Chapter 2 - Rubix cube

After talking with Professor Zhao a bit more, Jun took his leave. On his way home, he saw both Lao and Weng crying outside the school, but he ignored them and went straight to his house. 

When he got home the sun was already going down. Jun reached out for the door handle, but before he could open the door, he saw a tiffin box lying by the side of his door. 

"I didn't think Auntie would give me food today as well; I mean, it took me so long to get home. I gotta thank Auntie May when I have time." Said Jun to himself. 

Jun picked up the tiffin box and entered his house. The house that Jun lived in was not that big in itself; it was just a small traditional Japanese house. There were a total of three rooms in his house; the first was for his own use, and the second was for his parents. After some time, he stopped entering that area because whenever he did, he felt depressed and burst into tears. And finally, there was a last room, which was for storage. Other than that, there were just a kitchen and bathroom. 

Jun dropped his shoes and went straight to his room, jumping straight to his bed. Having no care of the world, he rested there for quite some time.

"Ah, home sweet home. Nothing is better than home, at least for me, that is," said Jun with a joyful voice.

After lying on his bed for quite some time, Jun remembered something and got up. 

"Where did I put that Rubix cube? Man, I forget things so easily nowadays." Wondering where that Rubix cube was, Jun started searching for it in his room. 

After making his whole room a mess, Jun finally found the Rubix cube under his bed. 

"Finally! This sh*t wasted so much of my time. Anyways, now let's complete this sh*t; I want to see what's inside it."

The rubix cube that Jun had in his hand was not an ordinary rubix cube. It was pitch black, with white patterns all over it. On first sight, anyone would just say it's an ordinary Rubix cube with weird colors and patterns, but if some expert looked closely, they could see that these patterns were not just some random patterns; these were words of ancient text. 

Ancient texts were found by humans when they were founding treasures for their evolution. ancient texts, we're notes that are left behind by some unknown entity. Every note has a meaning behind it; if someone solves the mystery of these notes, they can get something very beneficial for themselves.

"I don't understand why Father said this Rubix cube is the greatest treasure ever. For me, this cube looks like trash; just look at it; it's not even fun playing with it." Said Jun to himself with a sad expression. 

Even though Jun was feeling depressed, he still didn't stop solving the Rubix cube. After a few hours, when he was just about to quit, he started feeling a cold aura coming out of the Rubix cube. 

"Cold, why is it getting cold?" As Jun was thinking about why the cube was getting cold, a thing that his father used to say when he played with the Rubix cube came to his mind. 

"If you put the pieces together, when the sun is falling apart and the moon is shining, the cube will release a cold aura, and the mist will soon arrive."

As soon as Jun said those words, the Rubix cube started releasing a black mist. Without a second thought, Jun stopped playing with the Rubix cube and threw it on the ground. 

The cube started getting colder and released even more mist than before; in a few moments, the whole room was covered with a thin layer of black mist. The patterns on the Rubix cube soon started emanating a golden color; soon, the black cube dissolved into a black mist, and the letters started floating in the air. 

"What is going on!?!?" The scene in front of Jun shook him to his core; those were the only words that he could muster out of his mouth. 

Before Jun could say or do anything else, the floating patterns dashed straight towards his face. As soon as they came into contact with Jun, they went inside him.

Everything went silent, and the black mist also started dissipating. A few moments later, Jun came back to his senses.

"What just happened? What were those patterns, and how did they go inside me?" Said Jun to himself with a confused expression. 

When Jun was about to say something else, he felt a big shock in his mind. He felt like too much information was gushing through his mind. The pain he was feeling almost made him go insane, but when he was just about to lose his sanity, the pain halted.

As the pain stopped, Jun's eyes went blurry, and after a moment, he found himself floating in space, but he was not alone; a guy with a long beard, white long hair, and a tall figure was in front of him. That guy looked very old, but still, his eyes still looked like they had the power to devour the whole universe. 

After a brief moment of silence, Jun was about to say something, but before he could say anything, he was interrupted by the guy in front of him. 

"Finally, someone has solved this text too. So kid, tell me, are you willing to learn my qi gong?" Said the man with a big smile across his face.

"I mean, no disrespect, but can I know what the qi gong is and also who you are?" Knowing that the man in front of him was a big deal, Jun used his words carefully. I wish not to enrage the man in front of him. 

"I am Huan. Just the name is enough; if you want to know more about me, then pass the trials. And the qi gong I am talking about is,No End Sutra," spoke Huan with calmness. 

"Huan.. No-End Sutra. Trials. What have I gotten myself into...? So Elder Huan, may I know what the trials  are?" Jun tried to ask some questions to solve the confusion in his mind, but he was yet again interrupted by Huan. 

"Yes or no, I don't have much time; answer."This time, there was no calmness in Huan's voice; it looked like he was in a hurry.

"...Uh. " After a breif moment of thinking, Jun came to a conclusion. "Yes, I want to learn your qi gong," said Jun with seriousness in his voice. 

"Great choice." Huan raised one of his hands as he said those words and moved forward to grab his head.

Jun tried to ask what Huan was planning to do to him, but he couldn't even open his mouth.In a flick of a second, Huan had Jun's head in his grasp. Soon Huan started chanting some words. As the words fell into Jun's ears, his consciousness got sent to another dimension, leaving his bidy with Huan. 

Huan dropped the body of Jun and took a few steps back. Looking back at the lifeless body of Jun, a smile took form on his face. 

"The question is, how much will he be able to grasp?" asked Huan to himself. 

In the meantime, somewhere in the universe, Jun's consciousness was standing in front of a giant book. The book's cover was black in color, with golden rims on the outskirts, and on the middle of the cover, there were three words written on it.

"No End Sutra," said Jun with a baffled look on his face. 

Jun took a step and went near the gaint book, which was almost the size of an elephant. Grabbing its cover, he tried to flip it to see what was inside. The book, which seemed to be very heavy in weight, actually was pretty light. With just a little force, the book was opened, revealing the contents inside. 

"There's always a limit set for a being's body; no matter how much resources one has, they can't go much far beyond the limits; qi gongs are made to break those limits." Jun was reading the book out loud as he turned the pages. 

In about an hour and a half, the book, with hundreds of pages, was read out loud by June. 

"So this is the no-end sutra. But if the contents inside this are actually true, then how am I supposed to cultivate this? My body is strong enough. And even if it were, this sutra is something else; it's not like normal sutras. May-" While Jun was thinking about how he could practice the no-end sutra, his consciousness was yet again moved from his place and brought back to his body.

"How much were you able to learn?" asked Huan, with a hint of curiosity in his voice. 

"I read the whole book." Said Jun mantaining his calm composer. 

"Good, good. Now ask me any questions you have, but do remember, you can only ask one." Huan spoke with a big smile on his face. 

"...only one question..." After a big pause of thought, Jun finally decided what he needed to ask. "How can I practice this sutra?" asked Jun with a fire in his eyes. It was as if he had forgotten about his past and wanted to move forward in life. 

"Good question; don't worry, I've already prepared your body for the sutra. You might not see any difference in strength right now, but you can practice the sutra. And now, you can take your leave." Huan punched Jun in the face as he spoke.

The punch fell on Jun, exploding him into pieces. 

"Argh, no, what are you doing? You killed me, noooooo!!!!" Jun spoke while he was lying on the floor, throwing his hands in the air like a kid.

"huh? I am not dead. .... Was that all an illusion? Damn it. That guy really got me thinking I died." Jun said to himself, getting angry at Huan and also a bit embarrassed by how he was acting like a kid a few seconds ago. 

After getting up from the floor, the first thing Jun did was heat the food that Auntie may have prepared for him. After a while, he ate the food and went to sleep, because it was already night-time when he woke up from that illusion. 

In some time, Night took it's leave, and Sun came back to do his job.

Time went by, but there was no sign of Jun waking up. When the clock was almost about to hit 12, Jun's eyes opened. Jun moved his head to take a look at the time, but seeing that only a few minutes were left before the training camp entries would end, he was on the brink of crying. 

Having no time to waste, Jun got up and went to the shower in a hurry. He just washed his head and didn't even change his clothes; he just made his hair and left the house, running towards the place where they took the training camp entries. After some time of running, he got tired and had no strength to walk. He looked for a ride, and to his luck, a bike was parked near an ice cream shop. He ran to the bike and got on it. Wasting no time, he turned on the bike and went straight towards the place. 

After a few moments, a girl who looked to be around the age of 24 came out of the shop, holding a popsicle in one hand. 

"Weird... I remember parking my bike right here. Where did it go?" The girl spoke with a confused expression all over her face. 

"Well, whatever the reason is, I can't really waste more time now, can I?" The girl ate her popsicle as she spoke. 

While the owner of the bike was wondering where her bike had gone, Jun had reached his destination just on time. 

"Yes! I did it! I made it here on time. But at what cost.. I jun, take promise, that I will say sorry and return the bike to it's owner someday." While Jun was making a promise to himself in front of the crowd, when he was interrupted by someone. 

"Why Someday? Can't you do it right now?"

An unknown voice came from behind Jun..