Red returned back to the Palace on Sakura Planet, this time with Shuli in tow. He introduced Shuli as his adopted sister, who was in the same orphanage as him. Before returning, he had made a fake identity for Shuli. Shuli was a few years older than Red, but for Asuras she was slightly younger than him physiologically and in disguise looked like a younger sister.
Yui was very interested in Red's sister and developed a kind of weird competitive spirit on meeting her. Shuli was initially pissed off at Red, but being a princess herself, she was soon able to sort things with the child and manage to befriend her. Red had tried to contact the old beggar in the meantime, but he hadn't responded. Red spent his time widening the qi storage as the old beggar guided him so that he could stuff in more qi gas within his dantian.
Rin initially had suspicions that Red was going to the ruins, but it turned out that who ever entered the ruins had died and another powerful phenomenon had occured on the planet. Tensions were even higher now, but Sakura Kingdom was told that its safety was guaranteed so they didn't need to worry. The only suspect at the ruin seemed to be a mysterious man with a clown mask, but he too was suspected to have died in the incident. Moreover, Red had returned with a sister, so it was unlikely he was at the ruin.
One day Old Beggar arrived at the castle and requested to meet Red. Red went to meet him along with Shuli. The old beggar shook his head. "Truly the student exceeds the teacher, you even got an Asura princess as a companion." When Shuli heard that she was shocked. She was currently disguised, but even so this old man could immediately identify her with one look.
"Will you cut the crap already? Today you have to settle the receipts for all the near death situations you've put me in. I already almost died for the fifth time in a month!" Red said angrily. The old beggar looked at Red weirdly. "Kid, I am a teacher. I can give you guidance. I am not your Horoscope reader, how would I know you attract bad luck everywhere you go?" When Red heard that he was dumbfounded. What the old beggar said did make sense. But then he suddenly remembered something. "You swindled the talisman of that idiot Roy. He was actually a demon sealer! You almost had me killed?" When the old beggar heard that he was shocked. "Demon Sealer? How is that possible?"
Red then told him everything that occured in the ruin and the whole deal with the Primal Soul Hall. "Oh... that fool was no Demon Sealer. He had that stupid snail seal, which is a low grade demon sealing treasure. I just gave him some tips on how to unlock it and stole his talisman in the meantime." When Red heard that he almost exploded, but the old beggar didn't allow him. "To think that you even angered that crazy woman from Primal Soul Hall. She's been running around fighting and threatening everyone in search of a clown. I'd stay away from her if I were you." Shuli was constantly getting more and more bewildered by their conversation. Both master and disciple were crazy in the head!
Red told the old beggar about Flame Tribulation's ascension and he nodded saying he knew about it. Red then pointed to Shuli. "Since you already know who she is, you must be knowing her situation. She is a martial arts genius, why don't you take her as a disciple?"!
The Old beggar looked at Shuli. "She is indeed very talented. But I am not an appropriate teacher for her. Besides...don't you already have a powerful teacher? If he finds out that I took her on as a disciple, that buffoon will come running to beat me up again. I don't want that additional headache." Shuli was surprised. Not many people knew that a pinnacle expert had actually taken her in as a student.
"Elder knows my teacher?" Shuli asked, her manner becoming more respectful on realizing that Red's teacher was her teacher's peer. The old beggar nodded and looked into the skies, reminiscing old times. "I remember when he was a little kid. Such a mischievous lad, I swindled a lot of treasures out of him, haha." When Shuli heard that she was shocked.
The old beggar thought for a bit. "How about this. I'll assign you both some training." When Red heard that he rolled his eyes. Red already knew what was coming next was going to be some stupid machinations of the old beggar.
However, what he heard next stunned him. "I can enlist the both of you to become ground agents on a planet. You both can spend some time there honing your battle skills killing alien creatures. Have you heard of Planet Bellesimo?"
Red had not, but Shuli got wide eyed as if she heard a crazy proposition. "Bellesimo... You want us to hunt Zergs?"
The old beggar nodded. "Bellesimo is a high gravity wasteland planet overpopulated with Zergs. No one was interested in it, until recently. Now the human alliance wants to colonize the planet, but the cost will be harrowing. We are talking about Zergs after all."
Red was dumbfounded. He hadn't heard of Zergs before, but the trace of fear in Shuli's eyes and the dim light in the old beggar's told him this would be challenging. However, it would be a great opportunity to level up his Bloodline Art since it needed blood energy which would ample in a battlefield.
"What are Zergs?" Red asked. The Old beggar looked towards the sky and sighed. "We do not know." He said. "They look like insects, however, they are extremely dangerous. Their biggest danger isn't their strength, but their incredulous reproductive capabilities which make it extremely difficult to eradicate Zergs once a planet has been occupied by them. Because they look different from any other species in the galaxy, they are theorized to actually be descendants of a species from beyond the galaxy."