Losing Your Soul

Sunrise.

The rays of sunshine broke through. 

The radiant rays illuminating the sky were like melted gold. 

The earth and sky was like a monochromatic painting that was coming to life. It shined! Everything was alive! 

Fang Zheng had spent the night training for the 'Exorcist Golden Warrior Seal'.

The more he trained, the more spirited he felt. Despite training all night, he did not feel the slightest bit sleepy. 

Currently, Fang Zheng's body was flooded with the sun's bright rays. He was covered in a light shade of gold. 

He was like a heavenly god from myths. Fang Zheng kept putting out 'Golden Warrior Seals' that cultivated his three flames. 

Others could not perceive anything abnormal about Fang Zheng, but his body boiled as if he had a burner in him. The burner had enkindled his body, making every drop of sweat as hot as lava, boiling everything. 

The impurities within his blood was being washed away. 

His body was becoming purer and more vitalized. 

The blood traversing through his body was forceful and swift; a testament of his strength. Standing near him, one could hear the roaring of waves being emitted from his body. It was an indication of boiling blood. 

When one has blood as loud as thunder it means he has transcended. 

With the first ray of the morning sun, Fang Zheng's body achieved new heights. He felt like he had finally experienced life. Who knew that training a single time in the morning would produce an effect which took multiple nightly sessions. 

Fang Zheng did not expect such results, while he was going through his morning session. 

It was a pleasant surprise. 

Fang Zheng got ready to go downstairs for breakfast. 

Albeit training for the 'Exorcist Golden Warrior Seal' did not produce a ravenous hunger, as that of the 'Golden Immune Arhat', the feeling of having an empty stomach after training through the night was not a pleasant one. 

Even some of the best martial arts practitioners had starved to death. 

The more he trained, the bigger his appetite would become. 

It was before 7am. 

As fang Zheng pulled open the door, he heard a noise from the room next door. It was the two university students. 

Bam! It sounded like a heavy object had fallen onto the floor. A girl cried out in pain. 

He then heard the sound of sandals being dragged across the floor. Cha, cha: a pair of sandals were being across the shiny floor, followed by rapid footfalls, as fast as the devil. They were approaching his door. 

"Brother Fang Zheng."

The voice of an elegant girl called out to Fang Zheng from behind him. 

He turned around and was met with the head of one of the female students poking out from behind her main door. She looked at him with watery, puppy-dog eyes.

She was a refined and beautiful university student--a real girl-next-door type. Even though she had just woken up, it was impossible to deny her natural beauty. Her barren face was equally as enchanting.

"Are you going downstairs to buy breakfast?" The student, Chen Tongtong, said elegantly. 

"Do you want breakfast as well?" Fang Zheng asked. He did not mind doing it anyway — it was convenient for him. 

"Yes. Thank you, Brother Fang Zheng," The student, Chen Tongtong, replied in a sweet and excited voice. 

"Fresh meat, Brother Fang Zheng, I want some too…" Another head popped out from behind the door. 

The soft, pampered voice sent chills down Fang Zheng's spine in the morning. 

Fang Zheng never felt this way about the Ghost Driver. 

However, at this moment, he understood what creepy meant, and what goosebumps felt like. 

It was true: women really could be scary. 

This pale, bare-faced girl with a seed-shaped face had a messy case of bed head, but her looks were on par with Chen Tongtong's. She was a nine out of ten. 

"Speak properly, don't mess around."

Fang Zheng flinched. This was the girl whom Chen Tongtong referred to as "Empress Dowager", Lin Jiabao. 

She was looking at Fang Zheng with puppy-dog eyes. 

The moment when both heads popped out from behind the door simultaneously, the door creaked open a little wider. Fang Zheng was at an angle where he could see the students' bodies hidden behind the door. They were both wearing nothing but long down jackets which showed off their pale arms and legs. Their bodies were obvious, not helped by the slight transparency of their jackets.

'F*ck!

'Do you have to be this outrageous this early in the morning!' Fang Zheng did not expect the girls to be the type to sleep naked! 

Fang Zheng ran away in fear. Those wicked banshees! 

Then the girls themselves shrieked, as if they had just realised they had accidentally exposed themselves to him. Fang Zheng ran faster.

There was an alley named Wenzhuo Road about 100 metres outside the housing district. It intersected with a few other streets. Students who took the morning public bus, and those who were making their way to work often passed through this alley, which was why there were so many breakfast establishments there.

Steamed rolls, buns, dumplings, cakes, noodles, beef ramen, Chinese breakfast, coffee shops…

You were spoilt for choice. It was a unique culture of street breakfast all on its own.

As Fang Zheng entered Wenzhuo Road, he noticed a clean, well-dressed man sitting blankly on the pavement. He looked to be about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old and was ignoring the strange stares he attracted from passersby. 

After finishing his breakfast twenty to thirty minutes later, Fang Zheng found the man still rooted to the same spot.

"Boss, when is that man sitting there? I've seen him sitting there for about half an hour," Fang Zheng asked a bakery shop owner out of curiosity. 

"It's been either four or five hours," the boss' wife, who had just finished collecting a bill and was cleaning up a table, looked up and replied to Fang Zheng. 

"When everyone started opening up their shops at about 3am, that man walked over and sat there. He didn't make any noise or beg for money. It's as if he was scared sh*tless. Maybe he suffered some trauma or experienced something supernatural."

"Pfft! What supernatural? Spit it out--this woman is saying such inauspicious things," the boss scolded as he glared at his wife.

Fang Zheng thanked him and bought three sets of breakfast from the bakery. 

As he walked past the man, Fang Zheng left one set by him and left without saying a word. 

That was the least he could do. 

Then came the night. 

At around 10 o'clock, after Fang Zheng was done destroying yet another buffet restaurant and had returned to his district, he found a man spacing out on the steps in front of the guardhouse of his area. The bright streetlights dragged his shadow long into the night. 

It was the peculiar man from where he had breakfast. 

He had not remained on Wenzhuo Road that night. He had come to Fang Zheng's home and was continuing to stay lifeless.