- Master… just what kind of technique is this?...

  Sharv asked his master, and in reply she said to him,

  ‘Void Walk… in my era this was called Void Walk.’

  - Void Walk?...

  Sharv said. This technique seemed really cool to him, after all, who wouldn’t like to walk or fly in the air like that?

  But the very next moment, his excitement was ruined.

  ‘To learn this technique, you will first have to open the Ajna (Third Eye) chakra…’

  His master said. The Ajna (Third Eye) chakra is the 6th chakra of the body.

  From this Sharv now understood that the person floating in the sky up there must have opened at least around 5th or 6th chakras.

  And who knows, maybe even the seventh?

  Sharv was thinking this when the Society Leader looked at the Death Hall Master and said in a cold tone,

  “Death Hall Master, just what were you doing now?”

  The Death Hall Master paused and said,

  “Society Leader, I… was only…”

  He had no words left to speak. He was panicking inside. He hadn’t expected the Society Leader himself to come here.

  He looked at Sharv, who was standing right in front of him. He could easily kill him right now, but he was helpless. He couldn’t do that anymore because the Society Leader had already arrived.

  Now what could he do? Even if he killed Sharv, nothing would change, because the Society Leader had already seen Sharv.

  And not only that; when Sharv had removed that dagger from his own hand and infused it with prana, his lunar energy had also become visible.

  And Death Hall Master knows that from above, the Society Leader could easily see and sense the lunar energy flowing in both the dagger and Sharv’s hand.

  From all this, he would easily be able to figure out who had abducted Sharv, and why Surendranath took so long to bring this boy to him.

  Death Hall Master was now trapped from all sides. He couldn’t see any other path left for himself.

  ‘That Surendernath!...’

  He growled furiously from within, his arms trembled, but then his expression eased. His muscles relaxed, as if he has chosen his fate.

  ‘At least I tried… I don’t regret it…’

  Death Hall Master thought, and the whole time his eyes remained fixed on Sharv. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t even realise it.

  Meanwhile, on the other side, the Society Leader noticed that the Death Hall Master’s gaze simply refused to leave Sharv. A thought came to his mind.

  ‘He isn’t thinking of killing him… is he?’

  The Society Leader absolutely did not want Sharv to die. He had many uses for him.

  Fuuu!

  He removed the pipe from his mouth, and then... Threw it toward the Death Hall Master with force. It sliced through the air as it fell.

  ‘!!!’

  Sensing a fast-moving object coming toward him, the Death Hall Master suddenly leapt backward.

  “S-Society Leader, please don’t be angry, I can explain everything!…”

  Tak! Boom!

  With a loud crash the pipe pierced into the ground like an arrow. It struck with such speed and force that it created a small crater around it.

  And its impact spread outward in waves across the area.

  ***

  “Eh? What was that sound?…”

  Suddenly Adarsh’s eyes opened. He had been sleeping in his room, but that loud noise had woken him up.

  ‘Haa!… Why have there been so many loud sounds for the past hour or so? Is someone fighting outside?’

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  Adarsh thought.

  He got off the bed and walked toward the door. When he stepped outside, he saw that many other participants had also come out of their rooms.

  “Did you hear that too?…”

  “You did as well? I thought only I heard it…”

  “Fuck... I even fell off my bed because of that sound…”

  Everyone was muttering among themselves, talking with the few people they somewhat knew here.

  All of them still had that white cloth wrapped over their faces, so Adarsh couldn’t recognise anyone. He only knew Vishesh a little—and no one else. But sadly Vishesh was not there.

  “All of you, get inside and sleep!”

  A guard shouted while patrolling, and as soon as they heard him coming, everyone hurried back into their rooms.

  Adarsh also went back inside his room.

  “No idea what’s going on here…”

  Adarsh said.

  He didn't felt sleepy at all, so he decided that instead of sleeping, it would be better to cultivate.

  He sat down cross legged on the floor and began cultivating. He inhaled, then exhaled.

  Slowly, his chakra allowed him to sense his Prana.

  His chakra was already more than half filled with Prana, and on the right side there was a long nadi containing Solar Energy.

  That was the Pingala nadi.

  It hadn’t yet reached his brain; it was still around the area above his heart. It was not yet in full harmony with his body.

  The breathing technique Adarsh had was quite slow when it came to cultivating Solar Energy, because of which he still hadn’t been able to fully harmonise it.

  If he could somehow obtain a breathing technique that enhanced Solar Energy, it would be extremely beneficial for him.

  It would greatly help increase the Prana within his chakra.

  If Adarsh’s chakra and the Prana within it were to be divided on a scale of 10, then it could be said that his chakra was currently filled to about 7/10.

  He just needed to gather the remaining three units, and then his Muladhara (Root) chakra would be completely full, and he could then think about opening the next chakra.

  If he simply continued cultivating like this with consistency, his chakra would soon be filled completely.

  Whenever Adarsh cultivated, he always tried to keep his mind calm.

  But his mind simply refused to stay still. Sometimes he remembered his mother, and at other times he remembered that humiliating fight where he had been defeated so badly by Sharv.

  Whenever he thought about that defeat, his blood boiled, and only one thought filled his mind—that he had to kill that boy. No matter what. No matter the cost.

  ‘No! No! I must not think about this! I must not!’

  Adarsh forced himself to calm down, and pushed away the anger and desire for revenge.

  Right now he needed a peaceful mind. Only then could he improve his cultivation and move forward.

  This Muladhara (Root) chakra was the foundation of his cultivation; he did not want to damage it in any way.

  Cultivation is like constructing a building.

  If its foundation is strong, the structure will be strong as well. But if the foundation itself is weak, the entire building will collapse.

  ***

  “Huff! Huff!”

  Sharv clutched his chest, breathing heavily. Due to the force of the pipe, the white bandage like strip around his face got removed. Now his face is completely visible.

  He was lying beneath a tree, outwardly calm, but inside he was deeply unsettled.

  Just a few steps away, the pipe the Society Leader had thrown was still embedded in the ground.

  ‘So much power?...’

  That thought crossed his mind.

  He couldn’t understand whether this strength truly belonged to a human… or to some otherworldly being.

  That person had merely thrown a pipe down, and all this had happened.

  Sharv already knew that there were many capable martial artists in the Crimson Heaven Society; but this capable… this strong… he had never imagined.

  If there were more people like him in the world, then people like Sharv could be crushed like insects.

  ‘Disciple… are you alright?’

  Just then, his master’s voice echoed in his mind, and he remembered—his master was also incredibly powerful.

  ‘Haa… how did I forget this…?’

  He thought to himself.

  A few days ago, when he had first met that woman, he had been on the verge of death. And yet he survived… and even made that woman his master.

  Tak!

  The Society Leader descended and pulled the pipe out of the small crater.

  Now that he was closer, Sharv sensed something else this person’s internal energy, his Prana, was indeed vast.

  But compared to his master… it was still less.

  Thinking this, a small smile appeared on Sharv’s face.

  His anxiety slowly faded.

  So what if the man was powerful? As long as Sharv used his brain and acted wisely, he could still outwit this man and escape safely.

  Sharv then asked his master,

  - Yes, Master, I am completely fine. Actually, I wanted to ask you something…

  ‘Yes, ask.’

  - That man who threw this thing… how many chakras has he opened?...

  His master thought for a moment, then replied,

  ‘Six. He has opened six chakras. And from what I sense, he only opened the sixth chakra a few years ago.’

  Hearing this, Sharv felt even better. But another question rose in his mind, which he asked his master,

  - Master… when you were alive… how many chakras had you opened?

  His master went silent. After a short while, she said,

  ‘…Just understand this much, that more than anyone in this era, in this Kali Yuga, could even imagine…’

  Sharv didn’t ask further. He decided to save that topic for later, because the man who had thrown the pipe was now walking toward the Death Hall Master.

  The Society Leader calmly approached him and asked,

  “So then what was it that you were trying to explain?”

  Hearing his cold voice, the Death Hall Master immediately dropped to his knees and confessed everything.

  “Please forgive me, Society Leader. When Surendranath brought this boy here, I was the one who took him outside and delayed Surendranath from delivering him to you. I thought that if I did that, you would punish Surendranath… but I never expected that you yourself would come here. All of this happened because of me—because of my mistake. I… did all this out of resentment from what happened seven years ago. Please forgive me!”

  The Society Leader said nothing at first, only staring at him.

  Over the past seven years, the Death Hall Master had never done anything like this. In fact, he had been working hard to strengthen the Society, and therefore had good relations with almost everyone.

  Even with the Society Leader and the Vice Leader. Only with Surendranath did he not get along—because of that incident seven years back.

  Fuuu!

  The Society Leader exhaled softly, then said,

  “Death Hall Master, you have violated my orders. For that, you will be punished. But not now. First, you will complete the Entrance Trials. After that, we shall decide what is to be done with you. And yes…”

  The Society Leader picked up the severed arm and tossed it toward him.

  “…go, and tell Physician Narayan to reattach this arm. If you’re in time, it may yet be saved.”

  The Death Hall Master picked up his severed arm and replied in a heavy tone,

  “…As you command.”

  The Society Leader then turned, and his gaze shifted toward Sharv.

  “Now then… let’s deal with you. First of all, tell me your name, boy...”