In the fourth year, as the newly recruited monks graduated to a higher level of their discipleship, Yung Mai climbed up the stairs and joined in the ceremony.

He left the moment the ceremony ended. But as he reached the junction leading to the stairs, he stopped when a deep voice mentioned his name.

"Master Yung,"

When Yung turned, he saw the only boy who used to be close to Kai running toward him.

"Master," Jude said, stopped beside the man, and bent down, panting.

"Little one, how can I help you this time?" Yung Mai calmed his breath and softened his gaze at the boy.

"Sir, please, is it true he's dead?" Jude said, his face saddening.

Yung Mai's expression changed, forcing his calm breath to turn hastily, while his eyes closed by themselves.

"He's not dead like you know," Yung's expression kept on turning sharper, "…he's hibernating."

"Hibernating?" Jude's saddened expression changed and turned into a confused one. "I don't know what hibernating is. But since he's not dead, please can you give him this?"

Yung Mai smiled when he saw the red rose stretched to him. "Okay, I will." He took the flower from the boy, and turned.

Air flapped at Jude's legs as the cloak of the monk stretched toward him. Jude stood there until he saw the monk descend and vanish.

"If he's not dead, why are some people saying he's dead and his soul is not resting?" Jude whispered, placed his arm at his chin, and began scratching the small countable hair there.

Breeze air flew across the courtyards, blowing leaves of green and brown color onto the ground in circular patterns.

…

Meanwhile, at the base of the stair, black rats with rock-like skin rushed toward the half-moon door. They sniffed their noses, then dashed out from the door's direction when a footstep sound echoed.

As Yung Mai stepped on the last rectangular platform of the stair, he lowered his head and exhaled bitterly.

Yung Mai turned his gaze upward, then back at the door. He sighed, smiled, then walked through the already opened door.

Rat cries welcomed Yung Mai as he stopped at the other side of the door. He tilted his gait sideways, stared at the building in front of him, and closed his eyes.

The moment he took the first step, scrambling sounds echoed as monks moved, entering and exiting the doors of the Chinese structured buildings.

"Master,"

Hearing a shout and a footstep sound echo from the left side, Yung Mai turned.

"Master, didn't we get any new recruit this year also," Jack, who had neared Yung Mai, said, his voice echoing low.

For a minute, Yung Mai stood there emotionless, then shook his head.

"Not even those that graduated to the second level of discipleship?" Jack added, his expression turning slightly joyous.

But as Yung Mai shook his head the second time, Jack's joyous expression vanished instantly, and he bowed to Yung Mai.

Jack felt a heavy palm touch his right shoulder as he raised his head.

"Jack, never let the number worry you. Be worried about their safety." Yung Mai whispered, then drew his hand back.

When Jack looked at Yung Mai eye to eye, he blinked when the master blinked, then smiled.

The two departed, letting the bristle of wind take over, carrying their footsteps like souls of the dead across the courtyard.

…

Stone cracking and falling sounds echoed as Yung Mai moved to the back of the large building. He squeezed his face as he stared at the building at the far distance.

'Give him the strength you gifted us, so he can rise from the land of the dead.' Yung Mai said low in his head, but two drops of tears dripped from his eyes.

The moment the tears reached his chin, Yung Mai cleaned them with a single swipe of his index finger on his right arm.

He closed his eyes, swallowed hard, and began reciting words that weren't clear to his ears.

After five minutes of reciting the words, a drop of rain fell on his head, then dripped down onto the ground.

One after another, the rain began to deepen, changing in weight and speed, yet Yung Mai didn't move.

He stood there, letting the rain wet his black and white cloak.

Drops of water dropped from his eyelids as he cracked his eyes open. A breeze of air gashed out of his mouth as he inhaled and exhaled.

…

Meanwhile, as the rain fell on the iron roofs of the building standing at the center of an overgrown grassland, smoke erupted from the inside.

Inside the room, a purple glow shimmered, glowing widely and making the room have day-like exposure.

Black claws dressed the walls of the room, giving it countless three-claw markings.

On the manmade wooden bed, a 5.7-foot boy's body lay there, his skin as pale as snow, and his eyelids blackened like a corpse.

One drop after another, the rain sneaked and dripped on the temple of the boy, sending out a thudding sound that echoed loud in the room.

Beside the body, countless blackened human-like shadows with long limbs and glowing skin stretched their arms on the boy's chest.

White light stretched out from the shadows' limbs and remained in a loop of entering and erupting from the boy in a spiraling manner.

And with each piece that entered and erupted from the boy, the entire body glowed, almost as if giving the still body a new life.

…

As the density of the light in the room increased, all the rain falling outside froze. They remained hanging as if held on by an invincible string.

Meanwhile, at the far distance, the grass parted sideways as Yung Mai walked through it, paddling a golden rod on the grass on both sides.

And when he moved out of the grass that was as tall as him and stepped on the box-stoned ground, he froze.

His face tensed as he noticed the rain, which was falling on him on the other side of the tall grass, hanging in the air where he stood.

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