“What?” Zilan awoke back in the chamber, stunned.
“A day in the Cloud Inheritance Palace has passed and four hours have gone by in the physical world.” Repeated Hihi.
Zilan was about to nod in understanding when Hihi following words caught him off guard.
“Four hours since you got back from Origin that is.”
“I don’t understand.” Said Zilan.
“Your physical body was transported to Origin. That means you were living in a place that knows no concept of time as Origin is beyond time. Do you understand?” Hihi was amused by Zilan’s lack of knowledge.
“So…how much time has passed since we departed for Origin. We were only there for a litt_…’”
“About three months.” Interrupted Hihi. From his tone one could gather that he was desperately restraining himself from laughing.
“You’re joking.” Zilan found it unbelievable. To him, the events that took place in Origin lasted about a day, two at the most. How could three months’ worth of time have flown by just like that.
‘I have to see this for myself.’
He hastily exited the chamber, rushing down the stairs and although he was prepared for it, he was still shocked by what he saw.
The plants that had been placed as decoration around the house were now almost fully grown, they clearly weren’t that way when he last saw them. Things around the house had been moved around and some were downright missing. One or two things would be a coincidence but multiple changes forced Zilan to accept the reality of the situation.
“Who?” Kifo’s deep voice echoed throughout the house before appearing before Zilan in the next instant.
“Z..Zilan?” Asked Kifo, sceptically.
“Kifo, what’s wrong?”
“Hahaha, you’re back….I don’t care why you left, I’m sure it was important but I don’t care, as long as your back. Now we can make those bastards pay.”
Zilan was taken aback by the joy he could see on Kifo’s face.
‘Make who pay? Something must happened.’
“Calm down Kifo, explain everything to me.”
………………..
A few hours later,
Kifo took his time explaining to Zilan everything that had transpired in the past three months. Halfway through the explanation, Fujo arrived and he had an even more exaggerated reaction than Kifo, directly hugging him.
It wasn’t until after the explaining was done that he finally understood why they reacted the way they did. Things had unexpectedly been blown out of proportions to the extent that Zilan himself was unable to believe it.
The first month after his departure, things went smoothly. Both Kifo and Fujo didn’t dare disturb Zilan as they thought he was in the process of some crucial training.
Halfway through the second month though, an unexpected guest paid a visit to the Purple Heart Two Flames camp. It was Senior Mo.
He had finally arrived and he stood outside the Camp gates, shouting for Zilan’s Half Breed self to come out and honour the challenge. Kifo and Fujo sent word that he was in closed door training and they didn’t know when he would come out. Senior Mo wasn’t having it though, he sat outside of the camp grounds for a half month waiting for the Half Breed to reveal himself. Seeing that nothing was happening, he grew unhappy and thus the chaos began.
Rumours about how Zilan refused to honour the challenge began swirling. To Beasts, challenges were sacred, once dealt one must go through with it. Not to mention in this case many believed Mo was on the side of righteousness, since he wanted to ‘punish’ the Half Breed for his acts against his students. The Beasts of the Alchemy Association’s anger was thus, finally roused. Those who had witnessed his performance at the Ranking tournament were even more enraged by this as they felt this Half Breed was continuously mocking their traditions.
As days became weeks and weeks turned into a month, the rumour mill grew even more chaotic and lies upon lies about Zilan were being spread out to incite the masses. This obviously could not be a coincidence and of course, it wasn’t. Through Amani, Kifo and Fujo were informed that Zest was involved and that another hidden figure was also fanning the flames from the shadows for who knows what benefit.
This should have been the end of it but Senior Mo’s master, Elder Jingiza, had suddenly appeared out of nowhere and threw out a statement claiming that the Half Breed had refused to accept a Master as those of the Alchemy Association were not up to his standards.
Upon hearing this from Kifo, Zilan visibly grew annoyed. Who the hell had he offended that was pulling these strings to paint an unfavourable image of him as a rebel that looked down on Beasts?
These claims were so outlandish and there were so many of them that even after the Disciplinary department got involved, nothing substantial could be done to get to the bottom of the situation.
And to add insult to injury, the Half Breed in question was absent making their investigation all the more complicated.
Kifo and Fujo, unable to endure any longer decided to barge into Zilan’s chambers hoping to get him to come out to resolve the matter before anything else was added to the fire but they didn’t expect to find the place effectively abandoned, with no signs of anyone having stayed there in a long while.
Thus, helpless, Kifo presented himself before Senior Mo and challenged him but unfortunately, despite his good intentions, the story was spun once again into another way to insult Zilan.
Taking this all in, Zilan suddenly stood up. He appeared calm but the look in his eyes betrayed his inner thoughts.
“Where is Mo now?” He asked, as he stepped out.
One might argue that Zilan should be happy about this incident as it served to increase his fame. However, what those people didn’t understand was that the narrative up until now was within Zilan’s control. Never has it been others creating fame for him. All of his current notoriety is a direct product of his machinations.
Other people dragging his name through the mud for reasons he didn’t even want to understand was something he absolutely refused to accept. Zilan had his limits.
…………………………….
In another part of the Association,
“Young Master, this one doesn’t understand the point of all of this. Why go to such an extent with the Half Breed?”
“Hmm? Maharevel, are you questioning my judgement?” smiled Kring.
“Never, it’s just…..”
“Haha, forget about the Half Breed, this was never about him. I wonder how Tusi feels about him now?” Kring laughed before continuing. “He dug his own grave. He actually hid from confronting Mo for so long, so to get the point across to her and to gain some amusement along the way, the best way was to humiliate him before finally stomping him out. With him gone, her foolish hope will also disappear…….”
As Kring finished his statement, he heard a knock from the door. Maharevel looked to his young Master and seeing him consent, he moved to open door.
A few minutes later, he returned to address the young Master with a solemn look on his face.
“What is it Maharevel?”
“The Half Breed has emerged. Mo is dead!”
Kring was in the middle of lifting a glass of expensive fruit wine to his lips when the broken news caused him to hesitate and his eyes to glare.
“Is that all?”
“No.”
“Speak then.”
“The Half Breed has challenged every single person who has a grudge with him and those that do appear on the stage are being killed one by one. However…”
“It’s me he wants to face. Hahaha, interesting, this is getting interesting. Too bad, the time is not yet ripe. I’ll let him fly a little closer to the sun before making a move. That should make his fall all the more satisfying and effective.” Although he laughed, Kring did not have a smile on his face. In fact, his eyes turned cold and killing intent could be felt leaking from his body.
“The Half Breed is exuding strength equivalent to the Black core stage.” Maharevel continued.
Hearing this, the killing intent intensified and the room turned silent.
“The time is not yet ripe but you can send a few people to test him out if you’d like.”
Maharevel understood his young Master’s meaning thus he took his leave.
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