“When I got there, everything was destroyed! Elder Tort and Fourth Brother were already dead.” whispered Jeza.
Zilan stared at the two corpses laying in front of him for a long time before sighing and going back to his work.
Needless to say, Jeza was shocked and understandably angry.
“How can you be so heartless? I know you know that their deaths are linked to you in some way and yet….”
Zilan momentarily stopped working and turned to look at the enraged and saddened Jeza.
“You can blame me if you want, I don’t mind. As for whether or not I care, I am not obligated to show. Right now, I need to stay focused!”
Zilan then took out a piece of paper and started writing down a few things.
“Focused? Focused on what? First it was Flesc and now..”
Before she could finish her sentence, Zilan suddenly stopped writing and handed her the piece of paper.
“Fetch these things for me.”
Jeza almost tore the paper to pieces however once she saw the cold, desolate look in Zilan’s eyes she quickly froze.
“I need to send a message and there are only two people who can deliver it well. So I need your help to accomplish this task, when it’s done we can leave. After that I’ll do whatever you want to compensate you.”
Jeza was finally beginning to understand Zilan’s strange behaviour. It wasn’t that he didn’t care but rather it seemed like he had shut off those emotions so that he could focus on sending this “message”.
There was no point in arguing anymore. Jeza put the corpses back into her voidless sack and left to get the items Zilan needed.
Meanwhile Zilan just remained silent as he sat in the corner of the shabby room. A single thought repeated itself in his mind,
“An action committed in the name of love now becomes a weapon of revenge.”
……..
Previously, when Jeza had ran out of the room as she couldn’t handle the despairing air. Zilan continued to think about all the things that happened in the past few years.
Memories of he and Halim were particularly stinging. The feelings that he thought were so real and beautiful turned out to be no more solid than smoke.
He had even secretly made use of the knowledge contained in the Book of Path to help her cultivation soar, thus standing out as a genius in the Flaming shade sect. Not to mention developing the custard that boosted the Dual winged sparrow’s fame and fortune.
These actions and many more were done because of the undying love he had for his family. Little did he know, he was strengthening his enemies and filling up their pockets.
That’s when a striking thought like lightning, hit Zilan. He could use these two gifts and turn them into tools that he would use to send his bloody message.
The custard for example had an addictive effect on all cultivators who had tasted it, Ficha of course was no exception. He was probably the one person that had eaten the most custard since its creation, this meant that Zilan’s plans for him had a higher chance of success.
However Halim, that was a challenge. She was far away in the sect’s inner quarters, protected! He would need to get creative in order to administer his poison.
In truth, Zilan wished he had the strength to take revenge with his bare hands but unfortunately he needed to rely on poisons and other unconventional means to guarantee their deaths.
“With your deaths my path that will inevitably be paved with blood shall begin. Never again!”
……
Zilan finished making all his preparations, all that remained was to wait for Jeza’s arrival along with the things he requested. So with nothing else to do he just calmly sat in his corner, his mind completely blank.
“Hey, are you okay?” surprising Zilan, a youths voice rang out inside his head.
“Hihi? How can you speak like this?”
“Hihi wanted to say something sooner but a powerful energy blocked the rights of the Palace. For a few days now, the Palace and you were no longer connected spiritually.” Replied Hihi slightly anxious. “So are you okay?”
Zilan looked up at the ceiling, remaining silent for a few minutes before saying,
“I feel empty. You know that container that we place all those bad emotions, things we hate and cannot endure?”
Hihi reluctantly replied with a “Yes.”
“I think mine broke! It overflowed and just broke…..in it’s place I got something else. Something that just proves I’m not human….have you ever heard of the scorched Hihi?”
“You can’t be….”
“Ha! Even you….but too bad you can’t harm me! Then did you also know we have Divine abilities? The first and only one I can use has three levels and in the moment I was about to lose my mind….can you believe I unlocked the second level?”
Hihi said nothing as he continued to attentively listen. What he was thinking exactly? No one knows.
“It’s called Gift of Love and it has to do with analysis. The second level though once unlocked gives me the ability to calm my mind, think faster and take in large amounts of information twice as fast. But you see, I can’t control it. Only at the moment that I finally conceived a plan and attained a goal did it kick in, the gauge that calibrates my emotions then, without my permission, just switched off, probably for the better though. I might have done something stupid otherwise…. no wonder its called Gift of Love..eh?”
When Zilan finished explaining Hihi finally spoke,
“Mistress is going to be so happy. Hihi thought that you were just another clever yet useless cripple but to think that Hihi misjudged you. Mistress’s grandson is actually a descendant of the All-seer, and Hihi the great genius overlord of the other geniuses and overlord’s is none other than his Guardian. What a great day!”
Zilan inwardly sighed, Hihi was an honest idiot just being himself. Maybe if it was a week ago, Zilan might have joked about his own greatness but today, even the concept of happiness eluded him.
Just as Hihi was about to go on and selfishly barrage Zilan with questions, the door to the room suddenly opened and in came Jeza.
She stared at the emotionless Zilan sited cross-legged in the corner and touches of sadness, curiosity and anger all weighed on her heart.
“These are the things you asked for.” she then tossed a voidless sack that belonged to the scarred wolf towards Zilan.
Paying no further attention to Jeza, he began sifting through the items. Taking out the ones he would use immediately and leaving the rest for later.
“The number of strong humans in the city keeps increasing. Who is he to attract all of their attention?” wondered Jeza.
She then decided to stay and watch Zilan work.
…….
The first thing he did was clean, heat and then grind the herbs together. Once they were formed into powder, he then added water formed from his own Blood force into the mixture.
Once that was done, he picked up a snow lily and used its ice energy to freeze the water.
The now small collection of ice was then added in with the already prepared useful remnants of Jeza’s Ancentral Heritage pill.
He then proceeded to the final step. He took out a High grade flame stone tablet from his voidless sack and carefully heated and fused the ingredients together. Occasionally short breaks were taken to ensure the temperature was optimum and to also craft the final product.
Jeza’s eyes were glued to the flames as she watched how precise the movements Zilan made were. She marvelled at the medicinal essence that was being exuded by the mixture that Zilan was pounding into the shape of a circular pill.
“How is this possible?”
Her stupor came from the fact that Zilan claimed to be an Alchemist and yet didn’t even have the fire attribute. Not to mention his element was water, the complete opposite.
In reality, Zilan didn’t need to have the attributes of an Alchemist in order to practice alchemy. After all the things they used their “feel” and control of flame for, Zilan could easily accomplish thanks to the precise guidance of the Book of Path, the scorched gates, and items that he could use as acceptable substitutes.
Just like how someone can draw something from scratch, there will be another person who can simply trace the diagram. They both accomplish the same thing however, one persons route doesn’t require as many tools and is easier than the others.
