Hong Zhao sat in the lotus position for longer than he could tell, slowly circulating the qi stone. As he did, Shadow stayed on alert next to the door. He knew that no one would cause trouble for his master, but that didn't mean they couldn't disturb him either. In case the Li siblings were to walk in on him cultivating, Hong Zhao had given two of these precious stones to his panther friend to give to them.
"Hong Zhao, are you asleep?" A small voice belonging to Li Wei sounded from outside the door. When no one answered back, Shadow watched as the door slowly crept open. Li Wei was in her usual town clothes, having needed a break from her dark qi blocking uniform Hong Zhao had given her. When she peered in, she saw a set of large green glowing eyes set on her. "Shadow?" She said uncertainly.
"Master has told me not to let anyone interfere with his cultivating. He wishes to break through to the ninth rank soon, so that he can protect you and your brother during the next part of your training." His once on guard expression turned soft and lazy like a cat once he saw that he was making her nervous. "He did give me these to give to you and your brother." He got to his feet from the bed and walked the qi stones to her, his tail slowly waving behind him.
"Why do you call him master?" Li Wei asked as she took the stones and looked at them. Her eyes went wide as she saw the qi roiling within them. 'These are like a hundred of the ones we have had before.'
"Why do you not call him master?" Shadow's head went to the side as he thought about it. "He treats you much the same as he treats me, would that not make us siblings under master?"
"Hong Zhao isn't like that." Li Wei said, albeit a little childlike. "He is kind, but he doesn't ask us to worship him, and he hasn't asked us for anything other than to stand by his side. He doesn't want to be anyone's master."
"If that is master's wish, I will not get in the way. But he is master to me." His eyes glowed with a different kind of intensity as he looked back at Hong Zhao.
"Then keep an eye on him for me." Li Wei said with an uncertain smile. She was probably going to be wary of the magical beast for a while. The beasts were the ones enslaving humans in her world after all. It didn't make any sense that a beast would claim a human as a master.
Shadow nodded his approval and Li Wei left the room with the two stones, running along to her brother. The shadow panther turned back to his master and watched as the qi funnel over head became more dense with every minute. It tightened together, condensing as much as it could before it funneled into Hong Zhao's dantian. Through the night, Shadow could see the qi lighting his master from the inside, it's pure white energy seeped through every pore.
As Hong Zhao sat in the eye of a storm of qi, his breathing remained calm. With every breath, more condensed qi entered his body. Every exhale drew out impurities. The qi stone's glow within his hand dimmed slightly with every hour he sat, yet the glow within himself only intensified. He could feel the energy trying to break through another layer within his dantian. It felt as if he were bursting, as if he ate way too much and his stomach was begging to be purged, yet instead of food, it was qi. His muscles screamed in protest as he sat motionless. The energy begged to be let out, yet he forced even more within himself. The funnel of qi above him seemed to never grow smaller as the hours drew on.
The sun had long risen by the time he opened his eyes. A bright white glow emanated from them as the qi settled in place. He placed a hand over his center, feeling a rush of energy within. He went to the window and leapt onto the grass below, activating Vortex Thrust to propel his way through the forest. Where he appeared, wild beasts roared in agony. He raced through the ranks of shadow panthers and activated his Devouring Qi Claws. It felt as if he were cutting through paper instead of beasts. He raced through until he reached the large snakes, as one lunged for him, he dove inside its mouth and tore through the center with his claws, drenching him with blood, yet it didn't slow him in the slightest.
When he reached the stone lion's area, he began to feel slight resistance within their ranks. He was only able to take on a few at a time, then he had to retreat and recuperate for a while. "The stone lions that remain have to be at least eighth star student rank, meaning that the next area within the forest has to be much harder." He said to himself as he sat on a tree branch looking over the destruction he had left in his wake. "If the Li siblings can reach the eighth rank, I can introduce them to this area." He smiled as he thought of his new power. "Now that I'm ninth star student rank, I should be able to protect them."
He decided it was time to head back. If he were to continue his training against the beasts, there might not be any left for Li Wei and Li Wuhan to test their strength against. Though he was gaining power quickly, he didn't want to think of how powerful the City Lord's minions were going to be when they reached Rantori Village. He would have to assume they would be the ninth star student rank as well, since they the City Lord didn't know that they had disciple ranked cultivators yet. If he were to send disciple ranked cultivators, yet Rantori Village had none, he would have to destroy the whole village in order to keep the presence of such experts secret from the rest of Yuan.
Hong Zhou thought of all the strength they would need to acquire in a short time. He knew time was running out, and the only thing they could do is charge through. They needed as much strength as they could get before the remaining six months ran out.