The Stone Ring

Gradually, Yaan started to develop a deeper understanding of the Heavenly Path Sect.

The sect was split into three main sections: The outer sect, the inner sect and the core sect.

The outer sect homed those children who were taken from the surrounding villages and forced to work. They were made to work tirelessly until they saved enough of their wages to purchase a cultivation technique. After obtaining a cultivation technique, they were expected to cultivate this technique until they reached the Qi Gathering Realm. At this point, they would be considered a cultivator and could enter the inner sect.

Yaan now understood that cultivators were powerful people that followed the path of cultivation. Using cultivation techniques, they could refine the Spiritual Energy that existed throughout the world, converting it into their own Innate Qi, a type of energy that allowed them to display great power!

Unfortunately for most outer sect disciples, becoming a cultivator felt like a far-away dream. Given their mediocre talent and their dire living situation, it was basically not possible.

The inner sect disciples lived higher up the mountain, within the inner sect. They were not required to work manual labor once they entered the inner sect. Instead, the inner sect disciples were expected to devote themselves to their cultivation.

If a disciple was found to be highly talented, or if they achieved a certain level, they could enter the core sect, the region designated for the sect's cultivation geniuses and highly regarded elders. Little was known about this prestigious place, but it was no doubt incredible.

Those who grew up from their youth and began to slow down in their cultivation after their potential was wrung dry would become ordinary sect elders, like that Elder Sun.

Yaan was thinking about all of these things as he made his way into the dark forest. Just as he was about to leave the village, he paused and narrowed his eyes in a certain direction.

It was Jash. Ever since Una and Falca's deaths, Jash underwent a drastic change. His naturally caring nature had been crushed, replaced by his selfish desire to survive whilst disregarding all else. Falca's death shook him to the core and made him realise that if he wasn't careful, he could be next.

Because of this realisation, Jash now followed Xinti around everywhere he went, sucking up to him with a flattering smile. Yaan always felt disgusted when he witnessed this scene.

Their eyes briefly met, before Jash turned away and ignored Yaan as usual. He couldn't even look him in the eye properly, it was obvious that he still had some moral reservations about what he was doing, yet he continued along this path anyway.

With a sigh, Yaan continued towards the forest.

Yaan's appearance was much different compared to three months ago. He was skinny, severely lacking in body fat. His muscle mass had slightly increased though, owing to him swinging the axe for most of everyday. He had also grown slightly taller, though his growth was sure to be stunted if he continued with this lacking diet.

Today, Yaan decided to venture deeper into the dark forest. It was said that so long as you didn't stray further than two miles from Zong Village, then you were unlikely to encounter any dangerous beasts. He had gradually been exploring further and further each day, until he finally built up the courage to visit the edge of that two mile boundary.

The forest became darker as he reached the deeper depths. The tree bark darkened, as did the leaves, making it feel as if the foliage was sucking in all of the surrounding light. The atmosphere was gloomy and ominous, often keeping people from daring to venture this far in.

Yaan was on high alert, ready to run or hide in case he encountered anything unusual.

He reached a thin stream after walking for slightly under an hour. This thin stream signified the two mile boundary, Yaan knew that going any further would become exponentially more dangerous with every step he took.

He gazed across the stream, staring at the forest on the other side.

Was it really that much worse in the forest compared to Zong Village? He almost felt tempted to jump across the stream, then to keep on walking…

In the end though, his fear of the unknown won over. Yaan slumped his shoulders dejectedly, annoyed by his own lack of courage. He sighed and turned to leave, remembering that he needed to chop the day's lumber if he wanted to eat.

Splash!

"Wh-?! Ahh!"

Yaan had no time to react to the noise, only realising that something was amiss after feeling a sharp pain on his leg. When he looked down, he screamed out in fright, shocked to the core by the horrific looking creature that had tightly attached itself to his flesh with its razor-sharp teeth!

It was certainly a fish, but it was unlike any other fish that he had seen before. Its pitch black scales made it difficult to see clearly in the dimly lit forest, but its large four foot length was outlined when it shook from side to side, digging its fangs deeper into his leg with every agonising movement.

Thwack!

Without even thinking, Yaan lashed out wildly with the axe. The fish was hit directly in the stomach. The force of the attack removed it from his leg and sent it rolling to the side. Unfortunately, its jaw was gripping down so tightly that it ripped out a chunk of his flesh as it was torn away from his bloody limb.

Yaan stepped back and winced in pain as he stood lightly on his leg, but he quickly forgot about the pain and stared at the fish with wide eyes.

At first he was afraid, but when he saw the fish flapping around helplessly on dry land, he began to have some other thoughts.

Rumble…

Yaan clutched his stomach and the light in his eyes brightened. His gaze towards the unusual fish was filled with hunger, and at this point, his actions were only hindered by his fear towards the unknown.

This time, his fear was overcome by the intense pain in his stomach and the dull weakness in his muscles. He was far too hungry, and this hunger had been ongoing for too long now…even though he was afraid, Yaan wanted to eat!

He tentatively stepped in closer towards the fish, flinching back when it seemed to react to his movement by flapping around even more violently.

Gritting his teeth, Yaan steeled his resolve. He raised the axe above his head, then swung down with as much force as his starved body could muster.

Thud!

He missed, but the sound was enough to scare the fish. It began to go crazy, nearly slapping Yaan in the face as its slippery body bounced up and down. Its movement was random and chaotic, but it was actually moving back towards the stream by chance!

Not wanting to miss this opportunity, Yaan jumped forwards and swung down towards the fish once again.

Kwik!

Blood splattered across the ground as the fish's head was messily liberated from its body. Or rather, Yaan had mostly removed the head, but it was still attached to the body by half an inch of flesh.

The fish continued moving for a few moments, forcing Yaan to kick it away from the river. He felt pained, seeing his meal getting covered in dirt, but it was certainly large enough to feed him even if he discarded those dirty portions. Not that he would be so wasteful of course.

A couple of minutes later, the fish finally stopped moving. Yaan cautiously crouched down and observed the fish whilst maintaining his guard, before frowning when he realised that he really couldn't identify it.

Despite his uncertainty, any apprehension Yaan felt towards eating this foreign-looking creature was wiped away by his ravenous hunger. Without wanting to wait any longer, he tore the fish's head off with some difficulty, then brushed away the dirt where he could. It would probably be best to wash it in the stream, but Yaan couldn't bring himself to approach the dangerous waterway again. His leg still stung, reminding him of the very real danger that lingered in those murky waters.

He considered cooking it, but he didn't really know how to do so. Not only was he clueless about starting fires, but he wouldn't even know how to cook it properly. In the end, he recalled that back in Lightstone Village, they would sometimes eat fish raw. With this thought in mind, the hunger in his body seemed to become overwhelming in an instant.

Chomp!

He couldn't hold himself back for another second. After making his decision, Yaan directly bit down into the fish's neck, not caring about the remaining dirt around its flesh.

"Pah!" He almost spat it back out right away, but instead forced himself to swallow. Yaan grimaced at the bitter taste, wondering how an animal could taste so terrible.

Even though it tasted god awful, his stomach felt less pained after the bitter flesh entered his body. Sighing to himself in self-pity, Yaan continued to eat bite after bite.

Whilst he was extraordinarily hungry, Yaan was just a small child and this fish was nearly four feet in length, there was no possible way that he could eat the entire thing. He managed to eat less than a third of the aquatic creature's flesh, which was already an enormous amount for a child his size. Just as his stomach was reaching its limit, he suddenly fell back and clenched his jaw in pain.

"Gah, a bone?!" He had bitten into something solid. It felt like a rock, but of course his first assumption was a bone. Yaan spat out the solid object into his hand, but what he saw left him staring blankly.

"A ring?" It was a black ring. The ring was pitch black and appeared to be roughly carved from some sort of stone. But, what was a ring doing inside of a fish's body…?

As he continued to stare at the ring in confusion, Yaan discovered that this day would only become more strange from here on.

Buzz…

Yaan jolted in shock as the ring actually started to vibrate in his hand! Following this, a mysterious white symbol lit up on the outside of the ring, scaring Yaan so much that he almost dropped it. Shortly after, another symbol appeared, then another…one by one, these symbols began to glow, until a total of nine symbols were shining brightly on the outer surface of the stone ring.

Whoosh!

The nine symbols all let out a glow of white light simultaneously. Yaan fell back and dropped the ring to the floor, but he soon realised that there seemed to be a connection between himself and the mysterious ring.

After a few seconds passed by, Yaan began to feel tired. He quickly realised that this was caused by the ring, it felt as if it was siphoning away the energy from his body! He started to worry that this weird ring was going to kill him somehow, but thankfully, the ring stopped draining his energy before his exhaustion reached a concerning level.

Finally, all of these inexplicable happenings came to a conclusion, but this finale was no less shocking than the prior build up of events. As Yaan lay down in the dry dirt and looked up, a woman, entirely made from light itself, stared back down at him. After taking a single glance, she turned away and looked around.

Beautiful! Such a beautiful woman! She was so beautiful that Yaan was drawn into a trance, temporally forgetting how strange this situation was, and instead just staring at her in a daze.

The woman was so stunning that for a moment, Yaan felt like this woman was the only woman he had ever known….Yaan was so distracted that he didn't notice a faint green thread of light appear between the two of them, before fading away into obscurity.

As the woman turned towards him, her black hair shimmered in the darkness as she narrowed her eyes. The faint red light in her eyes matched her clothing, making her feel like a demonic goddess looking down on this world. Her skin was white and pale, as if she had never once stepped foot in the sun. Or perhaps, even the sun's rays didn't dare to touch her.

After again glancing at him briefly with no emotion showing on her face, her gaze turned towards the half-eaten fish.

"Did you eat that fish?" She spoke softly, yet her voice was somehow commanding. Yaan could only nod his head.

"A shame. It has been so long, yet it appears that I will not be able to recover myself this time either." The woman muttered to herself, ignoring Yaan entirely.

"Who are you? Did you come from that ring?" Yaan finally mustered up the courage to ask her.

She glanced back down at him and shook her head.

"Just a child. What is a mortal child even doing in a place like this? You're lucky to have survived to this point. Though, I suppose that your luck has run out." She ignored his question, but her words made Yaan's heart skip a beat.

As if to confirm her words, a sharp pain originating from his stomach suddenly spread throughout his body in a violent wave. Yaan cried out in pain, curling up into a ball and clutching his abdomen.

"What, what is…?!" He couldn't even finish the sentence due to the pain becoming increasingly unbearable. He was left lying on the dry floor, crying out in agony as he was enveloped by wave after wave of pain.

"You consumed a young demonic beast, your body cannot handle the energy. You will die soon, my condolences." She stated this plainly, as if this was an irrelevant matter that didn't even warrant an emotional response.

Yaan had no time to lament over the cold indifference behind her words. As he continued to tremble on the floor, his muscles contorting in pain, he managed to utter a plea for help.

"Help…me…please…!"

The woman didn't say anything for a while, instead just watching as he grit his teeth and painfully raised his face towards hers. Seeing the fire in his eyes which reflected his burning desire to live, she slightly raised one eyebrow by an unnoticeable amount.

"How old are you?"

"Six…" Yaan replied, not understanding why she cared about this right now.

"Hm, then this has a chance. Tell me child, do you truly wish to live, no matter the cost?"

"I do…"

"Even if it means giving up your humanity?"

Yaan didn't understand what she was saying, but he knew that he wanted to live, more so than anything else right now. He could never have expected that his answer to this question would alter the very course of his life, as if finally aligning himself with a cruel fate.

"Yes…"

As Yaan spoke this simple word, an inch long crack appeared in the sky, far above the highest of clouds. The crack only appeared for a split second before it was forcefully sealed by the pressure of this world. This brief event went completely unnoticed by the living beings below. Even the mysterious woman who continued to stare at Yaan with a calm gaze did not see a thing.