Akata held up Peizhi Xiuying's body as he made his way out of the middle ring of Misty Forest. He held her in his arms like a groom would carry his bride. Her originally white furs we now dyed red by her blood. Under the moonlight she looked as if she was a blood goddess.

Akata was wreathed in a red and golden light of aura which caused the pressure around him to weigh down on everything by a multitude. His red and gold runes were rotating voraciously as he walked towards the sect. He wasn’t planning on attacking anything, only using the pressure from his runes to clear a path. A path that wouldn’t cause him to wander around and put Peizhi Xiuying’s body in danger.

He walked forward with nothing impeding his path as he made his way to the sect. His face was blank as he carried her in his arms. He held no sign of emotion, as if he was dead inside.

Soon he made his way to the mists of the middle ring. He looked deeply at the mists as he approached them. Even as he looked deeply at the mists he didn’t slow down in the least. He steadily traversed straight through the mist. The cries of beasts could be heard in the mists as he walked along, however the cries were far away from Akata.

He didn’t slow his pace down as he traveled through the forest. Throughout the whole trip he didn’t encounter any beasts or even other cultivators. Whenever something or someone came close to the pressure he was exerting they would stay away, not daring to find out what it was that was emitting that pressure.

This made the trip a lot easier for Akata. It made the trip back to the sect last for about a day. Even then, Akata’s face remained blank the whole time. As he came close to the edge of the outer ring towards the sect, Akata decreased the pressure being exerted by him to almost nothing. There was so little pressure that he didn’t affect his surroundings at all. It was as if he was a ghost wandering through the forest.

On his way to the sect, Akata had ample time to think of what had happened and what he was doing. His face was blank but his thoughts were calm and collected. It was actually the calmest he had ever been in his life.

‘If I was stronger I could have protected her life better, in fact she could be living and walking beside me right now. However, I didn’t have that strength and therefore she died trying to protect me even though I didn’t need it. I’m not going to blame her death on my failure to be strong… in the future I’ll just have to be strong enough so nobody else will die around me.

As I progress in life and get stronger, I’ll be facing stronger opponents. I can’t hesitate when fighting someone, my battles will be over life and death. Not mentioning my life, but the lives of the people that I care about. I can’t hold back any longer when fighting. I need to take training seriously for now on and progress faster.

Peizhi Xiuying… I promise that I’ll reach the pinnacle of strength for the two of us. My first step on that path is… destroying that cultivator who killed you. I don’t care that you killed his people, but because he killed you, he has to die. Right or wrong, good or bad, true or false, it doesn’t matter as long as you’re strong. That’s the rule of reality.’

Akata’s thoughts were calm as he had walked through the forest. By the time he reached the border of Misty Forest his face was pale and blood dripped from his mouth, because of the constant use of his runes. The light emanating out of him dimmed down greatly until it went out. The difference in pressure caused him to feel nonexistent in the world at the moment.

However, even though he was extremely tired he didn’t collapse. His vision was blurred and sometimes faded to black, his body was weary due to the continuous walking, and his robe was tattered and shredded from constantly going through rough plants and wood. He was in a sorry state, yet he didn’t care about any of that. All he wanted to do was take Peizhi Xiuying’s body back to the sect.

“We’re here Peizhi Xiuying.” He spoke softly and in a hoarse voice as the view of the training grounds came into his eyes. It was nighttime at the moment and the dark clouds up above covered up the full moon in the sky, which made it almost completely pitch black.

There were some disciples in the training field but the lack of pressure coming off of Akata made it so that they didn’t notice him at all. Akata didn’t pay them any attention anyways as he made his way through the training field. He was heading in the direction of Red Cloud Hall, towards the Elder Quarters. He was going to deliver Peizhi Xiuying’s body to the upper members of the sect.

‘They’ll give you a proper burial. Once that is over, I’ll train vigorously and then find that cultivator. Then I’ll utterly obliterate him for our sake.’ He thought to himself calmly. Even while walking through the sect he was incomparably calm to an extreme degree. This calmness was terrifying as nothing could make him flustered or flare his emotions.

Akata himself didn’t even know where this level of calmness came from. Although he suspected that it had something to do with his runes, he couldn’t be too sure. However these thoughts quickly dispersed from his mind as he focused on the task at hand.

He made his way to Red Cloud Hall to seek out the Elder’s. Since it was night, the disciples were barely out, therefore Akata didn’t encounter any of them. He kept up his same pace as he walked the path to the Elder Quarters.

A few minutes later he was on the steps of Red Cloud Hall looking at the sect’s banner hanging on the wall above the door. He looked down at Peizhi Xiuying and gave her a meaningful look. Looking at his face, it would be difficult for anyone to tell what he was thinking about.

He then took a step forward and then another and another until he was inside of the main building of the sect. There he saw the red decorations around the room and lanterns that lit up the area. The warm feeling from the heat of the lanterns hit Akata’s face, bringing warmth and color to him.

In the Red Cloud Hall a young man stood by the wall looking at a painting. The young man wore a red daoist robe and had white hair that reached down to his shoulders. The white hair greatly contrasted his youth-like appearance. The young man turned and looked at Akata walking into the room with Peizhi Xiuying in his arms.

The young man shook his head and took a step forward. In the next instant he was in front of Akata and looked deeply at him.

Akata looked back at him, his face as blank as ever. His mind was calm to the point that the man in red daoist robes was astonished and pleased.

The young man swished his sleeve and Peizhi Xiuying’s body was swept up and vanished. He then turned around and made to leave with his hands behind his back.

Akata knelt down and bowed to the young man with his forehead touching the ground. “Please… take good care of her.” Akata spoke out in a soft raspy voice. He didn’t left his head up at all and had his eyes closed.

The young man didn’t turn around, stop, or speak back. He just continued on walking away until he was no longer in the room.

Akata felt that the man had left the room but he still didn’t raise his head. Only until the sun was beginning to raise did he pick himself up. His face had regained its color and his aura was back to normal. His face was blank but his crimson red eyes held a deep look in them. He had much time to think over his life and his future.

‘This is the path I have chosen, therefore I shall see it through. I will reach the pinnacle for you and me. Nothing will set me off of this path. My first step shall be to conquer the cabins and then I shall step out of this sect and into the real world. Only when I reach the pinnacle of this sect can I be allowed to reach the pinnacle of the next place.

I will find out who it was that killed you and who it was that sent them. Only until then will that shadow over my heart be brightened. Once I have found those people, only then will my cultivation progress…’

It was at this point that an image of Peizhi Xiuying and her plant came into Akata’s mind. He thought about the cultivation of plants. He thought of how they too could become strong along with mortals and that they could reach the pinnacle of strength as well. It was with these thoughts that he made a decisive decision.

‘Not only shall I train in the Realm of Mortals… I shall train in the Realm of Plants as well! I will reach the absolute pinnacle of strength and uncover the secrets of plants that Peizhi Xiuying wasn’t able to do. I will do this for her clan and pass down those secrets to them. It may not be much but I will absolutely try my best and accomplish these things!

The world is run by the strong and therefore I won’t have any say until I reach the height of strength at the top of the world. Once I do I’ll be able to make the rules of the world. I will hold destiny in my hands. I’ll… be able to create my own reality and forsake this one!’

He then stood up and his eyes radiated with ambition. He was going to set out on a journey to become strong. Strong enough to change destinies and make his own reality. His utter determination made his runes spin and caused him to glow.

He made his way outside of the room and then out of the building. It was early dusk and the sun was just rising. Many of the disciples were still in bed so the sect was still bare, yet to thrive with noise. Akata took a deep breath and looked in a certain direction.

It was towards the direction of the cabins. His mind was focused on one thing and that was the seventh cabin. “Ming Xu…” He spoke out softly as he remembered who was in the seventh cabin.

At the thought of Ming Xu and their past Akata’s eyes went wide as he came to a startling thought. ‘Could it have been her. Xi Fe, and Xiun Wu who sent those people after me?’ A murderous air came around Akata as he thought this. He took a step forward and made his way to the cabins.