Shivansh’s companions stayed where they were, waiting for him to return. One of them asked,

  “Aditya… you’ve been with Senior Brother for a very long time, right?”

  Manish asked. Aditya, the one whom Shivansh had punched earlier, had actually been with Shivansh ever since the first time he came here. His other companions, Manish and the rest, had arrived a year later.

  “Yes… I’ve known him for a long time…”

  Aditya replied. After that, the third person, whose name was Vansh, asked,

  “I had heard about his anger, but about his brother… not much. What exactly happened?”

  Aditya took a long breath and told them everything he knew about Shivansh. About his younger brother, and how he had died in a strange and mysterious way. Although Aditya himself did not know the full truth, he told them whatever he knew.

  After hearing this, Manish and Vansh understood one thing clearly; their Senior Brother had not always been like this. It was only after the death of his younger brother that he became the way he was now.

  But there was still one thing they could not understand, so Manish asked,

  “Then… why did Senior Brother treat that boy so badly yesterday?”

  Aditya stayed silent for a while after hearing this, then said,

  “I don’t know… but maybe… he was doing all this to make the boy understand that stealing is not the right path? And that he should do something else instead?”

  “Who knows… that could be true…”

  “…or maybe… he was just venting his anger…”

  ‘?!’

  After hearing those last words from Aditya, both Manish and Vansh looked at him strangely.

  “…His brother came to meet him that evening. No one knows why. At that time, Senior Brother was an Outer Member of the Crimson Heaven Society, and I was with him as well. He had told his brother many times not to come here. But he never listened. And then that day arrived… the day his brother’s body was found floating in a river.”

  “…”

  “I remember that day clearly. How angry he was, and at the same time how deeply sad. I remember that night too. He kept repeating only one thing, ‘Why did you come here… I told you not to come… why did you still come?’ Who knows, maybe he was taking out that anger from that day on the small child?”

  After listening to Aditya, Vansh also spoke,

  “Yes, now that I think about it… I once saw Senior Brother beating a small boy as well.”

  Manish added,

  “Yes… I heard something similar too. At that time, I didn’t think much of it because… we all know about his behavior. But now…”

  They all fell silent.

  An eerie calm spread across the field covered with light snowy trees. Manish and Vansh had never imagined that such a thing had happened in their Senior Brother’s life.

  Even though his nature was hot-tempered and cold-hearted, they knew that deep inside, he was a good person.

  Step! Step!

  Shivansh returned.

  But this time, he was not alone. He had with him the same boy they had met yesterday.

  Blood was flowing from the boy’s leg, but aside from that, there were no other visible injuries. Shivansh himself was unharmed.

  “Senior Brother… you’re back.”

  Everyone asked while looking at Shivansh. He did not reply and simply kept walking, carrying the boy on his shoulder.

  “Let’s go. We need to return.”

  That was all he said. Aditya, Manish, and Vansh followed behind him. After some time, Shivansh spoke again,

  “No one will tell anyone in the Society, about this boy.”

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  Hearing that, everyone immediately replied together,

  “As you say, Senior Brother.”

  “Your words are above all.”

  “We won’t tell anyone.”

  After that, Shivansh and the others resumed their journey back to the Crimson Heaven Society. The boy was unconscious on Shivansh’s shoulder. He did not even know that Shivansh had saved him.

  Aditya came closer to Shivansh and said softly,

  “Senior Brother, I’m sorry for my earlier behavior… I just spoke without thinking, in the heat of the moment. I really didn’t mean it like that.”

  “Yeah! Yeah! Fine. It’s not like I’m blaming you for it. Now quietly focus on returning.”

  Shivansh replied angrily, but Aditya was not frightened at all. In fact, deep down, he felt relieved seeing this anger.

  He then asked Shivansh,

  “By the way… what’s his name? That boy’s?”

  ‘?!’

  Hearing this, Shivansh stopped.

  He remembered that the boy had said he had no name. He was an orphan. After thinking for a moment, Shivansh opened his mouth and said,

  “Saksham. That’s his name.”

  “W-what, Saksham? But that was your brother’s name, wasn’t it?”

  “Humph! So what? Can no one else in this world be named Saksham?”

  Aditya fell silent. He said nothing more and asked nothing. He did not know whether Shivansh was telling the truth or lying. But he did not care anymore. After such a long time, he was seeing Shivansh like this again.

  Even if it did not show on the outside, he could feel it. Shivansh was truly happy.

  They finally returned to the Crimson Heaven Society. After arriving, the first thing they did was make arrangements to hide Saksham. It was not the right time to bring him before everyone.

  They left him on the hill behind the Death Hall. Before leaving, they explained everything to him about the Crimson Heaven Society. But for some reason, the boy, Saksham, was afraid of them.

  It felt to him as if they had brought him here as a captive. But that fear faded within a few days. Every day, Shivansh came to him, sometimes just before sunrise, sometimes in the dead of night. He always came with food and water, and he talked to him a lot.

  During one of those conversations, he told him that he had named him Saksham.

  “...Saksham?”

  The boy spoke.

  Hearing that word come out of his mouth felt very strange to him, yet at the same time, it felt very good.

  Good because, for the first time in his life, someone had given him a name. A name…

  Before this, he had no identity of his own. But now… now he did. A name. An identity. His happiness at that moment knew no bounds.

  That day, Shivansh gave him more than just a name. He also gave him the method to open his chakra. Shivansh told him about martial artists and internal energy, explained these things to him, and taught him how to open his chakra.

  “First, breathe in. Then breathe out. Gather the internal energy, that is prana, from your surroundings. Let it accumulate in the lower part of your body inta a dense core like structure. When that happens, your chakra will open, and then you will be able to become a martial artist.”

  “…M-martial artist?”

  Saksham said in a low voice. He knew about martial artists. But becoming one himself? That was something he had never even dreamed of.

  “Can I… can I really become a martial artist?”

  Saksham asked. In response, Shivansh said,

  “Don’t you trust me? I’m telling you, if I say you’ll become one, then you will. I’ll make you one. Just keep following in my footsteps.”

  “Alright!”

  That day, Shivansh helped him open his chakra. He failed the first four times.

  But that was not a problem.

  If there was a best age to open one’s chakra, it was between ten and fourteen years. After that, trying to open a chakra became very difficult, and some people could not do it at all.

  Saksham was thirteen years old, so even if he failed in the beginning, what did it matter?

  He still had chances. Then, on the seventh attempt, Saksham’s chakra, the Muladhara (Root) chakra, finally opened.

  Woong!

  He gathered a large amount of prana from his surroundings, which entered his chakra and transformed into life prana.

  In the blink of an eye, his chakra filled up to 3/10 prana.

  Shivansh possessed the Manipura (Solar Plexus) chakra, meaning he was a first rate martial artist.

  Because of that, he could easily sense the prana within Saksham’s Muladhara or Root chakra.

  Days passed, then weeks, months, and years.

  Before anyone even realized it, three years had gone by.

  Saksham continued living on the hill behind the Death Hall. In those three years, he learned many things about this place; What martial artists were, what cultivation was, what the Crimson Heaven Society was, the Death Hall, and many other things.

  Along with that, the boy who had once been weak like dry wood became fit and well built. He also became stronger.

  After cultivating continuously for two years, he had now almost filled his Muladhara or Root chakra with prana.

  Being able to fill an entire chakra in just two years was a sign of extraordinary talent.

  A normal person might take four and a half years or even more to do the same. Shivansh himself had taken 3 long years when he first opened his chakra and began cultivating prana.

  Shivansh could clearly see that this boy possessed remarkable talent.

  If he continued like this, one day he would surely reach great heights. However… good times never last forever.

  One day, the Death Hall Master of that time, whose name was Jeet Suryakant, climbed the hill behind the Death Hall.

  He had not climbed that hill for many years before this, because no one really used it. But this year, he simply felt like climbing it, and that was when he discovered Saksham.

  Soon, it also came to light that the one who had brought the boy here was Shivansh, the first disciple of the Death Hall Master; Jeet.

  Shivansh’s junior brothers Aditya, Manish, and Vansh tried to make sure Shivansh’s name did not come out.

  But Shivansh himself went and confessed to the Death Hall Master that yes, he was the one who had brought the boy here.

  Jeet initially felt anger towards Shivansh and wanted to throw the boy out of this place.

  However, he could sense the extraordinary talent within him. He could see that at the age of just fifteen, the boy’s Muladhara (Root) chakra was completely full.

  If he threw this boy out, it would be a waste of such talent. And who knew, some other Hall, Sect, Clan or Elder might take this boy in and make him their disciple.

  Leaving such a boy alone would be a very troublesome matter. Killing him was an option, but at that time Death Hall was in desperate situation.

  Death Hall was the weakest among all the Halls present in Crimson Heaven Society. If Jeet were to take him in himself, then?…