After bidding farewell to his new Master and the remaining members of the Unbound Pavilion, Azreal makes his way to the main gatehouse, where the same guards who had questioned his entry sit at the same small wooden table. "Ah, back already?" says Balric, noticing a familiar young man walking towards the main gate. His abrupt conversation starter startles Azreal, causing him to jump slightly, before calming himself and responding,"I am going on my first mission, Master Juhee and Vice Leader Qiang mentioned to leave through here and head to the village of Lihan, and seek out the Crimson Fang Orpald," 

"Orpald?" says Balric, his eyebrows scrunching. "Dangerous game you are hunting there. When I first came up through the Heavenly Root Sect, I had a team of four disciples on the hunt for a White Nose Python. As we were approaching the nest, a blur of blood and fire spewed from behind me. I looked behind me and the only remnants left were two bodies torn in half and their bodies covered in flames. They never found the body of the third disciple who went missing during that attack," Balric says, standing to move over to Azreal.

"Keep your eyes and ears trained for any noise, a brat with your strength can only win if you get the drop on him," says Balric, as he looks down at Azreal. The older gentleman who gave him directions to his dorm, moves to stand beside Balric. 

"I am Halred, my role is the Gate Captain. If you do not return in say just over a week, I will inform your Pavilion Leader and you will be considered lost. I advise against screwing around out there, and once you've completed the mission, return to the Sect straight away to recover," commands Halred.

"Yes, Senior, ill do my best to return quickly. I have never been to Lihan Village, hopefully it won’t take too long," replies Azreal. "Here," says Balric, throwing a rolled up piece of parchment. 

"This is a rough outline of the area, we only give this map to inner disciples, as they are usually undertaking most of the missions outside the safety of the Sect and its local area. Seemingly, you are being put to the test, let's hope you find your way," says Balric, who is returning to his duties as one of the Gate Guards.

"Thank you for the advice and the map," says Azreal, bowing to both before making his way past the line currently forming to get into the Sect. Azreal, once again, is surprised by the volume of people and cultivators wishing to enter the Sect at any point in time.

Azreal's journey towards the Lihan Village begins with a single dusty step on the dirt road before him. Azreal finds himself following the dirt pathway through the forest where he had undergone his entrance examination. Azreal found himself enjoying this walk through the forest more so than his last. The road winding its way through to the otherside was full of cultivators, merchants and travellers, Azreal assumed this was the norm and continued on his way through the forest. Azreal ponders on the reasons that could cause the lack of people on his journey, before giving up rather quickly, as he has absolutely no idea.

A few hours of walking, Azreal finally breaks through the treeline of the forest, finding himself atop of a steep hill, overlooking the Lower Plains, which according to this parchment, is easily the size of a continent back on earth. Azreal identified that the map only covered the local part of the continent; in the distance, he could make out landmarks that were on the edges of the map that Balric had given him. The map itself is drawn onto what seems to be well used and dirty white parchment, it outlines the local villages, smaller Sects locations with borders. Azreal takes the borders as a sign that essentially says to stay away. Lihan is another twenty hours away on foot, making Azreal sigh, 'I could sure do with a car in this world.'

<Master! If you expended some of your Qi, and push power through your legs, the time taken should shrink massively!>

An eager grin smears on Azreal's face, "Of course! Why didn't I think of that? God I'm so stupid sometimes..." mutters Azreal. The feeling of his Qi beginning to circulate within his body, brings a sense of excitement to Azreal, he hasn't had many chances to truly enjoy the profound feeling of power building within himself. With no distractions, no goal, and no technique to learn, there is just himself, his Qi and the very long dirt road ahead.

With Lightning crackling around his body and in the ambient air, Azreal pulls on his memory, of redirecting his Qi within his technique, Stormblade Surge. Azreal's plan is to learn to imbue his Qi into aspects of his body, increasing his speed, without having to activate this technique. Azreal, taking steady steps, begins to circulate his Qi towards his legs, feeling a sense of power well within them, he begins to run.

Even as Azreal pushes his top speed sprinting, he instinctively notices the slightest of movements waste his internal Qi. Aside from adjusting his movements, and improving his stride, Azreal has a feeling his circulation of Qi is incredibly poor. ‘There’s something blocking the flow of my Qi, I have this strange feeling that my Qi is forcing itself through a grate, a torrent waiting to be free but has nowhere to go’ Azreal’s thoughts consuming him for a brief moment. Pushing this unnatural feeling aside, Azreal focuses on what he can improve, altering his movements slightly as he sprints towards the town of Lihan.

Ten monotonous hours later, fatigue finally bringing Azreal to a stop, the sun begins to dip below the horizon. Azreal stands by the side of the road gasping for air, he had found the first hour or so interesting, but once he had reached the limit of his improvement with his current body he became incredibly bored. Running down a road for hours and hours on end does not spark joy, it allows for Azreal to be lost in his thoughts, and for a man such as Azreal, this is a dark and dangerous location.

As the fatigue and dark thoughts set in, Azreal comes across a small roadside marker that has been circled on his map. 'Looks like I'm only half an hour out from Lihan, I can't believe I ran so fast I cut almost a day from my journey. I’ll rest for the night and cultivate to restore my energy, the area here is surprisingly rich with Qi,' says Azreal internally.

<Good Idea, Master! You've almost expended your energies, if you move off the path and find a secluded spot, it shouldn't take you more than a few hours to restore your Qi. However, with the extra time you've gained from running here, I suggest you try to rest for the night, it would not be advisable to investigate at night with a murderous rogue cultivator running about>

Azreal, agreeing with the system's sentiments, only searching for the briefest of time, manages to find a secluded area just off the dirt road, with a tree line thick enough to obscure himself from anyone passing by. He sits down in the lotus position, crossing his legs and beginning to cultivate his Heaven's Exile technique. Azreal is surprised by the absorption rate. 'Maybe the Sect does not have the best locations for absorbing Qi?' his thoughts begin to distract him before the words of his Master sound throughout his mind, forcing him to get his mind under control.

The night is uneventful as Azreal replenishes his cultivation, until at the earliest hour of the morning, with sunlight starting to stir the world awake. 'Where are those footsteps coming from?' Azreal, who was startled awake by a strange noise, in the direction of the road he had earlier veered off from. Quietly moving, Azreal moves towards the treeline which obscures himself from the road. 

Azreal manages to get himself leaning against the tree, finding the only one in the area with enough width to hide his frame. He begins to slow his breathing, a technique slowly uncovering in his mind, Azreal on the brink of grasping a new technique is startled by shouting. 

"Move faster, Junior Brother Yilu, I demand you speed up! If our Senior Sister isin’t dead by the time we get there, I will fucking kill you myself. How are we so fucking stupid to let them investigate that fucking town by themselves!" roars a taller man, who wears a red and white set of disciple robes from another Sect. "Senior Brother, we've been running for days now! I physically can't keep up, please give me a restoration pill, or you'll be going there alone, and that's no different than running to your death!" screams a younger man.

Azreal, watching from the safety of the treeline, sees both of them quickly stop and the older Brother removes a small red pill, similar to the ones Darian had, yet marked with blue line rather than gold. 'These two look very similar in facial structure, apart from the younger man being a little chubbier, I think they are brothers. I should avoid them, and wouldn't want to fight against them so close to the village,' though Azreal, observing the brothers from the safety of the treeline.

The younger man swallows the pill, "Okay, lets go Senior Brother, we need to save Senior Sister and her friends from the Crimson Fang!" said the young man, as he starts to run towards the direction Azreal is heading in. 'I'll let them go first, it is much easier if they find and fight with the rogue cultivator, hopefully weakening him and making it easier to save the disciples of the Heavenly Root Sect'.

Azreal waits until he can no longer hear the two disciples shouting at each other before leaving the treeline and moving onto the road. He stretches his body before taking a light jog to the town. Azreal feels no need to rush, the disciples are probably fine! His thoughts tossing between them aren't that much weaker than me and have more experience. Hopefully, this mission will be easy as locating the disciples and leaving. 

Azreal at a guess, thinks he is twenty minutes from the village of Lihai, Azreal's face begins to contort as he notices a plume of smoke rising into the skye, directly where the town should be located, another few minutes pass and multiple plumes of smoke begin to turn the once warm morning sky into darkness. Azreal increases his speed, closing the distance to the village in two minutes rather than the nine he had left.

Azreal's eyes begin to burn, as his nose is assaulted with a sharp sickening smell. The smell is a sickly sweet yet bitter aroma. To a normal mortal the smell would be unplaceable but this smell unlocks a feeling in the darkest recesses of Azreal's mind. He can immediately identify the horrific smell, 'Burning flesh...'

<Master, please be careful, the closer we get to this village the stronger the aura of death permeates the surrounding area. I do not know what caused this, but I am concerned for your well being!>

Azreal quickly reads the message but doesn’t respond to the system. If one were to look at his face, the brilliant crystalline eyes that could ensnare the world, are now a dim blue, so colourless that they could be considered grey. His face losing all expression and warmth, his posture, usually hunched and shrinking is nowhere to be seen. The confidence in his steps, his eyes which never diverted from his goal do not belong to Azreal, yet he is still in complete control, a mountainous feeling from the depths of his heart screaming at him to crush whoever is burning flesh.

Picking up the pace to a full sprint, Azreal, with Lightning crackling all around him, blinks and finds himself standing at the edge of the village. His eyes scanning what was once a beautiful and quaint village, his expectations of a peaceful village, dashed as he takes in the new landscape that sends a massive jolt of anger through his body.

The outskirts of the village are lit ablaze, an unquenchable fire spreading from building to building, each of the residents' corpses burnt into the front facade of the melting homes. Azreal, taking a series of confident steps towards a once wooden home that is nothing more than a pile of ash. 

'Homes should not burn this fast, based on the smoke clouds, the fires only been raging for twenty minutes, seeing the burned remains of the family who once lived here, he notices that they were chained to one another that were pinned to a stonehearth inside the home. Azreal's face contorts as he looks down on charred corpses hugging each other as they were melted alive from the inferno that has spread to surrounding homes.

'This has to be the work of the Crimson Fang, the blaze is almost too hot to stand near yet alone fight against. This village never stood a chance,' Azreal moves himself out of the ashes and back onto the pathway, ripping a part of his robes and using it to cover his mouth and nose. A faint yet terror filled scream cascades through the village turned inferno, Azreal curses as he realises the scream is coming from the village centre. 

A second of hesitation is replaced with a sense of determination and guides Azreal through the village, finding himself walking through a living hell. All of the buildings he passes have been ignited in flame, burnt corpses littering the floors of homes he sneaks a look into. Azreal, reaching the edge of the village centre, drops to his knees as the sight before him is one of true horror.

The village square had shops and homes lining the entirety aside from the roads in and out. Azreal had found the only path leading into the square. These homes now engulfed in fire had turned the sky a mix of ash and flame, the entire village now enveloped in a fiery ashen storm, causing Azreal's eyes to become bloodshot. Azreal's eyes struggle to adapt, struggling to comprehend the two other pathways that are being used as dumping grounds for bodies of the villagers.

 Azreal's eyes widening and his jaw clenching, the only emotion he is capable of is pure horror. Noticing the bodies had massive chunks of flesh missing, clearly marks of cannibalism, each pile of bodies contains at least fifteen corpses, and each pile has blood pooling and is unnaturally draining towards the centre of the village square.

Surrounding the village square are five foot tall wooden poles, over ten of them adorn the square, seemingly randomly placed. Each of these wooden poles has a disciple from various Sects tied to them, through various tortuous methods. Azreal immediately notices the two disciples he's been sent to rescue are on their last legs, a small kindling of a fire rising beneath their feet, a small scream escapes one of the disciples from another Sect. 

Azreal's breathing becomes heavier as he sees the Senior and Junior Brothers, still wearing their crimson robes, the Senior Brother crying while flailing in an attempt to free himself as he stares at his younger Brother, unmoving with large lacerations across the entirety of his body.

"Stop screaming," A heavy and deep voice screams, causing each of the disciples who are pinned to the wooden stakes to squirm and become silent. Azreal's vision lays on what he assumes is the Crimson Fang Orpald, the humanoid form and twin daggers, the only identifying factor. The Crimson Fang's body is soaked in blood, chunks of flesh on the floor beside him and with his back facing Azreal, he notices his figure is much taller than previously described. Once a man of just over five and a half feet, he now stands over eight feet tall, with two small black horns protruding just over the top of his head giving him another two inches, the once man's breathing is erratic and beastial. 

Azreal's heart sinks as he notices the two streams of blood from the corpses are leading directly to his location, and seems to be rising into his hands, however Azreal can’t see clearly from his position.

Azreal's only thought as he continues to look at this scene, 'What the fuck do I even do here?'