Dinner arrived shortly after. Liu-Ken not only had two dishes full of noodles and meat perched on one arm, but he also had a fire lit lamp on the other. Aurora had never seen anything like it and, following her curiosity, as soon as Liu-Ken placed it on the table, she touched it.

"It's hot!" she shouted, the surface of his fingers scorched, shaking them.

"Of course, it's hot, silly. It's too warm us up. Autumn came earlier this year," Liu-Ken said, shaking his head in denial. He yawned and put Aurora's plate in front of her. "I haven't forgotten. After dinner, you can ask me anything you want. Remember, a man is only as strong as the value of his word. If you don't keep your promises, no one will respect you or follow you," he said.

Aurora nodded. A trail of nervousness lingered in the air.

Tomorrow a new adventure would begin; far from the peace of that hidden place, concealed behind thick logged trees and dark green curtains.

It was likely that a hundred or more Kaji School soldiers were already on the way. Perhaps even the leader himself. In the best-case scenario, he had had his doubts, or fears, and had become uneasy at home, at the top of one of the continent's largest volcanoes but had stayed. In the worst-case scenario, he was also on the way, equipped with the best armor money could buy, escorted by several levels 1, some immortal included, while the other four schools had also made minimal preparations to destroy the necromancer. It was the only situation in which the five leaders agreed; a necromancer cannot live; he has no right to tread on the land of the living.

As soon as they both put the wooden cutlery on the plate, Liu-Ken broke the silence.

"What do you want to know?" he asked, placing his gaze on the moon that had arisen in the corner of the starry night canvas.

"Everything. How did you meet my father? What happened next? How did you meet Bardolph? And my mother? Is she still alive? Has she abandoned me?"

"Calm down, girl. We still have a few hours left before we go to sleep," Liu-Ken said and smiled. It was rare for him to do so even though he had a pleasant enough smile, "Hm, how did I meet your father? It was a long, long time ago. Maybe forty years. At the time we were just two motivated young men who wanted to become immortal cultivators, hoping to be recognized and rewarded by Dao. We took part in a competition between schools. Him for Kaji School, I for Mizu School, which honors the natural element of water as I told you before. The tournament was simple. Teams of five, one from each school and element: water, fire, earth, air, metal. The objective was to carry out various missions. Most of them were raids to caves where demonic beasts lived, each containing a unique core that could be used to make a cultivator stronger or to produce magic items and weapons. Are you following me?" Liu-Ken asked, arching his eyebrow as he saw the girl with her eyes hooked on the moon, now even brighter, the clouds drifting away and giving it room to stand out.

"Yes, I'm sorry. The moon seems to be calling me. It must be the fatigue. I’m extremely tired." Aurora said, "Please continue," she added. "I'm sorry.”

Liu-Ken ignored the observation about the moon and moved on, "Well, the rest of our team, although very strong, weren't exactly friendly. Your father and I got to know each other and realized that we had a similar line of thought. At the time, your father was already regarded as one of the greatest promises in the world of cultivators. The conjunction of red and black chi that ran through his veins offered him a power that no one could ignore. There are very few who can tame two elements and your father was the only person in history who is known to control one element besides darkness. At the time, necromancers were still accepted in society. A few years later... we became friends, great friends. As adults, we left our schools and decided to embark on adventures across the continent. Some people even called us vagrants Xia's, heroes who use their strength to fight injustice. During one of our treks, we ended up making a stop at the Kaji School and it was there that everything changed. Your father was so respected and so strong that the school leader, Luan-Lu, was so afraid of losing his place that he ordered the elite soldiers to arrest your father. He agreed to go without a fight and asked me to accept it too, told me that everything would be fine, and I believed him. According to the school leader, your father had been experimenting on dead people, raising an army of darkness, allowing beasts and demons to join him, all to rule the world. All lies. Your father never hurt anyone who didn't deserve it," Liu-Ken said and paused to breathe.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"And then what? Don't stop now!" Aurora said, taking her eyes off the moon and staring at the mentor. Her fists were clenched, and a layer of black chi enveloped them.

"The leader of the Kaji School convinced all the other schools that it was real. He even got shattered and corrupted dead bodies to make it seem believable. I don't know how he did it. Most likely, he paid banned cultivators, those who walk in the shadows and deal with demonic cultivation, who even though they don't have black chi, have a corrupted black soul, some of whom are under invocation spells, others sharing their body and mind with devils. It was then that Yin appeared to your father. At first, he refused her help. But shortly after, your mother told him that she was pregnant and that she felt observed every night, eyes peeking through the trees. You know, your mother was a healer, one of the best ever. She had an enormous amount of chi and used it to heal the wounded at Kaji School," he said.

"Is that when my father accepted Yin's help? To protect me..." Aurora said, looking down, her chi pulsing until it reached her wrist.

"He was afraid that they would attack your mother. Summing up what happened next, your father escaped from prison and brought all the possible necromancers together and as promised, Yin took you. Maybe she knew how all of this would end, but your mother never forgave your father for what he did. She ended up sinking into drinking and was never the same. I have no idea where she is now. Your father... he, he was killed in battle and I, like a coward, ended up living here, always following in your footsteps. It was the least I could do. I should have been there, fighting by his side," Liu-Ken said. Aurora wasn't sure if the mentor's eyes were damp or if it was the effect of the moonlight pouring over his clear eyes.

"It's not your fault. I believe that you must have a good reason to have not been there," Aurora told him. The girl took a deep breath and the black chi receded into her, the meridians carrying them along. "My father made his choice. He tried to do it for me, for my mother, for all of us. Now it's my turn. I know I'm still a long way from even getting to his level, but no big uprising has started at the end, has it?”

"You are right. I will follow you to the end. I promised it to your father, and I promise it to you. I know Kagu thinks the same too," he said, and the purple ring sparkled.

"Thank you. I hope you don't end up regretting it. You still have to tell me how you met Bardolph.

"It's not a very interesting story. On one of our trips, we stopped by your village. At the time it was governed by a very violent foreman. His subordinates had fun whipping the peasants who worked in the rice and wheat fields. We freed the city and ended up resting there for a few days. Bardolph welcomed us into his house. He never asked us for anything in return. He ended up confessing that one of the great sorrows of his life was that his wife could not have children. When Yin asked me where to leave you, it was the first place I remembered," Liu-Ken told Aurora, distorting the truth. It was not a lie that they had liberated the city, but everything else was a fabrication to hide who they really were.

"Why didn't you stay with me?"

"I couldn't. You..." Liu-Ken started and paused once more. His voice was deeper, and his breathing was uneven, "You reminded me of what I had lost. I couldn't look at you and not see your father."

"I understand. I don't blame you. You did the best you could with what you had," Aurora said. She was confused and didn't know what to feel; anger, pride, sadness. A turmoil of emotions occupied her mind, "I think I should go to sleep. Tomorrow we'll have a long day, won't we? Thank you for this moment," she said.

"Yes, you’re right. Goodnight, Aurora," Liu-Ken said.

The girl thanked him again and wished him the same. Only when her silhouette was gone did Kagu speak.

"You had another chance to tell her the truth about the blood moon and you didn't do it."

"I know, I know. I should have told her, but I couldn’t. Not yet. She’s still not ready. It's too much responsibility."

"There's not much time left, Liu. The girl will eventually find out."

"You're right. I have to tell her," Liu-Ken said and yawned, his body sliding down the chair, looking at the moon once again. "He is coming," he added.

One hundred soldiers from the Kaji School marched towards the village where the massacre had taken place. The orders were simple; from there, ten groups, each with ten soldiers at the orders of an elite member, usually a Level Two cultivator, would move on to the surrounding cities. They were allowed to kill anyone who did not offer help or tried to oppose them.

On the other side, the bodies covered with a black cloak traversed across the mountains. Shadows wandering in the dark, almost melancholic night, sheltered by the wide paths and the rocks along the way, they distanced themselves from the temple from which they had departed. Under the moonlight, the black lines tattooed on their necks shone; a skull whose eyes had a black speckle and on top had two parallel red lines splitting the drawing into three parts, one small, the middle, and two large that were of the same size on each side.