Chapter 4. Harsh Lesson

His grandfather stood square against the guard; his eyes steadily changed into a serious look that startled the guard. The guard shrugged it off and proceeded to swing at the old man. At the last second the old man side stepped the diagonal swing. The crowd was in uproar. The guard was in the first stage of the Gathering realm. His natural reflexes were not something that the average human could keep up with.

The old man was already sweating; the guard studied him but made his next swing. This time, the guard used more strength. The air screamed as the horizontal swing approached the old man. The old man breathed deeply, then flexed all the muscles of his legs. They seemingly swelled like snakes and he moved back with all his might. The swing narrowly missed but not before causing an inconspicuous cut on the old man's stomach.

Both the guard and noblewoman looked taken aback by this. Although the swing looked like it was nothing out of the ordinary except for its power, it was still a strike from a trained swordsman. The woman displeased spoke, "I do not pay you for subpar performance." The guard quickly nodded and this time a sort of blue energy covered the blade of the sword. The old man's eyes widened. He regretted not negotiating the exclusion of qi powered attacks.

He looked stressed and Shawn was biting on his lips so hard it bleed. The old man looked down to conceal the golden flash in his eyes, no one noticed his gray hair turning a few strands white, looking a bit dryer than previously. After looking back up he saw the guard's sword coming closer and closer. His steps changed as if he was dancing and he approached the incoming sword. His speed burst through the roof as his last steps hit the ground, he flashed towards the guard in an attempt to dodge, but unexpectedly before he could continue moving forward.

He coughed blood and was cut. His burst of speed helped him move past most of the attack but not all of it. Blood spewed on the floor as the old man crumbled. He took no time to rest as he crawled on the floor and asked the woman had their agreement been fulfilled. The woman was quiet for a moment but a cruel smile appeared on her face. She was surprised that a homeless man could survive this ordeal. No ordinary man could have dodged continuously in a masterful way as he had done. Before she could speak the door to the Olive inn opened, a woman with a bright and beautiful face appeared. It was her cousin, but she was favored by a particularly powerful noble. She wanted to suck up to her by taking her to the nearby Farrow Forest. Known for its danger like most forests, but it was an opportunity for her, by showing her an exciting time.

She looked back to the old man that had crawled in front of her, using the last of his strength attempting to knell. Growing bored of the man, she did not even answer his question, but just recalled her guard. She spoke briefly to the guard before returning to the carriage with the other noblewoman and taking off. Before leaving she took out 2 silver coins and threw it out the carriage to the old man. He did not pick up the coins but collapsed in a pool of his blood. Shawn horrified, wailed and ran to the old man to wake him up. Shawn looked around screaming for help but he saw no sympathy from the crowd.

Instead, in their eyes held a disdain, their faces wore contemptuous smiles, and worse yet held greed. One silver was equivalent to 100 bronze. Tabitha had appeared after seeing the noblewoman out, she walked up to the boy after the ordeal ended. She gingerly picked up the old man to the best of her abilities before saying, "If anybody has designs on this old man and child, you will go through me." The crowd actually backed off and dispersed. Shawn picked up the silver coins but not out of desperation. An anger brewed in the boy, he vowed to return these very coins to that evil woman. Something violent brewed in the boy, something he took no notice of. Tabitha had cleaned the blood off of the old man once inside and stopped the bleeding.

She crushed some herbs and spread them on the old man's wound, the man's bleeding stopped. She turned to Shawn and smiled even though blood covered her hands. Shawn always liked this lady because she was kind and watched out for those in need. Even though the wound was closing she still told Shawn, "His bleeding has stopped but he has suffered a serious injury, he may not pull through. His cultivation seemed to have been destroyed a long while ago and he has consumed too much life force."

Shawn looked at his grandfather and just kept staring at him with guilty eyes. She sighed and stepped out of the room to tend to unfinished matters. Once she left, his grandpa awoke, he did not reprimand the boy but asked what he saw in the fight. Shawn was confused, that was the first thing he wanted to know? He was quiet for a minute but answered, "I saw you get stronger and stronger before each hit." The old man laughed at the lacking answer, but he coughed up blood. His eyes glowed gold again and his wound started to close up faster. His hair growing increasingly wilted and dry.