After Varik's departure, Desper wanted to train his new ability, but he decided to cultivate first. He followed Varik's advice and cultivated in his bedroom, so he wouldn't miss anyone knocking on the door.
After five hours, Desper finished his session. He was hungry, but he didn't want to leave his home. Varik had told him that the sect was protecting him. That meant that there was something trying to harm him, so he decided not to leave his apartment for the day until everything was clear.
He focused on his stomach and started to force the power there into his Origin to activate his new ability. He had asked Varik about its name. To his surprise, the ability had no name, so he decided to name it 'the Silent Pulse'.
He decided to reduce the time it took to activate it first and delay training on fighting while absorbing the red stones.
Like last time, the strange power resisted him fiercely, but he continued pushing it anyway. After it reached his Origin and spread through his channels, he deactivated it and repeated the whole process again and again.
He would have continued doing this the whole day if it weren't for the knocks on his door.
'An enemy? Or a friend?'
Desper took a deep breath and went to open it and didn't forget to bring his swords in case anything happened.
'Let's see where this is going to take us,' he said in his mind before pulling the door open.
Outside, there was an old man with a bald head. Standing next to him was a younger one.
Desper was stunned. Although he didn't recognize the old man, he still recognized his clothes. The colors of the sect's uniform were orange with irregular black lines, but that was only for the disciples. This old man's clothes were black with irregular orange lines, the opposite of the normal uniform.
'An Elder,' Desper muttered in his mind.
"Greetings, Elder." He cupped his hand before the old man.
The Elder nodded at him and asked, "Disciple number 1855, Desper?"
"That is me," Desper replied respectfully. "How can I help you?"
"You asked for permission to visit your village, didn't you? You can do it now," the Elder started"Come with me."
After saying that, the Elder turned his back to Desper and walked away. Desper frowned, but still followed him.
"Can I ask why I wasn't allowed to leave the sect?" he asked while walking next to the Elder. "And why was I being followed by this man?"
He said that while pointing to the young man next to the Elder.
The young man's body stiffened. He was the one who gave Desper a lot of stress yesterday.
"Hmm." The Elder looked at the younger man with a frown.
"I'm really sorry, Fourth Elder," the disciple quickly apologized. "It was my first time watching over someone."
"Sighhhhh…" The Fourth Elder let out a deep breath, then looked at Desper and said, "We were doing some investigation, and it was safer for you to stay in the sect."
Desper narrowed his eyes and said, "Investigation about what? And safer from what?"
The Fourth Elder sighed again. He turned his body and faced Desper.
"Okay, Disciple Desper. I want you to listen closely to what I'm about to say. Also, I want you to control yourself."
Desper grimaced and listened to the Elder.
At first, the Elder explained some basic information about Zlodei that Desper already knew about, but at some point, Desper's body suddenly trembled. The more the Fourth Elder talked, the more shocked and furious Desper became, but by the end of the Elder's speech, Desper froze in place.
His eyes were wide open, his pupils were pinpointed, his mouth was trembling, and his fists were tightly clenched.
"What?! ...What?!"
He repeated in absolute shock. His teeth unconsciously pierced his lips as tears flooded down his face.
…
An hour later, Desper was seen riding a Red Horse toward the gates to leave the sect. His face seemed very normal: the anger had disappeared, the wounds on his lips had healed, and his eyes had dried from tears. However, deep in his eyes, deep in his mind, there was chaos, blood, and darkness. However, he somehow didn't show anything on his face.
On his neck a small circular object was hanging. It was the permission to visit the village. It had a small array on it that would hide his presence from the monsters for one day.
"I didn't have the chance to thank you for coming with me...…., Bron."
Beside him, a middle-aged man was riding another horse as well, with the same permission hanging from his neck.
"You don't have to say that. I'm happy to help you" Bron smiled faintly. "But can I ask you why you didn't ask Eland or the others?"
Desper resisted the urge to voice his thought.
"Sighhhhhhhh… I will be honest with you." He answered with an apologetic face. "I actually asked Eland, but I was too late, as he is about to carry out a solo mission. And I still haven't gotten closer to the others, so I shamefully asked you."
"Hahahah… No no… there is nothing to be ashamed about." Bron chuckled. "If you need anything else, just ask me, and I will do whatever I can to help you."
Desper faintly smiled. "Thank you, Bron."
After that and for a few minutes, only the horses' steps were heard.
Desper suddenly broke the silence with a question. "How do you feel after becoming an Organ Cultivator?"
"So good." Bron smiled widely and said, "Hearing, vision, smell, my reaction time, and many other things. All of them have improved a lot."
Desper smiled back and cheered. "Just keep on working hard, and you might achieve your dream."
"My… dream." Bron repeated with a sigh, staring at the clear sky.
"What about you, Desper? Are you feeling better after what happened in the mission?"
The question struck Desper's heart. He stayed silent for a minute and then replied,
"At first, I had many nightmares that didn't let me sleep. Even the Sleeping Pills couldn't help. But now, my head is clearer than ever."
Desper stared at his hand, the blood of the stalker covering it. In his head, the screams of the children were still echoing. The feeling of his legs pushing between the mall corpses was still very clear. The silence of the village after the second signal was the loudest.
He remembered more and more about the village, about the mission, and… about the past. A past that somehow was linked to his mission.
Then he looked at Bron and asked, "What about you, Bron? How did you feel that day? How could you endure seeing that many people die instantly?"
Bron stared into the distance and said, "I have been a cultivator for ten years. I've seen many people die. With time, you will get used to it as well."
After that, neither of them talked for a while. Right now, they were very far away from the sect.
Desper broke the silence again, his voice emotionless. "In the last few days, I learned a lot of things."
"Hmm? What are these things?" Bron asked.
"They are about the Zlodei."
"The Zlodei?!" Bron was stunned upon hearing that.
The Zlodei were the most dangerous cultivators who used a vicious technique to absorb other people's cultivation. They were far more dangerous than the monsters. If one was detected, they had to be eliminated immediately.
"What did you learn about them?" Bron asked, his heart beating fast.
Desper stared at the back of his horse and said, "First, they can contact you by using many different ways, like sending you a message, meeting you in person, or even using an insect to send you a message."
He continued, "You can also meet them if you search enough. After that, you can ask them to become one of them, but not everyone can get in that easily. They give the viscous technique to the talented without asking for anything in return, while others are asked to do something as a test."
At that moment, both of them stopped their horses at the same time. They faced each other, seven meters between them. Desper was still looking at the back of his horse, the look on his face getting colder and colder. On the other side, Bron's body was trembling. His breath was faster and louder, sweat started to form on his face, and his hand was gripping the handle of his sword, ready to unsheathe it at any time.
Desper proceeded, "These tests might be killing your teammates, assassinating an Elder, helping someone to get inside the sect, or…"
Desper was moving his head slowly toward Bron, his face devoid of any kind of emotion, which made it terrifying.
"Or helping the monsters to destroy an entire village and kill everyone inside it."
"Let me ask you again, Bron," Desper said in a deep, cold voice. "How did you really feel that day?"