It’s 4:30 am in the morning, the crack of dawn. Time to resume the training. Saul awoke from his bed and puts on the robe that was left behind by Xin herself. Though he has no idea if he was putting it on correctly as he did wear a Karate Gi before but never one as complex as this robe. He ties the belt as best as he could and the pants were a bit saggy and the socks were too long. The ribbons didn’t make sense to him but he tied them around his leg as hopefully, it didn’t cause the pants to saggy so much while he’s walking. The shoes were also problematic as they only wrap only his toes and below his ankle joints. One he finished putting them or as best he could he venture out of his room and into his bathroom. Everyone else in the house was still asleep so it’ll draw less suspicion for him. As makes it to the bathroom, the portal to the demonic realm was already open.

He jumps through the portal and crosses over to the demonic realm. Once arriving, he sees that he’s not in Sara’s bathroom. Rather he’s out in the middle of nowhere but he sees a tall mountain westward in the distance with a trail that straight to it. Confused as hell, Saul back and forth of what to do next as he didn’t know to do or where to go. Just then, a flock of huge birds came by and carried the mirror away. His chance of returning home were dashed away but, one of the birds stay while carrying a scrolling its mouth. Saul took the scroll from the bird and opens it.

“Make the journey to the mountain. I wait for you there. -Xin.” It reads.

“Figured as much. There’s no way she’ll make it easy for me at all.” He said to himself.

The scroll began to burn itself as it transforms into a small shoulder bag. He takes the shoulder bag and looks inside of it. Inside were a few items, herbal medicines, bandage wrappings, a gourd of water, a jingasa hat, and a few rice balls wrapped around with some leaves. However, one item that caught his attention was the sword inside of the bag. It was a Katana, the same Katana that Xin let him used when they fought before. His hand shook, or rather the Katana was shaking, he felt the blade shaking intensely. He unsheathes the blade itself from its scabbard as he could hear a small humming coming from the blade itself. Almost as if it was happy to see him. Just as he was looking deep within the blade, a gust of wind blew him as some of the gales of wind gathers around the blade. There’s no doubt, the blade itself was supernatural and he didn’t know how powerful it might be. He sheaths the Katana back into the scabbard and picks up all of his items and makes his journey towards the mountain.

It was still the early morning as the morning light didn’t arouse in this realm and he was very sleepy from waking up so early. Going through the trail itself was difficult, the terrain was rough, gravel was all over the trail, and sometimes they would enter into Saul’s shoes, he kept thinking that he should wear his boots for this journey that way he wouldn’t have so much gravel in his shoes. He stopped a few times to take off his shoes and empty the gravel. As he grew closer to the mountain, he noticed there were a few Jizo statues wearing red cloaks around their neck was sitting alongside the trail. One of them seemed knocked over, Saul stopped for a moment and picked up the knocked over Jizo and placed it back on its small pedestal and rewraps its cloak around the neck. He mainly did out of respect as he didn’t like a knocked over statue out of place. Saul dusted his hands off and gives the little statue a bow then makes his way back towards the trail. However, the trail itself comes to an end in front of a Tori Gate leading into the thick woodland. The gate itself was enormous yet ancient given how there are molds and vines wrapped and growing around at the bottom of the gate. The woods were crowded and there was a bush surrounding a tree with barely any visible path to take. However, on the other side of the forest lies the mountain.

Saul takes a short break and takes out of one of the rice balls and unwraps it. Luckily, there was a small stone that looked comfy enough to sit on. He walked from the top of a hill to the foot of a mountain under an hour and he still hasn’t breakfast before he came. But looking up ahead, his journey just begun as now he has to venture up a mountain for his next training. He finished what’s left of the rice ball makes his way through the thick forest. The woods were covered with bushes as the branches of the bush had thorns on them. Some of them pricked him a few times but he ignores of the pain and ventures forth. An hour goes by of carefully maneuvering around the forest, Saul finally reaches the foot of the mountain. There he views a trail that could lead him up but it’s covered in thick vines almost as thick redwood trees. It didn’t look safe to climb over as it’s twisted in different directions.

“Great, now what?” he said to himself.

He could try to climb the cliffs but cliff’s walls were flat, so climbing was out of the question. Just then a gust of wind behind him as the Katana around his waist began to shake. The wind began to gather around him as he sheathes the blade until it was covered in gales of wind. Saul had an idea wasn’t sure if it would work. He gives the sword a swing as a powerful slash of wind blew from the wind and cuts through a chunk of the wines. Saul was overwhelmed by how powerful the blade is but then he saw the vines quickly regrew itself. He briefly saw a path ahead but it was only for a brief moment. He knew he had to try again but he needed to be swifter to get across. He sheathes the sword back into its scabbard and takes a deep breath, clearing his mind. The wind gathers and breezes around Saul’s body and into his sword.

He quickly opens his eyes and quickdraws his sword vertically as it cuts through the thick vines and clears a path big enough for him. He quickly draws his sword back into its scabbard and dashes through the opened path. The vines began to grow and repair themselves and cover the path again. Saul sees a high ledge for him to jump but he needed to be quick as the path was closing in. He jumps up to his left and bounces off of one of the huge vines and jumps onto the ledge as the rest of the vines grow back and covers the path. Saul breathes a sigh of relief as he didn’t think he would get through it alive. The idea of what those vines would have done to him if he got caught shudders him with anxiety as it sends chills down his spine. With the first obstacle out of the way, he runs up the rocky path up high to the mountain.

Hours pass by and his journey up the mountain began at early morning and now it’s mid-day. The path up the mountain became linear and a lot treacherous as he had to walk certain paths on ledges where he had to shimmy his way from one side of the cliff to the other. However, once in a while, the mountain itself would shake itself as bolder would come sliding down and come crashing down on the path itself and would cause parts of the path to collapse and trigger a landslide at the bottom of the mountain. Saul rushed over as fast as he could to get to the other side and made it as he would hanging off by his own arm off the edge itself. He pulls himself up and rests for a moment to catch his breath. The journey up the mountain was becoming more dangerous the further he pressed on. He even doubts himself that he would enough energy for Xin’s training, let alone make the journey back down when they were done. He grips tightly on the Katana and pulls himself back up and press on. He journeys further up; the air grows thin and cold. The sweat on his neck froze as he shivered a bit. He crosses his arm to warm himself up as the winds sent a powerful breeze as he scales higher and higher up close to the summit as the wind would often push him back.

For a few steps, he would be pushing himself the wind would blow him back a few feet back and almost send him off the edge. The winds grew ever colder the further he reaches the summit. His hands, arms, and even his legs grew numb the further he pushes himself to the summit. He glances over to his Katana; it too was covered in ice during the journey. Slowly, he reaches his right hand towards the katana but his hand was freezing cold, he could barely get a grip on the sword itself. Nonetheless, he firmly grasps the sword itself as it gathers some of the wind around him while the wind releases powerful blasts on that sends Saul back a few meters. He slows his breathing down, he waited for the right moment to quickly draw his blade against the winds of the mountain.

He feels the winds build up from his sword and from the storm. The moment the mountain blasted its wind at him, Saul quickdraws his Katana and unleashes another powerful wind slash against the windblast as both winds collided and try to outdo one another pushing each other back to back until they’ve merged and formed a huge whirlwind sucking up everything around, including Saul. The whirlwind sucks him and sends him flying up higher towards and past the mountain’s summit and sends him up towards the sky and past the heavy clouds covering the summit. The sky was vast, calm, almost tranquil from the chaos he had to endure to reach the top. But the calm didn’t last as he was sent falling down towards the summit and was about to crash land on the summit until the wind gathers around him and saves him at the very last minute.

“Impressive. I didn’t think you would manage to get this far. Let alone make it to the summit.”

Saul looked over his shoulder as Xin was sitting at the center of the summit drinking some tea and this time, she didn’t have her mask on her.

“Would have been …. easier … if you opened the portal…. Here instead of the foot of the mountain.” Saul said from exhaustion.

“I would, but where’s the fun in that? Plus, you need the exercise.” Xin said while drinking her tea and eating some mochi.

“I’d rather do never after today.” Saul said as he lay on the ground.

“I’m afraid that can’t happen.” Xin said as she drank the rest of her tea and mochi.

“Why is that?” Saul asked as he gets up.

“Because we will begin your next training.” Xin said she gets up from her picnic blanket and walks over towards him.

She stops in front of him and extends her arm out as he needs to give her something. Saul reaches for his waistline and gives her his Katana. She unsheathes the blade and inspects it as it has suffered some chips and dents, but not by much.

“Fascinating.” She said.

“You’ve infused with wind magic, didn’t you?” he asked with a stern look.

“It already was. Though I would have believed that it would have refused you the first time you’ve used it the last time we’ve met. But it seems to have grown custom to you now. I thought you would use this wildly at the foot of the mountain.” She said as she sheathes the sword back into its scabbard.

“That’s like asking me to chop down a tree with a gun with no bullets.” He said in a sarcastic tone.

“Well given that it’s still in one piece. You may need this for a later. However, this is a Katana. Not a one-handed sword. Every sword is different from one another.” She says as she gives Saul back the Katana.

“I won’t forget.” He said as he grips the Katana and slides it back to his belt.

“Good. Now we will begin the next phase of your training.”