It didn't take long for them to return to Amon's house. The afternoon sun had peaked and the temperature was rising rapidly. Upon entering the house, Amon made his way to his mother's room, leaving Daniel to drop the food bags in the kitchen.
As Daniel made his way into the living room, he noticed Raven, the black sword, mounted on the wall. With a sad smile, he started to reminisce about a moment from five years ago. Although Erin's words had been sharp and offensive, they held some truth.
What a waste. You did something horrendously stupid, he thought. His expression turned sour when he remembered someone who was no longer in his life.
His own situation wasn't much better. Ten years ago, Rebecca could have found Daniel to be as pitiful as he found Amon now, and thus decided to take him under her wing.
He sighed. Being a scion of a powerful family and not living up to their expectations was complicated. He wondered how his little brother felt when his father deceptively told him that Daniel decided to live on his own and left the household without saying goodbye. It had been years since they last saw each other. There was news that the little brat was now a personal disciple of Sect Master Borgin. His brother's talents surpassed his father's expectations by a landslide.
Daniel wondered if they would see each other again. Maybe by that time, Jake would be old enough to share a cup of wine with him. Daniel's smile widened at the thought. He really missed his brother's contagious laughter.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Amon had quietly knocked on his mother's door.
"Come in," Rebecca said warmly.
She was still in bed, looking out through the open window beside her. Her gaze stayed locked on the trees and sky for a moment before turning to face Amon.
"What's wrong?" she asked, noticing sadness in his expression.
His eyes were growing red and his face was tense. Amon shook his head, made his way into her bed and hugged her tightly.
"I love you, mom."
Rebecca was taken aback, but she returned the hug and gently patted his back.
"I love you too."
They stayed like this until Amon finally released her from his bearhug.
"Want to tell me what happened?" she asked, but he simply shook his head again. She ruffled his hair as she studied his golden eyes.
"Somehow, Daniel got a commission and he wants me to go with him to the Scavenging. The pay is really good and the job seems to be easy."
Rebecca quietly listened to the details as he explained in a weary voice.
"Well, what do you want to do?"
Amon had a pensive look as he pondered.
"I don't want to go, but the pay is good. We could earn enough to make it through the month in just four days."
"Why don't you want to go?"
Amon frowned, perplexed by her feigning naïvety.
"I'm afraid. I don't want anything like that to happen again."
"Do you think it was your fault?" she asked.
"Of course it is, mom! I wish I had listened to you. I should've never participated in the Scavenging! If I hadn't gone against your wishes, then you wouldn't be like this today," he said with a shaky voice.
Rebecca gently rubbed his back. Amon's voice grew louder as he continued, "I have no idea what fa... that man did to me, but I haven't been myself since that day. I can hear things, mom. I can see things and sense them. My eyes, my hair…"
Poisonous words from his past echoed in his mind. The hurtful words clawed at his soul every waking second. His father's chilling voice and indifferent eyes were just as unforgettable. They left Amon's heart more scared and broken than his body had been after that day.
Tears spilled from his eyes and his breathing hastened. Rebecca's expression turned serious as she used her hands to hold his face close to hers and sent him a penetrating glance.
"Listen to me, Amon. What happened is not your fault. Sometimes coincidences happen and they change the courses of our lives, for better or for worse. People who give in to fear can never be strong. Fate tests us with these trials to see how strong we are. Without them, we would never learn or grow. It is part of life."
She gave a sad smile as she spoke, her eyes turning blurry.
"If you continually cower in fear inside this house, life will simply pass by you. You won't realize it until it's too late. Life doesn't give you second chances for everything."
Amon shuddered in his mother's arms. Feeling her heart aching as she hit a sensitive spot, Rebecca steeled herself. He had to hear the truth, even if it hurts.
"I want you to go with Daniel. I want you to do the commission and have a good time. I want you to face your fears. As a mother, there is nothing I want more than to see you grow up, but you must never let fear hold you back."
She gave him another firm, warm hug. Amon hadn't stopped crying, but he nodded his head as he silently accepted what she told him.
After a good while, they finally let each other go. Amon wiped his tears and runny nose with his sleeves, making Rebecca lightly poke his forehead.
"Alright. I'll go."
His voice was low, but it was enough for Rebecca to hear.
"Good. Listen to Daniel's instructions and don't do anything reckless."
"I'll listen. I promise."
His words made Rebecca satisfied. He stared out the window awkwardly before changing the subject.
"Are you hungry? I bought food for the week. I'll go make lunch," he said as he stood up.
"I love your food," she replied cheerfully.
Amon made his way to the kitchen, but stopped when he saw Daniel staring at Raven in a daze. Once Daniel realized this, he regrouped his thoughts and looked at his friend. Although Amon's face was still moist from tears and his eyes were red, Daniel made no comments. Slightly embarrassed by his appearance, Amon awkwardly nodded at Daniel before entering the kitchen.
Amon quickly made some rice porridge and poured it into a wooden serving bowl. Glancing around, he checked to make sure that Daniel couldn't see him. He retrieved a small, porcelain bottle of nourishing pills from his robes. He crushed a pill in his palm and brushed it into the bowl before thoroughly mixing it into the food. It faintly smelled of medicine, but he figured it wasn't noticeable.
Making his way back through the living room, Amon told Daniel to meet him in his room. Upon returning to his mother's bedroom, he passed the bowl to her on a wooden serving tray.
"I'm going to meditate. Just call if you need me," he said with a soft smile.
"Remember to focus," Rebecca called after him as he swiftly left the room.
Once in his room, Amon sat on the black mat in the middle of his room with his legs crossed. He closed his eyes, trying hard to control his breathing as Daniel carefully watched by his side.
"You are too tense. Relax your body and mind."
Amon tried his best to follow his instructions. He relaxed his limbs as he breathed rhythmically, clearing his mind.
Daniel slowly recited the mantra cultivators used when preparing their minds for meditation. In order to open his divine sense, Amon needed to give up his notions of self. Only then could he enter a state of conscious emptiness. This would enable him to feel the qi that permeated the world. It was a delicate balance to maintain. Only with years of practice and self-discipline could one enter and leave such a state at will. Sensing qi had nothing to do with the five senses. It was a special talent that only a few people ever developed—the divine sense. Those who had even a bit of talent could manipulate the qi at will and they could also absorb it into their bodies.
For the Preparatory realm, the first level was called qi gathering. It had three parts: sensing, manipulating, and absorbing. When qi was absorbed into the body, it circulated through meridians and into the person's dantian, allowing the individual to step into the body tempering stage.
"Spread your divine sense outwards. Don't try to visualize your surroundings, feel them instead," Daniel continued patiently.
As he spoke, his voice seemed to distance itself from Amon.
"There are no memories. No emotions, no thoughts… There is no one—not even you," Daniel said with a softer voice, slowly walking around Amon. He was careful not to touch him. Interrupting his training could set him back a great deal of time. "There is only nature. There is only the world. There is only qi."
His voice hypnotically flowed through Amon, further calming his chaotic emotions as he lost him himself in nothingness. As he progressed, Daniel's voice faded completely, and only darkness remained.
Suddenly Amon sensed something different. Though his eyes remained closed, the world around him presented itself through his divine sense. Everything within two meters of his body was engulfed in a mysterious smoke emanating from the earth. It waltzed around the room, dancing around Daniel exotically. The smoke was fast and nimble when floating in the air, but slow and steady when close to the ground.
Amon had been stuck at the initial stages of qi gathering for years. His affinity with qi was low, and so was his talent. These setbacks made it impossible for him to manipulate qi in any way. In meditation, the longer one could maintain the ethereal state of conscious emptiness, the bigger the benefits. Naturally, the longer they sensed the qi, the higher their understanding of it became, no matter how slow the process was.
Qi gathering was nothing more than a preparatory stage. It is said that with enough talent and affinity, one could soar through it in a single day.
Nevertheless, such a high level of talent and comprehension were only seen once every hundred years. Of one thousand mortals, only one would have the ability to develop their divine sense. Out of a thousand people with divine sense, only ten would be able to absorb qi, direct it to their dantian, and be able to start body tempering.
Satisfied that Amon had successfully entered a meditative state, Daniel quietly made his way downstairs. On his way through the living room, he picked up a chair and carried it to Rebecca's bedroom.
"Come in, Daniel."
He had barely lifted his hand to knock on her door before he heard her voice. After closing the door behind him, he sat in the chair and faced the frail woman. A faint medicinal fragrance made its way into his nose.
"I have a stubborn son. I don't know how many times I've told him to stop buying nourishing pills for me and just get something for himself."
Daniel gave a small chuckle and smiled.
"What happened today?"
Her voice was gentle, but it had a hint of authority behind it. It sounded more like an order for a report than a question.
Daniel showed her the faint mark on his palm from where the stone had pierced his skin.
"Erin. He reached the body tempering stage."
Rebecca sighed—she knew it would be troublesome.
"There were no provocations. He just threw the stone at Amon's head," Daniel continued.
A chill crept up Daniel's spine. The room's temperature dropped several degrees as an icy killing intent surged from the woman facing him. He felt like he was facing a completely different person. Rebecca's clear eyes were filled with fury. The gentleness surrounding her had been completely swallowed by pure hostility. Few cultivators in the whole Abyss sect would have been able to produce an aura like that.
"Looks like Claude is a horrible cultivator and father. I should have taught him a lesson a long time ago," she said, her voice cold and full of regret.
People once feared her name—the White Flame, Rebecca Skoller. However, in her current state, there was not much she could do.
"Auntie, your skin is reddening again," Daniel sheepishly pointed out.
Rebecca raised her hands and, sure enough, a reddish hue had started to spread over her shriveled skin. It didn't take long for her breathing to turn ragged and a terrible sense of heat assaulted her senses.
She hurriedly grasped something beneath the sheets, controlling her breathing and trying to calm herself. After a while, her skin returned to its original sickly pale tone and her breathing stabilized. Seeing her returning to normal, Daniel gave a sigh of relief.
"Isn't it funny, Daniel? When you're strong, the people around you will show you respect and avoid getting on your bad side. If you show respect back, they will gladly sing your praises and call you a role model. If, however, you step on them, they will only cower in fear."
Rebecca's voice was monotone, and robotic. Though she stared directly at him, her eyes were distant and dull.
"If you ever fall from grace, the end result will mostly be the same. It doesn't matter if you were kind or cruel when you were strong, what was important was the fact that you had strength. The people you once relied on won't praise you when you've become one of them. They didn't mind being stepped on and they never wanted to be respected by those above them. All they wanted was someone they could rely on. As soon as they can't rely on you anymore, you disappear from their eyes. After all, they want to be carried by the strong; they don't want to carry the weak." She smoothed the covers around her and fluffed the pillows behind her back before she continued. "Sometimes I'm surprised at just how easily humans will turn against you."
The threatening aura had slowly subsided.
"I think the best decision I've ever made in my life, other than having Amon, was helping you that day. I'm really glad I became friends with one of the few decent people in this hellhole," Rebecca said with a sad smile.
"You can always count on me, auntie," Daniel reassured her without hesitation.
Rebecca laughed hearing that. It was always a bit surprising every time Daniel called her "auntie," but it always warmed her heart.
Changing the subject, she said, "I'm sure you already know this, but Amon agreed to participate in the Scavenging. You pulled off a nice trick. Even if he was suspicious it was too good a deal for him to ignore."
"Well, he would have never accepted my contribution points if I just gave them to him. Taking him along should also help resolve the fear he has of the event itself."
Rebecca agreed.
"I can't thank you enough, Daniel."
"Don't worry about it."
"Please, promise me you will take good care of him."
"Of course I will. He's like a little brother to me."
"Good luck on the Scavenging. I really hope you find something. The spear I found seventy years ago was buried right there."
Her eyes lit up. The good memories of being a rebellious, young girl swam through her mind. She still remembered the day she sneaked out of the Inner Sect to join the Scavenging. Richard Layn had almost ripped out his beard in anger after he had finally found her.
"Well, Amon is meditating in his room. I'll go take care of the preparations."
"Goodbye, Daniel."
With that, Daniel left the house. Rebecca glanced at the evening sky through her window. Her thoughts meandered around how life was unfair to good people. Maybe that was the reason this world was filled with trash.
Rebecca fished for something under her blanket. After a short moment, she revealed a necklace—the item which she had grasped earlier to calm her down. The small, scarlet jewel glistened as the sunlight bounced off of it. A strange, red light floated inside of it, flickering nonstop. It was the last gift her husband had given her, and the one thing she managed to retrieve from their old house besides Raven. Not even Amon knew about it. She knew better than to show it to him.
The jewel reminded her of her husband's broad back as he left. She could almost feel the cold night wind entering through the open door and making her shudder as tears fell from her face. What kind of person was he?
Despite spending a vast number of years with him, the question plagued her dearly whenever she thought about her husband. She clutched the necklace tighter, pushing those horrid thoughts from her mind.
In truth, she knew the answer. She had always known. It was just that a part of her refused to admit how blind she had been. Sometimes it was better to fool herself than to face the truth.