"...no…"
Tossing and turning in his sleep, Master Luo fumbled in his bed as he attempted to get some decent night's rest.
However, no matter how hard he tried, nothing seemed to chase the dark shadows away.
"...roasted... duck… no!
I'm not ready to leave!
Braised pork!
Roasted Chicken!
Let me stay; I'm not ready to leave, dammit!"
Crying in his sleep, the aching sensation of emptiness in his stomach sent a cold chill throughout Luo Yu Xing's body as he went through his snacking withdrawal.
"Wah!" Snapping his eyes open, Master Luo sat up in his bed, his mind chaotic as he reeled himself back to reality.
Once he came to his senses, he patted his chest in relief. 'Whew, it was just a dream, a horrid dream.'
A dream where he had ascended to the next realm! And that he couldn't bring any of his food with him!
How could he leave this realm without the reassurance that his favorite dishes could come with him!
'Aiyah, such fright is no good for this one's old heart.'
Seeing as he could no longer go back to sleep, Master Luo swung his tired and sore legs over the edge of the bed and slipped on his boots.
His body panged on soreness from the movement as he stood up.
All of the training the old master did in his disciples' absence was starting to pay off, evident when he dressed himself and his old robes, which once sat a tad bit tight around his midsection, now had more breathing room.
'Looks, I have made some progress,' Master Luo thought as he poked his stomach, which didn't yield as much as before. At this rate, he would be able to return his body to when he was in his prime.
"Yawn," scratching his unkempt beard, Master Luo noticed the sky outside had a dusty blue color to it, just barely on its transition between the night to dawn. "Looks like the training starts now."
---
"Hah!"
Hitting the dummy with a lethal and swift uppercut, it promptly fell over before shattering into pieces on the ground from the impact.
'Hmm,' frowning at the wooden fragments on the stone floor of the training grounds that were no bigger than a finger.
Scratching his beard as sweat slid down his forehead, he mumbled, "Have I gotten weaker?
Before, all that would remain would be mere splinters; however, some pieces on the ground were still recognizable as pieces from the wooden dummy.
'Aiyah, I'm still not back to where I used to be,' shaking his head, Master Luo made his way over to his tea table to pour himself a cup.
As he did so, what remained of the train ground dummies were indistinguishable wooden bits and several new cracks on the stone-tiled floor.
Plopping himself in his seat, Master Luo quickly downed a cup of lukewarm green tea. Looking over the carnage of the training ground, he couldn't help but shake his head.
'Aiyah, before there wouldn't even be anything left of the training grounds, but somehow it managed to stay intact.
Hah, I'm more out of shape than I thought I was.'
Pouring himself another cup, Master Luo drank the rest of the cold tea before snapping his fingers.
Instantaneously the training ground returned to its former state, appearance-wise at least.
"Heh, this should hold itself up for a while," he shrugged as he picked up his teapot and walked out of the courtyard.
However, as he did some, the training grounds prompt fell apart once more.
Pausing in his steps, the grandmaster considered the idea of calling some outer sect disciples to fix the disrepair; however, he thought against it.
"Eh," Master Luo shrugged at the broken training grounds. " I'll just have my disciples deal with it when they get back."
---
A massive pile of work that he had neglected over the past days was starting to become a bit hazardous as it towered atop his desk. Also, more work placed themselves at the door as scrolls began to pile up and roll all over the floor.
"Aiyah," Master Luo sighed at the mess, already feeling the cramping pain of writing in his hand. "This old master is too advanced in age to deal with piles of paperwork."
But, unfortunately, the paperwork wasn't going to do itself, and his eldest disciple wasn't going to be back for some time.
'No, maybe she shouldn't come back soon,' the old master lamented. 'If she saw the build-up of work, no doubt, he would never hear the end of it.'
And she might even do the cruel act of cutting his food allowance!
What was this old master to do! Like most senior citizens, he should be living out his last days in bliss and leisure, not subjected to mountains of paperwork and bland food!
'Aiyah, how did I pick out such a vicious disciple, ah.'
As he lamented at his unfortunate situation, a letter caught his attention amongst the various scrolls and paperwork.
It stuck out like a sore thumb based on its disheveled appearance and slight coloring of the paper.
"What could this be," he wondered out loud. Whatever it was, it seemed much more interesting than the monotonous memos about sect life.
Taking hold of the note, he analyzed its appearance for any malintent weaved in somewhere in the paper.
Luckily, there was none.
Unfolding the note, it bombarded him with messy and frantic handwriting, the brush strokes fused, making it almost barely legible.
Just barely.
Scanning his eyes down the page, the old master squinted his eyes as he tried to read the erratic handwriting.
"...Master Luo…
...concerning your… two disciples…
Martial Aunt… Jing Hua and… Martial Aunt… Jing... Ran…
Have both… disappeared…
At Xiong Xian Pass…"
Instantly, Master Luo's body went cold as he read those last characters 'Xiong Xian Pass.'
It has been a long time since he had last read those words, less even hearing it.
"If it's what I think it is…" Master Luo wasn't sure whether or not to believe the contents of the letter. After all, his disciples were strong, and it wasn't like they would go down without a fight.
Not wanting to leave himself in suspense, he rushed to the main altar, where numerous tablets propped themselves against the red lacquer walls on multiple shelves.
Heading straight for the small table in front of the large tablet display were two small jade tablets with the names "Zhu Na Ran" and "Ye Lian Hua" engraved on the cold jade surface.
A small sense of relief came over the old master as he realized that the jade tablets were still intact.
Had they've broken, then he would've known that something dire did happen to those two disciples of his.
"Hmm, they both seem to be of a healthy color," Master Luo mumbled as he looked down at the two jade tablets, which shone with rich imperial green.
However, he noticed that the tablet with Ye Lian Hua's names seemed slightly duller than her juniors.
"It seems like to some degree, the note was right," he muttered as he looked at the note once more.
Looking outside, Master Luo noticed that it was a little past midday; however, with his abilities, there should still be some light before dusk when he returns.
"Heh, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to stretch these old limbs out of a bit."
---
At Xiong Xian Pass, Zhen Jing meditated in seclusion as he focused on breathing in and out, letting the cold qi pass through his meridians and dantian.
Around him were numerous incenses of numerous high-quality poisons, slowly burning and drifting through the air.
These types of lethal fragrances were otherwise undetectable to most and were of the slow and deadly variant.
Had someone without immunity to such poisons came into his chamber unannounced, no doubt that they would drop dead before uttering out their last words.
And yet, Zhen Jing managed to breathe them in and out as if it were sweet-scented air. The poisons in his body have become completely harmonized after years of careful training and trials.
However, even with his incredible skills and talents, he could not rid himself of the most loathsome person from his life off the face of this realm!
'Luo Yu Xing!
Heh! This great elder managed to defeat not one but both of your disciples!
Heh, this elder can imagine the anguish that you must have, hah!'
It has been some time since that incident, so he knew that Luo Yu Xing should've heard the news by now.
Although he wished that the one that he killed that day was Luo Yu Xing himself, Zhen Jing knew that at the moment, he wasn't in the right condition to fight him once more.
'Tch, that b*tch! To think that she managed to land a hit on this elder and cause some damage.
No matter, such minor issues will resolve themselves quickly.'
In addition to his wounds, the bandit clan's chief was still raging over the fact that half of the members have been swept away by the powdery white waves, even more so that the perpetrators managed to escape in one piece.
"Tch, that fool," Zhen Jing scoffed as he recalled the incident of the chief throwing a fit like an overgrown child.
"If I didn't need somewhere to hide back then to lick my wounds, would I even bother to look their way?"
After all, compared to him, a mighty cultivator from a prestigious background, then measly mountain bandits served no better purpose than being human meat shields.
It should be their eight generations of luck that they would have the opportunity to lay down their lives for him.
As he continued to self assure himself of his greatness, unbeknown to him, a sudden scuffle broke out from outside his mediation chamber, followed by a massive impact that shook the earth.