Crushed

When the rest of the Abyss parasite's poison was removed from Ryan White's head, he returned to his normal self.

That night, he thought deeply about everything that was happening around him. 

Even though the Abyss Parasite had affected his mind and judgment, his memories were still intact.

He remembered everything, including "his friends". This morning, however, he was still unsure if Heero was the person he could trust or not. Not until he talked to the old man Niadin.

"Oh, you woke up!" Old Niadin brought four skewers of meat. The meat looked greasy but appetizing at the same time.

"Do you want some?"

Ryan White looked at the old man. He remembered that this old man was the one who took care of him. He had little trust in the old man.

Looking at the skewer, he felt hungry. He nodded as he took the skewer from the old man. He took the first bite and his eyes lit up. 

It was so delicious that he devoured the last three pieces of meat on the skewer.

One skewer was not enough to satisfy his hunger. He began to look at the other skewers in old man Niadin's hand.

"You can have them all, it's prepared for you anyway," Old Man Niadin handed the remaining skewers to Ryan White.

'It was not me who prepared these skewers though.'

It was Sun Zhou Yi who prepared the skewers. However, he did not want to give the skewers to Ryan White, who antagonized his master, so he was here.

In a flash, Ryan White swallowed all the meat into his mouth. It seemed that four skewers were not enough to fill his empty stomach.

"How's your head?"

It was a strange question to ask, but Ryan White knew what the old man was asking.

"I think I'm okay now..." He paused as a frown formed on his forehead. He wanted to say something but hesitated.

"What? You can trust me, just say it,"

"Hmmm... Are you his friend?"

"His friend?" Niadin paused for a moment before nodding, then shook his head, "If you're asking if Heero is my friend or not... I don't know. We are not friends but acquaintances... Yes, acquaintances who are on the same side."

Ryan White was confused by the answer. Especially the last part, an acquaintance on the same side? He did not know what that meant.

"So, what do you want to ask? I don't know much about him, but I think he's trustworthy enough," he said.

Ryan White narrowed his eyes as he looked at Niadin. The old man was too kind to him and he was beginning to feel suspicious of the old man.

Does he want something from me?

"Why are you so kind to me?" He could not help but ask.

The old man had kept him away from Heero, taken the poison out of his head, and now the old man was taking care of him while he was unconscious. 

The old man was too kind and he started to think that the old man wanted something from him.

"Is it wrong to be kind?" Old Niadin asked with a strange look on his face.

"There's nothing wrong with being kind, but..." Ryan White shook his head.

Yes, there was nothing wrong with being kind. He just had to be careful, just in case the old man had a hidden agenda.

"If he's trustworthy, then why did he kill my family?" Even though the poison that clouded his mind had been removed, the thought of Heero killing his family was still in his head.

"Hmmm... Did he? Like I said, we're just acquaintances, so I don't know much about him. However..."

"However?"

"However, I know his master, I know him quite well. If you thought he was looking into your secret..." Old Niadin shook his head at these thoughts.

"To be honest, your secret is really worth nothing to him. Your bloodline may be strong, but his master is much stronger than you think." 

"He is the strongest person in the world, so your secret is worth very little compared to his master's teachings."

"As for your family, I can think of two possibilities. First, your family has been found working with the specters, and he would surely kill your family for that," he said.

"Second, if your family isn't working with the ghost, there's no reason for him to kill your family."

"As for your secret, it's really worthless in his eyes, and he won't kill your family just for a petty grudge. And I'm more inclined to the second, it's not that I trust him, but I trust his master."

All those comments came from his trust in Saint rather than in Heero. Niadin believed that Saint would not choose and raise Heero as his disciple if Heero was as evil as Ryan thought.

Ryan White fell silent at these words. He looked into the old man's eyes, trying to find out if the old man was telling the truth or not.

"You seem to trust his master very much," Ryan White was piqued by Heero's Master identity.

Old Niadin just smiled at Ryan White. He had promised Saint not to reveal his true identity to anyone, so he remained silent.

"Then who's stronger, you or him?" Knowing that Old Man Niadin would not tell him anything about the mysterious Master, he changed his question.

"Him? You mean Heero, right?"

"Yeah, who's stronger between the two of you?" Ryan White nodded his head.

"I..." Old man Niadin paused.

He wanted to say, "I'm certainly stronger than him," but he swallowed the words. Heero was Saint's disciple, not just a disciple, but Saint's successor.

"I-I don't know. We haven't fought yet, so we don't know who is stronger. But I am certainly much older than him."

Niadin did not say that he was stronger than Heero. But he was older, which meant that he was stronger than Heero. That was what he wanted to tell Ryan White.

Suddenly a smile appeared on Ryan White's lips. He certainly caught the hidden message and he pretended not to know the hidden message.

"What about him, then? Can you tell me about his background? About his past?" Ryan White continued to ask.

He wanted to know more about Heero. How could he become so strong? He was curious about Heero's past.

"I told you, I don't know much about him. All I know about him is from his master. I and his master are close friends, and my friend has often told me about his lovely student. My information about him is limited," Old Niadin shook his head.

"I am willing to listen," Ryan White looked straight at the old man with a serious look.

"His past, huh?" Old Man Niadin rubbed his chin as he remembered.

"My friend found him among the corpses of his family. Yes, it started with a little tragedy, his village was attacked by the specters and everyone was killed except him."

"His family saved him and he was on the verge of dying when my friend arrived in the village."

"Then my friend took him as his successor, but I heard a few years later that his lover was also killed by the specters."

"He has a deep grudge against them, but I think he's a decent guy since he's my friend's disciple."

"No, I don't know much. It was an old distant memory, I don't remember much about him."

Niadin shook his head, giving up trying to recall his distant memory.

"If you want to gauge his strength, I actually have an idea."

Ryan White's eyes brightened at these words. Indeed, he wanted to measure Heero's strength.

"How?"

"Fight his disciple!" Old Niadin pointed his finger in Sun Zhou Yi's direction.

"It might not be exact, but if you can't even defeat his disciple, don't even dream of defeating him. It's simple, right?" Niadin showed his wily smile.

Ryan White followed Niadin's instructions. He challenged Sun Zhou Yi to a fight. There was no reason for Sun Zhou Yi to refuse the challenge. In fact, he also wanted to fight Ryan White.

His grudge against Ryan White was still there. There was no harm in having a sparring match with Ryan White, as he also wanted to test his new power.

Just like that, both of them had a fight with Old Man Niadin as an observer.

In the middle of the grassy plain, Sun Zhou Yi faced Ryan White with a distance of twenty meters between them.

"Alright, you can start!" Old Niadin's voice rang out.

He was fascinated by Ryan White, he wanted to know how strong this guy was. He could test him directly, but he also did this to check Sun Zhou Yi's progress.

As soon as Sun Zhou Yi heard Niadin's voice, he summoned his Ki staff. It was not his regular Ki Sword, as he could change the shape of his Ki at will.

Since this was a spar, he did not want any unwanted accidents to happen, so he transformed it into a staff.

Sun Zhou Yi immediately summoned a hundred staffs. He did not give Ryan White a chance to move as he launched the first attack.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

One hundred staffs moved at the same time. They all moved in the same direction, towards Ryan White.

Even though a hundred moved at the same time, only five Ki staffs attacked Ryan White.

'It's certainly fast, but not fast enough to hit me.

Ryan White jumped back to avoid the incoming staffs.

But Sun Zhou Yi was not finished with his attack. Another five staffs came from above him.

He was in the air, it was hard to maneuver his body as the shafts almost reached him.

Ryan White began to panic. He put his hands in front of him and shot fire with his hand. The momentum of the fire pushed his body further back. He narrowly avoided the staffs from above.

However, Sun Zhou Yi was not finished yet. He had a hundred Ki staffs floating around him. The moment Ryan White pushed his body back with his fire, another five shafts came from his back.

At this point, Ryan White was at his wits' end. He simply pushed himself towards the staffs on his back.

Bugh! Bugh! Bugh! Bugh! Bugh!

All five Ki staffs struck his back. Ryan White fell forward onto his face. Again, Sun Zhou Yi was not finished.

As Ryan White's body fell to the ground, another twelve staffs shot at him. Two pinned his neck, four pinned his hands, two pinned his back, and the last four pinned his feet.

Ryan White was pinned down in less than five minutes. Immediately after that, Sun Zhou Yi moved his Ki staffs around Ryan White. The remaining eighty-eight floated around, ready to fire at Ryan White the moment he broke out. It was a crushing defeat, Ryan White could not even defend himself.