…….
“What the hell was that about?” whispered Misty.
“Who knows.” Replied Lorn, equally stunned by their Master’s sudden change of attitude as well as the sequence of events that had unfolded.
“Master is so weird.” Giggled Unlei.
Needless to say, Zilan could hear every word of their conversation. In order to save face though, he could only continue to listen and not scold them.
“Where to now?” Inquired Andrete.
“We’re going to find each of you some scriptures.” Said Zilan.
As they continued to move up, a dark cloud suddenly appeared before the group. It seemed to be constantly moving although at a very slow pace however, just looking at it Zilan had a bad premonition. His gut told him to stay away from the cloud and as someone who trusted his gut immensely, Zilan did just that.
“Let’s go around.” This statement from him caused his disciples to pay even more attention to the dark cloud. What could be so scary that even their Master had to take a detour? Just from looking at the mass of dark clouds, they couldn’t tell what made it so frightening but they didn’t dare to ask as they didn’t want to hurt their Master’s pride.
Peeking at their expressions, Zilan helplessly rolled his eyes. They had only been travelling for less than a day and yet he had already had his fill of their personalities.
The looming dark cloud caused some apprehension for the duration that it hovered within Zilan’s vicinity. When it finally left, he felt like he could breathe again. A strange outcome considering the kinds of trials and beings he had stood in front. ‘I wonder what it is..’ he thought.
…
“Hmm..” A peculiar, tantalizing scent abruptly appeared around the group. The smell was foreign to his disciples but Zilan detected something as soon as he took his first whiff. His lips immediately curled upwards as his sharp senses swept through the entire area.
“Grouch, come here.” He commanded.
“What is it Master?”
“You see that bush over there?” Zilan pointed towards an unassuming bush just a couple of meters away that was comprised of metallic leaves.
“Yes.”
“Good, now listen very carefully. I want you to go towards it and burn it using your flame.” Instructed Zilan.
Grouch was confused however, seeing as it was Master’s orders he moved to go burn the bush. The closer he got to it, not only did the smell get stronger but he also started feeling a little light headed.
“Don’t lose focus…” reminded Zilan.
Grouch was standing pretty close to the bush and the light headedness was at its peak so he couldn’t really hear his Master’s words. Fortunately, he understood what he was asked to do thus drawing on his willpower, he stretched out his hand and activated his flame.
The bush at first acted normally when it was exposed to Grouch’s flame, shrinking back, wilting and eventually melting. However, this did not last long. The previously transparent fragrance that permeated the area suddenly turned purple, clearly visible to everyone in the group.
“What’s going on? Is Grouch okay?” asked Misty, taken aback by the unexpected developments.
Zilan did not bother replying.
His attention was split between Grouch and the seals he was conjuring up in his hands.
Speaking of Grouch, his mind was beginning to wander. He was mumbling incoherent nonsense as his head swayed back and forth. The reason for his actions could most likely be attributed to the huge gathering of purple mist that had now enveloped him.
The flame in his hand was starting to lose its ferocity prompting Zilan to shout out. “Keep your flame alive. You don’t need to think about anything else. Close your eyes if you have to.”
Grouch did just that and as soon as he did, a loud shriek unlike anything any of the Disciples had ever heard before sounded out throughout the region and beyond. The purple gas that was previously dispersed every which way without warning converged, swiftly morphing into the image of a monster. The gaseous creature stood at least 12 feet tall, wasn’t really wide in frame however, the eerie white glow in its three eyes were more than enough to send shivers down anyone’s spine.
The creature glared at Grouch who now definitely had his eyes wide open, it was obvious that it was about to attack.
“Don’t be afraid. Just keep your flame on that bush.” The bush Zilan spoke of had seemingly stopped burning despite Grouch’s best efforts which was not much of a morale boost for him.
“Is this thing an illusion?” asked Grouch. Seeing how calm Master was, it was the only possible explanation.
“What do you mean? That is a scripture….how could it not be real?” wondered Zilan, he was now beginning to worry about Grouch’s mental health. ‘It is a Poison scripture….’ He thought to himself.
Grouch’s mindset went from bad to worse especially when he saw how the gas was actually turning acidic in nature. Melting anything it came in contact with.
“KAARRYYII” The creature was done with its evaluation. The enemy was not much of a threat thus it understatedly attacked. Opening its gigantic mouth wide, it aimed to devour Grouch whole.
“ZIING!” A blinding blue light at that very moment escaped from Zilan’s palm. It collided with the creatures body and actually stuck onto it, ruthlessly constricting around it making it incapable of moving. The scripture thrashed around and screeched as it attempted to gain its freedom but unfortunately the more it struggled the more seals Zilan was constructing and pumping out.
His left hand was constantly flickering with blue light as one rune shaped seal after another was sent towards the Poison scripture. “Keep burning the bush.” Commanded Zilan, relaxing as he examined the Legendary-class scripture before him.
“This isn’t bad.” Was his first evaluation however when he noticed the existence of a primitive soul within the scriptures make-up, Zilan could only keep quiet.
‘There can’t be that many of these, finding one for each of my students especially with their diverse fields isn’t going to be possible.’ Thought Zilan. ‘Maybe if I just pick the ones of general fields, they could compare it with the Refining scripture and learn from it.’
‘Let’s see what happens first.’
Grouch was starting to get frustrated. No matter how much power he added to flame, the bush just wouldn’t burn. It was like this for a full five minutes before all of a sudden, the resilient bush suddenly wilted away and died.
Needless to say, Grouch was surprised by this but not nearly as surprised as when he saw the creature escape its chains and charge towards him.
“MAASTER!” screamed Grouch as he fell back. Zilan did not reply and the creature ended up striking Grouch, the strange part though was that it actually phased into Grouch’s body instead of knocking him away or dissolving his flesh.
Vast amounts of information flowed into Grouch’s mind all at once. Seeing this, Zilan gave him some advice.
“Concentrate, don’t try and sift through it all at once. Just make sure it enters safely first.”
