The party is over. While the birthday party was fun for Kasuur, it was tense and unexpected for the city elders. Many surprising events took place there. The arrival of the 17th Caesar alone was a significant development for them.
"Are you going straight home?" Maria asked. Her short hair flew in the wind outside the building. Ms. Xiao stood next to her. She stood with her head held high—very respectful, yet not self-deprecating. Looking at the blind and fat children in front of her, she had mixed feelings.
"Yes, there is no need for Ms. Xiao to see me off. I will return with Kasuur," Mais said. His gray eyes did not look at either of them. At least, not at their eyes. But he wasn't looking at the ground like other blind people, either. They rose straight up to face level.
No one knew it was because of Mais's training. Even though he was blind, he had walked his whole life with his head up. He was not used to bowing his head. Even when he was blind.
Beside Mais, Kasuur swayed with the fat on his body, and Mais stopped in front of the next street lamp. It was dimly lit. Yet, in the light, they were completely visible. For Mais, darkness and light meant nothing.
At that point, Mais knew he was alone with Kasuur.
"You are in the Core Realm now, but you are one of the weakest because of your lack of fighting experience. Focus on your close combat training in the city, and gain insights into the Tao as you progress through the Core Realm. That way, you won't have problems when the time comes for you to enter the Sage Realm," Mais said. Mais said. Kasuur nodded. He raised his head thoughtfully toward the street lamp. He put his hand under his chin and leaned against the lamppost, looking down at Mais.
"So, how can one reach the Sage Realm? In the Core Realm, we did so by transforming origin energy into a core. But I have no idea how to reach the Sage Realm."
Mais did not say anything about this and remained silent. He didn't know how to enter the Sage Realm either. He only knew about the Core Realm because of his great longing and curiosity for cultivation and the story of his close friend's rapid transcendence of the realms. However, Lagos had never told him how to enter the Sage Realm. Nor did he need to. If Mais ever had a chance to cross over to this realm, it was expected to be hundreds of years in the future.
No one would have expected it. Not even that the young genius—the Third Prince—who sat quietly by the lake or alone in the library reading books no one else read and secretly opening his cauldron to practice alchemy would step into the Core Realm at the age of ten.
"Go home, Kasuur. I can find my way home."
Kasuur nodded in agreement. But when he stepped into the darkness, he couldn't help but turn his head and look at the blind boy. He was just staring into space. He didn't seem to be thinking about anything. It was as if he were part of the darkness around him. A product of nature.
"Take care of yourself."
After Kasuur disappeared into the darkness, Mais waited a while longer. He knew Kasuur was gone, but he could still hear sounds coming from the darkness.
CHAPP! CHAPP! CHAPP!
Then, there was the sound of clapping. With it came footsteps.
"You seem to know we are here, but you made a mistake by sending Kasuur. The experts who protected him could have protected you from us."
A man in a white mask and black clothes emerged from the darkness. He seemed to be a part of the darkness. But he wasn't. Mais could recognize it. A strong aura of the fourth stage of the Core Realm emanated from the man's body.
Judging by his height and size, he was well past adolescence. He should have been an adult. This meant he had the added strength that comes with age and time to develop his techniques. Other rustling sounds came from the darkness. He was not alone.
And all this for a child who was only 10 years old. His confidence was understandable.
"I didn't make a mistake."
Mais didn't know any of this. He didn't care. Nor did he care about the rustling in the darkness.
"Do you know how to reach the Sage Realm?" he asked coldly.
As someone in the fourth stage of the Core Realm, he must have known what it took to become a sage.
The assassin found Mais's question interesting and decided to answer it. He wondered what a ten-year-old boy would do with that information.
But he did not understand why he was so eager to answer, bowing his head like a servant.
"With the Tao. You need to grasp the trace of a Tao. Then, when you pass into the Sage Realm, the Tao connects to your core, and you gain the power of the Sage Realm. When you want to reach the second stage of the Sage Realm and have seen the trace of another Tao, the Tao you saw will be connected to the new core. Otherwise, you distribute the Tao whose understanding is strong to the cores. This reveals the difference in power in the Sage Realm. The Tao spreads to the cores and reaches the realm of the sage. Funny, I don't know why I'm telling you all this stuff."
The white-masked man knew he shouldn't talk so much during an assassination. The experts hiding in the shadows knew that, too. They also knew that something was wrong. The masked man frowned. He felt his hands shaking. At that moment, he felt a strange sensation rise in his mind. It was a sensation that didn't belong to him.
"What have you done to me?!"
The assassin seemed to realize something was wrong, but Mais wasn't paying any attention to him. The Earth Empire's treasury had more than enough tools to hypnotize people.
"So this is the path to breaking through to the Sage Realm. But how will this bonding process work? The Tao is not a concrete thing."
Noticing that Mais wasn't paying any attention to them, the assassin realized something dangerous was happening. He extended his arm and ordered the other men to take action. They shouldn't underestimate this ten-year-old boy. He was clearly under someone's protection. Since no one was in sight, they should kill him and flee as quickly as possible.
But they couldn't do anything.
The wind blew, and as the boy stood there, a shadow suddenly slit the throat of the white-masked assassin. The man had already moved toward Mais, but with his throat slit, all he had left was his momentum. Before he could move again, a hole ripped through his heart. He tumbled past Mais. The shadow that had killed him leaped into the darkness. Screams and wild laughter surrounded the little boy, yet they seemed independent of him. Mais stood there, his staff outstretched, and continued on his way. Occasionally, corpses crossed his path, and he either stepped on them or dodged them.
When the screams stopped and Mais continued on his way, he bumped into the cat licking itself in front of him.
"Meow!"
The cat seemed annoyed, but made a special effort not to touch Mais's clothes with its wet, red paws. Mais waited there for Immortal White to throw the blood off her. At the same time, he thought to himself,
'When I reach the Sage Realm, I will be invincible. If only I weren't blind, then I could exact my revenge even without Kasuur!'
Even if Mais slowly grew stronger, once Tao started to influence his power, he could still gather enough power to go to the Earth Empire, make some allies, and fight for the throne.
Moreover, he controlled the empire's treasure. Even the simplest pills required a Sage Realm power level. Once Mais reached the Sage Realm, his power level would skyrocket. Only his blindness made fighting difficult for him.
"Are you thoroughly cleaned?" Mais asked. Immortal White nodded, quickly slipping into Mais's clothes and tucking his massive tails into the small space. Then, as if nothing had happened, the little boy scurried away from the dangerous area.