Heaven Destroyer

Ayaan went to check Noor and Isobel first. Only after confirming that they were fine, he arrived in Leafwhik's room where the two ladies awaited him. A stone fireplace built along with the wall, a mirror hung on the wall, he saw two chairs in the corner. On the bed sat Rebecca, Leafwhisk, and Akash.

"How are they?" asked Rebecca concernedly.

He looked at Leafwhisk and curled his lips. "The Master Herbalist has done a good job, informing me of the issue in time. They are fine now."

Rebecca turned red when he mentioned Noor and Isobel's condition. She knew what had happened, and felt somewhat envious of the two. And was even more eager to spend some nights with Ayaan as well, or she might be left behind by her precious sisters. Ayaan saw through her thoughts but didn't expose her; on the other hand, his blood pumped excitedly in his body at the thought of naked Rebecca.

Ayaan dragged one of the chairs to the bed and sat on it while facing towards everyone. He looked at Leafwhik's curious face, and blurted, "what?"

The lady hesitated for a time, then asked, "what was that you used to kill those people? I felt strong dark energy, no, it was definitely the dark element. When did you learn to use dark elements?"

Everyone looked at him, eager to know the truth. "A few days ago," Ayaan replied. "I was practising my breathing technique when I felt connected to the strange energy and grasp something. At that time, I didn't have any idea about that energy. 

Being eager to know more about the energy, I focused on the dark energy more while cultivating, and while I was trying to grasp the energy, I noticed a strange thing. The dark energy would multiply many times in the night. At that time, I knew it was the dark element.

"After some practice, I could control a little bit of that energy. What you saw was the superficial control over the dark element. I could kill those people because they were too weak. On the contrary, if it was someone a little stronger, he would have escaped. "

Noor and Leafwhisk looked shocked while the little guy went to the side and fell asleep. 

"So now you can use the dark element?" asked Rebecca excitedly. 

"Yes," replied Ayaan.

Then she remembered something and chirped, "previously, you could use my ice techniques and other techniques as well, is it somewhat related?"

Leafwhisk looked surprised and remembered that Ayaan could use everyone's technique previously, but in the end, he stopped using them. He thought that might not be a good thing. However, now he could control the dark element, could he also control other elements later?

However, then she remembered that Nolan could only use a single element, and that wasn't even an element, sword. The sword couldn't be counted in any element and was a separate kind of cultivation. Though some could say it was because his body was elementless, unable to cultivate any element. Could such a thing would hinder the supreme treasure like the World of Life and Death?

But then she remembered a phrase, 'One with the sword and forget the world.' it wasn't because Nolan couldn't cultivate other elements, but he chose not to cultivate. For his sword, because for a sword cultivator, the sword was his god and his faith. If he had chosen to cultivate other elements, his sword heart had been broken. He would never be able to wield his sword from then on. To wield his sword, he abandoned every element.

Leafwhisk took a deep breath, calming herself. "You might be able to cultivate all the elements in this world in the future. However, I would warn you to not do such a stupid thing. You should focus on the element that you want to cultivate. So you could preserve your precious time. People need lots of time and energy if they want to cultivate their element. 

"If you want to reach the peak, you have to focus on one or two elements, not more than three. There are people in this world who have an affinity with many elements but they choose not to cultivate them and focus only on one or two elements. There is a reason for that."

Ayaan nodded, indicating that he understood her meaning. There was no way anyone could practice all the elements. Only Gods might have that ability. 

After talking with everyone Ayaan went into his room. The little guys had been sleeping; therefore, he left him in Leafwhisk's room. In the evening both Noor and Isobel woke up and remembered what had happened. And how they acted when they with… Ayaan.

Too ashamed to go out, they locked themselves in the room. Ayaan tried to talk with them but none of them responded. In the end, Ayaan used his consciousness to peek inside the room, only then he left, when he saw two of them sitting on the bed with red faces.

Only the next morning the room's door opened. The two ladies walked out still too embarrassed to talk. When they saw Leafwhisk and Rebecca, their redness deepened. However, the good thing was that, neither Leafwhisk nor Rebecca teased them.

The group went to the restaurant that was not far away from this inn. Ayaan had killed all the people here, so there was no one to serve them food or other services. They needed to go to other places to have food. They arrived at the not so big restaurant and ordered some food. The owner was frightened when he saw Ayaan's group. Everyone in the town knew about Ayaan and his group, who had slaughtered hundreds of people in a single day.

To not displease Ayaan's group, he offered them a private room, but Ayaan declined his offer. He wanted to eat in an open place. The owner himself served them his best dishes. After that he walked away with a pale face, dripping with cold sweat. Then he chased other people from the restaurant. Though people were displeased, they also knew about the Ayaan's group, and no one wanted to sit at the same place as them. 

Ayaan looked at those people, and people increased their speed in fright, disappearing from his sight. He shook his head helplessly, 'do they think I am a homicidal maniac?' he thought.

"Here, I have found a map from Trista's spatial ring," after eating, Leafwhisk unfolded a scroll on the table. "This is the map of the August Empire where we are at the moment."

Everyone fixated their gaze on the map as Leafwhisk explained them. Then she pointed at the green place and said, "this is the Spiritstar Forest, and this is the desert. The small dots you are seeing are the towns in the surrounding area." There was a brown area beside the Spiritstar Forest, they knew it was the Death Desert.

Then they looked many dots on the map; they were small towns in the entire August Empire. In amidst those small markings, there were big marks as well. Leafwhisk pointed at one such mark. "This is the Shadow City, and it is the only city that is near to us."

"Oh, so how many days would we need to reach the Shadow City?' asked Ayaan. "And do you know where the Heavenly Palace is located? I am very eager to wreak havoc. I had to run and hide like a dog, so I have to get my revenge. That fucker Victor you talked about is also from the Heavenly Palace." he gritted his teeth furiously as he thought about Victor.

"Calm down, I have asked around about the Heavenly Palace, and no one knows about it here," she paused for a second. "I suppose it isn't in this empire, or anywhere near."

"Ah, well, never mind. I will destroy them eventually, revenge better served cold." Though he said that his eyes showed a visible disappointment.

Rebecca held his hand tightly and comforted, "no matter where they are, we will find them and raze them to the ground."

Others also comforted, Ayaan could see warmth from their voices. He felt blessed. He turned towards Leafwhis and again repeated his question, "so how much time do we need to reach the Shadow City?"

"There is no mention of distance on this map, so I asked around, and they said we will need around twenty days on foot, while five days on horses," Leafwhisk replied.

"Hmm, let's go, we will buy our horses," Ayaan said as he stood up.

The group stood up and called the waiter. The owner once more arrived, when Ayaan asked him the bill, the man hesitated. He didn't want to take money from this abomination. Who knows how many dead spirits would haunt him for using his money? However, when he saw Ayaan's cold eyes, he shivered and gave him the bill.

After that, the group went to buy horses.