Lin Fan spent his mornings training his skills and techniques. In the afternoons, he visited Chief Yan's house where he was taught the basics of the language of Aruni village, which was also the language used in all the oases. The Oasic Code, as they called it, was the language from the Ancient era and it was the common language for all those who lived in oases and sects. He would need to learn it, or at least the basics, if he wanted to be understood when he got to Linghun Sect.
At night, he would practise the Mystic Thunder mantra, the new mantra formed as a combination between the original mantra from the bell and the Yan family's Flaming thunder art. He had practised it to an impressive extent and he felt as though he was slowing down in his growth. This was a sign of him nearing the next stage of martial arts as per Chief Yan's explanation. If he managed to breakthrough this bottleneck in his training, he would immediately advance to the first phase of body refinement, the Warrior stage.
Time flew by fairly quickly and soon, the day to begin heading out to the sec reached. The villagers all congregated outside of the village to see their heroes off that morning. The trip would not be too long; if they left immediately and travelled all through the night, they would arrive before sunset the next day. The travelers consisted of Yan Li together with his dad, Lin Fan and a few other children specially nurtured by the Yan Family. There were also a few bodyguards personally trained by Chief Yan. The Yan family and Lin Fan travelled in one cart while the rest travelled in the other.
As they left, Lin Fan looked back at the villagers. They treated him like a friend, a guest and a hero, even though he had talked to no more than twenty people there. In their eyes, all who were ready to join sects so as to retake the nights lost to demons were heroes.
They travelled for the whole day, keeping an eye out for bandits, even though they could all easily overpower regular bandits. Their main assurance was the presence of Chief Yan, an expert at the peak of the Profound Opening stage. Out of every 500 martial artists, there could only be one at the Spirit Sea stage.
One strengthens the body with spiritual power and training to become a Warrior, then unlocks their sixth sense to achieve Profound Opening. One then unseals their spirit sea, to solidify and use spiritual power for techniques. However, unsealing the spirit sea could take years of hard work and all that effort may still be fruitless. Most Spirit sea stage martial artists were masters at the top of various sects.
Linghun sect was famous in the region but was considered a second-rate sect by others. Sects such as Yuan dan sect, Lingjin sect and the seductive Zi Mei sect were the most famous but even those enrolling needed to be at the warrior stage.
Soon, night came. The main fear that this group had were demonic beasts. Varying in shape and form, all shared only one characteristic; their bloodlust for humans. They seemed to have a strong hatred for humans, as though a grudge so deep that death a million times over could not quell.
They kept journeying, the night seemingly peaceful. Something was off, though. Demons could always be found in abundance. What was different tonight? The silence was so distinct that it sent shivers down everyone's spine. They came to a stop as they noticed a fog enveloping them. They felt an insurmountable amount of fear, as though in the face of death.
Suddenly, one of the guards pointed into the fog; a shadowy human figure could be seen. It began walking towards them, out of the fog. Lin Fan looked closely, his remarkable sense of danger alerting him; warning him that this being reeked of death and if they didn't make an escape they would all surely be dead with no place to be buried.
He couldn't wait anymore. "RUN!!!"
He began running back, attracting the gazes of the other villagers. They all began thinking that he was a coward. The figure then stepped out of the fog. It was a human, but something wasn't quite right. He had sharp black claws in place of fingertips, his eyes were also black with red pupils that darted around as though looking for prey. He grinned widely.
Suddenly, he vanished, right before reappearing with his arm having stabbed through one of the boys, the boy's heart in his hand. He pulled it out, then grinned again.
Chief Yan felt the pressure of this human; dark and demonic, perhaps even more dangerous than most demonic beasts. He recognized this feeling and froze before hopping in front of his son to shield him. "Run. Let me handle this." Only he had a slim chance of winning or at least surviving but only if he went against it alone. This was one of them, the beings who fed on demons to grow stronger and emitted an aura of death. This guy was a Dark Cultist.