Chương 45: A Place Called a Second Home

Opening his eyes, An let his gaze drop and stared directly at Ru Meng. Ru Meng, slowly approaching him, suddenly, as if caught in a trap, could not tear her gaze away from his empty and cold eyes. As she continued to walk slowly, looking into them, she felt the discomfort growing stronger, and a budding fear slowly filling her from within. The closer she got to him, the more uncertain her steps became.

Not understanding why her own body, the body of a cultivator, was having such an uncontrollable reaction, she did everything to maintain a calm outward appearance. Approaching him to within ten meters, she still could not force herself to stop looking into his eyes. Fighting herself, she still could do nothing. She only saw emptiness, a chilling emptiness. Looking into them, she felt as if he wasn't looking at a person, but at an empty space, as if she meant nothing and was nothing to him.

Seeing this strange and frightening indifference toward her, toward her as a person, rage began to overwhelm her, completely mixing with fear.

"Ar-arrest! Him!" Almost tripping, she managed to shout the command. Hearing the sharp cry, all the officers took a sharp step forward, but remembering how the young man before them had subdued four people, they immediately slowed down and carefully began to approach him, closer and closer.

"Stick your arms out! Out! I said!"

"Lower your head! Down, I said!"

"Don't you dare use Qi! Surround him, guys!"

"Stand still!" All the officers began to buzz loudly, trying to raise their courage with their own shouting. But the closer they got to him, the slower they walked, seeing out of the corner of their eyes that none of them were stepping forward, even to fasten the shackles on An's wrists. They began to shout louder and louder, drowning each other out. Everyone was filled with fear. They didn't understand why, but the closer they were to this brat, the more uneasy they felt.

Without a word, An extended his arms forward, accepting what was to come. Finally, one of the officers managed to ' overcome' himself, he was forcibly pushed forward by the others. With a quick movement of his trembling hands, he fastened the shackles on An's wrists. Click! As soon as the sound of the shackles locking was heard, all the officers and Ru Meng herself involuntarily exhaled.

"Take it! Take his spatial pouch from him!"" Hmm? But where is it?" Gaining courage, the officers immediately began thinking about the loot. A cultivator so young with such high cultivation, he clearly had something valuable on him.

"Go on, check him!"

"W-why me?" One of them was pushed forward, again, and they began pointing fingers and showing him toward An and forcing him to find the spatial pouch." U-um..." Having no other choice, the officer approached the shackled young man and was about to begin the search when he saw An raise his gaze directly at him. Seeing his eyes, the officer fell to the ground.

"Anyone who tries to touch my things... I'll break your arms before you even realize what happened." An swept his gaze across all the officers and deliberately began emanating an undisguised killing intent mixed with the pressure of his cultivation, his whole demeanor showing that he wasn't joking.' I got into this situation because I didn't want to give up my pouch. And now you think I'll just hand it over to you... Besides, I've already broken rule 18, so there's no point in holding back anymore…'

The moment he finished speaking, they felt his gaze and felt the thick, heavy, killing intent mixed with the pressure of his Qi, which even made their eyelids feel heavy from the weight created around them.

The officers, unexpectedly for themselves, began to back away, and some fell onto their buttocks, the pressure heavy on their skin as their legs gave out from terror. Seeing and feeling all of this, Ru Meng also realized that the fear inside her was taking over.

"E-enough!!" Steeling her remaining will, she shouted with all her might, squeezing her eyes and fists shut, just like a little girl. Everyone around, the spectators of this show, immediately looked at her in surprise.

"Ta-take him to the Hall of Justice and to the judgment Altar! Q-quickly!" Ru Meng stomped her foot hard on the floor, leaving scratches. Several officers, obeying the order and gathering their strength, approached An and tried to lead him away. But the moment they tried to take him by the arms, they remembered what he had said, and immediately stopped, just standing next to him, not knowing what to do next.

They couldn't step back into the crowd, and to lead him, they needed to touch him, which they were afraid to do more than anything at that moment. Looking at the pale officers on both sides of him, and not knowing what to do, An slowly began to walk toward the exit. Seeing this, the officers on both sides of him began to ' lead' him. As soon as he and his escort exited the Outer Hall, all the officers nearly collapsed to the ground, trying to catch their breath and compose themselves.

Ru Meng, standing still, dropped her gaze to the ground. At that moment, she hated herself, for being so afraid of some brat, for acting like a little girl. Grabbing and squeezing the emblem of the Hall of Justice Warden from her chest, she suddenly remembered that there were thousands of disciples around her, most of whom were watching her, watching her behavior.

Straightening up and raising her chin slightly higher, she walked toward the exit with ' confident' steps, trying to get away from here as quickly as possible. As soon as the show ended and all the main participants had left, everything immediately returned to normal. Lines formed again, elders reluctantly checked mission completions and handed out rewards, as if nothing had happened.

Disciples going about their business stopped and watched when they saw a shackled disciple being led across the Outer Platform toward the Hall of Justice, noting how the officers seemed afraid to even get close to him.

"Who is that?"

"I don't know, with his head lowered, I can't tell."

"I wonder what he did…"

"Maybe it's another disciple who broke rule 18. Remember, something like this happened not too long ago?" Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"What rule 18? No, I don't remember. Maybe it was while I was on a mission?"

"Probably… Anyway, rule 18 forbids outer disciples from releasing their cultivation and using it on other disciples within the Halls."

"What a stupid rule..."

"And yet, why do you think the dungeons are always full? Heh, sometimes you don't even know what rule you'll break just by stepping in the wrong place... Then again, if you have connections and money, you can just spit on these rules…"" Heh, true, true. Hmm, it almost feels like the officers are afraid of him..."

"Don't talk nonsense! How can officers be afraid of anyone, especially twenty against one? Maybe... he's contagious?" As he was being led across the platform, An could hear the disciples whispering around him. Some even came closer and asked what was happening, but the officers pretended not to hear and continued to lead An toward the Hall of Justice. Having gathered so much attention around themselves, the officers brought him to the Hall of Justice and formed a wall at the entrance, not letting anyone inside.

Only three remained with him. Realizing that they were alone with him, even though they were inside the hall, their own territory, they were still afraid to cross the line and simply led him silently to the Altar. Even the greed for his belongings had long since faded. After passing through several doors, they brought him to the teleportation altar. An suddenly stopped, not stepping onto it, and looked ahead, where he saw several disciples going about their business, not paying any attention to him or his convoy.

Turning his head to the side, he saw one of his three escorts standing there, hesitating, afraid to speak.

"Y-your p-personal plaque!" Gathering himself, he said in a broken voice. Hearing him, An, jingling his shackles, took out his plaque and threw it into the officer's hands.

"P-please... stand on the teleportation altar!" An took a step forward, walked to the center of the platform, and stood there, lowering his gaze downward. Suddenly, all the runes on the teleportation platform began to glow and flicker, and the pressure around him began to increase. BOOM! With a loud clap and a bright flash, the officers squeezed their eyes shut. Opening their eyes, they saw an empty altar. The brat had finally been successfully transported.

"Haa..." One of the three's legs gave out, and he fell to the floor. Sitting on the floor, he began to breathe deeply.

"I-I almost spit my heart out from fear..." Another said in a twitching voice, holding his heart. All three were only at the early stage of the fourth layer. Being with someone whose cultivation was several layers above theirs was far too stressful, especially when the memory of what had happened not long ago was still fresh." Um... Oh crap... He's an Alchemy Practitioner!" The one holding the plaque finally read the information from it.

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Wait! Let me see!" The other two immediately jumped up and directed their Qi into the plaque. Realizing that their friend wasn't lying, their faces went pale again.

"H-how... why didn't anyone know he had a Practitioner status? Huh?!" One of them grabbed his head.

"How could we have known? Did you see how he looked? Like some beggar, even peasants look neater!"

"We're finished! He joined this year and he's already a Practitioner! We're definitely finished! We're in deep!" The one holding the plaque raised his trembling gaze to the other two.

"N-no! Not us! I-it's Warden Ru Meng! Yes! She was the one who targeted him and arrested him without full explanation and filed charges... W-we had nothing to do with it! And so what if he broke Rule 18? It happens to the best of us! You don't just throw a Practitioner of Alchemy into the dungeons for that! Right?!" Hope appeared in one of their eyes, and in his excitement, he quickly shouted out. Hearing him, the other two, realizing he was right, began to smile, clinging tightly to this version.

"Exactly! It's not our fault, we were just following her orders!"

"Exactly! Exactly!" Nodding to each other, they ran to the altar keeper to hand over An's identity plaque for safekeeping until the end of his term. …." Hmm?" Elder Shoa was sitting in his rocking chair and gazing out the window at the beautiful hidden lake, when he suddenly felt the ring on one of his fingers vibrate. Running his Qi through it, his brows furrowed.

"He's gotten himself into trouble again. And this time, it's serious!" Taking the pipe from his teeth, Elder Shoa stood up and headed for the exit of his office." AGHH!" But unexpectedly for him, he felt an immense pressure descend upon him and press him to the floor, simultaneously shattering everything around him into splinters: his desk, his chairs, all the furniture. The floor, walls, and ceiling began to crack and break into small pieces." GHHAAA!!" Blood began to pour from his eyes and nose.

"I-I greet y-you! S-Sect Leader!" Holding back the blood that was trying to burst from his mouth, Elder Shoa lowered his head to the floor.

"N-no! H-he is l-like a personal disciple to me!" Shoa answered into the void. A hot sweat broke out across his entire body, immediately boiling and evaporating from the rising temperature in the room.

"N-no! You know! You always knew! That I am loyal to the Sect and only the Sect! No! I swear, I'm not!" Kneeling, he resisted with all his might, just to avoid falling completely to the floor.

"Y-yes! I understand! I will obey your orders, S-Sect Leader! I will obey!" Immediately, he felt the pressure disappear as suddenly as it had come." Haaa… Haaa…" Turning over and falling onto his back, the elder tried to recover. The entire room was buried in soot. The temperature had spiked so violently that the surroundings didn't even have time to catch fire, instantly vaporizing into black ash.' How… How?! I don't believe he knows! In this God-forsaken hole! Especially given the Sect Leader's origins…

He shouldn't know anything!! Damn, damn, damn!' His whole demeanor showed nothing of what he was truly thinking. Slowly standing up, he began activating his energy and started destroying all the soot.' I must accelerate my actions! Even if the chances that someone understood something are slim, they exist… I can no longer stick to the old plan… I have to move now!' …. Opening his eyes, An examined the now-familiar walls and the thick grate. This was the same dungeon he had been in the first time.

"Last time, the term was fifty days. This time, the conflict happened inside the Outer Hall. Even if I hadn't attacked, but only released my energy outward and suppressed all four, I would still have violated rule 18. Besides, everyone knows that the grabbers pay off the officers… In any case, there would have been a commotion… Eh, and on top of that, I resisted arrest by defending myself from her attack..." An's eyes dimmed.

Lowering himself to the ground and leaning his back against the cold, damp wall, he untied his pouch from his stomach and took out several Beginning of the Qi Path pills. He decided to stick to his previous tactic: constant cultivation and training with Qi, no matter how long he had to sit in his new home.

"Ru Meng..." Remembering the girl's face, An suddenly thought, rolling the pills on his palm. But the next moment, he completely cast aside any thoughts about her. He raised his head to the ceiling and suddenly began to smile. His entire body relaxed, and all his Qi burst outward, filling the entire cell. The formations on the walls and the bars of the dungeon began to creak and groan from the pressure of his energy." Ha... Hahaha!" He burst out laughing at himself.

He felt that for the first time in nearly seven months, in constant stress, anxiety, in this strange and alien world, he suddenly felt inner peace, true peace. As if everything beyond the walls of his cell had nothing to do with him.

His anxieties: after several hours of meticulous destruction of all traces indicating his presence in the cave, the erasure of any of his energy around that place, the constant paranoia that somewhere in the Sect's records there was information about his conflict with Rollo and his friends, and that an investigation would uncover it. Thoughts that he didn't even understand the surface of this world, and that all his efforts, everything he did, was actually meaningless.

Thoughts about Yan Eli's belongings lying at the bottom of the lake. All of these, and many other thoughts that had piled up over time, stacking heavily on top of each other and pressing down on him, suddenly vanished completely. Only upon finding himself again in this dark, damp room did all his worries completely evaporate." Hahaha!" An laughed with his eyes closed. His laughter, at first mixed with bitterness, with heaviness, transformed into something harsher and emptier.

His laughter simultaneously became louder and lighter, all the heaviness, all the burden accumulated over all this time, had gone somewhere, leaving only traces of itself behind. Finally, after a few minutes of laughter and the creaking of the formations, An fell silent and lowered his head, looking at the pills in his hand.

"At least while I'm here, I'm safe, I guess… So why not use this time to the fullest." Exhaling, he tossed a pill into his mouth and closed his eyes.