Chapter 24
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Zan Fu poured freezing cold water over his body. He stepped out of the shower and looked over himself in the mirror. He had large, dark bags under his eyes from several sleepless nights. His movements were jerky and his expression was haggard.
It's been almost a week since Braedon disappeared...no, since the entity inside of him disappeared. He left behind no traces of where he went or what he was planning. In fact all of the normal mortals have completely forgotten about him.
It was as if he had never existed. His disappearance was only known to the few cultivators who had made contact with him.
Zan Fu had explained to his parents what had happened. They didn't say much about it, but their worried expressions betrayed their feelings as well.
Zan Rong wasn't one to care for many people, but Braedon was his son's friend and he spoiled Zan Fu greatly. Mei Ling felt that this situation was partly their fault for not sending anyone to protect the group and only focusing on the boss of the dungeon.
They succeeded in obtaining the artifact though, and it boosted the standing of their clan greatly. Their first artifact was a large golden sword that was hidden beneath their household. If it was activated, the sky would be filed with maybe tens of thousands of swords that would strike at whoever Zan Rong commanded them to.
But their second artifact seemed to be a defensive type.
It was a small set of armor, fit for only one person. The family didn't know what it's full capabilities were but even when Zan Rong and Mei Long worked together to attack it, not a single scratch was left behind.
They kept it sealed away until they could understand its use.
Zan Fu stepped out of his house early in the morning and walked along the street. He tiredly dragged himself into a cafe called Carbucks, it was a strange name for a place that had nothing to do with cars.
"The usual?" The person standing at the counter wearing a green apron noticed who entered and asked the simple question.
Zan Fu nodded in thanks, "Yes, please." She prepared him a cup of black coffee with a blueberry muffin on the side. He headed toward his usual seat and nibbled on the muffin.
He was waiting for someone. The barista walked up and chatted with him since they currently had no other customer at the moment.
"Your 'boyfriend' isn't showing up?" The person playfully said to him.
"He isn't my boyfriend. I'm just here to ask for his help on a few things and it just so happens that I arrived a bit too early. Zan Fu didn't understand where the misconception came from. Did his appearance suggest such a thing about him?
The barista just shook her head and whispered to herself, "You boys are so stupid sometimes."
Zan Fu didn't tell her that he could hear everything. He decided that it was best to keep silent, but he still wondered what he said that made him stupid?
Five minutes later another person passed through the door. It was Shu Rong, he was wearing a grey hoodie with jeans.
While it wasn't the first time Zan Fu had seen him without a mask, he was still surprised every time.
Shu Rong appearance was very "delicate". He had long eyelashes, plump lips, and pale skin. His long, black hair was well kept and shiny. His well moisturized skin was smooth to the touch. He even had some sort of sweet smelling cologne on.
Zan Fu figured that Shu Rong was probably quite popular with the ladies. It was quite a shocker the first time Zan Fu saw him remove his mask.
Even Zan Li, who usually didn't care about others appearances, couldn't help but comment on how great it would be if he was female. This comment also earned him a smack across the head.
Zan Fu and Shu Rong have been meeting with each other for the last few days. After the event in the dungeon, Shu Rong started a hidden feud with the Shadow Guild. They have only invaded small branches so far, but their strength was growing quickly thanks to assistance from the Zan clan.
Also as it turned out, they weren't the only survivors of the Shu massacre. It seems that the others had started their own miniature mercenary group and a few of them have decided to join into the fray with their new groups.
The reason Zan Fu was meeting with Shu Rong was to collect information. While they had their own personal feud, Zan Fu got Shu Rong to do a favor for him.
If they heard any news about Braedon or maybe something about a man wielding a feather as a weapon, he wanted it to be reported to him. Zan Fu also gave a small reward for information he received that was relevant.
Shu Rong also ran some "test" in place to tell whether someone was giving real or false information. The great technological advances like the Uphone V and somehow only cultivators have been able to creat a 100% accurate polygraph.
How sad.
Zan Fu listened intently to Shu Rong as he spoke about what he recently learned. Apparently, pillars of fire have been popping and disappearing all overnight the place. The earth that was scorched due to the fire left behind strange crop circles.
A man with a giant feather was spotted somewhere in Africa, but it turned out to just be a man with a giant fan. Finally, a mysterious force has been destroying branches of the Shadow Guild.
Shu Rong didn't know if this had anything to do with Braedon, but he figured it was useful information anyway.
"There were several other false alarms as well. Do you know how hard it is to check into the story of everyone who reports information about random strange occurrences? It's super annoying!" Shu Rong leaned back against his chair and released a sigh.
The corner of Zan Fu's mouth rose slightly as he said, "Then let's talk about something else. How is your vendetta going?"
Shu Rong released a tired sigh and slumped down in his chair, "Things got a bit tricky." Zan Fu raised up one of his eyebrows curiously," How so? Did something big happen.?"
He nodded and responded to Zan Fu's question, "The leader of the Shadow Guild has just stepped down and someone else has taken his place."
This news surprised Zan Fu due to what this meant. The Shadow Guild's had rules any other organization, "the strong ruled the weak". The leader of the guild was in the seventh realm just like the leader of the Zan Clan, his father.
He was pretty young too meaning his rule should've last for a long period of time. If he stepped down after only a few decades, which was how long Zan Rong told his son the guild leader had been ruling, that means that someone even more powerful than he was had challenged him and taken his place.
If Shu Rong was lucky, the new leader was only a seventh realm Prophet, that had achieved a higher stage. But if he was unlucky, it meant that the new leader was...
"...an eighth realm Divinity" these words brought fear to all who heard them. The number of Divinities in the world were less than 100 but their strengths were enough to destroy the entire world.
A Prophet that just broke through was equivalent to ten sixth realm True Kings in the peak stage, but a new Divinity was equivalent to fifty peak realm Prophets.
"What are you going to do if it really is a Divinity?" Zan Fu did not care much for Shu Rong or his situation at first. But after meeting up with each other and talking for the last week, their relationship slowly started to get better.
"I will continue until I die. Even if it is a Divinity level expert, that just means I have to grow even stronger than them. Don't forget, I'm a genius in my own right." He stuck out his tongue playfully while saying this.
Zan Fu's heart skipped a beat for a second while he watched Shu Rong's adorable gesture, "I would appreciate it if you never do that again."
Confused by his words, Shu Rong just shrugged.
They talked about more normal and trivial matters while eating the snack they ordered. After everything was finished Zan Fu decided to leave first, he noticed that Shu Rong was chatting with the barista and without meaning to, heard a bit of their conversation.
"I can't believe him, is he really so dense?"
"Shhh, It isn't his fault. We just didn't meet in the right circumstances."
The barista gave off a sigh, "But still, sad news about you family. I hope everything goes well."
Shu Rong smiled as he thanked the perso before leaving.
Zan Fu returned home finally and took a deep breath. He checked the condition of his cultivation with a worried expression. "Just as I thought, I am close." Zan Fu's power was currently like a dam that was about to burst.
He was about to break through into the next realm. He felt different than usual though. Whenever Zan Fu broke through a realm, he had a crazy, excited feeling well up inside of him.
But this time it was different. He felt like a chained prisoner who can't remove his bonds. It was like something was holding him back, an he wasn't sure if this was for better or worse.
Zan Fu quickly walked up to his room on the second floor and entered into it. While he wasn't sure if he was correct, Zan Fu had a good idea as for why he felt like this.
While Zan Fu was a genius, he wasn't always like this. When he was younger, one of his cousins attacked him under the influence of his uncle. She was young and didn't know what she was doing and just followed Zan Fu's uncle's, her father's, orders.
She was given a special weapon that was poisoned to strike at him and in the end Zan Fu's body was completely destroyed from the inside out. His body was broken and unsuitable for cultivation. Every time he tried, his body would convulse in extreme pain.
His skin would blister, bleed, and peel away. His vision would scatter while his blood boiled. It felt as if every one in his bones would be broken, snapped back into place, and then broken again.
No doctor, alchemist, or healer could heal what had been done to him. The poison was said to be incurable even to Divinities. Although Divinities would not be killed by the poison, they could not cure those infected by it even with their purifying power.
That was suppose to be the end of Zan Fu's path, but a few years ago he had a special encounter that allowed him to change his fate. It was some sort of treasure that not only healed his body, but made it stronger than ever before.
His path of cultivation not only became simple thanks to all of the resources he contained, but his powerful body made him stronger than people in the same level as him.
He walked to a small doorway hidden in his closet. This was something he was able to build himself after months of work. A hidden room, that not even his parents knew of, which contained his biggest secret.
He opened up the door and sitting there inside of the room was a blue orb. It was as cold as ice and constantly pulsated in tune with his heartbeat. It rotated until it "faced" him.
"Hello Zan Fu, I thought I told you to only wake me up when you died. What are you doing here now?"
Zan Fu smiled at the orb, "I need your help, Drodon."
~~~~~~~~~~
Braedon, the real one, sat cross legged on the floor, "Kai Jun, where did the flame go?"
Kai Jun pointed at Braedon's head and said, "He is urgently possessing your body. After saving your friend I believe he decided to keep the boys for himself."
This worried Braedon for a second, but his emotion returned to impassiveness after a second, "What is he planning?"
Kai Jun shrugged and they stayed silent for a minute before Kai Jun asked Braedon, "Aren't you worried? Or at least don't you want your body back?"
Braedon thought about it for a second, he really wasn't worried at all. He noticed that his emotions have been basically turned off in the area he was in currently, but he wasn't just unfazed by the events because of this place.
When he spoke to the flame the first time, he felt as if he had a connection with the flame. It felt as if it wouldn't do anything to harm him. He didn't trust it, but he wasn't worried either.
"Out of curiosity though, what is it doing with my body?"
Kai Jun looked up into the sky as he walked passed the area where the flame was once seated, "I'm not sure, but his plan probably has something to do with this."
Behind the place where the flame sat, was a large banner covering the wall. Kai Jun grabbed at the banner and pulled it away revealing a large stone door behind it.
He beckoned Braedon to come over while he grabbed a key taped to the back of the banner. He opened up the door to a room fire and ice. With the sky filled with planets, Braedon saw something far off into the distance.
While he didn't know what it was, Braedon was sure that it was something "special".
Kai Jun stood shoulder to shoulder with Braedon, "How curious are you?"
He held out his hand toward Braedon and waited for a second.
"Where will this lead us?" Braedon placed his hand on Kai Jun's and they held each other hands.
"To my home," he turned to look Braedon deep in his eyes, "your not very smart, but you are always curious and learn pretty quickly. Let's explore a little and see what you can obtain from this."
He dragged Braedon along forward and they passed through the door with Kai Jun whispering words that Braedon couldn't hear, "After all a god candidate can't be too foolish, now can he?"
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Zan Fu poured freezing cold water over his body. He stepped out of the shower and looked over himself in the mirror. He had large, dark bags under his eyes from several sleepless nights. His movements were jerky and his expression was haggard.
It's been almost a week since Braedon disappeared...no, since the entity inside of him disappeared. He left behind no traces of where he went or what he was planning. In fact all of the normal mortals have completely forgotten about him.
It was as if he had never existed. His disappearance was only known to the few cultivators who had made contact with him.
Zan Fu had explained to his parents what had happened. They didn't say much about it, but their worried expressions betrayed their feelings as well.
Zan Rong wasn't one to care for many people, but Braedon was his son's friend and he spoiled Zan Fu greatly. Mei Ling felt that this situation was partly their fault for not sending anyone to protect the group and only focusing on the boss of the dungeon.
They succeeded in obtaining the artifact though, and it boosted the standing of their clan greatly. Their first artifact was a large golden sword that was hidden beneath their household. If it was activated, the sky would be filed with maybe tens of thousands of swords that would strike at whoever Zan Rong commanded them to.
But their second artifact seemed to be a defensive type.
It was a small set of armor, fit for only one person. The family didn't know what it's full capabilities were but even when Zan Rong and Mei Long worked together to attack it, not a single scratch was left behind.
They kept it sealed away until they could understand its use.
Zan Fu stepped out of his house early in the morning and walked along the street. He tiredly dragged himself into a cafe called Carbucks, it was a strange name for a place that had nothing to do with cars.
"The usual?" The person standing at the counter wearing a green apron noticed who entered and asked the simple question.
Zan Fu nodded in thanks, "Yes, please." She prepared him a cup of black coffee with a blueberry muffin on the side. He headed toward his usual seat and nibbled on the muffin.
He was waiting for someone. The barista walked up and chatted with him since they currently had no other customer at the moment.
"Your 'boyfriend' isn't showing up?" The person playfully said to him.
"He isn't my boyfriend. I'm just here to ask for his help on a few things and it just so happens that I arrived a bit too early. Zan Fu didn't understand where the misconception came from. Did his appearance suggest such a thing about him?
The barista just shook her head and whispered to herself, "You boys are so stupid sometimes."
Zan Fu didn't tell her that he could hear everything. He decided that it was best to keep silent, but he still wondered what he said that made him stupid?
Five minutes later another person passed through the door. It was Shu Rong, he was wearing a grey hoodie with jeans.
While it wasn't the first time Zan Fu had seen him without a mask, he was still surprised every time.
Shu Rong appearance was very "delicate". He had long eyelashes, plump lips, and pale skin. His long, black hair was well kept and shiny. His well moisturized skin was smooth to the touch. He even had some sort of sweet smelling cologne on.
Zan Fu figured that Shu Rong was probably quite popular with the ladies. It was quite a shocker the first time Zan Fu saw him remove his mask.
Even Zan Li, who usually didn't care about others appearances, couldn't help but comment on how great it would be if he was female. This comment also earned him a smack across the head.
Zan Fu and Shu Rong have been meeting with each other for the last few days. After the event in the dungeon, Shu Rong started a hidden feud with the Shadow Guild. They have only invaded small branches so far, but their strength was growing quickly thanks to assistance from the Zan clan.
Also as it turned out, they weren't the only survivors of the Shu massacre. It seems that the others had started their own miniature mercenary group and a few of them have decided to join into the fray with their new groups.
The reason Zan Fu was meeting with Shu Rong was to collect information. While they had their own personal feud, Zan Fu got Shu Rong to do a favor for him.
If they heard any news about Braedon or maybe something about a man wielding a feather as a weapon, he wanted it to be reported to him. Zan Fu also gave a small reward for information he received that was relevant.
Shu Rong also ran some "test" in place to tell whether someone was giving real or false information. The great technological advances like the Uphone V and somehow only cultivators have been able to creat a 100% accurate polygraph.
How sad.
Zan Fu listened intently to Shu Rong as he spoke about what he recently learned. Apparently, pillars of fire have been popping and disappearing all overnight the place. The earth that was scorched due to the fire left behind strange crop circles.
A man with a giant feather was spotted somewhere in Africa, but it turned out to just be a man with a giant fan. Finally, a mysterious force has been destroying branches of the Shadow Guild.
Shu Rong didn't know if this had anything to do with Braedon, but he figured it was useful information anyway.
"There were several other false alarms as well. Do you know how hard it is to check into the story of everyone who reports information about random strange occurrences? It's super annoying!" Shu Rong leaned back against his chair and released a sigh.
The corner of Zan Fu's mouth rose slightly as he said, "Then let's talk about something else. How is your vendetta going?"
Shu Rong released a tired sigh and slumped down in his chair, "Things got a bit tricky." Zan Fu raised up one of his eyebrows curiously," How so? Did something big happen.?"
He nodded and responded to Zan Fu's question, "The leader of the Shadow Guild has just stepped down and someone else has taken his place."
This news surprised Zan Fu due to what this meant. The Shadow Guild's had rules any other organization, "the strong ruled the weak". The leader of the guild was in the seventh realm just like the leader of the Zan Clan, his father.
He was pretty young too meaning his rule should've last for a long period of time. If he stepped down after only a few decades, which was how long Zan Rong told his son the guild leader had been ruling, that means that someone even more powerful than he was had challenged him and taken his place.
If Shu Rong was lucky, the new leader was only a seventh realm Prophet, that had achieved a higher stage. But if he was unlucky, it meant that the new leader was...
"...an eighth realm Divinity" these words brought fear to all who heard them. The number of Divinities in the world were less than 100 but their strengths were enough to destroy the entire world.
A Prophet that just broke through was equivalent to ten sixth realm True Kings in the peak stage, but a new Divinity was equivalent to fifty peak realm Prophets.
"What are you going to do if it really is a Divinity?" Zan Fu did not care much for Shu Rong or his situation at first. But after meeting up with each other and talking for the last week, their relationship slowly started to get better.
"I will continue until I die. Even if it is a Divinity level expert, that just means I have to grow even stronger than them. Don't forget, I'm a genius in my own right." He stuck out his tongue playfully while saying this.
Zan Fu's heart skipped a beat for a second while he watched Shu Rong's adorable gesture, "I would appreciate it if you never do that again."
Confused by his words, Shu Rong just shrugged.
They talked about more normal and trivial matters while eating the snack they ordered. After everything was finished Zan Fu decided to leave first, he noticed that Shu Rong was chatting with the barista and without meaning to, heard a bit of their conversation.
"I can't believe him, is he really so dense?"
"Shhh, It isn't his fault. We just didn't meet in the right circumstances."
The barista gave off a sigh, "But still, sad news about you family. I hope everything goes well."
Shu Rong smiled as he thanked the perso before leaving.
Zan Fu returned home finally and took a deep breath. He checked the condition of his cultivation with a worried expression. "Just as I thought, I am close." Zan Fu's power was currently like a dam that was about to burst.
He was about to break through into the next realm. He felt different than usual though. Whenever Zan Fu broke through a realm, he had a crazy, excited feeling well up inside of him.
But this time it was different. He felt like a chained prisoner who can't remove his bonds. It was like something was holding him back, an he wasn't sure if this was for better or worse.
Zan Fu quickly walked up to his room on the second floor and entered into it. While he wasn't sure if he was correct, Zan Fu had a good idea as for why he felt like this.
While Zan Fu was a genius, he wasn't always like this. When he was younger, one of his cousins attacked him under the influence of his uncle. She was young and didn't know what she was doing and just followed Zan Fu's uncle's, her father's, orders.
She was given a special weapon that was poisoned to strike at him and in the end Zan Fu's body was completely destroyed from the inside out. His body was broken and unsuitable for cultivation. Every time he tried, his body would convulse in extreme pain.
His skin would blister, bleed, and peel away. His vision would scatter while his blood boiled. It felt as if every one in his bones would be broken, snapped back into place, and then broken again.
No doctor, alchemist, or healer could heal what had been done to him. The poison was said to be incurable even to Divinities. Although Divinities would not be killed by the poison, they could not cure those infected by it even with their purifying power.
That was suppose to be the end of Zan Fu's path, but a few years ago he had a special encounter that allowed him to change his fate. It was some sort of treasure that not only healed his body, but made it stronger than ever before.
His path of cultivation not only became simple thanks to all of the resources he contained, but his powerful body made him stronger than people in the same level as him.
He walked to a small doorway hidden in his closet. This was something he was able to build himself after months of work. A hidden room, that not even his parents knew of, which contained his biggest secret.
He opened up the door and sitting there inside of the room was a blue orb. It was as cold as ice and constantly pulsated in tune with his heartbeat. It rotated until it "faced" him.
"Hello Zan Fu, I thought I told you to only wake me up when you died. What are you doing here now?"
Zan Fu smiled at the orb, "I need your help, Drodon."
~~~~~~~~~~
Braedon, the real one, sat cross legged on the floor, "Kai Jun, where did the flame go?"
Kai Jun pointed at Braedon's head and said, "He is urgently possessing your body. After saving your friend I believe he decided to keep the boys for himself."
This worried Braedon for a second, but his emotion returned to impassiveness after a second, "What is he planning?"
Kai Jun shrugged and they stayed silent for a minute before Kai Jun asked Braedon, "Aren't you worried? Or at least don't you want your body back?"
Braedon thought about it for a second, he really wasn't worried at all. He noticed that his emotions have been basically turned off in the area he was in currently, but he wasn't just unfazed by the events because of this place.
When he spoke to the flame the first time, he felt as if he had a connection with the flame. It felt as if it wouldn't do anything to harm him. He didn't trust it, but he wasn't worried either.
"Out of curiosity though, what is it doing with my body?"
Kai Jun looked up into the sky as he walked passed the area where the flame was once seated, "I'm not sure, but his plan probably has something to do with this."
Behind the place where the flame sat, was a large banner covering the wall. Kai Jun grabbed at the banner and pulled it away revealing a large stone door behind it.
He beckoned Braedon to come over while he grabbed a key taped to the back of the banner. He opened up the door to a room fire and ice. With the sky filled with planets, Braedon saw something far off into the distance.
While he didn't know what it was, Braedon was sure that it was something "special".
Kai Jun stood shoulder to shoulder with Braedon, "How curious are you?"
He held out his hand toward Braedon and waited for a second.
"Where will this lead us?" Braedon placed his hand on Kai Jun's and they held each other hands.
"To my home," he turned to look Braedon deep in his eyes, "your not very smart, but you are always curious and learn pretty quickly. Let's explore a little and see what you can obtain from this."
He dragged Braedon along forward and they passed through the door with Kai Jun whispering words that Braedon couldn't hear, "After all a god candidate can't be too foolish, now can he?"
Zan Fu poured freezing cold water over his body. He stepped out of the shower and looked over himself in the mirror. He had large, dark bags under his eyes from several sleepless nights. His movements were jerky and his expression was haggard.It's been almost a week since Braedon disappeared...no, since the entity inside of him disappeared. He left behind no traces of where he went or what he was planning. In fact all of the normal mortals have completely forgotten about him.It was as if he had never existed. His disappearance was only known to the few cultivators who had made contact with him.Zan Fu had explained to his parents what had happened. They didn't say much about it, but their worried expressions betrayed their feelings as well.Zan Rong wasn't one to care for many people, but Braedon was his son's friend and he spoiled Zan Fu greatly. Mei Ling felt that this situation was partly their fault for not sending anyone to protect the group and only focusing on the boss of the dungeon.They succeeded in obtaining the artifact though, and it boosted the standing of their clan greatly. Their first artifact was a large golden sword that was hidden beneath their household. If it was activated, the sky would be filed with maybe tens of thousands of swords that would strike at whoever Zan Rong commanded them to.But their second artifact seemed to be a defensive type.It was a small set of armor, fit for only one person. The family didn't know what it's full capabilities were but even when Zan Rong and Mei Long worked together to attack it, not a single scratch was left behind.They kept it sealed away until they could understand its use.Zan Fu stepped out of his house early in the morning and walked along the street. He tiredly dragged himself into a cafe called Carbucks, it was a strange name for a place that had nothing to do with cars."The usual?" The person standing at the counter wearing a green apron noticed who entered and asked the simple question.Zan Fu nodded in thanks, "Yes, please." She prepared him a cup of black coffee with a blueberry muffin on the side. He headed toward his usual seat and nibbled on the muffin.He was waiting for someone. The barista walked up and chatted with him since they currently had no other customer at the moment."Your 'boyfriend' isn't showing up?" The person playfully said to him."He isn't my boyfriend. I'm just here to ask for his help on a few things and it just so happens that I arrived a bit too early. Zan Fu didn't understand where the misconception came from. Did his appearance suggest such a thing about him?The barista just shook her head and whispered to herself, "You boys are so stupid sometimes."Zan Fu didn't tell her that he could hear everything. He decided that it was best to keep silent, but he still wondered what he said that made him stupid?Five minutes later another person passed through the door. It was Shu Rong, he was wearing a grey hoodie with jeans.While it wasn't the first time Zan Fu had seen him without a mask, he was still surprised every time.Shu Rong appearance was very "delicate". He had long eyelashes, plump lips, and pale skin. His long, black hair was well kept and shiny. His well moisturized skin was smooth to the touch. He even had some sort of sweet smelling cologne on.Zan Fu figured that Shu Rong was probably quite popular with the ladies. It was quite a shocker the first time Zan Fu saw him remove his mask.Even Zan Li, who usually didn't care about others appearances, couldn't help but comment on how great it would be if he was female. This comment also earned him a smack across the head.Zan Fu and Shu Rong have been meeting with each other for the last few days. After the event in the dungeon, Shu Rong started a hidden feud with the Shadow Guild. They have only invaded small branches so far, but their strength was growing quickly thanks to assistance from the Zan clan.Also as it turned out, they weren't the only survivors of the Shu massacre. It seems that the others had started their own miniature mercenary group and a few of them have decided to join into the fray with their new groups.The reason Zan Fu was meeting with Shu Rong was to collect information. While they had their own personal feud, Zan Fu got Shu Rong to do a favor for him.If they heard any news about Braedon or maybe something about a man wielding a feather as a weapon, he wanted it to be reported to him. Zan Fu also gave a small reward for information he received that was relevant.Shu Rong also ran some "test" in place to tell whether someone was giving real or false information. The great technological advances like the Uphone V and somehow only cultivators have been able to creat a 100% accurate polygraph.How sad.Zan Fu listened intently to Shu Rong as he spoke about what he recently learned. Apparently, pillars of fire have been popping and disappearing all overnight the place. The earth that was scorched due to the fire left behind strange crop circles.A man with a giant feather was spotted somewhere in Africa, but it turned out to just be a man with a giant fan. Finally, a mysterious force has been destroying branches of the Shadow Guild.Shu Rong didn't know if this had anything to do with Braedon, but he figured it was useful information anyway."There were several other false alarms as well. Do you know how hard it is to check into the story of everyone who reports information about random strange occurrences? It's super annoying!" Shu Rong leaned back against his chair and released a sigh.The corner of Zan Fu's mouth rose slightly as he said, "Then let's talk about something else. How is your vendetta going?"Shu Rong released a tired sigh and slumped down in his chair, "Things got a bit tricky." Zan Fu raised up one of his eyebrows curiously," How so? Did something big happen.?"He nodded and responded to Zan Fu's question, "The leader of the Shadow Guild has just stepped down and someone else has taken his place."This news surprised Zan Fu due to what this meant. The Shadow Guild's had rules any other organization, "the strong ruled the weak". The leader of the guild was in the seventh realm just like the leader of the Zan Clan, his father.He was pretty young too meaning his rule should've last for a long period of time. If he stepped down after only a few decades, which was how long Zan Rong told his son the guild leader had been ruling, that means that someone even more powerful than he was had challenged him and taken his place.If Shu Rong was lucky, the new leader was only a seventh realm Prophet, that had achieved a higher stage. But if he was unlucky, it meant that the new leader was..."...an eighth realm Divinity" these words brought fear to all who heard them. The number of Divinities in the world were less than 100 but their strengths were enough to destroy the entire world.A Prophet that just broke through was equivalent to ten sixth realm True Kings in the peak stage, but a new Divinity was equivalent to fifty peak realm Prophets."What are you going to do if it really is a Divinity?" Zan Fu did not care much for Shu Rong or his situation at first. But after meeting up with each other and talking for the last week, their relationship slowly started to get better."I will continue until I die. Even if it is a Divinity level expert, that just means I have to grow even stronger than them. Don't forget, I'm a genius in my own right." He stuck out his tongue playfully while saying this.Zan Fu's heart skipped a beat for a second while he watched Shu Rong's adorable gesture, "I would appreciate it if you never do that again."Confused by his words, Shu Rong just shrugged.They talked about more normal and trivial matters while eating the snack they ordered. After everything was finished Zan Fu decided to leave first, he noticed that Shu Rong was chatting with the barista and without meaning to, heard a bit of their conversation."I can't believe him, is he really so dense?""Shhh, It isn't his fault. We just didn't meet in the right circumstances."The barista gave off a sigh, "But still, sad news about you family. I hope everything goes well."Shu Rong smiled as he thanked the perso before leaving.Zan Fu returned home finally and took a deep breath. He checked the condition of his cultivation with a worried expression. "Just as I thought, I am close." Zan Fu's power was currently like a dam that was about to burst.He was about to break through into the next realm. He felt different than usual though. Whenever Zan Fu broke through a realm, he had a crazy, excited feeling well up inside of him.But this time it was different. He felt like a chained prisoner who can't remove his bonds. It was like something was holding him back, an he wasn't sure if this was for better or worse.Zan Fu quickly walked up to his room on the second floor and entered into it. While he wasn't sure if he was correct, Zan Fu had a good idea as for why he felt like this.While Zan Fu was a genius, he wasn't always like this. When he was younger, one of his cousins attacked him under the influence of his uncle. She was young and didn't know what she was doing and just followed Zan Fu's uncle's, her father's, orders.She was given a special weapon that was poisoned to strike at him and in the end Zan Fu's body was completely destroyed from the inside out. His body was broken and unsuitable for cultivation. Every time he tried, his body would convulse in extreme pain.His skin would blister, bleed, and peel away. His vision would scatter while his blood boiled. It felt as if every one in his bones would be broken, snapped back into place, and then broken again.No doctor, alchemist, or healer could heal what had been done to him. The poison was said to be incurable even to Divinities. Although Divinities would not be killed by the poison, they could not cure those infected by it even with their purifying power.That was suppose to be the end of Zan Fu's path, but a few years ago he had a special encounter that allowed him to change his fate. It was some sort of treasure that not only healed his body, but made it stronger than ever before.His path of cultivation not only became simple thanks to all of the resources he contained, but his powerful body made him stronger than people in the same level as him.He walked to a small doorway hidden in his closet. This was something he was able to build himself after months of work. A hidden room, that not even his parents knew of, which contained his biggest secret.He opened up the door and sitting there inside of the room was a blue orb. It was as cold as ice and constantly pulsated in tune with his heartbeat. It rotated until it "faced" him."Hello Zan Fu, I thought I told you to only wake me up when you died. What are you doing here now?"Zan Fu smiled at the orb, "I need your help, Drodon."~~~~~~~~~~Braedon, the real one, sat cross legged on the floor, "Kai Jun, where did the flame go?"Kai Jun pointed at Braedon's head and said, "He is urgently possessing your body. After saving your friend I believe he decided to keep the boys for himself."This worried Braedon for a second, but his emotion returned to impassiveness after a second, "What is he planning?"Kai Jun shrugged and they stayed silent for a minute before Kai Jun asked Braedon, "Aren't you worried? Or at least don't you want your body back?"Braedon thought about it for a second, he really wasn't worried at all. He noticed that his emotions have been basically turned off in the area he was in currently, but he wasn't just unfazed by the events because of this place.When he spoke to the flame the first time, he felt as if he had a connection with the flame. It felt as if it wouldn't do anything to harm him. He didn't trust it, but he wasn't worried either."Out of curiosity though, what is it doing with my body?"Kai Jun looked up into the sky as he walked passed the area where the flame was once seated, "I'm not sure, but his plan probably has something to do with this."Behind the place where the flame sat, was a large banner covering the wall. Kai Jun grabbed at the banner and pulled it away revealing a large stone door behind it.He beckoned Braedon to come over while he grabbed a key taped to the back of the banner. He opened up the door to a room fire and ice. With the sky filled with planets, Braedon saw something far off into the distance.While he didn't know what it was, Braedon was sure that it was something "special".Kai Jun stood shoulder to shoulder with Braedon, "How curious are you?"He held out his hand toward Braedon and waited for a second."Where will this lead us?" Braedon placed his hand on Kai Jun's and they held each other hands."To my home," he turned to look Braedon deep in his eyes, "your not very smart, but you are always curious and learn pretty quickly. Let's explore a little and see what you can obtain from this."He dragged Braedon along forward and they passed through the door with Kai Jun whispering words that Braedon couldn't hear, "After all a god candidate can't be too foolish, now can he?"
