30 .

Han's courtyard.

In the hazy pitch black night, a dimly lit lamp which stood in a corner of the yard shone weakly.

Cries of an owl were echoing in the background, creating an eerie atmosphere which was suffused into the surroundings.

The sky was a patch of darkness. Even the moon and the stars had been covered by clouds and not a trace of light could be seen.

The oil lamp emitted a faint yellow glow, casting some light into the courtyard and onto Han's figure, his shadow stood tall behind his back.

Han was seated in a lotus position, his breaths were even and his chest was rising in and out in an orderly rhythm.

He was trying to initiate the practice of the [Soul Star Technique] for the past few hours and was not finding any success in doing so. It was as if the state of the night was like a formless barrier, obscuring his senses and was preventing him from forming a connection to the entities of the galaxy.

There was no hint or trace of Han progressing in the [Soul Star Technique] and Han was slowly growing frustrated as he repeatedly attempted to start the initiation.

He knew that progressing in a soul skill was exceptionally hard and his breakthroughs of his previous soul technique was made up of many factors which hardly corresponded to his current way of cultivating.

Even then, as the host of a system. He believed that what was hard for others, should not be much of an issue for him due to the assistance of the system. That was why he had persisted for almost the whole night.

But he did not expect that there was not even a bit of progress that was made despite his continuous efforts. He tried asking the reason from the system but despite the relentless questions, it remained silent throughout, as if it did not existed in the first place.

Then, just when Han was about to give up, a tiny trace of astral energy concentrated in the surroundings before it dispersed, but in his frustrations, Han did not realize the fleeting moments of the astral energy forming.

...

The sky was dark and heavy.

Even when morning came, a trace of cold still permeated in the air.

The usual bustling of the sect was not present, and even the birds seemed to have lost their usual liveliness, with only one, two chirps resounding every once in a while.

Wielding a sword in his hand, Han slowly rehearsed his sword skills , raising his mastery of them in the process.

His speed was not fast as he was merely training the movement of his strikes.

On the surface, it seemed like he was practicing the sword. However, the truth was that Han's attention remained mostly on his inability to cultivate the [Soul Star technique].

Slash, slash, slash

After performing the last 3 consecutive slashes, Han sheathed his sword and controlled his slightly hurried breathing. He was slightly relieved of the stress that was weighing on his mind.

He had come to the conclusion that it was not due to his inability that prevented his cultivation of the skill, but an external factor that played a huge part of doing so.

But no matter how he thought about it, he just could not form a logical conclusion, thus he decided to put the cultivation of the soul on hold.

...

Walking out of his abode, Han decided to head towards the mission assigning tavern.

As he got closer to the tavern, he could see that the amount of people was increasing and the gloomy atmosphere that was previously hanging in the air fading away due to the bustling of the crowd.

Reaching his destination, he could see an unusually large crowd that was grouped before a poster that was on the mission post. Han's curiosity got piqued and he inched towards the crowd, intending to find out the reason for the crowd's excitement. As he got closer, he was able to hear the discussions of the crowd and see a poster of a wanted creature on the board.

-Hey have you not heard? There was a sighting of a demon recently in the Tianya mountain range!

-Of course I did! I heard that it was the top 3 beauties and a male surnamed Chu of the Heavenly Sword Sect which discovered the demon! It was rumored that the demon was of a species that was never seen before! It seems like all the renowned sects has sent their top geniuses on a hunt for this demon...

-Really? I've also gotten the news that the demon was powerful, yet it was merciful enough to let off the team of four, is it not a bit too much to send so many experts to hunt it after such an act of mercy?

-Rubbish! Have your brains been kicked by a donkey? Have you ever come across a demon which was merciful to you? You should be thankful that you're still alive with that stupidity of yours!

- True... But how did the rumors of the demon being merciful came about then? Could there be a plot behind all of this?

-Hmm maybe.. But all of this is none of our business. Let alone hunting the demon, just the risk of trying to find it within the Tianya mountain range is an act of suicide! Only a deranged madman would do that!

As the discussions grew more heated, a young figure slowly slipped away from the tavern.

Han's forehead was slightly damp, it seemed that he had unknowingly got himself into some kind of trouble again. He was regretting that he had not killed the team of four when he had the chance and decided to be merciful. Yet, another part of him was glad that he did not. Despite the risk of being hunted, if he had killed others against his conscience, it would be a haunting factor which would stick along with him for the rest of his cultivation career and could negatively impact or affect his state of heart.

Come what may then....

Han collected his cool, there was not much to worry about other than when he uses his bloodline transformation. He was also not too affected on seeing the four people again as they would not recognize him in his current form. The disparity was too large and the current Han's look was too childish as compared to his devilish handsome looks in his transformation state, which was deeply hidden in that unsuspecting body of his.

Han inhaled deeply, facing the elements of threats, his convictions grew firmer. If he was ever caught by any of the sects, the consequences would be so dire that he was unwilling to imagine what would happen to him.

His determination steeled and it resulted his objective to upgrade himself as much as he could to grow firmer.

Only then could he have the strength to protect himself when facing off against the threats to his life in the future!

He did not know how strong he had to be in order to deal with what was awaiting him. Hence, he could only exhaust all means within his reach to maximize his power.

He did not return back to his courtyard, but went to search for old man Jian to request for sparring. Training by himself was quick, but with an experienced cultivator like old man Jian as a sparring partner, the speed which he improved at could only be quicker.

...

After realizing that the old man had been sent out to recruit talents again, Han sighed disapprovingly at his luck and the prospect of the old man finding any kind of potential disciples. He headed to the training grounds to fight with the dummies instead.

As he stood before the dummy, Han muscles tensed as he unsheathed his sword and drew his sword out of his scabbard.

'Lets do this'

Unknown to the young boy, a pair of eyes which held no friendly intentions stared fixedly at him.