That night, Han Sen spoke to Luo Lan alone.
She seemed to know already, and she said, “It’s too late now. When the Luo family started learning the Falsified-Sky Sutra, I knew it’d never stop.”
Luo Lan sighed and went on to say, “I thought by hiding, and obscuring your lineage, I could provide my children with a better life. A good one. I never wanted you to suffer or be burdened with things you should never have had to. I was foolish to expect the Luo family would drop this matter after you refused to learn; foolish to believe they weren’t so desperate, that they were even willing to get a woman, who didn’t even possess the same surname, to learn it.”
“But I don’t understand, Mom. Why are they so insistent on us learning it? And if Little Yan learns it, will she be in danger of any kind?” Han Sen asked.
If the concern of the Falsified-Sky Sutra only applied to him, Han Sen wouldn’t inquire about it. But if it was going to affect his sister, he wanted to know as much as he could.
It concerned Han Yan’s safety, and that was of the utmost importance to Han Sen.
Luo Lan looked at Han Sen, and Han Sen met her gaze. He had to know what danger could potentially face his sister. He was not going to let her deal with something so scummy and sly without knowing all the facts.
“If you are not willing to explain, then I’ll ask the Luo family myself,” Han Sen said.
Luo Lan then told him, “That would be pointless. Since you are now unable to learn the Falsified-Sky Sutra, they won’t tell you a thing.”
“Then I’ll destroy their family; how does that sound?” Han Sen proclaimed.
Luo Lan merely sighed in response, saying, “That would be pointless, too. Nothing can be done for your sister right now, as she has already learned the skill. This is all my fault, though, and I accept that. It was stupid of me to not anticipate their desperation, and expect such an arrogant man to go so far as to teach an outsider. All by a trick, too.”
“How did this even happen?” Han Sen’s blood was boiling, but he did not want his mother to learn how angry he was.
Luo Lan looked at her son for a while, and then she said, “The Falsified-Sky Sutra didn’t always belong to the Luo family, you know.”
Han Sen was shocked to hear this. Everyone in the Alliance believed the Falsified-Sky Sutra belonged to them, and them alone. For Luo Lan to confess it was not theirs was big.
But then, Han Sen recalled the Asura Sutra. If his mother was willing to elaborate, he hoped she would.
“Our ancestry dates back to a time when we were little more than interstellar thieves and space pirates.” Luo Lan continued to speak without Han Sen having to prompt her. He was as surprised as he was glad.
“Interstellar thieves?” Han Sen did not expect the origins of a now-high class family in the Alliance to rest in such a sordid history; one that revolved around theft and piracy, as his mother was suggesting.
“Humanity has existed in the universe for a long time, but the Alliance has not always been here. And in the early days of space travel, humanity had to rely on the shura for space-faring,” Luo Lan explained.
“What? Are you suggesting that the Falsified-Sky Sutra was stolen from a shura king’s tomb?” Han Sen was shocked.
“Yes. It was a skill that was originally developed by the shura, but for some reason, it was hidden inside a tomb. No other shura has learned it, as far as I know. And remember, shura kings can only visit the tombs as a final pilgrimage unto a place of rest. They only go there when they are on the precipice of death. Even if they learn the secret there, inside the tomb, it’s not as if they can leave and inform the others. There is no return for a dying shura king,” Luo Lan was not holding back.
“Why would it even be there?” Han Sen asked.
“The person who stole the Falsified-Sky Sutra did not know, either. But he did, after having learned it.”
Han Sen did not say anything more, and just allowed her to speak.
Luo Lan said, “That Luo family member was so very smart. His intelligence was what allowed him to sneak inside that tomb in the first place. We were weak during that time, and on a whim, if they so fancied, the shura could have destroyed humanity with ease. Regardless, after taking the sutra, they translated the shura text with the aid of a few captured shura and forced them to learn it. These kidnapped shura ended up dying. And upon their deaths, they immediately withered into skeletal husks.”
“Soon after, they tried getting humans to learn it. The shura may have died, but no ill fate befell the humans who learned it. We could learn it, but they could not, it seemed. That being said, the powers the translated text suggested we could wield were not at all like the real skill. We were weak and the skill’s powers were low. That was, until a person…”
“Who?” Han Sen asked.
“It was an eight-year-old girl.” Luo Lan paused for a while. When her desire to speak returned, she said, “The little girl came across the Falsified-Sky Sutra mistakenly, when it was originally meant to have been given to her father. She tried learning it herself, and was successful. She was able to wield the Falsified-Sky powers with alarming proficiency.”
Han Sen’s heart leaped in his chest, and so he had to ask, “What was this girl’s name?”
For a moment, Han Sen had thought it might have been Zero. But the timeline didn’t add up, so he dropped that consideration.
“Her name was Yu Mushuang, and she became the initial thief’s wife.” Luo Lan’s face looked strange, and she went on to say, “She was a mix. Her father was human and her mother was shura. Perhaps it was the mixed shura bloodline that allowed her to learn it.”
“Only descendants of her blood were able to learn the Falsified-Sky Sutra in its truest form and purity, with its entire power. Unfortunately for the disciples of that sutra, we no longer interbreed with the shura. The blood has thinned, and the powers lessened as a consequence. If it wasn’t for the Sanctuaries, amplifying our powers, the sutra would be a forgotten memory and nothing more.”
“Humans can’t achieve the heights of what the skill is possible of, and shura die when trying to learn it. Only a mix can perfect it. Why?” Han Sen asked.
“I don’t know, and it has been a subject of much discussion within the ranks of the Luo family. No one has been able to yield an answer thus far. They have since tried to capture more shura and force them to learn it, but the shura continue to die.”