Guru dashed towards the crash site, as he got closer there were more and more bits and pieces of the pavement scattered about. At some point it was mixed with small splatters of blood. He became even more worried. When he reached the landing site he was shocked to find that there was absolutely nothing inside the crater. Did he fall so hard that his body just burst into nothingness!?
Just as the thought flashed across his mind he saw movement at the corner of his eye. Turning he saw that Zhao Wei was laying down on the ground several meters away. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw that the boy was relatively fine except for his arms and legs that were drenched in blood that seemed out of several lacerations on his limbs.
It might've looked bad, but he was less worried, after training with the boy, if there was one thing he knew it was that the boy carried many scars all over. Even if he couldn't see them directly he could feel them on his body while he was training him. Compared to those, the injuries he just received might as well be a paper cut.
He moved towards the boy, stopping just above him. Zhao Wei kept his eyes closed, he was sweating heavily and breathing deeply. "I did it..." he said.
"Huhuhu... you sure did... want to give it another shot?" Guru jested.
"Maybe next time..." he breathed.
This startled Guru quite a little. Well he would've stopped the boy anyway if the boy wanted to continue. The whole point of this was to initiate the use of Tantra not make him suddenly immerse himself in it. But he was sure the boy would've still pushed himself. Atleast, he thought that was the case.
He'd only trained him a few times, but all of those times the boy had never given up despite any hardships. "Is It puberty?", he thought to himself.
But Zhao wei seemed to feel the rude remarks in the old man's head. As Guru looked at Zhao Wei he was met with a glare, one he couldn't match.
Zhao Wei pushed himself to a sitting position causing his injury to bleed a little more. "Something on your mind boy?"
"A little..." he replied, ".... actually a lot"
"Hmm..." Guru nodded, "Come with me...."
He moved away slowly, weaving through the streets of the kingdom. Zhao Wei curiously followed the old man until he reached a small shack which was somehow extraordinarily mundane. It was just a simple clay and brick building, no decorations or anything. And it wasn't as if the environment had destroyed it but more that it had probably been this way long before the world even changed.
In front of it were two sets of tables and chairs made out of wood. Like the building, it was extremely unremarkable. Some might say even dangerous as the creaked and groaned as. Guru and Zhao Wei sat down.
A few seconds pass and the door to the building opened, an old man probably comparable to Guru in age stepped out carrying two bowls on a tray.
"Put in on my tab..." Guru spoke.
"You ever plan on paying that tab?" The old man sneered.
"Hey... come on, I pay..." Guru grumbled.
"Yeah? When?"
"I remember I sent someone to bring down some money to cover my tab..." Guru said nervously.
"That was 5 years ago and it didn't even cover a quarter of your tab then..." he jabbed.
Guru's eyes turned upwards, avoiding the old man's eyes which were accusatory, and Zhao Wei's eyes which were so judging him right now.
"Come on, what's a little money between friends..." Guru said trying to lighten the mood.
"Who's your friend? Do you stifle all your friends out of their pay too?" The old man chided causing Guru to choke on the words he was going to say. With that he propped the tray on the table and left.
"Damn him... should've let those thugs break this place the last time..." Guru muttered under his breath.
"I heard that!!" The old man screamed from inside.
Zhao Wei decided to just let these old men bicker by themselves. He had to wonder if there was something wrong with all the elderly, maybe there's something in the water making them even more rowdy as they get older.
Inside the bowl he was suprised to find that the food was as mundane as everything else, even the old man. It was basically clear noodles and soup that he was pretty sure was just water. Maybe it was because of the lack of resources, Zhao Wei thought to himself.
"It's not" Guru spoke, "he's always just been too stingy to add anything to it... even pigs get leftovers..."
"Why don't you just go eat pig feed then!!" The old man said.
"How could I do that to you, you'll lose your only customer." Guru smiled.
"I'll be losing a free loader!!" Guru still smiled, well... more like his smile from before froze.
As he got closer to the bowl however, he felt there was something off. Even if the ingredients and all were simple and honestly unappetizing to look at, a slight smell came off from the bowl. It was mellow and soft but it wasn't clear where it was coming from.