Chapter 60: Slithering Hatred

"So how'd I do?" Feng Biao asked expecting Song Zhilan to explain what he had done wrong.

"You did fine," Song Zhilan said unsure of how exactly to judge what Feng Biao had just done.

Solid Manifestation was a unique way of using Divinity that required absolute control. Manifesting Divinity into a physical object without the use of a Divine Ability.

There was nothing particularly special about this type of Divinity, it was weak and cost a lot to maintain. However, the amount of control required to manifest Divinity like that was absurd. Divinity did not like to be expressed physically.

'Yet he's doing it like it's nothing...'

Watching Feng Biao shakily try to maintain balance Song Zhilan could tell what was going on.

"You're out of Divinity, so get some rest. I'll grab some sheets."

Feng Biao saw boxes at the corner of the cave, rifling through them Song Zhilan pulled out a pillow and a couple of blankets.

Feng Biao complied. It was always easy to sleep when one was out of Divinity. Closing his eyes the sense of being tired washed over him and he fell asleep in seconds.

The sleep it brought he did not like, typically it lasted a few short hours and while he woke up rested it felt unnatural.

When he woke up he found Song Zhilan was in a pose indicating deep thought. Unsure if he should interrupt her Feng Biao decided to wait for her to return back to reality.

It was hard for Feng Biao not to sneak glances at Song Zhilan using the excuse of seeing if she had finished. In the end, he decided to just turn the opposite way from her.

Song Zhilan held the quality of noticeable beauty, and while he could brush that off in most situations, this was not one of them. Being alone with her made him acutely aware of her features.

Chen Lan was pretty, but Song Zhilan was eerie perfection. Skin without blemishes, hair that seemed to be the definition of healthy, and an eerily symmetrical face.

The kind of face that brought out ugly thoughts if one stared too long. It was probably a blessing Feng Biao was ignorant of the obsession most had with their own beauty.

Song Zhilan lifted an eyelid and seeing Feng Biao was awake spoke.

"Feng Biao, have you signed up for the Spar?"

"No, I was thinking of skipping it. According to Hunter, my results in the exam were good enough I could probably safely skip out on it."

"Don't, I think you have a good shot at ending up near the top."

"Really?"

"Top 8? I'll explain later, but sign up for now."

The two exited the cave and found themselves back in the slums. Feng Biao pulled out his PDS and asked it to sign him up for the Spar. Checking an alert he saw he had received his share from Oni Mountain.

With a thought, he transferred the Mythological Shards he had obtained to Chen Lan.

'I still can't send a message to her. I think the intent was clear.'

Song Zhilan meanwhile was busy looking up records related to Indra.

'Looking at it the Marked who have been under Indra all share a few qualities.'

They had never achieved much. She could not find a single one who had surpassed Divine Mortal.

The second was that the only records of Marked being chosen by Indra were in the past 300 years. There were no records of a Marked chosen by Indra before that.

And finally, there weren't very many. The Marked chosen by Indra amounted to 3 including Feng Biao.

None of those things were all that odd. Sometimes Divinities weren't recorded for hundreds of years, and sometimes people never achieved much in their life. With so few Marked chosen by Indra it wasn't odd none of them went beyond Divine Mortal.

'But did those other two also possess Feng Biao's control over his Divinity?'

Asking for personal records of a person was not something most could do, but as a Primordial Marked this kind of information was generally available to Song Zhilan.

Reading through the profiles of the two individuals Song Zhilan was disappointed. There was little recorded about either.

One had been working at a power plant as a battery, he committed suicide at the age of 23. The other had been working as a smuggler in South America. He had been caught by the FSA and executed, his age was 16.

"I signed up Song Zhilan," Feng Biao said as Song Zhilan nodded her head.

"Ok, let me just take care of a few things."

Song Zhilan decided she needed to message the HCF and inform them that she had chosen Feng Biao as a sparring partner. As the request was from her they would excuse his absences from the boot camp.

The next thing was to message a man she highly respected. While somewhat of a weirdo he had vast knowledge.

Song Zhilan had run into a dead-end trying to investigate Feng Biao's absolute mastery of Divinity

'That's why it's best to get an opinion from somebody who would know.'

Feng Biao felt something behind him. The alley was dark as the sun had long since set, so he couldn't see what was in that darkness. That didn't mean he couldn't feel it.

It was a sense of something staring at him, a sense of deja vu danger. His Divinity was dancing within his body at the very presence of that thing in the dark. Yet staring in its direction he could tell it was looking back at him.

"Hello," the person in the dark said.

Despite the feeling, he should run Feng Biao suppressed the rising fear and confidently responded back, "Hi."

"I told you he was still here. There's someone else with him now too. That bitch looks kinda strong."

Song Zhilan was now aware of the two people ahead of them. Looking past Feng Biao she spotted a mass of Divinity that resembled her own in some facets.

"Feng Biao stand back," Song Zhilan said as she stood forward.

"I don't know who you are, but get out of here I already alerted the HCF and they'll be sending people down here any minute."

"Hmm, we both know you're lying. Pretty unbecoming don't you think?"

"Look I don't know who you are, but that was me being nice. I don't want to hurt you so get out of here," Song Zhilan said waving away the man.

"I just want to have a chat with the one over there."

"And if I say you can't?"

"Well-"

"Are you his mom or something? Cause if so wow you got knocked up real young didn't you?"

There was laughter from the person beside the man. Judging by the voice Feng Biao guessed it was a woman.

"Please overlook that. I can't apologize for her, but I didn't come to start a fight."

"So, you over there would you be fine with a chat?"