Only a few hours later, Elder Alano appeared in Dalian’s courtyard, floating down from the sky, as his robes blew about in the gentle breeze.

“Are you ready?” he asked simply.

“I am.” Dalian replied. There wasn’t much to prepare. He didn’t have much to pack. Having come on foot from hundreds of miles away, he had packed lightly, living off the land as he travelled. Some servants had left a new pair of azure robes on his bed, which he had changed into, signifying his status as a disciple of the sect.

Having said that, Alano placed a hand on his shoulder, and he once again felt the strange sensation of leaving the ground. They travelled past the mountain range. In the night sky, the stars blinked quietly, and the cold wind scraped at his skin slightly.

As they reached the border of the mountains, they lowered to the ground.

Dalian began to panic, as he wondered why they had stopped only there. Was Alano going to kill him here? Realising that it wouldn’t do him any good, he forcefully settled his emotions and asked. “Why don’t we fly all the way there?”

“We can’t. Elders can fly within the sect because of the formation protecting it. Only someone with a wind element root could fly at the core formation stage. It’s unfortunate, but we will have to go the rest of the way on foot.”

Not giving Dalian any time to reply, he set off at a jog. It seemed like he was reluctant to waste time going slowly. Seeing him quickly getting further away, Dalian ran after him.

Once he reached the man, Alano spoke again. “I understand you’ve spoken to Jun.”

“Yes, I have.” Dalian didn’t make any excuses. Whatever reason Alano had for bringing up the man would soon become clear.

“It’s a shame what happened to him. He used to be extremely feared by our enemies.”

“Indeed it is.”

“Ah, so he’s already told you?” Alano asked, surprised before continuing in a grave tone.

“Dalian, I want you to understand that there’s no need to look for information. I will tell you everything you need to know as it becomes appropriate for your development. I won’t do anything this time, but don’t do it again in the future.”

Dalians paranoid trepidation locked onto an idea. Alano wanted all of his knowledge to come from him. Was it so he could manipulate him into doing something?

“My apologies honoured elder. I won’t make this mistake again.”

He already knew he would be securing his own source of information, away from the elder’s prying eyes.

—

Two days passed. The two ran continuously, only taking a break the following night to rest. If it was before he had absorbed the orb, Dalian wouldn’t have been able to run for so long. However, he had much more endurance since. It was as if his body had been remodelled.

Suddenly, Alano held his arm out to stop Dalian. Then, moving too fast for Dalian’s eyes to see, he made some hand signs and an enormous sword of blue light materialised in the air ten metres ahead, tip pointing towards the ground. Alano pushed his arms down, and the weapon slammed down.

An ear-rending hiss echoed out as an enormous viper lifted itself off the ground into a prone position. It had two heads, each as thick as a boulder. Dalian could only see a tiny portion of it’s body, yet it still towered over him.

All at once, the two moved. The viper lunged at Alano with both of its mouths wide open, as he jumped backwards, pulling a long sword out of thin air and grasping it firmly in both hands. Before Dalian’s eyes could even relay what had happened to his brain, the two moved again.

The viper’s tail whipped around and struck Alano from behind. As he flew through the air from the contact, he righted himself and swung at the beast. However, the attack simply bounced off the snake’s tough scales.

Alano was out of Dalian’s view, but the bright blue cage which had been used to capture the girl after the bridge test suddenly materialised around the snake. Instinctually understanding its purpose, the viper quickly began slithering out through the gaps. Before it could completely escape, the cage shrunk down until it held the last part of it’s tail firmly in place.

Dalian wanted to turn and run at this point, but he was so enraptured by the battle that he couldn’t draw himself away. Just as he thought of this, Alano jumped over to him in one leap from above the trees, picked him up under his arm and ran.

The environment passed in a blur, as Alano rapidly switched directions, whilst only getting faster and faster. Dalians stomach hurt from the iron vice that the elder’s arms had on him, and he felt extremely uncomfortable being so helpless. So far he had entertained the idea that he might have a fighting chance if the man turned on him. But this experience made it clear, in the case of a betrayal he would need to be vastly more powerful even just to escape.

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They continued to flee for a few more hours, and only when night had fallen, did the man bring him deep into a cave before lighting it up with qi and placing him down.

Dalian was about to question what had just happened, when the man unexpectedly collapsed in exhaustion. It was then that Dalian noticed the huge laceration across the man’s back. Somehow there was little to no blood, but the wound was severe. It looked to be the kind of injury that would kill a mortal immediately.

The man’s body rose up and down lightly, for a few moments. It seemed like he was out cold. Dalian considered just leaving and forgetting about the entire sect. He wouldn’t have to watch his back constantly for whatever the elder might do. Just as soon as the thought came to mind, he banished it.

His will was for immortality, anything less was not enough.

So, he approached Alano, and shook his body slightly. Like the viper, he suddenly jolted upright looking around crazily. As he saw Dalian he relaxed, perhaps recalling their narrow escape.

“Boy. I don’t have much energy left. I need your help. You must heal me.” He croaked out quietly.

“How?” Dalian asked.

“Like you did when you purified the girl, you need to send your energy into my body. But it has to be everything you have. My body is too powerful.”

Dalian remained calm as he looked inwards. That vital energy which he had used in the test had completely replenished, and was maybe even more plentiful than previously. Nudging it slightly, the energy within began to grow turbulent.

He prodded it once more. The energy grew into a storm. Again, and aura began leaking out of his body at a trickle.

Noticing this, he placed his hands on the mans injuries so that it wouldn’t go to waste. He thought of how he could stop the aura from the rest of his body from dissipating into nothingness. He didn’t need to worry though, as somehow Alano began absorbing it himself.

If he didn’t need to worry about getting the energy into his wound, then…

He sat and shut his eyes, focusing only on his root. He pictured a massive drain with a plug on the side of it. Then, with a great pull, he tore it out. As though it were a waterfall, energy gushed out endlessly.

His body became immediately shrouded in a huge haze of energy for a moment, before Alano’s absorbance increased in intensity and it was entirely sucked away.

Dalian opened his eyes. Right in front of him, he saw the man’s injuries healing in real time. Flesh grew and replaced what had been lost.

The energy pouring out of his body suddenly stopped. He looked inside, and noted that there was none left.

“It wasn’t enough for my body after all.” said Alano. “That’s fine. I can heal the rest naturally.”

Dalian only barely heard his last words, as his vision faded to black and he passed out.

—

Dalian awoke with a throbbing headache. His entire body felt spent. His mouth and eyes were dry, and a furious rumble from his stomach physically hurt him. He sat up onto the rock floor and looked around, vision blurry.

He only somewhat heard a voice speaking to him, before his mouth was opened and a pill placed inside. He tried to swallow his saliva, and the pill went down.

Once it landed in his stomach acid, the outer shell wore away, and a soothing energy spread through his body. He still felt dehydrated and hungry, but it was no longer torturous. After a bit, his vision refocused and he could finally hear.

“Dalian. Dalian.” Alano repeated.

“What?” Dalian slightly slurred.

“Good. You’re finally awake.” he replied.

“What happened, why do I feel so bad?” Dalian asked.

“You’re suffering from vital energy depletion.”

Dalian’s mind cleared up slightly more, and he adjusted his sitting position against the wall.

“From what?”

Elder Alano’s voice was patient. “Vital energy depletion. You’ve used up all the stores in your spirit root, and your body is suffering because of it. It’s not so bad because you haven’t yet accumulated any qi, but still, I must thank you. I wouldn’t be here without your healing.”

“Will I get better?” Dalian questioned.

“Yes, you just need some time to rest normally, but that pill I gave you should speed things along.” Alano replied. “I never expected to come across a peak core formation stage beast. We should count our lucky stars that we didn’t die back there. I’ll have to put together an expedition to eliminate that foul beast from our territory once we return to the sect.”

“What even was that thing?” Dalian asked

“A twin-headed viper. Though, I’ve never seen one so big, nor so far advanced. They’re usually weak, at the qi gathering realm at the most.”

Dalian was quite shocked at the danger they had come across. He had thought that if something were to kill him, it would be the elder, not a beast.

Although, he had begun to wonder if what Shelu had shown was the truth. So far Elder Alano had been nothing but kind to him. Still, that memory flashed in his mind again, of his betrayal. He didn’t know what to think. He would have to look for more information.

“Are we leaving now?” Dalian asked.

“Not yet, we’ll give it a few hours first.”

He sighed, “at least one good thing has come out of this. We’ve cut off a few days from our travel time. The life-attuned area is only a couple hours out.”