Recalling the Past (3)

"Then the old man took him to a desolate cave, far from civilization.

In that place, the old man would torture the child every day, while forcing him to do some strange and weird training all the time. Similarly, the old man would beat and whip each and every muscle in the child's body at different times. The old man would mention that he was tempering the body so that he would become stronger over time.

The old man would even just leave him without food, just giving him an animal every three or four days, whether it was a rabbit, a deer, a wolf, a bird, a rat...

Sometimes he would leave the child without food for a whole week.

The old man told him that he would take him as his disciple and that if he managed to survive the 'training' and beat him in the end, he would let him live.

The child accepted hopelessly, not knowing that the torture and suffering would only begin.

Five years had passed, with the child suffering innumerable tortures every day without being able to rest or even sleep well. He tried to escape several times, but somehow the old man would always notice, and after he found him, the child would suffer painful punishment to the point that a man could not get out of bed for a few days, the child still did, with only the strength of his own will in wanting to live and avenge his family.

One day, the boy, now older, discovered about the existence of the 'cultivators' because the old man was drunk and asleep, to which the boy rummaged through his things and found a book related to it.

That book seemed very old and ancient, and inside it was all about the cultivators and what they did.

He learned about the basics, as well as how to cultivate more or less and what he would have to do the first time.

There was also another book that caught his attention and he took it.

Thanks to that book, the boy knew that the old man wanted to take over his body, but for that he would have to suffer so that he could break his soul and the old man could possess his body more easily. That is why he was the only one who survived because the old man realized that his body could cultivate.

With the knowledge acquired in his mind, the boy gathered several plants that he was not sure would be useful or not because the book mentioned that every plant possessed some energy in order to cultivate. He also stole a small crystal from the old man without his knowledge.

The day came when the old man was going to possess his body, so that day would be the decisive day.

The boy tried to get the old man to give him more time since he had not finished his usual training. The old man nodded after a long time and decided to drink again.

The boy quickly gathered all the objects that were said to have spiritual energy and tried to cultivate as the manual said. After a long time, he successfully cultivated.

Since the old man was drunk, the boy managed to increase his cultivation a few more times before this event quickly caught the old man's attention.

The old man became furiously angry and quickly decided to knock the boy out and then possess his body when he saw that he was almost at his cultivation level.

Apparently the old man had been hurt before and his wounds could not be healed, so he was dying quickly. In the five years the old man spent torturing and tempering his future body, his strength also could not help but diminish due to the wounds.

The boy thought it would be easy to fight the old man after cultivating for a while, but what he did not know was that the old man was still a little stronger than he was. Likewise, the boy did not know any technique or how to fight someone else.

This resulted in his immediate loss, leaving him almost at the point of death.

However, the Medallion that his true family had left him when he was a child shone when the boy's blood covered him, beginning to form an energy barrier around him to protect him. The boy was dying, so he couldn't see much and thought he was imagining things.

The old man got angry and never realized that the boy's Medallion was a mysterious object.

The old man managed to break the barrier in one of his attempts, but before he could do anything, the Medallion shone much brighter when the wind around it began to alter and finally a sword of energy formed in the air, aiming at the old man.

The old man was easily killed by the energy sword.

The energy sword did not dissolve and instead approached the boy.

The boy thought that the sword would also kill him, so he could not help but close his eyes and tremble with fear. He thought that now that the old man was finally dead he would be able to live, but now the sword would kill him.

However, the sword did not kill him and instead made the boy take it in his hands, as if the sword was trying to convey something to him.

Soon after, the sword made an unexpected move and entered the boy's body, frightening him.

The boy soon realized that an energy was filling his body and began to cultivate as he remembered.

The spiritual energy was so abundant that it broke several stages in a row.

Finally, after suffering through trying to break the last barrier, the boy managed to enter to the next realm.

The boy did not know much about cultivation, so when he was about to leave the cave and return to the city, he noticed a place inside the cave that contained many crystals.

He knew that those crystals had energies within them, so they could make him stronger.

The boy dug in that cave but also found a strange skeleton in that place.

He noticed a book that said 'Secret Cultivation Technique' on the skeleton, so he took a chance and advanced to take it.

A surprise came when a laugh spread throughout the place and great spiritual energy began to come from the skeleton itself.

The energy took human form, and began to speak, referring to the fact that he was a soul and that he was going to possess his body.

This time, the soul of the skeleton easily imprisoned the boy even though his cultivation had increased quite a bit.

The soul said it had the strength of a high realm...

Again, the medallion started shining and tried to protect the boy by forming a barrier first which was destroyed at once by the soul and later tried to form again the sword, which also was destroyed by the soul of the skeleton.

The boy thought that he would really die. But at the last moment, the Medallion started shining with much more intensity when it started expelling much more energy, even to the point of frightening the evil soul.

The energy began to take human form quickly, adding more fear and terror to the soul of the skeleton.

The human soul that came out of the Medallion destroyed and erased the soul of the skeleton before disappearing, but not before smiling at the boy and finally sending part of its energy to his body to heal his wounds.

However, the Medallion finally broke and no longer showed that brightness as before.

The boy knew that his true family should be cultivators... at least powerful cultivators...

The boy instantly noticed a mysterious door inside that dark room that began to glow as he felt his body express him to enter.

After hesitating for a while, the boy advanced and when he passed through the door, he found himself as if he were in a sea. In the middle of the sea there seemed to be a shining island.

Turning around to go back, he was surprised when behind him nothing was left, not even the door he had entered!

With no choice but to go on, the boy began to advance over a bridge made of glass that led him to the island in the middle of the sea.

The surface of the sea was calm, with no ripples in the water.

When he turned around again to look back, the boy was astonished to see that even the shore where he was a few moments ago no longer existed, only the unfinished glass bridge could be seen.

Going further, he was surprised when he saw that the island was made of pure crystals.

As the boy advanced, fear returned to him when he found another skeleton at the top.

Behind the skeleton, there was what looked like a shimmering transparent crystal core and it was on top of a natural stone pedestal.

The boy sensed that to get out of that place he would have to get close and pass by the skeleton.

He approached the skeleton carefully. However, it seems that it was only a skeleton and that was it.

In the bones of the skeleton's hands, there was a precious ring and a dried-up tree seed.

The boy bravely took those two objects and sighed with relief when no more happened.

He walked over to the glass sphere and touched it when he felt his body tell him to do so.

A light entered his head without his knowing what was happening; he could only see that three small objects entered his forehead. At the same time, the surface of the water that had always been calm became wild when the sea trembled and the mountain of crystals also trembled.

Instantly, the boy felt that he was dizzy and often felt that he was falling into the air.

After the dizziness ended and he opened his eyes, the boy was in the middle of what appeared to be a forest. Next to him was a river and he decided to take a bath.

Since he did not know where he was, he decided to leave the forest and walk until he found a city.

Shortly after he came out of the forest, the boy met two girls on the road..."