…It had a mission to complete!

Van briefly glimpsed a snake-like silhouette in the devil's memories. He stood somewhere off to the side in his mindscape, looking upon the devil's memories like watching the moon's reflection in a pool of water. As he watched, he realised the silhouette was not of a snake but of a slender figure.

The memory was tinged with sour notes of panic and fear. The Smoke Devil was extremely afraid of the figure before it.

Van thought that the silhouette was the one to order the Smoke Devil to infiltrate the Cedar Sect. However, he could not confirm this.

All Van heard was what sounded like the hissing of countless snakes. So numerous and loud that nothing else could be heard.

A chill suddenly ran through him. His heart pounded in his chest.

The person...the person was looking straight at him.

Van took a step back.

Bright yellow eyes stared him down through the dark fog of the memory.

[This is a memory!] Van told himself, holding his trepidation back.

The scene dissolved away. The yellow eyes vanished as well.

The devil's memories faded away. Van emerged from his mindscape to find himself back in his room.

He was not able to discern what the Smoke Devil's so-called mission was and who had given it. He felt frustrated.

Could this Smoke Devil's appearance have any link at all to Elder Lang's crazed state? Could the Disciplinary Elder have had contact with 'Scattering Smoke Steps'?

Was there something bigger afoot?

Countless questions bombarded Van's mind.

[Whoever planted it is much stronger than you, Van. You cannot do anything about it, only be cautious and wary about demonic influence from here on out. I advise you to put off solving this mystery until you are strong enough to handle the consequences.]

Van considered Jet's words. He nodded and put the incident out of his mind.

[A Smoke Devil is born from the essence of smoke. Eating its core will have increased your understanding of 'smoke' by a lot. Calm yourself and focus.]

Van turned his eyes to the smoke coming off the fire place.

________________

Time pa.s.sed.

Van slowly felt as if he was becoming familiar with the patterns within the smoke. Sometimes it danced, sometimes it drifted, sometimes it faded in and out of sight. The patterns were normally very fast and hard to pick out, but now that Van had consumed the Smoke Devil's core, he felt that each of these patterns were obvious and easy to spot. Although these patterns were numbered in the millions and seemed to be random, in fact the movement of the smoke followed patterns that repeated all the time!

When he considered it further, he felt as if the patterns within the smoke shared vague similarities with the flickering flames in the hearth. It was as if one gave rise to the other, like a phoenix from ashes.

He stood up. What if these mysterious patterns were the 'essence'?

"I must move like the smoke…"

Van felt the world become shadowed and vague. His body flickered.

A moment later, the darkened world became bright again.

Thunk!

[Huh?]

Van turned his head and looked around. He stood there, dumbfounded.

[I was facing the bed before but now I'm right next to it…!}

He had disappeared and reappeared on the other side of the room!

"So, this was the power of 'Scattering Smoke Steps!'" Van enthused. His blood hummed with excitement.

Although training 'Scattering Smoke Steps' was hard, Van did not let himself slow down the pace.

In three days, he finally learned the skill to a low level of completion.

Techniques and skills had five categories that showed how familiar you were with it. The higher the level of your skill, the greater the strength of the skill. Higher levels could also unlock successive moves.

These levels were: Low, Middle, High, Expert and Pinnacle.

Van had trained Fists of Devouring Flame and Scattering Smoke Steps to the low-level. Dark Seas Palm was his only middle-level skill.

"Scattering Smoke Steps!"

Van's body disappeared. His body was as light as a feather as he stepped lightly across the room. He moved erratically like the smoke, reappearing and disappearing at odd speeds. It was extremely hard to pin down his form and almost impossible to predict where he would appear next.

"I have only trained Scattering Smoke Steps to the low level and yet it is already so effective!" He enthused.

Van spent one more day training Scattering Smoke Steps. By the end of his training, he felt his movements in the air had become easier and smoother. The erratic patterns that he needed to form with his steps became almost instinctive.

The young man stood up and dusted off his robes.

"It is time to redeem my sect contribution points."

_____

[Inside the Cedar Sect's Missions Hall.]

A young outer disciple carrying a large battle axe on his back strode in through the double doors

He pulled out a sheaf of certificates and dumped them on the table.

"I would like to redeem sect contribution points!"

The clerk at the back of the Missions Hall looked up at the young fellow in front of him. He vaguely recognised him.

"You picked up the mission at Threadspinner Town five days ago, right?"

Van nodded. The clerk smiled, "Well, how did it go? I heard it got pretty crowded at the end of it all."

Van didn't quite know how to respond, "I think it went pretty well."

"Oh?" The clerk chuckled, "Well most people struggled to get more than eighty points. A couple people have been hospitalised by those Brown King Ants. Apparently, they have a fierce bite."

Van scratched his head.

The clerk saw that he was a bit awkward and picked up the sheaf of certificates. He rubbed his eyes.

…

What the!?

He looked at Van as if he were an alien.

"What cultivation level are you?"

Van told the clerk he was in the 4th level of Qi Distillation. Of course, this was not true at the time he had completed the mission.

The clerk smiled.

"Man, that is some solid effort, kid. Remember me when you're an inner disciple, hey. My name is Ebenezer."

Van felt warm from Ebenezer's words. This was the first person he had met at the Cedar Sect that had talked to him so sincerely and without hidden barbs, completely unprompted.

"I will," he promised.

The young clerk stamped the certificates and then charged the points to Van's account.

"Alright, Van – if I may call you by your name – if you go outside and to the left, you will see a large round, white building. That is the Point Exchange Centre. I hope you find something to your liking."

Van nodded. Ebenezer waved him off.

_______

The Point Exchange Centre was an old temple-like building with several levels. It was not as large as one would think it would be.

Van went inside and saw a circular room filled with shelves. However, there was a circular gla.s.s wall that went around the circ.u.mference of the room, negating any possibility of theft.

A white marble counter stood in the middle. Behind it was a shadowed figure. It appeared ghostly – as if you could walk right through it.

Van walked up to part of the gla.s.s wall and discovered that whenever he looked at an object on the shelf beyond, a price in terms of sect contribution points would pop up on the gla.s.s. A short description would also follow.

Enjoying himself, Van walked around the room and inspected many objects. Several times he was tempted by the spiritual herbs and treasures on the shelves – many of them were worth between twenty to fifty contribution points. However, Van reminded himself that he could buy those in Dragon City with his silver easily and moved on.

A plain black ring caught his eye. He thought of Jet.

A description in faint glowing writing appeared on the gla.s.s.

[Ebony Dimension Ring. A ring that contains a 3 by 3-metre cube of storage s.p.a.ce that can be locked to your spiritual signature. Will feel as light as a normal ring regardless of what it contains. Cannot carry living items. As it is made from the wood of a one-hundred-year-old Ebony tree cultivated by the Cedar Sect, it imparts a slight resistance to poison attacks. One thousand sect contribution points.]

Van whistled. It was very expensive – it was also very worth it. A shame that he had a long way to go before he reached one thousand sect points.

He kept walking.

[This is what I was looking for!]

_____

[In a room nearby].

"A new disciple just entered the Exchange Centre," a nervous figure reported.

"Keep watching him, then! You should know what to do by now" was the scathing reply.

"Yes, Boss." One figure left.

"…These dumb f.u.c.ks better hurry…" The young man who had been called 'Boss' looked poisonously at the Point Exchange Centre. His fingers tapped impatiently on the mahogany table. He must get his hands on those herbs!

He imagined going to his cousin and pleading for support. Bile rose up in the back of his throat.

"f.u.c.k that s.h.i.+t!"