Blood of the Son of Heaven, Ling Feng’s Life Experience!

Ling Kun awoke to a pervasive stench that forced his nose upward.

"Heavens," he said, giving a sigh of defeat at the sight of mangled dead. "After everything, I still couldn't stop the awakening."

With a pained smile, Ling Kun clambered up and into the Su residence. But upon finding his grandson, his hands shook. Ling Feng was sitting glassy-eyed above a pile of corpses, mindlessly repeating the phrase, "Kill… kill… kill…"

"Feng'er!" Ling Kun rushed headlong toward his grandson, hands still shaking as he cradled the boy's head.

"Child," he said in a soothing voice, "that's enough. Everyone who hurt you is gone… You don't need to kill anymore!"

"G-grandfather…?"

Life flickered in Ling Feng's vacant eyes at the sound of his grandfather's voice, causing the vertical pupil on his forehead to close.

"G-grandfather! You're alive!"

A grin stretched from ear to ear, Ling Feng lifted shaking hands and drew the golden needle from his head. In its absence came a dizzying wave of exhaustion. His limbs grew heavier than stone. It was a feeling he had half-expected as the last heir of a once great family of doctors and healers. Before stopping at Kaiyang City a year ago to help Su Lin, he and his grandfather had roamed the four corners of the world practicing medicine together. Experience had long taught him that few things came without a price.

Whenever the vertical pupil was open, he admitted. He felt invincible. It was as if there was an endless amount strength at his disposal. But this was in no way true. It was a false feeling. In truth it was a power fueled by his own life essence. Had he kept it open for much longer, it might've killed him.

"Child, you poor child! It's all my fault," Ling Kun said, finally bursting into tears. "If I hadn't been blinded by that reward, you would've never met Su Lin and her father, and you wouldn't have awoken those eyes. It's all my fault… all mine!"

Ling Feng managed another smile.

"Grandfather, you haven't died… that's all that matters to me…"

As exhaustion then battered him into the darkest depths of unconsciousness, his grandfather gritted his teeth and picked him up.

"Sleep well now, Feng'er. The next time you wake up, you'll be far away from this hell!"

After whispering this promise, Ling Kun stepped out of the pile of corpses, grabbed his medicine kit, and straggled his way toward the gates leading out of the city.

In the meantime, almost every soul in Kaiyang City continued to sleep peacefully. The storm had done well in drowning out the dying screams of the Su.

It wasn't until the next morning that a few people finally passed by the Su residence to discover the hundred or so corpses littering the ground. The claw marks covering each body caused many to think that a monster had done the deed as no one dared believe that a human was capable of carrying out such a slaughter. Under this belief rumors began to spread far and wide of the terrifying beast that had destroyed the city lord's residence, and ever since, the entire Kaiyang City has been in a state of martial law.

. . . . .

Ling Feng didn't know how much time had passed since he'd last regained consciousness. But when his mind finally stirred again, he awoke to the feeling of every muscle in his body screaming in agony. The pain alone was enough for him to wish for death. That was, until he heard a warm voice. A gentle voice.

"Feng'er, did you wake up?"

Ling Feng's eyes fluttered to the source of the sound and caught sight of his grandfather's great figure looming beside him.

"Feng'er, are you feeling better?" his grandfather asked, tone as warm as bowl of food he was carrying." After being in a coma for half a month, I knew you'd be more than a little hungry. Eat. Gather your strength. We 'll talk afterward."

With a slight nod, Ling Feng sat up and took the bowl from his grandfather's hands. But just then his thoughts began to buzz with images of that bloody night. His breath shuddered.

'Am I now just some beast that only knows how to slaughter?'

He wished he knew the answer to his silent question, to assuage his own inner fears. But this was a question only his grandfather could answer.

"Grandfather…" After taking a few absentminded bites, Ling Feng examined his grandfather's features closely. "Grandfather, what have you been hiding from me? Before you lost unconscious on the front steps of the Su residence, I heard you scream about something called the Tianzi Eyes? What are they and what do they have to do with my change?"

Ling Kun's body visibly shook from the question, and for a moment, he remained silent. He seemed to be gathering his thoughts or maybe his courage.

Then without warning, he spoke, saying, "Ling Feng, I had hoped to carry this secret with me into the next life. I had hoped the power within your eyes would remain dormant forever. However, that seems to have been the one-sided wish of an old man."

Not understanding what his grandfather was saying, Ling Feng's voice almost rose to a fevered shout. "Grandfather, what have you been hiding from me? Tell me – I want to know!"

After having become such a monster one time, Ling Feng was finding it hard to remain calm.

"Perhaps, this is Heaven's will." Ling Kun sighed. "Since your eyes awoke once, I can only expect that one day they will do so again. If I don't tell you about them now, it may do you more harm than good."

Ling Feng stared at his grandfather in silence. His knuckles whitened as his grip tightened against the bowl in his hands.

"Feng'er, before I tell you about the Tianzi Eyes, I must tell you the truth about your family. First… I… I am not your actual grandfather. I am merely an old servant of your real one."

This news hit like thunder ringing in a clear sky. Thoughts turned to raging waves and stormy seas in Ling Feng's heart. Out of all the things he had expected his grandfather to say, this was not it.

"You're lying!" he said, refusing flatly to believe it.

Ling Kun took a deep breath.

"Feng'er, listen to me," he said. "Your parents had to leave shortly after you were born. They left you in your grandfather's care before they disappeared. But your grandfather died of a serious illness when you were a year old. It was on his deathbed that he entrusted you to me and told me about your unique bloodline. He called it the Blood of the Son of Heaven. Once stimulated, you would awaken the Eyes of the Son of Heaven using the Hundred Convergences Acupoint and turn into little more than bloodlust made flesh."

"The Eyes of the Son of Heaven? The Blood of the Son of Heaven?"

Countless thoughts flashed in Ling Feng's mind. He had a vague feeling that these two things were somehow related the sudden departure of his parents and the death of his biological grandfather.

"What is the Blood of the Son of Heaven?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"Your grandfather only told me that the Son of Heaven was the child of the Deva Path."

After pausing to gather his thoughts, Ling Kun then said, "Your grandfather was actually the one who told me to pass the Transcendent Acupuncture Technique on to you. Your grandfather also explained that if you ever awakened the Eyes of the Son of Heaven that you would find the secret to your life experience hidden within its second volume."

Ling Feng gawked. "There's another volume to the Transcendent Acupuncture Technique? Does such a thing truly exist?"

"Yes." Ling Kun nodded. "The second volume of the Transcendent Acupuncture Technique was initially entrusted by your grandfather to the Yan Family of the Eastern Capital. His intention was for them to pass it to you after his death. However, the Yan believed that a naughty child and an old servant like me wouldn't be able to turn any big waves. So, they flatly refused. They even went so far as to say that the master had never entrusted the Transcendent Acupuncture Technique to them. For that, those hateful fellows will encounter heavenly retribution sooner or later!"

In this moment, hatred colored Ling Kun's face.

'The Yan Family?'

As Ling Feng said this to himself, he suddenly remembered that when he was very young, Ling Kun had once taken him to the Eastern Capital. While there, Ling Kun suddenly wandered off on his own one day. But when he finally returned, he was wounded and cursing under his breath. It seemed that, at the time, Ling Kun had been scolding the Yan Family.

"Feng'er, with my ability, it is impossible to retrieve the second volume. But that doesn't change the fact that you've awakened the Eyes of the Son of Heaven. As such, I can only send you to a martial arts sect now. Once you've become a powerful martial artist, you can take back what rightfully belongs to our Ling Family."

"You want to send me to a martial arts sect?"

Ling Feng took in a deep breath. In all the years he'd been traveling with his grandfather, he'd never practiced martial arts. His grandfather had made sure of it. Perhaps his grandfather had been afraid that his eyes would've awakened long before now.

However, this didn't mean that his grandfather had been wrong to fear. Cultivators often opposed the heavens in order to survive. In that sort of life, it was most likely that his eyes would've awakened sooner. Of this, he had little doubt.

"Right, I want to send you to a martial arts sect as I'm sure you've felt the negative effect of the Eyes of the Son of Heaven. Part of your life essence has already been consumed by them. So unless you want to be driven to an early grave, you must quickly become a powerful martial artist."

"I understand."

Ling Feng finally put his barely-eaten bowl of food off to the side and looked up. No choice had been left to him. He had to become stronger if he wanted to unravel the secrets of his life experience, and he had to become stronger if he wanted to stay alive.

Wanting to lighten the load on his young shoulders, Ling Kun sighed and said, "Don't worry, Feng'er. Your biological grandfather was once an exceptional doctor. In his youth, he traveled all over the world practicing medicine, contacting countless sects in the process. I believe at least one of them will be willing to accept you!"

"Perhaps," Ling Feng spat through clenched teeth. After the incident with Su Lin and her father, he had seen the uglier side of humanity.

Without status. Without strength. He doubted many people would be inclined to repay him for his biological grandfather's former kindness.

In any event, he wouldn't trust anyone as readily as he'd once had.