Hyeon suddenly jolts up and springs from his bed drenched in cold sweat. He immediately flinches from the pain all over his body especially on his abdomen. He glances down and sees that he is no longer wearing his Blue Gi. Bandages covered his torso, and red tint stained cloth covers are neatly folded beside him. He is dumbfounded upon inspecting the small room. It is like a storage room filled with various scrolls and books, a table sits in the far end of the room with a strange orange orb sitting on it comfortably with a soft pillow, a singular chair rests upon a table, and on the table, a kettle steams along with a bucket and a wet cloth.
"-"
He tried to speak but was cut short by soft footsteps that could be heard outside. A silhoutte of an old man, hunched back, with a hat can be seen going around outside. The old man enters the room with a smile.
"Ah, you are finally awake! I found you just outside my humble home." The old man says in a warm and welcoming manner.
"My name is Gohan. Please, have some tea, it will help you relax." The old man says as he reaches for the steaming kettle and pours a hot tea into a ceramic tea cup.
Hyeon takes a sip from the cup and releases a short sigh of relief. He breathes deeply and is clearly hurting from the injuries.
"You have my deepest gratitude, Master Gohan. My name is Hyeon" Hyeon says with a smile.
Gohan smiles and raises his grey eyebrow with the remark and says "Master? Hahaha, you flatter me. Now, focus on your recovery."
Hyeon lies down and closes his eyes, he thinks back to the events before he woke up at Gohan's place. The Justice Faction, Cheon Ma, the Scroll.
"That Scroll must have been my salvation after all... Even in death you still look out to the weak, Master Cheon Ma." He mutters in a deep sigh of relief.
He jolts back up and asked, almost shouting,
"How far are we from the Ten Thousand Mountains? What happened to the Justice Faction? What happened to the Heavenly Palace?"
Gohan seemed confused from the questions and says
"I do not know of these things. I never heard of them."
"Never heard of them? Surely you must have heard of the Justice Faction and Cheon Ma!" Hyeon exclaims, confused and distraught.
Gohan just looks at him confused and says with a warm smile, "I never heard of any of the things you said. It must be from another country."
Hyeon gulps from the notion that he is at a foreign country. He looks at Gohan and asked,
"Where is this?"
"Mount Paozu." Gohan replies.
Hyeon's mind races, thinking of a place named Mount Paozu. He thinks and thinks but could not even pin-point the name let alone the location of Mount Paozu.
"Would you care to enlighten me more about this place?" Hyeon asks probing for more information.
Gohan would then explain where Mount Paozu generally is, it's surrounding valleys, and nearby cities. Hyeon could not believe what he is hearing. Places like Mount Paozu, East Valley, Skull Valley, East City, and West City all do not exist in the Murim World. Not even the Empire possess such places. Then it dawned on him. In Hyeon's mind he asks himself
Could I have been sent to another world by the scroll? That has to be it! There could be no other explanation.
"I know you have done so much for me already Master Gohan, but I must ask you to let me stay here... Atleast until I recover." Hyeon asks with plead in his eyes.
Hyeon wants to process the information and let it sink in. For all he knows, his entire world has ended. The death of Cheon Ma whatever their relationship was, the destruction of the Heavenly Palace, the Justice Faction where he once lived and served turned against him and branded him as a traitor.
"Of course, take your time." Gohan says with a smile. With that, he tidies up the tea cups and leaves the small house, leaving Hyeon alone for now.
Hyeon breathes deeply in a meditative lotus stance with his eyes closed. Feeling the Ki from his body, he finds his Dantian fairly intact. He feels the energy around him and finds Gohan's Ki signature. He is surprised to see Gohan's Ki is almost equal to his own. Hyeon took almost a century to refine his Ki and train Martial Arts.
Will you look at that? He is a Master after all...
He begins to gather the energy around him and circulate his Ki. Focusing on healing his wounds. He noticed just how impure and messy his Ki was as it flowed throughout his body through networks of tangled channels, Meridians, and his Dantian.
If only I had a proper master to guide me...
Days pass by, as Hyeon focused on his recovery, he watches as Gohan practice Martial Arts. He notices that Gohan's fighting style is not as graceful as the Plum Blossom Techniques of Mount Hua but it's just as strong. Its not as brutal as the Demonic Cult yet its just as powerful.
Intrigued by Gohan's Martial Arts, Hyeon steps out of the house and asked Gohan for a sparring match.
"Are you sure? You must focus on resting and recovering." Gohan says with a concern on his face.
Hyeon gives him a wrinkled smile and replied
"Excessive resting will rot my rickety old bones. Besides, exercise helps in one'e recovery."
Gohan nods with a smile and both of them get into their fighting stance. Hyeon's stance is wide and grounded, while Gohan's was that of a praying mantis.
Winds blow beneath the feet of the two fighters, and there was a deafening silence between them. Both anticipating for the other's move, Gohan initiates with an after-image technique. Gohan seemingly vanished and left an illusion of his own image through sheer speed. Hyeon, surprised to see this technique gets caught off-guard as he was struck on his left shoulder two times with the Mantis Style strikes. Hyeon flinches and he was kicked to his left lower rib with a well connected side-kick. Hyeon grunts in pain as he regains his composure, following up with a wide movement to chase down the retreating Gohan. The movement is flowing and wide. As Gohan looks at Hyeon's style, it resembled that of a Dragon.
"Soaring Dragon Fist!" Hyeon shouts and throws a punch, sending his own body flying towards Gohan.
"Ki?" Gohan whispers as he switches his stance, arms crossed across his body and legs tucked in.
With a sudden burst of movement, Gohan spreads his limbs and lets out a strong blast of Ki, the Explosion Wave, around his body to try and stop Hyeon's attack. A loud booming sound explodes in the area as Hyeon makes contact with the expanding Ki. Hyeon stopped in his tracks but quickly prepares another attack, going on the offensive.
"Dance of the Thundering Dragon!" Hyeon shouts as he performs steps of what seemed to be carefully choreographed fighting moves.
He steps his right foot forward in a clockwise direction, and upon stomping down his feet, he swings his right arm with it while simultaneously performing a quick jab at Gohan. The jab was so fast that it sounded like an equestrian whipping his horse. The jab is still quite a distant away from Gohan so he didn't get hit. Hyeon steps his left foot forward in a clockwise direction while his left arm performs a hammer fist downwards. Gohan is still out of reach but his movements start to pick up the pace. He lifts up his right knee near his chest while crossing his arms across his chest with his clenched fist, he slams his right foot down forward to bring his stance low on the ground, torso parallel to it and his arms outstretched on both sides. Now ever closer to Gohan, his movements accelerates, he springs his legs up with an explosive power and hits Gohan with an uppercut.
Gohan just barely managed to block the uppercut but still sent him flying about two meters high when he sees that Hyeon already switched his steps into an axe kick that tugged his clothes to bring him downward. Gohan rolls with the tug and upon recovering his stance, he sees Hyeon about to perform a double palm strike. Gohan blocks with his left elbow and knee but still managed to get knocked back a bit.
Gohan puts his hands, palms facing forward, and pulls it to his side, preparing to perform the Kamehameha. Just then, before he could even charge up his Ki, Hyeon collapses to the ground, unconscious.