Unsealing Emptiness

He could keep three people at bay, but what about eight of them? At that time, he would have no choice but to accept his impending doom.

Ozul had no intentions of interfering, he was solely focusing on the teenager’s technique and the saber in his hands.

Each slash of his carried sparks of fire as the saber collided with other weapons. The teenager was using flashy moves, but he understood that they were probably the Spiritual Arts they had heard about.

‘So doing specific movements generates those sparks? Is it not dependent on personal will and intentions?’

Ozul tried to infer as much as he could from their battle and it seemed obvious that Spiritual Essence wasn’t as kind as the Mana in their Realm.

Mana could be manipulated solely with willpower alone. Chanting and movement played a small role initially. After that, it was solely reliant on willpower.

.....

It appeared that there was no necessity for chanting in the case of Spiritual Essence. Body movement, calm breathing, and delicate control over the Spiritual Essence within their bodies, on the other hand, played a significant role in their attacks.

‘There is only so much I can gather...’ With a sigh, Ozul reflected.

Although he could sense the flow of Spiritual Essence in other people’s bodies, he couldn’t be completely sure if it was due to personal will or physical movement.

Just as he was about to turn around and head back, he sensed several more traces of Spiritual Essence rapidly heading in his direction.

Forced to hide, he stepped behind a chimney atop the house and waited for the people to appear.

It only took a few seconds before tens of men surrounded the alley.

One of the teenager’s four guards had been killed, while the other three were critically injured! The teenager, on the other hand, was doing fairly well. He only had a few cuts, and they were minor.

Since Ozul had no Spiritual Essence, his presence was minimal. None of the people who had arrived noticed him. Instead, they quickly attacked the eight people who were fighting with the teenager and his men.

‘So the boy wasn’t lying...’ Ozul realized these were the reinforcements that the teenager had told his guards about.

Under his impressed gaze, the reinforcements swiftly dealt with those eight people and even helped the injured men. They were led by a man wearing a deep red gown and a tall stature.

Even though he was clearly the strongest in that alley, Ozul believed he had a chance of winning if they went all out. The aura created by that towering man was simply insignificant in comparison to Minho.

It was at that moment that Ozul realized something and he almost cursed himself, “Sigh...”

...

While Ozul was immersed in probing all the people that had come to rescue the teenager, he forgot one simple fact; his body was still continuously absorbing the Spiritual Essence!

While normally, that little amount of Spiritual Essence wouldn’t have been noticeable at all.

‘It’s those eyes, huh...’ Ozul reflected.

The eyes of that man in the alley were glowing blue as his eyes tried to pierce through the very soul of Ozul, if he had any.

Realizing that he had been found, Ozul knew it was futile to run.

He could get away from these people if he tried, but it meant he wouldn’t be allowed to stay in this town any longer. According to what he had seen and heard, these folks were at the very least some big shots in this region. It was tiring for him to leave this town when they had only just arrived.

Instead of running away, he tried to probe those eyes.

‘Is he born special or is it because of some Spiritual Arts?’ Noting this question down in his head for the future, Ozul straightened his back and yawned, ‘Shouldn’t have come here and just slept as I deserved to...’

Although he had now stopped absorbing the Spiritual Essence, it wasn’t going to help his case that he had been observing them secretly.

Before he could even utter a word, a couple of people were already surrounding him and a saber hung beside his head, caressing his tender neck, but not drawing any blood.

‘Hmm... I can win...’ Ozul deduced from the speed that man had approached him. Although to a normal eye it was just a blink of an eye, he could have easily counterattacked in that short time if he wanted to.

“Speak! Who are you?” the man asked while threatening to cut off his head.

“Ozul.”

“Huh? What Ozul?!”

“That’s my name. Ozul Ashfall.”

“I didn’t ask your name!! Tell me who sent you!”

Ozul looked around, and more than fifteen people were currently glaring at him with killing intent. Their leader who held his blade against his neck could barely stop himself as well.

“No one sent me... I was just curious so I came to check,” Ozul spoke his mind, not hiding anything.

That man, however, didn’t believe a single word that he said.

“Nonsense! Don’t you dare lie brat! Don’t take me for an idiot! You are a cultivator and I haven’t seen anyone in this town wearing those kinds of clothes!”

Ozul looked down at his clothes and then compared them to the others’ and he indeed looked out of place a little.

Back in their Realm, any random peasant could be seen walking in such simple clothes, however, people in this town were mostly wearing robes. Their attire was simply too complex for him, who preferred simplicity.

“Haven’t you heard what we asked?! Speak!”

One of the men beside their leader kicked Ozul in the back.

“Aak!”

Unfortunately for him, Ozul had covered his skin with the Purity underneath his shirt, so he didn’t even feel the vibrations from the kick. On the other hand, the man yelped in pain.

“You bastard!”

Embarrassment got to that man’s head. He unsheathed his saber and aimed directly at Ozul’s heart.

*Pang!*

Just then, another saber collided with his as the shockwave sent him stumbling backward!

“C-commander Lin!” The man questioned with a wronged face.

“Did I allow you to kill him yet!?” the man referred to as ‘Commander Lin’ barked back, making the man cover back in fear.

That man, however, still hadn’t resigned. He continued to glare at Ozul with hateful eyes.

Commander Lin ignored that man and moved his attention back to Ozul. His saber was again resting on his shoulders,

“I will ask you this last time! Otherwise...”

Lin’s saber again pressed against his neck, threatening him to speak the ‘truth’ or meet his fate.

This time, however, Ozul didn’t reply. He had already told them his name and that he was only curious so he came to check up.

‘Do I want enemies this early in this world of which I know nothing about...? I don’t think so...’ He wasn’t retaliating since he was trying to avoid trouble as much as possible.

‘Hm.. Maybe later,’ he decided in his heart to let them be unreasonable until he knew more about their situation. After all, he had already sensed at least one man who didn’t have pure malice against him amongst these people.

Just as he thought, the teenager also jumped on the roofs and inspected him for a while.

“Do not kill him. If he really is with those people, we have to find out who sent him. There are better tools back in the household to get him to talk,” the teenager persuaded Commander Lin to spare him.

‘This kid really is unusual... He doesn’t have any emotions against me, and yet he can say those words with such a bland face,’ Ozul was suddenly interested.

Although he could run away right now and he actually planned to do so before as well. But he felt that there was more to this teenager that he let on.

After much contemplation, Commander Lin agreed with him and then turned to face the teenager, “Young Master Han, you shouldn’t have left the clan without informing anyone... What if something had happened to you today? How would I explain it to the Clan Leader?”

Commander Lin questioned him without holding back. Even though he was their young master, his actions had cost them a life!

But seeing the lost expression on the teenager’s face, Lin realized that he had spoken out of his line.

“Sigh... These bastards who dared to attack you are the real ones at fault!” his teeth gritted in anger as he glared at Ozul, still convinced that he was somehow related to those people who were sent after their Young Master.

“Stand up!” he shouted at Ozul, who calmly stood up.

There were no expressions on his face as he complied without any resistance. Since he had decided to go with them anyway, there was no need to make things difficult for himself.

After seeing Commander Lin’s speed, he was already confident that he could kill him. If taken by surprise, it would be even easier. Still, he didn’t do it merely because he didn’t feel like it.

One may argue that Commander Lin was fortunate that there was no daylight now.

No one knew if Ozul would have been so amiable if it was daytime.

As he went along with these people to god-knows-where, he forgot that he hadn’t yet informed some people of his departure...

. . .

In the hotel, Raven and the other two had just returned when they found the room empty with the window still left open.

“... he could be sleeping on the roof?” Blaze mentioned, noticing the cracking traces of worry on Raven’s face.

Instead of worrying though, Raven went to the bed and sat down to cultivate the Spiritual Essence. There was no use in worrying about Ozul who still retained his past strength, unlike them.

.....