Shi Lang was refining the baleful aura in his dantian without caring for anything in the surroundings. He left himself completely unguarded to deal with this problem at hand. He trusted his team with his life and this action may be foolish, but was a display of that trust.
Amelia suspended all actions of the team during this time. It has been a week since the team was hiding in a cave they carved on the side of the meteor. Their radar system did pick up recon ships from the komodian empire, however, they did not search the meteors and focused on planets only. During a meeting, Milo speculated that the security of the other potential targets would have been raised to a higher level.
The team understood this and they all began to spend time inside the ship cultivating. Shi Lang meanwhile encountered a stumbling block during the process of refining the aura in his dantian. No matter how hard he tried the last shred of this aura could not be cleaned, it was like a stain on a white shirt.
To achieve the result he thought, the young man condensed his spiritual energy in a shell around the red gas. Then he began to slowly contract the cover, however, just when he was about to enclose the red gas completely, the gas seemed to have gained consciousness and began to fight back.
Shi Lang could feel the gas emitting pressure against the shell. Suddenly, a strong domineering voice echoed in his mind, “Young one, why do you try so hard?”
Shi Lang was shocked at this. He has never thought of such a thing happening, and from the vibe of it, he could tell that this voice came from the baleful aura inside his dantian. This voice was affecting his mind, slowly but surely. The cleansing had turned back against him.
The voice in his mind sounded against him, “You are sharper than those from the past, but how can it be so easy to repress the Shura so easily?”.
Shi Lang calmed his mind and said, “I understand that it is not easy, but in the world of cultivation, nothing is impossible.”
The voice replied, “Indeed, but do you know what Shura means? How can you get away from it if you do not even know what is the Shura?”
Shi Lang was shocked, he really did not know what Shura was. All he knew was that this was a technique that could allow him to get stronger as he fought, he never dwelled on the deeper meaning of it. Now that the voice in his head mentioned this, he was unconsciously drawn to explore the meaning of the Shura.
The young man pondered and pondered, the time in his mind went by faster than the outside, in one moment, his thoughts had come very far away from the initial point. This was because of his strong experience in the cultivation techniques in his past life and the knowledge he learned back then.
Shi Lang lay on his bed, thinking about the meaning of Shura, unaware that his body was undergoing some disturbing changes. Amelia had taken his suit off of him the other day, and now he was down in his nude. His entire body was filled with red lines. As if his blood was leaving a design. Nobody was around him and thus they did not know all this.
This was the baleful aura hidden deep inside his bones, the killing intent, materializing in form of these marks. These marks were covering every inch of Shi Lang’s body, but they had yet to reach his heart. Heart represented the will of a person and as long as Shi Lang had a strong will, he will not completely succumb to the Shura.
The voice in his mind said, “Since you oppose the Shura so much, then why did you use it?”
Shi Lang replied, “I do not oppose the Shura, but the mania and craze it brought along. A man with no sense will never be able to reach the peak of it all. When they come to senses in the dying moments, they will be left with endless remorse and regret. I do not want that. However, I still used it because of the power it brought me, the assurance that I can save my friends. This was why I used it.”
“Indeed you are different from those power-hungry people in the past, yet the purpose was still to gain power.”, said the voice in his head.
Shi Lang did not reply, because he knew that the purpose was to gain power. He could not defy the truth and said, “Shura is a force that defeats the enemies and safeguards the friends.”
He derived a new meaning of the Shura for his convenience. The voice in his mind burst into loud laughter and said, “You think Shura knows how to save people?”
Shi Lang replied, “Yes because I have done so while using the Shura. As you said, I am different from the others.”
The voice in his mind calmed down and said, “For the first time someone has interpreted the Shura like this. Let me give you the complete idea of what is Shura.”
What followed next was a flood of knowledge inside Shi Lang’s mind. He saw battlefields through the times, and how the users of this technique slaughtered the enemies to save their loved ones, and they went deeper to the point where the loved ones were scared and began to hate them.
Shi Lang was immersed in the flood of knowledge and his body was changing again, his body was covered with red marks and soon these marks spread over like locusts, covering his entire body, as the knowledge in his mind was assimilated, the red color of his skin began to seep towards his heart.
After an hour, Shi Lang’s body was drenched with sweat, and over his heart, there was a mark. The mark looked like a skull with horns. The voice in his mind sounded again, “You are the successor of the Shura. But remember, this is only the beginning, Young one.”
Shi Lang woke up at this moment, and his obsidian black deep eyes have changed crimson red in color. He was not aware of the changes in his pupils. Sitting up, he looked around and found himself in his room on the ship.
Just when he was about to get down, the door was opened from the outside, and Amelia walked in with a set of clothes. She saw him sitting up and was surprised. Her eyes were locked with his and she had an expression of shock spelled all over her face.
Shi Lang wanted to ask her what happened but Amelia said, “What happened to you?”
The young man was confused and said, “I do feel over energetic but nothing else. Why? Do I have horns on my forehead?”
Amelia said, “Go watch the mirror and you will know.”
She was exasperated by his sense of humor. Even if he did not have horns on his forehead, he did have a big tattoo on his chest. What was with this messed-up timing? Shi Lang also thought that Amelia was overreacting and went to the washroom attached to the room. He looked in the mirror and was shocked.
He could not explain where the tattoo came from but the knowledge in his mind clearly told him that this tattoo was the crest of the Shura. The red eyes were a feature of the Shura.
Shi Lang was speechless and wanted to communicate with the voice in his mind but the other party had vanished. The baleful red gas inside his dantian has also vanished, but the core had changed. His golden core was now stained with red marks in different places. He sensed his body and found that he has broken through to another level, he was not at a peak core condensation level.
Shi Lang came out of the washroom and looked at Amelia and said, “Ummm, my cultivation technique broke through a level and these are the changes.”
Amelia was confused and Shi Lang walked up to her, held her in his arms, and explained everything to her patiently. He said, “Amy, in the world of cultivation, it is taboo to tell others about your techniques and other secrets, I am putting my life in your hands when I tell you all this. I wish there never comes a day when I suffer a big loss at your hands. Otherwise…”
Amelia was shocked, she was aware of all this but Shi Lang has never warned her before. She felt a bit hurt and said, “Is that how much you trust me now?”
Shi Lang pecker her cheeks and said, “Otherwise, I will spank your butt to mush.”
Then he spanked her plump butt and ran away. Amelia realized that he was pranking her, and chased him across the ship. The mood lightened when the laughter of the two people echoed through the warship.