A Crisis Arrives

Julian froze at the sects name and slowly turned to see a middle-aged man with long, silky brown hair. He was wearing much nicer robes than the previous disciples he had seen but they still had the emblem embroidered into them. Julian secretly let out a sigh of relief that these robes he'd gotten were clearly everyday robes and therefore didn't have the sect emblem on them.

Al's panicked voice sounded in his mind, 'Be careful boy, this man is much stronger than those other cultivators. He might even be Foundation Establishment level cultivator, so don't take your eyes off of him even for a moment and repeat everything I say.'

Julian gave his assent with a thought and stared at the older man asking in an innocent tone, "How may I help you Senior?"

The man's gaze was blank and asked in a cold tone, "What are you doing here child?"

Julian looked taken aback before easily replying, "Oh, I'm so sorry! I was unaware that the Cloud-Dwelling Sect had recently acquired the rights to this forest. It truly is my mistake, a thousand pardons senior."

Finishing with a bow, but never taking his eyes off of the man, Julian didn't miss when the older man's expression turned ugly.

With the same cold tone he spoke, "The Cloud-Dwelling Sect has not acquired such a thing."

Julian blinked slowly as if processing the information, and questioned with tilt to his voice, "So, it could be said that since the Cloud-Dwelling Sect doesn't own this forest, why shouldn't I be here."

The man kept shooting glances at Julians ring and angrily replied, "While that may be true, we are searching for a thief who has stolen sect property. So I'll reiterate, what are you doing here."

Julian kept a cool expression and after a few seconds said, "My apologies senior, but I wouldn't know anything about any theft. My master has merely ordered me to pick some herbs and ingredients for my studies. I've only just arrived and collected these lowly herbs."

A greedy light shown in the man's eyes and he asked, "You're an Alchemist?"

Julian hurriedly shook his head, "No this one wouldn't dare make such a claim, but my master is much more learned than I am. In fact, he just left on his flying sword to explore the center of the volcano. I'm sure he'll be back soon if you'd like to discuss this with him?"

The mans face paled and said, "No, that's fine. It's clear enough that the thief hasn't been this way. If you do happen to see anything, please let is know at your earliest convenience."

Julian watched the man scurry back to the forest in confusion. Al's frightened voice sounded in his head, "Flee, now! Once he comes back there will be no escape if your still here!"

"What do you mean? He looked like he'd seen a ghost, i don't think he'll be bothering us anytime soon." Julian spoke without a care in the word.

"I said run foolish boy! He naturally saw that you had the ring in hand and only left because you said your master rode a sword and only late stage Foundation Establishment cultivators have the mental strength to do that," Al explained in a panic, "He will soon verify that there is no such cultuvator here and when he does, I don't think you want to be here."

Julians face turned more and more pale, and halfway through the explanation he was already sprinting in the opposite direction. Running up the mountain, he realized he was running towards the Cloud-Dwelling Sect. He cursed but couldn't help it, the man had left in the other direction and cut off any other way for him to go.

After no more than five minutes of running, a chill ran down Julian's back. A strong sensation of being watched came over him and no sooner than he felt it, the older man arrived in front of him.

"There is no escape child," the man spat in hatred, "Hiw dare you trick me! Give up now and I'll leave your limbs intact, at least until we return to the sect and you face your crimes."

Julian truly regretted taking that ring now and kept asking Al what to do. Getting no reply, Julian cursed and searched for his own way of escape. Since they had run up the volcano there were no trees or bush's with how hot it was this close to the opening. He could only see rocks as far as he could see.

Just when he thought about surrendering, he saw a small opening in the ground quite close to him. Looking at it closer, he noticed he couldn't see the bottom of it.

Deciding to risk it, he bought himself some time, "Senior truly is fast, only my Master could possibly rival you in speed."

As he spoke he slowly walked closer towards the hole with a calm expression on his face, with this being between between him and the older man, it truly looked like he was surrendering.

The older man sneered at him in disdain, "No use playing calm kid, I've long investigated and found no one around the center of the volcano."

Julian forced a surprised expression on his face as he glanced up towards the top of the mountain and saying, "He was truly there, I'm surprised you didn't see him."

Still slowly walking closer he glanced at the hole out of the corner of his eye. With him being so close to it he could see that the older man's vision was obscured by a boulder and couldn't see it. Julian saw that there truly wasn't any bottom as far as he could see.

The older man snorted and decided to humor him, "Oh, and just where was this mighty master of yours hiding?"

Julian fought to keep his laughter off his face as he solemnly spoke, "He was in the center of the volcano, all you had to do was jump in and you'd naturally get to meet him."

The older man looked confused, before understanding what was said and roared, "What did you say you damn brat?!"

Julian who was now standing on the edge of the hole finally let a mocking smile appear on his face, "Oh, was that too complicated for you? Let me dumb it down, kill yourself, asshole!"

Before the man could react, Julian hopped into the hole. To the man from the Cloud-Dwelling Sect, it looked like the rude brat sank straight into the ground. Rushing over he discovered a small hole that he couldn't see from his previous position.

A gusto of hot air rushed out that quelled any thoughts of following the kid down. Even with his cultivation, he wasn't completely sure he'd survive if it got hotter the deeper the hole went.

Considering they were on a volcano, the likelihood of that was extremely high. Writing him off as dead, the man cursed in frustration at not getting his hands on the kid and started making his way back to the sect.

'Oh well,' the man thought, 'I was only trying to retrieve that ring as a favor from the 4th elder anyway, so its not like I lost anything.'

Screams of pain echoed in a cave, as a person could be seen thrashing in boiling water. It seems as luck would have it, Julian had found a natural hot springs. Though, he didn't feel very lucky at the moment.

Al yelled out in a hopeful panic, "Swim! You have to get out before your body shuts down!"

Luckily Al's voice sounds in Julians mind, otherwise he wouldn't be able to hear it over his own screaming. Still, Julian understood that he was done for if he didnt move. Through unbearable pain, he managed to kick his feet in desperation.

Little by little he paddled to the edge of the hot spring and pulled himself up. Throat raw, skin feeling cooked, Julian finally passed out.

What he didn't know was had he been cultivating anything lesser than the Nine Brilliant Suns Technique, he'd long been dead. Even just being in the 1st level of Qi condensation gave him a small resistance to the heat and that was what saved him.

Hours later Julians eyes snapped open. Trying to sit up, he let out a hiss as he felt like his whole body had been sunburned.

A smile crossed his face as he thought of the look on the bastards face when he gave his parting words. Though the pain that soon followed made him shiver in terror. Looking down at his arms, his skin appeared red as a lobster and Julian figured he'd be sore for at least a few days.

Al's laughingly chimed in, "You may be a weakling, but your tongue sure is strong!"

Julians smile disapeared and neutrally questioned, "Where were you?"

Al was confused and asked, "What do you mean?"

"I said, 'where were you?', I needed help and you disapeared! I thought I was jumping to my death here! But I thought at least it would be better than ending up in his hands." Julian vented his frustration with tears in his eyes. His emotions were truly running high as he thought back to how close he was to death.

Al was silent for a couple of seconds and replied in a frosty tone, "I think we've had a grave misunderstanding. I am not required to help you at all. Anything that I do that you may perceive as helping you is because it helps me as well. I may find you amusing at times, but I am someone who has lived for longer than you could begin to imagine. I will not be yelled at by a child throwing a tantrum!"

Julian was shocked at first, but soon realized he'd indeed spoke bit too soon. It seems he'd become too familar with Al and forgotten it's real identity.

Julian took a deep breath and found most of his anger at Al leaving as his emotions settled.

"Your right, you don't owe me anymore than you've given." Julian relented.

After a couple of seconds of silence between them, the spirit spoke again, "I can only see what you see. By the time I'd noticed the hole, you'd already had a plan in mind and i couldn't think of anything else that would give you even a sliver of survival."

That did make Julian feel better, and finally he decided to get a handle on his surroundings. Looking around he noticed steam continously rolled off the top of the water he'd swam in earlier causing his skin to throb in rememberance. Other than the spring, all that was here was an area of stone where he could walk around.

Al hummed in appreciation, "This is actually quite nice a nice place for you."

Julian incredulously asked, "Why would I stay in here, I can hardly breath!"

"Thats because of the humidity, but the amount of fiery qi in here is quite high. With those fasting pills of yours we could stay for half a month and make some serious progress on your cultivation." Al spoke as if it's mind had long been made up.

"Plus," Al added almost as an afterthought, "You need to lie low anyways, why not take advantage of this prime cultivation spot while your at it.

Julian really didn't want to spend more time than necessary here, but couldn't refute Al's logic. With a sigh, he nodded his assent and pulled out the Twin Serpent Arts.