Chapter 49 Roar!

Crack!

Miss Minchin was washing the dishes when the plate she was holding suddenly cracked. She had a very uneasy feeling which made her nervous.

Little Ez? Please be safe,

Eznho was the first person that popped up in her head, she could only pray to the heavens to watch over the little boy.

…..

Martin was patrolling the city wall at Sin City when he suddenly became restless as if something bad had happened but he doesn’t know about it.

What’s this feeling?

He furrowed his brows while deep in thought. He had a vague feeling that it was related to Eznho but ever since Batista and Wilky came back, they had not spoken to him yet. The last information he had is that they were not able to find him which came from Wilfred.

“What’s with the gloomy face brother?” A voice came from behind Martin which jolted him back to reality.

“Brother Dave? It’s nothing, I just had a very bad feeling out of nowhere that’s all,” Martin answered with a forced smile.

Martin and Dave have actually become sworn brothers, aside from the fact that Martin saved his life, Dave liked Martin’s optimistic attitude.

“Is it your little brother?” Dave asked with curiosity.

Martin has talked about Eznho a lot, it could even be said that Dave already knew fifty percent of Eznho’s life.

“Sort of,” Martin answered.

“I am sorry brother, something really bad happened to my little sister so father and my two uncles weren’t able to focus their attention when they were at Red Sparrow City. But don’t worry, as soon as my little sister wakes up, I’ll make sure that you and father will have a proper meeting. That’s a promise,” Dave put a thumb’s up and was brimming with positivity.

“Thank you brother, despite my little brother’s timid attitude he is one tough nut,”

Martin grinned and could only hope for the best. The sworn brothers continued their patrol while chatting.

…..

Inside Captain Batista’s residence, everything was quiet. Even the maids did their best not to make any sound at all. Batista had not walked out the door ever since they returned and stayed beside Blue’s room the whole time making his brother’s worry.

Blue’s room was simply decorated but almost everything was blue in color. The walls, curtains, the bed, dolls, and many others. The curtains moved while air circulated around the room, Batista was asleep beside the bed while holding his daughter’s hand. Blue was covered in a sky blue blanket, she was sleeping their peacefully as if nothing horrible had happened to her.

A while later, her eyelids began to twitch a little, as time went by the movement became stronger until it slowly opened. As it opened, a pair of sky blue eyes peeped but deep within those eyes were emptiness, as if they were dead, there was no life on it, like a living corpse. Together with her eye-opening, her hands moved waking Batista up.

“Blue?” Batista was a little groggy but when he saw that his daughter finally opened her eyes, he instantly awakened from his drowsiness.

“Blue!” He blurted and wanted to hug but stopped himself, afraid that he might hurt her in some way.

“Father?” Blue moved her lifeless eyes in confusion, then suddenly, dark and horrifying memories came crushing into her.

“Ahhhhhh!!!” She shrieked while clutching her head wanting to stop the memories that were released like a dam in her mind.

“Please, Stop!” She was trembling all over with terror in her eyes as if someone was out to get her. Tears were pouring down like rain, she was truly scared and was begging for it to stop.

“Blue! What’s wrong?” Batista was out of his wits and did not know what to do.

He gritted his teeth and hugged his daughter as tightly as he could while trying to stop his tears from falling. No father would ever want to see their daughter in a condition like this. It was an unbearable pain for Batista as if his heart was constantly being stabbed by daggers.

“Father is here Blue, you are safe now, hush now my little girl. Nobody will ever hurt you again, shhhh,”

Batista’s voice was cracked but he did his best to be strong while rocking her daughter to comfort her who was trembling in his embrace. Feeling the warmth and safety of his father’s embrace, Blue started to calm down then went back to sleep due to exhaustion, mind and body.

“I am sorry Blue, father was a coward, I was afraid of the consequences of my actions and have let you suffer instead. I am sorry,”

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Finally, tears were falling non-stop from Batista, he truly regretted the fact that he hesitated to save his daughter. If he could get back in time, he would have charged into Butchog’s residence regardless of the consequences. Alas, there is no medicine for regret.

…..

At the same day, Budoy and little Aiza both were restless, they were anxious but they could not find the reason why.

…..

Awooo!

The wind howled echoing throughout this foggy place, it was cold and eerie. When the wind stopped moving, the place was so quiet that you could probably hear a needle hitting the floor.

Eznho struggled to open his eyes but could not, as time passed, the struggle continued until his right eye was half opened. As for the left eye, it was bruised and inflamed making it impossible to open.

“Arrgg!”

Eznho was in a lot of pain that he wanted to shout but was only able to groan due to severe weakness. The pain was so unbearable that he lapsed in and out of consciousness multiple times. An unknown time had passed and he was able to adjust to the pain and maintain his consciousness.

With great concentration, he scanned his body and was shocked by what he saw. His body was riddled with injuries, internally and externally, if not for the fact that his body was sturdy, he would have died without a grave.

“Haaa, Haaa,”

He was breathing heavily but did not give up even though his body was screaming in pain. Circulating his heavenly energy, he concentrated it on his right arm to make it heal faster. After an hour, he could finally move it albeit with difficulty.

Slowly lifting his right arm, he reached out to his chest pocket and took out a bottle of blue pills. Using his mouth, he removed the cap and swallowed it with labor. The pill melted on his stomach bringing a sweet aroma that circulated around his body reducing the pain he felt. His eyes actually felt moist as if he saw the light at the end of a long dark tunnel.

After consuming it, he took another one and his superficial wounds started to heal and the bleedings stopped. He checked his body again and found out that most of the injuries were found on his left side with multiple fractures and a dislocated shoulder.

There were only three pills but he did not hesitate to take the last one which further improved his condition. He did not know how long he has been unconscious so he wanted to heal as soon as possible. After the last one was fully absorbed, he was now able to sit. Cold sweats ran all over his bloody body. His clothes were in tatters like a homeless person. As if by instinct, he started to use the Heaven-Seizing Breathing Technique. At first, it brought pain but as time went by, the pain lessened and was replaced with comfort.

Days went by and finally, after using ointments, medicines and heavenly energy, the only remaining injuries were on his bones and other internal organs which would heal for a longer time. Eznho leaned on his left side against the cliff wall and realigned his dislocated shoulder.

“Arrggh!”

The pain came rushing in but Eznho endured it with ease, with what he had experienced, he was now more or less tolerant of physical pain. After another round of breathing technique, he brought out all his items for inventory.

He had dried meat, some medicines, a couple of herbs, a dagger and other miscellaneous things.

“I can go on without food and water for a week before I start to weaken. If I don’t get out here, I can only last for a month, give or take,” Eznho muttered to himself while massaging his temple, he was in a tight spot right now.

After collecting his things, he scanned his environment but could only see a meter around him due to the thick fog. He found out earlier that he was actually on a ledge, a meter wide ledge. Fog was everywhere, making the place a bit cold and damp, he tried to look down but could not see anything except for the fact that it gave him goosebumps.

Gritting his teeth, he struggled to get up while leaning on his left side against the cliff. He decided to follow the ledge going left. It was damp and slippery so he walked slowly to avoid falling down. Minutes passed and he finally reached the edge, it was a dead end making Eznho go back in frustration.

A while later, he got back to his starting point and went the opposite way of where he came from. To his disappointment, it was another dead end, he had no choice but to go back.

I have no choice but to try and reach the peak of Cleansing Stage to have a shot at reaching the Halo Stage.

When a cultivator passes the boundary and reaches the Halo Stage, his body and soul would transform giving him the ability to use soul sense to scan his surroundings which would give Eznho the chance to climb back up. Because for now, climbing blindly could result in death.

…..

Haaaah!

Haaaah!

Haaa-ngeaaw!

Shouts echoed throughout the fog followed by a sound that seemed like a cub’s cry. This has been going on for days making Eznho shout again in frustration.

“What am I doing wrong? I followed everything,” he gritted his teeth while talking to himself.

Feeling that he was getting agitated, he sat in meditation and reviewed everything again, step by step, he has done it right making him frown in confusion.

“Something is missing,” he thought and continued to meditate to think things through.

“What is it?” This question kept going on and on in his mind. After a deep breath, he posed like before and closed his eyes with great concentration.

Little by little, he was slowly going into a trance. He found himself in a different world, the blue sky was so bright with clouds rolling by and birds of prey were flying but kept a distance from Eznho. He was at the top of a mountain, looking over the green carpet of forestry. Although Eznho could not ‘control’ his body, a strange sensation was being felt by him. It felt like he was the king of the world, he was the ruler of this territory and anyone who will trespass will face his wrath.

At the same time, Eznho opened his eyes showing a sharp glint that looked like the eyes of an apex predator. He opened his mouth and…

GROOOAAARR!

The air in front of him vibrated in a conical shape making the fog in front of him roil. The mighty and intimidating roar reverberated throughout the cliff making the nearby wild animals and beasts near the cliff scared witless. They ran as fast as they could away from the cliff as if it was the lair of a mighty beast.

“Whoa!” Eznho himself was frightened by the roar when he woke up from his trance.

“That was scary,” He remarked but at the same time, his face was beaming with smile and pride.

So that was it, I was missing the meaning behind the roar, not only could it be used to attack, it could also be used for intimidation.

He finally did it, even though Eznho have never heard a beast’s roar, he was pretty confident the roar he produced was not far from it.

“All I have to do now is get the hang out of it, the problem is, it takes at least one-fourth of my heavenly energy to actually use that technique,”

Although that is the case, he did not mind, after all, he was alone in the place and could practice in peace. After recovering his lost energy, he began to practice again and again until he perfected it and finally reached the peak of the cleansing stage.

Finally, I can now attempt to breakthrough but how do I do it? I don’t have the resources,

Eznho became gloomy, he was so keen on reaching the peak of the Cleansing Stage that he forgot that he only reached the basic requirement to enter the Halo Stage.

Damn!