Cora sighed when she heard the question. However, before she could answer, there was a loud rumbling sound. The earth shook violently, while a violent wind blew across the dense forest. Trees were bent, shrubs uprooted, and small crevices appeared everywhere. A lot of leaves were blown away from trees, reducing the darkness enveloping the forest. When the phenomenon stopped, everyone was left shaken.

“Something is wrong. I just felt it, the connection to the monastery snapped!” said Gonin, as he opened his eyes.

“Cora, answer my question!”

“Fine! Ever since I was young, everyone at the monastery called me Rose. The Sacred Abbot said when they found me; there was a blue rose next to me. So they simply named me Rose, because he said it was an omen.”

“What about the name Cora?”

“It’s fake. There’s no Cora Waterline.”

“What? Wait, how did you put out the fire? How were you able to hurt me? What was that techniq--”

“One question at a time! I can only answer one question at a time!” snapped Cora, or rather Rose.

“How were you able to hurt me?”

“There are basically two ways of cultivating. Since you have reached the first level of internal cultivation, I’m sure you know that the meridians of humans are blocked, so they cannot cultivate like you do. That is unless an external force clears the blocked meridians first. The founding Abbot realized that the humans who wanted to join his monastery could not cultivate like he did. Initially, he simply cleared their meridians, but he realized that when he was gone, there wouldn’t be anyone who would be able to do that for those who would have newly joined”, she paused.

She took a seat next to Gonin, before continuing, “He decided to create a different method of cultivation altogether. One suited to humans on earth, one that anyone can master, as long as the try hard enough. He called this method External Cultivation. The reason he called it external, is that instead of using your body as the vessel for storing qi, you’d use an external vessel. That vessel is the paper talisman. The reason why the Sacred Abbot was able to injure you was that he controlled external qi, which he imbued into the paper. As long as there is abundant ambient qi, using a certain method, you can imbue the qi into a vessel.”

“Wait, I thought that the qi on earth was too thin, which made it impossible to cultivate. So where did he get the qi to imbue into the funny paper thing?” asked Ryan with a puzzled expression on his face.

“The monastery is different from the rest of the planet. The founding Abbot made sure there would be abundant ambient qi, as for how he did it, I do not know. All I know is that, the reason we have so many paper talismans, is because of this ambient qi.”

“Who creates these paper talismans?”

“The current Sacred Abbot. The secret to making the talismans has been passed down from one abbot to the next. So only an Abbot can make them.”

“You still haven’t explained how you managed to hurt me.”

“Your body is invulnerable to conventional weapons, unless they’re enhanced with qi. I had a talisman that allowed me to gather external qi in my hands and use it any way I wished. I simply ‘enhanced’ my own palms using qi gathered by the talisman. Understand?”

“So that was why the abbot said I wasn’t invincible?”

“Yeah, there are a lot of things you don’t know about. Weapons made from the ore we’re going to mine are enhanced so they can kill you without any special techniques. I’d be careful if I were you. Now time for you to answer my questions, how did you start cultivating?”

“There was a meteor shower. I found a robot in the debris of our house, and with it was a small device. The small device had celestial qi, which somehow cleared my meridians. That was how I started cultivating. An old man has been teaching me everything I know so far. From the movement technique, to the cultivation method to the martial skill.”

“Oh. That explains the weights; that was for the movement technique, am I right?”

“Yeah, I still have them. My body has already adjusted, it actually feels normal.”

“Eh? That’s quite scary. Anyways, we need to start moving. Otherwise we might spend the night in this place”, she spoke, before looking at Gonin, who had a worried look on his face. “Still worried about the monastery? Do you think it has something to do with the nursery rhyme?”

“Maybe. Honestly, I do not know. I feel like something is wrong”, said Gonin, trying to stand up.

Rose helped him to stand up, and together they started walking.

“Do you guys know where we’re going? We seem to be lost”, spoke Ryan, who was behind the two.

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“We’ll find out soon enough”, replied Rose.

“What kind of attitude is that? What do you mean we’ll find out soon enough? Do you know where we’re going, yes or no?” asked Ryan, shouting.

“Are you coming or not?”

“You still haven’t explained to me how you’re involved with the assassins’ organization!” yelled Ryan, as he took a step, appearing directly next to Gonin and Rose.

Rose kept walking, ignoring Ryan, along with Gonin who had now straightened his back. It was quite weird that no one talked about the phenomenon that had just occurred. However, Gonin was worried, and he kept silent for the rest of the trip. When they finally arrived at the base of Mount Sun, they realized something was off!

The entire meteorite was missing! There was just a large crater in place of where the meteorite had fallen.

“Guys, where is the meteorite?” asked Ryan, as he surveyed the crater.

“I knew it! There is an omen! Last time we visited this place, the stone was there”, replied Gonin, pointing towards the crater.

“Unless it grew legs and ran off, I don’t see a stone there. Maybe other people came and carried it off?” asked Ryan, shrugging his shoulders.

Rose rolled her eyes, before saying, “Gonin seems to have the answer to your question. Why don’t we ask him?”

“The Abbots of the Northern and Eastern monasteries came here two weeks ago. Our Sacred Abbot joined them as well. When they arrived, they ran into a four-tailed monkey. According to the Sacred Abbot, the monkey was so strong the three of them had to run away. They could not even scratch it; no matter what they tried”, replied Gonin. He continued, “The Sacred Abbot said there was an omen; the strength of the monkey was just too much.”

“What does this mean then?” asked Ryan.

“A very strong four-tailed beast, the missing meteorite. I do not know why the abbots said they could be signs of the awakening of a beast king! Actually, the missing meteorite is the clue that pieces all the others together. We need to get out of here; we are in very grave danger!”

“Oh dear, and here I was thinking this would be a walk in the park”, said Ryan, rolling his eyes.

“I am serious; we need to leave right now!”

“Fine, whatever you say! This wasn’t my favorite place anyway.”

“Wait, guys, come look at this”, said Rose, inspecting the crater.

“What is it?” asked Gonin.

“Look at those claw marks. What do you think made them?” she asked, pointing at the edge of the mountain. Embedded at the base of Mount Sun were three claw marks, each bigger than the last.

“Say, how strong is this beast king? And how many tails does it have?” asked Ryan.

“No one knows. However, all the abbots know is that it has the power to control all the other tailed beasts.”

“Something I’ve also been dying to ask. Why is it that the tailed beasts are only found around this area? Can’t they live in other forests?”

“We managed to capture a two-tailed leopard once, and sealed it. When we brought it out at the monastery, it died. Maybe it has something to do with the environment they evolved. You know how fish cannot live outside water? The abbots figured it was something like that, but they do not know what is special about this forest.”

“Okay, you two, enough sight-seeing. We need to leave!” said Rose, as she turned towards the open pathway, and started moving.

Everyone soon followed, with Gonin in the leading position.

“Cor - I mean Rose, how did you manage to create multiple versions of yourself? And how did you manage to sense me while blindfolded?”

“Oh that? It’s a technique called Silent Echo. Using sheer will, you can create a series of afterimages. It’s an assassination art known only to a special class of assassins called Cleaners.”

“Are you a monk or an assassin?” asked Ryan, puzzled.

“None of the above, at least currently. When I was young, I was taken from the monastery by the organization and sent to join the assassin group called Sky Haven. After joining, I was so skilled in the arts that they promoted me and gave me special missions. Your mother was my boss, the only person that the Cleaners reported to directly.”

“So... You’re an assassin who was once a monk?”

“You can put it that way. I was handed a mission to keep you safe from whatever war is going to happen between your grandfather, his mad friend, the monks and the organization.”

“You still can’t protect me, you know.”

“It doesn’t matter what you think. I’m still going to carry on with my mission.”

“So, if I want to see my mom, I have to join Sky Haven?”

“No. Even if you join, you won’t see her. There’s a hierarchy... Actually, you know what? Forget it; forget joining Sky Haven. Just go back home and live like a normal high school student!”

“While you’re protecting me, right? The reason I started cultivating is, so I can investigate what happened to my father. I can’t give up simply because you told me it’s dangerous. I will get stronger! And your protection will be a lost cause”, declared Ryan, with fists clenched.

“Is that so? Well then, I guess we have nothing to talk about.”

“Just tell me how to join Sky Haven!”

“So your mother can kill me? No thanks!”

“Why would she kill you?”

Rose ignored him, and kept walking forward. Gonin looked around in his spatial ring, and produced a stack of paper talismans, which he handed to Rose.

“The Sacred Abbot said I should give these to you”, he spoke before handing her a letter.

“My talismans! You had them all along?”

“You knew I had them, why are you shocked? You used the Frost Dew talisman already.”

She opened the letter and started reading it. At first, her face was tranquil, then it turned pink, then red and finally it turned purple. It seemed there was something in the letter that caused her face to change colors faster than the chameleon they had encountered earlier.

“What does the letter say?” asked Ryan, curious. He had seen her face change color more than once.

“Let’s hurry back! Something is wrong!” she said, avoiding the question.

“What’s wrong Cor - I mean Rose?”

“The Sacred Abbot... He’s planning something! That’s why he sent us away from the monastery. Something was about to happen, and he knew it! The prophecy, the nursery rhyme, they’re all connected. And he didn’t want us to know!”

“What do you mean they’re connected?”

“We’ll find out when we reach the monastery. We need to hurry!”

As they were running along, something ominous was occurring at the far end of the forest. In a cave that was carved at the base of the mountain, there was a hive of bees. The bees were over two feet in terms of size, and each one had three stingers! After the hive, there were six bears, which were sleeping, and each bear had four tails. At the core of the cave, there was a nine feet tall tiger.

The tiger had one head, but its front legs looked like human arms. It had eagle-like wings and nine long tails. The tiger was eating stones that were glowing with a purple color. The stones were the remainders of the meteorite, and what remained was a small chunk, the size of a person’s fist!