The beautiful girl focused on the black figure sitting on the rock.
Wasn’t it dangerous to traverse the Fallen Snow Mountain Range? Even her master had warned her repeatedly to not walk alone through the forest, as there were many dangerous forbidden zones here.
That was not the only reason though. Many powerful demonic beasts and even real demons ruled some parts of the Fallen Snow Mountain Range. Even the Patriarch of the Hunlua Clan had to be careful, when moving through the mountain range.
Getting curious she wanted to go to the dark figure, but she was stopped by the black clothed guard. “Young miss you should not walk alone by yourself here. The master instructed me to protect you. How would I end up, if you were to be hurt? What if that person over there was a villainous person?“ The man pleaded.
“I think you are bit paranoid. With my strength not many people are able to threaten me. I...“
"What would you say, if I am unable to see what level that person is at? Would you still think so?“ The man’s voice sounded grave now.
As a response, the beautiful girl’s countenance changed greatly. Even Uncle Arslan cannot see through that person?
“And what are we gonna do now? We can’t simply turn around walk away, can we?“
“You don’t have to worry, young miss. It is only natural that I go and test this person. You can go back to the carriage. Only come out when I say it. Should you see that the situation is bad, escape by yourself.“
Hearing that her uncle Arslan sounded so grave, she grew anxious. But left with no choice she nodded, returned to the others and went back in the carriage.
After she entered the carriage, Arslan carefully moved to the black figure, ready to fight. He circulated the spiritual energy in his body, readying it to explode in full force should the person turn out to be an enemy.
At the same time, the black clothed figure stood up and turned around.
That person naturally was Yasha!
As Arslan saw Yasha facing him, he focused more and more, but was surprised by the actions of the black clothed man.
Because Yasha did not want to stir up trouble, he cupped his fists and greeted the newcomer, “You do not have to be anxious. I am just a lonely traveler who trains here.“
Arslan now was even more surprised after he heard Yasha’s words. He sounded so young! I was actually scared by a young boy? Blushing a bit, he came back to his senses and returned the greeting.
After Yasha stood up, Arslan could see Yasha’s whole figure, but was disappointed, as the young man in front of him was wearing a long black robe, which covered his whole features.
“You sure must be a dragon amongst the younger generation. To train in such an environment and possessing such a deep cultivation base at such a young age. I am truly ashamed of myself.“
Yasha grinned inwardly at those words. Deep cultivation base? If he knew that I am only at the third Energy Gathering stage, what would his expression look like?
This encounter made Yasha realize one more trade of the Asura blood: It prevented others from peering into his cultivation, as is blocked any energy waves and aura from leaking out of his body.
In the eyes of other cultivators that tried to look into Yasha’s secrets, he was like a black hole, deep and unfathomable. They would only see his cultivation, if he actively used his spiritual energy.
This man is strong! This was Yasha’s evaluation after looking at that middle-aged man in front of him. He could already feel his Asura blood getting restless, sparking a burning will to fight and rousing his killing intent.
Such a strong reaction from simply looking at the man, shocked Yasha. At what stage is he? He must have already surpassed the Energy Tempering! The Asura blood must think that he is enemy… Why would it react so strongly otherwise?
The Asura blood running amok led to a change in Yasha’s aura for a short moment, which immediately caught Arslan’s attention. A glint flashed through his eyes, while he focused on Yasha once again, trying to look through him.
His eyes were like bright torches, trying to illuminate the darkness surrounding Yasha. A short moment later, Arlan suddenly paled and he forgot to breath for a second.
In that moment where he tried to look into Yasha again, he had the feeling of being eyed by a pair of blood-red eyes in the darkness, staring directly through his soul. A silhouette woven out of black threads was gradually taking form, while emanating a supreme killing intent that made his blood run cold.
This-
Just what is that?! How could- That young man is not simple… I must protect the young miss at all costs!
Just as he was about to push his spiritual energy to its limits, the scene vanished like smoke, as if it all was an illusion.
The only thing that reminded him of the seriousness of the situation was the sweat dripping down from his face.
For a short moment, Arslan was unsure on how to proceed. The most obvious decision was to simply eliminate any threats and the unknown was clearly a threat!
Since he could not see through that young boy at all and realizing that the boy seemed to have a murderous nature, it was best to kill that boy and protect the young miss.
However, for some reason, even though it looked like Yasha was a huge threat, there was a voice his his head that told him to make friends with that boy. This contradiction confused Arslan immensely.
He had already roamed the Azure Dragon Kingdom for many years and experienced a lot, but there few moments where he was this confused and unsure of what to do.
The reason the phenomenon suddenly vanished was because Yasha finally managed to suppress the Asura blood. However, he had no idea what Arslan had witnessed in that short moment.
Yasha only noticed the various changes in the opposing party, but he could not see an ounce of hostility, still not making Yasha relax.
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Trying to keep a low profile, Yasha spoke with modesty, “I have only mediocre attainments in cultivation, so I have no right to receive so much praise from senior.”
After hearing what Yasha said, Arslan was roused of his trance. The confusion was quickly replaced by determination.
He regained his composure and had come to a decision that he could not understand himself, directly speaking to Yasha with a clear voice, “As you can see, I did not come alone. We wanted to set up our night camp and rest until morning. Do you wanna join us? Oh, excuse my manners! I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Arslan Chitan.“
After what Arslan had seen before, that seemed like a foolish decision, but that decision was not made rashly.
Arslan had seen many people and had experienced the cruel cultivation world, and that experience told him that the black clothed boy was not an evil person. He was shrouded in mystery and even though the young boy had a dangerous air around him, he did not seem evil.
Yasha on the other hand was astonished by the sincereness of the middle-aged man and had been ready to flee at any given moment, should the middle-aged man turn hostile.
Confronted by this sudden friendliness, he did not know how to deal with this situation. His whole life he had been alone and mocked no matter where he went, so he was a bit overwhelmed on how this conversation played out.
Never in his life had he imagined that he was asked to join another group.
Arslan grew a bit nervous, because the boy did not answer in a long time. He just stood there unmoving, his head slightly tilted to the ground.
“Ah, sorry, I passed out for a bit just now. Thank you for offer. I will gladly accept it. You can simply call me Yasha, nice to meet you.“ Yasha gave a slight bow and walked over to Arslan.
Since he invited me, I will join them. I will not reach much more in my training until tomorrow, so I will just adjust my mental state to the peak. And it would be so nice to have a conversation with someone not calling me trash or thinking of me as trash.
In the end, even though Yasha was careful, he could not see any bad intention coming from this person and he did not sense any hostility. Even his Asura blood remained dormant after he suppressed it, not acting up again.
After Arslan heard the answer he was relieved, but did not let down his guard. It was always good to form ties with powerful persons, or persons with the potential to become great persons. And at the same time, he could find out some things about the background of Yasha. Such an scary boy could not come from nowhere.
Then, they walked to the carriage together. As they reached the carriage, Yasha was completely gob smacked, because right at that moment an absolutely beautiful girl, with a worried expression exited the carriage.
Upon seeing Arslan, she was relieved, but she was also surprised. Why was the black figure here?
“That young man is Yasha, I invited him to join us tonight. I hope you will not mind my rash decision, young miss“, said Arslan immediately, clearing the doubts of the young woman.
Before giving Arslan an answer, she examined Yasha closely. He wore a loose black robe, which covered his whole body. Even his face was covered by a hood.
Nevertheless, he seemed to have a well-built body and was about 1,80 m tall. As she tried to see through the cultivation of the boy, she was left disappointed. It was as if she looked at a black hole.
All she saw was darkness. Then, she stared unintentionally at Yasha’s face. Even though it was mostly covered, she could see beautiful pale white skin. It looked like the skin has not seen the sunlight, completely untouched.
At one time she even thought that she saw scarlet eyes behind the hood, shining with a demonic splendor. But as she looked again, she did not see a thing.
She continued to look at him and was actually a bit bedazzled by Yasha, but then a voice brought her back to reality.
“If young miss is not willing, I can leave.“ Being stared at by such a beautiful girl caused Yasha to become uneasy. When in his life had a beautiful girl stared at him like that? Not one time.
And that’s why he spoke to her, tying to end this weird situation. The young girl blushed in response, which made her even more charming.
“I... I am sorry... no I mean it is fine if you wanna stay here...“ Completely embarrassed the young miss turned and ran back to the carriage, hiding herself.
Seeing that, Arslan said to Yasha, “I hope you do not mind her behavior, she has not spoken with a foreign man... Actually, it is her first time leaving home the sect.“ Arslan was clearly a bit embarrassed by the childish behavior of Eleanor.
Yasha just laughed and did not answer. He asked where he could help and in next to no time, the camp was set up and midnight approached.
Yasha and the rest of the group were sitting at a bonfire, enjoying a clear night. Before, while eating, Yasha learned quite a bit about his group. They were all part of the Moon Flower Sect.
The Moon Flower Sect was one of the few hidden sects of the Azure Dragon kingdom and it was immensely powerful.
They were on the way to the Hunlua Clan to attend the kingdoms tournament, but they only sent one disciple to participate and that was the young miss, the disciple of the current sect leader.
She was sent out to earn experience, as only cultivating in seclusion was not good. To become powerful, one had to overcome countless obstacles. One had to continuously challenge themselves, otherwise they would not get far.
Yasha also learned of the name of the girl. She was named Eleanor and was already in the Energy Tempering Stage. That meant, that she already started to temper her body and organs with spiritual energy.
That was simply shocking. A 15-year-old Energy Tempering girl, that was unheard of, at least what Yasha had heard in the Hunlua Clan.
He sighed once more. The Hunlua Clan really was pitifully weak when compared to the real powers in the kingdom. But it also did not really concern him, as he would leave the Hunlua Clan after the tournament anyways.
The young boy looked at the flames in the bonfire, engrossed in his own thoughts, until he was interrupted by Eleanor. She sat in front of him, right next to Arslan and had changed into a bigger and warmer white dress.
Still a bit shy, Eleanor asked him what she wanted to ask him the whole time, “So... why are you are training here alone? You know, it is very dangerous to train here alone! Oh, and will you join the kingdom’s tournament?“
Up until now, Yasha had been trying to avoid exposing any information about himself, still putting up his guard. He had already learned his lesson countless times, one could not trust others easily.
He carefully thought about his next answers and what he could tell about himself, “Yeah I will also join the tournament. And yes, I know, that it is dangerous here, but since I practically grew up in this forest, I know where I can go and which areas I should avoid and... “
Getting interrupted by Eleanor, she immediately realized his origins and said with disbelief, „Ah, you belong to the Hunlua Clan?“
“Ähm, you are right. I come from the Hunlua Clan.”
“Then why are you here, training alone, should you not train with the others?“
Not knowing how to answer, Yasha answered awkwardly, “I do not come along well with the others, so I usually train by myself.”
“Ohh, and why... “
“That’s enough Eleanor. Don’t be rude. “ Luckily for Yasha, Arslan noticed Yasha’s awkward situation and interfered before Eleanor could ask any more questions.
“I think, it is time for us to go to sleep now. You both have to be in peak condition tomorrow“
Eleanor looked angrily at Arslan, but he just chuckled and remained silent.
Yasha had to smile involuntarily as he watched that, before getting a bit sad all of a sudden. How nice would it have been, if he would have grown up in a such an environment?
He looked at both and said, “I will probably leave earlier than you in the morning, that’s why I wanted to thank you for your hospitality in advance.”
Without waiting for a response, he walked to a nearby tree, sat down and leaned against it. His right hand rested on the enormous sword on his back. As if it gave him all the security he needed.
Looking at the lonely figure, Eleanor and Arslan both were at a loss of words. That young boy probably had a longer story than they first thought.
Eleanor wanted to go over, but was stopped by Arslan. He just looked a her and shook his head. Depressed she went back to the others and entered the carriage. Now, only Arslan and Yasha were left outside. The guards were already in the tents they set up and the maids were in the carriage.
Arslan continued to look at Yasha in the distance. What has that boy gone through to already carry such a heavy and melancholic aura? He tried not to dwell too much on this matter, but he could not get forget the events from today. The strange blood-red eyes, the shadowy silhouette and now this lonely picture in front of him. Just who is he?
Just like every night, Arslan stayed outside to look for potential dangers. He was the strongest of the group and naturally had to look out for enemies. The Fallen Snow Mountain Range was never quiet. Who knew when a demonic beast would attack?