Silence fell between them, it wasn't an awkward one, instead it was a content and natural one.
Jinshen looked at Yanwei with a faint smile on his face as the latter was staring at Jinshen's hair which piqued his interest.
"Jinshen... Your hair is burnt." Yanwei stated bluntly as he pulled Jinshen's long hair to the front of his body, and indeed, a small portion of the hair was burnt and singed "You should cut it off.."
Jinshen looked at the burnt ends of his hair with a small annoyed frown as he reluctantly nodded
"Fine.. But who'll be cutting my hair?"
Their conversation was interrupted as someone cleared their throat, it was the same young archer from the labyrinth, he was only wearing leggings and his torso where Jinshen had stabbed him, had been bandaged up.
"Hello.. I haven't properly introduced myself but. I am Han Ruoxue. I just wanted to apologize."
Jinshen looked at Yanwei, who, surprisingly , didn't seem wary or cautious around Ruoxue, which was impressive considering the latter had tried to you know, take his life.
"Its alright." Jinshen replied in a stoic yet understanding voice "We all were trying to survive."
Ruoxue let out a small sigh of relief, running a hand through his hair as he smiled in a more or less embarrassed way towards Jinshen
"Oh. Thank you." He paused as he took a deep breath before speaking. "I was wondering if you would allow me to cut your hair."
Jinshen raised an eyebrow, confused at the sudden request by Ruoxue but nonetheless, after a moment of awkward silence, Jinshen reluctantly nodded.
"Sure.. Make it short."
Ruoxue sat down on one of the beds and pulled out a small knife which he used to make precise, large cuts to make sure that he would satisfy Jinshen's request for short hair.
Jinshen was still wary, his muscles taut and prepared to fight back if necessary especially now that he was fully recovered, he was confident he could defeat Ruoxue in a fight.
A few minutes of awkward yet wary silence occurred in between them three, Yanwei was just watching in boredom while sitting on the bed that was besides Ruoxue's, Jinshen was looking around the room aimlessly and Ruoxue was cutting Jinshen's hair with immense focus.
Suddenly, someone yawned and climbed out of bed, breaking the silence. All of their focus shifted towards where the sounds came from as Mo Jinhai walked over to the three of them sitting with a small sleepy frown.
"Oh... Jinshen's awake?"
Jinshen looked at Jinhai curiously as did Ruoxue, all three of them were wary of each other after the Trial Of The Labyrinth.
"Jinahi. Why aren't you on the top floor?" Jinshen asked in a both curious and confused tone.
Jinhai just shrugged, sitting down in front of Jinshen as he sighed deeply before speaking.
"Father said so, and I'm not a fool as to disobey my father." He said in a still groggy voice that lacked sleep.
Jinshen raised an eyebrow as he looked at his body up and down, it seemed that he was much more fitter now and his Qi was starting to become more fierce and Demonic.
"I've only been out for two days, but how have you already gotten stronger?"
Jinhai looked at Jinshen, not responding immediately as he pursed his lips, contemplating whether or not to tell Jinshen how but he sighed deeply before speaking.
"The Cultivation technique of the Demonic Sect not only refines Qi, but also the body. Its name is the Path Of The Withering Enemies. I'm only at the second stage. After the fourth stage you can begin specializations."
Jinshen's eyes widened a fraction a small, faint scheming smirk spread across his face before it quickly went away.
"Oh? I see..."
Jinhai noticed the momentary smirk as he shook his head in amusement, letting out a huff he crossed his arms over his chest.
"Yeah... And I already know you lack cultivation. So, just be quick, you should be able to use the first stage since your at the Qi condensation stage..." He paused his voice becoming a lot more serious. "But just be careful alright? The Demonic Qi in the library is very dangerous."
Jinshen raised an eyebrow at the mention of Demonic Qi as he sighed softly, rubbing his chin as he momentarily looked away from Jinhai before meeting his gaze once more and nodding
"Alright. I understand."
Ruoxue's hand stopped their handiwork as he stepped back to admire his work, his tone a bit teasing, trying to earn Jinshen's trust.
"There. Be careful not to get any maidens Jinshen, if you do. Please, do share them with me."
Jinshen, uncharacteristically let out a small sigh of amusement and stood up from the ground, he dusted himself off as Jinhai casually gestured towards a small mirror on the wall besides the gate, which Jinshen walked towards to examine himself.
"I'll try." Jinshen replied to Ruoxue in a simple and stoic manner, showing that Ruoxue was starting to earn his trust.
His once-long hair was now trimmed and refined, now parted cleanly at the front to frame his sharp gaze, while a slender ponytail hung low at the nape of his neck, tied with black silk. It fitted his face well, giving him a noble feel.
I surprisingly look good. Jinshen thought to himself before curtly being interrupted by the Nanomachine who teased him.
You're average at best Master~
Jinshen took a deep breath to compose himself and not just internally yell at his Nanomachine.
Shut up. Jinhai replied in a harsh and annoyed tone which temporarily shut the Nanomachine up.
He walked towards the iron gate once more but just before leaving he turned around, his eyes glowing a faint blue that illuminated the dark room in a silent confidence.
"Alright then. I'll be leaving for The Demonic Ember Library." Jinshen said before leaving "Thank you all. I hope this will be the start of our everlasting friendship."
The three of them gave varying reactions, Ruoxue just gave a small yet relieved smiled, Jinhai just scoffed meanwhile Yanwei jolted awake, he seemed like he was on the edge of crying tears of happiness as he nodded fervently.
"Damn right!" Yanwei yelled out, disturbing a few people that were sleeping but noticing Jinhai and Jinshen were with Yanwei made them fall right back asleep without another word.
Jinshen smirked faintly as he finally left the room, walking past the guard who gave him a once-over but remained quiet and stoic except that.
Jinshen walked down the stairway, past the drawings of the Grand Marshall's grand daughter as he opened the black wooden door, closing it behind him as he left the Ashen Hall.
He walked on the stone pathway, the only sounds accompanying him the soft crunching of the black gravel and the faint whoosing of the wind that blew past the mountains.
He walked towards the mountain that harbored The Demonic Ember Library. He stopped walking as he reached the massive black mountain, just like the Ashen Hall, the Demonic Ember Library was also built into the mountain. But it was quite a bit high up.
I wonder why its so much higher then the Ashen Hall. Probably because of the Demonic Qi.
He took a deep breath before jumping, managing to land right in front of the seemingly normal, black wooden door of the library. The library itself followed the same theme as the rest of the buildings. Black and crimson being the main colors.
He walked into the library, looking around the interior before immediately being overwhelmed by the immense Demonic Qi that emanated from the ancient scrolls and techniques of the building as he collapsed to one knee, holding his breath due to Demonic Qi being poisonous.
Shit! Nanomachine! Jinshen mentally yelled out the Nanomachine which had been lounging around. Help a little here!
The Nanomachine grunted slightly before realizing what situation Jinshen was in, panic filling its voice.
Oh shit. Sorry Master!
Nanomachine said as it started filtering what it could of the Demonic Qi, and unbeknownst to Jinshen started analyzing it.
Sorry again Master~ The Nanomachine said in a sheepish tone "I won't let it happen again! I promise. But uh, just a heads-up. I can't do a lot in this situation so just take the book and skedaddle.
Jinshen slowly stood up, barely managing to hold off the Demonic Qi that was trying to flood his Dantians which had started to grow blacker and blacker, his Qi becoming harder to use and circulate.
That's what I'm trying to do... Jinshen replied weakly, not having the energy to yell.
He hurried his way over to the shelves and managed to grab the black book that was labelled as The Path of The Withering Enemies that was on the last shelf.
Shit... I was too impulsive.. Jinshen thought to himself as suddenly his vision started growing blurry and steps weaker, it felt like he was not only drunk, but also suffocating.
He tried to walk nonetheless, pushing himself forward using the shelves as an anchor but he was suddenly spooked by a shadow figure that suddenly appeared before him as Jinshen instinctively punched the figure but it wasn't there in the first place and he ended up just punching the stone wall that separated the shelves, breaking it to pieces.
Jinshen gritted his teeth, holding his head as he let out a small yell, feeling like his nervous system was getting electrocuted and not only that, he couldn;t communicate with Nanomachine for some reason.
Nanomachine.. Are you... Jinshen paused as he coughed out some black liquid that slowly engulfed him as he let out yells and cries of help. but as soon as he thought he was about to die... The black liquid disappeared as the pain in his body increased.
He was hearing whispers of many different voices, the whispers were so loud that he wanted to rip his ear drums out, he also realized that the Nanomachine was yelling at him but he didn't understand anything, the whispers were just too loud.
But he noticed some old man was hastily walking towards him, as his body fell to the ground with a thump and he passed out. The Demonic Qi overwhelming him, his veins turning black, but before passing out he reached out to the man in a desperate measure, speaking in a hoarse whisper.
"H-Help.." Jinshen said as his head finally hit the ground, the veins around his eyes turning black.