Chapter 4: Who Dares!?

The light of the day had long since ebbed and dwindled to nothing, now as midnight marched steadily toward us the air was cooler and damper than it had been. In the sweet rain-washed darkness the sounds of the night became loud in our ears, even the rustling of the leaves and the whisper of the wind was thunderous.

By midnight the darkness is almost absolute, only a smattering of luminous stars scatter the heavens. Even the moon has waned to almost nothing.

Fei Hong's eyes snapped open to see nothing but absolute darkness. The cloth over his eyes hung loosely but that was the least of his concerns. He could hear irregular and erratic breathing from next to him. He instantly knew something was wrong with his disciple.

Fei gently shook his sleeping disciple for him to wake up. Sweat dripped down the other's forehead as he shook with anger. He began shaking him more roughly until he heard a loud gasp. A pair of blood red eyes filled with killing intent stared at Fei causing him to shiver a little.

"Are you alright? Do not hesitate to tell me if something is wrong."

"Sorry for disturbing your sleep master, it is none of your concern."

Fei cocked a brow in suspicion. He already knew something was unusual about his disciple but decided not to press on the matter as it seem to be a sensitive one.

"No matter, as long as you are okay."

Fei stood up and sauntered over to his desk where a cup and jug of water sat. He picked up the delicate antique and poured a glass before walking back and handing it to his disciple.

"Drink." Voicing, devoid of any emotion, but if one listened closely there was a hint of concern in his voice.

"Thank you shifu, this disciple couldn't be more grateful about your kindness."

Cheng swiftly drank the water, each movement filled with grace. The remnants of his dream seemed to have come back. He clutched the glass in his hand. Cheng put to much pressure causing it to shatter and cut his hand. Pieces of glass scattered across the room, some shimmering in the moonlight. A faint smell of blood lingered in the air.

"If you were grateful then you wouldn't injure yourself." Fei went to get a first aid. He pulled out a roll of bandages and sat next to Cheng. He lifted the wounded hand bandaging it, being careful not to add to much pressure. A sigh could be heard escaping him.

"Take this pill, it should make sure the injury heals quicker and not leave any permanent scars. Be careful next time."

"Sorry shifu....."

Fei sighed yet again, how many has he done it in one day. He patted the black head of hair gently. His heart softened a bit. It doesn't really matter if he regained his memories or not, currently he is a child. I still want to spoil and care for him. It is my fault he had to suffer such hardships. I guess this is all technically my fault.

"Now go back to sleep. It's already late. You must be tired after today's training. We have much ahead."

Fei could tell his disciple nodded due to the disruption in the air. A small smile graced his lips on his usual stoic face. It seemed as if flowers bloomed around him, although it was winter. Cheng felt his heart bet increase, he was enraptured. He pushed the arising feelings down as he lay back on the bed.

That night he had a peaceful night.

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"I need to go to the hall as the sect leader has summoned all elders. Study diligently, we shall die when I come back."

Fei threw his spiritual tool and said 'expand'. He climbed on, then saying goodbyes. Cheng watched in silent at his fleeting figure a smile hanging on his lips. He heard a voice from behind him.

His smile immediately disappearing. He already knew who these people were. He had to make sure he kept up his act so he could take revenge like he did before. Killing intent seeped out of him, he tried to calm his anger that arose in him. He thought about his teacher and the words that he once uttered to him.

Fei Hong stood by a pond. Cheng stood silently behind him as he stared at his master.

"A single disturbance in the still water will always cause a ripple. If your mind is filled with too many thoughts you mind will have to many ripples, creating waves. Meditation and cultivation is not only about strength but also you mind.

In fights sometimes you need to feign ignorance and hide your strength to fool them."

"But shifu isn't that what some people call deception, which is considered evil."

"Well I call it using your brain. When you face someone stronger then you it isn't always just about brute strength. One can't say it evil or not. Many people perceive things differently, this is the way I think. Now let's go back."

Cheng looked at Fein hesitant to ask the next question, the one that had been lingering in his mind for the years he has been here. Fei noticed his expression and pat his head before heading to the table where they ate lunch. He never got to ask the question troubling him. He could only clench his fist and push the thought to the back of his mind

"Shifu wait for me!"

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Fei descended from his spiritual tool and stored away in his sleeve before entering the sect's hall where elders gather for meeting.

"Ah you are finally here Elder Hong, we can now commence the meeting."

"Greeting sect leader, I apologise for coming late."

"It's fine, now come and take a seat." The sect leader dismissed the issue and started the meeting.

"As you all know the *Magical beast hunt will happen in a few months' time. Each of you will have a diciple of your peak to participate. We will also be allowing some outer disciple to join, the ones with the most potential and see if they have innate talent and capabilities to become inner disciples. Each of you will be assigned rolls. We do not want the same incident that happened many years ago to occur. Some will be in charge for the barriers and formations around and in the mythical beast forest. I don't want to hear any complaints. But if you have any problems then please raise your hand."

* Magical Beasts (魔兽 móshòu) – animals capable of cultivation. Some are innately magical and simply grow stronger over time, while others must actively practice a cultivation method. They tend to be much more intelligent than mundane animals, and some are capable of speaking in human languages. Magical Beasts which have reached a high stage of cultivation may even be able to take on a human form.

There were murmurs amongst the elders but no one seem to disagree or have any complaints until one of the elders put up his hand.

"I wish to be in charge of the formations, after all that is my specialty." As he said this he eyes Fei Hong at the edge of his eyes, he seem to be up to no good.

The sect leader cocked a brow and rubbed his chin but see to have no sign of disagreeing. Although fei Hong did have his suspicions it's not like he would be able to stop the man and he was not as knowledgeable about formations as this elder who seem to secretly resent him. He could only keep a look out, luckily his system came in handy in this situation.

"I see no problems Elder Sheng. You will be in charge of the formation, but if anything goes wrong you will bear the responsibility on your own."

With that the meeting was adjourned. Fei Hong made his way back to his peak.

When he got back he noticed something strange, the place where his disciple trained in was deserted. His disciple usually always greeted and waited eagerly for him. His ears were able to detect vibration in the air that seemed unnatural. He slowly wandered to it, making sure to use his sense so he wouldn't trip on a rock which had happen multiple times.

As he neared a scent of blood wafted through the air. Many would not be able to smell it from so far away but Fei's sense of smell was heightened due to the fact his impaired sight. As he approached the smell he could hear the sound of whacking, the scent of iron getting thicker.

"Shifu...." He heard his diciple call out his name. He could slightly get a grasp on the situation. A nger bubbled up in him put he calmed his raging emotions.

"What is going on here." Fei said in a booming voice that was commanding and gave off a cold aura.

He could hear shuffling, then heard a meek voice.

"Um.. this disciple was attacked by this bra- I mean diciple Jian and had to retaliate as self defence."

Were they looking down on him since he couldn't actually see what was going on, but he could easily tell the other seemed unscathed due to no scent of blood on him.

"You dare lie in front of me and hurt my diciple as you spout this nonsense. Run around the peak 10 times with no breaks then copy the sect rules 8 times. I want this done by the end of the week."

"Bu-"

"12 laps. I wouldn't be wasting time."

With a sour face they went, hatred, jealousy and resent evident on their face but they dare not speak aloud afraid of getting a worser punishment. They walked away with a scrunched up face and tight lipped smile.

Fei's eyes softened as he look at his injured diciple.

"You are prone to getting injured. How long has this been going on?"

"Only today shifu."

Fei cocked a brow as he looked down at his disciple. He already knew it had been going on for at least a month and hoped his disciples would inform him of such matter, but it seems not.

"Two months, this disciple meant no harm in trying to conceal it from shifu. Only worried that you would concern yourself over such small matters."

"Next time tell me. Clean your wound, I allow you to soak in my spiritual spring. It will allow your injuries to heal quicker."

"But shif-"

"Do you want me to drag you by the ear or do you want to go yourself. Are you going to lay there all day?"

Cheng Jian scurried off and listened to Fei's order.

[Host you were quite pushy there, does host want to do something naughty~( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)]

"You better shut your trap system before I punch you to oblivion."

[Host is so fierce~ Oh but you are not fit for to-]

Fei gave the system a death glare, well tired to and made a motion with his finger near his neck.

[Ekk, system Xiao UWU is sorry. Bye bye host. And good luck. ( ͡°╭͜ʖ╮͡° )]

At this moment Fei really wanted to punch a hole through the wall because of his cheeky syste. Unbelieble! The audacity of system Xiao UWU. Next time I'll teach him a lesson to not mess with me.

A creepy smirk appeared in Fei Hong's mind as he came up with plans to massacre the system. But soon gave up and sighed.

Suddenly Fei remembered that the protagonist would be born tomorrow, but straight away a demon raid would happen setting aflame to the town. How could he be so forgetful. Fei began panicking on the inside but remain calm on the outside. He didn't need permission to leave the sect but still had to tell him that he was leaving.

There was no time to waste. Fei quickly gathered his storage pouch and tied it to his waster. He decided to not interrupt his disciple bath time and he needed to heal. So Fei quickly jotted down that he would be away on a scroll and placed it in a obvious spot. He told a servant to tell the sect leader that he would be going on an errand.

Fei got onto his spiritual device and flew down to the mountains. He began to go into deep thought.

There would be a squad sent to the town, but it might be too late. The protagonist was brought back to the sect because of his spiritual root. But then the elder who picked him up was extremely jealous and destroyed his spiritual root and abused the poor protagonist.

The protagonist trial out for the sect selection and made it in through the connection of one of the female disciple he befriended , she happen to be one of the elders daughter. He got a job as a servant but trained secretly. This is when he met the villain who was a few years older. Both of them endured harsh treatment which brought them closer together.

So even if the protagonist is reborn he would only be a baby and might not even have his memories yet.

Well for now his top priority was to save the protagonist. He can think about the rest later.