some of them looked modern with ss windows and made from smooth concrete.


    The road came to an end with by far the biggest house in the area looking out toward the road in front of it. It had a golden metal fence all the way around it and a long driveway leading up to the front door. As they got closer the gate opened on its own as they drove towards it.


    "We''re here," Krista said before opening the door.

 Chapter 22: Uncle Zen.

    Chapter 22: Uncle Zen.


    Haru stepped outside of the car after his parents before someone screamed out. "You''re finally here!!!" A blonde man in his mid-twenties came running out of the house wearing a white suit and hugged Krista before moving on to hugging Luke. "It''s been like forever. I missed you guys." Haru walked around from the other side of the car. "And you must be Haru." The man looked towards Haru before Haru recognised the voice from the phone. "I''m guessing you are Zen?" Haru asked already knowing the answer.


    "I am indeed," Zen said awkwardly. He had known Krista since birth and had met Luke quite a few times. But this was the first meeting between the two of them. What was he supposed to say? He thought about it for quite a while. "Would you like to go in and look around? I have something I need to talk to your parents about." Haru didn''t really like being treated like a kid but he didn''t have a reason to refuse.


    Haru entered the house as Li Jun followed slightly behind. To the front of the main entrance was a gigantic staircase that led up to the third floor with a chandelier hanging in the center. But the ce was spotless. There wasn''t a single piece of evidence to say that anybody lived there. Was Zen just a neat freak or did he not actually live here? Haru walked throughout the building and ended up in the kitchen. He opened the fridge and it was packed full of snacks. Chocte, Soda, and toasted pancakes. Heughed.


    Li Jun then decided to use the time alone to teach Haru how to use his spiritual sense. "You can do it anywhere and when you get good at using it you can use it all the time." Li Jun walked him through feeling the natural Qi within a certain distance. It came to Haru quite quickly as it was simr to sensing mana fluctuations. But as he was sensing the Qi it came to his attention that there were many different types of Qi. The Qi closer to the heating system produced a warmth as I felt it, The Qi closer to the refrigerator had a coldness to it and the Qi closer to the floor had given him the sense of earth. Was it possible to see even if you were blind? Haru thought as he let his spiritual sense spread throughout the house.


    It reached the back yard before he picked up the sense of life. What is that? Haru thought before making his way outside. He stepped outside he was thrown on to his back as he felt something wet against his cheek. He opened his eyes to see a pure white German shepherd licking his face. "Hey what are you doing? Let me up." The dog didn''t respond as it carried on licking him. Li Junughed at the sight. "Why are you upset? She just wants to be friends with you." Haru opened his mouth to speak as the dog licked. He began to cough whilst almost throwing up as the worst taste he could imagine entered his mouth. "Xue, Down girl," Zen called out from the doorway.


    The dog stopped what she was doing instantly before running over to Zen and lying down at his feet. "Oh, You got a new dog?" Krista asked Zen as she reached down to pet her. "Yeah, I got quite lonely living here all alone. I needed someone to keep mepany." Zen responded before dropping a treat to the floor for Xue. "She still needs training. She has a problem with licking everyone she meets. You don''t dislike dogs do you Haru?" Zen asked before reaching down to pet Xue. Li Jun decided to head off and explore for a while and get used to his surroundings.


    "No, In fact, I love them. They are cute and fluffy." Haru said as his mom stared at him. ". You like cute fluffy things." She said quietly as she thought back to when she watched him hugging Jake as they said goodbye. Haru walked over to pet the dog. He put his hand out as she licked his palm and then rolled onto her back. "Of course. Who doesn''t?" He said before rubbing Xue''s tummy. Krista was caught off guard. "Well I guess you are right." She said quietly, slightly questioning her son''s sexuality.


    "Oh, Haru I have a gift for you. I know it won''t make up for missing your birthdays but here." Zen said before handing Haru a white box. Haru opened the box the find a Kphone. The newest smartphone that was released by a US techpany. "You really didn''t need too," Haruined before turning it on. He had never had a smartphone but it was simr to the student nners they used back at school so he had already adjusted to using it. He typed in his personal details as it loaded. "You better call us at least once a week now," Krista said before snatching it from his hand and typing in her contact details.


    "Once a week? Seriously?" Haru said in protest. "Yeah. Don''t you think once a week is too much?" Luke agreed. Krista pouted and turned her head. "Fine, Once a month!" She demanded before Zen walked back inside beforeing out with a dog leash. Xue jumped around crazily as she spotted it. "I didn''t know what time you wereing so I nned to take Xue for a walk earlier. But I guess since you are already here Haru can take her out whilst we all catch up and discuss everything." Zen said as he handed the leash to Haru.


    Haru looked toward Krista with disappointment as she stared at him angrily. She didn''t need to say anything for Haru to know she will get mad if he refused. Xue walked up beside Haru before sitting down to the left of him. Haru reached down and attached the leash to her cor. Xue barked and began to pull forward. "I''m not taking you anywhere if you are going to drag me," Haru said to Xue.


    Xue stopped and wined for a second before she spotted something. Haru and Xue made their way through the house before stopping at the front door. "Where are we going?" Li Jun came back from his exploration and stood behind Haru. Xue began to bark as Li Jun got closer. "Oh, She can sense me? Maybe I should have taken this dog as my disciple instead of you." Heughed before going back inside the ring to conceal his presence. Xue stopped and then looked around confused whilst sniffing the floor where Li Jun was previously stood. "I guess dogs really can see ghosts," Haru stated before giving a gentle tug on the leash and heading outside.


    They walked back down the long road as Xue sniffed at everything in sight. "Hey Li Jun, You there?" Haru used his spiritual sense to send a thought into the ring. He wasn''t sure if it would work but to his surprise. "Yeah, What is it?" Li Jun''s voice bounced around the inside of Haru''s head. "I have a question for you. Do you remember when you gave me this ring?" He asked. "Yeah it wasn''t that long ago, was it? Is your memory that bad?" Li Jun mocked him. "No, it isn''t that. It was just. I''m sure I heard another voice when I put it on. What was that?" There was a moment of silence before Li Jun replied. "That was Lao. He is the soul of a dragon that was sealed in this ring probably millions of years ago. He said he wanted to teach you a few things too. I will introduce you to him sometime."


    "A dragon!? Like an actual dragon!?" Haru was amazed at the thought. Actual dragons. Were the upper realms filled with dragons? The closest thing to a dragon he had seen before was a summoned beast in the form of a wyvern. Summoned beasts couldn''t talk so they were just used as tools to do their masters bidding. "Yes an actual dragon" Li Jun said as Haru walked on down the road.


    He looked down at Xue. She was a smart dog but still, she can''t express herself. It was sad he thought. He rted to her. All Haru had done during his time in the military was follow orders to make other people happy. There was more than a few times he had been called a dog of the military. He felt a strange connection to Xue. "Hey, where do you want to go?" He asked Xue. She tilted her head towards him before pulling a little harder down toward the gate that blocked off the neighbourhood.


    They walked for half a mile before reaching the gate. A whistle echoed through the air as a man''s voice called out. "Xue!"

 Chapter 23: Scammer!

    Chapter 23: Scammer!


    Xue''s ears picket up as she heard the voice. She then began to pull Haru down the street toward the sound. "What is it?" Haru said with a smile. She is happy. Haru smiled as he ran along with Xue. After a short jog, they arrived at the front gate.


    "You''re not Mr. Hao. Ah, yes he said his nephew wasing to stay with him." An old man came out of the security office and smiled at Xue before sticking his hand into his pocket. Xue backed and then sat down and waited quietly. "That''s a good girl." The man said as he held out a handful of dog treats.


    Xue ate them all at once before the old man turned back to Haru. "So what is your name?" He asked. Haru watched Xue as she was happily licking her lips before he realised the man was talking to him. "Oh, I''m Haru. It''s nice to meet you." The man walked back inside the office without saying anything beforeing back out a few secondster. "I''m guessing you are going out to the park? Here use this key card to get back in. I will get you your own card printed by tomorrow."


    "The park? Why would I go there? I was just nning to go back soon actually." The man looked at Haru with confusion. "Oh, I assumed you would be taking Xue for one of her long walks." He said before the dog whined out and looked up at Haru. He stared back at her "Fine, We can go to the damn park." Xue jumped up and licked Haru''s face. "God! Will you stop with that already!"Xue dropped down to the floor once again before Haru took the card from the old man.


    "Thank you. I will be sure to give it back to you next time I see you." Haru called out as Xue pulled him toward the gate. The old man smiled and waved to them both. Xue walked calmly next to Haru as they made their way to the main street. As they walked a lot of cars would beep whilst they speeded past them as people walking along the street began to take pictures of them.


    Haru was confused before looking down and realising what he was wearing. It wouldn''t have been a problem if he wore those clothes back in the mountains but in the middle of a city wearing the clothes of a cultivator was bound to draw attention. He debated going back to Zen''s house but even if he did. The only thing that he would be able to wear was his spare school uniform. And not to mention he grew quite fond of the clothes he was wearing. They werefortable so he decided to pay it no attention as he carried on toward the park.


    As he reached the park he noticed it was quite crowded. There were lines of people queuing for something. As they walked past Haru spotted a man wearing clothes simr to his own. Was this man a cultivator too? Haru walked over toward him and noticed little pieces of paper on the table.


    "And here you go. You will now have the greatest Luck for the next two years." The man said to someone in the line as he was handed a stack of money. The man counted the money before handing a piece of paper with the word luck written on it with sloppy handwriting that was barely readable. The man lucked at Haru and then stopped what he was doing. "Hey kid, Do you want to be a cultivator when you grow up?! I like the outfit It is well made." The man said with a huge grin on his face "If it wasn''t for my sects rules I would take you as a disciple." The man stared at Haru as the crowd began to chat with each other.


    Haru used his spiritual sense to feel the Qi around this man. There was no trace. He wasn''t even a cultivator. He got his hopes up for nothing. It would have been nice to meet another cultivator in the city but it turns out he was just a scam artist. Haru began to walk away from the man with Xue following closely behind.


    "Hey! Didn''t you hear what I said!? How dare you ignore the words of a cultivator!" The man shouted toward Haru who paid no mind to what he had to say before carrying on. Xue turned around and barked at the man who was running toward Haru. He stopped in his tracks. "Damn dog! How can a great cultivator like me be scared of a dog!" The man muttered to himself.


    "Hey, Bastard! I''m talking to you!" The man grabbed Haru''s shoulder. Xue began to growl at the man and bark viciously as she bared her teeth at him. The man stumbled back at the sight of Xue. "Hey! Control your dog before I kill it for disrespecting me!" The man shouted out as a crowd of people began to form.


    "That dog is disrespecting a great cultivator! Kill it!" Someone shouted from the crowd. Haru''s blood began to boil. Why would people blindly trust someone who was scamming them? And he actually wants to pick a fight with a kid and a dog? This guy is the lowest of scum. "You know, I was going to ignore your little scam. But you then you had to threaten to kill a dog."


    Li Jun came out of the ringughing. "I knew giving you those clothes would cause trouble but I didn''t expect something this insignificant. Let me deal with this I will make him dread seeing another dog for the rest of his life." Li Jun looked at the man who had now be enraged. "In my three hundred years of living, I have never been so disrespected! I will kill your whole family!" Why was he so mad? Was it all just an act to make people believe him?


    Xue began to bark at the man once again. Li Junughed as he clicked his fingers. The sound wave spiralled around into the air before gently entering the man''s ears. He looked down at Xue who was still barking. Her body began to growrger andrger as her flesh slowly peeled back and dropped onto the floor. Her fur became died red with blood and produced the smell of death. In the man''s eyes, he was seeing an eight-foot-tall demon. Xue had now turned into an undead zombie and was slowly approaching him.


    The man screamed in pure terror as she approached him! "You demon dog! Don''t kill me, please! I''m sorry I won''t scam anyone again! I swear I actually love dogs!" He began talking nonsense as he let out one more scream as he fell over and urinated all over himself. The crowd of people all stood confused at the sight. Why was an immortal cultivator crying for his mother? The man closed his eyes and curled up into a ball on the floor and began rocking back and forth. I promise I won''t scam people anymore!" He screamed out.


    That time what he had said caught the attention of the crowd. "Wait scam!? He was scamming us all this time!?" One man asked out loud. "He must be an escaped lunatic why else would he be screaming?" A woman replied. A few members of the crowd look at each other before looking back to the man crying on the floor. "You bastard! How dare you scam us!" The man opened his eyes and the sight he had seen previously had vanished. Xue was sat down beside Haru and looked over at him confused.


    "That dog! It''s the devil! Don''t let it fool you it will kill us all!" The man screamed out and pointed toward the white ball of fluff beside Haru. Xue whimpered from the insult. "It''s okay, girl. He is just a sick man." Haru patted Xue''s head as the crowd''s mood began to change.


    "Give me back my money! That was my life savings!" An old woman came out of the crowd and began to beat the man with her purse. Everybodyughed at the sight. The man began to scream in anger. "How dare you attack a great cultivator, Crazy old hag! I will kill you!" The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife and ran toward the old woman.


    "Stop!" A man shouted out as a hand grabbed the man''s hand. A woman who looked to be in her twenties stepped out from the crowd. She had long blonde hair and was wearing red lensed sunsses that blocked her gaze that was obviously directed toward Haru. The man stopped suddenly and dropped the knife to the floor. The woman moved her arm so fast into the air that the man''s arm popped out of its socket.


    He began to scream in pain as he rolled around on the floor once again. "The show is over. Everyone go away now!" Another voice called out as three police officers made their way through before putting the man in handcuffs. "Hey, are you also with him!" One of the officers called out to Haru.


    "No, wait a minute." The woman told the officer before walking over. "Are you by any chance called Haru Kitagawa?" The woman asked.

 Chapter 24: Money Issues.

    Chapter 24: Money Issues.


    Haru looked around for a moment. The police officers were staring at him. What did I do? He thought as he looked back to the woman in front of him. "Yeah, I''m Haru." A wave of relief came over the woman''s face as she smiled. "I didn''t think I would find you this fast."


    "You were looking for me?" Haru asked with confusion as the woman raised her hand to the police officers behind her. They looked back at Haru before carrying on with what they were doing. "Yeah. My grandpa described you perfectly. Not to mention the clothes you are wearing. Don''t you have any clothes that attract less attention?" Sheughed at him.


    Haru saw nothing wrong with what he was wearing. He quite liked how they felt. Why was she criticizing his clothes? "Uh, I didn''t get time to change before I was forced toe out and walk the dog." He made up an excuse quickly to defend himself from more criticism.


    "Oh, That''s right I was supposed to give you something. Where did I put it?" She began to question herself before running back over toward one of the police officers. She picked up a bag of some sort and began to rummage through it beforeing back over with what looked like a credit card.


    "Grandpa told me to give you this as thank you for gathering those herbs for him." She handed Haru the card. "Wait. Your grandpa? Who is your grandpa?" He knew he hadn''t gathered any herbs for anyone. Had she mistaken him for someone else? She looked back confused. "My grandpa is the sect master from the ck star sect You did go there right?" She asked, doubting herself for a second.


    Ohh your grandpa is the sect master?" Haru asked but he was still confused. Why was the sect master thanking him for collecting herbs? He hadn''t gathered herbs in his life. "Yeah, he told me to give you this card. It has 200,000 Yuan inside the ount." Haru did the math in his head and converted the money to yen. 3,000,000 Yen!? What!? Why is he giving me so much money?


    Haru hadn''t done anything for the sect master. The only thing he could think of was when Li Jun returned his youth back to him. "Hey, Li Jun what do you think of this?" Li Junughed. "He is just trying to win you over."


    "Win me over? For what possible reason would he need to win me over?" The more he thought about it the more confused he became. "Well. You are a first-generation disciple. Back in the sect, a first-generation disciple holds more power than most elders do. Second only to myself." Li jun exined.


    "Just take it. You''re going to need money, aren''t you? And the more money you have the easier things will be for you. Especially since those clothes are drawing too much attention. Haru looked around as he felt someone staring at him. There was a group of boys around his ageughing and pointing over toward him. "I guess you are right."


    He looked back at the woman in front of him. "Make sure you thank the sect master for me." He said before taking the card. "Oh, I have a question for you. What did you do to that man? He was terrified. It must have been some strange organ damaging technique right?"


    Haru didn''t know what to say. He didn''t do anything. It was Li Jun. Haru looked at him asking for help silently. But he seemed to be inspecting the woman and paid no attention to Haru''s pleas for help. "Um, I guess he is just afraid of dogs Xue is pretty big and scary right?" He did the second-best thing and made up a story so unbelievable that no one would even want to ask any more questions.


    It worked. The woman gently shook her head. "Fine. If you don''t want to tell me so be it. But just be careful We have two cultivator factions in Shenzhen and they keep a close eye on all of the cultivators and they even go after the ones who injure regr people. Just make sure you don''t do anything too reckless." She looked back over to the three police officers as they made their way back out of the park.


    Haru looked around once more seeing nearly everybody had now started staring at him. "You should probably go and buy some new clothes." Li Jun said. Haru couldn''t even argue. He didn''t enjoy this much attention. And it wasn''t even the good type of attention. He was better off looking like everybody else. As the saying goes. The nail that sticks out will be hammered down.


    Haru walked with Xue for what seemed like an eternity before finding a clothing store. As he got to the door he made eye contact with one of the employees. "No dogs inside!" He shouted rudely. Before a woman came out of the backroom.


    "Xue!" She called out. Xue began to go crazy and began jumping up and down happily. "Wait that dog is Mr. Hao''s dog?!" The man from earlier said as Xue pulled harder making the leash slip from Haru''s hand.


    She bolted toward the woman as fast as she could before Jumping up and licking her face. "Come on now stop it. I have some treats for you." The woman said to Xue, making her stop instantly.


    "Wow, it seems like this dog Is quite the celebrity. Isn''t she?" Li Jun said before quickly disappearing inside the ring. The man from earlier walked over to Haru. "I''m sorry young master. I didn''t realise that was Xue. I''m truly blind. Are you perhaps Mr. Hao''s son?"


    "Don''t be silly! Mr. Hao doesn''t have children. This is his nephew who he was so excited yesterday about himing to live with him. " The woman said whilst handing some treats to Xue. "Ah, I see. I''m sorry miss." The man said in submission as the woman called out.


    "You''re Haru, right? What can I help you with today?" The woman asked as Haru entered the store. "Yes, I need to buy some new clothes that draw less attention than these." The woman began tough. "Are you going to some kind of fancy dress party? Those look ridiculous. No wonder you want some new clothes." She stopped herself. "Ah, Sorry I get passionate about fashion sometime''s I didn''t mean to offend."


    "It''s okay. I do look ridiculous. So can you help me?" Haru asked as he looked around at the clothes that were hung around the shop. That was when he realised. This was one of those designer clothing stores. He had just gotten money but he didn''t want to spend it all at once. Just as he was about to leave the woman spoke up. "Come on follow me. I have a great idea of what would look good on you." Xue looked back at Haru as she followed the shop keeper further into the store. Fine. I can always get more money.


    Haru walked to the back of the store behind the woman. "Here try these on. She handed him an outfit she had seemed to have picked out already. He went into the changing room and tried them on. They seemed to fit perfectly. He was wearing ck slim jeans, A pair of low cut boots, a white t-shirt with a swan printed on the front of it and a ck leather jacket.


    He walked back out to look in the mirror. I look good! Wow, I look like one of those models on TV. "It fits better than I thought it would!" The woman looked over to arge pile of clothes in the corner of the room. She saw Haru looking at them and then stepped in front of them suspiciously. "What are you doing?"


    "Um, Nothing you are imagining things." She tried to y dumb as she broke eye contact and looked up toward the ceiling. This woman was really bad at lying. "Then what are all those clothes that you just stepped in front of?"


    "Fine, you got me! Your uncle already came to us for some clothes. He said you were moving in with him and you wouldn''t be bringing any clothes with you. Can you pretend you didn''t see anything please?" She asked. "Okay fine. How much do I owe you for these?" The shopkeeper looked at Haru like he was stupid. "Didn''t I just say that your uncle already came by? They have already been paid for."


    "Oh. He already paid for them? You didn''t say that." Haru found this woman quite interesting. It was like she wasn''t quite here on earth. She was in her own little world. "Well if they are paid for I will be heading home now. Thank you." Haru said before taking Xue''s leash and wrapping it around his wrist. "Now you won''t be able to pull the leash out of my hands." Xue looked up and barked at him.


    Haru walked all the way back to the gate with Xue following sluggishly behind. She was panting from the long walk. I should have brought some water with me. Haru thought as he scanned the keycard against the gate. The gate slowly opened and he walked through.


    He looked over to the security office and the man from before waved to him. Haru walked over to the window. "Can I help you?" The man asked with a gentle smile. "I''m just here to return this to you," Haru said as he handed the keycard to the man through the window.


    "Did you not take any water with you?" The man asked seeing the Xue was panting. "No. I didn''t think the park would be so far away. I will be better prepared next time." The manughed at Haru''s mistake. "Heree on in." The man pressed a button on his keyboard and the door to the office crept open. Xue pulled ahead as she went inside.


    "Mr. Hao always forgets to take water with him too so I made sure to always keep a bowl for Xue when she gets back." He said whilst pouring water into a small bowl and cing it on the ground. Xue wasted no time and began to drink the water like she had been stuck in a desert for weeks. "Here you must be pretty tired too." He then handed a water bottle to Haru.


    "Are you always this nice? I don''t know how to repay your kindness." Haru said. This man seemed to be one of the nicest people he had ever met. He didn''t need to do any of this but he was going up and above the needs of his job.


    "To be honest, I''m just fond of your uncle. He is a good man. I have been working here for twenty years and I remember when he first moved here he must have been around your age. I watched him grow up whilst working here. I would say he is basically like a second son to me. Plus my granddaughter absolutely loves Xue here.


    Haru began to feel something vibrate in his pocket. He reached down and pulled out his cell phone. This was his first phone call. He wondered who it could be before he looked down and read the name. "Mom" He answered the call and ced the phone to his ear. "Where are you? You have been out for so long!? You better get back here soon!" She demanded and then hung up.


    "Uh, Sorry my mom just called me toe back. I had better get going." Haru exined to the man. "That''s okay and I will send your keycard to your uncle''s house in the morning."


    "Bye, And thank you," Haru shouted as he ran back home with Xue pulling him. He reached the front door and slowly opened it. "Where have you been!"

 Chapter 25: The Dragon Emperor.

    Chapter 25: The Dragon Emperor.


    Krista met him at the door and looked at him furiously. Haru was at a loss for words. Wasn''t it her idea to go out to walk Xue? He reached down and unclipped Xue from the leash. Xue ran off into the house. "I just went to the park." He exined but Krista was too tired to deal with an exnation.


    Your Uncle ordered breakfast for us but you weren''t her. I wanted to call you home but your father told me to stop nagging you. Haru looked over to the doorway as he heard a little scufflee from it. Luke and Zen were both peering in. "Ah, It doesn''t matter anymore. I thought you might have gotten lost. Oh, Where did you get the clothes from?" She noticed his new clothes.


    "I went to a store to look at clothes and the owner gave them to me. She said she was friends with Zen." He lied. "Hmm, Friends with Zen huh?" She doubted the story. The truth did lie in between what he had told her but he also promised not to tell zen that he saw the pile of clothing.


    "Well, we had a nice discussion when you were out. Zen thought it would be a good idea to send you to a school nearby. We can''t have you gettingzy and sitting around here all day. And you need to get an education since you can''t use magic anymore." Krista grabbed Haru''s arm before leading him into the kitchen.


    "But I won''t have time if I n on cultivating. How can I bnce school life with that?" Krista looked at him for a moment. "That isn''t my problem. We have been too lenient on you since you are our only child. But that stops today. We just want the best for you." She said before sitting down at the table.


    This was new. The main reason Haru didn''t feel like they were his actual parents is that they acted more like his friends. It would have been nice for parental input when growing up but they just left him to do his own thing. Maybe it was getting lost in the mountains that caused the change? She is probably trying to make sure everything will be okay. He found it odd but appreciated it. He had never had someone worry for him like this before.


    A week flew past before he knew it. His parents flew back to japan two days after they had arrived and knew that Haru would be okay without them. Zen was away most of the day working. Haru asked him about his job but Zen just said he worked in an office. Haru wasn''t stupid. He owned the biggest mansion on a private road full of mansions. An office worker couldn''t afford to live there in a million years. He wondered what it could be that he was actually doing.


    He had a few ideas. Maybe he owned the whole office building and his ie came from his employees? No that would be too simple, He wouldn''t try to keep that a secret. What if he was a crime lord and owned his own drug trafficking ring? That also seemed unlikely. Zen seemed too nice to be a criminal. He stopped thinking about it when he realised there are thousands of things that he could be doing for a living.


    Zen gifted him the set of clothes the same night that he arrived and also gave him an allowance of 6,000 yuan a month. It was a lot of money. The average monthly sry for someone working in Shenzhen was triple that amount but Zen also bought everything that Haru needed.


    When Krista told Zen that Haru had be a cultivator he went out and bought a bunch of things that he could use for training. He even installed a gym on the second floor so Haru could train his body and martial arts on boxing bags. Li Jun trained Haru in hand to handbat by hitting him with even bigger sticks until he learned to avoid the attacks.


    Just as Haru was heading to bed he heard a voice in his head. "I have been waiting to speak with you." It was the same voice that he had heard in the cave and who Li Jun confirmed to be a dragon. Just as he was about to respond his body felt like it began to copse into itself as he was sucked through to an unknown ce.


    The space he had now found himself in looked like it would go on forever. The sky was blue with clouds being blown away. He looked down at his feet to find himself stood on top of what looked like water. He bent down to touch the surface. His hand went right through. It was actually water. This was far by the strangest ce he had ever been to. There was no wind and the whole area was silent enough to hear a pin drop.


    "Behind you." Li Jun''s voice called out. Haru Turned around to see Li Jun stood next to arge green wall. The texture caught his attention. It kind of looked like scales...


    Haru followed the wall with his eyes as he looked up and down before seeing it. "Hello, child. I have been waiting for you." The words boomed around the area like a bomb had been dropped. It was almost enough to deafen him. With every word, Haru felt a power growing inside of him. He looked up to see green scales and glowing yellow eyes looking down at him.


    He gulped. "You have?" He asked nervously. What was he supposed to do? Is there a courtesy for meeting dragons? In some cultures, dragons are seen as gods. And he was seeing a real dragon for himself. Was this the equivalent of meeting a god? He was at a loss for words.


    "Yes there were a few things I usually tell all the inheritors of this ring but Li Jun here has exined most of it already. The only thing he skipped out on telling you is about that thing. The dragon moved his head to indicate for Haru to look.


    He looked over to see a storm cloud brewing in the sky. Lighting shot out of the cloud silently and struck a solid mass ofnd that was levitating in the sky. The clouds slowly turned red and a mist seemed to form on the horizon. What is this thing? He looked closer to see an old fashioned Chinese building on top of the floating mound of rock and dirt.


    "What is that!?" Haru almost shouted out. But his voice was silenced by the feeling of death that seemed to being from the building. "The Abandoned god''s mansion," Li Jun said with a smile. Haru looked back to them both. Did they not have the same feeling as he did?


    "Do you want the chance to enter that ce?" The dragon looked down at Haru. "Are you crazy!? That ce is terrifying! Why would I want to enter it?"


    "It will give you a chance to gain unimaginable power. The original owner is probably one of the strongest cultivators to ever live. Their power is far beyond my understanding. I entered that ce with Li Jun here many lifetimes ago. And even we couldn''t understand much. But just stepping across the threshold your power will be amplified by one hundred times.


    "One hundred times? Are you serious?" Haru was amazed. He felt pretty powerful already but he did want to eventually see all of the amazing things that Li Jun had to describe to him. What if this was just the thing he needed? "Yes, I will do it!" Haru''s attitude changed quickly from fear to excitement.


    "Even if you have to erase your current cultivation and start again from scratch? I have the power to make your body return to its original state. In doing so I will inject my power into your body. Your body will be strong. But your Qi will be a lot weaker." The dragon exined.


    "Really Lao? You are going to exin everything? You didn''t even give me a choice when you took all my power." Li Junined. The dragon began tough. "Well, you already had knowledge of cultivating. Haru here has only the knowledge you have given to him. If I just decided things for him I don''t think I would be able to offer him anything to gain his trust again."


    Haru thought it over. His power right now meant nothing to him. He hasn''t used it properly so if he had to use his full power how would he know it would work? It would be much better to get as strong as possible. Then he would know if he did find himself in a situation where a strong opponent wanted to kill him he would be confident in at least being able to escape.


    "Okay, I will do it," Haru said. As soon as he finished he felt a power suck out all of the Qi from his body. His body began to ache all over. He fell to the floorpletely exhausted.


    Hey there for a few moments before he looked back up at the dragon. He leaned down with his mouth directly next to Haru''s ear before letting out a roar. The roarsted for a few seconds as it seemed to go on forever.


    Haru felt like he was losing consciousness as a power gathered inside his chest. Something tightened around his heart. It felt like something was moving inside of him. He opened his eyes to see what looked like a miniature version of the huge dragon in front of him. It flew up into the air and floated toward his head as a burning pain radiated around his whole body.


    Then everything seemed to stop. There was nothing but silence. Haru was surrounded in darkness.

 Chapter 26: Heavenly Phoenix King.

    Chapter 26: Heavenly Phoenix King.


    There was a muffled chatter as Haru opened his eyes. He looked around to see Li Jun talking to the dragon. Just as he thought about getting up Li Jun looked over. "You had better cultivate to regain your strength." He looked at Haru with pity.


    Haru sat down and crossed his legs to cultivate. He felt the Qi in the surrounding area. It was moving slowly towards him before absorbing it. It felt like it was moving slow at first but that was when he noticed the density. The reason it was moving slowly is that the ce they were had an abundance of Qi so dense that it didn''t have to move towards him.


    He sat for what felt like three hours before he feltfortable enough to stand. He opened his eyes to find what looked like a thinyer of film surrounding him. He tapped it with his finger. A crack formed and spread across until it shattered into dust.


    "What was that?" He thought aloud. The dragon looked over to see Haru was now standing. "Oh, The barrier? I didn''t want to distract you with our talk so I put up a sound barrier around you." He exined. Haru looked around with his head throbbing. "What happened to me?" He asked.


    Li Jun once again looked at Haru with pity. "Your body rejected the power of Lao''s bloodline. But the good news is that your body still returned to origin. Your body is a lot stronger than it was before but you won''t be able to use the power of the dragon emperor." Haru looked down at the floor. Damn it. I guess I''m not lucky enough to excel in everything.


    "Wait a minute. How didn''t I notice before?" The dragon''s voice boomed around the area again. He began tough. "Li Jun we missed itpletely. Tell me do you smell anything strange?" Li Jun began to sniff the air like a dog. "No. How can this be possible? Are you sure?" Li Jun shouted back to the dragon.


    Haru was stood moving his head between the two of them as they exchanged words. He couldn''t keep up with the conversation. "Can somebody tell me what is going on? My head still hurts." Li Jun looked at Haru with excitement. "When you ate the phoenix fruit I think they might have been contaminated with phoenix blood. During the process of trying to awaken a dragon bloodline inside you the phoenix blood awakened instead and rejected the dragon blood."


    Haru looked up for a second and thought about it. "Phoenix?" A tiny ball of fire no bigger than the size of a fist flew past his head. He ducked down to avoid it. "Lao! Did you just see that!" Li Jun screamed in excitement. Haru stood up as the me floated in front of him. He looked at the ball of fire before he saw a tiny little head within the mes with a beak poking out toward him. The mes slowly faded revealing a small white-feathered bird hovering a few inches away from his head.


    "A newborn phoenix king!?" Lao shouted out! "This hasn''t happened for millions of years!" He was puzzled. Li Jun looked over. "If I remember correctly the Phoenix fruit tree that these were collected from was one where a phoenix king was in whilst trying to protect her newborn child. He did I overlook the possibility of this happening? It must have fused with his soul when his foundation was first established." He began muttering himself as he paced up and down.


    "This truly is a blessing. You should now be able to withstand every type of me. Since the original species that created fire is bound to your soul." Lao exined to Haru. "Go on try to touch it." Haru looked toward the little phoenix flying in front of him. He slowly reached out his hand. The heat felt cool. He moved his hand closer until the tips of the mes were hitting his skin. There was nothing. Not even the slightest bit of pain. The phoenix looked at him for a moment before closing its eyes and rubbing its head against his hand. It was just as Lao said, the mes didn''t burn him at all.


    Haru looked at the little bird in front of him. "Should I give you a name?" He tried to think of names. He couldn''te up with anything. What if I named it fire? Or what about me? No, they are stupid. "How about Yan?" The phoenix looked into Haru''s eyes. Haru felt a power-consuming him. His body started to shake and it felt like he could fly. He looked back at the phoenix that seemed to be the source of this power. It started to be translucent as a golden light emerged from its body. It seemed to be drawing every light source in the hole area towards it. A dark cloud formed in the sky above as the sound of lighting echoed out. A golden sh of lightning erupted from the cloud striking the phoenix three times. All was silent as the cloud faded away. The phoenix was still floating in the air in front of Haru. He looked back at it. Something was wrong. It began to fall slowly from the air. Haru ced his hands out catching the phoenix.


    As it made contact with his hand it turned into tiny golden dust particles. Haru was left with a handful of dust. "What just happened?" He was confused. Did it just die? Li Jun and Lao were both staring at the pile of dust in Haru''s hand. "Wait for it." Lao began to talk when suddenly the dust started to burn and erupted into a fiery inferno rising high into the clouds. It suddenly stopped in the air as wings began to form out of the fire. The fire began expanding at a rapid rate before exploding. The light was so bright it almost blinded the three spectators below. Haru looked away from the blinding light and covered his face with his hand.


    It was too painful to look at. A few seconds went by before Li Jun began tough. "Not a Phoenix king! A Heavenly Phoenix king!" Haru felt something hard hit the side of his face. He moved his hand and then opened his eyes. The phoenix was in front of him again and gently pecked against his cheek.


    The phoenix was definitely still alive but it had grown a lot. It was now around one meter in hight and it''s fire burned brighter than ever. "Well, they do say a phoenix rises from its own ashes," Lao said to Li Jun who was stood with his mouth hanging wide open at the scene in front of him. He couldn''t believe it. He had just witnessed the birth of a heavenly phoenix whose existence is on par with a divine dragon.


    In all of his life, he had never seen anything so spectacr and rare. Usually, a phoenix will create its own dimension to give birth only people who break into the dimension by force have actually seen the birth of a phoenix. But a heavenly phoenix king? Their existence was only a rumor even in the upper realms until now.


    Haru didn''t understand the gravity of the spectacle that had happened before him. The Phoenix tilted it''s head forward and began to breathe heavily. "Quick Haru! Cultivate. You have to cultivate to stabilise the foundation of the phoenix!" Lao shouted out in a hurry.


    Haru wasted no time to sit down and cultivate the abundant Qi once again. After returning to origin his cultivation level had fallen to the core refining stage. Three stages behind his previous cultivation. The Qi flowed around his body slowly. The phoenix began to calm down. It''s breathing returned to normal. Haru cultivated for what felt like ever until he felt a static shock in his body and the sound of electricity striking something. He had broken through the core refining stage in less than two hours. He was now at the spirit core stage. He would have to build a new spirit core that had previously taken him three months during his year trapped inside the cave pool.


    He opened his eyes surprise at what had just happened. "Why did I break through so fast!?" He didn''t expect it to be so fast. Lao looked at Li Jun. "Didn''t you tell him if he cultivated inside his soul ocean he would be able to harness the purest form of Qi?" Li Jun shook his head "You said you wanted him to be ready before meeting him. You can''t me this on me."


    "True I did say that. Anyway, I think someone is calling you." Haru was forced back out to the real world. He looked around for a few moments. It was already morning? "Haru I have some news!" Zen called from downstairs.

 Chapter 27: Alchemy?

    Chapter 27: Alchemy?


    Haru walked downstairs were Zen greeted him with a cheery look on his face. "Hey look at this." He held up a piece of paper. Haru looked at it for a second? He is really sending me to a normal school? I don''t want to but mom will worry if she hears that I''m just lounging around all day. He faked a smile. "School? I can''t wait."


    Zen saw through him. "You don''t want to go do you?" He asked before cing the paper in between both of his hands preparing to rip them "Wait, No I don''t really want to go but it''s probably for the best. I don''t want my mom to get mad. She can be quite scary when she''s angry."


    Zenughed. "Yeah, You can say that again. She has always been terrifying." He scratched the back of his head. "Okay, If you don''t mind going to school I will get this filed out for you. You will probably start on Wednesday. I will take it down to the school and see if they can get it done soon. Your mother has been nagging me all week." Heined before heading into his study to fill out the paperwork.


    "What should I do for three days? Maybe cultivate?" He said to himself aloud. Li Jun heard him speak and came out of the ring. "How about I teach you something?" Haru looked at him for a moment. What else does he want to teach me? He wondered. It wasn''t like he had anything important to do. "Sure, What is it?"


    "Would you like to learn about alchemy? It can speed up your cultivation if you manage to refine a few pills. Not to mention that you will learn to control a me. It will be pretty useful to use mes since you have awakened a phoenix bloodline. You should be able to learn control much faster so three days should be enough to get you started." He said then quickly realising he only had high tear herbs. They weren''t suitable for a novice to refine.


    "Hey pull out that smartphone of yours and search for a herb store." Li Jun said before going back inside the ring. Haru pulled out his phone and began scrolling through hundreds of listings for herbs stores all around Shenzhen. He then saw one which wasn''t too far away. It was actually close to the clothing store he had gone to previously. Haru made his way to the front door before a gentle whine came from behind him


    "You want toe with me again?" Xue was stood behind him with her leash hanging from her mouth. Haru put the leash on her and told her to wait whilst she sat at the front door Haru got a bottle of water from the kitchen and went back to his room to get his key card for the gate. He came back to the door was Xue was sat patiently and picked up leash before patting her on the head. "Good girl. You waited patiently."


    "Zen I''m taking Xue out for a little while." He shouted before leaving. As he got outside he noticed he could feel Qi in the air without trying to sense for it. Was this the oue from the phoenix bloodline? They walked down the long road once again leaving the neighborhood and walking down into the city. This time it was a lot more pleasant. No one was taking pictures of them although the asional look at Xue from people who found her cute.


    They walked for around twenty minutes before they arrived at the street address of the store that supposedly sold herbs. It was in a run-down part of the city. All of the buildings looked old and like the would fall down with the gentlest of touches. He double-checked to make sure he had gotten the correct address. "This is the ce." He muttered under his breath with doubt before opening the door and walking inside.


    A cool breeze floated around as he entered and a pleasant smell drifted toward him. He could feel that the building was home to many rare herbs used to make pills from the essence of Qi alone. "Hello, fellow cultivator." An old man said from behind the counter. Haru looked over to see the man. He looked to be a little over sixty and had reached the earthly spirit realm. He was just one cultivation level above Haru. "Oh, You are so young and have already refined your golden core? The youth will soon surpass their elders."


    Li Jun''s voice echoed around Haru''s head as he flew outside and began to look at the herb selection of the store. "Just what we need." Haru walked over to the counter and began to read the names of the herbs that Li Jun was pointing to. "Can I get two hundred of each of these herbs?" He said as the man began to rush around the store picking up each herb. "Two hundred!? Are you sure? That is an awful lot of herbs." He said before putting each bag of herbs into a huge stic bag and tieing it. He looked down at the list of herbs.


    "Oh, You are nning to make qi refining pills? You must be new to pill refining. Do you need a furnace? Since you are buying so much, I can give you a discount on a furnace." He said. Haru looked over to Li Jun who was shaking his head.


    "Um, No I don''t need a furnace but thank you." The man looked back confused for a moment before sighing and then writing out a receipt. "Okay, That will be 142,000 Yuan please." Wait what 142,000!? That expensive?! Haru began to freak out. He only had 200,000 but was already being forced to spend so much. He looked back a Li Jun. "It''s just money you will always be able to get more. And if you make a few decent pills you can always sell them for double that price." Haru was amazed. Alchemy could make this much money? That is insane!


    Haru swiped his card on the machine and just like that most of his money had disappeared. He took the supplies and walked back outside. "What now?" He asked whilst storing them inside his storage ring. "Well eh need to go back and I will teach you how to make the Qi refining pills and bone refining pills." Li Jun went back inside the ring to avoid the walk back home. It''s not like he could feel fatigued from walking so I didn''t make a difference. Maybe he is just fed up with the scenery already?


    Haru walked back home with Xue stopping halfway to let her drink some water. He didn''t have a bowl so he poured to water directly onto the floor making a puddle. It didn''t seem to bother her as she drank most of it before it even touched the floor. He stopped and looked back at the now-empty bottle. Maybe I will bring a bigger bottle next time? He walked all the way back home and let Xue of her leash. She ran straight into the kitchen toward her water bowl. Yeah, I definitely need a bigger water bottle.


    "Okay, what should I do now?" He called out to Li Jun. "Well, it will probably be better if you go outside so we don''t damage anything." Damage anything? How dangerous is this whole thing? How could we possibly damage anything? He thought as he walked out into the back yard. Li Jun came back outside of the ring and began clearing a space for them to practice and then began to draw something onto the floor with what looked like a paintbrush.


    "What are you doing now?" Haru asked confused. "I''m setting up an array so you don''t burn down the house." Li Jun carried on drawing. "I don''t think I will manage to burn down the house. Will I?" Haru became concerned. "Probably not but you never know"

 Chapter 28: Phoenix Flame.

    Chapter 28: Phoenix me.


    Li Jun finished drawing the array on the floor before calling Haru over to stand inside it. "Now no matter what happens don''t leave this circle." He pointed down to the array on the floor. "Okay I won''t, but what should I do now?"


    "Be patient. Cultivate or something I still have something I need to do first." Li Jun told him. Haru sat down and closed his eyes and began to cultivate as Li Jun pulled the bag of herbs from Haru''s ring. He searched through them before pulling out the three that he needed. Blueced grass seeds, Wolfberries, and ginseng roots. He looked back over to Haru he was still cultivating. "Is this a good idea? I''m not even sure it will work." He muttered before he shouted toward Haru. "Okay, We are ready. Watch me first."


    Li Jun stood with his arms out with all of the herbs in one hand as a purple fire emerged from his other. He injected his Qi into the herbs and moved them to float around in the air in front of him. He took the me in both of his hands and amplified the power. The herbs began to let out the smell of fresh pastries as it floated toward Haru. The Herbs began to change colour before liquefying. Li Jun then took the liquid surrounded by his Qi and forced them together. They merged together inside the mes and took on the form of a small round pill no bigger than the size of a pea.


    Haru watched as Li Jun made it look easy. How am I supposed to do that? I don''t even know how to make fire let alone control it! He thought to himself as Li Jun''s mes slowly flickered before disappearing. "See it''s simple no you try it." He used his Qi to throw the three herbs toward Haru. He caught them all in one hand as he was nearly knocked from his feet with the impact of them hitting his hand.


    "Uh, How do I do this? I don''t even know how to create fire" Haru said hesitantly. "Feel it. Imagine a fire and make it take the form of your imagination. That is all you have to do. So just sit there until you figure it out. If you can''t even learn this much by yourself then don''t call me back out." Li Jun flew back inside the ring.


    Great! Just great! What did I do wrong? It seemed like he was mad at me. Haru thought as he sat back down holding the herbs. He began to gather Qi in his hand and imagined the me from a candle flickering in his hand. A gentle heat began to emerge from his hand before vanishing. He tried again, and again it was all no use. How am I supposed to do this! Why is it so difficult? He questioned himself before trying to rx.


    He closed his eyes this time and began to imagine the soft light of a me growing hotter and hotter in his hand. When suddenly he heard the screech of an eagle flying overhead. He opened his eyes to see it flying away. "That''s right. The phoenix" He said aloud.


    Li Jun was inside the dragon emperor ring but was still keeping an eye on Haru. "That''s it. You''ve got it." He cheered from behind the scenes. "You know, After all this time we have known each other I have never seen you so proud. You didn''t even treat your children this well." Lao spoke out and mocked Li Jun.


    "Well, I feel connected to him. It isn''t just every day you find a student who has stepped into the cycle of reincarnation. And not just once. You should know that first hand Lao." Li Jun said as he watched Haru outside with excitement. "True, You are the most exceptional student I have ever taught. But I am jealous that I couldn''t be Haru''s master too. He reminds me much of yourself when we first met." Lao and Li Jun talked back and forth reminding themselves of the countless years they had spent together. "It''s a shame I won''t be able to teach him for long. I feel the pull bing more and more restless. I think I will be whole again once more. Look after him when I''m gone." Li Jun felt regret.


    Haru closed his eyes once again. But this time instead of imagining a simple me he began to remember the phoenix. The heat of its me, The gentle flickering, and the sheer power held within it. He felt his whole body be warmer and warmer before his head began to ache. It felt like his eyes were being ripped out of his skull. "Don''t force it! You Idiot just wait I''m putting a stop to this." Li Jun called out as he flew from the ring.


    Haru stood up with his body dripping in sweat. He opened his eyes as tears of blood streamed from them. His eye colour had now changed. They were flickering with the golden light of divinity. "I''ve got this!" He shouted out through gritted teeth. His whole body became consumed by mes as immeasurable power coursed through his body. His will power was the only thing keeping the power from spiraling out of control.


    "Quick Haru! Start the pill refining process!" Li Jun shouted out. Haru began to transfer his mana into the herbs making them float in front of him. He then started to move the mes. It was no use the more he tried to manipte the mes the more the roared out of control. His vision was blurry as his eyes pooled with blood. "That''s it! I''m going to do this one way or another!" The mes began to hiss out as he let the me grow more and more until the herbs were consumed by the mes.


    He began to smell the scent of burning grass stinging the inside of his nose. I need to calm down the fire is too hot it''s burning! He couldn''t do anything about it but stand and watch as the herbs were beginning to disintegrate. Calm! Calm! Calm! He told himself over and over again when an idea came to him. He wasn''t sure if it would work but he had to try. He closed his eyes and began to cultivate to regain his control. The fire still roared like an inferno but he paid no attention to it as he entered his soul ocean. He looked around. The sky was blue and the same water looking floor was beneath him.


    He heard a screame from above him. It was the phoenix. It cried out in pain as it''s power was being forcibly consumed by Haru''s body. "Am I doing this? I''m causing you so much pain I''m so sorry." The young phoenix fell to the floor breathing heavily. Its me began to flicker. It was about to be extinguished. The phoenix looked at him with pain in its eyes. He ced his hand on its head and sensed the Qi flowing from its body. It was all being directed toward Haru. He looked down with pity. He didn''t want to kill a newborn phoenix but how was he supposed to control this power? He had no idea.


    The phoenix looked into Haru''s eyes dragging his consciousness into its own mind. It was dark. There was nothing around but a golden light. It was calling out toward him. Haru walked closer and closer to the light and then reached out his hand. Memories were transferred to Haru''s brain. It was painful but nothingpared to the pain he felt during his bloodline awakening. Since the phoenix was only born recently it had no memories the share only it''s instincts. It''s instinct of danger and most importantly it''s instinct on how to control fire.


    Nothing had changed for Haru. His power didn''t increase the only thing that happened was he gained the ability to understand mes, Feel their emotions and source of power. Haru then forced himself back outside. The mes were roaring but he could feel them. The didn''t have any power to them it was just a me of brute force the only emotion the fire had was anger. It was the embodiment of the power to destroy. He began to calm the me by injecting his Qi and gathering it within his own power. The fire resisted being controlled and continued to destroy the herbs.


    Suddenly another screech of pain echoed out as a new me appeared. Haru looked toward it. It was taking the form of the phoenix trapped within his soul ocean. The phoenix flew in front of the mes sucking them into its mouth. The mes had vanishedpletely all that remained was the me in the form of the phoenix. "Phoenix me It really is" Li Jun said quietly as the lightly toasted herbs were liquefied and formed into the shape of a pill.


    The mes died down and a weight was lifted from Haru. He fell to the ground. "Haru!" Li Jun shouted and made his way toward him. Haruughed like a maniac and held his hand up in the air. "I did it! I actually did it!" He coughed up blood onto the floor.

 Chapter 29: Earthly Spirit Realm.

    Chapter 29: Earthly Spirit Realm.


    Haru came too and wasy down on the couch in the living room of Zen''s house. His head felt like it was throbbing. He reached up and held his head in his hands. "What happened?" He whispered before shuffling over to sit up.


    running footsteps came from the doorway. "Oh, Thank goodness you are okay! I didn''t know what to think when I found you lying out there! What happened to you?" Zen came charging in. Haru looked down at his hand. He was still holding the Qi refining pill. That''s right I was trying to make a pill... But then? He suddenly remembered. That''s right I actually seded! He was lost in thought thinking about what had happened to him.


    He looked up and saw Zen looking down, He was expecting an answer. "Um, I must have just passed out due to exhaustion. I''m sorry I didn''t mean to worry you."


    Zen looked back at him for a moment and then sighed. "That is a relief. I thought I was going to have to call your mom if you slept for any longer." Any longer? Just how long have I been out? He then pulled out his phone and checked the time. 12:42 pm. Only a few hours huh? He then looked back after something caught his eye. It was now Tuesday! I was out for more than twenty-four hours!? How is that possible? I must have been out of Qi right?


    The phoenix. Is it okay? Haru closed his eyes and entered his soul ocean. A screech of excitement echoed out as the Phoenix flew around happily. Thank god it''s okay. He then opened his eyes again to see Zen still stood there.


    "Haru. Is everything okay? You looked worried for a second." Haru stood up and walked to the doorway. "I''m all good. Just a little hungry." Heughed before walking to the kitchen. "Good I was just about to make some lunch." Zen followed behind into the kitchen.


    Haru and Zen ate dinner together before Zen had to leave to go to the office. Something had happened he seemed serious as his driver came to pick him up. "I wonder what that was about?" Haru thought before He made his way back upstairs. "So I go to my first Chinese school tomorrow? I hope my Chinese is good enough for everyone to understand me." He spoke his thought aloud before he sat down on his bed and crossed his legs. He entered his soul ocean to check on the phoenix once again.


    As he entered he heard the sound of something speeding towards him. He turned around to see the Phoenix heading straight for him. He ducked down as it flew off into the clouds once again. He looked around for a few minutes. He turned to face the floating rock where the deadly looking mansion resided. I wonder where Li Jun and Lao are? That was when he heard a noise behind him.


    "You called?" Li Jun said as they appeared from seemingly nowhere. "Wait. How do you guys do that?" He said as he turned to see they had joined him inside his soul ocean. "Well, this is your subconscious mind this whole ce is created by your soul all you need to do is think about us and we will here it. We are both bound to the dragon emperor ring so as long as you wear the ring we can enter here if you call for us." Lao exined as Li Jun nodded his head in agreement.


    "Is that so? Then what is the purpose of this soul ocean? What is it for?" Haru asked. "I have never really thought about it. I guess to think. Or maybe cultivate more efficiently? Whilst you are in here time flows three times slower than it does on the outside. So in theory one hour of cultivating in here is the same as three hours on the outside. And not to mention your soul will purify Qi from the outside before it enters here. Although the Qi on this is very weak if you are in here then it will be one hundred times purer. You should probably cultivate in here from now on if you want to get stronger as fast as possible." Li Jun exined with Lao nodding in agreement this time.


    "Is that so? Can you guys tell me when it''s morning on the outside? I want to cultivate all night! I want to see the upper realms as soon as possible. From what you two have described to me it is unlike anything I could experience here." Haru said as he began to sit down. "Of course, And if you carry on with this passion of yours you will get there really soon. Just focus on cultivating." Li Jun said as Haru closed his eyes. Lao set up another sound barrier around Haru so he couldn''t be distracted by anything.


    Haru sat cultivating for what felt like days. The Qi slowly flowed towards him and filled him with power before reaching a climax. Haru felt the hairs on his body rise as a static shock hit his body. He ignored the feeling and carried on cultivating past his breakthrough. If he wanted to get to the upper realms he had to ignore this little distraction and carry on. He had broken through the spirit core realm entering the early stage of the earthly spirit realm. His power was now at least four times stronger than it was previously not to mention the boost to his power from returning to origin already. He didn''t know how important this was but he felt strong.


    He was finally starting to feel like he was gaining strength from cultivating. He had managed to get himself to the middle stage of the earthly spirit realm before Li Jun interrupted him by projecting his voice inside of Haru''s head. "It''s morning."


    Haru opened his eyes leaving his soul ocean and then feeling his phone vibrate. He looked down. Why is Zen calling? He thought before answering the call. "Hello?" He asked to the silence on the other side. "Oh, So you are finally awake? I have called you fifteen times! How did you sleep through that?" Zen shouted as all of the people around him began to stare. He looked around and waved his hand signaling them all to get back to work.


    "Oh, sorry I must have left my phone on silent. You said I would start school today right? Did you get any news from the school?" Haru asked as he began to get up from the bed whilst stretching his limbs out. "Oh, Did I forget to tell you? They got everything through faster you were supposed to start yesterday actually but I sent them a message I figured you would need the rest. Are you feeling any better today? I couldn''te homest night I''m still stuck at the office."


    "Yeah, I feel a lot better today thanks. Is everything okay on your end?" He asked Zen as the sound of chattering could be heard through the phone. "Yes, Everything is okay. One of my ountants reported one of the employees was taking money for themselves so we are justbing through all the records to build up a report to file to the police. But I''m d to hear you are feeling better today. I will have my driver pick you up in an hour so get ready."


    "Wait, Is there a school uniform or dress code I should be worried about?" Haru asked in a panic before Zen could hang up. "Dress code? I don''t think so. Just wear whatever you want to. It shouldn''t matter too much. Is that everything?" He asked with his finger ready on the little red circle.


    "Yeah, That''s everything thanks Zen," Haru said before ending the call. "That little brat! I wanted to be the one to end the call!" Zen shouted out in anger. "What are you looking at? Get back to work!"


    Haru began to get ready for school throwing whatever clothes he could find on the bed before taking a shower. He came out and got dressed before going down to check on Xue. She was still asleep on the floor in the living room. Haru tried to walk past quietly so he wouldn''t wake her. But it was no use. Her ears perked up as she turned to look at him.


    "Damn it," Haru said before Xue ran over and jumped on him. "I get it. I get it good morning to you too." He said as they both walked into the kitchen. Haru made some cereal for himself and then filled up Xue''s bowl. They both ate in the kitchen before moving to the living room to watch TV. Haru sat on the couch with Xuey next to him before hearing a car horn outside. That must be the driver he thought before switching off the TV and all of the lights.


    "I have to go now Xue. Be good whilst I''m gone." Xue barked in response as Haru left the house, locked the door, and then got into the car waiting for him outside.

 Chapter 30: The New Kid.

    Chapter 30: The New Kid.


    The trees past by into the distance as the car drove toward the edge of the city. They entered a long straight road beforeing to a stop. Haru looked outside to see the school. It had iron gates surrounding it as hundreds of students began to make their way inside.


    Haru left the car and looked back to the driver who had already started the engine and began to drive away. Okay, I guess this is it. What should I do now? He walked past the gates before spotting a little cabin where the security guards were sat inside.


    He waved toward to security guard as he walked across the yard toward the office. "Hey, Can you help me?" He asked as the guard came outside. "Sure, what is it you need?" The guard pulled reached back inside and took out a radio.


    "It''s my first day here and I''m not sure where I should go." The guard looked at him for a moment before bringing his radio to his mouth. "Hi, I have a student here who doesn''t know where he is supposed to be it''s his first day or something." He scratched the back of his head as he waited for a reply. "New student? Send him to the office." A woman''s voice called out from the other side.


    The security guard sighed for a moment and put the radio back inside the office. "Okay, follow me then." He began to walk to the main school building. Haru followed behind him silently. If he is so fed up with his job then why does he still work here? Haru thought as the walked through a corridor lined with lockers before reaching a room with a ss wall with a desk on the other side. "Just wait in here. Someone will tell you what to do." The guard said as he walked away.


    Haru sat down in the room and waited. It wasn''t long before footsteps came from the other side of the desk and a woman emerged from the room behind it. "Oh, You must be the new student. right?" She asked.


    "Yeah, I''m not too sure what I should do. Is there anywhere I have to be?" He asked, standing up and walking over to the desk. The woman looked down at aputer screen and then clicked a few buttons. "Oh, You are Mr. Hao''s nephew? I''m d you are feeling better today. Let me just print this for you." She said before walking over to the printer.


    Why is it that everyone knows Zen? What does he really do? The curiosity was growing stronger and stronger. It seemed that wherever he went people would know of his uncle. But why? As Haru was thinking about it the woman came back over with two pieces of paper.


    "Here, This is a map of the school it has all of the ssrooms and numbers printed on it. And this is your timetable. You have a homeroom in ss 436. Oh, I was just about to head down to the same corridor I can take you there so you don''t get lost. Actually, I could use a bit of help, follow me. She opened the door next to the desk to get to the other side. She then walked up to a stack of paper and began to split it in half.


    "It''s okay I can get it for you. You can just make sure I don''t walk into any doors." Haru said with augh as he picked up the stack of paper. "Are you sure? That''s a lot of paper it will be quite heavy." She began to say as Haru picked it up. "Wow, You are stronger than you look. If it gets too heavy just tell me and I will take some." She said before opening the door again and then leading him throughout the school.


    "And this here is your ssroom. You can put that down here." She pointed to a desk beside the door next to the ssroom. "Are you sure? I can take them in for you if you need me to."


    "Yeah it''s fine there is a meeting going on inside I will ask one of the teachers toe and help me." Haru put the paper down on the table. "Okay, well thank you for showing me the way. I probably would have gotten lost otherwise."


    "I should thank you for helping me with the paper. I doubt I could have done it on my own." She said whilst struggling to pick the paper back up from the desk. "It''s my pleasure," Haru said before opening the door to the ssroom.


    The door slid open and he was greeted by the sound ofughter as the students inside were talking to each other and giggling. The teacher stood at the front of the ssroom and turned to greet Haru.


    "Ah, You must be the new student. I am Mr. Chen, I will be your homeroom teacher for the remainder of the year." He held out his hand toward Haru. "Hi, I''m Haru Kitagawa." He said as he shook his hand. The ss slowly became quiet as they all turned to look toward the front.


    "Now you have all shut up, I have some news. This here is Haru Kitagawa he will be your ssmate from now on so treat him nicely. Would you like to say anything else?" He announced to the ss and then turned back to Haru.


    "Hello, As Mr. Chen said my name is Haru Kitagawa but you can just call me Haru there is no need to be formal. I just recently moved to China from Japan so please excuse me if my Chinese isn''t too good." He said and thenughed nervously as the students began to whisper to themselves. I didn''t say anything wrong, did I?


    "Don''t worry too much. I''m sure you will make friends in no time. That will be your seat over there." Mr. Chen pointed to an empty seat on the third row next to the window. "Thank you." He said before sitting down.


    "You are very wee. Now that I have your attention I would like some silence to take a register." Mr. Chen said to the ss and then began checking names from a list. "And, Finally Haru Kitagawa."


    "Here," Haru said as Mr. Chen put the clipboard back down on his desk. "Now you can get back to what you were talking about." He said before sitting down and smiling at hisputer screen.


    Haru sat silently as the rest of the students began to talk amongst themselves before he felt a tap on his shoulder. "Hey, Haru was it?" A girl leaned over and tapped on his shoulder. She had long ck hair with brown eyes and was wearing some kind of designer jacket with bits of fluff sticking out of the back of it. "Yeah, What is it?" Haru said bluntly. Why did she touch me? My name is just fine to get my attention.


    She quickly withdrew her hand. "Oh, I''m sorry I shouldn''t have just touched you like that. I just wanted to ask if you would like toe to karaoke with us?" She looked back to a group of girls gathered around in a circle with a guy with long blond hair sat on the desk. "What are you doing Suyin? Why are you inviting the new kid?" The guy looked toward Haru with scorn.


    "Well, I just thought it would be nice to invite him. Remember a few weeks ago when we were all nervous to talk to each other he is probably feeling the same." She said back to him. "Well, you thought wrong." He said shaking his head in disappointment.


    "Oh,e on Lei be nice. What is the harm in inviting him?" Another girl from the group said to him in protest. He looked back at Haru with the same look. "Fine, If you want to invite him then do it I don''t care."


    Haru looked back at him and smiled. "If that''s the case then sure, I would love toe with you." Lei looked back at Haru smirked sinisterly and then walked over to a group of boys at the back of the ssroom. "Oh, Don''t mind him Haru. He is just protective of his friends that''s all. Once you get to know each other I''m sure you will be good friends." Suyin said to Haru as the bell to signal the end of homeroom rang out.


    Haru walked outside the ssroom and noticed three boys were giving him a weird look. Oh, I see how it is. Haru smiled to himself and then walked down the corridor and used the map to locate a bathroom. He used his spiritual sense to keep eyes on the three boys who were now following him.


    He walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. He needed to take a piss anyway so he unzipped his pants and carried out his business. Halfway through he heard the door open as the three boys came in. The stood silently behind him and waited for him to finish.


    Haru zipped his pants back up and then turned around to see them stood in a line blocking the exit. He then walked over to the sink and washed his hands ignoring thempletely. He turned again to see the had now be angry with him.


    "Can I help you with something?"

 Chapter 31: Empty Threats.

    Chapter 31: Empty Threats.


    The three boys looked back at him before the one in the middle spoke out. "Yes, You can do something. Go and tell Suyin that you can''t go with her tonight. And then stay far away from her or you might end up getting hurt." He smirked as he spoke.


    Just as I thought. The guy from earlier is a little jealous. "Why would I do that?" Haru asked with a smile. "Because Suyin is Lei''s woman. You had better stay away." Haruughed to himself. "Oh, She is? Okay, there is nothing to worry about. I have no interest in Suyin. Tell Lei he can pursue her all he wants to I won''t get in the way."


    "Do you think this is funny? We will hurt you if you don''t do as you''re told." The second boy spoke up. Haru finished drying his hands with a paper towel and walked over to him. "Oh, Is that a threat?" Haru leaned in toward the boy''s face. "Then do it..." He whispered into his ear. There was a long pause of silence as they looked at each other not knowing what to do. It wasn''t going to n. They expected Haru to listen to them out of fear but he didn''t seem to be scared. It was like he was in control, they didn''t know what to say.


    "Just as I thought. Well, when you are ready to hurt me thene and find me." He pushed past them and walked back into the corridor. Lei was stood outside waiting with a smile on his face.


    "That''s right do as you''re told. You will be my dog from now on." He said as Haru opened the door. Haru chuckled to himself as he grabbed him by the throat and mmed him against the wall. "This is your first and final warning. If you send anyone else after me to give petty little threats, I willpletely destroy you. Do you understand me?" Haru spoke in a soft tone as he squeezed harder on his neck. Lei struggled to breathe and his face started to be red. He nodded his head as fast as he could.


    "I''m d we came to an understanding. I will see you after school for karaoke." Haruughed again as he walked away. The best way to stop people from causing trouble is to instill fear into their hearts. Well, most of the time. What will it be this time? Will he learn his lesson ore after me again? Haru wondered as he looked back down at his map. Geography in room 120? He walked through thebyrinth of corridors for what felt like hours before finally ending up outside the ssroom.


    He looked through the ss on the door. It looked like ss was already in session. Damn, why do I have to bete? He knocked on the door and waited for the teacher to finish her sentence before opening the door. "Do you need anything?" She asked with a frustrated look. No, I just knocked on the door for no reason at all. Haru thought to himself. "Hi, I think I''m supposed to be in this ss. I got lost so I''m a bitte, I''m sorry." He said to the teacher.


    She looked at him for a minute and then up to the ceiling thinking about something. "Haru? Is that correct?" She was generally confused but seemed to know about his arrival. "Yes, I''m Haru."


    The teacher pushed her sses up on to the bridge of her nose. "Mrs. Evans. Come on in and we will put you into a group." She said as Haru walked into the ssroom.


    "Hello, ss does anyone have room for a new teammate? Haru is new here and I would like him to join someone''s group so you can help him to understand. Haru looked around the room. The room was filled withrge desks that could seat six people around. What was up with this? He thought. It looked much like a western-style ssroom with pictures of different monuments from around the world stered on the walls.


    As he looked around he recognised the three boys from earlier were sat on a desk together and when they saw him looking they tensed up nervously. Haru smiled back at them. And then he looked down at the desk at the very front of the room. "We''ll take him." A voice called out. He looked to his left to see Suyin wave at him.


    Yay! I get to be in a group with the cause of the trouble from earlier. "Well, it''s decided then. Haru goes sit down next to Suyin and we will get on to the next part of the lesson." Mrs. Evens said. Haru reluctantly walked across the room and sat down beside her.


    "Hey, It''s you again. I didn''t expect you to be in this ss too." Haru said as he pulled a pen from his pocket. He looked back up at her and that when he noticed her eyes. They were a pretty green colour. He didn''t notice it before but the light from the window seemed to make them glow.


    "Oh, I didn''t notice before but your eyes are beautiful," Haru said as he looked at her for a moment. And then he looked back at the desk there was arge sheet of paper that had small pictures cut out of magazines and glued to it. Suyinughed. "Just my eyes are beautiful?" She asked with a pout. Oh, she seems quite outgoing. He looked over to the table where the three boys were sat. They were now staring at him in shock.


    It might be fun to tease those three a little bit. Haru put his head on his hand and looked at Suyin again. "Well, It would be rude of me to just say you are beautiful without even taking you out for a date first wouldn''t it?" He smiled at her as sheughed lightly.


    "You want to date me do you?" She asked as she seemed to nce over at the three boys from earlier. She looked back at Haru and kicked him in the shin and smiled. Haru looked down and then smiled back. "Is that a problem? Do you have a boyfriend already?" He asked her.


    She seemed to pause for a second. "No, I don''t have a boyfriend but can you tell me what you like about me first?" She was trying to force morepliments out of him but Haru had a better Idea. "How about you consider us going to karaoketer as a date? I will tell you what I like about you afterward." He chuckled a bit as she seemed to get a little flustered.


    The whole ss went silent as he spoke. "Hey, that''s enough with the flirting children. You can do that in your own time you are here to learn." Mrs. Evans spoke before moving to one of the other desks to exin something about the work.


    "Okay, then it''s a date," Suyin whispered to Haru. "But why were you trying to annoy those three?" She asked quietly. Haru looked back at the three boys who were whispering to the rest of the people at their desks. "They followed me into the bathroom and threatened to hurt me because you are Lei''s woman or something.


    Suyinughed loudly. Mrs. Evens turned to look at her and then went back to helping the other group. "So he thinks I am his woman? That exins why he didn''t want to let youe with us tonight." She smiled and then pulled out her phone. She showed Haru as she sent a text to Lei. "I am not your woman. Stop telling your friends that I am. It''s creepy." It read.


    It showed that he read the message almost instantly but didn''t reply. "Ouch, That is embarrassing. I feel mean now." Haru whispered. "Why should you feel bad? He sent his friends to threaten you. I thought he was just protective of his friends I didn''t think that he would do something like that. I''m sorry."


    "Why are you sorry? It''s not your fault." Suyin looked down at her phone again. "I don''t know I just feel like I have caused you trouble. It is your first day and you have been threatened by your ssmates all because of me."


    "It''s fine. Worse things have happened." Suyin seemed to ept it and then handed her phone to Haru. "Here give me your phone number." Haru looked at her for a second. "Sure... But what for?"


    "So I can find you after school. We might not be in the same ss before school finishes so I will have to run around and find you. It will make it easier If you can just tell me where you are." She exined quickly as Haru began to type out his number.


    "That makes sense but you could have just told me to meet you somewhere..." Haru was doubtful about the exnation. She better not call me when I''m busy cultivating. But she seems quite nice. As he handed the phone back to her the same bell chimed out once again letting everyone know it was time to leave.


    Everybody packed up their things and handed in their work to the teacher. Haru and Suyin walked out into the corridor. "I will see youter," Haru called out as Suyin walked in the other direction.

 Chapter 32: Karaoke.

    Chapter 32: Karaoke.


    It was just as Suyin thought. Haru didn''t have any other sses that she would be in for the rest of the day. The day dragged on as he walked around getting lost quite often as he tried to find the ssrooms. It felt like it took an eternity but he had finally finished his first day of school. Now it was time to meet Suyin and her friends for karaoke.


    Haru waited by the school gate. A few minutes went by before his phone began to vibrate. He looked down to see it was a call from an unknown number. He answered the call and put it to his ear.


    A voice whispered out in course tone. "You look so vulnerable standing there Haru..." He began to look around for a minute. They can see me? Who is this? What do they want? He began to wonder. "It''s no use looking for me. You will never find me. You should watch your back." Haru felt small hands cover his eyes.


    "Haha, You should have seen your face," Suyin said taking her hands away. "Did I scare you?" Haruughed with her. "Of course you did. Look I''m shaking right now." He showed her his hand and began to shake them overdramatically. Suyin looked at him with disappointment for a second. "No fair. I thought I actually got you. I will just have to try harder next time." Suyinughed as the rest of her friends walked over.


    There were three boys including Lei and four girls. When Lei spotted Haru he became nervous and began to sweat. He then looked down at his phone "I''m sorry guys I just got a text from my dad, I can''t go with you tonight." He said before getting into a car with tinted windows that was waiting for him at the gate.


    That is convenient. At least he won''t bother me anymore. Haru thought as Suyin leaned toward him. "I think he is too embarrassed to see me. Or maybe he just hates you so much that he can''t bear to see you." Sheughed once again. "What''s up with Lei? He seemed excited toe earlier today." One of the two remaining boys said to the other.


    A car beeped as the driver from earlier got out and waved toward Haru. "Who''s that for?" Suyin asked confused. "Oh, sorry I need to tell him that I''m noting home yet." Haru ran over and then exined to the driver that he is going to karaoke with a few ssmates. He then sent a text to Zen to let him know he will be homete. Once everything was settled he walked back other to the group who were now only waiting for him.


    "Sorry about that I just had to send my uncle a text to say I will be homete. Are we ready to go?" Suyin stepped forward. "It''s okay we can get going then if everyone is ready." She said before beginning to walk in the direction of the city.


    They walked into the city which took them twenty minutes. It was already five o''clock and the sun was starting to set. Suyin seemed to be lost before spotting a small dark alleyway. It was just wide enough for a car to drive down. And in the alley was the ce they were looking for. Seven Headed Snake Karaoke the sign hung in front of the building read.


    They all headed inside. The atmosphere was weird. There were a group of businessmen sat out in the bar area all drinking. A few seconds went by as the barkeeper spotted them. "Are you the kids who booked a Karaoke room?" The man shouted over. The girls in the group seemed kind of nervous. It looked like it was a kind of bar for miscreants.


    Suyin stepped forward. "Yeah, that was us." She said as the man looked down at a screen behind the bar. "It says you booked for 5:30? Having kids upfront will be bad for business." He said quietly "The room is empty now so just head back there I will give you all an extra half an hour."


    "Are you sure? I don''t mind paying for the extra time" Suyin began to open her bag. "No, It''s Okay It''s on the house." The man said as he waved across to one of the other employees who was stood next to a door.


    "This way, please." The employee said as he guided them to an empty room at the end of a long corridor. They entered to find a small room with seats around a table with a microphone and tv screen in one corner. "Oh, Look there''s a menu. You can order drinks and snacks directly to the room. So cool." One of the boys said as he began to look through it.


    "Yeah does anyone want anything? I have a prepaid card for this ce so just order whatever you want to." Suyin said as she closed the door behind them. "Okay, I won''t hold back then. Haru sat down and began to browse through the tablet to himself a drink. Ohh alcohol. I don''t mind if I do. Haru looked through the alcoholic drink section and then found what he was looking for. He hadn''t really drunk alcohol much but the time he drank with Li Jun in the cave he found that he liked the taste. It''s not like he could get drunk anyway.


    "You''re ordering alcohol? But we are underage what if they kick us out?" Suyin said to Haru as he ced his order. "Judging by the location of this ce and the people it attracts It wouldn''t surprise me if they are operating an illegal business here. Don''t worry if they say anything I will just say I ordered it by ident. No harm is done right?" Suyin stared at Haru for a few seconds before there was a knock on the door.


    "Room service?" A man asked from the other side of the door. One of the boys walked over to the door and opened it. "See Haru was right they actually brought it." He said as he opened the door.


    A group of four men in suits was stood outside. It seemed to be the men from earlier who were drinking at the bar. "Get out of the way kid." One of them shouted as they shoved him to the ground. "You three brats get out!" He pointed to Haru and the two other boys.


    "Why what are you doing here?" The boy stood back up from the floor. "That is none of your business." Another one of the men kicked him in the stomach making him clutch his stomach as he dropped to his knees.


    "Wait, How about we tell them what we are going to do? Let''s make it more fun we will give them a chance to call the police to see how long it will take them to get here." The bigger one of the four began tough. "Woah you''re crazy bro. Fine, let''s tell them."


    "When you leave we are going to have fun with these pretty young girls sat over there." He began tough. "And if you don''t leave we will kill all three of you and then have fun with the girls." Haru couldn''t believe his eyes. He knew it must have been an illegal operation but he didn''t think it would be something like this. What was it? Do you pay a bunch of money to **** customers? That is sick. He looked over to Suyin who seemed oddly collected. She pulled out her phone and typed out a message quickly and sent it to someone.


    Oh, She''s calling in back up? Then I guess I don''t have to kill these guys. Haru stood up from his seat. "What are you doing? Are you really going to save yourself and leave your ssmates to get molested? You coward!" the other boy shouted. Haru looked back to see everyone was looking at him with hatred. He smiled at Suyin but she quickly looked away with disgust. Do you guys really think I''m that kind of person?


    "You made a good choice kid." The biggest man put his hand on Haru''s shoulder. Haru looked him in his eyes as he grabbed his arm. "Who said I was going anywhere?" Haru said as he began to squeeze his arm more and more.


    "What are you doing? You little bastard let go of me." A crack echoed throughout the room as the bone snapped in two. "You made a big mistake by trying to harm my friends," Haru said as he kicked the man in his chest sending him flying backward and mming into the wall behind him.


    Running footsteps came from outside as the bartender from before came into the room. "You said you would be quick! Why are you lying on the ground? Someone tell me what is going on!" He demanded.


    There was a sh of light as all four of the businessmen were knocked unconscious by something. Haru smiled. That must be the backup. "I was hoping you would tell me that." A man who looked to be in his early twenties appeared out of nowhere and pointed a baseball bat toward the barkeeper.

 Chapter 33: Mr. Jiang.

    Chapter 33: Mr. Jiang.


    "Who the fuck are you!? Where did youe from?" The barkeeper stuttered out as the man pushed the bat against his shoulder and pinned him to the wall with it. "That doesn''t matter. All that does matter is that you tried to harm my boss''s daughter." The man looked around the room and then back at the barkeeper. "And her friends


    Haru looked at the man. Oh, He''s a cultivator? He was at the middle stage of the core refining. Currently two full realms behind Haru. He seemed prettypetent with stealth techniques as Haru hardly sensed him as he made his way into the room.


    "Suyin. Take your friends outside your dad is waiting there with the big boss. Tell him I will clean up this mess." Suyin jumped for a second. "Okay!" She shouted back to him. "Guy''s follow me. She led her friends out of the karaoke bar. Haru followed close behind them.


    "Princess! You''re okay!?" A big muscled man ran up to Suyin and began to hug her and kiss her cheeks. "Dad, let go of me I''m not a baby anymore!" She cried out. Haru and the rest of the ssmates chuckled. "Haru?" A voice called out from the car. The door opened as someone stepped out.


    "Zen? Why are you here?" Haru was confused as his uncle stepped out of the car. "Why am I here? More importantly. Why are you here?" Zen was also confused. "I sent you a message didn''t I? I already told you I was going to a karaoke ce. Right?" Zen reached down to his pocket and pulled out his phone.


    "Oh, You did. I must have had it turned off at the time. Did you see what happened here?" Zen walked over to Haru. "Ah, Yeah some guys came in and tried to **** my ssmates. I was going to take care of it but that guy with the bat showed up."


    "Haha, You were going to take care of it kid? Just how would you do that?" Suyin''s dad walked over and put his hand on Haru''s shoulder. He began to squeeze. Haru looked at him for a second before he realised he was trying to assert dominance over him. He then used his Qi to create pressure around him. He could no longer breathe as he was forced down to his knees.


    "That is how." Zen began tough "Mr. Jiang. Let me introduce you to my nephew. He probably could have handled things here, what do you say?" Haru stopped as Mr. Jiang got to his feet. "Wait, Your nephew!? I''m sorry Mr. Hao I thought he was just a cocky kid I didn''t expect him to be a master of cultivation at such a young age."


    "Well, I''m not the one you should be apologising to. It''s great to see you are doing okay Suyin." Zen walked over to Suyin and put his hand on her head. "Uncle Zen. What are you doing here!?" She shouted in excitement.


    "I had toe and see if you were okay, didn''t I? Your dad got really worried and called me toe with him." Zen and Suyin talked as Mr. Jiang bowed his head. "I''m sorry I shouldn''t have tried to test your strength. I was just a bit excited to know my daughter is safe. I thought you were just boasting about being strong. Let me offer you this as an apology" He held out a stack of cash.


    "No it''s okay, I couldn''t take money from you. Especially not in front of your daughter. It''s okay let''s just put it in the past." The man stood up straight again and put the money back into his jacket. "You are a good man. I should be punished for what I did but you are truly benevolent."


    "It''s nothing it was just a small matter..." He tried to speak but was pushed back slightly as arms wrapped around his neck. "Thank you. I thought you were actually going to leave for a minute back there. I''m sorry I judged you to be a bad person before seeing what you were actually doing." Suyin hugged him.


    Mr.Jiang''s face became filled with rage but as he met eye contacted with Haru he forced a smile and calmed down. Zen walked over and put his hand on his shoulder. "Ah, Blossoming romance. Isn''t it beautiful?" He said with a sigh. Mr. Jiang looked at Zen. "You know. If they got married we would be rted. No one would dare to mess with my family again with the great Mr. Hao looking out for us. Not to mention your nephew. I can''t wait to see the type of man he will be. My daughter will be rich!"


    "Yeah on second thought I will talk to Haru about it. I don''t want to be rted to someone as greedy as you." Zenughed as Haru looked down at Suyin. "It''s okay, It was a bad situation I don''t me you for being scared. You actually handled it better than I did. I was going to kill them all but I saw you send a message so I figured you would have someonee as reinforcement." He said as a dragging sound came from behind him. He turned around to see the man with the baseball bat.


    "Boss, We came to an agreement." The man was holding a ck bag that was around five to six feet in length. He dragged it across the floor and then pulled out his phone and called someone. "I''m calling about getting my clothes dry cleaned... Yeah, I''m at the Seven Headed Snake karaoke. That''s great thank you." He said all in a monotone voice that made him sound almost robotic. Zen, Mr. Jiang, and the man with the baseball bat began to speak in private out of earshot from the children.


    Haru decided to respect their privacy and not listen in to their conversation. Suyin wouldn''t let go of Haru for some reason. She had been hugging him for about five minutes now. "What are you still doing?" Haru looked down at her. When she looked up to meet his gaze he was shocked. She had started to cry. "I''m sorry! I tried to act tough but since we are actually out of danger I think the reality of the situation we were just in has sunk in. It was scary. Don''t hate me for this, please. It was supposed to be a date but you probably think I am a crybaby now."


    She began to let go of Haru her grip bing weaker. "Not at all. Your reaction is normal. I would feel even weirder if you didn''t cry. So cry all you want to. You are safe now." Haru put his arms around her this time as she began to cry even more.


    Haru held her as she wept. Tears ran down her face as Mr. Jiang turned around. "Oh no, princess what is it?!" He ran over to his crying daughter. "It'' nothing I was just scared." She said as she gripped on to Haru tighter. The rest of their ssmates were now looking over at the scene ying out in front of them. Haru, let go of her to go to her father. Mr. Jiang picked her up into the air and embraced her in the biggest hug he could perform. It was almostical.


    Suyin began to calm down as Haru walked over to Zen. "What is with the guy with the baseball bat?" He asked. Zen shushed him and then bent down to whisper. "I''m not sure. He started working for Mr. Jiang a few years ago. Nobody knows his real name but he calls himself the grim-reaper. Because where ever he goes he kills at least one person."


    The grim-reaper looked at Haru. Haru held up his hand and waved at him. The grim-reaper sent his Qi toward him as a form of intimidation. Haru chuckled. Game on. He sent his Qi over to him. The grim-reaper struggled to stay on his feet as Haru smiled at him once again and then releasing him. It looked like he was preparing to attack but just as he moved a white van pulled up next to him.


    It seemed to distract him as he got into the back of the van with the bag and then drove off into the distance. "Hey don''t provoke him like that!" Zen hit Haru''s head but it ended up hurting him more. He danced around in pain shaking his hand.


    Haruughed at him and then walked over to the group of ssmates. "I''m sorry you guys had to experience all of this. Do any of you need help getting home? I can ask my uncle to get you guys a taxi. They all looked at him for a second. "Mr. Hao is your uncle?"


    "Yeah, Why?" There was no time for an exnation as they made up excuses. "Actually, My mom ising to pick me up. I just called a taxi." They all hurried away back out of the alley.


    "We are heading back home now Haru! Hurry and get in the car." Zen shouted from behind. "Now? Okay, I''ming." He didn''t have time to collect his thoughts as he was called over by his uncle.

 Chapter 34: Zens Business.

    Chapter 34: Zen''s Business.


    Haru rode with Zen in the back of the car back to his house. Mr. Jiang and Suyin followed close behind in a car of their own and came inside to talk about what had happened. They stayed for a few hours before leaving.


    "So, I have been wanting to ask you this for a while. What is it you actually do? You im to work in an office but you can afford a house like this and nearly everyone I meet has heard of your name." Haru asked Zen.


    Zen looked to the ground and shook his head. "I was hoping you wouldn''t ask but I guess there is no avoiding it this time." He took a deep breath before sighing and sitting down on one of the stools in the kitchen. "I own the biggestpany in Shenzhen. But with owning a bigpany you need to hire security so a few friends and I started a private securitypany where we hire people with certain assets like the man they call the Grim-Reaper. Mr. Jiang as one of the shareholders in thispany also. We tried to keep it legal but with hiring these types of people things like murder tend to happen. So we then have to cover up any deaths rted to ourpany. So the private securitypany became an underground force. It isn''t something we can advertise to the public so we had to branch out to criminals. I didn''t want to tell you this but I guess it was only a matter of time. There is going to be hell reigning down when your mother finds out."


    Haru thought for a few minutes. It isn''t like he could me him, Sometimes you need to protect yourself so it was a good thing to have so-called security guards but it was still illegal so if anyone ever found out Zen would be arrested. "Who said my mom is going to find out? What you do is your own business. I''m not in any ce to judge. If I was in your situation I would probably do the same thing." He reassured him.


    "Oh, Thank god. I wasn''t sure how you would react if I told you all this." Haruughed. "What do you mean? I have something on you right now so you owe me a favour. So if I get into trouble I will have to ask you to keep it from my parents or else I will expose your secret." Zen looked furious but then settled down quickly. "Fine, I guess that works for me just try not to go on a rampage now just because I won''t tell your parents."


    "I can''t promise you that. But I will try not to cause too much trouble." Haru said as he went back to his room to cultivate. He went back into his soul ocean once again. "Li Jun you there?" There was no reply but Haru felt a presence appear behind him. He turned around to see Li Jun standing there but something was wrong. His hair was bing grey and he looked like he had aged quite a bit. "What happened!? Are you okay?" Haru began to make a big fuss but Li Jun stopped him by raising his hand. "I''m fine. Just a little tired I have been out too much for this past week I need some time to rest. Try not to call me out for a few days I will let you know when I''m feeling better." He said before vanishing.


    He is just tired? Is that how soul fragments work? Haru pondered on the question as he began to cultivate. The phoenix was happily flying around minding its own business as Haru began to draw in Qi. With each breath he found the Qi flowing towards him but then dispersing before being absorbed. Was this one of the bottlenecks before breaking through? He thought about it still trying to draw in as much Qi as possible as he remembered about the pill he had refined.


    He sensed for the pill inside the storage ring and then took it out. It was rtively small but he could sense a burning Qiing from inside. I wonder if this will work? He swallowed it. A few seconds went by and there was nothing. He was just about to get back to cultivating when suddenly everything became faster. The Qi was being sucked into his dantian as it began to expand.


    His lower abdominal began to feel hot as the Qi was drawn towards it. A cracking sound began to reverberate from the inside of his body. This wasn''t good. He had been warned about this before. If he took in too much Qi too quickly his dantian could shatter leaving him powerless for the rest of his life. He couldn''t call Li Jun it would just bring more harm to his soul so it would have to be something he overcame on his own.


    He did think about calling Lao but then decided against the idea because he was still terrified of him. He sat quietly as Qi filled his body at an ever-increasing speed. He had to try to gain control of the Qi. He began to visualize the Qi gathering around his dantian instead of inside of it. The flow of the Qi slowed down a little bit but instead began to grow around the dantian getting bigger and bigger until a crack rung out.


    There wasn''t any pain as his dantian shattered but he knew what had happened. His perception of Qi slowly began to fade. But why was he still inside his soul ocean? He was confused as he stood up. The phoenix hadnded on the ground in front of him. He looked down to see that a long string of fire was going into his stomach. What is it doing? He questioned himself as the Phoenix began to draw symbols made out of the fire.


    Haru could still sense the faint scent of Qi. He held onto it in his head as there was another crack. But this time there was a sinking feeling as something began to grow inside him. His body slowly floated up into the air as his head tilted back. A faint blue glow came from his mouth as his body began to expand like a balloon. The phoenix began to panic and tried to fly away. It then hesitated and looked back at Haru.


    It flew towards him and headbutted him in the chest sending him backward before slowly sliding across the floor. His chest began to ache so much that he hadn''t noticed that he gained the ability to sense Qi once again. His body felt lighter and stronger almost like he could fly from just a jump. What was happening?


    He looked back at the phoenix. "You are okay now." He didn''t hear a voice but sensed the wordse from the direction of the phoenix as it flew off into the sky once again. Haru sat down once more and began to sense the Qi in his body. It had more than doubled and it seemed like he had already broken through. "I thought it was going to take longer to cultivate? Then why did I breakthrough just days after thest time?" He had reached the Heavenly spirit realm once again. This time it felt different. He was stronger. He could actually feel the strength in his body with every single movement.


    He became confused as light scattered in through his window and pulling him out of his soul ocean. Wait, I can sense the outside world from inside? Is that supposed to happen? He thought as he got ready for school. He walked downstairs to see that Zen had left a note on the table. "I won''t be home tonight. Something came up. Zen"


    Okay? Why didn''t he just send a text? That is kind of strange. But he didn''t question it too much as he made breakfast and waited for the driver to pick him up. A car horn made its way inside as it rang out in the street. He left Xue some food in her bowl before making his way out to the car and getting into the back seat.


    The car set off before arriving outside of the school twenty minutester. "I should being straight home tonight." He said to the driver before making his way inside. The corridors were empty. Had sses already started? He thought to himself as he walked inside the ssroom. The atmosphere changed as he entered. The student all stopped their current conversations and began to stare.


    He looked over to his seat. There was a piece of paper sat on his desk. He walked over and sat down before taking a look at the paper. "I''m sorry. I didn''t know you were rted to Mr. Hao. Lei" He looked back to were Lei was sitting.


    Lei looked at him for a second and then put his hands together and bowed his head as if to ask for forgiveness. "What is with everyone writing notes today?" He thought as there was a tap on his shoulder.


    "Good morning Haru."

 Chapter 35: Batter Up!

    Chapter 35: Batter Up!


    Haru turned to see Suyin hanging out from her seat and leaning over to his desk. "Hi, Good morning. How are you feeling?" He asked as their ssmates had started to chatter once again like nothing was wrong.


    "I''m better than yesterday. Um, I''m not sure how to say this but when we got home my dad told my mom about what had happened and she said she wanted to meet you. I was wondering if you wanted toe over for dinner tomorrow?" She asked slightly embarrassed.


    "Tomorrow? Sure I don''t have any ns." He said just before Mr. Chen started calling out names. They all sat in silence until he had finished and permitted them to speak again. The sat for a few moments before Haru felt a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, I wanted to tell you I''m sorry. I regret what I said yesterday. I was angry with myself for considering leaving so when I saw you stand up I felt like I had to say something to calm myself. And I''m sorry to you too Suyin. For thinking about abandoning you and the other girls." The boy from the night before said as he bowed between the two of them.


    Haruughed for a moment. "There is nothing to be sorry about. It was a stressful situation. Not many people can think with a clear head. It''s okay." Haru reassured him that he didn''t do anything wrong. The boy stood up. "I didn''t get a chance to introduce myself. I''m Yunxu." He held his hand out toward Haru. "Nice to formally meet you." Haru shook his hand.


    The bell rang out to signal the start of ss. Haru still wasn''t used to his schedule so he looked at the time table the school had provided him with. He had a gym ss? Why was gym ss first thing in the morning? It just seemed a bit out of ce. He thought about the stupid cement for the ss as he walked to the correct room.


    He walked down to the gym corridor and then to the teacher''s office. He hadn''t brought any exercise clothes with him so I thought it was probably for the best that he told the teacher beforehand. He knocked on the door and waited for an answer. It took a few minutes but the teacher finally opened up.


    "What can I do for you?... Wait a second you are the new student aren''t you?" A tall man with a thick beard and looked to be made of solid muscle mass opened the door and looked down at Haru.


    "Uh, yeah. I just came to tell you that I didn''t bring any clothes to change into. Is there a chance I could skip out on ss today?" The man became frustrated for a second. "Skip out on my ss!? Nonsense I have a brand new gym kit in my office. It was already paid for by your guardian. So you better keep it in your locker so you don''t have toe here and ask me if you can skip ss again!" He went full drill instructor mode as he demanded Haru to go and change into his clothes.


    "Yes, Sir!" Haru shouted back with a salute. He had forgotten where he was for a moment. It hadn''t happened before. Ever since he had begun cultivating it seemed like his memories were bing more and more detailed and he often found himself confused because of them. The teacher looked at him confused for a second and thenughed. "Fall out soldier!" He wasn''t all that bad Haru thought before making his way into the changing room.


    He began to change his clothes when he felt a hand on his back. He turned to see Yunxu. "Woah, You are so muscr what kind of sports do you do?!" He shouted over the constant chatter inside the changing room. "I don''t. I''m not really a fan of sports I guess it must be gic." He tried to feign ignorance. "Come on. You don''t expect me to believe that, do you? I bet you are a fighter, aren''t you? Just look at that six pack..." Yunxu rubbed his hand over Haru''s abs.


    Haru felt a chille over his body... No this is not happening! He backed away as fast as he could and ended up bumping into someone. "Hey watch where you are going! You fucking moron!" The person shouted.


    Haru turned around to see a boy who looked more like a gori. He was abnormally tall and was quite stocky. "Didn''t you hear me?" He tried to shove Haru. He pushed as hard as he could but it was like pushing against a wall. Haru''s body didn''t move an inch. "Sorry about that, I wasn''t paying attention," Haru said as he scratched the back of his head. Why did everyone here think it was okay to touch another boy when you are both half naked? Is this normal in china?


    Haru walked away and got the rest of his clothes on whilst trying to avoid eye contact with the other students. Just as he finished putting on his clothes the teacher walked into the changing room. "Are you all ready now? Greate out to the field with me we are ying baseball." There were a few cheers from the students. It seems like baseball is fun. Haru had never yed before but had heard about it. It couldn''t be too hard, could it?


    They all followed the teacher out to the baseball field. It was hidden behind the school with a basketball and tennis court. They stopped after they made it in and the teacher held out his arm. "Everyone on the right you will be batting first. Everyone on the left will be out on the field. Now I need a volunteer for a pitcher.


    "Oh, Me!" One of the other students said as he raised his hand in the air. "Ok, Good now batter get into a single file line." He said as they all scooted into a line. Pushing a shoving each other and jumping ces in the line until they all excepted their position. The team who were on the left all began to make their way onto the field some of them stopping at the bases and one person walked behind the first batter as a backstop.


    Haru followed Yunxu out onto the field. "How do I y?" He asked as the walked out toward the center. "You haven''t yed baseball before?!" He seemed like it was hard for him to believe. "No, I haven''t myst school didn''t teach sports," Haru responded as he looked around to try to get a better idea at what he had to do. " Well, All you have to do for now is catch the ball and throw it to one of the people at the bases." He briefly exined what he had to do as the pitcher threw the first ball.


    The ball flew forwards before striking the bat sending it flying into the middle of the field. "Oh, this should be an easy one," Yunxu said as the batter began to run around to the first base. Yunxu ran over and caught the ball after it bounced off the floor and threw it to the person who was on the second base.


    "Out!" The teacher shouted as he blew a whistle." The person who hit the ball walked to the back of the line. This seems simple enough Haru thought as the next batter stepped up. It was the gori guy from the changing room. He began to twirl the bat around as he stepped up to the batter''s box. "Oh, no. This is guaranteed to be a home run. This guy is on the school baseball team." Yunxu told Haru as he started walking backward to get a head start.


    The pitcher threw the ball. Arge boom echoed out as the ball slowly began to climb higher into the air. Haru looked as it slowly flew over his head. He then began to chase the ball easily keeping pace with it as it flew threw the air. He then looked forward and noticed he was running toward the end of the field where a chain link fence was blocking his path. Haru sped of getting ahead of the ball slightly and jumped. His foot hit the fence as he ced his other foot ahead of the other andunched himself into the air. The ball hit his fingertips and then rolled down into his hand.


    He dropped down to the floor holding the ball in his hand. The blow of a whistle blew out across the field reaching Haru who was at the very back of it. "Out!" The teacher shouted as Haru walked back with the ball.


    "Sir! That has to be against the rules! He climbed the fence!" The gori looking student called out in protest. "There is no rule saying that he can''t climb the fence. All that matters is that he caught the ball before it hit the floor. Get to the back of the line and wait for your next turn!" The teacher shouted as he walked away muttering to himself angrily.


    "Have you yed baseball before?" The teacher said to Haru as he returned from his long walk across the field. "No sir. It''s my first time today." The teacher coughed. "What?! Your first time? You chase that ball like a pro. I mean jumping on to the fence was a bit unorthodox but you would make a great addition to the school team. What do you say? Do you want to join?"


    Haru thought about it for a few seconds. If I say yes I will have less free time I can''t do this! "I don''t really have the time sorry. I get really busy after school and I have to study a lot to keep my grades up."


    The teacher looked down for a moment. "I see. Then I will give you a few days to decide." It sounded like he wouldn''t take no for an answer. Haru kind ofughed and then returned back to the field to continue the game.


    The final whistle blew signaling time for the teams to switch sides. Haru stood and watched as his teammates hit the balls across the field. Until finally. "Batter up!" It was Haru''s turn to bat.

 Chapter 36: Home Run!

    Chapter 36: Home Run!


    Haru stepped up to the box with the bat in his hands. "Batter ready?" The teacher shouted. Haru nodded his head. He looked back at the pitcher as the ball came flying toward him. He brought the bat back and swung as hard as he could.


    There was a slight after image as the bat moved toward the ball and then a crack echoed out as it made contact. The ball flew high into the sky as pieces of wood rained down. Haru looked back down to his hands. The bat he was holding had spilt in half. The top end hadpletely vanished creating splinters on the grass in front of him.


    There was a long pause as the teacher tried his best to follow the ball with his eyes. He looked far into the distance as the ball dropped into a cluster of trees outside of the field. He blew his whistle. "Home run!" He shouted as he turned back to see Haru holding half of the bat.


    "What...? How did that happen? We bought new bats at the start of the year. We barely used them." He said as he looked down at the wood chippings littering the grass. Haru shrugged. I didn''t know I would hit it so hard. He shook his arms out a little bit. He wasn''t expecting the result of his breakthrough to be so big.


    "You! Go run back and bring a new bat!" The teacher shouted to one of the students who had already started to run before he could finish his sentence. A few minutes went by before Yunxu walked over to Haru. "Are you sure you haven''t yed baseball before? You hit it with so much force the bat exploded." He questioned Haru.


    "No, I haven''t yed before. I guess it''s just beginners luck. And I bet the bat already had a crack in it from everyone else swinging it around." He said as he walked to the teacher and handed him the remaining part of the bat. "Why are you giving this to me? Go and throw it in the trash it isn''t any use like this." He handed it back to Haru.


    Haru walked over to the trash can whilst trying to avoid any more questions. Why couldn''t he just ept that I haven''t yed before? He put the bat in the trash as the boy from earlier came running over carrying another bat. "I got it, Sir!" He shouted as he handed it to the next person in line. Haru walked to the back and waited for his turn once again.


    He stepped up to the batter''s box for the second time and felt the weight of the bat. It was a bit lighter than the one before so he would have to be a lot more gentler with it. He held out the bat as he signalled he was ready with a nod of his head.


    The ball came flying toward him. He waited for a few seconds as the ball came closer and closer. It looked like it was moving slowly. He held up the bat and swung it toward the ball with the same speed that the ball seemed to move.


    There was a deep sound as the ballpressed and shot out of the field once again. It flew further than thest and looked like it had made it out to the front of the school. It just goes to show that strength isn''t everything. He thought to himself as he began to run around the bases and made it back to home base. The whistle blew out once again. "Home run!" The teacher shouted once again. Haru''s team began to cheer as the final whistle sounded.


    It was his first game of baseball and not only did they win but he scored to home runs. That was an impressive feat for anyone let alone a beginner. "Are you sure you don''t want to join the team? We could use someone like you. Not only good in the field but also an excellent batter." The teacher said to Haru as they made their way back inside.


    "I really don''t have the time. He then made his way back into the changing room. "What is your problem!? You don''t think anyone actually believes your lies, do you!? How are you going to say you have never yed baseball? Was it all just to embarrass me!? I''m supposed to be the star yer, not some no name like you!" The gori looking boy screamed as he pushed Haru against the door. The rest of the people in the room all began to chant "Fight! Fight! Fight!"


    "Believe whatever you want to. It doesn''t bother me." Haru pushed him slightly on his shoulder. The gori boy stumbled back and tripped on the floor. The chants became louder as he stood back up. He brought his hand back and tried to punch Haru. But he was way too slow. Haru moved his head out of the way as the door came open. The sound of knuckles hitting flesh rung out through the room as many of the students began to gasp.


    Haru turned to see the teacher stood in the doorway with gori boy''s hand against his face. Gori boy froze in shock as his hand was slowly twisted back. He screamed in pain as he dropped down to his knees. "I don''t care who you tried to hit or why. This was the biggest mistake you will ever make." The teacher said as he grabbed his wrist and pulled him out into the corridor.


    Everyone went silent and pressed up against the door to hear themotion. "How dare you even think about hitting a person here! You already know you are here on a condition! Just wait until the principal finds out!" The teacher began ranting at the gori boy. Haru didn''t want to pay much attention so he carried on getting changed and then walked out into the corridor.


    "What should I do with my clothes? I don''t have a locker yet." He interrupted the teacher''s rant at the gori boy. "You don''t have a locker? Okaye with me we can sort that out."


    "And you! Go to the principles office immediately!" The teacher shouted at the gori boy as he walked down to the office with Haru. He fidgeted around inside a drawer for a few seconds before pulling out a small brass key with a piece of stic hanging from the bottom of it. "Here it is. You were supposed to get everything given to you yesterday but I guess it was a bit unreasonable to expect everything to be sorted out in one day since you still have to get used to the ce first.


    Haru took the key and looked at it for a second. 178 that was the locker number he was assigned. He walked to the main entrance of the school and began to look for his locker. It took him a few minutes as the lockers were randomly ced without being in number order but he finally found it and put his clothes inside it before going to his next ss.


    The rest of the day was less exciting. He had three more sses but knew nobody in them. He went to each ss after struggling to find them for a while and then exined to all of the teachers that he was a new student and was still having trouble navigating. They all seemed to understand and were pretty forgiving. He made his way outside after the final bell rang out.


    All of the students began to make their way out to the front of the school. There were buses all lined up waiting for students along with hundreds of cars. Haru looked around for a while. Zen''s driver was nowhere to be seen. He waited for a few minutes before his phone vibrated in his pocket.


    "Sorry, I''m heading to a business meeting my driver won''t be able to pick you up. You will have to make your own way back." The text message read. God damn it Zen. You could have left that in your note too. Haru thought as he walked out of the front gate and passed the people getting into their cars.


    His phone vibrated once again. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked down. There was a picture attachment. He opened the message and saw a picture of himself looking aimlessly for Zen''s driver. "You look lost. Do you need a ride?" It was from Suyin. Haru looked back to the cars and saw Suyin wave to him as a ck car pulled up beside him.


    "Hey, My dad told me that you would need a ride home today. Get in." She reached over and opened the door. "Are you sure it''s okay?" Haru hesitated for a moment as he felt the stares of many of his ssmates behind him. "Yeah, why wouldn''t it be?" She looked confused and looked outside to the people who began to stare. "Oh, That''s why. Don''t tell me you''re embarrassed?" She tried to make fun of him as he bent down and pushed her back to the other side of the car and sat down beside her.


    He closed the door and put his arm around her shoulder. "Embarrassed? Not at all." Suyin was caught off guard. Her face slowly turned red. Her heart rate began to increase and she became extremely nervous. She turned her head toward the window to hide it.


    "Hands off." The driver called out from the front. Haru looked into the rear facing mirror and saw the man was staring at him. "Okay. The fun''s over..." He said with a grin as he took his arm away. The car set off and Suyin sat awkwardly as she stared out of the window whilst trying to calm herself down. It wasn''t long before the car rolled up the gate.


    A security guard came out and knocked on the driver''s window. "What business do you have here?" It was a different guard fromst time. "I''m dropping off someone." The driver said confused. "And do you have a key card!?" The guard was starting to get frustrated.


    Haru leaned forward and handed his key card to the guard from the back seat. "The Hao residence... I''m so sorry!" The guard said as he read the information on the card. He handed it back immediately and ran over to open the gate himself.


    "Sorry about that. He must be a new guard. I haven''t seen him before." Haru apologized to the driver but he didn''t seem to care as he carried on driving.


    Suyin looked back at Haru for the first time in twenty minutes. "Why do you have guards to an empty road? I didn''t see themst night. It must have been too dark. Haruughed. "Just keep looking out of the window."


    The car slowly drove down the road as the magnificently built mansions came into view. Suyin was bewildered at all the many different styled houses as they rolled down to the main attraction of the road. The reached Zen''s house.


    "I swear it didn''t look this amazingst night!" She said excitedly as the gate opened and the car pulled up to the front door. "Well, it was darkst night. There wasn''t much to see." Haru said as heughed at her reaction. He was guessing that the ce she lived in was also pretty amazing since her family had personal drivers. "Do you want toe in for a bit?" He asked as he opened the door.


    Suyin thought for a minute before the driver interrupted. "I was ordered not to let you go anywhere with this boy. I''m sorry miss." He locked the doors and sped off back down the road. Haruughed. That must be Mr. Jiang''s way of saying "Stay away from my daughter." Haruughed as he walked inside.

 Chapter 37: The Right To Remain Silent.

    Chapter 37: The Right To Remain Silent.


    As he opened the door he almost had a heart attack as Xue ran toward him and jumped up. She was a big dog but it didn''t make a difference. She thought she was small enough to be carried so as Haru awkwardly held her to stop her from falling she licked his face.


    "Stop it already!" He put her back on the floor. She began to jump at his legs in protest but stopped as he walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. She jumped up beside him as he switched on the TV. Around half an hour went by of Haru browsing random channels to try to find something interesting when he decided enough was enough. Everything on the god damned thing was boring. He walked to the kitchen and took the note that Zen left earlier in the morning.


    He flipped it over and pulled out a pen. "I will be back soon." He wrote on it and left it on the table as he made his way back outside. He didn''t really feelfortable waiting around and decided he wanted to take a walk. He left Xue inside and began to walk back down the long road. It took a while to travel this way. But he carried on anyway reaching the gate and letting himself out.


    He walked out into the street as cars zoomed past him. He walked down the main street until he reached a dark alleyway. He looked down and it seemed like something was drawing him closer. It felt weird to him so he used his spiritual sense. The Qi in the surrounding area was thick and there was a slight scent to the air. He knew what it was immediately. Someone was refining a pill.


    He walked down the alleyway to find himself stood in the same park he had been the week before. Was this a shortcut to get there? That exins why Zen walked Xue twice a day. This alley would cut at least twenty minutes from the route he tookst time. He looked around but didn''t notice anything but the scent of the pill was getting stronger. He followed it into the woods until he found an old abandoned fishingke. It had a building in the middle of it but it was in rubbles it looked like it had been left like that for at least fifty years.


    He put the scenery to the back of his mind as he tried to find the source of the smell. He used his spiritual sense and a small thin line of Qi could be seen. It was leading into the run-down shack. What have I signed myself up for? He thought as he began to walk towards it. He threaded his way between the trees and made it to the entrance. He stopped for a moment as he heard breathinging from the inside.


    It sounded like whoever it was inside was struggling to refine the pill. He looked in through the remnant of a window and saw an old man sat on the ground in front of a pill furnace. He looked to be in histe sixties and was wearing a blue suit along with a red tie. He was too well dressed to be living in this shack so Haru couldn''t understand what he was doing.


    He watched for a moment until there were a loud bang and bits of rubble shot into the air before raining down. The man passed out almost instantly as the fire began to spread towards his unconscious body. Haru walked inside and picked the man up into his arms. He struggled to get a hold of him since the man was quite a lot taller than him. But he still managed to carry him out of the wooded area and back to the main part of the park. A few people saw what was going on and immediately went running over to see if he needed help.


    "What happened?!" A couple who both looked to be in their early twenties came running over. Haru ced the man on the ground trying not to injure him anymore. "I''m not sure, I found him inside a burning building in the woods. When I got there he was already unconscious." He pointed over the billowing smoke emerging from the trees. "It''s okay my boyfriend is a doctor. Help him, darling." She tugged on his arm.


    "I don''t think this is appropriate for me to do. I''m still an intern. Make sure you call for an ambnce and fire service." He said in protest as he made his way over to the old man lying on the ground. He knelt down next to the man and put his ear up to his chest. He held it there for a few moments. "His breathing sounds normal. He shouldn''t have inhaled too much smoke. He is lucky you got there before he started to suffocate." The man praised Haru as he went on the check his airways.


    "We need to put him into the recovery position. I need your help with this. I will turn his body and support his spine whilst you move his legs." He walked Haru on how to do it. Even though he knew how to do it. It was nice to have a doctor instead of doing it himself and bing liable if he injured the man. The doctor turned his body and Haru slowly moved his legs.


    The man was nowy on his side and the man turned on the shlight. He opened the man''s mouth and shined it in to look at his throat. "The is no carbon build up anywhere and his airways are clear. " The man said to him and then sat down and sighed. "All we need to do is wait for the medics to arrive. Who would have thought I would end up working on my first day off." Heughed to himself.


    "Thanks for the help. I wasn''t sure what to do when I found him." Haru said as he rxed a little. He didn''t want to see a fellow cultivator die like this. It would be an embarrassing way to go. A few minutes went by. Haru sat in silence as the doctor kept a close eye on the man''s condition.


    A few minutes went by before the doctor''s girlfriend came running back toward them with two medics. "He''s just over here!" She shouted as she ran over to her boyfriend. The medics arrived shortly behind her carrying a stretcher and a bag filled hit medical supplies. "What happened?" One of them asked as he knelt over the old man and began to inspect the situation.


    Haru was just about to tell them but the doctor spoke first. "He was found in the woods by this boy." He pointed to Haru and then carried on speaking. "Apparently there was a fire inside a building and he went over to look and found the man in the building. I''m an intern at the north district hospital so I did a basic check on him. There doesn''t appear to be any signs of smoke inhtion. But I can''t tell what made him pass out." He spoke again.


    "I have to do a check myself but where is the fire?" The medic asked. The doctor looked toward Haru. "Oh, The fire. There is a hut in the middle of ake in that direction." Haru pointed to the massive cloud of smoke now erupting like a volcano.


    A few more minutes went by as more and more people began to show up. The doctor who was the first one on the scene walked over to a few police officers and began to talk with them. Haru stayed next to the man as the medics put a respirator on him and lifted him onto the stretcher. The took him back out to the front of the park.


    Haru was just about to follow behind him but then he spotted the firefighters running in toward the fire in the wood that was now spreading. "Does anyone know who started this god damn fire? I''m going to kill whoever it was. I was lucking forward to a date with my wife!" One of them shouted as he ran towards the zing inferno. Haru didn''t know what to do so he approached one of the police officers.


    "Excuse me. Is there anything I should do now? I was the one who found the man in the woods." He was confused. He had never been in an emergency situation within the civilian world. He looked over to his left as he saw the doctor point in his direction. The two police officers walked toward him and the other police officer.


    "Put your hands behind your back. You are under arrest for suspected arson and reckless endangerment. You have the right to remain silent but anything you do say can and will be used against you in a court ofw..." What is going on?!

 Chapter 38: The Song Of Dragons.

    Chapter 38: The Song Of Dragons.


    I''m being arrested? What for? Haru was at a loss for words. "Come on kid don''t make this worse for yourself. We just need to question you." One of the police officers said whilst grabbing his wrist. He was tempted to escape but didn''t want to deal with the drama that being an ouw would bring.


    He put his hands behind his back. He felt the cold metal kiss his skin as the handcuffs locked into ce. This was ridiculous. He had just saved someone''s life now he was being med for endangering him?


    They walked out of the park and onto the main street. The crowd that formed was now splitting apart as they walked through it. Haru felt slightly embarrassed as he walked past so many people whilst being in handcuffs. The people looked at him with anger as they carried the stretcher with the old man lying on it toward the ambnce.


    The police car was parked by the main road and with its lights still left on drawing more attention from onlookers. They marched him up to the door of the car. "Do you have any weapons or sharp objects on you?." The officer who was holding onto his arm asked as he began to look through Haru''s pockets. "No, I don''t have anything like that. Just my phone." He was getting irritated by the situation more and more as people began to take pictures of him.


    "Okay, Good. I don''t see anything so we can now take you down to the station to hopefully get this all figured out. I''m sorry about this. That is the lieutenant over there." The officer pointed to another who was the person to point at him when speaking to the doctor. "Apparently he knows the old man and wants to catch whoever did this at any cost. But to me, it looks like he is just looking for someone to me." He apologised extensively as he opened the door for Haru to get in.


    Haru sat down in the back seat as the door mmed shut. He was now sat alone in the back of the car whilst the officer walked back over to talk with his colleagues. He began to move his hand and felt the metal of the handcuffs begin to bend. Heughed. He realised his strength through cultivation could easily overthrow a city''s police force. He wasn''t sure if he could withstand bullets but he knew if the worst case scenario happened and they tried to me him for the death of the old man he would be able to escape and there would be nothing they could do to stop him.


    A few minutes went by and nothing happened so he decided to enter his soul ocean to pass the time. He entered to see the phoenix lying on the ground. It seemed to be unconscious. "What happened!?" Haru ran over to check on it. It seemed fine almost like it was sleeping. "Li... Lao are you there?" He said realising his mistake as he didn''t want to dy Li Jun''s recovery he decided to man up and ask Lao for assistance.


    Lao appeared almost instantly. I was wondering how long it would take for you to need my help. Lao seemed rather proud of himself when he spoke. "Something happened to the phoenix. I don''t know what is wrong." Haru said as Lao moved his head over the phoenix''s body. "It''s fine. Just ying dead for some reason. It probably just got scared." He said as he turned his head back to Haru.


    "Scared? What could scare a phoenix?" He looked at Lao and then back to the Phoenix. "Probably the same thing that scares a dragon. That thing over there." He looked at the floating rock structure where the mansion stood. "Oh, that..." Haru said as a chill ran down his spine when he looked toward it. "When am I going to be ready to see what''s inside there? I mean it is terrifying but I''m also curious as to what is in there."


    "You still have a long way to go. Probably not before you reach the nascent soul stage. You need enough mental strength to withstand the pressure. Although... We could speed that up." Lao spoke with seriousness his voice seemed gentler than before.


    "How could we speed it up? Will it affect me in any way?" Haru asked concerned about damaging his cultivation by rushing into things. "Don''t worry. It won''t harm you at all. It''s just a little time consuming. You will need me to be here with you whilst you cultivate is all."


    "Can you help me, please? The curiosity is killing me." Haru asked Lao. Lao seemed happy as a smile formed on his face. It looked weird to see scales stretch across a surface revealing a sharp toothy smile. "I don''t mind at all. A student of my student is also one of my students."


    He instructed Haru to sit down and cultivate. "This is called the song of dragons," Lao said as Haru started to take in the surrounding Qi. Lao began to sing. He had a coarse and rough texture to his voice as he shouted out words Haru had never heard before. He felt like all the strength in his body was being absorbed by each word Lao sang. It was simr to the time he tried to awaken a dragon bloodline.


    He felt himself getting light headed and couldn''t hold on anymore. "Hey get out of the god damn car!" A voice shouted. Haru wasn''t fully awake but he felt a slight bloodlust in the man''s voice and the sound of something whipping through the air. He looked to his right to see a police baton being swung toward his head. He broke the handcuffs and caught the baton in his hand.


    "What!? You are supposed to be in handcuffs!" The police officer shouted as he was pulled backward by another officer. "What do you think you are doing!? He is a minor! You can''t just beat up children! Wait until the captain finds out about this!" It was the same officer who had walked Haru to the car. The began to fight and then both fell to the floor.


    "What is going on!?" A woman''s voice shouted as the two police officers wrestled on the ground. Haru just sat and watched the scene y out as both of them scrambled to their feet and stood up straight. "Ma''am! Officer Zhang tried to strike a child with his baton. I told him to stop but then he took his anger out on me." The nice officer from earlier said to the woman as she walked up to them.


    "Is that so? Then where is this child? I want a written statement from both of you!" She then turned around to face the car. Haru was shocked for a moment. It was the sect master''s granddaughter.


    "You again?" Haru said as their eyes met.


    "Haru!? What are you doing here?" She looked down at his hands. One of them still had half of the handcuff sped to his wrist. "And what happened to those?" She shook her head in disappointment. "This is going to be troublesome."


    "It''s not what you think. I didn''tmit a crime. I just found an unconscious man in a burning building. And I''m not sure I just moved my hand and these things broke. They must be defective. Imagine if you had to use these on a real criminal." Heughed as he tried to reassure her. "If it was that simple then why were you handcuffed?" she didn''t seem to believe him.


    "No, it''s true ma''am. That is why we were called to the scene but the lieutenant ordered me to arrest him and take him for interrogation. He said he knew the man who was found and needed to punish someone for his injuries." The nice officer said to her.


    "If that is the case I will speak to him about itter. Haru here is Mr. Hao''s nephew so we know where he lives if you need to ask him a few questions then go to his house. Don''t just bring good Samaritans in for interrogation. Think about the public opinion of us if we just arrested everyone who witnessed something like this."


    She pointed to the officer who tried to hit Haru "And you! Get your shit together! You are now suspended for two weeks with no pay. I hope you learn your lesson about being violent to children. Now get out of my sight." She ripped the badge off from his uniform and put it on top of the roof of the car. "Yes, Ma''am!" He shouted as he made his way toward the door.


    Haru you''re free to go for now. If we need a statement from you we will give your uncle a call. We can''t do anything without your legal guardian here. And this is for the inconvenience and your treatment by our officer." She handed him another credit card. "The pin is 3892. I just ask that you don''t file awsuit against us. I don''t need any more paperwork." She sighed and then looked back toward the door as running footsteps could be heard.


    The door flew over knocking down the police officer making his way out. "Let the kid go! Right now!"

 Chapter 39: Old Man Zhu.

    Chapter 39: Old Man Zhu.


    "Lieutenant!? I was just about to go and speak with you. What are you thinking? Asking your officers to arrest children? What is wrong with you?" The sect master''s granddaughter screamed as soon as the lieutenant made his appearance.


    "That''s exactly why I''m here! The boy didn''t do anything it was bad judgement on my behalf. Old Man Zhu woke up already. It had nothing to do with the boy he was trying to refine a pill or something and his furnace exploded. I just wanted to question him about what he had seen but everything is cleared up now." The lieutenant was a big muscr man with slight stubble on his face. His uniform was fit tightly against his body almost splitting open from the rigid muscles pressing against it.


    "We have to give him an apology and release him immediately! Wait... Officer Zhang, Why are you lying on the floor?" He looked down to see the officer who had tried to beat Haru with his baton lying in the ground after being knocked over as the door swung open.


    "He was just leaving. I suspended him for two weeks for a breach of conduct." The woman said to the confused lieutenant. "You did what? You can''t just suspend my officers. I don''t care if you are the daughter of the chief. I won''t stand for this."


    "You won''t stand for me suspending him? Then what would you do if you found out one of your officers tried to beat a child with his baton? How would you punish him?" The lieutenant looked down at Officer Zhang. "You did what now!? Don''t you ever think!? Did I tell you to beat up the child or take his statement? It was a simple order! You take him to the station and ask him a few questions!" He became enraged as he heard what one of his officers had tried to do.


    "How are we going to take care of this mess now? Where is the boy? We need to apologise for this." He said as he looked around the garage. "It''s fine I already gave him a sincere enough apology andpensated him for the trouble your officer has caused. Isn''t that right Haru?" She turned to look back at the car where Haru was sat.


    He was no longer anywhere to be seen. As they were all shouting at each other Haru took the time to start making his way home. She said he was free to go so there wasn''t any problem with him leaving right?


    "Where is he!? He was just here a minute ago!"


    Haru was now a few blocks away from the police station and was trying to make his way back home. He pulled out his phone and turned it on. As it loaded his battery was almost instantly drained from the number of notifications he had received. One hundred and thirty six missed calls from Zen... And twenty calls from Suyin. Why are their so many missed calls I was only gone for a few hours?


    "Haru. Call me back as soon as you can." He had gotten a text from Zen too. He looked back up to the street. It had begun to rain. Little drops of water sttered against his skin as he hurried around the streets to look for a shelter. He walked up to the door of a coffee shop. It was empty but the lights were still on the inside. He opened the door and a little bell chimed out.


    There were no people around at all until a woman''s voice called out from the back. "I won''t be a minute. Make yourself at home." Haru took the advice and sat down on one of the seats in the far corner. There was a small bulb above him that lit up the table but his face was covered in darkness.


    "Not this again!? I paid youst time!" The woman shouted from the other side of the counter as she looked over to the dark corner Haru was sat in. "Oh, I think you''re mistaken. It''s my first time here." Haru stood up from the seat and walked over to the counter. "Oh, I''m sorry. I thought you were someone else. What can I do for you?" The woman didn''t look much older than Haru. She looked to be about eighteen or neen but she spoke with maturity. It was like she was used to working here.


    "Um, I haven''t actually had coffee before. What would you rmend?" Haru said as he looked up at the chalkboard menu with words he had never seen before. What even was a mocha? He thought as he looked down at the girl.


    Sheughed for a moment it was almost like she was breaking character. "You came to a coffee shop, But you have never had coffee before? Sorry, that''s just too funny. But hey, everyone starts somewhere." She became much more casual when talking. It was probably because she thought Haru was just a normal kid.


    "Well, If I''m being honest I just came inside to take shelter from the rain. But I could use some food if you are still serving it?" He looked up at the menu. Food was served until eight o''clock. He looked down at the time on his phone. It had already nine... Why did it take so long to drive to the police station? It shouldn''t have taken nearly five hours to get everything cleared up. Unless that one officer just couldn''t wake me... Haruughed. He now knew why the officer was so angry.


    The girl looked at him with confusion. "Oh, Sorry I just remembered something funny." He said as his phone began to vibrate. He looked back down to see that Zen was calling once again. "Sorry, I have to take this. I will take whatever you rmend." He said before walking back over to the corner and answering the call.


    "Hello?" He put the phone to his ear and the immediately recoiled in pain as a screaming voice came from the speaker. "Hello? Don''t you hello me! Do you know how much trouble you''re in!?" Zen shouted.


    "Trouble? What do you mean?" Haru was confused. "Yeah and a lot of it. Why did you think burning down a building was a good idea? Especially a building Old Man Zhu was in! I have already had several members of his familye to my house and threaten to kill me if anything happened to him!"


    "Burn down a building? I didn''t burn anything that was the old man''s own fault. I risked my own life to drag him from the burning building. Now don''t use me of things I didn''t do!" Haru became slightly angry as he was being med for the old man''s inability to refine pills.


    "Wait. Are you sure? The media is reporting that you were the one who caused the fire. They even have pictures of you being arrested." Zen seemed to ease up on the shouting and was ready for a normal conversation.


    "Why would the police let me go If I was the one to me for someone getting injured? The old man even admitted to his mistake. It was entirely his fault."


    "Wait they have released you? Where are you now then?" Zen switched his attitude quickly. "I''m at a coffee shop. I will send you my location when I''m done."


    "Wait a minute. There are a few cars outside. I think it''s the Zhu family again. I will call you back soon." Zen hung up. Haru sat there at the table and loaded up the browser on his phone and searched for Old Man Zhu.


    "Old Man Zhu hospitalised after schoolboy burnt down a building with him inside."


    "Head of the Zhu family is in critical care as a teenager is charged with arson."


    There were dozens of news headlines all with pictures of Haru in handcuffs on the front page. He browsed for a little while before the table shook and the sound of cups clinked. He looked up to see the girl had brought him his drink and a sandwich. There was also another cup.


    "Sounded like an important call. Want to talk about it? She sat down and picked up one of the cups as she pushed the rest of the tray toward Haru. "Sure, Why not." Haru picked up the cup and almost spat it back out with how bitter it was.


    The girl began tough "Note to self. No ck coffee." She then picked up and sugar cube and a small jug of milk and topped up the cup with it. "Try this then."


    Haru took another sip. The taste had changed dramatically. It was still bitter but the taste was masked by the sweetness of the milk and sugar. "It''s good. Thank you." He took another sip and then began to tell her what had happened."

 Chapter 40: Eternal Wisdom.

    Chapter 40: Eternal Wisdom.


    "What? That''s insane! How can they arrest you without any evidence?" The girl began to get angry on Haru''s behalf. "It''s okay everything should be resolved soon. What is your name by the way?" Haru asked as the door to the store chimed open. "Reina I''m back." A man with long ck hair walked in with two grocery bags. "Yuki! Wee back." They both spoke in Japanese.


    "You''re Japanese?" Haru asked switchingnguages quickly. "Yeah! And so are you? I assumed you were Chinese. There aren''t many Japanese people here."


    "Oh, I see you made a new friend? I will go stock up the refrigerator. You can carry on." Yuki said as he walked into the kitchen. "So where are you from in Japan?" Haru asked Reina. "Oh, I''m not actually from Japan. My grandparents moved here when they were young. Our family just passed thenguage down. It''s fun talking about customers when they have no idea what you are saying." Sheughed mischievously.


    "What about you? Are you from Japan? I heard it was nearly in ruins after the war." She said with a hint of empathy. "Yeah, I lived in a town near Tokyo. It was bombarded pretty hard but bounced back to normal after only a few years. I just moved here a few weeks ago. My grandparents used to live here but my mom moved to Japan and joined the army where she met my dad."


    "Woah. They fell in love during the midst of warfare? That is so romantic. But that''s funny. Your grandparents are from China whilst mine are from Japan. We are total opposites." Reinaughed. "By the way. You didn''t tell me your name yet." She said bluntly as she stirred some milk into her own drink.


    "My name is Haru Kitagawa. But Haru is just fine." They bothughed. Haru took a bite out of the sandwich. Cheese and pickle!? What is with thisbination.


    Reinaughed at his facial expressions as he realised what was on the sandwich. "I thought you were a cheese and pickle type of guy. I guess I need to work on reading customers... My brother makes it look so easy."


    "Reina! I need your help with the stock." Her brother shouted from the kitchen. "Ugh, I was enjoying talking to you. Coming!" She said as she ran off to help her brother. Haru sat there and finished his drink. He was just about to get up and pay as the door to the store swung open once again.


    "Haru Kitigawa? Come with us. Don''t make a scene or someone might get hurt." A man wearing a ck ski mask came into the store and then pulled out a gun. He held it at his waist but made sure Haru could see it.


    Haru sat there for a moment and debated crushing the man''s skull for threatening him. But on the other hand, he had a gun and there were two innocent civilians inside the store. He didn''t know Reina for long but he didn''t want her to get hurt for being reckless.


    Haru silently stood up and followed the man outside to a white van that was parked on the street. He walked up to the back of it. "Get in!" The man hit him in the back of the head with the gun. But it didn''t even make Haru flinch. Haru turned and looked at the man in the eyes with frustration. "I''ming with you peacefully. There is really no need to make this violent." He stepped up into the back of the van and sat down.


    The man in the mask was frozen with fear. "Close the door!" Another man shouted from the driver''s seat. It seemed to bring him out of his trance and he mmed the doors closed. He got back into the van and it sped off into the distance.


    Crap I forgot to pay for my food. Haru remembered as the van began to turn around corners sharply. There were no seat belts in the back of the van. The driver looked in the rear view mirror as he sped around the streets trying to make Haru slide across the back of the van. Haru sat there and began to cultivate unfazed by the sharp turns. "Hey, Lao. Can you sing again? I felt like I was getting stronger by listening to you."


    Haru had be much morefortable with Lao''s appearance. He appeared in front of Haru. "Sure. But I want to see if you can withstand something else. It''s a song called eternal wisdom. It was actually created by a human cultivator many thousands of years ago. We used to sing this to our young back home to boost their knowledge and memory retention. I haven''t tried this on a human yet."


    "Okay, That will be useful anyway. I have to learn a bunch of stuff for my exams soon." Haru sat down on the floor and crossed his legs.


    "Exams? What are Exams?" Lao asked confused.


    "Oh, It''s a human thing. We learn a bunch of things and then we are tested on our knowledge about what we learned."


    "I shouldn''t have asked." He began to sing the song in the same course rough voice. But this time it had a certain charm to it. Haru began to cultivate whilst still concentrating on the outside world. The words were in the samenguage that Haru couldn''tprehend but the notes were nice on the ears. It almost felt as if he could understand the words as more time went on. His attention suddenly switched as he began to understand the words he was hearing.


    "The wind surrounded the sky in an embrace of eternal wisdom." He said aloud repeating what Lao had just sung. Lao stopped dead in his tracks. "You just spoke ournguage! How do you know the dragonnguage!?" He boomed out as loud as he could.


    Haru''s ear rung as the sound of his voice shook his head. "I don''t know it just happened. I could understand the words." Haru said clutching his ears as his vision returned to him.


    Lao began to talk to himself. "It did boost theprehension of our young but it was never something on this level...I know it was created by a human but was the song created for humans as well? But the power of the words and the melody was also strong enough to boost theprehension of other species too? There is so much even I don''t know..."


    The door to the van opened up now revealing four men all wearing ski masks and armed with heavy firepower than before. One had a shotgun and the rest had rifles strapped to their chests. "Come on now! The boss is waiting!" Haru walked with the men out of the back of the van into what appeared to be a loading bay from some sort of warehouse.


    They walked him down a corridor and into a huge storage facility with hundreds of cargo containers inside. They walked down in between a stack of them before it opened up into an empty room. There was a man sat down on a chair with a rope tied around him. Haru couldn''t see his face as he had a bag over his head.


    Next to the man was another chair. But this one was empty. They grabbed Haru by both of his arms and began to walk toward the chair. He was tempted to resist and try to escape but he didn''t know if he could dodge a bullet yet. And he didn''t know what they would do to the person who was tied to the chair. Haru sat down in the chair as they tied ropes around his arms and legs.


    He sat back in the chair. "Couldn''t you have gotten somethingfier for me to sit on? This thing is solid wood. I might get blisters if I''m here for too long." Heined. One of the menughed. "You think you are going to be here for long? Well maybe if you count your soul. Your body will be buried far away from this ce don''t worry."


    "You''re going to kill me?" Haru asked adrenaline now kicking in. He was getting excited. If they were going to try to kill him he wasn''t going to go out without a fight. He sat there with a smile on his face.


    "Oh, You think we are joking? Just wait until the bosses. You will be begging for death by the time she finished with you." The man kicked the top of the chair pushing Haru over onto his back. "


    What are you doing? The boss is going to be mad if we injure him before she gets here!" One of the men shouted. "Don''t worry so much. She didn''t say we weren''t allowed to hurt him. Why would she be mad?"


    "Correct. I didn''t say you couldn''t hurt him. But I also didn''t say that you could." A gunshot echoed out around the room as the man dropped to his knees clutching his shoulder. He was about to scream but quickly hid his pain. "I understand. My deepest apologies boss!"


    "Haru Kitigawa... We need to have a talk."

 Chapter 41: Fire Fight.

    Chapter 41: Fire Fight.


    A woman with long red hair walked out from a balcony at the top of the warehouse and down the metal steps her heels clicking against them with every step. The barrel of her gun was still smoking as she reached the bottom step and threw it toward one of the masked men.


    He juggled it in his hands before finally getting a grip on it and then putting it away in an empty holster on his leg. Haru chuckled at the sight of him.


    "Do you think this is aughing matter? What you did was unforgivable." The woman said looking at Haru with hatred in her eyes. It looked like this woman was so used to hating people that she couldn''t bear to look anyone in the eye. Her gaze met his shoulder which took away from the intimidation she tried to inflict.


    "I did something unforgivable? What was that exactly?" Haru said from the chair that was still on the floor. She walked over and stood above him looking down with anger. "That old man! He would be dead already if it wasn''t for you. But that isn''t the issue right now. The thing is... I want you to admit to sabotaging his furnace and trying to kill him."


    "You want me to admit to trying to kill somebody I rescued? Do you know how stupid that sounds? Why would I rescue somebody I wanted to kill?" Haruughed again. This woman was insane. Who even was she anyway? He thought as two of the other men lifted the chair upright again after the woman nodded her head toward them.


    "Why would you do it huh? How about to save your own life? Are you too stupid to understand the situation you are in right now? Just look around you. We are in the middle of a warehousete at night. Nobody would hear you scream. But most importantly nobody would hear a gunshot to your head." Sheughed sadistically as she walked over to the man with a bag over his head in the chair opposite Haru.


    "Or... If that isn''t a good enough reason for you then... What about to save his life?" She pulled the bag from the man''s head revealing Zen tied to the chair with duct tape over his mouth. He looked like he had been tortured for hours on end. His fingernails had beenpletely ripped off and he had a small trail of blood dripping from his left ear.


    She then ripped the tape from Zen''s mouth. "Agh, You bitch! What the fuck is wrong with you?" Zen shouted as soon as the tape was gone. The woman stopped for a second in shock.


    "What! How dare you talk to me this way!" Zen didn''t give her time to respond. "How dare I talk to you what way? You had me tied up and tortured by your goons. And you have the audacity to get offended by words? You stupid bitch! God damn street walking whore!" Zen was just screaming random insults to take his mind off the pain he was in.


    Haru began tough again. "That''s right Zen. Tell this bitch what she is!" He egged him on as he continued tough. The masked men didn''t know what to do as Zen kept insulting the woman. She also had no idea what to do as she just stood in shock and watched it happen.


    Until finally she snapped. "I bet your mother was fucked by pigs to give birth to a woman like you!" One of the masked men began tough along with Haru. The woman was now shaking in anger. "Cut out their tongues... Cut the tongues out of all three of them!" She screamed to the other masked men. They first started with their own guy.


    They pinned him to the ground as he began to thrash around. "Wait guys stop. You don''t have to do this. I wasn''tughing at her! I just thought of something funny!" He began to make excuses but it didn''t work. He screamed as the de slowly sank into his tongue shing through flesh and veins.


    They all got off him suddenly as one of the men threw arge chunk off bloodied flesh to the ground. The man crawled along the floor and picked it back up before putting it back into his mouth in hopes of reattaching it. He silently cried as the woman pulled a gun from a holster and shot him in the back of the head.


    Blood slowly flooded the floor as it made it''s way to a metal grate on the floor and then dripped down into the sewage pipes below. The men then changed their direction toward Zen who now began to panic.


    "Ah, wait a minute guys. You don''t really have to do this do you?" He then looked at Haru who was still smiling. "A bit of help, please," Zen asked Haru. "You didn''t think I would let them hurt you in front of me, did you?"


    The men flipped Zen''s chair over onto the floor and held his head still. "And just how are you going to stop him from getting hurt? It will be your turn soon enough."


    "How? This is how." Haru ripped his right hand through the rope. followed by his left and then both of his legs. He then looked toward the men holding Zen down to the floor. A red glow came from his hand as a high pitch screech echoed out.


    mes flew from his fingertips hitting all of the men on top of Zen. They began to howl in pain as some of them rolled along the floor and the others ran around helplessly trying to put out the mes. Itsted a few seconds before all that was left were piles of ashes on the floor where theyy previously.


    "You! What are you! How did you do that?! Stay back!" The woman screamed as she pointed the gun toward Haru. She shot one bullet the hit Haru in the shoulder. The pain was tremendous but was nothing new at this point. The pains of cultivating were hundreds of times worse than this.


    She shot another hitting his thigh and then began to shoot blindly as he didn''t fall. In her panic the rest of the bullets all missed. Haru stood still for a moment as he senses the bullets inside his body and forced them out with Qi. He then tried to seal the wounds with his phoenix fire. The fire had no effect at all on his body. Blood slowly began to leak from the two bullet holes.


    The woman backed her self against a wall and then slowly slid down in defeat whilst still pulling the trigger of the gun over and over not realising that she was out of bullets.


    "You monster! How can you kill so easily?" She screamed in fear as he limped toward her. "That''s ironic, isn''t it? You just killed one of your own people. And you ask how I can kill? You have killed many people, haven''t you? I bet it keeps you up at night, doesn''t it? You hear the screams of all the people you have had killed every time you try to fall asleep." Haru began to torment her as she nodded her head and tears rolled down her face.


    "Just think of their faces as you tried to kill them? I bet it was simr to the face you are making right now. I wonder. What should I do with you? But then again that isn''t my call to make." Haru walked over to Zen and untied him.


    "I thought you were going to leave me like this forever. Thank you." He said as he slowly got to his feet and rubbed his wrists where the rope had burned his skin. "Ouch, Ouch, Ouch." He said as he picked up a gun off the floor. The weight of the gun pressed against the skin where his fingernails used to be.


    He then walked over to the woman with the gun aimed at her. "Wait please don''t I will...." A crack sounded out around the warehouse as a sh exploded from the muzzle of the gun. "Fuck that stupid bitch I won''t be able to type for weeks. How am I supposed to manage a business if I can''t type."


    Haru was a little shocked at how easily Zen had just killed someone. He stared at him for a moment. "Have you killed before? You made that look so easy..." Haru was even more concerned about the business his uncle was involved in. "Ah, Not personally but it wasn''t exactly hard. I don''t feel any regret right now if that''s what you''re worried about." Zen began to scratch his head but then felt the pain in his fingers again.


    "Let''s get this cleaned up and head home. We need to talk about this..." Zen said in frustration as he pulled out his phone and made a phone call.

 Chapter 42: Light Teasing.

    Chapter 42: Light Teasing.


    "Thank you, We will be awaiting your arrival... No, it''s fine we will have the cleaning crew do that... Yes. Okay, see you soon." Zen hung up the phone. He had just called his driver toe and pick them up. He didn''t expect this whole thing to happen.


    Zen was on the phone to Haru when there was a knock on his door. He answered to see men in ck ski masks who dragged him outside and threw him into the back of a van and asked him for information about Haru. When he refused to tell them they began to torture him.


    He managed to keep it together and only tell them certain bits of information. He wasn''t entirely sure how they found out where he was but then thought they had probably tracked his phone.


    "Hey give me your phone," Zen told Haru. He obliged and handed over his phone. Zen opened it up and took out the sim card and dropped it on the floor before handing it back to Haru. "They probably have your number saved and who knows how many of them there are. I will give you a new sim when we get back home. Make sure you tell all your contacts your new number."


    They both waited for a while and discussed their own experience of being kidnapped. A few minutes went by and a ck car pulled up followed by a white van. Zen and Haru both looked at each other for a second. They were no longer sure who was friend or foe. The driver of the car got out and took off his hat. It was the same driver who had dropped Haru off at school.


    A look of relief washed over Zen''s face as he recognised him. "Let''s go home," Zen said to Haru as they both made their way over to the car and got in the back. The driver asked Zen a few questions. He seemed really concerned and kept asking them to report it to the authorities. Zen had to remind him of the situation he was in. Whether he liked it or not. The driver was now an aplice. He helped them escape a crime scene. Even if they did report it every single one of them would be arrested.


    As they reached the house Haru got out of the car. Zen stayed behind and handed a brown envelope to the driver and then got out. The driver waved goodbye and smiled before driving away. "What was that about? Haru asked as they both made their way inside.


    "Just a little bonus money to keep everything that happened tonight a secret." Zenughed as he pushed open the door. "Do you think it will work? Can you really trust him?"


    "I hope so. He has been my driver for the past five years. If I couldn''t trust him I would have gotten a new one. It''s his decision. I just hope he trusts me enough not to tell anybody about this." Zen and Haru both walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. A few minutester Xue came in timidly at first but then when she noticed it was Haru and Zen her tail began to wag and she jumped all over them.


    Haru was d that Xue was okay. They could have easily killed her if she tried to defend Zen. She was smart enough to hide herself away and believe that her owner woulde back safely. Haru and Zen both talked in more detail about what would happen from now on. They sat there for a few hours into the early hours of the morning without checking the time. They both knew they had messed up when the sun started to rise.


    Haru. Couldst a few days without sleep. His cultivation would help reduce his metabolism and burn energy slower so he could stay mentally active for days on end. Zen ran upstairs without saying a word and tried to sleep for a couple of hours before he would have to go back to work.


    Haru on the other hand gave his brain a break by cultivating. He closed his eyes and let Lao sing to him whilst he cultivated. With each word, the dragonnguage seemed easier and easier to decipher. The Eternal wisdom had definitely expanded his ability toprehend and remember things. It would be a huge help for his exams.


    Which reminded him. He had homework to do. He opened his eyes and it was light outside. took his phone out and checked the time. It was 12 pm already. He ran upstairs to tell Zen to wake up but there were no signs of him anywhere. He figured that he must have woken up and rushed into work as quickly as he could. Haru went into the kitchen and found a white envelope with his name on it. "Here is your new sim." It read. He opened it and put the sim card into his phone and then sent a text to Suyin.


    "It''s Haru I got a new number you should probably avoid using my old one." A few seconds went by before she opened it and began to type. "Where are you? Mrs. Evans thought that you were skipping ss. Wait hold on a second I will ask to go to the bathroom."


    A few more seconds went by before his phone began to vibrate. Suyin was now calling him. He answered it. "What happened yesterday? I saw your face all over the newspaper! Everyone has been talking about it all day. They said you tried to kill some old man. He is a famous cultivator or something. That can''t be true right?"


    He sighed. I knew this would happen. Haru thought before exining the whole story to her. Leaving out the part about being kidnapped and killing them with his uncle of course. "So you aren''t going to jail? Then where are you?" She asked concerned. "I''m at home. I uh, just woke up." He said sounding sure of himself.


    "You just woke up? It''s already noon. Are youing in at all today?" She asked with a hint of frustration. "Uh, I don''t think so. I was just going to take the time to rx for a while. I don''t really want to exin myself to everybody who has seen my face on the front page of every news site."


    There was a long pause until Suyin spoke again. "Okay. I will see you in twenty minutes!" She said before ending the call. Haru didn''t even have the chance to discuss it with her but it now looked like she wasing over to his house. He just hoped she wouldn''t get into trouble for skipping school. Around ten minutes went by before the house phone began to ring. Haru walked over and answered it.


    "Hello. Is this The Hao residence? There is a girl at the gate iming that Haru invited her over." The voice of the old man Haru had met his first day here came from the other side. "Oh, That must be Suyin. Yeah, let her in please." He said he was just about to hang up when he heard the man speak again.


    "Oh, Haru? Would you like me to give her a ride? It''s quite a long walk. I''m sure you don''t want her to be worn out before she gets there." He said in a tone like he had a definite idea about what was going on. He didn''t really think that they were going to do that, did he?


    Haru knew what the old man was thinking and decided to y along with it. "Yeah, I certainly don''t want her worn out before she gets here. Thank you for your kindness." He put down the phone and began tough. He knew what was going to happen as Suyin rode up to the house with him.


    A few more minutes went by as there was a knock on the door. Haru ran to open it. Suyin was stood there looking really ufortable. Haru hugged her and looked over to the old man and held his thumb up toward him.


    "What are you doing!? Wait you are probably upset about what happenedst night? Here don''t be upset!" She hugged him back getting the wrong idea entirely. They both went inside and sat down on the couch.


    "This is going to sound weird. But I think that the security guard thinks that I''m your lover or something. He kept praising you and talking about how I''m the only girl you have brought home and told me that you talk about me all the time..." Suyin said with embarrassment.


    Haru began tough and then exined that he had gotten the wrong idea and was hoping that she would get mad and clear it up. "I just really couldn''t be bothered to correct him. I had a busy day yesterday I''m too tired to move." Hey back along the whole couch resting his head on Suyin''sp.


    "You can''t move huh? Then what about if I do this!" She began to tickle him. But nothing happened. Haru''s cultivation had strengthened his weaknesses like pressure points and took away the ability to be tickled. He justy there and pretended to sleep.


    Suyin stopped out of disappointment that she didn''t get the reaction she wanted. She threw herself back in frustration and identally hit Haru in the face with her hand during the process.


    "Agh, Fuck I''m bleeding!" Haru fell on to the floor clutching his nose. Suyin began to lose her mind whilst apologising and asking to see if he is okay. She leaned down to get a better look but was too focused on Haru''s face to see his hand flick her in the head.


    "Ouch, why did you do that!" She jumped back with surprise. "That''s for hitting me. Haru said moving closer to her. "And this is for caring about me." He moved closer to her watching her face turn red as he got closer inch by inch. She felt his breath against her face and gulped with anticipation. He then wrapped his arms around her and embraced her with a hug.

 Chapter 43: Last Day.

    Chapter 43: Last Day.


    Three years had passed. Haru was just about to finish his final exam. He was sat inside the examination hall with all the rest of his ssmates. Everything was silent as the clock slowly clicked with each second that passed.


    Li Jun was also yet to show up. Haru had progressed his cultivation to the Qi creation stage with the help of Lao. Today would be a special day. It would mark thest day in high school and also his eighteenth birthday. He finished his final answer and then sat back in his seat.


    Are fifteen minutes remaining huh? He looked at the clock. He was confident that he hadn''t messed up any of his answers but went back through them as his teachers had suggested. He checked once, Then Twice. It was perfect. He wanted to get a few questions wrong but he got lost in the moment and filled out all the correct answers.


    The examiners walked around the hall and checked everyone before they came in so there was no way he could cheat so he didn''t have anything tho worry about. He just felt like it was wrong to get every question right. His memory had been boosted by Lao''s singing and he could interpret most things without knowing the basics. His brain was now naturally running in overdrive. It was almost like he had a photographic memory.


    He waited for the time to run out and a little bell chimed out to signal everyone to stop. They all remained seated as the examiners walked around the room and picked up the test papers.


    A few minutes went by before the principal walked in. He was around fifty years old and had thin ck hair and a mole on his lower chin. He was balding from the centre of his head and slightly overweight. He stood at the front of the hall and waited patiently for the examiners to finish collecting the papers.


    "Hello, students. I''m sure not all of you know me personally but I did get the chance to run into a few of you during your time here with us." He looked around the room and made eye contact with a few of the students. "I did get the chance to meet a couple of you and some of them were on bad terms but I''m sure we can get over our previous grudges." Heughed and the students knew exactly who they were and smiled.


    He then carried on. "I wanted to, first of all, congratte all of you. You are all adults now. You might feel like you have been here for eternity but trust me when I say, that this is just the start of your lives. I''m sure some of you will go off to be sessful and others will be less so. But I want to wish you all the best in your future. May you all have a great life filled with happiness."


    There was a brief moment of silence before one by one people began to p. They had all finally made it through the hell hole they also call school. It was long and tiring and sometimes painful but they were finally done with it.


    Once everyone had finished with their apuse the doors to the hall were opened and everyone made their way back to their homerooms. The corridors were filled with crying girls hugging their friends and telling them they would miss them. Haru walked past them all and dodged a few hugs from a few of his ssmates and then opened the door to his homeroom.


    The door slowly creaked open. He looked up to the windows and saw blue banners strung from the roof. "Happy birthday!" Many voices sang out in unison.


    Haru smiled as he looked around and saw the cheery faces of the friends he had made over the past three years. Somewhere along the line, he had managed to be friends with Lei and the other three boys who threatened him on his first day. School was a funny ce. Grudges die with time and everyone can get along with each other again.


    Suyin ran over first. "Happy birthday, darling!" and kissed him. A few of the other people made sounds to tease them both. She pulled back and looked at Haru for a moment before grabbing his arm.


    "So what do you think of it?" Haru looked down at her and smiled. "I should have known you would n something like this. He then looked over to a table in the back corner with foody across it. "You even hired a caterer?


    Suyinughed. "A caterer? No, I cooked everything myself." She looked over to a group of girls who had all began to stare at here. "Well... Maybe I had a little help." Sheughed as they both walked over to a cake sat in the middle of the table.


    Haru and Suyin grew close and began to spend a lot of time together. And around six or seven months after bing close friends she suddenly shared the news that she had fallen in love with him. Haru was kind of shocked by this because he wasn''t sure how he felt about her. It was confusing but he exined it to her and she seemed to understand. He then decided to go for it. What would he have to lose right?


    He figured out his feelings soon after. He did indeed love her as well. It was the first time he had felt this happy in a while. He smiled again as he looked over to the rest of his friends he had made. This would most likely be thest time all of them would be together like this.


    Mr. Chen was in a surprisingly good mood today and let them y music in celebration. They opened the doors and let the music travel through the corridors luring more people toe and celebrate with them. All though most of the people that came only came for the food.


    "What are we going to do tonight? Want me to stay over at your house?" Suyin asked Haru who was enjoying himself. "Actually It slipped my mind. Zen said he was taking us both out to a restaurant to celebrate my birthday. I was supposed to tell you on Monday but I forgot. Sorry. You don''t have anything nned do you?"


    "Of course not. You idiot. I swear you are only good at remembering the stupidest things." Suyinughed at him. "It sounds good. I will have to head home and change into something nice. I will meet you at around five. Is that okay?" She asked as she pulled out her phone and sent a text to her father asking for permission.


    "That''s perfect." He kissed her and then made a phone call to Zen. Hm, Strange. Why isn''t he picking up? Haru thought as it went straight to his answering machine. He then made a call to his driver.


    "Haru, What can I do for you?" He seemed happy as he answered. "Hi, Sorry to bother you. But have you seen my uncle at all today? His phone isn''t turned on." Haru asked getting quite concerned. It wasn''t like Zen to turn his phone off. Even if he was in an important meeting he would leave his phone to st out music every time someone called him.


    "Mr. Hao? Not since I dropped him off at work this morning. He did tell me to pick him up at around seven. He must be busy. But are you ready yet? I have been sat outside for nearly twenty minutes now." The driver said.


    "You''ve been waiting for that long? You should have sent me a text. Anyway, I won''t be long. I just have to say bye to a few friends. Give me a few minutes and I will be out."


    "You know that I don''t do that whole texting thing. I way too old for that." The driver said before hanging up. He apparently doesn''t have manners too. Haru thought as he made his way to the door and said bye to all of his ssmates. Trying his best to dodge hugs from his close friends.


    "You all have my number. Just call me if you ever want to talk." He called out as he made his way out to the front of the school. He walked out of the gates for what would be thest time ever. He turned back to face the school and took in onest look. "Goodbye." He muttered to himself.


    He thought back to all the memories he had gathered here for the majority of three years. He sighed for a moment before the sound of a car horn brought him back to reality. "Hurry up. I''ve been waiting forever!" The driver stuck his head out of the window and shouted at Haru.


    "Give me a minute okay!? I''ming." He seemed happier before but I guess he''s in the same mood as usual. He thought as he got into the back of the car.


    "Okay, We can go now," Haru said as the driver started up the engine and began to roll down the street.

 Chapter 44: Unexpected Arrival.

    Chapter 44: Unexpected Arrival.


    "Hey, I got something for you." The driver said as he threw a small ck box into the back of the car. Haru barely had time to catch it. He was kind of lost in thought as he saw it heading toward his face.


    He held it in his hands for a second. "Well go on. Open it." The driver said as he looked in the rear view mirror making eye contact with him. "Okay..." Haru said as he opened the box slowly. He was kind of confused.


    He opened the box up revealing a silver watch. "I''ve never seen you wear one so I thought why not get you one. You only turn eighteen once. Happy birthday." Haru was shocked. He had never been nice before. "Awe, I didn''t know you cared so much." Haru made fun of him for a moment. "But thank you I appreciate it."


    "You better. That wasn''t cheap you know? Take good care of it!" The driver warned him as they pulled up outside Zen''s house. Haru stepped out of the car and waved him goodbye as he drove off down the road.


    He then pulled out his keys and struggled as he jammed them in the door. He managed to get it open almost ripping the door from the hinge in the process. The house was quiet. Almost too quiet. He listened closely and then sensed the Qi around him. There were four people in the house. Three in the kitchen and one was currently in the bathroom upstairs. There was also a baby?


    Haru was confused as he made his way into the kitchen first spotting a pink coloured stroller. He then looked to his left to see Zen staring back at him with a smile on his face. "What''s this about?" Haru asked as he was rushed from behind.


    "You didn''t think we wouldn''te to see you on your eighteenth birthday did you!?" A familiar voice he had known all his life rung out in his ear as she wrapped her arms around him. "Mom! It''s been forever!" Haru shouted as he quickly turned around and hugged her back.


    Haru looked to his right spotting his dad looking around confused. "Dad! You''re here too!" Luke looked over at his son. "Yeah," He said as he looked around behind Haru like he was trying to find something.


    "Are you okay?" Haru was a bit confused by his reaction. "Well... Where is she?" Luke said with a huge grin on his face. "Where is who?" Haru said as he tried to pry his mom off him.


    "Well, the mystery girl your uncle has been telling us all about of course!" Heughed. "Give it a rest Luke. This is the first time you have seen your son in three years and you are excited about meeting his girlfriend? What kind of father are you?" Krista was quick to discipline him.


    A cry came out from the stroller. "Um... Why is there a baby here?" Haru asked. He looked a Zen who shrugged his shoulders with a smile on his face. He looked down at his mom who was still hugging him.


    "Oh, Yeah. Come with me." She grabbed his hand and walked over to the stroller. "Haru, Meet your little sister Saki. And Saki, This is your big brother Haru." Krista said as she picked up the baby.


    "You had another kid? Wait when? Why didn''t you tell me?" Haru was confused and angry at the same time. How could they keep this a secret from him? She looked to be a few months old. She definitely wasn''t a newborn.


    "It was your mother''s idea. Don''t me me. I told her you would be mad." Luke said from the other side of the kitchen, Already backing away before Krista could hit him. "I''m sorry sweetie. I was going to tell you as soon as we found out I was pregnant but it didn''t feel right not telling you in person. We actually nned a trip out here at the start of the year but we had to cancel because I got sick. I''m sorry to spring this on you right now." Krista exined everything to Haru.


    "It''s fine. It''s not like you can change anything now." Haru sighed as he held out his arms. "Well, Are you going to let me hold my baby sister or what?" Haru said with augh. "Nope. Not before your next surprise."


    "My next surprise?" Haru said as there was a bit of movement from upstairs. And footsteps came from the hallway. "Ahh... I was holding that in all day. He''s not back yet is he?" A boy''s voice called out from behind him.


    Haru turned around to see a boy around his age with short blonde hair. "You... Oh, wee home." The boy said nervously as he held out his hand for Haru to shake. "It''s nice to see you again." He said with a smile.


    Haruughed. "You moron. It''s only been three years." He said as he hugged him. "This is a surprise. I didn''t expect you to be here Jake." This was indeed an unexpected surprise. He thought that all the friends he had made back in japan would have forgotten about him but here he was. Jake who had helped him out on his first day even if it was mediocre help at best.


    "What are you doing here?" Haru asked as he backed away from him. "Your parents got in contact with me a few weeks ago and asked if I wanted toe and visit you. Honestly, I thought you would have forgotten me already."


    "Ho could I forget you? Especially with all the trouble, you caused me on the first day of school." He felt nostalgic. It had been a long time since he thought about how he used to use magic but for some reason, he wanted to see how far Jake had progressed. "Did you keep up your practice with Mia after I left?" Haru asked.


    "Um, That''s a little... Oh, Nevermind I might as well just tell you. A few months after you left during one of our holidays Mia went home and healed her mom with the magic you taught her. Some drama ended up happening with her family and she decided to drop out of school and join the army directly after she turned sixteen. I haven''t heard anything from her since. It''s a pity really. I hope she is doing okay." Jake exined as best as he could.


    "Me too. Hey since she isn''t here lets drink for her health and a safe return." Haru said as he walked over to the alcohol cab and pulled out a bottle of vodka. "You don''t mind if I open this do you?" Haru looked over to Zen.


    "Go for it," Zen said with a chuckle. "What!? You have only just turned eighteen and you are going to drink? Zen what did you have my son doing while he was here? Did you turn him into an alcoholic? Put that bottle down now. It''s only five o''clock." Krista began to shout.


    "Come on... We aren''t in Japan I''m old enough to drink here. And alcohol doesn''t affect me. I''m a cultivator remember." Haru said in protest. "Oh yeah, You are a cultivator now aren''t you? What stage are you at if you don''t mind me asking?" Jake asked ignoring the rage in Krista''s eyes as he spoke.


    "I just reached the Qi creation stage. I''m still a long way from where I need to be though. Here drink with me." Haru said as he pulled out two cups.


    "What don''t you understand!? I told you no! You aren''t drinking any alcohol!" Krista shouted, Handing the baby to Luke and beginning to glow red as her fire magic appeared from her body.


    "Fine... We will have to save the drinking forter my old friend." Haru said. and turned around to put the cups back. "Ouch!" Krista yelled as her hand hit the back of Haru''s head. "What is your head made out of? Have you filled it with concrete since thest time I saw you?" Kristained as she tried to hit him again.


    "Okay, mom calm down..." Haru yelled in protest. "Calm down! How can I calm down when I have a disobedient son!?" She yelled as she tried to attack him more and more.


    "Dad, A little help please?" Haru called out. "Ha, Help from me? You know very well that I can''t help when she gets like this." Lukeughed. "What is that supposed to mean!?" Krista yelled back at him. They were all interrupted as the doorbell rang.


    "Oh, That must be Suyin," Haru said as he squeezed past his mother''s defense and ran toward the door. "Oh, the girl is here?" Luke asked excitedly. Zen nodded. "The girl? Which girl?" Jake asked confused.


    "Haru''s girlfriend of course!" Luke yelled at him for not following the conversation. "Haru has a girlfriend? Why didn''t anyone tell me?" Jake asked again. "Well if you would have been down here instead of going to the toilet then you would have known," Krista said as she took the baby back from luke.


    Haru opened the door. "Please save me!" He whispered to Suyin. "Why what''s going on!? Are you okay!?" She began to panic. "My mom is trying to kill me."


    "You''re mom is here? I thought you were actually in danger. You idiot." She said as she took a step back. She was wearing a purple dress the was cut at her knee. "Oh, You look beautiful. I didn''t even realise."


    "You didn''t realise? And that is why you are an idiot." Sheughed. "Are you going to introduce me to your mom?" She asked looking a little nervous. "Of course. Nowe on in." Haru grabbed her hand and walked back inside.


    "Hey, Suyin is here. I know you wanted to meet her, dad." Haru shouted through the hall into the kitchen.

 Chapter 45: Burnt Grass.

    Chapter 45: Burnt Grass.


    There were shuffling footsteps as they walked closer to the kitchen. Luke peaked his head around the door frame and stared creepily. "Dad, You look like a demon stop it. You will scare her away." Haru said in response to his dad''s weirdness.


    "Oh, don''t mind me. I''m just looking forward to meeting your first girlfriend." Luke said back with a smile on his face. Krista grabbed him by the ear. "Your son has spoken, respect his wishes." Luke looked back in defeat. "But I''m his dad why do I have to listen to him?"


    "Because I said so. Now behave." She said whilst releasing him. "Fine, Fine..." He saidpletely defeated. Suyin and Haru both entered the kitchen. "Mom, Dad, and Jake. This is Suyin."


    "She is so beautiful! You''re not holding her against her will are you!?" Krista shouted at Haru. Suyinughed. "Definitely not. In fact, I think I''m holding him against his will." Krista and Suyin both giggled.


    "I think we will be friends. Come over here. Haru forgot to introduce you to his sister. He''s such a bad big brother isn''t he?" Krista picked up Saki and showed her off to Suyin.


    "Oh, Haru never told me he had a sister." She looked back at Haru with slight distrust. "Yeah, That might be my fault. It was a surprise to him too. We didn''t tell him until today. We did n to. But nothing ever goes to n does it?" Krista and Suyin began to talk to each other as they both fawned over the baby.


    "So how did you manage to do that then?" Jake put his arm around Haru and pulled him out into the corridor. "How did I do what?"


    "You know. Manage to get such a beautiful girlfriend?" Jakeughed and poked Haru in the chest. "Ouch. I shouldn''t have done that" He said whilst shaking his hand in pain.


    "Well, It just kind of happened. I''m not sure myself we just became good friends and It came naturally." Haru told him as Luke began to sneak up behind to get in on the conversation.


    "So have you done the deed yet?" Jakeughed. Haru stood there for a moment. Deed? "Oh, You mean sex!? Um, No not yet." Haru said quietly. His face was slightly red.


    "What is this I hear about my son having sex?" Luke jumped out and began to violently hub Haru''s head. "It''s nothing! I haven''t done anything so stop getting your hopes up, old man." Haru said as his voice wobbled from the force of his dad''s hand shaking his head.


    "Old man? Who''s an old man? I''m just as young as I have always been!" Luke said energetically.


    "Stop being all giddy over there. You will hurt yourself again." Krista yelled as she heard Luke dancing around. "I''m fine! I told you it was nothing."


    Haru and Jake both began tough. "So you got injured. Sounds like something that happens when you''re old. Act your age already. You are old enough to be a grandfather." Haru said with a smile.


    "I swear If you weren''t my son..." Luke stopped himself. "Haha. So you would beat someone else''s son? That''s a bit mean don''t you think?" Haru looked to Jake and they bothughed as Luke became angrier and angrier.


    "You know you''ve changed a lot," Jake said to Haru as Luke returned to the kitchen to cool down.


    "I have?" Haru was genuinely confused. "Yeah, I don''t know. Before you were kind of serious. You never joked around orughed. It was like you weren''t used to talking to people your own age. I like this you better. You look happier too." Jake got his thoughts out.


    "I guess this is what happens when you go to a normal school for three years. There isn''t a hierarchy based on your strength. So you can bezier. You also don''t have to fight your ssmates so there is less conflict. It''s rxing." Haru thought back to the memories he had made at school. He wasn''t ever going to make more of them. And would probably never see most of the friends he had made ever again.


    "So what are you nning to do next?" Jake asked him bringing him out of his world of thoughts. "Next? I was thinking of going to university. I heard it''s fun and you cane and go as you please. You aren''t actually forced to attend sses. What about you?"


    "Well, After we have our graduation ceremony next month I will be an officer in the army. I have already signed everything so that will be me for the next four years. I''m kind of dreading it. I will have to sit behind mountains of paperwork. I would much rather get deployed somewhere and use my strength to help out."


    "Your strength? How strong is your magic now? Last time I saw you you could barely hit a target." Haruughed.


    "Oh, You haven''t seen anything. I bet I could have taken you on if you could still use magic by now." Jake said proudly.


    "You could take me on? Want to test that theory?" Haruughed and guided jake outside into the yard. "What? Are you sure? I don''t want to hurt you."


    "Hurt me? You couldn''t hurt me if you tried." Haru said as he stepped outside.


    Jakeughed nervously doubting the power of Haru''s cultivation. He didn''t want to injure a friend he hasn''t seen for three years.


    Haru stopped and then looked at jake. "Okay, Give it your best shot." Jake hesitated for a moment and then sent a small fire spell toward Haru. [Stunning me] It wouldn''t harm anyone it would just knock them out at most.


    Haru stood still and took it. The me hit his chest and bounced off onto the floor. "Really? that''s all you''ve got? A stunning me? Come on. Trust me a little bit. I said hit me with everything you have."


    Jake was still a bit nervous but decided to trust his friend. "Okay. I really will give this everything. You can''t me me if you get hurt." He said a little frustrated. Why was he being forced to hurt his friend?


    He began with a small me in his hand. It began to grow as he injected more mana into it. The me suddenly rose to the size of the house. The mes were bright enough that there were no longer any shadows.


    "Wow! You have gotten stronger!" Haru shouted as the sound of the fire roared out like a lion. The doors suddenly opened. "Jake what are you doing!? Why are you attacking him!? You know Haru can''t use magic anymore!"


    The fire grew even more doubling in size. "It wasn''t my idea!" Jake shouted back. "Beleive in him." Suyin jumped in front of Krista stopping her from running over.


    "Beleive? But he only started cultivating three years ago. I heard it takes at least ten years to be able to fight against a mage. But Jake is a high tier mage. How can I believe in him!?" Krista screamed.


    "I''m warning you Haru. This is yourst chance. Just say that I''m more powerful than you ever were and I will stop!" Jake shouted as the fire grew once more.


    "Haha, You actually might be stronger than I was. But you are still far behind my power now. Hurry up and attack or I will fall asleep at this point."


    Jake released his attack in frustration. Not really thinking about the consequences. He let Haru get under his skin and justunched a deadly fire attack toward him. He realised what he had just done but it was toote. The fire had already reached were Haru was previously stood.


    "No! Haru!" Jake ran toward the fire trying to absorb the mana from his own attack. When suddenly it vanished. "Nice. That had quite a bit of force to it. But I should have warned you from the start. Fire does not affect me. It was like throwing a ball of cotton at me." Haru mocked him and thenughed.


    "But you have surprised me. I didn''t think you would get this powerful. I''m guessing you found out what happens when you exhaust your mana? Haru asked but there was no response. Jake was frozen.


    "Why... Why are you such an idiot!? You should have told me you are this strong. I wouldn''t have even attacked you if I knew you were just trying to annoy me!" Jake shouted angrily.


    And then suddenly calmed down. " Wait you know about the Mana thing too?!" His mood changed too suddenly it was almostical. "Of course I know about it. Why do you think I had so much power?" Haruughed.


    "I thought your parents had trained you from birth or something. I didn''t bother asking because I assumed they were harsh on you and it would bring up bad memories!"


    What are they shouting about?" Suyin asked. "I don''t even want to know. But thank you. I should have more belief in my son. You have shown me that. I''m grateful. I want you to tell me all about what you and Haru have been up to. Is that okay?" Krista said as she walked back inside.


    "Oh, I want to hear it too!" Luke said as he ran in after them leaving Haru and Jake outside.


    "I hope one of you is going to clean up that crater you made on my grass!" Zen yelled and shook his head in disappointment.

 Chapter 46: Birthday Celebration Part 1.

    Chapter 46: Birthday Celebration Part 1.


    Haru and Jake stood outside and caught up on what each other had been doing all the time they had been apart. Jake used magic to fix the hole in the yard and thy both went back inside.


    "Hahaha, Are you serious? Haru said that?" Kristaughed as the door opened immediately going silent as Haru walked in. "I said what?" Haru asked confused. Suyin looked at Haru. She was sat on the couch next to Krista and was holding Saki. "Oh, I was just telling your mom about the first time we met each other. When we were sat in ss and you asked if I had a boyfriend." She giggled to herself.


    Luke silently gave Haru a thumbs up from across the room. This is a headache. Haru thought as he was getting slightly frustrated with the situation. It wasn''t like he didn''t appreciate his mom and dading but he was just fed up with them already. He couldn''t wait to get rid of them.


    "Are you guys ready?" Zen came into the room wearing a ck tuxedo. "Ready?" Krista asked. "Yeah, I said I would take everyone out for dinner tonight. You have a formal set of clothes right?"


    "I do. But I don''t think Luke and Jake do?"


    "That''s fine Luke should fit into some of my clothes. Haru do you still have that suit you gotst year?" Zen asked.


    "The one that was too small? Yeah, it should be somewhere in my closet. Jake can wear that." He said as he ran off upstairs and began to search through his clothes. It was hung up at the back of the closet. He reached for it pushing the rest of his clothes out of the way.


    "Here it is," Haru said turning around to Jake who had already made his way upstairs. "Are you sure it''s okay for me to wear your clothes?" Jake asked hesitantly feeling a little ufortable.


    "It''s fine. You can keep them. I got themst year but they didn''t fit. My it was too tight around the chest so I just hung them up again. It''s a good thing I kept them." He exined.


    Although Haru and Jake were the same age. Jake was a little shorter at five foot ten inches but the biggest difference was in their builds. Jake was athletic but his training in the army was more about cardio to be able to march long distances. He was thin but still had a bit of muscle on him.


    Haru on the other hand was six foot two inches and had a broad chest and shoulders. He looked thin in clothes but when he wasn''t wearing a shirt his body was riddled with muscles that he didn''t even know he had. It hade from his body returning to origin. His muscles had grown and his body formed the most perfect form for his age. It carried on changing depending on his age keeping its self in the best condition possible. Although now he was eighteen and finally matured his body would never change.


    He kind of dreaded the fact that people will age around him but he could also learn to control thews of timeter on so he could grant people immortality. ording to Lao, Li Jun''s original body was almost at the stage of bing a true god fifty thousand years ago. If he was still alive then who knows how strong he would be.


    He looked up to him. The more stories he heard of the upper realms the more it motivated him to cultivate. although he was still far away from seeing them. But he had to move one step at a time. He wasn''t far from being able to see what is inside the floating mansion in his soul.


    Both Jake and Haru finished getting dressed and headed back downstairs. "You both look so adorable. You should dress like this more often." Krista said as she ran over and pinched both Haru and Jake''s cheeks.


    "Mom stop it already."


    "Mrs. Kitagawa please stop it kind of hurts."


    They bothined. Suyin stood back still holding Saki andughed. Saki looked up at her and copied herughing. "Aww, She''s so cute. I can''t wait until I have a baby." Suyin said but then gasped and looked over to Haru embarrassed by her mindlessment.


    "Oh, You say that now because you can just hand her back to me. Imagine living with her. All the crying, the feeding, the diapers. It is exhausting. Trust me. Don''t have kids whilst you''re still young. I had Haru when I was twenty six and I feel like I lost my youth after that." Kristained and put her arm around Suyin.


    "Then are we all ready now?" Krista asked guiding everyone to the door. Zen was already outside. There was now a limo waiting for everyone. "Ugh, What''s with the limo? Couldn''t you have gotten something less shy?" Haru asked.


    "Well, There seven of us. How do you expect everyone to fit in a normal car?" Zen then opened the door. "Okay, If you are all set to go. Then hurry up and get in already. We don''t have all day you know?" He said rushing. He looked down at his watch.


    "We should be fine. I hope." From all the time Haru had spent living with his uncle, he learned one thing. Zen really cares about time. If he says he will be there at a certain time he will be there an hour early to make sure nothing goes wrong.


    They all got into the car as quickly as they could to make sure it would stop Zen''sining about them being too slow. Zen was thest person to enter before he shouted at the driver to hurry up.


    "Fine as you wish." He said with a smile like he was used to Zen demanding him to go faster. The car sped up. Not enough to break any speed limits but he began passing cars on both sides as the made it along the main road toward the restaurant.


    Krista held onto Saki tightly. "Can you tell him to slow down a little? There is still a baby in here." Krist asked Zen.


    "We don''t have time! We might bete!" Zen said in response.


    "Fine then don''t expect me to save you if we crash," Krista whispered quietly to herself.


    The car pulled up outside the restaurant and they were shown to their seats by a waiter.


    They all sat around a table in a private section of the restaurant that Zen had previously booked. It was quiet and no one else was around. It must have cost quite a lot of money to make all the other tables nearby clear out and have a table set up for just them. Haru thought about the costs.


    He felt a little guilty about it. He didn''t think his birthday deserved so much celebration that you would need to rent an area but then he remembered Zen''s identity in the area. He was a local celebrity so of course, he would need to have his own private ce so he wasn''t bothered whilst trying to eat with them. Not to mention everyone else they would have trouble if people knew they were associated with the famous Mr. Hao.


    "Can I get you some drinks first?" The waiter asked them. Everyone looked down at their menus and decided on what they would get.


    Krista got a fruit juice for saki and ordered a ss of soda for her and Luke. Zen ordered a ss of bourbon, Suyin also ordered a soda after getting a disapproving look from Krista as she browsed through the alcohol section.


    Jake first looked at Haru and smiled and then to Krista before finally ordering. "I will have a shot of vodka." Krista looked over and shook her head. She wanted to say something but it wasn''t like she could punish someone else''s child.


    "Actually make that a bottle of vodka and three sses," Haru said with a huge grin as he looked over at his mom. Jake, Luke, and Zen began tough as rage grew on Krita''s face. Suyin looked over deciding to keep quiet to not get involved.


    The waiter wrote everything down exactly as he heard it, crossing the single shot of vodka from his list. "I don''t believe you," Krista said with nothing but disappointment in her voice. She wasn''t even angry anymore.


    "Mom, I am the legal age to drink, I want to celebrate my birthday properly with the people I love. Is there anything wrong with that?"


    "Come on he has a good point. remember your eighteenth birthday in the army? I remember hearing about it from an old colleague." Luke tried to persuade her.


    "I guess it''s not so bad if you put it like that..." She hesitantly epted it.


    "Yes!!!" Jake and Haru both shouted in celebration.


    "That doesn''t mean you can drink it all! You have to limit yourself." Krista shouted back.


    "Fine whatever," Haru muttered quietly.

 Chapter 47: Birthday Celebration Part 2

    Chapter 47: Birthday Celebration Part 2


    They briefly talked until the waiter came back with their drinks. He handed them out and then put the bottle of vodka in the middle of the table with the three sses surrounding it. Haru grabbed them quickly so his mom didn''t have a chance to go back on her word.


    He began to pour it into the sses one by one. Finishing by filling his ss up to the top. He only put a ssh or two in the other sses and handed one to Jake and one to Suyin. Jake looked at his ss andpared it to Haru''s.


    He grabbed the bottle and filled it up to the top. He looked at Haru and smiled "Oh? You want to do this?" Haru said as they both slowly counted down from three.


    "Three, Two, One." They said together as they both threw their heads back and emptied the ss down their throats. Suyin was a bit dyed. She pinched her nose as she finished her ss and then pulled a funny face as she coughed.


    "Just so you know I''m not going to help either of you get home if you can''t walk," Krista told them both. She was disappointed that she had let them both do this to themselves. "It''s fine I will." Luke whispered across to them."


    "You most certainly will not. They are both adults they can do it themselves." Krista said smugly. Suyin felt a little dizzy from her first drink. She rested her head on Haru''s shoulder. "Remind me to never drink again I hate how it makes me feel. It''s your fault. You big idiot." She said with her cheeks slightly red.


    Luke smiled at his son. Without saying a word Haru understood him. He was proud of his son. And Happy that he had found himself a girlfriend. He had never shown much interest in anything romantic when he was growing up. He acted like a robot. His only reason for living was practicing magic. It was cute when he was an infant. But as he grew older his obsession with magic seemed kind of sad.


    He was finally seeing his son grow as a person. His mind was now on other things than magic. It was unfortunate that he had lost the ability to use magic it but maybe it was a blessing in disguise. Luke sat thinking about all the things he wished he could say to his son but he didn''t want to look too feminine like a mother would look praising her son for getting first ce in a test.


    Haru smiled back in confirmation that he understood. He put his left arm around Suyin as they waited for the water toe back. Jake started to look a bit wobbly. Haru reached over and poured himself another drink.


    "You won''t beat me so easily!" Jake said whilst snatching the bottle and pouring more into his ss. Haruughed as he looked at Jake. His cheeks had also be red and his words were kind of slurred.


    "Okay, We will stop for now. Let''s get something to eat first. You look like a zombie." Jake hung his head down as Haru finished. "Fine..." He said with a hup.


    He was totally gone at this point. He needed to sober up before they carried on drinking. A few minutes went by before the waiter came back to the table. "Are you ready to order now?" He asked and then looked at Jake who was one hundred and ten percent drunk.


    They all picked out their choice of food. Jake stumbled over his words as he ordered a te full of fried chicken. "And you sir?" The waiter asked Haru.


    "Ah, We will take the grilled tter. It was described as Fish, steak, and chicken grilled to perfection with a side of roasted vegetables and a selection of dipping sauces. "Haru wasn''t too hungry and Suyin was probably feeling too tired to eat so he decided to get something they could share between them.


    "Is that everything?" He asked. "Yeah, that''s it thanks," Zen replied. The waiter walked off with his list and passed it off to the chef. It wasn''t long before it arrived at their table and they began to eat. Suyin perked up a bit after smelling all the food in front of her. By the time they had finished Jake and Suyin had both sobered up a little bit.


    Haru picked up his ss of vodka that he had left on the table through out eating his meal and began to drink it. He drank it like it was water and withing a few seconds his ss was empty again. Jake looked at him and saw it as a challenge so he drank his as fast as he could so he couldpete with him.


    "Okay, that''s enough boys. You are going to drink yourselves to death!" Krista shouted at them angrily. "Not yet!" Jake shouted as he reached for the bottle. Haru quickly grabbed it and drank the remainder of the bottle in one gulp. There was still half a bottle left but he had just finished it in less than two seconds.


    "Haru! What did I just say!?" She shouted again. "Why did I even agree to it? I knew something like this would happen. I should have just stuck with my first decision." She shook her head and then looked at Luke. "Don''t you have something o say about this?"


    "Oh Yeah, Um, Don''t drink so much It will destroy your kidneys." He said whilst shoveling thest spoonful of his dessert into his mouth. "That''s not what I meant," Kristained. Luke just shrugged his shoulder and paid no attention to it.


    Zen chuckled tp himself. "You know I missed your constantining Krista. It reminds me of when dad would drink and you would always shout at him."


    "You still remember that? You were probably about eight right? I''m surprised. It feels like it never happened it was that long ago. I hope he is doing okay where ever he is." Krista was still optimistic that he was still alive. They had never found his body and it had already been twenty years since he had gone missing so it was the only thing she could grab onto to convince herself he was still alive.


    "Yeah, I had a great childhood until mom married that guy." Zen sighed. "You and Andrew both left me alone in a house with mom and that guy. I kind of hated you both but when I saw how he treated you both I understood why you did leave. I know it''s kind of sad but I''m d mom died when she did so I could get that guy out of my life. Any earlier then He would have been considered my legal guardian and would have inherited everything we owned."


    "Yeah, I would be mad if all of dad''s hard work was given to a man like him. I think I probably would have killed him myself." Krista said quietly. Luke grabbed her hand. "Not before I would have." He said and smiled at her.


    "Gross, get a room!" Jake shouted as he fell and hit his head off the table. "Ouch. That felt, Hmm?" He said as his eyes slowly started to close. The alcohol had affected him once again. "We should probably get going before this one causes any trouble for us," Zen said as he put his jacket back up. Everyone began to stand up as the waiter walked back over holding a card scanner.


    "Here." Zen held his card over until there was a beep. They all then made their way outside and waited for the driver to pick them up. It wasn''t a long wait as he drove up in the same ck limo. Haru had his arm around Jake to stop him from falling over as they walked toward the door Zen was holding open.


    "I can walk all by my self!" Jake insisted as he stumbled. His ankle rolled as he stepped down off the curb but Haru caught him just in time. "I gotcha." Heughed as he caught Jake and helped him into the car.


    They all got into the back as Jake made a fuss from the inside. "A limo? I feel like a princess." He said and the awkwardly stared at everyone who had begun tough. "Did I say something wrong?"


    "No, not at all," Haru assured him as the car made it''s way back toward Zen''s house. They arrived and Haru was on babysitting Duty as he helped Jake to a guest bedroom andy him down. "The bathroom is next door. Don''t piss the bed." He said as he left the room and switched off the light.


    He walked back out to the living room. "Oh, Haru Suyin said she was going to lie down because she felt tired," Zen told Haru as he passed him in the hallway.


    "Thanks for telling me I will head up soon too." He walked into the living room where his parents were sat down. Krista was holding Saki who was sleeping. "She was awake for so long today. I bet she was exhausted." Krista said to Luke who was leaning back against the couch with his eyes closed.


    "I just came to say goodnight to you both. I''m kind of tired. You will be here in the morning right?" Haru asked. "Yeah, Did we not tell you? We will be here all week. Goodnight sweetie" She blew him a kiss. He ignored her and made his way up to his room.


    Suyin was already asleep in his bed. Haru got undressed and theny down next to her. "You were kind of quiet today. I hope it wasn''t too much for you. Goodnight." He kissed her on the cheek before falling asleep.

 Chapter 48: Hang Over.

    Chapter 48: Hang Over.


    Haru woke to the freezing cold blowing against his skin. He slowly opened his eyes. He looked down and saw he was no longer under the nkets and then over to Suyin who had stolen them whilst he slept. "You little..." He thought and then pulled them back over him. He covered himself up and then felt a tug from the other side.


    She had woke up and was trying to cover herself also. "Hey, it''s cold let me have some too." Sheined. "You''re cold? Thene closer. I will warm you up pretty quickly."


    "Is that a promise?" She rolled over and smiled at him. "Yes, it is." Haru lifted the nket and grabbed hold of her waist and pulled her toward him. She giggled a little bit as he began to kiss her neck. He carried on kissing her for a few minutes before pulling her up on top of him. Suyin screamed a little bit and thenughed. She smiled as she looked down at him.


    She leaned over and kissed him in return when suddenly the door flew open. "Haru... Your mother sent me to tell you to get up." Jake walked into the room holding his head. Suyin gasped as she saw him.


    "You pick the worst times don''t you?" Haru looked over to him from underneath Suyin. "Uh, Are you? Sorry I will tell her your busy!" Jake began to panic and ran out mming the door behind him.


    "Well, that was a little awkward..." Haru said whilst helping Suyin down to the floor. "We should probably go down now, shouldn''t we? What if someone elsees up next?" Suyin began to put on her spare change of clothes. "Yeah, your right. We are lucky that was Jake. My mom probably would have killed us both." Suyinughed again as she finished putting on her clothes.


    "I''m serious. You saw how she acted yesterday when I was drinking. She would literally kill me." Haru began to get up and ger dressed too. "I swear she is crazy." Just as he finished the door slowly creaked open.


    "Who is crazy?"


    "Oh, Hey mom. I was just talking about one of our friends. She is quite crazy. I heard she once jumped off a bridge because somebody told her too." Haru began exining to his mom but she had a furious look in her eyes.


    "Is that right? That''s quite a crazy friend you have. I wonder do you know this friend he is talking about Suyin?" Krista shot her death stare to Suyin. She jumped as she felt a chill go down her spine. "Uh, Yeah... She is just super crazy..." She said nervously.


    "Okay. Breakfast is ready. You two better hurry up or it will go cold." Krista''s mood changed drastically. As she walked away and closed the door on her way out.


    "You are right. She would have killed us both!" Suyin said and hugged Haru. "How can someone be so scary?" She buried her head into his chest.


    "Oh, She has always been like that. I guess I''m used to it. She was even like this when I was a baby." He said quietly. They both then made their way down into the kitchen. Jake was sat down at the table and stared awkwardly at Haru as he sat down across from him.


    "What''s that look for?" Haru sat down and began to eat. Suyin sat next to him and looked at Jake with embarrassment. "Well you know, When I came in you were..."


    "Yeah, Stop there. We weren''t doing what you think." Haru told him. "B-but it looked to me like you were." He whispered. "Well, it wasn''t what it looked like. I think your eyes might need testing. Maybe you are still drunk?" They bothughed.


    "I wish that was the case. I wouldn''t feel this bad If I was still drunk." Jake again held his head as the headache fromst night''s drinking kicked in. It was probably amplified by the fact that he headbutted the table before passing out. Haruughed at him


    Although he couldn''t get drunk from normal alcohol he didn''t wish that he could either. He never thought about it before but now he could drink all he wanted even if it was to show off in front of people and he wouldn''t have any side effects. And to add to that the higher his cultivation was the more resistant he would be to toxic things. He could probably eat raw chicken without getting salmone. Not that he wanted to but he couldn''t actually think of another use for it. Unless someone tried to use chemical weapons against him but there wasn''t a high chance of that happening.


    He looked back at Jake. "Why don''t you feel like this? You drank way more than me." Heined.


    "Because I have immunity to toxins. You know this already. Are you sure you didn''t hit your head too hard?" Haru mocked him. "Hit my head too hard? Did I hit my head? Everything fromst night seems all fuzzy." He asked confused.


    "So you definitely don''t remember saying you feel like a princess?" Haru and Suyin bothughed at him. "I said I''m a princess? What?" Luke and Krista both walked into the kitchen from outside. Luke was out ying with Xue and she went out to call him to eat.


    "You can be a princess if you want to. I''m not gonna judge you." Luke said as he sat down next to Jake. "Oh, you already started eating without us?" Krista asked.


    "Well yeah, you told us to get it before it went cold. I assumed you meant for us to eat right away." Krista just shook her head and sat down.


    Haru finished his food and walked upstairs and Packed Suyin''s clothes from the night before into her bag and came back downstairs to see her stood at the door. "And where do you think you too are going?" Krista yelled out from the kitchen.


    "I''m taking Suyin home. There is no need to worry I will be back soon." Haru called out as he opened the front door. "Take Jake with you. I don''t him getting lonely while you are gone." She shouted back.


    "Mys Kitagawa, There is really no need. I can wait."


    "No, You are going. That is the end of it."


    "Hurry up if you areing," Haru shouted to jake who had just finished eating. He ran down the hallway and almost slid across the floor as he reached the He put on his shoes and quickly closed the door behind him before Xue could chase him down the corridor.


    They all got into the car. Haru was in the middle with Suyin on the left of him and Jake to the right. They began to talk as the car sped off toward the main road.

 Chapter 49: Cream Doughnuts.

    Chapter 49: Cream Doughnuts.


    They all sat patiently in the car as it arrived at Suyin''s house. It was an old style house. It had arge gate and a courtyard that surrounded a single oak tree. When the car arrived Mr. Jiang was already waiting at the door.


    "Hey, You are looking after her aren''t you? I don''t have to tell you what will happen if you upset her do I?" Mr, Jiang walked up to Haru''s window and said to him quietly.


    "Dad, Shut up! You big moron. I hate it when you do this." Suyin shouted from the door as she shook her head and walked inside. "Look what you have done now. Don''t be upset sweetie!" Mr. Jiang ran inside after Suyin.


    "What was that about?" Jake was sat confused at what had just happened. "Uh, Well it''s a long story but it''s something like. When Suyin told me how she felt. I turned her down at first and she went home crying that night. Her dad ended up threatening to kidnap me. And every since he threatens me every time we meet. I find it kind of funny." He exined as the car began to drive back to zen''s house.


    "So he doesn''t know you could beat his ass if he tried too?" Jake asked as they passed a certain coffee shop. "Hey, can you stop here? we can walk back I want to get some coffee." Haru asked the driver ignoring Jake for a moment.


    "Sure, I will let your uncle know." He said as he pulled over to the side of the road. Jake was a little more confused now but didn''t question it much. "Yeah, He knows I could. But he just doesn''t know that I have progressed by two stages since Ist showed him my power. I am around six times more powerful than I was back then. But that isn''t including the techniques I learned since then." He exined as he unbuckled his seat belt and got out of the car.


    Jake shuffled along the seats and got out of the same side to avoid being hit by cars driving past. "Six times? So I might have had a chance to beat you back then?" Jake was hopeful for a moment.


    "Uh, sorry to put it bluntly put no. I found out the hard way that cultivation is a lot stronger than you could imagine. If fighting mage''s it would be like stepping on ants when you reach the higher stages. I''m still really low down on the scale, to be honest."


    The walked along the pavement toward the coffee shop and walked inside. The bell attached to the door chimed out alerting the store owners.


    "Wee." A woman''s voice called out. "Hey, Reina. It''s just me. I will have the usual, please." Haru shouted out. There were three other customers inside the store who gave him a weird look as he spoke Japanese." He didn''t even mean too. He was just so used to tranting what Jake was saying to Suyin that he had forgotten about it.


    "Oh, Haru you surprised me for a minute. How are you doing today? Oh, You brought a friend with you today." Reina turned around and walked to the counter. She leaned over and looked at Jake and then whispered to Haru "He''s pretty cute. Where did you find him?"


    Haru smiled at here. "This is Jake. We used to go to school together back in Japan." He pulled jake over with his left arm toe and introduce himself.


    "Hi, I-I''m Jake..." He stammered. What is up with him? Haru though and then looked at Jake. His cheeks were slightly red and he looked nervous. Reina held her hand out over the counter. "Nice to meet you Jake, Any friend of Haru''s is a friend of mine." She smiled at him for a few seconds before she went back to making Haru''s coffee.


    "So what can I get for you jake?" She asked as she rinsed a cup out. Jake was still staring at here in awe. "Come on buddy. You are being a little bit creepy." Haru whispered to him. It seemed to bring him out of his trance. "Uh, What do I want? Um... Can I have a t white with extra milk, please?" He asked her.


    "That is not a problem at all. Anything else?" She smiled at him again. "Oh, Actually Reina I will take one of those doughnuts that you hadst time. Jake, you have to try these." Haru said as he pointed to the chocte covered doughnuts with cream inside.


    "They do look good. I will have one too please." Jake said as Haru looked over to find a seat. He walked into the corner seat that had now be his seat. At night it was just dark enough to conceal his face but during the day he had a full view of the front of the store.


    He would oftene here to rx or just get some peace. It was a public ce but it was mainly a spot for regrs. He had be acquainted with a few of the usual customers over the years.


    "Hey Haru," Jake whispered. "Yeah, What''s up?" He looked over to him. "Who is this girl? She is beautiful. Are you sure she isn''t a model or anything?" Haruughed. "A model? No that is the opposite of Reina''s personality. She is nerdy and likes to be left to herself to get lost in novels andics. I doubt you would still think she was beautiful when you see her in the morning. Her hair is always all over the ce until about ten o''clock. I have to get Suyin toe and brush her hair just for it to stay straight. But don''t tell her I told you that."


    "See her in the morning? So does that mean you two have?" Jake became a little flustered. "No, not at all. We are close friends. If anything I see her as an older sister."


    "Older?! What do you mean! I thought she was the same age as us?" He seemed a little disappointed. "Yeah, I thought the same at first. But she is three years older than us. Don''t let that get you down. She did once tell me she has a thing for cute European boys. Maybe she will..." Haru stopped as there was a thud on the table.


    "Hey, I wasn''t too long was I? Someone just came and ordered a bunch of things. Sorry. I got a little distracted trying to get everything ready for them." Reina came over with the two drinks and doughnuts on.


    "Reina! I need a hand for a moment." A voice called out from the back "Okay! Sorry. You guys came at a good time. I get a break in ten minutes if you want to wait we can get a chance to talk."


    "Sure. We can wait." Haru said as he picked up his coffee. "Thanks, I won''t be long." She ran off into the kitchen. "Who''s was that voice just now? He sounded kind of rude." Jake picked up his own drink and took a sip. "Mhm... It''s good." He said before taking another.


    "That was just Yuki, Her older brother. Yeah, he is a pretty intimidating guy but he''s nice once he warms up to you. Now hurry and try that doughnut they are to die for." Haru wasted no time picking up his own and taking the biggest bite he could.


    A look of pure joy washed over his face as he began devouring it like his life depended on it. "It, can''t be that good can it?" Jake doubted Haru''s expression as he bit into his own." He froze. All of the cream melted into his mouth as it mixed with the thinyer of chocte and fluffy dough. "Wow, I have no words. This is amazing!" He almost shouted.


    "Shush you, idiot. I chose this table so we could talk but don''t be too loud. The customers get pissy. I remember the first time I brought Suyin here one of the customers threatened to get me kicked out. Luckily Reina is nice. She diffused the situation but made sure she shouted at me to shut up in front of everyone. I know she didn''t mean it but it was pretty embarrassing I would rather not have that happen again." He exined. They finished their doughnuts in record time.


    As they were talking to one another one of the customers said out loud. "Stupid foreigners. They are ruining the peace." They said it loud enough so that all of the other customers. could hear." Haruughed as he made eye contact with an old woman in the corner. He knew her husband and had eaten at their house a few times. He was a construction worker who helped build an extension on to Zen''s housest year so they got to know each other well as he worked there every day.


    She leaned over to the man who had said it. "Excuse me, young man. I''m sorry to tell you but one of those stupid foreigners happens to speak Chinese fluently " The man almost spilled his drink on himself as his face went red with embarrassment.


    "I''m sorry, I didn''t mean to be rude." The man turned and apologised to Haru." Haru smiled lightly. "It''s okay, I should apologise to you. I didn''t mean to be too loud. My friend here is staying here for a week. I just wanted to show him around a little bit. I''m sorry for disturbing you." Jake looked at Haru and then at the man confused not knowing anything that was going on.


    "Hey, What are you talking about?" Jake whispered. "ah, It''s nothing. Don''t worry about it." He said and took a final sip of his drink.


    "Hey, I didn''t keep you waiting too long did I?" Reina walked back down and sat down on the seat next to Jake. His face became slightly red.


    "Nope, It''s all good."

 Chapter 50: Date?

    Chapter 50: Date?


    "You came just at the right time. I was telling Jake some stories about you." Haru smiled. "Hey, what kind of stories?" Reina crossed her arms and kicked him in the shin from under the table.


    "Oh, Yuki is working the counter. Jake, Do you want another drink?" Haru stood up. Jake looked back at Haru his eyes wide silently begging him to stay. "Uh, Uh..."


    "I will take that as a yes." He picked up Jakes''s cup and the try Reina had used earlier to carry their drinks to them. "Oh, Haru. Get me a drink too." Reina shouted a little too loud. She got a few angry looks from the other customers.


    "Fine, Just stop shouting." Haru walked up to the counter and handed the cups and tray to Yuki. "Hey, When you go back tell her to keep her damn mouth shut," Yuki said with a smile as they greeted each other. "Do I say it''s from you or just scream it in her face?" Haruughed.


    "I will let you choose." Yuki began to clean the cups Haru had just handed to him. "What can I get for you?" Yuki looked over to Haru from the sink. "I will have the usual, Jake wants a t white? I think, Oh with extra milk, And your sister wants that god awful tea. Oh, I will take three of those doughnuts too." Haru listed off everything that he was supposed to get. He nced back over at Jake and Reina.


    Jake was still sat awkwardly. Even from this distance, Haru could tell that he wasn''t talking much. He smiled as he turned back to face Yuki. "What''s that smile for? You are not nning to hook my sister up with that brat you dragged in, are you? You know for a fact she would break him." Yuki asked as he looked at Jake for a second.


    "Nah, I have some hope for him, In a few years I think he will most likely be the strongest mage Japan has seen." Haru looked down in a brief moment of reminiscence. "You think? What about that one guy they called the great mage or something?"


    "The great mage? His magic was one of the weakest. It was only after a life and death situation that he became strong. Jake on the other hand. His Mana is pure and he has way more stored up in his body than what the great mage started out with. Give him a few years and he will break any previous records. But then again there is someone stronger than him." Haru smiled.


    "This guy really has that much potential? I don''t see it. Anyway who is this even stronger person?" Yuki leaned over the counter. "Ah, Just another old ssmate. She apparently already joined the army. It won''t be long until the world hears her name too." Haru thought back to the first time he had met Mia. She looked so defenceless. She was the type of person to put her all into training. If Jake had progressed this far with his attitude just what would her current strength be like?


    "You know, Every time you tell me stories about the old war you make it sound like you experienced it first hand." Yuki finished pouring the drinks. "I do? Yeah, that''s probably because my parents tell me what it was like back then at any chance they get to." They bothughed.


    "My grandpa was the same. He would tell Reina and I stories every night before we went to bed. He even passed down his notes on magic development and technology after he died. That was when our dad made us start training. It''s useless now though. We can''t even legally use magic here." Yuki said looking down at the doughnuts. "These ones? You need to stop eating these. We will run out soon." Yukiughed.


    "Don''t make them so tasty then." Haru took the tray and walked back to the table. All the talk of magic really brought him back to his past. He didn''t regret the decision he made but he kind of missed his magic. He felt like his connection to it waspletely gone.


    It was just the thoughts of an old man. He was now on the path of cultivation. He would have to reach the very heights of this before he decides if it was worth it. There would still be a very long way to go and It would be hard. But Haru was dead set on the hopes of seeing a world he never knew existed until three years ago.


    He put the tray down on the table and then sat down in the same seat as before. "Haru, Why didn''t you tell me you had a little sister?" Reina said as soon as he picked up his drink from the table. "Well, I didn''t know until yesterday." He took a sip. It was scolding hot but it didn''t seem to bother him as he gulped down a mouthful.


    "That isn''t an excuse! You should have told me as soon as you found out!" Reina shouted in a hushed tone. "Oh, yeah I almost forgot. Keep your damn mouth shut." Haru said to her. She took a second to process.


    "What!? What did I do!" Reina said confused. "Haru, Don''t you think that was a bit?..." Jake began to say. Reina kicked him again from under the table. "Hey, Don''t kill the messenger. I''m just passing on some advice I heard from someone." heughed as Reina looked over to Yuki who was staring at her.


    "That bastard. He told you to say it didn''t he?" She slouched over and rested her head on her hand and picked up the tea that Haru had just brought for her. Yuki smiled a menacing grin as she put the cup to her lips.


    She almost threw up as she coughed up the liquid she had just swallowed. She began to stand up as her face turned red with anger. Haru and Jake were both confused as to where she was going. "Hey, what''s up are you okay?" Jake asked. She looked back at him for a second and then toward the counter. Yuki was stood smiling with a salt shaker in his hand.


    "He just put salt in my tea!" She shouted as she ran over to the kitchen and began to chase Yuki around. She began to throw pots and pans at him. He dodged them all but the sounds became so loud that all of the customers left in frustration. Haru sat back andughed.


    "Is this normal?" Jake asked. He was a little concerned. "Normal? This happens at least five times a day. So... What do you think of Reina." Haru leaned in next to him and whispered. Jake was caught off guard. His cheeks slowly turned red.


    "What do I think? Well, Uh, She seems like a nice girl... Ah, Fine. She''s cute. When I saw her I thought it was love at first sight. I thought she was way out of my league. But when you left us alone to talk she seemed so sweet. I felt reallyfortable talking to her. It was like we have known each other for years." He said embarrassed.


    Haruughed. "I thought you would like her. I was being serious when I said she liked European boys. If you think you can but up with her horrible temper then why don''t you take a shot?" Haru asked him. Jake thought for a moment.


    "You think she likes me? I don''t know. I feel like it is a bit too soon. We hardly know each other. What If I get turned down?" Jake began to make up excuses for himself.


    "Jake, listen to me. You are here for a week. Have a bit of fun. What is the worst that can happen? Just ask her out on a date or something? At most, she will say no. What is there to lose?" Haru could see Jake''s intentions. He liked Reina. But he justcked the confidence in himself to do anything about it. He saw himself in Jake. His eyes became weary as he thought it over in his head for a few moments.


    He looked back to Haru with a resolve "You''re right, Eighteen years old and I haven''t even been on a date before. If I run away at the first chance I get then what does that say about me?" He looked around for a moment spotting Reina still chasing Yuki around the kitchen. He stood up and looked down at Haru.


    "I''m going for it." He said and then walked over to the counter. "Good luck my friend," Haru said quietly as a smile formed across his lips. He sat quietly in the corner and watch on as Jake interrupted the brother and sister who were now wrestling on the floor.


    He stood for a minute before Yuki spotted him. "Oh, Reina you little friends here. Why don''t you leave me alone and talk to him?" Yuki managed to wiggle his way out and run away.


    "This isn''t the end you hear me!?" She shouted as he made his way upstairs in defeat. She turned to look at Jake who was stood on the other side of the counter.


    "What''s up?" She said casually smiling the same smile that Jake had been entranced by. He took a moment to gather his courage as it felt like a pit appeared in his stomach. Okay, I can do this. He thought to himself before speaking up. "This might sound weird but do you have a day off work some time this week?" He asked her kind of awkwardly.


    Reina put a finger to her chin and thought about her schedule. "This week huh? I am free on Sunday. Why?" She was kind of confused. Jake looked even more embarrassed, it looked like he was about to shout out his feelings. But he managed to calm himself before speaking.


    "I was wondering If you would like to go on a date with me?" He said immediately feeling a sense of Dread. He was sure that it was already over for him. Why did I let Haru talk me into this? He thought to himself as he looked back at Reina.


    She was shocked. Her face was now as red as his. Her mouth was hanging open slightly. "A date?" She said to herself quietly. She stood there for a few seconds before she nodded her head. "Yes!"

 Chapter 51: Recording Device.

    Chapter 51: Recording Device.


    Jake stood there awkwardly staring at Reina. Well good for him. Haru grinned and sat back to take a bite out of his second doughnut. He didn''t know what to do. In all honesty, he thought he was setting himself up for failure by going for it.


    Reina was also at a loss for words. Why did I say yes so quickly? We talked for maybe fifteen minutes at most. Is this not too soon? She second guessed herself. Well, there is no backing out of it now. I would feel horrible if I got his hopes up and then just said I was joking.


    She looked back at Jake and then smiled. "How about two o''clock Sunday afternoon? I will be here waiting for you. I can give you my phone number to make it easier."


    Jake was still stunned. "Uh, Yeah that works for me too." He pulled out his phone and saved her as a contact. He didn''t know what to say next so he slowly backed away and went to sit down with Haru again.


    "She said yes!" He whispered excitedly. "Yeah, I heard. Well done buddy." Haru pped him on the shoulder twice. "I''m proud of you. Don''t make her cry though. Her brother is also a mage and is super overprotective of his sister even if they do fight all the time." Haru warned him.


    "Wait there are mages here in china? But I thought magic was banned. Even Your parents and I had to get a special license and wear these god damn bracelets that alert the authorities if we use magic. The only way we can get away with using any type of magic is if we are in a private area. If we were to fight like we did yesterday right here, I would be in jail before I knew it." Jake held up his arm to reveal a small magical device. It had was white but had a slight blue tint to it.


    Haru was surprised he didn''t see it before now. He didn''t see the ones his parents were wearing either. "Well, Magic is banned here. It doesn''t stop families from passing it down secretly though." He whispered even though there was no one in the store. "Hey, would you mind letting me see that thing?" Haru said pointing at the bracelet he had just been shown.


    "Sure, But be careful with it. It has an rm that will go off if you take it off. They said they will send a team of soldiers to arrest anyone who takes it off so you better be careful." Jake exined as he held his hand out toward Haru.


    He looked at it for a moment before using his spiritual sense. He had managed to train it to such a hight that he could use it like an Xray. If he concentrated hard enough he would be able to sense every individual part of the bracelet. He looked at the wiring and then followed it up. He didn''t know much about electronics but he knew enough to identify a miniature microphone when he found it.


    The obvious give away that it was, in fact, a microphone was the small hole on the outside of it. Haru pointed his finger and let out a small amount of Qi. It was a technique the Lao had began to teach him. It was called shadow de. It would allow you Qi to form a small de that cuts through even light. His current ability was only enough to cut off a tree branch at most but it was plenty enough to cut a small wire.


    In less than a second, the microphone was broken. It could no longer record anything that was being said. But he would need to find the time to do the same to the ones that his parents were wearing. If Zen told them anything about the business he was in then it could be enough to have him arrested.


    Was it a plot against Zen by the government or was it just to monitor what they were talking about. Either way, it was sneaky and Haru didn''t appreciate the fact that the government would be able to hear what he was talking about. If they found out he strong he was then it would put him on a watch list. He would no longer have any freedom. They could even force him to join their military.


    He didn''t have any grudges with anyone in the Chinese government but If his conversation to Jake about Yuki being a mage got out they would probably arrest him. He sighed. I just hope everything works out now. I don''t need any more headaches. He looked back up to Jake.


    "Did you know they were recording everything that you said through that thing?" He pointed to the bracelet.


    "Who was recording what?" He became paranoid. "The people who put that bracelet on you. It had a recording device hidden inside it. They probably wanted to make sure that you weren''t nning a terrorist attack or something, But I thought you should probably know that everything that you have said before just a second ago was recorded and is stored in that bracelet thing." Haru exined to him.


    Jake''s face went pale. "They recorded everything? No!" He shouted before standing up from his seat. "What am I going to do now!? I said something really bad the other night. If anyone finds out my life will be over! Please Haru help me destroy this thing!" Jake began to lose his mind as he paced up and down impatiently.


    "I could try to disconnect the wires and then we can take it off. I''m not sure if it will work but you better be prepared for them to arrest you." Haru told him and then stood up next to him.


    "Get arrested?! I''m fine with that. We just need to get rid of this damned thing. Please I''m begging you." Jake looked toward Haru. He looked like he was almost crying. What could he have said that was so bad that he would cry if anyone found out.


    "Fine, I will try to help you just don''t cry if it doesn''t go to n." Haru sighed. Why was he doing this? Who knows what the government would do if they found out he had purposely destroyed their property or secret spy tool. Would this count as impeding an investigation? He sure didn''t want to be arrested too but it wasn''t like they could do anything to him.


    If push came to shove then he could just break out and live in the mountains for a few years until they forgot about him. "Hold out your wrist," Haru uttered to Jake. He waisted no time extending his arm toward Haru.


    Haru began to use his spiritual sense again to look at the wires again. He had no idea what he was looking for this time. There was a circuit board with a bunch of wires that wrapped around the whole thing. He didn''t have the slightest idea of where to start. He looked at it for a few seconds and then saw a part where every single wire in the device were lined up next to each other.


    What if I just cut them all at once? That will stop it instantly right? He looked again to make sure there weren''t any he would miss if he cut this part. And then he did it. He used the same shadow de technique to cut all of the wires simultaneously. There was a slight sound as the device turned off instantly.


    The mechanism used to keep the device attached to Jake''s wrist disengaged and the whole thing dropped on to the floor. "Well, uh, that was a bit anticlimactic, I was expecting a beep or even that rm to go off that you mentioned," Haru said disappointed at what had just happened. He imagined it to be like defusing a bomb but it just dropped to the floor.


    Jake looked at it for a few second and then sighed. "Oh, thank you. You don''t know how much you have just done for me. That would have been bad." He seemed relieved. All most too relieved. He was acting weird. Haru looked at him with suspicion for a second.


    "So this thing is destroyed now? They won''t be able to listen to anything I have said?" Jake asked as he picked it up. "Uh, no it''s not destroyed. Just everything is disconnected. So you can destroy it yourself without any rm going off." Haru responded.


    Jake brought it up to his face and thenughed. "So I can use magic in a public ce now?" He asked excitedly. "Yeah, you should be able to. I don''t see how it could send an alert to them if all of the wires were disconnected." Haru stated with a smile. He was d he could help.


    Jake held the bracelet out in his hand and used a fire spell. The bracelet was instantly burned to ashes. It was so fast that there was no time for it to release the smell of burning stic. Jake danced around in glee as the thing disappeared.


    There was a moment of silence before a blue light appeared out of nowhere and boomed out a wailing siren over and over again. Reina came running out from the kitchen. "What is this!? Turn it off right now!" She tried to shout but her voice couldn''t overpower the deafening sound of the siren.


    Haru gulped. "It was a magic device... So that means only magic can activate the rm..."

 Chapter 52: RMTF.

    Chapter 52: RMTF.


    The sound boomed out for a few minutes beforeing to a sudden stop. That was it. It was silent again. Haru, Jake and Reina looked around confused. What had just happened? It was going on for so long but then it suddenly stopped? It seemed a little anti-climactic.


    Yuki came running down from his room upstairs. "What was that noise?" He demanded an answer looking furious. "I swear If you have broken something again, Reina I will end you." Reina looked back at him with a hurt look.


    "Why is it always my fault? This time I didn''t even do anything!" She looked back to her brother who was now running around the store looking for the source of the sound. "Yuki, Calm down. Nothing is broken. It was our fault we just destroyed a magic device. I didn''t know that it would make an rm go off but it seems to be okay for now." Haru said as he stepped over to the pile of ash on the floor.


    "Do you have a broom or something? I will sweep up the mess." Jake asked Yuki who still looked pissed off. "Yeah, there is one in the storeroom. I will get it for you just wait here." Yuki walked off into the storeroom that was a in wooden door next to the counter. He was gone for a few seconds beforeing back out with a broom and handed it to jake before he made his way back upstairs.


    "I hate how he always mes me for things when it isn''t even my fault," Reina said annoyed at what had just happened. "Sorry. That was my fault I will talk it out with himter if you want me too." Haru said to Reina. She shook her head slightly. "No, it''s fine. I will just ignore him until he apologises. She giggled a little bit before going to help Jake who was struggling to sweep up the little kes of ash that littered the floor.


    Haru smiled lightly. He was a little shocked for a second. He thought that the doors were going to be kicked in and a swat team woulde and arrest everyone. But it looked like it was just a normal rm. Just as he thought about the whole situation sounds of tires skidding across the road came from outside the store.


    Three cked-out cars pulled up and a few men in suits got out. One of the men looked down at the screen of a tablet and then in through the window. He saw Jake sweeping the floor and then pointed to the rest of the men. "Uh, I don''t mean to panic you but I think the government people are here to arrest you," Haru said with a nervousugh.


    Jake quickly turned around and saw the men outside the store. "Shit." He dropped the broom on to the floor and Reina turned around to see what was going on also. They stood there for a few minutes before the man with the tablet seemed to say something. Two of the men walked off to block the rear exit of the store and the other men walked up to the front door.


    The bell to the door chimed as it opened and two of the men walked inside. Jake was frozen with fear. He didn''t want to get arrested in a foreign country. Who knows what they would do to him. Reina was the first person to speak as they all just stared at each other for what felt like a minute but was only a few seconds.


    "Can I help you with something? We are currently closed." She said and then stood with her hands on her hips. She bit her lip and her face became pale as the man in front of her moved his jacket to the side revealing a handgun tucked into his waistband.


    "Hi, we are here on behalf of the government. We are the Rogue Mage Task Force. We are here looking for a Jake Ainsworth. Is he here at all?" The man spoke in perfect Japanese. Haru looked at the man who spoke. It was the man who was holding a tablet outside and then pointed at Jake. I guess there is no hiding it. They already know exactly who Jake is. They just want to trick him into saying that he isn''t who they are looking for.


    Jake stayed quiet and looked at them. He was stunned at how fast they came. He looked at Haru to see what he thought. Haru nodded his head gently back at him. Jake sighed and stepped forward. "Ugh, I''m Jake. Is this about the bracelet thing I was given?" The man who had asked him the question looked back down at the screen.


    "Yeah, why did you use magic?" He asked again and then looked over to the man who had shown off his Gun to Reina. He began to walk around to the other side of him. He was trying to get behind Jake. Haru saw what they were going to do. Once the man with the gun had gotten out of sight he reached back and pulled out a set of handcuffs and walked up to Jake.


    Just as he reached out to grab a hold of him Haru stepped forward and put his hand on the man''s chest stopping him dead in his tracks. "What are you doing? Get out of the way or we will arrest you too." He sounded mad when he said it.


    Haru began tough. "Nobody is being arrested today. You guys are going to go back to your boss and tell him toe here to have a chat with me." The man with the tablet looked at Haru confused. "What do you mean? How will you stop us from arresting someone who broke an internationalw? I suggest you let us do our job or something unfortunate might happen if you help your friend resist arrest." He had a menacing look on his face as he nodded his head toward the man with the gun, signalling for him to continue.


    "Um, Haru. What did you say to them? He looks mad." Jake asked as he saw the man smiling sinisterly. "I just told him that they are going to go back and bring their boss to meet me. Oh, I also said they won''t be arresting you today." Haru exined what had been said to Jake. "Why did you tell them that? It sounds like you are going to fight them. It will just make the whole thing worse if you make them mad." Jake said and then turned around to look at the man who Haru was still holding at bay.


    "Let go of me kid. I won''t tell you again!" The man shouted and then pulled out a metal baton. "I will do what I need to." Haru smiled at Jake before turning around out of instinct as the baton was swung toward his head. He extended his index finger and touched the top of the baton. It snapped in half and flew across the room.


    "How? Those things are made out of steel." The man yelled and then pulled out his gun. "Ah, I see. Now. Stand down now!" The man who had the tablet yelled at the man who had taken a swing at Haru. "But sir," The man began toin. "Sorry for the inconvenience. We will leave now." He bowed his head at Haru and then left with the other guys.


    Jake looked around confused. "What did you do?" He asked Haru who was now looking at the man outside. He used his spiritual sense and then looked again. There was a faint amount of Qiing from his body. Oh, so that is why he left so peacefully. Haru also didn''t understand at first. He was sure that he didn''t make it too obvious that he was a cultivator but the man must have sensed the Qi he put into his fingertip.


    Haruughed slightly. The first time he had met another cultivator outside of the sect was actually a member of the Chinese government. He was only at the Qi refining stage but he could sense Haru''s Qi so quickly. He had probably been at that stage for a few years... Weird Haru had passed that stage in a few months. But that exined how they managed to stop other cultivators from leaving. He guessed that some of the higher-ups had to be pretty strong if they could stop sects from leaving also. He then noticed Jake was staring at him.


    "Sorry. Did you say something?" He asked. Everything had gone over his head. He was excited. Even if the man dide to arrest Jake, he felt a connection to him as a fellow cultivator.


    "I asked you what did you do to make them withdraw so fast?" Jake said again sounding a little afraid.

 Chapter 53: Deellihshious.

    Chapter 53: Deellihshious.


    Haru chuckled to himself. He was excited. He knew he wasn''t alone in the world. All thought this man wasn''t really the first cultivator he met he was the only one who saw how strong he was. The first cultivator he had met was the man in the store, when he went to buy herbs for for pill refining. And then there was the man who had blown himself up whilst trying to refine a pill but other than those brief interactions this was one of the few times, he had met another cultivator.


    He looked back at Jake. "Oh, it was nothing. He just sensed that I was also a cultivator." He then looked to Reina who still looked to be nervous. She wasn''t quite all there yet. Haru walked up behind her and put his hand on her shoulder. "Boo!" He shouted next to her ear. She jumped and gasped at the same time. "What the fuck!? You idiot. You nearly gave me a heart attack." Her mind was now off what had just happened. She seemed to be doing fine.


    Jake looked over at Haru with a confused expression as he winked back at him. He thought for a few moments and then he seemed to catch on to what Haru meant. Haru went and sat back down as Jake walked over to Reina. "Are you okay? I''m sorry that must have been pretty scary right?" He tried tofort her.


    She looked at him for a few seconds before a tear slowly rolled down her cheek. Reina began crying suddenly. Jake didn''t know what to do he stood there helplessly trying to talk her out of it. Reina didn''t say anything she just stood there and cried until she stumbled toward Jake and put her arms around him "I''m sorry you have to see me like this. I''m an embarrassment." She cried into his shoulder.


    Jake then finally epted his responsibility of calming her down. "It''s okay. It''s over now. I''m sorry for getting you involved in this. Haru smiled and started eating one of the other doughnuts that he picked up for the other two. "Deellihshious." He said to himself as he rammed thest bit into his mouth. He finished his coffee and waited for Jake to calm Reina down.


    A few minutes went by and there was a bang from upstairs as running footsteps echoed across the floor. Yuki burst into the storefront. What just happened? I heard tires screeching away. "You''re a bitte to the party." Haruughed as he entered all panicked. "What do you meante? What happened?" He asked again.


    "Ah, Nothing to worry about. You just had some rude customers. It''s okay Reina told them where to shove it." He giggled again looked at Yuki''s face as he saw his sister hugging Jake. He went pale.


    "Am I seeing what I think I''m seeing?" He walked over to Haru and whispered into his ear. "You sure are." Haru patted him on the back. "It looks like your sister just hates you." Heughed again.


    "Jakee on we are going now. Unless you wanna stay?" Haru asked and then walked over to the door. Jake looked at Reina. She looked saddened by the thought of him leaving. "It''s okay, You go. I''m sure Haru is going to get everything solved." Jake was hesitant. "Are you sure?" He asked.


    Reina nodded and then faked a smile. "I''m fine. Look my brother is here. It''s not like we have anything to do with the situation. If worsees to worst I will just say that you tried to kidnap me." She stuck out her tongue and ran off upstairs.


    Yuki walked Haru and Jake to the door. "I''m still not sure what happened. But try not to get us involved in your mess." He said with a serious tone to his voice. "Don''t worry. Everything will be solved by next week. If theye back give them this." Haru reached into his pocket and pulled out one of Zen''s business cards.


    "I''m sure Reina will exin what happened when you go back up. I rmend you close the store for the day. If my assumption is correct they wille back for sure and ask you about me. Just hand them the card and everything will be fine." Haru said as he handed it to Yuki.


    "Are you sure everything will work out? What is Zen''s business card going to do to stop them from arresting us?" Yuki was more confused than he was before. "It will be okay. The card is just so they can find me. If they work for the government then it should be easy for them to find Zen''s house just from searching his name. Rx. It isn''t that serious." Haru pulled out his phone and sent a text to the driver toe and pick him up from the street corner he had dropped them off at.


    "Okay, I guess I will close for today. I trust you. I will just leave this thing stuck to the window and hope they get the message without kicking down our doors or anything. This is a real pain." Yuki said and then locked the door after himself and walked upstairs to get the full story from Reina.


    Haru looked at Jake and began to walk. "Hey, Don''t beat yourself up over it. Everything will be fine. You don''t think I will let anyone touch my friends, do you? They will have to step over my dead body before they get to you." Heughed as the driver pulled up and beeped the horn.


    "Hurry up. I don''t want to be stuck in the afternoon traffic." He rolled down the window and shouted out to them both. Haru opened the door and shuffled across the back seats so that Jake could get in without stepping into traffic. "That is the thing I am worried about the most." He said quietly and then got into the back seat.


    The car began to drive off when the driver suddenly spoke. "I feel like something happened? Wanna talk about it?" He asked ass the drove back toward Zen''s house.


    "It''s not really that important. We kind of pissed of the government. They should be sending people to look for me soon so I will deal with them when I get around to it." He said and then pulled out his phone and sent a text to Suyin.


    "Don''te over for a few days. Something came up and I won''t have time to see you." As soon as he sent it he got a reply instantly. "What has happened? Are you okay?" She asked, worried. "Yeah, it''s nothing Jake just got himself into a bit of trouble so I have to sort things out. I will tell you when it is all over."


    He exined what had happened to her through texts whilst talking with the driver. "You deal with the government? I think it is probably for the best if you ask your uncle for help. I''m sure he can get into contact with someone and smooth things over." The driver said as they pulled up to the gate of Zen''s house.


    "I will keep that in mind thanks. But I am an adult now. I will try to solve things peacefully." He said and then waved goodbye to him and then he drove back down the road to do whatever a driver did when he wasn''t working.


    Haru and Jake both walked inside and exined the situation. Krista was disappointed in them both but seemed to understand. She didn''t pursue the matter anymore and then walked out back to talk to Zen. She came back inside looking angry. Zen then called Haru outside to talk.


    "Sorry, I can''t do anything about what happened. If the RMTF is involved then anything I saw will only get me locked up in a prison cell too. They are notorious for arresting bystanders and putting them in prison for life." Haru was surprised at what he was hearing.


    "How can they just imprison people for life?" He asked Zen and then thought back. Should I have just let them arrest Jake? No, I doubt Reina would let them arrest him in her store so she would probably end up being arrested. I made the right choice. I think... Haru began to doubt himself for a moment.


    "It is easy. They just make up false charges and then get them signed by a judge. Although I heard that one time a judge refused to sign for them, His family 0eneded up going missing for a week and then the magically came back to him after he signed the paperwork. So most judges don''t even want to question their authority. I rmend you ask for someones help back at that sect you were at."


    Haru thought about Zen''s suggestion. But he felt like he already owed the sect master for the money that he had been given on behalf of him. He didn''t want to depend on the connections of Li Jun to solve something so minor.


    As Zen and Haru were discussing what they should do next. Jake opened the door. "Hey... Are you expecting anyone? Two cars just pulled up outside..."

 Chapter 54: Faceless Unit.

    Chapter 54: Faceless Unit.


    "Wow, they were faster than I was expecting. They did a good job of locating your house Zen." Haru said with a smirk. "How did they know to look for you here though?" Zen was confused. Haru didn''t exin that part to him.


    "Well, I left one of your business cards. I told you I was never going to give them out to anyone but you just had to keep forcing me to keep a few with me at all times." Haru sighed at Zen. He had told him to stop giving them to him but every time Haru would go out Zen would insist on advertising his business by leaving a few cards in random ces.


    "I don''t even know what I should have expected of you." Zen was disappointed. He had been living with Haru for three years and was finally starting to understand his character. He was crafty. If anyone asked him to do something he would first turn them down at a moments notice but if you pestered him over and over he would finally ept to do it but he would do it in the worst possible way so you wouldn''t ask him to do it again.


    Like one of the times, Zen had asked him to do theundry. He eventually said he would do it but then he decided to put a red shirt in with all of Zen''s white shirts. It was little acts of defiance just so he could carry on beingzy. The only thing that Haru thought about was cultivation and living a normal life. Anything else he deemed as a distraction so he would find any way he could to get out of doing it.


    "What? I thought you wanted me to hand them to people? Isn''t this what you wanted?" Haru teased him. There was a thud that came from inside the house. Haru, Jake and Zen all rushed inside to see what was happening. Krista was sat down in the Kitchen with Saki and Luke was in the hallway causing amotion.


    "What are you doing? You can''t just break down the door." He was outraged and was showing his outrage by shouting. Krista was trying to calm down Saki who was crying out of fear. The loud sounds must have startled her.


    "Oh, Mom. Hold out your hand for me." Haru said as Jake and Zen ran into the hallway to see what was going on.


    "Okay..." She was visibly confused but did so anyway. She reached out her left arm toward Haru. The same bracelet identical to the one jake was wearing was wrapped around her wrist. Haru channelled Qi into his fingertip and then shot a shadow de toward the bracelet slicing it all in half. It dropped to the floor and didn''t make a sound.


    Now that he understood hat once the wires were cut only magic could activate the rm he had nothing to worry about.


    "But we were told that we would be arrested if we took these off. Do you want your mother to end up in a jail cell?" She asked still confused. "It will be fine. Don''t worry." Haru reassured her and then walked out into the hallway where Zen, Jake and Luke had their hands above their heads.


    Stood in the doorway were two men with guns aimed at them. The had a ck tactical uniform on and were both wearing masks. Their masks wear ck and made out of fabric. There wear no eye holes or mouth holes. It was to intimidate their enemies.


    "Haru Kitigawa and Jake Ainsworth. Please put your hands above your heads and walk toward us slowly." One of the men said. His voice sounded slightly robotic like he was using a voice changer. The sounds of Saki''s crying became louder as she heard the voice.


    "Okay, Just don''t shoot anything." Jake slowly started walking toward them. One of the men now switched his aim exclusively to Jake as he walked forward as slowly as he could.


    "I have had enough of this shit. I warned you guysst time." Haru said quietly and then walked toward the armed men. "Hey stop. What are you doing? Put your hands up. You are walking too fast!" The other man yelled as they both switched their aim to Haru.


    "Toote," Haru said as he ced his hands in the centre of the chests of both of the men. There was a moment of silence before a low pitch boom shook the house. A shock wave came from his hands and the two men flew backwards out of the house. One of them skidded across the floor and rolled before stopping in his tracks as his back hit the wall of the fountain in Zen''s front yard.


    The other man flew straight through the air before striking the iron fence at the other side of the yard. The force he flew was enough to bend the fence all the way to the ground. "Haru! What did you just do!?" Luke screamed.


    Haru turned and looked at Luke. "Calm down." He said bluntly and then cut the bracelet from his wrist. Luke gulped at the bracelet hit the floor. "What happened to my son?" He muttered quietly. The look in Haru''s eyes when he turned to face Luke was the look of a man who has killed countless amounts of people who stood before him.


    He didn''t mean to let that side of him slip out but he was losing his patience with these people. He had already warned them to leave Jake alone and if they really want to they can send their boss and they could have a discussion like adults. But it looked like they were out for revenge after suffering embarrassment before.


    There were two more masked men in the yard. They looked over to the front door. The dust the first man had caused to rise from sliding across the grass was still in the air and they didn''t have a clear sight to the door.


    One of the men decided to move forward with his rifle pressed against his shoulder. He looked down the sights for any sight of movement. As he entered the dust cloud a hand reached forward towards the barrel of his gun. He pulled the trigger.


    Haru had grabbed the barrel and then aimed up into the sky as a bullet shot out and ricocheted off the side of the house. The man then looked at Haru for a moment. Before taking a knee to his stomach. He gasped for air as he fell to his knees.


    Thest man heard his friend gasping for air. He became scared knowing he was thest of his team members still standing. He held his finger firmly against the trigger as movement cam from the smoke in front of him. He didn''t waste any time and pulled the trigger. He fired five shots into the dust.


    Haru picked up the man from the floor and held his body in front of him using him as a human shield and ran toward the remaining man. He screamed out in pain as a bullet hit his leg. Haruughed. "Better you than me." Then with his other hand, he threw the gun at the head of the remaining man.


    The gun''s stock of the gun hit him in the nose. There was a crunch before he fell to the ground. He was knocked out instantly.


    Luke locked Krista in the kitchen. Once she heard the first gunshot she began to panic and almost ran outside. He managed to hold her back enough to close the door. Jake, Zen and Luke all looked at each other as the only thing they could hear was groans of pain.


    "What was that?" The whole thing was over within a minute. The dust started to settle. Luck was the first one to see. He was closest to the door and as soon as the dust vanished he saw his son stood above a man who was bleeding from his leg.


    "Where is your boss?" Haru stomped down on the bullet hole in his leg. He then took off the mask the man was wearing. It was the same guy from the coffee shop who had shown his gun to Reina as a form of intimidation and then tried to hit Haru with his baton. There was a small stream of blood pouring from his mouth.


    Jake chuckled. "This is familiar." He said with a grin. Luke looked at Jake with disgust. And then ran over to Haru. "What do you think you are doing!? He needs medical attention." Luke shouted as he approached.


    Haru stomped on his leg again. "Just tell me and I won''t have to go any further than this." He started breathing heavily. Then there was the sound of music as his phone rang out. Haru reached down and picked up the phone. The words "Boss" Were on the screen as the iing call came through.


    "If you said you had his phone number I wouldn''t have had to push you for it," Haru told the man who was nowy on his stomach as Luke pressed down on another bullet hole that was in his back.


    "Haru what do you think you are ying at? These are people. You can''t just treat them like punching bags." Luke yelled. Haru shrugged and then picked up the phone.


    "Markus!? Where are you? I told you to wait for the captain''s orders! Why did you not reply to the radios? There is no reply from the Faceless unit. What have you done!?" It was the voice of the guy why had the tablet.


    "I''m sorry. I don''t think Markus can talk right now. How about you have a chat with me instead."

 Chapter 55: Extortion.

    Chapter 55: Extortion.


    Haruughed as there was silence on the other side. The was hesitation in the man''s voice. "You are the cultivator we met earlier today? What have you done to my men?" He said with anger. Haru looked at the four men who were writing in pain on the floor scattered around Zen''s yard.


    "Don''t worry. They are all alive. But I was hoping you could tell me why they kicked down my front door and then aimed guns at my dad? That''s not very nice is it?"


    "They did what?" The man sounded confused. Was it not his Idea? Haru thought to himself. The man spoke again. "Fuck. This is bad. I was hoping that we could leave this alone that is why we withdrew earlier today. I didn''t want to have to call the boss but those idiots had to go off on their own and get revenge." The man on the other side of the phone began to speak his thoughts out.


    Haru sat and patiently listened. So it really wasn''t his fault? And here I was thinking that the whole government would be wanting revenge on me right now. That''s good news at least. But I also can''t use these people as bargaining chips. Haru thought for a few minutes and so did the man on the phone with him.


    The man spoke up once again. "I didn''t introduce myself did I? I am Vice Director Chu of the Rouge Mage Task Force. Can I ask what condition my men are in?"


    Haru used his spiritual sense to check the injuries of the men whoid siege to his home. "Sure, One of them has a broken spine and 4 fractured ribs, Another has a broken cor bone and two broken femurs, The other has two gunshot wounds. One in the leg and one in the back, And thest guy just has a broken nose. He is still unconscious though." Haru described all the injuries to the vice director.


    "Thank god." He sounded relieved. "I thought that maybe you had killed them all." Haru then interrupted him. "That option is still on the table. I have a few requests for you."


    The vice director froze. He wasn''t expecting this but he understood why he was threatening their lives. "Okay, Go ahead." He sounded nervous again. "Well, First of all, I want fullpensation for damages to the property," Haru stated.


    "That is a given. There is no problem with that. We will fully cover any damages. There is no need to go through insurance we will send government contractors to fix everything. It''s honestly the least we can do. What else do you want?" He asked.


    Haru thought for a moment. He didn''t really want much but then an idea came to mind. "Compensation. Your subordinates didn''t follow your orders and broke thew. They came onto the property with weapons and could have easily killed everyone here if I didn''t intervene. What is a life worth? Hmm, let''s say seventy million yuan. [Around 10,000,000 USD]


    And there are six of us here including a baby. So how about we round down to four hundred million yuan?" Haru said. He was expecting it to be turned down instantly.


    "Four hundred million? That is insane!" He shouted down the phone. "Are you saying that human life isn''t worth at least seventy million? And here I thought the government was supposed to value human life." Haru said jokingly.


    "This is extortion! We aren''t made of money. We can''t just pay that much money out forpensation." Haru thought for a moment. He still had chips on the table. "How about I guarantee the safety of your men until you send someone toe and pick them up. Is the safety of your subordinates worth four hundred million?" Haru asked again this time trying his best to sound serious.


    "Wait, Don''t do anything. I will ask my boss. He isn''t in town right now he is currently in a meeting in another city. It might take a while for him to reply." He went quiet again as the sound of him mming his fingers against his keyboard echoed through the phone.


    [Boss, We ran into some trouble. Half of the faceless unit are injured and are being kept hostage by a cultivator. He said he will return them only if we pay him four hundred million yuan.] The message read.


    Somewhere far away in another city, a man in his early thirties with swept back hair and a stubbled beard was sat in a room with a bunch of old men. "So what report did you get from the Japanese?" One of the old men asked him. "Oh, Those guys? They said they are willing to go for full cooperation." He sat back in his chair and replied. His phone buzzed in his pocket.


    "Hmm, Strange I thought I turned it off?" He muttered as he pulled out his phone to check the message. He read the message as it appeared on the screen.


    [Boss, We ran into some trouble. Half of the faceless unit are injured and are being kept hostage by a cultivator. He said he will return them only if we pay him four hundred million yuan.] "What the fuck?" He said out loud ignoring the fact that others were in the room with him.


    "Hey put that dammed phone away." One of the old men said to him. He looked back with pure hatred in his eyes as he suppressed the room with his Qi. "I''m not in a good mood right now. My men are in a situation and I need to deal with it. I need you old bastards to be good boys and shut the hell up whilst I fix this okay?" He looked at all eighteen of the men gathered around the table.


    They all struggled to nod their heads inpliance before he finally let up with the pressure and then went back to typing on his phone.


    [I''ve been gone for two days. How did you let this happen?] He sent back to the vice director. "Never mind. It looks like his schedule has cleared. He replied right away." He said to Haru as he waited patiently for him to type again.


    [They went against my orders to get revenge on a cultivator that intervened in an arrest earlier today. I wanted to let it go since we were no match for him but they went out of their way to break into his house and hold his family at gunpoint. They are severely injured.]


    The man looked down at his phone again. As he read this he became even more enraged. [Why do the kids get disobedient when I go away? I hate this. I will be back in an hour just wait for me. I will go get them.] He sent back whilst getting ready to leave the room.


    "Oh, The boss said he will be on his way back to meet you. He will be around an hour." The vice director said to Haru.


    "He ising back to cause more trouble isn''t he?" Haru asked. The vice director stuttered. "Yeah, that is probably true. He is also a cultivator so you know what it''s gonna be like." He said sounding pretty defeated.


    "Fine then. Tell him he has two minutes to decide. If I don''t get the money with in half an hour I will execute all of them." Haru said back to him.


    The vice director gulped so hard Haru heard it from the other side. "Okay. I will tell him now. Just don''t do anything please." His voice was shaking and his finger trembled as he struggled to type back to his boss.


    [I have an update. He said if he doesn''t get the money within half an hour he will execute all of them.] The man known as boss to the vice director was visibly shaking in anger as all the old men looked at him. They couldn''t figure out what was wrong.


    Did they do something to piss him off? They all sat waiting for him to speak up or even shout at them for being useless but it never came. He just stood there with his eyes glued to the screen. He began typing as the veins in his neck became visible and his face turned red.


    [Just send the god damn money. I will deal with him when I''m back..." And then he left it at that. Turning to his attention back to the old men. "Continue!" He said before sitting back down in his seat.


    "Oh, Great news. He permitted me to send you the money but he didn''t sound too enthusiastic about it. You should probably expect a visit from him when he gets back from his trip." The man vice director said as he began clicking around on hisputer.


    "Are you sure you should be telling me this? Haru asked. "Well, I feel like you are the biggest danger to me right now. I don''t want to make you mad since we are in the same city." Haru almostughed. But managed to stay in character.


    He spoke once more. "Can I have your card numbers I will send the money right now." He said to Haru who had already begun reading them before he finished asking.


    He finished entering the numbers and then pressed enter before mming his hands on the desk and sighing in relief. "Sent. You should check your bnce." He said again.


    Haru did just that. He pulled out his phone and then opened up the banking app. there it was. four hundred million yuan. He didn''t expect to get the money right away but he just guessed that the government can bypass verification processes for online banking. It would be inconvenient if they could negotiate with terrorists.


    "It''s a pleasure doing business with you. Send someone to pick these guys up. I will make sure they are all healed before your people arrive. But if I see any sight of a weapon when they arrive I will kill them all." He added thest part to get a reaction from the man. He just gulped again


    .


    Haru hung up and began tough. He wasn''t really going to kill anyone. But he just managed to get the government so scared that they just gave him almost half a billion yuan. He felt like his attempt at extortion was a sess.

 Chapter 56: Justice Served.

    Chapter 56: Justice Served.


    Haru turned to see his dad still holding his hand against the man''s back trying to keep the pressure on the wound and stop him from bleeding out. "Why don''t you just use magic?" Haru asked. Luke looked back kind of pissed off. "Magic won''t restore the blood loss. Or get the bullet out of his body." He said back while still holding down.


    "Jake, do you mind helping out?" Haru asked. Jake stood there for a few moments and then answered. "Nah this guy is a dick. I don''t care if he dies." Luke looked up at Jake in disgust. "What is wrong with you guys? You are both kids how can you be so cruel to someone else?" He couldn''t believe what he was hearing from these two kids.


    "I mean I guess he is a dick but..." Haru walked toward Jake and then whispered into his name. "How about for one billion yen? That is how much I can give you for saving him." Jake''s eyes lit up as he heard the figure. "One b-b-billion?! How do you have so much money?" Haru leaned forward again. "Well, that is just your portion of the money. There is the equivalent of one billion yen each for all 6 of us. But we have to make sure we keep all of these scumbags alive." He said with a bit of anger but that was enough to tempt Jake.


    "One billion yen!? I''m gonna be rich!" He shouted and threw his hands up into the air to celebrate. He looked back at Haru in shock and then realised what he had to do. He walked over to the man who was slowly bleeding out on the ground and then put his hand out toward him. [essence Healing] A golden light washed over his body as all of the blood on the ground began to return to his body. A few seconds went by and the man started screaming in pain.


    "Ahhhh!!! What are you doing to me!? Stop it!" He cried out as the bullet started to rip its way back out through the half healed wound. It was even more painful than when it went in. It reached the edge of the wound and then fell to the floor. It left his body with an audible pop. The magic then quickly healed him. There was no longer any pain in his body.


    The bullet hole that was in his leg was healed also. He couldn''t understand what had happened. This was probably the first time he had seen this ss of magic before. Luke was also in shock. "What was that? How can you use such high-level magic at your age? Are you specialised in healing!? You didn''t tell me you were training to be abat medic." Luke became instantly proud of Jake.


    Haru sat there feeling kind of neglected as his dad praised somebody else''s son. He let them have their little moment and then walked over to Zen. As he approached Zen began to p his hands.


    "Spectacr! Last time I saw you fight it was only for a split second but I could feel the amount of energy you have and I can''t sense Qi at all. That''s impressive. I heard when cultivators can express Qi to normal people that means they are strong enough to defeat a whole army on their own."


    Haru stood there for a moment. He didn''t hear anything about being able to "express Qi" to people. Whatever that meant. "I''m sure you are exaggerating. Maybe an army of unarmed men but I doubt I would be of any actual use in a war." Haruughed as he pulled out his phone and opened up his online banking ount. "Hey, I have something to show you." He said as he gave the phone to Zen and then tried to brush the dust from his clothes.


    It was no use. The more dust he wiped off himself the more of it appeared. It had sunk into the very fibres of his clothes. He would have to wash them. Zen''s eyes suddenly widened as he says the number. "Four hundred million yuan!? Where did thise from? Did you getpensated by their bosses or something!?" Zen seemed to understand the situation faster than most people could. He was a businessman after all. His job was dealing with money and subordinates. Even he would have to pay people off if his underlings ended up hurting people.


    He stood there in shock for a moment and then a huge grin formed on his face. "Hey Haru, You know since I am your favourite uncle?" Haru just smiled as he spoke. "Go, on." He said and crossed his arms and waited for him to finish.


    "I was looking at cars a few weeks ago and I''m a bit short on money do you think..." Haru cut him off. "You''re getting seventy million yuan just like everyone else. You don''t need to ask me to give you money it is yours." Haru snatched the phone back from his hands and sent him the promised amount of money. Zen looked at Haru for a moment not believing it.


    "There sent. You should see it on your ount. Zen opened his ount to find a pending transfer for seventy million yuan. Haru didn''t say anything as he began transferring the money to Jake and then to his parents.


    Zen looked back up with tears in his eyes. "You are my favourite nephew! He then began to hug him as tears flooded from his eyes." Haruughed and tried to pry him off of him without hurting him. "I''m your only nephew." Heughed again.


    Zen suddenly stopped his tears. "That''s right. You haven''t met your cousins yet. I was supposed to invite your other uncle toe for your birthday but I must have forgotten."


    Krista came running from the kitchen finally getting out of the locked room. "What the fuck happened?!" This was the first time he heard him mom swear. She must have been extremely mad. "You!, You!, You!, You! and You! Exin yourselves right now. She pointed to Haru, Jake, Zen, Luke and the man who was still on the floor after being healed. All five of them tensed up as she shouted.


    "Yeah, That is right Haru. Exin to your mother what you just did! Right now!" Luke shouted at him. Haru was hesitant as he knew how his mother would react.


    Krista looked at him with eyes that said: "Don''t make me wait." He stuttered as he spoke "Um, I-I well. When I saw the men holding guns at Dad, Zen and Jake I attacked them both out of anger and then they flew outside. Then when I came out the other two guys aimed guns at me so I did the same thing..." He tried to word it in a manner that she would think he was innocent.


    "What! Are you telling me that! You attacked four grown men!?" She screamed. Haru flinched as his mother''s voice echoed around the yard. "Yes?" Haru said and then closed his eyes and waited for whatever was going to be of him.


    He felt a weight on his shoulders and the presence of someone stood in front of him. He slowly opened his eyes and saw his mom stood with her arms around him. "Oh, My sweet boy. I didn''t think you would ever have to go through something like this. I am so proud of you for standing up for what is right." She said as she hugged him tighter.


    "What!? But he almost killed four members of the government! Why are you praising him." Luke asked out of shock. "You! You should know better. If anyone aims a gun at your son you are supposed to kill them without mercy." Kista said back frustrated by her husband''sck of courage.


    "But they work for the government." He said in protest with a slight bit of hesitance. "I couldn''t care less if god himself held a gun at our baby. I would kill him in a heartbeat." She said and then looked at the man who was now sat upright on the ground.


    "Okay, mom. I''m not a baby you can let me go now." Haru said. "Yeah, good idea. I have some unfinished business to take care of." She let go of Haru and walked over to the man on the ground.


    "Calm down darling. You can''t just do whatever you want. We are in a foreign country we could get into a lot of trouble if you do anything foolish." Luke tried to warn Krista but she didn''t care for what he had to say.


    Her fist started glowing red with fire as she got closer and closer. Luke finally stepped out of the way and put his face in his palms. He couldn''t look at what was going to happen.


    "Anyone who wants to cause harm to my son will feel my full wrath. I will now show you why I was ranked number seven in the army during my time in the war. This is what I like to call justice." She wound her hand back behind her head with mes shooting out high into the air.


    The man began crawling backwards to try to escape but he couldn''t move fast enough. He then got onto his front and began to crawl like a dog. He turned back to look at Krista as her hand came forward. She stopped suddenly as a tremendous pain washed over his body.


    He could no longer move and fell lifeless to the ground with a squeal as Krsita''s foot made contact with his crotch.


    "Justice served." She smiled and then turned back to the other witnesses of this so-called justice. They all held theirher regions as they looked at her like she was some kind of beast.

 Chapter 57: Boys Will Be Boys.

    Chapter 57: Boys Will Be Boys.


    "Ouch," Haru said as he looked at the man who was now crying from the pain Krista had just inflicted on him. He looked as if his whole world was falling apart and it sure felt like it was to him as a feeling of nauseousness brewed from within his stomach and racing up to his chest and then back down.


    He became dizzy and couldn''t stop tears from falling from his eyes. "Mom, don''t you think that might have been a bit too far?" Haru asked Krista who was stood with a smug look on her face. "Not even close to enough. It''s like your dad said. We aren''t citizens here so I can''t punish him how I would like too." She said sounding a little upset that she couldn''t go all the way and end him.


    "Then a beep rung out, Followed by another and then another. "Strange why did someone transfer money into my ount?" Krista asked rhetorically as she opened her phone and look at her bank transfers. "Mine too," Luke said doing the same. Jake didn''t say anything as he raced to open his phone and check it too.


    He looked back to Haru with excitement as he read the number of his pending bnce. He didn''t actually have the money at the moment because of transfer restrictions put in ce by the bank but it was sure soon toe.


    "I can''t believe this! How can I thank you enough!?" Jake began to party as Luke and Krista looked at each other nervously. "Haru, How did you..." Krista began to say. "Before you say anything this was from this guys boss. I didn''t do anything illegal to get it. Well, not too illegal." He added.


    The suspicious looks didn''t die down as they both looked at him. Haru was stuck. He wasn''t sure how he would get them to ept it. They eyed him up and down before Zen came to the rescue.


    "From what I know. These four men are government officials part of an organisation that hunt down mages that break thews set up by the Chinese government. Haru met with their leader earlier today and he decided to leave them alone because he found out he was a cultivator. Being able to cultivate is a huge honour here after all. This is justpensation money for them putting everyone''s lives in danger." Zen exined to Krista and Luke who still stared at Haru.


    What were they supposed to do in a situation like this? They had just been given seventy million yuan by their own son who had only just turned eighteen. This wasn''t exactly a normal everyday urrence.


    "I swear. It''s like what Zen said, During the phone call, I took with their boss he asked what I wanted. So first I asked for All the damages caused by them to be repaired in full and then I asked forpensation for putting us all in danger. He agreed after a little bit of convincing.." Haru said. Krista seemed like she was already going to ept it but then Jake decided to question him.


    "When you say convincingly. What exactly do you mean." Haru was fine with keeping the truth from his parents but he always felt weird when he trie to lie to them so from a young age he made a promise with himself that he wouldn''t lie to them. This question was really starting to make him question his values. Did he need to lie to them?


    He thought it over for a few seconds before deciding that the truth was probably for the best. He looked back at his dad and then spoke. "Well, first I asked if human life was worth seventy million per person and he refused to answer so I changed the question a little bit." Haru stopped for a second. I have alreadye this far I might as well carry on. He thought.


    "I asked him if he thought the life of his men was worth four hundred million yuan instead. He seemed to change his mind quickly and then message his boss for permission to send the money. And now we are here" Luke just smiled. He was disappointed for sure that his son had managed to get himself into a situation like this but it wasn''t like he could me him.


    He reminded him a lot of himself at this age. He began to think about all the stuff he had done to make himself a target. There was another cry of pain as one of the other men woke up.


    It was the man who was thrown back into the fountain wall and had broken his back. "Ahh, Why do my legs feel... My legs... I can''t feel them." he seemed unusually calm for this. He didn''t have any pain at all. It was then that Haru noticed therge gash in the back of his head. His skull slightly curved inward at the point that it was resting against one of the bricks.


    "Uh, Jake... Would you mind healing him before his injuries get any worse?" Haru asked nervously. He had already distributed the money. If he went back on his promise and let one of them die what would they do in retaliation? He wondered and every thought he made up in his head ended very badly for the people that he cared about. He needed to make sure that nothing happened.


    "Shit. He is in really bad condition. Just how hard did you hit him?" Jake asked as he ran over and began healing him right away. The same golden light filled the air and then enveloped the man''s whole body. He sat there and waited patiently without muttering so much as a single word. A few seconds went by before his leg suddenly twitched.


    "What in the world just happened? I didn''t sign up to be crippled. Thank you for healing me. I''m sorry we caused all this trouble. Are leader over there told us all that you were rogue mages and had held a shop keeper hostage and we needed to take you in." He slowly began to stand up. His body ached all over and his bones creaked as he stood up.


    "I didn''t expect a cultivator to be here too. I remember thest time out teammates ran into one of you guys it didn''t end so well for us. Thank you for being merciful sir." The man bowed his head in respect for Haru and then bowed toward Jake to showing his gratitude for healing him.


    "Don''t mention it, Really you should be thanking your bosses for paying me enough money to not hurt you anymore. I really don''t appreciate people aiming weapons at my loved ones." Haru said with a smile and then stood back. "Jake help the other ones too please," Haru asked of him


    Jake responded with a nod and then went off to heal the rest of them. "Excuse me. Can I ask what you are going to do with us now?" The man asked as he brushed the dust from himself. He was feeling extremely weak and knew he was in no ce to try to negotiate with Haru.


    "Oh, We aren''t going to do anything. You guys can either go back now or wait for the rest of your buddies toe and pick you up. It''s your choice. Oh, Yeah. You might want to call your boss and let him know you are safe." Haru said and then walked back inside.


    "He began to take off his clothes and walked upstairs. "Haru! What do you think you''re doing now?" Krista asked as she spotted him at the top step. "I''m going to take a shower I won''t be long don''t worry.


    He finished undressing and then put his clothes inside the wash basket. He got into the shower and turned on the water to wash off all the dust that had stained his skin. It was an ufortable feeling having dirt stered to your face. He wasn''t a clean freak or anything he just wasn''t a fan of dirty things.


    Haru finished washing himself and then put on a new set of clothes and walked back downstairs after he had gotten changed. He walked into the kitchen to find two of the men who had tried to arrest Jake and Haru sat in the kitchen drinking coffee andughing along with Luke''s horrible dad jokes.


    "Did I miss something? You guys seem to be best friends now." He said quietly. Luke didn''t quite hear what he had said but Krista smiled at him. "It''s true what they say. Boys will be boys."


    The two men began to pass their guns around to Luke, Jake and Zen. They were all amazed as they began to aim them around the room like a crazy mob boss. "I didn''t think guns were that fascinating.


    "Hey, Haru. Come and have a look at this," Luke called his son over to y with the guns too. Haru was at a loss for words. "You guys are crazy." He said as he sat down at the table with Krista.


    He looked over to the stroller. Saki was sleeping soundly inside wrapped in her nkets as if nothing had ever happened.

 Chapter 58: It was nothing.

    Chapter 58: It was nothing.


    I few minutes passed as they all spent time talking. The two other men stood outside and waited for their friends toe for them. The man who Krista had served punishment to didn''t dare go inside at all. He wasn''t sure if his punishment was actually over. Nor did he want to know.


    They only thoughts he had were telling him to stay away from that woman. The sound of a horn boomed out and they all went outside to greet the people. The vice director was waiting for them at the gate. Zen hit a switch on the wall on the inside of his house next to the door to open the gate for him.


    He walked inside and pointed back to the cars outside and then without any words walked up to everybody involved and bowed to offer his deepest apologies. "I''m so sorry about this. Rest assured that every one of them will be punished ording to our punishment guidelines." He then looked at Haru for a moment with a hint of worry in his eyes.


    "Haru... Do you mind if I talk to you in private?" He asked. Luke and Krista looked at Haru before Luke stepped forward. "I don''t think that is..." Haru stopped him.


    "Sure why not. He said and then walked over to the middle of the yard so they could be out of hearing range from everyone else. "It is about the director... Um, How should I say this?" He thought for a moment and then looked at the ground. His eyes slowly trailed up to meet Haru''s once again.


    "I should just go ahead and be blunt. My boss will probably try to kill you. He has a bit of a reputation among the government. Most officials are frightened of him because he is quick to use violence in peaceful discussions. If anybody goes against him. He will use his power to suppress them and then get them to admit that he is right. The only members of the government that aren''t wary of him are the ones that are stronger than him."


    "Honestly I thought that all cultivators are used to using their powers to suppress people weaker than themselves. I shouldn''t even be telling you this but I feel like you are different. Instead of killing us back at the coffee shop, you let us go. And instead of killing everyone here when they decided to break into your house and aim guns at your loved ones you decided to settle forpensation." He said and then looked back at his men waiting for him in the car.


    "I respect that. I respect you a lot more than that useless lot back there. I hope you don''t harbour any bad feelings between us. I was hoping to give you some inside information in return for your help in the future. I sense that you will end up doing some amazing things and I was hoping that we could be friends to gain some mutual benefit." He let go of any thought of filtering himself as he showed Haru his true intentions.


    Haru smiled. If there was one thing he valued above all else it was honestly. If someone is honest it means you can trust them and that was one thing Haru would need. People who he could put his full trust in. People like that are few and far between. Everybody wants to screw someone else over for gain. People who tell you they want to screw you over are much more easily persuaded by new terms.


    "Sure." He said with a smile. He didn''t really get off on the right foot with this guy but Haru could tell he was being sincere and was probably being bullied by his boss that is why he was willing to put his job at risk by telling Haru sensitive information.


    The vice director seemed shocked by how easily Haru agreed to his request. "R-really? That''s great. I guess I can tell you a bit more about my boss." He said and then carried on. "Well, the first thing you should know is that he practically runs Shenzhen. Yeah the city does have it''s own governors and the like but The director is pulling the strings from behind. Everyone is so scared of him that they don''t dare even say no to him. Thest person he went against what he said was killed in front of everyone present. His head was ripped from his shoulders." He wants on to exin all of the bad deeds that he had done.


    "Hey, I don''t need to know about this. I''m not going to help you overthrow him. All I want is for him to leave me alone. If we cane to an agreement I won''t even fight against him. If we can''te to an agreement then I will have to make him agree it''s as simple as that. I don''t care much for politics as long as people don''te to me looking for trouble. I have people I want to protect as long as I can do that I will be happy."


    "That''s fine with me. But just so you know the director isn''t the type of person to back down without a fight first. If he does decide to make a deal with you then he will do everything in his power to get back at you in secret. That could be anything from kidnapping your family or straight up killing them in front of you in hopes to kill you when you are defenceless." The vice director said hesitating a bit midway through but then finishing in a hurry.


    Haru thought about it. What if they targeted his mom or dad, Suyin or even his new little sister? "That would be really stupid for him to do. Losing people won''t make me defenceless. It will probably just make me have no regrets about killing anyone who tried to stop me from getting to him." Haru''s rage began to build just imagining it. His blood began to boil and then he looked at the vice director.


    Haru''s blood lust was strong enough for it to take physical form. The vice director looked back at Haru seeing a dark cloud of mist gather behind him. His eyes widened as it seemed as though the mist began to form the faces of many people. "What the fu----" He couldn''t even finish his sentence.


    Haru quickly stopped himself. "Oh, sorry about that. I just got a little angry thinking about that. But as I was saying. I trust you. I hope you can trust me too. I will be relying on any info you can give me. Even if it is just a text message or something when he decides he wants toe and look for me." He said lightheartedly as not to scare him anymore.


    He stood still for a few seconds before he regained his senses. " Yeah, Yeah I will be sure to do so." He promised and then began toy out his own request.


    "So what do you want me to do for you then? Haru asked. "Well, I''m not sure if you can help but I am friends with a man who is also a cultivator but he has hit a teau. He hasn''t been able to break through to the next stage for over fifteen years and he is getting pretty old. He doesn''t have long to live if he can''t breakthrough soon. It would be a shame too. He is well respected and is quite powerful." He began to exin the situation. It caught Haru off guard.


    "Wait why do you think I can help? I don''t have that much experience with cultivation. I''m not sure I would be able to do anything for him even If I did agree to it. I can''t just promise you something that I''m not sure I can help with myself." He was looking for a way out. He didn''t want to be responsible for killing an old man by ident.


    "Oh, stop being so modest. Even I can see how powerful you are. I can''t tell exactly what stage you have reached but I know your cultivation is many times higher than my own, If you can''t help then I am afraid nobody can. How about this then? All you have to do is apany me to see him?"


    "I suppose I could do that much at least," Haru said and then waited for him to respond. "Great. He is holding a party for his ny eighth birthday in two weeks. I got invited by his son so I can bring a guest with me. It''s a good thing that I met you today. Even if you did cause a lot of trouble and even injure my subordinates. But that doesn''t matter it was their own fault."


    Harue and the vice director bothughed. "I will get in touch with you the day before the event. If I don''t have to contact you before then that is. I will see you soon." He said before walking away and getting into one of the many cars that lined the street. "Yeah, See ya." Haru waved them off and then walked back over to his parents.


    "What did he what with you?" Luke inquired as soon as he got back. "Ah, It was nothing," Haru said and then they all walked back inside.

 Chapter 59: The Breath Of Shadow.

    Chapter 59: The Breath Of Shadow.


    Once everything had calmed down they all sat down to discuss what had happened that day. The talk was long and a bit heated at times but after all of the arguments and petty back and forths, they all decided to drop it. It was all over now so what is the point in carrying on. Haru kept the fact that their boss would now target him a secret from his parents of course.


    He didn''t want to worry them even more after the day they had already, He could only annoy them so much for one day. It was that night that Haru got to finally rx with his family. Krista spent a few hours online and looked through all of the local take away ces.


    Zen was determined to buy the most expensive meal they could get but it was unanimously agreed that he had a stupid Idea. What was the point in getting a bunch of money to only through it away on something that is only a little better than what you could get for a fraction of the money?


    Krista and Luke weren''t materialistic people who liked to unt the things they had. Jake and Zen, on the other hand, would show off whenever they had the chance to. That could be wearing designer clothing or even showing off his magic to impress people. Zen always had a driver to take him to ces so he could show off his wealth not to mention the high priced custom tailored suits he would wear on a daily basis.


    They all settled on a cheap chicken ce. It had mediocre reviews but the advertisement was pretty decent. It arrived twenty minutes after they ordered it. They even ordered a whole grilled chicken for Xue to eat. The food was good but nowhere near the quality of food they had eaten for Haru''s birthday.


    There were noints with the night and they then decided to sleep. Haru went upstairs and pulled out his phone. He hadn''t checked it since he told Suyin he won''t be able to speak for a few days.


    He had thirty six messages all from her. [Are you okay? What happened? Please call me when you see this.] All of the messages were along the lines of that. Shit, I forgot to tell her it''s over. He thought and then pulled out his phone and called her.


    The phone rang once before it was picked up. Whoa that was fast he thought before speaking. "Hey, I''m okay. It''s all over you don''t need to worry about it anymore."


    "You idiot! Why would you make me worry like that! Sometimes I really hate you Haru." It sounded like she was crying. Haru walked over to the window. And opened it up. He sat down on the windowsill as he spoke.


    "I''m sorry. Putting you at a distance was the only thing I could do to make sure you were safe. It wasn''t just a situation withmon street thugs these people were trained government enforcers. I don''t know what I would do If you got injured because of me. I wouldn''t be able to forgive myself." He told her and then waited silently for her to reply.


    "R-really? I thought it was because you thought I would be a bother to you. I didn''t expect you to tell me your actual feelings. You are usually so secretive. It makes me happy when you tell me things like this." She seemed to instantly cheer up. Haru could almost see her beautiful smile in his mind after every word she spoke.


    "I''m sorry about that too. Someone told me something earlier today that really made me realise just how much I love you. I don''t want to lose you so I thought It would be better to keep you away from danger."


    "I wish you were here. I just want to hold you right now." She said quietly. "You want me toe over? Are you sure? What if your dad finds out likest time? He got really mad at me for that." He asked her. She shrugged her shoulders but then realised that he couldn''t see her.


    "I don''t care if he finds out. I''m actually getting sick of the way he is treating you. If he dares to say something I will tell him exactly where to shove it. And that won''t be somewhere pretty." She giggled and then asked again. "Pleasee over. I want to see you right now. I need to make sure you are in one peace." She worried too much but she had every right too. The whole situation was a mess.


    Getting on the wrong side of the government is never a good idea especially for someone who just finished high school and didn''t have anyone backing him. "Sure, I will be there soon. Just make sure you don''t fall asleep whilst waiting." He told her.


    "I don''t think I can sleep until I see you. You don''t have to worry about that happening. Just make sure you are not too long, please. I love you." She said before hanging up.


    "Oh, that is how your gonna do it?" Haru whispered and then smiled. He wouldn''t be long at all. He looked outside into the distance. It was pitch ck and dark clouds slowly started scattering apart to reveal a full moon.


    He looked at it for a few moments. He thought back to the first time he had seen a full moon. He must have been around ten years old and in the middle of a forest after being chased by soldiers. He found a clearing in the woods and looked up to the sky seeing a simr sight to what he was looking at right now.


    The clouds parted revealing the beauty of the moon as the light reflected from the surface of ake. It was the most at ease he had ever felt in his life. The feeling he felt that day was so surreal that after all this time every time he looked up at the night''s sky this image would y in his head.


    He looked back down at the ground below his room. He saw Xue in her kennel with her head sticking out. She was looking right at him. Her eyes seemed to be glowing with happiness.


    During his time training with Lao, he picked up a movement technique that made travelling at night almost instant. It was called the breath of shadow. As long as he was in the shadows he could move to another shadow instantly without so much as a breath going by. It was a skill that Lao praised a lot. He told Haru stories of the upper realms. People have managed to cultivate to a level where they don''t need technology to explore space so the technology there had stopped because it was useless. It was totally different than life on earth.


    The breath of shadow was especially useful for space travel. With space being asrge as it is there are parts where there isn''t a single sign of light for billions of miles. This technique was useful for that.


    Haru used the technique to appear down in the yard in front of Xue. Her tail started to wag but she was too tired to get up and greet him. Haru bent down and petted her for a few minutes before using it again to appear out in the front yard. There was a porch light that lit up part of the street so he would have to walk for a little while before he could use the technique again. It didn''t matter much though as It would cut around an hour from his usual trip.


    He walked along the road again until he found himself in a long stretch of darkness. He then disappeared from the spot he was stood in and then appeared at the front gate. The security office lit up a bit of the road so he couldn''t get out instantly. He then walked toward the gate with his card in hand and then opened up the gate.


    "And here we have what seems to be a resident of this neighbourhood. He ising out unharmed. This is the first person we have seen here all day after the reports of gunshots first emerged. Sir, Could we have a quick interview." A woman with a microphone ran up to him followed by cameramen.


    "Uh, sorry no I have ces to be. Go and harass someone else. I don''t have the time to talk. See ya." Haru said and then began to walk down the street a little bit. "Sir, It won''t take a minute." She said in protest and then chased after him.


    Haru walked into the shadow cast by a skyscraper. He didn''t say anything else as he disappeared before her very eyes. "Did you just see that!?" She screamed at the cameraman. He didn''t know what to say. "Yes! What was that!?" He also screamed. "That doesn''t matter did you get it on camera? This will make a better story than some gunshot reports." She asked him.


    He stuttered for a moment. "Ah, no I was aiming the camera at the ground so I wouldn''t scare him away from an interview." He said hesitantly. Haru was still close enough to hear the conversation. He justughed as he made his way to Suyin''s house. he stopped around four times in total before finally making it there.


    He sneaked into the courtyard and past the sleeping security guard. He then went out into the back and found the window to her bedroom was wide open. He jumped up as quietly as he could and sat on the windowsill. her room was empty but then the door slowly opened.


    Suyin stepped into the room in nothing but a towel. Her hair was damp and tied into a ponytail. She then sat down at her desk and began to plug in her blow dryer. Haru coughed making her jump. "Quite the show you are putting on for me." Heughed.


    "I keep telling you not to do that!" Sheined but then ran over and hugged him. "I missed you. I''m d I can finally see that you are okay." She pressed her head into his chest.


    "I told you I was fine." He said before picking her up and sitting down on the chair at her desk. He let her sit on hisp as she dried her hair. They then decide to cuddle until they fell asleep. It wasn''t until about three o''clock in the morning that Suyin decided to sleep. Haru sat and watch her for a few minutes. He debated sleeping alongside her but his cultivation wouldn''t improve if he slept away all the free hours he had to practice.


    Hey back and let her rest her head on his chest as he entered his soul ocean and began to cultivate to the sounds of Lao singing.

 Chapter 60: I Found It.

    Chapter 60: I Found It.


    Haru opened his eyes as he felt the gentle breeze of the morning wind grazing his body. He was in Suyin''s room. Everything from the carpet to the curtains was purple in colour and gave out the vibe of a teenage girl. He looked to his right to see she had her back to him and was breathing delicately.


    Her eyes were still closed. There was a sound outside the room. "Mom, I can''t find my shoes." The voice of a young boy called out. "Let me finish making breakfast and I will look for them." A woman called back. "But I need them now! I''m meeting my friends at the park." He shouted back.


    Haru slowly got out of bed trying his best not to wake Suyin. He put on his pants and then walked over to the door holding his shirt. He opened the door and peaked outside. "Hey Chen, Is your dad still home?" Haru whispered to the eleven year old boy who was frantically searching the house for his shoes.


    "Haru! When did you get here? Sis didn''t say you were staying over." He said excitedly. "I came overst night. But where is your dad?" Haru said whilst pulling his shirt over his head. "Haha, You have nothing to worry about. He left early this morning. He said something about a meeting at work." Chen said with a big toothy smile.


    "Thanks, buddy." Haru rustled his hair and then walked back inside Suyins room. "Hey, I told you to stop doing that!" Chen shouted from the other side of the door and then ran off to go and find his shoes. Haru finished putting the rest of his clothes on and then sat down at the edge of the bed.


    The draft from the window only got stronger and after a few minutes, the sheets were blown from her body. The shock from the cold air engulfing her body woke her up near instantly. She shivered as she opened her eyes. She blinked a few times adjusting to the light. That was when she saw Haru looking down at her.


    "Good morning you pervert." She said with a shy smile as she grabbed the sheets and pulled them back over herself to warm up. "I''m a pervert now? I thought I was just an idiot?" Haruughed.


    "Hmm, You are an Idiot but you were watching a sleeping girl. Only a pervert would do something like that." She mocked him. "Okay, Then I guess you caught me. I''m nothing but a pervert now give me a kiss." Haru jumped on top of her.


    Suyin began tough and squirm as Haru tickled her. He wasn''t going to let her get away with calling him names. "No, Stop I will pee!" She shouted. Haru didn''t listen to her protests as he carried on tickling her.


    The door to her room slowly opened as there was a gasp of shock. "Oh, Mom..." Suyin said as she turned to the door seeing her mom stood there holding a pile ofundry. "Good morning Mrs, Jiang." Haru smiled at her.


    She stopped for a few moments looking at the scene in front of her. Her daughtery back on her bed and a boy was on top of her pinning her to the bed with his face right beside hers. She looked for a few minutes. "Oh, Haru... Good morning. Suyin didn''t say you wereing over today." She said awkwardly and forced a smile.


    She then put down theundry on the desk and turned to walk back out closing the door behind her. "Wait, mom! It''s not what you think!" Suyin got up to chase after her. She then realised she was wearing nothing. It probably wouldn''t be the best thing to run throughout the house naked trying to exin that you weren''t doing anything inappropriate.


    "Look what you have done," Suyin said with a serious look. Before shyly smiling as she met Haru''s eyes. "But let''s not get caught when we actually do that okay?" She said as she put on a shirt and then ran down the corridor after her mom to exin.


    "And she calls me the pervert." Haruughed to himself. "Hey, you might want to head to the kitchen. Mom just made some breakfast." Chen poked his head around the corner and said to Haru.


    "Okay, Let''s head there now then." Haru stood up and walked to the door. "But I need to find my shoes first. Or else I can''t go out to the park." Chen said in protest before getting down on his knees and looking under Suyin''s bed. "I don''t think you will find them under there. How about I help you look for them?"


    "Really, you will!? I wish you were my big brother you are so awesome!" Chen smiled and then looked in every room on the way to the kitchen. There was no sign of them anywhere. Haru was also confused. Where could he have put them? Did he purposely hide them?


    He had enough of trying to look for them so he decided it was time to cheat. He used his spiritual sense to look around the house. It took maybe five seconds before he managed to locate them. They were on the bottom step of the stairs. That would exin why he didn''t manage to find them upstairs.


    "Did you look downstairs?" Haru asked him. Chen hesitated for a moment and then looked up at Haru. "Uh, not yet." He said looking up at Haru. "So you were just beingzy and wanted your mom to give them to you? Come on let''s go get them." Haru said as they both walked downstairs.


    They were together on the bottom step. "Look. Do you see them? They were exactly where you left them. Stop being such a brat your mom has more important things to deal with than finding your shoes." Haru messed up his hair again.


    "Hey, I told you to stop that." He tried to punch Haru but he just held his hand against Chen''s head and wouldn''t let him move no matter how hard he tried to. It was too one sided. "What''s all themotion for?" Suyin''s mom walked out from the kitchen to see them at the bottom of the stairs.


    "Chen stop. You know you shouldn''t hit people." She shouted at him. "But he messed up my hair again," Chen shouted in protest. Mrs Jiang chuckled slightly. "Okay boys, Stop messing around I made you some breakfast." She smiled with joy and then walked into the kitchen to finish putting the bacon and sausages onto tes.


    "This looks lovely Mrs Jiang. I can''t wait." Haru said as he sat down at the table next to Suyin. "I''m guessing you managed to fix that misunderstanding," Haru whispered to her.


    "Uh, Kind of..." She whispered back but with less enthusiasm. "Kind of? What do you mean? What did you tell her?" Haru asked confused. She didn''t make the situation worse, did she? Suyin sat quietly for a few minutes before whispering once again. "I told her you were checking me for lice..." She hung her head in shame.


    Haru stopped for a moment and then stared at her before bursting into a fit ofughter. "Lice!? You told her I was looking for lice." He couldn''t keep his voice down. She definitely thought something even worse was happening.


    "What''s funny Haru? Did Chen tell you one of his jokes? His friends have been saying a lot of funny things recently isn''t that right?" Chen''s face went red from embarrassment. "Mom, Shut up! I told you not to tell anyone!" Chen almost spilt his water.


    "No, It''s not that Mrs Jiang. Suyin just told me how she tried to exin to you what was happening back there." He giggled again halfway through speaking. "Oh, It''s okay. I understand kids your age have needs. My husband and I were much like that when we were your age too. I loved how he would just be so random and call me toe and..."


    "Woah, Okay mom time to stop. Nobody wanted to know about that. I think I''m going to be sick if you carry on." Suyin interrupted her. "It isn''t what you were thinking Mrs Jiang. We weren''t doing that and I definitely wasn''t checking for lice. Suyin caught me looking at her when she was sleeping. She called me a pervert so I tickled her as revenge that is all that happened."


    Haru exined everything to her starting with what had happened yesterday. Leaving out the fact they had slept naked together out of course. That would just create more misunderstandings. Although there was nothing you could misunderstand from that.


    "Oh, I''m sorry to hear that happened to you. Is everything okay now? Are your parents okay? Oh, And sorry I couldn''t wish you a happy birthday. I forgot all about it until Suyin told me. We even got you a gift. That''s right. Where did that stupid husband of mine put it?" Mrs Jiang ran off looking for something.


    Suyin got fed up of waiting for her. "Mom. He put it in the cab!" She shouted at her.


    "Ah, here it is. I found it." Mrs Jiang said quietly.

 Chapter 61: The Gingerbread Man

    Chapter 61: The Gingerbread Man


    I know it''s not much but we thought you would like it. It''s to honour you turning eighteen and legally being able to drink." Mrs Jiang said as she walked back to the kitchen with a bottle of whiskey. Haru kind of chuckled as he saw it.


    Everyone was really making a big deal out of him bing the legal age to drink. First, his mom wouldn''t let him drink and now his girlfriend''s mom is encouraging him to drink. They were pr opposites but he still felt like their personalities were simr.


    "Thank you. I''m sure it was difficult to convince Mr Jiang to get me anything at all wasn''t it?" Haru asked and then reached out to receive the gift from her. She just smiled as she handed him the bottle.


    "You should know that he doesn''t actually hate you. He just feels like you are stealing his daughter away from him. He has always been super overprotective ever since Suyin was born." She went on to exin more about her husband and how he actually felt.


    "Are you serious? I thought he actually wanted me dead or something. The way he treats me is how somebody would treat a cockroach. I thought he despised me." Haru was confused. How could he not have noticed if he actually didn''t hate him? Mr Jiang sure had a funny way of showing his feelings.


    "Don''t worry so much. He was actually the one who picked out the gist. We had gone grocery shopping together and then he saw the bottle and mentioned that it was your birthday soon. He didn''t openly say he wanted to get it for you but he hinted at it. I had forgotten all about your birthday until he mentioned it so he can''t hate you that much." Haru''s opinion of Mr Jiang slowly improved the more she spoke about him.


    "Thank you for telling me this. It feels like a weight was just lifted from my shoulders. I didn''t expect him to remember my birthday without Suyin drumming it into him every five seconds. Can you thank him for me when he returns too?" He asked. He wanted to make sure that Mr Jiang knew his secret was exposed.


    Suyin and Haru sat talked for a few moments before eating their breakfast. Chen was the first one to speak up as he had finished before them. "Mom, I''ve finished can I go out now? Scotty is probably already waiting for me." Heined to himself.


    "Of course you can sweetie. Just make sure you don''t get your clothes muddy. I am sick of cleaning all the dirt out of the washing machine." She tried to say to him but he had already put on his shoes and made his way over to the door.


    "I swear that boy never listens. Watch him go and find the biggest puddle he can and then roll in it just to spite me." Mrs Jiang sighed. Chen ran outside and mmed the door. He stopped for a second thinking back to what his mom had just warned him about.


    "I wish she would stop worrying so much. I''m not a baby anymore." He said as he started to walk down the street. He kicked a pebble into the road. It nged off a drain and dropped down with a ssh.


    He then looked up the sky. It was a nice day. The sky was clear and blue. There wasn''t a single cloud in sight. His body felt itchy as he walked under the direct sunlight so he decided to take off his sweater and then he tied it around his waist. The park wasn''t a long walk but the sun was too much for him.


    On his way there he decided to stop at the convenience store to buy a drink. He went inside and picked up a bottle of water from the refrigerator and then walked up to the cashier. "Oh, Well if it isn''t little Chen. How is your mother doing? I haven''t seen her for a few days." The woman behind the counter tried to make conversation with him.


    Chen shrugged his shoulders and then put the money on to the counter and walked away. He got outside and then opened the bottle taking a sip before screwing the cap on and walking directly toward the park this time. "Why does everyone know my parents around here? It''s some. It''s like everyone is constantly babysitting me." He whispered before pushing open the gate to the park.


    He looked over to the climbing frame to see Scotty and Fai swinging from the metal bars and hanging upside down whilst talking to each other. Chen walked over and greeted them. "Hey guys, Hey Scotty." He shouted loudly as he approached them.


    There were a total of five boys stood together in the group who all looked at each other for a moment before a blonde, tall and scrawny boy spoke up. "Oh great. Who invited the gingerbread man?" They all began tough as Scotty mocked Chen for his red hair.


    Chen took part andughed along with them. "Hi, sorry it took me so long to get here. My mom was being stupid and wouldn''t find my shoes." Chen bragged about his disrespect to his parents. "Woah that''s so cool. I still don''t understand how you manage to talk to your parents like that. I know my mom would beat me if I said anything like that to her." A smaller brown hair boy walked out and put his arm around Chen and then took him into the group.


    "Fai, What are you doing? We just said that we don''t want him here. He always draws the attention of the grown ups. We can''t get away with anything when he is here." Scotty said right in front of Chen no longer being subtle with his words.


    "Oh, Come on. What is the harm in letting our friend hang out with us? Don''t we always manage to have fun when Chenes along with us?" Fai said to Scotty with a wink. Scotty seemed to catch on to what Fai meant as he reluctantly agreed. "Fine. You cane along with us today. Just try not to get on my nerves okay?" Scotty told Chen as they all got back to swinging on the climbing frame.


    "Thest one to the top has to do a dare!" Scotty then shouted as all the boys scrambled to the bars and began to climb. Chen put his hand on the bar for it to only be stood on by Scotty as he began to race the others. "Ahh!" Chen shouted as he moved his hand out of the way. He held his hand with his other one and looked up at Scotty whoughed at him.


    "Come, On. Hurry up or else you will have to do the forfeit. He said as he climbed higher. Chen''s eyes had begun to form tears. He looked up at the boys from his ss all mocking him and then decided to race him up to the top.


    He jumped up onto the highest bar he could reach and began to climb. It was only about three metres tall in total but the bars were ced far enough apart that they would have to use their whole body strength to climb to the next bar. Fai and the other boys were nearing the top. But Scotty stayed behind to mess with Chen a little more.


    Oh, Come on. You will never catch up if you are moving that slow. Why don''t you just give up?" He began to taunt him. Chen''s fingers had turned purple from where Scotty had stood on them. It made his climb a bit more difficult than it would be. But that didn''t stop him. He didn''t say anything as he climbed higher. Scotty was now only one tform higher than Chen.


    "Oh, You managed to catch up. I didn''t think a big cry baby like you could climb so well. I guess I have to get serious now." He mocked him again before starting to climb fo himself.


    Chen carried on silently ignoring the taunts of the other boys who had already reached the top. "Scotty. Why don''t you give him some extra encouragement?" Fai said to Scotty from the top. Scotty looked down at Chen directly bellow him and then smiled.


    He began to put his foot on Chen''s head and began to press down. "Wait, Scotty what are you doing!? I could fall!" Chen shouted back at him. "So what you aren''t that high up." He said back but now he started kicking the top of Chen''s head.


    The other boys began tough at the scene. They were encouraging Scotty even more. "Go on Scotty, You can win. Just kick him down already." Scotty reached down with his leg and then put it on Chen''s shoulder trying him to pry him off the climbing frame.


    "Please stop. I don''t want to fall. What if I get hurt!?" Chen begged for him to stop but they all justughed at him. "Are you going to cry again? You will be fine. It won''t hurt trust me." Scottyughed even more as he kicked as hard as he could toward Chen.


    Chen grabbed hold of the bar tightly and ducked his head down to avoid the kick. He closed his eyes and braced for impact. "Woah!! Ahh!" Scotty called out for a moment before there was a loud thud on the concreate bellow. Chen looked down at the ground.


    Scotty wasy on the concrete motionless. There was a red liquid slowly leaking from his head. "Scotty!" Fai yelled and then climbed down to help his friend. The other boy''s including Chen were too scared to do anything.


    They all just stayed still and watched as Fai tried to shake Scotty to wake him up. He didn''t respond.

 Chapter 62: Divine Justice.

    Chapter 62: Divine Justice.


    "Haru, can you do a favour for me." Mrs, Jiang asked as Suyin went upstairs to straighten her hair. "Sure what is it?" Haru asked not really minding her asking. "We just ran out of milk would you mind going to the store for me?" She asked.


    It''s not like he had anything to do and Suyin would be at least half an hour so he figured why not. "Sure, Is there any type of milk you usually get?" He asked taking into ount of her preference. "Yeah, Um, The semi skimmed milk please." She said and then handed him some money.


    "It''s fine, I don''t need money it''s on me you can take it as a fee for that wonderful breakfast. And of course. Semi skimmed milk If you asked for anything else I would have considered burning your house down." Haru and Mrs Jiang bothughed at his joke.


    "I probably would have helped you. I don''t know how anyone can drink other types of milk. I swear they have something wrong with them." Haru chuckled in agreement and then walked to the front door. He opened the door before putting on his shoes. It sure was a nice day.


    As he stepped outside he felt the sun beam down on him and then walked toward the store. It was a good thing that he was a cultivator now. This amount of heat would be enough to make anyone else sweat withing minutes of standing outside. The air tasted dry and there was a slight scent of rain.


    "The calm before the storm," Haru muttered to himself as he walked along the pavement. He hardly saw any other person as he walked the half mile to the convenience store It was one of those days. The days that are so hot that people decide to stay inside and avoid the blistering heat only to regret it the next day when it rains like there is no tomorrow.


    He made his way to the store and noticed the difference as soon as he stepped inside. The air conditioning sted him in the face as a little beep sounded out alerting the owner that someone had entered. Haru walked over to the drinks section and picked up the bottle of milk that Mrs Jiang wanted and then looked for something else.


    It took him a few minutes but he finally found his favourite beverage. Grapefruit sparkling water. Suyin was the one who introduced them to him so he picked up one for her as well and then walked to the counter to pay.


    "Haru? I haven''t seen you for a while. Are you still with Suyin? I haven''t seen her around here for a while. Although I did see a little Chen about an hour ago." The owner of the store always seemed over familiar with everyone but that was just her personality. She seemed to know everything that was happening because she forced friendships with everyone who came into her store."


    "Yeah, Suyin and I are still together we have just been busy with school stuff. We just finished our exams." He told her. "Oh, that''s right. I think my grandson just took his final exams too. I didn''t realise they had already finished." She thought for a moment. "So what are you doing now? Are you heading off to university this year?" She asked. And handed him a bag with the drinks inside.


    "Yeah. I think I will. It all depends on my results. We don''t get them until the end of the month so I guess I will just have to wait and see. You said you saw Chen? I should probably get him a drink too. Do you know which way he went?" Haru changed the subject so he could leave without being interviewed anymore.


    He walked back over to the drink section and picked up a fruit juice, Paid for it and then left without any more questions. "She pointed over to the park and told Haru that was thest ce she saw him. He figured he would probably be out ying with his friends all day so he might as well drop by and bring him a drink to make sure he didn''t get heat stroke or something.


    He crossed the street and walked up to the entrance of the park and saw a bunch of kids ying on the climbing frame. He looked closer and saw Chen hanging to the bottom bar. It was easy to locate him because his red hair stood out. He looked closer and saw that the kid above him with blonde hair had his foot on his head. What is he doing? Haru thought to himself as he carried on watching.


    He stayed there and looked on from the gate of the park he didn''t want to interrupt them if they were ying some kind of game. He still watched carefully so he wouldn''t miss anything. That was when he saw that something was wrong. The kid stomped down on Chen''s head.


    Chen''s head shook as his foot made contact with it. "Oh, This little bastard. He is going to get it now." Haru said to himself and carried on watching from the sideline hoping that Chen would fight back. But he didn''t


    He just kept looking up at the boy kicking him. Then he changed from his head to try to push him off. Chen then moved suddenly as the boy stomped down as hard as he could. "Okay, you little shit. It''s over now. You''ve had your fun." Haru said quietly as he thought about pushing him from the climbing frame. He managed to restrain himself but began to walk over.


    The boy screamed and then hit the floor like a sack of potatoes. He started to groan in pain. Haru could hear it from where he stood. "Ha, It serves you right! This is divine justice." Haru said as he watched the whole thing happen. The boy''s head began to poor blood and there wasn''t any sign of it stopping. "Shit, I should probably do something about this."


    He ran over immediately as the boy with brown hair jumped down and began to scream. "Wake up Scotty! I will go get your dad!" He ran out of the park followed by the other boys. Chen was left alone looking down at him. He didn''t know what to do. He climbed down and then stood over him.


    Scotty began to make gasping sounds as he was struggling to breathe. The only thing running through Chen''s mind was "I have to run away. This was my fault." He med himself over and over as he looked down at him until he felt a hand on his shoulder.


    "Hey, little guy. Do me a favour and look away please." Haru smiled at him. Chen covered his eyes and looked away immediately. He couldn''t look away before from the guilt he felt but Haru being nearby calmed his mind. Haru bent down and used his spiritual sense.


    "Oh, Damn. God must really hate this kid." Haru whispered as he inspected his injuries. He had a fractured cranium and his brain had begun to bleed. Jake wasn''t here so he couldn''t heal the wound but he did have an Idea.


    He remembered the day three years ago when he learned how to use thew of time. He hadn''t used it since but it seemed to call out to him. It was like it had a consciousness that was guiding him toward using it. He then held his hand over the kids head.


    He didn''t feel anything at first but a small warp in the air in front of his hand gave him the verification that it was working. The blood quickly went back inside his head and his skull had gone back to the state it was in before he had fallen.


    It was like nothing had happened. But Haru couldn''t pull his hand away. Thew of time was too powerful and was not letting him release his hand. He used all of his strength and dug his feet into the ground and then stood up.


    The concrete beneath him cracked before his hand finally came loose from its position. Haru fell onto his back from the sudden release. "Ouch..." He said instinctively even though he felt no pain.


    He stood back up and then looked down at the boy he had just saved. He inspected the injuries again. "I have done a pretty good job if I do say so myself." He bragged before being interrupted by the voice of a screaming woman.


    "Oh, My baby boy! What has happened to you!?" A woman who looked to be in her early thirties ran over and knelt down beside the boy. Her hair was obviously dyed and it had long yellow streaks beneath the topyer. Is this the new style? Haru wondered before she looked up at him with disgust.


    "Did you do this!? Did you hurt my son!" She screamed at Haru. Haru was unfazed. He scratched his neck. "Whoa, Calm down you crazydy. He fell. I witnessed it all from back there." He pointed to the main entrance. She looked back at the boy with brown hair.


    "Fai. Is that right!?" She shouted at him. The boy nearly jumped out of his skin as she shouted his name. "No that''s not true. It was Chen! Chen pushed him and he hit his head!" He pointed at Chen.

 Chapter 63: The Director.

    Chapter 63: The Director.


    Chen stood there and scrunched up his face. Tears began to fall from his face and he began to weep. The woman came closer and then began to yell even more. "You stupid. Kid where are your parents! I will have them both killed! My uncle is in the mafia you know!" She went on and on bringing up connections and listing names that a child wouldn''t have even heard of.


    "My husband is friends with Mr Hao. He runs this ce. Don''t think you can get away with hurting my son now. Chen suddenly stopped crying when he heard that name and then looked up at Haru. Haru also narrowed in when she mentioned his uncle''s name.


    "Oh, You know Mr Hao?" Haru asked acting like he was surprised. "Yeah, He is one of the meanest people around. If you are with this kid you better be prepared to swim with the fishes like his parents will," She said to Haru. He almostughed as he heard what she had just said.


    Zen was mean? He was only famous because he ran most of the economy in Shenzhen. He did start a bodyguard business that escted into contract killers but that was about it. And not many people even knew anything about thatpany apart from people who worked in organised crime. So he knew she was just talking nonsense.


    Haru looked back down at Chen and smiled. He put his hand on his head and then spoke. "Never heard of him? Who is this Mr Hao?" Chen looked up confused but was too upset to say anything. He knew that Mr Hao was, in fact, Haru''s uncle.


    "What? How have you never heard of Mr Hao? I guess kids don''t need to worry about adult stuff yet so that is probably why. But let me tell you now. Mr Hao is the true boss of this city. Even the police are scared of him. He kills everyone who disobeys him. And he and my husband are very good friends. You are lucky that my husband isn''t here yet. He woulde back with his gang and punish you for not knowing the great Mr Hao." Haru could barely hold it together.


    The police were scared of Zen? That was the biggest joke he had ever heard. The police literally told Haru he couldn''t hide anywhere because they knew where his uncle lived. How could they threaten the nephew of someone who is supposed to scare them? It didn''t make any sense. Were they thinking about the same guy are was it just a coincidence?


    "Is that right? Then how about you call this Mr Hao. I would like to talk with him." Haru said with a smile., The woman shut he mouth fro a moment. She looked surprised. "Didn''t you just hear what I said? Mr Hao is busy. If I disturbed him now he might even kill you out of anger." She said again almost stuttering over each word.


    She knew it was a lie just as much as Haru did. It put Chen at ease when he picked up on the Lie too. He smiled slightly. He knew he wasn''t going to get into trouble. "What are you smiling for kid? Did you think I would let you off? My husband is on his way. Just wait until he gets here. You will regret what you did."She began to shout at Chen again.


    "Shut up," Haru said he was getting fed up with hearing her voice over and over again. "What? How dare you!" She shouted at Haru. "I said shut up! What don''t you understand about it? Your voice is annoying me. Not to mention you are threatening a child. You absolute human trash."


    Haru used his Qi to put pressure on her body. She began to shake as all the muscles in her body locked up. "Just you wait..." She got out through gritted teeth. The kid lying on the phone made a noise and then slowly stood up. "Mommy!" He ran over and hugged the woman Haru was holding down with his Qi. He felt bad seeing the kid hug her so he released his Qi. She fell back and the Kid jumped on top of her and started to kiss her face.


    "Mommy," He said again. His speech was kind of slurred much like that of a toddler. But he was supposed to be the same age as Chen. Oh, Please don''t tell me I reversed his brain too? Shit. Haru thought tho himself as he watched how Scotty behaved.


    He was walking crouched down to the ground like he couldn''t gain his bnce. "What are you doing Scotty? You are embarrassing yourself. Pull yourself together." The woman said to her child and lightly pped his cheek trying to get him toe to his sense.


    It was no use. He definitely had brain damage from the time being reversed on his skull. Haru was feeling guilty as tires screeched across the road on the other side of the gate. A few seconds went by and then a small middle aged man with a thick busy beard came running from the gates.


    "What is going on!" He shouted as he reached the climbing frame. A few seconds went before and four more men came running. These men were all tall and were tattooed from head to toe. They looked like trouble so Haru stood in front of Chen to get him out of sight.


    The man knelt down with his wife. "What''s wrong you said he was bleeding?" He asked her. "Daddy," The boy said and then started to hug his dad. Scotty don''t you think you are a little too old to be doing this? What''s wrong? He asked but there was no reply.


    The woman started crying. "I think our boy has brain damage. We need to get him to a hospital immediately." The man suddenly became serious. A stern look formed on his face almost like a school teacher and he looked up at Haru. "Was it you that did this to my boy?" He asked and then get close to Haru in a threatening manner.


    "Your kid did it to himself. And if you don''t mind. Take a step back you are in my personal space." The man looked outraged by what Haru had just said. "You boy. You think your tough do you? I was in prison for thirteen years. You are not tough." He smiled and then folded his arms. He then looked down and noticed Chen stood behind Haru.


    "Oi kid. Was it you? Get out here and tell me the truth!" He shouted. Chen flinched with fear and tears began to form in his eyes once again. He was on the verge of crying. "I will give you another chance to take a step back," Haru said this time calm and with force. He released a bit of Qi to pressure him but he didn''t need to.


    The man gulped and then took a step back. There must have been something about Haru''s face that struck fear into the man. Haru then looked at the over four men. They all slowly backed away. He finally looked down at the woman holding her kid.


    She jumped when she saw him. And when the kid looked up he began to cry. "M-monster!" He screamed and then hugged his mom. Haru was confused. He looked behind him. There was nothing. Was it him? He looked at Chen who was stood still.


    Chen then pointed up to the sky. Haru looked back at the other people who were now looking up too. Haru followed suit looking up to the sky. Golden light zed out for a moment and then a screech pierced the ears of everyone present. They all passed out instantly.


    Everyone apart from Haru. He was familiar with this sound. It was a phoenix. Haru was confused. Why was there a phoenix here? It had a dark red coloured me and floated in the sky. Its size was rather small but it was obviously the same species as the phoenix in Haru''s bloodline.


    "Strange. He doesn''t dare to go any closer to you? I was nning to surprise you but I guess that is off the table now. A man who looked to be in his early thirties walked floated in the sky next to the phoenix.


    He had dark coloured feathers that stretched out from his back. His long slicked back hair managed to stay in ce as he dropped from the sky andnded on the ground. He made a small creator as hended.


    Haru was surprised but not really impressed by his performance. By the stories, Haru had heard. Flying techniques like that were useless. They would consume too much Qi and you couldn''t use external Qi whilst they are activated. He just stood there and stared as the man walked over toward him.


    "You know who I am right?" The man asked Haru.


    "Nope. And I don''t care. If you want to y at the park don''t mind me I won''t stop you I was just leaving anyway." Haru said as he picked up Chen and slung him over his shoulder. "Farewell.." He turned his back to leave.


    "I never imagined the one who took down the faceless unit to be such a coward." He said. Haru stopped. "Faceless? Oh, You must be their leader right? They call you The Director. Well nice to meet you but like I said. Farewell." He began to walk away again.


    The director sent his Qi toward Haru to try to suppress him. It didn''t even make Haru miss a stride as he carried on like nothing was happening. The director''s eyes became wide as he saw a golden me rise from Haru''s back and fly up into the sky.


    "Quickly! Dodge it!" He shouted!

 Chapter 64: Sentient Phoenix?

    Chapter 64: Sentient Phoenix?


    The fire shot up into the air striking the phoenix and engulfing it in mes. A louder screech boomed out this time making the director cover his ears in pain. "What is this power?!" A force felt like it was crushing his heart as his phoenix was devoured by the fire.


    He spat up blood as it hadpletely vanished. All that was left was the golden fire. It swiftly dropped from the sky and went into Haru''s body. "I just devoured his pet bird." A voice rang out in Haru''s head. "What! Phoenix that is you!? Since when could you speak?" Haru carried on walking but used his spiritual sense tomunicate.


    "Yes, Master. I can speak. I felt a strong instinct to eat that phoenix so I trusted in myself. As soon as I finished eating it I felt like I couldmunicate."


    This changed things. Haru just thought that his phoenix bloodline was helpful for pill refining and tempering mes. That is what Lao and Li Jun told him at least. But now his bloodline had be sentient? This couldn''t be normal right? He would have to ask Lao about it when he got back home.


    As he stepped outside of the park a buzzing sound came from behind him. It was almost like static. It increased in volume. It sounded like it was getting closer with each moment that passed. "Master Duck." The phoenix said.


    Haru listened and then ducked down whilst still holding Chen over his shoulder. A shiny sword wrapped in a nket of lightning flew over his head and hit the building on the other the side of the road. Bricks flew up into the air and then began to rain down onto the street below. Smashing the windscreens of car and stopping the traffic instantly.


    The sword slowly floated back up into the air and then flew back over Haru''s head in the opposite direction. He followed it with his eyes all the way back into the park where the Director was stood clutching his chest.


    "Get back here. I will fucking kill you!" He yelled and released all of his Qi in an effort to suppress Haru. He felt his Qi surrounding his body. It was truly overpowering. It gave him the feeling his knees would give out but It wasn''t quite powerful enough to do so.


    His soul had been tempered by a dragon''s voice after all. This amount of pressure was nothing. The most it could do was make his heart race in anticipation. This was actually starting to excite Haru. He had never gotten the chance to go all out in a fight with someone like this before.


    Hey Chen down on the pavement and then set up a small protective array. It was also another part of his training. Lao had started teaching him Draconian runes. They were the essence of all arrays but in the lower realms they simplified them so this basic protective barrier would be more than enough to protect Chen.


    "Not only are you are cultivator you are also an Array master. I can''t believe I actually thought I had a chance against you." The Director yelled.


    "Who are you!? Where did youe from!?" He yelled again. Haru took off his jacket and threw it on the ground. It was a gift from Suyin. He wasn''t going to let it get destroyed in a fight. His blood was boiling as he prepared to fight.


    "It''s okay. I won''t use any arrays against you. I want to test my strength against you so I wouldn''t want to do anything to make it easier on myself. Just promise me you won''t give in so easily. You got me in the mood to fight so don''t disappoint me." Haru got into a fighting stance and then released his own Qi. It almost made The Director drop instantly.


    He brought his sword back and shed it toward Haru. A rod of lightning few out of the tip and directly toward Haru''s head. He dug his feet into the ground and leaned into the strongest punch he could muster.


    A supersonic crack rang out asrge pieces of mud and concrete shot up into the air. The lightning fizzled out from the pressure of the punch and the sky seemed to be raining dust. Haru looked back over to the barrier where Chen wasy.


    He was still unconscious but he was safe. He had no time to react as the tip of a sword sliced through the air in front of his face narrowly missing his throat. Haru looked as the director passed him. His ears had streams of blood pouring from them and his head was bleeding.


    His face was scrunched up tightly as his rage became more noticeable. The sky was still dark as the cloud of dust had not settled yet. It made a good cover for the fight to take ce. No one could see what was happening within but with each exchange, the ground shook and more dust was shot into the air.


    From the outside, it looked like a dust storm was rolling into the city so it gained the attention of many people. The police sirens blurred out as the evacuated the neighbourhoods close to the park. This was unlike something the had to deal with before.


    The police were the least interesting people the fight attracted. As he carried on exchanging moves with the Director he felt the presence of people ring directly at him. There was no fluctuation in Qi so it was obvious the dozens of people watching were much stronger than Haru.


    The director was bing sluggish as he attacked less and less. He was almost out of breath. Haru was on the defensive from his ruthless attacks but had yet to be hit by one of them yet. So as he felt The Director slow and tire out he used the opportunity to counter attack.


    The Director''s sword shed for Haru''s neck. The dust cloud blocked just the right amount of light for Haru to use The breath of shadow technique and vanish from sight. He was only gone for a split second but that was enough for the Director to be disorientated as all of his surroundings looked the same as the dust blocked his vision.


    Haru appeared behind him and punched him in the ribs. Another shock wave was sent flying into the surrounding neighbourhood. But most of it was absorbed into The Director''s body as he was sent flying through the air like a rag doll before crashing into a building. The wall shattered instantly as his body slid across the floor.


    His breath became weak and he was now lying in a pool of blood. Haru walked over to where he wasy. As he left the dust cloud he could now see the onlookers who were staring at him.


    In the rooftop of the building where The Directors bodyy there was an old man who looked to be over one hundred years old. He looked like his body would give way any second, There was a man who looked to be in his early forties. He was sporting a little bit of stubble and had a tired looking expression. And then finally there was a woman. She was beautiful there wasn''t a single w on her body She had long blonde hair with green emerald eyes. She was waving a paper fan in front of her face and smiled when she caught Haru looking at her.


    The old man was the first to speak. "Sorry but you children are going to have to stop this dispute here. You have raised enough havoc for today." Haru stopped in his tracks.


    This man''s presence was so peaceful he had no demeanour as he spoke and he seemed to be looking right through Haru. The only thing he knew is that he would have to listen to this man. There was no chance his power right now couldpete with this guy.


    And that was backed up by Lao speaking. "A Nirvana stage expert. And two manifestation Stage experts. Why are they so uptight? They are just cannon fodder." Heughed. They were stronger than Haru right now but for Lao''s true strength they were the equivalent to ants.


    Lao''sugh was enough to strike fear into the old man''s heart. He looked at Haru with wide eyes and then settled back down when he saw that there was no intent to harm in Haru''s eyes. "Oh, What a perceptive old man. I only let a wisp of my power out and he felt it. Maybe if he could break through he would make a good disciple. Hmm." Then Lao went quiet.


    "Great thanks. You made me a target for someone stronger than me because you wanted to test him?" Haru used his spiritual essence toin to him but there was no response. He had gonepletely silent again. But it was reassuring to Haru that If danger were to befall him Lao would have his back like he just did.


    "You Boy, What sect do youe from." The woman spoke. She sniffed the air in front of her and then smiled. "What''s it to you?" Haru wasn''t too trusting of these people. He didn''t even know their reason for being here.


    The Director began to sit up. "Is that all you''ve got!?" He shouted through gritted teeth. "Shut up." The woman turned her head and looked at him. "Shut up bitch this had nothing to do with you!" The Director yelled back.


    The woman clicked her fingers and The director''s body stopped moving. He had be frozen. He couldn''t even blink. "Now boy, Tell me. Which sect do youe from."


    The old man then lifted up his hand. "Now that''s enough Lin. We don''t need to go making enemies with the younger generation. One day they will surpass us let''s not give them any difficulties." He spoke in a calm and gentle way that seemed to soothe everyone around.


    The woman sighed and went back to fanning her face.

 Chapter 65: The Evil God.

    Chapter 65: The Evil God.


    "I''m sorry about my colleague. She is very hot tempered sometimes. Do you mind If I ask for your name? I am Bai Fu. You can just call me old Fu if that works better for you." He smiled gently. He had the kind of face that made you feel like you could trust him with anything.


    Was it some form of cultivation or was he genuinely a nice man despite his power? Haru hesitated for a moment as he thought about giving him a fake name. But decided there was no harm in giving him his real name. "I am Haru Kitagawa. It''s a pleasure to meet you." He said and then looked at the Director who was still frozen.


    "Oh, You don''t have to worry. He isn''t dead. We are just restraining him. Wee from the national association of cultivation. We felt the fight going on here and came to investigate. We put this young guy in charge here a few years ago and we have had many reports that he has been abusing the power that we gave him. So I would like to thank you. If it wasn''t for you standing your ground against his corrupt force we wouldn''t have had the evidence we needed to punish him." The old man spoke again.


    The man who looked like he was tired then pulled out a small wooden box from his pocket. It was about the size of a smartphone. Arge amount of Qi began to form from the area in front of Haru and then the Director flew up into the sky before disappearing inside the box.


    Haru stepped back at the sight. Did they just capture him in a imprisoning device? He thought and then started thinking about escaping. Could he even escape if he wanted to? He wondered before the man holding the box spoke.


    "Don''t tell me you have never seen a life suspension box? I thought all the newbies got a handbook. Unless..." He began to speak. "That''s enough. We aren''t here to capture people. For all, we know he could be a sect disciple. We can''t just suspect people of breakingws." The woman spoke and then a sinister smile formed on her face.


    "So kid, What sect are you from? I have remembered all of the faces of every member of our association. And I haven''t seen you before. If you don''t answer then I will suspect you are in vition of failure to enrol yourself as a cultivator. It is punishable by fifty years in prison. So think carefully." She smiled even more now. There was a hint of blood lust in her eyes.


    This woman was definitely one of those crazed psychopaths who want to watch the world burn. Haru looked at the old man. He nodded his head back at Haru. He was saying there was nothing he could do. It all rested in his hands now.


    "Come on. I will give you ten seconds." She began to count down. Haru looked at the guy with the wooden box. He began to pour Qi into it.


    "Fine. I am from The ck Star Sect." He wasn''t actually a member but he was sure that the sect master would back him up if they went to him to ask for proof. The woman''s eyes instantly went from hatred to fear. The old man seemed to share the same fear.


    But the man with the wooden box hadn''t heard of this name before. He was confused. "The ck Star Sect? What is that?" He said. The old man and woman immediately flew away andnded by Haru''s side. The man now looked even more confused. "What?" Arge roar washed over the city.


    The ground began to vibrate as arge thunder cloud appeared. Lightning began striking the ground all over. Haru looked up confused. He also didn''t know what was happening. But both the old man and woman were shaking in fear. The man with the wooden box froze. His mouth was wide open as he stood still.


    "What''s happening?" Haru asked but there was no reply from the old man and woman. Haru ran over to the array and pulled Chen out of it. He picked him up and then walked back over to the old man and woman.


    The clouds opened up quickly and a beam of sunlight shone down on the man. "Who dares to utter the name of our might sect!?" A voice shouted out. The ground shook with every word. The voice sounded familiar but Haru couldn''t quite recognise where he had heard it.


    Suddenly arge hand pushed its way through the hole in the clouds. It looked like it was made out of pure darkness and then shot down to where the man was stood. The building beneath him vaporised and there was nothing left in the spot where he was stood.


    "Who else dares to mention our mighty name?!" The voice shouted once again. The old man and woman flew away from Haru fearing for their lives. "Wait. Who are you?" Haru asked. The hole in the clouds suddenly vanished along with the hand and a golden eye peeped through the cloud down at Haru.


    "I remember you. You are that child who the Sect master brought in. Haru was it?" The voice shouted again. "Yeah. But who are you?" Haru shouted back. The was no reply for a few moments.


    "That''s right. I didn''t introduce myself to you at the time. Do you remember when you came into the Elder hall? I was on the right of the sect master." The voice boomed out again but this time sounded more friendly.


    Haru thought back and then remembered there were two more people in the room at the time. "Oh yeah, I remember you now. How is everything back there?" Haru shouted back up into the sky. The old man and woman were both shivering in fear.


    "It''s going quite well actually. When you left we picked up an amazing disciple from the group you were in. She''s called Remi. Do you know her?" The elder from the ck star sect asked Haru.


    "Wait, Remi is still there with you guys!?" Haru was surprised. He knew she didn''t have any talent for magic so who would have thought she would learn how to cultivate.


    "Yes, She talks about you often. The sect master sometimes invites her into our elder hall to talk. There has been no news since you left. Thest we heard you got arrested. That was almost three years ago now. I see you have progressed quite a lot." He sounded genuinely interested in Haru''s progress.


    "Yeah, I cultivate nearly every day. I have to if I want to catch up to people stronger than me." Haru said and then looked back at the sky. The clouds were starting to fade.


    "Well, I have to go now but it''s good to see you are doing good. I will let the sect master know. And I''m sure Remi will love the news. You shoulde back and visit us some time." His voice faded off into the distance as the clouds disappeared.


    Haru looked back over to the two remaining people. The old man seemed to regain hisposure but the woman was still shaking with fear. She had tears in her eyes and was now kneeling down.


    "D-did you just have a conversation with the evil god?" The old man asked surprised. "The evil god? That was just one of the elders from the sect." Haru corrected him.


    "So you really are a disciple of that ce..." The old man said. "Yeah. Is that a problem?" Haru asked. He was confused. He still didn''t know what happened.


    "It''s not a problem. It''s just that we have never encountered anyone from there. We know of the name because our leader wrote it down in our database but anybody who speaks the name of that sect will die. It is always that man who you just spoke to. We don''t know his name so we have always referred to him as the evil god. Some people are even convinced that he is a deity or some kind of guardian spirit."


    "Nah, He is just an elder. There is nothing to worry about. Even his strength is nothingpared to the sect master." Haru said matter of factly whilst looking at the woman. As she heard him she shivered again. Just as she was starting to calm down she felt so much fear once again.


    "You have to be kidding me? I thought he was the strongest person that this world has encountered. I have seen this happen twice before. But I never would have expected to see the evil good talk civilly with someone. Usually where ever he appears everything within a ten kilometre radius is killed. Thank you for being here. We managed to survive and save the lives of thousands of people." The old man was so panicked he stumbled over his words a few times but he sounded sincere when he said thank you.


    "Come on, We need to make a report. We''re going." The old man grabbed the woman who was cowering in fear by the arm and dragged her up into the sky as they flew away.


    Haru was stood in the middle of all this destruction and didn''t know what to do. The ce was probably surrounded by police. He walked onto the main road ready to be arrested at any moment but it was silent. There were no police around. Only tire marks on the floor. It seemed like even the police were so frightened that they retreated.


    Haru then walked the half mile back to Suyins house. As he entered Mrs Jiand screamed as she saw Chen over Haru''s shoulder. "What happened to my baby?"


    Haru scratched the back of his head. "Where do I even start?"

 Chapter 66: Hibiscus.

    Chapter 66: Hibiscus.


    "So when I went to the store the owner told me she saw Chen head toward the park so I thought I would buy him a drink too. And when I went to give it to him a kid was bullying. Chen was climbing and then he was being kicked in the head by another boy. The boy ended up falling and another kid ran off to get his parents. When his parents arrived they started shouting at Chen so I got in front of him and told them to back off. That was when that dust storm appeared. Chen was so scared that he fainted so I had to carry him all the way back here." Haru told her about the first part.


    But there was no way he would tell her that he thought with a strong cultivator whilst her son was there. She would freak out and im he almost got her son killed. Mrs Jiang looked at Haru kind of doubtfully. "So why did you take so long to get back?"


    "Oh, That was because the police locked down the surrounding neighbourhood. The wouldn''t let me get past toe back here so we had to wait in the refuge area until the dust had settled. Oh, That reminds me. I left the milk at the park. Sorry I didn''t have time to pick it up." Haru said.


    Mrs Jiang ran forward and hugged Haru and began to cry. It was so sudden that he didn''t expect it at all. "Thank you, You put your self in danger to keep my child safe." Suyin walked into the kitchen. "What happened? Is everything okay?" She asked seeing her mom crying on Haru''s shoulder.


    He ended up exining the whole thing to Suyin as well. She hugged him and made sure to thank him with a kiss. Mrs Jiang didn''t make a scene like she usually would when they kissed in front of her. It seemed like she was finally starting to ept Haru.


    Chen was now sleeping on the couch. The screech from the phoenix only knocked him out but it was strange that he wasn''t awake by now. What was happening? Haru decided it was time to call on Lao and ask him.


    He sat down next to Chen and then went into his soul ocean. "Hey. Why is the kid still asleep? Shouldn''t he have woken up by now?" Haru asked Lao he seemed to be preupied with something.


    "I don''t know. Ask that bird of yours. It never shuts up. It can probably tell you." He said sounding quite annoyed. "Jeez, Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed," Haru muttered as he walked away and then over to the phoenix.


    "Hey, Can I ask you something?" He spoke out to the phoenix. "There is no need. I don''t know. But if you let me out to inspect him maybe I can find out what is happening?" The phoenix also had no idea.


    "That sounds like the best n I have. I will let you out but try to stay as small as you can. I don''t want the house to burn down." Haru asked of the phoenix. There was no response. Haru just shook his head and then opened his eyes.


    He held out his hand and channelled the power from his blood into it. A small golden me began to appear from the centre of his palm. It then sprouted tiny wings. It seemed to be the size of a coin but the light that emerged from its body was simr to that of a car headlight.


    The little phoenix flew over to Chen and then hovered above his body. "Hmm. I see." The phoenix said whilst looking down at Chen. "What do you see?" Haru asked.


    "Uhm, I made a mistake. When I devoured that pigeon earlier some of its consciousness escaped and then clung to Chen as a host. He is currently going through a trial of fire." Haru stood confused.


    "What is a trial of fire?" Haru asked. The phoenix sounded tired as it went on to exin. "It is what those bloodline creatures do to their host if their original body is damaged in an attempt to rebuild their strength." This phoenix really hated other phoenixes. What is it''s problem? Haru wondered.


    "Wait. It is rebuilding its strength? Will it be dangerous? Should I be worried about Chen''s life?" Haru began to panic a little bit.


    "A little bird this weak? At best It will fuse with his blood. At worst it will just kill it''s self and then vanish. It couldn''t harm this kid even if it wanted to. I feel ashamed to share the same species as that thing." The phoenixined before vanishing.


    I guess I just have to wait this out. Haru began to cultivate as he sat next to Chen.


    "Where am I?" Chen called out into the darkness that was surrounding him. His voice seemed to echo around and then slowly died off as a red me lit up the ce he was standing in.


    It seemed to be a cave of some sort with rack walls on each side. There was no exit near by. The only escape seemed to be through the ceiling. There was a small hole in one corner.


    Chen looked around again but then a voice called out from the darkness. "Huhuhu. You foolish human. You dare to step foot in the domain of this supreme overlord." The voice sounded like a child around the same age as Chen.


    "Oh, I''m sorry. I think I''m lost. Can you tell me how to leave this ce? I didn''t mean to disturb you." Chen spoke casually to the mysterious voice. "Leave? Presumptuous. You will only leave if I say you can." The voice said back almost immediately.


    Chen sied. He was getting fed up of this girl ying tricks on him. "Can you juste out and tell me how to get back. I miss my parents I just want to go home." He became emotional.


    Thest thing he remembered was the man shouting at Haru in the park. And now he was in a cave of some sort. Did something happen to Haru when he was trying to protect him?


    "I already told you. Stupid child. You are not going anywhere." The voice said again." Chen ran over to the wall and sat down with his back against it as tears started falling from his eyes once again.


    "Please! I just want to see my mom! I''m scared!" He screamed as the darkness now disappeared. There was a single me in the centre of the room.


    "Your mom?" The voice said quietly. It then went silent for a few moments before a whimper emerged. "Mama... Where are you?" It was the same voice but sounded desperate. Chen stopped crying as soon as he heard this.


    Was this girl in the same situation as him? He felt sorry for her. But he didn''t know where she was. He stood up and looked around. He saw some movemente from the fire and then walked over to see what it was.


    In the very centre of the fire there seemed to be a birds nest made out of sticks of gold. And then inside that, there was a small brown bird. Its shape resembled an eagle. But its eyes seemed to glow red.


    "Are you the one who spoke to me?" Chen asked the small bird. "Are you... Papa?" The voice said to Chen. It seemed toe from the bird but there was no sign of it speaking.


    Chen was more confused than ever? "Me? Your papa? I don''t think..." He couldn''t manage to finish before the bird flew into his chest. The fire surrounded Chen''s body and he began to scream.


    "Ahhhh! Fire! Fire!" He shouted over and over again until he realised the mes weren''t hot. They were cool and soothing to the touch. "Hahaha, Papa is funny." The bird said and then looked at Chen with it''s glowing red eyes.


    Chen stared back for a moment neither of them talking. "Do you have a name?" Chen asked. The bird began to fly in front of him fluttering it''s tiny fings to stay in ce.


    "Name? Don''t papa''s give names?" She seemed confused and then looked back at him again. Chen looked back intensely. "Name... Hmm... How about Hibi?" He asked. The bird stared back unblinking. "Hibi? What is that?"


    "You know, like hibiscus." He said expecting the little bird to know what he meant. "What is that?" She asked now ring at him.


    "It''s a tropical flower. It only grows in ces where it is hot so I thought it might suit you since you are surrounded in fire." He responded. That seemed to be enough to convince the little bird.


    "Hibi... Hibi, I like it! Papa is the best!" She shouted and flew around doing flips in the air excitedly.


    Chen smiled and then he felt scared again as he looked around at the cave once again. "So, Hibi? How do I get out of this ce?" He asked. The bird stopped suddenly.


    "Papa wants to leave?... Okay! That''s easy!" She opened her mouth and let out a high pitch screech. The cave suddenly vanished and he felt his body lying down on his side. He opened his eyes and looked around. He was in the living room of his house. He then looked up to see Haru sitting with his eyes closed.


    "Haru!" Chen shouted as he hugged Haru. "Ah, Good morning. Did you sleep well?" Haru asked and then messed up Chen''s hair with his hand.

 Chapter 67: Board Of Education.

    Chapter 67: Board Of Education.


    "What happened?" Chen asked as he rubbed his eyes. Haru smiled. "It''s probably for the best that you don''t know. And also for the best that nobody finds out about the little bird you just met." Haru stood up.


    "Wait how did you?" Chen asked. But Haru shouted out to Mrs Jiand and Suyin. "Chen is awake now!" A few seconds went by before running footprints made their way downstairs as Suyin ran into the living room.


    She ran over and hugged him lifting him into the air. "Don''t scare me like that again." She said before Mrs Jiang came running in. Suyin let go of him.


    Chen and his mom looked at each other for a few seconds. "I''m so sorry..." A drop of water hit the floor as Chen looked at his mom. He was so scared before. He just wanted her to tell him it was okay. He ran over to her and hugged her.


    "It''s okay sweetie nothing can hurt you here." She said to him and then hugged him back. Haru and Suyin took the opportunity to leave and go back to her room. Suyin had some paperwork to do regarding her job application.


    She wanted to go into the music field. Haru knew she was always a good singer but was even more surprised when she sang one of her original songs for him one day. He encouraged her to go for her dream job and then spoke to his uncle about helping her out.


    Zen had no problem helping her reach out to a few of the local recordbels. She had had the contract sitting in her room for a year already. They couldn''t sign her unless she was eighteen. Her birthday was in the middle of their exams so she didn''t have time to sign it.


    Now that she had left school she had nothing but time. Her dad''swyer read it for a few days and had sent it back ready to sign. All she had to do was put pen to paper and write her name. She took a deep breath. "I guess I''m signing my life away." She said as she wrote.


    She looked at Haru nervously as she finished. Haru leaned forward and kissed her. "You will do great." He smiled as he pulled away from her. "You really think so?" She asked.


    "I know so. Your songs managed to blow me away. Imagine what the world will think when they hear them. I see it now. Your name in shining lights and your face on billboards." Heughed.


    "Oh no! Not my face!" Suyin said and then covered her face with her hands. "Why not your face? You are beautiful and everyone will soon see that!" He smiled at her and theny back on her bed.


    "Or when they see you they will justugh. Or maybe run away in fear? I wonder?" He looked up at the ceiling as soft hit his face with quite a bit of force. "Hey, That''s not nice!" Suyin threw a pillow at his head and then jumped on top of him pinning him to the bed.


    "Oh yeah? Well, do something about it then..." Haru said before flipping the script. He lifted his hips and then turned around whilst holding her by her waist. Shended with her back down on the bed.


    "Hey, Suyin. Your mother wanted you." The door slowly opened and Mr Jiang stood in the opening in shock. "You! Why are you always here!? You know what. Forget it..." He mmed the door behind him and walked away.


    Haru ended up going home soon after an embarrassing conversation with both of Suyin''s parents this time. He arrived back at around five o''clock just as his mom made dinner for everyone. Four days past like a sh. Haru spent time with his family and friends joking around until one morning.


    Haru was in bed sleeping when his bedroom door came flying open. "Haru. Wake up! A letter just arrived for you!" Jake burst into the room in a panicked state. "What''s so important? I''m trying to sleep here." Haru was still drowsy. This was the first time he had slept for a few weeks so he was always a bit grumpy in the mornings.


    "Just hurry up ande down. It''s from the board of education." Jake shouted once again before he made his way over to Haru''s bed and pulled the sheets off him. "Okay, okay I''ve got it. Just give me a few minutes to get ready. I will be down in a minute." He said before sitting up at the edge of the bed.


    He needed some time to adjust. Catching up on a months worth of sleep in one night was exhausting. Jake began rummaging throughout Haru''s drawers looking for clothes. He took out shorts and a Tshirt. "Jake, I''m not five. I can dress myself, just go downstairs and wait a few minutes." Jake looked at Haru for a moment.


    "Fine, But don''t be long. Your mom is being impatient." He left and walked back downstairs as Haru had asked of him. "Okay, whatever. Haru stood up and put on some clothes. They weren''t anything fancy but they were extremelyfortable.


    He didn''t need any more hints. There was only one letter Haru was waiting on and that was his results from his exams. And the letter being from the board of education basically told him what it was. His chest throbbed when he got to the top of the stairs.


    "Wait, Am I nervous about this?" He asked himself but then yed it off as nothing happened. He walked downstairs into the hallway as light flooded in through the ss on the door. "Come one. Hurry up." He heard his dad call out from the kitchen.


    "When are you guys going home? I swear I can''t get any peace with you here." Haruined as he walked into the kitchen to find everyone including Zen stood around the table. And in the centre of the table, there was a mani envelope with a small logo int the right hand corner.


    "Zen, Shouldn''t you be at work?" Haru asked as he spotted him. "It can wait tillter. I wanted to be here when you got your results." He said and then looked back down at the envelope. "Aren''t you going to open it?" Krista asked.


    "Actually I was thinking about making you all stare at a piece of paper for a few more hours." Haruughed and then walked over to the table. "Fine, I will open it." He reached down and picked it up. He read the small logo printed. Sure enough, it was the board of education.


    As he picked it up he felt everyone''s eyes on him like he had just found treasure. "Stop staring so much. It''s just a letter." He told them all but not one of them listened. He sighed and then ripped the top of it open and pulled out a white sheet of paper that was folded neatly in half.


    He held it close to his chest to make sure none of them could peak and then opened it knowing that he was the only one who could see. "Oh, Come on. Don''t be shy. You can''t have done that bad right. Let me see." Luke said. Krista stopped him as he was about to step forward by grabbing his hand.


    She shook her head when he looked at her telling him no. Haru looked at the paper for a few minutes and then sighed. Krista looked at him with sympathy. "It''s okay. There''s no need to be upset. You can always retake them." She reassured him.


    "No that''s not it." He said as he dropped the paper onto the table for them all to take a look at. For every single one of his subjects, he had gotten one hundred percent. Even after trying to deduct points on purpose. He must have identally written the right answers when not paying attention.


    "What!? How!?" Luke freaked out when he saw the results. "Are you some kind of genius?" Jake asked in surprise. Krista just smiled at him. "Don''t you dare try to trick me like that again?" She walked over to Haru and hugged him whilst trying to kiss him on the head a few times. "I''m so proud of you."


    She said whilst Zen picked up the paper. "Wait. Did you read this?" He asked pointing to a line at the bottom of the paper. "Dear Haru Kitagawa. We would like to personally congratte you on receiving the highest score ever recorded and passing with one hundred percent. To show our appreciation the board of education has decided to offer you a schrship to any of our universities. This can be received by calling the number below. We wish you all the best. Kind regards. Secretary of admissions."


    The personal note was followed by a phone number. "Oh my god. That''s amazing Haru! Congrattions!" Zen shouted as he saw the surprised look on Haru''s face.

 Chapter 68: Hudan University.

    Chapter 68: Hudan University.


    Haru just looked down and then sighed again. But he was thankful that he chose not to go back to school to get his results with everyone else. Not only was it faster to get them in the post but it also wasn''t public.


    "So, What do you think? Do you know what university you want to go to?" Krista asked him and put her hand on his back. "Well, Honestly I didn''t really think about it. I was willing to ept anywhere that would take me.


    "I say we just wait and see," Zen said. Krista shot him a confused look and then he went on to exin what he meant by that. "Well, Haru definitely has the best scores in the country. So it''s only natural for the top universities to want him as a student so they will all get in contact soon enough and try to offer him money to study with them." Krista looked at him and then looked at Haru.


    Haru already knew this all too well and it is exactly what he didn''t want to happen. He thought about it. He was better off just picking a university now and letting the board of education know before the people tracked him down and started offering him all sorts of things to go with them.


    A free schrship was good enough. He was willing to pay the full amount but this just made things a little easier for him. It''s not like he needed much in the first ce. He still had money saved up as he didn''t really have any need to spend it.


    He stood there whilst everyone looked at him. Thinking about what to do. He could go to the top university and get all the benefits but then again It seemed wrong. He could be taking the ce of someone who worked as hard as they could to get good exam results. He just had his memory boosted by a dragon singing to him. It didn''t seem fair.


    "What are you thinking?" Luke asked his son who was staring at the table not really paying attention. "I decided," Haru said bluntly.


    "You decided? You decided what?" Luke asked him again. Haru looked up after a few more seconds. "I will go to Hudan University. I don''t want anyone to make a big deal out of things so I will go and let the board of education know about my decision." He took the paper into the living room and then called the number.


    It rang a few times before ady picked up on the other side. "Hello, you have reached the board of education. I am the manager of the executive office. How may I help you?" She asked. Her voice was sweet and soothing. It fit her job well if she answered calls all day.


    "Hi, I just got a letter in the post about being offered a full schrship to any university under the board''s jurisdiction. I am just calling to tell you I made a decision but I''m not sure what to do about it." He said sounding confused.


    It was probably weird for the woman too. They couldn''t have offered too many schrships right? " Oh, You are one of the top five students for this year then? Congrattions. All I need is your name and then we can discuss what we can do next." She said in the same soothing voice.


    "Okay, My name is Haru Kitagawa." He said. The line went dead for a few seconds before she spoke again. "Did you say Haru Kitigawa?" She asked surprised.


    "Yeah," Haru said and then the phone went silent again. "Okay, sorry about this but I will have to transfer your call to the administration department. They have a few things to talk to you about. There have already been fifteen different requests to offer yourge sums of money to go to their universities." She exined to Haru.


    Wow, they work fast he thought as he stopped her midway through her exnation. "I don''t mean to sound rude but, I''m not interested in any of their offers I have decided on Hudan university. What do I do to make it happen?" He asked. The woman went silent again.


    "Did you just say you aren''t interested in the offers?" She didn''t understand why anyone would refuse them without even seeing the money they were offering. "It is a lot of money. I suggest you at least consider it." She tried to win him over but Haru didn''t budge.


    "Yeah, I considered it a while ago but my answer is still the same. I would like to go to Hudan university. If you don''t want me to pick for myself then I can always just pay the entrance fees. I''m not really in need of the schrship but I assumed you would do all the paperwork for me and make it easier to enrol."


    Zen had been teaching Haru business techniques. And the first rule Zen followed when making a deal with someone is to make it sound like you have nothing to gain from what they are offering you. Their pride as apany will no allow them to simply let you walk away from them.


    It was a tried and tested method and as Haru would soon find out, it works. "Wait, Yeah that''s fine you don''t need to look at the offers if you don''t want to. And picking Hudan is a good choice. We actually have already gotten an offer from Hudan too. The money isn''t as well paying as the other top universities but if you are not interested in it I will let them know. And you are correct. We will do everything on our side to make sure that everything goes smoothly for you." She began to panic.


    It was probably a situation she hadn''t been in before. A student calling and taking the power from the conversation. She seemed disturbed by the thought as she sat silently. Haru didn''t say anything to make sure that he had control of the situation. It was just like Zen had taught him. Once you have control they will do everything you want.


    "Hello, Are you still there? Did I do something wrong?" She asked. Haru then spoke. "Yeah, sorry I was just thinking. What do I need to do in this situation?" He asked her.


    She replied almost instantly. "Nothing at all. You just sit back and rx and let us do our job. Once all the paperwork is finalised we will call you back and let you know everything about it. I wish you all the best and if you ever need to contact us again then don''t hesitate to call this number." She said and waited for Haru to reply.


    He waited a few seconds and she didn''t end the call yet. "Okay, Thank you. Bye." He said and was just about to end the call when he heard her voice again. "Bye, bye!" He pressed the red circle on his phone and the call ended. He sat back in his seat kind of amazed.


    Zen''s little business trick actually worked with everyday life too not just in the business world. I would like to learn more about psychology if it is this useful. Maybe I could major in it? He thought about it for a few seconds before he noticed his mom in the doorway holding his baby sister.


    "How did it go?" She asked with a smile. Haru smiled back. "Great they said they will do everything on their end to get me into Hudan, like I wanted." He was actually excited. But he wasn''t sure what he wanted to study yet.


    "That''s great news. But what have you decided to major in?" Krista asked him and then sat down on the couch. "I''m not sure yet. I haven''t really given it any thought." He admitted.


    "You haven''t thought about it yet you still want to go to university? Well, What do you want to do for a living?" She asked. "I don''t know. That is the difficult part. I''m not really used to making life changing decisions. What if I chose something that I end up hating?" He became nervous at the thought.


    Haru was solely focused on bing a cultivator and seeing the things that Li Jun and Hao had told him about. The many mysteries of the many worlds out there yet to be discovered. What did anyone in the world have to offer him that would help him advance his cultivation? He already had the best help from a dragon and his master who was insanely powerful. Who else had the right to teach him?


    The Idea of education seemed pointless when he thought about it from this perspective. His end goal was to be powerful enough to leave this world so what was the point in trying to fit in? The more he thought about it the more disheartened he became with his the decisions he had made. He sat there thinking before Krista put her hand around him.


    "If there is anything at all on your mind. We can talk about it. Your mother will always love you no matter how old you are." She could see that something was troubling him.


    Haru then realised the reason that he should go to university. If nothing else it would make his parents proud. They weren''t cultivators like he was so they wouldn''t live even a fraction of the lifespan that Haru currently had.


    Cultivation came with its benefits and being at the Qi creation stage meant that his life span would let him live for at least two hundred years. The time he could spend with his friends and family here on earth would be limited so it was best to make the most out of him.


    It felt like he had reached a kind of enlightenment as he came to this conclusion.

 Chapter 69: Sect Masters Quest.

    Chapter 69: Sect Master''s Quest.


    There was a knock on the door. As Haru got up to go and see who it was Jake stopped him. "It''s one of those ck cars. I don''t think It''s a good Idea you go out there." He seemed worried. And he had every right to be. Thest time a ck car parked outside they all got held at gunpoint.


    "It will be fine. I''m sure it''s nothing." Haru said as he opened it. The door slowly creaked opened and Haru saw a familiar face. It was the Sect master''s granddaughter. He never did find out her name. It didn''t know why she wanted to see him though.


    "Oh, Thank god you''re here. I went to look for you at your school and then they told me that the school year has already ended. I really need to keep track of these things." She said and then looked at Haru expecting a reply. Haru looked back at her. And in a moment of awkward silence, Jake popped his head out of the door.


    "Oh, Who is this Haru?" He asked as he saw the beautiful blond woman before him. Haru didn''t have a clue on her name so he just told him. "Do you remember the sect master from the ck star sect?"


    Jake nodded his head. "Yeah, Why?" He asked confused. "This is his granddaughter." Haru sighed. Before the woman gasped. "We have met multiple times and you are going to introduce me as someone''s granddaughter? I thought we were friends?" She smiled at him.


    Haru sighed. "We are friends? Then why don''t I even know your name? Why didn''t you know I have already graduated high school?" He asked her she seemed caught off guard. She was trying to act over familiar and it annoyed Haru.


    "You graduated high school? Wow, I didn''t know it had been that long since I ran into you at the park that one time. I''m getting really old." She sighed but then got back on to the topic. "So, My grandfather has sent me on a quest." She added. And then red at Haru.


    "A quest? And it involves me how exactly?" Haru looked back at her. "Wait, Just here me out. I need to deliver some things back to the sect. They are all extremely valuable and I didn''t know who else to ask. Thest time I saw you you could easily break your hands out of tempered steel handcuffs, So I figured you would be the best choice to help me." She said and then smiled at Jake who was ogling her from over Haru''s shoulder.


    "You need me to help guard something for you? Who do you think would try to steal from your sect?" Haru was confused once again with what she had to say. Even the cultivator association was terrified of the ck star sect. They would kill anyone who mentioned their name. It would be suicide to steal from them.


    "Well, you won''t be the only person helping. We have a private militia helping us too but the thing is. The sect master wanted to talk to you about something so I figured it would be best if we go together. If you want toe and hear what he has to say that is" She said and then waited for a reply.


    "Mom! I''m taking Jake back to the sect for a day. We will be back tomorrow." Haru shouted from the doorway. Not even two seconds went by before Krista came running down the hallway. "No, you are not!" She shouted as she saw him stood at the front door. Then she saw the long blond hair of the woman outside.


    She tried to stand on her toes to get a better look as Haru was blocking the door. After a few seconds of useless jumping up and down she gave up and then decided to go and have a look who it was at the door. She got to the door and saw the woman. She looked to be in her early thirties. Why was she at the door for Haru? And who was she?


    All kinds of thoughts ran through Krista''s head. "Haru what is this about?" She asked him in disgust. Was her son having an affair with an older woman? She didn''t believe it. "Oh, Mom do you remember the old man back a the sect?" He asked her.


    "Yeah, Why?" She was now confused. The question was so out of the blue she lost her train of thought. "This is his granddaughter. She came to say that the sect master wanted to talk with me so she was asking if I could go back with her to the sect to see him." Haru exined everything to his mom.


    Krista began to feel stupid. She was thinking all sorts of horrible thing so her guilt was what tempted her toward making a decision. "You will be back tomorrow?" She asked. "Yep, Well that''s if everything goes to n and there are no traffic dys." He looked at Jake who seemed to be quite excited.


    "Fine, If you aren''t going to be long I guess you can go but we only have three days until we have to go back home. I was hoping to spend more time with you. Oh, when you do get back make sure you bring Suyin round again. She is such a sweet girl. I want to get to know her better." Krista went on a small rant about how he had invited her to dinner with him and then didn''t bring her back again. It was like he was trying to keep his parent''s away from his girlfriend.


    Haru sighed. "Whatever. Sure I will text her tomorrow morning and ask her if she wants toe over again." Krista seemed satisfied with his answer and then went back into the living room where she had left Saki.


    "I do have a name you know?" The sect master''s granddaughter said to Haru looking annoyed that he kept referring to her as the sect master''s granddaughter. "Wait you actually had a name all this time? Why didn''t you say so?" Haru mocked her. Jake cracked a smile but then stopped himself fromughing when he saw the look on the woman''s face.


    "My name is Cui. And you better start using it before we get back to the sect or else." She said and then turned her back to him. "I will give you twenty minutes to pack anything you need. I will meet you both in the car." She started walking toward the car and left Haru and Jake standing at the doorughing.


    Why did I let myself get so wound up? He is just a kid why does it feel like I was talking to an old man trying to annoy me on purpose!? She was frustrated more with herself for showing so much anger in front of two young men. She was much older and was supposed to be cool and collected, But she was just the total opposite of her usual self.


    She waited for what felt like ever but there was no sign of them. Haru and Jake were inside. Zen had just made sandwiches for everyone so they were sat down having something to eat before they went out. They had their bags packed with an extra set of clothes and were just waiting for Zen to finish telling his story about what he did for a living.


    The doorbell rang out. "Who could that be?" Zen said frustrated that his story was interrupted. "I think we should probably get going now anyway. I think that is Cui again. She probably got impatient." Haru said as he picked up his bag and began to walk toward the door. Jake did the same and followed close behind him. Haru was carrying something in his hand. It looked like something wrapped in tinfoil.


    As he opened the door he got an ear full from Cui. "What took you so long? You made me wait nearly an hour! Were you purposely trying to make me mad?" She then inhaled through her nose. "I smell Bacon. Were you really inside eating whilst I was waiting this whole time!? I thought you were a nice young man the first time I met you."


    She seemed to be angrier than before. Then she shut up suddenly, "Just get in the car. I''m over it." She suddenly said and then began to walk back to her car. "Hey," Haru said to her as she was about to get into the driver''s seat. "What now?" She asked still sounding upset.


    "This is for you." He said and then handed her the thing wrapped in tinfoil. "What is it?" She seemed weary of it. "Some sandwiches. I felt bad that you were out here. But we couldn''t really refuse. My uncle cooked breakfast and wanted us all to listen to his work stories. "I''m sorry for making you wait."


    Cui seemed caught off guard. She looked at Haru and smiled slightly and then felt embarrassed by the way she had acted. "Thank you." She said before getting into the car. Haru and Jake then put their bags in the back and then got into the car also. Haru decided to sit up front with Cui. Jake said he wanted to sleep so he would appreciate the extra room in the back to lie down in.


    Cui. Looked around to make sure everyone had their seat belts on and then set off.

 Chapter 70: Show Me The Goods.

    Chapter 70: Show Me The Goods.


    After a few minutes of driving in silence, Haru looked out of the window. He didn''t recognise where they were heading. It looked like they were driving into an industrial park. There were many factories blooming clouds of smoke from chimneys. He could taste the toxins in the air from inside the car.


    It wasn''t a pleasant experience for any Of them. "What is this ce?" Haru asked Cui. Without taking her eyes off the road she replied. "This is the industrial sector. We have to pass through here to get to the docks. Don''t worry we won''t be here long. I hate the smell too." She looked like she was struggling to breathe.


    "The docks? Why are we going there?" Jake shouted from the back seat. "Don''t you kids ever listen? We need to meet up with the Militia people. And that is where the goods are stored. We will be driving with a convoy of all the items that the sect needs." She didn''t make an effort to exin anything else she just shook her head and silently judges them once again.


    Haru got bored and then reached out his hand toward the console to put on some music. "No don''t touch that!" Cui shouted as his hand got closer. But it was toote. He had already switched on the radio. "Mr Jackson reached up with his hand whilst licking Mrs, Estor''s stomach." It seemed to be an audio book of some kind, ying with the volume turned all the way up.


    It only went down hill from there. It wasn''t just any audio book but an erotic one. After about fifteen seconds of it ying Jake began tough. Haru looked at Cui her face now red and then he switched the channel on to some random music channel. He looked ahead whilst Jake was stillughing from the back of the car.


    "Hey say something. If you are going to judge me then at least do it out loud. It feels awful not knowing what you are thinking about me." Cuiined. "I''m not judging you. I understand we all have our needs. Some people fulfil them differently. It''s okay there is nothing to feel ashamed about." Haru said with a smile.


    It made Jakeugh so much more than before. "Fine. If Haru doesn''t want to Judge you then I will, you old pervert. Why do you even listen to stuff like that? Are you secretly a sixty year old man?" Cui''s face was as red as it had ever been. She decided to shut up and focus on driving. It was probably for the best. There was nothing she could say that would fill up the grave she had just dug for herself.


    After about ten more minutes of driving in silence, they had finally reached the docks. They drove up to arge warehouse. There were two semi-truck and five off-road military style cars waiting for them. "Hey, You two stay here. There are a few things we need to go over before we set off. These people aren''t too nice so it will be for the best that you don''t go and cause trouble." She warned Haru and Jake before she got out of the car and walked toward them.


    Haru waited a few seconds for her to walk out of sight before he turned back to Jake. "You ready?" He asked. Jake caught on to what he meant. "Is it time for our cargo inspection?" Jake asked. Haru began to open the door. "Yep, We need to make sure the goods are all safe and secured. We can''t have anything getting damaged before we set off." He got out of the car whilst making sure nobody was looking.


    Jake followed closely behind and then shut the door as quietly as he could so he wouldn''t draw any unwanted attention. They sneaked around to the side of the warehouse. "How smoothly do you think this operation will go? The higher ups said that they were being paid quite handsomely for sending us here. That usually means it''s going to be difficult right?" There was a man''s voiceing from the corner in front of them.


    It was followed by two sets of footsteps. "We need to hide," Haru whispered to Jake. Jake nodded his head and then cast a spell. [Reactive Camo] The spell practically made them both invisible. As the two men walked around the corner they didn''t suspect a thing as they carried on with their conversation.


    "I''m not sure. They sent us all the out here so I guess that the client is very wealthy. It might just be a breeze. I doubt that anything will happen." The other man said. "Hmm. You make a good point. But the captain did warn us to keep our eyes out for trouble. He usually only says something like that if he expects us to find trouble" The carried on talking as they walked right past both Jake and Haru.


    "That was a little close," Haru said as they carried on walking. The pro''s to the spell Jake had just used is that it is quick to activate and it doesn''t require much mana. The one major con is that you can''t move whilst it''s activated or you will break the effects. They carried on with their mission to inspect the goods.


    They found their way into the warehouse through the back door. The had just finished picking up the two semi trucks that were sticking out of the front of the warehouse. There were two men wearing white hazmat suits. They looked at each other and then one of them nodded before they walked away in opposite directions.


    "Well That was a little weird." Jake said as they decided to investigate further. "Yeah. That means there is something harmful in there right?" Haru asked rhetorically and then they both opened the door to the first truck. "Show me the goods," Haru whispered as he pulled open the doors.


    There was nothing unusual. There were no funny smells in there that would suggest that anything in there was harmful. In fact, the only things that were in there were stacks and stacks of herbs. It smelled like a traditional medicine store. But if that was the only thing then why would they wear protection to load them into the truck.


    The only conclusion Haru came to was that there was something in the other truck. They left the truck how it was and then closed the doors. They made sure not to touch anything so nobody would notice that they had been in there.


    "Hey, I''m going to give you a fair warning. You might want to activate a few spells on yourself. There''s a good chance that the thing in the next truck could be deadly." Haru warned Jake. "I was thinking the same thing." He replied as he began to activate spells on himself.


    "Hey, You need me to put some on you?" He asked Haru. "Sure, It will just be a little extra protection." Before Haru could finish Jake had already activated four protection spells. "Wow, You really have improved a lot." Haru praised him and then walked over to the door of the next truck.


    "Be careful," Jake said as Haru reached out for the handle. He pulled it gently and then the door slowly creaked open. It was dark and a lot of dust flew out. It was weird they had just loaded the truck. How was there so much dust? Haru couldn''t make sense of it and then his body began to react to the object inside the truck.


    Right in the centre. There was a concrete box. It was long and narrow. It almost looked like a coffin. There were old rusted chains wrapped around it. And then Haru noticed what had created the dust so quickly.


    It was the chains. They had small inscriptions on each link and gave out the same feeling that had happened when he read the stone tablet that contained thew of time. The chains were probably being used to keep whatever was inside the box from ageing. There was also an ominous feelinging from it. He couldn''t ce where he had felt the feeling before but it was familiar.


    "What is it?" Jake asked from behind Haru. He was using him as a shield in hopes that whatever was inside would get to Haru before it got to him. "I''m not sure. It looks like a coffin. But we had best not go any further than this. Whatever is inside is locked up for a reason. I don''t want to find out why." He warned Jake and then they both took a step back.


    Haru closed the door quietly and then they turned to head back. As the door closed the was a small beeping sound that came from the door. Was there a motion sensor? Haru thought. All of a sudden running footsteps emerged from all side.


    "Quick Jake hide us." Jake began to activate the spell. [Break] The spell was cancelled before he finished activating it. "Huh?" Jake was confused as a big muscr man with long hair and a headband holding it back walked through the middle of the two trucks. "A mage? It''s been a while since I encountered one of you." He said whilst approaching them. Suddenly they were surrounded by armed men all aiming their guns.


    "Hey, guys What''s up?" Haru smiled as the all had him in their sights.

 Chapter 71: Bullying.

    Chapter 71: Bullying.


    Haru and Jake stood there at a loss for words. What could they say? Haru then spoke. "Come on guys, There is no need for guns is there? We are the inspectionmittee. There is no reason for you to aim your guns at us." Jake startedughing hysterically.


    "What''s so funny?!" One of the men shouted.


    "Oh, Nothing. Don''t mind me." Jake said between each giggle. Haru stood smiling as the big muscr man stepped forward.


    "Okay, enough ying around. Who are you two and what are you doing here?" He looked down at them both.


    "Fine, I''m a friend of your client. We are tagging along for the trip. We just got a little curious about the cargo." He told the man. But he didn''t believe a single word of it.


    "I won''t warn you again." He said and then grabbed hold up his knife on his belt.


    "But I was telling you the truth, that time." The man was starting to lose his patience.


    "Okay... if it is true then tell me. What is the name of our client." He looked at Haru and saw his face as he tried to think.


    Hmm. I never called him anything but sect master. What was it the Li Jun called him again? "Little Shen," Haru said.


    The man looked at Haru with wide eyes. "You really do know the old Master Shen? And you dare to be so disrespectful toward him? Don''t you know of his power?" The other men all looked at this big guy with confusion.


    He seemed to be their leader but this was probably the first time they saw him acting like this. "Well, The only two names I know him as are Sect Master and Little Shen. I don''t think he will mind if I call him that. Will he?" Haru began to question himself. Was it really disrespectful?


    "What''s going on!? I heard the rm and came as fast as I could!" Cui ran into the warehouse and began to look around.


    "Oh, Miss Cui. It''s nothing we can''t handle. Just two intruders. They imed to know the client." The big guy shouted to her as she spotted Haru and Jake surrounded by the big group of armed men.


    "What are you two doing out here!? I thought I told you to wait in the car? Is it your goal to annoy me or something?" Cui shouted at Haru and Jake.


    "Oh, So they really were telling the truth?" He was shocked. He thought for sure that he found two kids that were up to no good. Well in theory he wasn''t wrong.


    "Yeah, My grandfather asked me to bring that one along with me. The blond one is his friend he decided to bring along for the ride. I was just talking to your boss about that when the rm went off." She briefly exined the situation to him and then waved her hand for Jake and Haru to walk over to her.


    "Okay, Well everyone. At ease!" The man shouted. Dismissing all the armed men. They all went back to whatever they were doing before.


    Haru and Jake both made their way over to Cui. "What were you two thinking? You could have gotten hurt. These people are quite rough." She was worried about them.


    "Sorry, I just got a little curious as to what we are transporting So what''s up with that coffin?" Haru asked. Cui put her hand over his mouth.


    "Shh Don''t mention that. Only a few people have seen it. You aren''t supposed to know."


    "Fine. I didn''t see anything. But you are going to have to tell me what it is." Haru told her and then walked in front of her back outside toward the car.


    "Fine" She muttered as she followed him. Jake walked closely behind Cui.


    "It was a misunderstanding then?" A skinny man with sses and long hair asked as Cui walked out. He was dressed in camo pants like the rest of the men but his build seemed out of ce. He almost looked sick.


    "Yeah, Are you all ready to leave yet?" Cui asked this scrawny looking man.


    "We are ready when you are Miss Cui." He said and then pulled out a radio.


    "All units gather at the front entrance." He spoke into it. There were distant reys of his voiceing through the radios the men nearby were carrying. And then a few secondster it sounded like thunder rolling in through the sky as all of the men marched out to the front entrance like they were told to.


    There looked to be around sixty or seventy men in total. They stopped abruptly in front of the scrawny man and then saluted. "Squad A and Squad B. You will be leading this mission. Captains of both squads, Please lead your men to your vehicles and be ready to leave." Around twenty people stepped forward and then got into the vehicles that were waiting for them.


    It took them less than two minutes to all stack up into around six vehicles in total. On top of having the two military style cars they also had four cked out SUV type cars.


    "We are ready when you are, miss." The scrawny man said to Cui and then walked back inside one of the small building located nearby.


    "I guess that''s it. We had better go now." Cui said and then walked over and got into the car. Haru and Jake followed close behind and then got back into their previous sitting arrangements with Haru up front and Jake having the back all to himself.


    "I can''t help but feel like they were trying to just get rid of us as soon as possible." Jake leaned forward and said through the gap between the seats.


    "That wouldn''t surprise me. They are a private militia after all. I bet they have tonnes of things in their warehouse that they don''t want you to find. People don''t appreciate it when nosy kids are rummaging through their things." Cui said and then sighed.


    "Forget it. I''m not even mad about it. I probably wouldn''t be able to keep my curiosity to myself either. I can''t me you for something like that." She said as she turned the key to the engine.


    "Oh, Speaking of being curious What was the coffin about?" Haru asked her again. "It isn''t a damn coffin!" Cui snapped.


    "Well, it sure looked like a coffin. So what is it?" He asked her again. She seemed especially hesitant to answer.


    "We aren''t sure." She said and then began to follow the trucks that had set off ahead of her.


    "Wait what!? You aren''t sure!?" Jake stole the words from Haru''s mouth as he leaned forward and shouted in surprise.


    "Put your seatbelt on!" Cui yelled back at him.


    "Fine, Fine it''s on." He said followed by a loud clicking noise.


    "We aren''t sure because we haven''t opened it. The weird box thing was found buried at the bottom of the ocean a few years back. The government tried opening it but everything they tried was unsessful so the sect bought it from them since they no longer had a use for it." She exined.


    "So what you are actually saying is that it could be anything?" Haru asked.


    "Basically" She answered. And then began to focus on her driving. Haruy back in his seat and turned on the radio. This time it went on to the right channel.


    "Okay. It''s definitely a coffin then." Jake said whilst making himselffortable too.


    "Probably. But there is always the chance of it being something else. What if it is a biological weapon that was locked up and thrown away?" Haru made the point to him.


    "Yeah, That could make sense too I guess." Jake agreed. They both spoke to each other about what they thought it was for around an hour.


    "Do you two ever shut up?! It''s like driving with two five year olds in the car." Cuiined as Jake and Haru were still talking about their theories on what they were transporting. It went silent for a few seconds as Jake and Haru stopped their conversation.


    "Way to kill the fun" Jake said back to her. Cui looked at him like she was about to stop the car and beat him for answering back.


    "Yeah, I was quite enjoying that talk." Haru looked at her and shook his head in disappointment.


    "Don''t look at me like that. I am supposed to be in charge here." She started to question her authority.


    "Who put you in charge? I decided toe along with you by choice. I don''t need a leader to help me make decisions." Haru told her.


    Jake smiled before adding his part. "Yeah, Who died and made you king? I wasn''t even invited in the first ce. You hold no power over me. Do you think you are really in charge?" Cui looked down at the steering wheel before turning back to Haru and Jake.


    "Why are you both bullying me! What did I do?" She sounded like she was actually upset.


    "Okay, I''m sorry," Haru said. She looked back at him.


    "Yeah me too. We were just trying to have some fun to pass the time. You made the perfect target. I didn''t mean anything I said." Jake added. She looked like she was about to smile again.


    "Yes, We will listen to themands of the ever so great leader!" Hara shouted and then put his hand on his chest. Jake went into a fit ofughter once again.


    "Okay, You can stop with the sarcasm. I get it." She then went back to focusing on driving.

 Chapter 72: Strings Of Light.

    Chapter 72: Strings Of Light.


    Another two hours had passed since they had started driving toward the sect. They were still around two hundred miles away from their destination. Jake had fallen asleep. He wasying across the three seats in the back of the car. Haru wasying back in his seat with the window all the way open.


    They were now driving down a long stretch of road surrounded by trees on either side. The only other thing in sight was the convoy they were following behind. There had been no cars taking the same route as them since they left the city so the roads were silent. The radio was now turned down but still ying music so it wouldn''t wake Jake up. Haru put his hand out of the window and began to feel the wind pass through his fingers. "This is nice." He said. Cui''s ears perked up.


    "It is? I thought kids your age would usually beining about how boring long drives like this are." She responded.


    "I wonder where you heard that. I quite like nature to be honest." Haru said and then closed his eyes.


    "Is that so?" Cui asked and then looked over to Haru. She smiled as she saw his eyes closed. "Sleep well." She whispered. But she was wrong. Haru wasn''t sleeping.


    "Hey, Phoenix. I''ve been meaning to ask you. What is your name? I can''t just keep calling you Phoenix." Haru said as the giant white bird surrounded by golden mes flew over his head. Itnded before him. Its mes were now strong enough that Haru felt a burning sensation when he was close by.


    "Name? I don''t have one. My mother died before she could name me. How about you give me one?" Its voice was deep and carried power as he spoke. That was when Haru noticed it''s size was not the only thing that had changed. It now had five long golden feathers on the back of its head. And its talons had also turned to the same golden hue.


    "Woah, What happened? Did you evolve or something you are so much different thanst time I saw you. Even your voice has changed. You sound like a man." Haru asked. Was this even the same beast that had awakened in his bloodline?


    "I think so. I''m not really too sure but my body acts on instinct. When I ate that little fire chicken I absorbed its soul. It took me a few days to absorb it. But then all of these changes happened to me at once. I also felt like my power has increased substantially. And I am a man!" his voice boomed out once again.


    "What''s was that noise?!" Lao''s voice boomed back toward the Phoenix. Haru turned around to see Lao''s humongous body taking up space in his soul ocean. The phoenix had grown quite a lot in the past few days but Lao always surprised Haru every time he saw him. From his head to the tip of his tail he was longer than even a world record setting skyscraper. Lao looked down at the Phoenix.


    "What happened to you?" Lao asked sounding concerned for his safety.


    The Phoenix snapped back "Mind your own business. You big lizard." There was a hint of hatred in his voice. Now if you don''t mind. The human was just about to give me a name." He said and then looked down at Haru.


    "It seems you took on the attitude of that other bird when you absorbed its soul. Let me fix that for you." Lao said and then arge boom rang out as his tail struck the Phoenix in the side of the head like a whip. He let out a small squeak and then wentpletely silent as he passed out instantly.


    "Lao. Was that really necessary?" Haru asked more shocked than anything. He hadn''t seen Lao hit anything before. He wasn''t even sure that he could fight given the fact his body was sorge. But the speed of which he had moved was fast enough that Haru didn''t see a thing. He just heard the sound and then saw his tail next to the head of the Phoenix.


    "Necessary? If you want the bird to stay loyal to you, you will have to punish him when he acts out of line. If not then it will be unruly. Phoenixes are extremely proud creatures by nature. Even more so than us dragons. If you don''t keep them in check they will im ownership of everything they are strong enough to take." Lao told Haru.


    "We had an issue with Phoenixes in the higher realm one time. The took over some human domains and began to force the humans to worship them as gods. Naturally, we had to decrease their numbers a little bit so we could keep track of them. I think when he saw me he felt the pain of his ancestors." Lao began to think. He did a telltale sign when he was lost in thought. He would look away and then nod his head up and down like he was confirming things.


    "Hm I have no idea about his transformation though. Usually, Phoenixes don''t grow as fast as this one is doing right now. Even Heavenly Phoenixes don''t evolve. It must be something to do with it being a king. Did it inherit special powers from its family? That is the only thing I can think of." Lao also had no clue what was going on with the phoenix.


    Haru couldn''t help but start to imagine all of the things Lao had seen once again. Dragons fighting against Phoenixes. That seems like something right out of a fairy tale. He hade to ept that what Lao and Li jun had told him was all true but he still couldn''t imagine that a world were all the adventures they both went on existed.


    A few seconds went by before the rustling of feathers brought them both out of deep thought. "What? Happened?" The Phoenix spoke. "Who knows? One second you were fine and then the next you were sleeping like a baby." Lao mocked him. The Phoenix imed back at him.


    "Anyway. I was just about to give you a name." Haru said taking the tension away from them both.


    "Really? A name!?" He seemed excited about it, The attitude adjustment technique Lao had used seemed to work wonders. The Phoenix was back to Its usual self.


    "What about the name Kun?" Haru asked suddenly.


    "Wow, That was fast," Lao said.


    The Phoenix looked at Lao and then back at Haru "Kun? What does that mean?" He asked.


    "Well, It just kind of came into my head. You have a lot of mysteries surrounding you just like the universe so I thought it would be a good fit for you." Haru told him.


    Ever since Lao had sung him the song eternal wisdom he had been able to think a lot faster than he did before. It helped with making choices although sometimes it muddled up his head since he would think many different things at the same time it would take a person to make a single thought. It was a double sided sword. It was good for making decisions but in a life a death situation it could cost him his life.


    The Phoenix looked at Haru for a few minutes. "Well, I don''t hate it. I guess you can call me Kun then." He said and then suddenly a blinding golden light shot out of the phoenixes body.It formed what seemed to be a string of light.


    Haru was confused for a moment before he felt a burning sensation in his head. It was like someone was holding a blowtorch to his head. He thought he would never feel the pain of being burnt again since his bloodline fused with Kun''s but he was wrong the whole time. This pain was much worse than anything he had felt so far.


    Even Lao didn''t know what to think of it. "Haru? Are you okay? What''s happening? Wait What is that?" He asked as Haru threw his head backwards and another string of golden light emerged from the centre of his head. It shot out towards the other string of light.


    They both stopped suddenly before they touched each other. Then the one connecting to the Phoenix Slowly formed a spiral shape. It then started to wrap its self around the light connected to Haru. It was the probably one of the strangest things Lao had seen. He had seen many things but. Two different species such as a human and a Phoenix both going through the same process? This was unheard of.


    It must be something to do with the Phoenix. It was another unknown thing about this particr Phoenix. Lao was starting to question if it was even a Heavenly Phoenix. He had never heard of something like this happening even with their species.


    The light show went on for only a few seconds but that felt like an eternity for both Haru and Kun since the pain was unbearable. It finally died down. Haru hadpletely vanished from Lao''s sight. He was left alone looking at the Phoenix in utter confusion. Kun seemed fine. It was almost like nothing had happened. "What was that?" Kun asked Lao. Lao had no answer for him.


    Haru''s body shook as he opened his eyes. He was sweating slightly. Cui looked over to him. "Bad dream?" She asked. Haru was just as confused as Lao and the Phoenix. What happened? He thought and then looked at Cui.


    "Oh, Yeah. I was being chased by a crazy homeless man with a knife." He came up with a story of the first thing that popped into his head.


    "A homeless man with a knife? That is terrifying." Cuiughed.


    Haru looked around. Jake was still sleeping. "How long was I asleep?" He asked.


    "Oh, Not long at all. Maybe half an hour?" She said and then looked back at the road. Haru looked out of the window to his left. They were still surrounded by thick trees. When out of the corner of his eye he spotted a sudden sh of light shoot out from the forest.

 Chapter 73: Ambush.

    Chapter 73: Ambush.


    The light cut its way through the Forrest dodging all of the trees that stood in its way before striking the tire of one of the transporting trucks. The truck continued forward. The tire exploded causing them to swerve into oingnes. Luckily there were no cars ahead of them. The driver managed to take control back and drove on for a few seconds as small particles of burning rubber coated the roadside.


    A voice came through on a radio in the glove box. "Spectre one to Command. We will have to make an emergency stop. One of our tires has blown out." The voice called out. Haru opened the glove box and pulled out the radio. He didn''t even know it was there.


    "Command to Spectre one. That is fine, We will send the news to our client so they can expect it to be dyed." The voice of the scrawny man from earlier called back. Then the Radio went silent once again. The leading truck drove for a few hundred meters before pulling over. Then he was followed by the truck with the t tire. One by one each vehicle pulled up behind the first truck.


    Haru felt a cold chill down his spine. What was that? He thought as he looked over to the truck in front of him. There seemed to be ck mist leaking out from the back of the truck. "We shouldn''t be stopped here," Haru said to Cui and then began to frantically look out of the windows. "Hey Jake, Wake up." He shouted.


    Jake opened his eyes and looked at Haru. He saw the expression on his face and then sat up right away. "What happened?" He asked. Haru was still looking outside.


    "I don''t know. But be ready." He said and then looked at Jake. As Jake and Haru''s eyes met Jake''s heart began to thump. He saw the emotions Haru was keeping bottled up. He was worried. He had never seen Haru worried about anything before. Something serious was about to happen. He began to activate protective spells.


    Haru opened the door to the car. Cui grabbed on to his arm as he was about to step out. "Where are you going? What has gotten you two so wound up!?" Haru turned to face her. His eyes were glowing a deep gold colour. Her body froze as she looked at him. She quickly released him out of fear.


    Haru then stepped out of the car. He looked back toward the truck feeling a dark and evil aura being released from the coffin shaped box that was inside. He looked around with his spiritual sense. He looked out far into the forest and saw a group of menying down in a trench of some sort. There were around five of them.


    The more he looked around the more people he saw hidden. He counted around sixty of them in total. They were all armed with guns and he felt the power circling around the barrel of one of their guns. A single man in a tree with a long barrelled gun looked down at the convoy through a scope.


    "Sir, There is a kid looking directly at me" He said to the three men sat bellow him in a trench.


    "What? Have you been spotted?" A voice shouted back.


    "No, That''s impossible the concealing magic is still active he couldn''t be looking at me. It could just be a coincidence." He then looked back up toward where he had seen the boy standing.


    He vanished. The man in the tree began to panic. His heart sunk as he realised the boy was no longer there. Where is he? He was just there! He thought as he moved his scope around trying to locate Haru,


    He sighed in relief as he found the boy in his sights again. He had walked over to one of the trucks and had knelt down beside the man who was fitting a spare wheel on to it.


    "Hey, Are you the one in charge?" Haru asked the big muscr man from earlier. He turned to see Haru staring at him.


    "Yeah, What is it?" The man asked.


    Haru didn''t skip a beat with his response. "We are both in the scope of someone using a magic rail gun. Don''t turn around." He warned him.


    "What! Don''t fuck around with me like that. I just about had a heart attack." The man said. But then he saw the seriousness on Haru''s face.


    "Wait This isn''t a joke is it!?" He asked.


    "No, It''s quite serious. The blew out of the tires to get us to stop. We walked right into their ambush." Haru exined.


    "How do you know all this. Did you see them!?" The man asked.


    "That doesn''t matter. I want you to alert all your men to the situation but also ask them to remain calm. If they suspect that we know about them. They will probably open fire. I counted sixty men so we need to y this safe. When they least expect it I want five of your men toy down underneath one of the trucks and start shooting into the forest. It doesn''t matter if they hit anyone or not we just need a bit of suppressive fire." Haru told the man. He nodded his head in agreement.


    "Wait, Who let you make the orders?" He asked confused. He didn''t see an issue with Haru''s n but he was surprised. How could this young mane up with a n this quickly? And how on earth did he find put about them. He couldn''t quite exin it but he felt like the boy in front of him had much more experience than he had himself.


    The man then pulled out his radio and calmly exined the situation to his men. None of them replied as they all understood the severity of the situation. "Stay here," Jake told Cui as he got out of the car and walked over to Haru. Cui looked at him.


    "What is going on with you guys? Seriously" She said as Jake mmed the door behind him.


    "Hey, How is it?" Jake asked and then crouched down next to Haru. "Bad. Really bad." He said. Jake felt all the hairs on the back of his neck rise.


    "They have me in their sight don''t they?" Jake asked. Haru nodded his head.


    "Sir, These kids are in the way we can''t get a clear shot at their leader." The man with the rail gun said.to the man below him.


    "I will give you two minutes. If you can''t get a clear shot by then we will have to go with n B." A voice called back. The man sighed.


    "Just get out of the way you stupid kids." He whispered as he looked down his scope once again.


    The muscr man still changing the tire looked at Haru. "They should be getting impatient by now. You should get back to the car. We will open fire as soon as you two are out of the way." Haru nodded his head and then patted Jake on his shoulder.


    "Come on. Let''s go." Jake stood up and followed back to the car.


    They got back to the car. Haru knocked on the window. Cui lowered it so she could hear what he had to stay. "As soon as the shooting starts. You should get out of here. Set a timer for fifteen minutes and thene back." He said and then walked away before she could say anything else.


    "Follow me." He said to Jake. Jake didn''t question it as they both walked along the road until they were out of sight. Haru used his spiritual sense.


    "Good. They didn''t notice us leaving. The fun is just about to start.


    "What are we doing here?" Jake asked. He seemed to understand that they were going to ambush them but he didn''t know how he nned to do it.


    "Well, If my guess is right once the shooting starts. They will feel like they were the ones who were lured out. Or someone betrayed them and let us know where they are hiding. It will destroy their leader''s n. The men with less experience will start to panic and go into survival mode. They will most likely retreat as fast as they can. It will thin down their numbers enough that they will have to retreat." He exined. He seemed to think it threw pretty well but Jake was still confused.


    "So what is our part in this?" He asked. Haru chuckled.


    "Come on. I thought you were smarter than this. We will find a nice ce to watch the show. Have you ever heard of guerri warfare? We willy traps to block their retreat." Heughed again.


    "Wait we are making traps! Isn''t that a war crime?" Jake became worried.


    "It''s only a war crime if your intent is to only injure them. We will just have to make sure that they don''t suffer. Plus, They were the ones who nned to ambush us." Haru seemed pretty annoyed.


    Jake decided to shut up and follow him. He didn''t want to cause a scene even if he didn''t agree with the tactics. They walked for a few hundred metres before the first gunshot sted out into the forest.


    Small birds and animals immediately began to flee further into the forest as cries of pain resonated throughout the trees.

 Chapter 74: Betrayal.

    Chapter 74: Betrayal.


    The gunfight went on and on as tracers flew through the forest hitting trees and rocks. "Sir! We have been betrayed! They know where we are!" One of the men shouted as most of their men began to fire back whilst keeping their heads low.


    "Betrayed! How dare they! Who was it? Which one of you did it!?" He yelled. The man grabbed one of his cowering soldiers by the cor and then lifted him to his feet. "Was it you!? Only a coward would betray his country!"


    The soldier looked up at the man with wide eyes. The sudden gunfire scared him into submission. "No sir it wasn''t me! I would never even think about betraying our country!" The man screamed not knowing what to do as bullets got closer and closer to their position.


    "Then get back in the fight!" The man yelled and then let him go. The cowardly soldier stood up and grabbed his rifle before running to the front of the trench to fire over.


    He stood up and aimed his rifle toward the convoy. "For glory!" The man yelled. His attitude changed drastically. Being yelled at for being a coward brought out the little bit of bravery left in him. He began shooting like a mad man. But the muzzle shes from his automatic rifle made him a target for everybody.


    "Keep your head down you fucking idiot!" One of the men to his left shouted but it was toote. The high pitch whistle of a bullet cutting its way through the air passed overhead. The man stopped shooting as the bullet tumbled through his skull. Brain matter and blood sttered on the faces of hisrades. Driving fear deep into their hearts.


    "I''m not being paid enough for this." Another one of the men shouted as he wiped the blood from his face and began to stumble around. The blood of hisrade had gotten into his eyes and he began to walk around like a headless chicken as he tried to get it out of his eyes.


    Another bullet whistled through the air followed by the sound of breaking bones as it crushed his spinal cord on its way through his neck. The man who had called his men cowards was now stood in shock as the opposition honed in on their located. His men were being ughtered before his very eyes.


    "Sir, We need to move. They have the upper hand if we stay we will all die! What are your orders?" The man with the rail gun jumped down from the tree.


    "Y-yes Everyone. Form a tactical retreat on me!" The man shouted. He gave his men no time to assemble as he made his own escape. He ran deeper into the forest. Before a single crack echoed out. The man fell over mid stride. His body folded up as he hit the ground and skidded across the floor. He came to a stop just before a tree trunk.


    "What? How?"He said quietly in a grunt of pain as he flipped himself over onto his back and crawled backwards until his back was up against the tree. He saw the man with the rail gun stood facing him with his gun up to his shoulder. He had a sinister grin on his face as he walked closer and closer.


    The man looked down to see the whole that had ripped its way through his stomach. Blood poured from his body like water flowing down a river. It trickled down to his legs and then formed a pool of blood underneath him. "You were the one who betrayed us?" He asked.


    The man carrying the rail gunughed. "You think I was the one who told them where we were hiding? No, I''m not that evil. If I was to put it simply I did this because I really don''t like you. You might be higher up in the chain but that doesn''t mean you are any better than themon infantryman."


    Five more men made their way through the forest and stopped just as they saw their boss lying on the ground in a pool of blood. He had be too weak to talk. He was clinging to thest of his life. He became hopeful when seeing the men looking down at him.


    He lifted his hand and pointed to the man with the rail gun in ast ditch effort to save himself. As soon as he lifted his arm his vision faded to ck.


    "What happened to the boss?" One of the soldiers asked the rail gun man. "Oh, He was running when a stray bullet hit him in the abdomen. They must have some heavy firepower. It ripped right through him." The man said and then walked over to the body of his boss.


    "Rest in peace brother. You were a good man. I will make sure your wife gets this." He smiled the same sinister smile and then reached into his shirt before pulling off the dog tags from around his neck.


    "You will be missed." He said and then picked his rail gun up and slung it over his shoulder.


    "Listen, men. As your second inmand, I will be takingmand and making decisions in ce of our fallenrade. I don''t want to hear any bickering. We will do things my way and I will make sure I get all of you back home safely." All of the men looked at each other and then at him They looked hesitant to ept him.


    But they didn''t need convincing. They had no choice. They had already been pushed back from their ambush and were now on the run. They weren''t sure how far they were willing to go to catch them so they unanimously decided to listen to his everymand.


    "Okay, now on me. We will head for the clearing in the waterfall we passed on our way here. Don''t try to rush. We will take things at a slower pace to make sure that we aren''t walking into another ambush. Who knows how many people they have waiting for us." He warned the men and then began to walk.


    They all followed behind him trusting his every word. It was unknown to them that he had just killed their original leader.


    "How can you walk this far!? Is it another perk of being a cultivator? I should really have a change of upation. I feel like I''m going to die here. Jakeined as they headed into the forest. They were so far in at this point that the sky was no longer visible. They were surrounded by the shadows of the overhanging trees.


    They stopped at a cliff face. "Finally I can breathe," Jake said and then sat down on a rock. "Not for long. We need to get moving again. They will be passing here in a few minutes. I need to set up the array whilst you take a quick breather." Haru said and then picked up a branch from the ground.


    "Yay!" Jake celebrated while Haru got to work. He started by drawing a box across the floor all the way across the entrance to the ravine behind them. The sounds of water mming against rocks could be heard from the other side. They were right next to a waterfall.


    After drawing the rectangr box he started writing words in a strangenguage. Jake had never seen text like this before so he watched on intrigued by what he was seeing. "What does that say?" He asked as Haru took a step back to see if it was correct.


    "It doesn''t say anything. The words are impossible to be tranted as their meaning can''t bepared to anything in a humannguage." Haru identally let slip before writing again.


    "Wait are you saying that you speak alien?" Jake asked on the verge ofughter. He didn''t believe a word Haru said and thought he was trying to tell some kind of joke.


    "Sure, Something like that." Jake began tough. What was this development? His friend was a cultivator that talks to aliens? He then looked back at Haru who seemed to be frustrated that Jake wasughing at him.


    "Wait, You''re serious?" Jake asked Haru who thenughed.


    "No, no, no, It''s just a joke. Don''t read too much into it." He looked ufortable when Jake pried into that question. That made Jake question it even more but he didn''t dare to say anything else.


    After a few minutes of scribbling on the floor, Haru stopped. "Come on we have to move now. Be careful you don''t step on it." He said before kicking a pile of leaves over the array.


    He then ced one of his hands on the cliff wall. "Now we climb." Jake looked up to the top of the cliff. It looked to be over a hundred meters tall. There was no way he was climbing up that high.


    [Levitate] A cyclone of wind spiralled around Jake''s feet. "Here grab on." He said and then held out his hand toward Haru.


    He shook his head. "There''s no need. I was only taking things slow for you. Mages don''t have the best physical strength." He said before crouching down.


    He coiled his legs like a tiger ready to pounce and then jumped. He went up around halfway before he stuck out his leg and took another leap from the side of the cliff. In less than a second, he was already at the top.


    Jake flew up sluggishly behind him. "That felt like a kick in the stomach. You keep surprising me with all this cultivation stuff." Jake began to say before he was silenced by Haru''s hand.


    He didn''t say anything he just pointed with his other hand, towards the trees and then got down out of sight. Jake took the hint andy on the ground next to him.

 Chapter 75: Captured.

    Chapter 75: Captured.


    "Sir, I see the clearing for the ravine." One of the men shouted as they approached their destination. The leaves rustled beneath their feet as they walked in unison toward the cliff face.


    "I see. Come on men, Not long to go now. Once we get past this opening it will be smooth sailing." The man carrying the rail gun said as he led the group of thirteen people toward the cliff face.


    A few seconds went by and he crouched down just before they approached. He looked at the ground and brushed a pile of leaves out of the way. "A footprint This isn''t a boot print" He said as he looked down at the footprint from Jake''s trainers.


    "Looks like we havepany. Stay on guard." The man with the rail gun said to one of his men as Haru pped Jake on his back.


    "Are you an idiot? How can you leave footprints behind?" Haru asked him and Jake reached back to rub the spot that had just been pped.


    "Hey, We''re not all cultivators who can walk without leaving footprints. We will just have to face them head-on." Jake said raising his hand like he was about to activate a spell.


    Haru grabbed his arm. "No, we are not. You''re going to stay here while I fix this." He said sternly and then let go. Jake looked at him with anger. But it didn''t matter to Haru. He wanted to keep his friend safe even if it meant making him angry.


    "Fine. I guess I will just stay here then. I''m useless anyway. I can''t even hide my footprints." Jake said angrily and then turned away.


    "That''s not what I meant Forget it." I will be back in a few minutes." Haru then vanished from the spot where he was previouslyying down.


    The cover from the trees created enough darkness that he was able to use The Breath Of Shadow technique. He vanished without a trace. As the enemy were getting bolder to try to force Haru and Jake out of hiding.


    They weren''t sure where or how many people were in the forest with them but the footprint they found was a good enough indication to suspect they weren''t alone. The soldiers all huddled together before splitting into two groups.


    One of the groups walked around to the other side of the cliff to try to look for another way through without passing through the ravine. The man with the rail gun stayed behind with a group to make a n.


    "There is probably a whole group of them hiding in the ravine. We should avoid going through there at all costs. I don''t want to send my men into a knowing ambush. We are lucky I spotted that footprint." The man with the rail gun said and then looked over to one of the people in his group that weren''t paying attention.


    "Hey, you. I have a task for you." He shouted toward the man.


    The man lifted his hand and pointed it toward his own chest. "Who me?" He asked. The man with the rail gun nodded with a sigh. Was this really the quality of soldiers he wasmanding? They all seemed so pathetic. It was like they were picked up of the street and forced to be here.


    He looked at the six men remaining in front of him. Two of them were tall and quite muscr and the other three were scrawny and short. They all had the same facial expression of fear. Thest man, being short and chubby. He had a constant smile on his face like he was constantly thinking about something that he loved. When he spoke he sounded dopey.


    The man with the rail gun sighed again. ''I didn''t agree toe along with a squad like this. Why would they even assign me to this group? And only as a second inmand. I can''t wait to see the looks on their faces when they hear the stories of my heroism. They will reinstate me with my previous position.'' He was lost in idle thought.


    "Uh, Sir? You said you needed me?" The small chubby man asked him. It broke him from his thoughts as he remembered what he was going to say


    "Ah, Yeah. I want you to go into the ravine and look for traps." He said and then knelt down and took off his backpack. He reached in and pulled out a small red tube.


    "If, You run into any trouble. Shoot this re into the sky and we wille in and get you out of there." The man looked hesitant but reached out his hand to grab the re.


    The man with the rail gun reached out and put his hand on the man''s shoulder. "Don''t worry. I promised I will get all of you home. We will be on stand by in case you find something." He exined to the man and then without any second thought he took the re and walked into the ravine.


    Haru was currently hiding inside a shadow as he watched what was going on. He was so hidden that he was less than a metre away from them as they spoke so he heard every single word they had said to each other. He then quickly moved to sit down on a tree branch.


    ''Wow. This is convenient. I don''t even need to do anything. He wille back and say that the ce is clear. I will then be able to capture them in the array. A few minutes went by and the first group came back.


    "Sir. It''s a dead end. There is no other way through." One of the men said as he walked over leading his group.


    "It''s just as I thought then. If they really did set an ambush for us then it will be inside this ravine. There is no other way for us to get back." The rail gun man said.


    A few more minutes went by as the short chubby man came back through the entrance, Still holding the ir. "Um, Sir? There is no one there. I just walked through to the other side and there wasn''t a single sign of life." He said and then handed the ir back to him.


    ''Did I overthink this? Maybe it was a hikers footprint? It didn''t look like any type ofbat boot had made it. I guess I''m just a little paranoid. There should be nothing to worry about.'' The man thought to himself as he came up with his next order now that all of his men were back


    "Okay, If that is really the case then we can go through. But be on guard. If any of you see anything suspicious then alert the rest of us right away. Now follow me." He said and then stepped forward to lead the men through the ravine.


    Haru smiled as he watched them from above. They walked right inside the array. It was just a simple array. In fact, it was the same one he used to keep Chen safe but just on a bigger scale. And as far as he knew they didn''t have anything on them that was strong enough to break it once they were caught inside.


    Their leader stepped into the array first. He looked around as he approached the entrance to the ravine. And then just as the rest of his men stepped into it he noticed something on the ground. He shifted the leaves with his foot and say the writing on the ground.


    "What is that?" He asked himself as he saw it but he was toote. Haru activated the array and golden light flooded the whole forest as a film of light covered the area they were standing in.


    The man with the rail gun began to panic and he ran forward on instinct.


    CRASH.


    His head hit the thinyer of solidified Qi and he copsed on to the floor. He held his face in pain as blood ran from his nose. "What the fuck is this thing!?" He screamed as the rest of his men all began to struggle to try to barge there way through the Qi.


    The sound ofughter made its way through the forest. The men who were all trapped inside the bubble of Qi looked around desperately trying to find the source of theughter until Haru showed himself.


    He seemingly appeared from the shadows as he walked over to the bubble.


    "Y-you. You''re that kid from earlier!" The man with the rail gun said and then looked at Haru with anger.


    "Is this your doing!? I had you in my scope for a while. I should have just killed you then this shit wouldn''t have happened. I guess this is what I get for trying to be nice." Heined and then looked at Haru who was smiling.


    "Do you think you could have killed me? I knew where you were from the beginning. But I do have to thank you for not shooting. Thanks to you being nice I had time to think of a counter-attack and then I passed the info onto the leader of the convoy." He exined through a grin.


    Jake then flew down from the top of the cliff. The man watched Jake as he floated from the sky with a spiral of wind beneath his feet.


    "Of course, You guys are fucking mages. You fuckers are the reason we lost the war. I regret not killing you all." The man yelled.


    "Lost the war? You are from the states? What are you doing in China?" Haru asked. The man just shook his head in return.


    "None of your fucking business!" He shouted and then sat down on the floor. Jake interrupted their conversation by standing in front of Haru.


    "Now, that we have captured them what are we going to do with them?" He asked confused and stilled sounding pissed off from what happened before. Haru looked at Jake for a few seconds.


    "What are we going to do with them? I wonder?" He said as he walked toward the bubble of Qi.

 Chapter 76: Bulletproof.

    Chapter 76: Bulletproof.


    "Wait, what are you doing?" Jake asked as Haru walked toward them. Haru smiled as he got closer to the bubble of Qi.


    "Oh don''t worry so much Jake. How long have you known me? Do you really think I would do something stupid? I''m gonna hand them to the guys with the convoy. Whatever they decide to do is none of my business." Haru said as he pulled out his phone and began to dial a number.


    "Hello? Who is this?" Cui asked as she answered her phone. It was a call from a number she hadn''t seen before. She didn''t know what to expect as she waited for a reply.


    "Hey, It''s me." Haru''s voice came through. She looked down at her phone to check the number. She was unsure if she ever gave him her number.


    "Haru? How do you have this number? I don''t remember giving it to you?" She asked him. The only thing she could think of is that he stalked her and ended up finding her contact information.


    Haru smiled as he replied. "It''s probably not what you''re thinking. I just remembered it. It was written in the back of that card you gave me."


    ''Card? What card? Did I give him a business card? No, thest time I saw him was around three years ago Oh, He means that time.'' Cui thought about it and then remembered.


    "You mean the credit card I gave you? That was like three years ago. How did you remember it?" She was confused. He must have some reason to remember it right?


    ''Actually, I was nning on using her number if the police ever caused trouble for me. I know she is part of the police force and she seems pretty high ranking. I bet she could get me out of all kinds of trouble if it ever arrived.'' Haru thought before he replied to her.


    "That doesn''t really matter right now. I was just calling to let you know that Jake and I caught the group of men who were hiding in the forest. You should probably alert the convoy men. I''m not sure if they want to do anything with them." He said.


    There was a long pause and then muffled talking as Cui passed on the message to the men running the convoy. Until a man''s voice came from down the phone.


    "Haru? That''s your name right?" The voice said. It was the muscr man from earlier. Haru still didn''t know his name so he decided to ask him.


    "Yeah, that''s right. But what is your name? I don''t think you told me." He made the point that the man avoided giving his name.


    "Your right. I didn''t tell you my name. That was on purpose. You can just call me Captain. Or Cap works as well. I don''t really care what you call me but one of our rules is that we don''t let our names be known to anyone. Not even our clients." He exined and then moved on to the main topic.


    "So you captured those men. How many are there and what state are they in? It will be troublesome to carry a bunch of half-dead men out of the forest." He asked Haru.


    "Hm. Then I guess you will be happy to hear they are all alive. There are around sixteen of them, and they are all perfectly fine. Your men probably killed the rest of them already. But rest assured they can walk on their own. It might be a good idea to bring handcuffs or something to tie their hands with." He said.


    The man known as Cap puffed up his chest as he shouted out to his men. "Good work boys. You got over half of them. There are only sixteen survivors!" After he said that there was a loud cheer from the rest of the men. He then put the phone back to his ear and continued.


    "How did you manage to capture them so easily?" He asked.


    Haru smiled to himself. He didn''t really like letting people know he was a cultivator. Especially because they are seen as mythical beings even if they are weak. Just like the con man he met in the park a few years back. People were falling at his feet and worshipping him like a god.


    "You will find out soon enough. I will send my GPS location to Cui. Try not to be too long please." And then he hung up the call.


    "Don''t try to be mysterious. Just tell me Hello? You there? God damn it! You stupid kid." The man shouted as he realised that the call had already ended. A few seconds went by and then the phone vibrated.


    PING.


    The phone rung out as Haru''s location came through, He wasted no time as he gathered all of his men together and began to march into the forest. Around twenty minutes went by before they arrived at Haru''s location.


    They were all mesmerised as they arrived on the scene, Seeing sixteen men trapped inside a golden bubble.


    ''What is this thing? I have never seen this type of magic before. This is simply beautiful.'' Cap thought as he walked up to the bubble of Qi and put his hand against it.


    It was smooth and felt gentle like he could push his hand right through it so he put more pressure on to his hand. But it didn''t move an inch. The more pressure he put against it the harder it became. When he released the pressure it became gently and soft once again. It didn''t make any sense in his eyes.


    "What kind of magic is this?" Cap asked as he turned to see Haru smiling at him.


    "That''s not magic. That''s Qi." Cui said appearing from behind the group of men lead by Cap.


    "Qi, You mean like a cultivator''s power!? So you are like Master Shen!?" Cap looked back to Haru with shock.


    ''Why didn''t I realise it earlier? He seems to have no presence what so ever. I did think it was a little weird but I didn''t think anything of it And he called Old Master Shen, Little Shen Doe''s that mean they are actually close friends? Wait what if this boy, Is not actually a boy at all? What if he is an old cultivator that kept his youth? Did I piss him off?'' Cap started to worry.


    The song of eternal wisdom not only boosted Haru''s ability to memorise things. It also improved his perception. He always had fun when he was talking to simple-minded people like Cap. They wore their heart on their chest and it wasn''t hard to guess what they were thinking.


    "No, I''m actually only eighteen. There is no need to treat me any differently." Haru said with a smile.


    Cap looked at Haru with admiration. ''Did he just read my mind!? Can he tell what I''m thinking right now? I really must be a powerful old master. He just wants me to keep his secret. Okay. I will shut up.'' Cap looked back at Haru and nodded his head.


    "You really are overthinking it. But anyway let''s get on to dealing with these guys." Haru said as he looked back at the bubble of Qi.


    The men inside were all armed so first, they would have to deal with getting rid of their weapons.


    "Hey, Listen up. If you want to survive. I rmend you all put down your weapons and put them in the as far away from you as possible. You are outnumbered and I don''t think I need to tell you what will happen if you pull any funny business." Cap told all of the men inside the array.


    There was a brief moment of silence as they all looked towards their leader for direction. He gritted his teeth but he knew that he had already lost so he reluctantly gave the order.


    "Do as they say. If weply you might make it back to your families." He said and without even thinking about it all of them men inside dropped their weapons to the floor and stood with their hands above their heads.


    Haru released the array as Cap''s men moved in throwing them to the floor one by one and then tieing their hands together with zip-tie handcuffs. Once they had all of them under control and in handcuffs, they moved back out of the forest.


    Cap pulled out his radio and switched it to a different channel. "This is Cap speaking. We were caught in an ambush. There were no casualties on our side but the forest by our location is littered with bodies. We have managed to capture sixteen of their men. Can you direct the localw enforcement to our location?" He said into it.


    There was silence for a few minutes but that didn''t seem to bother him as he carried on walking.


    "Okay Cap, Thank you for your patience. We have alerted the local police. Their estimated time is twelve minutes. Stand by and let us know if anything else happens." The voice of the scrawny man from early called back over the radio.


    "Yes Sir!" Cap said and then clipped the radio back onto his belt.


    They pushed their way through the trees as they made their way back out onto the road. The trucks were now visible again. Everyone began to rx, Including Haru. And as their backs were turned to the forest a loud sound startled everyone nearby.


    CRACK!


    The sound rang out as a bullet tumbled through the air toward them, Followed by a slight whistle and then the explosion from the actual gunshot. The look on everyone''s face was a look of pure horror. As they looked at Haru.


    Haru felt a slight burning sensation in his lower back and turned around to see a crushed up piece of copper and lead beneath his feet. He then bent down and picked up the bullet, and brought it closer to his face.


    He looked at it for a few seconds and nodded silently. "Well, Will you look at that I really am bulletproof."

 Chapter 77: The Dark Phantom.

    Chapter 77: The Dark Phantom.


    Everyone stopped and stood motionless as they looked at Haru standing holding the crumpled bullet between his fingers. None of them knew what to say.


    Jake was the first one toment "Haru how did you just do that?" He asked also looking at the bullet. He walked over and touched it. The metal was still hot. He withdrew his hand from it quickly.


    "Ouch ouch ouch," He said as he shook his hand in the air. He didn''t expect the bullet to be hot. It was a mistake on his part as his skin started to blister. He used healing magic to heal his fingers before the burn could get any worse.


    "Ah, that''s better," He said and then he stared back at Haru he still hadn''t said anything.


    "Hey, are you okay? What is it?" Jake asked. And then without warning, Haru''s head turned to look back into the forest. He had located where the bullet hade from.


    About five hundred meters into the forest there was still one of the men remaining. He was probably thest survivor from the onught from earlier. Haru looked him straight in the eyes.


    The man holding the gun up to his shoulder felt a great terror as he saw that his bullet had no effect. ''What is that? Is it a demon?'' He thought as a ck mist started toe from the back of Haru''s body.


    "Erm, Haru what is that?" Jake began to point toward the mist. The rest of the people nearby began to slowly back up further and further away from him. Haru slowly turned to see what everybody was so afraid of.


    As he looked at the huge cloud of smoke a face began to form in the centre of it. "What is this?" Haru said as the mist slowly took on the form of a human.


    A few seconds went by and it was finally clear enough to see the face. It was like a mirror image of Haru''s face. He took a few steps back before it shot up into the air and disappeared deep into the forest. A loud scream echoed out as it vanished into the trees and then. Any sign of it waspletely wiped away. It suddenly appeared in front of Haru again.


    Its face was clouded in shadows. And the aura of death emitted from its body. It was like the whole thing was created by the death of thousands of people. Haru felt terror as he looked back at the image of himself. The more he looked at it the more he felt like it didn''t exist.


    Not just that it didn''t exist. This cloud of darkness shouldn''t exist. It then reached out toward him. Haru stood ad mindlessly watched as it''s Handley ever so slowly approached his face. He was too fascinated by it to think of it as dangerous.


    "Haru. Get away from it right now." Lao''s voice boomed at snapping Haru out of his daydream. He immediately backed up as fast as he could. He looked from a distance this time as a smile appeared on its face and it turned back into a cloud of smoke and then drifted under the doors of one of the trucks.


    ''Wait. Was that the thing being kept inside the coffin? But if that is the case why would there by chains wrapped around it like it was containing the thing inside, if it could get out that easily?'' Haru thought. Before Jake tapped him on the arm.


    "Haru, Please tell me that is something that you made appear?" Jake hade to the same conclusion that Haru had. The chains couldn''t;t actually hold whatever that thing was.


    "I didn''t make that. I don''t have any idea what that thing is." Haru said and then they both looked over at Cui. She seemed to have a troubled look on her face like she knew what it was.


    "This shit is too crazy for me," Cap said as he noticed the look that Jake and Haru both shared. He then went to finish changing the tire. It wasn''t any of his business after all. He didn''t want to hinder the conversation that was about to break out. So he left without saying another word.


    "Cui. You know what that thing is don''t you?" Jake asked her.


    She looked to face him. "Urm, No I don''t know a thing!" She then turned away.


    ''Was she always this bad at lying or is she purposely acting like that?'' Haru wondered and then took over from Jake''s question.


    "So what is it? Tell me. It took on my form. I think I should know if I am something dangerous or not. What if I die because of that thing?" Heined to her.


    Cui looked over to Haru and crossed her arms. "I seriously can''t tell you. But you won''t die. You should bepletely fine." She said and then stared at him for a response.


    "If you can tell me that I will be fine. Why can''t you tell me what it is?" He asked again.


    "My grandpa said I''m not allowed to tell anyone. If you want to know then ask him." She handed her phone to Haru. The phone number was already loaded on the screen. The name was saved as grandpa.


    Haru looked at it for a few second and then saw the slight smirk on Cui''s face.


    "Fine." He said and then dialled the number.


    Cui looked at Haru with a worried face as he started to call him. The phone rang out four times before the voice of an old man on the other side took Haru to be surprised.


    "Is there any developments? Did you find out where he ran off to?" The voice of the sect master called out from the phone. He sounded worried.


    "Hey old man," Haru said. A few seconds went by and there was muffled chatter in the background as the sect master fiddled around and waved his hands telling all of the people in the room to get out.


    "Haru? Is that you? You sound older. Are you okay? Cui said you ran into the forest with one of your friends." He asked.


    "Yeah, I''m fine. But there is something more important I want to talk about." Haru said. It didn''t take long for the sect master to reply.


    "Sure, What is it?" He asked. Wasting no time.


    "Well, What is that thing you are transporting? I''m pretty sure that it just killed somebody." Haru said and then looked over into the forest at the body of the man who shot him.


    "It killed someone? Well, that''s unfortunate, I hope you weren''t close. And honestly, I''m not too sure what it is myself. I can tell you everything I know about it. But it will take a while." The sect master said.


    Haru looked around at all of the men getting back into their trucks at themand of Cap. He then nodded to Cui and Jake. They both got into the car and Haru followed soon after.


    "Sure I can listen for a while." He said as he got back into the car and put on his seat belt.

 Chapter 78: The Black Star God.

    Chapter 78: The ck Star God.


    "It all started when I was still back in the middle realm. Maybe about ten thousand years ago." The sect master started to exin what the dark mist was.


    "Three men were travelling through space, Looking down upon all of the worlds below them. It was just like usual. They were doing a basic check of the ream to see if they could find any sign of the ck star god. Li Jun.


    After Li Jun broke through to the Ancient Chaos stage he caused a lot of casualties in the heavenly sword sect. They were the main faction in the middle realm. They were so powerful that their authority passed through to the lower realm also.


    The three men were tasked with reporting any information on the ck Star Sect after it mysteriously disappeared seemingly overnight so the three men were to look up and down through the realm in hopes of locating this rebellious sect and their malicious founder.


    They had searched the whole realm far and wide but hade up empty in their search when suddenly they saw a dark mist moving toward them slowly. It gave off the same power as the ck star. So naturally, they assumed it had something to do with the hidden sect and went back to report it to their leader.


    But the only problem was that the ck mist was moving and showed no sign of stopping. So one of them would have to stay behind and make sure that it didn''t get out of sight. They decided who was going to remain and watch over the thing and then the other two went back to fetch their master.


    A few days passed as the journey was thousands of light-years long. But finally the back up had arrived. Their leader was now there. He was an Immortal stage expert from the alchemy association so he thought there was nothing that could make him afraid. And having a cultivation level so high put the other two men at ease.


    But when they got back to the location the man they had left there to keep an eye on the mist had vanished. He was nowhere to be seen at all. But the strangest thing was that his presence was still being emitted from the area.


    There was no ce he could hide though. Apart from inside the mist. They called out his name over and over again in hopes of getting him toe out but whatever they tried was useless.


    After a few hours of calling for him, their leader decided that one of the other men would go inside the cloud of ck mist and bring the other man out. Why was he disobeying his orders now? After all the years he had served the Heavenly Sword Sect why now?


    Their leader looked at the man and then he looked back at the ck mist. Something seemed to being from the centre of it.


    ''What is this thing?'' He thought as he looked at his servant edging closer into the mist. The man who had walked into the mist seemed to have no idea what was happening. The mist was too think for him to see anything else but darkness.


    But both of the men on the outside watched as the mist took on the form of the man who had entered it. It went silent. There was no scream or anything as his life essence was eliminated.


    Both the men who had just witnessed this happen looked at each other in confusion as the essence of the man who had just vanished began to appear again. But it wasn''t the same. This presence seemed dark and twisted.


    The feeling of death washed over both of the men as the turned back in fear to see the man who had entered was now stood in front of them. His body was fine. It looked the same as when he entered but his eyes


    His eyes were just pitch ck holes that looked like they were absorbing all of the light nearby. They were like vortexes. Vortexes that could rip your very soul from your body and leave you lifeless and without purpose.


    As the two men looked at the corpse of their friend. The leader noticed what looked like strings made out of the dark mist on each limb of the moving corpse.


    The mist was using the man''s body as a puppet to do it''s bidding. The leader pulled out his sword and sent a wave of Sword Qi towards the strings of darkness, severing them in a single flick of his wrist.


    As the strings were cut the body of the man fell lifelessly. They wrote a report to the Heavenly Sword Sect that they had found something rting to the ck Star Sect.


    After a few days, the Heavenly Sword''s men were sent to investigate. They sent a force of two hundred men to try to contain the mist. All of the men they sent were ughtered by the mist.


    After a few weeks of silence from the force, they had sent. A lone survivor from the Heavenly Sword Sect made his way back to the Sect to exin what had happened. But halfway through his exnation his eyes turned ck and became void of any life.


    His body began to smell like death as ck mist rose from his chest and floated into the air. They didn''t have any time to react as their whole sect was wiped out within seconds."


    "But if they were all wiped out. Who contained the mist in that coffin?" Haru interrupted him.


    "Be patient. The story isn''t over yet." The sect master told him and then carried on with his story.


    "That same day, The Heavenly sword Sect was supposed to have an inspection from their superiors. They were a subsidiary Sect of the Divine Sword Sect. One of the Sects from the Divine Pce.


    As the inspection officer arrived. He saw the mist and heard the cries of anguish as the whole sect was being ughtered before his eyes.


    He looked down to see the mist destroying his subordinates and felt no empathy. He was just about to go back to his sect and tell the masters that the Heavenly Sword Sect had been wiped out by an old master of the Catastrophe Sect but then he felt the same feeling the man from the alchemy association felt.


    This mist contained the spirit of the ck star. And felt oddly familiar to this man. The man who was due for the inspection was called Zhou Bo, He used to be friends with Li Jun. The founder of the ck Star Sect.


    But in the race of power, He decided to betray Li Jun and Join his enemies in the subjugation of the ck star god. When he felt the power of his old friend he couldn''t contain his anger anymore.


    If there was even a slight chance that Li Jun was behind this, Zhou Bo had to report it back to the sect. It was likely to start another war. But there was nothing he could do about it.


    In an act of anger from once calling Li Jun a fried. He took out his sword and sliced the ck mist. The mist vanished instantly and was never to be seen again.


    Hundreds of years passed and just as people were starting to forget about the downfall of the heavenly sword sect. The ck mist appeared once again. But this time in the higher realm. It spread out far across the divine capital.


    All of the guards and masters nearby gathered together in the middle of this mist as someone appeared from the centre.


    His eyes were ck and void of any life. As the man began to walk closer. A young boy ran into the crowd and made his way toward the mist.


    "Master Zhou Bo, I missed you!" The boy yelled as he ran toward the man with lifeless eyes. Before the boy could get close his head was taken from his shoulders and shot up into the air for all to see.


    After that happened. Many people began to run in fear. It was true, The ck mist had finally returned. The ck star god hade to kill everyone who had ever talked bad about him. Or so they thought.


    In the midst of all of the chaos, a golden light shone down from the heavens as an old man descended down upon thend. He looked like he hadn''t eaten for centuries. He was all but skin and bones.


    But despite his appearance, he held out a single hand toward the mist. Chains flew out from his hand toward Zhou Bo and wrapped around his body. He was picked up into the sky and his body was ced inside a coffin made of stone. Just as the Old man was about to take off into the heavens once again.


    A young boy. He looked to be around ten or eleven appeared on top of the coffin. He sat down on the stone top and stared at the old man getting his attention immediately.


    The old man looked back in fear as he saw the glowing green eyes of the boy sat upon his coffin. The glowing green eyes were a sign of the dragon race. And this man seemed to recognise that fact.


    His body froze as the little boy smiled, He then ced his hand on top of the coffin and disappeared just as fast as he had appeared.


    And that, Is everything I know about the thing that we are transporting. I don''t even know how it got here to the lower realm. But once it is in my hands I am going to get rid of it. A thing like that shouldn''t exist on a small like this." The sect master finished his exnation and waited for a reply from Haru.


    Haru was frozen with shock. "So. You are telling me that a thing that could wipe out a whole sect in the middle realm is here And it could have killed me?!" Haru yelled into the phone as the car started to approach the gates of the sect.


    "Oh, I doubt it could kill you. It is locked inside that coffin after all. It''s power right now is only a fraction of its former glory." The sect master said and then ended the call as he walked over to wee the visitors outside.

 Chapter 79: Transporter.

    Chapter 79: Transporter.


    The trucks finally arrived at the sect. They waited patiently for the gates to be opened before driving through. The car Haru was in was at the back of the convoy and as they drove in Haru recognised someone particr.


    "That god damn old man." He said as he opened the door whilst the car was still moving.


    "Hey, Hold on what do you think you''re doing!? We haven''t even stopped yet!" Cui said as she tried to reach over toward him as he unbuckled his seat belt.


    "It''s alright. Go on without me I will catch up in a few minutes." He said before hopping out of the still-moving car.


    "That isn''t the point!" Cui sighed as the door mmed closed behind him. They were moving at a rtively slow speed but still, it didn''t call for the need for him to recklessly endanger himself like that.


    Haru looked over to the old man stood at the entrance. He was old although he no longer appeared to be. As he looked over, the man turned to see Haru advancing towards him. He put his hand to his face to try to hide his identity.


    "The man you''re looking for went over that way." He said in a high pitched voice as he pointed over to the elder''s hall.


    "Come on, I saw you the second we came into the sect how could I get you confused with someone else?" Haru said as he looked at the sect master acting ridiculously in front of him.


    He then took his hand away from his face.


    "Fine, fine. Now, what for you want now?" The sect master asked.


    "What do I want? Weren''t you the one who asked me toe here? I should be asking you what you want. Not the other way around." Haru exined.


    The sect master looked down at the grown for a moment and then back up at Haru.


    "I was actually kind of hoping that you wouldn''t show up It wasn''t actually me that wanted to invite you here. It was someone else. They came here a few weeks ago and said they wanted to see you. I''m not sure how you too are connected but He is a very powerful man. Be careful if he wanted to kill you there is nothing I could do to stop it." The sect master said.


    "So, In other words. You called me here to die? I will have to thank you for that in the afterlife" Haru said half-jokingly but he was still worried.


    ''Why now? Someone more powerful than the sect master wants to meet with me? I thought that everyone feared the ck Star Sect. So how powerful is this person?'' He thought as he looked at the sect master who seemed to be thinking of what to say.


    "I''m sure you will be fine. He said he wanted you toe to him so you wouldn''t feel threatened. If he wanted to do something to you I''m sure he wouldn''t be concerned with how you feel." The sect master tried his best to reassure Haru. But it just filled his head with even more questions.


    "You havee. I''ve been waiting for a while." A voice seemed to fill Haru''s head. He wasmunicating through spiritual sense. It was much like Lao and Li Jun had done in the past.


    ''Wait Who was that?'' Haru thought as the voice echoed around his head. A few seconds went by.


    "Oh, You aren''t proficient enough to talk back to me like this? I guess it is a little different projecting your voice across a distance. Don''t worry, You will pick it up soon. I will wait for you in the elder''s hall. Come and see me when you have the time." The voice said again as it echoed around the inside of Haru''s head.


    The sect master looked at Haru. He had seemed to sense the man''s spiritual energy.


    "He just spoke to you didn''t he?" He asked Haru.


    "He did. But how did you know?" Haru asked the sect master.


    "Oh, Don''t think about it too hard. When you get to my age you can sense a lot of things. Like I know you have reached the Qi creation stage. It is something thates with time." The sect master said as he held out his hand toward Haru, requesting for him to follow.


    Haru was a little confused. But he followed anyway.


    "What is it? He asked as they began to walk further into the sect grounds. They were beginning to approach the forest he had gone into and gotten lost in the first time he hade to the sect.


    "Just follow me. I have something to show you." He said as he carried on into the forest.


    ''What more is there to see here? And why is he being so secretive about it?''


    The sect was situated on top of a mountain. The wooded area inside the sect grounds had many paths that split off into different locations. But the path they were heading down was the path you would have to take if you wanted to reach the top of the mountain.


    Haru wasn''t too sure if that was the case but the signs he saw along the road told him they were heading towards the mountain''s peak.


    As they got closer to the top a freezing wind came over them both. The sect master didn''t seem to feel it.


    "You might want to use some Qi to resist the cold." He said as he carried on walking. Haru was slowly falling behind but then activated his Qi.


    It felt warmer instantly. It was like it wasn''t even cold. ''Hmm. That''s convenient.'' He thought before they had finally reached the top.


    The wind eased up as they reached a t patch of grass at the summit of the mountain. It seemed out of ce but on top of having grass that looked untouched by the elements, there was also a wooden house.


    It was styled simrly to the houses down below in the sect but everything up here gave off a strong force of Qi. Even the wood on the house seemed to be emitting more Qi than Haru had ever sensed in his life.


    The clouds tumbled through the sky like a chimney billowing smoke. The sect bellow the was barely visible as they had ascended into the clouds.


    Next to the house, there was a stone tform with four pirs in each corner. And on top of those stone pirs, there were small blue crystals. It caught Haru''s attention instantly.


    "What is that?" He asked and then pointed to the stone tform. The sect master smiled before answering the question. It looked like it pained him just thinking about it.


    "That? That is a transporter. It is how we can get to the middle realm. Every single cultivator from our sect are people from different realms. We were either persecuted by big sects our kicked out of their own sects.


    The State of the ck star sect has fallen significantly. The original sect in the higher realm is currently in hiding. They have been for thest forty thousand years. None of the cultivators have progressed much in that time so even if they did get out of hiding they would be killed by stronger cultivators.


    After I was kicked out of the sect by my great uncle. I came to the lower realm to escape the sects from the divine pce. As a direct blood descendant of Li Jun, I would most likely be killed immediately.


    That is what I thought when the transporter lit up a few weeks ago. I thought that someone from the divine sects hade to kill me. But It was that man in the elder hall who came through.


    As soon as he came through the transporter I came up here to ept my death. But when he saw me he showed me a picture of you. And asked if I had ever seen you before.." The sect master exined to Haru.


    "Wait a minute. That man is someone from a higher realm? Then what does he want with me? How does he even know about me?" Haru asked. The thought of someone this mysterious knowing what he looked like was terrifying.


    "I don''t know. I thought he was up to no good at first and I tried to lie and say I had never seen you before. But he saw right through me.


    He said that he picked up a trace of your essence as soon as he stepped through the transporter so there wasn''t much I could do to hide it from him." The sect master told him and then sighed.


    "Then what are we doing here? Shouldn''t I be talking to him right now? What if he gets mad that I am taking so long?" Haru asked.


    "Actually, He told me to show you this and then tell you everything that happened. I am just following the instructions that he gave me. But now I have shown this to you and exined everything that had happened. You can go and see him now." The sect master said and then began to walk back down the mountain.


    Haru looked around a final time and then followed close behind. They walked back down the windy mountain and through the forest before ending up outside the elder hall.


    "I do have to warn you though. Be careful what you say. If my senses are correct then this guy could easily wipe out every single person here." The sect master told Haru as he was about to walk toward the door.


    "What!? Don''t scare me like that!" Haru shouted.


    The sect master giggled as Haru opened the door and walked inside.


    "I wasn''t trying to scare you." He, whispered to himself as the door closed.

 Chapter 80: Mystery Man.

    Chapter 80: Mystery Man.


    Haru entered the elder''s hall. It looked the exact same as thest time that he hade here. The walls were stained brown wood and therge golden pirs seemed to reflect all of the light toward the front entrance.


    The floors where shined white marble. As Haru looked down he could see his own face reflecting back up at him. As he walked along the marble floor each footstep echoed out in the empty hall disturbing the man sat crossed legged in the centre of the room.


    He opened his eyes and looked at Haru.


    "You are finally here. It is nice to finally meet you Haru." A voice called out.


    Haru looked at the old man. He had long grey hair and a bushy stubbled beard. He had crystal blue eyes the contrasted against the pitch-ck ne he was wearing. He was wearing a long blue robe simr to the clothes that all of the sect members were wearing.


    Haru didn''t reply as he was on edge. Just who was this man? And what was he nning? He felt quite unnerved as he looked over.


    "Come on, Sit with me. I have some things I would like to discuss with you." The old man said and then tapped the floor in front of him.


    Haru took a few steps forward. With each step, he took toward the man he felt more and more nervous. As he reached the spot the man had tapped he sat down on the floor opposite the man.


    "Did the sect master show you the transporter up in the mountain?" The old man asked and then rxed a little bit. He rocked back slightly as he waited for Haru to reply.


    His throat felt dry and course as he was about to answer. He gulped audibly.


    "Ugh, Yeah. He told me that you wanted to see me? Do you mind if I ask what it is that you want from me?" Haru asked the man staring back at him.


    "Rx a little. He doesn''t mean to cause you any harm. Even if he did. I would never let him hurt my grand disciple." Lao''s voice boomed around Haru''s head.


    Hearing those words instantly released the pressure he was feeling knowing that this man could kill everyone nearby and there would be nothing he could do to stop it.


    His shoulders rxed and he regained a neutral position on the floor. He sat up straight and slightly pushed out his chest. He didn''t feel defenceless anymore but he still didn''t want to piss the man off.


    "Well, there are actually two things that I came here to talk to you about." He said and then waited for Haru, He didn''t seem to notice his change in attitude.


    "Then what are they? I''m a little confused about how you even know me. You are from the upper realms, right? How could you even know about someone as insignificant as me?" Haru asked the man.


    The man smiled and looked like he was trying to hold back augh.


    "Don''t put yourself down too much. You are not insignificant at all. And for how I found you. Well, that is a tricky exnation. Feel free to interrupt me if you don''t understand anything.


    I should probably exin why I am in the lower realm anyway. Well, I am from a sect in the middle realm. We are not very well known but all registered sects under the divine pce hold a martial artspetition every fifty years.


    The martial artspetitions main purpose is for us to collect new disciples from the lower realms. If they are from here the chances are that they are not associated with any of the divine pces sects so we can feel free to recruit anyone we want to.


    But that is beside the point. I am what they would call a mysticist. The job of a mysticist is to study fate. We devote our time into making predictions and seeing the future.


    That is when I found you. I was studying something to do with Ahem, That''s not important. But when I looked at my prediction I was shown an image of you.


    It was around three years ago when I first felt it but when I reached the lower realm a few months ago I found a trace of your essence and I have been following it ever since." The man said before Haru interrupted.


    "My essence. What does that mean? Were you looking for something in particr?" He looked down at the dragon emperor ring and thought about the soul fragment of Li Jun. He hadn''te back yet but Lao reassured him that he was okay.


    "Well, essence? That isn''t quite the word. It''s more like I picked up the scent of your blood. It felt rather familiar to me so I came to investigate." The man said and then looked into Haru''s eyes. They were the same crystal blue as his own.


    He smiled upon seeing them. But Haru only became more worried. It''s not like his bloodline was a secrete. A few people had already seen it. And even the director had a phoenix bloodline, So it was probably amon thing right?


    "Do you mean my phoenix bloodline? I didn''t think people would be able to sense it. Do you think that it will cause me trouble if I carry on using the power?" Haru was straight forward. He doubted he would be able to hide anything from this man in the first ce.


    "Phoenix bloodline!? Ahem. Yes, that is it." The man shouted and then coughed. Haru looked at him slightly confused.


    "That is the first matter I came here to help you with. I wanted to help you conceal the power. Would youe a bit closer?" The man asked of him.


    "Sure." Haru nodded his head and then shuffled across the floor toward the man.


    As soon as he became within the man''s reach he held out his hand and ced it on Haru''s forehead. He was quite surprised and almost pulled away in fear.


    "Just try to rx. It will only hurt a little bit. But It will benefit you." The man said as Haru rxed his shoulders once again indicating the man to start with whatever he was nning.


    After a few seconds, a blue light emerged from the man''s hand and washed over Haru''s body. It seemed to be concentrated on his head but some of the light spilt out.


    It felt warm and soothing but then after a few seconds, it felt like someone had taken out a needle and begun to poke around inside his brain. He wasn''t sure what to think about it. It didn''t exactly hurt nearly as much as he thought it would.


    Then something strange happened. It was like something was forced into his head. He couldn''t quite feel what it was but there was a slight coldness that washed over his body. A few more seconds went by before the man took his hand away.


    "Well, that is solved. No one should be able to sense the power from your phoenix bloodline unless they are nearby." He said and then smiled lightly. It seemed like something was paining him.


    The man didn''t say anything else. He just looked at Haru with a gentle smile. Haru couldn''t exin it but he felt like he had seen this man before. But he just couldn''t ce it. He definitely looked familiar though.


    "Um, You said there were two things?" Haru asked him. He looked like he had forgotten all about it as he seemed to snap out of a daydream. He looked at Haru before gathering his thoughts.


    "Oh, Yes that''s right. I was actually hoping that you woulde with me and join our sect. I know it''s a big thing to ask for but I feel like you will be able to aid us one day. You don''t have to decide right now. Just think about it." The old man said and then waited for Haru to think it over.


    It didn''t take much time for Haru to decide. The obvious thing was that he didn''t know this man. Why would he go anywhere with him? And the other thing was he had already decided to go to college and make his parents proud.


    He didn''t want to just vanish to the upper realms right now and never see them again. Not to mention his girlfriend. He couldn''t leave her either.


    "No." He said bluntly.


    The old man seemed kind of surprised and then stared at him once again. This time with questioning eyes.


    "What made you decide so fast? I''m kind of surprised." The old man said.


    "Well, It''s simple. I don''t really know you so it would be weird for me to just pack my bags and go with you. And I still have friends and family. I don''t want to leave them behind." He exined.


    The man stopped and thought.


    "I made the right calling to see you. You are determination. You want to make your parents proud of you before you go off on your quest for power. I see you have a special woman in your life. Hehehe. Make sure you treat her right." The old man said.


    He looked down at his hand before a sh of light emerged from his finger. I small red bag appeared from his storage ring.


    "I have to get back. So take this as a parting gift." The old man then handed the bag to Haru and began to stand up.


    Haru stood up after him.


    "Thank you for your help with hiding my bloodline. If you could sense it from the higher realms I''m guessing quite a few bad characters could sense it too?" Haru asked him.


    "You don''t have to worry about that. You will do just fine. Here''s some advice from an old man. If you follow your heart everything will turn out just okay. Don''t live a life you will regret."


    "So you are going right now?" Haru asked. He found it quite strange that he had waited a whole week for Haru to get her but was going as soon as he helped him out a little bit.


    "As they say time is of the essence. Oh, And one more thing. Try not to make your mother worry. She has always been the type to put her family before everything else. I don''t want hurt to get hurt once again." The old man said and then smiled.


    "Wait, My mother? How do you know my mother?" Haru asked in a panic.


    The old man smiled as his body disappeared from where he was stood.


    "We will meet again." The man''s voice called out as a sh of golden light came through the windows.


    Haru ran over the window and then looked out to see what looked like lightning striking the peak of the mountain.


    He looked down at the bag the old man had given to him and then opened it up.


    It was a bag that seemed to possess thew of space. It had hundreds of pills inside and then a strange-looking chunk of metal.


    ''What is this?'' He thought before the doors to the elder''s hall came flying open.

 Chapter 81: Pill Vein.

    Chapter 81: Pill Vein.


    What happened!? Haru, Are you okay?" The sect master shouted as he barged in through the doors. Haru looked overseeing him cautiously stood in the doorway.


    "Yeah, Everything is fine. Why wouldn''t I be?" He asked the sect master he seemed to be holding something behind his back.


    "Ah, No reason. If you say everything is fine then you must be okay. So what did he want to talk to you about?" He asked and then looked down at the bag Haru was holding.


    "Oh, It was kind of strange, He said that he felt my bloodline from the middle realm. And then he talked about him being a mysticist or something." Haru began to exin.


    "A mysticist? Oh, they are really rare. Not many people devote so much time to study time, Most people in the upper realms are more focused on gaining as much strength as possible.


    Only a person who has no desire for personal gain could put in the effort to be a mysticist. What else did he say? We might have just run into a very important figure in the upper realms." The sect master gave his opinion on the matter and then Asked Haru for more details.


    "Well, He then did this thing where he ced his hand on my head to hide the power that my bloodline releases, And then after that, he asked if I wanted to join his sect in the middle realm," Haru exined.


    There was a long pause as the sect master looked at him for a few minutes. ''This boy got an invitation to join a middle realm sect? Then what is he still doing here?'' He thought as he looked at him with suspicion.


    "I turned him down of course. I can''t leave my family behind just yet. I still have to go to university. And plus what would I tell my girlfriend?" He said and then looked back at the sect master who had a nk expression as he looked back in disappointment.


    "What!? You gave up on a chance like that for the sake of a woman?" The sect master seemed outraged with Haru''s decision.


    "Ah, Whatever. It''s your own life. Anyway, what''s in the bag?" The sect master then pointed to the bag that Haru was still clutching in his hands.


    "Oh, From what I can tell there are a lot of pills and stuff to help my cultivation. Like this." He reached into the back and pulled out a small red pill. It was perfectly spherical and seemed to have a slight glowing from little tiny scratches all along the surface.


    "Oh, A Qi absorption pill? Wait Is that!?" The sect master became flustered and then reached out and snatched the pill from Haru''s hand to take a closer look.


    "Oh My It really is! They are pill veins!" The sect master screamed in excitement as he inspects the tiny red pill between his fingers.


    "Pill veins? What do they do? Is that good?" Haru asked confused. It was weird seeing the sect master act like this.


    "Are they good!? Pfft. Pill veins only appear on the highest quality pills. It is a mark to show the living Qi that is held within them.


    I have tried to refine pills this amazing for hundreds of years but I never achieved anything close to this level!" The sect master eximed and then looked back to Haru who seemed uninterested with his exnation.


    "Wow, They highest quality? Then it must have cost him a fortune to gather this many of them. There are over four hundred of them in here." Haru said and then held the bag up.


    "Four hundred!?" The sect masters jaw dropped after hearing that news. He couldn''t believe it. Having that many pills would be rare for the upper realm. How did someone from the middle realm get that many?


    "Yeah, there are a lot. But there was also this." Haru said as he pulled out a small metal token of some kind.


    The metal had a slight purple tint to it as it reflected the light around the room. The front of it was t and polished. There wasn''t a single imperfection on the metal. But on the very front, there were two words engraved into the metal te.


    "Shadow Sect? I have never heard of them before. Although it has been quite a few centuries since I have ventured into the middle realms personally. I will have to have someone look them up.


    But this looks to be a Sect te. They are used to identify sect members. You did refuse to join right? I wonder why he left you a sect te?" The sect master questioned the actions of the old man who had now disappeared.


    "So Why did you barge in so suddenly? Were you worried about me?" Haru asked.


    The sect master coughed and then looked back at Haru.


    "Of course not. I just saw that he had gone back through the transporter so I wanted to know what you two talked about.


    He has been staying here for the past week and didn''t say anything about his reason for looking for you. Which reminds me to ask. How did he know you?" The sect master asked Haru who was looking at the sect te.


    "I''m not sure. He just said that he was looking into something and then he was shown a picture of me in a vision or something. He was actually quite secretive about the whole thing." He exined to him and then looked back down at the sect te.


    That was when he noticed something written in the bottom corner. "Shen Hao." Haru looked at it for a few seconds. ''So that is his name?'' He thought before the sect master interrupted.


    "Maybe they n to sacrifice you for a ritual in a few years? They just gave you the pills to fatten you up and make you more powerful." The sect master said with concern as he seemed to be deep in thought.


    "Wait! There are sects that sacrifice people?" Haru was surprised by thement the sect master made. He knew that there were bad cultivators but he thought that sacrifices were exclusive to evil mages.


    "Of course there are. People will do many despicable things to be stronger. But you shouldn''t be too worried I doubt that is what this shadow sect want to do." The sect master said and then turned around as the door to the elder''s hall came crashing open once again.


    "Sect master! I am back. Teacher Lin said you might need help with the delivery." The voice of a young girl called out as a gust of windowed entered the hall.


    Light pierced through the door creating only a silhouette as the figure of a young girl walked in through the doorway. The doors then suddenly mmed behind her revealing her long brown hair that was cut neatly at the centre of her back.


    Her cheeks had a subtle pink glow and her emerald green eyes seemed to glow with excitement as she saw Haru stood in the hall next to the sect master.


    "Haru!" The girl shouted as she ran over and grabbed a hold of Haru''s arm before hugging him. She closed her eyes and then ced her head against his chest.


    "Um Who are you?" Haru asked. He was genuinely confused. Why was there a strange girl hugging him? It seemed pretty weird that a girl he had never met in his life was now attached to his arm, holding a vice-like grip.


    She let go immediately and then retreated.


    "You don''t recognise me? Well, Teacher did say I have grown up a lot since I have been here. Look, I''m nearly as tall as you now!" She said as she stood next to Haru with her hand on her head.


    She seemed to be proud of her height but in reality, she was still short. The top of her head came up to Haru''s head. Haru then looked at her more closely. A hint of familiarity emitted from her facial features. A few more seconds of him staring at her went by before he seemed to recognise her.


    "Remi? No You can''t be Remi. The Remi I remember wouldn''t call me Haru." Haru said and then looked at her face.


    Her face grew slightly red as she smiled shyly.


    "Then what if I call you Big brother?" She asked, clearly embarrassed by saying something so childish.


    "Wow You really are Remi." Haru said and then ced his hand on her head.


    "Hmm, Maybe you grew a little bit. I don''t remember it being this hard the pat your head. That''s a shame. I will have to stop doing it then. Maybe that''s a little childish for you anyway? I''m sorry." Haru said and then took his hand away.


    "No don''t!" Remi grabbed his hand and put it back.


    "I''m still your little sister you can pat my head whenever you want to!" She smiled.


    "Okay, I will do then," Haru said before the sect master interrupted their reunion.


    "Say, Remi. I thought you wanted us to stop treating you like a child?" He asked.


    "That''s just for you guys! Your not my big brother!" She shouted and then smiled happily as she wrapped her arms around Haru''s arm once again.


    ''I thought she would have changed. But it looks like she is the same little kid that I met for only a short time.'' Haru thought as The Sect Master and Remi went back and forth arguing.

 Chapter 82: Favourite Place.

    Chapter 82: Favourite ce.


    "Fine, fine. I don''t want to hear anymore. Just go and help unpack the herbs from the trucks." The Sect Master got fed up of Remi arguing with him and then decided to use his power to send her away.


    "Come on Big Brother. We will leave this big meanie to be lonely." Remi said as she grabbed Haru''s arm and began to pull him outside. He had no choice but to follow her.


    On his way outside he looked behind to the sect master who had a grin on his face as they were leaving. And then he mouthed the words "Thank You" To Haru as the doors closed behind them.


    ''Finally. I can rest'' The sect master thought as both Haru and Remi disappeared. A few seconds went by before the door opened up again.


    "Sorry to interrupt you, Sect Master but, We are having some difficulties preparing what you asked for." A voice called out from the door.


    The sect master sighed. ''So much for my rest.'' He thought before going to see what the problem was.


    "Hey, Big brother. What cultivation level are you? I can''t even sense your Qi. So that means you are a lot stronger than me right?" Remi asked as they walked back down the long winding dirt road toward the trucks that had now parked and were being unloaded.


    "Yeah, I am at the Qi creation stage." He said and then used his spiritual sense to feel Remi''s Qi.


    ''Woah, She is already at the heavenly spirit stage? That is really impressive. Only three years of cultivation and has already gotten to such a height in this amount of time.


    She must be naturally gifted or something. She is only two stages behind me and I have Li Jun and a Dragon helping me cultivate. That is quite a bitter pill to swallow.'' Haru thought.


    "Woah! You are so cool! You must be super strong right?" Remi asked as they carried on walking. Haru just chuckled in response.


    As they approached the trucks, Jake spotted Haru walking toward him. He couldn''t get his attention by waving because he was carrying boxes of herbs so he decided to shout instead.


    "Haru! Come and help unload these boxes. You can''t dump all the work on me. I didn''te to be your ve." He said whilst putting a box down on the floor.


    "Sure, I''ming. Just stop shouting! You might annoy someone!" Haru shouted back twice as loud.


    Remi giggled as she walked alongside Haru, Still holding his arm as tightly as she was before.


    "So um Why are you still holding my arm like that? You already got me outside quite a while ago. I wasn''t going to say anything but you are gripping really tight." Haru said to Remi. Who seemed to forget that she was still clinging to him like a leech.


    "Oh, Um. Sorry. It''s just that I missed you. You left so quicklyst time. I didn''t even get the chance to get to know you. You were nice to me and it just seemed like a distant dream. I didn''t mean to grab you. I''m sorry." Remi said and then lowered her head in shame.


    Haru held out his hand and patted her head.


    "Hey, there is no need to be upset. I can spend the rest of the day here. I will be returning home tomorrow though. Do you have a cell phone? I can give you my number so we can stay in touch." Haru reassured her and then waited for her to reply.


    "You have to go home tomorrow? But I won''t even have time to give you a real tour. I remember you missed out on the tourst time." Sheined.


    "Aw, that sucks. Well, how about instead of a tour you just show me what your favourite ce. I''m sure that will be much more fun than a tour anyway." Haru said.


    Remi stopped walking for a second and then looked back at him.


    "You want me to take you to my favourite ce in the whole sect?" She asked with a serious-looking face. It was like she was trying to hide something very important.


    "If that isn''t a problem then yes. I want to see where you spend most of your time here. That will be more interesting at least. And then you can tell me about all the stuff you have been doing here." Haru exined.


    Remi still seemed reluctant but her face was less serious as she began to think about it. ''He wants to see my favourite ce? But what if he doesn''t like it?


    Or what if he gets scared and then doesn''t want to be my big brother anymore. Wait But he is my big brother, right? I am supposed to show him everything. I can''t keep secrets." She thought and then decided to give him an answer.


    "You cane with me tonight. But You can''t tell anyone about it. It''s our secret okay?" She sounded mad. Almost like she would kill someone if they ever found out as a vicious smile formed across her face.


    Haru was no longer sure if he wanted to know what she had in mind. The look on her face was the look of someone who was plotting something.


    "You really don''t have to. I''m not that desperate. If you feel like you don''t want anyone to know about your special ce then it''s fine. I won''t ask again." Haru said, Trying to get out of it. He had a bad feeling about what he had just asked for. Especially since she had an evil grin forming on her face.


    "No, You have toe now. I already decided! There is nothing you can do to make me change my mind. You areing whether you like it or not!" Remi said and then grabbed Haru''s arm again.


    "Fine then. I wille. But it better not be something weird or I will leave right away." He warned her.


    Remi looked back at him with questioning eyes. ''Weird? How dare he call it weird. He hasn''t even seen anything yet.'' She thought before remembering he asked if she had a cell phone.


    "Oh here. I do have a cell phone. What is your number? I will message youter tonight to tell you where to meet me after everyone has gone to sleep." She said as she held it out toward Haru.


    "Here. It''s XXX-XXX-57289." He read it out slowly as she typed it in and saved him as a contact, with the name big brother.


    She wanted to make sure that she had typed it correctly so she dialled the number right away and sure enough Haru''s phone rang out.


    "Hello? I wonder who this is?" Haru said down the phone jokingly.


    Remi smiled and then hung up before he could say anything else.


    "Okay, You save my number now!" She shouted and then pulled at his arm even more than she was before.


    "Okay, Okay stop pulling my arm. You will rip it out of its socket." Haru said and then began typing her number into a contact slot and then saved it with the name Remi.


    "No, You got it wrong!" She then took the phone out of Haru''s hand and began to type something. After a few seconds, she handed it back to him.


    "Here, This is better!" Said and then smiled as she looked up to see his reaction when he read what she had typed.


    Haru stared nkly at the phone screen and read it. She saved her contact information as Little Sister with two hearts at the end.


    "Oh, It''s cute. Thanks for that, Your right. This is correct now." He said before patting her head once again.


    Remi smiled before an old man shouted her name.


    "Remi! Where are you?" The voice shouted from the sky.


    "Oh no, That''s Teacher Lin. He sounds mad. I''m sorry big brother I have to go now. I will message youter and tell you were to meet me. Bye-bye!" She shouted as she ran off into the distance.


    ''Teacher Lin? Wasn''t that the same voice as that one back in the city who killed that guy for mentioning the sects name? So he is teaching Remi? Then It''s no wonder that she has gotten so strong.


    If her teacher is feared by the name of The Evil God. Then she is sure to be just as strong.'' Haru thought as Jake called him again after picking up two more boxes.


    "Will you hurry up already!? We are almost finished and you haven''t even touched a single box. I''m starting to think this is the reason that you actually brought me here." He shouted and then ced them on the ground next to the cart they were using to transport them inside.


    "Okay, I will help out," Haru yelled back as he finally made his way over to give them a hand.

 Chapter 83: Teacher Lin.

    Chapter 83: Teacher Lin.


    "Done." Haru sighed as he unloaded thest box of herbs on to the cart. He sighed and then walked over to Jake who was sat on a bench panting.


    "Why are you panting? It wasn''t that hard." Haru said and then sat next to him.


    "Wasn''t that hard?! You weren''t here for most of it. You carried three boxes at most. I had to move like fifty of them. Don''t tell me it wasn''t that hard!" Jake shouted.


    Haru and Jake then both looked at each other and startedughing. It wasn''t something they should be arguing about. Nobody had forced them to help out anyway. It was their choice.


    "Where did you go anyway? You just seemed to vanish for a few hours." Jake asked Haru as they both sat outside.


    "Oh, I just went to talk. You know how it is. Cultivator stuff. I can tell you about it but you will be here all day listening to my exnation." Haru said as a drop of rain fell from the sky and hit the tip of his nose.


    "Oh, Shit. We better get inside before the heavens decide to open up." He said as another drop of rain hit the top of his head.


    Haru and Jake then both made their way over to the main building. It was called the Annex and it was where the cultivators would have their meals on the ground floor in the cafeteria. And then on the top floor, there were meeting rooms and ssrooms where they would instruct new students.


    Although new students were somewhat of a rarity in the ck star sect. They only took in the most exceptional people. But that didn''t stop people from using to hang out and talk.


    As they opened the door, Countless voices could be heard as around sixty or seventy people were all sat around wearing sect clothes and talking to each other. Haru was only at the sect for around a day before he left thest time he was here so he didn''t know how many people were actually there.


    He just assumed it was a ce filled with old men but there appeared to be people ranging from the age of ten to thirty.


    There were people much stronger than him in this room but none of them seemed to pay any attention as they both walked in through the entrance.


    The further they walked into the room the more obvious it became that something was wrong. More and more people began to notice them and couldn''t stop staring as they ordered their food and then sat down.


    As they sat down and waited for their food a quiet murmur between the disciples in the room could be heard. And with every second that past it was only bing louder.


    "Why is there a crippled kid here? He doesn''t even cultivate. What gives him the right to sit with us? Who are the outsiders?" The criticism of Jake only went on and on until there was an even louder voice that made the rest go silent.


    "Shut up! I''m trying to eat!" A voice yelled as a poisonous Qi began to fill the room. It forced nearly everyone in the room to shut up instantly and stop what they were doing as they tried to fight against the Poison.


    Haru and Jake were the only two people remaining as the Qi only became stronger in an attempt to pressure them too. But before the Qi even made its way toward them Haru had already formed a barrier around his table.


    He had a gut feeling right before it happened and his body tensed up. So he made the barrier as a precaution. But he also realised the heightened sense of Qi that he felt was a sign that he had already reached the peak of the Qi creation stage and he was about to break through into the manifestation stage.


    The people who were in the room that was much older than Haru were still sitting as if nothing had happened. They didn''t even realise the Qi had spread through the room because it wasn''t even a threat to them. They just sat and ate their food in silence as the Qi continued to get stronger and stronger.


    "Hey, can you stop that, please? I don''t think we need to make an issue out of this. Just eat your food. No one will interrupt you anymore." Haru asked out loud up to the second floor of the cafeteria where the Qi seemed to being from.


    The Qi only continued to rise. But this time even faster.


    "Fine, If you don''t want to stop then I will make you stop." Haru sighed and then spread out his own Qi toward the source and increased it until the poisonous Qipletely disappeared.


    One after another the people in the room began to stand up and then a look of horror was painted on their faces as a chill ran down Haru''s spine.


    He quickly moved out of the way as a sword sliced through the air.


    BOOM!


    The sound of expounding wood rung through the air as splinters flew around the room. Jake covered his eyes as a gust of wind shot past his face as he was covered in wood.


    "What the fuck?" He said as he opened his eyes and saw that Haru was now stood up and there was a man with long ck hair covering his face stood with a sword in his hand.


    He looked to be around twenty years old and had a crazed look in his eyes. He stood with his back to Haru before bringing his sword up once again and then swinging it towards him once again.


    The feeling of nervousness that Haru felt had now faded since he could now see the person who was attacking him. He wasn''t all that powerful. But his blood lust was like nothing Haru had experienced before.


    He was a full stage behind Haru but he was clearly a master of sneak attacks. The attack that heunched took Harupletely by surprise.


    But luckily his perception was higher than the average cultivator so He was able to sense the attacks.


    As the sword came racing toward his face. Haru held out his hand and then reached towards the sword. Stopping the de immediately.


    Everyone in the room looked over in shock as they saw Haru stop the attack.


    "Did he just stop an attack from that mad man?" One of them asked out loud.


    The man looked back at Haru, his eyes wide and then felt a deep fear in his heart as he smiled.


    "Now that isn''t very nice was it?" Haru said with a grin and then grabbed onto the guy''s wrist before punching him in the stomach. His body then dropped to the floor as he struggled to breathe.


    The air in his lungs had been forced out from the power of Haru''s fist.


    As soon as his body dropped there was a loud crash as an old man stumbled into the cafeteria he looked to be drunk and burped loudly. He sat down on the same table where Haru was sat and then took everyone''s attention away from the manying on the floor.


    ''What is this? Why is everyone here so strange?'' Haru thought as the man began to sing to himself. He held his hand up in the air.


    A few seconds went by before one of the staff who worked in the kitchen ran over with a ss of alcohol and handed it to him.


    "You, You''re Haru aren''t you? I remember you from that day. How did it go with those people from the association? Did they manage to recruit you?" The man said and then pointed to Haru.


    "Oh, You are Teacher Lin, Is that right?" Haru asked the drunken old man.


    "Haha, Yes I am the Teacher Lin!" He said and then drank the alcohol.


    "Here. Sit and tell me about it." Teacher Lin said to Haru and then patted the seat next to him. As his hand came down toward the chair he felt something soft instead of the wood of the chair.


    He looked up seeing Jake sat next to him and then jumped.


    "Don''t sneak up on me like that boy! You will give me a heart attack." He thenughed.


    Teacher Lin was really drunk. It didn''t seem like he was drinking to drown his sorrows though. It seemed more like he was drinking because he enjoyed it.


    He was clearly much stronger than Haru at his current level since he couldn''t sense any Qiing from the man. So that made Haru certain that Teacher Lin was very rich. ording to Li Jun alcohol strong enough to get a cultivator drunk is extremely expensive.


    But as the old man spoke. More and more people began to leave the hall one after another.


    "Boy. Do you drink?" Teacher Lin asked Jake and then pulled out a silver bottle from a storage ring. A smile formed on Jakes ring.


    "Yes, Yes I do drink." He said and then emptied the ss of water he currently had in front of him.


    ''I''ve had enough interaction with strange people for today. I need to take a break.'' Haru thought before slipping out of the room before the attention could be put on him again.

 Chapter 84: Contract.

    Chapter 84: Contract.


    The sky was getting dark as the sun dipped over the horizon of the mountains. The wind picked up its speed as it sent a cool breeze into the valley that travelled around the side of the mounting creating a slight lift in the air.


    The scent of freshly cut grass drifted on the wind. Creating a pleasant scent as Haru stepped outside into the dark. The whole set was lit up by thousands ofnterns creating a scene like a that of a festival.


    There was a gentle chatter as the private militia socialised with the sect members. As Haru looked out around the grounds, He heard a quiet sound behind him like clothes moving in the wind.


    "Hey, kid. You''re the one who injured my disciple. Right?" A gentle voice called out from above.


    Haru turned and looked up at the side of the building. On top of the rain shelter, he passed under before entering the building was a man sat with his legs over the edge.


    He had long white hair but only appeared to be in his thirties at most. He was clean-shaven and had light green eyes. As Haru looked up at him the wind picked up and seemed to blow his hair all over the ce.


    The man then vanished from the spot on the roof and then a slight pressure pressed down on Haru''s shoulder as the man appeared next to him and grabbed him lightly.


    He stopped looking around as his body went into to fight mode. His knuckled slightly clenched and he tucked his chin down a little bit. The man felt the change in Haru''s demeanour and then rxed his hand.


    "Sorry. I didn''te here to start a fight. When I found out that an outsider had injured my disciple I was mad. But I had to follow the rules so I went to the sect master for an exnation.


    That was when he told me you are actually not an outsider but a first-generation disciple. So I came here to apologise on behalf of my disciple.


    I will make sure he knows what he did was wrong and make it a learning experience for him. And in return for you not injuring him too much, I wanted to give you something that might help you." The man said and then held out his hand to Haru


    Haru looked down at what the man was holding. The moonlight began to shine down on his hand as if it was on cue. It looked to be some kind of nt.


    The leaves branched out from the stem like a new sapling that was recently ripped from the ground. The roots were perfectly cleaned and there wasn''t a single bit of dirt on the thing.


    As Haru put his hand out to grab in he felt a cold chill in the air around the nt. And as he took it from the man''s hand, his hand almost froze. The nt was colder than ice and seemed to want to spread it''s iciness to everything nearby.


    "That is an ice jade sapling. If you nt this in the snow it will grow to the size of a regr tree overnight. And after a month of it being nted, it will be a spiritual spot.


    Meaning all of the lost spirits in the surrounding area wille to the tree to feed off it''s cold Qi. Or if you are toozy to do that then you can make it into a pill.


    Since the jade ice sapling is made out of pure Qi then you will have no problem absorbing all of its energy to use for yourself." The man exined and then bowed.


    "Again, I am sorry for what happened tonight. I will make sure he learns from his mistakes." The man said before going on his way.


    Haru stood kind of speechless. What was he going to do with a baby tree? ''Is that the way people apologise to each other here? By giving them nts?


    Well, I guess it is better than nothing. He didn''t have to apologise at all. I guess it is lucky that I got this little tree out of him.'' Haru thought before he heard his phone beep twice.


    ''That must be Remi. But everyone is still awake. What does she want now?'' Haru thought before he opened up his phone to see that it was, in fact, a message from Suyin.


    "Hey, I know you are busy. But do you think we can talk when you have the time? Can youe over?" The message read.


    The way the message was phrased sounded ominous. He wasn''t sure what to think of it so he decides to give her a call to make sure everything was okay.


    As he put his phone to his ear Suyin''s voice came through right away.


    "Hi! I didn''t you to call me so quickly." She said and then paused.


    "Of course I would call you right away. Especially since you made your message sound like something serious had happened. So what''s up? Haru asked.


    There was a pause as Suyin rushed over to her desk to grab a letter of some kind.


    "I just got news back from the recordpany. They say that they want me to start right away. They will start training me.


    But they have a secondary contract that I have to sign. I read through it and I wanted to let you know that I decided to refuse their offer." She said with a hint of disappointment in her voice.


    "Oh? Why what is it? Do they want you to do something inappropriate? I will send Zen to talk to the owner if you need me to." Haru reassured her.


    But Suyin didn''t seem to rx. She stuttered a bit as she tried to talk.


    "Um, No that isn''t it. There is a part in the contract that says you have to be single in order to work for them. It is something about the fans not liking their idols to have boyfriends. So I''m going to call them in the morning and turn them down." She exined.


    Haru sighed.


    "You don''t have to turn it down. How would they even know if you had a boyfriend? It''s not like they will ever know about me. If you want to go ahead with the contract just tell them you are single.


    If ites down to it though I will just ask Zen if he can ask the owner to change the contract." Haru told her.


    After hearing that Suyin also sighed.


    "I''m an idiot. It never even crossed my mind that I could lie. But are you really okay with that? People thinking that I am single I mean.


    I kind of want everyone to know how great my boyfriend is. That is why I always introduce you to my friends. It makes some of them really jealous hehe." Suyin giggled and then waited for Haru''s input.


    "It''s fine. As long as you know that I love you it doesn''t matter what other people think. If they think you are single then so be it.


    Anyone who tries to make a move on you better have a really powerful backer or they will find themselves hanging from a crane." Haru joked.


    "I love you too, But don''t even joke about that. You could always just teach me your whole cultivation thing. Then you won''t need to worry about me. I will just kick them into next week." Suyin said.


    "You want to learn how to cultivate? I didn''t think about that. It would be nice knowing that you can defend yourself against a crazy person. But it might take a while.


    You will need to be patient but honestly, it will benefit you a lot. How about I teach you when I get back?" Haru asked.


    "Really, You will? But what do you mean by getting back? Where are you now?" Suyin asked. She sounded a little worried as her voice raised higher when she asked the question.


    "There''s no need to worry. I took a trip up into the mountains with Jake. We are at the sect I told you about. There was someone who was looking for me. So they called me up here to talk." Haru exined.


    Suyin felt relieved. She thought he was out fighting someone again. It seemed to her like where ever Haru was, Trouble seemed to follow him.


    "Oh, That ce? You told me it was beautiful up there. Do you think you will ever take me to have a look? It sounded so pretty from what you described." Suyin seemed intrigued by the sect.


    "Yeah, It is. I will bring you next time Ie here. But I doubt it will be for a while. The people here are weird, So I don''t want toe back for a while." Heughed.


    "Weird? What do you mean?" Suyin asked.


    "Well, Someone just gifted me a tree sapling" Haru said in a monotone voice to add to the fact of how strange it was.


    "A tree sapling? Now, why would anyone do that?" Suyin asked beforeughing.


    Haru began to walk around aimlessly for what felt like hours as he talked to Suyin on the phone before they were interrupted by theints of Mr Jiang in the background.


    "Suyin. Go to sleep already. It''s One o''clock in the morning. I don''t want to be listening to you giggle all night." He said.


    Suyin sighed as he walked back out of her room.


    "I have to go now. My dad is mad that I''m talking too loud." Suyin told Haru.


    "I understand. I love you. Sweet dreams." Haru said as he got ready to end the call.


    "I love you too. Goodnight." Suyin said sounding slightly tired.


    "Goodnight," Haru said and then ended the call.


    He then walked around aimlessly before he found a pond. The water was tranquil and he could see to the very bottom. ''This is nice'' He thought before sitting down and watching the fish.

 Chapter 85: Lantern.

    Chapter 85: Lantern.


    The running water from the miniature waterfall slowly fell down into the pond creating air bubbles with every drop of water that crashed against the surface. The small koi fish swam around the pond sucking up the tiny bubbles as soon as they formed.


    Haru sat and watched them for a while. Losing track of time in peaceful bliss. The moonlight reflected on the water''s surface creating a gentle glow on the backs of the many small fish.


    He decided to take the time to rx. He felt like he had done too much recently. Haru liked to bezy where he could so after every major event in his life he would have to take the time to rx every now and again. Even if it was by just staying indoors all day watching TV.


    But this was much more rxing. The sounds of nature as these tiny fish sshed around in front of him.


    Around an hour went by and the lights around the sect started to die out. There gentle chatter of the night faded away as the tranquil silence of nature took over.


    Beep Beep.


    Haru''s phone called out breaking the silence. He felt kind of frustrated as he knew for sure it was Remi. He reached down and pulled out his phone revealing the text from Remi.


    "I''m waiting for you at the entrance to the forest." The text said.


    ''The forest huh? Why is everything here centred around the forest? Even Remi''s favourite ce is somewhere in the forest? The forest here was also the reason I was forced to cultivate Strange'' Haru thought before standing up and waving goodbye to his tiny little friends.


    He began to walk toward the entrance to the forest whilst being as quiet as he possibly could. Thest thing that he would want is to wake up a cultivator who could crush him like a bug. And there seemed to be quite a lot of people here who had the strength to do so.


    He walked down the link twisting dirt road before arriving at the entrance to the forest. He looked around but there was no sight of Remi anywhere.


    He was far enough away from the buildings that he could now make noise without waking anyone up but he still wanted to be quiet.


    "Remi! Where are you?" He shouted quietly into the forest making sure to mute his words with a whisper.


    There was no response as footsteps came from behind. Haru turned around to see Remi looking at the ground whilst she walked. She was trying to sneak up on him. Haru just stared as she came closer and closer without looking up.


    She lifted her feet and then gently stepped forward. She then noticed the tips of Haru''s shoes first. ''Wait a minute.'' She thought and the slowly looked up to see Haru staring at her.


    "Ah!" She eximed. Surprised by Haru now staring at here.


    "You were supposed to be looking for me! I was going to scare you! Why would you do that?" She asked frantically. She wasn''t expecting to be the one getting scared instead.


    "I was looking for you. It just turns out that I already found you behind me. I didn''t think I was that scary, to be honest. Is it my face? Am I really that ugly?" Haru asked jokingly.


    "No no! You''re not ugly or scary. It was just I was surprised. I wasn''t expecting you to be looking at me when I got close enough to scare you." Remi exined in a hurry. She didn''t want to upset him with a misunderstanding.


    Haruughed.


    "Don''t worry about it. I know what you meant." Haru said and then patted her head.


    Remi looked up and then smiled at him for a moment before she took a step away as her cheeks began to glow red. Haru didn''t notice to small detail and turned to face the forest once more.


    "So where are you taking me?" Haru asked as Remi stepped in front of him holding antern.


    "It''s a secret. You aren''t allowed to know until we get there. It will spoil the fun If I tell you right now." She said and then a look of dread washed over her face.


    "I forgot the matches. I can''t go back and get them now can I? I will wake up teacher Lin if I do that. This whole night is ruined." Remi felt instant depression as she realised she wouldn''t be able to guide her big brother through the forest.


    "A match? Why would you need a match?" Haru asked with a slight smile.


    "To light thentern of course. Do you think it will light its self?" Remi asked. She seemed mad that her ns had been ruined.


    "Why would you need a match when I am here?" Haru asked and then took thentern from her.


    He then opened the front of it revealing the oil inside. He then used the power of the phoenix to light it. He then closed it. All the while Remi looked at him in disbelief.


    ''You shouldn''t be able to manipte elements until you get to the nascent soul stage and even then. He shouldn''t be able to control this much of it.'' Remi thought as she saw the golden me in front of her eyes.


    "See. It''s solved now. We didn''t need any matches." Haru smiled and then handed thentern back to her.


    "How did you just Uh" She began to stutter as she realised the true amount of power Haru had actually gathered.


    "Oh, the fire? It was just my bloodline power. It lets me control the me from a phoenix." Haru exined as he walked ahead of her.


    "A phoenix! You mean a real phoenix!? Remi shouted.


    "A real phoenix? I guess it was a real phoenix at one point. Now he is just a conscious soul of an infant phoenix that lives inside my body." Haru tried to make it easy for her to understand but she didn''t seem interested in specifics. She was too focused on the fact that even Haru had seen a phoenix.


    "Can you show me? I''ve always wanted to see a phoenix. Teacher Lin used to tell me stories at night about his life in the upper realm. He told me that Phoenixes are the strongest beings in the universe." Remi went on to exin.


    Haru giggled after hearing that.


    "Phoenixes are the strongest? What about dragons?" He asked rhetorically.


    "Don''t be a silly big brother. Even I know that dragons don''t exist. They are just a myth to scare children into sleeping on time." Remi said as they walked deeper into the forest.


    Haru was taken back by this statement. ''Dragons don''t exist? Where did she hear that nonsense? Of course, they exist. Or neither would the ring on my finger. It was made by the first Dragon emperor and then passed down to his firstborn son.


    Not only that. It has the soul of a dragon inside it that I have seen with my own two eyes. Even the sect master told me that story where someone with the green eyes of the dragon n stopped by and stole that coffin.


    Why does Remi think they don''t exist? Is Teacher Lin lying to her or does even he think that is the truth?'' Haru found it quite perplexing. But then decided he would ask the sect master about itter instead of trying to guess what the truth was.


    They ended up walking for a few miles into the forest and there was still no sign of them slowing down as Remi continued to guide them with thentern ahead of her.


    "Are you sure you know where you are going? We have been out here for a while now. Where are we even going?" Haru asked, Changing the topic.


    "Yes, I am sure. I have been here hundreds of times. I know this whole forest like the back of my hand. We will be there shortly just keep following me." Remi snapped back sounding angry that Haru had questioned her.


    ''She sure is passionate about this ce we are heading too.'' Haru thought as he continued to follow her, deeper into the forest.


    A few minutes went by and Haru was starting to get fed up of the silence. They hadn''t said anything since Remi had shouted.


    Haru looked down at Remi, She seemed to be thinking about something and then she looked over to her left and spotted a sign. She quickly changed directions and started walking toward the sign.


    "This way follow me." She said and then looked over her shoulder to make sure Haru was still following her.


    "Are we there yet? It can''t be too much further right?" Haru wasn''t certain it felt like he had definitely been walking for over an hour.


    But then suddenly the trees began to open up revealing nothingness. It was like the ground had suddenly been cut off. That was when he realised where they were now standing.

 Chapter 86: Haru!

    Chapter 86: Haru!


    Haru looked along the ground as they walked closer and closer toward the cliff face. He looked down into the deep abyss and recalled the first time he hade to the sect.


    There was a warm breeze drifting up from the very bottom of the cliff. Haru sat down at the edge of the cliff and dangled his legs over the side.


    "What are you doing? How did you know we were stopping here?" Remi asked Haru as he stared down into the darkness below the cliff.


    Haru smiled before he looked back up to Remi.


    "It is just so beautiful here. How could we not be stopping here?" Haru said as the warm breeze suddenly shot up past his face. It felt nice as the warm air warmed his face as the back of his body remained cold.


    "You really think so? I kind of thought you wouldugh at me and call it boring" Remi said and then sat down next to him.


    "This ce boring? How could it be boring?" Haru said and then shouted into the abyss.


    "ECHO!!!" His voice bounced around bellow before being projected back towards them. Remiughed and then tried it for herself.


    "Echo!" She shouted weakly. A few seconds went by before her voice gently drifted back to them.


    They bothughed for a few minutes before it went silent once again. Remi rested her head against Haru''s arm as they both sat there in the silence of the night.


    ''I wonder if it still remembers me?'' Haru thought as he looked back into the darkness. He then started to hum a peaceful melody. The same one that he had sung the first time he had reached this cliff.


    "That song is nice Wait! how do you know that song!?" Remi shouted as she realised it was Haru who was singing it.


    "This song? Well, It''s a ssic. Lots of people know it." He replied.


    "That is not what I meant! Why sing it here?" Remi shouted as she looked up at Haru with worry.


    ''Does he know about them? But teacher Lin said that they stay away from humans at all costs. It took teacher over a hundred years to be friends with them But every time Ie here they will sing this song. It can''t be a coincident right?" Remi began to think as another warm gust of wind shot up into the sky.


    A white sh of light shot past them as the same song Haru had started to sing, Called out from the sky in response.


    Remi gasped. ''How is this possible!? Even Teacher Lin can''t get them to be this active! But it is actually singing back to him? When did Big Brother learn how to tame beasts?'' She thought as she looked up into the sky.


    Haru smiled as he heard the song called back towards him. "You really do remember me don''t you?" He said quietly as he looked up toward the sky seeing the pure white feathers of the humongous eagle floating on the wind current.


    Haru then stood up. Remi tried to grab his arm.


    "What are you doing? Don''t spook him. Teacher Lin said the Cloud Feathered Eagles are territorial. They only let people they trust get close to them. We need to leave." She said and then began to pull at Haru''s arm, trying to drag him back into the forest.


    "Hey Remi, You know the song I was singing? You have heard the eagle sing it too right?" Haru asked with a smile on his face.


    "Yeah, How did you know?" Remi asked.


    "When I was here three years ago. I sat down and sang the same song so I could hear it echo back to me. And to my surprise, the song not only echoed back.


    But this eagle right here flew up and sang it back to me. If he didn''t want us to be here why would hee out to say hi? Just think about it." Haru exined.


    "Erm You make a good point. But we shouldn''t really go off an assumption here. They are really dangerous creatures after all." Remi said. She was still worried.


    Teacher Lin had taught her a lot about the creatures she could possiblye across And taught her what to do if she dide across them. So it still didn''t make sense that she thought that dragons didn''t exist. Haru was still hung up on that thought.


    He then looked up to see the Eagle still singing whilst floating in the sky. It carried on it''s singing as it looked down at Haru.


    "Dangerous? I don''t think so. He looks quite friendly." Haru said as the bird was starting to get to the end of its song.


    Both Haru and Remi looked up at the sky as a loud screech emerged from the eagle as it did a flip in the air. It then flew straight down into the darkness below.


    "See, as I said. He isn''t dangerous." Haru said as arge roar came from bellow. The whole cliff began to shake, As rocks tumbled over the edge.


    "Well, Probably not too dangerous." Haru giggled.


    Remi shook her head in disappointment. Haru was much different than how she remembered him. He was quiet and reserved before but now he seemed outgoing and he wore his heart on his sleeve. He had changed a lot since thest time they had met each other.


    "You''re an idiot. What if it would have flown down and decided to eat us both?" Remi asked.


    "Eat us? Why would an eagle want to eat a human? Don''t they just feed on small rodents and birds? Wait With the size of that thing, I guess we would look like a small rodent." Haru realised why she was so worried the whole time.


    "It took you long enough. I wasn''t worried for nothing. Teacher Lin told me that a few disciples came up here a few decades ago. When the eagles got the scent of people nearby about five of them flew up and ate all of the disciples leaving nothing but pools of blood." Remi said.


    The ground began to rumble once more as another current started to rise from the bottom of the cliff. The screech of the eagle started to rise as it made it''s way closer and closer. Before flying up into the sky and then toward both Haru and Remi.


    "Shit! We need to run!" Remi screamed.


    But instead of running Haru took a moment to look at the Eagle closer. He used his spiritual sense to try to feel for its emotions. And to his surprise, there wasn''t even a drop of hostility. The Eagle thennded on top of the cliff and just stared at Haru.


    "Haru! Hurry up!" Remi shouted from the trees.


    No, that the Eagle hadnded it was much easier to see the size of it. Its wingspan must have been around ten meters and its height from its feet to its head was almost six meters.


    If this bird flew over a city everybody would stop what they were doing to look at it. After all, it was about the size of a small ne, yet it seemed so gentle. It moved gracefully through the sky so it looked quite weird to see it perched on the cliff face.


    Remi took a minute to look back toward Haru. The Eagle didn''t seem like it was going to eat them but she wanted to keep her guard up. The most important thing Teacher Lin taught her about beasts is that you can never trust them. The slightest thing could change their mood drastically.


    Remi then decided to walk over to Haru. She felt confident enough that the Eagle was friendly so she began to walk carefully toward them. Making sure that she didn''t startle him.


    "What are you doing?" Haru almostughed at her as she slowly crept over.


    "I''m trying to not startle him." She replied and then carried on.


    "Startle him? Just hurry up before he decides to fly away. I bet your teacher hasn''t gotten this close to them before. You can tell him that you touched a Cloud Feathered Eagle and watch him go insane if you hurry up." Haru said.


    "Touch it? Why would I want to touch him? What if he decided to bite my arm off or something?" Remi replied getting a little fed up of howid back Haru was.


    "It''s fine. I searched his emotions. He doesn''t feel hostility to either of us. He''s harmless" Haru said as he felt something grab the back of his shirt.


    He tried to turn but was lifted up it the air. He felt the current beneath his feet and felt the cold hard beak of the eagle pressed against the back of his neck. He was now dangling from the mouth of the humongous Eagle.


    "Wait, I thought you weren''t hostile! Put me down already." There was a breath hesitation as the current beneath him stopped.


    And without a second thought, the Eagle released him. Haru looked down as he started to fall into darkness. He turned onto his back seeing the night''s sky getting further and further away.


    Remi watched as Haru was dropped off the face of the cliff. Her throat became dry and heart began to race as she watched his body tumble through the sky. Her eyes became damp with tears and her chest began to throb. She ran to the edge and tried to reach out as he passed by her.


    It was no use. Haru''s body continued to fall into the abyss until he was out of sight.


    "Haru!!!!" Remi screamed as a loud thud echoed out from the darkness.

 Chapter 87: Illusionary Viper.

    Chapter 87: Illusionary Viper.


    The wind whistled through the air as Haru fell deeper and deeper into the abyss. ''Really? This is how I''m going to die again? I am such a fucking idiot! Why did I let my guard down just because I didn''t sense hostile intent?'' Hundreds of thoughts ran through Haru''s mind as he continued to fall.


    He closed his eyes and braced for impact as he felt the fall wasing to its end.


    THUD


    Suddenly he stopped. His head went back and hit something soft just before the rest of his body dropped down into the same softness. It was likending on a cloud. There was no resistance to whatever he hadnded on but it was still solid.


    A few seconds went by as a screeching sound resonated around his head as the eagle dived down after him. It sounded like the sound was bouncing around on all sides. A few seconds went by before Haru opened his eyes.


    "Did I die again?" He asked out loud. He looked around but could only see ck. But hearing his voice bounce back to him was the indication he needed to know that he was still alive.


    "Thank goodness. I don''t know what I would have done if I had to be a baby again." He sighed in relief before hearing something whistling through the sky above his head.


    The whistle came closer and closer before.


    THUD!


    It was the same sound Haru had made when he hit whatever he was standing on. There was then a warm breath on his face before he diced to get up.


    "Hey Kun, Can you give me some light here." Haru used his spiritual sense tomunicate with the phoenix.


    "Ugh, Why can''t you do it yourself? You can use my power at will" Kun said as he emerged from Haru''s back, Raining golden light down upon him.


    The ground he was stood on seemed to be made up of white branches of some kind. The branches were thick and had a slight hollowness to them and were almost transient. He looked down at them for a few seconds and then looked up to where he felt the breath.


    And to no surprise, it was the eagle from earlier. Looking straight at him with a dumb look. Haru wasn''t sure that the Eagle was even sentient so he couldn''t me the thing for dropping him down here.


    But for whatever reason, the Eagle definitely didn''t want to eat him. That much was obvious. But that brought up the question. ''If this is the bird''s nest And they have eaten human sin the past Then that means it must want to feed me to its offspring!?'' Haru thought as the Eagle stared at him.


    "What is this dumb thing? Why is it still sleeping? Does it not feel my great presence?" Kun said.


    Haru looked up to see that Kun had his wings spread out and was striking a majestic pose.


    "Hey, Wake up you dumb ostrich!" Kun shouted and then fired off a ball of golden m toward the ground that Haru was stood upon.


    The smell of burnt hair started to rise from the ground as it began to shake. The ground then lifted up into the sky. Haru remained as still as he could and tried to maintain his bnce.


    He stood on the strange white branches as they continued to expand.


    "Thank you, Young one. You brought me a satisfactory meal. I never expected to find an insect-like this." A voice boomed out as the sound of electricity began to crackle.


    Haru felt his hair began to rise as a static field formed around him.


    He then looked up at Kun who was frozen in fear.


    "Why!!! Why can''t I move!?" Kun trembled as a cage of purple electricity formed around his body.


    A shadow then began to form as something emerged from underneath the mountain of branches that were now suspended in the air.


    First came the long yellow beak that poked up into the sky, Then followed by the huge beady eyes that watched Kun floating in the air.


    It was also a bird. But the shape of its head was different from the smaller eagle that was perched upon Its gigantic wing. Its head was shaped more like that of a sparrow.


    Haru was in shock as the thing seemingly continued to grow. ''How could an animal be this big? It has to be at least fifty meters tall! This is just a bit overkill! Why did I survive only to be eaten by a giant bird?'' Haru thought as the thing continued to grow until it was about seventy meters in height.


    Kun was still frozen in the air as the giant bird looked over at the eagle. "What? You don''t want me to eat them? Wait Them?" The bird asked the eagle but there was no reply.


    It seemed to bemunicating through telepathy as Haru didn''t hear the eagle speak at all.


    The bird then moved its big beady eyes across the length of its wing spotting Haru stood there in shock.


    A few seconds of silence went by before a blood-curdling scream resonated through the abyss and back up to the top of the cliff.


    "Ah!!!! A h-human!" The bird screamed. And in a puff of smoke, it vanished leaving Haru falling through the sky once again.


    This time as he fell he felt a simr softness beneath his back as the fall was cut short by the eagle catching him. He grabbed onto the softness of its feathers, feeling nothing but a fluffy texture between his fingers as he grabbed tighter.


    Then all of a sudden water shot up into the air as the eaglended in a small pool of water beneath them. Haru looked down to see that the eagle was stood in about of foot of water so he jumped down from it''s back into the water.


    "Where did it go? I can''t believe something so big can disappear without me even seeing it move." Haru said as he looked up and down the cave-like area, they were in.


    On all sides, there were stone walls with no way to get out. The pool of water along the floor was shallow for a few meters and then it quickly spread out into an undergroundke.


    Haru looked at the water as he followed it further and further into theke. The water had a faint blue glow that seemed to being from somewhere below. He found it strange but then something else caught his attention.


    As he looked out into the water he saw what looked to be an ind in the middle. It had grass all along the edge that also seemed to glow blue. But that wasn''t the strangest feature. Right in the centre of the ind was a stone pir or something. He couldn''t tell from the distance but it looked like it was made out of white marble.


    The sound of sshing water took Haru''s attention away from the ind and back to the water. He looked to where the sound hade from and spotted a small snake-like creature. It was no more than a meter long and had purple scales all along its body.


    It seemed to be staring Right at Haru as when he looked back at it the snake froze like a deer in headlights and immediately swam away.


    The crackling from the lightning stopped as Kun began tough.


    "I actually started to think you were a Void Sparrow. But it turns out you were just an illusionary viper all this time? I can''t wait until I cook you up." Kun shouted in a fit of rage as the golden mes from his body turned blue.


    Kun didn''t seem to notice the4 change in his mes as he flew toward the snake that was now swimming away in fear.


    "Get back here and fight me like a man!" Kun shouted as he dropped balls of blue fire into theke causing steam to rise.


    He chased the snake around the pound for what seemed like an eternity until it finally squealed in pain.


    "Ahhh!!!" The same voice that came from the bird shouted out but it sounded weaker and less menacing.


    That was when Haru realised that the huge bird he saw a few minutes ago was, in fact, this small little snake. It was the first time he came across a creature like this so he just watched patiently as Kun walked over to its body.


    "Don''t let Kun eat that snake," Lao shouted out from inside Haru''s consciousness.


    "Why?" Haru used his spiritual sense to ask.


    "There is no time! Just don''t let him!" Lao shouted once again.


    Haru looked over at Kun who was perched on the ind in the middle of theke. His head came back as he picked up the snakes body between his beak and tossed it into the air.


    It was toote. He thought as he looked at the cloud feathered eagle with a look of distress. The eagle seemed to understand Haru''s thoughts as it took less than a millisecond for the eagle to scoop him up onto it''s back and fly across theke.


    Haru held out his arm as the flew right past Kun. He caught the snake before it could enter Kuns mouth.


    "Hey! Give that back!" Kun shouted as he saw Haru now on the eagles back holding his lunch.

 Chapter 88: Beast Core.

    Chapter 88: Beast Core.


    Haru looked down at his hand seeing the snake between his fingers. He didn''t actually think that he would grab it in time. He just got lucky as reflex told him to grab it as he flew closer.


    He then looked at the cloud feathered eagle who seemed to be happy as its eyes opened a little wider as it looked toward Haru.


    "Thank god for that," Lao said with a sigh.


    "What do you mean? Is this snake poisonous or something?" Haru asked.


    "No, nothing like that. It would be fine if you fed it to your pet bird but you would lose a valuable material. Illusionary Vipers are also from the upper realms.


    Most beasts from the upper realms contain something called a beast crystal. But is moremonly referred to as a core. As it is where the beasts store their Qi. If you absorb the Qi from inside it will instantly improve your cultivation.


    And since you are already close to breaking through to the Spirit Soul stage it will probably push you right through the bottleneck. I thought it would be a waste to give it to the bird." Lao exined everything to Haru.


    "Oh, That is useful. Thanks for telling me about that. It would be a waste. So, How do I get this beast crystal out?" Haru asked. As Kun still looked at him impatiently waiting for him to reply.


    "Well, Aren''t you going to say anything?" Kun demanded an exnation for taking his food from him.


    "Just shut up for a minute. I will give it back in a second." Haru snapped back at Kun.


    To say that he was part of Haru''s bloodline he was getting to be quite rude. Maybe it was about time Lao whipped him in the head with his tail again?


    "Getting it out is easy. And now would be the perfect time to teach you some sword techniques. Take out that sword the sect master gave you all those years ago." Lao said and then reminded Haru of the time Li Jun had asked the sect master for a sword.


    It was still in his storage ring. He hadn''t even touched it before. But it also wasn''t a normal thing to be walking around with a sword so he had no use for it before.


    Haru then focused Qi into the storage ring and felt out for the sword. It took a few seconds as he rummaged through all of the junk that he had stored in there over the years but he finally pulled out the sword in a sh of light.


    He looked down at the long ck scabbard held out in front of him. The sword was so light that he barely noticed that he was holding anything. But it also seemed to be perfectly bnced.


    He didn''t hold the hilt with much pressure. The bnce was so perfect that it stuck to his hand naturally like it was glued to him.


    The sword was in like no craftsmanship went into making the scabbard at all. Everything on the outside looked like it was dyed ck to cut costs of making it.


    "Oh, He gave you that sword?" Lao asked.


    "Yeah, Is there something wrong with it?" Haru asked back.


    "Not wrong. I will say he gave you quite the gift, to be honest. The sword might not be very high quality. But it has already formed a fully grown sword spirit.


    With your level of cultivation right now, having a fully formed sword spirit will help you out a lot. Although in the future you will need to form your own.


    But this will work for the next couple of years I guess. It all depends on your speed in cultivating." Lao said and then stopped for a moment.


    "Now, What technique should I teach you? I know I will let you decide. Do you want practical or shy?" Lao asked Haru.


    Haru didn''t even need to think about it. He spent hisst life in the military he learned pretty quickly that shy attacks all ways lead to your own death. He had watched it many times so he didn''t think twice before he answered.


    "Practical of course." He said and then looked at the sword more intently.


    "Practical it is. I don''t really want to waste any time for you to learn a simple technique like this so I''m going to transfer it into your mind. It might hurt a little bit." Lao said and then went on to transfer the knowledge.


    The information from the technique suddenly began writing itself into Haru''s brain.


    "shing Sword Version three." Was the name of the technique. It consisted of three attacks and two blocks. The first attack was a single sh downward, The second attack was a sh from left to right, and the final attack was a diagonal sh.


    "Did a five-year-olde up with this?" Haru thought but he ended up saying it out loud as the headache from the transfer of knowledge muddled his brain a little bit.


    "A five-year-old? Try ten thousand years old. Li Jun was actually the one who created this. It is simple but this is really all you need to use.


    He found that everybody who he faced with a sword was expecting some secret technique with each sword swing. So he just perfected the basic shes and then used them instead.


    He always told me it is better to learn one thing to the best of your ability than to learn a bunch of things with minimal effort." Lao said and then began to reminisce for a second.


    "Is Li Jun still okay? He hasn''te out for over three years now. He didn''t say anything when he left so I have kind of been holding in my worry for him all this time." Haru asked Lao.


    "I wouldn''t really say he is okay. Since his soul was split into pieces the Li Jun you know has been fighting the pull from his original body for thousands of years.


    The array was the only thing stopping him from returning. But when he decided to make you his disciple he told you to break the array so you could live.


    He knows he will have to go back eventually but he wanted to make sure you were well trained before he left. It was just a little unfortunate that he had to try to recover his Qi so quickly." Lao said with a bit of pain in his voice.


    "I hope he will get better. Anyway. How do I go about getting this beast core or whatever?" Haru asked, Changing the subject as it was starting to get a bit gloomy.


    "Oh yes, The beast core. You will have to slice the head from the snaked body. Just behind where the ears should be. Every beast is different but for snakes, The core is always in their head." Lao said.


    Haru looked at the snake''s body for a second and then began to unsheathe his sword as he threw it''s the body on the floor to make cutting it easier.


    As the sword slid out of the scabbard there was a loud metallic ringing noise. Haru dropped the scabbard and held the sword with two hands. As soon as he unsheathed the de the weight of the sword became a lot heavier.


    It was like he was holding a new sword. The dull-looking exterior really took away the beauty of the de it''s self. There were three long deep channels in the de that would allow blood to slowly escape if it was stabbed into someone.


    The sword was shrouded in a thick aura of death and seemed to be pulling Haru''s consciousness away from his body.


    "So it is one of those swords. That is great!" Lao shouted as he realised something about the Sword in Haru''s hands.


    "What''s great?" Haru asked.


    "That sword. It is a soul tempering sword. Like how a dragons voice will temper your soul. This de was specifically designed to temper the soul of the user. So the effects are much stronger.


    And the fact that you will break through to the spirit soul stage is convenient during the spirit soul stage your soul will be strengthened with Qi so it will help you more if you can strengthen your soul naturally too." Lao said.


    Haru was amazed at how much Li Jun had done to help him. He didn''t know how he would ever pay him back for everything. He just hoped that he woulde back soon so he could thank him properly.


    He would have died without Li Jun saving him from that pool. But now there was nothing he could do to help the man who rescued him. He felt sorry as he brought the sword up above his head.


    For some reason, he imagined Li Jun''s thoughts as he made this technique. He probably never thought that he would have a student learning it did he? He thought as he brought the sword down into the middle of the snake''s head.


    A sh of blue light appeared as the sword contacted something solid. A small little blue bead flew up into the air. Haru caught the bead before it could touch the floor and then looked at it for a second.


    "Is this it?" He asked Lao.


    "It sure is. You can feed the rest to your pet if you want to." He said and then vanished back into the ring. It was easy for Lao to move into Haru''s consciousness since the ring was on his body. So it was just as easy for him to vanish back into the ring.


    Haru then looked at the mutted body of the snake. Before scooping it up onto the sword and then throwing it over to Kun who was patiently waiting.


    Before it could hit the ground. Kun had already devoured it whole.


    "Delicious!" He said before returning to Haru''s consciousness.

 Chapter 89: Traitor.

    Chapter 89: Traitor.


    Haru looked down at the glowing blue ball in his hand. ''Should I absorb this now or should I first find my way out of here?'' He thought and then looked over at the cloud feathered eagle.


    It looked back with pain in its eyes like something was going to happen to it now that the snake was dead. It then looked up toward the sky as a deep siren rung out from above them.


    The sounds of feathers rustling against each other descended from the top of the cliff as hundreds of ck coloured eagles slowly flew down from the sky.


    The cloud feathered eagle hid behind Haru as they came closer and closer howling the same wailing siren. Each time they made that sound the eagle cowering behind Haru would shiver in fear. It was much like the fear that Kun had when he saw the snake pretending to be a bird.


    Haru stood there not knowing what to do as they allnded in a circle around the ind that they were stood on. A gentle and feminine voice sounded out.


    "Hand over the traitor, human. Don''t push me to do something that I don''t want to do." One of the birds said and then stepped out from the middle.


    "Traitor? Which traitor? I haven''t seen one." Haru said whilst trying the feign ignorance.


    "Don''t y stupid with me, human. We have tried to live in peace for this long but if you don''t hand us that thing behind you I will personally wage war against your race." The bird said.


    ''A bird is threatening the wage war against the whole human race? This has to be a joke right? Even a farmer could just shoot it down from the sky.'' Haru thought and then couldn''t help butugh.


    "What is so amusing? Don''t try to y games with me. There is no way you will get out of this alive if you don''t do as I say. You are outnumbered, You won''t stand a chance against all of us." The bird warned him more angrily this time.


    Haruughed again. ''I''m being threatened by a bird. This is one of the most ridiculous things that has ever happened. No one will ever believe me if I tell them about this.


    "I''m warning you. If you don''t start taking this seriously. I will have no choice but to kill you." The bird said.


    Haru''s attitude changed at the direct death threat. He became serious and red at the bird that was speaking to him with resentment.


    "And just how do you n to kill me?" Haru asked.


    "Humph, Don''t act like that now. I know you are just at the Qi creation stage. A weak human like you doesn''t even get the right to act tough in front of me." The bird replied.


    "If I am so weak, Then why haven''t you decided to take this so-called traitor by force? You know, I think you are just scared to make the first move. I''m willing to bet that I can kill all of you without so much as lifting a finger." Haru bragged and then puffed out his chest to add to insult.


    "Don''t be stupid. I haven''t made a move yet because I don''t want to kill a child, It would leave a bad taste in my mouth. I suggest you stop acting tough before you get yourself killed for real." The bird said sounding like she was getting fed up of Haru''s behaviour.


    "Well, I''m not handing over anything. And if you try to make a move against me, I will have no choice but to kill all of you. So be a good little birdie and fly back to whichever tree you nested in." Haru then chuckled at his own joke.


    That one seemed to get to all of the birds present as they all started howling the same sound as before. The bird that spoke to Haru quickly calmed them all with a flick of her wing.


    "Just remember you brought this on yourself. You pushed me to do this so try not to feel any regret before you die." The bird said and then brought down her wing signalling the other birds to attack Haru.


    Haru smiled as the birds flew towards him. He showed no sign of fear as an immeasurable amount of blood lust emerged from his body. It was like he was certain that all of them would be killed.


    The bird that had spoken to him felt the change in the atmosphere as she sent the other birds to attack him.


    "Get away quickly! Stop your attack!" She shouted but it was no use. They were already closing in on Haru.


    "ck Star Sect," Haru whispered underneath his breath.


    Clouds rolled over the sky at the top of the cliff face as thunder started to strike all around. Bolts of lighting mad their way in between the two cliff faces and reached the very bottom, Striking the water with so much force it was instantly vaporised.


    A golden ray of sunlight then made it''s way to Haru''s current location. All of the birds stopped their attacks immediately as a great fear ran through their body. Every fibre in their body was telling them to escape but the paralysing fear was too much for them to handle.


    They all remained motionless as a voice made its way between the two cliff faces.


    "Who dares to say the name of our sect!?" Teacher Li''s voice called out just likest time. But for some reason, he sounded tired. Haru then remembered the night before he had been drinking.


    "Hey, Teacher Li," Haru said in response to the voice.


    "Oh, It''s just you? Please try not to call me like this. It''s tiring and my head hurts. But what do you want?" He asked.


    "Well, I fell off a cliff in the forest. And then this cloud feathered eagle decided to save me. I stayed down here for a little while and tried to figure out a way to get back up to the top.


    But then suddenly these birds flew down here and told me to hand over the eagle that saved my life or else they will kill me. Naturally, I can''t sacrifice my rescuer. So I wanted to ask you if you could help me.


    They outnumber me, I don''t think it''s fair for them to bully someone with numbers, Do you?" Haru asked with a grin slowly forming across his face as he spoke.


    They actually dare toe into our territory and try to kill a first-generation disciple? It would be a dishonour to the founder''s name if I didn''t kill all of these little birds." Teacher Li said before another deep rumble emerged from the sky.


    A single index finger pushed its way through the clouds. It looked like a god decided to smite someone as the size of the hand was much bigger than any building on earth.


    The hand then impacted the two cliff face and ripped apart the rock as a deep channel began to form beneath the hand and it made it''s way deeper and deeper into the abyss before striking the floor.


    There was a shock wave that sank into Haru''s very core as he stood in disbelief as all of the birds in front of him seemed to implode on themselves. Chunks of meat and litres of blood sprayed all over the walls and painted them red.


    Haru then looked at all of the damage this one attack had made. ''I wonder if I will ever get to the point where I can destroy a cliff with a single attack? That sure would be amazing." He then sighed, knowing that he was still far away from achieving anything like this.


    Teacher Li''s voice then rang out once again.


    "Okay, now that that is over with let me take you back to the surface." He said before the gigantic hand changed its direction and scooped up both Haru and the eagle and held them in ce firmly as it began to ascend back toward the clouds.


    As Teacher Li brought his hand up toward the sky they passed the surface of the ground and continued up into the sky. As they passed, Haru saw Remi on the ground. She was kneeling at the edge with her face against the floor. It looked like she was begging for forgiveness.


    She was so distracted that she didn''t even realise that Teacher Li had used his power to rescue Haru from the bottom of the cliff.


    "Remi! What are you doing" Haru shouted as he glided up toward the sky.


    Remi then looked up from where she was to see Haru stood on top of a huge hand flying toward the clouds.


    "Haru? Haru!" She screamed with excitement as she saw he was alive.


    "Hmm, What''s this?" Teacher Li asked with his thunderous voice crashing through the clouds.


    An eye appeared in the sky as he looked down at his hand to see that a small metal chain hade up into the sky with him. It seemed to the cloud feathered eagle. The chain gave off the feeling of Qi and seemed to be restraining something.


    He was still sat in bed when he looked down upon his hand made of pure Qi, When he saw the chain, he just shrugged his shoulders before carrying on his way and then pulled both Haru and the eagle through a portal.

 Chapter 90: It Speaks?

    Chapter 90: It Speaks?


    "Ahh!" Haru let out a scream as he made his way through the portal that Teacher Li had opened up. It was unexpected and when he felt his body go weightless once again he panicked.


    In a sh of light suddenly he found himself in a dimly lit room. It was silent apart from the gentle breath of someone in the corner.


    Haru looked over to see Teacher Li, The same man that he saw earlier, in the cafeteria. He wondered where Jake was since thest time he saw him, He was with teacher Li.


    But before he could ask Teacher Li stood up and walked toward him.


    "So, This is the cloud feathered eagle? I have seen a few of your kind but I never expected you to be the one causing all the ruckus at the bottom of the cliff.


    Usually, you can''t use your abilities until you are matured but you look to be only ten years old. You are very far ahead of your peers. I bet you can even understand every word I am saying to you right?" Teacher Li asked the eagle.


    There was a moment of hesitation as the eagle looked at Haru first and then back at Teacher Li and then nodded its head.


    "Woah! Truly impressive! I never expected to see a young beast with this much intelligence. You might just make it to the saint stage one day.


    Well, that would be if you grew up in the higher realm of course. Theck of Qi here is only slowing you down." Teacher Li said to the eagle and then looked at Haru who was just staring at them both in confusion.


    "I know you were the one who found the eagle first but do you mind if I train it? I feel like this eagle is going to be really special one day. I always hoped for a student that could surpass me but I don''t know if I will ever find one.


    I was hoping that the sect master would assign that Remi girl to be my disciple but no. He decided to take her for himself. My dreams were crushed once again" Teacher Li began to tell Haru in hopes that he would sympathise.


    "Sure, I have my hands full anyway. I can''t really afford to raise a beat. So go for it." Haru said and then looked at the eagle.


    The eagle seemed to have a smile on its face as it made it''s way to Teacher Li''s side. It then bowed its head down to him with respect to his teacher.


    "Hmm. Strange. If you were a wild beast then how would you know to pay respect to a teacher?" Teacher Li began to wonder as he looked at the eagle.


    It was hard because the eagle couldn''t;tmunicate back but then suddenly an Idea came rushing to Teacher Li''s mind.


    "Where is it? I''m sure I left it in here somewhere?" He said out loud as he began to look around the room.


    Haru also took the time to view his surroundings. He didn''t notice when he first came onside but the room he was now stood in was the tidiest ce he had ever been to.


    The floors where spotless and the ceiling looked like it had been painted recently. The scent of paint was still lingering inside but that didn''t seem to stop Teacher Li from making himselffortable.


    In one corner of the room, there were two wooden beams that extended all the way to the ceiling. And in between the beams were two ropes attached to a long piece of fabric.


    Teacher Li had made himself a hammock and hung it in the room. Although Haru didn''t quite know where this room was. It could be in another dimension for all he knew so it was disorientating to be randomly dragged to another ce.


    He thought back to his time in Japan at the magic school. ''This is how the VP must have felt when I kept pushing her through rifts. I feel kind of bad now. Maybe I should write a letter to apologise?'' He thought before something caught his attention.


    He looked up at the wall to see a frame hanging from the wall. Underneath the ss, there was a symbol. It looked vaguely familiar but he just couldn''t remember where he had seen it before. It was like the feeling of deja vu as he looked op at the triangr shape inside arge circle with a cross going right through the centre


    "Where have I seen this before?" He thought out loud as he looked up at the symbol one more time.


    "Oh, You are admiring my rune? I found this on an exploration to a hidden realm. It''s been nearly two thousand years since then but I still can''t figure out where it is from.


    I have had countless experts look at it and try to examine it but they can''t figure out what it is for either. It''s a rare piece of history so don''t get any funny ideas it''s mine okay?" Teacher Li said and then carried on looking for something.


    All around the room, there were many rare looking items and artefacts. It was strange because of how much clutter there was in there but he still managed to keep the ce clean.


    Haru looked at the rune on the wall for what felt like hours before Teacher Li interrupted once More.


    "Yes! I got it!" He shouted He opened up a jade pot that was on top of one of the cupboards at the opposite side of the room. He had been searching for one specific thing and he had finally found it. The excitement seemed to glow on his face as he pulled out what looked like a dogs cor.


    "What is that for?" Haru asked seeing him holding the ck cor.


    "Watch and learn." Teacher Li said before making his way back over to the eagle.


    He put out his hand and then reached out behind its head whilst holding the cor. The eagle pulled back as an attempt to get out of the way but stopped when Teacher Li calmed him.


    "It''s okay, I don''t mean you any harm. This will help you." Teacher Li said to him quietly. It seemed to calm the eagle down and then he put his head forward to make it easier for Teacher Li to put the cor on him.


    "See that''s it." He said as he fastened the cor. It made a light clinking sound as the metal sps attached to each other.


    There was a faint glow of white light as they joined together. The eagle''s eyes seemed to open wider in amazement. Teacher Li smiled at him with a proud look.


    "Go on, Give it a try." Teacher Li said and then folded his arms.


    The eagle looked down at Haru for a minute and then all of sudden a child''s voice filled the room.


    "Thank you, You taught me a wonderful song the first time we met each other. I didn''t feel lonely after learning that tune. And then I have to thank you again.


    On our second meeting, you helped free me from the trap I fell into when I was young. When I first learned how to fly I spread my wings and set off on my first journey.


    Who would have known that I would end up being captured by a Qi absorbing chain." The voice said.


    Haru looked around confused before realising that the voice was actuallying from the eagle. But its mouth didn''t open at all. It was actually more like the words wereing straight from its mind.


    Haru felt a rush of energy brush against his brain as he stood in astonishment. ''So there are artefacts that can let animals speak? I don''t even know how to feel about that.


    Could I talk to Xue if I put it on her? Or does it only work for beasts?" He thought and then was brought back to reality as the eagle bowed to him


    "And thank you for standing by me even though I dropped you from the cliff. I was trying to y a prank on you. I didn''t actually want any harm toe to you.


    You had every right to hand me over to the birds that came but you didn''t instead you helped me." The eagle said. And then looked down at the ground.


    "It''s okay, You have nothing to apologise for. I mean, I didn''t exactly enjoy being thrown off a cliff but If you didn''t throw me down then I never would have gotten a beast core. And you wouldn''t have been freed from there. I think It turned out okay, Don''t you?" Haru said with a smile.


    The eagle looked back up at him.


    "You are so nice. That is why I felt a connection to you when you first came to the cliff. You have the same feeling around you that my mom had.


    And then I came up to see if you actually where my mother but when I saw that you weren''t I felt slightly disappointed but you taught me that beautiful song. I didn''t feel dissatisfied with that." The eagle said as Teacher Li stood awkwardly.


    "Hey, You have already epted me as your teacher and the sun is about to rise. You should get ready for our training session. Do you want to tag along with Haru? You might learn something. Teacher Li asked.


    "It''s nearly sunrise? I should be going then, Sorry I won''t be able to stay for training. Oh, By the way. Where is Jake? I know thest time I saw him he was with you?" Haru asked Teacher Li


    "Jake? Oh, the boy who was drinking with mest night? He passed out really early. I just left him in the cafeteria. If no one has moved him he should still be there.


    Although you might want to go and wake him quickly. The kitchen staff will arrive there soon and they don''t like people being there before they can clean up." Teacher Li warned him and then went outside with the eagle.


    "Thank you," Haru said before walking outside. He was in the little wooden house right next to the Koi pond that he hade tost night. It wasn''t far from the cafeteria so he made his way there as fast as he could so he could wake up Jake.

 Chapter 91: Hangover.

    Chapter 91: Hangover.


    As Haru made his way toward the door to the cafeteria he could hear the sounds of snoring, It wasn''t just the sound of one person either there seemed to be many of them.


    He opened the door to see the cafeteria full of sleeping people. Some of them sprawled out in many different positions some of them were lying on top of each other and some of them looked like they had passed out where they were satst night.


    Haru''s first thought was they had been poisoned since most of the people passed out were strong individuals but there wasn''t a single sign pointing to them being poisoned.


    In fact, the only other conclusion he came to is that they had all gotten drunk since members of the militia he hade with were also slumped over in the corner of the room.


    He sighed as he walked over to where the blond hair boy wasy sprawled out on the table next to a big looking guy dressed in military clothing.


    "It looks like I missed quite the partyst night." He said out loud before grabbing Jakes arm.


    "Hey wake up, It''s morning already." He whispered quietly so he wouldn''t wake anyone else.


    "Huh, What? Where am I?" Jake said as he opened his eyes unsure of how he ended up in this unfamiliar ce. Haru tugged at his arm gently but Jake closed his eyes once again.


    "I swear if you don''t get your ass up in ten seconds I will drag you outside and through you in the pond. I bet that would wake you up pretty fast wouldn''t it?" Haru said whilst pulling his arm more aggressively this time.


    Jake must have understood as he quickly swung his legs over the table and then sat up straight.


    "Okay, I''m awake," Jake said as he rubbed his crusted eyes. He looked up at Haru as the sunlight filtered in through the windows.


    The orange glow of the sun hurt his eyes as he looked up too quickly so his gaze fell to the ground once again.


    "What''s up? Why did you wake me up so early? We aren''t supposed to set off until around lunchtime." Jake said sounding confused.


    "I got some news that the kitchen staff don''t like people sleeping in here so I figured it would be a good idea to get you out of here before they decide to show up," Haru said as he began to walk to the door without looking behind him.


    Jake stayed on the table for a moment feeling a bit weak from his night of drinking. His head was still spinning at a hundred miles per hour and his stomach burned. As he put his feet on the ground and stood up straight he felt somethinge up through his throat.


    He put his hand over his mouth as liquid filled his mouth. The taste of bitter alcohol and the food he atest night filled his mouth. He looked down seeing a younger-looking cultivatory on the ground beneath him.


    He tried to turn away but the taste was so bad he let it all out. He felt relief as the taste vanished from his mouth but then was mortified at what he had just done when he looked down seeing the cultivator was now sleeping with a nket of puke coating his chest.


    Haru turned to see Jake with his hand covering his face. He then looked down to see the cultivator still sleeping despite the smell that wasing from the centre of his chest. ''Shit this is bad.'' He thought as he looked back up at Jake.


    "Just hurry up. You were never here remember. Hopefully, we can get going before he even wakes up." Haru exined.


    Jake hesitated for a moment and then looked back at Haru. He didn''t waste any time fleeing as he gently ran across the floor, making sure he didn''t stand on anyone or wake them by being too loud.


    Jake was out of breath as he escaped. He had been holding it the whole time so that he didn''t identally wake anyone. He wasn''t entirely sure that it would work but he remembered seeing someone do it in a TV show. He felt proud as he managed to escape without alerting anyone.


    Haru then closed the door slowly to avoid making any noise. It was a sliding door so it was difficult to close it quietly but it turns out if you spend a little effort even the loudest doors would close.


    He wasn''t really bothered about waking anyone earlier so he opened it without a single care. But now for the sake of Jake, he was being extra careful. Haru could sense that the man Jake had thrown upon was not weak in any sense.


    The only reason he didn''t wake up was probably thanks to the rare alcohol that Teacher Li had the night before. If the alcohol they were drinking was the same kind that Li Jun told him about then it was specifically made for cultivators. There were certain ingredients inside that would block Qi from flowing.


    As Haru closed the door Jake made a noise as his body curled over once again. He threw up on the floor right in front of the entrance. If it wasn''t enough that he threw up all over someone he was no leaving a trail behind him.


    "We need to get you sorted out first. I bet the sect master has a cure for hangovers. I just hope that it isn''t too weird" He said as they both made their way toward the elder''s hall.


    The door was closed and there was no lighting from inside. But on the other side of the door, he could sense the presence of a person. Although he seemed unfamiliar. It definitely wasn''t the sect master or Teacher Li. He opened the door anyway and walked inside with Jake resting on his shoulder for support.


    "Who is it?" The voice of an old woman called out as he stepped over the threshold.


    "Oh, I am Haru. I''m looking for the sect master. I was wondering if you knew where he was?" He asked and then looked up to the top of the steps to see a little olddy with a sweeping brush in her hands.


    She looked like the stereotype of a grandma. She had short grey curly hair and two little golden earrings with some kind of gem in the middle. Her eyes seemed to be brown but in the light from the direct sunlight, the looked almost purple.


    She was also wearing the same yellow robes that everyone at the sect wore as their uniform.


    "Oh, The sect master? He is currently sleeping. I would go and wake him for you but he isn''t really a morning person. It would take me hours to get him toe and greet you. Is it important? I might be able to help you." She said in a gentle voice.


    Haru couldn''t help but smile. He didn''t even need confirmation. He could tell be the way she described waking him up that the sect master and this woman were familiar with each other. She was probably his wife. Although he found it a little strange.


    After Li Jun had used his power to rejuvenate the sect master he looked to be in his early forties. And this woman looked to be in her seventies. ''I guess looks really don''t matter if you love somebody.'' He smiled.


    "Actually, You might be able to help. It is my friend here. He is hungover fromst night. We have a long trip ahead of us today and he keeps throwing up, I was wondering if you knew anything that might help him recover quickly?


    Thest thing I want is him to stink out the car and end up being locked in there for the next eight hours." Haru chuckled as he thought about it.


    "Help him recover you say? Actually, you came at the right time. My herbs have just finished growing and I have one type of spearmint called Locrite, It helps ease the feeling of nauseousness and headaches. So it should be perfect for a drunk after a night out." She chuckled lightly and then smiled.


    "Follow me, I will help you out." She said and then walked over to a door behind the elder''s thrones.


    This was the first time Haru was seeing this but the elder''s hall seemed to double as the sect masters residence. There were pictures of the sect master in his old form with this woman who was now guiding them.


    He then found a picture hung on the wall, It looked to be a picture of their whole family. It was taken right outside the sect gates with the huge arched gate in the background. The sect master, His wife, Two grown men and two women all stood together.


    And then on the floor in front of one of the women was a young girl with blond hair.


    "Excuse me, ma''am? Is this by any chance Cui?" He asked as he pointed to the picture.


    She stopped and turned to see the picture.


    "Ah yes, She was such a sweet girl back then, She used to give me lots of hugs and kisses but now. Well, she ims she is too old for that stuff." The women smiled.


    "No way! That is Cui when she was a kid?" Jake called out as he was now paying attention.


    "Yes, And that there is her mother and my eldest son, Han." The woman said with a smile. She seemed to be proud of her family.


    She then looked at Jake who was looking pale once again.


    "Are you okay dear? Come this way and we will get you fixed up in no time." The woman said with a smile and then led them through another doorway.

 Chapter 92: See you later.

    Chapter 92: See youter.


    Blinding light flooded Haru and Jake''s eyes as they both walked through the doorway. A cool breeze hit them as they stepped out into the open air. But it still seemed warmer than before.


    As their eyes adjusted to the light Haru looked around seeing nt pots full of flowers and different herbs. They were still technically indoors but this was, in fact, a greenhouse.


    All of the garden tools were neatly put away and hung on a wall on one side of the room as a mix of natural and artificial lighting came from above-giving everything inside a light orange glow.


    Haru then looked over at the nts. He hadn''t done much alchemy since Li Jun had left but he had expanded his knowledge on herbs quite a lot.


    He didn''t know what all of them were of course but he recognised quite a few of the hundreds of herbs on disy as the old women guided them through the greenhouse.


    On the other side of the room was a locked iron door and the seemed to be exactly where they were heading. As they got closer he noticed arge rusted iron chain holding the door closed.


    ''Whatever is on the inside was valuable and something that she doesn''t want anyone to see or else there would be no point chaining the door closed.'' Haru thought as the old woman pulled out a key and inserted it into the lock holding the chain together.


    CLICK.


    The sound of the lock opening was followed by the chain pping the concrete floor beneath their feet as the woman forgot to catch it as it slipped free from the lock. She sighed and then turned to make sure that Haru and Jake were still following.


    "Come on in, Don''t be shy." She said with a smile and held out her arm as she stepped into the dark room.


    Both Haru and Jake trustingly did as she asked and walked inside the dimly lit room. It wasn''t anything too special on the inside. It just looked like any regr room.


    The walls were made out of wood and the floors were too. The room was lit with one single candle at the far side of the room. Which was strange seeing as the doors were chained closed. It would be a bit of an inconvenience to lock the door again after you had already gone inside to light a candle.


    But that didn''t raise any red gs for Haru. He had been here for only a night and he had seen an artefact that allowed a bird to talk like a human.


    How strange would it be if they also had candles that didn''t burn out? He learned quickly that when dealing with cultivators it is best to throw out all thoughts of logic that you have and just look at things for what they are.


    As he finished his inspection of the room, he heard the door close behind them. Haru turned hesitantly to see the woman stood facing him.


    "Sorry about that. This old door is always mming closed. Make your selves at home. I will just go and fetch the herbs." She said as she began to open arge wooden chest that wasy on the floor in one corner of the room.


    Haru looked at Jake who was still feeling sick. His Had felt like it was on fire and it was a struggle for him to even stand. He then saw a wooden chair in the middle of the room and helped Jake sit down.


    With a grunt, Jake fell backwards into the chair and mmed against the wooden backrest.


    He took a deep breath as he wasn''t ready for it and then gulped as he began to feel liquid swish around in his stomach. His face grew pale as he leaned over the chair and his eyes began to water.


    He did everything in his power to stop himself from throwing up and then swallowed it making sure that he didn''t destroy the room that this old woman seemed so proud of.


    He felt relief as it settled again and then looked up at Haru.


    "Please make it stop." He begged and then gulped again as the feeling began to rise from his stomach once again.


    "There it is. The woman said and then pulled out a handful of green leaves from the chest and then looked over at Jake whos face was growing paler and paler.


    "It''s not just a simple hangover, is it? You have alcohol poisoning. Don''t tell me that one of those idiots in the sect gave you red moon wine? Only cultivators can handle that.


    Do they not have any idea how dangerous it is to give to a normal boy like yourself?" The old womanined and then walked over to her desk that was just behind the chair that Jake was sat in.


    "I think I''m going throw up again," Jake warned as he began to learn forwards once again.


    "Haru? That was your name, right? Can you fetch me that old wooden bucket in the corner please?" The old woman said and then pointed toward the chest that she was just looking through. She then pulled out a small mortar and pestle then began to grind the herb into a fine powder.


    Haru wasted no time as he rushed to the other side of the room and grabbed the bucket. He then held it out toward the woman but before he could hand it to her Jake grabbed it from his hands and with a single movement of his head leaned over the rim and puked inside.


    Haru looked away in disgust as the woman didn''t even seem to care that he had thrown up into the bucket. ''Is that why she asked me to grab it?'' Haru thought as he looked back over to see her pouring the powder into a ss of water and then begin to stir it.


    A few seconds went by as the water slowly thickened and then turned a light shade of green.


    "Here, drink this and you will feel better." The woman eximed and then leaned towards him with her hand outstretched.


    Jake looked at the ss of green liquid and then shrugged his shoulders before he drank it all in a single breath. ''This is precisely the reason he felt this way in the first ce. He has no thought of what he is being handed. He just drank it all as fast as he could." Haru sighed.


    As soon as he finished drinking the green liquid the paleness faded from his face and he patted his stomach for a few seconds.


    "Hey, Where do I get this stuff from? I feel better already." Jake cheered and then stood up, no longer feeling the burning in his stomach or throbbing in his head.


    "You can either go to the upper realms and pick the herb for your self or if you have sixty million yuan lying around you can buy a single leaf from our sect." The woman smiled kindly as she spoke, not thinking about what she had said.


    "Sixty million yuan! But that is nearly a billion yen. Why would one leaf for a hangover cure be worth so much money!?" Jake shouted in disbelief as the mention of upper realm went right over his head after hearing the price of a single leaf of locrite.


    "The price is so high because it isn''t simply a hangover cure. It has many other uses that are much greater than its ability to cure a simple hangover. If mixed right whenbined with a few over herbs just one leaf can be enough to cure any internal injury." The woman smiled slightly as she exined.


    "But enough with boring alchemy talks. I''m d you are feeling better now. I will tell the sect master you stopped by when he wakes up." The woman smiled again and then led them back outside.


    As they left the elders hall the sounds of someone screaming and then an eruption ofughter emerged from the cafeteria as the rest of the people inside woke up.


    "Who did it!? I will kill them!" Someone shouted as the doors to the cafeteria opened up. The man who Jake had puked on walked out angrily before looking down at he feet as a squelching sound came out from under them as he stepped outside.


    "God damn it! I really will kill whoever did this!" The man yelled into the air.


    "If you don''t shut up I will kill you!" A voice boomed out from the hall behind Haru and Jake shaking the ground as it travelled throughout the sect.


    The man who was previously yelling instantly shut up.


    "Yes, sect master. I am sorry." He whispered quietly but still loud enough for everyone to hear.


    The sound of the sect master yelling was enough to wake everyone up so Haru and Jake didn''t have to wait long before everyone started to pack up their belongings.


    "Haru! I thought you died!" Remi called out as she dived into Haru''s arms and hung from his shoulders.


    "Aww, Did you worry about me? A little fall like that isn''t enough to kill me. There is no need to worry." Haru joked as Remi refused to let go.


    A few minutes went by before she finally decided to let go. Haru, Remi and Jake all decided to get breakfast together just like the day they had first met. The only person now missing from their group was Mia.


    After talking for what seemed like an eternity Cui came in to fetch both Haru and Jake.


    "Come on kids! We are going home now." Cui shouted when she saw Haru and Jake with what seemed like newfound confidence in herself.


    Haru sighed as he shovelled thest bite of his sandwich into his mouth and then walked outside followed by both Jake and Remi.


    "What was the point in bringing bags with you if you never took them out of the car?" Cuiined as she struggled to fit a suitcase on top of the two backpacksying in the trunk of the car.


    "Do you have to go so soon?" Remi asked as she grabbed Haru''s hand.


    Jake sighed as he looked at what was happening. ''Of course, No one ever cares if I am leaving" He jealously thought before getting into the car.


    "Yeah, I have to go. But I only live in Shenzhen. It is only on the other side of the mountains. I''m sure you will be able to visit me next time. Or I will see you again the next time the sect master decides he needs me for something."


    Remi pouted as she held his hand even tighter.


    "Come on. I promise I will visit for longer next time." Haru said.


    Remi finally let go of his hand.


    "You better keep that promise." She warned him as all of the militia''s people began to load back up into the truck. They were only waiting for Haru now.


    "I will. See youter!" Haru shouted before getting back into the car. They slowly pulled away and back through the gates before driving away into the distance.

 Chapter 93: Police!

    Chapter 93: Police!


    The sun was setting into the horizon as they made their way into Shenzhen. Headlights of other cars glided past their windows blinding them for just a split second before passing into the distance as they made their way back into civilization.


    Haru wasid back with his window half-opened cooling his face in the breeze whilst the heated seats kept him warm from behind. He wasfortably rxing whilst listening to the sounds of cars driving past them and the low volume of the radio ying some kind of music from the nies.


    Cui was the one who was in charge of the Radio on the way home. The music sure was old but at least she didn''t decide to deafen everyone with her erotic audiobook.


    As they drove down the twisting road that came down from the mountains the smell of all kinds of foods began to emerge from all around. It was amazing what one night in the countryside could do to your senses. It was like everything was running in overdrive.


    The neon signs of the stores seemed much brighter than they usually were and the smells of the busy city seemed much more potent than Haru had ever realised.


    That was when he got the scent of something familiar. It was his favourite fast food restaurant Ray''s Fried Chicken. The spice from the chicken drifted across the city as they came closer and closer to the store.


    They were still two blocks away but the scent was so strong that Haru, Jake and Cui all looked at each other with a hunger growing in their eyes.


    "I know, I know. It will be my treat for you both. If you two hadn''te along then we most likely would have been robbed or even worse." Cui sighed as she thought back to the day before when they had been ambushed by an unknown force.


    "It''s okay you don''t have to. I have enough money to pay for us all." Haru replied. He felt a little ufortable letting a woman pay for his food. But there wasn''t anything he could do since Cui had already made up her mind.


    "Just let me treat you. You saved us from quite the loss. Not just of lives but money. My grandpa said that the sect sshed out well over a billion yuan for that thing." Cui insisted.


    Haru and jake looked at each other as they heard what she had just said.


    "Over a billion?!" Jake screamed. He couldn''t believe it. ''If I had known that the thing they were transporting was that valuable then maybe I would have been inclined to steal it.'' He thought as Cui nodded her head.


    The car slowly pulled up to the drive-through window as they separated from the convoy they were previously following.


    "What do you want?" Cui asked both Haru and Jake as she decided on what she would buy for herself. A few seconds went by as both Jake and Haru told her what they wanted and then she ordered the food and pulled up to the next window before getting the food and the driving off toward Zen''s house.


    After a few minutes of driving, Cui pulled over to the side of the road after spotting a bench on the sidewalk.


    "What are you doing?" Jake asked as she began to unbuckle her seat belt.


    "Well, I don''t want to destroy the interior of my car. It''s pretty new. We are going to eat on that bench there." She exined and then got out of the car leaving them both staring at each other in disbelief.


    "Does she think that we are five-year-olds and are going to have a food fight in the back of her car or something?" Haru asked before he got out of the car and then sat down on the bench next to Cui.


    Jake chuckled before doing the same and then sitting at the other side of the bench as Cui opened up the bag of fried chicken and then gave them both what they had asked for.


    The smell of the chicken rose into the air like steam on a cold winter morning. It was enough to make Haru''s mouth water before he was handed the box of chicken and fries. He then began to eat them before anyone could take it away from him.


    A few minutes went by as they all sat down and enjoyed their food in peace until the sound of something exploding travelled through the streets, followed by an rm as a shing light began to illuminate the other side of the street.


    There was a convenience store that was still open despite the rest of the stores nearby closing for the day. That was where the sound had seemed to havee from and inside. Which was made even more obvious as a man wearing a ck ski mask came running outside with a gun in his hands.


    "What the fuck?" Haru whispered quietly as all three of them watched the man struggling to stuff a handful of money into a duffel bag he had slung over his shoulder.


    Cui stood up and then reached down to her waist before pulling out a gun of her own.


    "Police! Stop where you are!" She screamed at the man who had now looked over at Cui. She had her gun aimed towards the man but that didn''t seem to bother him as he took off running into an alley.


    "Shit! Both of you stay right here." Cui told Jake and Haru as she looked back towards the dark alley deciding if she should chase him or not.


    "Well, This meal was just great," Haru said sarcastically before standing up and looking at Jake who was still eating a fried chicken leg. Haru sighed.


    "Oh, You want me to stop that guy?" Jake asked seeing that Haru looked a little frustrated.


    "I was gonna suggest we see who can get him first, but don''t let me interrupt you," Haru said as he began to channel Qi into his legs.


    A gust of wind swirled around behind him as he got ready to run after the man with the gun.


    "You''re on," Jake shouted beforeughing as he flew up into the sky riding a cyclone of wind and then shot forward toward the alleyway.


    ''What a cheater.'' Haru thought as a grin began to form on his face. He was still pissed about his meal being ruined but at least they could have some fun before Jake had to go home. He was due to leave in two days. His parents and Jake had decided to stay for a bit longer than they had nned but they definitely had to go back to Japan before their visitor passes ran out.


    As Haru shot off down the alleyway kicking dust up into the air where he was previously stood, he heard the sound of someone breathing heavily.


    It was the man with the gun. Although he was trapped in a cube of ice. He seemed confused and disorientated but as Haru arrived on the scene Jake was already waiting for him with a smile on his face.


    "You shouldn''t have given me a head start. It was too easy." Jakeughed out loud.


    Haru was impressed. It had been less than five seconds and Jake had already captured him. The only reason he didn''t use a technique to gain the advantage was that he underestimated just how good Jake had be with his magic. It was shocking.


    Click ck click click.


    The sound of high heels striking the floor echoed through the alley as she made her way toward them.


    Why are you two so reckless all the time? I understand that you are both strong but you will end up getting hurt if you carry on doing stuff like this. You are both adults now. Start acting like it." Cui eximed as she saw both Haru and Jake stood together.


    Haru suddenly stopped with his train of thought. The point Cui had just made seemed to pierce his skin. ''Crap She''s right. I tried so hard to fit in with the people at school when I came here that I forgot who I was. I am an adult. Why am I acting like a kid?


    I didn''t even realise that I was acting so immature. But this was the life that I had always longed for. I can finally live a carefree life. Or so I thought. But my days of being a kid are finally over I will actually be heading to university in just a few weeks.'' Haru thought.


    He seemed to mature on the spot and both Jake and Cui noticed when he turned to her and apologised.


    "I''m sorry. I wanted to help you out and didn''t think about the consequences. I also got Jake involved so please don''t be too mad. Everything turned out okay.


    RING RING.


    Cui''s phone rang out. She pulled it out from her pocket and then raised it to her ear.


    "Yeah. I know I was right next to the store when it happened. The suspect is currently detained in an alley a few blocks away.


    What?


    Shot in the head?


    I thought it was just a thief. Shit


    Well, send a car into the alley." Cui spoke to the person on the other side of the phone.


    Jake gulped and then looked at Haru.

 Chapter 94: Home Sweet Home.

    Chapter 94: Home Sweet Home.


    "This is the exact reason I told you guys to stay back and not run off recklessly. Now you are gonna have to fill out witness statements." Cui sighed and then looked over at the man trapped inside the cube of ice.


    He looked worried and confused. Which was understandable for a civilian. It wasn''t often that a civilian in china would see magic since it was outright banned. But now he was trapped inside a cube of ice that seemingly appeared from nowhere.


    Haru and Jake looked at each other as Cui got closer to the man trapped in ice.


    "Jake. Can you restrain this man from inside there? I don''t really want to try to get close whilst he still has a gun." Cui asked and then looked back at the man.


    "Sure, That''s not a problem at all," Jake said happily and then began to activate another spell.


    [Restraining Vine.] A faint green light appeared in the centre of his hand and then a long vine emerged from the light, travelling towards the cube of ice. As the vine got closer to the Ice a small hole opened up and then the vine went through before closing it''s self back up.


    The vine circled around the cube of ice with the man now following it around in circles with his head. He was so confused that he no longer knew where he was.


    The vine circling around his head looked like a snake lining it''s self up to catch prey which made the man panic even more as the vine suddenly changed direction and headed straight for him. His hands were forced behind his back when the vine wrapped around his body and slowly constricted until he could no longer move.


    The force of the vine was so much that he dropped the gun to the floor as his arms were forced together. At that point, it seemed like a good ce for Jake to stop constricting the vine. He didn''t want to crush the guy to death even if he did probably just kill somebody.


    "There. As easy as baking a cake." Jake smiled at his handiwork before releasing the cube of ice causing tiny bits of ice to shatter before raining down to the ground like snow.


    "As easy as baking a cake? Do you know how to bake a cake? That seems pretty difficult to be honest." Haru asked as he hadn''t heard anyone use that phrase before he assumed it was something personal.


    "Of course I know how to bake. It''s the most basic skill a man should have." Jake replied.


    "Well, That''s news to me," Haru said and then turned back to the sound of struggling as the man on the floor began to struggle.


    "What was that thing!? Who are you, people!? Why was that boy floating in the sky!?" The man began to wiggle around but it was no use. The vines were well and truly stuck around him.


    "This is also why you shouldn''t have run off like that. People here aren''t used to seeing magic. You could frighten them to death" Cui cautioned and then kneeled down beside the man and handcuffed him.


    She didn''t have to readjust his body to fit the handcuffs since Jake had already taken care of everything and ced the man''s hands behind his back.


    "Okay, you can go ahead and remove the vines." She stated.


    Jake obliged by holding up his hand towards the vines. [Break] The vines that were previously wrapped around the man''s whole body vanished into the air in a cloud of green dust.


    "Thank you," Cui replied as shing blue and red lights entered the alley.


    The growl of the enginebined with the siren was enough to deafen a person as it rolled into the alley. Suddenly the sirens were cut as a blinding white light beamed down on Haru, Jake, Cui and the man in handcuffs.


    The light then quickly vanished and faded back into the spotlight on top of the police car that had just pulled up.


    A gentle click sounded out before the thud of boots on concrete followed behind and two men emerged from either side of the car.


    "Captain!" They both shouted in unison and then saluted Cui who had hold of the man''s hands. She wasn''t a very high stage in cultivation but it was enough to throw around normal people like it was nothing so she was respected by all of her subordinates in the police force.


    She looked over to the two officers and then pulled the man up from the floor and back to his feet.


    "You two can now take care of this guy. I will write everything up when I get back to my office. But for now, I have to send these two home." She eximed and then waited for one of the officers to step forward and grab the mans arm.


    "Are you sure ma''am? We wouldn''t mind taking these two home whilst you go over everything here." The officer said as he grabbed the mans arm.


    "Yeah, I''m sure. I will go sit them in my car. Is there a detective on the scene yet? I want all of the cameras in a four-block radius checked. Make sure that there weren''t any aplices." Cuimanded.


    "Yes, there is already a detective on scene I will make sure he gets your message ma''am." The man said and then looked back to his partner who was still holding his salute.


    Cui looked at the man who was frozen in ce.


    "Is he okay?" She asked the officer in front of her.


    "Ah, Yeah he is fine. He is one of the newbies who came in with thest batch. You know what the rumours are like back at the precinct. All the newbies look up to you like a goddess." The officer chuckled.


    "This again? I swear If I ever find out who keeps telling them stuff like that I will kill them." Cui sighed and then looked back at Haru and Jake.


    "Come on. I will take you home now." She sighed once again.


    Cui was knowingly breaking the regtion. Usually, they would both have to fill out a witness statement but with the mental state of the man who was shaking in fear, She figured it would only cause more of a headache for herself if she had them fill one out. So she wanted to make her escape before someone who outranked her came along and demanded it.


    "I will be back in around half an hour. Make sure the detective knows." She called out to the officers as she walked past them and back out into the main street. Jake and Haru both followed behind her and got into the car without asking anything.


    Haru sat down and casuallyy back as if nothing had happened. But Jake on the other hand seemed on edge. He checked over his shoulder and looked toward the police tape lining the road with the shing lights illuminating the storefront.


    "Hey, Are you okay? You seem a little pale." Cui asked.


    "Um, I just feel weird. I knew what was happening as soon as I heard the gunshot but I didn''t really think It would be too serious since you and Haru are here. If I had rushed over to the store instead of chasing that guy I might have been able to save the person who was shot." Jake stammered.


    "It''s okay. It''s not your fault. You have nothing to feel guilty about now stop thinking about it before it destroys your mind. I have seen this happen a million times. It really isn''t your fault." Haru reassured Jake but that just changed what he was worried about.


    "You have been in a situation like this before? What happened during the time west saw each other?" Jake asked. He assumed that Haru was talking about his current life


    "Um, I mean I have seen it in movies and TV shows. It will slowly eat away at you until all you can think about is the possibility of being more useful. You have nothing to worry about. The sooner you ept it isn''t your fault the better it will be." He responded.


    What Haru had said would be a hard task for Jake to achieve but he was willing to try. The car fell silent once again. Cui took the silence as an indication to drive so she did.


    Around fifteen minutes went by before they made it back to Zen''s house.


    Cui apanied them to the doorstep as Haru began to fumble around with the lock on the front door. As he inserted the key the door opened quickly.


    "Wee home!" Luke smiled as he saw his son and Jake standing in the doorway.


    There was no response for a moment before Jake pushed his way inside and then went straight upstairs.


    "Jake?" Luke asked confused as he disappeared.


    "Oh hey, dad." Haru smiled as he saw Luke standing in the doorway. And then walked inside.


    "Ahh, It''s good to be home," Haru shouted and then walked into the living room


    "Please be quiet. Your mom has just put Saki to sleep." Jake warned him.


    Luke was just about to close the door but Cui called out just as he put his hand on the door.


    "Sorry. But could I talk to you about something?" Cui asked nervously.


    "Sure what is it?" Luke inquired into what she had to say.


    "It''s about Jake," Cui announced and then began to exin what had just happened.

 Chapter 95: I Saw Him.

    Chapter 95: I Saw Him.


    Cui exined everything that happened to Luke whilst they both stood in the doorway. Luke rubbed his chin after she had finished speaking and stood still, lost in thought.


    "So he is feeling a little guilty? I still remember the first person I couldn''t save. It tore me apart for weeks but it''s better that it is happening now rather than on the battlefield. The best thing he can do is ept there is nothing he can do about it." Luke whispered.


    The front door was still wide open so they both lowered their tone to try to contain the conversation they were having. Thest thing they wanted to do now was to make Jake feel isted by talking about him behind his back. But the whole thing was quite troubling.


    Feeling guilty over something you did is hard to get over but feeling guilty about something that you didn''t do can destroy someone''s soul especially when a life is lost.


    "Thank you for telling me this. I know Haru wouldn''t have even mentioned it. Goodnight." Luke chuckled and then began to close the door.


    As he turned around he had the fright of his life as Haru was stood in the hallway staring at him.


    "Shit! What are you doing? You almost gave me a heart attack!" Luke eximed, shocked by Haru''s sudden appearance.


    "I didn''t get to finish my food so I went to get some from the kitchen," Haru said whilst holding a bag of chips and a ss of soda.


    "Can you at least let me know when you are going to be behind me? You move like a ghost." Luke mentioned the fact that cultivators can use their Qi to shroud their bodies, making their presence undetectable by ordinary people.


    It was a useful skill for eves dropping but it was also a double-edged sword. If they used near somebody who also cultivated they would be discovered much faster than they usually would be.


    Haru shrugged his shoulders before going back into the living room and turning on the TV. He sat down on the couch next to the huge ball of white furying in one corner.


    He then put his hand on the ball of white fur. The sound of heavy breathing emerged before Xue lifted her head and looked at Haru before licking his had and then rolling on to her back.


    "I missed you too," Haru said as he petted her.


    Around an hour went by before Haru finished eating. He began to feel sleepy which was understandable since he hadn''t slept at all the previous night. So hey back on the couch and closed his eyes.


    He awoke to the sensation of something wet being scraped against his face, He immediately started to cough as the scent of beef and stale vegetables coated his face. He opened his eyes to see Xue was now licking his face.


    He the recoiled as he noticed her.


    "Why do you always do this to me? You know your breath stinks right?" Haru asked the white german shepherd that looked him the eyes as he spoke. She then jumped down from the couch and walked away into the kitchen where the smell of bacon seemed to being from.


    As Haru entered the kitchen he saw that everyone was already in there. Even Jake was already sitting at the table waiting for breakfast to be ready.


    Krista was cooking as Luke tried to make himself useful and hovered around her life a wasp. Zen on the other hand was stood in one corner of the room ying with a puzzle cube like a child.


    "How was your trip Haru?" Zen asked as he walked into the room making everyone notice him.


    "Tiring." Haru sighed as he cracked his neck. The position he had fallen asleep in had caused his whole neck to ache.


    "Why didn''t anyone wake me? That couch really isn''tfortable to sleep on." Haru asked whilst holding his neck with one of his arms. The other reached out and pulled one of the chairs at the table out from underneath before he sat down.


    "Then don''t sleep on the couch. How many times did your father and I have to tell you back home?" Krista asked as she flipped the bacon in the frying ban causing sizzling bits of oil and fat to shoot into the sky. She pulled her hand back in pain as a tiny bit of oil struck her skin.


    "Yeah, I know it was a stupid mistake. I won''t do it again." He reassured her and then looked back at Zen who was still ying with the puzzle cube.


    "What are you doing?" Haru asked. This was the first time he had seen his uncle ying with a kids toy it was a bit of a strange sight for him.


    "Well we cleared out the attic yesterday and found some of our old belongings, This was one of the toys I had when I was a kid. I never managed to finish it so I thought I might as well try now, It was been almost thirty years after all. If I can''t do it now then it was never meant to bepleted." Zen sighed as he found difficulty in the puzzle he was trying to solve.


    "Oh, I see. Why were clearing out the attic now though? It seems like a weird thing to do when you have guests staying over." Haru asked.


    "Your mother asked if I still had any of the old photo albums that your grandmother made. When I told her they are probably in the attic it was her Idea to clean it out and try to find them. We ended up finding them but I also found this toy so it was worth it." Zen began to exin.


    It did sound like Krista. She would always make a fuss out of things being messy and then find a way to clean it.


    "Oh, that reminds me. You haven''t seen photos of your grandparents, have you? There are even some of your other uncle in there too we can look at them after breakfast if you want to." Zen suggested and then looked back down to his puzzle cube.


    "That''s a good idea. It would be nice to at least see a picture of them don''t you think?" Krista chimed and then finished ting the food.


    They then all sat at the table and ate breakfast. Jake seemed like he had gotten over the feeling guilty for the most part and seemed to be in a better mood. It was a good sign. "For a moment I thought he was going to be depressed for the rest of his life. I''m d he is over it." Haru thought as he finished eating.


    After they had all finished Krista walked into the hallway for a few seconds and then came back in holding two leather-bound photo albums.


    "Here they are." She spoke softly before cing them on the table.


    The made a thud as she dropped them down. By the looks of it, there were hundreds if not thousands of pages inside these photo albums. It seemed almost excessive to have this many photos of one family but from what Haru knew about his grandparents is that they were rich and had to keep up appearances to make sure their wealth was known.


    Krista then began to open the first book revealing baby pictures. A young-looking woman was sat in a hospital bed holding a baby with light blond hair. The woman looked almost identical to Krista. She had the same long brown hair.


    "Wait why are you showing him this book first!?" Zen asked Krista.


    "Because it is funny to see you all embarrassed about having your baby pictures on disy." Krista giggled. She always enjoyed bullying her younger brother despite his helplessness to do anything.


    Zen just went silent and pretended like he wasn''t paying attention, He didn''t want to give her the satisfaction of seeing him get angry. It had been many years since they hadst seen each other but during their short stay at Zen''s house, it was pretty evident that the bond that siblings share is something that willst a lifetime.


    Haru smiled as he looked down at all of the pictures.


    "So this my grandmother?" Haru asked and then pointed to the woman with long brown hair.


    "Yep. And before you say anything else. I know that I look like her." Krista got out before Haru could say anything else.


    Haru smiled lightly and then began to flip through the pages of the photo album. He looked at all of the photos in the first album but it seemed to be exclusively photos of their children.


    As he got to the second album and flipped open the first page. He stopped in his tracks and took his hand away from the book.


    The very first photo at the top of the page was the same old man that he had seen at the sect just a day prior. The hairs on his arms and the back of his neck began to rise as it seemed obvious now. ''That exins how he knew my mom'' Haru thought as he came to the realisation he had actually met his grandfather before he knew what he looked like.


    "What is it?" Krista asked as she watched all of the colour in her sons face fade as he looked down at the photo of her father.


    "Um I don''t know what to say" Haru was at a loss. How would he exin it to her?


    "Just say whatever is on your mind," Zen said with questioning eyes.


    "Well okay. This man, This man right here." Haru then pointed at the man in the photo.


    "Yeah?" Krista asked as everyone else looked at Haru with confusion.


    "I saw him yesterday" Haru whispered.

 Chapter 96: Mystery Solved.

    Chapter 96: Mystery Solved.


    "What? You saw him? Where?" Krista bombarded Haru with questions. After all, it wasn''t possible that Haru could have seen him.


    Haru sat awkwardly staring at the table for a minute. ''How do I exin this? They won''t believe me will they?'' He thought and then decided what he was going to say.


    "Well, When we arrived at the sect yesterday, the sect master told me that someone wanted to see me." Haru began to exin what had happened when he first arrived at the sect.


    "And then after he finished showing me the transporter he brought me back down the mountain to where the person was waiting for me.


    As I entered the room I saw him waiting for me at the centre of the room. He was insanely powerful. He could evenmunicate his words straight into my brain. It was almost like some of the telepathy magic but I could sense the Qi in each word.


    As we talked he said that he could predict the future or something and that he saw my face when predicting something and then came to find me.


    He then asked me to go back with him to the upper realms. When I told him that I didn''t want to leave my family behind he looked kind of satisfied and then turned around and said.


    "Try not to make your mother worry. She has always been the type to put her family before everything else. I don''t want hurt to get hurt once again." Haru exined and then quoted the words the old man had said to him.


    As Haru finished quoting what he said Krista gasped and then brought her hand up to her mouth. Her eyes began to sparkle as they formed tears.


    "It really was him!? How is this possible?" Krista asked as she began to weep.


    "What are you talking about? It could have been anyone. I don''t think that just because he knows about that time you got hurt it makes him our father." Zen stated as he yed with his puzzle game.


    "No that isn''t why. Luke can back me up on this one. A few days ago we went to the graveyard where we buried mom. As we walked toward the grave there was a man who looked like he had juste from her grave.


    I didn''t recognise him at first. but when he walked past I felt like his demeanour was simr to his. I turned around to check again but when I turned he had vanished. Even Luke joked about it being a ghost." Krista exined.


    Luke''s face slowly went pale as he thought about something.


    "Yeah that''s right we did see that guy. You know I kind of thought he looked like your dad. I didn''t want to say anything though." Luke agreed.


    "See. It must have been him!" Krista eximed as she noticed that Zen had stopped talking and looked scared.


    Tears also began to form in Zens eyes as his bottom lip began to tremble.


    "What''s wrong!?" Krista asked.


    "I had a dream a few nights ago. We were kids again and at home with mom and dad. We were allowed to stay upte this night for some reason.


    When dad tucked me into bed for the night he patted me on the head and said he was proud of the man I had be


    What if he was sending us a sign to let us know that he was still alive?" Zen asked as it all seemed to make sense to him.


    There was dead silence at the table as everyone took a moment to take it all in. Luke put his arm around Krista as he saw the look in her eyes. She was on the verge of tears but was holding it in to act tough in front of her son. As soon as his arm touched her she turned around and pressed her face against his shoulder as she began to weep.


    Zen lifted his hand and rubbed his eyes. His hands shook the whole time and he was clearly in shock.


    Haru and Jake didn''t know what to do. They just sat awkwardly for what seemed like hours before they both managed topose themselves.


    "Haru, Thank you so much. If you didn''t end up learning how to cultivate then we never would have found out if he was still alive or not. I love you so much, my sweet boy." Krista said as she began to hug him.


    Haru felt odd taking the credit for it. The real person to thank would be Li Jun but they didn''t know about him and he also wasn''t around for them to thank him anyway. He was starting to get worried. It had been over two years since he hadst seen his teacher.


    "Do you think that dad also sent a sign to Andrew too?" Zen asked Krista.


    "If it really was a sign from dad I don''t think he would skip out on letting Andrew know he was alive. After all, Andrew did follow him around like a puppy even after he became an adult." Kristaughed.


    "Yeah, That''s true. Andrew was always like his little clone or something. He even followed in his footsteps and opened a business of his own." Zen added.


    "I remember him saying that he opened his own business at mom''s funeral but I haven''t spoken to him since. I forgot to ask him for his contact information. How is he doing these days?" Krista asked.


    "You could have just asked me for it. But he is doing great actually. A few years ago his business really hit it big time. He is probably wealthier than dad ever was." Zen said sounding a little jealous.


    "Oh? That''s great. I''m happy he managed to achieve his dreams. I remember when he used to tell dad that he would one day have enough money to buy that sports car he always wanted. What was it again?" Krista inquired.


    "You mean the Python DC 600? He used to have posters of that car all over his room. I never asked him if he managed to get one." Zen smiled as he thought back to his childhood.


    "Call him. I want to know if dad visited him too." Krista demanded breaking Zen from his daydream.


    "Sorry what?" He asked with a single eyebrow lifted.


    "Call him," Krista demanded once again.


    "I don''t think that is such a good idea" Zen stated and then looked at the ground.


    "What do you mean by not a good idea? Did you get into an argument with him or something?" Krista inquired into why her brother was acting strangely.


    "Um I borrowed some money from himst year and I may or may not have forgotten to pay him back and then ignored all of his calls when he decided he wanted me to pay it back" Zen stammered whilst looking like he was going to faint from embarrassment.


    "You know, I am not surprised one bit. You did the same thing hundreds of times when we were kids. I don''t know why he gave you anything in the first ce he should have learned his lesson from thest hundred or so times you refused to pay him back." Krista sighed and then reached over to where Zen had ced his phone on the table.


    "I will call him then." She said as she picked up his phone and then began to look through the contacts.


    "Wait no!" Zen yelled just as Krista began to call him.


    Krista giggled when Zen got up from his seat and reached over the table, trying to take his phone back from her. Krista also stood up so she could retreat further away from him.


    Haru, Jake and Luke sat still and silently judged them both as they ran around the kitchen. There were no words that they needed to say to each other. The actions of Krista and Zen spoke enough for all three of them.


    The ringing suddenly stopped.


    "Hello?" A woman''s voice called out from the other side.


    "Hi there. Is this the number for Andrew Hao?" Krista asked in return.


    "Yeah, But he is currently busy with some work in the yard. Can I take a message?" The woman asked.


    "Oh, I''m sorry. If he is busy then it doesn''t matter. But who are you? if you don''t mind me asking. You don''t sound like Nadia." Krista asked the woman on the other side.


    "Oh, I''m not her that''s why." The womanughed.


    "I''m her daughter Mei. Do you mind If I ask who you are? My father doesn''t get many phone calls from women." The woman then said.


    "Mei? Oh my I guess you would be around that age, wouldn''t you? You were just a baby when west met so you probably won''t remember me. I am Krista. Your dad''s younger sister." Krista sounded surprised as she spoke.


    "You''re Krista? Dad has told me so much about you. He also told me about all the times you would team up to bully uncle Zen." Mei began tough.


    "Sorry about earlier. Dad doesn''t like to answer work calls on weekends so I was just going to take a message. I don''t think he will mind his sister calling. I will take the phone to him. Hold on a moment, please.


    "Zen. How old is Mei? It''s been years since he brought her home from the hospital." Krista asked Zen who was still ying his puzzle game.


    "She is twenty-five I think. Oh, he also had another daughter. She is called Yun. I think she is around Haru''s age actually. Or maybe she is a little older? I can''t quite remember." Zen said and then went back to his puzzle.


    "Hello? Krista?" Andrew''s voice asked.

 Chapter 97: Andrew.

    Chapter 97: Andrew.


    Krista walked out of the room and Into the back yard as Andrew picked up the phone. She held a single finger up to everyone in the room to let them know that she would only be a minute.


    "It''s been like forever. How have you been?" Andrew asked in a cheery voice. Thest time he had spoken to his little sister was over twenty years ago.


    Krista smiled as she heard the enthusiasm in his voice. She thought that he would be mad at her for not speaking to him for so long. But this was a pleasant surprise.


    "I have been good. Luke and I even had two children. I remember how happy you were when Mei was born. Despite how much we used to fight I missed you." Krista smirked as she finished talking.


    "You had two kids? Thest I heard you had a son right? When did you have another?" Andrew asked surprised.


    "Oh, so you knew about Haru? Zen must have told you right? I gave birth a few months ago with our daughter Saki." Krista exined.


    "Oh, That''s great news. You should have called sooner. I would havee over. I would like to meet my niece and nephew someday. Not to mention it would be nice to see you again after all this time." Andrew spoke through a smile. He felt happy and had stopped the work he was doing and was now strolling around the garden.


    "Oh, that isn''t necessary. But if you would like to visit you are more than wee toe over to japan one summer. But yet again that would be impossible, wouldn''t it? As for meeting Haru That will be easy. If he decided he actually wanted to meet you." Krista said with a hint of frustration in her voice.


    "Why wouldn''t he want to meet his uncle?" Andrew became concerned as he heard the tone Krista had spoken in.


    "Ah, He has always been a bit difficult since he was a child. If he doesn''t want to do something there is nothing anyone can do to make him." Krista giggled and then sighed as she thought about all of the times she had tried to get Haru to do things.


    "I see, You spoiled him and he became one of those bratty kids that will scream when they don''t want to do something right?" Andrew began tough.


    There was a pause for a few seconds before Krista spoke again.


    "Actually, Quite the opposite. We might have spoiled him a little bit but he just isn''t interested in anything but training. It was a surprise to learn that he had a girlfriend.


    I guess he has changed a lot over thesest few years. Thinking about it now. He might actually want to meet you. Anyway enough about me. I heard you had another daughter after Mei?" Krista Inquired.


    "Oh, you mean Yun? Yeah, she is turning twenty next year. She is Well, a handful. You should know what teenagers are like these days. Always out partying and getting drunk. I wish she could see things from my perspective for a minute." Andrew sighed.


    "She is neen? That''s actually close to Haru''s age. He turned eighteen justst week. Say, Do you still live in Shanghai?" Krista asked.


    "Yeah, What is it?" Andrew asked in return.


    "Oh, It''s just that Haru has decided to go to Fudan University. If you are going to be in the same city then that will be a perfect time for you to meet." Krista exined.


    "Hahaha. Fudan university? That is where Yun is currently studying right now. Maybe they will be friends? I hope he can manage to calm her down a little. But that is a great idea. I can pick him up from the airport or something when he decides toe over." Andrew told Krista after a deep grumblingugh rose from his chest.


    "You would be willing to do that? Zen said you were busy with work recently. I don''t want to trouble you if you are busy." Krista said before there was silence on the other side.


    "It''s not an issue at all. But speaking of Zen. When was thest time you spoke to him? Andrew asked.


    "About five minutes ago. Haru has been living with him in Shenzhen for the past few years so, me, Luke and Saki came to visit him for his birthday."


    "Is that right? I was actually starting to worry about the kid. He borrowed a bunch of money from me and then started ignoring my calls. I thought he had died or something. I only wanted to let him know that he doesn''t need to bother paying me back." Andrewughed again.


    As Krista chatted with her older brother outside a scream cried out form the living room as Saki decided to wake up. Luke stood up and entered the living room.


    "Aw, What''s wrong my little angel?" He picked her up and held her in his arms.


    Which only made her cry out more. Luke looked down in shock, His daughter didn''t seem to recognize him at all. In fact, she looked at him like he was a stranger as her screams wailed around the room.


    "Shh shh, It''s okay papa''s here. There''s no need to cry." Luke tried to reassure the crying infant more but there was no hope. Her screams only became more violent and she began to kick her legs and throw her arms around.


    The whole time Krista was outside talking to Andrew. Haru was sat eavesdropping. The heightened senses were useful for many things but it also boosted the volume of the crying child. His head began to ache as the cry droned on and on.


    He had enough, The shrieks were too much for him. He decided he would put a stop to it. Haru stood up and then walked into the living room where Luke was needlessly rocking her trying to soothe her. With no luck in sight, Haru gently took her from his arms.


    "You want to try to make her calm down? She doesn''t even calm down in her father''s arms. What do you think you can achieve." Luke asked Haru with a giggle before handing her over to him.


    As soon as Luke had let go and Haru held his sister in his arms the crying died down. Saki looked up at Haru with curiosity. After all, she still didn''t recognize him as a family member. But his presence seemed t make her calm down.


    "Oh, Come on!? Am I just a terrible parent or something?" Luke cried out as in his eyes he had just witnessed a miracle.

 Chapter 98: Spirit Soul Stage.

    Chapter 98: Spirit Soul Stage.


    Krista wrapped up her call with Andrew and then came back inside to find only Zen and Jake remaining in the kitchen. She looked around for Haru and Luke before hearing a gigglee from the living room.


    "How did you get her to calm down?" Luke asked as he sat down on the couch next to Haru.


    Krista followed the sounds of giggles and Luke begging Haru to teach him how to make Saki calm down. She entered the room to find them all sat down on the couch. Haru was holding Saki upright by her hands on the floor, Helping her take a few steps.


    She couldn''t stop herself from smiling when she saw her family bonding like this. And she went and sat down with them. Saki giggled uncontrobly bringing joy to everyone as she jumped up and down with the help of Haru.


    Tine went by in a sh, as four days had passed. During the time that had past Haru had decided to spend time with his family and invited Suyin over to join them, Jake had gone on his date with Reina, and he had gone to go see his family off at the airport.


    When he got back from the airport after saying goodbye to his family he went down into the basement after exining to Zen that he would be going into closed doors cultivation for a few days to break through to the next stage.


    Zen of course worried and asked him what he was going to do about food and water as he still didn''t understand how it would work.


    Haru made up an excuse by saying that he needed to fast during the time he cultivated to breakthrough but the fact was that his body had progressed to the point where it no longer needed to rely on nutrition to survive.


    His body could survive only on the power of Qi which made things more efficient although he still enjoyed eating food so he couldn''t drop thatpletely.


    As he made his way down to the basement he made sure that Zen knew no matter what not toe down and disturb him or else it could have negative effects on Haru''s cultivation and could possibly cripple him. It made Zen worry even more but he finally agreed that he would do as Haru asked and then he closed the door behind him.


    Haru locked it from the inside and walked down the stairs inplete darkness. It didn''t make a difference if it was light or dark but it would make it easier to forget about the time if he was in darkness.


    His mind needed to bepletely at rest for the breakthrough to be sessful so it was easier if he felt like time wasn''t passing on without him. He had done this multiple times already but this would be a major breakthrough so he wasn''t sure how long it would take him.


    Previously it took only a few hours but he decided to give himself a few days this time to make sure that nothing would go wrong.


    After breaking through to the spirit soul stage he would be able to sense natural Qi. Previously he could only sense abundant Qi which was just the Qi that was emitting from objects or people when having too much Qi that the body or Object couldn''t;t absorb it all.


    Form Lao''s teachings Haru knew that a truly strong cultivator will never be at full power since their body can contain so much Qi that it would be impossible for them to absorb too much. They were always in the process of gaining strength even during battle.


    But it also made breaking through to the next stage much harder since they couldn''t hit a bottleneck. The bottleneck was like a diversion in a river. All of the Qi would have to flow through one point which would cause the power behind the bottleneck to be much greater than the Qi in front.


    To breakthrough, he would have to store a certain amount of Qi and force it through the bottleneck in a single moment. The explosive power would carry him through to the next realm. That is why sometimes a breakthrough could lead to an explosion or a static shock.


    Sometimes even storms would appear from a breakthrough with thunder striking all around. But at Haru''s current level he didn''t have to worry about that.


    He then made a nice space for himself in the centre of the basements floor. There were boxes stacked up all around so he pushed them aside and sat down cross-legged on the cold concrete.


    The air was heavy in the basement due to theck of heat and the build-up of dust but the Phoenix fire within Haru''s body kept him warm. It was reassuring knowing that no matter what happened during this time that Lao and Kun would watch his back.


    He wasn''t expecting trouble but he also knew that it coulde at any moment. The Cultivation association thought that he was a member of the ck star sect which seemed dangerous. Who knew what they might eventually do to try to make him tell them the secrets of the sect.


    Although if they actually feared Teacher Lin then they had best not try to abduct one of the disciples of the sect. He wasn''t sure if it was a blessing or a curse. But the one thing he did know is that the people at the association were stronger than his current self.


    That was something he needed to fix before they decided that the ck star sect aren''t as scary as they thought they were and moved against them.


    Haru followed Lao''s previous instructions and pulled out the beast core that he had taken from the snake back at the sect. The small blue glowing ball illuminated the basement. It wasn''t enough for the light to escape but it was enough to cast a shadow on everything in the room.


    Haru closed his eyes and began to sense the abundant Qi that the beast core was releasing. The amount of Qiing from this small crystal was enough to put most of the cultivators Haru had met so far to shame.


    The Qi surrounding the beast core seemed to have a mind of its own as it circled and spiralled around in many different directions.


    Haru then brought it close to his face before closing his eyes and entering his soul ocean. Lao had already taken Kun into the space inside the dragon emperor''s ring to create a quiet ce for Haru to cultivate.


    As Haru was sat down absorbing the Qi from the beast core on the floor inside his soul ocean he began to feel water rising.


    He was tempted to open his eyes to see what was happening around him but he knew that if he did the Qi that he had absorbed so far would be wasted. It would merge with his Qi and wouldn''t boost the power behind the bottleneck. So despite the odd sensation of water now rising up to his thighs, he carried on absorbing the Qi.


    No less than a minute went by before the sensation of water had risen to his chest. It felt heavy and his body felt stiff as he continued to absorb the Qi.


    The power of the beast core was starting to fade as the abundant power got absorbed into Haru''s body. He could feel the walls of the bottleneck beginning to crack but they were still being held in ce.


    There was something he could do to speed up the process that Lao had taught him how to do, But the only problem was that it could harm his body if done incorrectly.


    As thest bit of abundant Qi was absorbed from the beast core Haru decided he was going to be reckless once again.


    The water had now risen to his neck and was rapidly rising more. He wasn''t sure what it meant but he also didn''t want to wait until his body became fully emerged. So he began to channel Qi into the palm of his hand.


    He then ced his hand on his chest and released the Qi into his body. The sound of a muffled explosion echoed out shortly before he tasted a metallic liquid in his mouth. He had damaged his internal organs for sure but the extra boost of Qi was enough to break through to the spirit soul stage.


    And with the feeling of static surrounding his body, he opened his eyes. The water that was previously beneath a barrier in his soul ocean was rising above it.


    That was when he realised that it wasn''t in fact water. It was liquefied Qi. He couldn''t sense the Qi before but now that he had broken through to the next stage he could sense natural Qi.


    That was when he felt an unimaginable amount of Qiing from the hand where he was holding the beast core.


    ''Is this the natural Qi? It is so much stronger than abundant Qi. I wonder if I can absorb this power?'' He though before continuing on with his cultivation.


    Haru began to absorb the natural Qi released by the beast core until there was a cracking sounding from bellow him. The barrier holding back the ocean bellow him had broken. And unprepared during cultivation he began to sink into the depths of the ocean.


    He didn''t dare to open his eyes and distract himself from absorbing the Qi despite the pressure around his body growing more and more powerful.

 Chapter 99: Flooded Soul Ocean.

    Chapter 99: Flooded Soul Ocean.


    The pressure became more and more intense as Haru''s body slowly submerged into the ocean. The feeling alone was almost suffocating as he felt liquefied Qi all around his body.


    He desperately wanted to swim toward the surface but the effects of interrupting his cultivation would be very bad. Especially since he recklessly injured himself to breakthrough. He first needed to focus on healing.


    It wasn''t like he had to hold his breath or anything since he was only in his soul ocean. His body on the outside kept drawing breath but the feeling of being surrounded by water was ufortable since the soul ocean simtion thews of physics perfectly.


    He kept still as his body carried on deeper and deeper into the abyss. Until finally the natural Qi from the beast core had run dry.


    Haru opened his eyes feeling the power brewing deep within him. And as he opened his eyes a sh of blue light shot out from his body in all directions, Knocking down the stacks of boxes and everything else that was in his way.


    "Was that?!" Haru shouted as he saw the mild damage the st had created.


    "Yes. You managed to manifest your Qi into a physical form. That was just your bodies way of telling you what you have achieved. Although it is quite weak." Lao spoke out to Haru with his usual booming voice.


    "Physical Qi? But didn''t you say that would onlye when I reached the Nirvana stage? Why can I do it early?" Haru asked. He was confused since he wasn''t supposed to be able to do this yet.


    "It''s probably because you managed to flood your soul ocean just minutes after liquefying you Qi. You honestly surprise me way more than Li Jun ever did.


    He had knowledge of cultivation before we met so it was easier to teach him. But you on the other hand. You have no knowledge of the consequences of doing things like absorbing the natural Qi from a beast core like."


    "I flooded my soul ocean? Is that bad?" Haru inquired. He became worried since it sounded like something that shouldn''t have happened.


    "Is flooding your soul ocean bad? Not at all. In fact, it will help youter on. You just have so much liquefied Qi in your body that you could break through to the next stage whenever you wanted to and it wouldn''t be a problem." Lao exined.


    "I can breakthrough right now?" Haru asked excitedly.


    "You could probably breakthrough two stages at once. Although it would be pointless. If you breakthrough without establishing a solid foundation in the previous stage you will run the risk of falling back to your previous stage if you were injured.


    That is why I have been making sure that you don''t progress too fast. After much trial and error, Li Jun and I learned that The Abandoned God of Destion cultivation technique is by far the most efficient cultivation technique.


    Although, The purpose of using it to cultivate is to gain the unnatural strength it provides. You should be able to fight people two stages higher than you with no problem. But if you don''t create a good foundation there is no point in learning it at all." Lao warned Haru.


    Haru stopped his thoughts of breaking through immediately. ''That makes sense. I guess I was just being too hopeful.'' He thought.


    "Thanks for the warning but, What should I do now? Can I train the physical Qi or will it have a negative effect if I use it too often?" Haru asked.


    "You can train it whenever you want to. You wouldn''t have gained the ability to use it if your mind and body wasn''t prepared to deal with the bacsh. I had best return Kun to your soul ocean.


    It isn''t safe to have him leave your body for too long. He is already starting to show signs of weakening." Lao told him and then with a sh of golden light forming in Haru''s eyes the gentle warmth that Kun''s presence provided returned.


    The sound of the front door being mmed from upstairs made Haru aware of his surrounding once again. He still wasn''t sure how long had passed so he began to walk upstairs and then unlocked the door.


    As he walked out into the hallway he was almost blinded by the brightness of everything. The white paint on the walls directed the sunlight directly into his eyes.


    It was almost enough of a shock to make him lose his footing on the staircase but not quite. He closed his eyes and then walked out into the light.


    The best way for his eyes to adjust to the light was to force them to. As he stumbled through the hallway clutching his face a loud scream echoed throughout the house.


    AHHHH!


    It sounded like a woman but it didn''t make any sense. Why would there be a woman at Zen''s house? He then forced his eyes open to make sense of the situation.


    "Oh, It''s just you Haru." The voice said once again.


    The voice speaking actual words was enough for Haru to recognise the owner. It was Aunt Wong. She wasn''t his actual aunt it was just what she made Haru call here.


    She was the housekeeper that Zen had hired. She had been given the week off whilst Haru''s parents came over to visit as to not crowd the house. But that was unlikely. The house was so huge that even fifty people couldn''t crowd the ce. Let alone four extra.


    The truth was Zen liked keeping his family away from his business life. Even a housekeeper was seen as business to him since he was paying her. It felt wrong to have a stranger in the house with his family members.


    "Oh, Aunt Wong. I thought you were Zen. Have you seen him today?" Haru asked in between blinks, trying to avoid the sunlight that was ring in through the windows.


    "No, not today. I''m sorry he had already gone out before I arrived. Where have you been though? I haven''t you in a few days." Aunt Wong said as she looked at Haru with suspicion.


    "Ah, I stayed at Suyins house" Haru said and then squinted to look at her.


    "Oh, Okay. Mr Hao wouldn''t say where you had gone so I got a little worried." She then smiled and picked up the mop which was leaning against the wall.


    "Wait. Just how many days has it been since you came back to work?" Haru asked. It would be the quickest way to estimate how long he had been cultivating for.


    "Well. I came back to work the day after your parents had gone home. So it''s been fifteen days. Why is something wrong?" She asked.


    ''What! It''s been half a month? I didn''t expect it to take that long. I had best let Suyin and Zen know that I have finished.'' Haru thought and then pulled out his phone.


    "No, It''s nothing. I was just curious. I hope you have a great day." He said before walking outside to make his first phone call.


    The phone rang for a few seconds.


    "Haru?" Suyin sounded worried, as she hadn''t heard from him in half a month.


    "Yeah, I''m done now. I''m sorry I was gone for so long. Do you want me toe and see you? He asked after apologising for neglecting her for so long.


    "Yes! I want to see you right away!" Suyin shouted and then began to run downstairs. The sounds of Suyin demanding her father''s driver to pick Haru up were the only thing he could hear as the phone was pressed against his face.


    "Fine, fine. I will get on it right away." He finally agreed.


    "Thank you!" Suyin shouted as she watched him drive off.


    "Sorry about that, I just sent my dad''s driver toe and pick you up. He won''t be too long. I can''t wait to see you again." She shouted down the phone.


    "Okay, Just calm down you crazy girl. I will be there soon. I just have to make a phone call to Zen. I will text you when the driver appears." Haru let her know and then hung up.


    Ring Ring.


    He began to dial Zen''s phone. Not even a second went by before he picked up.


    "Haru?!" He seemed more excited than Suyin that Haru hade out of closed-door cultivation than Suyin.


    "Yes, That is my name." Haruughed as he heard the tone of Zen''s voice.


    "I just called to let you know you can have your basement back now." Haru giggled once again and then waited for Zen to reply.


    "Thank god you are okay. I was beginning to think you had died from hunger. It''s a relief to know you are okay. Oh, and a letter came for you. I left it on your bed." Zen let him know.


    "Oh? what kind of letter?" Haru asked. He wasn''t expecting a letter so it caught him off guard.


    "Well, it was sent from Shanghai so I assume that it is from Fudan University. It came two days ago so you should probably open it soon. You had best not keep them waiting for too long." Zen warned Haru before the sound of a panicked man in the background shouting out


    "Sir, They havee back again!" The voice cried out.


    "I have to go, Haru. I will talk to youter." Zen said and then hung up.

 Chapter 100: Strange.

    Chapter 100: Strange.


    ''Strange What happened? I had better go and check in on him before I go to visit Suyin.'' Haru thought as he waited for Suyins driver to pick him up.


    After a few minutes of watching the cows in the field on the other side of the road, the car finally pulled up in front of him. It was the same driver as usual. He didn''t really like Haru but he guessed it was only under the instructions of Suyin''s dad.


    "Get in." The driver said bluntly before rolling his window back up.


    ''He''s still at it with this? I really haven''t done anything for him to hate me this much. I wonder what Mr Jiang told him about me for him to have this kind of attitude for no reason.'' Haru thought whilst opening up the door and sliding into the back seat.


    "Hey, Do you mind if we take a detour? I have to drop by and see my uncle for a couple of minutes. It won''t take too long I promise." Haru asked the driver.


    He looked back at Haru and seemed to debate it for a second in his head.


    "Mr Hao?" He asked and then looked at Haru with questioning eyes.


    "Yeah, He called me a few minutes ago. I need to stop by his office." Haru let the driver know and without a second thought the car took off toward the gate and out into the main road.


    "Are you sure you should be driving this fast? What if you get pulled over?" Haru asked as the driver began to speed around the city streets like a mad man.


    "It''s fine. If I get pulled over Mr Jiang will just pay the ticket. And if he doesn''t I will just make you since you are the passenger." The driver said with a smirk as he ran a red light.


    ''What the fuck is wrong with this guy? He actually thinks I would pay for him.'' Haru thought. This particr driver was always reckless but somehow he would always get you to your destination as fast as possible. It was probably the reason Suyin chose to send him to pick up Haru.


    Within a few seconds of leaving Zen''s house, they had already arrived at the office. Haru got out of the car and walked in through the front entrance.


    It was just a typical office building. There were many different businesses operating from this one building. From call centres to ounting. Zen wanted to make as much money as possible so he crammed the skyscraper full of different businesses.


    The front entrance had an oak nked floor that happened to be in a criss-cross pattern that seemed to lead to the secretaries desk perfectly. The wood entuated the dark maple desk that stretched out almost across the whole floor where there were three different secretaries working.


    Haru walked up to the desk and leaned over it slightly gaining the attention of one of the women working there.


    "Oh, Haru. Are you looking for your uncle?" The woman asked with a concerned expression on her face.


    "Yeah, What is it? Is everything okay?" Haru asked seeing the look in her eyes as she quickly nced back at herputer screen.


    "Yeah, I''m afraid you just missed him. He said he was heading out to the shipping yard. Something came up at the storage holding units. Do you want me to phone him and tell him that you are here?" The woman asked as she saw the impatience on Haru''s face.


    "No, it''s fine I will just meet him there. Thank you though." Haru said before waving goodbye and leaving the building.


    "Change of ns. My uncle is at the shipping yard. Can we go there next please?" Haru asked the driver as the door clicked shut behind him.


    "If I must." The driver said before looking back at Haru through the rear-facing mirror. A smirk formed on his face and then he took off without warning.


    ''Oh, he''s looking for a reaction? Or is he trying to scare me?'' Haru thought when he noticed the smile on the drivers face.


    In return, Haru decided not to say anything and just crossed his right leg over his left and sat their silently as the mad man of a driver raced through the heavy traffic in downtown Shenzhen.


    He weaved in and out of cars like he was in a police chase in some kind of Hollywood movie but it wasn''t enough to make Haru bat an eyelid. He survived a bullet before and was pretty confident that he wouldn''t be killed in a car ident any time soon.


    Especially since breaking through to the spirit soul stage. There was pretty much nothing that could hurt him in his day to day life.


    They arrived at the shipping yard a little too fast since there was no sign of Zen''s car anywhere at all. So Haru decided to take a quick look around until Zen arrived.


    He walked in through the main office of the Storage containment building. The walls on the inside were exactly the same as the ones on the outside. Corrugated steel as far as the eye could see. The building looked like it had been built in a hurry to get in operation as fast as they could. But it wasn''t like they needed the insted walls that are usually a necessity.


    The purpose of this business that Zen owned was to store things. It was a legal business in theory but they also didn''t ask the customers what they wanted to store. They just gave the key to a storage unit to whoever wanted to pay for one.


    Which wasn''t entirely legal since they would have to keep an inventory of everything that came through their doors to make sure the customers property didn''t go missing. But the trade-off was that only the owner would know what was being kept in their unit as made clear on the contract. The employees weren''t responsible if anything went missing.


    As Haru stepped into the office he heard shouting. It seemed to being from the many rows of storage units.


    "What do you mean!? This is everything I had locked up. Why is almost half of my stuff missing? Just wait until My boss finds out about this." The sound of a middle-aged man having a mental breakdown bounced around the metal walls like the inside of an echo chamber.


    "Sir, You already signed the contract. The responsibility is on your hands, not ours. If you would like to call your boss I suggest you do it after leaving our property.


    You are now banned from the premises for assaulting one of our employees. If you step foot here again I will have you arrested for trespassing." Another voice called out in return.


    ''Hm This sounds like trouble. No wonder Zen was in a hurry to be here.'' Haru thought before finding the source of the argument.


    "What seems to be the issue?" Haru asked as he walked out into the corridor they were stood in. The man who was shouting was stood staring with dangerous intent. He was wearing shorts and a t-shirt and had a long gold chain around his neck. He looked like the stereotype for a trouble maker.


    "Who are you?!" The man snapped as Haru walked toward him.


    "I am from the head office. I heard there was a problem here. Would you like to go over it with me?" Haru lied to the man as best as he could.


    The other man who tried to calm the situation previously looked at Haru with confusion and then seemingly recognised him.


    "You are" The man began to say as he looked at Haru.


    "Aren''t you a bit too young to be working? Who are you really?" The man began to inquire this time calming down as he stared with suspicion.


    "Not at all, sir. This is the head manager for our Shenzhen branch. As he said if you have any issues with the treatment of your property you can speak directly to him." The employee of the business said with a smile as Haru stood looking down at them.


    "You mean it? Then I would like a refund. All of my stuff has gone missing. If you don''t give me cash for all of the things that were lost I will have no choice but to call my boss here!" The man began to shout once again now thinking that Haru was indeed an employee of thepany.


    "Not possible I am afraid. You have signed the contract stating that the property you have stored with us is still your responsibility. We just offer a ce for you to store it. It has nothing to do with us if it goes missing.


    Like my colleague said. You had best leave the property before the police are called." Haru said in his best authoritative voice.


    The man with the big gold chain around his neck sighed and then spat on the floor in front of them.


    "You''re going to regret this. Just you wait. I will make sure that your whole business is shut down today. The police won''t be able to save you once my boss arrives." The man ended it with onest threat before walking away in defeat.


    Haru then noticed a woman sat on the ground clutching her cheek. As he looked at her she began to stand up and looked at Haru with confusion.


    "Who are you? We don''t have a head office." The woman stated as she got to her feet.

 Chapter 101: Sounds Like Trouble.

    Chapter 101: Sounds Like Trouble.


    The man stood beside her began tough a little bit as she rose to her feet.


    "Well of course we don''t have a head office. We are owned by Mr Hao. This here is Haru. Mr Hao''s nephew. I don''t know if you remember me but we had a brief moment at Mr Hao''s thirty-fifth birthday party." The man said and then smiled before looking back to the woman who was still clutching her face.


    "Yes, You were the person he directed me to the bar weren''t you? What was your name again? Sorry I am terrible with names." Haru spoke with hesitation. He wasn''t even sure if the man had given him his name Since they had only exchanged words for a few seconds.


    "Oh, My name is Bo. Just call me Bo. That is what everyone around here calls me anyway." The man said with a smile.


    "Ok Bo, Can you tell me what happened? My uncle is on his way here but I am not sure how long he is going to be. I want the chance to make things a little easier for him before he gets here." Haru said and then looked at the woman.


    Her face was red and looked like it was beginning to bruise.


    "Wait. Do you have a freezer in here? I want her to get a coldpress for her face. I''m sorry this happened to you but we can discuss it when you get that bruise treated." Haru was worried for a minute. Maybe he would have to call the police.


    But that was thest thing that he wanted to do. The business was legal but a lot of the things that happened here were within a grey area in thew. He knew for a fact that local gangs would store drugs and weapons here and if the police got involved Zen would be in quite a lot of trouble.


    They then all walked over into the office of the building. It was the only insted part of the building but was also just a little cabin inside the giant warehouse.


    Haru led them both up the steps and into the room where the freezer was located and then walked over and opened it up. There was a couple of trays of ice cubes in the so he pulled one of them out and the emptied the ice into a hand towel that wasying on the counter.


    "Here, Put this on your cheek." He said and then handed the ice wrapped in a towel to the woman with a now noticeable bruise on her face.


    "Okay. You can now go over what happened." Haru said and then sat down on one of the many chairs in the room.


    "Okay, Well it started a few weeks ago actually. We started to notice signs of forced entry every morning when the first people get here for their shift.


    At first, we thought it might have been wild animals wing at door and things like that but then we caught a video of someone dressed in all ck walking around the corridors looking like he was up to no good.


    So then we decided to hire night time security. I know we should have done that in the first ce but it is one of the things we decided against to cut down on costs. But fast forward a few days and we started to getints from customers that things were going missing.


    So we made phone calls to all of the customers to let them know that we had a thief who was stealing all of their belongings. Some of them decided toe and take their valuables back out of storage. But then we had people like that man from earlier.


    I think that he purposely left his stuff with us so he could cause trouble and try to make us give him some money. And looking at the list of stuff that he brought to us there is no way that anyone could have taken all of the things that had gone from his list.


    He probably just made up some of the things that had gone. But then when our intern here Jen. Told him that if he was going to continue to cause trouble he pped her in the face.


    I wish I would have been there to see it so I could kick his ass without any regrets but It would also cost me my job if I didn''t witness it personally." The man said with a guilty expression.


    "It looks like you don''t really know who you are working for. If anyone decides to assault anyone who is working under my uncle he would personally send the order to beat the guy to death.


    Don''t worry so much. If you ever have a customer like this I will vouch for you if you beat his ass into an early grave." Haru smiled at them both and then stood up.


    "Let me see." He said and then walked over to the woman who was still clutching her face.


    "O-ok." She said and then removed the towel showing the ck bruise forming on her cheek.


    "You''re a tough one aren''t you. That''s a nasty bruise but you will be alright. Just try to use that towel to make the swelling go down a little bit." Haru smiled at her and then walked over to Bo who had yet to take a seat.


    "Make sure she isn''t doing too much heavy lifting for today. That''s the least we can do right?" He asked Bo.


    "I agree. I was going to say that she could take the rest of the day off but knowing Jen she wouldn''t go home anyway. Bo said and then looked down at the floor for a second.


    "Can we have a private chat outside for a minute? It''s about the man from earlier." Bo asked Haru.


    "Sure thing." Haru smiled and then opened the door to the cabin. They both walked down the stair and then stopped.


    "What is it?" Haru asked.


    "I just need to make you aware of a few things.The man from earlier is from one of the crime families in Shenzhen. They aren''t one of the very well known ones but that makes them a bit bolder than the top ones.


    I thought you should know that. In case you have to get the police involved. And also another thing. I am not sure if you noticed it but as he was walking away I saw the imprint of a gun beneath his shirt." Bo exined and then stood for a minute awaiting a response.


    "You noticed that? You have a good eye to be able to notice something so subtle. Let me guess you used to be in the military?" Haru asked the man. He looked quite fit for someone his age. He seemed to be in histe fifties but still had ripped muscles that showed through his ck and white suit.


    ''Haha. No, not at all. I used to be a police officer. It''s funny, right? An ex-police officer working for a shady business like this." The manughed.


    "Well stranger things have happened. But we all have to work. I won''t judge someone for what they do for a living. I think you have a good character and thank you for letting me know.


    I wasn''t too interested to notice if he was carrying a weapon, to be honest." Haru said and then the sound of tires screeching against concrete came from the front of the building.


    "This sounds like trouble," Bo said as he rushed back to the office for a moment and then came back holding a shotgun under his shoulder like a crazy farmer.


    "Woah, Calm down a little. It is only my uncle." Haru said after searching the area with Qi. He picked up the abundant Qi that was on Zen. He seemed to have absorbed some of it whilst Haru was cultivating in the basement.


    "Are you sure? I thought it might be that guy from earlier." Bo said with a hint of disappointment in his voice.


    ''Wow, This guy really wants revenge. I don''t even want to guess what he did during his time as a police officer. I thought they were supposed to be peacekeepers. This guy seems like he wants to cause more issues.'' He thought before going outside to meet Zen.


    He opened the door to see five SUVs full of people in ck suits. Zen was talking to a man holding a rifle out in broad daylight before he noticed Haru standing behind him.


    "What are you doing here?" Zen asked and then walked over to his nephew.


    "Your secretary told me you were heading here. I wanted to know what happened to make you hang up like that so I came to see for my self." Haru exined to him.


    "It''s probably a good thing you are here though. I wonder if you can use that same move that you did to save me. You know the one were you burned those guys into cinders. I didn''t really want to ask you for help but I just got word that the head of one of the crime families ising here." Zen sighed.


    "It''s fine. I feel personally invested in this situation. The person who was here earlier pped a woman and then demanded them to give him money. If hees back I want to let Bo kick his ass." Haruughed.


    "Bo? Who is Bo?" Zen asked.

 Chapter 102: The Mighty Slap.

    Chapter 102: The Mighty p.


    "This is Bo," Har said and then pointed toward the man holding the shotgun.


    "He is one of your employees and you don''t know his name?" Haru asked. Zen who seemed to be searching for words to make himself look a little better. He had too many employees. There was no way he could remember them all.


    "Oh, I see you are on board with us Mr Bo, I will make sure I remember your name," Zen said when he noticed the gun in his hands.


    "It''s fine sir. You can just call me Bo." Bo said with a smile. Although it looked kind of strange on his face since when he spoke earlier he had a t expression and spoke with a monotone voice.


    Haru looked at him for a moment and then shook it off.


    "We should be fine. I will have the entrance''s blocked off so no one can enter. Hopefully, we can solve this without a fight but we have to show that we are ready to fight back or else they will try to step all over us." Zen said and then walked back over to the man with the rifle.


    A few minutes went by as all of the people got into position. A few of them moved up to the side of the building so they could get onto the roof and aim down with their rifles and the other guys moved to block the entrance with their cars.


    Zen walked back over the Haru.


    "No matter what happens. You can''t let your mother find out that I had you here for this. I don''t want to die just yet." Zenughed as the cked-out cars began to drive toward the business.


    They then stopped before the roadblock and began to get out. A few of them had guns and were holding them openly as an act of intimidation. But little did they know that Zen had already ordered the snipers aim at them.


    "What''s the problem?" Zen shouted to the people who were all facing a golden sedan. It looked like the king of a middle eastern country had juste into town with the gold paint on the old


    looking sedan reflecting light.


    Haru almost began tough as a man got out from the golden sedan. He was wearing a fluffy purple overcoat and had no shirt on underneath it. He looked to be in histe twenties and was built like a stick. He was wearing a fedora with a red feather sticking out of the top and many gold chains.


    "Did they bring a gigolo?" Haru asked confused as he judged the man wearing the purple coat.


    They were a few chuckled form the people blocking the entrance after Haru asked out loud. But then stopped as the man shouted toward them.


    "Who is in charge here? I want an exnation for why you sent my man away!" The man in the purple coat shouted and then began to walk toward the roadblock with a limp.


    He looked like the viin from a bad eighties movie and he didn''t even seem to realise it as he walked toward them like nothing was out of the ordinary.


    "Zen stepped forward and walked over to meet him. The man waved his hand to make the people following him stop and then walked further toward Zen on his own.


    "My people tell me that you kicked them out of your property. What do you have to say for yourself?" The man asked Zen.


    "Well, Your people assaulted one of my employees what do you have to say for yourself? Do I need to have to policee and intervene?" Zen asked the man in return.


    "Hehe, Feel free to. I know for a fact that people are holding drugs inside your property. Do you think it will end well if the police get involved in this matter? All I want is the person who kicked my man out toe and face me." The man spoke.


    Zen sighed and then looked back toward Bo and waved his hand.


    Bo looked ready to go at a moments notice but he was still holding the shotgun. Haru wasn''t sure what he was going to do so he put his hand on Bo''s shoulder.


    "I will go. After all, I was the one who got him to leave. I need you to back me up with that gun. I can''t have you going out first can I?" Haru said to try and make him stop.


    And it seemed to work as Bo didn''t take another step.


    "You make a good point I will be sure to keep an eye out for any sign of trouble." He said and then Haru began to walk toward Zen.


    Zen sighed as he watched what Haru had just done form a distance. ''I guess it is probably for the best but his mother will seriously kill me if she finds out this ever happened.'' Zen began to worry.


    "I''m the one that kicked him out. What do you want now?" Haru asked as he reached Zen and the mad with the weird fedora.


    "Is that true?" The man turned and asked the man who was causing trouble earlier.


    "Yeah, it was him. He was the one that did it. He also had no respect for you and said that he didn''t care if I called you toe here." The man then began using Haru of doing many different things.


    "Did you do that? Do you have any idea who I am? and the trouble you are about to be in?" The man in the strange fedora and purple coat asked as Haru stood there without an expression.


    "No, I don''t know who you are. And nor do I care. What do you want now? Are we just going to stand here all day and use each other or do you want to settle things?" Haru asked. He was fed up of the yground bully type attitude this man had.


    "You little shit. You think just because you are taller than me that you have the right to speak to me like that?" The man said as he looked up at Haru.


    He then brought his hand back behind his head and triedto p Haru.


    The man was just a regr person. He wasn''t a cultivator or a mage so his p was slow and hardly looked like it was moving as Haru channelled Qi into his eyes. It was a trick that most cultivators would learn to help boost their reaction speed in a fight.


    But Haru hadn''t used it yet so he decides to try it now. This man wasn''t even a threat so there was no harm in trying something new. As the man''s hand slowly went towards Harus face he grabbed his hand and then began to squeeze.


    His new cultivation stage wasn''t yet stable so he squeezed with a bit too much force without realising it and the bones in his finger began to crack one by one until it felt like he was holding a water balloon.


    The man began to open his mouth in what seemed like slow motion to Haru and the start of a scream began to form before Haru pped the man in return.


    Suddenly time sped up once again as the man''s body flew back across the street and crashed into the golden sedan. Leaving behind a human sized dent in the body work.


    "The next person who tries to p anyone will be dealt with by me," Haru said as he stepped forward and began to release Qi, suppressing the people who had all scattered and drawn their guns.


    "Now then. You." Haru said and then pointed at the man who had pped the woman inside the shipping yard.


    The man looked like a deer in headlights as Haru began to walk over to him.


    "He couldn''t speak with the pressure of Haru''s Qi. So he had no choice but to look up in fear as Haru brought his hand up to his face and gently pressed it against his face.


    "This is for Jen." He said and then took his hand away quickly before striking him.


    The man stumbled from his feet and fell over onto the concrete after Haru realised his Qi from the area and began to clutch his cheek in pain as he rolled across the floor.


    "I will p every single one of you if you don''t get lost by the time I count down to one." Haru took a few steps back and crossed his arms. And watched as all of the men that were present hurried the two injured people into cars and drove off into the distance before he could even begin to count.


    Zen just sighed.


    "I guess I didn''t need to bring so many people. I should have just called you. I forget how one-sided of a fight it is when there is a cultivator there." Zenined and then turned to face the people he had called out to help him.


    "You guys had best stay here just in case theye back. But I think this should be over with pretty soon." Zen said and then pulled out his phone and put it to his ear.


    "I need the grim reaper to fix something for me." He said and then hung up.


    "Haru was tired. Not physically but mentally. The whole group of idiots that showed up to start a gang war with Zen seemed to have lowered his IQ for the day so he returned to where the driver was waiting for him.


    "What was that just now!? You just pped a man at least ten metres through the air!" The driver began to shout as Haru got back into the car.

 Chapter 103: Date.

    Chapter 103: Date.


    "It was just a p. You shouldn''t worry so much about it." Haru said in a matter of fact tone as the driver just looked in disbelief.


    "What do you mean just a p? You sent the man flying through the air. That can''t be just a p! I bet you are a cultivator aren''t you?" The driver asked, Not expecting an answer.


    "I guess so," Haru stated bluntly and then pulled out his phone as it began to vibrate in his pocket.


    "Hello." He said as he picked up the phone with the words Zen written across the screen.


    "So that''s it huh? You juste down here, Solve the issue and then go? I was hoping to talk to you about a few things." Zenined as Haru had just got back into the driver''s car.


    "Well, You sounded like you needed help when we spoke on the phone. I thought it would be easier to stop by and see what was happening. I never expected I would have to do something like this either. And don''t worry I will be backter tonight I still have to open that letter remember." Haru spoke as the driver started to drive in silence.


    "You will? Okay, I need to talk to youter tonight I got some news while you were cultivating in the basement. It''s probably for the best that you hear it in person." Zen said.


    "Is it bad?" Haru asked as the tone Zen had spoken in gave of a concerning feeling.


    "I wouldn''t say bad. Well You will have to wait and see. Just don''te home toote. I''m not going to wait up for you I have to be up early in the morning and I don''t want to be sat in a meeting looking like a zombie." Zen said.


    "Okay then. I will talk to you tonight. Oh, Can you get dinner? I was thinking of bringing Suyin back today." Haru said and then looked back at his phone as it began to vibrate again.


    "Oh, She is calling now. I will see you tonight. Bye." Haru hung up and then answered Suyin''s call.


    "Where are you? It has been almost an hour." Suyin seemed worried and for good reason. It was probably for the best that Haru didn''t tell her.


    "Don''t worry I am on my way. I just had to stop by and talk to Zen for a while. It was nothing too important, Oh are you up for staying over with me tonight. Zen said he will bring dinner on his way home." Haru stated with a smirk. Zen didn''t say that he would but he knew now that he had nted the idea in his head he would do it anyway.


    "Sure. I will let my mom know. Just don''t keep me waiting too long I want to see you!" Suyin shouted excitedly and then the sound of Mrs Jiang calling her name could be heard through the phone.


    "Sorry. I have to go and help with cleaning. I will probably be done by the time you get here so just let yourself in." Suyin said and then went to go and do her chores.


    Haru sighed and then at back in his seat.


    "So about the whole cultivating thing" The driver turned and said.


    Haru justughed and then exined what he had done for the rest of the car ride. The driver seemed to have a bit of respect for him after learning he was a cultivator. But he still seemed cold.


    The car came to a stop as they entered through the gates towards Suyin''s house.


    "We''re here." The driver let Haru know if it wasn''t obvious enough that they had already arrived but it was a habit for him to do so.


    Haru smiled and then opened the car door and stepped out into the courtyard. The yard was around twenty meters in length and was filled with greenery. The perimeter was surrounded by a bush on all sided that was directly in front of the two-metre tall stone wall.


    Haru walked toward the entrance and past the water fountain that had a stone statue of a dragon with a hole in its mouth where the water dripped down from and formed into a pool below. He looked at it for a second and then down at the golden ring he was wearing.


    ''Dragons are so fierce that even in the lower realms where people have never seen them before, People still respect their mythical strength and wisdom." Haru thought as he made his way to the front door and slowly turned the handle and let himself inside.


    He took his shoes off at the door and then called out to whoever was inside.


    "Is anyone here?" He shouted throughout the house to let his presence be known by everyone inside. A few seconds went by before the sound of running footsteps started to emerge from the floor above.


    Haru used his Qi to search for the source and felt the Suyin was now approaching him. He smiled and waited for her toe running down the stairs with open arms.


    But she didn''t wait even a minute. A soon as she saw Haru standing at the bottom of the stairs she jumped from the top step. Down into his arms. Haru caught her before he slowly lowered her to the ground and hugged her.


    "I missed you," Suyin whispered into his ear. Haru held her close for a few moments and then let go for a second to adjust his body so that he could kiss her.


    As he finished kissing her he looked her in the eyes.


    "I missed you too." He smiled and then picked her up into the air.


    Suyin wrapped her legs around his body and held on tightly around his neck with her arms before Haru walked over to the couch and sat down.


    They stayed like that for a few minutes just holding each other in a warm embrace until Mrs Jiang made her way into the living room.


    "You two. Get a room." She giggled and then carried on with the housework that she was doing.


    "Did you let your mom know that you areing over tonight?" Haru asked.


    "Yeah, she said it isn''t a problem. She will exin it to my dad when he gets backter. But luckily he is working untilte so he doesn''t get a say in whether or not I can stay over." Suyinughed and then let go of Haru and slid off hisp and sat down next him.


    "What do you want to do today then?" Suyin asked.


    "How about we go watch a movie? It''s been a while since I have taken you on an actual date hasn''t it?" Haru asked rhetorically but it didn''t stop Suyin from answering.


    "It''s been way too long. I can''t wait." She said and then grabbed his hand and began to stand up.


    "Come on. Help me pick out an outfit to wear." She said and then began to pull on his arm for him to stand up.


    "You want to wear something special? You look beautiful how you are. You don''t need to do anything like that." Haruined but stood up anyway.


    "But I want you to pick out something for me to wear. I don''t want you to feel like I am not trying enough." She said shyly and then dragged him all the way upstairs.


    "Not trying enough? If anything it is you that should feel like I am not trying enough. I just vanished on you for half a month. Are you not angry at me?" Haru asked.


    "You told me what to expect when you first rejected me. And I told you that I am willing to deal with anything did I not? I am okay with you going for a while. It just gives me time to miss you and n what I want to do with you the next time I see you." She said happily and then opened the door to her bedroom.


    "You''re so cute." Haruughed and then followed behind her and sat down on the edge of her bed.


    "So this is the first choice." She held out a pink skirt with two ck stripes around the bottom of it. And a white long-sleeved t-shirt.


    "You are going to have to try it on for me to decide." Haru grinned. Suyin looked back at him with a surprised look in her eyes.


    "Fine." She said and without a second thought, she began to undress in front of him. As she got down to just her underwear Haru stopped her.


    "You know. I think I am going to like this look right now much more than any of the outfits you have picked out." Heughed.


    "I bet you will." She giggled and then bent over to put on her socks. Giving him an even better view.


    "You''re doing this on purpose aren''t you?" Haru asked.


    "Maybe" She giggled and then carried on with getting dressed.


    "Done." She said and then did a little spin to show off her outfit.


    She was wearing the pink skirt and white t-shirt with white thigh highs and sneakers. Each piece of clothing seemed to perfectly fit her body type and the overall look made Haru silent.


    "So what do you think?" She asked with confusion as she noticed Haru looking her up and down like he was eying up a meal.


    "Come here." He said quietly.


    Suyin did as he asked and walked over to where he was sat on the edge of the bed.


    "What is it?" She asked and learned over to be at eye level with him.


    "I love it." He said before kissing her again.


    "You do? I bought everything that I am wearingst week. I wanted tolook cute for you." Suyin said with a smile.


    "I want you to wear this. I don''t care about anything else. You look amazing." Haru said before Suyin jumped at him with a hug. Pushing him down onto the bed.

 Chapter 104: I love it!

    Chapter 104: I love it!


    Haru looked up feeling Suyin''s breath on his face. He moved his hands down and grabbed a hold of her hips. She wriggled a little bit but it was no good. Haru already had hold of her.


    He then sat up and held her on hisp as he had done earlier. But as soon as he did, there was a gentle knock on the door and then it slowly creaked open.


    "Hey, Can I borrow another one of your books please?" Chen''s voice came through the doorway as his head peeked around the door.


    "Not now! Go away!" Suyin shouted back toward the door.


    "Alright, Alright. I wille backter." Chen walked away in defeat after waving at Haru.


    "Now, Where were we?" Suyin asked and smiled at Haru.


    "I believe we were at the part where we go back to mine and I take a shower and get ready." Haru smiled and stood up before putting Suyin back down on the floor.


    "Aww, You''re no fun" She pouted.


    "I was going to let you shower with me. But if you are going to be upset with me then I don''t see why I should." Haru said as he grabbed the door handle.


    "That''s so not fair!" Suyinined.


    Haruughed the whole way back to the car that was waiting for them outside. Haru got in first followed by Suyin. The driver seemed to be distracted by something on his phone and didn''t even notice them get into the car until Suyin made a fake coughing sound to grab his attention.


    "Ahem. Can you take us back to Haru''s ce please?" Suyin asked the driver.


    "Sure thing." The driver from earlier said and then began to buckle his seatbelt. He made no effort to give a warning to either Haru or Suyin before he took off as fast as he could.


    "Why does he always do this?" Suyin asked as Haru had to brace her with his arm so she wouldn''t get whish from her head being forced back due to the sudden eleration.


    "I don''t have a clue. Maybe he is just crazy" Haru said. They spent the car ride chatting about the driver''sck ofmon sense when he sped between tiny gaps in traffic just to get to the destination a little faster.


    "We''re here. Would you like me to wait out here?" The driver turned and asked Suyin and Haru with a smile on his face.


    "No that''s okay. I think we will just walk into the city. We are already nearby so it shouldn''t take too long. You can head back home if you want to." Suyin told him.


    The driver smiled after he had heard her say that. It meant that he would have the rest of the day off to do whatever he wanted to. Although the only thing he probably did in his spare time was speed through traffic like a mad man.


    Haru and Suyin both got out of the car and headed inside Zen''s house. The cleaner seemed to have already finished up and headed home since the house waspletely void of life apart from Xue who was sleeping on the couch until she heard the door open.


    She quickly jumped up and ran over to the door to greet Haru and Suyin whilst wagging her tail in excitement.


    "Aww, Look Haru. I think she missed me" Suyin said and then kneeled on the floor to pet her.


    "She probably did. It has been like half a month since youst came over so it''s only natural. Anyway, I''m going to get ready now. Just make yourself at home. Do whatever you want." Haru told Suyin before heading toward the stairs.


    "No shower together? I was looking forward to that." Suyin pouted again.


    "Maybe some other time. I don''t think that I would want to go on a date with you if you joined me so it is probably for the best." Haruughed and then went about his business leaving Suyin downstairs with Xue.


    Around twenty minutes went by before he came back downstairs. Haru was now wearing ck slim-fit jeans, A white branded t-shirt of some sort and a grey hooded jacket. He decided to dress more forfort than to look good.


    "How do I look?" He asked Suyin who was zoned out watching TV. Suyin then turned her head to look at him walking down the stairs.


    "Handsome. That is how you look." She smiled and began to get up from the couch. She brushed a few dog hairs from her skirt and then walked over to Haru.


    "Can we go now?" She asked with an excited look on her face.


    "Of course. Let''s go." Haru reached down to hold her hand and then they headed out. They walked down the long road toward the city and then out into the high street.


    "You know? we should have just had your driver take us. It is going to be a long walk to the shoppingplex." Haru said as they continued to walk hand in hand.


    "Yeah, Maybe but now I get to spend much more time with just you. I missed spending time like this with you." Suyin smiled and the squeezed his hand tighter.


    "So cute." Haru teased as they continued. They walked for what must have been around thirty minutes before they finally reached the main shoppingplex.


    There were hundreds if not thousands of different stores in all directions and today seemed to be particrly busy. People were walking in all directions like schools of fish swimming through the ocean. It might have been enough to overwhelm Haru a few years ago but he had gotten used to the business of living in the heart of a city.


    They stopped to get drinks before going inside the cinema to watch a sappy romance movie that neither of them enjoyed beforeing back out slightly disappointed.


    "Well. That was a shit show" Haru said as they left.


    "Yeah. What even was that? How did they fall in love if he kept being abusive toward her all the way through? It just didn''t make any sense." Suyinined.


    "So what are we going to do now?" Suyin asked Haru as they walked back outside to the busy streets.


    "I think I have an idea. But I don''t want to ruin the surprise just yet. I want you to follow me." Haru said mysteriously as he began to lead Suyin by the hand back through the city and back toward the way they hade from earlier.


    Suyin was confused but she didn''t want to ask too much about where they were heading. She loved surprises and hadpletely no idea what was happening so she stayed quiet in anticipation.


    They walked for half the time they did previously and stopped outside of a jewellery store. Suyin looked at Haru with excitement.


    "You wanted to get me some jewellery?" She asked him with a smile.


    "Yeah. I saw something they had in the window thest time that I came down here. I thought that it would be perfect for you. But it doesn''t seem to be here anymore. Let''s go in and ask." Haru said and led her inside the store.


    "Wee." A woman shouted out as they made their way through the door.


    "Hi, I am looking for a certain ne that you had in the window a few weeks ago. I don''t see it there anymore though." Haru exined to the woman at the counter.


    "Oh? What kind of ne was it?" The woman asked.


    Haru leaned over the counter and whispered something to her so that Suyin couldn''t here him. The woman stopped for a second and then looked at Suyin.


    "I think that is a perfect choice. I think we have that in the back. Someone came here to reserve it but didn''t end up buying it. So we took it off disy. I will be right back." The woman said and then walked through a wooden door on the other side of the counter.


    Haru looked back at Suyin who was smiling happily.


    "What are you so happy about? You don''t know what it is yet. What if you hate it? Haru asked her.


    "I would never hate a gift you gave me. And I am looking forward to having something that will let me feel a little closer to you if you ever have to disappear for another half a month." She giggled lightly before the woman came back holding a small ck box and was wearing a huge smile on her face.


    "Good news. We still have it." She said and then put the box down on the table.


    "That will be" She began to type in a number onto the screen.


    "The price doesn''t matter. I will pay with my card." Haru looked at her with some intensity. He didn''t want Suyin to know how much it costs. She was too humble to ept an expensive gift so he had to find ways to make sure that she would never know the price of things.


    The woman seemed to understand what he meant. She simple nodded her head and handed the card scanner to Haru.


    Haru scanned the card and then took the box off the counter and headed back outside with Suyin. The woman waved to them and told them toe back again as they made their way back outside into the street.


    "Here. No, you can see it." Haru handed the box to her right outside the store.


    Suyin looked at the box for a second but then opened it right away. Revealing the little sword pendant that hung from a white gold chain with a shard of smoothed obsidian as the de.


    "I love it! It reminds me of you perfectly. Especially all the times I know you are fighting with someone." She said sarcastically and then kissed him.


    "Thank you." She smiled and then handed the ne back to Haru for him to put it around her neck.


    He did so as gently as he could since the chain was rtively thin and he didn''t want to damage it. He then took a few minutes to admire how the ck rock on the de seemed to make her eyes glow more noticeably before heading back to Zen''s house for dinner.

 Chapter 105: Dinner.

    Chapter 105: Dinner.


    Haru and Suyin made their way back up the long road toward Zens house. It took them about five minutes in total as they walked hand in hand. As they finally reached the gate to Zens house Haru noticed the lights on inside.


    "Oh, It looks like Zen is back already." He said as they walked through the gates and up to the front door.


    He then unlocked the door and entered. To his surprise, the house waspletely silent. He looked in the living room first but there was no sign of Zen anywhere. He then decided to use his Qi to search for him.


    He was in the kitchen. Which was strange, The only time the Zen spent in the kitchen was when they were eating breakfast. Haru opened the door to see Zen stood next to the stove.


    The smell of roast pork drifted into the air as Haru and Suyin entered the room. ''Since when could Zen cook? I have lived with him for three years and I haven''t seen him make anything other than a sandwich this whole time.'' Haru thought.


    "Hey, we''re back," Haru announced himself from the doorway.


    "Good. I was going to call you soon. Dinner is almost ready so don''t disappear again." Zen said as he pulled off a little strip of pork and put it in his mouth.


    "Okay. We will be upstairs." Haru said and then began to walk towards his room with Suyin following close behind.


    As they entered the room the curtains were still drawn and the light from the setting sun was dispersed by the fabric draped over the windows. Haru walked toward the window and threw back the curtains causing the light to flood the room.


    "Hey. What''s this?" Suyin asked and pointed toward the brown envelope on the bed.


    "Oh, That must be the letter tat Zen left here. It''s probably about Hudan university. Should I open it now?" Haru asked.


    "Sure go ahead. But I still don''t like that we are going to be apart for so long." Suyinined. Hudan university was on the other side of the country so it would limit the time they would be able to spend together.


    "It will be fine. I won''t be able to visit you often anyway. You are going to be too busy making a career for yourself. You will just have toe and see me when you are in town doing shows or something." Haru said.


    "You really think too much. There is no way that I will be doing shows for a while. If at all. That rarely happens to anyone. I will be lucky to produce a single record." Suyin spoke with a hint of sadness. She didn''t believe in her talent the way that Haru did. But only time would tell.


    "You will do great. You are an amazing singer. I bet you will have your debut before the end of the year. And then you cane and visit me in shanghai." Haru smiled at her and then began to open the letter.


    "Dear Mr Haru Kitagawa. We are delighted to be able to ept you as a student to our university. Although you haven''t chosen what subject you would like to study we wanted to gift you the opportunity to pick when you get here instead of beforehand.


    When you arrive on campus. We will have our Representatives give you a full tour of our facilities and then you will be able to choose what you want to study.


    Your application for a full schrship has been approved by our governors and we have decided to offer you a grant for twenty thousand yuan per month. And amodation on campus to show our gratitude for you picking our university.


    Sincerely, Wei Long - Ambassador for Hudan university." The letter read with a bunch of other information about the university including start times for the semester and contact information if he needed to ask any questions.


    ''Twenty thousand? That isn''t bad. It isn''t nearly the amount the other people were offering but I don''t really need the money right now. But I guess I will just save it.'' Haru thought as he finished reading the letter.


    "That''s amazing. I guess this is the treatment you get for getting first ce in the ranking for the whole country." Suyin praised him for his hard work.


    Little did she know that the only reason that Haru had scored one hundred per cent in all of his exams was that he had his brain capacity boosted by a dragon singing to him. Haru smiled and nodded as he looked back at her.


    "Did it say anything about breaks? I don''t want to interrupt you if I visit during the middle of the semester." Suyin asked.


    "Don''t worry you can visit whenever you want to. I think I will be able to keep up with the work just fine. I will have a lot of free time don''t worry about it." Haru smiled and kissed her.


    "What was that for?" Suyin asked as she pulled back.


    "Worrying about me. I found it cute." Haru smiled again but they were soon interrupted by the sound of Zen calling them for dinner.


    "Haru! Suyin! Dinner is ready!" His voice shot upstairs.


    Haru and Suyin both got up and made their way to the kitchen were Zen had alreadyid out the food on tes at the table.


    "What is it?" Haru asked as he walked through the door. Not really paying attention.


    "I made honey roast pork and rice. It isn''t anything too fancy but I wanted to try cooking so I just went for it. I hope it isn''t too bad." Zen said as they sat down.


    "So what did you want to talk to me about?" Haru asked Zen who had already begun to dig into his food.


    "It''s actually about today," Zen replied.


    "Yeah? What about it?" Haru asked once again. He was confused at which part he was referring too. He then looked at Suyin who looked kind of worried. Haru had yet to tell her about what happened when he went to find Zen in the morning.


    "Well, That guy who came in the car. He happens to not just be the head of a crime family but he is also the son of a very well known cultivator. I am worried about himing for revenge for what happened." Zen warned Haru.


    "I doubt it is anything to worry about. There is an organization that monitors all the cultivators in the country. There is nothing to worry about. If anyone causes too much trouble they are silenced by the higher-ups." Haru exined.


    "Wait there is a cultivation organisation? Why haven''t I heard about this?" Zen asked as it was the first time he heard anything like this. All he knew was that cultivators were rare and hardly ever made an appearance in society.


    But it seemed like that theory was bing less and less true. Where ever Haru seemed to go he would attract more cultivators. It was like they were all drawn to him in one way or another.


    Although Shenzhen was a rtivelypact city. It wouldn''t go unnoticed if a new cultivator showed up so Haru wasn''t sure why no one had tried to contact him so far. Maybe he just wasn''t strong enough to show up on the radar of anyone nearby.


    "Yeah I only met them once but they seemed pretty strong. They stopped a fight that I was having with another cultivator." Haru exined.


    "Why didn''t I hear about that?" Zen asked.


    "You did. It was just covered up though. Do you remember when that dust storm covered a few blocks? That was actually the result of a fight I was having with another cultivator. He was part of the group that kicked in your door and aimed guns at us.


    And he wanted revenge or something." Haru said and then was interrupted by Suyin.


    "Wait. The time that Chen had passed out and didn''t wake up for a few hours. You were fighting against someone? Why did you tell me?" She asked.


    "Well, I know you don''t like it when I fight I didn''t want to worry you. If I told you about how he tried to sneak attack me and ended up knocking your little brother out in the process then your dad would try to hunt him down and probably get himself killed doing so." Haru exined.


    "Still. You should have told me." Suyin said bluntly.


    "I''m sorry. You''re right I should have. I promise to tell you in future if anything like that happens again." Haru said.


    They then ate dinner and discussed the situation a bit more before Haru and Suyin decided to head to bed. They slept in Haru''s room after watching a few movies all the way into the early hours of the morning.

 Chapter 106: Day in.

    Chapter 106: Day in.


    Haru awoke to a knock on his door. He opened his eyes feeling the gentle breath of Suyiny beside him on his neck. He turned to face her. She had her arms wrapped tightly around his body and her legs over his.


    Her long brown hair was spread out across his chest and her eyes were sealed shut in her deep slumber.


    He put his hand on her back and slowly rubbed it to wake her up without startling her.


    "Mhmm." Suyin moaned in confusion as she slowly began to wake up. She looked up at Haru with sleepy eyes and then rubbed them to bring his face into focus.


    "Good morning sleepy head." Haru joked. Suyin just looked back at him for a few seconds before nting a kiss on his neck.


    "Good morning." She said and then began to sit up. It was already noon. They had slept through the whole morning like it was nothing.


    "Haru are you in there?" Zen shouted from the other side of the door. Followed by another knock.


    "Yeah, I will be out in a minute. Just hold on for a moment." Haru said back and then began to get out of bed through Suyins protest by grabbing his arm.


    "Cuddle me a bit more please?" She asked.


    "Sorry. No can do. If you are still sleepy when Ie back I will cuddle you more. But for now, I have to go." He said and then put on some clothes from his closet and walked out into the hallway where Zen was waiting for him.


    "What is it?" Haru asked. It wasn''t like Zen to knock on his door. If he needed something he would usually send a text and wait for him to wake up.


    "I need your help with things this week. I was wondering if you would like to go to work with me?" Zen asked.


    "Go to work with you? What do you mean? Right now?" Haru asked.


    "No, not right now. Butter in the week. We have a business meeting with a client from overseas. He is some kind of international businessman from Europe. He said he wanted to hire a few of our bodyguards but he wanted to pick them.


    But from what I have heard he is a bit of a tough character. He is well known for picking fights with people so I wanted to have a bit more protection. It''s not that I don''t think that my men are not capable. But Jake said you can stop bullets now right?


    I know it is a lot to ask but can youe along with me? I don''t expect anything to go wrong but it would be nice to have you there just in case it does." Zen exined. It wasn''t like Zen to ask something like this of Haru so it must have been something serious.


    "Sure. If you think that I would be of help I will go with you. I just don''t want you to feel like you are invincible with me there. Even if I am there I can''t promise that I will be able to protect you if things get serious. But I will try to." Haru exined back to him. He didn''t want to make a promise that he couldn''t keep so he was honest from the start.


    "That''s okay. I''m sure everything will work out okay. And with any luck, the man who ising to meet me isn''t as bad as the rumours say that he is.


    "Yeah, With any luck. So do you need anything else?" Haru asked. As they both lingered in the hallway awkwardly.


    "No. That is it thanks." Zen responded and then began to walk back downstair. But stopped halfway.


    "I''m heading out to work now. If you want to make some food. I had the fridge stocked this morning, You should be able to find something. See ya." Zen shouted when he was halfway down the stairs and then carried on out of the front door to where his driver was waiting for him.


    The sound of tires screeching against concrete sounded out before slowly fading into the distance. Giving Haru the sign that they were now the only people here. He then headed back to his room were Suyin was patiently waiting for him.


    "Are you still tired?" He asked with a smile on his face already knowing the answer.


    In response, she held out her arms and invited him to get back into bed with her. Haru didn''t refuse the offer. He took off his clothes and theny back down. Suyin wrapped her arms around him and then picked up the TV remote that had slipped down the side of the bed during the night and switched the TV on.


    "I miss days like this," Haru said and he squeezed her a little tighter ion his arms. There was no response from Suyin. She only smiled a little wider as she rested her head against his chest and looked toward the now ying TV.


    The rest of the day flew by in a sh. The spent the whole day in bed without eating at all. They probably would have stayed like that for much longer if Suyin didn''t notice the light slowly being drawn from the room as the sun set over the horizon.


    "Wait what time is it?" Suyin asked and then reached over for her phone.


    "Shit. We have been in bed all day. I was supposed to have dinner with my family tonight Ah well. I will just tell them I have already eaten and then get something on the way back. She then smiled and slowly sat up once again.


    "Are you going home now?" Haru asked.


    "I have too. My dad won''t let me stay with you again if I just stay for two nights without discussing it with my mom first." She said and then swivelled her legs over the side of the bed.


    Haru did the same and then reached for the night stand. Grabbing the ne he had bought the night before.


    "Make sure you don''t forget this." He said and then put the ne around her neck." She shivered slightly from the coldness of the metal against her skin but quickly adapted before Haru could even finish putting the sp in ce.


    After a few seconds of fiddling around with the ne, he had finally done it. Suyin was now already half-dressed. She had a spare set of clothes already at Haru''s house so she could stay over as soon as her parents gave her permission to.


    She then stood up and put on one of Haru''s shirts.


    "You don''t mind if I take this to do you?" She asked with a shy smile.


    "Not at all," Haru said back and stood up.


    "Are you going to walk me to the door?" Suyin asked as she was already fully clothed.


    "No. I aming with you. Just give me a few minutes." Haru replied and then put on his own clothes.


    "You really don''t have to." Suyin began toin.


    "I know I don''t have to. I want to. And I kind of want to go for a walk once I know that you are home." Haru said and then began to put on his shoes. He had just put on shorts and a t-shirt. Hardly appropriate clothing for the cold nights of Shenzhen but it didn''t matter much.


    Kun''s power would keep him warm all year round and even in the coldest of countries. It wasn''t something that he would have to worry about but Suyin seemed concerned when she saw what he was wearing.


    "You are just going to wear that? You will catch a cold." She said in a matter of fact tone.


    "Ahh, I will be fine." Haru sighed and then they both walked down to the main entrance.


    Suyins phone rang out. She looked down at the screen and then paused for a second.


    "Shit. It''s my dad. I will be right back." She said before walking into the living room for a second.


    "I don''t care what you think! I am eighteen now. I am not a kid anymore. What I do is my choice. Why should you get the right to decide what I do for a living? I want to make music! Not sit in an office for twelve hours a day answering phones." Suyin began to shout suddenly soon after she walked into the living room.


    She then walked back out as if nothing had happened.


    "Are you okay?" Haru asked. After hearing here shouting he thought that she would tell him but she simply acted like everything was fine.


    "Yeah, Just my dad being stupid again. He was talking about getting me a job at hispany." She began to exin before being interrupted by the horn of the car outside.


    Haru opened the door for Suyin before heading out and locking the door behind him. The chilliness of the air hit him but only for a moment before he began to circle the warmth of Kun''s fire around his body.

 Chapter 107: The Soul Tempering Grounds.

    Chapter 107: The Soul Tempering Grounds.


    The car ride was rtively short due to the reckless driving. But they had both gotten used to it by this point all though not many people would actually enjoy being driven around by a mad man.


    The car pulled up outside Suyins house just as the sun disappeared into the distance. The streetlights began to light up the city on by one and a cool breeze rolled in with the clouds.


    "I will miss you," Suyin said before hugging Haru as tightly as she could.


    "I''m going to miss you too. But you cane over whenever you want to." Haru reassured her before saying goodnight with a kiss. And watched her until she entered her house. As he turned he saw the taillights of the car that he hade in turning the corner.


    Haru sighed as he started to regreting out for a walk. ''What should I do now? He thought before pulling out his phone.''


    "I might still be out when you get back. Don''t wait up for me. He sent a text to Zen and then carried on with his walk.


    Headlights passed in both directions as he walked through the city streets toward arge forest on the outskirts of Shenzhen.


    "Lao, What is the best way to improve with a sword? I have been thinking a lot recently and I want to learn how to fight with a sword." Haru asked using his spiritual sense tomunicate.


    "You what to learn how to fight? Just use the technique that I gave you. That''s all you need to do. I purposely made it easy for you to understand so you wouldn''t need to ask me for help." Lao said back.


    "But that is just the thing. I feel like cultivation is useless right now. I haven''t been able to fight someone to my fullest extent. I mean it is fun being strong but I feel useless." Haru replied.


    The was a pause of silence before Lao chuckled to himself.


    "You are just like Li Jun. He had the same mindset as you. Although muchter in his training. I didn''t expect you to feel like this so early on. Well, I have a way you can fight strong enemies and improve your swordsmanship but it''s a little dangerous." Lao warned him.


    "You do? Then what is it? I don''t have to go anywhere do I?" Haru asked. Confused. He wasn''t sure what Lao meant. ''Why wouldn''t he say so before if there was a ce close by where he could go to train?'' He thought.


    "Well, you won''t have to go anywhere physically at least. It''s a ce called the Soul Tempering Grounds. Many of the sects in the upper realms send their disciples there to train.


    No matter how injured you get you won''t be affected physically so it is the perfect ce to test your fighting capabilities. All though you could receive a serious injury to your soul if you aren''t careful.


    The Soul Tempering Grounds are a bit of a problem though. I won''t be able to step in to stop anything from happening to you." Lao said and then waited for Haru to respond.


    "That''s fine. I did ask you if you knew a way. I can''t ask you to save me if I get into trouble after asking you for something." Haru smiled as he walked deep into the forest.


    "Then let me exin a little bit more to you so that you understand.


    First of all, the reason that I won''t be able to save you is that your soul will be taken to a different ce from your body. Unless I attached myself to your soul instead of the ring I won''t be able to do anything. But that wouldn''t be any good since your body couldn''t handle a piece of my soul.


    Secondly, The way the Soul Tempering Grounds work is by sending your soul into a small world with another person''s soul. The only way to escape the small world will be by defeating the other soul. There are no referees to stop the fight. You either have to damage the person''s soul or make them surrender.


    There will be people much stronger than you right now but you shouldn''t worry too much when you arrive. They have a system for selecting opponents. It takes into ount the strength of your soul and your cultivation level. You will always be matched with someone either as strong as you or at the same cultivation level.


    There is also another feature with the soul tempering grounds though. These small worlds you are sent to are often inhabited by soul beings. They are the souls of beings or beasts that have not entered the cycle of reincarnation.


    If you destroy the soul of these beings you will absorb their soul essence and it will temper your soul. So you shouldn''t expect to fight your opponent right away. You should take the time to strengthen your soul. If not then the other person could, in theory, strengthen their soul to the point where defeating you bes child''s y.


    Everybody who enters the grounds knows about this so that is the main strategy for defeating your opponent. But that isn''t the best way to strengthen your self before the fight. And you shouldn''t focus on it.


    Since you are from the lower realm you are used taking in the high amounts of Qi that exist in the upper realm so it will be a huge advantage for you to just cultivate. Although it won''t be cultivating your body since your body will be here.


    But it will strengthen your soul. It will trick your soul into thinking that you have achieved a higher cultivation than you actually have so it will strengthen its self to keep up with the non-existent cultivation. The only problem is that if you do it too much you will start being matched against much stronger people.


    So make sure you are careful or else it wille back to bite you." Lao exined everything that Haru needed to know.


    "That is a lot to digest all at once but I will make sure that I am careful. But how do I surrender if the fight is too much for me? Is there any consequence for doing so?" Haru asked.


    "All you have to do is say that you give up. And no there isn''t a consequence for giving up. But cultivators especially human cultivators are very prideful and won''t give up easily. If you gave up too easily it might even affect you when you make it to the upper realms.


    There are lots of sects that won''t do any business with people who are known to give up in battle. They are seen as weak or a coward so even in the Soul Tempering Grounds people will fight each other as if their life depends on it." Lao exined.


    "Are you serious? If I can''t handle the fight I have to wait until my soul is damaged to leave?" Haru asked now in shock. He didn''t even want to go if that was the case.


    "Well, I didn''t say that. I am going to give you something to disguise yourself so you don''t have to worry about anything. You will also encounter people who use connections with strong people to pressure people to give up so I will give you something to make sure they can''t track you down. Now find a ce to sit down and go into your soul ocean." Lao said.


    Haru carried on walking through the forest until he came to a clearing and a path opened up to the park next to Zen''s house. It was empty and everything was dark. But that was to be expected. So he made his way over to the pond and sat down at the edge of it before entering his soul ocean.


    "Okay, I am here," Haru said out loud as he entered his soul ocean. A few minutes went by before Lao showed up out of nowhere.


    "Okay. Here is my gift to you." He said and then suddenly a sh of red formed in the air above Haru''s face.


    "Close your eyes," Lao told him. Haru followed the order and closed his eyes. He wasn''t quite sure what to expect but he knew Lao wouldn''t harm him.


    As Haru stood with his eyes ssed he began to feel something hard pushing against his face followed by a soft fabric material at the back of his head. But he kept his eyes closed and stayed still.


    "You can open them now," Lao said.


    Haru then opened his eyes to find his vision slightly obstructed by a crimson light, He wasn''t sure what it was but he knew that there was now something on his face that was emitting light.


    "What is it?" He asked Lao.


    "I made a mask for you. And if I say so myself it looks great. I used my Qi to form it so you better be happy with it." Lao joked.


    "You used your Qi to make a mask how is that possible?" Haru was confused.


    "Simple. You right now are able to liquefy your Qi. But when you reach the Transformation stage you gain the ability to solidify your Qi. So you can create anything you want out of Qi if you really want to. Although it does take a lot of practice. But I am sure you will be able to do it one day." Lao exined and then looked at Haru onest time.


    "It will be morning soon if you don''t stop asking questions. If you want to go you had best get going now." He said suddenly before a white circle began to form in the air in front of Lao.


    It looked simr to the spell that mages use to create a spacial rift so Haru didn''t need to think twice before stepping into the blinding light

 Chapter 108: Family Secret.

    Chapter 108: Family Secret.


    The light was blinding as Haru stepped through the portal he looked around amazed at what he saw before him. He was stood in some kind of yard. There were crowds of hundred if not thousands of people. Some of which didn''t look human in any single way. Some had dark grey skin and others looked human but had pointed ears


    ''The three major races of the upper realm are The Elven n, The Demon n and The Human n. The elven n must be the people with long pointed ears.


    They are just how Lao exined them to me. And that means the others with the grey skin are the demons? I thought they would be scarier than this. I guess the three races are simr. There is almost no difference at all.'' Haru thought as he looked at the many people gathered together.


    "New fighters. You will need to register before you enter a fight. Come to the front of of the building to sign up." A woman''s voice called out.


    ''Okay, I guess this should be rtively easy right?'' Haru thought as he made his way through the crowd. He asionally bumped into a few people as he struggled to make his way threw but they were put at ease with a simple apology.


    As Haru reached the front of the building he stood back in awe. This was by far the biggest building he had ever seen. The height was much taller than any skyscraper he had seen back on earth. There was a solid stone path that leads toward the entrance of the building. And the building seemed to be modelled after some kind of ancient pyramid.


    As he looked at the building he noticed there were other sections that looked like blocks stacked on top of each other, climbing up into the heavens. In a sense, it was simr to the Egyptian pyramids but the size was hundreds of timesrger.


    He then diverted his attention back down to the ground seeing the huge handwritten signs outside the front door.


    "All registrations are filled put in the reception." The sign read. Haru chuckled a bit as he read the signs.


    ''They seem more sophisticated then I thought they would be. I didn''t expect they would have a reception area. Lao made it out like people from the upper realms were all from worlds equivalent to the middle ages.'' Haru thought before heading up the steps and into the reception.


    As he entered it became obvious why Lao said that they didn''t have much technology. The room was clean with a solid white marble floor but the room was lit with torches, not lights. And there was no sign of anyputers. The closest thing was a huge screen like a panel that hovered in the middle of the room.


    It seemed to be a TV of some sort as it was showing a stream of two cultivators currently fighting in one of the small worlds. But there were no electronics. It seemed to be made out of pure Qi or some kind of artefact that used Qi to create a screen.


    He paid it no attention as he walked to the desk lined with hundreds of workers on the other side. He was currently stood in a line waiting for his turn toe but there seemed to be some kind of hold up at the front of his line.


    "Do you know who my grandfather is? He is Ral Jargo! Deputy leader of the demon n. Why should I write the cultivation technique I study? That is a family secret! I will have you beheaded you filthy elf. How dare you try to steal my n''s secrets!" A tall muscr demon shouted from the front of the line.


    "I''m sorry sir. It is protocol. I can''t change it. If you want to enter the Soul Tempering Grounds you will have to fill out the basic information on the document." The small elven girl responded in a neutral tone.


    "You''re Ral Jargo''s son? Hey you. Elf girl. Let him through without filling it." Another demon came out of seemingly nowhere and told the woman at the desk. She looked shocked for a moment and then nodded her head rapidly.


    "Ah, Yes elder!" She said and then folded up the sheet of paper before turning around and putting it on a pile with the rest of the signed documents.


    "Wait, You are Shin Mu the demon general! My father talks about you a lot sir. I have the utmost respect for you." The demon that was causing a scene changed his attitude.


    "This little act of mine is against the rules here. But as one of the elders, I can bear with the consequences. I hope your father can see this as a sign of respect for him." Shin Mu looked down at the demon in front of him.


    "Yes sir! I will tell my father how you helped me when I go back home." He said before Shin Mu vanished from the location he was previously stood.


    "Don''t you mean? IF, you go back home?" A woman''s voice asked the demon as he looked proud of himself.


    "Who said that? I will kill your whole family! Step forward and face me you coward!" He shouted into the line of people.


    It was silent for a moment before an elven girl with pretty blond hair and bright violet eyes stepped out and confronted the demon.


    "You couldn''t kill anyone even if you tried. My best guess is that you will be killed by the end of the day. It is always the loud mouth spoiled brat that is the first one to die. I have seen it countless times. Especially with your disgusting race.


    All you think about is despicable acts. You don''t even deserve to breathe the same air as me, so be gone you big oath! You are stinking out the whole room." She said to the demon which seemed to enrage him.


    "You are ying a dangerous game girly. Don''t you know who my father is?" He asked her with a menacing grin on his face.


    "I do actually. My older brother was the one who cut off his arm. Your father is a weak injured old man. There is nothing he could do anyway.


    He would just get his other arm cut off. But I will be the one to do it this time. So go ahead and call your father. You pathetic little boy." The girlughed and then walked over to the counter as the demon stood in defeat.


    Haru looked at the demon for a few seconds.


    "And what are you looking at mask boy!? I will end you!" He looked up to catch Haru staring.


    "Really? I would like to see how you are nning to do that." Haru used the breath of shadow technique to appear behind therge demon.


    "When I could kill you at any moment," Haru said whilst releasing murderous Qi on to the demon in front of him.


    The demon froze up and his body became stiff with fear. He hadn''t seen Haru move but he knew Haru was much faster than him.


    "You shouldn''t take things too seriously though. Hopefully, we will meet in the Tempering Grounds. I would love to see what you have to offer." Haru chuckled and then walked back over to his ce in the line.


    The elven girl looked at him with suspicion for a moment before handing the paper back to the woman at the counter.


    "Um Excuse me miss. You didn''t fill out the part about your cultivation technique." The woman at the counter said.


    "Sorry, It''s a family secret. I can''t fill it out." The girl said back.


    "I can''t just" The woman at the counter began to speak.


    When suddenly a ck sh appeared on the floor in front of the counter. A short old man wearing a pitch-ck clock appeared out of nowhere.


    "It''s okay n. She can go through without signing that. I owe her family a lot of gratitude." The old man stead in stable tone.


    "Um, Yes elder Han! I''m sorry for the inconvenience." The woman said back to the man before folding up the paper and calling over the next person in line.


    The elven girl stared at Haru all the way until he was called up to the counter.


    "Here you go, sir. You just have to sign this. And fill out the information here." The woman pointed as she walked him through what to do.


    "Name:" Haru read the first thing on the list and then thought for a moment. He needed to make a fake name or else he could be tracked down.


    "Luo Yang." He mismatched a couple of Chinese names before deciding on one. He needed to make his name sound believable.


    He then filled out the rest of the information as ndly as he could. Until he got to the part about the Cultivation technique. He left that part nk and handed the paper back to the woman.


    "Um. Mr Yang. You left the cultivation technique part nk. I really can''t let you through without filling it out. The other two people before you were an exception to the rule. I have to follow the orders of the elders here.


    "Sorry. It''s a family secret." Haru grinned as he spoke.


    A sh of white appeared as the sound of fabric rustling together sounded out behind Haru. He felt a hand on his shoulder but there was no hint of danger.


    "Sorry, n. I hate to bother you like this. But do you think you can let my friend Mr Yang through without signing that?" A gentle voice called out.


    Haru turned to see an old man. He seemed to be of the Human n as he had no distinguishing features. He had a long white beard and was dressed in a long white robe to go along with it.


    He smiled down at Haru for a moment before looking back at the elven woman at the counter.


    "Ah! Yes temple master! I will do it right away." The woman began to panic before folding Haru''s paper and putting it on the pile.

 Chapter 109: Jasper Waldon.

    Chapter 109: Jasper Waldon.


    Haru looked at the man who had appeared by his side in confusion. His eyebrows raised as he didn''t recognise the man at all. ''Aren''t all of these people from the upper realms? Why would someone help me out like this?'' Haru thought.


    "Thank you n. So Mr Yang. Do you mind if I have a chat with you in private?" The old man in white clothes asked with his hand still ced firmly on Haru''s shoulder.


    "Not at all. I would love to find out what you want to talk about." Haru said bluntly and then stared at the old man.


    Haru followed the old man with all eyes now on him. ''This guy seems to be pretty famous around here. I doubt he is up to no good'' Haru thought as he continued to follow him through a wooden door and into an empty room.


    The walls, floor and ceiling were all white and the only things within the room were a desk and two chairs. It seemed to be a meeting room of some kind but it looked too clean to be used that often. The man then looked at Haru for a few moments with suspicion.


    "I just have a few questions for you. Are you perhaps rted to Wen Yang?" The man asked and then looked down at Haru for a reaction but his face was still being blocked by the mask so there were no signs of facial expressions from him.


    "Wen Yang? No. I haven''t heard that name before unfortunately. Is there anything else you need? I kind of want to get matched for a fight before sunrise." Haru stated. And then crossed his arms impatiently.


    "That''s too bad. I owe that man a debt of life. But no matter how hard I look for him I can''t seem to find him. I thought you might have been his grandchild or something.


    But I''m d we have a young man like you in our Human n. Which city do youe from if you don''t mind me asking?" The old man seemed happy as he inspected Haru.


    ''You probably wouldn''t have heard of it before. I am from the lower realm. My teacher suggested that Ie here and practice for a little bit." Haru responded.


    "Oh? The lower realms? You are lucky. Time here flows hundreds if not thousands of times faster than the time in the lower realms.


    One week here should be around one hours worth of time in the lower realms. It depends on how far out in the universe your home is. What gxy are you from?


    My great grandfather actually came from the lower realms when he was younger." The old man seemed more interested in Haru now he knew that he was from the lower realms.


    ''I can stay here for a full week and it will only be an hour of time back home? What? Why didn''t Lao tell me this? I would have prepared better.'' Haru thought before realising he had been asked a question.


    "The milky way gxy. Do you know it?" Haru asked.


    The old man was silent for a minute before rubbing his beard for a few seconds.


    "Milky Way? I''m afraid not. You must be very far out in the middle of nowhere. That is even more amazing. Not many people from the lower realms will manage to reach this ce.


    But I do have another question for you. Where did you learn The Breath of Shadow technique? I have a student who is also studying this technique but he can''t seem to understand the concept of bing a shadow." The old man exined.


    "Um, Well my teacher taught me. And if you need a tip on how to learn the technique then you have to be in a room with as little light as possible. Can I go now?" Haru asked. Getting slightly fed up of the conversation. He then began to walk back toward the door.


    "Wait. One more thing Why are you wearing a mask?" He asked Haru as he stood in the doorway with his hand on the handle.


    "So I don''t have to worry about revenge if I decide to kill someone," Haru stated like the words meant nothing to him and then opened the door and walked back out into the main area of the pyramid.


    ''What an interesting child He didn''t even seem to care who I was Are all the cultivators from the lower realms like this? Maybe I should keep an eye on him.'' The old man dressed in white thought to himself as he watched the door to the room he was still standing in slowly close.


    Just as Haru was about to make his way outside he felt someone ring at him from across the room. He couldn''t quite pinpoint wherefrom so he used his Spiritual essence to find out where the re wasing from.


    He looked up. Instantly spotting the blond elven girl from earlier watching him from the corner of the room.


    "You! Human boy. Come here!" She shouted across the room causing it to go silent as everyone turned to see themotion.


    ''What is she thinking? Everyone here is a cultivator why is she causing so much attention?'' Haru thought to himself and then decided against interacting with her. He looked straight ahead and then made his way back outside into the yard that he had arrived in.


    "Hey! Are you death?! I told you toe here!" The girl''s voice followed him all the way outside as she ran after him.


    Haru paid no attention to her as he spotted something interesting. On the other side of the yard, there seemed to be little stone tablets with the same type of screen that they had inside the building. People ha gathered around them and formed a single file line.


    "Excuse me? Where do I sign up to fight?" Haru asked a passerby.


    "Just over there. The line is kind of long so you might have to wait a while." The passerby said and then pointed over to where Haru had been looking confirming his suspicions.


    "Thank you," Haru said with gratitude and then began to walk over to the line.


    "I COME HERE! STOP WALKING AWAY FROM ME!" The girl''s voice now shook the ground as she shouted at Haru.


    Haru turned to look at the girl stood at the top of the steps with her arms crossed. She looked down upon Haru and then smiled when she saw that he was looking.


    "Good. Nowe here." She spoke sternly.


    Haruughed to himself and then raid his hand in the air and slowly closed his hand into a fist but leaving his middle finger sticking up. He then shook his head in disappointment and turned to join the line.


    "How dare you! I will cut that finger" The girl began to shout.


    "How dare I? No. How dare you. I am not your servant and I don''t owe you anything. If you want to talk then youe over to me and talk. I am not going toe to you just because you order me to.


    Didn''t your parents teach you any better? I will give you a reality check. You are not important or special just because you have family connections.


    Nobody gives a crap who you are so don''t go around demanding things with an arrogant attitude. You look weak and foolish." Haru shouted back at her feeling confident that he could do whatever he pleased since he couldn''t be identified.


    The girl stood at the top of the steps, speechless. She didn''t know how to respond to someone talking to her like this. Her whole life she had gotten her own way but now she felt confusion as she looked back at Haru with a bit of understanding.


    She felt nervous as Haru stared at here waiting for a reply. But it never came. The girl then walked in the opposite direction without saying anything else.


    Haru then joined the line of people waiting to sign up for a fight. He wasn''t really paying attention when the person in front of him in the line turned and spoke.


    "You probably shouldn''t have spoken to that girl like that." The man turned. His voice was deep and coarse but his appearance was young and youthful. He had long brown hair and had pointed ears the stuck out from underneath his hair.


    "Why? Is she some kind of big shot in your n?'' Haru asked the elven man in front of him.


    "Something like that. Her great great grandmother is one of the three Elven gods. So she is seen as it stands that little girl is important to a lot of our people. It might be dangerous if people from her faction find out." The man warned.


    "Are you part of her faction? Should I be worried about you killing me right here?" Haru asked the man in a joking way.


    "No. I thought that was obvious though. Her faction of elves all have blond hair. I am a descendant of Waldon. That is why my hair is brown. And the other faction Well, they don''te out very often they have red hair." The man exined the three factions of elves to Haru.


    "You have factions based on hair colour alone? What kind of logic is that?" Haru asked in confusion.


    "I don''t know but it has been like that for many generations." The manughed and then held out his hand for Haru to shake.


    "The names Jasper Waldon." The elven man said.


    "I''m Luo Yang." Haru said with a stutter as he almost used his real name. He shook the man''s hand and then looked back as he felt a chill on the back of his neck.


    A dark shadow vanished from the steps as soon as he turned to look. ''What was that?'' He thought as he wondered about what he had just seen.

 Chapter 110: First Victory.

    Chapter 110: First Victory.


    ''Strange. I could have sworn that I saw somebody just there.'' He thought for a minute before turning back to Jasper who was still looking at him but with a little bit of confusion on his face.


    "Are you okay? You look" Jasper began to ask.


    "I''m fine. I just thought that somebody was watching me. It was probably nothing. I doubt I have to worry about it." Haru exined.


    "Oh, By the way Why are you wearing a mask? People usuallye here to make a name for themselves it looks like you are trying to do the opposite." Jasper asked Haru.


    "Well. If you don''t have a name for yourself you are seen as week right? So if I end up killing someone who has a family with strong cultivators they will hunt me down because I will be seen as weak. I don''t want to deal with the hassle of being chased back home by a strong old man." Haruughed.


    "So you n on killing the people you match up against? Not many people have the confidence to say something like that. You must be pretty strong right? Or do you have a secret weapon?" Jasper asked. He seemed to be sizing Haru up but it also didn''t seem like he had any ulterior motive. He was just interested.


    "I wouldn''t say I am strong. I would look pretty stupid if I imed to be strong and then get my ass kicked the first time that I thought someone. And for secret weapons. I only came here to fight using a sword. I wanted to improve my swordsmanship so my teacher me toe here." Haru replied.


    "Damn. You must be pretty strong for your cultivation level. Or your teacher is just an idiot. This ce has been more like a war zone than a training area for thest couple hundred years.


    The demon n finally got a seat at the temple so they are feeling reckless and more of theme here to kill members of the other ns just for fun.


    I hope you don''t get hurt you seem like a good kid. At first, I thought you might be here to help fight against the demons. But It looks like you genuinely just want to train yourself." Jasper said.


    The whole time they were talking they slowly shuffled closer to the front of the line and without realising it was already Jaspers turn to sign up for a fight.


    "Wow, That didn''t feel like it took too long. It was fun talking to you to pass the time." Jasper then turned to the tablet-like system made out of pure Qi and pressed a single button on the screen.


    "Fight." The button said and as soon as he pressed it he vanished into thin air.


    Haru took a step back when he saw it. ''Woah, It is just that simple? I thought there would be a small amount of time between pressing the button but that was instant.'' He thought before stepping closer to it and then taking a second to look at the screen.


    There was nothing to see. Just a small box of text that said fight. Haru didn''t hesitate. He was more interested to see where it would lead so he pressed the button without a second thought.


    Suddenly his body felt weightless as the ground vanished from beneath his feet and the air around him seemed to swirl. Then within a second of him adjusting to the feeling, he felt the ground beneath him once again.


    He looked around at the new scenery. It was unlike anywhere he had been before. The ground seemed to be like dirt but was pure ck in colour. It had a rotten stench as weird visible fumes began to rise from the dirt.


    "Ah, It''s good to see a fellow human nsman." A voice called out from behind Haru.


    Haru turned to see a man who looked to be in his early twenties. He had long ck hair and had no sign of ageing so he knew that they were simr in age. Although his clothes were fancy and simr to the clothes that they wore back in the ck star sect. It seemed to bemon that cultivators would wear long clothes and robes.


    It was probably the reason why people gave him strange looks when he was signing up to fight. His soul had just copied the form of his body so he was wearing the same shorts and t-shirt that he had gone out wearing.


    "I was hoping since we are both from the same n you could do me a favour and admit defeat. I would rather not injure you." The man said bluntly.


    Haru chuckled for a second before the man in front of him stomped his foot on the ground.


    "Did I say something funny? I am trying to be respectful." The man eximed.


    "Oh, Sorry no. I wasughing because you were being so blunt. But the answer is no. I am not going to admit defeat without knowing if I can beat you are not.


    "Fine then. How''s this?" The man said and then leapt toward Haru with a sword. He seemed slow. Well inparison to Haru''s speed it was nothing.


    Haru pulled out his own sword and made a block using the simple technique that Lao had taught to him. The de and the man both stopped immediately. The sword form Haru was using was more stable than his own and it showed with the single exchange of blows.


    "Okay. I admit you are a bit stronger than you look. But if you want to win then you will have to gather more power than me!" The man shouted before retreating and running away into the distance to defeat soul entities.


    ''What a weird guy I wonder what these soul entities are like anyway. Lao said they cane in many different forms. They seem interesting. But I should probably focus on cultivating the natural Qi from this ce. Although it seems kind of evil.'' Haru thought and then sat down on the floor.


    "Wait. Don''t." Kun said from the inside of Haru''s soul. The voice reverberated through his head.


    "Why what''s up?" Haru asked It wasn''t like Kun to warn Haru about things.


    "The Qi here. It is a demonic Qi. If you want to absorb it then You will need to purify it. If you just absorb it now then you will die. You don''t practice a demonic cultivation technique." Kun said matter of factly.


    "Um Then how do I purify the Qi?" Haru asked.


    "That is easy. Just create a barrier around you using my fire. Phoenix me can burn through anything so demonic Qi is nothing." Kun said proudly.


    Haru then once again closed his eyes and then created a barrier of golden mes around his body before absorbing the natural Qi that the small world had to offer.


    The Qi was flowing toward Haru much faster than the Qi on earth. In fact, it was much faster than the Qi inside the cave pool formation. Not to mention the purity of the Qi.


    With every breath, it was like he had just eaten something containing mint. It was refreshing but kind of stung in a strange way as his body absorbed the pure Qi. He carried on absorbing the Qi for what seemed like hours until he felt the ground shake beneath his feet.


    He then opened his eyes to see the man was now stood no more than a hundred metres away from him and had his sword drawn and hanging down next to his left leg.


    "Are you an idiot or something? You waisted all the time you could have spent killing soul entities to sit here and y with fire? Don''t be so confident in yourself I am much stronger than thest time we exchanged blows. There is no way you can stop me now." The man said before rushing Haru with his sword drawn.


    The power Haru felt in his dantian was much more powerful than it was previously. ''It must be the effects of my flooded soul ocean. I feel like I can break through to the next realm at any second but I am not being forced to breakthrough.


    My Qi just keeps going up and up with every second I cultivate. I don''t even know what stage I would be at if I broke through right now'' Haru thought in the few moments he had to bring his sword up to his face to block the attack the man hadunched.


    With just a twist of his wrist, Haru broke past the man''s defence by knocking the de away and taking a step forward at the same time. The distances were now messed up. The man opposing Haru couldn''t switch to a close-range fighting style before Haru''s sword quickly shed his neck.


    The soul form of the man''s body vanished much like Jasper did before it was Haru''s turn to fight. ''Does that mean he is dead or he admitted defeat?'' Haru thought before the sound of a bell rang out across thend.


    "Congrattions on winning your first fight. Luo Yang, you are now ranked at number five hundred and sixty-three million in our whole tempering ground. Congrattions on moving up in rank.


    You will now be forced to exit the small world." A woman''s voice called out from the sky. She sounded tired like she had said the same thing over and over again for many years.


    Suddenly the ground vanished beneath Haru''s feet once again and the same feeling of spiralling air wrapped around his body before he was thrown into a blinding light.

 Chapter 111: Maya.

    Chapter 111: Maya.


    "Woah" Haru whispered to himself as he stumbled into the light. He had gone back to where he started and in what seemed to be the exact same spot he had first appeared in the Soul Tempering Grounds.


    "I will never get used to that feeling." Jasper''s voice called out as he appeared in front of Haru. He held his head before turning around seeing Haru stood looking at him.


    "You are already out? So how did your first fight go?" Jasper asked Haru with a forced smile.


    "It was good. I managed to get a lot stronger. I had to absorb some demonic Qi but it all went fine." Haru told him before feeling a sharp pain in his head.


    "You''re feeling it too aren''t you? That happens to most people here don''t worry too much. It is just the effects of soul transporting. It doesn''t feel like it but your soul is actually ripped apart and put back together inside the small world." Jasper exined and then put his hand on Haru''s shoulder.


    "It''s lucky that they offer soul mending juice in the reception area. Come with me lets get some together. It will get rid of the pain." Jasper said and then they both began to walk up the steps back into the huge pyramid. As they entered it was silent. And there were a few looks of concern from other people.


    Haru looked around seeing a group of human nsmen standing together surrounding something or someone. As soon as he spotted them the group of people opened up revealing someoney on the ground panting and sweating profusely.


    It was the man that had just fought against Haru inside the small world. He seemed to be severely injured and was shaking as he punched the ground with his left hand.


    As soon as the group opened up to reveal Haru a few metres away the man''s attention changed. He looked up and noticed Haru. He recognised the clothes and mask that he was wearing and then jumped up off the ground and ran over to him.


    "You! Who are you? What is your name! Don''t you know who I am?" The man began to yell as loud as he could.


    "If I had a dor for every time I heard that phrase" Haru whispered and then looked back at the man. But before he could say anything he was cut short.


    "Shut up you idiot. He doesn''t care who you are. You are nothingpared to him little human now hurry up and get out of my way." The same familiar voice of the elven girl from earlier called out to the man blocking Haru''s path.


    "Y-you are" The man stopped and changed his attention to the blond elf who was walking toward him. He then looked back toward his group of friends who all shared the same expression that he did. Which was one of fear.


    As soon as he turned back to look at the blond elf his friends decided to take off running without him.


    "Wait up! Don''t leave me to die like this!" The man screamed before running off in the same direction, Following his friends back outside.


    "There''s no need to thank me. You are wee." The girl said to Haru with a proud look. She clearly thought that she was above over people so she acted without thought.


    "Okay, I wasn''t going to thank you anyway. And here''s some advice, don''t stick your nose into other people''s business. You might get hurt. There''s no need to thank me" Haru said and then turned back to Jasper.


    "So where do we get this soul mending juice?" He asked with a smile. Putting what happenedpletely out of his mind. Jasper looked on edge for a second as he looked at the elven girl stood behind Haru. She was clenching her fists down by the side of her body but there was no intent to attack.


    "Oh, Yeah. Follow me then." Jasper said nervously and then quickly began to walk toward the market ce.


    They walked along the corridor through the middle of the reception and then out into a small room before barding an elevator and heading up to the second floor. As they entered the elevator the elven girl also got on board.


    "Why are you following me?" Haru asked bluntly.


    The girl coughed out of shock. She didn''t expect him to ask her outright and honestly, she didn''t know why she was following him either. He already made it rtively clear that he didn''t like her but Haru was the first person to push here away and speak his mind in front of her. It was a new experience even if she didn''t like how it felt.


    "I''m not following you! I am heading to the market ce!" She shouted loudly. The elevator was small and seemed to be made out of some kind of metallic material so her voice echoed around like the inside of a tin can.


    "Okay, There is no need to shout," Haru said clutching his ears. He then looked to Jasper who was doing the same but it seemed like it was actually painful for him. ''I guess elves have sensitive ears.'' Haru thought to himself just as the doors to the elevator opened up.


    As soon as the doors opened Jasper stepped out, Followed by Haru. Jasper turned back to Haru for a moment and then nodded his head.


    Haru had the same thought. He nodded his head also shortly before They both took off running at full speed.


    Haru didn''t know where they were heading but jasper seemed to have a good idea where he was going as he dodged between stalls and people shopping.


    "Hey wait!" The girl shouted before running after them.


    It was no good. The girl seemed to be just as fast as both Haru and Jasper. They couldn''t get out of her sight as they tried to leave her behind.


    After realising they couldn''t escape Jasper was the first to stop. They had already made it to the store where they sold the soul mending juice.


    The whole room was very simr to the floor below. The ceiling was very high and the floor was white marble and the only difference was what was inside the room.


    Instead of the many desks and counters that were on the floor below them. This room was filled with many small tents and wooden huts all lined with valuable goods inside and out. Each store was very different and seemed to specialise in very particr things.


    There was an individual store for swords and spears. Every single weapon seemed to be ced in a store with weapons like its self. It was well ordered and nothing was out of ce.


    "Do you have any beast core?" Jasper asked Haru.


    "Beast core? Why?" He asked.


    "That is what people use as a currency here," Jasper exined.


    "Um No, I don''t have any." Haru said. He had only seen a single beast core in his whole life and it was destroyed after absorbing the Qi from it. He began to feel a little guilty.


    "It''s fine. Let me treat you then. They aren''t that expensive anyway." Jasper said before walking up to the store and handing over two beast cores. In return, he was handed two ss bottles filled with a red liquid. He came back holding them both in front of him.


    He held out his hand and offered one of them to Haru.


    "Hey, They might smell bad but they taste pretty good. Don''t let it put you off." Jasper warned Haru before popping out the cork on his bottle and drinking it in one.


    "I feel better already." He smiled.


    Haru looked at the drink in his hand and then took off the cap with his mouth. His nose was then flooded with a chemical smell as he looked down at the liquid that was seemingly bubbling inside the bottle.


    "Don''t wait too long. It will evaporate if you don''t drink it right away." Jasper warned him once again.


    And then without a second thought, Haru tilted his head back and mmed the bottle into his lips. The smell alone was enough to make him gag as each drop slid down his throat but Jasper was right, The taste wasn''t too bad. It reminded him of grapefruit.


    He finished drinking it and then stood still for a second. The light dizziness and the pain he felt in his head had vanished almost instantly.


    "It worked. That was more effective than I thought it would be." Haru said with augh. He kid of doubted it actually working but it surprised him.


    "Well yeah. That is what it was made to do." Jasperughed again and then turned his attention to the blond elven girl behind Haru.


    "Seriously Maya. What do you want? Why do you keep following us?" Jasper asked the blond girl who kept the same expression that she had in the elevator. It was a mix of sadness and anger.


    "None of your business! Shut up, Jasper." She shouted back at him.

 Chapter 112: Luo Yang.

    Chapter 112: Luo Yang.


    "If it is none of Jasper''s business then it must be mine right? So why do you keep following me? I made it clear that I don''t want anything to do with you." Haru stated as he turned to look at Maya, The short blond elven girl.


    "I- Uh I''m sorry." She whispered underneath her breath.


    "You''re sorry? What difference does that make? Do you even know what you should be sorry for? Or are you just saying you are sorry in hopes that you can manipte me into trusting you?" Haru asked. He had seen how she thought that she was above him earlier in the day so he was less trusting as to what her intentions were.


    "Fine. I am sorry for being a spoiled brat. I am sorry for shouting at you and I am sorry for speaking to you like you were a servant." Maya shouted. It seemed like it took a lot out of her to admit to her mistake but she seemed a lot more genuine than she did earlier.


    Haru loosened up a little bit. The way she admitted to her mistakes was somewhat respectable and Haru decided to here her out.


    "Okay. I forgive you. But why are you following me?" Haru asked her again.


    "Well, I uh. I''m lonely" She looked down at the ground with embarrassment.


    "Do you not have any friends you could hang out with?" Haru asked.


    "It''s not that I don''t have friends. I just don''t need them." She eximed. Her cheeks were slightly red while talking about this certain topic.


    "Oh, Well that''s too bad. I was just thinking that we could maybe be friends in the future. But If you don''t need any friends then I guess there is no point." Haru said with a smile. He sensed that she liked him for some strange reason.


    It was probably the fact that they had both made the same enemy at the same time. It felt to her like they were in it together but didn''t want to admit the fact that she wanted Haru to fight alongside her if it was necessary.


    "Wait I want to." Maya said quietly.


    Jasper''s ears pricked up and then looked over at her. She was looking at her feet and was fidgeting ufortably. She had never been in this situation. Usually, it was people asking to be friends with her. But this time she was forced to be on the offensive.


    "You do? Then I don''t have an issue with it as long as you tell me what you want from me." Haru smirked. It was still obvious that she had something in mind.


    "Fine, I will tell you," Maya said with a smile.


    "I want you to help me beat that demon from earlier." She said.


    "The one that was causing a scene in the reception? Why I don''t have anything against him. And why do you want to defeat him?" Haru asked. He was confused. He had only met the guy once and it seemed like Maya had only met him once also. But she wanted to defeat him for some reason.


    "Well, You won''t know yet since you entered the small world right after your interaction with him but he held a meeting with the demons right after you entered and they came up with a n to kill both you and me inside the small world next time we go in.


    I had someone spy on them and they said they would get the demon elders of the Soul Tempering Grounds to match us against demon fighters. I already brought it up with the elven elders but there is nothing they can do right now unless something happens." Maya exined.


    "Really? Do they want to match fighters against me to try to kill me? That''s fine by me. Hey, Jasper is there a limit on how many times I can fight each day?" Haru asked.


    "Um no. But you should really take this more seriously. I get that you are wearing a mask so you don''t have to live in fear of being hunted down but what if you die during a fight?" He asked, concerned for Haru''s life.


    "It''s alright. I have a few tricks up my sleeve. And if I feel like I can''t win against anyone I will just surrender. There is no point in fighting against someone stronger than me." Haruughed.


    "What?! You are actually willing to surrender? If you do that you will be seen as a failure. Your own human n will probably turn their backs on you." Jasper began to exin.


    Haru pointed to his face.


    "As you said I am wearing a mask. I have nothing to fear. The other people don''t even know me. Why would I care if they turn their backs on me? I could just go back home and take the mask off." Haruughed once again.


    "You are wearing that mask so you don''t have to deal with the consequences of your actions? That''s smart why didn''t I think of that before?" Maya began to talk to herself.


    "Of course. Why else would I wear a mask?" Haru asked.


    "I thought you were probably just ugly and felt embarrassed about people seeing your face," Maya stated.


    "Wow You have the mind of a child don''t you?" Haru said with hesitation. His smile now fading as he realised what he had gotten himself into when deciding to let this girl be friends with him.


    "No! I am not a child. I am much older than you. We elves just don''t age a fast as you humans do." Maya eximed.


    Haru turned to look back at Jasper. As Jasper noticed Haru looking at him he opened his mouth and sighed.


    "Yeah, Shes right. I think she is like thirty or forty in your human years. Although I did hear a rumour that she had the same mental age as an infant." Jasper whispered to Haru.


    "What! Who made up that rumour!?" Maya shouted.


    "I did, Just now." Jasper began tough.


    Haru sat back and watched them argue. It looked like they had a good rtionship although it seemed like there was some underlying hatred in both Jasper and Maya but it wasn''t directed at each other.


    "You guys seem close. How do you know each other?" Haru asked.


    As soon as he finished his question the mood seemed to be ruined. They both stopped and turned to look at Haru.


    "Well urm" Jasper began to say as he scratched the back of his head. His eyes showed sadness as he was about to speak.


    "We used to be friends a long time ago. Until my brother decided to kill Jaspers parents." Maya said calmly.


    "Your brother did? Why? What happened?" Haru asked.


    "There was no reason. My brother is just a bastard. I hate him so much. He didn''t like the food that Jasper''s family served at their restaurant so he killed them both in cold blood." Maya exined.


    "I''m sorry" Haru felt bad for asking. ''I guess I misjudged her a little bit. I thought she was a spoiled brat. But I guess she has nothing on her brother." Haru thought as he looked back over to Jasper.


    "Ah, It''s fine. I can''t be mad about it anymore. It''s all in the past." Jasper eximed and then turned around.


    Maya was about to reach out toward him until Haru grabbed her hand. She turned to look at him with confusion. And as soon as she looked at him he shook his head in disapproval. Thest thing that he needed right now was the sympathy of a family member of the person who was responsible for the death of his parents.


    It would just lead to anger. And Haru knew it all too well. During his time in the military, he was the target of much hatred and me for causing the death of countless soldiers, friends and family members.


    Maya seemed to understand and put her hand back down to her side as soon as Haru let go of her.


    "Well. I''m ready for another fight. Why don''t you twoe to cheer me on? Wait actually. I need you to do me a favour. Jasper?" Haru said changing the subject as smoothly as he could.


    "Oh, What is it?" Jasper turned and looked at Haru, His eyes now damp.


    "Sure what is it?" He asked holding in his emotions.


    "Lend me some best cores?" Haru asked.


    "Wait You just wanted me to give you money? I swear If you weren''t a good person I would have punched you right now." Jasperughed.


    "But sure. Just don''t spend them all." He handed a small red satchel over to Haru.


    "Thank you." Haru smiled and then ran back over to the store where they sold soul mending potions and bought four of them before returning back to Jasper and Maya.


    "Here. Now let''s go." He handed the satchel back to Jasper and then they all set off with Haru leading them back toward the elevator.


    As they walked out to the front door of the pyramid something crossed Maya''s mind.


    "Hey mask boy What should I call you?" She asked.


    "Oh, My name is H- Luo Yang" He while just almost telling her his real name by mistake.


    "You''re name is H-Luo Yang?" She asked, Imitating the sound that Haru had made before correcting himself.


    "No. It''s just Luo Yang. Sorry I had something stuck in my throat." Haru exined without realising Jasper had already begun to question Haru''s identity in secret.

 Chapter 113: Conflict.

    Chapter 113: Conflict.


    The crowd around the line to the small world transporters was much bigger than it was before and it seemed like something important was happening. The crowd only became bigger as Haru, Maya and Jasper joined in to see what was happening.


    "Hey what''s going on?" Jasper tapped a tall elven man on the shoulder and asked him.


    "Oh, Jasper. Do you know that guy who came and defeated a bunch of demon nsmen? He is going up against the eldest son of the demon royal family." The man turned and replied to Jaspers question.


    "Really? That human is fighting against prince Nox? He looked pretty strong but I don''t know if he is strong enough to defeat that guy." Jasper said quietly.


    "Yeah. Everyone else here thinks so too. People have already started making bets. You want in?" The man asked.


    "No, I will pass. I don''t have that much money in the first ce... I don''t feel like losing it all again." Jasperughed.


    "Okay, suit yourself." The manughed along and then made his way through the crowd.


    "So two strong people are going to fight? How do they n on getting matched against each other though? I thought people were matched at random?" Haru asked. He was still a little confused as to how some things worked there.


    "Well, it only matches you with people who have entered the small world recently. If no one enters for a while and then two people enter together it will match those two together." Maya exined it before Jasper had the chance to.


    "Oh, I see so as long as no one enters for a while then they will be matched against each other without any difficulty," Haru said out loud to confirm it to himself.


    "Pretty much," Jasper responded as the crowd began to make more noise.


    "That''s him!" A few people began to shout as someone came down from the steps at the front of the pyramid.


    Haru then turned around to see a man dressed in all ck. He was wearing some kind of tattered and matted fur cloak and had dark grey skin. His hair was slicked back and purple in colour with a slight curl that hung above his left eye. His fingernails and eyes were both pitch ck.


    "Who is he?" Haru asked as he says the attention he seemed to get as he made his way down the steps and toward the crowd of now cheering demon nsmen.


    "That is the Prince of the demon n. He has a reputation for being extremely brutal and uses a special soul torturing whip to strike his opponents. I heard he got it special made for when he enters the Soul Tempering Grounds just so he can inflict longsting damage on people." Jasper exined in a hushed tone.


    "Yeah. He is also sick in the head and has a reputation for killing his lovers after they can''t serve him anymore." Maya also whispered.


    It seemed that both the human and the elven n were talking bad about Nox as he came closer. But as soon as he reached the bottom of the steps they all went silent. He seemed to be using a technique to silence people within a certain distance.


    Haru looked around looking at people''s faces as they struggled to form words. But all that came out of their mouths were inaudible whispers.


    "He is really that bad?" Haru asked Maya. Before noticing that she also was unable to speak.


    Maya reached up toward Haru and tried to cover his mouth with her hands. She looked panicked and her eyes widened as soon as he spoke. But it was toote.


    Haru felt something strike his back with a lot of force as a loud crack echoed out. He then turned to see the man dressed in ck holding his arm out with a long ck whip that trailed all the way over to Haru.


    "I didn''t give you permission to speak, human." He said and then pulled the whip back. All eyes seemed to be on Haru now. And the people nearby all began to step away from him.


    Haru opened his mouth to speak but Maya quickly covered his mouth before he could say anything. He struggled for a second before finally prying her hand away.


    "Listen here and listen well. I don''t give a shit about your fucking permission or whatever. I will talk whenever I want to. You and your shitty little whip can''t change that fact.


    You''re lucky this is a safe zone or else I would shove that whip so far up your ass you will be bleeding for weeks! Try that again and I will take that whip and strangle you with it, you little bastard." Haru''s eyes were filled with rage as he shouted toward him.


    And then the thought came. ''This is a safe Zone. Why can he attack me? Shouldn''t someone be here to stop him? Will I even be able to defend myself?'' Haru began to think about a lot of different things and then quickly calmed down from his state of anger.


    But in the meantime a look of shock formed on the demon prince''s face. And then he pulled the whip back over his shoulder and swung it forward once again.


    The sound of the whip cracked through the sky once again but the impact vanished, as a sh of blue appeared in front of Haru.


    It was a man who looked to be in his early twenties. His skin was as smooth as ice and his hair was as dark as ash. He held his hand outstretched toward the demon prince with the end of the whip tightly grasped in his hand.


    "Aren''t we supposed to be fighting? Why would you bring the younger generation into this? Are you really that pathetic?" The manughed hysterically.


    "There''s nothing to fear young one! I will take revenge for the embarrassment you have suffered today!" The man yelled loudly as he looked at Haru.


    "Why are you shouting so loud? Do you have no respect? Don''t you know that elves have sensitive ears?" Haru asked as he saw many of the elven nsmen in the crowd covering their ears in pain.


    "Sorry I was just" The man began to say but Haru cut him short.


    "And what makes you think I need you to take revenge for me? If you didn''t show up just now I would have ughtered that bastard. Don''te here and interrupt the ass-kicking I was about to dish out and then act like you know me." Haru''s presence seemed to grow more and more intimidating as he scolded the man who had untrusted.


    "Ah, Whatever. Just go fight or something. I am not in the mood to fight anymore." Haru said and then began to walk up toward the steps to the reception area but stopped just as he was passing the demon prince.


    "If I ever see you outside the soul tempering grounds I will rip off both off your arms and beat you with them," Haru whispered as he carried on up toward the doors.


    He entered the reception and everything seemed quiet. It looked like everyone who was in the soul tempering grounds was already outside watching themotion happening.


    He looked over to see all the people at the reception area talking with each over since they had no work to do and then decided to take a seat at the opposite side of the room so he would be left alone.


    ''What was that about? I swear shit like this always happens and it is so infuriating. Why do people think it is okay to attack someone for no reason? I swear the next time this happens I am going to make them eat shit.'' Haru thought to himself.


    He was so lost in thought that he didn''t hear the footsteps approach him or the cough let out by the old man standing in front of him.


    He just continued reflecting on his feelings about what just happened until he felt a hand reach out and grab his shoulder.


    Out of reflex Haru jumped up and grabbed the arm tightly, not knowing who hade over to him. As he began to squeeze he felt no give.


    The flesh on the arm didn''t move a single millimetre as he squeezed with all his strength. He then looked up to see the same old man he had seen earlier in the day.


    "Quite the grip you have there. If I didn''t know any better I would think you were trying to tear my arm off." The man chuckled.


    "Oh, I''m sorry. You just startled me." Haru said as he let go of the man''s arm.


    "There''s no need. It was my fault for approaching when you were so lost in thought." The old man dismissed his apology and then lowered his arm down to his side.


    "So, Do you want to talk about what just happened?" The old man asked Haru.


    "You saw that?" Haru asked, surprised by the fact he knew.


    "Yeah, I saw the elder of the demon n rush outside so I went to investigate. We arrived just as that royal brat attacked you. I was going to go and bring it up with the elders but I saw your head in here and I wondered if you wanted toe along?" The old man spoke with sincerity.


    "What do you want from me?" Haru asked. He was confused about why the old man had invited him toe along. What motive would he have to bring an eighteen-year-old kid to a meeting with the elders?

 Chapter 114: Hidden Room.

    Chapter 114: Hidden Room.


    The old man stood still and looked at Haru for a few moments seemingly thinking of a good reason why to invite Haru toe. And then his eyes lit up as he thought of one.


    "Well, You are one of the parties involved. If you are not there to recall the events then they will dispute it. It will just save time calling you toe and have a talk with uster. I hope you don''t mind." The old man said in a friendly tone.


    It was strange. The more Haru tried to sense his intentions the more confused e became it was like this old man had no intentions at all and the next it felt like he was plotting something evil and then the next it was like he was nning to gift something to Haru.


    The strange feeling seemed to being from a bronze coloured bracelet on the old man''s wrist. Haru looked at it for a few seconds before feeling a strong urge to look up at the man''s face once again.


    His face waspletely neutral like he didn''t even realise Haru was checking out his bracelet.


    "Um. Yeah sure. I can go with you. It''s not like I have anything else to do right now" Haru responded.


    "Great. Then follow me." The old man smiled and then led Haru over to the elevator that he had used to go to the market ce. But instead of pressing the button to go to the second floor. The old man pressed the button to go to the eighth floor. Which was thest number on the keypad.


    "This way," The old man said as the door to the elevator opened up. Haru then followed him down a few long winding corridors before walking into what seemed to be a dead end.


    Haru was stood confused. ''Does he not know where he is going? Did we just get lost? I thought this guy was pretty high ranking here?" Haru thought as he looked at the nk stone wall in front of them.


    The old man then reached into the inside of his robes and pulled out what seemed to be a pendant of some kind. It had a long line crossing through a circle and had a smaller circr gem in the middle that was spinning in circles as he took it out.


    He held the pendant out toward the was and suddenly it emitted a green light. The green light shot out like aser beam. It hit the wall and started to circle around in a stream leaving behind a bunch of strange letters that Haru had never seen before.


    Before suddenly there was something he recognised. It was a character he had seen in an old ancient text when learning about magic. It was the book that helped him understand the celestialnguage as he called it. This was the word for darkness. But he still didn''t recognise the rest of them.


    "Excuse me. But what are these words?" Haru asked the old man.


    "Ah, that is right. You are from the lower realm. This is just one of the majornguages in the upper realm. It''s called Halran. It isn''t that difficult to understand. But after this whole thing is over I will help you learn thenguage.


    It is confusing since people speak many differentnguages so the upper realm made their ownnguage that is spoken universally. I guess we are lucky we are in a soul realm right now. Or else I wouldn''t be able to understand a word you have said to me this whole time." The old man chuckled just as the light on the pendant died down.


    Suddenly there were many words written in Halran on the wall. Some characters looked familiar to Haru but others were new to him. It was strange. He never thought he would find something that helped him learn magic linked to cultivation.


    "Maybe magic and cultivation and magic are not that different after all?" Haru thought as the wall started to shift.


    Bits off dust dropped down from the corners of the wall as it pushed back a few inches and then began to slide across the ground like a sliding door to reveal a room with a single desk in the middle. But the desk was big enough to be surrounded by at least thirty seats.


    And in each seat, there were people already sitting. Apart from the seat at the head of the table. Haru assumed that seat was reserved for the old man in front of him which was soon confirmed as he sat down.


    "Come in then." The old man turned after he sat down and looked toward Haru who was still standing in the doorway.


    "Haru could taste the powering from the room. Every single person in this room was many times if not hundreds of times stronger than he was. His tongue began to tingle from the energy that was being gathered in this room.


    "Okay." He stated. He was slightly nervous from the situation he had found himself in.


    "Oh, Luiya grab my friend Mr Yang, a seat please." The old man said to a woman who looked to be in herte twenties. She had long dark hair and pale white skin. Her eyes seemed to be a shade of blue but the vibrance of the colour was unlike anything that he had seen before.


    "Sure thing." She spoke in a soft gentle tone and then walked over to the other the side of the room as gracefully as a queen and then came back holding what would look like a throne in a normal building but here it seemed to be normal.


    She then gently ced it on the ground next to the seat she had just got out of and then looked over at Haru before patting on the armrest.


    "Any friend of Elias is a friend of mine. Come and sit with me, young one." She spoke in the same gentle tone that seemed to be inviting. Each word felt like she was trying to seduce him. But it was lucky that he had done some training to his soul with Lao in his soul ocean. If not he didn''t know if he would be able to resist the temptation.


    He stood there for a few seconds not knowing what to do. ''What should I do?" Haru thought. He didn''t want to offend a woman who could most likely crush him with her pinky finger so instead of causing a scene he decided to sit down anyway.


    "That''s a good boy. So tell me. What do you think about this ce?" She began to ask Haru as he sat down.


    "Urm It''s nice." He forced out whilst looking at the dark and dusty interior of the room. It was like it hadn''t been cleaned in months and it was made more obvious as he put his hand on the desk and picked up some dust on the bottom of his hand.


    The woman stared at Haru for a minute and then leaned over to him.


    "Hey, Do you think my eyes are pretty?" She leaned toward him so she could show off her eyes.


    "Yeah, They are very pretty. I like the colour" Haru forced out once again. He was so confused.


    "How?!" The woman suddenly stood up and mmed her hands on the desk angrily.


    "Why does it not work on you?!" She asked as she grabbed Haru by the cor and pulled him toward her.


    "Why don''t my plum blossom eyes work on you? What are you hiding? Who are you?" She asked.


    "Now that''s enough! Luiya! Let go of Mr Yang at once!" The old man from before shouted toward her.


    The tension in the room hit an all-time high and the hairs on Haru''s body began to rise. The woman looked at Haru one more time but this time her face was one of interest not a face of anger.


    "Okay." She said in the same friendly tone she had spoken in earlier.


    "Hahaha." A young man with spiked hair and muscles that showed through his clothes began tough from the opposite side of the table.


    "I haven''t seen many people that are able to resist Luiya''s seduction techniques. I didn''t expect someone so young could deflect it so easily. Tell me. What is the secret to it? I have had trouble with her for years." The man started talking and then whispered toward the end.


    "Shut it!" Luiya turned and shouted at the man with spiked hair.


    His face became pale and the smile faded from his face. It was like he was possessed as his body became stiff and he looked up at Luiya.


    "Yes, mistress Luiya" He stated in a serious tone. His body then regained life.


    "Hey, What have I told you about doing that!? You crazy woman!" The man with spiked hair shouted and then rose from his seat.


    The rest of the people at the table remained silent. It was at that moment Haru noticed the Demon he had seen talking in the reception. And the old elven man who had helped Maya pass through the reception.


    Then suddenly the feeling rose in the room once again. But this time it was much stronger. Haru could barely hold on and he dropped to his knees. He felt his eyes getting heavy as the old man''s voice called out again.


    "We are here for a matter of importance. I won''t tolerate this childish behaviour from you two!" He shouted.


    The pressure eased up almost immediately after he had spoken. The man with spiked hair looked at the old man and bowed his head before sitting down.


    Luiya on the other hand didn''t take her eyes off Haru. She then smiled as she noticed him looking back at her before tabbing on the arm of the chair once again for him to sit.

 Chapter 115: Elders Meeting.

    Chapter 115: Elder''s Meeting.


    Haru walked over and sat on the chair. The whole time Luiya didn''t take her eyes off him. He sat there awkwardly waiting for someone to say something but her eyes were still glued to him.


    Haru was confused. He didn''t do anything special to counter her plum blossom eye but she seemed to be outraged by the fact that it didn''t work on him. A few seconds went by before the silence was broken by the old man that had brought Haru to this room.


    "Okay. Most of you already know why I called this meeting but let''s just go over it again from the beginning." He sighed and then stood up from his seat to address the thirty or so people in the room.


    "We still have an issue between the three ns. Multiple incidents happened today. And I am afraid it will carry on getting worse and worse.


    This ce is supposed to be a getaway from all the conflict we have out there in the universe. Or at least I want it to be seen as that.


    I understand how stupid it probably sounds. A ce where peoplee to fight is a ce to avoid conflict. But the whole point of this ce is to train yourself. Why do we need to hate people for training?


    But it hase to my attention that some of the people here have been involved in a plot to harm other nsmen. I am not going to name anyone but we gave the three ns the opportunity toe here out of kindness. But it is still owned by my human n.


    Govern your nsmen well. I don''t want to hear anything else about plots to harm people. If I do then I will revoke ess to this ce for your ns. Are there any objections?" The old man finished what he was saying to be greeted withplete silence by everyone in the room.


    The silence went on for a few seconds before a few of the demon nsmen on the other side of the table began to discuss things between themselves. Finally, one of them stood up and objected to the old man''s warning.


    "I feel like my n is being targeted with that statement. This is a bit unfair don''t you think?" The old demon that helped the demon get through the reception stood up and said.


    "And why do you feel that way? I avoided naming which n was the one involved in this purposely. But if you feel that way lets go over what happened within your demon n with everyone here to see if I was being unfair." The old man.


    "First things first is what happened in the reception area. All ns are guilty of this but we decided to let three neers through to the soul tempering grounds without filling out the form we provided.


    I don''t particrly have an issue with this. since even I have done this before though it is a little bit unfair.


    What do you suggest we do about this. I for one suggest we get rid of the personal questions about cultivation techniques. All in favour of this please raise your hands." The old man said.


    One by one the people in the room all began to raise there hands after looks of confusion.


    "Good. I am d we can finally get rid of that. So next let''s get on to the main issue.


    The demon n earlier today were involved in a plot to harm and possibly kill two people. The first victim of this plot being Maya Eun of the Elven n. The second victim being Luo Yang of the Human n.


    There was a dispute in the reception hall earlier today where a demon was scolded by Miss Eun for being loud. The demon then walked away in defeat but soon after he threatened to kill my friend Mr Yang here.


    The situation was luckily resolved peacefully butter the demon in question went away and gathered a group of his friends and then went on to make a plot to kill Mr Yang if he was matched against one of them in the small world.


    How do you all suggest we deal with this?" The old man asked everyone in the room. There was silence as they all began to think about it.


    "A demon dared to try to harm my Eun family? I suggest you let me handle it on the outside. I will see if they are brave enough to make the same threat while I go to their home." A blond-haired elven woman stood up. She seemed to look around the same age as the woman sitting next to Haru but she seemed to have a natural aura of wisdom surrounding her like she had seen many things in her lifetime.


    "You know I can''t let you do that. You are an elder here. If you go out and act recklessly it will reflect badly on all of us, not just you. And I don''t expect the elders of the demon n to sit idly by and watch one of their families get ughtered.


    So I urge everyone here to put their personal feelings away and let''s resolve this peacefully. Thest thing we need is another war to break out because of this." The old man tried his best to make sure that every kept level headed.


    "Your right. We need to settle this peacefully. After all the root of the issue will still remain even if I do kill a few demons it won''t make a difference." The woman then sat back down and tried to calm herself.


    A demon woman then stood up and looked at everyone before speaking.


    "I agree. We need to get to the root cause of this. And the root cause is an issue that has been within my demon n for many years now. I believe now might just be the right time to fix it." She stated.


    All of the other demon elders looked at each other in confusion at first and then they all looked back at the old demon who was the first to speak before. He seemed to get the message and then stood up.


    "Seriously? You are talking about this again? I thought you would get over this. How many times do I have to tell you that it is impossible to do what you requested at ourst meeting? The only person who could do it is the royal family and everyone knows how stubborn they are." The old man eximed in response.


    "What is it? What do you suggest the demon n do Lifa?" The old man asked the woman who was still standing.


    "Well in most ces demons are discriminated against because we tend to be quick to violence. But that isn''t a trait we have inherited or something. It is more of a cultural problem.


    We are told from birth that we have to eliminate anything that gets in our way. But it is more of a metaphor left behind by our ancestors meaning to leave our emotions out of things.


    The issue is that many of us take it as a literal instruction to kill anyone we don''t like." The woman went on to exin as the other demons all remained silent. The didn''t seem to disagree with here but they also didn''t want to admit that she was right either.


    After a long pause of silence, the old demon started to talk once again.


    "I understand how you feel. A lot of us elders feel the same way as you do. But there is nothing that any of us can do about it and you know that very well." He eximed once more.


    Haru sat awkwardly as he watched them go back and forth. Until finally the old man interrupted them.


    "Enough both of you! This isn''t the ce to discuss the underlying issues of your n. We are here to focus on the problem at hand. And that is that in recent years the demon n has be more and more violent.


    I am asking you, people, because it is your n. I know that a lot of people from the other ns would rather just suspend your ns right to enter this ce until they get their attitude under control. But that in its self would bring about over issues.


    And I don''t want to discriminate against your whole n because of a few bad apples. So I am leaving this up to you. Don''t make me do something that I don''t want to do." He stated and then waited for them to sit back down and ept their position of elders.


    "Thank you. I hope I can trust you to get this problem solved. Now let''s talk about the final thing I wanted to bring up.


    We have n issue with people using fights to bet money. It was originally against our rules for people to bet here but thest temple master got rid of that rule. I was thinking that we can expand on our ie today.


    I want to suggest that we open a betting station. We can take a five per cent cut of whatever money is made there and it would hopefully get more people toe here even if it is just to bet.


    So raise your hands if you think this is a good idea." The old man stated.


    A few discussions sparked up as he finished speaking as there were mixed feelings about the whole betting situation. But sure enough one after another, hands began to rise into the air.


    "Then it is decided. Thank You all foring here. I hope that everyone here can take the things discussed here on board." The old man announced.


    One by one all of the people present in the meeting room began to vanish into thin air one by one until only three people remained in the room. Haru, Luiya and the old man who had brought Haru into the room.

 Chapter 116: Welcome Home.

    Chapter 116: Wee Home.


    "Well, that went better than I expected," The old man said to himself and then walked over closer to where Haru was still sat down next to Luiya.


    "So Mr Yang. What did you think of this meeting?" He asked and then leaned against the desk.


    "Well. Honestly, I am so confused. Why did you bring me here again? I thought there would be a conflict between the demon n and the human so you needed me as a witness?" Haru asked.


    "Hey now, I didn''t say that there would be any conflict. You assumed there would be all on your own. And that is something I wanted to show you.


    I have seen it many times before. You were antagonised by two demons today. I wanted to show you that not all demons are bad before you start to judge the demon n subconsciously.


    When you told me you were from the lower realms I felt that I would need to show you this so you don''t discriminate against demon nsmen. Since this is probably your first time meeting the demon n, You might feel like they are all bad.


    So what do you think?" The old man asked him.


    "Well. You''re right earlier I was starting to think that all demons were the same. But as you said after seeing how the elders are I think they are just like any other n.


    We all have uneducated children. It just seems like the demon n has a lot of personal problems so they take it out on other people. But in my opinion that doesn''t give them the right to act like that. And the next person regardless of what n they are in who acts like those two demons did today will die." Haru said casually. He was still slightly confused though.


    ''What is she still doing here? It is really of putting having someone staring at me like this.'' Haru thought as he felt Luiya''s gaze on him when he spoke.


    "I understand how you feel and I won''t tell you what to do but I sense a strong bloodlust in you. I haven''t seen this before of someone your age. I don''t want to see it corrupt you. So please try not to act recklessly." The old man asked of Haru.


    Can I ask you why you care so much? We haven''t met before. I don''t see why it is any of your business what I decide to do." Haru stated.


    The gaze that Luiya was directed away from Haru and now up at the old man. She didn''t know what to expect. For as long as she had been an elder this was the first time anyone had dared to question the temple master.


    The temple master stood up straight and sighed.


    "You remind me of my son when he was your age. I sent him out to train when he was around twelve years old and told him not to return until he felt like he had reached a bottleneck in his training.


    I didn''t expect him toe back after only two years and have the strength that it would usually take ten years to gather. I was proud of him at the time but there was something different about him. There was a deep bloodlust in his soul a lot like the one I am sensing in you now.


    I just don''t want to see anyone go down the same path that he did. But you seem like a kind young man so I am rooting for you." The old man exined.


    "So you feel like I am simr to your son? Personally, I feel like I have pretty good control over my emotions. I feel like I have been a little too tolerant recently.


    Let me ask you something.


    If somebody came into your home and pointed weapons at your family and friends. What would you do?" Haru asked.


    "I would kill them on the spot. Why do you ask?" The old man asked in return.


    "Well, recently that very thing happened to me. I wanted to kill them but I didn''t. I felt like it was the wrong thing to do even if they did break into my house.


    But I also regret not killing them." Haru exined.


    There was a long pause of silence before the old man spoke again.


    "It seems like I judged you too quickly. But you should learn to understand this. With the little strength you have right now, It is safer to be forgiving. Don''t act without weighing the consequences. The stronger that you get the less likely you are to have to deal with the consequences so keep that in mind." The old man advised him.


    "Hm. I guess you are right. The main reason I came here wearing this mask is so that I don''t have to deal with the after-effects of killing people. If I act too recklessly then someone much stronger than me is likely to try to kill me in return." Haru thought out loud.


    "Yeah so try to remain patient for now. It will benefit you a lot more than acting on emotion. The whole situation with the demon n isn''t sorted out yet so I highly advise against fighting for a while. You will continue to be targeted until the demon elders have a meeting in a few days.


    If you don''t have anything important to do, you are more than wee to stay here for a few days. I can give you a room to stay in until everything goes back to normal." The old man said and then looked at Luiya.


    "No, it''s okay. I will just go home and wait it out Wait how do I go home?" Haru asked. He didn''t ask Lao about that before he entered the portal.


    The old manughed.


    "You came here without knowing how to get home? Now that is reckless. Follow me. I will show you where you need to go.


    Luiya you can go back to whatever you were doing." The old man said and then walked out of the huge sliding door that they had entered through.


    Haru followed close behind and then turned around to wave goodbye to Luiya but she had already vanished before he had the chance to.


    He then followed the old man back down to the elevator and then back out into the courtyard. As they both walked through the crowd of people still waiting for the fight results Haru felt people ring at him. He then looked over to see Jasper and Maya looking at him with a worried expression.


    "Do you mind if I say goodbye to my friends quickly?" Haru stopped and asked.


    "No, not at all. I will wait for you. Take your time." The old man replied.


    "Okay, I won''t be long," Haru said before walking over to Jasper and Maya.


    "Is everything okay? Why are you with the temple master?" Jasper was the first to ask.


    "Yeah, He was just showing me how to get home. I think I have had enough fun for one day." Haru smiled.


    "Oh, you are heading home already? When are you going to be back?" Maya asked.


    "I''m not sure. Time flows much slower where I am from so a week my time could be a couple of months here. I guess I will see you when I see you." Haru sighed.


    "Time flows that much slower where you are from? The only ce I have heard of time flowing that slowly is the lower realms Are you from the lower realms?" Maya asked again.


    "Don''t be silly Maya. Thest time a person came here from the lower realms was hundreds of years ago. It would be a miracle for them to just make it here. But Luo Yang here won his first fight. That would be impossible." Jasper interrupted.


    And then he seemed to realise something and then he looked back at Haru in shock.


    "Wait a minute" He then said.


    "Yep, I am from the lower realms. And I had better get going now. See youter!" Haruughed and then walked over to the old man who was waiting for him.


    "Okay then. How do I get home?" Haru asked.


    "There is nothing special about it. We have portals that return you to your body. They are the same as the one you came here in so there is nothing to worry about." He said and then pointed over to the white portals all in a line.


    "How did I miss them? I feel stupid now. They were right there as soon as I got here." Haru sighed and then turned back to look at the old man.


    "I will see you next time then," Haru said and then began to walk toward the portal as he was waved off by the temple master.


    In a sh of blinding white light, Haru found himself in darkness. He had returned to his body that was sat facing the pond in the park.


    "Wee back. How did it go?" A familiar voice asked as Haru opened his eyes.

 Chapter 117: Li Juns Return.

    Chapter 117: Li Jun''s Return.


    The surface of theke was smooth as a slow breeze drifted along the surface creating ripples as the moonlight reflected back up toward the sky like the surface of a mirror as Haru opened his eyes.


    "Wee back. How did it go?" The unsurprising voice of Li jun called out.


    Haru sat still for a few seconds as he processed what he had just heard. It made him lose all hid other thoughts as he confirmed that he had heard correctly.


    "No, It can''t be" He said to himself as a whisper of white tranquil light slowly floated through the air before his eyes.


    The same long ck hair flowed softly across his shoulders and down to the centre of his body with a single red hair tie parting a small section of his hair.


    "Li Jun Is it really you?" Haru asked as he looked at his teacher he hadn''t seen for the past three years.


    "Me? Well of course it is me. I should be asking if it is still you. Look how much you have grown. You have already reached the spirit soul stage in just three short years. You have truly exceeded my expectations." Li Jun praised his student in the dead of night.


    Haru smiled as he could finally see his teacher. The year they spent alone together in the array back at the sect gave them a bond that Haru couldn''t forget after all this time. He didn''t have very many friends but he would even go as far as to say that Li Jun was his best friend if it wouldn''t be embarrassing for him.


    "Where did you go all this time? Lao exined some of it to me, but are you sure you are okay?" Haru asked with concern. Three years was a long time to be sleeping after all.


    "Well. I wanted to tell you about it but I wasn''t sure if you would understand but Lao told me he had exined lots of things to you since I have been gone so let''s see if you can keep up with an exnation." Li Jun said and then sighed before continuing.


    "You probably know this but I am not the original Chen Li Jun. I am just a fraction of his soul so I don''t have all of his knowledge. I just have bits and pieces so I will go over it as best as I can.


    Li Jun was once a cultivator who rose to the peak of the lower realms with his own strength and perseverance. He lived so far out in the middle of nowhere that there was nopetition for him. He lived on his own for hundreds of years before returning to his home world.


    When he returned home he tried to fit in like a regr person so he wouldn''t have to kill people weaker than him. But after much effort of keeping a low profile the town, he was living in was attacked by a huge force of cultivators. In order to save the people in the town, he killed them all sparing one person.


    The person who led the attack. His name was Zhu Lan.


    Li Jun saw a lot of potential in Zhu Lan so he decided to take him as his first-ever student. After a few decades of training together they grew to be friends. So much so that they swore to each other that they would always be brothers.


    One day they came across a cart where a whole family was lying on the ground all bloodied. The only survivor was an eighteen-year-old girl called Xue Yan. She was the youngest daughter of a noble family and had watched whilst her parents and older brother were murdered.


    They even tried to kill her but she was clinging to life somehow. Li Jun felt pity for her and decided to heal her injuries.


    The girl, no longer having any family our purpose begged to be Li Jun''s student. She swore that one day she would be strong enough to kill the people who nned her families death. Li Jun admired the motivation she showed so he epted.


    One by one he gathered more followers and eventually fell in love with Xue Yan. The three of them then created their own sect after agreeing that Li Jun should be in charge and then eventually ventured out into the universe on his own to find a to inhabit.


    But during his time away deep jealousy formed in Zhu Lan. Li Jun was always the centre of attention and had the prettiest woman in the sect as his wife. He felt like if only he had more power he would be able to lead alongside Li Jun as an equal.


    But the inner demon he created had other ideas and his mind became corrupted. And after hundreds of years of gathering strength, he invaded the mind of Xue Yan. She had felt lonely because Li Jun didn''t give her enough attention so that was the weakness he exploited. And they then fell in love behind the back of Li Jun.


    They had finally had enough of Li Jun. He was too peaceful and had no ambition for his sect. So both Xue Yan and Zhu Lan rebelled and killed hundreds of loyal disciples while Li Jun was cultivating behind closed doors.


    Little did they know that he had just broken through to the Chaos Destruction stage and they were no longer a match for him. But just as Li Jun was about to kill his sworn brother he was poisoned by his own wife.


    As Li Juny on the ground waiting for death he rapidly absorbed as much Qi as he could until his body couldn''t contain it and he made himself self destruct. He didn''t want to die knowing that his disciples would never have revenge so he took them with him and destroyed the whole in the process.


    He didn''t expect that he would open his eyes once more but he awakened in the body of a thirteen-year-old boy. The dragon emperor ring that you are wearing right now had preserved his soul and transferred it into the boy who happened to share the same name as him." Li Jun stopped for a minute as Haru''s eyes lit up.


    Lao protected your soul? I didn''t know he could do that." Haru said.


    Li Junughed.


    "Dragons are capable of things you couldn''t even imagine. Don''t underestimate them. Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, he had been put into the body of a child.


    Along his way of cultivating, he found a mysterious technique known as The Abandoned God of Destion. He couldn''t use it in hisst life but it was the very thing that allowed him to return to his former glory in just a few decades. It was much faster than any technique he had used.


    After entering the upper realms he made a name for himself and created a powerful sect but ran it on equal terms with his close friends so he wouldn''t gather any jealousy.


    But he became a threat to the bigger sects. As he refused to serve them and when they came in force to punish him he killed all the people they sent. That only caused more people toe and also people who were a lot stronger than him.


    He fought a devastating battle that almost reduced the whole upper realms to dust. But the leaders of the divine sects teamed up and managed to injure him so bad that his soul was split in two.


    And that is thest thing I remember before I met you. The reason why I was gone for so long is because I feel Li Jun pulling me towards him.


    I''m not sure where he is but I can sometimes feel him. It''s like he knows everything I am doing but that is to be expected. After all, I am still a part of him. I know he wants us to be whole again but for some reason, he hasn''t pulled me back to him yet.


    I know he has the strength to do it but it''s like he wants me to stay here for a while. Maybe he has a n for you that is why he has allowed me to stay here for so long.


    I was resisting one of his pulls for the past three years but when you gathered the Qi from the demonic small world you seemed to have subconsciously transferred some of it to me. That is why I managed to awaken after so long." Li Jun finished his exnation and waited for Haru to reply.


    "That sounds amazing. I wonder how strong the original Li Jun is now? Where do you think he is?" Haru started asking questions. He was now more interested in Li Jun''s life than he ever had been before.


    "I have an idea where he might be but I can''t be sure until he decides to take me back to where he is. But we should probably focus on your training more. I don''t know how much time I will have here with you so I want to make sure that you are strong enough to defend yourself." Li Jun stated.


    "Okay, that makes sense. And after hearing your origin I feel more motivated than ever." Haru smiled.


    "Good, Now hurry up and enter your soul ocean. Lao told me that you have a flooded soul ocean. That''s quite umon and onlysts until you break through to the next realm so we need to take advantage of it right now." Li Jun exined and then vanished.


    Haru closed his eyes and entered his soul ocean.

 Chapter 118: The End Road.

    Chapter 118: The End Road.


    The mirrored surface of the water reflected the light from the artificial sunlight all around. Li Jun was stood next to Lao''s huge body as Hatu entered. They were both discussing something as Haru entered but he couldn''t quite make out what they were saying.


    He approached them when Li Jun started to turn around.


    "You''re here good. I think you are strong enough mentally and physically to enter the abandoned god of destion''s mansion. I was hoping to wait until you were a bit stronger but I really don''t know how much time I will have left.


    I want to make sure you will be safe when you enter. There are lots of traps scattered around and there are even a few puppets you might have to battle. At least if I am here I can help you out a little bit." Li Jun exined.


    "Mansion? Surely you don''t mean that thing?" Haru pointed over to the floating mount of rock and dirt.


    Every time he had entered his soul ocean to cultivate he had seen it and wanted to stay as far away as he possibly could. He had gotten used to it being there since it never moved but he always felt a great fear when he caught a glimpse of it out of the corner of his eye.


    "Yeah I did tell you that you will enter eventually, I just didn''t expect it to be this quickly." Li Jun bit his lip and then replied with a hint of hesitation in his voice.


    Haru picked up on Li Jun''s nervousness which made him fear going into the mansion even more. If even his seemingly immortal teacher was worried then what would it mean was in store for Haru?


    "Are you sure that I am ready for it? I don''t want to go in there only to die." Haru asked nervously


    "Of course you are ready. And what made you think that you would die? I never said anything about it being dangerous to you. It is a part of your cultivation technique why would it harm you?


    There are just a bunch of restrictions ced on the doors. You didn''t have enough Qi to even make it past the gates thest time we met. But you have gotten significantly stronger.


    You might even be able to make it past the front door if my predictions are correct." Li Jun smiled gently.


    There was definitely something bothering him but Haru didn''t dare to ask. He knew he wouldn''t get an answer even if he did so he assumed it had nothing to do with him and then decided to trust Li Jun''s judgment.


    "Okay then. How do I get up there? Should I just jump?" Haru asked.


    Li Jun stood still for a second and thenughed.


    "You didn''t think it would be that easy did you? It will take time. You won''t be able to get there right now. You will first need to learn thew of space." Li Jun said after he stoppedughing.


    "Thew of space?" Haru asked.


    "Yeah. I was saving it forter but I might as well give it to you now." Li Jun replied and then pulled out a stone tablet much like the one Haru had been given to learn thew of time.


    "I want you to close your eyes and then sense the words with your Qi." Li Jun instructed.


    Haru didn''t say anything else as he took the tablet from his teacher and then sat down on the floor and followed the instructions in silence.


    "Oh and remember don''t stray off course no matter what you experience." Li Jun added just as Haru began to reach out with his Qi


    Haru had heard Li Jun''s words of advice but didn''t understand what he meant by them, He was about to ask but it was already toote.


    He was plunged into darkness as the power from the tablet infiltrated his mind.


    There was a static feeling all around Haru''s body. He thought it was strange until he opened his eyes to see something truly spectacr.


    All around him were stars. In every direction, he could see different stars and hundreds of colours as neb and gxies floating around the dark void of space.


    Am I in space?" Haru couldn''t help but ask out loud. He was awestruck by what he was seeing. He took in the view for a few minutes before realising that he had better get on with whatever he was supposed to be doing there.


    But the only problem was that he didn''t know what he was supposed to be doing there.


    Haru then looked down at his feet. There was no solid ground it just seemed to be some kind of barrier making sure that he didn''t go anywhere. He then realised there was gravity still affecting his body.


    "This can''t be space." He said whileing to the conclusion that everything he was seeing was what the tablet wanted him to see.


    He felt slight disappointment knowing that what he was seeing wasn''t real but he then noticed something out of ce.


    A few steps away from where he was there was an old Victorian stylemp and what looked to be a sign underneath.


    He thought it was a little strange so decided to go and see what the sign said. He walked over nervously, not entirely trusting the ground that he walked upon.


    As he was close enough to read the sign an old cobbled pathway opened up out of nowhere right before his eyes. He got even closer before actually reading the sign due to being distracted by the pathway.


    "The end road." Where the only words on the sign. It didn''t give much of an exnation but it seemed to be the only way Haru could go so he decided to take the floating cobbled pathway despite it being a mystery where it would lead to.


    He took a single step onto the road before him. The feeling of wind brushed over his skin. It seemed toe from nowhere but the road was enveloped in a nket of dark fog.


    The fog took away all of the light produced by themp behind him leaving Haru searching blindly for a way out. At first, he panicked. He felt helpless as the feeling of fear started to rise in his very soul.


    He suddenly felt a warm breath on the back of his neck. His hair then blew from another breath. Whatever it was then in hailed, taking in Haru''s scent.


    ''What is it? Why am I so scared? I have the feeling that I shouldn''t look at whatever it is'' Haru thought as the hair on his nick shot up and his muscles became tense.


    He had no choice the only thing he could do was follow the path as best as he could and try to ignore whatever was behind him. It didn''t seem like it would harm him but Haru was simply too scared to look at it.


    As he walked the sound of his footsteps echoed out. But something was strange. They didn''t seem to match Haru''s pace and seemed a little heavier.


    He then stopped walking. There was a slight dy before the footsteps stopped but as they did there was another warm breath on the back of his neck.


    ''Great. It''s following me." Haru thought before walking again.


    The road was constantly in darkness and the ground was uneven in some parts but he had no choice but to continue walking. If he stopped then whatever was following him would get closer. And he didn''t even want to know what would happen if he turned back. So he continued on down the path of darkness.


    Until a light emerged from the end of the road. It looked like an opening. Haru was half tempted to make a dash toward the light but he sensed something at the end of the pathway. Whatever it was, seemed much more terrifying than the thing that was following him.


    He continued to walk toward the light. At least the thing up ahead didn''t seem to move. The breath brushed against his neck once more as he edged toward the light.


    He sensed the Qi around him to try to get a better understanding of the source of these things that were on the road with him. It then urred to him that whatever was behind him didn''t have a presence. But whatever was lurking in the light seemed to narrow in on him.


    It moved towards him rapidly shining a light on the darkness. Everything that the light touched vanished instantly as it moved closer to him.


    Haru stood helplessly before the thought came to him.


    "Why couldn''t there just have been a door at the end of the path or something simple. Why would they send light that seems to obliterate everything?" As he thought out loud once more the sound of creaking wood sounded out from behind him.


    Haru turned while squinting out of fear but to his surprise the only thing that was there was an open door.


    "Surely not? There is no way I am going in there." He said.


    As soon as he spoke a deafening hiss sounded out from behind him. He felt something wet on his shoulder.


    "On second thought. Fuck it!" Haru shouted before jumping through the doorway. He felt tired as something wet dripped down his shoulder.


    The light patter of rain falling from the clouds and then hitting the ground brought him to his senses. Haru opened his eyes slowly.

 Chapter 119: Servant Of Zhu.

    Chapter 119: Servant Of Zhu.


    Each drop of rain hit the surface of the water causing sshes to rise. Haru sat still and adjusted to the light that was now pouring through the clouds. It was at that moment he noticed he didn''t feel a single drop of rain on him.


    He then looked at the floor to see a circr shadow around him. ''What is that?'' He thought before looking up to see what it was.


    He turned to his right to see long ck suit pants and then followed them up to where he saw a ck suit jacket. There was a man standing next to where he had been sitting. Haru didn''t recognise him at all and he was holding an umbre to keep the rain from hitting him.


    The man was staring out into theke seemingly lost in thought and didn''t realise as Haru looked up at him.


    "Hello?" Haru asked in confusion.


    The man jumped slightly as his thoughts were interrupted.


    "Oh hello, sir. How are you feeling?" The man asked in a friendly tone.


    "I''m fine But that is beside the point. Who are you?" Haru asked. He still didn''t have any idea who the man was.


    "Oh, I am just a servant of the Zhu family. There is no need to know my name." The man said with a smile.


    "Oh, well okay. But why are you covering me with your umbre? Did you need something?" Haru was still really confused. He had no idea what this man wanted with him.


    "Oh, yeah. I was walking with Master Zhu earlier this morning and when he spotted you sat in the rain he ordered me to hold my umbre over you until you woke up." The man exined.


    "He did? Why would he do something like that?" Haru asked. At least one of his questions where answered but that only lead to even more questions, this servant seemed to have trouble exining things.


    "I''m not sure. He said something about you being a cultivator too and he might have some use for you if you decided toe back and thank him for the kind gesture Wait I wasn''t supposed to tell you that." The Servant then said and then covered his face with his hand.


    Haru couldn''t help butugh. ''No wonder this guy was the one ordered to watch over me. If I had a servant this useless I would want him as far away from me as possible too. But who is this master Zhu guy?" Haru thought before standing up.


    "So your master Zhu wanted me to see him? Then where is he? Did he say what he wanted?" Haru asked.


    "Um, I don''t think so he just referred to needing help refining a pill for his father." The servant then said.


    "He needs a pill refined? I might be able to help with that. But not for free of course." Haru smirked.


    "Wait to hold it. There is no use talking about money with me. I am bad with numbers. If you want to negotiate you had best do it with Master Zhu himself." The servant began to panic.


    ''There has got to be a story behind that reaction. Is this guy really so useless that he messed up a deal or something?" Haru smiled and then brushed off the mud from his clothes.


    He then realised the wet mud had absorbed into his clothes and wouldn''t simplye off with a wipe. He took a step back away from the servent and then used the golden phoenix mes to target just the mud from his clothes and then burnt it all away leaving them looking as good as new.


    "Okay then. Where is this Master Zhu?" Haru asked.


    The man then began to guide Haru towards a ck car that was parked outside the park. He got into the back without asking any questions and then the servant began to drive. Haru sat there for a few moments in silence before deciding to enter his soul ocean to escape the awkward silence.


    "Li Jun? You here?" Haru asked.


    There was silence for a few seconds before Li Jun appeared out of thin air.


    "Oh, you are back? I guess it''s time to move on to stage too of training." Li Jun smiled and then looked back at Haru noticing the look on his face.


    "Is something wrong?" He asked.


    "I don''t know. It''s just I don''t think that tablet you gave me worked. Wasn''t I supposed to gain thew of space or something? I don''t feel any different. I don''t think that it actually worked." Haruined.


    Li Jun smiled for a few seconds before speaking.


    "Well have you ever experienced to space before? The only reason you felt different after learning thew of time is because you experience time every day. If you have never experienced space then you won''t know what to look for. It''s simple.


    The tablets are designed to trap the people who can''t learn thews. The fact that you are outside right now confirms that you learned it. Not to mention the fact that I can feel thew within your body. You have nothing to worry about." Li Jun said, putting him at ease.


    "Oh, I see. I was worried for nothing. Well, what is next then?" Haru asked.


    "Do you remember the breath of shadow technique that you learned?" Li Jun asked with a smirk.


    "Yeah. why?" Haru replied. Now even more confused.


    "Well, that is a technique that was stolen from thew of space. The original technique is a simple power you will be able to use when you learn how to harness the power of space.


    And by learning it you will be able to travel hundreds of kilometres with a single step. And that is going to be how you enter the mansion.


    You will practice sensing thew of space at night. And during the day you wille here and try to get to the top of the floating mansion in a single step." Li Jun exined and then handed a piece of paper to Haru.


    "Put some of your Qi into the paper." He said and then took a step back to watch Haru follow his instructions.


    As soon as Haru put his Qi into the paper it began to glow white and suddenly his mind was filled with an image of a shadow performing the move. The shadow seemed to cut a hole in space by slicing his hand down and then he stepped into the rift its self.


    After it repeated three times Haru came back to his senses. But during the process of regaining his senses, he came out of his soul ocean involuntarily but it seemed to be the perfect time as when he opened his eyes the car was driving down a long gravel road that was surrounded by trees on all sides.


    The car rolled up to the house at the very end of the road. The house was traditionally designed with big sloping roofs and overhangs. The support beams were painted red with the rest of the house being ck and white.


    As the car came to a stop the servant who was driving turned around and shouted.


    "We''re here."


    Haru looked at him for a few moments. ''Is there something wrong with this guys head? Why is he shouting when I am this close to him?'' Haru thought.


    "Yeah I can see it." He replied.


    "Okay then. Follow me." The servant said and then stepped out of the car before opening the door for Haru.


    Haru stepped out and then closed the door behind him before following the servant through the front doors of the house and into a room that greeted whoever entered with a huge stair case that split of in two directions.


    The floors were made out of oak nks that seemed to be worn but still clean. The smell of spices drifted throughout the house.


    "Kang? Is that you?" A voice called out from upstairs.


    "Yes, Master Zhu. I brought that boy from the park with me." The servant shouted back.


    "You did? That''s great. I will be down in a few minutes. Show him to the living room for me." The voice shouted back and then the sound of footsteps faded into the distance.


    Haru looked at the servant for a minute before the words seem to register in his head.


    "The living room? Oh, Right this way." He said and then started walking down an open corridor on the grown floor.


    The walls on the inside seemed to be paper thin as Haru could see shadows of objects through them. But the remained opaque. They walked for what seemed like a whole minute down a straight corridor before the servant opened a sliding door revealing the most modern-looking part of the house.


    There were two couches facing each other. Separated by a ss table. The walls were painted a light shade of grey with a tv mounted on one of them. But the most eye-catching thing was the wall of ss at the very back of the room that looked out onto a beautiful rose garden that looked like it went on for miles.


    Haru walked over to the window and looked outside.


    "Too bad it''s still raining. This ce would look even better on a sunny day." Haru said to himself as he heard the door close behind him. He turned to see that the servant had left. Now leaving him all alone in a strangers house.


    He felt strange as he looked around at the room. It seemed to be a family home. They had framed pictures of children on the walls as well as a painted portrait of a young looking man and women standing together. There was a brass te on the painting that dated it back to being fifty years old.


    Haru then sat down on the couch and waited patiently.

 Chapter 120: Tengfei Zhu.

    Chapter 120: Tengfei Zhu.


    The rain pattered on the ss window as Haru sat and waited for someone toe and talk to him. But before long a whole hour had passed and there was no sign of anyone nearby. Haru was getting tired of waiting and was just about to leave until the sound of the front door to the house squeaked open.


    "Dad? We''re back. I brought cousin Fan with me too." A woman''s voice called out throughout the hall.


    There was no response to the woman shouting but then footsteps came towards the room that Haru was now sat in. The same voice spoke out again but this time more gently as the footsteps stopped outside the door.


    "Just make yourself at home in the living room. I will go and see if grandpa is ready to see you yet" The woman said and then the door slid open revealing Haru sat on the couch.


    Haru then looked over to the door seeing the three teenagers about his age stood there staring at him. He didn''t say anything at all as the boy and two girls looked at him.


    They looked back at him awkwardly for a few moments before one of the girls stepped forward.


    "Excuse me. Can you tell me what you are doing here?" She asked.


    Haru looked at her for a second before replying.


    "I was invited to talk to someone known as Master Zhu. But apparently, he is rude enough to keep guests waiting for him. Anyway, I will leave now. If he asks about me tell him that I left because he wasted my time." Haru said while standing up. He saw this as a good time to leave at least someone would know that he had left the house.


    "Hey! That''s my dad you are talking about. I won''t tolerate you talking bad about him in front of me." A wave of Qi began to gather around the room as she tried to force Haru to submit to her.


    ''Oh, She is at the earthly spirit stage? Too bad. If she had five more years to cultivate she might be able to make me feel some pressure. But this power feels like a breeze.'' Haru thought to himself.


    "I''m not in the mood to y with you little girl. Now stop before you embarrass yourself." Haru whispered into her ear and lightly patted her on her head as he vanished from one spot and appeared right next to her.


    "What? Weren''t you just?" She questioned her eyes.


    ''How did he move so fast? I didn''t sense any Qi from him. Does that mean he has already passed the earthly spirit stage? How is that possible? He doesn''t look much older than me.'' She thought, not realising that he had already walked past her and was now heading toward the front door.


    "Wait!" She shouted before running out into the hallway, totally ignoring the two people she had led to the living room.


    Haru had already made it to the front door before she reached him and mmed her hand against the door as he reached for the door handle.


    BANG.


    The door rattled in its frame and shook the house slightly as she pushed against it.


    "Who are you? Tell me your name." The girl insisted while holding the door shut. She looked up at Haru who had a tired expression and felt confident in herself seeing hisck of interest as nervousness.


    "Tell me what technique you used to get passed me. I haven''t seen anything like that before." She demanded.


    ''Who am I kidding? This wimpy looking boy can''t be stronger than me. I bet he is just good at fleeing.'' She thought for a few seconds before Haru answered.


    "I didn''t use a technique. I just moved fast enough that your eyes couldn''t keep up with me." Haru responded and then looked down at the smile that had formed on her face.


    "Where did you learn how to lie? I almost believed you for a second. Now stop joking and tell me the truth before I tell my dad what you said about him." She said once more.


    Haru sighed. He was tired of talking to people who looked down on him.


    "Okay. The interview is over kid. Now get out of the way. I am leaving now." Haru said and then grabbed the door handle once more.


    "You''re not going anywhere until I say you can. And stop calling me a kid. You aren''t that much older than me you know?" The girl said and then grabbed a hold of his wrist.


    "Okay. ytime is over now." Haru spoke with a sigh and then grabbed the girl by the cor of her shirt and lifted her into the air to make her let go of his wrist.


    "Go and bother someone else," Haru said before dropping her back down to the ground.


    The girl winced as she dropped down onto her knees. She looked up at Haru as tears formed in her eyes.


    "Dad! Help me!" She shouted as loud as she could.


    "What''s wrong?" The same voice that spoke when Haru came in with the servant called out. Before a man who looked to be in his early forties appeared at the top of the stairs. He was wearing a suit and had the look of a generic businessman.


    Haru turned around and made eye contact with the man. He looked vaguely familiar but he couldn''t quite ce where he had seen the man before.


    "You are" The man said as he saw Haru standing in the doorway.


    "Dad! This boy is bullying me!" The girl called out again and then ran up the stairs to his side.


    Haru stood still for a moment and then used his Qi to sense the power of the man who stood at the top of the stairs. ''He''s at the Qi creation stage? Wow, I didn''t think that I would meet someone this good.'' Haru thought to himself as he judged the man who stood looking down at him.


    "I''m sorry for keeping you waiting, Senior Brother. Something important came up. I hope you can stay for some tea. I will exin why I asked you toe here now if you have the time?" The man said, Ignoring his daughter stood by his side.


    "Dad! Dad! Dad!" The girl began to grab the mans arm and pull it to get his attention.


    "What is it Liqin?" The man asked and then put his hand on her head.


    "That is the boy who was bullying me. He ever threw me to the ground." The girlined to her father.


    "Shit What have I told you about picking fights with people? You are not powerful enough to piss off anyone you want to." The man then ran over to Haru and then bowed his head down.


    "Please forgive my daughter senior brother. This junior has failed to educate her properly. Please if you must, take your anger out on me instead. I will deal with any punishment." The man insisted.


    The girl looked on in shock as she watched her father bow down to this boy who looked to be the same age as her.


    ''He seemed to have seen through my concealment. I tried to keep my Qi from leaking out but I guess he saw it when I was in the park. Is that why he sent his servant to stand beside me? Maybe I should hear him out'' Haru thought and then looked down at the man apologising.


    "There is no need to apologise. Kids make stupid mistakes. I am willing to look past it. I was just about to go home but you''re here now. Why don''t you tell me about this pill you need refining?" Haru said.


    The man looked up after a few more seconds of bowing his head.


    "Thank you. I will discipline her for angering you Wait how did you know that I needed a pill refining? Don''t tell me that Kang must have let it slip, didn''t he? I swear that man is always doing things like this." The man then sighed.


    "Oh, What am I thinking? Where are my manners? My name is Tengfei Zhu." The man said and then held out his hand.


    "I''m Haru Kitagawa," Haru said before shaking his hand.


    The man then turned to where his daughter was stood still shocked by the scene that had just yed out before her eyes.


    "Liqin. Go and make some tea for me and Mr Kitagawa. He has decided to forgive you for picking a fight with you so don''t keep us waiting.


    "But Dad!" She objected.


    "There''s really no need to," Haru said but his words fell on deaf ears.


    "Liqin! Now" Tengfei said once again.


    The girl looked back at her father with embarrassment and anger.


    "Fine. I got it already!" She shouted back and then walked back down the stairs and took the hallway in the opposite direction where the smell of food seemed to being from.


    "Sorry about that. I have taken it easy on her since her mother passed away. I might have spoiled her a bit too much." Tengfei turned back to Haru and said.


    "It''s okay. There is no need to apologise." Haru smiled lightly.


    "If you say so. Anywaye with me please," Tengfei said and then began to walk upstairs.


    As they got to the top of the stairs he entered the first door to the right of the staircase.


    Haru followed him into the room. It seemed to be an office of some kind but it seemed dated like no one had used it for a while. Tengfei pulled out a chair for Haru to sit in before going to the opposite side of the desk and sitting in his own chair.


    As soon as Haru sat down there was a knock on the door behind him.

 Chapter 121: Mr Zhu.

    Chapter 121: Mr Zhu.


    "Come in." Tengfei turned his attention toward the door.


    The door opened gentle as his daughter entered the room carrying a tray with a teapot and two cups on it. She walked over to the desk and then put the tray down before pouring the tea into both cups. All the while making eye contact with Haru.


    Haru was confused. ''I didn''t hurt her or anything. And she was the one who started it so why does she hate me so much?'' He thought.


    Liqin finished pouring the tea into both of the cups and then left the room with a look of anger painted on her face.


    "Again I am sorry about her." Tengfei apologised.


    "There is no need to apologise so much. It''s fine. So tell me about this pill that you need." Haru smiled.


    "Okay if you insist. I need a Blood coagting pill. I was wondering if you knew any cultivators that can refine pills. I will give you some money if you manage to refer someone to me who can refine pills." Tengfei spoke with a look of pain on his face.


    He was desperate and was clinging to hope. He saw Haru cultivating and figured that he would know someone who could refine the pill for him. But little did he know that Haru could refine pills on his own. He hade to the right person for help.


    "I see. You are just trying to find someone who can refine the pill for you. So how much will you offer the person who can refine it?" Haru asked.


    "Well, pill refiners are hard toe by here so I will have to cover the costs of intion I suppose. So I would say around eight hundred thousand yuan. So do you know anyone who could refine the pill?" Tengfei asked.


    "A blood coagting pill. For eight hundred thousand? Sure I can refine one for you. Do you have the materials on hand?" Haru asked like it was nothing for him.


    "Yeah. I understand. Wait. Did I hear you correctly? You can refine the pill? You''re not joking, are you? Pill refining takes years to master." Tengfei doubted Haru.


    "If you don''t want me to refine a pill for you then it''s fine. You had better find someone else then." Haru began to stand up.


    "Wait, no. I didn''t mean to doubt you. It is just that you are so young. It''s hard to believe that you would not only be a strong cultivator but a pill refiner too. But if you really can do it then you can try. I will believe in you." Tengfei hurried to get out in fear that Haru was going to leave.


    "Okay, then it is settled. I will refine the pill for you. But can I ask more about your father? I don''t want to refine a pill that could possibly kill him. The blood coagting pill takes a lot of energy to absorb. If he is really sick then he might suffer a bacsh after taking it." Haru exined.


    "You shouldn''t worry. My father was actually a pill refining master before his ident. He suffered some injuries a few years ago when his furnace exploded. I can take you to see him if you want to? He loves meeting pill refiners. I doubt he has ever met one as young as you though." Tengfei said.


    "I can meet him? Sure that will be great. I will be able to see what condition he is in. If he is too sick I don''t think I will refine the pill. I hope you can understand that." Haru sighed.


    "I understand. I think I actually respect that. If you were just trying to pull a fast one on me for the money you wouldn''t worry about something like this." Tengfei smiled softly and then stood up from his chair.


    "Okay. Let''s go see my old man." He said and then opened the door to the office. Haru followed him throughout the house before they stopped at a wooden door.


    Tengfei knocked on the door three times and then waited for a reply.


    A gentle wave of Qi emerged from the room for a second. It was searching the power of the people outside. As the Qi faded the voice of an old man called out from inside the room.


    "Come on in."


    Tengfei pulled down the door handle and then slowly opened the door revealing the old many in bed. His hair was silver and so was his long beard. He was wearing blue silk pyjamas and was wrapped in nkets.


    The sound of the TV red out as the door opened and then Haru entered behind Tengfei.


    "Tengfei. You have brought someone to see me?" The old man asked.


    Tengfei then stepped aside revealing Haru who was still standing in the doorway.


    "Yes, father. It is a young man who is also a pill refiner like yourself." Tengfei smiled.


    "Oh really?" The old man asked. And then looked at Haru for a second before his eyes widened.


    Haru looked back at the old man, realising that he had seen him before. This was the old man that he had saved in the park after is pill furnace exploded.


    They both looked at each other for a few minutes before the old man spoke up.


    "I remember you. You are the boy who carried me to safety after my little ident aren''t you?" The old man smiled.


    "You remember that? I thought you were unconscious the whole time." Haruughed at the sudden realisation. He felt like the face of the man in the painting was familiar because he had seen that face before.


    It also exined why Tengfei also looked familiar. He looked very simr to the old man lying upon the bed.


    "I was unconscious for most of it but I remember seeing your face but it is all fuzzy now. Who would have thought that we would meet again like this?" The old man said and then sat up with a struggle.


    "Father just rx there is no need to get up. You will make your injuries worse." Tengfei told his father and then rushed over to him to stop him from getting up.


    "Don''t be ridiculous. I have to get up and greet my saviour. I probably would have burned to death if it wasn''t for this young man." The old man said in protest.


    Haru used his Qi to look for injuries in the old man''s body. He searched from head to toe before finally finding the problem on his second attempt. The old man''s dantian had a crack running along the middle and it was spilling Qi out at a rapid pace.


    "You''re son is right Mr Zhu. You shouldn''t get up. In fact, it would probably be for the best that you don''t move at all. Your injury isn''t fatal but you could destroy your cultivation if you are not careful." Haru warned him and then walked over to his bedside.


    "You know what is wrong with me?" The old man asked.


    "Yeah, You have a crack in your dantian. I am guessing you feel tired quite often and sometimes pass out. I bet you also have the worse stomach cramps." Haru went on.


    "Yeah, that''s right. You must be extremely perceptive to figure out what is wrong with me so quickly. This isn''t going to be as simple as just taking a few pills is it?" The old man asked beforeying back down on his bed.


    "Li Jun? How would I fix a broken dantian?" Haru didn''t know what to do so he turned to the next best options and decided to ask his teacher.


    "Fix a dantian? It isn''t a simple thing. You need to have many years of experience in healing people." Li Jun exined.


    "Shit. So I can''t do anything?" Haru asked. He was disappointed in himself for not being of any help.


    "No, You can''t do anything. I might be able to do something though No, forget I said anything." Li Jun replied suspiciously and then changed his mind.


    But Haru couldn''t let it go. He told Tengfei that he was willing to help his father but now he was being forced to go back in his word.


    "What is it? Can you help him?" Haru asked.


    Li Jun then came out from the dragon emperor ring, making sure that he was invisible to everyone but Haru and then floated over to the old man who was nowying on his back.


    "I could help him. But I would need a body to do it. So unless you want to donate your body to me for a few minutes I can''t do anything." Li Jun said with hesitation in his voice.


    "Donate my body? Will it have any aftereffects if I agree to it?" Haru asked. This was the first time he had heard about donating his body. He was confused but figured that if Li Jun suggested it then there probably wasn''t any problem with it.


    Not at all. You will just spend the time trapped in your soul ocean. You won''t be able to control your body until I get out or until you kick me out forcefully. But it''s your choice. How much do you want to help this man?" Li Jun asked.


    "I don''t want to go back on my word. And it is quite a lot of money so sure. You can have control of my body." Haru said bluntly.


    ''I probably should have told him the importance of not trusting people so much. I would have never trusted anyone with my body. I guess this is my fault he is so naive.'' Li Jun thought.


    "Then it''s decided. I will now possess your body." He said and then vanished into thin air.


    Haru''s mind went nk as he was forced into his soul ocean. ''That was fast. I didn''t even have time to react.'' He thought before sitting down and using his Qi to sense what was going on on the outside.

 Chapter 122: Transformation.

    Chapter 122: Transformation.


    The temperature in the room dropped as Haru''s hair grew down to his waist. His eyes turned blue, his skin had gotten a few shades lighter. Giving him a now paleplexion and he grew a few inches in height.


    Both Old man Zhu and Tengfei noticed the change and became nervous as the boy in front of them seemingly turned into another person.


    Li Jun remained still for a few minutes as he took in everything. He could feel the gentle feeling of air filling his lungs with each breath and the feeling of touch. He felt incredible coldness all across his body. ''I can''t believe I used to enjoy having a body. This feels so strange to me.'' He thought before making his way to the old man.


    Tengfei watched nervously as what he thought to be Haru moved closer to his father.


    Li Jun then brushed the hair out of his face and leaned over to take a better look at the old manying on the bed.


    ''Hmm Why are there also signs of poisoning?'' He thought before holding his hand over the old man''s belly. As he did so, Tengfei interrupted him.


    "What are you doing? And what happened to you? You changed" He asked confused by everything that he had seen.


    "I''m going to heal your father''s injuries." Li Jun stated, Not really recalling how he should talk to elders. He was now in Haru''s body and the way he spoke to Tengfei was like how an old man would talk to a toddler. It was unsettling for both Tengfei and Old man Zhu but they didn''t seem to question it.


    The coldness still filled the room and it seemed to suppress both of their abilities to think properly. It was unlike anything that they had felt before. It was like they had both died and be ghosts.


    "Then what about the changes? Why is your hair longer? And your eyes" Tengfei stopped himself as Li Jun looked over at him.


    "It''s just a medical technique. There is no need to worry." Li Jun said in the same tone as his eyes narrowed in on him.


    Tengfei gulped and then slowly nodded his head.


    "Okay" He said, His voice sounding scratchy and weak. With each breath making his heartbeat speed up more and more. Just a few words from Li Jun were enough to activate his fight or flight response.


    Li Jun looked back at the old man striking fear into him as well.


    "I need you to lift up your shirt." He said bluntly and then waited for him to do as he was told.


    Old man Zhu nodded and then lifted up his shirt and tried not to make eye contact with the boy in front of him. He felt an unknown power coursing through the body and with each word the feeling of death lingered. The feeling of fear that he felt was so intense that he didn''t even know he was afraid.


    Li Jun then used a bit of Qi to make a solidified de-like point on his fingertip and then used it to cut a small sh in the old man''s belly.


    A small trail of blood was released from his body before dropping on to the bed. Li Jun then held his hand over the insertion he had made and then began to press down.


    He put just enough pressure to hold his hand steady and then started injecting his Qi into the old man''s belly. He used to Qi to hold the dantian together before putting pressure on it, causing the shattered pieces to line up once again.


    A sh of light appeared from the old man''s mouth and then a stream of blue made it''s way into the air above his head as he screamed in pain. A deep burning sensation made it''s way over his whole body before quickly stopping with a cracking sound.


    "Is it finally over?" Old man Zhu asked whilst panting. Steam came from his mouth with each breath and his body was covered in a cold sweat. Hey back now trying to calm down. His heart was beating dangerously fast but a throbbing pain still remained in his stomach.


    With onest scream of pain emerging from the old man, Li Jun removed his hand. Tengfei looked over at Haru seeing that he was holding something.


    "What is that?" He asked when he saw the ck powder in the centre of his palm. Li Jun then walked over to the bedside table and tipped the powder onto it.


    "It wasn''t an ident your father was injured. Someone poisoned him. And this is a very rare poison called bloodroot poison." Li Jun then took a few steps back.


    "Okay, I''m done now. You can have your body back now." Li Jun said to Haru using spiritual sense tomunicate and then left his body to enter the dragon emperor ring once more.


    But during the time that Li Jun had been in control of Haru''s body. Haru had decided to practice the technique to open void corridors that he had been shown by the shadow. to pass the time. Not hearing Li Jun''s warning his body dropped to the floor lifelessly.


    Thud.


    "What the?" Tengfei said before rushing over to Haru.


    "Are you okay? What happened?" He asked as panic set in.


    "He was fine just a second ago What happened? Hey dad This is bad he passed out. We need to call an ambnce." Tengfei said before running to the office to search for his phone but it was nowhere to be seen.


    "Liqin! Have you seen my phone!?" He shouted down to the bottom of the stairs. A few seconds went by before running footsteps echoed out through the hallway bellow.


    "No. Why? what is it?" She asked confused. She hadn''t heard her dad panic like this in a while so she knew it was something serious and ran upstairs to meet him in the office.


    "The boy who I took up to heal your grandfather just passed out suddenly. I need to call an ambnce." Tengfei said with a look of panic on his face.


    Liqin looked back in shock.


    "He came here to heal grandpa? Where is he?" She asked with concern before handing her phone to her father.


    "Thanks, He is in your grandpa''s room. I will go out front to open the gates for the ambnce. So stay here and make sure nothing happens okay?" Tengfei said and then went outside while making a phone call.


    Once he was out of sight Liqin made her way towards her grandpa''s room to see what was happening. She quickly ran to his room and pushed open the door.


    "Grandpa? What are you doing out of bed?" She asked, seeing old man Zhu sat on the floor next to Haru with his hand over his chest.


    "I am transferring some Qi to his body to wake him up but I am too weak. Come here and help me." Old man Zhu exined to her.


    "But you should be in bed. You are sick, You might make your injuries worse." She stated.


    "What injuries? He already healed me. That is why he is like this in the first ce. I can''t let him die so easily. Nowe and help me." Old man Zhu demanded.


    Liqin stood in ce not knowing what to do. ''He really healed grandpa? How I thought he just knew escape techniques... Did I really underestimate him so much?'' She thought to herself before deciding to listen to her grandfather.


    She might have been a bit hot-tempered but her whole family now owed Haru a huge favour. She wasn''t going to just stand by when he needed help.


    She ran over and kneeled down beside her grandfather as he instructed her how to transfer her Qi.


    Fifteen minutes went by before an ambnce turned up and the paramedics rushed upstairs with a stretcher and made their diagnosis.


    It was unlike anything they had seen. He didn''t appear to have any injuries but he had somehow gone unconscious. His body looked to be perfectly healthy so the assumed it must have been something internal and rushed him to the hospital as fast as they could.


    A cked out car made it''s way down the driveway and stopped. A woman with long blond hair stepped out before making her way toward Tengfei.


    She looked around for a few minutes before initiating a conversation by fashing a badge at him.


    "Captain Chen Cui. I''m with Shenzhen crime investigation unit. Now tell me what happened to the boy. If you try to bullshit me I will see that your whole family is destroyed. He is very important. So I swear if you tried to cause him any harm" She stopped herself, realising the man in front of her was in fact much stronger than she was.


    "You''re a cultivator too right? Come with me and I will tell you what really happened." Tengfei replied before they both went inside to talk in private. He exined what had happened to Haru as best as he could but Cui also couldn''t make sense of what happened.


    Meanwhile, at the hospital, Haru had already been rushed for a brain scan despite the protest of old man Zhu. But they found nothing. They decided to put him in a private ward so he wouldn''t be disturbed while they figured out what was wrong with him.


    After his brain scan old man Zhu managed to bribe his way into Haru''s ward to carry on giving him Qi as hey in the hospital bed.


    Not long after Zen made his way in with Suyin. They looked around for a moment before spotting Haru lying in the bed with the old man stood above him with his hand outstretched.

 Chapter 123: Void Corridors.

    Chapter 123: Void Corridors.


    "What are you doing?" Zen yelled out. When seeing Old man Zhu leaning over Haru''s bed. Suyin stopped for a second and looked at Haruy in the hospital bed. She immediately ran over to be by his side and held his hand.


    "Who are you? The nurse outside said that he was ready for visitors. Are we interrupting?" Zen asked, Mistaking old man Zhu for a doctor.


    "Ohh I''m not a doctor. I am guessing you are a family member? Take a seat and I will tell you what happened." Old man Zhu then began exining what had happened to Haru and what he was currently doing to help the situation.


    "Where is this Qiing from?" Haru asked aloud. He stopped what he was doing for a few minutes.


    ''Is Li Jun doing something? This should benefit my training a lot. But I wonder? How long has it been? Ah well, I will just wait until hees back and tells me I can go back to my body.'' He thought before going back to his training.


    After much effort, he had finally been able to cut open a void in space. But it was only a fraction of the size as what he was shown by the shadow he had seen in his mind. He was still a long way from being able to step through it but with each attempt, he felt it bing easier and easier.


    Until the point, he was able to cut open a void corridor the same size as his head. It remained on eye level in front of his face. Haru looked at it for a few moments before deciding to poke his head through to see what was on the other side.


    "What is the worst that could happen?" He thought aloud before pushing his head into the darkness of the void.


    As his head went through a great pressure surrounded his head. It felt so strong that his eyes began to tear up and it felt like his head was in a vice. He couldn''t take a breath at all. It was like the ce was void of any oxygen at all and a dark liquid began to gather in his eyes.


    He then looked up and felt the pressure even more as he gazed upon the thousands of stars ands going on for more than the eye could see. It looked simr to what he has seen during the Law''s illusion but as he felt the coldness and the soul clenching pressure he knew this was the real deal.


    This was actually space. He had done it. He had finally seeded in creating a sizable Void Corridor. But he was still only at the beginning of his training. Now he would have to make the entrancerge enough to fit his whole body though.


    An not mention the challenge of creating another void corridor at the right distance so he could get out at the correct ce. But from what he understood he would have to trust his instincts to figure out when to open another void.


    What seemed like hours went by as he focused on expanding the size of the void corridor until he could finally open one that was just a bitrger than his body. He celebrated briefly before opening two void corridors back to back just a few feet away from each other.


    To make sure he put his head through the entrance and sure enough, he could see the exit to the other void corridor a few feet ahead of him in space.


    "Is it that easy?" He thought to himself before taking a few steps back to give himself room for a run-up.


    "I hope this works" Haru hesitated for a moment before shaking his head. ''Come on. It can''t be that hard Just run and jump'' He thought, trying to fill himself with confidence that it would work.


    "Here we go!" He shouted before sprinting toward the ck void floating in the air and then he leapt through. His whole body felt the pressure. He could feel it constricting his blood vessels. But the coldness wasbated by the heat provided by Kun.


    His body gentle glided through the gap between the two void corridors before he hit the ground on the other side. The feeling of weightlessness messed up his sense of bnce for a split second but it was enough to make he miss thending and hit the floor his head.


    Haru looked up and then rolled onto his back while rubbing his head. He then turned to see the void corridor he had juste from. He stood up and then waved his hand in the air causing both of them to vanish almost instantly.


    "Yes! That felt like it took so long! Wait how long has it been? Why didn''t Li Jun say anything yet?" Haru expressed his thoughts.


    He had lost track of time due to theck of a day and night cycle in his soul ocean. "Li Jun?" Haru asked for a response.


    A few seconds went by before Li Jun appeared in a sh.


    "What is it?" Li Jun asked with his eyebrows slightly raised. He didn''t have the slightest idea as to why Haru had called for him.


    He then looked at Haru in shock. Haru''s eyes remained blue and his hair was the same length and shade of ck that it was when Li Jun possessed his body.


    "You didn''t go back into your body yet?!" Li Jun eximed. He was sure that he had told Haru that he could have his body back.


    ''No, I am certain I told him. I also promised that there would be no side effects of letting me possess him How am I going to exin this to him?'' He worried as he saw the look of confusion on Haru''s face.


    "You didn''t tell me I could go back. I thought you were still healing Mr Zhu." Haru said.


    "I did tell you. I told you as soon as I finished. It isn''t my fault if you didn''t hear me. I just went back inside the ring once I finished." Li Jun sighed.


    "Well, you had best return back to your body. I imagine you are justying on the floor somewhere." Li Jun said. It was unknown to him what had been happening on the outside also.


    "Sorry I was probably distracted" Haru said while trying to keep it a secret with how far he had progressed in using void corridors. He wanted to surprise his teacher when the time came.


    "I had better head back and see what happened" Haru said and then tried to open his eyes.


    But he then stopped. There was a slight disconnect from his body. It felt like there was someone still controlling his body.


    "I thought you said that you had left my body?" Haru asked Li Jun.


    "I did leave your body. You should be free to go back now." Li Jun said with a troubled look on his face.


    "Wait a minute I will be right back." He said before vanishing to the outside world.


    ''What the? Did they already move his body to the hospital?'' He thought as he looked around the room. He then looked down at Haru.


    A small trail of ck mist seemed to be leaking from his chest.


    ''Just as I thought. So that is why he thought I was still possessing him It''s to be expected at a hospital." He thought before stretching out his arm toward the ck mist.


    "Leave him alone you parasite. This isn''t your body" He then grabbed the mist and pulled his arm back. As he did the mist only grew bigger and bigger before forming the outline of a human.


    "You What are you!? Are you a ghost?" The ck mist asked in a deep tone when seeing Li Jun floating in the air with his bottom half being translucent.


    "Of course I''m not a ghost. Now get a grip you are the ghost. Now go and possess someone Else''s body before I crush your soul. You are already lucky that I am not sending you to the soul cavern so go quick. I don''t want to see you again." Li Jun said with his patience running thin.


    ''I always hated ghosts. They are still creepy even now.'' Li Jun thought as he looked at the dark shadow that was trying to take control of Haru''s body.


    The dark shadow then made it''s way out of the room without so much as another word. It seemed to understand that the man in front of him was much stronger than him.


    The sound of the door closing behind the ghost was all it took to bring Haru back out of his soul ocean now that the interruption had left.


    Haru raised his arms into the air and let out a yawn as he stretched out his limbs. Everything felt tight. Like he hadn''t moved for a while but as he moved around in the bed the feeling then returned to him.


    He stood up without realising the change in the room before feeling something sharp rub against his arm. He then looked down to see tubes stuck in his arm.


    He pulled his arm away out of instinct. In doing so ripping them out of his arm, in turn setting off the rms. He then stumbled back startled by the sudden rm. He then finally took in his surroundings.


    "What the fuck?" He eximed as he looked around the hospital room.

 Chapter 124: Im Okay.

    Chapter 124: I''m Okay.


    The ring rms of the medical equipment echoed throughout the room as Haru gathered his thoughts. He looked over at Li Jun who was floating next to the bed.


    "I thought you said I would beying on the ground! How did I get to the hospital?" He asked before ncing over at the full body mirror next to the door to the room.


    He looked at his new appearance dumbstruck and then walked closer and pulled open his eyelids to look at his eye colour that had changed to a light shade of blue. He then looked at his hair that had grown a significant amount and had turned a dark ck colour.


    "What the?" He was about toment on his appearance as a nurse and a doctor opened the door to the room and stood speechless.


    Haru looked back at them. Confused about the situation he turned back to the tubes behind him that were pumping out liquid onto the floor.


    "Oh, sorry about that. I didn''t feel it in my arm and when I got up they kind of fell out" Haruughed awkwardly as they continued to look at him like they had just seen a ghost.


    "Mr Kitigawa. How do you feel?" The doctor shook his head and then took a few steps forward before putting his hand on Haru''s shoulder.


    "I feel fine. But I''m confused. Why am I here?" Haru asked and then turned to look at Li Jun but he had already made his escape back into the dragon emperor ring.


    "Do you not remember that you passed out?" The doctor asked and then gave a firm pat to Haru''s shoulder to see how he would react.


    But it didn''t bother him at all. It was like he didn''t feel it at all. The doctor formed a confused look on his face.


    "I remember passing out of course. I just didn''t expect to be out long enough for you to get me here. I thought it would only be a couple of minutes at most." Haru exined. Not realising how strange his exnation sounded.


    "So do you pass out like this quite often? Didn''t you think to ever bring it up with a doctor?" He asked.


    "No. This was the first time. I don''t have any kind of condition or anything to be worried about." Haru then said while lost in thought. He then realised he was wearing only a hospital gown.


    He walked over to his bed and looked for his clothes. He assumed that they would be close to where he was sleeping for some reason but that wasn''t the case.


    The nurse and doctor both looked at each other a bit puzzled when watching how Haru was behaving.


    "Excuse me. What are you looking for?" The nurse asked.


    "My clothes. What did you guys do with them." Haru responded as he opened the drawers on either side of the bed.


    "You''re clothes? They will be in the bag under the bed." She replied with a smile.


    Haru then knelt down and looked under the bed. Sure enough, there was a white trash bag that looked like it was half-filled. He lifted it out on to the bed and then tipped out the contents.


    "Are you sure you feel okay? It is not umon foratose patients to feel distressed or even lost when they wake up." The doctor began to exin.


    "I''m fine. I am just ready to go home now." Haru responded while thinking that he had only been there for a few hours at most.


    "Seriously in my professional opinion. You should take it easy. You have been in aa for quite a while. There could be some hidden issues that haven''t shown an effect on you yet. We usually run a few scans once you wake up to make sure you haven''t suffered any brain damage." The doctor began to exin.


    "A while? How long is a while exactly?" Haru asked while putting his underwear back on and making sure the hospital gown kept him covered up.


    "Well, you might want to take a seat. But It can wait until you finish putting your clothes on." The doctor said and then pulled the curtain that surrounded the bed so he could have some privacy.


    Haru then finished putting on his clothes and folded the gown up and ced it on the bed. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.


    He held down the power button and tried to turn it on but the phone had no response at all. It was out of battery. He looked at it with confusion for a few seconds as he remembered that it still had full charge thest time he checked it. He then opened the curtains to see the doctor and nurse both waiting patiently for him.


    "What should I do with the gown thing?" Haru asked.


    "Oh. I will take that to get washed." The nurse said and then walked over to the bed and picked it up and then scrunched up the garbage bag and then walked back out into the main corridor, leaving Haru and the doctor alone to talk.


    "If you are ready then go ahead and take a seat." The doctor suggested to Haru.


    "Okay, You sure made this sound ominous. Just tell me there is no need for all the tension." Haru chuckled and then sat down on the edge of the bed.


    "Okay, I will be blunt. It is easier that way. You have been in aa for just under four weeks. And don''t worry. Your family was already contacted and your uncle hase by every single day to check on you." The doctor then stopped and waited for Haru to react.


    "Shit. Four weeks? I was supposed to help Zen with a meeting. Wait did you say he hase by every day?" Haru asked.


    "Yeah. He didn''t miss a single day. He even brought a young girl with him each time. Suyin I think he said she was called." The doctor thought back as he exined it to Haru.


    ''Okay, that is good. If he came by every day then that means the meeting went okay.'' Haru felt relieved as he heard that. Zen was supposed to be meeting with a crazy foreigner that liked to fight but it seemed like everything was okay.


    "Are you doing okay? I know it is a lot to take in." The doctor asked as he mistook Haru being lost in thought as a sign of him being in shock.


    "Yeah, I am fine. Could you let my uncle know that I am awake then? My phone is dead so I can''t let him know." Haru asked.


    The doctor seemed confused once again. With all the years of experience, he had learning medicine. Haru''s case was far by the strangest case he had evere across. There seemed to be no reason for him to be in aa for so long and his behaviour when he woke up was strange but he seemed to be okay for the most part.


    "Sure. I will have someone contact him right away. Do you still want to be discharged or do you want to take my advice and let us run a few scans?" The doctor asked. Giving Haru a choice, He wasn''t a child anymore so he had the option to discharge himself.


    "Yeah, I still want to be discharged," Haru stated and then waited for the doctor to continue what he had to say as it seemed like he had something on the end of his tongue that he was dying to let out.


    "I really urge you to think again. We still haven''te to a conclusion why you passed out so it would be for the best that you let us run the tests. Your health isn''t worth a little impatience. If we figure out what happened then we can try to make sure it doesn''t happen again." The doctor let loose and practically begged Haru to let him run his tests.


    ''But I already know what happened. I don''t need you, people, to run any tests. It will just be an inconvenience for both parties if I did let them. You wouldn''t ever find out what happened.'' Haru thought to himself as the doctor stared at him.


    "I have already made up my mind. It is really nothing to worry about. So how do I go about doing it? Can I just leave?" Haru asked. He never had to discharge himself from a hospital before it was usually hismanding officer that would do it.


    "If that is your decision then I have to respect it. I will take you to the receptionist to fill out the paperwork. You just have to ept to the terms that if you are leaving despite the doctors warning that we won''t be held responsible if something happens to you." The doctor let Haru know and then waited for him by the door.


    "Do you mind if I ask? What is your rtion to Mr Zhu? I thought it was weird that he paid for a private room for you and then never came to visit." The doctor seemed to seemed interested in Haru''s identity and by the sounds of it, he thought Haru might have been his illegitimate grandson.


    "Oh well I did him a favour one time and he was actually there when I passed out. I guess he felt guilty or something. I don''t really know him on a personal level." Haru stated bluntly as they walked through the corridors.


    The tone Haru had taken to reply was t much like how he had spoken before and it seemed to destroy whatever thoughts the doctor had about him.


    After a few minutes, they arrived at the receptionist''s office. Haru had to fill out a few sheets of paper dering that it was his decision to leave against the doctor''s instructions and that only he would be held responsible if a health problem urred from not having the scans the doctor rmended.


    After he finished filling out the paperwork the doctor gave Haru a nod of approval and then watched as he made his way out of the doors and back into the world after four weeks of what seemed like sleeping.

 Chapter 125: Reunion.

    Chapter 125: Reunion.


    As Haru walked outside he felt something soft brush against the skin on his arm. It was at that moment that he realised the ground was covered in white and he could see his breath pouring out of his mouth like steam. The snow beneath his feet squashed down with each step he took. Creating a light crunching sound.


    ''Snow? I guess it is around that time.'' Haru sighed and then waited for Zen toe and pick him up. He stood outside the main entrance of the hospital for around twenty minutes. asionally getting worried looks from people who saw him stood out in the cold wearing just shorts and a t-shirt.


    He dismissed the looks of worry with a smile and the people went on with their way. But he felt that wasn''t the only reason they were looking at him. It wasn''t every day that you saw a Japanese person with blue eyes. That had to be drawing some of the attention.


    Although Haru didn''t appreciate his appearance changing so suddenly. He didn''t mind the new look. With the change to his hair and eyes also came a change to his face. His face seemed slimmer and he had that ssic model look that he would see in the magazines that his ssmates would read.


    There wasn''t any issue with his appearance before. In fact, he was handsome but his looks right now enhanced everything that people thought made him handsome. But the biggest change was the change to his skin. It had turned much paler. He almost looked like he was half Japanese at most but his facial features remained the same.


    As Haru stood waiting and thinking about how he would exin it to the people that he knew. He noticed Zens car pulling up to the hospital.


    An idea came to him. ''Let''s y a little prank.'' He thought before hiding behind a nter that had arge bush within. He then bent down and scooped up a handful of snow and then formed it into a ball by squeezing it in his hands.


    Zen then got out of the car and practically began to run toward the hospital his facial expression was one of pure worry and he struggled to run with the ground shifting beneath his feet but he continued to try anyway.


    In seeing Zen struggling toe and see him as soon as possible. Haru felt bad and dropped the snowball.


    "He is worried about me. I can''t y a prank on him when he is in this state." He said to himself and then stood up and walked back out in front of the nter Just as Zen ran by.


    As Zen reached the receptionist desk inside the hospital he frantically asked about Haru. The woman who gave Haru the papers exined that he had already left but then she spotted him over Zen''s shoulder through the ss door.


    Zen turned as she pointed her finger toward the door and saw Haru standing there with his hand next to his face, Smiling while waving.


    He stood there in shock. For the past month, he hade to see his nephew every single day in the hospital, seeing him sleeping and being fed through tubes. He hardly imagined that he would see him outside or even out of bed so fast. He wasn''t sure how long he would have to see him like that for.


    So when he got the phone call telling him that Haru had woken up already. He rushed out of work as fast as he could to go and see for himself. He didn''t even have time to exin to his employees why he was leaving so suddenly.


    Haru took a few steps toward the entrance but as soon as he started walking Zen ran towards him and then back outside before embracing him into a hug.


    "What?" Haru asked confused but then decided it was probably for the best that he didn''t say anything about it. He put his arms around him and gave him a light pat on the back.


    "What were you thinking? Why would you put your life in danger to save someone you don''t even know?! Do you know how hard it was to stop your parents from taking time off work toe and see you in the hospital? You are going to have to exin everything to them when we get back home.


    And don''t get me started on Suyin. She was going to cancel her contract with the recordpany to be by your side every day. I had to speak to the CEO of thepany to change some things in the contract. I even got them to cancel the part that she isn''t allowed to be in a rtionship.


    But he did say it is probably for the best that you keep it a secret. After she debuts she is bound to gather lots of fans and you could be a target. The CEO seems pretty confident that she is going to be a big star so they are investing a lot of money into her." Zen exined.


    "Suyin? Where is she by the way? I want to go and see her." Haru said.


    "She should be at the dance studio. Her schedule is pretty full so I am not sure if that is a good idea right now." Zen started to exin but Haru wasn''t having any of it.


    "Zen. I have been asleep for four weeks. I am not taking no for an answer, now get in the car and take me to see her Please." Haruughed.


    "Fine, Whatever." Zen sighed and then got into the car. Haru got in right behind him.


    "It''s good to see that you are doing okay Haru." The driver turned and said as Haru got into the car. He didn''t even question Haru''s new look.


    "It''s good to see you are doing well too." Haru smiled and greeted the driver.


    "To, red fountain dance studio please, John," Zen said and then put on his seatbelt.


    "Okay, no problem." The driver said and then set off.


    "Say Haru What is up with the new look? It looks weird. You don''t even look like your parents anymore, It''s almost like you are an entirely new person. It was one of the things that that old man couldn''t exin to me. He said even he had no idea what happened to you." Zen asked about Haru''s appearance.


    "Li Jun Is this going to be permanent? Or is there a way I can look like myself again?" Haru used his spiritual sense to ask Li Jun.


    "Well, I guess I should have exined the consequences of not going back into your body right away. During the transformation, your body will merge with my appearance so I can adapt to using my power quickly. But if the transformation is left for a few hours it will start to merge with the body.


    You waited four weeks before entering your body again so I guess it''s pretty permanent now. I did tell you when I finished so you only have your ownck of hearing to me.


    But hey, If I need to possess your body again then you won''t have to transform since you have already adapted to be able to handle my power Wait You can handle my power now. Hold on I need to ask Lao about something." Li Jun then stopped talking.


    Haru sighed.


    "It was caused by the technique I used to heal the old man. My body had to adapt to use the technique but it went wrong so I look like this now" He then exined to Zen. He wasn''t lying entirely. Just twisting the truth a little bit.


    "Oh Well, you are going to have to exin it to Suyin. She said she felt like you were someone else also. She almost screamed when she saw she was holding your hand. She only recognised you by the birthmark under your eye. Even I thought you were just a random person when I saw you at first." Zen said.


    "I really look that different? I thought it was just a small change." Haru replied.


    "Well it looks like a small change but the more I look at you, the more it feels like you are a stranger." Zen chuckled and then shook his head.


    "I am just exaggerating. You still look like you. Just now a little more handsome, I don''t think she will hate the change once she gets used to it. She will be happy to know that you are safe." He said Just as the car came to a stop.


    "We''re here." The driver said.


    Haru looked out of the window to see that they had now entered the cities high street. They had stopped out side of a huge looking skyscraper building with a small pop up sign on the floor next to the entrance that read "Red Fountain Dance Studio."


    "So she is inside? Do you know which floor?" Haru asked. He felt nervous for some reason. He wasn''t sure how Suyin would react to seeing him.


    To Haru, it felt like they had only been apart for a few hours but to Suyin, it must have felt like an eternity. He also started to regreting to see her while she practised.


    "What if she gets mad because I am interrupting her practice?" Thest thing that he wants to do was add to her stress. He changed his mind.


    ''I will send her a message when I get home.'' He thought and was just about to ask the driver to take them home when Zen opened the door on his side.


    Haru was so lost in thought that he didn''t notice Zen get out of the car and walk around to the other side. He looked up at Zen standing there for a few seconds.


    "She is on the eighth floor. Come on. I will take you there." He smiled down at Haru.


    "What was I thinking? Of course, she would want to see me right away. If I was in her situation I would want her to see me as soon as possible." Zen seemed to have reminded him that his friends and family all cared deeply for him no matter what and he decided to go in and see her.


    "Okay." Haru then got out of the car and walked through the doors with Zen.

 Chapter 126: Hi...

    Chapter 126: Hi...


    Zen led Haru into the building. As they walked through the lobby one of the workers waved at Zen. He waved back and then walked over to the elevator.


    "Someone, you know?" Haru asked Zen as they waited for the elevator to arrive on the ground floor.


    "Not really but this is one of the properties I own. I have been renting this building out topanies for years now. On the top floor, there is aw firm and on the seventh floor there is even a game design studio." Zen smiled.


    "Oh, I see," Haru added the amount of business that Zen ran across the city was too much for Haru to keep up with sometimes. He would often go into stores and have people recognise him as Zen''s nephew so they would force free stuff on to him. It was annoying but also nice to see how much influence Zen held.


    DING.


    A bell sounded out as the elevator arrived on the ground floor. The doors opened with a deep rumble as the metal doors slid open. They both then got into the elevator before Zen hit the button for the eighth floor.


    A few seconds went by before the elevator jumped and then settled once more as it began to rise, slowly but surely reaching the eighth floor. The bell chimed out once more as the doors opened.


    The room opened up into arge waiting room where a woman sat behind a desk.


    "Can I help you?" A woman wearing a ck skin-tight dress looked up and pushed her sses on to the bridge of her nose. She blinked with a nk expression for a few moments before standing up.


    "Oh, Mr Hao. I had no idea you wereing today. Is there anything you need?" She asked before noticing Haru who was looking around.


    The walls were stered with posters and photos hung up of people in various dance poses and there were job listings pinned to a note board. He looked over at the woman, catching her gaze for only a second. Her face became a deep shade of red as she looked back at him with her mouth hung open.


    She regathered her thoughts and looked back at Zen.


    "Is this a new talent? I don''t think I have seen him before." The woman asked between nces at Haru.


    ''Is there something on my face?'' Haru thought to himself as the woman kept staring at him. He wasn''t even paying attention to what she was saying but as he read the posters on the walls he could feel her gaze on the back of his neck. It was an ufortable feeling.


    "No, This is my nephew, Haru," Zen said and then walked closer to the desk.


    "How much longer is it until everyone goes on break? We have to meet with Suyin as soon as possible." Zen whispered to the woman behind the counter.


    "Well they won''t be finished for another hour or so, But since it is you I can let you go right on in as long as you keep quiet." The woman smirked and gazed deep into Zen''s eyes.


    "Thank you. You''re a sweetheart I promise I will be quiet." Zen said as the woman reached down and pressed a button on her desk.


    A low pitch humming noise came from a ss door behind her as the locks opened up. Zen grabbed a hold of the door and pulled it open a little bit so it wouldn''t lock again and then turned back to Haru who was still looking at the posters.


    He felt even more nervous than he did back in the car. He was only a few meters away from Suyin and she had no idea. He wondered how she would react when she saw him.


    "Hurry up before the door locks," Zen whispered to Haru.


    Haru turned to see Zen with one hand on the door and the other on the wall next to the frame. His chest started to throb rapidly as he walked towards the door.


    Zen then pulled open the door all the way and walked inside, Followed shortly behind by Haru. They walked down a corridor with ss doors on both sides as many different practice rooms branched out across the floor before reaching the room at the very end of the corridor.


    "She''s in here. Are you ready?" Zen asked with a little bit of excitement creeping across his face.


    "There''s no time like the present" Haru said awkwardly before walking over to the door seeing Suyin stood inside dancing. She was following the same dance moves as an older woman who looked to be in her thirties.


    Zen then opened the door and Haru walked inside. He stood there and watched them dance for a few minutes. Suyin was so focused that she didn''t realise anyone hade into the room. But the woman who was dancing alongside her did see him.


    She turned to see him as Suyin carried on by herself.


    "Excuse me. We have a practice session right now. Would you mind waiting outside for a little bit?" She asked with a calming smile. But her voice was enough to break Suyin''s concentration.


    She looked in the mirror and saw him standing in the doorway. She then stopped what she was doing and slowly turned. She was in shock and didn''t believe her eyes.


    It had been almost a full month since she had first gone to visit him in hospital. She had a hard time dealing with the fact that he wasn''t going to wake up for a while and the first couple of days after she had fallen into depression.


    She started to wonder if she would ever see him open his eyes again and decided to distract herself by focusing on practising. She would work hard for countless hours every day to take her mind off knowing that Haru wasying in a hospital bed.


    She never expected that he woulde to see her.


    She almost didn''t recognise him at first and as she turned to see him she had to remind herself that his appearance had mysteriously changed.


    The looked at each other in silence for what seemed like minutes. None of them realised that Zen hade into the room and held a finger to his lips to signal to the woman to keep quiet. She recognised Zen but not this strange-looking boy.


    "Hi" Haru said awkwardly. It still didn''t feel like it had been four weeks since he had seen her it only felt like a few days at most so he didn''t know what to say.


    Zen sighed as he watched on.


    But Suyin didn''t seem to mind the awkwardness in his greeting. As soon as Haru spoke she took off running towards him and practically jumped into his arms.


    She pushed her head against him and then took in a deep breath to calm her heart that felt like it was going to beat out of her chest.


    "I missed you so much" She whispered into his chest.


    Haru wrapped his arms around her tightly and then picked her up into the air. In return, she wrapped her legs around his waist and they hugged like that for what seemed like hours. They didn''t want to let go.


    "Don''t ever do that again. I hated seeing you like that. With those machines monitoring your body and tubes stuck in your body to feed you. It was horrible to see" Suyin said and then felt his hair, brush against her face.


    "You need to get a hair cut." Sheughed and then looked into his pale blue eyes.


    "They look like diamonds. I like your eyes. There is a look of mystery about them, It''s like looking at a faraway gxy I''m just happy you are okay." Suyin took a few minutes topliment Haru''s new look before changing her mind. She loved him for who he was. Not for what he looked like.


    She then smiled before nting a kiss on his lips.


    "I love you so much." She stated and then began to wiggle to get down.


    "I love you too." Haru gave her a final kiss and then lowered her to the ground.


    Suyin turned to talk to the woman who was previously teaching her to dance.


    "Can I take the rest of the day off? I have some important things to discuss. Do you mind?" She asked the woman.


    She smiled back at Suyin and then walked toward her and put a single hand on her shoulder.


    "That''s fine with me. You are a really quick learner. I don''t think I will have to worry about you messing up the choreography. You will do great on the day so take as much time as you need to." She said with a smile before looking over at Zen.


    "Good morning, Mr Hao. How are you doing? Are you up for that dance lesson yet?" She asked with a huge grin on her face.


    Suyin grabbed Haru''s hand and they began to head towards the door until Haru overheard what she said.


    "Zen''s going to dance?" Haru eximed and then turned around to see him looking all flustered.

 Chapter 127: Meow.

    Chapter 127: Meow.


    "I didn''t say anything about dancing! What are you talking about?" Zen said with his face a light shade of pink. He turned around to see Haru smiling with his head slightly tilted with confusion.


    "Oh, sure you did sweety. You told me you couldn''t dance so I offered you some sses. But you told me you were too busy looking after your nephew to do that. I''m guessing that is him?" She asked and looked at Haru with a smile.


    "Yeah, that is him. He just woke up from aa, I''m sure he will need my help with things" Zen said once again his face was turning even pinker than it was before. He then looked back at Haru for help.


    "I am okay. I have Suyin to look after me while you do things. You really don''t have to worry about me so much." Haru smiled. Zen usually had an air of confidence when talking to women, He was a handsome man after all but the change in Zen''s behaviour was noticeable for Haru.


    ''I see, He likes her and it makes him ufortable since she is the one taking the intuitive.'' Haru thought as he knowingly gave his uncle no escape from the dance ss.


    "See, He is fine. I am sure Suyin is enough to look after him. So what do you say?" She asked once more. This time she seemed sincere and less like she was just ying with him.


    "Well, I also have some work to do back at the office. I really don''t think I will have the time to do it. Sorry" Zen said with a bit of a frown.


    The woman stood there with a look of sadness on her face. She looked like she was looking forward to teaching him how to dance.


    "It''s fine. You were going to take the day off to look after me right? I will let everyone back at the office know that you are taking the day off" Haru smiled.


    "You have such a good nephew, He is willing to do that for you even aftering out of the hospital. Come on you have no excuse not to dance with me now do you?" She asked again. She looked so hopeful and her eyes were sparkling so much that even Zen could see how much she wanted to teach him to dance.


    "Fine. I guess I can spare a few hours. It won''t take too long will it?" Zen asked. Finally epting her offer like he didn''t want to. But the look on his face made him look like he was happy to ept.


    "We will be going home then. I''m taking your driver." Haru turned and began to walk while holding Suyin''s hand.


    "Haru!" Zen shouted.


    "Yeah. What is it?" He turned to see Zen holding a finger to his own neck and then running it across like he was cutting it with a de.


    "Now that''s not nice. The first rule of dancing is being in a good mood so your body can move freely. Come on now listen to this and shake your hips like me." The woman grabbed Zen by the arm and made him start right away after catching him threatening Haru.


    Haru and Suyin both giggled before making there way out into the reception area and then back down the elevator into the main lobby before both finally getting into the car that was waiting for them outside.


    "Is Mr Hao still inside?" The driver turned and asked as both Haru and Suyin made themselvesfortable in the back seats.


    "Yeah, He will be a while. He will probably call you when he wants to be picked up but can you take us back home for now?" Haru asked before putting on his seat belt.


    The car began to pull forward out of the parking spot and then drive down the main road. Before Suyin turned to look at him again.


    "So can you tell me why you look like this now?" She asked and then stared at him for a few seconds before he came up nk with a good exnation so he decided to tell her the same thing that he had told Zen.


    "Well, My body went through a transformation to allow me to use more power" He began to exin it to her and without realising it fifteen minutes went by in a sh. They had already arrived back at Zen''s house. They both got out of the car before heading inside.


    As Haru closed the door behind him he felt a soft fluffy huge his way as Xue jumped up at him and began to lick him.


    "I missed you too." He then knelt down and began to pet her. She rolled onto her back exposing her belly to him. Haru petted her for a few minutes.


    "Wow. Even I didn''t get a reaction like that when I told you that I missed you." Suyin jokinglyined.


    "You want me to pet you too?" Haru asked before immediately cing his hand on her head and gently brushing her hair.


    "That''s not what I meant" She said before closing her eyes and epting it. She then put her arms around him and let him continue.


    "Aww, If I knew you would act like this I would have given you some head pats a long time ago. You''re just like a cat." Haru smiled.


    Meow


    A sound escaped Suyin''s lips before she brought her head close to him and licked his cheek.


    Haru went silent and pulled his head away from her.


    Suyin looked back in embarrassment before they both startedughing.


    "Okay, I am never doing that again." She eximed throughughter.


    Once they both settled down they decided to head into the living room and catch up on all the time they had missed. Suyin exined that she had started her training and was currently recording an album.


    They had liked her vocals so much that they had decided to invest as much money as possible into her. It was predicted that the album would do pretty well so they had decided to start recording music videos to go with each song. Hence the dance lessons.


    Suyin had taken dance lessons as a child but it was nothingpared to what they had her doing now. She was dancing around the studio for usually around six hours a day. She felt exhausted but it was what she always dreamed of since she was young.


    "Wow, It sounds like you had it rough. Not to mention I had you worried the whole time. I''m sorry." He apologised and then hugged her as they sat on the couch while the TV yed out in the background.


    "So what are you going to do? Weren''t you supposed to head to university on Monday? I''m sure Zen called to let them know you were in hospital but what are you going to do about it?" Suyin asked.


    "Wait Monday? I thought I had until the twenty-third?" Haru asked confused.


    "Yes, and it is the twenty-sixth now" Suyin stated.


    "Twenty-sixth? Like October twenty-sixth? Where did the time go? Last time I checked it was still August." Haru seemed rather confused.


    "Well, you did spend like two weeks cultivating in the basement remember? And then you went and put yourself in aa Where do you think all the time went?" Suyinughed.


    Haru stopped for a minute and thought about it.


    "I guess I had better go sometime soon then. I still need to book train tickets to Shanghai first. It will take around nine hours to get there though." Haruined.


    "Wait a minute, Let me make a phone call," Suyin said suspiciously and then pulled out her phone and dialled a number before cing it to her ear.


    "Hey, Haru needs to get a train ticket to shanghai. I was wondering how soon you could get him one." She said as soon as the call connected.


    The was a muffled voice that came through on the other side.


    "Well, You told me that you will help with anything that I need," Suyinined back to whoever was on the other side of the phone.


    "You shouldn''t make promises you can''t keep then Wait you can get one for Saturday night? Yes, that works. Thank you!" She shouted before hanging up.


    "Good news. I got you a train ticket for Saturday night." Suyin seemed overjoyed as she hugged him.


    "Wait Saturday? Don''t you think that is a bit too soon? I only have two days to get everything that I will need." Haru protested. He was nning to spend another week in Shenzhen at the least. He wanted to make sure that he left no unfinished business.


    "Then we can go shopping tomorrow! Let me treat you. I got my first paycheck on Friday so I have a lot of money to spoil you with!" Suyin seemed excited.


    And Haru was not willing to ruin her good mood. From what Zen had told him she had been distraught the whole time he had been in the hospital. But now she seemed happy. He wanted to make sure she remained that way for a while longer.


    "Fine, we can go shopping tomorrow. But by the way Who did you call?" Haru asked. There weren''t many people who could get an overnight train ticket to a city as busy as Shanghai on such short notice.


    "It was that police officer that took you to that sect. She came to the hospital when you were unconscious to ask me a bunch of questions like If you had mentioned going to see that old man and his family before.


    After talking for a while she gave me her phone number and told me that she will help me in any way she can." Suyin exined.


    "Oh, You mean Cui? That exins how she can get a train ticket so fast. That was a good idea. Why didn''t I think about that?" Haru eximed and then kissed her forehead.


    There was a slight moment of silence as Suyin began to think about things.


    "Hey, Haru" Suyin said and looked up at him with eyes that were glimmering in the light.


    "What is it?" Haru asked. She looked slightly nervous.


    "I love you so much" She said with a hint of hesitation in her voice. It wasn''t that often when she had the chance to tell him that.


    "I love you too." Haru smiled and then leaned in to kiss her for a second time today. But just as his lips were about to touch hers. The front door swung open and then mmed against the wall as the sounds of heavy footsteps echoed out through the halls.

 Chapter 128: Trian ride.

    Chapter 128: Trian ride.


    The following days were mentally draining for Haru. First, the day after he had to go shopping with Suyin. She dragged him around to every store that they passed to make sure that they didn''t sell anything that he needed. Even useless stores like food stores.


    She wanted to make sure that he had everything that he could possibly need for university. Pen''s, notebooks and much more of the same sort of school supplies. Haru thought it was a big waste of time since he could get everything that he needed once he actually arrived there but he didn''t mind too much.


    The shopping trip wasn''t about actually buying the things that he needed. At least to him, it wasn''t. It was about spending time with Suyin before he went halfway across the country to study a subject that he hadn''t even picked yet. But the day soon came to an end when they bought everything that he would need to survive university for a good few months.


    They went to bed and then woke up to the feeling of dread that they both wanted to avoid. Today would be thest day they could spend together for at least a couple of months. The mood of the morning drastically changed from the night before.


    But they both knew it was inevitable. He would have to go eventually whether they liked it or not. It was probably for the best that it was happening so fast so that they didn''t have any time to dwell on their feelings. Although when the time woulde it would only feel worse.


    They spent the majority of the day packing Haru''s bags and then cuddling and talking mindlessly until the rm Haru had set for nine PM made them realise that time had run out. Haru''s train would leave at ten PM and they still had to get to the station.


    A few secondster Zen knocked on the door.


    "Haru. Are you ready? We are going to have to leave soon." He let them both know and then headed off downstairs to make a phone call to Andrew who had promised to pick Haru up from the train station and help him out since he would be in an unfamiliar ce.


    Haru groaned and buried his head into his pillow andy t on his front-facing down. Suyin then began to rub his back up and down as she smiled sadly.


    "Come on. Stop being a baby, you have to go sometime." She said and then lightly pped him on his back.


    "You''re right." He spoke into his pillow and then sat up.


    "Fine. I am ready." He said and then stood up from the bed and held out his hand to Suyin and helped her up too.


    "You are going like that?" Suyin asked surprised and then looked him up and down. He was wearing just shorts and a T-shirt once again. It was what he would always wear when lounging around the house.


    "Yeah, I am going to be sat on a train for nine hours. I have to befortable." Haru shrugged and then picked up the two bags that were waiting by the door for him.


    "Yeah, But you are riding in first-ss remember. Don''t you think that you will look a bit Out of ce?"


    "Out of ce? I''m not going to sit on a train all night wearing a suit or something. I will befortable so I don''t care about looking out of ce." Haruughed and then put down one of the cases before hanging one of his coats on his shoulder before heading out of the room.


    "Fine whatever. You will probably get a lot of weird looks from the old men on the train. And make sure you keep your ticket with you so they don''t think you sneaked into first ss." Suyin warned him as he walked down the stairs like a homeless man with his waist-length hair.


    "And when you arrive you should get a hair cut. I don''t mind how it looks it pretty actually but not really trendy. You look like you came from the thirteen hundreds." Suyinughed as they made their way outside and packed the bags into the back of the car.


    Zen came out in a hurry and held out his hand toward Haru.


    "What is it? Haru asked confused.


    "Give me your phone. I''m going to give you Andrews number so you can contact him once you arrive." He said and then shook his hand to emphasize that he wanted his phone.


    Hatu gave it to him and then waited a few minutes as he began to type the number into his contacts so that he wouldn''t have to ask for his number once he arrived and then handed the phone back to him.


    "Thanks," Haru said and then turned to enter the car once again.


    "I already gave him your number so he will probably call you when he is there to pick you but its for in case he forgets to," Zen said and then became lost in thought before locking the door to his house and then getting into the front passenger seat.


    Haru and Suyin both got into the back before Zen turned to them and asked.


    "You got everything? You won''t get the chance to go back after we set off." He warned Haru.


    "Yeah, I have everything that I will need. I will just buy anything if I need it." Haru responded and then looked over to Suyin who sighed when she looked at him acting nonchnt.


    "What is it?" Haru asked her as they began to drive towards the train station.


    "Just you. You are never going to be able to earn money if you don''t know how to save it." She added.


    "Save money? Look who is talking? You took me shopping yesterday and then decided to buy a bunch of stuff that I didn''t really need." Haruughed at her.


    "Well. You know it wasn''t really about buying you things. I wanted to spend time with you that is all." Suyin blushed slightly before turning her head to the window out of embarrassment.


    Haru looked at Suyin for a second before the gold from the ne her bought her shed a light into his eyes. Drawing his attention down to it. Haru thought for a moment after he saw it and then came up with an idea.


    "Hey, Can you give me that for a second?" He asked her.


    Suyin turned around and gave him a look of confusion.


    "Give you what?" She asked.


    "Your ne. I want to see it again." Haru stated and then stared at her.


    "Okay, Because that isn''t strange" Suyin said and then took the ne off and then handed it to Haru.


    Haru took the neckless and looked at it for a few minutes before closing his eyes and channelling his Qi into the ne.


    ''I wonder if this will actually work?'' He thought as he began to express his feelings through his Qi.


    A blue light filled the inside of the care. It was faint and not too bright but still enough to light up the interior in the darkness of the night.


    "What are you doing back there?" Zen asked as the car lit up.


    Suddenly he stopped. The light faded almost instantly and he handed it back to her.


    "Here." He said as he held out his hand.


    "What did you do? What was that light about?" Suyin asked. She was used to seeing Haru doing things rted to cultivation but it was still strange when he didn''t exin.


    "Put it on and you will see," Haru said and then waited for her to put the ne back on.


    As soon as she clipped the sp into ce her eyes lit up.


    "What is this?" She asked. Her body felt warm and it was like there was as pressure surrounded her. It almost felt like she was being hugged.


    "I tried to replicate my presence and put it in the ne. So whenever you wear it you can think of me." He exined as the car pulled up to the train station.


    The doors opened up as Cui who was already waiting for them grabbed a hold of the door handle.


    "Jeez. I have been waiting for you guys forever. What took you so long?" She asked as Haru began to step out.


    "It''s okay. We still have time to spare it is not like I am boarding a ne. I don''t need to go through customs, do I? I have metal pens in my bag" Haru asked. The thought didn''te to him earlier but he felt like he needed to ask just in case.


    "Pfft. Is this your first time going on a train or something?" Cui asked She was kind of surprised as she thought that it was normal to ride on trains but she had no idea how sheltered Haru had been


    since he was a child.


    "No, you will be fine. You just have to go and board the train when it pulls up." She exined along with all the things that he would have to do. But it all went over his head as it was too much information to take in.


    After the long exnation, he said goodbye to his friends and family and then walked into the station and waited for the train to arrive. He sat at the tform for hours before the train finally turned up.

 Chapter 129: All Aboard.

    Chapter 129: All Aboard.


    "Finally. I thought I was going to have to wait all night for this thing to show up." Haru sighed as the train came to a stop along the tracks. The doors suddenly opened and a man wearing a suit stepped out onto the tform.


    He looked over at Haru and then blew a whistle to get his attention. Haru turned to look at the man that was waving at him before figuring that he had probably better go and talk to him instead of just boarding the train as he had nned to when the doors first opened.


    Haru picked up his bags and then walked over to the man who was waiting by the door to one of the many carts. As Haru approached the man began to smile.


    In the dead of the night, Haru seemed to be one of the only people waiting at the train station so that added to the thought that the man wanted to speak to Haru.


    "Hello young man, May I see your ticket please?" The man asked and then held out his hand.


    Haru looked down and then ced his bags on the ground before reaching into his coat pocket and pulling out his ticket and handing it to the man.


    "Oh, You are riding in first ss? You don''t get many young people riding in first-ss these days. You are in for a treat. I promise you won''t be disappointed with our service. I can help you carry your bags if you need any help?" The man asked and then bent down and grabbed onto one of Haru''s bags.


    He tried to lift it but it wouldn''t budge an inch. It was like it was filled with bricks.


    "Sure I could use some help but you had best try the other bag. This one is a little heavy. I wouldn''t want you to injure yourself on my behalf." Haru smiled and then picked up the bag the man struggled to lift like it was nothing.


    ''Suyin really went overboard. I told her this much stuff would be useless.'' Haru thought about the contents of the bag he was carrying. It was filled to the brim with stacks upon stacks of paper, pens and notebooks. Suyin didn''t know the meaning of restraint when it came to spending money.


    They walked across the tform to the front of the train and then stopped at the door of one of the carriages.


    "Here we are. This is the first-ss carriage you are in cabin number twelve Oh, that Is lucky. You are right next to the bar carriage. You can head there to socialise with people if you get fed up of sitting in your cabin all night. We also have a menu if you want to order breakfast in the morning. Just let one of the staff members know." The man began to exin.


    He then took the ticket that Haru had handed to him previously and put it into a machine that he had tied around his neck and with a snapping noise the machine punched two holes into the top of the ticket and then the man handed it back to Haru.


    "Here you go. Make sure you look after it, we do inspections each morning to make sure nobody has sneaked onto the train during the night. I hope you have a fantastic evening." The man said and then made his way back down the tform to help someone else after leaving Haru''s bag by the door.


    "Haru boarded the train into a corridor with doors on all sides. Each door had a number on them descending from one at the very top of the carriage. He walked down the carriage before stopping at the one marked with the number twelve.


    "This is it?" Haru asked himself before dropping one of the bags and opening the door. It was a whole room to himself. The room was around five square meters. On one side of the room was a twin size bed with pure white sheets and on the other side was a sitting area with a table and couch. And in the centre of the room was a tv on the ceiling that swung down to be viewable with the push of a button.


    "Oh, This is pretty fancy." Haru thought out loud as the sounds of the wheels scraping against the steel tracks beneath him resounded throughout the whole train. He then brought in the bag that he left outside and ced them next to his bed.


    He then turned to look at the door and he noticed a small key that was stuck on the inside of the room. ''That is useful. I was hesitant about exploring the bar carriage but it makes things easier if I can lock my door.'' He thought before taking the key out from the door.


    "Now it is time for exploring," Haru said as he took off his coat andy it on the table in his room. He then left the room and made sure to lock it behind him. He then stepped back out into to corridor.


    He looked around for a moment at the doors of the rooms. All of them had signs asking the passengers to remain quiet at all times so people wouldn''t be woken during the night. So he made sure to keep as quiet as possible before locating the sign pointing toward a doorbelled as the bar carriage.


    He gently opened the door and stepped in as quickly as he could since the sound of the wheels of the train were much louder inside the connecting room. It was just a small room with rubber sealed walls and articting floor to help the train turn around corners.


    There was another door facing him. This one was ss however and he could see into the carriage. And sure enough there it was. It was filled with sitting areas and had a circr bar in the middle. There was a woman who looked to be in her early twenties stood behind the bar distracting herself by washing sses in the sink.


    Haru opened the door and stepped into the carriage. He felt the atmosphere was a little tense as he entered as he gained the stares of other people in the carriage.


    There were around thirty people in the carriage. Some of them had gathered together in one corner but the others had spread out across the whole carriage but the one thing they had inmon is that they were all wearing formal clothes. The men were wearing suits and the woman dresses.


    Haru on the other hand entered in shorts and a t-shirt. ''Suyin was right. I feel pretty out of ce right now. But at least I amfortable'' He thought before smiling without a care in the world.


    He then made his way other to the bar and sat down on one of the stools.


    "What can I get for you, sir?" The woman asked politely. Her eyes were less judging than the people who were seated in the carriage and she spoke in a friendly tone. She didn''t let the look of Haru change her attitude at all.


    It was surprising, to say the least. His hair almost touched the ground as he sat down and he was dressed like a normal person. He was half expecting her to refuse to serve him but that wasn''t the case.


    Haru thought for a second.


    "I will take your best scotch please," Haru said as he smiled and then looked up at the whiskey shelf. There was a Golden bottle sat on the very top.


    "The best? I''m sorry but I can''t serve that bottle in portions. If you wanted to drink it then you would need to buy the whole bottle." She apologised and then waited for him to change his mind. But he didn''t.


    "That''s fine. I will take the bottle then. You ept cards right?" Haru asked and then reached into his pocket and pulled out a wallet that contained his credit cards.


    "Are you serious?" The woman doubted him for a second but then saw his expression when he looked back up and held out his hand holding a ck credit card.


    "Ah Of course, we ept cards. Hold on a moment please." She said and then turned around grabbing both the bottle and a card scanner from the table and then handing them both to him.


    "Thank you," Haru said and then typed in his pin number after inserting the card into the scanner. Before handing it back to her and then putting his wallet away.


    "Oh and here." The woman then slid a ss across the bar toward him.


    Haru stayed seated as he opened the bottle and poured himself a ss. The scent of the whiskey floated around the carriage and overpowered the smell of everything else.


    He then held up the bottle and began to read thebel. It was a forty per cent proof sixty-year-old single malt scotch in a fancy gold ted stainless steel bottle.


    ''I probably went a bit overboard with this. I bet it wasn''t cheap at all.'' Haru thought to himself. But he had a fair bit of money saved up so he didn''t have to worry too much about it.


    The sound to the door echoed out as the feeling of fiery Qi entered the room. Haru didn''t take his eyes off the bottle but he felt the Qi throughout the room as the woman who entered searched for any sign of Qi. The spiritual sense searched the whole carriage trace amounts of Qi from everyone in the room.


    Apart from one person. The boy with long hair sat at the bar had no Qi lingering around his body. Just like if someone was concealing their Qi. It was the sign of a cultivator.


    The cking of high heels sounded out as they made their way closer to the bar before the sound of scraping metal across the floor as the stole directly next to Haru was pulled out from under the bar.

 Chapter 130: Shut Up.

    Chapter 130: Shut Up.


    "That is a fine taste in whiskey you have. It''s a shame you don''t have anyone share it with." The gentle voice of the middle-aged woman that sat beside him whispered into his ear.


    "True. It would be nice to drink with someone. Miss barkeeper. Another ss please." Haru spoke and then asked the barkeeper to give him another ss for the woman beside him. Haru hadn''t turned his head yet but he could feel the amount of true Qiing from the woman beside him.


    "Manifestation stage? I haven''t met many people with your strength before." Haru asked and then turned to look at the woman. She had long tinum hair and light pink iris''s She wore a white skin-tight dress with cherry blossoms falling from branches printed on it.


    "And I haven''t met many people that could sessfully hide their strength from me" She stopped suddenly mid-sentence.


    Haru recognised her instantly and she seemed to recognise him too. The woman''s eyes widened as she looked at the boy in front of her. She then thought back to the dreaded day that they had met each other. She shivered in fear and covered her mouth with her hands.


    "You" She whispered quietly as she felt a lump at the back of her thought and her palms began to sweat.


    "I''m so sorry. I didn''t mean to interrupt you. Please forgive me." She said and then in a hurry, she began to stand up from the stool.


    "You''re that woman who stopped my fight with the director guy a few months back How have you been since then?" Haru asked with a smile.


    "What?" She asked. The question threw her offpletely. She thought for sure that he would still be holding a grudge against her for how she treated him. But to her surprise, it seemed like he didn''t care at all.


    ''Wait a minute He looks simr to the boy then but also somewhat different. Is it even the same person? No, it has to be he just asked me how I have been since that day'' The woman questioned herself. She felt strange about their meeting right now. But she was certain it was the same boy as back then.


    "It''s fine. I don''t care about what happened back then. I could use thepany if you want to sit with me? This bottle isn''t going to finish its self." Haru picked up the golden bottle of whiskey and shook it in her direction.


    She looked back at him with her eyebrows half raised and then hesitantly grabbed the back of the stool and sat down beside him. She looked at him for a few seconds as he leaned over and poured her a ss.


    "Are you sure? I thought for sure you would still be mad at how I treated you" She didn''t seem to believe his intentions but she was interested in why he was acting this way.


    Haru nodded his head and then took another drink, finishing his first ss. He then poured out more into his ss and then turned to look at her again.


    ''Why doesn''t he hate me? I threatened himst time and used my power to put his back against a wall. And why can''t I sense his Qi at all? There is no way that he has already surpassed me right? He was only at the heavenly spirit stage back then Does he have some kind of treasure on him?" She had many questions about the boy in front of her.


    But she started to ask the most basic question first. It would be strange if she asked about personal things right off the bat.


    "So What did you say your name was again?" She asked awkwardly before picking up the ss. Her imposing aura from back when they first met seemed topletely vanish. She just seemed like any other woman.


    Although she was still one stage higher than Haru in cultivation she would still be no match for him at the moment. His flooded soul ocean was ever-expanding and he contained enough Qi in his body to enter the nirvana stage directly but held off on doing so. So that his foundation would remain stable.


    Both Li Jun and Lao already advised him to climb through the stages at a steady pace. Thest thing he needed was an unstable foundation that would copse after he broke through to a higher stage so he stayed at the spirit soul stage.


    "My name is Haru. And you are?" Haru asked the woman. They had met before but not for long enough to learn each other''s names. It was kind of awkward to introduce themselves on their second meeting.


    "I''m Lian Ling. But just call me Lian." She smiled and then held out her hand for Haru to shake.


    "You are not going to try to kill me if I shake your hand are you?" Haru looked down at her hand and asked jokingly.


    "Not at all. I don''t know if I would even be able to. You have grown a lot since Ist saw you. I can only imagine the struggles you have been through." She smiled once again.


    Haru then reached out and took her hand.


    "You can see through my cultivation?" Haru asked confused. He felt her looking through the room but he didn''t think that she had managed to see his cultivation level.


    "No, I don''t need to judge your strength based on your cultivation level. The way you carry yourself is enough of a giveaway. Not many people would openly sit in the centre of the room and not bat an eye when another cultivator approaches you from behind.


    That is more than enough to see how strong you have gotten. Even I wouldn''t feel safe with a cultivator of my strength approaching me from behind. But you didn''t even raise your guard. It was like you disregarded me because I''m not your opponent. Is that correct?" The woman stated and then asked as she couldn''t be certain.


    "Not really. I just didn''t feel like you had any intention to harm me. If you did I would have sensed it when you entered the room." Haru stated and then took another sip from his ss.


    The woman''s eyes widened once again.


    "You are telling me you can feel intentions through Qi? I didn''t think you were that strong. You must already be at the nirvana stage!" She suddenly spoke louder, gaining the attention of the other passengers inside the carriage.


    ''What? I thought that was normal. Why didn''t anyone else tell me that only strong people could do it? Now I am going to have to look like a liar'' Haru thought as he got ready to exin himself.


    Just as Haru was about to speak the sound of something heavy hit the bar beside him.


    "Hey. Is this guy bothering you?" Said a man who looked to be in his early twenties. He stumbled up to the bar and mmed his ss down on the table and looked over to Lian with his cheeks glowing red.


    "No. Now go back to your seat little man." Lian responded coldly as she saw the look in his eyes when his gaze drifted down to her chest.


    "Hey! I don''t like how you are talking to me you bitch. I was just trying to be nice." The man shouted back at her as Haru took another sip from his ss.


    "And you! Who do you think you are toe in here looking like a peasant? You ruined my mood before but now I don''t like you even more." He said to Haru, stuttering through his words a little.


    "You''re drunk. Go sit back down." Haru responded without taking his eyes off the ss in front of him.


    "Hey, look at me when I''m talking to you. I will have you know that my father" He was cut short as Haru turned to look at him.


    He stretched out his hand and grabbed the man by the top of his head and then began to squeeze more and more.


    "I don''t care. I warned you once. There won''t be a second time now sit down and stop looking for trouble. It''s for your own good." Haru spoke with harshness in his voice but it was for his own good. The man had no idea how strong the people he was bothering actually were.


    Haru then looked back at the man who was shivering under his hand and then released him. The man dropped to the floor as the pressure from his head was released.


    Haru then looked back up at the bar where the woman running it was holding a cellphone to her ear. She looked down at Haru and then stuttered.


    "Ahh I''m sorry, it is the protocol for when things like this happen." She exined frantically.


    "It''s fine. I understand. Go ahead." Haru said with a smile and then finished his drink in one gulp. He then looked back at Lian who had her head resting on her hands and was staring at him intensely.


    "What is it?" He asked her as the door to the carriage opened up.


    "Who dares to cause trouble on my train?" A slight amount of Qi entered the room as a middle-aged man entered the room using Qi to amplify his voice.


    "Shut up." Lian turned to look at the man in the doorway.


    His body began to tremble as he looked at her.


    "Yes ma''am. I am very sorry!" The man squeaked out before making his way back through the doors that he had entered from.

 Chapter 131: Reckless.

    Chapter 131: Reckless.


    Haru looked at Lian for a second before a smile formed on her face and they both startedughing. The man whoy on the floor beneath Haru slowly got up and made his escape while he wasughing, thinking that he wouldn''t realise that he had left.


    Haru smiled as he knew the conflict was over and then looked at Lian''s ss. It was half empty but he was already on his second ss so he topped her ss up to the top then did the same to his own.


    "So what brings you here? Why take a train? You can fly right?" Haru asked. Referring to how she flew away thest time they met each other.


    "Well I could fly back home but I was actually just at the other side of the country on an assignment. It would take two days to fly back anyway so I thought why not take the train? It might take a little longer but at least I could rx a little." Lian thought about her reasoning for a moment and then responded.


    "You were on an assignment? Is that from the Cultivator association or whatever it''s called?" Haru asked. He couldn''t quite remember the name they said but he knew he wasn''t far off the mark.


    "Yeah, The National Association of Cultivators. They sent me out to explore some ruins that were unearthed, but the whole thing was useless. It was just an old temple. There wasn''t even the slightest trace of Natural Qi there." Lian sighed and then finished the whole ss of whiskey in one.


    "Do you mind if I?" She looked at Haru and then pointed back to the golden bottle of whiskey that was starting to run low.


    "Go ahead." Haru chuckled to himself and then held out his ss for her to fill it up again.


    "So what are you doing here? A disciple from "That" sect is heading somewhere on a train? That is some big news. I''m surprised nobody tried to stop you." Lian giggled to herself.


    "Me? Well, I''m heading to university. I should already be there but something came up. Haru said and then took another drink from his ss.


    Lian looked at him again wide eyes and then leaned closer to him.


    "What!? You are so young and you are already this strong? Is everyone from that sect this strong?" She whispered surprised by what she had just heard.


    "I thought you were a little older than that. You must be around eighteen or neen right? That is just unheard of" Lian began to ask and then stopped herself.


    "Is everything okay?" Haru saw that she cut herself off and became confused.


    "Yeah, I was just thinking Do you know a cultivator by the name of Hong Xia?" Lian asked with a serious look on her face. She looked kind of scared but interested at the same time.


    "Hong Xia? Nope, I haven''t really met many cultivators. Why what''s up?" Haru asked more about what she was thinking.


    Lian seemed hesitant to answer but did so anyway.


    "Just a cultivator from the Hong family in the capital. She is around your age but I heard that she is a powerhouse. She took down a whole sect on her own because one of their members bullied her little brother. Apparently, the whole sect was painted in blood.


    When the cultivators from the association arrived to try to settle the whole thing without bloodshed she ughtered them in a single strike of her sword.


    I thought if you could grow your strength this fast then surely you must have some kind of rtionship with that girl. But then again I heard that she had a teacher that appeared from the sky one day and took her up into the clouds for thirty nights before taking her back home.


    Do you happen to know of any old women living in the clouds?" She exined and then asked Haru with a hint of suspicion.


    "Old women living in the clouds? Not at all but I will let you know if I see any." Haru let out a slightugh before finishing his third ss of whiskey. He then looked up at the clock at the bar.


    ''It''s already one o''clock in the morning?'' Haru thought before deciding it was probably time for him to head back to his room.


    "I had fun talking with you but I had better head back to my room. I want some time to rx on my own before we arrive in Shanghai." Haru exined and then stood up.


    "You''re heading to Shanghai? That is where our headquarters is actually located. Wait, hold on a minute." Lian said and then opened up her storage ring. A sh of green light flicked out for her finger for a moment before she held out her hand towards Haru.


    "I started carrying these things for public events but please take it. If you ever need any help or if you want to have another chat like this sometimes feel free to call the number on the back." She said as she held out a white business card with her personal details written on it.


    "Sure. I will be sure to keep that in mind. Have a nice night. Oh and feel free to finish that bottle." Haru said before putting the business card in his wallet and then heading back to his room on the train.


    "I will look forward to it," Lian shouted across the carriage as he made his way back through the door. He smiled and then shook his head.


    ''That was an unexpected encounter. I didn''t realise how much my cultivation had improved but she didn''t feel like a threat to me at all. Even knowing that her cultivation is higher than mine didn''t make a difference.'' Haru thought as he put his key in the door to room twelve and entered.


    Everything was in order and exactly how he left it. He was now even more grateful that they provided keys with their private rooms on the train. He then walked over to the bed and sat down with a sigh.


    "I already miss Shenzhen" He said to himself before looking out at the passing trees outside the window. There was nothing but darkness spreading into the distance. They seemed to be passing a forest of some sort at the moment. It looked as lonely as Haru was currently feeling.


    He then brought his legs up onto the bed and closed his eyes.


    "Hey Kun." He said as he entered his soul ocean to see Kun flying around like he usually did.


    "What is it human?" Kun asked with an attitude as he saw Haru appear from nowhere.


    "Nothing, I just came to practice." Haru smiled up at the golden mes floating above him.


    "Then don''t disturb me," Kun said and then flew up higher into the sky.


    "Okay" Haru said to himself before shing the space in front of him and then looking into the distance before shing his hand once more to create another void corridor a few metres away from him. He then ran and jumped through before appearing in the spot he had created the second hole in space.


    "Hmm I don''t feel like this is very practical" Haru said out loud as he thought about he the shadow had shown the technique to him. He just vanished into the first void corridor and then appeared from another one after he had entered.


    "That''s because you are doing it all wrong," Kun said as he looked down at Haru struggling to figure out the technique.


    "What do you mean? How do you know if I am doing it wrong?" Haru asked. He was doubtful that Kun had any idea how difficult this technique was. But then again Kun was a being from the upper realm too so he could know.


    "Open another corridor," Kun said sounding like he was losing the little patience that he had.


    Haru didn''t think much of it and then shed his hand down as fast as he could. Creating a rip in space in front of him But as soon as the corridor opened he felt a force on his shoulders as Kun gripped him and then flew into the void corridor.


    "Wait. What!?" Haru shouted. He didn''t even create an exit for them. The pressure was still overbearing on Haru''s body but it seemed like it was nothing to Kun as he continued to fly through space while holding Haru with his talons.


    As they flew through space a roar boomed out from behind them. It felt like everything was shaking as the mighty howl echoed out.


    "Fuck Shut up and open another corridor right now, Or else we will die in here." Kun ordered Haru.


    An instant feeling of dread washed over Haru''s body. It was the same feeling that he felt during the test the tablet for thew gave him. The loud growl echoed out once again and shook fear into his body. The feeling made him feel sick to his very core and was quickly approaching him.


    Haru lifted his hand and shed down creating another corridor in a panicked hurry. Kun immediately flew through the void corridor and dropped Haru. They had moved only a few metres away from where they had started but it was still an improvement. But Haru felt like Kun had been reckless.


    "Okay! What the fuck Kun? I felt like we really could have died! Why did I feel like that? What was that thing?" Haru asked. It was twice now he had felt like that but this time it was much worse than before. It felt like his soul would be swallowed up if he remained there.

 Chapter 132: Uncle Andrew.

    Chapter 132: Uncle Andrew.


    "That was death If you ever have that feeling you need to leave as fast as you can or else even your soul will be destroyed." Kun said through his panting breath.


    "Death what do you mean? What is that thing? I couldn''t even see what it looked like. I was too scared to look at it." Haru exined.


    "They are called Nekrpolis and you would be doing yourself a huge favour if you stop asking so many questions. There have been times where they have eaten entire sr systems because a single person was thinking about them.


    Just put it out of your mind. But if you ever feel like that, then get as far away as you possibly can. I don''t want you to drag me into an early grave with you." Kun said and then vanished in a ball of golden mes.


    "Okay Well, that''s a terrifying thought." Haru said out loud before trying to distract himself from thinking about the feeling he just felt.


    He then looked down and realised that he had moved at least one hundred metres from where he had started. This was his biggest aplishment yet. He hadn''t managed to go this far with a void corridor before. But now he knew how they were actually supposed to be used.


    You had to use your instincts to tell you when to open another void corridor to get back. You just had to feel where you wanted to go.


    "I don''t think I want to practice right now though. I will wait until that thing leaves." He thought and then opened his eyes to be greeted with the rising sun peeking over the tops of a couple of mountains in the distance.


    ''Morning already?'' He thought before pulling out his phone and then checking the time. It was six AM. It wouldn''t be long before the train would arrive in Shanghai. They were scheduled to arrive for seven-thirty.


    "Sir?" A voice came from the door. Followed by three knocks on the door. Haru used his spiritual sense to feel the Qi of the person on the other side of the door before making up his mind to answer he calling.


    It was a woman in her thirties with almost no Natural Qi at all. She only had traces of abundant Qi which most people unconsciously absorbed from the earth. And she didn''t seem to have any bad intentions.


    Haru opened the door to be greeted by an older woman pushing a cart down the carriage.


    "Sorry to disturb you. I was wondering if you wanted any breakfast?" The woman asked and then looked down at the cart.


    "No thank you. I''m not really that hungry." Haru said and then looked at the woman''s face change to one of anger. Haru then closed the door.


    He then walked back over to the bed and sat down once more. He looked out of the window until the train came to a slow stop.


    He was so entranced in his own thoughts that he didn''t realise that they had already passed through the outskirts of the city and arrived at the train station. The train came to aplete stop and a whistle sounded out as the conductor got off to check tickets.


    Haru took a few minutes to change into some more appropriate clothes. He was meeting his other uncle for the first time so he wanted to look somewhat presentable.


    He changed into a dark navy suit that he had tailored for Zen''s birthday the year before. And then picked up his bags and walked to the exit of the train. He stepped down onto the tform to be greeted by the busymuters of Shanghai.


    Shenzhen was by no means a small city but the poption density inparison with Shanghai was night and day. And he could tell by just the amount of people at the train station. But another problem arose.


    He was now lost. He didn''t know where to go. He looked around in all directions until he heard his name called out from behind him.


    "Haru?" Lian''s voice came from the train as she stepped on to the tform.


    "You look lost. Do you want me to show you the way out?" She asked with a smile as she seemed to have been here many times before.


    "That would be great thanks." Haru turned and said as she stood beside him.


    "Then just follow me then." She said as she began to lead him toward the exit. They talked on their way but Haru didn''t really listen to what she had to say. The noise from the number of people walking around him took his focus away until he saw the sunlight from the entrance to the station.


    "Like I was saying. You cane to the Association headquarters anytime you want to. But just make sure you call me ahead of time. There are a few people there who know what your sect is capable of so it is best if I am there so no one decides to make trouble for you." She exined as they walked out into the street.


    "Do you need a ride anywhere? I have my driver waiting for me over there." She then pointed over to a white luxury limousine parked on the opposite side of the road.


    "My uncle is picking me up. But thanks for the offer." Haru said and then began to look around to see if he could spot his uncle. But he had no idea who he was looking for until.


    "Miss Lian. I didn''t expect to meet you here?" Arge muscr man walked over wearing a white dress shirt that was slightly unbuttoned to give room for his muscles underneath. He had slightly greying hair and looked to be in his early fifties. He had day-old stubble and was also wearing orange-tinted sunsses.


    "Mr Hao. How are you doing? Have the association got you out on a mission?" She asked therge muscr man.


    Haru looked up at the man who was around a whole head taller than him when he heard what Lian had called him. ''Mr Hao?'' Haru looked up at the man. Surely it couldn''t be a coincidence. But he didn''t want to be wrong so he stayed quiet.


    "Afraid not. I am here for a personal matter. Anyway, who is this young man? I can''t sense any Qi on him at all." The muscr man said and then looked at Haru.


    "This is Haru. He is a cultivator that has just arrived from Shenzhen he isn''t with the association though." Lian said and then looked back at Mr Hao whose face seemed to light up.


    "So you''re Haru? The way Zen described you I thought you would be a puny little kid. I never expected you to be strong enough to conceal your power from me." Mr Haoughed.


    It all but confirmed Haru''s suspicion. This man was his uncle. Although Haru didn''t expect him to be this strong either. He was at the Qi creation stage which was just one step behind Haru''s current cultivation level.


    "And you''re Andrew?" Haru asked as he cranked his neck back to make eye contact with him.


    "I won''t be having any of that. It''s uncle Andrew, Okay? We''re family so I will treat you like it. But I expect you to treat me the same okay?" Andrew said with an imposing manner as he looked down on Haru.


    But Haru wasn''t one to argue over trivial matters. The only reason he didn''t call Zen uncle was that he didn''t mind being called by just his name. But Andrew seemed to be a bit traditional in his family values.


    "Sure, I don''t mind," Haru said and then looked back at Lian.


    "Mr Hao is your uncle? Why didn''t you say so earlier? If you would have told me back then. I never would have Never mind." Lian sighed. And then looked back at Andrew.


    "I get that you are family. But try not to be too strict. He is even stronger than me. I think he deserves some respect for being this strong at such a young age. But that is just my opinion." Lian whispered before taking her leave.


    "Don''t forget what I told you. Feel free to call me if you need anything at all!" Lian shouted back to Haru before getting into the limousine and driving off into the distance.


    "What are you standing around for? Hurry up let''s get going." Andrew said before grabbing walking over to the parking lot across the road. He didn''t mind that Haru was stronger than him. He expected respect since they were family.


    And Haru didn''t mind his attitude for now. He could see through the intentions of his uncle anyway. And the only intentions he had were for them to act as a family should. It was probably the guilt of not being there for his siblings when they were growing up because he was too focused on following his father''s footsteps.


    They walked across the parking lot in silence before arriving at the rear of a red convertible sports car. Andrew then pulled out a car from his pocket and pressed a button that opened the trunk.


    "Put your bags in there." He said and then walked around to the front of the car and got into the driver''s seat. Haru did as he said and put his bags in the back of the car and then made his way around to the front and sat down in the single passenger seat.

 Chapter 133: Roaring Exhaust.

    Chapter 133: Roaring Exhaust.


    The car sped off down a road that headed straight for the heart of the city. Andrew drove fast and wild like he knew the roads like the backs of his hands. But Haru was used to this driving style. If anything it didn''t bother him much since he knew that he wasn''t in any danger in the first ce.


    "Say Haru? Do you know what you want to do? Your aunt said she wanted you to stay over for dinner tonight to give you time to get to know your cousins. But if you want to head to the university first then that''s fine too." Andrew looked over and asked him.


    Haru was too busy taking in the scenery. He wanted to memorise the streets they passed so it would make traversing the city easier for him. But the question caught his attention.


    "Well, I will need to head to university first to put all my things in my dorm. I don''t want to leave it for too long. If I get thereter tonight the office might be closed. But I don''t minding over for dinner if you''re willing to wait for me?" Haru asked.


    He wanted to put all of his things away as he was getting sick of dragging his luggage around with him.


    "Then it''s settled. I will wait for you. I don''t have anything to do today so I don''t mind. I will let Nadia know you''re staying for dinner." Andrew smiled and then pulled out his phone with one hand still on the steering wheel and called his wife.


    He was silent for a few seconds as the voice on the other side bombarded him with questions.


    "Yes, He said he wille over for dinner, I didn''t ask about that, but he said that he wanted to put his bags in his dorm before hees over," Andrew said and then there was silence once again.


    "Fine, I will ask him." He then looked back over to Haru.


    "Your auntie wants to know if you want to spend the night at our house?" He asked with the phone still to his ear.


    "Well, If it isn''t any trouble for you then I don''t mind," Haru answered passively. He felt like if he just epted her offer it would seem like he was being too familiar, and if he rejected the offer it would seem like he was being too distant. So he decided to leave the decision to them. It didn''t matter to him either way.


    "He said yes." Andrew turned his attention back to the road as he talked to his wife. A few minutes went by before he put his phone away and looked back at Haru.


    "I had this burning question since I first saw you. But how long have you been cultivating for? Zen said it has only been around three years. But it is almost impossible to reach the level that you are in that time" He said with suspicion, He wasn''t sure what to believe.


    "Yeah, that''s right. It has only been three years but I got a little lucky when I first started." Haru stated as they continued on toward the university.


    "Lucky? What happened? If you don''t mind me asking." Andrew asked. He became intrigued since he had never seen someone so young with Haru''s level of strength.


    Haru thought for a second. Since he couldn''t tell the entire truth so he decided to heavily censor the events of how he started his path of cultivation.


    "The government in japan struck a deal with one of the sects in china to hopefully improve ourbat power at the military school. But when we got there I decided to go for ate-night walk and then got trapped in a Qi absorbing array.


    I passed out somehow and when I woke up I wasn''t able to use magic anymore. And when I found my way back out the sect master came looking for me and said I had inherited their sects secret art so he decided to teach me how to cultivate." Haru exined how it happened but changed a few of the details that would expose Li Jun and Lao.


    Andrew sat for a few minutes in silence.


    "Wow. You got lucky indeed. Not many people can enter sects and learn from their masters. But you were even taught by the leader of the sect What sect did you go to though? I don''t know many that would let outsiders in to learn from them." Andrew asked.


    Haru was about to tell him and then he remembered what happened thest two times that he mentioned the name of the sect. So instead he pulled out his phone and opened his notes and then typed out the words "ck Star Sect" and then showed the phone screen to Andrew.


    "ck Wait "That" Sect? Are you serious? They are the most secretive sect in China. And then there is the evil god that kills anyone who mentions their name" Andrew seemed shocked by the revtion but then smiled.


    "Well, congrattions. If your grandfather knew that you had managed to be so strong at only eighteen he would be incredibly proud of you." Andrew smiled and then went silent as they approached the university.


    The signature two towers of Hudan university emerged from the distance as they made their way closer and closer the main entrance. They stopped just outside the main building. It was around eight o''clock so many students began to make their way in through the gates.


    That was until the roaring exhaust from Andrews car drove toward the gates and then parked next to the pavement. All eyes were on Haru as he got out of the passenger side of the car. His long dark hair blew in the wind as he got up from the seat.


    He adjusted his suit jacket and then made his way beyond the gates. Ignoring the stares of his future ssmates. He walked past the gate and then up toward the building in the centre of the grounds. He knew it was the main building by the two seven floored towers on either side.


    As he entered through the doors the atmosphere changed. Everyone seemed to be busy and ran throughout the hallways looking for their ssrooms. It was only the second week since they had opened after the break so the new students all looked down and ignored the strangeness of Haru''s looks as he entered.


    It was a nice feeling since he had to deal with the stares of people outside but now he felt like nobody cared about him. He then looked over to the desk on the right side of the door where an old woman with her sses on the top of her head sat paying no attention to the world.


    Haru looked up seeing the sign saying "reception" and then walked towards her, Pushing his way through the sea of people below him and then stopped at the desk.


    The woman looked up as she saw the shadow Haru cast upon her when he approached the desk.


    "Jeez, Announce yourself will you? You almost gave me a heart attack." The woman jumped in her seat as she saw his blue eyes glowing within the shadow that hid his face.


    "I''m sorry about that. You seemed busy so I didn''t want to disturb you." Haru scratched the back of his head as he looked down upon the old woman.


    "So what can I help you with?" The woman asked in a tone that made it sound like she was tired of her job. She then looked up at Haru noticing that he wasn''t wearing his ID badge.


    "Oh, You lost your ID badge? Do you want me to print you a new one?" She asked.


    "That''s not it, I had somethinge up and I couldn''t attend ssesst week, My uncle let the principle know that I would be arriving today. I was supposed to meet with him but I don''t have a clue where I should go." Haru said and then looked down at the woman who began to smile.


    "You want to meet with the principle? Not many people are capable to make hime and meet them. What did you say your name was?" The woman asked as she doubted what Haru had just said.


    "Haru Kitagawa." He stated and then waited for her to write it down on a piece of paper.


    "I will make a phone call to his secretary. But that is the best I can do." The woman sighed and then picked up the phone from her desk and made a phone call.


    "I have a young man down here called Haru Kitagawa down here. He said that he had a meeting with the principle. What should I do with him?" She asked as the call connected.


    "Send him up? You''re serious? Okay, I will let him know." The woman''s eyes widened before she put the phone back down and then stood up from her seat.


    "Follow me, please. I will show you the way." She smiled and then began to lead Haru toward an elevator next to a huge staircase.


    "His office is on the top floor. You will know when you get there. Just let his secretary know that you are there for a meeting and she will let you know when he is ready." The woman smiled as she scanned a card against a keypad next to the elevator causing the doors to open.


    Haru got in and pressed the button to the seventh floor and then waited patiently before a bell chimed out.

 Chapter 134: Meeting The Principal.

    Chapter 134: Meeting The Principal.


    Ding.


    The elevator doors opened revealing the skyline office of the university''s principle. Outside the elevator was a waiting room with many seats lined in rows. As the doors opened a young woman peeked her head above the desk and then smiled as she saw Haru walking toward her.


    "Haru Kitagawa? I presume. The principal said he is ready for you at any time. Just head right on in." She said and then pointed towards arge oak door directly next to her desk.


    "Okay. Thank you." Haru smiled and then walked up to the door and pulled down the handle before entering.


    The room had light coloured wooden floors and had many different award ques scattered on each wall. In all three directions were walls of ss that looked out on the city skyline beyond and in the centre of the room, there was arge wooden desk where the principle sat looking at aptop screen.


    As the door opened he adjusted his gaze to the door seeing Haru stood there with the light from the waiting room shrouding him in darkness.


    "You must be Haru. Come in, Come in." The principle said and then stood up from his chair and smiled as Haru closed the door behind him.


    "Your uncle told me about your ident but I am d you are doing okay now. It''s nice to finally meet you." He smiled and then held out his hand for Haru to shake.


    "It''s nice to meet you too," Haru said before shaking his hand and then taking a seat in one of the two chairs in front of the desk.


    "Yes, Take a seat. I had a few things to discuss with you." The principle said and then looked back to his screen and then clicked something before turning the screen for Haru to see.


    "Here. This is it." He said revealing the website with multiple boxes on it.


    "What is it?" Haru asked. He was confused and then looked at the top of the screen. There was the logo of a local bankingpany at the top.


    "You can go ahead and type in your banking details. It is the money we will provide for you. Rest assured you will livefortably during your stay with us." He smiled and then pushed theptop further across the table to encourage Haru to type in his banking details.


    "Oh, okay sure," Haru said and then pulled out his bank card and typed the numbers required on to theptop and then pressed submit.


    "Oh, I understand why you refused to take the money offered to you by the top universities now." The principle said with a sly smile.


    "What do you mean?" Haru asked. He was confused. The only reason he chose Hudan university is that he felt guilty since he practically cheated his exams.


    "You are the owner of a ck card. You need a deposit of ten million yuan to be eligible for a ck card so it''s not a surprise you refused the money that all of the universities were willing to offer you." He smiled and then turned theptop back around to go over the school things that Haru needed to know.


    "Since you haven''t picked what subject to study by the deadline we put you in a ce holder ss. I hope that is okay? You can change it to another subject at the end of next month if you want to but we just had to do it to send it to the government." The principle exined.


    Haru sighed, He was getting tired of all the talk already. He just wanted to rest and he knew that Andrew would be getting impatient soon.


    "Yeah, that''s fine. What subjects did you put me in?" He asked the principle while bing slightly impatient too.


    "We looked at your exam scores and you scored an extra twenty points in chemistry with your thesis on the ssification of matter. So we figured you wouldn''t mind going into that field, I hope you don''t mind it." The principle said through a frown. He wasn''t sure how Haru would react and he didn''t want to lose the top student in the country.


    "Yeah, that is fine. The letter I got mentioned amodation. Where do I find that? I still need to put my bags away. Oh, and do you mind if I take today to adjust to the new surroundings?" Haru said. He had just gotten to university but he didn''t feel right jumping straight into sses. Not to mention Andrew was still waiting for him.


    "That''s fine. Take as much time as you need to adjust. As for amodation we have a few that are avable. Do you mind sharing? If not then you will have to pay for a room in the apartmentplex across the street. But they do offer a heavily discounted price for students." The principal asked.


    "I don''t mind sharing. If I decide against itter on I will take your advice and rent an apartment but for now, I will take whatever is avable.


    "Okay, that is great. There is a bed avable in room forty-three. Hold on a second and I will get you a key." He said and then picked up the phone from the desk and called his secretary outside.


    "Can you get me the key for room forty-three please?" He asked and then put the phone back down.


    "Can I get you to sign this paper also? It is just to state that you are willing to follow our rules while you are here." He said.


    Haru signed the paper and then had to have his picture taken on the principlesptop so he could have his student ID card printed. And with that done all that was left was for him to take his belongings to the dorm room. He was handed a set of three keys.


    One was for the door to the room, one was for his locker and the other would be for his room. The dorms were split into four rooms. Three bedrooms and then a living area and kitchen.


    After wrapping things up with the principle Haru made his way back outside to meet Andrew.


    "Did everything go okay? I have been sat here forever." Andrew asked as he walked back over to the car.


    "I won''t be long now. I just have to take my things to the dorm. I will be maybe ten minutes." Haru said and then Andrew flipped a switch on the inside of his car causing the trunk to open up.


    "Make it quick. I want to get back home and rx." Andrew said with a chuckle and then turned the radio up, sting his music out to everyone nearby.


    "Sure thing." Haru smiled before getting his bags together and then walking over to the dorm rooms. He opened the door with his Qi and then walked over to the three lockers that were ced by the door and put his key inside to one without a name on it.


    The door opened up to reveal the inside of the empty locker. Haru put his things inside it and then pulled a pen out of one of his bags and wrote his name on the nk paperbel that was ced on the outside of the locker.


    He didn''t look around the apartment too much. He just locked up his bags and then changed into some morefortable clothes before making his way back out to Andrew who''s music was still disturbing half of the city.


    "Oh, you got changed too?" Andrew said as he noticed Haru''s change of clothes.


    "Yeah, I figured if I am staying for the night I should wear something morefortable," Haru said and then got back into the car.


    "You ready to go now?" Andrew turned and asked. Before Haru could even say anything he took off at full speed.


    ''What is with all these reckless drivers. I get the fact you aren''t going to die. But what if you hit someone?'' Haru thought as he stayed calm and didn''t react to the fact his uncle was racing through the streets like a mad man.


    "We are here," Andrew said as they started to approach what looked like it used to be a whole block of houses but had all been knocked down to create a fancy looking Chinese style house. The building was only two stories tall but the whole block was surrounded with a stone wall.


    They entered through the main gate where two men dressed in ck suits bowed their heads they drove past them. There were dozens of trees lining the property with grass and ponds scattered throughout the property. It looked like something you would find far out in the countryside yet they were in the middle of the city.


    "This is your house?" Haru asked surprised. He thought that Zen''s house was a nice ce to live but it didn''t hold a candle to this ce.


    "Sure, Is. I built it with my own hands I might have had a little help. But you''re auntie designed the ns and then I started building with my crew." Andrew exined before stopping outside a garage that was attached to the house.


    "Come on. My girls have been dying to meet you. Nadia doesn''t have any siblings so you are the only other family they have met before." Andrew said and then opened the door to the car before leading Haru up a set of stairs and then into the house.

 Chapter 135: Haircut.

    Chapter 135: Haircut.


    They entered through the main door and walked into what seemed to be the living room. The floor was wooden and had a step up to remove your shoes at the entrance. They both then took off their shoes and walked into the main part of the house.


    "I wonder where Nadia is? She said that she was dying to meet you yet she isn''t here. Strange." Andrew said before he started to pick up on the scent of food drifting through the house from the kitchen.


    "Nadia!? Is that you cooking?" He shouted and then opened the door as a cloud of smoke billowed it''s Way out into the rest of the house.


    "I thought I told you that I would cook dinner when I got home?" He said to the woman standing in his kitchen who had a guilty look on her face.


    The woman known as Nadia had long blond hair that flowed softly down to her lower back and had emerald green eyes. Haru looked at the woman. ''Nadia? So she is European? I was kind of expecting him to have a Chinese wife since he seemed so traditional but this is a surprise.'' Haru thought to himself as they argued mildly about who should do the cooking.


    The attention then suddenly changed to Haru without him realising as the woman began to walk toward him and then wrapped her arms around him before giving him a peck on the cheek.


    "It''s lovely to meet you Haru. You''re mother and I used to be pretty good friends before Well, that doesn''t matter So what kinds of things do you like to do for fun? What are you studying at university? Is everything ready for you to attend sses?" She then began to ask even more questions to change the subject.


    Haru smiled before trying to answer all of her questions. He then looked back to see that Andrew Had began top open all of the doors in the house to let the smoke free from the building. Nadia tried desperately to get Haru away from the kitchen so he couldn''t see her mistakes and then they walked up to a wooden door together as she asked many more questions.


    "Oh, would you look at that? We walked right toward Mei''s room." Nadia said while trying to make it seem idental.


    "What do you say we introduce you to your older cousin?" She looked at Haru and then knocked on the door before he could answer.


    Haru sighed. She was trying to distract him from the embarrassing scene he had just seen of her nearly burning down the house. But it was failing miserably.


    The door then opened up quickly as a woman in her early twenties stood there and stared at them both.


    "Mei, This is your cousin Haru. He is staying over for dinner tonight. I was wondering if you would like to talk to him while I make dinner with your father?" Nadia said with a big smile as she looked at her daughter.


    "You''re making dinner? Suddenly I don''t feel hungry." Mei began to say and then she turned her attention toward Haru who stood still trying not to make this interaction anymore awkward than it was.


    ''Is this woman really trying to dump me on her daughter? I am not a cat'' Haru thought to himself as Mei considered if she wanted to waste her time talking to her cousin that she had only just met for the first time.


    "Sure, I guess I can talk to him for a while." She said while inspecting Haru up and down.


    Haru got the feeling that something was wrong and started to feel quite unsettled with what she had just said.


    Suddenly Nadia looked back at Haru before giving him a pat on the back as if to say good luck and then walked away back into the kitchen.


    When he looked back he noticed that Mei hadn''t said anything yet and was just staring at him. Seemingly debating something in her head.


    "I have a question for you. Feel free to say no but, I need someone to practice on and I was hoping you would let me cut your hair?" She said with an innocent-looking smile and then awaited Haru''s answer.


    Haru then brushed a few remaining strands of hair out of his face.


    ''It is rather long and gets in the way a lot.''He thought while looking down at the strandsof hair that reached his waist." He thought and then looked back at Mei.


    "Sure, I don''t mind. I was meaning to get it cut once I got here anyway." Haru smiled but before he could say anything else she grabbed his arm and then pulled him into the room.


    "Here, sit down here." She said and then pointed to a chair she had at a dressing table in the corner of the room. There was a huge mirror in front of the table that was reminiscent of the inside of a barbershop. And to the side of the table, she had all of the tools to go along with it.


    She seemed well practised in cutting hair or at least she had all of the things necessary to look practised. She then picked up a pair of scissors and then looked at Haru though the mirror.


    "Are you sure you want to do this? This is yourst chance to back out." She said and then moved the scissors closer to his hair.


    "If you can really cut hair then it''s fine. So I trust you not to make me look stupid." He smiled and then looked down at the things she hadid out on the table. It was all girly things like makeup brushes and jewellery so Haru had no interest.


    "I will try not to make you look too stupid then," Mei said with a giggle before taking the scissors and cutting a huge amount of hair from Haru''s head with one movement.


    "Don''t worry I own my own salon, I was joking with you. I have been doing this for many years so don''t feel too nervous okay or I might identally cut off your ear." She said to put Haru at ease and thenughed like a maniac.


    ''This family seems pretty fun Weird but fun.'' Haru thought as he sat patiently and waited for her to finish. He then looked back in the mirror as he felt a brush on the back of his neck.


    "There we go. Done." Mei said with a cheery voice and then took a few steps back to look at her creation.


    It was almost exactly like Haru had had his hair before it grew out. It just had more of a uniform style to it. He didn''t mind how it looked and knew that he didn''t make a mistake when he said she could cut it for him.


    "So What do you think?" She leaned down next to the chair and asked him.


    "Not bad at all. For a minute I thought you were going to make me bald." Haru sighed and then began to stand up.


    "You should see the back then," Mei said and then began tough.


    "I''m just joking. I tried my best. I wouldn''t want to ruin the whole cool guy look you have going for you." She said with a mocking attitude and then pulled out a sweeping brush from her closet and began to sweep up all of the hair that was on the floor.


    "So where did youe from? Howe I haven''t met you or your family before?" Mei started to ask Haru a few questions rting to his childhood and past life.


    "I lived in Japan until about four years ago. But since then I have been living in Shenzhen with Zen." He exined.


    "You lived with uncle Zen? I can''t even imagine what that would be like." Mei sighed at just the thought of it alone.


    "Why? It wasn''t actually that bad." Haru smiled. He missed it already if he waspletely honest but he wouldn''t admit it that easily.


    "Well, Thest time he came to visit us he got really drunk and caused a scene at my twentieth birthday party. It was funny but was it not embarrassing to live with him all the time?" She asked. She thought that Zen was aplete clown.


    But she didn''t know the half of it. The reason Zen often acted like he knew nothing was because he didn''t want his family to find about his dealings with criminals who wanted to hire his bodyguards. It was strategic acting dumb even if it didn''t seem like it. Zen was an especially sneaky man.


    Haruughed.


    "Yeah, that sounds like Zen alright. He used toe in at early hours of the morning and need me to help him find his bed. But when he wasn''t out drinking he was always kind. He puts other people before himself. It''s something that I can''t do so I have respect for him." Haru smiled as he talked about Zen.


    "You seem like you are close with him." Mei smiled and then sat down next to him.


    "So tell me have you ever heard of cultivators? My dad is actually one of them. It''s one of the main reasons we could afford to live in such a ce." She whispered quietly as she let Haru in on their family secret.


    Haru smiled. He was tempted to tell her so was he but then decided against it. The fewer people who knew about his strength right now the better. He didn''t want to have to worry about people challenging him or making him a target. And thest thing he wanted was to put his friends and family in danger.


    "No, What does that mean?" Haru yed ignorant to what she just said and had her exin things to him to pass the time.

 Chapter 136: The Youngest Daughter...

    Chapter 136: The Youngest Daughter...


    Haru sat there on the bed next to Mei and talked for hours. They shared stories from each other''s past and talked about the future. Haru wasn''t one to really talk with people but he was forced into a situation where that was his only option.


    He didn''t want to be the weird rtive that didn''t talk to anyone so he tried his best to rte to her life as they talked. As Mei was mid-sentence the door to her room shot open.


    "I thought I told you to stay out of my room? I can do my ownundry!" A youthful yet angry voice emerged from the doorway as the younger of to the two sisters came in to start an argument with her older sister.


    "I didn''t touch your things. It must have been mom. Go and take it out on her, I''m busy." Mei said back as the girl walked into the room.


    Her hair was dyed a bright shade of red and her face was pale with makeup. She looked like she was trying to stand up to the beauty standards and her clothes were all designer branded.


    She looked at Haru for a minute as she stepped into the room and then looked back at Mei before taking another look at Haru. She couldn''t believe her eyes.


    ''Mei brought a guy home? I wonder how dad will react when he finds out? But Isn''t he a little too handsome?'' She thought as she looked at the boy sat beside her sister.


    "Does dad know?" Yun asked Mei with a suspicious grin forming on her face.


    "Does dad know what?" She asked in confusion. She had no idea what she meant.


    "That you brought a guy home. You know what he always warned us about." Yun said with a smirk.


    Mei looked at Haru for a moment and that back at Yun who was still stood in the doorway before bursting into a fit ofughter. Yun didn''t know how to react. At first, she thought that Mei was crying but when she began to point at her while clutching her stomach she knew that she was beingughed at.


    "What''s so funny? I will really tell him that you have a guy in your room." Yun said now looking slightly frustrated with her sister''sck of seriousness.


    "Oh really? Then go ahead and tell him. He was the one who picked him up from the train station this morning." Meiughed some more at her sister.


    "What!? Why would he do that?" Yun asked in disbelief.


    Mei carried onughing before putting her arm around Haru''s shoulder.


    "Because this is our cousin. Haru Who did you think he was?" Mei asked trying to hold in herughter once more.


    "Our cousin? You mean the one who got into some kind of ident so he couldn''te over?" Yun asked. She looked back at Haru for a moment and inspected him for a few seconds.


    "Do you really expect me to believe that he just magically got better and ended up here without me knowing? You are just trying to trick me so I don''t tell dad aren''t you?" Yun asked again without giving Mei a chance to reply.


    "I actually woke up a few days ago. It wasn''t anything serious so I had Zen let your dad know when to pick me up from the station." Haru made his way into the conversation since he saw it was going nowhere and It kind of irritated him to have people talk about him when he was right in front of them.


    "Hmm So you are saying that you just woke up from aa and then decided to take a train to another city right away? Do you really expect me to believe that? She must have told you exactly what to say didn''t she?" Yun didn''t believe a word that Haru said.


    "Well, I had to attend university at some time, didn''t I? I wanted to go right away so I didn''t fall behind the rest of the ss. If you don''t believe me then feel free to ask your dad." Haru insisted and then stared nkly at the girl in the doorway.


    "You know what? I will do just that DAD!!!" She said before screaming. A few seconds went by before her fathers running footsteps came from the kitchen and then to the room they were in.


    "What is it now? I swear if you two are fighting again!" Andrew said before appearing at the door behind Yun.


    He looked down at his daughter and then into the room where Haru sat next to his other daughter. He then noticed Haru''s hair.


    "You let Mei cut your hair? She''s great, isn''t she? I let her cut mine all the time." Andrew bragged and then patted the top of his head.


    "Yeah, I needed to get it cut eventually so I thought why not now?"Haruughed as he answered Andrew.


    Andrew smiled before turning his attention back to Yun who hadn''t said anything about why she called for him toe over.


    "So what is it?" He asked.


    "Wait He is really our cousin?"Yun asked with panic now showing on her face. She was sure that he wasn''t so she decided to tell him that he was lying. Now she felt embarrassed to learn the truth.


    "You mean Haru? Yeah, of course, he is your cousin? Did you think I would let any random boye into my house and sit in the same room as my daughter?" Andrewughed and then looked at Yun while she squirmed for a way out of the awkward situation.


    "Is that all you wanted? Why couldn''t you just ask your sister?" Andrew said with a sigh as he looked down at her once again.


    "Yeah That''s it" Yun said and hung her head in shame.


    The scent of something burning rose from the kitchen once more as the smoke rm began to scream out. Andrew looked back toward the way he had juste from.


    "Oh shit I left your mom alone in the kitchen." Andrew said before taking off running back into the cloud of smoke.

 Chapter 137: Strange Girl.

    Chapter 137: Strange Girl.


    Yun looked at both Haru and Mei for a few minutes before walking away in defeat. Mei got up with anger and walked over to the door and then looked down the corridor.


    "At least close the door on your way out!" She shouted at Yun before sitting down next to Haru once again. Like nothing had happened. He figured by Mei''s reaction that the house being filled with was a regr urrence so he too went straight back to the conversation they were having before the interruption.


    "My dad mentioned something about you having a little sister also? How is that? Is she as annoying as Yun is? Sometimes I can''t stand her.


    "Not at all. She is just a few months old and I haven''t really spent much time with her so I can''t judge that." Haruughed and then pulled out his phone to show a few pictures of Saki to her.


    "Awe she is so cute. I just want to squeeze her little cheeks. Do you know if Auntie Krista will being to visit you here? If she does then you have to tell me about it. Okay?" Meiughed a little as she looked at the pictures of her baby cousin.


    A few minutes of Idle chatter went by before the door opened once more.


    "I will give you both ten minutes to get ready. We are going out for dinner to celebrate Haru going to university." Nadia stood in the hallway and said with a forced smile on her face.


    "Are you sure it''s not because you burnt dinner again?" Mei asked with a smile. She knew the answer but just wanted to run it in.


    Nadia didn''t reply to the question and then looked over to Haru.


    "Haru. What kind of food do you like? You can choose tonight." She asked while ignoring her daughter''s giggling.


    "I don''t know? I will eat basically anything." Haru smiled. He didn''t want the chance to annoy someone by picking something they didn''t like so he stayed quiet.


    In the end, the decision was passed on to Yun. She had the choice to eat whatever she wanted so she picked the fanciest and most expensive ce in the city. It wasn''t like they couldn''t afford it but Haru still felt bad. He didn''t like people to spend money on him.


    It was hard for him to ept gifts from people but now he felt like refusing to go there at all but he knew he couldn''t refuse now. Andrew was the type of man who wouldn''t take no for an answer. He was too proud and it would be like spitting in his face if he had already promised something.


    They arrived at the restaurant in one of Andrews car. It was a five-seat sedan so it was a bit of a squeeze to fit three adults into the back seats. But somehow they managed to, with Haru being squashed against the door by Mei who was sat in the middle.


    Yun, on the other hand,ined when Mei got too close to her so Haru made some space despite not having much himself just to shut yo her constant whining


    They all picked what they wanted to eat and then talked well they waited for their food. The whole experience was foreign yo Haru. He was being treated like royalty by the staff and even people at other tables started to notice the special treatment they were receiving so he made it a point to ask Andrew about it.


    It turned out that he invested heavily into the restaurant when they first opened up and actually owned a twelve per cent share in it. The restaurant soon became one of the best in the city and people from all over came just to eat there. But even so, the owner made sure that they treated his family with respect every time they ate there.


    Their meals would all be free to go along with the favour that Andrew gave them all those years before. After finding out that his food was free he felt better about leaving the decision to Yun and then ordered as much food as he could handle.


    By the time Haru had stopped eating everyone at the table had begun to wonder just where he was putting the food. His stomach didnt seem to bloat but that was due to him returning to origin already. His metabolism would break down food as soon as it entered his stomach since it wasn''t needed for his body to survive. It was them turned in to Qi.


    Although not much. He would need to eat tonnes of food to even equal five minutes of cultivating but it was useful since he enjoyed the taste of food. He would never have to worry about his weight.


    After finishing all of the food they headed back to Andrews house. It was already dark by the time that they left but that was to be expected since winter was right around the corner. Snow had already begun to fall in Shenzhen but a bit of sun remained in Shanghai.


    Haru was shown to his room by Andrew as they got back and then he heard a knock on his door. It was Yun. She opened the door after waiting for the go-ahead and then stood in the doorway.


    "Can I help you with something?" Haru asked as her silhouette cast a shadow at the foot of his bed.


    I just came to apologise to you. I didn''t know that you were actually who you said you were and I wanted to get back at Mei for snooping through my room." Yun said and then cast her head down in shame.


    "You came all the way to my room to apologise? Don''t you think that is a little too much?" Haru asked. He was weirded out by the whole situation as hey in bed half-naked with his cousin looking at him.


    "Yeah. I just didn''t want you to think that I''m a bitch or anything so I came to clear up my misunderstanding. Well, goodnight." She said casually and then closed the door and walked away.


    Haruy there confused for a moment.


    "What a strange girl" Haru thought beforeying back down and going to sleep.

 Chapter 138: Good Morning...

    Chapter 138: Good Morning...


    Light plumed in through the window as a knock on the door awoke Haru from his sleep. He slowly sat up and looked around the room. He had forgotten all about sleeping in someone else house and became confused for a moment beforeing to his senses as the someone knocked on the door once again.


    "My mom told me toe and wake you up. We don''t have long until sses start and my dad is already waiting outside in the car." Yun opened the door and said.


    "Ah.. Good morning." Haru groaned in response.


    He looked over at her for a second and then down at the pile of clothes next to his bed. Realising that the nket had dropped down and he was no exposed all the way down to his waist.


    He looked up at her again expecting some sort of reaction but there wasn''t any so he went about his business and began to put on his clothes.


    "What sses are you studying again?" Yun asked from the doorway as she tried to make watching him getting dressed less awkward.


    Haru put on his shirt and then bent down to tie his shoces before looking up and answering her.


    "I think it was chemistry. Or something like that." He said before standing up and adjusting his shirt.


    "Chemistry? I didn''t expect that... I am actually studying chemistry too. Maybe you will be in my ss?" Yun looked at Haru for a few seconds and then nodded her head in approval.


    ''What was that look about?'' Haru thought as he noticed her slight but quite obvious judgment. He thought it was weird but then went back to the conversation at hand.


    "Do I look stupid or something?" Haru asked with a half-smile before picking up his jacket from the edge of the bed.


    "Stupid? No! Why would you ask that?" Yun asked in panicked confusion. She thought she might have given him the wrong impression against so she was quick to try to think of an excuse as to why she nodded at him. But that wasn''t what Haru was referring to.


    "You said you didn''t expect me to be studying chemistry. Doesn''t that mean that I look stupid?" Haru joked with her.


    "That''s not what I meant Well you know With muscles like that, I just expected you to be majoring in some sport-rted subject. Not many people like you go into the science fields" She said and then stared at him after realising what she had just said.


    "Well, you will be d to know that I didn''t pick chemistry as my major. I wasn''t in for the first week so Chemistry was picked as default due to me having the best grades in that." Haru exined before Yun noticed that he was finished. She then led him outside to the car where her father was waiting for them.


    "What does not attending the first week have to do with what you major in? Didn''t you decide on chemistry when you applied to the university?" She asked in confusion. That was the normal way people would pick their majoring subjects but Haru was a special case.


    "Oh well I got the best grades in the country so the university actually contacted me. I didn''t have to apply or anything. They said they would take care of everything and let me decide what I wanted to major in when I got there" Haru said casually and then got into the back seat of the SUV that Andrew was driving.


    "What!? You got the best grades in the country? That''s impressive. I didn''t even get into the top five thousand So what did your grades look like in your other subjects?" She asked now also getting into the car and sitting beside him while carrying on the conversation.


    "My other grades? I got one hundred per cent on all of them" Haru said bluntly. Even Andrew turned around in shock.


    "Wait Are you telling me you are the so-called top student that all of the teachers have been talking to since sses started again?" Yun asked. It seemed like Haru''s reputation was starting to grow amongst the teachers of the university.


    ''I should have asked them not to tell anyone about that Now I willhave people asking me for help with sswork and things like that'' Haru sighed as he thought about how the next four years of his life would go.


    At this rate, hew would be ving away helping out his ssmates whether he liked it or not. There was only so many times he could refuse before it would be less of a hassle just to help them.


    "I''m not sure but yeah they are probably talking about me. I think the other top three students probably decided to go to the number one university. I only chose Hudan since it is closer to Shenzhen." Haru said with a smile as they car rolled closer to the gates of the university.


    "Well if you wanted to be closer to Shenzhen why didn''t you pick the university in Hangzhou? You would have saved two hours on your journey here." Yun stated.


    "Wait really? Hangzhou is closer to Shenzhen? I must have mistaken it with something else. I am still not good with the geography of china. I should have asked Zen for help" Haru said in disappointment. He thought that he had made a good choice but now he was starting to second guess himself.


    A few minutes went by before they pulled up outside the gates. Yun turned to Haru and smiled at him.


    "Are you ready?" She asked. And then opened the door and stepped out onto the pavement. Haru then followed close behind her and shuffled across the seat before leaving through the same door that she did. He looked back to see Andrew nod his head and then wave goodbye to them both.


    As soon as Haru closed the door he began to drive off into the distance. He watched as he disappeared over the horizon and then felt a hand grab his shoulder.


    "Hey. Don''t zone out. I still have to show you around first. Then I will take you to ss with me and ask where you are supposed to be." Yun said and then began to drag Haru by his arm.


    "Shouldn''t I just go and ask at the office?" Haru asked confused.


    "Where is the fun in that? And this way I get to show off to my ssmates that I am rted to the top student in the country." Sheughed before taking Haru for a quick tour before ss started.

 Chapter 139: Taste of fame.

    Chapter 139: Taste of fame.


    "And here is the science department," Yun said and then pointed toward therge four-story building that stood in the centre of the whole campus. She had led Haru around the whole campus in the fifteen minutes they had before sses would start. It was a brief tour but at least he had an idea of theyout of the ce.


    They then walked into the building that stood before them. It was silent as the sses had already started but that didn''t stop Yun from walking through the doors like she owned the ce.


    The sounds of their shoes echoed around the empty hallway before she stopped at the door of a room and then suddenly opened it. The ss went silent as they saw Yun standing in the doorway.


    The teacher''s gaze nced toward the doorway with frustration. He couldn''t believe that he had been interrupted. He looked at Yun who was standing there and then immediately swallowed his pride.


    "Miss Hao, Come and join us." He put on his best smile and weed her into the ssroom before seeing the boy stood behind her in the corridor. His frustration then turned to Haru.


    "You!? Are you in this ss too? Why are youte? I demand a good exnation for this." He said and then was cut short by Yun.


    "Sorry about that Sir. This is my cousin and it is his first day here. I don''t know what ss he is in so I decided to bring him here because I thought you would know." Yun smiled back at the teacher who once again swallowed his pride.


    "Of course. That''s not a problem at all. What is his name? I will find out what ss he is supposed to be in." The teacher forced another smile and then walked over to theputer and then looked back at Yun.


    Yun looked back at Haru before dragging his arm and walking closer to the teacher who was stood by the desk in the centre of the room.


    "Haru Kitagawa." Haru stepped forward and said.


    The teacher began to type and then paused. He looked up at the ceiling as a thought came to mind. He then looked back at Haru in shock.


    "Haru Kitagawa? As in the student the principle has been talking about for thest couple of months?! You were the number one student in the whole country right? I even read your thesis when It was released by the exam board." The teacher began to talk while gathering his thoughts once more. He swallowed his pride even more and then practically ran over to Haru''s side.


    "It''s a pleasure to meet you. And can I just say I your thesis opened my eyes when I read it? You might not know this but the principle has made it mandatory to teach the theory you came up with." The teacher began to praise Haru''s work in the science field.


    ''What is he talking about? I just memorised a few science books and then filled in the gaps. I didn''t really think of anything new. It was a pretty obvious answer Isn''t he overreacting a bit too much?'' Haru thought as he didn''t realise the significance of his exam answers.


    In fact, people had already begun to research more into his theory of destruction and reconstruction of matter but most people were still far away from understanding how to put the theory into a physical test. But that information was new to Haru. He had been sticking to himself for a while and didn''t really read up on things too much.


    But if he searched his name on the Inte there were already new articles about him. Although non of them was front-page worthy since no one had any information on who he was since the school and exam board refused to give any information about him.


    "Can I shake your hand? It would be an honour" The teacher said and then stared at Haru to await his response.


    "Um I just want to know where my ss is:" Haru stated. He felt slightly disgusted by the stranger before him who was praising him like a mad stalker. Haru looked back at the rest of Yun''s ssmates as a sh of light went off.


    Someone had just taken a picture of him. Haru saw the person who did it. It was a woman at the back of the room. She had her head on the desk and was pretending to sleep but the sh hade from underneath her jacket.


    The teacher turned around instantly.


    "Which one of you did that? Who took that picture!?" He shouted as sweat began to pour from his forehead. He looked back at Haru who had already begun to scan the room with Qi.


    Haru''s face remained unchanging and calm as he used his Qi to sh a small hole in the back of the phone. The bit of Qi he used to sh hit the mark perfectly and destroyed the memory card inside the phone. It was silent and the owner of the phone didn''t even realise what had happened as she put the phone into her pocket.


    "Come on! Which one of you did it? Admit to your mistake and I might go easy on you! You know photographing teachers without their permission is against the rules. You can be suspended for that. If you admit to it now then I will forgive you." The teacher addressed the ss who all just silently looked on.


    He then looked back up at Haru who towered over him.


    "What is it?" The teacher felt nervous and his voice quivered as he was stood in Haru''s shadow.


    ''This guy is so weird. Why did a university like this hire such a teacher? He just seems to throw his weight around Does he have some kind of brain injury?'' Haru thought as he looked down at the teacher with pity.


    "I just need to find out what ss I am in" Haru stated once again with the same expression he had previously.

 Chapter 140: Professor Hua.

    Chapter 140: Professor Hua.


    "Ah, that''s right. That is the reason you came here. Wait a minute. I will find out!" The teacher eximed and then ran over to his desk and began to type. Haru looked back at Yun who seemed just as confused as he was. He then sighed. As she leaned in next to his ear.


    "What is with this guy? I have been in this ss for a year already and I have never seen him act this way before. I think bringing you here was a Bad Idea. You should have warned me you were famous." Yun whispered with augh.


    "I didn''t know I was famous Especially not for some exam paper answer. If I knew this would happen I would have used a fake name" Haru seemed disappointed in himself. He did try to purposely get a few questions wrong on purpose but he couldn''t because the answers were so easy it felt impossible to get them wrong.


    "How do you not know that? Did you grow up without the Inte or something?" Yun asked surprised. But that was exactly the case. Haru lived almost thirty years without using the Inte, and he only really used it to get directions to ces.


    Haruughed her question off as the teacher skipped back over excitedly.


    "Good news. You are in professor Hua''s ss. Miss Hao, can you take him to the right ssroom please?" The teacher said and then asked Yun.


    Yun smiled and then took Haru''s arm once again.


    "Come on. It''s not that far." She reassured him as they walked back out into the corridor. They headed up a set of stairs to the third floor and then stopped at the first room on that floor.


    Yun stopped and then knocked on the door. It looked like she wasn''t too confident that she could manipte this teacher''s actions with her families influence.


    "One minute!" A voice from the inside shouted out. A few moments went by before the door shot open.


    A man stood in the doorway with one hand resting on the frame. He was about the same height as Haru but was so skinny that he looked sick. His hair was long and ck and was tied into a ponytail at the back of his head and he had a few days of stubble growing on his pain to go with the dark circles beneath his eyes.


    "What do you want?" He asked sounding blunt and uninviting of the distraction to his ss. He looked down at Yun and then his eyes trailed up before meeting eyes with Haru.


    "Sorry to disturb you, professor Hua. I was asked to bring Haru to you. He is one of your students but he started a little bitte." Yun''s attitude seemed to change dramatically. She no longer had the confidence to walk into the ss like she owned the ce. It seemed she had met her match in the form of a sickly looking science teacher.


    "Haru? Hmm I remember the principal saying something about a new student" He thought for a second and then looked back at Haru.


    "Welle on in then. Don''t waste time standing out there." Professor Hua said and then opened the door a little more revealing the small group of students sat inside. His ss consisted of around twenty people in totalpared to the ss they had just been too with at least fifty people inside.


    Haru looked at Yun for a second. She smiled before turning to walk away but then looked back at him.


    "I willwait for you outside the front door after ss." She said before waving as she walked down the corridor.


    "Are youing in or not?" Professor Hua said in a single tone before Haru entered the room. The atmosphere of the people in the room gave off the same atmosphere the teacher did. They all seemed depressed and tired.


    "Good. Okay, sit over there." He said to Haru before pointing to an empty seat at the back of the ssroom. Haru followed his directions and sat down in the empty seat. The rest of the ss watched on like mindless zombies not even taking notice of Haru when he entered the room.


    As I was saying" Professor Hua carried on with his ss as if nothing had happened. Haru sat there and took in the information that he was giving them up until the end of the lesson. That was when Professor Hua noticed that Haru hadn''t even brought a notebook with him.


    "Where is your notebook?" He asked with the same tired expression before walking over to Haru''s desk where he had sat memorising the whole ss.


    "I didn''t bring it with me. All my things are still in my dorm." Haru spoke with a calm air of confidence since he knew he could just write down everything that they had gone over in ss once he got back to his dorm if he needed too. It''s not like he needed too though since he had already memorised dozens of chemistry books during his preparation for his highschool exams.


    "You didn''t bring your notebook? How do you expect to remember what we have gone over today if you weren''t taking notes?" Professor Hua asked. This time his voice sounded like he had be agitated but his facial expressions remained the same.


    "I didn''t really learn anything though. Weren''t you just going over some basic information?" Haru asked slightly confused. He had read a book that went a lot more in-depth about the subject he was teaching.


    "Basic? Do you really think this is basic? How about I make put together some bio-molecr research homework for you and you can tell me about all the antibodiesmon antibiotics affect? Would that still be basic for you?" He asked while obviously outraged by Haru''sck of interest in the ss.


    He didn''t give Haru a chance to reply before walking back to his desk and then printing out a stack of paper before handing it back to Haru.


    "You know what. You can do just that. I expect this to be done by Friday. You have three days and you better not ck in future lessons." Professor Hua said before giving the stack of papers to Haru.


    "ss is dismissed. I''m in a bad mood now" He said through deep breaths as he tried to calm himself.


    Haru didn''t waste any time getting up from his seat. The ss was much longer than he was used to. It was around two and a half hours in length which was double the length of his high school sses.


    He was thest person to leave the room and thest person to receive any words from his teacher for the day.


    "Close the damn door." Professor Hua sighed as Haru turned and closed the door behind him.


    "I swear these kids will give me an aneurysm." Professor Huained to himself as he sat in silence.

 Chapter 141: Roommate.

    Chapter 141: Roommate.


    He followed the rest of his ss out through the same door that he had entered the building and then looked around for Yun, But she was nowhere to be seen. ''She said she would be right here'' He thought before pulling out his phone and checking the time.


    It was eleven thirty-eight and he thought he remembered hearing someone mention that sses would be three hours long in the morning all the way up to twelve o''clock.


    ''So I have half an hour to kill while I wait for Yun''s ss to finish? I wonder what I should do?'' He thought while still holding the stack of paper his teacher had given to him.


    ''I guess I can''t carry this around with me all day. I might as well go and see my room also. I don''t even know if it is furnished.'' He wondered as he decided to make his way back to his dorm that he had only stepped foot in for less than five minutes.


    He made his way over to the building and then pulled out his key once he reached the door. It was only then when he realised the sticker with a number three written on one of the keys. He opened the front door and then walked inside.


    It was silent inside giving the impression that no one was inside but Haru felt someone''s presence in there with him. The had almost no Qi at all so it didn''t raise any red gs until a bang sounded out from one of the rooms like something had fallen over.


    Bang.


    "What the fuck! You were supposed to have my back! I died for no fucking reason!" A males voice shouted out from the room with marked with a number two on the door.


    "I don''t care if you didn''t see him! You should have been covering our backs Dude, whatever. I''m going to make some food." The voice called out again before the sound of something sliding crashed against the wall followed by footsteps along the creaky floorboardsing closer and closer to the door. Suddenly the door handle clicked and out stepped a man who looked to be in his early twenties.


    "What the fuck! Who are you!?"The man jumped as he saw Haru standing in the doorway. He pressed himself against the wall before taking deep breathes.


    "Fuck, You''re the new guy aren''t you? You almost gave me a heart attack." The man said as rainbow coloured lights flooded out from the room he just came from.


    Haruughed in response.


    "Sorry about that. I was just looking for my room. I didn''t get the chance to look around yesterday I just dropped my bags off." He said before lowering the stack of papers in his hand.


    "Don''t sweat it. You are just around the corner." The man then pointed down the corridor where it seemed to open up into a bigger room.


    "Thanks." Haru nodded in response and then made his way down the corridor. The man followed behind him almost ufortably close.


    "The name''s Ah Jin. But you can just call me AJ And you are?" He asked after not getting a response as he stated his name.


    "Haru Kitagawa," Haru said as he turned the corner seeing the white door with the number three painted on it. He then pulled out his set of keys and put the one with the number marked on it into the lock before turning it.


    A click resounded from the lock before the door whined open with just the slightest push. Haru looked around his new room. It was empty. The only things in his room were a wooden desk that was screwed into the wall and what looked to be the remains of a bed frame from the previous tenant.


    "I have a lot of work to do." He said aloud as he looked at the empty room. He then pulled out his phone and searched for stores that sold mattresses. He found one that looked like it would fit and ordered it with his card. He made sure to click the option that was for same-day delivery. It was a little more expensive but it didn''t matter since he needed a bed in his room.


    He then opened a map and looked for the nearest supermarket. There was one less than a mile away from the university so he memorised the route since he would have to go there to buy things such as bed sheets or even aptop to help him with his sses.


    He then walked over to his locker and brought his belongings into his room and then locked them inside.


    "Hey, You hungry?" AJ asked from the couch that was in the centre of the room.


    "Hungry? I''m starving." Haruughed and then looked down at his phone. It was almost time for sses to end. He would need to go back and meet Yun soon.


    "Good. I was thinking that we can go and get lunch together. Think of it as roommate bonding time." AJughed at his own joke as he offered to grab lunch with him. He then cast his gaze up toward the door that was on the other side of the room marked with the number one.


    "I don''t know what time roomie number one gets back but he isn''t really the talkative type if you know what I mean?" Heughed again before awaiting Haru''s response.


    "You want to get lunch together? I mean we could but I have to meet my cousin first if you are okay with that. Then sure." Haru smiled and then looked back at his phone. There were only five minutes left until Yun''s ss would finish.


    "You''re cousin goes here too? That''s nice and sure I don''t mind. The more the merrier. Let''s go." AJ then raced off back to his room to put on his shoes and a jacket and then met Haru by the door.


    The walked over to the science department while discussing each other''s lives. AJ was twenty-three years old and was majoring inputer programing. Haru shared a little information about himself before they arrived outside the building.


    "You and your cousin are both majoring in chemistry. You must be pretty close if you both decided to take the same subject." AJ said and then looked back to Haru just as the doors to the building opened up and a sea of students made there way out like water rushing from a broken dam.

 Chapter 142: Thank You!

    Chapter 142: Thank You!


    "Woah, Were did the storm of nerdse from? Which one is your cousin?" AJ asked as he saw the army of students making there way out of the building.


    That was when he looked up, catching a glimpse of red as a girl with bright red hair pushed her way through the crowd. She held her arm up and waved toward Haru. But being so close to Haru he mistook the wave as a greeting for him.


    He held up his arm and waved back as she managed to break free from the crowd and then make her way over.


    "I didn''t expect you to get out before me. Professor Hua usually keeps his students back for a little longer to summarise everything they have learned from that ss. He must have felt happy today." Yunughed as she approached Haru.


    She then turned her attention to the guy that was staring at her. His cheeks where glowing pink as he looked at her.


    "What are you looking at? Is there something on my face?" Yun snapped at him.


    "What no. That''s not" AJ began to speak. But couldn''t quite find his words.


    "Oh, Yun. This is my roommate Ah Jin but he likes to be called AJ. I went back to my dorm room and that is when we met. He asked me if I wanted to get lunch with him so I told him only as long as we go and pick you up first." Haruughed as he introduced him to her. Yun looked him up and down for a few seconds.


    "And AJ this is my cousin, Yun." He kept his introduction on Yun short for two reasons. The first being that they had just met and didn''t have the typical family rtionship that cousins had, And the second being that she seemed to be a confrontational type of girl.


    Haru had already judged her to be boisterous and she had a need to be the centre of attention which was made clear by her hair being dyed a bright colour. He didn''t want to say anything that would upset her in fear of her embarrassing him by throwing a tantrum.


    ''Yun? Her name is almost as pretty as her.'' AJ thought as she stared at him with a suspicious look.


    "So what do you say. Do you want to get lunch with us?" Haru asked Yun. She looked up for a moment with a look of uncertainty on her face.


    "Hmm I have a lot of work to do But why not.?" Yunughed and then grabbed Haru by his arm once again and began to pull him.


    "You better be paying for it though. I don''t want to waste any more of my allowance." She let him know as she pulled him along.


    "Fine, Whatever that''s fine with me. But you need to help me decorate my room once we finish afternoon sses." Haru said. Yun looked up at him and then nodded before turning to see that AJ still hadn''t moved from the spot where he was standing.


    "Are youing with us or not?" Yun stopped and then peeked out from the side of Haru''s body and asked AJ who looked as pale as a ghost while he stood still imagining many things ying out in his head.


    Yun''s voice seemed to snap him out of his trance and he fell back to reality. He looked back at them both now looking at him.


    "Yeah, I was just adjusting my jacket. It felt a little tight." AJ made up an excuse before following behind them. They all went into the city which was just a few blocks away. It was about a ten-minute walk until they got to a fast food restaurant and sat down to eat.


    They ate their food as fast as they could before the afternoon sses started and then made their way back to the university. AJ split away from the group as they got to the gates. He said he was going back to his room but didn''t say what for. Harut thought nothing of it as he went to his next ss. It was in the same room with the same teacher.


    "Hopefully he had time to calm down" Haru thought before waving goodbye to Yun in the corridor and making his way up the stairs towards the ssroom. The door was closed and a sign was put up in the window.


    "sses are cancelled for the day to give you time to finish your assignments." The sign readout. Haru looked at it slightly confused before he heard a gaspe from behind him.


    He turned to see a short looking boy with sses with his hands resting on his knees. He looked at the sign and almost fell to his knees as he read the words.


    Haru looked down at him in confusion.


    "Are you okay?" He asked as he saw that the boy had his hands pressed together in front of his face and seemed to be muttering something to himself.''Is he praying'' Haru thought before his eyes shot open. He looked Haru in the eyes for a few seconds before crawling towards him.


    Tears seemed to be dripping down his face as he wept. He tried to reach for Haru''s legs. But Haru looked down with disgust at the sight before him.


    "Get away from me, You will ruin my pants." He backed up a few steps seeing the pitiful state of the boy that was trying to touch him.


    "Thank you! Thank you so much!" The boy screamed and bowed his head to Haru. While the rest of his ssmates started to make their way toward ss.


    "What are you doing?" Haru whispered in a hushed voice trying desperately to get him to stop shouting. But his constant shouting of thank you gained the attention of the teacher and the door to the ssroom shot open and out came Professor Hua.

 Chapter 143: Slacker.

    Chapter 143: cker.


    "What are you making such a ruckus for? Can''t you read I left a sign telling you that sses are over for today so go! Leave me alone." Professor Hua shouted as he came out to see what was happening. He thought that they were outraged because the ss was cancelled but then he looked down.


    He saw the boy bowing his head to Haru like he was worshipping his very existence. That was when he became even more enraged. He figured out what the noise was about. It wasn''t someone upset about sses being cancelled it. The new student had started to bully the other students


    "You, Leave Fan alone! I might push you all very hard but I won''t stand by and watch my students be bullied!" He shouted at Haru who was stood above the boy with his head on the ground.


    "Me? What did I do? I didn''t bully anyone." Haru eximed as he was being used of something that he didn''t do. Haru was never the type to bully the weak. But this boy was crying and worshipping him like a god.


    The other students all backed up as professor Hua stepped out from the ssroom and marched over to Haru. Haru looked around for someone to help him clear up the misunderstanding. But no one was there when the whole interaction happened.


    No one had seen the boy fall to his knees on his own. The only thing they did see was Haru standing above him while the boy grovelled at his feet. So they all began to stare at Haru with hateful eyes. They all thought they were in the same ss that a vicious bully was in and they wondered who would be his next target.


    The boy on the ground still didn''t lift his head. Even as professor Hua bent down to try to help him up.


    "It''s okay. You are safe now. I will call the principal here right away to solve this." Professor Hua tried to reassure the boy but it was no use. He just kept repeating the words "Thank You" Over and over again.


    Then something seemed to snap in the boy as he recoiled back and struggled to stand as he crawled back to the other side of the corridor and pushed himself against the brick wall with enough force to knock the wind out of his lungs.


    He fell to his knees and gasped for air as everyone in the ss and people from different sses watched on in confusion. Something was wrong here but no one could quite tell what it was. After he had caught his breath he looked up.


    "Professor Hua" He said with an expression of pure terror on his face. He looked like he was ready to die at any second as his face went pale and his eyes widened.


    "It''s okay. There is no need to be scared anymore. I will take care of everything so you can rest easy." Professor Hua said while walking closer to the boy.


    As he stepped closer the boy seemed to back up more and more as the look of fear on his face seemed to get worse until the point he closed his eyes and his body began to shake.


    "No! Leave me alone please!" The boy shouted back in response.


    Professor Hua felt even more sympathy for the boy. ''He is clearly so scared of the new student that he doesn''t even want me to help out of fear of the bullying getting worse.'' He thought before trying to reassure him again.


    "It''s Okay. All you have to do is tell me exactly what happened and I will make sure that he doesn''t bully you again. Just trust me and everything will be okay." He sighed as the boy recoiled away from hi words once more.


    And then suddenly the boy opened his eyes once more.


    "Wait. What? Who is bullying me? No one is bullying me, what do you mean?" The boy asked in a panicked voice before looking back at Haru with apologetic eyes. Thest thing he wanted was to cause a misunderstanding.


    "You are being bullied by the new student right? Why else would you be on the floor begging him to stop?" Professor Hua felt confused. ''Is this one of those weird fetish things that kids do these days? I really need to research these things some more.'' He thought while once again jumping to the wrong conclusion.


    "You''re wrong. He wasn''t bullying me. I was just thanking him for saving my life. I would really be dead if it wasn''t for what he did." The boy exined to professor Hua who was still having weird thoughts.


    "Thanking him for saving your life? How was your life put in danger?" He asked the boy with growing suspicion. ''Something bad must have happened to him. Or maybe it was the new student that put him in danger in the first ce.'' He thought as his dislike for Haru only increased.


    "Well Urm. I was going to bete in handing in my assign for this week and if I get one more bad credit I will fail the whole course. If the ss is cancelled due to him annoying you then I will have extra time to finish it" The boy said with disappointment in his eyes as he just admitted that in front of his whole ss.


    "I see now You''re a cker just like him. Fine, do whatever you want to. My mood is even worse now so the lot of you scram before I start handing out bad credits." Professor Hua sighed as he walked back into his ssroom and then mmed the door behind him.


    "Phew, Thank god he is gone now. He is so scary. I thought I was going to have a heart attack for a moment." The boy said as professor Hua disappeared behind the closing door.


    Haru began to walk away with the rest of his ssmates. He didn''t bother to respond as he had things to go and buy so that he could furnish his room


    "Hey, My name is Fan. I was wondering if" He began to say as he caught up to Haru who was walking away.


    But Haru had no time to spare talking to the weird kid that had just bowed down to him. He almost felt disgusted just from seeing his face. As Haru turned to look at the boy he waved his hand and then looked over the boy''s shoulder.


    "Oh, professor?" He asked to force the boy to turn around.


    He did just as Haru had ned and turned around instantly out of instinct. And as he did Haru shed his hand down in the air in front of him and disappeared into the void corridor he had just created.

 Chapter 144: Another Beast Core.

    Chapter 144: Another Beast Core.


    Haru''s body was engulfed in the wind as he was pulled into the vacuum of space once again. He felt the pressure around him suck his clothes against his skin, making them skin tight as he floated a few metres ahead from where he started.


    The feeling of fear crept upon him as he remembered the events of what happened when Kun had brought him in herest time. He felt a slight chill run over his body as a dark shadow seemed to pass by him below.


    ''What was that?'' His eyes widened as the same feeling of fear he hadst time hit him full force. He was now in full panic mode and cut open another void corridor as quickly as he could.


    He felt the suction drag him out as his body was thrown from space. He braced himself for impact since he didn''t prepare for thending. But to his surprise, thending was soft as he tumbled through tree branches before regaining his bnce and managing tond on his feet after flipping through the tree.


    He felt a fluctuation in Qi as his feet touched the ground. He used his spiritual sense to locate the source but then heard the gentle flutter of a heartbeat as it sped up. He looked down below him.


    There was a man who looked a few years older than him sitting with his back to a tree with a book in his hands. He had shoulder-length ck hair that was held back out of his face with a red sweatband.


    He looked up as he had just seen Haru drop from the very top of a tree. He then jumped to his feet and got into a defensive stance. He looked Haru up and down as he judged the threat that had appeared before him.


    A small wave of Qi emitted from his body as he tried to take a reading on Haru''s strength but nothing came back at all.


    "Phew. I thought you were an assassin for a moment You really shouldn''t sneak up on people like that, It might get you hurt" He said before sitting back down against the tree before picking up his book once again.


    "Okay" Haru said before walking away. He was confused but just shrugged it off before turning in the opposite direction.


    As the man sat with his back to the tree. Something seemed to rey in his head and he noticed something that he didn''t even think of. Even regr people have a little bit of Qi sourcing through there body. But he didn''t pick up any as he looked at Haru. That only had one exnation.


    "Wait!" He shouted and then ran in the same direction Haru had just walked in. But there was no sign of him at all. It was like he had just disappeared from existence. Nothing made sense. ''How could he vanish so quickly?'' He thought as he felt a hand tighten down on his shoulder.


    He turned suddenly to see Haru was now behind him.


    "You followed me?" Haru asked while still holding his shoulder. He had no idea what he wanted from him or why he decided to follow him. The only thing he did know was that he didn''t want someone following him so he decided to confront him as soon as he noticed.


    The man was still a beginner in cultivating and seemed sloppy. He didn''t even notice Haru was behind him until he touched him and not to mention he was only at the core refining stage. So it made even less sense to follow him.


    "I was just wondering You''re a cultivator too right? I need a little bit of help." He said and then looked up at with a desperate look on his face.


    "What are you offering?" Haru asked with a sigh. He didn''t want to help anyone for no reason so he would have to be for a good amount of money to get him to even consider it.


    "Um Well, I don''t have much money but I could give you this." The man said before pulling something out from his pocket.


    Haru looked down as the man opened his clenched fist to reveal a small yellow pill.


    "I have about ten of these Qi condensing pills. I can give you half of them if you help me with something." He said with a smile. He knew that pills were precious to cultivators but he had no idea that the person in front of him could make hundreds of those if he wanted to.


    The pills had no value to Haru as his cultivation level had eded the point where a simple pill would give him a difference in Qi. The pills wouldn''t do much to make him stronger since his body was constantly taking in Qi without a limit.


    "Not interested." Haru sighed before turning around.


    "Wait!" He shouted once more.


    "What is it now?" Haru said as he reluctantly turned around to see him holding a small blue Crystal-like object. It glowed as it emitted natural Qi into the air around them.


    The man''s cultivation level was so shallow that he could only sense abundant Qi. There was no way for him to know that what he was holding was releasing as much natural Qi as it was doing at that moment.


    ''A beast core Where did he get one of those from? There aren''t that many animals on earth that can absorb enough Qi to form a beast core'' Haru thought as he looked at it. He had seen only a few of them before and he knew he couldn''t pass up the opportunity to absorb another one of them.


    After all, it was the fault of a beast core that his soul ocean had flooded. He wondered what would happen if he absorbed another one now that he would be able to absorb the whole thing directly into his body.


    He looked back at the man he seemed hesitant as Haru purposely hid the excitement that he was feeling. He didn''t want to let him know how valuable the thing he was holding actually was in case he went back on his word.


    Haru looked at him for a few seconds and then walked closer to him.


    "What is this?" He asked and then took the crystal from his hand and held it up to the sun.


    "You know. I was looking for a present to give to my girlfriend Fine, what do you want me to help you with?" He tried to act as casual as he possibly could before putting the beast core into his pocket and then transferring it to his storage ring.


    "I think it will make a good gift." The man smiled as he knew he would have the help of the cultivator whose strength couldn''t be seen through.


    "Well I got into some trouble with a local sect a few months ago and they keep sending people to try to kill me. It''s lucky that I know a few escape techniques or they would have killed me many times over. I only want you to make them stop. I don''t care how you do it as long as you make it stop." The man smiled sadly as he expected Haru to reject his request.


    But to his surprise that didn''t seem to be the case. In fact, he seemed to be confident that he could actually do what was asked of him.


    "Okay. What is the name of the sect?" Haru asked and then reached down into his pocket and pulled out his wallet.


    "They are called the twilight moon sect" He went on to exin some things about the sect that Haru might need to know like the fact that they had a witch in their sect that held sacrifices to make their disciples stronger. That was when Haru started to wonder why no one had wiped them out.


    Surely if they were as bad as this man made them out to be then the cultivator association would have gotten rid of them already. There were two options. Either it was all a lie. Or they were a sect that operated within the criminal underworld so they could avoid regtion.


    He then decided to make a phone call to make sure he had all the right information on the sect. He pulled the business card out from his wallet and then dialled the phone number.


    He remembered Lian telling him he could call whenever he wanted and she would be able to help him so he decided to test her word and make a phone call. He knew that she was pretty high ranking in the cultivator association so he figured she would be able to tell him the truth about this sect.


    That is if they had any information on them. If Haru''s assumption was right then he would either be making enemies with a whole sect that was part of the association or he would be making enemies with the criminal underworld but he desperately wanted the beast core.


    It wasn''t like he could find them at will. He needed to get stronger so he figured that he would have to be proactive in doing things like this to gather wealth and power. But it didn''t sit right with him to just steal the beast core from the man. And it also didn''t sit well with him that there could be a sect out there performing human sacrifices in order to gain strength.


    He put the phone up to his ear. It rang out two times before a voice on the other side spoke out.

 Chapter 145: The twilight moon sect.

    Chapter 145: The twilight moon sect.


    "Hello, you have reached Lian Ling." The woman called out. It sounded like she was busy as her voice was strained like she was reaching for something.


    "Hey It''s Haru. I need your help with something if you''re not too busy." Haru said as soon as she answered. She had no time to react and seemed to stop everything she was doing as she heard his voice.


    "I''m not busy at all. So what is it? You didn''t seem like the type to have trouble with something so you must really be in need of help right?" She asked as she remembered his strength.


    "I just need some information, to be honest. I made a deal with someone but I want to make sure I have all the facts first before I jump into anything." Haru said as he began to walk away from the man who was waiting for his response. He walked just out of range for him to hear anything they talked about.


    "Information? Okay, that will be easy then. What do you want to know?" She asked. She figured it would be something to do with the association since she was one of the only people Haru had met from there.


    "Have you heard of a sect called the twilight moon sect?" Haru then looked over at the man who seemed impatient.


    "The twilight moon sect? I have heard of them. But I can''t tell you much about them I''m afraid" She then hesitated.


    "Is there something wrong? Why can''t you tell me?" He asked before he heard her sigh.


    "Well, The association isn''t the only cultivation organisation. There are a few more we are just thergest. There is another organisation of cultivators that are currently running all the crime in China. They go by the name crimson spiders and are a force to be reckoned with.


    I wouldn''t rmend you go against them since their leader is just as strong as Bai Fu, he was the old man I was with when we first met. There are even rumours that he is close to breaking through to the stage above nirvana.


    The twilight moon sect is owned by them so I wouldn''t try anything reckless unless you had that evil god to back you up" She said with fear as she recalled the strength that Teacher Lin had.


    "Is that so? So it''s safe to say that they really are sacrificing people to make themselves stronger?" Haru asked. He was confident that he wouldn''t need help. By Li Jun''s estimation, he would be able to fight against someone a whole two stages above him so he didn''t care for the consequences.


    He would be much stronger once he could absorb the beast core so he needed to get this whole thing over with as soon as possible.


    "Thank you. I will consider your warning." He said before hanging up.


    He then walked back over to the man who was waiting for him.


    "I don''t have much time. Lead me to where they are and I will make sure they don''t bother you again." Haru let him know and then sent a text to Yun.


    "You can go straight home once you finish ss. I have something to do first. But I will meet you there and then you need to help me with shopping like you said you would. Okay?" He sent it and then turned it off so he wouldn''t have any disruptions from the task at hand.


    He followed the man until he stopped at the street corner and held his hand out to stop a taxi that was driving down the road. They both got in and then the man gave the address to the driver.


    The drive to the sect took about thirty minutes in total as they drove through the city and then up into the hills. It was located at the top of the hill and was surrounded by a forest to keep people away. The man paid the taxi driver once they arrived and then they both gt out.


    The ground crunched as Haru stepped out onto theyer of pebbles that covered the gravel beneath. They were so far away from the city that there weren''t any roads. Just dirt and gravel


    The taxi driver drove off into the distance as Haru took in the scenery. There were tall trees all around them and what seemed to be little stick figures hanging from the branches.


    "Look That''s the sign of a witch." The man said as they began walking toward a small wooden gate that leads to a dirt trail. On their way past the gate, they passed a sign saying, Beware of wild animals. Which showed the picture of a bear.


    "That''s how they managed to have so many bodies show up on their property without people suspecting that they were murdered" The man said again as he too noticed the sign.


    "You seem to know a lot about this sect" Haru said as he thought about it. He didn''t even know this man''s name yet he was so confident that he could help him that he didn''t bother to ask for it.


    "Well of course I am familiar with the sect. They were the ones that killed me" He then turned to look at Haru. His skin seemed paler than he was before and his eyes were dark ck in colour.


    "What? They killed you?" Haru asked.He was confused. How could this man be dead? He had heard his heart beating when they had first met.


    "Yes. They killed both me and my sister! And then that old witch put this fucking curse on me!" He shouted. His voice shot out through the forest causing a few of the trees to shake.


    "I was walking down this trail with my little sister almost half a year ago when it happened. She had begged me to take her for a walk through the Forest. It was all fine until we sat down to have lunch. One we started eating my sister noticed one of those weird stick things hanging from the tree.


    She walked over to get a better look at it and that was when it happened. There were sounds of movement all around us. Twigs started to break and leaves began to rustle. At first, I thought it was a pack of wild dogsing for our food so I grabbed her hand and began to run back towards the road.


    I had been injured during a basketball game and was slowing her down so I told her to run ahead of me and call for help. She agreed and then ran off into the distance.


    But as soon as she disappeared out of sight I heard her scream. By the time I arrived, she was alreadyying on the floor in a pool of her own blood. That was when I saw that fucking witch. She stood there with her hand covered in blood, Holding my sister''s still-beating heart.


    But before I could even scream for help my vision went ck and I woke up in a dark cer where I remained for a week without food or water. And that was when I realised I had no pulse. I grabbed my chest to feel my heartbeat but there was nothing.


    I couldn''t feel a god damn thing because that old hag took it and fed it to one of fucking psycho sect members." The man exined sounding like he was on the verge of tears. But not a single tear formed in his eye. How could it? He was already dead.


    "But then what about before? You looked so much different just a few minutes ago Why do you look like a corpse now?" Haru asked. The whole story just added more questions.


    "It''s the curse. Corpse Reanimation. It creates a perfect human body for me as long as the sunlight touches my skin. Since we are in the shade I look like this. My life has been a living hell ever since this happened and there isn''t a single thing I can do about it! Please help me get justice for my sister." The man then begged as he exined everything to Haru.


    Haru was reluctant, but he felt sympathy for him. His feeling of justice that he hadn''t felt since he was engaged in war slowly rose through his body. He didn''t know the man very well but he imagined the same thing happening to the people he cared about and he couldn''t stand the feeling so he decided.


    "Fine. I will help you.At first, I was just going to make sure they left you alone. But now I feel like I can''t let any of them live. Hurry up and show me the way." Haru said with his blood now boiling with anger.


    The man then led him through the forest for a further fifteen minutes beforeing to a path hidden behind a cluster of boulders. He followed him through a small gap in them and then walked down a narrow corridor constructed of rocks before it opened up into a field with long grass.


    There was a square structure in the centre of the field. It looked to have a stone base and then a concrete wall surrounding the whole thing. A few pointed roofs peeked over the top of the wall. It seemed to be apound of some kind and probably housed many cultivators.


    But that didn''t matter to Haru. He felt nothing but rage as he continues onwards toward the front gate.


    "Wait stop. What are you doing? They will know that we areing!" The man jumped out in front of Haru and said in a hushed tone.


    "That''s the point. I will let them know the same fear that you and your sister felt." Haru said as a sinister grin formed on his face. He hadn''t felt like this in a long time.

 Chapter 146: Let the massacre begin.

    Chapter 146: Let the massacre begin.


    The earth shivered beneath his feet as his Aura grew stronger. The des of grass around him wilted under the pressure being released from his body as he walked ever closer to the entrance to the gate and the sounds of crackling rung out from his body.


    "Haru stop right now! You will lose yourself if you carry on like this." Li Jun called out as he appeared in front of him.


    Haru looked up to see Li Jun.


    "I''m fine. I''m just testing how much power I will be able to release. I won''t go overboard, In fact, I feel like I still have a lot of power in reserve." Haru smiled as he continued onwards toward the gate.


    "Wait you are conscious? I thought you had been possessed by your rage. It looks like I worried for nothing" Li Jun sighed and then vanished.


    Haru was angry. But not nearly angry enough to lose himself to rage. Although it seemed like he had nothing to be angry about but, in fact his rage came from his past life. He hated to see civilians killed or even tortured and would always end up causing a scene. And it seemed that after all this time he still felt the same.


    He increased the power of Qi surrounding his body a little more before he reached the gate. And then he stopped. The cursed man that had led him here looked on from a distance so he could avoid the massacre that was sure to happen. But he wondered what was happening as Haru stood in front of the gate.


    He then raised his hand and knocked on the gate. With each knock, his hand pounded against the wood with a bit more force. The sounds were fierce, almost like he was beating a drum before a battle.


    BANG BANG BANG!


    The knocks echoed throughout thepound, Alerting everyone inside of the intruder waiting at the gate. It sounded like there seemed to be some kind ofmotion from within as they decided who would be the one to open the gate.


    But a few minutes passed and there was no sign of theming to greet him at the gate. Haru brought his leg up to waist height and then kicked out toward the wooden boards. With another bang, the door split in half and rained splinters of wood along the streets as they shot out in all directions like shrapnel from a grenade.


    He heard screams from the people within as chunks of wood struck them all over, some were even impaled byrge splinters that flew out from the initial st.


    It seemed like someone was stood directly behind the gate as Haru kicked it open since there was the body of a man hung from the side of a building, held in ce by the thick piece of wood that had ripped its way through his chest.


    Blood covered the floor as the group of eleven people in the immediate area crawled along the ground. Some of which sumbing to their injuries and being the first victims of the onught toe.


    Most of the sect members got to their feet and attempted to make a retreat. But Haru wouldn''t let that happen. They had most likely murdered hundreds of innocent people and used their bodies for rituals. He didn''t put it past them to keep live captives. So to him, these people were the worst kind of scum. It wouldn''t mean anything to him to give them what they deserve.


    As they retreated from him, he held out his hand and outstretched his fingertips as the light began to shoot out from his storage ring. Hidden beneath the brightness of the light Haru drew the sword as he reached out to grab it and in a single step he travelled fifteen metres into thepound.


    The people were all stood behind him, But not for long as one by one they dropped to the ground. Each of the sect members had arge gash along their throats and blood began to pool beneath them as they gasped for air.


    He looked back at the eleven bodies he had already piled up in under three minutes. "I wouldn''t mind killing you all three hundred more times. I hope the souls of those you killed can now be at peace knowing you have joined them in the afterlife" Haru muttered to himself as thest bit of life drained from them.


    Suddenly the sound of tiles breaking sounded out from behind him and the sound of something heavy being dragged across the stone floor brought him back to the current situation. It was all still far from over.


    Haru turned to see the biggest looking man he had ever seen. He was over ten feet tall and heavily muscled. His gut stuck out from his clothes making him circr in shape and his face was covered with a bup sack. He dragged a metal ball with spikes all around it from a chain, ripping up the ground as he walked closer and closer. Haru made eye contact with him for a second before making his mood.


    Qi gathered all around his body before he disappeared in a sh. The man with the chain looked all around but there was no sight of Haru anywhere. It wasn''t until he heard the sound of water dripping below him that he looked down.


    Haru stood with his sword outstretched towards the man''s chest. He held the hilt tightly yet the de had disappeared into the man''s body. The man coughed heavily causing blood to leak through from inside the sack covering his face and stream down his body.


    "You just" The man''s voice sounded gentle and sweet but that changed rapidly as he screamed out in pain. The noise was so loud that it caused Haru to cover his ears. In doing so he opened himself up to an attack.


    Before he could even block. The man''s fist had made contact with Haru''s body and sent him flying back out through the gates that he had juste from. His body slid across the damp soil for a few seconds before he stood back up.


    The punch hadn''t injured him at all but the force was enough to send him flying.


    The cursed man watched on in horror as the man with the sack over his head stomped out into the open field.


    "Why him? Why him of all people!?" The cursed man kept repeating to himself as all the confidence he had in Haru''s strength vanished.


    "Haru! Runaway. He is like me! He is a reanimated corpse too! There is no way to kill him, You can''t win!?" He shouted out from the rock that he had found to hide behind.


    "I can''t win? Maybe I won''t be able to kill you but I wonder what will happen if I cut off all your limbs?" Haru looked up at the bup sack wearing corpse before him and then his eyes locked on to the sword still stuck in his chest.


    He then reached out toward the sword and dashed toward it as fast as he could.


    BOOOOM!


    A st of dust shot up into the air as Haru''s body was sent flying through the air once again. As he slid across the soil once more. A thought came to him.


    ''He thinks I can only use my sword to fight So he is trying to keep me from getting to it. But what if I?'' Haru thought before jumping to his feet and testing out his new theory.


    As the dust settled he could see the behemoth of a man stood there covered in his own blood. He then continued on toward Haru as soon as he found where his body hadnded.


    He locked eyes with him from beneath his mask and then began to speed up. He now ran toward him full force with every step making the ground shake.


    "Get out of there! It''s okay! You don''t need to die for my revenge! You can have the stupid stone!" The man shouted out from behind his rock once again as he doubted Haru''s strength. But he had yet to try his n that he had juste up with.


    Haru stood his ground as the giant sprinted towards him. He simply held out his arm and swiped it across in a horizontal pattern. A void corridor opened up over the man''s head and then he immediately closed it.


    His body fell lifeless as his head disappeared from his shoulders into the abyss. He stopped mid-stride falling forward and then tumbled across the ground, Making a deep trench as the weight of his body ripped up the grass and soil from the ground, in turn, showering Haru in dirt.


    The man''s lifeless body stopped just before Haru''s feet as all of the blood began to drain from it. There was no longer any Qi surrounding his body and the curse seemed to be lifted.


    It seemed well preserved before but as the curse lifted, the smell of rotten flesh took over as the body began to break down into little chunks. The soil began to shift as maggots and other insects crawled toward the body and began to devour it.


    He stepped over the lifeless corpse while making sure not to make any more of a mess to his clothes. As he got far enough away from the stench produced by the rotten pile of meat, he used Kun''s power of fire to purify the dirt and any other filth that might have stuck to his clothes.


    His body seemed to be engulfed by golden light for a brief moment before he walked back toward the gate.

 Chapter 147: Evil witch.

    Chapter 147: Evil witch.


    "What is that!?" The man with the curse ced on him shouted out in confusion as he watched on from behind the rock. Seeing the golden mes wrap around Haru''s body frightened him for a moment before he had to look away because the brightness of the fire was blinding.


    Haru ignored him even though he had heard the question and then stepped foot back inside thepound. As he entered he felt the presence of dozens of people surrounding him. But none of them had the strength to make him feel the slightest threat.


    He had left his sword stuck in the corpse of the man outside which would have been a fatal mistake if not for his training in unarmedbat being a lot greater than his training with the sword. His ability to use Qi to form techniques were on another level than that of regr cultivators.


    Most of them used their Qi internally to make themselves stronger. But Haru on the other hand used his Qi externally much like he used magic in the past. But that was down to the cultivation technique he was practising. It caused the flow of Qi to be circling his body constantly so he barely had to reinforce his body.


    He stood still in the middle of the street for a few minutes and felt as the people slowly began to approach him, hidden within the shadows of the many dark alleyways between the buildings. They practised a technique to camouge themselves in in sight. It seemed to be the most effective thing for their usual method of killing people.


    But Haru could sense their every position as they came ever so closer toward him. He took a deep breath before gathering Qi into his fist.


    A hot breeze made it''s way into thepound as Haru''s clenched fist began to open slowly, revealing a bright golden me. The me shot up high into the air like water running from a faucet. and then spread out across the sky. It stayed there for a few moments before raining back down on to the sect members that were still nning their attack.


    Screams echoed out from around the wholepound as the mes stuck to them like napalm.


    There was nothing that could be done for them anymore. The mes had already begun devouring their bodies. It was only a matter of time before they would turn to nothing but dust. The screams died down after a few minutes as the flesh from their necks were burned to cinders. They couldn''t cry out even if they wanted to.


    The only thing that was left for them was epting that they were going to die and there was no one out there that could save them.


    As soon as he felt the mes burn outpletely, he continued on his way further into thepound. He was met with very little resistance from the weaker sect members as he walked throughout the streets, looking for more people to ughter. And by the time he had made his way to the centre of thepound, he had already killed more than fifty people.


    He didn''t expect there would be so many people within the walls of this ce from the outside. But the longer he stayed there the more sect members he woulde across. It was like they were all brainwashed. Not a single one of them felt fear as they stood against him apart from the first people he had killed.


    It was almost like they were being manipted by someone. The strangeness of their actions was also apanied by bizarre almost robotic movements. As he arrived in the centre of thepound arge building stood out from the rest. The wood seemed older than any other material they had used to build the other structures. But yet somehow it gave off Qi. It was like the wood used to build the walls were still alive.


    It was just as he began to think about the strangeness of the building when a voice called out from within.


    "Are you the one who has been ughtering my disciples? You seem rather young and I don''t seem to recognise you. May I ask what kind of grievances we have?" And old woman''s voice whispered out from the old wooden building.


    Haru smiled as he heard her voice. ''So this is the witch I have heard so much about?'' He thought to himself.


    He didn''t know how to respond to the question. He did expect an evil witch to try to reason with his actions so it took him by surprise.


    "Does it matter why I havee here? Will it make a difference?" Haru asked out loud, assuming the woman could hear him. His guess seemed to be correct as she responded right away.


    "Not really... You have alreadye so far and killed so many of my people. I have no choice but to kill you and then use your corpse to make up for what you have done.


    Don''t worry too much though. After you are dead, you will no longer feel any pain so you will be able to control much more power without it taking a toll on you.


    You seem quite strong already so I can''t help but wonder what kind of power you will wild when the ritual is over." She began to talk to herself and describe what she wanted to do to exact her revenge. She seemed so crazed with the idea of killing him that she didn''t feel like it would be a tricky task.


    Haru said nothing in response to the ramblings of the old woman and he remained where he stood. A creek screamed out from an old decrepit door as it opened on its rusted hinges. Out stepped an old woman small in stature. Her face was wrinkled with age and her eyes were pushed into her head as the skin folded around them.


    She walked forward with her wooden cane cking against the stone floor with each step as she helped herself bnce. Her back was hunched and long grey matted hair draped down in every direction in a simr way to the bird''s nest of hair on top of her head.


    The ck of her cane seemed to produce a slight amount of Qi with each stepped and she smiled sinisterly as she approached Haru.


    A poisonous Qi emerged from the very tip of her cane and drifted toward him. It was simr to the demon Qi that he absorbed in the soul tempering grounds and figured it would be negated the same way.


    He began to absorb the poisonous Qi, It seemed strong so he didn''t want to let go of the chance of purifying the Qi. He reached out with his spiritual sense and directed all of the Qi directly toward his dantian. It resisted at first but with a bit of influence from his own Qi, he began to draw it toward himself.


    "You see them right? These are the souls of all of the people I have tortured. They follow me around like this, Begging to be at my mercy even after death. You will soon be one of them."She began tough psychotically as she thought her illusion array was working.


    Haru remained still and didn''t say anything. She seemed strong and he couldn''t quite estimate her strength at all. Which meant her cultivation was at least one level higher than his own. He thought it would be smart to look for an opening to attack, And it seemed like she was so confident that she left many of them open.


    "Look at them, They are calling out for you to join them. I bet you are too scared to even move Who am I kidding? You can''t move, My poisonous Qi made sure of that. It has probably entered your body right now and is going to eat away at your heart until nothing is left.


    He continued to absorb the Qi without her realising. The poisonous Qi seemed to have no end to it but somehow it was stored within the cane. He was tempted to take it from her to get a better look but he didn''t feel like he could confidently beat her as he did to the other sect members.


    She walked around him in circles. And then suddenly stopped.


    "Hmm It''s almost like he"


    Crack.


    Arge crack formed in her wooden cane and shot up toward the handle and then split in two as it fell to the ground. Before she had time to react she felt something tighten around her neck. She then looked up seeing Haru stood with his arm outstretched.


    He began to squeeze his hand tighter and tighter around her neck and she began to gasp for air. She tried to grab at his hand to make him loosen his grip with desperation but nothing she did seemed to work. She even tried to attack him with brute force but her body was frail and old even if she did reinforce it with Qi.


    "You t-tricked me! How dare you!" She croaked out as her life force was being drained from her body. The force around her neck only got stronger as she began to speak.


    ''I wonder if I squeeze a bit harder?'' Haru thought as he mped down as hard as he could. A loud cracking sound rung out as his hand crushed through her vertebrae. Followed by a squelch as blood ran down his hand. Her body went stiff for a second and then he dropped her to the floor.

 Chapter 148: Torture.

    Chapter 148: Torture.


    There was no longer anything to be done. Her life was taken in the blink of an eye. Haru still stood there in thepound and waited a while longer to give himself some time to recover to his usual self. When he had to kill people, his whole mindset changed and he was easily agitated.


    He thought it would be for the best to let his anger settle for a few minutes before going back outside. He then scanned thepound to make sure that he hadn''t missed anyone. He let his Qi spread out across thepound using his spiritual sense.


    He didn''t feel anything at first but as his searched narrowed down to his immediate location, he felt the presence of Qi beneath his feet. He looked down but there was nothing there only the stone floor. He then directed his sense to whatever was beneath the floor.


    "Strange It''s like there is a room there" He said out loud before kicking the woman''s body out of the way and then striking the ground with his fist as he punched a hole through it. The ground opened up like a sinkhole and he dropped down what must have been twenty feet into a temple-like room.


    The ground looked to be stained with blood and in the centre of the room, there was what seemed to be a marble altar. It was the alter that the witch would use to perform sacrifices.


    As he looked around the room he picked up a groan of pain calling out from the shadows as the sound of a chain rattled back and forth. He took his eyes off the alter and then turned to see a man who looked to be in his thirties chained to a wall.


    Haru couldn''t quite make out very many features apart from slightly wrinkled skin from the darkness so once again he used Kun''s golden mes but this time as a torch, not a weapon and then illuminated the room.


    The man was strippedpletely naked and had shackles on both his hands and feet to keep him restrained against the wall. His skin looked raw like he had been dragged across the stone floor many many times and his fingernails were worn down and scabbed over the skin from his constant scratching against the ground.


    Haru looked up to his face to a metal contraption of some kind hung around his neck and then tied to his face to pry open his mouth so that he couldn''t speak. His eyes looked both bloodshot and void of any feeling. He looked at Haru with anger and began to scratch the floor like a wild animal once he had made eye contact with him.


    "This is worse than I thought" Haru said to himself and then walked over to the man that was chained to the wall.


    "It''s going to be okay, I promise you." He reassured the man but it didn''t work. The man looked up at Haru with nothing but hatred and began to grunt as he cut open the wounds on the tips of his fingers once again. Blood began to trail as he reached out toward Haru and scraped where his nails should have been across the floor.


    "I''m sorry about this but it is for your own good," Haru announced to the man and then struck him in the back of the neck with the lower part of his palm. His groans grew silent as his body fell forward.


    His face was heading straight for the floor before it stopped suddenly. Haru put an arm underneath his chest and slowly lowered him to the ground to avoid any further injuries. As the man slept on the ground he made quick work of removing the gag from his mouth and then broke off the shackles with a strike from his shadow de technique at the lock so there was nothing to bind the man when he woke up.


    As he did so the man''s breathing pattern changed significantly, It was almost like he knew he was saved despite being unconscious. Haru felt relief, He might have felt bad in the future for ughtering a sect that didn''t even have the chance to fight back against him.


    "Hello? Is somebody there?" The voice of an old man called out. His voice seemed confused and both scared. Haru then turned back to the opposite side of the room to where the voice had called out. He used Kun''s mes to light the way before he spotted the old man who was also chained to the wall.


    He was fully clothed and looked had no damage on his body at all but as Haru got closer he noticed the obvious result of the sect''s torture on his face. The man sat with his back to the wall with a bandage wrapped around his head. He had been treated better than the man on the other side of the room for sure but where the bandage covered his eyes there was a deep crimson stain.


    It was obvious that they had ripped out his eyes even from the distance that Haru was stood.


    "I''m sorry I couldn''t have gotten here any sooner" Haru stated with regret as he heard the old man click his tongue to judge where everything in the room was with the reflection of sound. The man''s head then shifted to exactly where Haru was stood.


    "Oh, you have no need to feel sorry for an old man like me." He stated with a gentle and calm voice. It seemed like he had epted the thought of his own death with just a few words that he spoke.


    "You should focus your attention to the locked door to your left. That is where they keep the rest of us." The old man stated in a matter of fact tone.


    Haru looked to the left of the room to where he saw a wooden door with arge padlock on the outside of it. Although the old man had lost his vision he seemed to have good spacial awareness.


    "I will do that after I make sure that you are okay," Haru said and then cut the shackles that held the man to the wall and then helped him to his feet. He let go of his hand with a bit of hesitation as he expected him to fall over as soon as he did so but to Haru''s surprise, he seemed to bnce himself as soon as he let go.


    He then used his Qi to make sure the man had no more injuries. There were no more injuries at all. He then looked at the old man and decided to request something of him.


    "Can you sit with the man over there while I check the locked room? You might be able to keep him calm if he wakes up. He is sure to be confused and will need someone tofort him." Haru asked of him.


    It didn''t even take a second for the old man to decide.


    "Of course I will. You should prepare yourself though. I doubt you have ever seen anything like what you will see in that room. I for one will never forget what I saw even if I don''t have my eyes anymore." The old man warned him and then made his way across the room without any help. But he asionally clicked his tongue to make sure he was heading in the right direction.


    Haru took the man''s warning lightly since he was more focused on the way the man spoke. He was calm and seemed to have his thoughts collected yet still seemed like his body was in shock. He was worried that the old man was just clinging to life by a thread despite how he looked but he had no choice to make sure he was okay since he also felt the dozens of people in the room behind the locked door.


    He then made his way over to the door and cut the lock in two with his shadow de. The two chunks of metal dropped to the ground and rolled for a moment before he pushed the door open.


    The smell that emerged from the previously locked door was nauseating, It would be enough to make any normal person but Haru recognised the smell. It was the smell of rotting flesh. He didn''t let them deter him though as he made his way further into the room.


    There were no lights to be seen so he decided to produce another me from his hand and leave the one he used in the alter room floating where it was so the man would have a bit of light in case he woke up.


    As he set foot into the room he immediately saw his breath in front of his face. The room was both cold and damp and the smell of the rotting flesh mixed with the smell of mould that was stuck to each wall. The room was small and full of straw on the ground like the inside of a stable and there was torture equipmentying everywhere.


    There were chairs with nails poking in all directions and coffins with spikes stuck to the door. There was even a pool of water in one corner of the room with someone leaning over face down in the water. The was no Qi surrounding them and their skin had turned blue and began to peel away from the flesh.


    Whoever that was they were long dead. There was no point in checking on them especially since Qi flooded out from a staircase in one corner of the room, hidden behind a half-closed hatch. Haru then made his way over to the hatch and began to walk down into the room below.

 Chapter 149: You..?

    Chapter 149: You..?


    The stench only became stronger as he descended into whatever hell hole they had put at the bottom of the staircase. As he reached the bottom he began to hear screams of pain and terror as what seemed like hundreds of people ally on the ground in various positions and were chained to walls with some of them being locked in cages like wild animals.


    Haru couldn''t believe his eyes. He had never seen so many tortured prisoners before even during the hight of a raging war. This was one of the most disturbing things he had seen.


    He looked up at the wall straight ahead of him and almost recoiled in shock. There was what looked to be a five-year-old boy strung from the wall with shackles holding him to the wall.


    His face looked battered and bruised and he looked malnourished but as Haru''s gaze changed to the boy''s body he felt a wave of anger like never before deep within his heart.


    "He is just a child! what could he possibly do for them to justify doing this to him!?" Haru shouted out as the rage began to set into his very core.


    The boy''s lower half had been slicedpletely in two, his eyesy lifelessly gazing into Haru''s as his upper body hung from the wall with his arms outstretched to form a cross. His organs spilt from his stomach and dropped to the floor in a puddle of blood. And within that puddle were the remaining parts of his legs.


    Splintered bones littered the floor, creating a crunch as he took a step back. He couldn''t hold his anger anymore. He imagined what he could have done to them if he had known that they had done a thing like this.


    "What the fuck is wrong with people!?" He shouted once again before striking the wall behind him with the back of his hand. A bit of the brick flew from the wall and rolled across the floor before the sounds of one of the chains moving rung out.


    "You don''t look like those bad guys" The voice of a young girl stated to herself in a quiet tone from behind him.


    He was too focused on the horrendous scene before him that he didn''t notice the girl that was less than a metre away from him.


    He turned to see a girl that was around nine or ten years old and had a bandage covering her arm. She had long brown hair and eyes that matched. Her face was just as bruised as the boy that was hanging from the wall but the look in her eyes radiated a gentle warmth. It was aplete contrast to the mud that was rubbed all over her face.


    A poisonous Qi radiated from where the bandage was ced. It was the same Qi the old woman had released before he killed her. He didn''t even think about it before he started to absorb the poisonous Qi and then purified before it entered his dantian.


    He looked at the shock in her eyes as she no longer felt the pain in her arm, She then looked back at Haru as her eyes widened.


    "Are you here to save us!?" She shouted in a nervous yet hopeful voice, not even questioning the fact that her arm had been healed. Haru knew this girl had seen many horrors that a child at that age should never have been exposed to.


    It felt nostalgic in a weird way when he thought about what she had been through. It was simr to what happened to him when he was her age but instead of witnessing the mindless murder, he was the one whomitted it. Who knew how long she had been in this ce for? For all Haru knew it could have been years.


    So he wanted to make sure that she woulde out of this less mentally scared then he did. He knelt down at a distance and then looked at the girl while now on eye level.


    "Yeah, I''m here to save you" He smiled and tried his best to sound believable, but the rage hadn''t left his voice and he ended up speaking in a threatening tone.


    Though the girl didn''t mind. She seemed used to being spoken to like that and didn''t even flinch as Haru spoke. She in fact smiled after hearing the good news and then looked at Haru with the same hopeful eyes.


    "You mean you aren''t here to kill us?" She asked with the happiest looking smile he had seen in his life yet the words that came from her mouth were words she should never have needed to ask in the first ce. It tugged at Haru''s enraged heart and he felt a deep pity for what she would have gone through as he looked at her.


    This wasn''t the kind of thing that people could recover from in their whole life. These images would most likely stay with her until the day she died.


    He waved his hand in the air and sent out four small shadow des to break the chains around her and then appeared beside her in a sh, before wrapping his arms around her.


    "It''s okay, I promise that nobody will hurt you." He reassured her and then picked her up into his arms.


    The girl gave no resistance as he picked her up into the air and then turned back to the stairs.


    "Are you taking me away from here now? Where will we go? What if the bad men notice that I am gone?" She asked and then leaned back to look Haru in the eyes. It was at that moment he felt a spike in Qie from her body and a sh of blue light appeared in her eyes.


    ''Is that?'' He thought as he looked at her but then dismissed the thought immediately, deciding to answer her questions instead.


    "Yep, Everyone here will now be able to go home. And as for those bad men, You don''t have to worry about them ever again. They went to a ce so far away that they won''t be able to hurt anyone at all." He smiled slightly as he thought about how stupid the things he had just said sounded.


    But the girl didn''t mind. She seemed too upied with her own thoughts to judge him speaking to her like an infant. She just nodded her head with a slight hum and stared at the wall as they ascended the stairs.


    "Then what about the mean olddy? Is she also in a faraway ce?" The girl asked and then looked back at Haru with the same look. Her eyes glistened a kind of blue colour as Haru continued to walk.


    "Yes, She is in the same faraway ce. You don''t need to worry." Haru reassured her and kept the thought of what he had just seen at the back of his head. He would ask Li Jun about it when he had the time to. But for now, he would have to make a phone call and let Lian know what has happened.


    When he got back to the alter room he noticed that the man he had knocked out was now sitting up and having a conversation with the old man sat beside him.


    "Do you trust him?" The man asked with the old man''s jacket wrapped around his lower body.


    "If he could get passed all of the guards then he could certainly kill us. He was also wearing normal clothes, Those lunatics would never even show their face. Let alone wear anything over than those robes" The old man answered the question just as Haru opened the door and stepped into the room while holding a child in his arms.


    You''re back? How bad was it? How many survivors are there?" The old man asked as soon as he heard footsteps enter the room.


    "It was one of the worse things I have seen. But there are a lot of survivors. I will need to make a phone call though. Don''t go anywhere I will be right back." Haru said to the old man and then looked at the little girl.


    "I need you to close your eyes until I tell you to open them. Can you do that for me?" Haru asked of her?


    She smiled and then nodded before quickly closing her eyes and then covering her face with her hands. Haru held her a little tighter before lining himself up with the hole he had created on his way down there and then he leapt back up.


    He moved as quickly as he could so the girl had no time to look at the bodies of the people who had captured her. He didn''t want her to feel scared again if she saw them. And within a few seconds, he had made it back to the gate.


    As he exited, he heard a voice call out. It was the voice of someone familiar. He had heard the voice before but he couldn''t quite ce where he had heard it.


    He then looked at the cursed man who had brought him to the sect and saw a smile on his face. He didn''t realise before but during his fight against the behemoth, the man who had brought him here had used his name. He called out "Haru" clearly yet he hadn''t told him his name


    A fluctuation of Qi emerged from the rock beside the cursed man as the shape of human began to form out of thin air. It then took on the appearance of a man who looked to be in histe thirties. Haru''s eye''s widened in shock as he recognised the man.


    "You? I thought you were dead..." Haru said with a look of confusion covering his face.

 Chapter 150: Lord Meng.

    Chapter 150: Lord Meng.


    The man who stood blocking his path was the only man who had attempted to take his life since he had reincarnated. But he thought for sure that he had been killed when Teacher Lin sent down a technique to Shenzhen. It was the director of the faceless unit that had caused trouble for Haru and Jake when his family visited him at Zen''s house.


    "You followed me here?" Haru sounded slightly confused as he asked the man. He didn''t think someone would hold a grudge for this long. It had been at least a few months since the altercation happened. It seemed almost childish to not move past what happened between them.


    "Of course. I have been following you since that day, You cost me my career and almost my life. There is no chance in hell that I will let you go so easily." The Director was quick to respond in a threatening tone.


    Haru used his Qi to sense the cultivation level of the Directer. He had bound to have gotten stronger too or else there wouldn''t be much point toe out right now. But there wasn''t any change in his cultivation level at all. He had the same amount of strength he did during theirst fight.


    But Haru had progressed tremendously since they hadst met, The director put up a decent fight thest time they had met but he was still defeated in the end. There would be no point to challenge anyone with his strength but that didn''t seem to stop him.


    "Hey, mister? Is he a bad man too?" The little girl in Haru''s arms asked as she turned her head to see the Director stood with his arm pointed at Haru.


    "Of course not. He just hurt his head and has gone silly. There''s no need to worry." Haru reassured her and then pulled out his phone. He ignored whatever the director was trying to say as he made a phone call to Lian.


    "Haru?!" She asked as soon as the call connected. She sounded surprised to hear from him so soon. But there was also a hint of worry in her voice.


    Yeah I need your help again." Haru started with hesitation. He didn''t want to burden her too much but she was the only person he knew that could help him in this situation.


    "What do you need? Is everything okay?" She asked again. He guessed the sudden end to theirst call made her slightly worried. She probably knew what he was going to ask of her but she kept an open mind instead of jumping to any conclusions.


    "Well, I decided to put a stop to that sect But I''ve run into a slight problem. There are a bunch of innocent people locked underground and I don''t know what to do with them. They are all injured in some way so I don''t think just letting them free will do anything.


    Do you think that you could send some people toe and pick them up and take them to where ever they need to go?" Haru let her know what had happened and then asked her to help.


    She didn''t think about it before jumping on board with his n.


    "Just send me your location and it''s done." She said with a sigh of pity for the people Haru had saved. He didn''t need to describe their condition since she knew that the sect probably tortured them before sacrifices.


    "Uh" Haru stopped mid-sentence as he looked at the girl once more.


    "Is there something else?" Lian asked after hearing him hesitate.


    "Well I found a young girl in there. She seems around ten years old What do you think will happen to her once your people get here?" Haru worried a little. He figured she would probably be forced into foster care or something assuming that her family was dead. But he didn''t dare to ask her about her family after what had happened to her in there.


    "You shouldn''t be worried. She will probably go and live with one of her family members. Although if she doesn''t have any family members then she will be put up for adoption. But either way, she will be looked after." Lian said reassuringly.


    She was right. Either way, the girl would grow up with people who care about her. There wasn''t anything that he could do but hope she would be returned to her family.


    The director began to shout threatening words toward Haru from the other side of the field but he ignored them all and continued his conversation with Lian for just a few more minutes before hanging up and sending his GPS location to her so she could send some people to help out.


    "The arrogance of you young people these days never fails to surprise me." The director yelled out as Haru looked over to his sword stuck in the ground. The body of the behemoth had already been digested by the vicious bugs the lived by absorbing the Qi released in the sewage system of the cultivators that lived in thepound.


    "I''m confused What was your purpose foring here? Did youe just to insult me?" Haru asked as the only thing he had done since they had met again was through insults and threats toward him.


    "What!? Do you think I woulde out this easily just to insult you? I came here to witness your death!" The director yelled out once again, sounding sure of his words as he didn''t have even the slightest doubt.


    "My death? You came here to kill me?" Haru asked.


    "Haha, I''m going kill you? No not me. I came here to watch as the crimson spiders kill you for destroying one of their bases of operation. I already called one of their leaders and told them what you have done. I expect he should be on his way here right now." The director let him know and then startedughing.


    On the other side of the rock, the man who had brought Haru to the sect looked down at the ground. He seemed to be feeling bad about setting him up like this. Which was probably because the story he told about being captured and turned into a corpse by the sect was a true story.


    His main reason for taking Haru to the sect was so that the director could put his n into action. But Haru did just get revenge for both him and his sister. He looked up at Haru and made eye contact with him for a few seconds before looking back down to the ground in shame.


    "And you. You set this up before we even met?" Haru wondered since it was an ident that they met each other. If Haru wouldn''t have escaped from his ssmate using a void corridor then he never would have met the cursed man.


    "You mean how I nned for you to meat Gin? Well, that was just a coincidence. I nned for him to go to Hudan university since you would be bound to meet eventually. But who would have thought that it would happen on your first day?


    I can''t believe my n worked out so well. Originally it was for the old witch to kill you but I didn''t expect you to be stronger than her already. But now since you wiped out the whole sect you will die by the hands of one of the crimson spider''s leaders." The director began to brag about his n.


    "Is that so? You were the one who made somebody kill the leader of one of our smaller factions?" A voice emerged from the tree line behind the director.


    The Qi in the whole area fluctuated as a man in ck clothes with long ck hair walked out from the shadows. Haru hadn''t even felt his presence and had no idea when he had gotten there. His strength was also unreadable making him almost sure that the man who emerged from the forest had a higher cultivation level than he did.


    The director turned around to see the man walking towards him with a nk expression on his face. He didn''t look angry but the blood lust that wasing from his body was strong enough to let everyone know his feelings despite the empty expression he had.


    "Lord Meng! No that wasn''t my intention at all I didn''t want such a thing to happen it is just that" The director dropped to his knees and tried toe up with an excuse as to why he had nned against the crimson spiders.


    But Lord Meng didn''t want to hear another worde from the director. He had already determined his guilt. He reached down into his shirt and then pulled out a ck dagger. As soon as he pulled out the dagger he released it from his hand. It flew forward for a few metres before striking the director in the centre of his head.


    As the knife stuck into his skull a loud cracking sound echoed out.


    Lord Meng then changed his attention to the man cursed man and then held out his hand.


    "A mere zombie nned to use me as a tool to kill somebody?" He asked before releasing a wave of Qi that was strong enough to rip the man''s head from his shoulders and then shoot it deep into the forest.


    Haru covered the girl''s eyes just in time so she didn''t see what was happening and then looked back to the man known as Lord Meng.


    "You''re strong Howe I haven''t heard of you before?" Lord Meng said as he looked at Haru for a few seconds. He then reached his hand beneath his shirt once more while ring at him.

 Chapter 151: Strategist.

    Chapter 151: Strategist.


    Lord Meng pulled out another dagger and in one swing of his arm, he sent it flying through the air toward Haru. The de span like the des of a blender as it flew towards Haru''s face.


    Haru had his back against a wall. He didn''t know how strong the attack was going to be and was also holding a child in his arms. If he made one wrong move he would not only run the risk of injuring himself, but he would also be putting the girl in danger.


    He looked up at the de that was hurling toward his face. It seemed to slow as he thought about his options, it was almost moving in slow motion at this point but he knew he might not be able to make his body react in time to be able to avoid the dagger all together. At most he could try to sacrifice his arm to catch it, but what if it was followed up with another attack right after?


    He could also try to stop it with Qi but that was also a risky move since he didn''t know how strong the attack was going to be. He could try to use all of his strength to block the attack but he didn''t have enough time to gather enough Qi to use his full strength.


    He was running out of ideas of how to handle the de flying towards his head until the sun reflected light from the de of his sword into his eyes. He sword wasn''t that far away and if he used it he wouldn''t have to sacrifice his arm to block the attack he could let the sword deflect the de and it wouldn''t cause an injury.


    ''That''s it!'' Haru thought as he quickly directed a wave of Qi toward his sword and lifted it from the ground. He then used even more Qi to pulled the sword over to him and caught it in his hand. He then angled the de upwards just in time.


    The dagger made contact with the bottom of the sword''s de and then tumbled to one side before sliding the rest of the way up to the tip before flying high up into the air.


    Now that the dagger had lost the energy used to propel it toward him it gave him the perfect chance for a counter-attack. He used his Qi again just like he did with his sword but now he had time to gather his Qi to make it move both faster and with more power.


    He stopped the de mid-air and sent it back toward Lord Meng but with Haru''s attack, there was no spin on the dagger. It travelled faster and cut through the air perfectly like a dart.


    The de zoomed back toward the sender with a much faster speed, catching him off guard. He knew Haru was strong but he thought that since he was holding a child it would be the weakness that he needed to be able to finish him in one attack.


    He didn''t expect to be attacked with his own weapon.


    As the de flew back toward him he pulled out another dagger from under his shirt and turned the de to one side ready to block the attack.


    As the de made contact with the other dagger a loud crash echoed out across the forest and sparks began to fly as the Haru continued to force Qi into the dagger to make sure that it wouldn''t stop moving forward.


    Lord Meng was forced back as he tried to bnce the tip of the dagger on the side of his de. He dug his feet into the ground to maintain his ground but it didn''t work. He was still forced backwards but not as fast since the friction of him tearing up the ground with his feet slowed him.


    He travelled back into the forest before turning his body to one side and jumping out of the way. Lord Meng rolled across the floor as the dagger carried on behind him into the forest before hitting a boulder with enough force to turn it to dust.


    "Phew If I knew that would happen I never would have" He began to feel at ease as dodged the attack but that was cut short as Haru went in for a second attack. Ran as fast as he could in the directed that he had sent Lord Meng before appearing beside him with a sh from his sword.


    The sound of steel shing together rung out as Lord Meng managed to block once again but he couldn''t maintain his bnce from a direct attack. His legs gave way as his body was thrown back into a tree.


    "Haru!?" Lian''s voice called out, back from the gate of the sect. Haru turned his head for a moment as soon as he heard his name called out. But as he looked back at toward his opponent he had vanished.


    He thought he might have hidden tounch a surprise attack but after using his Qi to search the immediate area he determined that he had run away. He looked down at the girl he still held in his arm who had her eyes closed and was covering her ears and felt awful.


    He had told her that she was safe but she just had to witness another fight. He knelt to the ground and put her down. Upon feeling her feet touch the ground she opened her eyes with hesitation before removing her hands from her ears.


    "Is the bad man gone now?" She asked with a smile while tilting her head to the left.


    "Yep. I scared him away, you don''t need to worry." He reassured her once again and then put one hand on her head as he stood back up.


    He was going to hold out his hand so that she would walk beside him back out of the forest but he then realised she wasn''t wearing any shoes. He knelt back down and held out his arms.


    "I called some people toe and rescue everyone. Would you like to meet them?" Haru asked.


    The girl nodded her head and then put her arms around his neck. Haru then picked her up again just as he heard Lian shout his name once again.


    "Haru!? Where are you?" She shouted as loud as she could. She then turned as twigs snapped from the tree line. She turned after hearing the sounds to see Haru emerging, holding a young girl in his arms.


    She then looked down at his hand, seeing him holding a sword down by his side. The bodies of people trailed from the entrance to the gate and she saw the two huge trenches in the ground and figured that there must have been a pretty intense fight.


    "Are you okay? What were you doing in the forest?" She asked while looking at one of the trenches that led toward the trees.


    "Some crimson spider guy came to kill me but he ran away before I could finish him." Haru let her know as he walked over to where she stood with a group of people. There were also a couple of police officers with here who seemed to be coordinating things.


    It threw Haru off when seeing them there in uniform. He looked up at Lian who had a shocked expression. Her eyes were bulging from her skull and her mouth dropped open before promptly shutting as she became enraged.


    "You fought against the crimson spiders!? What are you thinking!? Are you trying to start a war?" She asked frantically. She had heard first-hand ounts of their strength and seen what they do to people who went against them. Most people were lucky to escape with no limbs.


    The people who weren''t as lucky usually turned up in the sewage system months after going missing. And now an unknown teenage boy came out of nowhere and wiped out one of the sects they controlled and then fought against one of their members.


    She thought the city was soon going to erupt into mes as they sent in an army to locate Haru and she wanted to protect him.


    "Oh god What have you done? We need to get you out of the City as soon as possible." Were the next words out of her mouth as she didn''t want to watch Haru die. She thought the best thing to do would to get him to put distance between them and Haru and it wasn''t like she could make them leave the city.


    "Get me out of the city? I''m not going anywhere at all I still need to attend sses, there is no way that I''m going to drop out just because there are a few bad people here." Haru responded without a care for her suggestion.


    "Haru trust me. These people are no good. They won''t stop at anything to get you. They will even resort to blowing up your ssroom if they need to." Lian tried to warn him, But Haru knew better by the fact that Lord Meng retreated.


    "They won''t do that. They don''t know my strength. If they aren''t even smart enough to know you have to be cautious against the unknown then they wouldn''t be a threat at all. They would have killed themselves a long time ago.


    If they are smart then they will probably send someone to watch me and try to find a weakness. If they are even smarter then they will want toe to a peaceful agreement with me. You are worrying too much." Haru responded leaving Lian even more shocked.


    She had never seen someone assess a situation like this while staying so calm. But that was Haru''s speciality. He might not have been smart with everyday things but the one thing that he was good at was strategies, He had to be good ating up with ns to be the top mage in japan.


    And even now he judged the enemy based on what he would do if he was the enemy. He would first try toe to a peaceful agreement, but if that failed he would force them toe to an agreement. And if the other two options didn''t work he would kill them.

 Chapter 152: Bodybags.

    Chapter 152: Bodybags.


    Lian stared at Haru as she thought about what he had just said. While it did make sense in theory but who could know what the crimson spiders would be nning? She had seen too many times people be so sure of their victory to only fall into despair when they are beaten. She didn''t want to see something happen to a cultivator as young as Haru.


    She assumed that his pride was the only thing that drove him to do things so reckless but it was quite the opposite. It wasn''t pride it was confidence. He had dealt with life and death situations and could read the situation of a battlefield. Predicting the thoughts of a gang of cultivators shouldn''t have been much different.


    "This is a serious matter Haru. You could lose your life if you don''t take it seriously." She warned him once again, thinking that he was just being prideful and overconfident because he had a bit of strength.


    "I think we should take the situation of people trapped underneath thepound seriously before you start worrying about my life. There are dozens of people down there who could be dying of disease as we talk, there''s no time for us to waste with my issues." Haru reminded her of the reason she came here out of frustration.


    Lian had seemingly forgotten about the reason Haru had called her to help him from worrying too much. Her mind switched from worrying about Haru to worrying about the people trapped in the basement of the sects alter room.


    "Everyone gather around. We need toe up with a n to extract the people. Haru can you tell us a little more about what you saw? Everyone needs to get a better idea of what we are going to be dealing with.


    Haru walked over as a group began to gather around them. He was now stood in the centre of a crowd of people with Lian stood beside him. The girl Haru was still carrying seemed nervous as they all crowded around and squeezed around his neck a little tighter.


    "Okay, well if you head straight once you go through the gates, you wille to a hole in the ground outside of the biggest building. There should be a naked man and an old man with bandages around his eyes. They will need your help getting out.


    There were two doors down there one of them is probably the exit but the other one is where I found this girl. There are a lot of people down there all chained together. Most of them are too sick or injured to move and some of them seem to be so mentally scared that they don''t want to move.


    But the others are dead. You had better be prepared, This will probably be the worst thing you will ever see." Haru warned all of the people from the association and a couple of police officers that all seemed to have a stoic look on their faces.


    One of the police officers at the back of the crowd rolled his eyes and then took a step forward.


    "Yeah whatever kid, Just take us to the ce we will take care of everything." He spoke with barbaric spirit as he tried to make himself feel better about being dragged to the middle of a forest to recover dead bodies.


    "Hey watch your tone. This "Kid" has the same if not more strength than me. He has worked hard to be at this level and deserves respect." Lian interrupted after seeing the police officer step forward and talk like he was the most important person there.


    "It''s fine I don''t mind. He will see what I meant soon enough." Haru said and turned his back to them and walked over toward the gate to put some distance between the two dead bodies lying on the ground. He didn''t want the girl to be around death too much as it could mess with her sense of living.


    "Where are you going?" Lian ran after Haru leaving the team of people she had brought standing there without any idea of what to do.


    "I''m just going to stand out of the way to so they can all do their job without me getting in the way. What''s up with the police officers being here? Are you sure it''s okay for them to be here?" Haru asked.


    "The police departments are under the protection of the association so we team up with big things like this so we can both make out individual reports. But why are you getting out of the way? We are going to need your help to guide us there." Lian said and then sighed.


    "I can''t guide you. I''m not going to let this kid see what is beyond the gates. If you want me to help then you are going to have to clean everything up first." Haru said and then took another step back and stood next to the wall making sure the girl couldn''t see past the gate.


    "Clean up? Clean what?" Lian asked with her eyebrows raised slightly.


    "Take a look and then ask me what needs to be cleaned." Haru sighed as Lian walked toward the gates and then stood there in shock.


    "Don''t tell me you to all of them really? There are so many" She replied after seeing the mass amount of bodies stacked up beyond the broken down gate. She then looked up at the man hanging from the wall with a wooden nk sticking out of his stomach.


    "Did you really need to do this?" Lian asked and then immediately ordered the people present to clean up the mass of bodies lying in thepound.


    "Wait until you see what is in the basement. You would wish that I didn''t let them off so easily." Haru stated and then waited as the team of people put all of the bodies into body bags just so the young girl didn''t get anymore traumatised than she probably was.


    "Okay, it should be clear now." Lian let Haru know so that he could guide them to the site where the people were.


    Haru walked around the corner and through the gates to see all the ck bags stacked up in one corner next to the gate to make disposing of them easier.


    The officer who had made a point of acting brave before was now hunched over with his hands on his knees and breathing heavily from the work out he had just done.


    "I came here to rescue people. Not stack up corpses. I swear if I ever find out who made this mess" Heined through breaths and then looked up as Haru appeared still holding the girl in his arms.


    "What is that?" The girl pointed over to the stack of ck body bags.


    Haru didn''t know what to say. He didn''t want to tell her what it was but he would also feel guilty about lying to a child.He stuttered for a second as he tried to gather his words.


    "It''s just some garbage. We had to clean it all up to make a path so you cane through without smelling all of the trash. We did a good job, didn''t we? The floor is nice and clean now." The officer stood up and said in response saving Haru from lying to the kid.


    He then huffed and puffed some more before Lian ordered the rest of them to follow Haru''s lead to the hole that he had smashed into the floor. He continued to walk while leading them before stopping at a distance after seeing the body of the witch lying next to the hole.


    He took a few steps back and then walked around a corner so the girl couldn''t see.


    "What is it?" Lian asked after seeing Haru''s strange reaction.


    "I think you missed some trash up ahead," Haru said and looked down to make sure she didn''t see anything. She seemed just as confused as Lian did which made him feel sure that she didn''t.


    "Hold up, I''ll get it. Just make sure you all stay here so you don''t get dirty." The officer who had helped move the bodies said before grabbing another body bag and running over to where the body of the witchy and stuffing it inside.


    The officer came back dragging the bag behind him and then called out to the rest of the group.


    "That should be thest of em. I''ll stack it up, just don''t leave me behind." He chucked before dragging the body back to the pile and stacking it at the top. He then ran back over to the group that was waiting for him before gathering around the edge of the hole in the ground.


    "It''s down there?" One of the people asked and then leaned over to look down into the dark abyss.


    "I see some light. But we are going to have to get some ropes or adder to get down there. I don''t suppose anyone brought a bunch of rope did they?" The man asked and then watched as everyone looked at each other back and forth.


    "There should be a way to get down there through that building. If you want to check?" Haru stated and then pointed over to therge building the witch hade from with his free hand.


    Lian then lined everyone up and determined what they would be doing. A small group would search the back of the building and a small group would search the front of the building. After she told them what to do she sent them inside to look for a way to get the people out.


    A few minutes went by before one of the teams came back with news.


    "We found the door to the basement But it''s locked. I don''t think anyone brought lockpicks so we might have to go back and get supplies." A woman said and then looked back at Lian.


    "Where is the door? We don''t need any lock picks with me here." Sheughed and then followed the woman into the building.

 Chapter 153: Meiling.

    Chapter 153: Meiling.


    Lian followed the group into the building and then down into the basement. The basement was filled with stacks of dried food either in bags or barrels that they probably used to feed the prisoners until it was their turn to be sacrificed.


    There were shelves lined with misceneous objects that had no real purpose of being there other than storing things there. Lian looked to the back of the room in the little light that she had and saw the iron door with a grate of bars on the top of it.It looked like something to be expected of a dungeon.


    But as she took a closer look she saw the keyhole had rusted over and had be frail from the stress. She took her hand out from her pocket and hit against the lock with her palm. The door flew from its hinges causing air to be sucked into the room and sending the dust upwards and out of the hole Haru was stood next to.


    That was the indication that they had entered and he had nothing else to do but wait for them toe back out with all of the survivors. That was the priority for now at least. The dead would be put into bags to try to reduce further decay of their bodies and a team wouldeter on and retrieve them.


    Haru walked over to the staircase of the building and sat down on the steps after letting the girl down. As soon as he sat down she sat down next to him and silently waited.


    Haru looked down seeing the girl looking straight ahead. She had a lot on her mind and was probably confused. But she lookedfortable at least. He could feel at ease knowing that she wasn''t in any mediate danger. He rested his hand on top of her head to get her attention.


    "How are you feeling?" Haru asked her with a gentle expression on his face. His eyes had a hint of sympathy in them that gleamed when he looked at her.


    "I''m okay." She said bluntly and then looked back up at Haru.


    "But I''m a little bit cold." She shivered as she spoke and brought her arms up to her shoulders in an attempt to warm them before looking straight ahead.


    She seemed to go into her own world once more but now she shivered at a regr interval until Haru shuffled closer to her and then began to spread out theyer of Qi that surrounded him. He couldn''t move it much since the amount of Qi was too much for him to handle all at once but he managed to expand it enough to cover the girl.


    Her eyes widened for a moment as she felt the warmth overwhelm her body. She didn''t feel even the slightest bit cold. She then looked up to Haru to see if it was his doing which was confirmed when he smiled at her and then looked off into the distance.


    As he sat there a voice called out in his head. "Luo Yang If you are hearing this, DON''Te back to Ugh!" The voice boomed around the inside of his skill as if someone had shouted into both of his ears at the same time.


    "Jasper" Haru stood up after recognising the voice to be the voice of the elven man that he had met in the soul tempering grounds. He looked around in all directions and then began to sense for his Qi but there was nothing. He was nowhere nearby.


    "Are you okay mister?" The girl stood up after being startled by his sudden movements and then grabbed the back of his shirt in fear that he was going to leave her.


    Haru turned with a cold expression on his face. Something didn''t sit right with him. He couldn''t shake the feeling that something had happened in the soul tempering grounds. But he wondered how he had heard Jaspers voice. He then looked down at the girl who had a look of worry stretched across her face.


    ''I will ask Lao once this is all cleared up.'' He thought to himself before smiling once more to put her at ease.


    "I''m fine. I just remembered something that''s all. It''s nothing to worry about." He reassured her and then sat back down.


    "I forgot to ask you what your name was didn''t I?" Haru chuckled and then leaned forward slightly to get a better look at her.


    ''This kid needs to take a shower.'' He thought as he looked at the dirt that stuck to her face and neck. If he could he would have used Kun''s power to burn the dirt away but her body wouldn''t be able to handle the heat of the mes. So for now she had to continue staying filthy.


    "My name? Meiling What is yours?" Her reply was a little bit static before she asked for Haru''s name with a gleeful cheer.


    "I''m Haru. It''s nice to meet you Meiling." He joked and held out his hand for her to shake.


    Meiling smiled before taking his hand and then stopped as she saw something in the distance. She looked up to the rooftop of one of the buildings with a serious gaze. Haru noticed the change in her immediately and then looked to see what she had spotted.


    As he looked up he noticed a dark shadow on the roof of one of the buildings. He shadow seemed to be humanoid and gave off a strong wave of Qi. He then used his Qi to see past whatever was creating the shadow.


    ''A concealment technique?'' He thought as he used his spiritual sense to look past the humanoid shape.


    There was a man inside the shadow with a surprised expression on his face, The surprise quickly shifted to fear though as he realised the Qi creating the shadow was useless. He felt fully exposed within Haru''s gaze as if he was looking deep into his soul.


    He stayed still out of shock for a few seconds. Until Haru moved his hand up into the air. As soon as the man saw him raise his hand he made a retreat and ran across the rooftops before disappearing into the distance.


    "It''s okay." He patted the girls back gently and then looked back up to where the man was stood on the roof.


    "It''s safe to say that they are following my prediction. Now he will go back and tell his boss that he failed his mission of following me But how did she notice before I did?" He thought to himself and then questioned the strangeness of what just happened.


    He didn''t sense the same amount of Qi that a cultivator would have within their body when he looked at the girl but somehow she managed to sense a cultivator using a concealment technique.


    "Li Jun. You there? I have something to ask you." Haru called out to his teacher but there was no response at all. He was nning on asking him if there was anything strange about the girl but he guessed he was probably busy with something.


    "Lao. Can I ask you something?" Haru called out once again but it was the same. There wasn''t a response. He found it strange since usually when one of them didn''t reply he would call the other to help him but it seemed like they were both preupied.


    ''Strange'' He thought and then heard a muffled cough from behind him as the sound of doors opening up from the building the group had entered through gentle creaked. Both Haru and Meiling turned to see the man with just a jacket wrapped around his waist, stood in the doorway clutching his ribs.


    In the light of the setting sun, he could now clearly see the injuries the man had received. The bones in his chest seemed to be jagged and stuck out in different directions from underneath his skin from them being broken repeatedly. And there was a scar on the side of his body, located where he kidneys would be.


    He was being held up on one side by one of the police officers that hade with them and were soon followed by Lian who was guiding the blinded man by the hand.


    "You were right. It is much worse than we thought." Lian admitted as she saw Haru and Meiling sat down on the steps.


    At the sight of both of the heavily injured men, Meiling grabbed Haru''s arm and began to squeeze tightly. She looked away from them both out of fear as she kept holding his arm.


    "Well, I did warn you," Haru stated before a chuckle came from the blind man.


    "You''re the nice young man who rescued us. You have my thanks. I thought we were going to die down there. But maybe I will have the chance to see Meet with my children again." He stopped mid-sentence and an expression of anger formed on the lower part of his face.


    "I''m sorry" Haru said sympathetically as he could tell that the man still hadn''te to terms with being blind yet.


    "It''s fine It''s better this way I don''t think anyone should have seen the things that happened down there. So I feel better knowing that I won''t have to see anything like that again." The blind old man said before smiling once more.


    Ring Ring.


    Lian''s phone rang out.


    "Hello? Yes I need everyone you can send Trust me there are at least fifty people down there." She spoke back and forth with the person on the other side and then looked down at Haru, noticing his inquiring expression.


    "It was the police chief. The police will have to take over this case and do their investigation. They are also sending as many ambnces as they can." She said before he could ask what it was about.


    "I see." He responded simply and then get to his feet.

 Chapter 154: Join the association?

    Chapter 154: Join the association?


    The team moved as fast as they could to get all of the people out of there without causing any further injuries to their bodies. And in turns took the badly injured people back out to the main road on stretchers where they could then be airlifted to safety.


    Haru, Lian and Meiling all stuck together as multiple groups of emergency responders took over until a police officer walked over and greeted Lian.


    "Thank you for letting us take over. We will now be able to keep the media away. The lest thing that anyone wants is this to blow out of proportion and then take a tool on your cultivator association." He sighed and then looked at Haru for a moment.


    "And you must be the young man who cleared this ce out? You have my thanks, We knew people were going missing in the area but we assumed it was down to animal attacks. I never even suspected they were being kidnapped. I will make sure to write up a good report for your superiors to read." He smiled as he spoke and then looked at the young girl he was holding with sympathy.


    "Superiors?" Haru asked.


    "Yeah, I am on good terms with the president of the association. I will make sure to mention what you have done to him." The police officer said and then looked over to Lian who had giggled a little as he spoke.


    The police officer looked at her with questioning eyes before feeling self-conscious that he had said something wrong.


    "There''s no need to write anything. I''m not a member of their association so you will just be wasting your time." Haru informed him of his mistake and then looked back at Lian who had a grin on her face.


    The police officer looked surprised for a moment before looking at Lian to confirm if what Haru had said was true. She simply nodded her head in confirmation and then began to think about something while the officer responded.


    "I''m sorry, I thought since you were so young and the one to overpower so many cultivators that you must have been a member of the association Then you aren''t from the Hong family are you?" He asked with a look of surprise on his face.


    "The Hong family? No, I''m not. Why?" Haru asked with confusion. That was the second time he had heard of the Hong family since he had arrived. From what Lian had told him they were a family from the capital with a daughter who ughtered a whole sect on her own.


    "You are the second person to wipe out a whole sect on your own this year, I thought the Hong family might have been trying to take over shanghai but I guess not. I was worried for a moment.


    Anyway, I would love to stay and chat but I had better go and call for more people. I didn''t expect there to be so many bodies, I think we are going to need a truck to transport them all." The police officer said with another sigh and then walked away to join the other officers.


    Lian suddenly looked at Haru with an intense stare for a few seconds that caught his attention. He turned his head to see her still staring.


    "What is it?" He asked while thinking that she had seen something that he hadn''t.


    "I was going to ask youter. But that just reminded me. I was wondering if you wanted to join our association?" She looked at Haru as she spoke but his expression didn''t change at all, giving her a good idea that he already made up his mind before she asked him.


    "I''ll pass." He responded bluntly without even taking time to think it over.


    "I suspected as much, but can I ask why not?" She inquired into why he had made his decision so quickly. He didn''t even know the benefits that woulde with being a member yet he was quick to decide against it.


    "Well Let me ask you this. If I was to join your sect and I pissed someone off to the point that they wanted to kill me. Would your association stand by me no matter who it was that was looking for me?" He asked.


    Lian looked down to the ground before answering.


    "Well, there are some people that we can''t afford to go against But as long as you didn''t offend any of those people then we would stand by you." She quickly added to make it seem like it was a benefit to him.


    "And what about the crimson spider people? You seemed like they were a big enemy for your association. What would happen if they demanded that you hand them over to them?" He asked another question.


    "That is why I was thinking of getting you to join us. If you were a high ranking member of our organisation we could probably settle things without a fight. We are on a level with them where it is mutually assured destruction for us if one of us decided to attack the other so it would ward off any sneak attacks against you." She said and then thought about it.


    "But if you were a member then it would be a decision from the elders. It would be voted on whether or not to hand you over to them so I can''t say with certainty that it wouldn''t happen." She added and then seemed to start to understand why he refused her offer. But Haru wasn''t quite done with his questions.


    "Then what if I decided to kill the president of your organisation?" He asked her with seriousness. But it took a minute for the question to sink in.


    "Wait What? Why would you want to kill Are you nning to kill the president!?" She shouted out with a look of rage forming on her face.


    "Did I misjudge his intentions?!? She thought as she looked at him with suspicion.


    "No. I don''t n on killing anyone from your association but if for some reason I made an enemy with one of the people you can''t afford to offend it would make me an enemy of your association. Or if it was ordered for me to be handed over to the crimson spiders.


    I can''t say for certain how I would react to the betrayal. If I joined your association it would be out of trust, I wouldn''t join just for benefits. And quite frankly I don''t trust your association." Haru went on to say, causing even more confusion for Lian.


    "You don''t trust me?" She asked with a hint of sadness to her voice.


    "I trust you personally. But I''m guessing there are many members since you can pull out so many people to help me as you did. And the problem with having many people is the fact that they have different beliefs. Can you say for certain that you can trust every single person in your association? Without even the slightest doubt." He asked her.


    "I would like to think that" She began to say.


    "That''s not what I asked. I asked you if you trust every single member of your association without a doubt." He asked her again but this time making his question even clearer.


    "Well, there are hundreds of members all across the country. I haven''t even met most of the people so I can''t trust thempletely" She said now gaining a better understanding of Haru as a person.


    "And that is the issue I have. Unless I knew without a doubt that I wouldn''t be betrayed by any of your members I wouldn''t join." He sighed.


    "Then what about your sect? Why did you join that? I doubt it has few members do you trust all of them?" She asked.


    "Well, I know without a doubt that they wouldn''t betray me. If I decided to dere war with another country they would follow me into war and fight until theirst breath" He said mindlessly and then realised what he had just done. He had almost exposed himself as a first-generation disciple of the original ck star sect


    "What? Just who are you? How can you make a sect follow you like that unless Are you the leader of THAT sect!?" She jumped to a conclusion based on what he had just said.


    "No no no The sect just values trust We have a set of rules that say "If a fellow disciple is close to death you must do anything in your power to give him life." So we all share amon understanding of trust" He saved himself from suspicion by making up a lie on the spot.


    "Calm down. It was just a joke. We have analysts that have done research on your sect and they came to the conclusion that they are very protective of their members. It was written in a book a few hundred years ago that a member of you sect was in by an emperor.


    But out of retaliation, his whole empire was in to thest person. They were massacred without mercy. And when the person who found that book read the name of the sect out loud he was squashed like a bug by a giant palm. That''s how we know about the evil god." She said and then looked at the girl he was still holding.


    "If you don''t intend to join us Then what about the girl? She has seen and heard too much to be let back into civilisation. Will she join your sect? Or will you hand her to us? We have a school for young kids to learn how to cultivate" Lian asked.

 Chapter 155: Sweets.

    Chapter 155: Sweets.


    "What? I thought you said she would be returned to her family? Why would she need to be a cultivator?" Haru asked Lian. He was confused as to what she had just said.


    "Well, she doesn''t need to be a cultivator But it will probably be for the best. Just think about it from your perspective. If you were a young kid and you saw strong people who could jump dozens of metres into the air and then you are told you''re not allowed to be one of them.


    It would be heartbreaking. I just thought since she had seen and heard a lot about what we do that it would be good for her to be one of us But I guess it is her choice." Lian stated casually. She seemed to have double-backed on what she said.


    At first, it seemed like she wanted to force Meiling to be a cultivator but after Haru questioned her she changed her mind. She knew it wouldn''t go over well with him if she forced a kid to give up on a regr life while Haru was there.


    "I see you''re point. But a kid should grow up with their family if her family decide it is okay then so be it but I don''t want her to be forced into anything. We would be doing the same as what that sect had done by forcing people to be their prisoners." Haru sighed and then looked down at the girl to see the glint in her eyes once more.


    ''Seriously What is this? It seems so familiar yet very different.'' He thought as he saw the tint of blue light sparkle in her eyes. He had seen it three times now but each time felt more and more familiar to him. He needed to ask Lao or Li Jun about it but he also didn''t want to disturb them from whatever they were doing.


    "But it''s different. It would be for her own good and she will be free." Lian tried to argue but Haru had already decided. The girl was going back to her family no matter what.


    "It''s exactly the same. The only difference is that she will be allowed to go out. But at the end of the day if she belonged to a sect or your association then she would have to follow their rules. That isn''t freedom." Haru said and then dismissed the conversation entirely.


    "Meiling?" Haru asked as he looked down once again.


    "Yes?" She replied with a confused look as she gazed up toward him.


    "Do you know where your house is? Or your parent''s names so I can make sure you can get home safely?" He asked with a gentle smile.


    Meiling looked down for a second and then back up at him with the same look of confusion on her face.


    "My parents? They were taken by the bad men" She said without even the slightest bit of hesitation. She knew what had happened to them and so did Haru. If they were taken away from the basement then they were most likely dead. Or used to perform some kind of ritual.


    "They were taken Then what do you want to do now?" Haru asked. He didn''t know how to speak to a kid like this but he figured that she had thought about the things she would do once she got out of that hell hole.


    "Hm What do I want to do?" She asked and then started thinking.


    "Like anything at all?" She asked now this time a smile started to form on her lips.


    "Yeah. I guess so Anything at all. What would you like to do now?" He asked. Once again. But before he could even finish what he was saying she shouted.


    "I want to eat sweets!" She giggled before looking up to see the look of confusion on her face. She then looked at Lian who also let out a chuckle.


    Lian walked over and put her hand on Meiling''s shoulder.


    "I''m sure Haru will get you all the sweets that you want but I think he meant what would you like to do for your living situation?


    You can either go to a ce where they look after children and until you grow up. It will be full of other children and you will make lots of friends I''m sure.


    Or you can choose toe with me and join our special school. You will be taught how to fight and be strong like Haru here." Lian slightlyughed before putting her hand on Haru''s head like he was a child.


    "Don''t push your luck" Haru red back at her.


    Lian removed her hand as fast as she could and then looked back at Meiling who seemed to be thinking.


    "Will I be able to save people too?" She asked while deep in thought and then looked back up at Lian.


    "Of course you will. We will make sure you grow up to be big and strong." Lian replied and then patted her head. She looked back at Haru with a slight smirk.


    "Well, there you have it. It looks like she ising with us." She smiled and then waited for Haru to reply.


    "That''s probably for the best. At least I won''t have to ughter everyst member of my sect if someone mistreats her." He smiled sinisterly at Lian. The smile soon faded from her face as she foresaw the future in her thoughts.She would have to make sure that Meiling is treated well or else it could lead to a blood bath.


    "Um I will make sure she is treated like a princess." Lianughed nervously.


    "I''m only joking, I will just kill the person who mistreats her. So make sure you spread the news once you get back." Haru smiled. He was joking of course but the way he smiled was simr to how a serial killer would smile when admiring their work.


    "Ah. Yes!" She shouted by ident. She couldn''t quite exin it but the longer she got to know Haru the more it felt like he was older than he looked. And in turn, identally addressed him as she would when the president of the association would order her to do something.


    Haru smiled when he heard her mistake. Her cheeks flushed red for a second before she put her arms out.


    "Hmm?" Haru was confused as to what she was doing.


    "Hand me the girl. If she is going to join us then I had better take her to get cleaned up and get some new clothes." She exined with her arms still out.


    Haru moved his arms to Meilings hips so he could hand her over to Lian but she wrapped her hands around his neck a little tighter to make it harder for him to do so.


    "What are you?" He was about to ask what she was doing but before he could get the words out she puckered her lips and pressed them against his cheek.


    She then let go so Lian could carry her instead. Both Lian and Meiling giggled as Haru rubbed his cheek. He didn''t know what had just happened at first.


    "Thank you for rescuing me!" Meiling shouted with the biggest smile imaginable before Lian spoke.


    "I will take her back now. If you ever want to visit then just let me know." She said with a smile before walking away while carrying Meiling in her arms.


    "That little shit" Haru whispered and then shook his head with a sigh.


    ''I''m worried about how this whole thing will affect her mind as she grows up. But at least she will be safe from now on.'' Haru smiled before walking back to his dorm. It took him much longer to get home as he was miles away from his dorm but after about forty-five minutes of walking he had made it back to his dorm.


    As he opened the door he was greeted by a mattress that was propped up against the wall in the hallway. He then heard the cries of AJ from inside his room as he shouted profanities at people he was ying his games with.


    He stopped in the hallway for a moment as he heard the tv in the living room was on. He could feel someone else''s presence in the room with him. He then walked into the room to see a man who looked to be in his twenties. He had short brown hair and had a muscr stature.


    He had the air of a martial artist about him but was definitely a regr person. He wasn''t concealing any Qi and he didn''t have enough Qi that it would make a difference to the overall amount in the room. He seemed to be an athlete of some sort.


    He sat on the couch with his eyes glued to the tv. He didn''t even notice that Haru had entered the same room as him. But he suddenly felt like he was being watched. He looked up to see Haru standing in the doorway and then screamed.


    Ahhhh!


    His cry for help rung out as he raised his hand to his chest.


    "Fuck, Don''t do that, I thought you were a ghost." He said with a deep bellowing voice. It was the total opposite of his feminine scream.


    "Sorry, I didn''t mean to disturb you." Haru apologised as he still clutched his chest.


    "It''s good. You''re the new guy, right? I was going to move your mattress for you but your door was locked. You need some help?" He asked and then paused whatever he was watching and stood up from the couch before helping Haru take his mattress into his room.


    After he had left Haru locked his door and sat down with his legs crossed on the bed before entering his soul ocean.

 Chapter 156: Snow Feathered Ancestral Dragon.

    Chapter 156: Snow Feathered Ancestral Dragon.


    "Li Jun? Lao? Are you there? Haru called out into the emptiness of his soul ocean. He needed answers before but they didn''te to him. Thest thing he wanted to do was disturb them but he was confused as the where they had gone. He felt bad as he called for them both once again but to his surprise, they both appeared one after the other.


    "That girl! Where did she go?" Li Jun was the first one to ask as he appeared from thin air and approached Haru with a long stride to close the distance as fast as possible.


    "Girl? What girl?" Haru asked confused. Why was Li Jun acting this way? It was unlike his usual self.


    "The young girl that you saved. Where did she go? No one must harm her." Li Jun said with a little bit of frustration in his voice.


    "Oh, Well she went to the cultivation association to learn how to cultivate," Haru responded. His body tensed up as he looked at Li Jun who seemed to be extremely worried for a moment and then he settled down.


    "The cultivation association? That''s good. I thought she might be put in danger again." Li Jun called down but Lao was the one to now be frustrated.


    "The cultivation association? That''s good? Why is it good that she is going to be taught how to cultivate by some backwater group of humans from the lower realms!? She should be up in the upper realm with the rest of her kind." Lao said to Li Jun angrily.


    "Calm down. It''s okay she will be safe there. Once she learns how to cultivate she won''t need them anymore. It is just temporary." Li Jun responded while trying to calm Lao but it didn''t work.


    "Calm down!? How can I calm down when something like that just appears out of nowhere. If my brothers ever knew that I missed the bring her back to our capital I would be theughing stock of the whole dragon race." Lao shouted.


    "What''s going on? Why is that girl so important?" Haru asked. He was still confused as to what they were talking about.


    "That girl you just saved has an innate bloodline just like yourself. That''s why we had to hide our presence. Even though she isn''t a cultivator she would have still been able to sense us." Li Jun said with a sigh.


    "An innate bloodline? Is that so special, I thought that director guy I fought against back then had an innate bloodline." Haru looked up at Lao and asked.


    "Don''t lump in some half-assed initial rank bloodline with yours and that girls. It is an insult to your phoenix over there." Lao said to Haru before looking over at Kun who was surveying the soul ocean by flying around.


    "She has a special bloodline like me?" Haru asked them both but Lao just sighed leaving Li Jun to take the lead in the conversation.


    "You''re bloodline is special in the fact that it is one of the strongest and most noble bloodlines in the universe. But that little girl''s bloodline is special for being the most ancient bloodline. The blood that runs through her veins is the same blood that founded the dragon race.


    The snow feathered ancestral dragon. There was only one to ever exist. He was the father to the same bloodline that Lao is a part of so he sensed it right away. I didn''t notice anything at first but I trusted Lao so I hid my presence as soon as he sensed her.


    Who would have known that not only would we encounter the heavenly phoenix king''s bloodline here but also the snow feathered ancestral dragon''s bloodline." Li Jun said as Lao made a questioning grunting sound. Both Haru and Li Jun looked up at him.


    "It looks like I was right. It isn''t just a coincidence that the dragon emperors ring made its way here It could probably sense the bloodline of its creator. Great, great grandfather must have gifted his blood to a human from this world millions of years ago


    Or maybe one of his sessors settled down here?" Lao questioned and then his eyes seemed to light up.


    "If that''s the case then that would mean There is the body of a true dragon someone on this. There''s a chance I could escape from this thing and get myself a real body once more." Lao said with a toothy grin as his tail began to swing back and forth throughout Haru''s soul ocean.


    "You know You might just be right. It would have had to be millions of years ago so it could be buried underground since you dragons like to make their homes in caves." Li Jun thought about it and then came to the same conclusion that Lao did.


    There was probably the body of a dragon somewhere on earth that was the cause of the sudden change in Haru''s life. If it wasn''t for the body of that dragon being somewhere on earth then Haru would never have be a cultivator.


    "We need to find the dragon''s body." Li Jun stated and then looked over to Haru who was standing helplessly thinking about all of the things he had seen thanks to that dragon dying on earth. He came to the same conclusion before Li Jun even suggested it.


    Both Li Jun and Lao had helped him out so many times that he wanted to do something to return the favour. There was no chance in hell that he wouldn''t find the body for Lao but the problem was that he didn''t know where to look.


    "And just how do I do that?" Haru asked.


    "That''s easy, all you need is the blood of that little girl and you will be able to find locate the snow feathered ancestral descendant," Lao said with a chuckle.


    "Wait You want me to kill a child!?" Haru asked. He was outraged by what Lao had just said but he should have taken more thought into what he meant.


    "No, You don''t need to kill here. All you need is a few drops of blood and then I will take care of the rest." Li Jun said clearing up Haru''s misunderstanding.


    "Thank god. I thought you really wanted me to kill a kid." Haru sighed.


    That child might just be the soul true descendant of our dragon race. And the only one suitable to take up the throne. If I could materialise a body I would train her to be the next empress of the dragon race." Lao began to wonder and then looked back at Li Jun.


    "It seems like it will be time soon," Lao said and then looked down at Haru.


    "Time? Time for what?" Li Jun asked confused for a moment and then something seemed toe to mind as he stopped and stuttered on his next words.


    "Y-you think so?" Li Jun seemed scared for a moment before Lao responded.


    "I could be wrong though." He chuckled and then looked down at Haru who had drifted from the conversation. He stood still and his mind began to ponder about what he had heard earlier.


    Jasper''s voice called out to him from nowhere and told him not to go back before he screamed out in pain. Since they were talking about something ominous it seemed like the right time to bring it to their attention.


    "Uhm" Haru stopped for a moment since Lao and Li jun were talking back and forth.


    "What is it?" Li Jun''s attention switched when he heard the hesitation in Haru''s voice.


    "Well When I went to the soul tempering grounds. I met an elven man called Jasper Waldon. He seemed to be a descendant of a god or something like that." Haru stated mindlessly while trying to phrase his question.


    "Oh Would you look at that, You''re student is making connections with that woman''s descendants." Laoughed at what Haru had just said.


    "You know his ancestor?" Haru asked surprised. He knew that Li Jun was powerful but he didn''t know he was powerful enough to meet with gods.


    "You could say that" Li Jun sighed and then looked back to Lao with a look of disappointment.


    "What? You don''t want your disciple to find out about all the women you have slept with." Laoughed again while Li Jun stood there unmoving.


    "Even so. I can''t believe she became a god. I will have to congratte her. But go on tell me more. What happened?" He muttered for a moment and then demanded to know more as he could see it was bothering Haru.


    "Well Earlier I heard his voice in my head. It was like his voice was bouncing around my brain." Haru said and then looked back at Lao who had more to say.


    "Soul Communication? I thought all the pirs for soulmunication had been destroyed?" He looked at Li Jun with a questioning re.


    "No, There still on of them left standing. Even the divine sword sect couldn''t manage to invade that ce. How would it have been destroyed?" Li Jun said with a smile.


    "You mean the soul tempering ground? Haru what did he say?" Lao asked Haru to further exin what he had heard.


    "He said "Luo Yang If you are hearing this, DON''Te back to" And then his voice cut off after he screamed out in pain." Haru exined.


    As soon as he finished Li Jun looked at Lao and started to rub his chin.


    "Could a force have invaded the soul tempering grounds? I don''t think that the leaders would have done anything to piss off a strong force. Even if they did no one in their right mind would attack those peace-loving hermits." Li Jun said and then went back to Haru for more information.


    "What was the situation like there?" He asked.

 Chapter 157: Return to the tempering grounds.

    Chapter 157: Return to the tempering grounds.


    "The situation? Haru asked with a hint of confusion.


    "Yeah, the situation when you went to the soul tempering grounds. Where tensions high between the three ns? Or did everything seem like it was alright?" Li Jun asked and then thought deeply. He seemed to know more about the soul tempering grounds than he was letting on.


    "Tensions? Well yeah, The temple master had to speak to the demon n about acting out against the other ns. But that wasn''t the only thing There was supposed to be a fight between someone of the human n and one of the demon n''s princes." Haru said and waited for Li Jun''s response.


    "A fight between a demon prince? Who won?" Li Jun asked and then looked up at Lao who seemed like he had better things to do as he seemed lost in thought.


    "I''m not sure. I left before the fight ended, so it could have gone either way." Haru replied and then looked at the troubled look on Li Jun''s face.


    "Lao, Can you open op a portal to the soul tempering ground?" Li Jun asked of Lao, He nodded his head with no reaction to what Li Jun had just asked of him and then suddenly there was a white portal hovering above the ground. It was like a vortex spiralling round and round.


    "You want me to take a look?" Haru asked with a bit of worry. He had just been told not to go back there by one of his friends and the first thing he was going to do was go back to see what had happened.


    "Yeah, we need to get a better understanding of what is going on. It''s fine. All you need to do is step back through the portal and you wille right back if you manage to run into any trouble." Li Jun reassured him.


    "What if something bad has happened and I die before I can get back to the portal!?" Haru said in protest but Li Jun had already made up his mind.


    "Oh don''t be silly. It is just the soul tempering grounds. They have a limit to what cultivation level you can be when you enter. You won''t find many people that are really strong apart from the elders." He reassured him with a smile to make it seem like he was worrying for nothing.


    "Fine But if I die I am going to haunt you." Haru said before taking a step into the portal. His whole body felt like it was spinning around as his soul was dragged through emptiness before feeling the hard stone floor beneath his feet.


    He took a second to adjust his vision but was took back by what he was seeing. The ground in the yard he had appeared in was littered with all different types of weapons like arge scale battle had taken ce. But there were no bodies since everyone who was here had to enter with their soul even after a battle there would be no corpses.


    But that wasn''t the thing that stuck out the most to him. The huge pyramid that he had seen when he had arrived was now in ruins. The stone blocks used to build it were missing from the top and it looked like it had been hit by a bomb with the hole that was missing in the side of it.


    He was bewildered by the sight before him. ''Just what happened? Who would do this, I thought they all had an agreement'' He thought as he walked toward the pyramid. But as he got closer he noticed something.


    It looked like a bodyy on the floor. He couldn''t make out who it was but he could see a white robe as he got closer. As he got close enough to recognise the bodyy on the floor with a sword piercing his chest he called out and ran toward him.


    "Old man!" He shouted before running to the body of the temple master thaty face down by the door of the pyramid. He reached down and held his fingers against the old man''s neck to check for a pulse but there was no such thing. His body was cold and not even the slightest bit of Qi surrounded his body.


    He was dead. ''How does this make sense? I thought that you could only enter this ce with your soul. So how can there be a body here?'' Haru thought to himself before sensing arge amount of Qi above him.


    He looked up to see what appeared to be a ship floating through the air. It looked simr to a pirate''s ship with its ck sails and wooden construction but there appeared to be some kind of mechanism that stuck out of the bottom of the ship like pipes and coiled around one another.


    "What is" He began to ask himself as he felt a strong killing intente from behind him. He reacted by pulling out his sword and trying to block.


    A loud crashing sound echoed out as Haru''s feet began to slide across the floor as he was hit back by the force of the attack. He then looked up to see a familiar face.


    "What are you doing here human? This ce is now controlled by the demon n. How dare you trespass within our territory." Said the demon man who Haru recognised from the first time he had entered the soul tempering grounds.It was the first demon to cause a problem with him when he registered himself to fight.


    But he didn''t seem to recognise Haru at all since he wasn''t wearing the mask that he had worn when he first appeared here.


    "Well then exin yourself! The prince has ordered that we capture anyone who trespasses But if they resist then we can kill them without mercy." Heughed as he looked Haru up and down.


    "That sword" He said while he stared Haru in the eyes.


    "What about it?" Haru said before using the breath of shadow technique to appear behind the man and plunging his sword through his chest.


    "How did you!?" He coughed out blood as the sword tore through his chest.


    "Are you really that surprised? I thought I told youst time that I could kill you at any moment." Haru whispered to him before twisting the sword and cutting through his whole body until the sword was free.


    "You are" He said as hisst breath escaped from his lips for his body fell to the floor in a pool of blood.


    ''That was actually his body!? Just wait is happening. Why can people enter with their bodies?'' Haru was struggling toe up with an exnation but it had seemed like the demon n had decided to take over the soul tempering grounds by force and somehow got their bodies and strange airship to enter


    "You!" The voice of an old man screamed out as he flew through the air toward Haru. One of his arms was missing from the shoulder down. but with his other arm, he was wielding a two-handed sword like it was meant to be used with one hand. He flew with enough speed to make a sonic boom as he dropped down from the airship andnded on the ground creating a crater beneath his feet.


    He looked down at the body of the man who Haru had just killed and then up at Haru.


    "Are you the one who did this, human?" He asked calmly and then looked into Haru''s eyes.


    A sense of great fear took over as Haru felt the strength of this man stood before him. It was unlike anything he had encountered before. He couldn''t quite exin it but he knew that this man would be impossible to fight against with his current strength.


    Haru looked the man up and down for a few seconds while trying to locate a weakness in his stance but he was stood casually and there were still no openings.


    ''I need to make the first move'' Haru thought as the old demon looked down at the body of the demon that had just died by Haru''s hands.


    ''Now is my chance!'' Haru thought as he saw the man''s defence open up a little bit.


    As the man dropped his defence Haru took the opportunity to retreat back to the portal. He began to run as fast as he could across the yard. ''Fuck that. He is way too strong for me to handle.'' Haru thought as he made his escape.


    "Did you really think that I would let you go after killing my son?" The man''s voice called out from behind Haru as he continued to run.


    Haru turned his head to see the man was flying over him. ''Fuck Fuck He''s going to catch me!'' He thought as he turned back and continued running back toward the portal.


    "I could kill you now But I would much rather see where you are nning to run away too. Are the rest of the humans hiding on the other side of that portal? I wonder" The man said again as he flew above Haru and then sped up toward the portal andnded in front of it and looked back at Haru.


    Haru stopped in his tracks and didn''t dare to approach the demon stood blocking the portal.


    "Did you make this portal?" He asked.


    Haru didn''t respond he just stood where he was and tried to look for another way out but all the ces where portals used to be within the soul tempering grounds had vanished or been destroyed.


    "What do you think will happen if I go through it?" He asked Haru another question he couldn''t answer.


    "You will die" Haru said in a way that tried to make it sound like he wasn''t threatening him. He didn''t want to piss him off anymore and make him decide to kill him before entering the portal.


    "I will die? Hahaha! Now that is a bold im! So this is where your Human n is hiding!" He said before turning back to enter the portal without hesitation.


    "Fuck!" Haru shouted before running through the portal following behind the demon.

 Chapter 158: Ancestral Chains.

    Chapter 158: Ancestral Chains.


    Haru''s vision went white once again as he entered the spiralling vortex. It felt like his body had been put inside a washing machine as his soul was transferred back to his soul ocean. ''Fuck this is bad. He is going to find out about Lao and Li Jun.'' He thought as he chased after the demon that had jumped into his soul ocean.


    The white light grew hazy before the familiar sight of his soul ocean came into view. Haru stood still for a moment and then noticed the demon who had entered before him was now looking at the portal.


    "A soul ocean? This is unexpected. I didn''t know there was a way to transfer your soul to the soul tempering grounds directly from your soul ocean." The old demon said with a chuckle as the violent screams of Kun echoed through the skies. The man looked up to see the phoenix flying through the sky.


    "You even have a phoenix bloodline. I sure made a lot of profit today. After I kill you I''m going to absorb your bloodline." The old demon began tough until a voice called out from behind him.


    "You didn''t tell us to expect any visitors. Who is this?" Li Jun asked as he saw the demon standing within the soul ocean.


    The old demon slowly turned to see Li Jun stood with his arms crossed. But his attention was taken by the green-scaled wall behind him as he looked up at the gigantic dragony across the soul ocean.


    "Wha" Was all the old demon could get out when seeing Lao.


    "A D-dragon! A real dragon!" The old demon shouted out. Lao slowly moved his head to look at the old demon and then looked back at Haru who didn''t know what to do.


    "Why did you bring a demon here? Is he a friend fromst time you went there?" Lao asked and then moved his head down to be on eye level with the demon. He looked into his eyes and bright green light began to pour from Lao''s eyes.


    "I see. You were trying to find out where the portal led so you could ughter some humans" Lao spoke as the green light faded.


    "Li Jun what do you think about that? Weren''t you the head of the human n before you were betrayed. What do you think we should do to him?" Lao turned his head to Li Jun.


    "Li Jun You''re Li Jun!? The ck Star Monarch!? No, you can''t be! You were killed by the divine sword sect!" The old demon began to panic when looking at Li Jun. He stumbled backwards and fell onto the floor.


    "Haru. Is it true that he came here to kill more humans?" Li Jun looked at Haru as a dark aura surrounded his body. It grew bigger and bigger until the point where it was almost the same size as Lao.


    "Uh, Yeah" Haru answered nervously. This was the first time he had seen his teacher get angry like this. There wasn''t aparison he could think of to describe the anger that emerged from Li Jun''s body. But the strangest thing about it was that there seemed to be no flow of Qi.


    The aura seemed to being from his intent alone. As Haru confirmed what Lao had said Li Jun began to step closer to the old demon who hand now be so frightened that he couldn''t stand. He began to crawl across the floor in retreat from the immeasurable amount of fear he felt within his heart.


    With each step Li Jun took toward him the old demon felt the hair on his body rise more and more until the point the fear had be so great that he could no longer move. Hey there looking up at Li Jun before he spoke.


    "No! Get away from me!" The old demon cried as Li Jun stood looking down at him.


    A look of disgust formed on Li Jun''s face as his usually happy expressions turned to a dark sinister grin. ''What is this feeling? It''s making my heart race It''s the same feeling I had when I ughtered the evil sect.'' He thought as he felt the shared link between both of their cultivations.


    "Although I don''t have a physical body to torture you with. I can still use techniques to torture your soul You should thank your demon gods that I didn''t kill them before they created your ancestral chain. But now it is time for your whole family to pay for your sins with you." Li Jun said before holding his hand out and cing it against the old demon''s head.


    Two lights began to flow out of the old demons head and into Li Jun''s hands until his body slowly faded away to nothingness. Li Jun was left holding two glowing balls of light and Haru couldn''t help but ask what they were.


    "What is that?" He asked despite the uneasiness he felt from witnessing a scene like that.


    Li Jun''s expression changed when hearing the question back to his usual happy self. But to Haru, it seemed like he had two personalities that he could switch between whenever he wanted to which made him feel even more uneasy knowing that at any moment his teacher could vanish and be a monster as he had just seen.


    "These? Well, this one here is his cultivation. There is a technique that I learned that tortures the soul to the point where the body will disappear and be a ball of Qi.


    It seems strange right? That is what I thought until I got the chance to try it out on someone. But don''t worry I''m the only person who knows this technique so you don''t have to fear someone using it one you. Oh here catch." He said before throwing the ball of Qi to Haru.


    "You''re giving me his cultivation?" Haru asked.


    "Well, I have no need for it. You need a body to absorb Qi so it doesn''t mean much to me. And it will also be the most amazing thing you could imagine for you right now.


    That old demon was at the profound life stage. He was hundreds of times stronger than anyone on this. So go ahead and absorb it but I don''t want you to breakthrough yet. It would be for the best that we strengthen your foundation as much as possible." Li Jun said casually.


    "The profound life stage? What is that?" Haru asked as not all of the cultivation stages had been exined to him yet. There were already so many that he had to know that it was easier not to tell him yet since he wouldn''t encounter anyone at that stage for now.


    "It''s the stage above nascent soul. You still have a long way to go so don''t think about it too much. Just absorb it all and don''t breakthrough. We still need to take advantage of your flooded soul ocean." Li Jun instructed him and without another word, Haru sat down and absorbed all of the Qi into his body.


    As he opened his eyes he saw that Li Jun was still looking at him.


    "Is something wrong?" Haru asked as he saw Li Jun smiling as he watched his student absorb the immense amount of Qi.


    "It''s nothing. I was just waiting for you to finish so I can tell you about this." He said while holding the other ball of light in his hand.


    Beneath the light, there was something white in colour and seemed to resemble a bone but it was shaped like a chain. Haru had no idea what it was so he inquired about it.


    "What''s that?" He asked and then stood up and walked closer to Li Jun.


    "This is what''s known as an ancestral chain. Millions of years ago there was a strong demon who was betrayed by his own n and exiled. As the years went on he gathered his strength until he became strong enough to destroy the whole demon n with his own hands leaving behind only a few who swore to be loyal to him.


    To make sure that he could trust those demons that had sworn to serve him he created these ancestral chains. With every descendant, the demon who wore the ancestral chain would gain, another link was added to the chain. But that wasn''t all.


    The chains would too form in the bodies of his descendants. So each demon descended from the demon god''s subjects all carry these chains within them.


    It isn''t a well-known fact and I happened to stumble across it when I found the demon god''s inheritance. But when one of these chains are extracted from a demon''s body you can wipe out everyone who shares the same ancestral chain.


    And this is what I wanted you to have." Li Jun said and then handed the white chain over to Haru.


    "You want me to have it? What am I supposed to do with it?" Haru was confused as to what Li Jun meant by giving it to him.


    "Well Think of it as insurance. If you ever find yourself in trouble with people from the demon n you can hold hundreds and thousands of demons hostage just by threatening to destroy the chain.


    Or if you are ever engaged in arge scale battle with people from the demon n then you can destroy it. You are bound to kill off at least a few of them. There were only sixteen ancestral chains created so if this is destroyed you will be killing over fifty billion demons at once. So make sure you don''t act rashly." Li Jun warned him.


    "Fifty billion demons?! That is insane. How many demons are there in that case?" Haru asked the poption of earth was around seven billion. He couldn''t even imagine how many demons the universe could hold.


    "Well, that was an estimation based on how many demons were registered to be living in the middle realm. And that was also at least thirty thousand years ago. There were over nine hundred billion demons in total so if every single one of those had generations descending for thirty thousand years there could be a lot more." Li Jun exined.


    Hearing the amount blew Haru''s mindpletely. He just couldn''t imagine how big the universe was. Not to mention the other two realms that contained hundreds of universes. But the discussion was cut short as his concentration was broken by banging and shouting from outside of his room.

 Chapter 159: Let me in!

    Chapter 159: Let me in!


    "Let me in! Stop blocking the door!" A woman''s voice screamed from outside Haru''s door. Haru opened his eyes after hearing it and stood up from his sitting position on the bed and then looked around the bare room. He still wasn''t used to waking up in unfamiliar ces.


    "What are you doing you crazy woman!? It sounds like you were dumped and I doubt he wants to see you. Why are you so desperate to get past!?" called out the man who had helped Haru move the mattress into his room the night before.


    "What are you talking about!? He''s my fucking cousin! Now get out of the way!" The woman shouted again but this time Haru recognized her voice to be Yun''s he quickly changed his clothes before making his way to the door and opening it.


    As the door opened the man who had helped Haru fell backwards through the door frame andnded on his bottom.


    "Haha, It serves you right for trying to get involved in my problems." Yunughed as he hit the floor with a thud and the rolled onto his knees to clench his backside.


    "Ugh" Haru said, confused as to what was happening. He looked down at the man who seemed to also have a confused expression as he raised an eyebrow to say he didn''t have a clue what was happening.


    "Ugh? Don''t you ugh me! Do you know how long I stayed upst night waiting for you to text me? I even called you like a million times! Did you just purposely stand me up to piss me off?" Yun said while poking Haru in the chest with her index finger.


    "What?" Haru asked. The whole going shopping with Yun idea he had nned hadpletely slipped his mind after all that had happened. After all, there were more important things to worry about.


    "Did you seriously forget that you told me to wait for you to text? You said you needed help with shopping and that I had to help you. I waited for so long but you never even told me that you changed your mind." She sighed and then looked down at the floor in defeat.


    "Forget it. I don''t care anymore. Just make sure you go to ss." Yun said before turning around to leave.


    "Oh shit. Wait." Haru remembered that he had told her to wait for him and then grabbed her arm to stop her from leaving.


    "It doesn''t matter. If you don''t want to then it''s fine." Yun once again felt defeat as she felt like she wasn''t important enough for him to care about the promises he made to her.


    "Come on. Don''t be like that. I''m sorry. Something came up and I had to switch off my phone. When I got back it was already prettyte and I figured you would be sleeping. I haven''t even turned my phone back on yet so I didn''t know." Haru tried to exin himself but Yun didn''t believe him one bit.


    "What could possibly happen that made you turn your phone off?" She asked.


    "Well, I decided to take a walk in the woodsst night when" Haru began to say but AJ was sat in the living room and turned up the tv to a level where it drowned out Haru''s voice.


    "Breaking news. More than forty people believed to be dead have been found alive in the woods." The news channel came on to report the events ofst night. With so many emergency responders gathered around to help out it was only a matter of time before a news channel would have reported on it.


    "Reports say that a Student from the local Hudan university found a body in the woods and called the police whichter led to the recovery of the bodies of ever sixty people believed to have gone missing in thest two years and over forty survivors who recall being kept in inhumane conditions for months on end.


    We reached out for an interview with the student but the police said that he would like to remain anonymous as not to affect his studies." The tv blurted out, right as Haru had said that he had taken a walk in the same woods the night before.


    "T-those woods?" Yun asked Haru. Her eyes now widening with shock as she looked up at him with sympathy.


    "Yeah I was just" He couldn''t say a thing before Yun had put her arms around his shoulders and pulled him into a hug.


    "I''m so sorry. I thought you didn''t want to spend time with me or something. I''m really really sorry you had to go through something like that." She said while hugging him as tight as she could.


    He epted the hug from her but he stood there thinking about how it had coincidentally worked out in his favour. ''I guess the police don''t want people sticking their nose into this case since it was the work of evil cultivators. It would make the association look bad if people knew that not all cultivators where good. So Lian probably has something to do with this too doesn''t she?'' Haru thought for a second as both of his roommates stared at him.


    "I''m sorry man. That must have been tough." AJ said while scratching his head. He didn''t know how to respond to something like that since he was generally aid back person. He smiled awkwardly before covering his mouth after realising it probably looked like he was smiling about a bunch of dead bodies being recovered.


    The man who helped Haru move the mattress got up from the floor and walked over to AJ.


    "Ow. What are you doing? Let go of me?" AJ called out as the man grabbed him by the ear and dragged him into his room.


    "You idiot. You don''t know when to shut up do you?" He said before closing the door behind them. Haru almostughed but it seemed like the wrong moment if he wanted Yun to believe what he had told her.


    "You know you can let go of me now. I''m fine." Haru said quietly. But Yun didn''t care, She kept her arms around him for a little longer before letting go.


    "Do you want me to let your teacher know that you are noting to ss?" She asked. She assumed that since he had found a body in the woods he would be too traumatized to go to ss. But if she knew the truth she would be the one too traumatized to go to ss.


    Haru thought about what he was going to do. ''Would it make me look heartless if I acted like I didn''t care and went to ss? No surely not. People usually deal with traumatizing things by making themselves busy don''t they?'' He thought then answered.


    "It''s okay. I had better go to ss. It will help take my mind off things." He reassured her and then made sure to grab a pen and a notebook from his bag. He didn''t want to have a repeat of yesterday morning.


    "Are you sure? I think they will understand if you say you want to take the day off." Yun said in protest.


    "I promise you I am fine," Haru said once again before she finally epted it as the truth. They then both walked to ss together before saying goodbye to each other outside of Yun''s ss. Haru then walked up the stairs and into his ssroom and sat down in the seat the professor had assigned to him the day before.


    The ss started without the professor saying so much of a word to him. But It was not like he needed too. Haru quickly zoned out as he thought all about what had happened. What was happening in the soul tempering grounds?


    He didn''t even get time to process the death of the temple master after finding his bodyy on the ground and then that demon who chased him He had so much power yet he chose not to kill Haru right away for the sole purpose of wanting to ughter more humans.


    ''I wonder what''s happening in the upper realms right now?'' He thought. Surely if the demon n had made a move to take over the soul tempering grounds. The human n and the elven n wouldn''t sit idly by and watch it happen.


    There was probably arge scale war going on up there and no one knew about it. As he thought more about it he imagined that hundreds if not thousands of people were probably being killed by the hands of the demon n.


    ''Would it not be easier to destroy the ancestral chain? If a war is really going on then it is bound to save the lives of thousands of innocent people'' He thought about it but that wasn''t really his call to make.


    Both sides had their reason for fighting yet Haru had none. He didn''t have anything to do with the fighting so it wasn''t his ce to step in and kill fifty billion demons on a whim. He had met a few demons who wanted to kill him but he also didn''t want to believe they were all bad.


    Like the demon woman, he had seen in the meeting with the temple master. She seemed to understand the cause of the anger amongst the younger generations and wanted to fix it. She seemed sympathetic but no one wanted to entertain the idea''s that she had.


    "I should probably ask Li Jun what he thinks is going on." He muttered to himself forgetting that he was still in ss.


    "Excuse me?" Professor Hua said after hearing Haru mutter something.


    He looked up to see the rest of the ss were now staring at him. ''Did I do something?'' He thought before the professor walked over to take a look at Haru''s notebook.


    "You haven''t even written anything. What is the point in turning up to ss if you aren''t going to do anything?" He began to ridicule Haru for not taking notes.


    But feeling the stress from knowing things were happening beyond the world that he lived in he felt slightly angry that he was being talked down to for something so petty. To save himself from unnecessary hassle he picked up his notebook and walked out of the ssroom.

 Chapter 160: I can explain!?

    Chapter 160: I can exin!?


    After walking out of the ssroom he heard professor Hua calling his name out from down the corridor but the stress was catching up with him. Yun was probably;y right. He needed to take a break. Killing was still fresh in his mind and he didn''t want to do something he would regret.


    He knew if he continued to let someone speak down to him after all that had happened that he wouldn''t be able to control himself. He needed some time alone. He didn''t want to deal with mindless idiots. And that is exactly what he thought about professor Hua.


    As he left the building the feeling fresh air washed over his body and he began to calm down. ''It''s unlike me to get frustrated with people like that What''s wrong with me?'' He thought as he took in the fresh air and then made his way back to the dorm room to put his notebook back in his room. It wasn''t like he had any use for it, so he decided to take it back so he wouldn''t have to carry it with him for the rest of the day.


    As he arrived back at the room he noticed it was silent. Quiet enough to hear a pin drop or even a butterfly beating its wings. Both AJ and the man Haru had yet to learn the name of had left for sses, leaving all alone. He took a few minutes to rx in the silence of the room before heading to his room and putting down his notebook.


    As he stood in his room he felt the presence of a cultivator getting closer to him. The Qi in the area had gotten stronger and a dark energy manifested within the area of the campus.


    "What is it this time?!" Haru asked himself before walking over to the door of his room and pulling it open to reveal the man dressed in a ck suit standing on the other side.


    "What do you want! I''m really not in the mood to deal with this shit!" Haru shouted into the man''s face before realising that he knew the man on the other side of the door.


    He flinched upon hearing Haru shouting.


    "Wait It''s you? What do you want?" Haru asked as he recognised Lord Meng standing in front of him but wearing a suit instead of the assassin attire that he had worn upon their first encounter.


    "I uh. Came to apologise to you on behalf of the crimson spiders." He said with a serious face. At first, Haru thought it was a scheme to make him drop his guard so they could attack him. But he didn''t sense a single bit of animosity from him at all.


    "You Came to apologise?" Haru asked. The situation confused him. Why would theye to apologise when they are running a criminal organisation? He couldn''t quite understand where this wasing from.


    "Yes. After hearing about what had happened. The boss told me toe and apologise to you and also wanted me to give you this." Lord Meng held out a golden coloured envelope.


    Haru took the envelope and then ran his finger across the seal to open it before looking back up at Lord Meng to judge his reaction to him opening it. But he didn''t react at all which was reassuring. If it was some kind of plot to kill him then putting a bomb in the envelope wouldn''t be too far fetched. But by the reaction, Haru determined it was safe to open it.


    He then flipped open the top of the envelope and pulled out a red piece of paper. It was an invitation to some kind of gathering. "The Serpentine Resort and Spa"


    ''The boss of the crimson spiders is giving me an invitation to get a massage? What kind of logic is that?'' Haru thought. He became confused. Why would they want him to get a massage?


    "This is?" Haru asked Lord Meng who didn''t look surprised by what Haru had just read out loud.


    "Oh, This is one of the businesses the boss owns. He has invited you toe and visit him since he is holding a meeting right now. All of the underworld bosses will be attending and he decided to make you his guest of honour." Lord Meng exined to him.


    "Underworld bosses? So a bunch of criminals? Why am I invited then? Something tells me that your boss doesn''t actually believe that I will fit in with a crowd like that." Haru said trying to clear up why he was invited but it only led to him wanting to ask more questions.


    "We all have to start somewhere, don''t we? Anyway, he told me to bring you the invitation. You don''t have to go but you if you are free he said he would appreciate it if you dropped by for a chat. I will take my leave." Lord Meng said before walking away.


    Haru was blown away. Did the association lie to him or is there some ulterior motive as to why the boss of this criminal organisation wanted to meet with him? He decided to read more about it so he closed the door once more and made his way to the couch and sat down before continuing to read.


    The invitation contained little information as to what the meeting was about. There was only an address and a phone number left to call. He then took a look at the other sheet of paper.


    It seemed to be a certificate of some kind as it congratted him. As he read more into what the certificate was he realised that it was a shareholders certificate. The leader of the crimson spiders had given him thirty-five per cent of the shares to the serpentine resort and spa.


    "Just what is his n?" Haru asked himself as things like this didn''t happen. ''It couldn''t just be his way of apologising, could it? What kind of person will give away a little under half of their business as an apology?'' He thought about it and then came to the conclusion that the only way to find out what it was about is if he went to the meeting.


    "Well, I guess that''s it. I''m going to have to go and ask him what this means. There must be some other reason he is giving me this." He said before resting his head on the back of the couch and rxing his whole body before drifting off to sleep.


    The stress had gotten to him and made him mentally exhausted. It was a miracle that he didn''t pass out earlier than he did but he was finally getting some rest. Knowing that you have the lives of over fifty billion people in your hands is not something many people will ever experience.


    And the thought of knowing they are all at your mercy is overpowering. With it woulde temptations and justifications as to why you should kill them and why you shouldn''t kill them. The thoughts were too much for Haru and he found they flooded into his head even during his sleep.


    Scenes yed out before him of battlefields in all different types of terrains many of which he didn''t know where possible to exist but one thing the scenes had inmon was the faceless silhouettes of human and elven nsmen being ughtered by the demon n.


    As he watched the scenes y out the only thought in his head was to destroy the ancestral chain. But he couldn''t. Despite the scenes that yed out in front of him he didn''t have the will power to destroy the ancestral chain. The thoughts repeated it''s self in his head over and over until the creaking of the front door awoke him from his slumber.


    He gasped as he woke while feeling relief that it was only a dream.


    Haru looked up to the hallway where a dark orange glow emerged from the doorway, He could see the shadow of someone stood in the doorway but couldn''t make out who it was so he walked to the corridor to see.


    "What are you doing?" He asked as he walked around the corner to see the muscr man who had helped him carry the mattress into his room with his back against the wall as he kissed a scrawny looking man who seemed around the same age as him.


    "Ahh!" The man screamed and then looked at Haru with both surprise and shock.


    "I-I can exin!?" He shouted and then stared at Haru who didn''t react at all to what he had just seen. Haru turned his back and then walked to his room before looking at the time on his phone. It was already six pm. On the invitation, it said the meeting would start at eight but it was better to be prepared.


    He changed into a suit and then walked out into the living room where both men were sat. Haru paid little attention to them before making his way to the corridor.


    "Wait a minute" The muscled man said in a timid voice before Haru turned to face him.


    "Yeah?" Haru asked.


    "About what you saw" The man said once again in a timid voice.


    "What about it?" Haru asked again. He didn''t think there was anything to be concerned about but apparently, that wasn''t the case for both of the men sat on the couch.


    "Uh You won''t tell anyone will you?" The man asked and then looked down to the ground like he was guilty of something.


    "Honestly I couldn''t care less about what I saw. But sure if you don''t want me to tell anyone so be it. Anyway, I''m going out. Both of you have a great night." He said with a sincere smile and then left the dorm room to head for the meeting.


    He made sure to keep both the invitation and certificate with him just in case he was required to show them at the door and then called a taxi to meet him at the gate.

 Chapter 161: Meeting.

    Chapter 161: Meeting.


    The taxi took its time as they drove through the busy rush hour traffic. And by the time he arrived at the resort, it had already gone seven-thirty. There was only half an hour until the meeting would start. At first, heined about the taxi taking its time but in the end, it worked out in his favour as it cut out a good majority of the time he would be waiting otherwise.


    "Thanks. How much do I owe you?" Haru asked as the taxi pulled up outside the resort and learned over the seats with his hand full of money. He didn''t usually carry cash with him but he made sure to prepare some before he boarded the train on his way to shanghai.


    "One hundred and fifty-six." The taxi driver said and then looked out of the window to look at the fancy resort he had just taken his passenger to.


    ''One hundred and fifty-six yuan? We travelled just a little over a kilometre. Why is this so expensive?'' Haru thought to himself but then looked at the man who was looking out of his window at the resort. He knew right away the man was charging him more since he thought that he was rich like the rest of the people that woulde to this kind of ce.


    ''Whatever.'' Haru thought before pulling out two one hundred yuan notes and then handing them to the man. It wasn''t like he carried less than one hundred yuan notes anyway. But the feeling of being treated differently just because he was wearing nice clothes and going to a ce like this didn''t sit well with him.


    Before giving the driver any time to reply he got out without a second thought.


    "Thanks for the tip!" The taxi driver rolled down his window and shouted before driving away as fast as he could so Haru couldn''t change his mind and ask for his change back. He just sighed in response before walking to the entrance.


    The whole outside of the resort was packed with cars. And not just any cars. There were many luxury cars and even sports cars worth millions of yuan. It wasn''t just any meeting. This was surely a meeting for some of the richest people in the city and Haru had been invited as the guest of honour.


    The thought of being in a room with all these people who probably made their money at the expense of others put a bad taste in his mouth but it was easier to tell himself that it was none of his business how people made their money. It''s not like he could judge them for it.


    As he walked toward the entrance he noticed that part of the road was blocked off with metal barriers. And on one side of the barriers stood hundreds of people gathered around to watch as all these rich and famous people made their way into the building. Some of them even had camera''s and were snapping pictures of everyone who entered.


    "Just what kind of thing did I get myself into bying here?" Haru asked himself quietly before making his way down the red carpet that wasid out on the floor leading up to the entrance of the building. But as soon as he stepped on the red carpet the crowd began to whisper to each other.


    "Who''s the kid?"


    "What does he think he is doing here? This isn''t some average club."


    People began to ask about Haru''s identity amongst themselves. He was by far the youngest person they have seen walk the red carpet all day and not a single person had any idea who he was.


    One of the men from the crowd picked up his camera and then zoomed in on Haru''s face.


    "What if he is a celebrities child or something?" He began to talk to himself as he trailed Haru with the camera but just as he was about to take the picture his shot was obstructed.


    Lord Meng hade out of nowhere and appeared next to Haru with an umbre. The umbre was facing the crowd to stop them from taking pictures of his face as they walked side by side down the red carpet and all the way to the door.


    As they approached the door the guard looked to be on edge as he says Haru walking towards him but Lord Meng poked his head out from the umbre and looked at him. It seemed to calm him down instantly and he just nodded his head before standing aside so they could enter.


    "Woah Did you see that? The guard just let him in without checking for an invitation. He didn''t even do that with the mayor." Someone shouted from the crowd making everyone restless as they tried to figure out just who exactly the young man who walked into the resort like he owned the ce was.


    "Sorry about that. I didn''t think the crowd would be so big. We didn''t even advertise the meeting but we also invited a bunch of celebrities to join a banquet as a cover. I bet one of those morons leaked it to their fans I think I got there in time. The boss ordered me not to let anyone take a picture of you." Lord Meng apologised as the door closed behind them and they got out of sight from the prying eyes outside.


    "There''s no need. As you said, you got there just in time. I hope." Haru chuckled lightly. He knew that if someone did take a picture of him then it wouldn''t be long until people started following him around and try to figure out who he is.


    "If you need me to I can go and confiscate all of their cameras" Lord Meng said with a serious look on his face. It was almost like that was his n from the start.


    "No, It''s fine. I doubt anyone got the chance to take any pictures. You got there pretty fast." Haru reassured him with a smile as they continued to walk toward a man who was stood in the centre of the room greeting everyone.


    The room was a great hall with a double-sided staircase that went up to the main banquet hall with a chandelier splitting each side. On one side of the hall were desks that were now empty since the workers had been sent home and then on the other side was what appeared to be a waiting area. The floors were made out of white tile and the roof was held up with huge marble pirs. Everything in the building that was made out of metal appeared to be coated with gold.


    It was a little too extravagant for Haru''s tastes but he appreciated the architecture of the building. It had a look of elegance to it like it was built to house royalty. They continued onwards before stopping to meet the man who was greeting everyone.


    Lord Meng and the man in the middle of the room both greeted each other with a nod of their heads and then the man handed what looked to be a keycard to Lord Meng.


    "Come on this way. The boss is waiting for you." Lord Meng said before walking toward a gold-coloured elevator in the corner of the entrance hall they had walked through.


    Lord Meng hit scanned a little ck box with the keycard which made a beeping sound to signal the elevator was on it''s way down and then turned to face Haru.


    "I really am sorry about what happened in the forest the other day. I didn''t expect you to be a respected master and Thank you for being merciful and letting me go." Lord Meng bowed his head out of respect for Haru.


    Haru felt his intentions were honest and decided to not push the situation. But he really wasn''t being merciful he just got distracted by Lian shouting his name. But he thought it would be better that he didn''t tell Lord Meng that the only reason he is still alive is because of a distraction.


    The elevator then suddenly opened up before Haru could respond to his gratitude. He followed him into the elevator and as soon as the doors closed he spoke.


    "There is no need to thank me. But if you really are grateful then can you tell me why your boss has called me here? It isn''t some kind of trap is it?" Haru asked the man as he now began to feel nervous. He could tell that he was getting closer to the leader of the crimson spiders by the amount of Qi fluctuating in the area.


    It started as soon as they had entered the elevator and only got stronger as the elevator climbed to the fourth floor. A bell rang out signalling that they had reached their destination before Lord Meng replied.


    "Rest assured. The boss doesn''t set traps for people and he most certainly wouldn''t invite you to one of his businesses just to have you killed. I''m not sure what he wants from you but when Ist spoke to him it seemed like he just wanted to apologise.


    He has made many enemies over the years and recently has been trying to make amends with people he has fought with. I wouldn''t think too much of it but I am sure that you are safe here." Lord Meng said and then put his hand on Haru''s shoulder.


    "This is as far as I can go with you. But the boss''s room is just behind that door." He then pointed to therge double door made out of solid oak in front of them.


    "Well thank you for bringing me. Take care." Haru said casually while trying to calm his nerves. The felling of Qi emerging from this room was unlike anything he had felt before. The only thing he couldpare it to was the feeling he had when Teacher Lin had saved him from the flock of birds in the cavern at the ck star sect.


    "So this is the power of someone on the verge of breaking through the nirvana stage," Haru said to himself before knocking on the door.

 Chapter 162: Meeting the boss.

    Chapter 162: Meeting the boss.


    Haru stood at the door for a few minutes. He knew that the man behind would be the most powerful person he had met here on earth. They probably held a really high position not just in the criminal underworld but in the government. If someone was this strong they would definitely be on the governments watch list.


    ''I wonder if there is a bounty on his head? Nah I doubt his real enemies are still alive.'' Haru thought before raising his hand up to knock on the door. But before his hand could even reach the door they both opened up as a st of Qi rushed passed Haru''s face.


    He looked into the room to where a man looking no older than fifty sat in an office chair facing him. ''Well, this is unexpected. I thought it would be some really old man but he just looks like someone''s dad.'' Haru felt a slight bit of disappointment as he made eye contact with the man sitting in the chair.


    "You must be Haru I''ve heard so much about you." He chuckled to himself and then held out his hand to announce it was okay for him to enter the room and take a seat with him.


    "All good things I hope." Haru joked with him before entering. It probably wasn''t the smartest idea to joke around but he didn''t feel threatened by him at all. He wasn''t sure if it was the boost in confidence he had gotten from fighting his underlings or the power he had absorbed from the old demon.


    Despite the difference of nearly three stages in cultivation Haru still felt like he had a chance if he were to fight against him. Although he didn''t know for sure if he coulde out on top he was confident he could injure him at least.


    "Of course they are all good. It isn''t every day that I meet with someone who''s power I can''t even determine." The man seemed to be wary of Haru and for good reason.


    As soon as Haru entered the room the old man''s Qi seemed ineffective. He usually spread his Qi throughout his office to make things easier like making coffee without using his hands. But it was like it had all been dispelled as soon as this mysterious young man entered the room.


    "Would you like something to drink?" The man asked before even introducing himself and then pressed a little ck button on his desk just as Haru sat down. A portion of the table then lifted up into the air within a cylinder of wood before opening op from the top revealing a silver light from within.


    As the wood opened further to see, bottles of alcohol and sses emerged on a tform at the right hight to grab for them without stretching.


    ''That''s fancy'' Hau thought before smiling. How much money would someone have to have to make a desk have a feature like that? It would probably cost at least one hundred thousand yuan for something like that.


    The man then reached out before taking a bottle of wine from the tform along with two sses and then poured them until they were half full.


    "You will be amazed by this wine. It''s from a collection that was found on a sunken ship in the sixties." The man bragged before putting the ss back and pressing the button once more to get rid of the obstruction on the desk before holding out his hand to hand Haru one of the sses.


    "Oh, Shit. I forgot to introduce myself" The man said with a little bit of embarrassment on his face. He was so immersed with creating a good first impression that he forgot the most basic thing of meeting with someone new.


    "I was about to say that myself. I don''t usually drink with someone without knowing at least their name." Haru smiled and epted the ss of wine from the man.


    "Well then. My name is Ma Hanying I''m the current leader of the crimson spiders and sit at the top of the underworld. But you probably know that already." He sighed slightly.


    "Why would I know that already?" Haru asked. Out of everything he said thosest words had more emphasis on them than any others. It seemed like he was hinting at something deeper than what Haru knew.


    "Oh sorry I didn''t mean to cause offence, I was just referring to your association. They probably told you a lot about me didn''t they?" The man asked and then watched as Haru smiled before it turned toughter.


    "No that''s my fault. I guess it probably looked like I was with them. But that''s not the case. I just know a few of their members that''s all. I don''t really care for what they have to say about people or else I wouldn''t have evene here." Haru cleared up the misunderstanding as best as he could by exining that he just asked for their help a few times.


    "Wait? You aren''t one of their members? Thank god if that''s the case then I have a business proposition for you." The man said and then sat back in his chair before reaching into his suit pocket and pulling out a carton of cigars. He pulled one out for himself and then held the open carton out for Haru to take one.


    Haru shook his head to decline his offer and in response, he took his hand away before holding a lighter up to the cigar that had already found its way to his mouth.


    "Suit your self." He said after taking a few short breathes as he inhaled the smoke. And then sat there silently for a few minutes while fiddling with the tip of his cigar to try to get it to burn perfectly.


    "So Mr Ma? What is your business proposition?" Haru asked to remind him that he was in fact still in the room as he had seemed to forget all about it while fiddling with his cigar.


    "Oh, It''s fine if you just call me Han. There''s no need for formalities between two old men." Heughed and then sat back before blowing a ring of smoke into the air.


    "Old men?" Haru asked and then sat there silently. ''Does he know that I reincarnated? No that''s impossible. He must think that I am an old master using a technique to stop my ageing.'' Haru said to reassure himself but Han had already caught onto what Haru had said.


    "You are an old master from one of the three hidden sects right?" Han asked with a grin of suspicion forming on his face. He didn''t think that he could be wrong. How else would someone be able to hide their power if they weren''t in fact stronger than him? They had to be from the hidden sects as it would be nearly impossible for someone to be as young as Haru looked to him, to be able to hide their presence from a peak nirvana stage cultivator.


    "Um No. Not at all. I in fact only turned eighteen this year." Haru said with a little bit of hesitation. He wondered what Han''s reaction would be to finding out that he was wrong would be.


    "Haha. You almost got me. You sounded so serious." Hanughed and then looked back at Haru''s face which didn''t change from the serious look he was giving.


    Haru then reached down into his pocket without saying a word and pulled out his student ID. It had his date of birth, name and picture on it. And then slid it across the table for Han to take a look at.


    "What!? How? This has got to be a joke right? The hidden sects are producing geniuses like this? Why didn''t anyone say anything during thest meeting? Who is your teacher?" Han asked as he leaned back in his seat in disbelief. He had read the situation entirely wrong and felt a little embarrassed.


    "The hidden sects? What''s that? I haven''t heard of them before." Haru stared with a now confused expression.


    "You have got to be kidding me? Which backwater town did youe from if you don''t know who the hidden sects are But actually, this might be useful I want you to help me with something else. I changed my mind." Han said with a sinister grin.


    "Oh Well, what is it?" Haru asked while ignoring the fact that he didn''t exin anything about the so-called hidden sects.


    "I want you to fight for me in a tournament. I will pay you for it." Han stated and then looked Haru up and down to try to judge his body structure


    "A tournament? I''m guessing it will be against these three hidden sects or whatever? Well, it depends on how much you''re paying." Haru said and then sat back in his chair. It was now time for negotiations to start.


    "It''s not just against the three hidden sects but yeah you''re right they will be there. But so will all the other sects in China. Even independent fighters and people from the association will be there. And how much do you want? Give me your price." Han said back while exining a bit more.


    Haru held up three fingers on his hand as he figured it would be a good starting point for negotiations.


    "Three? Done deal. Honestly, I was thinking the same thing. Three million dors is the most I would have offered you anyway." Han said with a smirk and then pulled out his phone to send a text message.


    Haru''s Jaw almost hit the floor as he repeated the number over in his head. ''Three million dors?! I was actually thinking more like three hundred thousand yuan Three million dors is around twenty million yuan!!!'' He was shocked by the number and his body stiffened up a little before he looked back up at Han.

 Chapter 163: Majority Shareholder.

    Chapter 163: Majority Shareholder.


    Haru sat still for a few minutes silently to give himself time to recover. That was an insane amount of money. Why exactly was he willing to pay that much for something as simple as fighting in a tournament? There had to be some other reason. But Haru waited for Han to put his phone back down on the table before asking him.


    "Why are you willing to pay so much? Is there something else to the tournament that I should know about before I ept to go there?" Haru asked with suspicion.


    ''First, he gave me a good portion of shares for this ce and then he decided to pay me three million dors just topete in a tournament Is this guy okay?'' Haru thought as best as he could about it but he couldn''te to a conclusion as to why he was doing all this.


    "Well To be totally honest. I won''t be in this world for long. I already feel my Qi turning into true Qi. And I am feeling a constant pull toward the sky be stronger and stronger with every day that passes." Han said with a look of concern on his face.


    ''That''s what Li Jun exined to me when he first taught me how to cultivate. You can only cultivate to the nirvana stage when in the lower realm. When you start to reach the peak of the nirvana stage your body will begin to feel a pull from the middle realm and you''re Qi will turn into something called true Qi.'' Haru thought to himself.


    He didn''t quite understand what he meant at the time when he exined it but from Han describing how it felt he now had a better understanding of what was happening. It was great to know about it since if he carried on down the path of cultivation it would eventually happen to him whether he liked it or not.


    And the only way to be able toe back to the lower realms is if you managed to suppress your cultivation below the level of Nirvana and then used a transporter to get back. Well, one of the only ways. The only other way was to be strong enough to resist the pull from the middle realm. And that was exactly what his grandfather did to be able toe back for only a few days.


    He didn''t know which one would be easier but by the looks of it. Li Jun wouldn''t let him break through the spirit soul stage for quite some time which was probably better for him in the long run but he still felt like it was taking too long. But in fact, the strength that he had gathered over the past three years would be impossible to gain for most people.


    It took him three years to be able to stand on the same level as the strongest people in the lower realms. That was a feat only seen twice in history. Even his teacher who had thousands of years of cultivation before his reincarnation didn''t reach the same strength that Haru had now with only three years of time.


    Haru was starting to feel impatient with his cultivation level being stagnant but then he looked up at the man sitting across from him.


    ''Every cultivator I have met that could match me in a fight have been older than me by at least a generation Even Li Jun told me to expect diminishing returns when it took me almost a whole year inside the array to begin my path of cultivation. But it feels like I keep speeding up. Is that normal?'' He had begun to space out while thinking about when it would be his turn to leave earth behind and go off into the middle realm.


    " So what I''m really trying to say is that since I have already given my family everything that they wanted. I don''t really have a use for personal possessions. Sorry if it is a bother to you if I hand you this ce as the majority shareholder. But I don''t really have a use for it." Han finished.


    It was at that point that Haru realised how much time had passed. It had been at least twenty minutes since Han had begun to exin his reasoning behind giving Haru so much money topete for him. But since he had zoned out deep within his own thoughts he only caught the first andst sentences.


    He took a few seconds to make it look like he was processing what he had just been saying and then he pulled out the certificate that he was given with the invitation.


    "So what do you want me to do with this?" Haru asked as he held up the thirty-five per cent shareholders certificate.


    "Do whatever you want. If you want to keep this ce then all you need to do is sign your name at the bottom. If you want to give it back to me then I will happily ept it. Although you would be saving me a lot of trouble if you keep it." Han sighed.


    "Just to make sure that I understand. You want to give this resort to me?" Haru asked once again.


    "Yes. For thisst time. If you want it then just take a pen and sign it." Han said once again now getting a little fed up of being asked the same question. But heughed slightly as he saw Haru reach over and grab a pen from the pot on his desk.


    Haru signed his name and then looked up at Han. Who smiled with sincerity. He had no ulterior motives for sure or it would have shown on his face or in his bodynguage by now. He just genuinely wanted to give his wealth away before it would all go to waste.


    "And for the money rting to thepetition I can transfer it to your ount whenever you want it." Han smiled and then looked down as his phone vibrated on the desk.


    "No, I wouldn''t feel right taking the money before the job isplete. I will take it after thepetition is over." Haru smiled before Han looked up to meet his eyes.


    "You are truly an outstanding young man. I sent a picture of your name off to be searched and found your birth records, you are in fact eighteen as you said Where did youe from?" Han asked with even more suspicion.


    Even though he was suspicious he didn''t hold any animosity toward Haru at all. He seemed more bewildered by what kind of hardships someone would have to have gone through to reach unparalleled strength at such a young age.


    "How are you still here? If you are in fact stronger than me then you should have left this world right?" Han now realised that it didn''t make any sense that Haru would be able to hide his strength before him.


    Haru didn''t know how to answer but he did know that he didn''t want to lie any more. This man would be able to see through any lie that he tried to make so he had to let a bit of the truth through to cover his other lies.


    "Ok Well, I''m not technically stronger than you. Your cultivation level is higher than mine, and by quite a lot actually. I just got a little lucky and found a little blue gem in the mountains that helped my strength increase to the point where I can fight head to head with people stronger than me.


    I''m still at the spirit soul stage but the amount of Qi within my body is probably a bit more than someone at the nirvana stage like yourself." Haru tried to phrase things in a way that wouldn''t cause offence and still keep it easy to understand.


    "You have a flooded soul ocean too!?" Han suddenly asked.


    "When I was young and still at the core refining stage I found an amber coloured rock that made a rupture in my soul ocean and allowed a lot more Qi gather in my body, But I broke through to the next stage as soon as I had enough Qi to do so.


    You are lucky. Make sure that you take full advantage of this situation okay? I hope that I will be able to ask for your help in the future when you inevitably surpass me." Han started tough and then the conversation was interrupted once again by his phone.


    He looked down at the screen and then sighed once again.


    "Since. You are the new owner of this ce thene with me. Let me announce to all of our customers that we are handing everything over to you." Han stood up and walked around the desk and put his hand on Haru''s shoulder and smiled as someone knocked on the door from outside.

 Chapter 164: Youre dead.

    Chapter 164: You''re dead.


    Han passed Haru on the left and walked back to the elevator before pressing the button to open the doors. A bell chimed out just before the doors opened and they both entered. The elevator went down to the ground level where Haru hade from but the inside of the entrance hall was silent.


    Everyone who had been stood in there before had gone. They had all made their way to the banquet hall on the second floor were sounds of music and people chattering emerged from as they walked in the opposite direction.


    "Where are we going?" Haru asked. Han had started to lead him further away from the entrance yet the chattering and music seemed to be getting louder.


    "To the second entrance. The one with the grand staircase and fancy looking decorations is just for regr people. We have a backstage area where I will usuallye from since it is right next to the meeting room." Han exined as the walked down the corridor and then got into another elevator.


    But this one only went up one floor before it stopped outside the meeting room.


    "Do you mind going ahead? I have to talk to a few friends for a while. And then I wille in and announce you as the new owner. So make yourself at home." Han said and then looked back at Haru.


    "Sure, go ahead. I saw on the invitation that you had some professional chef cooking food. I will just go and get a head start on that while I wait. But where am I going exactly?" Haru asked. As far as he could see there were only two doors in this corridor. One was a double door that they were stood in front of and the other was a single door a few metres away from where they were stood.


    It might have seemed like an obvious answer but it was better to be sure that the other door led to the right room before he made his way in there.


    "My bad. This is your first time here. It''s just through that door over there." Han pointed to the only other door on the corridor and then started to walk into the room in front of him. As the door cracked open a huge cloud of smoke came out as the smell of tobo drifted into the empty corridor.


    "I won''t belong." Han coughed before saying to Haru as he walked into the room and closed the door behind him.


    Haru slightly chuckled. It brought him back to his days in the army for a moment. Everyone around him would smoke cigarettes constantly to calm their nerves in war. Although he never smoked himself he did enjoy the smell. He then walked along the corridor and through the single wooden door.


    As he entered the room he became speechless. The room was magnificent. The ceiling climbed high into the sky, giving the appearance that it wasrger than it actually was but that surprisingly didn''t take away from the size of the room itself.


    It was about fifty metres in length and nearly thirty-five in width and packed full of tables and chair which were spread throughout the whole length of the banquet hall. But despite the tables and chairs, there was still enough room for an open space for people to talk and line up for the buffet that was being held at the front.


    The wallpaper also added more of an illusion to the room being bigger than it actually was with long pale blue and white stripes and golden swirls in the shapes of flowers going up to the ceiling.


    The room asrge as it was, would also give it a good chance for the lighting to be uneven but they had even thought about that with cuddles hung from every wall and three huge chandeliers in a line linear line towards the stage that looked down upon the seating area. Creating the most beautiful, brightest and most popted room Haru had ever been in.


    It was almost overwhelming but his emotions quickly changed when he spotted the food table at the front of the room. Without a second thought, he walked over there as fast as he could and collected a te from the start of the line and then waited patiently for it to be his turn to be called up to take some food.


    As he approached the chef he smiled politely after seeing that Haru was nearly drooling while looking at the pile of fried chicken that was being kept warm by the heatmp hanging over them.


    "What can I get for you, sir?" The chef asked with the same smile.


    Haru didn''t pay much attention to the chef though. He was too busy looking at the food syed out in front of him.There was even a full tray of dipping sauces that he could choose from and his mouth watered at the thought of it.


    "Is there a limit to how much I can have?" Haru asked the chef with a sinister grin. The chef could see what he was nning as well.


    "No sir. You can take however much you want to." The chef smiled back and then picked up some stic prongs so he could put the food on to the te for him.


    "Then in that case. I will have some chicken please." Haru said and looked down at the pile of chicken under themp and watched as the chef put strips of fried chicken onto his te one by one.


    "Just tell me when to stop." The chef didn''t seem to mind that Haru wanted it all. In fact, he seemed happy that his food looked so delicious that he wanted to take it all.


    The chef just kept on putting more and more onto the te until the metal tray they were sat on began to show from underneath the remaining chicken.


    "Stop. I want to leave enough for other people. But I will be back if there are any left by the time I finish." Haru picked up the te and then took it to the sauce tray and began to pour barbecue sauce over the whole thing until the chicken on his te looked like a volcano that had just erupted.


    He felt the eyes of many people in the cue staring at him as he made his way to an empty seat with his te of chicken and then began to eat them with a fork that wasid out on the table where he had sat down at.


    The ce where he had chosen to sit down was directly next to one of the many balconies in the room and as he tucked into his chicken he felt a cold hand on his shouldere from behind him.


    "Haru? What are you doing here?" A deep rugged voice asked. Haru then turned around with his hand guarding his food to see that Andrew was stood there with a ss of wine in his other hand.


    "Uncle Andrew? I was invited to. And the food sounded like it would be good so I wanted to try it." Haru said, remembering that he had made it a point that Haru would call him uncle.Andrew then looked down at Haru''s hands that were guarding the food on his te.


    "No kidding. You took a lot of Wait Is that all chicken?" Andrew seemed surprised by the amount of food on Haru''s te and the fact that it was all chicken made him worry. The chicken was all cooked by one of the best chefs in the country and would probably be worth hundreds of yuan per strip. But Haru''s te was piled up like a mountain.


    "It looks like you are eating like a king tonight. Just don''t make yourself sick or drink too much okay?" Andrew ruffled Haru''s hair and then walked back out onto the balcony where a short old man met him by the door.


    "Mr Hao, How are you doing? It''s been a while." The old man said and then they both walked far enough away that Haru could no longer hear them.


    "WHAT! There is none left!? The only reason I came to this stupid thing is so I could taste Mr Wilson''s legendary fried chicken once again!" The sound of a young man shouting made the room silent. Haru looked up to see a man who looked to be around the same age as he stood at the tray of empty chicken that he had just cleared out.


    "Where did it all go!? Last time I walked past I saw it!" He shouted once more and then looked around the room before seeing Haru sat in the far corner with a strip of chicken hanging out of his mouth.


    "You! You''re dead!" The man turned and then pointed at Haru with his index finger. A few of the people in the room turned to see themotion before turning back away.


    "Oh, It''s Lord Leung''s son. You better not get involved." One of the people in the crowd said which averted their attention. Away from him.

 Chapter 165: Give them to me.

    Chapter 165: Give them to me.


    The young man walked over with a look of hatred on his face. His whole attitude and demeanour screamed that he was a spoiled rich kid but there was an overpowering sense of Qiing from his body despite the fact he wasn''t a cultivator. It was like he was constantly around strong cultivators and some of their abundant Qi rubbed off on him.


    ''So that is why he decided to cause trouble here. He thinks just because he knows a few strong people that gives him the right to act like the world owes him a favour.'' Haru thought as he ate more of the chicken strips in front of him.


    "How dare you! Do you know how much those chicken strips meant to me?!" The young man shouted just as he finally arrived at Haru''s table.


    Haru couldn''t help butugh. He didn''t mean to but seeing how much he was overreacting to something like that made it even funnier to him so in response he picked up another piece of chicken with his fork and shovelled it into his mouth.


    "Mhmm They taste amazing. I can see why you''re upset. Too bad it''s firste first serve." Haru smirked as he mocked the young man who was also drooling over the food in front of him.


    "Give them to me." The man said as he looked down at the te with still over twenty strips of chicken on. He licked his lips slightly before reaching out toward the te with both of his hands.


    SMACK!


    Haru pped his hands up into the air as he tried to take his food. But he didn''t really pay enough attention to how much power he was using and the young man stumbled back and fell over.


    "Y-You! I will kill you!" He shouted after rolling onto his back and sitting back up to look at Haru who shovelled more food into his mouth to mock the young man sat on the floor.


    After hearing the young man''s condescending attitude after just being put in his ce Haru felt the same murderous frustration coat his body in a dark aura. He was sick of dealing with spoilt kids and arrogant old men to the point where he knew he would have to do something to make a name for himself pretty soon or it would continue to happen.


    He had been in shanghai for less than a week and already knew this would continue to happen unless he did something so he stood up from his seat and walked over to the young man who had now stood up.


    "Oh? Are you going to apologise? I''m afraid it''s toote for that. You just struck me. Even my father has never hit me before. No matter what you do now you will die. Unless You lick my shoes and call me boss from now on. I suppose I could let you" The young man began toe up with an idea to make Haru his servant since he couldn''t read the atmosphere.


    SMACK!


    Haru pped him another time. This time across his face and with the intent to injure him. The young man flew three metres to the left before crashing into a set of table and chairs. The sound of them being knocked down like bowling pins drew the attention of everyone in the room now.


    "Hey stop!" A security guard dressed in all ck shouted from one of the entrances to the room with his hand down by his side while clutching the grip of his pistol.


    "Haru? What are you doing?" Andrew ran back into the room from the balcony and asked with a look of horror on his face as he recognised the young man lying on the ground.


    "Something I should have done a long time ago," Haru muttered to himself without properly responding to his uncle before walking over to the young man who was now lying on his back and clutching his ribs.


    "Do you really have a death wish!? Just wait until my father" He didn''t get a chance to finish the sentence before Haru stomped down on his leg producing a crushing sound as the bones in his thigh shattered from the pressure.


    A few screams from women in the room cried out as many of the spectators looked away after seeing the young man''s leg bent a ny-degree angle. But that was soon followed by the screaming of the young man as fragments of bone stuck into the muscle in his leg.


    "It''s really unfortunate that you caught me on a day where I''m in a bad mood. If it was any other day I might have offered to share with you. But you''re unlucky today." Haru said to him before taking another step and stomping on his left shoulder.


    A pop followed by a crunch sounded out this time as the shoulder dislocated before being crushed under Haru''s foot.


    "You had better stop before you go too far." The old man who Andrew had previously spoken with, approached while releasing Qi into the air to try to suppress Haru. But unknowingly to him Haru was also a cultivator and was many times stronger than him.


    So as soon as the Qi emerged from the old man''s body Haru held up his hand and shed down sending a Small shadow de zooming toward the old man. Before the old man could even react a piece of the colour from his shirt fell to the floor and a small cut opened up on his neck.


    "You''re a cultivator!?" The old man shouted in shock before taking a few steps back.


    "Yes, And you''re a piece of shit. You tried to use your power to suppress a teenager just because you are a bit stronger than the rest of the poption." Haru said in reply to the old man''s outburst.


    "I don''t care if you are a cultivator! No one disrespects me like this! I was trying to save you from the consequences of your actions but you had to go and do something like that!" The old man shouted before charging toward Haru with his fist next to his head, preparing to punch him.


    The speed at which he moved was much faster than was perceivable by most of the people in the room but to Haru, it was like he was moving in slow motion and just as the old man got within proximity to attack. Haru lifted his leg and kicked the man in the centre of his chest.


    Arge boom reverberated through the room as his foot made contact with the old man and he wasunched through the air back outside through the doors to the balcony and then over the guard rail, falling into the ten-metre drop from the balcony to the paved floor in the garden below.


    "Haru! Don''t go too far. You don''t know what you are doing! The owner of this ce isn''t the type of person to forgive someone causing trouble at his business." Andrew warned Haru with a dumbfounded look on his face. He had known him for a few days at most and was now seeing his nephew in a possible life-threatening situation.


    He didn''t know what to do. He had promised Krista that he would look after her son but against the crimson spiders, Andrews influence would mean nothing. The only thing he could do now is try to get Haru to leave without causing any more trouble.


    But Haru didn''t listen to his warning. He walked back over to the young man who was lying on the ground.


    "No, Stay away! It''s fine you can have all the chicken! I''m not even hungry anymore!" The young man shouted before retreating back across the floor. Before suddenly stopping and then holding up a steak knife that had been knocked to the floor when he flew into the table.


    "Please! I''m sorry!" The young man shouted out as tears began to roll down his face. The pain didn''t seem to bother him as much as the fear he was feeling as he looked up at Haru who was casting a shadow over him like the grim reaper lurking over someone who was close to death.


    "Sir, This is yourst warning! I will shoot!" The security guard shouted as he walked closer to Haru while holding his gun towards him. But the warning was nothing to worry about.


    The spectators all began to scream and shout before running in different directions and dropping to the ground.


    "Haru! Just stop! This isn''t a game!" Andrew shouted before stepping out in front of the guard who was aiming the gun at Haru.


    "Sir stop!" The security guard panicked when seeing the stature of Andrew when he stepped out to block his sight.


    BANG!!!


    The gunshot rang out within the room with a deafening echo finding its way into everyone''s ears. Andrew''s vision went dark before he looked down to check himself for wounds. But he couldn''t find any on his body at all. He then looked up to see Haru stood in front of him with his arm outstretched.


    As he looked closer at Haru he noticed that he was holding something between his fingers. And on an even closer inspection, Andrew realised that he was holding a bullet. The bullet that was just fired was caught by his nephew. A few of the spectators began to stand up, confused about what had just happened when suddenly the door to the room opened up.


    "What''s going on!?" Han shouted as he came through the doors followed by ten other cultivators who were all at least at the manifestation stage.


    "Shit we''re done for Haru. You need to get out of here as fast as you can I will hold them off." Andrew whispered to Haru and then got into a defensive stance.


    "My son! Who dares to injure my son like this!?" One of the men by Han''s side shouted before using a movement technique to travel the distance between them.

 Chapter 166: I challenge you to a duel.

    Chapter 166: I challenge you to a duel.


    The man bent down next to the young man who wasying on the floor and put his hand over his shattered leg. He channelled some of his Qi into the bone to try to reline it but the bone was broken into pieces that were too small to reline.


    "Dad! Please help me!" The young man begged of his farther while clutching his shoulder with his other hand. As soon as the young man pleaded to his father the man turned around to see both Andrew and Haru stood the closest to them.


    Haru still had the bullet in his hand but had put it into the centre of his palm and closed his fist so nobody else could see it.


    "Lord Leung. It was this young man here. I tried to stop him but he managed to get a sneak attack on me and I was knocked over the balcony." The old man that Haru had kicked out of the building said as he entered the room from the door behind.


    He seemed out of breath and was holding his chest where Haru had kicked with enough force to knock down a wall. It was lucky that he was a cultivator and his body was sturdy otherwise he would have had a hole in his chest.


    But for him to lie about being defeated in front of everyone determined the type of man he was and Haru knew what was going to happen before the old man even suggested it.


    "Lord Leung. In my opinion, you shouldn''t underestimate him. If you want then I can help you get rid of him." The old man suggested with a sinister grin and then looked up at Andrew and shivered in fear when he saw the expression upon his face.


    "If you so much as to make a move against my nephew I will end your whole organisation. I don''t care who you are. If anyone wants to harm him you will have to get through me first." Andrew spoke in a deep and authoritative voice that he had trained over the years he had spent raising children.


    But that wasn''t all that he had going for him. He most certainly had the strength to go through with what he was saying and that scared the old man.


    "Who are you? I don''t care who you are. If you stop me from killing this brat then you will be going against the crimson spiders." Lord Leung said back to Andrew, not really caring about what he had to say.


    "And who said that you could use the name of my organisation to settle your own personal grudges?" Han spoke up atst. And as he did so it released some of the tension that had filled the room.


    "Sir! I''m sorry. It won''t happen again." Lord Leung shouted as soon as Han spoke which showed his position was lower than Han by quite a lot. Haru began to think.


    ''Why hasn''t he called his man down yet? I thought he would do that as soon as he saw me but it seems like he wants us to settle this on our own. Is he giving me the chance to make a name for myself?


    Or is it just the fact that he doesn''t want to make any of us lose face if he asked one of us to stand down?'' Haru tried to think of a reason but they were the only ones that came to mind.


    "Listen up brat. I challenge you to a duel. But if you don''t ept I will murder your family." Lord Leung shouted at Haru expecting him to react but he didn''t. The only two people he did react in fact were Han and Lord Meng.


    "What''s so funny!?" Lord Leung shouted as he looked back to his group of friends with two of which wereughing at what he had just said.


    "Oh, Nothing. Just don''t go too far, for your own good." Lord Meng said in reply to him and then whispered something to Han.


    They were too far away to hear what they were talking about but as Lord Meng turned away from Han they both looked at Haru and nodded.Silently asking him to ept the duel.


    "Fine, How do you want to do this? Last one standing wins or do you want to fight to the death?" Haru asked the man who hesitated for a moment when he heard the words fight t the death.


    "You have some balls on you, kid. But don''t get too cocky. I''m not going to kill you just yet so we will fight only until the other person admits defeat." Lord Leung said with an arrogantugh much like his son''s.


    "I see the apple doesn''t fall far from the tree, does it? These two are exactly alike. I guess if you grow p with a father like that you are bound to take on his bad habits. I guess I will just have to teach them both in ce of their grandfather." Haru thought to himself before chuckling a little.


    "Did I say something funny?!" Lord Leung shouted, outraged by Haru''sck of seriousness. He felt like he was being mocked by him and didn''t know what to do other than antagonise him to boost his delicate ego.


    "Nope, Not at all. I''m ready when you are. I will let you have the first move." Haru said before putting his hands behind his back.


    "Haru Maybe you shouldn''t be so cocky? This man is a martial arts expert and his cultivation level is many times higher than mine. I know you are strong but no one is invincible." Andrew warned Haru again but it fell upon deaf ears.


    ''This Lord Leung is much weaker than Meng is. I doubt he will evenst three minutes if we fight against each other.'' Haru thought as he used his Qi to read the man''s cultivation level. He was at the manifestation stage but the amount of Qi within his body was much lower than anyone he had met at the manifestation stage before now.


    "You little! Okay fine. If you are that eager to lose then we will do it right away. But first I have a gift for you." Lord Leung smiled before a sh of white light filled the room and two silver swords emerged from the air andnded in his hands.


    He then threw one of the swords to Haru with his grin widening a little bit and then unsheathed the sword in his other hand.


    ''A duel of swords?'' Haru thought as he caught the sword and then unsheathed it also, Following Lueng''s movements and then ending up in the same stance as him.


    "You know the pentagon sword arts too? Wait who are you?" Leung lost his concentration when seeing Haru get into the same starting form as himself.


    "The what? I am just matching your movements. Don''t tell me you haven''t fought with swords before? If I use the same movements as you then you won''t be able to attack me. Don''t you know that?" Haru mocked him with a smile and then looked up at Han who was stood at the other side of the room with a serious look on his face.


    He seemed to be interested in just how deep Haru''s skills went. He knew that he held a lot of power but the only information he had on Haru''s fighting style was what Meng had described to him in his report.


    ''Is he really a swordsman? He seems way too rxed The way of the sword teaches you to keep a stable defence but he is wide open'' Han thought while looking at Haru. He was stood with his feet angled inwards and his legs were too close together to form a good defence but Haru didn''t seem to realise.


    "Pfft. Stupid kid. I''m going to attack now so do your best to keep up okay?" Leung mocked Haru''sck of knowledge and then ran at him aiming directly for the openings in his defence.


    Leung angled the tip of his sword toward''s Haru''s chest as he charged forward as fast as he could. The whole time he had a sinister smile on his face. He was aiming directly for Haru''s heart and there was nothing in his way to obstruct his sword from hitting its target.


    The de moved closer and closer until eventually ripping a little whole in Haru''s shirt. But that was as far as the de went. A loud sound of metal shing together rung out as Haru tilted his wrist a little and pushed the tip of his de into Leung''s crossguard.


    "What!? How did you!?" Leung shouted before looking down to see that his sword had been blocked. He had made a rookie mistake. He fell for his opponents intentional opening since he thought Haru was a beginner to swordsmanship.


    Haru smiled before flicking his wrist one more time in a circr motion and disarming Leung before he even realised what had happened. As soon as he did realise though it was toote. Haru had already put the de of his sword against his neck.


    "Admit defeat yet?" Haru smiled, Knowing that he won by andslide. With this small and insignificant victory, he had finally started to feel independent from Li Jun and Lao. He knew how much power he held and was now ready to show it. He no longer felt like he was new to cultivation. In fact, it felt like this is what he was meant to be doing with his life all along.

 Chapter 167: Guest of Honour.

    Chapter 167: Guest of Honour.


    The whole room fell silent as all of the people within looked on in shock. One of the leaders of the crimson spiders was just defeated in a duel. This was something unheard of. Only a handful of people had fought publicly with the crimson spiders and even less survived the aftermath of fighting against them.


    Haru''s victory fell upon cold eyes as the rest of the leaders who were stood next to Han and Meng all looked at each other before getting ready to draw their weapons. Everyone else froze with fear. They knew they were about to wittiness a bloodbath. After all, the crimson spiders would never let themselves be embarrassed like this especially in front of so many people.


    Or so they thought. Until pping of hands drew the attention from Haru with his sword to Leung''s throat and directed it towards Han who stood smiling at Haru''s victory. Soon the pping was followed by Meng and then one by one the rest of the leaders pped in confusion until everyone in the room joined in.


    They all felt like since the most powerful person in the room is pping they should too and followed the sheep mentality out of fear. Haru and Leung were the only people who weren''t pping and then Leung turned around to look at the other leaders.


    "What''s this about!? Is this some kind of set up?" Leung demanded an exnation from the confused looking people who all once again turned to look at each other before Han took the lead.


    "No, Not at all. I didn''t expect you would want to fight my guest of honour that''s all. The duel just impressed me. To say that an eighteen-year-old boy bested someone who has been cultivating for over forty years is something unheard of." Han reassured Leung that there wasn''t some ulterior motive. But that made him worry even more.


    "Guest of honour!? You mean the man who is supposed to be taking over this resort is this kid?!" Leung was outraged by what he had just heard. Why in the world was his boss gifting a whole resort to a kid. But what was even stranger was how the kid was able to defeat him.


    ''I didn''t even see him move. Yet he managed to disarm me so easily Just where in the world did this guye from? Is he the bosses illegitimate son or something?'' Leung asked himself and then looked back at Haru to see if he could find any resemnce in their appearance but they looked nothing alike.


    ''Wait He''s this young yet so powerful Don''t tell me that Hong family have produced another genius'' he asked himself again just before Han stepped up on to the stage to address everyone present.


    "Hello, my friends. I''m guessing a lot of you are feeling a little scared or anxious about what you have seen today. But let me put your worries at rest. Everything that happened was the result of someone not knowing the strength of my friend Haru over there.


    I recently made a mistake and Haru fixed it for me so I decided to give him this resort as a way to say thank you for clearing up my mess. But I knew that a lot of people here wouldn''t be willing to ept a sudden change in ownership. It would make you all worried about your memberships being revoked since you don''t have a good rtionship with him.


    It just so happened to turn out that he decided to show you all his strength before I could even ask him to demonstrate it.


    And I know. I can feel your uneasiness from up here. He might have seemed ruthless or even brutal in punishing Lord Leung''s son. But I am sure that all of you have noticed Leung''sck of sess in teaching his son the correct way so we will all have to thank Haru on Leung''s behalf.


    Hopefully, all of the people here who were wronged by Leung''s son can rest easy knowing that if you encounter any further problems they can be solved by Mr, Kitagawa here." Han finished his speech and then looked over at Leung who seemed to be in a state of disbelief and simply nodded his head.


    Leung seemed to understand what it meant as when he saw it he lowered his guard and bowed down to Haru.


    "Thank you, Mr Kitagawa. My son has always been a little reckless and I haven''t had much time to instruct him on proper mannerisms so I hope your lesson today will make him remember how to act in future." Leung bit his tongue as he spoke.


    He didn''t like submitting like this but his boss had ordered it. He knew that he couldn''t stand up to the boss and if he wanted to keep his position he would need to follow every order given to him. But either way, he didn''t want to ept defeat this easily.


    "See this was just a misunderstanding and I hope that you don''t take this too seriously and let it ruin your night. Because tonight as a way to celebrate Haru bing the owner of this resort all of the drink will be free of charge. I have already paid for everything so feel free to drink to your heart''s content." Han addressed everyone present once again causing greater apuse than earlier to erupt but that was mainly from the news of free alcohol which was made obvious by the crowd of people that gathered at the bar soon after he announced it.


    "Harue over here. We need to talk." Han shouted as the party-goers went back to their previous joy and drunkenness. Leung and another leader of the crimson spiders picked up the young man that was still lying on the floor and took him to be treated while he walked over to the front of the stage were the other leaders stood with Han.


    "Those were some quick moves. I could barely keep up with your speed. Now I understand how Meng lost to you." One of the leadersplimented Haru as he walked over and thenughed at Meng''s expense.


    "Oh, Shut up! I didn''t lose I just made a tactical retreat that''s all." Meng protested against him but it just made him sound even weaker and the rest of the groupughed as well.


    "Cut it out and act your age. I understand you are all giddy because you haven''t fought anyone in a while but make sure you keep up appearances. Harue with me please." Han scolded the seven men stood by his side that ranged from the ages ofte twenties to early fifties. But one thing they all has inmon was their strength. Every single one of them was at the manifestation stage.


    As Haru followed Han into the corridor outside he heard another protest from Meng and then the door closed behind them both.


    "What is it?" Haru asked with a look of confusion. He wondered what it could have been. He could have said what he had to say in front of the others if he truly trusted them but he chose not to and instead go outside for a private conversation.


    "It''s about your little duel. I just want to warn you to keep an eye open for Leung''s counter-attack. Although I am his boss the power structure of the crimson spiders has been shaky for quite a while.


    Ever since I told them all that I will be leaving this world soon they have all been trying to prove themselves to be a strong leader in hopes that I will pass the leadership down to one of them before I go I tried to exin it to them that I don''t need them to prove anything to me but a few of our leaders have been constantly fighting among each other in secret.


    I fear like since you have beaten Leung. He will feel like he has to defeat you before he can even start fighting against the others. I''m sorry. It''s all my fault that you got involved in this trouble but I hope you can still do what we agreed on" Han said with worry. He thought Haru would go back on his word now that he had been targeted by one of the leaders but that wasn''t the case.


    He knew that there was no chance that Leung could defeat him since he had just felt the strength that he had. Although he did choose to trick him by acting weak it was all so he could feel out his strength without him realising. And in reality, to counter his attack Haru only used a third of his strength. Although that was still different from a fight to the death, he still felt confident that he could beat him.


    "You don''t need to worry. I told you that I was going topete in the tournament. As long as you keep up your end of the deal then I will keep up my end." Haru reassured him that he wasn''t going to hold the actions of his subordinates against him.


    "That''s great! Thank you. I thought you would change your mind since that just happened. But I promise you that I''ll try my best to keep the others from targeting you too. Although if Leung does target you I won''t be able to stop him from doing so. I hope you can understand that it would look bad for me if I reprimand the people I put in power" Han said with the same worried look.


    "It''s fine. I understand.I don''t want to force your back against a wall over a small matter like this. Although it''s a littlete. Could I trouble you to have someone drop me back off at home?" Haru asked as he looked up at the clock hanging from the wall. It was almost eleven o''clock and he still had sses in the morning.


    "No trouble at all. I will have Meng drop you off. He was about to leave soon anyway. Let me get him for you." Han said and then walked back into the main banquet hall and called Meng over.

 Chapter 168: New House?

    Chapter 168: New House?


    Han came back a few minutester with Meng and announced to him that he would be taking Haru home before he left. Meng didn''t seem to have any issues with it at all and agreed without a second thought.


    "That''s fine. I was already going to offer to take you back. Taxies will be way more expensive at this time so it''s probably for the best that youe with me." Meng smiled and then turned back to Han.


    "I just need to grab my coat from the conference room," Meng said to Han who then handed him a set of keys which was used to open the set of double doors that Han had gone into earlier in the night.Meng entered the room for a few seconds and then came out with his coat and then pulled his car keys out from the inside pocket.


    "It would have been pretty embarrassing if I forgot my keys," Meng said to himself and then waved for Haru to follow him.


    "Oh, One more thing. Make sure you don''t get lost Meng" Han shouted just as they had both gotten to the elevator.


    "Don''t worry I know where I''m going," Meng reassured Han that he wouldn''t get lost but it stood out as odd to Haru.


    ''Why would he get lost? Is there something wrong with his brain that makes him forget ces he has been too on the same day?'' Haru thought and then dismissed it as the elevator began to go down.


    He looked up and watched the elevator go right past the ground floor and down into the parking lot. ''Hmm? An underground parking lot too? I didn''t expect that.'' He took a moment to assess his new resort. He would need toe back sometime in the future to get a better look at the ce but for now, he assumed that Han would take care of everything.


    The bell of the elevator chimed out and Meng walked out into the dimly lit parking lot. He turned around to see that Haru hadn''t moved from the inside of the elevator and then worried he had done something wrong.


    "What is it? Are you noting?" Meng asked. But his worries were put to rest as Haru took a few steps out into the parking lot.


    "It''s nothing. I just had a bad experience in a parking lot before." Haru said with a slight chuckle and then followed him over to the parked SUV that beeped twice once Meng hit the button to unlock the doors on his keys and then got into the driver''s seat.


    Haru sat in the seat next to him and Meng started to drive as soon as he sat down.


    "Woah, Give me a minute to buckle in. Do you want to be pulled over by the police?" Haru asked sarcastically. Meng was probably one of the people who cared less about the police than Haru did. After all, they wouldn''t be able to do anything to people of their strength. But Meng took the little Joke literally and stopped the car immediately.


    "Sorry. I guess it''s because I''m not used to driving with passengers." Meng tried to excuse himself but instead made Haruugh.


    ''I understand why other leaders bully him. He is can''t tell the difference between a joke and a regr statement.'' Haru thought before dismissing it. He didn''t want to embarrass the man by letting him know it was a joke so he put on his seat belt and let him know when he was ready.


    "Okay, I''m all set. Let''s go." He said and then looked over at Meng who was patiently waiting for his signal to drive and as soon as he received it he set off. He seemed eager for some reason and Haru couldn''t think why. The other times that he had met Meng he seemed level headed but right now he seemed to be preupied with his thoughts.


    "Is there something wrong?" Haru asked. He wanted to make sure the person driving him home was in the right state of mind. Although cultivators can''t get drunk from regr alcohol, it wouldn''t be hard to brew some that could cause that effect so he thought that maybe he was drunk.


    But on the other hand, he didn''t show any signs of intoxication. It just seemed more like he wasn''t all there in the brain which made sense as to why Han told him not to get lost.


    That was when Haru realised that he was driving in the opposite direction. Instead of heading into the main part of the city toward the university. He was heading toward the mountain and to the border of the city.


    "Um Meng. You''re going the wrong way." Haru let him know of his mistake but it didn''t cause any change in him. Meng just turned his head from the road to look at Haru.


    "No, I''m not." He said bluntly and carried on driving. Haru looked back outside the window to make sure that he wasn''t seeing things the first time and sure enough, he wasn''t. Meng was driving in the wrong direction no matter which way he tried to look at it.


    "Meng You are heading the wrong way. My dorm is that way." Haru pointed in the other direction but Meng responded with the same tone.


    "Don''t worry. I''m taking you home. This is just a shortcut. I thought you should know about it so you can take it more often." He stated and then glued his eyes back to the road.


    "Okay If you say so." Haru said with doubt in the tone of his voice but sat back anyway and didn''t say anything until they drove up into the hills. And started to drive past many houses that looked like they would hundreds of millions of yuan if not billions.


    This was the wealthiest part of the city which was made clear by the sports cars parked on every street and in every driveway.


    And then suddenly Meng stopped driving and parked up outside a mansion that looked like it cost at least five hundred million yuan.


    "What are you doing? Why did you stop?" Haru asked. He was confused. Did Meng just kidnap him? He was supposed to be taking him home but instead drove to some random house in the hills.


    "Because you''re home. This is your new home. As the owner of the serpentine resort, you need to look the part and that starts with a house in the hills that''s worthy of the owner of the resort. I''m sorry to trick you like this. Han told me not to ruin the surprise until I got there so I couldn''t say much." Meng exined but it went right over Haru''s head.


    "What?" He asked and then unbuckled his seatbelt before stepping out of the car.


    "Why did you need to give me something this fancy? I already feel like giving me the resort was a bit much. But now a house?" Haru asked Meng who dangled a set of keys out of the window for Haru to take.


    ''Did I be a sugar baby or something? Why do they keep giving me expensive things?'' He thought to himself. He still didn''t understand how much value someone with his strength would have in the world. It was enough to make people apologise for wronging him with millions of dors but he wasn''t used to it and certainly didn''t want to abuse it.


    "I can''t ept this." He said to Meng and then refused to take the keys.


    "Meng said you would say something like this so he sent a group of people to cause some trouble and get you evicted from your dorm room. Oh and don''t worry we already brought all of your belongings over." Meng smiled and held the keys out once again.


    "You did what!?" Haru shouted. He had only spent one night in his dorm yet he was already evicted. This had to be some kind of record right?


    "Like I said. It wasn''t my idea. The boss said it was for your own good. If you don''t live in a fancy house then some of the guests at the club might look down at you for someone who is leaching off Mr Ma''s wealth." Meng said and then threw the keys giving Haru no choice but to catch them and then put his foot on the peddle before he could return them to him.


    "Have fun in your new house!" He shouted as the car drove off down the street.


    "Leeching off his wealth? That''s exactly what this feels like But I guess if he isn''t giving me the chance to refuse then I can take it as a gift." Haru said to himself before walking up to the electronic gate positioned in front of his driveway and then held up the ck key fob to the scanning panel next to the gate.


    A small beep sounded out before static noise of the circuit being interrupted let him know that the gate was unlocked. He then pushed the gate to reveal a full view of his new house.

 Chapter 169: Halran.

    Chapter 169: Halran.


    "Wow." Was the only word that escaped Haru''s mouth as he looked at the house in front of him. He had seen his fair share of fancy houses and mansions over the years but it didn''t have the same effect. This house was now all his so it made the whole idea of living here that much more exciting.


    Not to mention this would be the first time he was livingpletely alone in his eighteen years of life. He didn''t know how to react. He knew for sure that he would need to thank Han for this but he didn''t even have his contact information to do so.


    He stood at the foot of the driveway for a few minutes taking in the modern architecture of his new house when the thought came to him. ''I wonder if there is a pool'' That was the thought that took him away from staring and now made him want to know the answer to his thoughts so he walked down the drive to the front door and put the key into it and twisted.


    A click sounded out as the door unlocked and then it opened up to reveal the fully furnished house with his bags by the door already waiting for him. One of the reasons he wanted to refuse the house was because he thought that he would have to buy furniture but he should have expected that it would all be done for him if they were going to give it to him. After all who would give someone a half-finished house?


    "Woah, Look at this ce" Li Jun''s voice called out as his figure floated in the air above Haru.


    "Oh, So the minute we''re alone you make an appearance? Your help would have been appreciated earlier. My uncle almost got shot and you were nowhere to be seen." Haruined when he saw Li Jun. He was silent all day, usually, he would be talkative though out the day but he figured that he and Lao had a lot to talk about.


    "Almost being the keyword. I knew you wouldn''t let any harme to him. But even so, you overestimate my power. I don''t have a body remember. A bullet would pass right through me. It''s not like I could stop it." Li Junughed and then floated down to be at eye level with a vase on a shelf next to the front door.


    "Look." He said as he tried to knock the vase from the shelf but his hand simply passed through it.


    "I know that. But you could have told me about it sooner at least. I almost snapped my neck while trying to turn around that fast." Haru held the side of his neck for dramatic effect and then smiled.


    "I''m just kidding. But what is it that''s keeping you and Lao busy in there?" He asked and then looked down to the golden ring on his finger.


    "Well we were just discussing a few options but now that you have this house it makes things a little easier. It would be hard to do a few of the things with prying eyes around. I wasn''t sure about you walking into their hideout like you did but it all looks like it worked out for the best." Li Jun said and then carried on looking throughout the house. With Haru following close behind him.


    "Options? Options for what? What are you two nning?" Haru asked with suspicion. Usually, they would tell him their ns right away. It wasn''t like them to scheme behind his back.


    "Well, you know. What we talked aboutst time. Lao wants to take that kid as his student but he can''t do that without a body. And to find that missing dragon corpse we need to perform a ritual of sorts." Li Jun told him without thinking too much into it but Haru on the other hand after hearing the word ritual got the wrong idea.


    "Ritual? No way! I''m not sacrificing anything." He said in protest. He had just taken down an evil sect for sacrificing people. There was no way he would go ahead and do after what he had seen.


    "No, Not a sacrifice. The dragon race has its own form of magic that relies on theirnguage. Lao told me that you learned how to speak hisnguage. but you didn''t learn how to write it did you?" Li Jun asked.


    "No, I didn''t. What''s the point in learning how to write it? I doubt I will ever meet a dragon so it''s pointless me learning how to even speak in theirnguage but it just kind of happened." Haru exined.


    "That''s what I thought at first but after seeing what theirnguage is capable of it will change your mind." Li Jun smiled.


    "Okay, then show me." Haru challenged him. He didn''t entirely believe that it would be important but he was willing to have his mind changed by seeing it in action.


    "Okay then." Li Jun said and then opened the storage ring and pulled out a calligraphy brush and a sheet of parchment.


    "Keep in mind this is going to be weaker since it will just be a copy of the true power using my Qi. Butif you can learn how to write these runes then you will be able to decipher most arrays that are written in othernguages." Li Jun exined and then began to write.


    In three flicks of his wrist, a dark mark formed on the parchment. It looked like he had drawn the base for a house only it had no supports to hold the roof in ce it meant nothing to Haru but the brushwork on the parchment was amazing. It looked almost like it was printed. There wasn''t a single stter of ink anywhere


    ''Wait There wasn''t any ink Did he use liquefied Qi to write something? When he taught me about arrays he made me use alchemy to make some ink that had Qi within but I guess this is more convenient'' Haru took the moment to learn something new about arrays. But then he noticed something


    The flow of Qi within the house had increased significantly. It kind of reminded him of the feeling he had when he was trapped inside the Qi gathering array all those years ago but this was so much more powerful.


    "This is" Haru began to say but was cut short by Li Jun''sugh.


    "I told you it would amaze you. The dragon race where the first beings to create arrays. Since each word they speak is imbued with an incredible amount of power, when they decided to write it down they found that each word would amplify the for as long as the rune remained intact.


    Unless this thing is destroyed then it will continue to amplify the amount of Qi in the area. But this is just using my Qi to simte it. If you actually bring it into the physical world it will be much more powerful." He exined before Haru could say anything else.


    "Okay, I was wrong. How do I learn thenguage? Do you have a book for it?" Haru asked excitedly. He knew that if he read a book he would be able to memorise the whole thing within a few minutes.


    "I do have a book. But it''s written in Halran. It''s one of thenguages used in the upper realms. You might have seen it in the soul tempering grounds. But then again their soul trantion array is probably a lot better than it was when Ist went there." Li Jun said with a sigh.


    "Halran? The temple master showed me an array that was written in Halran. But I didn''t think that they had a trantion array there. That exins why everyone was able tomunicate with each other." Haru said remembering the time he saw the runes on the hidden door before entering their meeting.


    "Yeah, Halran is the mostmonnguage among humans. The elves and demons have their ownnguages that they speak. But most of them will learn Halran since the human n own the main trading factions. I can transfer Halran directly to your brain. But as for Goahen that can only really be taught by books written by dragons since the words have the power to make it easier to understand." Li Jun exined to Haru so he understood why he couldn''t learn thenguage right away.


    "Then I will have to trouble you to transfer Halran to my brain," Haru said and then walked over to Li Jun who had stopped at the bottom of the stairs. He held his hand out toward Haru''s head before a pale blue light lit up the room and shot beams of light out of each window on the bottom floor.


    Haru screamed out in pain as all of the information of the wholenguage was burned into his memory. He was used to Li Jun transferring information to his brain but previously he had just transferred small things like techniques or very specific information.


    This time it was a wholenguage and he severely underestimated the amount of information that would go directly into his brain. He continued to scream out as it felt like his brain was on fire for minutes before he dropped to the floor panting and trying to catch his breath.


    "*Fuck That hurt a little more than I was expecting.*" Haru stated beforeughing a little as the pain subdued. But little did he know that he had just spoken in Halran.

 Chapter 170: Goahen.

    Chapter 170: Goahen.


    As Haruy on the floor recovering from the information being burned into his brain a ringing sound came from the front door. It almost sounded like a phone ringing. He got to his feet with difficulty as his body was drenched in sweat and then approached the front door where he saw a control panel looking thing next to it with a screen.


    The ringing sound seemed to being from that and when he took a closer look he noticed that little green and red buttons had lit up on the screen with the words "Answer or Ignore"


    ''Is this one of those doorbell security systems?'' He thought before swiping up on the answer button to see who was calling at this time of the night. As soon as he answered a view of his gate opened up where he saw an elderly woman stood in a nightdress at the gate.


    "Hello? I was just stopping by to see if everything is okay. My husband and eye heard a lot of screaming and saw a bright light" The woman spoke into the microphone of the camera as she knew exactly where it was.


    ''Nosy neighbours Great'' Haru thought before answering here.


    "Yeah, Everything is fine. I was just watching a movie and turned the volume up a little too much. Thank you though." He replied to her and then ended the call.The camera remained on for him but the sound was just cut off. As he waited for her to walk away he felt unnerved as she just looked up at the camera and shook her head in disapproval before walking away.


    "Did she know I was still watching her?" Haru thought before Li Jun interrupted him once again.


    "Here. I will give you all night to memorise it." Li Jun held out a dark green book with a scaled pattern on it, much like the scales that were on Lao''s body.


    "So this will teach me everything?" Haru asked while inspecting the book. It was pretty thin. No more than ten pages in total and he doubted that it would have everything that he needed to be able to read and write thenguage.


    "Well. Yeah, the book is filled with all three hundred runes with trantions in Halran underneath them and a list of how they are used with each other in the back three pages. If you already know how to speak thenguage it should be easy for you to learn the runes.


    "If that''s all I will go. I still have some things to talk about with Lao." Li Jun stated before vanishing back into the golden ring on Haru''s finger.


    Without skipping a beat Haru took the book into the living room and sat down and opened the first page to see that the weird shapes simr to what was written in the soul tempering grounds were now readable and he could understand them just as much as he did with Japanese and Chinese.


    The book was split into two parts like Low had said. The first part was all of the runes like the alphabet and the second part was information on how to use them in conjunction with each other to create words. But since Haru knew most of the words all he had to do was use the runes and put them in order to what they sounded like when he spoke.


    Which was easy since the goahennguage had no two runes that sounded the same. After about two hours he became confident enough to try writing words for himself. He took a pen and sheet of paper from his bag that was still at the front door and then sat back down.


    He started simple. With words for specific foods, colours and numbers. He wanted to make sure that he got them all right. But as he was writing down words he got the idea to write a sentence. So he pulled out one of the science books that Suyin had bought him before he started college and decided to trante a few sentences to Goahen before asking Li Jun if they were right.


    "ck holes are so dense that not even light can escape its surface." He wrote down on the paper in Goahen. Thenguage of dragons. Although Li Jun did warn him that the words alone held power. Haru didn''t know enough about the power and mistakenly wrote down something he shouldn''t have.


    The room began to vibrate as the paper copsed in on its self. Leaving behind what looked to be a small circle no bigger than the head of a pin. But the pulling force was so great that the coffee table he was using to write on was picked up into the air before warping into a thin line and fading into the small circle.


    "Li Jun! I fucked up! Help, I fucked up!" Haru shouted as loud as he could, almost forgetting to use his spiritual sense tomunicate to him within the ring.


    "What did you do?" Li Jun sighed as he appeared before him. Just as he appeared a few books from the bookshelf in the corner of the room flew over and condensed themself into a size small enough to enter the tiny ck hole in the living room. One by one the floorboards began to pop as the screws that held them in ce were sucked into oblivion.


    "Fucked up is an understatement!" Li Jun shouted in disbelief before holding out his hand toward the tiny dot. And just as soon as it appeared it vanished from existence. A little trail of what looked to be ck smoke came from Li Jun''s hand but gave out a strange feeling it was like it was the embodiment of rage.


    "What were you doing!? How did you manage to create a ck hole?" Li Jun asked angrily. He had never seen such a mistake before. He handed Haru a book and he almost created a world-ending catastrophe. What kind of ipetence was this?


    "You told me to learn thenguage so I tried to trante a few sentences" Haru tried to make an excuse but nothing came out. He realised how stupid what he had done was. He was warned about the power the words held but underestimated it severely.


    "I''m sorry" He hung his head in shame when he couldn''t think of anything else to say.


    "Well, As long as you know what you did wrong I can''t be mad." Li Jun said and then stood there assessing the damage to the room.


    "So much for your new house huh? This ce is going to need refurbishing already." Haruughed before raising his hand once again. A faint golden light beamed out from his hand and the things in the room began to organize themselves and went back to their original ce.


    "I can''t recreate the stuff that vanished but this should help you out a little" Li Jun smiled. But something didn''t quite sit right with Haru.


    The ck smoke that came from Li Jun''s hand. He felt like he had seen it somewhere before. ''That wasn''t smoke It was a mist.'' Haru thought as he realised what the ck mist was.


    He remembered back to when he helped transport the coffin to the ck star sect. The ck mist that took on his form when he approached it was the same mist that came from Li Jun''s hand.


    "That ck mist" Haru stated with suspicion. Li Jun turned his head with questioning eyes.


    "What about it?" He asked nonchntly like it didn''t matter to him.


    "I''ve seen it before. When you were "sleeping," The sect master of the ck star sect asked me to visit him and when I decided to I joined a transport convoy to get there. They were carrying a ck coffin filled with that stuff" Haru said with even more suspicion. Did Li Jun lie about sleeping all that time? Was he actually awake and stole it or something?


    "A coffin filled with chaos No How could that end up here? Where did you take it to?" Li Jun asked with an expression that made it seem like he was scheming something. His eyes widened and mouth formed a sinister grin.


    "I''m not sure. The sect master hired a group of mercenaries to transport it and they were the ones to unload it too. But it sounded like he wasn''t going to get rid of it if that''s of any help?" Haru didn''t know what Li Jun was thinking but he was sure that he wanted to know more about the mist he called chaos.


    Well, that settles it. After we find a new body for Lao we will go and pay a visit to the sect master" Li Jun smiled the same sinister grin as he spoke and then looked out to the garden through the window in the living room.


    "Do you think you know enough about Gaohen to be able to set a simple array yet?" He asked with his left brow slightly raised and then looked back at Haru.


    "If it''s not too difficult then I should be able to." He answered proudly. After all, it wasn''t every day you came across someone could master an entirenguage within a couple of hours. He had every right to be proud.


    "Come on outside. Let''s see if you''re right." Li Jun slightly doubted him but he didn''t let his hope fade. Haru had surprised him many times up to now so he knew that if he did manage to set an array it would be a sight to see. Even he didn''t master array creation until he was one hundred and thirty-eight years old.


    And Haru imed to do so after only two hours. It was simply unthinkable but he kept his mind open before leading Haru out into the back yard and pulling out another sheet of paper. With words written in Goahen on it.


    "Write whatever I tell you to" He smiled and then held the paper up so he could see the words for himself. It looked like it was his first time seeing this too as he squinted.


    "Okay here take this." He then handed Haru a calligraphy brush of his own with a pot of ink that smelled like lemons.


    "Start when you''re ready." He smiled and watched as Haru dipped the brush into the ink.

 Chapter 171: Ancestral Dragons Memories.

    Chapter 171: Ancestral Dragon''s Memories.


    "*The lost soul of the ancestor dragon I call upon your soul to reveal where you took yourst breath.*" Li Jun read out the sentence from the paper. And Haru followed the script word for word and wrote on the concrete with the ink that Li Jun had provided for him.


    But before he could even finish writing the words began to glow a dark shade of green as the Qi within each rune tried to merge with the rune that followed it. And as he finished writing the runes all glowed the same shade of green before burning out and bing nothing but the ink runes on the floor.


    Haru looked at Li Jun with confusion. He was sure that he had written to runes correctly and word for word. Li Jun shook his head and then moved closer to take a look at the runes.


    "I know you wouldn''t be able to do it." He said in a mocking tone before looking down at the runes. He then pulled back and looked at Haru with the same amount of confusion.


    "That''s exactly how I would have written it. You got it all correct But why did nothing happen?" He asked Haru when suddenly a flood of green light erupted from the ground and shot high up into the sky.


    Haru and Li Jun both looked at each other for a split second before they were shot up into the air. The feeling of wind rushed through Haru''s hair as he looked down to see the concreted he was previously stood on had vanished. He was now stood on what looked to be blue coloured scales.


    "Haru look!" Li Jun shouted to catch his attention and then pointed to the sky where dozens of dragons with scales that had the same blue colour flew alongside them through the air.


    "I''ve never seen so many dragons before. This is amazing" Li Jun became speechless from the sight that he was witnessing. Usually, dragons would rule different worlds independently so they wouldn''t have to worry about the threat from others taking over. This was simply unheard of.


    As Haru and Li Jun remained speechless a roaring sound emerged from beneath them as a smaller dragon cut its way through the clouds.


    "Father. You don''t have to sacrifice yourself like this do you?" The smaller dragon''s voice boomed out throughout the sky, talking in goahen as he flew at the same speed as the dragon Li Jun and Haru were currently on the back of.


    "Don''t be sad my child. The prophecy has spoken and if we wait for the eruption toe true it will already be toote. This world might be cursed for our kind but it is our home. We can''t simply sit by and watch as the other beings are disintegrated." The dragon they were riding on replied to the juvenile dragon flying alongside him.


    "But why does it have to be you!? Others would happilyy down their lives for you to continue living. It''s not fair!" The younger dragon shouted out in pain.


    "Listen to me Fan. As the leader of our n, I must keep all of my people safe. What about the people back at home like your mother? The ones who don''t have a body as sturdy as ours. Her people will be wiped out if I don''t do this.


    It''s not a matter I can put in the hands of someone else. I need to be the one to do this as I am the only one with the strength to make sure that my sacrifice doesn''t be useless.


    It became my responsibility when I decided to bless your mothers kind with my strength. And as you grow older you will learn that there are somethings that we must do if we hold the power to do so. I hope one day you will have something worth protecting that you are willing to give your everything to keep safe." The older dragon replied, spreading his wisdom to his child that flew beside him.


    A single tear dropped from the eye of the younger dragon and fell into the ocean below them. Creating a small tidal wave with its collision.


    "I understand" His child replied with a sense of sadness but there was also a hint of true understanding of his father''s words. He knew there wasn''t another way. This was something that had to happen.


    "Sir! We''ve arrived!" One of the dragons flying ahead shouted back to the father and son duo as the peaks of mountains poked through the clouds. With one of the mountains billowing smoke up into the air.


    "It will be okay. I promise." The dragon turned his head slightly and rubbed it against the head of his child almost like he was hugging him. Before starting their descent into the valley below.


    As the flew down beneath the clouds the scenery bellow came into view. Many mountains surrounded a giganticke with water as clear as crystals within a perfect circle. It was like the mountains were a dam that held the water within them.


    But one mountain stood above them all. The peak was charred and burnt and the smoke erupting from the top of it was the sign Haru needed to determine where they were.


    "Changbai mountain" He said to himself when he caught glimpse of the sight he had seen countless times when he was back at school.


    "You know this ce?" Li Jun asked. He had been trapped in the array for thousands of years so he didn''t have time to explore this world for himself. But Haru being a native was the one who held all the information at the moment.


    "Yeah, We learned about this ce, in school. We even had an assignment to make a model out of y. This is Changbai mountain.


    It''s on the border between Korea and China and is still an active volcano to this day. There was a huge eruption that happened called the millennium eruption. The whole mountain erupted in nine hundred and forty-six A.D and spread molten rock for over one hundred and twenty kilometres.


    It was the biggest volcanic eruption in thest five thousand years Surely this isn''t" Haru was about to say but was cut off before he could finish his sentence.


    "No, don''t worry. The time we are in is much more ancient than you can even imagine. This is probably closer to five million years before your time. But myguess is this eruption will be much bigger than the one you were talking about." Li Jun said with an unnervingly calm expression.


    Before Haru could ask anything else the dragonnded on the ground and he was thrown from his back in the process ofnding and rolled across the soft grass on beneath its feet.


    "All of you gather around. I have some things to say to you all." The dragon address the others who were all much smaller than he was.


    "Hurry up. You''re going to miss an ancestral dragon''s final speech." Li Jun wrapped his Qi around Haru and pulled him back up on to the dragons back and both watched as the other dragons all began to glow the same shade of green as earlier before their bodies vanished and they shrunk down into the bodies of humans.


    "What are?" Haru asked.


    "Half dragons So this dragon fell in love with a human huh?" Li Jun asked before patting the scales of the dragon he was sat on the back of.


    "My friends. I would first like to thank you all for giving me a send-off like this. I appreciate it and hope you will continue to Honour my memory by living on. I want you all to follow your paths. May that be on this world or out in the great gxy above.


    My status of chief will naturally be passed on to my wife until little Fan bes of age to inherit the responsibility of leading you all.


    Although my wife is a human and she is bound to make a few mistakes in the beginning. She certainly has the strength to take my ce as chief. I ask that you all remain patient and don''t forget your roots. I blessed your ancestors with my power out of the kindness in my heart.


    And now I am asking you as their descendants to give me your kindness and respect my wishes


    This will be our final goodbye young ones. I hope you all live well and achieve your dreams." The Chief dragon said his final goodbyes to his descendants and then looked down to the ground where his son was stood.


    "Fan!? Where did he go!?" The dragon''s voice roared out before he turned his head to see that his son had transformed back into his dragon form and had flown up into the sky above the top of the volcano.


    "Father I''m sorry but I can''t let you do this. I can''t bear to live without you. It would break mothers heart and I don''t want to see her cry again.


    Thank you for bringing me into this world. Tell mother that I love her." The Juvenile dragon used his spiritual sense tomunicate his feelings to his father without the others hearing him. Since Li Jun and Haru were both connected to the dragon they were riding upon the thoughts came through like they were directed to both of them.


    "No! Fan! Come back here at once!" The Chief dragon shouted before rushing up to the peak of the volcano as fast as he could. He moved so fast that Haru was almost thrown from his back once more and only managed to stay on with Li Jun''s help.


    "I''m sorry." Were the juvenile dragon''sst thoughts before he flew straight down into the volcano below him.


    "Noooo! Fan!" The Chief dragon screamed out with pain before flying down into the volcano after his son. The heat of the magma burning bellow was unlike anything Haru had experienced.


    Even though he couldn''t be burned by fire his eyes began to water as the burning current flew into them as he descended into the molten rock and metal below.


    Another sh of green light shot up into the sky as Haru and Li Jun were both returned to the backyard where they were stood previously.


    "That was" Haru was going toment on how amazing the experience was but as he looked up at Li Jun he noticed that tears were streaming down both of his cheeks.

 Chapter 172: Are you okay?

    Chapter 172: Are you okay?


    "Hey Are you okay?" Haru asked as he saw the tears streaming from Li Jun''s eyes. He had known his teacher for almost four years and had never seen him be even slightly emotional to anything. But he was crying after seeing that scene y out in front of him.


    Li Jun looked up at Haru and made eye contact with him for a split second before turning around as fast as he could to hide his face.


    "Yeah, I just have to do a few things." Li Jun replied quickly and then disappeared back inside the dragon emperor ring. Haru stood there speechless. That was one of the weirdest interactions he had had with Li Jun since knowing him but he guessed he was probably embarrassed about being seen crying. If someone of his age even got embarrassed?


    As Haru stood there contemting what could have gotten Li Jun so upset the doorbell rang out once again. ''What is it this time?'' He thought as he went back inside his house and walked toward the same control panel from earlier. He looked on the screen and swiped up on the ept button.


    "Excuse me. Some of us are trying to sleep. Can you stop with the shing lights? Or else I will call the police." The same old woman from earlier on in the night hade back to the front of the gate but this time with her husband who was standing behind here.


    Haru looked at the clock built into the gates control panel and noticed in the top corner it said that it was four A.M. ''Why are they still awake at four A.M? There lights definitely aren''t bright enough to shine through someone''s curtains. So that means they have been spying on me'' Haru thought as he knew for a fact that both times the light was only faint.


    "Stop being so nosy and go back to sleep. If you spy on me again then I will be the one to call the police." Haru said back through the control panel and then ended the connection between the gate and his house.


    A few seconds went by before the control panel rang out again. Haru was quick to decline it before the sound could ring out for long and then walked into the living room and switched on the TV but as soon as he did the control panel rang out again.


    Haru put down the remote for the TV and walked back to the control panel before this time answering it.


    "Now listen here. No one speaks to my wife like that. Thest person who spoke to her like that ended up going missing so I would watch your tone if I was you." This time the old man standing beside her stepped up to the camera and shouted.


    Haru remained silent for a few seconds as he looked the man up and down through the camera. He didn''t recognise him at all and as he spoke it sounded like he was struggling toe up with a threat.This man was definitely a nobody but was trying to act tough to assert dominance.


    "Okay. I might have been a little rude to your wife so I apologise for that. But the closest house is more than fifty meters away from mine so if you saw any light or heard any screaming you must have been watching my house. So the point still stands.


    If you invade on my privacy again I really will call the police." Haru sighed. And then ended the connection again. And went back into the living room and sat down on the couch to rx.


    ''It feels empty here I got used to living in a house full of people. This just feels like I''m all alone now.'' He thought as he tried to distract himself with thete-nightedy shows. But that was no use. The loneliness crept up on him once again so he had no choice to enter his soul ocean for somepany.


    He brought his legs up onto the couch and then crossed them before closing his eyes and entering his soul ocean at the perfect time to see Kun swoop down from the sky and fly over his head with a roaring screech.


    "Hey Kun, How''s it going?" Haru asked but there was no reply. He hadn''t spoken to Kun in a while so he figured that he was mad and didn''t want to talk to him anymore.


    "Okay Nice talk." Haruughed at himself as Kun flew off into the distance.


    ''I should probably start training with void corridors again. It''s been a few days since thest time I used it.'' He thought about all the things that had happened over thest few days. The people of shanghai were really keeping him busy and he had no time to practise. He just hoped that his new home would provide a quiet ce for him to train.


    He spent a few hours hopping around his soul ocean using void corridors until he was taken back to the real world by the sound of his phone this time. He looked down at where he had left it on the couch next to him and saw that it was Yun who was calling.


    "What does she want?" He said out loud before answering.


    "Hello?" He asked before his eardrums were almost destroyed by here voice shouting down the phone.


    "Where did you go yesterday!? My dad said he got a phone call saying you walked out of ss and then he saw you at a partyter on that day where you got into some trouble with a gang! Where are you? Are you okay?" She asked in a rushed voice. She sounded genuinely worried for him which made him feel bad about being disappointed to receive her phone call.


    "It''s fine. I got a little upset about what I saw in ss and then when I got back to the dorm an old friend invited me to a party. And when I got there someone picked a fight with me. It''s nothing to worry about." Haru eased her worrying by making it sound less exciting than it actually was.


    "Is that so? Then where are you now? Your roommates said that you got an eviction noticest night You didn''t sleep on the streets, did you? You know you could have stayed with us if you had no ce to go." She asked this time sounding a little less worried but more like she pitied him.


    "I saved up some money when I lived with Zen so I decided to buy a house. So I''m at home. Well, my new home." He said and looked around at the fully furnished mansion.


    "You bought a house?! How much money did you have?! Property prices in Shanghai are almost three times the amount as they are in Shenzhen how could you afford a house here?" She asked in disbelief.


    "Well, I worked a lot when I was living with Zen. So I had quite a lot" Haru said. He wasn''t lying but it was less like working and more like people giving him things for his services or out of respect. He felt a little awkward iming that everything he had was earned by him but he couldn''t tell her the truth. She wouldn''t even believe it if he told her.


    "Then where is it? I want toe over and see if you are really okay. Send me the address. You can show me around once I get there." She said with a little bit of doubt in her voice but she sounded interested to see where he was.


    "Okay, then I will see you when you get here." He didn''t give her time to say anything else and then hung up before sending her the address. He decided to take a shower and change clothes before she arrived since it would be weird to be wearing a suit in your own house and then carried his bags upstairs to chose a room for himself.

 Chapter 173: Trouble Makers.

    Chapter 173: Trouble Makers.


    Halfway through getting changed Haru heard the sound of the control panel ringing once again but it sounded closer than it was. He looked around for a second to find where the sound wasing from and then saw the second control panel this time lying on the dresser next to the bed.


    Unlike the one wired to the wall downstairs, this one was more of a tablet-like device that he could carry throughout the house with him if he chose to. He swiped up on the answer button to see Yun stood at the gate looking confused.


    "You got here fast. I will leave the door open for you." He said and then ended the connection before selecting the options to open both the gate and unlock the front door.


    "Haru, This ce is" Yun managed to get out before he could close the connection between them but it was toote the connection ended. Yun stood there confused as the sound cut out but then as she was standing there a buzzing sound came from the gate and she pushed on it.


    The gate opened up revealing the main house and she was just as awestruck as Haru was when he first saw it from within the gates.


    "What did he do to earn so much money to afford a ce like this?" She asked herself before closing the gate behind her and then walking down the driveway toward the house.


    "He said he would leave the door open right?" She said before hesitantly trying the door handle. And to her surprise, the door opened. She sighed in relief as she didn''t see another doorbell anywhere she figured that if the door was still locked she would have been stuck in the driveway until he came and opened the door.


    As she entered the house the first thing she noticed was the control panel next to the door as she closed it behind her. She looked at it for a few seconds before pressing a button to watch the camera. As she stood there watching the cars go past one of them stopped suddenly outside and four men wearing tracksuits got out and walked up the gate.


    She turned on the button to hear the sound to see what was going on but she didn''t need to. The men all walked up to the gate as one of them reached forward and pressed the doorbell.


    Yun answered the call before it could even make a noise to see what they had to say.


    "Hello" She said nervously as the man who pressed the doorbell looked straight up at the camera. She could see the countless scars on his face and tattoos he had on his neck. He looked like a gangster but she didn''t want to say anything just in case it was one of Haru''s friends. After all, he said a friend invited him to a party the night before.


    "Where is the boy?" The man demanded abruptly. His voice sounded cold and angry like he had been full of hate for many years.


    "What boy? No boy lives here. It''s just me and my parents." Yun lied to the man. If he really was Haru''s friend he would at least ask for him by name. Surely he couldn''t;t just call him the boy. She didn''t know what they wanted but she did know they were up to no good.


    "Do you think they gave us the wrong house?" One of the men asked the one who stood at the front covered in tattoos.


    "No, It''s impossible. My aunt said this was the right house so it is the right house." The man said in protest to the man behind him and then looked back up at the camera.


    "Listen here, girl. If you don''t hand over the boy within ten minutes you won''t like what I will do to you. It''s best if you just hand him over." The man covered in tattoos addressed Yun angrily just as Haru walked downstairs into the hallway.


    "Sorry I kept you waiting. I was just taking a shower. I got in prettyte so I didn''t have time to yesterday" Haru said to Yun as she stood by the door.


    "Shh!" Yun put a finger up to her mouth as she turned around to look at Haru with her eyes wide with panic.


    "You hear that guys? Looks like the boy is there after all. Hey, listen to me. If you don''t open the gate within five minutes I will ram it down. You bettere out here and ept your punishment." The man on the other side of the shouted into the microphone of the camera causing his voice to vibrate throughout the house.


    "Haru you can''t go out there. I think they want to hurt you!" Yun said and then ran over to Haru before grabbing his arm to make sure that he couldn''t go outside.


    "Hurt me? Who wants to hurt me?" Haru was confused. He came downstairs toote to hear the whole conversation he just heard the man screaming outside his gate. He tried to walk over to the control panel to take a look bt Yun pulled him back.


    "You can''t go out there!" She said with the same amount of fear in her voice that she had the first time.


    "Calm down. I''m going to look at the camera." Haru tried to reassure her. She reluctantly released her grip and let him walk over to the panel but as he did she kept an eye on him to make sure that he didn''t open the gate.


    "You hear me!? Open the god damn gate right now! You have five minutes! And don''t even think about calling the police!" The man shouted as soon as he got close enough to the door to see the four men.


    "Who are you?" Haru asked. He had never seen these men before in his life. Where they the people that Han had warned him about? He thought for a second and then figured that they probably weren''t. They looked too ordinary to even be a threat to him.


    After determining that they were nobodies he didn''t even give them time to respond before he disconnected the call.


    "Wait, What are you doing!? They said they would ram the gate down!" Yun shouted at Haru after seeing him not take the situation as seriously as she was taking it.


    "It''s fine. If they do that they will be trespassing. They will get arrested." Haru said matter of factly and then held out his hand.


    "Come on sit down. I will get you some tea." He showed her the way to the couch but she didn''t budge. She refused to move from where she was stood in the corridor.


    "Haru! They look like criminals. I doubt they care about trespassing. You need to call the police right now! Or else I will!" She demanded and then pulled out her phone.


    "Fine, fine Just go and sit down I will call them." Haru stated and then pulled out his phone.


    Yun reluctantly sat down on the couch while keeping her eyes onHaru.


    Haru''s phone rang out for less than a few seconds before the person on the other side picked up.


    "Hey, There''s a group of trouble makers at my gate. Send the police please." Were the only words he said to whoever picked up the phone call before hanging up.


    "That''s it!? How are the police officers supposed to know where you live!?" Yun shouted at him. She had the suspicion that he didn''t even call anyone and then pulled out her phone once again.


    "What are you doing?!" Haru asked her.


    "Calling the police. You obviously didn''t call anyone so I will. I don''t care what kind of trouble you''re in. Just tell me about it and I will ask my dad to help you out if you get arrested."


    "You don''t believe me? Then before you call them watch this." Haru said before turning on the TV to view the gate''s security camera on a bigger screen.

 Chapter 174: Friendly Neigbours.

    Chapter 174: Friendly Neigbours.


    Haru turned on the TV and linked the security camera with it. The TV showed the image at the front gate and the four confused men. They probably didn''t have to worry about being ignored by people giving their imposing appearances. But Haru knew well that appearances didn''t corrte with strength so he ignored them anyway.


    "Why are you showing me this? What is this supposed to prove? You were on the phone for less than ten seconds and didn''t even give them an address. How would the police know where you lived if you didn''t give them any information?" She asked but mid-sentence her eyes locked with the TV as blue shing lights pulled up outside the gate.


    Three separate police cars drove up to the gate and blocked the car the trouble makers were driving so they couldn''t escape before six police officers got out and threw them all against the hood of their cars before putting them in handcuffs.


    " How did they find out where we are? You usually have to go through a whole process when you call the police Oh You called your friend that invited you to the party yesterday didn''t you? I have to ask Who is this friend?" Yun realised that Haru probably knew someone very influential by how calm he was acting.


    Not to mention who can buy a mansion overnight? You would usually have to set up a deal with the owner weeks in advance and thene for a viewing with an estate agent. She figured that someone must have helped him with the house when he first told her but she guessed it must have been Zen since he was the only influential person she knew Haru had a connection with.


    But for someone to send the police so easily and quickly in Shanghai, they would have to one of the bosses of the city There were only three people in the whole city who could do that and each one was just as terrifying as the next to her.


    Haru didn''t answer her question right away as he thought about what to say. He wasn''t sure what regr people thought about the crimson spiders so he didn''t want to say that he knew a few of the leaders right away so he decided to keep quiet but by her reaction, he figured that even civilians knew that the crimson spiders were a criminal organisation.


    "Haru please tell me you didn''t join a gang or anything No who am I kidding you wouldn''t do that. I bet it was the Zhu family, wasn''t it? The oldest son of the Zhu family goes to our university so I bet that you called him didn''t you?" Haru half expected her to figure out who he had called right away but unexpectedly she decided to rule out the thought of him associating with bad people.


    ''The Zhu family? The same Zhu family that I met in Shenzhen?'' Haru thought. He knew that Old Man Zhu was famous but he didn''t expect him to be so famous that his control stretched to shanghai.


    "There is someone from the Zhu family who goes to our university? Is his father called Tengfei? Haru asked her.


    "You called Tengfei Zhu just now? How do you know him? Even my dad doesn''t have his phone number even though they work together regrly." Yun asked surprised by the Revtion but she jumped to conclusions too fast although it worked out for Haru.


    If he told her that he called the biggest crime boss in the city to take care of the trouble makers she would flip so he thought it was probably the best that he twisted the truth a little bit. He didn''t quite consider either of them as his friends but they were both acquaintances. But before he could answer the control panel rang out once more this time as the police wanted information from Haru.


    As he answered the call he recognised the police officer as the one who had helped clean up the mess at thepound where hey the evil sect to rest.


    "Mr, Kitagawa. It''s safe toe out now everything is under control but we do have a few questions to ask you." The police officer said as he looked up at the security camera.


    "Okay. I will be out in just a moment." Haru responded and then walked over to the front door before turning back to Yun who had her mouth open as she was about to ask him something else.


    "I will tell you about how we met when I get back. Just stay here I have to go out for a few minutes." Haru exined to Yun who nodded and then fell back on to the couch with a sigh as Haru left the house.


    "He''s a terrible liar. I know exactly who he called since dad told me who he went to talk with after he fought with one of the crimson spiders people" Yun said out loud as shey back with her head on the cushions. She was having fun though. She knew he was a cultivator from her father''s warnings to stay away from him but she found it funny how he would try to hide it within stupid lies that made no sense.


    "I wonder if he will ever be honest with me or will I have to confront him?" Yun smiled before sighing once more as she caught sight of Haru on the security camera outside.


    "You You are from that time" The police officer said as he saw Haru walk out from behind the gate.


    "Yup that was me. How is it going?" Haru asked the police officer but he tensed up and saluted as soon as Haru asked him a question.


    "It''s going well, sir!" He answered sharply.


    "What are you doing? There''s no need to be so tense. We have met before you know." Haru said to him but it was no use and drew the attention from the other officers behind who were shoving the troublemakers into the back of the police cars.


    "I can''t do that Sir! Mr Ma told me to treat you exactly how I would treat him. If you don''t need anything we will get going now." The police officer gathered up all of the other officers and told them to all get back into their cars and leave before he did so himself.


    Haru was dumbfounded. "What just happened?" He wondered even if he was ordered to treat him with respect why would he call him outside? Was it just to get a look at who lived there?


    As he was trying to understand the weirdness of the whole situation he felt eyes watching him from afar. ''Someone''s watching me? No Two people'' He thought as he felt the presence of two elderly people gaze at him from afar. It was the old couple that had stood outside his house in the early hours of the morning.


    "Are they still mad aboutst night? Then I will have to visit themter" He said to himself under his breath and then turned to where they were gaze wasing from to see them both stood in a window looking out at him.


    Haru raised his hand up next to his head and waved with a gentle smile. He wanted to make them feel as ufortable as possible if it was them who had nned it. If it wasn''t then it would just look like a neighbour being friendly.


    But his suspicions were confirmed when they drew the curtains immediately.

 Chapter 175: Lies.

    Chapter 175: Lies.


    "I see now. It was their doing" Haru smiled before heading inside to greet Yun properly this time. As he entered the living room he noticed that the TV was still on the channel that was showing the security camera. He looked at Yun who was sat on the couch with her eyes fixed to it.


    "So Who is Mr Ma?" She asked without even looking at him. A smile formed on her face as she sat on the couch and waited for his reply.


    ''Let''s see if he will lie again?'' Thought to herself while she waited for a reply.


    "You heard what he said? Ah well, I guess I might as well tell the truth But you might not believe it so just keep an open mind okay." Haru warned her to which she simply nodded her head.


    So Haru started from the start. He exined to her how he learned how to cultivate but left out the parts about Li Jun and Lao of course and then he exined everything that had happened since he arrived in Shanghai but when describing his massacre on the sect he left out the details about what was hidden underneath the ground.


    He didn''t want her to know about the horrors of what they had done but in doing so made it seem like he was petty and quick to needlessly kill. But Yun tried her best to understand as he told her what the walking corpse had told him about his sister being killed in front of him.


    And then he moved on to the meeting with Han at the serpentine resort. He also left out the part about him bing the owner but that was less about trying to conceal the truth and more like he genuinely forgot to tell her. And then he finally told her about what happenedst night and what the cause for the incident today was about.


    As he finished his exnation she simplyughed.


    "Oh, You think I am joking?" Haru asked her. He told her the truth yet she was acting like it was all just one big joke. He began to hold out his hand so he could show her his power as proof but as she did she grabbed his hand.


    "No. I do believe you but I''mughing because I already knew most of what you had told me. Do you think my family don''t speak when people aren''t around or something? The day after you stayed over with us my dad told us you were a cultivator and that I should avoid you because you will bring trouble where ever you went.


    I have known all along, you idiot. I just found it funny knowing that you made up the stupidest lies right in front of me and expected me to believe them without another thought." Yun Laughed again but this time hunched over and clutched her stomach.


    "Are you serious? I thought I made everything sound believable" Haru said surprised. He kind of expected her to be mad that he was lying to her since the first day they had met each other but she just epted it and moved on which didn''t sit well with Haru.


    "You''re not mad?" Haru asked her. He wanted to make sure that they were good but she furrowed her eyebrows at him and then sat up straight.


    "Mad? I''m fucking furious. For all, I knew those guys could have been cultivators that hade to kill you. And then you acted like nothing was wrong. I wasn''t sure if you were just confident in your abilities are just a moron.


    But then again it was kind of fun. I have always been under my dad''s protection so I haven''t really felt fear like I did when those guys threatened me It was exciting. I guess I need to hang out with you more." She began to shout and then switched her attitude to sound sweet and innocent towards the end.


    "You''re crazy. But your dad was right. You should probably stay away from me for a while. The father of that guy who''s leg I broke apparently wants to kill me so you should avoid me like the gue until I solve things with him." Haru said to her but she didn''t seem to pay attention until Haru mentioned avoiding him like the gue.


    "Avoid you? No way. You just got your own house in the hills. I''m staying over tonight. I don''t care what you have to say about it." Yun stood up and put her hands on her hips like a mother disciplining her child.


    Haru thought back to the previous night when he was all alone. ''It would be nice having someone stay here until I get used to the ce. Who is better than a family member right? I don''t have to worry about her getting mad and killing me in my sleep so why not'' Haru thought and then looked at her for a few seconds.


    As soon as he looked at her she flinched for a moment like she was already expecting him to say no but then stood back up straight, Unwilling to admit defeat.


    "Sure. I don''t mind. Just don''t break any of my things or set my kitchen on fire." Haru chuckled slightly as he remembered how her mom nearly burned down their house.


    "What really?! I was expecting you to say no and then kick me out or something. Don''t worry, unlike some people I can actually cook. But I will need to get some clothes if I am staying here. Oh And you will need to talk to my dad so he knows that I will actually be staying with you and not sneaking out to party" She said with a little bit of hesitance to her voice.


    "I was actually going to ask your dad something anyway," Haru replied and then pulled out his phone before realising he forgot to get Andrews phone number.


    "Uh, Yun What is your dad''s phone number?" Haru asked Yun who had gone back to sitting down on the couch. She looked up at him from the couch and then held out her phone.


    "Just take it from my contacts." She said before handing him the phone and then switching the TV channel. She was no longer interested in watching the security camera so she switched it to some romance drama before Haru left the room to call his uncle.

 Chapter 176: Permission granted.

    Chapter 176: Permission granted.


    "Hello, Uncle Andrew?" Haru asked after taking the contact listed as "Dad" from Yun''s phone and calling it with his own phone. A few seconds went by before there was an answer.


    "Haru Is Yun with you?" He asked right away knowing that there was no way Haru would call him if it wasn''t rted to one of his daughters.


    "Yeah... Uh, she told me to call you and ask for your permission to let her stay over at my ce." Haru said sounding confused. He wasn''t sure how his uncle would react since he seemed to be protective of his kids so Haru braced himself to hear a thousand different reasons why that would be a bad idea but all he heard was a single sigh.


    "Sure, why not. If anything happens to her I won''t have to look too far to kick someone''s ass." Andrew said with a defeated expression to his voice like something sad had happened recently and he was recovering.


    "Uh, before you go. I wanted to ask you for a favour. If it isn''t too much trouble of course?" Haru said before Andrew had time to hang up. There was a brief pause between them talking as he sighed again.


    "Tell me what it is" Andrew spoke in the same defeated tone before going silent as he was awaiting Haru''s request.


    "I need to take some time away from university. I was wondering if you could ask the principal for permission? He said that he knows you and I don''t have his contact information to ask for it myself." Haru said as he knew that soon he would have to take a trip to the Korean border to go to Changbai mountain.


    Li Jun and Haru still weren''t sure if the dragon corpse was still there but that was where they saw him take his final breaths as he chased his son down to the bottom of the volcano.


    "You need some time away from university? How much time are we talking here? A month? Six months? I promised your mother that I would look after you like you were my own son. So that means I''m going to make sure you keep your grades up." Andrew finally started to gain some passion in his voice as the authoritative air around him returned.


    "It''s nothing too long. Just a week or so. I need to take a trip to Changnai mountain so I won''t be gone for too long." He said telling him the exact ce he was heading since he knew the question woulde up anyway.


    "Just a week? I will see what I can do but why are you going to Changbai mountain? It''s miles away and there is nothing out there." Andrew said. He didn''t see a reason for Haru to go there especially so early into the college year. Although he was doing it the right way. He was actually asking for time away instead of just going and making him look like a bad student.


    "That''s the point there are no people there and I can be alone. It makes the most perfect ce to train." Haru smiled as he spoke since what he was saying was half true. He would be able to train there if he had time left over after looking for the dragon''s body.


    "Is that so? Well, I will let you know when I get around to speaking to him." Andrew said wrapping up the conversation like he was no longer interested in what Haru had to say.


    "Okay, then I will look forward to speaking to you again." Haru smiled before putting his thumb over the red cross on his phone screen.


    "Oh, Haru?" Andrew asked quickly before he could end the call.


    "Yeah? What is it?" Haru asked as his voice faded to the defeated one once again. It was strange how his mood was changing so much but he didn''tment on it in fear of hurting his feelings.


    "Tell Yun I''m sorry about earlier. She will know what you mean. And have fun but make sure you keep her safe okay?" Andrew said and then before Haru could say anything else he hung up without another word.


    "Okay Well, that was strange." Haru said to himself and then walked back into the living room where Yun was sat watching the tv drama before he handed her phone back to her.


    "You already spoke to him? That was quick. What did he say? Do I have to go back home now?" She asked with a questioning re. She was worried that she would have to go home since both she and Haru knew that he was overprotective of her.


    "Surprisingly he said yes. You can stay over tonight. But then he also told me to tell you he was sorry about earlier Did something happen?" Haru asked with concern as he saw her face drift from a moment of happiness after hearing the good news to a look of misery.


    "Oh, it''s nothing. We just argued before I got here. I told him that you had gotten a house and I was going to see you and then he told me that he wanted me to stay away from you since you had gotten yourself into a lot of troublest night. Then one of his old friends turned up so I snuck out.


    I was expecting him to shout that''s why I made you ask him so I wouldn''t have to deal with his grumpiness." Yunughed a little bit and then sat back on the couch and patted the cushion next to hers.


    "Come on sit with me. This show is about romance. You might find a girlfriend if you take some tips." Sheughed.


    "I''m sure I told you that I have a girlfriend didn''t I?" Haru asked but she didn''t care. She just patted the seat and then looked back to the screen.


    "Whatever you say. Just sit down and watch it with me." She giggled.


    "Well, it''s not like I would learn anything from it anyway. You obviously like this show yet you are still single." Haruughed before sitting on the couch next to her.


    "Shut up! I''ve had tons of boyfriends I will have you know!" She shouted, offended by Haru telling her the truth.


    "Oh yeah? And how many did you tell your dad about? I''m guessing his standards for boys are pretty high." Haruughed at her again to which she responded by punching him in the arm.


    "I see so that''s how it is. You''re going to hit me when you get mad. No wonder you never had a boyfriend. If you''re this violent to a family member then I pity the unfortunate soul you decide to date." Heughed again. Yun just shook her head in disappointment.


    "Just watch the damn show." She sighed and then didn''t look back at him until the show had finished.

 Chapter 177: Visiting the Neighbours.

    Chapter 177: Visiting the Neighbours.


    But that wasn''t the case. As soon as the episode had ended Yun put on another before Haru had the chance to make conversation and ruin the silence that they were sat in. And she repeated the same tactic until four hours had gone by and the sun was just about to vanish over the horizon.


    "Wait a minute. Didn''t you say you needed to go home to get some clothes so you could stay over?" Haru asked. He was unsure what she nned to do since she seemingly forgot all about it when watching the show.


    "Oh Yeah, I did say that, didn''t I? I forgot" Yun remembered what she had said and then began to stand up from the couch, stretching as her body had cramped up from spending that amount of time sat in the same ce.


    "I can call you a taxi if you want?" Haru asked and then pulled out his phone.


    "That would be great, thanks. I just need to go to the bathroom." Yun announced and then looked at Haru for directions but the truth was that even he didn''t know where the bathroom was.


    "It''s somewhere. You will just have to find it." Haruughed when noticing that her eyes were asking him where to go. Yun sighed in response and then walked out into the hallway to try and locate the hidden bathroom.


    Haru searched for a Taxipanies phone number on the Inte before dialling it and ordering it toe and pick up Yun. Although it was a little bit of trouble since he hadn''t memorised the address yet. He had to open his message history with Yun while still on the phone and read off the information he had given to her earlier in the morning.


    A few minutes went by before Yun came back and sat down next to Haru on the couch. They sat there and talked for around fifteen minutes until the Taxi arrived. They concluded that she would go home and pick up her clothes and then on the way back she would stop at the store and pick up something for them to eat. And then she made her way outside leaving Haru alone again.


    Haru sat there for a few minutes before realising that he still had the beast core with him and he hadn''t used it yet. It caused his soul ocean to flood thest time that he used one so he didn''t manage to absorb the whole amount. But now that his soul ocean was already flooded. If he decided to use one now he would absorb everyst bit of Qi that it held within.


    He then reached into his storage ring before taking at the small blue crystal and held it in his palm before squeezing down on it as hard as he could. As he did so a slight cracking sound emerged from his hand as the crystal broke into a fine powder and released all of the Qi it held into the air.


    Haru closed his eyes and sat on the edge of the couch with his legs crossed before beginning to absorb all of theQi that was floating around the room until all of it was gone.


    Around ten minutes passed and it had all been absorbed into his dantian but he felt dissatisfied. It wasn''t the same asst time. It didn''t feel like his strength had grown at all. He sat there for a few minutes.


    "I guess this is the diminishing returns that Li Jun had warned me about. No matter how fast that I grow there will be a point where I will hit a teau and this looks like the most I can absorb from beast cores." He uttered to himself as the disappointment set in.


    As he sat there in the living room he had the feeling that he was being watched again. It was exactly the same as what he had felt when he went outside to talk to the police. So he decided to take a walk over to the window to see if his assumption was correct.


    And sure enough, when he got there he noticed that the same old woman and old man were looking at his house with hatred in their eyes.


    "What is their problem?" Haru sighed and then got ready to go outside and confront them. He made sure to take his keys with him and then headed outside to go over to their house. He closed the gate behind him and then walked to the house that was directly next to his.


    It had a simryout to his but looked older. A lot older. It was almost like it looked abandoned. But that wasn''t right either. At a distance, it looked like any other house but as he got closer it looked abandoned. It didn''t make any sense until he spotted a small engraving in the stone wall that surrounded it.


    "Weathering with storms, the new fades to old." The engraving read.


    ''This is an array But why would anyone want to live in a house with an array to make it look abandoned? Unless'' Haru thought as the gate to the house opened up and a dark presence emerged from the crack as it got wider to reveal a hooded man In a cap with a funny-looking hat.


    Haru stared at him like there was something wrong with the man that was stood there.


    "You are the young man that moved into the house next door. Let me apologise about what happenedst night. My ves aren''t really obedient. They are more like a failed experiment since their souls are still intact."The man bowed his head and took off his hat causing his long ck hair to fall out, stopping just before it hit the floor.


    "ves? What do you mean?" Haru asked confused. This man wasn''t a cultivator yet he still gave Haru a feeling of danger. It seemed like he was much more of a threat than all of the cultivators he had met before this point yet there was no trace of Qi.


    "Yes, My ves. Imandeered this house a few years ago and they are the original family that lived here. In order not to arouse any suspicion I left their souls intact so they couldmunicate with others. But it is funny that you shoulde here at this time.


    You see I was starting to feel a little bit hungry..." The man said and then ced the hat back on his head. The man then ran towards Haru with a speed, unlike anything a regr human could dream of having.


    Yet it was still too slow. Haru grabbed the man by his face and began to squeeze the side of his head with his fingers. As he did so the man hissed and bared his teeth like a wild animal revealing four long and sharp teeth that stuck out above the others.


    "There was this mythology I once read about in school. It said that in Romania there was a family full of humans who would drink blood. Until their souls became corrupted and they were cursed to be demons that were impossible to kill. They were called vampires." Haru said to the man before inspecting his teeth a little more.


    With one hand Haru held the man''s head in ce before reaching into his mouth and grabbing one of his teeth and then he pulled it as hard as he could. With a snap, the tooth came free and the man screamed in pain.


    "But that is just mythology. The real vampires are one of the lesser ns in the upper realms that feed on human blood like parasites. I also heard their teeth are pretty valuable to use in pills" Haru said with a sadistic smile forming on his face before hearing the beep of a car as a taxi pulled up outside his house.


    He turned his head to look and as soon as he looked away the gate clicked as the lock was put into ce and the man had vanished from where he was previously rolling on the floor in pain.


    "Haru what are you doing?" Yun shouted from down the road as she got out of the taxi and saw him stood at the gate of the neighbour''s house.


    "Just visiting the neighbours. That''s all." Haru shouted back before walking toward her and putting the tooth he had just plucked into his pocket.

 Chapter 178: Protective Array.

    Chapter 178: Protective Array.


    "So did you get everything that you needed?" Haru asked Yun as he approached her. The taxi took the time to set off and drive down the street during the time that it took Haru to walk toward her. Yun looked down at her bags and then back up to Haru''s smiling face.


    "Yeah. I got my clothes and I picked up some beef to cook for dinner. I hope you don''t mind." Yun smiled as she held the bag of food that she had bought from the store on her way back to Haru''s house.


    "Beef? I don''t mind at all. But I hope you don''t expect me to cook it. If you leave that to me it will be charred and almost inedible."'' Haruughed. He had to cook food in the field before but most of the time he had to cook meat over an open me so he never learned how to make something that could actually be ssed as food.


    "Of course not. You''re letting me stay at your house. I can''t leave the cooking to you. And honestly, I would like to eat tonight so I will take care of it." Yun mocked him before putting her backpack over her shoulder and standing next to the gate for Haru to open them.


    Haru opened the gates and led Yun back inside but he still felt like he was being watched. Before he unlocked the front door he looked over his left shoulder back toward the house where he had juste from to see the old couple still staring out at him.


    But standing behind the old couple was the man who had tried to bite Haru. He was clutching his cheek with a small hand towel and had tissue sticking out of his mouth.


    The man red at him with bright red eyes that glowed in the darkness of the room they were all stood within. Haru smiled before opening the door and letting Yun inside. She made her way straight to the kitchen after hanging up her backpack at the front door while Haru sat down in the living room to think.


    ''If dragons ended up migrating here then it wouldn''t be a surprise if a group of vampires came all the way out to the lower realms for easy food. But why is there one living in shanghai? Don''t the cultivation association know about this?'' Haru thought as he remembered the stories Lao had told him about the three ns and the lesser ns from the upper realm.


    Vampires were originally a faction of the human n but decided to dere Independence from a sense of superiority. The leader of their faction saw regr humans as nothing but a food source so he decided to wage war against them. Unfortunately, he underestimated the cultivators at the top of the human n and was killed without mercy.


    After his death. The vampire faction was dered as traitors and was banished from worlds inhabited by human nsmen. So it was no surprise that they had made their way to the lower realm.


    There were fewer cultivators there that had the strength to overpower them so it would make gathering blood from humans a lot easier.


    But that brought attention to another issue. Yun was staying over. And she was only a regr human. She wouldn''t be able to fight off a vampire attacker if he decided to break in to get revenge so he needed to do something.


    Although he knew quite a bit about arrays he didn''t know what would be a good choice to keep vampires at bay. After all, they had special powers and some of them even had unique powers that could be used at will. He didn''t know anything about the strength of this particr one but he did seem to be quite weak.


    "Li Jun. Which array would you rmend to keep people out of my property? I need one to be as strong as possible and can block not only Qi but a vampires power." Haru asked Li jun for help.


    "A vampire you say? It would be best just to get rid of the cause and kill it. But if you don''t want to do that then you should just use a regr array. Vampires poweres from blood Qi. It''s the Qi that flows through the blood of all living things.


    It shouldn''t be anything to worry about. Vampires are rtively weak anyway. To be stronger, they need to drain a humanpletely of blood to absorb a good amount of Qi.


    So unless you''re dealing with a proactive vampire that is draining hundreds of people every day then you don''t need to worry about thembreaking through a regr array." Li Jun spread his wisdom on the topic and also reassured Haru during the process.


    "So you''re meaning to say that a regr area protection array should be good enough to block the strength of a vampire?" Haru asked just to make sure that he didn''t misunderstand and would cause more harm by creating a weaker array.


    "Yep, It should be more than enough to keep out most intruders in this city. But even if it doesn''t work you will still know when it is destroyed so you have time to react." Li Jun let him know and then his voice stopped like he suddenly cut off the transmission between their voices.


    "Okay. A simple array it is then." Haru said to himself before going outside to set up an array.


    His knowledge was stillcking but the book that he read to learn how to write thenguage of Goahen had examples of basic arrays and one was very simr to a protection array that he had used to protect Suyin''s younger brother so he decided to try that one first to see if it would be enough before setting up the one that he had nned to.


    "Hmm So if I just write this somewhere then it will activate the array immediately?" Haru asked himself before pulling the brush and pot of ink that Li Jun had given to him out from his storage ring and walking the wall at the side of his house so it would be out of sight from anyone that entered from the front gate.


    "*Protective guidance from the great starry sky. Hold your strength within these foundations and give way to fortification*" Haru yanked the words he had memorised out from his head and painted them on the side of the wall with the dark red ink.


    Suddenly a dark sh of green light shot up into the sky like a beacon before expanding around the building wrapping it within an orb of light. Haru looked at the light for a few seconds before it settled upon the house and then vanished.


    "Will this really be strong enough to withstand a powerful attack? It just vanished" Haru said before walking to the front of the house and putting his hand on the wall next to the front door. He then slowly put more and more strength into his hand.


    After a few seconds, he was using his full strength to try to pull one of the bricks out of the wall. But it didn''t budge at all. With his full strength, he could easily destroy a house made from concrete and bricks like it was made out of sticks. But just seeing this didn''t satisfy him.


    He wondered what would happen if he punched the wall. It was good that the house could withstand a slow increase in power but what if it was a quick strike? It would most likely shatter under the stress. Or so he thought.


    So to test if his theory was correct he brought his hand up to his chin before standing in an aggressive fighting stance simr to how a kickboxer would stand. He then threw a quick jab toward a single brick on the wall. Yun was still inside and he didn''t want to damage the house so he made sure to target a single brick so it wouldn''t bring down the entire house.


    But as his hand elerated toward the brick it was stopped. It was like he had punched a cushion. All of the force he put into the punch was depleted before he could hit the brick and when he made contact with the wall a sh of green light shot back at impable speed and struck him in the cheek.


    The light hit Haru with exactly the same amount of strength that he had used when targeting the wall. But he didn''t expect it and wasn''t paying attention as the light went underneath his guard and struck him in the face. His head was knocked sideways by the force and his brain rattled against the inside of his head.


    "Fuck What was that?" Haru asked when he regained his bnce and looked up at the wall that was unaffected by his punch.


    "Did that wall just Punch me?" Haru asked in shock. He was expecting a defensive array not one that would return the damage against it to the person who attacked it.


    Haru brought his hands up to his face before clenching his fists and then gathering Qi in his body. He lifted his right knee up to his waist before twisting his hips and pivoting on his left foot to send a devastating kick to the wall.


    His foot hurled through the air, creating a breeze as it ripped its way through the air before striking the corner of the wall with his shin, just above his ankle. A deep rumble shook the ground as his leg hit the wall.

 Chapter 179: Perfect Recollection.

    Chapter 179: Perfect Recollection.


    Wind gathered into a whirlwind as he struck the wall but his leg was brought to a slow stop as the barrier reduced the power he had used. Green light filled the sky once again before a sh of light shot out toward Haru.


    The light moved much faster than he could follow with his eyes so he ended up blindsided as it curved to the right side of his body and hit him in the ribs before he could even realise what happened.


    "Oh what the" He managed to say to himself before he felt the great pressure hit against his ribs, forcing his body up into the air before swiftly falling to the hard concrete below him. Hey on his back as he tried to gather the will power to get up and try again but he couldn''t


    Being beaten up by a wall was a bitter pill to swallow even for Haru. But at least now he knew that his house would be protected from most attacks on his current power level. He didn''t see a reason to test it any further. What good would it do if he destroyed the array before he had the chance to even use it against an attacker?


    A few minutes passed of Haru lying on the floor before the front door opened up. Yun stepped outside to look for Haru and almost missed him as she swept the driveway with her eyes. But she noticed himy down on his back.


    "Haru Are you okay?" She asked hesitantly. She wasn''t quite sure if he was breathing from this far away so her mind went to the worst possible oue in just a split second.


    Haru popped his head up and then followed with his back to sit upright.


    "Yep, I''m fine." He said before getting to his feet and patting the dirt and debris from his clothes he looked up at the wall he had just kicked. There wasn''t even the slightest scratch.


    ''It seems sturdy enough'' He thought before walking over to Yun.


    "What happened? I heard a bang" Yun asked when she saw him clutching his ribs as he walked.


    "Oh, Nothing. I just fell that''s all. I lost my footing" Haru yed it off as if nothing happened. But Yun knew better than to trust his stupid excuses. She just sighed in response.


    "Well dinner is ready now. I couldn''t find you inside so I figured you would be out here." She let him know and then both walked inside before sitting down to eat. After finishing their food a few hours passed and Yun headed into one of the spare rooms to sleep while Haru sat down in the living room.


    He wanted to make sure that his new vampire friend would behave himself. If not then he would have to pull a few more teeth. The reason he did it in the first ce was just as a warning but he was also interested to see if it would work in making pills stronger like he had been told.


    So as he sat on guard he decided to try to make a few pills. He had learned how to control Kun''s power so he didn''t have to go outside in fear of burning the house down so he stayed put on the couch and pulled out all the materials he needed.


    One one-hundred-year-old ginseng, A branch from an oak tree that was possessed by an icy wisp and charred moss. These were the three ingredients that were needed to make a soul refining pill.


    Although he had been learning how to refine pills for almost as long as he had been cultivating. He hadn''t improved much. Pill levels were split into seven different grades. With seven being the lowest quality and one being the highest quality.


    Haru had been learning for a few years yet he could still only refine grade six pills. It was hard for him to cultivate and refine pills since his cultivation would improve so quickly he didn''t have time to keep up with his refining skills.


    Hebined the materials in the palm of his hand and then began to use the phoenix me to heat them to their desired temperature. He found since he was from a world where they could urately measure the heat of things with instruments like a thermometer it was easier to make sure that the pill seeded.


    So he taught himself to urately determine the heat of something by touch. Since he didn''t run the risk of burning himself he could touch the fire at will and would be able to fine-tune the heat on the go. It was something he came up with on his own and was praised by Lao for it.


    He had almost a one hundred per cent sess rate because of this little trick and that was exactly what he nned to do with the materials he gathered in his palm.


    The ginseng had to be at a lower heat than the rest so he found it perfect to heat it to one hundred and twenty-eight degrees Celsius to defuse the water that was trapped inside and make it into steam. As for the moss and the oak branch they both had to be incinerated to the point where they became a fine powder so he held the heat on those two at six hundred and ny degrees exactly.


    After he had tined them both into a fine powder he used the phoenix me to carry the ginseng underneath the powdered mixture to let the steam from the water trapped within to fuse with the powder before quickly lowering the heat to ny degrees to keep them warm enough while he heated the vampires tooth.


    He figured since it was a tooth it would need a high temperature to incinerate it but to his surprise as soon as the phoenix me touched the tooth it began to dissolve into a liquid. He quickly moved the concoction he had just created underneath the tooth so he could let the liquid drip down into the damp powder.


    "I wasn''t expecting it to turn into a liquid No, I will have to let them dry out for a little longer." Haru said to himself as thest bit of the tooth mixed in with the other materials. He then formed four small pills out of the now soaked powder and held them into a circr shape within his palm while still sting them with heat baking them into shape.


    About fifteen minutes passed until the moisture was all absorbed and the pills were now finished. He opened his palm to see what he had just created and was taken back by the sight of the pills. Previously he could only create grade six pills but in his hand, there were three grade five pills resting on the crease of his fingers.


    He looked at thest remaining pill and felt a little discouraged as he saw the ck discolouration on the surface. ''A failure huh?'' He thought before taking a closer look to see that the small ck pill had little red lines that swirled around it like veins.


    "Pill veins! Yes! That''s amazing. I didn''t fail after all! But what grade is this?" He asked himself as he looked at the pill. He couldn''t tell since the highest grade of pill he had made before was only grade five. This one seemed so unfamiliar until a thought came to his head as he remembered when Li Jun showed him how to refine pills.


    "This is a grade three pill How did I!? This has to be the power of adding a vampires tooth." Haru came to the conclusion since that was the only thing he had changed in his recipe. He kept the heats and materials exactly the same as what he was used to yet he managed to make a grade three pill by pure chance.


    When he started cultivating he took many soul refining pills and they helped him with things like memory and perception. But they soon lost their effect since his soul outgrew their effects. But he couldn''t wait to see what would happen with this pill so he ced it on his tongue before swallowing.


    The pill was small enough to travel down his throat without any resistance at all but as soon as it entered his stomach. He felt his heart tighten as the pill begin to break down within his stomach, He felt like his head was expanding as the soul power began to fill his soul ocean and shed against the Qi within his dantian.


    It was unlike anything he had felt before and suddenly all the knowledge he had stored in his brain had be clearer. It felt like it had now all travelled to the front of his brain and he was free to pick out memories and knowledge at will.


    This was by far the most overwhelming thing he had experienced since his bloodline awakening. But it didn''t hurt at all. He now felt like all of the martial art skills he had been taught would now respond with his body perfectly.


    ''This is what they call perfect recollection isn''t it?'' Haru remembered reading about rare cases of people being able to remember things with efficiency like looking at a photograph. It was called perfect recollection but was also known as a photographic memory.


    As he sat in the living room going through his memories like an archive. A loud noise came from outside as the gates to his house were knocked wide open. A few seconds went by and Haru smiled lightly as a faint glow of green light reflected off the tv screen and the sound of a man screaming out in pain came from the driveway.


    "I love that array!" Haru smiled before standing up and walking over to the front door.

 Chapter 180: I dont want to fight!

    Chapter 180: I don''t want to fight!


    Haru unlocked the door before stepping outside to see the vampire he had met earlier in the day lying on his back within the darkness of the night. He looked up after hearing the door open to see Haru stood there and his eyes widened slightly at the sight of him.


    "What is wrong with this god damn house! It just attacked me!" He shouted in outrage after his attack was returned to his body.


    "You shouldn''t try to break into someone''s house then. You only have yourself to me." Haruughed at seeing his angered expression. It really was his own fault. If he had just rung the doorbell at the gate them maybe he wouldn''t have been injured.


    "Break-in? All I did was knock on the door. I didn''t try to break in at all." The vampire replied before getting back up to his feet.


    ''So it is that sensitive? I wondered what it would take for the attack to be returned but it will even take a knock as an attack. That could be a problem'' Haru thought. If he had visitors and decided to leave the gate open they would have to knock on the door to get him to open up.


    "Then you should have pressed the doorbell. You still trespassed on my property." Haru let him know that he was unwee. He also felt confused. Why did hee anyway? Did he want to continue to fight? Or was there something else? Maybe it was all just a distraction for him to let his guard down. But he couldn''t know for sure without asking him.


    "Why are you even here? What do you want? Did you want to pick up where we left off before? I don''t mind plucking a few more teeth." Haru said and then smacked his fist against his palm to threaten him.


    "No, Wait! I need your help. I don''t want to fight!" The vampire eximed. He didn''t look like he had any animosity toward Haru but he still didn''t feelfortable enough to drop his guardpletely.


    "Speak. What do you want?" Haru asked. He wasn''t sure what he could even offer him. And if it was something like exterminating another sect he would pass right away. Unless it was for something really valuable. The beast core turned out to be a dud so he definitely wouldn''t work for something that would have no use to him anymore.


    "You said something about vampires before. Not the myth, I mean about the upper realm. My grandfather used to tell me about when I was a kid. I want to know more about it if you don''t mind." The vampire said while looking at Haru with a look of longing. He just wanted answers. But for what reason?


    Haru why he was here in shanghai and who knew of his existence here. Not everyone would be excepting to a vampire being in their city but Haru had the strength to fight him so it didn''t really make a difference what he was. He wouldn''t be able to harm him anyway.


    "Sure I can tell you what I know but I want to know a few things about you. Like why are you here and who else knows about you being here?" Haru exined to him and he seemed to think it over for a few seconds before agreeing.


    "I have no issues with that. So are you going to invite me in?" The vampire asked with a slight smile, mocking the old myth that he wouldn''t be able to enter his house without being invited in.


    "Invite you into my house? Funny joke. My cousin is sleeping in there and I don''t want a leech-like you having any funny ideas. Now follow me." Haru said to him and then began to walk around to the side of the house where a gate led to the back yard.


    They both sat down on chairs on the decking outside of ss doors that led inside the house and then began to talk.


    "So why are you here?" Haru started with his questions. He wanted to know if he would be a danger to anyone so he could take him out before anything happened.


    "You''re asking right away?" He asked and then looked at Haru, seeing the cold look in his eyes and then looked away quickly before starting his exnation.


    "Okay Well, my name is Erstin Von Trier. From the family that established a town in Europe with our family name. And I came here to escape them. Ie from a long line of vampires with my grandpa being the head of the family. He used to speak of many worlds out in the endless space above ours. He said we used to be treated like royalty where ever we would go.


    But now we are reduced to gutter rats. He picked this world to make his home here because he knew that he would never be found by the people who were pursuing him.That was almost three thousand eight hundred years ago.


    But when he came here it seemed that others had the same n as him and he found dozens of his kind living here. Since my grandfather was the strongest of all of them they all gathered around him and decided that he would be their leader.


    That was when he met my grandmother who was the daughter of a family who decided to settle down here hundreds of years before he arrived for himself.They fell in love and had thirty-six children with my father being the eldest son so he has always been next in line to inherit my grandfather''s position.


    So I escaped from the family to flee from the fight for the throne. Ever since I was young my aunts and uncles have tried to kill me countless times to make my father mad so he would do something unfitting of the sessor.


    I have been living in many different ces for decades. It is just a coincidence that I ended up here a few years ago and ran into a nice young man who helped me find a ce to live.


    The old couple in my house was caught stealing money from him after he had given them that house. So I turned them into my ves so they can live in eternal torture. Under his instructions of course. It wasn''t my idea.


    And as for who knows that I am here? I tried to keep that as few people as possible so I would say only three people in total.


    One is the nice young man that I met all those years ago. His name is Ma Hanying.


    The other is called Zhu Tengfei.


    And the third person told me to never reveal her name to anyone since her family is famous in the capital. I met her because she came to me to kill me but then felt pity when I couldn''t even put up a fight against her. She was in fact around your age if not a little younger" Erstin exined everything before ending on a cliffhanger.


    "My age? And how would you know my age?" Haru asked with suspicion. Did he do a background check within the time that it took for Yun to fall asleep?


    "Oh Well, when you feed off the life energy of people. You can get a good understanding of how old they are and if they have any health conditions just by looking at them. It''s nothing too urate. I just know that you are under twenty years old and have a lot of life energy." Erstin smiled as he looked toward Haru''s neck.


    "Then this girl. She was under twenty too? Haru asked.


    "No at the time she was under sixteen but that was quite a while ago. Years kind of blend together for me but it shouldn''t have been too long ago." He exined and then took his eyes from his neck and looked up to see the same cold look in Haru''s eyes. He obviously wasn''t entertained with the thought of having a bloodsucker sinking his teeth into him.


    "So a young girl with the strength to beat a vampire that has lived hundreds of years? That is pretty impressive. Was she called Hong Xia?" Haru asked with a growing suspicion that it was the famous young cultivator that he had heard a lot about already.


    Erstin''s eyes widened upon hearing that name and his mouth opened slightly as he gasped. He looked at Haru with unspeakable fear and remained silent open being questioned about that particr name.


    "Thought so." Haruughed breaking the silence.


    "You know her? Did she send you here to finish me off?" Erstin looked worried and put his hands on the armrest of the chair just in case he had to make a quick escape.


    "Nope. I just heard a lot about her that''s all. There are lots of stories floating around about her and everyone seems to have a different experience with her. Anyway, you answered my questions. Are you ready to know more about your roots in the upper realm?" Haru asked.


    Erstin responded with just a nod and let Haru go onto exin.


    "Well first of all. Vampires aren''t a different species or anything. You were originally a faction of the human n''s cultivators. The ancestor of your faction developed a cultivation technique that would allow him to absorb blood Qi. That is what you call life energy from the bodies of other humans.


    He then wanted to find a way to pass the cultivation technique down to his descendants so he engraved the technique into his blood with his Qi." Haru exined the origins of his people and then went on to tell him about the revolution they had against the human n and how they were banished from civilization because of it.

 Chapter 181: Vampiric Regeneration.

    Chapter 181: Vampiric Regeneration.


    "Oh, so that''s what happened... I wonder why no one told me about that. Even my grandpa made it sound like we were the ones who were wronged. But if it is how you say then we were the ones who were in the wrong" Erstin said with a look of pain on his face after finding out his view of his family was wrong. He sat still contemting everything he knew before looking up at Haru with questioning eyes.


    "Do you think that maybe they hid the information from me on purpose?" He asked Haru as he couldn''t understand why they wouldn''t tell him about his families history. It seemed like the only reasonable exnation for why he didn''t know about any of this.


    "Well, I guess it''s possible that they didn''t want you to know so you wouldn''t sympathise with your food source. But I think it is more likely that they don''t know for themselves.


    What I just told you was all ancient history. It happened hundreds of thousands of years ago.


    I know you live longer than regr humans but I doubt even your strongest experts could live long enough to be able to tell their descendants about what happened." Haru told Erstin which instantly made him feel relieved.


    He wasn''t on good terms with some of his family members but he didn''t think that his grandfather would lie to him. Their rtionship was too good for that to be the case. So he also came to the same conclusion that Haru had.


    Even the oldest member of his family didn''t know about this. If he told his father then that would make sure that he could take over as the head of the family without anyints but he didn''t even want to think about doing that.


    When Erstin was young his cousins and uncles used to bully him and injure him pretty badly and his father never cared. He would always say it was vital for a leader to learn how to fight so he would let them continue to beat his son.


    He wanted to know about where his grandfather hade from in hopes of returning to his people. This was a world filled with humans after all. They were practically aliens that migrated to escape the war.


    Or at least that is what Haru''s information made him think. It wasn''t every day when you learn your whole life was a lie so he felt betrayed by his family but also intrigued to know more.


    "So this blood Qi... You mean to tell me that I was actually born a cultivator and I never knew about it?" Erstin asked Haru.


    "Pretty much yeah. You have a cultivation technique running through your veins. But it is a somewhat limited technique.


    Instead of absorbing Qi from the world, you absorb it from the people who have absorbed it from the world.


    You are basically a parasite so that will limit how fast you can grow in strength. I guess that is why you have a long natural life span. So you have enough time to cultivate your strength so you don''t have to worry about dying again." Haru exined to him.


    "A parasite? That hurts you know. Well, we think of your kind as livestock so that isn''t much better...


    But if I wanted to get stronger and find out more about my people in... What did you call it? The upper realms? How would I go about doing that?" Erstin asked another question but this time it was about him personally.


    Haru had no idea what he could do. All people are different and all people will grow at different speeds. He figured that it was probably the same with vampires so he couldn''t say for sure.


    Judging from his current power. He hadn''t even broken through to the first stage. He had just absorbed enough blood Qi from people that it had strengthened his body.


    So in the worst-case scenario, it could take months if not years just to step onto the path of cultivation. And if he was beingpletely honest with himself. He didn''t care if Erstin could be a cultivator. He didn''t owe him anything and he eve tried to drink Haru''s blood just a few hours ago.


    To add to the reasons not to tell him how he could try to get stronger. He also didn''t like the thought of a vampire running around and drinking the blood of cultivators.


    That is how the majority of vampires in the upper realms gained strength. They attacked and fed on cultivators to absorb not just their blood Qi but also their actual Qi.


    A vampire that had formed a dantian was much more dangerous than a regr vampire since they could also store Qi within their body to use to attack.


    The vampires without a dantian were much easier to deal with since they only used the blood Qi like nutrients. It would revitalise their body but it wouldn''t make them much stronger unless they drank a lot of it.


    "How would you get to the upper realms? Well from what I understand there are gates that can open up to transfer people between different worlds and realms. You can either look for one of those.


    Or you could be nearby when someone is about to ascend to the upper realm naturally. Which would probably be much easier and more reliable.


    And you also know someone who will be leaving this world for the middle realm soon." Haru said with a smile. If he could ascend to the upper realms without bing a cultivator then he would no longer have to worry about the consequences of that being the case if he learned how to cultivate before going.


    "I know someone who is going to ascend? Wait... Is it you?"Erstin asked. Mistaking Haru''s plotting smile as him being proud of himself.


    "Me? No, I am still far away from being at that level." Haru almost chocked on his saliva as heughed at the assumption he had made. Hary was still three stages away from being able to cultivate and he didn''t even know how long it would take for him to be ready to breakthrough.


    "Then who is it?" Erstin raised his eyebrows and asked. He didn''t know too many people after all. He could count them all on one hand so it wasn''t a hard thing to figure out but he decided to ask anyway.


    "I''m talking about Ma Hanying... He will be breaking through and then leaving earth behind. And for that to happen a gate will have to open.


    If you really want to go then you will have to be nearby him when that happens. And you can just simply enter behind him." Haru sighed before exining what he meant.


    For someone who was a few hundred years old, he wasn''t very smart. It was a shame that all vampires could absorb from humans was their blood because this particr one was in need of some brains.


    ''Maybe his calling is to actually be a zombie?'' Haru thought to himself beforeughing.


    "Ma Hanying? He is going to be leaving for the middle realm? I will ask him to take me with him then. Thank you. You have been a great help to me.


    If you ever need my help for something then I will be happy to. All you need to do is say the word." Erstin said before getting ready to leave but Haru stopped him before he could stand.


    "Actually I do need your help with something..." Haru smiled sinisterly.


    "You do? What is it?" Erstin asked. Oblivious to the elephant in the room, Being the look on Haru''s face.


    "I noticed that your tooth has grown back. After I took it from you I used it to create a pill.


    I will just be blunt with you. I want a few of your teeth. If they grow back then it shouldn''t be anything to worry about. And you did say that all I need to do is say the word.


    You don''t go back on your promises do you?" Haru schemed against him in order to make some more rank three pills. The one he had taken was only for strengthening his soul. He wondered what would happen if he made a Qi increasing pill. Would it have simr effects?


    "My teeth... Erm well. Yeah, my kind can regenerate every part of their body with time but really? Do you want my teeth? I will still feel the pain if you pull them out like you didst time."Erstin said in response to Haru''s request.


    "So the only thing you are worried about is the pain? If I could take them out without you feeling any pain then it''s fine?" Haru asked.


    "That''s not what I was..." Erstin began to say but he couldn''t finish before Haru flicked his thumb, shooting out a strong painkiller down his throat and then pulling out two of his teeth within an instance.


    Erstin didn''t react at all. The pain killers seemed to have kicked in as soon as they travelled down his throat and he didn''t even realise his teeth had been plucked out until he felt the inside of his mouth.


    "You! You argh evilfh" Erstin managed to get out with a lisp as his teeth slowly began to push their way back through with his instant regeneration. He then ran as fast as he could back to his house before Haru could say anything else.


    "If I knew they grew back that quickly then I would have taken more... I was being considerate just in case he needed to feed on someone..." Haruined as he ran away into the distance.

 Chapter 182: Shes going to be mad.

    Chapter 182: She''s going to be mad.


    A few days passed after Yun''s sleepover and Haru developing the pills that he wanted to create with the teeth he had taken from Erstin anding up with a n of what to do with the dragon situation. They would have to visit Changbai mountain soon but they couldn''t do that without a solid n.


    Thest thing that they wanted to do was to rush into it without thinking everything through. From what they all understood. The dragon sacrificed himself to stop the volcano from erupting. If they removed his body there was still the chance that the eruption he stopped that day woulde back with much more fury than it had before.


    The reason they were going was more or less to take a look. If they could get the body for Lao to have then they would do that but they weren''t deadset on bringing it back by force.


    Haru and Li Jun felt bad that they had toe up with such a n but Lao was sure that he was fine with either oue. He didn''t know the dragon that had sacrificed himself but he respected his decision to do so and wasn''t about to make his efforts go to waste by activating the eruption that he gave his life to stop.


    After they came up with the n they had to figure out how they would get there. It was still thousands of miles away and they would have to pass through Beijiang to get there so they figured that they would take a bus to Beijing first and then try to get on a bus or hire a taxi to take them the rest of the way.


    It was a long way to go for a single trip so it was nearly impossible to get there with a single route so they had to n it this way just in case one of their ns fell through. And with that, it was decided. They knew what they were doing and how they would do it.


    All that was next was to get permission from the principle to leave university for a week. He did ask Andrew to ask the principle on his behalf but he never told him the oue of his phone call. So he would first have to make a call to his uncle.


    Haru left his soul ocean after the discussions with Lao and Li Jun were over and then decided to ask Andrew what had happened.


    He pulled out his phone and went downstairs to sit down in the living room. He had been in his room for the whole weekend and wanted fresh scenery so he thought it would be better to talk downstairs. He had the whole house to himself so he didn''t have to worry about disturbing anyone. And after a few days of lining on his own, he concluded that he enjoyed the freedom.


    He held the phone up to his ear after scrolling through his contacts and calling Andrew. A few seconds of ringing went on while Haru sat patiently waiting for his uncle to answer. Just as he was about to give up on the phone call he answered.


    "Haru? It''s not like you to call at this time. We were just sitting down for dinner." Andrew exined why it had taken him so long to answer the call. Haru turned his head, noticing that the sun had already begun to set. He had spent two whole days nning the trip with Lao and Li Jun and didn''t even realise how much time had passed.


    "Oh, Sorry. I didn''t know you would be having dinner. I can call backter if you need me to." Haru apologised for disturbing them. He wasn''t on the best terms with his uncle so he felt like he needed to apologise since it didn''t seem like a good reason to disturb someone''s time with their family.


    "No, It''s fine you already called. You might as well go on with what you were going to say." Andrew assured him that it was okay and he had nothing to apologise for before hearing him out.


    "Well, the other day when Yun stayed over. I asked if you could talk to the principle about me taking time away from sses to go on a trip. I was wondering what he said? You never got around to telling me." Haru announced while switching the tv to the news. He hadn''t kept up with what was happening in the world all week. He wanted to know.


    "Oh, Yeah. I''m sorry about that. I was nning to tell youter that night since I spoke to him right after you called but something came up. He said it was fine. He heard that you were having trouble in ss so he thought it might do you some good to get away for a few days so he said it''s fine if you take a week off.


    Although he did want me to make sure that you go and see him when you get back. He seemed like he had something he wanted to talk to you about although he wouldn''t tell me about it.


    But he seemed sure that you were going to be happy what he had to tell you." Andrew said with a sigh as Nadia''s voice called out from the kitchen.


    "Are you done with that damn phone call yet?! Your dinner is going to get cold." Haru chuckled after hearing her shout before the phone sounded like Andrew had cupped it in his hands.


    "Give me a minute woman! I will be done when I''m done!" He shouted back with a muffled sound covering his yelling but it was pretty clear what they were shouting about.


    "I''m sorry for disturbing your meal. I will let you go now. And thank you for asking him for me." Haru thanked Andrew for his time and then was about to hang up when he was called back to the phone.


    "Oh, And Yun said she wille over tomorrow after sses. She wanted me to let you know that you don''t have a choice." Andrewughed.


    "Tomorrow? I''m afraid she can''t. If I got the go-ahead from the principle then I will be setting off tonight. I have some things I need to take care of. Oh and let tell her to stay far away from my neighbourhood. A violent thug has shown up in the past couple of days. He has been harassing people around here." Haru subtly warned Andrew about the vampire living next door to him.


    Thest thing he wanted was for his cousin to be drained of all her blood by that moronic vampire. He didn''t seem like a bad guy just a bit foolish and would probably mistake Yun for a burr when being creepy and watching Haru''s house again.


    "Okay, I will tell her. But are you sure you have to go so soon? I mean. You just moved into that house right? And you are leaving it empty for the next week Oh well, I suppose you one of Mr Ma''s men will look after the ce for you. I worried for nothing." Andrewughed at himself for forgetting.


    "Yeah, He said he has some people who live in the area who will make sure everything is okay while I''m gone." He lied to make sure that everyone stayed away from his house while he is gone and then wrapped up the call with his Uncle.


    "While that''s all I needed. I hope you enjoy your dinner." Haru said before Hanging up. He didn''t give time for Andrew to say nye but he wasn''t the type of person who would say bye on the phone. He liked to keep his stoic personality.


    As Haru sat on the couch wasting time before nning to go upstairs and pack a bag for a week''s worth of clothes the tv gained his attention.


    "And with records soaring to a record-breaking number. The new artist topping the charts Jiang Suyin has be the youngest woman in history to get her debut single Soaring Love to number four within the first week of it being released." The news reporter said as the screen switched to a picture of Suyin holding a golden coloured record in her hands and smiling for the picture.


    "Suyin Did she get that popr already? I thought they were waiting until next year to release her album?" Haru asked himself confused. But he remembered that she said something about a single releasing before they released everything she had recorded so far.


    "I''d better call her to congratte her. I don''t know how she is holding up since I left. But she did say she wouldn''t text for a few days to make sure I had time to settle in." Haru muttered before calling her.


    The phone didn''t have time to ring out it just went straight to an automated message.


    "This number is no longer in service." The robotic voice began to say before he hung up.


    "Okay" He said with confusion before opening the application for nowchat on his phone and seeing that she was active less than two hours ago and had even left him a few messages over the past couple of days. But he hadn''t received them for some reason.


    "Haru. I have some good news! Please message me back when you see this." Was the first message sent the day after he had left for shanghai.


    "Hey, I hope you are settling into the new ce well. I don''t know if you saw it or not but they released one of my songs and it sold over one hundred thousand copies in the first day. Call me if you can." Was sent the day after.


    "Hey, I miss you." Was all that was sent the day after that.


    Each day she had left a different message saying how much she had missed him but his phone decided not to give him any notifications for it.


    "Fuck She''s going to be mad about this." He whispered before writing out a message for her.


    "Hey baby, I''m sorry that I didn''t respond all week. A lot of things happened and for some reason, this stupid app is acting up and didn''t send me any notifications.


    I just saw you on the news just now. Congrattions. I''m so proud of you. But I am still going to hold off on listening to your music until we can listen to it together as I promised.


    I just tried to call you but it said your phone is out of service. I hope everything is okay. And don''t be too mad okay? I love you." He sent the text and then went upstairs to pack his bags. He would need to get to the bus station before all of the buses left for the night so he was in a bit of a rush.


    He packed his bags and then called a taxi to take him to the bus station at the edge of the city. The overnight buses were at a different station than the usual ones so he would have to go there instead.


    After he had done that he picked up his bags and walked outside to the front gate to wait for the taxi. To arrive. It didn''t take long before the driver pulled up and rolled down his window after seeing Haru stood by the gate waiting.

 Chapter 183: Hey.

    Chapter 183: Hey.


    "Are you the one that called?" The driver asked as he leaned over in his seat to get a look at Haru''s face.


    "Yeah, that was me. Do you know where the overnight bus station is?" Haru asked. He hadn''t looked it up that much he just knew that there was one so he was relying on the taxi drivers skill to know where it was.


    "The one by the edge of the city? Yeah, I know where that is I had a few customers head there already tonight. Here let me help you with your bags." The taxi driver opened the door and walked around to the trunk and opened it before asking for Haru''s bags by holding out his hand.


    It wasn''t much luggage only two backpacks so it was easy for him to help although it wasn''t needed. He then put them both into the trunk before closing it and then getting into the front seat. Haru then got into the backseats and looked out of the window as they started to drive down the rood.


    Haru''s phone beeped as a message came through on Now chat. He looked down at his phone to see that Suyin had replied.


    "No, I''m sorry. I thought you were ignoring me on purpose. I wasn''t sure what to think. And my phone number was leaked on the first day my single was released so I had to get a new one. I will call youter tonight so you get my number.


    I have another recording session in five minutes so I will call you when I get home.


    I love you too." Suyin''s message read. She seemed to be busy so Haru thought it was probably not the best to disturb her right now so he decided he would just wait for her to call himter to talk. It would be easier for both of them that way.


    By the time Haru looked back up the car was already approaching the bus station and he was the taxi started to slow down to aplete stop at the entrance to the building.


    "There we go we''re here." The taxi driver smiled and got out again to help get the bags out of the trunk. Haru got out too and then realised he didn''t bring any cash with him. He usually did but for he was in such a rush to get out that he forgot to bring any with him.


    "Can I transfer the money to your ount? I forgot to bring money with me. Sorry." Haru apologised. He felt like an idiot. He would usually bring money just in case but he had spent it all before he came out.


    "Sure. That''s not a problem at all. Let me grab my phone." The driver said and then walked over to the driver''s seat and pulled out his phone before giving Haru his bank details.


    Haru scanned his phone screen using his own and sent the money that he was requesting for the ride. He didn''t need to worry about the cost so he didn''t even look before scanning his card. He then took his bags and went on his way into the bus station to get a bus to Beijing.


    He walked into the oddly empty station. ''I guess not a lot of people travel thiste at night.'' Haru thought before making his way up to the machines that were used to buy tickets.


    They were a kind of wall-mounted touchscreen disy that had a list of times and dates for outgoing buses. He needed to find one for tonight that was heading to Beijing which was much easier than he thought it would be. But the only problem was. The only one that was heading directly there was a luxury bus of some kind.


    The others were all cheaper since they made their way to other ces along the way to pick up more passengers. The one that went directly there offered an "Exclusive VIP experience" and that was made apparent by the cost of the tickets.


    They were five times more expensive than the tickets for the regr buses. ''How do you get a VIP experience on a bus? I could understand a ne but a bus. I haven''t even heard about that before.'' Haru thought, intrigued by the pricing and the information about the ticket.


    So in a moment of curiosity, he bought one. It would make a little dent in his bank ount but it was nothing too bad for him. He just wanted to see what it was like.


    As he paid for the ticket the printer inside the machine amped up and started producing a high pitched whine as it printed the ticket he had just bought.


    The information for everything printed onto a piece of card and then dropped down into the metal tray that was underneath it before Haru picked it up to have a look.


    ''Stand A. 7:15 arrival time and a 7:30 departure time. Not bad I only have to wait half an hour. But where in the world is stand A?'' He thought before walking over to one of the many maps scattered around the station that showed where the stands were.


    Stand A was on the other side of the building. ''Oh, so that is why I couldn''t find it. Okay well, that makes things easier.'' Haru then walked to where stand A was and was surprised by what he saw. There were red ribboned gates outside of a door guarded by a big muscled man in a suit along with a red carpet that led up to them.


    ''I see. This is the VIP experienced they offered. It''s kinda too high profile for me. I thought the inside of the bus would be spacious or something but if this is it then I would have paid for the regr tickets instead. It would have saved my wallet.'' He sighed as he approached the security guard at the entrance.


    ''Your ticket please.'' He said in a threatening tone like he had seen too much in his life to be doing this job. Which was probably the case given the small scar on his neck in the shape of a bullet hole. Haru looked at him for a second before noticing the small bump in his clothes just above his waistband.


    ''Oh, he is guarding this ce with a gun? I wonder what''s inside. I might have written it off a bit too soon.'' He thought before showing the man his ticket that he had just bought. After reading the first couple of words he nodded his head and then stood aside so that Haru could enter the room.


    As he entered he was kind of blown away by how the interior looked despite the outside of the room. The rest of the station just looked like a typical bus terminal but the inside looked more like a lounge you would see when boarding the first-ss aerone.


    It was probably in fact inspired by how they would do it since within the room they had a private cafe that would serve food and drink.


    ''Woah this ce is way nicer than I expected. But I bet the food is also expensive.'' He thought before noticing the sign that said everything inside the room was provided free. It would exin why the tickets were so expensive. He was starting to see why there were so many people waiting for the bus.


    In total Haru counted around twelve people sat waiting for the bus to arrive but the room they were in was big enough for them all to be so far apart that they wouldn''t have to talk to each other. But as soon as he entered the room he felt all the eyes turn to him. Each one of them gave him a disapproving look before looking back to each other confused about why he was there.


    On the other hand, there was a young girl around seven or eight years old and an older one who looked to be around sixteen or seventeen. They were sat on their own at one side of the room and he noticed the older one smile at him before he took a seat at one of the many empty tables.


    ''Who lets their kids get on a bus alone?'' He thought as he started to look around the room at the other people to try to figure out who their parents were bit everyone else in the room appeared to be office workers judging by their clothing and many briefcases in the room.


    But nothing happened. No one approached them at all. They didn''t seem to have their parents with them or anybody for that matter. They were all alone in a room full of office workers. Not that it mattered to Haru. He was just observing the people in the room with him.


    And they happened to be the only people that stood out to him. The others seemed to blend into the environment. But what if that was the point? They were supposed to look so ordinary that he didn''t notice them.


    ''That is what is happens. I see They are the kids of a rich family in Beijing that are being apanied by their bodyguards. But is this many necessary? Unless they are expecting something.'' Haru concluded that something was going to happen if he got on this bus.


    He got up and was about to walk to the door when he heard a girls voice call out.


    "Hey." Haru turned his head to see the older girl was now looking at him with a smile while everyone else in the room stared at him suspiciously.


    That was the only confirmation he needed. If they had nothing to do with these two girls then they wouldn''t have even nced up from whatever they were doing on theirptops but every single one of them looked up at Haru.

 Chapter 184: Soundproof.

    Chapter 184: Soundproof.


    "Yes?" Haru asked as he turned to see all eyes were now on him. What did she want? They didn''t know each other and as far as he knew he didn''t do anything to offend her.


    "Oh, sorry it''s just that You look familiar. Have we met somewhere before?" She asked with a look of suspicion. He knew that he hadn''t met her before at all so he wondered what she was trying to get at. Was this a plot against him or something?


    He felt the eyes of the people in the room on him and saw as some of them reached their hands down into their jacket underneath the table.


    "No, I think you''re mistaken. I haven''t seen you before." He said and looked as the other people all remained tense.


    "Is that so? You have this aura around you that feels familiar. Are you really sure that I haven''t met you somewhere before?" The girl asked one more time to make sure that she was sure. Even she didn''t recognise his face it was just the feeling that he gave her.


    It was the feeling that a child would have in the arms of their father. It was a safe feeling like if he was close by she would be safe.


    "Then, I apologise for making a mistake. Would you like to join me for some tea? It''s my way of apologising for confusing you with someone." She said with an honest smile. It had been a long time since Haru had seen a smile as honest as this. It reminded him of when he went back to the sect and met Remi again.


    "Tea? Sure I could use a drink." Haru said before feeling the people secretly looking at him direct death stares towards him. They were still trying to keep the fact that they were bodyguards hidden though. Almost like he wasn''t a real target for them to be threatened by.


    They were still waiting for something else despite their cautiousness. A few of them red up at one man who was stood by the counter drinking a coffee and looked for a sign. He lifted one hand and scratched his eyebrow and tilted his sses downwards as not to cause suspicion.


    But Haru felt the pressure he was feeling in the room ease up as they all rxed and went back to mindlessly doing their own things. It was like they no longer felt like he was a threat just from the subtle sign of this one man.


    ''So he''s the leader huh?'' Haru thought before walking over to the pair of girls and pulling out a chair and taking a seat for himself.


    "Who is he?" The little girl asked the older girl who then looked down at her with a smile.


    "I don''t know he hasn''t introduced himself yet. But that also means we haven''t introduced ourselves to him, doesn''t it? Would you like to tell him who you are?" The older girl asked the younger one with a warm smile. She cared for her a lot and that was clear to see.


    Haru hade to the conclusion that they were probably sisters and that was made obvious as the younger on pulled down the hood of the thick jacket to reveal her deep ocean coloured eyes that matched the eyes of the older girl sat beside her.


    "Sure! My name is Lan Tao. I am nine this year and I like to ride horses in my spare time." The younger girl smiled innocently like she thought that was a normal introduction. The older girl giggled and then gave her a kiss on the head.


    "Tao I swear you are so cute. It''s funny that you don''t even realise it." The older girl said before looking across the table and back at Haru.


    "Well hello there. Lan Tao. It is nice to meet you." He said back softly to which the younger girl smiled with her cheeks turning slightly red with embarrassment.


    The older girl giggled and then reached her hand out across the table to shake Haru''s. He took notice of it and then looked around to see if anyone was still looking at him before holding out his hand in return.


    The girl smiled before gently wrapping her fingers around his palm and squeezing it a little as she shook it.


    "And my name is Lan Yan. And you probably guessed that we are siblings didn''t you?" She said and then smiled before she looked down at the younger girl with a bit of pity in her eyes. Something was wrong but she couldn''t force her problems on to a stranger so instead, she smiled before looking back up at the young man sat across from her.


    "And your name is?" She asked since Haru hadn''t said anything yet.


    "Haru Kitagawa. It''s nice to meet you too Lan Yan." Haru smiled once again to which she quickly retracted her hand away from him as her cheeks also shifted to a gentle shade of pink. It was the same reaction most people had when they met him after his looks had fused with Li Jun''s so it didn''t bother him as much as it should have done.


    "Ahem, Likewise." Lan Yan smiled before looking away from Haru''s eyes. She then stood up to pour him some tea. She pulled a cup off from the tter that was holding the teapot and then put it down on the table before picking up the teapot and pouring it into the cup and passing it to him.


    Haru took a sip of it before putting the cup onto the table once again.


    "It''s delicious, Thank you very much." He said and then was ambushed by a question from the younger girl.


    "Excuse me Why do you have a funny name?" She asked as she couldn''t pronounce his name correctly. She was young after all and only had knowledge of Chinese names it wasn''t like he expected her to pronounce his name but she called it funny. Haru smiled before answering.


    "My name? I guess it does sound funny, doesn''t it? Well, I''m not from china I am from Japan. And my name is Japanese so that might be why it sounds funny to you." He exined to her but without missing a beat she asked him another question.


    "Then why are your eyes so pretty?" She took note of the unusual colour to his eyes since it was probably quite unlike anything she had seen before. The older girl also looked at him with eyebrows raised like she was also interested to know the answer.


    "My eyes? Well, I was born with them. I don''t know how I should answer that." Haru couldn''t think of what he could say to exin his eyes being that shade of blue other thaning out and saying that he was a cultivator and he was possessed by someone''s soul fragment and his eyes didn''t change back to their original colour.


    But he found it funny. At first, he was going to get up and leave for the next bus heading to Beijing but these kids were innocent. He didn''t want anything to happen to them on their way to where ever they were heading so he made up his mind to stay and just take this bus instead.


    It would be quicker than waiting for the next one and he was also curious to see why they had so many guards. He doubted many people would travel with so many of them so they must have been from some important family. As he sat there talking back and forth the man who was guarding the door walked into the room. Just as the bus pulled up to the ss sliding doors that were on one side of the room.


    "Enjoy your ride." The muscr man said with a monotone voice as everyone stood and began to line up to board.


    "Well, It was nice talking to you Mr Kitagawa but we will take our leave now." Lan Yan said before taking the hand of her little sister and then walking up to the front of the line. She walked passed everyone else but not a single one of them said anything as she was the first to enter the bus.


    Their seats were right in the middle of the bus so one by one as the other people boarded they sat all the way around them. Encircling the two of them perfectly.


    Haru''s seat just so happened to be right at the back of the bus so he had a whole row to himself. As he stepped on to the bus he noticed the interior was lined with ck silk and everything had a quiet feel to it. It sounded like the inside was soundproof since voiced wouldn''t echo in the slightest as some of the people whispered to each other.


    Haru showed his ticket to the driver before walking past the group of strategically ced guards and the two young girls he had been talking with.


    As he walked past he noticed that both of them ignored him entirely. They didn''t even turn to look at him as he walked past them both. He didn''t think anything of it before sitting at the back of the bus and waiting for it to set off. He pulled out his phone and noticed that he had missed a phone call from an unknown number


    "Who is that? Fuck that''s probably Suyin, isn''t it? I had better call her back." He whispered to himself before calling the number back.

 Chapter 185: Moonlight.

    Chapter 185: Moonlight.


    The phone rang out for a few seconds before a tired voice picked up. But the tiredness in her voice went away the second Haru spoke.


    "Hello, Is this the number for." Haru was just about to ask if he had the correct number but he couldn''t even finish his sentence before Suyin shouted back.


    "Haru! I missed you so much. I wish you were still here It''s so nice to hear your voice. Are you okay? I tried to call earlier but you didn''t pick up." She said as soon as she realised who had called her.


    "You''re sure are excited to hear from me. Did you miss me that much?" He teased her a little bit since so sounded so happy.


    "Of course I am. It feels like it has been forever since Ist heard your voice. Did you not miss me?" Suyin asked in return.


    Haru felt eyes all over his body as he realised how loud he was talking. The guards all looked up at him and gave disapproving looks like he was being disrespectful.


    But he didn''t really care. Instead of giving in to the pressure from the others he sat back in his seat and rxed a little before putting one of his legs over the other. He was now acting like the spoiled kids he hated so much but It was better this way.


    If he was quiet and reserved for the whole journey they could get the wrong idea about him and think that he was there as a spy and end up shooting at him. Although he was confident that he could defend himself against them.


    He didn''t want them to think he is their enemy. He wanted to lie low and wait until something happened. Which he had the suspicion that it would or else this many guards would have been pointless in the first ce.


    "Who are you kidding!? I missed you too. I didn''t think that it would be this hard, living all by myself." Haru was practically shouting at this point with an overly raised voice since he knew everyone would be listening to his conversation anyway.


    He wanted them to know that he knew they were listening to him. Which worked since one of the men called out back to him.


    "Excuse me, young man. But could you be a little quieter? I have a lot of work to do and you are keeping me from concentrating on it." A middle-aged man dressed like an office worker asked Haru with a gentle smile but his frame was way too big for a simple office worker. Haru could see the muscles on his body from under the suit he was wearing. All in all, it was a terrible disguise for them all to be doing this. It might have been better to just wear typical clothes a bodyguard would wear.


    It''s wasn''t like people travelling with guards was a strange sight. Some people just needed the reassurance that their loved ones would be safe and if they had the money to do so then it was normal for them to have a bodyguard.


    "Fine. Whatever old man." Haru said with a sigh, he was ying the arrogant young master role a bit too well as he noticed the secret guard bite his tongue with the veins on his forehead beginning to bulge.


    "Thank you." The guard said with the smile forcefully fading from his lips as the interaction came to an end and then turned back around to where another man nudged him in the arm and giggled slightly.


    "What was that about? Are you out somewhere?" Suyin asked after hearing a little bit of the interaction.


    "Oh, it''s nothing to worry about. Just some old man on the bus was asking me to be quiet. And yeah I''m heading to Beijing for a week." Haru announced loud enough for the man to hear on purpose to try to get a reaction but there was nothing. The only reaction he had were the veins on the back of his neck looking like they would pop at any moment.


    "Beijing!? Why are you going to Beijing? I thought you would be studying for sses or something." Suyin said with a curious tone to her voice.


    "I just have some business to take care of and then I will be heading back. It won''t take long and I got permission from the teacher so everything is fine.


    But enough about me. I heard your new song is doing well. You made it into the top ten within the first week of it being released. That''s not something that happens very often. I''m proud of you." Haru said a bit quieter this time.


    "Why thank you. You were the one who inspired the lyrics so you should be congratting yourself not me." Suyin giggled after she let him know that the song was written about him.


    "Wait You wrote a song about me? You didn''t say anything about that before I left." Haru said shocked by what she had told him. That was a big thing and he didn''t know how to react to it.


    "You haven''t listened to it yet? I thought you would have done that. If you did it would have been pretty obvious it was about you." She said with a hint of sadness in her voice like she wanted him to listen to it.


    "You were the one who told me not to listen to any of your songs until we see each other again. I wanted to keep my word and wait until we were together." Haru said, reminding her of the promise she had made him keep a few months prior.


    "I was just joking about that. I didn''t think you would keep your word. But if you want to we can listen to my album together before ites out. I will be going to Shanghai at the start of next year to do the very first live performance before the album drops." She let him know that she would be able to see him at the start of next year which brought a smile to Haru''s face.


    "I will be able to see you again soon? I can''t wait! I will have to show you around my new house too." Haru said excitedly.


    "You bought a new house? Why? I know you have money saved up but you need to be smart with it. It won''tst forever you know." Suyin said with a bit of disappointment in her voice but it didn''t matter to her that much. Since she had already nned to support him in the future.


    "No, I didn''t buy anything. Ugh There was a little bit of trouble I got involved in a few days ago and the boss of the organisation gave me a house to sweep things under the rug." He told her to ease her but worrying but that only lead to more worrying.


    "You aren''t fighting with anyone, are you? You aren''t in Shenzhen anymore they have their own way of dealing with people there. I bet the criminals carry guns with them in shanghai." She wasn''t wrong but that wasn''t a threat to Haru any more. The only things that could frighten him were explosives and magic devices. He wasn''t sure if he could defend against those.


    A mage on their own wasn''t a very strong opponent for a cultivator but a mage with a Lux was something else entirely. The Lux was made to rece guns but that wasn''t all. They amplified the magic that was used to power them by tens if not hundreds of times.


    Thest he had heard the military was developing a handheld weapon that could shoot a beam of sma through a full thirty centimetres of steel. As long as he didn''t run into anything like that he would have nothing to worry about.


    "It''s fine. We just had a little disagreement. Everything is settled now. He was a rather nice man and even asked me to work with him sometime in the future." Haru exined to her about how he wanted him topete in apetition for him.


    "Just apetition of martial arts? Nothing else? You''re not doing anything shady are you?" Suyin asked worried about exactly what he was doing with his time alone in Shanghai.


    "Yes, Just a martial arts tournament, There is really nothing to worry about," Haru announced to her gently to ease her worrying once again. He then looked up and notice that light wasing from underneath the curtains that were blocking the outside world from peering into the bus.


    He peeled back one of the curtains to see that the bus was already moving and the city was nowhere to be seen. The soundproofing on the inside of the bus was so good that he hadn''t even heard the sounds of the engine since he boarded so he assumed that they didn''t move an inch yet. He didn''t expect to be surrounded by trees illuminated by only moonlight.


    "Okay, Then I have nothing to worry about Hey, I will be busy tomorrow morning and I still haven''t showered yet. I''m going to have to go and get ready for bed so can I talk to you tomorrow night?" Suyin asked.


    "I was actually thinking about taking a nap. I don''t know how long I will be stuck on this bus for so sure. I will speak to you tomorrow." Haru said before they both said their goodbyes and Haru was now left alone within the awkward silence of this bus ride.


    He leaned forward to the seat in front of him where a young-looking man with sses was sat with clutching his briefcase in his arms.


    "Excuse me. Could you wake me up when we arrive at the next stop?" Haru asked of him. Even though the bus didn''t go through any of the towns along the way to Beijing they would still have to stop so everyone could take bathroom breaks along the way.


    And guessing by the time they would be making one soon so everyone could get what they needed tost the night.


    "Urm Sure." The man sounded confused but agreed to do so anyway. Haru then closed his eyes andy down across the four empty seats at the back of the bus like he was lying on a bed and then drifted off to sleep with beams of moonlight shining down upon his face.

 Chapter 186: Its Showtime.

    Chapter 186: It''s Showtime.


    The bus continued with Haru sleeping along with the rear seats. Shadows and silhouettes bounced off his sleeping face making whoever saw him wonder how someone could sleep within that array of shing lights. But it wasn''t even a bother for him.


    He was sleeping so deeply that by the time the bus pulled up to the service station just before it hit ten PM the man who he had tasked with waking him up had the physically shake his body just to get him to open his eyes.


    "Sir, It''s time to wake up now. We have arrived at the first stop." The man insisted on waking Haru so he wouldn''t miss the chance to go to the bathroom before they set off again.


    Haru opened his eyes to see that the interior lights inside the bus had been turned on and everything was illuminated. The only people on the bus now were Haru and the man with sses he had asked to wake him up.


    "I''m sorry I was having a nice dream and didn''t want to wake up." Haru yawned as he apologised to the man with a now frustrated look on his face like his time had been wasted.


    The man just nodded his head and then got off the bus as fast as he could. From what Haru knew. They would stop for twenty minutes to give everyone enough time to go to the bathroom and get some food and that was exactly what he had nned to do.


    He followed the man with sses as they both appeared to have the same idea and then went to the bathroom. As he came back out the man with sses was waiting for him.


    "I''m sorry about before. I thought I wouldn''t be able to hold it in so I didn''t want to waste time talking to you. What is your name?" The man with sses asked as Haru finished washing his hands.


    "It''s fine. I can understand that. Thanks for waking me up. My name''s Haru Kitagawa. What''s yours?" Haru asked him. As he got a closer look at his face the man seemed to be in his early twenties. He had a clean-shaven face but oily looking skin like he hadn''t showered for a few days.


    "Don''t mention it. My name is Ryan Chen." The man with sses introduced himself. Before they both started walking to the fast-food chain that was within the service station.


    "Ryan Chen? Are you a foreigner too?" Haru asked. He hadn''t met many foreigners since he hade to China so he felt somewhat of a connection with him.


    "Yeah, My mother is Chinese but we moved to Singapore with my Australian father when I was just a kid. But I ended uping back here for work. What about you? Your name is Japanese right? How did you end up here?" Ryan asked before they both joined the line to the restaurant.


    "Me? Well, I went to Shenzhen to live with my uncle about four years ago. And then I moved to Shanghai to go to university. What do you work as?" Haru exined how he ended up in China and then asked him a personal question.


    Ryan hesitated before answering Haru''s question.


    "Have you heard of the Lan Organisation from Beijing? I''m an intern there. I just got a few weeks off work to spend time with my family but now I have to go back. They offered to pay for a ne ticket to get me back to work sooner but I''m afraid of heights." Ryanughed at his confession of being scared of heights and then looked up at the menu on the wall to change the subject.


    "What should I get? I wonder Say Haru, What do you usually get from here?" He asked and then looked back at Haru who was also entranced by the menu. He didn''t know what to pick either.


    "I''m not sure. I haven''te here before. But I will probably go with a chicken rice box. That sounds pretty good." Haru said and then began to pull out his wallet as it wasing up to his turn to order.


    Ryan lowered Haru''s hand and then smiled before pulling out a stack of cash.


    "It''s on me. Let me treat my new friend okay?" Ryan said with sincerity before walking up to the counter before Haru could even say anything and thening back with two chicken rice boxes as Haru suggested.


    "You didn''t have to do that you know? I have money of my own." Haru felt kind of strange letting a stranger buy him food but he wasn''t overly offended. He seemed like a nice guy and did it out of kindness.


    "I know. But I wanted to. They then both walked over to an empty table and sat down.


    As they both sat down Ryan took off his sses and ced them in his inside pocket before opening the steaming tray of rice that would have fogged them up if he didn''t remove them.


    "You don''t need your sses to see?" Haru asked curiously. Most of the time people who wore sses wouldn''t take them off to eat so he found it a little strange.


    "No, not at all. They are just for work. I have trouble looking at bright lights for a long time. It gives me migraines so they help filter out some of the light so I can focus. It would have been hard this job if I needed to wear sses." Ryan said casually.


    "Is that so?" Haru said softly before opening up his tray of rice and feeling the steam rise up to his chin. They talked for a few minutes while they ate and then both got up with time to spare to make it back to the bus. As they boarded once again everyone else was already there. It seemed like they were waiting for the two of them to get back.


    "About time" One of the men sat toward the front of the bus said which got a giggle out of the woman that was sat next to him. Ryan sighed slightly before walking ahead of Haru with his head slightly down and sitting down in the same seat he was sat in before.


    Haru looked at him for a moment and then asked.


    "Hey wannae to sit up here with me? I could use thepany." He asked Ryan who then looked up to a man who was sat at the very front of the bus with a scar on his face smiled slightly and nodded, giving permission for him to do so.


    Haru pretended not to see anything but he had used his spiritual essence this whole time to keep an eye on every single one of them. There was nothing that could happen on the bus without Haru knowing about it first.


    Ryan then stood up from his seat.


    "Sure, Why not. I finished most of my work so far. I don''t mind taking a little break." He said and then walked to the back of the bus with Haru were then talked for a few more hours until Ryan passed out against the window.


    The bus continued on throughout the night with the drivers pulling over halfway through to switch so one of them could take a nap.


    Most of the people on the bus were sleeping but they were all clutching their metal briefcases or at least had them nearby. And the same was true for Ryan. After he had stood up from his seat he picked up a metal briefcase before going to sit with Haru.


    ''They probably have weapons inside right?'' Haru thought before using his spiritual sense to prate the hard case a bit like an x-ray machine and peered into what was within. He saw the faint outline of a gun in his head but it looked weird to him.


    It wasn''t a regr gun. It looked more like the guns that the military would use. But they required mana to use.


    ''Are they all military mages? Then what in the world are they doing protecting two children? Shouldn''t they be stationed at guard posts somewhere? But then again. They don''t really act like the military. Sure they have an obvious leader but they are acting like civilians


    Which means they are either private military contractors. Or a highly undercover special forces unit?'' Haru came to a quick conclusion about the people he was on the bus with. He hadn''t worked with PMC''s before but he knew that they didn''t tend to work in big groups like this unless the government had hired them.


    Which would exin theck of professionalism in the way they acted when they first saw Haru. It was like they thought he was a threat to them since he was an unforeseen variable. They all panicked. If they were special forces then they would have just ignored him and kept to their objective like the man with a scar on his face.


    Haru sat still contemting who exactly they were when a loud bang shook the whole bus as it skidded across the road. Even the soundproofing couldn''t hide the sounds of tires scratching against the road as they went off course before another loud bang emerged from the other side of the bus as it ploughed its way through multiple trees beforeing to a sudden stop after throwing everyone from their seats.


    ''Its showtime. I guess I will find out who these guys are in just a few minutes.'' Haru thought with a smirk before looking over at Ryan to see if he was okay.

 Chapter 187: Disappointment.

    Chapter 187: Disappointment.


    Ryan woke up in shock as the whole bus shook around beforeing to aplete stop against an old oak tree. He looked over at Haru he remained unfazed by what had just happened. He continued to sit with one leg over the other as everyone else was thrown into disarray.


    "What the?" Ryan said while looking at Haru sat calmly like nothing had happened when suddenly another jolt hit the bus as the sounds engines could be heard revving through the now broken windows.


    Ryan jumped to his feet and opened the briefcase that he kept by his side. A sh of light appeared as a sliver metallic gun simr to the one Haru had gotten from his Lux when he was younger came out and appeared in his hands.


    "I will exin everythingter I just need you to follow my instructions," Ryan said to Haru as he looked down upon the other people who were allying on the floor. The side of the bus in the centre had caved in which had sent them all to the ground as they took the full force.


    Haru sighed upon seeing how disorganised these people were. They weren''t special forces or they would have all been on their feet by now. They barely acted like PMCs which only left the conclusion that they were regr bodyguards.


    Haru had severely overestimated them. He thought for sure that they would be enough to take care of any problem that would arise but that didn''t seem to be the case.


    But as he looked over the people in the group he noticed five or so men including the one with the scar on his face all lined up with their guns ready. They seemed to be the real deal unlike the mess of civilians on the floor. They had already taken the two girls by the hand and were guarding them in a circr formation.


    "Sure," Haru stated in response to Ryan who then led him to the front of the bus where they met up with the men and the two girls.


    "You did a good job rookie. I thought for sure you would be just like those failures. But I''m d you took the initiative to protect the civilian." The man with the scar praised Ryan as he met up with them.


    "Thank you, sir, but what do we do now? Do you know what is going on yet?" Ryan asked as he didn''t have time to assess the situation for himself.


    The man with the scar sighed and then pointed to the window.


    "We are surrounded. Look at all those headlights out there. They have at least five cars full of people. And then that truck managed to run us off the road is also an unknown factor." He spoke with anger in his voice as he saw the obvious disadvantage they were at.


    "Then what do we do sir?" Ryan asked once again. His training probably hadn''t covered what to do when you are surrounded and outnumbered by hostiles but the man who was leading them had obviously been in this situation before.


    "I have three options in mind. But the oue won''t be good no matter what we decide on.


    Number one is that we gather as many people as we can from those lot and try to shoot our way out of this but the sess rate of that is nearly zero.


    Number two is that we call in back up and hope that they can get here in time before we all lose our lives.


    And number three is we give them what they want. I''m guessing all they want is these two girls. So if we just hand them over then they shouldn''t have much of a problem with letting the rest of us go." The man with the scar considered all of the options that he had but it already sounded like he had made up his mind.


    "But sir. You can''t be considering that? What about the job? We all signed a contract to say we would protect these girls with our lives." Ryan said in protest to the five men but they didn''t care for his opinion.


    "I understand your concern but as long as we all get out of this with our lives then there is nothing else to be worried about. Who cares if we signed a contract. It is the bosses fault for not taking the security of his daughters seriously. If we had just a bit more manpower or well-trained soldiers with us this would have been a breeze.


    But unfortunately, he decided to give these weapons to regr security guards and hope for the best. The only one at fault here is the father of these two girls." The man with the scar said before taking a step back with the two girls behind him who were now trembling with fear as one of the men ripped off a bit of his shirt and stuck it to the end of his rifle and held it out of the window to tell them that they surrender.


    But as soon as he did a beam of light shot out from one of the cars that surrounded the bus and the man cried out in pain for a brief moment before falling to the floor. They were using the same type of guns.


    ''Why do both sides have military-grade firearms? Even the police can''t carry things like this.'' Haru thought as he recognised the telltale sign of magic firearms being that the wound was cauterized immediately. The man who had tried to tell them that they surrendered was now lying on the ground with a hole the size of a tennis ball in his chest.


    "Fuck. It seems like they aren''t open for negotiations. It looks like we are going to have to shoot our way out of here. You boy get one of those guns and try to wake up that pathetic lot while you are at it." The man with the scar on his face ordered Haru.


    Haru just stood stationary despite him ordering him to do something.


    "Didn''t you hear me!? I said!" The man with the scar began to shout before Haru cut him off with his voice surprisingly calm for a teenager stuck in a life or death situation.


    "I don''t take orders from anyone. If you want something done then do it yourself. I don''t care what happens to you guys. This is your business, not mine. I only came along to watch." Haru stated in a cold and hateful voice that made even Ryan take a step back.


    "What are you saying? This is the best way we can preserve our safety. The people outside are merciless they will kill us all to make sure there are no witnesses. What do you think will happen after we all go outside. Do you think they will just leave you be because you aren''t connected to us?" Ryan said outraged by what Haru had just said.


    They hadn''t known each other long but it seemed that he judged Haru too soon. He was beginning to regret sharing a meal with him. When suddenly the young girl from earlier Lan Tao reached up and grabbed Haru''s hand.


    "Please Haru. Can you help keep me and my sister safe?" She asked with tears in her eyes. Haru then looked over at the older girl Lan Yan who was outright crying.


    Then surprising everyone on the bus he knelt down next to Yan Tao and whispered something in her ear.


    "Of course I will keep both you and your sister safe. All you have to do is stay here with these men okay?" He reassured the young girl that he would protect them and then looked up at the six men all looking at him with suspicion.


    "Move," Haru stated bluntly.


    "Excuse me?" The man with the scar asked. He couldn''t believe what he had just heard. As if a boy this young would be so desperate to die? Did he not see what just happened to the man who had tried to surrender on their behalf? He would have to be out of his mind to want to go outside.


    "You heard me. You''re blocking the way to the exit so get out of the way." Haru said releasing a bit of Qi to pressure them all to move from where they were standing.


    The man with the scar on his face took a deep breath before gasping as he recognised the familiar feeling of Qi pressuring his body. His eyes widened now as he looked at Haru with unfound respect.


    "I''m so sorry I didn''t know" He tried to apologise for ordering Haru but that didn''t concern him.


    Once they were all sufficiently out of the way Haru made his way to the front door of the bus and opened it. The lights from all of the cars outside shone upon his face as they tried to identify who he was.


    It caused confusion within their ranks as they waited for the order on what to do but Haru had already located Everyone''s position before they even attempted to run them off the road. He had been watching them all like a hawk since they had started to follow them.


    The only reason he didn''t act earlier is that he was expecting a good show from what he thought might have been special forces but now he was in a foul mood after learning that they were nothing other than regr security guards.


    The disappointment on Haru''s face was mistaken for anger and rage as one of the men raised his gun towards his location but as soon as the sights touched Haru''s located the man''s head was split in two.


    "Man down! They have a sniper! Quickly get to cover!" One of the other men behind the same car that the first one was shouted as he looked around for signs of a sniper.


    Haru climbed down from the bus and stepped out into the open so everyone could get a good shot of him if they wanted to. He was curious to see how they would handle the situation. If they aimed at him he would release a bit of Qi as he did to the first poor soul unlucky enough to think about shooting at him.

 Chapter 188: Im Flying.

    Chapter 188: I''m Flying.


    As soon as he stepped out into the middle open a spotlight appeared, illuminating him for everyone to see. Suddenly a voice shouted over a megaphone as Haru looked over at one of the cars to see a man dressed in green camouge. On his shoulder, there was a patch with the g of Russia on it.


    ''Russian military? Why are the Russians here in China?'' Haru asked himself before the man shouted over the megaphone with an American sounding ent to his words.


    "You boy! Identify yourself. You were riding that bus with a bunch of criminals! Are you okay? Did they take you, hostage?" The man wasn''t fluent in Chinese but Haru could understand him just fine. But he wasn''t in the mood to mess around.


    He swiped his hand and leapt through a void corridor and then almost immediately ending up sat on the hood of the car in front of the man with the megaphone.


    "*Leave.*" Haru spoke in Russian. He didn''t speak fluently but he picked up a few words from watching movies. It was something hard to avoid since most movies liked to use Russians as the viins.


    As soon as Haru appeared in front of him the man almost copsed in fear.


    "*What the fuck? How did that happen?*" Apparently Haru appearing in front of him scared the Russian out of him and he began talking in English to the rest of the people around him. Everyone spoke English with a neutral sounding voice almost like they were natives.


    Haru remembered his days in the military. Sometimes when they were undercover in a country they had a treaty with they would be forced to wear the patches of another country just in case they died. They would question the other country. Was that what these guys were doing?


    "*Are you guys American? Or Russian? Hmm Either way, you had better leave before you force me to do something I don''t want to do.*" Haru now spoke in English. The war he had previously fought in was also against the Americans and the rage in his heart surprisingly had not settled even after all these years.


    "Haha, What''s this guys problem?" One of the menughed and then pulled out a handgun and pointed it at Haru''s head. But as soon as he did Haru waved his hand and opened another spacial rift directly over his forearm and then cancelled it.


    His arm vanished. There wasn''t even a drop of blood. It was more like his arm had fallen out of existence or had been erased. He didn''t even notice that his arm was missing until he noticed that he no longer felt the weight of the gun in his hand.


    "Aghh! My arm! My fucking arm!" He began to shout as he realised that it was no longer there and the rest of the men began to panic along with him as they couldn''t exin what had just happened.


    "My final warning. Leave now and you won''t end up in body bags. But if you decide to test my patience then don''t me me for whates next." Haru warned the man who was still holding the megaphone but was now shivering as the feeling of helplessness enveloped his body.


    But before he could say anything a man wearing just a tank-top and camouge pants stepped out from one of the cars and aimed a gun at Haru.


    " Do you think that we will listen to you just because you can do fancy magic tricks!?" He asked before pulling the trigger after targeting his head.


    "How unfortunate" Haru said to himself as a beam of light shot out travelling much faster than a regr bullet would.


    He waved his hand in the air in front of his face and opened another spacial rift but this time opened the exit for it directly behind the man that had fired the gun.


    Everyone fell silent before looking up at Haru who was still sat on the hood of the car without a single scratch on his body. Their eyes then turned to the man crazy enough to attack this unknown enemy.


    He looked back at them wide-eyed like he was in pain before coughing into his hands. He expected blood to form but nothing came out. He began to feel like he was suffocating before looking down at the hole in his body.


    There was a hole the size of a human head directly over where his heart was.


    "How am I still alive?" He asked before his body felt stiff and he fell to the floor. His heart had been destroyed so fast that his brain hadn''t had time to stop receiving oxygen from his blood leaving him alive without a heart. It was a terrifying way to die. Knowing that no matter what you would die.


    So terrifying that a few of the men present stained their pants with urine and human faeces upon realising what had just happened. That fear was only amplified by the look in Haru''s eyes.


    ''So that''s what happens when you lose your heart? That''s amazing I thought he would die instantly'' Haru was bewildered by what he had just seen but the look on his face was confused with a look of enjoyment by the soldiers. They didn''t know what to do.


    They just stood idle and waited for their death but that didn''te. As soon as Haru realised that they had given up he hopped down from the hood of the car and then walked over to the man who seemed to be leading them.


    "Now take everyone and go. Or you will suffer a worse fate than your friend over there." He said in a threatening manner but in reality, he didn''t know anyways he could kill someone that would be worse than what he had just seen. He just wanted to try acting tough in front of so many soldiers and it appeared to work.


    The man nodded his head before running to an empty car and closing the doors behind him. Upon seeing their leader flee everyone else also took to their feet and run in different direction''s trying to avoid being eaten alive by the terrible monster they had just stumbled upon.


    "That''s right! And don''te back!" Haru shook his fist and shouted as all of the cars that had originallye to kidnap the two young girls drove back off into the distance. He smiled before waving them off like a child saying goodbye to his friends after school had ended.


    As he stood there and watched the cars vanish into the distance he heard the engine of the bus start-up and tires screeching against the floor behind him as they decided to abandon him out in the middle of nowhere.


    "Hey! Wait up!" Haru shouted after the bus but it was toote. They had already left him behind.


    ''Did I scare them that much? They should have known that I was only acting. I''m not scary am I?'' Haru pulled out his phone and saw his reflection off the screen from the moonlight above him.


    There was a look in his eyes, unlike anything that he had seen before. Just what was it? He wondered before calling Li Jun out to question him.


    "Li Jun! There is something wrong with my face." Haru stated before Li Jun appeared floating in the air like he usually did.


    "What do you mean?" Li Jun asked as he looked at Haru. The was nothing there. He looked the same as he always did.


    Haru looked back down at the phone screen before too realising that there was nothing strange about the look in his eyes at all. ''Was it just the lighting?'' He asked himself before looking back up at Li Jun.


    "Ah, nothing. I was wondering if you knew any movement techniques to help me catch up to a bus?" He asked. All of his belongings were still on the bus. He needed to find a way to catch up to them somehow. He couldn''t just let them steal everything he had packed for his journey to Changbai mountain.


    "Movement technique? Why don''t you just teach yourself how to fly?" Li Jun asked.


    "Fly? What!? Don''t you have to be at a certain cultivation level to be able to do that?" Haru asked. Thest he had heard only people at the manifestation stage and higher could fly. How would he be able to fly if he hadn''t made it there yet?


    "Not at all. You just need good control of your Qi. Remember how you controlled the sword using just your Qi? You made it fly. That''s all you need to do. Just surround your body with Qi and focus on lifting yourself with it." Li Jun exined as simply as he could what he needed to do and then vanished. Leaving Haru on his own to figure it out.


    He closed his eyes and focused on surrounding his body with Qi which was an easy task and then put all his focus on lifting himself a little bit. He knew it would take a while to get the hang of so he needed to take things one at a time but as soon as he opened his eyes he noticed that the ground was no longer beneath him and he was looking down upon a winding road going through the centre of a forest.


    He looked again after noticing two small red balls of light getting further and further away from him into the distance and thenughed.


    "I''m flying with only Qi!" He shouted. It felt the same as using wind magic to fly but only more free. He wasn''t relying on magic. He was using his life energy. All he had to do now was to focus and controlling it and he would be able to catch up to the bus in no time at all.


    "Here goes nothing." He said before shifting his focus on directing his Qi toward the bus that was still getting away from him.


    "Ahhh!!!" He yelled as his body took off at the speed of sound creating a vortex around his body as he broke through the sound barrier.

 Chapter 189: Single

    Chapter 189: Single


    Without warning Haru''s body was sent flying through the air and aiming directly for the bus. He tried to catch up to it but he didn''t expect he would be sent towards it like he was a bullet fired from the barrel of a gun. The wind pushed past his face causing his cheeks to flutter.


    "Pull up! Pull up!" He began to chant over and over again as he caught up with the bus and looked like he was heading towards the centre of the roof.


    "Sir, Why did we leave him behind!? He just helped us get out of that terrible situation and this is the way you repay someone who saved your life!?" Ryan shouted at the man with the scar on his face as everyone was now sitting in their original seats.


    "It was for the best. That boy is crazy. The look in his eyes was one of enjoyment. It was just a matter of time before he turned around and murdered us too." The man with the scar.


    "Please. Let us go back. I need to thank him for saving our lives." Lan Yan also sided with Haru while they discussed what to do next.


    "No! You didn''t see what I saw. If we go back now we will all end up in unmarked graves." The man said again this time shouting at everyone for silence.


    "Aghhhh" A distant humming sound made its way from behind the bus.


    "What''s that sound?" Lan Tao looked up and asked her older sister who was sat beside her.


    "What noise?" Lan Yan asked since she couldn''t hear anything over the sound of the front bumper of the bus scraping against the ground.


    "Aghhhh..!" The sound now called out louder as it made its way toward the bus only getting clearer and louder with each second that passed.


    In a sh of light, a loud crash shook the ground all around as the tarmac from the road ahead of them seemed to self-destruct and sendingrge rocks into the sky to rain down upon the top of the bus.


    "Ouch ouch ouch." Haru shook his head and brushed the dust off from his clothes before standing up in the centre of a crater he formed in the middle of the road.


    "Why didn''t he warn me that it wouldn''t take so much effort!? I would have taken it even slower if he did!" Heined at Li Jun''sck of information about learning how to fly.


    As Haru got to his feet once again he noticed the headlights from the bus shooting a beam of light directly into his eyes. He tried to block out the light with his hands as he walked toward the bus.


    "Drive! Drive the goddamn bus already!" The man with a scar on his face began to shout at the bus driver but after all of the crazy things that he had seen tonight, he was too scared to move even an inch. He remained stationary with his foot on the brake pedal as Haru slowly walked towards the bus.


    The driver held his breath as he watched the young man who had just created a hole in the ground walk toward the door of the bus and then knocked on the ss with his index finger.


    "Come on open the door. I''m afraid of the dark." Haru joked with a smile but to the driver of the bus, the smile on Haru''s face looked more like a sadistic grin. He had the feeling that if he even moved an inch he would die instantly.


    "Didn''t you hear him?" Lan Yan stood up and asked before pushing her way past the man with the scar on his face who was eagerly watching with his hand still on his gun.


    "Miss Lan, What do you think you''re doing!?" He shouted and grabbed her wrist.


    "Get off me! If you were half as good at your jobs than he is then I wouldn''t have been in any danger in the first ce. And don''t think I have forgotten that you were about to hand me and my sister over to those men to preserve your own life.


    If it wasn''t for him then my sister and I would either have been kidnapped or killed. You are scum!" She shouted at the man with the scar and then pped him in the face as hard as she could.


    The man''s head turned slightly before he let go of her hand and she walked to the door of the bus and pressed the little green button above the drivers head to let Haru on board.


    "Thanks, It''s much warmer here than it is outside." Haru smiled and then patted Lan Yan on the head before looking back at Ryan and waving.


    He then looked up at the driver who was grinding his teeth out of fear.


    "To Beijing please." He smiled as he boarded the bus cracking yet another joke to calm everyone''s mind. He figured that they would still be panicking from getting rammed off the road so he needed to do something to change their mood.


    But he didn''t know that joking after showing so much strength had the opposite effect. People with strength tended to be serious so when he said something they wanted to take it seriously so it wouldn''t offend him and that is exactly how the driver was feeling.


    "Right away Sir!" He yelled while almost choking on his tongue and then mmed his foot down on the gas pedal causing everyone to fall back into their seats apart from the people standing. They were all thrown toward the back of the bus.


    "Agh!" Lan Yan screamed slightly as she fell back but then stopped as she realised that she was no longer falling and felt a hand around her waist.


    "Have you ever heard of a speed limit? What are you going to tell the police when they pull us over?" Haruined at his erratic driving.


    "Sorry, Sir! I will do better!" The driver then mmed on the brakes to slow down to the speed limit almost sending everyone into the seat in front of them.


    "That''s better, keep this speed." Haru smiled at the driver once again and then looked down at the girl who was staring at him with a confused expression. It was one of wonder and amazement.


    "What is it?" Haru asked. He was concerned about how she was looking at him and it was making him a little ufortable. She looked like a child at the zoo for the first time.


    "Are you?" She asked but then stopped herself.


    "Am I?" Haru repeated after her, encouraging her to carry on with her question.


    "Are you single!?" She shouted.


    ''Well, that isn''t what I was expecting. I thought she was going to ask if I was a cultivator or a superhero or something cool. But single? Jeez, what is going on in this girl''s mind?'' Haru thought before answering her.


    "Nope. And even if I was, I''m not interested in kids." Haru smiled before looking down at the girl who was much shorter than him. When suddenly another voice called out from the bus.


    "Haru! Haru! Haru!" It was Lan Yan''s younger sister. She was sitting behind a middle-aged looking woman with brown hair.


    "What''s up?" Haru asked Lan Tao who was shouting his name over and over.


    "You were awesome! I want to learn karate too!" She shouted.


    "Oh, You remembered I am Japanese?" Haru asked surprised but what he had just done was far above the level one could get from practising martial arts alone.


    He then looked back down at Lan Yan who was standing beside him but facing the ground.


    "Ohe on. Don''t be sad. You don''t even know me and I am way too old for you. Just find yourself a guy from your ss or something." Haru said to her to try to make her feel better.


    She didn''t say anything at all. She just stood silently before looking up at him with her lips closed together as she pouted in response to being rejected.


    "I can''t do that! My father said that he will only let me marry someone who is stronger than him! I can''t just choose a random ssmate." She said unreasonably.


    "Come on that''s not what I meant. I''m sure he is just being overprotective. When you find that one special person who you want to spend the rest of your life with I am sure he will respect your decision. Nowe on. Come sit with me and Ryan. Oh and bring your sister.


    I have some questions to ask about Beijing. I''ve never been there before." He said as the bus driver-focused with all his heart on keeping the bus steady and avoiding potholes so Haru would have nothing toin about.


    As they walked to the back of the bus all eyes narrowed in on Haru this time but the emotions behind them were mixed. Some of the people looked at him with admiration and some of them looked at him with fear.


    But Ryan looked at him with confusion as he sat down beside him and crossed one leg over the over exactly like he had done before.


    "Who in the world are you?" Ryan asked.

 Chapter 190: No!

    Chapter 190: No!


    Haru spent the whole night talking to Ryan, Lan Yan and Lan Tao about where he hade from and what he had done so far. They were all interested in where and how did he get so strong so he entertained their questions. He had nothing better to do and it would be strange if he sat silently so he answered them as best as he could.


    By the time morning rolled around the skyscrapers in Beijing could be seen in the distance and the feeling of uneasiness left the bus. Everyone felt reassured that nothing bad would happen now that they could see Beijing. Haru took a few minutes to read through messages he had received the night before.


    "Jeez, What does she want now?" Haruined as he saw thirty-six messages from the same number.


    "You having girl troubles? I thought someone so amazing wouldn''t have to worry about something like that." Ryan mocked Haru as he looked over his shoulder at the phone to see the crying emojis on his screen.


    "No, That''s my cousin. She wanted to stay at my house while I was gone but I told her dad not to let her anywhere near." Heughed before replying with a smiley face and putting his phone away again.


    "Is that so? Where do you n on staying anyway? You said you were going to stay here for a few days before heading somewhere else right? Do you know anyone who lives here?" Ryan asked. Haru didn''t really answer the questions about what he was going to do in Beijing.


    It''s not like he could even if he wanted to. What was he going to tell them? He hase looking for the body of a dragon to give to one of the two souls stuck inside the ring that he is wearing. That was as believable as saying cats are actually aliens from space that havee to take over the world.


    No one would believe something like that. So he decided to keep it to himself to avoid any confusing exnations.


    "Well, I figured that I would just go buy a room at a hotel or something. Do you have any rmendations?" Haru asked. But just as Ryan was about to speak Lan Yan shouted out.


    "No!" She disagreed with Haru''s n to stay in a hotel for some reason.


    "No? What do you mean by no?" Haru asked, confused. He wasn''t too good at understanding intentions from a single word but he didn''t think anyone would understand this kid.


    "I mean you can''t stay in a hotel. My father will want to thank you for saving us. You shoulde and stay at our house. I''m sure he won''t mind." She exined with an excited look on her face. Haru went silent before thinking it over for a few moments.


    "No thanks. I would rather stay in a hotel." He said and then turned back to Ryan as if she hadn''t said anything at all.


    "So do you have any rmendations?" He asked once again.


    "Rmendations for hotels? Well honestly I have only been here once and that is when we first epted this job. They had us stay in the Royal Imperial hotel in the centre of the city. It''s a five-star hotel and the restaurant inside has two food award stars so it''s probably expensive. Sorry." Ryan said in shame. He wanted to be of help but that was the best he coulde up with.


    "That''s perfect. I don''t really care about money, after all, I''m not paying for it. How was the presidential suite?" He asked with a smile on his face.


    "What!? Do you think we were allowed up there? That was way out of our budget. There are not many people who can afford to pay that price just to stay in a room. And what do you mean you''re not paying? I would advise against causing a scene. I heard that they have a strong backer. Even stronger than the government." Ryan exined.


    Haru felt like he had gotten the wrong idea. It sounded like Ryan thought that he was going to go in there and flex his power before demanding them to give him the best room. But that was far from the case. He did say that he wasn''t going to pay for it but he didn''t say that it wouldn''t be paid for at all.


    "I think you''re misunderstanding me a little bit. I''m not going to force them to give it to me for free. Her father is going to be the one paying for it." Haru patted Lan Yan on the head as he exined it.


    "What!? How did youe to that conclusion? Do you think that just because he owns a bigpany it means that he has money to burn!? I could understand if you stayed in a regr room but there is no way he will pay for you to stay in the Prudential room!" She shouted, outraged that Haru hade to that conclusion.


    "If he truly values his daughter''s lives then he will pay for my stay. If he doesn''t pay back their Saviour then he isn''t a very good father. You should probably run away from home if that''s the case." Haru said matter of factly and felt the eyes of everyone on the bus turn to look at him once again.


    "Y-you asshole!" Lan Yan raised her hand to p Haru but her hand stopped suddenly.


    "Watch your mouth kid. Or I will wash it out with soap." Haru threatened her as he caught her p with his hand and then looked out at her for a few moments.


    Her cheeks were slightly pink, Her eyes half-closed and her lips were pursed.


    "Why don''t you wash it with your lips?" She asked with a cheeky smile.


    Haru, let go immediately.


    "Not interested kid." He sighed and then looked back at Ryan who was staring at him with curiosity.


    "Haha! Yes! I win. Did you see that! You thought about doing it!" Lan Yan celebrated while thinking of Haru''s rejection as a game to try to make him fall for her.


    "Your girlfriend must be the most beautiful woman in the world if you are willing to stay this loyal to her. You said she lived in Shenzhen right?" Ryan asked.


    "That''s right. She''s incredibly beautiful." Haru smiled as he thought about all the time he had spent with Suyin.


    "I doubt it. I bet she''s ugly. Let me see a picture of her." Lan Yanined and then tugged at Haru''s arm.


    "Fine. If it will make you shut up then here." Haru snapped and pulled out his phone and opened the album of photos that she had taken of them together. Haru didn''t take many pictures so Suyin would force him to give her his phone so she could take some instead.


    As soon as he handed his phone over to Lan Yan she went quiet for a few seconds before bursting out intoughter.


    "That''s not your girlfriend! You think a stupid edited image with the singer Jiang Suyin will trick me?" Sheughed some more and then held up the phone for Ryan to see also.


    "That''s Uh." Ryan didn''t have anything to say. He didn''t think Haru was the type of person to do something like that but he looked at Haru for an exnation he just sighed in reply. It didn''t seem like something someone would do when caught in a lie so he kept his mouth shut.


    "Keep on swiping." He said with another sigh as he judged her intelligence for thinking that he would edit photos of them together.


    "What?" She asked confused by what he meant.


    "Keep on swiping through the pictures."


    She gulped and then swiped across now seeing a picture of Haru, Suyin, a kid and two older people.


    "That was Christmasst year when I stayed with her at her parent''s house. And that there is her younger brother." He pointed to Chen who was trying to put a star on top of a Christmas tree in the photo.


    "What you actually! I mean That doesn''t mean anything. So what if you know someone famous? That doesn''t mean she is your girlfriend." She said in protest but Ryan on the other hand seemed blown away by the fact.


    "Then keep swiping." He told her which she listened to him and did exactly as he said beforending on a photo of them both lying in bed seemingly wearing no clothes at all and under the nket together.


    "Uh Okay, I believe you!" She said and then mmed the phone down in Haru''sp before looking away embarrassed.


    Haru looked down at his phone to see the picture and a feeling of dread sank into his stomach.


    "Woah don''t get any funny ideas! We were just sleeping together.I mean sleeping in the same bed. I had shorts on and she was wearing pyjamas." Haru exined as Ryan caught a glimpse of the photo and started tough.


    "Sure. I believe you." He poked fun at Haru trying to exin himself as the bus made its way into the city beforeing to a stop outside the hotel. The driver had listened in to Haru''s conversation and driven straight there so he wouldn''t get angry about arriving toote.


    He got both of his bags and slung them over his shoulder before walking to the front of the bus and waving goodbye to his new friends.


    Just as he was about to exit the bus he turned to the driver who was still shaking in fear.


    "I''m sorry about the damages. If yourpany needs to hold anyone responsible then the me should fall onto the person who booked the ticket for those two girls back there." He pointed at Lan Yan and Lan Tao.


    "Yes sir! I understand. I will get the money from their father. You won''t be held responsible." The driver stuttered out like he had received an order and then drove away as soon as Haru stepped down onto the pavement.

 Chapter 191: Hotel.

    Chapter 191: Hotel.


    As the bus drove off into the distance it gave Haru the chance to look around. The streets were full of busy people walking up and down as they headed to their various jobs in the city.


    "Where is the hotel?" He asked himself before looking across the street and seeing therge opening in the building ahead of him where cars could turn around or be valeted by the hotel''s staff. To the right of the opening, there was a huge stone staircase that almost looked like it was made out of marble with the polished surface.


    And at the top of the staircase, there was a set of ss doors that were currently being held open by two security guards as a man and a woman entered. He followed the building up with his eyes to see the whole eleven floors. It was more like a castle than a hotel.


    The whole block was made for the hotel. There were no other buildings on that side of the street at all. Haru was amazed by Beijing already. They could dedicate so much space to just a hotel. That fact alone said a lot about the economy of the city.


    He crossed the street when a break opened up in traffic and walked towards the main entrance before walking up to the top of the staircase.


    One of the security guards gave him a strange look at first like he wasn''t wee at their establishment but the other one took the intuitive approach to address him.


    "Wee Sir, We hope you enjoy your stay." The guard smiled as Haru passed him on the staircase.


    "I will be sure to. Have a nice day." Haru smiled in return before walking inside the hotel creating wet footprints on the polished tile floor from the dampness on the ground outside that he had trailed in with his shoes.


    The tile squeaked as he set foot inside and then took a minute to appreciate the architecture. He seemed to be doing this a lot recently since he had been to a lot of fancy ces. It looked much like the resort that he had been given decoration wise but the size of the hotel was many times bigger than his resort in shanghai.


    "What should I do now?" He asked before taking a seat on one of the couches in the waiting room.


    He pulled out his phone and looked at the time before making a mental note.


    ''I should have around half an hour to wait. I wonder where the restaurant is?'' Haru looked around before seeing a set of double doors at one side of the room and then heading inside for himself. He had made the right choice since this was definitely the restaurant.


    The room was rtively dark and lit only with dimmps and candles on top of the tables to create a warm atmosphere so the room didn''t seem too open despite its size.


    In the centre of the room, there was a square counter area where the mes from the chefs cooking rose high into the air to give a performance to the people while they waited for their food.


    Haru sat down at the bar and helped himself to the free snacks before the waiter approached him.


    "Can I get anything for you, Sir?" A man in a ck tuxedo walked over and asked. Haru turned to see the man standing with a menu before getting ready to use his sales pitch to get him to buy their specials.


    "No thanks. These peanuts are good enough for now." Haru smiled before sticking his hand into the bowl and taking another handful of the salted peanuts left out to help sober up anyone who had been drinking.


    The waiter was taken aback by what Haru had just said. He didn''t even order a drink yet he was sat there eating the free peanuts without shame. He shook his head in disappointment before turning around.


    "Well then have a nice day." He said before walking away.


    Haru smiled before looking over at the barkeeper.


    He knew that look. Since he wasn''t dressed like the fancy snobs who frequented the hotel, the waiter definitely thought that he was up to no good. He decided to sit there and wait for the security toe and question him.


    As he looked up the barkeeper noticed him sat alone and approached him with a bottle in hand.


    "Would you like a drink?" The woman with dark brown hair asked him before popping the cap of one of those expensive bottles of sparkling water and sliding it across the counter to him.


    "Thank you. I was just thinking about ordering something." Haru said and then reached down for his wallet.


    "No Sir, It''s on me you don''t need to pay, it''s just water." She said sincerely. It seemed like she felt bad for Haru since it looked like he couldn''t afford to buy any food that was why he was eating peanuts at the bar.


    "You take tips though don''t you?" Haru asked not willing to ept her kindness for free. Since she offered him something out of kindness he was going to pay her back.


    "I do but that is done through personal transactions; we can''t advertise it at the counter." She replied hesitantly.


    "Then pull out your phone. I want to tip you." Haru insisted that she followed his instructions and pull out her phone as he did the same.


    He got all of the bank details ready on his phone and then went to set the amount. ''Hm It''s a pretty fancy ce so I guess one hundred should work just fine.'' Haru thought before scanning the QR code on her phone screen and sending a total of one hundred thousand yuan to her.


    "Thank you for your kindness-" She stuttered and then looked down at the amount he had tipped her. Before looking up at his smiling face and then back down at the amount.


    "Um, Sir I think you made a mistake. You transferred too much. Quick let me refund you." The woman insisted but Haru just shook his head.


    "Nope, that''s right. I can clearly see the prices of this kind of water yet you gave it to me for free. Kindness goes a long way so I wanted to do something to return the favour." He said before looking down at his phone and checking the time. It had been about twenty minutes since he had sat down.


    ''I guess that''s enough waiting. Let''s see if I can go about getting the presidential room.'' He thought before beginning to get up as the woman stood there in shock after what had just happened. This definitely wasn''t how she expected her day to go.


    "Well, you have a nice day Miss," Haru said before leaving her dumbfounded and then walking back into the lobby where a security guard was waiting for him.


    "Excuse me, sir. Have you checked in yet?" He asked as he approached Haru with hostility.


    "Not yet. I was actually just about to. Did you need anything?" Haru asked him with a calm tone. It wasn''t what the security guard was expecting. He wasn''t sure if Haru was bluffing or if he was actually about to check in so he stepped back with the hostile attack and decided to apologise instead.


    "It''s nothing. Just we don''t usually let people into the restaurant before they check-in. But if you are doing that now then there isn''t a problem." The guard responded and then watched as Haru stood in the line to the counter.


    A few minutes went by before it was his turn and he stepped up to the counter where a woman with sses was staring at aputer screen before she turned to look at him.


    "One moment please." She said and then went back to clicking on something on herputer. Before turning back a few secondster and sighing.


    "What can I do for you today?" She asked in a tone that was unfitting for someone working in the hospitality business. It was like she was annoyed to see Haru for some reason.


    "I here for the presidential room," Haru said and looked down at the women behind the desk.


    She stared back for a moment with her eyes widened before erupting intoughter and then looking back up at Haru who kept a straight face.


    "Oh You''re serious Well unfortunately even if you wanted to nook the presidential room you can''t. It was already booked a few minutes ago." The woman exined in the same tone as earlier.


    "Yeah, I''m here for the key," Haru stated, Knowing full well that Lan Yan had told her father and he was the one who booked it. He predicted it would take at least half an hour but it turned out that it was a little faster than he expected.


    "What?" The woman asked and then looked at theputer before looking back up at Haru.


    "I don''t know what you are after here but the person who booked the room is President Lan of the Lanpany. You don''t even look simr to him. Did you expect that just because you know about the room being booked that you could get into his room?" She asked.


    "You!" She pointed at the security guard that had spoken to Haru on his way out of the restaurant.


    "Detain this man. I''m calling the police. He is a troublemaker and was trying to get ess to President Lan''s room." She demanded of the security guard who followed her order without a second thought.


    "Don''t try anything funny okay? I am trained to use deadly force." The guard boasted before grabbing Haru by both of his arms.


    "Is that so?" Haru asked with a smile. When suddenly the air of the room changed.


    "Unhand that man at once!" An old man''s voice shouted out from the stone staircase on the inside of the lobby that leads to the upper floors.

 Chapter 192: Fame.

    Chapter 192: Fame.


    "Hm?" The security who was holding Haru by his arms looked up to the second floor of the building where there was a man with slightly grey hair looking over the edge of the balcony.


    "M-manager!? What is this about? Is something wrong?" The woman stood up from the desk and addressed the man as he made his way down the stairs toward themotion downstairs.


    "Yes, something is wrong. Very wrong. I just had a phone call from our bar staff saying that a young man hade in and not ordered anything. He was just sitting and eating the free peanuts." The old man spoke with authority as he reached the bottom step.


    "Yes Manager Sir, It was this young man here. One of the waiters said that he might be looking to steal something since he couldn''t afford anything in the restaurant." The security guard said in reply.


    "Let me finish!" The old man snapped back and the whole room wentpletely silent. Even the people having business meetings in the cafe on the far side of the lobby looked over to see what was happening. The woman behind the desk looked up at the security guard, confused about what was happening.


    "A member of the bar staff served the young man a drink for free because she felt bad for him. But he insisted that he would pay for it so he tipped her some money. And then I got a phone call from the bar manager saying that she quit her job." The manager said and then paused.


    "What does the bar staff quitting their job have anything to do with this situation?" The woman asked.


    "Because the amount the young man tipped her was enough for her to pay off her student loans. She didn''t need to work for us anymore. But that''s not all.


    I got a phone call from President Lan a few minutes ago saying that he was booking the presidential room for a young man around this age and he described him to me with a lot of detail.


    So I am here to tell you both that you are fired. Not only did you judge someone for how they decide to dress but you also offended President Lan''s guest, Get your things and leave immediately." The manager said in front of everyone.


    The woman couldn''t believe what had just happened.


    "What!? You can''t do this! I need this job." The woman yelled at the manager but he didn''t care in the least.


    "You should have thought about that before offending someone you couldn''t afford to. Security! Escort both of them to collect their things and then ban them from setting foot in here ever again." The Manager called for the other security guards that were standing nearby.


    "Yes, Mr Manager." One of them said before grabbing the woman by her arm.


    "No! Get off me!" She yelled and then began to fight back and tried to pull away from the guard.


    "Miss, please don''t cause a scene. It won''t look well for you." The security guard insisted but she didn''t listen.


    "Cause a scene!? This is outrageous! Let go of me at once!" She yelled again and then fell down to the floor to make it difficult for the security guard to escort her anywhere. But that was quickly solved as another one grabbed her legs and they carried her out of the front door.


    Almost everyone in the lobby had pulled out their phones to film what was happening as Haru stood confused. ''How am I going to get the key for my room now?'' He wondered as the woman was thrown out into the street and the security guard was taken into a backroom to collect his belongings.


    "Excuse me. I have been awaiting your arrival, Sir, I''m sorry about all of this and we didn''t have a long time to prepare so I will get everything ready for you in just a minute." The manager exined and then leaned over the desk and picked up a device resembling a radio and spoke into it.


    "The guest staying in the presidential room has arrived." He said into the radio and suddenly the music they were ying in the lobby stopped and it fellpletely silent.


    Suddenly all of the security guards dressed in ck suits lined up in the lobby and the chefs all came out of the restaurant and stood by as two men carrying what looked like a red rug before stopping at the top of the staircase and letting go. Haru watched as what he thought was a rug rolled down the stairs perfectly before stopping directly at his feet.


    "Wee, Sir!" All of the employees of the hotel had now gotten to the lobby and had said while bowing to Haru.


    "So what do you think?" The manager asked Haru with a smile on his face.


    "Honestly Its a bit too much." Haru said, feeling embarrassed as all of the guests turned to look at him before pointing their phones and taking pictures of Haru and all of the hotel staff.


    "I think so too. But this is what happens when someone books the presidential room. We even fly a golden g above the hotel to announce that someone very important is staying here." The manager smiled again as Haru looked around.


    "Can I see my room now?" Haru asked the manager, wanting to get away from the people that were filming him.


    "Of course. Follow me, sir." The manager said and led Haru up the stairs where they had rolled out a red carpet and then to an elevator on the second floor. They took it to the top floor which and then walked to the end of the corridor where a ck coloured door stuck out from the rest of the brown doors on the floor.


    "This is it. We hope you enjoy your stay Mr " The manager said and held out a golden key in his hand but then stopped as he realised that he hadn''t gotten his name yet.


    "Kitagawa," Haru announced before taking the key from his hand and unlocking the door.


    "We hope you enjoy your stay, Mr Kitagawa." The manager smiled and then bowed his head as Haru entered the room.


    Haru closed the door behind him and then finallyid down his bags. He had previously had both backpacks slung over his shoulders which probably contributed to him looking like a homeless person. But that didn''t bother him one bit. Until he had time to settle down when he received a text message from Yun.


    "Look Haru! You''re in the news!" The text message read and then had a link to an online news site.


    ''Not again'' He thought before checking the link she had sent. This time it was bad. They had pictures of his face. And there was even a video.


    He read a few lines of the article written about him and almost popped a blood vessel during the process.


    "Who is this mysterious young man? Reports say that he turned up at the Royal Imperial Hotel just before lunchtime and was causing trouble for the staff. One eye wittiness said that a security guard was about to throw him out before the manager of the hotel turned up to intervene.


    The manager then lectured the security guard and secretary who wanted to throw him out and then fired them both on the spot before having them both removed and then releasing a full show of honour by raising the golden g that hasn''t been flown in five years since a member of a foreign royal family stayed over at the hotel in the summer.


    We inquired into the identity of the young man but the Hotel''s staff have refused to answer any questions. We are willing to reward anyone with insight into who this person is." The article was all an attempt to find out who he was and he didn''t appreciate it one bit.


    Haru sat down and turned on the TV to take his mind off things before the phone in the room connected to the lobby rung.


    "What is it this time?" He thought before going to answer it.


    "Sorry for disturbing you Sir, But President Lan from the Lanpany is on his way up to your room." A man''s voice said with an apologetic tone to it.


    "It''s okay, Thank you for letting me know," Haru said and then hung up before walking over to the full-sized bar within the room and pouring two sses of whiskey.


    It wasn''t even three PM but he wanted to make sure his first meeting with the father of the kids he saved was done correctly.


    He finished pouring the drinks when he heard a knock upon the door.


    ''That must be him.'' He thought before opening the door to be greeted with the barrel of a gun.


    "How dare you seduce my daughter! You son of a bitch!" A man in a ck overcoat said as he pressed the barrel of a sawed-off shotgun to the front of Haru''s head.


    Haru slowly forced his Qi into the shotgun before lifting it up into the air without even moving his hand causing the man to lift up from the floor for a few seconds before he let go and looked defenceless now that he didn''t have a weapon.


    "That little shit. I already rejected her. What else does she want?" Haru muttered to himself.


    "You''re the father of the two girls I saved? Don''t worry I''m not interested in kids and I made that pretty clear to her I thought you wereing to thank me so I poured you a drink. But If you''re just going to stand there like an idiot then go away already." Haru sighed and walked over to the bar with his back turned to President Lan He was leaving the decision up to him.

 Chapter 193: Changbai Lake...

    Chapter 193: Changbai Lake...


    Haru had expected him to stick around to talk. But despite his previous attitude when he was at the door with a gun, Now that he had been disarmed President Lan felt defenceless. It wasn''t what he expected would happen when he came to the room so he left as fast as he could.


    One minute he was standing in the doorway and the next he was gone, with only the sound of running footsteps through the corridor signalling that he didn''t want to stay for a chat.


    "Disappointing," Haru said to himself but the reason foring here wasn''t to chat with rich people all day. He was on a mission and had sidetracked himself.


    The bus ride had bored him a little too much and he wanted to socialise. But there was no time for that. He had already almost wasted a full day travelling and booking a hotel room. His original n was to stay in Beijing and book a bus to take him the rest of the way to the mountain range.


    He didn''t expect that he would learn how to fly so easily. If he had known that then he wouldn''t have packed so much to take with him. He sighed before downing both sses of whiskey that he had poured for himself and the president and then walked over to the door that was still wide open.


    He looked down at both of his backpacks that were still on the floor and then held his hand out toward them before a spiral of light shot out from his hand and they vanished into thin air.


    ''Hmm I forgot about the storage ring. I could have stored a tent or something so I wouldn''t be out in the rain. But it''s toote for that now.'' He thought before deciding that he would head to the mountains right away.


    He walked down the corridor to see the doors to the elevator were just about to shut and then stuck his hand between them, causing them to open back up.


    As the doors opened once again he met with President Lan who almost screamed in fear when looking at Haru.


    "I guess that big guy told you what happened to thest people who pointed guns at me, didn''t he? And you still thought it would be a good idea to provoke me like this.


    You''re brave." Haruughed before reaching out towards him.


    President Lan recoiled away from his hand but when trapped within an elevator there was only so far he could try to escape.


    Haru put his hand on his shoulder before giving him a firm pat.


    "Raise your daughters well. You never know when the day wille where you don''t get to see them again. Have a nice life." Haru said with a smile as the doors opened up at the top of the stairs in the lobby.


    President Lan dropped to his knees as Haru left.


    ''What was his problem? I know the kid said he was overprotective but to try to kill someone. Jeez, these Beijing people are crazy.'' Haru thought before heading down the staircase with the red carpet. But as soon as he did shes from dozens of people holding cameras began to blind him.


    "Fuck this I''m out of here." Haru turned around and walked into an empty storeroom before opening up a void corridor and stepping through.


    The familiar feeling of pressure washed over his body as a cold chill surrounded him. He was expecting to feel the presence of something but to his surprise that wasn''t the case. But the longer he floated through the emptiness of space the more it seemed like he was slowly losing consciousness.


    But for some reason, the pressure didn''t feel as overpowering as it did the previous times. It was probably a sign that he had gotten stronger than he was thest time he had used the power but it still didn''t set in.


    The soul tempering pills had even changed the way that he thought and matured his brain by quite a lot but he couldn''t see the difference in himself at all.


    Previously since reincarnating his brain had the biological maturity of someone his age. Despite memories from his previous life, The structure of his brain didn''t allow him to think like an adult.


    And even after returning to Origin, it had stopped his brain from maturing any more than a normal eighteen years old would have. But the rank three soul tempering pill he had taken had awakened a certain amount of wisdom in his soul.


    It was a strange sensation but he adapted to the feeling of the increased wisdom almost instantly but it was too bad that his cultivation didn''t increase yet or it would have reduced the pressure of space even more.


    But that wasn''t a concern that he had for the moment.


    Haru struggled to hold onto his consciousness as he tried to sense a good ce to open an exit void corridor.


    Each time he had done so before it was an emergency exit so he didn''t travel very far. This time he was tempted to see how far he could travel but he knew that if he spent too much time deciding where to exit it would be the end for him. So without a second thought, he opened a corridor randomly and floated into it.


    "What the!?" He was about to say as the pressure released from his body and he was thrown out into the city. But the city was nowhere to be seen. All around him was white. It was like he had transcended the heavens although it felt like he was falling.


    The sound of wind whistled past his ears and he couldn''t feel solid ground beneath him. He then looked down to see that Beijing was now hundreds of metres below him.


    "It spat me out in the air again! I thought I would have mastered the technique by now! Why is it so difficult?" Haruined as he quickly fell towards earth.


    He would have panicked and called Li Jun for help if not for his new ability to fly. So instead he wrapped his Qi around his body like a nket enveloping him and then gently began to slow his fall until he was floating in the air a few metres above the tallest skyscraper in the city.


    "Well, I''m outside now. So I guess I had better head for Changbai mountain now, shouldn''t I? I don''t want to keep Lao waiting too long." He said, concluding that there was no time like the present.


    He had nned everything out from start to finish in his head before setting off. He just didn''t expect things to turn out like this. Not only did he fight off what was possibly the armed forces of another country for no reason at all.


    He also became famous in less than a day. Many people wanted to find out who he was and that was something that didn''t sit right with him. He just wished that things had turned out differently.


    "It''s like ns were made to backfire on the person who makes them." Haru sighed before slowly moving the Qi around him to propel his body forward.


    "Slowly now." He chanted over and over to stop himself from getting carried away with the speed and then pulled out his phone to use a map to know which direction to fly in.


    He flew for hours on end, trying his best to not fly into the path of a ne and just before nightfall came he spotted something out of the corner of his eye.


    He would have missed it at first if not for the light from the setting sun reflecting off the surface of the water below him and shining up into his eyes.


    He had arrived at Changbai mountain. He knew from the hugeke in the middle. But had almost gotten lost as he was flying high above the peak of the mountain.


    All that was left for him to do was to descend to the peak of the mountain. But something told him it wouldn''t be that simple. He had gotten used to flying while on his trip but he hadn''t tried tond yet. He figured that it would be hard to do but didn''t know just how hard that would be.


    "Okay How hard can this be? I just have to take things slow and everything will fall into ce for me. Remember Haru. Nice and slow" He thought aloud to make sure that he took it in baby steps.


    It worked. He was slowly descending but it took a lot of concentration to keep on going at this pace and steadiness. It was a smooth descending pace but it was also taking a long time. He thought of putting things into overdrive to hurry it along but he didn''t want to embarrass himself by eating the ground again.


    When suddenly Li Jun''s voice called out, Distracting him from focusing his Qi.


    "It''s close. Lao says he feels like it''s nearby." He said in a loud excited voice.


    "Shit!" Haru yelled as his Qi spiked out of reaction, the voice causing him to plummet toward the ground at a much faster speed than he would have gone if he had just fallen.


    "Oh no! Oh no!" He yelled as he saw the ground getting closer. He was no longer calm and knew he wouldn''t be able to focus his Qi in time. So the next best thing was to


    "Aim for the water!" He moved the Qi from helping him descend to propelling him into theke headfirst with a ssh.


    Water shot high up into the air as he made contact with it and the fish swimming nearby got the fright of their life as they saw a human shoot past them at almost supersonic speeds.


    "Not again." He tried to say but the only thing that came from his mouth were air bubbles that floated toward the surface of the water as he disengaged the nket of Qi surrounding him.

 Chapter 194: Underwater Caves.

    Chapter 194: Underwater Caves.


    The sounds of sshing water as Haru got out of theke was almost as if a sea monster had just risen with his constant yelling andining about what happened.


    "You did that on purpose didn''t you!? You knew that I would fall if you distracted me" Haru used Li Jun as he sat at the edge of the Lake and watched Haru crawl out with water pouring down from his hair and his clothes sticking to his body.


    "Oh lighten up a little bit. You have be too serious recently. I feel like you will face a great challenge soon." Li Jun smiled as he warned Haru.


    "A great challenge? Yeah right And how did youe to that conclusion?" Haru asked, still mad at him for making him take a dip in the water.


    "Oh, no reason. It''s just a feeling." He said with a smile and watched as Haru frowned before using the heat from the phoenix me to dry out his clothes by boiling just the water and keeping the fabric intact.


    "Sure whatever you say. Let''s get back to the main reason why we are here. About this dragon body? It''s in the volcano right?" Haru asked.


    "Yeah, it should be. All you need to do is climb to the top and then descend into it." Li Jun replied before floating up into the air like a ghost in the night.


    "About that volcanoes tend to seal themselves after erupting. The rock cools around the top and solidifies." Haru exined to Li Jun like he was lecturing a child. It wouldn''t be as simple as climbing down from the top. If that was the case thest people toe and study the volcanic activity would have found the dragon.


    Or even a tourist that is brave enough to climb to the peak. There is no way it would have been kept a secret until now if it didn''t seal back up.


    "Hmm? Sealed? There has to be a way inside though." Li Jun said with an inkling that he would be able to find an entrance.


    Li Jun closed his eyes for a moment before smiling and then opening them again.


    "I found your way inside the volcano. But I don''t think you will like it" He said ominously.


    "That fast? Wait what do you mean I won''t like it?" Haru asked after seeing the sinister grin form on his teachers face.


    "The only way to get inside is to enter through the underwater cave system. So you had better put on your swimming trunks." He smiled with a slight giggle as he saw the frustratione back to Haru''s face. It was true. Haru was bing more and more easily irritated.


    It was a sign of growth but Li Jun couldn''t yet tell if it was good or bad. He had a little bit of suspicion that the change in his behaviour was a foreboding of something terrible yet to happen. All living beings were connected with strings of fate that were all intertwined with each other but Li Jun felt there had been a shift in Haru recently. It might have been a sign that his fate had changed.


    But he couldn''t be sure. To read one''s fate he would have to let them connect their hearts together. But Li Jun wascking a heart in his current form. He was just the fragment of a distant memory and a shattered soul. He wished he could be of more help but he knew that he would have to let his student grow on his own.


    "I get it But how do I find these caves? You''re going to need to guide me." Haru said before stepping back into the water and walking out until the surface was at his chin. He was determined to get the body back for Lao and Li Jun had no choice but to guide him.


    "Of course I will. Do you think I will just let you go in there on your own? I want to see what it is like too." Li Jun replied and then vanished from the shore and appeared next to Haru.


    "Follow me." He said before swiftly disappearing into the water below them both.


    "If you surround your body with Qi you could keep yourself dry you know" Li Jun let Haru know.


    "Not happening. If I did that I would end up flying into a boulder and rupturing the volcano knowing my luck. I don''t want this thing to erupt anytime soon." Haru covered just his head with Qi so he could breathe and talk and see perfectly fine.


    The rest of his body stayed out in the open so he wouldn''t identally lose control of how much power he was putting into his limbs as he swam through the water. He wanted to make sure that he remained in one piece before they got the body for Lao.


    Li Jun chuckled and then led Haru down into the darkness of theke beforeing across the entrance of what seemed to be one of the caves. By the entrance, there was a huge bolder and what seemed to be an old turtle sat next to it.


    Until they got close enough to the rock to realise what the turtle was. It was about eight feet In length and looked like it had been sculpted out of stone although it was incredibly detailed. Almost too detailed to be a sculpture.


    "Wow. This turtle must have lived for at least a thousand years to grow this big. My guess is that it was living down here and absorbing the Qiing from the inside of that cave to survive. I wonder how it became covered in stone?" Li Jun said as they approached it.


    "Nevermind the turtle. Can we find the dragon already? I hate this water, it''s filthy." Haru said now that they had gotten to theke bed which was covered in nts and mud that would asionally float past Haru''s face.


    "Fine follow me." Li Jun sighed and then led Haru down into the dark underwater caves.


    Everywhere he looked it was pitch ck and he asionally raised the stone outer wall as he tried to swim. It was difficult to know where he was heading but Li Jun seemed to know exactly where he was heading. He didn''t so much as make a wrong turn as they navigated the tunnels.


    The swam for what seemed like hours in the darkness before the water temperature started to rise. That was certainly the right sign that they were heading in the right direction but it was still pitch ck. Until they swam for a few more minutes and Haru spotted a faint orange glow hundreds of metres in front of him.


    It was only then that he realised that he was, in fact, swimming up toward the surface. The water was beginning to cool again but it still retained more than enough heat to boil anything that entered it to death.


    It was lucky that Haru was a cultivator or not only would he have drowned during the swim through the tunnels but he also would have been turned into a stew.


    As they broke through the surface the orange light became more vibrant as the reflection of hot magma bounced off from the walls and scattered the light like amp.


    Haru took a minute to dry his clothes once again before Li Jun looked around. He picked up a little rock from the inside of the cave and then threw it into theva pool that was flowing next to the surface of the water that they had juste out from.


    The rock hit the surface beforebusting into mes and then slowly glowing orange as it was liquified and joined the molten rock that was there before it.


    "We are lucky that we decided toe when we did. If we waited for a few more days then even this entrance would have sealed up. It seems like it is building up to another eruption in the next couple hundred years." Li Jun analysed the situation for a few minutes as Haru turned to see what he was talking about.


    "When did you be an expert on volcanoes? You didn''t even know that the peak would have sealed itself back up." Haruughed at his analysis. But from what he could tell it was the correct assumption to make. It did look like theva would have flowed over into the pool they had juste from.


    If that happened then the pressure would begin to build up within the rocks. If it was left unnoticed then it would eventually erupt.


    "Ha, Just a guess. Although wee from different worlds I know about the teachings of your sciences. My homeworld was rather simr to yours." Li Jun opened up for a few moments about his origin but then quickly changed the subject.


    "Now how about we find that dragon?" He turned and said with a smile.


    Haru nodded his head in agreement. Although he couldn''t feel the heat the suffocating scent of sulphur burned the insides of his nose. He would do whatever he could to get out of this ce as soon as he could.

 Chapter 195: Grade Five Pill?

    Chapter 195: Grade Five Pill?


    Li Jun headed deeper into the cave with Haru following shortly behind as the blistering heat and burning glow from theva illuminated the walls of the tunnels as heat waves radiated from the rocky stone floor beneath them.


    It was easy for Li Jun to move around since he could float above the ground but for Haru, he had to make sure that he was careful when walking. The ground was rough and uneven and he could run the risk of getting his foot stuck in a hole where the ground hadn''t formed properly.


    Each wall looked to have carbon scoring which made sense since the cave system was probably made by molten rock flowing up from the mantle. Haru was d that thest eruption happened only a few hundred years ago. If one didn''t happen for a few thousand years then the whole inside of this cave would be full of magma and he would be burned to a crisp.


    Haru had the ability to resist the heat from any me but that was exclusive to mes. If he was hit byva it would melt his skin like it would with any other person. But luckily for him, he could resist something like that if he coated his body in Qi and he would bepletely protected but only as long as he didn''t run out of Qi to surround him.


    Li Jun turned to look back at Haru as they continued into what seemed like an endless walk throughout the inside of the mountain.


    "I feel the presence of something that would be helpful for you. Do you want to take a quick diversion?" He asked.


    Haru looked back in confusion.


    "Something that is helpful? What is it?" He inquired for more details about what Li Jun meant. How could there be something helpful in a cave? There was no way for anyone to enter so Haru thought that it would bepletely empty apart from the dragon corpse that they were looking for.


    If there was something that could help him then he would of course want it. And Li Jun knew that he would want whatever it was so he took the lead with a smile as they walked up to a crossroad. The cave now split off in three directions and Li Jun looked back at Haru before nodding his head.


    "Follow me then." He said before floating off down the far left tunnel.


    "Well, aren''t you going to tell me what it is? Why are you trying to be all mysterious?" Haru asked as he followed him without a singleint. He just wanted to know what they were going to get.


    "Shh, Be a little respectful." Li Jun said as the cave ahead of them grew dim and the light from the magma faded from behind them.


    ''Be respectful? Respectful of what?'' Haru thought before using Kun''s me like a torch to light the way for them as they headed deeper into the cave.


    He kept quiet out of respect for his teacher''s wishes but that didn''t stop his mind from wandering about all the possibilities. Were they heading toward some secret nt that only grows within volcanoes? Or some secret manual that will teach him how to master the ability to control magma. But it was nothing like that at all.


    The small tunnel opened up into a huge chamber where even the sound of his breath was amplified to a deafening volume. The walls had holes all the way along them that seemingly shot sound out in random directions creating a reverberance, unlike anything he had ever experienced.


    At first, it sounded like someone had entered the room behind them but that was just the sound of their own footstepsing out from one of the holes in the wall behind them.


    "What is this ce?" Haru asked Li Jun, causing his voice to shoot out in hundreds of directions before echoing again another ten times.


    "Shhh." Was the only reply that Li Jun gave to Haru before looking down at the ground.


    Haru hadn''t noticed as he entered the room since he was trying to understand how the room had such an echo to it but now that he looked back at Li Jun he spotted something else.


    In the very centre, there was the skeleton of a human sat in a crossed-legged position. It looked like they had been dead for hundreds of years but theck of deterioration in the bones was quite disturbing. They were pure white almost like they were still living.


    Usually, after death bones would decay and be yellow as the flesh deteriorated around it but this was unnatural.


    Haru observed without uttering so much as another word while he watched Li Jun reach down into the robes that were still firmly wrapped around the skeleton to reveal a small red ball of light within the rib cage.


    The ball of red light was around the same size as a normal pill and had orange lines running all the way across it. It looked simr to the pill veins that he had managed to form on a few pills before with the same pattern like lightning bolts running all the way around it.


    Li Jun dug his hand into the ribcage and pulled out the little red ball before holding it in front of his face to take a closer look at what it is. He then smiled at it before looking back down at the skeleton and reaching inside the robes once more before pulling out a small bag.


    "What is that?" Haru asked again. He couldn''t keep his curiosity in anymore. He needed to know what it was.


    Li Jun turned slowly while holding both the bag and the little ball of red light.


    "A grade five Qi condensing pill. It wille in handy for you in the future." He smiled again after holding it out for Haru to take.


    "A grade five pill? What use will this be? Wait" Haru began to question Li Jun''s judgement before he noticed something strange about the pill as he took it in his hands.


    Not only did it have pill veins at grade five. But there was also no Qi at all emitting from the thing. Unlike all of the other pills, he had seen and made this felt like it had no power in it at all. Was it a dud? A failure?


    "This is useless. How will it help me if there is no Qi within it?" Haru asked once again. There was no way that it could be useful. The pills he made were way stronger than this thing. But why would Li Jun lie to him about something like this?


    "You don''t know?" Li Jun asked, surprised.


    "I don''t know what?" Haru became confused. There was clearly something he was missing here but he didn''t have a clue what Li Jun meant.


    "Let me ask you something. Do you know the reason why you will ascend to the upper realms when you reach the Nascent Soul stage?" Li Jun asked with a frustrated tone to his voice like he already knew that Haru would get the answer wrong.


    "I''m not sure I didn''t really think about it but I guess it is because you get too strong to stay in the lower realm?" Haru asked. He had no idea how to answer the question as he didn''t see a reason to ask about it before. It still seemed like a thing that would be far away from happening to him so he didn''t care about the reason all that much.


    Li Jun sighed for a moment and put his hand over his face in disappointment.


    "Before I disappeared I asked Lao to tell you everything you needed to know and he actually forgot to tell you something this important Okay. I guess it''s time for a quick lesson about cultivation now follow me." Li Jun said before leading them both back out into the tunnel to avoid the echo of the chamber they had previously been standing in.


    "It''s quite simple but also really important for you to know this. If we weren''t around when it happens to you then you would end up worrying and could possibly end up dying." Li Jun said and then got ready to exin.


    "When you reach the nirvana stage your body will start preparing itself to enter the upper realms so it will take longer for you to break through to the next stage and you will feel a pull toward the upper realms constantly on your body that will only get stronger as you get closer to breaking through.


    The reason is that just like with Natural Qi and abundant Qi there is also another type of Qi but the lower realms reject it.


    It''s called True Qi. Once you get to the nirvana stage your body will automatically start converting all of the Qi in your body into True Qi instead of natural Qi. So the more True Qi that manages to store within your dantian the stronger the force will be pulling you to the upper realms until it eventually happens.


    And when it does happen you will be transferred to a random world in the upper realms depending on your race. If you are a demon you will end up in one of the demon ns territories like you will end up in one of the human n territories.


    But once you ascend. The natural Qi in your body will all convert at once and your dantian will be filled with nothing but True Qi. It sometimes takes a while for people to realise what happens but if you try to use your Qi as you did before it won''t work.


    You need to first establish a connection with the upper realms by absorbing arge amount of True Qi from the ce you end up in. For some it takes weeks and others it takes years until they are able to use their power again. But once they can they will be significantly stronger.


    That is where this pill will help. If you take it as soon as you end up ascending then it will make it easier for you to absorb arge amount of Qi.


    Because that pilles from the upper realms. It is made out of materials that contain only true Qi so you can''t even sense the power it holds yet." Li Jun exined as they arrived back at the crossroads.


    "Think you can remember all that?" He asked.


    "Yeah," Haru responded while staring at the little red pill once again.


    "Good. Now let''s go find that dragon." Li Jun announced before handing the bag that he picked up from the skeleton to Haru and then looking at the other two remaining tunnels.

 Chapter 196: Beast Cores.

    Chapter 196: Beast Cores.


    "And what is this?" Haru asked as he looked down at the small bag in confusion. He wasn''t sure what to think of it.


    "Do I have to tell you everything? How about you take a look inside for yourself. You will know what it is when you see it." Li Jun said in reply before rubbing his hand down the side of the stone wall while trying to sense the dragon''s corpse. But it was no good. Although he had a dragon bloodline he couldn''t tell where the body was. It would call for the help of an actual dragon to find it.


    Haru looked down at the bag while Li Jun thought of what to do. He opened it to see a dark void. Even the light from Kun''s me couldn''t illuminate the inside of the bag to show him the contents within it. ''Okay? This is a little strange.'' Haru thought before sticking his hand inside.


    As he reached down into the small bag, he felt nothing. It was almost like the bag was filled with space but the strangest thing was that he couldn''t feel the inside of the bag. He tried to touch the sides of it to make sure that he didn''t miss anything but it was no use.


    "Is this a universe bag!?" Haru asked. A universe bag was like a storage ring in the sense that they both had an array to store items. But a storage ring used the wearer''s Qi to activate it. A universe bag supported itself and could store much more than a storage ring.


    He then put his hand in deeper until nearly his whole arm was inside the bag that was no bigger than the palm of his hands. It looked funny from the outside but there wasn''t anyone yo judge him for it. And he also wanted to know what was stored inside so he continued putting his arm in deeper until he felt something cool contact the tip of his fingers.


    He put his arm in a little deeper until his hand was covered in what felt like hundreds of tiny pebbles. They were both smooth and cold to the touch but as he grabbed a handful and pulled his hand back out he realised what they were.


    He pulled out his hand while clutching what he thought to just to be a handful of pebbles but the bright blue colour and slight glow to his hand showed him otherwise. His hand was filled with beast cores.


    What he previously thought to be a rare item was now abundant to him within a few minutes of entering this cave. He had only seen two in his life but now he was holding at least ten of them at once and there were likely much more within the bag.


    Just as he was about to ask Li Jun about them he blurted out.


    "You sense It already? Which tunnel should we take?" He responded to Lao whose voice had been echoing throughout the cave without Haru even realising before. He was too interested in his bag of beast cores to notice.


    As he looked over at Li Jun he noticed a little green glowing orb that was about the same size as a baseball. ''What is that thing?'' He asked himself. He didn''t see him take anything else from the skeleton.


    "The very right tunnel. Wait, no Not the tunnel. The wall behind the tunnel. It''s behind there." Lao''s voice echoed throughout the tight tunnel once again but this time Haru located the source of the voice and it seemed to being from the green orb.


    "Lao?" Haru asked before leaning toward the orb and inspecting it for a few moments.


    "If you don''t move your face away from me I will use your body to open a hole in that wall," Lao responded as Haru''s face got ufortably close to the little orb.


    "Sorry sorry" Haru said and then took a step back while Li Jun walked over to the wall that Lao had directed him to and pressed his ear against it.


    "Is this your soul or something?" Haru asked Lao as after four years of knowing him he had never seen anything like this. He knew that his soul was bound to the dragon emperor''s ring but he didn''t think that he would be able toe outside at will.


    "My soul!? Don''t make meugh boy. This is my eye." Lao responded with a chuckle.


    "Your eye?" Haru asked again. How could a glowing ball of light be an eye? But it wasn''t like Lao to make jokes.


    "Well, it''s not my eye It''s the eye of a flood dragon Li Jun killed for me. He was trying to get me a body too at one point but the body was too badly damaged for me to use so he just took the eye. I am using this to see. I can sense things that happen around to a great degree but I can''t see anything that goes on out here. I forgot what the outside world looks like.


    It''s quite detailed. I can almost feel the coarseness of the rock It almost makes me miss living. I hope this body will be in good enough condition to contain my power." Lao said in a tone like he had been through a simr situation many times before. He didn''t even seem excited that he had the chance to have a body again.


    Haru wasn''t quite sure how long Lao had been trapped inside the ring but it was probably at least an eternity. Before Li Jun met him he had been trapped in the ring for thousands of years and that was a couple of thousand years before Haru was even born.


    The ability to live for thousands of years remained a pipe dream for Haru but he hoped that just maybe he would eventually gain the power to do so.


    "Hm It seems like this is the centre of the volcano. Harue here and help me!" Li Jun called for Haru as his ear was still pressed to the wall of the cave.


    "What is it?" Haru stopped his daydreaming and ran over to where Li Jun was standing.


    "Break this wall. The dragon''s body should be through here." Li Jun said and then took a step back away.


    "Break the wall? Are you sure? Lava isn''t going to rush through the hole I create and burn me is it?" Haru joked but then turned back to see the look of confusion on Li Jun''s face which worried him.


    "Probably not I didn''t hear any flowingva nearby. It sounded quite far away." Li Jun said while scratching the back of his head indicating that he wasn''t quite sure.


    "Well if that isn''t the most reassuring thing I have ever heard, I don''t know what is." Haru expressed sarcastically before walking over to the wall and preparing to break it.


    He gathered Qi in his hand. Blue light swirled around his fist, creating a vortex of air that spiralled around each one of his knuckles. He looked at the surface of the wall and estimated that he would probably need to use around sixty per cent of his strength to break it.


    He carefully measured the amount of Qi he was releasing from his fist while trying his hardest to not make his punch so hard that it would cause the cave to fall in on them. He got to the point where he was happy with the power he was going to use and then struck the stone as hard as he could.


    A sound simr to that of a pickaxe striking the inside of a mineshaft bounced around the cave as arge portion of the rock split from the wall and slid down to the ground.


    The rock that chipped off from the wall was about the same size as a human but apart from the obvious missing chunk, the wall was still standing perfectly fine.


    "Put your back into it. This is a volcano with enough energy to kill an ancestral dragon. Do you think you will be able to break through a wall with a single punch? At this rate, we will be here all week." Li Jun mocked Haru from the sidelines as he made him do the hard work of getting them to the body.


    "What is this cave made out of!?" Haru yelled as he looked down at his hand that had a slightly red discolouration to the skin. He had managed to bruise himself from the hardness of the rock.


    He then repeated the same steps of gathering Qi within his hand before striking the wall again. And again. And again and again. Each time adding more and more strength to his punches as he slowly shaved off bits of the stone.


    He continued for what felt like hours until his arms felt tired. And just as he was about to give up he gave a final punch before blistering heat ran in through a tiny crack in the wall. It was unlike anything he had felt before.


    This heat seemed so hot that Kun''s powers wouldn''t even be able to control it.


    "Well done! You finally did it. I thought I was going to sleep." Li Jun said with a yawn.


    Haru turned back to look at him but as he did he noticed that he was standing at least thirty metres away from Lao and Li Jun.


    "Didn''t you say I was supposed to break through the wall?" Haru asked.


    "Yeah. And you did it. Let''s keep moving." Li Jun said as both him and Lao approached the wall Haru had just opened a tiny hole into.


    "A wall?! I ended up tunnelling through half of the mountain!" Haru shouted in outrage as the muscles in his arms felt like they were about to drop off. He had almost exhausted his Qi with the amount of time he had to hit the wall with his full strength and his knuckles were all ck.


    "That''s your fault for not being strong enough." Li Jun said and then put his index finger on the wall. As soon as his finger made contact with the stone it crumbled revealing the red glow from within the centre of the volcano. He smiled gleefully before turning back to Haru whose face was cast in shadow.

 Chapter 197: Dragon Body.

    Chapter 197: Dragon Body.


    As the wall crumbled into pieces the red glow and heat radiating from the crack burst in into the tunnel and with its initial st before slowly dying down as the hot air escaped put in the direction they had juste from.


    "Woah We found it." Li Jun announced to both Haru and Lao.


    Haru took a few steps forward before stopping at Li Jun''s side to see the sight before them. Suspended in the air there was a solidyer of rock with stctites like spikes pointing down from it. But as he looked closer he quickly noticed that it wasn''t just rock.


    There was the imprint ofrge scales and then it went all the way up to the top of the volcano in a long line like the body of a dragon. That was when he noticed that they were, in fact, looking at the body of the dragon that had been encased in molten rock before it cooled down, leaving behind a statue simr to the turtle that was outside.


    "Li Jun free it for me. I want to have a closer look." Lao announced to Li Jun who followed the order without a second thought. Li Jun raised his hand out toward the dragon and suddenly the whole mountain began to shake as crumbs of rocks rained down upon them. With his other arm, he raised it above his head creating a barrier of golden light as a barrier formed around them to stop the rocks from touching them.


    The rocks dropped to the ground as they slowly gotrger andrger but as they did the huge b of rock suspended from the ceiling began to move before floating in the sky like the stone connecting it to the walls vanished.


    Theva pool in the centre of the cave began to bubble as the rock feel down into it. But there was so much of it that it covered theva poolpletely in stone creating a solid ground that could be stood on.


    Li Jun began to lower his hand, bringing the dragon body lower and lower before shaking his hand a little causing the stone that surrounded it to all break free. There was nothing left and the mix of green and blue scales became visible.


    The dragon had been dead for thousands of years yet it was perfectly preserved. There wasn''t even a sign of it beginning to rot. The stone obviously helped with that but Haru had the feeling that even without the stone it wouldn''t have rotted.


    The amount of Qi he could feeling from the dragon''s body was unlike anything he had ever felt in his life. Just standing near it was enough for the amount of Qi in his body to begin to rise. He felt himself growing stronger and stronger as it replenished all of the Qi that he had used to break through the wall.


    But even after he had gotten all of his Qi back it continued to rise. There was nothing that he could do to stop it. His flooded soul ocean was bing bigger and bigger and expanding at an rming rate.


    "What''s happening to me?" Haru asked as blue light began to glow from the veins within his arms. He rubbed the skin on his arms with confusion.


    "That''s" Li Jun turned to see what was happening to Haru''s body with a worried expression since he recognised what it meant.


    "Unification How is this possible?" Li Jun asked as the attention shifted from the dragon to Haru.


    "Unification!? A human has managed unification!?" Lao began tough.


    "You have the ancestral dragon to thank for this. His Qi is so powerful that it has managed to unify Haru''s dantian. Lao said in betweenughs.


    "Unification? What does that mean?" Haru asked. He was still worried about what was happening to him but he didn''t even know if he should be.


    "It is something that usually happens to beast races. Their mind, body and soul bes one. All three of them will get stronger even if you only train one of them.


    So you can train your cultivation and your body will be tougher and your soul will be more durable. I don''t know how it happened though.


    I wonder I don''t think anyone has hit the limit to the flooded soul ocean since the amount of Qi you would have to absorb would be insane. But not only did you absorb the Qi from a high-level expert from the upper realm but also the Qi from an ancestral dragon


    It''s not a surprise to think that some unnatural things would happen. But you shouldn''t worry this is a good thing. You should try to absorb as much Qi as you can for now." Li Jun exined to Haru to put his mind at ease and stop him from worrying.


    "Absorb the Qi from the dragon? But doesn''t Lao need It?" Haru asked. He didn''t know anything about taking over a body but he assumed it would take a lot of power to do it.


    "I have my own Qi, This dragon was strong but he died too young. If he had lived even half as long as me then his body would have covered your world in Qi, Everyone would be born as a cultivator. So take as much as you want." Lao announced, Giving Haru permission to take the rest of the Qi from the dragon''s body.


    He sat down on the ground as fast as he could and began to cultivate before he had time to change his mind about giving him all of the Qi. Leaving Lao and Li Jun alone to inspect the body.


    "What do you think about it?" Li Jun asked Lao. To him, the body seemed fine but Lao was the expert on dragons and only he knew what he was looking for in a body for himself.


    "It looks good. The bones have held up nicely and the skin is tough. There is only one problem with it." Lao said while looking at the dragon corpse.


    "A problem? What is it?" Li Jun asked. He couldn''t see any physical damage with it at all. To him, it looked the same as it did when alive even after thousands of years of being dead.


    "Yeah, A big problem. Not with the body. With the heart. If I put my soul into that body the heart would constantly be in pain and it would limit my growth.


    His pain felt from seeing his son sacrifice himself for him is engraved on his heart. It''s a waste. We came here for nothing. But at least Haru can get something out of it." Lao said with disappointment as he looked at the dragon when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye.


    "Really? I thought this time you might actually have a chance of living again. I''m sorry it didn''t work out. It always turns out to be something like this whenever we get close to finding you one." Li Jun said also disappointed that he couldn''t be of any more help.


    "Wait What is that? Li Jun moved his wing out of the way." Lao demanded as he spotted something small and pale sticking out from underneath the dragon''s wing.


    "The wing? What is it?" Li Jun asked before doing what was asked of him and moving the wing to reveal the body of a human wrapped within the wing.


    The clothes had all been vaporised so the body waspletely naked as it rolled out onto the floor. He had long blue hair down to the bottom of his back and pale white skin.


    "This is it!?" Lao shouted out as he saw the human bodyy on the ground.


    "The son of a dragon. A half-dragon! He ended up dying but his heart was clear of all regrets. It''s perfect and I could live in secrecy so I wouldn''t have to hide in the ring any longer.


    It feels kind of cramped in here, after staying inside for so long." Laoughed, It felt like a weight had been lifted off his chest as he knew that he could be free once again.


    "The cultivation is low But it''s good. You will be able to live alongside Haru without causing trouble. None of the humans here are strong enough to know that you are a dragon. But are you really willing to live in the body of a half-dragon?" Li Jun asked.


    "You know me. I am past the point of being proud. The dragon race is all but dead. What is the point in looking down on humans when they have outlived our species? You guys are strong and just maybe with this body I will eventually be even stronger." Lao said before the green orb floated over to Haru.


    "Hey wake up." Lao''s voice boomed around the inside of Haru''s head causing him to open his eyes.


    "What is it?" He asked as he opened his eyes to see both Lao and Li Jun looking down upon him.


    "I need your help," Lao said. Haru looked up confused but didn''t question it. He got to his feet.


    "What is it?" He asked. He was willing to do whatever he would ask.


    "I want you to put the dragon emperor''s ring on that human body over there. I will take care of the rest." Lao said with an excited tone to his voice.


    Ever since Haru had met Lao he had never heard him speak this way so he knew the importance of what he was asking and then did exactly as he said.

 Chapter 198: Lao...

    Chapter 198: Lao...


    Haru got up from the floor and began to walk toward the naked human bodyying on the floor. He looked down and recognised the body as the ancestral dragon''s son when he had seen what took ce at this volcano within the array that caused them to take this trip in the first ce.


    He took the ring off from his own finger and as he did the green orb Lao was using to look through and Li Jun both vanished into thin air like they never existed in the first ce.


    If the dragon emperor ring didn''t have a wearer then everything that was stored within would return. Including the souls that had bound themselves to it. He then kneeled down next to the body before taking his hand and stretching out one of the cold fingers and cing the ring onto his hand.


    Haru withdrew his hands away from the body as fast as he could, scared that something would happen as soon as it made contact with the flesh.


    "Lao Are you there?" Haru leaned closer and said before resting his hand on the shoulder of the lifeless body. Suddenly a sh of green light shot out from the eyes and the mouth before it levitated up into the air.


    Li Jun reappeared by Haru''s side and they both watched together as Lao bound his soul to the body.


    The green light burned brighter and brighter to the point that the glow from theva was now useless. Everything within the cave now had a green hue to it. The body rose higher and higher into the air causing more of the green light to be cast down onto the surroundings before a groan called out.


    The groan sounded tired and hurt like someone had just woken up from aa and the light began to fade as the body drifted back down from the sky. As the body approached the ground Haru noticed the chest moving up and down in a rhythmical pattern as he breathed once again.


    "I feel So cold" Lao said as his new body touched the ground and he stumbled forward. Haru caught him in his arms before he could fall and then put Lao''s arm over his shoulder to support him and stop him from falling again.


    "Hold on I will get you some clothes," Haru said and opened up the contents of his storage ring and pulled out some long pants, boot, shirt and a coat to keep him warm.


    "Is this what it feels like to be a human? How do you bnce in these skinny legs? And these arms There is no muscle in them at all." Laoined with a sly smile on his face as Haru handed him the clothes.


    "Here, Put these on," Haru suggested so that he wouldn''t freeze to death. It wasn''t cold in the cave by any means but Lao had not felt the feeling of air against his skin in an eternity and a human''s body heat was much lower than that of a dragon''s. It probably felt like he was dying despite being on the inside of a volcano.


    "Uh I don''t mean to be a nuisance. But I have never put on clothes in my life How do I do it?" Lao asked. Haru sighed before helping him out.


    ''I never thought I would be ying dress-up with a naked dragon today'' Haru thought before holding the pants out for Lao and told him to step into the leg holes all while holding him up straight and then walked him through the process like a parent teaching their child how to put on clothes.


    As soon as they had finished and Lao now had clothes on he grabbed on to Haru''s shoulders a little tighter as he couldn''t hold his bnce on his own.


    "How do you people like life on two legs? This is so inefficient." Laoined as he began to struggle to keep his legs straight. He looked almost like a baby deer trying to walk for the first time. It was a funny sight but Haru knew better than tough at a dragon for failing at something.


    "This is quite the sight for sore eyes. I never imagined seeing the day when you got yourself a new body. And the body of a half-dragon is even more unimaginable. You will get used to it soon don''t worry." Li Jun mocked Lao before reassuring him that it was only temporary.


    Haru used his spiritual sense toprehend Lao''s current power.


    "Oh wow" Haru said in shock as he looked down at the man he was struggling to hold up.


    "Here let me help you sit." Haru offered his hand and slowly lowered Lao to the ground so he wouldn''t have to try to bnce anymore.


    "That''s better. This is so much better." Lao sighed in relief as he sat still.


    "Um Lao. You might want to absorb some of the Qi from the ancestral dragon." Haru said hesitantly.


    "Hmm? What do you mean? I said you could finish absorbing it if you wanted to." Lao said in response.


    "Well Your body is only at the spirit core stage right now. It might be better for you to absorb it all." Haru warned Lao but it seemed like something was off with his attitude. He didn''t seem bothered in the slightest.


    "Well okay if you insist." Lao raised his hand out toward the dragon''s body when suddenly the body began to break down into millions of little pieces that all flew towards the centre of his hand before vanishing as a huge fluctuation in Qi emerged from Lao''s body.


    Haru looked down at him and watched as his cultivation level rose higher and higher. It started at the spirit core stage and then hit the heavenly spirit stage almost instantly before jumping up once again andnding on the manifestation stage.


    In less than ten seconds Lao had managed to raise his cultivation to the stage higher than Haru''s which took him a full three years to get two. Li Jun praised Haru for being able to reach the strength that he had within three years but this was a whole new level.


    Yet surprisingly Li Jun didn''t seem too concerned by it.


    "It''s been a long time since I have seen anyone use that trick." Li Jun smiled with a hint of sadness in his eyes as he watched Lao get to his feet again. This time with more sess than he hadst time.


    "Okay, this is better. If I surround myself with Qi I can use it to hold me up." Lao said as he now managed to stand up.


    "But why won''t this coldness go away!?" He shouted before sneezing and then bringing his arms around his body to press the wool on the inside of the coat against his body a bit tighter to try to warm himself a little more.


    "I''m d it''s you and not me. I don''t even remember what the cold feels like but I can''t imagine it being a nice feeling." Li Junughed at the thought of Lao shivering.


    "Shut up or else I will" Lao began to say but then stopped himself now that he knew that he no longer had any power over the dragon emperors ring. He then reluctantly took it off his body and then gave it back to Haru.


    "Here. You can be the one to deal with Li Jun now. I am finally free from his tormenting." Lao said with happiness as Li Jun vanished from where he was standing and Haru put the ring back on his finger.


    Li Jun appeared back in the spot where he was stood in before and then frowned as he looked at the both of them.


    Lao''s body was thousands of years old but it looked to be around the same age as Haru with its features.


    The skin on his face was smooth and had no imperfections at all. The hair was a light shade of blue in colour and was long enough to hit the lower parts of his back. His eyes on the other hand were a light green colour that almost looked as if they were constantly glowing.


    Haru thought back to the story that he had heard from the sect master of the ck star sect. When the coffin full of mist was captured a young boy appeared from nowhere with green glowing eyes and took the coffin away with him.


    Green glowing eyes did indeed seem to be the sign of the dragon race if that wasn''t obvious enough by Lao''s form in the soul ocean and the green eyes on the ring that was on Haru''s finger.


    Li Jun and Lao talked about their ns now. Lao was hesitant to leave despite the fact that he had gained freedom and he was still adamant on teaching the young girl that Haru had saved from the evil sect back in shanghai.


    He was now sure that she was a descendant of the ancestral dragon and he wanted to make sure that he brought her back to pay respects to their ancestors. She was young and had no idea about her heritage but she seemed to be incredibly perceptive to the movement of Qi. She would make the perfect student.


    So they decided that Lao would stay at Haru''s house and act as a guard while raising the girl to be a cultivator. But the only thing left to do now was to go back home and ask the cultivation association to hand the girl over to them.


    Haru wasn''t too sure on how to go about doing it but he knew that there would be hell to pay if they refused Lao''s first request. He wanted to call Lian as soon as he possibly could to let her know in advance so they could survive the wrath from an actual dragon.


    "Come on. We''re going." Lao announced before grabbing Haru by the arm and then suddenly all of the light vanished in an instant, almost like someone had turned off a light switch within the cave.

 Chapter 199: Adoption?

    Chapter 199: Adoption?


    Haru looked around as his surroundings became dark. He first thought that he had somehow passed out but he still felt the sensation of Lao holding his arm. Just as he was about to ask what was happening light shed and he was plunged into the light from the sun that was just rising in between skyscrapers in the distance.


    ''Wait, skyscrapers'' Haru thought before looking around and realising he was now standing in his house. It had taken him a day to get to Beijing from Shanghai and a further few hours of flying to get to the Changbai mountain.


    But almost instantly Lao had managed to take them back to the starting ce. It only took a few seconds and Haru was now standing in the very spot he was standing when nning the trip.


    "How did you just-?" He asked Lao who picked up a small clock from the firece in the living room.


    "Hm So this is what a clock feels like" Lao zoned out as he walked around the room picking things up as if he had never seen them before.


    "And this is stic? It feels kind of like ss." He picked up the tv remote and felt the back of it.


    "Haru What are these buttons made out of? They are soft yet firm. I haven''t felt anything like this before." Lao turned to look at Haru with excitement. He was curious about everything just like a cat which was aplete contrast to his behaviour before.


    But it made sense. He was previously trapped within a ring for thousands of years. He couldn''t see anything on the outside nor could he see how far technology had advanced in the lower realms so there was no point in him even worrying about such meaningless things.


    But now that he had a new body and he was out in the world he now had the chance to look at new things and try to understand how they worked. It was exciting for Lao but frustrating for Haru. At this rate, they wouldn''t be able to talk to each other again. There was just simply too much for Lao to look at.


    "I thought you said that you wanted to teach the girl that I rescued?" Haru asked, bringing Lao back to his usual serious self.


    "What about it?" Lao asked. He didn''t know Haru''s meaning for bringing it up so suddenly.


    "Well if you want to teach her then first you will have to show that you are a functioning member of society or the authorities would never let you adopt a child," Haru stated.


    "Adoption? She would be my daughter? Why would I need to do a thing like that?" Lao asked The only things he knew about the way the world functioned was what he was told by Haru and Li Jun. So he had no idea about the way he would have to go about gaining custody of her legally so that they wouldn''t be hunted by the police for kidnapping a child.


    "You would have to adopt her if you want to teach her. It is a crime to take people from their homes without bing their legal guardian. You wouldn''t have to be her parent. It would just be signing a contract to say that you will look after her." Haru exined but Lao still didn''t understand.


    "Well, If that''s the way we have to do things here then what should I do? How do I adopt the girl?" Lao asked before dropping the TV remote back on to the table and walking over to Haru enthusiastically.


    "Hm Well, first I would have to get you an identification card. You have no paperwork to say that you are a citizen of china so you might get deported if you get into trouble with the authorities.


    But while I do that. Let me show you something." Haru said and then picked up the TV remote and put on a Chinese drama show for Lao to watch.


    "Sit down and watch it. This is how humans interact with each other these days. The way you speak is too stiff and formal. Just try to sound more like these people." Haru exined to Lao who was eager to learn. He sat down quietly and began to watch the show as Haru stepped out of the room to make a phone call.


    "Ah, Haru. I wasn''t expecting you to call. Is everything okay?" The leader of the crimson spiders answered the phone and said as soon as the call connected. Haru looked back into the living room and looked at Lao who was still eagerly watching and sighed.


    "It''s nothing too serious. I was just wondering if you could help me with something." Haru announced and then waited for his reply.


    "You need my help? What can I do for you? Is there anyone else causing trouble for you?" Han asked with a serious tone to his voice that was almost downright scary. He sounded as if he was ready to kill someone at a moment''s notice.


    "No no, don''t worry. I was just wondering if you could have someone forge some legal documents for a friend of mine.


    He recently came from overseas to escape the authorities and I want to get him a new identity. Can you do something like that?" Haru asked. He knew that Han had a lot of influence in shanghai but he wasn''t quite sure how far his influence stretched.


    "Forged documents? I can''t get forged one but I do have a friend in the government who could get you real documents. It will be the real deal and as far as anyone else is concerned your friend was born and raised in China. How about that?" Han asked.


    "You can do that? That''s perfect. I didn''t know if you could get something like that done so I initially asked if you could get forged ones but this is so much better. Thank you." Haru said happily. This was better than he expected. Lao would now be able to make it through any background checks that they might do if they looked into his origin.


    "There''s no need to thank me. Just don''t forget that that tournament will being up soon. So make sure that you win it for me. I will call contact now and give him your number so he can contact you about the details." Han let him know before they wrapped up the call.


    Haru walked back into the living room to see Lao sat on the edge of the couch as he watched a fight scene y out.


    "Just kill him! You have a gun! Shoot him in the head!" He shouted at the TV as the two male leads held each other at gunpoint while they talked.


    "What''s the point in having a weapon if you''re not going to use it!?" Lao shouted once more as the episode came to an end.


    "Hey Lao, I have some good news," Haru announced as he stood in the doorway.


    "Oh, Haru, my old friend. I have been expecting you. Come, Talk to me about your ns." Lao said in reply as he acted out one of the scenes he had seen in the TV show.


    "Okay I told you to reenact how they spoke. Not copy their lines" Haru chuckled slightly at how Lao had awkwardly pronounced the script.


    " I can''t do this. You, humans, have a strange way of talking to each other. It shows no respect for others and is quite crude." Lao went back to his static way of talking that he was used to.


    "Well, it doesn''t matter. We could just y it off that you are from a rich family and they taught you to always have manners But please stop saying "You Humans." You are now going to live like a human.


    And we don''t tend to call each other by our species. People will think that you are delusional if you carry on doing that." Haru warned Lao of how idiotic it made him sound when he said things like that.


    Usually, Haru wouldn''t dare talk to Lao like this but seeing him in a human form was much less intimidating than it was seeing a dragon. He felt more rxed while talking to him like this. It was almost like how he talked to Li Jun.


    "Okay! No calling humans, humans." Lao said and then turned back to the TV as the second episode of the show started.


    "This is going to be the death of me. It''s like instructing a child." Haruined.


    "It''s fine, leave him for now. I have known Lao for thousands of years, so trust me when I say this. He is extremely happy right now. Most of the time we spent together was while trying to find a new body for him.


    This is a wishe true for him even if he does have to live in the body of a human. But honestly, I think that he secretly likes this although he would never say it out loud." Li Jun appeared and smiled as he watched his oldest friend finally gain his freedom.


    "Are you alright?" Haru asked. There was a hint of sadness in Li Jun''s eyes as he watched Lao criticise the writers behind the show.


    "Yeah, I''m fine. I just feel Alone I guess. I didn''t think it was possible since I am merely a fragment of a soul. But I know that one day I will have to go back to Li Jun''s body and merge with the rest of his soul.


    I''m just not sure what will happen to me though. Will I cease to exist? Or will he absorb my memories and know everything about what has taken ce while I was here?" Li Jun asked himself.


    "I need some time to myself." Li Jun announced before vanishing back inside the dragon emperor''s ring that was now empty. No dragon was residing on the inside anymore. There was just darkness that Li Jun now used a hideaway to escape his emotions.

 Chapter 200: Dont anger a dragon.

    Chapter 200: Don''t anger a dragon.


    ''That was unlike Li Jun. I guess seeing Lao get a new body made him jealous. It''s understandable. If I was trapped with someone for thousands of years and suddenly they got to go free I would be jealous too.'' Haru thought to himself. Li Jun''s reaction waspletely justified.


    Haru knew that he would get over it soon so he didn''t worry too much about his mental state although he did feel bad for him. He would have tried to get a body for Li Jun too but he was just the fragment of a soul. He had no life force or body so it would have been practically impossible for him to live once again.


    As he was sympathising with Li Jun, Haru received a text from an unknown number. He then looked down to read what it said.


    "Mr Fujimoto. I have received instructions to help you get legal documentation for your friend. You maye to our offices at four hundred and nine East street at eight-thirty AM on Monday morning and I will see to it that everything will be taken care of." The message was simple and straight to the point. Unlike a message, he thought he would receive, from a government official.


    But it was likely a fake number that wasn''t tied to his name at all and was only used for this kind of thing. It was smart to leave introductions for when they met in person.


    Haru replied with a simple "Thank you" and then put his phone back in his pocket before looking back at Lao who was now sat on the floor with the TV picked up over his head and trying to shake the food out of the screen into his mouth.


    "You hungry?" Haru asked Lao who was startled by the sudden question behind him and almost dropped the TV as he turned around but Haru quickly held out his hand and managed to stop it from falling with his Qi and ced it back down on the stand.


    Lao turned back to see the TV now on the stand and then looked back at Haru.


    "You''re getting quite good with your use of Qi. What did you say I didn''t hear you?" Lao praised him and then asked, admitting that he was entranced by the TV show entirely.


    "I asked if you wanted to get some food," Haru said once again, this time louder so there was no chance of him saying that he didn''t hear.


    "Food? I don''t need to eat." Lao replied. Although it''s true that he didn''t need to eat to survive. It didn''t stop him from feeling hungry. And that was made obvious by the growl that came from his stomach while he was thinking about it.


    "Come on. I will take you to my favourite restaurant but you have to promise me not to pick a fight with anyone. If someone speaks to you then just ignore it." Haru said to make sure that Lao didn''t wipe out half of the city if someone annoyed him.


    "You think that a human- A normal person could anger me? I feel pity for them for being so weak that they feel the need to target people to try to prove their strength." Lao announced, remembering that Haru told him not to refer to people as humans.


    "If you say so. Then let''s go. You might want to put these on too. It''s much colder out there than it is in here." Haru said and then tossed a pair of wool gloves and a thick scarf for Lao to wear.


    "Oh, gloves I know how these work. But what is this thing? Is it a belt?" Lao looked at the scarf with confusion. As he put on the gloves.


    "No, It''s a scarf," Haru said but it didn''t make any difference. Lao was just as confused as he was before he knew what it was called. He picked it up and began to wrap it around his waist and arms to see where it would fit.


    "Is this right?" He asked after tying it around his forehead like he was the hero of some type of action movie.


    "Not even close. Come here, let me help you." Haru sighed and called Lao over so he could do it himself. At the rate he was going it would take them all day to get to the restaurant. Haru quickly wrapped the scarf around Lao''s neck and then they both headed outside.


    *Sniff sniff*


    Lao suddenly began to sniff the air like a dog as he stepped outside into the open.


    "I smell that vampire," Lao said just before Haru opened the gate to see the Erstin stood on the other side with his face pressed against the crack between them.


    "Ugh I was just Uh" Erstin stuttered for a few minutes before his attention changed to Lao who was wrapped up like an Eskimo in the winter.


    His long blue hair fell out from underneath the hood of his coat and the scarf was wrapped around his neck and face. The only features that were visible to Erstin were the long blue hair and the bright green eyes.


    "Who''s this pretty youngdy?" Erstin smiled and scratched the back of his head, blushing slightly after looking into the beauty of Lao''s eyes. When suddenly the ground beneath his feet vanished and he felt immeasurable pain in his stomach as he flew through the sky before hitting the ground on the other side of the road.


    "I am no woman," Lao announced after striking Ernist in the gut with his Qi.


    "Lao! What did I just say?" Haru turned to Lao with the same look that a parent would give to their child when misbehaving.


    "But he mistook me for a woman" Lao replied in an outraged tone. It wasn''t surprising that something like that would have warranted such a reaction. He was previously an intimidating dragon and people tend to think of women as weak and fragile.


    And if you had enough guts to call a dragon weak and fragile. You had better be prepared to show your strength in return. Lao did mention that dragons were prideful beings but Haru never expected it to be this severe.


    Haru turned his head back to Erstin, thinking that he might have been dead but as he looked he noticed that the vampire was on his hands on knees and clutching his stomach.


    "Sorry about that! He gets easily agitated." Haru shouted across the road to Erstin.


    "He!? That''s not a woman?" Erstin shouted back, shocked by what he had just heard.


    "You didn''t learn your lesson I see" Lao said quietly before picking Erstin up with his Qi and mming into the ground before picking him back up into the air only to do it again.


    Haru looked back at Lao who was showing no reaction on his face as he brutalised the poor vampire and sighed in disappointment.


    "How did I expect this to turn out?" He whispered before Lao lowered his arm once again and then looked back to Erstin who was rolling across the floor as most of the bones in his body had broken and he was struggling to heal them.


    "I would sympathise with you but I don''t want to be next I would be careful with my words from now on if I was you!" Haru shouted to Erstin to let him know that if he said anything else it would probably lead to something worse.


    But it was like Li Jun said. Lao was happy. Judging from his character before Haru would most likely be cleaning up a pool of blood and calling Han to help him hide a body right now.


    This was light punishmentpared to how hard Lao had hit Kun for being disrespectful while in Haru''s soul ocean.


    Haru waved goodbye before grabbing Lao by his arm and walking away before anything else could happen. Thest thing that he needed were any of his neighboursing out to witness something like this.


    The news would spread like wildfire of cultivators living at Haru''s house. And he most certainly didn''t want any more uninvited guests showing up at his house.


    After dragging Lao down the street to be far enough away from Erstin that they wouldn''t be able to hear anything else he had to say Haru let go of Lao''s arm and turned to face him.


    "Look, I understand what he did But you can''t just do something like that. You are lucky he is a vampire and not a human. You would have killed him if he was a normal human." Haru said. While looking at Lao''s face that was unreactive to anything that Haru was saying.


    "Precisely. You told me that I had to ignore people. Vampires abandoned the human n thousands of years ago so I wouldn''t count them as people. Unless you meant that I couldn''t hit any living being?" Lao asked, unsure about what Haru wanted from him.


    ''Well He''s right but still-!'' Haru struggled to think of anything he could say back to him but he came up nk.


    "Okay, I get it. Let''s get going already. Just don''t attack anyone else from now on." Haru said before walking in the direction towards his favourite restaurant.

 Chapter 201: Return of the Leungs

    Chapter 201: Return of the Leung''s


    It was a struggle to keep Loa under control while in the city but somehow Haru managed to keep him from attacking anyone else. He didn''t know beforehand but it was a hassle to walk around with Lao, Lao''s looks were rather feminine so he got approached by both men and women who wanted to talk to him.


    Haru on the other hand was trying to guide Lao around with minimal stress so he grabbed his arm and pulled him around most of the time which only added more problems. Not only were people trying to approach Lao but now they were looking at Haru as well.


    After they had sat down and eaten he decided it would be best to get a taxi home instead of walking and only gathering more attention. So he called a taxi for the both of them while he waited for Lao to finish in the bathroom.


    Laoined about not knowing how to use a toilet but that was one thing that Haru swore he would never help him with. He described how it functioned as best as he could and then waited outside for him.


    A few minutes went by before a car horn beeped and headlights shed in the parking lot outside.


    "Lao, Hurry up. The taxi is here." Haru knocked on the door to the bathroom but got no reply. He then opened the door to make sure that Lao could hear him. But just as he was about to shout for him he noticed Lao was standing in the corner next to the sink.


    "What are you doing? Hurry up." Haru asked Lao who seemed to be looking down at something.


    "I can''t right now Just leave me I will be out in a minute" Lao said suspiciously as he fiddled with something in his hand.


    "Listen, We don''t have time for this. Hurry up" Haru said before looking down to a shallow stream of water pooling at his feet and flowing from where Lao was standing.


    "Ew, you''re disgusting," Haru said as he looked down at the liquid flowing from Lao feet.


    "Just hurry up and meet me outside. I will go tell the driver to wait." Haru stated, disgusted by what he had just seen. He didn''t know what to think about it but for all, he knew maybe it was normal for dragons to urinate all over themselves.


    Haru walked outside into the parking lot to see that the car that had beeped its horn wasn''t the taxi. He looked at it for a few moments before seeing five people through the window. Two of them were sitting in the front and the other 3 were sitting in the back. But that wasn''t what caught Haru''s eye.


    It was the fact that all of them were wearing jackets with the hoods over their heads and wereughing at something.


    One of them looked directly at Haru just before the sounds of tires screeching sounded out and he felt something impact him from the side followed by the sounds of metal scraping the ground and the ring of a car horn.


    "The fuck?" Haru said aloud before turning to see that a car had driven on to the sidewalk and hit him. Luckily for him, the car was going under forty miles per hour and didn''t carry enough force to move him let alone injure him.


    Haru looked at the car that had stopped like it had hit a brick wall as it made contact with him and saw that there were five people in that car too.


    Both the driver and passenger were bleeding from their faces as their heads hit the dashboard. They must have expected that they would have carried on driving. But the sudden stop caused them all to be injured by their n.


    Haru stood there for a few moments as he tried to piece things together in his mind.


    ''Just who did I piss off this time? They were clearly targeting me I think whoever nned this seriously underestimated me. So it shouldn''t be anything too personal. I think'' Haru was at a loss for words.


    He didn''t have the slightest clue who would have nned something like this. But whoever did would surely pay for it in blood. Haru looked up at the car that was still sitting in the parking lot where all five of them were all looking at him in shock.


    The door to the car that had just stuck Haru popped open and the sound of footsteps could be heard stumbling before a teenage boy, no older than seventeen fell to the ground with blood covering his face.


    "Perfect, I can get some answers now," Haru said as a crowd began to form and film what was going on. Haru made sure to keep his back to the crowd of people filming so they wouldn''t see his face and then grabbed the boy by his arm as Lao stepped through the crowd, covered in water.


    "What''s happening?" Lao asked Haru but got no reply.


    "We''re leaving. Follow me." Haru said without even looking back and then began to float up into the air before flying away as fast as he could while still holding the boy by his arm.


    Lao looked at everyone with their phones pointed at Haru before pulling the hood of his jacket back over his head and joining him in the sky, matching his pace with ease.


    They flew for a few minutes before Haru spotted a construction site in the distance where a new building was being built. After reincarnating and watching movies as a kid there was always one thing that he wanted to do.


    And he nned to do that now. He flew over to the top floor of the unfinished skyscraper and dropped the boy on to the roof before floating down gently on his own. He wanted to make sure the boy was scared enough that he would answer all of the questions that Haru had for him.


    Laonded next to Haru a few secondster and stayed quiet. After all, Haru had told him to ignore anything that people did.


    The boy looked up at them both with blood still covering his face as he faded in and out of consciousness before suddenly he was brought back around by Haru squeezing the sides of his neck with his fingers and showing him the edge of the rooftop.


    "Get off me! It wasn''t my fault!" The boy shouted before thrashing his legs a little bit in panic unaware of the situation he was in.


    "Are you sure you want to move so much?" Haru asked. The boy took a minute to assess his surroundings and noticed that he was on the edge of a rooftop, looking down at a busy intersection below them.


    "B-but How did I get here! I was just" The boy strained his neck to look at Haru.


    "You You should be dead! I hit you with my car! How are you!?" The boy asked before Haru kicked his legs and held him out with one arm over the edge of the cliff.


    "AHHH!! WHAT ARE YOU!!" He yelled as he thought that his death was going to follow when the ground vanished beneath him.


    "I don''t want to make this long. Tell me who sent you and I will let you go. If you don''t tell me I will drop you." Haru said, frustrated by what had just happened.


    Not only did he find out that someone wanted him dead, But he also just exposed himself in front of a bunch of people. He just hoped that none of them captured his face. He wouldn''t be able to go back to university if they did and it would also cause him trouble in day to day life if everyone knew he was a cultivator. He would be an instant celebrity.


    "Okay! I will tell you! Please just don''t drop me!!!" The boy shouted.


    Haru was surprised. Usually, people in the business of assassination were a lot more resilient to threats like this. Haru was well prepared to throw him over the edge and catch him to give him a taste of what it''s like to die. But this was so much better than expected.


    "Okay then" Haru brought the boy back over from the edge and put him down on the rooftop. As soon as he let go the boy dropped down to the ground and began to kiss it.


    "Oh thank god!! I hate heights so much!" He said while worshipping the stable foundation beneath him.


    "Urm Are you going to tell me who sent you or are you going to leave me guessing?" Haru asked, reminding him that he was still in a dangerous situation.


    "Sorry! I''m sorry! It was a man named Leung Li! He hired my friends and me to teach you a lesson for putting his cousin in hospital but the leader of our gang wanted to please him so he nned to put you in hospital.


    Please! You have to believe me! It''s not my fault sir! Please don''t kill me!" The boy shouted and begged Haru.


    "Leung, you say? Hm" Haru looked down at the boy with a face that said he was contemting something. And the boy looked back with fear. To him, it looked like he was deciding if he should let him live or not.


    "Okay, Well don''t do it again. Or something like that. Go get a real job and don''t join gangs." Haru said casually before walking over to Lao.


    "Can you take us home?" He asked.


    "Home? You''re letting him live?" Lao asked.


    "Yeah, he is just a dumb kid. I''m not going to take it too personally. I will just go and visit the one who sent himter." Haru said and as soon as he did. Lao ced his hand on his shoulder and they vanished into thin air. Leaving the boy stranded on the roof for the construction team to find him in the morning.

 Chapter 202: Party.

    Chapter 202: Party.


    A spiral of air began to form in the living room of Haru''s house before they both emerged from within. Both Lao and Haru stepped out from the spiral of Air to see that they were now at home.


    "So where to next?" Lao asked excitedly.


    "Next? What do you mean?" Haru was confused by what he said. There wasn''t anywhere they would be heading to next. He was nning on finding whoever sent those kids alone. He didn''t want to kill anyone and he knew that would be inevitable if Lao tagged along.


    "Well, Someone tried to have you injured. It''s only natural that we injure them in return right? An eye for an eye." Lao said with a smile.


    "I can do that on my own. I''m afraid that you will end up killing someone if youe with me." Haru replied.


    "Ha, Kill someone? Me? Who are you kidding? I have great control of my strength. I wouldn''t make such a simple mistake like that." Lao boasted but Haru didn''t buy it one bit.


    "Yeah, Control Just like how you have self-control and can control your anger when someone mistakes you for a woman." Haru chuckled slightly before watching Lao''s face as a look of rage formed across it.


    "Who''s a woman!?" Lao shouted out.


    "There''s my point. It would be better for you to stay here and learn how to blend in more. You can watch that show some more." Haru said and then waited for Lao to speak but he didn''t.


    Lao bit his tongue with a frustrated look and then sat down on the couch.


    "Okay, Have fun. If you die out there, don''t me it on me." He muttered to himself before Haru walked out of the room to call Han and exin what had happened.


    Han seemed annoyed at the situation and said he would have someone deal with it. But Haru felt like he had to deal with it himself and insisted that he gave him the address of this Leung Li that sent some children to run him over.


    Han was hesitant but he concluded that it was better to keep Haru as a friend. He didn''t know just how strong Haru was but he knew that he could defeat manifestation stage cultivators with ease. That was something that someone even at his stage would find difficult so he caved in and gave him the address of the Leung family.


    Leung Li happened to be the nephew of the man that Haru had fought against with swords while at the resort. And he lied on his own. He was also a student at the same university that Haru attended so it would make things easier when tracking him down.


    He didn''t want to go straight to his house just in case this was all a n by the head of their family to try to kill Haru. So he first needed to gather information. He left Lao to watch the same drama show as earlier and left the house before taking off into the sky.


    It was dark now so the chances of anyone spotting him flying over the city was low so he decided to do so to save himself a lot of time. He first flew to Andrews house to visit Yun. He thought that maybe she would know more about Leung Li since she had been attending the university, longer than Haru had.


    He made his way halfway across the city within five minutes and thennded on the balcony to Yun''s room before taking a nce inside to make sure that he wasn''t interrupting her.


    As he looked in through the gap in the curtains he saw herying on her bed and nodding her head as music sted from her headphones. He knocked on the ss door to try to get her attention but whatever he tried she couldn''t hear him. He then resorted to another tactic instead.


    "Yun! Open the door to your balcony." He used his spiritual sense to transfer his voice directly into her brain to which she jumped up in the air like she had just seen a ghost and her headphones dropped from her head to the ground.


    "Hello?" She asked out loud, thinking that she was hearing things until Haru knocked on the ss door once again. She approached the door hesitantly after hearing him knock and then grabbed a hold of the curtains before pulling them open as fast as possible, seeing Haru standing on the other side of the ss waving at her.


    She sighed in relief before opening the door for him.


    "Don''t do that! You almost gave me a heart attack. I felt like the main character in a horror movie for a second. I thought that I was going to get murdered." Yun said while breathing heavily.


    "You thought you would get murdered yet you still went over to the door instead of running away? It seems like you want to be murdered if that is how you react to fear." Haruughed slightly.


    "Shut up! Wait Why are you here? Aren''t you supposed to be in Beijing And why didn''t you just text me to say you were on your way over? Did you have to do something this creepy?" Yun was more confused now that Haru was there than she was when she heard his voice inside her head.


    "I came back early. I did everything that I needed to do. And it was faster to juste here instead of letting you know in advance I kind of need your help with something." Haru said and then waited for her to reply.


    "Oh, You need my help do you? What is it?" Yun asked with a big grin on her face. Her ego seemed to have been boosted by Haru asking her for help.


    "Have you heard of a man named Leung Li?" Haru asked suddenly.


    "Leung Li? Of course, I have. Why what''s up?" She was confused as to why Haru was asking about him.


    "Oh, it''s nothing. I just need to talk to him about something. But I want to make sure I have the right person. Do you know what he looks like? Can you describe him to me?" Haru asked.


    "You are a really bad liar Maybe if you tell me what really happened. I will tell you what I know." Yun said and then turned her back to him before walking back into her room and sitting back down on the bed.


    "Yun. Now is not the time for joking around. I''m in a hurry." Haru stated in response to her acting like a child.


    Although he wasn''t actually in a hurry it would be a hassle if he managed to get the news that his n had failed and Haru now knew his name. But given the young age of the people he hired to do this he figured they wouldn''t want to report back to him right away out of fear. He had a day at most to find out more about Leung Li.


    "I''m not joking. I happen to know what he looks like and where he is right now. So as long as you tell me what happened honestly I will tell you what I know." Yun smiled. She knew that she had the leverage to find out what was happening.


    "Fine whatever. He hired a bunch of kids to try to put me in hospital." Haru announced like it was no big deal.


    "He did what!? Why?" Yun asked another question.


    "I don''t know But I will make sure to ask him when I find him. So where is he and what does he look like?" Haru said. Yun looked up at him with suspicion for a few seconds. She knew he was lying once again but didn''t question it.


    She knew that he would tell her if she poked a bit deeper but if it involved the Leung family it would be better if she didn''t know anything at all. Her father had told her to be wary of them and if she knew that she was talking to Haru about something like this then he would burst a blood vessel so she decided against it.


    "Let me get ready and I will take you there." Yun smiled before getting up off the bed and pulling a dress out of her wardrobe and then walking into the bathroom.


    "No. You''re noting along. Just tell me where he is and I will go alone." Haru shouted through the door.


    "Well, there is a party going on tonight. Half of the people from our university will be there and my dad said I''m not allowed to go on my own. So it helps both of us out this way.


    If you don''t take me to this party, then you won''t find out where Leung Li is. And my dad will probably let me go if you say that you are taking me there." She shouted from the other side of the door as she started to get ready.


    "But this wasn''t part of the deal. You were supposed to tell me" Haru shouted back until the sounds of footsteps came from down the corridor.


    "Well, I changed my mind! You are taking me whether you like it or not!" Yun shouted back just as the bedroom door swung open. Haru turned around to see Mei standing in the doorway with her arms crossed.


    "Yun, Shut up or else I will tell dad that you sneaked out against night!" She shouted before realising that Haru was also there.


    "Haru? How did you get here? I didn''t hear the doorbell." She asked, confused at how he had managed to get all the way to Yun''s room without her noticing.

 Chapter 203: At ease.

    Chapter 203: At ease.


    "Well... Ahh," Haru struggled toe up with a reasonable excuse as to how he managed to get into Yun''s room without anyone realising." But luckily for him, Yun finished getting ready and opened the door before her sister could probe for any more answers.


    "I called him over so we can go to the party together." Yun pushed her way past Mei and then turned to look back at Haru who was standing in the centre of the room, unsure of what he should do.


    "What party? I didn''t hear about any party." Mei asked suspiciously.


    "That''s because you have no friends willing to invite you to one," Yun said with a smirk and then looked back at Haru.


    "Haru,e one. I will ask my dad to drive us there." Yun said.


    "You little bitch!" Mei shouted at Yun for mocking her like that but she tooughed. It didn''t seem like she was too mad about it.


    Haru then followed Yun down into the living room where Andrew and Nadia were sitting together and watching TV in front of the firece.


    "Dad, Can you drop me and Haru off at the Serpentine resort? He said he would go with me to the party so you don''t have to worry about me." Upon hearing Yun mention Haru''s name. Andrew quickly turned around to see Haru standing there behind his daughter.


    This was the first time they had met face to face since the incident that happened thest time the two of them were at the serpentine resort.


    "What is he doing here? Didn''t he cause enough trouble when he was therest time? I had to fill in stacks of paperwork thanks to the senior being injured when he was thrown from the balcony. What is going through his head?


    Does he really expect me to let him take my daughter to a ce owned by- Wait Didn''t Mr Ma say that he was giving the whole resort to Haru that day?


    I forgot about that Well in that case maybe I shouldn''t be too worried about it. If anything happens to her I will take it up with Mr Ma." Andrew thought while staring at Haru with a menacing re. He didn''t seem to appreciate what was going on but then he changed his attitude suddenly and began to smile.


    "Haru is going with you? Well, in that case, I don''t see why you can''t go together. At first, I thought it would be one of those things where you just go to get drunk.


    But if Haru is taking you then I guess it really must be a ss event. You two make sure you have fun. Andrew your car keys are by the door." Nadia said when she saw Haru standing next to Suyin.


    "I have to take them? Why don''t you?"Andrew asked in response to Nadia telling him where he left his keys.


    "Because you''re the one who said she can''t go on her own. I might have been against it. But at least I didn''t say that she couldn''t go at all." Nadia quietly discussed with him as they were both still sitting on the couch.


    "Fine, I will go already. I only wanted to make sure she would be safe. I know very well what kids her age do at parties like these." Andrew sighed and then walked over to the front door to put on his shoes.


    Haru and Yun followed slightly behind him. Both ready to leave already and none more eager than Haru. When he heard where the party was being held, he couldn''t help but smile. He knew that he would be able to do whatever he wanted and no one would be able to retaliate.


    But he did wonder if Han had told the staff about the transfer of ownership. Thest thing that he wanted was his own securitying to throw him out if a fight broke out. He wanted to speak with him but he figured that now probably wasn''t the best time.


    Since Haru was about to pick another fight with one of Han''s men he thought it would be best to give him some time to think things over. He would eventually have to pick a side if things got too out of hand and he was probably having a hard time considering his options.


    "Yun," Nadia said just as they were about to leave the room.


    "Yes, mom?" Yun turned with a sigh to look back at her.


    "I''m locking the doors at ten. If you''re not back by then you will be sleeping outside." Nadia smiled as a frown formed on Yun''s lips.


    "Okay, I get it," Yun said, this time picking up a white coat from the hanging rack at the front door and putting it on over her ck dress.


    "Say Haru. How did you get into my house without me realising? If you hade through the front door then I would have seen you" Andrew questioned Haru just before they all stepped outside to head to the car.


    "Ah" Haru scratched the back of his head.


    "That was my fault. I was doing homework on the balcony and I asked him toe over so we could go to the party together and then when he got here I wanted to tease him a little and said I wouldn''t open the door and he would have to climb up if he wants toe inside.


    I didn''t actually expect he would do it. But you should have seen it. He moves like a ninja." Yun covered for him by quicklying up with a whole story to exin how he had gotten inside on the spot.


    ''Impressive. I don''t think I''m so creative that I coulde up with something like that. And it looks like he bought it'' Haru thought as he switched his gaze between Andrew and Yun.


    "If you say so. Well then hop on in." Andrew shrugged it off and then pointed over to a ck SUV in the driveway.


    Haru and Yun both got into the back while Andrew started the engine and then drove them back across the city towards the serpentine resort. As they arrived Yun got out and just as Haru was about to, Andrew grabbed his arm.


    "I know you are strong. But if anything happens to her I will-" Andrew began to say but Haru cut him off.


    "You don''t need to say anything. If anyone hurts her they die. Is that right?" Haru asked Andrew who was still squeezing his arm.


    "Die? God no. No one needs to die. I just want you to make sure that she doesn''t get into any trouble okay? Keep an eye on here please." Andrew''s tone changed instantly.


    Haru seemed to have judged him too soon. Andrew looked like the stereotype of a gangster with hisrge frame and tattoos but that wasn''t the case. The only thing that he cared about was his family and keeping them safe. Which was probably the reason he became a cultivator in the first ce.


    "Okay, I understand. I will make sure she stays safe. You have my word." Haru said before Andrew let go of him and he got out of the car to hear loud musicing from within the building.


    "Goodman. Make sure to tell me if any trouble urs. I will be here as fast as I can." Andrew said before starting up the engine again and then driving into the distance.


    Haru turned to see Yun was still waiting for him. She smiled and then waved him over to the line of people that were waiting outside. The security was doing a full search of everyone on their way in and making sure that they had invitations so the line was starting to fill up with other students from their university.


    "What do you think is taking them so long?" Yun asked.


    "They are just making sure that people aren''t taking weapons inside and have invitations," Haru announced. He then looked down at Yun who gasped audibly.


    "Shit. I left my invitation to the car. Wait here. I will call my dad to bring it back." Yun eximed in a panic. To which Haru sighed and then looked over at the front door once again and noticed that there was another line of people who were getting into the resort faster than the others.


    That was when he spotted someone familiar. The guard at the door of the other line was the very same guard that had tried to shoot Haru thest time that he was there. Haru grinned sinisterly. The problem was solved just as quickly as it emerged.


    "It''s fine toe with me," Haru said and then stepped out of the line and walked straight up to the front door.


    "Haru what are you doing? We have to wait in line like everyone else." Yun whispered as she reluctantly followed behind him. Until they approached one of the rope barriers to stop people from cutting in line.


    Haru began to unclip the metal sp from the post and then walked through.


    "Sir, Please get to the back of the line-" The guard stopped in his tracks as he saw Haru guiding a young red-haired girl past the barrier.


    The guard tensed up and sweat began to drip from his forehead before his face grew pale.


    "Hey, are you alright? Hey sir! Please go to the back of the-" Another guard asked the first and then saw Haru cutting in front of everyone and immediately went to deal with it but the first guard grabbed his arm and pulled him back.


    Haru smiled as he closed the rope barrier back up and looked at both of the guards. One of them had a confused expression and the other was terrified.


    "At ease soldier. You don''t mind if I jump ahead do you?" Haru put his shoulder on the terrified guard''s shoulder and asked.


    "Not at all, sir. You are free to head inside." The guard said through a quivering jaw.


    "Okay then. Have a nice night, gentlemen." Haru said to both of the guards before looking at the angry crowd that was shouting in disapproval.


    "I''ve been waiting here for hours! Get to the back of the line!"


    Upon hearing the words Haru smiled and headed inside with Yun.


    "Who was that?" The second guard asked, confused. He didn''t know what to think about the situation. He couldn''t kick them out now that they had been permitted to go inside but he sympathised with the people who were all waiting patiently.


    "That was the new owner of this ce." The first guard said to the other who then chuckled in response.


    "Wait You''re serious?" He asked after seeing that he was the only oneughing.


    "Yes, Now do me a favour and tell the manager that the boss is here and warn all of the guards not to get in his way. I don''t want to see a repeat of what happenedst time." He said.


    "Last time!? That young man is the one who!? Yes right away! I will tell them!" The second guard quickly ran off to inform the staff of Haru''s arrival as Yun looked up at Haru with confusion.

 Chapter 204: Zhu Fan.

    Chapter 204: Zhu Fan.


    "What did you do? How did he let us in so easily? Do you know that man or something?"Yun asked in confusion. This was supposed to be the best club in the whole city and only the elite of the elite could gain entry. But Haru just walked in without an invitation.


    "Oh did I not tell you? I own this ce." Haru said casually. There wasn''t much of a point trying to hide it since she would always know when he was lying. And it didn''t matter. It was just a piece of property and he didn''t even have to run the ce.


    All Haru had to do was sit back and collect the money the club earned. The ountants would send his share of the money to him and then pay all of the workers with what is leftover.


    "You own this ce? Don''t make me Oh, You''re serious aren''t you?" Yun replied first thinking that he was trying to make a joke but she could see by his face that he was being genuine without even trying to hide anything from her.


    "I sure do. Didn''t your dad tell you? He was there that night when the previous owner announced that he was giving the ce to me." Haru said proudly but quietly enough that no one would hear him boasting about owning the serpentine resort.


    "Haru You didn''t do anything bad, did you? I heard that the previous owner is a vicious gangster. You''re sure that you didn''t join his gang aren''t you?" Yun asked quietly so she wouldn''t be heard by anyone.


    "Of course I didn''t. He made a mistake and then gave it to me as an apology." Although he was being honest he didn''t want to bring up what had happened with the whole sect that he had wiped out in front of her. He thought it was better to just keep it to the bare minimum when exining things to her.


    "Hmm" Yun doubted him for a moment before her attention was taken away from her buy a woman''s voice calling her name.


    "Yun! I didn''t expect you toe. Didn''t you say that you weren''t allowed to?" A woman with long tinum coloured hair eximed from the staircase. She was wearing a ck dress simr to the one that Yun had on but hers went down to her mid-calf while Yun''s went to her knee.


    "Jessie! I didn''t think he would let me. But I managed to get my cousin toe with me. Since he wasing along my dad said it was fine." Yun stopped what she was doing and ran over to the woman who had called her.


    "You''re cousin? Isn''t he one of those super smart nerds? Why did hee here? This is a ce for Our people." Jessie said before taking a look around to see if she could spot a nerdy-looking guy but there wasn''t anyone who matched that description in sight.


    "Yeah, something like that. But he is still a pretty cool guy." Yun said and then turned back to Haru who was standing in the same ce watching as Yun talked to her friend.


    "Haru! Come and say hi to my friend!" Yun shouted back to Haru.


    Haru sighed slightly before walking over to them both. He hade here to talk to Leung Li, not talk to Yun''s friends. It annoyed him a little that she was always so quick to change the subject like she had trouble concentration on one thing at a time.


    "Hi," Haru said as he walked over to the two women.


    Jessie looked up at Haru who was much taller than both her and Yun even though they were both wearing heels. She first noticed his pale skin and ssy blue eyes and then the stylish medium length hair cut. She then looked down at his body and saw that even though he had a thin frame the definition in his muscles still showed through his clothes.


    ''He''s Yun''s nerdy cousin!? He is beautiful. How can someone be smart yet this attractive? And look, He even works out. Just where in the world did he-'' Jessie thought before she was interrupted by Yun.


    "Hi? Really? That''s it? You are supposed to introduce yourself and say something cool. Aren''t you embarrassed with an introduction like that?" Yun asked Haru in a criticising way to try to make him correct his bluntness but as she looked up and saw the look on his face she decided to drop it.


    Over the short amount of time, they had known each other. Yun had learned to sense when he was mad just by his face. When something irritated him, his cheeks would twitch slightly and since he was a cultivator she feared what he might do if he got really mad so she decided to let go of things if she saw that sign on his face.


    "No, it''s okay. I found it kind of funny. Lots of mene to these parties to pick up women so they always say something to impress them. But I haven''t seen someone so blunt yet. It''s refreshing." Jessie said with her cheeks turning slightly red as she looked up at him.


    "So Haru was it? I''m Jessie." Jessie introduced herself with a smile and held out her hand for Haru to shake. Before suddenly pulling it away as this time her name was called.


    "Jess! What are you doing? We are all waiting for you." A blond man leaned over from the top of the staircase and shouted down at her while giving Haru a threatening look that said ''Stay away from my girl.'' Haru smiled back at him without giving him the slightest hint that he was scared off by him.


    "Haru" Yun whispered and grabbed the sleeve of his jacket to bring his attention back down from the man at the top of the staircase.


    "That''s Zhu Tengfei''s youngest son Zhu Fan. I know you said that you know his father but you probably shouldn''t mess with him. His father has major ties to the cultivators association and he is a member himself. I heard that he reached The spirit core stage at the start of this year." Yun whispered to Haru so that he couldn''t hear. But Haru already knew what cultivation stage he was at and it was nothing to be impressed about.


    "It''s fine. I never bite off more than I can chew. You don''t need to worry about anything." Haru said back but Yun didn''t know what to say. The way that Haru spoke could be taken in two different ways.


    It could have been taken as "He is nothing but an insect. I will crush him." Or it could have been taken as "I understand. I will stay away for now." But she wasn''t sure exactly what he meant so she decided to hope that he meant thetter of the two and wouldn''t cause too much trouble.


    "Oh, Fan I''m sorry I forgot that I promised to meet up with you guys. You don''t mind if I bring Yun and her cousin do you?" Jessie asked the man standing at the top of the stairs.


    "Yun''s cousin? I didn''t know that she had one Come on then." Fan replied but he didn''t say that Haru couldn''te along so they all took that as if he didn''t mind and walked up together to meet him.


    "Hey, Nice to meet ya, I''m Zhu Fan." Fan stuck his hand out to shake and so did Haru. But as soon as their hands touched. Fan decided to make it apetition and began to squeeze Haru''s hand harder and harder until he was eventually using his full strength and his body was beginning to shake.


    He then looked up at Haru who was smiling and looking down on him in a condescending way. He was smiling like a mad man and had a look of amusement on his face as Fan tried his best to make him submit but it didn''t happen no matter how hard he tried.


    "Nice to meet you too. I''m Haru Kitagawa." Haru responded. Upon hearing the name that Haru had given to him Fan looked up with questioning eyes. He seemed to recognise his name and then immediately tried to pull his hand away. But now it was Haru''s turn. And he wasn''t letting go before he could return the favour.


    Haru lightly squeezed Fan''s hand but that alone was enough to make him flinch and he opened his mouth slightly as the pressure felt like it was about to crush his handpletely.


    "Are you okay? You look a little sick." Jessie put her arm on Fan''s shoulder after noticing that his face suddenly went pale. Haru then let go of his hand.


    "Yeah, you look a little ill. Are you sure you''re up to this? The party doesn''t end until two AM." Yun said, concerned about his health. She had no idea that Haru was the one behind his sudden paleness and thought that he might have beening down with a cold.


    "I''m fine I promise I just had a cramp in my leg. I didn''t want to worry any of you." Fan quickly came up with something to exin his paleness and then chuckled.


    "Don''t mind me. Come on let''s head inside. I''m sure everyone will love your cousin Yun. He will probably make a few good friends tonight. Who knows He might even get himself ady friend?" Fan chuckled and walked ahead of them. Making sure that he held the door open for them as they walked into the banquet hall that Haru was already familiar with.

 Chapter 205: AJs Past.

    Chapter 205: AJ''s Past.


    Unlike the first time, Haru had been inside the banquet room inside the resort theyout had changed. Instead of many tables. They had all been cleared out of the way and there were only a few chairs within the room. Where they had served food in the centre they now only served alcohol.


    The room was lit by only four huge lights that were hanging from the ceiling, creating a dark atmosphere yet remaining light enough for them to see what they were doing. And as they entered Haru immediately spotted a group of people who were waving them over.


    "Jessie is here! Come on it''s time for shots!" One of the men in the group upon seeing them enter the room when suddenly the attention shifted to Haru who was walking beside them. His looks alone were enough to make them envious of him. And the fact that he was walking beside two beautiful women wasn''t helping things.


    Even people who weren''t a part of the small group that had been waiting for Jessie and Fan had turned to look at Haru who was now causing a scene until someone stepped through the crowd and called out.


    "Haru! Where have you been buddy? A few guys came byst week and told us you were moving out of the dorm. Did something happen?" AJ stepped out from behind them and walked over to both Yun and Haru.


    "They did huh? I just decided to live on my own that is it. There''s no need to worry." Haru replied. He was surprised to hear that is what happened. Meng had told him that he had sent people to get him evicted from the dorm but as it turned out he was just bluffing to stop him from rejecting the house that Han had given to him.


    "So you have your own ce huh? Then what are you waiting for? We have to drink to that. Come one follow me." AJ grabbed Haru by the arm and led him into the crowd of people that were all dancing and partying to the sounds of music that was ying from the overhead speakers.


    "I thought you said he was new here? How is he friends with Ah Jin?" Jessie asked as he was dragged off into the crowd.


    "Ah, Jin? You know him too? They were roommates I believe." Yun asked, confused why she was asking like it was a big deal. For all that she knew. AJ was just a regr student but Jessie had made it sound like he had a unique background.


    "You didn''t hear what happenedst year? Ah, Jin was the guy who got into a lot of troublest year with the upperssmen. He ended up having an affair with Leung Li''s girlfriend and he got beat pretty bad for it.


    I heard rumours that they even broke his legs and that is why he walks with a limp. He got kicked out of his sports schrship and had to take another ss.


    I don''t think it''s a smart thing for your cousin to be hanging around with someone like that. It might make him a target for those arrogant pricks." Jessie scorned at the seven people drinking at the bar and in the middle of them sat a young man with hair that was died purple and was wearing a leather bikers jacket.


    "So that''s why he has a limp?" Yun asked, surprised. She didn''t know about that before and hardly even noticed his limp but now that it was mentioned she could see it clearly.


    "Don''t worry so much. I will make sure he doesn''t get into trouble. How about we go and join them so no one barges in unannounced?" Fan suggested after hearing what was going on and then led his group of friends over to the bar to join Haru and AJ.


    A few hours of drinking passed and Haru was beginning to get bored. He had been challenged to drinkingpetitions all night but no one had managed to beat him as expected. He then looked over at Yun who''s cheeks were slightly pink from all of the alcohol that had been consumed.


    He didn''t even have time to ask her what Leung Li looked like and he knew that at this rate she would only get drunker. If he didn''t act now then he would be waiting all night. He decided to get up from the barstool, Leaving AJ and the other people who were struggling to handle their drinks and sat down beside Yun with the music still sting throughout the hall.


    "Haru! This is a great party, right? Are you enjoying it?" Yun asked loudly to try to project her voice over the music. Haru couldn''t quite make sense of what she had to say since her words were merged with the lyrics of a song. So instead of taking her, somewhere quiet to talk. He decided to bring somewhere quiet to them.


    He knew the rune that was used to create a sound barrier but the problem was that he didn''t have any ink or a brush to use to draw it. So he decided to try the trick that he had seen Li Jun do. By releasing Liquefied Qi from his fingertips he drew the rune in the air.


    Before he did so he made sure to size up everyone In the room to make sure that there wasn''t anyone nearby who was strong enough to see the liquefied Qi but luckily enough the strongest person in the room beside him was only at the earthly spirit stage which was three stages behind Haru''s. There was no one at all who would even be able to sense the Qi let alone see it so he went ahead and did it.


    A light yellow bubble formed around both Haru and Yun to keep all sound outside far away and not let any sound from the inside escape.


    "You said you would tell me about Leung Li. So is he here? Which one is he?" Haru asked. He was getting impatient. He enjoyed hanging out with AJ for a little while but now wasn''t the time for that. Every second that he wasted was another second closer to him finding out that his n didn''t work.


    If Leung Li was a smart man and knew Haru was now looking for him. He would surround himself with guards and ask his uncle for help. He didn''t want to give him the chance to notify anyone before he had finished dealing with him.


    "Shh Keep it down! Do you want everyone to find out that you are going to fight with him?" Yun said drunkenly and loudly enough for everyone nearby to hear if not for the sound barrier around them.


    "God, you are so drunk" Haru rubbed to the bridge of his nose in disappointment. He didn''t even know how she had managed to get into this state. He had taken his eyes off her for less than an hour and she was drunk enough to not even realise that the music around them had stopped and there was no ambient noise from people talking.


    "No one can hear us, it''s fine. Now tell me. Where is Leung Li?" Haru asked to which Yun sighed.


    "That''s him right there." Yun pointed to the opposite side of the bar where the man with purple hair was sitting down wearing a ck leather jacket.


    ''You have got to be kidding me I was sitting this close to him and she didn''t even mention he was there? What is she ying at?'' Haru thought as he looked over at the group of men in their early twenties sitting no more than ten metres away from their group when suddenly he noticed that Leung Li was looking across the bar toward Haru''s new group of friends.


    Haru looked back over to their side of the bar to see that a man with long ck hair was holding Fan by his shirt as the rest of the people nearby tried to calm the situation.


    Haru quickly deactivated the barrier and headed back over to see what was happening. He hadn''t known Fan for long but he was nice enough to apologise for the way he acted when they met over a few drinks. So he wasn''t about to let anyone disturb his ns for the night.


    "What''s it to you!? You know I have always hated your face. You pretend you are good looking and stare at yourself in the mirror for hours but I saw you putting on makeup before you came here tonight." Fanughed and shouted at the man who was holding him by the neck shirt.


    "Fan I''m not going to warn you again. Don''t get involved with this if you can''t afford to bear the consequences." The ck-haired man warned Fan but he wasn''t ready to listen to someone else''s opinion.


    "Consequences? What could possibly happen to me? You know dad will wipe the floor with anyone who messes with me. So I''m not going to let you bully my friends. Okay? Now go back to your little boyfriend and-" Fan was cut off as the man''s fist hit him in the stomach before falling to his knees.


    "I have told you this before. Even dad can''t do anything against the Leung family. If you stop me from doing this then our whole family will be destroyed. Now, are you willing to watch me and dad die while Mom and Liqin sold to be used as whores? If you aren''t willing to see that happen then stay out of my way." The man then pushed Fan out of the way before walking over to AJ who was talking to the barmaid with a smile on his face.


    "Hey fuck face. I have a message from Leung Li. You had better stay away from his territory." The ck-haired man spun AJ around on his chair and said to him before bringing his hand back behind his head.


    "SLAP!"

 Chapter 206: Shut your fat mouth.

    Chapter 206: Shut your fat mouth.


    The sound of the ck-haired man''s hand sounded out as it made contact with flesh. He then immediately pulled his hand back and looked down in shock.


    "Fan! What are you doing! Get out of my way!" He shouted, outraged by Fan blocking the p that he was about to give to AJ. Fan gritted his teeth as the right side of his face began to sting from the p.


    "Kong. I''m warning you. You should stop this now. There are people here that you can''t offend. And if you hit this man I assure you that I will do nothing to try to stop them." Fan leaned in and whispered to the ck-haired man.


    "People I can''t offend? I am working with Leung Li. Who can''t I offend? His uncle serves directly under Mr Ma. If anyone tries to-" Kong began to speak but then was cut off by Fan who leaned in closer.


    "He is a friend of the cultivator that healed grandpa''s injuries with just a touch of his hand." Fan whispered quieter so no one else could hear them at all.


    As soon as Fan had said those words to Kong his eyes widened before he began to scan the room with his eyes. He had heard from their father that a young cultivator had saved their grandpa who was on the verge of death just within a few seconds. And his strength was something even Old man Zhu couldn''tprehend.


    If AJ was truly the friend of that cultivator like his younger brother had said then it would mean that he coulde for revenge at any time. He needed to let Leung Li know that he couldn''t do what he was asked.


    He withdrew from where AJ and Fan were standing and then walked back around to the other side of the bar where the man in the leather jacket sat with a look of disappointment on his face.


    "What? Couldn''t do it because your brother was in the way? Just beat him again and make him move or I will have someone else do it instead." The man said as Kong approached him. But without even saying a word in response. Kong walked closer and then bent down to whisper in his ear.


    "Friends with a strong cultivator?" Leung Li said and then took a sip from the ss in front of him. And then suddenly stood up before mming the ss back down on the bar causing shards to fly in all directions as it shattered.


    "I don''t give a shit who he is friends with! He could be friends with god himself and that still wouldn''t make a difference! Now go back over there and make him pay foring here without my permission. Do you understand?" Leung Li began to shout at Kong for disobeying his order and picked up a shard of ss and held it to his neck.


    Kong took a few steps back before feeling someone''s presence and then two pairs of hands grabbed him by his arms. He looked back to see two of Leung Li''s friends were now holding him in ce so he couldn''t escape.


    "I''m sorry. The cultivator who he is friends with helped my family out of some trouble. It would be like spitting in his face." Kong said hesitantly as the ss approached his throat.


    "Hmm So you chose to spit in my face instead. I see. I will just go and deal with it myself then. Let''s see if your little brother still has the balls to stop me." Leung Li said and then lowered the shard of ss before turning around and beginning to walk to the other side of the bar.


    "No, Stop! Please! He is still a kid, don''t hurt him!" Kong tried to shout but the music was too loud for anyone to hear his pleas.


    "Hm It takes a lot of guts to stand up to your boss. Especially when he can kill you at any time." A voice called out from the bar. Kong looked over to see a young man with pale white skin and bright blue eyes.


    "What? do I know you?" Kong asked but his voice was overshadowed by one of the men that was still holding him by the arms.


    "Scram kid. This doesn''t concern you." The man said with a look of fury on his face as if a single pin drop could set him off into a fit of rage.


    "Looks like your brother is about to get beaten. What are you going to do about it?" The man asked Kong.


    "I don''t know if you noticed but I have these two big goons holding me. I can''t do anything even if I wanted to." Long replied, still trying to figure out the identity of the man he was talking to. He had never seen him before and by his unique look, he was sure that he would have remembered meeting someone like him before.


    "Well, that won''t be a problem for long. You had better do something about it fast though. Looks like things are about to get troublesome." The mysterious blue-eyed man said before walking away into the crowd. Suddenly the force from the men holding him in ce disappeared before they both fell to the floor like huge sacks of potatoes.


    "What the-" Kong said as he looked down at the two men who were now sleeping on the floor. ''Did he drug them? Or was it poison?'' He thought as he tried to look for the man he was just talking to but his attention was then caught by what was going on across the bar.


    Leung Li currently had the shard of ss pressed against Fan''s neck and despite that fact. Not many people had noticed nor did they want to step in his way. They knew that if they got in his way they would end up buried in an unmarked grave so they carried on with what they were doing.


    "Fan!" Kong called out before using as much power as he had within his body to run over to the over said of the bar to stop him from getting hurt. As he pushed his way through the crowds he saw Leung Li pull the shard of ss back a little bit and then force it forward into Fan''s stomach.


    "No!" Kong yelled out. He didn''t want to fight against Leung Li as he knew he couldn''t win. But he didn''t want to see his brother killed much more. Without giving it another thought Kong pushed his right foot down into the ground and began to channel Qi into both of his legs before releasing all of the power below him.


    He shot forwards like a bullet and before Leung Li even knew what had happened, he felt the full power of a punch to the face from a spirit core cultivator.


    His head tilted a little as his bnce was thrown off by the power and he stumbled back into the crowd. The sound of the punch was enough to make every stop what they were doing and look around. The crowd of people slowly walked back as they saw Kong in a fighting stance while looking at Leung Li.


    This was something that no one wanted to get involved in. Some people stayed to watch but most others decided to leave the banquet hall and wait in the lobby. They knew that blood would be spilt and not many people had the stomach to watch it.


    The music stopped ying and the lights came on as the room slowly emptied, leaving behind less than fifty people who wanted to see the oue of what was about to happen.


    "Haha, Not a bad punch. It was powerful. You know I didn''t expect you to be able to overpower those two. You have surprised me today." Leung Li said loudly as he chuckled. The punch was strong but it wasn''t enough to even make him flinch.


    "You know I was only going to give him a love tap. But now I''m going to kill your brother while you watch." Leung Li announced.


    Many more people fled to the exit upon hearing those words. If they stayed they would be the essory to murder and even Fan''s friends had all gotten up to leave. Apart from, three of them.


    The three that remained were Jessie, AJ and Yun who was too drunk to even know what was going on.


    "Yun, Where''s your cousin? You should go and find him. I think he ran away without you." Jessie said with a scowl. She couldn''t believe that a man that was so handsome would be such a coward that he would leave a girl to watch a murder.


    "Hmm? That idiot? He wouldn''t leave me like that. He probably has some evil plot or something." Yun stumbled over her words in response to Jessie as the doors to the banquet hall opened up and over fifteen of the resort''s guards ran in to see what was going on.


    "Oh just in time! You guys make sure no one moves while I-" Leung Li''s words were cut off as a voice shouted out from behind him.


    "Why are you so noisy!? My head hurts, so shut your fat mouth, you arrogant bastard!" Yun stood up from her seat and began to walk towards him, struggling to stay upright while bncing in her heels.


    "What did you just- Oh my Why aren''t you a pretty one? You! Take that girl to room 205. I''m going to have fun with her after I deal with this." Leung Li bragged as he saw Yun walking toward him.


    "Hmm Why is no one moving? Don''t you all know who my uncle is!? Fine I will do it myself." He announced to everyone before walking over to Yun and putting his hand out towards her wrist.


    "Fan! Do something. She is going to get-" Jessie said but Fan covered his face with his hand.


    "Oh, no. This is going to end horribly. I need another drink" Fan said and then turned back to the bar and picked up a full ss before turning back to see that Leung Li was now frozen.


    His body hadn''t moved an inch since hest looked and it looked like he was struggling from his facial expressions. His eyes widened and his limbs all began to shiver as he looked around.


    "Hmm I wonder what you are nning to do?" Haru''s voice called out from the crowd as he made his way past them and stepped out into the open.

 Chapter 207: Guards.

    Chapter 207: Guards.


    All of the guards in the room began to gather around the room and direct the spectators out of the room on Haru''smand. The people tried to resist the guards to see the oue of what was about to happen all until the door to the back entrance opened up and many more guards came in to help take care of crowd control.


    "Y-You are" Kong said as he recognised Haru as the man who helped him get free.


    "Tell me. What do you n to do to her?" Haru asked as he walked over to Leung Li who was frozen in ce, unable to move from the pressure of Haru''s Qi surrounding his body.


    Leung Li couldn''t even talk and as Haru got closer, the pressure only got stronger and stronger until the point where he was struggling to hold on to his consciousness.


    "Who? Let me go at once. Just wait until my uncle finds out about-" Leung Li began to say but before he could finish, Haru increased the pressure and brought him down to his knees before stepping in front of him.


    "You''re uncle huh? And who do you expect will tell him?" Haru asked with a smile as Leung Li looked around at all of the guards in the room. He recognised a few of them and was unsure of what was happening.


    "What are you guys doing!? Are you just going to stand around all day? Hurry up and take this guy down!" He shouted to the guards that were still in the room but not a single one of them moved an inch.


    "How dare you betray me like this! How much did he pay you? My uncle knows the owner! If you save me I will make sure that you all get a higher pay rise!" Leung Li shouted out to them but little did he know that the resort had changed ownership and he was currently in the presence of the new owner.


    "Who are you?" Kong asked in a hushed tone as he looked at Haru. He couldn''t even sense his presence yet he had enough power to hold someone of the spirit core stage down on his knees. It seemed unlikely that there was someone this strong that he didn''t know about.


    ''Is he the one Fan talked about? The one who helped save grandpa?'' Kong thought as he watched on from the sidelines. But he was thankful that Haru had stepped in when he did. It probably wouldn''t have ended well for him if a fight did break out between the two of them.


    "Have you yet to figure out who I am?" Haru asked while walking circles around Leung Li.


    "I don''t care who you are! You are going to be a dead man when my uncle finds you!" Leung Li bragged again but it was bing tiresome. He put too much faith in his uncle''s abilities even though Haru had already defeated him. If his uncle dide Haru predicted that he would try and buy his life. There was nothing he could do to stop Haru from killing him so it would make more sense to reason with him.


    ''I wonder what kind of free things I could get from his family? Money, cars or even property?'' Haru thought about it for a few seconds before getting back to the task on hand. Before they had entered the club he had told Andrew that he wouldn''t let anything happen to Yun and he was going to keep that promise.


    If he let him survive then he would probably target the people in the roomter on. Although there was always another way. A better way.


    "You don''t know the face of someone you wanted to take revenge on? That seems a little petty if you ask me." Haru replied to Leung Li.


    "Revenge? Who did I take revenge on? I haven''t seen you before in my life!" He shouted back. Although he was arrogant it looked like he still valued his life. He didn''t want to die just yet.


    "Well in that case either you''re a liar or the group of teenagers sent to run me over earlier tonight are liars. So which one is it? Does that ring any bells for you?" Haru asked. Trying to phrase things so that only he would understand.


    "You''re the one who injured my cousin! How dare you show your face in front of me! If my uncle was there that night then he would have-" Leung Li exploded with anger after learning that Haru was the one who had injured one of his family members.


    "So your uncle didn''t tell you? He was there that night. He even tried to fight me after seeing what I had done to his son. I guess he was too embarrassed to say that he was defeated by someone half his age. Your uncle is nothing. And your family is nothing.


    If I wanted to I could wipe you all out and no one would bat an eye. But where is the fun in that? Your family has now gone against me three times. I was willing to let things go the second time but. Now I will make you all regret the day you were born." Haru chuckled to himself as he acted like the viins that he had often seen in movies.


    "No! You''re lying! How could he be defeated by-" Before Leung Li could finish his sentence Haru pped him across the left side of his cheek. A loud bang shook the room as he vanished from the spot he was kneeling in before his body struck the wall at the far side of the room.


    "That''s how. Do you need another example?" Haru said knowing full well that the force from that p was enough to knock him out.Haru looked over at the group of people looking with their mouths wide open.


    They hadn''t known Haru for long but even so, they couldn''t have ever predicted that something like this would take ce. The power they had just seen was unlike anything they could have even imagined. It was out of this world.


    ''Hmm, What should I do about these guys? Maybe some advice from a wise elder would suffice.'' Haru couldn''t take himself seriously but he thought it was something he needed to do. He had to make sure that none of them would tell anyone about what they had just seen.


    "Fan, You protected my friend. Thank you for that. Let your father know that I wille over and visit him in a few days.


    "Kong, You should take care of your family before putting the needs of others over your own. You will be strong one day. Don''t limit yourself by bing someone''s subordinate."


    AJ and Jessie, I hope I can trust you two to keep what happened today a secret. I don''t want to have to do something permanent to stop you from telling anyone." Haru smiled after finishing his advice with a threat. He didn''t mean it but he did hope that they didn''t tell anyone. Although he had a feeling that his life was going to change very soon, Regardless of people knowing that he was a cultivatorHe could only hide it for so long.


    He didn''t know what Li Jun''s previous warning about a great challenge meant but he didn''t think that it would be a good thing.


    "Of course. I won''t tell a soul," Jessie responded quickly, taking the threat a little too seriously.


    AJ on the other hand was way too drunk to know what was going on. The whole time he hadn''t said a single word and he had a dazed look on his face as if he didn''t even know where he was. Instead of replying he swivelled round in his chair and picked up another ss that had just been poured.


    The guards all stood at attention like soldiers, still blocking the entrances with their imposing presence. Not one of them dared to step out of line as their new boss was conducting business. But Haru had ns for them.


    "Take a group of people to deliver those two idiots to the Leung family. Oh, and make sure that they get the message. I am dering war on them right now." Haru instructed the guard that had pulled the gun on him thest time he was there.


    "Right away sir!" He shouted in response before taking the lead over a small group of guards, before picking up the sleeping bodies of the two men that had held Kong in ce and taking them out through the back exit so they weren''t seen by any of the guests still waiting for the fight to be over.


    "I''m going to take care of this one myself. Someone make sure my cousin gets home in one piece and you can let the other guests back in as soon as I leave. If anyone asks about what happened then tell them that it has already been resolved and all parties involved have been banned from the premises." Haru ordered the rest of the guards that remained before walking over to the unconscious Leung Li who was stillying on the floor.


    "What are you going to do?" Fan ran over and asked quickly, seeing that Haru had picked him up by the cor of his shirt.


    "I''m going to pay a visit to his parents. I''m sure they are worrying that he is out thiste." Haru smiled, knowing that no one believed what he had just said but that wasn''t the point.


    He didn''t know what he was going to do himself yet. All that he did know is that he wasn''t going to let them walk all over him because he was lenient with them before.You have to learn from your mistakes. And it seemed like the whole family didn''t have the slightest bit ofmon sense.


    He knew he would have his hands full beating it into them but it was necessary if they were going to stay out of his way. He dragged Leung Li''s body behind him as he too went out through the back exit and walked up to the roof.

 Chapter 208: Murder.

    Chapter 208: Murder.


    Haru stepped out onto the rooftop that was still wet from the light shower of rain that poured down throughout the time they were inside the banquet hall, Frost had just started to settle on the city of shanghai causing small ice crystals to sparkle in the lights from the bustling city.


    It would be a beautiful sight if not for the fact that he was dragging around the body of an unconscious man. Rain began to fall again but this time much more lightly like mist rolling down from the clouds before Haru floated up into the sky.


    He had gotten Leung Li''s address from Han and decided to head there take him back to his parents although he still hadn''t decided what he was going to do about the matter. Surely his parents would have somemon sense and try to resolve the situation but from what he saw from the man''s uncle he wasn''t certain that would be the case.


    Haru began to fly throughout the night sky, making sure that no one could see him. He flew above the clouds for most of the journey to avoid being captured on video again which seemed to be bing a regr urrence. Now that he was able to fly it was much more of a hassle to him than it was just walking.


    The lights from the city illuminated the peaks of the clouds like a fluorescent light show from below as Haru made his way across the city before finallying to a halt as he reached the address that had been given to him. He stopped over the top of the roof to see that they had a domed ss ceiling above their dining room table and there seemed to be people sitting below and eating.


    "He won''t die from this hight will he?" He thought for a moment before descending a little bit more and letting go of Leung Li''s shirt.


    His body dropped like lead, slowly gathering more and more speed before breaking through the ss in the room with a loud shattering noise followed by a thud as his body hit the oak table directly below. tes flew up from the table and wine sses dropped to the floor as the table flipped and the five people sitting around inside were forced into a state of confusion before realising what happened.


    "Li!" A woman shouted as she recognised the body of her son lying on the dining table, face up and covering in tiny cuts from the breaking ss. A man who looked to be in his forties with a ck and white suit on then ran over to him before reaching down for his neck and checking his pulse.


    "He''s fine. His pulse is stable But what just-" The man began to say and then gasped as he looked up into the sky from where the rain was now pouring into their house from, seeing Haru floating above their house.


    A feeling of regret sank down into his stomach as he looked back at the boyying on the table.


    "We made a huge mistakeing here tonight." He said to a woman that was still sitting down in a state of shock. She didn''t know what to do. The loud noises came to such a surprise and she couldn''t take her eyes off from the manying on the table.


    "Quick, Get your things. We''re leaving this ce right now." The man in the suit said before pulling the woman by her arm.


    "What is it? Why are you in such a hurry? I thought you were a doctor? Aren''t you going to heal my son?" The woman who was tending to his wounds said with a frustrated look on her face.


    "No! I don''t want anything to do with this. Just look up and you will find out exactly what happened. I am not getting involved." The doctor said with fear. Seeing a man flying wasn''t amon thing for people who lived in the city even in a world of cultivation and magic. It was a sign of strength and most people knew to stay far away from those that could.


    "What are you talking about?" The thought hadn''t even urred to her that her son was in danger before his lifeless body was thrown through the ss ceiling.


    But upon looking up at the sky and seeing Haru, her face went pale and she screamed. And alerted everyone nearby that there was a problem.


    One by one the people in the room began to look up to the sky, seeing the man still floating there, unmoving and unwavering. His imposing manner seemed more like a sign of foreboding death. They couldn''t put into words how they felt until the man slowly began to descend.


    A man wearing a red shirt and ck tie quickly ran down from the staircase upon seeing Haru and began to shout.


    "I don''t know who gave you the right toe into my house and injure my boy! But I will have you know that my brother is one of the strongest cultivators in the country! If you don''t retreat right now, I will have no choice but to call him!" The man said in an outraged tone.


    "Like father, like son." Haru chuckled to himself before holding his hand out at arm''s length and releasing a small shot of Qi directly into the man''s forehead. His body froze up as if all the muscles had tensed up and he dropped to the floor like a petrified deer in headlights.


    Haru used a technique known as spirit splitting finger. It was a technique that used the power of Qi to break the spirit of whoever it is directed towards and will paralyse them for a short amount of time. The time that the victim was paralysed for depended solely on the power that the user put into it.


    And Haru didn''t really think about it. He just wanted to make the man shut up as fast as possible so he forgot to limit his power. The man dropped to the ground, unlikely to wake up for a few days at least.


    "You Who are you!?" The woman asked in fear. She had just seen her husband frozen within his own mind and was only thinking of survival. She didn''t know who the young man was who had broken into their house and tossed the body of their son back to them but she knew that he was ruthless and violent by the way heposed himself.


    "Your son made a few mistakes tonight and refused to apologise. So the responsibility falls to his parents who forgot to raise him with manners. How are you going to apologise?" Haru asked in a mildly threatening tone. He didn''t sound like he was holding a gun to her head but he did make it sound like there would be consequences if she didn''t find some way to apologise.


    "A-apologise? What did I do wrong?" The woman asked quickly, sounding like she was on the verge of a panic attack. As for the other people in the room they pushed themselves against the walls as if they were trying to blend into the surrounding so that they wouldn''t be noticed by Haru who was showing a sinister grin.


    "It''s not my fault that I have such a disobedient son! If anything I me his father for teaching him to rely on someone else''s name to push people around. Please, sir! Don''t hurt me!" The woman pleaded, throwing both her husband and son under the bus to escape the wrath of a cultivator.


    "Hm So I should kill both your son and husband and let you go free? Is that what you are asking of me?" Haru asked with a confused expression.


    He expected the whole family to be cocky but he didn''t expect anything like this. She was really willing to let her whole family die to have another chance at life.


    "Yes, that is exactly what I am saying. This whole meeting we were having tonight was toe up with a n to take over the Leung family. You came at the perfect time. Please, I promise you that if you help us get rid of the family head, I will give you fifteen per cent of the annual ie of the whole family.


    I don''t want to be part of this miserable family anymore. We are just mere ves for that arrogant cultivator bastard of a brother inw to order around." The woman pleaded for Haru''s help.


    ''Hmm I didn''t see things going this way. First I wanted to take down the whole family. But there was already an internal conflict between them? I wonder Maybe they will be able to help me. But then again this woman is cruel enough to pin the me of not raising their child on her husband alone.


    I can''t trust any of these people.'' Haru thought to himself before turning around to see that the doctor was still standing by the door. He had yet to move and he looked as if he had something to ask.


    "Mr cultivator. Me and my wife live nearby and we have been tormented by this family for many years. Can I ask that you don''t let them off easily? Their son caused the death of our child and in a twisted way topensate us. They have forced us to follow them.


    I beg you" The doctor had an honest heart and was now shedding tears as he bowed his head down and begged for Haru''s help.


    "How dare you! You signed an NDA! You can''t-" The woman shouted as loud as a banshee. Haru was quick to silence her screams with a point of his finger.


    "Well They are all asleep now. It would be a shame if something unfortunate happened to them and they never woke up again wouldn''t it?" Haru whispered to the doctor before flying up out of the ceiling once again.


    He wanted to punish them but if things were as the doctor had said, he no longer cared if they lived. He could just think of this as karma.


    Screams could be hearding from the inside of the house as he flew away into the distance.

 Chapter 209: Its now or never.

    Chapter 209: It''s now or never.


    Haru looked up at the stars as he flew off into the distance. He didn''t feel any guilt about what he had done. If the doctor was telling the truth then the whole family would most likely be dead right now. He thought that someone who became a doctor to save people would only take someone''s life if they were forced into a corner.


    He couldn''t begin to imagine how he must have felt losing his son and being forced to be servants to the family that was responsible. It was just wrong. If that was truly the case, which he chose to believe then he was d that he could help the doctor take revenge for the death of his son.


    Haru flew through the sky to his next location. He was nning to clean up the whole family. He had given them a chancest time by leaving things at just a duel. But even Han had warned that the Leung family wouldn''t leave things at something that simple.


    It was for the best that he took care of them before they made any ns to harm his friends and family. Thest thing he wanted to hear is that either Zen, Suyin or any of Andrew''s family had been taken hostage on his ount.


    ''People are stressful'' Haru thought as he flew towards the other address that Han had given to him. It was the address of the main Leung family. Far out in the middle of the countryside, there was a temple that was inhabited by the Head of the Leung family and their servants.And that is where Haru nned to go.


    As he arrived at the temple during the dead of night he had the feeling that something was off. It was too quiet. Usually, in the countryside, you would hear animals nearby but that didn''t seem to be the case. It was like they had all run away out of fear and were no longer in the area.


    ''What''s going on here? Did they know I wasing? There doesn''t seem to be anyone here.'' Haru thought as he used his spiritual sense to search the area for the prescience of people. But there was no one nearby.


    Haru looked around once more but this time he noticed something. He looked at the windows of one of the building''s seeing blood streaking down on the ss. Something had gone on here and that was the case for theck of animals nearby.


    Haru walked over to the door of the building and opened it up to find Master Leung, His son and all of the servants that lived upon the propertyying on the ground in pools of their own blood. The strangest thing about it though wasn''t the fact that they were dead.


    But it looked like they had all bled to death from their eyeballs. That either meant that someone was sending a message or they were attacked by someone who didn''t want to be recognised. There were a few techniques out there that could show thest thing someone saw before they died. But as long as the eyes were destroyed then it wouldn''t work if it was used.


    "What the'''' Haru thought as he looked down upon the sight. Alongside all of the peopleying on their ground, there was something metallic on the ground, reflecting moonlight around the room. Haru approached it slowly. Making sure that he didn''t disturb the crime scene.


    Although he wanted to get rid of them to make sure that they couldn''t threaten his family members, this seemed a little too far. All of the servants had the same wounds on their eyes and looked as if they had died in agony.


    As he got closer to the object on the floor. Haru quickly realised that it was a dagger of some sort. The metal had a slight ck tint to it, the handle seemed to be made out of ray skin and had a sharp horn as a pommel.


    "Strange" Haru thought as he looked down at it. There seemed to be Qi residing within the de. The more he looked at it, the more he began to feel like it was a familiar feeling. The Qi was dark in nature and had a poisonous scent to it. It reminded him of the Demonic Qi that he had managed to refine in the soul tempering ground.


    "This means" Haru said out loud as he looked down at the de on the ground when suddenly the sound of cracking wood came from behind as arge st of wind took the whole off the building, followed by an enormous fireball falling down on top of the house.


    "Shit, It was a trap," Haru said just as he took the full force of the fire attack. He was thankful that he had a phoenix bloodline within him or else the power of the attack might have killed him. Although he couldn''t feel any pain from the fire he could sense the anger that was held within them.


    Whoever had sent the attack was meant to kill him. And with the amount of Qi that it would have taken to use an attack like this. He was certain that the person who sent it was much stronger than his current self.


    As the me came down,the sounds of running footsteps and metal nging together could be heard from outside as they seemed to surround the building. But the fire was too thick for him to see through. To see what was happening he would need to put himself at a disadvantage.


    The person who sent the attack probably thought that he was burning to death. But if Haru wanted to know what was going on he would have to disperse the mes. And alert them that he was perfectly fine. It was risky since they could follow it up with another attack and the next one might not have been a fire attack.


    But despite the chance of that happening. It was much riskier to not know the situation. Situational awareness is the greatest weapon to have during a fight, so you can always stay one step ahead of your opponent. Without it, you are a sitting duck.


    Haru knew that it would be much worse if he didn''t act so without hesitation, he took control of the mes and used Kun''s absolute authority over mes to condense them into a single point on his index finger. The me in his hand was no bigger than the tip of a needle.


    ''Hopefully, this will go unnoticed. I will teach them, for attacking me with fire'' Haru thought with a smile as a voice shouted out.


    "Retreat right now! The suspect is still fine!" The voice of an old man shouted from outside the building. The wood on the inside of the hose was now ckened by the fire and the same went for the bodies. Any chance of finding out who the one responsible for this was, now vanished. The wounds on them were no longer visible.


    Haru stepped out from the building to see three men dressed in ck and grey military patterned clothing with the Chinese g upon a patch on their chests. They all stood in fighting stances very different from each other and they were all at least at the spirit soul stage, The same as Haru was.


    Although one of them was at the manifestation stage Haru wasn''t interested in those three. The person he was looking at was an old man wearing purple robes, floating in the sky above them.


    The feeling Haru was getting from that man was the same feeling when he met Han. The overwhelming Qi that was constantly pulsing as a little bit more vanished while turning into true Qi.


    It was a sign that the man was at the Nascent soul stage and was soon going to break through to the nirvana stage.His power was far from Haru''s understanding and that was made obvious by him not evenying an eye on the three people who had begun to run toward him, thinking that he was distracted.


    Haru looked at the old man and saw a smile form on his face. But as he looked back at Haru he too noticed that he was smiling.


    "What is this boy thinking-" The old man said to himself after noticing the smile and then in a single sh the three people that were attacking fell to the ground.


    Haru had used the shadow step technique to vanish and struck them all in the back of the neck with almost his full strength. Not even someone at the manifestation stage would be left standing after that.


    As the old man noticed what had just happened, his eyes widened as he sensed that the me that he had used to start the initial attack hadn''t fadedpletely. He raised his hand up toward Haru, immediately gathering a new me within the palm of his hand.


    ''Did he see through my n!? Well then, It''s now or never.'' Haru thought to himself before he too raised his hand and stretched out his index finger.

 Chapter 210: Dragons fury.

    Chapter 210: Dragon''s fury.


    The man''s mes burned with passion and ferocity as they developed into a ball the size of a small house and shot out toward Haru. It was a lucky break for Haru since no me could harm him, he had nothing to worry about from the attack.


    It seemed like the old man specialised in fire attacks. If that was the case then it didn''t seem like it would have been that much of an impossible task for Haru to defeat him. But he was still yet to know who he was.


    If they had men wearing Chinese military uniforms with them then that meant they were from the government. Or at least worked in a government sector. If so then there would be consequences if he was to fight against them. But on the other hand, he wasn''t the one that attacked first. Anything that would happen after this would ss as self-defence since he was attacked right off the bat without antagonising anyone.


    The best situation would be to solve the matter without a fight but with the huge fireball heading toward him, that didn''t seem like a realistic option for him at the moment.


    As Haru pointed his finger at the huge iing fireball a small spark shot out at lightning-fast speeds and flew toward the huge ball of fire before arge explosion took ce in the sky above him. The explosion was closer to the man who was wearing the red robes and he took the impact from it directly to his face.


    A wisp of smoke came from his face as the hairs singed slightly and the fabric covering his chest ripped open causing ayer of carbon to be scorched on to his chest, staining his skin ck.


    The man didn''t quite believe what had happened. He expected that his second attack would wipe Haru outpletely since he didn''t use his full power before. But what was this strength? He couldn''t sense Qiing from Haru''s body but there was the faint residue of Qiing from two of his fingers where he had both the dragon emperor ring and the storage ring.


    "An artefact is the source of this power!? I need to get my hands on that ring!" The man said to himself with excitement as he mistook Haru''s power for the power of an artefact. For a cultivator of his level, he was stupid and blinded by greed enough to the point of letting his guard down.


    He changed his position in the sky and faced his body forward toward Haru before taking off at a speed that would have been iprehensible to Haru if not for the fact that he had ridden on the back of a dragon during an illusion.


    Although he was clearly outssed by the strength of the cultivator before him. It didn''t seem to bother Haru at all. He still felt like he was more knowledgeable about cultivation to be able to stand his ground. And even if it was looking like he wouldn''t be able to win the fight he would at least be able to escape.


    Until suddenly the direction the man was flying in changed suddenly as his body vanished in mid-air. Haru looked around in confusion for a few seconds before feeling someone''s hand on the lower half of his back.


    He quickly turned to see the man standing there with a gaping smile on his face, showing off a toothy grin as Haru slowly gained a feeling simr to nauseousness as pain so great to make him shiver hit his body. Making him feel like he was on the verge of throwing up.


    He had underestimated the power of the cultivator even though he knew that he was stronger. He had be so confident in his own abilities that he had forgotten that there are people out there with much more talent than he had himself.


    He had been fighting enemies weaker than him for so long that he hadn''te across someone with this kind of speed and strength. And itpletely crushed any sense of pride Haru had within him.


    He looked down at where the pain wasing from to see that half of his body had vanished. Blood was dripping from a gaping hole the size of a pumpkin in the right side of his body. His organs had been torn apart in a sh and he was bleeding heavily.


    ''I was sure'' Haru thought as he turned to see that there were now two of the same old man. Although one of them had a mole on his cheek.


    "I was wondering when you were going to make your attack. You have been hiding in the shadows for a while now." The man without the mole on his cheek said to the other.


    "Well, I thought that you wouldn''t need any help against a boy but I got a little bored waiting for you." The otherughed slightly with his hand stuck firmly in between Haru''s internal organs.


    ''Twins? No, they''re not twins More like clones.'' Haru thought as he looked at both of the men who looked exactly the same except a few minor details. Haru had sensed all of the people nearby but the only one worth worrying about was the old man.


    But these two had the same Qi. There wasn''t anything to tell the difference between them from Qi alone. It was like they had cultivated the same art together and for the same amount of time. There wasn''t a single w in their cultivation that Haru could see through.


    "What made you attack now? It thought you would have continued to hide in the shadows." The first man spoke once again addressing the one who had attacked Haru.


    "Well, it looks like I havee to the same conclusion that you have. These rings hold the power to absorb mes and then allow you to use them to attack." The man said with a smile as Haru finally copsed to the floor from blood loss. His mind was bing fuzzy and his vision was going blurry.


    He didn''t even know what was happening. Why had these people ambushed him? Was it all a setup to me the murder of the Leung family on him since he had a previous altercation with them? But that seemed a little too far fetched for him. No one but Han knew that he was nning on going to their house.


    ''Dod Han sell me out? No why would he? He needed me to fight in a tournament for him He wouldn''t plot against me would he?'' Haru thought before closing his eyes.His lungs drew in air quietly as the weakness that came with dying took over his body.


    "Really though? Did you n to kill the boy? It would be better if we took him in for questioning." The first man said.


    "What is there to question? We found him at the scene of the crime amongst a pile of corpses. What more do we need from him? He killed a manifestation stage cultivator and that is a crime punishable by death. Either way he would be killed for this so is it not better to get it over with now?" The man with the sinister smile questioned.


    The other man sighed with frustration like he was used to hearing things like that.


    "This is why the higher-ups don''t let you go outside. You convict people of crimes just so you can kill them. Did you not wonder why they sent me here. Now quickly grab those rings for me. I''m going to take them in as evidence." The first man said with a smile.


    "What? No way. Do you think I am stupid enough to let you take them? You just want them for yourself. I killed him so it is only right that I get to keep the spoils, isn''t it? That''s the rule you came up with thest time we worked together." The man with the mole on his cheek replied, outraged by what the other man suggested.


    When suddenly a sh of blue, shot past both of them. Stopping their arguing instantly as their attention changed to the man with long blue hair that was now crouching down next to Haru who was bleeding out on the floor.


    "Hey what are you-" The man with the mole on his cheek began to ask with hostile intent in his voice. The man with long blue hair turned his head slightly to look at him with bright green glowing eyes that shined like headlights in the darkness.


    The man bit his tongue as he looked at the bright green eyes and became terrified as a dark aura began to swirl around in the trees surrounding them. The darkness wiggled like the body of a snake before slowly climbing higher into the sky to reveal the vague shape of a dragon that was now surrounding them all like a wall of darkness.


    Both the men looked at each other forfort but the feeling of inevitable doom that surrounded them was too much. They still felt on edge even after trying to snap each other out of it.


    The man then turned around and knelt back down next to Haru who was on the verge of bleeding to death when suddenly a sh of green light, simr to the one that came from his eyes surrounded Haru''s body before small orbs of light gathered around the outside of his body to create a protective shell over the ce he was bleeding from.


    A few seconds went by before the light vanished and skin had now formed underneath and his body looked as good as new. There wasn''t even the slightest sign that he might have been injured.


    Haru opened his eyes to see the silhouette of a shadow peering down on him with gentle green orbs for eyes. He didn''t need to guess who It was since the aura was overpowering.


    "Lao, I''m sorry. I severely underestimated the situation." Haru apologised for hisck of trust in Lao. He was originally worried about Lao losing control and killing someone if they annoyed him so he left him at home. But if it wasn''t for him right now. Haru might have been beyond the point of saving.


    "It''s okay. You don''t have to worry." Lao''s voice was both soothing and threatening as he turned around to face the two men that were still too frightened to move from their spots.

 Chapter 211: Helicopters?

    Chapter 211: Helicopters?


    The amount of Qi releasing from Lao''s body as he turned to face the two old men was not of this world. It was something that someone at the peak of the nirvana stage couldn''t even perceive despite Lao''s body still being at the manifestation stage.


    The two old men looked at each other once again, this time with distressed expressions there was no way in hell that they could fight against Lao even if theybined their strength so they chose the next best thing. To try to please him.


    "Senior, please forgive us. We didn''t know that someone of your stature was living here." The man with the mole on his face put his hands together and bowed his head.


    As for the other old man he kneeled down to the grown and held his head down to the floor and not daring to even look at Lao. Lao looked down at the man kneeling and smiled. It reminded him of how humans worshipped his race as gods and asked for protection when they first encountered each other in the upper realm.


    He then looked back at the other man who had just bowed his head. ''And then there were people like this. They thought because they had a little bit of strength that they should be treated with respect before earning it. It was the cocky humans that started the war in the upper realm and drove my race to flee.'' Lao thought as he looked at the two dynamics of the humans standing before him.


    "Kneel," Lao said in a stern tone to the man that had only bowed his head.


    "What?" The man with the mole on his cheek asked with an uneasy tone. And the look on his face spoke many words. He didn''t like to admit when he was wrong and was just submitting to Lao because he knew he was stronger.


    "I said kneel. Get on your knees and beg for your life. I won''t tell you again." Lao said in the same strict and stern voice that told whoever heard it that it would be best if they followed his instructions.


    "Kneel? I mean no disrespect, senior. But why should I kneel? I too have managed to reach the peak of human strength in my lifetime. Don''t you think that we all should treat each other as equals?" The man with the mole on his cheek spoke with a cocky grin.


    "Peak of human strength? Not even close. And you aren''t my equal." Lao said and then without the slightest bit of hesitation, raised his left hand out in front of him.


    A green crescent-shaped disk shot from his hand and vanished into the distance.


    "What was that-" The man began to say but stopped as his head slowly began to split along a small red seem that had appeared along his whole body. And then dropped to the floor in two halves. The man''s body was now cut perfectly down the centre of his body from his belly button to the top of his head.


    Blood quickly coated the ground causing the man who was kneeling to now be kneeling in a pool of blood.


    The man on his knees was wise not to make a sound or question the decision for killing the other man but his expression was one of pain as he tried to remain calm.


    A few seconds of silence went by as Lao decided what he was going to do next when the sound of air being sliced receptively began to sound out over the horizon before suddenly the whole area was illuminated by spotlights from two helicopters that were flying overhead.


    "No, they must have responded to his life g being extinguished. Why now!? This is going to be a massacre. No one can fight against this man." The Kneeling man thought as he looked back slightly but still making sure not to raise his head.


    "Haru, What are those things?" Lao turned to ask Haru who was watching on. He still felt a little weak from his injury and his vision was still blurry but he could make out the two military-style helicopters flying overhead.


    "Those are helicopters. It means that they have brought backup" Haru said and then struggled to his feet. He rubbed his half-exposed body with his hand as he walked over to stand by Lao''s side.


    ''The boy He''s still alive!? But how? He doesn''t have any Qi and he had bled too much Wait. That must mean that this man He''s a god.'' The kneeling man thought to himself. He had just watched someoneeback from the brink of death without any medical care and within the span of a few seconds.


    He didn''t know what the sh of green light was earlier but now he assumed that it was some kind of healing technique that was unknown to the world.


    "I need to warn them not to attack-" Before he could finish his sentence a loud crack shot through the sky as the door to the side of one of the helicopters opened up to reveal a man with a sniper rifle aiming at Lao.


    The bullet travelled through the air with much less resistance as it was modified with runes to increase its velocity and aerodynamics.


    "A cultivator using a gun?" Lao said to himself as the bullet was speeding towards him with much more speed than Haru could even see.


    The time around Lao seemed to have stopped, apart from both his movements and the movement of the bullet that was now at arm''s length.


    He looked at it for a few moments before realising what exactly the bullet was made out of. The smooth metallics wood grain was something specific to the elven n. The bullet was made from part of a branch from the holy world tree.


    The power of the holy world tree would absorb all the Qi that was close to it and that was the same for the bullet. It would absorb Qi if he tried to slow the bullet down and render his power useless. It seemed like the perfect way to kill a stronger cultivator even from a distance.


    Lao was impressed by the creativity that the humans of this world had inherited. He hadn''t seen anything this creative since the humans first made bricks in the upper realm. But that was a long time ago.


    Lao reached out with his hand, making sure that he blocked off his flow of Qi so that it wouldn''t be sucked from his body and into the holy world tree branch.


    He grabbed the grabbed it within the palm of his hand and wiped away both of the runes with his thumb to stop the bullet from moving even after he absorbed the velocity. As he was holding the bullet the time around him sped up once again.


    "Stop! Withdraw immediately!" The old man stood up from the ground and waved his hands toward the helicopter while yelling.


    Lao raised his hand toward the helicopter but Haru reached out and grabbed his hand, turning his attention away from the person who had just shot at him.


    "Killing them won''t solve anything. They are from the government. They will only send more people if we kill them. It''s better to reason with them." Haru said, to which Lao lowered his hand.


    "It''s your home. Do whatever you want to. But you are the disciple of my disciple. Whoever offends you is indirectly offending me. Just remember that. If you can''t deal with it then I will wipe them all out." Lao said in a reassuring yet terrifying way.


    He had basically told Haru that he will kill anyone who stands in his way. And that didn''t sit quite well with him. But he didn''t have to fear a threat from anyone. He wanted to reason with the military and ask why they had set him up.


    He obviously didn''t kill anyone yet the other old man had imed that he was guilty of killing a manifestation stage cultivator and would be sentenced to death.


    The people in the helicopter saw the waving from the old man and the door to the helicopter''s door immediately closed before theynded in an empty spot in the field next to the houses.


    Dust was shot up into the air in a spiral as both of the helicoptersnded and dozens of men all dressed like the three soldiers that Haru had taken down ran from the field with their guns pointed at Haru and Lao.


    "Lower your weapons you bunch of idiots! Do you all want to die!" The old man shouted out before turning back to Lao to make sure that he wasn''t angry. But Lao was now sitting down crossed-legged on the grass and looking at the stars in the sky.


    He didn''t seem like the same person he was before. The old man turned back to the people holding their guns out to see a woman with long red hair step through the crowd.


    "My men don''t take orders from you old man. You said you had caught the suspect so hand him over. We are taking him to the integration facility-" The woman said and then looked down at the body of the other man that was split in two and covered in blood.


    "What happened to ny-five! Exin this at once!" The woman demanded an exnation from the old man who looked back at Lao helplessly. Not knowing how to exin it to her.

 Chapter 212: Artefact.

    Chapter 212: Artefact.


    "Well, I''m waiting. Tell me what happened right now." The woman said again while looking at the old man who was visibly confused. He had no idea what he could say to get out of the situation. He didn''t want to offend Lao and Haru but he also didn''t want to lie to his superior.


    "And for god''s sake. Someone, arrest these two already." She then turned back to the small unit of soldiers that she wasmanding. A few of them fumbled around before pulling out two sets of handcuffs and walking over to Haru as the woman walked away with the old man so he could tell her what had happened.


    "It was like this-" The old man went on to exin as the two men approached both Haru and Lao.


    "Come on son, don''t make this hard for yourself. We just have some questions for you." One of the men said with his hand outstretched toward Haru but as soon as his hand was about to make contact with his body. A green light formed a barrier around Haru''s body and he touched that instead.


    As the man''s hand hit the barrier a sh of light shot out and struck him in the stomach and he flew up into the sky from the force.


    "So you attacked without even giving warning!? Do you even have proof that that boy was the one responsible for murdering anyone?" The woman asked with an angered sigh. She couldn''t believe that anyone could be as ipetent as the two old men who had originally nned to rob Haru after killing him.


    "Well yes, ma''am. I thought since he was here after the crime was reported then that must have meant that he was the one who was guilty." The old man replied.


    "Then we can just have the witness confirm if it was him or not when we bring them in for questioning. But how did ny-five die?" The woman asked once more.


    "Well I think That the blue-haired man might be a god from another world. There is no way that someone of his calibrees from a ce like this." The old man exined.


    "An alien? You think so? But he doesn''t look like thest one that we encountered. He looks like a human." The woman spoke with suspicion.


    "He killed ny-five with a single finger. There is no other way to exin it."The old man whispered quietly. He was still afraid that the person he was talking about would be able to hear him even though they were a couple of hundred metres away. And he would be correct in thinking so. Since Lao had listened to them talking the whole time.


    "A single finger! No this is bad. If we want to capture them then we will have to call-" The woman said in shock before a scream cried out from behind her.


    "Aghh!" The man cried out as he hit the floor after being hit by a barrier simr to the one that was protecting Haru''s house.


    Haru turned to look at Lao who just shrugged his shoulders in response. He did say that he would get rid of anyone who stood in his way. Haru guessed this was just his way of showing that he was willing to keep good on his promise.


    But as they saw one of theirrades fly through the air the soldiers all thought that Haru was the one responsible and took it as him resisting arrest.


    "He''s resisting! Quick stop him!" One of the men shouted as they all rushed toward Haru as fast as they could and surrounded him as they all dived on top of him.


    A few moments passed as Haru was nowhere to be seen as he had twenty soldiers piled on top of him before the same green light shed once again and all of the soldiers flew up into the sky and were thrown backwards by the force. Bodies flew throughout the air as the woman with red hair and the old man all looked over to Haru who was standing in the middle of them all.


    "What is that!? I thought you said that he only had a fire artefact? What was that power that just came from him then?" The woman asked with suspicion as she saw all of the soldiers that were remaining pull their guns out and aim them toward Haru.


    "I thought so too. But ma''am you need to stop this at once. The blue-haired man won''t let the boy get hurt. It will end badly if he gets injured." The old man warned the red-haired woman once again but she didn''t seem to care. She was more interested in seeing just how strong Haru''s "Artifact" was.


    The soldiers aimed their guns and threatened to fire if he didn''t surrender. But that wasn''t even something that he was in control of. The power that was making the soldiers fly up into the air was Lao''s and Haru couldn''t control it.


    He turned back to Lao.


    "What do you expect to do when they shoot? The bullets will fly back to them" Haru said but Lao once again just shrugged his shoulders. He didn''t care what happened to them since the power that he was using to protect Haru was something that would amplify their own attacks and then return them to the sender.


    If they did decide to shoot at Haru it would be their own fault if they died. Or that is at least what Lao thought about the situation. As for Haru, he was looking at the bigger picture. Even if it was their own fault. The government wouldn''t ept that and they woulde after him for sure.


    "I''m warning you. Don''t resist it again!" One of the soldiers shouted as another one of them moved in to try to handcuff Haru once again. But likest time the man flew up into the air before falling back down onto his back and knocking the wind out from his lungs.


    "Open fire!" The man shouted as he watched hisrade thrown through the air and suddenly hundreds of loud cracks rang out through the forest as dozens of bullets raced toward Haru.


    ''Fuck, they are all going to die How will I exin this to the government? God damn it Lao. You will be the death of me one day.'' Haru though as the barrels from the guns shed.


    He quickly raised his hand and opened a void corridor big enough to surround his whole body to make sure that the bullets had no chance to bounce back and hit anyone and let them all go out into space where he wouldn''t have to worry about anything bad happening.


    Haru''s body vanished within a shroud of darkness. As the bullets hit the ck veil that surrounded him there was no sound at all as they vanished like they had passed right through the darkness. The only person who knew what had just happened was Lao who cracked a smile in response.


    "Quick thinking," Lao said to himself as the veil of darkness vanished once more and Haru appeared.


    "All of you stop. I just want to talk. But If you attack me again I will have no choice but to retaliate." Haru warned them all.


    The soldiers then turned around to face the woman with red hair to see what she wanted to do about the situation. She was the one whomanded them after all.


    The woman stood still with her mouth wide open alongside the old man who also had the same expression.


    "Thew of space! How is this possible?" The woman said quietly as she recognised the ck void that appeared before her. The thoughts running through her head were many.


    Since Haru''s Qi couldn''t be sensed she thought that everything that had happened all came from the golden ring on his finger. But there had been two different powers that hade from the ring if that was the case. Fire, thew of space and that strange green barrier that she had seen.


    An artefact that was so powerful definitely wasn''t something that hade from earth. Which added to the suspicion that Lao was an alien despite his human looks.


    "Stop! Stand down! I will take it all from here." The woman with red hairmanded all of the soldiers and then looked at the old man as she spoke, ordering him too to stand down.


    All at once the soldiers lowered their weapons and took a few steps back before running to help the injured people under the instructions of the old man as the red-haired woman approached both Haru and Lao.


    "It''s a pleasure to meet you. I am Major Niu from the special operations force. You said you wanted to talk. So tell me what happened. How did you get here and what happened when you did?" The woman demanded an exnation of what had happened since Haru arrived.


    But all the time she was talking, her eyes constantly nced down at the golden dragon-shaped ring that was on Haru''s finger.

 Chapter 213: Betrayal.

    Chapter 213: Betrayal.


    Haru caught her nce at the dragon emperor''s ring and found it quite strange. He wasn''t sure what the reason behind it was. Was she just interested in it or had she seen it before somewhere? But the conclusion that he came to was that she wanted to take it from him.


    In response to her looking at it, Haru covered his fingers with his other hand as he spoke to her.


    "Well, it is quite simple really. I came here to take care of the Leung family-" Haru began to exin truthfully why he hade to the Leung families house but was interrupted as soon as he spoke.


    "So you admit it? You killed them all?" Major Niu asked immediately upon hearing what he had to say.


    "No that isn''t what I was saying. I wasing to teach them a lesson. It could have ended with one of us dying but I was still willing to reason with them. But they were all dead by the time that I had got here. The person who had killed them was already long gone when I discovered the bodies." Haru exined.


    "Is there anyone that can back up your story?" Major Niu asked, doubting Haru''s storypletely. What were the chances that two people had nned to kill the same people in one night?


    But given the fact that the whole family seemed to be evil, the chances might just be reasonable.The main reason that Haru wanted to get rid of them is so that they couldn''t target his family and friends but the reason the real murderer might have killed them was probably much different.


    By how mutted the bodies were it looked like revenge but the bodies were now ruined from the fire attack the old man had used against Haru.


    "Back up my story? I don''t think so Unless you can determine what time they were killed at. I have been at a party for most of the night." Haru said. He wasn''t sure if it was possible but Major Niu seemed satisfied with that answer and then ordered one of the soldiers to check on the bodies.


    The soldier pulled out a device that was shaped like a gun with a silver needle attached to the end of it. Just next to where the trigger was ced was a small screen that was filled with information. He walked into the building and walked over the body of one of the servants.


    He carefully stabbed the needle into the man''s leg which was followed by a beeping sound. After three beeps had chimed out the screen was quickly filled with the information of the body that was lying lifelessly on the floor.


    The screen disyed everything about him. From previous medical history, blood type and even the cause of his death. But the most important piece of information was the fact that the man was killed three hours before Haru had even arrived there.


    "Everything checks out here ma''am. These guys have been dead for hours." The soldier said into the radio since he was out of sight from everyone else.


    "That''s fine But the witness said that it had just happened" Major Niu said to herself as she thought about something.


    The soldier that had checked on the bodies took a moment to look around the room and pray for the lost souls that would linger in the area. He put his hands together and paid his respects to the dead with a bow before spotting something out of the corner of his eye.


    Something on the ground sparkled in the moonlight. It seemed to be a dagger with a ray skin handle and a long horn pommel. He walked towards it and before he knew anything else he had already begun to reach out towards it.


    There was something about the dagger that seemed to call out towards him. It was a feeling offort and heat that seemed to drag him from his position at the door of the room.


    "That means that the witness lied to us about what happened Why would he do that-?" Before Major Niu could ask herself another question a deep visceral screeching came from inside the building where she had just sent the soldier to check out the bodies.


    A dark mist filled the air as the feeling of uneasiness escaped from the now open ceiling of the building.


    Lao quickly got to his feet. And stood next to Haru as he ced his hand on his shoulder.


    "Haru, tell me now! Was there anything with a demonic Qi in that building!?" Lao asked with panic in his voice.


    "Demonic Qi? Yeah, there was a small dagger on the ground" Haru answered nervously. He didn''t know what to expect from Lao. He was acting like the world was going to end. His voice shivered slightly and sweat dripped down from his forehead.


    "This is bad. It''s a Cursed beacon." Lao said to himself.


    "A cursed beacon? What is that?" Haru asked, confused. He knew a lot about cultivation already but he had never heard about cursed beacons. It must have been something rare and not worth mentioning at the time when both Lao and Li Jun had taught him things in the past.


    "A cursed beacon is something that is used by the demon n to home in on a. If someone with a weak constitution is lured in by its pull it will trap half of their soul within the weapon causing them to be in excruciating pain.


    And while their soul is trapped with the weapon it will begin to inject them with demonic Qi. Since they have a weakened soul already the demonic Qi will take over their mindpletely and it will be the start of a murderous rampage.


    But that isn''t even the worst of it. If you kill the person who is infected by the weapon''s control it will send the location of the weapon back to the demon race.


    Haru I think that this was meant to target you. Someone knew that you wereing here so they nted the weapon here and then hoped for you to touch the murder weapon.


    Who did you tell that you wereing here?" Lao exined and then asked.


    Haru took a few minutes to go over things in his head. It made sense. If someone of Haru''s strength had been ensnared by a weapon that would drive him into a mindless rampage, hundreds if not thousands of people would die overnight.


    But he didn''t tell anyone that he was going to go to the Leung families house. The only thing he could think of was how easily Han had given him the address.


    But he thought Han was a good guy. He had given Haru both a house and the resort. It was a little strange that he had given both to him for no good reason.


    He remembered that Han''s reason was that he was soon going to ascend to the upper realms. Haru quickly thought about how the two old men were talking about reaching the peak of human strength. Why did they think that they were at the peak?


    "Major Niu!" Haru shouted to get the attention of the woman. His voice was simr to the past when he was in the army and upon hearing his tone of voice Major Niu stood at attention with her hands behind her back.


    "Yes Sir!? Wait a minute" She realised what she had done and then looked at Haru slightly embarrassed.


    "What happens after you reach the Nascent Soul stage?" Haru asked.


    Major Niu looked back at him slightly confused by the question before ncing back at the continuous screaminging from the building. She didn''t know what to attend to first but then Haru grabbed her by both of her shoulders and looked her in the eyes with a serious expression.


    Although she was older, at a higher cultivation stage and didn''t know the slightest thing about him. She felt inclined to answer whatever questions he had to ask.


    "What happens after someone reaches the Nascent soul stage!?" Haru demanded an exnation.


    "Uh, Uh I''m not sure. No one has ever reached that strength before. The closest person to getting there is Mr Ma Hanying of the crimson spider''s criminal organisation." Major Niu answered, confused as to why she was being questioned by a suspect to a murder.


    "Fuck" Haru said to himself and then let go of Major Niu. He felt betrayed. He had asked Han for help many times before and he had offered it without questioning Haru''s intentions although they didn''t know each other that well.


    ''He knew about the upper realms when no one else does.'' He thought about how the ck star sect had kept themself away from the other sects. They were a sect full of upper realm cultivators who had decided to keep their cultivation hidden. Why would they tell anyone that they hade from the upper realms?


    Haru was quickly concluding that not many people knew about the upper realms. Yet Han was open to talking about heading there when he broke through. And he gave Haru his belongings because he had no one to look after them while he was gone.


    "I''m such an idiot" Haru said to himself. He felt weak as thoughts raced around his head at light speed. He didn''t even hear Lao yelling at him until he felt a sharp pain in his cheek and a pping sound echoed out.


    "What is it!? Who did you tell?" Lao asked after bringing Haru back to his senses.


    "Ma Hanying. He was the only person who knew that I wasing here because he was the one who gave me the address" Haru said with a pained expression.

 Chapter 215: Is that a dragon?

    Chapter 215: Is that a dragon?


    Haru gulped upon hearing what the demon said. He was looking for a man named Luo Yang which was his alias that he used when he went to the soul tempering grounds. If this man was looking for him then that meant that they had managed to track him back to earth somehow.


    Haru looked at Lao who was staring at the demon with anger. There was a look in his eyes that Haru had never seen before. It was as if he was going to rip the demon''s limbs from his body and burn them all while he watched in pain.


    "Luo Yang? I have never heard of him but we can definitely help you look for him." Major Niu said with a sigh of relief. It didn''t look like the demon was here to cause harm just as long as she could find the man that he was looking for. Little did she know that she was standing right next to him.


    "That man there. He''s been looking at me with hostility the whole time. Did you think I wouldn''t notice? Do you want to fight me?" The demon cracked a smirk as he spoke and looked over at Lao.


    The corners of Lao''s lips twitched slightly like he was struggling to decide whether he should or not. It wasn''t his decision to make after all. He wanted to let Haru decide what to do.


    "What do you want to do? If you hide and they don''t find you in three days then the demon will kill everyone nearby. And if you hand yourself over there is no saying what will happen. He might kill them anyway.


    But if you want me to kill him right now then I can buy you a few weeks time to decide what to do. But they will most likely send a battleship to earth if they receive the message from the beacon." Lao used his spiritual sense tomunicate with Haru without anyone hearing what they were talking about.


    ''There isn''t any choice is there Is this what Li Jun meant by a great challenge? I will have to fight against the demon n no matter what, or else I will die.'' Haru came to the realisation that there was no avoiding this fight. His best chance would be to kill the demon that was there right now and then try his best to gather people to fight on his side.


    He would have to have a chat with Teacher Lin from the ck star sect to ask for their help. He also hoped that the cultivation association would help out if possible. But he wasn''t on the best terms with them. He only knew a few of their members but this wasn''t just Haru''s fight anymore. This would be a fight for humanity.


    "What did this Luo Yang do? Is there a specific reason that you want him?" Major Niu asked. She wanted a little bit more information on the person that she was supposed to capture just to make sure that she had the right person.


    "He interfered with the affairs of my people, gravely injured one of our warriors and killed a general. The general that he kidnapped just so happened to be the emperor''s cousin so he sent me here. Under the orders to kill anyone who gets in the way.


    So I don''t want any of you getting any funny ideas." The demon chuckled after his exnation.


    Haru watched as he dropped his guard a little bit since he thought that he was the strongest person there but he kept ncing back at Haru with a hungered look in his eyes.


    "Kill him," Haru said out loud. Major Niu and the old man both looked at Haru with confusion and shock upon hearing what he just said.


    They didn''t know what he meant at first until a green glow began to form around Lao''s body and the demon''s eyes widened upon recognising what the green light meant. The light turned from a subtle glow into a blinding light before quickly fading to reveal an enormous blue dragon with glowing green eyes.


    "D-dragon You are supposed to be extinct! What is a dr-" The demon shouted out in fear upon seeing Lao transform into a dragon.


    Major Niu and the old man both couldn''t believe their eyes. To the people on earth, dragons were just myths from old legends. But upon seeing the terrifying power that seeped out from every crevice. They couldn''t help but feel the same fear that made humans worship dragons as gods when they first encountered them millions of years prior.


    "Is that a-?" The old man asked with a stutter to his voice.


    "A dragon." Major Niu said in response but also couldn''t believe her own eyes. Humanity hadn''t seen dragons in hundreds of thousands of years and one so happened to appear in front of a group of humans in the lower realm.


    Before the demon could scream anymore Lao''s tail appeared to twitch as the demon''s body turned into a red mist. Lao had swung his tail with such speed and power that he had vaporised the demon before he knew that he had even died.


    This was the power of the gods that people had been told about in stories for generations and both Major Niu and the old man felt both amazed and terrified of what they had just seen.


    As the demon''s body vaporised a loud high pitched scream echoed out. People all over the world heard the high pitched scream that signified what would be the start of a brutal and fierce war. There was no avoiding it anymore.


    The high pitched noise was the signal that alerted the demon n that their cursed beacon had been destroyed and the demon soul that resided within it had shattered. It wouldn''t have killed the demon that hade to earth but he would have been heavily injured from the loss of part of his soul.


    As the sound died down after twenty seconds of constant droning. Major Niu and the old man both turned to look at Haru and the dragon that was beside him with fear.


    They had offended both Haru and Lao by trying to capture them. They had no idea how powerful Lao was although they suspected him to be someone from another world. Never would they have imagined that he was actually a dragon instead.


    They were both too afraid to speak but Haru wasn''t about to waste time in his preparations. He had to get as many people on his side as he possibly could and he wanted to start with whatever government office these two hade from.


    "I will cut to the chase. I need you guys to drop whatever hostility you have towards me. I didn''t kill anyone so I refuse to be questioned by you.


    I am the Luo Yang that he spoke of so I had to have him killed before he wiped out humanity. But now that means that more of his kind wille to seek revenge. They will kill everyone on earth if you don''t help me win.


    So before you say anything. Go back to wherever you came from and tell your leader to meet me at the serpentine resort and spa at six PM next Friday. We can discuss everything in detail then." Haru exined.


    He was quick toe up with a n but he needed time to gather as many people as he possibly could. So he gave them a week to make their decision.


    Before they could ask any more questions Haru jumped up on to Lao''s back before taking off into the sky and flying high into the clouds. As soon as they were out of sight Lao transformed back into his human form. But this time floating buck naked over the city of Shanghai.


    "Where did my clothes go!?" Lao shouted, not realising that they had been torn off when his body expanded to the size of a skyscraper.


    Haru opened his storage ring and pulled another set of clothes out from his suitcase before handing them over to Lao for him to change into the.


    Once Lao had put some clothes on Haru had decided who he was going to contact first. They then both flew far out into the middle of nowhere to a nearby mountain range where they wouldn''t be disturbed by anyone andnded on the top of one of the mountain peaks.


    "What are we doing here?" Lao asked, not catching on to Haru''s n.


    "Just gathering our forces at the BLACK STAR SECT!" Haru emphasized the name to make sure that Teacher Lin would hear him.


    And just as he predicted, clouds rolled into the mountain range and surrounded both Lao and Haru before a thunderous voice called out and an eye appeared in the sky overhead.


    "Who dares speak the name of our mighty sect!?" The familiar voice of Teacher Lin demanded an exnation upon being summoned to the mountain range.


    "Hey Teacher Lin, Just me again," Haru said awkwardly. Most people had probably gotten the memo not to say the name of the sect because Teacher Lin would appear and kill them but for Haru, he decided he would say the name whenever he wanted to chat with him.


    It was probably the most action that Teacher Lin had gotten in a while since no other cultivator would dare to summon him.


    "Haru? I should have known better. What is it this time?" Teacher Lin said with frustration until Lao raised his hand toward the eye in the sky and swirled his finger around in a spiralling motion.


    Suddenly the eye turned into a portal and Teacher Lin''s real body was sucked through and teleported to the top of the mountain alongside them. Haru looked at Lao with shock. He didn''t know that was possible. And neither did Teacher Lin by the look on his face.


    "What in the world?" He asked before looking at Lao who shed his bright green eyes in response.


    "Magnificent I haven''t seen one of your kind in millennia. Teacher Lin instantly knew that Lao had the body of a half-dragon but still couldn''t see that he had the soul of a real dragon.


    "Ahem, I need the sects help," Haru announced, snapping Teacher Lin''s attention back to the matter at hand.

 Chapter 214: Luo Yang?

    Chapter 214: Luo Yang?


    "The bastard that gave you that house? I knew there was something not right about him." Lao said with a smile that said I told you so as Haru thought about what to do next. If it really was Han that had sold him out then he would probably have something else in mind just in case that it didn''t work. As Haru was thinking another ghastly scream came from the building.


    Lao, Haru and Major Niu all looked over again to see that a red mist had begun to glow from the top of the building and a few of the soldiers had begun to walk towards the door that was closed and lined up outside.


    "Get your men back now. They will all die." Lao warned Major Niu but she didn''t do anything to stop them. She wanted to see just what could manage to kill her highly-trained unit.


    As soon as one of the soldiers ced his hand on the door handle. A ck w-like shadow grabbed his arm and pulled him through the door as if it didn''t exist.


    "Agh!" The soldier cried out in pain as the sounds of bones crunching and smashing could be heard from the outside.


    A few of the soldiers stepped back and retreated out of fear but the ones that remained were too cocky and thought that they would be able to kill whatever stood against them.


    Another screech cried out, each time sounding less human. Everyone nearby was losing faith in the fact that they were dealing with something human. They didn''t know what was going on but they had lost two men to whatever was in that room.


    "Do you have eyes on what that noise ising from?" Major Niu asked the soldiers that were closest to the building but not a single one of them had an exnation. They could see the faint shape of something on the inside.


    The silhouette almost looked as if it was wearing the same military uniform as they were.


    "Come out with your hands up. This is you one and only warning." One of them shouted and signaled to the rest of them to stack up on the outside of the door and prepare to breach.


    The old man that had attacked Haru the first time couldn''t scratch his curiosity and flew up into the sky to take a look at what was happening but as soon as he did. A pitch-ck w gripped his throat. He looked down at the w and saw that it was connected to an arm that was inside the building.


    He couldn''t quite see what was inside and he couldn''t escape the clutches of the w. It was as if the thing that had grabbed him had the grip of a vice. It slowly began to close in around his neck until he couldn''t breathe.


    The old man''s face began to turn blue from ack of oxygen.


    "Ny four! Get down here right now!" Major Niu shouted he couldn''t do anything about it. Haru looked up and saw that he was struggling to breath and didn''t understand how that was possible.


    The soldier that had gone into the building and had gotten possessed by the de was only a low level. Unless the de also had the power to increase the cultivation level of the person it takes over.


    "Oh No, I didn''t consider this." Lao said to himself as he watched on. But Haru couldn''t just sit by and watch. He didn''t want to let someone die if he could do something about it so he opened up a void corridor around the old man''s body and then ced the exit next to Major Niu.


    The old man vanished from the air and appeared next to Major Niu before copsing to the floor.


    "What was that!? I just! That thing it was! I was in space?!" The old man couldn''t gather his thoughts and was spouting nonsense since the pressure from space had forced all of the strength out of him like it had done to Haru the first time he experienced it.


    "What''s going on!? What did you see when you were inside that building?" Major Niu demanded an exnation from Haru but he wasn''t at liberty to tell her as he didn''t have all the facts for himself. He turned back to Lao and asked him the same question with his eyes.


    "Haru, This is worse than I thought. It isn''t just a Cursed Beacon. I think it is a soul beacon. It hasn''t enraged the person''s soul. It has in fact reced his soul with someone Else''s." Lao exined as the door to the building was kicked open by the soldiers and they had all ran inside.


    Screams cried out in unison as limbs were ripped from their bodies and blood sttered everywhere. The scene that took ce inside the room was an unimaginable massacre as every single one of the soldiers were killed in the most brutal way.


    Haru wasn''t a superstitious person but even he could feel the presence of death in the area where a terrible murder had happened. And this was the same feeling he had gotten when standing on battlefields in the past.


    The scent of iron drifted in the air and bloodcoated the ground outside the building as footsteps sshed in the puddles, getting louder and louder as they approached the door.


    Major Niu took a deep breath as she no longer cared about what happened to the old man. She was focused on the doorway to the building where she felt impending doom would being from.


    Arge man with dark purple skin stepped out from the building wearing half of the military uniform. The shirt and lower half of the pants had been rippedpletely as his muscles expanded from the small human''s size to the size of a demon.


    He had two pitch-ck horns upon the top of his that curled and twisted violently on his head to form semi-circles that followed his long ck hair down to just behind his ears.


    "Another alien Major Niu to headquarters. We havee into contact with an extraterrestrial. Please send the shadow walkers to dispose of it." Major Niu spoke into her radio and asked for back up when she saw the member of the demon n that had stepped out from the building.


    "Delicious. Human flesh always tastes better when the prey is weak and pitiful." The demon said before sticking his finger inside his mouth and using his fingernail as a toothpick to pull a bit of flesh from beneath his teeth.


    He pulled his finger back out of his mouth and looked at the flesh for a few moments before shrugging his shoulders and putting it onto his tongue and swallowing it.


    There was no response from the radio after Niu had asked for back up but that didn''t seem to bother her. She leaned over and helped the old man back to his feet while he was still clutching his neck from where the w had grabbed him.


    "Why are they bing moremon? That is the third one we havee into contact with this year." The old man asked in a whispered tone but Major Niu didn''t answer.


    "Hmm that''s interesting. I can''t sense your cultivation stage. You there." The demon spoke and then pointed his finger at Haru who was slightly worried about what was going on. He looked up to Lao who seemed to be lost in thought.


    "Yes?" Haru asked casually. It wasn''t the first time that he had met someone from the demon n and he was still holding on to the hope that he was like the woman he had met that day in the meeting with the temple master in the soul tempering ground.


    But by the massacre that had just taken ce he knew that wasn''t the case.


    "You have a flooded soul ocean don''t you?" He asked with a smirk on his face.


    "What''s it to you?" Haru asked with hostility. He didn''t like how he was being looked at by the demon. It was if he thought of Haru as a food source and it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on edge.


    "Calm down. I just need your help that''s all. I''m here to find someone and after I do you will help me go home. It''s important that you have a flooded soul ocean so don''t even think about forcefully breaking though." The demon said with the same sinister smile.


    "You''re here to find someone? If you promise not to hurt innocent civilians then I can help you find whoever you are looking for. I am from a group that helps run the country and can definitely help you with that condition." Major Niu was quick to interrupt the conversation between the demon and Haru.


    It was her job to protect the civilians and help keep order in the country after all. She knew that this man was stronger than she dared to imagine and thought it would be easier to help him so another massacre didn''t take ce.


    "You can help me huh? What help do I need from a woman? If you really want to help me then you can take off your clothes and-" The demon beganto say with his cheeks turning a light shade of red as he looked at Major Niu.


    "Who are you looking for?" Haru asked, interrupting the demon''s fantasies.


    "Hmm A man called Luo Yang. Ever heard of him? If you can help me find him within three days I will leave your little world peacefully. And if not, well I don''t need to tell you what will happen do I?" The demonughed as he saw Haru gulp.

 Chapter 216: Collateral damage.

    Chapter 216: Coteral damage.


    Teacher Lin looked at Haru for a few seconds with confusion. It must have been something serious for Haru to call him over.


    "What is it? You could havee to see the sect master in person you know?" Teacher Lin said. He was only an elder in the sect and didn''t have permission to decide on anything that would impact the sect on his own.


    Big decisions were left to the sect master alone so he felt ufortable being dragged to talk about something serious.


    "It''s urgent. I just need you to ry something to the sect master." Haru replied, calming teacher Lin''s anxiousness a little bit as that was something that he could do.


    "A message? I will make sure that he gets it as soon as possible." Teacher Lin looked down at the ground for a moment before ncing back at Lao.


    "Okay well listen carefully. I want to ask if he can spare a few of your strongest cultivators to help me fight against the demon n.


    They have just sent a cursed beacon down with the soul of a demon inside to try to find me. So we had no choice but to kill him and alert the rest of the n that I am here.


    I got into a little bit of trouble in the soul tempering grounds and they want to kill me and I can''t fight against an army of them. I am going to gather as many people as I can and gather them all at the serpentine resort and spa in shanghai.


    If he can spare any people then I will meet them there." Haru gave a brief exnation of what was going on and then gave him the message that he wanted to ry to the sect master.


    "The demon n?!" Teacher Lin said with anger in his voice. As if just hearing their name sparked a fire within him.


    "Don''t worry I will make sure that he gets the message. What time should they meet you at the resort?" Teacher Lin shed his hand down and opened a void corridor before looking back and asking.


    "It doesn''t matter. I own the ce. I will have someone entertain the sect members until I get back. But I think I will need to take a little trip before then." Haru said with a smile. He was thinking about gathering people and knew just where he could go to gather them.


    "Okay, I will let him know. Be safe until then and let me know if you run into any trouble. Farewell." Teacher Lin said before stepping through the void corridor he had just created and, going back to the sect to tell the sect master about the situation Haru was facing.


    "We''re going on a trip?" Lao asked, confused. It was the first that he had heard about it. He figured that all Haru had to do was to make a few calls on his phone and have people gather for the meeting on Friday. So it was strange that he would have to go in person.


    "No not we. I am going on a trip. I am going to get that girl for you first. So you can look after her while I am gone. She will be your responsibility from now on so make sure that you raise her to be strong.


    I don''t know what will happen during the next couple of weeks so I can''t promise I can help you with much. Just let me do this for you." Haru said. He was feeling guilty that something this urgent had popped up.


    He had promised Lao that he would help him adopt the young girl he had met when taking down the evil sect because she had the blood of Lao''s ancestor running through her veins.


    But he didn''t have enough time to do it the right way. He was nning to go to the association and demand that they hand her over to him or else he will take her by force since he didn''t have the legal requirements to adopt a child.


    "We are getting the girl now? But I thought you didn''t want to make the government angry?" Lao asked as Haru had just contradicted himself.


    "I don''t care about the government anymore. I could die in a few weeks so I am not going to let a little organisation scare me anymore. If they have an issue with it then they cane and do something about it." Haru said with a grin.


    He was always one to follow the rules and make sure that he didn''t do anything that would make him seem like a delinquent. But now that he didn''t have anything to fear it made him want to be rebellious.


    He felt hungry for power now that his life was on the line so he didn''t think twice about abusing the power that he had already gained. And with both Lao and Teacher Lin promising to help him if he ran into trouble he felt stronger than he ever did before.


    "Wow, that''s a big change in attitude. I suggested we do that right from the beginning."Lao said with a smile.


    "I know you did. You were right, okay. Let''s just get it over with before I change my mind. That way I don''t need to worry about you killing anyone while I am gone." Haru sighed before once again taking off into the air alongside Lao and heading for the cultivation association headquarters.


    As they arrived at the heart of the city, lights illuminated the sky making it hard for them to hide from anyone who decided to look up to see the silhouettes of two people floating in the air.


    The city was just as busy in the early hours of the morning as it was in the middle of the day and that was made evident by the number of cars racing up and down the streets and the crowds of pedestrians pacing the sidewalks.


    "Is everything okay?" Lao asked, seeing that Haru had stopped flying to look at the city below him.


    "Yeah It''s fine. I was just thinking that it would be a shame to see this ce destroyed because of me. I want to make sure that the coteral damage is kept to a minimum." Haru said with a sigh. He didn''t want to see the destruction that he had seen during the war ever again.


    He was sick of seeing innocent people injured and killed for selfish gain. It didn''t quite sit right with him that he would be putting thousands of people in danger just to survive. It was selfish but if he wanted to survive he would have to do whatever it took.


    "Like you saw before. The government of this country has some strong people within it. I doubt they will let anyone destroy their country. But that also means that they might target you to try to get the demon n to spare them" Lao said with a hint of suspicion in his voice.


    If Haru wanted to make sure that the government didn''t target him instead of the demon race he would have to gather an army of cultivators to stand by his side. Hopefully, then they would side with Haru over the demons.


    "If only the upper realm knew about this," Lao said quietly. The whole human n was once controlled by Li Jun and Lao had been with him the whole time to see the number of people that had once sided with him over their own families. He hoped that Haru could one day reach the heights that his teacher had once reached.


    "Hm?" Haru didn''t hear what Lao had said from the sound of the wind blowing past his ears as they floated over the city.


    "Don''t mind me. I was just talking to myself." Lao dismissed him and then looked down at the ground too. He looked at all of the humans below him like they were all ants serving their queen in a colony. It was peaceful and organised. Unlike the ce that he called home.


    "That''s it over there," Haru stated and pointed his finger at one of the tallest skyscrapers in the city.The building was made up of steel and ss on the outside and the windows were covered so they couldn''t see the interior.


    "You found it that quickly?" Lao said surprised before following behind Haru as they headed towards it once again.


    Haruughed slightly. He had seen the logo of the association on the business card that Lian had given to him when they first met each other. And the logo was also on illuminating from the side of the building with a backlit sign.


    They both descended down to the ground on the street outside of the association headquarters and then made their way up the stone staircase towards the revolving ss doors at the front of the building.


    The street was empty and the lights on the inside were dimmed since they weren''t open for business yet and the only people who could be seen inside were the janitors that were cleaning the floor.


    As soon as Haru and Li Jun entered through the revolving doors they were approached by a man in a ck suit.


    "Excuse me, gentlemen. We aren''t open for business yet but you can feel free to wait outside until we open." The man in the ck suit said politely before raising his finger up to the side of his sses.


    Suddenly a loud bang rang out throughout the building as the sses on his face seemed to explode and the man fell to the floor, clutching his face.

 Chapter 217: You can tell me anything.

    Chapter 217: You can tell me anything.


    The lens from the man''s sses cut his cheek slightly and he looked back up with wide eyes. He looked at Lao with both shock and fear as he clutched his face.


    "What was that?" Haru asked, confused. He didn''t understand what had just happened but he knew that it couldn''t have been anything good given the reaction of the man in the ck suit.


    "I think those sses were a type of technology like that gun we saw used on the dead body of the Leung families servant. It must have exploded when he looked at me." Lao said quietly. His brows furrowed for a moment as he began to think.


    ''For a this far out in the middle of nowhere, they have some pretty advanced runic gear. But I guess that because a n of dragons once lived here.'' Lao thought.


    The understanding of runes that the humans of earth had was much more advanced than most worlds in the middle realms had since theybined technology and runes. It was strange to see but he could clearly see how well they worked together.


    "He could see everything about you with just a nce?" Haru asked. He thought about all of the uses it would have. If he could use it during a fight then he might be able to find a weakness with it.


    "No. I doubt it. The device probably tried to determine my age or species and exploded while trying to process it. It has happened with simr things like identity crystals in the upper realm. It''s nothing to worry about." Lao reassured Haru that it wasn''t a big deal before picking up the man in the ck suit by the cor of his shirt.


    "Where do you keep the children that you train to be cultivators?" Lao demanded an exnation while looking directly into the man''s eyes.


    The man couldn''t resist the pressure that Lao was exerting on him and cracked, spilling the exact location of where they kept the children.


    "On the twenty-seventh floor! Please don''t hurt me. The children all have their own rooms on the twenty-seventh floor." The man in the ck suit shouted in fear as he looked away from Lao''s face.


    Lao let go of his cor and he dropped down onto the floor with a thud before shuffling away on the floor and pushing his body up against the wall out of fear.


    "What did you do to him? He''s terrified." Haru asked. He had watched the whole thing but didn''t understand what Lao had done to make him so scared. But it was probably the fact that he couldn''t get any data on Lao which would make it seem like he was too strong for the device to read his strength.


    But that wasn''t the case at all. Lao was only at the manifestation stage he wasn''t strong cultivation wise but his understanding of Qi and techniques was way above that of a regr person at the manifestation stage so he didn''t need a strong cultivation stage to fight against other people.


    "I''m not sure" Lao replied and then began to think for a few moments to try to understand for himself. He came to the conclusion that the man was just a coward and didn''t have a fighting spirit but there was always the possibility that he was acting to lure them into an ambush and that didn''t sit right with Lao.


    "Do you think he was telling the truth? What if we are walking into an ambush right now?" Haru also thought that he could have been acting given his extreme reaction but as they got into the elevator and arrived at the twenty-seventh floor, their worries wereid to rest as the whole floor was silent and the feeling of Qi resonated throughout the walls.


    The sounds of dozens of snoring children seeped through the hallway as many of the doors were open with just a crack. Lao''s eyes immediately looked on one of the doors and he began to walk toward it.


    Haru used his Qi to scan the floor for anyone that could be a threat to their n but it was like the man in the ck suit had said. The only people on the twenty-seventh floor were the children that they were teaching.


    "It''s this one. She''s in here" Lao said.


    "How do you know?" Haru asked, surprised. They hadn''t had time to search any of the rooms yet Lao said that he had found the girl already.


    "I can feel her power And it seems like she feels mine too." Lao said quietly as the door to the room slowly opened up revealing the young girl that Haru had first met in the dungeon beneath the twilight moon sect.


    "Who are you?" Meiling asked as she saw Lao standing in the corridor outside of her room. She had never seen him before in her life yet his presence felt familiar.


    The memories she had of her past and spending time with her grandfather seemed to be sparked as she looked up at Lao with his long blue hair and green eyes. She then noticed the silhouette of someone else standing in the shadows behind the unfamiliar man.


    "How are you doing, Meiling? Are they treating you well here?" Haru asked as he saw her but before he could say anything else she had begun to run toward him with her arms out wide and jumped up before wrapping her arms around his neck.


    Haru didn''t know her that well but it didn''t seem like a strange reaction since he was the one who had saved her life and stopped her from being tortured to death. He hugged her lightly before putting her back down to the ground and putting his hand on her head.


    "How are they treating you here? Are they teaching you things about cultivation?" Haru already knew the answer by the fact that she was already at thete Qi refining stage. But before they asked her if she wanted to go with them he wanted to know if she enjoyed being there.


    Meiling hesitated in her reply like she was holding something back and didn''t want Haru to know before responding to his question.


    "Yes! They have been teaching me all kinds of things. Things about Qi and how strong people can get by surrounding their bodies in ayer of Qi. It''s called amplification.


    Did you know that people can even learn how to fly if they be strong enough!?" Meiling seemed impressed by that thought and smiled as she informed Haru of the great things that she had learned.


    "Is that so?" Haru chuckled a little bit.


    "So you like it here?" Haru asked directly. He didn''t feel right if he was going to take her away from a ce that she enjoyed and he didn''t want her to feel any resentment to Lao if he was to be her teacher.


    "Well It''s nice and they feed us good food and we even get a ce to sleep." Meiling began to say. She seemed like she was trying to hide something from Haru which only made him more suspicious.


    "What is it? Is there something going on that you can''t tell me about?" Haru asked with a gentle expression. He was concerned. He had no idea what it could be that she didn''t want to tell him but he knew it must have been something serious.


    He found her in a torture chamber where she had watched many people die. If there was something going on that she didn''t want to talk about it must be something that is affecting her much more than what she had seen before.


    Meiling looked up at Haru with trusting eyes. She knew that he wasn''t a bad person but she didn''t know what he would do if she told him what was going on. Haru could see that she was considering if she should tell him or not so he decided to reassure her.


    "Hey, look at me," Haru said calmly. Meiling had nced down to the floor so she didn''t have to look him in the eyes. But quickly looked back up at him as he told her to.


    "You can tell me anything. I came to make sure you are happy here. If you aren''t happy here, then you cane back with me.


    That man there would like to be your teacher. He is extremely strong and was even the teacher of my teacher if you can believe it." Haru said with a smile but Meiling''s expression didn''t change at all.


    She was still hiding something and it seemed like it was something important hence why she didn''t want to talk about it. Haru was both confused and angry at the same time as he tried to think of an exnation in his head toe to a conclusion about why she couldn''t tell him.


    But the things that he thought of only made him angrier.


    ''Is someone bullying her? Is it hard for her to make friends here? Or is it something to do with the teachers here? Did anyone try to force her to do anything that she didn''t want to?'' The thoughts running through Haru''s head were getting worse and worse as time went on.


    He had saved her from one hell hole and it wouldn''t feel right if she had ended up in a worse situation now than what she was in before.


    Haru knelt down and held both of her hands to reassure her.


    "Do you remember the promise that I made to you when we first met?" Haru asked with a smile.


    Meiling looked him in the eyes for a moment while she thought before quickly nodding her head.


    "You do? Then what was it?" Haru asked again with the same gentle smile.


    "Was it when you promised that nobody would hurt me?" Meiling asked, unsure of if that is what Haru was referring to.


    "That''s right. As long as I am alive. Nobody will ever hurt you. And if they do Then they will have to answer to me okay?" Haru brushed her hair out of her face that was still all messy from being asleep all night.


    "Do you really mean it? I can tell you anything?" Meiling asked with a sad expression Like she doubted Haru''s words but also still wanted to believe him.


    "Of course you can," Haru said and then looked up at Lao who also had a worried expression.


    "Okay then. I will tell you" Meiling said and then took a deep breath.

 Chapter 218: The soul of a dragon.

    Chapter 218: The soul of a dragon.


    Meiling lifted the sleeve to her pyjamas to reveal a bright mark that travelled up her arm. The mark looked like it was actually a burn mark and it had only been done recently.


    "Did you get burned? How did that happen?" Haru asked. He couldn''t quite understand how she could have been hurt that badly in a ce like this. They had healers and even if they were busy they could have at least wrapped it in bandages.


    But the burn was untreated. Like she didn''t seek treatment for it.


    "It was the teacher" Meiling looked down to the ground and spoke in a soft tone.


    "The teacher did it? How? Were you sparing against him?" Haru asked, confused. From what he understood. The cultivators association were trying to raise cultivators to be on their side. Why would they injure them purposely?


    "No. He meant to do it. Last night when I wasing back from the ssroom I saw him spying on a few of the older girls while they were changing in their rooms.


    I tried to sneak past him but he noticed that I was in the corridor so he grabbed me and said if I ever told anyone he would kill me


    He said that the mark on my arm was a fire curse and it will spread to my heart if I told any of the other teachers." Meiling spoke in a hushed tone while still looking down at the ground as if she was in the wrong.


    "Lao,e here for a minute," Haru called Lao over to take a look at the wound on Meiling''s arm.


    "Is this a curse?" Haru asked as Lao looked down at Meiling''s arm.


    "A curse? Not at all. It just seems to be a pretty bad burn. I guess he was just weak and wanted to scare her into keeping quiet about what had happened." Lao spoke and then held out his hand over her arm. Green light filled the air as the burn on Meiling''s arm began to fade until eventually there was no sign of it ever existing.


    "Does that feel any better?" Lao asked in a caring tone. It was unlike anything Haru had heard before. Lao was usually full of energy and the only emotion he spoke with was anger. It was out of character for him to be talking like that.


    "Yes, it doesn''t hurt anymore," Meiling said with a look of excitement on her face. She could feel a sense of familiaritying from Lao.


    Suddenly Meiling''s eyes sparkled with a hint of blue light. Her jaw dropped open as she looked up at Lao who was still smiling. She raised her hands to her face and then took a few steps back out of fear as she looked at him in shock.


    "Meiling? What is it?" Haru asked, confused.


    "Tha- That man He is a- He''s a dragon." She still spoke in a hushed tone being mindful of the other children that were still sleeping but the moment that her eyes had shed with a shade of blue she saw Lao''s true form.


    "It''s okay. Like I said. This man was the teacher of the man who taught me how to cultivate. He would never hurt you I promise.


    But there are a lot of secrets that I can''t tell you right now. Unless you decided you wanted toe with us." Haru tried his best to calm her but she couldn''t take her eyes off Lao who was now staring back in shock also.


    "The Eternal Eyes of truth That is unbelievable. Not only is she the descendant of the snow feathered ancestral dragon. But she is also the sessor to The Eternal Eyes of truth." Loa spoke quietly. He couldn''t believe the luck of this girl.


    Haru was gifted and had the bloodline of a mysterious breed of phoenix but Meiling''s natural gifts were simply amazing. The Eternal Eyes of truth was a power that was thought to have been lost thousands of years ago.


    It was a power that not even Lao had seen before and was something that only his grandfather had encountered when he was a young dragon. It came from a race simr to humans but from a ce far above the upper realm. He thought it was only the tales of a rambling elder but upon a single nce, he could feel the power that her eyes held within.


    He couldn''t wait to rub it in Li Jun''s face just like he had done when he first found Haru.


    "You feel it don''t you?" Lao said and then slowly walked towards Meiling.


    "Feel it? What is it?" Meiling asked, confused. She had no idea what Lao was talking about as his imposing aura grew stronger when he walked toward her.


    Meiling looked at Haru for help but Haru was too interested in what was happening. He had never seen Lao act like this so he knew that it must have been something important and didn''t dare to interrupt him even if it did scare Meiling.


    "You came out from your room just as we had made it here. How did you know that we were here?" Lao asked as Meiling backed up against the wall of her bedroom.


    "I don''t know I felt like something was pulling me outside so I went to see what it was." Meiling replied with panic. She couldn''t exin what it was that she felt but it was something that she had never felt before.


    "Do you know how to manipte your Qi?" Lao asked her and then knelt down in front of her.


    "I- I do" Meiling responded.


    "I''m not going to hurt you, don''t worry. I just want you to try to make your Qi flow to your eyes." Lao exined and then put his hand on her shoulder.


    Meiling flinched at his touch. She was still afraid of what she had seen when his true form had shed into her vision. But she did as he asked and tried her best to make her Qi flow into her eyes.


    A few seconds went by until suddenly Meiling gasped in as much air as she could and gave it all to make her Qi travel to her eyes. Her eyes flickered with blue light for a moment before a constant glow of faint blue light held her eyes open.


    "That''s good. You can control it at will. Don''t stop. Keep holding your breath and look right here." Lao instructed her and then pointed to the left side of his chest.


    Meiling''s eyes widened as she looked at Lao''s chest and saw what he was pointing at.


    It was like her eyes had turned into an X-ray machine. Everything around her had faded to ck apart from what looked to be a beating heart that was surrounded by a bright green me.


    "That is what a dragon soul looks like. It is the reason you were able to sense that we were here. And it is what you felt called out to you." Lao said.


    "Why don''t you take a look at your own chest?" Haru hinted to her and just as he had said Meiling decided to look down at her chest to see that her heart was too surrounded by a bright green me.


    "You see it don''t you. You also have the soul of a dragon within your body. That is how you could sense me. And if you look at your stomach you should be able to see the size of your dantian." Lao said but curiosity got the better of her and she looked back up at Haru who was still watching on.


    She wanted to see if Haru was also a dragon.


    As she looked at Haru she noticed that along his body were hundreds of veins that were glowing blue. The blue glow seemed to emerge from a small ball of light just below his belly button.


    ''Is that Qi?'' Meiling thought before looking up at his heart.


    Haru''s heart was different from Lao and her own as it didn''t have a green fire surrounding it. Instead, there was a ck glow that blocked out the shape of his heartpletely.


    There was just a void that surrounded his heart. But on top of that void, there was what looked like a small fire in the shape of a bird.


    As she looked at Haru more her eyes became locked to the void where his heart would have been. She couldn''t look away no matter how hard she tried and for a reason unknown to her the ck void was expanding.


    "No, don''t look at Haru! Look at me!" Lao shouted as loud as he could.


    Meiling''s eyes had been glowing a solid blue for a few minutes already and she hadn''t taken a breath since she started. Suddenly the light in her eyes flickered and then vanished as her body fell limp and she began to fall to the ground.


    Lao was quick to catch her in his arms before she hit the ground and as he did she gasped for air.


    "What happened?" Haru asked, confused by what had just happened. Thest thing he had seen was Meiling looking toward him with glowing eyes before Lao began to panic.


    "I think it is about time that we awaken that power within your soul ocean before it kills somebody" Lao sighed and looked back at Haru.


    "Power in my soul ocean? Do you mean it is time to visit the mansion?" Haru asked, surprised. He thought that he would have to wait until he was stronger until he could go to the mysterious mansion within his soul ocean.


    "Yes. She is lucky that she copsed or else her soul would have been ripped from her body." Lao said with a worried tone and then his eyes locked onto the door of one of the rooms as the door handle came down quickly and the door creaked open.


    His panicked scream had made the children wake up

 Chapter 219: Then die.

    Chapter 219: Then die.


    Lao gulped as he saw that one of the kids that were sleeping in a room nearby had opened the door to their room and was now looking towards him while rubbing his eyes.


    "Haru, It''s time to go," Lao said and picked Meiling up into his arms while she was still unconscious. He looked back at Haru who had a sadistic smile on his face.


    "Harue on. I thought you said that you didn''t want to cause any trouble. We had better get going before anyone else decides to show up." Lao said again but Haru had other ns.


    Haru walked over to the child that was standing in the doorway.


    "Hello there, young one. Do you know where I can find your teacher? He told me to meet him here but he didn''t show up." Haru said to the boy who looked to be around eight years old.


    "Do you mean Mr Jing? The teachers all sleep on the floor above ours so he should be there." The boy spoke, still half asleep and couldn''t see the situation very well. All he knew is that two adults were in the corridor so he assumed that they were people from the association.


    "Is that so? Well, thank you. I will make sure your teacher knows that his students are very helpful. He might even reward you." Haru said with a smile and then looked back at Lao who looked disgusted by the fact Haru had just manipted a child to get information on his teacher.


    "You know. Li Jun always praised you for being kind and caring. I think you might be eviler than I am" Lao said as they entered the elevator once again, this time joined by Meiling. Haruughed upon hearing what Lao had said and then pressed the button to close the doors before heading up to the twenty-eighth floor.


    As the doors opened the amount of Qi in the air differed dramatically from the floor below. And the first thing that he noticed was that each floor seemed to have a barrier around it to stop Qi from leaking down onto the floors beneath.


    Most of the people who were sleeping on this floor were at the manifestation stage the same as Lao and to Haru, it felt like he had just walked into a cage full of sleeping lions.


    He knew that he could fight one or two manifestation stage cultivators at a time but he wasn''t sure if he could take on the fifteen of them that were either sleeping or cultivating throughout the night.


    No one had sensed Haru and Lao as they arrived on the floor given that Lao''s understanding of Qi was enough that he could conceal himself at will and Haru had a flooded soul ocean so his stage of cultivation was currently being hidden from those who weren''t strong enough to perceive it.


    Lao looked back to where Haru was standing and saw the same sinister grin on his face that he had previously. It wasn''t hard for Lao to guess what he was smiling for and it was made even more obvious when Haru cast out his spiritual sense across the floor to look for someone who cultivated a me technique.


    Out of the total of twenty-two of the people that had their own rooms on the floor, only three of them cultivated a me technique. Two of them were at the manifestation stage and the other was at the heavenly spirit stage.


    Given the degree of the burns that were on Meiling''s arm, it was nowhere near the level of damage that someone at the manifestation stage would inflict even by ident. So that left the man one at the heavenly spirit stage as the main suspect.


    The teachers all had rooms of their own so that they could diligently cultivate without distractions which made it easier for Haru and Lao to go unnoticed as they crept down the hallway and then made their way into the sleeping man''s room.


    Lao stood by the door as Haru moved closer to the side of his bed and stood over the teacher as he slept and held out his index finger as a me began to form at the tip.


    The me looked simr to a drop of water and soon dripped down from Haru''s finger andnded on the man''s face. Suddenly the me expanded over his lips and Haru was careful that the me was only strong enough to cause him pain and not burn him to cinders.


    The teacher''s eyes suddenly shot wide open from the pain of the fire burning his lips. He couldn''t speak since the mes were imbued with Qi and were forcing his lips to remain sealed. But despite that fact, he still managed to make a high pitched squeal.


    "Do you like ying with fire?" Haru giggled slightly as he spoke and then grabbed the man by his arm and yanked him out of bed with so much force that he flew across the room and struck the wall with his back, before falling down onto the wooden dresser behind him and shattering the ssmp that was stood on top of it.


    The sounds from the shattering ss were enough to gain the attention of one of the manifestation stage cultivators that were in a room nearby and they soon came running out of their room and came to the entrance where they saw Lao blocking the doorway while holding Meiling in his arms.


    "Who are you!?" The woman asked. He was confused by the situation. She didn''t understand how someone had managed to get onto the floor without her realising. Which either meant that he was strong or so weak that he wasn''t detected as a threat.


    "Is that Meiling? She is a student here? What do you intend to do with her?" The woman asked with suspicion. ''Is he one of the managers of the association? Howe I haven''t seen him before'' The woman thought to herself, mistaking Lao for one an association member.


    There was no response from Lao who wasn''t in the mood for idle chatter with a human and before she could say anything else Lao held out his hand and surrounded the woman''s body in his Qi and then pulled her towards him.


    Lao''s Qi was so strong that she couldn''t even begin to resist and was swiftly brought inside the room where Haru was looking down upon the man that had attacked Meiling.


    Lao closed the door behind him as he entered the room too so that they wouldn''t be distracted by anyone and so Haru could speak freely.


    As soon as the door was closed Haru removed the me from the man''s mouth and hovered it in front of him as a warning that if he tried anything he would soon be burned again.


    "Who are you!? What did I do to offend you?" The teacher asked in a panicked voice. He didn''t recognise either Haru or Lao but saw that their strength was enough to restrain a manifestation stage cultivator.


    At his measly level of strength, there was nothing he could do but sit down and wait for whatever punishment that they decided upon.


    "Take a look over at that little girl and then tell me what you think this is about." Haru directed his gaze over to Lao who was holding Meiling who was still sleeping in his arms.


    "Wait. You are here about that incident? It was just a warning to a disobedient student that is all. She thought that I was spying on other students and threatened to tell someone if I didn''t give her money. She tried to ckmail me so I had to punish her a little bit!" The teacher rushed to make up an excuse as to why he had attacked Meiling but his lies were seen through by everyone in the room.


    Even the woman that had been dragged into the room by Lao could tell that he was lying but she had no idea what was going on and didn''t dare to say anything out of fear as she could be targeted next.


    As soon as the man finished speaking the me that Haru was controlling spread to the teacher''s whole body. It was the same temperature as it was before. Not enough to burn his skin but just enough to cause him unbearable pain.


    "If you lie to me again I will kill you. So I''m going to ask you only once. Did you intentionally injure Meiling because you were scared that she would tell someone that you are a pervert?" Haru asked with anger in his voice.


    The man screamed out in pain as the heat from the me unintentionally began to increase and singed the hairs on both his head and eyebrows.


    "Yes okay, I did injure her! But it''s not what you think! I wasn''t doing anything like that! Please forgive me. I will never do it again I promise!" The teacher cried out once again but Haru had heard enough. He had gotten a confession from him and he didn''t care about the situation.


    Haru had made a promise to Meiling and intended to keep it. Whoever hurt Meiling would have to answer to him.


    "Then die," Haru said as the mes suddenly grew violent and out of control and expanded into a ball that surrounded the teacher''s bodypletely.


    "What are you doing? You can''t kill a member of the cultivators association! Even if he did something wrong then you still need to follow the guidelines." The woman Lao had captured said in protest of Haru killing the teacher.


    But the damage was already done. The teacher was burned until the only thing that remained was a pile of ash that dropped the floor as soon as Haru dispersed the mes.

 Chapter 220: Take care.

    Chapter 220: Take care.


    "You''re not people from the association, are you!? Who are you!?" The woman that Lao had captured began to shout in response to watching her colleague burned to ashes right before her eyes. She had thought that Lao and Haru might have been high ranking members that is why she hadn''t seen them before but after watching Haru kill a teacher she quickly realised that it wasn''t the case.


    "The only reason I allowed Meiling toe here in the first ce is that I was promised that she would be looked after and kept safe.


    Maybe I will have to take this up with Lian too." Haru said to himself before turning back to Lao and the woman who was trapped within his Qi.


    "You were the one who allowed Meiling toe here? But she has no family members left" The woman replied to Haru thinking out loud.


    "I never imed to be a family member. I was the one that found her and decided to hand her over to the association because they promised to look after her.


    If I knew this is how you treated children I would never have let here here." Haru responded and then looked back at Lao to make sure that Meiling was still sleeping.


    "If you''re the one that found her then Are you the man responsible for the destruction of the twilight moon sect?" The woman asked in a panicked tone as she looked at Haru.


    She had heard that the person responsible was less than twenty years old and had blue eyes with pale skin, if that was the case then the person she was looking at certainly matched that description.


    But that left the question Who was the blue-haired man that was with him. She had been cultivating in Shanghai for more than ten years but had never heard of a cultivator with long blue hair and strong enough to suppress a manifestation stage cultivator with just one hand.


    "Well nice meeting you but we had better get going before anyone else wakes up. I would appreciate it if you tell Lian that this is her fault for not making sure that Meiling was doing okay.


    Oh and if your association wants to look for trouble after this then I don''t mind nning another massacre." Haru said jokingly. But as he had already proved that he could massacre a sect, it wasn''t far of a stretch to say that he could massacre the association too.


    "I''m ready now let''s go." Haru looked back at Lao and without a second thought, he raised his hand up to therge window that looked out over the city and broke the ss. They both walked to the edge before releasing the woman that they had captured and then flying up into the air to head back to Haru''s house.


    As they flew higher the sun could be seen beginning to climb over the mountains in the distance and the rays of light beamed down onto Meiling''s face, waking her up while they were flying over the city.


    "Huh? What happened?" Meiling asked while rubbing her eyes and then looked up to see that she was being carried by Lao. She then remembered everything that had happened in the hallway and then frantically looked around to try to find Haru.


    As she spotted him nearby she calmed down a little bit but then noticed that the only thing in sight was a sea of endless white.


    She looked around again, this time noticing the mountains in the distance and the skyscrapers beneath her she looked back up at Haru with a look of joy in her eyes.


    "We''re flying!?" Meiling asked and then looked at Lao with questioning eyes.


    "Indeed we are. Haru catch. It''s your turn to carry her." Lao said and then threw Meiling up into the air.


    Meiling didn''t have time to hold on to him and felt weightless for a few moments as she flew slightly higher than both Haru and Lao and then quickly began to drop as she came back down.


    "Agh!" She began to scream in fear as she started to fall but as she opened her eyes she noticed that she was no longer falling and was now surrounded by a ball of Qi.


    "This is so much harder. Why didn''t you throw her to me? I didn''t have time to catch her." Haruined to Lao as he forced more of his Qi out to stop Meiling from plummeting to her death.


    He was getting used to flying on his own but also using his Qi to hold someone else up was much harder and was taking all of his strength to keep them both in the sky. He made sure that Meiling was floating before slowly flying over to her and then taking her into his arms to make it easier for him to fly.


    As soon as he released the Qi around Meiling it became so much easier to control how his body moved and they soon after arrived at Haru''s house just as the sun had decided to rain down on the city.


    "You can fly! That is so cool!" Meiling praised Haru as hended and then opened the front door allowing her to enter first.


    "Woah this ce is awesome! You didn''t tell me you were rich!" Meiling shouted before runningps around Haru''s living room.


    "I''m not rich. This ce was just given to me by someone." Haru said before quickly remembering that the house was given to him by the same person who had sold him out.


    "Do you think we are safe here? If Han really is from the demon n then we are sitting ducks if we stay here." Haru used his spiritual sense to ask Lao.


    "It''s fine. If anyonees for us then they will die without mercy. I can''t let my new student be injured by anyone can I?" Lao said while smiling at Meiling.


    ''He seems to have taken a liking to her. I guess it''s not hard with this much innocence. You would have to be a sociopath not to find her adorable.'' Haru thought as he too smiled at Meiling like a father watching his daughter.


    Meiling on the other hand was too distracted with looking around the house to pay attention to the two of them as they both discussed what they were going to do next.


    Haru had already nned to head to Beijing to recruit more people to join him for the battle that was quickly approaching them.


    "We wille with you," Lao said as Haru told him about what he had nned but he waspletely against the idea.


    "No, the condition was that if we went and got Meiling from the association that you would stay here and look after her while I go and take care of things," Haru said in protest but Lao just smiled.


    "I never said I would do anything of the sort. You''re the one that thought of that. I didn''t agree that I would listen to you." Lao spoke in a condescending tone knowing that he had yed Haru for a fool.


    "Ah Why do you even want toe with me? It will be boring. All I''m going to be doing is talking to cultivators. There is nothing for you to do even if you dide with me." Haru said but that wasn''t what was bothering Lao.


    "I just want to help. I have a body now so I can finally make myself useful. And this is an important matter." Lao spoke with sincerity.


    "Exactly, It is important. If I want people to join me then I will have to talk to them alone so we cane to a deal." Haru replied.


    "But if you really want to be of use then I can give you a list of people to go to and ask for their help," Haru suggested.


    "Really? You would do that? Then I will make sure that theye here right away." Lao said and then stopped himself from saying as he looked at Haru staring with disappointment.


    "Well, You shouldn''t need to drag anyone. Hopefully, the will join me on their own" Haru said and then wrote down all of the names of the people he wanted Lao to bring to the meeting on Friday.


    "Really you want him?" Lao asked, surprised by one of the names on the paper slip that he was handed.


    "Well the more the merrier. I need as much help as I can get." Haru responded and then looked over at Meiling who was now looking through a bookcase.


    "Meiling. Come here for a moment." Haru called Meiling over.


    "Hm? What is it." Meiling asked as Haru waved his hand and then knelt down.


    "I''m sorry this is sudden but I have to go somewhere far away for a few days. Lao will look after you and teach you more things about cultivation while I am gone." Haru put his hand on her head and as she formed a sad expression upon hearing what he had to say.


    "But it will be scary. I don''t know him very well and" Meiling was about to say but Haru was quick to stop her.


    "If you aren''t scared when you are with me then you shouldn''t even think about being scared when you are with Lao. He is many times stronger than I can even imagine and I know he will protect you with his life." Haru exined to her and then whispered something in her ear while smiling at Lao.


    As soon as he took a step back from her Meiling quickly turned to look at Lao and then smiled so brightly that it made his heart stutter.


    ''What did he tell her?'' Lao thought as he looked at Haru with suspicion.


    "Well then, I will be off." Haru smiled and then used a movement technique to move at a speed faster than what Meiling could perceive but Lao just smiled at him as he saw the speed that he was moving at.


    Haru turned back to Lao while Meiling looked like she was frozen in time.


    "I don''t mind if you kill anyone by the way. Just try to maintain order and keep my friends safe." Haru said before parting ways with Lao and flying up into the clouds after leaving his house.


    "Sure, Take care." Lao smiled to himself before looking back down at Meiling who was awestruck by Haru vanishing.

 Chapter 221: Lan Yans Boyfriend.

    Chapter 221: Lan Yan''s Boyfriend.


    Haru flew up high into the sky above the city before pulling out his phone to look at a map to make sure that he was heading in the right direction. He wasn''t too familiar with theyout of china so he had no idea which way he would have to fly in if he was trying to get to Beijing.


    As he looked down at his phone he realised that Suyin had tried to call him the night before. After thest time he had forgotten to call her she made sure that she would talk to him every single night before he went to bed.


    Haru worried that it would affect her work life if she worried so much about him but it was nice to keep in touch with her. He quickly called her back as soon as he saw it to tell her that he was heading to Beijing.


    Although he wasn''t sure if he should tell her about the trouble he had gotten into with the demon n because he purposely avoided telling her that other races existed out in the universe. He figured it would make him look crazy so he decided to hold on to the secret for a little longer and hope that she didn''t get involved in anything that was going to happen when they arrived on earth.


    When the call connected the first thing that Haru heard was the voice of Suyin''s manager yelling in the background.


    "Hello, my love. How are you doing? You didn''t answerst night. Is everything okay?" Suyin asked as soon as she answered.


    "Seriously? We still need to film the choreography, can''t you call himter!?" Suyin''s manager yelled out but she simply ignored him and walked further away.


    "Good morning sweetheart. It''s nothing to worry about. I was just dragged to a party with my cousin. The music must have been too loud and I didn''t hear my phone." Haru replied with a smile. It had been a few days since they hadst called and he missed hearing her voice even if it was followed with constant worrying.


    "Is that so? Well, I was just calling to let you know that I should being to Shanghai in two weeks. We''re currently in Beijing for the time being. You would be surprised how many meetings you have to attend in this line of work.


    If I would have known about this then I would have just gotten a regr job. I just want to sing. Is that too much to ask for?" Suyin sighed after telling Haru something that he really didn''t want to hear.


    "You''reing to shanghai in two weeks?" Haru asked again to make sure that he had heard her correctly.


    "Yeah Is something wrong? You don''t sound happy about it" Suyin asked with a worried voice.


    ''Why now!? Why did she have to n toe to Shanghai in two weeks? I don''t know for sure when the demon n wille but I don''t want her to get caught up in anything like this.'' Haru thought.


    "Mhm Everything is fine. I''m just surprised and excited that you will being over. You can stay with me at my house if that''s okay?" Haru asked. The barrier that he had made around his house was strong enough to withstand Haru''s full strength and Lao had assured him that it would be virtually impossible for anyone on earth to break.


    If she stayed at his house he would be certain that she could remain safe at least.


    "I can''t wait! By the way Why is there so much wind in the background? Are you going somewhere?" Suyin asked with suspicion.


    "Oh yeah. I have to go meet a few friends in Beijing. If you aren''t too busy do you want to meet when I get there?" Haru replied. He had forgotten to mention that he was actually heading in here direction right now.


    "What time do you expect to arrive? I will meet you at the station." Suyin replied quickly, sounding excited.


    "I shouldn''t be long. Maybe around half an hour at most." Haru replied. At the speed he was travelling he it wouldn''t take long to travel from Shanghai to Beijing. It was certainly a lot faster than it would be if he took a bus or a train.


    "Half an hour? What time did you set off? You must have woken up pretty early." Suyin looked down at her watch to see that it wasn''t even noon yet.


    Haru had yet to tell her that he could fly and she assumed that he was travelling on a train. But even if he had set off at the crack of dawn he wouldn''t be able to arrive in Beijing by lunchtime. She was confused by the time but Haru was quick to change the subject.


    "Yeah, You don''t have to drop what you are doing though. I actually have to meet with someone first so we can meet each other in the evening if that''s okay?" Haru asked to make sure that she was okay with it.


    He knew that she was excited since they hadn''t seen each other in a few weeks but he needed to gather as many allies as he could before he could have fun.


    "That''s fine, I actually have to go to the birthday party of my manager''s niece. It''s some rich family that wanted to hire me to sing but I told them that I will do it for free." Suyin bragged in a joking way.


    "You did what now? I would have robbed them for every penny they have." Haru announced over dramatically.


    "Exactly, You''re a viin! Imagine how my fans would react when they hear that their idol has been captured by such a bad man!" Suyin said which was followed by her manager shouting and banging on the door.


    "Suyin! Pleasee out! We have to finish the filming before we head to my sister''s house." The manager announced.


    Both Haru and Suyinughed before saying goodbye to each other after agreeing that they would meet each other in the lobby of the hotel that she was staying in.


    Haru pulled the map back up on his phone to see that he had drifted off course a little bit after talking with Suyin but he was getting closer and closer to Beijing and before he knew it he could see the city over the horizon.


    He decided tond just outside the city so that he wouldn''t bring any attention to himself by flying into the heart of the city and being seen by thousands of people.


    He then made his way out from the wooded area surrounding the city and began to walk toward the centre. He didn''t have a n in mind but he knew a few people that lived in Beijing so he decided to do an Inte search to find out where the Lanpany was.


    And it didn''t take long. As soon as he typed the word Lan thepany was suggested to him and he was given the address. It was quite far away from the side of the city that he ended up on so he decided it would be quicker to use a movement technique.


    He used the same one that he had used when he was in front of Meiling and moved faster than the human eye could perceive until he reached the building to the Lanpany less than a minuteter.


    He made sure no one was looking before he stopped using the movement technique and reappeared and then looked around at the mid-level skyscraper.


    It was nowhere near the tallest building in Beijing but it was stillrge enough to show that they were obviously one of the highest-earningpanies in the area. Haru entered through the doors and walked to the receptionists on the first floor.


    "Can I help you?" A young man in his early twenties asked Haru as he stood in line.


    Haru looked over at the man who was sitting behind the desk before walking over with a smile on his face.


    "Yeah, I am here to see Mr Lan," Haru announced as he walked over. The room fell silent for a few seconds as everyone nearby checked him out for a few moments. It wasn''t every day that someone imed that they were there to see the boss.


    The receptionist looked at Haru for a few moments before responding.


    "Mr Lan isn''t here at the moment. Can I ry a message to him?" The man asked while picking up a pen from his desk.


    "A message? I don''t have a message It''s something that can only be discussed in person. Can I trouble you to call him and let him know that I am here?" Haru asked.


    "You want me to call Mr Lan directly? What did you say your name was again?" The receptionist asked nervously. No one had ever asked him to call the boss before and he knew that Mr Lan was quite short-tempered.


    He didn''t know what to do. ''If Mr Lan is indeed expecting this young man and I refuse to call him then I could lose my job. But if he isn''t expecting him and I disturb him then I could lose my life'' The receptionist began to sweat nervously while looking at Haru.


    "Just tell him that Lan Yan''s boyfriend hase to see him. I''m sure he wille if he knows that." Haru scratched his head before replying.


    The room fell silent once again as soon as Haru stopped talking.

 Chapter 222: Imperial Families.

    Chapter 222: Imperial Families.


    "Lan Yan''s boyfriend?" The receptionist said out loud after Haru to make sure that is what he had heard. He couldn''t believe it himself, He was sure that Mr Lan would never let anyone date his daughters yet a man iming to be his daughter''s boyfriend wanted to meet with him.


    ''Is he going to ask for Mr Lan''s blessing so he can marry the young miss?'' The receptionist thought to himself and then concluded that he had to call Mr Lan as soon as possible.


    Without saying another word, the receptionist pulled out a phone from the drawer beneath his desk and raised it to his ear after calling someone on the contact list.


    "Who is it?" Mr Lan shouted as he was interrupted while he was eating. He wanted to know he dared to ruin his meal so that he could ruin their whole life.


    "Um Sorry for interrupting you, Mr Lan. But there is a young man here who ims to be Miss Lan Yan''s boyfriend. He said he is here to talk to you about something." The receptionist hesitated while he spoke.


    There was a deep inhale from the other side of the phone as Mr Lan sat back in his chair with his face starting to heat up.


    "Ah I see. My darling daughter''s boyfriend is here" Mr Lan gritted his teeth and tried to remain as professional as he could while he was talking to his receptionist but the frustration in his voice was impossible to hide.


    "It seems so Should I tell him to leave?" The receptionist asked and then looked back up at Haru who was scratching the back of his head once again.He didn''t know what else to do since he was now the centre of attention for everyone in the room.


    It seemed like all of them were really familiar with the way that Mr Lan would act and didn''t understand where Haru had gained the confidence to confront him while iming to be dating his daughter. To them, it seemed like he was asking for death.


    "Tell my daughter''s beloved boyfriend to leave? No, I couldn''t possibly allow that to happen. Why don''t you have the security guards block the exits and make sure that no one leaves


    I wouldn''t want there to be a scandalous article written about my daughter because someone leaked this information I will be down in just a moment." Mr Lan said with his anger only getting stronger.


    "I understand sir. I will do it right away." The receptionist said and then put the phone down before showing a hand signal to the security guards that were standing by all three of the exits.


    The security guards nodded their heads in unison and then began totch the doors closed before blocking them with their bodies.


    "Mr Lan said he wille down shortly. You won''t have to wait too long." The receptionist said with pity in his voice. He knew that something bad was going to happen when Mr Lan arrived.


    "Come down? You mean he is upstairs? I thought you said that he wasn''t here a moment ago Strange." Haru spoke while rubbing his chin.


    "Oh, about That. It is for security purposes. Mr Lan doesn''t like people knowing where he is so we say that to everyone so don''t take it too personally." The receptionist tried his best to force a smile but the look of worry on his face got in the way a little too much.


    "Is that so? Well, that makes sense I guess." Haru responded and then spotted a bowl of candy sitting on top of the desk.


    "Are they gumdrop bears?" Haru asked.


    "Yeah, they are for-" Before the receptionist could say anything Haru picked up the bowl of candy and began to reach into it.


    "Do you mind if I have a couple?" He asked with a smile on his face while casually leaning against the desk.


    The other people in the room watched on, not knowing what to do. They felt bad that such a handsome man would be murdered in broad daylight in less than a few minutes. But found it odd that he could act soid back in this situation.


    ''Is he an idiot? How can he not read the situation? I thought I made it pretty obvious that he was trapped in here with us. How can he just sit by and wait?'' The receptionist began to question Haru''s motive but as he looked up again he noticed a look in Haru''s eyes that seemed like he was starting to be impatient.


    "Sure go ahead." The receptionist replied with a sigh as Haru began to eat the candy one by one as he waited for Mr Lan to appear.


    A few minutes went by before the door the elevator opened up and footsteps quickly cked against the floor.


    "Where is he!? Where is my daughter''s so-called boyfriend!?" Mr Lan shouted as he walked out into the lobby. Suddenly everyone had begun to point at Haru as he still leaned against the desk while eating the candy.


    "Oi brat! Are you the one with balls bigger than your brains?" Mr Lan asked before racking a shotgun and then raising it to his shoulder and pointing it towards Haru''s back.


    "Hey, what''s up, old man," Haru said with a chuckle before turning around to see Mr Lan holding the shotgun in his direction.


    "This candy is pretty good. You want some?" Haru asked and then began to walk toward him.


    Mr Lan froze up as he saw Haru and began to remember thest time they had met. It was almost uncanny how simr the circumstances were.


    When they had met the first time, Haru had offered him whiskey while at gunpoint. And this time he was offering him candy while at gunpoint.


    Mr Lan looked at the smirk on Haru''s face that told him if he didn''t lower his weapon everyone in the room would have to pay the price for his mistake.


    Upon seeing the smile Mr Lan immediately dropped the gun to the ground without even a second thought.


    "Oh, It''s Haru, I didn''t expect you toe here today. I thought that someone was trying to impersonate you so I rushed down to clear things up. I hope you don''t mind the misunderstanding" Mr Lan was quick to exin himself.


    ''What is this? Why were the roles reversed so quickly? Who is this man? And how did he make Mr Lan go on the defensive after just one nce?'' The receptionist thought to himself as he watched on as Mr Lan began to step backwards as Haru approached him.


    "So that''s how it is? I thought you might have been angry that I hade to see you." Haru asked while still shovelling candy into his mouth.


    "I would never do such a thing like that. I know you are a fine young man and my daughter would be lucky to have you as a boyfriend Haha" Mr Lan said awkwardly as Haru continued to approach him while holding out the bowl of candy.


    "You think so? That''s nice of you to say. But there is really something that I need to talk to you about. Do you mind if we go to your office and discuss things in private?" Haru asked as they both had already begun to walk in the direction of the elevator that Mr Lan hade from.


    "Certainly. I''m sure that you wouldn''t want anyone to overhear what you have to say. Let''s head there right away." Mr Lan replied. They then both entered the elevator.


    "Hey, Do you think that Mr Lan was acting a bit strange there? You don''t think that he is from one of the imperial families and is trying to force Young Miss Lan Yan to marry him do you?" One of the guards ran over to the desk as soon as the doors to the elevator had closed and asked the receptionist.


    "I thought it was weird too. Just what is his background to be able to force Mr Lan to retreat like that? Do you think I should let Young Miss Lan Yan Know what''s going on?" The receptionist agreed with what the guard had said and then asked for his opinion.


    "I know first hand that that girl has her father''s temper. If you don''t tell her then you will probably end up in an unmarked grave. But that''s up to you. This is none of my business." The guard said and then walked back to his position at the door.


    ''He''s right. That little girl is vicious. I should probably tell her if I want to keep my head.'' The receptionist thought and then called another number on the phone.


    "Sorry for interrupting you Miss Lan Yan. But your father is currently meeting with someone who imed to be your boyfriend. I think I heard Mr Lan call him Haru" The receptionist said as the call connected.


    "Haru Haru is meeting with dad!? Quickly send a car to pick me up. I will be there shortly. Make sure that he doesn''t leave before I get there." Lan Yan instructed the receptionist.


    "Hey, Don''t you think that that man looked like the guy who had the red carpet rolled out for him at the royal imperial hotel?" One of the people in the lobby began to discuss what had just happened with each other.


    "The guy that gifted a woman a hundred thousand yuan just because she served him a drink? Was that really him? He was dressed too ordinary." It soon turned into a debate about Haru''s identity and then followed by a small argument.


    All the while the receptionist had been searching for the news article that was written about that day and as he watched the video he realised that the man in the video was indeed the man he had just seen.

 Chapter 223: Hug me?

    Chapter 223: Hug me?


    As the discussion about Haru''s identity raged on the sound of screeching tires called out from outside the building right before the doors opened up and Lan Yan walked in through them.


    "Where did he go? Where did my father take him." Lan Yan shouted before she even had the chance to look around. She then noticed one of the security guards was holding a shotgun in his arms.


    It was the same gun that Mr Lan had pointed at Haru when he came down from the elevator. After Mr Lan and Haru had both gone up to his office the guard had gone to secure the weapon so none of the civilians in the room could take it.


    "You What did you do? Why do you have a gun? Where is Haru?!" Lan Yan demanded an exnation from the guard as she approached him while pointing her finger at him.


    Upon hearing and seeing that Lan Yan was walking towards him in a threatening manner the man slowly began to back up until he had nowhere else to escape to. He looked at Lan Yan with hesitation before attempting to exin himself.


    "It''s not what you think. Mr Lan had left it here so I had to pick it up to make sure that it didn''t fall into anyone else''s hands.


    I didn''t do anything I promise." The man replied anxiously.


    Lan Yan then quickly looked over at the receptionist who was still sitting behind the desk.


    "Where did they go? I didn''te here to stand around in the lobby all day!" Lan Yan shouted back to the man who had called her.


    The receptionist pointed to the elevator.


    "They went up to your father''s office. The young man said that he had something to talk about with your father. And they haven''te down yet." The receptionist replied with haste, not wanting to leave her waiting.


    "Thanks." Lan Yan said casually before running to the elevator and then heading inside to go up to the top floor where her father''s office was situated.


    "I hope he hasn''t tried to do anything to Haru." Lan Yan whispered to herself nervously as the doors to the elevator opened up as she arrived on the top floor.


    The floor was split into two parts. One was where Mr Lan''s personal secretary worked at her desk and the other was his office. It was split by a wall of ss so as soon as Lan Yan arrived on the floor she saw both Haru and her father were sitting in his office.


    Mr Lan appeared to beughing about something in the office while Haru''s back was facing the door. But despite that, she could still tell it was him even if she couldn''t see his face.


    The only time she had seen her fatherugh in front of somebody is when he was nning something evil so as she saw them both sitting there she became worried and immediately ran towards the door.


    "Young Miss. Your father is meeting with an important guest. He said that he didn''t want to be interrupted" The secretary tried to warn Lan Yan but there was nothing she could do as she quickly opened the doors and ran inside the room to hear Haru talking.


    "Yeah, it was funny. Anyway, can you tell me where the hong family is? I have some business with them." Haru asked Mr Lan before hearing that the door had opened behind him and he turned around to see that Lan Yan was standing by the doorway.


    "Oh hey, What''s up kiddo." Haru smiled as this was the first time he had seen Lan Yan since they had departed on the bus.


    "Haru!" Lan Yan shouted and then ran towards him.


    "Woah" Haru looked at her for a moment before realising she was trying to hug him and then used his Qi to stop her from getting any closer to him.


    "What? That''s not fair! I haven''t seen you in so long. How could you not hug me?" Lan Yan pouted as she had been stopped and then looked up at them both once more to see that her father seemed to be in a good mood.


    She had thought for sure that her dad would be mad that Haru was there, after what she had told him. After she had gotten home after Haru had saved her and her younger sister she had told her father that she had been saved by a strong cultivator and he wanted to stay at the royal imperial hotel.


    Her father agreed to pay for him to stay in the presidential room but also wanted to know more about him before going to meet with him. Lan Yan felt embarrassed that she had been rejected by Haru and wanted to get payback on him so she told her father that he agreed to be her boyfriend before he went to meet him.


    She expected her dad to beat him up or something but when he returned he seemed to be stressed and immediately opened a bottle of alcohol.


    Looking at his face now she was sure that nothing bad was going to happen to her family because they had angered Haru but she didn''t know what they had been talking about.


    "Yan, Perfect timing. Isn''t that Hong girl having a birthday party today?" Mr Lan asked her.


    "Hong Zan? Yeah, but you said that I wasn''t allowed to associate with the Hong family so I had to ignore the invitation." Lan Yan replied, Confused about what was going on.


    Her dad had never taken an interest in her friends from school until this point but he made sure that she stayed far away from the Hong family for whatever reason.


    "That''s great. Haru here has some business to take care of with some of her family members. How about you take him along to the party with you?" Mr Lan said with a smile on his face as he looked at his daughter.


    "But didn''t you say justst week that I couldn''t hang out with Zan because I can''t afford to anger her rtives? Why do you want me to take Haru to speak with them?" Lan Yan asked.


    She had known her father since the day she was born and through all the years that had passed since then she had never seen him contradict himself.


    Mr Lan was a stubborn man and never liked to admit that he was wrong about anything but for some reason, he had gone back on what he had said just because Haru was there.


    "Nonsense. We don''t have to worry about those guys. It''s fine. Even if God himself came down to smite you I''m sure Haru would still keep you safe. Wouldn''t you?" Mr Lan said in a cheerful tone as he switched his attention to Haru.


    "Well if a god came down I would probably run away as fast as I could. I wouldn''t be concerned about saving anyone." Haru said in a matter of fact way as the room fell silent.


    "Hahaha. See he can even joke about his own strength." Mr Lan smiled back at his daughter who seemed to be smirking.


    "Fine, I guess I can take him there. It''s not like I have anything better to do." Lan Yan replied as if she didn''t want to go at all but she couldn''t hide the smile that ran across her lips.


    "Is that okay with you Mr Kitigawa?" Mr Lan asked Haru formally.


    "That''s fine. I don''t mind eating some free food." Haru chuckled and then looked back at Lan Yan.


    "Oh, I should warn you. The Hong family are one of the five imperial families here in Beijing. They have many martial artists and cultivators. So they won''t be easily pushed around.


    It would be best if you were careful with your words and try not to offend anyone at the party. They are well known for being brutal with outsiders." Mr Lan exined to Haru that they were a force to be reckoned with.


    "Ah, don''t worry. I don''t go looking for trouble, it just seems to find me sometimes. I will be respectful." Haruplied with Mr Lan''s warning and agreed that he wouldn''t offend anyone.


    Afterall it would reflect badly on the Lan family if one of the people they invited to the party caused trouble for them and he didn''t want to make anyone else a target at his expense.


    ''If everything goes smoothly then I won''t even need to threaten their lives.''Haru thought to himself with an evil grin.


    Both Lan Yan and her father stared at Haru for a few moments before deciding to change the subject.


    "Well, you two crazy kids had better get out of here. I bet you can''t wait to go partying can you?" Mr Lan said while trying to rte to the younger generation but it sounded creepy.


    Lan Yan looked away with embarrassment as Haru got up from his seat without saying another word and then began to walk towards the door. He walked to the door and then turned his head back to Mr Lan.


    "Thank you. We got off on the wrong foot but I can see that you aren''t such a bad person." Haru said before smiling.


    Mr Lan looked at Haru for a few moments and admired his smile. The bright beaming smile matched with his beautiful looks was enough to take Mr Lan''s breath away and he didn''t know what to say.


    "Well Urm" He tried to reply but was stunned by Haru''s beauty.


    Suddenly Lan Yan grabbed Haru''s arm.


    "Come on. Let''s go. I can''t wait to show off my boyfriend to all of my friends." She smiled and looked up at him awaiting a response.


    "I''m not your boyfriend" Haru spoke with a coldness to his voice that she had never seen before and she struggled to keep her happy smile.


    "Well, you are now. So let''s get going." She didn''t ept the rejection and began to pull Haru behind her before they both entered the elevator and took it down to the lobby.

 Chapter 224: Hong Zans birthday.

    Chapter 224: Hong Zan''s birthday.


    Haru was dragged out of the elevator and through the lobby, hand in hand with Lan Yan and gaining the attention of everyone who could see them. To them, it was a miracle. Mr Lan had finally let a man get close to his daughter.


    But not a single person dared to ask just why Mr Lan had decided on Haru. They could only imagine the type of background that he had and some of their theories were far more mysterious than the truth.


    The guards were quick to block the view of the two of them walking together and stopping anyone from taking their phones out to take pictures. They didn''t need to take the extra step. But they knew who they worked for and that he wouldn''t want his family getting involved in any scandals.


    "Young miss. We have secured the path to the car. Please have a safe trip." One of the guards wished them a safe journey and opened the doors for them, making sure that no one followed them outside.


    "First, let me warn you. If you cause trouble for my friends I will never forgive you." Lan Yan looked up at Haru while still holding his arm.


    "Well let me warn you. I don''t care about causing trouble for your friends. I don''t owe you anything so I''m not even going to consider you if I decide to do something.


    In fact, That reminds me. Don''t you owe me your life or something? I don''t save people for free you know? You will have to pay me back someway or another." Haru then smirked at her.


    Lan Yan was quick to let go of Haru''s arm and then quickly guarded her body with her arms.


    "I''m not that easy! Don''t even think about asking me for my body as payment!" Lan Yan shouted as they both walked towards the car.


    Haru couldn''t help butugh at the sight of her. He didn''t n on asking for anything in return for saving her and he didn''t even think about asking her to do something like that. He only mentioned it because he knew how she would react and he wanted her to let go of his arm as soon as possible.


    "I already told you. You are way too young for me kid. And I also have a girlfriend. I only imed to be your boyfriend so your dad woulde and meet me.


    And don''t overthink things. I will count the fact that I imed to be your boyfriend as the payment for saving you." Haru smiled before opening the door to the car after the man who was sat in the driver''s seat waved at Lan Yan.


    "You!" She bit her tongue before pouting as she realised that she had fallen into Haru''s trap and gave humiliated herself during the process.


    But there was just something in the way that he smiled that made it hard for her to hate him even after he rejected her multiple times already. That being said the Haru didn''t say that she didn''t have a chance at all.


    He only said that she was currently too young and that he wouldn''t cheat on Suyin. And that was what Lan Yan held on to. She hoped for something to happen in the future even though they hadn''t known each other for long at all.


    "Yep, Children are indeed naive." Haru mocked her one final time before they both closed the doors in the car and drove off into the distance, soon arriving outside of a mansion on the outskirt of the city.


    There was a long driveway that was lined with neatly trimmed bushes giving the appearance that everything was well cared for and the stone paving was perfectly symmetrical as it ran the entire length to the house, stretching out close to an acre before they finally reached the house.


    The house its self was gigantic. It looked more like a pce than a traditional mansion. Haru could tell from the outside that they probably had more than twelve bedrooms but then was quick to notice the mass of cars that were parked outside the front doors.


    Each of the cars that were parked outside were high-end, luxury vehicles that Haru couldn''t even imagine buying. Although he had a big sum of money saved up in his ount he didn''t think it was necessary to buy something so expensive for the sole purpose of showing off his wealth.


    That being said. He no longer had a need for vehicles, now that he could fly. But he couldn''t show just anyone that he could fly out of fear of being exposed to the public as a cultivator and then bing a public figure.


    He liked living life without consequences and didn''t want to trade his freedom for fame just yet.


    The car slowly came to a stop by the main entrance and they were swiftly approached by a young man and woman who were both wearing formal clothing and wearing red waistcoats.


    "Lan Yan? Young miss Zan was a bit upset when you told her you can''te to her party. But I am sure she will be happy with this unexpected surprise." The woman spoke, recognising Lan Yan almost instantly.


    "Lan Yan? Are you the daughter of Mr Lan?" The man asked, surprised at the fact that she hade.


    "Yeah, I just couldn''t miss Zan''s sixteenth birthday party after all." Lan Yan replied awkwardly as she spoke to the two of them.


    "Oh, and who is this handsome young man? I haven''t heard anything about you having a boyfriend." The older girl teased Lan Yan a little bit as she looked up at Haru.


    The man on the other hand looked at Haru with hostility. It seemed that he was feeling insecure about his hight when in the presence of Haru who was almost a full thirty centimetres taller than him.


    "That''s right. I have been keeping him a secret from even my family until today when he decided to confront my dad.


    It turns out that he was impressed by the fact that he was confident enough to face him and then epted him as my boyfriend." Lan Yan bragged briefly before noticing that Haru was no longer paying attention to what she was saying.


    As Haru arrived he sensed the presence of fifteen different cultivators inside the mansion and they all seemed to be in the same room. It didn''t seem like they were guarding the ce since they were in the same room so he concluded that they were probably guests that were invited as a sign of status.


    If a family could invite cultivators to a child''s birthday party it would show that they are respected even by cultivators.


    As Haru continued spreading his spiritual sense across the mansion he detected a power that was far greater than his own and they seemed to have sensed his power before sending their own spiritual sense back at Haru as a warning.


    Whoever was inside the building seemed to be at the Nascent soul stage and wasn''t far away from breaking through.


    The feeling he got from the person inside the mansion was much greater than the feeling he felt when he met the two old men at the Leung family house. He didn''t even want to imagine how strong the person was but he knew that he just had to get them on board with his n to fight the demon n.


    "Yeah, I guess he is just hungry. All he could talk about in the car was indulging himself in all ofthe free food." Lan Yanughed while talking to the woman in the red waistcoat.


    "So he is a man that is only tamed by food? You should hold on to him. Men with huge apatites for food are often great lovers Especially in the bedroom if you get what I am saying?" The woman whispered to Lan Yan so that Haru couldn''t hear her.


    Lan Yan''s face quickly turned red as she understood what she meant in more ways than one.


    "I have no idea what you are talking about. But we had better head inside before the food gets cold and he decides to kill me." Lan Yan made up an excuse and then once again grabbed Haru''s arm and began to lead him inside through the main entrance to the mansion.


    "Ah, to be young again." The woman in the red waistcoat said before spinning in a circle with her arms out like the des of a helicopter rotating.


    "Give it a rest. You are only a couple of years older than young miss Zan. You haven''t even begun to age yet. Just wait until you get to my age and start hating your entire existence." The man who had been beside there the whole time and was staring at Haruined while watching them both walk off into the mansion.


    Haru looked around as he entered the mansion and was awestruck. They had obviously gone all out to celebrate the Hong Zan''s birthday but the decorations still managed to keep a certain degree of sophistication to them without looking trashy or childish.


    But that was nothingpared to the rest of the house. Haru could tell at just a nce that the Hong family were extremely proud martial artists by the fact that in each room there was a weapon of some sort, ranging from the asional long sword hanging from the walls. To the spears that they used to hold up the curtains over the windows.


    "The Hong family are apparently the only remaining sessors to a lost martial art that was used to protect a certain emperor many hundreds of years ago.


    Hong Zan always used to get into fights at school and never once lost. So when I became friends with her I decided to ask how she knew how to fight so well and she told me that her family trains all of their children how to fight from birth.


    I thought she was making things up until I came here and saw all of this stuff." Lan Yan said, realising that Haru was looking at all of the weapons in the house.


    "Cool story. But where is the food?" Haru looked down at her and asked with a nk expression, ignoring the fact that she had tried to make small talk with him.

 Chapter 225: Familiar chef.

    Chapter 225: Familiar chef.


    Haru and Lan Yan walked through the hallways of the mansion before ending up in the main dining room where the party was being held. The dining room alone was simr in size to a high-end restaurant and the food looked just as good as they could offer.


    They obviously weren''t skimping out on the budget of the party and clearly wanted to impress their guests.


    "Oh, would you look at that? It''s the famous chef that cooks amazing chicken strips." Haru said to Lan Yan as he looked over and recognised the chef as the one who was working at the serpentine resort the first time he had gone there. He enjoyed the chicken that he had made and wanted to see what else the chef had to offer.


    He quickly walked over to the chef who seemed to be distracted by a casual small talk from a few of the older women who were enjoying the food that was neatlyid out on the tables. He seemed to be feeling a little awkward by the conversation and began to scratch the back of his neck until he spotted Haru who was walking towards him.


    "It''s you. I have been wondering what had happened to you this whole time. I honestly thought you might have ended up in a ditch somewhere. The men who hired mest time didn''t seem like the kind of people that I want to mess with." The chef said as soon as he recognised Haru.


    The way the party ended at the serpentine resort had seemed to be weighing on the chef. This was understandable since one of the guards had tried to shoot an eighteen-year-old boy. But luckily for Haru, bullets couldn''t harm him.


    "You were worried about me? I didn''t think that I left enough of an impression to be remembered by a great chef like yourself." Haru went straight to ttering him for his culinary skills. But the food wasn''t the main reason for approaching the chef.


    If he was hired by the Hong family, surely he would have some information on them and would be able to point the person who hired him out to Haru if the opportunity presented itself.


    "Of course I was worried about you. You are one of the only people who had appreciated my cooking to the extent of piling your te up like a mountain. That is really ttering for a chef you know. It shows that my hard work didn''t go to waste. And yes I did cook some chicken. But it is a little different this time. I tried to perfect it. Do you want to try it?" The chef smiled as he replied to Haru.


    "You perfected your recipe? I would love to try it." Haru could feel himself salivating at the thought of it.


    "Great. Follow me. I will bring you into the kitchen so you can try it when it is still fresh." The chef smiled once again.


    "I get to watch a famous chef in action and he will cook for me personally? I feel honoured." Haru smiled back at him and then followed him into the kitchen where he immediately got to work and started cooking right away. A few minutes went by until Haru was handed a te with a small stack of chicken strips on it.


    "Tell me if you notice anything different." The chef smiled and then took off the headband that he was using to keep his hair out of his face while he was cooking.


    Haru took a bite and could instantly tell the difference. He was shocked though. He had seen him cook it and didn''t even see how he had managed to give it the vour that was currently exploding on the inside of his mouth.


    "It tastes like the barbecue sauce that I had drenched the chicken inst time. When did you?" Haru was about to ask but was quickly cut off by the chef.


    "When I saw how much you enjoyed the saucest time I wanted to add it to the chicken its self just as an experiment and I had my son try it. We both agreed that it was delicious so I decided to marinate the chicken in the sauce before cooking it to give it the taste that you enjoyedst time. So what do you think? Is it good?" The chef looked up at Haru and asked with a sparkle in his eyes.


    "It''s divine. The issue I had with the chickenst time is that I may have put too much sauce on but this is the perfect amount.You did a great job." Haru praised him for his cooking and then looked down at his smiling face once again.


    "Thank god. I didn''t know how you would react. You, cultivators, tend to be too unpredictable. I wasn''t sure if you would hate it and kill me on the spot." The chef sighed in relief upon hearing Haru''s words.


    "Kill you? That would be like killing a culinary god. Food is precious and should be savoured. Not destroyed. I wouldn''t even dream about doing such a thing." Haru replied and then thought since the tension was high for the chef that It would be the perfect time to ask him about the person that hired him to cook food at this party.


    "That''s good." The chef sighed once again before looking back up at Haru.


    "Can I ask you something?" Haru asked him bluntly, straight after causing him to retreat a little bit.


    "Sure What is it?" The chef replied nervously. Thest time he had seen Haru he had watched him catch a bullet in his hand. If that wasn''t the peak of human strength then he didn''t know what was. He didn''t feel like he had a choice to refuse even though they had seemed to be acting on good terms with each other. He still had to be careful.


    "The person who hired you today Can you tell me a bit about them? I need to meet with the head of the Hong family but I''m not sure where I can find the person in charge." Haru exined.


    "The Hong family? I couldn''t tell you anything about them. They wouldn''t leave a task such as hiring a chef for the party to a core member of the family. That would be given to a branch family member or a servant. Like the servant that asked me to cater for the party." The chef was quick to reply.


    ''That was a bit of a wasted effort. I thought he would know something useful at least. But it looks like I could have just walked around and found more information about them.''


    "Although I did hear a rumour that the core family members all have ashen grey hair. It is apparently from overworking themselves with martial arts training. Since even the core family have a secret martial art that they don''t pass down to the branch families." The chef immediately added.


    "Ashen grey hair? So they all look like pensioners? With the number of old people with greying hair I have seen since entering this ce, it will be like looking for a needle in a haystack." Haru added.


    "No that isn''t the same. Despite the grey hair, they all look surprisingly young even in theirter years. Or so I have heard. If you really want to meet with one of them then I rmend that you stick around a while longer until the ceremony starts and the birthday girl arrives with her parents." The chef replied with the same smile that he had been shing the entire time.


    That was when Haru noticed something.


    Wherever he went people would smile at him for an unusually long time. Or they would stare at him with disdain. He wasn''t sure what the reason behind it was but he had the thought that it might have something to do with the way that he looked.


    "Okay, I think I will do just that then. Do you know when that is supposed to happen by chance? I don''t want to sit around here untilte at night while I wait for them to show up." Haru asked for a time estimation but the chef just shrugged his shoulders in reply.


    "The Hong family doesn''t answer to anyone in the whole of China. Being one of the imperial families has its perks so they can show up howeverte they want to and no one can do a single thing about it." He added.


    "Hmm Well, they haven''t met me then. I''m pretty impatient and the topic is urgent. Maybe I will have to drag one of the cubs from the nest to get their attention." Haru said to himself out loud and then noticed the chef''s mouth hanging wide open.


    "Oh don''t mind me. I am just kidding." Haru saw that the chef was shocked by what he had just said and then said in an attempt to calm him down but that didn''t seem to work.


    "It''s not that. Urm Well Look behind you." The chef said quietly.


    Haru turned around to see a man who looked to be around forty years old with ashen grey hair like the chef had described and his skin was wless without even the slightest sign that it had started to age.


    "Who exactly wants to drag my cubs from their nest to get my attention?" The man asked with a slight hint of anger in his voice. Haru could instantly feel the same presence that he did earlier when he had used his spiritual sense to survey the area. This man was strong and not someone to mess with.

 Chapter 226: The old family head.

    Chapter 226: The old family head.


    The old man that was now standing in front of Haru was obviously from the same family that the chef was talking about given his appearance was the same as what he described. Haru looked at him for a few moments and thought of what to say.


    The man was much stronger than he was and he could tell at just a nce. If he decided to do something about what Haru had said then he would have to fight. But he didn''t see much of a chance that he would fight at the birthday party of one of his family members. And especially in front of so many people. And the more that Haru looked at the man.


    The more he could see the underlying expression of joy on his face.


    "Are you the head of the Hong family?" Haru asked with suspicion. He didn''t know exactly who he was talking to but with strength like he had it wouldn''t be strange if he was the head of the family. After all, he was at the final cultivation stage someone on earth can reach before being rejected by the and tossed out into the upper realms at random.


    "Am I the head of the family? No. Not anymore at least. I passed that title down to my son. But you are the young man who was searching for something within this house, aren''t you? I felt your presence so don''t think about denying it." The previous look of joy on the old man''s face had faded and he was now staring at Haru with a harsh expression.


    "Yeah, that was me. What of it?" Haru asked in return. He was in someone else''s territory right now and he was currently standing before someone more powerful than he was. There were only two things he could do in this situation.


    The first option would be to behave like a dog while trying not to anger the old man. But Haru was never the type of person to give up on his pride to save his hide. He knew that if he wanted to be taken seriously by this old man that he would have to show that he had some backbone and wasn''t afraid of him despite the disadvantageous setting for him.


    "I can see that you think that you need to act tough to hold onto your pride. But depending on your answer to my next question you may either carry on living or die right here. So let me ask you.


    What were youlooking for?" The old man asked Haru with a look of suspicion and distrust on his face.


    "Like I said. I was looking for either the head of the Hong family. Or the girl that is around the same age as me and has greater strength than I do."Haru replied honestly. He didn''t have anything to hide since this man was the old head of the Hong family.


    "The girl around your age Do you mean Hong Xia? What business do you have with my granddaughter?" The old man asked with hostility. He didn''t know what Haru had nned or hidden up his sleeve but he felt like it wasn''t anything good given the fact that he had toe to a kid''s birthday party to talk to the head of the Hong family.


    If it was something that couldn''t wait until the day after then it wasn''t something good.


    "I can''t say right now," Haru said and then turned to look at the chef who was still standing in the kitchen and staring at them both as they talked.


    The old man seemed to understand that it was a sensitive topic whatever it was and realised that they had to talk alone if Haru was to open up about what he wanted. He looked at the chef and considered asking him to leave but they were all still standing in the kitchen. It would be for the best if they were the ones to leave and let him get on with his job.


    "Then follow me. If you want to talk then we can go somewhere quiet. I just don''t want you to cause any trouble at my granddaughter''s birthday party. Although I can''t feel your cultivation I feel like I am the only person who could stop you if you decided to look for trouble here today." The old man spoke before leading Haru up to the second floor and into a room that looked like a library.


    Bookshelves were surrounding them on all sides and in the middle of the room, two identical couches faced each other with just enough room to fit a coffee table between them. The old man sat down and then gestured for Haru to sit down in the one facing him.


    "Come and join me." The old man said before Haru sat down as he had instructed.


    "So what is it? What''s so important that you woulde here during my granddaughters birthday party to speak with the head of the family?" The old man asked and then sat back slightly and crossed his legs. Indicating that he was ready to listen to whatever Haru had to say to him.


    "Well, I have a question to ask you first," Haru said.


    "Sure what is it?" The old man asked.


    "Do you have any idea what happens to you once you break through the nascent soul stage?" Haru asked. He needed to know how much the old man before him knew about the universe. If he didn''t have any idea about what happened after the nascent soul stage Haru could just let him know that an evil sect will be trying to take over the world in a few weeks and he needs help to fight against them.


    But if he had even a little bit of information about the upper realms then it would make it easier to exin the truth.


    "After the nascent soul stage I have researched it a lot. I had a friend when I was younger who was stuck at the nascent soul stage for a while and one day he just vanished out of nowhere.


    A few years went by and I ran into a man who was also at the peak of the nascent soul stage and befriended him. He told me about the universe being connected to things called realms and hidden worlds that can only be essed once your cultivation reaches a certain height. But after some time he too disappeared randomly


    Sorry I got a little carried away there. Yeah, there is probably another cultivation stage but I don''t have a clue what it is. Or how strong cultivators of that level are. But what does that have to do with why you came here today?" The old man replied before asking what the rtion is between Haru''s question and the reason foring to his house.


    "Well Your friend was right. I can tell you more if you want but there is a matter where I might need your help. In the higher realms, many different species are living there but there are three major ns. The elven n, The human n and finally the demon n." Haru started but was quickly interrupted.


    "The demon n? So that confirms things. My first friend that vanished on me always told me that the reason he didn''t join a sect was that he was a member of the demon n. I thought that it might have been a family line or something simr to my own family but do you think that he might be from the same demon n that you mentioned just now?" The old man seemed shocked by the revtion.


    "Hmm Possibly. I have run into a couple of members of the demon n recently so that wouldn''t be too hard to believe. But as I was saying I can''t be certain but I think that war has broken out between the three ns. Last night a member from the demon n came from the upper realms and was searching for someone.


    He tried to attack me and my teacher so in self-defence my teacher killed him. But before he died he released a beacon to the rest of his n. They will probablye here and look for revenge in the next couple of weeks. So I am trying to gather as many people as I can to fight them." Haru exined but was interrupted once again.


    "That is your problem. My family doesn''t have a problem with the demon n so why should I help? Your teacher is the one who killed him right? If theye for revenge then that''s fine. I''m not going to put my family at risk by helping you fight some strangers." The old man said as if he had heard enough and was done with the conversation. But Haru wasn''t ready to give up just yet.


    "Then I''m sorry for your losses," Haru said and began to get up from the seat.


    "What is that supposed to mean?" The old man asked.


    Haru turned back to him and looked at him with pity in his eyes.


    "If you don''t help fight back then your whole family will die. Not only that but humanity on earth will probably be extinguished. The demon n aren''t ones that listen to reason and I have seen how they deal with revenge first hand.


    You probably don''t know of this but there is a soul world called the soul tempering grounds. It is a ce that is used by cultivators in the upper realms to safely spar with each other and strengthen their souls. Recently the demon n found a way to ess the soul world with physical bodies and murdered the owners of the ce and began to damage the souls of all of the people that were there at the time.


    They are brutal and they seek only destruction. If you refuse to fight them then your family will die. It''s as simple as that. It was nice knowing you. But I think I will be leaving now." Haru said. If he knew that the people that he cared about would die if he refused to help then he would be more likely to help fight against the demon n but without warning the door to the room shot open.


    "Grandpa! Where''s dad? I can''t find him anywhere." A girl with long ashen grey hair and eyes that gave off a purple hue announced as she entered the room and saw Haru standing next to the old man. She stopped and then looked at the old man for an answer.

 Chapter 227: Hong Xia.

    Chapter 227: Hong Xia.


    The girl stopped for a few moments to take a look around the room. She didn''t know that he would have a guest when she opened the door so she felt a little bit ufortable now that she had announced herself in such a manner that was unfitting for a member of the Hong family.


    Haru looked up at the girl to see that she was looking at him with judgement in her eyes before he looked back at the old man.


    She had just ruined his n of getting him to jump on board with helping out in the fight. The more people he got to fight alongside him. the higher the chance they would get at surviving so it was a necessity that he got strong cultivators to help him.


    "Xia What is it now? Can''t you see that I am busy here? Your father is probably preparing for Zan''s birthday speech." The old man said bluntly as she had interrupted him.


    "Sorry, but it is important. My teacher told me something important yesterday. I need my dad to help gather as many people as he can." The girl that the old man had referred to as Xia said with a slight bit of panic in her voice.


    ''So this is the famous Hong Xia that I have heard of countless times since I moved to shanghai'' Haru thought to himself as he judged her appearance to be slightly underwhelming. He half expected that they would eventually meet in a battle somewhere and have to fight but this was a below-average situation to meet someone for the first time.


    "You need to do what now? What could have possibly happened now? That isn''t something that your father can do on a whim. First, tell me in detail what this is about." The old man demanded an exnation for what she had just said.


    It wasn''t every day that someone woulde to the Hong family for help including other members of the family. It would take something on the level of the end of humanity for someone to ask them for a favour but now two people havee for help on the same day.


    After everything that Haru had told him. The old Hong family head had the taste of death on the tip of his tongue. He could taste that something was awfully wrong but he needs his granddaughter to confirm it before he could do anything about it.


    "But" Xia looked at Haru with distrust and suspicion in her eyes. They had never met before yet he was in the same room as her grandfather who was one of the most respected members of the Hong family. She didn''t know what to think about the situation.


    "Don''t worry about him. Just tell me already." The old man said, urging her to exin what had happened. He didn''t care if Haru heard what she was about to say because he had the feeling that it might be rted to what he had just been told.


    "Fine It''s about the ce where my teacher came from. A group of people have apparently set their sights on earth and are going toe here and try to wipe out humanity because some idiot decided to kill one of their peoplest night." Xia exined to her grandfather all the while ncing over at Haru to see if he too was paying attention to what she was saying.


    Haru''s ears twitched upon hearing the word idiot stand out to him.


    ''I really am d that I left Lao back in Shanghai. If he was here for this then he would have killed her for calling him an idiot.'' He smiled as he thought about it for a moment and then noticed that they were now both staring at him.


    The conversation had seemed to progress while he was thinking about what Lao would have done and didn''t know what he had missed. He looked at the old man with confusion for a few moments.


    "So can you tell us more? You said that your teacher was the one that killed the person from the demon n right? Where is he? Shouldn''t he be here to take responsibility for putting humanity in a crisis?" The old man''s stance on what Haru had told him seemed to have taken a one-eighty and now he was putting the me on Lao.


    This might have been true since if he had never suggested that Haru should have gone to the soul tempering grounds then they would have never been involved in the upper realm''s issues. But that was beside the point. The main issue that they were facing is that they needed toe up with a n to solve the matter at hand.


    "If you are going to me anyone then me me. I was the one who initially offended a member of the demon n when I was in the soul tempering grounds and I was the one who identally led them here.


    My teacher only killed him in order to save my life and the life of many other people. The person who came down was just a soul fragment that was held within a cursed beacon. There would be nothing anyone could have done if he decided to kill people at random.


    The best option was to destroy the cursed beacon before there could be any civilian deaths. How would you have handled it?" Haru defended Lao''s actions as best as he could because ultimately the decision to kill the man from the demon n was left in Haru''s hands. Yet he still chose to have Lao kill him.


    "Wait You have been to the soul tempering grounds too? How did you get there? My teacher said that she had the only transporter on earth. It should be impossible for someone else to go there" Xia asked without even a second to process what Haru had said. She just heard what stood out to her first.


    "Transporter to go to the soul tempering grounds? If you know thew of space you can skip out on thatpletely." Haru said to try to defuse the situation and not admit that he had a dragon create a portal connecting to the transporters within his soul ocean.


    "Thew of space? But cultivators who can transport people by using thew of space are really rare even in the middle realm. How can anyone do that?" Xia replied. She seemed to be a bit more informed on the situation of the upper realms than he thought she was and she was beginning to see through his lies.


    He had to tell her the truth to stop her from seeing that he was lyingpletely.


    "My teacher is from the higher realm. Not the middle realm. But that isn''t important right now.


    As I was saying. I have started to gather cultivators from all over the country to help me fight back against the demon n when they show up. If you are willing to join me then meet me at the serpentine resort and spa on Friday.


    And if you don''t decide to fight back. Then I hope you live out your remaining days peacefully. Because if we fail to defeat them. They wille for you next. Don''t say that I didn''t warn you.


    I''m leaving now. I didn''te here to y a game of twenty questions." Haru announced and then started to walk across the room towards the door where Xia had juste from.


    As Haru approached her she furrowed her eyebrows and then opened her mouth as if she was going to speak but was quickly silenced by her grandfather who raised one of his hands in the air, silently telling her to let him go.


    He didn''t want to cause a scene in front of so many people after all. It was supposed to be a day to celebrate but it looked like those ns were quickly ruined by the news that earth would soon fall victim to an extraterrestrial catastrophe in less than a month''s time.


    "Did you hear how he spoke to us? How are you going to let him go just like that? We would be aughing stock among the other imperial families if they were to find out about this." Xia was quick to warn her grandfather of the possible consequences of letting Haru insult them by walking away without a formal dismissal.


    But the old man was far too wise to think that would be a consequence of letting Haru leave without reprimanding him for his disrespect.


    "Xia, You still have a lot to learn about life. He came to us to ask for help Why would he risk us saying know just to spread a dumb rumour about him being disrespectful within our household?


    Not to mention the fact that he said that he has been gathering cultivators to help fight back against the demon n. We have no idea to know who is backing him right now.


    If what he said is indeed true then many sects and big families would jump on board with his n if they thought that their lives were at risk.


    There are many factors you have to judge when in a situation like this. Don''t let your pride get the best of you because you probably didn''t even realise the most important thing about him." The old man said with a sigh.


    "The most important thing about him?" Xia asked, confused by what her grandfather meant.


    "Yes, I mean the fact that his cultivation level was undetectable. It was as if he didn''t have a cultivation base at all which is something that only happens when someone''s strength is beyond what you can perceive." The old man said as he watched Haru continue to walk down t

 Chapter 228: Miss Suyin.

    Chapter 228: Miss Suyin.


    Haru walked down the corridor and then back down the staircase that they hade upstairs from and then headed back to the main party to find Lan Yan again. But as he continued to head toward the big hall that everyone was standing in before Haru began to recognise the sound of music getting louder and louder the closer that he got to the room.


    But it wasn''t just any music, it was the sound of Suyin''s voice singing her soul out. It sounded a bit different than what he had heard on the radio so he decided to take a closer look. He had tried to avoid listening to Suyin''s music so that they could listen to it together but it was hard to avoid if he ever went anywhere and had to listen to the radio on the way. If he took a taxi or a bus.


    Suyin was getting more and more popr in China and a quick Inte of her name would make hundreds of news articles and videos of her music on music streaming tforms. Although Haru hadn''t heard her music he was proud of her even if he had more pressing matters at hand.


    As he got closer to the hall he heard many whispered voices talking as the music rang out.


    "That''s Suyin? The real Suyin? Who would have thought that the Hong family could even get a professional musician here to sing for their daughter?" Said one of the people as Haru walked toward the hall.


    He then noticed that everyone was standing in the hall, many of them with their phones pointing at the stage and others were waving their shlight as if they were at a concert.


    Haru looked up at the stage to see that Suyin was indeed up there. She was sitting on a stool in the centre of the stage with a guitar in her hands and was ying a stripped-back acoustic version of one of her songs that Haru had yet to hear yet. He then began to push his way through the crowd to get a closer look.


    "Hey, dude. I was here first!" One of the people Haru pushed backined but was quickly silenced as Haru pushed him away with one hand against his face. He then made his way to the front row and then looked up at his girlfriend who had now be a national treasure in the music industry despite still being new.


    He couldn''t help but smile as he watched her sing without her realising that he was there yet. As the song came to an end she opened her eyes and began to look around the room. She still didn''t have the confidence that came with experience from singing in front of many people and was a little nervous as the people in the crowd were looking at her silently even after the song had ended.


    Until she heard a faint pe from the front row of the stage in front of her. She looked down with confusion to see a man around her age pping his hands She didn''t think anything of it until the dim spotlight in the room changed location slightly and she saw that it was Haru. She had been looking forward to meeting him all day and didn''t think that they would end up meeting while she was singing for a rich families party.


    She was slightly embarrassed but after Haru had started to p the room suddenly erupted into cheers and ps from all around. She still couldn''t believe how people loved her music so much but appreciated the praise for her hard work.


    A few seconds went by before the cheering died down and Suyin couldn''t take her eyes off Haru who was smiling up at her from below the stage.


    "You did amazing. I''m so proud of you." Haru used his spiritual sense to direct his thoughts into her mind all the while still smiling at her with a gentle and loving expression. Suyin couldn''t help but blush slightly before jumping slightly as the voice of her manager came in through her in-ear monitors.


    "What''s wrong? You''re taking too long to move on to the next song." Her manager said in a questioning tone.


    Suyin was quick to pull the microphone a little closer to her mouth.


    "Thank you for listening. I had a setlist that I was nning to y but suddenly I feel really happy. So I want to y a song that I have yet to sing to anyone. I was keeping it hidden because it is about love and that''s a little embarrassing." Suyin spoke in a soft voice all the while ncing down at Haru who couldn''t stop smiling at her. It had been almost a month since they hadst seen each other and they could see how much each other had grown while living independent lives.


    Haru had developed more of a presence to the point where even in the crowd. The people around him didn''t get within his personal space. And Suyin had grown more confident. She was previously quite shy and would keep to herself. But even now as she sat upon the stage she looked approachable and confident in herself.


    "What are you doing? You''re supposed to stick to the list that the Hong family chose for you. You can''t offend them; they are one of the imperial families." Suyin''s manager began to speak to her through her monitors.


    Suyin took them out and then tapped her ears slightly since cold air quickly rushed inside them. She was singing acoustically with just a mic and a single amp so there was no need for her to use monitors but her manager still insisted so that she could instruct Suyin on what to do.


    "Who cares, am I right? This song is called "Unrequited" I hope you enjoy it." Suyin said and then quickly began strumming a mncholic chord pattern. A few seconds went by as she yed each string of the guitar and then added a bit of dy to the amp.


    She then began to sing. Each lyric felt like it was directed towards Haru since she couldn''t keep her eyes off him while she was singing. It was as if everyone else in the room had faded and it was just the two of them.


    The song stuck out to Haru as awfully sad since the lyrics seemed to be about being left alone while he was out doing amazing things others could only dream about and she was feeling like she wasn''t enough. But then as the song began toe to a close the lyrics changed to things that she loved.


    The lyrics became oddly specific to the point where she even mentioned the sword-shaped pendant that they had gotten when they had gone on a date with each other back in Shenzhen. It was something that only she and Haru would have known yet she decided to put that into her song despite the fact that it might have been seen as embarrassing for them both.


    Haru then caught the faint glimpse of the golden ne around her neck and knew instantly that she was wearing it still. He felt relieved. When he thought of the idea he didn''t know if she would like it or not but it seemed like he had worried for nothing. He knew that even though they hadn''t been together for a while that she still loved him. And it was the same with him. He had felt like there was a part of him missing since they had gone their separate ways.


    But now that he could see her again all of the feelings that he had shut away while living in shanghai began to rush back to him with much more intensity than they had before. It felt like his body waspelling him to head up onto the stage with her and proim to the world that she was his. But he knew that he couldn''t do that. It would cause a scandal and could possibly damage her career if he decided to do that so he held back how he was feeling until she had finished singing.


    Suyin looked him in the eyes for a moment and he saw that she seemed to be feeling the same way. Her breathing had increased from singing and she seemed a little tired. It was still the middle of the day yet he wanted to take her away from everyone and have her all to himself.


    "The crowd fell silent once again. The song that she had just sung was sad yet beautiful and was a roller coaster of emotions before finally ending on a happy note. Suddenly her manager walked out onto the stage with a microphone of her own.


    "We''re going to take a twenty-minute break for Mr Hong to thank you all on behalf of his daughter for attending this wonderful party." The manager announced to everyone before taking Suyin backstage to talk to her. Suyin followed her back behind the thick ck curtains and out of sight from her new fans that were watching with eager eyes.


    "What was that!?" Her manager shouted as soon as they were out of sight.


    Suyin felt attacked. She had expected it though since she had taken out here monitors and gone against her suggestions.


    "Well I-" She struggled toe up with an excuse for her actions but unexpectedly her manager began to smile.


    "That was amazing! I can''t believe you were hiding that from us. I don''t even know how fast your career would have taken off if that was the song you used as your debut. It was wonderful. We have to get you in the studio as soon as possible to record that." Her manager began talking with excitement in her voice.


    "I don''t feel ready for that song to be released yet. It is" Suyin began to say but her manager wasn''t listening at all. Suddenly footsteps thudded against the floor before She felt pressure around her waist as someone hugged her from behind.


    She instantly felt Haru''s presence. How could she not? They had practically lived together for thest three years.


    "Hello there Miss Suyin. Do you think I could get an autograph? I''m a big fan of your work." Haru teased her slightly as her manager looked up to see them hugging each other.


    "What!? Who are you? How did you get back here!"

 Chapter 229: I want you.

    Chapter 229: I want you.


    The manager looked at Haru with distrust. She had never seen him before since Suyin had been transferred to her care by her previous manager back in Shenzhen. She looked at him for a few moments and saw how Suyin leaned her head back into his shoulder and looked up at him before holding his hands that were resting against her stomach.


    "I missed you so much." Suyin exhaled a sigh of relief.


    "I know. I missed you too. I thought that I woulde and say hi. I was about to leave, the party got a little bit boring but then I saw you up there looking as beautiful as always and I just had to stick around to watch. I''m not intruding am I?" Haru asked to make sure that it was okay with Suyin that he was here but before she could answer, her manager spoke up.


    "Yes. Yes, you are intruding. Listen I don''t care what type of rtionship you two have and I don''t care. Thest thing I want for my client is to be caught up in some tabloid scandal about her having a secret lover with some no-name guy." The manager spoke with harshness as she looked at Haru.


    She for one didn''t seem to be swayed by Haru''s looks. She was the type of woman who was focused on influence and power over how people looked and Haru instantly got a bad feeling from her.


    "Who''s this bitch? What happened to the manager you had back in Shenzhen? He was a nice guy." Haru whispered to Suyin. Suyin couldn''t help butugh at the fact that Haru called her a bitch right in front of her face.


    "Thepany transferred me under Miss Kang''s care. She has been my manager for the past couple of weeks. Well, it''s more like I have two managers but Mr Ling is currently talking with his family members in the Hong family." Suyin responded with a look of guilt on her face. She had found the way that Miss Kang would act when they were alone together was a bit threatening and controlling.


    One time she had even invited Suyin to go out for drinks with a known celebrity yboy. Luckily for her, Mr Ling had intervened and put his foot down against Miss Kang''s ns to get Suyin wrapped up in the wrong crowd. She decided to keep it a secret form Haru though because she knew that if he ever found out he would probably get rid of her permanently.


    And Suyin felt guilty about the fact that both of her managers had to work hard on her behalf. But the way Miss Kang had been acting recently was getting out of hand. She would insult Suyin nearly every day and try to get her to hook up with rich and powerful people. She was even thinking about telling the head of thepany about what was happening but she was willing to give her one more chance.


    "Bitch? Who is a bitch? Do you know how much effort I put into making sure that Suyin''s career is sessful? I constantly have to put up with crazy fans calling the office and reading out their sexual fantasies to me. And that isn''t even the worst of it. I have to make sure that the people who invite Suyin out for drinks don''t get insulted each time she refuses them.


    The young master of the Cheng imperial family even invited her out after today''s party. But she refused. And who even are you? I haven''t even seen your face before! Don''t tell me that you two are secretly dating? Suyin, you are better than this. If you stay with him you will never get anywhere in life. How about you go out with Mr Cheng tonight?


    With any luck, he might decide to make you his girlfriend and help to fund ourpany." Miss Kang began to criticize Haru. But that was Suyin''s breaking point. She could deal with being insulted or judged but now she decided to insult Haru in front of her.


    "How dare you!" Suyin shouted and then stomped over to where Miss Kang was standing.


    "SLAP"


    The sound rung out as Suyin''s palm struck her cheek with so much force that it shook Miss Kang''s head to the side slightly.


    "That''s it. I''m not only reporting you for all of the misconduct that you have inflicted on me. You''re also now fired. Don''t let me see you again. I will exin it to Mr Ling myself." Suyin said before taking her hand away from her face and then falling back to Haru''s side again.


    "Did you just p her?" Haru was at a loss for words. Since he had first met Suyin when they were both younger she was never the type of person to jump to violence. That would be left for Haru to take care of. This was something he had never seen before but as he looked at her he could understand how she was feeling. Her whole body was shaking with anger and she seemed surprised at herself too.


    "I did. I will p anybody that dares to insult you." Suyin forced a smile but Haru could see that it was bothering her.


    "Just wait until the owner finds out about this!" Miss Kang shouted trying to threaten Suyin with her job but Haru jumped into the conversation instead.


    "Think about how many other recordingpanies there are in china right now. Suyin is pretty popr too and her fans actually buy her music. And then think about you yourself. You are just a manager that has caused thepany trouble by trying to sell their employees to rich people for who knows what kind of benefits?


    Even if they did fire Suyin for this, how long do you think it would be before a biggerpany decided to hire her instead? Plus a contract has already been signed with yourpany. I happened to read through it when she had first signed it and nowhere in the contract did it say she was eligible to be fired if she assaulted anybody. Thepany would have to pay reparations if they break the contract and fire her.


    The truth is. That you are the disposable one. Your job doesn''t amount to anything at all and if it gets out that you tried to sell one of thepany''s talents to rich people then you are likely to be banned from ever working as a manager in the music industry. Don''t overstate your power. Because you are truly worthless." Haru began to tear into Miss Kang''s life choices as he was now infuriated by the fact that this woman had tried to make his girlfriend sleep around with rich men.


    "You-you" Miss Kang struggled toe up with anything to say about what Haru had just said. He was one hundred percent correct and even she knew it after it had been broken down to make it easier for her to understand her value. She had let the power of being someone''s manager get to her head and thought that she was the one who was responsible for Suyin''s sess even though she had her debut long before she was assigned to be her manager.


    "Me?" Haru asked, confused. He didn''t know what else she had to say and was kind of hoping that she would admit her defeat and just leave them alone but that didn''t seem to be the case.


    "Just wait until Mr Cheng finds out about this! He is actually quite interested in Suyin and was even going to announce that she was his womanter on at this party! You are finished!" Miss Kang shouted out in outrage before pushing her way past Suyin and walking down into the crowd.


    "Haru I swear I didn''t know anything about this. I have never even met Mr Cheng before. I don''t want you to think that I''m a-" Suyin began to panic. She didn''t know how Haru would react. She thought he might get the wrong idea and think she was cheating on him and then break up with her.


    But Haru had changed. The fact that he knew that his life could end in just a couple of weeks had changed his mindsetpletely. He no longer cared about the consequences of the government or anyone for that matter. He had Lao and the ck star sect protecting him and knew that there wasn''t a single person on earth who would be able topete against them.


    "I know But let me make this clear to you." Haru pushed her back against the wall with his hand on her waist and then leaned in to whisper in her ear.


    "If anyone even thinks about making a move on you I will kill them without mercy. Be that a homeless man on the street or the queen of Ennd. Whoever tries to take you from me will die." He whispered and then pulled back slightly as he realised how bad that it sounded.


    He wanted her to know that anyone who had ideas about her would have to get through him first but the way he phrased it made him sound like an obsessive stalker. But as he looked at her he noticed that her cheeks were now glowing red.


    ''He''s being so aggressive today All this time we have been apart has made me feel like he might not want me anymore but this I will lose my mind if he stays this close to me...'' Suyin thought to herself but as she saw Haru pull back slightly she looked at his lips and couldn''t stop herself from kissing him right there and then.


    "I want you," Suyin whispered with a look that Haru had never seen in her eyes.


    "You want what exactly?" Haru asked to make sure that they were on the same page but Suyin had other ns. She grabbed him by the hand and led him outside before pulling him into the car and demanding that the driver take them back to her hotel.


    Haru tried to ask her again to make sure but all throughout the car ride back to the hotel she had kept kissing him and had ended up leading him into her room without him even realising.


    "Don''t be such an idiot I''m saying that I''m ready for "that" now" Suyin whispered to him, slightly embarrassed by what she was asking. But Haru had the feeling that was what she meant since he felt the same. So he took the lead once again and pushed her down onto the bed.


    "And so am I." He smiled mischievously before kissing her once again as theyy on the bed together for the first time in months. Although this time was a much different circumstance than before.

 Chapter 230: Its Beautiful.

    Chapter 230: It''s Beautiful.


    Haru and Suyin both Lay on the bed wrapped in a gentle embrace as they gave each other time to catch their breaths. Haru stretched out his body and wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him.


    He didn''t know what to say but neither did she. They just stared at each other awkwardly before Suyin started to crack a smile as she struggled to hold herughter in any longer. Haru too began to feel stupid as he looked at her.


    Nothing had changed really. They still loved each other and that was made obvious by the actions they had just taken to express their feelings for each other. Suyin smiled at him all the while looking directly into his eyes while enjoying the embrace.


    "I love it when you smile at me like that. It looks so pure and innocent. But now I know that the Suyin I have known for so long is pretty naughty when ites to things likes this." Haru whispered before biting her ear to tease her a little.


    Her breathing picked up slightly before she exhaled loudly with a sigh before looking him back in the eyes with a look of frustration on her face.


    "That''s mean!" She whispered with a tremble before pulling herself up to his face, using his neck to help and then kissing him on the lips.


    "That''s what you get you, meanie." Suyin smiled like she had won the battle but for Haru, the war was nowhere close to finishing. He quickly shot up and turned her so her back was against the bed and then straddled her.


    "Is that so? Then this is for being so damn cute." Haru smiled before once again kissing her.


    A few hours passed before the sun started to set and at some point, they had both passed out. As Haru awoke he looked outside the window of the hotel to see that the sky now had an orange tint to it.


    He hadn''t noticed on his way into the room but the view from the balcony had a really beautiful view. It looked out upon ake that was in the centre of a park. He got out of bed as quietly as he could as not to wake Suyin and then walked toward the balcony.


    He opened the doors and then took a step out into the fresh air that the night had brought with it. The breeze was a little chilly but it was quickly taken care of by Kun''s power heating his body from within.


    Haru leaned out and watched the city from above. Even as the sun was starting to set the city seemed to be bustling with life. There were shing lights and neon signs on the sides of buildings to draw in customers and from the balcony he got a better view of theke below.


    That was when something strange stuck out to him. There seemed to be an array ced somewhere in theke. He couldn''t tell where exactly but even from the balcony, he could see the runes that were used to form an array around it.


    ''Hm? I wonder what that is about?'' Haru thought to himself before hearing the bedsheets rustle from within the room behind him and then the door slowly crept open.


    Suyin hade out to join him on the balcony, dressed in nothing but a nket. She stood next to Haru and looked down upon the city below them.


    "It''s a really pretty view isn''t it?" She asked and then looked up at Haru who was staring at her instead of the view in front of them.


    "Yes, it is." He smiled and then put his arms around her once again to keep her warm while they both gazed across the city for a couple of minutes until the wind blew a little too hard and almost pulled the nkets out of Suyin''s clutch.


    Haru had to hold it down in ce for her to make sure that she didn''t end up standing on the balconypletely naked so they decided to head back inside.


    "Are you hungry?" Haru asked as they both began to put on clothes once again.


    "Hungry? I''m starving." Suyin giggled a little as she was just thinking about suggesting that they went to get food. She hadn''t been on a date with Haru for so long and was dying to spend a little more time as she knew that they would both be busy once again.


    "Then let''s go somewhere local. It''s been a while since I have eaten street food. Do you want to take a walk around the night markets with me?" Haru asked as he finished tying his shoces.


    "Street food? I would kill for something filling right now so sure. Let''s go. I don''t really like those fancy restaurants anyway. I feel like people are always so judging in those ces." Suyin replied.


    "Yeah, I get that feeling too. Thest time I was here in Beijing someone offered me a free drink because they thought I was homeless and hanging around to get free things." Haruughed about what had happened.


    "Someone thought you were homeless? Where did you go? It must have been somewhere really expensive if they thought you were homeless. You dress perfectly fine." Suyin looked at how Haru was dressed right now.


    "Oh, I was wearing just shorts and a t-shirt because I didn''t want to feel ufortable on the bus. I ended up staying at the royal imperial hotel because a friend rmended it. They even tried to throw me out until the manager came to greet me." Both Haru and Suyinughed before Suyin sipped her coat and they were ready to leave.


    "Well, at least you know that ces like that want their customers to dress respectfully so they don''t feel embarrassed. I would have just gone to the next best hotel to embarrass them but I guess that wouldn''t work for you would it?"Suyin had started to embrace the life of a celebrity and even now she had put sunsses on so she wouldn''t be recognised by her fans in public.


    Thest thing she wanted was someone asking for an autograph when she finally got to spend time with Haru. It would ruin her mood and she knew that Haru would also tease her for it if something like that did happen.


    They then both headed out into the streets. The night market was less than a mile away from the hotel that Suyin was staying at so they decided to walk just so they could spend as much time as possible together.


    It had been so long since they hadst been together and even though Haru didn''t show it on the outside he had missed her a lot. How could he not? They had practically lived together for three years, swapping between her family''s house and Zen''s house.


    She had be a big part of his life and he felt like there was a hole in his heart when she wasn''t around. It was only after being apart for so long that he realised how important she was to him.


    Suyin refused to let go of his hand as they walked. It wasn''t as if Haru minded but he was a bit hesitant just in case someone recognised her and decided to take a picture of them both. But she didn''t care about that anymore.


    She was getting fed up with keeping her rtionship a secret and kind of wanted people to find out so that they would leave her alone. Everywhere she went she would meet women who bragged about having handsome son''s that wanted to marry her and it was tiring to try not to offend people when rejecting them.


    They arrived at the market just as the sunset over the horizon leaving the city of Beijingpletely in darkness. Only being illuminated by the countless lights from buildings and street lights that lined the pavement of every street insight.


    The market consisted of small stalls that had been assembled as soon as the shops nearby had shut for the day and the smell of fragrant spices lingered in the air from the food stalls that were far by the most crowded stalls in the market.


    There were hundreds of people traversing through the market on their way home from work and many just visiting for the great food that was provided for cheap prices.


    Haru and Suyin strolled around before deciding upon getting fried rice and crepes for dessert then taking a walk while they ate. Suyin didn''t really know the area but Haru had wanted to look at the array surrounding theke at the park that he had spotted from the balcony.


    So he decided that it would be the perfect ce for them to go to. It wouldn''t be crowded at night and they would be left alone to spend time together. So that is where Haru led her.


    They both finished their fried rice as they got to the gates surrounding the park and began to eat the desert while they walked hand in hand around the park before stopping at theke.


    "This would be so pretty during the winter," Suyinmented on theke as they approached it. It was probably already snowing in Shenzhen but they had managed to escape it by heading more to the east.


    "I agree it would. Haru said for putting his crepe back inside the bag and putting it on a bench that was close to theke and then began to walk towards the water''s edge.


    "What are you doing?" Suyin asked as she watched him with confusion. Haru crouched down next to the water and put his fingertips into theke for a moment before taking a few steps back to be by her side once again.


    "Just watch." Haru smiled.


    ''It seems like some cultivators used this spot to get married in the past and forgot to disassemble the array'' Haru thought to himself as blue lights began to float up from the water into the air and dance around each other like a light show.


    "It''s beautiful" Suyin whispered as Haru reached down and grabbed her hand. She looked up at him to see that his eyes had yet to trail away from the lights before them and she too wanted to see what would happen next.


    They stood there for what seemed like an eternity as the lights danced around theke beforeing to a climax as they shot up into the air like fireworks and expanded to envelop the like in a veil of blue.


    Suyin looked up at Haru once again. This time he was looking back at her and then leaned in to kiss her once again.


    They spent the remainder of the night in Suyin''s room talking about the things that they had been up to for the past month until the early hours of the morning when they finally decided to sleep.


    Suyin rested her head against Haru''s chest as they both drifted off to sleep.

 Chapter 231: Sleepyhead.

    Chapter 231: Sleepyhead.


    "Open up! Suyin are you in there?!" The voice of a man called out from beyond the door as Haru and Suyin slept peacefully in the bed of the hotel. Suyin had always been a deep sleeper so it came to no surprise that she didn''t wake up when the man started to yell. But Haru on the other hand slept like a tiger. The slightest sound would wake him out of fear of there being a threat that was sneaking up on him as he slept. So he was the first to wake up when he heard the sounds of knocking on the door.


    He got out of bed as quietly as he could so as not to wake up Suyin. He could see that she was having a nice dream from the peaceful smile that was on her face as her eyes were closed tightly and she hugged her pillow.


    He put on some clothes and then walked to the door to ask whoever it was toe backter and to stop trying to wake her. But as he opened the door he saw that it was a man who looked to be in his early fifties and he looked vaguely familiar to Haru. He quickly recognised that he was Suyin''s other manager that he had sometimes seen when the two of them video called in their free time.


    "Oh, You''re" The manager said with his cheeks a little bit pink from embarrassment. He wasn''t expecting a half-naked man to open the door. But he knew that he was Suyin''s boyfriend from the fact that she still had a picture of them together as the wallpaper on her phone. He looked up at Haru for a few minutes but didn''te up with anything to say.


    "Sorry, She is a little bit tired and still sleeping. We didn''t sleep until the early hours of the morning." Haru announced.


    "I see, Young people these days are so shameless. Well, I wille back when she wakes up." The manager said with a sigh. He wasn''t sure what he expected. Miss Kang had told him that Suyin had gone off with some random man that she had never seen before and her driver had told him that she took the man back to her hotel room. He should have put two and two together but he was a bit too impatient.


    He wanted to discuss what had happened the day before. Miss Kang had told him that Suyin had hit her and then said that she was fired. But she didn''t seem bothered by it. In fact, Miss Kang had gone to speak with the young master from the Cheng family. He knew that Mr Cheng was interested in Suyin and wanted to have a private meeting with her.


    But he didn''t know what she had told him. It was supposed to be a secret that Suyin had a boyfriend and all of the people that knew about it had signed a non-disclosure agreement to say that they wouldn''t tell anyone about it. But Miss Kang had yet been forced to sign one. There was nothing legally binding her to keep it to herself.


    In theory, she could tell whoever she wanted and it wouldn''t make a difference. Of course, they could take her to court for nder if that was the case but they would have to prove that Suyin didn''t have a boyfriend and knowing her personality she wouldn''t deny it if anyone asked her if Haru was her boyfriend.


    "Wait," Haru said to the man that was walking away from the doorway.


    "Yeah? What is it?" He asked, confused. He had never met Haru before and didn''t think that they would have anything so he decided to take his leave before it became awkward. He didn''t expect Haru to take the initiative to call out to him.


    "I was kind of hoping if I could talk to you about something. I would get in touch with the owner of thepany but I don''t have his phone number. But do you think that you could give him a message from me?" Haru asked.


    "Sure what is it?" The manager asked with suspicion. From what he knew about Suyin''s boyfriend he was the rtive of Mr Hao in Shenzhen and was from a wealthy family. He also knew that he was previously at a school for military mages in japan. But what he didn''t know is how he could live in china and still be free. China had banned the use of magic for civilians since before the war between Japan and America.


    Which made him think that Haru might be a member of the government or have close ties to the military and by looking at the muscles all over his body as he stood in the doorway with just shorts on made him conclude that it was probably thetter of the two and didn''t even want to imagine what kind of message he had for the owner.


    "Tell him that if anyone tries to sell Suyin to rich families not only will I kill all the parties involved but I will alsoe for every employee of thepany. I don''t care if they weren''t involved. I won''t let such apany harm her." Haru looked at the manager as his eyes began to glow a slight golden colour.


    The manager thought that he was beginning to cast attack magic or something of the like and closed his eyes to brace for impact but the attack that he expected never came. He opened his eyes once again to see Haru scratching the back of his neck.


    "I will make sure that he gets the message as soon as possible." The manager replied quickly.


    "Okay well thank you. I will tell Suyin that you came by as soon as she wakes up." Haru said and then began to close the door. But before he could close it all the way the manager was the one to call out to him this time.


    "Oh, I should probably tell you this but yesterday after you and Suyin had left the party. I saw Miss Kang speaking with Mr Cheng from the imperial Cheng family. I''m not sure if you knew this but he has been telling people that one day he will seduce Suyin and "use her as a ything." I just thought that I should warn you to keep your guard up. The Cheng family are just as strong as the Hog family and you should avoid offending them." The manager warned Haru.


    "Is that so? The Cheng family huh? I will keep an eye out for trouble, don''t worry." Haru reassured him and then turned around and walked back into the room before closing the door.


    But as he turned around the manager noticed that there were red lines that ran down Haru''s back. It looked almost as if someone had scratched the skin on his back with their fingernails. His face began to heat up slightly as he realised what the cause of the scratch marks was.


    "The younger generation really is shameless." The manager whispered to himself before walking back down the corridor and out of the hotel to go and ry Haru''s message to the owner of thepany. Although he didn''t look forward to the phone call that he would have to make.


    Haru on the other hand made his way back to the bed and sat down beside Suyin and then turned on the TV and began to browse through the channels with the volume turned down low to avoid waking her. He sat there for around an hour before he heard a moan and felt the bed sheets move as Suyin began to stretch her body out.


    "Good morning sleepyhead," Haru said quietly and brushed the hair out of her face to see that her eyes were already focused on him.


    "Good morning," Suyin spoke in a hushed tone and then shuffled across the bed to rest her head on his chest.


    "How long have you been awake for?" Suyin asked and then inhaled through her nose with her head still pressed against Haru''s chest.


    "You smell good." She whispered once again.


    "Not long. Around an hour or so. Oh yeah. Your manager dropped by to ask for an exnation for yesterday. You didn''t tell him you were leaving early and I''m guessing he had to exin why you left, to the Hong family." Haru said and rubbed her back with one of his hands as he spoke.


    "Shit I forgot to let him know didn''t I? I was just too" She stopped herself from saying anything else out of embarrassment.


    "You pervert." Haru teased her and brushed up the centre of her spine with the tips of his fingers.


    "Mhm" Suyin let out a little moan and then hugged him a little tighter.


    "You should probably call him soon. And then we can get some breakfast." Haru quickly changed the mood and began to stand up.


    "Wait" Suyin whispered in protest.


    Haru turned around slowly to see that she was looking at him with expectation in her eyes. He leaned in close to her ear and whispered.


    "Were you expecting something?" He asked and then kissed her on the cheek before taking a shirt out of his storage ring and putting it on.


    "Make sure you are quick with your exnation. I feel a little bit hungry. It must have been from how much energy we consumedst night" Haru teased her once again to which she pouted but made the phone call to exin herself to her manager anyway.


    It was better to get it out of the way rather than letting him think whatever Miss Kang had told him was true.

 Chapter 232: I came here to talk.

    Chapter 232: I came here to talk.


    Haru and Suyin both finished getting ready and went down to the hotel restaurant to get some breakfast before going separate ways. Suyin had some things to do rting to her job and Haru on the other hand needed to gather more people to help him fight against the demons when they eventually came. The way it was looking right now was as if they would be defeated instantly.


    He didn''t know how strong the demons that woulde would end up being but if they were from the upper realms then they would most likely be above the nascent soul stage. The only people he knew who could fight against people on that level were Lao and a few of the old masters from the ck star sect but even so, he couldn''t begin to predict the number of demons they would send.


    If they were outnumbered as well as outssed in strength then it would be a bloodbath that they wouldn''t even have a chance of escaping from. Haru went back to the hong family this time when there wasn''t a party going on. He felt a little strange doing so but he had a few questions for the old man he had spoken to the day before.


    He used a few movement techniques to stay undetected by regr people as he swiftly traversed throughout the city and ended up outside the main gate of the huge mansion he had visited yesterday. As he approached the gate he now noticed that there was a little booth outside where a security guard would sit.


    But it wasn''t just any security guard he appeared to be a cultivator of the spirit soul stage. He wasn''t strong by any stretch of the imagination but that would be enough to scare away anyone who didn''t know whose house they were trying to break into.


    As Haru started to approach the gate, the security guard jumped up from his seat and began to walk toward the gate.


    "What business do you have here? This is the property of the hong family. I suggest that you move on." The security guard called out as a warning to deter Haru from approaching any further. He then used his spiritual sense and sent it toward the Manson that was in the business. That would be the best way to get the old man''s attention. It seemed to work the day before.


    But this time there was no response and Haru didn''t feel his presence within the house.


    ''Is he not here? Well, that was a waste of time" Haru thought to himself for a moment.


    "Are you deaf? I just said that this is-" The security guard began to speak once again.


    ''I guess I might as well ask the guard. He would know wouldn''t he?'' He thought and then interrupted the guard.


    "Hey, do you know where the old man is? Um, I mean the old head of the Hong family. I came to speak to him. Do you know where he has gone?" Haru asked. But the guard seemed to be looking down on Haru because of his appearance.


    "You came to speak with the old head? Don''t make meugh. Why would he want to speak with someone like you? If you havee here to make a move on the youngdies of the family then I will have to disappoint you. I am under strict orders to kill whoever dares to try so I suggest that you turn back now boy." The guard said and then jumped over the eight-foot-tall iron gate to show off his strength. But in front of Haru, it was the equivalent of a puppy showing that it knows how to sit.


    "I really dide to speak to the old head though. But if he isn''t here then could you go ahead and call Hong Xia down here? I can speak to her about it." Haru asked without even realising that the guard was trying to threaten him.


    "I knew it. There are always yboys like you whoe to propose to the youngdies. Didn''t you just hear me? If you don''t leave now then I will have no choice but to kill you!" The guard shouted once again. Hoping that Haru would leave without forcing him to put another young man in hospital.


    "I''m here just to talk. Why can''t you believe that? Go and bring Hong Xia here. She will tell you that it''s the truth." Haru insisted but the guard sighed before trying to use a movement technique to get behind Haru as quickly as possible to knock him out and be done with it.


    He had to deal with many peopleing to ask for Hong Xia''s hand in marriage. And the minimum requirement the family had set for a potential suitor was being able to defeat a cultivator that used the Hong families secret art. That was the main reason they had a guard at the gate. Even if someone did break in they would be killed instantly by the warriors that they had been training for generations.


    The only reason there was a guard was for the sake of the youngdies marrying someone strong.


    As the security guard used his technique to quickly move behind Haru, he noticed that Haru had no problem keeping up with his speed and trailed him the whole time with his eyes looking directly into his as he moved faster than a regr person could perceive.


    ''Wow, he is the first person I have met who could keep up with my speed Well, it''s one thing to keep up with my speed but I doubt that he can match it.'' The guard thought before striking Haru in the back of his neck with the side of his hand.


    ''Just as I thought. There is still no one who can match my speed.'' The guard thought once again before taking his hand away from Haru''s neck.


    But a whole second went by and nothing happened. Then two. ''He should have fallen by now What''s going on?'' The guard asked himself as a little bit of fear began to brew within his body.


    "Are you done now? Like I said. I only came here to talk." Haru turned his head and asked. Nothing had happened from the guard''s attack at all. He hadn''t even flinched from pain. It was as if he was hit in the back of the neck with a napkin.


    ''Did I hold back too much?'' The guard thought before trying to hit him in the back of his neck once again but as soon as his hand came down towards Haru''s neck, Haru caught his hand and began to squeeze it while looking into his eyes.


    "I asked if you were done. Not if you wanted to hit me again." Haru said before twisting his hips and spinning his arm toward the iron fence and then throwing the guard into it. The guard hit the centre of the gate and broke it from the hinges before flying back seventy feet onto the concrete path that led up to the house.


    Haru then began to walk towards him once again but as soon as he stepped foot onto the property he began to hear footsteps rapidly approaching in all directions before he was suddenly surrounded by eight men all wielding spears.


    "Not another step!" One of the men shouted out loudly before pointing the spear at Haru.


    Haru looked at the weapons for a moment before noticing that they weren''t just regr weapons. Each one of the spears had a trace of Qi within them and he concluded that they had been refined in a special way to strengthen them to be able to hold up in a fight between cultivators. It was much like the sword he had within his storage ring. The only difference was the sword Haru had was many times stronger than those spears.


    Each one of the men that surrounded him was at the Qi creation stage apart from two of them who were at the spirit soul stage the same as Haru.


    All thought Haru was outnumbered by cultivators at a Higher stage than him he didn''t worry about it too much. He had managed to take down three people at the manifestation stage before which was a whole stage higher than these two warrior''s pointing spears toward him.


    But he really did onlye here to talk. So instead of fighting, he decided to end it as soon as possible. He pulled his sword out from his storage ring and then sliced the heads off all of the spears that were pointing at him before they could even say another word. He managed to sheath the de of the sword before they could even see that he had moved.


    So when their spears all broke in unison they were confused to see him now standing there with a sword in his hands.


    "Like I said before I came here to talk to the family head. But I guess I will just call them myself." Haru said to the men that were now wary of him and didn''t know how to react next. They had been trained by fighting amongst one another but they had never fought against someone who outssed them in strength this much and it brought down their egos a lot. As Haru took in a deep breath a few of them flinched with fear, thinking that he was going to attack them. But instead, he shouted.


    "Hong Xia! I havee to speak to your grandfather again!" Haru shouted as loud as he could. The sound of his voice alone was enough to shake the ground in the immediate area. But there was no response from the house.


    But then suddenly a voice called out in return.


    "Who dares to call the name of my student!?" The voice shouted and suddenly the clouds in the sky turned dark before a gigantic hand pushed its way through the clouds and grabbed Haru tightly and pulled him up into them before he could even say anything."

 Chapter 233: Hong Xias Teacher.

    Chapter 233: Hong Xia''s Teacher.


    Haru looked around after hearing the voice but then suddenly felt something mp down around his waist and found it a little bit hard to breath as he felt the ground beneath his feet vanish as he was lifted up into the air and was blinded by white light as he entered the clouds.


    ''What''s going on?'' He thought as he looked down to see that he was being grabbed by a hand that looked simr to the technique that Teacher Lin had used many times before. He had no idea what was happening but as he looked up he began to see what looked like a waterfall that was spilling water down from the sky but it looked a little strange.


    Instead of the water falling down instead it was caught in what looked like a huge bubble floating in the sky. Haru was at a loss for words as he watched as rocks soon appeared before finally he saw what looked like dirt and grass. It was then when he realised he was looking at a floating ind, simr to the one he had within his soul ocean.


    The only difference being that this one was by no means as scary as what he had in his soul ocean. In fact, this ce felt friendly but soon began to doubt that it was friendly as he was pulled towards an ancient-looking mansion in the centre of the ind and saw dozens of people with swords and spears all dressed in the same clothes. Haru quickly realised that this was a sect.


    And by the looks of it, they had a sect master that was at leastparable to Teacher Lin. He didn''t want to call for help just yet since they didn''t show any intent that they wanted to harm him. But even so, he still had the option to call Teacher Lin to help him get free from the hand that was still wrapped around him.


    He also didn''t want to make enemies with them at a time like this. If he could convince them to help out during the iing battle it would be a great amount of help. Even having one more Nascent soul stage cultivator would make a huge difference against the demon n.


    As Haru got closer to the building, the speed the hand was moving at slowed down before finallying to a stop before an old woman that looked to be in her sixties stepped out from within.


    "Your cultivation isn''t bad for a brat. Where did youe from? What do you want with my student?" The old woman asked in a tone that said she had no time for games and her patience was running thin. But Haru had other ns. He wanted to show his strength a little more so that they could at least talk on equal terms. He wasn''t the type of man to let others talk down to him if they had more power than him.


    So while the grip of the hand was still firmly wrapped around his body and holding him in ce, he swayed his finger a little bit and then suddenly opened up a void corridor around his body and exited directly next to the old woman and sat down on one of the steps to the building with his back turned to her to show that he wasn''t a threat.


    Thest thing that he wanted was to be beaten up by another nascent soul stage master while Lao wasn''t nearby to help.


    The woman seemed surprised by what Haru had just done and didn''t have any way to exin it. People on earth were supposed to be clueless to anything about the upper realms so how could a man younger than twenty years old be able to master thew of space to such a degree that he is able to move his whole body through a void corridor.


    "Who is your master?!" The woman asked with a stutter. She didn''t know who she had just offended by capturing Haru and was a little bit scared to find out but if it was someone that she already knew it would be easier to exin that it was all just a misunderstanding.


    Her original n was to punish Haru for disrespecting her student''s family by damaging their property and hurting their employees. But now that he had shown the power that far performed the understanding of humans that were from earth she had changed her npletely. Now she was thinking about the best course of action she could take to not offend him.


    "My master isn''t important. He is just a quiet old man thates from a ce far away. You wouldn''t know him." Haru smiled slightly as he thought about the face Li Jun would make if he knew that Haru had called him an old man.


    "But what is important is that you are the teacher that Hong Xia spoke of? You know the situation in the upper realms don''t you?" Haru asked with a sigh. He was intrigued to know more about it but also would feel guilty knowing about it. He still remembered hearing Jasper''s scream when his soul hadmunicated with Haru''s and told him not to return to the soul temperingnds.


    All though he was worried about Jasper there was nothing he could do about it right now. He didn''t know where the elven n lived yet alone how to get there. But he knew that once he did get to the upper realms the first thing he would do is find out what happened that day in the soul tempering grounds.


    "Hmm The upper realms So your master even told you about that? Yeah, I know the situation there right now, what of it?" The woman spoke in a tone that said she wanted something in return for telling him about it.


    "My master was the one who killed the member of the demon n a few nights ago. And I''m currently gathering as many cultivators as I can to help fight back before theye here and kill everyone.


    If you are from the upper realms then you should know what the demon n do to worlds when someone offends them right? And the fact that you chose a in the middle of nowhere to set up your sect, tells me that you are probably running from something.


    I don''t know what you n to do when they arrive here but I''m going to fight. Fight for my life and fight for the life of the seven billion people living on this. So could you tell me what''s going on up there?" Haruy everything out for her. He didn''t intend to hide anything or be disingenuous with her because the fact of it was that she could probably see through any lie that he told her.


    That wasn''t a skill that you gained from cultivating but a skill you learned from being betrayed countless times in the past. And if she was from the upper realms then she probably had at least one hundred more years of experience in life than Haru did.


    "You want to fight back against the demon n? Now that''s a funny joke. Let me tell you something. When the demon n wants someone dead they will do whatever it takes to kill them. I even heard that some of the demons have a shared consciousness. No matter where they are in the universe or even if they are in other realmspletely they will know what the other is thinking. Even if you kill all of the demons thate here, there is no way that you will be able to escape if one of them has a shared consciousness." The woman exined briefly.


    "There was a curse that the demon ancestor ced upon them so that they didn''t betray him. And part of that curse allows the leader of the demon bloodline to know what had happened to their descendants. There is only one way that you could win the fight against them but it would take a miracle to find a demon that actually inherited the ancestral chains." The woman said once again this time a little quieter as she seemed distracted with her thoughts.


    "So as long as I have the ancestral chains I can fight against them?" Haru smiled as he thought back to the white bone-shaped chain that Li Jun had given to him after Lao had killed the demon that followed him back into his soul ocean after being chased in the soul tempering grounds.


    "Yeah, that is the only way you will be able to bargain with them. As long you destroy that you will take out the leader of the bloodline and the other members of the demon n won''t know what happened." The old woman exined.


    But Haru had no intention to do that. From what he knew there were hundreds of billions if not trillions of demons that would be killed if he destroyed the ancestral chain. And just like with humans not all demons were bad people. It was just the really bad ones that ruined people''s opinion of them. If he destroyed the ancestral chain he would also be killing billions of innocent demons and children too.


    He wouldn''t be able to live with that weighing down on him. And there was no evidence that the demons that wereing for him were from that certain bloodline. If they weren''t then he would still die no matter the oue. It would be better if his original n worked out but there were too many unknown factors to know if it would work for certain.


    "So can. You tell me how it is up there? Is it a full-scale war?" Haru asked once again trying to direct the subject away from the ancestral chains. He didn''t want her to find out that he had one of them on him and was still worried about Jasper and Maya.

 Chapter 234: Granny Lin.

    Chapter 234: Granny Lin.


    "War? That''s a bit of an understatement. What is happing up there is more of a genocide. The demon n are sending people to worlds inhabited by weak humans and ughtering them. The humans on the other hand have been trying to invade the demonnds but they have set up an array to keep intruders out. It is strange. The runes for the array are written in anguage that no one has ever seen before.


    Not only that but they have gotten some strong fighters that are helping them defend the demon capital. Well, that''s for the middle realm. It''s been hard to get news from the upper realm for thest thousand years and even harder to get there. The star fields leading to the upper realm have all copsed and there are only a few transporters to get there." The woman began to exin.


    If it was in fact like she had said then that made Haru worry even more. What would have happened to Jasper and Maya? He didn''t know what stage they were at with their cultivation but he knew that they were both stronger than him. He just hoped that they hadn''t run into any trouble.


    "What about the elven n? What are they doing about this?" Haru asked.


    The woman seemed confused when he brought it up. Even in this day and age, not many people spoke about the elven n. They kept to themselves and hardly associated with anyone from other races.


    "The elven n? They are doing what they do best. Hiding away in their tree houses and watching everyone else fight. They never get involved with anything like this although the oldest son of one of the royal families is apparently with a group of humans right now and is ughtering demons for his own satisfaction." The old woman said.


    "That''s good," Haru said to himself quietly. If they weren''t involved in the fighting then that meant that both Jasper and Maya would be fine if they were still alive. He felt relieved to hear it.


    "That''s good? If you ask me then they should be fighting alongside us. They lost people during the initial attacks too but they decided to take the pacifist stance and forget about it and then go back into hiding." The old womanined. She seemed to hold something against the elven n.


    "It''s just that I have a couple of friends from the elven n. I haven''t been able to speak to them since the demons destroyed the soul tempering grounds. I wondered what had happened to them. But I''m d that they are probably safe." Haru exined himself but the woman quickly changed the subject.


    "You have been to the soul tempering grounds!? How? You would need to go to the middle realm to get there and there are only two transporters here on earth. One is here with me and the other is Don''t tell me you are with those old men?" The woman asked.


    Haru thought back to when he was at the ck star sect and he had seen the transporter on top of the mountain. If there were only two then she knew that he was a member of the ck star sect for sure.


    "You mean the ck star sect?" Haru asked out loud. He forgot about the fact that Teacher Lin would appear every time he mentioned the name of the sect but it was already toote now. He had said it.


    He began to look up at the sky and waited for the clouds to turn dark and for Teacher Lin to appear but it never came. Haru stared at the sky with confusion.


    "Figures. He''s still ignoring me even if someone speaks the name of his precious sect." The old woman said with a hint of sadness to her voice. Haru didn''t know what it was about but she seemed to know a little bit about the ck star sect. It was then he started to wonder about her identity.


    She was the strongest person on the floating ind in the clouds and knew the same technique that teacher Lin did and even seemed disappointed when he didn''t appear after Haru had mistakenly spoken the name of the sect.


    "So you are with those old guys. I''m sorry that I captured you then. I thought you were up to no good but even if they are a bunch of low life scums that only think about their cultivation you can''t be a bad kid if they have taught you." The old woman seemed to suspect that Haru was a disciple of the ck star sect that she knew. It couldn''t be further from the truth but he wouldn''t need to exin how he knew so much about the upper realms if she thought that they had taught him.


    "You have a rtionship with the sect? I thought that no one on earth was even allowed to mention their name let alone make friends with them." Haru asked. He was confused since Teacher Lin would kill anyone that mentioned the sect''s name. He didn''t even want to think about what he would do to the people who knew about their people.


    "Rtionship. I guess no one told you, did they? There were originally more people that came down from the upper realms and joined the ck star sect to seek refuge from whoever was after us. But a few of us split off and decided to make our own sects for various reasons once we decided on earth as our home. There are currently three sects from the upper realm here and this is one of them.


    You probably know the old gatekeeper which the younger generation calls Teacher Lin, don''t you? He used to be my husband a long time ago." The old woman had a tinge of sadness in her voice as she recalled the past.


    "Teacher Lin was your husband? What happened?" Haru asked. He never thought that the old man who isted himself in a house that was far away from the rest of the sect like a hermit, would ever have a wife.


    "What happened huh? Well, we knew each other since we were young and even both decided to perform dual cultivation together. If it wasn''t for that elven slut that followed us down here I would probably still be with him now but she went and seduced him. In order not to hurt any of us he decided that he wouldn''tmunicate with either of us again.


    That stupid old man. What was he thinking huh? Did he think that by not talking to me I would lose the feelings I have towards him for hundreds of years? For someone who ims to be so wise, he is an idiot sometimes. It''s been nearly ny years and he still hasn''te to apologise yet." The old woman said with anger in her voice and then turned back to Haru.


    "I''m sorry we got off on the wrong foot. But would you like toe in to chat for a bit? I bet I can tell you stories about the sect that you haven''t heard yet. Or we can talk more about the situation in the middle realm. One of my students is currently there and gives me information on big events when they happen.


    I have to keep up to date with things like that or I never would have known that the demons nned to send down three ships to deal with the person that killed the demon general that they sent here with the cursed beacon." The woman exined.


    Haru agreed to go back inside with her and then followed her back inside the building that she hade from. As soon as they entered Haru could see that the inside was heavily inspired by the elder''s hall back at the ck star sect. It was either that or that was amon style people in the middle realm used to decorate.


    As he looked around, Haru was a little bit surprised to see that it was a lot more lively than he was expecting. From the outside, he thought that it would be a building that was used for big events only but it looked like this little sect was a bit moreid back than the ck star sect.


    All of the people in the sect appeared to be older than he expected and he didn''t see anyone his age anywhere. They had probably managed to remain undetected by only taking in a few deciles every century instead of recruiting many at a time as the ck star sect did.


    The old woman''s presence made everyone stop what they were doing and then bow as a sign of respect for her as Haru followed behind before they began to make their way upstairs and entered a room that was simr to the one the old head of the Hong family had taken Haru to the day before.


    "Shan, Bring some tea. I have a guest today." The old woman called out to a girl who looked to be around thirteen or fourteen.


    "Okay Granny Lin," The young girl said with a bow and then ran off to get some tea for them both.


    "Everyone here seems both disciplined andid back. I don''t think there are many sects that act this way are there?" Haru asked. This was the third sect he had seen up to now but everyone here seemed happy it was like a little utopia floating in the clouds.


    Granny Linughed.


    "That''s because we don''t force our disciples to do anything. We show them the benefits and then leave it up to their own motivation to do it. They end up being more grateful to you if you help them learn by themselves instead of forcing the knowledge into them." She exined before the young girl came back with tea.


    Haru and granny Lin sat there for hours and talked about the upper realm and what life was like when the ck star sect first came to earth. Until they were interrupted by a knock on the door.


    "Sorry, I''mte Granny Lin. My grandpa wanted help with gardening. I didn''t manage to escape him for even a second." Hong Xia said as she entered the room and then stopped suddenly as she saw Haru sitting across from her teacher, drinking tea with her.

 Chapter 235: Soaring Palace Sect.

    Chapter 235: Soaring Pce Sect.


    "You again? Why are you always everywhere I look? Are you stalking me or something?" Hong Xia asked while looking at Haru. This was the second time she had met him and both times had happened in the same way. She didn''t know what to think anymore.


    Haru had seemed to get into her grandfather''s head to the point where he couldn''t do some basic gardening work without asking her what he should do. He had asked if he should fight with Haru. After all, if it was true that the demon n couldn''t be reasoned with then they would most likely die even if they didn''t fight against them.


    It was a situation that not many people could be involved in and it would make most people helpless beyond belief. You will die if you do nothing or you will die while fighting back. It was a scary situation even for a nascent soul stage cultivator. But for Haru, it was nothing new. Although this time he valued his life a lot more.


    The thing he was scared of was never being able to see the people he cared about again. He had already died once and it wasn''t that bad. But now he had a reason for living and that is what made him desperate to fight. He didn''t want his journey on the path of cultivation to be over just as it had gotten started. He had yet to explore the universe that Lao and Li Jun had exined and wasn''t willing to sit down and die.


    Seeing the younger generation willing to put their life on the line and fight against a threat that killed indiscriminately was inspiring to Hong Xia''s grandfather and he had already made his mind up on what he was going to do but still decided to ask for her opinion.


    Hong Xia stared at Haru before Granny Lin acknowledged her.


    "Little Xia. Come in,e in. I was just reminiscing on the past with our guest here. I believe you''ve met Haru before haven''t you?" Granny Lin asked with a smile.


    Xia was on the verge of sighing out of frustration but then remembered she was in the presence of her teacher and didn''t want to disrespect her in front of anyone and make her lose face. Granny Lin was the reason that Xia had managed to reach the manifestation stage at the age of neen. She wasn''t very talented in the cultivation art that her family had passed down through the generations.


    But when she met Granny Lin she was quick to point out all of the mistakes that she was making and then gave her a new cultivation technique free of charge. The next time she met Granny Lin was when she advanced to the spirit soul stage in that cultivation art and that was when Granny Lin decided to take her as a student and took her up to the floating ind to join the soaring pce sect.


    Hong Xia bowed her head out of respect and then entered the room more before replying to her teacher.


    "Yes teacher, We met yesterday when I went to warn my family about what you told me about," Xia replied formally.


    "You warned your family? Okay, that''s good. But you know I have changed my mind today. I originally said that I was just going to sit by and watch the oue. But after meeting Haru today I think that I will be ordering the sect to join him to help fight back against the demons." Granny Lin said. She looked relieved as she spoke which was probably because she was holding onto the hope that she would see her ex-husband once again.


    "What now!? Didn''t you say that the people who killed the demon were idiots!? Why do we have to get involved in their fight if they didn''t think about the consequences of their actions?" Hong Xia snapped. Not only was her grandfather deciding to put his life at risk to help a stranger but now her teacher was willing to put the lives of all of the sect members at risk for this unknown man that mysteriously appeared.


    She didn''t know what kind of power Haru held but it wasn''t normal for people to be so trusting in someone like this. She thought that he must have been scheming something or held something of value that they both wanted. But the reason that they trusted him was something much deeper than material value.


    It was because Haru had an old soul. When he talked to people they felt like they could trust him even if they didn''t know anything about him which exined why he had managed to convince Hong Xia''s grandpa from a brief conversation. They didn''t know each other yet he still wanted to fight alongside him.


    "I understand how you must feel but I''m not going to start forcing our people to do anything they don''t want to now. I''m going to go alone. If anyone wants to join me then I won''t stop them just like I won''t force anyone who doesn''t want to fight.


    It''s okay if you don''t want to fight. I will have someone make sure that your family can escape to the middle realm just in case we fail to push them back. Just like everyone else I will promise your safety there is no need to worry." Granny Lin said to reassure her. But that just made things worse.


    "It''s not my safety I''m worried about right now it''s you! You have basically raised me since I was a child and I think of you as my real grandmother. How can I just ept that you are willing to put down your life for the sake of a stranger?" Hong Xia asked. She didn''t know what everyone saw in Haru.


    "But Haru isn''t a stranger. Xia, do you remember what I told you about how I came to earth?" Granny Lin asked while making a case for Haru''s defence.


    "Yeah, you told me that you came here with a couple of dozen people from another sect." Hong Xia replied, confused by what she meant by suddenly asking her about that. She hadn''t heard that story in many years but she still remembered everything her teacher had told her about her origin.


    "Well, Haru is a member of that sect that I came here with. I am his martial aunt even if I''m not a member of that sect anymore I still called the sect master my master as he saved both me and my husband." Granny Lin exined.


    Haru found it funny since what she was saying was in fact the opposite. Haru was the second ever first-generation student of the ck star sect and the disciple of the founder, Li Jun. Haru would be her martial great uncle if they were to use that old way of honorifics. But he couldn''t just tell everyone that so he let her think that she was correct.


    "He''s from that sect? But you told me that the sect that brought you here was full of crazy old men. He doesn''t look that old to me." Hong Xia stated. She looked at Haru with suspicion. She had heard stories about people being so strong that they never age despite being thousands of years old but the more she looked at Haru the more she became certain that he wasn''t that strong. But she was only half right with that assumption.


    "That''s true. The people that I came with were crazy old men but that doesn''t stop them from taking in disciples of their own does it? Haru is probably the disciple of one of the crazy old men that I mentioned.


    Which reminds me. I didn''t ask who your teacher was did I?" Granny Lin exined and then turned back to Haru to ask who had taught him to cultivate.


    "I''m a disciple of the sect master," Haru said truthfully. He was the disciple of the sect master well the first sect master at least but he was pretty sure that the current sect master would cover for him if she decided to ask him. But he didn''t think that she would by the look of astonishment on her face.


    "The sect master!? Well then That exins why even I can''t see what cultivation technique you practice. I bet he has thousands of techniques stored in his head. But that changes things a little. If you''re the disciple of my Saviour then How can I not move my whole sect to help you? I bet he is doing the same isn''t he?" Granny Lin said.


    "What? No, I can''t ask you to do that. I don''t want to be responsible if any of your people die. So just bring whoever volunteers please." Haru spoke up. He didn''t want anyone to hate if someone who was forced to fight ended up dying because of him.


    But granny Lin wouldn''t take no for an answer.


    "I wouldn''t be able to live if I didn''t do everything possible to repay my debts. I will settle the debt that your teacher put me in by saving my life by guaranteeing that I do everything possible to make sure that youe out of this whole thing alive." Granny Lin said and then immediately began to prepare the sect for war.


    She showed Haru out and returned him back to the ground after he had told them where to meet him. Hong Xia had returned with him but she still couldn''t trust him. She couldn''t help but feel like he was hiding something so she decided to follow him secretly.

 Chapter 236: Make it stop.

    Chapter 236: Make it stop.


    Hong Xia watched as Haru made his way around the city. She didn''t know where he hade from and had no idea about his background other than what her teacher had just told her. In an attempt to find out more information about him she decided to follow him for the rest of the day.


    But to her surprise, something interesting happened. Haru went about his day by shopping in the markets and buying lunch for himself. He decided to sit in a coffee shop and have some food that reminded him of the coffee shop that he visited a lot back in Shenzhen. The taste of nostalgia was good and reminded him of the time that Jake hade over to visit with his parents.


    It had been a while since he had spoken to Jake so he decided to call him. But to his surprise, it went straight to the answering machine. It didn''t even ring out. ''Oh, that''s right. School should have finished back in japan too. I guess he is probably working by now. I know he wanted to join the military as soon as possible. I will try again some other time'' Haru thought before eating his food and then leaving.


    He shopped for a little bit longer and bought some groceries but as he exited the shop they had seemed to have vanished. He had stored them in his storage ring so he wouldn''t have to carry them around but Hong Xia didn''t know that he had one so she assumed that he didn''t buy anything.


    After shopping in the city Haru got a phone call and whoever called him seemed to make him happy as he smiled as soon as he looked down at his phone and seemed excited as he spoke. But Hong Xia stayed far enough away so she wouldn''t alert him that he was being followed but that made it so she couldn''t hear what he was talking about.


    As soon as the call ended he seemed to have changed his ns for the day and looked both ways to make sure that no one was looking at him before vanishingpletely. Hong Xia couldn''t believe her eyes. One second Haru was standing with his back to the wall and the next he had vanished. She looked around for him before feeling cold air run down her spine.


    "You know. If you wanted to spy on me I would have invited you toe with me. There''s no need to follow me like this." Haru''s voice now came from behind her. Hong Xia became startled from the sound of his voice in her ears and the breath on the back of her neck. She turned around as fast as she could to see that he was now standing less than a meter away from her.


    "How did you!?" She asked with confusion.


    "Just a technique. It''s not that big of a deal. I could teach you if you wanted me to." Haru spoke like it didn''t bother him at all even though he was clearly being followed.


    "I''m going to meet my girlfriend now. So if you can try not to act like a creepy stalker it would be appreciated. She might murder you if she thinks that you want me." Haruughed. He had seen how she had reacted when someone spoke badly about him. He didn''t even want to imagine what she would do if someone had the audacity to stalk him.


    "You have a girlfriend? I feel bad for her." Hong Xia said before turning her back to him.


    "Fine, I guess I will leave you alone for today. It''s not like you do anything interesting with your days anyway. You really are quite boring." Hong Xia said and then began to walk away.


    "Hey, what''s that supposed to mean?" Haru said. He was confused as to what her problem was. He hadn''t spoken to her for long but she seemed to hate him for some reason. But he could kind of understand. He seemed toe out of nowhere and has gained the trust of two people she seeks praise from. She was acting like a spoiled child.


    "Take it however you want to." She said, brushing his question offpletely.


    "Hey, wait a minute," Haru said to her. Suddenly Hong Xia stopped in her tracks and turned around to look at him once more.


    "Wha-" Before she could ask what he wanted she felt something hit the back of her throat. She swallowed out of reflex but quickly realised what had just happened as she looked at Haru with his arm outstretched.


    He had thrown something small and cylindrical into her mouth as she opened it to reply.


    "You should really be nicer to people. How do you expect to make friends if you are this mean to people you don''t even know?" Haru gave her a little warning but Hong Xia was both afraid and furious.


    "What did you just do to me!? What was it!?" She asked, thinking that he had just poisoned her. Haru could see that she was worried and wanted to tease her a little bit as punishment for being mean to him for no reason.


    "Come and find me when you figure it out." He said before vanishing into mid-air once again. Hong Xia was worried but she didn''t believe that he would try to kill her if he needed the help of her teacher and her grandfather. But she didn''t know what it was until her body began to feel hot. It was like something was burning within her and taking her breath away.


    She could feel tears starting to form in her eyes as her whole body began to feel sensitive to the point where a gust of wind would send shivers throughout her whole body. She had never felt anything like this before and didn''t know what to expect. She quickly made her way back home and locked herself up in her bedroom.


    Shey down on her bed and began to feel lightheaded. She couldn''t think anymore. The feeling was too much for her to handle and she began to squirm. It felt like bugs were crawling all over her skin and tickling her.


    "What did he do to me? This is so Make it stop!" She thought out loud before remembering that cultivating could ease pain and help you heal. She sat with her legs crossed on the edge of the bed and began to circte the Qi throughout her body.


    The feeling that she had before suddenly faded but it felt as if the Qi surrounding her was moving ten if not twenty times faster than it usually did. It was like the suction force in her dantian had increased and was absorbing Qi at a much faster rate.


    Although the soaring pce sect didn''t have any pill refiners. She had known about them because they would trade with other sects. But she had never heard of a pill that was this efficient before. This was on a whole other level.


    ''Why did he give this to me? It must have been unbelievably expensive. Even my grandfather can only buy pills that hold a fraction of this power.'' She thought to herself. But this only made her more curious about Haru. He thought that he was just another yboy cultivator like she had seen many times before, given his good looks and the fact she thought that he had an artefact to hide his cultivation level.


    But she was starting to consider the fact that he could be much stronger than she originally thought. Seeing him vanish and appear behind her was a big red g. But she was acting too childish to see it. He could move faster than her eyes could perceive.


    Although she was at the manifestation stage she was still at the beginning. There was a long way to go before she even considered breaking through to the nascent soul stage. But Haru on the other hand seemed to be well ahead of her even though he was younger than her by a whole year.


    If she knew that he had only been cultivating for four years she would be even more shocked if shepared herself to him. She had been cultivating since she was four years old and was considered a genius for reaching her strength in fifteen years.


    As Hong Xia carried on cultivating throughout the night. Haru met up with Suyin once again and spent another night together. Suyin had to go back to Shenzen to the recordingpany to choose another manager for herself. It seemed as though the owner of thepany had taken Haru''s threat to heart and wanted to make sure that there were no other incidents that could put his life on the line.


    Haru on the other hand had done everything that he wanted to do in Beijing and had decided that he would head back to Shanghai in the morning. He wanted to see how far Lao had gotten on gathering people to help him fight against the demons and it was also Wednesday already. He had told everyone to meet him on Friday so he needed to get back and start making ns.


    They didn''t know when the demons woulde so he would need to have some amodations for all the people who would turn up. So it was lucky that he owned a resort. There was also a hotel attached to it so he needed to make sure that no one booked any rooms for the weekend so he would have enough space for everyone he invited.

 Chapter 237: What did you do now?

    Chapter 237: What did you do now?


    Haru awoke to the sound of Suyin zipping up her suitcase while sitting on the rug in the center of the room. As he moved to get a better look at her, Suyin''s head popped up over the edge of the bed. She smiled when she saw that he had woken up.


    "Good morning. I didn''t want to wake you. You looked so peaceful." Suyin said while finishing up packing her bags. They had agreed that they would both check out of the hotel together in the morning to get a head start on the travelling. But she had decided to let him sleep for a little longer because he looked like he needed it.


    Haru smiled and then got out of bed two before crawling to the edge and holding out his hand for Suyin to take. Once she put her hand on his he pulled her back and she ended up falling on top of him on the bed. He kissed her before letting go.


    "Good morning to you too." Haru smiled and began to sit up. Suyin was now sitting in hisp at the edge of the bed while facing him.


    "You know. I''m really going to miss this. I have been so busy recently that I forgot how to have fun. I know that we only spent a couple of days together but I had so much fun being able to spend time with you. I will visit you more often. I promise." Suyin said and then held out her pinky to make a promise.


    Haru couldn''t help butugh at her.


    "What''s so funny? I''m serious." Suyin said with a frown. She felt like he was making fun of her byughing. But that wasn''t the case. Heughed at himself for forgetting how cute she was. He felt like an idiot for not going to visit her sooner. He could have done so whenever he wanted to. But he avoided it because he thought that she would be too busy for work to spend time with him.


    And that was the same for Suyin. She could have visited him anytime that she wanted to but avoided doing so because she thought that he would be too busy at university. But the ns for that would have to be dyed until Haru could deal with the demon problem. He couldn''t do anything that he wanted to until that had passed.


    He didn''t even want to go into closed-door cultivation like he had done in the basement at Zen''s house out of fear that the fighting would already be over by the time he emerged once again. He couldn''t let people fight on his behalf without being there himself to do whatever he could to lessen the burden on them. It wouldn''t feel right.


    After helping Suyin pack her things up he carried her bags down to the lobby hotel and handed them to the manager that hade to the door the previous day. He took the bags without hesitation but seemed to struggle to pick them up. Haru ended up feeling bad for him and helped by carrying one of the bags to the car himself. Suyin got into the car before anyone could recognise her and The manager closed the trunk after putting the bags in.


    Haru walked around to the side of the car and said goodbye to Suyin with a kiss before deciding that he should make his way back. He was interested in the other sect that Granny Lin had mentioned but he also remembered that she said that the leader of that sect was the reason why Teacher Lin had been avoiding her for ny years. He felt bad and wanted to help her out so he decided that he would stay far away from that sect even if their help would make things a lot easier.


    Haru made his way to the edge of the city until he was out of sight from everyone before taking off up into the sky once again. He had gotten used to flying by using magic in his previous life but it still amazed him. He had never gotten over the thrill he would get when soaring through the sky like a hawk.


    He remembered the direction that he hade from when he was on his way to Beijing so going back would be much easier for him. He didn''t need to constantly look at a map and he could take in his surroundings. As he was flying he quickly began to get a headache from the sound of the wind passing past his ears and then remembered that he had some headphone in one of the bags that were still stored in his storage ring. So he put them in and yed music while flying.


    It was even more peaceful this time. It felt as though he was in his own little bubble as he was far away from anyone. But it might not have been a good idea to listen to music while he was flying. He had drifted a little higher so that he could get over the top of a mountain that was blocking the way but without realising he had flown into a flight path for nes.


    And because he was ying music he didn''t hear the engines as the ne flew right towards him. Compared to a jumbo jet a human would look like an insect so the pilots didn''t realise they were heading for a person until it was toote.


    "Is that a man!?" One of the pilots shouted in confusion as they headed towards Haru, who was flying just a little slower than the n.


    "You really are a newbie aren''t you. You see things stranger than flying people in this line of work. It''s fine we won''t hit him." The other pilot bragged before yanking down on the stick and gaining a little more altitude.


    Haru didn''t even notice the ne until a dark shadow passed over him and he looked up to see the painted metal body of themercial airline.


    "They didn''t see me did they?" Haru said to himself as dread set in. He thought that he would be alone up in the sky but he didn''t consider the fact that nes would be able to see him. He had gotten lucky before since he hadn''t run into one before but this incident made him conscious of his surroundings. And he decided to descend a little bit so he could keep out of the way.


    He was flying over the wilderness right now and did not need to hide. Since the chances of someone seeing him was low. But even so, he couldn''t help but worry now. And as he flew he kept his spiritual sense out in front of him so he would know if there was anyone that might see him.


    Haru brushed the tips of the trees with his hand as he flew back to Shanghai and eventually he saw the same skyline that he was familiar with. It had taken him around forty minutes to get back. Somewhere along the way he had picked up speed and ended up home quicker than he was anticipating. He made his way home first to check on Lao and Meiling.


    He wasn''t sure how much he had done and was genuinely more concerned if he had killed anyone. He knew that Lao''s short temper would eventually be the death of someone. And the people he had sent Lao to bring back to Shanghai were proud so they would be offended if he said anything that hurt their pride.


    But as he opened his front door he noticed that everything was silent. There was no sign of Lao but it was quite obvious that Meiling had been here recently by the stacks of pillows on the floor and the fort that had been built using the chairs from the kitchen and a couple of nkets.


    Haru smiled. After everything she had been through, he was happy to see that she was still acting like a kid. When he was her age he had already been forced to kill someone and that had changed him. He wasn''t sure how she was going to end up after the trauma she had been through but it seemed like she didn''t let it bother her.


    He had forgotten that he had no way to contact Lao since he didn''t have a phone so he decided to wait. He waited in the living room and ended up cleaning up after Meiling and improving on her fort as a surprise but when the sun started to set he became a little worried. He had no idea what they would be doing out all this time and had even less of an idea of where they would be.


    He just hoped that Lao wasn''t sitting in a holding cell somewhere. He was getting fed up with waiting and decided to switch on the TV to kill time. Only to be instantly met by one of the local news channels.


    Just as he was about to switch channels to something more entertaining it suddenly switched to a scene of the serpentine resort. There were hundreds of cars parked up along the street and it had been the main source of news in Shanghai all day.


    "No one knows what is going on but many of the cars you see parked up here today belong to the government. It seems like there is an exclusive event going on for those people at the top of the social hierarchy and the police have already blocked off the streets in the surrounding area." The news reporter said.


    "Government vehicles at the serpentine resort? Lao what did you do now!?" Haru began to panic before rushing out and flying across the city to see what was going on for himself. But as soon as he arrived he was met by the scene that he had previously seen on the TV.

 Chapter 238: What do you think of the place?

    Chapter 238: What do you think of the ce?


    He looked down at the scene below him. He couldn''t tell what was going on but even from outside and flying dozens of metres above in the sky he could tell that there was an abundance of Qi emerging from within the resort. He didn''t quite understand what was going on but he knew that the ce was full of strong cultivators. But one thing stood out to him.


    It was Lao''s Qi that was so strong that it overpowered the Qi from anyone who was inside.


    ''Lao, I swear if you ughter a bunch of strong cultivators I will kill you. We need their help right now.'' Haru thought, underestimating Lao''s self-control. But he had a reason for that since whenever Lao would get mad he would usually act out against the person that had made him mad.


    Before anything could happen Haru decided to make his way down and toward the serpentine resort. He didn''t know what to expect when he got there but there was a feeling of anxiety brewing in his stomach. He could still feel that the Qi hadn''t faded which was a good sign. It meant that Lao hadn''t killed anyone yet. As he started to make his way toward the resort the security began to get tighter.


    At the outskirt of the four-block radius that was blocked off, there were a few police cars that were directing traffic away from the resort. But on the block directly surrounding it, there were soldiers with guns and a few cultivators on standby.


    It was nothing that Haru wouldn''t be able to deal with and he could even sneak past them if he really wanted to. But he wasn''t going to sneak onto his own property. He didn''t care who they were. If they nned to stop him then he wouldn''t be able to hold back.


    He flew down to the floor in in view of the soldiers and cultivators that were surrounding the resort to immediately be met by guns being pointed at him.


    "Stop right there. State your business!" One of the soldiers shouted as he aimed his rifle at his chest.


    Haru swished his hand and used his Qi to lift the soldier into the air and threw him into the water fountain that was situated outside the main entrance.


    "The next person to point a weapon at me on my own property will die. If you value your life then drop your weapons." Haru gave his first and final warning to the soldiers that were blocking his path.


    ''They dare toe on to my property and threaten me? I''m not the proud type like Lao or Li Jun but even I won''t stand to be disrespected in such a way." Haru thought to himself before looking around at the other soldiers to see if they heeded his warning.


    But that wasn''t the case. He sighed slightly ''I did warn them But I will still make this as painless as I can.'' He thought before gathering even more Qi than he had used to throw the man and then began to form a me in his hand using the power of his bloodline. If he vapourised them they wouldn''t feel any pain.


    He felt bad since he had been in their position before. They were blindly following orders. Even when faced with inevitable death they would still have to hold strong to keep their Honor as soldiers. But just as he was about to release the me and consume all of the people pointing guns at him a woman''s voice called out from the main entrance of the resort.


    "Wait a minute! We didn''te here for a fight!" The voice called out.


    Haru looked over to see that it was the same woman that had seen Lao kill the demon a few nights before. "She''s here? What is this about? Major Niu, that was her name wasn''t it?" Haru thought as he recognised her.


    "Then what is this about. Who decided to bring soldiers to my property and tell them to point their guns at me? If that isn''t a threat of violence then I don''t know what is" Haru stated. If they didn''te to fight then why would they point guns at him? It made no sense why they would point weapons at someone they didn''t want to fight.


    "Ah That was, um. Well, my boss gave the order to keep civilians away from this ce. He said that he didn''t want anyone distracting him before the meeting tomorrow." Major Niu exined. She sounded confused about the situation herself but she didn''t seem to be lying.


    "Wait The meeting tomorrow? So that means you are here to help?" Haru asked. He was surprised by the sudden revtion. They had tried to kill him before so he didn''t expect that they woulde to the meeting that he was holding for his friends and acquaintances he had met so far.


    He looked at her for a moment and then back at the guards who had all lowered their weapons since Major Niu hade outside. The soldiers trusted her with their lives and someone who could inspire such confidence frommon soldiers was never a bad person.


    He didn''t know what they really came here for, but he trusted his instincts and there was nothing hinting that there might have been some ulterior motive that he didn''t know about or that they wanted to kill him.


    "That isn''t for me to decide but my boss decided toe here in person just to hear what you had to say. He said he will decide what we''re going to do once we hear whatever you have to say." Major Niu said.


    "Oh, I see. Then what about the people inside. Why are there a lot of strong cultivators here? Are you trying to threaten my teacher by bringing so many?" Haru asked. He didn''t know for sure but by using his spiritual sense, he could tell that there were at least twenty nascent soul stage cultivators inside the banquet hall on the second floor.


    Previously the most nascent soul stage cultivators he had seen in one ce at the same time was two. The two that had tried to kill him and after one of them was killed Major Niu reced him. He didn''t know how many cultivators at the nascent soul stage there were in China but if there were twenty in one room then that would most likely be a big proportion of them.


    "Those experts? They said that you invited them here I was going to ask you the same thing since they were here before we were. The only reason my boss became so interested in this matter is because almost all of the nascent soul stage cultivators had gathered here the day before." Major Niu exined.


    "Almost all of them? How many are there in total then?" Haru was now even more confused.


    "Well, the government has five nascent soul stage cultivators. We did have six But as you know one of them was killed a few nights ago. And the cultivation association has three. The others are spread out between many different sects.


    There are about ten that we know of. So it was strange when twenty-three of them appeared in this ce." Major Niu exined.


    Haru tried to think about the ck star sect. He knew that the three elders were all at the nascent soul stage and the sect masters wife was too. But he also had heard rumours about there being a few others that refused to show themselves within the sect. But it wasn''t likely that the sect master had ordered all of them to help out.


    That was the only thing he could think of since he didn''t know that many cultivators at the nascent soul stage.


    "Lao where did you find so many people to help?" Haru muttered to himself before pushing past both the soldiers and Major Niu and walking into the resort through the main entrance. As he did so the Qi became a little overwhelming and it wasn''t surprising to see a few weaker cultivators sitting down in the lobby and absorbing the Qi that was being released by the twenty-three nascent soul stage cultivates and the sixty or manifestation stage cultivators that were in the banquet hall.


    It wasn''t an urate calction since the Qi was being muddled together since they were within close proximity to each other but he was still sure that there were more cultivators in the banquet hall than he had met before.


    Haru hesitated slightly before turning the door handle and stepping foot into the room. But as he did he felt a happy atmosphere. It was unexpected since he thought that with so many cultivators being together there were bound to be high tensions between them but as he looked around he saw that everyone was getting along with each other.


    He looked to the front of the room where seven people were sitting together, facing the doors that he had just walked through and he instantly recognised a few of them. The sect master was sitting alongside Teacher Lin and the third elder that he had only seen once.


    But beside them, there was an elven woman with long blond hair. She was wearing a short white dress with metal te armour on her wrists, torso, shoulders and legs. Haru had never seen her before but whoever she was, she looked like she was ready for a fight. And next to her there was an old man who was short and chubby with a long beard that was tied into three braids.


    He looked like a mix between a pirate and a dwarf which was a bitical but his strength wasn''t something to be looked down upon. Even he was at the nascent soul stage. He looked at thest remaining person who was sitting right in the middle of the room with a smile on his face.


    It was Lao. And he was looking directly back at Haru from across the room. He had sensed Haru since he arrived outside the resort and was waiting for his appearance before announcing to everyone that the one who had called them all here had arrived.


    "Haru, What do you think of the ce?" Lao asked with a grin on his face as the room fell silent with just a couple of words from him and everyone turned to look toward the door where Haru was standing.

 Chapter 239: Ruella Waldon.

    Chapter 239: Rue Waldon.


    Lao stood up upon seeing Haru looking back at him and then began to walk over to him. A gap in the crowd of cultivators opened up as he made his way through them. I looked as though he was a king and was making his way past a crowd of his subjects.


    ''Just what did you do Lao?'' Haru thought to himself. He didn''t know what had happened in the two days that he had been gone but it was clearly something drastic and sudden for Lao to have gained so much respect from this many cultivators.


    "That''s him?" A few of the people in the crowd whispered to each other. They hade all this way without so much as knowing what Haru looked like yet they were here to help him fight off an enemy that was specifically targeting him. A look of doubt came from many of the people in the room as they looked him up and down.


    There was no sign of him being a cultivator let alone a cultivator that was strong enough to defeat three manifestation stage experts at the same time. In the past couple of days, stories had spread far and wide about Haru.


    With all the people who were waiting for his appearance, it was only natural. They didn''t have much to go off but what they had heard from others. Like the fact that he had wiped out a whole sect single-handedly in less than three hours. That wasn''t something many people had done before and if the information was released to the public it would have given him a legendary status amongst cultivators his age.


    There was also the story about him healing an incurable injury for old man Zhu. It was a story that was backed up by the Zhu family so it was creditable but they weren''t sure if it was exaggerated or not. The Zhu family had previously been to all of the famous medical practitioners in the country and they all concluded that it was incurable. Yet an unknown eighteen-year-old student came out of nowhere and healed him.


    It was a bitter pill to swallow, yet they still came to see for themselves.


    Then finally there was the story about getting on the bad side of an unbeatable force to the point where they would kill billions of people just to kill him alongside them. That was the thing that worried them the most. If the stories were true then they would all die if they didn''t gather and fight against the demon n.


    The news was still fresh amongst the younger generation of the sects since the old masters purposely avoided talking about them so their disciples wouldn''t be discouraged from the fact that no matter how strong they got as long as they remained on earth they wouldn''t have even the slightest chance of bing strong.


    As Lao walked over he put his arm around Haru''s shoulder.


    "Come on, I will take you to meet all of the people I gathered for you." Lao smiled. He was waiting for apliment but Haru was too confused to even think about praising him for being able to gather so many people.


    Lao then led him up to the front of the room where the sect master, teacher Lin and the third elder were waiting.


    "Why are you two here? I was expecting you to send a few people at most to help." Haru stated. It came as a bit of surprise to him that the strongest members of the sect hade personally.


    "Why are we here? To help you fight of course. And as the current sect master of the ck star sect, I couldn''t stand by as a first-generation disciple found himself in a spot of trouble. And a descendant of the Chen family I can''t just simply send a few disciples when My great grandfather''s student is facing danger." The sect master said proudly.


    "The student of the sect masters great grandfather?" A few of the people in the room began to discuss what they had just heard.


    "A first-generation disciple? Doesn''t that mean he holds more power than even the sect master?" A few of the old men from the ck star sect looked at each other in shock. They didn''t know why such important information was kept from them.


    "Wait, Shen! You mean to tell me that this boy is "His" Student!?" The elven woman jumped up from the seat that she was previously sat down in and then walked over to Haru before putting her face directly next to his and then tugging his cheeks slightly as she waited for an answer.


    "Well I guess you could say that" The sect master said with hesitation. He had gone and done it now. Li Jun had asked him to keep the secret to the grave yet he had just said it out loud in a room filled with more than fifty people.


    He didn''t even want to imagine what kind of cruel punishment Li Jun would have for him but if he was going from the stories that his grandfather had mentioned then it wouldn''t be anything good.


    "Huh, I''m sorry. Please forgive me." The elven woman bowed her head before quickly removing her hands from his face. Her bow was followed by an audible gasp as the old man that was sat beside her also bowed his head.


    "Why is our sect master bowing to this boy? What''s going on?" The sect members that the elven woman had brought with her now became outraged by what they were seeing. No one had ever made their sect master bow yet in the span of a couple of days two unknown men had made her bow down to them.


    "What''s going on?" Haru asked quietly. He was confused by what was happening.


    "Probably because Li Jun saved the elven n a while back. They were on the verge of being wiped out during a civil war yet he intervened and killed one of the three elven gods. She is giving her respect to you as the descendant of Waldon." Lao exined. But as he mentioned the name of the family that the woman came from Haru''s ears perked up.


    "You''re a descendant of Waldon?" Haru asked quickly.


    "Yes, I am. I''m sorry for disrespe-" She began to apologise but Haru cut her off.


    "No, there''s no need to apologise. It''s just. I have a friend who is also a descendant of Waldon. I was wondering if you know how things are back home?" Haru asked. Ever since he had heard Jasper''s voice call out to him he had been worried about his safety. He understood that the elven n didn''t want to get involved in the current conflict but he still wanted to hear it from someone who would know the situation with the elven n from first-hand experience.


    "You have a friend from my family? I''m happy to hear that but I haven''t received any word from my homnd in around twenty millennia. I''m sorry but I couldn''t tell you what it''s like there even if I wanted to.


    The reason I followed Shen here was to escape my family''s politics so I purposely avoided contact with them." The elven woman spoke with sympathy. She was sorry that she couldn''t help him but that was out of her control.


    "I''m sorry. I just got my hopes up when hearing you were from the Waldon family." Haru apologised. He didn''t mean to bring up bad memories. Something bad obviously happened and he felt bad about reminding her. Well, he assumed it was something bad since she had run away from home and been in hiding for twenty thousand years. That wasn''t something people do when they are happy.


    "It''s fine. I think of myself as more of a human these days anyway. After living among them for so long it''s hard not to feel epted." The elven woman smiled. She seemed friendly. Much more so than when he had first met Maya. She reminded him of Jasper in a way but he figured that was probably because they were raised with the same morals if they were from the same family.


    "I''m Rue by the way. And this over here is Drobo." She pointed to the short chubby man with the long braided beard.


    "It''s nice to meet you Rue and Drobo. I''m d that you''re here but the meeting won''t happen until tomorrow. So I can''t really give you much information about why you are here-" Haru exined but was quickly cut off.


    "It''s fine, there''s no need to exin. That fine young gentleman already exined everything to us when Shen brought him over to our sect. Out of respect for the man who saved my ancestor, I will fight until the demon n are destroyed or I die." Rue said and then pounded her chest with her fist. A loud ng echoed throughout the room as the te Armour rung out like a cymbal.


    "Well then. Thank you. I was starting to get worried that I would die but seeing the number of people that are here I feel like my luck just might change." Haru smiled and then looked down at Drobo who was sipping something from arge brass cup.


    "Shen said he would give me something if I helped. I don''t really have much to say but I will make sure that you survive or else I won''t get my reward." Drobo said and then looked up at Sect Master Shen who was smiling with a sadistic grin.


    "Urm, Haru It''s okay if I call you that isn''t it?" Rue asked politely.


    "Go ahead. There''s no need to be polite." Haru smiled. She had a lot of admiration for Li Jun which was obvious by how polite she was towards Haru after knowing he is Li Jun''s student. He couldn''t help but feel happy.


    "Okay, Well I think you might have misunderstood me a little. The people I brought today are just a few of my direct disciples. In my sect, there are currently around two thousand members and they will all be fighting alongside you.


    When I said that I will fight until I die. I meant I will fight until my legacy dies with me. I will help my family pay your teacher back for saving us all those years ago. I wouldn''t be able to live with myself if I let our saviour''s student die." Rue exined.


    Haru took another look around the room. He was already overjoyed at the fact that sixty people were here to help fight. But now hearing that two thousand other cultivators were going to fight he couldn''t even begin to put that into proportion. And his mind went nk.

 Chapter 240: Revenge?

    Chapter 240: Revenge?


    "You saidTwo thousand?" Haru asked. He couldn''t believe it. He didn''t expect the demon n to send many people if it was just a small unknown like earth. Even one or two of their stronger cultivators would be able to ughter everyone there. Just like the demon Lao killed.


    Two thousand cultivators seemed a little overkill for the job but as he thought about it more he thought that it would probably be better if there were two thousand cultivators. It would be harder to organise them for the fight.


    But if it came down to an all-out battle then numbers would help a lot even if the enemy was a lot stronger than most of the people that would be fighting.


    "Yes, I have two thousand cultivators within my sect. Although not all of them are suited for fighting. My sect focuses on arrays more thanbat so they will be a great help in protecting the area.


    From what your friend told us I have a pretty good idea that they wille to the exact spot where he killed the demon a few nights ago. If that''s the case then my sect can help to protect the city.


    We don''t need civilians getting involved in the fight after all." Rue said with a smile. For someone from another n, she was very empathetic for the humans living on earth.


    Haru nodded his head in agreement.


    "Yeah, Then in that case I will leave the protection for the city in your hands." Haru smiled back at her before his eyes drifted over to Sect Master Shen who looked as though he had something to say.


    As soon as Haru''s eyes met his own, he said what was on his mind.


    "I might not have as many people as Rue in my sect but we currently have fourteen nascent soul realm cultivators, around seventy manifestation stage cultivators and then one hundred and forty cultivators at other stages.


    The people below the manifestation stage probably won''t be able to fight so do you mind if I put them on guard duty? Their job will be to keep people in their homes and make sure that no one wanders off toward the fighting." He asked.


    "It''s your sect. You decide what you want to do with your people. I''m just happy that you came at all. This is all my fault and you didn''t have to get involved in this.


    So thank you to both of you." Haru thanked both Rue and Sect Master Shen with a bow of his head and then turned around after a faint cough came from over his shoulder.


    As he turned he was now facing the other nascent soul stage cultivators that hade to see what all of themotions was about. But one of them stood out amongst them.


    It was the old man that Haru had met in Shenzhen. He was the one that was with Lian and also a member of the cultivation association.


    "Lao, Where''s Meiling?" Haru used his spiritual sense to ask Lao. If one of the people from the cultivation association was here then they definitely knew about him kidnapping Meiling from their headquarters just a few nights before.


    "She''s sleeping in the backroom. Why what is it?" Lao became concerned upon hearing Haru''s question.


    "That old man there. He is from the cultivation association. I''m not sure what he''s here for but he probably knows that we were the one that took Meiling and killed one of their people." Haru exined what he was worried about to Lao.


    Lao immediately began to sense the man''s power.


    "Oh, It''s the man who interrupted your fight that one time," Lao said, surprised by the fact that he was here too.


    But suddenly without warning the old man stepped forward and kneeled down on the floor in front of Sect Master Shen.


    "This Junior pays his respects to the sect master." The old man put his hands together and put his head down to the floor as he spoke.


    Sect Master Shen looked at everyone present with confusion. He didn''t know what it was about but he knew that he had never met the man in front of him.


    "Do I know you?" He asked.


    "No, But my teacher''s teacher once had the pleasure to duel with the evil god a long time ago. My teacher passed the story down to me and told me that if I ever met anyone from your sect that I should treat them with the utmost respect." The old man exined.


    "You''re teacher fought against an evil god? What does that have to do with my sect?" Shen asked. Now even more confused than he was before.


    "My apologies Sect master. I mean the man that guards your gate. He was given the nickname Evil God since everyone who faces him dies. Just like my teacher''s teacher did." The old man exined.


    Shen Looked over at teacher Lin with a look of confusion.


    "Is that so? Well then What is it you want?" Shen asked. He thought it was a revenge thing. He was expecting the old man to challenge him to a fight or something but since he kneeled down it felt strange to him.


    "I don''t want anything. I just wanted to say that It would be my honour to fight beside you." The old man said with a sincere smile.


    Haru and Lao looked at each other for a moment. They thought that he was there about the incident with Meiling but in fact, he was there because he was a fan of the sect master and teacher Lin?


    "What!?" Haru couldn''t hold back his words. He was at a loss.


    "Hmm?" Shen looked at Haru, confused yet again.


    "It''s nothing, I just had a little misunderstanding. I thought the old man was here to pick a fight. I didn''t expect him to be a fan of the sect." Haru stated.


    "You thought I was here to pick a fight Wait a minute I know you. You''re that boy I met back in Shenzhen when I lost a subordinate to the evil god. But you look different" The old man said softly.


    "I swear if someone calls me an evil god one more time" Teacher Lin sighed and covered his face with his hand out of embarrassment.


    "Yeah, I thought you were here about what happened a few nights ago," Haru replied.


    "A few nights ago? What happened a few nights ago? Wait, so you''re also the one who killed one of our teachers and kidnapped one of the students too?" The old man asked.


    For someone who was high up in the cultivation organization, he was pretty ill-informed. He didn''t seem to know anything.


    "Well, yeah. Your teacher assaulted her so I killed him. Is that a problem for you?" Haru asked. He wanted to know if now that he had found out that Haru was the one responsible for the death of an association member, he was going to take revenge.


    It was better to confront him while everyone was around. After all, the old man was a nascent soul stage cultivator and it would pose a problem if he was strong enough to take revenge. While everyone was nearby it was safer for Haru to talk to him.


    "A problem? Why would that be a problem? If he assaulted a child then he should be punished for his actions. You punished him for his actions so it''s fine. He won''t be assaulting children in the future will he?" The old man said with a smile.


    It was the same smile he had when Haru had first met him. It was as if you could trust him with even your deepest and darkest secrets. He seemed to be a friendly guy and didn''t hold a grudge for what happened but that was what made the situation even stranger for Haru.


    "You''re sure? I killed a member of your association. Isn''t that a big deal?" Haru asked.


    "It''s fine. There is no one on earth who could even think about taking revenge against you with these powerful backers. Why would I be mad about him being killed for offending someone who is stronger than him? The whole association already voted to drop the matter." The old man said.


    Haru took a few seconds to think. ''Really? I thought that they woulde for revenge right away. But if it happened within their property then it wouldn''t have been leaked so I guess they don''t need to protect their pride''


    "Well then, If that''s the case then wee aboard. The meeting will start at nine o''clock tomorrow morning. I will go into details about what is happening.


    And the same goes for everyone else here. If you want to know what''s going on and want to help then stay here tonight. I have rooms avable for everyone who hase all the way here.


    There will be food and drink provided for you all night and I have some gifts for everyone who decides to help." Haru announced to everyone present.


    That was when someone stood out to him. At the back of the room. There was arge muscr man with a thick bushy beard, wearing a green military dress uniform with badges and medals on his chest. Over his right eye, there was a leather eye patch and on his hip, there was a gold and red sabre.


    Major Niu stood next to the man and was talking to him. But as she spoke he didn''t once take his eyes from Haru. He was staring with so much intent that it was beginning to make him feel nervous.


    "You have nothing to worry about. If he tries anything I will kill him where he stands." Lao said to Haru.


    "You don''t have to kill him. I just want to know what he wants." Haru said quietly before walking over to him. Lao began to talk and took the attention away from Haru as he made his way over to Major Niu and the man beside her.

 Chapter 241: Moon berry wine.

    Chapter 241: Moon berry wine.


    "So you''re the one responsible for the death of one of my men huh? I was wondering when you would show up" The muscr man said as soon as Haru approached him. Haru looked at him for a few moments and then over at Major Niu who was looking at the man with disbelief.


    "Listen, If you''re here for a fight then just pack your shit up and leave already before you get yourself hurt old man." Haru took a deep breath and sighed. The muscr man was also a nascent soul stage cultivator like Major Niu but his strength was in fact much greater than hers. But to Haru, he was just another cultivator. He didn''t hold a candle to Lao or any of the cultivators that he had met in the soul tempering grounds.


    "You little" The muscr man said in disbelief. He couldn''t believe that he was being spoken to in that way. But as soon as he began to speak he felt a chill down his spine. It was unlike anything that he had felt before.


    He was a nascent soul stage cultivator and he had fought against many people stronger than him in his lifetime. But the feeling that he had felt when he began to speak was enough to shut his mouth instantly.


    The muscr man then looked up to the very back of the room to see a young man with long blue hair and glowing green eyes staring at him. It looked as though he was looking into the eyes of death. He felt as though if he moved he would die at any moment.


    "That''s the The dragon that I told you about." Major Niu whispered in his ear.


    The muscr man took a deep breath and then eased up a little as he redirected his gaze back towards Haru.


    "No, I didn''te here for a fight. I came here for the sake of China. Word of what happened has been ryed to the government and they are nning to issue a national state of emergency over the next few weeks.


    We have known about the extraterrestrials living here for quite some time. It is an internationally guarded secret. Both the US and Russia also have extraterrestrials living in their countries because their governments havee to agreements with them. For information on technology, they are allowed to live peacefully.


    But we didn''t know about the information that has been shared here over thest couple of days.


    So is it as the rumours say? Those extraterrestrials are in fact evil demons from a different world?" The muscr man asked. He seemed to understand the basics of what was going on but was in fact so out of the loop that Haru felt bad for him.


    "If you really want to know then follow me. I will take you to my office so we can talk in private. I will try to let you understand just how little you know." Haru smiled and then began to walk towards the golden elevator.


    Haru still had a lot to learn about the upper realms but he was at least a little bit confident that he could answer most of the questions that the muscr man and Major Niu had for him. But as he was about to step into the elevator with the muscr man someone rushed in front of him.


    "Hi again," Rue said as she stepped in before them.


    "What are you doing? The elevator only goes to my office. There''s nothing for you to do up there." Haru asked and then stated in confusion. He didn''t know what she meant by boarding the elevator before them but she smiled before replying.


    "I swore that I will protect you. No matter the threat. And from what I understand, you don''t know these two people so well and they are both stronger than you. And I can even help answer questions." Rue said and then waved her hand back and forth gesturing for them to get into the elevators.


    The muscr man stopped dead in his tracks upon seeing Rue. He couldn''t even detect her presence as she appeared in front of them. It was as though she was the embodiment of the wind. She moved both silently and swiftly and he didn''t know what to say.


    He stared at her for a few moments and admired her beauty. Her skin looked soft and supple without a single blemish and her hair was long and straight but still had a natural volume to it as though she had woken up looking like that. But what stood out to him the most was the sight of two pointed ears that poked out from underneath her hair.


    "It''s rude to stare at ady''s ears you know?" Rue stated bluntly as she noticed his gaze. She had a look on her face that said "If you look at me again I will rip your head from your shoulders and force you to eat your own heart." And the muscr man seemed to get the message.


    He looked away and down at the ground before she could say anything else. He didn''t know who the woman was but he did know that she wasn''t someone he could offend.


    Rue quickly changed her attitude as she smiled at Haru and looked at him with admiration.


    "Shall we go then?" She asked in a cheery voice.


    "Okay, If you insist then I won''t stop you froming," Haru spoke as if he had a say in the matter. But the reality of it was that even if he didn''t want her toe with him there was nothing he could do to stop her. She hade from the upper realms and her real cultivation was far beyond what he could even imagine.


    She had restricted her cultivation so she could live on earth but that didn''t change the experience and knowledge she had. She probably knew techniques that could kill someone from miles away and that alone was enough to make Haru not want to question her intentions even if she was being friendly.


    "Come on then, let''s head up," Haru said to both Major Niu and the muscr man before they both got into the elevator and went up to the third floor where the office that Haru had met Han in was.


    It was now his office and this would be the first time that he was seeing it since the first day he hade here. But as he entered everything remained the same. Han had left everything for Haru including the alcohol that was stored underneath the table.


    Haru walked to the other side of the desk and sat down before asking them both to sit. Rue on the other hand sat on the edge of the desk facing Haru and at an angle with her back to the two guests on the other side. She crossed her arms and stayed quiet while Haru spoke.


    Out of courtesy he pressed the button on the desk and brought out the sses and alcohol within. He pulled out four sses and ced them on the desk before popping the cap off the bottle of wine that was inside.


    But just before he started to pour it. Rue grabbed his hand.


    "No, don''t drink that." She said with a serious expression on her face.


    Haru then remembered that Han was the only person who knew that he was going to the Leung family''s house that night and the only person who could have betrayed him. It wasn''t too much to expect him to poison the alcohol in the office too.


    Rue smiled slightly before taking the bottle out of Haru''s hand.


    A sh of white light shot out from her hand before arge jade bottle appeared in her hand as she took it out of her storage ring.


    "This is moon berry wine. It''s a delicacy from my homnd and is made of true Qi spirit fruit. There''s no point in drinking that pathetic earth alcohol if it won''t even get you drunk." She said softly and then pulled the sses closer to her before pouring everyone a ss.


    "Thank you. I didn''t expect you to have this kind of stuff with you. I heard that alcohol was expensive in the upper realms." Haru said to her before passing the two sses to the other side of the table.


    "It is. That''s why I taught myself how to make it." Rue smiled before taking a sip from her ss. She sighed after gulping down a mouthful and then looked back at Haru as he took a sip for himself.


    "Thank you, ma''am," The muscr man said upon receiving the ss. Major Niu looked at him with confusion but she too thanked Rue for the drink before Haru started to exin what was going on.


    The drank and drank throughout the night until Haru was slurring his words. He wasn''t a big drinker in his past life so this was really the first time he was feeling the effects of alcohol although it was hundreds of times stronger since this was a drink made specifically for cultivators. If a regr person drank it they would probably die as soon as it entered their stomach.


    "So what about the dragon? I didn''t think dragons existed." The muscr man said through slurred words. with his cheeks glowing red.


    "The easiest way to exin mythical creatures to you is probably the stories that have been passed down through generations of humans here on earth. All the creatures you know as myths exist in the upper realms.


    The stories originate from the first humans that came to earth and then passed it down to their descendants. And the stories of demons that your religions follow are in fact derived from the same demon n that ising to attack us." Rue exined in Haru''s stead as he couldn''t stop huping.


    They shared information until the early hours of the morning until they decided it was enough. Haru waspletely wasted. He struggled to stand on his own and Rue had to help him into the bedroom that was connected to the office. Shey him down on the bed and as soon as his head touched the pillow he fell asleep. There was nothing he could do about it.

 Chapter 242: Cecilia!

    Chapter 242: Cecilia!


    Haru awoke to his head throbbing like it had never done before. As he opened his eyes he immediately squinted in pain as the light made his headache. He turned over to his front and buried his head into his pillow.


    "Ugh" He let out a muffled groan from the pain thatst night''s drinking had caused for him. It felt as if his brain was about to drop out of his skull and he rolled over slightly on the bed. It was like nothing he had ever felt.


    But as he rolled he felt the sensation of something both soft yet firm next to him.


    ''What was that?'' He thought to himself before slowly opening his eyes. But as he did he jumped back in fear and fell backwards over the side of the bed.


    "Shit!" He said to himself just before his head hit the floor. He then opened his eyes once again and looked up at the bed to see that Rue wasying on the other side. She was still sleeping but for some reason, she had no clothes on at all.


    ''No! What the fuck? I didn''t do "that" did I? This is bad. This is so bad. She is probably going to kill me when she wakes up.'' Haru thought to himself before looking down and seeing that he was still fully clothed.


    He let out a sigh.


    "Ahh Thank god. I thought that I might have" He said in relief. There was no sign that he had tried to take off his clothes so he ruled out the thought that he might have done something terrible. But the question still remained.


    ''Why did she sleep next to me? And why is she naked?'' Haru asked himself. He didn''tpletely remember what had happened the night before but he didn''t feel like he became close enough to her for her to feelfortable sleeping next to him.


    And he definitely didn''t feelfortable sleeping next to her. The whole situation was strange but his answers would soon be answered when a quiet moan pushed its way from Rue''s mouth and she stretched her arms up above her head.


    As she did so, the nket slipped down a little so Haru looked away out of fear of instant death if he saw anything.


    "Good morning" Haru said awkwardly before standing up and looking out of the window that was next to the bed as if he had been doing that all along.


    "You''re awake? I was convinced that you would never wake up. You sleep like a baby. You reminded me of my son when he was young." Rue let out a little giggle before the bed started to creak as she stood up followed by footsteps as she walked over to Haru''s side.


    "Are you looking at anything interesting?" She whispered into his ear.


    "Hm, Not really. I just didn''t want to look at you like that." Haru sighed and continued looking straight ahead, not daring to peak back at her.


    "Like what?" Rue asked and then took a few steps back. Haru felt more of an urge to turn around for some reason but he stayed strong and kept facing the window.


    "I am wearing clothes you know. Did you think that I would fall asleep next to you whilepletely naked?" Rueughed.


    ''She''s wearing clothes? But I could have sworn?'' Haru thought before turning around. But as he did he realised that he didn''t make a mistake. She was in fact still naked. He quickly covered his eyes and then turned back around.


    "Ha, Tricked you. Your reaction was so cute. But you shouldn''t get so excited over a granny like me." She said yfully. Haru kept his eyes closed but after a few moments, he began to hear the sounds of rustling fabric as she put her clothes back on.


    "Okay then, No more tricks. I have my clothes on now." She announced. But Haru was still a little hesitant. He turned slowly with his hands still over his eyes before peaking to make sure that she was telling the truth. After seeing that she had clothes on he removed his hands and sighed.


    "Why did you do that? Why did you even sleep next to me?" Haru asked. He felt outraged by what just happened. He didn''t know her and also felt like he was betraying Suyin''s trust by what had just happened.


    "Well I guess it''s just been a while since anyone has looked at me like I was a woman and not just an olddy." Rue said with a sad smile on her face. Haru looked at her with pity for a moment before deciding that it was probably for the best that he didn''t make a big deal out of it...


    Thest thing he wanted was an emotionally unstable nascent soul stage cultivator walking around the city. That was just a recipe for disaster.


    "Just don''t do that again, please. It doesn''t make me happy to wake up and find women sleeping in my bed. I have a girlfriend and I don''t want to hurt her. So if you need to in future just let me sleep on the couch or the floor." Haru insisted. He figured that it would probably be best to be upfront with her and that seemed to work as she took interest in his words.


    "You have a girlfriend? Is she pretty? Let me see her." Rue insisted. She started to tug on Haru''s arm and demanded that he show her pictures of his girlfriend.


    "Fine, Just hold on a second." Haru sighed and then pulled out his phone and opened the album where Suyin stored all of the pictures they had together. He then handed it to Rue.


    Rue stood still and stared at the photos for a moment. She then brought it closer to her face.


    "Wow, she''s really pretty. But I feel like I have seen her before." Rue said quietly.


    "Well, you have," Haru said and then pointed to the billboard that was on the opposite side of the street. On the billboard, there was an advertisement for Suyin''s album that was going to release soon.


    "Wait, She''s that famous singer? I heard her songs once when one of the younger disciples was dancing around her room until midnight. That''s pretty amazing. But now you have to give me all of the details. Like how did you two meet and tell me how far you have gone." Rue said like a perverted old man with a huge grin on her face.


    "Fine, I will tell you while I eat. My stomach feels awful." Haru said.


    "Haha, Did the alcohol affect you that much? Okay then let''s go." Rueughed at him and then they both walked down to the banquet hall where the staff had prepared food for the guests like they had been instructed to. Haru then spoke with Rue about how he had met Suyin and told her stories about his life in Shenzhen.


    She listened to his stories until they werepleted and then asked questions of her own all the way until Major Niu and The muscr man walked in the hall. Major Niu was struggling to walk and the muscr man was supporting her weight by lending her his arm to hold on to.


    They looked over and saw both Haru and Rue talking before making their way over and joining them.


    "What was in that drink that you gave us? I have been throwing up all morning. Not to mention dealing with this mess." The muscr man said and then pointed at Major Niu who was struggling to stay upright while she was sitting.


    "Shut up Jiang you big oaf. I won''t be spoken to like that. You are lucky that I don''t!" Major Niu was about to say before stopping herself mid-sentence and holding her hand over her mouth as her face quickly turned pale.


    "Open wide." The voice of an old woman called out before suddenly Major Niu''s mouth was forced open and a green leaf was ced on her tongue.


    "Rue, What do I have to tell you about giving that stuff to the people of earth? You know it''s too strong for them." The old woman said again. Haru looked up to see a familiar face. It was Sect Master Shen''s wife that he had met when hest visited the sect.


    "Cecilia! What are you doing here? You didn''te with Shen so I thought that you might be staying back at the sect." Rue seemed excited by the presence of Shen''s wife. It seemed like they were pretty close. But the look on Cecilia''s face contradicted that fact.


    "Don''t you Cecilia me you little Minx. You almost ripped our sect apart with that little stunt you performed thest time I saw you." Cecilia said with a stern look but couldn''t hide her smile. She was also happy to see her even though she tried to hide it.


    "I was going to stay at the sect to look after the kids but I had Shen called me here because he left his sword at home. I''m just here to drop it off for him." Cecilia exined to Rue before she got up from her seat and hugged her.


    "Sorry Haru, Do you mind if I-" Rue asked. She felt like she had to protect him out of duty but she was so excited by Cecilia appearing that she had to go and catch up with her.


    "It''s fine, I need to prepare for my speechter anyway. You go and do your own thing. I doubt I will run into any harm here." Haruughed slightly before finishing his breakfast and talking with General Jiang and Major Niu a bit more. After he had finished talking to them he decided to go back to his office to prepare a speech. He needed to exin what was happening and inspire everyone to fight.

 Chapter 243: I will deal with it.

    Chapter 243: I will deal with it.


    "Hmm That seems good enough." Haru said to himself as he was sitting at the desk. He put down the pen and picked up the paper before inspecting it thoroughly. He then walked to the window to take a look outside. As he looked out on the street below he saw that a bunch more cked-out cars had pulled up to the front of the resort.


    He saw that the soldiers that were guarding the gate walked up to the cars and then knocked on the window. He couldn''t quite make out what was happening but the window of the lead car came down and as soon as the soldier got a view of the person inside he put down his gun and saluted.


    ''I wasn''t expecting more people from the government toe today'' He thought to himself as he watched on. The cars were then let through the barrier and parked outside the entrance and went out of Haru''s view.


    He then sat back down in the chair and made a few changes to the exnation that he was writing. There were only a few hours before he would have to start the meeting. He had instructed the staff to put out tables and chairs in the hall for everyone to sit down and listen to what he was going to talk about and he was just waiting for the clock to strike nine o''clock so he couldmence with the meeting.


    As soon as it turned nine a knock thumped against the door to his office.


    "Come in." He said, not realising that it was time. But as one of the employees entered he had a feeling that he knew what he was about to say.


    "Sir, it''s time. All of your guests are waiting for you in the hall." The employee said with a nervous smile.


    "Thanks for letting me know." I will head there right away. Can you send someone to clean this ce up too?" Haru asked of the employee before heading back down in the elevator to the first floor and walking down the corridor to get to the back entrance so he could get on to the stage without awkwardly walking past everyone.


    He walked into the backstage area and walked out onto the stage. As he walked out he noticed that there were now more than one hundred people there today. The number had almost doubled and he presumed that was due to the floating pce sect and the Hong family that was sitting at the very back of the room.


    One by one people began to notice that Haru was up on the stage and their attention slowly drifted away from their conversations and was redirected to Haru who was waiting patiently for them to stop talking and get prepared to listen to whatever he had to say. Once there wasplete silence Haru spoke up.


    "Hello, and wee. I know that I have met a few of you people before and for some of you this will be the first time you have ever seen me before. But I don''t want you to let that discourage you.


    I understand that you might have a general idea of what is going on but I will first go over a few things that will make it easier for the people that don''t know a thing to understand. So first I will tell you something that might be a little shocking or hard to believe.


    You may have believed that the nascent soul stage was the peak of strength since the strongest people in the world are at that stage but that actually couldn''t be further from the truth. The reason people don''t get stronger than the nascent soul stage is that there is a restriction ced on earth itself. The strongest a person can get through cultivation is the nascent soul stage. And if they do get stronger and reach a higher stage they will be rejected by the.


    The stage after the nascent soul is called the nirvana stage and once you reach it you will be teleported to another ne of existence called the middle realm. If I was to make it easier for you to understand then I would put it like this.


    Earth is a within the sr system which is within the milky way gxy which is within a universe that we haven''t named. A realm is a cluster of universes that all form together under the same restrictions. And the realm we are in is directly below the middle realm which is also a cluster of universes. But the restriction in that realm is less strict. And directly above the middle realm is the upper realm where the restrictions are almost non-existent.


    I wanted to share this with you to let you know that you can reach that height if you carry on with your cultivation." Haru exined and watched on as the faces of the people in the audience began to light up at the news. A few of the nascent soul cultivators that had no previous knowledge began to feel inspired once more. They had reached what they thought was the peak of strength and there was nothing more for them to do. But this information was enough to light a fire within them.


    "But unfortunately, You might not be able to carry on with your cultivation for long." Haru carried on and said suddenly after making them excited. There were grumbles from the audience as he told them that they wouldn''t be able to carry on cultivating.


    "What is that supposed to mean!?" One of the nascent soul cultivators shouted out in outrage.


    "Well. Let me tell you then. If you want to continue to cultivate then it all depends on your cooperation with us. Something has happened in the middle realm and it is about to directly affect our lives here on earth.


    It''s only natural to assume that there are other beings in the higher realms right? Well, a certain species called demons are currently on their way to earth. They have dered war on all humans. They are on a mission to wipe out all of the humans in the known cosmos because they have an evil leader that is both vicious and power-hungry." Haru began to exin but was quickly interrupted by another nascent soul stage cultivator.


    "That''s outrageous! What have we done wrong? Why are we being involved in a fight between these middle realm people? That''s none of our business!" He shouted as loud as he could to make sure that he was heard.


    Haru stopped for a moment. The man had a point. But he knew if he told them the truth then they wouldn''t want to fight beside him if they knew he was the reason that the demons wereing to earth in the first ce.


    "Well, How about you ask the demons that when they arrive here. I''m sure they will give you a suitable answer right before they cut your head from your shoulders." Haru replied without missing a beat as if he was prepared for the question. The man stopped in his tracks.


    "Look, I don''t know why they have dered war on humans. But what I do know is that they have sent dozens of spies here and governments all around the world know about them. But a few nights ago, one of those spies decided to go on a rampage and try to murder all of the civilians that live here in shanghai.


    We had no choice but to kill him. But in doing so we notified the rest of the demons that he was killed and they will soon be sending strong cultivators to get revenge for his death. These cultivators will be merciless and will kill anyone they say. And their strength will be beyond what you could imagine. The only chance you will have at survival is either to dig a big hole in the ground and bury yourself and pray that they don''t find you.


    Or you can stand beside me and fight back against them." Haru stated and then took a pause to let them process what he was saying. But another one of the cultivators then spoke up.


    "Have you been to this so-called middle realm before? How are we supposed to know that you are telling the truth? For all, we know you could be deceiving us." The cultivator stated. But Haru knew that this question woulde up.


    "Well, we have people from the middle realm here today. How about you ask them if I''m telling the truth or not?" Haru smiled and looked over to the table where the sect master was sitting next to Drobo.


    "You im people from the upper realm are here? Is there any way to prove that they are from a ce that none of us has seen before? You said they are strong right? Then how about you make one of them fight me. If they are truly strong enough to defeat me then I will believe you." The cultivator said and then walked out into the middle of the room.


    He was a tall and slender old man with a thick bushy beard and a bald head. He looked around at everyone in a threatening manner before he locked eyes with Shen.


    "You seem strong. You don''t happen to be one of the people from this middle realm right?" He asked. Shen took a sip from his cup and didn''t answer him. He didn''t respect him enough to even reply. He didn''t know who he was in the presence of yet tried to cause a scene.


    "I guess not? I doubt someone from the middle realm would be such a coward." The cultivator added before looking back at Haru.


    "So where are these so-called middle realm people? I don''t see them anywhere." He boasted.


    Teacher Lin on the other hand was about to kill him on the spot. He had disrespected Sect master Shen who was a man that he respected a lot. He wouldn''t be able to look at the sect master again if he didn''t kill this man. He raised his fingertip and gathered a small amount of dark fire before pointing his hand toward the man. Suddenly his attack dispersed as Drobo grabbed his wrist.


    "Don''t worry, I will deal with it. I was thinking about stretching my legs a little bit anyway." Droba said before shuffling to the edge of the chair and dropping down onto the floor.

 Chapter 244: Imperial families.

    Chapter 244: Imperial families.


    As Drobo got down from his chair he stepped out into the opening where the nascent soul stage cultivator was standing. He looked up at the man for a moment before he turned around and looked down at him.


    "Are you from this middle realm? Hmm is it also a ce for midgets too?" The cultivator asked with a smirk on his face as he tried to impress the people who were present within the hall. But not a single person let out so much as a chuckle.


    "Come on. You don''t really expect me to fight this guy, do you? What if I identally step on him?" The cultivator looked up at Haru who was standing with a nk expression. He couldn''t help but feel bad for the guy and began to fear that there would be no one who could save him at this point. He didn''t quite know how strong Drobo was but if he came from the middle realm then he was in fact much stronger than a nascent soul stage cultivator.


    "You dare to disrespect not only me but my tribe? I only stood up here to save you from being killed by Lin, But I guess some people don''t know when to shut up." Drobo muttered to himself before walking over to the Cultivator.


    "What''s wrong little man? Do you have something to-" Before the cultivator could finish his sentence he was quickly silenced by Drobo cing his hand against his stomach?


    His whole body tensed up and he froze stiff. Before bit by bit and piece by piece, his body and clothes began to disintegrate into a fine powder and formed a neat pile on the floor. The man had died before he even knew what had happened and was now a pile of dust.


    Haru looked down at Drobo from the stage and gulped. He knew that he was strong. But didn''t expect that he would be strong enough to turn someone to dust from a simple touch.


    ''I hope someone reminds me never to get on his bad side.'' He thought to himself before noticing that there was now a sense of fear in the room. Everyone who had seen it couldn''t believe their eyes. To them, the nascent soul stage was still the peak of human strength. And Drobo had killed a man who was strong enough to make people cower in fear from his strength with just a single touch.


    "Sorry, But it would be a dishonour to my ancestors if I let him trample over the name of the great dwarven empire like that. He was asking for trouble by overestimating himself." Drobo looked up and said to Haru.


    He didn''t know how to respond and he too was still kind of shocked by what had just happened.


    "Ahem. Well does anyone else have any doubts or concerns that they would like to raise? I have told you all the truth but it is your choice if you choose to follow me into battle.


    You can leave here anytime you want to without worrying about being persecuted for it. But do you really want to sit by in your homes and watch as everything you ever cared about is destroyed before your eyes? If they break past our defence then they will soon follow up bying for the people who remain.


    Could you still hold your head up high knowing that you could have done something about it? But instead, you watched on as earth was turned into rubble. I''m not asking for you toy down your lives in battle. But I am asking for your strength. We are stronger together than we are on our own and that is a fact that all of you should know first hand


    That''s all I have to say. It''s up to you now." Haru said before turning away and walking back through the doors he hade from. He didn''t want to watch people leave. It would feel like all his hard work had gone to waste. But as he stepped out into the corridor he heard footsteps lightly tapping the floor and running towards him.


    "Haru!" Meiling''s familiar voice called out before her arms quickly wrapped around his waist.


    "You looked so cool! It was like something from a movie!" She praised him for the speech he had just made. A few momentster Lao appeared from thin air in the corridor and looked at Haru for a moment.


    "It really was inspiring. I can see that your hard work this morning really paid off." Lao said and looked at the sheet of paper that Haru was holding in his hands.


    "You really think so?" Haru asked and then held up the sheet of paper for him to look at. The paper was filled with what looked like a rough speech but it had all been scribbled over in frustration.


    "You didn''t prepare anything you said? I guess it really is true that you must speak from your heart if you want people to trust you." Lao praised him too and then smiled.


    "Trust me? I feel like they are all going to run after seeing what Drobo just did." Haru sighed.


    "Run? Why would they run? The people in that room are all cultivators. They are proud by nature. And your final conclusion made it so they couldn''t run even if they wanted to. How could they openly give up on everything they have worked towards out of fear of death?" Lao replied. He predicted that not even a single person would leave.


    "Hm, maybe so. But we just lost a cultivator that could have been of great use for us. I''m kind of disappointed that he couldn''t just shut up like everyone else." Haru said with a sad expression.


    "Hm I personally think that that man''s death was a good thing. If no one questioned what you were telling them. Then they would seriously underestimate the situation. They would have no idea what they are going up against. But now they know that there is a power greater than theirs that could kill them in a single move. That''s something that will help them be stronger." Lao exined. He made a point but Haru was still sceptical but only time would tell.


    "Maybe, But I should probably start working on the surprise that I promised everyone who decides to stay," Haru said and then walked out into the courtyard. He needed a lot of open space because he nned to do something that he had never done before. Mass pill production.


    He had only refined a maximum of five pills at one time but now he was nning to refine them in batches of thirty to reduce the amount of time it would take to supply all of the cultivators with pills that will help them be stronger within a week.


    He first pulled out all of the materials he had collected over the years and piled them up at one side of the yard before sitting down on the other side and taking the exact amount that he needed with his Qi and levitating them in the air. He began to refine by disintegrating the things that needed to be turned into powder by using Kun''s mes to extract the moisture and crushing them with his Qi.


    He found it tricky at first but as more time passed he quickly got better at controlling his Qi. He then added the correct type of moisture that he needed which was found within the medicinal nts and then formed the pill into little balls before drying them once again with the Phoenix mes.


    As he finished the first batch he found himself sweating a little bit. But he pressed on. He wanted to make as many as he could so that he could get the greatest benefit. Minutes turned into hours but by the time nightfall came around he was finished and created a total of one hundred and thirty-six pills that would be used to make the cultivators stronger.


    He sighed to himself as he looked at the pile of medicinal herbs that had been reduced to a couple of handfuls at best. It had taken him three years to collect so many and he had nned to use them to make himself stronger in the future. He didn''t think that he would have to use them in this way. But he was also d that he had nned ahead. If he hadn''t then the chances of them fighting off the demons would be much slimmer than they were going to be now.


    He stood up from his seated position and then began to divide the pills into jade bottles for storage and to make them easier to hand out. Each person would be given two pills and would have to absorb them before the demons attacked.


    The pills that he refined were Qi absorbing pills. They were simr to the one that he had given to Hong Xia a few days prior but they were in fact much stronger and would gather Qi for longer and at a faster rate. For someone to get the most out of this pill they would need to go into closed-door cultivation for a few days and that is why he had people gather at the resort. So he could provide them with their own rooms.


    After he portioned out the pills he headed back toward the hall where he had held the meeting and went inside. He had expected the number of people to have thinned out quite a lot but that wasn''t the case at all. It looked as if more people had gathered as they were all enjoying the food that had been provided to them.


    Haru looked around before spotting the old man from the Hong family.


    "I hope you don''t mind. But I invited a few of the other imperial families here to join us" He said with a gentle smile.

 Chapter 245: Here goes nothing.

    Chapter 245: Here goes nothing.


    Haru looked around the room once again and began to question his hard work. He definitely didn''t make enough pills for everyone to receive two each now. He would either have to refine more pills or just hand out one each which ruined his initial n of making everyone as strong as possible. But the extra manpower would be worth it. Just as he considered creating more pills Sect Master Shen made an announcement.


    He stood up on a chair in the middle of the room to gain a height advantage and nged the edge of his ss with a knife to gain everyone''s attention.


    "I thank you all on the behalf of the ck star sect. Here are some gifts. Hand them out amongst yourself equally and make sure everyone gets at least one bottle. You should try to make yourself as strong as possible not only to help fight but to survive." He smiled and then in a sh of light he released arge pile of jade bottles.


    ''He didn''t just ruin my ns did he?'' Haru thought as he watched people rush over to see what was inside the bottles. As soon as someone released the lid to one of the bottles a medicinal smell made its way into the air and sure enough they were bottles filled with pills. They weren''t as strong as the ones that Haru had made but they would get the job done by making the weaker cultivators advance a little bit.


    Haru sighed and then looked back at the old man from the Hong family.


    "Thanks a lot. I didn''t expect so many people toe but I am d that you''re all here." Haru said and then put a hand on his shoulder before handing him three of the jade bottles that he had just made.


    "Make sure that your family''s strongest cultivators use these and be stronger. It will help them reach thete stage of their realm. Just don''t give it to anyone of the nascent soul stage. They might end up breaking through to the nirvana stage and then be forced to leave this ce." Haru warned as he handed him the pills.


    "Pills? My family have quite a lot of pills. Will it not be better for you to take them?" The old man asked with concern. He didn''t underestimate Haru''s strength at all. He was simply speaking out of courtesy. He didn''t want to ept such a gift since pills were expensive even for the richest people. Not many people decided to learn how to do so since it would take up time that could be spent cultivating or practising techniques.


    It wasn''t efficient for someone to learn pill refining in a regr situation but with the help of a cultivator that once stood at the top of the universe, it would be more useful than anyone could have known.


    "It''s alright. I made them to hand out. I have pills for myself don''t worry." Haru said to reassure him but in doing so alerted him that he was capable of refining pills. It was a skill that was rare for people who had been cultivating for decades. Yet Haru wasn''t even twenty and he had just admitted to being able to make pills. The old man was interested to see what was within them and immediately opened one of the bottles.


    As soon as he did so the smell of medicinal herbs overpowered the smell of the pills that Sect Master Shen had on him and everyone in the room was quick to turn their heads in Haru''s direction. As they saw the old man standing there with the pills in his hand a few of the old men flocked over to see what the source of the smell was.


    The smell that pills produced was very specific and no one knew it better than pill refiners. They would smell it countless times while refining pills so it was no surprise that Sect Master Shen''s wife, Cecilia ran over to see what themotion was about. She looked at the bottle the old man was holding in his hands and then approached him slowly.


    "Do you mind if I take a look at that?" She asked. The old man was hesitant at first and looked at Haru for his permission but he didn''t seem to care. So he gave the bottle to him to look at. Although he had never met her before he trusted that since they were in front of so many people that she wouldn''t try to steal them from him so he didn''t mind handing them to her.


    Cecilia took one of the bottles from him and then poured out the two pills into her hand. She looked at them closely for a second with a dumbfounded look on her face. Before speaking up.


    "Hm Seems like a Qi absorbing pill. But" She spoke with hesitation as she rolled the little pills around in her hand as she tried toe up with something else to say.


    "But what?" The old man asked. He thought that she might have found something wrong with the pill.


    "It''s just. The production method for these pills is far beyond myprehension. They are perfect. There isn''t even the slightest sign of overheating. When using a pill furnace it''s normal for pills to overheat slightly and have a crumbled texture to the surface. Even the masters at the highest level still deal with this issue. But these are like ss. It''s so smooth It''s almost as if a furnace wasn''t used to refine them at all.


    Where did you get these from? Do you know the person who refined them? I would love to meet whoever it was." Cecilia said with excitement. Not knowing that she had already met the man who made them three times and was even standing in front of him as she was speaking.


    The old man looked at Haru and then gulped.


    ''Masters at the highest level couldn''t do something like this? Then how did he?'' The old man thought for a moment as the whole room was now awaiting a reply from the old man. They were also curious about what kind of fortune he hade into to receive such a perfect pill.


    Haru sighed.


    "I saidst night that I would have a gift for everyone but I''m afraid that the pills turned out a little better than I thought they would. If you take these while at the nascent soul stage then there is a chance you will break through the nirvana stage so I''m afraid you can''t take these. And if you are under the manifestation stage then you won''t be able to absorb the correct amount of Qi to be stronger.


    So if you are at the manifestation stage feel free to take a bottle for yourself and then find a quiet room to cultivate within. I need you all to be as strong as possible." Haru smiled before a sh of light shot out from his hand and the floor in front of him became lined with jade bottles. They were all arranged in a triangr formation and the number of bottles stunned everyone.


    He kept three bottles for himself but everything else he had refined was now out on the floor for anyone to take.


    "You were the one who got these? Where did you get so many?" Cecilia asked, She thought that the pills she had just seen were a one-off and the greatest work of whoever refined them but as more people gathered around and began to take the jade bottles and empty them into their hands she realised that they were all of the same quality.


    "It took me three years to save up this many materials so I hope you all repay me by absorbing as much Qi as you can. They weren''t easy to refine either." Haru ignored her question and addressed everyone at the same time.


    "You refined them? That''s incredible. But I guess that is to be expected since you are the heir to "his" legacy." Cecilia smiled gently with both admiration and happiness. She was d that she could see such a thing from someone so young. She was thinking that it wouldn''t be long until the younger generation overtook the old generation like hers.


    Although he could have stayed and talked about pill refining with the people there, he was feeling a little bit overwhelmed and felt like he needed some time alone. And the best way he could do that was to go back to his office to absorb the pills that he saved for himself. He nned to take advantage of his flooded soul ocean as much as he could and since there wasn''t a cap to the amount of Qi he could store within his body.


    He sat down on the floor facing the window and opened up the three bottles of pills. He took one of the pills and swallowed it whole. He felt all the Qi in the room rush towards him. It was a soothing feeling but it wouldn''t be enough to help him fight against someone at the nascent soul stage. So he took another.


    The Qi from the air outside the window now began to rush towards him and strengthened the feeling he had by about double. But that still wasn''t enough. He needed more power. He looked down at the two remaining bottles and hesitated for a moment.


    He knew that it was dangerous to take multiple pills at the same time but there was no helping it. He only had a short amount of time to prepare himself. If he wanted to be stronger then it was only natural that he would need to take a few risks. He emptied out the bottles into his hand and then looked down at the four Qi absorbing pills in his hand.


    "Here goes nothing," Haru said before tilting his head back and swallowing them all at the same time.

 Chapter 246: Im dead now?

    Chapter 246: I''m dead now?


    As soon as the pills dropped down into his stomach he felt a burning pain all over his body. It was simr to what he felt when he was trapped in the array with Li Jun when he ate too much of the phoenix fruit. Only this time it felt as though he might really die. He held onto hope the first time but what he was feeling after taking too many pills was unlike anything he could describe.


    He grunted in pain slightly as he breathed but that was the only sound he let out as his body went limp and he felt the floor hit his cheek after falling to the ground. Haru''s heart began to race as his lungs desperately tried to draw another breath but it was as if they had stopped working. He couldn''t exhale no matter how hard he tried to.


    ''What''s happening?'' Haru thought as he struggled to move and was quickly losing all the strength in his body. He felt cold despite having Kun''s power that constantly warmed his body and his fingers started to feel numb.


    "You''re dying. But you know that don''t you?" A whispered back to him as he questioned what was going on with his body.


    ''Dying? I''m really dying? But I thought I didn''t think that I would die like this again.'' Haru thought once again, not questioning the fact that someone else''s voice was in his head. He looked over the fact that he heard anything in the first ce and concluded that it was his, it was just his subconscious talking to him. But his assumption changed when the voice called out once again.


    "Yeah, Of course, you are dying. What a foolish child. I mean to take so many pills at once. You were practically asking for death. Seriously, what were you thinking?" The voice asked. But this time Haru realised that it was somebody else talking to him. He wouldn''t insult himself like that even subconsciously.


    "Wait Who are you?" Haru asked but as he did so his mind was transported somewhere else. He was previously staring at the cold and hard wooden floor of his office but as soon as he asked that question it looked as if he was absorbed within a dark cloud of mist and was transported somewhere far away. He heard the sounds of trees blowing in the wind and felt the coldness of the breeze all over his skin.


    The mist slowly faded and he was now standing within what looked to be a shine of sorts with a paved concrete floor beneath his feet and a fish pond directly in front of him with a small ind and a tree in the centre of it.


    ''I''m standing But I was just Where am I?'' Haru struggled to collect his thoughts as he now felt more alive than he ever did before. He didn''t feel as though he was dying anymore but he still couldn''t stop feeling as though there was a whole within his chest.


    "Wee to paradise." The voice spoke out as a roar of thunder rang out through the sky overhead.


    Haru looked up to see red shes of lights within a dark cloud that sat above the building. A pit immediately formed in his stomach as he realised where he was. It was the very same ce that he was warned about being able to kill him within a heartbeat. And the ce responsible for making him learn thew of space.


    It was the floating ind within his soul ocean.


    ''But how did I get here? I didn''t mean toe here'' Haru thought once again. Usually, he would have to be at peacepletely before he could enter his soul ocean yet he was in possibly the most stressful situation of his life and he had managed to enter.


    "Well, to put it bluntly You''re dead." The voice said, this time sounding a lot further away than it did before.


    ''Dead? I''m dead? Then how am I still able to think? Shouldn''t my consciousness have disappeared?'' Haru asked as he just couldn''t believe what he was hearing. A strange voice had told him he was dead and there wasn''t so much as a scrap of proof to support the im. He knew that he was about to die. But he suddenly felt so much better.


    It was almost as if all the pain in his body had vanished. But as he thought about it again he stopped denying that he might actually be dead.


    ''I can''t feel any pain I felt that my organs were damaged by the pills but now I feel nothing. That would only happen if I was suddenly healed. But there was no one around who would be able to do that. Or'' He gulped.


    ''My soul is no longer connected to my body'' He thought before realising the severity of the situation.


    "Correct, Your heart exploded almost immediately after taking those pills. What you felt when you couldn''t bleed was the blood from your heart rushing down to your lungs and restricting your diaphragm from moving." The voice whispered, and once again sounded far away as if it was no longer within his head and was an actual person talking to him from a distance.


    "My heart exploded No! It can''t be! I had so much I wanted to do! So much I wanted to see! Why did ite to something like this? I''m really such an idiot. I got a second chance at life yet I was so reckless in an attempt to be stronger. I knew what would happen yet I did it anyway, thinking that I would get lucky once again I guess my luck has finally run out hasn''t it." Haru broke down and fell to his knees.


    He knew full well that there was noing back from this mistake. Even if someone was to find his body there was no way they would be able to heal his heart and then manage to drag his soul back from wherever it was now and then put it back inside his body.


    "Give it a rest Ralph, Just heal him already and let him learn from this mistake." A familiar sounding voice called out.


    "Li Jun? What are you doing here?" Haru asked before managing to pull himself to his feet again.


    "Oh, You think I''m the type of man to sit by and watch my students die? I''m here to give you another chance, you idiot. I didn''t know what you had done until I felt your life force begin to wither. What did I tell you about taking too many pills at once?" Li Jun asked, sounding very angry with what Haru had just done.


    "If you take too many you will die a brutal death" Haru quoted what Li Jun briefly mentioned to him during one of his many pill refining lessons.


    "That''s right. And you still decided to go ahead and take enough to kill you? Do you think that you''re smarter than me or something? I told you to practice so that you could reach this ce alone. Yet you really forced me to bring you here. You know, I''m starting to think that I was too soft on you if you think that what I tell you isn''t worth taking seriously.


    Why did I have to have a student from a ce like this?" Li Jun said and then asked himself a question to show that he was contemting life.


    "Ralph, Didn''t you hear me? Go ahead and heal him." Li Jun said once again since there was no reply the first time he spoke.


    "Heal him? But he''s dead. I could heal him using the power from the mansion. But to resurrect him I would need ess to the life injector. And I don''t have the key to the room. If you want me to resurrect him. Then he will need to get the key to open the door himself." The voice replied back to Li Jun.


    "Where are you two anyway? I don''t see you anywhere." Haru''s voice became shakier with excitement now that he had learned that he might get to live once again and he had begun to look around to try to find the source of the talking. But no matter where he looked. It sounded as though their voices were in theplete opposite direction. He wasn''t sure where to begin looking for them.


    On the other side of the pond, there was a double set of wooden doors and he was considering going inside. But he was wary of Li Jun''s warning. He said that this ce could kill him just like he said that taking too many pills would kill him.


    He had just found out what happens when he does something that Li Jun says can kill him. And he didn''t want to know what would happen if he decided to risk his soul now that his body was dead. So he remained in the same spot where he had appeared and resisted the urge to locate the two.


    "Can he at leaste inside then? Don''t think that I didn''t notice you putting up that array when you brought him here." Li Jun asked the voice known as Ralph but upon hearing those words Haru felt as though he had been struck by lightning.


    "Array? What array?" He quickly asked.


    "Ralph here was afraid that you might damage something so he ced an array that would destroy your soul if you approached the building." Li Jun exined. A deeper pit formed where Haru''s stomach would have been if he had a body.


    Not only was his body dead. But his soul would have been wiped from existence if he became reckless and tried to find where the voice had beening from.

 Chapter 247: Ralph the puppet.

    Chapter 247: Ralph the puppet.


    "It''s against master''s rules to allow someone who didn''t pass the trial to so much as enter the mansion. If you want him to enter then he will need to take the trial as the master demanded." Ralph said in a t tone like he was getting sick and tired of exining the rules. But Li Jun pressed on.


    "But what about me? I didn''t need to pass the trial toe here again?" Li Jun asked, sounding as if he had something up his sleeve.


    "But you have already been recognised as the master''s disciple. You cane and go as you please. Even if you are just the remnants of a broken soul" Ralph said once again in a cold and harsh sounding voice almost as if he was actually a robot.


    "Exactly. And Haru is my disciple. So that would make him master''s grand disciple. Do you really think that he would refuse entry to his grand disciple?" Li Jun replied. But the conversation seemed to be getting nowhere.


    "But the rules say that whoever wants to gain entry needs to take the trials. I can''t just let people enter. Unless the master instructs me to do so himself. I will continue to follow the rules whether you like it or not." Ralph was determined to keep Haru out and not allow him into the mansion but Li Jun already had another n.


    "He has a phoenix bloodline" He said bluntly. And that was all it took for Ralph''s attitude to pull a one-eighty. He thought for a few moments before replying.


    "A phoenix bloodline? Why didn''t you say so earlier?" Ralph shouted out in excitement. Suddenly the light began to glow a faint blue colour and a circle appeared on the floor around Haru and slowly broke down into dust before flying up into the sky.


    "He may enter," Ralph said suddenly as if he didn''t deny him entry in the first ce.


    The double set of doors that were at the entrance of the mansion suddenly flew wide open and a beast that resembled a lion but with a ck coat of fur stepped out from the doorway.


    The lion-like beast looked at Haru for a moment before lowering its head, giving him it''s permission to enter and calling him over. He looked at it for a few moments before he saw two distinguishing features that were something that lions definitely didn''t have. And that was the bird-like talons that were attached to its feet and the bat-like wings on it''s back.


    ''What is that thing?'' Haru thought as he walked around the pond and followed the path all the way up to the front door. It was only when he got to the bottom of the staircase that he realised the size of the ce.


    He thought it was strange that the pond looked a little too big and would be ssed as a smallke if it was any bigger but as he got to the steps, it put into perspective the size of the ce. Each step came up to his knee and was longer than his height on the surface. He struggled to climb the unnecessarilyrge staircase before looking up once again to see that the doors were at least triple the size of normal doors.


    He then looked down at the lion that was almost twice as tall as he was and almost had a heart attack if not for the fact that his heart was already destroyed.


    ''That thing could eat me whole! Is the owner of this ce a giant or something? What is with the size of everything here.'' Haru thought as the Lion-like creature once again lowered its head to show that it meant no harm and then guided Haru inside.


    As he entered he felt like an ant that had managed to crawl under the door frame of someone''s house. Everything in the house was super-sized and made him look like an insect inparison.


    Everything from the nt pots to paintings on the walls was taller than he was but finally, after a ten-minute walk, they had arrived at a sliding set of doors that were also the same size as the previous ones. The lion sat down at the door as it couldn''t open it but then suddenly the door shot wide open to reveal Li Jun and someone else sitting on opposite sides of the room.


    It would be a normal sight if not for the size of them both. Li Jun and the man who Haru assumed to be Ralph were both sitting on the gigantic chairs as if they were normal ones.


    They both looked down at Haru who was standing in the doorway and Haru got his first look at the man known as Ralph. But in fact, he wasn''t a man. Or a woman for that fact. He was more of an object than anything.


    He looked like a traditional wooden puppet and was wearing a long robe as most cultivators would. His face looked like it was painted with makeup to make it look more like a hum but the lines that allowed the mouth joint to move could still clearly be seen as well as the seam between the neck and the head. Even though the clothes Haru could make out the rigid form of its body but despite that, he still had a full head of long hair and eyes that looked very human. It looked like the kind of things that children had nightmares about.


    And even Haru found it slightly disturbing to look at and he had met demons before. As in beings that looked like humans but had dark purple skin and long beast-like horns attached to their heads. But just the sight of this thing was enough to bring him to the verge of throwing up if he had a body.


    "H-how are you so tall" Haru asked Li Jun without taking his eyes away from the disturbing looking puppet. He felt as if he took his eyes off the thing that it would eat him alive or something equally as terrible. He stuttered slightly as he spoke while trying to make it less obvious that he was staring.


    "This is your soul ocean. You don''t have to follow thews of the universe here. Just think about expanding your body and it will happen. Didn''t Lao teach you that when I was away?" Li Jun asked as he looked down on Haru and then quickly noticed that Haru and the puppet were having a staring contest.


    Haru couldn''t take his eyes off the thing. And the puppet was staring back with what looked like interest.


    "Stop staring and do what I just told you." Li Jun almost shouted to get Haru''s attention away from the puppet.


    "Huh? What did you say?" Haru asked. He had been so worried about the puppet causing him to harm that he didn''t hear a word that Li Jun had to say. His mind had blocked out all sounds and focused on the threat in the room.


    "Just imagine yourself growing and you will naturally be taller. It''s your soul ocean and it doesn''t follow thews of the universe. You can do pretty much whatever you want to in here." Li Jun said once again. This time though Haru wasn''t looking at the puppet and had heard every word of it.


    He looked down at the floor and ten imagined as intensely as he could that his body was growing. It didn''t work at first but after a few seconds, the floor seemed to be getting further and further away from him. Until suddenly he was the one looking down on Haru and the puppet who were both seated on chairs.


    "So what do you think? Will he take the trial to open the door to get the life injector? Or will he sit back and watch the world move on after his death?" Ralph asked Li Jun. With each word his mouth eerily chattered open and closed as the puppet spoke.


    "That''s up to him to decide. If you want to know then ask him. You''re the one that wants him to take the test in the first ce. You could have healed him when I first asked but you decided to let him die" Li Jun said, sounding angry that he had let Haru die when he could have fixed the problem immediately.


    "I could have healed him But it''s not my job to do so. He isn''t my student. He is yours." The puppet responded and then turned it''s head once more to look at Haru. The sound of wood scraping together sounded out as its head turned to look at Haru.


    "So do you want to live? Or are you just going to surrender to fate and die?" The puppet now asked Haru directly instead of asking Li Jun for his opinion.


    "I would like to live again If I had the chance to," Haru responded while trying his best to sound normal. But the truth was that the whole puppet aesthetic was creeping him out and everything on the inside was telling him that he needed to run away. But the more he heard Li Jun talk to it, the more it seemed like there really was a way of resurrecting him.


    ''Of course, I want to live again. Who in their right mind would ept death after experiencing it twice.'' Haru thought to himself after the puppet looked back to Li Jun.


    "Hm Another Reincarnated human huh? The master seems to be making an army of them" The puppet said to himself in a whispered voice. Haru then looked back to Li Jun who didn''t seem to have heard anything as he just carried on with the conversation as if nothing happened.


    "Well, you heard the boy. Now take us to the trail." Li Jun said with a smile, But Haru felt nothing but distrust for the weird human-like puppet.


    "Certainly." The puppet said as a ck cloak surrounded them all and the light in the room seemed to get absorbed. It was the same thing that had brought him here. And then suddenly he felt the floor beneath him vanish.

 Chapter 248: Talvo?

    Chapter 248: Talvo?


    Once again as Haru looked around he realised that he had been teleported somewhere. Like before the ce he had teleported to was unfamiliar and he didn''t have a clue what was going on as he appeared in a long corridor next to a double set of doors that were made out of metal and had long ck chains holding them closed. He looked around to assess the situation and then saw that Li Jun and Ralph were standing behind him with their hands on the door.


    "They don''t seem to be in a good mood today. I bet they knew that someone woulde for the test today." Li Jun stated before removing his hand from the door.


    "Are you sure it''s a good idea for him to enter? If he doesn''t seed within then it would be a fate worse than death. I don''t think death is such a bad option inparison to what is inside there." Ralph asked to make sure that Li Jun knew what he was going to get Haru into.


    "You think those guys are a problem? He has met one of those soul devourers while learning thew of space. These guys should be a piece of cake." Li Jun smiled, but that didn''t seem to reassure Ralph.


    "Don''t underestimate a Talvo. Even the master had trouble when he was capturing them. Even though their strength will be reduced greatly, they will still be able to torture someone''s soul until they beg for death. They are one of the most despicable beings master hade across during his travels. Yet they hold great value when ites to resurrection." Ralph said to Li Jun before turning to look at Haru.


    "You had better be sure that you want to go ahead with this. If you don''t seed, you will wish your soul had died with your body." Ralph said suddenly but Haru was confused. He didn''t know what he was supposed to do. Yet they were both talking about it as if they knew exactly what he had to do.


    "Sorry, But what am I supposed to be doing anyway?" Haru asked, concerned about what they had both been talking about but Li Jun had other ideas.


    "You will figure it out." He said before putting a hand on Haru''s shoulder and pushing him into the door.


    As soon as Haru''s body hit the metal door. It rippled like water and he fell right through it and stumbled over his feet before ending up falling to his knees. He stood up in shock. He wasn''t prepared for Li Jun to push him and it came as kind of a shock to him.


    "Wait! You still didn''t tell me what to do!" Haru shouted and ran back over to the door thinking that the same thing would happen and he would end up outside but he soon realised that wasn''t the case as his face hit the cold metal and he stumbled back clutching his head.


    With his strength right now it seemed unlikely that he could get hurt from running into an object. But the metal on the door seemed very dense. So dense in fact that it absorbed none of the force from him running into it so he took the brunt of the impact and it gave him a slight concussion.


    "Li Jun! Ralph!?" Haru shouted out butt after waiting for a few moments there was no reply.


    "Fine, I guess they want me to do this alone. But it would have been nice if they at least exined what it is that I have to do exactly." Haru turned around to see that he was in arge room that was almost pitched ck if not for the slight glow of something at the other side. It was rectangr and almost looked like the light was leaking out from underneath a door.


    "So I guess I have to go through there huh?" He thought as he looked at the door. He began to walk towards it but as he did he felt that he was being watched and there was a high pitched whistling noise that sounded like it wasing from one of the corners. There was something in the room with him and from what Li Jun and Ralph talked about. The thing that was in here with him was extremely dangerous.


    "Kun. Come out." Haru said out loud and within a second of him speaking bright orange mes began to burn up high into the room and illuminated the whole room.


    "What is it?" Kun asked. He was confused as to why Haru had called him here. They were still within his soul ocean for sure but he didn''t know where they were until a loud cry shook the room.


    Both Haru and Kun looked over to the corner of the room where there was a single humanoid shadow in the corner of the room in the fetal position and was rocking back and forth.


    "What is that thing? It looks so pitiful." Kun said as he looked at the thing in the corner.


    "I''m not sure But I think it was called a Talvo or something?" Haru repeated the word that Ralph had mentioned although he had no idea what it meant. But upon hearing the word Kun twitched slightly before gently chuckling to himself.


    "A Talvo? Hehe, I know what it is now." Kun said, sounding like he was smiling even though he didn''t have a mouth.


    "You do? Apparently, they are dangerous. Is that right?" Haru asked, confused. Ralph and Li Jun said that it would be dangerous. But seeing it like this made him feel a little bad. He didn''t know why but it looked as though it was crying.


    "Yes, I know exactly what it is" Kun said in the same voice and then flew towards it before stopping in front of the Talvo. As soon as Kun moved, the thing screamed louder and louder until it felt as though Haru would go deaf if he listened to it anymore.


    Without saying so much as a word Kun expanded to twice the size of the Talvo in the corner of the room andughed once again. But this time sounding like an old man that just won money from a casino.


    "What are you doing? Those things can torment souls can''t they?" Haru asked.


    "Yes, Human souls. But my kind that isn''t the case. Phoenix''s have an immortal soul. That''s why they can rise from their own ashes after they die. These Talvos Well, they''re a source of food for my kind" Kun said and then without warning surrounded the Talvo with his mes and smothered it with them.


    More cries of terror and pain rang out through the air and made Haru dizzy from the sound alone. Before slowly dying down as Kun quickly turned around. Suddenly he shot forwards at full speed and flew toward Haru with a look of anger on his face as if he wasing to eat him next.


    Haru barely had time to react before Kun appeared next to him and a gust of wind shot through the room, blowing Haru''s hair out of his face. He quickly turned to look at Kun who was holding another one of the dark shadows with his talon''s around its neck.


    "Haha, You think you can sneak around when I''m here huh?" Kun asked before swallowing it whole. Then after he swallowed the second Talvo he flew into the distance of the room illuminating it as he flew around in different directions.


    Haru stood still as he watched on as Kun created a light show in the dark. He counted a total of eighteen cries from different locations before Kun finally flew back to Haru but now with a slight bulge on the front of his stomach.


    "Where are we by the way? We are still within your soul ocean. But something feels odd. You don''t have any Qi surrounding you" Kun said while looking at Haru.


    "Well, I guess that''s because I''m dead right now. And this is the mansion on top of the floating ind. Li Jun asked for help in reviving me and I was brought here." Haru took the time to exin the situation to Kun before he sighed and said that he wasn''t interested.


    "Just make sure that you get resurrected. I don''t want to stay trapped within your soul forever." Kun said before vanishing. He sounded prettyid back for learning what had happened. But Haru concluded that it was because he didn''t want to break character.


    Kun had worked so hard to create a cool and calm character. But after he had what he wanted to say he disappeared within a ball of fire as if he was running from the situation.


    The room was nowpletely silent. The high pitched sound that was previously in the room was now gone and he no longer had the feeling that he was being watched. He could finally rx. Although he was still surprised by the fact that all it took was a phoenix to scare away the Talvo''s. That was probably the reason why Ralph allowed him to enter in the first ce.


    And Li Jun wouldn''t send him somewhere where he could really end up dyingpletely without even the chance of resurrection. He was still unsure about how the resurrection would work but he knew that his questions would be answered upon walking through the door at the other side of the room. So that is what he did. He walked across the room and opened the door.


    He was blinded by the light as he entered what appeared to be ab of some kind. He came to that conclusion by the fact that there was a long ss tube that reminded him of a filtration system. As he was looking around he heard the door creak open from behind him.


    He turned around to see that Li Jun and Ralph were now in the room with him but were both staring at him with their mouths gaped open and wide eyes.


    "What? Did you expect me to die or something?" Haru asked. He was confused as to why they were staring at him like there were. But he was distracted as something metallic hit the ground behind him.


    He turned around and looked down at the floor to see a ck key wasying on the tiles.

 Chapter 249: Blessing in disguise.

    Chapter 249: Blessing in disguise.


    Haru bent over to pick up the key from the floor but as soon as his hand made contact with the key a bell rang out throughout the mansion. Signalling that the mansion had received a new owner. Haru looked back at Li Jun who was in shock.


    "How did you make it through so quickly? I thought that you would die!" Ralph shouted out. He couldn''t believe his eyes. But Haru thought that he knew what would happen before they sent him in. So he found it strange that he seemed so surprised.


    "I thought that you knew what would happen? You knew I have a phoenix bloodline so of course, it''s normal to get past them this fast right?" Haru asked with a questioning look. He genuinely thought that they both knew he would pass the test or else they wouldn''t have sent him in. So he felt a little betrayed that they sent him in, expecting that he would die.


    But knowing Li Jun he wouldn''t have let Haru die in such a way. So he was probably nning some way to save him if he ran into trouble. Or so he thought. But he wasn''t entirely sure right now. Haru looked back to see that they had both be even more confused by what he was saying.


    "What? How does the fact you have a phoenix bloodline rte to the fact that eighteen Talvos have gone missing in less than five minutes? What happened?" Ralph asked.


    "Well, Phoenix''s eat Talvo''s. I called the phoenix soul within my body out and he consumed them all. I thought you knew that would happen" Haru tried to exin but the more he said, the more they seemed to be confused.


    "Phoenix''s eat Talvos? Are you out of your mind? Nothing would even dare to eat a Talvo. They are close rtives to Soul Devourers. Their bodies are made out of antimatter and their power goes beyond the power of nature. They are evil entities that don''t have a physical body. How can a phoenix eat them?" Ralph didn''t buy the story since his master was the one who captured them all. And it even took the creator of the abandoned god technique quite a lot of effort to capture them.


    He couldn''t believe that some random phoenix soul could eat a Talvo and survive. He looked at Haru with suspicion for a moment but Li Jun was quick to change the subject. He thought it was probably the issue that he thought of before.


    When they first discovered Lao they thought that he was a Heavenly Phoenix King but after a while, Both he and Lao started to notice that things didn''t add up. Kun would act a lot differently from how phoenixes did and he even looked different from what Heavenly Phoenix king would look like. They knew that something was up but he never expected that he would be able to devour a Talvo.


    "Well, now that he''s got the key, How about we go about with repairing his body first?" He asked, getting slightly impatient. The longer a body remained dead, the longer it would take to resurrect them and that was something He was worrying about. He didn''t want his student to die in a situation like this so he wanted to get on with it right away.


    "Fine, fine. It won''t take too long anyway. The mansion has been collecting power from the Talvo for millions of years. There should be enough power to resurrect people continuously for the next thousand years. Well if their soul isn''t destroyed that is." Ralph said and then walked over to the unknown technology that Haru had never seen before. The only familiar thing was the countless amount of ssware.


    Everything else in the room looked like it was made from materials that they didn''t have on earth. But at the back of the room, there was what looked like a capsule of some sort. It had a seat on the inside and a hatch door that swung down from the top so whoever sat inside would bepletely on their own.


    Ralph started to fiddle with a few things on the counter before pulling out something that looked like a syringe with a sharp needle on top of it.


    "Since you can still go outside then go and inject him with this." Ralph then passed the syringe to Li Jun and without another word, Li Jun vanished from where he was standing and appeared in the office where Haru''s body wasying on the floor.


    Although he was dead, the pills were still taking effect and were rapidly forcing Qi into his dantian. It was only a matter of time before his body would self-destruct from ack of cirction. The Qi was just going straight into his Dantain and wasn''t filling his soul ocean since there was a disconnect between them both.


    Li Jun keeled down on the floor next to Haru and pulled up his shirt to reveal his chest before positioning the needle over his heart and plunging it into his chest while avoiding the ribs. Once the needle became a little harder to push as it came into contact with his heart he pressed on the top of the syringe to release whatever Ralph had put into it directly into his heart.


    Once he had finished he went right back into Haru''s soul ocean and appeared in the same ce where he was before he left.


    "So is it working?" Li Jun asked Ralph.


    "Well He is still here. So I''m not sure" Ralph spoke with a concerned sounding voice contrasted against the puppet-like face. But as soon as he finished talking, the ground beneath them began to shake.


    "What''s going on? Is it working?" Haru asked. He didn''t know what was going on but until the ground began to shake. All three of them immediately ran outside the mansion to see what was going on within the soul ocean.


    But as they got outside a bolt of lightning shot down from the sky and struck the ground, stopping them dead in their tracks. Haru looked up to the sky to see the red lighting now shooting around the sky with enough violence to deste a city.


    But that wasn''t the strangest thing. There was a slight crack in the sky above them. What was usually a clear blue sky had a dark ck crack. But from that crack, there was a blue liquid leaking down into the thunder clouds above them.


    "What? His Qi is merging with the blood thunder sapling?" Ralph seemed shocked by what was going on. And so did Li Jun. They both knew that it was something unheard of.


    The blood thunder that was in the sky above them was the effect of the small tree that was standing in the centre of theke. It had a dark red colour to the trunk of the tree and it had no leaves. But as the blue liquid leaked down from the sky and into the thunder clouds, the truth began to blossom blue coloured leaves.


    "It''s blooming It''s actually blossoming." Ralph couldn''t believe his eyes. The blood tree was almost as old as he was. The master of the mansion brought the tree to the mansion when it was just a sapling hoping that it would produce blood thunder fruits. But the sapling was heavily damaged during a battle and never blossomed. Not for millions of years.


    But now it has started to grow leaves upon the branches. He didn''t know what it meant and Haru watched on in confusion before suddenly he felt a pain in his chest. It was a slow-burning pain followed by a throbbing within his heart. After feeling the pain there was a sudden rush of heat around his body as blood began to flow through his veins.


    As soon as blood began to pump through his body once again he vanished from the spot he was standing in and his soul was immediately brought back into his body. He gasped for air as he opened his eyes and began to look around the room. His vision was a little blurry and everything seemed dark but as the blood flow returned back to his eyes everything came into focus just as clear as it was before.


    He looked up at the clock and watched as the seconds ticked by. He had been dead for just a few minutes and still had the pill affecting his body and drawing Qi into his body at a supersonic rate. Although he had just died and that would be enough for someone to take a few days to focus on living. He wasn''t going to let this chance go to waste.


    He felt as though all of the organs had been strengthened by the serum that he had been injected with and that was the reason that his body was now resisting the side effects of the pills. His death was a blessing in disguise as now he knew that he would be able to handle more pills and speed up his training more efficiently than anyone else could.


    As he sat there and thought about it for a few moments. He realised that even his dantian had be stronger and was now working more efficiently than it did before. It really was a blessing in disguise, but he now realised that he couldn''t keep on acting recklessly. He had died twice now. And that was enough to make him not want to push his luck anymore even if he coulde back to life.


    He then closed his eyes and began to cultivate while the Qi flowed throughout his body.

 Chapter 250: Haru?

    Chapter 250: Haru?


    Haru awoke from his closed-door cultivation just as the effectiveness of the pills began to run thin. The effect they had on his body had weakened and he had no reason to continue to cultivate at such a slow rate. So he cut it short. Although he had already gotten way further than he had expected thanks to the advancement his dantian made in its efficiency.


    He looked around the room to see if anything had changed and if anyone had entered since he had started cultivating. But everything remained the same and he could see the bolt on the lock was stilltched in ce. Although a lightyer of dust had formed on the floor beside him. It wasn''t anything too concerning since it was probably dead skin cells that had fallen from his body while he was sitting there.


    He then looked up at the clock to see that it was currently six in the morning. Although he didn''t know what day it was and he felt disgusting and sticky from the dried sweat on his body so he once again used Kun''s power to surround his body with fire and burn away everything from both his body and clothes.


    After he cleaned himself up he stood up from the floor and pulled out his phone from his pocket. He looked down at the screen and noticed that it was dead. He tried to turn it one but there was no sign of life. So he began to search for a charger.


    He hadn''t been to this office before so he didn''t have time to fill it with things that he might need so he hoped that there was one in a cupboard somewhere. But as he looked around he heard a little song y out from his hand as the disy on the screen lit up and disyed the branded logo.


    "What? But it waspletely out of battery" He thought out loud as he looked down on the icon that showed that he was at one hundred per cent. He looked at it for a few seconds before summing it up to the fact that it might have needed a little bit of time to load up but it had never taken that long before.


    As he looked down and it gained signal again after booting up, notifications came flooding through on the screen. All from different people.


    Suyin had contacted him and so had Zen, Andrew, Yun, and even his parents. They were all asking where he was and that Suyin had reached out to them to look for him. He read the messages one by one and replied to them to let them know that he was okay before stopping on the one from Yun.


    "What the fuck Haru Why didn''t you tell me that you were dating a famous singer!? You don''t understand how much I look up to her for her music. But now you have ruined this for me. I will never be able to hear the words the same." Yun had sent with a bunch of crying faces.


    "Welp, Sucks to be you. Go find someone else to fangirl over." He replied before quickly moving on to the messages he was dreading the most. He wasn''t sure what Suyin was looking for him for. But it couldn''t have been good if she contacted everyone he knew to see if they knew.


    He took a deep breath before seeing what she had to say.


    "Hey! I have some good news. The schedule got changed and we are heading to Shanghai a week ahead of schedule. I will be able to see you again on Monday! I can''t wait. I had so much funst time so I want you to show me around." Suyin seemed excited but an hourter she began to worry since he didn''t reply.


    "Haru?"


    "Are you okay, my love?" She asked but there was no reply.


    "I guess you are busy right now. So make sure you reply when you see this. I miss you a lot." She said a couple of hourster presumably before she headed to bed.


    "Hey, good morning. I hope you''re doing okay. I will be free all day today. I have to pack for the trip. You can message me whenever you want to."


    "Is something wrong? I''m starting to get a little bit worried. Did I do something wrong?" The messages from that point on showed that she was bing more and more worried about him.


    "Hi, I will be setting off today, so the signal might be bad. I hope you have a great day though. I love you." Was the only message she sent the next day. But the day that followed was followed by a wall of text.


    "I''m in Shanghai now! I was nning toe over to your house to surprise you. I got so worried that I called Zen to ask if he had heard anything from you. He told me your address. But when I got here there was this red hair girl who practically begged me to hug her. I didn''t know what she was doing in your house so I questioned her a little bit.


    Sorry, Seeing another woman in your house made me feel jealous and I didn''t know she was your cousin. But it turns out that we got along pretty well and she said I could stay at your ce. But I didn''t want you to feel like I was intruding. So I''m back at the hotel now.


    Pleasee back to me soon." She wrote and then there were no messages for three days.


    "This isn''t good. You have been on my mind twenty-four seven recently and it is keeping me up at night. Please, I beg you. Juste back. I hope that nothing has happened to you, but I can''t help but think about all the possibilities.


    And I''m sorry for lying to you. But the schedule didn''t change at all. I wasying in bed the night after we went our separate ways. But suddenly; my heart began to ache out of nowhere to the point where I was screaming in pain. I don''t know why but I thought about you as my heart was burning. It made me worry so I wanted to see you again." She sent with a video attached that showed tears running down her face.


    And then there was nothing for two more days. He had been cultivating for a full week and it was unknown to him that Suyin was worrying the whole time.


    ''She felt it when I died? How does that even make sense?'' He thought to himself before immediately calling her to reassure her that he was doing okay and that there wasn''t anything for her to worry about.


    He felt awful for not letting her know in advance that he would be unavable for a few days as he expected her to be too busy working to be worrying about him. But that didn''t seem to be the case. He knew that she needed him right now.


    The phone rang out a few times before she answered.


    "Where are you right now?" Haru asked as soon as she picked up.


    It was six o''clock in the morning and the call had woken her up so she didn''t have time to process what was happening. She had forgotten for a moment that she was worrying about Haru this whole time and thought that they had nned to meet as they did in the dream she was having before she was interrupted by the phone ringing.


    "Room 521 of the Wilson hotel" She said, sounding tired and not quite all there yet. But that was all Haru needed to hear. As soon as she spoke he walked out onto the balcony and flew over right over to the hotel as fast as he could.


    "Wait Haru It''s you. It''s actually you! I waited so long. You finally came back to me." Suyin said, almost on the verge of tears as she spoke. She had been worrying a lot and even knew that something had happened to him. But she could have no idea that he actually died. And he had no n of telling her.


    Telling her that cultivation was something that killed him would make her both upset and mad. And knowing Suyin she would try to convince Haru to give up on cultivation and be with her forever. But he couldn''t. He was determined to meet up with Jasper once again. They didn''t know each other for long.


    But he thought about Haru even when he was being attacked and warned him not to go back to the soul tempering grounds. There was no way he could give up on thanking him. And he also wanted to see the many worlds that he was told about by Li Jun and Lao. He wanted to know what it was like out there in the universe, out there in the higher realms.


    "Yes, I''m back. Now tell me does the sunset or rise on your side of the building?" Haru asked. He wasn''t sure from the outside where room 521 was located but he assumed it was on the fifth floor which was the top floor of the hotel.


    "I see the sunset from my window. Why? What''s wrong. You have to tell me all about it." Suyin asked before sitting up in bed.


    "I will tell you, don''t worry. Just go out onto your balcony" Haru stated and then hung up before she could say anything else.


    "The balcony? Why the bal-" Suyin asked before realising he had hung up.


    ''What is this about? Isn''t he excited to see me? He didn''t even exin where he was for the past week'' Suyin thought before walking to the balcony and walking outside like he had asked her to.


    She walked to the edge and then looked down, expecting something to be going on down below but as she looked down she heard a whistlee from above. She quickly looked back up to see the figure of a man floating in the sky with the sun painting a red light on his face as it rose over the mountains behind her.


    She was in awe. She didn''t know what to say. She hadn''t seen anyone fly before in her whole life yet she was watching her boyfriend of four years floating in the sky in front of her.


    "Haru?" She asked with a puzzled expr

 Chapter 251: I was a little busy.

    Chapter 251: I was a little busy.


    Haru smiled upon seeing the face that Suyin was making. She obviously never expected to see something like this and that was made obvious by her mouth hanging wide open with shock. She couldn''t believe what she was seeing.


    They had conversations about cultivation before and Haru mentioned the fact that once someone became strong enough they would gain the ability to fly. But she didn''t expect him to reach that point for quite a while. Even the cultivators her father employed wouldn''t be strong enough to do something like that, Yet she was looking at Haru floating in the sky like an apostle of god descending from the heavens.


    "I''m sorry it took me so long to reply. I was a little busy. Can Ie inside to talk about it?" Haru asked before flying closer to the balcony and stopped at eye level with her.


    Suyin just stared at him for a few moments before he came close to her. She then grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him closer to kiss him.


    "You need to stop making me worry about you so much. I might go insane at this rate. Of course, you cane in you big idiot." She smiled at him after pulling away from him after the kiss.


    Haru and Suyin both went inside and spoke about what had happened. Haru didn''t tell her that he had died. He just told her that he went into closed-door cultivation for a few days. He apologised for not telling her beforehand but she couldn''t shake the feeling that something was wrong.


    Since she first felt that something had happened to Haru she was constantly thinking about him and she ended up having nightmares every night that involved him. Things that terrified her. Haru could see that something was bothering her and asked her about it after clearing up the situation on his side.


    "What''s wrong? You look like there''s something else on your mind. Is everything okay?" Haru asked. He saw that she looked worried and he wasn''t sure why. He had tried his best to make her feel better but she still looked concerned about something.


    "Well It''s just that when I was here worrying about you I kept having this dream. It was weird and was exactly the same. Every single night I would wake up screaming. I was afraid that you were going to leave me." Suyin said with a sad smile. She was trying her best to put on a happy front but it was obvious that she was hurting.


    "It''s okay. I promise that I''m not going anywhere anytime soon. But do you mind if I ask what was the dream about?"Haru was interested to know just what had gotten her so worried. He knew about the fact that she felt like he had gotten injured and found it a little bit strange.


    "Okay, but don''tugh at me. You might not find it as scary as I do but it is terrifying for me.


    I wasying on the floor and there was this intense White light surrounding us both. It was so blinding that it was difficult to see you. But you were kneeling down over me with tears running down your face. I tried to call out to you to let you know that it''s okay and tofort you but when I did it was like you couldn''t hear me.


    Then after a while of just looking at me, you got up and turned around before walking away into the light. It felt like I would never see you again and I would be screaming out your name the whole time until I woke up.


    It''s been happening all week and it got so bad that even my manager heard me when I was sleeping on the bus." Suyin said while looking down at the ground as they sat on the edge of the bed.


    "I''m not going to leave you any time soon. But I might be because there is something that I haven''t told you. You probably realised that, didn''t you? I bet you were wondering about to reason why I went to Beijing." Haru asked. He wasn''t sure if she did wonder about it. But she didn''t so much as ask him what he was doing while he was there so he thought that she was just keeping her feelings to herself.


    "How did you know? I have been thinking about it constantly. I didn''t want you to feel like I was too clingy and wanted to know what you were doing all the time. But you didn''t really tell me. You said that you were going there to meet somebody. I didn''t think too much about it at first. But after a while, I began to think


    "What if he was there to meet with another woman." I don''t think that you would do something like that but I couldn''t help but think about it. I''m sorry" Suyin looked down at the ground even further than she did before as she spoke. She felt embarrassed that he had seen right through her. She had tried to keep it a secret yet she couldn''t keep it to herself.


    "You thought that I was there to meet a woman? You couldn''t be more wrong. I was there to meet with an old man. The head of the hong family to be exact. I should probably should have told you this before but I didn''t know how I would exin it to you so let me start from the beginning. And tell you about the catastrophe that will soon being to shanghai." Haru said before going into detail and exining everything about the upper realms and the soul tempering grounds.


    Suyin looked shocked and was in disbelief. She couldn''t believe what she was hearing but Haru wasn''t one to make things up and she knew that no matter how insane everything he was saying was. That it had to be the truth. He then told her about the fact that he had gotten on the bad side of the demon n and they had managed to track him back to earth.


    And that the week prior one of them came to look for him but was killed by his teacher. Although he skipped out on the fact that Lao was a dragon. And then he told her about how he had recruited people to help him fight against them when they inevitablye to look for him once again. After he had finished his exnation he looked back at Suyin who was now staring at him.


    She didn''t say a word but he could tell that she was mad. Her face was one of both concern and anger.


    "And why didn''t you feel like this was something that I needed to know? Were you nning to keep it from me forever? What if something terrible happened and you died!? I would never even know about and I would be worrying constantly." Suyin raised her voice to get her point across but then went silent as she gave herself time to think.


    "I know you too well though. You probably thought that you will be protecting me by not telling me anything but that''s not the truth. I would rather be hurt by what you tell me than hurt by the things that you don''t tell me. At least I can deal with it if I know what is going on.


    But if you end up hurt and I don''t know about it how do you expect me to do anything. I will feel way worse than if you just told me what was going on from the start." Suyin said and then waited for Haru to reply.


    He took a moment to get his thoughts back in order. He didn''t expect she would react like this. He was expecting her to go on a rampage and scream at him but she seemed understanding about the situation and knew the exact reason why he had failed to mention it before. He really didn''t want to hurt her but instead, he ended up hurting her even more by avoiding the subject.


    She had been making up situations in her head since thest time they had met about why he had gone to another city in the first ce. She didn''t know what to expect so her mind raced for answers but now that she knew the truth she felt as though she could finally rx. Although she still needed to process everything that he had told her.


    "I know, I''m sorry. I was thinking that not telling you it would make you worry less. But now I can see that in fact, it made you worry more. I won''t do it again. I will make sure that I tell you everything.


    But I do think that you shoulde and stay at my house. I put a protective barrier up so that no one could break-in. You will be a lot safer there than anywhere else and I can''t bear seeing you get hurt." Haru said as he put his arm around her.


    "If I get to be by your side. I don''t care where I am." Suyin smiled and rested her head against his chest. They then bothy back on the bed and spoke for hours until the sun started to set. Haru looked over at Suyin who had been staring at him for quite some time while he looked up at the ceiling.


    "Let''s go get some food." He said before sitting up once again.

 Chapter 252: Dragon Housewife.

    Chapter 252: Dragon Housewife.


    Haru and Suyin went out together for the remainder of the evening before finding themselves back at the serpentine resort. He had told her that he had been given the ce by a friend. Which was kind of aplicated thing at the moment. But he then went around and introduced her to all of the people he had gathered there.


    Suyin went out of her way to thank everyone for deciding to help Haru by giving them a small performance to help boost their morale. They didn''t know when or where the demons would show up so every noise that was heard was treated as if it was the demons attacking so everyone was restless and getting up and down at the sound of a pin drop.


    It was mentally exhausting for them since cultivators didn''t usually have so many unknowns before a battle. Haru on the other hand felt right at home. He had a pretty good idea of what was normal everyday sounds from the city and what would be the start of a demon invasion. Back in the war they constantly faced unknown factors when in the field so he had a little more experience ofrge scale warfare than the rest of the people there.


    They had only fought against other cultivators and not on arge scale. The only people that were as rxed as Haru were the people from the upper realms and Lao who was too busy making sure that Meiling was having fun.


    He had taken a liking to her and was treating her more like a father would. Haru couldn''t help but smile every time he saw them together. Haru and Suyin went back to Haru''s house in the hills just in case they came during the night.


    He wanted her to remain safe no matter what happened so he decided to take her back where he could be safe within the barrier that he created. There wasn''t much else for them to do so they decided to head to bed as soon as they got back.


    But as soon as they awoke, Lao came over with Meiling. He had been sleeping at the resort because Meiling wanted to get to know everyone. She picked up a habit of remembering names and wanted to memorise the name of everyone that came to help out. She wanted to do something to help out with the situation but since she was too young there was nothing she could do.


    So in a way memorising everyone''s name was her way of helping out. She thought that it would make things easier if someone knew who everyone was just in case someone died and they couldn''t identify the body to return to their family. It was sad for a child to be thinking like that but death was nothing new to her.


    Haru and Suyin remained in bed until the sound of Meiling shouting echoed throughout the halls. As soon as she entered the house she jumped up and down on the couch since it was springy like a mattress and Lao had been letting her do that since she hade to live with them. Haru rolled over and tapped Suyin on her back lightly to wake her.


    She too rolled over to look at him and then smiled when seeing he was beside her and looking into her eyes.


    "Good morning handsome." She smiled even wider before kissing his lips.


    "Good morning to you too, beautiful. But we have to cut the greetings short today. Lao has brought the kid over." Haru said and then went quiet. Meiling''s screaming andughing could be heard from the bedroom and Suyin smiled before sitting up on the bed and wrapping herself in a dressing gown.


    Haru on the other hand walked to his wardrobe and put on his clothes before going down to meet with them.


    "What''s up?" Haru asked when he saw Lao standing in the doorway to the living room.


    "Well, I thought I should be the first person to tell you but the ck star sects people are performing a Vision Leaping ceremony. And they are expecting to get results by tonight." Lao said with a neutral expression.


    He didn''t seem to be worried so it didn''t raise any red gs for Haru but he had no idea what a Vision Leaping Ceremony was. It sounded like a ritual of some sort and half expected them to be sacrificing goats or something so thought it would be better to ask instead of jumping to conclusions about what they were doing at his resort.


    "A vision leaping ceremony? What''s that?" Haru asked before walking past Lao and sitting down on the couch. He looked back up at Lao before his eyes were forced back down to Meiling who was jumping on the couch with her shoes still on. There was a little streak of mud on the corner of it where she had first jumped up.


    "Haru!!! Good morning!" She shouted while jumping up and down.


    "Good morning? I will good morning you in a minute. At least take your shoes off before jumping on my couches. Those are leather!" Haru shouted out. He had taken to the interior design of his house and enjoyed how everything was neat and tidy. The tiny mark on the couch ruined the whole house.


    Before she could even say anything he used Kun''s me to burn just the mud to clean it up. He could control the heat pretty well by now and didn''t worry about wrecking the whole couch with scorch marks.


    "I''m sorry. I forget to take them off." Meiling apologised and then looked down after Haru had shouted. Lao looked down on him with anger for a moment before Haru asked him again.


    "So what are these vision leaping ceremonies? Is there anything that I should worry about? I don''t want them to destroy the whole resort. I''m guessing that it has made me a lot of money so far. I haven''t checked my ount yet but I was told that it earns half a million Yuan per week.


    I swear if they damage anything I will" He didn''t know what to say. He couldn''t do a thing to them since he needed their help but he would certainly make them pay for anything they destroyed.


    "It''s nothing really. Just a ceremony that allows you to look out into the universe without going there in person. It takes a lot of Qi so all one hundred and sixty cultivators are using their Qi together to lighten the load and make it easier for them to seed.


    They are just hoping to catch a glimpse of the demons to know how long it will take for them to arrive. It''s been over a week since you had me kill that beacon. So they could be here at any minute.


    It''s difficult to determine though because they will need to fly here manually. The only transporters in the middle realm are owned by the human n and the elven n. The demon n focuses more on physical training more than they do on technological advancements. But they should be heard by now honestly. It''s strange. Maybe they know that we are prepared and are waiting for us to drop our defences?" Lao question why they had yet to appear before looking back at Haru for his opinion.


    "Hm Well, I was told that the milky way gxy as out in the middle of nowhere since the temple master of the soul tempering grounds had never heard of it before. So maybe they are lost?" Haru asked but Lao seemed doubtful of that assumption. He sighed slightly before Meiling ran over to Haru and grabbed his hands.


    "What is it?" Haru asked as he turned to look at her.


    "I''m hungry" She said with a pout. Haru looked up at Lao who quickly ran toward the kitchen.


    "What do you want to eat? I will make it right away." Lao shouted back from the kitchen. Haru looked down at Meiling who was now smiling.


    ''This sneaky little fox. She has him wrapped around her little finger.'' Haru thought to himself as Meiling seemed to have known how Lao would react to her saying that she was hungry.


    "Lao. You are spoiling her too much. She is old enough to make her own food don''t you think? She''s taking advantage-" Haru said and got up to walk to the kitchen. But stopped as soon as he entered the kitchen. He was in shock.


    He was seeing something that he never thought he would see in his life.


    Lao was wearing an apron and was standing next to the oven with his hair tied back into a ponytail. He couldn''t help butugh at the sight. He was watching an ancient and proud dragon act like a housewife while under themand of an eleven-year-old girl.


    As Haru wasughing to himself. Suyin carefully walked downstairs in heels as not to fall. She had finished getting ready for the day and saw Haruughing to himself.


    "What is it darling?" Suyin asked, finding it strange that he wasughing to himself.


    "Ah, it''s nothing really. Just Lao has decided to make breakfast for all of us." He replied and then pointed over to the kitchen where he was clumsily cracking eggs into a bowl and trying to get the shells out of it.


    "Ugh, Men" Suyin sighed with a smile before walking over to the kitchen to take over. She couldn''t bear to watch him struggle over something as simple as cracking a couple of eggs.


    Suyin ended up making breakfast and Haru helped set the tables while Lao continued to spoil Meiling with his knowledge of cultivation. They then all sat down and ate before leaving for the resort once again.

 Chapter 253: I know.

    Chapter 253: I know.


    Once they had all reached the resort it quickly became evident that something big was going on. The flow of Qi in the surrounding area had started to be distorted by the number of cultivators all using their strength to help in the vision leaping ceremony.


    Haru still didn''t know the details behind the ritual they were performing but he knew enough to know that it would be a big help if it was sessful so he personally sat by the door to the room so no one could enter and disturb them.


    Suyin decided that she would give him somepany and wanted to remain by his side even if there was nothing they could really do. They talked all day and Haru ended up exining how he had managed to be so advanced in cultivation that he could fly. He once again avoided spreading the secret of the dragon emperor ring and Li Jun and Lao receding within it and teaching him.


    She asked him many questions and they discussed it together until around six o''clock in the evening when a loud bang could be heard from within the room. Haru stood up quickly and opened the door.


    "What was that? Lao said that I didn''t have to worry about them breaking anything." Haru said aloud before opening the door to find sect master Shen and his wifeying on their backs and panting heavily.


    "So what was it like? Any sign of them?" Teacher Lin asked. He didn''t seem too concerned by the fact that they had fallen onto their backs after the ceremony ended so that was likely a usual oue for people who took part in it. But the look on Shen''s face spoke thousands of words when he looked around the room at everyone before speaking.


    "Evacuate the city. They will be here today. And they areing in much bigger numbers than we thought. We need someone from the government to gather as many people as you can.


    I will also be heading back to the sect to ask for help from more people. I suggest that you all do the same. Because with the one hundred and sixty of us currently in this room. We would have no chance of fighting against them. They have even sent ten masters at the profound life stage although they will be limited by thew of the lower realm. But that doesn''t mean you can take it easy.


    These people have probably lived for hundreds of years. Their experience will be many times greater than most of you so this is the worst possible oue. Everyone should start preparing to die." Sect master Shen addressed everyone within the room before turning back to help his wife up.


    "The profound life stage? What is that?" An old cultivator from the government asked. He had never heard of such a thing before and only recently heard of the Nirvana stage.


    "The profound stage is whates after the nirvana stage. If you think that someone at the nirvana stage is strong then someone at the profound stage could fight against one of them with his hands tied and still defeat him in less than three moves." Sect master Shen said before seeing Haru standing in the doorway.


    "Haru, we need to evacuate the city immediately. Is my gr-" He began to say to Haru as soon as he saw him but Haru already knew what he was about to ask.


    "I know, I heard everything. And yes I will ask him for help. You should take a breather though. At this rate, you will be exhausted by the time they arrive if you are being this proactive. Let the people around you take a bit of your burden." Haru said and then advised Shen who was panicking slightly.


    Shen looked back at his wife who was smiling gently and then to his left where teacher Lin ced a hand on his shoulder, then to his right where the third elder, Rue and Drobo were standing ready to help out in any way possible. And then at the back of the room where granny Lin was standing with her n''s people.


    "He''s right. We need to put aside our past and work together." Granny Lin was the one to suggest before walking over to the rest of the group that she hadn''t seen in so many years.


    As soon as she spoke everyone in the room turned to look at her. Not many people recognised her apart from the six people at the front that weremanding this n.


    Teacher Lin looked at her for a moment before turning his head in embarrassment.


    "Hana? What are you doing here? It''s been forever." Rue shouted out as soon as she saw granny Lin walking towards them.


    "Hey, feel free to use the backroom to catch up," Haru shouted with a smile on his face. He knew that nothing good woulde out of it since Rue was probably the elven woman that granny Lin had spoken about when she told Haru the reason why she wasn''t with teacher Lin anymore. He looked back at Suyin who was still standing behind him.


    "What is it? Did something happen?" She asked, not hearing what they were talking about since she was standing behind the half-opened door.


    "Yes, It''s exactly what I told you was going to happen. We need to head back to my ce. You had better call your manager over so that he doesn''t die. I will also be getting my uncle and his family over to keep them out of harm''s way. I also have a few friends that will need protection." Haru said before taking her in his arms and punching a hole in the roof with his Qi.


    "Haru! What are you doing!?" Suyin asked. She couldn''t believe what she was seeing. He had worried so much about his property being damaged by someone but at the first sign of trouble he ended up being the one to destroy the ce.


    "The city is bound to take damage. So I will just me it on the demons. After we win they can rebuild the ce for me. It''s fine. And I needed to make room for this." He said before suddenly her body began to feel lighter and lighter until the point she was no longer touching the floor.


    Haru surrounded her body within his Qi to make it easier for him to guide her back before surrounding his own body and then flying high into the sky while holding her hand.


    Suyin took a deep breath out of shock as she was dragged up into the clouds. She couldn''t believe what was happening. She had never felt like this before. The wind was blowing against her almost violently as they flew above the clouds.


    She wanted to tell Haru how she felt but as she looked at him she noticed that his mind was in another ce. He wasn''t paying attention to anything but getting her home safely.


    ''This is bad. There wasn''t a specific time, so they coulde at any moment. I wish I could have prepared more. I don''t feel ready yet. I need to make sure she will be safe. That is my main priority right now but I can''t help but feel like I am missing something.


    It''s like there''s something that I need to do but I forgot about itpletely.'' Haru was worrying about what was going to be of Suyin after this. He sure that he had nothing to worry about but he couldn''t shake the feeling that something was going to happen regardless


    As he was lost in thought about all the possibilities he saw his house in the distance and then flew down and walked inside with Suyin.


    "Make sure all the windows and doors are locked and don''t open the doors to anyone you don''t know. The demon n have devices that allow them to change their appearance to blend in with regr humans.


    No one will be able to hurt you here since I ced a barrier around the house. You will be safe as long as you don''t open the door to anyone at all. And make sure that your manager knows this too. I don''t want you to get hurt because he made a stupid mistake.


    This isn''t a time to make mistakes." Haru said before turning back to the door.


    "Wait a minute. Where are you going now?" Suyin asked Haru and then grabbed his hand. She couldn''t let him leave her like this.


    "This will be dangerous. And I''m not stupid enough to tell you that I wille back after this is all over. The people who say that always end up dying. So it''s better to do it like this.


    It might hurt but just know that it''s better than making a promise I might not be able to keep." Haru exined.


    He didn''t want to die the tragic death of a hero. He wanted to carry on living no matter what. He had to carry on living and didn''t care about what he had to do to save himself.


    He knew that he had the option to destroy the ancestral chain that Li Jun had given to him. But he just hoped that things wouldn''te to that. Although he was ready to use it if he really needed to.


    "I don''t care about any of that. I believe in you. Now kiss me!" Suyin saw the seriousness of the situation and didn''t want to burden Haru and distract him from anything. She sacrificed her dream of having a romantic experience before he went off to fight and instead opted to kiss him without another word.


    She leaned forward and tilted her head back before standing on her toes and kissing his lips.


    "I love you," Haru said as Suyin pulled away from the kiss with a smile.


    "And I love you too," Suyin said with a look of worry on her face.


    "I know," Haru said before opening the door and stepping outside.


    "Did you just Han-"Suyin asked. But as soon as the words escaped her lips. Haru had already vanished.

 Chapter 254: Thank you.

    Chapter 254: Thank you.


    Haru flew back in the direction of the resort but on his way, he made sure to drop by and check in on his uncle. He wanted to warn him before anything happened. But as he arrived at his house there was no sign of him. Both of the cars were gone and the inside of the house was a mess.


    It looked as though they had left in a hurry. He searched the property with his Qi to make sure that they weren''t there and then presumed that he would have been called by someone at the association since whatever was being discussed at the resort was most likely being passed back to them as well so he decided to head back without worrying.


    He flew through the sky causing panic below as many people saw him flying at high speeds above them. He wanted to keep it a secret that he was a cultivator before but right now. That didn''t matter. All that he was concerned about was making it back to the resort to go other than what was being nned without him.


    As he approached the resort there were shing red and blue lights below and sirens ring out all over the city as the police helped evacuate the residents in an orderly fashion. That was the handy work of Major Niu. She had notified the higher-ups in the government and the whole city had begun to evacuate towards the mountains.


    There was a refuge point in the mountains that was built during the war just in case anyone decided to attack china. They stayed neutral though and no one acted against them so the refuge point was unused. But it was going toe in handy to keep the citizens of Shanghai safe.


    Harunded on the roof of the resort before stopping suddenly.


    "Li Jun. It''s happening today." Haru let Li Jun know using his spiritual sense to call him out from the ring and then waited for him to make an appearance.


    "The demons areing huh?" Li Jun asked before appearing before Haru, Although the colour of his skin seemed faded and more translucent than he remembered.


    "Yeah, But is it that thing happening again? You look kind of sickly." Haru said in acknowledgement of Li Jun''s appearance. He remembered what happenedst time before Li Jun vanished for a while.


    He looked exactly like this and that was worrying Haru a little.


    "Yeah, I feel the pulling once more. But I can resist. Don''t worry about me.I have been dealing with this for what feels like an eternity. This is nothing." Li Jun put on a smile and then looked out over the edge of the roof to the city below.


    "I guess they are evacuating all of the locals aren''t they?" Li Jun said to himself with a sigh before looking back at Haru.


    "Don''t worry too much. I will be by your side the whole time. It will be okay." Li Jun reassured him after seeing how uneasy Haru was.


    His face was pale and he was sweating from his forehead. His hands had be mmy and he was asionally biting his lip.


    Despite the life of war that he had lived in the past he had never felt this way before. He only knew how to fight in the past. He had never known anything else. But in the past eighteen years, he had felt so much more than he ever expected to.


    He felt the love from his parents as he was growing up. He felt curious about the unknown. He never had time to wonder about life outside of all the fighting in the past so this was something big for him.


    He also felt friendship. Being in the war took a toll on his social life since the chances were high that his friends would die and he couldn''t count how many times he had developed a connection with another soldier just for them to die in front of him. He often wondered what it was like to have a normal life and it seemed like a distant dream until he was reincarnated.


    But most importantly he had felt romantic love. He had seen it before but he never knew the significance of it before. He had searched for love in the past but his social skills would always give people the wrong impression. He had never had time to live his life so he never knew how to interact before he was reborn as Haru Kitagawa.


    His life had changed over the past eighteen years and he had finally found a meaning to his life outside of fighting. He wanted to explore, he wanted to learn and he wanted to love. It was the simple things that he valued but to get what he wanted he knew that he would have to fight with all his might.


    He just never expected that this type of situation would happen. He felt both grateful and sad. Grateful for the people who had helped him be the person he was and sad that he had to risk everything for the chance to see them all once more.


    Li Jun''s words calmed him slightly but he couldn''t shake the feeling of nervousness within him.


    ''Am I scared?'' He asked himself. He had looked death in his eyes for more than forty years in total yet this was the first time in a while he had felt scared. He had so much that he wanted to live for and that also gave him so much to lose.


    A tear gently ran down his cheek as he looked up at Li Jun.


    "Are You okay?" Li Jun asked. In all the time that he had known Haru, he had never seen him cry before. He didn''t know how to react.


    "Mm," Haru quickly nodded his head and wiped away the tears from his eyes.


    "I''m just d to have a friend as amazing as you are. You have helped me grow so much and I don''t know how to repay you. I just want to do something before it''s toote." Haru exined.


    Li Jun was taken back by what Haru had just said.


    ''A friend? Did he think of me as a friend all this time? That''s'' Li Jun thought before looking back at Haru.


    "I think you have helped me grow a little bit too. Watching you grow all this time has been a blessing. I thought that I would be trapped until the day that the real Li Junes to retrieve me. But you freed me and gave me so much more than I was expecting.


    I thought that after being separated from my body that I would just have to wait. But the time I have spent here has been more than satisfactory. I should be the one thanking you." Li Jun felt ttered by what Haru had told him.


    "If you want to do anything to repay me then you will make it out of this alive and continue living." Li Jun smiled after seeing the tears run down his face.


    Haru took a deep breath and steadied his breath. He hade so far. There was no way that he was just going to stand down and die. He needed to survive if not for himself then for the people around him.


    He wasn''t sure how his parents would react if he died. And surely they would me Andrew for not looking after him. Even though this problem had nothing to do with him but he promised that he would look out for him before he knew how strong he was.


    Haru was sure that Andrew felt a little embarrassed by the fact that his nephew was stronger than him but even so he wasn''t a bad guy and even tried to help him out when he got into trouble with the Leung family. He didn''t want to destroy his family and split them apart from any more than they already were because he cared about them too much.


    He needed to live and that is what he nned to do.


    It would be a shame if everyone came to join him in fighting and gave their lives for nothing so he needed to live for the sake of living. He looked up to Li Jun with a smile and then nodded his head.


    He wanted to live but he wasn''t sure if he could make it out alive even tried. But he was determined to do it. He decided to head inside to see what the game n would be and to prepare for the arrival of the demons.


    Li Jun followed slowly behind as Haru opened the doors and made his way down into the main lobby of the building which was now packed full of people that he didn''t know. Most of which were wearing sect clothing.


    "Is this the two thousand people Reu promised?" Haru thought to himself as he looked around the room.

 Chapter 255: Your soul?

    Chapter 255: Your soul?


    He stood still and watched as the army of cultivators were taking orders from Rue who was standing within the main hall where there were many more of them inside. What she was saying was being passed down to the people at the back who couldn''t quite hear what she was saying by other cultivators and they remained in an orderly line as they listened to what she had to say.


    "You will be thest line of defence. Your job is to keep the citizens of Shanghai safe. And to do so you will make sure that they evacuate the city and do not return for any circumstance. We can''t afford any mistakes that could end up getting someone innocent involved in this matter.


    I know that for some of you, this will be your first taste of realbat. But don''t let that scare you. There are two more lines of defence before you and we will do everything within our power to not let anyone get to you. All you have to do is guard those people who can''t protect themselves.


    If you can do that then you have done a good job and you will receive rewards for your contribution. As for those of you who have seenbat before and are itching for a fight, it is your job to join the second line of defence. You will be the ones who stop the enemy from getting anywhere near the mountains.


    I will tell you this now though. Don''t try to be a hero. For those of you who will think of this as a test to flex your ego, I am sorry to say but you will end up dead. The people we are up against this time are far too strong for even me to think of fighting alone. You will have no chance if you go off on your own and look for trouble.


    You will all need to stick together and work as a team. If you can''t do that then you are free to leave. Just don''t get in our way." Rue said and then took a few seconds to weed out the troublemakers.


    But as she predicted no one decided to leave. She had raised the people of her sect from birth. There was no chance that any of them would abandon their brothers and sisters within the sect to seek glory for themselves.


    She smiled proudly at her students before addressing the stronger members of her n.


    Haru had heard enough and didn''t want to intrude any longer so he went to find Lao. Li Jn followed behind, making sure that he kept his presence hidden from everyone else but he was going to stay true to his word. He wasn''t going to leave Haru''s side until everything was over. He couldn''t let his student face something like this alone. It wouldn''t sit right with him and he would regret it if anything happened to Haru.


    Haru walked around the resort and entered many rooms on his search for Lao but there seemed to be no sign of him. That was until he entered the garden and he came across Lao crouched down beside Meiling on the grass.


    "I''m going to send you to a ce where you will be safe. It is a ce only I can go to so you can rest easy knowing that no matter what happens out here, nothing will happen to you.


    An old friend of mine is currently residing within the ce you will go to so all you need to do is show him this token and he will allow you to enter. Although he might look a little bit scary to you, don''t mind it too much. He is a very nice man and will keep you safe okay?" Lao asked with one hand on Meiling''s shoulder.


    "Is it somewhere far away?" Meiling asked confused but Lao simply shook his head before handing her a small jade token with the shape of a dragon carved into it.


    "It isn''t far away at all. It is a ce that was created a long time ago and it''s a ce that can''t be invaded by anyone. Only people with souls like ours can exist in there so you don''t need to worry about the demons that areing to earth." Lao spoke in a gentle tone while Meiling stood for a few moments before reaching out her hand and taking the token from him.


    "Okay then if your friend is really nice then I don''t mind going there." Meiling smiled innocently.


    "Thank you. I think Haru will be able to fight better knowing that you will be safe." Lao smiled and Meiling giggled at the thought before she turned her head and saw Haru standing by the door, looking at them both.


    Her cheeks went a bright shade of pink as she looked up at him and she gasped.


    "You''re sending her somewhere safe?" Haru asked before walking over now that he had been spotted. He knew that Lao could sense him but he didn''t say anything because he was busy with Meiling.


    "Yes. I created a small world within my own consciousness many years ago. The only way to get there is if I give the go-ahead so it will be the safest ce for her to be." Lao replied before looking over at Haru.


    "Mhm. I was thinking the same thing. I was going to ask Granny Lin to let her stay at the floating pce sect but your idea seems much better and I can be assured that she will be safe." Haru said before looking down at Meiling.


    "Then I guess I will see you when this is all over. Make sure you stay safe and don''t do anything to get yourself into trouble, you little devil." Haru smiled at Meiling who was standing slightly behind Lao.


    Meiling nodded her head shyly but then without warning she charged Haru with her arms wide open and hugged him around his waist.


    "Then you have to be safe too! I don''t want you to die like everyone else." Meiling clutched her eyes tightly closed and pressed her head against his stomach.


    "Okay, Okay. I promise that I will be safe. Just don''t hug me to death before the fighting starts." Haruughed.


    He was worried about what was going to happen to her during this critical time but it seemed like Lao had already nned everything ahead of time. There wasn''t much for him to do but to sit back and put his trust in the people around him. That seemed like it was for the better anyway. Thest thing he needed was to be distracted by unnecessary thoughts.


    "Good." She smiled and then took a step back before looking up at Lao.


    "I''m ready now." She said proudly and independently as if she was trying to act like an adult.


    "Hehe, Looks like the kid has a little crush on you." Li Junughed at the thought as Lao opened up a portal of white light that span like a vortex.


    "Maybe. She will grow out of it though. It''s probably just admiration for the person who saved her. I have seen it before." Haru said with a little chuckle as he watched Meiling enter the vortex and then vanish into thin air.


    "Li Jun, Show yourself. I can sense you." Lao said as soon as Meiling had gone through the portal.


    "What really? I guess I am really losing my power. You could never sense me in the past." Li Jun said before making himself visible to Lao too.


    "Ha, You think that you can hide from a mighty dragon. You are mistaken human." Lao said in a threatening voice. Haru, Li Jun and Haru all went silent for a few moments beforeughing.


    It had been a while since Lao had acted like a proud dragon but it was still within his nature if he was challenged. There was nothing left for them to do but to wait for the demons to arrive.


    The evacuation had already begun and the people Haru wanted to protect were all going to be safe. He didn''t need to worry about anyone else now and it felt as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Yet there was still something nagging at the back of his head.


    As he was speaking with Lao and Li Jun something interesting came up in the conversation.


    "Do you still have it?" Li Jun asked Lao with a smile.


    "Have what?" Lao seemed confused for a few moments before taking a nce at Haru and then remembering something that seemed important.


    "Oh Do you mean that? Yeah, I still have it. Are you really sure about this? You know what will happen if anything happens to it." Lao asked with a suspicious tone to his voice like the thing they were talking about was something malicious.


    "Yeah, it will but my mind at ease." Li Jun said before suddenly a small orb of red light appeared within Lao''s hand and then held it out towards Haru.


    Haru stopped for a few seconds to look at it. He had never seen anything like it in his life. It was just a simple ball of life but there seemed to be a feeling of lifeing from within. It felt familiar to him but he couldn''t understand where he had felt it before.


    "What is it?" He asked before reaching out and taking it from Lao''s hand. It fell silent once again before Lao looked up at Li Jun. Haru then followed suit and did the same.


    "Well, That is the fragment of Li Jun''s life that is currently keeping me here. I guess you could say that it is my essence of life. Or the soul." Li Jun said with a smile as he looked at Haru.


    "Your soul? Why would you give me something like this? Shouldn''t you be keeping it somewhere safe?" Haru asked, confused as to what he meant by this.


    "Well, it is for precaution. If anything is to happen to you and your soul is on the verge of being destroyed then I will trade my life for yours." Li Jun smiled once again.


    Haru looked at him for a few moments and felt his heart throb slightly as a deep pain began to set in within his chest.


    "No, I can''t ask you to do such a thing for me. I can''t ept something so precious." Haru said with his voice shaking on every word. He felt honoured that Li Jun was willing to do such a thing but it pained him at the thought of his teacherying down his life in exchange for his.

 Chapter 256: Colossal ships.

    Chapter 256: Colossal ships.


    "Well then, I guess it''s a good thing that you aren''t asking me to do it." Li Jun smiled once again. But Haru was still hesitant. He didn''t feel right letting the person who taught him how to cultivate run the risk of dying if he wasn''t careful.


    "But" Haru began toin but Li Jun didn''t want to hear it so cut him off before he could say anything else.


    "It''s really okay. Just think of it this way. There is nothing left for me on earth if you die and you are the only thing keeping me here. If you die then I will just stop resisting the pull. What is the point in living here if my student is gone?" Li Jun asked. He made a point but Haru was still too scared to ept.


    He didn''t want Li Jun to die for him but it was beginning to look like he didn''t have a choice. And it wasn''t set in stone yet there was still a good chance that he wouldn''t have to use it. He just had to make sure that he didn''t get into a situation that was too risky.


    "Fine, I get it I just don''t want you to me me then if your soul is destroyed." Haru put on a brave face and epted the gift that Li Jun was forcing upon him.


    "Good, I''m d that we understand each other. Just make sure you keep the fragmented soul by you at all times." Li Jun said and then without warning, the little red ball of light started to rise up into the air.


    Haru didn''t know what to think as the ball of light began to approach him before disappearing into his chest. It was as if he had absorbed it but he still felt the power of Li Jun''s soul. It was at that moment when he remembered where he had felt that power before.


    He thought back to his first visit to the ck star sect when he learned how to cultivate and when he had swum down to the bottom of the cave pool. He remembered something calling out to him and then a burning pain as an unknown power entered his body. It was the same power that was hidden within Li Jun''s soul.


    He remembered how he was saved by Li Jun the first time and he was determined to make sure that he didn''t need to do something like that. Haru had gotten so strong over a short amount of time and he was determined to show his teacher his full strength, even though he had yet to show his power to himself yet.


    All the fights that he had been in so far were either against people so strong that they defeated him before he could react or he was holding back against them. He wanted to know the depth of his strength against someone who was equally matched against him and the fight ahead of him would hopefully allow him to see that.


    Haru nodded his head in response to Li Jun and then sat down on the grass beside Lao who was fiddling with a small metal ball.


    "What''s that? Haru asked. To him, it just looked like a piece of metal but there would be no need for Lao to be looking at it so intensely. He rolled it around in his fingers for a moment before looking up at Haru and then held out his hand.


    "It''s a mechanical observance device. It''s used to watch the battlefield from the sky. It might not look like much but it wille in handy if we want to win this battle" Lao said and then injected his Qi into the little metal ball and it began to float in the air on top of his hand. Haru looked at it for a moment before Li Jun bent over to be on the same level as them both and looked at it for a few seconds.


    "I haven''t seen one of those for a while. I guess thest time would have been the battle that took ce on the god-king road. Wow, that really is a distant memory.


    Lao is right. This will be unbelievably helpful. But I doubt that the demons would go to a distant where they don''t know the terrain without preparing something like this. I bet they will also bring some. You had better tell everyone about this before the fight starts so they know what to look for and can destroy it before they start to take the lead." Li Jun warned Lao but suddenly a screaming siren began to re out across the city.


    .Haru looked up at Li Jun and suddenly Lao had jumped to his feet and had begun to look up at the sky. Harmful looked up at the sky too but couldn''t see anything.


    "They''ve arrived," Lao said quietly to himself without taking his eyes from the sky.


    Haru''s heart began to beat and thump as a pit formed in his stomach. The nervousness that he felt before had nowe back and he felt a little light-headed. He knew what Lao meant by those words alone and hadn''t quitee to terms that he would be fighting for his life yet.


    He felt scared once again but as soon as he realised that it was fear that he was feeling a soothing gust of wind seemed to wrap its way around him. He felt it for a few seconds and it calmed him down before fading again. But as it faded it seemed to seep into his chest, exactly over the point where Li Jun ced his soul.


    "Was that?" Haru looked at Li Jun who just smiled in response. After all the time that they had known each other, he had never known that his teacher was capable of doing such things. But he wasn''t surprised. He had watched him reverse someone''s age so he didn''t feel that amazed by it.


    But he did feel like he understood Li Jun just a little bit more. If he had the ability to calm someone''s soul then he had obviously been in a situation where he had needed to calm someone else''s soul in the past. He was a nice man through and through so he wasn''t sure why in the stories he had heard about his life, everyone feared him.


    It felt more like he had be infamous from a single situation and people began to fear him because the story was passed on like in a game of telephone.


    Haru felt a little sad by that fact but his thoughts were soon ripped from his mind and ced on his face as a dark shadow made its way over shanghai and something metallic looking tore its way through the clouds.


    It looked like a dark, curved sheet of metal but as soon as it became a little more visible another one followed behind. Each of the dark metal objects were more than twenty metres in length and seemed to shimmer in the light from the sun yet cast a shadow on the ground beneath them.


    "So they came with colossal ships There might be a lot more of them than we anticipated." Li Jun said but as soon as he finished what he was saying another one came through the clouds yet this one was twice the size of the previous two.


    "A celestial rank colossal ship? Are they nning to blow the whole up!?" Li Jun asked it seemed like the things floating above were a big deal but Haru hadn''t heard anything about them before and felt confused as he looked up.


    They moved through the sky beforeing down a little lower. This time letting Haru see what they were and to him, they looked like gigantic pirate ships that were floating in the sky. Yet they were made out of a metallic material that seemed to absorb light its self. Before he could say another word a deep rumbling sound shot through the sky as a red ray of light shot down from the ship and hit the headquarters for the cultivation association.


    The skyscraper seemed to vanish as it turned to dust before their very eyes.


    Haru was awestruck and didn''t know what to say. That very well could have happened to the resort he was standing in and it would have killed him instantly. It shocked his very core but then suddenly a voice called out from therge of the three floating ships.


    "Luo Yang, Today will be the day that you die." A course and strained sounding voice shot throughout the sky before making its way down to the ground.


    Haru couldn''t help butugh.


    "If I knew that the name I chose on a whim would get so much attention I would have chosen something cooler," Haru said to himself before looking at Li Jun who alsoughed a little bit.


    Lao on the other hand was too focused on the sky. It seemed as if he was waiting for something to happen. But then he alsoughed but not at the joke Haru had made. Heughed at the sky as a giant hand reached down from the clouds and grabbed a hold of one of the ships before tearing it in half.


    "What!? The third ship is taking damage? Who dares to go against me!?" The voice called out again which made Haruugh once again. He didn''t know why he wasughing in such a situation but he found it funny that the person who had just threatened his life forgot to turn off whatever device was amplifying his voice before addressing his people.


    "What an idiot It looks like they were the ones who were unprepared." Haru gloated as the damaged ship changed its course while mes shot out the back of it as the two pieces plummeted to the ground.


    "I wouldn''t be so sure about that," Lao said before another ray of light shot down from thergest ship. Only this time it was aimed at the resort where Haru was standing.


    Rubble shot up in the air all around them and Haru clenched his eyes closed and held his breath out of reflex as his feet were taken up off the floor beneath him as he was shot backwards towards the building.

 Chapter 257: Terrifying.

    Chapter 257: Terrifying.


    Haru''s body impacted with something hard after flying back for a few metres but surprisingly the thing that his body hit gave way like the surface of a trampoline and he came out of the ray of light unscathed. As he opened his eyes he saw a faint green light surrounding the resort. Lao had set up a barrier to protect the ce within a few seconds and had saved the lives of all the people present.


    "Haru, Tell everyone inside it''s now or never," Lao instructed Haru before reaching down to the ground to lock the barrier in ce by attaching his Qi to the soul that he was standing upon.


    "Got it!" Haru shouted back in response. He was so caught up in the confusion of what just happened that he didn''t think twice before entering the building and notifying the remaining people who were standing around idly.


    "Everyone get your asses outside and fall into your positions. The enemy is here and won''t hold back. If you want to survive then you had better follow the n and hope it seeds. That is your only option for now." Haru shouted as he made his way inside to the one hundred or so manifestation stage cultivators that were left behind when the people at the nascent soul stage rushed off to meet the demons.


    Teacher Lin hadunched a sneak attack before they could do anything and Haru guessed that the sect master was probably fighting with the demons that were on board that ship and had now fallen down to earth.


    The ground shook once again from inside the building and made a few of the people inside flinch. But that wasn''t enough to scare them into submission. In such a big group the first person to break would have been looked down upon so everyone put on a brave face despite their worries and headed outside like Haru had instructed them too.


    Haru followed behind them and back out into the courtyard where Lao was still standing but now just looking up at the sky.


    "What is it?" Haru asked as he walked outside and stood beside him. As he did so he noticed pirs of smoke rising up into the sky from where the gun from the colossal ship had struck the ground. He didn''t know what to expect when he first saw the ships. But now he was starting to understand why they hade with ships.


    Just bringing men alone wouldn''t have been enough since the Law of the lower realm would limit their cultivation level to that of someone at the nascent soul stage. So they brought ships that wouldn''t be affected by the restriction and therefore they could cause more damage than they could with manpower alone.


    But Haru guessed that they didn''t expect to run into a dragon during their trip to earth and Lao had a hungry expression on his face as if he was a tiger waiting for his prey toe within range for him to pounce. And that seemed to be exactly what he was doing as he turned back to Haru.


    "You go on ahead of me. I''m waiting for the big fish toe on out of his hiding hole." Lao spoke with a sadistic grin as he looked up at the sky once more.


    "I got it. I will go and help the people near the fallen ship." Haru notified Lao of his n just in case something happened where he would need to find him in an emergency. He didn''t want to be too far away from Lao since he knew that he was the strongest person participating in the battle on their side. But everything was happening so fast.


    He thought that there would be more of a warning and at least a little bit of a discussion between the people of earth and the demon n. But it really did seem like they were out for blood. They gave him a single warning that they would kill him before attacking with their full power. It was just lucky that Teacher Lin had gone ahead and knocked one of the ships out of the sky.


    Haru flew up into the sky before flying over to where the ship hadnded in two parts. The debris from the crash was spread over four hundred metres and so were the asional bodies of demons that wereying on the floor lifelessly.


    ''Hmm Seems like the attack from teacher Lin wasn''t just to knock the ship out of the sky.'' Haru thought before reaching into his storage ring and pulling out his sword.


    "CLANG!" The sound of metal shing together rang out as he turned on a dime after sensing the sneak attack creeping up on him from behind. A demon had beenying amongst the dead bodies in an attempt to attack anyone that walked back. It was just unfortunate for him that he met Haru in the middle of his master n.


    "Die, you filthy human! Just wait until we get our hands on Luo Yang. We will turn this whole into a ball of fire." The demon yelled before swinging his arm toward Haru in an attempt to punch him in the face and knock him off bnce.


    But the force behind the punch seemed weak for someone of his cultivation stage and Haru didn''t bother dodging it since he knew that it wouldn''t do him any damage to take it. Plus it would shake the enemy if his attack did no damage at all. And that is what he was aiming for. He wanted to strike fear into all of his enemies so they knew that he wasn''t a force to be reckoned with.


    As the demon''s hand struck Haru''s face the hair on his head shifted a little bit as it blew in the wind from the force of the punch but his head didn''t move even an inch.


    "Well You now have your hands on Luo Yang What are you going to do now?" Haru asked with a smile before retreating his arm from the demon''s sword and then piercing it through the centre of his stomach.


    "You You''re Luo Yang? But But I didn''t even get to" The demon began toin as he drew his final breath. He had no idea what he had signed himself up for when he decided toe to earth. But Haru was determined to show all of the demons that they had signed their own death warrants when they showed up in shanghai.


    "Your first kill on the battlefield How does your first feat of victory taste? Inspiring isn''t it?" Li Jun asked after witnessing the whole thing as he was standing by Haru''s side.


    "Not really. This is bound to be the first of many and I know this is still far from over. But yeah. I agree. It is inspiring me to kill even more of them for the simple reason that they have pissed me off by showing up here." Haruughed to himself as he looked at Li Jun before hearing the sounds of shing metal in the distance.


    "That must be where they ended up," Haru said to himself as he sensed for Qi in the area around him before noticing that there were nine cultivators at the nascent soul stage. And a few of them seemed like they were even stronger. Yet one of them stood far above the others and Haru recognised the aura from a few days before when he had witnessed the same power.


    He quickly flew towards the fighting to see that Drobo was surrounded by demons yet he was still standing his ground and was unfazed by the fact that he was caught within an ambush. He looked up at the sky after sensing that Haru was nearby and then began to pick the ear wax out from the inside of his ears.


    "Well, would you look at that? The humans have even conscripted someone from the dwarven n to fight for them. It seems like they are really desperate if they are willing to lower their standards to a lowly n like the dwarfs." One of the demonsughed as the encirclement tightened around Drobo.


    Haru couldn''t help but shake his head. He was surprised by the stupidity of the demons. It was like they couldn''t see what was going on in front of them. They had ambushed someone yet he didn''t even flinch as they surrounded him and he remained calm enough to pick the wax out of his ears.


    "Just look at his confidence. He knows he can kill you all with a single breath yet you choose to attack anyway?" Haru couldn''t help but shout in frustration.


    "Huh? Another human brat? Wait your turn. We will kill you next." Another one of the demons said as he turned to look at Haru before demanding that he stay put.


    But Haru had other ns. He wanted to go somewhere where he could help out and he could see that he clearly wasn''t needed where Drobo was and he decided to head towards the main body of the ship to hopefully find something more fulfilling. He couldn''t steal someone else''s kill so he went on, leaving Drobo to deal with the eight other nascent soul cultivators on his own.


    "Heh, Looks like the humans don''t appreciate the help of your dwarven n after all. I guess you will now die for nothing." The demon that threatened Haru called out to Drobo and then swung his sword towards him.


    As Haru flew around the sky in search of more demons he heard cries of pain call out from where Drobo was and then turned to see a cloud of dust rising up into the air.


    "That man''s power is terrifying." Haru thought to himself before spotting a group of demons surrounding someone in the distance. He headed towards them right away as Li Jun followed slightly behind him.

 Chapter 258: Spoiled brats.

    Chapter 258: Spoiled brats.


    As he flew through the sky he became aware of the presence of multiple people that were a lot more powerful than he was. They were fighting to the death as he made his way past them all while trying his best not to alert them. He didn''t want them to change their targets and go after him as he tried to find a ce where he would be useful.


    Once he passed the people who were stronger than him he found a small group of cultivators that were fighting against some of the weaker demons that were previously on board the ship. Demons had a natural strength advantage over humans so even if they were at the cultivation stage as a human they would have to be wary of a physical attack.


    The demon n used their strength to their advantage and would often use a weapon that was heavy and crudely constructed and made from bones and scraps of metal and wood. To say they constructed something as great as the colossal ships that they used to travel through space their weapons seemed to be reallycking but the reason for the crude weapons became apparent to Haru as he looked down at the battle.


    One of the demons threw his sword towards a cultivator at the manifestation stage before rushing towards him with a flurry of attacks from his fists. It seemed like the demon''s fighting style relied heavily on hand to handbat. And that made Haruugh slightly.


    For almost three years he had trained to fight with his bare fists before switching to the sword after a suggestion from Lao. He wanted to test his luck in hand to handbat. He smiled before making his way down to the ground and watching on as a group of fifteen cultivators struggled to fight against the four demons that hade out from the wreckage.


    Luckily the cultivator blocked the attack from the flying sword but the attacks that followed suppressed his strength and he could only try his best to block. He took a punch to the stomach before his body folded in half and he dropped to the floor and spat up a mouthful of blood onto the floor.


    "Just as I expected. The humans out in the lower realm are really so much weakerpared to the middle realm. This almost seems like bullying. I like it. Hey, Issac, get your ass over here and help me finish off the rest of these bastards." The demon yelled out but there was no response.


    "Issac! Did you not hear me? Get your ass up here and-" The demon yelled once again before turning his head to look at his friend that was standing behind him.


    He didn''t notice at first but as he tried to demand him to move he quickly realised something wasn''t right. The demon he called out to was standingpletely still and there wasn''t the slightest feeling of lifeing from him. He looked at his face to see a small river of blood streaming down his chin from his mouth and then his attention was brought down to Issac''s chest as he saw something move.


    He looked at his friend''s chest to see a human-looking hand was sticking out of the front of his sternum. The hand then moved slightly before disappearing back into the demon''s chest and then a sh of light made its way through a hole where the hand previously was.


    The demon dropped to his knees before falling t on his face.


    "Oh, I''m sorry Did you need him for something? Maybe I can help you?" A voice called out. The demon then looked up to see a human with pale white skin and bright blue eyes staring at him with a cocky smile stretching across his face as he looked him in the eyes.


    "You son of a!-" The demon cried out after seeing his friend''s lifeless body drop to the ground but before he could finish his sentence he felt a burning pain in his stomach as Haru cut the distance between them using his shadow step technique and thennded an elbow to his gut.


    He too bent over in pain before coughing up a small amount of blood into his hands. He looked down at the blood in disbelief and then back up at Haru who was standing still and now looking down on him.


    "You know I was going to kill you all with my hands. But it is so inefficient. I guess it''s a good thing that I switched to swordsmanship after all." Haru told the demon before pulling his sword out from his storage ring and then drawing the de.


    As soon as the de left the scabbard it cut its way through the demon''s neck. His head dropped to the floor before rolling across the concrete and stopping at the feet of the cultivator that was previously at his mercy.


    "You''re Haru, right? I can''t thank you enough. I owe you my life." The cultivator said before trying to get back up to his feet but he had some internal injuries and as soon as he put weight on his leg he fell forward.


    Haru used the shadow step technique once again and appeared by his side just in time to catch him before he fell over.


    "Rx. You have some internal injuries. Don''t even think about getting up okay?" Haru made his point clear to the cultivator that it would only


    Cause him more trouble if he tried to get up.


    "Woah, man. I didn''t think you were capable of fighting at such a level when I first saw you. I mean look at you, You''re just a kid after all." The remaining cultivators finished up there fighting and then walked over but the man at the front of the group had something to say as he approached Haru.


    "Here take this pill. It will help you recover your strength. You don''t mind if I take a look at your injuries do you?" Haru handed the injured cultivator a Qi gathering pill and then asked.


    "Th-thank you." The man nodded his head and then took the pill from Haru''s hand beforeying down with his back against the ground.


    "Hey. Didn''t you hear meplimenting you? You should answer when someone is talking to you." The man who was leading the group of cultivatorsined as Haru didn''t respond to him.


    ''There we go Another one who wants to be the centre of attention. I give it an hour before he is killed.'' Haru thought to himself and shook his head in disappointment before closing his eyes to use his spiritual Qi to sense the injuries of the cultivator that wasying on his back.


    "Hey, what''s your name?" Haru asked the man who wasying down and enjoying the feeling of Qi flowing into his body from the pill that he had just taken.


    "Sorry I really don''t want to say, But my friends call me Dana if that''s okay?." The man said quietly. He seemed to have a reason for keeping his name hidden from Haru so he didn''t push for anything else.


    "Well, Dana. I have some bad news for you." Haru said and then took his hands away from his body.


    "Oh Just how bad is it?" Dana gulped in response to Haru before speaking with concern in his voice. He knew that it couldn''t be anything good since someone strong enough to defeat two demons with his bare hands said it was bad.


    "Well You have six broken ribs, a hairline fracture on your vertebrae and your kidney seems to be ruptured. If you can''t get to a healer soon then you are likely to die." Haru gave him a quick assessment of his injuries while informing him to seek medical attention as soon as possible.


    ''If this was the past then I would be able to heal this easily. I feel bad knowing that I can''t do anything to help him.'' Haru thought to himself before recalling that Li Jun had told him that he wouldn''t be able to use magic if he became a cultivator.


    He sighed before awaiting a response from Dana.


    "Whew, I guess I got lucky then. I was worried you were going to say that my heart was failing or something. If I can just get back to the resort then someone will be able to heal me. Thank you again. I really do owe you my life." Dana said to Haru while on the verge of tears.


    He thought the injuries were worse than they were and was preparing for Haru to tell him that he only had a few minutes to live. He was thankful that Haru got there just in time to save him and felt d to be alive.


    "No problem. But you should recover your strength here and then make your way over to get healed. Don''t worry the area is clear of any demons for now but you should keep an eye out just in case a few stragglers are hiding somewhere nearby." Haru said to Dana before getting to his feet and preparing to head to the next location where he might be needed.


    The n was for them to thin the number of demons to reduce the chance of them making their way to the refuge point and killing civilians while the stronger cultivators battled against the stronger demons.


    Haru turned to leave but was stopped by a hand reaching out and grabbing his shoulder.


    "You actually ignored me after Iplimented you? You have some nerve little blue." A skinny looking ginger-haired man said to Haru while holding his shoulder. He looked around the same age as Haru and had his hair slicked back while wearing a three-piece suit. He was dressed formally while on a battlefield and that fact spoke more than it needed to.


    "Don''t you know who I am?" The man said with a furious look on his face. He looked like a rich businessman who hade outside of his office to see that someone had rear-ended his car. And from just a nce Haru knew all he needed to know about the man.


    ''Spoiled brats. You can''t even escape them in the middle of a battle'' Haru thought to himself before sighing and raising his hand to his face in disappointment.

 Chapter 259: Deserter.

    Chapter 259: Deserter.


    "Nope, and I don''t care. Now I will be on my way. You have a great life." Haru dismissed the ginger-haired man and knocked his arm down from his shoulder with his hand as if he was swatting away a fly. He turned his back on the man and then looked up at the other two ships in the sky. They had yet to move and no one had gone near them at all.


    "You son of a bitch-" The man yelled but before he could do anything else he was pulled back by another member of the group.


    "Don''t do that. Weren''t you here for the meeting? He is the one that gathered everyone here. If you make an enemy of him then you will be making an enemy of everyone that came to help him." A young woman dressed in sect clothing said to him as she grabbed his arm.


    ''Hmm Which sect is she from? In fact Where did all of these peoplee from? I don''t remember a single one of them.'' Haru thought to himself as he gazed at the situation from the corner of his eye as he looked up at the sky.


    "What nonsense are you talking about? I''m from the Cheng family. I don''t care about any of you guys, you are nothingpared to my great imperial family." He said with a frustrated expression before walking over to Haru once again and reaching his arm out toward him.


    But just as his hand got within Haru''s proximity his hand fell from his arm and dropped to the floor as blood began to squirt all over the ce.


    "Insubordinate! Now go home and reflect on your actions. This is a battlefield, not a daycare. Your family background doesn''t mean shit here. If you end up getting any of the brave warriors that I have assembledhere killed then I will massacre your entire family as retribution for their deaths." Haru made himself clear by cutting off his hand.


    Although it might have been a harsh punishment for acting cocky. But given the situation, he found it necessary to make sure the ginger-haired man left the battlefield now that he wasn''t able to fight.


    With an attitude like that it was inevitable that he would end up getting not only himself killed but also the people that were in his group. Haru couldn''t afford to sacrifice manpower for a glory-seeking child who was ying games with the lives of others to make himself look better.


    "You! You! What did you do!?" The man screamed as he looked down at where his hand used to be but now there was just an open wound at the bottom of his wrist. He didn''t know how to react.


    One second his hand was perfectly fine and then next it was gone. He didn''t even have time to process what had happened before his hand dropped from his wrist.


    "I will kill you!-" The man started to shout and brought his hand back behind his head while gathering Qi into his fingertips.


    A loud crack echoed out as Haru used his shadow step technique to appear behind him before striking the back of his neck with the palm of his hand. The ginger-haired man dropped to the ground and fell unconscious before Haru turned back to the remaining members of the group.


    "One of you, make sure these two get some medical attention Oh, and take his hand too. They might be able to reattach it. The rest of you should pick a new leader. This isn''t some child''s game. Your lives are on the line. Don''t do anything stupid that can affect the oue of our n or else I will eliminate you from the fight just like I did to him.


    Got it?" Haru asked as he finished reprimanding the cultivators that had followed such a man into battle.


    "Yes sir!" The remaining cultivators looked at each other before deciding to respond in unison. It seemed like Haru had inspired them by making them fear him more than they feared the demons and he wasn''t sure how he felt about that. It wasn''t his n to do so. He just wanted them to know that they can''t afford to make mistakes.


    "I don''t think that was a good idea That man is the eldest son of the Cheng family. They are insanely powerful and even the government has to show respect to them. I fear that they wille after you when this is all over." Dana said just as Haru was about to head on to the next area to look for somewhere he could help out.


    "Do you think that they can do anything to me? I don''t know if you were there for the meeting but the people I surround myself with are much more qualified than his entire family. I don''t have time to worry about such things. The only thing that matters to me is that we can make it out of this alive.


    And if killing someone is what it takes then I will do it a thousand times over. But just know that I won''t let any life that is lost during this fight go in vain. Anyway, I had better get going. I hope you make a quick recovery." Haru said before flying up into the air once again.


    He was sick and tired of people telling him how he should handle his personal affairs. If he wants to kill then he will kill and if he wants to injure then he will injure. There wasn''t a single person who could make him change his mind about such things. And that is what had kept him alive during the war in hisst life.


    Living as a normal teenager had made him soft and allowed people to walk all over him. But this wasn''t an everyday urrence. This was a battlefield and he felt right at home as he made his way through whoever stood in his way. In a way it was where he belonged and all he ever knew.


    Haru looked down as he flew through the sky once more before sensing an insane amount of Qiing from somewhere in the distance. It seemed like that was the main part of the fight since more than forty nascent soul stage cultivators were going all out against each other.


    Yet for some reason, it didn''t make him scared. Thest time he had experienced the full force from someone on that level it had frightened him beyond belief but this time it felt as though he might stand a chance against them. Although he wasn''t sure if he should head there. He probably wouldn''t have been much help but as he got closer he feltpletely different about the situation.


    One of the cultivators that hade along with the government wasying on the floor with his head bashed in from the punches of multiple demons. And then on the other side of the destroyed street stood Rue and Major Niu along with another cultivator that hade with the government.


    All three of them were surrounded by more than thirty cultivators at the nascent soul stage. They were outnumbered and the demons were advancing towards them with malicious intent.


    Haru knew he wouldn''t be of much help against that many demons so he thought he could do the next best thing. He lowered himself in altitude while trying his best to stay undetected by the demons below him and watched on to look for an opening to try to help them.


    He couldn''t turn a blind eye to the situation and think that they were going to be okay just because they were strong. Because even the strongest person can be killed if they are in a disadvantaged situation.


    He watched on as the demons got closer and closer and the three cultivators backed up more and more while trying to keep their distance. As he watched on he found it strange why the demons were being so cautious of them even though they had the advantage in numbers but as he looked around the rubbles of the city he noticed that more than a hundred demon corpses wereying in the streets. They had all been killed with minimal effort but he could see that the damage to them wasn''t light.


    From what he could tell there were only four cultivators that had fought against all of the demons and that was why the demons were being so cautious despite the situation. But it seemed like Rue and Major Niu were all tired out. But the third cultivator that was with them seemed to have a little bit of strength left.


    Yet she hid behind the other two and didn''t make a move against the demons that wereing towards them.


    "What is she doing?" Haru thought to himself as he continued to watch until the demons came close enough to attack the three of them. But as soon as they did, the woman that was with Major Niu and Reu flew up into the sky and ran away. Leaving them both behind to escape.


    After seeing what had happened, Haru couldn''t hold in his frustration. He couldn''t believe what he had just seen and it angered him beyond belief. Soldiers lived and died together. There was no excuse for a deserter.


    Someone who would sacrifice others for their own sake wasn''t worth keeping around. He called out Kun''s me as quickly as he could andunched it across the sky with as much strength as he could muster just before the demons started their attack.

 Chapter 260: Deception.

    Chapter 260: Deception.


    The mes grew stronger as they made their way through the sky and over the heads of the demons before spiralling toward the woman that had abandoned both Major Niu and Reu. He couldn''t keep in his anger after seeing such a thing and so decided to do something about it.


    He knew first hand what it was like to be in a situation where one person flees to save themselves and in turn damns everyone else to a brutal death. He had seen it before on both sides and he could never forgive the cowardness of the people who would do such a thing to their own people.


    The demons down below, Major Niu and Rue all looked up at the sky as it became coated in a thickyer of fire before the me hurdled towards the woman that had abandoned the fight and made contact with her leg as she flew off into the distance.


    She looked down at the mes that were covering her foot and ankle before shaking them to try to put them out as she continued to fly. But no matter how hard she tried the mes didn''t die out. They weren''t painful to her yet they were spreading across her whole body which caused her to panic.


    Before suddenly she was engulfedpletely in fire and the heat intensified as it began to burn her skin until it was red and covered in blisters.


    "Agh!" The woman screamed out in pain as the burns got worse and worse before burning through her skin and down into her flesh. Her tongue and throat werepletely melted and she couldn''t make a noise as the mes turned her into ashes.


    It was a brutal death for anyone to endure but a deserter on the battlefield was no longer a person. They were a coward. Nothing more and nothing less. Haru felt proud of himself for getting rid of such a person but his act of vengeance had brought attention to him from everyone below him.


    Haru looked down at the floor to see that all of the demons were looking up at him along with both Major Niu and Rue.


    ''I guess this is it. I can''t run away from something like this. I just hope that I can buy enough time for those two to gather their strength.'' Haru thought as he looked over at Rue and winked.


    He was sure that she could see him and he just hoped that she would understand what he meant by winking. Rue whispered in Major Niu''s ear before both sitting on the ground and circting their Qi now that the demons were no longer paying attention to them.


    They were now focused solely on Haru and he felt like he was now in the spotlight. He would have to fight for his life or die trying to survive.


    "I''m guessing you regret intervening in this matter don''t you?" Li Jun asked as he floated next to Haru.


    "Maybe a little But I can''t stand by and watch as two women are murdered by an army of demons, can I? I was the one who made the call for help so their lives are my responsibility. I don''t want to lose a single person if that''s possible." Haru replied to Li Jun''s teasing with seriousness.


    "That''s right. Make sure you keep that mindset. No matter what difficulties you may face make sure you hold onto your empathy or else you will turn into something worse than any monster you have even heard about before.


    I was a little worried when you first came to me and I started teaching you because you have an old soul that has reincarnated. But I can see that is what makes you who you are. I am proud to be your teacher so don''t fail me and die to this mob of boneheads.


    The sword in your hands is enough to cut down hundreds of these guys so make sure that you use it to its full potential and don''t hold back." Li Jun instructed Haru on what to do and then let him go ahead with whatever he had in mind.


    Haru''s eyes glistened with determination as he descended down to the ground beneath him and stood tall and confident before the army of demons. He believed in Li Jun''s words and held out his sword by his side as he waited for them to approach him.


    But upon seeing the air of confidence that Haru had, the demons stopped dead in their tracks and waited to see if he was going to take the initiative to attack them.


    Someone who could lock eyes with more than thirty people at the peak strength of the realm and not show a single ounce of fear was not someone they could underestimate.


    The fact that Haru had a flooded soul ocean hid his cultivation stage from them and they couldn''t do anything to determine his strength. They watched on and stayed cautious of him but then suddenly the leader of the group of demons stepped forward to address Haru who was an unknown factor in their eyes.


    "Who are you? Someone of your strength shouldn''t be in this world Were you sent by the Divine Pce to stop us?" The demon asked with a worried expression on his face.


    ''The divine pce? Oh, that was the name of the circle that the top sects in the upper realm belonged to wasn''t it?'' Haru thought back to when Sect Master Shen had told him about the dark phantom wreaking havoc in the upper realm. He remembered the name since they were the ones responsible for driving the ck star sect into hiding.


    Haru thought of how to reply to the man as he looked around at the faces of the demons that stood behind him. They were also worried about the possibility of Haru being a big shot in the upper realm.


    "You know of the divine pce? How is that possible? We made sure to block off the road to the upper realms far before any of you were born." Haru put on his best act to intimidate them.


    He remembered how Teacher Lin had told him that the road to the upper realm was blocked hundreds of years ago and there were only a few ways for someone to enter. The divine pce was located in the upper realm so if the demons belonged to the middle realm they wouldn''t know about the divine pce.


    "Hehehe, You underestimate how far and wide our spies are spread across the cosmos. There isn''t any information that our demon n can''t get our hands-on. Just knowing about the divine pce is nothing.


    I bet I know what sect you''re from Given the fact that you are wielding a sword of such high quality then you are definitely from the Divine Sword Sect. Hehehe." The demon began tough while thinking that he knew something about Haru''s identity but little did he know that it was all a bluff.


    "So you know where I am from Why does it amuse you so much? Don''t you also know what I am capable of doing if I turn my de toward you?" Haru was a little confused as to why he wasughing so he decided to act a little more and try to figure out what he was thinking.


    "Well, that''s because I stalled you. I wasn''t talking to you because I am interested in anything you have to say. But because I distracted you enough so that you wouldn''t notice that I sent one of my men to notify the captain that someone from the divine pce is here.


    And you should know. The captain is in possession of a divine artefact. The restrictions of this lower realm no longer affect him. He has his full strength and he will be able to crush you within a heartbeat. There''s nothing you can do to fight back unless you brought an army of people from the upper realm.


    But I am yet to see them if that''s the case." The demon began tough out loud once more as he thought that he had Haru cornered but as he turned his head to look back at his men he was shocked to see that they were all lying dead on the ground.


    Including the one that he had sent to notify the captain of the demons. They were all dead and he didn''t have a clue how it had happened. He quickly looked back at Haru as he heard himughing from behind him.


    "You actually thought that someone from the upper realm hade to help us fight? I wish things were that easy. No one even knows where this gxy is located so what would make you think something like that.


    You thought that you had a grasp on the situation based on a few facts you know about the upper realm and even thought that I was from the divine pce. If you weren''t here to try to kill me then I would think that you were here to be a clown.


    But hey, Don''t be too upset. Everyone knows that all warfare is based on deception. You only have yourself to me for not being smart enough to know that this isn''t worth two shits to the divine pce." Haru said with a smile as Rue took a stance behind the demon and ripped his head from his shoulders with a single shot from a metallic looking bow she held in her hands.

 Chapter 261: A dragon?

    Chapter 261: A dragon?


    Charter 261:A dragon?


    Rue lowered her bow after the demon fell and then looked up at Haru and panted. She hadn''t had time to gather her full strength and was still exhausted. But she had managed to gain enough strength to be able to defeat the remaining demons alongside Major Niu who was standing with two scythes that were attached to chains that wrapped around her wrists.


    Haru hadn''t seen either of them fight before but surprisingly their weapons seemed to suit them perfectly. He looked at them both for a moment and then sighed.


    He was originally nning to fight them if he needed to since he didn''t expect to stall them long enough for the two of them to recover their strength. It was lucky that the demon that led them was so foolish and spoke about something that Haru knew about already.


    If Haru didn''t know what he was talking about then he would probably have been attacked by them all at once and would have to fight with his life on the line. Although he was prepared to fight for his life he still didn''t want to endanger himself too much. There was only so much luck one person could have after all.


    And he didn''t want to run the risk of his luck running out in a life-threatening situation. He felt relieved that he didn''t have to fight them but also a little frustrated that he didn''t have a chance to test his strength out.


    He was no longer scared of cultivators at the nascent soul stage so that should have meant that he would have a decent chance of fighting against them but he didn''t have the chance to because they were taken down before he could join the fight.


    ''That''s a little disappointing but at least we got some information about their leader.'' Haru thought as he remembered what the demon had said when he thought that he had the upper hand.


    "This is bad" Rue said to herself before starting to pace slightly as she thought of what to do.


    Major Niu seemed confused and didn''t have a clue what anything meant anymore. Of course, she had been filled in about the general situation but the conversation between Haru and the demon wasn''t something she could follow since she knew next to nothing about the upper realms.


    "What''s bad? Is it something I should be worried about?" Major Niu asked, causing both Rue and Haru to look over at her.


    "Yes. We should all be worried. If what he said was true then this is really bad." Rue added and then turned back to Haru who had some questions of his own.


    "Are there really artefacts that can allow you to go against the realmws? That seems a little bit too much." Haru asked. He hadn''t heard anything about that before but Rue seemed to know more than he did.


    "Yeah, of course, they exist. They were made for people in the upper realms to visit the middle realm without having to worry about their cultivation dropping. The demon n may have gotten their hands on one of them and now use it to kill people in the lower realm since they wouldn''t have a way to fight back.


    We should tell everyone else as soon as possible. Depending on his cultivation there is a good chance that he could just kill us all himself and get it over with if we decide to drag things out for too long.


    I don''t see him standing by and watching his people get killed for much longer if he can in fact do something about it." Rue seemed to be feeling a little defeated already. She had lost a lot of her fighting spirit from that fact alone and seemed like she was ready to give up depending on how strong their leader turned out to be.


    Haru on the other hand thought about the situation some more. If there were just cultivators helping fight off the demons then there wouldn''t be much of a chance that they would make it out alive. But they had a dragon on their side. Dragons had been known to stop wars with just a nce of one flying through the sky above the fighting.


    If Lao showed himself then the demons would be sure to retreat but that would also cause more trouble to earth if they escaped. Dragons were now rare and a sighting of one was bound to bring even stronger cultivators to try to reap the benefits that a dragon''s body could give them. And that was also something they couldn''t afford.


    Haru thought to himself a little more beforeing up with a way to motivate her again.


    "Well, we have one thing that they don''t," Haru stated. Both Major Niu and Rue stared at him with questioning eyes.


    "And what''s that? Rue asked. She couldn''t think of anything that they had which the demons didn''t. She was too focused on the fact that their leader could be many stages above them in cultivation. Major Niu on the other hand was staring nkly since she still didn''t have a clue what was happening.


    "Well, we have you guys. You all are from the middle realm too aren''t you? You have much more experience than most of the demons that havee here today.


    They are expecting to fight regr cultivators from the lower realms. There are bound to be some things that you guys know that even the demons don''t know of right.


    Just think about the techniques that you know of. I bet if you all worked together you could take down a guy even four cultivation stages stronger than you. Even if their leader has an artefact that allows his cultivation to transcend the possibilities of the lower realm, I doubt that he is a match for you guys if you fight together." Haru said.


    "Fighting together? It''s so simple Yet it might work." Rue said to herself. Since she had left the ck star sect she had been on her own and fighting together was no longer something that she was familiar with. She didn''t even put that possibility in her eyes because she was so used to fighting alone and so were the rest of the cultivators from the upper realms.


    They had decided to split up at the start of the fight to maximise the number of demons they could kill within a short time frame out of instinct and being used to fighting alone. But if theybined their strength then they would be capable of much more than was possible otherwise.


    To Haru that n was normal. Back during the war, mages would constantlybine their attacks with attacks of other elements to amplify the damage that it would do. It was his everyday life back in the army. Although he had decided to put his past behind him, he wasn''t afraid to use his knowledge from that time in his life to help him from time to time.


    Rue pondered on the thought for a couple of minutes in silence before turning around suddenly and looking Haru dead in the eye with an intimidating gaze in her eyes.


    "Haru Did anyone ever tell you That you''re a genius!?" She shouted and then ran over to hug him.


    "You make me so proud. If I had a grandchild like you it would make me so happy. I wonder what your parents are like? If they could raise you to be this smart then I guess they must be pretty amazing too aren''t they." Reu said while pattingHaru''s head like a proud parent.


    "But it was just a bit ofmon sense. It''s not worth praising me for something like this." Haru shouted out while being suffocated within her chest.


    "Actually, I think that she''s right. For someone to think of teaming up to defeat an enemy during a battle it takes a cunning wit that most people chose to ignore. A cultivator''s pride is something that will always be their downfall.


    If someone thinks they are strong then they will try to prove themselves to the people around them by fighting alone to show that they aren''t afraid of anything. Yet if you meet someone stronger than you then you will be defeated.


    It''s the same as what happened the night when I first met you. Ny-five had overestimated himself and gotten killed for being too prideful to admit when he was in the wrong. And that demon who hade and said he would kill everyone. He was alone and underestimated the strength of the people in front of him.


    He didn''t know that there was a dragon before him and his cockiness is what led to his death. People who are willing to throw their pride away in a situation like this should be seen as geniuses." Major Niu said before being interrupted by Rue.


    "What did you say about a dragon?" Rue asked quickly as she thought that she had misheard what Major Niu had said.


    "The blue-haired man that was protecting Haru Isn''t he a dragon?" Major Niu asked. She thought that everyone from the upper realms would have already known that but that wasn''t the case at all.


    "A dragon?" Rue asked again but this time directing her eyes to Haru who sighed.


    "Well He''s a half-dragon. But guess he can transform into a dragon if he wants to." Haru replied calmly. He had known Lao was a dragon for years and that fact no longer bothered him. But Rue on the other hand froze like a deer in headlights with her jaw hanging wide open.


    "I I I fought against a member of the dragon race and survived?" She asked herself in shock by the revtion that Lao was a half-dragon.

 Chapter 262: Please be careful.

    Chapter 262: Please be careful.


    Rue was shocked by what she had just found out. When Lao went around and recruited all of the people that Haru had put on the list Sect master Shen told him about Rue''s sect that was located not too far away from Shanghai and then went along with him to ask for her help.


    The condition that Rue set in exchange for her help was to find someone that was able to defeat her inbat. But Lao thought she was too weak and said there was no use in even asking her to help out which Rue took offence to and then challenge him to a fight in front of the disciples of her sect to maintain her pride.


    She unknowingly challenged a dragon to a fight and was defeated in a single move. She did wonder how someone could be so strong but she figured that he was most likely an old master that had alsoe from the upper realms. She never expected him to be a member of the dragon race. Since nearly all of their descendants were suspected to be dead due to theirck of activity.


    A dragon living on earth was something that no one would even think of and there was even less of a chance of that being a reality. Or so she thought but now that she knew the man she fought against was in fact a dragon she couldn''t help but be amazed.


    There were countless legends about people fighting against dragons in the upper realms and most of them ended up in the person being killed or eaten alive. She felt lucky that she lost her pride during the process. As she was thinking about what she had done a loud horn rung out through the city, drawing everyone''s attention up towards the sky.


    The other two ships were now surrounded by small ck dots. But on closer inspection, the ck dots that surrounded the ships were in fact hundreds if not thousands of demon nsmen all lined up together information while floating in the sky. Haru was confused by what they were nning since they had remained in their ships until now.


    But he figured that they were fed up with losing more of their fighters while they sat up there in their ships and refused toe down.


    "What''s going on?" Major Niu asked as she also watched on before realising that the dots floating in the sky were in fact hundreds of demons flying in formation. She looked back at Haru and Rue who were still too focused on the sky to notice her look at them.


    "We are so outnumbered. There are way more of them than there are of us." Major Niu shouted out.


    "This is the worst-case scenario. I thought that the ceremony would be urate but it looks like they just saw how many demons were on the ship that we already destroyed.


    Was this their n from the start? They wanted to use a ship to sacrifice to test our fighting strength so they coulde up with a n? But that doesn''t seem like something the demon n woulde up with. They are usually only focused on brute strength, not strategic nning.


    We are fucked beyond belief." Rue said as she stared up into the sky at the hundreds of demons floating above them all.


    Even if the two thousand cultivators Rue brought joined the fight there was no chance of them winning at all since they were only in the lower stages of their journey into the world of cultivation.


    There were only around three hundred people that were capable of fighting against the demons and some of them were probably dead within the first few minutes of the battle starting. They had only been fighting for less than an hour and it seemed like the demons were beginning to get fed up with waiting.


    Suddenly a green light shot through the air at a speed that was too fast for even someone at the nascent soul stage to see. But the streak of green left behind in the sky was the only thing they saw as a sh of light erupted from the centre of the biggest of the two remaining ships.


    The sh of light was followed by a long and silent pause as the whole sky erupted into a ball of fire as the colossal ship was ripped into multiple pieces that quickly rained down upon the city of shanghai. Around half of the demons that were near the explosion were vaporised and some of the others a little further away were injured by the st.


    That one thing thinned out the demons to a more manageable size and didn''t now seem like it was an impossible task to defeat them.


    "What was that?" Rue asked as she watched the sky burn with different coloured mes. But the most significant colour of me was a light green colour. And there was only one thing that was capable of leaving something like that behind.


    "That was Lao," Haru stated with a smile as he recognised the aura that was burning up in the sky. Another sh of green light shot out before an explosion took ce on the side of one of the skyscrapers in the area before turning it to rubble.


    A dark shadow grew over the city and dimmed the green mes before extinguishing thempletely. Haru''s eyes twitched as he strained to look into the distance. Where the building had copsed there was a sudden sh of green light from two glowing orbs behind ayer of dust that was obstructing his view to see what was really going on.


    Lao emerged from the dust with ripped clothing but his body seemed to be perfectly fine. Haru''s heart sunk into his stomach upon seeing that. He wasn''t sure what had caused Lao to be sent flying into t a building but as the sky grew darker it was bing more obvious that something was seriously wrong with the situation.


    Lao was the strongest being that Haru had ever met and yet he was thrown through the sky and down into a building before crushing it with the force that pushed him through the foundations of the building. The building dropped down on top of Lao yet he came out unscathed and looked back up at the sky.


    "So that''s how you''re going to y it?" Lao said to himself before flying back up into the sky to where the dark clouds were now forming.


    Another green sh of light shot out like lighting brewing within a thunder cloud and then again as the dark cloud started to clear up. As the cloud faded a single demon was floating in the sky and staring Lao in the eyes with fury.


    The demon that was staring at Lao had no presence at all yet surrounding him there was a thickyer of Qi yet it didn''t seem toe from within his body. It was more like the Qi in the air was bending to his will. Haru watched on bewildered by what was happening until a loud bang shot out again but this time from behind him.


    As he turned he saw another red beam of light strike the ground a few hundred metres away but this time the beam came from the remaining smaller ship that was still flying in the air. Suddenly the remaining demons that were flying in the sky turned their attention to the ground and began to fly down in beg groups. Suddenly ten or so cultivators flew up to meet them in the air.


    The cultivators that all flew up to meet the demons were all at the nascent soul stage and included Sect master Shen, Teacher Lin, Drobo and Granny Lin. They headed towards big groups of demons and then began to hack them down like overgrown weeds.


    One by one the ten cultivators began to kill the demon nsmen before they could reach the ground and start killing the weaker cultivators that were with them.


    Haru, Rue and Major Niu looked at each other as they saw what was going on. They didn''t have time to warn anyone about the leader of the demons having an artefact that made him stronger but Haru figured that Lao already knew about it.


    Lao wasn''t the type of person to act rashly and clearly had a n in mind and Haru thought that he knew what was happening. Lao was keeping an eye on thergest ship the whole time before he joined that battle so he clearly knew that the leader was there. He was waiting for the perfect moment to attack him and that seemed to be at the moment when the demons were about to start their major n.


    It was the perfect time to strike and it most likely ruined the demon''s coordination and left them without a leader tomand them since he was busy fighting against Lao in the sky. Which would leave the perfect opportunity for the remaining cultivators to take down the rest of the demons.


    "It''s fine, Leave it to Lao. He hasn''t transformed into his true form yet. That must mean that he is buying time for now. Their leader doesn''t know what he''s up against yet.


    Take the chance to kill as many of them as you can." Haru said to both of them and then without a word, they both vanished as they instantly flew towards the major battle that was taking ce.


    Haru on the other hand was left alone. He looked up at the sky to see that Lao and the demon''s leader had yet to move.


    ''Please be careful.'' Haru thought as he looked up at Lao who was smiling in a sadistic manner.

 Chapter 263: That doesnt sound good.

    Chapter 263: That doesn''t sound good.


    Lao usually wore a bored and tired looking expression on his face but this time he was looking at the demon with a look of excitement and interest. If Haru could put into words what someone''s facial expressions were saying then he thought that Lao would have been saying "This is starting to get interesting."


    He watched for a few moments as Lao and the demon''s leader stared each other down and then saw Lao crack another smile before a sh of green light shot throughout the sky once again.


    "Good luck," Haru said to himself quietly as Lao began to battle with the demon and then made his way over to where the main portion of the fight was happening. He felt like he was neglecting his duties and was also dissatisfied that he had yet to fight someone who matched his strength.


    "You shouldn''t worry about Lao. No matter what happens he won''t die. There is a reason that he is only at the manifestation stage and that is because he nned to be.


    He could breakthrough to the nascent soul stage whenever he wanted to. It would be as easy as pping his hands. But once he got to the nascent soul stage his body would begin to turn his Qi into True Qi in preparation for him being forced into the upper realms.


    But since dragons are beings of pure Qi he would be forced into the nirvana stage as soon as he reaches the nascent soul stage and he would be forced out of the lower realm. I''m sure if his life is in danger then he will just break through and head to the upper realms.


    But dragon''s have a naturally strong body. A cultivator at the profound death stage like that demon up there has no chance of causing actual damage to his body. The most he will be able to do is st him through the air a little. But I bet if they were fighting on the ground then he wouldn''t be able to make Lao move even an inch." Li Jun exined to Haru who was feeling a little worried about him.


    But as Li Jun said, there was really no reason to worry. Lao was from the upper realm and was much stronger than even the strongest person in the middle realm. There wasn''t a single thing that someone could injure him as things stood now.


    Haru sighed and felt a little bit stupid that he worried about Lao but he had yet to see him go all out and it the current situation called for at least a little bit of worry. He looked back at Li Jun before flying up into the air to meet up with the others who were fighting off the army of demons that seemed never-ending.


    As Haru arrived at the main battle he was quickly stared at by the other cultivators. Not many of them knew how strong Haru was because of his flooded soul ocean.


    But sect master Shen knew that he had only been cultivating for around four years. It was almost impossible for someone to reach the nascent soul stage within that time so he instantly yelled out upon seeing that he had entered the battle.


    "Get away from here! These guys are far too strong for you to fight against." Shen warned Haru.


    "It''s fine. You''re strong enough to kill a bunch of them with a single swipe of your sword." Li Jun egged Haru on from over his shoulder.


    Haru had mixed feelings about the situation. Thest time he had fought against someone at the nascent soul stage he nearly died. But it had only been around two weeks since then and Li Jun was telling him that he could fight on equal terms with them.


    He didn''t know what to think. But he did feel like he was significantly stronger than he was before and he was no longer intimidated by the power that each of the cultivators was releasing as they fought. The same couldn''t be said for the manifestation stage cultivators on the ground below them who were shivering in fear as the battle raged on above them.


    Haru was only at the spirit soul stage but the Qi within his body had far surpassed that of a nascent soul stage cultivator. He didn''t know since he had yet to test his strength but Li Jun could feel it.


    "Just try it." LKi Jun said once again as Haru was having conflicting thoughts about what he should do. But he decided to listen to his teacher after all he knew best.


    Haru drew his sword from his storage ring and then pulled it out from its sheath before pointing the de at one of the demons in the sky.


    The demon looked at him for a moment before smiling.


    "You''re not qualified to fight me you little insect." The demonughed at Haru before charging towards him with a sword of his own.


    Haru lowered his arm and then shed upwards towards the sky with as much strength as he could muster. The demon that was charging towards him stopped dead in his tracks before tilting his head to the side. The demon''s body slowly split in half as a loud boom rang out through the city.


    There were so many demons in the sky that during the process of ying one of them. Haru''s attack had gone through the body of the first demon and struck a group of twenty more that were floating in the sky behind him.


    The fighting suddenly stopped as everyone''s sight narrowed in on Haru who was at a loss for words. He knew that Li Jun had warned him that he could kill a nascent soul stage demon with a single sh from his sword but he thought that he meant one of them. Not over twenty.


    "What was that?" Sect Master Shen stopped along with the demons who turned to face Haru out of fear.


    The strongest someone could get within the lower realm was the nascent soul stage therefore there was an advantage in numbers that the demons currently had. But given the fact that Haru''s Qi transcended that of a regr cultivator, he was almost on the level as someone at thete Nirvana stage.


    He killed multiple demons with just a single attack and that was enough to strike fear into everyone within the city. Including the demon that was fighting with Lao.


    "See, I told you so. You know you should really start trusting me a little more." Li Jun smiled proudly as he was right all along despite Haru doubting him.


    "Yeah You were." Haru replied slowly as he looked down at his hand before raising it again while pointing the de towards another group of demons.


    A thin slice of blue light shot from the de of his sword as he swiped it across the sky and marked around fifteen of the demons with the same blue light for a few moments before their bodies split into multiple pieces and then rained down upon the city below.


    "How is this possible!? There''s two of you?" The demon''s leader asked Lao who was also surprised by what he had just seen.


    "Wow. I didn''t think that he was that strong already. I can''t let him get too ahead of himself now can I?" Lao ignored the question from the demon before rushing towards him and hitting the demon in his stomach with his fist.


    The demon groaned out in pain for a moment before Lao quickly rushed behind him and hit him in the back of his head with an open palm. Causing the demon leader to tumble towards earth with enough speed to break the sound barrier.


    A shock wave hit the city as the demon leader''s body mmed against the concrete on the roads and dust flew up into the sky clouding the vision of most people who watched on.


    Haru shed his sword again. This time taking down more than thirty demons at a time as he swiftly flew through the sky. The demons that remained were now on the retreat as Haru flew around like a mad man, ying them in the dozens.


    Lao on the other hand followed up with some more attacks on the leader of the demons who wasying with his back against the ground. Each punch from Lao pushed the demon deeper into the dirt beneath the ground as the floor was giving way from the strength behind his fists.


    Haru finished his rampage with strength to spare as he looked over at the roaring strikes of thunder that were striking the ground less than three hundred metres away from him.


    "What did I miss?" Haru asked as the only people that remained were the cultivators that belonged to earth. It seemed like all of the demons that hade to earth were either dead or mortally injured. There wasn''t anything else to do but watch as Lao beat up their leader.


    "What did you miss? You need to exin yourself first. Where were you hiding that power? I know you have a flooded soul ocean but to reach that level in just a few years is unprecedented" Shen said to Haru with a shiver as a chill ran down his spine when just thinking about how much talent that it would take to be that strong in such a short amount of time.


    The only other person in history to be so strong so quickly was the monarch of the ck star. So it shouldn''t havee as so much of a surprise that his student would be able to do something simr. Yet he never saw iting.


    But as Shen was lost in thought and Haru was watching Lao''s fight a thunderous roar cried out from the sky. The roar was so loud that it shook the ground for miles and even the civilians hiding in the mountains felt the quake produced by the sound.


    Haru''s heart raced as a pit formed within his stomach.


    "That doesn''t sound good" Haru said before looking up at the sky to see that a gigantic dark cloud had formed over shanghai.

 Chapter 264: Watch out!

    Chapter 264: Watch out!


    "What is that? Look up there!" One of the cultivators that were nearby shouted as a dark blue bolt of lightning struck the ground right over the area where Lao was standing.


    Haru''s eyes immediately shot to the location of the battle between Lao and the demon leader. After the bold of lightning had struck a huge cloud of smoke made its way up from the ground as dust flew up all around.


    Haru watched on as silence nowy across the battlefield. Not a single soul let out a soul as they waited patiently to see the oue of the lighting bolt striking the ground. But as the dust settled it seemed to be the worst possible oue.


    Lao was now the oneying on the floor with arge cut across his shoulder as the leader of the demons stood tall with a longsword in his hands that looked like it was made out of bones. The de of the sword had a blue glow to it and was the same colour as the lighting that struck the ground moments before.


    "Hahahaha, You thought that I didn''t have a backup n? Just because you ughtered my people that doesn''t mean that you can stand a chance against me." The man shouted out as Laoy on the ground motionless.


    ''Hm This mortal can hurt me? That is surprising. I didn''t expect that he had it in him.'' Lao thought as he turned his attention to the sword that the Demon''s leader was holding. The sword had a shine to it like it was well looked after but it was also fading to a washed-out shade of white at the tip of the de.


    ''His sword is made from dragon bones? No wonder it was sharp enough to cut me. And that power. That was the power of the thunder dragon tribe. Where did he get a thing like that from?'' Lao thought once again as he looked at the sword.


    "Okay Then I guess I will take the training gloves off for a little bit." Lao got to his feet and said while shaking his shoulder up and down. He then pressed his index finger against the wound across his chest and shoulder which was followed by a bright sh of green light.


    The light burned brighter than anything so far and gave off the feeling of life and a calming essence that seemed like it held the meaning of life itself.


    Suddenly the cut stretching across Lao''s body began to heal and closed uppletely. It was as if he didn''t get injured at all. But the look on the demons'' faces instantly turned from one of confidence to one of fear as he saw that Lao hadn''t taken any serious damage and was able to heal himself in less than a second.


    He looked down at his sword that was made out of dragon bones and then looked back up to see Lao''s green glowing eyes. It was at that moment that he realised what was going on. It all made sense to him and it frightened him beyond belief.


    "You''re a dragon aren''t you?" The demon hesitated for a moment and asked Lao who had just begun to stretch his neck.


    Lao tilted his head and rubbed the side of his neck back and forth before rotating his arm in circr motions as a test to make sure that he was fine. Once he realised that his body was in perfect condition he replied to the question that was asked by the demon.


    "Don''t You know it''s not nice to attack people with the body parts of deceased rtives? Didn''t your parents ever tell you to respect the dead?" Lao asked with a smile. He was sure that there was nothing else that the demon was capable of and he pulled out his trump card, being the sword made from the bones of a thunder dragon.


    "Haha, A member of the dragon race actually survived and is here on this distant. Who would have thought? But aren''t you pretty weak for a dragon? That probably means that you are only the descendant of a dragon right?


    Don''t worry, After I kill you I will make sure to call for backup and we will kill the rest of your family." The demonughed a sinisterugh as he thought that he had everything figured out.


    ''Well, he isn''t wrong. This body belongs to the descendant of a dragon but they lived here a long long time ago. The only thing that exists of that dragon n is traces of their legacy.'' Lao thought to himself. He looked back at the demon who seemed confident in himself before rushing towards Lao with the sword behind his back.


    He took a swing towards Lao with as much strength as he could muster but as the sword collided with his body, the sword made a sound simr to a bell ringing as the shock wave shook the de.


    The de bent and curved as the shock wave made its way up the handle and to the hilt before shattering into a million pieces.


    Lao looked down at the shards of bone as they dropped to the floor and then brushed the side of his arm where the sword had hit mockingly. He had partially transformed his body in just one of his arms to create a suit of armour with his scales.


    Although the sword was made out of the bones of a dead dragon the strength and durability couldn''t stand up to even a hair strand from a real living dragon. All it took was Lao to transform into his dragon form and he would be nearly invincible. While he was in the human form he had the shorings that humans had too to go along with his body.


    The demon''s mouth gaped open in shock as he looked down at his sword. It was his trump card after all and he only used it when fighting against powerful enemies to make sure that he won the fight. But he never expected in his wildest dreams to go up against a genuine dragon and he made no preparations to do so.


    His previous confidence came from not understanding his enemy and the reason that dragons once stood at the very top of the universe. Their power was something beyond what he could imagine and he found out the hard way what would happen if he decided to fight against one of them.


    The focus of the fight was on the demon leader who was the centre of attention since he didn''t stand a chance against Lao''s terrifying power. All eyes were on him and no one noticed as thest remaining ship in the air began to move a little and aimed its cannon towards the manifestation cultivators who had yet to join the fight. There were around sixty of them in total and they were bunched together while watching Lao fight the leader.


    A gentle red glow began to Emit from the front of the cannon before a ray of light shone down on the cultivators as a cloud of dust formed in the area they were standing.


    Everyone turned to look at the ship and the ray of light as it took them by surprise. They didn''t realise what had happened first but as the dust died down they saw that all of the cultivators had been vaporisedpletely. Not even a single part of their bodies remained.


    Haru looked up at the ship to see that it was now rotating the cannon once again. It aimed the gun towards the nascent soul stage cultivators that were floating close to him. Including Teacher Lin and Rue.


    Teacher Lin immediately saw the cannon turn towards him and then threw his hand up into the air before bringing it down once again. As he did so a huge hand emerged from the sky before flying down and hitting the side of the ship.


    Teacher Lin''s attack was quick and out of reflex so he didn''t have time to target the ship properly so as the hand hit the ship it tore a hole in the side of it but left the rest of it intact. The ship shook from the attack and caused the ray of light to miss them all. Yet instead it tore a hole in the ground as it shot through the city and up into the hills.


    "I bet that''s my second inmand. You didn''t expect me to leave someone on the ship even though we have fully functional guns? This will be your downfall. I will kill you all and then bring an even bigger ship to drill a hole into your''s core." The demonughed as the cannon of the ship turned yet again.


    "Watch out!" Teacher Lin shouted as the beam from the cannon targeted Haru.


    Haru turned to see the glowing red light from the ship that was still floating in the sky. Teacher Lin and Sect Master Shen tried to fly towards the ship to destroy it but they weren''t fast enough.


    Before They could even move, the red light had flooded Haru''s vision as it came roaring towards him. He felt a burning pain in his cheek as the light came screaming towards him.


    "Quick block it!" Li Jun shouted.


    Haru raised his sword as quickly as he could and held it towards the red light that was shooting towards him. The light suddenly stopped as it made contact with the de but the force of the cannon didn''t.


    Haru held his arms out as the power from the cannon shot him across the sky. His arms began to shake and his grip became loose as the power from the light only seemed to increase.


    "I can''t hold on for much longer!" Haru called out to Li Jun before the sword was thrown from his hands and fell to the city below as the red light mmed against his body with a thud...

 Chapter 265: Where we say goodbye.

    Chapter 265: Where we say goodbye.


    Suddenly the world around Haru went dim and everything stopped moving including his body that was previously being pushed through the sky. It was as if time had stopped as he began to feel a weightless sensation in his chest.


    The feeling became more intense as a red glow emerged from his chest tobat the red light that was shining down upon him.


    "No!" Haru tried to shout out but he couldn''t make a sound as the red glowing orb flew into the light. The glowing orb suddenly changed shape into a humanoid figure and then Li Jun took its ce.


    Li Jun put his hands out towards the light and began to push it back slightly before turning around and looking at Haru with a smile on his face.


    "I guess you could say I foresaw something like this happening. When I gave you the fragment of my soul I did so knowing that you would find yourself in trouble today and I couldn''t bear to see my student die.


    I know that we hadn''t known each other for very long but in all honesty, you have given me hope for the human n. If someone like you can rise up to the peaks I once stood at I am pretty sure that the human n will manage to get out of its current decline.


    I know that you probably have a lot that you want to say right now. But thank you foring into that cave all those years ago. It might have felt like a long time to you but to me, it was over in a sh. When you have been around for as long as I have. You find it hard to find things that make you truly happy so when you freed me from that cave I didn''t expect anything.


    But I am d to have met you Haru. This is where we have to say goodbye." Li Jun said before the red light swallowed his bodypletely.


    Haru was thrown back as an explosion took ce in the sky right in front of him and he was thrown back into one of thest remaining buildings. His body struck the concrete and he bounced back off the wall slightly as his spine cracked. He fell to the ground with a thud and his legs gave way underneath him as he coughed out blood.


    "Li Jun!" Haru called out and tried to reach forward towards the fireball that was floating in the sky in front of him but instead he fell forward onto his face.


    The force from the explosion had thrown him so hard that he broke his spine upon contact with the building. Even if he was a cultivator there was no way for him to heal himself. He was out of the fight and now hundreds of metres away from the still ongoing battle.


    He could only sit by and watch as the rest of them fought it out on his behalf. But his mind was only concerned with Li Jun and he couldn''t forgive himself for being foolish enough to let himself get hit by the light from the cannon. He had seen what it could do yet he took his eyes off it and gave the person flying the ship a chance to hit him.


    ''If I would have just dodged then Li Jun wouldn''t have to die. Or if I was just a little bit stronger then I would have been able to block the attack. Why did it have to happen like this?!" Haru began to me himself for Li Jun''s death. He didn''t mean for this to happen and even knew the risks when Li Jun decided to give him the fragment of his soul just in case.


    Haru''s eyes zed over as a tear ran down his face. He couldn''t believe that his teacher and best friend was gone. Before closing his eyes and falling unconscious.


    "Haru no!" Teacher Lin shouted as he targeted the ship once again. He brought down another one of his hands from the sky but this time the attacknded on the hull of the ship and he ripped off a few of the panels from the ship as a green light now erupted into the sky.


    The light was unlike anything that had happened yet and it only meant one thing. Lao was beginning to take the fight seriously. The light stretched out for more than a mile and blinded everyone nearby as a roar shook the ground all across shanghai.


    The light was so bright that everyone including the demon leader had to close their eyes to stop themselves from going blind and it interrupted the battle for a few moments but as the light died down and everyone was able to see again they stopped dead in their tracks.


    In the ce where Lao was previously standing was now a tower of snake-like scales that seemed to climb high up into the heavens. No matter how far they tried to follow it with their eyes they couldn''t look to the top of the tower of scales.


    "That''s a dragon A real dragon" Sect master Shen said to himself as he looked at the sight in front of him. He had never seen a dragon before despiteing from the upper realms and his great grandfather being the ck star monarch.


    Li Jun''s life was a mystery to even his own family so it came as a surprise to see that a dragon had made its way to earth and it had the ability to transform into a human. That was a skill passed on to only people who had the blessing of an ancestral dragon.


    Lao roared out in pain as he sensed that Li Jun''s soul had left earth for good. His first friend in millennia had now left him. As he roared out shes of lighting poured down upon the city as thunderstorms gathered in the sky


    "You dare to harm my disciple and his student!? You deserve death a thousand times over." Lao called out with each word from his mouth loud enough to shake the earth.


    Before suddenly his head poked through the clouds and looked down upon the city with golden horns on top of his skull. He opened his mouth before mming his head down to the ground on top of the demon leader.


    A shock wave shook the city as more buildings copsed, including the one Haru had crashed into. The building''s supports gave out and tumbled down on top of Haru and covered him in dust and rubble as hey face down on the ground.


    A sh of light shot across the sky as the building fell down before Haru''s body vanished from the ground.


    "It''s okay, I''ve got you." A familiar voice called out as Haru faded in and out of conscousness.

 Chapter 266: What is it?

    Chapter 266: What is it?


    Haru was lifted into the sky and then into the soft embrace of someone he didn''t recognise at first. Long silver hair clouded his vision and he faded back to unconsciousness.


    "You did great and protected everyone. Now it''s my turn to protect you." Hong Xia said as she held Haru in her arms while using her Qi to support his body. She looked down at his sleeping face to see dried blood on his lips and chin.


    ''Looks like his internal organs are damaged. I need to get him back to a healer as soon as possible.'' She thought to herself before taking off towards the resort that was miraculously still standing thanks to Lao''s protective barrier.


    The barrier took no damage at all from the rays of light that were responsible for destroying most of the buildings in the city of shanghai. What was previously a city known internationally for its skyscrapers and nightlife was left in rubbles and the same could be said for Haru''s body.


    The bones in his spine had shatteredpletely rendering him unable to move. But at least was still alive. The condition for Li Jun''s soul to save him was that it would only activate if there was no chance of survival for Haru. If Li Jun didn''t sacrifice himself then the ray of light would have extinguished both Haru''s body and soul.


    Hong Xia didn''t have a full understanding of what had transcribed but she did know that Haru was the only one who had survived being hit by the ray of light since the battle had started. And not to mention his contribution to the battle.


    Her teacher had only allowed her to watch from far away and she was ced on the sidelines and given the order to only fight if the demons made it past the first line of defence which luckily they didn''t.


    But as she stood on the sidelines she first hand witnessed Haru''s prowess in battle as he ughtered hundreds of demons singlehandedly even when the nascent soul cultivators were struggling to take on just a few of them.


    Everyone was surprised with how Haru hade to the rescue but none of them were more surprised than Hong Xia. When she first met him she thought that he was a spoiled kid from a rich family and had been taught how to cultivate by some old master for a lump sum of money since it wasn''t umon for people in high society to do that.


    Butter on, when she arrived at the resort with her family she had asked around and heard about all of the great things he had aplished during his time in China. And what was even more surprising to hear is that he had only been cultivating for a fraction of the amount of time that she had.


    She just couldn''t believe that someone younger than her and had been cultivating for a quarter of the amount of time that she had was stronger than her and thought that the stories of his achievements were exaggerated. But her opinion of Haru soon changed after watching him fight on the battlefield.


    Haru''s eyes opened once again as Hong Xia carried him throughout the sky. He looked up to see that she was looking straight forward and was focused solely on getting him back to the resort. But Haru knew what was going on as his brain was trying to focus on staying conscious.


    "What are you?" Haru asked but as soon as he did his vision faded to darkness once again. Everything around him went dark as he felt two gentle hands around his body and holding him tightly against a soft body. He felt safe although his body was in pain.


    "It''s okay. You don''t have to worry about anything now just let me take care of you." Hong Xia said quietly as she watched his eyes close once again beforending at the entrance to the resort and rushing inside with her arm around his shoulders as she dragged his legs while holding his body upright.


    "We need a healer right away!" Hong Xia shouted as she made her way into the building but no one looked in her direction upon hearing what she had said.


    "Someone get a healer right away!" Hong Xia shouted once again but no one replied. She then looked up to see that everyone was standingpletely still as if they were terrified of something.


    Shey Haru down on the floor while making sure that his back remained straight so the healer wouldn''t have to reline the bones in his body before healing him. And then stood back up before walking over to see what was happening.


    "So who''s going to take responsibility for this huh!? My son got his arm cut off and you refuse to heal him? Which one of you should I kill?" Arge muscr man shouted. Hong Xia immediately recognised him as the leader of the Cheng family and one of the nascent soul stage cultivators that her grandfather had invited toe and help.


    "Is anyone going to answer me!?" He shouted out once again but this time used his Qi to suppress all of the healers that were in the room.


    "Sir it''s not that we refused to heal him. The tissue in his hand had died by the time he arrived at her. Even if we reattached it there''s a possibility of his arm getting infected. If that happened then he would have to get his whole arm amputated.


    He is lucky that the person who did this is skilled enough to cut clean through the bone, arteries and tissue. We didn''t even need to remove more of his arm to make sure that he would heal without getting an infection." One of the healers said to the leader of the Chen family but he was too blinded by rage to understand what he was saying.


    "Are you saying that my son is lucky that he got his hand cut off!? Where is this Haru anyway!? Why hasn''t anyone brought him to me yet?" The man called out. Then suddenly a man in a ck suit came running in from a different entrance of the room.


    "Sir! We had reports that Haru got injured during the battle and was picked up by Hong Xia. We believe that she should be on her way here as we speak." The man addressed the leader of the Cheng family and then his eyes scanned the room before spotting Hong Xia standing at the other side.


    "Is that so? I should have known that the brat from the hong family would have something to do with this.


    "Sir" The man said quietly.


    "What is it?" The Leader of the Cheng family asked. Upon hearing the hesitation in the man''s voice.


    "It seems like they are already here." The man said softly and then pointed over at Hong Xia who was standing over Haru as he struggled to draw air into his lungs whileying on the ground.

 Chapter 267: Dont do it!

    Chapter 267: Don''t do it!


    "Hong Xia, Well what do you know. I was just looking for you. It looks like fate has brought you to me." The leader of the Chang familyughed as soon as he saw Hong Xia standing there in front of him. He didn''t notice her at first but as the man pointed her out he couldn''t miss the long silver hair that was unique to the Hong family.


    "Mr Cheng? What is it?" Hong Xia asked and then began to retreat as Mr Cheng took a few steps towards here. His size alone was enough to intimidate her since he stood at least two head heights over her. He looked like a giant with arge muscr frame.


    But that wasn''t the only thing about him that intimidated her. It was also the fact that he was a nascent soul cultivator just like her grandfather was.


    She had sparred with her grandfather many times in the past but she never even came close to beating him. She knew that she had no chance against him if he decided to try to harm her. And there was currently no one nearby that could stop him. Apart from Haru who was lying unconscious on the ground.


    She looked up at the healers who were all standing idly by, not daring to make a move in fear of being killed by Mr Cheng. He had a reputation for killing anyone that stood in his way and he wouldn''t hesitate to kill someone if they tried to stop him from getting revenge.


    So the only thing they could do was stand by and watch as he walked towards Hong Xia with an imposing manner and an evil grin pressed against his lips.


    "Hmm. And I guess this is the bastard that dared to cut my son''s handoff. Look at how defenceless he is right now. I bet he could die at any moment given his injuries. I doubt that there is a healer nearby that could even begin to heal him given the fact that they can''t reattach someone''s hand.


    I wonder how they would treat someone walking a line between life and death. Would they save him or just let him die?" Mr Cheng asked out loud as he looked down at Haru who wasying with his eyes closed and inhaling with a shallow breath.


    At just a nce Mr Cheng could see how bad Haru''s injuries were and he couldn''t help but smile.


    "This must be retribution for daring to cut off my boy''s hand like that." He said beforeughing. He then looked around the room as it fell silent.


    "It was a joke. You are supposed tough." He stated as he exerted his Qi once again upon everyone in the room. Including Hong Xia. Everyone forced themselves tough and Mr Chen looked around to make sure that they were smiling and looking like they were enjoying themselves. But as he did so his nce fell back to Hong Xia who was struggling to resist his power.


    "Why aren''t youughing? Are you saying that my jokes aren''t funny?" Mr Cheng asked with a frown, looking like a child when their parents told them they couldn''t have something.


    Hong Xia didn''t reply to him and continued to struggle to stand up as he pushed more of his Qi towards her in an attempt to make her submit to him.


    "You think you are strong huh? You think that you can actually go against me huh?" Mr Cheng asked and then walked even closer to her before kicking her in the leg.


    A loud crunch echoed out as Hong Xia''s leg snapped in half just below her knee. An immeasurable amount of pain ran through her body as the kick was infused with his Qi. It was unlike anything she had ever felt before and she dropped down to one knee while still struggling against his power.


    She had just seen Haru stand up against hundreds of demons and defeat them single handedly. There was no way that she was going to fall behind him and submit to someone who was just a little bit stronger than her.


    Although Mr Cheng was only one stage above her in cultivation the difference was the same as if a bodybuilder was to fight against a toddler. There wasn''t much that she could do to defend herself but she was sure as hell going to try.


    "You''re mighty strong for a girl. I don''t think I have seen anyone your age with so much courage before. But I can tell by your face that you aren''t worried about yourself right now.


    You are worried about him, aren''t you? Even after I kicked you, your eyes drifted over to him to see if he was okay. I''m not stupid despite what you might have heard about me.


    So I wonder. How will you hold up if I turn him into my target? What will you do? Will you cry and watch as he dies or will you submit to me? You know. My son is looking for a wife." Mr Cheng said with a smile.


    Hong Xia looked over to Haru once again and then up at Mr Cheng.


    "Don''t! He''s in critical condition. He can''t take any damage right now! Even just the slightest touch might kill him! Don''t touch him!" Hong Xia shouted out as loud as she could as Mr Cheng began to approach Haru as hey on the ground still struggling to breathe.


    "That''s the point. He dared to go against my Cheng family. Did you think that I would let him live after that? The only reason that I didn''t kill you is that you are also from an imperial family. If I killed you then I would be waging war with your family.


    And I doubt that your grandfather would fight against me for just breaking your leg. As for this little shit He has nothing and no one. Where did he evene from? Ah, what does it matter?" Mr Cheng said as he walked towards Haru''s unconscious body.


    He then held out his hand and channelled Qi into the palm of his hand while looking down at Haru''s face. He then raised his hand above his head and prepared to attack.


    "No! Don''t do it!" Hong Xia dug her leg into the ground and used all the strength she could muster to stand. As she did so the Qi that was holding her down seemed to vanish and she was free to walk move once again.


    But as she looked up again she saw that Mr Cheng''s hand was on his way down and was just about to m against his chest.


    "Haru!" She screamed loud as she closed her eyes. She couldn''t bear to watch as Mr Cheng''s hand came all the way down with a boom and shook the room as he released his Qi. A tear dropped from Hong Xia''s face as she stood still, refusing to open her eyes to see what had happened.

 Chapter 268: Old coot.

    Chapter 268: Old coot.


    The room fell silent once again before an audible gasp echoed around the room. Followed by the sound of someone struggling and panting.


    "What are you doing!? Unhand me, woman! Don''t you know who I am?" Mr Cheng shouted out. Hong Xia felt confused by what she was hearing and didn''t know what to expect but as she opened her eyes she saw something that made her feel relieved.


    Mr Cheng was holding his hand over Haru''s chest like she expected to see but Haru was perfectly fine. There wasn''t even a scratch on his body from Mr Cheng. His only injuries were what was inflicted by the st of the Colossal ship''s cannon.


    But as she followed Mr Chen''s arm down to his wrist she saw that a wrinkled yet feminine hand was wrapped firmly around his wrist and was holding it in ce.


    Mr Cheng was struggling to pull away from her but she seemed rxed as if his strength was nothing to her at all. She looked up at Mr Cheng who was trying to retreat and then back down at Haru.


    "Whoever thinks of Laying a hand on this boy will be an enemy of my sect. If you dare to act against him again I shall cut you limb from limb and hang you outside as a warning for anyone whoes looking for trouble with Haru here." The woman said in a cruel and heartless tone with so much authority that it made Hong Xia''s heart begin to palpitate as she looked at her.


    The old woman then released Mr Cheng''s hand upon saying what she had to say and then turned to look at Hong Xia who was standing on one leg and not daring to put any weight on her broken one.


    "You there." The woman directed her voice towards Hong Xia which made her jump slightly. She didn''t know what to think as she had never seen this woman before and she was now addressing her directly.


    "Yes ma''am?" Hong Xia put on her best act to be polite so she wouldn''t make an enemy with someone strong enough to stop an attack from a nascent soul stage cultivator with just one hand.


    "Come over here, my dear. Let me take a look at that leg of yours." The old woman said in a caring and gentle voice which Hong Xia didn''t know if she could trust. She had just seen her go from a ruthless killer to a caring olddy in just a few seconds.


    But her voice seemed to have a certain authority over her body that she didn''t even know about. Before Hong Xia could say anything her body had already begun to hop towards the old woman who was now kneeling beside Haru and smiling.


    Mr Cheng on the other hand was holding his wrist and rubbing it back and forth while staring at the old woman.


    "Who are you? I haven''t met an old coot as strong as you before. Which hole did you crawl out of and what is the name of this sect that you speak of?" Mr Cheng demanded answers from the old man but she paid him no attention as she directed it towards Hong Xia.


    She held out her hand towards Hong Xia''s leg as a blue light began to emerge from her fingertips before wrapping around her leg like vines.


    "This might hurt a little bit but please bear with it." The old woman said before another excruciating shock shot through Hong Xia''s leg and up into her thigh. It was the same pain that she had felt before but this time her leg had now been straightened and there was a slightly soothing effect lingering within her leg as the old woman removed her hands.


    "It might feel a little weak for the next couple of days but it should be fully healed within an hour. Just don''t go too hard until then okay?" The woman asked with a smile. She had healed a broken leg with just a touch from her hands and then she turned her attention towards Haru who was still lying unconscious.


    "They did a number on you, didn''t they? You silly child. What were you thinking about getting involved in a fight like that? Don''t you know that you are still far too weak to go up against the demon n?" The old woman asked before cing her hand against Haru''s chest.


    "Miss That''s not true at all. Haru is really strong. I saw him kill hundreds of demons with my own eyes." Hong Xia said in Haru''s defence but the condition that he was in said otherwise.


    "Is that so? Then how did he end up like this?" The old woman asked, dismissing the story that she had just heard from the young girl who had entered with Haru as an exaggeration.


    "You know that red light that hit the resort but ran into that strange barrier?" Hong Xia asked casually. She felt confident enough that the old woman wouldn''t harm her since she seemed to be familiar with Haru.


    "Yeah? The cannon fire from the ship? What about it?" The old woman asked. She didn''t see how the light from the cannons would have anything to do with Haru''s condition since it was a known fact in the upper realms that anyone below the chaos destruction stage would die instantly if they were hit with a st from the cannons.


    "He was hit by one of those and then thrown into a building." Hong Xia said bluntly.


    "What bullshit is that? I saw what that thing did to a cultivator of my level. How could this little brat survive it while a stronger man died? And you, Old bat. You better answer my questions or else I will kill the boy before you can heal hi-" Mr Cheng began to say but just as soon as he opened his mouth he was quickly silenced as his body suddenly went stiff before copsing to the ground.


    A blue light was now flowing from the old woman''s hand as what looked like a stream of electricity faded into the palm of her hand.


    "I thought I said that''s enough out of you?" The old woman asked before cing her hand back against Haru''s chest.


    "He was hit by a cannon st? Tell me more." She then looked back up at Hong Xia with questioning eyes. She was interested to hear more since she knew someone couldn''t survive the injury she said that he had suffered.

 Chapter 269: Whats going on.

    Chapter 269: What''s going on.


    Hong Xia sat down with the old woman and exined what she had seen in full. She mentioned the part about him defeating hundreds of demons and then gettingplimented by Sect Master Shen. The old woman''s eyes widened slightly upon hearing that. But she was still focusing on healing Haru so she remained quiet and listened to what Hong Xia had to say.


    "It was amazing, You should have seen it. It looked like something straight from a movie screen. One minute the demons were floating in the sky and then the next they had turned into balls of red mist before they fell to paint the ground in blood.


    I have never seen anyone fight on that level before so when I saw that it was Haru I almost had a heart attack. I didn''t know he had that much power within him." Hong Xia praised Haru''s efforts like a true fan and then went silent as she realised that she was talking about him a little too much.


    The old woman stared at Hon Xia as her cheeks turned a little bit red from embarrassment.


    "It seems like you two know each other then. I bet he will be happy to learn that you saved him when he was in trouble." The old woman said with a smile as she looked at Hong Xia with suspicion.


    "No, It''s nothing like that I swear! We just met a couple of times before and he came to my house to speak to my grandfather about helping him out here. He also has a girlfriend so it can''t be anything like that." Hong Xia said in her defence. She felt like the old woman thought that she and Haru were having a thing so she knew she had to clear things up before it got out of hand.


    Thest thing she wanted was for Haru to hate her because his girlfriend broke up with him. After all, she thought that he was cheating on her. She just felt like she wanted to be Haru''s friend. Nothing less and certainly nothing more.


    He was practically a stranger at this point but she was interested in him and to find out how he had gotten so strong in such a short amount of time as well as find out how he knew how to make pills. Her family had many pill refiners but not a single one of them could even dream of creating a pill with the same quality that Haru had made.


    She looked down on Haru as he wasying on the ground and noticed that his breathing had started to calm and it was more rhythmical than it was before. It seemed like he was just drawing breath mindlessly before like a fish out of water but now it looked just like he was sleeping.


    "It''s okay, You don''t have to exin your rtionship to me. It''s none of my business but strong men tend not to stay with one woman for the rest of their life. A friend of my husband had four wives at the same time. Well, that was until they killed each other" The old woman said with a sad expression on her face.


    "I- I''m sorry to hear that." Hong Xia sympathized with the old woman since it seemed to make her a little sad and thest thing she wanted was her to think that she didn''t care about the fact that she just mentioned her friends dying. The old woman then looked up with a smile.


    "No don''t be. They were a bunch of bitches anyway. I never liked them but, unfortunately, they killed their husband during the fighting. He was never very strong yet he decided to surround himself with strong and jealous women. It was only a matter of time before they killed him." The old woman said again this time with a little chuckle as if the thought of death didn''t bother her at all.


    "Ex-excuse me." The man in the suit called over to the old woman from across the room. He didn''t dare to approach her since he had seen what happened to Mr Cheng when he got too close to her.


    "What is it? Don''t you see that I''m having a nice chat with this youngdy over here?" The old woman yelled. Without so much as exerting an ounce of Qi, the man dropped to his knees and apologised profusely.


    "Yes, of course, I will wait until you finish. I''m sorry ma''am!" The man yelled before hitting his head against the ground to show that he was sorry.


    "It''s fine, don''t hurt yourself. You might as well go ahead now that you have interrupted me." The old woman sighed. She wasn''t impressed by that fact but she was willing to listen to what he had to say despite his interruption.


    "Yes ma''am It''s just that my boss is. Well is he alive?" The man asked as he looked at Mr Cheng who wasying on the floor. The old woman then looked down at the lifeless body on the floor.


    "Oh yeah, I forgot about that. I hope it isn''t toote." She said before lifting one of her hands and then holding it out towards his body. Suddenly a vine-like substance emerged from her hand and wrapped around Mr Cheng''s body before a loud bang shook the room. It was as if lightning had struck the whole building but on closer inspection, the sound hade from the vines and there was an ark of electricity passing through the vines as it was wrapped around his body.


    Mr Cheng gasped as he suddenly began to breathe again. He then groaned in pain before rolling on to his side and passing out. But at least now it was obvious that he was alive given the fact that he was breathing.


    "Go ahead and take him. He''s all yours." The old woman said before waving her hand to dismiss the man in the suit.


    The man ran over to Mr Cheng and began to drag his body out of the room and back outside before getting into one of the cars outside and driving away.


    "Now where were we? The old woman asked but as soon as the man had left the room the other healers that were too frightened to do anything ran over and flocked around the old woman.


    "Thank you so much!"


    "You saved our lives."


    "I thought that they were going to kill me for a moment!" The healers began to sing the old woman praise for standing up against Mr Cheng but to her, these people were as worthless as cockroaches.


    In the face of danger they froze and didn''t dare to fight back yet they still called themselves cultivators. That was something that she couldn''t forgive. A true cultivator to her fought regardless of the chances of survival and used any means necessary to defeat their enemy.


    It wasn''t the fact that they were scared that bothered her. It was the fact that they refused to ovee that fear and instead decided to sacrifice a young girl and an injured boy for the sake of survival.


    "You should be ashamed of yourselves. You stood by and watched as a young girl was targeted by a man twice her size and didn''t say so much as a word when he was about to kill an injured boy. Do you dare to call yourself cultivators? I will tell you this right now if you were in my sect and you did something like that I would personally cripple your cultivation myself and leave you stranded in the mountains to be food for the animals.


    You are a bunch of cowards and you came over to me to praise me for saving you in hopes that you could get on my good side and rely on me to get you out of situations like this in the future didn''t you? You are a subss of humans.


    Despicable." The old woman criticised their cowardly actions and then continued healing Haru''s injuries in silence.


    "Her attitude is a bit"


    "Who is she to call us cowards? Did she not see that we werepletely outssed?"


    "I know right. There would have been nothing that we could do against him" The people began to talk amongst themselves and judged the old woman right in front of her which she ignored until one of them directed a question towards her.


    "Then what would you have done in our situation? What if someone stronger than you was stopping you from protecting someone? It looks nice to act like a hero bying in to save the day but what if you couldn''t do anything?" A red-haired woman asked the old woman.


    "Then I would die. To be a cultivator is to stand against the heavens. Every day could be yourst day alive so it is best if you try to live without regrets. Thest thing I want is to lose my humanity before death. So I would fight.


    I would fight regardless of the oue. If I die then so be it. But I know that if I sat by and watched as two kids were killed then I would regret it for the rest of my life. So if it means dying before them and attacking the man then I would do it.


    That is what it means to be a cultivator. To put your needs above others is fine but just make sure that you live without regrets." The old woman said out loud causing everyone to go silent once again as they stared at her for a few moments.


    "What''s going on?" A weak and feeble voice called out as Haru opened his eyes and looked up at the crowd of people standing around him.

 Chapter 270: What is going on?

    Chapter 270: What is going on?


    Haru looked up to see a crowd of people gathered around him as well as Sect Master Shen''s wife who was leaning over him and looking up at them also. But as soon as he spoke everyone turned to look at him with shocked expressions he didn''t know what had happened but the way everyone was looking at him was strange.


    "What?" Haru asked as he looked up at the people surrounding him. He then tried to move but felt a pain shoot up through the bottom of his spine all the way to the base of his skull. He wasn''t sure what caused it but he knew that whatever it was it couldn''t be good.


    He tried to move once again after groaning in pain but Cecilia put her hand on his chest and pushed him back down to the ground.


    "Stay down. You''re not fully healed yet." She said in a stern voice that said she had no time to y games with him and that she knew what she was talking about.


    Haru nodded his head and closed his eyes. He was confused by what was happening and his head was a little bit muddled but he did remember that Li Jun had been caught in the st of the cannon from the colossal ship. He couldn''t believe that it hade to this and was eager to seek revenge.


    But with the condition his body was in now, it would be impossible for him to stand let alone take down a flying ship in the sky. He knew that he was down for the count for the remainder of this fight and wasn''t sure what to think about it.


    He just wanted to sleep for a while and hope that all his problems went away when he woke up but he knew that even if he did it wouldn''t bring Li Jun back.


    And that was the main thing he was concerned with. He didn''t mind being injured or even the casualties that their side had bound to have taken. The only thing that he was concerned with was the fact that Li Jun had sacrificed himself in exchange for Haru to continue living.


    And as he thought about it he felt his lower lip begin to tremble and his jaw became unsteady.


    "Is everything okay?" Hong Xia asked as she noticed that he was on the verge of breaking down but In response, he clenched his Jaw and covered his face with the crease of his elbow as hey on his back and received the healing from Cecilia.


    "It''s probably for the best that you leave him be for a while. A man''s pride is something that we women will always fail to understand. I bet he feels defeated since he has been injured." Cecilia used her spiritual sense to directly talk to Hong Xia without Haru overhearing them.


    Hong Xia simply nodded her head and left the room before walking back into the street outside. She stood by the front door for a few moments before taking a deep breath. She couldn''t believe what had just happened. She was almost killed by someone who she thought was an ally.


    But not only that. She was almost forced to watch as a defenceless man was killed in front of her. A tear ran down her cheek as she stepped outside into the could.


    The thunderstorm that had happened earlier had seemed to bring a nasty rain cloud over the city and it poured down from the sky before washing the tears from her face. She looked up at the sky and took a deep breath.


    "I''m so useless. I need to be stronger." She said to herself before pulling the hood of her jacket up over her head and then flying up into the sky. She headed straight back to the battlefield in hopes of finding a few stragglers that had yet to die since she felt like she needed to take her anger out on something.


    "You should be okay to move around for now but don''t even think about fighting until you have rested for at least forty eight hours. Your whole spine was shattered and your kidney had ruptured. You are lucky to be alive right now so you had better thank that girl for bringing you here when she did okay?" Cecilia scolded Haru for hisck of gratefulness but that was thest thing on his mind right now.


    "Mhm." Was the only thing that could escape his lips as he replied to her with a nod. He was clenching his jaw to hold back his cries but that didn''t stop the tears from pooling up in his eye socket and streaming down his face. He tried desperately to wipe them away with his overhand as he still kept his face covered but it was no use.


    By the time he had to move his hand, Cecilia had already spotted the tears and she looked up at the group of healers who were still waiting for her to say something else. She sighed slightly before opening her mouth.


    "All of you get out!" She shouted at them, as soon as she had finished the healers scuttled into a single file line and ran out of the room that they were in. Leaving her alone with Haru.


    "Why!" Haru yelled out as he knew that he was now alone with Cecilia. He removed his arm from his face and looked up at the sky with an empty look in his eyes as the tears continued to fall from his eyes and slide down his cheeks before sshing into a pool that was starting to form on both sides of his head.


    "It''s okay my dear. I promise you that it will all be okay" Cecilia responded to his cry gently. She could see that he was feeling vulnerable right now and was embarrassed by the fact he was crying so she decided to be as gentle as she could as she didn''t want to add more to the pain that he was feeling.


    She then reached down and put her hand on his head tofort him a little and then reached down into her pocket before pulling out a handkerchief and wiping the tears from his cheeks.


    Haru just closed his eyes in response.


    But to Cecilia who had lived for hundreds of years, she knew all too well what that meant. If a many down and closed his eyes after crying that only meant one thing He was giving up. Giving up on everything and he was ready to die. She had seen that look on people''s faces many times but it pained her to see it on a face as young as Haru''s.


    ''He''s so young. This is just the start of his life and yet he already feels like giving up? I wonder just what could have happened to make him feel like this?'' She thought to herself as she continued to wipe away the asional tears that rolled out from underneath his eyelids.


    Suddenly Haru''s lips moved as he tilted his head back a little and opened his eyes.


    "Aren''t you going to ask what happened?" Haru asked. He was wondering what was taking her so long to ask since she was just sitting silent and wiping the tears from his face. He found it a little strange but he was d that she didn''t ask him anything and was just there tofort him in his time of need.


    "Not at all. That is for you to tell me when you feel ready to. Until then, I won''t ask you a thing. I just want you to know that this isn''t the end and there is still so much left for you Haru. You can''t give up just yet." She said and then patted the top of his head.


    "Mhm, Thank you. And I know trust me. It is going to take a lot more than this to bring me down. But I just hate how it feels. It''s as if someone is standing on my chest and stabbing me with a sword." Haru replied with a smile. Although his smile was weak it was still a smile and that meant that he was willing to get over whatever had happened to him.


    Cecelia felt happy as she looked at him smiling but as soon as he closed his eyes once again a loud bang came from outside.


    "What was that?" Haru asked with a bit of panic in his voice. Thest thing he wanted to hear is that the demons had managed to break through the defence line and hade closer to the resort.


    "Don''t worry I will check it out," Cecilia said before standing up and walking toward the door. As she stepped outside another boom rang out throughout the air and a fireball erupted in the distance.


    "I will be right back!" She shouted back to Haru before mming the door closed and rushing outside, leaving Haruying on the floor all by himself.


    "Just what is going on?" Haru asked himself as yet again another boom rang out from behind the door.


    AN: Hello, Author here. I just wanted to let you know that I have started a new novel for the spirity contest an I would greatly appreciate it if you went and checked it out.

 Chapter 271: Where is everyone?

    Chapter 271: Where is everyone?


    Fire filled the air as thest remaining colossal ship was being attacked and thunder and lighting rang out throughout the air.


    "Ugh. I didn''t n for things to go this way." The demon leader muttered to himself as Lao pinned him to the ground with one of his mighty talons across his chest and was holding him to the ground without even an inch to move.


    "Then what was your n? You dared toe to this world because you thought you would dominate the people here just because you are from the middle realm. It''s pathetic really. If you want to fight someone then go and challenge other people from the middle realm.


    Or are they too strong for you? Can you not fight against people from the same realm as you?" Lao asked a bunch of questions as he looked down at the demon.


    His voice rumbled the ground for miles with its thickness that the earth couldn''t contain.


    The fight on the other side of the battlefield consisted of the tired nascent soul stage cultivators running around in circles and trying to catch thest remaining ship which was avoiding their attacks with minimal effort.


    As soon as they tried to attack the ship a white light would emerge from the back of it and propel the ship forwards, causing the attack to fail.


    That was something that the cultivators present couldn''t ovee and they felt like they were chasing their tails while trying to destroy it until suddenly a n came to Sect Master Shen''s mind.


    "Lin." He called out. But as he did so both Teacher Lin and Granny Lin turned their heads and replied.


    "Yes?!" They both called out in response at the same time before turning to look at each other.


    Sect master Shen couldn''t help but smile. It had been hundreds of years since he had seen those two together and it reminded him of the past for a moment but he knew that he didn''t have time to think about the past right now. He needed to do something about thest ship that was targeting them with its cannon.


    "Both of you I need your help with the Caliteon Asteroid technique." Sect master Shen said and then gestured with his hands for them toe closer to him.


    As he did so they both followed his instructions which gained suspicious looks from the other cultivators who were still chasing the ship around in circles while trying to attack it.


    The three of them whispered together before separating from the circle they had formed with looks of determination on their faces and then flew away from the main battle.


    "Both of you stand in a line across from each other and I will fill in the remaining point of the triangle and then begin to gather your Qi within the palms of your hands. To call upon the Caliteon Asteroid field we need as much power as we can gather so don''t hold back at all." Shen instructed them both and they replied with a simple nod of their heads before looking at each other once again.


    The smiles that were exchanged between the two of them carried a lot of tension and it spoke plenty of words between them. Teacher Lin was smiling at her while regretting his past actions and Granny Lin was looking back at him with eyes that said that she had forgiven him already. But it wasn''t time for their reunion.


    It was time to take care of business and deal with the colossal ship that kept dodging their attacks. They both began to gather Qi within the palms of their hands and waited for Sect Master Shen to do all the nning he needed to do on his side.


    He looked up at the sky and gathered Qi of his own and began to recite a line to himself.


    "*The great Caliteon empire of long ago. Lend your aid to this humble one in the form of strength from your ring of asteroids. Release your strength upon my enemies from the shadow realm and reveal yourself to the world before you.*" Shen repeated over and over again in a mantra in anguage that was unknown to the cultivators present as the Qi from all three of them began to spread out and form a wall around them in the shape of a triangle.


    The Qi was a thick blue colour and connected all three of them together as ck circles began to gather within the triangle. All of the cultivators that were previously fighting had now all stopped as they looked up to the sky to see the triangle of Qi that was surrounding them.


    Rue was helping hold the colossal ship back and was also chasing it along with Drobo but as she looked up and saw it her heart nearly exploded with fear. She recognised the attack that Sect Master Shen and so did Drobo as he stopped to see what she was looking at.


    They looked back and forth at each other before retreating.


    "Everyone retreat now! Get out of the triangle!" Rue shouted and warned the people who were staring up mindlessly at the sky while trying to figure out what was happening.


    "What? What is it?" One person shouted as a ck dot appeared before his face.


    Suddenly a hand grabbed him by the back of his shirt cor and pulled him away before throwing him through the sky and out of harm''s way as a rock shot from the ck void corridor in the sky.


    "Cecilia! Get back!" Rue shouted as Cecilia got there just in time to save the cultivator and then retreated to Rue''s side.


    "What''s going on here? Why are they using this thing again?" Cecilia asked, She too knew what technique was being used and thought that it might have been a little overkill for something like this. And not to mention it wouldpletely drain all the Qi from their bodies after it was used.


    She couldn''t understand why they were taking such a risk for a colossal ship since they were rtively easy to destroy since they were slow but she didn''t have the full story and that was swiftly answered by Rue who was waiting to tell her what had been going on.


    "It''s because there is something strange going on within the ship. Every time we try to attack it ends up moving out of the path of the attack before it even connects and there is this weird white light that keeps being emitted from the rear of the ship.


    Do you know those thrusting engines that they use on those rockets here on earth? It is very simr to one of those. I don''t know how the demon n has learned how to develop technology but this isn''t a good thing." Rue said with a look of concern on her face.


    In thest twenty thousand years, the demons had been barbarians that didn''t even use transporters to travel. They thought that it would make them look weak since they were relying on tools that were developed by the human n but the fact that they were in colossal ships meant that something had changed in the demonnds,


    Something that made them decide to change their way of life for the sake of bing stronger and smarter. And that was probably the main reason behind their attempt to overthrow the other two members of the three ns but that was also something that they had so it wouldn''t make sense for them to do it unless they had a secret weapon that they had yet to show off.


    But just as she thought about it the technique had beenpleted. The triangle was covered with what looked like ck dots but were in fact void corridors of all different shapes and sizes.


    Another bolt of lightning shot down from the sky and struck the earth all-around Lao as he looked down at the demon''s leader.


    "So what was your true goal ining here?" Lao asked. He didn''t know why but he had a feeling that looking for Haru was just a secondary objective. He felt as though they had something else up their sleeves even though they were down to two people from the several hundred they arrived with.


    They had used up their resources since two of the ships had been destroyed but there was always the other ship. As Lao thought about it he remembered the order that they appeared from the sky.


    The first ship that was destroyed was the first toe through the clouds and then it was followed by the bigger one. And then the remaining ship to arrive was the one that hadn''t been destroyed yet.


    Lao looked own at the demon on the ground beneath him with suspicion but as he did so the demon began to smile. He looked up at Lao with a sinister grin and spoke.


    "You have begun to figure it out haven''t you?" The demon questioned Lao and then began tough as Lao turned his head and looked over to the remaining ship.


    shes of white light had begun to emerge from it as it was surrounded by the triangle of Qi that the sect master had set up.


    "No! Don''t do it! This was their n all along!" Lao shouted out as a sh of white light erupted from the ship.


    The city fell silent as the white light absorbed everything it touched as it made its way through the city before hitting the barrier that Lao had set up over the resort. A grinding and crunching sound came from above the resort as Haruy on the ground.


    "What is it this time?" He thought as he looked up at the sky with questioning eyes. He felt like he had enough strength to stand and decided to take a look outside to see what was going on.


    But as he opened the door there was nothing but silence. Before suddenly a sound simr to ss breaking shot through the sky as Lao''s barrier broke down and shattered down to the floor.


    "Where is everyone?" Haru asked as the rain poured down in front of him. There wasn''t a single sign of life in the city. The city was silent and the Qi from the battle had faded to nothingness. He was alone in the destroyed city with no one.


    AN: Sorry for the spamtely. I have started a novel for the WSA if you like this novel then you will love my new one. I have put much more effort into it and it shows with the plot and the grammar. I really do rmend you check it out if not just to take a look at the amazing cover. But if you could show it some support to get it ranked in the wsa then I would really appreciate it. Thank you for reading :)

 Chapter 272: Rain.

    Chapter 272: Rain.


    Haru stood alone in the resort entrance that was now empty and looked up at the sky in disbelief. He didn''t have a single idea of what had happened, but there was no one in sight. It was as if they had vanished into thin air.


    He then remembered how the beam of light from the cannon''s had vapourised people to the point where not even ashes remained.


    His heart sank as he concluded that everyone who hade to help him fight had been killed by an explosion that was simr to the st from the canon on the colossal ships. He pictured Lao''s face as he thought about what had happened.


    But suddenly remembered Li Jun''s words of advice. Lao had the ability to break through at any time and would automatically be sent to the middle realm. If he were caught in something that would put his life in danger, then he would undoubtedly escape with his life fully intact.


    There wasn''t anything that the demons could do to him that would really put his life in danger. Or so he thought, but it still didn''t sit right with him.


    Haru held onto the doorframe for support and wondered what he should do. He was the only life force for miles, and all of the people that had appeared in shanghai before the evacuation had vanished, leaving him there alone. He also wasn''t sure what he would say to anyone who came asking questions since he didn''t have the slightest clue.


    He pictured both Li Jun and Lao in his mind as he stood in the pouring rain. It was the first time he had indeed been alone for thest four years of his life. There wasn''t anyone to guide him anymore, and he didn''t know if Lao would be able to find his way back to earth.


    But as he stood in the pouring rain, he began to hear a humming sound emerge from the distance.


    "What is that?" Haru thought to himself as the sound get louder before turning into a chopping sound as if something was cutting through the air over and over again.


    A sh of white light shone down on him as he stood in the doorway, and that was when he realised that it was the sound of a helicopter flying overhead.


    He couldn''t remember thest time he saw a helicopter, but he recognised it instantly with a single nce. But as he stood looking up, a sound rang out from the sky.


    "State who you are and hold your hands above your head!" A voice yelled out from a loudspeaker attached to the bottom of the helicopter, but he was in no mood for games.


    Haru raised his hand to the sky and held up his middle finger as the spotlight illuminated his body.


    ''I don''t care who you are. You''re a coward for avoiding the fighting and onlying out once it has stopped. I''m not wasting my time on people like that.'' He thought before turning his back and walking in the opposite direction.


    "I hope Suyin is okay. I bet she must be freaking out." Haru said out loud with a smile. He was obviously sad about losing Li Jun. But he didn''t want to overcrowd his mind with worrying. If he did so then, he wouldn''t be able to concentrate on anything else. And in turn, it would make him lose all hope of finding Lao again.


    He wanted answers, but he knew that they wouldn''te since everyone involved in the fighting had vanished, so instead, he went to check on Suyin.


    He had left her in his house so that she would be safe, but he was worried about her mental state. If she had been watching the fighting, then she would have gotten a heart attack when beams of light shot down from the sky.


    But as he took off into the air and looked into the distance towards his house, he noticed something very wrong.


    The street that Haru''s house was on was no longer there. In its ce was just a line of destruction where the beam of light had ripped through the ground and torn the houses apart. He looked over at where his house stood to see that it was perfectly fine.


    "Thank you, god!" Haru shouted out with relief before flying as fast as he could to go and meet back up with Suyin, but as he got closer to the house, he saw something that wasn''t there when he left. And his heart sank into his stomach once again.


    He felt sick.


    "No" Haru whispered as his mind went nk.


    All of the air in his lungs vanished as he tried desperately to breathe, but he could tell what had happened by just looking at the house.


    The roof of the house hadpletely copsed in on its self, leaving behind a hole in the centre of the house. He needed to check, but he couldn''t bring himself to look.


    If something had happened to her, he wouldn''t be able to forgive himself since he told her to stay put. But he knew that the longer he waited, the worse it would be.


    ''I bet she is okay. She is strong and smart. There is no way that this could bring her down. I know that she will be fine.'' Haru thought as he took a deep breath.


    He held his breath within his lungs as he reached out with his spiritual sense. If Suyin was okay, then he didn''t want to keep her waiting. But he felt as though whatever had happened to the cultivators that fought against the demons had also happened to her Since the cannon had broken his barrier.


    He moved his sense out as he scanned the area for a life force but stopped as soon as he reached the house. His eyes grew heavy, and tears began to form in them as he looked at the home with a nk expression.


    "I should have known" He said through tears that streamed down his face.


    It seemed like everyone that he cared about was in the mood to leave him today. But he thought that he could cope with it, given the fact that Suyin was always there tofort him. But he didn''t pick up her life force with his spiritual sense.

 Chapter 273: I love you.

    Chapter 273: I love you.


    But as he stood in the sky floating over the city, he heard a coughe from the inside of his house. He looked down to see nothing had changed. There was no one in sight.


    But he felt like he had to check a little closer. So he moved forward to see if he could figure out where the sound hade from, but the closer Haru got to his house, the louder the coughing became until he was close enough to hear someone breathing heavily.


    He used his spiritual sense once again to now feel the lifeforce of a woman. Yet, it was fragile. So weak, in fact, that he failed to recognise it at first. But he knew who it was by the amount of Qi that lingered on her body.


    He had spent time with Suyin before the battle started, so his Qi had rubbed off of her. So as he sensed the weak life force, he felt her presence nearby.


    "Suyin! Where are you?" Haru asked as he dropped down from the hole in the ceiling. He looked around on the ground to see that the rubble had broken through the upper floor of the house and was lining the living room with bricks and sharp wooden beams were syed out on the floor.


    "Where are you?" Haru asked as he searched desperately for Suyin, who was nowhere to be seen.


    "Haru?" A weak and feeble voice called out from beneath arge pile of bricks, followed by a cough as a few of them rolled down to the bottom of the pile and put more weight on her.


    "It''s okay; I''m here!" He shouted as he located where her voice wasing from.


    He channelled Qi into his hands before racing over to the pile of bricks and then began to pick them up one by one while throwing them over his shoulder.


    "I feel numb," Suyin called out from underneath the pile of bricks once again.


    "It''s going to be okay now, I promise. I am getting you out of here." Haru yelled as he sped up and pulled the brick off the pile one by one until there was only a few left.


    Suyin, who was previously wearing a white dress, was now covered in red. Blood had leaked down from her head and onto the clothes.


    "I feel so cold," Suyinined as she looked up at the silhouette of Haru, who was looking down upon her.


    "No, Don''t you dare say that. Come on. It''s going to be okay." Haru replied and then called out Kun''s strength to use his mes to warm her body directly.


    Kun''s me was gentle and not too hot, so it soothed the pain as it wrapped around her body, but the light from the fire illuminated her skin and gave Haru a better Idea of what was going on.


    The skin on her fingers and elbows was purple and bruised from where she had been trying to crawl out from the rubble, and there was a cut in the back of her head which had dyed her clothes red.


    But the most worrying thing was the metal pipe that had punctured her stomach. It looked to be stopping her from bleeding out, so he avoided touching it as he looked down at her with tears in his eyes.


    Suyin, on the other hand, gasped as she felt the warmth smother her body. She then looked up to see the tears that were streaming from Haru''s eyes. Everything else around her had faded into a soft white colour as she focused entirely on Haru, who was shaking her.


    "I can''t hear you," Suyin said with a muffled voice as she watched Haru''s mouth move without a single sound reaching her ears. It was as if someone had hit the mute button on tv as there wasn''t even the sound of her own voice as she spoke.


    "Suyin! We''re going to pull through this together, okay!? You''re going to be just fine. I will take you to the hospital right away!" Haru shouted once again as he looked down at her skin that looked frostbitten and damaged by the cold.


    "You know. This is like the dream that I had. I told you about it, didn''t I? It was where I was watching you cry in front of me. It was like the world was tearing you away from me. But the only difference was the fact that you left me. You won''t leave me here, will you?" Suyin asked as she referred to the dream she had told him about when they met again.


    "That''s fine, my love. Just keep talking. No matter what happens, keep talking!" Haru''s tears now dropped down from his cheek andnded upon hers.


    "Please don''t cry. However, I can''t hear you right now. I can see you perfectly fine. It''s going to be okay. I''m not going anywhere either. I will always be with you." Suyin raised her hand up to Haru''s cheek and wiped the tears away from his eyes. But as soon as she did, it was reced by another stream of water that slid down his face.


    "Please! Just don''t go! Please, you can''t do this. Not now! Not ever. Please stay still. I will take you to a hospital." Haru said and began to move his body to make it easier to carry her. But instead, Suyin grabbed his arm.


    "Haru, I''m a little bit scared." She said while staring at him.


    Haru lowered his head and ced it against hers, and closed his eyes.


    "You have nothing to be scared of. I swear I will heal you. Just stay still." Haru smiled with a look of panic on his face. He then lowered his hands over her body and searched deep within his soul to find his strength.


    [Essence healing!] Haru shouted out instinctively as he was watching her life fade before his eyes. It was so long ago that he had felt so defenceless that he forgot where he was for a moment a thought he was living in the past.


    But as soon as he shouted the name of the spell he once used. A golden light emerged from his hand and enveloped Suyin''s body.


    She gasped once again as Haru''s spell began to work and heal her, but she knew that her time was up. She let out a silent cry and looked at him with nothing but admiration as Haru''s tears became more intense.


    "I love you so much-" Suyin said while intertwining her fingers with his as her words began to trail off as she looked up into Haru''s eyes.


    "No! Keep talking to me! Keep talking to me right now!" Haru cried out as he watched the colour fade from her cheeks before drawing herst breath.


    "Suyin!?" Haru asked.


    "Suyin?!" He asked again with his voice shaking.


    [Essence Healing!]


    [Essence Healing!]


    [Essence Healing!]


    [Essence Healing!]


    Haru chanted over and over as golden light radiated within his hands, but there was no response.


    "Why! WHY HAVE YOU DONE THIS TO ME!? I SWEAR I WILL KILL EVERYONE! I WILL DESTROY YOU ALL!" Haru screamed out with all his might. His voice carried so far that it shook the nearby ocean and created small tidal waves.


    He then looked down to his storage ring before taking out the ancestral chain that Li Jun had given to him.


    "If they had nevere here, then this wouldn''t have happened! Why did she have to die like this!?" Haru questioned himself out loud before taking the chain in his hand and beginning to squeeze.


    But as soon as he did, he felt something brush against his shoulder as he considered killing billions of demons to take revenge for Suyin''s death.


    "I love you, Haru." Suyin''s voice called out to him as he considered destroying the ancestral chains.


    He couldn''t do it. No matter how much he wanted to destroy the chains, he couldn''t do anything but weep as tears poured from his eyes, and he curled up into a ball next to her and closed his eyes.

 Chapter 274: Medic!

    Chapter 274: Medic!


    Haruy on the ground as the rain poured down and covered his body. He felt empty.


    ''What is the point in having this power if I can''t protect the people I care about?'' He asked himself as he held Suyin''s hand that had now started to turn cold. He couldn''t bring himself to let her go.


    He knew that she was dead. But he didn''t know what else to do. Hey there for a while until sirens began to re out through the streets as the police got the word to head back into the city.


    Even if they had evacuated the city, they still had to ensure that no one stayed behind as was injured, but that wasn''t any of Haru''s concern.


    Hey with his back against the rain-soaked floor and stared up at the destroyed ceiling of his house with a nk expression.


    He had no words and no thoughts about what had happened and stared off into the clouds as if he was just the vessel of a human. It seemed as though his life force had also faded.


    But as the sky turned dark, a shing red light bounced off the walls of his house and reflected into his eyes, bringing him out of his mindless state and back to reality. But even so, he didn''t want to move. He couldn''t bring himself to do anything and hadpletely given up.


    The engine of a car began to head in his direction as it drove up the street before stopping directly outside his house.


    "Hello, Is anyone there?" A man asked from a distance, but there was no response.


    "We know you are there. The helicopter got a thermal image of you. Is everything okay? Do you need help?" The voice called out once again as the sounds of stone rubbing against cement scratched the ground beneath his feet as he made his way over all of the rubble and approached the front door, which was now just a hole in the wall.


    "Sir?" The voice asked again as a shlight began to illuminate the room before shining down upon Haru, who was lying on the floor.


    "Are- You okay?" A man dressed in a dark blue uniform stepped into the room and looked down at Haru before running the light to the side a little to see Suyin lying lifelessly beside him.


    "Ma''am?" The police officer called out, but the lifeless look in her eyes told him everything he needed to know.


    "Sir, What happened? What happened here?" The police officer shouted out, but Haru made no effort to respond to him. His mind hadpletely copsed on itself.


    He had hope that he would win the fight against the demons and drive them away from earth. But he never expected that it would cost him three of his loved ones during the process, as well as the two hundred or so people that were guarding the city.


    "Wait a minute, isn''t that?" Another voice called out as a woman entered the building and shone her shlight in Haru''s direction. She then moved the light beam towards Suyin as she quickly recognised who the dead body belonged to.


    "No I can''t believe this." The woman said in a hushed tone as she looked at Suyin a little closer.


    "What is it, Shina?" The man asked as he looked at her face, which she covered with her hands in shock.


    "That''s the singer Suyin! How did this happen!?" The woman cried out as she looked down at her idle.


    "Young man. You have to tell us what happened right away, okay?" The man ran over to Haru, who was still lying on the floor. They could tell he was alive by the fact that he was breathing in and out, but the way Haru was staring at the ceiling was as if he felt guilty about something.


    But before the man could get anything out of Haru, the woman ran over and grabbed him by the shirt.


    "Listen here, you little punk! You will tell us everything that happened right away, or else I will beat you to death. You got it!?" The woman yelled while looking down at his emotionless face as a tear dropped from his eye and rolled down his cheek.


    "What are you doing, newbie? This isn''t protocol; If you are reported, you will lose your job." The man warned her, but the woman didn''t listen as she still held his shirt with one hand and then began to draw a button from her belt.


    "I don''t care about protocol. I swear if he was the one who did this, I will tear his head off and burn his body to ashes!" The woman shouted but lowered her hand as tears began to run down her own cheeks.


    "What has gotten into you?!" The man asked as he grabbed her by her shoulders and pulled her off Haru. But as soon as he did so, the woman managed to wiggle free from his grip and then ran away in the other direction.


    "Dispatch. We have a situation here." The man sighed and then called into his radio that was clipped to his shirt.


    "What is it?" A woman''s voice asked as soon as he finished speaking.


    "We have two victims of the fighting here. One mortality and the other a possible head trauma can you send paramedics to my location as soon as possible?" The man asked the woman with a sad sigh.


    By the look on his face, it looked as though he was having a rough day and had probably been at the scene of many dead bodies being found all across shanghai. But he still kept a smile on his face even if it looked sad and tired.


    "No problem. I will get them there as soon as possible." The woman from dispatch said, and then the man turned down the volume knob on his radio and looked back outside to his car, which was parked where Haru''s gate used to be. All that was there now was broken rock and shattered concrete.


    From where he was standing, he saw his partner sitting inside the passenger side of the car with her head pressed against the dashboard.


    "The famous singer Suyin huh? Such a tragedy to die so young." The man whispered to himself quietly as sirens began to approach the location, which was soon followed by shing lights as two ambnces pulled up to the gates.


    As soon s they did, the police officer turned his back and began to walk out to meet the four men who hade in two ambnces.


    "Be careful. This is going to be a bit sensitive, so make sure that her family are informed before it gets out to the media." The police officer instructed the paramedics before they got to work and unloaded two stretchers from the back of their ambnces.


    More police cars began to show up as the officer had informed them of mortality. They would need to investigate the area to make sure that it wasn''t a murder. Even though the situation suggested that it wasn''t, they could never be too safe in cases like this.


    They quickly gathered around and blocked off the roads. Before, the paramedics did everything they needed to with Suyin. But there was something that they were having trouble with.


    They couldn''t move her once she was put onto the stretcher since Haru was still holding her hand. He didn''t dare to let go of here and had no idea what was going on around him. His mind was fixed to the sky as the emptiness in his chest spread around his whole body.


    "Come on. You''re slowing down your own treatment. We can''t load you onto the stretcher until you let go." One of the paramedics said, but there was no reply from Haru.


    The medic then looked into his eyes. They looked almost dead and void of all life.


    He raised his hands in front of Haru''s face and then suddenly pped them together to try to make him flinch from seeing if he was actually aware of his surroundings. But as he did, so there was no response at all. Not so much as a blink.


    "We''re ready to load her up. Just tell us when you manage to get his hand off her." One of the other medics said with a sigh before standing up.


    "Hold that thought. This doesn''t look good." The medic kneeling beside Haru said with a worried expression as his n to make his patient react didn''t work.


    He then pulled out a small pen-shaped light from his pocket and moved his hand to Haru''s face before pulling his eyelid wide open and shining the light directly on his eyeball.


    "What is it?" The other medic asked as he saw how the one treating Haru had acted.


    "He''spletely unresponsive. It might be possible spinal or brain damage. Someone bring me a brace and general anaesthesia. We need to get him into a stable condition right away. Go ahead and let the hospital know that we need an airlift as soon as possible.


    How long has he been like this?" The medic asked the first responding officer.


    "I don''t know; It''s been around fifteen minutes since we arrived." The officer replied. But that wasn''t something they could go off.


    "Got it!" A medic came running back with a neck brace in one hand and a syringe that was filled with a clear liquid.


    The medic that was treating Haru took the supplies from the other one and then started with putting the neck brace around his neck. They needed to make sure his neck was supported before they thought about moving him.


    The medic gently lifted Haru''s neck and wrapped the brace around on both sides. Before moving down to his hand and taking the safety cap off from the syringe.


    "Let the ICU know that we need a bed ready for an induceda until we can find out what is wrong with him. Let the neurology and orthopaedic departments know that we have a referral," The medic said before finding a vein on his arm and jabbing him with the needle.


    A warm feeling ran through Haru''s body as Anastasia made its way to his brain. But he was still yet to react. The night''s sky suddenly faded from his eyes, and he was cast into darkness.

 Chapter 275: Japanese?

    Chapter 275: Japanese?


    "Back again, huh?" A familiar voice called out as Haru''s mind drifted off into total darkness. But as it did so, he found himself back at the floating mansion within his soul ocean. But his feelings were unchanging. He was broken.


    His heart had shattered with the loss of Suyin and his two best friends. Although Lao was too proud to admit it, Haru still considered him as one of his most trusted and most important friends, so there was no escaping the feeling of sadness upon learning the fact that he had vanished.


    But the thing that really destroyed his mind and soul was losing Suyin.


    "It''s all my fault. Why did I tell her to stay at my house? I should have known that a shitty barrier that I set up myself wouldn''t be enough to keep her safe.


    If only I had just taken her to another city or let her evacuate with the others, then this wouldn''t have happened.


    I hate it. I hate it so much. Why am I so weak." Haru thought, but as he stared mindlessly off into the distance. Ralph walked towards him.


    "Hm What is this?" Ralph asked out loud as Haru paid him no attention. He then began to circle Haru while thinking to himself. He looked him up and down before smiling slightly.


    "A broken soul? You probably don''t even remember who you are right now, do you? Not only that, but there are traces of inferior power lingering within your body. It seems to be that of a caster." Ralph said to himself while looking at Haru.


    Ralph''s power was so great that he could look at a person and determine the state of their soul and body. He looked through Haru''s body to see that he had be held up on something and also developed a skill that not many cultivators had.


    But he could see from Haru''s eyes that there was more to the power that he held within him. It seemed like it was more of a memory to him than a skill he had trained.


    All of the muscles in Haru''s body remembered the caster''s power, and his body was optimised for the amplification of it.


    "Hm You are a fascinating subjectno wonder those two decided to take you in. But I guess as thest remaining practitioner of this lost art, there will be no one but me to guide you from this moment on.


    I will teach you well for the sake of the master. Don''t worry. You are safe under my care. But I think you should wake up soon. Your parents have been standing over your bed for a while. You have missed a lot during your time here." Ralph said.


    Haru''s mind suddenly awakened as he heard those words.


    ''My parents?'' Haru asked but as soon as he did. The view of his soul ocean vanished, and he was looking up at a white ceiling with a light shining down upon his face.


    As Haru opened his eyes, the sound of machines beeping could be heard. He moved his arm slightly and felt a slight pinch against his skin as he rubbed his arm against a firm and rough nket.


    "What is this?" Haru muttered to himself as he looked down at his arm to see a small stic tube sticking out of his arm connected to a clear line.


    "A can?" He said out loud before reaching down and plucking it out of his vein. Blood began to spurt from his arm, but as he did so, the sound of beeping intensified as rms started to ring out in his room. It seemed like he was connected to heart monitoring machines along with his cann, but the sudden movement had torn them from his body too.


    Before he could think anything else, the door to the room was pushed open, and the voices of a woman shouted out.


    "Haru!" The woman yelled and then ran over to be by his side. She grabbed his hand and attempted to speak, but before she could get another word in, the room was flooded by doctors wearing long white coats.


    "What''s going on?" An older man with a white beard ran into the room and panted before looking up at Haru, who was now sitting upright in his bed.


    "The patients awake? Someone get me a syringe. We need to take blood and check his vitals immediately." The man yelled out to the doctors that had entered the room before him.


    ''Japanese? Aren''t we in china? Where am I?'' Haru asked as he looked around the room. The situation still hadn''t set in yet, and he was held up on the feelings of loss as he had witnessed everything that he had built up for the past four years of his life destroyed in a single day.


    There was nothing more for him to think about, but as soon, just as he started to feel a little bit depressed, he felt a hand wrap around him tightly.


    As he looked down, he saw that his mother was sitting next to him. He didn''t see here in, nor feel her hand reach for his, but he did feel a gentle squeeze around his fingers as she let him know that he was okay without saying anything.


    "Mom? Hatu asked as he looked at her. Krista looked up with tears in her eyes and nodded her head. She was overjoyed that he was awake and he was doing okay.


    "What''s going on?" Haru asked with a confused look. He didn''t have the slightest idea what had happened since he had been put to sleep by the paramedic at his house. But by the looks of it, a lot did.


    "It''splicated, and I don''t know where to start" Krista began to say, but just as she started speaking, the crazy older man that was shouting at the doctor''s ran over to Haru and introduced himself.


    "Hi, I am doctor Rudy Mangin." The man said in a broken Japanese ent. He sounded like he was trying too hard to fool people into thinking he was Japanese, and it threw Haru off a little bit as he looked at him.


    Usually, he would be mad that someone cut off his mother, mid-conversation but the fact that the man had a funny ent made him feel like he didn''t know how to act around people and made Haru feel more forgiving towards him.


    But Krista didn''t feel the same. As a previous captain in the military, the one thing that she hated the most was bad manners. And the doctor had signed his death warrant the moment that he had interrupted her as she tried to reunite with her son.


    "Excuse me," Krista said quietly at first, but the man who had interpreted her didn''t pay any attention to what she had to say and was too focused on trying to start a conversation with Haru. But even he knew that it would be a lot better to stay out of it.


    As the older man was talking, the room suddenly began to heat up as a red glow began to emerge from Krista''s body.


    "Excuse me, sir. Do you think that I can have a moment to talk with my son before you start asking him things?" Krista''s voice dropped down a few octaves, and she sounded almost demonic as she spoke.


    The older man gulped before turning his head to the side to see the red mes that were emerging from Krista''s body. Her eyes also turned red as she stared at him with anger.


    "You want to talk to your son? That''s a fine miss. There is no problem with that at all. I am sorry for intruding." The older man said with his eyes clenched shut. He couldn''t bear to look at Krista since she instilled so much fear into him. It made him feel like running for miles.


    Yet little did he know that her son and the man he was buying to talk to was, in fact, much scarier than his mother. Inparison to Haru, Krista was kind and caring, even if she did get mad quickly.


    But Haru was kind and patient. It would take a lot to make him mad, but once it happened, there would be no stopping him.


    Krista smiled slightly upon seeing the old man frightened of her and then looked back at Haru. A few moments went by before the door was mmed closed.


    All of the doctors that had run into the room had left. It seemed like during the time Haru had been there, Krista had been throwing her weight around a little bit.


    "Are you okay, my sweet boy? A man from the Chinese government informed your father and me of what happened. You were apparently in an ident, and you found it at the bottom of a cliff. The doctors said that you wouldn''t make it, but I never gave out hope.


    I knew you woulde back to us, strong and healthy." Krista said and then grabbed Haru''s hand a little bit tighter.


    "I''m okay, Just a little confused" Haru stated with a frown as he looked at his mother.

 Chapter 276: Nothing to lose.

    Chapter 276: Nothing to lose.


    "That''s good to hear. After your father and I found out what happened, we rushed right to get a ne ticket to china, but the hospital in Shanghai contacted us and said that they would be sending you to Tokyo general. So we didn''t have to drop everything to go to China." Krista said with a tired expression.


    It looked as though she had been caring for Haru without looking after herself. She had dark circles under her eyes, and her hair was knotted and tangled. It looked as though she had been in a constant state of worry and was barely keeping herself from having a mental breakdown.


    "You don''t know how worried we were since we first saw you. The doctors said that there was nothing wrong with your physical, and you just had a few light injuries when they brought you back.


    There were bruising covering your whole back, and you had a few cracked ribs, but it wasn''t anything serious, so it confused them as to why you wouldn''t wake up. I even asked one of my friends toe and heal you, but the magic didn''t work either. It really did seem like you were just sleeping, though.


    What was thest thing you remember?" Krista asked Haru with a look of sadness on her face. It seemed as though she was expecting him to say something terrible. But Haru''s mind waspletely nk. He didn''t have a clue what had happened.


    And thest thing he remembered he was lying on the ground in the rain. But as he began to think about how the rain fell upon his face, his heart began to ache, and he clutched his chest before recoiling in pain.


    "Ugh" Haru called out as his fingers pulled at the hospital gown he was wearing.


    "Haru? What is it?" Krista asked before resting her hand on his back. She wasn''t sure what had happened, but she knew that he was in immense pain given the scream he gave when he clutched his chest.


    A few seconds went by as Haru remained seated on the bed clutching his chest before the pain slowly vanished.


    "Suyin" Haru said out loud as he remembered parts of what had happened. He remembered Suyin''s lifeless body lying on the ground next to him.


    "Oh, that''s right I''m so sorry. I didn''t mean to make you remember something like that" Krista apologised and bowed her head slightly towards her son as she saw the amount of pain that he was in, but suddenly he rocked back a little and then fell back down onto the bed.


    "Haru!?" Krista yelled out as she watched his head fall back and thennd on the pillows ced behind him. She thought for a moment that he had passed out due to the pain being too much for him to handle and was about to call for a doctor before suddenly augh escaped Haru''s lips.


    "Are you okay?" Krista asked, but as soon as she did, Haru began to cover his face with his hands and thenughed again as hey on his back.


    ''What''s going on?'' Krista thought as she looked down at her son,ughing while thinking about his girlfriend''s death. She was about to say something and ask him what was going on when suddenly he moved his hands away from his face.


    Although Haru wasughing, tears were pouring from his face and dripping down onto the bedsheets below him.


    "Mom, Please. Just make it stop." Haru howled in pain as he looked up at his mother and clutched his chest.


    Krista''s heart couldn''t take it. Seeing Haru break down before her pushed her over the edge, and she too began to cry as she looked down at Haru with pity in her eyes. She then sat beside the bed and put her arms around him.


    "It''s okay. I promise you that it will all be okay." Krista tried her best to stay calm, but she could only talk between her whimpers as she tried to stop herself from crying.


    She hade to terms that Suyin had died in the ident, and Haru was the one that survived, but she didn''t expect the survivor''s guilt to be so painful for him. She, too, had been the only survivor of many situations on the battlefield, but she didn''t even want to imagine what she would have done if her husband had died and she was the only survivor.


    She had nothing to say to him and felt like she couldn''t soothe his pain, so she stayed how she was with her arms around him and holding him tight to try her best tofort him.


    Haru soon calmed down and stopped crying, but his face had a dark expression on it, as though he was reying the situation in his head and as his mother, Krista, knew him best. He would always look at the ceiling when he thought of something that he couldn''t tell her.


    She could usually push him to tell her what he was thinking about, but now that he was an adult, she felt like she couldn''t approach him like that and didn''t want to force him to talk about something that would only cause him pain. She stayed quiet for a moment before speaking up.


    "Haru. I know that what happened to you must have been painful, but I want you to know that you will always have our house to call home. And to be honest, I hope that you wille and live with us for a while. I don''t know how I would cope knowing that you are out there alone while dealing with all this pain.


    But don''t decide yet. I will wait until the doctors check you out and then ask you again. If that''s okay with you?" Krista said what she had to say and then asked. She didn''t want to force anything on him, but she just felt a little bit worried that he wouldn''t be able to keep his emotions in check and might do something stupid.


    She had a very small temper and would often act out against people, and she had always been a little bit worried that Haru had the same trait. But ever since she visited him in china and saw how he freaked out when the government kicked down Zen''s door, she had all but confirmed what she needed to know.


    Given Haru''s strength, she thought it would be irresponsible to let him walk around in an unstable condition. She looked up at him again to see a faint smile on his face. It was almost as though he was thinking about something that made him happy, but her heart almost stopped as he spoke.


    "I don''t need time to think it over. I think that it might be best if I''m not left alone right now. Can Ie back home" Haru looked at her with tears in his eyes and then clenched his fists.


    Krista felt hurt once again. It pained her to see him suffer like this. He was in pain of losing a loved one, and it also seemed to be making him angry that he couldn''t save her. She knew Haru''s personality very well, and he was always the hero.


    So given the fact that he couldn''t save Suyin, he was feeling pretty worthless. And a man with nothing to lose and a lot of pent up anger is dangerous even for a regr human, but for a cultivator, the consequences of his choices could be catastrophic.


    "You don''t even need to ask; You are always wee toe home. In fact, I bet Saki would be over the moon if you decided toe back home. She didn''t remember the first time you met, but she sat by your side when we brought her to visit and helped us take care of you.


    She even used a wet cloth and wiped the sweat from your head when the Summer started." Krista said with a smile as she thought about what Saki had done for her older brother while he was in aa. But the Haru was a little taken back by what she just said.


    ''Summer? But isn''t it November?'' Haru asked himself before taking a look out of the window to see green leaves brushing against the ss along with the hot sun zing down through the branches and creating dances of light on the ground as the breeze pushed against the trees.


    Sure enough, there was sun outside of the window. But that was impossible for Tokyo in November. He then turned back to his mom, who had now sat upright and was no longer hugging him.


    "How long have I been here?" Haru asked, feeling a little afraid to know the answer. The time he spent in his soul ocean with Ralph felt like it was over in just a few seconds.


    "That''s right. I forgot to tell you!" Krista shouted out as she felt ashamed that she had forgotten to tell him how long he had been there during the excitement of him waking up.


    She looked at him once again and then grabbed his hand tofort him.


    "Try not to freak out, okay," Krista said. While squeezing her hand in aforting manner, she said before preparing to tell him the answer to his question.

 Chapter 277: Idiots.

    Chapter 277: Idiots.


    Krista looked up at Haru and clenched her hands a little tighter as she tried to build up the courage to tell him exactly how long he had been in aa. She felt worried that he might cry if he found out how much he had missed, but she knew that she couldn''t lie to him about it.


    "Well, um." Krista stuttered as she tried to get the words out of her mouth, but it seemed like whatever she tried wasn''t working, and she felt useless that she couldn''t even talk to her own son. She looked down for a moment before then suddenly making eye contact after finding the courage that she struggled to locate.


    "It''s been about six months since you first arrived here in Japan, but you were in the shanghai hospital for two weeks before they decided to transfer you to Tokyo so we could be by your side," Krista said with each word, making her look down in shame, but Haru squeezed her hand this time tofort her.


    "Mom, It''s okay. I''m okay. I feel wonderful, so I''m sorry for worrying you." Haru said with a faked smile that was seen through the moment he showed it to his mother.


    Krista took a deep breath before looking him in the eyes again.


    "You''re not fine, Haru. I''m your mother. I can see when you are hurting. And I know that you are feeling guilty for what happened. But I just want you to know that it''s not your fault, and everything will be okay now." Krista suddenly stood up and hugged him again before turning to the door as it suddenly jolted in its frame.


    "Sir, you can''t go in there." The voice of one of the nurses called out as someone pulled down on the door handle.


    "Like hell, I can''t? My son is in there!" Luke''s familiar voice called out from the other side of the door as the door suddenly jolted again before flying entirely open, revealing Haru lying on the bed.


    "Dad?" Haru asked as Luke stood in the doorway, holding a toddler with short ck hair in his arms. Luke''s eyes darted around the room before looking directly at Haru, who was still lying in his bed with Krista''s arms around him.


    "H-Haru." Luke seemed at a loss. It was as though his whole world came crashing down around him as he looked over at Haru.


    At first, Haru thought that Krista was the one hurt more by what had happened to him given the fact that she had dark eye bags and but Luke looked like he was the one the most affected by Haru beingatose.


    His beard had grown out much longer than it had ever done before, and the tip of his hair strands was beginning to grey from the stress of seeing his son, day in and day out,ying in bed without so much as opening his eyes.


    It was almost as if Haru had died, and they were just looking at his body every time they visited him, and that wasn''t good for their daughter.


    Krista and Luke had decided that they would split the job of looking after Haru and only allow Saki to visit once every week, so she didn''t get too used to seeing Haru like that.


    It seemed as though Saki was the only thing that kept them going as they had to deal with doctors and nurses constantly telling them that there was nothing wrong with Haru, and they didn''t know why he wasn''t waking up. It was a mystery to them.


    Every specialist that came to see Haru left feeling perplexed and apologised profusely for not being able to do anything despite being an expert in their field. They just all came to the conclusion that he was sleeping. Or it was at least something simr to falling asleep.


    I tore Krista and Luke apart, and they would constantly argue until they saw that their pointless fighting was affecting Saki''s behaviour, so instead of shouting mindlessly at each other, they came to apromise and scheduled the dates and times that each of them would sit by Haru''s side.


    They concluded that Krista would visitter in the night since she had to work during that morning most days, and luke would take the mornings. But every weekend, they would go to visit together and take Saki to see her older brother.


    It became less painful for the two of them once they started to schedule things, but it still hurt to see him like that, so as Luke heard that Haru had woken up from one of the doctors, he rushed through the corridors while holding Saki in his arms and then running straight towards Haru''s room.


    He didn''t even take the time to register his visit with the nurse outside and rushed right past the security guards and into Haru''s room.


    "Haru!" Luke called out once again as he looked at his son lying on the bed.


    "Yes?" Haru asked as though he didn''t know why he was being shouted at, but before either of them could say anything. The toddler in his arms held out her arms and shouted out.


    "Take! Take!" While looking at Luke.


    "Take? Take what?" Luke asked, confused. It was so out of the ordinary that it took his mind off the fact that Haru was awake, but he soon figured out what she meant as she pointed over at Haru.


    "You want to go to your big brother?" Luke asked as he looked down at Saki, to which she nodded her head enthusiastically and pointed at Haru yet again.


    "She can speak now? Thest time I saw her, she was only a baby. Where did thise from?" Haru asked, surprised by the fact that his two-year-old sister was talking.


    "Well, You could talk when you were two also. I guess you she is just a quick learner like yourself." Krista smiled, not thinking anything of it, but Haru, on the other hand, knew the truth.


    The only reason he could talk when he was an infant was that he was reincarnated and already knew how to talk. He then looked at Saki with suspicion as Luke carried her over and ced her down on the bed.


    "You made your mother, and I worry so much. Don''t ever do this again, please." Luke said while covering his eyes. He couldn''t hold in his emotions any longer and broke down crying. Krista was quick tofort him and brought him into an embrace.


    But as no one was paying attention to Saki, she crawled around the bed until she was behind Haru and then used his back to hold herself upright before putting her arms around his neck.


    "Daddy, worry! Mommy worry! Me Worry!" Saki said before pulling her arms tighter around Haru''s neck as though she was trying to choke him, but given the fact she was only two years old, she didn''t have enough strength toe close to harming anyone.


    Krista and Luke both looked up to see Saki hugging Haru from behind and then looked at each other with questioning eyes.


    "What?" Krista asked Luke with her eyes wide opened.


    "Did she just?" Before anyone could say anything else, Haru bent over quickly, causing Saki to flip over his shoulder''s before catching her in his arms.


    "Don''t try to choke anyone, okay? That''s dangerous. You could hurt them." Haru said and then pinched her nose before looking up at his parents, who were staring at Saki with a look of concern on their faces.


    "She really does take after her older brother, doesn''t she?" Luke asked as they looked at Saki, trying to get back up, but Haru kept his hand on her shoulder and let her rest her head on hisp.


    "Get off." The words came out of Saki''s mouth with a struggle.


    Haru looked down at his sister with suspicion as he thought about what Li Jun had once told him. People who are reincarnated as babies would develop quicker than those around them, but not all of them had memories from their former lives, yet they would still learn how to do things that were natural to them before they died during the early years of their new life.


    ''Could she be?'' Haru thought to himself as he looked down at her and then noticed her smiling and looking up into his eyes.


    "Wah! Argh! Mommy!" Saki started crying since she couldn''t move, thanks to Haru resting his hand on her shoulder.


    Krista''s eyes turned dark and evil looking as she looked at Haru.


    "Haru! Don''t make your sister cry. I know that you just woke up from aa, but if you test my patience, I will kill you!" Krista shouted before picking Saki up into her arms andforting her.


    "Did your mean big brother hurt you? Do you think mommy should hurt him to get payback?" Krista asked Saki while hugging her.


    Haru couldn''t hold it in anymore. He went into a fit ofughter before falling backwards onto his bed. He tried to cover his mouth with his hand to stop himself fromughing, but he couldn''t hold it.


    After everything that had happened to him, he found it funny that his parents remained that same. He felt instantly weed back into the family even after being away from them for four years. Only a specific type of people could be the same after that amount of time, and Haru now figured out what type of people his parents were.


    "Idiots," Haru stated whileughing to himself.

 Chapter 278: New car.

    Chapter 278: New car.


    Haru spent time with his family in the hospital for a while before the doctors returned to run tests on him. After all, it wasn''t every day that someone fell into aa after being administered an anaesthetic. And they were worried that it might have long term effects on his brain.


    But those worries were soon put to rest when they took him to get a scan of his full-body, and they found no irregrities. He looked perfectly healthy despite the fact that hey unconscious for six months. There wasn''t even a single sign of muscle decay, but they put that down to his parents being mages.


    Since it wasn''t unusual for mages to heal their loved ones in the hospital, but what the hospital in China didn''t know was that Haru was a cultivator. They only knew who he was by the ID cards in his wallet, and that is how they contacted his family although his emergency contact number was still Zen''s.


    Zen called Krista as soon as the hospital had told him what had happened, and Andrew went to sit by his side while he was in hospital in China. After a few weeks, Krista managed to ask for him to be returned to Japan, and the hospital in Tokyo made it possible by sending a private airline to pick Haru up while keeping him connected to all of the monitoring machines.


    Krista had to pull a few strings for that to happen, but it worked just fine, and she managed to get Haru home to them. It took a lot of effort, but it was better that way. Although the Chinese government wasn''t notified of Haru being returned home.


    "It looks all good, Mr Kitagawa. Your body is perfectly healthy, and your brain looks like it is doing just fine. We will go ahead and discharge you as soon as possible but just remember that if you feel any side effects such as dizziness or you have trouble recalling things, thene back to us as quickly as possible.


    We aren''t entirely sure what happened since we have to go off assumptions, but when they found you lying in the car after your ident, they said you had hit your head off the steering wheel." The old doctor that had run into the room earlier said to Haru while they were both looking at scans of Haru''s brain.


    "Is that so? Well, sure, I will be careful ande back if I feel anything at all." Haru said with a smile, telling the doctor what he wanted to hear.


    But he still couldn''t understand who was responsible for telling them that he had been involved in a car ident. His injuries were quite clearly due to the attack on Shanghai, but everyone seemed convinced that he was in a car ident.


    He knew that the Chinese government wouldn''t let any cultivators leave their country and go elsewhere, so he racked his brain while trying to figure out who had so much authority that they could change medical records and manage to get him back to Japan without the intervention of the government.


    "Well then, Your parents are probably still waiting outside, so you can go ahead and join them now. I will let the rest of the doctors that were caring for you know that you are perfectly fine and you are free to leave now. I hope the best for you, and like I said, pleasee back if you feel anything wrong with your body at all.


    Head injuries can be fatal if they aren''t correctly looked after, so try not to strain yourself too much." The doctor warned once again before turning around and picking up the scans of Haru''s brain.


    "Yes, and thank you for your care," Haru said with a smile before leaving the room and walking out into the corridor to see his parents waiting for him while Luke held Saki in his hands.


    "So what did he say? Is there anything that we should be concerned about?" Krista asked as soon as she saw him walk out of the room. She was worried that there would be some underlying health problems since he wasatose, but that wasn''t the case at all.


    "He said that everything looks good and that I am free to leave. Although he did tell me toe back if I start feeling any side effects." Haru smiled, Knowing that there wouldn''t be any side effects left behind. But that was the only thing he smiled about, and his face went right back to its natural resting position as a thought ran through his head.


    ''Li Jun and Lao are both gone. And Suyin is dead. I don''t have any right to be smiling like this.'' The survivor''s guilt quickly drilled its way into his head again as Luke and Krista celebrated with the good news that he had just given to them.


    "That''s great. Did you decide if you areing back home? Your room is exactly how you left it, so I''m sure you will feel right at home." Krista smiled at him and then brought him into a hug as her recent dream of bing a family again was starting toe true.


    "Of course. I don''t really have anything here or any friends, so I can''t really do anything on my own. Thank you for taking me back in." Haru said with a slight bow of his head. He knew that his parents didn''t like the fact that he had to live in China, but he did so anyway. And he was now an adult, they had no reason to let hime back with them, but they did so anyway, knowing that he was in a vulnerable situation.


    "Hey! Don''t you ever thank me again. I''m your mother, not andlord. You are always wee back home." Krista suddenly snapped after watching him bow his head in gratitude. Seeing him turn made her feel like he didn''t recognise her as his mother, and that angered her slightly.


    "I just thought that-" Haru tried to justify his action, but before he could say anything else, Krista put her arms around his shoulders.


    "Don''t think so much. That has always been the biggest issue with you. You are always worried about the future, and you never live in the present. I know because it''s the same with your father. Trust me. If you stop thinking and start doing things without a second thought, you will be much happier." Krista advised him with a smile while rubbing his back.


    "Okay, I will try." The words of advice that Krista had offered seemed tofort Haru a lot more than he was expecting them to. She was correct; He always thought about the future before he did anything, and it always led to unnecessary worry.


    "That''s all your father, and I will ever ask of you that you try. It doesn''t have to be an immediate change, but as long as you try, then you will start to see progress." Krista let go of him and then looked back at Luke, who was smiling while Saki brushed her hands against his facial hair.


    "Now that Haru is awake, you''re going to get rid of that horrible thing on your face, aren''t you?" Krista asked while referring to the hair that had appeared on his face during the time that Haru had been in hospital.


    "Well, You know I actually quite like it, and I thought that-" Luke began to exin, but with just a stare from Krista, he decided that it was time to part with his beard.


    "But I was thinking about shaving it." He said with a forced smile as he looked at his hot-tempered wife.


    "Good. Then how about us all head home?" Krista smiled, she had been waiting to say those words again ever since Haru was transferred to Tokyo and today was the day that she could finally say those words and feel like a family once again as they began to walk towards the exit.


    The sun was bright as Haru walked through the revolving doors at the front of the hospital, and it made him clench his eyes a little since it was the first time he had seen actual sunlight in six months. It felt as though his eyes were about to burn out of their socket, but he bore with it as he followed behind his parents and walked towards the car park.


    Haru looked around to try to find the blue sedan that he was used to his parents driving, but as Luke pulled out his car keys and pressed the button to unlike it, he was shocked to see that his parents had gotten a new car. They were now driving a high-end white SUV. It was unlike his parents to buy something so expensive, but he quickly remembered that he had given them a lot of money after the incident with the government in Shenzhen. Given that fact, it wasn''t too unusual that they had a new car.


    "You got a new car?" Haru asked as his dad opened one of the rear doors and began to buckle Saki into a child safety seat.


    "Oh yeah, the cafe started doing well at the start ofst year, and the old one was getting a little old and run down. It was better to get a new one instead of paying for repairs all the time." Luke said as he turned around to see Haru looking at his car.


    He thought that his son had inherited his eye for beauty, but Haru wasn''t interested in the car, just why they decided to buy a new one.


    "Yeah, repairs. You took that thing to get repaired once, and then you tell me it''s magically broken, and you need to buy a new one." Krista said with suspicion as she looked at her husband.


    "But it is nice not being cramped while sitting in traffic." She then added with a smile before getting into the passenger''s seat and then rolling down the window after closing the door.


    "Hop in on the other side. You can help put the seatbelt on Saki. I can''t quite reach it." Luke said to Haru as he struggled to stretch his arm around to reach the buckle on the other side.


    "Okay," Haru smiled and then got in next to Saki to help buckle her into the seat and then sat down on the other side of the car and buckled himself in as Luke started the engine.

 Chapter 279: Youre home.

    Chapter 279: You''re home.


    As they arrived at home, Haru noticed that there had been some work done to the house for sure since thest time he had been at home. The curtains on the inside were different, and the outside of the house had a rejuvenated look to it.


    Not to mention the garage that was built at the front to store Luke''s new car. But it seemed like they weren''t really sure about spending the money that Haru had given to them. They probably felt as though he earned it for himself, and they shouldn''t be the ones to take it.


    But Haru thought differently. To him, the money was reparation for any mental trauma that could have been caused to Saki. But he also wanted to stir some trouble with the department that decided to break into Zen''s house. He just didn''t feel right taking all the money for himself, so he split it and gave everyone equal amounts.


    But his parents couldn''t bring themselves to spend the money that their son had given them, so they spent their own money on the things that they wanted instead and opened separate ounts to store it in.


    The car came to a stop in the driveway as Luke pressed a button on his key fob to open the door to the garage, and then once it openedpletely, he drove the car inside and then turned off the engine. He sighed for a moment and then turned around to Haru.


    "You''re home atst." He said with a smile and then pulled a face at Saki to make herugh.


    Haru felt a warmth within his chest that he hadn''t felt for a while and took a deep breath in to appreciate the moment. Although he hadn''t lived there in four years, it still had the calming effect on him that he remembered, and he finally felt like he was home.


    It took a while for them to settle down after Haru''s return, but as Krista and Luke began to prepare dinner for them, Haru decided to take a few moments to rx in his room.


    It really was the same as he remembered.


    From the dark blue wallpaper to the grey bed sheets lying on top of his bed and even theptop that he had gotten for his homeschooling sses was sitting on the desk.


    But despite the fact that everything remained the same, it looked clean and exactly how he left it the day that he started school. But he had his parents to thank for that. They wanted to keep it well preserved so they could think back to all memories Haru had lying around his room.


    "Hm, I wonder if it still works?" He asked as he approached theptop lying on the desk. He wasn''t expecting much, but as he opened the screen and held down the power button, he was surprised to see that it booted to the home screen.


    He quickly typed in his date of birth from his previous life as his password and opened the browser. He sat staring at the screen for a few moments while his mind went nk.


    He didn''t know what to do. He sat down with the intention of seeing if it still worked but seeing that it did, he didn''t know what to expect.


    He thought to himself for a moment before typing two words into the search bar, with each letter making his throat ache as he struggled to keep in his feeling.


    "Suyin Jiang" He typed the name into the search engine and pressed enter to see dozens of articles pop up on his screen.


    Most of them showed images of a crushed car lying at the bottom of a cliff with headlines that made it sound like she was involved in a car ident. There was nothing about the situation that happened in Shanghai and nothing about Haru. The articles just stated that an unknown male was rushed to hospital with serious injuries.


    He couldn''t stop himself from tearing up as he read through the countless articles that stated that she died on the scene of the crash. It felt wrong.


    He was there when she died, and it felt like they were lying to him more than they were lying to the general public. He couldn''t understand why anyone would lie about her death. She was gone, and that was bad enough, but they could at least do the honour of telling the truth.


    "She didn''t die in a car ident. She died because I wasn''t strong enough to protect her. Why does this always happen!?" Haru broke down after seeing what was happening in the media.


    And after a few minutes of crying, he managed to calm himself down before bing curious to know what happened in Shanghai after he passed out. He had hoped that they were starting to rebuild, but as he searched the word Shanghai many different things came up.


    "Shanghai bomb, Shanghai war, Shanghai destroyed. American missile shanghai." The search suggestions that came up piqued Haru''s interests more.


    "A missile?" He thought as he clicked on the suggestion, and hundreds if not thousands of articles popped up talking about missiles sent to Shanghai.


    As he opened the first one, he was at a loss for words. He couldn''t think straight as he read it out loud.


    "On the seventeenth of November, a radar system in shanghai showed that a rocket-propelled missile was heading for the city at high speeds.


    It was first picked up over the Antic ocean and waster picked up by shanghai as the calctions showed that it was due to impact the city.


    The authorities were quick to evacuate the citizens and set up a catastrophe unit to deal with the aftermath in case it was unclear, but to their luck, it wasn''t.


    Despite the evacuation, two hundred and thirty people had been confirmed dead, and over a thousand were confirmed missing. It was a catastrophic event that destroyed everything that the Chinese government had built in shanghai.


    The Chinese authorities looked to America to exin as the missile hade from their jurisdiction, but the US government refused to respond and thenter sent battleships to be stationed around the coasts of china as a warning not to start any trouble." The article seemed like it was written by an amateur as it was published on an independent news website, but it had the most traction for the sole reason that they posted pictures of the damage.


    Haru couldn''t believe it.


    They had decided to hide the truth from people and let the sacrifices made that day go to waste for the sake of political gain. There was always tension between the Chinese and American governments since the end of the previous war, but now it seemed as though those tensions hade to a peak and war was on the verge of breaking out once again.


    "How could they do this? Why would they do this? Don''t they value cultivation in china? Why would they turn their back on the cultivators that stopped them from thousands of casualties?" It didn''t make sense to him until it suddenly hit him.


    "Major Niu said that the major governments knew about the demons n, but they called them extraterrestrials since they came from other worlds." That meant the US also know about the Demons and the technology from the upper realms.


    If they could get their hands on that technology, then the world would change dramatically. But China wouldn''t want to hand that over, so if they made a scene to let the whole world know that the US is trying to abuse their power, they would be able to keep that technology for themselves." Haru concluded as it all began to make sense to him.


    "Those greedy bastards, why would they put their people at risk for the sake of a bit of technology? Even if it would be useful, it''s still not worth the lives of innocent people." Harumented loudly as the door to his room suddenly creaked open to reveal Saki standing up and using the door frame as support.


    "Bastard!" She said with a smile while looking up at Haru.


    ''What have I done!?'' Haru thought before running over to Saki and kneeling down to be on her level.


    "No, don''t say that word. It''s not nice." Haru instructed her while pointing his finger at her to show authority, but to Saki, it was a funny word and one of the only ones she had in her vocabry thanks to Haru''s carelessness.


    "Bastard! Bastard!" Sakiughed as Haru looked down with disappointment in his eyes. He knew what was going to happen next and reluctantly picked her up into his arms and took her downstairs.


    "Mom, Dad?" Hau asked as he walked into the kitchen to see both of his parents cooking dinner.


    "What is it?" Krista turned around and asked, but before Haru could say anything else, Saki interrupted.


    "Mommy bastard!" Saki shouted out loud.


    Krista dropped the spoon she was holding in disbelief before looking up at Haru with anger in her eyes as Luke began tough.


    "I might have made a mistake", Haru said and then cast his gaze down to the floor as he waited for her to shout at him. But that didn''t happen.


    He felt his mothers arms wrap around his neck.


    "It makes me happy seeing you were ying with your sister, but please try not to say anything like that until she is a bit older, okay? She doesn''t know any better right now, so she will copy you." Krista said in a caring way that made Haru feel safe.


    Haru wasn''t expecting her to be nice even after he messed up, but he felt lucky that he had parents that cared about him and didn''t want to even begin to think about what he would have done without them.

 Chapter 280: Magic and Qi.

    Chapter 280: Magic and Qi.


    Haru took a few weeks to settle back down at home. He was constantly kept awake due to nightmares about what happened that day in shanghai.


    Haru felt like he could change everything if only he had the chance to go back and do it all again, but he saw his worries as pointless as time went on.


    There wasn''t any way he could go, and he concluded that he was holding on to a dream, a dream that could nevere true. He felt sick of wasting his time and energy on things that had already happened and decided to take his mothers advice.


    Living in the past wasn''t good for his mind. He was running in circles, and he would never be able to grow if he carried on, so he buried the thoughts deep into his mind so they couldn''t see the light of day again.


    Although it hurt for him to give up on everything that happened in China, it hurt way more to continue living in pain, and it was the better of the two options. He was no longer there, and it was all in the past now.


    It took a few weeks for his mind to settle down to the point he could think straight, and that was when he realised that on the day that Suyin had died, he had subconsciously used healing magic.


    It should have been impossible from what Li Jun said, but it still happened. Magic and cultivation went hand in hand, so it was only natural to assume that you could either have one or the other, so he didn''t try to use it even once during his time in China.


    But it got him thinking.


    ''What if I was able to use it all along? I know some pretty powerful spells. Maybe I would have been able to help out more if I had just known.''


    It soon became another insecurity until he managed to forgive himself. But that didn''t stop him from ying around with magic in his spare time.


    It felt like a godsend that he could use magic once again.


    Although cultivation was the clear winner when it came to overall strength, if hebined them together, it made him stronger than ever before.


    Cultivation mainly strengthened the body and came with the ability to control Qi. The essence of all life.


    But magic came with the ability to make the impossible possible. Mana was simply the realisation of the imagination.


    But that wasn''t something he knew right away. Haru was always under the impression that mana was the life force of all living things during his previous life, and it wasn''t until Li Jun exined otherwise that he found out he was wrong.


    The more a person was able to imagine, the more they would be able to store mana within them, and all the training that he did as a child to build his mana pool was just a result of his imagination.


    It was a confusing concept, but with his heightened intelligence from cultivating, he quickly understood many things about magic that were previously unknown to him.


    Like mana contained small traces of Qi within it, and if he amplified the Qi, it would result in an even more powerful effect.


    Haru used all of his resources to try to understand how he was able to use magic and cultivation simultaneously, but each and every time, he came up nk.


    It didn''t seem like it was caused by a specific event, so Haru thought that he must have been able to do it all along and just didn''t know about it as he didn''t try to use it while he was cultivating.


    Haru sat down in the backyard and watched as Saki pushed a ball around the grass in front of him as the sun beamed down upon them. Luke and Krista were sitting in the shade underneath the apple tree in the far corner of the yard and watched as Haru experimented with magic.


    mes flickered from Haru''s hands as the mana began to increase in the sounding area. He looked down to see the me in his hand was no stronger than a regr campfire. It was nothingpared to the me that he could produce using Kun''s power. Heughed to himself slightly as he injected it with Qi.


    The me changed shape from a regr flickering me into a glowing ball of light, almost like a me that was being supplied with gas. The heat also increased tenfold as it glowed brighter and brighter until Luke called out from the shade.


    "Be careful with that. You might hurt your sister." He warned Haru as the me began to get a little bit unstable.


    "Okay, I will," Haru shouted back before suddenly taking all of the Qi away from the me before it suddenly vanished into the air.


    ''Hmm, So even though it only makes up a little bit of the actual me, Qi is essential for magic to exist? So doesn''t that ssify mages as cultivators in their own right?'' Haru thought to himself as he concluded that mages subconsciously controlled Qi on a day to day basis while using magic.


    He felt like a new world was opening up to him as he found out that Qi really was the energy of life. Nothing could exist without it, and even magic would shrivel up and die if the Qi was taken from it.


    ''That makes a huge difference here in Japan, I don''t have to worry about cultivators attacking here, but I can stop magic attacks before they even happen by taking the Qi away from them.'' Haru thought to himself beforeying back on the grass.


    "Ahh!" Saki screamed out before jumping on Haru and wrapping her arms around him.


    "You want to y?" Haru asked as he looked up at her as she waved her hands in front of him.


    "Yes, y!" She shouted with a smile on her face.


    "You''ve got it," Haru replied with a smile before surrounding her body with his Qi before making her fly up into the sky as he used his Qi to make sure that she didn''t fall.


    "Haru! What have I told you? Keep your sister''s feet on the ground. She isn''t old enough to fly on her own, so you shouldn''t be encouraging her to do so." Krista scolded Haru for ying with Saki with a smile.


    She couldn''t bring herself to punish him for spending time with his sister seriously, but she also didn''t want anything to happen to either of them, so it was better for her to warn them to be safe and let them go on their way.


    She didn''t know what she would do if any of her children got hurt, and she didn''t want to find out. But she knew that she could trust Haru with his power. He had never let them down before.


    Haru spent the rest of the day out in the sun with his family before they all gathered around to eat barbeque as the sun began to set. Luke sat down with Haru and seemed like he had something to discuss.


    Haru looked at him with questioning eyes, so Luke decided to take the chance to speak his mind.


    "Hey, I know that you are still recovering from what happened. But your mother and I think that it might do you some good to get out of the house every once in a while.


    I know that you don''t really have any friends and you don''t really like socialising with new people, but I think that you should drop by the cafe some time and help out. I will pay you for it of course, but I think that it might be good for you to speak with other people.


    So what do you say about working behind the counter?" Luke asked with a smile on his face. When he opened the cafe after he left the army, he hoped that one day it would be a family business and not just a ce to create passive ie while he stayed at home.


    But that is what it turned into as he left all of the work to his employees to help Krista raise both Haru and Saki. He sacrificed his dreams in order to raise his children and let his wife follow her dream and continue to work even after childbirth.


    So when Haru came home, he spoke with Krista about having him help out in the cafe. At first, she seemed against it and thought that he would need time to heal. But after a few weeks and watching him be more stable, she finally agreed that he needed to socialise with more people.


    She didn''t want her son to be a shut-in, and even if they kicked him out and forced him to work, she knew that he had enough money to fund himself without working for the rest of his life.


    So she hopped on board with Luke''s n and wanted him to work alongside his father. At least he wouldn''t be in an unfamiliar ce and get fired if he made any mistakes. It was also a safe environment where she wouldn''t have to worry about him getting hurt.


    It took Haru a few moments to think about how to respond since he was happy with his day to day life. But it had also been a while since he got out of the house. He didn''t need to leave, and if he needed to buy anything, he could get it delivered with just the click of a button.


    But he could see that it was starting to get unhealthy as he felt his heart race at the thought of interacting with people outside of his family.


    "Okay, Sure, I think I would like that." Haru smiled as he thought about it. The only people he had spent time with for close to a month were his immediate family, and he was running out of things to talk about with them. At least he could tell them about work if he helped out at the cafe.


    "Really? You will do it!?" Luke asked with excitement in his voice. He never expected that he would agree so quickly. But he was happy that he did. His dream of starting a family business was finally starting toe true.

 Chapter 281: Idiots never learn.

    Chapter 281: Idiots never learn.


    Haru awoke to the sounds of his parents talking right outside his bedroom door. He couldn''t quite make out what they were talking about, but as he turned his head to see the sun beaming in through his window, he figured that it was time to wake up and get out of bed.


    He quickly got dressed and then approached the door, but as he did so, the door handle to his room twisted, and the door opened to reveal Luke standing with a smile on his face.


    "Wakey wake- Oh, you''re already awake? Well, that''s no fun. I was hoping to wake you up like I did when you were a kid." Luke looked as though he had received mental trauma of some kind as he looked at Haru with pitiful eyes.


    "You do realise that I am a full-grown adult, right?" Haru asked to confirm that his father knew how old he was, but as he looked at Luke for a moment, he sighed. He already knew the answer to his own question. Of course, he knew. Luke was just acting like a child again.


    "Well, anyway, I have to take a trip to the cafe today to file some paperwork. Are youing with me? I will have one of the employees give you some training while I get everything sorted." Luke asked with a smile. It had only been a day since he had requested Haru to work for help out at the cafe, and he was already trying to drag him along.


    ''Already? I thought that he was talking about the future. But I guess I could go. It''s not like there is anything else that I have to do anyway.'' Haru thought as he looked at his father with a smile.


    "Sure, Why not?" Haru stated and then asked himself with a sigh. He was waiting to do something productive, and that had just given him a reason to.


    Although he had been lounging around the house, Haru made sure that he wasn''t wasting any of his time. He was still cultivating and trying to collect as much Qi. But he also didn''t know what to do with his power now that he had gotten so strong.


    He felt useless even though he held so much power, which was putting a lot of strain on him. If he reacted severely to anything or lost his temper at someone, he could very much end up killing them without meaning to.


    So he thought that it would be good for him to stay at his parent''s house for a while to reduce the amount of stress that he might feel while living in Japan again. But that was only something he could bear for so long. He quickly got bored but didn''t have anything else to do, so he continued wasting his days.


    ''I have no friends here, so this might be a good chance to make a few.'' Haru thought as he began to feel lonely being on his own again. But that was when he quickly realised something.


    ''What about Jake? He should still be in Japan. Right? He never replied to me, though.'' He thought before quickly running to hisptop and opening his messages.


    "What are you doing? I have to be there soon. You don''t have time to y around on yourputer." Luke said, sounding frustrated that Haru had suddenly run to hisputer.


    "It''s nothing. I will be there in a few minutes. I''m just letting Jake know that I''m back in Japan. Maybe he will pay a visit sometime?" Haru said as he loaded up his message history with Jake to see a long list of new messages.


    "Urm, Haru, how do I tell you this?" Luke asked himself as he saw how excited Haru looked as he looked through hisptop.


    "Tell me what?" Haru asked before reading one of the messages on the screen.


    "Hey bud, If you are reading this, then that means you woke up atst. Congrattions. I''m sorry I couldn''t be there in person to congratte you, but as soon as the whole Shanghai ordeal took ce, I was stationed in Okinawa.


    We have a force here that is ready to help out if the battleships decide to use power against the Chinese government, But for now, we are just hoping for the peace talks to go through.


    None of us even know what the deal is, but the US has just decided to move ahead and threaten china even after knowing that we have a treaty signed with them.


    The tension is high down here, and there are talks of a full-scale war breaking out if nothing is solved. But don''t worry too much. I can still message people when I''m not on duty, so hit me up when you see this." Haru finished reading the first of many messages just as Luke began to talk.


    "Well, Jake is currently stationed at a military base. After graduating, they shipped him all the way to Okinawa because of the current situation in China." Luke said with a look of regret on his face, almost as though he had previous;y been hiding the fact.


    But Haru didn''t care too much about it. He figured that his parents just didn''t want to add to the stress that he felt now that he was back in Japan and just avoided mentioning it to him.


    "Yeah, I know. I just opened his messages now. I didn''t realise the situation was that bad, though. Apparently, most of the people there think that war will break out if the peace talks are dragged out for too long." Haru said with a serious expression on his face as he quoted what Jake had said in the message.


    "They''re talking about war!? Wait, when did that be an option? I thought that the whole thing would blow over soon enough. I thought that they would have gotten the message when the great mage destroyed their capital.


    Who would have thought that they would have a president that didn''t learn from the past and then try to attack other countries after knowing what happened to them in thest war?


    What can I say? Idiots never learn." Luke smiled as he thought about how thest war ended. He was there to see the end of the war, so he knew better than anyone what had gone on.


    But little did he know that his son and the person he was talking to was the person who ended the war. It was Haru who had ended the war between Japan and the US in the past, and he was most in disbelief by it.


    He made it very clear what would happen to them if they tried anything else, so he didn''t think that they would even begin to make a move.


    "Or they have learnt from their mistakes, and they are confident that they will win?" Haru replied as Luke''s eyes widened.


    "You''re right. It''s been nearly forty years since then, and they have kept rtively quiet until now. So why would they do something like this if they were still living in fear?


    Maybe they have managed to develop a new weapon or something?" Luke asked with a curious expression before it slowly fizzled out once again.


    "Ah, who cares? I''ve done my part for the country. I''m not going back to fight if something does happen. I will just take it easy and watch everyone else make a fool out of themselves." Luke said with a smile and then looked over at Haru, who was now resting his cheek against his hand while his elbow was on the edge of his desk.


    ''He''s right. There''s no way that they woulde out of hiding now if they thought that they would be defeated again. So that must mean that they have something up their sleeves. And if they know about the demon technology, then it wouldn''t be a stretch to say that they have someone from the demon race helping them.


    If that''s the case, then I will ughter them all. I will never forgive them for what happened. They took my two best friends away from me and killed my girlfriend, so I will kill all of them until I get revenge.'' Haru thought as a sinister smile washed over his face.


    He wasn''t as bad as they were for sure and didn''t n to kill any innocent people, but if it was a demon that hade to earth, then that meant that they were up to no good.


    Earth was so far out in the lower realm that no one in the middle realm had even heard of it. So how could they find it if they weren''t looking for it? But as he concluded that the demon n might be behind the US gaining strength and attempting to start another war, Lukeughed.


    "Yeah, right, I doubt they could create knives after what the great mage did to them. Are you ready now? We should really get going." Luke said with a smile before walking outside and waiting in the car for Haru to catch up with him.


    "Hey, I''m d to hear you''re doing okay. I am a little busy now, but I will reply when I get the chance. Be safe out there, my old friend." Haru smiled as he sent a message to Jake and then walked outside to join Luke in the car before driving to the cafe.

 Chapter 282: Say please.

    Chapter 282: Say please.


    "Look how the mighty has fallen." Haru thought to himself with a sigh leaving his lips curled up into a smile as he rested his head on the counter and awaited his first customer. The cafe had a couple of people inside that were already seated and enjoying their food, but they had all been served by the woman who Luke had instructed to teach Haru.


    Suddenly the door to the cafe opened. A group of five young boys who looked to be around fifteen or sixteen years old walked in and approached the counter.


    "Okay, now do everything that we went over before." The woman said and then waited for Haru to start talking.


    "Hello, what can I get for you today?" Haru said with a smile. He felt excited. They were going to be his first customers, after all, and he wanted to leave a good impression so he wouldn''t ruin his father''s cafe''s reputation. But before he could even finish what he was saying, one of the boys interrupted him.


    "Get me two chocte milkshakes and three strawberry ones." The boy said bluntly, not even bothering to ask nicely.


    Haru remained silent and took a minute for the boy to correct his mistake.


    "Are you okay? Why are you staring at me?" The boy asked as he looked up to see Haru looking down at him without saying so much as a word.


    "Hey, You are supposed to take down a note of what he said and then start making the order." The woman who was training Haru whispered under her breath.


    "Jeez, kids these days have no manners, do they?" Haru said to himself as he turned to make the order for them despite the fact the boy hadn''t even bothered to say please.


    "What did you just say?" The boy asked in a threatening tone.


    "Haru, try not to insult the customers please it will give us a bad reputation." The woman advised him once again, so reluctantly, he stopped himself from saying anything.


    Haru filled up five cups from the milkshake machine and then took them over to the counter to where the five boys were waiting and giggling amongst themselves.


    "Here you go. That will be one thousand three hundred yen." Haru forced a smile and said what he had rehearsed as he ced the cups down on the counter.


    But as soon as he did so, the boy who had shouted in a threatening tone grabbed one of the drinks and then pushed it over, causing the milkshake to spill all over the counter and Haru''s apron.


    "Oh, sorry, my hand slipped." The boy said before he even decided to push the drink, making it even more apparent that he did it on purpose.


    "Okay, that''s it, you little shit. Let me beat you in ce of your parents." Haru said to himself and then began to take off the apron.


    "Ha, I''d like to see you try." The boy said with a smile until a younger boy from the group stepped out with short blue spiked up hair.


    "Come on, guys. Don''t you think that this was your fault for being rude? He isn''t a ve. You could have just said please, it wouldn''t have hurt, would it?" The younger looking boy said with a frown.


    "Shut up, Peter. I was nice. I decided to get you a milkshake too. But it looks like I have to beat you some moreter, don''t I?" The older boy said with a smile before looking back up at Haru, who had just finished taking off his apron.


    "Come on. Come outside. I dare you." The boy who had spilt the drink said while taunting Haru.


    ''Who does this little bastard think he is?'' Haru thought to himself with a smile. He wondered what kind of drugs he must have gotten his hands on to give him so much courage.


    "Sure, after you," Haru said with a smile and then gestured to the door. Four of the boys smiled as their eyes began to light up with excitement. But the one known as Peter and the one who had stood up for Haru remained in the store alone.


    "I''m so sorry for this, miss. They aren''t good people. You should probably call the police before that man gets hurt." Peter said to the woman who had begun to clean up the mess on the counter.


    "I wouldn''t be worried about him. His father told me many stories about him, so I doubt a few children could do anything. Are you doing okay, though? They said that they were going to beat you again. They''re not really your friends, are they? The woman asked Peter with a look of concern.


    "I guess so." The boy said and then picked up a napkin and helped clean up the mess.


    "Okay, follow us then. I will show you what happens when you disrespect a student from Tokyo international school for mages." The boy leading the group said and then walked outside.


    "Okay, sure, sure, let''s do it," Haru said with a smile and then watched as all four of the boys stepped outside before walking to the door himself and then locking it with atch.


    "Have fun." Haru smiled and waved at the window and watched as the boys looked at each other with confusion before realising what had just happened.


    A few of the customers that were watchingughed to see that Haru didn''t stoop down to their level and got them to leave the store without anyone getting hurt. It was admirable in their eyes.


    "Hey,e outside, you coward! I bet you know that you will get beaten up. That''s why your hiding inside, isn''t it?" The boy shouted once again to amuse his friends while trying to provoke Haru into fighting them, but he wasn''t interested in bullying children.


    He was initially going to frighten them into trying to correct their bad behaviour. Still, he figured that for people like that, it was better that they learnt the hard way, and he was confident that they would soon learn their lesson without him even needing to lift a finger.


    "Ha! You are just a cowardly fast-food worker. I bet that you don''t even know how to use magic. People like you really deserve to die!" The boy shouted once again when suddenly a sh of light shot from his hand, followed by arge rock that struck the window and shattered the ss.


    ''Okay, Now this changes things.'' Haru thought to himself before turning around and unlocking the door. But as soon as he did, one of the customers ran outside in front of him and tackled the boy to the ground.


    "You''re under arrest for destruction of property. Don''t try to resist." A middle-aged man wearing a grey suit said while sitting on top of the boy''s chest before putting him in handcuffs.


    "That''s convenient. Who would have thought that a police officer would be here?" Haru said with a smile as he felt a hand on his shoulder.


    "Well done for not doing anything illegal, or we might have had to arrest you also. Say you''re pretty built for a boy of your age. What do you do for a living other than work here?" Haru turned to see a man who was much taller than he was with rippling muscles that were so defined that his clothes struggled to hide them.


    "Not much. I just like to exercise." Haru replied. He downyed what he did to not cause concern by saying he was a cultivator, but he felt like the man in front of him was pretty strong also.


    Although he didn''t have any characteristics of a cultivator, his body was full of mana which signified that he was pretty good at using magic.


    During his time back in Japan, Haru had been testing out the differences between magic and Qi, and he determined that a mana pool was simr to a Dantian. It could hold mana, although it couldn''t use the Qi within the mana to strengthen the body.


    He theorised that the reason Li Jun said that he would have to give up on magic to be a cultivator is that a dantian couldn''t exist alongside a mana pool, but it looked like it didn''t need to since mana was technically just traces of Qi that hadbined with the air.


    He could see mana pools with his spiritual sense just as he could see someones dantian, and the man in front of him had thergest mana pool that he had seen since waking up.


    "You exercise? It''s unusual for people to exercise these days since they think everything can be solved using magic, but they don''t know that exercise and magic go hand in hand." The man smiled and then looked down at Haru.


    "You know, you should think about joining the military. You are calm under stressful situations, and you were able to direct their attention towards you so that no one else would get hurt or targeted by those delinquents. You have the qualities of a good team leader.


    Magic is bing less important these days since we invented magic weapons, so if you are concerned about your magic capacity, you will be fine." The man said with a smile.


    "Mills. Don''t even think of trying to recruit my son. He''s too smart to go to war like, unlike his old man." Luke walked out of the office to see that Haru was talking to a man that he recognised.


    "Kitagawa? He is your son, but he looks nothing like you?" Therge man turned and said with a chuckle as he saw Luke walking towards him.


    "So I''m told," Luke said before patting Haru on the back.


    "Clean up, for now, and you can tell me what happenedter," Luke said while looking at the ss all over the floor.

 Chapter 283: Tachibana.

    Chapter 283: Tachibana.


    Haru walked over to the counter and helped out cleaning up the milkshake that had dripped down onto the floor and covered the register. The police officer outside had called for someone to collect the boy that he had just arrested and then scolded the other boys who were encouraging him.


    Haru picked up a cloth and then began to wipe the milkshake before seeing the boy on the other side of the counter cleaning up the mess on his side.


    "Hey, you don''t have to clean. It''s not your fault." Haru said to the boy with blue hair with a smile. He didn''t want to make any of the customers clean, but the boy seemed to have a lot more manners than the ones who were with him.


    "No, I shouldn''t have told them about this ce. It is my fault. I usuallye here before school every morning and get my lunch. But they followed me here today, so it is my fault. It''s the least I can do." Peter said with a slight frown as he used a napkin to wipe up the milkshake from the floor.


    "Suit yourself. But if you want to help then take a cloth instead. You will just be pushing it around the floor with a napkin." Haru said before handing a wet towel over to him.


    "Ah, I''m sorry. Thank you." Peter said, embarrassed by the fact that he couldn''t even clean it properly. He took the towel from Haru and then cleaned up as best as he could before standing up and waiting for Haru to finish.


    "Excuse me? What should I do with this?" Peter asked and held out the towel in his hands before the Woman that was training Haru reached out and grabbed it from him.


    "Let me take that from you. I will go and wash it." She smiled as she took the towel from Peter and then disappeared behind a wooden door as she walked towards theundry room.


    Haru looked at the broken window and sighed.


    ''That little brat.'' Haru thought as he saw the shards of ss lying on the floor. But that didn''t seem to bother the customers. They had be used to seeing things like that happening since Tokyo was an international hub for mages all across the world.


    Fights would break out in the street, and buildings would be damaged on a regr basis, and most of them had invested in reinforced ss so they wouldn''t be broken bymon attacks. But Luke thought that since his cafe was on the edge of the city, it would be eptable to skip out on that expense.


    "So, are they your ssmates?" Haru asked Peter before picking up one of the drinks that he had made for them and starting to drink it.


    "Well, Not really. They are in the grade above me. But we all go to the same school, so I guess you could say that." Peter responded before pulling money out of his wallet to pay for the drinks.


    "Don''t mind it. Just take them. I''m not in the mood to ept money for drinks. Tell me, which school do you go to?" Haru asked as an idea came to mind.


    "My school? It''s the Tokyo international school for mages. But we call it TISMO High for short." Peter said with a frown before hesitantly picking up one of the drinks.


    "TISMO? That''s a strange name. Where is it located?" Haru asked.


    "It''s not too far from here, actually. If you cross the river, it is the only building for miles. It''s hard to miss if you''re looking for it. But why do you want to know?" Peter asked, feeling a little awkward that he might know the reason why he was asking.


    "Oh, that''s not really that important. I want to have a word with your principal, that''s all. Don''t worry. I won''t mention that you were here. It''s just to make sure that those boys are punished for what they did." Haru said with a smile and then looked over to see that Luke had picked up a brush and had begun to sweep the ss.


    "No, I don''t think you should do that. The principal isn''t the most tolerant person toints, and I have seen him get violent with parents over the smallest of things." Peter warned Haru, but he had already made up his mind.


    "It''s okay. Hey dad. I''m going to take a walk down to that school and let their teachers know what happened." Haru shouted out. Luke looked over for a moment and then nodded his head.


    "Okay, Make sure youe back soon. I don''t want your mother to stop by and freak out at me when she sees that you''re not here." Luke said back with a smile.


    He thought that it was great that Haru was acting responsibly. He previously didn''t want to go outside, but now he was willing to go somewhere on his own to make sure that the children''s teachers knew what they had been up to.


    "Sure. Youing?" Haru asked Peter, who was standing with a shocked expression on his face.


    "Didn''t I warn you-? Fine, okay." Peter said with a slight pout as he realised that Haru didn''t care about what he had to say. He had already made his mind up.


    "Good, then feel free to take more of those milkshakes before they go to waste," Haru said with a smile and then picked up his drink again and began to walk towards the exit.


    "You should seriously think about what I said." The man known as Mills said with a smile as Haru walked past him.


    "Didn''t you hear what I said? Don''t try to recruit my son, you big oaf." Luke shouted out beforeughing as he saw the frown on Mills''s face. It seemed like they were a lot closer than they were letting on and were actually good friends despite them looking like they were nning to kill each other.


    "Sure, sure, I will think about it." Haruughed as he walked outside.


    "You most certainly will not!" Luke shouted out once again as Hart continued to walk, with Peter following closely behind. He smiled before turning back to see Peter.


    "So, Your name is Peter? Are you a foreigner?" Haru asked as he looked at the boy with blue hair and a face that seemed slightly familiar.


    "Well, not entirely. My father is Japanese, but my mother is German. She came here when she was young to go to the Royal Institute of military arts, and then she met my father during the war." Peter said and then looked up at Haru, who seemed to be thinking.


    "Your parents fought in the war? What are their names?" Haru asked, thinking that he could know them, although it was a stretch.


    "I don''t think you would have heard of them. They aren''t particrly famous. But my father''s name is Akimitsu Tachibana." Peter said while looking at Haru only to see his expression shift.


    "Tachibana? Do you happen to have an older sister?" Haru asked curiously. Although Tachibana was amon surname, he knew that it wasn''tmon for people to have blue hair unless they dyed it.


    "Yeah, I have a sister. She''s called Mia. Why do you ask? I don''t think that she would date somebody like you." Peter said, getting the wrong Idea.


    "You''re Mia''s younger brother? What are the chances? Haru spoke softly before looking up at the sky and thinking back to his short time he spent with Jake and Mia.


    "Wait. You know my sister? How?" Peter asked in a tone that said he was demanding an answer, but as Haru looked down at him, he silently retracted his attitude and looked up curiously.


    "I was in the same ss as her when I was around your age." Haru smiled and looked down at the kid.


    "Now I wish I would have beaten some sense into those kids. If your sister knew that I let them get away bullying you, then she would never forgive me." Haru said with regret.


    "They weren''t bullying me. They were just-" Peter stopped what he was saying and looked down at the ground.


    "I saw how they treated you when you called them out for being rude. Friends don''t do that. Don''t worry. I will have a talk with your principal and make sure that they are all punished appropriately." Haru reassured him and then put his hand on his head.


    "Wait, if you went to school with my sister, then that means that you are an officer in the military too, doesn''t it!?" Peter asked excitedly.


    "Nope. I left during my first year. I then lived in China until a few months ago. I doubt they even have records of me attending, to be honest." Haru said matter of factly before Peter gasped suddenly.


    "You left in your first year, and you were friends with my sister?! You''re Haru Kitagawa, aren''t you?" Peter was shocked by the sudden realisation.


    "Mia mentioned me?" Haru smiled.


    "Of course, she mentioned you. She said that you were the one who taught her the healing magic that she used to heal our mother. Please take my respect." Peter suddenly stopped walking and then bowed his head down with his hands by his side.


    "What are you doing, kid? That''s all in the past now. And I didn''t really do much. It was all down to her hard work that she was able to learn it." Haru stated as they stood on the bridge over the river that met up with the hundreds of students that were walking down the same path.

 Chapter 284: This is going to be fun.

    Chapter 284: This is going to be fun.


    "You are the one responsible for my mother being healed. I am thanking you for teaching my sister." Peter said with his head still bowed before Haru grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him upright. He didn''t feelfortable epting a bow for something like that.


    It wasn''t a big deal for him at the time, and it was even less of a big deal to him now. It was all in the past now, and he was determined to move forward one step at a time.


    "It''s fine. There''s no need to thank me." Haru said with a sigh before looking up at a long road in front of them as they stood on the bridge.


    "So your school is at the end of this road?" Haru asked and then carried on walking. It took a few moments for Peter toe back to his senses, but as soon as he saw Haru continuing to walk, he immediately ran to catch up to him.


    "Yeah, I didn''t get epted into the same school as my sister because my grades were bad. But this is the second-best school in the whole country, so many strong peoplee here to learn magic. Even the magic maestro Finnegan came here when he was younger." Peter boasted as he walked by Haru''s side towards the school.


    "The magic what now?" Haru couldn''t be bothered to repeat what Peter had just said, but he had never heard of such a thing in his life.


    "You don''t know the magic maestro? He is the current head of state. I thought that everyone knew who he was, but I guess not." Peter sounded a little disappointed that Haru didn''t know what he meant. But he had only been back in Japan for a couple of weeks. And he didn''t know anything about politics, so it was only natural that he didn''t understand.


    "Oh, okay, I see. Well, that''s nice but where should I go when I get to your school? Do you have a receptionist or something so I can get a meeting with your Principal?" Haru changed the subject. He didn''t want to talk about politics and embarrass himself with hisck of knowledge, so he decided to get back to the matter at hand.


    "Yeah, The receptionist''s office is right at the front entrance. I will show you when we get there." Peter smiled as they both continued to walk.


    There were strange looks from the students as Peter walked by Haru''s side, who quite clearly wasn''t a student. They were probably wondering who he was and why he was going to their school and what intentions he had. But since it wasn''t any of their business, so none of them decided to ask to satisfy their curiosity and just watched as Haru walked past the school gates.


    "Excuse me, sir, If you''re not a student, then I can''t let you past." A security guard came running out from a booth positioned next to the gate and eximed as he saw Haru.


    Haru looked down to see a short skinny old man who looked like he should be well into his retirement by now and decided to stop in his tracks and let the man do his job without causing any trouble.


    "I am here to talk to the Principal. Is there another entrance that I should take?" Haru asked while looking down upon the old man.


    "Oh, You''re here for a meeting? I thought that you were up to no good. I was about to call the police if you decided to ignore me, so I''m d you stopped.


    You probably should have taken the visitors entrance, but I can take you to the receptionist if you want me to." The old man offered with a smile.


    "Sure, that would be great," Haru replied and then looked back at Peter, who was standing with a confused look on his face.


    "Wasn''t I supposed to be taking you to the receptionist, though?" Peter asked, sounding sad that his opportunity to get on Haru''s good side had been taken away from him.


    "That''s not too important. You should focus on your studies and try to get to ss on time. If Mia knew that I was making you skip ss. Well, she wouldn''t do anything. She would just be upset." Haru said, knowing full well that even if she had gotten stronger over the years, she would still be no match for him.


    "But-" Peter said in protest, but before he could finish whatever he had to say, Haru cut him off.


    "No buts, Get to ss already. I don''t want to be the one responsible for you failing a grade." Haru smiled and then began to follow the old security guard, leaving Peter standing in the yard on his own.


    Haru walked through the school corridors as he followed the old man before arriving at a room filled with many chairs with a single desk at the front of it where a woman was sitting with aptop.


    "We have a visitor for the principal." The security guard announced as he stood by the door and let Haru enter the room. The woman looked up from her desk at Haru as the security guard immediately retreated from the doorway to get back to his post at the school gate.


    "You''re looking for the Principal? Do you mind if I ask you what is it that you are here to see him about?" The woman asked with a sad smile as Haru approached the desk.


    "Sure, I had a group of students from your schoole into the cafe I am working at this morning and break the windows using magic," Haru said and then waited for a reply, but the woman frowned before looking up.


    "And you want to talk to the Principal about this? Good luck." She chuckled before picking up the phone sitting on her desk and raising it to her ear.


    "You have a visitor. Yeah, okay." The woman said as whoever she called replied to her before putting the phone back down and looking up at Haru.


    "He told me to tell you to "Piss off" I''m sorry, but it seems that he is in a bad mood. You should probablye back another day." The woman said with an indifferent look on her face and wondered what Haru would do next.


    "Is that so?" Haru asked and took a look around the room, spotting a door on the other side of the desk marked with a golden badge with the word Principal written across it.


    "Yeah, I''m afraid so." The receptionist replied and then cast her gaze down, expecting him to leave without another word.


    "So, is he in his office right now?" Haru asked the woman to see that she looked up with a surprised expression.


    "Um, yeah, what of it?" She asked, confused, but as soon as she replied, Haru took the initiative and decided to open the door to his office and step inside.


    "Sir, stop. He doesn''t like to be disturbed." She shouted as she saw Haru open the door and then rushed from her desk to stop him. But it was already toote.


    The door to the Principal''s office swung open to reveal a small chubby man wearing a ck suit, sitting behind a desk watching something on the TV and eating a sandwich.


    "What is the meaning of this!? How dare youe into my office unannounced!" The man shouted as he saw Haru standing in the doorway.


    "Well, I''m announcing myself right now. If you don''t want to listen to me, then I will take it up with the board of directors and see what they have to say about it." Haru said as he stood looking down at the man who waszily doing his job.


    "You little shit! Who are you toe into my office and speak to me like that?" The man asked as Haru made his way over to the desk and sat down in one of the chairs opposite to him. The Principal stood up from his chair suddenly and then raised his hand in the air.


    A blue ball of light began to swirl around his hand as water droplets formed out of nowhere to form a mass of water the size of a melon in his hands.


    "I will give you one warning to get out of my office, or else I will-" The Principal began to say in a threatening tone as Haru looked up at him from his chair.


    He then crossed one of his legs over the other and reclined slightly in the chair to show that he wasn''t going anywhere while simultaneously absorbing the traces of Qi hidden within the mana of his attack.


    The ball of water in the principals hands suddenly fell and sshed all over his clothes and the desk before travelling over to Haru and then stopping in the air as ice crystals began to form over the wet surfaces.


    The Principal stopped in his tracks as he looked down to see that his clothes had be rigid and he could no longer move. He was confused about how his magic had backfired and was now at the mercy of the young man he just tried to attack.


    "I came here to report one of your students formitting a crime and damaging my father''s property, yet you threaten me and then try to attack me. Now I''m a little bit pissed off, so I''m going to hurt you a little before we move onto business." Haru said with a smile before turning his head to see the receptionist still standing in the doorway and looking in.


    "Don''t tell anyone, okay?" Haru raised a finger to his mouth and then used some of his Qi to close the door so she could no longer look into the room.


    "Now, this is going to be fun," Haru said with a smil

 Chapter 285: S Rank?

    Chapter 285: S Rank?


    Screams of terror shot throughout the school while Haruughed like a madman from within the Principal''s office. The sounds had gained an audience at the receptionist''s office, and they looked on with terror, imagining what kinds of atrocities were going on behind the closed door.


    The receptionist had already called the police and was filling them in on a description of Haru while waiting for them to arrive. If he were strong enough to defeat the Principal in one move, they would have to send the elite magic task force to deal with the situation.


    Many of the students pulled out their phones and recorded the door to hear the cries of pain, but not a single one of them dared to get close when suddenly the sounds were ovepped with ring sirens outside the school.


    The receptionist ran outside to meet them and showed them the way to the Principal''s office before three men dressed in ck tight-fitting uniforms with tes of armour lining them stopped at the door.


    "Agh! Why are you doing this to me!?" The Principal cried out as the police officers pulled out a scanning device and held it up to the door.


    The device showed both the principals and Haru''s heat signature, but they couldn''t quite make out what was happening since Haru was obstructing the line of sight with his back to them.


    "It looks like he is torturing him. What do we do?" The officer holding the scanning device asked as he turned to see another officer with a green armband on his left arm.


    "We have to breach immediately. We can''t stand by and watch. But first, make sure the students are evacuated before we do anything else. We can''t afford to have them caught up in this." The man with the green armband said while looking down at his wrist.


    "Yes, sir." The third man said and then walked to the door where the students were standing and ushered them outside. He then called in back up and had police surround the building and take all of the students outside and away from any danger.


    "Okay then, On three. We rush in and apprehend the suspect. Do whatever is necessary. I have lethal you two go less than lethal." The man with the green armband instructed them now that the students were out of harm''s way and ordered the other officers to line up against the wall.


    "3"


    "2"


    "1"


    The officer counted down before sting the door from its hinges using an explosive type of fire magic followed by all of them rushing into the room with their guns pointed toward where Haru was standing.


    "Don''t move! And let the hostage go!" One of the officers shouted upon seeing Haru standing with his back towards them.


    "Aw, It looks like the fun is over. I was hoping to talk business with you. But I guess I will just leave that for the next time we meet." Haru sighed and then raised his hands above his head before turning and stepping to the side to reveal the Principal was tied to the chair with a long green vine.


    His tongue was frozen solid and hanging out of his mouth, and his fingers were stuck inside his ears as his eyebrows were frosted with ice.


    "Ugh, ugh!" The Principal screamed upon seeing the police officers aiming their guns on Haru, but there wasn''t much he could say with his tongue frozen.


    The police officers stood in the doorway in shock. They thought that something sinister was going on, but in reality, they didn''t have a clue what had happened. They had gotten a report that a man had invaded the school and was holding the principal hostage.


    While it was clear that Haru was holding the Principal against his will, it didn''t seem like he meant to cause any harm given the fact that he hadn''t injured him but instead decided to humiliate him.


    "Well, it was nice meeting you, but. I really have to get back to work. So if you don''t mind me." Haru began to walk back toward the door and approach the three police officers.


    "Stay where you are! Don''t move!" The officer with the green armband shouted with his gun raised as Haru approached them, but there was no sign of him stopping.


    "I''m warning you I will shoot-" The officer yelled out again as Haru didn''t abide by his demand and then suddenly vanished from their sight.


    "What where did he go!? Did you guys see anything!?" The officer asked his two colleagues, but none of them had a clue.


    "Ugh, Ugh!" The Principal yelled out, but his words fell upon death ears until a cold chill ran down the officer''s spine as he felt a warm breath on the back of his neck. His hands began to shake as he tried his hardest to turn around and aim his gun again.


    But the more he tried, the more it seemed like it was impossible for him to do so. It was like his body had shut down in reaction to the sudden feeling of fear that washed over him.


    "Lighten up a little. There''s no need to be so serious." Haru whispered before walking away. The other two officers turned to see Haru was now walking out of the room, but before they could say anything, their leader raised his hand up in the air.


    "Don''t. We are clearly not a match for whatever type of magic he just used. I didn''t even sense a mana fluctuation." The group leader said with a frown as he realised that he was much weaker than the person he was sent to arrest.


    "But sir, we can''t just let him-" One of the other officersined as Haru had already left the immediate area.


    "Enough, We would only end up embarrassing ourselves if we tried to do anything to him. It''s better that we just report that he fled using spatial magic." The man with the green armband said to keep his pride intact. He didn''t want anyone else to find out that he let someone go out of fear.


    ''He vanished right before our eyes. How is anyone supposed to fight against someone who can casually vanish? Not to mention that feeling he gave me. It was as if every fibre of my body was telling me to run, but I couldn''t move no matter what I tried. I can''t let anyone else know about this. Not ever.'' The officer thought as he imagined the type of punishment he would receive from his boss anyone found out.


    "Okay, He escaped using spatial magic. I got it. But what do we do about him?" One of the men asked before pointing to the Principal, who was still tied to the chair.


    "What about him? He''s the Principal of a magic school, yet he couldn''t defend himself against an unknown young man. If he tells anyone the truth, then a picture of him tied to a chair like this might identally leak to the public." The man with the green armband said and then held up his phone to the Principal as a sh shot out from the back of it.


    "Just let him thaw out. I''m sure he can get himself out of the vines. I don''t think our presence is required here anymore. Let''s head back and get the report over with. I want to find out more about that man we encountered just now. TheThe way he moved was simr to that of an S rank mage.


    There can''t be too many people with that amount of strength currently in Tokyo after all." The man in the green armband said with a stutter as he wondered about Haru''s identity.


    "S rank!? Are you serious? I thought all the S rank mages arebat-ready right now just in case war breaks out. What would one be doing here?" One of the other men asked.


    "I''m wondering the same thing. On second thought, let''s take him with us. I bet he can tell us some useful information about what that man hade here for." The man in the green armband said and then ordered his men to take the Principal into custody.


    As Haru got outside, he noticed that there were shing lights reflecting off every surface in the visible area. Police cars were lining every entrance of the school, and there was no escape for him.


    "I guess I should head back to the cafe now." Haru sighed before holding his hand out in front of him [Spatial Rift]. A purple vortex appeared In front of him.


    "It''s been a while since I used this one." He said with a smile before stepping into it and appearing back in the centre of the cafe.


    "Dad, I''m back," Haru announced before taking a look around to see that his father was still talking with the two police officers at the entrance. What he thought had taken a few hours had, in fact, taking less than half an hour, and his appearance caused surprise as he openly used magic.


    "Woah, Spatial rift? That''s some high-level magic. If you don''t want him to join the army, then why would you teach him something like that, eh?" Mills asked Luke with a smile as they had both now started to sweep the floor where the ss had shattered.


    "I had no part of that. He quickly picked up magic when he was younger and then went to the Royal Institute of military arts. There''s no doubt that he learnt a few tricks when going to the best magic school in the country." Luke bragged in front of Mills and then turned back to Haru.


    "You can take your lunch break now. I doubt we will get many customers with all of the police surrounding us." Luke said with a smile as he instructed Haru to take a break.

 Chapter 286: Would that make you happy?

    Chapter 286: Would that make you happy?


    Haru worked with Luke for days on end without any retaliation from either the children, the school or the police. It seemed like they had forgotten all about what had happened until one morning Haru awoke to a knock on the door.


    He put on his clothes and then headed downstairs to answer it, but just as he got to the door, Krista walked out from the living room and opened it. Haru walked down the stairs to see three police officers standing at the door.


    "Hello, is this the home of Haru Kitagawa? We have a few questions that we would like to ask him." A female police officer said to Krista as she answered, but as she looked past Krista, she saw Haru walking down the stairs and looked up to see him looking back at her.


    "Are you Haru?" She asked as she spotted him.


    "Don''t say anything." Krista turned her head and instructed Haru as he reached thest step.


    "What is this about?" Krista turned again to ask the police officer, but it was toote. They had already identified Haru based on security camera footage.


    "I''m sorry, but since he is an adult unless he gives permission, I can''t tell you anything." The officer said with a look of doubt as she tried to make sure that it was Haru on the stairs.


    "Mom, it''s fine. I''m sure it''s nothing. Let me talk to them, and I will tell you what they want after they leave." Haru said with a smile before squeezing his way past his mother and pulling the door closed behind him.


    "So, you''re the man they warned us about?" The woman asked as she eyed Haru up and down. She had heard the report that he used spatial magic to escape the elite task force that was sent to the school a few days prior, but she doubted that someone as young as he was could use magic to such an extent.


    "Yup, now tell me what you want," Haru said bluntly, already knowing what it was about but what he didn''t know was what the oue of his actions would be.


    "Were you the one responsible for the situation that happened at the magic school the other day?" The woman asked, but this time she activated a type of magic that could be used to listen to someone''s heartbeat from a distance. [Audio amplification]


    A green light surrounded her head as she awaited for Haru to reply.


    "Nope, I don''t know what you''re talking about. If that''s all you wanted to know, then I guess I will be going back inside." Haru said calmly before turning to touch the door handle.


    "No, wait!" The police officer shouted.


    "What is it now?" Haru sighed and turned around to see that the officers had now pulled out weapons from their Luxes and had them down to their side, prepared to aim it at him if he made the wrong move.


    "Put your hands up. You''re under arrest." The woman said and then pulled out a set of handcuffs from her hip.


    "Are you serious? You want to arrest me?" Haru asked with a fed-up expression as he looked at them all, acting aggressively towards him.


    "Yes, now put your hands behind your back. You''reing with us for more questioning." The woman in charge demanded as she stared at him with the handcuffs in hand and then began to approach him.


    "How about youe back with some evidence, then I wille with you. If you can''t show me anything that says I was there in the first ce, then I''m not going anywhere with you." Haru said and then began to open the door, but as soon as he did, the officer grabbed his wrist and put the handcuff on him.


    ''This is now the second time I have been in handcuffs. It seems like they don''t learn.'' Haru thought to himself as he looked down at the handcuffs to see that they were a little different than the ones the police in China used.


    "Ha, you can''t use magic now. You have no choice but toe with us now. Don''t resist." The woman said and then began to pull on the handcuff to try to drag him along with her, but Haru didn''t budge one bit. She looked up, confused at his face to see why he wasn''t going with her, but as she did, her whole body froze.


    "Who said I needed magic to deal with you?" Haru asked before pulling his wrist slightly and shattering the handcuffs in a single movement. His cultivation base had strengthened his body to the point where regr metal wouldn''t be a match for his physical body, no matter the situation.


    All three of the officers stopped in their tracks as they looked at Haru with fear after watching him break free from their special antimagic handcuffs. That meant that his strength went beyond that of a mage.


    "What are you!?" The woman yelled out before taking a step back and then stumbling over her own feet and falling to the ground. She looked up at Haru with terror in his eyes as he stared at her for a few moments.


    " I''m hungry. Anyway, as I said, if youe back with proof that I did what you said, then I will go with you. Don''t juste to my house and use me of things." Haru said and then opened the door to his house before walking back inside.


    ''Jeez, If I knew that something like this would have happened, I would have left as soon as those guys entered the room.'' Haru thought back to how the police officers had entered the room and assumed that they had found out he was from them.


    "But we do have proof." The woman said as she sat on the floor with the other two officers looking down at her. But as they looked up, they were taken aback when they saw Krista leaning out of the window.


    "So, what did Haru do again?" She asked with a smile, eagerly waiting to learn what Haru had done now. He had only been awake for a month and had already caused trouble with the police. She was starting to worry about the type of man he would be.


    The police officers exined everything to her and then invited them In for tea while Haru was eating his breakfast at the table.


    "What the? Why did you let them in?" Haru asked, confused as to what his mother''s intentions were, but as he looked at her, he noticed that she had a concerned expression on her face.


    "They told me what you didst week. And don''t y dumb, your father told meter that night that you walked a boy to school because a group of them broke the cafe window. We do talk, you know?" Krista said and then folded her arms to show that she was disappointed in him.


    "Hm. And what of it? What would you have done in my situation?" Haru asked bluntly. The tone of his voice when speaking to his mother made the police officers ufortable as they didn''t want to get involved in their family matters.


    "I would have spoken with their teacher. You know, using words instead of just hitting everyone." Krista replied, sounding hurt that he would even ask her something like that.


    "Yeah, words and not violence, you''re good at that. But what would you have done if, when you wanted to talk, you were told to piss off? And then when you confront the teacher, he tries to attack you with magic? Do I defend myself, or would you rather I just let him beat me up?


    Would you rather have your son beat and injured by someone, or should he defend himself so he cane back home and see his family again? And for your information, I didn''t hurt him. I didn''t leave a mark on his body at all. I just wanted to show him that he shouldn''t use violence against someone who wants to talk.


    But if you have that little faith in me, then I will leave. You don''t have to worry what happens to me if I don''t live with you anymore, do you?" Haru finally got everything off his chest while exining what happened.


    He still remembered how she had treated both him and Luke in the past and felt hurt that she never once offered an apology. He epted that violence was a personality trait with Krista and didn''t hate her for it. But seeing her preach that violence wasn''t the answer made him mad.


    "Sorry for intruding. We wille back another time." The officer in charge said after looking at both of her colleagues, who were also feeling awkward.


    "You''re right, But why didn''t you tell them you were defending yourself!? Why try to deny it even when they have video footage of you walking through the school hallways on that day? If you lie to them, how do you expect them to believe that you were just defending yourself now?" Krista asked while looking past the fact that he had just criticised her in front of the three police officers.


    "I don''t care what they believe. Even if I killed the man, what would they do about it? What could they do about it? Don''t forget I''m not the same as you people. There isn''t anything that can hold me down. If anything does try to hold me down, then I will break it.


    They cane with an army if they want to. It''s not going to change the fact that I''m not going to sit down and ept punishment for not injuring him when I had every right to do so. If that bothers you, then I will leave. I will leave the country, so you don''t have to worry about me getting into more trouble with the police. How about that?


    Would that make you happy?" Haru asked and then began to stand up, leaving his breakfast sitting on the table.


    "And you, If you try to touch me again, I really won''t hold back. I will cut your head from your shoulders without a second warning." Haru stated as he looked at the three officers who didn''t know what to say and then walked out through the front door.

 Chapter 287: Time to go home.

    Chapter 287: Time to go home.


    Krista sat in silence as she watched Haru leave through the front door, not daring to stop him out of fear that he would nevere back at all. He quite clearly needed time to himself, and she didn''t me him for that. It was her idea that he came back and lived with them.


    She even avoided pushing him to go out, so in turn, he decided to stay indoors for nearly a month before Luke asked him to work at the cafe. It was only natural that he felt a little tired of being around them if he was with them twenty-four seven.


    She figured that he would probablye back after a couple of hours and therefore left him to do whatever he wanted. But little did she know that Haru had different ns. He felt as though his life was falling apart around him.


    Not only did he lose his friends and the woman that he loved, but he felt like his parents were slowly bing an obstacle for him. At first, it was nice to have them around, but as time went on, he grew tired of their nagging and criticism.


    The police trying to arrest him was just the icing on the cake. He needed a getaway. Somewhere where he feltfortable. A ce that he knew better than anyone. He thought back to how Lukes friend at the cafe had said that he should join the army.


    His original n after he reincarnated was to be the best mage that he could and then find out who was responsible for his death, but life just seemed to get in the way. And after his mana pool was destroyed, he figured that he would have to give up on that n and be a cultivator while putting everything in the past behind him.


    But now that he was back in japan and he could use magic without a mana pool, he felt as though his past was starting to haunt him little by little. Mages didn''t have the same mentality as Cultivators. They were quick to battle instead of thinking about things strategically, which made him think of the day he died.


    He wasn''t sure what happened, but he knew that someone had betrayed him. He was in the military base, after all. There weren''t any enemies nearby, and the military stated that he died in battle after his death was announced. So that meant someone high up covered it up. Haru smiled as he thought about what to do.


    "I guess it''s finally time to go home," Haru said to himself while walking down a street that he didn''t even know the name of. He then pulled out his phone and searched for an army recruitment office. It was lucky that he was in Tokyo since there were multiple of them within the city.


    Haru smiled ear to ear as he felt a sense of familiarity wash over him as he looked at the recruiting office and decided to fly towards it. He held out his phone with the GPS location on it and then flew up into the sky before racing through the city before descending outside the recruitment office and then heading inside.


    As he entered, he recognised the smell of sweat that they had tried to mask with cheap perfume. It was very simr to how he remembered the barracks being the same from his previous life, and it seemed like nothing had changed, apart from the fact that there were dozens of people waiting in line to sign their life away.


    ''What''s going on?'' Haru thought to himself as he looked at the rows of people lining up and down the recruitment offices. It was as though they were lining for a new smartphone release not to join the military.


    He remembered how badly they received the military and how they struggled with gaining manpower when the previous war first started, but now it seemed as though they didn''t haven''t that problem. But too many people were also a problem, so he felt that seeing this amount of people, they were likely to be selective on who they chose to join even if it wasn''t strictly legal.


    No recruiter in their right mind would want to pick up a bunch of cannon fodder to add to the casualty list if they ever tastedbat, so he figured there would be a sort of test to determine who was the best pick.


    He stood in line and waited for a while before seeing people wearing officer uniforms taking people into a back room. Some of the people that they took inside didn''te out, and the ones that did had defeated expressions on their faces.


    ''So that''s it, huh?'' Haru thought before using his spiritual sense to see what was going on behind the wall.


    He watched as people were taken inside and then as three soldiers rushed them from all sides before restraining them. Whoever broke free from the restraining were taken through a door at the other side, and those who failed to break free were told to go back the way they came.


    ''So that is what Mills meant. It seems that they have changed the requirement of joining to a test of physical strength. Mages who couldn''t march long distances would slow everyone down and be a burden. And if they ran out of mana on the battlefield, they would be as good as dead.


    It seems as though they have be morepetent in thest forty years. But that''s not too surprising.'' Haru thought as he criticised the old ways of the army.


    He had seen too many young mages enter the army in the past only to die because they didn''t know how to fight without magic. Although Haru was previously in the same boat as them, he never had to worry about that since his mana stores were far more profound than the average persons, so he could continue to fight until he had defeated thest person.


    He became an unrivalled force on the battlefield and was known all throughout the world as the great mage. So he found it pretty funny that he was now standing in line at a recruiter''s office and waiting for his turn to sign up.


    But with his strength now, he couldn''t even begin to imagine how far his name would spread if another war broke out. But he didn''t hope for that to happen.


    He knew better than anyone that war only led to chaos and loss. Civilians would have their homes destroyed, and family would be ruined upon hearing that their loved ones had died in battle.


    He not once hoped for war and was simply joining for the purpose of locating the person who betrayed him. Although it had forty-eight years since the day that he died, it was something that he had still yet to find out about.


    And he felt as though he would find some closure once he did. So that was the main driving factor behind him leaving home and running to the army. He knew that his mother and father would both be against it. But like they had said. Since he was an adult, he could do whatever he wanted to, even if that did mean deciding to throw his life away for a meaningless cause.


    Haru smiled as he knew what they would think once they found out.


    ''I bet they will worry a lot since they still don''t understand that practically nothing can hurt me anymore. I have reached a stage where the only thing I fear is atomic bombs or new technology that I haven''t seen before. But I am pretty confident that nothing on earth can hurt me anymore.'' Haru boasted to himself while waiting in line and didn''t notice as he reached the front of the line.


    He was easily noticeable since he towered over the other people in the room, but their eyes were on him for a different reason.


    "Don''t you hear me? We''re on a tight schedule. If you don''t want to join, then go ahead and leave. But we really need to process everyone here by the end of the day." The words of a man slowly came into Haru''s mind as he focused on the natural world once again.


    He looked down to see a young man with a scruffy beard. Since recruiters weren''t technically part of the military, they weren''t required to shave their face. But to Haru, it looked strange seeing a man with a beard wearing a military uniform.


    "Sir, this is yourst warning. If you don''t go in now, I will have to give your spot to the person behind you." The recruiter said while looking up at Haru.


    "Seriously, dude? What''s your issue. Don''t start regretting your actions now. If you don''t want to join, then move out of the way and let me go." The man who was queuing behind Haru said eagerly as he couldn''t wait for his chance to join the army.


    Haru smiled to himself as he knew where that type of confidence came from. He sensed the Qi flowing through the man behind him and saw that he had a lot for someone who wasn''t a cultivator. It seemed like he had been excited to join the army for a while and probably practised hard for many years.


    But Haru felt terrible as he sensed the murmur in the man''s heart.


    ''Poor guy. He won''t make it past the medical.'' Haru thought to himself before walking on without a care in the world. He already knew what was going to happen next, so he didn''t feel anxious as he approached the door that was guarded on either side by two men wearing Luxes on their wrists.


    ''Now that brings back memories.'' Haru thought before one of the soldiers stepped aside to open the door for him. Haru stepped forward and walked through into the pitch-ck room.

 Chapter 288: Threat of war?

    Chapter 288: Threat of war?


    The room had a cool breeze as if someone had left the window slightly ajar as footsteps slowly encircled Haru as he stood in a dark room. He stood still for a moment and then used his spiritual sense once again to locate the people in the room.


    At the front of the room, there was a man standing by the door where they had let people who managed to defend themselves through, and he was standing with his arms crossed while wearing night-vision goggles on his head.


    But there were also three other people who had surrounded Haru and were also wearing night-vision goggles to see where he was. They used hand signals tomunicate with each other so that they could line up perfectly to make sure that their n would work.


    They looked at him for a few moments before one of them waved his hand in a forward motion to signal that it was time to move in on their unsuspecting victim.


    Only they were the unsuspecting ones as they had no idea that Haru could see them and knew exactly what they were nning to do. He looked at them and watched as they approached him and attempted to tackle him, but at thest second, he moved out of the way and grabbed one of them with the palm of his hand against their face.


    "How!?-" The man shouted out as Haru clenched his face. He could no longer move, and the grip seemed only to get tighter and tighter as he struggled to break free.


    The other two men stopped in their tracks as they saw their friend had been captured by the person they were nning on restraining. Suddenly the light switched on to reveal the in white walls and the mossy green carpet.


    "That''s enough. Stand down. And if you would be ever so kind as to release that man, I will exin to you what is going on." The man who was standing by the door took off his night-vision goggles and began to approach Haru with a smile on his face.


    "I''m Colonel Ika, its nice to see someone so young with this much talent. You managed to see through the darkroom tactic and determine that you were about to be attacked from the sounds of footsteps alone. I don''t think I could have performed as well as you did. Do you mind if I ask for your name?" The man stuck out his hand as he approached Haru to greet him.


    "Haru Kitagawa. Nice to meet you." Haru let go of the soldier''s face and then held out his hand to shake Colonel Ika''s.


    "Kitagawa, huh? You don''t happen to be rted to a man named Luke, do you?" The man asked with a frown as he seemed to remember something.


    "Luke? Yeah, that''s my father''s name. What of it?" Haru asked since the man sounded like he seemed to be thinking of something. It was as though he had a bad experience with Luke and didn''t know how to respond after learning that Haru shared the samest name.


    "Is that so? And your mother''s name?" The man asked with a sigh. Kitagawa was amon surname so that it couldn''t narrow down his suspicion with just the name of his father alone.


    "Krista," Haru said with a smile. He knew that his mother was famous, but he wasn''t just sure how famous she was, but as the room fell silent and one of the men behind him gasped, he realised just how far his mother''s name had been spread through the military.


    "I see, so you are Krista and Luke''s son? What are the chances of having two children of famous magese to our office today? Your strength definitely lives up to your family name." Colonel Ika said with a smile as he looked at Haru.


    "You know my parent''s?" Haru asked while trying to probe as much information as he could from the man since they never really spoke about their time in the military in front of him before.


    "Know your parents? Not personally, but there isn''t a person in the army who hasn''t heard of them. Your father saved a battalion of soldiers all by himself and climbed to be the twelve strongest mages during the war. And well, your mother, She was ranked fourth. The top fifty mages during the war are all superstars. How do you not know that already, though?" Colonel Ika asked, confused.


    "Really? Well, they never really talked about that before. But I have a question for you if you don''t mind answering?" Haru asked as he was still wondering why they had to change their recruitment tactics, and when that happened since he had a hunch, he knew why.


    "Sure, what is it?" Colonel Ika asked, confused about why his parents wouldn''t talk about the war to their child if they knew he was joining the army. But he was interested to hear what Haru had to ask.


    "I was just wondering about the soldiers attacking me in the dark. Is that normal standard practice?" Haru asked to make sure that he knew what had caused them to decide it was a good idea to test physical strength.


    "Oh, that? Well, during the war, we had a number of casualties from soldiers who didn''t have a high level of physical fitness and just relied on their magic alone to fight. After that, we revised our recruitment strategy, but the reason we are doing it this way is because of the situation in China right now.


    There are rumours that another war will break out, so a lot of young mages are looking to sign up so they can seek glory on the battlefield like the generation before they did. But we already have a strong army, and we are not desperately looking to recruit people, so they have advised us only to allow the best of the best to enter. We don''t want to sacrifice the lives of children if war does break out.


    So we devised this n so we could eliminate anyone we thought was likely to die if they ran out of mana. Thest thing anyone wants is more casualties." Colonel Ika responded with a smile as he thought that they were doing an excellent job to deter anyone from dying a meaningless death without having the strength to survive.


    "I see. So it''s to stop people from dying because war is likely to break out soon." Haru said out loud while looking at the Colonel to see if that was the correct assumption.


    ''I don''t really want to fight in a war, though. But this whole thing is kind of my fault. If I never went to China all those years ago, then there wouldn''t be threats of war right now. Maybe I should see this through to the end?'' Haru thought about what to do. He wanted to join the military to locate the people who betrayed him In his previous life.


    But if war broke out, then it would most likely sidetrack him. But he also felt responsible for the war in the first ce, so he was at odds with himself trying to determine the best course of action. But since he felt as though he had nothing to live for anymore, he figured that there was no reason for him to walk away just because there is a risk of war.


    ''I have lived through one war without having the strength that I have now. One more won''t harm me.'' Haru smiled before looking Colonel Ika in the eyes.


    "Then I have one more question for you," Haru stated bluntly. The atmosphere in the room changed drastically as they all looked at him to see what he had to say.


    "Sure, go for it." Colonel Ika said with a puzzled expression on his face. He wasn''t sure what the next question was going to be, but he figured that it would be something important given the severe look on Haru''s face.


    "Where do I sign up?" Haru asked with a smile. He didn''t want to talk anymore and just wanted to get it over with. Once he had signed the papers, then he could go ahead and leave the ce. He wanted some time to be alone.


    "You want to get it over and done with, I see? Well, in that case, follow me. I will take you over to the man in charge of the documents. He can be a bit blunt at times, so excise his manners." Colonel Ika said before guiding Haru through the doors behind him and then through a row of office cubicles before ending up at a single office.


    Colonel Ika knocked on the door and awaited a response.


    "Come in." A man''s voice shouted from the other side of the door, and Colonel Ika opened the door and poked his head around the corner.


    "I brought another one for immediate signing," He said as he opened the door to reveal a decrepit old man sitting behind a mountain of papers.


    "If I didn''t know any better, I would think that you were trying to kill me with the amount of work that you throw my way. Can''t you just let an old man rest for a few minutes?" The old man said with a sigh before looking at Haru. But as soon as he did, his eyes seemed to light up as if he recognised him with a single nce.

 Chapter 289: Principal?

    Chapter 289: Principal?


    "Principal?" Haru asked as he saw the old man sitting behind the desk. He didn''t recognise him at first, but as he looked up from the desk, Haru noticed that it was the principal of the royal institute for military arts. He knew that all of the teachers from the school were either soldiers or former soldiers, but he never expected that the principal would be the one overseeing the signing of documents.


    "You''re the young man who was left in China all those years ago. Haru, wasn''t it? You look a little different after all this time, but your eyes remained the same." The principal said with a smile as he recognised Haru.


    "You know General Ainsworth too?" Colonel Ika asked with his eyebrows slightly raised.


    "Yes, Haru here used to be one of the students at the school I was in charge of. Although he didn''t stay for long." General Ainsworth said with a smile as he looked up at Haru.


    "So you havee back? I heard that you were pretty advanced in magic for your age back then and even stirred up some trouble with the student council. But your parents never told me why you decided to drop out. They just said it was due to family reasons. I thought that you didn''t want to join the army after graduation or something. So what brings you here?" He asked as he recalled what Haru''s parents told him while curious about Haru''s intentions.


    "Well, it''s kind of personal. But I took some time to think about what I wanted from life, and I''m here to join the army. Like everyone else." Haru smiled as he looked behind him to see a few familiar faces from the waiting room sitting in the cubicles.


    "Is that so? And you passed the test that we set up outside?" General Ainsworth asked and then looked up at Colonel Ika.


    "Well, that''s why I brought him directly to you, sir. He passed the test with flying colours. In a dark room, he managed to avoid the ambush and capture one of the soldiers running the test. I figured that he had a good attitude, and when I heard that he was the son of the me-haired sorceress, I thought that I had better bring him straight to you." Colonel Ika said with a smile.


    "I see. Well, that is certainly an interesting turn of events. Do you care to exin how you knew that they were trying to attack you?" General Ainsworth asked. He was interested to hear just how he had worked out what they were nning and countered it.


    "Well, that was easy. When I entered the room, I saw that it was dark, so I decided to amplify my senses with magic. I could see faint movement, and I could hear their footsteps as they surrounded me. It wasn''t hard to pinpoint their locations." Haru made up a believable story while deciding to leave the fact that he was a cultivator out of it.


    If he openly said that he was, then they would be likely to beg him to train soldiers and pay him to spill his secrets of cultivating.


    That was the whole reason why China had banned cultivators from leaving. Because they knew that other countries would pay millions to strengthen their armies with cultivators, but the Chinese government wanted to keep it as just a tradition and not use it for military strength even though some of their high ranking soldiers were cultivators.


    Haru always thought that it contradicted their beliefs, but he wasn''t one to judge. He contradicted his own beliefs on many asions for the sake of sparing other people''s feelings, so he tried not to judge them too much for it.


    "You amplified your senses? That''s it? And you managed to detect their exact positions? It looks like you have a deeper understanding of amplification magic than anyone I know. You should be proud of that. Is there any other magic that you specialise in?" General Ainsworth asked while writing something down on a sheet of paper.


    Haru looked at him for a few seconds before realising that he was writing down what kind of skills he had. He knew that if he exposed his strength right now, they would ask him to prove it and then likely put him in some advanced military program or make him an officer.


    And he had neither the time nor energy to deal with something like that. Instead, he felt better knowing that his strength was unknown to them. Because once he found out who was responsible for his death, he would take revenge.


    And if it ended up being someone high ranking in the military, then they would already be keeping an eye on him since the type of strength Haru had was something that the Japanese army would never have seen before, even when he was known as the great mage. His power back then didn''t evenpare to a fraction of his current strength.


    "No, I only specialised in amplification magic. I can do some basic earth and fire spells, but nothing too extreme." Haru said in a calm and steady tone so they wouldn''t see through his lie.


    "Hm, only amplification? Well, that''s still plenty for the infantry. You will be mainly fighting with a lux, so it''s fine if you aren''t that skilled in other magic." General Ainsworth said and then held up the sheet of paper that he was writing on to get a better look at it.


    "Hm, well, all that''s left is signing. I need you to write your name, phone number, signature and date of birth in the corresponding boxes, and then I will have Colonel Ika here submit it himself." General Ainsworth said with a smile before holding out his hand to Haru and giving him the paper.


    "But sir-" Colonel Ika interrupted but was quickly shut down.


    "That''s your punishment for interrupting me. Did you really need toe to me to get this signed? I get the fact that he is stronger than the regr recruits, but you can just have one of the many officers do it. I''m here as a General, not an office worker. My job is to make sure that all of you guys behave.


    I don''t have the time to deal with this stuff. Can''t you just let an old man rest a little?" General Ainsworth asked as Haru took the paper and then signed it with a pen that was on the edge of the table.


    "Done." Haru interrupted their quarrel and notified them that he had done everything that was required of him.


    "No hesitation at all. You will make an excellent soldier. Now, Colonel Ika, I can trust you to deliver his form to headquarters, right?" General Ainsworth asked with a smile as he knew that no matter what, he couldn''t refuse an order from someone of a higher rank.


    "Yes, sir," Colonel Ika eximed after bringing his hand to the right side of his head and aligned his fingers against his brow.


    "Good, now fall out. Oh, and show this young man the way out while you eat it." General Ainsworth smiled once more, but this time it was more friendly as if he was saying goodbye to them both as Haru once again followed Colonel Ika.


    They walked through the corridors once again before ending up at a back exit to the building, which was lined with dozens of cars.


    "Well, this is the exit. If you don''t mind me, I will make my way to headquarters and submit your application. They will probably contact you within three to four days by phone so make sure you don''t miss it." Colonel Ika said before making his way over to his car.


    ''Well, that was over quickly, I thought they would quiz me with a hundred questions, but it seemed like I got lucky since the principal was there. He read my school file once, so I guess he doesn''t need to ask me much. However, that was almost five years ago. I wonder how he remembers?'' Haru thought it seemed like a strange coincidence that he had bumped into his school principal well signing up to the army.


    ''I guess it''s time to find somewhere to be alone for a while.'' Haru thought once again as he knew that he couldn''t go back home after the way he spoke to his mother. It would only lead to more lecturing, and he didn''t have the energy to deal with something like that.


    So instead, he decided to find a hotel to go to.


    ''It''s too bad that Tokyo is just a huge city. I would like some alone time in the wilderness about now.'' He thought as he remembered that Tokyo had expanded a lot and now took all of the space that was reserved for nature and turned them into skyscrapers or apartmentplexes.


    "It really is unfortunate that I''m not in China anymore", Haru whispered before walking out into the busy streets and finding a ce to rest for the night.

 Chapter 290: Battling Mages.

    Chapter 290: Battling Mages.


    "Haru, I''m sorry. If you get this, can you please call me back? I didn''t mean what I said, and I''m sorry for not taking your side. I didn''t trust you, and I hurt you. Please juste home." The sound of a voice recording carried its way through a clean hotel room where Haruy on the bed looking up at the TV.


    "Won''t she just give it a rest already?" Haruined as he buried his head further into the pillow behind him. He looked down at the phone screen that blurted light around the darkroom and saw the forty-seven missed calls from both his mother and father.


    He sighed before holding the power button and putting it down on the nightstand.


    ''I really do need a break, don''t I? I wonder what the nightlife is like in Tokyo. ? I haven''t actually been into the city yet. It might be a good idea to take a look around.'' Haru thought to himself as he remembered that he had never been into the city before.


    He had heard his parentsin about it being a dangerous ce since it was an international hub for mages, and there would constantly be fights in the streets and disagreements with store owners. But with his strength, he figured that he would be fine.


    After a few minutes of convincing himself to get out of bed, Haru finally swivelled his legs over the edge of the bed and stood up before looking out through the ss balcony doors at the night''s sky.


    Although he wasn''t in the heart of Tokyo, there were dozens of skyscrapers that seemed to reach the heavens with their height. He didn''t mind the look of skyscrapers since they looked clean and modern from the outside, so he felt like he had a lot to look forward to as he put on some suitable clothes from his storage ring, which consisted of a half-open dress shirt and trousers.


    He looked at himself in the mirror seeing his unkempt hair, andughed slightly at the sight of him.


    "Why did anyone let me go out of the house like this?" He asked himself while looking at the hair that was spewing in different directions before releasing a bit of Qi from the tip of his finger and pulling his hair back out of his face into a ponytail while leaving himself with some longer hair on either side of his face.


    He smirked while looking at how in his outfit looked. He had never tried to impress anyone with how he dressed before, but Haru thought that he could do something to attract some attention to himself for fun. He took a little bit of fire from Kun''s mes and used it to tie his hair in ce.


    A small red me danced around on the back of Haru''s while lighting the darkroom.


    Heughed once again at how silly it looked but decided not to worry about it. He left the room and made his way down to the ground floor and through the lobby while getting looks of confusion as he walked past the workers.


    Their attention was drawn to the me at the back of his head, so his n seemed to work in his favour, making him feel like a celebrity as everyone looked at him.


    Usually, he liked to keep a low profile, but since it was a city full of mages, there were likely to be delinquents hanging around hoping to pick on someone who tried to go undetected. He figured that if he didn''t want anyone to trouble him, he had better do something to draw attention to himself and make him look confident in his abilities.


    But still, he wanted to keep his strength to himself. So he walked into the city instead of flying.


    As he started to approach the heart of the city, the sounds of speakers ying music and advertisements became audible with the lights of moving billboards shining down upon the grew concrete.


    Cars zoomed up and down the roads at speeds much faster than the speed limits, but there was no response from the police. It seemed like what his parents had said was the truth.


    Tokyo was self-governed by and for mages. There was no need for police or trafficws if people could use magic to keep themselves safe.


    The streets were empty at first, but as he made his way closer to the centre, they slowly filled with more and more people. They pooled around the entrances to clubs and bars with loud music ying as Haru walked past though he soon became the centre of attention as a me wiggled on top of his hair.


    "Hey, you''re hair is on fire." A woman shouted out to him as he walked past. It seemed to cause concern with whoever saw it, but he simply smiled and carried on as he traversed the streets. But as he got to the very centre of the city, he was stopped in his tracks.


    The building all-around had images of two shirtless men with the words "International Magic Battling Broadcasting" at the very top.


    From what Haru could tell, two well-known mages were going to fight against each other while being broadcasted on live TV.


    Something like that wouldn''t have drawn Haru''s attention if it wasn''t for the gigantic crowd that had gathered at the roadblocks. Many of them had alcohol in their hands, and others had gs that were blowing in the wind. Haru looked around, amazed by the number of people an event like that had drawn.


    It seemed as though a million people were there from the ground, and he instantly became interested in what the strength of the two men was like if they could draw out so many people to see them fight. HeShe knew that they had to be some of the strongest mages in Japan based on the crowd and wanted to find out more.


    He looked around and struggled to see where the fight was taking ce until he saw a long red carpet that had people lining up on either side with cameras, taking pictures of anyone that walked down it.


    ''That must be the ce.'' Haru thought to himself as he looked at the carpet that led to an open doorway.


    ''Why is no one heading inside? There is no one there, and the doors are wide open. Why wouldn''t anyone be going inside?'' He thought as he saw that only a few people had entered. He figured that it wasn''t open to the public, but with no one there to tell him otherwise, he decided to investigate a little further.


    Haru began to approach the red carpet, all the while many people in the crowd turned their heads after catching a glimpse of the burning red me on the back of his head.


    "Mommy. Who is that man?" A young boy called out while pointing in Haru''s direction as he stepped foot onto the red carpet.


    Suddenly all eyes were on Haru as he walked further onto the carpet and past all of the camera''s, but none of them took pictures of him. Everyone was too transfixed on the me around his hair to care about taking photos, and he walked past without any trouble at all.


    He kept his head held high as they all looked at him and then walked through the doorway at the end of the red carpet. A slight yellow glow came down from the ceiling as he found himself in a dark corridor.


    There were small circr ceiling lights that shined down upon his head, almost as if they were meant for him to follow. There was no one around to tell him to turn back or not to continue inside, so he carried on without a second thought.


    The walls were coated in a ck velvet-like fabric that seemed to absorb all the light, so the only thing he had to guide him was the lights in the ceiling.


    Haru walked for a while beforeing to a stop as the corridor came to an end. He almost thought that he had walked into a trap room if not for the small shiny silver handle on the ck velvet in front of him, signifying there was a door. He pulled down on the handle and the door opened with a creak as the sounds of cheering rushed in towards him.


    "And now it''s time to wee today''s fighters to the stage. Let''s give a warm wee to the Siberian Combat mage, Jyina Socao." A voice boomed out from a loudspeaker as a crowd erupted into thunderous apuse. It was almost as loud as lightning striking the earth but. But suddenly, it stopped as the music started ying.


    "And give a wee to Japan''s own S Ranked mage, Kazuo Satou." The voice called out once again as Haru opened the doorpletely to be blinded by shing lights as the room erupted with cheering once again.

 Chapter 291: Reunion.

    Chapter 291: Reunion.


    Haru looked around as he stepped out into what looked to be a stadium with hundreds or thousands of people sitting in chairs and looking down upon a square box that had a magic barrier around it. As the music yed out, a screen that hung from the ceiling showed a young man in his early twenties walk out from a doorway that was illuminated with golden light and then begin to walk towards the camera.


    The crowd cheered more as they looked up at the screen to see the man with mid-length silver hair and light blue eyes. He was wearing abat uniform that was a ck skin tight suit with magic resistant armour attached to it. Even at first nce, Haru could tell that he was wearing an S ranked lux by the materials it was made out of.


    The shiny ck metal with a purple shine to it made it stand out as high quality since it looked simr to the one that he had been given by his parents. But as he looked up at the face, he felt a vague sense of familiarity. It was as though he had seen the man before, but he couldn''t quite recall.


    Until he caught a glimpse of a woman behind him as he walked out towards the magic guarded ring, she had long red hair and wore the same ck suit that the man was wearing, but she was more recognisable than the man she was with.


    "Kaira Aizawa? Then that man must be the student council president? Didn''t he ask me to spar with him before? Who would have thought that he was a fighting maniac? I never expected to see these two again." Haru smiled as he remembered the short time he spent at school.


    ''He seemed pretty strong back then. I wonder what this fight will look like. I never expected him to turn into an S rank mage, or I might have agreed to spar with him at the time.'' Haru thought to himself as he entered the ring.


    "Sir, You can''t stand here. You''re blocking the entrance. Please go find your seat." A man in a ck suit approached Haru from one side and pointed over to the seats where hundreds of people were cheering. Haru looked back at the man with a look of confusion.


    ''Isn''t he going to check if I''m allowed to be in here? It seems like the security of this ce is almost non-existent.'' Haru thought as he looked around to see that there was no one who would match the generic description of a security guard.


    It seemed more like the event was exclusive for people who were invited and was famous forbat mages, so if anyone dared to enter without a ticket, they would be thrown out, so no one even tried, which was probably why Haru got inside so easily. They didn''t expect anyone to try, yet he entered without even the slightest bit of resistance.


    He looked around for a moment for an empty seat and then nodded his head.


    "Sorry," Haru said and then began to find a seat. However, the stadium seemed to bepletely packed. There weren''t any seats on the top row. So he began to make his way lower towards the ring. But even then, as he walked lower and lowered, the seats all seemed to be filled.


    It seemed like it was a big event if they could sell out so many seats. That was until he got to the front row. There were two seats empty. There was one next to an older man with long curly hair and one next to Kaira, who was now looking up at Kazuo, who had already entered the ring.


    ''Why not?'' Haru thought to himself as he made his way over to Kaira and sat down beside her.


    "Excuse me, that seat is already taken." Kaira looked at Haru and said before a sudden realisation hit her. She felt as though she had seen the man sitting beside her before, but she couldn''t remember where.


    "It''s taken? I don''t see anyone sitting here." Haru said with a smile as he looked back at her. His smile seemed to remind her of something as she gasped slightly upon seeing it.


    "You! What are you doing here?!" She eximed upon seeing him. She knew exactly who he was from his smile.


    "You''re that first-year boy that terrorised me with spatial rifts, aren''t you!?" She asked, slightly stunned by the odds that he would appear at the fight.


    Haru smiled and then looked down at her hands to see a ring on her left hand. He then looked up at the stage where the two fighters were being briefed by the referee and then saw a ring on Kazou''s hand too.


    "Yup, that''s me. And congrattions." Haru said while ncing down at the ring on her finger again. It seemed as though they had gotten married, which was strange since the first time he had seen them both together, Kazuo had threatened her and used a spell to silence her.


    It was an unlikely match, but he wasn''t going to judge.


    "Congrattions? What do you mean?" Kaira asked, confused as to what he was congratting her for.


    "Oh, you don''t need to be shy. I see you are both wearing identical rings. I never thought that he would be one for marriage, though." Haruughed slightly and looked up at the two men on the stage.


    "Oh, thank you. But I still haven''t forgiven you for what you did, you know? It was quite an embarrassment to be pushed around by someone younger than me. But what happened to you? The men who you injured came back to the school to find you, but I was told that you had dropped out.


    What have you been doing all this time?" Kaira asked out of curiosity. She had never seen someone willingly drop out of school before, especially the top-ranked school in the country.


    "Well, I guess some things just came up, and I have lived in China for the past four years. I just got back to Japan a few months ago. It''s actually my first time visiting the city today. I never thought that I would find you in a ce like this, though." Haru looked around once again as he spoke to see that the fight was about to start.


    "What is that supposed to mean?" Kaira asked, but as soon as she did, her voice was drowned out by the roaring of the crowd behind her.

 Chapter 292: Secret.

    Chapter 292: Secret.


    Kira sighed as she knew that there was no way for Haru to have heard her over the sounds of the crowd behind them. She looked up at her husband on the stage before turning her head back to Haru, who was still looking at her.


    ''That was timed awfully. Ah well, I can just do this.'' She thought while snapping her fingers and silently muttering a spell under her breath as not to let anyone know what had happened.


    [Sound Containment.]


    A thin green light surrounded both Kaira and Haru so they could talk in peace without being interrupted by outside noise.


    Haru looked at her for a moment, but just as she was about to repeat herself, he jumped back into the conversation.


    "Well, You seemed kind of snobby and stuck up when I first met you. So I never thought that I would eventually find you at a magic duelling match." Haru said, but as soon as he finished, Kairaughed.


    "You thought this was a duel? There''s no duelling here. This is a deathmatch. You obviously weren''t invited, or you would have known that, so how did you get inside?" She asked, knowing that she had caught him doing something he wasn''t supposed to. She was still eager to prove that he wasn''t good even though they had both long left school.


    "Well, the door was wide open. I just came in to have a look around, but one of the employees told me to take a seat, so I thought that I might stick around and watch." Haru smiled, knowing that he wasn''t aware of any rule saying that he couldn''t enter.


    "Your luck is pretty good, isn''t it? Not many people would dare to enter the Izu Arena without an invitation. But since you were told to sit down by an employee, the responsibility will fall back on them, not you." Kaira chuckled.


    "Izu Arena? So that is what this ce is called? But why would no one enter if there isn''t any security to tell you that you can''t?" Haru asked, confused as to what she meant as she seemed to put an emphasis on those words in particr.


    "Well, Mr Izu, the man who owns this ce, is well known for having his own private military that can rival the manpower of some of the smaller nations surrounding Japan. But he also has links to a criminal underworld. So no one in their right mind would dare toe here without an invitation.


    But not to worry. I''m not going to tell anyone. So how about you talk to me for a bit while Kazuo wipes the floor with that Siberian?" She asked and then looked back up at the stage.


    Haru''s eyes followed hers, and he too looked up to see that the fight hadmenced, and they were going at it.


    "Aren''t you worried? You said it was a deathmatch, but you don''t doubt that he will lose. What are you going to do if he dies?" Haru asked.


    "Kazuo dying in a deathmatch? Don''t make meugh. It would take a whole army to take him down. There is no one that could harm him in Tokyo. The only people who are capable of fighting against him on equal footing are stationed at military bases or in different countries." Kaira sounded sure of herself as she spoke.


    But as Haru looked up at the stage, he noticed something with his spiritual sense. The Siberian man had more Qi running through his body than Kazuo did. Usually, it wouldn''t be a cause for concern since they weren''t cultivators, but as he looked at the man closer, he noticed what looked like a string attached to his body.


    The string went all the way through the barrier and up to a ck box in the corner of the room. It looked to be a VIP box of some kind where the unique customers could sit. But to Haru, it looked like the strings used to control a puppet.


    He expanded the range of his spiritual sense to see that there was a man in the box with his mana fluctuating. It seemed as though it was slowly being drained with each attack the Siberian man used against Kazuo.


    ''I see what''s going on here. Well, It''s not my ce to intervene, and if the owner has his own army, then I had better not get involved.'' Haru thought to himself before ncing back at Kaira. But as he was now using his spiritual sense, he noticed that there were two heartbeatsing from within her body.


    There was hers that was beating at an average pace, but there seemed to be oneing from her stomach that was much weaker and irregr.


    ''She''s pregnant?'' Haru gasped upon realising that if he didn''t do something. A child would be born without a father. He stretched out his index finger and turned to look back at the ck box and then mimicked pulling the trigger of a gun while aiming his hand at the man being used as a mana supply.


    A small wave of Qi shot from Haru''s hand and hit the man in the head, causing him to fall unconscious instantly.


    "What was that?" Kaira asked as she saw what he had just done with his hands. She looked at Haru as if he was crazy and didn''t have a single clue what he was up to, but she knew that it probably meant something.


    "Don''t worry about it. I just wished him luck. I hope that you''re right for the sake of your child. It would be unfortunate if it grows up without a father." Haru smiled as he sat back in his seat and awaited a reaction.


    Kaira gulped.


    "H- how did you know? I haven''t even told Kazuo about it. Do you have X-ray vision or something!?" She asked, shocked by how he could have known. About it, if she hadn''t told anyone.


    "Secret." Haruughed and put a finger to his lips.

 Chapter 293: Sparring match.

    Chapter 293: Sparring match.


    Kaira felt confused. There was no possible way for anyone to know that she was pregnant since she hadn''t even gone to the hospital yet. But Haru somehow knew. She looked at him for a few seconds to see that his gaze had drifted to the stage where her husband was fighting.


    Haru was smiling while looking up at them both fighting when suddenly Kazuo dodged an attack from the Siberian man and thenunched an ice spell.


    [cier Spear]


    Kazuo raised his hand in the air after avoiding a fire attack and gathered mana in his hand. Suddenly a ball of blue light shot from his arm, forming a spear made out of ice as it travelled through the air beforeing to a quick stop as it mmed into the man''s chest.


    Blood sttered across the ring as the man dropped to his knees. He wasn''t dead, just heavily injured, but before he could do anything else. Kazuo raised his hand back out towards the man.


    [Frozen fountain]


    He opened his palm as wide as he could, causing the spear of ice in the man''s chest to expand and begin to travel across the surface of his skin. The ice invaded his bloodstream and froze the inside of his veins and arteries as it travelled to his heart, stopping it as his body was enveloped in ice.


    As the man kneeled down lifelessly, it looked as though the water was spurting from his body and then froze in the air. Exactly like what would happen if you were to freeze a water fountain. Haru smiled upon seeing Kazuo win. Since he was about to be a father, he didn''t want to see him leave his child behind.


    Kaira looked up in awe at her husband''s performance as he quickly became the champion of the deathmatch and began to p and praise him for his victory. The whole stadium erupted into chaos as the people who had bet on the Siberian man had lost all of their money, and then people who had bet on Kazuo won a lot of money.


    People danced around, and others remained seated with self-pity as they all red down at Kazuo.


    "Well, what do you know? The reigning champion wins once again. It seems like nobody can knock Kazuo Satou down. As a one time event here at the Izu Arena, we have decided to give a lucky member of the audience a chance to spar with the reigning champion.


    I wonder if anyone will be brave enough to go head to head with our champion here after watching something like that? If you think you have what it takes. Thene on down to the ring. But be warned, only the first person here will have a chance to fight against the great Kazuo!" The announcement voice shouted out as the room fell silent once again.


    Everyone in the audience looked back and forth at each other to see if anyone was going to take the offer and spar with a mage who they had just seen kill a person. But none of them budged.


    "Are you crazy? Who would willingly walk into the hands of death?!" A man shouted from the seat behind Haru. But as he did so, Kaira noticed a grin on Haru''s face, unlike anything she had seen before.


    "What are you thinking?" Kaira asked Haru, confused as to what his intentions were.


    "Well, I think I should give your husband a wedding gift since I missed out on it." Haru smiled once again before standing up from his seat and walking out towards the stage.


    The room fell silent once again as the camera that was floating around the ring suddenly focused on Haru as he walked towards the ring.


    "Oh, It looks like we have a contender. How about we give a round of apuse for this brave young man?" The announcer shouted out once again, but the room remained silent.


    "You''re gonna die out there, boy!" A voice shouted from the crowd as Haru walked over to the referee that was standing outside the ring as two men went in to drag away the body of the Siberian man.


    "Listen here, boy. I don''t know who told you toe up here, but you should probably get out of here as fast as you can. Although this is just a sparring match, there are no rules about killing your opponent. If you are lucky, then you will get a few broken bones, but if you piss him off, you won''t be leaving this arena alive." The referee warned Haru before he could say anything else and then turned around to signal that Haru had changed his mind, but he hadn''t even thought about changing his mind.


    Before the referee could say anything else, Haru walked past him and up a set of stairs to get into the ring.


    "I think I can decide for myself, thank you very much." Haruughed as he walked up into the arena to face Kazuo.


    "Nice to meet you. Don''t worry. I''m in a good mood today, so I won''t go too hard on you, so try not to be afraid, okay?" Kazuo asked and held out his hand for Haru to shake. But as soon as he did, he looked Haru in the eyes and suddenly retracted his hand.


    "You''re that boy from school? Haru, wasn''t it? I thought that you had died or something. Where have you been hiding this whole time?" Kazuo asked as he looked at Haru.


    "Well, I thought that I would try experiencing the world a little while I was still young." Haru smiled as he looked at Kazuo. Now he had met two people he had not seen in four years. He was beginning to feel like his life so far was way too short.


    Although it had been a while since he had met with Kazuo and Kaira, he remembered everything perfectly now that he was up close to them. It seemed to be a side effect of his cultivation.


    He had known for a long time that training your soul would make you be able to remember things that would be seen as impossible for other people, but he hadn''t experienced it until now. It seemed like everything that had happened since he left japan took ce over the span of a few days, but it was, in fact, four years.


    "Would you look at that? It looks like the great Kazuo is having a conversation with the young man who had entered the ring. Maybe they know each other?" The announcer said as the camera''s once again zoomed in on both Haru and Kazuo.


    On the other hand, Kaira felt a pit in her stomach as she looked up at the ring. She believed in her husband''s strength being unrivalled, but she thought about how she had seen Haru using military-grade magic while he was just fifteen. She couldn''t exin it, but she felt as though there was a thick shroud covering Haru constantly. It seemed like he had reached a height that no one had achieved before, and she couldn''t help but worry about what would happen.


    "So you have just been cking off all this time? You know, when I asked you to spar with me all those years ago, it was because I thought you were a threat to me. I thought that you might be able to rival me in a fight and take my spot as the number one mage at school.


    Why would you tell me that you have been cking off for the past four years and have nowe back to spar with me? That''s like saying you don''t think that I can grow as a mage in four years. Do you understand how arrogant that makes you sound?" Kazuo criticised Haru as he couldn''t believe what he was hearing.


    "That''s what you interpreted from my words? Well, you''re a little bit wrong. The reason I came to spar with you now is as a wedding gift and to congratte you." Haru said with a smile.


    "Congratte me? Congratte me for what? I beat people like that guy every week." Kazuo said, thinking that Haru was referring to winning the fight with the man that he had just killed.


    "I will tell you if you manage to defeat me." Haru smiled before looking up at the camera''s to see that they were recording him.


    ''If I show my fighting strength right now and it gets back to someone at the military, then they might put me in some elite squad or something when they contact me. I''m not in the mood to deal with something like that right now.'' Haru thought as he awaited a response from Kazuo.


    "You think that you stand a chance against me now? I''m an S Rank mage, you know? And if you haven''t progressed any since you were in school, then that means you''re still an F Rank, right? There is no chance in hell of you beating me, so you might as well just tell me right now, and I won''t humiliate you in front of everyone." Kazuo smirked while thinking that he had the upper hand on Haru, but as soon as he finished speaking, Haru raised a single hand and brought forth the me that tied his hair in ce.


    The me drifted from the back of his head and hovered above his index finger, causing his hair to fall back down and rest on the back of his neck.


    "What are you going to do with a tiny me like that? It looks like you just lit a match." Kazuoughed at the size of the me Haru was wielding until suddenly it began to grow.


    The me began bigger and bigger as Haru fueled it with his Qi. The me suddenly shouts out around the transparent barrier that was put in ce to stop the audience from getting hurt and then surrounded it with a mysterious red fire to block the view of the cameras and the spectators on the outside.


    "You were saying?" Haru asked as he looked back to Kazuo, who raised his brows at the thought of someone controlling mes without casting a spell.


    "What was that?" Kazuo gulped as the people on the outside went crazy now that they couldn''t see anything.

 Chapter 294: Father?

    Chapter 294: Father?


    The arena became filled with outraged audience members as Haru and Kazuo disappeared before their eyes and were concealed within a cage of red mes. Both uncertainty and disappointment filled the air as the show of a lifetime vanished before their eyes.


    They had never seen such a thing where an audience member stepped into the ring with the reigning champion of the Izu area, and that was something they were all eager to see even if they did think that it would just lead to Haru''s demise.


    But having that sight taken away from them made them upset. Food and drinks were thrown all around as the audience members tried to protest to make the event organisers do something about the mes blocking the ring, but they were already trying.


    The man in charge of the arena, Mr Izu, was in the VIP box above the arena, and as soon as he saw the mes swirl around the stage, he tried his best to cancel them out using the spell [Break], but his mana seemed to be cancelled out as soon as he wanted to use it.


    It was almost as though all of the mana had been sucked from his body, and nothing he tried was working.


    "What is this? The ring has mysteriously erupted in mes. It seems to be a secret skill or something. Could Kazuo Satou be showing us that he also specialises in fire magic alongside ice? Or is this the power of that young man who entered the ring?" The announcer spoke out through the speaker, making the crowd calm down a little as they wondered about what was going on instead of feeling angry.


    Chattering emerged from the crowd as they made their own assumptions on the situation and wondered if that could indeed be a second power that Kazuo was hiding, but many of them also believed that Haru was the one who caused it and began to theorise that he was an S ranked mage in disguise.


    But the person who was most confused was Kaira as she sat down watching the mes circle around the arena. She didn''t have a clue what Haru was nning, but she finally felt afraid that her husband could be killed. She didn''t know how or why, but as she looked at the fire, it seemed to be giving out a feeling of anger as though it would burn through the very fabric of reality.


    The more she looked at the fire, the more it seemed like she would be absorbed and burned by it, although she was standing at a distance.


    It was her rtion to the me. Kaira was a fire mage, and she shared a bond with fire just like Haru did.


    "You look so angry," Kaira said softly as she looked at the impressive sight of the mes.


    "No, it''s not just angry. You''re suffering. Haru? What kind of hardships have you faced to feel this way?" Kaira asked herself as she looked at the mes. They gave off a faint feeling of death, but it wasn''t vicious. It was more like the fire was waiting for death, and the emotions burnt their way into her soul.


    ''I''ve never seen something like this before? Fire is supposed to carry strength and light. But this me is shrouded in weakness and doubt.'' Kaira thought to herself as she sympathised with Haru''s emotions.


    Fire mages understood the me to such a high degree that they could feel wielders mental state by just looking at the fire, and that was made evident by a number of people watching, beginning to have tears drop down from their eyes as they looked on.


    "What''s going on?! How is it possible that you have this much power even though you have been cking off?" Kazuo asked while looking at Haru, who was standing at the opposite side of the ring.


    "I never said that I was cking off. I just took some time to see the world. But you can bet your ass I trained every single day." Haru said, referring to the fact that he would often cultivate during the night instead of sleeping.


    "Well, I have to congratte you then. I do think that you are worthy of sparring with me. This power is simr to the S rank fire mage Krista Kitagawa''s mes. Wait, you share the same surname as her, don''t you? What is your rtionship?" Kazuo asked with a look of fear on his face.


    "She''s my mom. But that''s nothing to worry about. We''re going to spar, aren''t we?" Haru asked with a smile. He thought for a moment that Kazuo would back down after finding out Haru''s mother was a famous mage, but that just seemed to motivate him a little bit more, and he, too, grinned from ear to ear while looking up at the fire above their head.


    "Well then. Since we are hidden from the eyes of the public, I think I can give you a demonstration to show you the difference between you and me. I will show you one of my original spells. If you can withstand it, then I will admit defeat." Kazuo said with a smile before putting his hand out.


    Suddenly Haru vanished from his line of sight before Kazuo felt something impact the back of his neck, and his feet were soon torn from the ground before he hurdled across the ring before crashing into the barrier.


    "You think I am willingly going to let you attack me first? Aren''t you abat mage? What kind of sense does that make?" Haru asked with a disappointed expression. He felt as though anyone could be called abat mage. And as the person who was first awarded that title, he felt as though everything he fought for in his past life meant nothing if they just gave that title to anyone.


    "Hehe, That was a good kick. I didn''t even see you move. It looks like I''m not the only one who can use chant less magic." Kazuo said with a smile before a sh of blue light erupted from his hand and flew towards Haru.


    Haru held out his index finger and drew a long de made from the fire that surrounded them before splitting the chunks of ice in two and avoiding the attack.


    ''Chant less magic? It seems that he had reached an amazing understanding of the flow of Qi within his body. If he spent his time cultivating instead of learning magic, I am afraid that he would be stronger than me.'' Haru thought to himself as he looked at the shards of ice that didn''t have even a sign of imperfection to them. It looked as though he had practised that particr spell hundreds if not thousands of times.


    But before Haru could react, he felt the presence of Qi brewing once again in the air as Kazuounched another attack. This time he caused shards of ice and snow to tumble through the air and st against Haru''s skin as though it was sandpaper.


    But little did he know that Haru''s body was constantly protected by the heat of the mes that burned within his soul ocean. Even the deadliest of winters wouldn''t affect his body. The ice immediately melted without so much as making contact with his body.


    "You''re going to have to do better than that," Haru called out before vanishing once again and appearing behind Kazuo. But as soon as he disappeared, Kazuo anticipated the fact that Haru would appear behind him and began to cast another spell as soon as he had gone.


    As Haru was about to strike against the back of Kazuo''s neck again, he felt more resistance as his foot came to a stop as a sheet of ice blocked his kick. He didn''t mean to cause him harm, so he held back on the attack but even, so his strength wasn''t something that was easily blocked.


    Haru smiled slightly as he had been outmanoeuvred by Kazuo. Suddenly a spear of ice shot from the ice that had blocked his leg and made its way towards Haru''s eye.


    Kazuo expected him to retreat from the spear, so he used more mana to create a wall of spears behind Haru, but as the single stick of ice shot towards Haru''s face, he couldn''t help but feel despair as the magic spells were all cancelled.


    The ice quickly turned into water and dropped to the floor.


    "What happened? How did you manage to see through my attack?" Kazuo suddenly stopped fighting as he realised that he waspletely outssed. He looked down at the ground to where the water was sshing around the ring and then snapped his fingers.


    Ice quickly formed across the floor and ran towards Haru before encasing his body within a giant ice cube.


    Kazuo sighed as he thought about how embarrassing it would have been publicly defeated by an F ranked mage. He looked at Haru in shock.


    "Who would have thought when I met this guy all those years ago that he would be able to rival me after bing an S rank? It''s amazing." Kazuo said to himself before noticing that the mes still enclosed the ring.


    If someone was knocked unconscious, then it was only natural that their power would fade. But that wasn''t the case for Haru.


    His eyes became wide as he looked back at Haru to see that he blinked while inside the ice cube.


    Suddenly the ice that surrounded Haru''s body exploded into a million pieces and cut Kazuo''s cheeks as it flew past him.


    "I didn''t think that you would make me let my guard down like that. Well done. You truly deserve to be called abat mage. Becausebat isn''t just about strength, it''s about conquering your opponent''s mind and tricking them.


    But I''ve seen everything that I wanted to. I can rest assured knowing that you can protect your family." Haru said with a smile as he turned his back to Kazuo.


    "Protect my family? What does that matter to you?" Kazuo asked, confused as to what Haru meant.


    "Well, I interfered with your fight earlier because that Siberian man was cheating. He was taking mana from someone in the VIP box, and I didn''t want your child to grow up without a father. I hope you don''t hate me too much for it." Haru said before raising his hand, causing the fire to spiral in the air but still blocking the ring from the cameras on the outside.


    "My child!? What do you mean!?" Kazuo asked.


    "Oops, I said too much, didn''t I?" Haru chuckled to himself for a moment for vanishing into thin air. Kazuo was expecting him to appear behind him again, but as the fire disappeared too, he knew that he was gone for good. But after locking eyes with his wife, waiting patiently outside the ring. Haru was thest thing on his mind.


    He looked down at Kaira''s stomach to see her gently holding it and then back up at her eyes which had tears in them.


    "I''m going to be a father??" Kazuo whispered as he looked at his wife before rushing out of the ring to hug her.


    "That''s strange. I could have sworn that two people entered that ring. So why did only onee out?" The announcer asked as the audience became just as confused as he was.

 Chapter 295: Breeze of fate.

    Chapter 295: Breeze of fate.


    Spections of what had taken ce during the fight between Kazuo and Haru spread around the city of Tokyo as many people didn''t understand what had taken ce.


    They had clearly seen that he entered the ring with Kazuo, but after the mysterious nket of fire died down, he had vanished, and no one knew where he had ended up. After the fight, the interviewers were quick to ask Kazuo for a statement, but he was too caught up with the fact that he would be a father, and he refused to answer any questions, which only added to the confusion.


    The clip of Haru entering the ring quickly went viral as everyone wanted to find out his identity, but with his subtle appearance change during his time in China, it would be hard for anyone to recognise him, and therefore, no one came out to identify him.


    Haru awoke to the sound of his phone ringing. He had initially turned it off to avoid his mothers and fathers phone calls, but he figured that he would need to have it turned on if he was waiting for the army to contact him, so it was easier to block their numbers instead.


    "What is it now?" Haru asked as he looked around the empty hotel room for a few minutes before reaching over to the nightstand and picking up his phone. He saw that the number wasn''t saved in his contacts and reluctantly answered, thinking that his parents had gotten a new phone to call him but as he replied he was surprised to hear the voice of General Ainsworth.


    "Haru? I know that I said that it would take a few days for us to contact you, but the video of you at the Izu arena has raised some concerns for the recruiting centre. Would you mind answering a few questions?" He asked, but after hearing him talk, Haru sighed.


    ''Why would they wake me up so early in the morning for something like this?'' Haru asked himself before realising that it was the military, and they always woke up at six in the morning to do exercise. He shouldn''t have expected any better from them.


    "Sure, what is it?" Haru asked before rolling back onto his side. If he was going to rack his brain answering questions, he figured that it would be better to do so while he wasfortable.


    "Well, first of all. What is your rtion to Kazuo Satou? I know it''s a stupid question, but I have to ask it." General Ainsworth said, knowing full well how they knew each other.


    "It''s fine. I get it. They won''t ept it if someone speaks on my behalf. Well, I know him from school. I just went up there to talk with him about something." Haru sighed once again. Even if the military had changed, it wasn''t enough to get rid of the ridiculousness of interrogating people.


    "Okay, thank you. Now, What did you two talk about while in the ring?" General Ainsworth asked another question while the sound of him tapping a pen against his desk made their way through the phone.


    "I don''t think that''s appropriate for me to talk about. If you want to know, then you should ask Kazuo its kind of personal." Haru exined as politely as he could that it wasn''t the military''s business what they talked about so that they wouldn''t hold a grudge against him for not telling them.


    "That''s understandable. All information about Kazuo Satou is sensitive and shouldn''t be shared with people. I will report that it is rted to him, and if they really want an exnation, then they can send someone to ask him. Then I guess my final question is about the fire that blocked the cameras from looking into the ring.


    We get an extensive report on Kazuo''s abilities every month, so we know for a fact that it wasn''t rted to him. So being the son of an S rank fire mage, we can assume that it was your doing. What was it?" General Ainsworth asked, this time sounding more interested than when he asked the other questions.


    "Is that so? Well, I guess that was my doing, but it''s not what you think. When I told you that I could only use amplification magic, I was serious. That fire came from an artefact my mother crafted for me when I was young. It''s called a soul fire. I can''t really use it to fight, but I can create a distraction if I need to." Haru tried to sound as convincing as possible as he came up with an exnation to hide Kun''s mes away from them.


    "A soul fire? I have never heard of one. It must be umon, but magic artefactse in all shapes and sizes, so that''s a reasonable exnation. I will make sure to report everything to the recruitment officers as soon as I can.


    But I think since you have a connection with Kazuo Satou, your application will be pushed through faster than it usually would. I will let you know what happenster tonight so make sure that you keep your phone switched on." General Ainsworth instructed before running off to file Haru''s report.


    "Well, that was an annoying start to the morning. I just hope that I don''t get any more interruptions. I have had enough of needless distractions for a lifetime." Haruined as hey back and closed his eyes.


    It had been a while since he entered his soul ocean. He was scared of going back there alone. He thought that it would feel empty and cold, but now that he had time to himself, he figured that he should try to enter to see what was going on with Kun and the mansion.


    As soon as his eyes closed, his mind drifted off to his soul ocean. Blinding light flooded in from all around him as he was now looking through the eyes of his soul. Theyer of water that was continually growing in height had now grown to a point where the mansion no longer looked as though it was floating in the air. It now looked like a mound ofnd in the ocean.


    Upon entry to his soul ocean, he looked up in the air to try to catch a glimpse of Kun, but no matter where he looked, there was no sign of him. Haru''s soul ocean was rtivelyrge and stretched out for thousands of miles, so he didn''t think anything of Kun not being nearby, but he felt a little sad.


    He wanted to check in on him. Although Kun wasn''t entirely his own being, he still had a consciousness, and that was something Haru had looked over in the past. He had never tried to make friends with him as he thought of him as part of his body since he was a bloodline spirit.


    But he had regretted it the whole time, and thest thing he wanted was for Kun to resent him for using his power all the time and not gaining anything in return.


    ''Seems about right. Why would hee and greet me if I have never treated him with respect?'' Haru thought to himself as he looked around the sky.


    "I will leave something for you here. Hopefully, you enjoy it." Haru said to himself quietly before reaching into his storage ring and pulling out one of the divine phoenix fruits he had eaten the first time he had met Li Jun and then ced it on the ground as an offering to Kun.


    "Well, I guess I should probably tell that puppet guy what happened. I remember hearing his voice when Suyin died, but I don''t know what we talked about. In fact, I barely remember anything." Haru thought it was strange that he didn''t recall anything from after the point he had watched Suyin die in his arms.


    But he wanted to put it in the past. He knew that Suyin wouldn''t hold it against him and would like him to carry on with life without her, so he continued on towards the floating mansion.


    He floated up to the top of the mound ofnd and then stood beside therge wooden gate. The thunder and lightning that was previously overhead seemed to calm down upon his arrival to the mansion, and he thought it was strange how the gate opened as soon as he stepped foot upon the ground, but he figured that was a sign that the mansion recognised him.


    Haru walked out into the courtyard to see the pond with a small ind in the middle before calling out to see if anyone was home.


    "Ralph!? Are you there?" Haru shouted to announce that he had arrived within the mansion, but after a few seconds, there was no reply. Just as he was about to call again, he heard a whisper directly into his ear.


    "The Steward is currently praying right now. Li Jun''s soul has been carried away from this world by the breeze of fate. So he is praying that he finds safe passage and finds his way back to his original self." The whisper sent chills down Haru''s spine as it spoke. It was both silent and familiar but obviously not human.


    Haru turned his head to see an exact copy of himself. It was as though he was looking in the mirror. There was no sign of the difference between both Haru and the copy, but the copy gave out an aura of death that seemed to bewitch the air around him, making it hard for Qi to pass through the atmosphere surrounding him.

 Chapter 296: Okinawa.

    Chapter 296: Okinawa.


    "Cat got your tongue? What''s got you looking so pale?" The replica of Haru spoke in the same whispering voice as he asked why Haru had yet to talk to him.


    "Sorry, I''m just a bit confused. Who are you, and why do you look like me?" Haru asked, Although he knew that within the floating mansion, he could be killed at any moment. Losing everyone he loved had made him worry less about whether he lived or died.


    He was now just concerned as to why someone was imitating his appearance. It was strange, but even though the man''s look was exactly the same as Haru, he felt like some underlying differences weren''t visible to the naked eye. It seemed like his perception had grown a little stronger since Ralph had revived him.


    "Me? I''m just a lone doppelganger. Well, at least the remnants of one. And as for why I look like you. Well, I was afraid that my true form would frighten you. But looking at you closer, it seems like you are a little tougher than I expected." The man who had taken Haru''s form said with a smile as he looked at the aura of Qi surrounding Haru''s body?


    "Your true form? What''s that like?" Haru asked, not knowing what doppelganger meant but wasn''t interested enough to ask him about that.


    Suddenly the skin on his face began to bubble and stretch before revealing a dark and slimy looking material beneath as the eye sockets widened to the size of a dinner te and the mouth stretched open to show sharp yellow stained teeth. Haru looked up at it in disgust but surprisingly didn''t fear whatever it was.


    "Okay, that''s disgusting. Please retake my form." Haru sighed before turning his back to look at the pond once again. It looked more like ake, and as he stood still and stared at it, he remembered that in his soul ocean, he could control the size of his body at will.


    He then immediately scaled his body to the size that it was thest time that he visited with Li Jun and the pond looked like a pond again. Haru turned to see the doppelganger had remained the same size but had gone back to looking like him.


    "Where did you say Ralph was?" Haru asked, knowing that if he was going to be able to talk to anyone, then it would be likely that Ralph could talk about more things. The doppelganger looked up at Haru with a look of confusion before speaking.


    "He is praying for safe passage, so that means he is in the shrine. You, humans, aren''t very smart, are you?" The doppelganger said bluntly, trying to get back at Haru for saying his true appearance was disgusting, but he knew that he couldn''t do anything else but verbally abuse him.


    "Well, thanks. That exins everything, doesn''t it? It''s my second time here. Of course, I know where the shrine is." Haru said sarcastically and expected a further exnation of where the shrine was located, but the doppelganger simply shook his head before walking away.


    "Such a great help." Haru sighed. He didn''t mean to be rude or insulting, but when the man had said that humans were stupid, he took offence to it. He was now back at square one in his quest of looking for Ralph, but at least now he knew to keep a lookout for a shrine.


    Haru walked around the grounds of the mansion before stumbling across the backyard. It wasrge and stretched out for what seemed like many miles, but the most peculiar thing was the colossal maze made out ofrge green bushes.


    "There is a maze? I''m not stupid enough to enter that. Last time I entered a dark room and almost died. Who knows what will happen if I enter a maze. Maybe I will actually die?" Haru said to himself as he looked at the bushes and felt an ominous pit in his stomach.


    As he looked around, he saw what looked to be a peaked roof at the centre of the maze, which was followed by what looked like a shrine gate.


    "You have got to be kidding me. I think I will juste back another time. I am not doing that." Haru thought to himself. It seemed that hisst brush with death had made him a little wiser to things that could cost him his life. And now that Li Jun and Lao were no longer around to protect him, he felt defenceless.


    Haru opened his eyes to see the inside of the hotel room once again. But this time, the lighting had changed. The sun had turned orange and was shining through the window on his side of the building, telling him that he had remained in bed for the whole day. But that didn''t matter much since he didn''t need to sleep in the first ce.


    But he found it difficult to function at night since most of the stores were closed, and he would have to wait until they opened again before buying anything, but he remembered what General Ainsworth had said to him when he woke up.


    He immediately checked his phone to see that he had a missed call from the same number that had called him in the morning and sighed. He had only missed it by a few minutes, so he decided to call back.


    The phone rang out twice before General Ainsworth answered.


    "I thought you had forgotten that I said I would call you back. But it''s good that you called. I have some news for you." General Ainsworth spoke, sounding as though he was smiling before he even gave Haru the news.


    "What is it?" Haru asked, confused as to what he could have been talking about. It usually took them weeks, if not months, to ept recruits into the army, so he didn''t think that they had done that, but as General Ainsworth spoke, Haru soon changed his mind.


    "Well, Since you were a student of the royal institute for military arts, you are already technically a soldier. All you need to do now is go to the head office to sign the final paperwork and get your uniform fitted." General Ainsworth exined as Haru sat up from the bed.


    "What? Do they want to push my paperwork through this fast? For what reason?" Haru asked, confused about the reason they were trying to rush the paperwork. They knew from the start that he had gone to a military school since General Ainsworth was the principal there. But they didn''t want to do anything before. It seemed strange.


    "Well, As I said. You technically became a soldier the day that you enrolled in the school. But my guess is that it''s because they think that Kazuo is supporting you. They will do anything to get on that guy''s good side." General Ainsworth said he rustled with what sounded like paper.


    "Really? They are only trying to push it through because they think that Kazuo is supporting me or something? Well, they don''t need to because he isn''t supporting me. We just talked, that''s it." Haru said with a sigh. He didn''t like to bask in other peoples'' glory, which is what it felt like he was doing by pushing his papers through because of someone else.


    "Well, even if you told them that. They wouldn''t believe you. It''s best that you just let them get on with it, and you will be a soldier by the end of the day. They will probably walk you through a few things and make sure that you know everything you need to know before sending you to one of the bases. Oh, by the way. Do you have a preference on which base you want to be stationed at?" General Ainsworth asked before pulling out a pen and pressing it against the sheet of paper.


    "I get to chose where I go?" Haru became confused once again. Usually, they would pick for you, and you would have no choice but to nod your head and follow their orders, but he figured that it was to try to make sure that he put in a good word with Kazuo.


    "Well, it''s probably because of Kazuo Satou again. I doubt that they actually care about where you want to go. It''s just to please him if that makes sense." General Ainsworth sighed, which was then followed by Haru also sighing.


    "Well, In that case, can you put me in Okinawa?" Haru asked.


    "Okinawa? That''s a strange request. If a war does break out, the Okinawa base will be the first to send people to the front lines. It would help if you reconsidered it. Why not think about somewhere in the north? It will be safer up there." General Ainsworth spoke as though he was concerned.


    "Yeah, but that is where Jake is, and I told him that I woulde and see him sometime soon. I figured I would kill two birds with one stone." Haruughed as he remembered that he still hadn''t checked upon him for a while, but he knew that they would be reunited soon enough.


    "Well, if that''s the case, I will let the officers know what you said and suggest that they send you to Okinawa." General Ainsworth spoke in a calm tone after a deep sigh before hanging up.

 Chapter 297: Head office.

    Chapter 297: Head office.


    Over the course of a week, Haru had gone along with General Ainsworth''s request and headed to the head office to fill in the remaining paperwork and get sized up for his uniform. While he was there, they had him go over a few of the basic requirements for soldiers, such as marching and saluting, before taking him down to the shooting range.


    Haru had an advantage over the regr soldiers being that he spent over twenty years in the military, fighting in thest war. Still, no one else knew that, but they were surprised by how natural his actions were. But when it came to shooting, they were a little dissatisfied.


    For someone who came from a military school, his uracy was almost non-existent, but that was Haru''s choice. He didn''t want to show off his skills too much since, on paper, he was still an F ranked mage. It would be reasonable if hecked skill. But they still had no problem with it since they were sure that Kazuo was supporting him in secret.


    But on the other hand, Haru felt a little bit dissatisfied. They weren''t doing their job very well by trying to push him to do better. Instead, they just let him do as he pleased and treated him as an equal, which was unlike anything he experienced in his past life. But he put it down to them not being engaged in war. It was only natural that they took the time to rx.


    After testing his abilities, they took him back inside to get a military ID printed to prove that he was a soldier and then began to pack all of his belongings into bags for him. As Haru sat there waiting for them to finish, he was approached by a group of soldiers.


    "Say, you look like you have nothing to lose. You don''t have the slightest regret of signing up, do you?" A man in a ck military dress uniform asked Haru before handing him his military ID.


    "Not really. I don''t really have anything holding me back. And to be honest, the only reason I signed up was to get away from my mothers constant nagging." Haru said with a nk expression. The exercises they made him do had made him mentally exhausted, so hisck of enthusiasm was mistaken for him trying to keep a straight face.


    "Haha, In that case, I bet you are eager to get going to the base in Okinawa, aren''t you?" The man in the ck suitughed after thinking Haru was trying to make a joke, but that wasn''t the case.


    "I mean, yeah, I would like to leave Tokyo as soon as possible. How long do you think it will be until you send me out there?" Haru asked casually while looking around the room to see a few soldiers talking to each other with looks of confusion on their faces as they stared at him.


    "Well, that''s the thing. We don''t have anyone else who is going to be stationed at the Okinawa branch. You could either wait until we send supplies down there, and we can put you in the truck with the driver. We could send you there on amercial airline. Or you could make your own way there. It''s up to you what you want to do, really." The man said while scratching the back of his head.


    He felt a little bit lost since usually people would have to wait until they sent a new unit to the base. But Haru''s case was a little different since they wanted to please Kazuo. If they made Haru wait, they thought he would tell Kazuo, and they would have hell to pay for keeping him from getting to Okinawa, but there was really nothing else they could do since it was on the other side of the country.


    "Hmm. Well, in that case, I can make my own way there. I don''t feel like being crammed in on a ne, and it will probably be quicker if I make my own arrangements. But are you really sure it''s okay? Isn''t there some protocol that you have to take?


    I didn''t think that new soldiers were given this much freedom to do what they want." Haru said, finally addressing the elephant in the room.


    "Well, we don''t usually do this. But I think it''s fine. Everyone who needs to know already knows. I will have to call the base to let them know that you are on your way. But once we have all your belongings packed up, you are free to go." The man smiled and then raised his hand in a motion to say that he wanted them to move faster while processing the things that they were packing into bags for Haru.


    "Oh, and before I forget. There was also something else that I wanted to give you. I see that you don''t have a lux on your wrist, so you can take your pick of one of ours. Sergeant Kawako. Bring the Luxes." The man turned andmanded one of the soldiers by the door.


    "Yes, sir," Sergeant Kawako stumbled over his words as he was busy talking to one of the other soldiers in the room and then quickly grabbed a small ck box from the desk and walked over to both Haru and the man in the ck dress uniform before opening the box to reveal three ck bracelets inside.


    "Chose whichever you want. The one on the left is a spear and riflebination lux, the one in the middle is a rifle and grenadeuncherbination, and the final one is a sword and a handgun." The man said before taking the box from sergeant Kawko''s hands and presenting them to Haru himself.


    ''I wonder if I canbine sword techniques with a Lux and enhance them with magic? That''s something I haven''t tried yet, but I don''t see why that wouldn''t be possible.'' Haru thought as he reached out and picked up the Lux with the sword inside.


    "You know that''s the one with a sword, right? If you chose that, then the only weapon you have to defend yourself is for close-quartersbat." The man exined with a confused expression.


    "Wait, they said you were a body enhancing mage, didn''t they? Well, that exins your performance during the shooting practice earlier. I guess your speciality is fighting up close and personal." The man quickly remembered and then voiced his opinion of Haru''s shooting ability.


    "Yup, I''m not really good at anything else." Haruughed slightly while clipping the Lux around his wrist, knowing that he was lying to their faces, but for them, it just seemed like a nervousugh since he was admitting to not being able to do anything else.


    "Is that so? Well, we should have tested you on that, too, then. But I will take your word for it. Once your belongings are packed up, you can feel free to head to the base whenever you want to. I will make a call to themter tonight to let them know you''re on your way." The man said and then looked back at the men soldiers who were packing the bags.


    "Sir, we''ve finished." One of them announced as he zipped up an army green duffel bag and a ck backpack.


    "Would you look at that? Our conversation ended just in time. You can take them and go now." The man said with a smile before holding out his arm while pointing them towards the bags on the table.


    "Then I will be going. I will set off right away, so tell them to expect me soon." Haru announced as he walked to the table, lifted both bags, and carried them by his side before walking out of the building and out into the street.


    As soon as he got out of view from the soldier''s watchful eyes, he put the bags into his storage and pulled out his phone to use as a map once again. He was getting tired of not knowing where to go, but there was really nothing he could do about it if he hadn''t been there before.


    As soon as he knew the base''s location in Okinawa, he flew up into the air and soared through the sky. Tokyo was a busy ce, so as he flew up into the atmosphere above the city, he continuously had to dodge nes and mages that were also flying.


    It wasn''t too strange for someone to be flying in Tokyo, but as the mages looked at him and saw that he wasn''t using any spell to fly, they couldn''t help but get curious. But Haru made sure that he flew fast enough that no one would be able to catch up to him.


    He flew for hours until the sun began to set before seeing the sea in the distance. That was the sign he was looking for. The sea meant that no one would be able to see him as he flew, so as soon as he got away from the coast, he flew as fast as he could, creating a sonic boom as his body exceeded the sound barrier.


    Haru flew as fast as a fighter jet past the coast of Tanabe across the ocean and used the beaches of Miyazaki as andmark to line himself up with Okinawa.


    It took him half an hour at full speed to reach Okinawa andnd on the beach so as not to raise suspicion. He figured that even with the mages working at the bases in Okinawa, the locals still weren''t used to seeing people flying, given the fact that they were a small fishing ind.


    Haru walked the rest of the way to the base on the outskirts of Naha and pulled out his bags before approaching the gates that blocked the entrance.


    "Stop there!" A spotlight shone down upon his head as two soldiers aimed guns at him as he approached them.

 Chapter 298: Body enhacning mage.

    Chapter 298: Body enhing mage.


    ''What is it now? I thought they were notified about me being on my way here. What with all this hostility?'' Haru thought as he looked down the barrels of their magic rifle from a distance. The light from the spotlight illuminated the whole road, and it looked as though they were on high alert for some reason.


    A few minutes went by as dozens of soldiers gathered at the entrance to the base with all sorts of weapons in their hands and pointed them at Haru.


    "State your name and intention!" The one who had told him to stop shouted out once again now that they had gotten more manpower to the gate.


    ''Name and intention? What kind of weirdedy show is this?'' Haru smiled before giving a sigh and doing what was asked of him.


    "Haru Kitagawa and soldiering?" He sounded confused as he thought about what he had just said. He didn''t believe that soldiering was even a word, but there was no other word that described why he was there. A few moments went by as the soldiers all looked at each other until one of them lowered their gun and stepped out from the crowd.


    "Haru?! What are you doing here?" Jake''s voice called out as he pushed his way past the other soldiers and stepped out into the street.


    "Get back here, Corporal Ainsworth! It''s not safe out there at night!" The man who was shining the spotlight at Haru shouted out once more as Jake walked out to meet him, but he wasn''t listening to anything that the man had to say.


    "I saw your message when I woke up, and when I signed up to join the army, they asked me where I wanted to be stationed, so I told them that I wanted to be here. I thought it would be nice to have at least one person I know with me if I am going to be in another city." Haru smiled as he replied.


    "Wait, You joined the army? Why did you do that? I thought you couldn''t perform magic anymore. There''s no way that they would let you join if you couldn''t cast even the most basic of spells." Jake said as he got closer to Haru.


    "Unless you told them about your cultivation and they are trying to make you fight as a secret weapon. Is that what''s happening? If it is, then I can let my grandfather know. He is pretty high ranking in the army, after all. I bet he could raise a case with the government about it." Jake whispered to not let anyone else know that Haru was a cultivator, but he seemed to have misunderstood.


    "Your grandfather was the one who recruited me, actually. I was surprised when I saw him, to be honest. But I was even more surprised to find out that when I woke up, I was able to use magic again." Haru said casually, as though it was an everyday urrence, but that couldn''t be further from reality.


    The strange turn of events that seemed to loom over Haru like a thunder cloud never ceased to amaze Jake. It seemed like no matter how bad the situation was, Haru would consistently profit from his suffering, but the same couldn''t be said about himself.


    "What?! Can you use magic again? But I thought that it was either cultivation or magic? I didn''t think that you would be able to use both of them." Jake said with shock as he thought about how unfair it would be if someone could use both.


    Not only was Haru a strong mage before he started cultivating. But he was an even stronger cultivator. He didn''t even want to imagine what kind of level he had reached while using both of them at the same time, and even Haru had yet to find out how strong he was.


    "Yeah, it turns out that they go hand in hand with each other. Magic is just another form of cultivation. Since mana is made from both Qi and imagination, it''s strange, isn''t it? There were so many things that we learnt at school about magic, but now they all seem useless." Haru didn''t mind sharing that information with Jake since he knew that he could trust him. But if anyone else found out, it might have thrown the world into an even more chaotic state than it was already in.


    "You''ve gotta be kidding me. How did you find out about that?" Jake was intrigued by the knowledge that Haru had on the subject since he thought that there might be a chance that he too could learn it and be stronger. But that was nearly impossible for him since he didn''t have the foundation for cultivation, and it would take years to master for a regr person. But just as he began to talk, the man with the spotlight shouted out again.


    "You insolent little bastard. I ought to take you out back and beat you for disobeying a direct order." The man shouted and then began to march towards them with a wooden stick by his side.


    "Corporal Ainsworth. I will give you five seconds to get back to the line before I shove this cane so far up you-" The man shouted out, but just as he did, another person interrupted.


    "What is all this about?" A woman''s voice called out from the crowd of people.


    "Captain Logan?" The man who had threatened Jake immediately turned around and faced the line of soldiers to see a middle-aged woman with dark brown hair and eyes that matched.


    "Is this your way of weing our new recruit? Because I don''t think it makes a good impression at all. What do you think Major Samson would make of this?" The woman asked with a smile as she looked at Haru and waved her hand.


    "Hi there." Haru smiled and waved back. He didn''t know who she was, but she seemed friendly enough, so he greeted her like he would with someone he had known for years.


    "Ne recruit? Do you mean this scrawny looking boy? I thought that the test was put in ce to keep away people like this?" The man said with a look of confusion. He thought that Haru was just a regr mage, and it made both Jake and Haruugh.


    "What''s so funny, huh?" The man turned around and asked but as soon as he did, another giggle came from behind him.


    "Who did that!?" He shouted before stopping as he saw Captain Liegan covering her mouth with her hand.


    "You think that he is scrawny? You should see his body. It''s actually rather muscr. Sure he might be pretty lean, but something tells me that he could wipe the floor with half the muscle heads here." Sheughed, which caught Haru''s attention.


    ''I''m concealing both my Qi and mana. How is she able to sense anything from me? That shouldn''t be the case, right?'' Haru thought as he looked at her with a confused expression before channelling Qi into his eyes as he used his spiritual sense.


    He looked at her for a few moments to see that she had an unusuallyrge amount of Qi running through her body. Usually, mages would only hold a small amount of Qi within their dantian and arge amount within their mana stores. But for Captain Liegan, the Qi seemed to flow around her whole body as though she was actively using magic.


    If it wasn''t for his spiritual sense, then he wouldn''t have noticed the faint yellow glow emerge from her eyes as a slight trace of Qi emerged from them.


    ''She''s a body enhancing mage? I know I lied about being one, but they are still pretty rare. If anyone reads the report of my recruitment, then she would be the first one to find out that I lied.'' Haruined to himself as he noticed her using an eye-enhancing spell. He felt guilty about iming that his natural strength was due to enhancing his body.


    He had lied about something, and now he was put before someone who could easily find out the truth, but as she looked at him, the man asked a question.


    "Oh, and how would you know that? What kind of rtionship do you have with that man?" He shouted out, thinking that Captain Liegan''sment about Haru''s body meant that she had seen it, but she simply turned away.


    "He''s a body enhancing mage like me. Of course, I would be told a lot about him. There aren''t many of us left after all." Captain Logan announced before walking back into the crowd.


    "Oh, and Haru. I heard that the major is looking for you. Have someone show you to his office. I''m toozy for something as trivial as that." Sheughed before entering the building.


    As she disappeared, tension filled the air as the soldiers watched on to see what was going to happen. The man that had shouted was known to them as the "Bloody Sergeant" for hisck of restraint when punishing people. He would often beat them within an inch of their life and leave pools of blood to be cleaned by other soldiers so they would learn not to disobey him.


    And that is what they thought would happen since Jake had disobeyed a direct order from him. But as he looked at Jake, to see a look of anger in his eyes. The bloody sergeant gulped before proceeding.


    "Well, since you know him, then how about you take the new recruit to speak to the major?" He said before turning around to see all of the shocked faces of the soldiers he had tortured.


    "Get back to work and stop gawking." He shouted as Haru and Jake looked at each other andughed. It was as though they had the same sense of humour since they found the awkwardness funny, and bothughed together. But time was of the essence, so Jake immediately showed him the way to the Major''s office.

 Chapter 299: Major Samson.

    Chapter 299: Major Samson.


    "So you''re Haru Kitagawa? You got here sooner than I anticipated. I was only told about you a few hours ago, yet you are already here. I guess the perks of having famous parents means that you can travel anywhere in the world." The man Jake had introduced as Major Samson.


    "Yes, sir, I flew out right away. I got bored of the scenery in Tokyo, so I couldn''t bear to stay there any longer." Haru said with a smile. He wasn''t sure how he was supposed to address the major, but he didn''t seem to think anything of it when Haru called him sir.


    He spoke with generals by just using their names, so it felt a little weird calling a Major sir. But since he seemed to be a straightforward and formal speaking man, it seemed like the right thing to do. Thest thing he wanted was to be punished on his first day at the base. That would be the worst possible way to make a first impression and would make the officers target him for insubordination.


    "Is that so? I was told that you wanted to get away from your parents too. So what do you intend to do while you are stationed here? I mean, you will obviously fight if we are ever to be engaged inbat, but what do you specialise in?


    We have somebat instructor roles avable if you are into that kind of thing. I heard that you are a hell of a fighter and managed to defeat three soldiers at once with just your bare hands in a dark room.


    It seems like you might be a contender to take on Captain Liegan. She too is a body enhancement mage and also abat instructor." Major Samson said with a smile, thinking that Haru would jump at the opportunity to take the role of abat instructor. But since they already had an instructor, he felt as though he would be taking somebody else''s job away from them.


    "Thank you, sir, but I''m not really suited for teaching anything. I''m not sure that I can be much help with practical things like that since I don''t have anything I specialise in." Haru replied, thinking that he could get out of the whole being helpful thing and be a little bitzy while at the base. But it seemed as though Major Samson had other ns for him.


    "Well, if that''s the case, then why don''t you attend thebat sses anyway? I''m sure you can pick up a thing or two from Captain Liegan. She is an incredible fighter. Even I wouldn''t stand a chance against her at close range." Major Samson smiled before looking down at a sheet of paper on his desk.


    "Oh, since you will be attending her sses, it''s probably for the best if you get acquainted with her as soon as possible. Would you mind taking this letter to her? I''m sure you two can talk about your body enhancing magic together, so it might be useful for you." Major Samson asked.


    ''Pretty bold of him to assume that all body enhancing mages have things inmon with each other. Well, maybe I would if that was actually what I was.'' Haru thought before reaching out his hand to ept the letter.


    "Yes, sir, I will get it done immediately," Haru replied in a stern voice as he was handed the letter.


    "Then you are dismissed, Private." Major Samson said with a smile before Haru turned and marched out of the room.


    ''He''s pretty well trained. From what they told me, it was likely that he would be an arrogant little brat, but it seems like he knows his ce pretty well'' Major Samson smiled as he was impressed by Haru''s first impression.


    As Haru walked out into the corridor, he heard Jake call out to him since he had decided to wait out in the hallway for his friend toe back to him. It had been a while since they hadst been together, so they wanted to make the most of it.


    "Over here," Jake called out as he was standing by three soldiers dressed in casual clothes since they had seemingly juste out of the shower judging by their damp hair.


    "Still trying to seduce girls, I see. Don''t you know that rtionships are prohibited between colleagues?" Haru joked around as he approached Jake and the three women he was standing with.


    "Yeah, I know. I was just asking about tomorrow''s morning exercise, that''s all. I have a girlfriend, so why would I do such a thing?" Jake asked with a smile. Haru forgot all about it, but he had introduced him to Reina while still back in China.


    He hadn''t spoken to Reina since he had left for Shanghai, so, therefore, he forgot about the fact that she and Jake were a thing.


    "Are you still with Reina?" Haru asked, unsure of himself since he hadn''t heard anything about either of their lives since he had been caught up with his one life.


    "Yep, She''s actually living nearby. After I graduated and joined the army, we decided that we would rent a small house wherever they decided to station me. Luckily, they made mee here, though. It''s a lot warmer than it is in Tokyo and Reina hates the cold, so I couldn''t drag her to the north with me." Jakeughed at the thought of guarding the northernmost parts of Japan that were famous for snow even in the summer.


    "I''m happy for the two of you." Haru smiled as he felt proud of himself for introducing them to each other. He felt as though they would have a lot inmon, but he didn''t actually expect them to date each other.


    Jake looked at Haru for a moment before choking back his words. He was about to ask about his love life but remembered that Suyin had died in the car ident that had left Haru hospitalised and didn''t want to bring back bad memories.


    "How about I show you around the base?" Jake asked with a smile as he quickly wrapped his arm around Haru''s shoulder and tried to pull him closer, but he wasn''t strong enough to even budge him.


    "Sure, but first, I have to take a letter to Captain Liegan. Do you know where I will find her?" Haru asked, but as soon as he did, the other soldiers who were present pulled a face as though they didn''t want anything to do with the conversation any more.


    "Well, It was nice talking to you, Ainsworth, But I think we had better go get dried off before we catch a cold." One of the women said before they all walked away.


    "Did I do something wrong?" Haru asked, feeling as though they had gone away due to something he said.


    "Well, not you. It''s just not many people like Captain Liegan. She is brutal with herbat training and is a stickler for the rules. That''s why I was surprised with the fact that she stuck up for us both when earlier. I thought she was going to demand that I''m punished because I disobeyed the bloody sergeant." Jake said with a slightly nervousugh.


    "The bloody sergeant? What''s that?" Haru asked, confused by what Jake had just said.


    "Well, I will tell you about itter. We should probably go and deliver that letter first. We have a lot to catch up on. Like the fact that you are now a body enhancing mage? When did that be a thing? I saw you do really amazing spells before, and none of them was rted to enhancing your body." Jake added as he remembered all of the spells that Haru had taught them, like the most incredible healing spell that could fix most fatal wounds or diseases.


    "About that. I kind of used it so I could cover up the fact that I''m a cultivator. The new recruitment criteria make everyone pass a hand to handbat test while in a dark room. The people who fall to the ground fail, and those who remain standing pass.


    But they wanted to know how I knew where to look after capturing one of the soldiers before he could attack me, and I made up a lie saying that I enhanced my ears to find them." Haru alsoughed nervously as he finished exining the situation to Jake.


    "Then what are you going to do about it? What if they find out that you were lying?" Jake asked, bing concerned about the fact that Haru had lied to them.


    "So what if they do? They can''t really do anything about it. But it''s fine. I know some body enhancing spells in the first ce. I can just use those to mask the fact that I''m a cultivator." Haru smiled. Being the great mage had the perks of being able to read all the books on magic theory and spells, so he made sure to be as knowledgeable in magic as he possibly could during his previous life since it helped with fighting other mages.


    "Well, I''m d you have it all figured out, but you should still be wary of Captain Liegan. She uses her magic to enhance her eyes and ears to figure out if you are trying to hide things from her. She can read people very well, so make sure that you don''t let your guard down.


    Thest thing I want is to see my best pal turned into a test subject or a dog for the government to demand you to do things for them. And before you im they can''t do anything to you. You''ve got to remember that you still have a family." Jake said, reminding Haru that his actions affected not only him but also the people that loved him.


    "That would be a grave mistake. But sure. I will be careful." Haru reassured Jake that he would avoid getting into trouble as they walked down a corridor with only one door at the end of it.


    "Then I can rest easy knowing that you won''t destroy the base over someone taking your seat in the mess hall then." Jakeughed before stopping at the door.


    "This is it. Remember what I said about keeping your guard up." Jake warned before knocking on the door.

 Chapter 300: Hatred.

    Chapter 300: Hatred.


    "Come in", A slightly annoyed woman''s voice shouted from the other side of the door, sounding like they had interrupted her from having a nice quiet night in. But this was the military, and there isn''t a single nice that will be nice when surrounded by soldiers.


    Jake looked at Haru with a bit of hesitation before Haru put down his bags, stepped forward, and pushed open the door. A warm yellow light shone out into the corridor, followed by heat as a fire made out of magic flickered in the centre of the room.


    ''They use fire magic to heat rooms here?'' Haru thought as he saw the me. It seemed like an intelligent thing to do, but it didn''t really apply to him since he lost the ability to feel the cold, but he thought that it would be helpful for other soldiers.


    He entered the room to see that it was just a single bedroom. But unlike a regr soldiers room, it was equipped with a television and a couch along with a private bathroom. That was the privilege that an officer was given.


    "Huh? Private Kitagawa. What brings you to my bedroom thiste at night? You know that there are people here who like to spread rumours. If anyone saw youe here, then it could be bad for the both of us." Captain Liegan was sitting at the edge of her bed, polishing her boots for the morning as she tried to tease Haru a little. But he wasn''t in the mood to deal with such things.


    "Major Samson asked me to bring you a letter, ma''am," Haru stated bluntly before stomping his foot against the ground and putting his hands behind his back to stand at attention.


    ''He seems different from before. I thought that it would be fun to have another body enhancing mage around here. But it seems like he isn''t a rule breaker like myself. Boring'' Captain Liegan thought as she looked up at Haru to see that he was entirely focused on handing her the letter.


    "Just leave it on the table and get going already." Captain Liegan sighed before going back to polishing her boots.


    "Yes, ma''am," Haru replied and then put the letter on the desk before turning to walk away.


    "Oh, that reminds me. Did Major Samson ask you if you wanted to be abat instructor? I could use some help training the other batch of newbies." Captain Liegan asked.


    "Yes, ma''am, but I turned him down. I don''t think it''s right for the other soldiers to take instructions from me. I just arrived here today, so I don''t want to step on anyone''s toes." Haru said calmly as he turned to look at her.


    ''Thank god, I thought that he was going to be one of those idiots that think that they have to follow every order. I hate people like that. But it seems like he is just trying to make a good impression with everyone, so he doesn''t cause any trouble.'' Captain Liegan sighed in relief as she realised why he was acting so tense.


    "Well, it wasn''t a request. It''s an order, so meet me on the beech behind the base in the morning. You will teach them whether you like it or not. Do you understand me?" Captain Liegan decided that the most efficient way to get him to do what she wanted was to use her authority as a captain to order him to do it.


    "Yes, ma''am," Haru said in a frustrated tone as he was still standing by the door at attention.


    "Good, I''m d we understand each other now. Leave. Go back to your room and sleep. You''re going to need your strength for the morning." Captain Liegan demanded as Haru felt himself getting a little more annoyed.


    ''The whole point of trying to be respectful is to make sure they are respectful to me. But why did it seem like she respected me more when I didn''t show respect to her?'' Haru bit his tongue before leaving the room without so much as another word.


    "Now I can see why no one likes her." Were the first words out of Haru''s mouth as he walked outside to see Jake waiting for him in the corridor once again.


    "Why what happened?" Jake asked, concerned about what had happened to get him so wound up.


    "She just used her authority to get me to do something that I didn''t want to," Haru responded with a frown before picking up both of his bags.


    "Wait. You''re telling me that she used her authority to molest you?!" Jake asked, outraged by what Haru had just told him, but he couldn''t farther off the mark if he tried.


    Haru stared at him for a moment and wondered what kind of sick thoughts ran through Jake''s head toe to a collision like that.


    "You have a strange imagination. Did I ever tell you that?" Haru asked with a confused expression.


    "No, you didn''t, but I get told that a lot, actually." Jake boasted as Haru stared at him for a few more seconds before bursting into a fit ofughter. Jake joined in, too, but heughed a little more nervously since he didn''t know what was funny.


    "You thought that she molested me? What the fuck is wrong with you?" Haru asked through hisughter that had now disturbed Captain Liegan, and she came running to the door.


    "Can you two clear off already. You''re too loud. Go!" She shouted as both Jake and Haru turned to look at her standing in the doorway.


    As soon as Haru saw her, though, he startedughing. Jake had made him imagine her trying to molest him, and the thought of it brought tears to his eyes.


    "Haru, Shh, Come on quick." Jake panicked as he saw her and rushed Haru down the corridor. But to his surprise, there was no further action from her.


    "What did she actually do to you if it wasn''t something like that?" Jake asked, still unsure of what happened. He thought that he made a pretty good guess but judging from Haru''s reaction. It was somethingpletely different.


    "She just ordered me to be an instructor for herbat sses. Major Samson asked me to do it, but I declined because I wanted to bezy and enjoy the freedom here. But when I spoke to her just now and told her that I said no to the Major.


    She ordered me to do it. I didn''t even get a chance to refuse. I thought that she was nice since she helped us out earlier, but that woman is evil." Haru said with a serious tone to his voice.


    "You''re such an idiot. I thought that something serious happened, but it turns out that she just wanted you to teach people how to fight. Please don''t make me worry like that again. I might have a heart attack." Jakeughed at Haru''s reaction.


    "What? You''re not on my side?" Haru was shocked by Jake''s reaction. Usually, he would suggest something drastic to get out of things like this, but it seemed like he had nothing in mind.


    "Of course, I''m not taking your side. As you said, that woman is evil. I don''t want to be caught up in something just because you want to bezy. And besides, If you taught people how to fight, then it would benefit everyone." Jake patted Haru''s shoulder before walking past him.


    "Follow me. There''s an empty bunk in my room. You can have that." Jake called out as he made his way down the corridor without Haru.


    ''That little brat.'' Haru thought to himself as Jake carried on walking. He sighed before following behind him until they made it back to the room.


    Jake opened the door to the sound of chattering as a dozen or so soldiers sat in the room talking to each other. Some of them were throwing balls to each other over the heads of the people who were seated. But one person sat in the corner alone, ying with a purple me.


    The room fell silent for a second as Jake and Haru both entered the room before starting right back up. They probably thought that it was one of the officersing into the room to tell them to shut up. But as they saw Jake, they carried on talking.


    "Just over there in the far corner." Jake pointed before sitting down on the edge of the bed closest to the door and beginning to get undressed into shorts and a t-shirt, all the while Haru was still holding his bags. He then walked over to the bed that Jake had pointed at and put them down on the mattress.


    "ck magic, huh? It''s been a while since I have seen that." Harumented to the man who was ying with purple me before opening the metal locker next to the bed and beginning to fill it with his belongings.


    "What do you know about ck magic?" The man asked as he turned to look at Haru with dark circles around his eyes.


    "Not much, Just it takes someone with strong will power to use it to its full potential. Your mind has to be full of hate even to conjure a simple spell." Haru said with a smile as he pulled out his trousers and folded them.


    "Exactly, now don''t talk to me, newbie. Before I show you how much hatred is in my mind." The man said with a cold harshness to his voice as Haru just shrugged his shoulders and carried on with what he was doing.

 Chapter 301: The bloody sergeant.

    Chapter 301: The bloody sergeant.


    "Don''t mind him; He''s just a little bit mad. I heard he killed his whole family a while back and was sentenced to mandatory military service to repent for his crimes. Don''t worry, though. He can''t harm anyone even if he wanted to. They have one of those tracking cors on him, and it restricts his magic somewhat, so he doesn''t try anything stupid." An older looking man on the bunk beside Haru''s whispered over as he heard the interaction between the two of them.


    "Is that so? Well, thanks for the info." Haru said as he folded his jackets in half andy them on one of the shelves inside the locker.


    "Not at all. I''m here to help, after all. The names Rito I''m the bunk keeper here, so I know everything that goes on here. You''re the new guy. I heard that Captain Liegan was nice to you. What''s that about? Did you know here before you arrived here?" The man asked while stroking his beard, seemingly thinking about all the possibilities that would exin why she was nice to Haru.


    "No, that was the first time I met here. I bet she just thought that we were simr since we are both bodies enhancing mages. Major Samson asked me to deliver a letter to her a few minutes ago and believe me. That attitude changed drastically. When there''s no one else around, she is a real bitch." Haru began to say as the door to the room opened up again, and everyone went quiet.


    "Room inspection." A voice called out as the man who was the first to aim a gun at Haru came into the room with a wooden cane by his side. Everyone ran to the end of their beds and stood at attention before giving a salute as he walked across the room, slowly looking at everyone''s lockers.


    All of the soldiers, including Haru, stood silently and watched as he made his way to the far corner of the room.


    "What do we have here then? Private Kitagawa, was it? Why is your locker half empty and your clothes are lying across your bed? Do you not know the basic rules of organising your locker? You were supposed to take the clothes and put them in your locker. Do you need me to teach you how to do it!?" The bloody sergeant shouted out as he saw that Haru still hadn''t put his belongings away.


    "But I was just doing that before you entered the room, Sir," Haru said in protest but still stayed respectful enough that he couldn''t be punished for being rude, but his words fell upon deaf ears.


    "Silence, Private! I won''t have any back chatting in my army. You do what you are told. Do you understand?!" The bloody sergeant yelled out as Haru tried to exin what had happened, but as he did, another voice was heard muttering as he stopped yelling.


    "I wish you would just shut up. You''re lucky, really. If I didn''t have this thing around my neck, I would shut you up for good. But if I do that now, it would be signing my own death sentence." The man who was sitting by the window and practising ck magic spoke to himself quietly as he was still sitting in the same ce he was before.


    "What was that? Care to speak louder?" The man asked with a smirk across his face like he was waiting all day for someone to question his authority.


    "I was just saying that he is too loud. Why would he still talk if I said he was loud? It doesn''t make sense. What do you think?" The man who was sitting by the window turned his head and asked Haru what he thought.


    "Well, I think it was a reasonable request. You might have just phrased it wrong. I think what you said was pretty rude." Haru replied casually as the bloody sergeant looked back and forth between the two of them in disbelief. He couldn''t actually believe that not one but two soldiers were talking during an inspection.


    "Is that any way to act during an inspection? Don''t you know how this is supposed to go? Let me walk you through this. Ie into the room. You all shut up and stop what you''re doing ande to greet me with a salute. Then I walk through the room and make sure everything is in ce. You don''t talk. You''re not supposed to talk!" The bloody sergeant yelled as Haru, and the man conversed over him.


    Jake watched from the opposite side of the room and sighed.


    ''Why couldn''t he just shut up? This isn''t a school, this is the army, and when he signed the paperwork, he agreed that he would ept any punishment that was given to him.''


    "Well, I was asked a question, Sir. I couldn''t just ignore a fellow soldier." Haru smiled, but as soon as he spoke, augh came from the mouth of the older man in the bunk next to his.


    "That''s it! All of you are on cleaning duty for the next week. You can thank your new bunkmate for that. Private Kitagawa, Private Oren, Come with me now!" The bloody sergeant shouted out as he ordered Haru and the man who practised ck magic outside into the corridor.


    "Yes, sir," Haru replied with a sigh, expecting that he would be shouted at or taken to Major Samson for some kind of punishment.


    "Whatever," Private Orin sighed as he followed Haru and the bloody sergeant out of the room.


    But unlike what Haru suspected, they carried on walking. He thought that they would just go outside to be spoken to. But it seemed that the bloody sergeant was going to take it up with Major Samson. Haru felt a little bit of regret that he disobeyed the orders, but he wondered why he should follow the orders of someone he didn''t respect.


    But Haru quickly became lost for answers as they walked past the Major''s office and out into the courtyard where it had begun to rain.


    The bloody sergeant came to a stop outside in the courtyard and then turned to face both Haru and Private Orin before shouting once again.


    "Both of you get to your knees." The bloody sergeant ordered them both as the rain poured down from the sky and wet their clothes.


    Haru looked over at Private Orin once again to see what his next move was, but he seemed just as confused as Haru was.


    "Don''t make me repeat it! Get on your knees right now!" He shouted out once again, seeing that they didn''t listen to what he was saying. There was a pause of silence as they looked at each other again.


    "But you just repeated it, didn''t you? Idiot." Private Orin said in his quiet, calm tone but was still loud enough for both Haru and the bloody sergeant to hear.


    "How dare you!" The bloody sergeant yelled in outrage.


    "But he does make a point. You said, "Don''t make me repeat it again." And then you still said it. That is pretty stupid. I think his analysis of you being an idiot is a pretty fair one if you ask me." Haru said matter of factly as he mimicked the part where he quoted what was said.


    "Right, that''s it. I was going to let this go at a light bit of beasting. But now I know that you are both disobedient and can''t follow the simplest of orders. You can both spend a night in the hole with the rest of the people who can''t follow orders." He called out once again.


    ''For a man known as the bloody sergeant, he seems pretty tame. I thought that he would try something violent against me. But it seems that he isn''t that type of person after all. But I guess I should probably go along with what he says for now at least.'' Haru thought as he continued to follow the sergeant to a building that was on the far side of the base and began to descend a dark staircase.


    The stairs seemed to go down for around ten metres before they came to what looked like a medieval-style dungeon. Haru looked around and used his spiritual Qi to look for life, and soon enough, he found it.


    There were hundreds of steel doors lined up in a single corridor, and most of them had people inside. But their life forces were weak. As though they had been starved and were on the verge of death. They seemed quiet for starving people, which told Haru that they were scared of something.


    And as two muscr looking guards emerged from the darkness, Haru could see precisely what they were scared of.


    Both of them were wearing masks to cover their faces and had an assortment of torture looking tools strapped to their belts.


    "Two more for a night in the hole. Make some room, won''t ya?" The bloody sergeant said with a smirk now crossing his lips, like a apsychotic maniac had been awakened in ce of the previously idiotic sergeant.

 Chapter 302: Geneva Conventions.

    Chapter 302: Geneva Conventions.


    "Two more? It''s been quite the week down here, hasn''t it? You seem to bring another one every single night. Lock them up and put them in a cell. We will make sure that they don''t get any food all night." One of the muscr mask-wearing men said with a sadistic tone. He seemed to find pleasure from locking people up.


    "Yeah, you would be surprised how many of them have started to be disrespectful towards metely. I guess it''s newfound confidence since there are tensions of war." The bloody sergeant said with a smile as he looked at both Haru and Private Orin.


    "It''s not funny now you''re in the dungeons, is it?" He asked and then pushed Haru''s shoulder.


    ''What the fuck? I didn''t sign up to the army to be put in a dungeon. I''m not dealing with this shit. I''m going to talk to Major Samson. I bet he will be understanding.'' Haru thought to himself as The bloody sergeant failed to move him even an inch after shoving him.


    "Still being defiant, huh? Let''s see what a night in the dungeons does to you." The bloody sergeant said before pulling out two sets of handcuffs and then approaching Haru.


    "Okay, now hold out your hands." He demanded as he opened up the handcuffs.


    Both Haru and Orin looked at each other and didn''t move.


    "If you want to cuff anyone, then cuff yourself, you old freak. I''m not into your weird fetishes. I''m going back to my room. What about you, Orin? Are you going to stick around for this guy''s weird kinks?" Haru finally had enough and sighed before turning his head to Orin after remembering that he had a cor restricting his magic power.


    "Don''t talk to me like we''re friends. But I agree, I''m tired of this." Orin muttered once again. He lifted his head slightly to look at Haru and then lowered it.


    "You still want to be defiant!? Hold out your hands right now! That''s an order from a superior officer!" The bloody sergeant shouted out as the other two men looked at each other, not knowing what to do since it was the first time they had seen anyone refuse to be imprisoned.


    The bloody sergeant held out his hand and began to activate a spell to restrain both Haru and Orin, but Haru sucked out the Qi from his attack as soon as he did.


    "Huh?!" The bloody sergeant asked as his spell refused to activate. He thought that he was going crazy, but he quickly remembered that the room they were in restricted the use of magic to stop prisoners from running away. He then looked to the two men for help.


    "Restrain both of them for me. Don''t let them leave!" He yelled out as Haru took a few steps towards the entrance.


    "Yes, sir!" They shouted out in unison before running to apprehend Haru and Orin.


    ''Idiots.'' Haru thought to himself while using his spiritual sense to make sure that they couldn''t sneak upon him. He felt as their feet hammered against the floor as they tried to catch up.


    But as one of them reached out towards him, Haru quickly turned and punched him in the stomach. The man''s eyes opened wide as all of the air escaped his lungs before his body left the ground and was sent hurling through the room and struck the wall behind him.


    A loud bang shook the room as dust circled the room as The sergeant and other guard stopped what they were doing and took a step back as they looked at Haru with shocked expressions.


    "I don''t care about your rank. I was trying to be respectful, but you picked a fight with me for no reason at all. If you read my file, you would find your actions today were very foolish." Haru said with a sigh as he looked at the sergeant.


    "You think I''m foolish? Exin how. What''s so good about your file?" The sergeant asked for an exnation. To him, he was just doing his job and punishing insubordinate soldiers. He didn''t understand how it was foolish at all.


    "Do you know what my name is?" Haru asked with a smug look on his face, knowing what was about to happen.


    "Yes, It''s Haru Kitagawa, right? Major Samson informed me of you being assigned to my unit." The sergeant said with a look of confusion. He didn''t understand exactly what was happening. But he did know that the punch Haru gave to the guard was powerful, but that was to be expected of a body enhancing mage.


    Upon hearing what the sergeant said, the guard flinched with a gasp before taking a step back. He seemed to have realised something that the sergeant didn''t and began to feel nervous.


    "Ha, it looks like your friend is a little smarter than you are." Haruughed slightly upon seeing the reaction. Orin, on the other hand, had the same reaction as the sergeant. He was confused and had no clue at all as to what was going on.


    "Teik, What is it? Do you know something that I don''t?" The sergeant enquired about what the guard had noticed, but the guard seemed too shaken to respond.


    "If you are having trouble, Then try saying my surname but slower." Haruughed before turning away and taking another step towards the stairs.


    "Kitagawa" The sergeant repeated as Haru continued to walk back up the stairs along with Orin, now that the sergeant knew he couldn''t push them around as simply as he thought he could. But just as they reached the surface, they both turned back after hearing a screame from within the dungeon.


    "Fuck! WHAT DID I DO!?" The sergeant screamed loudly as he, too, recognised Haru''s name and began to repent immediately.


    Orin wasn''t one to ask questions, but even he repeated Haru''s name over and over in his head, trying toe up with an exnation as to why the guard reacted how he did with just the mention of his name. But he came up empty. He couldn''t conclude why they became so scared.


    But since he wasn''t the talkative type, he remained silent and didn''t ask. He was good at doing that, and that was what he stuck to.


    Haru and Orin walked back to the main building in the pouring rain. But they had different destinations. Orin wanted to go back to his bed and sleep, but he had decided to speak with Major Samson about what had happened as for Haru.


    There was no way that he was going to stand by and do nothing about it. They had admitted they were starving soldiers as a punishment. That was inhumane and went against the Geneva conventions. If anyone found out, then the Major would get into a lot of trouble for allowing it to happen at his base, whether he knew about it or not.


    ''I can try to suppress it. But I can''t deny the fact that I wanted to kill all three of them for how they were acting just now. But that would turn the army against me. I guess I should just bring it to their attention the right way.'' Haru thought as he felt the urge to murder the sergeant and the two guards when they tried to restrain him. He didn''t do anything worth imprisonment, yet they still wanted to starve him.


    He sighed before knocking on the door to Major Samson''s office after seeing there was still a light flickering within.


    "Come in," Major Samson shouted out.


    Haru opened the door and walked in to find that he was still sitting behind his desk and working on aptop. He looked a little busy given the fact that he had yet to look up from his desk to see Haru standing there, but as he did, there was a surprised look on his face.


    "Private Kitagawa? I didn''t expect you woulde and see me. What can I do for you?" He asked with a look of worry. It wasn''t every day that a Private would go to the Major''s office for something.


    Upon being greeted by Major Samson, Haru sighed and took a seat at the desk, dropping the respectfulness he had shown earlier. He was in no mood to put on an act and wanted to see the sergeant punished for his actions.


    Major Samson hesitated to ask what had happened as he looked at Haru since he sensed that something was off. To him, it seemed like he was no longer looking at a young man but, in fact, an old war veteran who had killed hundreds of people before.


    He had the vague sense that something had happened and Haru had killed someone and felt afraid to ask what had happened just in case it was true, but his duties as a soldier didn''t let him sit silently. He pushed himself to ask, and as Haru exined everythi

 Chapter 303: Court Martial.

    Chapter 303: Court Martial.


    Haru remained in the room alone and took a few seconds to cool himself down. He felt as though he really would kill them. He felt as though since Suyin had died, he became a lot more aggressive and easily angered. He felt as though the world owed him an apology for taking her from him, but most importantly, he felt a deep hatred towards the demon n.


    If they had nevere to earth, then he wouldn''t have lost Suyin. He pushed the majority of the me onto them for being greedy and trying to take over as manys as they could. But he also med himself. He hated that he wasn''t strong enough to save her.


    And he regrets causing trouble with the demon n when he was in the soul tempering grounds. If he had never gone there, then they probably wouldn''t have even found earth. He found himself in a difficult situation since he couldn''t put all of the me onto one of the parties involved.


    So he felt anger towards everyone, including himself. He had taken countless lives in both his present and past life and had certainly no issue with taking more. But he was lost on what he could justify. He didn''t want to be like the demons and murder everyone who ever uttered a bad word in his direction. But he also didn''t want to be killed.


    So he had a hard time deciding if he should kill someone or not, which also added to his frustrations. As he looked around the room, he began to notice photographs on the walls with Major Samson standing or sitting with lots of famous people, all with their names marked on a que underneath their frames.


    "Hmm, what''s this?" Haru asked as he stood up and walked towards them to take a closer look. He was intrigued as to what Major Samson did in his free time. But as Haru got closer, he began to notice people he had seen on the news channels before.


    Such as the presidents of Korea, Japan and China all gathered at a conference with Major Sitting beside the President of Japan.


    ''Hmm, it seems that he has friends in very high ces. So why is he only a major?'' Haru thought to himself as he looked around more.


    There were pictures of him with mage''s of all sorts, and one stood out above the rest a picture of Haru in his previous life when he was the great mage. He was standing on a battlefield with a whole bunch of other soldiers while looking off into the distance while Major Samson, who seemed to be in his early teens, stood to pose while Haru looked away.


    ''He was there that day?'' Haru thought as he remembered exactly what had happened on that day since it was an important day in the war.


    The day that Haru had thought back to was a day that left an impression on him, and he never forgot what happened. Bombs had dropped on the streets of Tokyo, and in response to the constant bombing, Japan went across the ocean to raid an enemy base. But it didn''t stop at just that.


    The man who had led the attack wanted to show that Japan wasn''t going to sit down and take the bombing, so instead of just fighting the soldiers in the base. He sent orders for the army to move into the city and kill the civilians.


    Haru was at the military headquarters when the general asked what was going on since there were reports of civilians being executed. But there was no reply from the unit, and the killing continued. The general thought that they had lostmunications, so he sent Haru to get in touch with the unit leader to ask what was going on.


    But as Haru arrived in the American city and walked the streets, he heard screaming followed by gunshots as the Japanese unit was massacring the civilians.


    As he began to locate the soldiers, he found a young boy crying over the lifeless corpse of his dead mother. He thought that they were just caught up in the fighting at first, but as he watched on, he saw the unit leader walking around and shooting the bodies on the ground in the head to make sure that they were dead.


    But as he got to the young boy and his parents, he then turned the barrel of the gun towards the child. As Haru realised what happened, he flew into a fit of rage and killed the unit leader on the spot. He then used magic to bind all of the soldiers that went along with his n and took them back to join the battalion that had taken over the military base.


    He handed them over to the leader of the battalion who had led the assault and then exined what had happened before all of the soldiers involved were court-martialed and punished to death by gunfire for their crimes. Haru then walked back into the war-torn city and looked at all of the destruction to make an urate report when he returned to headquarters.


    That was when the picture was taken. A few of the soldiers had gathered around to see the great mage and the number one ranked mage in all Japan and took some pictures of him while his back was turned to them without his knowledge.


    ''That''s a little bit creepy.'' Haru thought as he wondered how many pictures had been taken of him without his knowledge. But as he continued to look around, he also spotted a picture closer to the ceiling.


    It was Major Samson shaking hands with Haru''s mother. They were both wearing their dress uniform and standing in some kind of hall. And Major Samson had a medal on his chest and was smiling as the picture was taken.


    On the other hand, Krista had a slight bulge in her stomach that was showing through her uniform.


    "That was when she was pregnant with me?" Haru asked as he looked at the picture. This was the first time he saw a picture of Krista while she was carrying him. It felt strange to look at, but he couldn''t take his eyes off it for some reason.


    "Did I make the wrong call? I know that she was just worried about me, but it felt like she was judging me for doing the exact same things that she does. Should I apologise?" Haru thought as his eyes remained on the photo. But as he did, the sound of Mana spiralling through the air filled the room before footsteps hit the floor and Major Samson was back.


    "Sorry I took so long. I just had to take him back to Tokyo for his punishment. General Ainsworth has taken over the situation, and knowing him, They won''t get off easy. Especially since they have broken internationalw to punish our own soldiers." Major Samson said as he entered the room once again to see Haru standing by the wall.


    "Is that so?" Haru asked with his mind in another ce. Everything that Major Samson had just said had gonepletely over his head. He was too lost in his own mind to even care about anything that he was saying. Until a hand lightly grabbed his shoulder, bringing him out of his trance.


    "Hm, You found your mother, huh? I''ve been collecting photographs with people I looked up to all my life. It''s a way to remember the past and how I got to where I am right now. That was the day that I was promoted to Major. It was neen years agost week." Major Samson said with a smile as Haru turned to look at him.


    "Your mother was the one who gave me my rank since it was the same day that she retired. I never thought that I would be promoted by Krista Kitagawa, only to have her son join my battalion neen yearster. The chances of that just seem a little strange to me.


    But knowing both your mother and your father, I am sure that you too will eventually rise to fame. I should probably take a photo with you while I still can, but that seems a little inappropriate now you have seen my collection." Major Samson chuckled slightly before releasing his hand and sitting back down at his desk.


    "You know my father too?" Haru asked. It was the first time that he had seen somebody recognise his father since it rarely ever happened.


    Luke wasn''t as well known as Krista was, but even he climbed his way to the top of the military rank and stood slightly behind Krista in rank. But his feats weren''t as well known since he was only in the army for less than five years.


    But the things that he did were extraordinary.


    "I sure do. He even trained me at one point. He taught me how to use a few basic ice and water spells since there is no other mage nearly half as good as him in those areas" Major Samson said with and smiled before pointing to another picture frame on the wall.

 Chapter 304: Sergeant?

    Chapter 304: Sergeant?


    Haru talked with Major Samson for a few hours as it soon hit one o''clock in the morning, and they were alerted by the sound of his rm which was supposed to indicate that it was time for him to go to bed. Unlike the other soldiers on the base, Major Samson had lots of things to do. During the day, he would take requests and questions from the soldiers, and during the night, he would have to report what is going on to the higher-ups at headquarters.


    It was a stressful job that required him to stay up into the early hours of the morning, so it was a necessity that he set a reminder to sleep or else he would forget to altogether. But now, he knew that he wouldn''t get any sleep at all. And thest thing that he wanted was for one of his soldiers to pass out while on duty. So he ordered Haru to return to his room and sleep.


    Haru gave a salute out of respect for Major Samson, but he found the whole ordeal strange as they had already met in his past life, but he never knew that they did.


    After returning to his room, Haru quickly noticed that the lights were out and everyone was already asleep. He swiftly made his way across the room without disturbing anybody, which wasn''t a problem since his footsteps were as quiet as a summer night''s breeze. As he wrestled with his nkets and pulled them up over his body, he felt a gaze upon him.


    For any regr person, it would be too dark to see. But for Haru, it was a simple task of directing his Qi towards his eyes. It allowed him to see in even the darkest of climates. Which meant the darkroom was nothing. The room quickly lit up within his gaze, and he spotted Orinying in bed at the opposite side of the room, staring with a confused expression.


    ''What is this creep doing?'' Haru thought as he looked over at the Orin who was staring into Haru''s soul. But that didn''t do anything to help him understand.


    Not wanting to wake anyone, Haru remained silent and closed his eyes while pretending to be asleep. He entered his soul ocean while he wasted the night away cultivating his strength. Hours passed as he still felt the gaze upon him until the sun peeked over the mist on the ocean.


    Birds chirped loudly as they flew around the humid ind, bringing the sounds of waves along with them as they soared through the sky. But that was quickly silenced by the sound of knocking upon the door.


    ''Wake up! Wake up! It''s time to work!'' Yelled one of the soldiers responsible for waking the battalion. The rustling of sheets and morning coughs from the smokers in the room gave Haru the signal to get out of bed.


    He turned straight to his locker and put on his new uniform. It was the first time he had worn it since trying it on, so everything remained brand new, which was soon pointed out by one soldier.


    "Hey, the newbie still has green camos. You know what that means don''t you? It''s time to turn him into a human mop bucket!" A bearded man yelled as he gathered the troops to dirty Haru''s uniform.


    Haru starred as they approached him with the intention of messing up his uniform until Orin stepped out from his bunk and held out his hands towards them.


    "I don''t think that''s a good idea," Orin stated, as clear as day in a voice that he had never used before. It took them all by surprise, including Haru, as they had never heard him speak out in such a way.


    The soldiers stopped for a moment and took the time to process what they had just heard. It took them a while to understand, but they immediately backed off when they saw the purple mes gather within his hands.


    "This is no fun. Why did the freak have to ruin it? Come on. We have PT with Captain Liegan. Let''s not have our morning ruined any further." The man with the beard insisted as he clearly took on the role of group leader. All of the soldiers followed behind him and left the room, leaving only Jake and Haru remaining.


    "What happenedst night? I didn''t see youe back. And when I asked Orin about it, he just ignored me like he usually did. Why did he stand up for you?" Jake asked, confused by the situation. But he knew that there was a perfectly reasonable exnation.


    "Oh, not much. I just had to kick some ass to get what I wanted, that''s all. Just the usual." Haru smiled as he mocked what he had done the night before as they both followed slightly behind the group and out into the courtyard.


    SPecs of rain drizzled down from the sky as they stepped outside into the humid air of the ind town. The sun beamed down through the darkened clouds warming the earth as it was cooled by rain.


    "Fall in, Fall in!" A voice shouted from behind as Major Samson walked out from the building behind them. Upon hearing his voice, the soldiers practically ran to get into position and salute the Major as he walked along the yard.


    "Good, Good. It''s nice to see that my staff has trained you well. Now, I know what you''re wondering. "Why are we getting a visit from the top brass?" Well, it came to my attention that one of my sergeants had been treating you all awfully.


    He even went against the Geneva conventions to punish some of you for disobeying his unreasonable orders. First, I would like to apologise on his behalf, and those of you affected will surely bepensated. As the leader of this battalion, it is my responsibility to make sure you are all looked after. So I think it''s time that we elect a new sergeant to take his ce.


    Now I know what you will think about my decision, but I believe you should have someone you can confide with.


    I know he might be new here, but I think that it will be best for you to have someone younger lead and direct you with their morals. I believe that you will all see this in the future. So Corporal Jake Ainsworth, Please take a step forward." Major Samson announced to all of the soldiers present for their morning exercise.


    Jake looked at Haru with a gaze that said, "Who me?" Haru smiled for a moment and then nodded his head, urging his friend to ept the reward.


    Jake looked back and forth for a few moments before taking a step forward like he was instructed to do. As he walked towards Major Samson, he noticed that he was holding a golden pin within his hand.


    "Congrattions Sergeant, You will be the one to lead this unit, so make sure that you get to know all of your men as though they are your brothers." Major Samson smiled before reaching out and cing the golden pin upon his chest, Signifying that he had been promoted to sergeant.


    ''What did I do? This has to be some kind of a mistake, right? I have been here for less than eight months, and they are already making me a sergeant? This has to have something to do with Haru, right? It seems odd that he disappeared for a night, and then in the morning, they made me a sergeant.


    Just what in the world did he do? Do they know the reason why he hade here? Because I sure as hell can''t see why he would.'' Jake thought as he looked at Haru with a curious re.


    Before he could even turn around to look back at Major Samson, the unit had taken the opportunity to apud their new sergeant as he was promoted in front of them.


    Jake turned to look at his new unit to be greeted with a salute by all of the members, including Haru, who was smiling proudly like a father who had watched his child grow up.


    ''I don''t know what they''re nning, but I think making Jake a sergeant was a good call. He will soon be one of the highest-ranking mages if he decides to show off his power. I made sure of that myself when I taught him all of those spells.'' Haru thought as he looked at the first friend he had made in this life.


    "Well then, I will leave this morning''s register to you then Sergeant Ainsworth. I believe it shouldn''t be a problem, should it?" Major Samson asked with a smile before handing Jake a clipboard filled with the names of all of the soldiers under hismand and walked back inside, leaving them just as quickly as he had appeared.


    Jake looked around for a few moments in disbelief about what had just happened. But it was real; He had be a sergeant in less than eight months of graduating, Making him one of the youngest sergeants in the country at the age of neen.


    ''If my grandfather could see me now. I bet he wouldn''t think I''m still a failure.'' Jake smiled with joy as he looked at his unit and began to read out names.


    One by one, he received a "Yes, Sir." Along with a salute as he called out to them all while walking up and down the rows of soldiers before finally reaching Haru.


    "Private Haru Kitagawa?" Jake called out, acting as though the name was unfamiliar to him. But he couldn''t help but smile as he looked at Haru with a look of joy.


    "Yes, Sir!" Haru called out with a stomp of his foot before raising his hand to his brow with a serious-looking face, not breaking character for even a moment as a way to show respect for Jake''s new promotion.

 Chapter 305: Flip the script.

    Chapter 305: Flip the script.


    After Jake had finished filling in the register with the names of all of the soldiers present, he then took the initiative to do what all the other sergeants would do during the day. He ordered all of the soldiers that were now under his control to go about their daily business. After all, they already knew what they had to do during the morning since it was the same as what they did every morning.


    It was time for the morningbat sses with Captain Liegan. However, they weren''t inbat at the moment. The basic standard for soldiers was that they had to be ready for battle at a moments notice, and the new regtions of the army required all the soldiers to learn hand to handbat for the moments when they couldn''t use magic, like if they were stuck in a magic sealing trap.


    Or if they ran out of mana. But even though they had sses in hand to handbat, it wouldn''t be any use if they were up against someone who still had a lot of mana left. They would be killed without mercy, so that was why all the soldiers were required to carry a lux.


    Most of them had guns within so they could take care of enemies at any distance, but the daring people who liked to be up close and personal during the fight often opted for close-range weapons like spears and swords, although they weren''t that popr.


    Jake waited for his soldiers to go about their business before walking over to Haru, who was waiting for him.


    "You had something to do with this, didn''t you? What did you do to get them to make me a sergeant? I have been here for less than a year, and I already outrank half of my old ssmates. You know Mia isn''t even a sergeant yet, and she has been in the army since she was sixteen." Jake eximed as he still didn''t understand why they had promoted him.


    But Haru didn''t do anything. Not that would make the Major promote Jake to sergeant. He guessed that he just did it to make life easier for Haru during his stay at their base. If hismanding officer was someone he got along with, then he wouldn''t get into any trouble.


    "I really didn''t do anything. Maybe he was thinking about doing it for a while but did It now because the old sergeant is no longer here?" Haru asked, trying to take the suspicion away from him. But it didn''t work. In fact, it only made Jake suspect he did something even more.


    "Well, Thank you. I don''t know what you did but thank you. I was waiting to try to be a corporal, but now I don''t need to. I am already a Sergeant, and now I can make sure that Reina can quit her job since I will naturally get a pay rise.


    Do you want toe and visit my house at the weekend? I''m sure she will be surprised to see you. I haven''t gotten the time to tell her that you are here, so she still thinks you''re in aa right now. I bet she will freak out when she sees you." Jakeughed as they nned a reunion at his house as they walked down to the beach where thebat ss was being held.


    But before they could get another word in, Captain Liegan spotted them from a distance and shouted out to hurry them along, so she didn''t have to wait to start beating people up.


    "Come on! I Won''t wait all day! If you don''t get your asses here within ten seconds, I will make you do a hundredps of the ind." She called out aggressively as Jake and Haru both looked at each other and then decided to run.


    Although Jake had been promoted, he was nowhere near a captain, so in front of Captain Liegan, he was just the same as all the privates that were sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of her.


    Jake used a gust of wind to propel him forwards to try to get to the beach within the ten seconds that they allowed, and Haru began to use Qi but then quickly remembered that he had to keep it a secret.


    ''Shit, I almost exposed myself. Do I know a movement spell for a body enhancing mage?'' Haru asked himself before remembering a spell that would allow him to use mana much like he used Qi to put more strength into his legs. Although it was nowhere near as fast as it would have been if he used Qi, it still allowed him not to be punished for beingte and keep his cover as just a regr mage.


    Jake and Haru arrived within five seconds, but somehow Haru still managed to get there before Jake and sat down just as he made it there.


    "You''re lucky. That''s cutting it a bit close don''t you think." Captain Liegan said with a smile before starting her lesson.


    "Do you all know the most important thing about hand to handbat?" She addressed therge group of soldiers that were sitting down as she began to stroll up and down with impatience as she waited for someone to answer her question.


    "Dodging?" One of the soldiers raised his hand before asking. He didn''t know if it was right or not, but from the number of times she had told them that dodging was necessary, he thought it was a pretty good guess, but the look on Captain Liegan''s face said otherwise.


    "Wrong, One hundred push-ups. Now!" She shouted out viciously as the man quickly got onto his front and started doing push-ups as fast as he could without protest.


    ''It seems like they respect her a lot to listen like this. I wonder what kinds of things she teaches them?'' Haru thought as he looked at how eager the soldier was to do push-ups when she ordered him to, but as soon as a smile cracked across his lips, he became the target of the question.


    "Tell me, What''s the most important thing about hand to handbat?" Captain Liegan asked again, but this time with her finger pointed directly at Haru.


    "Well, there are many factors. But I would say defence. If you can''t block an attack, then you won''t get the opportunity to hit them back. You never know how strong their first attack will be, so if it hits you and you get knocked out, you are as good as dead." Haru stated his opinion on the subject as Captain Liegan began to nod her head in approval.


    "Yes, that''s right. You can''t fight if you can''t defend. It''s the fundamental of fighting. I don''t know if any of you have seen boxers fight. But they keep their guard up to stop themselves from being knocked out and losing the fight.


    It''s pretty much the same for actualbat too. And the JDF hand to handbat technique takes a lot of inspiration from many martial arts, but our defence is based on western boxing. Since it''s vital that you keep both your torso and head protected.


    As long as your vital organs aren''t damaged, you will be able to fight on, so we developed our own martial art to make sure that you all remain safe on the battlefield. I need some volunteers to demonstrate how to block. It will be your job to hit me, and I will block it. So don''t feel shy. Come on up." Captain Liegan exined and then taunted the soldiers to see if anyone had the guts to go up against her.


    But as she expected, not a single one of them volunteered. They all remained seated and then looked up and down at each other to see if anyone would be willing to do it.


    "Fine, since non of you want to do it, then I will pick the two trouble makers that werete for my ss. Now both of you get your asses up here." Captain Liegan smiled as she pointed at both Haru and Jake.


    They looked at each other for a moment as the rest of the soldiers began to chuckle so they wouldn''t piss off Captain Liegan, but their attempt at being quiet didn''t get past here one bit.


    "Shut up, or I will line you up, and you will all get a turn too," She threatened, which made Haru think that she nned something much more than just showing them how to block.


    Jake seemed worried as they were called up, but Haru didn''t know what he was in for and immediately stood up to do what she had asked them to do.


    "Oh, You don''t seem nervous. But I guess you should already know how to fight since you''re also a body enhancing mage." Captain Liegan quickly analysed Haru as he stood with his back turned to the rest of the soldiers.


    "Yes, ma''am," Haru said as he agreed with her that he knew how to fight.


    "Hmm, is that so? Then why don''t we flip the script a little and show them what a real fight looks like?" Captain Liegan said before twisting her hips and aiming her fist towards Haru''s face, without giving him any time to react.

 Chapter 306: I see.

    Chapter 306: I see.


    Captain Liegan''s fist hurdled towards Haru''s face as he looked the other way. But as he felt her intent to attack him, the world around them both seemed to slow down. Her attack was both weak and slow as she didn''t envelope it with mana, and Haru felt as though he could dodge it with ease.


    But that wasn''t good enough. Since she had the spirit of catching him off guard with a sucker punch, he didn''t see the harm in embarrassing her a little. So instead of dodging, Haru brought his hand up and caught her punch in the palm of his hand.


    The sound of her fist striking against flesh made a few of the soldiers flinch as though they thought that she managed to hit him in the face. But as they looked back, they soon realised that Haru was holding his hand in front of his face and clenching her fist.


    "How did you just? Never mind. Let''s see how you deal with this!" Captain Liegan said as she wondered how Haru could tell that she was going to punch him. Because she thought that it would be nearly impossible to block a punch that he didn''t know wasing.


    But instead of admitting defeat, she decided to go for another attack but this time tried to kick him in the chest while tugging on her hand to break free. But once again, time slowed around Haru as she attempted to kick him. Her attacks were simply too slow to be a threat to him, but she didn''t stop.


    So once again, he decided to embarrass her. Instead of dodging the attack or letting go of her hand like she expected he would, Haru decided to use a body enhancing spell to protect his body from her kick.


    [Protective shell]


    Manna rushed through the inside of his body before stopping under the skin of his torso to protect his body from her kick.


    Captain Liegan''s foot hit Haru in the ribs, but he remained standing and holding her hand in front of his face. She looked at him with a worried expression since she thought that she would have the upper hand for sure. But it seemed as though she was outssed all together.


    The rest of the soldiers all looked up at Haru with admiration as he was the first person within the whole battalion that had managed to block not one but two attacks from Captain Liegan. She had a reputation for being undebatable in hand to handbat but for the soldiers that were watching. It started to look like that was going to change.


    ''How does he know where I''m going to attack? Has he been using a spell this whole time? I bet he is using eyes of truth, isn''t he? Well, two can y that game.'' Captain Liegan thought before gathering mana around her eyes.


    [Eyes of truth]


    The spell activated, causing a slight yellow tint around her iris. It appeared that she was getting desperate to win, so Haru let go of her hand. He just wanted to embarrass her a little, not piss her off, and he thought that there wasn''t much point in making her hate him.


    But as soon as he let go of her hand, she tried to punch him again, but this time she used a spell to strengthen her attack. She was aiming to injure Haru with the punch, so once again, he blocked it with his hand while using the same spell to make it look like he needed mana to protect himself, but in reality, even her strongest attacks would be a threat.


    Captain Liegan looked defeated as her attack was blocked once again by Haru.


    "Come on. I thought you were supposed to be abat instructor? Is this really all you''ve got?" Haru whispered to her. He didn''t want her to give up so easily without giving him away to let her win.


    Despite the fact that she tried to sucker punch him, Haru thought that he would still feel awful if he outright defeated her without a bit of a struggle, but quite frankly, he didn''t want to win, so he hoped that she would do something else so he could act as she beat him.


    But after hearing Haru''s words, it made her feel infuriated.


    ''He''s clearly stronger than me. But he still has the nerve to mock me!? How dare him!'' She thought before grabbing Haru''s wrists and twisting her arm around, and then bending down to flip him up into the air.


    Haru smiled lightly as he knew that she was going for a Judo throw, so he decided to help her a little. He jumped up in the air as she pulled his arm, making it easier for her to move him and sessfully m him to the ground.


    The sand around Haru flew up into the air as his back struck the ground.


    ''Finally. I thought that she was going to let me embarrass her all day. At least now she can keep her pride. I just hope that she doesn''t target me in the future now.'' Haru thought as the rest of the soldiers started tough.


    "That''s what he gets for thinking that he can actually go up against the Captain. All she needed to do was get a little bit serious, and he ended up like the rest of us." One of the soldiers shouted out as Haru pretended to groan in pain.


    But as soon as he did, Captain Liegan ran over to him and knelt down beside him to check if he was okay, which came as a shock to the rest of the soldiers since she never showed that muchpassion when she injured anyone else.


    "Are you okay?" She asked as she rolled Haru onto his back to get a look at him.


    "Yeah, I will be fine. You just knocked the air out of me, that''s all." Haru grunted as he held his stomach and pretended to be in pain.


    "Okay, well, let me take you to the infirmary just to make sure that there aren''t any other injuries." Captain Liegan said as she grabbed Haru''s arm and helped him to his feet. Haru didn''t say anything else as he put his arm over her shoulder and leaned against her while faking a limp as she took him back to the base and took him into the infirmary.


    Haru sat down on the edge of one of the beds since the nurse wasn''t in there when they arrived. Captain Liegan then sat down beside him and rested her head on her hands for a minute before looking back up at Haru.


    "Why did you do it?" She asked without any context of what she was talking about, which confused Haru slightly since he didn''t know what she was talking about.


    "Why did I do what?" Haru asked as he tried to seem as inconspicuous as he possibly could.


    "Come on. Don''t y stupid. We both know that you are clearly a lot stronger than me. Yet you decided to let me win. Tell me, why did you do it?" Captain Liegan asked, seeing right through his act.


    ''I thought that was pretty good acting. I guess it wasn''t good enough though,'' Haru thought to himself before standing up since he no longer had to hide that he wasn''t actually hurt.


    "Well, I felt terrible. You seemed determined to win, and I didn''t want to make the other soldiers question your authority. I have been here for less than twenty-four hours while you have been leading this battalion, probably at least a few years.


    I would just feel wronging here and flipping the hierarchy over something like this. I just thought that it was better to let you keep the respect that you earned as abat instructor." Haru exined since there wasn''t much use in hiding his intentions anymore. But when he finished, Captain Liegan didn''t say anything. She just stared at the floor for a few minutes.


    "I see." She said with a sigh as she continued to look down.


    "While I appreciate the thought. I''m not going to thank you. You don''t know how much trouble it is trying to teach people to fight who are unwilling to learn. I have been trying for years, yet not a single one of them is interested.


    They would much rather be practising spells and such. I just felt like maybe you would understand. You and I are simr, after all. Being body enhancing mages means that we can''t use other spells that well, so I thought that you would be with me when the Major asked you to help me.


    But then you refuse, and when you see that you are stronger than me, you pitty me. I don''t know how I should feel about this, but I can tell you that it doesn''t feel good. I thought that I might be able to get along with you since we are in the same boat. But it seems like you are just the same as everyone else. You are just pitying me because I can''t use external spells or because I am weaker than them.


    If you don''t want to attend thebat sses anymore, then don''t. I don''t care anymore." Captain Liegan said with a shaky voice and then sighed before turning her back to him.


    ''I guess I misunderstood her. I didn''t mean for it to turn out like this. I just didn''t want her to target me because I beat her.'' Haru thought as she continued o walk through the room before reaching the door.


    "Fine. I will help you with instructing the other soldiers. I misunderstood your intentions. I''m sorry." Haru called out from the bed as she reached out towards the door handle.

 Chapter 307: An old acquaintance.

    Chapter 307: An old acquaintance.


    (Hello, I''m sorry for going MIA on you guys but I needed some time to myself. Writing every day for 8 months really takes a toll on your mind and I was finding myself getting upset over the smallest things and I ended up hating this novel.


    I hope you forgive me but I have gotten to a point where I am beginning to feel better and I hope to carry on with updates as often as possible. Thank you all for your support and I hope that you will continue to read in the future. So here it is. The long-awaited chapter 307.)


    "Really!? You will?" Captain Liegan asked as she turned around with a look of excitement on her face. It was something that Haru hadn''t expected to see since she was usually stoic and had an intimidating air around her but seeing her smile as she did. It made her seem more approachable, and he felt a little bad about rejecting the offer in the first ce.


    "Sure, I have nothing better to do while I am here. And if it helps, then you out it''s good for both of us." Haru said with a sigh as he reconfirmed that he was willing to help instruct the soldiers with her.


    "Good! Then I will see you tomorrow morning in the same ce. But make sure you get there earlier so we can talk over the ns for the day." Captain Lieganmanded but smiled as she stopped speaking before leaving the room and going about her business, Leaving Haru alone in the infirmary on his own before he too went back to his duties.


    ***


    Months passed as Haru lived his life as abat instructor on the base while training his abilities, making sure that no one found out about his real powers. He simply concealed them and only used magic that a body enhancing mage could use.


    At first, it was difficult to maintain, but as the seasons changed and Japan began to enter winter, Haru had gotten a good grasp on hiding his past in China. All seemed fine in the base, and there were no more mishaps between any of the officers abusing their powers.


    But the peace was soon destroyed as the United States dered war on China after a long standoff in the ocean.


    "Hey, don''t you think that you guys are too close? Two officers and a private eating dinner together is nothing but strange. Shouldn''t you guys be maintaining the hierarchy? It seems more like you are increasing insubordination." One of the soldiersined as he walked past Haru, Jake and Captain Liegan, who were talking together while eating.


    "I beg your pardon? You dare to criticise a-" Captain Liegan began to say as she looked up to see the soldier standing at the foot of their table.


    "Major Samson! Sir, I''m sorry I was just-" Captain Liegan began to panic as she saw that the person who had spoken was, in fact, her boss, and she was just about to disrespect him in front of everyone. But luckily, she had stopped before saying anything too damaging.


    "Haha, It''s fine. It was just a joke. Anyway, I have heard that you two have been mentoring young Haru here. It seems like he is settling in well with your guidance." Major Samson said with a smile as he looked down at the three of them before turning his back and beginning to walk away. But as soon as he did, he suddenly stopped everything and dropped his te from his hand, causing it to shatter on the floor.


    Everyone stopped what they were doing and immediately looked up when they heard the sound of porcin smashing. Major Samson remained still with a look of horror on his face as he muttered something under his breath.


    "No." He said as he seemed to be in shock about something.


    "Sir, what''s wrong?!" Captain Liegan asked as she got to her feet, thinking that he might be having a heart attack. But as he turned to face them, she knew right away that it was something a lot more serious than a health issue, and she too began to worry.


    "It can''t be Is it really happening?!" Captain Liegan asked as she seemed to understand what the reaction was from.


    "It seems so. They have decided to make their move." Major Samson said as he looked back up and managed to maintain a neutral expression as not to cause any more worry, but the damage was already done. It seemed as though everyone present saw him.


    "Everyone! Listen up! This isn''t a drill. We are now officially at war with the United States. Everyone, prepare for battle immediately. A ship will take you all to the coast of China''s Guangdong Province at 7:00 sharp. We''re going to assist in the evacuation of Shenzhen." Major Samson said as though he was reading it from a script.


    Haru looked at him for a moment and felt a slight trace of Qi form in the air above Major Samson''s head.


    ''It seems like someone is talking to him telepathically.'' Haru thought before he realised what he had just said.


    Jake looked back to Haru with a look of worry on his face as he knew what Haru was feeling now that he knew he would be going back to the ce where he made so many memories with Suyin before she was tragically taken from him.


    Haru looked down at the ground for a few moments as Jake tried to reach out his hand.


    "Are you O-" Jake began to ask as he looked at Haru with sympathy? He couldn''t even begin to understand how Haru was really feeling, but he knew that it wasn''t anything good, and he wanted to let him know that he would be there tofort him, but just as he was about to touch Haru''s arm a slight gust of wind pushed his arm back As Haru looked up with a smile on his face.


    "Finally! Who''s ready to see some action!?" Haru shouted as his attitude changedpletely as he addressed all of the soldiers in the room who at first seemed hesitant, but upon hearing Haru make light of the situation, they too got on board with the idea of finally trying out what they had been training so hard for.


    "Yeah!" A bunch of cheers came from the crowd as they replied to Haru, who was smiling slightly as he had a malicious look in his eyes.


    ''What in the world'' Jake wondered as he looked at Haru in disbelief. He had never seen that look in Haru''s eyes ever since they had met, but it seemed as though the thought of war had invaded his mind a little too much as he cheered on with the rest of the soldiers before they all went to get ready.


    ''You better be careful out there. We are going to be fighting real soldiers, Haru. This isn''t a joke.'' Jake thought as he looked at Haru in disbelief as he walked away with everyone else to start packing for their voyage across the ocean.


    But little did Jake know that Haru was the most experienced person in the world in warfare since he had not only been present for the great war that happened decades prior, but he was also part of the war that was going on in the upper realms unbeknown to everyone on earth.


    ''They are at it again, huh? I thought I showed themst time what would happen if they messed with people I care about. Zen better be okay. If not, then I might have to destroy another president''s home to unleash my anger.'' Haru thought as he walked into his room and began to pack his spare uniforms up into a bag before taking his phone from the locker and looking at it for a moment or two.


    He hadn''t checked his messages for a few months, and his parents had been trying to contact him for a while. But he was still unhappy with how his mother didn''t trust him and instead tried to me him for something that wasn''t even that serious. He clicked his tongue slightly before turning it back off and putting it in his bag with the rest of his belongings. It wasn''t like he needed to carry a bag since he had his storage ring.


    But people outside of the world of cultivation would lose their minds if they saw him use something like that. After all of the soldiers had finished packing, they walked out onto the dock, where two huge ships with turrets on top were waiting for them. They lined up and waited for their unit to be called up and then boarded one by one in an orderly fashion before finding seats.


    But somewhere back in maind Japan there was an old acquaintance of Haru''s also preparing to embark on a trip as a girl in a ck hoodie was sitting quietly and alone at the airport as she looked out of the window for a private jet that was soon tond on the runway.


    "I feel like we will encounter my Master on this trip." A muffled sounding voice called out as the girl looked down at the ground to see a small ck puppyy down upon her backpack.


    "You think so too? He never seemed like the person who would pass up something like this. I bet he has a smile on his face right now while taking it easy as everyone else around him is worrying themselves to death." The girl said with a slight chuckle as a man in a ck suit stepped out from behind her.


    "Miss, your transport has arrived." The man said as he held his hand towards an open door.


    "Is that so? Thank you." The girl said as she reached down to pick up her bags before lifting the small puppy up into her arms.


    "Come on, Wolfy, Let''s see what all thismotion is about." She said before pulling down her hood to reveal long blue hair that fluttered in the wind as she stepped out onto the runway to board the ne that was waiting for her.

 Chapter 308: Its really unconventional.

    Chapter 308: It''s really unconventional.


    The tides churned as warships cut their way through the ocean as they set sail to china''s coastline. It was going to take a few hours, but no one could rest. They knew what would be awaiting them once they arrived. Everyone looked to be nervous as this was the first time that they would see actualbat.


    Since the great war that shook the whole world, none of the major countries in the world had even dared to go to war with anyone until now. Nearly two generations had passed since then, and most of the soldiers that were going to fight had never even killed someone before.


    But as for Haru, he remained calm as he stood silently on the top deck of the ship as he gazed out to the waves below him.


    "Hey, are you okay? We should be arriving in around two hours." Captain Liegan said as she walked up behind Haru and ced her hand on his shoulder.


    During the time that they spent together instructing the other soldiers, they had both be good friends, and she could see that there was something bothering him even if he didn''t show it on the surface.


    "Yes, I''m fine," Haru replied as he looked back at Captain Liegan with a nk stare as it seemed as though he was looking right through her.


    "Good, that''s good. But if you ever feel anything at all, that might affect how you perform in a stressful environment. Then you must let me know as soon as possible. Thest thing we want is for something terrible to be of you." Captain Liegan said with a smile as she joked and patted Haru on the shoulder once more before taking her leave to address the rest of the troops.


    ''Hm, so this is it, huh? I never thought that I would be going back to war, especially since I became a cultivator. It seems a little unfair for them since there is hardly anything they could do to harm me.'' Haru thought as he felt the breeze rush past his face from the surface of the water as the silhouette of Shenzhen appeared in the distance.


    "Everyone prepare forbat immediately! The city is just over the horizon. We may need to fight as soon as we arrive, so don''t hesitate! Once we evacuate the majority of the citizens, it will then be our job to hold back the forces and stop them from advancing to any of the coastal cities.


    We are working with the Chinese special forces, and they have an ambush prepared in the mountains. All we have to do is hold down the coast and force them up into the mountains. Is that understood!?" A man Haru had never seen emerged from the crowd and began to address everyone.


    Haru looked down to the man''s chest to see three golden stars pinned to his chest.


    ''A general? Why is there a general going out in the field? Those guys usually stay at home and leave everything to us.'' Haru thought as he looked at the man and tried to figure out why he was there.


    ''Don''t tell me. Is he here to get his hands on the technology the demon n left behind? Does the Japanese government also know about them?'' Haru thought as that seemed like the most likely exnation as to why one of the generals hade with them.


    Haru stared at the general for a few minutes until they both made eye contact, and the general gave him a look of disgust for a few moments before calling him over.


    "Get your ass over here, private. We are talking about the strategy, and you are off in your own world all the way over there. God so help me if anything happens because of your-" The general began to say as Major Samson walked out from one of the rooms upon hearing themotion and then proceeded to whisper into the general''s ear.


    His eyes shot wide open for a moment before looking back at the other soldiers and thenposing himself once again.


    "Well, never mind it. Please just listen to what I have to say." The general quickly changed how he addressed Haru and then carried on with his exnation of what they were to do now that they had finally reached China.


    ''I wonder what he said?'' Haru thought as he looked at Major Samson, who was smiling proudly. However, Haru knew that his mother was a soldier in thest great war. He wasn''t sure how much influence she had. But as time was going on, he was slowly starting to see how much of an effect she had on the army.


    It was to the point that just the mention of her name would make a high ranking officer lose his mind. He just couldn''t imagine his mother to be that incredible despite how people reacted to her name.


    The ship shook slightly as a shockwave shot through the ocean from the city as a sh of light appeared in the sky.


    "Shit. They are bombing the ce. Quick! Everyone who can use flight or travelling magic get there immediately!" The general shouted as he looked at everyone, but all of the soldiers looked on in shock as it began to feel real for them. They had never seen bombs used on people before.


    But from the loud bangs that could be heard in the distance, they knew that innocent people were being caught up in a war.


    "You heard the general, didn''t you!? I didn''t train any cowards, did I?!" Haru shouted as all of the inexperienced soldiers had yet to move. They remained still and looked confused as the soldiers who had seenbat before began to assemble and rush towards the shore.


    "Cowards? You didn''t train any cowards! We are Unit 892 of the Japanese defence force! There are no cowards here!" Private Orin shouted in response as he was one of the only soldiers who didn''t look scared.


    Upon seeing and hearing the confidence in Private Orin''s voice as he replied to Haru, the other soldiers began to feel more confident that they had the power to stop what was happening. They knew that if they stuck to their training and worked as a team that they would be able to save at least one person, which was still an achievement for them.


    A few moments of silence went by as Major Samson, and The general that hade along with them stared at Haru and themotion he was causing as he shouted out to his fellow soldiers.


    "Is that so? Then what are you all doing still on the ship!? Only cowards remain behind instead of helping us save people. If you''re not cowards, then prove it and get your asses out to that coastline!" Haru shouted once again before turning to face the shore and then jumping up onto the railing around the ship.


    The wind shot past Haru and blow his jacket open as he looked out to the city of Shenzhen that was now under attack.


    ''I promise that I won''t let anything happen. Your brother and parents are in safe hands now. I will keep them all alive.'' Haru thought as he stood over the rest of the soldiers on the ship like a phantom as he vanished before their eyes as he leapt from the railing down into the water below.


    "Wha!?" The general shouted in confusion as to him it looked like Haru had decided to swim to shore.


    "Is he mad!? What in the world is he thinking?" The general said as he ran towards the edge of the ship as he hadn''t seen Haru reemerge yet. But as he got to the edge. A st of wind shot up into the sky from below the ship as Haru gathered mana into his feet and stomped down on the surface of the water.


    Each step he took was like a miniature explosion beneath his feet which stopped him from sinking as he soon sped up and began to sprint across the surface of the ocean.


    "Unit 892! Follow Private Kitagawa''s lead! Let''s get this over with and call it a day before thezy officers get the chance to disembark from the ship!" Jake shouted out as he too followed behind Haru by using the power of the wind to propel his body forwards to soar through the air, much like how Haru could by using Qi.


    As Jake instructed the soldiers to follow Haru''s lead, it didn''t take even a second for them to race towards the edge of the shit and race after the two of them as they headed for the beach.


    "This unit It''s really unconventional. Who is in charge of them?" The general asked as he watched them all fly into the distance after Jake and Haru insulted the officers.


    "That would be the blond-haired boy who just called uszy." Major Samson said with a smile as he took no offence to what was said.


    "What''s his name?" The general asked as he turned back to face Major Samson.


    "That would be Sergeant Ainsworth. The grandson of General Ainsworth." Major Samson said with a smile as he knew what wasing next.


    "Is that so? Just like his father, isn''t he?" The general said with a sigh as he looked back at Major Samson once again.


    "And as for the other one? Are you sure that he is their son?" The general asked with a serious expression on his face.


    "I''m certain. After he came to the base, I got an angry letter from his mother, telling us to send him back home at once. It seems like they got into an argument, and he joined the army out of spite. But he has settled into life at the base just fine." Major Samson said as he remembered how Krista had written him a letter that he had thrown into the trash as soon as he read it.


    "Good, you did well. I assume that there will be a lot of eyes on him today. After the footage we received during the destruction of shanghai, I assume that this issue will be a breeze." The general said with a smile as a dark cloud rolled over the sky above Shenzhen.

 Chapter 309: Lead the way.

    Chapter 309: Lead the way.


    Rain began to pour from the sky as footsteps pounded against the surface of the water and sshed droplets of the ocean up onto Haru''s face as he channelled mana into the soles of his feet to keep him afloat and then into his legs to increase his speed to rival that of a fighter jet as he sted off towards the coast.


    Haru''s Unit was far behind him as he reached the shore and heard the sound of gunpowder exploding in the air as bullets were being exchanged within the city of Shenzhen.


    ''This is so strange. The whole city ispletely different from what I remember it looking like. All of this rubble That is from the skyscrapers that used to tower over everything Now it''s a pile of rock on the ground.'' Haru thought as he sent out a wave of Qi to sense for life as his instincts began to kick in.


    As much as he would love to run off on his own and find out if Zen and Suyin''s family were safe, He still had priorities, and he couldn''t look over the chance of civilians being killed nearby.


    As the wave of Qi expanded across the City, Haru gained a pretty good understanding of what was going on.


    In the centre of the city, the military from both sides were shooting at each other from rooftops, and in the far corner, the Chinese police were trying their best to evacuate civilians while under fire from explosives that seemed to be locked on their location. But about 200 meters away from Haru, there were two soldiers being pursued by a unit often.


    ''It''s okay guys, Hold on a little longer I will be right there.'' Haru said as he transferred his voice into both of their heads as something even closer caught his attention.


    There was a faint breath of someone trapped beneath the rubbles that were scattered all over the beach.


    "Sir, are you okay!?" Haru called out as he ran over to the fallen building and began to w at the grown to create a gap to see if he could get a better look inside.


    There was no response to his question, but he could sense fear from the man who was trapped beneath. Haru concluded that the man was unsure which side was calling out to him and was afraid to answer in case it was the enemy, and they opened fire on him.


    "It''s okay, sir. You''re safe now. I''m with the Japanese defence force." Haru called out as he quickly turned back to see that no one had caught up to him yet.


    ''Okay, it''s safe.'' Haru thought as he held out his hand and began to gather Qi around his fist and then added a small amount of mana to use both Magic and cultivation to create an invisible hand that was capable of picking up the rubble like a crane.


    As Haru moved his hand, the rubble began to float up towards the sky before dropping to the floor beside the previous pile, revealing a middle-aged man in a ck suitying on the ground with blood streaming from his head.


    Haru nced at him for a moment before sending another wave of Qi towards the man and infiltrating his body to check for injuries.


    ''There isn''t any serious damage to his head. It was just cut open by a falling rock. But his spine It seems like that took most of the damage. If it wasn''t for healing Magic, then he wouldn''t be able to walk again.'' Haru thought as he reached out his hand towards the man, but just as he did, a voice called out from behind him.


    "What happened!?" Jake shouted as he finally reached the coast to see Haru standing over the man.


    "I found him like this. We need to get medics here as soon as possible to treat him." Haru said as he turned back to Jake to see that a few more members from his Unit had turned up alongside him.


    ''Thanks for the save. I was just about to heal him.'' Haru transferred his thoughts to Jake''s mind to avoid suspicion as his act of body enhancing mage was still in ce.


    Jake simply smiled back with a look on his face that said "Anytime" as he felt happy he could help Haru maintain his appearance before turning back to the Unit he was inmand of.


    "Quick. Someone give treatment to this civilian. We need a neck brace, backboard and stretcher immediately. Someone stay by his side until the shipse into dock." Jake ordered as two people quickly rushed to the man''s side and began to ask questions, but he remained unresponsive as the pain was too much for him to handle.


    "What''s next on the list? Did you discover anything else when you got here? Or should we proceed to help with the evacuation?" Jake asked as he knew that Haru would have a better understanding of what was going on than anyone else.


    They had orders to help with the evacuation, but that was the only order they received. How and when they decided to do that was entirely up to them, so Jake didn''t feel too bad about letting them wait a while.


    "I''m not sure. We definitely need mages with protection magic to head over and help evacuate. They are being bombarded right now.


    But to get to the evacuation zone, we will need to break through the warzone in the centre of the city. But since you guys have this covered, I need to make a quick pit stop.


    There are two soldiers being chased not far from here. I will be back as soon as possible." Haru said as he began to prepare to sprint off in the direction he had sensed them going, but just as he did, Jake grabbed his arm.


    "Then we go together. I''m not leaving you alone for this. I''m with you to the end." Jake said with a smile as the other soldiers looked over and knew that they were about to be ordered into a dangerous situation.


    "Yeah, thanks," Haru said as Jake then turned to address the rest of the Unit.


    "Nearby, there are members of the Chinese military who are being held down by the enemy. We are going to create an opportunity for them to escape before we focus our efforts on the evacuation.


    If you are nervous, then stay back and watch. We aren''t going to put ourselves in danger needlessly." Jake assured them as he could see some worried expressions from the soldiers that followed him. But his reassurance seemed to calm them down a little as they nodded their heads and prepared their weapons by activating their Lux''s and drawing out different types of weapons.


    "Lead the way, private Kitagawa!" Jake shouted out with a smile as he still hadn''t gotten used to being inmand.


    Haru nodded his head and then began to keep pace with the others as he guided them towards the two Chinese soldiers that were fighting desperately for their lives.


    A crack whistled through the air as a beam of light shot through the sky overhead as Haru led the Unit towards the fighting.


    Everyone instinctively lowered themselves to the ground as Haru continued running forwards.


    "What''s the n?" Jake asked as Haru began to speed up a little.


    "n? I n to inspire these guys and rescue the Chinese soldiers at the same time. So I guess we can go ahead with a head-on attack." Haru said as a sh of light emerged from his hand as he pulled out a sword from his lux.


    "Haha, That''s like you. I will take care of the sky then. You handle ground attacks." Jake said as the rest of the soldiers could no longer keep up as Jake jumped up into the air and began to fly over the tops of the deserted buildings while Haru sprinted towards the gunshots.


    "What was that sound?" One of the enemy soldiers asked as he heard something behind him. But before he could ask anything else, his head hit the floor with a thud as Haru shed his sword through the man''s neck and stood still as he looked for his next target.


    "It''s an ambush! Quick, open fire!" Another one of the enemy soldiers shouted as he spotted Haru and then quickly aimed his rifle towards Haru''s chest.


    Haru watched as the trigger slowly began to move backwards as the man prepared to shoot Haru. But as he did so, a ball of fire rained down from the sky above and hit the man in the face.


    "Agh! It burns!" He cried out in pain as his skin began to melt from the fireball.


    "I got this one! Keep going!" Jake called out from the sky as there were still eight remaining enemies.


    Haru nodded his head before powering his legs with mana and jumping forwards with another sh of his sword to put the burning man out of his misery. He then ran towards a group of three that had their backs turned and were still busy opening fire on the Chinese soldiers before quickly taking them out and moving on to the other two as Jake finished another three people at the same time.


    Screams echoed all around as ten soldiers were brutally murdered before everything went silent.


    "What is happening out there?" One of the Chinese soldiers asked as they remained covered behind a concrete block. It had been a while since anyone had shot, and they didn''t know what to do.


    "It''s okay toe out now! We''re with the JDF!" Haru called out in Chinese as I made sure that all their pursuers were dead.


    Two sets of hands raised up over a b of concrete to show that they didn''t have any weapons as the two Chinese men stood up and turned to see the distinctive uniform of the Japanese army.


    "Thank god, I thought we were dead for sure. I can''t express my gratitude to you." The Chinese soldier responded as his friend clutched his shoulder and winced in pain.


    "It''s our pleasure. But it seems that your buddy isn''t doing so well. Come along with us, and we can get you some medical attention." Haru said with a smile as he offered his hand out to them and then guided them back to where the rest of his squad was waiting.

 Chapter 310: Simple private.

    Chapter 310: Simple private.


    "Thank you so much, sir. I thought we were done for. I heard that you guys were on your way, but I didn''t expect you to get here so soon." The uninjured Chinese soldier said as he held out his hand and shook Haru''s before walking back to the rest of Haru''s Unit.


    "Is this all the men you have? I thought that you would have sent a whole battalion. What''s up with the numbers?" The soldier asked as he followed Haru back to see a group of around ten people.


    "Not at all. We currently have three battleships on the way here. We heard fighting and decided to run ahead to see if we could help out in any way. But the rest of us will arrive shortly. There is currently another injured man on the beach.


    If you don''t mind waiting a while, our healers will be able to get your buddy back on his feet in no time." Haru said with a smile as the rest of his Unit looked at him in shock.


    They had been around Haru for a few months, but they never knew that he spoke Chinese. And from the looks of things, he seemed to be pretty fluent, so they remained silent for a few moments until Haru looked back at Jake.


    "They are going to stay on the beach with the other injured man we found. We''re ready to move on if you want to. You take the lead." Haru said as he patted Jake on the shoulder to tag him back into being the leader of the Unit.


    All though Jake was the sergeant in charge of the Unit, he still trusted Haru more than he trusted himself, and he often relied on him with challenging decisions, and all of the soldiers had gotten used to it. They looked back at Jake for a second before the sound of scraping made its way across the sand behind them.


    ''What''s that?'' Haru thought to himself as he turned around to see a speedboat had made its way to shore with a group of soldiers riding it. And as he looked further back into the ocean, there were more than twenty boats of simr size heading towards the beach from the huge battleships that were stationed in the deeper water.


    "Sergeant Ainsworth. Tell me what''s going on here." Captain Liegan said as she stepped off from the first boat and made her way over to Haru and Jake.


    "Yes, ma''am. We arrived there to find a civilian man with serious injuries to his spine. He is currently with two of our soldiers waiting for a medic. But after that, we heard gunshots from a distance and ran towards them to find two Chinese soldiers under fire.


    We took care of the enemy and rescued them both, but one of them was shot in the shoulder. He''s going to need some healing too." Jake said as Captain Liegan raised her hand in the air above her head, and two men in dark robes ran over to each of the injured men and began to cast healing magic on them.


    "Okay then. I take it as you didn''t run into any trouble?" Captain Liegan asked as it seemed as though the whole Unit was perfectly fine.


    "That''s right, ma''am," Jake replied as the Chinese soldier spoke up again.


    "What are they talking about? I can''t understand Japanese." He asked Haru as he was a little bit confused as to what was going on around him since a whole army arrived on the beach behind them.


    "It''s nothing important. There''s no need to worry about it. That woman is our captain. She is just asking for a report of what has happened so far.


    What do you guys n to do next? Do you need to be escorted anywhere? We are on our way to the centre of the city to meet up with your main forces, and then we are heading to the evacuation point to help keep the civilians safe." Haru said as he exined their intentions to the soldier to see what they wanted to do now that they were safe.


    "You can take us to the evacuation point? That''s great. Our outpost is just past the evacuation point. If we make it there, then we can let themand know that we need more reinforcements." The soldier said as he looked over at his friend, who was still being healed.


    "Han, are you good now? We''re gonna join the JDF soldiers until we get back to the outpost." The soldier shouted out to his friend, who was currently surrounded by golden light.


    "Is that so? Well, make sure that you thank them for all the trouble." The soldier who was being healed shouted back just as his healing came to an end.


    All the while, the soldiers from Haru''s Unit had all stopped what they were doing and looked over at Haru, who had been speaking Chinese the whole time.


    "Thank you again for saving our lives. There isn''t anything I can do right now to repay you for the kindness, but I will always remember you as my benefactor. Once this whole thing is over, and if you ever find yourself in China, thene and find me. I will help you with anything at all. And I hope you don''t mind us joining you until we reach the outpost." The soldier said with a slight bow towards Haru as he let his gratitude be known.


    "It''s okay. We are here to help. I was just doing my job." Haru said with a slight smile as he looked back at the rest of the soldiers to see that they were looking at him with confusion.


    "Captain, Is it okay if the two of them tag along with us until we reach the evacuation point? They are heading for their outpost to call for reinforcements." Haru asked as he still hadn''t gotten permission to let theme along but seeing as though Captain Liegan was currently the highest-ranking officer present. She was quick to agree to Haru''s request.


    "Of course. The more, the merrier. But when were you going to tell me that you spoke Chinese? Aren''t we friends? I thought that we all promised not to keep secrets?" Captain Liegan said with a sigh as she seemed a little disappointed that she didn''t know that Haru could speak othernguages, but she was d that he could since it looked like none of the other soldiers could.


    "Great. I''m sure they will be able to help us navigate through the city a little bit better than we could on our own. But as for not telling you It didn''t really seem that important." Haru said before turning back to the soldier who was still bowing.


    "Our captain said it''s fine if youe with us. In exchange, you will be responsible for leading us there since we don''t have any navigators on shore with us." Haru said as he held out his hand once again and helped the man stand upright.


    "That''s fine with me. I happen to be from Shenzhen, so I know every street like the back of my hand. But I have a question, if you don''t mind?" The soldier asked as he looked at Haru with confusion in his eyes.


    "Sure, what is it?" Haru asked in return.


    "What is your rank exactly? Your captain seemed to be respectful when she spoke to you. It was almost as though she looks up to you, yet you said that she gave her permission which would mean she outranks you I''m a little confused." The soldier said with a frown as he tried to make sense of the pecking order.


    "I''m just a simple private but also an instructor for the rest of my Unit. So I guess I have a little more influence than the others." Haru said as he told the soldier half the story of why a captain spoke casually to him.


    "I see But from the way you fought earlier, I thought you might be one of your nations top mages. That was really impressive. I see why they have you as an instructor." The soldier praised Haru a little more before Haru was dragged out of the conversation as a whistling sound emerged from the sky overhead as it sounded like something was falling from above them.


    "Mortar fire! Get to cover!" One of the men shouted as Haru pumped mana into his legs and then jumped up into the air before grabbing the falling mortar shell from the sky.


    ''No one tries to bomb me and gets away with it.'' Haru smiled as he spun around in a circle andunched the missile back to the exact location it hade from.


    Arge boom rang out through the sky as a sh of light emerged from behind a row of buildings in the distance, where a cloud of smoke began to form as that was the location of the enemy squad that had sent a mortar to the beach.


    "Looks like we have nothing to worry about with instructor Kitagawa here to protect us!" One of the soldiers shouted out, which was followed by a slight cheer from Haru''s squad until Captain Liegan sighed, and they all went silent.


    "Thanks for that Haru, You saved a few lives just now for sure. And it seems like you took care of that nuisance. Now let''s head out for the city centre immediately. I don''t like being out in the open over here. There might be more attacks if we remain here." Captain Liegan said as she prepared the soldiers to follow her lead and head to the centre.

 Chapter 311: I have a selfish request.

    Chapter 311: I have a selfish request.


    They set out for the city centre immediately while following the lead of the Chinese soldiers. It took them a while to make their way there as they dodged enemy soldiers and sneak past tanks and other heavy weaponry that they didn''t stand a chance of defeating on their own.


    Once they arrived at the centre, the gunfire only became louder and more frequent to the point where they weren''t even sure if the enemy were shooting at the Chinese soldiers or shooting toward them until a voice called out from one of the buildings ahead of them.


    "Sergeant Lan! Where have you been? We called for backup an hour ago!" The soldier shouted from a window as the man Haru had rescued looked up to see him.


    "Where have I been!? Our unit radioed back to you guys around four hours ago to let you know that we were under fire. Only two of us made it back alive, and even that was only thanks to the Japanese forces." The soldier, now known as Sergeant Lan, shouted back as he was rightfully upset that his calls for help went unheard.


    "Shit Then that means they are jamming ourmunications. We need to get word back to the outpost immediately." The man shouted back from the window but then stopped as he noticed that the soldiers standing beside Sergeant Lan were wearing foreign uniforms. But as he looked again, he recognised them instantly as the Japanese army who hade to help.


    "Holy shit, there are so many of you guys Are you really here to help? We just might be able to make it out of this ce alive if we have you guys with us." The soldier said with a hopeful look in his eyes as Haru''s unit all looked at him since they didn''t understand what was being said.


    "What did he say?" Captain Liegan asked Haru as both the Japanese soldiers looked at them with hope.


    "They said if we fight beside them, they might be able to make it out alive. It seems as though they are on a suicide mission to hold off the enemies forces long enough for the civilians to escape." Haru said as he felt bad for them.


    "That makes sense Their forces have been spread thin since the enemy has managed to invade every country that borders China. They had to assign only a few units to each border, so they didn''t have enough power to win this fight. That''s awful, but there''s nothing we can do about it. They have their orders, and we have ours.


    We have to keep on moving to the evacuation point. Let''s just hope that luck is on their side and they all manage to make it back alive." Captain Liegan said as she seemed set on following the orders that were given to them.


    The gunfire became more rampant as it soon started to fly over their heads, causing everyone to get down to their knees to avoid being shot.


    The Chinese soldiers continued to look at Haru and expected an answer, but he wasn''t sure how he was going to say it.


    "Sergeant Lan. I''m sorry I have to tell you this, but our orders aren''t to help you. They were to help the civilians evacuate, and that''s it." Haru tried to exin as the bullets continued to shoot overhead until the st of a tank cannon rang out and the stream of gunfire stopped.


    "Woo! We got ''em!" A voice called out from the other side of the building, followed by a cheer as Haru exined the bad news to three of the Chinese soldiers.


    "You''re not here to help? Then why did you rescue us earlier?" Sergeant Lan asked with confusion as it would have made more sense to let them die andplete their orders without wasting time on them.


    "That was my decision. I''m not inmand here. I can''t order our forces to do anything, but that doesn''t mean that I can''t do anything at all." Haru said as he began to walk forwards towards Sergeant Lan.


    "Give me your gun," Haru said and held out his hands.


    "Huh?" Sergeant Lan asked with his brows raised as it came to a surprise that Haru would ask for his gun.


    "Give me your gun. Don''t worry. I will return it to you. I just want to do something to help out, that''s all." Haru said with his hands still out as Sergeant Lan reluctantly handed him his rifle.


    ''A sma rifle It seems like the ones used when I was attacked in the mountains that day. I guess the soldiers really didn''t want to be discovered if they went as far as to use Chinese weapons.'' Haru thought as he examined it for a few moments.


    It was unlike anything he had used in the previous war since technology had advanced a lot, but it was simr to what he had to use back at the base during target practice.


    "Haru, what are you doing? We don''t have time to fool around. We need to go." Captain Liegan said with an unsure tone as she tried to figure out what he was nning to do.


    "Don''t worry. It will only take a couple of seconds. I just want to leave them a gift." Haru said as he crouched down and channelled a mix of mana and Qi into his legs before jumping up onto the roof of the building that the Chinese soldiers were held down in and then began to fire the rifle.


    His first shot missed the target, but as he corrected his aim, he managed to hit one of the enemy soldiers in the face. The fact that he had gone out into the open confused the enemy for a few moments as they were unsure how to react. But for Haru, after he hit his first target, he performed a movement technique, and everything around him seemed to slow down.


    He aimed again and shot once more, causing another enemy to fall as he hit them in the chest. And then shot another ten times, wiping out a total of twelve enemies before he saw the barrel of an enemy tank begin to turn.


    Haru raised the gun one more time and aimed directly at the barrel of the gun before firing another shot into the explosive shell that rested at the end of the barrel of the tank.


    Haru stopped releasing his Qi, and everything returned to its normal speed as the tank erupted into mes before exploding from the inside.


    Although it seemed like a couple of minutes for Haru, for the others who had watched him, what Haru had done was over in an instant as the sound of fourteen shots rang out for a moment, followed by a huge explosion.


    Haru then jumped down to the ground and handed the gun back to Sergeant Lan.


    "I hope that helps you guys out a little bit. But we really must get going now. Our captain said we need to go now. If you guys manage to defeat the guys here, make sure youe back to the evacuation point." Haru said as he looked up at the window to where the Chinese soldier was looking down in shock.


    He nodded his head instinctively, but he was in disbelief as more gunfire resumed behind him.


    "Lieutenant!? What was that just now? An enemy tank just exploded, and a few of them were shot dead. Come take a look at this!" One of the soldiers who was fighting shouted out to the man who was at the window looking down at Haru, awestruck.


    "Th-thank you, sir." The man said as he looked at Haru with admiration as he didn''t know that the Japanese forces would be so strong.


    "Haru, what was that just now!? Why would you go and do something like that? Especially after I just told you that we need to go. Are you trying to question my authority in front of everyone here?!" Captain Liegan shouted as she didn''t want any of the other soldiers to think it was eptable to step out of line and do whatever they pleased.


    She thought that it would inspire them to ignore hermands, but as she turned back and looked at the soldiers, she saw them all smiling.


    ''They''re smiling? Why are they smiling on the battlefield? This is their first time in war, and they have the guts to smile? What''s going on?'' Captain Liegan thought as she didn''t understand why they were smiling, but Haru knew immediately what was going on.


    "Sorry, captain! I just wanted to take the opportunity to show the rest of our troops what we have been training them to do for the past couple of months. Since they have all worked hard ande so far, I thought it was time to show them that even without long-range magic, you can still fight a war. You just have to practise!" Haru called out as the rest of the soldiers began to cheer.


    They were now motivated to go to battle and test out just how much stronger they had be.


    "Ma''am, I have a selfish request," Haru said as he bowed his head slightly to Captain Liegan.


    Everyone stopped cheering and looked back at Haru with confusion. For as long as he had been stationed at the base for them, no one had ever seen him bow his head to someone. It came as a shock to even Jake as he had also never seen Haru do such a thing before.


    "Uh, Well, what is it?" Captain Liegan asked as she felt slightly embarrassed that he was bowing to her.


    "I was wondering if we manage to get all the civilians to safety, we coulde back here and help these guys out? I used to live in Shenzhen up until a few years ago. I don''t feel right knowing that there are enemy forces here. I want to wipe them out, down to thest man." Haru said as he shared his thoughts with the rest of the soldiers.


    Captain Liegan went silent for a few moments as she thought about how to reply while Haru looked up at her awaiting her response.

 Chapter 312: Wait… Thats a formation.

    Chapter 312: Wait¡­ That''s a formation.


    "Fine So be it. Once we havepleted our orders, we will have to head back to the ships anyway. I don''t see why we can''t help out here on the way." Captain Liegan said with a sigh as she looked around and seemed to sympathise with the situation at hand.


    "That''s great. Thank you so much." Haru also sighed as he didn''t know how she would respond to his request, but he was d to know that she still had a heart and hadn''t turned into a dog of the military just as soon as the war broke out.


    "Don''t mention it. But the sooner we get the civilians out of here, the sooner we cane back and help out. So we had better get moving right away." Captain Liegan said as the three Chinese soldiers looked at Haru with confused expressions.


    "Sorry for not being able to do more to help you guys. But once our orders areplete, we will rush back here to help out if the fighting isn''t over by then. I hope you guys manage to hold out until then." Haru said as he looked up at the window to where the Lieutenant was standing.


    "You have done more than enough. Thank you for your generosity, sir. If we are still held down here, we will await your arrival. But if we manage to end this fighting, I will personally lead our forces to your aid." The Lieutenant said as he looked over at the other two soldiers who were still standing on the ground beside the Japanese soldiers and called out to them.


    "You two. I need you to go back to the outpost and let the rest of our men know what''s going on. We need reinforcements as soon as possible. I trust I can leave that task to you, can''t I?" The Lieutenant asked as Sergeant Lan stepped forwards.


    "Yes, sir!" Sergeant Lan replied as he looked back at Haru and the rest of his squad.


    "Are you ready?" Haru asked as he knew that Captain Liegan wouldn''t want to wait long. She was the type to rush everything that she did, so it was unwise to keep her waiting.


    "Yes, We''re both ready when you are." Sergeant Lan said as Haru looked back at Captain Liegan and nodded his head slightly.


    "Okay, now let''s move out! We''re heading for the evacuation point!" Captain Liegan shouted out and began to quickly march forwards while leading the rest of the soldiers behind her, with Jake and Haru following beside her.


    "I didn''t expect you to show off like that. What if they found out?" Jake whispered quietly as he was the only one who knew Haru''s secret.


    "It''s fine. There''s no way that they could tell from something like that. Even if they did think something wasn''t right, I was careful to only use abilities that would be possible for a body enhancing mage to use. So I should be fine." Haru replied with a whisper of his own as they both made sure to keep quiet enough to not be overheard.


    "That''s good. I don''t know how they will react if they find out that you are not only capable of using long-range magic but also those cultivation techniques. I think the government would be terrified of you. I don''t even know how they would react to learning such a thing." Jake said even quieter than before as he looked up at Haru, who didn''t seem bothered in the slightest.


    "Yeah, They might even send someone to assassinate me," Haru said with a smile as he knew that the way he died in his previous life wasn''t just an ident. But he had eventually found his way back to the military, and thanks to the help of Li Jun and Lao, Haru now had the strength to make sure that no one could stand in his way.


    "Hey, don''t joke about that kind of thing. I wouldn''t put it past some of the higher-ranking officials to do something like that." Jake said a little louder, which gained the attention of other soldiers, so they both cut their conversation short and continued to march forwards while following Captain Liegan''s lead.


    After an hour of walking, they finally managed to reach the evacuation point, but it was nothing like they were expecting. The sounds of explosions continuously striking the ground sent deafening booms all around them as they watched shes of light make contact with a strange-looking orb that was around arge group of people who were all cowering in fear.


    ''Wait That''s a formation. Why is there a cultivator here? Didn''t they all decide to stay out of political matters?'' Haru thought as he immediately recognised the barrier to be made out of Qi.


    But as he spread Qi around the area to see if he knew who had cast the barrier, Haru was surprised to find out it was someone that he knew. And memories came rushing back to his head.


    The memory of him standing outside a karaoke bar with the logo of a snake on the wall came to mind as he watched a man drag a ck bag into the back of a van. He was standing beside Zen, and it was also the first time he had met Suyin''s father and was warned to stay away from the cultivator known as the grim reaper.


    ''I didn''t hear anything else about that man after that day. I wonder where he has been hiding?'' Haru thought as he looked at a man holding a metal baseball bat against his shoulder as if it was a sword.


    On asion, a whistling sound emerged from the sky above the barrier, and the man swung the bat towards the sky, causing the mortar shell to fly back to where it hade from, and each time, the man would smile a little more.


    "What is that thing!?" Captain Liegan called out as she had never seen a shield that big before. Usually, the shield function of some Lux''s was only big enough to contain a couple of people at most, but what she was looking at now easily held hundreds of people within.


    "Ma''am, I believe that it''s the power of a Chinese cultivator that''s holding off the attacks. There was a school trip I went on where we learnt about these people, and they are insanely strong. But I doubt, even with their strength, that one of them will be able to hold off this many attacks. We should hurry and help him out before it''s toote." Haru said as he looked into the distance while watching the man hit the mortars back up into the air.


    "You mean like the people from the old legends? I didn''t think that they would be living in cities. I wonder what brought him here. But I think you''re right. No matter what mystical power someone holds. I don''t think there is a person alive that could withstand such a brutal bombing for long." Captain Liegan said as she began to lead soldiers towards the shield.


    But as she did that, Jake looked back up at Haru with questioning eyes.


    "You know that man don''t you?" Jake asked as he seemed to notice Haru''s expression wasn''t quite right for someone who was surprised about something. It seemed as though Haru already knew everything about the situation before he even spoke.


    "Yeah, I met him once a long time ago when I was still rtively weak. So I doubt he will remember me. But if he does, then I am prepared to silence him before he says anything." Haru said as he wasn''t ready to show the Japanese government his power yet.


    Especially since I knew what happened to people who threatened the government, but Jake was shocked by Haru''s reply yet didn''t say anything since he didn''t know much about what Haru had experienced to gain the strength that he had. But he knew that it wasn''t something that could be ignored by people in power, and they would do whatever it would take to use it for themselves.


    So he remained silent and followed Haru as they caught up to the rest of the unit and marched in towards the formation that was blocking the enemy attacks.


    "Take another step, and I will kill you all!" A voice boomed out through the air as the man with the baseball bat turned his head and looked at the force that had managed to sneak upon him.


    "Stop!" Haru yelled out as he didn''t want to have to fight with the cultivator in front of everyone to save their lives. But it seemed as though the voice that shouted out before his managed to stop them in their tracks in the first ce.


    "What is it? What did he say?" Captain Liegan asked as the job of trantion was left to Haru once again.


    "He told us to stop since he thought that we were the enemy. I will exin to him what we are doing here." Haru exined as he turned his head to look at the people within the barrier who were all cowering in fear in the back corner. Apart from four people and a dog who were standing up watching the cultivator fight.


    Haru stopped for a moment as he recognised them instantly.


    ''They''re safe. Are you watching? I knew your family would be safe. I promise I won''t let any harme to them.'' Haru said to himself as he pictured Suyin when he looked over to see both her parents and younger brother standing beside Zen and his dog.


    Haru quickly pulled his hood over his head as he didn''t want to be spotted by them. He hadn''t seen them since before Suyin had died, and he couldn''t bear to even look them in the eye after not being able to save her.


    "Haru, what''s wrong?" Captain Liegan asked as she watched him put his hood up and look down at the ground.


    "It''s nothing. I just got a little cold, that''s all." Haru said as he took a few steps forwards and pushed his way through the soldiers so he could address the cultivator who had told them to stop.

 Chapter 313: What happened to the captain?

    Chapter 313: What happened to the captain?


    "Sorry for surprising you. We were ordered to help with the evacuation. Is there anything we can do to help you?" Haru asked the man, Known as the grim reaper, as he batted mortar shells up into the air while using Qi to contain the explosion within a bubble until it hit the ground next to the enemy soldiers.


    "Japanese mages? I always wondered what you guys were like. Magic is ouwed here, so I have never seen it in action. If you think you can take out the enemy force, then be my guest, but I have been stuck here defending from these bombs for a couple of hours now, and I haven''t gotten anywhere." The man said as he still continued to focus on hitting the mortars.


    Haru turned back to Captain Liegan, who was at the front of the line as the soldiers all waited in anticipation for Haru to tell them what they were talking about.


    "He said if we can take out the forces, then go ahead. He is going to continue to defend the civilians for as long as he can. What are your orders, ma''am?" Haru asked as he looked at Captain Liegan.


    "Hm, If he is going to protect the civilians, then we can fight all out without worrying. But will this barrier still remain standing if we start using long-range magic?" Captain Liegan asked herself for a moment as she tried to decide what to do.


    "I think it will. From what I know about cultivators is that they have special scriptures that they write on the ground to create barriers like this. I also went on the school trip when I was younger." Jake said as he chimed in with information about cultivation to take the focus away from Haru.


    "Is that so? Then I guess we could try to go all out and take them down as quickly as possible," Captain Liegan said as she put a vote of confidence in with the advice from both Haru and Jake. She believed that they wouldn''t do anything to cause harm to the civilians or their unit, so she went ahead with her orders for the rest of the unit.


    "Okay then! Listen up! We''re going to charge for a frontal attack! I want those of you that specialise in defensive magic at the front to dampen the force that we are met with. And then those of you that specialises in long-range magic directly behind the defensive line.


    As for those of you that are good at shooting, you will stay down over here and take shots at whichever stupid soldier decided to peak his head up. Your job is to take them out before they can even attack us.


    And as for Haru and me, We will try to lead an attack on their nk with swords, so once you push through their defence, hold back a little and wait for my next order. I will leave Sergeant Ainsworth in charge of this one, and we will get into positions." Captain Liegan exined as Jake looked back at her dumbfounded.


    He had never even seen a battlefield before, let alone led a unit of soldiers into battle. He felt a little overwhelmed, but he knew that he could trust her judgment even if he was nervous, and the best way to inspire the soldiers he was now in charge of was to hold back his fear and not show any weakness.


    "Yes, ma''am! Then we will charge on my mark!" Jakemanded back in response as he led the soldiers past the cultivator that was defending the civilians.


    Haru and Captain Liegan got into position a few metres away as they tried to be as inconspicuous as possible so the enemy wouldn''t see them approach. But as they walked, Captain Liegan was looking at Haru as though she had something to say.


    "Hey, what''s the real reason you put up your hood? You have never onceined about the cold. And it''s quite humid here. Did you recognise someone? I saw you looking at the civilians in the barrier earlier. It looked as though you recalled something." Captain Liegan said as she knew Haru too well and knew that he wouldn''tin about being cold, yet he did so today.


    "I guess you saw through me." Haru said with a smile as he felt a little embarrassed that she had caught him in a lie, but he wasn''t going to tell her the whole truth either way.


    "As I said earlier, I used to live here until a couple of years ago. My uncle was inside that barrier with a few family friends, that''s all. I didn''t want them to see me or know that I was about to fight since they would be worried." Haru said as he looked down at the ground.


    ''The real reason is that I can''t face them no matter what. I don''t have the right to after failing her.'' Haru thought before looking back up, and here Jake yell from a few metres away.


    "Charge!" Jake shouted as loud as he could as he ran towards arge building that the enemy forces were hiding behind.


    Gunshots began to echo out as the enemy opened fire on Jake and the unit he was leading until the shooters that were left behind targeted the enemy and shot them dead as soon as they peeked over the rubble they were hiding behind.


    "I see. Well, let''s head out then. Follow me." Captian Liegan said in a rush as she ran as fast as she could towards the side of a fallen skyscraper with Haru following slightly behind.


    There was quite amotioning from the enemy as they screamed outmands and went on the defensive as they knew that they couldn''t hold off a strategic attack from mages.


    "Sir, what do we do!? It''s the reinforcements from Japan! Weren''t we told that they wouldn''t reach us until nightfall? How did they get here so fast?" A soldier called out as a man with blond hair who was wearing a long red cape stepped out from a tent.


    "Is that so? The mage unit has arrived. This will be fun." The man said as he stepped out of the tent.


    Haru hadn''t studied the Englishnguage at all, but for some reason, as he looked at the soldiers that were talking, he understood exactly what they were saying.


    "So that''s theirmander? Let''s see how he makes orders when he''s dead!" Captain Liegan said as she pulled a sword out from her lux. But before she could move, Haru grabbed her hand.


    "Don''t! Just stay here and watch for a moment. They were just talking about how they got information that we would arriveter tonight. We have arrived earlier than they expected, but I think they might have set something up to deal with us when we doe.


    And that guy in the cape seems familiar to me. I''m not sure where I have seen him before, but this is definitely not the first time I have seen him." Haru said as he tried to ce where he recognised the blond man from, but no matter how hard he tried to, it wouldn''te to his mind.


    "Wait, now that you mention it, I seem to know him from somewhere too. I think I have seen him on TV before." Captain Liegan said as she furrowed her brows while trying to remember where she had seen him. But that was enough to cause the image of this man on a TV screen to rush into Haru''s mind.


    "He''s one of the S rank mages from the US! I remember seeing him on TV too." Haru said as he was now certain of the man''s identity.


    "An S rank mage!? Are you serious? If that''s the case, then we have to call for backup." Captain Liegan said with a worried expression on her face. She didn''t know what to do as this was the first time she had seen an S ranked mage in real life before. Haru, on the other hand, wasn''t scared for his own safety but for the safety of the soldiers that they had just sent towards him.


    But as soon as Captain Liegan began to panic, Haru reached out and poked her in the forehead with his index finger. Suddenly Captain Liegan copsed as the Qi from Haru''s finger knocked her unconscious.


    "I''m sorry about this. I just can''t take the risk of anyone finding out what I''m about to do. Not even you." Haru said as he then reached out with one hand and began to channel Qi into his palm as he looked at the S rank mage.


    "And I apologise to you for using something so brutal. I can''t let you kill any of our soldiers." Haru muttered under his breath as he released a humongous beam of fire towards the man.


    As soon as the fire made contact with the man''s body, he disintegrated and scoured the earth around him as the heat expanded with an explosion. All the nearby soldiers were blown away, and Haru took the time to rush forward and stab them all with his sword to make it look like he and Captain Liegan had taken them all down.


    By the time the rest of the unit managed to catch up. Haru had put Captain Liegan over his shoulders and began to carry her away from the scene until he heard Jake call out to him.


    "Haru!? What happened to the captain?" Jake asked as he saw Haru standing with her over his shoulders.

 Chapter 314: I have duties to attend to.

    Chapter 314: I have duties to attend to.


    "The Captain? Oh, that''s right." Haru muttered quietly as he remembered that he was going to take her out to be a hero who sacrificed all of her magic power to defeat the enemy.


    "The Captain fought bravely against multiple enemies and killed them all as swiftly as she could to make sure that you wouldn''t have trouble breaking through the front line. Unfortunately, though, she passed out due to exhausting her mana." Haru exined as he stood before his unit while holding Captain Liegan in his arms.


    "Is that so? She did great. We didn''t take any injuries when we pushed forwards due to her n. I''m d to have her fighting beside us." Jake said as he looked at the rest of the soldiers who were now looking to him for guidance.


    "We''re already at the evacuation point. There is no use in retreating now, and the Captain would lecture us for hours on end if she knew that we abandoned our orders just so she could gather some mana. As the highest-ranking officer there, I will take the lead, and my first order is that we carry on with the evacuation.


    But my second order is that the healers we have are to help get the Captain back on her feet. Now follow me back to safety." Jake said as he tookmand of the unit and led them back to the formation the Cultivator had made and announced that the enemy had been taken out.


    The civilians within the formation sighed in relief as they could now rx since they weren''t under constant bombing.


    "Thank you all. I didn''t think much about magic at first, but after seeing you take on so many armed soldiers, I am impressed. You helped save my boss''s life, so don''t be afraid to ask for anything you need." The Cultivator, known as the grim reaper, said as Jake led the army back to the formation.


    "Thank you," Jake said as he replied to the man in Chinese and then looked back at Haru with a smile as the healers ran to Captain Liegan''s aid after seeing that she was unconscious.


    "Haru, join me over here for a moment," Jake said as he began to walk away from the rest of the group so that they couldn''t be overheard.


    "Sure, what is it?" Haru asked as he walked beside him.


    "What really happened? Captain Liegan has never copsed before, and she is one of the strongest body-enhancing mages in the whole army. There is no way that she would copse from fighting a couple of regr soldiers." Jake said as he looked to Haru for an exnation.


    "You always see through me so easily, don''t you? Well, if you must know, there was an S rank mage back there. I didn''t want to expose myself, but he was heading towards you guys. I knew there would be casualties if I let him pass, so I knocked her out so I could deal with him before any harm woulde to the unit or civilians." Haru exined what had taken ce as the rest of the soldiers moved ahead with the evacuation.


    "Come on! This way, guys!" One of the Chinese soldiers shouted as he led the civilians out of the city and towards the mountains.


    "What? An S rank mage was leading an army of regr soldiers? Are you sure?" Jake asked as he seemed worried about what Haru had just told him.


    "Yeah, I found it strange too. Especially because the United states haven''t been allowed to recruit mages into their military since the end of the great war, so that means they have been working in secret for years to recruit mages from all over the world or someone else is helping. Them behind the scenes." Haru said as he thought about it for a moment.


    He was pretty familiar with what they were and weren''t allowed to do since he researched the great war when he was still a child to find out what happened to him in his previous life. But he came up with nothing, so he decided to let it rest.


    But he knew that after what he had done to their capital during the war that they wouldn''t be stupid enough to start another war. Or at least he thought so.


    "You think that''s possible? You should tell Major Samson about this if you really think it''s like that." Jake said and then sighed as he remembered who he was talking to.


    "Nevermind, I doubt something like that really matters for us to fight against them. And even if that is the case, I''m sure the people inmand would already know about something like that. Yet they definitely wouldn''t tell us." Jake said with a sigh as he knew that there wasn''t much they would be able to do even if they did tell Major Samson about what Haru had proposed.


    Haru remained silent for a few seconds as he felt a re from someone in the distance before turning his head to see Zen was staring in his direction.


    "Isn''t that?" Zen muttered as Xue began to bark when she recognised Jake from the time that he had gone to visit Haru at Zen''s house.


    With the formation now released to continue with the evacuation Xue ran straight towards Jake and jumped up at him as she had done in the past. Zen, on the other hand, walked over to where he was standing and began to talk to him.


    "You''re that friend of my nephew that came over two years ago, right? How are you doing? It''s been a while, right. I never thought that you would be here to aid our soldiers." Zen said as he tried his best to speak Japanese while being a little rusty. But Jake gulped as he looked back at Haru and then turned back to Zen.


    "Oh, Yeah. I remember you. Your name is Zen, isn''t it?" Jake said with a nervous expression since he hadn''t recognised Haru, who was standing beside them both with his hood up.


    But as Haru was beginning to walk away, he heard the sounds of sniffinge from below him. As he looked down, he saw that Xue had started to sniff his legs before looking up to see his face from beneath his hood.


    Her eyes seemed to light up as she recognised Haru and then began to bark wildly before rolling over onto her back for Haru to pet her.


    "Nice dog you have," Haru said with a slightly distorted voice as he tried to hide his identity from Zen and then leaned over to pet her.


    "Wow, I''ve never seen her act this way before. I guess she knows you''re a good person. You were the one who was tranting for the rest of the soldiers, right?" Zen asked as he looked at Haru with a look of interest.


    "Yeah, that''s right. My family used to live in China, so I can speak thenguage quite well. It just so happened that none of the other soldiers could understand what the Chinese soldiers were saying earlier, so I started tranting, and it stuck.


    Anyway, I have duties to attend to. Have a nice day." Haru said with his voice still slightly distorted before standing back up and walking away to help with the evacuation.


    A few hours went by as the civilians left the city one by one as their panic was finally over since they no longer had to fear death. It went as smooth as can be until finally, the Chinese soldiers that were fighting in the centre of the city arrived.


    A few of them were limping, and a couple were being carried back on stretchers as there appeared to be a lot of injuries, but surprisingly, none of them appeared to be dying.


    "You guys already finished fighting?" Haru asked as he took down his hood now that there was no one else around that would be able to recognise him.


    "Oh, it''s you! Thank you for your help earlier. Right after you left, their forces became so scared that they became clumsy, and we managed to take them all out and secure the area. We were just heading up here to help you out, but it appears that you''re all done here too. Those Magic powers that you guys have are quite amazing." The Chinese lieutenant replied as the rest of his soldiers carried on without him as they headed for the evacuation point also.


    "It almost seems too easy. Once you guys showed up, everything ended almost immediately." The soldier said out loud just as a rumbling sound emerged from the sky ahead of them.


    ''What!? Did he just say that word on a battlefield? There is one rule! An unwritten rule when you are in a battle! Never say the E word!'' Haru''s mind began to race as the rumble seemed like a direct consequence of him saying it was easy.


    "What''s that!?" Jake called out in confusion as everyone''s eyes looked up to the sky as a huge ne soared through the sky above them.


    "Is that a bomber!? They are really nning to drop a bomb here?!" One of the soldiers shouted out in horror as the situation amplified a lot.


    What was previously just a small battle was now turning into a massacre of the whole city as a bomb dropped from a ne wouldn''t be something light. It would most likely kill thousands of people if it struck the right ce.


    A feeling of dread hit everyone as they thought about their life during theirst moments alive.


    A hatch opened up on the bottom of the ne and revealed arge missile. Haru also watched in horror as he, too, thought that his life mighte to an end until the surrounding area fellpletely silent as an explosion of light illuminated the entire sky.

 Chapter 315: No! Who are they!?

    Chapter 315: No! Who are they!?


    A shockwave shook the earth around Shenzhen as the sh of white light dispersed in the clouds up above, and the ne was now nowhere to be seen. Haru turned his head to see the three ships that were stationed in the sea had their guns pointed in their direction.


    ''That''s a relief. I didn''t even realise that wasing until it was already toote. I guess the guys back on the ships already discovered it with their radar systems.'' Haru thought as he wondered how useful it would be to have a skill that acted as a radar.


    "What happened just now!? Was that the magic railgun on the ships? I have never even seen them fire before. I didn''t think that it would be so devastating." Jake eximed in shock at what she had just witnessed as the rest of the soldiers sighed in relief.


    They had just thought that their lives were going to end for sure, so they all felt incredibly grateful to make it out of such a situation alive.


    "Who would have thought that those huge cannons weren''t just for show," Jake spoke again, but this time with a chuckle as he too felt d to be alive. But as for Haru, he was already thinking of a way to create a technique that would detect his enemies.


    ''My spiritual sense allows me to detect people''s Qi from a distance, but I need to actively focus on it to be able to sense it. If I could find a way that would allow me to use it constantly without focusing, then I would be able to know what is happening around me at all times.


    I would even be able to sense someone''s intentions to allow me to determine if someone is a threat or not.'' Haru thought as the idea didn''t seem impossible to him, just a bit straining as he immediately tried it out.


    Haru took a few steps without saying anything as he tried his best to concentrate on sensing everything around him using his spiritual sense, but it only led him to get distracted when Jake spoke up.


    "Now that we have aplished what we set out to do, we had better head back to the ships. I''m sure that we will have more orders by the time we get there, so let''s head out now! I''m sure that the Chinese army can handle everything with the civilians now that the threat has been illuminated.


    Everyone gather around! We will stay informed as we head back. With the captain in the middle, so she doesn''t get harmed by anyone in case there are a few enemies remaining." Jake said as all of the soldiers followed hismand and began to march with Haru at the back in a daze as he tried to figure out how he would make it work.


    ''Is this even possible? I''m sure that Li Jun or Lao would have mentioned it to me before if it was. Damn it! Why did you guys have to disappear? I hope you''re both safe out there.'' Haru thought as he remembered the day that Shanghai was attacked by the demon n.


    ''But both Lao and Li Jun always knew where people were before I could sense them myself. Did they use their spiritual sense too? Or was it something else?'' Haru thought as his body went into autopilot as his mind slipped into his soul ocean while he continued to walk beside the rest of the soldiers.


    "Ralph?! Are you here?" Haru called out as he looked around the mansion but didn''t see any sign of him. Haru stood at the edge of the pond for a few moments before the sound of gravel crunching behind him surprised him.


    "What is it!? Why are you so noisy all of a sudden?" Ralph asked as he walked along the gravel path towards Haru before he turned around to greet him.


    ''This forsaken puppet. I can''t get used to how creepy he looks.'' Haru thought as he still wasn''t used to Ralph''s appearance.


    "Uhm Well, I was wondering if I could ask you something. If it''s not too much trouble, of course?" Haru asked as he looked back at Ralph.


    "Well, you''re already here, aren''t you? So out with it already. What is it?" Ralph said with a sigh, sounding as if he was annoyed by Haru''s presence, but he was still willing to listen, so Haru didn''t waste any time and decided to ask him right away.


    "I was just wondering. Is it possible to sense everything around you constantly? Like if I was using my spiritual sense but without concentrating. So I wouldn''t have to worry about people sneaking up on me even if I was sleeping." Haru exined as he tried his best to make Ralph understand.


    "So it''s something like that?" Ralph asked before yawning slightly and raising his hand to his mouth.


    "If you really want to know something so simple, then I don''t mind answering you," Ralph said and then stopped for a moment.


    "But you do have to do something for me in return." Ralph smiled as he looked at Haru with a twisted grin.


    "Wh-what is it?" Haru asked as he felt nervous. Ralph''s appearance was creepy enough without the evil smile. But now, he looked like a doll possessed by a demonic entity like in the stories he had heard as a child.


    "It''s not that big of a deal. I will tell you when the time is right. But for now, let''s get to the problem at hand. You want to know how to sense the area around you. It''s a good choice for learning this skill, but I should warn you that it is mentally demanding.


    But I probably shouldn''t be worried about someone who has already experienced the path of reincarnation. This should be a simple concept for you to grasp." Ralph said before snapping his fingers, causing a sheet of paper, a brush and a pot of ink to appear in the air in front of him.


    ''He has the power to materialise things inside my soul ocean? Or is it just the power to materialise things inside the mansion?'' Haru thought as Ralph looked up at him for a moment.


    "Everything in this mansion is under my control until the day it is inherited by my master''s descendant," Ralph said as he heard all the thoughts inside Haru''s mind constantly. Even the ones about him looking creepy. But despite that, he still remained unbothered by what Haru thought and continued to write down something on the sheet of paper.


    ''I wonder who your master actually is. He has said that multiple times now. I wonder how strong someone would have to be to create a cultivation technique that creates a floating mansion within your soul ocean. And who is this descendant that he speaks of?'' Haru thought before Ralph spoke again.


    "You know what these are, right?" Ralph asked as he handed the paper to Haru, which contained a bunch of runes written on it.


    It was Haru''s first time seeing something like this before since he was only used to writing a couple of runes at the same time, but this was something different. The number of Runes written on the paper was equivalent to the test papers he wrote during his time at school.


    Haru looked over it for a few minutes as he tried his best to decipher it. It took a lot of effort as he wasn''t familiar with some of the runes, but despite that, he managed to understand the basic concept that Ralph was trying to teach him.


    ''So it''s not so much as focusing on my mental strength to sense the things around me, but I actually just have to release it. I have to somehow let my mind settle to the point where it seeps out of my body and surrounds me at all times.


    How is that easy? I don''t even know where to begin with something like that.'' Haru thought before suddenly Ralph reached out and ced his hand against Haru''s chest.


    "Remember this feeling," Ralph said before Haru''s mind went nk, and everything around him became white before the sight of him marching alongside his unit came into his vision, but it was a little bit different.


    The soldiers no longer looked like people but instead, silhouettes filled with different colours. Some were dark blue in colour, and Haru could instantly tell that they felt anxious, and others were yellow, which told Haru that they were scared.


    But the two that stood out the most were the silhouettes of Jake and Captain Liegan.


    Jake looked to be a shade of green which signified that he felt proud, and Captain Liegan was a grey since she still remained unconscious. But as Haru looked around, he saw a few more silhouettes in the distance that were red in colour, and they appeared to be holding something in their hands as they looked towards Haru and his unit.


    "No! Who are they!?" Haru thought as he opened his eyes and looked to the location where he had seen the red silhouettes to see three remaining enemy soldiers in the distance that had fled from the fighting but had nowe back for revenge.


    ''Not on my watch.'' Haru thought as he picked up a rock from the ground and split it into three even pieces in his hand and then used his Qi to make it soar through the sky and take them out in one movement.


    ''Thanks, Ralph. I think I understand it now.'' Haru thought as his eyes now had a tint of red to them as he let go of all the worries in his mind and began to feel everything around him. There were no other life forces remaining in the city except theirs and the Chinese soldiers they had just left, so he had nothing to fear as they made it back to the ships to report that they hadpleted their orders and exin everything that happened while they were there.

 Chapter 316: That would be great.

    Chapter 316: That would be great.


    After they had filled their reports in and fell back in line to receive their next orders, Haru''s unit was told that they were now to head straight for the front line of the fighting. It seemed as though they were needed there more than they were needed in Shenzhen.


    From what they were told, the enemy force had invaded Shanghai, which was alreadypletely demolished and set up their camp in the uninhabited zones. Haru looked furious for a few moments as he learnt about what had happened before calming down after a few moments when he thought about what their mission was.


    ''They have probably killed hundreds if not thousands of civilians by now. If we didn''t get to Shenzhen in time, then there is no doubt in my mind that they would have managed to kill Zen and Suyin''s family.'' Haru thought as he looked up at the sky to feel a static feeling in the air.


    It was as though the salt from the ocean below them was giving out its own warning as the ships set off up the coastline to get closer to Shanghai.


    Once they reached Shanghai, it was like nothing they had ever seen before. The whole city was illuminated with gunfire, and most of it had been decimated with bombs to the point that not even rubble remained in the city.


    It looked like an open field full of damp mud and hills from where explosions had gone off. The city that Haru once knew didn''t exist at all.


    ''How did things get so bad? Didn''t they only just dere war? What happened here?'' Haru thought as it didn''t seem right to him.


    There was no way that the enemy forces could do something like that in his mind. But as he sensed the area more, he felt something he didn''t expect.


    ''There are more than fifty S rank mages in the city And there are still cultivators here. And pretty strong ones too. I wonder who is here.'' Haru thought as he sensed the presence of not one but two manifestation realm cultivators fighting in the distance.


    "What''s going on here?! I know they said the city was destroyed. But I didn''t expect it would have fallen to this extent in such a short amount of time." Jake said as he walked up beside Haru.


    "Well, I guess that''s what happens when dozens of S ranked mages attack all at once. It doesn''te as that much of a surprise when you consider the amount of fighting that has taken ce here over the past couple of days." Haru said as Jake''s heart began to throb.


    "You just said dozens of S ranked mages But aren''t there only a handful of them in the whole world?! Does that mean they are all here?" Jake asked in confusion as Haru remained silent.


    ''A handful? But I clearly sense fifty of them Does that mean that there is something out there that can make people stronger? I wonder what kind of technology that is.'' Haru thought as he knew magic was different from cultivation.


    Cultivators could gain strength in many different ways. But Mages could only be better by fighting and bing more skilled. Their rank was just based on how much skill they had inbat.


    Although there were some things that made it easier to get to S rank, such as having a powerful Lux or defensive gear as well as having a strong magic power, but those things weren''t even necessary. As long as someone contained the right amount of battle prowess, it wouldn''t matter how much magic power they could use.


    They could still be S ranked. So Haru didn''t worry much about that. But the thing that he did worry about was the fact that all of the S ranked mages that he sensed didn''t only have a strong battle prowess, but their magic power was all the same.


    It was like they were all exact replicas of the others, which would take someone incredibly powerful to be able to make that many clones of themselves, so he doubted that it was only one person and thought that there was something else happening.


    "I''m not sure what''s going on here, but it doesn''t look good. But luckily for us, we won''t be fighting alone. It looks like there are some more cultivators here as well as some more Japanese soldiers." Haru said as he took advantage of the skill that Ralph had just shown him how to do.


    He could practically sense everything that was happening within the old site of the city without even leaving the ship as they sailed towards the coast.


    "What are we going to do?" Jake asked as Haru stared towards the coast.


    "I don''t know. But I think that I just might have to use my true power while I''m here, so If I disappear for a while, don''t worry and make sure you cover for me, please." Haru said as the ship drifted closer to the shore before they were ordered to disembark and rush towards the fighting that was taking ce further ind.


    It seemed that the Japanese soldiers that were already fighting there had called for backup and were in dire need of more forces. But since Captain Liegan remained unconscious until they arrived at the coast, someone else tookmand of all the units that were present.


    He was someone from the main base that had been travelling with them on the ship, and he was ordered to lead all three ships filled with soldiers into battle.


    The ocean on the coast quickly filled with small boats as they all disembarked onto speedboats to make it all the way tond as the ships were simply too big to get any closer. It looked like the water had now turned into a solid with the number of boats that filled it.


    But that wasn''t of any concern to the soldiers as they had all be nervous, including Haru, as he tried to think of a way to wipe out as many S ranked mages as possible without anyone knowing.


    But he would have to catch them off guard to break through their defence without anyone knowing or disguise himself as a cultivator to not let any of the Japanese soldiers find out about the fact that he was a cultivator.


    ''Should I find a ce to hide and then put on the mask that Lao gave to me when I went to the soul tempering grounds? No, that won''t work. If they see that I have gone missing before reporting to the frontlines, then they will think that I am a deserter and I will be court Martialed'' Haru thought as he knew that once they arrived at the temporary base, that would most likely be set up already that they would do ahead count to figure out how much power they had to fight back. If he was missing, then someone would notice since all the soldiers knew him as their instructor.


    Haru sighed as they got off the speedboats and began to march ind as far north as they could possibly go without setting foot into another city.


    Huge craters littered the floor from bombs exploding, and the ground had formed huge hills that were bigger than houses. It was more like travelling through a city in the mountains than one at the coastline, but that was to be expected of a war zone.


    They were lucky that they got to Shenzhen before that too had been turned into something like what they saw now. But for most of the soldiers present, it was like they had entered apletely different world as there was no sign of modern technology anywhere apart from the sounds of guns and explosions in the distance.


    After about an hour of walking along the uneven terrain, arge wall could be seen in the distance as they approached what looked to be a temporary base guarded by dirt walls that looked like they had been put up with magic as well as the Japanese g flying high above the entrance.


    A loud cheer could be heard from inside the walls as it looked like hundreds of people had gathered at the entrance to the camp as the man leading Haru and the rest of the units radioed ahead to let everyone know that they were iing. But by the reaction, it seemed like they were desperately in need of some cheering up.


    And as Haru remained using his so-called radar system, he noticed that the base seemed less like a base and more like a hospital as most of the people inside had injuries.


    "Who''s in charge here?!" The man who led the group called out as they made their way into the temporary camp and began to look around for anyone with ribbons and medals on their chest as that was usually the way to tell who was in charge, but there was no one around who had either.


    All the people inside the base were below sergeant rank, and not one of them spoke out and imed to be in charge until a man on crutches hobbled out of one of the buildings with a limp.


    "Our captain is currently out on the frontline fighting. I doubt he will return for a while. But I have the highest rank here if you would like toe inside and talk about the situation here. I will tell you everything you need to know." The man said as he looked at the soldier who was leading the backup.


    "Thank you. That would be great. I need a better understanding of what''s going on here." The man in charge said as he walked alongside the man on crutches into the building, leaving everyone outside to mingle with the other soldiers.

 Chapter 317: Would you like me to accompany you, maam?

    Chapter 317: Would you like me to apany you, ma''am?


    A loud boom emerged from the hills in the distance, and a cloud of dust shot up into the air as it sounded as though something exploded close to the base. All eyes shot towards the sound as thoughts of panic ran through everyone''s eyes as a loud chant followed the explosion as the silhouettes of people marching emerged from behind the hill.


    "What''s going on?" Jake asked Haru as everyone began to get into defensive positions as they thought that the enemy wasing for them. But as Haru used the technique to sense intentions, he discovered that the people that wereing towards the base didn''t have any hostile intent.


    In fact, they seemed happy to be back as well as a little hungry. Haru looked back at Jake as the other soldiers raised their weapons out of fear and alerted the officers of what they had just heard.


    "It''s nothing to be worried about. It''s just the soldiers that were previously fighting. They''reing back, that''s all." Haru exined to Jake quietly as the two officers came out of the tent with worried looks on their faces.


    "Get into position and spread yourselves apart! We don''t want to be caught in a pincer attack, so make sure you block all entrances." The man that had led Haru and Jake to the base ordered the rest of the soldiers as he outranked everyone there.


    It went quiet as he ordered everyone into position as they awaited whatever fate was about to be of them as the chanting became louder, and footsteps soon began to beat out a rhythm as they marched towards the base.


    "You two! What are you doing! Don''t just stand there! Block one of the entrances!" The man ordered as Jake and Haru remained still and continued with their conversation as the chanting became louder and louder until a voice called out from the other side of the wall.


    "We''re back! I hope you guys have prepared a feast for us!" A man shouted out as the soldiers he led made their way to the entrance where the others were blocking it with their weapons drawn.


    "Wait, stand down! That''s Second Lieutenant Mishi." The sergeant that was already stationed at the base called out as the group stepped through into the camp and looked around to see the soldiers were all on edge.


    "Did we miss something? I don''t remember there being this many people here before." Second Lieutenant Mishi said as he led his soldiers back into the base.


    "Wait, It''s you! Why are you here?" The Lieutenant yelled in surprise when he saw the man who had led Haru and Jake to the camp.


    "Long time no see. Second Lieutenant Mishi. I didn''t think that you would be here either. What a pleasant surprise." The man said in return as he looked at Mishi with a smile on his face.


    "Lieutenant Hayashi I can''t say that it''s pleasant for me, sir." Second Lieutenant Mishi said with a sigh as he didn''t seem impressed to see Lieutenant Hayashi.


    "Now, is that the way to talk to your superiors? Be d that we''re here to help you guys out, or I wouldn''t mind settling our score in front of all your men too." Lieutenant Hayashi said as a grin formed on his face as he looked back at the soldiers that had led from the ships as well as the soldiers that had been under Second Lieutenant Mishi until now.


    "Listen up! I have ordered from headquarters to take over this camp here and use anything to our advantage in order to stop this war before the damages are irreversible, so I will need you all to bepliant and listen to my everymand until this is over. Do you all understand what I''m saying?" Lieutenant Hayashi asked as his attitude changed drastically as he felt the need to prove himself upon seeing Mishi had been fighting on the battlefield since before he had even arrived in China.


    All of the soldiers looked back and forth at each other as it was unusual for someone to takemand over someone else''s unit unless it was absolutely necessary, but it seemed to them as though he was just showing off his authority by abusing his rank.


    ''Is this really how things go in the army after all these years? Do people act arrogantly even in war? This is how lives are lost. If the men who died in the great war could see what had be of the force that they gave their lives for, they would turn over in their graves.


    I''m not about to let him disgrace the name of the people who died defending their country and people by being petty children.'' Haru thought as he began to step forwards, but as he did so, another Voice called out from the gate.


    "Now, now, those weren''t your orders, were they? Don''t go making things up just to exert your power. Don''t you remember what happened to that one sergeant a couple of months back? Don''t make me report you for misconduct." Captain Liegan called out as she stepped into the camp now that she was conscious again.


    "And on that note. Our orders are to aid Second Lieutenant Mishi with anything that he may need. We don''t know the situation out here, so we will follow hismand since he has been here for a few hours already." Captain Liegan exined as she took control of the situation before her eyes met Haru''s.


    Captain Liegan smiled as she saw him but had a hint of confusion to her gaze as she quickly turned away once again to look at the other two officers.


    "Haha, That''s great. It''s a pleasure to have you here with us, Captain Liegan. Thank you foring." Second Lieutenant Mishi said as he exaggerated his wee to Captain Liegan while staring at Lieutenant Hayashi with a smile on his face.


    "Thank you for the wee. Would you mind exining to me what has happened over here? We were sent in blind, so we don''t know the situation." Captain Liegan asked as she tried to gather as much information as possible so she could lead the soldiers sessfully.


    "Of course, ma''am. Follow me." Second Lieutenant Mishi said as he began to walk in the direction of one of the tents nearby.


    "Would you like me to apany you, ma''am? I know a few things about the situation here too." Lieutenant Hayashi asked with a hopeful look on his face as he still feltpetitive with Mishi.


    "No, that''s fine. You have done enough for one day. Stand down." Captain Liegan said as she knew what he was up to and didn''t want to incite any discourse into the rest of the soldiers but as she turned around to look at him. She looked at Jake and Haru, who were talking to each other once again.


    "Actually, Sergeant Ainsworth and Private Kitagawa, you twoe along too. I could use your input on what to do next." Captain Liegan said as she purposely called out two people with a lower rank than Lieutenant Hayashi''s to show him that rank doesn''t mean anything to her, and she wasn''t going to stand for him oppressing others just because he had a higher rank.


    "Yes, ma''am!" Jake replied immediately while keeping as professional as he could before making his way to Captain Liegan''s side.


    "Yes, ma''am" Haru said with a sigh as hezily walked over to Captain Liegan, but as he did, he looked over at Lieutenant Hayashi, who was giving Haru an angry re.


    Haru looked back at him for a few seconds before releasing a slight amount of killing intent so he wouldn''t get any ideas about targeting him and Jake.


    Lieutenant Hayashi gasped for air as the pressure from Haru''s killing intent was enough to stop him from breathing for a moment as he became stiff from fear and felt defenceless.


    ''What was that!? Is there something wrong with me? Am I sick or something?'' Lieutenant Hayashi thought as he couldn''t exin what had happened as Haru walked past him with a slight smirk on his face.


    ''I don''t have the patience for people like that. If he steps out of line again, I will kill him.'' Haru thought as he followed behind Jake and Captain Liegan all the way to the tent that had been set up to n attacks on the enemy with a map of the terrain in the centre of arge table.


    "This is how we''ve been ning our attacks so far. This is an old map of the city, but it doesn''t tell us anything now that all the buildings have been destroyed, so we have measured the distances with GPS. But from what we worked out so far, there are two enemy camps nearby, and the Chinese forces have been forced up towards the north.


    They appear to be trapped there, so we have been trying to force the enemy to chase us to give the Chinese soldiers a chance to push them back. But we haven''t been able tomunicate with them yet since they are surrounded." Second Lieutenant Mishi exined as they all gathered around the table and looked at the map as he pointed out the locations he was talking about as he spoke.


    "You haven''t been able to contact them at all? Why not send someone with flight magic to drop into their camp?" Captain Liegan asked as it wouldn''t be difficult for someone to do something like that.


    "Well, that''s because all the soldiers we have encountered so far have been mages too. Our first battle here ended up with twenty of our soldiers being injured. But luckily, we managed to save everyone and finish them off before they could call for backup.


    If we send someone with flight magic, they could be intercepted by other mages and killed. I''m not willing to send people to their death like that." Second Lieutenant Mishi said as he looked up at Captain Liegan.


    "Well, I will give that job to Private Kitagawa then. Not only is he fluent in Chinese, but he is also the sneakiest person I have ever met." Captain Liegan said to Mishi, all the while staring at Haru.

 Chapter 318: Do you think you can fool me!?

    Chapter 318: Do you think you can fool me!?


    Haru looked up at Captain Liegan with a look of confusion as he tried to understand what she had meant, calling him the sneakiest person she had ever met. He couldn''t recall any moment that she had caught him sneaking around. So that only meant one thing.


    ''She knows.'' Haru thought as his mind went wild as he tried to think of solutions in his head.


    ''How many people has she told? Should I kill her to make sure that no one else finds out? No. What am I thinking? We have been friends for the past few months. I can''t kill her. Especially for something like this. I will just have to hope that she doesn''t tell anyone else.'' Haru thought as he looked back at Captain Liegan, who was smiling.


    "What? Are you really going to leave such an important task to a private? Are you sure that''s a smart idea?" Second Lieutenant Mishi said as he stared at Haru with a look of doubt as he didn''t think that there was any chance that Haru would be able to make it to the Chinese camp without getting caught.


    ''I guess I might as wellply. She would be less likely to tell anyone if I do what she asks of me.'' Haru thought as he knew that Captain Liegan had a n for him.


    "Now you''re starting to sound like that guy outside. Who says your ability determines your rank? Shouldn''t you know this already?" Haru''s voice emerged from behind Second Lieutenant Mishi as Haru amped up his mana a little more than he was used to doing and vanished before everyone''s eyes before appearing behind Mishi and tapping him on the shoulder.


    "How did you just!?" Second Lieutenant Mishi eximed as he turned to see Haru had seemingly teleported behind him.


    "See what I mean. Very sneaky indeed." Captain Liegan said with an even bigger grin as this was also the first time she had seen Haru move so fast. But as for Jake, he remained still with worry in his eyes as he questioned whether or not Haru should have shown off his abilities like that.


    But by the way, Captain Liegan was acting. It seemed as though she already knew that Haru was stronger than he imed to be, and the game was already over. There was no point in ying pretend anymore. And if he put the rest of the soldiers at risk by hiding his strength, he knew that Captain Liegan would be furious and might tell other people about his real strength.


    "Okay, I stand corrected. He certainly has the ability to do it." Second Lieutenant Mishi said with a nervousugh as he knew that if they were on opposite sides, he wouldn''t have stood a chance against Haru and would have been killed before he could even react.


    "Then that settles it. Private Kitagawa will take care ofmunicating with the Chinese soldiers. We just need to make a distraction to make it easier for him to slip by undetected. Do you have any ideas?" Captain Liegan said as she asked Second Lieutenant Mishi what he thought, but it came as a surprise to her as Jake was the one to speak up instead.


    "Well, that''s easy enough to do. We could have someone use earth magic to create a tunnel to an enemy base and dig a huge hole beneath it. Their whole camp would be destroyed in one move." Jake said as he stepped forwards to make sure he was heard.


    "Hmm, that just might work. But where do we find an earth magic user strong enough to pull something like that off?" Captain Liegan asked as Jake took a moment to think. He had seen the wall outside that was created using earth magic, so he knew that there was most likely one within the camp, but he didn''t know who. But as he was thinking about it, Haru seemed to realise who created the wall outside.


    "We can just have Second Lieutenant Mishi do it. You''re the one who created the wall outside, aren''t you?" Haru asked as he was certain that he wasn''t wrong with his assumption.


    "I don''t believe we have met before. How would you know something like that?" Second Lieutenant Mishi asked as he became a little scared as to how Haru knew what type of magic he used without revealing it to anyone.


    "Well, it was pretty easy to figure out. Take a look at your fingernails and hands. There is dirt on them. For someone who keeps his uniform spotless even after a battle, it seems pretty strange that you would have dirt on your hands unless you touch dirt often enough to not realise that it''s on your hands." Haru exined as he deduced that he was the one they needed for Jake''s n from a small detail that no one else had noticed.


    "Really? Did youe to that conclusion from that alone? What if I had just fallen over and put my hands on the ground to stop myself from hitting my head? There are other reasons for me to have dirt on my hands." The second Lieutenant said as he tried to ask hypothetical questions to Haru while trying to discredit Haru''s deduction, but he didn''t care about such things and shrugged his shoulders instead of defending himself.


    "Then I would have been wrong. It''s not that big of a deal. But you just admitted that it was you, so I don''t care about that. All I care about is whether or not you will help us out with this n?" Haru stated as he walked back around the table to stand beside Captain Liegan and Jake without saying another word.


    "Of course. I will help, and I''m sorry I didn''t mean to offend you. I just thought that it was a little unbelievable to guess something like that from such a small detail. I just feel a little bit confused." Second Lieutenant Mishi said as he sighed with disbelief and then sat down on one of the seats behind the table.


    "I will do what I can to help you. Don''t worry about that. I''m just hungry and tired. Do you mind if we start the n after nightfall? I have been fighting since morning. I need to take a nap." Second Lieutenant Mishi said slowly as he rested his head on his hands.


    ''He seemed to be paranoid that I was here to cause him harm. I think it''s probably for the best that he gets some rest, or else his head might not be in the right ce to enact Jake''s n. This is a real war, after all. There are no second chances here. I know that all too well, but the others seem a little bit naive to the dangers.'' Haru thought as he once again became a little bit annoyed at how even the officers didn''t understand just how much danger they were in.


    "Of course. Take as much time as you need. Do you mind if our soldiers take a rest here too? We just came from defending Shenzhen, and everyone is already exhausted." Captain Liegan asked as she felt a little uneasy about going to another unit''s camp and asking for a ce to stay, but It didn''t seem to matter to Second Lieutenant Mishi.


    "Of course. We''re all brothers and sisters here. Take whatever you need. Just try not to take anyone else''s bed. There are a lot of injured here from the battle earlier. I think all of them have earned the right to rest for a while until they heal up." Mishi said as he nearly drifted off to sleep while sitting in his chair.


    "Okay then. Thank you. I will order some of our healers to help out in any way that they can. Just let me know when you want to head out tonight. But for now, I have some more business to take care of with these two young men here. I hope you rest well and feel better by tonight." Captain Liegan said with a threatening tone as she looked at Jake and Haru for a moment before wishing Mishi well and leaving the tent to find a secluded ce.


    "You two follow me. We need to have a chat." She said as she led them to one of the far corners of the camp and turned to face both Haru and Jake.


    "Do you think you can fool me!? Just how long were you two nning to keep it a secret, huh?" Captain Liegan asked as she switched her gaze between both Jake and Haru as she awaited a response from them.


    "What do you mean? We''re not keeping anything a secret." Jake said nervously as he thought he knew what was about toe next. It was now obvious to him that she knew that Haru wasn''t actually what he said he was.


    "Don''t. Just give up already. I already know that you''re both hiding your strength." Captain Liegan said as Jake''s worst fear came out as he looked up at Haru with a look of horror on his face, but as he waited for Haru''s reaction, he realised that he didn''t seem surprised that she knew.


    It seemed like he already knew that she had discovered their secret and what was even more surprising to Jake was theck of care that Haru had towards the situation. For someone that wanted to keep his strength hidden for so long, he wasn''t concerned in the slightest that Captain Liegan knew.

 Chapter 319: Why are you hiding your strength?

    Chapter 319: Why are you hiding your strength?


    "Uh" Jake stuttered nervously as he looked towards Haru yet again for help. He didn''t want to be the one to admit it since it wasn''t his secret to share in the first ce.


    "Come on. How long have we been friends? Do you really think that I would tell anyone? I knew that you were both strong, but from what happened today, I am starting to question just how much you guys have been holding back.


    Before I passed out, Haru and I spotted an S rank mage who was leading the enemy forces. I was about to attack him, but Haru pulled me back, and the next thing I knew, I woke up on the ship without any injuries, and there wasn''t any news of an S rank mage being spotted anywhere in the area.


    And as for you, Jake. I was told that you defeated around thirty soldiers alone in a single strike from a fireball. I might not know exactly what happened, but there''s no doubt in my mind that you are both hiding your strength. But for what reason?" Captain Liegan exined before asking again.


    Jake gulped as he was found out. It wasn''t that he wanted to hide his strength. He just never found an opportunity to use it, and he wasn''t the type of person to show off, so his real power went undetected.


    But as for Haru, he had a deeper secret to keep. Although she knew that he was hiding his strength, she didn''t know that he was a cultivator, so he didn''t feel worried as he answered her question first.


    "I never imed that I couldn''t use any other magic. When I enlisted, the examiners just assumed that I was a body enhancing mage, so I just went with it. But since there''s no point in trying to keep it from you, then I should probably tell you that I know a lot of strong magic and don''t just specialise in one thing. I just didn''t want any extra responsibilities pushed on to me, so I never mentioned it." Haru replied as he was confident that his exnation wouldn''t cause any more suspicion, but Jake was still nervous that she would be able to see through him.


    "You little bastard Just when I finally thought that I found someone in the same boat as me, you turn out to be a fake. You don''t even specialise in body enhancing magic, and you still managed to avoid all of my attacks and only let me win to save face.


    I guess I need to work a lot harder." Captain Liegan said as she sounded a little angry before epting that shecked in her training if she couldn''t beat Haru, but that couldn''t be any further from the truth.


    "Then wait about you? Why are you hiding your strength? Don''t tell me you''rezy and don''t want extra responsibilities too?" Captian Liegan asked with a smirk as she looked back at Jake, who had yet to answer her question.


    "Well, I- I just never had the opportunity to show my real strength. When training back at base, I never went against someone who was strong enough for me to use my full power, so I didn''t. I don''t want to hurt someone needlessly." Jake said with a stutter as he told her the real reason why he never showed off his abilities.


    "I see. Well, that makes sense. And there are no rules that state that you are supposed to show your full strength at all. But it would have been nice to know that you were both a lot stronger than you im to be. I feel kind of bad for using my rank to order you around when I''m obviously not as strong as you guys." Captain Liegan said with a sigh as she looked at the two of them for a moment before Haru spoke up again.


    "Your rank or qualifications have nothing to do with your strength or power. You have your rank because you have the skill and patience required to lead. If something goes wrong, you know how to deal with it and make things right. Those are things that make you a great leader.


    I don''t care about strength. You have proven yourself to be worth following into battle, so that''s what I will do. The same can''t be said for the other two guys from earlierespecially the one who tried to take over the camp. An oppressive leader is the worst kind.


    They''re likely to sacrifice other people for their own survival. Even if he ordered it and used his rank, I wouldn''t follow him anywhere." Haru said as he tried to cheer her up so she wouldn''t feel too bad about not being able topare to Haru or Jake in strength.


    But it was to be expected of a normal soldier. Jake was from a military family and went to the most prestigious school in the country to learn to be a mage. And Haru had the experience from his previous life as the strongest mage and his current cultivation level. There was hardly anyone who couldpare to Jake and even less who couldpare to Haru.


    ''I don''t think she would tell anyone about me. But even so, I don''t want to needlessly tell people about me being a cultivator. That is something that I don''t want leaking at any cost.'' Haru thought as he looked at her for a few moments as she took a while to reply.


    "You really think of me like that?" Captain Liegan asked as she seemed a little surprised by what Haru had just said.


    "Of course. The whole unit knows you are a great leader. Why do you think they would put up with you beating them during training if they didn''t respect you? There''s only so much you can scare someone before they go insane.


    Yet, not a single one of them has tried to kill you regardless of how much you beat them up or shouted at them for not following orders. They all respect you even if they do like to make jokes about you being the devil." Haru said with a chuckle as he tried to make her understand what he meant.


    "I- I don''t know what to say. I thought that most of them hated me. But when you put it like that, I guess it does make sense." Captian Liegan said as she felt a little sad to know that she didn''t realise how they all felt about her sooner.


    She never thought that she did anything special to earn their respect, and she shouted at them quite often, but that wasn''t a big deal to any of them since they could see that she cared about them and was only trying to make sure that they were prepared for the day they would go to battle. Yet, no one thought that it woulde so soon.


    "The whole war thing hasn''t really set in yet. It feels more like a training exercise. I guess everyone is scared right now, aren''t they? They don''t know whether or not they will make it out of this alive and see their families again.


    I don''t know why but I didn''t think about it until now. Thank you, Haru. I don''t know if I ever would have realised this if you didn''t bring it up. I think I have an idea to make everyone rx. I don''t want them to remain scared if I can do something about it." Captain Liegan said as an idea came to her mind as she thought about the other soldiers.


    "You do? Well, what is it?" Haru asked as Jake''s eyes also widened in anticipation.


    "You will just have to wait and see. I don''t want to ruin the surprise." Captain Liegan said as her mood changed drastically and she was now motivated to do something for her unit to ease everyone''s nerves.


    "Did you just get upset about us keeping things from you? Now you''re doing the same." Jake said as he felt robbed of information since he willingly told her why he kept his strength a secret.


    "Well, this is different. I n to tell you about it right before it happens." Captain Liegan said before walking off into the distance.


    "What do you think that was about?" Jake asked as he turned back to see Haru smiling. Since they had arrived in China, Jake didn''t see Haru smile at all. In fact, it seemed like he was hurting. But at that moment, as he watched Captain Liegan walk away, Jake saw something he didn''t expect.


    ''I''m d that there are still people like her in the army. She reminds me of my old unit leader during the great war. I wonder if she is still alive today?'' Haru thought as he didn''t know much about the people that were around during his previous life, but they would probably be in their sixties or seventies, so he never thought about reaching out to them.


    But as he judged the state of the military, he couldn''t help but think about his final night alive when hismanding officer had invited him for a drink at headquarters only to end up dying afterwards.


    ''I sure hope that you didn''t betray me back then, Torus.'' Haru thought as he desperately wanted to know what happened to him before he died since he knew that the government said he had died in battle and they never recovered his body. But Haru knew for a fact that he died while back in Japan and that they had lied to the public about it.

 Chapter 320: What do you think youre all doing!?

    Chapter 320: What do you think you''re all doing!?


    "She took that surprisingly well, didn''t she?" Jake said as they both found themselves alone as Captain Liegan walked off into the distance.


    "Of course she did. She''s our friend, right. We have all been together practically every day for the past four months. Do you think that she would just betray us after finding out something like that?" Haru asked as he felt as though he could trust her with what they had just talked about.


    "I guess you''re right. But I do feel a little bit guilty for not telling her sooner. I just hope no one else finds out. I mean, if a situationes where we both have to fight with our full strength, then we won''t have a choice. But I doubt anyone could push you to that point, could they?" Jake asked with a smirk since he had yet to win against Haru in his whole life.


    "I thought the same thing until the day this ce was destroyed," Haru said with a sigh as he looked down at the ground.


    ''This area where we''re standing right now would have been part of a road in the past, but all that''s left is dirt. I really want to know how it got to this stage. Was there another attack after I left?'' Haru thought as he looked back at Jake.


    "Are there really people that are stronger than you?" Jake asked with a surprised look on his face.


    "Haha, In the scale of things in the cultivation world. I''m not strong at all. My teacher, for example. He could probably crush a whole with a single finger." Haru said with a smile as Jake chuckled a little, thinking that Haru was joking.


    "Anyway, we should probably head back and see what she''s up to. I doubt it''s anything good." Haru said as he felt a little awkward since Jake didn''t believe him, so he decided to head back, so he could think about things for a while. But as they both arrived back to the main part of the camp, they saw all of the soldiers that were under Captain Liegan''smand had begun to fight each other, and it looked like things had developed into an all-out brawl as they punched and kicked each other indiscriminately while people wrestled on the floor.


    "What''s going on!" Jake yelled as he saw themotion before him.


    "Stop! Everyone get a hold of yourself! This is a warzone, not a yground!" Jake shouted out once again, but he went unheard as each of the soldiers ignored him and continued to fight each other.


    ''Was this her idea? They are supposed to be fighting the enemy. If they exhaust all of their strength out here, then we won''t stand a chance on the battlefield.'' Haru thought as he too wanted to put an end to what was happening.


    "ENOUGH!!!" Haru shouted as he amplified his voice with magic.


    A shock wave shot out around the camp as dust flew up into the air, as the ground began to tremble as he shouted out for them to stop.


    Every single one of the soldiers stopped in ce as the ground shook below them and their ears began to ring from how loud Haru had just shouted. They all turned to see Haru and Jake standing beside each other and wondered why they interrupted.


    "Thank you for that," Jake said quietly as he pushed on the inside of his ear to make sure that his ears weren''t bleeding before addressing the soldiers who were looking back in shock.


    "What do you think you''re all doing!? You are being paid to fight the enemy, Not to fight among yourselves. Can one of you tell me just what exactly is going on here?" Jake asked as the soldiers all looked at him with nk stares.


    "There was only one piece of chicken left. We were arguing about who gets it before Captain Liegan said that thest person standing could have it." One of the soldiers said as Haru looked over to a metal te that was sitting on a table beside one of the tents.


    "Is that so?" Haru asked as the soldier''s attention switched from Jake toward him as he walked towards the metal te.


    "You mean this piece of chicken right here?" Haru said as he picked up the te.


    "Hey, teach. Put that te down right now. Not even you can stand a chance against all of us." Another one of the soldiers said as he stood up from the rest of the group and hesitantly began to walk towards Haru.


    "Really? Do you care to test that theory? But you know. I was actually feeling a little bit hungry since we arrived here." Haru said as this time he picked up the chicken and put the te back down before slowly raising his hand towards his lips.


    "I''m warning you! Don''t do it!" Another one of the soldiers shouted as Haru opened his mouth and bit a chunk out of the chicken.


    "Mhm, It''s not bad. This is quite the luxury for a battlefield. Who would have known that the food would be so good here." Haru said as the rest of the soldiers now began to walk towards him with angry looks on their faces.


    "You should have listened to our warning. Now you have to die!" Another one of them yelled out as they became furious that they had fought against each other for the chicken only to have it stolen from them while they were fighting.


    "Bring it," Haru said with a smile as he ate the rest of it while they watched.


    ''Why does he always have to pick fights like this? But I should be happy that they are not fighting each other, right?'' Jake thought as he felt a little tired as he noticed that the rest of the soldiers that were at the camp had alle out of their tents after hearing Haru shout and were now watching as the unit of eleven soldiers teamed up to fight against him.


    Haru remained still until one of the soldiers approached him with a sprint and began to il his hands as he tried to punch Haru in the face.


    "Kenny. Didn''t we talk about this? You are supposed to punch with your body, not your shoulders. Even if you could hit me, you wouldn''t manage to hurt anyone like this." Haru said as he easily bobbed his head side to side and dodged each one of the punches.


    "Just stay still! Let me beat you already!" The soldier called Kenny shouted out as he tried his best to hit Haru, but that was short-lived as Haru caught one of his punches with his hand andughed.


    "Now, what do you n to do?" Haru asked before pushing him back into the crowd of soldiers that were rushing towards him.


    "Look, this is the teamwork you should have all the time. Even I feel a little bit intimidated when you all work together like this." Haru said with augh as the rest of them rushed towards him and began throwing punches together, thinking that they would be able to hit him if they worked together.


    But without warning, Haru jumped up in the air andnded behind them all.


    "But in battle. Even teamwork might not be good enough if you encounter an enemy who can withstand all of your attacks when you work together. Then your only options are to run or die." Haru said as he kicked his leg out and tripped over three people at once before grabbing two more soldiers with one hand each and throwing them up into the air.


    The two soldiers flew back andnded on the roof of one of the tents as Haru didn''t want to hurt them but just teach them a lesson.


    In a single moment, he had just defeated five of them, and with only six of them remaining, they seemed a little less confident in themselves as they rushed forwards, all the while trying to strike Haru, but it was no use. He simply moved his head to avoid them.


    "I will kill you!" Another one of the soldiers shouted as he stepped forwards on his own to try his best to hit Haru, but before he could even swing his arm, Haru kicked him in the stomach and took a step back as he fell down to his knees and gasped for breath.


    "Five of you left. Do you still want to fight? Or are you going to run? You might manage to keep a little bit of pride if you stop right now." Haru said as they continued running towards him together, thinking that they might actually defeat him if they continued to work together.


    "Well, don''t say I didn''t warn you," Haru said with a smile for grabbing another one of their punches and then grabbing the soldier''s arm before spinning him around in a circle and using his body to strike the remaining four people, wiping them out in a single move.


    "That''s not fair; You can''t do that!" Kenny shouted out as he got back to his feet and tried to run towards Haru, but as he did, Haru let go of the other soldier''s arm, sending him flying back towards Kenny, which knocked him back down to the ground.


    "I have to admit. You did a lot better than usual. I might just manage to make fighters out of you yet." Haru said before rubbing his hands together to signal that he was done before turning around to see that a crowd had formed to watch the fight.


    "No matter where we are, you always end up being the centre of attention. I swear I can''t take you anywhere." Jake said with a sigh as he began to walk away.


    "What? They wanted to fight, so I gave them a reason to fight." Haru called out as Jake headed into one of the tents before turning around and beginning to help everyone to their feet.


    "You all did great. I''m genuinely impressed with every single one of you." Haru said as he addressed all of the soldiers he had just humiliated, but they didn''t feel happy.


    "Being impressed doesn''t bring back the chicken, does it!?" Kenny coughed as Haru helped him to his feet.


    "Come on. Don''t be mad. I will cook for you all tomorrow night." Haru said in an attempt to ease their pain, but it didn''t work until Jake immediately poked his head out from the tent.


    "You''re really going to cook for us!? Oh god, this is the greatest day of my life. I haven''t tasted your cooking in around five years." Jake said as he remembered being a kid at school and having Haru cook for him and Mia at the end of a long day of training.


    "Sure, If we have enough ingredients, then I will cook for everyone. Haru said with a smile as the soldiers looked back at Jake with interest as they now couldn''t wait to see what Haru would make for them."

 Chapter 321: The plan of attack.

    Chapter 321: The n of attack.


    Nightfall soon came around as Haru took up guard duty for a couple of hours as the rest of the soldiers decided to take a nap so they would be ready in case of an enemy attack. He sat down on the edge of the wall surrounding the camp and looked out into the distance seeing nothing at all.


    "I really can''t believe that this used to be a city with millions of inhabitants. It seems just like yesterday that I was here living out my life happily." Haru said to himself as he felt the wind rush through the air around him and across the vastness of the battlefield.


    ''When I find the ones from the demon n who are responsible for all of this mess, I will crush them. I will kill anyone who gets in my way, be that human or elf. I am done ying around with people like that.'' Haru thought as he couldn''t wait to reach the upper realms.


    He felt guilty about all the trouble that he had caused to the inhabitants of the earth by bing a cultivator. A war wouldn''t have broken out if he didn''t lead the demon n back to earth.


    He wondered how things would have turned out if he never returned to the soul tempering grounds. But he also knew that he wouldn''t be able to sit around after hearing one of the friends he made cry out across the universe like he did. Just hold out up there wherever you are, buddy.'' Haru thought as he felt like he alone had to get revenge for what had happened.


    After all, he was the one who antagonised one of the members of the demon n. But as Lao said, if they had managed to break down the barrier surrounding the soul tempering grounds, they had probably been nning it for some time, and it would have happened regardless of what Haru had done.


    But despite that, he just couldn''t forgive himself for what he had caused. If it wasn''t for him, then Suyin would still be alive along with the dozens of cultivators and civilians who were lost during the battle.


    "This ce really went to shit," Haru said quietly as he heard the sound of someone lighting up a cigarette behind him.


    "Are you ready to go? Where''s the Captain?" Second Lieutenant Mishi said as he walked out of his tent and began to approach Haru, who was sitting on top of the wall.


    "I''m ready, but thest I heard of her, she said that she was going to take a nap. She went into the tent over there." Haru said as he pointed over at thergest tent within the camp that was easily able to house more than twenty people at one time.


    "Who''s sleeping? I have been ready for a while now." Captain Liegan said as she stepped out from the tent, rubbing her eyes a little as she looked up at the night''s sky.


    "The stars sure look pretty tonight." She said before looking over to Haru and Mishi.


    "Well, that''s what happens when there is no light pollution. I bet you would be able to see others here if we had a telescope." Mishi said in response as he too looked up at the night''s sky.


    "Others" Haru thought out loud as he, too, turned his head upwards and looked up at all the shining stars above them.


    "Haru, are you good to go?" Captain Liegan asked as she turned her attention back to the task at hand.


    "Yes, ma''am," Haru said in reply before hopping down from the wall and taking a few steps to a smaller tent where four people were sleeping.


    "It''s been three hours, guys. It''s your turn to watch the gates. Get your asses up and ready." Haru said as he pulled back the door to them immediately getting up and out of their beds before rushing out of the door to stand by the gates.


    "You trained them well. I have never seen people respond like that to the orders of a private. You would make a good leader someday." Second Lieutenant Mishi said with a smile as he looked at Haru, but Captain Liegan was quick to correct him.


    "That right there is just fear. Haru here also helps me train them in hand to handbat. You should see the kind of hell that he puts them through on a regr basis.


    He manages to fight against all of them at the same time and stille out of it without a scratch on him. It''s still difficult for me to understand how he does it if I''m honest." Captain Liegan began to praise Haru for his skills, but the reality of it was that he wasn''t anything like the rest of the soldiers with the fact that he could move faster than their eyes could perceive.


    If he wanted to, he could kill any regr person or mage without even breaking a sweat. The only people who would be able to stand against him were either cultivators or the strongest mages using their most powerful magic.


    But magic alone wasn''t enough to take out Haru since he developed a power of his own bybining the two powers that were strong enough to cancel any spell that was used against him.


    So the only threat to him now on earth was advanced weaponry or other cultivators. He feltfortable knowing that there was hardly any chance of him dying while fighting. But that wasn''t the thing he was concerned about.


    His main goal wasn''t surviving or even taking revenge. The thing that was on his mind the most when he thought about what he was doing there was that he wanted to keep all of the friends that he had made during thest couple of months safe and sound.


    He wasn''t going to let anyone close to him die. And certainly not Jake, who became his first-ever friend in this life and hisst.


    Haru looked back at Captain Liegan and Lieutenant Mishi, who had started to walk while discussing their n of attack to be able to cause a distraction for Haru to make it to the Chinese soldier''s camp.


    "I''m counting on you to stay alive while I''m gone. I promise to be back before you know it." Haru whispered quietly as they all stopped, and both Mishi and Captain Liegan turned their heads back to Haru.


    "Did you say something just now?" Captain Liegan asked as she thought she heard Haru say something but wasn''t certain if he did or not.


    "Ah, Yeah. Don''t mind it. I was just saying I still feel a little bit hungry." Haru said with a sigh as they all continued to walk out into the middle of the battlefield beforeing to a stop when they sawnterns and shlights in the distance as the enemy soldiers patrolled the area.


    "Get down. That''s it over there." Second Lieutenant Mishi whispered as they all locked their eyes on the camp in the distance. Unlike the wall built at the Japanese camp, the one surrounding this camp wasn''t made using earth magic but instead using ice magic.


    From a distance, Haru could tell that the soldiers who were walking around it were cold from the temperature of the nearby ice. They all wore thick coats even though it was a rtively warm night.


    It would certainly be to their advantage if the soldiers were cold and encumbered by the thick coats. They wouldn''t be able to fight as well as they usually would, and it would make it easy for the Japanese forces to storm the camp, but that wasn''t the aim for now.


    The only goal that Mishi and Captain Liegan had was to keep the enemy distracted so Haru could slip past undetected, which wouldn''t be hard since he could use a movement technique and be past them before they could take a single breath.


    But he knew that if he did something like that, it would cause suspicion, so he decided to let them help in any way possible.


    "Okay, so the n of attack is to cause as much of a ruckus as possible. Me and Second Lieutenant Mishi will make our way over to the opposite side of the camp andunch attacks from both sides before moving and then attacking again to create the illusion that they are surrounded before burrowing down beneath the ground and then creating a sinkhole beneath the camp.


    As the camp sinks down underground, that will be Haru''s signal to go. And he will run as fast as he can towards the Chinese camp to let them know that we are here to help and try to coordinate a n with them." Captain Liegan exined as both Haru and Mishi nodded their heads.


    "I should probably warn you, but the ice magic user that created that wall is a force to be reckoned with. He alone took out fifteen of my soldiers. But for some reason, he just froze them instead of killing them.


    He is definitely more than strong enough to do so, however for some reason, he decided to let them live." Mishi exined as Captain Liegan nodded.


    "Sounds a little dangerous, but if our n goes ording to n, then we shouldn''t have to worry about that." Captian Liegan said before they both moved into positions while Haru held back and waited for his signal.

 Chapter 322: Ice needles.

    Chapter 322: Ice needles.


    It fell silent as Haru was left alone, and the other two rushed over towards the camp before stopping in opposite positions.


    Captain Liegan crouched down behind a mound of dirt that was created by a bomb st and prepared for her chance to attack as Mishi began to use long-distance earth magic.


    Mishi held out his hands above his head while the earth from the ground rushed up into the air over him to form arge ball of rock as itpressed together.


    It took a few moments for the magic to reach an apex as the rock quickly became the size of a small car before he released it over the top of the camp.


    A loud bang followed by a thud shot through the surrounding area as the rock hit the floor and caused a small shockwave from the weight. But the sound was quickly followed by the screams of soldiers as they rushed to their feet to see what was going on.


    The scent of iron drifted through the air as a current of warm air shot towards Haru. He knew immediately that the rock that Mishi had dropped definitely caused more than one casualty. But there was a feeling that he just couldn''t shake, and he wasn''t sure what it was.


    Haru continued to watch as he awaited his signal to move forward as Mishi and Captain Liegan quickly moved positions as the enemy soldiers prepared to leave the camp but as soon as they got to the exit, Mishi used anotherrge spell that made them question where the enemy was located.


    They didn''t have a clue how many of them or how far away the enemy was from their base, but they figured one thing out in the short amount of time since the first attack, and that was that whoever was attacking them couldn''t be underestimated.


    "Boss! Boss! They havee for revenge!" One of the soldiers yelled out in English as he ran towards a tent in the centre of the camp.


    Haru began to use his newly developed radar technique to observe the situation, and from what he could tell, there were around two hundred soldiers still alive in the camp. But the ones with more natural Qi within their bodies remained in the centre.


    Haru could sense that they were angry, yet one of the people in the middle of the camp didn''t seem even slightly mad about what was happening.


    In fact, he seemed worried from what Haru could tell. He wasn''t scared like he would be if he thought that his life was in danger but worried as though someone else''s life was in danger.


    "So they''vee back for more? I thought that Silver taught them a lesson they wouldn''t forget. I didn''t think that they woulde back for more of a beating this soon." Large muscr soldiers said as he looked around in a circle at the people who were surrounding him. It seemed as though he was the leader from a distance, but Haru couldn''t be sure of that unless he took a closer look which he didn''t have the time to do.


    So instead, he remained back and continued to let Captain Liegan fight alongside Mishi while awaiting his signal.


    "But as he watched on, something strange began to happen. A cold mist quickly filled the air above the camp as a chilly aura emerged from one of the gates as a man stepped out into the front of the camp."


    "So who thought it was a good idea toe here? Didn''t I give you all a warning earlier that if youe back that I would kill you?


    Do you really think that you could ever stand a chance against me?" A familiar voice called out as Haru watched a tall and slim man with long silver hair step out from the camp and recognised him instantly.


    "That''s Kazuo. What is he doing here? He was back in Japan just a few months ago. Don''t tell me that he decided to abandon his country and team up with the enemy." Haru thought as he watched on to see what would happen next.


    "Oh, there are only two of you here? I thought there would be many more of you, given the attacksing from different locations. But it''s just something like this. I won''t even need to go all out to defeat you two." Kazuo said as he looked at both Captain Liegan and Second Lieutenant Mishi.


    "Wait a minute Are you Japanese? Why are you fighting alongside these animals? Why would you betray your country like this?!" Second Lieutenant Mishi asked as he stepped out of his hiding spot and began to face Kazuo. He knew that there was no use in hiding since he had already realised that there were only two people who were attacking the camp.


    But Captain Liegan was caught a little bit off guard when the man with long silver hair began to speak Japanese to them.


    "Wait, Stand down. I know this man. He''s an S ranked mage. There is nothing we can do to fight him. It will just be worse if we start to fight." Captain Liegan shouted out as she looked over at Mishi, who was just preparing to attack beforeing to a dead stop.


    "Wait, Really? An S ranked mage? But there are only a handful of them in the whole world. How could I not even know who he is?" Second Lieutenant Mishi asked as he thought that he knew all of the S rank mages so he wouldn''t identally get into a dispute with one of them.


    "Well, he is one, So stand down. This man right here is called Kazuo Satou; He used to participate in fights for money until he was defeated by an audience member, and he decided to step down. But I never thought that I would see him here of all ces." Captain Liegan said as she looked up at Kazuo.


    "Hey, Do I know you?" Kazuo asked as he thought that he recognised Captain Liegan from somewhere. He didn''t know how she knew who he was.


    "No, I don''t know you personally. But I saw yourst fight on tv. I believe that you will be surprised to know that the person who defeated you is here too. Hey Haru, change of n. Come out and say hi." Captain Liegan shouted out with a smile.


    ''What!? She watched that fight and knew that it was me who defeated him that day? Is that why the army treated me so well? They thought that my hand to handbat skills were good enough to defeat an S rank mage? Well, they''re not wrong but even so. Why did they pretend not to know?'' Haru thought as he stood up and began to walk towards the camp.


    Kazou''s face grew pale as his head turned back where he saw Haru walking towards him while wearing a military uniform.


    "I''m sorry, Haru, I didn''t get the chance to thank you for what happened thest time we met, but after that night, I hoped that I would never run into you again. I don''t have a choice but to fight here. You''re going to have to kill me if you want to destroy our camp!" Kazuo said as Haru began to approach.


    "You don''t have a choice? So that means someone is forcing you, right?" Haru asked as he walked towards Kazuo, who gulped for a moment before holding out his hand.


    [cier spear!]


    A long bolt of ice shot from Kazuo''s hand and flew towards Haru''s face.


    [Break]


    Haru swiped his hand to the side and destroyed the spear that Kazuo had shot towards him without the least trace of effort. Kazuo instantly knew that Haru''s power ran much deeper than he had been shown during their sparring match. But he wasn''t sure just how strong he was. So to test again, he tried one more attack.


    ''I didn''t think that I would have to use this skill right away. Just why on earth did he have toe here? I don''t know if my strongest skill will even work on him. This guy is a total monster.'' Kazuo thought as he began to panic.


    [Deep freeze area]


    Kazuo used a type of magic that affected the area around the camp. Everything down to even the time in that area began to freeze and turn into crystals.


    The spell onlysted for a few minutes, but whatever was frozen during that time would have no way to defend against his attacks as the crystals infiltrated their bodies.


    All he would have to do to kill someone is destroy their body while the ice crystals halt their bodies from moving. Once the spell was deactivated, the people he didn''t kill would go back to normal as if nothing had happened. But the people he had attacked would feel the pain of whatever Kazuo decided to do.


    And he only had the intention to kill as he looked at Captian Liegan and Mishi as they frozepletely still. His eyes then nced back at Haru as he wondered whether or not it worked, to see that he too had stopped moving.


    "I''m a little bit surprised. I thought you might have the same type of strength as the guy who took Kaira away from me. Even though you are certainly the strongest human, I know. That beast is on a whole other level.


    I apologise that I have to tell you this right before you die. But the night that you fought against me, a strange man approached Kaira and me after the fight.


    He imed to be from anotherpany and was offering arge amount of money to have me fight for him but then before I knew it, I was unconscious and woke up in a dark room. I really am sorry for this." Kazuo said before raising his hand above his head and forming mana in his hand before striking Haru in the chest.


    [Ice needles.]

 Chapter 323: Im so sorry.

    Chapter 323: I''m so sorry.


    As Kazuo''s hand came into contact with Haru''s chest, a pulse of magic entered his body and began to spread through his veins. The ice from Kazuo''s attack started to expand before beginning to form thin ice needles that quickly shot out of Haru''s skin as blood began to pour from his body.


    "I''m so sorry. They are going to kill my wife unless I help them with this stupid war." Kazuo said before turning his back to Haru as he couldn''t bear to look at what he had just done as he knew for sure that there was no way that someone could survive the injuries that he had just inflicted upon him.


    He then began to walk back towards the camp as time sped up once again, and he looked at both Captain Liegan and Mishi with a look of worry in his eyes before a voice called out to him from behind.


    "Where are they keeping her?" Haru asked as Kazuo began to walk away.


    "What!?" Kazuo screamed as he turned around to see that Haru waspletely fine without even a scratch on his body.


    "I could have sworn that you were dead!" Kazuo eximed in disbelief as he couldn''t understand just how he was fine after receiving such a devastating blow.


    "And I asked you where are they keeping her?" Haru repeated himself as he felt a little annoyed that someone would dare to hold someone''s family hostage like that in this day and age.


    "Th-that doesn''t matter. Even if you knew where she was, there is nothing that you could do. They aren''t human. They have purple skin and long ck horns on their head. They said they don''te from this world, and no matter what we try to do, we have no choice but to follow their orders or else we will be killed." Kazuo said before dropping to his knees in defeat.


    He knew now that he tried his best and still didn''t manage to defeat Haru. There was nothing he could do. He would be seen as a failure, and his wife would be killed as punishment, but upon hearing the description of the people who were threatening Kazuo, Haru became enraged.


    He shed through the air before grabbing Kazuo by the cor of his shirt and lifting him up into the air.


    "I won''t ask again! Where the fuck are they keeping her!?" Haru demanded an exnation from Kazuo as he knew exactly what he was going to be going up against.


    ''This fucking demon n! I will wipe them all out and make sure they nevere back to this! I still haven''t managed to seek revenge for Suyin.'' Haru thought as Kazuo looked down at Haru with fear in his eyes.


    Kazuo couldn''t exin what was happening, but as he looked at Haru, he felt like his life was shing before his eyes, and he was looking right into the face of death. He was even more terrified at that moment than he was when he met the people who kidnapped his wife.


    "They''re in the capitol building in the United States. They managed to infiltrate the government and ordered the army to attack china. Everything that is happening is all their fault. There is really nothing anyone can do to stop them."


    ''He might be right. But even so, I have to do something about it. But first, we have to clean up the mess here. I might not be able to hide my strength anymore. But I''m going to need help. I can''t do this alone.'' Haru thought as an idea came to his mind.


    He knew the quickest way to get help wasn''t to rely on the army that he hade to China with. He would have to call on cultivators to help him out this time. Yet, he wasn''t sure how it was going to work out.


    However, he wasn''t sure what state the cultivation sects were currently in. If there were many demon n members still left on earth, they could have infiltrated the sects and been controlling them from behind the scenes.


    "Haru!? What are you doing? You''re going to choke him to death." Captain Liegan called out as Kazuo''s face slowly began to turn blue from being held up in the air by his shirt.


    Haru let go of his shirt and watched as Kazuo dropped down to the floor like a pile of bricks before rolling onto his back and looking up at Haru with fear in his eyes.


    ''I wonder if they put anything in his mind to monitor him?'' Haru thought before using his spiritual sense to see if there were any irregrities within Kazuo''s body. But there didn''t appear to be any, which only left the people in the camp.


    They were probably watching and reporting everything back to their leaders.


    "Can you two both do me a favour?" Haru said as he turned to ask Captain Liegan and Mishi, who were staring at him with looks of shock on their faces as they watched what was happening.


    "W-what is it?" Captain Liegan asked while her bottom lip trembled slightly.


    "It''s nothing serious. I just need you both to close your eyes and cover your ears." Haru said as he didn''t want them to see what was about to happen next. He wanted to keep his power a secret for just a bit longer until he found out who he could trust.


    "What!? Why would we take orders from a private-!?" Mishi asked as the request seemed too unreasonable for him, but before he could finish what he was saying, captain Liegan interrupted him.


    "Do what he says. There is a reason that he doesn''t want us to see what''s about to happen, so I expect it to be something that no one should ever find out about. The fewer people that know, the better. It''s just for our own protection, isn''t that right, Haru?" Captain Liegan asked as her hands began to shake. All though she tried to sound calm as she orders Mishi to listen to Haru.


    It looked as though she was trying to convince herself that there was a good reason that Haru was asking them to look away. But she couldn''t help but be a little bit frightened of what was about to happen. After all, she had never seen the look in Haru''s eyes that he was currently giving anyone.


    It was as though he had be someone else entirely as his pent up anger began to slowly flow from his body. Both Captain Liegan and Mishi turned around reluctantly and covered their eyes as Haru didn''t answer before raising his hand in the direction of the enemy camp.


    [Scorching earth]


    [Fireball]


    [Howling wind]


    [Acid rain]


    [meteor shower]


    Haru used five spells simultaneously as he imbued them all with Qi to amplify their effectiveness before directing all of the attacks onto the camp.


    First, a wall of fire began to surround the camp shooting up from the floor and blocking the escape for all of the soldiers inside, which was soon followed by a fireball the size of arge house that shot down from the sky before striking the centre of the camp.


    Arge gust of wind shot into the camp, which only served the purpose of making the fire burn hotter than it usually would and just as the fire started to die down, a dark green cloud formed over the camp and began to rain highly corrosive acid all over the survivors and the structures that they had built.


    Screams could be heard in all directions as hundreds of people died from the various attacks that Haru hadunched before a stream of minor asteroids hammered down on the area to make sure that no one survived.


    He didn''t want the demon n to get word that he was there since he knew that if they found out that Haru was still on earth, they would call in more backup to get revenge on what happened during the fight in shanghai and the only way to do that was by wiping out anyone who might be in contact with them.


    "W-what?! What kind of monster are you? How did you do that!?" Kazuo asked as he was the only one who witnessed the power that Haru had just disyed.


    ''It would have been easier to wipe them out with Kun''s fire, but I feel like they might be able to sense something like that since it''s a rare bloodline.'' Haru thought as he took a few steps towards Kazuo before cing his hand on his head.


    "This might hurt a little," Haru said as he used his consciousness to search deep within Kazuo''s soul to try to find a memory he had of the ce where they were holding his wife. A few seconds went by before the memory of Kazuoying on the floor in a dark room quickly came towards Haru, and he instantly knew everything he needed to before vanishing from the battlefield without so much as saying another word to anyone.

 Chapter 324: What is this?!

    Chapter 324: What is this?!


    ''So this is the ce, huh?'' Haru thought to himself as he stepped through a portal that he created to the location that he had seen when he infiltrated Kazuo''s mind. He knew that they were underground somewhere, but he found it strange to see medical equipment all around the room along with things that he had never seen before.


    ''There''s no cultivators here right now. I don''t like how this feels. Is it a trap?'' Haru thought as he held out his hand and opened another portal.


    ''No, I can still leave at any moment. I doubt it''s a trap but does this mean that they have something more important to do than look after this ce and keep out intruders?'' Haru thought as he began to hear footsteps appear from down the corridor.


    "Why do we have to stay here when we could be out there fighting? Didn''t they say that they needed people like us? So why don''t they just let us out already?" A voice asked as the footsteps got louder.


    "You''re asking me that? How am I supposed to know what''s going on in their heads? I guess they just really want to make sure that none of the hostages escapes." Another voice returned a reply to the first with augh as the footsteps got closer and closer.


    Haru remained still as they walked towards him. Haru expected to see two members of the demon n but was severely disappointed to see that they were both humans.


    "Huh? Who''s that?" One of the men asked as they looked at Haru, who was standing still and thinking.


    "I''ve never seen him before. Is he new here or something?" The other replied as Haru wasn''t making any attempt to hide.


    ''It seems this ce is so hidden from the rest of the world that they don''t even worry about people breaking into it. Did they really not set any traps for me?'' Haru thought as he looked over at the two men who were staring at him with looks of confusion.


    "Hey, Are you knew? You know you change your clothes before going any further into theb, don''t you?" One of them called out to Haru. It was at that moment he realised that both of the men were wearing hazard suits.


    The one who called out to Haru was wearing dark blue, and the man beside him was wearing yellow.


    "Come on, If you don''t want to get into trouble, then you had bettere with us. We will show you to the changing rooms." The man in yellow then called out to Haru while expecting a reply, but Haru remained still and didn''t say anything.


    ''Ab? This is ab? So what does it make the people that they captured? They said hostages, but if this is really ab, then does that mean they are test subjects?'' Haru thought as he knew that there wouldn''t be an easy way to navigate through theb without knowing where he was going. So he decided to follow the two other men.


    "Yeah, sorry about that. I was told that everything I needed would be down here. I am just supposed to wait until the others get back. Apparently, they want to run a few testster tonight." Haru said as the other two men looked at him with a look of confusion for a few moments before one of them replies.


    "Really? Do they actually want to run more tests? I thought it was decided that we would stop for the rest of the week? Thest tests left them on the brink of death. I don''t think they will be able to withstand any more testing." The man in the yellow said as he looked back and forth between his friend and Haru.


    "Hey, that''s not my decision. That Japanese guy failed his mission, so we''re going to continue testing on his wife. I was told to meet them where she is being kept. Would you guys mind taking me to her?" Haru asked as he made everything up on the spot to make it sound like he was meant to be there, but they were growing more suspicious as they didn''t believe what he was telling them.


    "What really? But I thought that the boss said that we can''t do tests on her since she''s pregnant? Are you really sure that they said that?" The man wearing yellow questioned Haru again as the man in blue began to reach his hand behind his back.


    Haru sighed.


    "It would have been so much better if you just went along with it," Haru said before holding out his arm in the direction of the man wearing the blue hazard suit.


    A beam of fire shot from Haru''s hand and hit the man in the face. The me was so hot that it melted a hole straight through the centre of his head, and the man dropped dead without so much as a cry for help.


    The other man immediately raised his hands in surrender as Haru eyed him up and down for a moment.


    "Good choice. Now take me to the hostages." Haru spoke softly as the other man looked up at him with fear. The man nodded his head and immediately began to walk, and it gave Haru time to look down at the other man to see exactly what he was going to do.


    When Haru looked down at the body, he saw that the man was holding a gun in his hand and was more than prepared to kill Haru. He knew that he was up to something by the way he put his hand behind his back, but he didn''t know what it was.


    He felt d that he didn''t just kill a man for sending a text message or something of the like.


    The man in the yellow hazard suit led Haru through the corridors of theb before ending up at arge open room where there were dozens of women and children trapped inside ss cubes.


    "I brought you here. Will you let me go now? I promise I won''t tell anyone that you''re down here." The man in the yellow hazard suit said as he turned back to look at Haru.


    "Sure, I can let you go. Thanks for bringing me here. You were such a great help." Haru said with a smile as the man in the hazard suit turned away and began to run towards the door, but as soon as he arrived at the door, he copsed.


    "What? Did I scare him to death?" Haru thought as he turned around to see the man lying on the floor as a thick green gas made its way out from one of the vents.


    "Did you really think that I would allow just anyone toe into myb? We have motion detectors, and I know that only two people are supposed to be down here at any one given time. Who are you, and what are you doing here?" A voice shouted out in English from arge monitor that hung down from the ceiling as an old man appeared on it wearing a whiteb coat and thin wire sses.


    "Shut it, old man," Haru muttered in response before holding his hand up to the monitor and releasing a fireball towards it.


    "Hu, hu, hu. Did you think that would silence me?" The old man spoke once more but this time from a speaker in the corner of the room. Haru held up his hand once again to destroy the speaker, but the old man panicked a little.


    "Wait, No! Don''t destroy the speaker. Do you happen to be one of those cultivators or whatever they call them? I need your help." The old man said as the sounds of people running emerged from outside the room.


    "Shit, They''re already here. Let me lock the doors." The old man said as a red light began to sh in the room as metal shutters began to lower down from the ceiling on the inside of the room.


    "Hey, What are you ying at, old man? Do you think that those things will manage to hold me?" Haru asked as he saw that the gas was no longering out of the vents.


    "Don''t misunderstand me, boy. The shutters are to keep those guys from getting in. I don''t want them to interfere in our little chat." The old man exined as his face appeared on the screen of aptop that was opened on one of the desks in the room.


    "Is that so? Well, what is it that you want? I''m not here to y around. I havee to take these guys somewhere safe." Haru said as he looked around the room to seerge ss cylinders filled with water, with each one containing one person with wires and tubes attached to their bodies.


    "Wait, what are you guys doing here? What is this?!" Haru questioned as he looked at a few of the people and noticed things that didn''t look right.

 Chapter 325: Is there really nothing I can do?

    Chapter 325: Is there really nothing I can do?


    Inside each of the tanks of water, there was a person. Ranging from young child to old woman. It seemed like they didn''t discriminate against who they were running tests on, but as Haru looked at the people a little closer, he began to notice some irregrities with a few of their features.


    ''That boy''s arm ispletely ck with golden runes on it. What are they trying to achieve by putting a formation on a human body?'' Haru thought as he looked at a boy that was no older than twelve with a pained expression on his face.


    His sight then switched to a woman who looked to be in her early twenties with what looked to be a tree branch in ce of one of her arms. At first nce, Haru could tell that it wasn''t any regr branch by the fact that it contained more Qi than some of the cultivators he had met.


    ''What is that thing? Why have they disfigured her like this?'' Haru wondered about what they were up to while feeling disgusted that they could do something like this to someone. But from then on, it got worse as he looked at the others.


    A girl of around ten years in age had all of her limbs missing and reced with des. And an old woman had her head exchanged with bears.


    "This wasn''t my n. I built this ce to make super soldiers for the US army a while back. But ever since those monsters havee here, they have taken over myboratory and turned it into a ce where they run human experiments in order to create some kind of puppet that will do their bidding.


    I never meant for any of this to happen. But there is nothing I can do to fight against them. I am just a frail old man. Thest time I tried to defy them, they cut off one of my legs." The old man said before pointing his camera towards his leg to show that there was no longer one there.


    ''So he says, but how does he expect me to know that he''s telling the truth? I don''t care who''s at fault here. I will kill anyone who was involved. This is a monstrosity. If the human n in the upper realm knew what was happening here, there is no doubt that they would send strong cultivators to wipe out all the demon nsmen on the.


    But so will I when I find them.'' Haru thought as he used his senses to survey the area. But no matter how hard he tried to look, there wasn''t any in the area.


    "You im not to be involved. But why are there none of those so-called monsters around here? Where did they all go?" Haru asked as he knew the best way to find them would be to ask him.


    "Uh, I''m not entirely sure, but they had decided to lead their army to Beijing a few hours ago to take over the country and put in ce a new government." The old man exined with a sad look on his face.


    "Is that so. Then I will leave here without killing you. But on one condition. You release that woman over there. And try your best to help the others." Haru said as he pointed over at Kiara, who was in a chamber on her own, away from the people they had been running tests on.


    "Thank you, sir. I thought you were here to massacre all of us. But thank you for being reasonable, But I find it a little difficult to understand. Did you reallye all the way here for a woman? Don''t tell me she''s your!? I''m so sorry, sir!" The old man shouted out as he rushed to a control panel in his office.


    "No, I don''t have any rtion to her. Just an old ssmate from a long time ago. I met her husband a few hours ago, and he is distraught that there was nothing he could do to get her back. But like I said, release her, and you can live." Haru said once again.


    He took a moment to look at the people in the chambers filled with water once again as he saw that they were all disfigured and injured beyond repair. Even the strongest of healing spells wouldn''t do anything to aid them, and he knew that the demon n wouldn''t be doing something like that with no goal in mind.


    There was a good chance that they had already seeded in making a puppet that they could bend to their will with one of the test subjects, so he knew that he couldn''t just leave without doing something.


    "I''m sorry I couldn''t make it here sooner. I will make sure to avenge all of you for all the suffering that you have gone through. I will now let you all rest. I hope in your next lives you will all live happily and be reunited with your loved ones." Haru whispered to himself as he heard water ssh against the concrete floor behind him as the chamber opened up, causing Kaira to gasp for air as she awakened.


    Kiara began to fall as the chamber opened up, but Haru was quick to catch her before she did as he saw the bump in her belly and didn''t want to let anything happen to the unborn child.


    "I got you," Haru said as he caught her before looking up at the monitor once again to see the old man looked sad once more as he looked at Haru and Kiara on a screen from where ever he was hiding.


    "It''s safe to pull out the tubes; however, she might bleed a little." The old man said as Haru quickly but carefully took out the tubes and pipes that were going into Kaira''s body before healing her with magic and then opening another portal that connected to the exact location he was standing in before he left the battlefield.


    "I will try my best to help the others as you have requested of me. Please just take revenge and kill those monsters." The old man said with a look of uncertainty.


    "Yes, of course. I will kill all the monsters. Don''t you worry? There won''t be a single on the left." Haru said with a smile as he looked up at the monitor to see the old man''s face.


    Haru took a few steps back towards the portal before creating a small me in his hand using Kun''s power and then dropping it down to the floor.


    There wasn''t a single thing that Kun''s me couldn''t burn, so as it touched the floor, it used even the concrete as fuel and began to spread throughout the room.


    "Thank you for having gas pipes run through this ce. It serves me well on my quest to wipe out the monsters. So long." Haru called out as he looked down at the floor with grief. He felt awful that there was nothing he could do to help the people that they had experimented on.


    "Wait, You will kill everyone in here!? I thought you said that you will let me live if I let the girl go!?" The old man shouted out in horror and disbelief as he couldn''t believe that he was lied to.


    "I did let you live. Just a few minutes longer than you would have done if you didn''t let her go." Haru said with a smile as he took another step back towards the portal.


    "You monster! How could you do this!? You will be killing innocent people and the test subjects!?" The old man called out as Haru vanished into the portal.


    Theboratory soon erupted into mes as the fire spread throughout the rooms and made its way into the gas lines before causing a gigantic explosion that blew high up into the sky as everything connected to the gas lines ruptured and sent mes and clouds of dark smoke into the atmosphere casting a dark cloud overhead as fragments of stone and ss rained back down to earth.


    A portal appeared in the middle of the battlefield as Captain Liegan and Mishi tried to figure out where Haru had gone. He had told them to face away, and then when they weren''t looking, the enemy camp had gotten destroyed, and he had vanished without a trace.


    "Where did he go? Didn''t you see where he went?" Captain Liegan asked as she grabbed Kazuo by the cor, but he was in shock, and nothing came to mind when she asked him. He remained silent and stared up at the sky in defeat as it began to rain once again.


    A slight sniffle emerged from behind them as Mishi and Captain Liegan saw Haru holding a woman in his arms as he tried his best to help her stand.


    Kazuo turned his head slowly before his eyes shot wide open, and he saw Haru was standing there with his wife.


    "Kaira!" Kazuo shouted out and ran over to her before pulling her into his arms as Haru knelled down on the floor and mmed his head against the ground.


    ''I act tough and show off my strength whenever I need to. But why am I so damn weak!? I wish I had the strength that Lao and Li Jun had. But I''m still here on earth like a pathetic failure as I watch my homeworld be vited by the demon n!


    Is there really nothing I can do? Why do people have to suffer like this for my actions!? I should have just died the first time. Why did I reincarnate in the first ce? I have only brought damage to the people here. If I just stayed dead, then this never would have happened.'' Haru thought as he felt defeated once again as he just killed innocent people because he couldn''t run the risk of them being controlled by the demon n.


    He knew that it was for the greater good if they lost their human experiments, but he just couldn''t put his humanity aside and ept that he gave them mercy by letting them die.


    If it was the Haru of the past, then he wouldn''t have felt a thing after doing such a thing. But in the past neen years, he had felt love. He knew what it was like to lose loved ones, and he felt guilty that he had just taken away someone else''s friends and family members.

 Chapter 326: We have the traitor.

    Chapter 326: We have the traitor.


    "Haru!? What''s wrong?" Captain Liegan asked as she rushed over to him as she watched him drop down to his knees. Kazuo was too busy tending to Kaira to care about Haru, and Mishi was equally as confused and didn''t know what was going on.


    "You just used a gate and vanished. Where did you go? What happened to you?" She questioned him again before seeing a tear hit the floor beneath him. The clouds became dark once again overhead as a storm rolled in and began to pour rain down onto them. As the rain came down, it snapped Haru out of what he was feeling, and he looked up at Captain Liegan.


    "Their main forces are moving towards Beijing. They are trying to take over the whole country and elect themselves as the new government. We need to stop them." Haru exined as everyone quickly looked towards him.


    "What!? They weren''t supposed to be doing that until next week. Why did they go ahead with it this early?" Kazuo asked as he seemed to know about their n yet didn''t expect them to already be acting out on it.


    "This is bad. If they kill the government and elect a new one, then there will be no one here to request our help. It will be down to the Nations Alliance to determine what happens after that and the alliance was founded by them.


    We will be the invaders, and it will bring the war to our doorstep once again." Captain Liegan spoke quietly as she tried to reason with herself about what she should do.


    She knew the consequences of letting them overthrow the government, yet they already had orders to stay in shanghai. If they went back to the ships and exined what was happening and waited for new orders, it might be toote.


    She looked back at Second Lieutenant Mishi for a moment to ask for his opinion.


    "What do we do? If they have already decided to head there, then what are we even fighting for here? There aren''t any civilians here. And the Chinese army is already holding off the forces here. It seems like we were just sent here to waste time-fighting. There is actually no reason for us to be here other than to fight the enemy forces." Captain Liegan asked for his advice as Haru began to stand up once again.


    ''So they''ve already invaded the Japanese government too? They split the army all across china to fight in useless battles that won''t actually achieve anything.


    There is no way that their intelligence officers haven''t concluded that they will head to the capital and try to take over. Yet we were still split up from the other forces that hade here.'' Haru thought as he looked around for a few moments.


    ''How long have they been controlling the government then? Ten years? Twenty years? What if it is even as far as Forty years? That would mean that the great war was for nothing. It was all nned by the demon n that had been living here in secret.'' Haru wondered as he thought back to how The sect master said that he found earth while he was escaping from some of the greater ns in the upper realm.


    With the universe being so vast, it would be hard for them to find the milky way gxy even if they were looking for it. But to find it identally just seemed a little too much of a stretch.


    ''Maybe there is a road that leads back to earth? The ancient dragon n that lived on earth probably found that road before settling down. Then the ck star sect found that road while being chased. It wouldn''t surprise me if the demon n also found the road.'' Haru thought as his information on the upper realms was a little bitcking, but it made sense to him that it wasn''t just a coincidence that all of these things were centring around the earth.


    "What do you think we should do, Haru?" Captain Liegan then turned her questions towards Haru as she couldn''te up with anything, in particr, that wouldn''t go against the orders that had been given to them.


    "You guys don''t have to do anything. This is all my mess in the first ce. I will clean things up on my own." Haru said as, at that moment, he decided that he would stop running from his past mistakes. Innocent people would keep dying if he didn''t try to stop it.


    He knew that with his current strength, there wasn''t much that he could do, but he figured that it was worth a try. Thest thing he wanted was for more families to lose their loved ones. He felt as though he had already done enough damage by leaving Suyin''s family devastated with the loss of their daughter.


    So in an attempt to make right all of his wrongs, he decided that he would try his best to put an end to everything even if it cost him his life.


    "What? How is any of your fault? And what do you mean? We have very strict orders that we need to follow. How are you going to do anything without going against those orders?" Captain Liegan asked as she didn''t understand just what he meant.


    "I guess I better make myself clear then. I, Haru Kitagawa, resign from my post as a soldier. Treat me as a deserter of war. I am not going to follow any more orders for as long as I live." Haru exined as he looked towards both Captain Liegan and Second Luitenant Mishi before taking off his jacket and throwing it on the floor before stamping it down into the mud.


    "Do what you want. But I now have no obligation to follow your rules. I''m going to Beijing to clean up the mess I made. And if you stand in my way and try to stop me Well, that makes you my enemy." Haru began to walk away as he talked before looking back to emphasise the fact that he would make them his enemy if they tried to stop him.


    "What!? Are you serious? Don''t you know the consequences of deserting the army? They will capture you and sentence you to ten years in a military prison. Think about things clearly. We can try to get a message to headquarters and let them know what''s happening.


    Maybe they will order us to assist the people of Beijing instead? There''s no need to go this far. And why do you keep saying your mess? You have nothing to do with what''s going on here." Captain Liegan eximed as she felt obligated to stop him from making a mistake.


    She thought they had be friends after all, and she certainly didn''t want to see him rot away in prison for leaving in the middle of a war.


    Yet, she had no idea how he was feeling. Haru was holding all of the me on his shoulders since he knew that he was the actual reason the war had started. He was the reason that Shanghai was blown to pieces by the demon n, and he was the reason that both civilians and soldiers were dying all across china.


    However, he ran away and hid his power.


    ''She might be right. But if the demon n is controlling even the Japanese government like I suspect they are, then there isn''t much point ying along. And fighting beside these people will only put them in danger. I can''t let them die on my behalf.


    Maybe if I''m lucky, then they will end the fighting once they kill me? Who am I kidding? There''s no way in hell that they would do something like that. I don''t even think that I am the main factor as to why they invaded china at all this time.


    But what happened in Shanghai probably threatened them since they now know that there are people here on earth that can kill them. They are no longer at the top of the food chain, and that scares them. They probably think that if they can kill anyone who stands against them, then they can continue with whatever nasty n they have in store.


    Was the reason that the great war started just to test the strength of Japan''s mages? If so, then that would exin why I died. There is no way that any of my friends would betray me without reason. If the demon n was already here back then.'' Haru began to think to himself as a sh of light shot towards him before striking him in the chest and knocking him off his feet beforending face down in the dirt, motionless.


    Time seemed to slow around everyone as they watched on in shock as Haru continued toy on the floor. It looked as though he had stopped breathing, and they began to panic as the mood quickly changed.


    "Haru!" Captain Liegan yelled as she ran over to him and put her hand against his neck to see if he still had a pulse.


    Lieutenant Mishi was quick to build a dirt wall around them as he recognised the sh of light as a sniper round fired from a magic rifle, and Kazuo jumped to his feet to pull Kaira behind the wall before running over to Haru to see if he was okay.


    But just as they were about to roll Haru over onto his front to check the severity of his injuries, a voice called out as the wall of dirt disintegrated before them.


    "Yes, sir, We have the traitor. We will bring him in right now." Called out a voice that Captain Liegan was familiar with.

 Chapter 327: Lightning steps.

    Chapter 327: Lightning steps.


    "Major Samson! What are you doing here? Just what exactly is going on?" Captain Liegan eximed as Major Samson walked along the battlefield with the General that she had met on the ship the day before.


    "Well, that is none of your business, Captain. General Morita here has warned me about Private Kitagawa potentially being a traitor to our army. It seems like he has finally decided to show us his true colours. We''re taking him back to headquarters to await his trial." Major Samson said as he gazed around the area at the fallen camp before his eyesy upon Kazuo, who was clutching his wife in his arms with a weary look on his face.


    "Seems as though there is another traitor to our country. Take him down too." Major Samson instructed as a sh of light shot from the same direction that it did before it had hit Haru.


    But suddenly, the sh of light stopped in the air to reveal a sharp metal syringe that wasunched from a distance.


    "What is the meaning of this! Don''t resist! It''s only going to get worse for you if you do!" Major Samson yelled out at Kazuo as he looked back in confusion as the syringe remained floating in the air above him.


    "I-it''s not me who''s doing that." Kazuo replied as Haru rolled over onto his back before sitting up with a smile on his face.


    "Wow, Those new weapons of yours pack quite the punch, don''t they. And that tranquiliser was far by the best one I have ever encountered. You guys are doing very good these days, aren''t you?" Haru asked as he looked up at both Major Samson and General Morita, who he had only met once.


    "You! You''re still conscious!? How?" Major Samson called out before retreating and taking a few steps back. But as he did, there was a tight grip on his shoulder as General Morita reached out his hand to stop him from retreating anymore.


    "That''s to be expected from the sole survivor of the Shanghai incident. I didn''t expect a simple tranquiliser to be able to take you out. But could you please exin to me how you neutralised the narcotics? We designed those with you in mind." General Morita said as he put one of his hands inside his pockets while speaking to Haru.


    Haru stopped smiling as he felt a little uneasy that they knew he was in Shanghai when the demon n invaded. He wondered how they knew and came to two conclusions.


    ''There are only two ways that they could know about that. The first being that they read my medical records, and they were the ones responsible for covering up what happened and put it down to be a car ident. Or they somehow have footage of what happened there. Which wouldn''t be surprising with the technology they have packed onto satellites these days.'' Haru thought as General Morita started tough to himself.


    "Cat got your tongue? Well, there''s no use resisting. You might as well juste with us quietly if you want to survive." General Morita chuckled as lights began to illuminate the distance like stars shining in the night''s sky as dozens of soldiers began to approach with guns drawn and pointed towards Haru.


    "My tongue is just fine, thank you very much. I was just wondering how you would know anything about what happened back there. But I take it as you didn''t see footage of what happened yourself, or you would have brought more people than this." Haruughed before standing up before Captain Liegan jumped in front of him.


    "Stop! There is no way that Haru is a traitor. He has fought this whole time diligently since we have been here. He even went out of his way to help the Chinese forces.


    We just received news that the enemy was going to Beijing, so he wanted to go there to help fight against the enemy. He isn''t a traitor!" Captain Liegan yelled as she tried to get Major Samson and General Morita to drop their assumptions about Haru, but as soon as she spoke, she was thrown to the floor as a fireball burnt its way through her jacket and pushed her back.


    "Quiet! How dare you go against General Morita''s orders! I thought I trained you better than this! Or do you n to rebel as well?" Major Samson questioned as he attacked Captain Liegan with magic.


    Captain Liegany on the floor for a moment and looked up with both shock and horror. She had served under Major Samson for years, and she had never seen this side of him before. She never expected that he would use magic against her, and she began to feel like she was the one who was betrayed.


    "You-" Captain Liegan began to yell before Haru held out his hand in front of her. She then stopped as she looked over at Haru, who turned his head to smile at her. But it looked a little sad. As though he was saying goodbye with his smile.


    "Haru What are you going to do?" Captain Liegan whispered to herself as she didn''t know what to expect before suddenly a blue light began to emerge from Haru''s hand.


    "Stop what you''re doing right now ande quietly. This is your only warning, or else we will open fire!" General Morita shouted out as he too focused his attention towards the blue lighting from Haru''s hand.


    "Is that so? Let''s see if you can." Haru said as the blue light in his hand began to crackle as it turned into a stream of electricity that quickly enveloped his whole body.


    "I haven''t used this move outside of my soul ocean before. But let''s see how effective it is against real people." Haru thought as he used a movement technique called lighting steps to quickly dash between each of the soldiers before they could even pull the triggers to their guns while cing his hand on their shoulders for a few moments.


    The electricity from his hand enveloped the bodies of all of the soldiers before he moved to General Morita and Major Samson.


    ''You can take some electricity too.'' Haru thought before touching General Morita with his hand and watching as his whole body began to glow blue while time seemed stoped around him before ring at Major Samson with a vengeful look in his eyes.


    ''You conspired against me I put trust in you, and this is how you repay me. You dirty old man. This is what you get.'' Haru thought before bringing his foot back and kicking Major Samson directly in his crotch.


    Haru then left the scene without saying anything before time resumed once again once he stopped using the movement technique.


    All of the soldiers, including General Morita, dropped to the floor as cages of electricity circled around them and constantly shocked them whenever they tried to move.


    But as for Major Samson, hey on the floor groaning in pain as he held his crotch with both hands.


    "What just happened? Where did private Kitagawa go? Did he do all of this!? I didn''t even see it happen." Second Lieutenant Mishi asked as he looked around at all of the soldiers to see that Haru was nowhere to be seen.


    But as for Captain Liegan, she felt nothing but disbelief.


    "He was actually hiding this much strength? I never would have expected there to be anyone this strong, let alone to be friends with them. Just where in the world did he learn how to do that?" Captain Liegan asked herself as Haru continued to make his way across thend with one goal in mind.

 Chapter 328: I will see you again soon, my old friend.

    Chapter 328: I will see you again soon, my old friend.


    The frozen dirt crunched beneath Haru''s feet as he ran through the vastness of the dested city towards the mountains. He had only been to Beijing a few times, but he knew exactly which way to go before eventually reaching the mountains.


    "I don''t think anyone should be able to see me from all the way out here." Haru thought as he turned around to see the amount of distance that he had travelled.


    "Actually, I might have overdone it a little bit." He chuckled as the ground beneath his feet slowly faded away as I began to surround his body as he flew up into the sky.


    ''It''s been a few months since I have used Qi this much. It feels a little strange. It''s almost as though I''m on the verge of a breakthrough. That can''t be right, though, can it? People with a flooded soul ocean don''t reach a bottleneck. They usually break through to the next stage by choice.


    Am I actually reaching a bottleneck?'' Haru''s mind felt a little fuzzy as he tried to piece together what was happening as he was once again experiencing something that was unheard of before. It seemed as though a lot of strange things had always centred around him, but he just didn''t understand why.


    "I swear cultivation doesn''t get any more reasonable no matter how much I learn about it." Haruughed as he shot up into the sky and soared through the mountain range as he approached Beijing with as much speed as he could muster.


    After all, he wanted to prevent the loss of any more innocent lives. He had already done enough damage, and he knew that if the demon n sessfully infiltrated the Chinese government, a good majority of the world would be against him.


    He suddenly stopped as an idea came to his mind. He was going to need the help of cultivators, but he wasn''t sure where they had all gone since the fight in Shanghai. He knew for a fact that that wasn''t all of the cultivators in the country, but he also didn''t know that many more people outside of the ck star sect.


    "Hey, ck star sect! Are you guys up for a battle? The demon n is here to invade." Haru called out as he looked up at the sky.


    A few moments of silence passed as Haru continued to stare up at the sky.


    ''Oh, that''s right That crazy old man went missing during the fight. Why did I think that this would actually work? That was a miscalction on my part.'' Haru thought to himself as nothing happened when he called out to the sect, but as soon as he remembered what had happened, the sky grew dark above him as storm clouds rolled over the mountains.


    "Who dares to speak the mighty name of our sect!?" A voice called out from the clouds as arge human-shaped eye poked its way through them and began to peer down upon Haru.


    "Wait a minute, You''re not Teacher Lin." Haru whispered as he thought out loud. He knew that the skills that Teacher Lin had were unique to him, and they weren''t something that Just anyone could pick up. But that was when he realised the voice that had called out to him was that of a girl.


    His heart sank a little as he realised just exactly who had answered his call.


    "Remi, Is that you?" Haru asked as he remembered that Teacher Lin was her instructor, and it was only natural for him to pass his techniques down to her. But it came as a surprise that she had be strong enough to handle the bacsh, a skill that could change the weather would give the user.


    "H-Haru!? How can it be?! Didn''t you die in battle along with the sect master and my teacher? How are you still alive!?" Remi called out as the pupil of the giant eye in the clouds narrowed a little as it looked at Haru floating in the sky.


    "I died? Just who exactly told you that?" Haru asked for, as far as he knew, there was no one else who had made it out of Shanghai that day. So he wondered how they hade to the conclusion that everyone had died. He knew that it wasn''t possible for Lao to die, so he wasn''t quite sure what had happened to everyone else.


    It seemed a little strange, though, despite everything that had happened that day. There weren''t any more cultivators from the demon n that hade down to earth.


    "They really must think that I''m dead. But by just reading a newspaper report, they would find out that not only did I survive, but someone covered up my death to make it seem like Suyin had died in an ident. Thinking about that. I''m still yet to find the one responsible for that." Haru thought aloud as he looked back up at the eye, awaiting a response.


    "Well, there was another cultivator there when we came with reinforcements on that day. He said that he owned a business in the area or something, and he had seen everything that happened. Apparently, there was a sh of white light, and everyone vanished. They were simply turned to dust." Remi exined as she tried her best to recall what the man had said to the reinforcements.


    But the thing that stuck out for Haru wasn''t what the man had said about the white light. But the fact that there was someone else there that day who wasn''t part of the battle.


    "Is that so Do you happen to know what that man looked like? Did he mention his name or anything?" Haru asked as he tried to narrow down exactly who it could have been as he thought that it might have been someone from one of the local cultivation families in Beijing. But as Remi began to describe the man that had spoken to them, he knew who she was talking about immediately.


    "It''s him." Haru growled as a dark aura began to envelop his body. It was as though everyst shred of humanity left him as he realised it was the man who was responsible for Suyin''s death. The man who had given Haru the house in the hills.


    And the one who had pretended to be a human to get Haru to trust him and then tried to have him killed by the soul of another demon before disappearing without a trace. The way the demon n found Haru''s location was due to him.


    And without him, there wouldn''t have been a battle. He couldn''t believe that the man he had known as Mr Ma was still on earth.


    "I''m going to kill him. I will tear off his head with my own two hands." Haru whispered to himself before hearing Remi say something that caught him a little off guard.


    "So, did you need something? We are currently in hiding. It''s not safe for me to bemunicating with you like this." Remi spoke with a hint of sadness as she asked what Haru needed.


    ''I see how it is. Things have progressed so much that even the cultivators from the higher realms are scared of the oue. They are hiding to preserve their own lives. What a bunch of cowards.'' Haru thought as he felt sorry for the sect master for finding out that the people he led were too scared to fight.


    "No, it''s fine. It''s not like you guys could do anything to help anyway. Just stay hidden. I will take care of things out here." Haruughed to himself before shooting off towards Beijing once again, leaving behind the thought of ever associating with the ck star sect again.


    "Ha, I wonder how he would react if he knew that his descendants have fallen to this level. What am I even thinking about? I bet he would beat them into shape or wipe them all out." Haru chuckled as he imagined what Li Jun would have done if he had seen the ck star sect in such a sorry state where they had to hide from the demon n.


    But as for Haru, he was living up to his teacher''s reputation and charging headfirst towards the enemy for the sake of all the innocent people that were caught up in the fight that he had brought to earth.


    "You''re watching this from somewhere out there, aren''t you?" Haru asked as his eyes met the sky once again, but this time he wasn''t looking at the clouds but past them, into the emptiness of space where he hoped that somewhere far away Li Jun would be watching over him.


    "I will see you again soon, my old friend. Thank you for everything you have done for me." Haru grinned to himself as he began to see the skyline of Beijing in the distance.

 Chapter 329: I’ve finally found you.

    Chapter 329: I¡¯ve finally found you.


    The air seemed stale as Haru flew into Beijing to the sight of a dark cloud of smoke that loomed over the cities skyline. Lights shed throughout the air as explosions and gunfire rained down upon the ground. It seemed obvious to Haru that the fight was sooning to an end.


    The military equipment set up by the Chinese government seemed like it had stretched thin and their defences looked incredibly weak for the defence of the president and politicians.


    ''It''s gotten this bad huh?'' Haru asked himself as he floated above the city and watched on as the fighting only became more intense. But as he continued to look down at the fighting he became a little distracted from his surroundings and didn''t realise there was a humming sounding from behind him, slowly creeping up in secret.


    The sound became louder and louder until the point that it could no longer be ignored and Haru turned back to see a sh of white light shot directly into his eyes.


    "What is that!?" Haru asked as the humming climaxed and a gust of wind shot past his face as the object flying through the sky whistled away from him.


    ''Was that a ne?'' Haru thought as he turned back to see what looked to be somebodies private jet flying over the battlefield.


    ''That doesn''t seem like the best judgement on their part. Don''t they know that there is a war zone bellow them?'' Haru sighed as the ne steadied its self and continued in a straight line as the cargo hold in the rear began to open. Revealing a person dressed in ck with a helmet over their head obstructing their face from Haru''s eyes.


    Suddenly the person leapt forwards out of the back of the ne and plummeted towards the earth, leading themselves with their nose aimed straight at the floor.


    There was a moment as Haru watched that he thought about catching them out of instinct but he figured that it was probably for the best that he didn''t intervene. After all, he didn''t know whether the person that had dived down into the battlefield was a friend or foe.


    ''Well, I think it''s about time that I find whoever is responsible for this mess.'' Haru thought to himself as he shook his head in disappointment and flew down towards the capital building in the centre of the city.


    Haru didn''t know what he would find once he approached the building in which the government''s officials would have been hiding but he expected to find a lot of bodies. But as he got closer to the ground he felt a strange presenceing from within the building.


    Hended on the roof of the building and spread out his Qi as far as he could to try to get a better understanding of what was happening within the building. It would have been natural to feel fear leaking out from within as the people that were hiding would be too afraid to step foot outside out of fear of being killed.


    But although Haru could sense the life force of many people within the building, not a single one of them seemed scared. They had no emotion whatsoever.


    It seemed as though the life forces within the capital building were nothing but empty shells or puppets.


    "Somethings not right here. This is unnatural." Haru whispered as he couldn''t understand what was going on. He tried to guess the reason for the people inside to not be expressing feelings but he knew that the only way he would know for sure would be if he entered the building and looked around for himself.


    Haru strolled over to the edge of the roof and peered over at the window below him. If he wanted to get inside without going through any of the main entrances the window seemed like the best option. He jumped over the edge of the building and dropped down onto the windowsill.


    Once he found stable footing he reached down and pulled open the window before quietly entering into a dark room that was filled with office equipment.


    As Haru entered the strange feeling of emptiness only grew stronger as he looked around for a few moments to see that there was a silhouette of a man standing in the corner of the room.


    Haru froze for a moment as he didn''t detect anyone in that particr room before he entered. He thought for sure that there would be no one around to see him. But as he remained still he noticed that the man who was standing in the room with him no longer had a pulse.


    ''He''s dead? That would exin why I couldn''t detect him. But how does someone die while standing up?'' Haru asked himself as he looked at the man in the corner of the room once again before moving closer to investigate.


    But as soon as he did Haru felt the presence of something else. Something that he didn''t expect to find on earth.


    "Demonic Qi!" Haru called out as he recognised it to be the same type of Qi that he had encountered in the soul tempering grounds. From what he was told about it. Demonic Qi was a special type of Qi that was produced on thes inhabited by the demon n. Unlike regr Qi that was the essence of life. Demonic Qi was the essence of death and killed anything that touched it nearly instantly.


    That is why to absorb it a human would need to learn how to purify it. But as for the demon n, they could absorb it without any bacsh since the curse their founder ced on them was made of demonic Qi.


    "Why would that be in a ce like this?" Haru asked as he took a few steps forward and ced his hand out towards the man. The demonic Qi suddenly rushed towards Haru and soon enveloped his entire body in a cloud of ck mist.


    Haru closed his eyes and remained calm since he knew exactly what to do to purify it and he began to do so causing the mist to be thinner before dissipating altogether as he absorbed everyst drop.


    Haru then spread his Qi out through the building once again to check on the people inside with him to make sure that there were no other corpses with demonic Qi within them. But it all appeared to be okay.


    He wasn''t entirely sure why there was only one person who was infected by the Qi but it seemed strange to him. It would have to be a nned attack for a human to evene into contact with demonic Qi so he knew that it wasn''t an ident. Yet nothing was adding up.


    He tried to think once again but no obvious reason jumped out to him until he walked into the next room to see arge wooden table with dozens of famous Chinese politicians sitting around it staring forwards with a nk expression on each of their faces.


    It was as if everything that made them human had been stripped from them entirely and all that was left behind was an empty shell of their former selves.


    "This is!? What is this?!" Haru asked himself as a slight chuckle emerged from the darkness behind him.


    "It''s great, isn''t it? If you put a little bit of demonic Qi into their drinking water they will be mindless ves for our n. You, humans, are naturally weak to poisons so it''s a surprise that you made it in here. Who are you? Tell me your name and I will give you a quick death." A voice called out as it caught Harupletely by surprise.


    Haru turned to see a faint glow across the room as a man with red skin stared back at him with small beady eyes.


    ''He doesn''t look like a member of the demon n I have never heard of or seen anyone like this before. What is the?'' Haru asked as he stared at the man for a few moments before footsteps echoed out from the opposite side of the building followed by a familiar voice.


    "Is that Haru that I hear? Or should I call you Luo Yang?" The other voice called out as Haru quickly recognised who it belonged to.


    "This is the one we were sent for? You''re lucky you got here in time or I would have cut off his head." The man spoke from the shadows once again as a shroud of darkness quickly began to flood the room as Haru looked up at the man who had just entered.


    "It''s you! I''ve finally found you. Oh, I''ve been waiting patiently for the day I would see you again my old friend." Haru spoke with a shaky voice as he looked directly into the eyes of the demon spy that was responsible for Suyin''s death.

 Chapter 330: Ugh… Humans…

    Chapter 330: Ugh¡­ Humans¡­


    "It''s been a while huh? I thought that we got you in thest attack but I guess even rats can survive catastrophes sometimes." The man Haru knew as Mr Ma said as he walked into the light from the open window revealing his dark purple skin and pitch ck horns on his head.


    Despite his human appearance thest time Haru had seen him he was quick to recognise him by his general facial features that remained unchanged as his appearance was obviously a lot different than it was before.


    Before Mr Ma could say another word, Haru flew towards him like a mad man as he pulled his sword out from his storage ring and began shing left and right in hopes that one of his blows wouldnd. Although all technique had been thrown out of the window with his blind rage. Haru''s strikes were strong enough to rip through the steel supports of the building as he shed out towards the demon before him.


    "Ahghh!" Haru yelled as he lost all sense of reason and began attacking as the memories of Suyin dying in his arms flooded his mind.


    ''He was the one who gave me that house! I thought it was safe but the barrier ended up getting destroyed somehow!'' Haru thought as he continued on his rampage of swinging around his sword in every direction. But his movements were too predictable for them tond.


    Mr Ma easily evaded each strike with a smug look on his face as he knew exactly why Haru had lost his cool.


    "Oh, Did I do something to make you mad? I thought we were friends. You certainly didn''t act like this thest time we spoke to each other." Mr Ma mocked as Haru''s rage only grew deeper.


    "You fucking bastard! I will kill you!" Haru yelled out as something seemed to be brewing deep within him.


    ''This is bad I wasn''t going to intervene but Haru, you need to calm down right now! You''re bing unstable.'' Ralph called out from within Haru''s soul ocean but his warning fell upon deaf ears as Haru was too transfixed on Mr Ma.


    "Oh? You''re going to kill me? I doubt you have the ability. Just look at you. You''re full of openings. I could kill you at any second but I''m quite enjoying that look on your face. That look of despair is simply delicious." Mr Ma cackled to himself as Haru continued to leap around the room after him.


    Haru was on autopilot. His body was moving on instinct alone as his mind was in shambles, thinking about all the things that he had yet to do. All the time that he had lost with the woman he loved. But just as he was about to attack once again he remembered Suyin''s face as closed his eyes for a second and paused.


    "I- I''m sorry," Haru spoke softly before falling to his knees and letting go of his sword causing it to crash against the floor and rattle a few times beforeing to a stop as Mr Ma put his foot on the de, thinking that it was a trap to make him let his guard down.


    But Haru felt nothing but defeat. He wasn''t even thinking about the two demons in the room with him as all his thoughts were of that night in shanghai.


    A tear dropped from Haru''s eye and rolled down his cheek as he looked up at Mr Ma with a weak smile.


    "For heaven''s sake, Hanying. Are you going to tell me what all this is about? Or are you nning to keep me in the dark forever? Do you know this human?" The red demon asked as he remained standing in the shadows.


    "Let''s just kill him already and get it over with. What''s the point in ying with your food?" He shouted out to Ma Hanying one more time but was silenced as Mr Ma raised his hand.


    "Now is not the time. I feel something incredible happening. Just look at his Qi." Mr Ma said as Haru continued to kneel on the floor. But unlike before a yellow glow seemed to shine from beneath his skin.


    "What is that!?" The red demon shouted out in both surprise and interest as the glow only became brighter and brighter followed by an increase in temperature in the room that Haru seemed to be the cause of.


    ''Haru! Listen to me. If you don''t calm down then you won''t be able to remain in this realm anymore. Once that power activates you will be forced up into the upper realms.'' Ralph warned Haru once again about the dangers of letting his anger and grief absorb him. But the sudden meeting was too much for his mind to handle as he hadn''t properly healed from that day.


    The golden glow continued to be brighter until Haru''s clothes set aze as his body became engulfed in mes.


    "Hanying! Exin what''s going on! Those mes are dangerous to our kind!" The red demon yelled out once again but the new evolution of Haru''s power seemed to be something that not even Mr Ma had predicted and he remained still, in shock from what he was seeing.


    The mes that twisted their way around Haru''s body seemed toe from deep within his dantian and were a direct result of having a phoenix bloodline beast within him. But Li Jun had made it clear that Kun wasn''t just any Phoenix and not even the only remaining dragon had knowledge of Kun''s species.


    Yet the fire that burned from Haru''s soul was something the demons called a purifying me. Across the upper realms, there were seven of these mes that all contained the power to burn even the threads of fate themselves. But if the mes were to touch anyone that practised demonic cultivation techniques, both their body and soul would be instantly destroyed.


    "Hanying! I hope you n to kill him before this spirals out of control! I don''t like the feeling I''m getting right now!" The red demon yelled out once again before looking up at Mr Ma to see that he had a fearful look in his eyes as he observed Haru.


    "You good for nothing! Fine, I will do it myself!" The red demon yelled before holding out his hand and bringing forth a sword that looked as though it was crafted from the bones of a huge creature.


    He raised the sword above his head before running towards Haru with the intent to kill him to avoid any more interference with their n.


    But as soon as he took a few steps forward a spear made of fire shot out from Haru''s back and struck the red demon directly in the chest. The mes pierced the demon and then began to wrap around his body before eventually absorbing every drop of his life force and then returning back towards Haru.


    Hanying''s fear quickly turned into solid terror as he quickly turned around and bolted towards the window in fear of being the next one to die as he didn''t understand just what was happening. But as soon as he took his first step another spear shout out, this time piercing Hanying''s leg.


    The me began to spread out and move upwards towards the rest of Hanying''s body before he made a quick decision.


    Hanying raised his hand and mmed his palm against the bone in his thigh, causing it to break in two before using the talon-like nails on his fingers to rip the flesh away before diving out from the window.


    Hanying''s leg lifted high up into the air before vanishing as that two was absorbed by Haru as he remained kneeling. But Hanying had managed to escape with his life still intact.


    Once he could no longer feel the demonic presence, Haru instinctively copsed from exhaustion and fell backwards onto the hard wooden floor.


    "I told you to stop, didn''t I! You need to get out of your head if you want to take revenge. You still haven''t epted what happened have you!?" Ralph yelled out as Haru opened his eyes to see he was in the floating mansion once again and Ralph was standing over him.


    "What are you talking about! I know what happened and I can''t ever forgive him for that." Haru spoke with a confused look on his face as he replied to Ralph''s questions.


    "Ugh Humans I didn''t ask if you know what happened. I was asking you if you can ept what happened. But you said enough. Of course, you haven''t epted it. You will never get revenge at this rate. What''s the point in fighting anymore? You should just give up already." Ralph sighed as Haru lowered his head in shame.


    "Li Jun asked me to keep you safe. But at this rate, you will get yourself killed. It would be much easier to destroy your dantian and let you live a normal life. You''re not suited to be a cultivator if you can''t even defeat yourself." Ralph exined before taking a few steps forward and cing his hand on Haru''s head.


    "But, If I did that. He wouldn''t be very happy. I guess the best way to teach you, humans, is through repetition. So here, why don''t you experience hell for a little bit?" Ralph spoke with a grin as he injected Qi into Haru''s brain causing the scenery to change and be clouded with dust as a familiar sight emerged from the distance.

 Chapter 331: Soul Cavern.

    Chapter 331: Soul Cavern.


    Rain poured down from the sky as Haru sat on the cold concrete foundations as rocks were spread around him as he looked up, feeling drops of water ssh against his cheeks as he did so.


    He then looked forward to seeing a sight that he wanted to forget. Suyin was Laying on the floor in front of him with arge pool of blood beside her as a dark red patch spread out from beneath her shirt.


    "Suyin! Noo! How could this happen!" Haru yelled as he shuffled across the floor without thinking to be by her side to try to stop the bleeding.


    Haru reached out and ced his hand against Suyin''s stomach where the blood wasing from and began to press down. But as he did so he looked up to see Suyin''s pale face. She was already dead. There was nothing he could do to save her. He was toote once again.


    Haru closed his eyes as he felt regret and defeat. He didn''t know what was happening but knowing that he couldn''t save her once again crushed his soul. He clenched his fists as tightly as he could before hearing something he never expected to.


    "Haru? Are you okay? You don''t look too good." Suyin''s voice called out as a warm hand touched his cheek.


    Haru quickly opened his eyes at the sudden touch to see that Suyin was looking down at him with a slight smile on her face. Her face was exactly how he remembered it to be and her smile was still as breathtaking as it always was.


    "I- I''m sorry. I couldn''t save you I''m so sorry!" Haru called out as he tried to ask for forgiveness but Suyin looked back at him with confusion, not understanding what he was talking about as she watched a tear roll down his cheek.


    "It was just a dream. It''s okay. I''m right here with you see." Suyin said as she leaned forwards to hug him.


    Haru closed his eyes as he felt Suyin''s arms rest against his shoulders as her scent drifted towards his nose but he could only smell a scent of Iron as her touch disappeared and he opened his eyes to see the same scene y out.


    Suyin wasying on the floor in a pool of her own blood once again. Haru hurried towards her without thinking as he hoped there was something he could do to save her. But it was no use as he looked at her for a second time to see that she was dead.


    This was now the third time Haru experienced Suyin''s death yet it wasn''t any easier for him. But this time as he continued to look at Suyin he realised that what he was seeing was just an illusion. Haru remained still as the scene reset and Suyin began to gasp for air once again.


    Although he now knew that it was an illusion he couldn''t help but run towards her and try everything within his power to try to save her but each and every time he tried it would always end the same way and he cried until he had run out of tears.


    After the tenth time of failing to save her, Haru began to count the many times he had watched Suyin die as that was the only thing he could do to keep his sanity as each time got harder to watch.


    His heart ached as he was helpless to the situation and he knew that no matter what he did there would be nothing he could do to save her. Yet that didn''t stop him from trying.


    On the ten-thousandth time, Haru watched Suyin die he experienced Ralph''s frustration as Suyin''s corpse lifted up into the air and began to walk circles around him.


    "Come on. How long are you going to sit around and mope? Haven''t you learnt what I''m trying to teach you yet?" Ralph asked as he took Suyin''s appearance and voice.


    "Put her back! Don''t you dare take her from you bastard!" Haru shouted in response as Ralphplied with Haru''s demand and vanished with a sigh, returning Suyin''s body back to where she previouslyy.


    "I''m sorry. I won''t let him do that again. You don''t hate me do you?" Haru asked Suyin as shey gasping for breath once again.


    It became obvious to Ralph that it wasn''t doing Haru any good to be experiencing the death of his girlfriend over and over again. He doubted that Haru could forgive himself and learn that it wasn''t his fault but he was curious to see what would happen if he carried on forcing him to watch repeatedly.


    But as Ralph watched over Haru a me shot past his face from within his soul ocean, catching him off guardpletely as he turned to see Kun angrily staring in his direction.


    Kun previously avoided the floating mansion at all costs but ever since Haru began to glow with golden mes when he faced Mr Ma there was a change within Kun as he became more daring.


    Ralph red back at Kun in an attempt to scare him away but Kun remained still and continued to angrily stare at Ralph with an oppressing force.


    "Fine. I will stop it. I guess it would be quicker if I just let him see her again wouldn''t it?" Ralph spoke with annoyance as the phoenix continued to stare at him.


    Ralph then released his hand from Haru''s head causing him to regain his senses and the visions to stop.


    "I changed my mind. Follow me. I will take you to see Suyin." Ralph said before walking towards the doors to the mansion.


    Haru looked up in confusion as he reyed Ralph''s words in his head.


    "What did he just say? How can I see Suyin when she is dead?" Haru asked himself as he wasn''t sure of his own emotions anymore. He had watched her die over twelve thousand times in a row and he felt as though nothing had changed. But what he didn''t realise is that now he was capable of thinking about something other than revenge.


    Although Ralph had mentally tortured Haru repeatedly it seemed to work in bringing him closer to forgiving himself. But he wasn''t sure what was going to happen once he had allowed Haru to meet her again.


    "Here, do you know what this is?" Ralph asked as he pointed to the machine that he and Li Jun had used to revive Haru from the brink of death.


    "I guess you wouldn''t would you? Well, this right here is a device that allows me to reach into the soul cavern and pull out souls at will. You might be able to use it to revive Suyin one day if you be strong enough but it requires too much energy to simply use at will.


    But since it can reach into the soul cavern it can also be used to transfer a soul there. What do you say? Do you want to see her again?" Ralph asked as he saw the look of astonishment on Haru''s face as his eyes widened and his cheeks began to twitch a little.


    "What do I need to do?" Haru asked, getting straight to the point as he had no time for games and he was desperate to see her one more time.


    "I see you''re eager. Well, all you have to do isy down over on that bed. I will do everything else to make sure that you arrive there with your soul intact. Although it might be a little bit difficult to find her. But if you try your best to remember something about her you should be able to sense her." Ralph informed Haru before hey down on the bed and closed his eyes.


    As Haruy there he heard Ralph fumbling around with something in the room and he was getting impatient.


    "Hurry it up!" Haru shouted as he tried his best to remain calm. But as soon as he spoke everything around him seemed to fade away as it felt like a piece of himself was ripped away.


    A shock of electricity ran through his body as on the outside of his Soul Ocean his body had temporarily died as his soul was transferred into the soul cavern where people''s souls were transported too after death.


    But as his body died time began to flow normally on the outside and every second he spent away from his body was time that he was at risk of actually being killed by somebody.


    Everything seemed calm as Haru''s mind was at peace as his soul was naturally directed towards the soul cavern by Ralph as he imagined that''s what it would be like for everyone who had died. The only thing that he had with him as he travelled to the soul cavern was his thoughts and the hope to see Suyin once again.

 Chapter 332: Hey there Wolfy.

    Chapter 332: Hey there Wolfy.


    Strong sents of sulphur filled the air as a cold breeze ran all around. Haru opened his eyes to see nothing but darkness yet hidden somewhere in that darkness he sensed something familiar. It seemed distant yet he had a distinct feeling that it was something that he needed.


    "Suyin? Is that you?" Haru asked with confusion as the darkness seemed to grow more intense but there was no reply. He felt slight dissatisfaction at theck of a reply but he knew from what Ralph had told him he felt hopeful that he would see Suyin.


    Just as Haru began to think of her a small sh of light wisped past his head leaving him slightly confused as he heard a giggle.


    ''Was that a? If this is the ce that all souls go to after death then it was definitely a ghost. But where did it go?'' Haru thought as he felt something touch his leg as he stood still in the darkness.


    As Haru looked down he almost screamed in both shock and horror to see a small boy no more than eight years old standing behind him. The face of the boy seemed a little bit distorted though as his mouth waspletely absent and his nose appeared to be two little slots.


    ''What is this thing?'' Haru asked as the boy seemed to resemble a human yet looked so different. It was definitely from another species but he had never heard anything about them before.


    "Hello? Are you okay?" Haru tried to ask but he found that his voice didn''te out. Yet still, he heard the words sound out around him. He didn''t think much of it since it was simr to using telepathy to talk but the boy didn''t reply at all. He just simply held out his hand and pointed forwards before vanishing.


    ''He wants me to go that way for some reason?'' Haru thought for a moment before the boy appeared again a few metres ahead of him with a slight white glow around him. Once again he held out his hand in the same direction but then held his over hand out to Haru and made a motion with his fingers to tell him to follow.


    "You want me to follow you?" Haru asked to which the boy nodded his head slightly before making the same motion with his hand.


    Haru tried to move forwards but while he was in the soul cavern everything seemed foreign to him. Moving his body seemed different somehow and it took effort for him to follow behind the boy as he had to actively direct his thoughts into moving.


    Haru followed the boy for what seemed like an eternity as time didn''t pass within the soul cavern it was simply eternal but eventually, he noticed a group of white lights in the distance that seemed to be dancing around like fireflies.


    As they got closer Haru heard what seemed to be someone humming a song that sounded familiar to him. It wasn''t just any song though it was one that Suyin had written and had sung for him in person.


    Upon hearing the sound of the song Haru could think of nothing else. He put his mind into overdrive and began to race towards where the sound wasing from which was also the direction of the dancing lights.


    As he got closer Haru soon noticed that the lights weren''t just lights. They were in fact all young children that had the same facial features that the boy who was guiding him had. Each one of them didn''t have a mouth yet it seemed as though they were smiling from their eyes alone.


    He was a little distracted by the dancing children at first and didn''t see the woman sitting down with her back to him. But he recognised the back of Suyin''s head instantly as he stopped, hesitating to take another step towards her.


    He was at a loss. He didn''t know what he would say. He was the one responsible for her death after all and he wasn''t sure how he was going to face her. He was sure that she would me him and be upset to see him.


    ''I can''t do this.'' He thought as he looked at her from a distance.


    ''Ralph, if you can hear me. Please bring me back. I can''t do this.'' Haru tried his best to direct his voice outside to Ralph. But while he was inside the Soul cavern there was nothing he could do to let his voice escape outside.


    As the song came to an end the children stopped dancing and immediately focused on Haru as he had yet to say anything or announce himself. They all had a look of distrust in their eyes but when they saw the boy that had guided him they quickly rxed but still remained staring at Haru.


    "Hmm? Did someonee back?" Suyin''s voice called out as she turned her head back and saw Haru standing before her. Although his body was translucent while in the soul cavern she couldn''t mistake him for anyone else.


    "Haru? Is it really you?" Suyin asked as she looked him up and down. He didn''t appear to be exactly the same as she remembered but there was no doubt that it was him.


    "I can''t believe it. It''s really you! I missed you so mu-" Suyin called out with excitement before cutting herself off.


    "Wait If you''re here Does that mean that you''re dead too?" She asked with a shaky voice while too afraid to know the answer.


    But Haru was still in disbelief. It was actually Suyin. Not just a memory or an imitation of her. It was the woman that he had fallen in love with and she was talking to him once again. The feeling was overpowering and he didn''t know just quite how he should react.


    He remained silent for a few moments and took everything in with a couple of deep breathes.


    "Why is she acting like this? Shouldn''t she hate me for what happened? I told her to stay there because I thought it would be safe. But she is just the same as she has always been." Haru thought to himself as he didn''t know what was going on to make her act as though it had only been a couple of hours since they hadst seen each other.


    "Suyin?" Haru asked as he needed her to confirm that what he was seeing was real.


    "What is it?" Suyin asked with a smile on her face. She was d to see him but something seemed different about her and Haru just couldn''t understand what it was.


    "You''re not dead, are you? I don''t know what it is. But when I look at you I get the feeling that you don''t belong here. But that would mean that you have the ability to crossover to the afterlife wouldn''t it?" Suyin asked with a proud smile.


    She wasn''t sure just how long it had been since she had died but she foundfort in knowing that Haru was getting stronger. She initially thought that he had died and was worried. But she was d that Haru was still alive even if she couldn''t be by his side as she knew that he had a purpose in life.


    Haru nodded his head slightly before running forwards and trying to embrace her in a hug. But as he did he fell right through her.


    "Oh, Urm Sorry but the souls of the people here can''t interact with each other like that. We can onlymunicate. Would you like to sit and talk for a while? I guess we have a lot to catch up on don''t we?" Suyin asked while awkwardly scratching the back of her head.


    Haru took a second to process once again before nodding his head and sitting down. Suyin followed his lead and sat beside him before speaking.


    "You know when your eyes first changed colours I wasn''t too fond of them. It seemed kind of creepy how they went from brown to blue overnight. But after a while, they grew on me. I missed seeing them. They look just as beautiful as I remember." Suyin smiled before looking down when Haru didn''t reply right away.


    "So, how long has it been since I died? Are my family doing okay?" She asked again with a less cheerful look on her face as she asked about the outside world.


    "Uhm, It''s been nearly a year. And your family is doing fine. I saw them yesterday in the evacuation." Haru said as a look of both worry and shock glided across Suyin''s face.


    "Evacuation? What evacuation? Is something happening out there? Is that why you came to see me?" Suyin asked but with Haru''s silence after her question, she knew instantly that there was something wrong.


    "Is it about what happened to me? Are they back?" Suyin asked.


    Haru just simply nodded his head in response before looking down.


    "I''m sorry. It''s all my fault that you ended up here. But I promise I will find a way to bring you back. I won''t leave you here alone." Haru blurted out as he could no longer keep himself calm. But Suyin chuckled in response.


    "It''s not your fault I died. You know the house didn''t copse from the outside. There was actually someone inside with me. I think he would be the one responsible for my death. He said that he was going to crush you both mentally and physically before handing you over to the demon n." Suyin exined as Haru felt nothing but rage.


    "You were murdered?" Haru asked as he didn''t know all the details about her death. He previously thought that Mr Ma had messed with the house or left a bomb inside before giving him the house only to use it to kill himter on.


    But upon hearing that Suyin wasn''t alone that day it wasn''t hard for him to figure out who was in there with her.


    "I told you I would kill you. I knew you were a despicable piece of shit before but I didn''t think you would go this far." Haru whispered to himself as he thought back to when he was fighting Mr Ma a few minutes prior. But he was surprised by how calm he felt.


    But he wasn''t sure if the calmness was due to being reunited with Suyin or an effect that the Soul cavern had on the lost souls that wander around it.


    "Well, I wouldn''t say murdered. But he destroyed the building causing it to crush me. So I guess you could see it like that." Suyin said with a slight giggle as she spoke about her own death to which Haru looked back with confusion as it wasn''t something that he found funny. Yet Suyin didn''t seem bothered by the fact that she was dead and was more interested in Haru as she continued to stare at him almost as though it was the first time she was seeing him.


    "You know. I''m d that I didn''t die a virgin. I heard that virgin souls are collected to perform rituals with. To think that if we didn''t do "It" we probably wouldn''t be having this conversation right now." Suyin said with a grin as she heard Haru stutter with embarrassment as he tried to string together a response.


    "You''re just as cute as I remember. And I still trust you with all my heart. I know you will find a way to bring me back. But until that dayes I will be patient and wait for you." Suyin smiled before Haru was suddenly snatched back from the soul cavern as his body was awoken by a woman pressing down on his ribs.


    As he looked up he saw light blue hair fluttering in the wind as gunshots echoed from all around. The building that Haru had passed out in had turned to rubbles and he wasying down on a bed of rock.


    ''Why did I have toe back now? Did something happen? I will just have Ralph send me back againter.'' Haru thought before being interrupted.


    "Woah, You actually made it. I would have thought you were already dead if it wasn''t for my partner hearing your heartbeat." The woman said in Japanese before Haru noticed the military uniform she was wearing and a small ck dog by her side.


    He slowly sat back up before looking at the two of them and noticing a familiar feeling from them.


    "Haha, It''s been a while hasn''t it? Who would have thought that I would run into the two of you here?" Haru asked as the woman looked down at him with a look of distrust. Suddenly the dog began to growl as it stared into Haru''s eyes and seemed to notice something.


    "Who are you? I don''t remember ever meeting you before in my life... You''re not with the enemy are you?" The woman asked before taking a step back and pulling out a sword from her lux.


    "Hey there Wolfy. Has she been treating you well?" Haru asked as he looked down at the dog as he knew that it was the summoned beast that he called out during his first week of school...

 Chapter 333: Night Demon.

    Chapter 333: Night Demon.


    A few moments of silence passed as Haru stared at the dog before his words seemed to set in and then her eyes widened slightly as she looked up at Haru.


    "Why do you smell like my master? What have you done to him?" Wolfy asked as she began to growl at him.


    "Seriously, who are you!? How do you know wolfy?" The girl asked as Haru began to stand up before brushing off his clothes from the dust and debris that has fallen on top of him when the building had been turned into rubble.


    "You don''t know who I am? I didn''t expect you to be the kind of person to forget your friends so easily. Maybe this will remind you?" Haru replied with a shrug before unbuttoning his shirt slightly and pulling it down to reveal two nes hanging from his neck.


    One was golden and in the shape of a sword that he had gotten from Suyin on one of their dates and the other was shaped like a small snowke.


    Wolfy began to growl even more as Haru reached for his shirt but quickly went silent as the girl ced her hand out to signal for her to stop.


    "Wait a minute Haru? Is it really you?" The girl asked after hesitating for a moment to which Haru chuckled slightly.


    "It took you long enough to figure it out. It''s nice to see you again Mia." Haru smiled before looking down at wolfy who was around the size of a chihuahua.


    "What happened to you? I could have sworn you were much bigger than this thest time I saw you." Haru mocked slightly as a sh of red light shot out from the small dog''s body before suddenly an eight-foot-tall wolf was standing before him with a hungry look in its eyes.


    "Master! I missed you so much!" The wolf called out before running towards Haru and beginning to pounce as it neared him. But Haru quickly held out his hand and ced it against the wolf''s head before she could tackle him and then moved the side causing the wolf to slide across the floor and look back in confusion.


    Haru looked up at the sky as a dark shadow began to form before vanishing from where he stood.


    A loud bang shot through the surrounding area as Haru now appeared, floating in the sky with his arm outstretched as he was holding a car that looked as though it had beenunched across the street before he pushed it slightly and it shot back down to the ground with enough speed to make a Crater upon impact.


    "Sorry about that. It seems like we have some party wreckers who want to spoil our reunion" Haru sighed as he spoke before looking down and seeing a small group of demon nsmen charging towards them.


    ''Hmm, I feel a lot better after seeing Suyin and I feel kind of nostalgic after seeing Mia and Wolfy again. How about I try something I haven''t done for a while.'' Haru thought as he remembered the first day that he had summoned Wolfy he had used a spell that he didn''t know much about as it was written in a strangenguage.


    But he now knew that it was written in the Gaohennguage which was the one most widely spoken in the upper realms, but before he simply knew a few words that helped him use a type of magic, unlike anything anyone had ever seen before.


    "The grass settles below the horizon of the sun and the moon rises higher than the tops of existence. Fire runs as water burns before bing its salvation. Absolute Destion." Haru said quietly as he read the words from the old book he had picked up in his past life but now that he knew the meaning of the words he was shocked to see the true power that was within them.


    A thin thread of darkness stretched out from Haru''s body as though it was being woven across the city. Silence fell upon the surrounding area as everyone seemed to freeze in ce before a dark cloud moved in over the group of the demon n and the rest of their reinforcements.


    The sky quickly turned as dark as night as the sun was obstructed by the power Haru had just summoned.


    ''What is this? It was never like this before. I thought it would just be big enough to wipe out a couple of them. But at this rate, it will wipe out the lot of them.'' Haru thought as small drops of smoke coloured water fell from the clouds as rain.


    The demon nsmen looked around at each other in confusion as they tried to figure out what was happening but none of them came to the realisation that their lives would soone to an end as the rain picked up its speed and showered down upon the army of three hundred demon nsmen.


    As the droplets of Smokey water hit the first demon he looked around helplessly as he felt immense pain before his body seeminglybusted into a roaring fire with the mes being the same colour as the raindrops.


    The city was filled with cries of pain as all of the demon nsmen were burnt into cinders within a few seconds of the dark cloud forming. It was like nothing anyone had ever seen before.


    Haru remained floating in the sky for a few moments as the rain settled, leaving nothing behind, not even a corpse.


    A few moments of silence went by before the sound of clothing rubbing against each other made its way to Haru''s ears as he turned around to see someone behind him wearing a ck cloak had begun to attack him with a powerful kick.


    Luckily for Haru, he had heard them before the attack and had time to put his arms up to avoid the kick from hitting him anywhere vital.


    The kick collided with Haru''s forearms and forced him back down to the ground. As hended he struggled to keep his bnce and slid across the floor slightly beforeing to a stop with one of his arms dropping as the bone shattered from the blow.


    Haru winced slightly as it was the first time he had felt physical pain in quite a while. He looked down at his arm to see that it waspletely out ofmission. There was no chance of him fighting with a broken arm.


    "Healing Light," Haru said with a smile as a golden light formed around his arm. The bones began to crack and pop as they moved back into ce and as he looked up he recognised the person who had just kicked him by their red coloured skin.


    "Oh? You can use both the powers of casters and cultivators at the same time. I thought your people were wiped out a long time ago? Who would have known that you were just hiding on this all along?" The demon in the hood said as he looked at Haru with surprise in his voice.


    ''My people? What is that supposed to mean?'' Haru thought before he was immediately put on the defensive as the red demon followed up with another attack and shot towards Haru with his arm outstretched as he tried to reach for his neck.


    ''He''s fast.'' Haru thought before realising that he couldn''t take this enemy lightly. He would have to use his full strength if he wanted to survive long enough to take revenge for Suyin.


    Haru stepped back before throwing a low kick to the demon''s upper thigh.


    The demon''s right leg mmed against the floor as he stumbled down onto his knees. He wasn''t expecting a low kick and Haru could tell by the look in his eyes that he was worried about the follow-up attack. But it didn''te.


    Instead of attacking after downing his opponent, Haru took another few steps back and raised his hands in front of his face.


    ''I can''t rush in with all my strength right away. I feel like he has something up his sleeve. If I defeat him while he is still at full strength who knows what will happen?'' Haru asked himself as for some reason he felt as though he had to treat the red demon with the utmost caution as there was clearly something that set him apart from the rest of their n.


    "Aw, that''s not fun. You saw through me so easily. Hanying warned me not to underestimate you and it seems like he was right. My kind is hidden among the demon n as the only people who meet us are always met with death.


    As far as I know, you are the only human to ever meet a night demon more than once. You should be proud of that. But it doesn''t matter since you''re still going to die." The red demon smiled before charging towards Haru once again as he wound his arm back and began to attack.


    A/N:


    I''m so sorry for the mistake. It happened again. I identally mixed up my chapters and uploaded this to the wrong novel. I didn''t know what happened and then wondered why my other novel got a boost in views. I will have to upload this today here and then upload my next chapter so please don''t mind the repeated chapter if you already read the new one. This will help if you were a little bit lost reading with the huge gap.

 Chapter 334: Fiery wings.

    Chapter 334: Fiery wings.


    The demon''s attacks were much faster and precise than his previous ones as he sprinting towards Haru with his arms outstretched as though he was trying to grab him. Yet Haru didn''t back down or retreat, instead he lifted his foot and jumped up slightly before kicking the demon in his chest.


    The demon fell to the group for a second time as the force from Haru''s kick was enough to lift him up from the ground before sending him falling back onto the concrete below.


    The demon rushed to his feet before charging in again without a second thought. He looked like a mad man as he didn''t have the slightest look of hesitation on his face before attacking again and again despite Haru managing to dodge his attacks with ease.


    Haru felt as though the red demon''s attacks were slowing as he threw more powerful blows but none of them was able to connect with him.


    ''What''s wrong with this guy? Isn''t he supposed to be from the upper realms? Why is he so weak?'' Haru asked as he began to use his spiritual sense to figure out the demon''s cultivation level.


    ''Manifestation stage?! The people whoe from the upper realms have to suppress their power so they are usually at the nascent soul stage when they arrive here. But why is this one different? He is one stage behind everyone else. No wonder he can''t hit me. But why do I still feel like I need to be careful around him?'' Haru asked as he continued to avoid the attacks that the red demon continued to charge at Haru.


    Haru easily dodged once again by stepping to the side and then looked back at the demon who was now breathing a little bit heavier than he was before.


    "Stay still you little rat. Stop running from me!" The red demon called out to Haru as he turned around and looked him in the eyes.


    Although he had missed every attack so far, the demon showed no sign of weakness on his face and still looked as though he was calm and thought that he was going to win despite Haru running circles around him.


    It made Haru even more confused about the whole situation to see that he wasn''t worried in the slightest.


    ''What is the difference between a night demon and a regr demon? Is there something specific that sets them apart?'' Haru thought for a second before the attacks continued.


    ''Well, He does seem good at sneak attacks. I didn''t even know he wasing until thatst second. And earlier when I saw him for the first time I didn''t notice him until he had already spotted me.'' Haru came to the conclusion that they were good at sneak attacks and nothing else since the demon was definitely much weaker than the others that he had faced so far.


    Yet he just couldn''t shake the feeling that something bad would happen if he tried to end the fight too quickly.


    "Okay! That''s it. I''m going to stop taking it easy on you! I will kill you here and now!" The demon yelled out before reaching down to his waist and grabbing onto something within his cloak.


    ''What now?'' Haru asked as he became more and more worried.


    Suddenly a crack echoed out as something pped against Haru''s cheek. A burning sensation made its way across Haru''s face the went down to his neck before stopping at the top of his chest as a warmth began to slowly run down his skin.


    "Hm?" Haru stopped for a moment as he didn''t see any movement from the demon yet felt like his face was on fire. He then lifted his hand and touched his cheek before looking at his fingertips to see that they were now covered in blood.


    "Ha, I finally got you! Serves you right for not taking this old man seriously. If we were in the upper realms right now I would have devoured you ten times over by now." The red demon said while licking his lips as he looked at Haru with a smile on his face.


    Haru then turned his attention back to the red demon to see that he was now holding a short metallic-looking pipe in his hand but connected to the pipe was a thin silver chain that he had used as a whip to strike Haru in the face.


    As Haru looked back down to the ground he saw a look of worry on Mia''s face which made him think that the cut on his face was much worse than he initially thought it was.


    But little did he know that she was worried about something else that had appeared on his face as he was hit with the whip.


    A small sliver of red fire had appeared on Haru''s cheek and seemed to be actively working to seal the wound on his face by threading small mes together beneath his skin before finally pulling the wound closed.


    "What was that just now? I didn''t feel any of your caster power? How did you do that with Qi alone? There is no such thing as instant healing like that without a Divine elixir" The red demon stuttered as he too was stunned by the mes that healed Haru''s face.


    "What are you talking about now? If you want to fight me then let''s carry on already. I don''t have the time or the patience to just stand around here all day." Haru said with a hint of frustration in his voice as the demon shivered slightly.


    "It''s that strange power from before isn''t it? I thought that it was a one-off But it seems like you can summon it whenever you want to I don''t want to do this anymore. If Hanying wants you to suffer then he can do it himself. I changed my mind!" The Red demon suddenly shouted before turning around and vanishing within a dark cloud of smoke.


    ''Did Did he just run away from me?'' Haru asked himself as he couldn''t believe that the red demon ran away without finishing the fight.


    "Did I do something wrong?" Haru whispered before a warm feeling made its way down his spine as he turned around to see mes emerging from his back in the shape of wings.


    "What the fuck is that!? Kun is that you''re doing?" Haru asked as he recognised the dark red colour to them as the unique mes that emerged every time he used Kun''s power.


    But there was no reply to his question. Instead, his body shot up into the sky without warning before being forced down slightly and his legs mming down against something hard.


    It all happened in a sh and Haru was confused as to what was going on but as he looked around he quickly realised that he was somewhere that he wasn''t supposed to be as there were dozens of demon nsmen now staring at him as clouds drifted on past him while standing on what looked like wooden floorboards.


    "I''m on one of their ships Kun. If this is your doing then please let me know what you''re thinking. There is no way that I will be able to" Haru spoke before stopping as the ground beneath his feet set aze before spreading to the demons that had surrounded him.


    Suddenly they began to cry out as the mes devoured them and Haru felt a significant boost in strength once the mes hadpletely consumed the demons before the ming wings sprouted from his body once again and forced him back down to the ground where he was previously standing.


    "Haru!? Are you okay? You just suddenly flew off. What''s going on?'' Mia shouted out as she seemed just as confused as Haru was.


    "I''m not too sure," Haru called back as a loud whistling emerged from the sky as the demon''s airship that he was just on a moment ago plummeted towards the ground.


    "Was that your doing!? If so That''s really impressive. We''ve been trying to take them out all day but it seems that they are almost indestructible to our attacks. How did you do it?'' Mia asked as the airship impacted a couple of buildings and sent dust flying into the sky as it crashed.


    "Ah, Well If you kill the people on board then it''s bound to fall right?" Haru asked, unsure of himself. He knew next to nothing about the ships apart from the fact that they caused death and destruction wherever they went.


    But it seemed as though the Japanese army didn''t know anything either as Mia looked back in surprise and nodded her head.


    "Is that so? Well, it is still difficult to pierce the defence of these creatures. They are insanely strong. I''ve been running low on mana for a while now. I guess it''s lucky that I found you when I did. I wouldn''t have stood a chance against the one you were fighting with." Mia said with a look of admiration on her face. But as she looked up at him Haru felt disappointed.


    "It''s been almost six years, hasn''t it? I don''t know what I expected but I guess we are strangers now aren''t we?" He asked himself as he felt that Mia was being too distant with him. But that was to be expected as they hadn''t seen each other since Haru went to live with his uncle.


    "What was that?" Mia asked as she looked at Haru with her brows furrowed as she tried to understand what he was mumbling about but she couldn''t quite make it out.


    "Never mind. You should find somewhere safe and take it easy. I will take care of this mess." Haru said before vanishing without another word as he didn''t want to see her again since he felt that it would be much easier to kill without familiar eyes watching him.


    A/N: Again I''m very sorry. And If you are confused as to why I uploaded this chapter twice it is because I forgot to upload thest chapter and there was a gap.

 Chapter 335: Where are you hiding?

    Chapter 335: Where are you hiding?


    The battle raged on around the city as countless explosions and gunshots could be heard from the soldiers as they tried to defend the city but their resistance was useless.


    The enemy hade from the upper realm after all and all of their cultivation levels were even higher than the nirvana stage. Although they had to suppress their power to the nascent soul stage to enter the lower realm they were much more skilled and experienced than even the best cultivators on earth.


    It was lucky that Haru had been taught by people even more skilled than the demons that hade to earth or he too would be useless against them.


    ''Where are you hiding?'' Haru thought to himself as he floated around the city watching the chaos below as he tried his best to search for Hanying but it was no use. Hanying was nowhere to be seen.


    As Haru was flying around the sky it became obvious to the demons that saw him that he was also a cultivator and a few of them flew up to test his strength but as soon as they came close to him the red mes shot out from Haru''s body once again and burned them all to cinders.


    Each time the red mes burned a demon Haru would feel a boost in power. It was almost as though he was absorbing their Qi every time.


    He wasn''t sure how but Kun''s power had the power to absorb someone else''s life force. Lao or Li Jun knew next to nothing about Kun''s real power but it seemed as though it was much more extensive than either of them originally thought.


    He wanted to know more about Kun''s but it would have to wait. Hanying was still alive and Haru was out for revenge. After what Suyin had told him when he entered the soul cavern he couldn''t just sit back and let him live any longer.


    Even if it cost him his own life, Haru was determined to make Hanying pay for killing Suyin and he was willing to do whatever it takes to do so.


    "You! Identify yourself immediately! You aren''t with our squad." A voice called out from below as Haru remained stationary for a few moments as he took a minute to look around once again.


    As he looked down he noticed a man below with two women behind him who were all wearing long sect style clothing which made it obvious to Haru that they were from one of the sects in China. He used his spiritual sense and quickly realised that they were all at the manifestation stage which was good for someone on earth. But not nearly enough to fight one on one against even a single demon.


    ''There are other cultivators here? That''s great but their strength is a little bit too weak to stand up against this kind of enemy. At least they are fighting in groups. It will boost their chances of survival a lot more.'' Haru thought as he looked down at the man once again.


    "I''m just a wandering warrior. No need to worry." Haru called out back down to them as his voice quickly attracted the attention of two demons that were hiding nearby.


    "Get him!" One of the demons yelled out as Haru remained floating in the sky as the two of them rushed towards him with their swords drawn.


    "Hey get out of there. Let us take care of this!" The male cultivator on the ground shouted as he jumped up to match Haru''s height before flying towards him to try to save him from the attack.


    However just as the two demons swung their swords towards Haru they both exploded, causing a red mist to float down from the sky as Haru appeared in the location that they were previously.


    "What in the" The cultivator whispered to himself as he looked at Haru with disbelief as he wasn''t expecting such strength toe from someone who looked so young.


    "Um I''m sorry for disturbing you, sir. Please carry on as you will." The man quickly bowed his head as Haru turned to face him.


    "There''s no need to apologise. I''m just looking for someone at the moment so please excuse me. I have no time to stick around here." Haru said before vanishing once again.


    As the day went on Haru continued his search for Hanying while taking out a couple of demons on his way if they decided to get in his way. Soon rumours began to spread on the ground of a mysterious young man that would appear out of nowhere and kill the enemy before vanishing once again as it was only a matter of time until the soldiers fighting below noticed him.


    But that wasn''t the only rumour that was spreading across the city as the demons had a different take on the situation. For them, an unknown challenger hade out of nowhere and they suspected by his strength that he too was someone from the upper realms. Yet none of them had a clue who he was.


    It became their goal to uncover his identity and to kill him for glory. Soon the demons began to group up to search for Haru and took their attention away from their initial orders to destroy the city and keep the soldiers preupied fighting them which gave the military the time they needed to go to all of the government buildings in the city and search for the president.


    After all, if the president of China was captured by the demons then they could force him to order the soldiers to give up or hand over the countries power to them.


    Even though the demons had a clear advantage with technology and strength, each one of the soldiers knew that the world would go into chaos if the enemy gained ess to the countries nuclear weapons as they had enough tounch to every single country at the same time.


    If they managed to get their hands on them it would lead to global nuclear fallout and the death of millions if not billions of innocent people.


    As Haru soared around the city searching for Hanying he heard a loud bang emerge from the far side of the city near the old imperial pce and saw a cloud of smoke in the sky above it.


    ''What was that!? Don''t tell me it''s another airship'' Haru thought as he looked up at the sky but saw no sign of the demons airships after taking down the first one.


    As he saw that the sky was free of airships he became more curious as to what caused the explosion so he decided to make his way over to take a look for himself but as he arrived on the scene he was met with the lifeless bodies of countless Chinese soldiersying on the ground, some with missing limbs and some buried underrge blocks of stone.


    "This wasn''t an ident if so many people were gathered here before it exploded." Haru thought and then remembered how his house in shanghai had also been blown up from within, causing the concrete to cave in and crush Suyin to death.


    "Hanying! You bastard!" Haru yelled out as he knew that he was getting closer to finding his mortal enemy even if he didn''t have an idea where he could be. But he knew that he wouldn''t kill a bunch of soldiers on his own unless he was worried about something. He had hisckeys to kill for him so there was no reason to blow up a building unless he was trying to hide something.


    Harunded upon the floor and began to use his spiritual sense once again to see if he could find anything out of the ordinary or anything suspicious that would give a reason to why the building was blown up but he couldn''t find a single thing.


    Just as Haru was about to give up his search he felt a cold draft brush against his legs as he looked down to see that he was standing on a metal drain cover that was covered by a few rocks.


    "What is this?" Haru whispered before kicking away the rocks and debris and then reaching down to pick up the metal cover to reveal an old irondder that lead down into a dark abyss below.


    Without a second thought, Haru jumped down into the abyss, knowing that no matter what was lurking down there he would kill without a single shred of mercy. He didn''t feel patient enough to deal with anything other than killing Hanying so he felt no fear at all as he descended into the darkness.


    Haru fell for what felt like a couple of minutes beforending on the ground with a loud bang that shook his surroundings as a cold ssh of water shot up and drenched his clothes.


    ''Kun I could use a bit of light please.'' Haru thought as he wanted to conserve as much of his power as he possibly could.


    A faint golden light began to emerge from Haru''s back before quickly illuminating everything around him that was previously shrouded in darkness.

 Chapter 336: Are you still down here?

    Chapter 336: Are you still down here?


    Light shout out from Haru''s body and the first thing that became obvious to him was the amount of water on the ground but as he looked down he expected to find out he was standing in a sewer.


    But the water beneath him was crystal clear and there seemed to be white tiles a few inches below. It looked to be part of a building which made sense as the explosions above ground must have burst a water pipe somewhere inside and it was beginning to flood the ce.


    "Why would such a ce be hidden beneath a storm drain?" Haru thought as he looked around at the rest of the room to see modern looking lightbulbs above him and a few benches next to the walls that looked like they were ced for someone to wait on as there was a desk on one side of the room along with a double set of doors.


    But as Haru looked at the doorway he noticed a red mark on the wood.


    ''What is that?'' Haru wondered as he took a few steps forward with the water sloshing around beneath his feet as he pushed it aside with each step.


    As he got closer to the door he soon realised what it was as he smelled a strong scent of blood. He looked at the door once again to see a bloodied handprint as if someone was injured and trying to escape. He didn''t know what the building was for but it was beneath the imperial pce so he thought that it must have been an important meeting ce for politicians.


    "It seems like a fallout bunker of sorts as well as a secret meeting location. It''s not strange for politicians to visit the imperial pce to pay their respects but who would have thought that there was also another reason for them toe here." Haru thought as he looked around and continued on and walked through the doors to a sight that was just as horrifying as the one above.


    Another dozen or so bodies were lying face down on the floor and floating in the couple inches of water as it mixed with their blood around them.


    All of the people that there looked to be well dressed in suits and business-like attire as long cuts covered their bodies all over, making it obvious that they were killed by a de of sorts. But there were simply too many cuts on their bodies for a painless death. It looked as though they were mass tortured by a group of people.


    But the cuts along their bodies were all exactly the same width and depth which made Haru positive that it was only one person responsible and they had enough power to incapacitate multiple people at once.


    He knew right away that they were killed by a demon and a strong one at that if they were able to make so many precise cuts on multiple people. He wasn''t sure if it was Hanying that had done it but he knew that the red demon he had thought certainly wasn''t skilled enough to attack anyone like that, let alone a group of people.


    "I wonder Are you still down here?" Haru whispered to himself before carrying on past the bodies and into a long dark corridor, illuminating it as he walked.


    On each side of the corridor, there were what looked like offices with ss windows covered by blinds. Haru peered into a few of the rooms as he walked through and saw a single desk in each room with aputer on them.


    ''Looks like it was quite the busy ce when it was in a functional state. I wonder what kind of business they were dealing with where they needed so many offices.'' Haru thought but from what he knew it took a lot of time and effort for the government to make decisions. It was only natural that they would have an army of legal professionals and ountants to deal with all the tricky things. But something wasn''t adding up.


    All of theputers in the offices were still turned on which suggested that people were working on them recently. But there were only a few bodies in the previous room. There wasn''t nearly enough to fill all of the offices that he walked past as he came to another door but this one looked to be made out of solid steel.


    But it clearly didn''t stop whoevermitted the murder spree as the door was only connected with one of its hinges and was almost bent at a 90-degree angle.


    It looked as though a bomb had gone off in front of it. But all of the windows in the offices were still perfectly intact so whatever was responsible for it didn''t have any excess energy or the whole corridor would have been destroyed. All of the power it took to break down the steel door was put directly into the door it''s self which added to Haru''s suspicion that a strong demon was responsible for the destruction.


    "Where are the rest of them?"Haru thought as he was positive that there should be more people within the building somewhere if they had not early been killed by whoever was responsible.


    He knew that the president had yet to have been located by either the humans or demons and a ce buried below an old ruin would be a good hiding ce for him if he decided to run away from the fighting. Haru was bing increasingly concerned that he had made it there toote and Hanying had already gained the countries power.


    But as he stepped through the steel door he heard a slight whimper after his foot sshed water into the air. Haru used his spiritual sense to get an X-ray like view of the surrounding area before spotting the silhouette of someone with a dark yellow aura cowering in on the other side of the wall to Haru''s left.


    There was a room with a wooden door that was still perfectly fine but he could tell that the person was terrified as Haru made a sound. They probably thought that the person responsible hade back to finish them off and was trying their best not to cry.


    It was perfect for Haru. He wanted to know just what had gone on within the underground bunker and what better way was there than to ask someone who was there when it happened.


    Haru made his way to the door and then knocked upon the wood twice. He heard another whimper as the person within the room buried their face into their arms to try their best to avoid making a noise but with heightened senses that cultivators gained, there wasn''t anything they could do. Haru already knew they were in there.


    "Hello? It''s safe toe out now. Can you tell me about what happened here?" Haru asked as the person within cried out in fear.


    "Just leave me alone! I promise I won''t tell anyone what happened. Just please let me live! I have a family! PLEASE DON''T KILL ME!" A woman''s voice shouted out from within the room.


    Although Haru could see through walls with his spiritual sense it wasn''t a clear view and wasn''t perfect so he was surprised to hear a woman''s voice.


    He felt bad about the way he approached the situation as he knew that a woman''s first defence was self-preservation when they are backed into a corner. A man would be more enticed to find a way to defend themselves but he could tell by the desperation in her voice that she had already given up with trying to escape. She was just praying that she would be allowed to live.


    "It''s really okay. As long as I''m here there is nothing that could possibly happen to you. Listen, I won''t ask you toe outside. You can stay inside and I won''t attempt toe in there either. I will stay right here. Please can you just tell me what happened? We need to keep the president safe, don''t we? Is he here?" Haru exined before asking her while trying his best to speak in a gentle tone.


    "You''re not going to fool me! Just go away you foul demon!" The woman yelled out once again as she pushed herself further into the corner.


    Haru sighed.


    ''This isn''t getting anywhere is it?'' Haru thought to himself as he wasn''t sure what he could do to get an answer from her but then he thought of something.


    "Hey, I will really leave you alone if you answer two questions for me," Haru called out as he heard the woman move with a little more energy.


    "Really? You will? But what happens if I can''t answer it?" The woman asked with a hopeful voice while trying her best to hold in her tears.


    "If you can''t answer either of them then I will still leave," Haru stated as the woman hummed slightly, signalling Haru to go ahead before he moved on to his first question.


    "Can you tell me how many exits there are to this ce?" Haru asked as he suspected that there would be hundreds in case of an emergency so the woman''s reply caught him off guard.


    "There are only two exits. One of them is the elevator near the entrance of the pce and the other is a storm drain outside the pce. There are no more exits." The woman said through sniffles as she answered to the best of her ability.


    "If there are only two exits and they are both by the entrance then that means I have to go all the way back to where I came from to get out of this ce" Haru said as the woman hummed once again as confirmation.


    "Then, my second question for you is Did the person who killed all the people heree back through here?" Haru asked as he heard shuffling within the room before the door clicked and slowly opened to reveal the woman he was talking to.

 Chapter 337: Youre really starting to piss me off.

    Chapter 337: You''re really starting to piss me off.


    "Y-You''re really not that monster" The woman said in disbelief as she opened the door to see Haru standing in front of her.


    Haru remained silent as he gave her a moment to process what was happening but then she went on to quickly answer his question.


    "No, I haven''t heard anything else near here since we were attacked Please! You have to save the president and the others!" The woman quickly shouted as she remembered that she wasn''t the only person in danger. She was so frightened that she disregarded the safety of anyone else. But upon seeing another Human she felt relieved enough to worry about the safety of others.


    She felt weak before falling towards Haru but he quickly caught her in his arms and pushed the door behind her open to sit her down in one of the chairs in the room.


    "Don''t worry, I''m here to help. Can you tell me where they went?" Haru asked as the woman began to hold her head with her hands. She was a little bit hesitant to say since she was still scared of what will be of her if she gives up the information that she had kept to herself so far.


    The only reason that she didn''t tell Haru where the president was in the first ce was that she feared that she would be killed when she wasn''t seen as useful anymore. But despite that fear, she felt as though she could trust Haru but she didn''t quite understand why.


    "His bodyguards rushed him and a few of the senators into the panic room. There is only one way to go from here. Just keep following the corridors and you wille to a huge reinforced door. It''s stproof but when I saw that beast destroy the door to this part of the facility I doubted that the doors could stop him from getting to the president.


    Please hurry, they might be in danger!" The woman called out as she saw Haru be slightly worried.


    It was true that whoever took care of thest door would have no issue getting through most things. But if the door was designed to stop bombs then it should have been pretty strong. He just hoped that the door that she was talking about was enough to slow down the demon that invaded the bunker.


    "Thank you. I will go there now. You just sit tight here okay? Make sure you lock the door and don''te out no matter what. I wille and get you on my way back." Haru exined to her but she had a doubtful look on her face as she eyed him up and down.


    She wondered what someone like him could possibly do. Even though she had just begged him for help she was doubtful that Haru would be able to do anything to save himself let alone the president. She didn''t even see a weapon on him so she began to regret telling him and was about to try to make his escape with her instead. But before she could say anything else Haru vanished, leaving her alone in the darkness as the light that surrounded him vanished too.


    Haru continued to walk through the corridors, finding more bodies on his way as he went deeper into the bunker before hearing what sounded like a hammer against an anvil as the sounds of something heavy mming against metal shot through the bunker.


    It seemed to being from ahead so Haru went to investigate. But as soon as he entered the next room he saw exactly what he expected to see when he first went down there.


    It was Hanying. The one responsible for Suyin''s death was also the one who had killed the countless amounts of people that Haru had passed on his way down there and he was now banging against the door and punching it, trying to force his way through.


    "Haha, Not so strong now are you? You can''t even break through the door. How are you going to kill us when you are trapped out there?" A voice shouted out through a speaker as Hanying continued to pound his fist against therge metal door with a keypad on the wall beside it.


    Haru continued to watch as it looked like Hanying was getting nowhere but with each punch against the steel door he was getting closer to breaking his way through and he knew that too that is why he didn''t respond to the mocking of the people within.


    It was stupid for whoever was inside to provoke Hanying like that but Haru felt as though he had to protect them regardless of their stupidity. After all the president was the key to securing the country. If he died or was captured it would be easy to flip the country into even more disarray but so long as he was alive and wanted to continue leading the country the army would fight for his behalf.


    But that could all change if Hanying managed to get through the door. Haru was motivated by rage and anger as he saw Hanying but he managed to keep his anger under control for the moment as he thought for a moment. Haru used his spiritual sense to figure out how many people were nearby and he was surprised with the oue.


    Apart from the seventeen people inside the panic room, there was only one other living being and that was Hanying.


    ''He''s alone? Then now is the perfect opportunity to kill him. There won''t be any more interruptions and I don''t have to worry about being sneak attacked by any of hisckeys.'' Haru thought before entering the room, making sure that his footsteps were heard as he did so and then speaking out to Hanying.


    "It looks like that door is causing you a little bit of trouble. Would you like some help getting through it? It''s a shame that your buddies on the surface are too busy getting their asses kicked." Haruughed as he used humour to suppress his rage.


    But to his surprise, it seemed as though Hanying knew that he wasing as he didn''t show any kind of emotion to hearing Haru''s voice behind him.


    "It''s not possible for the people of this to construct something that I can''t destroy. The only reason that I am struggling here is that I''m actively suppressing my power. If I was to use my full strength to hit this thing I would wipe out everything on the surface too.


    Just count yourself lucky that I''m holding back." Hanying bragged before turning around to face Haru.


    "What do you say young Haru? Would you like to help me demonstrate my full power? If you promise not to hold back then I will do the same." Hanying smiled as he met Haru''s eyes.


    Both of their eyes seemed to glow in contrast to each other. Haru''s eyes made too solid blue rings in the centre of his iris as Hanying stared back with two red orbs. His eyes looked exactly like thesers shot from the demons ships as the only thing that illuminated the room was the golden glow surrounding Haru''s body.


    "You surprised me thest time we met. I never would have thought that someone in a lost star system would be able to master the purifying mes. Especially at such a young age.


    This is truly full of mysteries and I can''t wait to dissect everything when we absorb the core. Maybe I will find something really interesting when that happens." Hanying spoke while staring at Haru, expecting a reaction from his words but something was different.


    "What happened? Where did all that hatred from earlier go? Did you get hit in the head or something since thest time we met? Wait a minute If you''re here now then where did that bastard disappear to? I told him to keep you busy if you got close. You didn''t kill him did you?" Hanying asked as he referred to the night demon that Haru had fought against. But Haru remained silent and continued to look at Hanying with a nk expression.


    "Hey! I''m talking to you! At least show enough respect to answer me! You''re really starting to piss me off with that dumb look!" Hanying shouted out in anger as his attempts at provoking Haru failed.


    Haru sighed loudly as he looked at Hanying before taking a step forward without uttering a single word. The sudden change in Haru frightened Hanying as he never expected that Haru would be so calm when facing him again.


    It seemed as though he was a different personpletely and that wouldn''t be entirely wrong. After he had met with Suyin again he felt calm, knowing that she was still alive even if her body was long dead. He knew that once he became strong enough he would have no trouble bringing her back to life.


    But before he went out to achieve strength he wanted to make sure that everyone he cared about on earth would be safe from any future attacks and to do that he would need to get rid of all the demons currently residing there.


    Haru reached his hand down to his side and opened his storage ring before pulling out the sword that Li Jun had given to him after they escaped the time array when they first met.


    ''This should be good enough to deal with you.'' Haru said with confidence as he crouched down slightly and twisted his hips to the side before turning back with as much power as he could muster and swinging his sword towards Hanying with all his might.

 Chapter 338: [Bonus Chapter] Dragon tongue.

    Chapter 338: [Bonus Chapter] Dragon tongue.


    A shroud of red light shot from the tip of Haru''s sword as he swung it towards Hanying with as much power and speed as possible in hopes that he would be able to defeat him in a single blow.


    But no matter how fast Haru''s cultivation had improved or how fast he learnt new techniques it couldn''t stand up to raw experience and Hanying was most likely hundreds of years old and had lived his life in the upper realms beforeing to earth.


    Haru''s sword grazed Hanying''s cheek as he stepped back with a surprised look on his face. He looked at Haru, impressed with his quick and precise movements and was just about toment before Haru followed through with another attack as he leapt forwards towards him and brought his sword down from above as he used his strengthbined with his body weight to put even more power into the attack as Hanying raised his arm up to meet the sword.


    A metallic ng rung for a moment as the clothing around Hanying''s arm split open to reveal that the gold-coloured bracers he had strapped to his arm underneath. Haru wasn''t expecting him to be wearing armour so was caught a little off guard as his sword came to a stop suddenly and the force travelled back up his arm and into his own body.


    His hands shook a little as the force from the blow made his fingers numb so he jumped back to gain a defensive position but as he did so he quickly realised that it was a bad decision to give Hanying the chance to go on the offensive as Hanying rushed towards him and through a flurry of punches towards Haru''s face.


    Haru took a couple of steps back to avoid the first few punches before raising his sword and trying his best to counter them and still prevent himself from being hit as he could tell that the punch would have done significant damage to his body if he took one of them.


    He was two stages away from Hanying after all. Although Haru''s attacks could rival someone at the nascent soul stage, if he was to take a hit from a nascent soul stage cultivator at full strength it could possibly have a life-threatening oue so he stuck to dodging as he retreated before jumping up into the air andnding on a catwalk that was circling therge metal that Hanying was trying to break into.


    Haru took a few more steps back and thought that he would have enough time to catch his breath as he didn''t expect Hanying to follow him but as soon as he reached the top of the catwalk he felt something against his back before being thrown across the room as the impact on his back felt like an explosion.


    Haru looked up to see that the woman who had directed him towards Hanying was standing at the top of the Catwalk with a look of fear in her eyes as a hand was wrapped around her neck from behind as the red demon from earlier stood in the shadows holding the woman against her will.


    "Look what I found boss. I know you said that I can''t eat that human but surely you have nothing against me devouring this one right?" The red demon Haru had fought against asked as he looked over at Hanying who was stationary as he stared at Haru.


    "Do as you wish. But stay out of this. This is my fight." Hanying said as a sudden crunch echoed out as the woman''s neck was snapped under the force of the demon''s hands as he squeezed his fingers together before biting a chunk of flesh out of her neck.


    Bloodshot from her body as she fell limp in the demon''s arms and he began to take more bites with each one squelching as if he was eating a juicy apple. But the sounds soon turned into a crunch as the demon bit into her vertebrae and continued to eat with no resistance as he devoured bone and flesh as if it was nothing.


    Haru looked up at the demon, sickened by what he had just seen but he had no time to worry about what was happening to the woman as Hanying ran towards him but this time jumped up into the air and brought his foot down towards Haru as though he was trying to stop on him.


    Haru rolled out of the way as he stood back up and felt a numbing sensation in his hip.


    He looked down to see that his hip had been dislocated by the sneak attack the red demon had performed on him and he tried his best to activate a healing spell so he could get back into fighting condition but before he could cast his healing magic Hanying rushed towards him with an attack from a long ribbon-like weapon that seemed to squirm around like a worm as it headed towards Haru.


    ''What is that?'' Haru barely had time to think as it shot towards him and missed by only a couple of millimetres as his hip gave out once again causing him to fall and avoid the attack.


    "I should probably warn you that if you are hit by my dragon''s tongue it will drain your Qi until you are nothing but a pile of dust on the floor," Hanying said with augh as Haru quickly healed his leg during the time it took him to exin.


    ''So I''m fine so long as it doesn''t touch me? That makes things easier then.'' Haru thought as he used his spiritual sense to talk to Kun.


    ''Kun, lend me your strength. I need you to make sure that that thing doesn''t hit me. Can you put up a barrier around me with your power like you didst time?'' Haru asked but it took a while for a response and Hanying had already begun to attack.


    Haru stepped to the side as the dragon tongue shot past him with a whistle before a loud ck echoed around the room as it collided with the wall behind him.


    ''What''s with these two and their whips?'' Haru thought as he remembered that the red demon also used a whip against him. But he had no time for mindless thoughts as the attack came again.


    "You''re good at evading but it must be taking a lot of your energy to match this speed. I wonder how long it willst?" Hanying asked as he remained calm and standing still as he swung his arm around wildly.


    ''Kun, please give me a little bit of help. I can''t keep dodging this. He''s right my Qi will start to deplete soon and I won''t be able to move as fast. If that happens then we will both die.'' Haru said as he tried to get Kun to help him again but Kun had other ns.


    ''No, Do it yourself. It''s true what they say. If a chick never leaves the nest on its own it will never learn how to fly. If you rely on other people all the time you will never grow stronger.'' Kun said as he acted as though he was an expert on cultivation all of a sudden despite the fact he had only been inside Haru''s soul ocean for a few years.


    Kun''s attitude was always bad but he had never tried to instruct Haru before so he found it a little strange.


    ''Did he evolve again?'' Haru thought as Kun''s sudden attempt to sound wise came out of nowhere but Haru knew that he was right. All that he had been doing so far was relying on the strength of other people to fight battles for him.


    If he was to go to the upper realm then he would meet much stronger foes to defeat. Hanying was suppressing his cultivation to the Nascent soul stage which made him a lot weaker than anyone in the upper realm.


    If Haru couldn''t defeat him now then he wouldn''t stand a chance in the upper realms and he knew that so instead of begging for help as he had done in the past he decided to fight on his own, using the power that he had cultivated for thest couple of years.


    Instead of dodging Haru stood tall as Hanying prepared for his next attack while staring him dead in the eyes. Hanying seemed to realise that Haru was giving up on dodging and decided that he would use extra power to make sure that he hit Haru with his fell strength and began to wind his hand back before releasing it with as much strength as he could.


    Haru watched as the dragon tongue soared towards him. Time seemed to slow down all around him as he watched it getting closer before realising that it was toote to dodge. He knew his speed very well and there was no way that he would be able to dodge Hanying''s attack at full power unless he used all of his too.


    "No holding back. It''s now or never." Haru whispered to himself as the tip of the whip pointed straight towards Haru''s face as it grew closer and closer.


    Haru reached his hand up to his shoulder and grabbed a hold of his jacket before pulling it off as fast as he could and throwing it forwards towards the whip as an improvised shield.


    The jacket would have done nothing to stop the power from the attack if it ripped through the fabric but luckily he had enchanted the clothes that were issued to him by the military.


    The spells that he used to enchant it were strong enough to hold up to the whip but that didn''t stop it entirely and it still hit Haru in the arm as he failed to dodge it.


    Yet the drag from the jacket soaring through the sky was enough to decrease the strength of the attack to something bearable.


    Haru looked back up to see Hanying preparing for his next attack but he was quite obviously surprised to see that Haru had made it out without suffering serious damage.


    Haru knew that it was the perfect time to attack so he lunged forwards with his sword aimed at Hanying''s chest as he tried to catch him off guard. Haru felt slight resistance as his de came into contact for a moment before it gave up and the sword went right through the soft fleshy target but as he looked up to see the face of the demon he had just stabbed he jumped back as a feeling of dread hit him in the stomach.

 Chapter 339: Hostage.

    Chapter 339: Hostage.


    Haru hesitated for a moment as he looked up to see that the red demon that had fought against him earlier was now standing in front of Hanying with a grin on his face as a cavity opened up in his chest where Haru had pulled the sword out of him when he jumped back.


    Despite having a life-threatening wound on his body the demon didn''t seem worried in the slightest as he remained with his eyes locked on Haru.


    "Boss, you might want to guard yourself for this one? I will take down the door for you while I''m at it." The demon said with a smile as a faint glow began to emerge from the hole in his chest.


    Haru had a bad feeling about what was going to happen and as he looked over at Hanying he watched as he created a protective formation around his body. It seemed as though the red demon was nning to use a technique that would inflict damage indiscriminately.


    "I thought I just told you to stay out of my fight? You didn''t have to throw your life away like this. I''m constantly surrounded by idiots?" Hanyingined as the red demon turned back with a look of confusion on his face.


    "Sir, what do you mean? I thought that it would be a good idea to kill two birds with one stone. And after all, I am on strict orders not to let you get injured." The red demon replied as Hanying replied.


    "First of all, I was leaving myself open for the attack. Do you think that someone could actually catch me off guard so easily? And secondly, this human has practised creating ruins in the ancient dragonnguage. Even I would have difficulty destroying one of his protective barriers without the power restriction from the lower realm.


    You sacrificed yourself for nothing." Hanying exined, giving Haru time to activate a protective barrier of his own.


    A look of horror formed on the red demons faces as he realised that he was going to die for nothing but it was toote to say anything else as the glow that was in his chest suddenly expanded to cover the entirety of the room before a shock wave tossed everything around as a violent explosion emerged from his body causing everything in the room to be thrown around.


    Haru was knocked back despite surrounding his body with a barrier and pressed against the wall as the explosion tore through everything in the room. Dust coated the room as the concretes in the room was pulverized and as the explosion faded it left the room shrouded in darkness as the faint sound of panting could be hearding from the direction of therge metal door that was previously hiding the president and members of the government behind it.


    But as Haru used his spiritual sense he realised that was no longer the case. The door had been destroyed under the force of the explosion that had just taken ce.


    ''So that''s what the difference between red demons and regr demons is? When they receive a life-threatening wound they self destruct and kill everything nearby. He was only at the manifestation stage while under the lower realms suppression and he caused so much damage to the point where Hanying had to protect himself like that.


    I can''t even imagine what kind of damage he would have done without the restriction. But I wouldn''t have stood a chance even with the dragon rune barriers that Lao taught me.'' Haru thought as he heard a screame from within the room as the panting became louder.


    Haru jumped to action and ran towards the scream as he knew that Hanying must have made his way in there and the president was now in danger.


    As Haru made it into the confined space, the scent of blood hit him as he looked down to see that the majority of the floor was painted red.


    "I told you I would make it inside didn''t I? Now, do you still think it was a good idea to mock me?" Hanying asked as Haru looked up to see the faint silhouette of Hanying holding someone by the neck as they struggled to breathe and were desperate to catch their breath.


    "Fuck you y- you bastard," The man managed to croak out with a hoarse sounding voice which was soon followed by a loud crack as his body went lifeless and Hanying dropped him back down to the floor. Before turning his eyes to the corner of the room.


    "No! Stay back you devil! Don''te any closer!" The president yelled in fear as Hanying looked him up and down for a moment before looking back over his shoulder to see that Haru had now joined them in the room.


    "Ah, Haru. You made it after all. I was worried that you were killed in the st since you have been awfully silent for a while. It''s good that you''re finally here though. You can join us for the next part of the n." Hanyingughed before looking back at the cowering man in the corner of the room.


    "Please, please don''t kill me. I will do anything you want. So please leave me alone." The president said as a tear ran down his face. He was so frightened that he was unable to move from the corner of the room and only had enough fighting spirit to try to bargain for his life.


    "You will do anything I want huh? I wonder if that is true? Because what I want is the destruction of this world and the death of all its people. I know that you happen to be in control of missiles that are capable of crippling entire countries so what do you say? Are you able to do that for me? Will you kill billions of your fellow man for the chance to live?" Hanying asked with a smile on his face as he looked down at the president.


    ''He''s after the destruction of Earth? But why? There is nothing in it for him. It can''t just be revenge for killing a few demons can it?'' Haru thought as he knew that he couldn''t act recklessly since the president''s life was now at risk without the door separating them.


    The president didn''t answer as he looked down at the floor for a moment, seemingly thinking about his choices before slowly reaching his hand into his jacket.


    Haru watched as the president reached for something before a loud bang shook the room as a sh of light emerged from within the president''s jacket.


    But as soon as the sh of light shot from his jacket, Hanying shot forwards and grabbed the president by his neck before hoisting him up into the air and mming his back against the wall.


    "Now that wasn''t the smartest choice you''ve made today was it?" Hanying spoke quietly as he shook the president a little causing a gun to drop from his hand and hit the floor as he brought his hands up to try to pry Hanying''s hands away from his neck but it didn''t work.


    "Did you just see that!? He thought that a gun would hurt me. What in the world? Haven''t these humans tried their foolish tricks enough? I feel bad for you. How do you live among these idiots?" Hanying asked as he turned to face Haru.


    The president also looked over at Haru to see him standing there doing nothing at all to help and became infuriated by it.


    "You! Get this man off me right now! I don''t care what you have to do! Just make him let go!" The president demanded as he saw that Haru looked human but Haru didn''t budge as he knew that Hanying wouldn''t be easily overpowered.


    And if he was to move against him while he had the president then Hanying would most likely discard the president to fight against Haru with his full power.


    The only way that the president was going to remain alive is if Haru stood back since he was the only one capable of preventing Hanying from getting his way.


    If Haru used his full strength he was certain that he would be able to hold Hanying at bay and maybe even push him back but the consequences to the people around would be too much for him to bear. He had already caused so much death and destruction back in shanghai thest thing he wanted to do was recreate that massacre so he stood idly by and watched as Hanying began to torment the president.


    "I don''t think that you understand your position here. You are now a hostage. If he takes a single step forwards I will kill you. Why do you think that he came all this way to save you and didn''t even attempt to do anything when I threw you against the wall?


    I can''t tell if it''s your fear that is making you stupid or if all you humans are like this. At least the ones that I knew had a little more intelligent but yet again they were all simple-minded. If I was you I wouldmend young Haru here for thinking ahead and not getting you killed.


    But instead, you were ungrateful and insisted that he followed yourmands. It''s quiteughable that you would treat your saviour this way." Hanyingughed before the president realised that he was right.


    "I''m sorry! Please don''te any closer. Just do whatever he says. I really don''t want to die! Please I beg you." The president yelled out to Haru as he remained watching the situation y out.


    ''I really wish that he would just stay quiet.'' Haru thought as he heard running footsteps behind him and Hanying looked away from Haru to see where they wereing from.

 Chapter 340: Fen and Hanying?

    Chapter 340: Fen and Hanying?


    Suddenly a beam of light illuminated the room before hitting Hanying in the side of the head followed by a vibrating sound as Haru realised what the cause of the light was. Hanying let go of the president and dropped to the floor as Haru turned back to see Mia was standing in the doorway holding a magic rifle against her shoulder and pointing it in the direction of Hanying.


    "Mia, what are you doing here?" Haru asked, stunned by the fact that she hade into the bunker. But he heard a slight rustle as Hanying began to stand up and Mia shouted out to him.


    "What are you waiting for!?" Mia yelled as Haru still hadn''t taken his eyes away from her but the panic in her voice was enough to remind him of the dire situation and he dashed forwards towards Hanying before grabbing the president by the cor of his shirt and throwing him backwards through the room, causing him to slide across the floor towards Mia as Haru kicked Hanying in the side of the head while he was down.


    "Come on! Let''s go! The army is outside and they have nted bombs at the entrance. They want to bury this ce and everything inside it." Mia called out and urged Haru to follow her but her warning didn''t change Haru''s mind.


    "Thanks for the help, but I''m noting with you. I have to take care of a personal issue first. Tell them to go ahead and blow it up." Haru said with a calm tone as he repeatedly stomped on Hanying''s head while he was still stunned from the rifle hitting him in the head. But it wasn''t enough to finish him.


    Haru was purposely provoking him with each kick in order to inflict injury but not kill him. After all, he still wanted to fight against him to show him defeat before taking his life. He didn''t feel that it was right to just kill someone while they are down and defenceless even though he knew that Hanying didn''t have the same morals as he did.


    "But you won''t be able to make it out! The foundations of this bunker are designed to copse on themselves if the need arises. They n to level this whole area. Stop being stubborn and hurry up! I thought you were smarter than this. You always thought about things strategically. What good do you think staying here will do?" Mia asked as she recalled her memories of the academy and the time that she had shared with Haru.


    Haru looked back at her briefly before seeing that she had yet to flee but the president had already scrambled to his feet and was trying to make his way out of there as fast as he could. Yet Mia stayed behind to try to convince him toe with her.


    But Haru knew that an explosion wouldn''t solve anything. Even if the whole tunnel was dropped on top of Hanying there was no guarantee that it would actually kill him. But that was the least of the things on Haru''s mind. Haru wanted to kill Hanying with his own hands and he was willing to do whatever it took to aplish that.


    "Get out of here right now. I''m staying behind and that''s final. This is my battle and my battle alone. I don''t need you getting in the way and slowing me down!" Haru yelled, as the constant nagging from Mia reminded him of how his mother would ask him to do things but as he did so he saw a frown appear on Mia''s face before she looked down at the ground.


    "Ok I guess I will get going then." Mia said before turning her back towards him and walking away.


    Haru sighed for a moment before hearing a groan beneath his foot as he looked down to see that Hanying''s face was covered in blood and it had run down his cheeks and pooled inside his mouth, making him choke on his own blood as he looked up at Haru with bloodshot eyes.


    "Get up you piece of shit. It''s about time we ended this don''t you think? No more running and no more tricks. Just me and you." Haru spoke in a stern tone as he red down upon Hanying.


    Although Hanying was much stronger and more experienced than Haru. At that moment as Haru red upon him a cold chill ran down his spine as he knew that there was a chance that he would lose his life.


    Haru took a few steps back and give Hanying space to get up but and then watched as he struggled to his feet with the aid of one of the desks in the room.


    ''Maybe I kicked him a bit too much?'' Haru thought when suddenly Hanying held out his hand and then shot out the same vine-like whip he had used before but this time it seemed more directed as it headed for Haru''s throat.


    ''It looks like I didn''t kick him enough.'' Haru''s mind raced as he kept his eyes locked on the whip but as he did so he realised that the whip wasn''t the main objective.


    Although Haru had said that he wanted there to be no more tricks between them, Hanying used the whip as a distraction to ready a technique behind his back.


    It looked as though he was hoping for Haru to avoid the attack so he could catch him off guard with whatever technique he was brewing but Haru wasn''t about to let himself be hit so easily.


    ''He''s gotten sloppier. Before he wouldn''t have even thought to do something like this. Does he think that I will actually fall for it?'' Haru wondered as the whip inched ever closer to him before he figured out how to deal with it.


    Haru''s finger twitched slightly as the wooden table that Hanying had used to aid him shot up in front of his attack, causing it to explode and send tiny splinters into the air as itpletely obliterated it. The wood indiscriminately flew in every direction causing Hanying to cover his eyes to avoid being stabbed as Haru took the opportunity to attack.


    As Hanying was covering his eyes Haru ran beneath the falling table and slid across the floor towards Hanying before popping up with as much power as he could muster, using his legs as spring as he twisted his hips towards him and extended his leg to kick Hanying directly in the chin.


    Thebined effort of Haru''s strength and technique was enough to lift Hanying''s body up into the air as his head flew backwards causing him to be dizzy from the impact which gave Haru yet another opening to attack.


    Haru nted his foot on the ground and dropped his shoulder down before twisting his hips once again and spinning on his heel towards him and striking him in the chest.


    Hanying flew back before hitting the wall, causing the concrete to crack and shatter as his head bounced against it before sliding down to his knees.


    Hanying looked up at Haru with a look of defeat in his eyes but no matter what, Haru couldn''t shake the feeling that it was too easy. It felt as though Hanying was letting him hit him without fighting back.


    "Just end it. I don''t want to be here anymore. Just go ahead and kill me already." Hanying begged as he looked up at Haru with tears in his eyes.


    But it was so uncharacteristic of him that Haru couldn''t help but feel like he was nning something else. Just as Haru took a step back he felt something hit him in the back and push him forwards towards Hanying.


    Hanying jumped up from the ground and struck Haru in the face with his fist making him fly across the room and m into one of the handrails in the corner.


    Haru''s back mmed against the metal handrail causing a crack to echo out as he could no longer feel any sensation in his legs.


    ''He broke my back with a single punch?'' Haru thought as a sharp pain shot up his spine but that was the least of his worries as he looked back to see that there were two Hanying''s in the room. One of them was bloody and injured from Haru''s attacks and the other was perfectly fine without even a single hint of damage on him.


    Haru''s eyes widened as he thought that Hanying was using a technique to split his body in two but that was something that not just anyone could do and it was rare ording to Li Jun. It made him panic but he didn''t know much about what was happening so instead he remained quiet and watched on.


    Haru''s body began to glow yellow as the magic healed his broken spine he then got to his feet and looked on while pulling his sword out to hold in front of his face as he stood still and stared at both of them awaiting their attack but it didn''te.


    Instead of them both teaming up and attacking Haru the one without any damage on him walked up to the injured one and pped him across the face.


    "Agh, What was that for?!" Hanying asked as he looked at the mirror image of himself as the other Hanying walked around him and ced his hand on his shoulder.


    "What have I told you about giving up so easily!? I know you hate being hurt but why would you ask your enemy to take your life?" The uninjured Hanying asked the one with blood streaming down his face.


    "I''m just so tired of this. Why do you always make me stand-in for you!? I''m not you. I don''t think like you and I don''t like doing the things that you do.


    I hate killing people yet you always force me to do things like this. It''s just so unfair. I was hoping that he would kill me and end this torture." The injured Hanying said as looked up with even more tears in his eyes.


    "Stop being dramatic Fen. How many times do I have to tell you that you''re better than this? You might be extremely strong but don''t you remember what happened to our father when he showed weakness in front of an enemy? If you carry on down this path you will end up just like him" Hanying said as he put his hand against the other one''s shoulder before pushing him away.


    Hanying''s push did nothing as the bloodied Hanying took a few steps back and sat down against the wall as the uninjured one looked towards Haru before taking off his cloak to reveal hisrge muscr frame.


    "I''m surprised you managed to push my little brother to this point, Haru. He''s even stronger than me but the only issue is that he is a little bit stupid. Honestly, I have always wanted to fight you like this since the first time I met you but it wasn''t the right time. But now seems pretty good to me. So how about it? Let''s see who is stronger." Hanying smiled a sinister grin as he looked at Haru who was beginning to feel fatigued from fighting all day.


    But Hanying was exploding with power as a red mist emerged from his body as he began to walk towards Haru.

 Chapter 341: Collapse of the tunnel.

    Chapter 341: Copse of the tunnel.


    Hanying clenched his fist before striking Haru in the stomach before he could react. The fighting styles between the twin demons were so different that Haru couldn''tprehend it at first.


    He had managed to get the hang of fighting against the younger brother but as the real Hanying started to attack him he was useless he wasn''t prepared to fight with such speed.


    Haru took a further three punches to the face before he was backed into a corner as Hanying reached down into his pocket and pulled out a small ck crystal.


    Haru didn''t know what it was but as Hanying grabbed the crystal he put it against his lips before biting down on it causing it to shatter into hundreds of small fragments as a pale blue orb emerged in front of him before he gulped it down.


    Haru continued to watch on in confusion as he took the time to catch his breath. If he was going to be able to fight Hanying who was much faster than the one known as Fen then he would have to use everyst ounce of his strength.


    Yet he knew that if both of them decided to fight together then he wouldn''t stand a chance. Fearing that he would lose the fight Haru took a few steps back as the pale blue light that he had seen emerge from the crystal had now begun to emerge from Hanying''s eyes as they shone like shlights, illuminating Haru''s surroundings.


    Haru raised his sword and prepared for another attack. But instead of getting closer to him, Hanying held out his hand as shards of ice began to fly in Haru''s direction.


    "See the power of casters isn''t something entirely unique to mortals. Even cultivators can use it when they meet the right conditions and all it takes is having mana flow within your body. But that can''t happen naturally while Qi flows through your veins so we have to use mana stones to do it. But I wonder How is it that you can use caster abilities at will?" Hanying asked as Haru raised his hand to take the attack.


    Although Haru was much weaker than Hanying in terms of cultivation his magic abilities were much stronger than anything that could be thrown at him unless they had trained for a lifetime.


    "You don''t want to answer? Well, that''s fine but in reality, there is only one way that someone would be able to have a dantian and mana stores at the same time. And that would be If their mana isn''t stored in their body.


    So that means that either something is constantly supplying you with Mana to use at your own will. Or something even more amusing is going on.


    I think that the mana is stored in your soul and not your body. When you became a cultivator your body should have rejected your mana stores so it was no longer possible for them to exist within your body.


    But if you had a strong connection to mana then it is possible for fragments of mana to imprint themselves on your soul.


    I can''t wait to harvest your body and find out if I''m correct but I can tell that there are a lot of secrets about you and I will be the one to crack them." Hanying smiled as he shot another st of ice out of his hand but this time used it as a distraction as he pulled out a short dagger from his waistband and lunged towards Haru''s throat.


    Haru was on guard the whole time while he was speaking so he was prepared enough for the attack to see iting and he managed to lift his sword in time to meet the dagger before it struck his body.


    Haru exhaled with relief as he managed to stop the attack but he was given no time to rest as it was followed up with another attack as Hanying tried to stomp down onto Haru''s knee to make him fall but Haru quickly retreated back and then twisted his wrist before grabbing the pommel of his sword and plunging it into Hanying''s chin.


    The impact from the pommel hitting him caused him to stumble as the skin below his chin tore open slightly revealing dark red blood that seemed almost ck in colour to pour down his neck and drip down onto the floor.


    He looked up in shock that Haru had managed to hit him back and then ran forwards again while swinging his dagger wildly, hoping to hit him anywhere and everywhere as punishment for hurting him but the wild attack seemed too predictable for Haru to think of them as a threat.


    He dodged them with ease until Hanying took a step back to calm himself down.


    He had let his anger get the better of him and it had made him lose control. He wasn''t thinking strategically and let himself get carried away.


    As Hanying took a deep breath heposed himself and smiled at Haru before walking towards him yet again and following up with the same move as he used the ice attack as a distraction before attacking with his dagger.


    Haru parried the attack as he sliced down with his sword cutting through the air in front of them both, creating a shock wave that blow against the two of them as static electricity fizzled around them.


    Hanying took a step back as he saw the power in Haru''s party. It was enough to cut through the atmosphere around them. Although Haru didn''t think anything about it, Hanying recognised that it was one of the signs that someone was about to reach enlightenment in the art of swordsmanship.


    It usually took hundreds of years to reach that point for regr cultivators but Haru was definitely less than twenty years old and as Hanying stared at Haru for a few moments he began to connect the dots together.


    "I finally understand it now," Hanying said as he turned around to his brother who was looking back in confusion as Haru became even wearier. He wasn''t about to attack just in case it was another trap so he took a few more steps back to distance himself as Hanying began tough.


    "You have an old soul, don''t you? You have a lot more talent than anyone on this and you are about to reach enlightenment at such a young age.


    There are other things that you are able to do that someone with your life experience would have no clue about such as how to create formations with dragon runes.


    It would take years to decipher the dragonnguage and not even the top schrs in the upper realm have managed to understand every rune since literature in the dragonnguage is rare even there.


    So if I''m correct then you should be the reincarnation of someone who has that knowledge. You were probably someone powerful beyond belief if you know something like that when not even the elders in the demon n know such things.


    But what would you be doing on a small like this? Wouldn''t you choose to reincarnate in the upper realm to get the best cultivation opportunities?" Hanying asked as he seemed sure that Haru was reincarnated before.


    Although Hanying was right about the reincarnation part, he couldn''t be further off the mark with Haru being the reincarnation of a strong cultivator. But he had no ns of correcting him as he knew that nothing good woulde of giving him any more information than he needed.


    "Don''t want to answer huh? Well, that doesn''t matter. I will find out when I search through your soul. I will find your deepest and darkest secrets along with that information too." Hanying bragged as a rumble shook the tunnel as it begin to give in on its self all around them.


    Stone began to fall from the ceiling as cracks formed on the walls.


    ''They must have detonated it. Were they waiting for me?.'' Haru thought as the shock from the st shot throughout the tunnel and into the final room as it filled with dust, causing Haru to go blind as the fight was interrupted with a loud bang as arge rock fell down.


    Haru took the time to put up a formation around him to keep safe from the attack just in time as the rest of the tunnel copsed around him. It seemed that Mia wasn''t joking about the strength of the explosives that they were using.


    It seemed that since they knew the leader of the demons down there they were willing to go as far as sinking an entire city to get rid of the threat.


    But Haru knew that an explosion like that wasn''t enough to finish Hanying off and as he opened his eyes again and took in the surroundings as the dust faded, revealing that he was now standing on arge pile of rocks in the open air.


    During the copse of the tunnel, it seemed as though some holes had opened up giving room for Hanying and Fen to escape without damage as Haru looked back up to see that Hanying was still waiting with his brother as if nothing had happened.

 Chapter 342: We will all die.

    Chapter 342: We will all die.


    The dust settled as Haru caught wind of the situation as the screams from countless people echoed out as a dark shadow formed overhead.


    An airship flew down through the clouds over the city of Beijing causing everyone nearby to run in fear as they saw the damage that one of the ships had caused earlier in the day and they didn''t have the ability to destroy it themselves.


    He then turned back to Hanying who was smiling as Fen brushed off debris as he remained sitting in a pile of rubble.


    It seemed that the explosion that the military had nned to drop the bunker on everyone inside had gone wrong and instead of making it copse it had caused everything to be blown up into the sky as the pressure from inside had sted its way to the surface.


    Haru looked around, impressed by the damage it had caused as he knew that even he wouldn''t have been able to survive such a powerful explosion without a barrier protecting him. And the same could have been saying for Hanying and Fen too.


    But their n had backfired. Instead of trapping Hanying underground and helping the president escape, they had caused more trouble by making it easier to get out.


    "Hahaha, I didn''t see thating. Who knew that they would send reinforcements. I bet they''reughing at our ipetence. Or maybe they see this small lower as a threat since we have already lost 4 airships here." Hanying sighed as he looked up at the ship before bing excited again as he looked back at Haru for a moment to see that he was visibly worried.


    "I can''t wait to see you humans beg for your lives when we take over your entire." Hanying continued to speak before suddenly stopping as a mechanical scratching sound came from the ship.


    ''What are they doing?'' Haru thought as he watched a gigantic hatch open up at the bottom of the ship asrge ck spheres drop from within. From what he knew there shouldn''t have been a need for something like that since all of the passengers on the ship were able to fly down when they had to. So his first thought was that they were filled with supplies and weapons as he watched the pods float slowly down to the ground but as he turned his head again to look at Hanying as a feeling of dread struck him in the chest.


    Hanying was speechlessly staring at the ship with a look of horror on his face as the ship flew higher after dropping the pods down and soon vanished above the clouds.


    "What did they do? What was that?" Haru asked he looked at Fen who also had the same reaction as Hanying did.


    "They have just killed us. We will all die. Those things are what we call world destroyers. They are powerful enough to blow a hole from the surface of a directly into the core.


    They have a 10-minute timer to give the ship enough time to get away. And our ship is currently destroyed." Hanying spoke with a blunt tone as it sounded as though he was trying his best to ept their fate without wanting to do such a thing.


    Haru was also speechless as he felt powerless in the situation. If Lao and Li Jun were still around he just knew that they would be able toe up with a n to solve the problem. But he had been alone since the first invasion in Shanghai.


    There was nothing he could do but sit back and live his final minutes alive. Hanying didn''t seem to be in the fighting mood anymore as he instinctively dropped to his knees.


    "Brother" Fen said as he turned his gaze to Hanying.


    Hanying quickly turned around to see his younger brother had tears in his eyes once again along with a serious look in his eyes as he stared at his older brother.


    "What is it?" Hanying asked impatiently as he was thinking about too many things at once as he realised that his doom was impending.


    "I think I think that I I don''t want to die." Fen stuttered which came as a shock to Haru as a few moments ago he had just seen Fen beg to be killed.


    ''Maybe he realised that life is worth living after knowing that he is going to die.'' Haru thought to himself as he felt empty and began to think about his life so far.


    ''Who would have thought that it would end here. I imagined that I would at least get to see the universe as Li Jun described it. But I''m really going to die on earth once again it seems But so is everyone here. My Mom, my Dad, my sister and all the friends that I have made along the way.


    Are they really going to die here?'' Haru questioned as he sensed the airship leaves the area and presumably fly back off into space making it clear that the count down on the world destroyers drew nearer.


    But just as he too was about to give up on living a voice called out to him.


    "Haru!" A man''s voice yelled as a fireball shot through the sky like a rocket and made its way towards Haru.


    Suddenly a sh of fire zoomed past Haru''s face and struck Hanying in the face, causing him to lose his bnce and get pushed into arge pile of dirt as he tried tofort his brother.


    Haru looked over at the fire that hadn''t dispersed yet to see the silhouette of a person within and he knew what was going on immediately.


    "Jake Just stop already. Fighting isn''t going to achieve anything. It''s just a waste of time at this point." Haru sighed before sitting down as he sensed Jake''s presence from within the cloak of fire.


    Hanying suddenly stood back up and brushed off his clothes before walking over to his brother and kneeling beside him once again while ignoring the attack that he was just subjected to.


    Jake looked around for a few moments, feeling confused as he expected a fight to break out but nothing happened. But not only did nothing happen but Haru had also told him to back down from the fight.


    "The fights over," Haru exined quickly as Jake became even more confused. From what he had been told there was a good chance that Haru was already dead so he rushed over as fast as he could but after all that had happened Haru was no longer in the mood to fight.


    "What do you mean the fight is over? I only just got here." Jakeined as he expected something more from his attempt to rescue Haru.


    "It''s all over. Everything will be gone soon. We''re all going to die. Why do you think that I didn''t kill you when you attacked me? I would feel regret if I killed someone right now and that is thest thing that I want to do." Hanying said as looked over at Jake and sighed.


    Jake turned back to Haru for confirmation that the demon was speaking the truth to which Haru nodded his head in defeat.


    "That ship that came and vanished a moment ago dropped some bombs that are capable of destroying wholes," Haru said as he stared up at the clouds while trying his best to recall all of the good things that had happened to him recently. But if he only managed to remember the things that he wanted to do before he died.


    There were so many things that he had nned for himself but suddenly it seemed like all of those things didn''t matter anymore and his life purpose was now meaningless.


    Suddenly a loud roar erupted from the distance, followed by footsteps as the sound of running soldiers could be heard getting closer to their location.


    "Make sure that you kill them all while we have the chance!" A voice called out as the footsteps sounded almost as though they were next to them as the area became overpowered with the life force of hundreds of people.


    Haru sighed once again as Jake stuck his head up from the trench they were standing in to see that most of the Japanese and Chinesebined force was now surrounding the hole with their guns raised.


    Jake waved his hands over his head as he yelled out to show that they weren''t a threat after all thest thing that he wanted was to be caught in the crossfire of arge scale attack.


    "It''s over! The fight is over! Stand down!" Jake screamed loudly as there was a moment of hesitation from the soldiers as one of the older Chinese men in the force stepped forward from the group and began to talk.


    Jake tried his best to understand what the man was saying but with his limited knowledge of thenguage, he failed to understand what he was talking about.


    "He asked for your name and what right do you have to stand in his way?" Haru said bluntly since he knew that Jake was lost in the conversation but as Haru spoke, all eyes were soon drawn to him.


    "It''s him" One of the soldiers said as they continued to stare at Haru with disbelief and admiration.

 Chapter 343: Harus plan.

    Chapter 343: Haru''s n.


    It grew silent once again as everyone looked towards Haru as they knew that he was the one that had been spotted going around the city taking care of any demons that he ran into before vanishing again without a single trace.


    The rumours had spread so far that not even a single person hadn''t heard about him from one of the soldiers that had seen him.


    Haru looked back at them before the attention was gained by the two demons who were sitting beside each other as one of the soldiers held out his rifle and shot a bullet towards Hanying out of anger.


    Haru waved his hand and the bullet dropped from the air as he stared at the soldier who had shot with a menacing re.


    "What is the meaning of this? Aren''t the both of you Human? Are you really siding with these monsters?" A man yelled in Japanese as an old man stood out from the crowd.


    Jake was surprised to see his boss staring at him but as for Haru he simply sighed upon seeing Major Samson. He wasn''t in the mood to deal with anything and especially to deal with someone who had betrayed him and tried to arrest him. Haru looked back up at the sky and zoned out as Jake began to argue with Major Samson about what was going on until Haru was called back into the conversation.


    "Haru, Please help me exin what is going on," Jake said as he turned around to look at his friend with desperation in his eyes. He didn''t know what was going on himself so there was no way that he was going to be able to exin anything to them so he wanted to rely on Haru.


    Haru turned his head towards the crowd of people waiting for an exnation and sighed before speaking.


    "Those things that they dropped from that ship before flying away They are bombs that are strong enough to destroy the whole. There is a timer on them and there is nothing that we can do to defuse them." Haru exined as everyone began to fear for their lives. But it wasn''t like it would do them any good to panic so they remained still, some with tears in their eyes and most of them with defeated looks.


    "What? You can''t be serious? Why would they want to destroy our? What did we do to them? Why are we being punished like this? There are so many innocent people that didn''t even take part in the fighting" Major Samson asked as Haru exined again what had happened but this time so the Chinese soldiers could understand.


    A few seconds went by before the Chinese soldier spoke.


    "Is there really nothing that we can do about it? Is this really the end for humanity?" The old soldier asked himself as Haru looked at him for a few moments before looking back down to the ground. He couldn''t bear to look at the people around him as he felt as though he had failed them yet again.


    He med himself for everything yet again as it was still his fault that the demons returned to earth for a second time. But just as he was beginning to feel sorry for himself Hanying said something that nted a seed of hope in Haru.


    "If only this had a transportation tunnel to the upper realms nearby. We could ascend to the upper realms with all the bombs and detonate them somewhere else." Hanying exined as Haru''s eyes widened slightly upon hearing it.


    He knew that the ck star sect had a transportation tunnel but their sect was miles away from Beijing and it would be nearly impossible to get there in time. But he also knew that when someone reached a stage above the nascent soul, a transportation tunnel would form around them and transport them to the middle realm.


    Haru became hopeful as he knew that if he decided to break through the manifestation stage he would make it to the nirvana stage at least and he would end up in a different world somewhere in the universe.


    He didn''t feel as though he was ready to leave everything behind just yet but if he could just save his friends and family from certain extermination he didn''t care about the consequences.


    Haru stood up and held out his hand to Hanying who looked back at him in confusion.


    "What are you doing?" Hanying asked as he looked up to see a determined look in Haru''s eyes. It became obvious that Haru was asking for something but Hanying didn''t know what it was exactly.


    "I want you to make me a promise. Although I don''t trust you and I know that you like to go back on your word. I want you to promise me one thing and I will make sure that you and your brother don''t die today." Haru said as the Chinese soldier looked at him for a moment before calling out to him.


    "Hey, aren''t you that man that fought alongside Major Niu in Shanghai!?" He shouted as the rest of the Chinese soldiers looked on in confusion as Haru kept his hand, held outwards towards Hanying.


    "Major Niu died back then! And you dare to make deals with the people responsible for her death!?" The Chinese soldier shouted as he raised his gun towards Haru who wasn''t paying attention to the situation as his mind was elsewhere.


    "What is it you want? As long as my brother doesn''t die today I will keep any promise you ask for." Hanying said with a devious smile as it seemed as though he was eager to go back on his word at the first chance he got.


    "I want you to leave my world and nevere back. As far as the other demons who came here are concerned, this world was destroyed by the bombs they dropped. I don''t want my family and friends to be in danger anymore." Haru said as a loud bang shot out from the Chinese soldier''s rifle as it was aimed at Haru''s head.


    Haru turned to see the Chinese soldier had fallen to his knees as a woman with long blue hair held a sword to his neck with her hand on the barrel of the gun as she had pulled it away from Haru and pushed it into the air just before he had shot.


    Haru smiled slightly, knowing that even after all this time his friends still had his back before turning back to Hanying he didn''t need any time to consider.


    "That''s all you want from me? I was hoping that you would suggest that we get revenge on whoever dropped those bombs in the first ce. But that would be too much to expect from thepassionate humans now wouldn''t it?" Hanying mocked before nodding his head in agreement.


    "That''s fine by me. From today onwards earth is dead to the demon n. It no longer exists and I will try my best to make sure that no onees here again." Hanying said with a smile as he reached out to shake Haru''s hand.


    "Then we need to hurry. We need to collect all the bombs and stack them on top of each other in this ditch." Haru exined as Hanying, Fen and Haru rushed to gather the bombs.


    They used the manpower from the remainder of the demon army to make sure that they had gathered all of them before setting them down in arge pile in the trench that had been created by the copse of the tunnel and Haru looked around at the soldiers who all looked unsure of what was about to happen.


    "That''s it. There should be around 6 minutes before they go off. What do you n to do anyway?" Hanying asked as he felt as though gathering the bombs would only help in destroying the world in one explosion instead of many.


    Haru sat down on the pile of the bombs and gave Hanying the general idea of what was going to happen when he broke through to the nirvana stage.

 Chapter 344: Goodbye.

    Chapter 344: Goodbye.


    "You''re crazy, I never thought that anyone would be willing to do something like that let alone a human from some unknown in the lower realm. A word of advice for you, when you are in the tunnel make sure you kick the bombs out so they don''t follow you to where you end up.


    Thest thing that you want to do is end up on another just to destroy it with the bombs that you tried to save your people from.


    But I have a question for you now. How do you know that I won''t go back on my word and kill all the people here as soon as you''re gone? No one would be able to stop me if you go. What is giving you so much confidence?" Hanying asked as it seemed strange that Haru had gone from wanting to kill him just a few moments ago to entrusting him with the lives of all the humans on earth.


    "I know that you are smarter than to go back on your word." Haruughed slightly as he reached into his storage ring and pulled out the ancestral chains that had been stolen from the first demon that had tried to kill Haru.


    "How did you!? You wouldn''t dare. That would be genocide!" Hanying shouted out upon seeing the ancestral chains as he knew that those specific chains just so happened to be connected to his family line.


    If Haru destroyed those ancestral chains, both Hanying and all of his family members would die. He quickly went quiet as not to antagonise Haru anymore.


    "I wouldn''t dare, you say? You do know that humans get pretty desperate when you kill the people they love right? If you want to push me to that desperation then be my guest but I promise I will wipe out as many of your people as I possibly can." Haru spoke with the same smile which added to the worry that Hanying felt.


    "Okay, I see. You had that option all along yet you didn''t destroy it because you knew that it would kill countless Innocent members of my n right? Well since you have been merciful to the people of my n I can make sure that no harmes to those here that don''t provoke me." Hanying said as he looked around at all the remaining demons that he had brought with him.


    "All of you! Follow me! We have some things to talk about." Hanying shouted to the demon nsmen before leading them away behind one of the remaining buildings where screams of pain shot out from secondster before Hanying emerged alone with his thumbs up towards Haru.


    "You''re nning something stupid again aren''t you?" Jake asked as Haru was smiling as the countdown ticked down even more.


    "When is he not nning something stupid? After all these years I still can''t believe this idiot. He got a tunnel dropped on his head just because he was too stubborn to retreat. I don''t think there is anything more idiotic than that." Miaughed as she hopped down from the ground level into the ditch where Haru and Jake were and then walked over to them.


    There was a gasp as Mia appeared before everyone as the Japanese soldiers began to whisper. Since the start of the battle, there had been rumours about her too since no one knew who she was yet whenever she appeared at a camp, even the highest-ranking officers would salute her.


    "You''ve got that right. But he''s always been like this since the first day I met him. Like when he jammed his foot in the door to help you get onto the train on the first day of school. He could have lost his leg. Or that time that he rescued us when those terrorists attacked the school. Or even that time he" Jake went on a rant as he recalled the past but Haru was quick to cut him off.


    "Okay, I get it already. I''m an idiot. What of it?" Haru asked with a tiredugh as he felt nostalgic. It had been a long time since they were all together like this. But despite that, they could still make fun of each other as good friends did.


    "I''m sorry about earlier. I didn''t mean to get mad at you for noting with me I just" Mia tried to exin herself to Haru but he didn''t let her finish.


    "No, I''m sorry. I was so full of rage that I let it get the better of me. I snapped at you for expecting you to be the same person you were when we were kids. You''ve grown and I didn''t expect that. Thank you foring to my aid too. You helped a lot." Haru thanked Mia as he couldn''t have gotten the president out of the tunnel without her but just as he was about to question her about what happened another person stepped through the crowd of soldiers.


    "There he is! That''s the man who threw me across the room! And that''s" The president''s voice called out as Haru looked up to see him standing with a few guards surrounding him with angry looks on their faces until they noticed Hanying and Fen standing beside Haru.


    "Is there some kind of issue here?" Hanying asked as he waved his hand towards the president while shing a toothy smile.


    The president retreated as quickly as he could as he thought that he would be captured again but Hanying kept to his word and didn''t attack him as Haru had requested of him.


    "Sorry about that. I should have tied him up somewhere. He kept yelling something at me after we got out of the tunnel together but I didn''t understand so I handed him over to the first soldier that I saw." Mia exined before looking back up at Haru with a sad look in her eyes.


    "What are you nning to do about those bombs? They are strong enough to destroy our right? So why did you gather them all here?" Mia asked as Jake took a few steps closer as he was concerned too.


    He didn''t want to see Haru sacrifice himself if that was possible but he knew that due to Haru''s stubbornness there would be nothing they could do to talk him out of it even if he was nning toy down his life for them.


    "It''s not really that important. I just n to take them on a trip with me. Somewhere far away from where they can''t hurt anyone." Haru exined as he thought that Mia was clueless about but he was surprised to learn that she wasn''t when she questioned him further


    "You''re ascending to another ne of existence aren''t you? They call them realms right?" Mia asked as it seemed as though she knew a little more than he expected.


    "Yeah, that''s right. I will be going to a different realm." Haru said as he had nothing else to add.


    "Well, how long will you go for? You know, the three of us should catch up sometime. Maybe we could get some drinks or something?" Mia asked as Haru remained silent.


    "You''re not nning toe back are you?" Jake asked as Haru looked down at the ground.


    "There is a lot I need to take care of before Ie back. I need to make sure that this doesn''t happen again and to do that I need to get as strong as I possibly can. I''m not entirely sure when I will return. But I wille back eventually." Haru said as he tried to exin himself but both of them knew that for a cultivator time worked differently.


    They would age slower and might even achieve immortality. But for a regr human, they would age and eventually die. Jake looked at the ground, saddened by the news that he might never see his best friend again.


    "Hey, you''re cutting it close. You have less than 30 seconds. You might want to start your breakthrough already." Hanying exined as he notified Haru that there wasn''t much time left.


    "Well, you heard the man. You two might want to take a few steps back or you will be dragged with me." Haru said as he closed his eyes and began to cultivate but as he did he felt something wet and soft brush his cheek.


    "I was too scared to do that when we partedst time. But I wish you luck out there. And I hope you make a safe return whenever you feel ready toe home." Mia said as she retreated after kissing Haru''s cheek.


    Haru felt a little surprised by what had just happened but his heart already belonged to Suyin.


    "I''ll let your parents know you''re okay and make sure that they are well looked after while you''re gone. Just leave it to me!" Jake called out as a faint blue glow emerged from Haru''s body.


    Haru nodded his head slightly as he focused more on the feeling of breaking through the bottleneck as Hanying and Fen also took a few steps back as they watched Haru''s qi turn from a shade of blue into gold as he began to feel the true Qi flowing through the universe.


    Suddenly a beam of light shot down from the sky and illuminated the city like a golden collum had descended from the heavens around Haru as the transportation tunnel opened up around him.


    Haru opened his eyes when he felt a pop in his body as something warm was released from within his chest as he watched all the Qi he had gathered for thest few years of his life disperse away from his body.


    "Goodbye," Haru whispered as he felt his body being pulled up into the sky.


    The light became more intense around him before turning white as it began to fade away. As Hanying and Fen watched on as the tunnel began to close around Haru a dark shadow appeared for a moment before vanishing alongside Haru.


    "Did you just see that? It looked like a person." Fen said as Hanying looked at the ground as the tunnelpletely closed.


    All of the bombs had vanished alongside Haru.


    They had done it. The crisis was averted but without a ship, they were both unsure of how they were going to leave.


    They could release their real power and be transported somewhere but it wasn''t the same as when someone broke through for the first time and they could be separated if the realm rejected them. So instead of leaving right away, Hanying decided to stay on earth along with his brother as they still had yet to figure out how to leave together.

 Chapter 345: What… Is this?

    Chapter 345: What¡­ Is this?


    Everything turned white as space and time-warped around Haru while he watched stars fly past him at supersonic speed as though he was in a rocket ship flying far away when he heard a sounde from one of the bombs.


    Haru panicked and kicked each one of them out of the tunnel before they could explode and then copsed to the ground in relief.


    "I can''t go back now can I? Did I really do the right thing?" Haru asked himself as he had left earth without so much as saying goodbye to his parents.


    Although he hadn''t talked to them in a while because he was mad at them for assuming that he was in the wrong when an incident rued he still knew they would be devastated to find out that he wasn''t even on the same as them anymore.


    He thought about everything for a few moments before looking down at the ground beneath him which was non-existent. It was as though he was floating within an invisible tunnel as he watched the stars beneath him.


    He had never experienced something like this before and he wasn''t sure what to expect as time flew by as he remained within the tunnel with a weight off his chest now that he knew that earth wouldn''t be destroyed. But he still wasn''t sure about Hanying. It would be very easy for him to take over now that Haru was gone.


    But Haru doubted that Hanying would go as far as to kill his own people to only go back on his word and follow through with his original n. It seemed like too much work so he foundfort in that thought as a voice called out from behind him.


    "Um, What is this ce? Where are we going?" Haru asked as he saw a woman standing in the tunnel with him.


    He wasn''t sure who it was at first as the space around them bent and warped but as she took a few steps forward, her face came into focus revealing that it was Hong Xia.


    Haru was both shocked and surprised by what he was seeing. He had assumed that she had been wiped out in the explosion that took down shanghai too and had vanished alongside the others as he hadn''t heard anything from her since that day.


    But as she walked closer something became clear to Haru.


    When Haru was hospitalised the authorities said that he was in a car ident and that was what was reported to the Japanese government when they sent him back home. For government workers to lie about something, it would take a huge bribe or threat of power used against them.


    And since Hong Xia was from one of the great families in Beijing it seemed only natural that someone of her power could manipte a few people to lie.


    Haru stared up at her before bing a bit disappointed that she kept it a secret that she didn''t get vanish on that day.


    "What''s that look for?" Hong Xia asked as Haru stared at her for a few more seconds before responding.


    "Oh, I don''t know? Maybe you could have told me you were alive. How am I supposed to repay you for saving my life?" Haru asked as he was a little angry that she didn''t reach out to him at all.


    "You''re mad about that? But we don''t really know each other well, do we? And those demons know my face. Why would I risk going outside and being attacked again? After that whole thing went down I have been in hiding.


    I came only came out because I heard that there was a cultivator killing countless amounts of demons before vanishing again. I figured that it would be you. But I didn''t expect something like this to happen.


    This is one of those transportation tunnels, isn''t it? My teacher used to talk about this all the time. When someone breaks through they will open a tunnel with them that will transport them to a safe zone in the upper realms where we can continue our training.


    I always wondered if it was true and never imagined seeing it with my own eyes. It''s spectacr." Hong Xia eximed with glee as she also watched the stars zoom past them as they were guided towards their destination wherever that was.


    Haru remained silent as he was a little bit concerned about what he felt before he left earth. Ever since he had entered the tunnel he had lost all sense of his cultivation.


    He couldn''t even tell that someone was behind him the whole time and that worried him. Thest thing he felt was a popping sensation where his dantian should have been. But as much as he tried he couldn''t feel his dantian anymore. It was as though it vanishedpletely.


    "Hey, why are you being so quiet? Aren''t you going to ask how I got out of there? I thought that you would be interested to know what happened after you passed out?" Hong Xia asked as she thought that Haru would be more concerned than he was but his mind was elsewhere.


    ''Kun? Are you there?'' Haru asked as he tried to use his spiritual sense to reach his soul ocean but it wasn''t working for some reason that he couldn''t exin. It really was like all the Qi in his body had vanished.


    But as turned back to Hong Xia he saw that she was now sitting down beside him with her eyes closed as she started to cultivate.


    ''That''s a good idea. Maybe if I cultivate a little I will get my strength back?'' Haru thought before closing his eyes and imagining his Qi floating around his body.


    But even that didn''t work. He tried to imagine Qi how he had done in the past but it felt as though all his memory of cultivation had vanished and he was a stranger to cultivation once again.


    He held his eyes closed for all but 30 seconds before giving up after nothing happened. But to Haru at that moment, those 30 seconds felt like hours as he tried to steady his breathing but he couldn''t keep up.


    Haru remained seated in the tunnel as it continued on its path.


    It felt like days as Hong Xia cultivated beside Haru in the tunnel. asionally Haru felt as though he had to stretch his legs so he would stand and walk around a little bit. It was something that he hadn''t done in a long time since his body didn''t feel fatigued. But now that he couldn''t feel his Qi anymore it felt as though he had be a regr human once again.


    But just as he was thinking about all the possibilities the tunnel came to a sudden stop as it faced a huge with arge piece ofnd surrounded by a blue ocean. It looked like earth with the environments below but on a muchrger scale as Haru looked down at thendmasses to see that some of the inds away from the main one that he saw were big enough to cover a continent back on earth.


    The scale of the was unlike anything he had seen before. But just as he was about to wake Hong Xia up to let her know that they had arrived another sh of light enveloped them as it forced them both down towards the in a bolt of lightning as it struck the floor in a Forrest surrounded by trees the size of skyscrapers.


    Haru found himselfying face down on the floor as a crushing force pressed down upon him. It was suffocating and felt as though he was going to be pushed under the soil beneath him. But surprisingly the ground was more resistant than he thought and he stayed in ce unable to move from the change in gravity on this.


    That was when he looked over at Hong Xia who had now awakened as they plummeted to the ground. She too found herself useless to fight the gravity. It was too much for even her to stand. It was at that point that Haru noticed something besides his face.


    A small de of grass was blowing in the breeze but unlike the rest of the grass surrounding it. This one had a golden hue to it as a drop of water remained at the very tip, seemingly floating above the grass.


    Haru recognised it instantly. It was the dew of a spiritual nt but he wasn''t sure which nt it was exactly. All spiritual nts would produce a single drop of dew in the morning if it had rained that day but despite that fact, it was hard toe by one that still had its dew since it would often leak to the ground with even the lightest of interruptions yet this one was blowing in the breeze as though it was nothing.


    Haru opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue as far as he could. He still couldn''t feel any Qi within his body. So when he saw the spiritual nt his first thought was to consume it to see if it could jumpstart his Qi once again.


    Haru reached out as far as he could with his tongue but it was still a little too face. But suddenly the dew shot directly into his mouth as somethingrge mmed down on the floor, sending a shock wave through the Forest.


    Suddenly a feeling of power unlike anything he had ever felt ran through Haru''s body as a burning sensation ran through each one of his veins. He suddenly shot up to his feet, ignoring the gravity as he paced back and forth. It felt like he was going to rip in two from the inside as the burning sensation grew more and more until he could no longer take it anymore.


    Haru dropped to his knees and punched the ground as he tried to subdue the pain. But as his fist connected with the soil another shockwave shook the forest, this time blowing down all the trees within a 100-metre radius as Haru released a power, unlike anything he had seen before.


    As he looked down, he noticed a crater below him and something strange.


    His hand was glowing with a golden hue. It looked as though the sun was illuminating his hand but as he lifted it he saw a small golden wisp escape from the soil and float back into his fist.


    Haru stared in confusion as he couldn''t even begin to understand what was happening to him.


    "What Is this?" Haru asked as he heard something in the distance.

 Chapter 346: Help!

    Chapter 346: Help!


    "Help!" A woman''s voice screamed from the tree line in the Gaohennguage as Haru no longer felt any pain in his body. He looked around for a few moments with sweat dripping from his head as he turned back to Hong Xia who was stillying on the ground with a worried look on her face.


    "Help! Somebody, please help!" The voice screamed out again as Haru locked eyes with Hong Xia before she nodded silently although she didn''t understand what was said it was clear to her that whoever it was was in danger.


    Haru put his hand out towards her and held up his index finger, signalling that he would only be gone for a minute as he ventured deeper into the forest to look for the source of the voice.


    The trees grew thicker and until Haru had to squeeze between the trees to follow the source. But it soon opened up again as he walked towards a clearing where themotion seemed to being from.


    Haru watched on for a moment as a womany on the floor with a look of fear in her eyes as she clutched a young girl in her arms while a group of five men were standing around her with menacing smiles.


    "Just had her over already. Our young master won''t be merciful if you decide to go against him any more than you already have." One of the men said while unsheathing a sword that he had by his waist and pointing it towards her.


    Haru took another step forwards as he wanted to get a closer look but as he did so he wasn''t mindful of his surroundings and stepped on a thin branch that cracked beneath him.


    The men all turned to see Haru standing at the entrance to the clearing and formed defensive stances as they all hurried to draw their weapons.


    "Who are you!? We''re here on the orders of Lord Min, If you know what is good for you then carry on your way or face the consequences!" One of the men shouted with a bit of a stutter as they all looked at Haru with worry in their eyes.


    It seemed as though he had caught them doing something that they shouldn''t as they were clearly afraid of something. But Haru couldn''t tell what it was.


    "What exactly are these consequences that you speak of?" Haru asked as the three men froze up. Although Haru had learnt how to speak Gaohen with Lao''s tutge and his pronunciation was near perfect. Lao was a proud dragon and the tone that he had taught Haru had the same tone that was used for making people willingly submit before one of the kings of the universe.


    Upon hearing the tone in Haru''s voice the men became tense as they were unsure of what would happen to them.


    "Sir, please save me. They are trying to kidnap my martial sister! They want to force her to marry their Lord!" The woman who wasying on the floor shouted out as Haru looked at the two of them before they too froze in ce out of fear and uncertainty.


    "I don''t know where you people learnt your manners. But five men ganging up on two girls isn''t nice is it?" Haru asked in the same tone which only added to the tension as they thought that he was going to punish them for their behaviour.


    ''I thought they would attack me by now. But I guess they are just cowards that pick on girls'' Haru thought as he saw nothing wrong. He didn''t realise that the way he spoke struck fear into the people who heard him because he had never tested it out before.


    But what he did know is that all five of the men didn''t have the guts to attack him as they all remained silent before casting their gazes down to the floor as they didn''t dare to look him in the eyes.


    It was at that moment that Haru felt a chill run down his spine as he looked up and caught sight of the young girl the woman was holding was staring directly into his eyes.


    The girl had pale white skin much like his own and her hair was void of any colour. It looked as though it had all been entirely frozen, she had a small blue tattoo of a snowke on her forehead that seemed to be emitting a golden glow, simr to the one that was surrounding Haru''s body.


    "Sir, I don''t mean to offend you but" One of the men began to speak as Haru nced back over to him, causing him to stutter and stop mid-sentence before carrying on again as he gained the confidence to speak once again.


    "Our Lord is in charge of everything in this region although you might be a Profound Life stage expert there are many stronger people our lord could dispatch to kill you. If you get in the way we will have no choice but to report you to our Lord. Then who knows what will happen?" The man bragged but as he spoke Haru was surprised to learn of his cultivation stage.


    "The Profound Life stage? What? That can''t be, right? I have skipped 2 stages with a single breakthrough. I knew that the more Qi I gathered while my soul ocean was flooded the stronger I would be. But I didn''t think that it would be to this extent.


    Usually, people who reach the upper realms would be at the Nirvana stage but I actually managed to get one step ahead of that.'' Haru thought as it seemed too much. He never expected something like that to happen but that was to be expected with the amount of time he decided to stay at the manifestation stage while collecting Qi.


    ''Wait. Then why do I not feel any Qi within my body at all?'' Haru thought as it didn''t make sense to him. He thought that he had lost his ability for a moment but it just seemed as though he left his previous strength behind on earth.


    From the damage, he had done when punching the ground while trying to deal with the pain he felt he could tell that his physical strength was at least ten times stronger than what it was back on earth. He just didn''t know how he would go about using techniques now that he could no longer sense any Qi.


    As Haru was thinking to himself he got lost in thought and ended up furrowing his eyebrows as he looked in the direction of the man that had just threatened him. TO the five men, it looked as though Haru was angry and considering killing them.


    They knew that if someone of Haru''s cultivation stage wanted to kill them they wouldn''t stand a chance against him. So upon seeing the look on his face they simultaneously split up and ran away in different directions hoping that if he chased them then he wouldn''t be able to get them all without warning, leaving Haru feeling confused as he didn''t know what had just happened.


    He was still processing the fact that he had jumped two whole stages at once. There was no thought about fighting in his mind yet from his facial expressions alone they had misinterpreted the situation and ran away out of fear.


    He felt a type of power that he had never experienced before. It was both thrilling and refreshing.


    Back on earth, the majority of people didn''t know anything about cultivation so they wouldn''t know to mess with someone stronger than them and keep pushing their luck by provoking Haru over and over again.


    He had been frustrated by the fact that people weaker than him would try to fight him, thinking that there was something they could do to fight him. Yet now seeing people run in fear from seeing his cultivation stage he felt powerful.


    Haru smiled to himself, feeling proud of himself before the woman and girl got up off the floor and brushed off their clothes.


    "Thank you, sir, I don''t even want to imagine what would have happened if you didn''t show up." The woman said as she helped the younger girl wipe the mud off her white dress.


    Now that she wasn''t surrounded by a bunch of angry-looking men Haru could now see her. He looked up to meet her eyes and noticed that she reminded him of someone yet he couldn''t ce just who it was. She had shoulder-length brown hair and amber coloured eyes with a slight hint of green to them.


    Haru looked at both the girls before realising something as he looked at their matching outfits.


    They were wearing sect clothes and the woman appeared to be older than him. She had slight signs of ageing on her skin which was strange as Haru assumed that most cultivators aged slower than regr people. So if her skin showed age it would mean that she is much older than he initially thought she was.


    Haru looked at them both for what seemed like a few minutes before realising that he probably looked creepy to them before speaking.


    "Can you tell me where the nearest town is? " Haru asked as both of them flinched upon hearing his question.

 Chapter 347: The Kastron Star alliance.

    Chapter 347: The Kastron Star alliance.


    Haru''s tone was something that they weren''t used to and it scared them, it took a moment for them to build the courage to speak.


    "Y-yeah. If you just follow this path there is a town at the end of the road. But if you keep walking for half a day you will arrive at Aslon City. It''s one of the major cities in the Kastron Star alliance." The older of the two replied as she clutched the younger girl close to her to keep her safe.


    "Thank you. Do you know if there are ces to stay? My friend is injured and needs somewhere to rest for a while." Haru exined as he wasn''t sure why Hong Xia couldn''t move and he needed time to figure it out.


    "You''re friend? I didn''t see anyone with you? Where are they?" The woman asked with a confused expression.


    Haru paused for a moment as he realised that anything could have happened to her as he had just left her on the ground unable to move.


    He suddenly took off running but as he began to move he noticed something strange. Everything around him began to lose colour as he felt a strange pressure in his head. He found it strange but it wasn''t enough to worry him as he ran back to see that Hong Xia was still on the ground.


    But as he began to approach her he realised that she was no longer breathing. Haru panicked as he stared at herying on the ground.


    Suddenly the colour of the environment began to return to its usual vibrant colour as Hong Xia''s breath returned as a gust of wind shot out in all directions from where Haru was standing, alerting Hong Xia that he had returned.


    "How did you get here? I didn''t sense you at all!" Hong Xia eximed as she didn''t understand what had just happened.


    As she looked at Haru she couldn''t sense any Qi at all but for some reason, his whole body continued to glow a slight golden colour as what looked like a faint aura surrounded him from head to toe.


    "I ran here. But I''m unsure of what''s happening. When I saw you I thought you were dead. You weren''t breathing Is it possible that the time had stopped around me? Or did I run here so fast that it just seemed like time had stopped?" Haru thought to himself as he was still unsure of what was happening.


    Although he couldn''t sense any Qi he was certain that his cultivation hadn''t disappearedpletely since his strength and speed had seemed to increase by dozens of times sinceing to this world.


    And by the fact, one of the men had made ament on his cultivation stage there had to be something that he was missing.


    But he wasn''t sure if the he ended up on was used to seeing people from the lower realms. If he openly admitted that he wasn''t from their world he wondered if they would see him as an alien and try to capture him to perform experiments like they would do back on earth.


    "Is that even possible? No one can stop time can they?" Hong Xia asked with a look of concern painted on her face as she awaited Haru''s response.


    "I''m not sure. I''ve never been to another world like this before. But I guess we will just have to find out." Haru said as he bent down to pick Hong Xia up into his arms.


    "What are you doing!? Put me down at once! Don''t touch me, you weirdo!" Hong Xia shouted as Haru held his arms beneath her legs and back.


    "Do you want me to leave you in the forest then while I set out looking for a town to spend the night in?" Haru asked as she stoppedining and epted her fate, knowing that she wasn''t capable of moving on her own.


    "Fine, but if you touch me anywhere else I will kill you as soon as I''m able to move again!" Hong Xia threatened as Haru began to walk back toward the clearing in the trees which was a little harder as he tried to make sure that he didn''t bump into any trees with Hong Xia in his arms which proved much more difficult than he originally thought it would be as the trees were densely packed together.


    Once he made it through to the clearing though he saw the woman and the girl looking around in the trees nearby as it seemed as though they were trying to locate something.


    Haru watched for a moment before speaking up.


    "Did you lose something?" Haru asked as the woman flinched slightly upon hearing his voice.


    "Oh, you came back. I just lost a ne that''s all. It''s in the shape of a cross and has a red gem in the middle of it. It''s a family heirloom so it would be a shame if I lost it forever." The woman said as she turned around to see Haru was now standing with a woman in his arms and began to stutter as she wasn''t sure what was going on.


    "Oh, is this the friend you were speaking of? She''s very beautiful. You two make a good couple." The woman said with a smile as she seemed to misunderstand their rtionship by how Haru was holding her.


    Hong Xia looked confused as she didn''t understand what the woman had just said.


    "Oh, it''s not like that. We''re-" Haru began to speak but was cut off as the woman became excited.


    "You don''t have to exin. I was quite the catch when I was younger too. My husband I would often go into the forest to-" The woman began to talk with a blush on her face before she too was silenced by the younger girl she was with.


    "Found it!" The girl yelled as she reached forward and pulled out a ne like the woman had previously described and then held it up in the air for everyone to see.


    "Great work! We can finally head back home now." The woman said with a smile as she seemed to forget about what she was previously saying now that they had gotten their ne back and Haru watched on in confusion as Hong Xia whispered to him.


    "Hey, whatnguage is that you''re speaking? I have never heard anything like that in my life. Are you actually some kind of alien, like these people?" She asked with a suspicious look on her face.


    "Don''t worry so much. It''s one of the universalnguages they speak in the upper realms. I will give you a book to study once we find somewhere to stay. But technically we are the aliens here. So try not to speak unless we''re alone. You never know what they might do to us when they learn that we''re not from this world." Haru exined quietly as the older woman put the ne around the girl''s neck and walked back over to Haru.


    "Excuse me sir, but do you mind if I ask why you still have your aura emitting? If you head into the vige like that they might get the wrong idea and think you are out to kill someone." The woman exined as Haru looked down at his chest to see that the golden glow was stilling from his body and assumed that was what she was talking about.


    "Oh, sorry. I just broke through to the Profound Life stage. I''m not sure how to stop it." Haru exined and hoped that it wasn''t too hard for her to understand.


    But upon hearing what he said she smiled slightly.


    "That''s understandable. My father was the same when he broke through a few months ago. But it''s the same as cultivating really. Imagine the true Qi surrounding your body is the same as regr Qi and try to absorb it." The woman exined while Hong Xia looked at the two of them with distrust as she wasn''t sure what they were talking about.


    ''True Qi? So this is what true Qi is?'' Haru thought as he remembered that the reason for cultivators being rejected by the universe once they reached the nascent soul stage was because all the Qi in their body would slowly transform into True Qi which was a more potent type of Qi that was only found in the middle and upper realms.


    It helped the people of the upper realms grow stronger with its added potency and that was why Li Jun had warned him to gather sufficient strength before heading there. If he fought with someone at the same stage as him from the upper realms as a regr cultivator he would lose before the fight even started from ack of strength since they didn''t cultivate the same power.


    So that is why he continued to cultivate without breaking through during the manifestation stage when his soul ocean identally flooded, causing him to gather as much Qi as possible without being forced into the next stage.


    Haru quickly worked on gathering the true Qi as he visualised it returning into his body and forming a golden core within his body where his dantian was.


    Haru''s body felt hot as the True Qi began to circte through his meridians and veins for the first time and he quickly realised the difference between being a cultivator from the lower realms and one from the upper realms.


    "Yeah just like that! It usually takes people a couple of hours to get the hang of it. But it''s not that hard if you have a good understanding of Qi.


    Would you like us to guide you back to the town? We have to head back home anyway so you coulde along and stay in the town for a few days?


    We''re having a banquet tomorrow. It would be great if you coulde along so I can repay you for the trouble we caused you.


    Those men are most likely going to regroup ande back in bigger numbers after they exin what happened. But I promise you that as long as you are within the walls of the town that no harm wille to you." The woman exined as it seemed as though Haru had poked a dragon by standing up to those men.


    But little did they know that up until recently Haru had a dragon residing within his soul. If they wanted toe looking for trouble he would show them the meaning of pain as he didn''t feel any kind of attachment to the people of this world.


    To him they were alien and he wasn''t sure what their morals were as a civilisation. If they turned out to be bad he wouldn''t have a problem killing them without mercy as he was done with sitting idly by and waiting to be attacked first. That was why Suyin died and he wasn''t about to experience that again.

 Chapter 348: Lady Annabeth.

    Chapter 348: Lady Annabeth.


    As they reached the gates of the city they came to a halt as a man wearing metal te armour peered down from the top of a wall.


    "Stop right there! State your intentions!" The man shouted out as he pulled up a spear from beside him and pointed it over the edge of the wall towards Haru and Hong Xia who he was holding in his arms.


    "Enough. He''s with me!" The woman Haru had saved from the forest shouted out to the man which seemed to make him ease up a little as she looked back at Haru and bowed her head.


    "I''m sorry about that sir. He is one of the guards my family employs. Please don''t take any offence. It''s his job to question people he doesn''t know." The woman exined and the younger of the two followed her lead and also bowed as an apology.


    "It''s okay I understand. You don''t need to worry so much he is just doing his job." Haru said with a smile but the tone of his voice still sounded arrogant and proud which made them feel uneasy.


    The younger of the two looked back up at the older woman for approval but it didn''te as the gates to the city were opened and they stepped inside.


    "We have a few inns that you should be able to find a ce to stay within our town I can also send my personal physician to tend to your "friend" to make sure that she gets back on her feet in no time." The woman said with a smile as she was still under the assumption that she was Haru''s lover.


    "Oh, there will be no need to go through so much trouble. It''s only a light injury. I''m capable of nursing her back to health myself." Haru said with a friendly smile as the woman saw a hidden meaning in his words and blushed slightly before looking down at the ground.


    "If that''s what you wish to do then it''s none of my business." She said before Haru be concerned about one thing.


    "By the way, how does the economy work in this town? Do you trade things with each other or is there a set currency that everyone uses?'' Haru asked as he was unsure about how he was going to pay for his stay in the inn when they arrived.


    He had no knowledge of the world that he was in other than he was somewhere in the middle realm and the seemed to be inhabited by humans. Although he wasn''t sure about anything in the world it was like Li Jun had described to him.


    Thes in the upper realms were are derived from a feudal society and their technology wasn''t that advanced in the ces where it should have been like health care and housing since everyone was a cultivator and it was near impossible for them to get sick and there was no need in creating buildingplexes since it would cause more trouble than it was worth to keep so many cultivators close together.


    It was something that he couldn''t get over but when he thought back to how earth used to be before industrialisation it made more sense to him since it was nearly exactly the same. The main difference was that space travel was easy because many people were strong enough to survive the vacuum of space without anything protecting them.


    "We use Kastron''s currency system since they are the ones that own the whole star system. So we have coins like this." The woman said and then pulled out a gold coin engraved with the picture of a whale on it.


    Haru inspected it for a few moments from afar before realising that it was made out of a material that he had never seen before. He couldn''t quite describe what the difference was between normal gold and the coin that he was seeing now although it looked to be a lot denser than gold found on earth.


    ''This picture on the coin is what shows that it belongs to the Kastron star alliance. And they happen to be one of the biggest traders in the great star ocean.'' The woman exined before putting the coin away again as Haru noticed the town people in the surrounding area would nod their heads every so often as a sign of respect to the woman he was walking beside.


    Haru looked around the town to see that it was all centred around arge building that looked to be the main attraction of the town since it was more than eight floors tall and stood above everything else around it.


    Haru looked up at it for a few moments as they continued to walk through the city.


    "That''s our auction house. It''s the second biggest one in the whole world. Second only to the Kastron harbour auction house." The woman said with a smile as she stopped for a moment and looked at Haru with a suspicious gaze.


    "Excuse me sir, but what am I supposed to call you? I will need to repay you somehow but first I have to make a report to my father about what happened." The woman asked for Haru''s name as she exined that she would eventually pay him back for helping her.


    But Haru felt undeserving of anything since he didn''t do much to help her apart from speaking with her attackers who then ran away. He then thought about it for a moment but since he didn''t have any money to pay for the inn it would be a great help if he could get a mary reward.


    "Luo Yang," Haru said in reply to her question as he was done hiding from the demons. Since all the people Haru wanted to keep safe were still on earth he wouldn''t feel guilty if a few people died while he fought against the demons.


    "Well, it''s nice to meet you, Luo Yang. My name is Annabeth" She said with a smile before presenting her hand to the young girl beside her.


    "And this is my martial sister, Li Xiu," Annabeth said with a smile as she introduced the girl to Haru and then went on to exin a few things about the town they were in.


    "This is my family home. We have lived here as the owners of this town for the past nine hundred years and ruled its people fairly and justly. But as you could probably tell there are other people that want to take our territory and they don''t care about the consequences of their actions.


    They wanted to take Li Xiu away from the town so our master would leave to look for her and they hoped that they would be able to attack the town while he is gone and take over." Annabeth exined as it turned out that the men from before had other reasons for trying to force a young girl to marry their lord.


    "Then what about the man they said who wanted to marry her? What''s his deal?" Haru asked as he was unsure if there was anything else about the situation that he needed to know.


    "Their Lord? He is a sick pervert as well as a conceited asshole. When I was younger he tried to have me kidnapped too.


    He a ce that he calls a workshop where he keeps young girls and forces them to be naked while he watches them with his rich friends.


    He is under protection from one of the leaders of the Kastron star alliance though so no one has been brave enough to take him down yet.


    Even my master would have difficulty getting away with killing someone the alliance are protecting." Annabeth exined as Haru nodded his head.


    ''There are evil people everywhere Well, they can rest assured that if I ever meat this man he will have a fate worse than death. And the same will happen to those that look for revenge.'' Haru thought to himself as they finally approached one of the inns that Annabeth had told him about and they walked inside to see many people have gathered around at tables, drinking alcohol and eating food.


    As the door closed behind them all eyes seemed to flicker up towards Annabeth before going to Haru who was holding a girl in his arms.


    A few jealous stares came from the drunk men as a woman walked out from behind the bar and greeted them.


    "Hello, what can I help you with today?" The woman asked as Annabeth spoke up for all of them.


    "I need a room for my friends here and one that is far away from other people if possible. The woman needs a ce to recover from her injury." Annabeth exined as the bartender nodded her head and then bowed.


    "Yes,dy Annabeth. I will do it right away. Please follow me this way." The bartender said as Annabeth turned back around to the door.


    "I will be back after I make a report to my father. I hope you manage to get settled down until then." Annabeth said with a smile as Haru carried Hong Xia up the stairs as he followed the bartender to a room that was at the very end of arge corridor and ced her down on the bed within the room before turning to face the bartender.


    "Annabeth said she would pay for the room when she returns. Is it okay if we settle the payment then?" Haru asked as the woman seemed to be waiting for something but she shook her head profusely in response.


    "Oh, no there''s no need for that sir, I was just wondering if I could get you any food or drinks while you''re up here. I rmend our spirit herb soup for people with injuries since it has healing properties within." The bartender said as Haru thought about it for a moment.


    ''I don''t have any money to pay for things like that. I could just say that Annabeth will pay for it again though'' Haru thought as he was willing to take full advantage of the fact that she said she would pay him back.


    "It''s on the house. Don''t worry." The bartender said with a smile as she seemed to have read Haru''s mind.


    "Then we''ll take it," Haru said as the woman bowed her head and backed away slowly.


    Although Haru was speaking casually, his voice still demanded respect from those who heard it and the bartender was no exception as she paid her respect and then went to get the soup for Hong Xia.

 Chapter 349: Spirit wine.

    Chapter 349: Spirit wine.


    The room fell silent as they were left alone without the listening ears of any of the natives from that world. Haru sat down at the edge of the bed and rested his head in his hands before letting out a huge sigh.


    "I''m unsure of myself. I decided to sacrifice my life on earth so that I could everyone else on earth live in peace. But I feel a little dissatisfied." Haruined aloud as Hong Xia chimed in with her thoughts.


    "What is there to be dissatisfied with? Isn''t this the dream of all cultivators? To reach a stage above the worldly limit and ascend to be stronger? I don''t see why you wouldn''t want that. But just look at me. I ascended with you because I wanted to look for my teacher. But I can''t so much as move my body. This is just pitiful" Hong Xia also sighed as she was the one feeling the worst.


    "You think that your teacher ascended?" Haru asked with a confused look as he turned around to face her.


    "Mhm, I don''t know where else they could have gone. I sent some of my sects people all around Earth to gather information to try to find a single trace of her but there was nothing so my only other guess is that in that explosion of light they were all taken from Earth and ended up somewhere else.


    Although I''m not sure what the chances of theming to this is." Hong Xia exined as she recalled her thoughts with Haru.


    "I guess that makes sense. It''s quite possible that they could be somewhere in the middle or even the upper realms. I guess seeing me ascend was a good opportunity for you to tag along wasn''t it?" Haru smiled as he tried to contain hisughter.


    He had never seen anyone do something so foolish as to follow a person into a transportation tunnel. From what he knew about space and time it was verymon for people to go missing inside transportation tunnels from even the slightest mistake informing them.


    But as he thought about it he gathered that there was probably no need to worry about such a thing since the tunnel was formed by the universe and there was no possibility for mistakes in the way it was formed. Haru then looked back at her as he had a feeling he knew what was happening to her body.


    "If my theory is correct then your body should be trying to get rid of all the qi in your body so it can rece it with true qi since that is the power of the upper realms.


    It might take a few days for it to happen but if I can find a herb like the one I absorbed earlier I think it should speed up the process by a lot." Haru said as he thought about how his power was almost immediately reced thanks to his Qi being ejected from his body before he ascended.


    "Okay well, that''s the only good news I have had today thanks for letting me know. But you did say that you had a book that you would give to me so I can learn thenguage that they speak in this world right?" Hong Xia asked as Haru remembered that he did tell her that and then held out his hand in her direction as he directed a small amount of the true qi from his dantian and towards the ring on his hand as a sh of golden light presented an old leather-bound book.


    Now that he knew what he was dealing with and realised that his True qi could be moved like an extension of his own body he figured that it would be a lot more useful than regr qi. But as he held out the book he chuckled to himself as he remembered that Hong Xia was unable to move so she couldn''t take it from him.


    He then took off his shoes and shuffled up the bed a little before sitting beside her with his back against the headboard as he opened the first page of the book and held it in front of her.


    "It might hurt your head if you look at the pages for too long since it''s enchanted so that you are able to understand easily," Haru exined as the page began to glow a light shade of gold.


    A couple of minutes went by before the bartender brought two servings of soup which one of them was quickly devoured by Haru as he had to spoon-feed Hong Xia so that she could eat before they returned back to thenguage ss were a couple of hours passed before she could no longer take the throbbing in her head.


    It became a little too much for her to bear as the knowledge burned its way directly into her brain but the good thing was that it was easier to understand than she thought it was going to be and after a couple of hours she had already mastered basic conversation skills up to the level of a five-year-old.


    Haru was impressed as he also thought that it would take a lot more effort than it did but he figured that the enchantment was the major factor in her being able to learn so quickly.


    Up until now, Haru had everything that he needed to be stronger handed to him by his teachers. It was refreshing to be left alone in a world where he didn''t know anything and sharing his knowledge and thoughts with someone that knew less than him felt nice.


    It made him imagine what Li Jun was thinking when he first chose Haru to be his disciple.


    Haru smiled lightly as he heard snoring beside him as Hong Xia drifted off to sleep as a way to ease her headache and he carefully took his time to stand up so as not to wake her before making his way out of the room and closing the door behind her.


    ''She should be fine in there alone right?'' He thought for a moment but wasn''t too sure of himself as he took his index finger and drew the shape of a rune on the door, using his true qi to form a barrier that would not only stop someone from entering without permission but would also warn Haru of what was happening no matter where he was as a precaution before he made his way downstairs with the bowels that they had eaten from.


    As he entered the main entrance to the inn he took the time to look around and pay attention to what was going on. It looked to be a tavern and the people sitting down were all drinking together.


    Haru saw people sitting together dining together and drinking all types of alcohol but no matter how much he tried to rte to the people he was watching, for some reason he couldn''t rte to them at all. It might have been due to the fact that he wasn''t from their world.


    But as he watched the people living their lives it was as though he was watching it all through a tv screen as they didn''t feel like real people to him.


    It was probably the same for the demons that invaded earth. They didn''t see any value in the life of the people that they killed simply because it didn''t feel as though they were living beings as they were aliens to them.


    It would exin why there were so many wars and different factions in the upper realms instead of being joined together.


    The different species and people from different worlds would have a hard time seeing people living on differents as people worth protecting.


    But despite that feeling, Haru got he decided that it would be worth trying to get along with them. If not just to help himself rx at the very least.


    But since he arrived on the new he felt like he didn''t belong there and as though they would soon find out that he wasn''t one of them and lock him up somewhere.


    So after taking the empty bowls back to the kitchen he walked over to one of the tables with a group of drunks sitting around it and sat down in an empty seat beside them.


    As soon as Haru sat down, the three other men on the table red at him with fury in their eyes as they didn''t know who he was yet he had decided to interrupt their drinking.


    "Do you mind if I join you for a few drinks?" Haru asked as one of the men began to smile with malice as he eyed Haru up and down for a few moments.


    "If you think you can hold your liquor better than me than us then you''re free to join in. But the first one to quit has to pay for everything we drink by the time the sun has risen." The man said as the other two began to smile as they saw that Haru was much smaller than they were.


    They immediately thought that Haru would be a cash cow for them to squeeze some free drinks out of but upon hearing their invitation Haru smiled and pulled over therge jug of alcohol in the centre of the table that they had been filling their cups from.


    "So how many rounds have you finished so far?" Haru asked as the one who had spoken to him first looked worried for a moment as he replied.


    "Six, in total but I don''t want to force you to catch up. It won''t be any fun if you''re out before we start the seventh round." The man said as the othersughed.


    But upon hearing their mockery Haru brought the jug to his lips and tipped his head back before gulping down everyst drop in less than a minute and then mmed it down on the table as the three men looked at him with fear before Haru licked his lips and looked back at them with a smile.


    "Not bad, I can see why you guys are having so much fun," Haru said as the three men erupted intoughter as one of them put his arm around Haru''s shoulder and pulled him closer.


    "Not bad kid. You might have what it takes topete against us after all." The manughed as one of the others raised his hand to call over the bartender.


    "Another jug of spirit wine and an empty cup please!" The man shouted out as the bartender smiled before preparing what they had asked for and bringing it to the table.

 Chapter 350: Are you crazy!?

    Chapter 350: Are you crazy!?


    The bar soon became quiet as the only sound that could be heard was the sweeping of the bartenders and the snoring from the customers that had passed out from a night of drinking. Haru on the other hand remained seated at the table as the three men had long passed out.


    He smiled to himself as he remembered the fund he had just a few hours earlier as they all yed a drinking game together.


    Although alcohol back on earth didn''t affect cultivators at all, the alcohol that was made on this was made from spirit herbs that contained true qi. It had a soothing effect on the soul but that came with the price of intoxication when drank inrge quantities.


    But as Haru was training with Lao and Li Jun he had been subjected to the effects of many different herbs and built up a tolerance to the toxins that were often found in them since he had refined and consumed hundreds of different pills.


    It seemed to have done him a favour as he was just barely beginning to feel tipsy from the alcohol as the door to the bar opened and the woman that had guided him to the vige walked in surrounded by guards.


    "Sorry I took so long. It took forever to exin what happened to my father. He wouldn''t stop warning me not to be too trusting in strangers." Annabeth sighed as she looked over at Haru who was sitting next to the sleeping men.


    Haru slowly stood up from his seat and looked at the guards who were slightly on edge as they didn''t recognise him at all. One of them rested his hand against the sword on his hip as Haru walked towards them before stopping.


    "That''s not a problem at all. I was just passing the time with some new friends but they decided to fall asleep a little while ago. I guess they couldn''t handle their alcohol as well as they bragged." Haru grinned as he looked back at the men who had tried to provoke him and now he was the only one still awake.


    "Is that so? I didn''t take you for a drinker. You look so" Annabeth said before stopping as she looked Haru up and down for a moment.


    "I look so what?" Haru asked as he felt a little insulted that he was being judged by someone he had met only a few hours earlier.


    "I don''t know, you just seem a little too mature to be the kind that frequents taverns and drinks all day." Annabeth smiled as her assumption of Haru wasn''t too far from the truth.


    There was certainly a point in his life where he was immature and reckless after bing a cultivator and realising that he didn''t have to fear anything.


    But that was due to having a new brain that was going through puberty and affecting his mental state. Once he reached adulthood in his new life his recklessness levelled out and he realised his responsibilities once again.


    It was a strange feeling but it was something that he adapted to pretty quickly and ever since he had been a lot more serious about life.


    "Well, I don''t usually drink but I can hold my own thanks to some special training," Haru said as he looked back at the guards which seemed to rx after seeing that there was no tension between him and Annabeth but they were still keeping a guard up around him but that was to be expected given their positions.


    Haru felt a little strange as he was being treated with distrust but he understood why they didn''t trust him so he didn''t hold it against them as they red at him.


    "I guess it''s just as I suspected then," Annabeth said with a smile before looking back over her shoulder at the guards that were now following her around.


    "Don''t mind this lot. My dad ordered them to follow me since he is worried that the attackers mighte back for revenge. But I doubt I would have anything to worry about with you here." She giggled as the guards doubted that Haru could do anything to protect her judging by his appearance alone but dismissed the thought as Annabeth called out to the bartender.


    "Hey, anything this man buys and his room bill will all be taken care of by me. Just write me a receipt after he leaves and I will pay it in full." She said as the bartender nodded her head and then went back to sweeping.


    "Wait, are you sure that''s okay? It''s going to take a while for my friend to make a recovery. I was actually going to look for work tomorrow so I can pay the bills since it might get expensive." Haru said as he awkwardly scratched the back of his neck as he felt like he was imposing a little too much.]


    "You saved mine and my martial sister''s life. My master has already offered to pay for all your expenses while you are here in our town and my father even offered to give you a plot ofnd outside the walls as a reward but I figured that you wouldn''t want something like that since that would mean that you would have to pay taxes on it if you decided to build a house there.


    So instead I convinced him to give you tickets to the next auction event held in a few days. I hope that will be enough to satisfy you? Oh, and of course this is to show my gratefulness for saving us." Annabeth said before holding out a brown leather bag towards Haru.


    Haru hesitated for a moment before taking the bag from her hand and peering inside to see that it was full to the brim with gold coins.


    "That should be enough to get yourself something at the auction." She smiled as she had seemed to have thought of everything since nobody would like a reward where to get the full enjoyment of it they would have to spend their own money.


    "You really thought this through, didn''t you? I don''t know what to say" Haru said as he felt a little awkward from all that she was doing to thank him for doing nothing. He didn''t act to scare the attackers away or anything he just simply asked them what was going on and called them cowards for attacking two girls. It wasn''t his fault that they got scared and ran away yet he was being rewarded for it.


    "You don''t have to say anything. If you didn''t show up when you did then my martial sister would probably be in some twisted dungeon or an old man''s bed right now. This is honestly the least I could do for what you did. I wish I could do more but I''m not sure if there is anything that you would want in particr." Annabeth exined as Haru took a moment to think about it.


    He definitely wanted to be stronger but for that to happen he would need to either learn a technique to absorb True Qi or learn how to make pills from the spirit herbs on this.


    Both of those seemed like they would be hard to do but since she was offering to do more to reward him he figured that there was no harm in asking.


    "Do you know anywhere that sells techniques? Or any books on alchemy or pill refining?" Haru asked as he figured that she would know of somewhere but as he did he felt a little bit of tension between the two of them.


    "Shh! Are you crazy!? Don''t say something like that so openly! You never know who might be listening." Annabeth said as the guards began to look around at the customers of the store to make sure that no one heard what Haru had just said before opening the door and checking for any eavesdroppers that may have been in the street outside.


    "Did I say something wrong?" Haru asked, confused by the reaction that he was given for what he had asked.


    "Yeah, we don''t so much as even mention pill refiners around these parts. If you are even suspected of being one, the alliance will send men to take you and your loved ones away to make you work for them. If you refuse or im that you can''t refine pills for them not only will they kill you but also the people that you care about." Annabeth whispered as she didn''t want anyone to overhear.


    ''I didn''t think that the people who called themselves an alliance could be so sinister. Just exactly who are they allied with, if this is the treatment they give to the people of thes that they are in control of?'' Haru asked himself as he discovered that there was a corrupted force in control of the entire.


    "Oh, sorry I didn''t realise. I guess that news hasn''t travelled back to my town yet" Haru said awkwardly as it was bing more and more obvious that there was something wrong with Haru''sck of knowledge as to what was going on in the world around him.


    "Would you mind if we continued this conversation somewhere else? There are too many people here and I''m afraid that someone might overhear us." Annabeth said as she took a few steps back towards the door.


    Haru paused for a few moments as he wondered if it was a good idea to leave Hong Xia all alone in her room since she couldn''t move. But he figured that as long as he didn''t go too far he would still be able to make it back in time if the rm on the barrier was triggered.


    Haru agreed with a nod and followed Annabeth outside and began to walk through the city while being guided by her guards.

 Chapter 351: Pill Refiner.

    Chapter 351: Pill Refiner.


    Annabeth led Haru down the main street of the city in silence as she wasn''t ready to talk with so many people listening in. Although it waste at night, the town had yet to die down as many stalls were still open as they tried to sell the remainder of their product''s to whoever walked past.


    Haru picked up an apple on his way past and tossed one of the golden coins that Annabeth had given to him towards the shopkeeper who gasped in excitement before shouting thank you.


    Although the fruit looked to be normal in every sense, Haru could tell that it was far from normal as he could feel the powering from it.


    He wasn''t used to feeling True Qi at all but he assumed that it was probably responsible for the power he felt emerging from the fruit as it was the same as what he felting from the alcohol he had just drunk.


    It seemed like everything on this consisted of True Qi and that meant that whether they liked it or not, each person that lived on the would be a cultivator unless their dantain was destroyed since the True Qi in their food would build a dantian for them.


    But despite that fact, if they really wanted to excel in cultivation they would have to learn techniques and focus on gathering as much strength as humanly possible. Haru took the time as they walked to familiarise himself with the town that seemed more like a city with its sheer size alone, not to mention the poption as he watched hundreds of people walk past despite it beingte at night.


    But that wasn''t too surprising given that cultivators of Haru''s current level didn''t require sleep to survive so they would rather spend the night cultivating to get stronger. Although the sane couldn''t be said for the children of the town as he didn''t see a single one of them.


    Being in a world where it seemed that they were about as technologically advanced as the 13th century made Haru miss the luxuries that he had back on earth such as being able to use his phone as a map or calling people that he wanted to contact but he assumed that the quickest way to contact someone here would be to simply fly to them unless there was something that he had yet to know about that was able to send messages quicker than a cultivator could fly.


    They walked for what seemed like ever before finally ending up in a quiet part of the town where the only people around were drunks sleeping in alleyways before Annabeth spoke to him.


    "Guards! Stand back. I want to have a word alone with Luo Yang." Annabeth shouted out which gained a look of disapproval from a few of the guards but as she stared at them, they soon took a few steps back and secured the area to make sure that no trouble woulde to their boss.


    "So, Luo Yang You said you wanted to know about pill refining right? That means that you are actually able to refine pills right?" Annabeth asked as Haru began to feel as though she was trying to threaten him as she looked at him for a few moments before seeing the imposing re in his eyes before looking down at the ground in fear.


    "Don''t get me wrong. I''m not trying to pull anything on you. It''s just that you said you were looking for work and It so happens that my family is in dire need of someone who can refine pills but ever since the alliance started capturing them it''s been nearly impossible to have pills made for you unless you have connections with them." Annabeth exined as she thought that Haru was going to kill her from the look in his eyes alone but that seemed to calm Haru down as his demeanour became more approachable.


    "So you want someone to make pills for you and that''s it? Well, what kind of pills do you need? If it''s something umon then there is a good chance that you will need a recipe to provide to the pill refiner right?" Haru asked, making sure that he was careful with his words so that he didn''t admit or deny anything.


    Thest thing he wanted was for her to be trying to trap him and call the alliance for a reward or something of the sort although he sensed that she was honest in her answer as to why she wanted to find a pill refiner.


    "Well, my father was poisoned a few years back and ever since his condition has been declining. If possible I would need to find someone that is able to diagnose the poison and then make an antidote to it. But other than that we also need someone to make True Qi Refining pills to distribute to our young n members so they can grow stronger.


    If you are able to refine pills for us I will make sure that you are paid enough to satisfy you. You will live your life in luxury for the next ten thousand years with the amount you will make from these two jobs alone." Annabeth exined as Haru took a few moments to think about it.


    "Let me see your cultivation technique," Haru said without agreeing to anything. It was a sudden and random demand that it caught her off guard a little as she hesitated for a few minutes.


    "Does that mean you will do it?" Annabeth asked with her eyebrows raised as she was excited about the thought of finally being able to heal her father but Haru simply held out his hand.


    "Okay, but promise not to let anyone know that I gave it to you. The technique that I practise was given to me by my teacher. If he ever finds out that I let you learn it then he will disown me." Annabeth said before taking out a leather-bound book from her storage ring and handing it to Haru to read.


    "Does that mean that you will do it?" Annabeth asked as Haru began to flip through the pages at will as he memorised everything within it before handing it back to her.


    "Yes, I will do it. But if you betray me or let anyone know that I can refine pills I promise not to only kill you but I will wipe out every remaining member of your family. Do we understand each other?" Haru asked as Annabeth gulped. But she was certain that she wouldn''t let anyone know since he was the one who saved her but now with her family being held hostage she would have to try extra hard to keep it a secret from everyone.


    "Yes, I understand. Do you mind if I bring you to my father in the morning so you can examine him? I will also give you the recipe for the True Qi Refining pills then too." Annabeth asked as she was shaken by the thought of anyone finding out Haru''s secret to which Haru nodded his head and she quickly retreated back a few steps.


    "Then I will see you in the morning," Annabeth called out before running back to her guards so she could feel at ease before they led her back towards a huge mansion on top of arge hill that looked over the entire town.


    Haru sighed to himself as he felt tired. He wasn''t usually the type of person to threaten someone but he knew that in the upper realms it wasn''t safe for him since he had only just arrived there and he was clueless about most things that took ce there.


    But there was one thing that he knew. He wasn''t about to be the ve of some organisation right out of the gate. He was going to grow his power to the point where he no longer had to fear anyone just like Li Jun had done before him.


    Although it would be a little harder now that he didn''t have a teacher to guide him. It was at that moment that he remembered that Lao was still living within his soul. He hadn''t gone back inside his soul ocean since he visited Suyin and he had yet to thank Ralph for making that happen.


    He felt as though he needed to speak to Ralph as soon as possible since the technique that Annabeth had just let him read wasn''tpatible with Haru since it was made with the female body in mind.


    He could have tried to change the technique to match his body but he wasn''t sure if it would still be as effective but from what he knew about the floating mansion within his soul ocean was that it was mysterious and housed secrets that were unknown to the universe.


    Haru quickly made his way back to the in and then went back to the room that they had rented to see Hong Xia was still sleeping so he sat down at the end of the bed and brought his legs up and crossed them before entering his soul ocean to see that it was exactly how he had left it thest time he had gone there.


    He looked around the room and realised that his soul was still on the bed that he hadid down up on to visit Suyin in the soul cavern but there was no sight of Ralph anywhere.

 Chapter 352: The Great Librarian.

    Chapter 352: The Great Librarian.


    "Hello? Is anyone here?" Haru called out as he looked around the room before stepping out into the corridor to see and hear nothing at all. There wasn''t even the slightest sign of life as he walked through the halls trying his best to find Ralph.


    He spent what felt like an eternity trying locked doors and walking into rooms that he had been in before while trying his best to find Ralph but it was no good. No matter how hard he looked he still couldn''t find him.


    ''I wonder where he went There aren''t many ces he could hide in a ce like this unless he has ess to rooms that I don''t.'' Haru thought as he gave up his search.


    ''I wonder if there are any techniques that could help me cultivate try Qi around here? This mansion holds many secrets so it wouldn''t be too surprising. And I''m pretty sure that Li Jun mentioned that there was also a library here too.'' Haru began to hope that he would find something interesting as he made up his mind that he was going to search for the library.


    He walked around the corridors for a while and noticed that there werebels to each room that were written in Gaohen. He saw that there was an alchemy station and pill refining room along with a cultivation room and thought to try to open them but stuck to his original n instead before eventually finding a double set of wooden doors that wasbelled as the library.


    Haru reached out towards the door and tried the handle but it didn''t budge an inch as he pulled with all his strength.


    He then looked down before noticing the small keyhole below the handle and realised that if he wanted to enter the library that he would need to find the key. Which was easier said than done as he had only been there a few times and he certainly didn''t see any keys anywhere.


    Haru sighed to himself as he thought that it would be impossible to get in there without Ralph''s help and then walked outside into the garden and stood beside the pond as he watched a few vibrant fish swim in circles and asionally ssh on the surface.


    Haru stood there for a few minutes as he decided that he would wait for Ralph toe back from wherever he had gone but as he looked at the surface of the water something drew his eye a little closer as a sh of gold light appeared from below one of the fishes.


    Haru leaned over the pond and looked down below the surface to see a golden key sitting on the ground surrounded by a thickyer of mud.


    Haru gasped in shock as he reached down into the water and pulled it out without any trouble when suddenly a sh of blue light appeared in front of him and a text hovered in began to hover in the air.


    "Congrattions, You have found the first key. Please select your reward." The text read as a list of options came out of nowhere upon what looked like a floating screen made out of Qi.


    "Study key, Training room key, Laboratory Key, Refining Key, Workshop Key, And Library key?" Haru said aloud as he read the list of rewards of the floating screen before hesitantly holding out his hand and reaching towards where it had library written and touching it with his index finger.


    A sh of light shot out from the screen as his hand made contact with it and a beam of light shone down from the sky as Haru looked up to see that there was now a ck metallic key floating in the air in front of him.


    "What was all that about? Was the person who created this ce a fan of video games or something? It seems a little bit childish for someone with enough strength to create such a mysterious ce." Haru said to himself before shrugging and reaching for the key in front of him.


    It didn''t really concern him how and who created the mansion just so long as he got to use it to help him progress on his path in cultivation. He then walked back to the doorbelled as the library and tried the Qi.


    He didn''t expect it to work so easily since he had to fight his way past monsters to gain ess to thest room that he had unlocked with Li Jun.


    But to his surprise, the door opened up to reveal an endless amount of bookshelves that were all over twenty metres in height. It was like nothing that he had ever seen as the only thing that he could describe it as was a sea of books.


    "There is bound to be something that could help me in here right?" Haru asked himself before taking a step inside and feeling his strength quickly get zapped away from him as he felt his body shrinking as everything in the room seemed only to get bigger around him until the point where he could now see that the books were taller than him.


    "What is this? Some kind of protection formation or something?" Haru thought before looking around to see if he could find out where the source of the power wasing from, but the power that had just shrunk his body was too much for him to evenprehend. He couldn''t feel a single thing, let alone find the source of it.


    It took him a few moments to adjust to the size of the room but he wasn''t going to let the formation that had just activated around him affect his chances of finding a technique that was suitable for him to absorb True Qi with.


    But the only problem was that he had no idea where to start. If he was going to look for something in a sea of books then the first thing he would need to know is where to start from but the sight was so overwhelming that the thought was hard toe by and he decided that it would be easier just to pick the closest shelf and start there.


    Haru turned to face the shelf that was against the wall closest to the entrance and walked over to it before climbing up onto the first row to be met with the books that were now a lot bigger than he thought they were no he was so close to them.


    But just as he was about to reach out and touch the first book a voice called out from behind him.


    "Excuse me, young man But who exactly are you? I don''t ever recall seeing you before Does that mean that the mansion has a new owner?" The voice asked as Haru quickly turned around as fast as he could since it caught him off guard.


    As he turned he was quickly met by the sight of an old man with a long beard but he wasn''t quite exactly a human. It looked more like he was the projection of a soul seeing as though his whole body was transparent and had a blue glow to it to signify that it was made out of Qi.


    "Whoa, where did youe from? I didn''t think that there would be souls floating around this ce." Haru eximed as he was surprised to see the ghost in front of him.


    "I''m the one asking questions here. I''m the guardian of this Library I have the greatest job of being a Librarian! So if your answers don''t satisfy me then you won''t be able to take any of the master''s books or be allowed to enter here ever again." The ghost exined as Haru looked up at the man with a smile on his face.


    "Ah, you are the great Librarian of this Library? I apologise for my disrespect. My name is Haru. I am the new owner of this ce like you previously assumed." Haru exined in a mocking tone as he knew that the ghost wouldn''t be able to understand the sarcasm in his voice since he thought that being a Librarian was an honorary title.


    Haru''s words seemed to honour the ghost as he crossed his arms and smiled before flying down to be on eye level with Haru before speaking again.


    "It''s been a long time since someone has appreciated my greatness. You will do well around here. Here let me guide you to what you''re searching for." The ghost said as he seemed to understand what Haru was searching for without him even telling him.


    "How do you know what I''m looking for?" Haru asked as the ghost turned back to him while continuing to float towards one of the bookshelves in the distance without taking his eyes off Haru.


    "All the people whoe here looking for the same thing. And the master has instructed me only to entrust it to people I deem fit. So you will be the second person to ever receive it." The ghost said as Haru''s body quickly felt heavy as his height shot back up to what it previously was.


    "It will be much easier for you now that you are back to your normal height. That formation is a defence mechanism that activates when a new Qi frequency enters the room." The ghost said as Haru became confused.


    ''A qi frequency? What in the world is that?'' He thought as he continued to follow the ghost before stopping in front of a shelf that had a dark ck chain around it with only three books in total on the whole shelf.


    ''It looks like he really meant it. This has got to be the most valuable set of skills in here or they wouldn''t be protected like this'' Haru thought as the old man held out his hand as a golden light shot out towards the chain, causing them to shatter and fall to the ground in a neat pile before vanishing.


    Haru looked back up at the ghost who was smiling towards him.


    "These are the master''s original techniques. I think they should suit you just fine." The ghost said as Haru reached out towards one of the books. But as he put his hand on it his mind went nk and he opened his eyes to see sunlight was now beaming in through one of the windows in the room where he had cultivated the night before.

 Chapter 353: Monster hunting.

    Chapter 353: Monster hunting.


    It was already morning and somehow Haru had been forced out of his own soul ocean as he was just about to obtain the techniques when suddenly he heard knocking at the door and that was when he realised that the reason he had been woken up was that the barrier that he had set up the night before had alerted him to the presence of someone trying to get into the room.


    But it seemed like it was doing a good job of keeping whoever was trying to get in there out in the hallway despite the fact that they didn''t have a lock on the door.


    Haru turned back to look at Hong Xia who was still sleeping before standing up and walking over to the door.


    As he reached out and opened the door he was met with the sight of two men in the sane guard uniforms that he had seen the night before when he was walking with Annabeth.


    "Can I help you with something?" Haru asked, confused as to what they could want. He knew that Annabeth had said that she woulde for him in the morning to give him everything that he needed so he refine pills for her. But he expected that she woulde herself and not just send some guards.


    "Our Mistress sent us to deliver this." One of the guards said before handing Haru a spatial bag. Haru reached out and grabbed it before remembering the threat that he had given to Annabeth before agreeing to do what she asked.


    He thought back to how scared she seemed and it suddenly made sense to him why she had decided to send her guards instead ofing herself.


    Haru smiled a little before the guard took a step back and then bowed before leaving with the rest of them.


    Haru heard a noise behind him before looking back to see Hong Xia rubbing her eyes. She had just woken up from themotion and looked both confused and lost as she looked around to get her bearings before it looked as though she realised that she was no longer on earth after remembering everything that had happened the day before.


    "Good morning. Do you feel any better today?" Haru asked he noticed that her arms were now able to move which was an improvement from the day before. It seemed as though her body was adjusting to thes True Qi just as he thought it would.


    "Yeah, I feel Wait I can move!?" Hong Xia asked as she looked at her hands for a moment while waving them in front of her face. She couldn''t believe it. All it took for her to adjust was a night of sleep.


    But her excitement soon wore off as she noticed that everything below her waist still wouldn''t move no matter how hard she tried.


    "I can now say without a doubt that your body just needs time to adapt to the True Qi. Since you haven''t cultivated it before all your strength has been taken away temporarily. But don''t worry it wille back soon. Just try to take it easy and get some rest okay?" Haru informed her with a smile before walking closer to her.


    "Well, that''s good. But I also noticed that I can''t cultivate. It''s as though I can''t sense any Qi at all." Hong Xia exined as she looked up with a confused expression.


    "That''s to be expected. True Qi is different from regr Qi so you will need a new technique. But I guess you''re lucky I already thought of that and got a technique for you to learn. There''s no need to thank me." Haru said with a grin before approaching her even more and leaning over her before cing his head against her''s and closing his eyes.


    "What are you doing!? You''re too close!" Hong Xia shouted out nervously as she didn''t know what Haru was doing. But she felt embarrassed by having him so close to her.


    "I''ve never done this before so don''t distract me. Just stay quiet." Haru replied as he tried to remember how Lao and Li Jun went about transferring techniques from their mind into his.


    For them, it was as simple as touching him with their finger. But Haru knew that he wouldn''t be able to take the knowledge from his brain and hold it in his hand before passing it to someone else. So he figured that it would be easier to directly transfer it from his mind hence cing his head against her''s as he focused on bringing the technique he had memorised from Annabeth the night before to the front of his head.


    Haru began to get a headache after a few seconds of trying before a feeling of lightness came from his neck and shot up and down his spine as Hong Xia screamed.


    "Agh! What did you do to me!? It burns!" She screeched out in pain as the knowledge shot from Haru''s brain and began to permanently burn itself into her mind.


    "Just bear with it. It will be over soon. You''re lucky this is just a small amount of information. Try getting a wholenguage transferred to your brain." Haru said with a chuckle as he knew that if he transferred thenguage of this world to her then she would probably die from the pain alone.


    Hong Xia gritted her teeth and clenched her fists as that was one of the only parts of her body that were capable of responding to the pain.


    Haru took a few steps back and watched as the pain seemed to leave her and she began to pant slightly.


    "Open your mouth," Haru instructed her to which she first hesitated before slowly opening her mouth.


    Haru held out his hand and summoned a small ball of water into the air above his palm before offering it to her.


    "Drink. You gotta hydrate or you''re not going to be able to think about anything else for the rest of the day." Haru said as Hong Xia pursed her lips and began to drink the water from his hand.


    "Good. I''m going to go get some food for you. Try your best to follow the instructions that are now in your mind. It should help you recover some strength." Haru said as he walked to the door before stopping for a minute and then turning back to see that Hong Xia had already started to cultivate the technique he had given to her.


    Haru smiled before leaving the room and walking downstairs to the counter where the bartenders were standing awaiting orders.


    "Do you serve anything that can nurture the soul? My friend is a little injured and needs something that can give her a little extra strength." Haru asked as he stood by the counter and spoke with the bartender that Annabeth had spoken to the night before.


    "Something that will nurture the soul. I''m not sure There are a few monster beasts around here. You could try to get one of their cores and have your friend absorb them. But it will take someone with a lot of strength to take them down." The woman exined as she raised a finger to her chin and began to think of a solution to solve Haru''s current problem.


    "Monster beasts? What kind?" Haru asked as he had never seen a monster beast with his own eyes before. He had seen their cores used as currency to trade in the soul tempering grounds but he wasn''t sure what the effect would be to absorb them directly. It seemed like a good idea.


    "Well, the mostmon type seen around here are animal monster beasts like the horn fanged wolves or the poison breath bears. They are the strongest in these parts but the guards usually kill them when they wander too close to town so you shouldn''t have to worry about those.


    But if you wanted to try your hand at hunting then I would rmend you hunt some Feathered Rabbits. We would pay you quite handsomely if you bring their meat back too. We often use it for meals on special asions but it is pretty expensive." The woman said with a smile on her face as she could tell that Haru was interested in hunting monsters.


    She purposely told him about the weakest monster beast because it was a local delicacy although rare toe by given the speed of Feathered Rabbits, not too many people were capable of catching them.


    "Feathered rabbits? I see. I guess that will work. Do you happen to know where I can find them?" Haru asked as he wanted more information since he didn''t know the surroundings but the woman shrugged her shoulders.


    "I''m not sure. If you enter the forest you should see a few of them pretty quickly their numbers are in the thousands since they breed all year round." The bartender said as Haru sighed in disappointment but then an idea came to mind.


    "If I manage to catch some would you mind cooking some for me? I will give you the rest of them in return." Haru asked as he wanted to try them for himself. It had been a long time since he ate rabbits but he knew how to catch them from his experience in survival tactics from hisst life.


    "If you catch some I would be honoured to cook it for you." The bartender said with a smile on her face as she was doubtful that Haru had the skill required to catch such a quick monster beast but he didn''t let that bother him as he walked exited the inn with a determined look on his face as he thought about how he was going to go about catching them.

 Chapter 354: Hunting partner.

    Chapter 354: Hunting partner.


    Haru walked through the streets in the town as he made his way back towards the entrance that he hade through the day before. It was heavily guarded just as it was the night before although the guards seemed to be in better moods since it was morning and they have been energised again.


    The gates were wide open and carriages lined the road as merchants and traders lined up patiently waiting for their documents to be checked before they are allowed to enter the town.


    The guards were all busy and didn''t trouble Haru as he walked past them and set out towards the forest. But as he walked past the merchants and guards he noticed a few of them staring at them. It was at that moment he looked down at his ragged clothes and realised that even though they were ripped the main difference was that he was wearing modern clothes. And the people of this had on long robes that almost touched the floor.


    ''This is going to cause some unwanted attention if isn''t it.'' Haru thought as he remembered that he had a change of outfit in his storage ring. It was the one that Li Jun had given to him and also had the benefit of having built-in armour.


    ''As soon as I enter the forest I will change. But I had better pick something up for Hong Xia when I get back. I don''t want any attention to be drawn to her. She''s a beautiful young woman after all. There''s no telling what would happen if a strong cultivator decided that he wanted to force her to be his wife.'' Haru thought as he thought about getting some clothes to keep her safe.


    Although she chose to follow him into the transportation tunnel he felt responsible for here as it was his fault that the tunnel opened in the first ce. He didn''t want anything to happen to her while she was in his care.


    Haru walked along the long dirt path back towards the forest where he had first appeared after ascending to the new that he had yet to learn the name of.


    It took him a few minutes until he made it there. He quickly changed his clothes to be more appropriate for the times and began to walk through the trees as he remembered how the bartender had said that there would be rabbits everywhere once he entered the forest. But as he looked around he couldn''t see them anywhere.


    ''Can they feel my presence or something?'' Haru thought as it seemed strange that there weren''t any around after being told that they would be everywhere.


    Since he wasn''t able to adapt to using True Qi right away and had trouble cultivating it since he had yet to find a technique that was subtable for him he had to rely on magic to hide his presence. He was still perfectly capable of using that since it was second nature to him.


    [Silencing Touch.]


    [Ghost Aura]


    [Wind Barrier]


    [Wind step]


    Haru took a few moments to use magic to enchant his body with skills that would be helpful for hunting. Silencing touchpletely deafened the sound of his footsteps as he walked through the forest.


    Wind barrier was usually used for preventing attacks from hitting whoever cast that spell since a barrier would form around the body and resist any attacks that came towards the caster. But in this case, Haru was using it for keeping his scent within the barrier so he could sneak around the forest without being sniffed out by anything.


    Ghost Aura was a special enchantment as it bent the light around Haru''s body causing him to bepletely invisible to the naked eye as anyone who looked in his direction would just see whatever was behind him and nothing else.


    And finally, Wind step was used to remove any type of drag from his body and make him aerodynamic as it would be easier to chase something that was fast if nothing was holding him back. In theory, it didn''t sound like it would make that much of a difference. But Haru found out through practice that at high speeds, humans create a lot of drag since they weren''t designed to move at high speeds.


    As soon as he activated his magic Haru began to hear sounds of life in the forest. It seemed like he was right. The monster beasts weren''t just any animal. They were hypersensitive to the presence of humans and anything that could be considered a predator so they remained hidden when they sensed Haru entering the forest.


    But since his presence had been maskedpletely they soon began toe out and go about their business of hunting or just living their normal lives. The forest soon became crowded with life as birds fluttered between the branches above him and small insects climbed out from beneath the bark on the trees.


    Even worms began to move in the soil around his feet as well as small white rabbits with a single red bird-like feather sticking out from the tops of their heads.


    ''Those are Feathered Rabbits? I thought they would have more feathers.'' Haru thought as the name seemed like a bit of an overstatement and was misleading. Although it was true that they had feathers. But what soon became apparent to Haru as he watched for a few moments as they hopped around the ground is that they were much more violent than the rabbits on earth.


    A small rodent scuttled across the floor in front of a group of rabbits when suddenly a red glow emerged from the eyes of the feathered rabbits and they chased down the rodent and devoured it alive, making it squeak as its life quickly came to an end.


    Haru watched for a little longer as it interested him as rabbits on earth were mainly herbivores but were known to attack over animals if they got too close but it was never to the point of hunting down a fleeing rodent. However as they dispersed from the rodent, the only thing remaining was a puddle of blood on the grass.


    They hadpletely eaten the rodent bones and all. It felt a little eerie that a cute animal like a rabbit could be capable of such a brutal murder but it was just like any other animal. They had to eat one way or another.


    It happened over and over again as the rabbits grouped up together to take down other animals in the surrounding area but Haru remained neutral until he watched them collectively take down a deer and devour it in just a few seconds.


    ''That''s insane They ate such arge animal that quickly. They could easily eat a small child or an injured person if they weren''t able to defend themselves. I guess I''m lucky that I didn''t go too far when I left Hong Xia alone. I guess this is why they are ssed as monster beasts.'' Haru thought as he figured that if he had walked away from any further from Hong Xia''s location when they first arrived that she wouldn''t be alive now.


    ''Well, I don''t have time to waste here leisurely. I promised I would bring her some breakfast. Let''s get this over with already.'' Haru thought before pulling a sword from his storage ring.


    As his storage ring shed slightly, everything in the forest froze still like a wild animal in headlights as they sensed a trace amount of Qi emerging from Haru''s location. But as soon as the sword was in Haru''s hand they carried on with their business as though nothing had happened.


    ''They almost caught me for a moment there. I have to be more careful. But for now. Let me see just how fast these things are.'' Haru thought as he bent down and coiled his legs like springs before taking off as quickly as he could towards arge group of rabbits that were eating berries from a bush in the distance.


    However, everything around him faded to grey as he shot forwards before standing before them. He looked back to see a cloud had formed where he had previously been standing but that too was frozen.


    He looked down at the rabbits and noticed that despite time seeming to stop, they were still moving slightly although their movements were a lot slower.


    ''That is insane. I am moving faster than the speed of light right now, yet these rabbits are still able to move slightly. No wonder people have trouble catching them. But I wonder if I am fast enough to snag a few of them?'' Haru wondered before bringing his sword up and swinging it towards the first rabbit.


    He thought that he would need a lot of strength and speed in order to actually kill one of them as he expected that they would only be faster if presented with danger but the rabbit didn''t seem to notice as the sword approached its neck and cut through it like butter as Haru''s sword emerged from the other side before it even realised that it was dead.


    He then held out his sword again, this time swinging it a little lighter at the necks of the other rabbits as he realised with the kind of speed his body was producing it felt like he was cutting through water balloons as there was no resistance at all.


    After realising how easy it was to kill the rabbits, Haru ran around the Forrest like a mad man, cutting down every rabbit he saw before cing both their heads and bodies into his storage ring before a single drop of their blood could touch the ground.


    It felt like hours to Haru as a few seconds passed as he killed dozens of rabbits and collected their bodies to make the breakfast that he promised to Hong Xia. He got a little carried away as he was determined to collect as many monster cores as he could since he knew that they were universally valuable no matter which realm he was in.


    But his hunting session soon came to an end as he saw a sh of darkness run past him a few times and watched as a few rabbits in the surrounding area went missing. Whatever it was could clearly move faster than Haru but was avoiding him as it too ran around the forest to hunt its prey.


    ''I''m not sure what that is. But I had better leave this ce before it decided to make me it''s enemy.'' Haru thought as he ran straight back to the dirt road as the light around him became visible once again and the trees blew slowly in the wind. A loud bang shot out from the forest behind him as he figured it was caused by him breaking the sound barrier but he wasn''t willing to check now that he knew he wasn''t the only one capable of moving at those speeds.


    ''Can everyone at my cultivation level move at this speed or is it just me? Although that thing back there was fast, I doubt that it was big or dangerous to humans for that matter or else it could kill hundreds of people without leaving a trace behind.'' Haru thought as he figured that the strange beast in the forest wasn''t a threat to the town as he walked back towards the gates now dressed like everyone else.

 Chapter 355: Uncle Tam?

    Chapter 355: Uncle Tam?


    Haru was satisfied with himself as he felt as though he was finally getting a gauge on his strength. Since the bartender had said that it was difficult to catch the feathered rabbits and he had done so easily without much effort he figured that his strength was already pretty goodpared to the regr people of the.


    Although he doubted that he could match up against a warrior that has trained specifically to cultivate their power to kill.


    But he couldn''t be sure. For all, he knew the people of this could have been very weak or extremely strong. But that wasn''t something that he could find out unless he decided to pick a fight with one of the locals which he wanted to avoid at all costs.


    He didn''t even know thews of the town let alone the worldws. One wrong move on his part and Haru could find himself in a lot of trouble. And that wasn''t something he wanted to risk especially since he felt responsible for Hong Xia.


    As he thought about all the possibilities on his way back into the city and passed the guards with no trouble. It seemed as though they had all been informed about him since no one tried to hassle him as the other people had to line up.


    ''I wonder what kind of clothes Hong Xia would like?'' Haru thought as he looked around at a few of the storefronts in the main street of the city. He looked around at the people in the streets and noticed they were all wearing bright colours before looking at the long robe that draped over his shoulders which was a dark brown colour.


    "Maybe, I could use a little bit of a fashion upgrade too? Theck of colour makes me stand out more than I want to." Haru thought before seeing a store with many different coloured and patterned designed fabric hanging from the windows.


    ''This looks like a decent ce. I hope they have a middle ground between boring and shy I don''t want to be on either end of the spectrum.'' Haru said to himself as he walked along the cobbled street, towards the store before pushing open the door.


    A bell chimed out as the door opened to reveal a dark and dingy looking store, it was nothing like what he imagined from the outside and he was about to leave before he heard a voice call out.


    "Wee to Uncle Tam''s clothing and essories. Is there anything we can do for you today?" A young-sounding woman called out as Haru''s eyes narrowed in on a teenage girl who looked to be around his age standing behind a counter that was covered in many different samples of clothing as she looked up at Haru.


    There was a moment of silence as Haru stared at her and looked around the store as he tried to figure out what kind of a store it was. It seemed a little strange to him but he knew that was exactly how people had described him before. He wasn''t going to let strange discourage him from entering the store as he knew exactly what he wanted for himself. But as for Hong Xia, he waspletely lost.


    "Yes, I would like a new robe. Something with a bit more colour but not too shy. I don''t want to draw attention to myself. Are you capable of making something like that?" Haru asked as he stepped further into the store and closed the door behind him before approaching the counter.


    "A new robe? Yes, we are able to make them. Do you have any idea what colour you would like in particr or do you happen to know what kind of fabric you want it to be made out of?" The girl asked as Haru thought for a moment before shaking his head.


    "Do you have any rmendations? Do you know what would look good on me? I don''t really have an eye for fashion." Haru said with a smile as he looked down at the girl who sighed slightly upon hearing Haru''sck of knowledge.


    "I can tell. Well, let me just turn on the light so I can get a better look at you. I''m not going to be able to figure out what would match your body shape, skin tone and eye colour if I can''t see you very well." The girl said before hitting a switch underneath her desk that turned on all of the lights in the store that were previously turned off.


    The whole room illuminated and Haru finally got to see the dire state that it was in for the first time.


    There were books and long strips of fabric covering the entire floor. But despite the mess that was all over the ce it still remained rtively clean. There was no dust or dirt anywhere in sight and it looked like the mess was recently made which seemed unlikely given the amount but it had to be true since it would be impossible to clean the floors with fabric on top of them.


    Haru looked back up at the girl behind the counter as she slid a pair of sses down from the top of her head and rested them upon her nose as she stared at Haru with a curious look on her face before reaching out before poking him the stomach with her index finger.


    "I see" The girl said as she climbed up onto the counter and sat on her legs as she put her hands on Haru''s shoulders as he looked back feeling confused and worried at the same time from the fact that she had started to touch him so suddenly.


    "What do you see?" Haru asked as he looked down at the girl as she began to massage his shoulders for a few moments.


    "It''s a little bit difficult to tell. But you have a unique body. I haven''t seen muscles like this before. They are weirdly dense yet not veryrge." The girl said as Haru remained silent.


    ''Is this because of that thing that happened when I was training with Li Jun? He called it returning to Origin right? He said that my body would never change so long as I carried on cultivating. But it did change a little bit after his soul partially merged with my body. I don''t know if it''s that important but I feel like since he was surprised that it''s probably the reason that this girl noticed that my body isn''t the same as others.'' Haru thought as the girl looked at him with suspicion for a few seconds.


    "Do you mind waiting a moment? I need to call my boss." The woman asked before running back through the door of the store without waiting for Haru''s response, leaving him standing there in the store not knowing how he should feel about being physically vited by her.


    But just as he was thinking about it he heard two sets of footstepsing towards him as the door opened back up to reveal an old man with a long white beard following behind the girl as they both stood behind the counter for a few moments looking at Haru with suspicion before the old man held out his hand.


    "It''s nice to meet you. I''m the owner of this establishment you can call me Tam." The old man said as Haru reached out to shake his hand but as he did the old man clenched down on Haru''s hand as his eyes widened in shock.


    "So that''s how it is" The old man said as he withdrew his hand from Haru and bowed his head slightly.


    "So I understand that you would like to buy some clothing?" Tam said as Haru hesitated for a moment as he wasn''t sure how to feel but decided to go along with it anyway as he still needed to buy some clothes.


    "That''s right. I want something that isn''t too bright or too in. This robe is making me stand out for all the wrong reasons." Haru exined as he pointed the brown robe that was over the rest of his clothes.


    "They are certainly good quality but you''re right. That brown does look rather old. Yet I think I might have the perfect thing for you." The old man said as he turned to the girl standing beside him.


    "Mai, Bring me a measuring tape, scissors, and that new fabric that we just got in," Tam said as the girl looked shocked by what he had just said but his orders were absolute as he stared down at her with an angry look on his face because she didn''t do what he had asked right away. But she quickly ran back through the door again and came back with everything that he had asked for.


    Haru caught a glimpse of something dark blue beneath the brown bag that was covering the role of fabric before the old man took everything from her andy it down on the counter.


    "Okay, try to stand as still as possible. I will finish this before you know it." Tam said as a grin appeared on his face as his entire body began to glow a light yellow colour as he reached out and grabbed the tape measure which shot forwards upon his touch and wrapped around Haru''s body for a moment before he retracted it and looked at the numbers.


    After ncing at the results for a few minutes he reached for the scissors and fabric before revealing a longyer of dark blue fabric that had a slight metallic look to it as it seemed to shine from the light that hit it. But before Haru could even see what he was doing, the man began to move with incredible speeds as he sliced the fabric in many different directions before he called for the girl once again.


    "Needles and red threads!" Tam shouted out as the girl reached down to her pocked and threw two small needles at the old man which were quickly caught by the yellow light around his body before they too sped up and attacked the fabric for a few seconds before suddenly stopping as Tam turned around to face Haru.


    "Here, try it on. Let me know if you need it adjusting in any way." Tam said as Haru looked on in amazement. He had never seen someone work so fast in his life and it was simply incredible.

 Chapter 356: Baseball?

    Chapter 356: Baseball?


    Haru stared down at the robe he had just been handed as he felt the material. It was like nothing that he had ever felt before. It was tough like leather yet as flexible as silk. He couldn''t quite understand what it was but he could tell that it would be expensive just by the feel of it.


    He began to panic a little as he thought that he might have been trapped by the store owner into buying something expensive since he had already created it for Haru. He figured that it was some kind of scam in order to extort people and he began to activate his storage ring in order to take out the money that he was given in hopes that he had enough to pay for it but he was stopped as Tam spoke out before he could finish.


    "I know what you''re thinking but it would be my honour to craft some fine clothing for you. Please don''t worry, this is on me. Hopefully, you will be a returning customer in the future." Tam said with a slight smile as he waited for Haru to respond.


    ''What is he getting at? He said that he saw something when he shook my hand. Is there the possibility that he found out something about me?'' Haru asked himself as he stared back with suspicion before calming down as he saw the girl look at them both with shock as she was clearly confused at the situation.


    "But sir, that material" The girl began to say before Tam raised his hand to silence her. The girl stopped talking but looked worried as she looked at the robe Haru was wearing.


    "Please try it on. I can make any adjustments while you''re wearing it if you need them." Tam said with a smile as he leaned back against the counter and watched as Haru took off the brown robe and ce the new one over his shoulders before sliding his arms into the sleeves.


    There was a brief pause from everyone in the room as they looked at Haru and admired the craftsmanship that went into creating the robe for him. It fit perfectly. There wasn''t any excess material that hung down too low or any uneven cuts. It looked like a lot of work had gone into making it yet Tam had made it in just a few seconds which showed his skill and years of experience.


    "What do you think? Not too shabby is it?" Tam asked as Haru looked down at his body before spotting a mirror in the corner of the room and then walked over to it and checked for himself.


    As he looked in the mirror he noticed that there was a faint sheen to the material that seemed to glow iridescently.


    ''What is this? It''s more shy than I wanted it to be but I feel some kind of connection to it. It''s like there is a soul within the material.'' Haru thought as he turned back to face Tam with a serious look on his face.


    "What is this material?" Haru asked, his voice sounding as demanding as ever as Tam''s eyes widened for a second as he felt a slight amount of oppression in Haru''s voice before smiling yet again.


    "It''s just perfect. I have never made anything like this in my life. I never expected this kind of oue." Tam said as he approached Haru before leaning towards him and whispering in his ear.


    "It''s a special material crafted on a distant from Ice phoenix feather barbs. They have been crafting it for years in secret and I managed to get my hands on this specimen recently for a special customer it''s quite amazing isn''t it?" Tam asked as he realised what he had just said.


    "This material was for another customer wasn''t it?" Tam confirmed out loud as the girl spoke up hesitantly.


    "Th-that''s, what I was trying to tell you, sir. The one who ordered this material is the city lord. Our business is going to be doomed." The girl said as Tam remained calm as he thought about something for a few seconds.


    "The city lord huh? Pfft, I don''t care about someone like him. I managed to make a fantastic robe for Mr" Tam stopped as he looked back at Haru, realising that he hadn''t even gotten his name yet.


    "That''s right, I don''t know your name yet do I? Do you mind if I-?" Tam began to ask but Haru understood what was about to be asked.


    "Luo Yang," Haru said as he stated his alias with confidence as Tam stood there for a moment before continuing.


    "I managed to make a fantastic robe for Mr Luo Yang. There is nothing more spectacr than that. I don''t care about a simple city lord." Tam said as the door to his store opened up again as a small group of guards entered and began to look around.


    "This ce is a mess. Why would the city lorde to a ce like this to have clothes made for him?" One of the guards questioned as Tam turned to face them with a hesitant look on his face.


    "Be quiet. It''s not your ce to question what the city lord does. If he wants to send such an expensive material here to be crafted into something for him then so be it." Another one of the guards replied before turning his attention to Tam who was nervous as to what was about to happen.


    "Ah, greetings. Is there anything I can help you, young men, with today?" Tam said as he scratched the back of his head while hoping that they hadn''t heard what he just said about the city lord.


    "Yes, for a matter of fact. The city lord has requested that you hold off on his order. Something important hase up and he won''t be able toe here to be fitted for another week at least." The guard said as he informed Tam about the situation.


    But he heard it as them telling him that he would have a weeks time toe up with a good enough exnation as to why the material had magically disappeared.


    "Of course, that''spletely fine. I''m not in a rush or anything. You can let him know that he can take as much time as he wants." Tam said as he gritted his teeth slightly, hoping that they wouldn''t turn to look at Haru who was standing beside them. But that was an impossible task as the material naturally caught the eye.


    The guard who was speaking to Tam turned his head slightly to see Haru standing there with no expression on his face as he was waiting for the first sign of trouble so he could leave. He didn''t have the will to pick a fight over someone else''s mistake.


    "Is that?" The guard asked while both dumbfounded and shocked. He couldn''t believe what he was seeing. No one in the whole town was brave enough to pick a fight with the city lord yet not only had the store owner used his special material on another piece of clothing but there was someone else wearing it.


    The girl behind the counter ducked down and began to crawl along the floor and made it into the back room as she was too scared to stay and watch till the end. But there was no escape for Tam or Haru as they were both the main focus points in the room.


    "Well, I- Yeah, that''s it" Tam said as he looked at the guard and then back at Haru who was quite obviously wearing the material that was meant for the city lord.


    "Well, do you care to exin? That one piece of material costs the same amount as a mid-sized plot ofnd. It''s a priceless treasure and one of a kind on this. How could you be so careless as to give it to someone else? Or is this an act of rebellion? Are you nning to betray the city lord after all that he had done for civilians like you!?" The guard asked as the other three pulled out their swords and looked at Tam with fury in their eyes.


    Haru sighed to himself as he just wanted to go back to the inn and rx. That was enough drama for him to deal with and he was feeling tired.


    "Well, It was nice to meet you, Tam. But it seems like you are a little preupied. I wille back some other time." Haru said before heading for the door.


    "Don''t mind me guys. Carry on with what you were doing." Haru spoke again as he addressed the guards. But they also heard the arrogance in his voice as he spoke and they felt like he was questioning his authority by speaking to them that way. Little did they know that was the only way he knew how to speak theirnguage.


    "Stop right there! You''re not innocent either! You are wearing the city lords robe! Take it off right this instance!" The guard shouted at Haru.


    Haru stared at him for a moment before replying.


    "The city lords robe? Mr Tam here has just cut it to fit my body and said that I didn''t even need to pay for it. This is my robe and my property. If your city lord has an issue with that he can speak to me directly. I will not be taking any orders from you or your little organisation.


    So do not address me as though I am your lesser!" Haru exined before shouting back with a hint of anger in his voice.


    The room wentpletely silent as they were all at a loss for words. No one knew what to say as Haru turned his back to them and left through the door and walked out into the street.


    Haru continued to walk away as he tried to calm himself down. He had let his pent up rage explode for a second when they had tried to order him around. But he was out of there now so he thought that he could go back to the inn and rx.


    However as he walked away, Haru felt a hand on his shoulder as he heard the voice of the guard that had ordered him to take off the robe.


    "Stop right there! I didn''t say you could leave!" The guard shouted as Haru sighed once again.


    "That is your third strike. If this was baseball you would be out right now" Haru said as he turned his head to look the guard in his eyes as he was confused by what Haru had just said.


    "Baseball? What in the-?" The guard began to ask before his words left himpletely as Haru''s foot struck him in the chest with so much force that all of his ribs broke upon impact and he was sent flying back towards the entrance of the store.


    "If you''re here to pick a fight then so be it. But remember I wasn''t the one who started it." Haru said with a grin as he threw away his pacifism and turned to face the other three guards who were in shock with their swords still drawn as they weren''t sure what to do.

 Chapter 357: First Monster Beast Core.

    Chapter 357: First Monster Beast Core.


    A small cloud of dust shot into the air as the guards slid across the floor and hit the wall of Tam''s store before dropping down onto his stomach. A few moments went by as the other guards looked on in shock to see that their colleague was no longer moving.


    They then looked back up at Haru who was waiting for them to attack, but instead, they put away their weapons and attended to their fallen friend. Haru sighed in frustration and turned around without saying another word.


    "Now my mood ispletely ruined," Haruined to himself as he walked down the street back towards the inn in his new robe. A few heads turned as Haru strolled past them as the material caught the eyes of everyone who saw it.


    ''And this is just great isn''t it? I wanted something that would make me stand out less but this has done theplete opposite.'' Haru thought as he reached the door to the inn and entered to see that it was starting to fill with customers now that they had officially opened for the day.


    The woman behind the counter smiled as she saw Haru enter again after less than an hour of being gone.


    "I take it that they were harder to catch than you initially thought, weren''t they? We see a lot of people try to catch them since their meat is delicious but only a very small amount of people have the skills required to catch them." The woman said as she doubted Haru''s skill once again.


    "I caught a couple of them actually. You were right about them being quick though." Haru smiled back as the woman looked doubtful but took his word.


    "You did? That''s surprising. You don''t look like the type of person who is capable of matching their speed." She said in reply to the arrogant tone in Haru''s voice as she thought he was being hostile.


    "Well, where should I put them? They''re in my storage ring." Haru said as he assumed that storage rings were normal in this world since he had seen people use them before in his short time on the. But the woman looked a little shocked to learn that he had a storage ring.


    "Oh, well. Just put them on the counter. We will process the meat and give you the cores right away." The woman said as she became hopeful that Haru was telling the truth before he held out his hand and a sh of golden light shot out from his storage ring as he activated it to take the rabbit corpses out.


    Suddenly the bodied puled up to the point where Haru and the bartender could no longer see each other from the height of the pile getting sorge that it was taller than the woman on the other side.


    Haru looked at the pile for a moment before getting the idea that he had probably hunted too many of them as there were a few scuffles behind him as chairs shed together when the customers stood up in shock after seeing so many feathered rabbits on the counter.


    Although blood soon began to pour down to the floor as Haru had ced them in his storage ring while time was heavily slowed down so along with blood pouring down from the counter, all of their heads dropped from the bodies and rolled onto the floor, creating arge mess below the counter.


    Haru hesitated for a moment as he didn''t mean to cause such a mess as a lot of the customers began to gasp before a table of drunk men began to cheer.


    "Looks like we''re having a feast tonight!" One of the men shouted as Haru turned and realised that everyone was staring with amazement and not a single one of them were disgusted by the mess that was caused. They had never seen such arge amount of feathered rabbits before and neither had the people working in the inn as they all stopped what they were doing to take a look.


    "H-How did you!? You were only gone for an hour at most? You would have to been killing them back to back to collect this many." The woman stated as she moved out of the way so that she could see Haru once again as she was in shock at what she was seeing.


    There wasn''t a hunter in the whole region that was known for killing so many feathered rabbits in a single day, let alone an hour. Haru had seemingly done the impossible and wasn''t something that anyone had expected from him since he was unknown to everyone in the town.


    "Wait, I don''t think we have enough money to even pay for this amount. But if you go down to the market I bet you would be able to get a lot more for all these." The woman said as she knew that their small it didn''t have the resources to afford so many of the rabbits but Haru shook his head.


    "It''s fine. Just give me the cores after you butcher them and cook mine and my friend''s meals for free. That''s more than enoughpensation for me.


    Oh and also would you mind cooking one of them right now? I promised my friend some breakfast." Haru stated as he asked them to get started on preparing the meal Hong Xia had ordered an hour ago.


    "You would really do something like that for us!? This will draw way more customers than we are used to. We might have to put up some seats outside once everyone finds out how many feathered rabbits we have. Thank you so much! I don''t know what to say. I''m sorry for judging you before. You just look so young and the way you were speaking made me think that you were just some spoilt brat.


    I didn''t mean to cause any offence. And if I did then I beg for your forgiveness." The woman eximed as she felt bad about doubting Haru''s ability after seeing just how amazing they actually were as one of the other people behind the counter took one of the rabbits and immediately began to process it in order to make some breakfast for Hong Xia like Haru had asked of them.


    "It''s fine don''t worry about it Wait a minute. You said there is something wrong with the way I speak? What is it? I didn''t think there was anything wrong with it." Haru asked as he didn''t have a clue what she was talking about but she felt a little bit ufortable answering.


    "W-well, you see It''s just the way your tone is. When you ask questions it sounds more like a demand. And when you state something it sounds like you are being prideful and bragging about your achievements. Did you really not know that you were doing that?" The woman stuttered as she thought that it was intentional the whole time.


    But the look of embarrassment on Haru''s face said more than she needed to hear. It was quite obvious that he didn''t know how his words wereing out and he was regretting the fact that he had already spoken to so many people already.


    ''Did everyone I have spoken to see me like this? I found it a little bit strange how those men ran away from me in the forest without me even threatening to do something. But I guess they must have got the idea that I was going to attack them if they continued what they were doing.


    I wonder how they would have reacted if they knew that I was nning to retreat at the first sign of trouble? I still don''t know the true strength of the people in this world but when I hit that guard just a few minutes ago it felt like I hit a bag of feathers. There was no resistance at all.'' Haru thought as there was a ng on the counter in front of him as the rabbit had already been prepared for him.


    "You''re breakfast is ready." One of the other people working in the inn said as they pointed to two tes on the counter that consisted of the Rabbit he had just hunted alongside some cooked mushrooms.


    "Thank you," Haru said as the man nodded his head and then continued with his duties as he began to process more of the meat. But as Haru looked down at the two tes he saw a small yellow crystal beside them and knew at first nce that it was a monster beast core. He then looked up to see that the woman was still awaiting a response from him.


    "I see. Well, thank you for letting me know. I never would have found out if it wasn''t for you. I will try to work on it. And thank you for the meal, but I should probably get going now. I have kept her waiting for too long already." Haru exined as he took the tes in his hands and ced the monster beast core into his storage ring before heading back up to his room.


    As he opened the door he was surprised that Hong Xia already had a new change of clothes and was dressed appropriately for the year that this world was in and was sitting on the edge of the bed.


    As soon as Haru entered the room she opened her eyes and looked up at him with a smile on her face as greeted him by standing up and bowing her head.


    "Thank you for the technique. I can move again!" Hong Xia shouted out as Haru extended his hand with the te of food.


    "Eat first, we''ll talkter," Haru said bluntly before she took the food and he sat down at a table on the opposite side of the room and began to eat.

 Chapter 358: Life and Death palm.

    Chapter 358: Life and Death palm.


    Haru and Hong Xia ate their meal in silence as the Haru quickly finished up and closed his eyes for a few moments.


    ''I didn''t expect that technique to work so fast. She is already able to walk. That is simply amazing.'' Haru thought as he was reflecting on what happened thest time he entered his soul ocean.


    ''I will take another look in the library while she finishes her meal. I wonder if anything actually happened when I touched those books or if it just forced me out without anything else.'' Haru thought as he wondered if he had actually learned a new skill or not.


    But as he tried to enter his soul ocean once again he was met by nothing but darkness as it looked as though he was staring out into the vastness of space.


    "Huh? What is this ce? Did I do something wrong?" He thought as he tried to picture his soul ocean in his mind once again but nothing happened. He imagined the mansion and there was still nothing. All that was surrounding him was an endless starry sky that seemed to go on for miles upon miles.


    Haru tried to open his eyes again as he thought that that would cause him to return to his body like it usually did but no matter what he did it was no use. He was stuck there.


    ''What''s going on? This is my own body. Why won''t it listen to me?'' Haru questioned himself as he felt trapped within endless darkness.


    But just as he was wondering about what was happening a spec of light appeared in front of him. It was faint and barely noticeable to his eyes as it appeared but he could tell that it was red in Colour.


    ''What is that?'' Haru wondered as he stuck out his hand and reached out towards it. As soon as it came into contact with his hand a sh of light shot out and filled the darkness as he looked at the palm of his hand to see a small ck pebble.


    Yet as he took a closer look he realised that it wasn''t a rock at all when he saw short vines sticking out from one side of it. That was when he realised that it was in fact a seed and not a rock.


    ''Why is there a seed here of all things?'' Haru asked as the whole situation was confusing to him. But just as he began to think about the situation before him a sudden pain hit him like a truck as the image of someone sitting within a cave came to his mind as words began to recite in his head over and over again.


    ''This seed of dark chaos is collected from the energy from the copse and destruction of an internal world. Once you breach the foundations of life and construct a world of your own you will be God. Transcending all that is currently known and bing a creator.


    I leave the rest in your hands, Haru. And don''t forget to find me when you step into that stage.'' A voice called out as Haru recognised the voice all too well.


    "Li Jun!" Haru called out in hopes that his teacher was listening but it seemed as though the words spoken in Li Jun''s voice were nothing but a recording left behind on the seed as he looked down to see a small rune inscribed on the side of the seed.


    ''What does that even mean? What is an internal world and what do you mean by bing God? Does he mean there are multiple gods or is this just an analogy for something else?'' Haru asked as he assumed that the fact that Li Jun had said god and not god''s meant that there was a creator to the universe and that probably had something to do with what he called Dark Chaos and internal worlds.


    But he wasn''t quite sure where he was going to go to find out more about those two things but as he was looking down at the palm of his hand everything soon faded to white as he heard another familiar voice. This time it was Ralph as he was standing in front of Haru with a look of confusion on his face.


    "I sensed someone invades your soul ocean. What happened. Are we under attack? I will put the mansion on defence mode so it can kill anyone who has the guts to enter." Ralph said as Haru quickly stopped him.


    "No, don''t. It was just a message left behind by Li Jun. He left behind this strange seed and told me about some things called dark chaos and internal worlds. Do you have any idea what he means by that?" Haru asked as he figured that if anyone knew about such things it would be Ralph since not even Li Jun was sure about the origin of the person that created the mansion.


    "He''s trusting you with so much already? I guess he expects you to survive till the very end doesn''t he? If that''s the case then you had better gather as much strength as you possibly can and quickly. If I tell you anything more than he has just told you right now you will be put at great risk.


    And as for that seed Throw it away. As far away from the mansion as you can possibly manage to." Ralph instructed as Haru looked down at the seed in his hand.


    "What do you mean? Why would Li Jun trust it to me just for you to tell me to throw it away? Isn''t it something important?" Haru asked as Ralph sighed.


    "It is a seed that will grow no matter where it is within your soul ocean and will continue to grow and consume everything nearby. If you want it to get destroyed by the mansions auto threat system then by all means keep it with you and let it grow here.


    But if you want it to survive then put it as far away as you possibly can from this ce." Ralph exined as it seemed as though Haru had gotten his hands on something really special that should be looked after. But he knew that the mansion''s power was nothing to scoff at. He trusted Ralphs words and threw the seed as hard as he could into the distance as it shot through his soul ocean before disappearing into the distance.


    "Good, now I heard from Lord Librarian that he let you take those three books but you were forced out of your soul ocean by something that was left behind by the previous owner of them before you could im them. So he told me to tell you to go back and im them the next time you came here.


    He would do it himself but he is forbidden from leaving the library you see." Ralph exined as Haru wondered if Li Jun was thest owner of those books that Ralph mentioned.


    ''Li Jun rose to the top of the universe after a few years of reincarnation. It wouldn''t surprise me if the secrets hidden within this mansion are what helped him do that. I wonder if I could discover more than what he did within a lifetime?'' Haru wondered as he followed Ralph back to the library where he was met by the same librarian that was there the first time.


    "You! You''re back! Quickly! Follow me! I have been holding the seal open all night and it''s tiring. Come and get the techniques already. I can''t do this forever!" The old librarian shouted as soon as he saw Haru. It seemed like there was something that was stopping the restriction on the three books from being releasedpletely and the best that the librarian could do was keep them avable for a short amount of time.


    "I''m sorry." Haru apologised for keeping him waiting and then quickly ran over to the three techniques and reached out his hand before cing it upon the one in the middle.


    Suddenly his mind went nk as the information from the book burned its self into his head.


    ''That''s This is just what I needed. A cultivation technique that ispatible with me. I will be able to cultivate and use true qi just as soon as I consolidate my cultivation stage. It''s still unstable for now but a couple of days cultivating should be able to fix that problem.'' Haru thought as he proceeded to touch the other two books.


    "Walk the line of life and death?" Haru asked as he was filled with the knowledge from the second book which seemed to be a movement technique that could either be used for travelling long distances or avoiding attacks that were targetted towards him.


    ''This will be useful too.'' Haru thought as he touched the final book and was stunned for a few moments.


    "Life and Death Palm." Haru read out loud as everything he needed to know about the book shed within his head.


    "This technique How is this fair!? This seems too good to be true. But there''s no way that the information is wrong This will be the most useful thing by far." Haru thought as a smile formed on his face as the restriction on the books fell back into ce as a slight green glow covered them and masked them into the background to the point where the shelf was barely noticeable to the point that if he didn''t know what he was looking for then he wouldn''t have seen it at all.


    "Okay, now you better go back. That woman has been calling your name for a while now. It''s getting a little bit annoying." Ralph said as he held his hand out towards Haru and forced him out of his soul ocean and back to the real world where Hong Xia was staring at Haru a little too closely.


    "Hello!? Are you still alive?" She asked while waving her hand in front of Haru''s face before he noticed her and quickly moved back.


    "What is it!?" Haru shouted out as she stared at him with a judging gaze.

 Chapter 359: Pill refining.

    Chapter 359: Pill refining.


    Hong Xia jumped as Haru raised his voice. She then took a few steps back with a look of fear and shock on her face as it was uncharacteristic of him to shout as he had. From their past interactions she had thought that he was very tolerant but from the way he had just acted there was clearly something else on his mind that was more important than her.


    "I''m sorry. It''s just that you said we would talk after we finished eating. But you have just been sitting there for thest 20 minutes with your eyes closed. Is there something bothering you?" She asked as she looked down at Haru who was still sitting.


    "It''s nothing for you to be concerned about. I''m d that you''re able to move now. It''s perfect timing too. We might need to leave this ceter tonight." Haru said as he looked at Hong Xia who had already taken the initiative to dress in her sects clothes as their modern clothes stood out too much.


    "What? We have to leave already? But I just recovered and I''m not sure if my cultivation is strong enough to be able to protect myself in this ce." Hong Xia eximed with a confused expression on her face as Haru walked over to the bed and pulled out the bags that the guards had given to him in the morning beforeying them down.


    "You will be fine. I''m not going to let any harme to you." Haru said before looking through the bags to see that they were full to the brim with medicinal nts along with a sheet of paper in each with the measurements needed in order to make the pills that Annabeth wanted.


    "If you say so. But what are you doing now? It smells like herbs of some kind. Are you going to make some more pills like the one you gave to me that time in Beijing?" Hong Xia asked as she recalled the power of the pill that Haru had given to her one of the first times they had met. She didn''t expect the powers to be as great as they were but the pill benefitted her a lot.


    She looked at Haru with a hopeful look in her eyes before he sighed.


    "Yeah, I''m making some pills so I''m going to need you to be quiet for a little bit. Are you able to do that?" Haru asked as he was getting a little bit annoyed by her constant questions. But she didn''t reply. Instead, Hong Xia sat down in one of the chairs and waited for Haru to start in hopes that she would be able to learn how to refine pills by just watching him.


    Haru sat down in the middle of the room and crossed his legs beforeying the ingredients out around him in a circle. He then pulled out the list of measurements for each pill and put them in front of him to make it easier for him to read them.


    He then closed his eyes for a few moments before calming his breathing.


    It was as though he had entered a trance as his presence seemed to vanish as his breathing became silent and he looked rxed before holding out his hand in front of his face.


    Suddenly a handful of herbs shot up into the sky before catching fire and burning down into ash as Hong Xia watched.


    She had seen older members of her sect refining pills in cauldrons before but she had never seen anyone produce fire from their body and directly burn the herbs with their own power. But she understood that it would require an inhuman amount of control over Qi and a mastery of the mes that he was wielding.


    She sat in silence as she continued to watch Haru set herbs on fire. Some of them were burnt to a crisp upon touching the mes and others were slightly charred as Haru processed each herb before picking up a small jade bottle from the floor and throwing it up into the air towards a big ball of processed herbs that were floating within a red me in front of his face.


    A liquid sshed out from the bottle as it doused the fire and the herbs, causing golden light to emerge as a gust of wind shot through the room and blew open the windows.


    Hong Xia opened her eyes as the light died down to see fifty small white balls were floating in the air in front of Haru''s face before they all dropped to the floor.


    "That''s those done. That was quite simple for a new recipe I did lose around 5% of the materials though. Oh well, they don''t have anyone better to refine pills anyway. If they have an issue with that I will just take them for myself." Haru muttered to himself as he put the pills into an empty bottle one by one.


    Hong Xia was simply too amazed to sit by and she forgot about the fact that she was asked to keep quiet and quickly jumped to her feet before yelling out.


    "Was that it!? How in the world did you do that so quickly? Doesn''t it usually take hours to form a single pill? How did you manage to make so many in just a few minutes?" She asked as she wanted to know the secret behind Haru''s strange pill refining technique. But Haru just looked back with a nk expression as he didn''t think what he had done was special.


    It was just the normal way that he made them and the way that Li Jun had instructed him to do so. He didn''t realise just how special it was and thought nothing of it. But in Hong Xia''s it was nothing short of incredible. But just as she was about to ask him more questions as to where and how he learned to refine pills the way that he did there was a knock at the door.


    Hong Xia turned and began to walk towards the door but Haru suddenly shot up from where he was sitting and grabbed her arm before pointing pushing her aside so that she wouldn''t be visible from the door.


    She looked at him for a moment with confusion but as she looked at his expression she realised that there might be something going on that he didn''t want to tell her. She took a few steps back and watched as Haru opened the door a little before poking his head out.


    "Sorry to disturb you. I havee to give you the monster beast cores from all feathered rabbits." One of the workers at the inn said as Haru opened the door to see the familiar sight of the woman that had doubted him earlier in the morning. She was holding a small leather bag out in her hand that contained the forty or so monster beast cores that they owed him.


    "Oh, thank you. I was expecting something else" Haru said as he was sure that when he heard the knock on the door he felt the presence of multiple people.


    "Oh? Is that so? Did something happen? Or are you expecting visitors?" The woman asked with a weird facial expression. Haru wasn''t sure what was going on but as the woman was talking she looked like something was bothering her. But as he watched her eyes he noticed that she kept trying to make eye contact with him before shifting her gaze to the left side of her to indicate something to Haru.


    Haru nodded his head slowly as he understood what she meant before opening the door all the way and reaching out to the left side of the woman to find a man was standing to the side of the door, just out of sight from the way the room was positioned.


    But before he could make a move, Haru grabbed him by the throat and lifted him up into the air to find that he was holding a dagger by his side which he soon dropped as he brought both his hands up to his neck to try to stop himself from being choked.


    But it was no use. Haru''s had gripped his neck tightly to the point where resisting was hopeless. He would have had more luck by trying to sh Haru with his knife as soon as he reached out. But it seemed as though he wasn''t used to killing people or there would have been more of a fight.


    Haru looked back down at the woman who gasped for breath as she sighed in relief as the look of worry had faded from her face now that she no longer had anything to fear but Haru wasn''t done.


    He then mmed the man down onto the floor before kicking the dagger away from his reach and then ced his foot against his chest to hold him down on the floor as he looked down into his eyes.


    "Who are you?" Haru asked. But there was no response as the man tried his best to push Haru''s foot away from him but he wasn''t strong enough to move it even an inch.


    "Fine, I don''t care about you much. So tell me who sent you." Haru said as he demanded an exnation from the man but he just kept struggling before Haru looked at the woman with a questioning look.


    "Fuck you! I''m not telling you shit!" The man shouted as Haru pressed down a little harder causing him to lose his breath a little.


    "Do you have apany policy on what to do in situations like this?" Haru asked as he could see that the woman looked a little bit concerned.


    "Well, this first thing would be to notify the guards. Then it is down to them whatever happens. But given that he threatened me on the staircase and described me before threatening to kill me if I didn''t take him to you I think they would be likely to interrogate him before deciding his fate." The woman exined as Haru had an idea.


    "Would you mind holding off on telling the guards for a few minutes? I would like to ask him a few questions for myself." Haru said with a smile as he looked down at the man who was still struggling.


    "You want to interrogate him yourself? I mean I don''t mind. But try not to hurt him on our property. It will leave a bad taste in our customer''s mouths if they find out that someone was tortured here." The woman said with a hesitant look in her eyes.


    She clearly didn''t like the idea of Haru questioning the man but she conflicted as she didn''t want to offend the person who had just brought a lot more business to their inn by catching a rare delicacy for them.


    "I''m not going to torture him, that would get too messy and I don''t want you guys to be cleaning blood out of your floors for a month. I have other ways to make him talk. And don''t worry I will keep it down. No one will hear a single scream I promise." Haru said with a smile before sliding his foot backwards and kicking the man into the room that he was staying in.


    "It won''t take long," Haru said before closing the door behind him.


    There was a loud bang from within for a moment before it wentpletely silent and the bartender outside could no longer hear even the sound of talking as Haru acted out his interrogation within the room.

 Chapter 360: Entering soul oceans.

    Chapter 360: Entering soul oceans.


    Moments passed which soon turned to minutes as the bartender stood outside the room with her ear pressed against the door as she found it strange that there was no noiseing from within. But that didn''t make a difference as the silence continued until the door was quickly opened by a woman with long silver hair.


    "Uhm, I''m sorry. It''s just that. Well I-" The bartender said as she looked up at Hong Xia with shock as she wasn''t expecting the door to open so suddenly.


    Hong Xia looked at the woman for a few moments as she understood a few words that she had mentioned but she still hadn''t gotten the hang of learning thenguage yet. She held out her hand to the woman and gestured for her toe inside.


    The bartender hesitated for a moment as she walked into the room behind Hong Xia to see that the man that had held her at knifepoint was sitting in one of the wooden chairs and nkly staring at the ceiling as though he had lost all sense of consciousness.


    "What did you do to him!?" The bartender shouted out as she saw that the expression that the man was making was that of a broken man. There was definitely something that went on within the room despite it being so quiet.


    "Don''t worry. I kept my word. I didn''t harm him in any way. I just used a technique to get ess to his memories for a few moments. There will be some minor side effects but it isn''t anything you should worry about. He will be fine as long as he isn''t left out in the cold.


    He might have a little trouble using his Qi so it would be a bad idea to put him in any dangerous situations." Haru exined with a proud look on his face as if he had just done a noble act by interrogating the man. But as the bartender looked at him she felt as though she should have been more specific about harming the man. Mental trauma was still trauma after all.


    "Pretty butterfly." The man in the chair said suddenly as he reached his hands up and pped them in the sky as if he had caught something within them.


    Haru looked over at him for a moment before realising that it was just one of the delusions that were caused by what he had just put him through to get the answers out of him.


    "What was that? Did he just try to catch an imaginary butterfly?" The bartender asked as she looked at Haru with judging eyes.


    "Well, I guess so. It''s quitemon for people to revert to a child-like state when they experience something mind-altering. I guess he is just feeling a little bit out of it for the time being. He should be fine with a few days rest." Haru said as the bartender looked at him again but this time with a questioning stare.


    "Should be fine? What if he isn''t? How am I supposed to tell the guards what happened to him when they see him like this?" The bartender asked as Haru thought about it for a few moments. He couldn''t think of an answer to give her.


    But he appreciated the fact that she didn''t ask him specifically about what he had done in order to reduce a grown man to a child-like state. He figured that he would have toe up with something believable for her to stop asking questions.


    But it seemed as though she knew that it was for the best that she didn''t ask anything unnecessary. It wasn''t like she would get an answer anyway. But it saved Haru some time as he didn''t need to make something up


    But as Haru was talking to the bartender he felt a tug on his sleeve as he turned to see Hong Xia trying to get his attention without alerting the woman to the fact that they both spoke an unusualnguage.


    "Hey, I think you should let her deal with this already. If anyone finds out what you did to him you will be a criminal. I doubt that it''s legal to look directly into someone''s soul." Hong Xia warned as she whispered into Haru''s ear.


    Haru nodded his head as he agreed with her. But he had yet to tell her that he had already broken thew and the guards of the town were most likely trying to find him even as they spoke.


    Haru sighed before walking towards the bartender and talking to her directly.


    "I assume I can leave it to you to see that he is handed over to the correct people. I don''t want anyone to know my involvement of course." Haru said as the bartender sighed with relief as she was wondering what the reason she had been called into the room was for.


    But it was so that Haru could show her the exact state that he had left the man in. If she had reacted to it negatively he would then have to dispose of both of them so that he didn''t get into any further trouble from the guards or the people that had sent the man to kill him.


    But from the way that the bartender had acted Haru was confident that he could leave it up to her to decide how to go about handing the man over to the guards.


    "I have some business to take care of with the people who employed him so if you don''t mind I would appreciate it if you take him to the guards as soon as possible," Haru said with a sigh before sitting down on the edge of the bed.


    Hong Xia helped the bartender get the man up to his feet before walking them both to the door as the man continued to act like a child as he reached for the air as if he could see something that the rest of them could not.


    Just as she was about to close the door, Hong Xia spoke out.


    "Thank you." She said as she put her very limited knowledge of thenguage to use to thank the bartender for helping out. The bartender smiled as she figured that Hong Xia was just shy and that is why she didn''t talk at all. But she could tell be howid back Haru was and how Hong Xia acted concerned about the man despite watching him get interrogated that the two of them weren''t people to be feared unless you got on their bad side.


    The bartender then went about with the task that she had been given and took the man to the guard''s office while Hong Xia walked back over to Haru who was lost in thought.


    "What did you do to him? You said that you had a trick to make him talk but he didn''t make so much as a sound yet you still look like you found out why he was sent here." Hong Xia asked as Haru had yet to tell her anything about what he had done. But the longer that she was with him the more she began to doubt that he was really from Earth.


    Despite being on another Haru looked like he was calm and collected the whole time yet that was how it seemed from the outside. In fact, he was struggling to figure out what he should do.


    He had no purpose other than getting stronger so that he could be ready to revive Suyin''s soul and explore the universe just like his teacher had done. But from what he understood it would take a while before he got to that stage of his cultivation and being stuck on a that he knew nothing about was quite confusing and overwhelming to the point that he was starting to hesitate.


    "I took a look inside his soul ocean and asked him a few questions," Haru said as Hong Xia took a few steps back out of shock.


    "You can enter someone''s soul ocean at will!? Where did you learn such a thing? That is a truly terrifying skill. You could theoretically rip memories out of someone''s body and view them as if you were that person." Hong Xia said as she looked at him in disbelief but Haru was even more shocked that it had worked.


    ''I didn''t know if it would really work, but that just goes to show that cultivation and magic go hand in hand with each other. But why is there something preventing people from learning both of them? I was clearly told that it was impossible for Li Jun to use magic and be a cultivator at the same time. Yet why did I gain the ability to do both?'' Haru questioned as had happened to make the impossible possible.


    The way he was able to extract information from the man was because of a spell that was only taught to the highest-ranking officers in the Japanese military.


    It was a spell that was capable of forcing a person to spill their deepest and darkest secrets by taking over a small part of the brain. The fact that he had captured someone for questioning made him remember the spell and he knew that it would be useless to make him talk out loud since there was a risk of them being overheard in a ce like that.


    So instead he decided to direct the spell away from the brain and inject it with Qi as he aimed for the man''s soul ocean.


    In a split second, he watched the man''s life sh before his eyes and learnt who wanted to assassinate him and why. Yet he had never seen the man before in his life yet he the man called him Lord which confirmed Haru''s initial suspicion that it had something to do with the men that had attacked Annabeth.


    "I guess I can enter someone''s soul ocean. But it is probably something I should avoid doing too often. I have a headache. I think I''m going to take a walk. Stay here and wait for me okay?" Haru said before leaping down from the open window into the street below.


    "Wait I wille with you-" Hong Xia shouted out as Haru vanished from her sight but as she looked down from the window Haru was nowhere to be seen.

 Chapter 361: Reveal yourself!

    Chapter 361: Reveal yourself!


    The sun began to set over the town as the streets soon filled with nightlife as many of the residents finished up work and came out into the streets to go back to their homes or grab food as they passed some of the restaurants on the main street.


    Haru walked along the busy road as he looked around. From the information, he had gotten from the man''s soul he knew not only that he was in danger but the people that were looking for him had managed to bribe someone to give away his location as Annabeth had made it pretty clear that the men that had tried to kidnap her martial sister were not allowed into the city.


    So that meant not only did they manage to get information from someone within but they had spies hidden within the town.


    ''Should I let them know first? I''m not really sure who I am up against but someone who is able to control arge force of people in a world of cultivators has to be incredibly strong. There is no way that a regr person would be capable of making so many people follow them willingly.'' Haru thought as he knew that there were a lot of things that were required for a man to lead an army of cultivators.


    He thought back to when he gathered a bunch of cultivators on earth to fight the demons in shanghai. The forces had a few conflicts as they didn''t want to follow the orders of people they didn''t know the strength of. It wasn''t until the old men from the ck star sect showed their true strength that they were able to fall in line and work as one.


    ''Who am I kidding. This whole situation is so much bigger than me. The only reason that they came after me is that they were too scared to get on the bad side of the city lord and Annabeth''s mysterious teacher.'' Haru thought as he came to the decision that he should inform Annabeth about the attempted assassination.


    Haru kept to the alleyways while making his way towards the city lords mansion in the centre of the town as he tried to keep himself from being spotted by any guards that might have been looking for him for the little scuffle he had gotten into with them before.


    There were no issues along the way as he finally arrived at the mansion but there was a strange feeling in the air that he couldn''t quite figure out as he got closer to the entrance where there was arge gate at the base of a steep stone staircase.


    Haru looked up towards the top of the staircase and saw a faint glow in the air that seemed to be a colour in between green and blue. He couldn''t quite tell what it was but he knew that it was caused by something with a lot of power.


    As Haru took his first step past the threshold of the gate he heard the sound of a string instrument being plucked lightly and delicately with a melodic tune ringing through the air.


    The perimeter of the property was somehow enchanted with a sound blocking formation as the music couldn''t be heard from outside but as soon as he stepped foot into the property it became obvious that someone was rehearsing a song that they had yed thousands of times.


    Haru felt a sense of calmness as the song promoted peace and made him feel safe and protected despite being in a ce where he could be swarmed by guards at any moment. But as he listened he soon realised that each note yed contained a trace amount of Qi within it that would immediately be absorbed by whoever heard it.


    It wasn''t just someone ying a song but someone ying a song to improve the cultivation of others. Haru was surprised that someone would be willing to do such a thing but it reminded him of how Lao had sung him a song to help him learn thenguage of the dragons.


    He knew that only a teacher would be willing of sharing something like that with their students. Haru smiled as he now knew where he would find Annabeth. If it was in fact her teacher that was ying the song he knew that she would be at the source of it.


    Haru followed the sound up the stairs until he was met with the sight of the city lord''s mansion that was elevated above the rest of the town on a hill of stone. He looked around for a few moments before spotting a guard in the distance.


    He activated his cloaking spell and then walked forward knowing that he hadn''t been caught just yet. Haru looked at the building for a few moments while listening to the sound of the instrument before determining that the sound wasn''ting from within.


    He walked around the back of the building to see a smaller building that was semi-attached to the main building with a bridge since it was in the centre of arge pond that was in the ground.


    There was a flickering light within the smaller building on the pond which confirmed that there was movement inside. Haru hoped that he would find Annabeth as he took a few steps forward but he wasn''t paying enough attention to his surroundings to notice a small branch crunch beneath his feet as he got closer to the pond.


    The song abruptly stopped as a sh of light shot from the building. Haru watched as time seemed to slow around him. A sword flew towards him with the de pointed directed towards his head.


    Although time slowed down the sword was still moving at a speed that made it nearly impossible for Haru to even react to it. He raised his arms in front of his face to prevent it from hitting him in the head but he expected that it would cut one of his arms to the point of no repair without magic but he was surprised as he heard a ng and the sword stopped moving upon contact with his arm.


    The sword dropped to the floor with a thud as he looked down to see that it was nowying in the dirt. He felt confused for a moment but then quickly remembered that he was wearing the bracers that Li Jun had given to him with the rest of his clothes. He knew they were armoured but he didn''t expect them to be enough to prevent a flying de from causing him even the least amount of harm.


    "Who''s there!" A voice shouted out from within the smaller building. Whoever was inside had clearly acknowledged Haru''s presence but he decided to remain silent in hopes that they would think that he had already left but it wasn''t that simple as arge mound of dirt was torn up from the ground andunched towards him.


    Haru dodged the dirt for it to crash into the ground behind him and cause more dirt to rise into the air which formed a huge vortex that began to spin around and around before beingunched towards him again.


    Haru dodged again but it was no use as it seemed to learn his movements and followed him a little closer. The dirt moved through the air like a snake as it trailed his movements to the point where Haru had no choice but to put an end to it with force by facing the impact head-on and punching the dirt that was flying towards him/


    Haru struck the dirt with his fist as hard as he could which caused arge shock wave in the air all around as the dirt dispersed quickly and rained down on the ground once again.


    ''You seem too skilled to be with that group of fools in the north. Who are you!? I demand that you reveal yourself right in this instance. If you do then I might spare your life!'' The voice called out again as the owner tried to sound intimidating but for Haru who had often conversed with a dragon it sounded like nothing but an empty threat but he still knew that he had to be wary of whoever was within the building.


    ''Maybe I should leave?'' Haru thought as he didn''t want to push his luck too far as he wasn''t sure just how strong his opponent was since he couldn''t them but they were still able to push him back without even being in his line of sight.


    But just as he was thinking about retreating, the sounds of marching footsteps emerged from behind as the guards ran towards where they heard amotion to see that the ground around had dirt scattered as though an explosion had happened but they weren''t able of detecting Haru as he stood still with the cloaking spell still activated but he knew that if he moved or activated another spell that they would find out exactly where he was standing and he doubted that he could take on that many people as there looked to be around thirty to forty guards with their weapons drawn.


    "I will give you one final chance to make yourself known or I will reveal you to the guards and let them deal with you however they seem fit" The voice shouted out again as the guards looked around in confusion as they were unsure where the voice wasing from.


    Haru felt stuck as he couldn''t see any other way out of the situation he now found himself in without fighting either thirty people or one extremely strong opponent.

 Chapter 362: Friend or foe?

    Chapter 362: Friend or foe?


    Haru looked around for a few moments as he tried to locate a way out of the situation he had found himself in. There were guards to his right that would attack upon sight if they knew his location and there was a cultivator within the building that knew his every move even though he had a cloaking ability surrounding him.


    He knew that if he tried to run away he would have a hard time escaping from the cultivator but he didn''t see any other way he could get out of the situation. He was being forced against a wall since he had still yet to learn the powers that people held on this but the fact that the man could see past his magic made him pretty sure that he didn''t have the upper hand within the city lords mansion.


    ''Could I try reasoning with him? Maybe if I could just exin what is going on? No that''s a stupid n. If I try to exin myself it will make me look more guilty and like I am hiding something. If I do that and then go to talk to him I will likely be tortured.


    Where is Annabeth? If I can just get here out here then she will be able to vouch for me and let them know that I''m not up to anything.'' Haru thought as he knew that whatever he said wouldn''t be trusted unless she was around to let the others know that he wasn''t a threat.


    But as he stood, thinking about what he should do. The other cultivator was bing increasingly more impatient as time went on. He didn''t want to let Haru think of a way to escape so he once again provoked Haru by throwing a small needle towards him in hopes that he would speed up with his decision but Haru caught the needle with his hand which was surprising as it was almost as though his body had moved on its own to intercept the attack.


    ''That was weird'' He thought as he looked at his hand to see the thin needle that was almost invisible to the naked eye. If the man was intending to kill Haru it would take a lot more than a simple needle which showed that he wasn''t taking the situation all that seriously as if he already knew that Haru wasn''t a threat yet was still carrying out his duty.


    ''I see He is trying to get me to show my intentions. I was sneaking around so he assumes that I am up to no good. If I was here to cause trouble I would likely run away after being discovered. If my intentions were innocent then there would be no need for me to run.'' Haru thought as he finally understood the situation.


    From the previous attacks, he knew that the cultivator that was hidden within the room was in fact much stronger than he was. But the attacks weren''t anything that he couldn''t handle. If he did want to kill or inflict harm on Haru then it would be much easier toe outside and face him head-on. Instead, he remained within the building as he knew that there was no threat.


    Haru deactivated the cloaking spell and showed himself to all the guards that immediately locked their eyes towards him, some of them stunned by the fact that he had appeared from nowhere and the others staring furiously as they looked at the intruder.


    They didn''t know what to do at first since his appearance was a surprise but upon revealing himself Haru raised his arm and threw the needle back towards the building where the other cultivator was still inside to show that he wasn''t afraid of him just because he is a little bit stronger than him.


    But upon doing so a gust of wind blocked the needle in the air and made it float gently over to the building before being guided back inside through the door.


    The guards began to coordinate themselves as they were wary of Haru and were getting ready to rush towards him together and subdue him. But just as they started to move forwards they were stopped by an invisible wall as a single note was plucked on the instrument again.


    Before they could say anything a man with long silver hair stepped outside from within the building. Although he looked young on the surface. From the look in his eyes, Haru could instantly tell that the man was a lot older than he was. Probably decades if not centuries older.


    "Who are you? Are you the one I sensed appear in the forest? You''re from a lower realm aren''t you?" The man asked as he looked Haru up and down with suspicion.


    Haru felt a knot appear in his stomach as he was trying to keep that a secret just in case the people of this world looked down on people from lower realms and would target him. But he had just been exposed in front of so many people.


    He took a nce behind him at the guards who were now banging on the invisible wall that was created by the instrument and it looked as though they were shouting something but they remainedpletely silent.


    ''A sound barrier formation? It seems like he wants this conversation to stay strictly between the two of us.'' Haru thought as he sighed in relief knowing that the cultivator before him hadn''tpletely revealed his secret.


    "Yeah, that was me. Is there something wrong with that?" Haru asked as he was confused as to how the situation was going to y out. But since the cultivator already knew he wasn''t from this, there was no point in hiding it.


    "I thought so. That''s good. Congrattions on ascending up here. It''s not too often that someone manages to break through the restrictions of their realm. And especially notmon for someone toe to this star system. I don''t know if I should feel happy or sad for you." The cultivator said with a sigh as he looked at Haru who instantly became confused by his words.


    "Oh, you don''t know do you?" The cultivator asked as he watched Haru''s eyes aim upwards as he tried to decipher what he could have meant by feeling bad that he managed to ascend to the middle realm.


    "I don''t know what?" Haru asked as he looked back at the cultivator with a nk expression.


    "Well, I guess as thanks for saving my students yesterday I should probably tell you. Follow me inside I will take care of the situation out here." The cultivator said as his demeanour changedpletely as he smiled at Haru with sadness in his eyes as he held out his hand towards the door that he had just walked through.


    Haru hesitantly walked towards him and kept his guard up since he still wasn''t sure if he could trust this man or not since he knew about Haru right from the moment he arrived on the yet treated him as an enemy until just a few moments ago.

 Chapter 363: Saftey.

    Chapter 363: Saftey.


    Haru followed the cultivator inside the building to see that it was well illuminated but had a simple design. It was surrounded by a pond so the sound of running water could be heard from below the wooden floor and there was a red rug in the middle where an oak table sat upon it with a golden zither on top of it.


    ''So that''s the instrument I heard? He was capable of gathering so much Qi from just a few notes yed on a zither What kind of monster is he?'' Haru asked himself as he was beginning to question just who this man was.


    He wasn''t sure what stage his cultivation was at but it was certainly something that Haru couldn''tprehend since he had yet to learn exactly what the cultivation levels were called after the nascent soul stage.


    It wasn''t necessary for him to learn back on earth given that he wouldn''t meet anyone more powerful but now that he was in the middle realm there were bound to be plenty of people that have cultivated their strength to the point where they could wipe out a whole city back on earth with just the sh of a sword.


    It was crazy to think that only a few years prior Haru was just a regr human with no knowledge of cultivation but through the guidance he received from Lao and Li Jun he had managed to make it to another realm within five years of starting his journey.


    Haru watched as the man sit down behind the zither and run his finger across one of the strings causing it to hum a little bit as the voices of the guards outside became audible once again and they shouted out as they demanded an exnation from the man but with a simple wave of his hand they all shut up as loud bang could be heard nearby.


    Haru turned his head as he acknowledged the sound to which the cultivator across from him sighed and held out his hand.


    "Please, take a seat. I will tell you what I meant." He said as Haru turned to face him for a few moments to see that he was being genuine. Haru then sat down at the opposite side of the table and faced the unknown cultivator.


    "So since you just arrived here I should probably tell you the situation on the. I''m not sure if you have heard from anyone but this whole is under the control of a trading organisation called the Kastron star alliance.


    Which goes without saying that this star system is known as the Kastron Star system. The only thing about it is that this star system is surrounded by a gigantic asteroid field that haspletely blocked allmunication with the rest of the realm.


    It wasn''t always like this though. It only happen quite recently when a fugitive from the upper realm was escaping from the divine sects. They blue our entire neighbouring star system which caused the chunks of rock and debris from thes to surround us, thus making it impossible for any of us to travel through the rest of the realm which has led to the downfall of strong cultivators since thes here are constantly at war with each other despite being under the control of the same organisation.


    It hasn''t been announced publicly but everyone here that has been alive since the incident happened centuries ago all know that the wars that have started in recent times are just an excuse for the Kastron star alliance to gain more followers since they will only help the sects and ns that submit to them.


    It''s quite sad but the others have almostpletely been destroyed through wars. We are lucky enough here to have a lot of strong cultivators that the star alliance won''t dare to offend on their own. But as long as they keep gathering forces from the others it is only a matter of time before they dere war on the rest of us.


    So with that said I regret to let you know that you got incredibly unlucky in ending up here. There are thousands of other star systems out there that are all doing fine. But given the fact that we are on the border of the lower realm and surrounded by asteroids no one has even noticed that we exist." The cultivator said as Haru sighed in relief.


    "Why do you look happy about that? Didn''t you hear what I just said? You are unlucky to be here since there is a huge threat of war breaking out in the next couple of decades. If you want to grow as a cultivator it would have been better for you to end up somewhere peaceful." The cultivator said as he looked at Haru with anger since he didn''t seem to be taking the warning seriously.


    "Oh, that is fine by me. A few decades is more than enough time to figure out a way to get out of here if war does break out. But I take it as the news from the other star systems hasn''t made it here yet too?" Haru asked as the cultivator looked at him with interest as he spoke.


    "What do you mean? Is there something going on out there? It''s like you said. It''s impossible for us to know what is going on in the rest of the realm." The cultivator said as Haru began to smile.


    "Well, not long ago the demon n dered war on the other ns. They have been on a mission to wipe out everyone that isn''t a demon. They have already destroyed countlesss and killed millions of people across the realm. It''s a blessing that I ended up here since I have a personal grudge against them. They would probably try to look for me if they knew where I was so the fact that I ended up far away from anyone''s detection is amazing.


    Thanks for letting me know about this. I was worried that I wouldn''t have time to cultivate my own strength. But if there is really no news of what''s going on then I should be safe for the time being." Haru said with a smile as he realised that he was probably in the safest ce he had been for years.


    Although it was only a matter of time until the demon n found out he was still alive he was grateful for the time he had been given since ascending. But the other cultivator became even more interested in Haru after hearing his story and his ears perked up as he waited to hear more.

 Chapter 364: [Bonus Chapter]Master Chu.

    Chapter 364: [Bonus Chapter]Master Chu.


    "You mean to tell me that the three ns are at war with each other? I never thought this would happen. That''s certainly news to me." The cultivator said as he looked at Haru with a doubtful look for a few moments before realising that there was nothing he could do to check the situation for himself but judging by the look of relief on Haru''s face when he found out that there was no way for the demons to track him down and the tone in his voice when he described what was going on he felt as though it wasn''t a lie.


    But if the universe was really at war then it was only a matter of time before the Kastron star system would be found again by the forces of the universe and that meant that the chaos out there would destroy everything they had worked hard to maintain in their own star system.


    "Yeah I feel as though I''m partially to me for it but with my strength right now there is practically nothing I can do about it. So as long as I have a few years living peacefully here I can work towards getting stronger so I don''t have to run anymore." Haru said with a sigh as he felt a little bit tired of the whole situation.


    The grudge the demon n had with Haru was petty but it seemed as though they really wanted to get revenge on him for hurting their pride and having one of their leaders killed by Li Jun when he invaded Haru''s soul ocean.


    But as Haru thought about Suyin''s death once again and how she was trapped within the soul cavern he became furious once again. Just the thought of her being stuck there alone was enough to make him wish that the demon n was exterminated to the veryst person. But despite his rage even he wasn''t twisted to take the lives of innocent people within the demon n. He really only wanted revenge on those leaders in power that wereing after him.


    He calmed down after a few moments before the cultivator spoke out with a confused expression as he tried to make sense out of what Haru had just said to him but he couldn''t quite understand.


    "What do you mean by you are partially to me. Why would the demon n dere war over something you have done? I doubt they even remember the grudge that you have with them." The cultivator said as he seemed to understand that it was prettymon for the demon n to hold grudges against people but he needed more details to be sure if it was something that they would take the time to track him down for.


    But as Haru exined what had happened about him offending one of the heirs to the demon n and killing one of their military leaders it became increasingly likely that Haru was the spark that caused them to jump to action and dere war but as he heard that they attacked the soul tempering grounds first it made him realise something.


    "The soul tempering grounds you say? It''s been a while since I have been there but my teacher was friends with one of the old masters there in the past. If they attacked the soul tempering grounds then that probably means they were after the grand formation crystal in the centre of the." The cultivator said as he raised his hand to his chin for a moment as he thought about it.


    "The grand formation crystal? What is that?" Haru asked as this was the first time he had even heard that mentioned before. Although he hadn''t heard of the name he figured that it was a special crystal used for formation but he was unsure as to how it would work.


    "Well, I assume you know how formations are cast right? You use a rune from the dragon''snguage as a catalyst as their words contain Qi. But it''s rumoured that before the dragons came about there was an ancient species that was created at the start of time. Their bodies were as hard as diamond and their power was far greater than anything heard of in the present.


    The great formation crystal is apparently the head of one of these beings that was found in the depths of an ancient ruin along with instructions on how to harness power from it. The crystal is a catalyst much like dragon runes but the effects of the formations that happen when it''s used are on a muchrger scale to the point where you could shroud a whole in darkness if you wanted to.


    Although not much is known about the crystal, the founder of the soul tempering grounds locked it away in his sect on his own thousands of years ago, only to have it nt roots within the ground and begin to grow upwards like a tree, bing more powerful with every year that passes." The cultivator said with a smile as he ounted what he knew about the crystal before Haru interrupted him.


    "If it''s that strong then why was it not taken by someone from the upper realm? Surely they would be interested in something like that, wouldn''t they? I don''t get why the demon n in the middle realm would go after it." Haru said as the cultivator across from him erupted into a fit ofughter.


    "The upper realm? They wouldn''t have even heard of it before up there. The people there have no interest in what happens in the lower realms. They are far stronger than us in every single way and they don''t even see us as a threat. Comparing anything from the middle realm to the upper realm is likeparing a drop of water to an ocean. That is simply how powerful the people of that realm are.


    I guess if they wanted to open a museum up for ancient objects then the grand formation crystal would be a nice addition to it but for anything rted to gaining power from it wouldn''t be worth the effort, since the weakest person in the upper realm is stronger than the strongest person in the middle realm by 100 times." The cultivator said as he soon stoppedughing and then looked over to the doorway as Haru also turned his head as he heard footsteps nearby.


    "Come on in Xiu I''ve been waiting for you." The cultivator said as the young girl that Haru had met with Annabeth in the forest stepped into view before walking in through the door nervously and thening to a halt as she saw Haru sitting on the floor with her teacher.


    "What can I do for you Master Chu?" The girl said as she turned her attention back to her teacher and waited for his response.


    "Well, I sent Annabeth out on a mission so it''s your job to serve our guest here. Do you think you are up to it?" The cultivator said with a smile as the girl nodded her head.


    "Yes, Master Chu. I can do it!" Li Xiu Said with determination as she clenched her fists together before walking to the corner of the room and picking up a ck iron kettle with the emblem of a koi fish on it.


    She then turned around and picked up a tray with two cups on it and ced a cup in front of her teacher before putting one in front of Haru before pouring the kettle into the cups to which they became filled with a red liquid. She then took a few steps back and smiled proudly for a few moments before her teacher smiled back in approval.


    "Sorry about that. I have a few requirements that my students must be able to do if they are going to learn from me. Serving tea is one of those things that I think everyone should be able to do so I have my students serve my visitors. I hope that it doesn''t bother you. Do you have any more questions or should I send her away so we can talk privately once again?" Master Chu asked as he nced between both Haru and his student awaiting his response.


    "No, not really. I didn''te here for a chat in the first ce. I wanted to find Annabeth so she could help me with something but since she isn''t here then I guess it''s probably for the best that I leave. Thank you for answering a few of my questions and exining how things work around here. But I''m going to head back for now." Haru said before gulping down the tea from the cup in once and then turning to see that Li Xiu was still standing behind him.


    "Thank you for the tea. It was delicious." Haru said with a smile but his tone of voice was still a little bit frightening to her but she nodded her head to acknowledge his thanks and then looked back at her teacher who seemed interested to know just what Haru needed help with.


    "If, it''s not too much trouble I could help you with whatever it may be. If it''s something that only Annabeth can do I can always pass a message on to her if you would like to share it with me?" Master Chu asked as Haru turned back to face him.


    "Well, I guess you should probably know this since it involves you too but I''m not sure how you would like to proceed with it," Haru said as he thought about it for a moment.


    "That sounds serious. But like I said. If it''s not too much trouble then I can help you with whatever it may be." Master Chu said again as he looked up at Haru.


    "Well, those people who tried to kidnap your student. They thought it would be a smart idea to send an assassin to kill me earlier today. After a little bit of interrogation, he told me the exact location of their base. I was going to go over there and let them know that they are making a mistake by making me an enemy. I figured she would want toe along too but since you offering your help then I might take you up on it.


    It would be nice to have someone as strong as you with me when I dish out some pain." Haru said with a smile as he thought that his joke would lighten the situation as Haru nned to kill them all for attacking him. But as he looked at Master Chu he realised that he didn''tugh or even smile he looked down at his hands with a serious expression for a few moments before looking back up at Haru and shaking his head at Haru.


    "That''s a really bad idea. Please tell me you didn''t kill the assassin" Master Chu said with hesitation in his voice as Haru became relieved that he didn''t kill the man like he originally wanted to but he was confused as to what had made Master Chu so nervous.


    "I didn''t kill him. But he will probably suffer from long term brain damage. Why would it be a bad idea though? Are they backed by someone strong or something?" Haru asked as Master Chu slowly lowed his head onto his hand and looked down at the table.

 Chapter 365: Same old.

    Chapter 365: Same old.


    Master Chuughed before looking back up at Haru with a look of sorrow on his face. "Backed by a strong person would be an understatement. They are in fact one of the groups that are backed by the Kastron star alliance. Even I wouldn''t dare to make an enemy of them on my own.


    If you would have gone there to retaliate for them sending an assassin after you, I am afraid that you would have been killed without mercy. Even if you made it out of their base alive, they would track you down no matter where you are within the star system and kill you for making an enemy out of them.


    I guess if he really isn''t dead then we have nothing to fear. But you are lucky. The alliance will allow fighting among their members but as soon as someone else interferes in their matters they will stop at nothing to make an example of what happens to those that go against them." Master Chu exined as Haru gulped as he realised how bad it could have ended for him.


    He had nned to kill the assassin for trying to take his life but if he had done then he would have been in a terrible situation with his life on the line. He felt a little bit better about the situation now that he knew more about the situation on the. But the feeling of knowing that there was nothing he could do to get revenge against the people hunting him left a bad taste in his mouth.


    It was exactly like the situation back on earth with the demon ning after him but instead, these people weren''t held back by the realms restrictions and were probably hundreds if not thousands of times stronger than Haru.


    ''Why do I always find myself in situations like this? This time it''s a lot worse than it has ever been before though. I have no one here I can call a friend and the people that are after me have control over not only a portion of this but all the other ones in the universe.


    It might just be a good idea to go into hiding until I be strong enough to fight back against them. But what would be the point in that? I would be betraying myself. I told myself that I would never hide from anyone nor hold myself back when put in a situation where there is no choice but to fight.


    I can''t simply hide away and wait for it to get better. If I ever want to grow stronger then I have to face this head-on. But that is easier said than done.'' Haru thought as he looked down at the ground before Master Chu spoke.


    "Don''t worry about it so much though. As long as you are in this town and you don''t kill any of their people then they will have no reason to disrupt the peace and send the main force to kill you.


    There might be a few asional assassins but I can promise you that as long as you stay here, you won''t face any real danger other than that." Master Chu said as Haru looked back up and listened to what he had to say.


    "Well, honestly it doesn''t look like I have much of a choice. I don''t know anyone here and also don''t have the strength to fight them on my own." Haru said with a sigh as he felt as though it was a better option than hiding. But he still felt a little bit angry about being in a situation like this once again.


    "That''s right. I guess you are just lucky that you were stronger than the assassins that they sent. And if I am being honest I am confused as to what the powers were that you used earlier. Was it some kind of stealth technique? I couldn''t even tell you were there until you made a noise.


    It was like you just erased every single part of you. And I am surprised by the fact that you managed to evade all of my attacks. Usually, someone of your cultivation stage would have been hit with the first attack and get mortally wounded by it. But you managed to block it of all things.


    There are still a lot of things I would like to know about you if you don''t mind. It''s been a long time since I have met someone from outside this star system. I would love to learn more about the outside if you ever get the time toe back for a chat." Master Chu said as he seemed curious about Haru and wanted to know everything that he did.


    It was only a natural fascination though since he was curious as to how life was like outside the star system.


    Haru was about to leave after nodding his head but then stopped after remembering something. He looked down at his hand and then held it out in front of him as a sh of light shot out revealing a small bag that appeared in the palm of his hand before he turned back to face Master Chu and his student.


    "Oh, I almost forgot. Would you mind passing this along to Annabeth? I told her I would give it to her the next time I saw her but since she is out I think it will be okay if I leave it with you." Haru said before tossing the back over towards Master Chu who then caught it in his hand and then ced it down on the table in front of him.


    "Sure, that''s no problem at all. Take care." Master Chu said as Haru left the building on top of theke and then went about his business.


    Haru walked back through the yard that he had to sneak through earlier but this time he didn''t conceal his presence. It seemed that all the guards had gone back to their positions and none of them was even concerned about him being there as he walked past a couple of them before approaching therge staircase.


    ''I know he said that he would deal with the guards but I didn''t expect him to do it without me even realising. But that is to be expected of someone of his power.'' Haru thought as he felt relieved to finally be out of there.


    Although he felt as though he was safe within the building there was a constant feeling within his heart that he could have been killed at any moment. Although Haru didn''t show it on the surface, just being in the presence of Master Chu was enough to activate his fight or flight response. Yet he decided to trust him and join him inside since he didn''t feel as though he actually wanted to kill him.


    It was probably because he knew that Haru was from a different realm from the moment that he arrived on the so he never actually nned to cause him harm. But when heunched a few attacks upon noticing him in the caught yard it seemed to be more like a test than an actual attack on his life.


    Haru sighed as he inhaled the air above the town. It was a lot thinner at the top of the stairs than it was in the town below but that was to do with the height of the hill that the city lords mansion was on.


    As Haru faced the town below the stairs he realised the true scale of it and realised why the city lord was had his name given the fact that Annabeth had said that it was just a town.


    The sun was starting to set over the town as Haru watched candles flicker down below and people close their windows for the night. He took a few moments to take in the scenery around him before finally feeling something that he hadn''t felt for a long time.


    ''I''m finally free huh? I have no family, friends or anyone expecting me to do anything for them here. I get to decide how I live my life yet I still feel empty. I thought thating to the middle realm would be an adventure but it''s starting to turn into a nightmare.


    I have a long way to go with my cultivation to get to a level where I can fight back against the Kastron star alliance.


    But if I go through with that they will hunt me down and I will have nowhere to run. I don''t even know how to leave this star system after all.


    But there is no reason to worry about that. First I have to take care of my cultivation. I still don''t have a clue how to use True Qi. I should probably start by using the new technique to cultivate more power.'' Haru thought to himself as he began to descend the stairs before walking out of the gate at the bottom and heading for the edge of the town where he had spoken to Annabeth as he knew that it was quiet in that area.


    Haru then found a spot on the rooftop of one of the buildings and sat down before beginning to cultivate for the night.

 Chapter 366: Sorry.

    Chapter 366: Sorry.


    Haru closed his eyes and entered a trance as the technique came to his mind as if it was second nature although he had never practised it before. A shing image made its self known within his mind as he watched the scene y out before him.


    Although his eyes were closed tightly he could see light all around him in the form of stars as he felt weightlessness all over. It was almost as though he was floating through space as he watched the same scene that he had seen during the ascension tunnel when he left earth.


    There were gxies and star systems all around and he felt oddly at ease. It was as though his soul had known the very same location he was seeing as a strong sense of familiarity and nostalgia flooded his mind.


    Suddenly a wave of warmth washed over him as his skin began to tingle. It was almost the same as what he experienced the first time he cultivated back on earth. The only difference was that there was no pain and the amount that he was feeling at the moment was millions of times stronger than what he had felt in the past.


    Haru held his breath as the feeling became a little bit overwhelming but continued to endure as he knew exactly what the cause of it was.


    True Qi began to leak into his body at an unimaginable rate. Haru had cultivated in many ces while on earth and even in the depths of a magic volcano yet nothing could evene close to the amount of Qi he could feel in the atmosphere on the that he was on right now.


    He now understood how Hong Xia had been able to recover so quickly. The amount of Qi on the although vast and expansive was also concerning to Haru.


    He felt as though if he kept absorbing the Qi as he was doing then he would break through to the next cultivation stage in just one night. But he didn''t even know the name of the next stage and he felt as though he didn''t have enough time to consolidate his strength at the previous stages. He had skipped the nascent soul and nirvana stage entirely as he ascended.


    He felt as though it was a good idea not to break through to the next stage but there was an urge within him that didn''t want to listen to the warning. He wanted to see what would happen if he did breakthrough and as far as he was concerned there couldn''t be anything too bad that could happen.


    Yet no matter how long Haru sat there on the rooftop trying to break through to the next cultivation stage it just didn''t happen.


    Haru became distracted as a couple of roosters cried out at the crack of dawn and as he opened his eyes he soon realised that it was morning as the sun began to beam down on his face, blinding him as he took an opportunity to look up at the sky.


    He hadn''t noticed before but slightly next to the sun there was a smaller orb of light illuminating thend around him.


    ''This has two suns? That''s strange how didn''t I notice that before?'' Haru thought as looked back down to the ground to see that the city below him was just waking up.


    There were people out in the streets getting ready for business as a few people shook their rugs outside their windows and hung up their wetundry to be dried throughout the day.


    He looked around and noticed that no one had seen him yet and figured that it was probably a good idea for him to go back to the inn before anyone called the guards for sitting on their roof. Haru jumped down to the floor and expected more of an impact on his legs when hended but to his surprise, his body felt a lot lighter than it did the night before and he hit the floor with a slight tap as his boots hit the stone but there was no shock running through his legs as he expected.


    ''Last night''s cultivation really paid off huh?'' He thought before moving along the street and towards the inn before he could get in anyone''s way as he noticed the people around him were walking with purpose and he didn''t want to keep them from going wherever they needed to go.


    He made it back to the inn after walking for a couple of minutes and walked in through the front door to find that it was awfully quiet. There was no one on the ground floor but he figured that the workers were probably doing something together.


    He continued on his way upstairs and opened the door to the room that he was staying in to find the door had been tampered with but not opened forcefully thanks to the barrier he had ced on the door, making it so that only he could open it. As he walked in he found Hong Xia holding her sword with it pointed towards him


    "I told you to stay out!" Hong Xia shouted in Gaohen. It seemed as though she had picked up a little bit more of thenguage during the night that Haru had been away but judging by the look on her face something had happened.


    "Woah, are you trying to kill me?" Haru asked with a little bit of a chuckle as she began to swing the sword towards him, not realising that it was Haru who had entered the room.


    He moved to the right of her and ced his hand against hers that was gripping onto the sword and felt her shake a little as she dropped the sword to the floor before realising that it was just Haru and not an enemy.


    "H-Haru You''re back" Hong Xia said as she looked at him in disbelief and then looked down at her hands to see that Haru was still holding both of them despite her sword no longer being a threat to him.


    She pulled her hands away from him and stumbled back as she was a little bit surprised but then upon seeing him standing there without a care in the world she immediately ran towards him again and tried to punch him in the face.


    "You bastard! How dare you leave ma alone like that! Don''t you understand that this is a whole different?! There was someone trying to break into the roomst night and I was stuck here alone! I had to resort to making empty threats in hopes that whoever it was would go away!


    You know I''m not strong enough to defend myself here so why would you leave me like that you fucking!" Hong Xia shouted as Haru immediately understood what had gone on by the brief exnation she had just given while shouting at him and trying to hit him.


    He had been dodging her punches the whole time but upon learning that someone had tried to break into the room while Hong Xia was all alone he stopped moving and let her punch him.


    She first struck him in the cheek before she kneed him in the stomach and tackled him to the ground. Haruy there as she began to punch him over and over again while on top of him and looking down as her fist hit him in the lip and broke the surface of his skin as Haru''s tooth tore through his own flesh and caused blood to run down his face to the floor beneath him.


    She stopped hitting him as she saw arge amount of blood and then hesitated for a moment as she wondered if he was going to retaliate for her losing control and attacking him but Haru remained silent as he looked up at her without breaking eye contact.


    "I''m sorry. I don''t have any excuse to give you. It was a mistake on my part. I should have expected them toe back after the failed assassination. I''m sorry you had to go through that on your own. It must have been scary." Haru said as he looked up at Hong Xia to see that she was surprised by his reaction. It seemed that she wasn''t expecting an apology and it caught her off guard.


    "You idiot!" Hong Xia shouted out before raising her hands to her face and covering her eyes as her body began to shake.


    She let out a whimper before moving one of her hands to look back down at Haru.


    "I thought they were going to break in here and kidnap me! There were so many thoughts running through my head. I wanted to escape through the window but I thought that they might have people out there waiting so I was backed into a corner! I didn''t know what to do!" Hong Xia called out between breaths as it seemed as though she was finally letting out her feelings.


    Her warrior''s spirit seemed to have been shaken by the thought of being defenceless in a world where people were stronger than she could even imagine and feeling hopeless to do anything against them if they managed to break through the door.


    Haruy there as she carried on crying while sitting on top of his stomach and holding him down to the floor. He didn''t want to say or do anything to make the situation worse so he remained still until she stopped crying.


    But as soon as the tears stopped streaming from her face they were both interrupted as the door slowly creaked open as Haru had forgotten to close it.


    He looked up to see Annabeth standing in the doorway with the young girl that he had seen the night before when speaking to Master Chu.


    She made eye contact with Haru before ncing up to see Hong Xia sitting on top of him and then quickly dragged the younger girl away from the door so she could look inside.


    "I''m sorry for interrupting! We will wait downstairs!" Annabeth called out as Hong Xia looked down at Haru after hearing her apologise she thought about what she could be apologising for before she quickly realised the positions she was in as Haru continued to stare at her with a nk expression on his face.


    Her cheeks quickly became red as she shot to her feet and turned away from Haru as he began to get up from the ground without another word.


    "I-I''m sorry for hitting you. But you have a guest. You should probably go see what she wants!" Hong Xia eximed with her back to Haru as she felt too embarrassed to say anything to his face.


    "Are you sure? You cane with me if you want to. I feel bad for leaving you alonest night." Haru stated as Hong Xia clenched her fists.


    "Just go already! I will scream your name if I need you or anything! You have nothing to worry about!" She eximed once more as she was trying to make Haru leave her as she was too embarrassed to even look him in the face to which Haru nodded his head and walked to the door.


    "Okay, well I won''t be long." He said before closing the door behind him and reinforcing the barrier with some of the Qi that he had managed to cultivatest night.


    He then walked downstairs to meet up with Annabeth and her martial sister.

 Chapter 367: Mint Grass Tea.

    Chapter 367: Mint Grass Tea.


    As Haru walked downstairs he saw Annabeth and Li Xiu sitting at one of the tables in the tavern part of the inn. They both looked confused as to where everyone was as it was strange to see no one in there especially in the morning as the workers would usually be cleaning for the day ahead.


    But there was no one in sight. Not even the woman that had helped Haru with the assassin was there and it left a strange feeling that something was going on behind the scenes in Haru''s mind.


    As he walked into the tavern he quickly walked over to the two of them and then sat down opposite Annabeth before her cheeks began to glow red slightly.


    "I didn''t mean to walk it. The door was open and I didn''t expect you to be the type of person that would like the thrill of having other people watching" Annabeth said as Li Xiu looked up with a confused expression as she was too young to understand what she was talking about but Haru on the other hand knew all too well what she was insinuating.


    "You didn''t see what you thought you did. She was simply mad at me for leaving her alonest night. It turns out that someone tried to break into her roomst night while I was gone and she was scared. Get your mind out of the gutter you pervert." Haru stated before looking around for himself.


    "Hmm? Is that really the truth? I wonder" Annabeth said in a teasing way as she stared at Haru expecting him to answer her or react but he did neither and remained silent.


    It was awfully eerie seeing the ce without anyone inside but just as he thought about how strange it was a noise came from the kitchen as the rear entrance was opened up which was followed by footsteps.


    Haru became on edge as he turned his head to see where the sounds hade from but Annabeth didn''t seem too worried and instead she raised her hand up in the air and began to wave before Haru could locate the door with his eyes to see a man and a woman had entered through the door carrying bags along with them.


    "Oh? Do we have guests already? I didn''t think that anyone woulde in when we put up the closed sign." The man said as the woman quickly put down the bags and began to approach the table where they were sitting.


    "Sorry for the wait, we just had to get some more stock from the basement." The woman said as she pulled out a notepad.


    "Oh, don''t worry about that we just came down for a chat really but if you taking orders then we will take a pot of mint grass tea," Annabeth said as the woman quickly nodded her head.


    "Thank you for being understanding. I will make it for you right away." The woman said before walking back into the kitchen and then pulling out a ck iron kettle and gathering together three cups before preparing the tea.


    ''So it was just a coincidence that they were out when I got back? I thought that there was something more sinister going on but if there is really nothing to worry about then I guess'' Haru thought to himself before realising that he had never seen either of those two people working in the kitchen before.


    He had only been there for two nights in total but he found it strange that there were now only two people in the store along with them that he hadn''t seen before.


    "Have you seen those two here before?" Haru whispered as Annabeth took a moment to think.


    "No, but then again I don''t reallye here that often. I guess they just hired some more people since they are busy. Why do you ask?" Annabeth responded as she found it strange that Haru was asking about the workers instead of asking what the reason for their visit was.


    "No reason. Don''t worry about it. Anyway what why did youe to see me today?" Haru asked as he found it strange that she hade to see him herself since the conversation they had thest time they saw each other didn''t end on the best of terms.


    "Oh, yeah. Well, it was about the pills that you gave my master." Annabeth whispered so that they couldn''t be heard by the two workers who were still in the kitchen.


    "Yeah? What about them? Did they turn out okay? It was my first time making that recipe so they might not be as effective as they could have been if I had a little bit more practise." Haru stated as he expected that there was something wrong with them and that was the reason that she hade to see him. But upon asking her if they were okay Annabeth smiled from ear to ear as she became excited at the thought.


    "You can make them more effective!? My master said that they were already amazing quality and he didn''t believe that you were the one to make them at first but he suddenly changed his mind and decided to go visit a friend.


    He told us both toe down here and see you, to invite you back to the mansionter tonight. He said that his friend will being to visit and he wants you to meet him if it isn''t too much trouble." Annabeth said excitedly as she had to struggle with herself in order to keep her voice down.


    But just as Haru was about to reply the set of footsteps cked against the wooden floor once again behind him as the woman walked back over with the tea that they had ordered and then ced it down on the table in front of them.


    "I hope you enjoy it." The woman said before walking away once again, leaving Haru, Annabeth and Li Xiu alone but this time with a pot of tea to share between them.


    Haru looked at the pot of tea for a few moments before pouring it into a cup for himself but making sure that he didn''t allow anyone else to take the kettle back from him until he was finished.


    He lifted the cup to his nose for a moment before cing it back down on the table.


    ''That confirms my suspicions. I doubt there are muscle rxers in regr tea here. One sip of this and your body will be paralysed for a few hours. I don''t know what they used but this is a really powerful drug. I need Annabeth to take the kid out of here so I don''t have to worry about the two of them.'' Haru thought as he came up with something to say that would make them leave.


    "Yes, I wille to the mansionter tonight. I actually have something that I need you to do though." Haru said as he changed the course of the conversation.


    "Sure, what is it?" Annabeth asked as Li Xiu remained silent as she continued to watch them talk to each other.


    "Could you both go out and bring one of the guards here. I have some information about the assassin that they caught yesterday. I think they would like to know about it. Tell them to meet me here please." Haru said as he pushed the tea to the side and stood up.


    Annabeth looked up at him with confusion and hesitation but did what he had asked her to do as she saw him nod his head with a look of anger in his eyes.


    She found it weird that he had put the drink up to his nose and then put it back down without drinking it but she could now see that there was a reason behind that. And she knew exactly what was going on and why he was asking her to leave.


    Haru then picked up the tray that the woman had brought into his hands and began to approach the counter where she was now standing and watching.


    Annabeth took Li Xiu by the hand and walked outside as she knew that was the best thing she could do while she was with Li Xiu. She would only be a burden if something happened If there was a child that they could use as a hostage.


    "Excuse me miss. There appears to be something wrong with the tea." Haru said as he walked towards the woman and ced the tray back down on the counter in front of her.


    "Hm? What would that be? I could have sworn that I made it exactly the way that my manager taught me to. Are you sure?" The woman asked with a nervous grin as Haru picked up the cup that he had poured and lifted it up.


    "Look. The colour is too dark. I think the water you used to brew was just a little bit too hot and you scorched the leaves. It''s a really easy mistake to make so I understand. Would you mind making some more for me?" Haru asked with a smile as he tried his best not to be threatening but the tone of his voice was threatening enough.


    The woman froze for a moment as she had the thought that he knew what she had done to the tea and then hesitantly reached one of her hands behind her back and out of sight from Haru.


    "Oh? Is that so? Well in that case then it''s my mistake. Just give me a moment to" The woman began to speak as the sound of a de sliding against something hard could be heard as she moved her hand slowly to the left before quickly shing her hand out towards Haru''s face.

 Chapter 368: Assassination.

    Chapter 368: Assassination.


    Haru leaned back as he saw the attacking towards him and dodged the woman''s attack as a small silver dagger shot past his face. Without missing a beat Haru pped her hand that she was holding the dagger with, causing it to fly across the room disarming her in a single move and then grabbed the rim of the cup that he had poured for himself before reaching out his hand as he grabbed the woman''s face with his hand and pressed his fingers against her jaw.


    She opened her mouth as a reaction to the pain from Haru''s grip against her muscle and he wasted no time tipping the drink into her mouth and watched as she coughed while trying to spit it out. He then tipped her head back as he continued to pour the tea into her mouth, giving her no choice but to swallow it if she didn''t want to drown.


    Haru watched as she instinctively gulped down the tea and felt her body go limp before letting go of her face and letting her drop to the ground.


    "What''s wrong? Is the tea so tasty that you lost all function of your body? It might have been good after all. Truthfully I don''t know a single thing about that type of tea so for all I know you could have brewed it perfectly. It''s too bad that you didn''t know that much about it either." Haru said as he walked around to the other side of the counter where the man that was with her was now watching with a weary look in his eyes.


    He could tell by seeing Haru dodge the surprise attack that he was skilled but he couldn''t tell just how strong he was by looking at him.


    He too reached behind his back and pulled out a dagger simr to the one that the woman had tried to attack him with to which Haru stopped in his tracks and ced the cup back down on the counter before pouring some more tea into it while smiling sinisterly.


    "We can do this the easy way or the hard way. You either tell me what your goal is bying here and answer any other questions that I may have for you. Or I can put you to sleep and then extract the information from you by other means. But I can''t promise that you will have a fun time if ites down to that option. So pick. What would you like to do?" Haru asked before picking up the cup and walking towards the man who had backed himself into a corner.


    "W-wait. I will talk! I will talk. There is really no need to do anything unnecessary!" The man shouted as he dropped his dagger to the floor.


    "See, I am no threat to you. Please don''t make me lose my mind as you did to my colleague!" The man begged as his words caught Haru''s attention.


    "So that means you two are with that other guy huh? Okay, that makes things a lot easier but I still do have a fair share of questions for you. Seem''s like you already know about thest assassins condition. I guess you have deeper roots in this town than I thought." Haru said as the man nodded his head in agreement with Haru as he didn''t want to be the same as thest assassin that had tried to take Haru''s life.


    "Okay then. Now if you will,e, sit over here with me." Haru said as he walked back to the table that he was sitting at and then gestured for the man to sit opposite to him. The man then sat down and ced his hand on the table so that Haru could see them at all times to make sure that he wasn''t nning to attack him.


    "So my first question is about how many of you there are. Did you bring anyone else with you today? And if so then where are they now?" Haru asked to make sure that there wouldn''t be another assassin popping up out of nowhere while they were talking.


    "No, It''s just the two of us. We tied the workers up in the basement and then put on the uniforms just in case any customers came in. We couldn''t find the key to the door to keep people out so we just put up the sign to say it''s closed. That''s why it came as a surprise to find you sitting there with the other two." The man said as he looked down at the table, knowing that there was no point in hiding the truth.


    There was only so much that his employers could do to him. But as for Haru who was unknown to him it was different. He didn''t know what kinds of tricks that Haru was keeping up his sleeves but he knew that whatever they were it was enough to drive someone insane to the point where they forget their own name.


    "Okay, that''s good, then who was the person who tried to break into my roomst night?" Haru asked as he wanted to find closure for Hong Xia.


    "That was me. One of the workers told me that was your room. But when I heard a woman screaming I got spooked and thought that I had the wrong room so we left until the morning. It was that damn witches idea to capture the workers. I wanted to do this quietly so we wouldn''t stair any more trouble.


    But after failingst night she decided that the best way to get results would be to find out more information by asking the workers. Well, by asking She might have tortured them after they refused to say anything. I swear that I had nothing to do with that though! Please believe me when I say that it was her idea.


    Even when we came in to find you sitting here. She was the one who came up with the idea to drug you. She knows that the boss wants Li Xiu to be his wife and she said that she had a personal grudge with Annabeth so she thought it was the best opportunist to abduct all of you at the same time." The man said with his eyebrows now furrowed as he was expecting Haru to get mad at him and retaliate for everything they had done. But instead, he sat there for a moment while thinking about everything he was just told.


    ''So they didn''t really have a n to go with? These people are just armatures. Even the first attempt on my life was carried out by someone who didn''t have a clue what he was doing. Everyone knows that in order to assassinate someone you have to have a n to make sure that you aren''t seen by anyone or even seen close to the crime scene.'' Haru thought as he knew exactly what to do from experience as he had carried out assassinations in the past.


    The people that were after him definitely didn''t think too much about any strategy and it showed by how bold they were when trying to carry out the assassination.


    "You''re not very good at this whole assassination thing, are you? What are your employers even doing? Do they want me dead or are they just sending you to me in hopes that I will kill you for them?" Haru asked as the man looked up at Haru with anger before remembering that he was in no ce to get angry.


    "Well, that is probably because the league of assassins have cut all connections with the Kastron star alliance. Usually, our lord would send one of their people to carry out his evil deeds. But since he can''t do that anymore he has made us guards do it instead. I don''t even usually fight with a dagger yet he ordered us to use them so we look the part." The man said before looking down once again.


    Haru sat there for a moment to process what he had just heard.


    "Pfft. To think that he would use guards as assassins. That is justughable. You''re training are for two different things. That''s like trying to use a shield to kill people in battle." Haru couldn''t help butugh as he shared his opinion on the matter.


    "Tell me about it. Ever since I was a kid I have cultivated to protect the people that I care about yet here I am trying to take peoples lives for an evil lord that torments children. I don''t know what went wrong." The manined as he seemed to be aware that what he was doing is wrong yet was still doing it.


    "That''s on you. But that isn''t what I''m concerned about here. Tell me more about this lord of yours. Why does he want to kill me? All I did was speak with his men and they ran away from me. I don''t think that I have offended him in any way." Haru said as he thought about what had happened to put him in that situation in the first ce.


    But then again the man in question was the type of person to abuse children to sate his sexual desires. He was the worst type of person imaginable so it wasn''t surprising that he wanted Haru dead.


    But just before the man could answer the question Haru felt a presence behind him as a projectile shot past his face and hit the man opposite to him in the centre of his head. Blood gushed up into the air as a hole opened up on the man''s head before he could say anything else.


    Haru quickly turned to see where the projectile hade from but as soon as he looked back, all that he saw was a dark shadow sh past the door.

 Chapter 369: Dark Shadow.

    Chapter 369: Dark Shadow.


    Whoever had thrown the projectile was clearly trained in assassination given the fact that Haru didn''t sense him at all even after killing the man in front of him. It was the perfect assassination and was much more capable than what he had seen so fare from the people that were after him. This assassin could have certainly attacked Haru and retreated without being caught but since he didn''t do that it made it clear that Haru wasn''t their target and it was, in fact, the assassins that hade to kill him.


    Haru jumped to his feet and ran over to where he had left the woman behind the counter and sure enough, she was also dead. Her throat had been cutpletely with arge gash all the way along it causing blood to pour out onto the floor.


    ''Was it because they failed their objective in killing me? But I''m sure that he said that they have only trained guards to be assassins. There was no way that was a guard. They were quite clearly a master assassin if I couldn''t detect them at all.'' Haru thought as he knew how much skill it took to perform perfect assassinations and that was amplified during the day.


    It was hard enough to stay hidden with the cover of darkness but to stay hidden with sunlight beaming down on you took much more than skill alone. Whoever it was they had to know a lot of stealth orientated cultivation techniques.


    Haru stood there for a moment before panic hit him.


    ''If I didn''t sense theme in then they could have been here for a while. Shit Hong Xia! She would have no way to fight back against them if even I didn''t stand a chance.'' Haru thought as he quickly ran upstairs to the room that he was staying in to find Hong Xia sitting on the edge of the bed still reading the book that Haru had given to her so she could practise thenguage of this world.


    "Oh, I''m d you''re safe." Haru sighed in relief as he saw that she was okay and there was no need for him to panic. He just didn''t want to see her die because of him.


    "What? Did something else happen? What is it?" Hong Xia asked as she saw the look on Haru''s face and then stood up.


    "Yeah, the person who tried to break into the roomst night came back with an aplice a few minutes ago. It seems as though you scared them awayst night as they thought they had the wrong room since they heard you scream.


    But when they came back before they pretended to be workers and served me some drugged tea. But it turns out that they weren''t the only assassins hiding in this town." Haru said as he thought about the reason for them assassinating the assassins and he thought back to the conversation that he had with Master Chu.


    As long as Haru didn''t kill any of their people then there wouldn''t be any major repercussion from the Kastron star alliance. But if he did then they would send all their forces to make an example out of him for going against them.


    Haru was hit with sudden dread as he knew that if the bodies downstairs were ever found by someone then he would have no choice but to run away. Haru quickly ran downstairs without saying another word as Hong Xia followed closely behind, unsure of what was happening.


    But as soon as he reached the ground floor the door to the Inn opened up to reveal a small group of guards standing with their weapons raised as they were ready for a fight.


    They looked at Haru for a moment before looking down at the corpse lying in the middle of the tavern.


    "It looks like the fight was over before we even got here." One of the guards said as Annabeth pushed her way past them to see the body before looking up at Haru with wide eyes.


    "Oh You killed them" Annabeth said with a worried expression as she looked at Haru.


    There was a long pause of silence as everyone in the room waiting for someone to say something but Haru remained silent. He knew that if he tried to exin what happened it would make him look even more guilty.


    "Hey, what''s going on?" Hong Xia asked as she slipped her head past Haru''s arm to see the guards standing behind Annabeth with their swords raised.


    "Oh, this doesn''t look good." She whispered before retracting her head back and grabbing Haru''s shoulder before trying to pull him back upstairs but he remained still until Annabeth broke the silence once again.


    "Okay, first we need to get rid of the bodies. You three! Bag them up and take them out of the back entrance we don''t want anyone finding out what happened here okay?" Annabeth asked as she looked up to see that Haru was surprised by her actions.


    He thought for sure that she was going to me Haru for what happened in order to spare their town from answering to the Kastron star alliance but instead she ordered the men to get rid of the bodies.


    "Oh, and if any of you feel like you want to betray my family then don''t forget that you are the ones disposing of the bodies. If they find out that you guys helped out then you won''t be spared either no matter what pretty lies they whisper in your ears." Annabeth reminded the guards, confirming that she knew that a member in the guards had betrayed them and shared information with the Kastron star alliance.


    Neither of the guards batted an eye at what she had warned them about and carried on with their orders of getting rid of the bodies. One of them pulled out 2rge body bags from his storage ring and thenid them down on the ground beside the bodies.


    Annabeth then walked closer to Haru as she asked what had happened. Haru then replied in a hushed tone so that no one else would hear him.


    "I incapacitated the woman and the man agreed to talk to me about the ns but after a few questions, someone else snuck in without me realising and killed both of them right in front of me before vanishing. I think they were trying to frame me for killing them." Haru said as Annabeth began to chuckle, thinking that he had just told her the cover story that he would tell the alliance if they came looking for him.


    "Come on tell me what really happened. And you need toe up with a better story than that. No one would ever believe you. It would be easier to say it was self-defence." Annabeth said as she advised him to get his story straight before the alliance coulde for him but it wasn''t just a story.


    "Well, that''s what really happened. He was telling me about all the things that his employer was doing and was just about to answer another question that I asked him when something shot through his head and killed him instantly.


    By the time I turned around whoever was responsible had vanished. The only thing I saw was a shadow leave through the door. When I checked on the woman she had arge cut on her throat." Haru said calmly as he knew that he was the only one that knew the truth.


    It was a pretty unbelievable story on the surface but there was nothing he could do about that. She had the choice to believe him or not but he wasn''t too concerned with what she chose to do. The only thing that Haru was worried about was the alliance tracking him down with their whole force and killing him before he even gained the strength to fight back.


    Hare thought for a moment as Annabeth began to lose her mind. She was spouting nonsense about conspiracy theories and stories that she had heard about people going missing without a trace in the forest nearby and how some people said they had seen a hooded figure in the forest nearby but when they sent guards to investigate they came back with nothing.


    It was at that moment that Haru returned to the conversation as he remembered what he had seen when hunting rabbits in the forest. There was a dark shadow in there that had moved a lot faster than he did and it was a struggle to even spot them when the time was slowed around him.


    As he thought about it some more he came to the conclusion that whatever or whoever was living in the forest was probably the one responsible for killing the two assassins that hade for him.


    Haru''s thoughts were interrupted once again as one of the guards called out to Annabeth.


    "Lady Annabeth! We found something strange!" The guard shouted out causing Annabeth to run over to his location and look at the ground to where he was pointing. Haru looked back at Hong Xia for a moment with a confused expression before the both of them joined them to look at whatever was found beside the man''s body.

 Chapter 370: That language...

    Chapter 370: Thatnguage...


    As Haru looked down at the wooden floorboards of the inn he saw what looked like a w of some kind. It was long and as ck as night in colour but despite that, it still managed to reflect light from its glossy finish and there wasn''t even the slightest amount of blood on it.


    ''Could that be the murder weapon? But how is it possible that a w-shaped object could create such a clean hole?'' Haru thought before reaching down to pick it up. As he put his hand beside it he realised that the w was about the size of one of his fingernails.


    It strangely resembled the w of amon house cat but he wasn''t sure if a cats w was even capable of cutting through bone even if it was shot out of a gun.


    He tried to pick it up into his hand put as soon as his finger made contact with it an X shaped pattern carved its self into his skin and caused blood to shoot from his finger for a moment before he covered it with his other hand and used a healing spell to heal the wound.


    "What happened!? Did it just cut you with a single touch? Are you okay? It''s not got venom on it has it?" Annabeth asked as she panicked for a moment after seeing Haru''s blood drop to the ground before the guard also reached out to touch it.


    "No don''t do that!" Annabeth shouted, stopping the guard in his tracks just before he touched it.


    "But we can''t just leave it here what if a child touches it or something?" The guard asked as he looked up at Annabeth who seemed to be thinking before Haru interjected.


    "Do you mind if I take it?" Haru asked to which the guard looked at Annabeth for her response as she turned to face him with a questioning look in her eyes as if she was wondering what were the possible uses for a super sharp animal w.


    But Haru thought of a few things.


    ''Maybe I could track down whoever used this with magic'' Haru thought to himself as he knew a few tracking spells that would be capable of doing what he wanted them for but he wasn''t sure if they would work given the fact that the person was probably much stronger than Haru was.


    "Sure, I don''t mind you taking it. Usually, I would say no since it''s evidence as to what happened but since we have to hide the bodies then it''s better that there is no evidence left behind at all. Do you happen to know where the workers and other people staying here are?


    Have they still not turned up?" Annabeth asked as she looked around. She found it strange that there was no one else there but Haru and Hong Xia but upon asking that question she made Haru remember what the assassin had told him.


    "Oh, they should be in the basement. That''s what he said when I asked him at least. I was going to free them but it slipped my mind when I saw his head explode in front of me." Haru said before crouching down and taking the small animal w into his storage ring so he could avoid having it anywhere near him for the time being. He didn''t want to identally lose a finger or toe while trying not to cut himself.


    Annabeth nced over at one of the guards close to the rear entrance who then opened up the door to the basement without hesitation and ran down into the darkness.


    Haru remained still for a moment as he turned back to Annabeth.


    "What do we do now?" Haru asked as he wasn''t sure what to do. The smartest move would be for him to get a headstart and run into the distance as fast as he could. But he didn''t have a single idea about theyout of the surrounding areas or the beasts that lived within them.


    Thest thing he wanted to do was end up being chased by a five-headed monkey that shotser beams from its head or something of the sort. He knew that there probably wasn''t anything too dangerous nearby or the town would have been destroyed many times over but he knew from experience that it was better to expect the unexpected especial when the situation involved even the slightest trace of Qi.


    It was much easier to be prepared than to be caught without any n at all and die a miserable fate at the hands of a monster hiding in wait for anyone who got too close or a human with a sinister mind.


    Annabeth looked up at him yet again but her mind was nk.


    "I don''t know My master said that he wanted to see you tonight so I guess for the time being we could wait at the mansion for him toe back and ask him for advice." Annabeth said but Haru had already made ns for himself.


    "Would you mind taking my friend here over there with you? There is one thing that I have to do before I meet your master tonight. I won''t be long but I have to go somewhere alone." Haru said as he looked back at Hong Xia who quickly grabbed a hold of his arm.


    "No, you''re not leaving me again. You are taking me with you whether you like it or not. I refuse to be treated like some child that can''t do anything. I know I''m weak but I don''t need you to shelter me. I had enough of that from my family. I don''t need that from you too!" Hong Xia shouted in Chinese to which the guards and Annabeth looked at her with judgement as they didn''t recognise thenguage that she was speaking.


    "Well, look what you have just done! You have practically told everyone here that we don''te from this. Didn''t you stop to think about the consequences that there will be if people found out that we don''t belong here? We are exactly like the demon n that came to earth to these people.


    We might look and act the same as them but we are still outsiders. I wanted to do things the right way but you have just ruined that now.


    If you want me to stop treating you like a child then stop acting like one. You are too weak to defend yourself against most of the people here and the first time you encounter someone who wanted to do you harm you froze and started screaming from what I heard.


    I know that it might be scary to be here and whatnot but you chose to follow me here and if you are going to slow me down and cower in fear at the first sign of danger then yeah I am going to leave you behind. It''s better for both of us that way!" Haru shouted back in Chinese as he knew that she wouldn''t understand him if he spoke Gaohen she wouldn''t understand.


    But that only caused more confusion from the others as they watched Haru and Hong Xia speak in anguage foreign to their entire star system.


    "Well maybe if I knew half the things that you do I would be able to take care of myself better. I don''t know a single thing about life other than what I learned on earth. But somehow you seem to be a walking encyclopedia for all things other realms.


    How do you expect me to protect myself or even try to fight someone if I don''t have a clue what I''m going up against? You already know all this stuff!" Hong Xia eximed as Haru sighed in frustration at her stupidity.


    "And you think I''m any different? I''m still figuring out this ce too. I don''t know a single thing about this ce other than they speak the universalnguage of Gaohen, they look human and they are under threat of war from a trading alliance that is trying to gain full control of the star system.


    I don''t know everything either. For all, I know these people could be masquerading as humans to eat anyone who gets too close. But the difference between the two of us is the fact that I''m not going back down just because I''m surrounded by the unknown. That is the whole point of learning is it not? You have to learn things that you don''t know." Haru said in defeat as didn''t want to carry on with a pointless argument and the stares they were getting were ones of both curiosity and worry.


    "Wait You really haven''t left earth before? I thought for sure that you had seen other realms given that you knew thenguage they spoke I''m sorry. I just jumped to conclusions because I thought that" Hong Xia began to apologise but Haru cut her off.


    "Forget it. If you really want toe then I won''t stop you. But if you die or get injured it''s not my fault. I''m not going to treat you like a child. You''re an adult and can make your own decisions" Haru said before turning his attention back to Annabeth.


    "Well, I guess we have to change ns. Looks like she wants toe with me too. Tell your master that I wille to see himter tonight okay?" Haru said before walking towards the entrance but just as he was about to leave Annabeth said something that caught him off guard.


    "Thatnguage I''ve heard it before" Annabeth said with a concerned look on her face as the guards looked confused by her question.


    Haru turned around surprised by what she had just said. There was no way that someone from a different could hear Chinese before unless someone who spoke thenguage hade to the before he did.

 Chapter 371: Siblings?

    Chapter 371: Siblings?


    Haru stopped dead in his tracks as he turned to face her with a look of confusion on her face. He was waiting for her to repeat herself but as he hadn''t asked her to she had no idea that she was supposed to.


    It took Haru a good few seconds to process what she had just said before he realised what it meant. He wasn''t the only person from earth to have ascended to their. Which also came with a lot of questions.


    "What did you just say?" Haru asked as Annabeth furrowed her brows in response before replying using her voice.


    "Well, I just said that" She tried to reply but Haru was quick to cut her off.


    "I know what you said but what I was really asking was where did you hear it before? There shouldn''t be anyone in this town that speaks thatnguage or is there?" Haru asked as the guards were now starting to be weary of Haru''s identity.


    The people in the Kastron star system only ever spoke Goahen and most people couldn''t even read thenguage. Yet Haru somehow knew anguage that not only they hadn''t heard before but so did the woman that he was with. They were starting to be suspicious of him as they watched their youngdy speak to him casually.


    "Well, my master He has some old books with a strange text on them that he had gotten by chance. He had been trying to trante them on his own without reference but he isn''t there yet even after years of trying but he did read me something from it one time and it sounded a lot like how you were just speaking.


    It''s quite weird to exin but it sounded simr that''s all. I could be wrong but I think that it might be written in anguage simr to what you were just speaking. What was that by the way? Where did you learn that? The people around here only know how to speak Gaohen" Annabeth said as she hadn''t quite connected the dots yet but Haru was quick to throw in some misdirection as the guards all around became even more suspicious about his origin.


    "Well, my family learned it from old books probably a lot simr to the one that your master found. They taught it to me when I was young so that we could speak among ourselves without people understanding" Haru said as he came up with the quite obvious lie on the spot.


    "Then why can your friend speak thatnguage too if just your family learned how to? In fact That was the most I had seen her talk before." Annabeth said as the truth was beginning to unravel but Hong Xia was quick toe to the rescue as she had learnt enough to take part in simple conversation in just the first few days of being there.


    "We''re siblings" Hong Xia said with a smile as she grabbed Haru''s arm tightly.


    "What!?" Annabeth shouted out in shock as she took Haru''s words right from his mouth as he turned to look at her with a surprised expression.


    Hong Xia nodded her head with a proud look on her face as she saw Haru looking dumbfounded by what she had just said.


    "You mean all this time I had thought that you two were Oh no! I''m so sorry I didn''t know. I just thought that a man and a woman travelling together would mean that you two are Wait but why did you say that she''s your friend?" Annabeth asked as she looked at Haru expecting an answer from him but Hong Xia answered once again as she was clearly much better at lying than he was.


    "Because it''s much easier than saying we are siblings. People would give us funny looks if they knew that a brother and sister were staying in the same room despite being adults wouldn''t they?" Hong Xia said with a few stutters throughout as she wasn''t used to joining so many words together but to Haru''s surprise she had picked up thenguage a lot quicker than he thought she would.


    "Well, you do have a point But to think that you are siblings It all makes sense now. What I saw earlier was just what Luo Yang said it was. You were angry at him and fighting not doing the nasty like I originally thought." Annabeth said with a sigh of relief as she was d to find out that nothing was going on between them.


    But Hong Xia froze for a few minutes as she tried to understand what Annabeth had meant.


    "Nasty?" She repeated quietly with a look of confusion on her face to which Haru sighed and whispered something into her ear which caused her cheeks to quickly flush a shade of red as she found out what it meant.


    "No no no no no! That would never happen! No! That''s disgusting!" Hong Xia shouted out as she looked up at Haru feeling more embarrassed than she had ever done before.


    ''She thought that we were doing those kinds of things together!? What was she thinking!? With him of all people?!'' She thought as she was both embarrassed and didn''t know how to respond to what was going on before quickly looking down at the floor.


    "I''m sorry. I shouldn''t have jumped to conclusions. Well anyway back to thenguage thing. Do you mind if I let my teacher know? He might want you to take a look at his books to see if you are able to read it or not." Annabeth said as Haru nodded his head in response.


    "Sure, go ahead. Just make sure that he knows that we won''t be too long. There is just something that I would like to check out before we meetter tonight. I guess my ''sister'' ising along too. Haru said as he looked down at Hong Xia who was still holding onto his arm and as he did she let out a nervousugh as she could tell that he was mad about the fact she said they were siblings.


    "Yes, I will do just that. And about everything here. You don''t need to worry about it at all. I will make sure that everything is taken care of to the highest degree. I doubt they will ever find their bodies!" Annabeth called out which didn''t sit too well with Haru. It sounded as though it wasn''t the first time that she had hidden people bodies before.


    But as he thought about the situation of the world that they had ended up in. It wouldn''t be that strange for her to have killed someone before especially since even the force in charge of the star system was as corrupted as they came.


    As a young woman, it was only natural that she would be in more danger than a man would be which was probably why she was surrounded by so many guards at any one time. Haru could see that she had it handled so he didn''t feel bad about leaving them to clean up while he ventured out on his own.


    "I will leave it to you then," Haru said as he walked outside, still arm in arm with Hong Xia who was keeping up with the sibling appearance a bit too much until the door closed behind them she then let go.


    "Really? Siblings?" Haru asked as he began to walk.


    Hong Xia followed shortly behind him, making sure that he wouldn''t get too far ahead of her and leave her behind as he had done before.


    "Well, it''s not like I really had a choice. You are so bad at lying to the point where they could see through you like a window. If I didn''t say something to shock them then they never would have believed your whole story about it being a secretnguage that only your family spoke.


    Do you even have a functioning brain up there?" Hong Xia asked with augh as this was her first look into seeing something that Haru wasn''t good at and she felt as though she had won one over on him.


    "Well, it''s not my fault. It''s easier, to tell the truth in most cases. I never really learnt how to lie." He said as he continued to walk.


    For the first time since she had met Haru, it looked as though he was embarrassed about something and she couldn''t help herself before jumping at the opportunity to tease him a little.


    "Do you want me to teach you!? All you have to do is Kowtow and beg your big sister to teach you how to lie." Sheughed as she could see Haru''s veins begin to bulge on the side of his neck as he was getting annoyed with how childish she was acting about the whole situation.


    ''I made him mad. Awe how cute. I bet he would yell at me some more if I pushed him a little further Wait, what am I thinking? Don''t tell me that I actually liked it when he yelled at me! What is wrong with me!?'' Hong Xia thought as her face flushed red once again as she followed behind Haru inplete silence as they headed towards the main entrance to the town.

 Chapter 372: I knew it.

    Chapter 372: I knew it.


    Haru stopped at the main gate to see that Hong Xia was just a few steps behind him. ''Good, at least she can keep up when we''re walking. I swear if she wants me to carry her on my back or something then she has another thinging.'' Haru thought with a sigh as he wasn''t used to bringing people along with him when he had the thought to do something dangerous. And tracking down the assassin that had just killed two people before he could even realise was something even more dangerous than anything he had faced before.


    The was a good chance that the one responsible wouldn''t be friendly and they would have to run for their lives in order to escape a crazed serial killing lunatic. But Haru had an inkling of a thought that there was something else at y and the assassin that had killed the two attempted assassins had good reason for doing so.


    ''What am I doing? There is nothing for me to gain by looking for the one who owns that w but I feel like whatever I saw back there wasn''t the result of a human.


    Human''s aren''t the best at hiding their presence. It would take someone incredibly strong for me to not even notice them while looking in their direction. But as for animals, it''s different. Some of them have adapted to hide in in sight.


    But if I am right then I have a feeling that what I''m about to find isn''t just any old animal.'' Haru thought once more as they both continued to walk back out towards the forest before Haru suddenly stopped and held out his hand for a moment at the edge of the treeline.


    "Is this where you wanted to go to? What''s so special about this ce?" Hong Xia asked as she hadn''t been filled in on his n and was trying to piece together what he was trying to do in her head but it was to no avail.


    "No, we probably still have a long journey ahead of us. The ce I''m trying to go to is somewhere where I haven''t been before so it could be anywhere." Haru said with uncertainty as the small ck w dropped out of his storage ring and fell down to the floor before suddenly floating back up to chest level with a green glow around it.


    "What are you doing with that?" Hong Xia asked as she felt nervous at just the sight of the w. She had seen the damage that it had done to Haru and the assassin that he was interrogating and she knew at a nce that it was as dangerous an object as they came.


    "Well, I''m trying to find the owner of this thing. I''m sure they wouldn''t want a weapon like this falling into the wrong hands. And if I can track them through one of their disposable weapons then they are at risk of being found by anyone. I''m sure they would like to know if they are easily trackable." Haru said as he twisted his intentions a little.


    The real reason for him wanting to find the owner was just to see if his thoughts were correct and if they were then it would strike his curiosity more than he could ever imagine. He knew that special monster beasts lived in the forest on this but he didn''t know just what they were capable of.


    ''I wonder where this will lead me.'' Haru thought as he activated one of the tracking spells that he knew.


    [Hunters Sense]


    Haru''s eyes glowed a dim red colour as his vision became dark and all-natural light seemed to filter out of his eyes to the point where it left the luscious green forest looking dead and lifeless as it became monochrome apart from a few spots on the ground that was red in colour just like the new colour of the w that he was holding in his hand.


    "I knew it." Haru thought aloud as he knelt down to the ground to see a small footprint no bigger than the width of three of his fingers and it was exactly like he had thought.


    They weren''t human footprints as the imprint left behind by whatever creature the w belonged to, had four toe pads along with arger one to the rear much like a cats foot.


    It was beginning to look more and more like the culprit behind the double assassination was amon housecat but there was no room to assume what it was by the limited evidence although he had the thought in the back of his head as he the sounds of the forest around him only amplified in volume as the spell not only made him able to track through sight but also scent and sound.


    He turned around as he heard Hong Xia''s foot slide against a few of the pebbles embedded in the ground and looked up at her face as her scent drifted towards him. It was pleasant like the air around a field of flowers on a sunny day.


    "You knew what? Did you find something?" She asked before crouching down beside him to look at the floor where his hand was.


    "An animal track? But I thought you were looking for the person that killed those two assassins why are you examining this?" Hong Xia asked with a look of confusion quite clearly showing on her face as she didn''t know anything about what Haru was thinking.


    She had assumed that it was a person who was responsible and the guard under Annabeth''s control probably thought the same given the fact that the assassin had entered through a closed door. But that wouldn''t be hard for a beast that is capable of thinking like a human.


    "I never said it was a human did I? And as you can tell here. The owner of this w is quite clearly an animal and given that the fact that the tracks are fresh enough for us to still be able to see them on a day where carts and carriages have beening into the town all morning it means that they probably didn''t have time to kill an animal for its w just so they could assassinate a couple of people.


    The only thing that I managed to make out was a dark sh which could have quite easily have been the fur of a monster beast." Haru stated but that only made Hong Xia more curious as to what they were looking for.


    "A monster beast? I don''t know what they look like but they don''t sound too friendly." She said since she wasn''t there for the whole talk about monster beasts Haru had had with the woman at the inn when Hong Xia was still bedridden.


    "From what I just understand they are like regr animals you find back on earth. The only difference is the fact that they have a crystal within their body that allows them to use Qi. And as you can probably guess a beast with fangs and sharp ws with Qi would make a quite difficult foe as their bodies have evolved to use whatever means they have to kill." Haru said as he stood back up and began to walk further into the forest, following red marks left behind on the floor that wasn''t visible to the naked eye.


    "Come on follow me. I will show you what I mean." He announced as the footprints took a sudden turn past the tree line and off the road.


    The trees soon blocked out most of the sunlight around them leaving only rays of light to shine through the branches and leaves as they continued to weave between trees while following the tracks that were now only visible to Haru.


    "Stop," Haru whispered as he suddenly came to a halt and waved his hand in the air.


    Hong Xia stopped dead in her tracks as she followed his order and then looked past him to see what looked like a grizzly bear in the distance withrge spikes down its spine.


    "That''s a monster beast," Haru said in a hushed tone as he turned his head to the left to see that the tracks went off in a different direction to where the bear was strolling back and forth.


    ''That''s good. We don''t have to get too close to that thing.'' He thought as couldn''t remember if he had heard anything about monster bears living nearby. He remembered how tedious it was to catch the small rabbits and given the fact that bears back on earth would often hunt rabbits if they were fast enough to catch them. He figured that it was probably for the best that they didn''t approach it.


    A howl called out through the forest as Haru quickly recognised it as a wolf calling out to the rest of its pack.


    "Fuck." Haru said as he turned and grabbed Hong Xia by the waist and pulled her against his body as he activated another spell.


    [Ghost Aura]


    The limited light beneath the trees suddenly began to bend around Haru and Hong Xia as he held her close to him, making them bothpletely invisible.


    "Hey what are you-" Hong Xia asked with her cheeks beet red as she felt Haru''s hand against her lower back. She struggled for a moment until he hugged her tighter and then put his hand over her mouth as the sounds of branches snapping from behind them became louder until it eventually turned into thuds against the damp ground while a pack of wolves with horns that looked like ice on their snouts shot past the two of them as they sprinted towards the lone bear that was pacing back on forth.


    It looked as though the bear was waiting for them as it turned to face them all with a vicious roar that stopped them from approaching any further.


    The wolves then arched their backs and lowered their heads down to the ground as they slowly began to circle the bear while showing their teeth and growling.


    Haru was hesitant to use Qi to fly away as they would have sensed his presence since the beasts were also capable of using it. And his flight magic depended on disrupting the wind. It would be too loud to use.


    ''There''s only one thing to do then.'' Haru thought as he held out his hand and opened a spatial rift below them, causing them both to fall into an empty void before reappearing at the entrance to the forest where they previously started.


    "Well, it looks like we can''t go that way. I think I have a general idea where the tracks lead but you need to stay close behind me okay?" Haru asked as he looked down at Hong Xia who looked both bewildered at the strange teleportation skill that he had just demonstrated and embarrassed by his hand that had moved down lower upon moving to activate the spell.


    She raised her hand up to Haru''s chest and pushed him away slightly before he let his grip loose and she managed to wiggle free and then looked down at the ground in shame that she was useless in the situation they just found themselves in.


    "Okay." She replied as Haru nodded and then ventured back into the forest while she followed close behind once again.

 Chapter 373: Hes a talking cat!

    Chapter 373: He''s a talking cat!


    Haru and Hong Xia both crept through the forest as quiet as mice to avoid any more interruptions from any possible monster beasts in the area. They had just met with a bear and a pack of wolves in the first few minutes so it was strange that as they followed the footprints onwards there were no more animals in the area.


    They walked for a few miles in wonder about what could be the reason for theck of wildlife but they both knew the real reason why there were no animals.


    They had good instincts, even better than humans most of the time. In order to avoid dying an early death before they had time to reproduce animals would stay away from areas they knew were dangerous and the part of the forest that they had walked into was one of those ces.


    Haru could tell as soon as he noticed that the trees were closer together that there was something off about the ce. It was like he had walked into a lion''s den and was staring in the face of a lioness protecting her cubs.


    He was hesitant to go any further but his instinct told him that he was close to finding out just what exactly he had seen leave the inn. If all else failed and the beast turned out to be a bloodthirsty murdering machine he knew that he would be able to fly away with Hong Xia in his arms or at least open a spatial rift to escape.


    "Haru I feel strange. I don''t like this ce one bit. All the hairs on my body are on edge and it feels like something is watching us and waiting to attack." Hong Xia said as they both carried on.


    Haru felt his heart sink as he looked around him to see that the footsteps certainly did carry on in the direction that they were heading in but now there was a huge red circle surrounding them that only seemed to be getting thicker and thicker as the creature ran around them fast enough that they weren''t able to see it moving.


    Its stealth was so good that even though Haru knew that they were encircled he couldn''t sense anything at all. Not even the tiniest bit of bloodlust leaked out from whatever it was but he knew that for the moment it was only observing them and probably waiting for them to get close to its home before attacking.


    Up ahead, a little bit off the path of the footprints there was a small opening in the trees where it looked as though a few of them were cut down quite recently and then moved away from the area.


    "I feel the same. We are about to meet our assassin pretty soon so don''t make any sudden moves once that happens. If you don''t like what you see then cover your eyes and look away." Haru said as he wanted to be prepared for anything.


    Just in case the beast they were about to meet was a grotesque creature he didn''t want Hong Xia to scream and provoke it into attacking them.


    Haru then changed course for the opening and walked there with purpose as he wanted to meet with the assassin on his own terms. He wasn''t about to walk into a trap and be ambushed if there were any more of them.


    As they reached the clearing Haru turned to face back where they hade from and pushed Hong Xia behind his body before taking a few steps backwards. Forcing her to move back too as he stepped closer to her while facing the other way.


    "What are you doing now?" She asked but Haru''s response was a simple shush as it wasn''t the time for questions right now.


    Haru looked around to see that the beast was still circling them at a speed that was unlike anything that he had seen before. Even the footprints that were appearing before his eyes looked like shing lights as they appeared out of thin air and then were quickly reced by another set in the same location.


    ''Okay, now let''s see exactly what you are.'' Haru said as he pulled his sword from his storage ring and pulled it from its scabbard in one smooth motion while swinging outwards in a circr motion.


    All of the trees in a fifteen-metre radius around the pair split in two at the trunk and fell perfectly to create a wall around Haru and the beast that was running circles around them.


    In order to avoid the sword stroke, the beast jumped high up into the air and as the trees fell down to the ground a sh of darkness appeared in the sky above them for a few moments beforending on the ground a couple of metres away from Haru.


    It was like Annabeth had said. A small person, less than 60cm tall and dressed in a brown robe was now crouching on the ground facing Haru with an ominous feeling emitting from beneath its hood as two bright red eyes glowed as they looked up at Haru''s face.


    Haru threw the w that he had brought with him at the hooded figure to which he raised one of his hands up and caught it as it flew into the armhole of his sleeve that was too long to reveal his hands so there was still no telling what the hooded figure was but as it caught the w its eyes stopped glowing and it seemed to hesitate for a few moments as Haru spoke out.


    "You should be more careful during assassinations. Imagine if the organisation behind those people found your w. They would track you down with the intention to kill you and probably torch this whole forest to aplish that.


    But thanks to you they think I''m the one responsible for the killing." Haru said with a sigh as he was hoping that the hooded figure was capable of understanding yet to his surprise he was caught off guard as they replied.


    "You humans are all the same. If you didn''te here to kill me then what else would you want? Perhaps you would an apology? That''s not going to happen." The hooded figure spoke with a slight ent simr to that of people with Latin basednguages back on earth, making it clear that Gaohen wasn''t his nativenguage.


    He chuckled at the thought of apologising to Haru before rolling up his sleeves slightly to reveal dark brown fur along with paws that looked exactly like a house cat. He then held up the w in his hand next to his paw and pushed it back into ce with a popping sound as he flexed his paw to retract the w a few times to make sure that it was functioning again.


    "Thank you for this though. I thought I was going to have to have one crafted for me but this is the best option. Now state your intentions human. I might just let you live if I like your answer." The hooded figure spoke once more as he then pointed his ws in Haru''s direction.


    "My intentions?" Haru asked and then paused.


    The hooded figure nodded his head and waited for him to carry on but there was a bit more of a wait as Haru tried to think about the reason for tracking him down through the forest.


    "Well Other than to return your w, I guess I wanted to know what you are. I think I saw you hunting feathered rabbits near the path to town a few days ago but I wasn''t sure. I just wanted to find out if that was you or not." Haru said as he waited to see a reaction but it wasn''t what he expected.


    The hooded figure erupted out into a fit ofughter before raising one of his paws within the hood of his robe presumably to wipe away a few tears.


    "You think Marco the Master Assassin would spend his days killing rabbits in the forest like a child? If you saw any of my people hunting then it was probably one of the little runts gathering food for the elders." The hooded figure said as he gave away both his name and the information that there was more of his kind living within the forest.


    "You''re a funny human. Don''t they have a word for people like you? What was it again? Oh, a clown. Is that right?" Marco said as he looked up with his head slightly tilted beneath his hood as Hong Xia began tough.


    "Pfft. Yeah, he would make a pretty good one wouldn''t he?" Sheughed out and responded to the hooded figure at the expense of Haru before taking a step to the side so she could see the hooded figure too. She felt more at ease now that she knew that he wasn''t going to ruthlessly attack them but as the hooded figure looked at her he dropped down on one knee and pulled down his hood to reveal bright orange eyes and a face of fur with white whiskers on each of his cheeks and two small ears upon his head.


    ''I knew it. It''s a cat But what kind of situation is this? Why is a cat talking like a human and standing on two legs?'' Haru thought as he hadn''t heard of anything like that before but his thought was quickly interrupted by the cat person he now knew as Marco.


    "Oh my, such a magnificent sight. Please tell me your name mydy and I swear I will dedicate my life by your side and be at your side whenever you may need me." Marco said as he looked up at Hong Xia with a look of lust in his eyes.


    "Haru! It''s a cat! He''s a talking cat!" Hong Xia screamed out as she dropped to the floor and put her hand against his head and began to put him.


    "His fur is so soft!" She called out once again as Marco began to purr.


    "Oh wow, you''re an eager one aren''t you. I haven''t even gotten the chance to buy you dinner yet." Marco said with a grin as he suddenly jumped forward and pushed Hong Xia out of the way before catching 3 ws simr to the ones that he had lost within his paw and then looked back into the tree line to see another cat person with white fur now staring at him with anger.


    "Oh meow! Run for your lives!" Marco screamed as both Haru and Hong Xia looked up to see the other cat as Marco ran away into the distance without so much as turning back.

 Chapter 374: Trespassers.

    Chapter 374: Trespassers.


    Note: *" Text like this."* means that Haru doesn''t understand what they are saying.


    Marco ran away into the distance with so much speed that it was more like he had just vanished into thin air as the white cat appeared slightly in the distance.


    "Thorin Gak Tonsa mo." The white cat said in a strangenguage before bringing a paw up to their head as they walked closer to Haru and Hong Xia who had stayed behind as Marco ran away.


    Although the white cat had originally thrown their ws towards Marco it seemed like their only goal was to injure him and not either of the humans that had made it deep into the forest.


    The white cat hesitantly walked towards Haru and Hong Xia as they awaited its next move. They didn''t know if the cat was a friend or foe but Marco''s warning seemed to be more of a personal warning than one that the other two should have been concerned with.


    "Tsk, men You can''t leave them alone for a second before they get ideas about womanising and whispering lies in order to get their own way." The white cat said in a feminine voice with the same ent that Marco had as she looked up at the two humans before reaching down to pick up the ws that Marco had dropped when he had seen her behind him.


    "I''m sorry?" Haru asked as he was a little bit confused as to what she meant but Hong Xia seemed to have understood and bowed her head slightly.


    "I don''t know what that was about. As soon as he saw me he said that he dedicate his life to being by my side. It was kind of creepy." Hong Xia said as the white cat sighed again.


    "Sorry about that. He does things like that every now and again. I''m Marco''s sister Shiba. It''s nice to meet you. But if you don''t mind me asking What brings two humans into our territory? Usually, instincts will prevent anyone froming here alone yet you two clearly ignored the barriers affects and carried on towards our home." The white cat said as she introduced herself to the two humans before her.


    "Oh, it was nothing much. I just had a run-in with your brother earlier today when he killed someone I was interrogating. He left one of his ws behind and I managed to track him down to give it to him." Haru said as he looked down at the cat that was now putting her ws back into position on her left paw.


    "Oh? Did you run into him while on a mission? That must be a pretty hard blow for him." Shiba said as she licked her paw for a moment and then looked up to see the confused look on Haru''s face.


    "Well, the league prides themselves on never being seen during missions that is why we have managed to live here in the woods for so long without human persecution. I bet he''s feeling pretty stupid now that you managed to track him down and possibly endanger the lives of our people." Shiba said as felt distrust seeping through her voice as she looked at him.


    "Oh, I can assure you that we don''t have any intention to expose you or endanger your people. I was merely curious as to what I saw. I believe I encountered one of your people at the edge of the forest a few days ago when I was hunting rabbits." Haru stated that he wanted to show that he wasn''t a threat to them.


    "Well, they do say that curiosity killed the cat, don''t they. I guess the saying goes for humans too." Shiba said as suddenly Haru felt as though he was on the losing end of a battle. All around him he heard the rustling of leaves and felt the presence of dozens of beings, seemingly simr in height to the two cat people he had met so far.


    "What is this!? What''s going on?" Hong Xia asked as Shiba cracked a smile.


    "Well, now that you have discovered our existence we can''t just simply let you go. You can either put up a fight and we will kill you here and now. Or you cane quietly and let the vige elders decide your fate. That way you might get a chance to leave. Although I doubt it." The white cat announced as she disyed her ws to which Haru looked around to see around thirty to forty cats lining the trees as they all stared eagerly and some of them had blowpipes aimed at the two of them.


    "Haru! What do we do!?" Hong Xia asked in a panicked voice as she expected Haru to do something to get them out of there as fast as he could, so it came as a surprise when he raised his hands above his head and got down on both of his knees.


    "Then take us to your elders," Haru said Hong Xia looked at him in fear of how their stroll in the forest had turned. She knew that it was dangerous to go with him. But she didn''t expect that they would be put in a situation where even Haru had no choice but to surrender. She too raised her hands and sat on her knees before feeling the presence of something behind her as her hands were tied behind her back.


    ''Well, this is getting interesting.'' Haru thought as he too had his hands tied up. He wriggled his wrists a little and felt that the material that his hands were tied with had a bit of flex to them. ''They''re going to need something a little stronger than this to hold me. But I guess they weren''t expecting that someone with my physical strength woulde here. All that training didn''t go to waste.'' He almost chuckled as all the physical training he did when he was first beginning his journey of cultivation only amplified the amount of raw strength that he would gain after each breakthrough.


    Haru and Hong Xia were then marched to a small vige with a few wooden huts scattered around a river with a bridge that went over the top of it.


    Suddenly they were surrounded even more as all the cat people in the vige came out to watch as for most of them it was the first time they were seeing humans. A lot of the children watched in awe as Shiba led the army of cats that had restrained Haru and Hong Xia before stopping at the foot of a staircase that lead to a house that was much bigger than the rest and seemed to be located so it could look over all the other houses.


    "Wait here. I will fetch the elders." Shiba said as one of the cats kicked Hong Xia in the back of her legs, causing her to fall back down onto her knees to await their judgement. One of them also tried to do the same to Haru but as he felt the impact against his leg he tensed up and turned around to see the cat that he towered overlooked back up at him with fear in their eyes.


    "Should I kneel down too?" Haru asked as the cat person took a few steps back after seeing that their kick wasn''t effective in the slightest before slowly nodding their head.


    "Well, all you had to do was ask. I guess nobody taught you manners did they?" Haru said with a sigh as a lot of murmurs from the locals could be heard as they spoke in anguage that neither of them could understand.


    *"Mom, what are the guards doing bringing those creatures here? They look really scary."* One of the children asked in their strangenguage as Haru and Hong Xia continued to wait for the elders.


    *"It will be okay my boy. The guards have everything under control. You have nothing to fear. If they get too lively our dart-men will put them to sleep."* The child''s mother responded in a caring tone while pulling her son closer to her and watching together as the guards were talking among themselves about what was going to happen.


    Thest humans that had entered their territory had put up a fight and were killed before ever making it to the vige but the rules stated that if they surrendered then their fate would be decided by the elders but something like that had never happened before until right now.


    A lot of them were questioning if they were going to be released right away. Or if they would be forced to work in the mines along with the other species that had ventured too close to their homes.


    Haru closed his eyes and began to cultivate while waiting for the elders. The Qi that was gathered in the vige was much purer than it was in the nearby town.


    The fact that there were no cultivators nearby to absorb the Qi made the wildlife thrive and there were dozens of wildflowers and spirit herbs growing nearby that he could sense radiating Qi all around him.


    It would be the perfect ce to try to break through. Everything was triangle once he managed to filter out the chatter of the locals and the movement of the river slightly behind them became more noticeable as it trickled through rocks that stuck out slightly above the water.


    ''This ce is gorgeous.'' Haru thought as his soul left his body and began to float around the area, giving him time to take in the scenery while observing his surroundings from all angles.


    "The Qi is so thick here that being in astral form doesn''t take a strain on my dantian. It feels like I could float around like this all day." Haru thought as he flew up into the sky and looked down to observe the situation before looking towards therge building where he saw the door now opening.


    Only silence followed as the guards puffed up their chests and the other cat people got down upon one knee at the sight of the open door.


    Haru opened his eyes, causing his consciousness to snap back into his body and awaited his fate as three hooded figures with robes much like Marco''s stepped out from the building with Shiba slightly behind them before she spoke.


    "As you can see, here are the two trespassers," Shiba said with a smug look as red glowing eyes poked out from beneath each of the elders'' hoods as they stared at both Haru and Hong Xia intensely for a few moments before one of them broke the silence

 Chapter 375: Soul Tearing Vines.

    Chapter 375: Soul Tearing Vines.


    "Humans Hmm, how should we proceed? It''s been a very long time since I have seen one of their kind like this before." One of the hooded elders said as they examined both Haru and Hong Xia.


    "The best thing would be to kill them. They have found out about our existence after all. We have hidden from the world for far too long to just be simply exposed like this." Another one of the elders said as Haru felt something that he didn''t expect as he looked at thest elder that had yet to speak.


    "Showing hostility would not be the best course of action for our tribe. The human at the front is rather skilled in cultivation. The only thing that our people have that would make us a match for him would be our speed and stealth.


    I suggest that you don''t be too hasty with your judgement as a lot of our people would be killed if you decided upon something like that. I think it would be a much better oue if we came to an understanding." The third elder said as the other two looked at him for a few moments before chuckling to themselves.


    "Their hands are already bound with the soul tearing vines. If they try to use their Qi to escape then their souls will be ripped from their bodies and won''t return until the vines are released. They arepletely at our mercy. Don''t you think that you are giving them too much credit?" The first elder asked with a smug tone to his voice.


    "You doubt me? Then how about this. We allow him to try to break free. If he can''t do it then I will drop the matter and allow the two of you to decide on your own what to do with them.


    But if he can then we do as I say and try to reach an agreement. Thest thing that I want is our species to dwindle any more than it already has." The third elder said as he was sure of Haru''s power from using spiritual sense.


    ''I didn''t expect that one of them would also be a cultivator? He seems to be extremely strong too. Probably as strong as Master Chu I believe.'' Haru thought as he looked at the third hooded elder who had now made a bet with his colleagues.


    "Hm That''s an interesting proposition Very well. Male human! You heard what he said. If you can free yourself from the soul tearing vines then feel free to do so. No one will attack you for doing it. You have my word." The first elder said as Haru nodded his head in response.


    The guards that were standing near him retreated as they heard that he was going to attempt to break through. None of them wanted to be held hostage if he decided to once his hands were free.


    ''I can trust the one at the end. He has seen through my strength and he knows not to underestimate a cultivator. Although I came here with them it was just because I didn''t want to kill them. If I wanted to I could have killed them all with arge scale attack before they had the chance to escape or froze the ground around them and turned them into ice cubes.


    But it would be a shame. And honestly, I like cats way too much to mindlessly kill them.'' Haru thought as he looked around for a few moments before pulling his hands apart.


    The vine''s around his wrists began to dig into his skin, engraving small marks on the surface as he pulled hard and hard before eventually snapping them. The vines unravelled from his hands and dropped down to the ground in a small pile before he raised his hand in front of his face with his palms facing the elders to show them how easy it was to escape.


    A small discussion broke out among the guards as they questioned if they had put the restraints on them properly but all of them agreed that there was no way that they would mess something like that up and it was exactly how the third elder had said.


    The person they had captured had onlye with them voluntarily. He wasn''t there because he was scared or felt threatened by any of them. It was because he had an ulterior motive. They raised their suspicions about the pair of humans once again as they couldn''t understand what possible reason there would be foring all the way into the forest only to be captured.


    "See, are you now ready to let me deal with this my way?" The third elder said as the other two grunted in submission before the third elder walked over to the top of the staircase and sat down before taking the hood off his head and revealing orange fur with bright green eyes.


    "What is your name? I don''t believe that I have ever heard of someone like you." The third elder said as he looked at Haru with suspicion.


    "My name is Luo Yang. But I don''t know what you mean by a person like me" Haru said as he looked up at the third elder who was looking down at him from the top step.


    "A person with the scent of beasts." The third elder said as Haru''s eyes widened as the word for ''beast'' in the Gaohennguage was the same word they used to say ''dragon''.


    "What are you saying?" Haru said with a serious look in his eyes as he couldn''t help but let some bloodlust escape from his body. He knew that Lao''s presence within his body for all those years probably helped him improve leaps and bounds.


    But he never stopped to wonder if there would be a lingering scent of sorts or a feeling that could only be associated with dragons. But luckily for Haru, the third elder seemed to get the idea that he didn''t want to discuss the topic anymore and changed his whole attitude with just a single stair from the young man before him.


    "I bet you have always liked animals haven''t you?" The third elder said to rify what he meant but Haru already knew that he was just saying that to escape the fact that Haru didn''t want to discuss dragons openly with anyone.


    "Yes. I love animals of all kinds." Haru said which seemed to spark debate with a few of the civilians as they were questioning why the elder was talking about animals with one of the trespassers.


    "So what were your intentions foring here? Our people have made it clear that we don''t want anything to do with your world anymore. Don''t tell me that you were sent here by the alliance to try to bring us back to your side?" The third elder asked as Haru looked confused for a moment.


    "The Kastron star alliance? I don''t think I am on the best terms with those people so you don''t need to worry about them sending me here. The main reason I came here was to return a w to one of your people. The second reason was to ask why would he assassinate someone I was interrogating. But I didn''t get time to ask him that question." Haru stated as it seemed like a stupid reason like he was grasping at straws but if the person that he had returned the w to spoke up for him then they would be clear of suspicion of trying to cause them harm.


    But the third elder wasn''t sure how he was going to proceed with the situation. He would have loved to bring both the humans inside and question them about many things before letting them go.


    But with the audience from the civilians and guards watching the situation y out he felt as though he had to set an example for them.


    Trespassers were supposed to be killed or put to work in the mines but they had never had to deal with humans finding their home before. Since humans made up the majority of the star system he felt as though putting them to work would make them hate them and likely to try to escape and wage war against them.


    So killing them was the best option but the third elder could see Haru''s strength he knew that if they tried to kill him they would lose a few members of their n along with him.


    He didn''t feel as though it was right to kill someone for walking through the forest. Although they had imed that part as their territory he knew that no one had a right to im the forest for themselves when it was shared equally between the wildlife that lived there.


    "I see. So you came here to return a w to someone. Do you happen to have proof of that?" The third elder asked as Shiba the white cat took a step forwards and called out.


    "When we made it to the source of themotion I found them there with my idiot brother but when he saw me he decided to run away. If we wait till hees back I''m sure he will be able to tell you if it''s true or not." Shiba said as Haru nodded his head in approval.


    "I see. So Marco was the one responsible for luring you here. I''m sure he will be the death of all our people one day." The third elder sighed before smiling as he realised that he now had a chance to take the two humans inside to ask them questions in private.


    "Well, until Marco returns I would like to take both of these humans to question them in private. Are there any objections to that?" The third elder asked as he looked back at the other two elders he didn''t say anything as they agreed that they would allow him to deal with them however he wanted to.


    "Good. Then I will leave Shiba and Lena to bring them inside." The third elder said as the two guards rushed over to both Haru and Hong Xia to guide them inside therge building at the top of the stairs.

 Chapter 376: Bring me, Marco!

    Chapter 376: Bring me, Marco!


    As Haru and Hong Xia were led inside they found that the third elder was already waiting for them at a desk with two cushions on the floor in front of it. Despite the fact that the elder was sitting at the desk in a wooden chair. The height difference between Humans and cat people made the desk look more like a coffee table.


    Haru and Hong Xia both sat down at the table as the guards left them alone in there with the third elder after they instructed them to go. At first, they protested but after reminding them that he was the one that had trained all of the guards to fight they finally left, knowing that he was one of, if not the strongest member of their n.


    As Haru and Hong Xia sat there waiting for the guards to leave, the third elder wasted no time getting into his questions.


    "So where do you twoe from exactly? Do you live in the nearby town or did youe from a farawaynd?" The third elder asked as he tried to make small talk while he knew that the guards were still within earshot.


    "Yeah, we''re currently staying in the nearby town. But probably not for long." Haru said as the elder looked at him with interest.


    "Oh? Why is that? You don''t like living there?" He asked as he tried to get a better understanding of what he meant but Haru smiled for a moment before replying.


    "Well, we have Marco to thank for that. He killed two people from the Kastron Star Alliance during my interrogation." They will probably know that they have died within the next few days while thinking that I was the one that killed them too.


    So we have no choice but to find somewhere else to go and soon. Or else they will send all their strong cultivators to kill me and anyone who even so much as interacted with me." Haru exined as a worried look formed on the third elder''s face.


    "Marco did what!?" He eximed as he couldn''t believe the turn of events.


    "We have a deal with the Kastron Star Alliance. We will have nothing to do with their affairs as long as they leave our people alone. If they find out that we have broken that agreement then they will wipe us all out!" The third elder yelled out as no one had told him that the people Marco killed were from the Alliance.


    "Hey, I''m not that bothered about the peopleing to kill me. They have been trying to do that over thest couple of days already due to another reason. But I don''t like taking the me for other people''s actions if you get what I''m saying.


    The other reason I tracked him down and followed him all the way out here is that I want reassurance that he is held ountable for his actions. I''m not going to sit by and take the me for his kills." Haru said as he reached to the side and yanked against the bindings on Hong Xia''s hands.


    "I will let you deal with that information. Do whatever you need to do. But I don''t think that I need to exin to you what will happen if the me for those killings falls upon your people. And it''s safe to say that if they don''t manage to find me that they will spread out all across the and try their best to locate me.


    As long as I am here I am a threat to your people. And as long as Marco is here, he too is a threat to your people. But I don''t know, Let''s say that he was mind-controlled by a human into doing their bidding It would stop your people from being guilty right?" Haru said with a scheming tone as he looked at the third Elder who seemed to be in disarray after finding out what had happened.


    "You mean to say that the longer we hold you here that the more guilty it would make us look? If they find out that you came here with the one responsible for killing those two people then they will think that the rest of us had something to do with it too?" The third elder asked as he tried to think of a way that he could make sure that his people weren''t held ountable.


    "Well, I will let you deal with it all. We should really be getting back now." Haru said as Hong Xia sighed in relief as she didn''t want to be there any longer. She had been ufortable the whole time and thought that there was a good chance that they were both going to die.


    But after she saw Haru break free from the restraints she felt better about the situation even if she couldn''t understand everything that they were talking about.


    Haru then stood up which was followed by Hong Xia doing the same as she was also ready to leave. But as soon as they did, the elder called out to stop them.


    "Hey! Stop! We haven''t confirmed that you actually came here to talk to Marco yet!" He shouted as Haru opened a spatial rift, connected to the room that they were staying in at the inn before holding Hong Xia in his arms once again.


    "Well, that''s your problem. Deal with it yourselves. Goodbye." Haru said with a smile as he stepped into the spatial rift and vanished right before him.


    As the elder was left in the room all alone the guards outside burst into the room to see that the trespassers had escaped from right beneath their noses and they demanded an exnation.


    "What happened!? Where did they go?" Shiba asked as she looked at the third elder who was sitting on his knees in the spot where they had vanished from and thinking about what he should do next. If the whole situation was exactly how Haru had said it was then it would mean that they were in grave danger unless they tried to smooth things over with the Alliance by handing Marco over to them.


    "Bring me, Marco, right now! And call the other elders here immediately!" The third elder shouted out which came as a surprise to the guards as they had never seen the elder act like that before. It made them scared about what had happed and they were in no mood to waste any of his time. He looked up at them with fury in his eye but as soon as they caught a glimpse they all went running to do what he had said.


    The only issue was that Marco hadn''t returned yet and no one seemed to know his location since Shiba had made him run away.


    "I thought we were going to die back there for a moment." Hong Xia said as they both appeared in their bedroom at the inn.


    "You really think that I would let myself be killed that easily?" Haru asked to which she scoffed at the fact that he didn''t seem concerned with her life as he made it about himself.


    "Well, I don''t have any idea what runs through that brain of yours. But most of the time it is something stupid which is kind of strange for someone with your strength.


    You would think that it would take a wise person to be stronger than anyone back on earth in just a few years. But it turns out that it just takes an idiot." Hong Xia mocked him as she knew that Haru''s ns almost always meant putting himself and others in danger to get the oue that he wanted. But what she didn''t understand was why exactly he had so much luck that no matter how much danger he was in he would always manage to make it out alive and often times with hardly any casualties.


    But as she thought about how he treated his own life she was forced to think about the situation in shanghai when her master had vanished. She then realised that Haru had probably been living with the guilt that he was the one responsible for so many deaths and the disappearance of most of the strong people back on earth.


    It was then that she understood that he put himself in danger so that he didn''t have to put others in the same situation. All his stupid ideas seemed to stem from the fact that he was unwilling to ask people for help even when he needed it.


    Unless he knew that no harm woulde to them. She began to feel guilty for calling him an idiot when he had clearly been trying to keep as many people alive as he possibly could but Haru didn''t seem to care about what she had just said as he sat down and began to cultivate at the edge of the bed.


    "We''re going to meet Annabeth''s master once the sun sets. Make sure that you have all your things ready too. After that, we won''t be returning here again. We will buy a map on our way back and set out to the nearest city.


    It will be easier to hide in a city since it will naturally be a lot bigger than this ce." Haru exined as he opened his eyes for a few moments before closing them again before Hong Xia could even question him.


    She sighed in annoyance beforeying down on the bed and closing her eyes to reflect on everything that she had experienced.

 Chapter 377: Welcome.

    Chapter 377: Wee.


    Soon night came around, and Haru was still cultivating, using the technique that he had gotten from the mysterious Mansion within his soul ocean. Although he hadn''t told anyone about it, as Hong Xia watched him, she began to feel as though there was something radiating from Haru''s body.


    It was almost as though there was a hidden power within him that no one had seen before. From a single nce, she could tell that the force was eager to escape from within its prison inside Haru''s body, yet there was something dragging it back inside just as it began to seep above the surface.


    It was like the power Haru contained was a bottomless pit to her as she watched him for some time before realising that they had other arrangements, but as soon as she began to move, Haru slowly opened his eyes, giving them time to adjust before turning back to see her watching him in awe.


    "We should head out now. I''m not sure what he wants from us, but one thing is certain, tonight will be the night that we leave this ce. Things will get out of hand when the alliance realises that their people are missing. Both of our heads will end up being collector pieces on someone''s wall if we don''t leave soon." Haru said as he seemed more concerned for her safety than he did his own.


    Hong Xia nodded her head as she looked at him with a hint of sadness. She couldn''t quite express how she felt since she knew that the whole situation was just as hard on him as it was for her. She was scared for her life at just the thought of a strong force hunting them down in an unfamiliar world.


    But Haru was absolutely terrified. Since he had be a cultivator, he had gotten used to relying on people stronger than him to back him up when he was in trouble, but now he had no one.


    ''Lao. Li Jun. I know that you guys are probably somewhere far away from here and won''t be able to hear what I''m about to say, but I want you both to know that I''m grateful for all the guidance you have given to me over the years. I won''t let it go to waste. There is no way that I''m dying here no matter what.'' Haru thought as he made sure that Hong Xia had everything ready before leaving with her and heading towards the city lords mansion on top of the hill in the middle of the town.


    The walk there was both tiresome and exhausting but not physically. The stress from knowing that they would be in danger for the foreseeable future was a heavy burden to have, and both of them were in it together. Although Hong Xia wasn''t technically involved, she had nowhere else to go.


    If she ran away from Haru, there was a good chance that she would be kidnapped by someone for her beauty and then forced to be someone''s wife just like the people from the alliance tried to do to the young girl that was with Annabeth.


    She knew that her best chance at survival was to stick with Haru and hope that he could manage to gather as much strength as he possibly could to fight back against anyone that woulde looking for them.


    As they reached the bottom of the staircase, Hong Xia grabbed hold of Haru''s hand and pulled him back a little. As Haru turned around, he could see the look of fear in her eyes before he reached out and ced his hand on her head.


    "It''s okay. Nothing bad will happen, I promise. At first sight of danger, I will use the spatial rift to get us out of there. Or I could even use it to teleport our enemies somewhere else. It''s absolutely fine. Have a little faith in me." Haru said in a soft tone as he wanted her to feel at ease as she was clearly nervous about meeting with Master Chu before leaving the city.


    But Haru wanted to hear him out. But it wouldn''t be hard to believe if they had set up a trap to catch Haru and hand him over to the alliance for killing their people. It wasn''t like he could me them for it either if they wanted to. They had to keep their own people safe, and Haru and Hong Xia weren''t even from their world.


    It would be the natural thing to do the minimise the damage done to them. But he just hoped that they wouldn''t do anything like that.


    Hong Xia nodded her head after hearing what Haru had to say to her before they both took their first steps up the staircase to the top of them, where they were met by the sight of guards running around all over the ce as though something was happening within the Mansion.


    Upon being spotted by one of the guards, they called out to Haru and Hong Xia and waved their hands with friendliness before beckoning them over towards him.


    "Hey! Are you the two here to meet with Master Chu?" The guard called out as Haru furrowed his brows for a moment as he found it strange that the guards were notified of his arrival, and they didn''t seem to be in a formation to capture him.


    In fact, it looked as though they were swamped preparing something, but surely they couldn''t be nning something against him openly. There was no way that they would be that bold, so he wondered what was really going on.


    "Yeah, we were told to meet him here. Do you know where he is?" Haru asked as he expected an answer from the guard, yet instead, he got an excited look on his face as he practically began to run as he insisted that they followed him inside.


    "Come on, this way. Everyone is waiting for you." The guard said as Haru looked at Hong Xia in confusion. He didn''t know why anyone would be waiting for him, but there had to be some kind of special event happening to be dividing the guards into many small groups.


    Haru and Hong Xia both followed the guard hesitantly as he guided them inside the main building of the Mansion. It was the first time for both of them. Neither of them had set foot within the Mansion, so they didn''t know what to expect, but as they entered, it was a pleasant surprise to see that it looked like a regr house.


    The decoration was quite extravagant, but that was to be expected with a man of status living within it he had to show his money off in some sort of way. Or he wouldn''t be taken seriously by other people in his same position.


    The wooden floors of the Mansion were spotless not even a single mark or stain from the dirt of people''s boots made it onto the ground. It was as though there was a barrier in ce to stop that from happening or something of the sort. It was a strange sight to see a house in that immacte of a state given the time period that the world was in.


    But he guessed that the stronger someone was with their cultivation, the more respect they earned and the more gifts that were sent to appease them. He figured that it wouldn''t be that abnormal to form an array that could keep things from getting dirty. He was just yet to learn it, that''s all.


    Hong Xia was mesmerising by her surroundings. Her house back on earth was extravagant given the fact that she was from one of the imperial families, yet it was nothing inparison to this. The number of artefacts, cultivation tools and weapons hanging from walls and in special carbonates was enough to make her jealous.


    She could sense the Qi emitting from some of the items there, and everything despite being right in front of her, had a strange out of reach feeling to her as though the objects themselves wereughing in her face saying she would never have anything like that. It was indeed a sight to behold and the source of envy for a lot of people.


    But neither of that concerned either of them as they were there for a reason. They were still nervous about what was going to happen with them, but the happiness on the guard''s face as he eagerly guided them seemed all too real to be just an act before leading them to their deaths.


    As the guard reached the end of the corridor with Haru and Hong Xia behind him, he paused for a moment before opening arge set of double doors made from a red-stained cedar tree.


    The doors opened smoothly, gliding on their hinges as though they were freshly oiled, yet there was no residue. It seemed like another array or maybe just master craftsmanship at work. Haru and Hong Xia held their breaths as they were unsure as to what they were about to walk into. But as the door opened, they were hit by a blinding white light for a moment that caught them both of guard as an eerie silence emphasised the blindness experienced as the door opened. Only to be broken by Master Chu''s voice.


    "Haru, wee. I''m d you came." He called out in a friendly tone. As two sets of eyes fell upon his face with intense stairs before his sight returned to him, revealing two bearded men sitting beside Master Chu at one side of a gigantic hall.

 Chapter 378: Poker face.

    Chapter 378: Poker face.


    Candlelight flickered in the hall, dancing against the countless patterns on the walls within. The golden chandelier above rained light down upon the red carpet that led towards the three men sitting in the hall on wooden chairs at the back corner of the room.


    On the left side, there was a long dining tableyout with a mountain of food sprew over it. For whatever reason they put it there, Haru could tell that it was going to be a banquet for sure.


    Each of the men had a jar of alcohol beside them, and Master Chu took a sip from his as Haru, and Hong Xia entered the room.


    "So this must be your sister. Wee." Master Chu said as he looked at Hong Xia for a moment before turning his attention back to Haru, who was the main reason why they had gathered.


    Hong Xia bowed her head in acknowledgement, and Haru took a few steps forward before stopping as he felt a powerful gaze hit him from the man in the middle. He had long dark hair and looked to be older than Master Chu. His beard was beginning to grey, and the clothes that he was wearing were of higher quality than the other two men for sure.


    "That robe You must be the one that stole the fabric I had worked so hard to obtain and then injured my guards. To think that I would end up inviting you into my house as a guest after pulling something like that. Chu, what are you nning?" The man asked with frustration in his voice as he turned to Master Chu who was smiling.


    "Calm down, you old bat. He is the one that saved your daughter. I believe that you were nning to make something for him with that material anyway, weren''t you? Wait, I''m sure I told you this already. Why are you making a big deal out of it right now?" Master Chu asked with his brows furrowed; he was sure that he had already had the conversation with the City Lord, yet he didn''t seem to remember.


    "You did? Wait, I think I remember something like that. Was it when I was- Never mind that. Wee to my home, Mr Luo Yang. It''s a pleasure to have you here. I hope you are enjoying that robe I had made for you." The City Lord said with a huge grin as he took arge sip out of his jar with his cheeks flushed slightly red from both embarrassment and the alcohol within.


    "Uh, it''s a pleasure to be here." Haru stuttered, confused as to what was happening, but as he turned back to face Master Chu, he felt something hit his chest and instinctively held out his hands to catch a brown leather bag.


    "What''s this?" Haru asked, looking back up at the three men watching him react, but neither of them uttered a word in response.


    ''Okay then'' he thought to himself as he inspected the bag for a few moments to make sure that there wasn''t anything strange going on with it, but other than the spatial rune written on the side, it seemed to bepletely normal.


    He held his hand out below the bag and tipped it upside down, injecting a small amount of Qi into the rune before feeling that there were a bunch of pills within the bag. He pulled one of them out, floating down gently from the bag and dropped down into his hand.


    He inspected the pill in his hand before realising that it was one of the pills that Annabeth had asked him to make for her. He looked up with worry stered on his face. He couldn''t hide his feelings as he looked at the three men who didn''t react to his change of expression.


    "What''s this about?!" Haru demanded an exnation from the three men as they stared at him with suspicion. They didn''t know what to think about the situation, and neither did Haru as he wondered what was going on for them to call him here over the pills he had made for them to use.


    ''Are they nning to hand me over to the Alliance? Who is this other guy? Is he the one that they are going to give me to? I will level this whole city if they so much as try it.'' Haru''s mind began to fill with theories as to what he was doing there.


    He was beginning to feel like a deer in headlights. There were three cultivators sitting in front of him, and each one was more powerful than he was. If they tried to do anything to him, he knew for sure that he would have a hard time escaping alone, let alone escaping while protecting Hong Xia.


    He stepped to the side and blocked her from sight with his body. He figured that if they were going to attack, then he would give her the chance to escape before he did. He brought him in there after all, and it didn''t sit right with him to just leave her in case something happened.


    The three men looked at each other with concern, seeing that Haru was getting anxious. They were wondering what his next move would be now that they had confronted him, knowing that he was the one that crafted the pills.


    "It''s okay; we just wanted to know where you got the pills from, that''s all. It''s pretty rare to find pills here since the Alliance started kidnapping people who were able to make them. But you pulled out over 50 pills and gave them to Annabeth.


    I haven''t told the other two here about your circumstances, but I know for a fact that these didn''te from your home." Master Chu said as the other two men looked at him with inquisitive gazes.


    ''Of course, they didn''te from my home. I can''t use regr Qi anymore, so I improvised with true Qi.'' Haru thought as they both knew it was impossible for true Qi to exist within the lower realm. Which meant he could only answer one of three ways.


    He could im that he found them by ident in the forest, but he couldn''t fool anyone with something that ridiculous. No one in their right mind would leave their pills in the forest, and in a world where pills were limited, they wouldn''t take so many out with them in case they got lost.


    The other way he could answer was to say that he got them from a mysterious old man, which would have been a little more believable as if the Alliance only recently started kidnapping pill refiners, it would be normal for old people to still have a supply for them. However, Haru didn''t know the history of the. The Alliance could have been in control for thousands of years since it was normal for a cultivator at his current level to live for upwards of two hundred years. But that n would rely on guessing if it was possible, and ording to Hong Xia, he wasn''t the best liar in the world.


    Which left him with his final option, to tell the truth, and hope that they wouldn''t try to hand him over to the Alliance. There was more to gain if they kept a good rtionship since he could make pills for them if they wanted to buy them. But Haru wasn''t sure if his strength was enough of a deterrent to stop people from wanting to take advantage of him.


    He was unable to sense anything in the room; there was no hostility and no sense of friendship between them as they spoke. It was as though there was an array in the room to keep each other from sensing how the other person felt as they spoke. He figured that it was worth a try to just speak the truth and hope that everything worked itself out.


    "I made them. Annabeth came to me one night to exin how everything in this town worked. She told me about the situations with the Alliance causing a constant threat of war and the group under the Alliance that have their base nearby that want to kidnap Master Chu''s disciple to force her to be their lord''s bride.


    She also exined that it was hard to get pills around here due to the Alliance kidnapping all the pill refiners, so I offered to make some for her. I didn''t think that you would end up questioning me about them." Haru said as he looked at all of their faces, trying to see how they would react to what he just said, but their faces werepletely neutral; it seemed like they had yed their fair share of poker.


    Master Chu looked at the old man sitting beside the city lord and spoke.


    "Is that good enough for you? Or do you still want to test him?" Master Chu asked the old man who had yet to speak and was just observing the situation so far, but as the question was directed towards him, the city lord but down his drink and turned his head in surprise.


    It seemed that even the city lord valued this old man''s opinion, but Haru was yet to be introduced to him. He wondered what was going on as the room grew quiet as the old man brushed his beard with his hand a few times before standing up from his chair beside the city lord.


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