Three days passed after that rainy night. Most of the villagers still couldn't believe that it had really happened. The destruction and slaughter came from right next door, from a forest that had seemed so empty. The forest was a young one, how could it have held such a monster?

It took a while for the elder of the village to piece together what had happened. A group of students from Cang Hui Academy had reached rank twenty, meaning that they had to retrieve their second spirit halo. The younger forest was perfect for that, since a rank twenty spirit master should only absorb a spirit halo of up to seven hundred and eighty years, anything more than that would be considered dangerous, as the attempt would have a backlash on the spirit master's soul, just like the one that nearly killed Ichi Guo.

The fact that the spirit master students went out at all in the rain was stupid, and they probably only did it because their instructor was said to be drunk at the time. Everyone knew that you should never hunt monsters in the rain. Not only was it bad for visibility, but some of the stronger monsters became more active during the rainy times. The teacher was cocky, believing that being a rank thirty seven meant that he could handle any of the hundred year old monsters that lurked inside of the forest.

Of the fifteen who entered the forest that night, only one made it out alive, leading the beast they had uncovered straight back to the village. In a way, Juo Shin kind of wished they had all perished, no matter how cruel a fate that was for a child who was only just turning fourteen. If they had all died, then no one would have reported back to Cang Hui Academy about what happened, and the village elder wouldn't have found himself in the pickle he was in now.

"Such a terrible shame, what happened to your village. But you should have been prepared for this kind of outcome. After all, this is the entire reason your village even exists, to give support to the talented noble spirit master children." Juo Shin had to surprise a shiver at the sound of Shi Nian's voice. The man was a rank sixty seven, making him a Spirit Emperor, the fourth highest group of spirit masters. The man's eyes were rimmed in a sort of red makeup that formed into circles around his temples. His dark blue hair was pushed back and he had a sort of neck-beard going on. The man was fucking ugly, but not as ugly as his heart. He was famous throughout the local area. Or maybe infamous would be the more accurate term. "To think that we lost a whole fourteen spirit masters. Compared to the weight of their lives, you country filth are worthless."

"I'm sorry, but there was nothing we could do to stop them from venturing out in the rain. As you know, we weak villagers could never hope to question a spirit master." Juo Shin said, bowing his head. He didn't want to look into the man's eyes. The evil inside of them was visible. Everything about his body language suggested that he thought the entire village was dirt and should be swept away.

"Oh, but if your village is so powerless, then tell me, what was it that killed the monster?" Shi Nian asked, his amused voice held an underlining threat that made Juo Shin swallow. "From the looks of the body, that ghost wolf was between 1800 and 2400 years old. It was probably the oldest thing in this entire forest. So how did such a monster simply drop dead?"

"There... there was a man passing through the village. I don't know who, he didn't give a name and he left before the sun rose." Juo Shin said, a little too quickly. He couldn't let them know about Ichi Guo. They would turn the poor child into a weapon of war if he did.

"Oh, so a nameless Spirit Master powerful enough to single handedly bring down a monster of this magnitude just happened to be passing through a back water place like this?" Shi Nian said, as if it was the stupidest thing he had ever heard. But then the man smirked. "Of course, that story still seems much more plausible than the one I've been hearing of late. One involving a small child with orange hair wielding a massive sword." The village elder could almost feel the blood draining from his face. "To tell the truth, I laughed when I first hear that story. I thought that my student had brain damage. But after coming here and... persuading a few of the villagers to talk, I kept getting the same story. A seven year old bastard child calling himself Ichi Guo killed the beast. Not only that, but he successfully absorbed its spirit halo." Shi Nian slowly leaned forward over the elder. "They also said that this bastard was under your care. So tell me, where can I find this little bastard?"

"There... is... no child like that." Juo Shin said, trying to move away from the man, but before he could get far, a weight pressed down on him as the Spirit Emperor released his spiritual pressure. The normal old man felt crushed under it and couldn't move an inch. "Please... Noble Spirit Master... I'm not lying. There is no child." Juo Shin whimpered.

"That isn't what I want to hear. But don't worry. I have ways of making you talk. Ways that I do so enjoy using." The madman said as he lifted up his right hand, a spirit marker on his chest starting to glow. "Cruel Dream: Tier 4 Skill: Visions of Horror!"

Juo Shin's eyes started to dilate as the essence spirit, Cruel Dream, started to take effect. The elderly man dropped to the ground, his mouth opening up into a horrible scream as all of his fears flowed through his mind. The Spirit Emperor sat still, watching the man's suffering with a smile on his face.

It was the essence spirit that had made the man known far and wide as someone who should be avoided. While it had no physical attack or defense powers of its own, it could craft illusions so real that almost no one could break out of them. Most who were caught under the influence of his higher tier spirit skills ended up killing themselves.

After a minute of watching the old man twitching on the ground, he released the skill. "So, are you going to talk now?" He said, his voice unchanged. A mixture of pleasure and annoyance at the dirty work he was doing.

"Th... there is no..." Juo Shin whimpered as he started to sob.

"I see. Maybe a little more will jog your memory. Cruel Dream: Tier 4 Skill: Visions of Horror!"

Need to go back to doing class projects, so it might be left at this for a little while.

PS. This is the kind of evil you have to expect from Spirit Hall in this series. They are Hitler kind of evil or maybe even Stalin. Going around killing and torturing as they wish, you are either with them or against them, and they kidnap children to be trained for their own personal army.

Shi Nian is actually from the canon, and this is pretty much how he acted.