Sakura Nation was one of the four bordering nations and was a medium sized country in the human alliance. It was a country with over two hundred star systems and planets under its control. Its capital planet was also called Sakura Planet.
Sakura Planet was a very beautiful planet. It was a temperate planet with an extremely beautiful habitat. It was idolized as a great tourist planet where people flocked to watch the pink Cherry blossoms that showered everywhere. The cherry blossoms were trees said to originate from the very ancient history of humans when they originated from the progenitor planet.
Unlike other places, Sakura planet also had an odd tradition where the locals avoided technology. Holographic devices and the like were very rare over there and gave the planet a very ancient feel.
In a bustling farmer's market on the planet, all kinds of fruits, foods, trinkets and other specialities particular to Sakura were being sold. Quietly observing the items for sale and chatting with the shopkeepers was a young man who was none other than Red.
Red had been spending the last couple of days finding his footing and trying to gauge the general situation on the planet. Like all other major clans and the royalty, Chiba Clan was situated on Sakura planet and it had been his primary destination.
Suddenly he saw something that made him angry. A small girl who couldn't be older than eight or nine was on the road, crying. She was in a pretty blue frock and looked lost, before a woman came to suddenly drag her away and the girl screamed in fear. Red immediately felt something was wrong and that the woman was not familiar to the child who looked lost and scared.
Growing up as an orphan, Red was very sensitive to these things and immediately rushed to the woman. "Why are you scaring the child? Are you related to her?" He asked in an elevated and angry voice. When others heard that they looked in their direction.
The woman who had been forcible dragging the little kid suddenly got flustered. When the little kid saw Red, she ran and hid behind his legs asking him to save her. When Red heard that he looked at the woman with furious eyes. The woman was flustered, before she said she was trying to take the child to the police and left.
Red picked up the little girl and bought her a fruit. The shopkeepers also joined to help him, they had realized what had happened. Red asked the little girl what happened to her and if she was lost.
"Elder brother, I had come to see cherry blossoms with my elder sister but then I got lost. That scary auntie was taking me away." The little girl said with tears welling up in her eyes. When Red heard that he patted her head.
"What is little girl's name? Don't be afraid, Elder brother Red and the shopkeeper uncles will help find your sister.
"My name is Yui, thank you for helping me Elder brother Red."
"Okay Yui-chan, don't worry, we will take you to the police and help find your elder sister." Red consoled. The little girl Yui innocently nodded before she looked towards the fruits in the stall with glass bead like eyes. Red smiled when he saw that and bought a few fruits for the little girl, who was innocently eating.
Suddenly he saw a group of soldiers arrive with a woman at the helm. When the shopkeepers saw the soldiers they were frightened and tried to hide in plain sight. The woman point at Red.
"Capture that man! To dare to abduct my sister in the capital, take him to the dungeons!" She yelled in anger. When Red heard that he was dumbfounded and even the little girl Yui got scared.
The soldiers captured Red who didn't resist, but he had a weird look in his eyes as he bitterly shook his head. The woman went to Yui and petted her. "Yui-chan you can't run away lile that! Luckily I saved you from that dangerous man! Didn't I tell you to stay away from strangers?"
Yui tried to explain but the young woman didn't listen and Red was taken to the dungeon. The soldiers had seen that the woman was angry at the young man and thus Red was sentenced to 50 frog lashes and prison time. When Red heard that his eyes flashed with rage, but he knew that fighting would only make things worse. He hoped that the little girl could help clear his name.
The frog lashing began immediately Lashings were extremely painful and the lashes were laced with electric current, which gave them an extra sting. This was a fearful punishment and many might even die before the lashings even finished.
Yet, the shirtless Red was silently absorbing each lash. He was angry, but he knew lashing out wouldn't help. He quietly practiced cultivation, absorbing the heaven's energy and felt that each time he was lashed, a sudden burst of energy got converted into qi gas within his dantian. Inwardly pleased at this discovery, Red focused on increasing the amount of qi gas.
Qi condensation was a stage where the energy of heaven was converted into the internal qi used by the practitioner. In the initial stages the qi is a gas, but as the concentration increases, the gas slowly would condense into a liquid, This was the primary process of qi condensation. When all of the gas would be converted into liquid would be the point of breakthrough into foundation establishment.
The young woman who had had Red incarcerated was actually the fourth princess of the Sakura Nation and Red had immediately recognized her from his information, however, he was puzzled because there was no information about a younger sister. When the princess and little Yui went back to the palace, Yui finally got the chance to explain what happened and the princess was horrified.
Immediately she made her way to the dungeon with guilt in her heart. She went quickly so that she could pardon the man and thank him for saving her younger sister, however, when she arrived she saw that the man was being flogged.
The flogging was supposed to be a punishment and usually the criminals would be at the verge of death or crying by 20 lashes, yet Red had remained completely silent with not a sound or reaction. This had only served to anger the soldiers, who were using increasingly higher power to cruelly lash Red. This routine continued until the 47th slash when the Princess suddenly arrived and saw that the man she mistakenly blamed was being lashed.