A Serpent and his Friends

Hong Zhao continued his training for a few days. Each time he ran out of Qi to train his Qi Explosion ability, he would take a Qi Stone and Qi Absorption Pill to replenish quickly so he could continue. He was delighted to notice that he no longer needed to sleep more than two hours a night before being well rested enough to continue. With such a switch in his schedule, he was able to focus most of his time on his training.

On the third day of tirelessly training his ability, Hong Zhao was able to create at least two Qi Balls linked together without them exploding on him. Unfortunately, by that time he had close to demolished his supply of Recovery Pills. Even still, to have two of the Qi Balls meant at least two bodies in craters. He supposed it would have to be enough.

While constantly cultivating, Hong Zhao felt the Qi Spiral from within his dantian become increasingly thick, almost to the point of bursting. He could feel that he was close to breaking through into the Seventh Star Student Rank, yet he could also feel that his Qi would progress no further. He expected this though. After a few breakthroughs, he began to suspect that it might take more than cultivating in order to gain the next rank. He knew he had to be challenged.

Hong Zhao stood from his lotus position and stretched. He had been constantly training and cultivating for so long, it felt weird not to be doing it now. Though he wished to continue, he knew there was something he needed to do instead.

Inserting a thread of Qi into the Li family storage ring, Hong Zhao took out his black uniform that Lan had given him. The midnight garb almost seemed to suck the light into it as he put the combat shirt, pants, boots, gloves and mask on. By the time he had finished, it was as if he had been consumed by the night.

If one were to focus on him within the field, they would see only a silhouette against the stars. He had picked the exact moment the sun had set to dawn his equipment. His targets would be sure to be awake and rowdy within the town yet.

Making his way to the gate, Hong Zhao used Vortex Thrust to jump up onto the wall above, then onto the buildings below. He used his ability as he had many times before to evade Huang Yi, yet this time, he would instead be trying to find him.

It only took a few minutes to track down the Village Elder's Grandson. He had a suspicion that Huang Yi would be blatantly obvious when it came to his location. Since he was back in town, he would do his best to make things difficult for the Li Family. With that thought, Hong Zhao went to the restaurant that Li Wuhan had introduced him to.

Perched on a nearby building, Hong Zhao activated his Eagle Vision. His silhouetted form blended neatly in with the shade of the night sky. He zoomed in and noticed a large crowd formed on the balcony. He clearly saw the few challengers that had come with Huang Yi when he had entered the Village.

Huang Yi was laughing while drinking what had to have been wine. A small smile played on Hong Zhao's lips as he observed his friends. Fu Jianhong was practically drowning himself in the crimson liquid. The two girls from the first match also seemed to be joining the party. There was something a little unnerving seeing a bunch of nine year old children partying the way that twenty year old college students would from back on earth.

Hong Zhao stayed in the shadows and observed for a few hours. He noticed that Zhao Xiuying would not leave Huang Yi's arm, while Shi Lingxin held onto Fu Jianhong's. After a while, the booze crazed youngsters began to turn on the other guests of the establishment. He watched as Huang Yi threw chairs at the staff who came upstairs to tell them to leave. He began to break apart the tables, all while laughing and glaring at the staff. "This is what you get for serving the Li Family!" He could clearly hear Huang Yi yell from the rooftop.

Fu Jianhong didn't need to be told to join in on the fun, instead, he began to use his Qi Blade to slash up the floor and decorations that were not close to Huang Yi. While the two destroyed the dining facility, the two girls watched and laughed.

Eventually when it was clear they couldn't do much more damage up top, they made their way down to the bottom floor. Hong Zhao noticed a flood of guests pour out of the establishment as a soft orange light played in the windows. It took a few more minutes, but Huang Yi and his entourage exited the front door and made their way towards the Huang Family Estate.

Hong Zhao used his Vortex Thrust to propel himself from rooftop to rooftop in order to stay close. He watched as the children pushed others aside, either knocking them off balance, or just throwing them out of the way. Such actions reminded Hong Zhao of the torment Huang Yi had dished out for him when he first came to the village. If he were to become the next Village Elder, he would rule the village with fear and cruelty. He silently wondered how exactly this child had become so ruthless. With a grandfather like Huang Ji, he would have thought only good disciplined children would have been sired.

Hong Zhao watched as the four delinquent children went into the large estate building which rested at the very back of the village. He noticed guards that were posted on either side of the front door. He also noticed more guards patrolling the grounds of the various other courtyards within the Huang compound. "It's good to see Huang Ji took my warning seriously." Hong Zhao smiled from under his mask. "It will make this all the more impossible." Such odds were something he was used to within his previous life. It was the thrill of doing something seen to be impossible which gave meaning to his occupation. The easier it was, the less people would take his name seriously. The more impossible the mission, the more fame he had amassed. He was the most dangerous man in his world before he had died, and it took a god to stage his death.

"There's two guards at the entrance to the building," He said thoughtfully as he looked over from the roof he was perched on. "Four." He looked at the patrolling guards. "Ten." He looked outside the compound at villagers that were loitering around just a little too much. The estate was too hot from the outside to be able to get in. He felt sorry for Huang Ji who must have felt like a prisoner in his own home.

Having gotten the count, Hong Zhao activated his Vortex Thrust and jumped from to the main building and launched himself over the wall, back to the secret entrance to the Huang Family Estate. Running through the maze like entrance, Hong Zhao activated his Eagle Vision and took every turn he had marked in order to avoid the obvious traps until he reached the wall with the small lever at its side.

Hong Zhao carefully wrenched the lever down only a little in order to see whether there was light coming from the other side of the door. When he saw that candles were still lit within the room, he decided to wait a while before going in. Instead of being bored while waiting, he decided to try cultivating for a while. Though his Qi Spiral was full, he decided to dedicate the Qi he could refine to strengthening his organs. He didn't know how difficult his mission was going to be.

After an hour or so, he heard footsteps leading out of the study. He wrenched the lever slightly and saw that the room had gone dark. Hong Zhao opened the secret passageway the entire way and let himself in. He then went straight to the book lever and put it back in place, sealing off his tunnel. He then used Vortex Thrust to propel himself to the top of the bookshelf as he had last time. He found the ventilation shaft and let himself in.

Crawling through the ceiling, Hong Zhao noticed the shafts of light coming from the hallway of the estate. He looked below and noticed that most of the doors were guarded by at least one guard, some had two. The Huang Family Estate truly was grand. With every door, there was a shaft going in the direction of it. Hong Zhao made his way to each shaft, looking below to see if Huang Yi happened to be located in the room.

After the first five rooms, Hong Zhao noticed that the guards were guarding empty rooms, possibly for the sake of confusing an infiltrator by creating multiple targets. As he made his way down the hallway, the rooms became further apart, yet he could see increased security.

At the end of the hallway, he came to a single doorway. As he went above the door and looked down through the ventilation shaft and saw the four cultivators he was looking for.

As he looked below, he noticed that Huang Yi had another guest besides Fu Jianhong and the two girls. Hong Zhao wasn't too surprised to see yet another familiar face. One that he had felt wary about since the beginning of the tournament, and the only person on the planet that might actually know him.