Into the Darkness
The realization of who he had been staying with hit him like a freight train. Li Xiao's family was the one who had been so kind to him. The family that Li Xiao betrayed so many years ago was the family who took him in. Which meant, they were the family who would most likely receive most of the scorn from the slavers when they came ten years from now!
Hong Zhao was starting to think the capture of Li Wuhan and Li Wei were not as random as he thought at first. What if the slavers were set to capture the Li family before rounding the rest of them up? He didn't think it too likely though, the men who captured the siblings didn't even have a cultivation base.
Knowing now what he stood to lose for, he now had more important reasons to get strong, and to bring strength to those around him. When he disrupted Obopin from their duties, it was surly going to be enough of a disruption to gain the eyes of the other continents. When that happened, he would surly have the eyes of Li Xiao himself upon him.
Hong Zhao felt woefully unprepared. Though he had ten years, it might be enough to ensure strength to fight Obopin if he were lucky, but such a battle would set him up to challenge the way the entire world worked. Could he change an entire world? Lan's words made much more sense now. She had told him from the very beginning why he was there. She brought him simply for him to live. Yet to live in this world, one must challenge everything in order to live free. "That conniving little..." He couldn't even finish what he thought of her, seeing as though he didn't even know what that was.
Hong Zhao sighed. There wasn't anything he could do about it right now. The only thing within his power at the moment was his preparations for what was to come. As he came to terms with what he had to do, he brought up the ring that Lan had given him. Inserting a strand of qi into it, he brought a mental image of himself into the ring. He then went to the third star student rank door. As he opened it, the only things to remain from the heavy reward was the seven suits of black and the sword. Making a decision, he took one of the suits and the sword from the room and brought them out of the ring.
Hong Zhao made his way quickly to his courtyard and put the black uniform on under his robes, yet he kept the mask and the sword in the ring Li Wen gave him when he had met the man.
The uniform felt like a second skin. The fabric was nothing like spandex or anything of the sort. It hung loosely like a regular shirt and pants, yet he didn't feel them when they brushed up against him. The clothing made absolutely no noise! Hong Zhao marveled at what could potentially be a revolutionary breakthrough in his own modern world if they were to get a hold of something like this. Yet, he knew that wasn't right anymore. This was his world now.
Hong Zhao left his courtyard once more to notice both Li Wei and Li Wuhan waiting for him at the exit to the family estate. "We have been waiting for you." Li Wuhan said accusingly. Of course, he could accuse him. If someone were to give a timeline for departure, yet didn't hold up to the time, could he really be taken seriously?
Hong Zhao gave a mental sigh. He needed to remember how old these two were. They might be mature for their age, yet Li Wei was still six years old as Li Wuhan was eight. They had much more growing to do. Some of that growing was going to happen soon. Specifically in the forest. "Then let's take off!" He stepped through the exit to the estate and walked the street of the market place until they reached the gate of Rantori Village.
Even though Hong Zhao had been in and out of the village so many times, he couldn't help but feel a hint of nostalgia. A year ago, he and these two siblings were travel worn walking through these gates from the forest. He was afraid he wouldn't have a home if things were to go wrong, afraid he would have to go back to living in the forest. He snorted when he remembered his make-shift robe and boots he had worn upon entering the village. He must look like an entirely different person now compared to then.
Giving a mental shake to the nostalgic memories, Hong Zhao activated his vortex thrust. His trusted ability didn't let him down as he felt twin gusts of wind at his heels. Blasting from the gate, he could only see streaks of green and blue and the grass and sky zoomed past him. He could however see a black shape moving close to the same speed. Shadow had decided to join him for some fun. Soon, he was in the forest once more, dodging trees left and right. It felt like only minutes, partially from the joy of being able to stretch his legs once more, but soon they were back near the cottage he had created when he first was brought to this world. He looked at Shadow with a smile. "Have you enjoyed your own training session?" He observed his companion. It seemed the shadow panther had been able to raise his cultivation once more to the eighth star student rank! "If I'm not in trouble, stay out of the battles. I want you to keep an eye on my friends. If they seem to be in trouble, step in and help them." He said sternly to the fierce beast. If he didn't know any better, he'd swear the shadow panther gave him an annoyed expression before once again bolting into the forest.
Hong Zhao slowed vortex thrust to a simmer as he waited patiently for the Li siblings to catch up. He knew they could have caught up easily if they trained as much as he did, yet he couldn't fault them. They were still children, and as such, had the right to certain freedoms throughout the day. Freedoms he would never allow himself. This was his second life, his second chance to mold himself into the person he wished to be. Even if he trained every minute of every day, he wouldn't feel like it was enough. His old training habits were some of the only habits that seemed to make it into his new reality. Odds were Lan had something to do with that.
As the young boy mused, the two other children finally caught up. He could hear slight panting from behind him and smiled in amusement before turning around. His expression became serious as he watched the two regain their composure. "This is going to be wilderness training." He said in a stern expression, something Li Wei and Li Wuhan were not used to seeing. Even though they knew they were looking at a six year old boy, they could almost see through the disguise to the old man he truly was. "Today starts a two week training session. No reading or leisurely activities. We will be slaying fierce beasts and clearing the forest. Defeat all shadow panthers you can find. If you have any trouble, come find me or lose the panthers by leaving the forest. They will not follow you out of the confines of the forest. This is a tested theory, don't worry." He felt like he was doing a safety brief back in his other life, but he knew it was for the best.
Without a second's hesitation, Hong Zhao brought his vortex thrust back to maximum and raced further into the forest than he ever had before. The last time he had run headlong into the darkness like this, he had slain a hundred and one panthers. Yet he felt that they had to be weak. The shadow panthers seemed to be the only game in the forest, maybe instead of calling it the 'Jade Forest, they should have just named it the Shadow Panther Forest." He smirked at the joke as he raced through the trees, dodging with every step.
As he ran, he noticed outlines of panthers running from his left to his right, yet none of them converged on his location, instead, they just seemed to run with him. This seemed slightly out of character. They gathered speed with what looked like great effort in order to get in front of him. Hong Zhao watched as the shadow panthers seemed to guide him somewhere.
The panthers maintained a healthy distance in front of the young boy. Though he was just a boy, they could smell hundreds of their kin's blood on him. They knew that if they got close enough, he would certainly strike.
Hong Zhao was astounded to see their reservation to face him. They instead ran further into the forest. Further than he had ever been before, and it became increasingly more difficult to see. Before long, he was engrossed in darkness. He found that by activating his eagle vision, he was able to intensify the very meager light to a form of night vision as he ran.
He then noticed that the shadow panthers had already split apart from him. He lost them before he activated his ability. He somehow knew that they weren't trying to fight him anyway, instead, they were just a guide to get him to this specific location. He wondered why only for a brief moment. As he raced between the trees, something slammed against his abdomen, knocking the wind from his lungs and sending him sprawling backwards. He felt like a baseball which had just been hit past the end zone. Whatever had hit him, got a home run.
Hong Zhao sat at a tree, his vision blurred from the surprise attack. He didn't know what to expect next, so he got back up and brushed himself off. He was surprised to see that nothing was broken from the force of the blow. It seemed that having the clothing from Lan actually worked to his advantage. Before confronting what had attacked him, he took the mask from the Li family ring and put it on.
He suddenly felt something wrap around his feet, yet it was too quick for him to react. Before the time for him to take a breath, something wrapped tightly around his body, forcing the breath out of him. Coils of strong muscle seemed to tighten around him. He now knew why the panthers had led him here. They knew that they couldn't do anything about him, instead, they left him to something even they couldn't handle.