7 "State of Focus"

The door swung open and light from the hallway flooded in, elongating his shadow behind him, stretching it across a wooden chair. Hartley was greeted by Zhi Ruo holding a package, standing in the torchlight outside.

"Come in" he said with a smile.

Zhi Ruo stepped in and handed the package to Hartley, she then said.

"Go try it out and see if it fits, I rushed it a bit but I think it came out good considering the short amount of time."

Hartley nodded and went back into his bedroom.

After opening the package he discovered 2 beautifully crafted yellow robes, embroidered with a capital H where the breast pocket should have been.

Hartley changed into the lose fitting robe, stood in front of the full size mirror in his bedroom and swept his hair back with his right palm.

He looked around and found a piece of string to tie his hair at the back, then inspected himself.

The reflection staring back at him was a striking one, he was slightly taken aback, he hadn't had many chances to see his clear reflection, his face was maturing.

A tanned and handsome version of a privileged young lord stared back at him, mimicking his every expression and movement.

Blue eyes, flowing raven locks and soft refined facial features, the image in the mirror reminded him of a young master in the Luo clan, someone he would have despised in his younger days. The irony!

He returned with his hair tied neatly with the simple string, he pranced into the living room with his arms spread.

Zhi Ruo stared...

She couldn't stop staring, the wild youth she met earlier always had a mysterious element to him, but now he was standing in front of her, his new clothes akin to a transformation.

Back straight, lips curled into a teasing half smile and with those striking blue eyes staring directly at her.... It sent a jolt through her body, she blushed and tried to get out of there as quick as possible.

Hartley was surprised to see her scampering away in comical fashion, stretching out his right hand, he held onto her wrist gently, not forgetting to give her his thanks.

"Thank you Sister Ruo."

Her body went stiff, she forced a fake smile while still looking at him, stammered out a few incoherent words and then left in a flustered manner.

Zhi Ruo stopped 5 paces from the door to catch her breath, she didn't think the wild youth would have been so strikingly handsome, she blushed once more just thinking about him and then left.

Hartley had a wry smile on his face, he had not had much interaction with other people for the last couple years, shunned by most people in the town, he was genuinely thankful for Zhi Ruo's help.

The strange thing was, he still felt a bit of an unknown feeling when thinking about her. "Hmm?" He pushed the thought to the back of his mind and continued to cultivate.

It was a quiet night, the occasional sound of a horse's hoofs clopping against cobblestone would travel through the night every now and then.

The candle sitting on the wooden table had burned all the way to the end, extinguishing itself in the liquefied wax that was collected and cooling in the candle holder.

Hartley was diligently cultivating Blue Star Energy.

Again he was on the cusp of getting back that familiar feeling.

BOOM!!!

The front door was blown to smithereens, transforming into a spray of burning wooden splinters and billowing thick smoke.

A fireball, orangish and red in colour and the size of a basketball, flew into the room like a ballistic projectile, lightning up the room like an electric bulb as it headed straight for Hartley.

Hartley squinted his eyes in concentration and BAM! another explosion went off, the only difference was this time the explosion was inside Hartley's head, no one else could have noticed it.

Hartley had broken through the first stage of time manipulation.

This was called "State of Focus" where Hartley could control the flow of time within 30 meters radius.

Hartley was facing the glowing fireball which was about 4 meters in front of him and closing in at a rate of knots, he could feel the sweltering heat radiating from the flames. His eyebrows started to singe.

Hartley cried out "State of Focus" within his heart, every thing around him started to move in slow-motion.

He sprung from the bed, applying enough pressure to break it.

The massive amount of straw that was stuffed into the mattress, came loose and scattered in the air, igniting into flames immediately, twinkling like orange fire flies in the room.

Hartley dodged to the side with blue star essence instinctively covering his body from neck to toe like a suit of armor.

If viewed from the outside, all one could see was a stunning fire-ball enter the room, leaving a ripple of shimmering heat, then the youth who sat crossed legged on the bed, moved so fast, he seemed to have teleported off the bed, ending up eight meters to left. Fully covered with some kind of blue qi around him.

The fireball crashed into the bed with enormous flash of orange, that whole side of the room had turned to splinters and fire, eliciting screams of terror from the adjoining room.

Hartley scrambled to regain his bearings before finally sensing 2 people moving within his 30 meter range, it was unlikely that these were the guys responsible for the fireball, but they were that person's accomplices.

They circled with cross-bows, ready to execute anyone fleeing the inferno.

Hartley activated zero gravity.

Everything not tied down began to float upwards, including the 2 people on the other side of the wooden wall. Hartley deactivated zero gravity a few seconds later.

Everything hovering in the air started to fall downwards, the furniture in the room clattered against to the floor and splintered in chaos. The two on the other side of the wooden wall fared no better .

Frantic screams echoed out from the frightened targets as they plopped unceremoniously to the floor, slowly getting back to their feet with caution.

Hartley used "Gravity Repel" on two of his throwing knives, this was a move that pushed gravity away from him parallel to the ground, and could be used on specific items as well.

The 2 knives flew out like bullets with an unstoppable momentum, The weapons went through the wooden wall with no resistance, then accurately penetrated the 2 people in dark robes on the other side of the wall. It went through both of them, exiting with a spray of red and ended up handle deep with a thud, quivering in another wooden structure across from the inn.

These people fell to the ground stupified, their robes stained with a red patch, their faces showing their confusion.

They were dead, they just didn't know it yet.