Chapter VII: Hello, Dakun Rao

During the years that Dakun Rao’s slave had been missing, many rumors began, as was to be expected from someone with his reputation. The protocol for choosing a new slave was quite simple: he just had to wait three years once Dakun Rao reported that Shoneyi had disappeared in the forest due to a beast attack; something plausible, but something no one truly believed. Everyone knew the cruelty of the Fifth Heaven Master’s disciple. All feared his strange, ruthless nature.

“This cannot continue; it must be stopped.”

An elder with yellowish-white hair began—or what seemed to be finishing—an argument with the Fifth Master while his eyes reflected a hint of contempt.

“Rhua Da Shi, you cannot keep listening to your disciple… we must put a stop to him. Everyone suspects we are covering him up while he commits his misdeeds.”

A loud bang on a table where all the Heaven Masters were gathered could be heard as the Fifth Master responded: “Always you with your righteousness, Yi Jui. Enough of rubbing in how correct you are. Dakun Rao is my disciple and I will punish him as I see fit… If I decide to do so.”

Rhua Da Shi, Fifth Heaven Master and master of the young man whose future was being discussed, said. The last part was muttered under his breath. The look in the eyes of the Second Heaven Master, Yi Jui, reflected that he had indeed understood his every exact word.

The rumors claimed that the boy lost in the forest had a tattoo on his leg with the Second Master’s name. When this reached Yi Jui’s ears, it intrigued him, and he wanted to meet the boy; unfortunately for him, it seemed the youth named Shoneyi had disappeared in the forest one afternoon while hunting with his owner, and nothing was ever heard of him again. All this had happened months after the boy’s disappearance, and since then, the Second Master of Air had been opposed to the terrible practices of the young Dakun Rao.

In the present, Shoneyi could see the old guard post that he had first seen when he arrived at the Heaven Sect, filled with hope for a better life, and although his life had not changed exactly for the better, it had changed completely. Sharpening his eyes, he could see how the sect guard had one fully formed Spiritual Core and another in its middle stage.

“Who goes there, reveal yourself now in the name of the great Heaven Sect!” the guard yelled while unsheathing his sword, preparing his shield, and beginning to circulate his spiritual energy within himself.

This scene caused some surprise in Shoneyi, as he remembered the exact same scenario with the same characters, but now his perspective had changed. With incredible speed, Shoneyi positioned himself behind the guard and, with a slight blow to the back of his neck, rendered him unconscious. He caught him before he fell to the ground and placed him inside the small security hut.

After a couple of hours, Shoneyi walked towards Dakun Rao’s cabin and decided to wait for him to come out on his own. The people around him began to whisper:

“Isn’t that Lord Rao’s slave? Wasn’t he dead years ago?”

After a couple of hours passed, Dakun Rao began to feel a strange sensation outside his cabin and decided to step out. The look of surprise on his face was almost imperceptible to the public, but not to his former slave.

Dakun Rao began to walk toward the boy. As this happened, the spiritual energy around him started to gather into his body: one core, two cores, three cores… four cores, and the initial stage of the fifth core could be faintly felt.

“I hope you’ve learned not to lose my pace, boy…”

As Dakun Rao yelled and ran at an incredibly fast speed, the audience around him was stunned by the level of power demonstrated. No one could believe that someone would truly take advantage of hitting a simple slave with that level of power. Everyone braced themselves to see a pool of blood where the small boy with the tattooed leg stood.

A large cloud of dust rose. A shockwave slightly impacted the surroundings, the wind began to swirl, the ground trembled, and a boy performing a thirty-degree bow could be seen in the middle of it all.

“Thank you for your teachings, Dakun…”

Shoneyi dusted himself off, turned on his heel, and began walking toward the mountain where the Outer Circle was housed.