Why Are They Here?

"As one of the most accurate saying goes; no pain, no gain. Let's do this!" Khoru was sitting, lotus-position-style, and hyping himself up. All he had on was some dirty pants; he prepared himself for the impending torture.

He began to circulate his Spirit Qi while running the Four Devils Body Strengthening Technique. Within a matter of seconds, his surroundings changed to one of a part of hell. Khoru's face was dark and he was anxious, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get rid of the anxiousness.

"Dammit, you bastard! You're here again? Why? Let me have another devil!" Khoru complained more and more as the devil got closer and closer. It was the same one from his first experience, the one with the overbearingly large hammer.

Once the devil reached Khoru's body, the anxiousness dwelling within Khoru's soul had spiked. He wanted to back out, but he knew he needed to get stronger.

"Bring it on, you piece of garbage!" Khoru shouted when he saw the devil bringing his hammer down.

It fell down and crashed into his back like a chaotic melody from heaven; the wrong kind too. Khoru gritted his teeth and grimaced in pain, he was feeling pain far worse than last time.

"What the hell? Is it because my body is stronger than before? F*ck!" Khoru couldn't help but to curse like a sailor to mediate the pain he felt.

The devil ignored this and cackled with a wide grin on its face. Its sharp teeth were exposed and it looked as if it was mocking Khoru for being in such a bad situation.

Curse this devil!

If one day I can cross into hell, or wherever this thing is, I'm gonna kill it!

Khoru knew it was only the manifestation of his Spirit Qi and the rules of the body technique. But still, he wanted to find that devil and rip it apart!

...

Khoru's mind was on the verge of shattering, yet he still pushed himself to endure more. He withstood nearly ten strikes from the devil, each one stronger than the last. And within this time period of ten hits, which was around 2 hours, Khoru's body had developed greatly.

After being hit the 11th time, Khoru immediately disabled the Four Devils Body Strengthening Technique and laid on the ground. He forced himself not to shout, and threw up in the process; his condition looked horrible.

But contrary to popular belief, he was actually doing better than ever. His muscles had become even more defined and looked like a chiseled statue. Anyone could see his muscles even through lightly baggy clothing.

Khoru grimaced and howled and shouted in pain; it was too much. His body ached regardless of its condition, and laid still and dared not to move.

He felt that moving once would intensify the pain by ten-fold.

'Curse this damn technique!' Khoru thought to himself before fainting.

...

"Ohhh...Aghhh..." Khoru groaned and grunted in pain the moment he woke up. His body ached in every last spot, mainly his back and chest. Despite that, his body had been tempered to the maximum!

"Hmph. I need to discuss something with Jin Xiang. She had the nerve to use me as a scapegoat on a mission." Now that he had gotten the family tournament out of the way, Khoru planned on confronting Jin Xiang about that whole scapegoat fiasco.

As he clenched his hands, a baleful aura began to cover his body. It was more pure and savage than before, and way stronger. Khoru was surprised by this; pleasantly surprised.

"Perfect low-devil aura! I actually received it! Haha!" It was one thing to perfect the body technique, but another to acquire the perfected version of the low-devil aura.

It enhanced the quality and power of the low-devil aura completely! Khoru could feel his body brimming with evil power and his senses were greatly enhanced. He looked around the personal courtyard and saw a butterfly around 100 meters in the air.

"Incredible!" He thought with a brilliant smile on his face.

"Now, it's time to go confront Jin Xiang, I hope she provides a reasonable explanation. Though, I don't really think there is one." Khoru marched into his home and put on some clothes before going down to the Water Lily Pavilion...

"Look, that's Young Master Khoru from the Ghostly Blade Family!"

"He's the one who won the competition, or so I've heard!"

"The Young Master looks rather determined today..."

Many people on the streets of the town were ecstatic when they saw Khoru. They rarely ever saw him, and some of them heard news from random people that he was the winner of the family tournament.

That only meant one thing.

He was exceptionally strong!

Majority of the people in the town would be courteous to him, but they never liked him. But now, they truly respected him since he won.

"Where is he going?" Someone said.

"I don't know..."

Khoru marched all the way down to the Water Lily Pavilion and entered it without stopping once. Once he entered the Water Lily Pavilion, he saw a dozen people buying things on the first floor; he ignored it and headed up.

When he entered the third floor, he saw a familiar silhouette. The silhouette of a graceful and sharp woman holding a fan while talking to others. Her eyes instantly locked onto Khoru when he entered the floor.

"If you'll excuse me, I need to talk with someone." She said before walking away and approaching Khoru.

"Care to talk somewhere... less lively?" She asked, completely disregarding the fact that she tried to get Khoru killed just half a week ago.

"Yes, I'd prefer that anyways." Khoru responded and they left the third floor. Contrary to Khoru's belief, Jin Xiang took them up another floor.

Once they entered the fourth floor, Khoru was immediately shook when he saw the other 3 members from the expedition party waiting there.

"Why are they here?" Khoru was confused at the sight.