Sharv practiced the basics of Twelve Calamity Hands, throughout the night. During which he realised that after practicing seventh time, his prana depleted significantly. Before starting, his chakra was completely filled with complete 10 units of prana. But after the seventh practice, it was depleted down by 7 units.

  Now, his chakra only has 3 units of prana left. Meaning, for every flow of prana through his nadis of hands, arms, and fingers will consume 1 fraction of his prana.

  Which ultimately means that if he ever tried this technique's basic in real fight, then he would only be able to do it ten times only.

  Because after that, all of his prana would be depleted from his chakra. Then, his only option would be to fight without prana; using his raw strength. Or wait until the prana gets replenished again.

  The used prana naturally gets replenished again in the chakra. The person does not need to cultivate it again. Even though, if someone cultivated in this situation then his prana will not increase.

  It would only slightly increase the speed at which the prana replenishes.

  Sharv let his prana flow in his nadis seven times, then he took a short break to let it replenish again. And after a short while, his chakra was again filled completely, with 10/10 units of prana.

  Each time he made his prana flow through his nadis, every new attempt felt easier than the previous one. After each attempt, Sharv’s ability to guide prana into his hands improved.

  The amount of concentration he initially needed to locate the correct nadis and make the prana flow through it had now become much easier for him.

  Without even realizing it, the sun had risen.

  Sharv had practiced continuously for at least four hours straight. Now he was somewhat tired. The Vice Leader had told him that tomorrow morning, two hours after sunrise, the trials would begin again.

  In this exhausted state, Sharv would not be able to perform properly, so he laid on the bed, and went to sleep.

  On the other hand, because of the loud noises from the previous night, many participants had already woken up. They tried to step outside to satisfy their curiosity, but the guards caught them and escorted them back to their rooms.

  However, after such commotion, their sleep had been completely disturbed. As a result, most of them either practiced some martial arts techniques in their rooms or cultivated their prana.

  In one of the rooms sat Adarsh. He was seated on his bed in a lotus posture, cultivating his prana.

  “Haa… no matter how much I try… I just can’t go any further…”

  He let out a breath and said dejectedly, while opening his eyes.

  No matter how hard Adarsh tried, he could not increase his solar energy any further. It was still stuck at the same place—slightly above his heart. It had not increased even by a single percent within his Pingala nadi.

  “This won’t do… I have to do something… otherwise I will never be able to use my father’s family’s martial arts technique to its full potential…”

  Adarsh was talking about the Nine-Moment Lotus Technique.

  It was a martial arts technique passed down through generations in his father’s family. When he was young, his father was burned to death in the fire that broke out at the Five Lotus Sword Manor, but he and this martial arts technique had survived.

  As far as Adarsh remembered, during those days his mother used to behave quite strangely. She always seemed frightened. At the same time, she had completely cut off all ties with her own side of the family.

  She had also instructed Adarsh never to meet anyone from her side of the family and to stay away from them.

  And Adarsh obeyed her. He had already met very few members from his mother’s side of the family, so it did not trouble him much.

  A few years later, when Adarsh’s mother rebuilt the Five Lotus Sword Manor, she carefully preserved this martial arts technique as well. Later, she passed it on to Adarsh, and he learned it with great dedication.

  However, there was one requirement for the Nine-Moment Lotus Technique—one required solar energy to be able to use it. The stronger his solar energy, the stronger the Nine-Moment Lotus Technique would be.

  “Tch! If only I had some breathing technique to increase my solar energy…”

  Adarsh muttered, but then with a slight smile he said,

  “But, at least my prana capacity has increased. My chakra now holds 8/10 units of prana. And I’m probably close to filling it 9/10, I guess, I’ll reach it soon.”

  Adarsh’s chakra was now filled with 8/10 units of prana. This meant that although he still could not use his martial arts technique at its full potential, he would at least be able to use it for a longer duration than before.

  Adarsh was quite happy to see this.

  He actually had above-average talent, and his background was quite good. His father had helped him open his chakra at the age of eleven.

  He had a head start in terms of cultivation. But in his childhood, he was very timid when it came to cultivation, martial arts, and all those fighting-related activities.

  Because of that, he didn’t focus much on his cultivation at the beginning, even though his chakra was already open. Thus, he wasn’t able to get a strong start.

  Apart from all that… he was also extremely shy, almost like a girl.

  It was all because of that one incident in which the Five Lotus Sword Manor was burned down, and his father and grandfather died. After that, he began giving more importance to strengthening himself.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  All that time, he had been protected by the walls of the Five Lotus Sword Manor. But when it fell, he had no one left to protect him…

  He was all alone at that time, only his mother was with him. But she wasn't in a good state. She was scared, traumatized, and fearful. He had to constantly look after her during that time.

  Other than her, he had no one. He was completely alone. His life was very difficult and harsh during that period. It was only then that he realized how unpredictable and cruel the world could be.

  He also realized how much power mattered in this world and how much value strength truly held.

  So finally, he began focusing on cultivation and practicing martial arts. When he started cultivating seriously, he realized that he actually had above-average talent and could have fully filled his chakra with prana in around two and a half years.

  But since he had neglected his cultivation at the very beginning, his above-average talent became almost useless.

  He couldn’t gather prana into his first; Muladhara (Root) chakra at a high rate anymore. It could be said that his talent fell from above-average to below-average.

  Now, he would need at least five and a half years or more to completely fill his first Muladhara (Root) chakra with prana. That’s why, even now, he isn’t able to completely fill his chakra.

  After Atikansha's situation got stabilized, and after when she built the Five Lotus Sword Manor again, she helped Adarsh with many pills, herbs and portion to progress his cultivation faster. And it did help him, otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to progress this much.

  “I think… that might also be the reason why my solar energy can’t progress any further, because I neglected my start…?”

  Adarsh murmured. He might be right; it may indeed be the reason why he is unable to advance his solar energy any further.

  Adarsh is truly regretful about that, but sadly nothing can be done now. His only way to make his below-average talent lift to above-average again, is when he opens his next chakar.

  Because after opening his next chakra, he would have already completed his previous one; which he had neglected at the start.

  So if he can open his next chakra again then he can get a fresh start again with it, his talent will be back to above-average again.

  “...And, I think after that only I would be able to progress any further with my solar energy...”

  Adarsh said and laid his back on the bed. His body was covered in sweat, and was extremely tired because of the late night cultivation session. He needed rest, so he went to sleep.

  ***

  Two hours passed, and then all 34 participants were gathered and brought outside the building. Once again, everyone came face to face with the Death Hall Master.

  When Sharv saw the Death Hall Master, his gaze immediately went to his hand.

  ‘His hand has been completely reattached…’

  Sharv said inwardly, because the Death Hall Master’s hand, which had been severed the previous night due to the Society Leader, was now perfectly restored. No one could even tell that it had ever been cut off. It had been reattached with such precision.

  Sharv did not even realize that he had been staring at the Death Hall Master for a little too long.

  ‘..!’

  Suddenly, the Death Hall Master turned his gaze toward him. Sharv quickly looked away. Then he heard the Death Hall Master’s voice.

  “To begin the third round of the second phase of the Entrance Trial, follow me.”

  Saying this, the Death Hall Master turned and began walking ahead. The guards instructed the participants to move forward, and they all followed.

  They kept moving along the slope of the mountain. After walking for some time, they stopped. The Death Hall Master looked down the mountain, where a narrow river flowed at the base.

  He pointed toward the river and said,

  “In this trial, you must run to that river. The one who reaches it will win. However, out of the 34 of you, only the first 18 to arrive will be considered winners... Now, your trial begins!”

  Bam!

  After saying that, the Death Hall Master took a long leap and began descending rapidly, jumping across tree branches with great speed.

  “I'll be waiting...”

  His words echoed in the mountains... As his image grew smaller and smaller. Everyone was mesmerized by the speed at which he leapt and moved.

  ‘So fast!’

  ‘What kind of footwork technique is that?’

  Even Meera, who possessed the Frost Leaf Glide footwork technique, was also captivated by the Death Hall Master’s movement technique.

  Sharv had seen the Death Hall Master chasing him the previous night, so this was nothing new for him. Even so, he watched him with deep focus.

  ‘I also need a footwork technique…’

  He thought. The previous night, the Death Hall Master had caught up to him quite easily. It was fortunate that his master had helped him escape midway, otherwise he would have been captured much earlier.

  “Everyone, start running!”

  A guard shouted from behind when he saw that no one had begun moving yet. Hearing the shout, they all snapped back to their senses and started running.

  Bam! Bam! Bam!

  Meera and the others who possessed footwork techniques used them and quickly surged ahead of the rest.

  Sharv was running as well, but his speed was not that high. He was around ninth or tenth position among everyone.

  The first four positions were held by those with strong footwork techniques. Behind them were four more whose techniques were not as refined, but still better than having none at all.

  Behind those eight were the rest, who had no footwork techniques and were relying purely on raw strength. Among them, Sharv was the fastest. However, overall, he was still only in ninth or tenth place.

  There was a considerable gap between him and those ahead of him, a gap he could not close at his current speed.

  Bam! Bam! Bam!

  Meera was running at the very front using her Frost Leaf Glide technique. Her feet moved so swiftly that it seemed as if they were conversing with the wind.

  She turned her head slightly to see who was behind her and noticed that only three people were close to her level.

  But she was not interested in them, so she moved her gaze. She was actually searching for someone else.

  ‘That boy… where is he?’

  Meera was thinking about Sharv. She was looking for him.

  ‘?!’

  Then she saw something that made her eyes widen. She saw that, Sharv actually was quite far behind. He was not even in the top five. He was actually in ninth or tenth position.

  Meera could not understand this at all. She refused to believe it. From Sharv’s previous actions, she had understood one thing. That boy was extremely clever, dangerous, and unpredictable.

  In the previous trial, he had killed Bhavesh first. That too at the very beginning of the trial, when no one was fully alert yet. That showed his presence of mind and how quickly he assessed his surroundings.

  And why did he choose Bhavesh?

  ‘Because he was the weakest among us!’

  Bhavesh might have been stronger than many other participants, but among their group of four, he was the weakest. Sharv had deliberately chosen him as his first target.

  He knew that while he might be able to defeat Meera, but killing her would be a much greater hassle. Because she had that footwork technique.

  On the other hand, if he had chosen to fight Devansh, it would have taken too much time, and unnecessary efforts. So he chose Bhavesh, because in one way or another, he was the weakest option.

  And the way he killed Bhavesh…

  ‘Fucking disgusting!’

  Even now, thinking about it made Meera feel uneasy. Blinding him was one thing, but crushing his entire head like a fruit… remembering that scene made her feel extremely fearful and cautious toward Sharv.

  Meera turned her gaze forward again and focused on running. But thoughts about Sharv kept circling in her mind.

  ‘Is he pretending to be slow, or is he actually not that fast?’

  She looked behind again. Her gaze focused on Sharv.

  ‘Does he really, not have a footwork technique? No that can't be, he's a wildcard participant like me, so he is likely to be from a good background... ’

  Beads of cold sweat rolled down her forehead, and then her foot suddenly slipped become, because she stepped on an animal waste.

  Slip!

  “No! No! No!”

  She somehow stabilized her footing and kept on running again, but the distance between her and the person behind her got quite less. Now the other person is just behind some eight or ten steps away from her.

  But Meera didn't cared about that person, as right now her heart was pounding anxiously in her chest, she was feeling very nervous whenever she thought about Sharv.

  ‘AHH! Shit! Why am I feeling nervous?!’