The night was silent, once in a while, the sound of cars could be heard. In Mingliang's rented room, the faint sound of the TV could be heard coming from the first floor. Inside the room, Somad was sitting on the bed, in the lotus position, facing the wall with his eyes closed. Mingliang stood behind him. His right hand above Somad's head, while his left hand holding the bronze medal.

Sweat poured over the boy's body. His expression was serious. His eyebrows knitted and his jaw was clenched. Once in a while, his body shivered, trying to hold itself to stay upright.

A low humming sound came from the bronze medal.

On Mingliang's forehead beads of sweat was formed.

They had been like that for nearly an hour now. A few minutes later, Somad let out a long breath. His whole body felt relaxed and refreshed. Mingliang slowly opened his eyes. He didn't disturb his disciple but quietly watched his condition.

The boy seemed to enjoy his meditation. He remained there more than half an hour before slowly opening his eyes. Mingliang waited patiently. He seemed tired but happy.

When Somad turned to him, he asked gently, "How do you feel?"

The boy's face was glowing with vigor. His body steeped in sweat. He jumped down from the bed enthusiastically. He sincerely bowed to his teacher, "Thank you, teacher. I can feel my body refreshed."

Mingliang laughed and then gave the medal to the Somad, "Try to draw a rune, but this time, use more energy. Slowly draw more energy, about twice as much as before."

"Where should I target it?", Somad took the medal and enthusiastically getting ready to give it a try.

Mingliang took a stack of paper in the corner of the room and placed it about two meters from Somad, "Okay, here."

They had been using that stack of papers for Somad to practice his wind rune. It was easier for them to see the result of Somad's rune with it. So far, Somad's whirlwind wasn't big enough to create any mess in the room.

Somad focused his attention. He couldn't wait to see his new strength. The boy felt his heart started to beat much faster. He didn't want to disappoint his teacher who had sacrificed much for him. Somad knew any distraction would only ruin his performance. The boy closed his eyes and took several long deep breaths. Slowly his heart beat normally, he opened his eyes and focused on the pile of papers before him.

Somad drew energy from the medal and gathered it to the tip of his finger. He wasn't in a hurry, but carefully let the flow slowly grow stronger. When it reached about twice the usual intensity, he began to draw in the air. It didn't take long before he finished, he almost completely mastered it. A strong wind blew, stronger than ever before and whirled the papers into the air.

"Quick, draw another one before it subsides! Enforce the whirlwind!", Mingliang quickly and sternly commanded.

Somad didn't ask any question and quickly started to draw the second rune. He drew a split second faster than the first. Another gale joined in and the whirlwind grew stronger.

"Control them, keep them localized!", Mingliang kept giving order.

Somad knitted his eyebrows and concentrated to control the whirlwind. Kept it in place. The wind was much stronger than before, even Mingliang's and Somad's clothes were flapping because of it.

"Draw another one, right now right in the center of the whirlwind and make it blow in the opposite direction!", Mingliang gave a quick order.

Beads of sweat began to form on Somad's forehead, but the boy quickly followed the order. As the first and second rune began to lose its power, the third rune was completed. The third whirlwind blew and shredded the paper into pieces. It only took seconds, and the whirlwind subsided. Leaving hundreds of small pieces of papers raining down upon the room.

Mingliang patted Somad's shoulder, "Good, excellent, but remember those just papers. That's one way to use a rune. As you can imagine there are many other ways to use it. As you learn more, you become more versatile."

Somad couldn't take his eyes off of the small pieces of paper that rained down. The might of the simple rune shocked him. A sense of enlightenment came to him.

Mingliang decided to leave him undisturbed. He climbed onto the bed and started meditating. He closed his eyes and observed the small runes, joined to each other chainmail-like, covering most of his skin. He had spent many hours and thoughts into arranging it as dense as possible. He almost finished to cover the entire surface and when he did that he would complete the first layer of Xuan Wu body.

Unfortunately, the energy within the medal was running out.

This was his biggest problem at this moment. He needed to finish at least the first layer of Xuan Wu body. He also wanted to have enough saved energy in the bronze medal for Somad to use. The gathered energy in the haunted house would not be enough to achieve both.

A flash of memory of his conversation with Dr. Ibrahim passed through his mind. It crossed his mind several times, to gain energy through sacrificial rituals. There was a section in one of his books about this subject, along with a severe warning. The idea never interested him. The gain was small, and the risk was high. Besides, he couldn't cross the line without feeling guilty.

The problem was, other people might not have such a problem, and these people would gain power faster than him. It never bothered him before. After all, the true knowledge in magic was rare, and those who dare to practice such rituals would quickly face the law. At least, that's how he thought until he met the man in black.

Suddenly Mingliang had to find more sources of energy. He had to grow stronger. He had to make his disciple be able to defend himself. He also thought about Sari. Sari and her family always had supported him when no one else did.

He had made several arrangements. Since Black Jade had many compatibilities with Sari, he planned to give the demon snake to Sari. Meanwhile, for Somad, he would teach the boy basic runes he could use to maintain his life and to compensate for the lack of his strength, Mingliang planned to leave the bronze medal for the boy. For himself, he planned to keep practicing Xuan Wu body for defense and keep enough ample energy in his dantian for any fight he might have to face.

After all of his arrangements, it all returned to the same problem. He needed more resources of spiritual or magical energy to achieve them all.

Now, he had to face the temptation he threw aside many years ago once again.

Somad finally woke up from his deep thoughts. The boy turned around and found his teacher was meditating. Still high in spirits, after achieving a big leap in his cultivation, the boy quickly sat on the floor and began to meditate. Somad wanted to gather spiritual energy as much as he could. It was an arid job with an insignificant result.

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Mingliang sensed the change in the air and opened his eyes. He sighed sadly, gently he tapped Somad's shoulder, "Come, get up, go to sleep. That would be a waste of time. Tomorrow, we'll go to a better place to gather energy."

Somad opened his eyes and asked, "How about you?"

Mingliang smiled, "I need to think. Now, you go to sleep. Don't argue anymore."

Mingliang truly had a hard time to sleep that night. He kept on having a bad premonition. Something dangerous would happen. He didn't know what it would be. He didn't know where it would come. The unknown aspects made it more frightening. The more he thought about it, the more frightening it became, and the greater it was the temptation to gain power through any means.

He fell into this cycle of fear, and the survival instinct and the temptation grew. It trapped him so strong that he couldn't extricate himself out of it. Suddenly something knocked the small pot before the rows of pictures on the small cabinet.

The pot fell, rolling on the floor. The ashes of the burning incense spread all over the floor. The burning tip of the incense fell right into Mingliang shoulder. Both the sounds of the pot fell to the floor, and the burning pain from the tip of the incense woke Mingliang up.

Cold sweat suddenly poured over his body. Mingliang now was wide awake. He quickly put the small pot back to its place. He cleaned the floor and lighted up new incense. He still shook in trepidation when he cleared them all. He took his time to arrange everything back to normal. He looked at each of the old pictures before him with a sense of deep reverence.

Slowly his heartbeat back to normal. Mingliang reverently bowed to each of the old pictures on his cabinet. He held his right fist with his left palm, raised it on his chest.

Mingliang realized, he almost fell into his heart demon. If there was no incident that woke him up from his condition, he would surely stray from his chosen path.

Now, he still had no solution to his problem, but he knew there was a path that he should never tread upon.

He spent the next few minutes to pray to his ancestors then he left his room. He went to the common bathroom in the building to wash his face and poured cold water on his head. He dried his hair and then returned to his room.

He felt fresh. When he checked the clock, it was already 05:00 AM.

Mingliang hesitated, but just for a short moment. He checked on Somad. The boy still slept soundly. Mingliang smiled, took his phone and left the room.

He walked slowly along the road, next to the house. Once in a while, there were people passing by. Mingliang dialed Sari's phone number. Walked around the house, he waited for her to pick up.

"Hi, Sari, it's me."

"Ha yeah, no... no... because I know you're already up and run at this time."

"Hmm... okay, I'll compensate you with something. How about breakfast?"

"Yea, my treat."

"I have something important to tell you."

"No, I can't tell you on the phone. I need you today too."

"Okay, yea, I'll wait for you."

"Probably going to take the whole day."

"It's really important."

"Thanks, I really appreciate it."

"You know me, I won't make you break your schedule if it's not important."

"Okay, see you later."

He returned to his room and found Somad already washed and changed his clothes with a new one. His yesterday clothes were nicely folded and placed inside his plastic bag.

The boy was practicing the rune he knew diligently without using energy.

"Good morning teacher.", the boy jumped to his feet and bowed.

"Good morning. It seems to me you already mastered those two runes. Now, I'll teach you something else. It's a bit more complicated.", Mingliang rubbed the boy's head.

After showing Somad the drawing, he asked him to repeat it until he could draw it correctly, Mingliang left the boy to take a bath.

Somad was practicing when a small black snake appeared and fluttered toward the boy. Somad noticed the small snake demon, "Hey Jade. How's your rest?"

The snake gently nudged his finger.

"Haha, I do practice diligently.", Somad laughed and continued his practice.

Somad was practicing when he saw someone was standing at the entrance. He lifted his head and saw Sari. Quickly he got up and politely bowed, "Sister Sari, good morning."

"Hey Boy, where's your teacher?", Sari jumped and sat on the bed, "that damn brat, he called me very early in the morning. Now, that I'm here, he's nowhere to see."

"Hei Hei... Don't embarrass me before my disciple.", Mingliang appeared at the entrance.

He was drying his long, wet hair with a towel. Wearing a casual t-shirt and knee-length short, he stood at ease, with a big grin on his face. He was too thin to be called athletic, but he still had a nice frame for a man. When Sari saw him, with messy wet hair which framed his face, her heart beat a bit faster.

Suddenly she blushed and quickly threw a pillow to cover her feeling, "Bah! I can act any way I want. You better learn to respect this old lady."

Mingliang caught the pillow, and playingly bowed, "Forgive me, my queen, please have mercy. Your servant will listen to your command."

"Hahaha... Hmm, my good servant. Your queen feel tired...", Sari laughed and acted along.

"Oh... my poor queen, should your servant massages your shoulder?", Mingliang walked closer and made a gesture as if he was going to massage her shoulder.

"Bah! Bah! Stop playing the game. You call me so early in the morning. Now quickly explain.", Sari quickly got away and changed the topic.

"Bah! Bah! Stop playing the game. You call me so early in the morning. Now quickly explain.", Sari quickly got away, moved to the corner and changed the topic.

"Hahaha... Somad, you need to listen too.", Mingliang laughed and sat on the other corner.

Mingliang's expression turned to serious. He waited until he got their attention. Without omitting anything, he began to tell them his finding and his suspicion, "... I can't get rid of this bad premonition. That's why I want you all to prepare."

"Sari, you already met Black Jade. Until this over, I will leave Black Jade with you. Later I want you to learn a skill or two from me. I hope you don't mind. Black Jade, from now on, you have to follow and protect Sari.", Mingliang nodded to Sari and at that moment too, he sent a command to Black Jade to protect Sari.

Sari nodded to show her willingness to learn from Mingliang. The demon snake loyally followed Mingliang's command, she already knew Sari well and showed no resistance at all.

"Somad, you take this bronze medal. You can use, the rune I just taught to you, to gather energy toward the bronze medal.", Mingliang took the bronze medal and gave it to Somad. The boy took the medal reverently.

"And this morning I plan to return to the haunted house. I need to use the energy there, to finish the first layer of my Xuan Wu body. Somad, later you draw that rune and gather the energy at the main building. Sari, I want you to help me secure the house while I cultivate inside. I hope nothing would happen, but I don't want to take any chances.", Mingliang threw the towel to the corner and stood to get ready.