Jihoon reappeared in front of a tree that had transparent leaves, but the Jihoon that appeared now had the same appearance as Yoo Seungho who was presumed dead. He walked up to the tree and leaned against it, then slid down and sat down between the roots that grew out from under the ground.
He looked up to the bright coloured mint green sky and started chewing on the mangosteen that grew on the tree above him. His long, beautiful ink black hair hung gracefully behind his ears, over his shoulders. On his body, he had royal blue silk robes that weren't wide by the sleeves, which would come in handy if he had to fight one day.
On his left wrist where the tight sleeved robe ended was a black jade bracelet that matched perfectly with the black jade tassel hanging at his waist and black brocade boots.
Jihoon lifted the last of the mangosteen to his lips and pushed it into his mouth, the juices seeped out from the sides of his lips and made him stick out his tongue to lick it up before it dripped down.
Closing his eyes, he thought back to the young man who stood in the clouds in Deadmans Wonderland with his crimson robe flowing with the wind, thinking to himself, [Kang Jinha, you are as handsome as ever.] He took a deep breath in and opened his eyes….
Instantly he regretted it because what was in front of him was the skeleton of a young girl that wore a dirty pink dress with holes in it and it had a bamboo fan in its left hand. This scene made his heart jump to his throat, swallowing hard he said while wiping the sweat that formed on his forehead, "Haha, why must you scare me like this?"
The skeleton tilted its head to the side and opened its mouth, answering in a little girl's voice, "Jihoon, did Haha scare you again?"
Jihoon, "Mn, did you miss me?"
Haha, "Haha always misses you."
She sat down in his lap and opened her broken bamboo fan, waving it gently for fresh air.
Haha, "Oppa?"
Jihoon, "Mn?"
Haha, "The woman who gave birth to you is sending gifts to you and praying for your soul to return to her."
Hearing this he stroked the little girls one strand of hair and patted her on her skull and said, "Jihoon has haha now, I am not going anywhere."
Haha leaned back against him and continued waving her fan. She soon fell asleep in his arms. He picked her up in his arms and walked down the hill. Walking towards a dome-shaped house, entering it. The dome home was dark inside but as he walked deeper the pathway grew width wise and green flames lit the way for him.
He reached the end of the path where three doors stood. Choosing the left door, he opened it and entered. Immediately a dense and intense bloody aroma bombarded his nose.
Jihoon did not flinch because of the bloody stench, this was nothing compared to what he smelt a week ago. In the middle of the room was a cauldron filled with boiling blood that released bubbles of gas - the cause of the stench.
He walked up the steps leading to the cauldron and knelt down next to the side of it. He took the bamboo fan out of Haha hands and placed it down next to the cauldron. He then took off her dress and threw it on the floor beneath the steps.
Standing at the edge of the pool, he slowly bent down and placed Haha in the blood, moving one hand at a time, he then helped her sink to the bottom of the cauldron by pushing her down with his left hand so she could rest in the warm bloody bath.
Standing up, he looked at her skull that was slowly sinking, squinting his eyes slightly then turning around to leave.
He exited the dome-like cave and appeared inside the library pavilion of one of the most heavily guarded pavilions in the Heavenly Soul's cultivation school.
~~
Since Seungho was new to demonic cultivation, he thought that it would be best if he read about it and what better way than to read the books from the Heavenly Soul's huge collection of demonic cultivation skills and techniques that they keep hidden in the library pavilion's forbidden sections?
It was between the Hai Zi period and after the You period, the pavilion would be locked because it was after hours. Although the young cultivators were still walking around outside the time for the library pavilion was set to close at the end of the You period. Checkouts were finalized and rotation of the guards was done at the end of the You period too.
(a/n: Hai period 21:00 - 22:00, Zi period 23:00 - 00:00, You period 17:00 - 18:00)
Stepping in the air one inch off the ground, Jihoon hovered while walking to the end of the library pavilions hallway, then down two stories of white jade steps stopping in front of a crystal embedded gate. Looking at the gate he stood there for a moment trying to figure out how to enter it without setting off the mechanism that would trigger the spiritual array protecting the gate.
Seeing that her master had stopped moving, the miniature human with silver-white hair hanging loosely down her shoulders, wearing a black robe adorned with bright green patterns on the hems and black ribbon that crisscrossed her pale white legs all the way to her thighs. Her transparent wings that gave off a bright green shimmer, lit up the passageway.
"Master?" she called out to him in her gentle and soft voice.
Jihoon, "Lanhua?"
Lanhua, "Master, what seems to be the problem?"
Rubbing his chin, Jihoon answered with a slight frown, "This array doesn't seem to have a weakness."
Lanhua tilted her head to the left to see her masters face clearly while her little hands touched Jihoon's left cheek so that she didn't accidentally fall off and trigger the array her master was avoiding on the ground as he walked. Jihoon saw the little human peaking at him from the bottom of his left eye and his frown turned to a smile.
Lanhua smiled at her master then turned to look at the gate. Her beautiful white eyes turned bright green and her vision became clearer, allowing her to see past the array and into the forbidden room.
After a few seconds passed she said, "Master, the power inside your body is ten thousand years old, you will be able to bypass everything younger than ten thousand years of age, but since the Heavenly Soul cultivation school is a little years over ten thousand, you would have problems here and there but in this case, master doesn't have to worry."
Jihoon moved his left hand up to his cheek allowing Lanhua to sit in his palm. Bringing her to eye level, he stared at her and asked, "No?" Nodding her head happily she answered, "This array was created not more than one thousand years ago. Although the Heavenly Soul cultivation school was created ten thousand years ago, this doesn't apply to everything inside the Heavenly Soul cultivation school."
Squinting his eyes at her he asked, "Explain."
"Master, you may not know this but when the world started, everything was widely accepted this includes the practising of the dark arts, but in recent years because of the occurrences of the demonic cultivating sects, the founders of many sects who do not practice the dark arts fear the dark arts miserably," she answered.
Continuing she said, "Master should also know that the demonic cultivators grow viciously powerful and sometimes things can go wrong like for instance, not being able to control the resentful energy within one's core, can lead to another disaster like what happened with the Rave Sects master, Kong Wuqing."
Jihoon, "Kong Wuqing?"
Lanhua, "Yes Kong Wuqing."
Jihoon, "Then how is it that I am able to control the resentful energy within me?"
Lanhua looked at her master and grin, "Because they willingly gave up their power to live inside you, think about it, wouldn't you also give yourself up to finally leave that awful place? And master do not forget, another reason is that you were still alive when you reached the centre of the valley, this made all the spirits and souls happy and after seeing the hate within your eyes you became the perfect vessel."
"Master should also not forget the words the elder being advised when the contract was sealed."
Taking in a deep breath, Jihoon looked at the door once more and asked, "So I can enter this door and nothing will happen right?"
Looking down at the little fairy in his hand. She reassured him with a graceful nod and turned her head as Jihoon took a step. Bright green flames wrapped his body and the two of them walked through the wall with ease. He stood in his step as he entered and waited patiently for fifteen minutes to pass. Lanhua who was in his palm was laying on her stomach swinging her legs in the air while her chin rested in her palms.
When the fifteen-minute mark passed Jihoon was now one hundred percent certain that they wouldn't get caught. Inside the room, he saw that there weren't many books, from the look of it there was only two hundred to three hundred books in here.
With a flick of his wrist, Jihoon commanded the bright green flame to wrap around each book and open them. When they were all open, he flipped his wrist again and book-sized bamboo mats flew out from his robe, just the right amount to match the number of books in the room.
He snapped his fingers, then the bright green flames surrounding each book flipped through the pages and returned the books to their respective spots on the shelves, each flame flew to a bamboo mat and started engraving the contents of the books on them. This took no longer than a few seconds for each book. When the flames were done, they rolled the mats up and brought them to Jihoon, lining up orderly as though each of them was conscious of being tidy.
A black hole opened on Jihoons left palm allowing the flames to drop the bamboo mats into the black hole then return to his body. With the last flame entering his body, he disappeared and returned to his place under the tree with the transparent leaves.
Sitting down on the grass, he pulled out one of the bamboo mats from the black hole in his left hand and opened it halfway, with the rest of the mat rolled into his left.
Lanhua moved out from hiding under his collar and climbed to the top of his head. She ruffled his hair to make a space for herself to lay down on then placed her little body in that spot and closed her eyes to rest.