13 BECOMING A DISCIPLE

Yulian woke up. He was feeling dizzy due to losing consciousness three times in just a day. His health had not been perfect from the start, so it took him a long time to fully recover.

'Where am I? The last thing I remember is that I had jumped down from a cliff. I should have been dead. This place... What're all these lights? Wha...!'

Naturally, he was looking around while thinking to himself. Then, he caught the sight of a bloody sack. His lower lip started to quiver, and his eyes got misty as his hand reached to the container of his mother's head.

"It seems like you have gone through a hard time kid." A clear voice came from the darkness before him.

"Who is there? Who is talking?" Yulian got a momentary scare. He wasn't alone in this place.

"I am here. Can't you see me?"

Yulian looked towards where the sound came from and saw a man three meters away from him. With just a look, Yulian was clear that this person wasn't a human being.

"Are you King Yama?" He was calmer than the man expected.

(Author's note; I believe all of know this but I'll say it anyway. King Yama is the ruler of hell in Chinese Mythology.)

"Haha! I am neither King Yama nor a ghost. My name is Shan Ver, and I am residing in this underground cavity for thousands of years. It would be more appropriate if I asked you who you are?" Shan Ver said.

"I am Yulian..." He said but couldn't find another word to say about himself. "I am a nobody as much as you are."

He had not left anything to lose. There was no point in scaring from someone hiding in the underground.

"Mm. You are brave. I am the master of this place, and I demand you to identify yourself. What's your last name, where did you come from? You may start with these questions."

Shan Ver was studying his every movement with his eyes.

"Last name... I don't have one anymore! There is only Yulian now! The place I had come... I wish that place never existed!"

Yulian eyes burned with hatred when he thought about his so-called family.

"Haha, good! It seems like you bear hatred and enmity inside of your heart. Looking at the head inside of the sack, she should be your mother. I can say that humans had given you unimaginable pain." Shan Ver said.

Yulian's hatred advanced one more time after hearing the words. He grimaced in pain and clutched his fists strongly, to the point that blood came out.

"Let me tell you who I am one more time! I am The Great Shan Ver! The only Magic Sage among the Twelve Judges of the Darksiders! And 'We'... are the sworn enemy of mankind!" Shan Ver said with a booming voice.

Yulian's eyes widened upon hearing his words.

"You had come here through a teleportation formation that I placed years ago. I have gathered many companions in this way. You are carrying similar feelings with them. If not, your lifeless body could be found at the bottom of that cliff."

Yulian got up from the ground. There was a glimmer of expectation in his eyes. "I am a cripple from the birth, do you still need me?"

"Cripple? Ha ha ha! That's the funniest joke I ever heard! Humans said you are a cripple?" Shan Ver involuntarily started to laugh. He was in a perfect mood today.

Yulian "..."

"You are not a cripple at all! I mean you are special cripple! I had the chance of examining your body while you were unconsciousness. You have a great potential the universe had never seen before. The ones who said cripple for you have crippled brains! Yeah, that's it! Haha! I had not laughed even a half of this in the last millennia."

Who was Shan Ver? Since the protective barrier of the Dark World has gotten incredibly strong so many years ago, it was not hard to understand the power of a Darksider who has been residing outside of the Dark World. However, here he was laughing like a fool as if he had become a dad just now.

Yulian had a dumbfounded expression. He? Special? How could that be possible? Has he suffered for nothing until now?

"It is normal that you don't understand. I will feed your curiosity soon. For now, let me ask you three questions." Shan Ver looked at Yulian with a smiling face. However, his eyes weren't smiling at all.

"I just said I am an enemy of the mankind, as you see I am not even a human being. What do you think about me?" Shan Ver asked with a mystical smile.

Yulian didn't wait for even a moment. "I hope you'll succeed in killing them all. I don't care in the slightest. I am a human myself, but still, there is only loathing and hate inside of me for my kind!"

Shan Ver's smile widened. "Then, I can ask my second question to you. Can you, yourself become an enemy of mankind? Think carefully, if your answer is yes, that's mean you'll kill so many innocents in the future."

This time, Yulian hesitated. His mother was innocent. Would he kill her? Absolutely no.

Shan Ver saw his hesitation and frowned a little. He didn't want any flaw on his spear of hate.

"My mother was my everything, and she was the most innocent person in my eyes. If you are asking me would I kill innocent people, I would. However, it might depend on the person in question sometimes. I would never kill someone who truly cares about me, but if it is someone unknown to me, I wouldn't even bat an eyelid." Yulian said. He looked determined enough to Shan Ver.

Shan Ver didn't felt much satisfied with Yulian's answer. Yulian's words sounded to have little importance, and he was reasonable. However, it wasn't as simple as it looked. Not killing someone in any situation, sometimes may result in grave consequences.

"Hmm. Good enough for me!" Shan Ver's smile was still on his face. He didn't look disappointed. "Last question. Would you accept me as your master, and inherit my will?"

Yulian believed that he would be somehow useful to Shan Ver, but he didn't think that Shan Ver would want him as his disciple. His expectations grew another point.

"I-I will accept you as my master and inherit your will. Share my glory and shoulder burdens with the master." Yulian said while kowtowing. Things like kowtowing to his master or a benefactor would never hurt his pride, so it wasn't a problem for him.

"Now get up! Tomorrow onwards, your life will be a kind of hell. You can not rest for a second. You can not slack for even a moment, or you can not be disrespectful to your master. Today I, Shan Ver of the Twelve Judges will become your master. I will dedicate myself for your future, and I will wait for you to bring glory on my name!"

They made a simple master-disciple ceremony.

"Now I can feed your curiosity. Come with me, my sole disciple!" Shan Ver said with his hands on back of his waist and walked toward the teleportation area's exit. He looked like a harsh master.

"Yes, master!" Yulian was still a little absentminded. He would finally become a cultivator. Shan Ver had not said anything about it yet, but he knew that his new master would somehow fix his body. Otherwise, why would a powerful cultivator want a cripple as his disciple?

Yulian grabbed the sack and left after Shan Ver. He was still unwilling to let it go.

"I can perfectly preserve your mother from rotting away if you want." Shan Ver said while oddly looking at the sack. It was a little thing for him. While he had the chance, he wanted to raise Yulian's favorability toward himself.

'Who would have thought that I, Shan Ver... A Darksider will have a human as the disciple! Laughable! Haha!' Even though he thought that way, he considered himself fortunate. 'I might even replace Night Judge in the future! Heh, he!'

With a movement of his palm, Shan Ver opened a cave beside the misty lake. He even created some fine goods from the hard rocks, such as a bed, chairs, and a table.

"This will be your room from now on." He said and gave a look towards the bloody sack. "Bring out your mother. I'll cast a spell on her."

Yulian did as his master said.

With another palm movement, all the blood and bruises on Clarea's head disappeared, as if she returned to the days which her beauty was at the peak.

"It's done!" Shan Ver said.

Yulian's face immediately bloomed into a brilliant smile, after seeing his mother's former beauty. He took her from his master's hand and put her onto the table, spreading her long raven black hair through the table's surface with utmost care.

'What the hell? Did I bring in a sick psychopath?' Shan Ver couldn't help but think that way.

"Now sit down. Let me tell you about yourself and maybe a little about myself." Shan Ver said.

The newly formed master and disciple pair started their long conversation.