"Stop!" The princess yelled. But the 48th lash hit anyway, yet Red had no reaction at all. The soldiers who had taken turns to lash the young man were perspiring with sweat, and the young man's back looked red and tender as if it would peel off any moment, yet he made no sound.
"Release him, he is innocent." The princess said, but she was wracked with even more guilt now. She was usually never so hasty, yet without analyzing the situation, panicked that her sister was abducted she immediately got him incarcerated and he was sentenced to lashings.
The soldiers released Red, who unhurriedly put his shirt on, before making his way out to leave. The princess wanted to say many things, but she felt it would only embarrass her further.
"I am sorry for jumping to conclusions and blaming you." The princess finally said. However, Red didn't react at all. He simply ignored her and walked out of the dungeons and out of the palace grounds before disappearing into the crowds in the street. When the princess saw that the man didn't even deign a response to her stupidity she was flushed in embarrassment.
The soldiers though, had a chill in their spine. The princess may not have realized it, but when she apologized, Red had flared with anger and a wisp of killing intent had emanated from him but he quickly hid it again. The soldiers immediately felt a momentary fear.
"My princess, we cannot let such a person who has developed a grudge go scott free." The captain of the soldiers commented.
"He is innocent. I already got him lashed in my hastiness, you want me to get him killed now?" The princess asked with a hint of anger.
The captain, however, shook his head. "No ordinary person could take 48 lashes so quietly despite being innocent. He was innocent, yet he didn't even argue or plead against the punishment. Having the grudge of such a person being punished despite being innocent is no good thing."
The princess was in deep thought, but did not do anything else. She may have been hasty and judgemental, but she wasn't evil.
Red had completely different plans entirely. He had discovered discrepancy between the information he had received and the existence of this little girl Yui. But he couldn't act rashly now that he was already in the eyes of the palace. He went to his inn and spent a week just cultivating inside. The lashing and the reaction had let him have insights towards condensing his qi and his dantian was filled with the red colored qi gas and its concentration was increasing rapidly and becoming very dense.
Red had felt his power rising a lot in the past few days. Even though he was practicing qi cultivation, he never forgot tempering his body. The Fundamental Combat Techniques and the constant absorption of heaven's energy by his Chakra points to feed his body's cells and increase their firmness was a gradual process that wouldn't end. It was the complementary body cultivation which would gradually keep improving his body in tandem with qi cultivation of the Profound Asura Scripture.
When he felt the eyes on him reduce, Red managed to sneak out and collect information. Yui, the little girl, was actually the king's illegitimate child and had no right to the throne. Her identity had only been revealed as the king had come close to his deathbed, asking his children to take good care of this little girl. The princess, whose name was Rin, was particularly close this little girl.
He was not able to find out much information about the Chiba clan. They had been awfully quiet and it was almost as if they were taking a back seat from the competition for the throne, in stark contrast to what he had heard from the information broker.
Red decided to investigate in some of the markets owned by the Chiba clan to see if there was any suspicious movements. The main thing he had come to investigate is why the four cultivators had tried to capture a soul cultivator and why the Chiba clan had snatched them in the end. He wondered if it was to obtain a soul cultivation art, after all soul cultivation was a mysterious path and very few people had access to that heritage.
In the Chiba clan's controlled markets, Red was looking at items to purchase, occassionally picking up items. He found that Chiba clan sold a lot of cultivator trinkets and martial arts. At one particular stall, he found a small white slab that interested him. He walked up to the stall and asked about what various items were, while slipping in the white stone that had caused his heart to tremor for a moment when he had observed it.
"What's that white soap? Is it good for the skin?" Red asked mockingly. The stall owner laughed before explaining. "I don't know what trinket it is, but it is very valuable...Don't tell anyone but this was found in a ruin by Chiba clan members."
Red scoffed. "Who are you trying to fool here. It looks like a bar of soap, i bet it even feels like one too." Saying that he picked up the white stone and felt that it had an extremely complex texture on touch, but seemed very smooth on sight.
The stall owner rubbed his nose. "Okay, I admit I don't know what it is and it doesn't do anything at all. But it was found in a ruin. I'll sell it to you for ten thousand units." Red shook his head. "I am a poor young man. I only have 2000 units and I'm not going to waste it on soap."
The shopkeeper got agitated and called Red closer before whispering in his ear. "Listen kid, I want to clear off my table because a new stock is coming soon. I won't lie to you, this really was found in a ruin by our Chiba Clan's young master. Although it doesn't do anything, you can sell it on some other planet for a lot more." Red didn't say anything, but he made an extremely reluctant face before he finally paid two thousand and got the stone.
Yet the stone didn't have any reaction when he touched it. He also tried to inject his qi into it but it had no reaction at all. He wondered if he had been fooled by the stall owner, and bitterly kept the stone within his pocket.