“...So, what you mean is… that boy broke those beads?”

  “Yes, sir. You heard it right.”

  Inside a quiet room, the leader of the Crimson Heaven Society was questioning Surendranath.

  When the leader first learned that Surendranath had failed to retrieve the beads, his anger was fierce.

  But after hearing the rest of Surendranath’s report, that rage faded, replaced by a serious expression.

  The Society Leader leaned forward slightly and asked,

  “And when he broke those beads, nothing happened?”

  “No. Nothing happened there. The beads simply shattered. Nothing else occurred.”

  “Anything else?”

  Surendranath quickly answered,

  “The boy said those beads had a martial art inscribed on them.”

  ‘?!’

  The Society Leader’s eyes widened in shock. Surendranath noticed that expression and thought to himself,

  ‘Looks like those beads really did contain something important… maybe martial arts.’

  Earlier, he hadn’t fully believed Sharv’s words.

  After all, how could something as small as a bead contain an entire martial art?

  But seeing the leader’s reaction erased any doubt. The Society Leader only showed such an expression when something involved martial arts or something of critical importance.

  The man was well known for his obsession with martial arts.

  Among the strongest in the martial world, few could match his knowledge and hunger for power. The Society Leader then asked,

  “Where is that boy right now?”

  “I’ve locked him up in the underground prison of Death Hall. I’ve already told the men to torture him until he spits out everything he knows. By now, I’m sure he’s started talking. You don’t need to worry.”

  “They’re torturing him?”

  The Society Leader’s voice turned cold, serious. Surendranath replied,

  “...Yes. They should be torturing him at this very moment.”

  “Tch! Idiot! There was no need to torture him!”

  The pressure in the Leader’s voice was suffocating.

  Surendranath felt it clearly, instinctively bowing his head lower.

  “That boy didn’t speak even after you threatened him, right? So what makes you think he’ll talk after being tortured? No. A person who’s willing to cut his own throat rather than talk… won’t break that easily.”

  “...B-but”

  “Third Elder, you’re not understanding. Boys like him aren’t ordinary. They’re… different. People like that can’t be subdued by force. But that doesn’t mean they can’t be controlled.”

  “...”

  “The method you’re using is wrong. You can’t control him with brute force or pain. To control someone like him… you have to play with their mind.”

  Surendranath raised his head and asked,

  “Then what exactly should I do?”

  The Society Leader answered.

  “First, get him out of there.”

  “As you command.”

  Surendranath was just about to leave when he stopped midway and added,

  “I almost forgot to mention… that boy can use Lunar Energy too.”

  ‘?!’

  The Leader’s interest deepened the moment he heard something related to martial arts.

  “Are you serious?”

  “Yes. Absolutely.”

  “Is he a eunuch?”

  “Ah… that… I’m not sure.”

  “Hmm… then find that also out when you bring him.”

  Surendranath stood there in silence. He immediately regretted bringing this up. Now he’d have to figure out something extremely awkward.

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  How was he supposed to ask a boy whether he was a eunuch or not? He was the Third Elder of the Crimson Heaven Society—a high position. This would be humiliating.

  “What’s wrong? Is there a problem?”

  The Society Leader’s tone was sharp. Surendranath quickly shook his head,

  “No! No problem. I’ll bring the boy as soon as possible.”

  He was just at the door when the Leader’s cold voice struck him again.

  “And one more thing… bring the boy straight to me. Don’t even think about taking him anywhere else. Understood?”

  Gulp!

  Surendranath didn’t turn back. He simply nodded and left the room quickly.

  Inside, the Society Leader remained seated, still thinking about the boy. From what Surendranath had described, this boy wasn’t ordinary.

  And on top of that, he possessed Lunar Energy despite being a male. Whether or not he was a eunuch didn’t matter.

  What mattered was that power.

  “A boy like that… I can’t afford to let him slip through my hands. I’ll make full use of him.”

  A faint smile crept across the Leader’s face.

  “Ah! Right. Today’s also the Entrance Trials. I almost forgot. Let’s hope this year… we find some extraordinary talents.”

  He rose from his chair and walked toward the window. His eyes fixed on a distant mountain as the wind gently rustled his robes.

  For a brief moment, there was a serene smile on his face until...

  Drip!

  Blood trickled down his hand, dripping slowly from his palm, wrist, and fingers, pooling onto the floor. His smile vanished from his face.

  Drip!.. Drip!.. Drip!..

  ***

  Chikk!

  ‘L-Let me go! Kuakkk!’

  Pshttttt!

  ‘Twelfth… this was my twelfth spirit.’

  Sharv’s master said, and then turned toward Vijay. At first, Vijay hesitated, but later he too began slaying the spirits and absorbing their energy along with her.

  In this underground prison, countless people had already died and because of that, the place had become home to many spirits.

  Most of these spirits were in their initial stage, meaning they were only of the Black Spirit Rank.

  Such spirits were easy to defeat, as they possessed little power.

  Black Spirit, ranked spirits only contain Lunar Energy, not Death Prana, which makes them much weaker.

  In short, these types of spirits are of little use.

  But, under Sharv’s command, Vijay and that woman captured and absorbed one spirit after another.

  It didn’t benefit them much only their Lunar Energy increased slightly, and a portion of that energy naturally flowed into Sharv, since they were his Spirit Servants.

  That’s exactly what Sharv wanted—a constant supply of free Lunar Energy.

  But that didn’t mean he would stop cultivating. No… he still had to cultivate that Lunar Energy himself.

  Otherwise, the Lunar Energy entering his body would remain as foreign energy, temporary and would eventually fade away if not cultivated and bonded completely with his own body.

  ‘I think that was the last one… the last of the Black Spirits.’

  Vijay spoke. He had killed and absorbed around twelve spirits, all of them of the Black Spirit Rank.

  There was only two Strange Spirits here, but they were quite weak, even compared to Vijay who was in the same rank, so they were of no use. But they had death prana in them.

  Sharv’s master; that woman dealt with them, absorbing their energies. After exterminating all the spirits, Vijay and the woman returned to Sharv.

  Sharv stood near the underground exit. Two guards were stationed at the gate, but Sharv had already killed them effortlessly.

  “I’m starting to remember that day again…”

  Sharv murmured to himself as he looked down at the floor of the dungeon.

  The ground was ancient, stained dark with layers of dried blood. Seeing those stains pulled him into an old memory…

  In the Northern Plains, where Sharv once lived, eating meat was strictly forbidden.

  But for Martial Artists, or those of the Kshatriya caste(1), meat was sometimes... necessary, to maintain physical strength.

  For that reason, certain secluded areas had butchers who sold the meat of chickens, ducks, fish, goats, and sheep.

  Only these animals were butchered and sold, and obviously cows were not butchered, in any case.

  When Sharv was only five or six years old, one day he wandered off to a butcher’s shop on the outskirts of town.

  The place was silent at first, until he heard a sound.

  Slice!

  A sharp, slicing sound like something being cut apart.

  Curious, he peeked through a half-open window and saw a man butchering a goat.

  The butcher first shaved the goat’s body, then used a sharp knife to peel off its skin.

  As he did, streams of blood began to flow from the dead animal’s body.

  He started from the stomach, then the legs, then the neck, and finally the head.

  Piece by piece, the man separated skin from flesh until he was covered head to toe in blood.

  Then…

  He began cutting further, the legs first, then the head, then slicing open the stomach to remove all the internal organs, intestines, lungs, heart, liver, stomach… and who knows what else.

  At first, Sharv was horrified. He felt nauseous. He thought he had seen something he was never meant to witness.

  He ran home immediately. He swore never to return there again.

  But that image, that scene of the butcher and the goat had burned itself into his mind.

  He could never forget it.

  At times, that image would resurface in his thoughts. And gradually, his feeling of disgust began to fade replaced by curiosity.

  Questions began to rise in his young mind :

  “Does human blood look the same? Is human flesh like that too? Do humans have the same kind of organs inside them? Are humans the same as them?”

  He needed answers.

  He had always heard from his mother and from others in society that humans are different from animals. Physically, perhaps that was true, but apart from that, how exactly were they different?

  Sharv wanted to know.

  And a few days later, he got his answer. That day, he peeked into that same butcher’s shop again.

  And this time, the man was butchering a dead human being. His own father, who used to abuse that butcher in his childhood.

  Since the butcher's family lived far away from the main city, no body knew about the disappearance of that butcher's father.

  Rise!

  The butcher raised his hand.

  The same knife.

  The same method.

  Sharv’s heartbeat quickened, his chest tightened, but moments later his expression changed.

  He looked... disappointed.

  Because he saw no difference. Everything was exactly the same as before the same type of flesh, the same type of organs, the same type of blood.

  The human blood flowed down on the butcher's body and floor, and overlapped the old animal blood strains, it overlapped in a way that there was absolutely no difference between them.

  They were same.

  Sharv quietly walked away that day, but the answer had already settled in his heart.

  Are humans any different from animals? Maybe for the rest of society, yes. But not for Sharv.

  For him, humans were just another species of beast, slightly more intelligent, nothing more.

  The only real difference lay in appearance, nothing else.

  Animals hunt the weak, and so do humans.

  The weaker beasts live under the dominance of the strong, and so do humans.

  Female animals desire the strongest males, and so do human females.

  Animals can do anything for their personal interest and survival, and so do humans.

  No matter what others say, for Sharv, everyone is a beast.

  “I too… am just another beast.”

  Sharv turned around and pushed opened the door to leave this underground place, Vijay and his Master followed behind him.

  1. KSHATRIYA CAST (???????? ????) -

  SOCIETY LEADER WAITING FOR SURENDRANATH :