Perseverance

When Lu Zheng woke up in reality, he was assaulted by searing pain, escaping a grunting noise from his mouth.

He quickly tried to suppress the noise to avoid alerting the person inside, who he wanted to take revenge on, who was supposed to be his benefactor.

Soon, he felt numb all over his body, as he could not even find the energy to move his limbs.

He gritted his lips, attempting to awaken every fiber of his being as he searched for the corpse he killed not long ago.

To receive the mysterious voice's blessings, he only had a simple task.

Stab his nails to the corpse.

Such a simple task yet appeared to be so difficult.

His blurry eyes swept to his surroundings, determining the position of the corpse based on what he remembered.

Finally, he could somewhat assume what he was seeing through his blurry vision was a corpse.

Hence, he moved his arms, but it only trembled before it froze.

Lu Zheng was furious.

How could his body fail to listen to his command?

However, he also acknowledged the fact it was suffering from the unknown poison.

He now had no choice but to forcefully move it.

'Move! Move! Move!!!'

He kept screaming in his thoughts as he stared at his arms, which were quivering after he was trying to move them.

He exhaled and relaxed his muscles for a moment before taking a deep breath and attempting to move his arms again.

His face reddened, and so was his bulging cheeks, full of oxygen, as he was trying to move his arm.

Finally, he lifted his arms a milliliter from the ground, but it soon fell.

He gasped for breath.

'For my sake. Move!'

He attempted once again, now veins popping out of his forehead.

He felt the adrenaline rush, discerning the energy returning to his body.

The body heard the distress call of its owner and thus did not hesitate to move its limbs.

Lu Zheng was supposed to smile in delight, but his face continued to contort in anger.

He was furiously trying to crawl towards the corpse, with his thoughts swallowed by the unending desire to take revenge.

For himself, for his mother, for his clan.

He recalled the time he made friends in a year.

They were just a child, playing innocently, proving who was better by fists, being scolded by the instructor, and making enemies with other groups of children.

He could remember his brothers, but he had a feeling that they had long ceased to exist.

After all, a single sight of an Azure Tide Clan's disciples was quickly killed.

He knew too well the temperament of his brothers, the same as him, hot-blooded and too attached, especially to their clan.

If he was thinking and feeling the same thing as them, they should have long attempted to take revenge.

But with their meager strength?

It was futile against a clan that ruled a middle-sized city.

They might be able to kill one, two, or three external disciples by themselves, but would they be able to fight against tens, hundreds, or even a thousand of them?

No!

Hence, he knew that only through time and patience could he be able to take revenge.

It would only be feasible if he obtained the treasures of the clan.

However, he was betrayed.

He was too foolish to think he could still trust someone.

The world was too cruel.

He now believed there was no one, not anyone in this world, who would help someone without gaining benefits.

After all, would his supposed benefactor help him if it were not for the treasures of his clan?

Lu Zheng would not have suffered in the current circumstances.

He would have been smiling from ear to ear as he collected the treasure of the clan and cultivated it to become stronger, proving that the impossible could be possible through hard work.

As a result, he would have been able to repay the favor his benefactor did to him.

Such a future materialized in his head before coming here.

However, who would have thought…

"Who would have thought?" Lu Zheng barely mumbled those sentences as he gritted his teeth, crawling near the corpse.

When he finally arrived in front of it, he arduously raised his arm, his hand turned into a claw, as he growled.

'Who would have thought that it was nothing but a fantasy?!' He screamed in his mind as he could not dare make any noise.

At the same time, he did not hesitate to stab four of his nails into the arms of a fresh corpse.

As if he was not satisfied, he also pierced the nail on his thumb on the arm, closed his eyes, and thought,

'Sir! I have finished the task you have given to me. Please give me power!'

***

Meanwhile, inside the consciousness of Lu Zheng, the mysterious voice had his full face shrouded by darkness.

He was closing his eyes while there was a projection in front of him, appearing like a film, playing the memories that Lu Zheng manifested as he was crawling.

Despite closing his eyes, the mysterious voice was aware of it, as he did not even need to open his eyes to watch it.

He only needed to feel it.

Soon, he received the call of Lu Zheng, and his thin, crimson eyes, like a predator, slowly opened.

Finally, apart from his eyes, there was a yellow curve opening upward.

There were four canine teeth, with two each from above and below inside the yellow curve.

A trace of a cold smile appeared on his shrouded face.

Suddenly, his body, which had not been blurred completely, saw a trace of his arm motioning to raise his hand.

The crimson sky brightly lit his hand, showing its cold-white skin as though it was lacking any blood.

Furthermore, his nails were yellow and long, with each end as sharp.

He pointed his index finger to the projection, and the world inside the consciousness trembled.