Four years ago…

  Devika was actually Surendranath’s daughter. The only daughter of Surendranath, the Third Elder of the Crimson Heaven Society. Her heart had already fallen for Shivansh. She liked Shivansh a lot. But Shivansh did not return her feelings with the same intensity and rarely paid her much attention, for several reasons.

  The first reason was that he wanted to cultivate his prana and open his Anahata Heart Chakra. Because of that, he did not want any kind of distraction.

  The second reason was Devika herself. She was Surendranath’s only daughter, and Surendranath was an Elder of the Crimson Heaven Society. Because of that, Shivansh was afraid that something might go wrong. What if Surendranath did not approve of their relationship?

  Because of these two reasons, Shivansh had kept himself under control for a long time. But Devika, true to her name, was beautiful like a goddess, and she kept chasing after Shivansh. Because of that, Shivansh would get distracted even when he did not want to.

  So one day, he decided that he would directly go and tell Surendranath about Devika. That his daughter was bothering him and constantly following him. He thought that Surendranath would surely explain things to Devika and try to keep her away from him.

  But…

  When he took this matter to Surendranath, something very strange happened.

  “Oh! So you are the one because of whom my daughter has been upset with me for so many days!”

  Surendranath shouted at Shivansh. Shivansh’s expression immediately changed.

  “What?!”

  Only then did Shivansh realize that Surendranath already knew that Devika liked someone. But Devika had never told him who that person was. Because of that, Surendranath thought Devika was angry at him for some unknown reason. Devika had even stopped talking to Surendranath.

  In the end, Surendranath threatened Shivansh. He said that if Shivansh ever broke Devika’s heart, he would not let him go. In other words, Surendranath was indirectly telling him to accept Devika’s love.

  Now Shivansh was stuck in a dilemma. What was he supposed to do?

  He asked his friends. After hearing everything, they laughed and told him that he should accept Devika’s love. Shivansh already knew they would say that, but he still asked them anyway.

  In the end, Shivansh accepted Devika. He accepted her love.

  This happened about four years ago, before Shivansh opened his Anahata Heart Chakra. Four years had passed since then. Shivansh and Devika had been together for two years, until Shivansh decided to do closed cultivation and most members of the Crimson Heaven Society knew about them; their relationship.

  There were some people who were very jealous of Shivansh. Why did a beauty like Devika like him of all people? They were extremely jealous.

  Shivansh knew this very well. He also knew that if things continued like this, that jealousy would turn into burning anger and might one day engulf him and Devika in the future. To avoid that, he focused even more on his cultivation. His goal was to open the Anahata (Heart) Chakra.

  In his age group and generation, only three people had managed to open the Anahata (Heart) Chakra. If he also opened his Anahata (Heart) Chakra and became a Master Realm martial artist, he would be able to stop that jealousy and hatred from ever reaching him.

  He told Devika about this as well. Devika understood and even helped him. She talked to her father and arranged some resources for Shivansh, pills, herbs, elixirs, and even taught him some breathing techniques. All of this greatly helped Shivansh in his cultivation.

  Shivansh’s talent was only average, but he was extremely hardworking. And his hard work paid off when, after two years, he finally opened his Anahata (Heart) Chakra and became a Master Realm martial artist.

  This shut the mouths of those who were jealous of him. At the same time, Death Hall benefited greatly from this as well. Death Hall, which had been quite weak before, began to rise again. The credit for this went not only to Shivansh, but also to Saksham, Aditya, Manish, and Vansh, to some extent.

  Shivansh first returned to Death Hall, where he met the Death Hall Master. After that, he met Saksham as well. No matter how much Saksham tried to run away, he still had to return to Death Hall.

  Shivansh welcomed him properly. He beat him properly for pulling that kind of prank, and then hung him outside the window with a rope.

  “Senior Brother, the joke was not that bad. Please forgive me.”

  Saksham said. Hearing this, Shivansh shouted,

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  “What? Not that bad?! You little…”

  Swish!

  Saksham’s heart trembled when he saw the dagger flying toward him. Because of that, the rope he was hanging from shook slightly, and by a very narrow margin, he dodged the dagger.

  ‘Senior Brother’s dagger throwing speed has become really fast…’

  Saksham thought to himself.

  Just then, the door of the room opened, and a girl with black hair and large innocent eyes rushed toward Shivansh.

  “Ah! Shivansh, you came out of closed cultivation and you did not even tell me! Do you know how bad I felt? I was so depressed for so long! It is good that you came out! I am so happy right now that I feel like kissing you!”

  “Yeah… Yeah… I heard you. I am also very happy to see you.”

  Shivansh held her forehead with one hand. Otherwise, she would have already completely clung to him. Shivansh knew her personality very well. That girl was none other than Devika.

  Just then, Devika’s gaze shifted toward the window behind Shivansh, where she saw Saksham hanging. Saksham gave her a strange smile. Devika asked Shivansh,

  “Why have you hung that poor guy like that?”

  “That poor guy?”

  Shivansh made a face and looked at Saksham. Then, while drinking water, he said,

  “He deserves it. Let him suffer. Do not pay attention to him.”

  Devika did not like hearing this at all. She crossed her arms and said to Shivansh,

  “How can you do this? If it were not for him, I would not have even known that you were coming out of closed cultivation today! He helped me, and you are treating him like this?”

  Saksham let out a sigh and said,

  “Let it be, ‘Sister in law…’ Brother will not listen anyway.”

  Hic!

  As soon as Shivansh heard that, he suddenly hiccupped. All the water in his mouth spilled onto his chest, and Devika’s cheeks instantly turned red. Shivansh shouted at Saksham,

  “You have started talking too much these days! Just wait, I will deal with you tonight!”

  Swish!

  Shivansh pulled out a dagger and threw it at the rope from which Saksham was hanging.

  “No! Broth—I mean Senior Brother, do not do this!”

  Saksham shouted, but it was already too late. The dagger cut the rope, and Saksham began to fall.

  Thud!

  “Ahhh! My head!”

  Saksham screamed. His forehead turned red like a balloon. Thankfully, he was a First Rate martial artist, so his body was already quite strong. Moreover, the injury was not serious and would heal on its own.

  But Saksham did not care about that at all right now. A smile spread across his face. The awkward and flustered expressions on Shivansh’s and Devika’s faces made him feel very satisfied.

  “I keep telling Senior Brother to just marry her, but he never listens. Ah, well, forget it…”

  Saksham cleaned his clothes, got up, and walked away.

  Everything was going quite well.

  At night, Shivansh beat Saksham again because of his antics. But after some time, they were back together again, laughing and spending time happily.

  Devika was also very happy. She talked with Shivansh and planned to spend time together the following week. At the same time, a fire regarding her cultivation was lit inside her heart.

  “Shivansh has become a Master Realm martial artist… and I am still only a First Rate… and on top of that, I still have not fully filled my third chakra with prana. It is only at 9/10.”

  By the standards of boys and girls of her age and generation, this was considered quite good. But not in Devika’s eyes. She was Surendranath’s only daughter. Surendranath was an Elder, holding a very high position in the Crimson Heaven Society. By that standard, these results meant nothing to her.

  Surendranath never forced Devika or scolded her to cultivate, but Devika could understand everything just by looking into his eyes. And now, even Shivansh, the man she loved from her heart, had surpassed her in cultivation.

  “He is truly so hardworking… even with only average talent, he works this hard. And me…?”

  Devika said dejectedly. She was not as hardworking as Shivansh. She had all kinds of resources, and her talent was at least above average. Yet she never really felt like working hard. Perhaps one reason was that she had no clear goal until now.

  But now she did.

  She did not want anything else. At the very least, she wanted to reach Shivansh’s level of cultivation. Nothing less.

  A few days later, the day arrived when Shivansh and Devika had decided to spend some private time together. Shivansh was fully ready. The only problem was that his junior brothers kept teasing him in between. He could not shake them off.

  Just as he was about to leave, suddenly a young man arrived,

  “Senior Brother Shivansh! I apologize for coming at this time. But my Master, the Fourth Elder, has asked me to fetch a small item from slightly inside the mountain behind Death Hall. This junior seeks a bit of your assistance.”

  “Huh? Are you his new disciple? I have not seen you before.”

  “Yes, Senior Brother. I am his new disciple, and this is my very first mission. It is not very difficult, but I am feeling a bit nervous. And since the items that I want are found behind the Death Hall, I thought if i ask for your help. If senior helps me, then we can split the reward equally.”

  Shivansh raised his eyebrow and took the paper from the man’s hand, reading what was written on it. But he, could not abandon his evening with Devika. If the task turned out to be difficult, he would refuse it outright, no matter what.

  “Four Blue Claw Bear hides, some ordinary crow feathers, and two boar hides… Hmm, these are easy to find. All of this can be obtained from the mountain behind Death Hall.”

  Then Shivansh focused on the reward list below. At first, nothing caught his attention, and he was about to refuse when...

  ‘!!!’

  His eyes landed on one particular item.

  “Heavenly Purple True Herb!”

  He spoke aloud. That herb was extremely rare. And its effects were even rarer. If refined into a pill, it could greatly boost one’s prana, enough to fill one full portion (1/10) of a chakra.

  Shivansh immediately thought of Devika.

  He decided to get that herb for her. After all, she had helped him so much during his cultivation. Now it was his turn.

  Shivansh agreed to help him in the mission. Since time was limited, he brought Saksham and the others along, leaving only Manish behind because he was already on another mission.

  Shivansh did not want half the reward. He wanted only the Heavenly Purple True Herb.

  At first, the Fourth Elder’s disciple did not agree. He knew the value of that herb too. But he also needed to complete his first mission quickly, so in the end, he had no choice but to accept Shivansh’s condition.

  A few hours later…

  Shivansh was walking back cheerfully, holding a pouch in his hand. Inside it was the Heavenly Purple True Herb. He was going to give it to Devika. His clothes were dirty and stained with blood, but he knew Devika would not scold him for that.

  But the moment he returned to the Crimson Heaven Society, he heard devastating and heartbreaking news.

  Devika… was dead. Or rather, she had been murdered. And in an extremely brutal way.