With a full moon hanging high in the sky illuminating the stillness of night, a dim red streak of light undiscernable to the naked eye was plummeting down from the heavens. 

Crux, a young slave boy of a Baron in the Whitedrake Empire, was out gathering herbs near a river just outside of Dhyila City. While washing his hands in the river with a bucket of muddy herbs to his left, a loud bang sounds out at the other side of the river. The sound of trees toppling and birds screeching was a stark contrast to the usual stillness of night. 

Peeking over at the bucket of herbs, Crux clenches his fist and with the curiosity getting the better of him, he heads over to a more shallow area of the river to cross to the other side. Being just outside the borders of Dhylia city, it isn't likely that any more dangerous beasts could be lurking in the forest. 'I can always just run' he thought. 

The dried soil now turned mud covering his scrawny body from crossing the river, Crux makes his way over to the disturbance in the trees. Doing his best not to make a sound, he tiptoes his way closer and closer. As he almost makes it to where the sound was, the sound of hysterical laughter enters his ears. Almost jumping out of his skin in fright, Crux does his best to calm down his beating heart. Crossing out the idea of bandits being so close to the city, Crux still decides to turn back. With people here, even if they are patroling soldiers of Dhylia City, they still won't treat a muddy slave boy with courtesy. It wouldn't be all suprising if they killed him over snooping around. Sighing, Crux turns around to head back to the river. However, before he makes it a few steps away, a hollowed out voice sounds out from behind him.

"Hey kid, if you're gonna come all the way, at least keep this old man's last moments company, hahahaha! Cough! Shit, fucking bastards..."

Followed by a string of curses and coughs from the voice, Crux nearly trips over himself face first into the ground. The sound of that hollow voice nearly made him die straight from fear. The voice itself sounded like it came straight out of hell. In his attempt to run away and never look back, he finds his back soaked in cold sweat, unable to make a single step forward. 

"Hahahaha! Hey brat, come on over. I can't do anything to you anyway, bahahahaha. This - *Cough* old man here is at the end of his life. I just wanna have a talk with ya. Hey, maybe you'll benefit! You can have all my possessions! Hahahahaha!"

Once more hearing that hollowed out voice, Crux is besides himself in fear. His breathing unconsciously speeding up, his lungs stinging. His heartbeat sped up to the max, Crux nearly goes mad from the fear. "Please... let me go.. let me live..." he mumbles.

"Huh? Live? Brat, I just said you can have my possessions. In fact, you can be my successor! Why would I kill you- Oh. Kid, are you below the Spirit Realm? My bad! Bahahaha. I must've fallen farther than I thought! My bad, my bad. Here, come on over. Don't be afraid, you won't die. I'm just going senile it seems."

*Cough*

Blood dripping from digging his nails into his palms so much, the invisible pressure that was bearing down on Crux from the voice slowly subsided. His breathing heavy, Crux struggles to stand up to try and escape.

"Hey brat, don't run. This old man is gonna die, I can tell from your little aura, you haven't cultivated before. This old man can give you power. I need a successor afterall, just a few promises. Come on over, if I wanted you dead I wouldn't be toying with you. Bahahaha!"

Noticing that once hollowed out voice slowly gaining some humanity, and hearing the word 'power', Crux makes a decision through the cold sweat, to at least see what the voice wants. Taking a deep breath, Crux makes his way through the trees. As he makes his way through the bushes, seeing all of the toppled over trees and the massive crater where the voice originated from, Crux begins to wonder where the hell the patrols are. Seeing the apprehensive kid on his way over, the old man can't help but continue his hysterical laughter. 

Finally reaching the crater, Crux is stupified with what he saw. It wasn't an old man like what the voice said, but an extremely devilish young man. With black hair and red streaks the color of blood flowing down to his shoulders, chiseled jaw, and bloodred eyes that seem to peer into his soul, Crux felt his heart stop, and nearly toppled over. Looking down towards his body, Crux can't help but vomit out everything he had eaten over the course of the day. This 'old man's body was entirely mangled and full of blood. His four limbs barely still on his body, dangling by a few strands of bone. A fist sized hole where his heart is, or should have been. His heart was gone. 'How the fuck is this guy breathing and laughing?' he thought as his dinner spewed out onto the ground. While he continues to vomit, the 'old man' once more laughs hysterically. "Brat, it's just a little blood, you shouldn't lose your dinner over that! Bahahahahaha!"

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'A little? The fuck is a lot?' he thought as he wipes his mouth. He musters up his courage, and once more looks at the man. He makes sure to just focus on the head this time. Taking a deep breath, he musters up all of his courage to speak, "Who are you...?"

The bloodied man, hearing the question, abruptly stops his laughter as he peers at Crux with his cold, blood red eyes. As Crux makes eye contact, his entire body shivers. 

As the man continues to stare at Crux, the man himself can barely hold in his astoishment and excitement. Also, a tad bit of sadness and disappointment. After a few more minutes of staring at Crux, the man opens his mouth to speak with a slightly hollowed, serious voice; "Kid, I won't lie to you, had my soul not been damaged, I myself wouldn't have hesitate to occupy your body! Bahahahaha!"

Hearing these words, Crux finally plops straight to the ground in fear. Shaking as he looks at the bloodied man.

"Brat, I just said I can't anymore. No need to freak out, sheesh. What a waste of a good body. All I said is that I wouldn't hesitate if I could, and your soul nearly left the body itself! Bahahaha."

The man once more breaks out in a hysterical laugh, but Crux's heart goes slightly cold. He's been a slave since he was eight years old, being sixteen now, he has been a slave for the latter half of his life. When he was eight years old, his parents were murdered in cold blood on their travels to a nearby city by bandits, leaving him, an only child, to be nothing more than a slave to the baron of Dhylia City. Some people might treat him better, but he knows it's just pity. Except a select few that maybe do it out of the good of their hearts, he knows it's mostly pity. He's just a slave after all, nothing else anymore. As these thoughts flow his mind, Crux gets courage from who knows where, and yells; "Shut the fuck up!"

Following which, the sound of laughter abruptly stops. Huffing and puffing, Crux stares dead into the blood red eyes of the man. The shivering in his body slowly disappearing. As silence descends on the two, the only sounds to be heard are the sounds of nearby crickets. 

The man's laughter stopped, once more examines Crux. After a good few minutes of silence, seemingly satisfied, he nods his head. Before he speaks, Crux abruptly says, "You said you can give me power?"

Seeing the slight hope in Crux's eyes, the man's lips slowly curve up. "Indeed. However, kid, what I can give you, to some people isn't exactly 'orthodox' and 'good'. Infact, you most likely would end up just like me here, hunted down, and finally killed. Are you willing to be hunted down, and cursed as a demon?"

Following such a question, Crux takes only a moment before he hardens himself, and nods his head. 'A demon? Hunted down? Much more exciting than dying as a damn slave' he thought. He could die tomorrow from being overworked, so who cares? If he can have power, enough power to protect himself, he could even live in luxury. 

Seeing Crux decide so quickly, the man started laughing again, but this time in a slightly better tone. "Alright kid, being honest, you won't end up like me as long as you don't go overboard. Let me be honest, I will be teaching you demonic techniques. Or more to say, giving them to you. As you can see, I will die within the hour. My soul is damaged, never to be seen again. I went overboard, and killed far too many people. So, I was hunted down, and thus here I am, on my deathbed. I will transfer the techniques straight to your head, and as you get stronger, and go down the demonic path further, the techniques that I have given you will further unlock and you will gain further power. I will not give it all to you immediately, as that is as good as killing my only successor! Once you reach a certain level of strength, you will know my name. You must promise me this one thing, that you kill those that killed me. Understood?"

After processing the information, Crux nods his head with unconcealable excitement. Despite all the warnings, he still can't wait to have power. He could finally get out of slave life, and who knows where he could make it to? 

Seeing Crux nod his head, the man gives a slightly devilish smile that sent chills down Crux's back once again. "I will give you the first three layers of the Demonic Subduing Qi technique, and once you reach the second layer, you will then know the fourth, and so on. Now, before I do, my last wish is that when you learn my name... Try not to curse the dead too much. Hahahaha!"

Before Crux could react, the man lifted his finger and shot something into his head, and tossed a ring from his finger into Crux's pocket. As the man continued to laugh and Crux was starting to feel pain so unbearable that he nearly instinctively killed himself on the spot. Still laughing, the man waves his hand, and everything around Crux starts to disappear, as if it was only an illusion, and finds himself once more next to the bucket of herbs by the river. However, from the unbearable pain in his head and the mass of information flooding in, he knows it wasn't and illusion. 

Besides himself in pain, Crux nearly rolls himself into the river. All of the information pertaining to the first three layers of Demonic Subduing Qi and other information pertaining to certain lesser techniques fills up his mind. After the pain continues on, Crux himself finally loses consciousness.