"Correct answer" said Hong, as his smile broadened. "We'll follow a similar training regime to the one you created for yourself, except for the hours between..."

As Hong explained the training, Xing Kai silently listened. His fists were tightly balled up and a vein was bulging from his forehead. As soon as Hong was finished with his instructions he turned around and left with Fan. The two walked out nonchalantly through the gates and out into the camp, as did the 3 archers who followed behind them. They were going to return to the forest wall to prevent any quick revenge attacks that might come from Zen town.

At least that was what the archers had been arguing about, as they left the dark warehouse.

Now only Kai, the two swordsmen, and the broken sword were left in the warehouse.

"Ahem...little friend, I'll apologise on behalf of my friends. They were worried you might be a traitor so they were...you know" said one of the brothers. Xing Kai noticed that he seemed to smile more broadly then his brother. "Plus Hong and Fan are both proud of their strength, so they were a little jealous of you." He chuckled amiably. 

Xing Kai stared at the two with burning eyes which cut their laughter short, very quickly.

"Let's clear the air first. Grandma Zhou always said honesty smelled fresh, right Hak?" said the swordsmen as he looked across to his brother, who nodded his head.

"We'll tell you a few interesting things so you won't just run as soon as we turn our backs to you ok?" The brother, Hak, had an amazing magnetic voice. It was deep and rich, making Kai feel unable to ignore him. He was also the one to suddenly appear beside Kai and counter his quick draw attack.

The three looked across at each other until Kai nodded his head for a second time.

"Well, I think we can give you some good news. You can escape the town very easily if you head towards the slums at the far ends of the town. Go straight into the forest and your clear. Nobody will even come looking for you, let alone find you. We know this, since Hong put us in charge of keeping an eye on you." The brothers smiled as they saw Kai's eyes widen involuntarily.

Why are they telling me that?

Wait, the forest...?

"The reason for that is quite obvious if you think about it. You would have figured it out eventually so Hong wanted to use some fear tactics to scare you into staying here, rather then risking the escape" said Hak.

"The forests by the slums are too dangerous to cross even for us. That's why there isn't a wall there...well, Shen Han generally stands guard there against wild beasts, but he's too busy to be able to stop you from entering the forest at night" said Hak's brother calmly. "If you left in any other direction, chances are that you would eventually be caught by Hong. He has excellent stamina. But you could certainly escape the militia's hands, Hong's hands, if you went into that part of the forest. It's not a trap, I can assure you that in a straight race only us two are fast enough to catch you and we won't bother to. The other Captains would just hope that you tire out or make a mistake if they wanted to catch you."

Xing Kai frowned.

Does he take me for an idiot? All of them are faster then me, I can barely follow them with my eyes even now

Seeing Xing Kai's scowl the brothers shook their heads.

"Roc is not wrong. What you think is fast is only a special technique used to squeeze out all the muscle's bursting power for a short sprint. You aren't taught the finer details of cultivation so you wouldn't know, but Soul condensing cultivators do not have stronger bodies then even Peak stage cultivators. A lot of Soul condensing experts have quite poor physiques since they rush the Blood condensing stage and lose out on the chance to strengthen their bodies to their maximum potential."

...a special technique can make you that much faster? How does that even work?

Xing Kai's eyes brightened slightly.

"Like Roc said. You can go to the slums whenever you want and escape, us two won't stop you" said Hak. The two swordsmen smiled.

Something isn't right here

"Ok, we've told you plenty that should show our sincerity. All we ask is that you hear what we have to say. Just listen. Don't run off" Hak said.

"Although we praise your speed, you still aren't as quick as us two, so please don't go barging through the warehouse walls. They're very difficult to mend ok?" said Roc with a mock angry expression.

Xing Kai felt anxious; his chest felt tight.

Stolen novel; please report.

What am I forgetting?

Xing Kai's brows met tightly together.

"We said that the Captains are slower than you right?. And that Soul condensing cultivators aren't faster then Peak stage Blood condensing cultivators...this doesn't quite add up does it?" Hak spoke slowly. The two Captains scrutinised Kai's expression carefully. "As far as the others are aware, they think you are working on the 8th layer of the Blood condensing stage, and that you have better foundations than most people...which is why you are faster then they are."

"That's fine though. There are indeed a lot of people who have solid body foundations and are even faster than you are...all of the authentic cultivators spend a long time developing their body during the Blood condensing stage. But...when Grandma Zhou showed you to us, supposedly after you ate a mystic plant, you didn't have much cult-"

Xing Kai's eyes widened suddenly.

"Yeah we knew. However that isn't actually a problem. The other 6 think you ate a mystic plant which rejuvenated your Heart's Blood, therefore improving your cultivation talent. That would explain how you were growing so fast in front of our eyes on the forest wall. However since you didn't even have much cultivation before you came here, you must have excellent talent in cultivation for you to be able to reach this level of strength so quickly."

Hak and Roc looked at Xing Kai with slight smiles on their face.

"That explains everything then, right?" Roc asked.

Xing Kai hesitantly shook his head.

I have no idea what they are leading towards...do they know what I am or not?

"You're right. Even if you had excellent cultivation talent, how could you survive that injury when you didn't have any cultivation.? It's a bit unfair on you, but in reality there was no chance a mystic plant would have healed you in the condition you were in...mystic plants are just like their name suggest. Mystic. Most people only know rumours, but both of us have seen mystic plants before...so we know that you weren't healed by one."

"A less obvious issue in that explanation is that the cultivation resources here are very poor. It's unfortunate that townsmen don't get cultivate like people from the cities do, but that's just how it is. Even the most incredible talents from the cities would fail to cultivate here with just the diagrams and advice given in the manuals. Cultivation is more complicated then that, and certain items like Yao Grass and Fiend Roots, like Fiend Ginger and Fiend Ginseng, must be used at important stages of cultivation. Only a mystic plant, which you certainly don't have, would make up for the poor resources here."

Xing Kai's face gradually became darker, and he felt even more resigned.

Am I missing out on that much while I'm here? Maybe that's why it's so hard for me to break through...

Roc sighed and looked across to his brother. They both sat down and folded their legs.

Xing Kai looked at them sitting on the cold floor, and then sat down too.

"So...the question still remains. How are you able to exceed the speed of Soul condensing cultivators who even trained in cities, without the help of a mystic plant, using just the poor resources available here...and in such little time?" asked Hak. His voice filled Kai's ears and settled in his head in a way that Hong's never had.

Xing Kai bowed his head and didn't answer.

Zhou Hak and Zhou Roc waited.

"Your kind...people who cultivate like you, Xing Kai, are different to us. I think our commanding Officer's words were quite wise, he said cultivation has almost lost it's ancient heritage. It's been so long since anyone has ascended that the War Gods, Emperor Bojing Hai and the others, are all there is to look up to. For us Sanguinary cultivators it is sad that we have lost the stories of ascension, and replaced them with war. However, your kind benefits greatly from it." Hak's voice was not bitter or angry, only a little regretful.

"Both Hak and I have met Blood cultivators. The others, including Shen Han, haven't. They aren't bad people, not all of them are monsters like the stories say..."said Roc slowly. Xing Kai looked back up at them in surprise.

"But they were not great people to be around either. In battle...they are even worse. Xing Kai, we will help you where we can, Shen Han will too since he knows about you. But after the battle it would be best if you leave. A town is not the best place for you to be...and a Blood cultivator is not the best thing for a town to have either."

Xing Kai breathed out slowly, and nodded his head. He took out some parchment from his pocket and wrote on it.

"Why help me?" Roc read out. He looked back at Kai. "We have no reason not to. You won't turn on us to increase your own cultivation, we know that much. And in exchange you will fight with us in the coming battle."

Xing Kai smiled bitterly and wrote his honest thoughts.

Do I even have a choice?

"No, Xing Kai you do have a choice. Just like we said, you can leave whenever you want. With your abilities it should be possible for you to survive the trip after a couple of weeks of training" answered Hak. "The threat posed by the Greater Town is huge, far more then you realise. Even if we didn't, Hong was going to teach some people the techniques that cities teach to their soldiers. Those same techniques that make us appear so physically strong compared to Blood condensing cultivators. The sooner you master them the sooner you can leave, if that's what you want. In reality it's us who don't have a choice, as we desperately need highly skilled fighters."

Xing Kai looked at them both for a moment and then wrote on the parchment again.

I'll take part in the battle in exchange for two things. The cost of my recovery at the infirmary...and you teaching me about cultivation

Roc and Hak both read the note and smirked for an instant.

"The first demand is easy. Grandma Zhou didn't use anything on you to help you recover. It would have been a waste, so she let you recover on your own. There are no fees that you owe her, or anyone at the infirmary. As for the second...we think it's better if you learn about your cultivation from somewhere else. We don't know much about your kind, so it would be better to not become confused due to preconceptions."

Xing Kai did not accept Roc's answer.

I refuse to be crippled by ignorance. If I don't know anything then I will be forced to just kill wildly to grow stronger. I need to learn at least what you do and try it myself

Reading Kai's reasoning they conceded and agreed to teach Kai what they knew.

And one final thing...if you find any mercenaries anywhere, tell me. Anything to do with rogues, bounty hunters and explorers in the area, you tell me

To this final request of Xing Kai's, they agreed. With a deal made, the Zhou brothers left Xing Kai with a note and casually walked out of the warehouse.