Baleful Aura

If Elder Jia had asked Zhan Shenwei to be tested casually a bit out of pity, now he really looked forward to Zhan Shenwei entering the Mystic Heaven Sect.

Although a bit surprised that Elder Jia chose to spar with him Zhan Shenwei didn't falter, clenching his hand on the Saber hilt he channeled his qi according to the circulatory route of the Life Severing Saber.

The Life Severing Saber only had two simple moves, a slash and a sweep, it wasn't flashy or elegant, just direct and forceful.

It even and not defense or parry moves, just attack.

After having severed the life of your opponent, what was the need to parry or defend from it.

" I apologize for the inconvenience ", Zhan Shenwei said then he lifted his hand and slashed forward with his Saber.

The slash was fast and forceful carrying vast momentum yet Elder Jia parried it with ease by simply by raising his sword.

Not bothered by the fact that his attack was easily deflected, Zhan tswept his sword once more.

It was easy for Elder Jia to deflect every of Zhan Shenwei's attack yet Zhan Shenwei continued.

Every of his attacks carried with it ruthlessness and bloodlust as his entire body emanated a hint of cold killing intent.

At this point Zhan Shenwei seemed to have submerged himself in the battle intent of the battle technique, " Life Severing".

Without restrain Zhan Shenwei kept attacking and It continued for a while before his qi ran out.

Knowing there was no need or use to continue after this, Zhan Shenwei put his saber into his storage ring and cupped his fist towards Elder Jia in gratitude.

He was about to say something when he hurriedly closed his eyes.

Zhan Shenwei could feel bloodlust and desolation cloud his mind as a voice seemed to be chanting kill, kill, kill !, causing killing intent to fill his thoughts.

So this wast the effect of using the Life Severing Saber, the negative thoughts clouding from it was unsettling.

Maybe if it was someone else it would have been difficult to deal with the situation but for Zhan Shenwei it wasn't so.

In his mind sea, his Primordial Chaos God Incarnation stood up and stretched out it powerful arms and the dark thoughts that existed as a dark fog in his mind sea was compressed together into a tiny dark ball of gas.

He could have devoured it or expelled it from his body but Zhan Shenwei felt it would be wasteful, the dark fog could be useful as serve as a form of mental deterrence to his enemies and since it could not affect him anyway there was no need disposing it.

Wheni closed his eyes, Elder Jia and the rest knew he was dealing with the aftermath of the baleful aura born as a result of using the Life Severing Saber but didn't bother him and left.

After a while Zhan Shenwei opened his eyes and looked around, seeing no one at the around the podium except the guard that brought him to the podium and Xia Yunzi.

Seeing that Zhan Shenwei was awake he threw a black token with the word " Bright Jade" on it and said, " You have become a guard of the Bright Jade City if you're lucky and can earn enough credits it's not impossible to become a disciple of the Mystic Heaven Sect".

The guard had a sneer on his face as he continued " You have till a week to report to the inner city ", then he left.

Was it so easy to earn credits!

if it was there, would be so many guards in the bright jade City, who did want to enter the Mystic Heaven Sect.

to him Zhan Shenwei was going to die of old age as a guard before he even became a disciple.

Zhan Shenwei held the black token as he looked at it, not bothered by the obvious derision from the guard.

He smiled as he stood up, this was his ticket into the Mystic Heaven Sect.

.....

Zhan Shenwei and Xia Yunzi met Elder Ye Mo as they left the inner city.

They all returned to the inn and after having their meal they retired to bed.

Zhan t laid on the bed as he thought about everything that happened in the disciple recruitment test.

He had already decided he was going to join the City guards but there were still things he had to do before he reported to the inner city.

To Zhan Shenwei the disciple recruitment test had made obvious some of his shortcomings in the area of Qi cultivation .

There were aspects he couldn't change for now, there were still a few he could, most especially he needed to switch to a better Cultivation technique.

According to what he heard the first few decades were the golden years for cultivators and when they could make the most progress.

To Zhan Wei his innate aptitude was already bad enough for him not to take advantage of this period.

And although he knew what he had to do, he didn't really know how to go about it, but that wasn't much of an issue to Zhan Shenwei, he planned to get into contact with Shang Jing Mei.

.....

The next day during breakfast after Ye Mo inquired of them about the details of the disciple recruitment test they both brought out their tokens.

while Xia Yunzi brought out a token with the word " Mystic Heaven " inscribed on it, Zhan Shenwei had " Bright Jade" on his.

As he had done with Xia Yunzi as they left inner city, he explained to Ye Mo the circumstances surrounding how he become a city guard and how he planned to earn enough credits to enter the Mystic Heaven Sect.

Ye Mo nodded his head in approval, the present arrangement was already the best.

Actually right from the beginning he wasn't certain Zhan Shenwei could enter any prestigious factions in the Canglan with his aptitude.

he could become a member of City guard and from there get the opportunity to become a disciple, then it was perfect.

Time flowed like the river and it was already the third day, time for Xia Yunzi and the rest to report to the inner city.

The previous night Zhan Shenwei couldn't find any sleep as he was very anxious, although he was happy Xia Yunzi could become a disciple of the Mystic Heaven Sect but he was also worried.

That same night Ye Mo had also called them once more and told them he was leaving the next day for the Ye Clan, giving both Xia Yunzi and Zhan Shenwei a communication talisman to use to contact him for emergencies and a storage ring each.

The next day at dawn, Zhan Shenwei and Xia Yunzi both bowed in gratitude as they watched him leave, Ye Mo had been protecting them from the Eastern region till now, without him it would have been very difficult for them to survive till now.

He was their guardian.

Zhan Shenwei spent the next few hours strolling around the City with Xia Yunzi, before escorting her to the inner city gate, the Elders were going to leave today with those that had been accepted as disciples.

Watching Xia Yunzi leave Zhan Shenwei felt feelings of loneliness wash over him, sighing he turned back and left.

She had just gone but he was already missing.

He and Xia Yunzi separating was outside his power so the only thing he could do was get stronger and earn enough credits, he thought as he calmed down the feeling of unease that disturbed him.

After getting back to the inn Zhan Shenwei checked the storage ring Elder Ye Mo had given to him, before leaving Ye Mo had already told them what their rings contained.

Xia Yunzi's ring contained inheritances from her parents while Zhan Shenwei's also contained the legacy of his Clan and a gift from Xia Tianming.

Zhan Shenwei was shocked as his consciousness swept through the storage ring, he felt the amount of things inside the storage ring was enough for him to live leisurely and create a bit of foothold anywhere.

Even with the destruction of the Eastern region hanging over their heads, his Parents, his family, Xia Tianming and the Empress were still thinking of their wellbeing.

For the first time in a long time he teared up as emotions he kept hidden gushed outwards, his Parents , Xiaoyue, Xiaomei, his Clansmen, Xia Tianming, Lian Yu...

Zhan Shenwei felt a rush of unpleasant emotions fill his heart, he didn't know if any of them was alive or dead, rage and angusih tormented him from within.

Zhan Shenwei was cold, indifferent but that didn't mean he didn't feel, he just dealt with emotions differently but now they all came rushing out.

That together with the pain of Xia Yunzi and Elder Ye Mo leaving and being alone gripped him as he shook.

Zhan Shenwei felt another form of fog cloud his mind sea, it was unusual and evoked a different sense of emotion from the ones he got from practicing the Life Severing Saber but it was in essence the same.

Same nature, same dark eerie incense like fog, what was this things, unlike the first the fog this time around was born as a result of his emotions not due to influence as before from practicing the Life Severing Saber so he took a second thought about the nature of this fog.

The only reason Zhan Shenwei could be aware and conscious of the dark fog was because his mind sea was open and his Primordial Chaos god Spirit was powerful enough to observe every accessible corner of his body.

Usually only cultivators of the Purple Mansion realm who had opened the mind sea ( sea of consciousness) and had powerful souls were aware of things of this nature.

Deep mind flunctuations, soul energy and it's different forms of essence.

After observing clearly Zhan Shenwei noticed an order in his mind.

Usually his mind sea consisted of a stretch of water and blue skies above.

On top of this stretch of water was his human spirit.

His Primordial Chaos god spirit had migrated, taking residence in his heart but his human remained, closed eyes, sitting cross legged atop the waters.

His Human Soul incarnation had always been the same to Zhan Wei from birth and it wasn't any different now.

According to the texts he read from the Zhan Manor Martial Pavilion, the mind sea was representation of his mind, thoughts, emotions and domain of his soul after its manifestation.

The dark fog corrupted some of the waters of his mind from spotless and even his human spirit had a few dark spots trying to wiggle itself on it's figure.

As before Zhan Shenwei used his Primordial God spirit to control the dark fog and compressed it into another ball of gas placing it with the former at a corner of his mind sea.

After making sure his mind sea and spirit was void of contamination of the dark fog, he thought back.

Those dark fogs, what were they ?..

.....