2 Calm Before the Storm (2/2)

”Hahaha,” the Inspector laughed. ”Of course not, but I have to know all the relevant details. If you don't mind my question, please answer.”

Shura shook his head in his mind. He really wanted to know who the expert was as well, but how come he was being interrogated now? Now how was he supposed to answer without implicating himself?

He can't tell him he was so excited about his transformation that he couldn't give a damn who was in front of him. How would he explain the fact that he was someone who wasn't even a cultivator yesterday, to the present him?

Although he wasn't learned about cultivation, the topic wasn't exactly a science. He could feel how strong he was, and he definitely was not at the level of someone who had just become a cultivator. Someone like that wouldn't be able to dodge the assassin's skilled swordsmanship and the slash that he had received would've probably killed them.

If he was at such a level, never mind himself, this Inspector would've brought the topic up already. No, he didn't know the exact difference between a cultivator's levels. But he wasn't someone who had a total beginner's cultivation. That was why there was no way he could tell him that yesterday he couldn't even feel qi.

This would invite further questions and it might make the Inspector covet whatever opportunity he had obtained last night.

Shura tried his best to answer all that the inspector wanted to know without divulging his secret. When the Inspector was done and about to leave, Shura called out to him.

”Are you going after the assassin?” Shura asked.

”Yes. From your description of his technique and swordsmanship, I have a few clues to go on now.”

”I see… Well, good luck.”

He had hesitated for a moment. He had pondered whether he should ask the investigator to go with him or not. He had a feeling that the Inspector would definitely find the trail of the assassin and confront him. Who would win in the end was unknown. But Shura might never be able to meet that assassin again if he didn't act now.

In the end, he didn't say anything. Even after the Inspector was gone for a while now, Shura was still deep in thought.

The assassin was a line, and so was the Inspector. He himself was also a line. The line intersected for a moment before continuing on its way. Although Shura was a newbie to cultivation, he wasn't a newbie to life. Those men had their own path to walk while he had this own as well.

The cultivation information. He had to at least accomplish that much. Shura got up from the bed and left the building. It took him a while to understand where in the city he was. Once he did so, he headed for the market and bought an introductory book to cultivation.

Shura immediately began to read. Humans had untapped potential within them. An ancestor in the past pioneered the field of cultivation and discovered the secrets of the body and the existence of qi. Through the use of certain techniques and methods, qi was absorbed and refined within the body, giving the practitioner greater strength, speed and resiliency. At higher levels, more miraculous powers were obtained and a person's lifespan increased.

The book listed five cultivation levels. There were no names, only first realm to the fifth realm. Aside from saying that there were five realms, it didn't offer any explanation at all about how different the realms were from one another and how strong a person of each realm was and what they were capable of.

Shura knew he was not in the first realm. The weird occurrence yesterday had made him unable to pinpoint how strong he was. To say that he was weak would be inaccurate, but to say that he was strong would also be inaccurate. His conservative estimate of his strength being somewhere within the second realm would have to suffice.

He really did feel that he was beyond the first realm, but no further than that.

All of a sudden the clear sky darkened. Thunder crackled in the sky ominously. The people of Cloudfree City looked at the sky in uncertainty. The world had instantly turned dark to everyone within and nearby the city as if a dark shadow had been cast on the ground below.

Shura looked up to the sky, his gaze filled with both confusion and expectation. Something big was about to happen.