"Do you really plan on exploring the demon continent alone?"
"..."
The dim blue hue of the morning sun seeped in, dust glittering in its presence.
"Vera..."
"You are definitely unparalleled in this world. But the demon continent isn't something even you could overwhelm."
Leng's voice permeated through the room, every word carrying a sense of knowledge. Knowledge from experience.
"Hordes that disappear over the horizon are common in that land." Leng's hands shivered as he spoke. His very qi ran unstable.
Vera sat silently... His hand pressed against his chest, a fear akin to that of Leng mirrored in his own.
A cold sweat ran through his palm.
"Even so... I must go." His palm clutching against his chest. The cold sweat from before now ran dry.
Leng looked into Vera's eyes. In those eyes he saw an intensity he hadn't seen in Vera since he was a child.
"Is that so, Vera... " A quiet, yet heavy, reluctance in his voice.
The room stood silent for a moment. The dust in the air stuck in place.
"Then do what you must. To walk your path." The conviction in his tone. Betrayed by his eyes.
The morning after the eve of a new year, Vera stood at the gate to Broomwhich. A cheap rucksack slung over his shoulder, its coarse strap already biting into him.
Although no one stood to bid him farewell. He could feel their intent in the air.
Vera walked... Soon, even the silhouette of his body was swallowed by the snow.
Leng's eyes followed him for as long as they could.
***
The days to Vera's arrival at the Demon Continent were almost a blur.
Every step Vera took was filled with thoughts of the guardians, the sole of his boots running thin along with the snow that engulfed the earth.
After fighting the Blue Ogre, Vera felt like he understood a bit more about what the guardians were.
The Blue Ogre was a demon that sought to attain purity. Then what would a demon stronger than him be?
Even when he ate, he thought about how it'd be to fight them. His thoughts grew clearer as his porridge grew a skin of ice.
Vast Heaven's strength wasn't just absolute; it sought to overwhelm. His qi didn't seem to hope for an outcome. If anything, it felt like it was embodying a process. The outcome followed.
His weak manifestations slowly enveloped his body.
As the Demon continent grew closer, Vera's thoughts morphed into an itch that urged action.
His body moved across an earth no longer drowned in snow.
As Vera manifested his qi, he recounted that fateful encounter.
Fear.
Cowardice.
Acceptance.
Reluctance.
"Mortal Indignation"
His sweat turned to vapour as he trained his body. Every movement tried to mimic a feeling.
Action regardless of the outcome.
The more he indulged in the process... The denser his manifestations grew.
Some days he'd find himself recounting a scene he was incapable of appreciating. A sense of weight formed beneath his eyes.
"I want to see it again... the manifestation of someone who became the strongest because of the path he walked." His eyes latched onto the sun setting over the horizon. The skin of his palms was coarse, almost like sandpaper.
Day bleeding into what used to be night, the smell of spring engulfing the air.
The silhouette of the Demonic Continent disappearing into the dark, its jagged terrain coalescing into the night sky.