Climbing and descending the stairs, the wind flew around Kai, promising to raise him if he fell.

For ten days straight, Kai's body trembled as he remained in the loop of walking and descending.

At that same time, Yung Mai stood by his side, climbing when he needed to, and stopping to make the boy rest a bit.

After the first year of training, Kai's body began to grow with an enormous weight, turning skinnier but stronger.

…

"Congratulations on completing your first year of intense training," Yung Mai said on the last day of the twelve months.

Returning to the main grounds of Shadow Cult was like entering a strange environment.

Kai's expression changed when he saw a little increase in the number of disciples.

"Master," Kai tilted his head toward Yung Mai the moment they reached the top center of the bridge at the front of the meditation chamber.

"Do you know of someone with the name Yung Chin (G)?" Kai's expression changed when he saw the look on his master's face.

"Yung Chin?!" Yung Mai tilted his head upward and closed his eyes.

The fence at the side of the bridge began to shake when Yung Mai wrapped his fingers around the bar.

A boiling sound erupted from the water beneath the bridge, sending out evaporated air that fogged the entire bridge.

Without seeing anything in the fog, Kai whirled around, swinging his arms sideways and trying all he could to clear the fog, threatening to suffocate him.

The fog lasted for twenty minutes, and within those twenty minutes, Kai's eyes began to glow immensely as if dying.

When Kai saw Yung Mai's face after the fog cleared, he lowered his head and neared him.

"Master, what was that?" Kai asked in a fear-filled voice as he bowed his head slightly.

Yung Mai didn't speak; he simply turned back to the direction of the meditation chamber and began walking toward it.

As soon as he reached the door of the building, he tilted his head and gestured to the boy to follow.

In a blink, Kai reached Yung Mai's side, enabling both of them to enter through the door at the same time.

…

When they reached the inner section, Yung Mai neared the wooden structure, bowed six times, then moved to the table that had incense placed on it.

He pulled two bars of incense and lit them, letting their smoke fill the room.

He arranged the bars on his left and right sides, then sat in a lotus posture.

Seeing his master in a lotus posture, Kai followed suit, sitting closer to Yung Mai in the same lotus posture.

"Kai," Yung Mai's voice brewed through the flowing smoke of the incense that had flown to his face.

"The name you mentioned is of one of the greatest men who had undergone the Shadow Cult training."

A crackling sound erupted around Yung Mai as he loosened his clenched fist. He moved his right arm forward and closed his eyes.

He placed his finger on the ground in front of him and cracked his eyes open.

He stared Kai eye-to-eye while drawing an arc symbol on the ground.

"Yung Chin (S) was the bearer of the sword you have been bestowed with."

Looking at his master's face, Kai saw two drops of tears trying to snake down, which were wiped by Yung Mai himself.

"Yung Chin G was the junior brother of Yung Chin S." Yung Mai paused his fingers and tilted his gaze toward the ceiling above them.

"Yung Chin G is the one who gave the call for us to train you when he was no more."

Silence slammed the room, letting the smoke of the incense take charge.

'Yung Chin is Lieutenant Gray?' Kai whispered in his thoughts, as memories of him and Brother Gray popped into his mind.

But at the last memory of him taking the sword, which made Gray's body turn into ashes, a face appeared in Kai's vision.

He squeezed his face as the face appeared, but as he remembered having seen it in one of his dreams, his eyes opened wide.

"Master, and who is Yung Chin S?" Kai's voice echoed, breaking the silence that had struck the room, and wasn't ready to let go.

There, Kai saw an indescribable expression on Yung Mai's face.

"Yung Chin S!" Strong air burst out of Yung Mai, pushing the incense and sending them crashing on the walls of the room in a blast.

And within a blink, Kai saw Yung Mai hovering above the ground in the same lotus stance.

"Yung Chin S was once the master of this cult, until he moved out and never returned."

While floating, Yung Mai said, sending out loud sounds that slammed on the walls and sent debris falling on the ground, both in the room and outside the meditation chamber.

…

Meanwhile, outside the Shadow Cult grounds to the Radiant Palm grounds, Hu stood at the top of the stairs, his arms folded at his chest.

Breezes exited from his mouth, followed by drops of blood. Although he covered his mouth, spits of blood fell on the ground and clotted in an instant.

"Mai, you may never see me by the next time you climb to the top," he said mid-cough, which made the blood spill downward on the stairs.

…

At the front of the main entrance of the Western Temple, bamboo leaves spun in the air, drifting toward the direction the wind took them.

Two leaves spun without falling, drifting upward until they landed softly on the canopies of the bamboo trees.

Bird cries filled the air the moment three birds—black, blue, and red—moved past it, sending the leaves into spinning.

The birds moved at high speed, surging in and out of the dark clouds that filled the night sky.

Reaching the top of a wall at the southern part of Westeros, the black bird leapt downward and landed softly on a rusted roof.

It opened its beak, slammed them together, letting a grinding sound echo, then flew back upward.

…

"Did you hear that?" Nich turned a shocked face to Mike.

A plate of the roof fell and slammed into their front, stopping them mid-movement.

Mike shook his head after pushing Nich backward. "Man, watch your steps. You'd have been dead if it wasn't for me!"

Nich's expression showed a genuine smile of thanks to Mike, but Mike simply brushed it off.

The two walked silently, turning right, left, and moving past a green trash bin that looked as if it had been abandoned for years.

The blades of their swords, resting at their backs, glowed as the rays of the moon touched them.

Entering through the barracks' gate, Mike bowed to the monument like he'd been doing ever since, then moved past the building that seemed to be between long grass.

After Nich finished bowing to the monument and joined Mike, he cleared his throat.

"Mike, I've been having something in mind which I would want to clear out," Nich said, scratching the tiny hair that had been growing on his chin.

"And what is that?"

"…Do you think the test they've been doing on the healed boy will do anything better to the one that seemed to be resisting all the medication?"

"…Who are you talking about? Can't you mention the name?"

"…I'm talking about Oin. I see that we should just kill him instead, else he may attack everyone the moment he breaks free from the chains."

"…Do you know how much help that guy has given to the barracks?"

"…Naa, but I think if we just kill him, it will help stop the waste of medicines that always get injected into him without yielding any result."

"…Even if it will take his life to cure him, all those at the barracks will place themselves there for him. So think before you say anything else."

Silence ruled between Mike and Nich as they neared the wall inside the barracks.

Tree branches shook, casting long shadows on the ground as leaves drifted across the large courtyard at the other side of the wall.

Mike closed his eyes and exhaled when he saw Jinx and Max standing by the door of the green building at the side of the white building.

…

"Isn't that Mike?" Jinx's face shimmered with a smile as she pointed to the two guys walking in the far distance away from them.

When Max turned in the direction Jinx's finger pointed to, he laughed. "Oh, yeah, that's him."

"Wait, when did the doctor say she will leave and go in for the boy?!" Max's face tightened the moment Jinx turned a still face to him.

"That's today."

"…Today!" Jinx's eyes opened wide. "Then I've just got to rush and pack my things and go with her. I promise to be an escort."

Dust swelled up as Jinx slammed the door and dashed inside.

After two minutes, Jinx exited, and when Max's eyes scanned her, tears traced down his face.

"Why are you crying? I won't be gone forever." Jinx closed in with Max and placed a hand on Max's shoulder.

She hesitated for a while, then stretched herself and kissed Max's cheeks.

"I'm crying because… because you made me remember Lieutenant Gray."

Leaves fell from the branches of the tree standing three feet away from the building the moment Jinx moved away from Max.

…

"Take good care of the affected ones, especially Oin," Lena turned toward Julie as both of them exited through the door of the white building.

"I'm gonna take care of everyone like I was doing before I called you here." Julie's voice echoed in a saddened tone.

"You've been of great help to the sword sect barracks, and largely to Bion City at large." Soft wind blew the brown hair of Lena as she turned and looked at the face of Julie for the last time.

Julie's eyes welled up as she stood there waving and watching the Mercedes-Maybach S-Class swirl dust in the air as it dashed out from the opened door on the wall.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.