Chapter 3: The Old Man (Part 1)

Soon after the landlord left, Jason decided to go to retire for the night.

'I must sleep early. Got to start searching for a new house tomorrow.' sighed Jason as he prepared his bed to go to sleep.

For him, his birthday was just like any other day. After all, he had no one to celebrate his birthday with. He totally did not feel like staying up till midnight just so that he could wish himself 'Happy Birthday.'

He crashed into the bed and tried to dump all his misery into the back of his mind and find some sleep. As he slowly drifted into the dreamland, his mind automatically wandered off into how wonderful it would be to cultivate.

'Just give me one chance and I will show everyone what I, Jason Taylor, can do'

Little did he know that after tonight, his entire world was going to completely change.

If he were to go out now, he would see a very strange sight. His entire house was surrounded by a dark mist. The surroundings slowly started getting hazier and hazier, as if disappearing into nothingness.

If an outsider would have seen this scene, he would have been completely scared out of his wits. The entire house seemed to have completely vanished from existence in a matter of minutes. No trace of the house could be found after that.

As if the house never existed in the first place.

Jason was totally oblivious to the entire process. He just kept sleeping soundly like a log and dreaming

Suddenly, he woke up with a scream.

"AHHHHHH"

He clutched his chest hard. It felt as if something extraordinarily powerful was forcefully trying to bore a hole through his chest, but he was powerless to do anything to stop that. All he could do was scream in agony.

In sheer desperation, he tore off his t-shirt. His eyes were shut tight as he was unable to think about anything other than the crushing pain in his chest.

'What is happening to me?' he screamed inwardly.

The next five minutes seemed like an eternity to him. He focused all his thoughts on resisting the pain that was invading his body. As he slowly got used to the severe pain he opened his eyes, trying to make sense of the situation. Suddenly, he noticed the skull mark on his chest and was very surprised by the changes.

The initially maroon-colored skull mark on his chest had turned completely black.

What was even worse was the fact that he felt as if the mark was alive and was trying to take over his body.

"AHHHH! Please stop this" cried Jason as he rolled on his bed, clutching his chest in pain.

Suddenly, a voice came from above him.

"Endure the pain, my boy. Once you pass this test, you will be able to have everything you could ever wish for."

Surprised at the sudden voice, Jason opened his eyes and when he saw the person standing next to his bed, he could not help but exclaim.

"Old man!!"

"You can get through this. I trust you." The old man said calmly. There was not even the slightest fluctuation in his eyes even as he saw Jason rolling around and withering in severe pain.

"Old man. Please make this stop. I beg you. I think... I think I am going to faint" cried Jason, clenching his teeth in sheer agony as he felt that his consciousness was fading away.

"Don't resist it. Just let it take over you. Once it is done, you will become supreme. There will be no one who would be able to stand in front of you. The entire world shall be yours for taking" the old man replied with the same calm tone, but his eyes shone with a faint demonic glint which Jason missed.

As Jason listened to the words of the old man, he felt a sudden jolt to his subconsciousness.

'Yes, this is what I have been waiting for all my life. This is the chance that I have been asking for all this time. Now that after such a long time I have finally got this golden opportunity to enter the cultivation world, how can I give up just because of a little pain? Will I still be worthy of cultivating if I break down to this amount of pain?'

Jason's thoughts started spinning as his determination grew stronger. His mind grew stable and less chaotic. He started focusing his attention on reducing the pain that he was feeling.

Surprisingly, as his mind grew calmer, he slowly felt the pain fading away. He was pleasantly surprised by this development.

"Haha. Old Man. This pain is nothing for me. Watch as I overcome it and take my first step into cultivation." exclaimed Jason with joy.

Unbeknownst to him, once his mind had gone calm, his soul suddenly emitted a wave of white matter which formed a thin protective layer around his soul, making the progress of the black skull slower. The white and black energies seemed to be negating each other.

'How is this possible?!! This brat has not even started cultivating, yet he can deploy the soul shield? And it seems to be strong enough to stop the Skull Lord's invasion into his soul. Just what on earth is going on? Looks like this is going to be problematic' muttered the old man as his eyes grew wider.

"Boy," The old man said in his ever-calm voice as he extended his hand.

"You are really a tenacious fellow. I never expected that you would be able to make such wonderful progress so soon. You really are a genius. Come with me, I will take you to our new house where you can have medicinal baths to reduce the pain. Only by properly tempering your mortal body will you be able to take the first step into the cultivation world."

"Of course I am a genius. Who do you think I am. Hahaha. Old man you definitely won't regret taking me under your wings. Lead on" exclaimed Jason happily as he extended his left hand to take the old man's hand, his right hand still clutching his chest.

'Well, I definitely won't be regretting anything.' The old man had a demonic smile on his face as he took Jason's hand and started muttering an incantation.