The moon is shining above, giving some faint light to the trees and woods on top of Mt. Tri-mus. Near the cliff of this mountain, a simple wooden house is built. Inside, a middle age man is sitting on a wooden chair. Almost all of the things here is made out of wood from inside to outside.

He rotates his cultivation but after a few seconds, his face darkened and beads of sweats are flowing off from his face. He felt stabbing pain whenever he will try to rotate his cultivation because the curse is also rotating along, spreading through his spiritual passageways. This is not the first time he felt this way. It's been like this before, but the difference is that it is not painful as this and the pain will take effect after many hours or a day.

Tromer gritted his teeth and promised himself that he will take revenge and make that damned Darnce pay for what he has done tenfolds of what he felt right now.

"The curse is getting worse! I need to treat it! Damn! Where's Farjan? He needs to get me the required medicinal herbs as soon as possible."

After contemplating about the current situation he thought that there's a huge possibility that something is amiss on Farjan. He does not go home and doesn't go back home since I last talked to him. "Maybe I should go and find the medicinal herbs available at the plantation and also I will find that brat."

----

Up in the sky, the sun is hanging directly in the middle of the clear sky, although there are some clouds here and there. Below this vast sky, high mountains and deep forests stood next to the road in between the two mountains. On the road, there is a carriage and two armored men riding their horses is moving along the path. Inside the carriage, a woman is sitting beside the carriage's window and on the other side, a young man is sitting staring at the woman.

The woman stared back him and she opened her lips, "You are a demon's minion, don't look at me."

Farjan's mind instantly reeled when he heard what the woman said. "Demon's minion? What the hell?"

"Don't deny it. The Grand Priest at your church reported to us. Hopefully, I am in the Petroit City, and I got there soon if not, you will not be captured before you wreck havoc in the city. I didn't expect you to be young. The grand priest said that you were a middle-aged man. But you're from the Dowter clan so, you must be the person. I also saw how you fight, for a young man to fight with those professional killers, surely, you are a demon."

Farjan immediately understands what happened. After Tromer had defeated the Sofori clan and the Church, the Grand Priest immediately reported the matter to the higher-ups. Luckily, this extraordinary woman is at the nearest city from Bigfield City. Unfortunately, the one that they captured is not Tromer but Farjan. Suspicion immediately arose because he's a member of the Dowter clan, probably they thought that he's Tromer and the demon originates from their clan.

"Are you from the church?"

"I am Sarah, a member of the special force of the church, the Heaven Knights!" She said proudly.

The Heaven Knights are the people specially trained and blessed with powers.

"I am not a demon!"

"Shut up! Then, where does your strength comes from? Surely it is not from god because there is only one god in this world and that is the almighty Galvan. I am sure that you're not a follower of the Almighty. You should not speak lies and nonsense before me..."Then she pointed a dagger at Farjan's throat.

Farjan's face is immediately covered with sweat as the dagger gets close to his throat until its point is touching his skin. He just quieted down because he knows that this woman will not accept anything he says nor believes him.

"Good boy, you know when to speak and when not to." Her face showing a sinister smile. Then she put her dagger back, then she immediately drew out a glowing blue stone. The stone is a circle in shape and has a diameter of five centimeters. This particular stone is not a normal stone if you will look far from it. But if you look close, its appearance is like a stone but a shiny one.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"That's..." Farjan's jaws dropped as he saw this stone. Why? Because he knows that this is no ordinary stone. He read it on the books given by Tromer to him. This stone can help cultivators on their cultivation by absorbing the spiritual energy inside. This is called spirit stones. Cultivators will either use it for cultivating or use it as a currency when buying or trading. It is the money of the cultivators. "Spirit stones!"

"This is a spirit ston... Huh?! How come you know these? These are only known by the higher ups of the church. This stone gives us powers when we absorb it. We are given a piece of this every month."

Sarah sat cross-legged and imitates a cultivating stance. Farjan knows that Sarah is not a cultivator because he can't see any spiritual energy on her. Only some black motes of lights that are invisible to the eyes of mortals.

He used some spirit stones given to him by Tromer. From what he observed these stones has given him a great amount of spiritual energy. After absorbing about 10 of these stones, his cultivation goes up until he was at the advanced stage of the second level of the spiritual stage.

He has some on his spiritual pouch. He suddenly thought, "what if I give her some and asked for my freedom?" But after pondering over the matter he dropped this thought. It may seem plausible, but this is a great risk for him. If he handed some, Sarah would begin to question him about where did he get it and why he has possession of these precious stones. Besides, there's a possibility that when he handed some spirit stones, Sarah might assault him and forcefully get the spirit stones. He can't fight back now how much later when Sarah does forcefully get the precious stones.

He just looks at Sarah who is busy absorbing the spirit tone while pondering on how will he get out of the chains that bind him.

Back to the Bigfield City on the gates of the inner city. Tromer is standing looking at the surroundings. People are walking everywhere, stalls are built on the sides of the road offering the customers different variety of items. From fruits and vegetables up to personal belongings. Many carriages and horses with baskets are also moving in this busy city market. This is the place where Farjan works. Tromer goes all the way here to find him and also get some valuable information about the missing young man. He knows that Farjan is not by chance lost. Farjan lives here in the Bigfield about his whole life so the probability of him being lost is not that high.

"That brat, what happened to him? I need him to get the medicinal herbs. If he's not around maybe, I can get it myself."He said to himself."I'll just ask around, maybe some people here know him."

Walking around, he asked the civilians around. He also asked the vendors, but their answer didn't satisfy him. They know Farjan, but they didn't know what happened to him nor where he goes.

He keeps roaming the city for many more minutes. He got exhausted and bored, so he decided to go to a tavern that he saw while walking along the streets. He walked inside, sit at the table on the corner of the room.

He ordered a drink. He paid 60 silver coins for this wine. This particular wine is the most expensive of its kind inside this tavern, but for Tromer? 40 silver coins are not a big deal. Even if he paid 400 gold coins, he wouldn't care. Fortunately, the currency used here is simple circular bronze, silver and gold coins without any symbol or sort of design. The people must be lazy that they don't bother such things. Also, this helps all the people and kingdoms to instill a trade with this universal kind of coin. From Tromer's world, gold coins are used by mortals. But cultivators use spirit stones for trade. A single spirit stone is equivalent to a hundred gold. That's the value of a stone that can enhance a person's cultivation. Of course, he has many of those. He has quite a fortune. These gold coins are just trash in his eyes. He's grateful he didn't throw these off because of his laziness.

He drank a mouthful of wine. This wine is not that delicious, but a normal one, at least for him only, but for the common people around? It's a luxury.

A group of men gathered on a long table near him. They drank beer and laughed as they exchanged stories. A man on the right side near the window started to talk. "Did you know that people clothed in black are found in an alley near the slums?"

"Yeah, I heard that. They are said to be hired-killers, but they are the ones who are killed. Rumors also said that they were pursuing a demon."A bulky bald man replied.

"Demon? The Dowter clan is said to be minions of the demons, but who knows if it's true."The man with a farmers hat said.

"Demon or not, they are professionals! How can they lose? Besides they are utterly defeated. My friend told me that he caught a glimpse of the scene but out of fear that he might be caught up in, he ran. He told me that they are only fighting a single young man."A fat man said plainly."

Tromer overheard their discussion and after realizing that the story might leade to Farjan's case. He stood up and walked to their table.

The men drinking on this table are startled when they heard a voice saying...

"Can you please elaborate your discussion for me?"