Duty Above Life.

"Have you read the methods of movement?"

Hao Qiao asked. Another day, another bowl of soup in his hand.

"Only the first volume."

The teacher closed his eyes and said,

"That series is very good for building foundations. If I am correct in my assumption, you should ask around for all of the copies from the other families when you leave this place."

"Sure. Should I start with my meditation?"

The next part of the test. True Control.

"Go ahead."

Inside the spacious jail cell, both of them sat in front of each other. Alex closed his eyes, and started breathing in and out.

The air around them started to thicken. Hao Qiao was staring at his disciple with maximum killing intent.

One minute passed. Alex started to shake.

"Don't give in."

His entire body was anticipating an attack. Alex was feeling compelled to defend himself, or run away.

2 minutes.

"I can do this...I can do this...I can do this..."

He started to repeat that sentence.

"The intent remains the same. But you start to falter. Defending yourself is not important right now. At this point in time, everything you do matters. I want to kill you right now. But I am holding myself back. In the same way, you want to defend yourself. Hold yourself back. I will not kill you. I will not attack you. But if you move first, you will not succeed."

'I cannot hold on.'

His eyes opened. With a flash, his hand was within centimeters of Hao Qiao's neck. He was ready to tear his throat apart.

But it could not move any further. Hao Qiao had caught his fist.

"So much intensity."

Hao let his hand go an said,

"Instinctual attacks. You still have a long way to go. But 2 minutes is an improvement."

Alex looked at his fist. Hao's grip was getting stronger everyday. He was recovering properly.

"Now your turn."

He sat back down on the ground. Hao closed his eyes.

Alex focused all the hatred, all the animosity he could gather towards Hao. To make things more difficult for his teacher, he slowly gripped his neck.

Hao smiled.

"Your attempt is very ambitious. But your intent is sorely lagging in execution."

He didn't even flinch. Alex really wanted to kill him, but he brushed off all of the negative intent.

2 hours passed. Alex was somehow holding himself back. In his mind, he had already killed his teacher a thousand times over.

"Crush it."

His mind said.

"Do it now. You are a killer. Act like one."

He let go of Hao's neck.

"I withdraw."

Hao opened his eyes.

"You can do better. You intensity struggles to maintain itself."

Alex was panting non-stop. This technique of training was insane.

The next part of his test, true control was divided into two parts.

Bloodlust Endurance and Bloodlust Exudence.

The user had to use his bloodlust to keep himself calm. To do this, one had to shroud themselves in their own bloodlust. This was done to keep the bloodlust of the enemy from influencing their decision. The true problem with this was that with inadequate control over bloodlust, Alex would be negatively affected by it. Instinctual movement was a side-effect.

And in the next exercise, Alex had to use all of his bloodlust at maximum capacity. It was mentally torturing, and the side-effect of this was an urge to slaughter anything in sight. Fortunately, Hao was adept at using pressure points to calm his student down.

His control skill was improving by the second. This exercise was extreme, but it was yielding results.

After easing some of his stress, Hao pressed a pressure point on his neck, rendering him unconscious.

"Sleep well."

-------------------------------------------------------------

"Why are you training him under that traitor!"

Wei was back from his territory. Sylvia had practically harrassed him into returning.

"Watch your mouth, elder brother."

Lei warned him.

"Don't you know that he is dangerous?"

Wei wasn't backing down on this. The person responsible for his exile was in this estate at this very moment.

"He is our brother. If you have a problem with my decision, you can leave."

"You-"

"Alex could only dream of getting a teacher like him. Like I said, my decision is final."

Wei was fuming.

"I should have killed him at that time!"

"Zhao Wei!"

The Zhao family leader took out his sword and placed it on his exiled brother's neck.

"I am no longer a Zhao, remember?"

Wei stared straight into his eyes, without flinching.

After a few moments, Zhao Lei took his sword back.

"Whatever happened in the past, we all we equally responsible."

Wei let out a sarcastic grunt and said,

"Look at us. You stand here as the head of your family. I stand here as a nobody."

The sorrow in his eyes. The pain of that incident. Everything could be felt in this moment.

Zhao Lei took his sword back.

"Leave."

He turned his back towards Wei.

Wei stared at him for a moment, and then left.

"I am sorry, brother."

Zhao Lei made a cut on his palm.

"But we no longer share the same blood."

The blood started dripping on the red carpet. The pain was a reminder, and the tears were a memory.

"Duty above life."