7 Chapter 6: Vastmoon Sect (3)

Nian Zhen stopped bowing once she was beckoned to. She looked at the old man on the elevated seat. One should not be fooled by his tired appearance. This was the patriarch of the sect. A bonafide late stage Golden Core cultivator that had strength capable of going against the patriarchs of the top three sects of Rising Dawn city.

Truthfully, in terms of personal strength, one could say that Vastmoon patriarch was greater than the other patriarchs. He was not an ordinary Golden Core cultivator, but also an artisan of the soul arts. Soul arts were very mystic in nature, and few had the aptitude to use them in a manner that it would have an effect in battle.

"Patriarch Long Zhan, the name of my newsest direct disciple is Ulquiorra Cifer. He-" Nian Zhen, but was cut off abruptly by another elder.

"Hmph! Ulquiorra? What sort of damned name is that? Are you sure you didn't pick up a beast in human form?" The elder with a purple lined silver robe said. He was old just like the patriarch.

(Author's note: Ain't gonna lie, but describing characters is definitely not my forte. Pardon me for it. Just use your typical elder look from cultivation novels or manhua to imagine these guys 😅)

"Calm down, Elder Ming. Do not be so close-minded. The world is a big place." Another elder said.

"Elder Hua, it is indeed such a big place that makes me concerned about the origins of this child! The other three Elder Zhen took in were relatively fine in that area as they obviously come from around here! Who knows which hole this new one came from?" Elder Ming said in response.

"Enough! Nian Zhen, bring the child here. I'll speak to him personally. I'll be the judge of him" Patriarch Long Zhan ordered.

"Yes, patriarch. I shall bring him right now." Nian Zhen said as she prepared to go, but was stopped by the Patriarch.

"No, not now. Bring him tomorrow first thing in the morning." Long Zhan said.

Nian Zhen furrowed her brows, but complied nonetheless. Patriach Long Zhan dismissed everybody in the hall leaving him alone. He pondered to himself.

'I have a weird feeling. I don't know what it is, but it's making me unsettled. Is it about the boy? No, I must be overthinking things.' Long Zhan thought to himself.

"I'll have to see him myself" Long Zhan said as he rose from his seat, and went away.

--------------------

Ulquiorra found the bath. He put his clothes in a nearby place, and took off his clothes. He kept his pesquisa active around the area to sense whether or not someone was near him or peeking at him.

Ulquiorra looked at large open bath . There was a wooden bar that had towels on it. There was even a small bowl which had some sort of frgrant gel in it. Ulquiorra assumed that it was for cleaning himself as Zhifeng said that there were "commodities" here for bathing. Ulquiorra took one of the towels, the bowl, and stepped into the bath. The water felt a bit hot, but it was fine. Ulquiorra could see his reflection from the water.

"Strange. I lost the remaining vestiges of my mask, and yet I retained my eye marks and the hollow hole on my chest. What does this mean?" Ulquiorra mumbled.

"I have lost most of my existence as a hollow, and am now mostly human, but I retain my powers from when I was still the Cuatro Espada. This world is also peculiar. The unknown energy around me has the same effect on me as spiritual energy. It feels as if I'm in a spiritual world like Hueco Mundo, and my strength hasn't waned." Ulquiorra continued.

"At the same time, I sensed that humans here have been able to utilize the energy here in a different way from Hollows and Soul reapers. From a certain perspective, it's as if they're evolving at a visible pace the stronger they get. Their bodies change along with the strength of their souls." Ulquiorra spoke as he took some of the gel, and washed himself.

The gel was fragrant, and seemed to produce bubbles. Ulquiorra wondered if the way he was washing himself was correct. In any case, he felt that he was indeed cleaner after the bath. He dried himself before putting on the clothes he got from the room. He now wore a silver robe with blue linings on it. It covered most of his body aside from the neck above. He noticed a crescent moon pattern on the right sleeve of it. This robe was similar to what the other three disciples wore. Only Wang Yang had a half-moon symbol.

When Ulquiorra stepped out from the bath, he saw Nian Jiayi waiting for him. She smiled at him, and then grabbed his arm to try and drag him somewhere. Unfortunately, when she pulled, it felt as if she was trying to pull a mountain. She was surprised, and look at Ulquiorra.

"Why are you so heavy? You aren't even big." Jiayi questioned.

"Where do you plan on taking me?" Ulquiorra asked ignoring Jiayi's question.

"Come! Let's go to the small yard at the back. Senior brother Zhifeng and Zhou just got back from getting martial techniques for you. They were able to get some pretty decent ones. You'll practice body tempering techniques for now that comes from the library. When you reach Qi Condensation, master herself will impart you with a technique!" Jiayi said as tried to pull Ulquiorra again.

Ulquiorra didn't stop her this time. He let himself be dragged by the rowdy lady. He remembered his last moments in Hueco Mundo. He reached out to their captive human, Orihime Inoue. He still couldn't completely understand why he was compelled to do so aside from the fact that he realized a bit about the so called "heart". Still, he was lacking.

Ulquiorra looked at the small and frail arm dragging him. He thought that maybe in this sect, he would also learn a bit about the "heart". He had this miniscule hope inside of him.

'We'll see how things go. If the "heart" is more than what it seems, then my eyes would be able to see it'