Chapter 57: Asura

He let out a sigh and continued, "Strictly speaking, our Sect of Severance is merely a minor sect, lacking deep foundations and weak in strength. If not for your father's timely rescue back then, we would probably have ceased to exist."

He turned his gaze toward Zhang Deshuai, speaking in a serious tone, "Though I do not know why he chose to tell you all of this only upon your adulthood, your father is a remarkable man, and he must have had his reasons for doing so. Your father bestowed a great favor upon me, and whatever he has entrusted to me, I shall fulfill. Rest here for now. In two days, you shall enter the Beast Forest alongside my daughter as a disciple of the Sect of Severance."

"......The... the Beast Forest?"

"Correct. The Beast Forest belongs to the naturally formed cultivation zones I mentioned earlier. It opens only once every five years, and each time for just a single week. The spiritual energy there is immensely dense, filled with rare beasts and extraordinary treasures everywhere you look, allowing one to rapidly advance their cultivation realm. Most importantly, it holds numerous fragments of ancient supreme being cultivation techniques and manuals. Even mere fragments are enough to make the elders of major sects turn green with envy; to touch even a fraction of them is a supreme fortune."

"With such a blessed land of geomancy, why are only Shuhan and I going? Is there a restriction based on strength?" Zhang Deshuai asked curiously.

"A good question!" Wang Yan smiled and replied, "Because the area of the Beast Forest is not particularly large, and its interior is somewhat cluttered and chaotic, with spiritual energy that is not entirely pure, it gradually evolved over time into a place where major sects temper their juniors. Furthermore, there is an ancient sect in the cultivation world known as the Zhai Academy. This sect possesses immense power and adheres to the 'Law of Equilibrium,' with the tenet of absolute order and justice. Their primary duty is to hunt down and punish cultivators who cause turmoil in the mortal realm, while spontaneously managing public cultivation zones. The Beast Forest also falls under their jurisdiction. Due to their belief in absolute order and balance, they have not only divided the Beast Forest into several sectors but also established the rule that only juniors under the age of twenty from major sects are permitted to enter. The Beast Forest is entirely protected and regulated by the Zhai Academy, and every year when it opens, they dispatch specialists to manage it. While guiding the juniors, they also keep other ancient sects in check, so you can think of the Beast Forest as an academy exclusively for young cultivators to train."

"As for how they determine the age of the juniors entering the Beast Forest, how is it verified? There must be plenty of artifice involving metamorphosis and techniques to alter bodily structures, right?" Zhang Deshuai asked in confusion.

Wang Yan looked at him as if he were a fool. "Don't you have a national ID card?"

"......"

"Let's go. I'll show you to your quarters first." Wang Yan made a gesture of invitation and slowly walked up the steps.

Zhang Deshuai followed closely behind him, walking up the steps toward the massive black gate. Master and disciple Wang Shuhan were already waiting at the entrance.

Standing before the door, Wang Yan brought his palms together in a chopping gesture, and a powerful surge of Qi erupted from his body, causing even his long robes to flap violently. He placed his palms flat against the surface of the door, exerted force through his legs, and slowly pushed open the heavy, pitch-black gates.

"Isn't it just pushing a door open? Does your old man have to put on such a grand production?" Zhang Deshuai nudged Wang Shuhan and whispered a complaint.

Wang Shuhan rolled her eyes so hard they almost reached the back of her head. "What do you know? The sect's gate is the final line of defense, especially for a sect like ours where stealth and assassination are the primary combat methods. To push this door open, one must not only circulate the exclusive secret arts of the Sect of Severance, but also possess a tremendous amount of Qi. Throughout the entire sect, only a handful of people can push this door open on their own."

"Including you?" Zhang Deshuai asked with a mischievous grin.

"Do you have a death wish?" Veins bulged on Wang Shuhan's forehead as she silently retrieved her butterfly knife from behind her back.

"Hehe... just joking, just joking," Zhang Deshuai quickly changed the subject. "Then what if someone who doesn't understand your sect's secret arts, but happens to be extremely strong, were to push this door open?"

Wang Shuhan's expression suddenly darkened. "Someone did that ten years ago."

"Ten... years ago."

"That's right. I was still young back then, but the scene from that day is something I will never forget."

"Father and Master had gone out on matters, and two juniors from the Asura Sect somehow managed to arrive at this very gate."

Wang Shuhan's gaze drifted, and her body involuntarily trembled slightly, as though the nightmares of a decade ago were still vivid before her eyes.

"That young man and woman, wearing Asura robes, looked to be less than twenty years old."

"At first, everyone was somewhat surprised to see heretics, but didn't make too much of it. After all, in our understanding, that gate was indestructible; they simply watched with curious amusement."

Shaking even more violently now, Wang Shuhan continued with a quivering voice, "Never did we expect that the leading man would walk up to the door and push it wide open with a single hand."

"That is a gate which requires even my father to use both hands to push open, yet he casually shoved it aside with one hand."

"Then they forced their way in, and a life-or-death battle ensued. Those two were immensely powerful, and the sect disciples simply could not hold them back."

"The Senior Martial Brother carried me down into the basement. I was too terrified back then, so scared that I just kept hiding down there until all the noise outside stopped and I finally dared to crawl back out."

"When I stepped out of the basement, the only things that hit me were the overwhelming stench of blood and corpses scattered everywhere."

"The senior brothers and martial sisters who had been playing with me that very morning, gathering in the main hall to cultivate, had all been reduced to fragments, and the entire courtyard was dyed a deep, crimson red with their blood."

"According to the few surviving senior brothers, the Senior Martial Brother had resorted to a forbidden technique meant to end in death just to barely suppress that male Asura."

"The most terrifying thing was that the female Asura had not made a single move the entire time. Just as the male Asura was severely injured and the Senior Martial Brother was about to take his life, in the blink of an eye, the female Asura moved."

"The Senior Martial Brother was instantly sliced into two halves by the female Asura, completely devoid of any ability to retaliate. Afterward, they didn't continue the slaughter; they simply turned around and left."

"Everything they did was like children kicking over a snowman someone else had built on the street, done purely for their own amusement."

"The Senior Martial Brother... was Master's fiancé, and he died just one day before their scheduled wedding."

Zhang Deshuai raised his head to look ahead at Wang Jiabai. A gentle smile still lingered on her face as she discussed something with Wang Yan, yet against the backdrop of past tragedies, that smile seemed to carry a touch of desolation and murderous intent.

Wang Shuhan bit her lower lip so hard she drew a trace of blood. With reddened eyes, she declared, "That is why I must become strong. Father said you will also become a very strong person in the future. I won't say things like pledging my body or serving you as a beast of burden; I only hope to grow strong alongside you, so that I can make them..."

"...Pay in blood."