Chapter 4: Goals
There is no despair and terror so relentless as the one that Tian Shuangmen or Sebastian suffered for three days that seemed eternal to them...
The attack of the unknown and self-styled prince, not only hit him in the distance, destroying the small shelter he had been in some time ago, but also broke each and every bone in his body!
I could feel it... because in spite of the very serious state in which he had been put... he had not been unconscious!
In every breath, an agonizing pain overflowed his nervous system, inducing a desperation that did not leave him until the fourth dawn... when finally... he lost consciousness for a while, strangely enough without dying...
Three whole days, as the attacker predicted, he remained between life and death... and in the end he kept his life...
Even some time later, Sebastian would believe that it was luck to survive that special merciless attack...not imagining that the reason he survived was none other than the immense kindness of the old man Xu...even after he died...
Anyway, even if he was still alive, while he was already lying on a rock with a bit of life force, struggling to take a bloody breath with his lungs pierced by his own ribs, his mind still suffered a change at an impressive level...
Cursing the attacker, his luck and his life, and especially his own weakness... Sebastian lost more and more the common sense that he kept from his other life, the notion that he was protected by some form of morality and other people's conscience, that prevented the beings around him from mistreating him whenever they wanted...
He understood that the word "all that matters in this world is strength" could not be more literal than it was... because while someone strong drove him to despair and killed his master, no one, by the same weak being, would save him...
And while at first he disdained the idea of cultivating and becoming stronger, the fervent desire to live as an absolute master took root in his battered heart!
He swore that if he survived, he would be stronger than any person in the world!...and he could live proudly across the sky!
By the time he reacted, he did it at noon, the sun had scorched his skin for over 72 hours and in addition, he noticed several carrion birds flying over his head...
Complaining of the pain, he tried to move his extremities, managing to move somewhat incapacitated and surprisingly with the bones restored...
The fact that they were broken had not been an illusion!...he remembered the abnormal angle they had at the moment he lost consciousness!...therefore...the only implausible but possible thing was that they would have been restored when he fainted!
He saw this when he tried to stand up, noticing how his bone structure sent a sensation of collapse to the rest of his body...he still could not move as usual, however, his bones were moderately intact!
Ignoring the dry blood of the scratches and minor wounds opened around his body, Tian Shuangmen moved through the inhospitable forest and destroyed by his own body for days, seeing the degree of destruction that could be released with him as ammunition...
He had even gone through trees, you could see it in the wood splinters he had scattered...
Soon he arrived at the battered log cabin... noticing that it had been somehow consumed by the forest after its original owner died... which was still lying on a pool of dark blood...
Zhou Xuzi, dead for three days, looked worse than when a body is left in the sun for several months...it was not possible that he had been more time passed out than I calculate, and even so, the body almost looked like a mummy wrapped in those white clothes that he remembered...I knew that it was not like that given the little dust spread everywhere...
Tian Shuangmen reached his body, which had few hairs left on his disfigured face and, putting them aside, he asked the kind gentleman, a little bit strange, to forgive him, but he had helped him in every way he could.
Even if he was a little crazy, for Sebastian Zhou Xuzi he represented the only friend he had in that crazy and ruthless world... he could not help but cry...
He had never conducted a funeral before, so he simply dug a grave, as deep as he could with his strength, and wrapped it in the blanket he knew how to use for sleeping, which was already full of dust on his cot, and placed it deep in the well.
By the time the first stars could be seen, Tian Shuangmen was standing, still dirty with blood, dirt, sweat and rags, in front of a pile of dirt that had been silently removed.
Thanking him for his kindness and swearing, whether he was looking for him or for him, that the prince would pay in blood for his death, he bowed to the old man Xu...allowing himself to shed some tears.
That night he only managed to lie down on the cot of the house to sleep off the exhaustion he was suffering from...
The next day, feeling much better, he went all the way to the nearest river, taking the opportunity to clean himself and check his wounds...
If yesterday they were not bleeding and were closing slowly, today they had closed and only showed a little red...
He had never been particularly quick to close wounds, neither in his previous life nor when he arrived in that world, in fact, since he had been resurrected, he lost his strength quickly and was very agitated just to get to the village... but today he saw with surprise how his serious wounds practically did not exist and his breathing continued to be normal, even after the walk to the river!
He could not explain the miracles given the existence of the deep force, because he did not know how he acted beyond what Elder Xu had explained to him... so he could not afford to think about it too much.
Upon returning to the cabin, I make a decision...
He got rid of the broken and dirty clothes he was wearing, exchanging them with a change of the old man's white clothes, a little embarrassed before gathering a few things there...
A writing set, that is to say a parchment, brushes of different sizes and ink... a little money that the old man kept to buy herbs and food, some clothes and above all, a space ring belonging privately to Elder Xu.
This specific artifact was an object that allowed its user to store things within a small dimension to keep them in a safe place...
Although I knew that the ring belonged to Zhou Xuzi...I had never seen him wear it and it was kept in a secret closet...I was unaware of anything he might have had inside, but now that the old man was gone he really couldn't afford to waste anything that might have some use for him...
Running the little power he possessed, Tian Shuangmen opened the dimension of the ring, discovering a series of books...
-Old man Xu...did you really value knowledge so much?...-he said to himself by putting them back and taking them for volumes written by Zhou Xuzi himself...deciding to keep them and read them later...
He smiled at the memory of the man working while making medicine and took one last look at the cabin before throwing a tinder on the cot and the fire quickly spread...
Tian Shuangmen left while what had been his home for some time was burning behind him, refusing to let it be desecrated by beggars or fugitive thieves... on his way to the town, the Emerald City of the Sunset.
It belonged to an empire and beyond that there was more...much more...the world was huge and there were too many things he did not know...
As such, he had to know his surroundings a little more than he had done when Elder Xu was alive...
In addition, he had clearly established his goals...
To become stronger, he had to live...to live he needed food, to eat, money and to have money, he needed to work or perform in some way that would allow him to get an income...the most viable option of this was to go to the city...
It took me a little more than two hours to get to the town, with the sun at the top because it was already noon...
The guards at the entrance to the town saw him as a stranger, because even though they knew him, he certainly did not have the presence he has today...in general he tried to avoid as much as possible being seen and eye contact...but now he saw them directly in the eyes from far away and when he passed them, he did not give them even a glance.
The guards said nothing, partly because they themselves, as cultivators of the level 5 Kingdom of Settlement, did not perceive any impact of the young man's deep strength and partly because they knew, more or less, about Zhou Xuzi...
Tian Shuangmen was grateful internally that the trick of hiding his little power still worked, but as soon as he realized that continuing to hide his strength, even though it was pathetic, was widely contradictory to his proud purpose, he stopped and went into the center of the city...
As he walked among the tall wooden buildings with paper lamps in their arches and surrounded by people of different status, he immediately noticed the change... causing him to frown.
Many people looked at him with disgust and rejection, hurrying to walk as soon as their eyes met...
He quickly discovered that almost the entire population was this way... because no one wanted to engage in a long conversation with him, limiting themselves to responding with monosyllables and the great majority fleeing from him in the midst of communication...
Tired of this, after an hour of wandering, he entered a large room where there were several tables and people eating lunch on them at that moment.
With a scowl, he ordered enough food to satisfy himself and didn't know if the waiter was afraid or rejected his order...
He sighed when he felt alone in a world that was not very empathic and he dedicated himself to observe the people in the nearby tables...
There were not many, but the presence of young teachers from different clans of first category of the city was not null... each one the great star of those families.
The city was no more than an outpost of the Divine Ray Purple Empire, and as such there were main families in the capital who sent members of its branches to guard the villages on the border...
The members of the families, even if they were only from the most distant branch of the main family, in these places were little less than princes and kings among the inhabitants, enjoying a high position because of the enormous support that meant their most powerful relatives behind them.
Tian Shuangmen did not know much about all of them...however he knew some...enough to say that although they were very strong, as much as to have young people of their age at the top of the Settlement's Kingdom, they were pieces of trash in terms of character and disposition towards the weaker ones...
It was not uncommon for him, in the middle of his deliveries of medicines to the apothecaries, to see one or two of these young men mistreating the merchants for this or that object...and in the end end taking what they wanted...
In short, they were people who under no circumstances wanted to confront...
Now, even though he said that, he quickly noticed how he had drawn the attention of one of the two young teachers present in the shop in the middle of his thoughts...
Lu Piao could be described as the pride and curse of the Lu Clan, both for his strength, for being a cultivator of the Kingdom of the Settlement level 9, and for his lust...for there was not a soul in the city that did not know about the scandalous slips he knew about the brothels in the town, for getting drunk and wanting to enjoy the workers' bill more...even without paying.
That is why, although he was handsome and strong, a pernicious smile adorned his face day and night... without limiting himself in any way if a woman was related in this or that matter...
A man like that, who smiled at the power that Tian Shuangmen possessed, a pathetic openness of level three, was not something he could handle if he decided to be a nuisance to him.
A grower from the Kingdom of Settlement level 9 against him was little more than a joke, there was no way in hell I could beat him and even less if I didn't know a method of combat other than the precarious and rustic one with which he had had to defend himself in more than one drunkenness in his previous life...
However, although she wished she did not have to fight this man, her gaze did not waver and as far as Lu Piao was concerned, it was clearly a snub!
A miserable third-rank open-minded person intentionally ignored a nine-rank settler!
And as far as man is concerned...
The young master of the Lu Clan knew not to provoke the members of other clans, especially the individual who wore clothes with the emblem of the Situ Clan... but to allow someone from a rival family to witness the snub that had clearly happened before his eyes, for such a piece of garbage, was unacceptable!
Lu Piao quickly frowned, ignoring his friends who were there with him, and rose angrily, with every intention of advancing and quickly giving a lesson to the piece of garbage sitting further than he dared to look down on it...
The people around him who were gossiping noisily and with smiles among them, suddenly became mute, when they saw the tall figure of the young master of the Lu Clan standing and with a scowling face... observing only one young man at the other end of the room, who clearly did not have Lu Piao in his eyes like all of them...
It was then that Sebastian decided to look up, only to see the apparently furious young man who was giving him a look full of contempt...
Even though he would regret having problems with that specific man... Tian Shuangmen did not in the least dissipate his serious look and scowl, implying that he would not be intimidated by someone like Lu Piao... which was clearly a declaration of war!
The young master of the Lu Clan did not tolerate him anymore then and beating the wide sleeves of his green tunic he had the impulse to advance to give a beating to the level 3 Opened who challenged him...
Everything that Tian Shuagmen would have wanted less, unleashed only by not lowering his gaze...
However, long before he could take two steps between the tables, a firm hand clutched the sleeve of the aforementioned young man, preventing him from taking another step...
-Situ Quiang...-frustrated spit-...are you going to tell me that you feel generous today?...are you related to that trash?...
The one from the Situ Clan turned to see the man he had cut off and confronted him directly, showing how they were standing on equal footing...which was true since he belonged, like Lu Piao, to one of the four protective clans of the city!
-Avoid putting yourself to shame..." he replied simply as his cold stare seemed to pierce the young master of the Lu Clan... at least until the important time that we families are going through has passed.
-You warn me and you watch my face, in pursuit of a simple open level 3?...-question Lu Piao-...don't be ridiculous!
-I don't care about your face...I just want to avoid you embarrassing yourself and the Lu Clan for not seeing the Tai mountain...don't you feel the essence?...-he asked, while he dedicated a look of shyness to Tian Shuangmen, who continued to look seriously at both young people
Reluctantly, Lu Piao abruptly released the grip on his forearm and focused with all his consciousness on the man he was, apparently an open level 3...
It was then that he discovered a subtle wisp of energy coming from Tian Shuagmen's body... and the aura of that energy was...
-It's impossible...!...-almost Lu Piao screamed as he took a step back and his eyes shrank to the size of needles.
Situ Quiang, I just ignore him and continue drinking quietly from his glass of wine...
-Do you see now?...if you had gone...that man would probably only spare your life in consideration of the Clan Lu...
In the eyes of Sebastian, who had not heard anything of what both men said, the same face that many growers and street people had made, appeared in that of Lu Piao... who only gnashed her teeth and bellowed to her friends before leaving with her face in a bitter gesture...
Tian Shuangmen attributed it to the fact that he had discovered that he was only an open level 3 and lost interest or was frustrated by the man at the table... who he did not know and who had not given him a second look either...
Seeing how close he came to being beaten, he smiled internally and sighed as he watched the waiter come in with his food.
Once full...again he went out to the street, looking for work as an assistant or in whatever would allow him an entrance...
The interests of these people, as far as he could see throughout the day, had very little to do with the exchange...so even if he wanted to, Elder Xu's books could not be sold...and as far as commerce was concerned.
I didn't know anything about blacksmithing, and in addition there was no magic method to forge weapons, so that was out of the question.
Making medicine was something that needed time and practice...things that no matter how much enthusiasm I had were really not an option...partly because I had a certain reluctance to fail and partly because I would have to collect ingredients instead of investing in them...spending what little money I had on what would be failures without a doubt...
The only thing he could infer from this was the art, since he could see that the people who walked around liked the poems, the stories and the art... so towards the end of the afternoon, he offered to make portraits with the little paper and ink he had.
Bad luck...
The only one who bought her something until late at night was an old lady who was practically blind and almost deaf... more than interested in painting...
So while greeting the lady who was getting lost, small and bent as she was in the crowd, she squeezed in her fist the copper coins she had been given in payment for the painting...
-Damn my luck and damn this world!" I growled as he stormed towards a carpenter... I was forced to do this!
There, and with few words, I end up buying a small sign, no bigger than the one standing up!...to end up painting a pretty short ad...
"I work from whatever and do what I want!...I want money!"...
In general, and from what I remembered from Lucien's novels, when the main character expected something, it was the opposite. And if by placing such an ad, he expected offers from lunatics or perverts, he minimally expected someone to deign to give him a more or less decent job... or at least to get him out of that spectral state of being a bum...
Quickly and with a frown, he advanced to a more or less crowded corner and sat on the floor with his arms crossed, in a more sour mood than he remembered he had had since he was resurrected.
The minutes turned into hours and the night quickly fell around him, noticing how even the traffic seemed to decrease as time passed.
By the time the moon was high, there was not a soul and the only person who crossed over was a beggar, with clothes and a stiff beard of dirt who was the only one who gave him a smile...
Tian Shuangmen cursed once more and by the time it started to get a little cold, he decided to get up...
I had really underestimated the lack of empathy of the people.
He had really underestimated the lack of empathy of the people... He carried his sign, reluctant to give up and started his way to a nearby inn that he remembered having seen... however, he had only taken two steps when he heard the sound of a carriage ringing behind him...
It was rare to see someone at this time, but as Tian Shuangmen was in a bad mood because of the bad day he had had, he really hadn't noticed it until the horses, bigger and more muscular than he remembered the horses from his previous world, practically stopped whinnying next to him.
He turned around, noticing the coachman on the davit, who had the same look as all those who saw him in the eyes that day, only to see him go down and open the door of the carriage...
Tian Shuangmen saw him perform all this and sighed, thinking that it was Lu Piao, who would have managed to catch him alone, without the presence of the other man of the Situ clan.
However, it was not like that, because the one who came down was a young woman, about 20 years old, dazzlingly beautiful and relentlessly elegant, who did not look at him with that look of rejection and disdain to which she had become accustomed ... but with a lively interest!
Tian Shuangmen's eyebrows furrowed heavily as she walked towards him and even more as she glanced at the sign...
Clearly something was bothering her...but it was not possible that she wanted to hire him as a bodyguard or something similar...since she herself gave the impression of being a formidable grower...but even so, he stopped in his tracks and confronted the woman in front of him with his eyes...questioning her silently...
The atmosphere had become icy as the wind shook the woman's blue tunic, accentuating her beautiful curves and making her even more beautiful... causing little or no effect on Sebastian, since he had literally died for a woman once, but even so, it stunned his being when she opened her mouth.
-I want to buy your body!...