There was no one but her in the alleyway. Still, Bai Hua didn't dare move from where she was, fearing that someone was still around.
As the young girl was left alone in those streets, Xue Lan was long gone. She carried the man by his neck, dragging him away from the city. Blood dripped from his body and his eyes had nothing but fear and shock.
What happened? One second he was about to make Bai Hua his and the next second, there was blood dripping out of his mouth.
It all happened so fast that not even he realized it.
"Ugh, my... body, what is this pain? Who could've... done this? I'm a cultivator. I just reached the third stage too. How could I have been beaten... like this?"
He could barely think, his sight kept going black as his consciousness was fading.
"I... am I going to die like this?"
Unfortunately, he thought too soon as his body was suddenly thrown back, slamming against a tree trunk.
'Urgh."
Groaning in pain, he could only look down at his body, finally seeing the terrible state it was in.
"O-oh, my arms... my legs... What happened to them?!" he muttered in shock, seeing his limbs broken and twisted into inhuman shapes.
Mustering his strength, he forced his head up and looked at his attacker. Fear struck him as he saw the red eyes staring at him intensely.
"Yo- you, were you the one who did this to me? Do you know who I am? Who I work for? Do you not know of the Chen Clan?"
His words came out weakly but there was still that arrogant tone.
But Xue Lan was quiet, she just stared at him. Something inside her was burning, raging with fury, only anger and disgust filled her. She just knelt down, looking at him before forcing her hand into his chest.
She was slow with it, making sure to break through the flesh and bone thoroughly. And with her other hand, the woman covered his mouth, stopping him from making even a sound.
"Wasn't this what you did to her? Now you can't scream for help, can you?" she muttered very quietly.
"How does it feel?" Xue Lan asked.
Her crimson gaze stared straight into his eyes, no matter how much he wanted to scream, he couldn't. Even as his heart was ripped out of his own chest, he was frozen in place. The glowing red eyes were bewitching, he could only stare back until his dying breath.
"Agh... ah..."
Having watched him die, she looked at the heart beating weakly.
"Disgusting."
Raising it over her mouth, she slowly crushed it, letting the blood flow into her mouth. Drinking it, she felt her body warm up as the energy flowed through her. Closing her eyes, she let it circulate through her veins but it wasn't long before she opened them.
"Hmph, was that it?" she muttered to herself.
There was a look of dissatisfaction on her face, no doubt, this kill was not enough. It was far from enough.
"I should take a look at the Compendium."
Remembering the book she purchased, Xue Lan took it out of her spatial ring and began to read through it. With a closer look at it, the Compendium of Cultivation was rather thick with over a hundred pages to it. However, many of those pages were images but were a necessary addition to it.
"In order to become a cultivator, one must have the talent and the endurance to undergo the 'Awakening' where they awaken their meridians... It is an excruciating process that can cause those who are weak to go berserk... I see, then I had almost gone crazy, that must've been it."
She muttered to herself, reading with interest.
{There are the Twelve Standard Meridians and the Eight Extraordinary Points, the former is to strengthen one's body while the latter is to help gather and use spiritual energy. For cultivators, the Mortal Realm is where one focuses on the Twelve Standard Meridians, cultivating them to strengthen their bodies. Once they've reached the peak of the Mortal Realm, they can then move on to the Eight Extraordinary Points where they go through a second 'Awakening'. The first 'Awakening' will only open the Twelve Standard Meridians while the second opens the Eight Extraordinary Points.}
Xue Lan looked at the many images where she saw the drawing of the human body. There were multiple red and white dots, each one representing one of the meridians or points. All of them even had names tied to them.
Putting the book down, she closed her eyes and crossed her legs.
"I wonder if all of these points had been activated."
Thinking to herself, her energy began to circulate as she took her time sensing the internal state of her body. Every now and then, she would stop to reference the book, trying to pinpoint each meridian.
"So I have the Twelve Standard Meridians and the Eight Extraordinary Points then I should be in the Spirit Realm, right?"
Looking back at the book, she continued where she left off.
"It is in the Spirit Realm that one will begin to gain powers beyond one's imagination and harness the energy of the world. That energy is known as Spiritual Energy... So I am at the Spirit Realm", she muttered.
Going through each page carefully, the woman was engrossed in the book, not stopping until the sun arose. At that point, she was nearing the end of the book but it was the most important part of it.
{Within cultivation, there is the righteous and the evil path. It is the same path but the method of walking it is different. The path of Evil Cultivation will break rules, it will skip certain things. It is forceful and it is dangerous, much more dangerous than the other path. But the higher the risk, the higher the reward. The evil path will always have its allure and one can never leave it..}
Having read that, her face showed a rather grim look.
"One can never leave it", she muttered.
Xue Lan took a moment to think about that line before continuing her reading. And when she finally stopped, there was a look of satisfaction as many questions were answered.
"So I am at the first stage of the Spirit Realm though it looks like my meridians are somewhat damaged. It must've been because of the 'awakening' that was forced onto me by that evil cultivator. Though my powers, my Dao... what is my Dao?" she asked herself.
When reading about it in the Compendium of Cultivation, the woman found it confusing.
"If the Dao is a way of life or a path, what is mine?" she wondered, "If practically anything can be the Dao, what would mine be?"
Faced with this question, Xue Lan couldn't think of an answer. After all, what she wanted was revenge for her own family, could that be a Dao?
"No, how would I even cultivate that? It has to be something else. It should be innate, something that I resonate with. There are the five elements: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. Those are all Daos of their own but I don't think I've used anything like that before."
She then looked back to the city.
"Looks like I'll need to pay another visit.", she thought.
Meanwhile, within the Chen Clan, there was a young man dressed in an elegant set of yellow robes. With his hair tied into a bun, he had his eyes closed, standing in the middle of an open courtyard. His breath was slow as he breathed in and out.
He was in a stance, wielding a three-sectional staff in his hands.
After a few moments, he began to move slowly spinning the staff around before gaining speed. He just stood there as the staff spun before leaping around and swinging it with control. Soon enough, it began to howl as it whipped around, cracking every time he pulled it back.
Sparks began to fly and lightning gathered around the first and third sections.
He began to strike out at the empty space, attacking with a swift flurry as his body leaped and spun with the staff. After a hundred moves, he yelled out before striking the ground in front of him. The strike was loud, almost thundering as it created a small shockwave.
The stone ground had been turned black and cracks spread out several feet from the point he struck.
Releasing his breath, he lifted his weapon off the ground and folded it before putting it away.
Off to the side were a group of guards, all of which had somewhat nervous looks on their faces. An attendant suddenly walked up to him, holding a dish with a silk handkerchief. Grabbing it, he wiped the sweat off his face before looking at the guards.
"Where's Huai Lang? How come I don't see him with you all?" he asked.
The guards all glanced at each other before one of them stepped forward.
"We... we don't know, Young Master Chen. We haven't seen him since last night when he went off to do some private business."
The young master raised a brow.
"Private business? What private business does he have that I cannot know?"