Venom

The two guards watched as a young boy in black robes and long brown hair walked towards them. They looked at him suspiciously.

"Halt! Take one more step and you will be executed." The guard on the right shouted. He tightened his grip on his spear.

The other guard stood in a similar stance.

"I want to meet the General." He said calmly.

"State your name." The guard yelled.

"Let him pass…" A voice entered the guards' ears. They were both surprised. This was their General's voice. He used his Spirit Sense to send them a message directly into their minds.

"Uh...Yes, Sir!" They both said in unison.

Wei Ren went into the tent without any problems.

The tent was furnished in a very old fashioned way. A simple bed with linen sheets. A table with several ink pens and a grindstone. A giant Battle Formation Map was laid in the center. It attracted the most attention.

Wei Tian was standing opposite to Wei Ren at the other end of the Battle Formation Map.

His face was stern as ever. His brown hair reached his shoulders just like Wei Ren. But this didn't make him look feminine. Instead he looked even more threatening like a lion waiting to pounce.

"Quite a flashy arrival. You are truly his grandson." Wei Tian's lips parted slightly to form a smile.

"What is the situation of the war?" Wei Ren looked at Wei Tian's smile and asked plainly. He was angry for being sent to the Rescue and Support Infantry.

"We meet after six months and that is the first thing you ask me!" The smile vanished and his eyebrows frowned. His temper was still the same.

"For the Rose and the Kingdom. I serve the kingdom. So I want to know the situation of the war." Wei Ren replied without any change to his face. He used the battle cry of the Blue Rose army to get to the point.

"Haha...Good. I raised you right." Wei Tian laughed without holding back.

When he regained his usual composure, Wei Tian continued.

"We have managed to prevent the enemy soldiers from intruding into our lands. Heavy and Light weight infantry are guarding at the front. Archery Infantry is protecting the kingdom from the south-east. The South-west wall is facing the Grim Vermillion Kingdom. So this side has a shortage of troops. But judging from the past, I don't think Grim Vermillion Kingdom will dare to meddle in our war. At least for now, they are silent."

Wei Ren listened carefully. He had already expected all of this.

"But why are they intruding. Every thing was peaceful when I left. Even my Master was roped into this. At the sect, all I heard was that our soldiers were getting poisoned. Bei Piao's report also didn't reveal much." He listed all of his doubts.

"We don't know why they are doing this? Your Master is also investigating right now. A month after you left, something happened." Wei Tian's words got heavy.

"What happened?"Wei Ren asked with serious interest.

"One of our soldiers was on patrol, on the Wall. He was doing his duty. Suddenly he collapsed. When he woke up he started to attack his comrades. A new private even got injured because of this. When we examined him, we saw that his mind was totally currupted. He wasn't even able to control his cultivation base. We tried to find clues but nothing helped. I asked Grand Healer Lu Sheng's help in this matter. When he examined that soldier, he found a crack in his ocean of consciousness." Wei Tian explained calmly.

"Crack in the ocean of consciousness. How is that even possible? Only ultimate mind attacks can cause that kind of damage." Wei Ren asked with his jaw dropping.

He learned these basics things at the Serpent Valley Sect. Ocean of consciousness was a very resilient thing. There was very little known about this mysterious thing that resided in every person. All that was known about it was that powerful mind attacks can cause damage to the ocean of consciousness. But a crack in the ocean of consciousness was truly bewildering.

"Lu Sheng confirmed this. He was the one who suggested that a venom that targets the mind was used on the soldier because his body was completely fine. There was no damage done to his cultivation. But his mind was completely ruined. By today, sixty four of our River Formation experts have been poisened. Lu Sheng is trying to heal them right now." There was nothing Wei Tian was able to do in this matter. He was not a Healer. He felt completely useless when his soldiers were being brought down on his watch.

"If this is true, then times will be even harder during the war. We can assume that there is still some time untill we have to launch an all-out war." Wei Ren was analysed their situation.

"Umm." Wei Tian nodded and agreed.

"By the way Gramps, where are my parents? They left me a note saying that they have to go on a journey. What is so important that they left the kingdom in such dire times? He suddenly remembered this.

"They didn't tell you? I guess they left in a hurry, so didn't have the time to fully explain this. Moreover the information is to sensitive." Wei Tian replied.

"What information? Where did they go?" He asked with impatience.

"It is related to your kidnapping." Wei Tian said plainly as if he was talking about a trivial matter.

"You mean the ambush. I always wondered what happened to that person that father captured in his lantern." The scene played in his head. The memories of the ambush were still fresh in his mind. After all it was the first time he truly saw his father's power and anger.

"It was a Soul Refining Lantern. Wei Yan captured the leader of the ambushers to interrogate him. After two weeks of torture he revealed the secrets. Although it was not much, he still revealed some things." Wei Tian went over to a chair, sat down and continued.

"He was from Grim Vermillion Kingdom. There is a famous Assassination Guild in Grim Vermillion Kingdom called Bloodblade Hall. The man your father captured was from this very guild. Wei Ren and Feng Yu went to the Grim Vermillion Kingdom to investigate."

"Is this all he said? When father fought him, he said that he will reveal all the secrets of father agreed to spare his life." Wei Ren remembered the words that the attacker uttered before he was sucked into the Soul Refining Lantern.

"He just lied in panic. We know that he was hired by someone from the Blue Rose Kingdom. This was found by your own deduction. Second is the clue about Bloodblade Hall. The attacker was hired by a member of the Royal family. He wasn't able to see the face of the member who hired him, which is expected since the person doing this job would want to hide his identity.

(Special thanks to my dear readers. These are the names of top readers whose support is motivating me to continue writing. "Mrmaleek23", "Truthkilller". I would be in eternal debt if you could give your precious reviews to invite more readers to our world.

your beloved author,

Immortal_calmsnow)