Pestilence

Just as the accusations and taunts followed from the villagers along with their various other ideas to capture the intruder, the hoarse voice began to cackle to herself as if listening to something very amusing. "Kekekekeke..... ah, fine. I no longer have a name."

The bravest among the group was the village head who had his confidence grow after gaining the support of the others. "Then what should we address you as...huh...wha....aaaaaaaaaaahh! What are..."

Many screams followed from everyone and some even tried running away but many fell over and others trampled over their bodies or tripped over them as they tried to escape.

However it was much too late as they all soon became quiet.

The hoarse voice continued to speak as if disappointed. "Humans are so fragile."

Not long after, the door was pushed open and a black cloaked person entered. "So here is the seed? Hmm... so close to death but still able to remain alive with determination alone. How fun. Young one, do you desire strength? Do you wish to get revenge with your own hands on those that have wronged you? Are you prepared to sacrifice anything to gain that strength? If you hurry and blink then I will let you achieve what you desire."

The boys lifeless eyes turned to her and blinked after thinking. 'I have already prayed to devils and whatever evil existence there may be in the world already so I cannot possibly go back now that someone has appeared.'

The black robed woman cackled again. "Very good. I like that you were quick to make your decision. Those that know me call me Pestilence. Kid you best be prepared to abandon any humanity you may have left, this is my last warning. Kekekekeke."

Although her words may have seemed like warning him or caring for his decision, the tone of her voice was as if this was the only path that he could take if he wished to live on.

His body was breaking down and if he did not have any treatment or food soon then he would be sure to die once his determination is no longer enough to live on with.

As he looked up he saw the woman remove the hood from her head and took out a pair of gloves to put on her hands.

However his eyes were drawn away from her actions and were drawn to the woman's eyes.

They were full of madness, coldness and cruelty without any kind of warm emotions hidden within as if any mercy and kindness had long been removed.

The woman's skin had a sickly pale and slightly greyish look as if she was not a living person or suffered from a deadly disease or many.

The whites of her eyes were a dark black colour while the pupils were a dark red colour making her appearance more scary to the boy as she gazed down upon his dying body without mercy. "I will not save you, you must save yourself. This is your first test so listen closely and I will teach you how to overcome your sickness. After you begin to follow what I say, you will begin to experience changes in your body but you will live on."

The boy blinked his eyes again to show that he understood resulting in the woman cackling once again.

Just as the days passed, under her instructions instead of the healthy glow returning to his body he began to slowly overcome his weakness and illness.

The woman looked at him and slowly clapped her gloved hands. "Good job, keep going. Do not worry about the others... they will not be going anywhere. Remember this about what I have taught you, from now on you must keep yourself away from others and avoid contact unless you wish to kill or infect them. The illnesses you accumulated in your body have been slowly circulated into your body and qi and are slowly transforming you into something else entirely."

The reason why she wore gloves when guiding him was to avoid spreading all of the diseases in her body to him by skin contact since she needed to watch over his growth and bring him back to the sect.

She had already touched many of the villagers and used a very small amount of her qi to make them weak and defenceless.

Had she not controlled it completely, a small touch was enough to start a spread of disease that could wipe out the entire village and spread further.

As much as she enjoyed causing destruction and death, the sect leaders instructions were only to retrieve the seeds so she had to control herself. "Soon you will finish up and complete remove any human connections to your past and follow me."

Her words were slightly impatient as if his speed of recovery was too slow or she was wishing to kill the villagers soon but the boy was unable to determine which was the reason for her impatience.

He just quietly nodded and then closed his eyes while sitting with his legs crossed in a meditative pose and began to breathe in and out in a strange rhythm.

More time passes as the woman made some trips in and out of the barn but as the boy could begin to stand and regain some strength, she returned throwing a persons body at his feet. "Go on and do it just like I told you. Do not doubt anything, do not hesitate, do not show mercy. Strength is everything in this world and we must become devils in order to survive and change this world to suit our own image and ideals. I heard the story about you, you were fed some of your sister by these people and they ate the rest of her. They then ate your parents for going against them, if you were not so weak and naive then maybe you may have had a chance to seize what you want for yourself and kill who you wish just so that you could protect them but the world has never been so fair to give someone like you or us a chance to overcome our greatest trials. So... kill them as you wished now that you have the opportunity."

At first he was feeling hesitant but as the speech continued, he walked over to the body and circulated the small amount of qi onto his hands as it came into contact with the persons throat.

His small hands did not have enough strength to strangle the person but they could not fight back either.

The places around where his hands grasped began to show signs of paling and looking more sickly until they began to start twitching until they finally showed signs of dying.

The woman smirked as she gazed at his tired expression. "Do not clean up the bodies and instead continue to practice with them around. This will help with your practice, once you have regained your strength then I will bring more in."

Pestilence and death were the basis of the practice that she used and was passing on, the rotting corpses and the disease that would spread would only help to further increase the boys growth and help him build up a strong foundation from the beginning.

Since there were still many resources around then they would be put to full use for the boys growth.