152 Shadow

Everything went quiet, the clacking sounds of locks being unlatched disturbed the silence in the room, the massive door creaked open slowly.

A tsunami of billowing dust spilled out into the hall. Swallowing up the unaware onlookers outside like a flood.

The evaluation had already ended, a hazy silhouette stood in the middle of room 12, an abundance of dust twisted in one direction, then swirled in the other, whirling chaotically due to the sudden intake of air entering through the door.

A veil of grey dust danced wildly around the victor in white, Hartley's features were indistinct as he made his way to the opening.

A cacophony of voices could be heard in garbled discussions, the almighty commotion in room number 12 had stirred the building to life. Drawing a growing crowd of curious by standers, interested in seeing what had transpired

An authoritative voice stopped everyone in their tracks.

"Everyone make way."

Hurried steps pattered from the other side of the door.

A trio of men dressed in yellow robes jostled through the crowd and rushed into the room before Hartley could exit, assuring the onlookers that everything was under control.

These were the men he had met earlier.

These three saints were in charge of the evaluation, and had seen the exchange between Hartley and the armoured saint as clear as day.

Council members had the luxury of spectating the evaluation from the vantage point of a room upstairs, these three men already knew the shocking result.

The bald Aiguo Bai waved a hand as soon as he entered, the lingering dust cloud formed into a horizontal cyclone and was funnelled from the room immediately.

Swoosh! The hazy room became as clear as Hd.

Aiguo Bai sported a scowl but uttered no words, brushing past Hartley and heading to the far side of the room with a dark expression.

Glowing blue fragments of armour were scattered all over, some pieces even embedded deep within the wall.

The surface of the concrete floor was littered with pot holes as big as children.

A wide web of intertwining cracks ran up and down the length of the room. Some a result of the clones, others a result of the armoured saint bouncing across the ground like a wrecking ball.

Of the three who had entered, one saint sported a wide satisfied grin, this was Chongkun An, the other waited patiently by Hartley's side, and the third was the dark skinned Aiguo Bai.

Loud fits of coughing echoed from a small pile of debris at the corner.

Aiguo Bai rushed over and discovered a forlorn figure half buried in rubble, his raggedy appearance a far cry from his usual majestic elegance, he looked pathetic, there was simply no other way to describe it.

"Are you o.k?" Aiguo Bai asked, clearing the rubble with a simple wave of his right hand, the pile flew away, crashing into the wall and drummed up small plumes of dust.

The prone man twitched and whimpered between violent coughs. Nodding pitifully like a beaten dog.

Aiguo Bai looked back at Hartley and gritted his teeth, flashing an expression so sullen, you would think his father had just died.

"He's a second layer saint," he muttered to himself.

Chongkun An, the saint from Aidonia smiled, adding insult to injury by shouting across the room.

"That was a great evaluation, nothing was left to chance," clapping his hands with slow sarcastic applause.

"Your attention to detail was second to none, you even insisted on Chuan Feng conducting this evaluation personally, you two have really worked too hard for everyone's sake."

The third saint in the room was from the country of Buju, he hadn't been introduced by name to Hartley as yet.

He acted indifferent to the whole incident, simply writing the results on a piece of parchment, then turning to Hartley and saying, you've passed," in a matter of fact way.

Aiguo Bai was fuming, he pulled Chuan Feng up from the rubble, supporting him as he led the man towards the door.

Soot stained his face, his silky raven hair was a tangled mess, and his shredded robe was saturated with dirt.

Every movement he made brought puffs of dust flying from his body.

He managed to waddle forward on his own. Taking unsteady steps like a toddler learning to walk.

Chongkun An wouldn't spare his blushes though, he pointed at Chuan Feng as he was just stepping through the door.

"Before you leave, please introduce yourself to the victor and our newest member, I noticed you guys didn't get properly acquainted before the evaluation."

Chongkun An made a request that was designed to alert the gathering crowd of the result, scuppering the duo's attempt to sneak away.

The scruffy Chuan Feng eyes immediately bulged with displeasure, how could he stick around in his current state?

He complained out loud before any introduction could be initiated.

"There is pressing matters to attend to right now, I wish I had time for an introduction, but time is tight.

I need to catch up with some prior commitments urgently, please excuse us."

He limped away ungraciously with the help of Aiguo Bai, the pale skin of his backside exposed to those lining the corridor.

The people in the hall weren't stupid, Chuan Feng looked like he had fallen down a chimney, it was apparent that the multiple high pitched screams, akin to a pig being slaughtered, had come from him, everyone struggled to hold back their laughter seeing the proud man waddling away like a duck.

Aiguo Bai had the stormiest expression of all, he tried to keep a diplomatic smile on his face for the crowd, but ended up looking ghastly constipated.

Hartley knew something was up, there wasn't a single instruction or any information on the criteria for passing the evaluation, his evaluation was nothing more than a glorified ambush. Did he jump into the middle of a feud?

No wonder Kang was so nervous.

***

Kang sat next to Hartley in a private office on the fifth floor of the strange building. The window was open, revealing the view of a blue ocean, its waves lashing against the white beach, producing a soothing ambiance.

The two visitors dressed in white sat across the table from Chongkun An, the rotund blonde man wore a permanent smile, inhaling deeply multiple times, savouring the air like fine wine aged to perfection.

"Welcome to the alliance of saints," He finally spoke.

"Hopefully my friend Kang here has filled you in on all the minutia, but I'll go ahead and outline the major points of your membership."

Kang glanced at Hartley with a knowing expression.

"First of all, this is the headquarters of our organisation. You can only come here if you've acquired the secret coordinates and a golden token, to gain access to the headquarters and its amenities, you've got to complete 4 missions.

It is mandatory for every member to complete one mission every two years. Which usually consists of hunting down a rogue saint from another continent or procuring an item for the council."

"Any questions?"

Hartley leaned forward, lowered his voice and asked "What just happened out there with Aiguo Bai?"

Chongkun blasted a roar of laughter, looking as pleased as punch.

"Nothing to be too worried about, just some friendly competition between us saints from the prominent countries.

That's the beauty of our organisation, it's a meritocracy, you'll see it due time."

Chongkun replied cryptically.

He stared through the window, looking at the picturesque beach with melancholy.

"We have a collection of the most ambitious saints, each with different motivations and aspirations.

As long as you complete your assigned mission, you can collect your reward and left to tend to your own matters.

You can take on as much missions as you like, or just the mandatories.

Some of us even pool and share knowledge, striving to gain enough strength to reach the peak of the saint realm.

It's not all peaches though, our turnover of members is considered high. Some saints don't return from missions in distant continents or they are erased by black energy due to carelessness.

Although everyone hopes to be great saints eventually, only a small percentage will go on to become powerhouses.

That's the reality."

Hartley was relatively inexperienced, he hadn't even seen a powerhouse of the saint realm yet.

Hartley understood the risks, the motivations for joining the organisation will be vastly varied with each saint. The backing of the organisation would give any saint a special identity, but these biannual missions were many times more dangerous than he was led to believe.

The meeting went longer than it should have, the high spirited Chongkun gave Hartley the square silver token of the organisation, welcoming him with gifts of white iron and gold.

***

Roaring waves crashed against the sandy beaches, the setting sun was a mix of orange and red, sitting low to the west and colouring the seas like it was on fire. Elongated shadows of two men dressed in white stretched behind their figures.

Kang stopped, faced Hartley with a proud look and patted his shoulder.

"You did well today, I wasn't even sure that I was doing the right thing, and when did you get into the second layer?"

"That's a long story," Hartley smiled, tilting his head to the side, then asking a question after scratching his chin, " Elder, what layer are you in?"

Kang's smile widened in slow motion. "Everyone has secrets." he replied, waving his hand to produce wriggling spatial rifts. Soon the two men could no longer be seen, disappearing from the utopian island with the spatial rifts.

***

The hectic period in the capital had passed, normality trickled back into most people's daily routines. It was a welcomed respite from the jangled nerves of the past months.

Weeks went by without incident. Blossoms began blooming all over the western hills in assorted colours.

The farming season had begun in the flats. Spring sunshine brought warmth to the workers preparing the fields, ploughing and fertilizing the massive amounts of land.

From the well maintained fields, the main source of wealth in the fertile flat lands, one could see the mountains of the western hills looming against the clear blue of the sky.

Hartley had left the morning meeting with Alrick feeling strange, Alrick was his usual self, entranced in his experiments, but had no further breakthroughs.

Something was off. Something was nagging his mind as he went directly to see Zhi Ruo, she was on the top floor with the new xiantians practicing martial scriptures acquired from Prince Jian.

Qin Li was taking a break to cultivate, all in the bustling western hills seemed normal, but something nudged at Hartley's consciousness. Something not quite right.

Fu Qian and the security team had grown in numbers and status, no one even remembered that the core of his security team were all former bandits. Hartley joined them on a routine patrol, spending two hours in the eastern forest and around the perimeter.

Nothing untoward happened.

Hartley trusted his awareness, he would not ignore this feeling.

Feeling like he needed to be alone, Hartley took a walk to the secluded back mountains, enjoying the peace and sunshine, spring was in full swing.

Sitting on a patch of grass, he ran his fingers through his thick raven hair, frustrated with himself.

He was about to enter his inner world and cultivate when he saw it. There was a twitch in one of the shadows under a tree. it was like a real-life glitch.

He finally relaxed, breathing a sigh of relief, the unknown was way more scary than the known.

With his eyes closed and his body fully relaxed, Hartley spoke to no one as if he had gone fully mad.

"You're probably the most skilled I've met in the saint's realm. You've been following me for three days now, why don't you show yourself."