As he slowly got accustomed to his new body, Xu Ling guided the golden-eyed child to thread the small path leading to the burning village: right now, the place where the 'past him' had lived for about eight years was being slowly eaten away by the blazes.
The few valuable things those poor villagers had ever managed to gather during their harsh and penniless life were all being pillaged by a numerous group of dark-clothed figures. As they advanced towards the more populated center of the small town, the cries of women and small children began breaking the silence of the night, accompanied by the laughter of the assailants and the crackling of fire.
Roofs and walls all came crashing down and were turned into ashes as the flames burned down the wooden buildings. The child smiled as he walked in between the flaming debris, as if the fire posed no threat to him. Step by step, he headed towards the only part of the village that had yet to burn down: here, the buildings weren't made of wood; instead, all the houses had been built out of stone. Although thanks to this the fire had slowly come to a stop, the biggest threat of the bandits attacking remained unperturbed by the shift in construction materials: dozens of people clad in black were rushing down the paved roads, each of them holding a sack in one hand and a weapon, blood-soaked in most cases, in the other.
In between all of these chaotic happenings, of people screaming and buildings crushing down, the child walked undisturbed through the burning village: he was headed towards the one place where the fuzzy memories of his new body remembered the people of Stonewood Township would be able to defend themselves from the bandits' raid; the major's mansion. Seeing how the assailants were all heading in that direction as well, he eventually came to the conclusion that cleaning up a bit wouldn't bring much harm.
He walked into the town plaza and no one seemed to notice him. It didn't matter if it was a bandit looting a house, one of the rogue having his way with a woman, or another of the criminals drinking from a freshly-stolen gourd of wine: they all were unaware of the shadow that had just swept by them, just as they had not noticed when their heads had at some unknown point fallen on the ground.
Swish! Swish! Swish! The shadow reaped its harvest noiselessly, akin to a silent grim reaper.
After some time had passed, the night finally began to quiet down until all that was left was the crackling sound of burning wood.
A golden-eyed child sat atop a pile of corpses, examining his blood-stained hands, some of victims', some his: the skin of his palm had basically split open, the result of using advanced assassination techniques with such a feeble, untrained body. Nonetheless, the ones to suffer the most had not been him for sure; around him, the lifeless, headless bodies of tens of black-robed figures had all been gathered in a single spot. The surrounding stone houses, other than being charred black after the fire, they were now also painted with streaks of vermillion.
As he tore the shirt of one of the bandits and made a makeshift bandage for his injured hands, Xu Ling smiled knowingly: someone had stepped into the plaza. Judging by his careful and silent steps, he most likely was one of Stonewood's few hunters. He had no enmity with the town that had brought him up. He allowed the man to get closer without showing any sign of having noticed him, so as to not scare him off right away.
"You… Who are you?" Unexpectedly, it was the hunter that actually initiated the conversation. Although it took a few tries before he could get the words out, it was still commendable given the outright nightmarish scene surrounding him.
Pleasantly surprised, Xu Ling turned around and smiled kindly, "Actually, I don't really know myself… I was honestly hoping for you to tell me!"
"H-Hao'Er!" squeaked the hunter in disbelief as he finally saw the other party's face.
"Oh? So you DO know me! Uncle, do tell me quickly if you know!" Xu Ling urged.
"Ah, ah… How could things turn out like this?" The man lamented, and looked at the child, whose clothes were all but soaked in blood. He seemed conflicted for a while, but ultimately managed to blurt out, "Child… Your name is Cheng Hao, you are this town major's son. However… it looks like you aren't anymore, are you?"
The child's eyes gleamed with amusement but did not answer. Instead, he chuckled, "Cheng Hao… Since I have technically stolen this guy's body, even though he was already dead I will still make sure to use his name to repay him!" He then turned around and told the confused hunter, "Oh, and thank you for telling me all this, my friend! These dead bandits are my way to thank you and the village of everything you have done for the other me up to today!"
The man frowned. He was about to say something but he suddenly gaped in shock: the figure of the child that had been sitting right over there had suddenly vanished! He looked around yet found no trace of him.
"Ahh, Master Fen, Mistress Rong… just what has our Stonewood Township gotten itself into now?" The old hunter could let out a sigh and chuckled bitterly to himself, "May the gods have mercy on our small village and on Hao'Er…"
…
Six months later, a black blur shot through a vast forest at the foot of a huge mountain chain. In the blink of an eye, it had sped past a swamp and was now running up and down the peaks. When it finally began to gradually slow down, the sun was hanging directly overhead. Noticing it was noon, the blur came to an abrupt stop on top of a tall cliff. With it standing still, the figure could finally be seen a bit more clearly: 'it' was actually a young boy; he was wearing ragged clothes, and was carrying a huge backpack on his shoulders.
His skin and clothing were so dirty and covered in dark mud that he appeared to be completely black. If it weren't for the pair of bright, golden eyes and the two rows of perfect, white teeth perennially arranged into an excited grin, one would easily have mistaken him for a shadow.
Looking down from the edge of the tall cliff, the youngster examined his surroundings: below the edge and off into the distance, a gigantic fortress could be seen; the outer walls extended for countless miles to the point they disappeared beyond the horizon. Inside the fortress there weren't only houses or other buildings as one would expect. Instead, there were actually many lakes, forests and even actual hills and mountains. It made people wonder whether the gargantuan castle had actually been built somewhere else and only then moved on top of such fantasy-like scenery.
As his gaze landed on the majestic walls, the child's golden eyes glinted with delight. "That seems to be it!" he told the wind, "The Mysterious Light-Shadow Sect of the Four Beasts Mountain Range… We're almost there!"
Suddenly, the youth plastered a smug smile on his face as two slender arms completely covered in filth crossed in front of his chest. "So, what do you say now, uh? What would have happened if I had turned left at that time, uh? Thus, as per our bet, from now on, I keep the map!"
"..." Unsurprisingly, no one spoke back.
The golden-eyed child didn't seem to mind the lack of a reply and instead stretched a bit, "Mmm... Anyways, this was a pretty long and harsh journey, even I feel a bit of pressure after running so much... but I must say, even if it were just for such a beautiful view, it would still be worth it!" And indeed it would have been: the imposing fortress was striking, but there was also a beauty in the way the nature had been preserved. Was it intentional, the boy pondered, but did not truly give it too much of a thought.
The youngster covered in filth kept stretching his arms and legs for a bit. His body emitted creaking noises, followed by delighted moans that occasionally escaped the thin lips. After the short stretching session, the boy rubbed the bridge of his nose with a satisfied smile, "Well... Shall we head down?"
"We sure should!" Surprisingly, a voice really did answer him! It seemed to be that of a middle aged man, yet it carried a hint of ancientness as well as of loftiness. The mysterious voice continued, "We wouldn't want to be too late, right? Especially after running so much just to get here on time!"
"Absolutely… since I did all the running!" Xu Ling rolled his eyes, "Your only usage as of lately seems to be that of a dead weight I need to take care of. Be sure to breakthrough soon or just slither like the snake you are! Now then, let me see whether there is something worth snatching…" The boy looked at the valley beneath the cliff and frowned thoughtfully. Suddenly, his eyes brightened up and the pupils within seemed to transform into golden coins as they glinted with greed. "There! Look over there!" The youth exclaimed. " An Advanced Stage cultivator with an actual Heaven&Earth Pouch? That's just announcing to the world how rich you must be! Fat yet clueless sheep are my favorite! "
"Hey Bindlight," The boy rubbed his two hands together grinning, "Are you thinking the same thing I am?"
"Oh, definitely!" The mysterious voice responded dreamingly, as if intoxicated. "It is indeed a beautiful scenery, although I can't really see those sheep you are talking about…"
"Not THOSE sheep, you damn reptile! Look at those guys clustering there like morons! There, see? My pouch is empty right now and it seems reeeeally sad. Look at how it's bending downwards! We should really help him up, if you know what I mean... don't you agree? Good! Then, let's head down!" At that the boy suddenly bent his knees. "Brace yourself, Goldy!"
"What did you say? Did you just call me G-Goldy? ME, Blindlight, the devourer of worlds and the eclipser of stars?" The middle-aged man's voice replied enraged. Suddenly, it stopped and the same voice that had appeared so overbearing before suddenly asked tremblingly, "Uhm... You are not thinking of... No, no, no! Absolutely not! Hey, did you hear me! I said stop! STOP, DON'T J-" The voice seemed to have understood something was about to happen, because it grew louder by the word, but before it could say anything else the boy had already jumped off the cliff.
"Hey, you crazy boy, I told you to wait, didn't I?"
"You did… I just ignored you!" The boy laughed with delight and soon his tiny figure disappeared in the valley below.
...
In the Four Beasts Mountain Range, one of the longest mountains chains in the Western Continent, many sects and schools had been built by powerful figures in their time. Although these organizations also taught common subjects like math and literature, their main focus was on the so-called Martial Cultivation, a way to enhance one's strength through training and enlightening of special techniques. Since such a resource had nearly infinite potential, it had long since been incorporated into the world.
Those people who underwent and explored the properties of Martial Cultivation and wielded those powerful techniques were called Cultivators. The cores of such techniques were the so-called Spiritual Energy and Qi.
Cultivators used the Spiritual Energy of the world to enhance their power. At the same time, enlightening of the Qi allowed them to understand various aspects of reality more deeply, thus allowing greater control and strength over both matter and Spiritual Energy.
Amongst the ranks of those powerful sects and schools in the Western Continent was a single Sect that stood at the very top of them all, called the Mysterious Light-Shadow Sect.
A thousand years ago, treasures, elixirs, precious materials, pills, and even drops of blood holding within great power... anything a Cultivator could ever wish for had suddenly fallen from the Heavens upon the lowly mortal world! Thanks to this lucky event, many powerful cultivators had arisen during that period of time and it was therefore then called the Golden Age of cultivation. According to the rumors, a powerful expert had found a big stash of those treasures and thus collected enough resources to build a first-rate sect, the Mysterious Light-Shadow Sect! After his death and a thousand years after the otherworldly treasure had rained down, the Sect had prospered and currently housed millions of disciples, some of which were extremely heaven-defying geniuses.
Right at that moment, a group of twenty youths wearing the black white-striped clothing of the sect were standing together and happily chatting with a slightly older man. The older man was also wearing black robes, but unlike the other youths who only had one or two white stripes going from their shoulders to their ankles, the man's robes had three stripes, signifying that he was actually... an esteemed Inner Sect disciple! He was an existence in the Sect that statistically only appeared once for every thousand of disciples that enrolled in its ranks!
"Senior, senior, is it true that you've successfully condensed your Core?" A person asked, his expression showering the older man with respect and worship.
"What? Senior, could it be... you have stepped into the Advanced Martial stage at such a young age? Senior surely must be a heaven-defying talent!" A woman's eyes glinted with surprise and immediately edged closer.
"Eheh, so Senior finally broke through! Senior will now have to treat us to a drink right? We have to celebrate this great occasion with the finest of wine!" A burly man laughed and patted the person in question on the back.
The group of young people kept bombarding the man in his early thirties with questions and showered him with praises nonstop. He stood at one meter and eighty centimeters tall, and had long, flowing, black hair that reached down to his waist, giving him a somewhat scholarly aura... The man had a somewhat haughty air and his eyes had a bit of contempt in them, but he hid both very deeply, and acted well enough for people to mistake them for affection and humbleness!
"My, my! I am not such a genius… it took a full sixteen years to finally begin to condense my core, how could that be called genius? I am far from being talented..." The man waved his hands dismissively, but he was actually laughing inside…
Yes, YES! Praise this genius more! Heaven Defying? Indeed, indeed, these guys know exactly what they're talking about! MWAHAHAH!
"Not a genius? How can Senior say that!" A young man in his late teens grabbed the chance to flatter the older man even more, and skillfully illustrated his own bootlicking skills. "Very few people in the sect have such talent, and those people truly are dragon amongst men! And yet today Senior has actually joined the ranks of such powerful monsters! This lowly Junior can only hope to one day also follow Senior's footsteps..."
"Yes! That's indeed right, Senior! After all, if your talent isn't good enough to be called at the very least above average, then wouldn't our talent be worse than dog crap?" Some disciple also laughed and jokingly hit the man's shoulder.
"Ahhhh, you guys..." the older youth shook his head as he chuckled.
Even though he seemingly kept dodging the praises that other people were throwing at him, it was still evident to the keen-eyed that the man actually felt really proud of himself! Stepping in the Advanced Stage at the age of thirty-one truly was something worth of praise, as some people might even not reach that level of profound martial cultivation at all in their whole lives…
Yes praise this genius more! Who is next? This genius can't wait... Preach my greatness! MWAHAHAH!
It was true though that his attitude towards the matter was kind of sickening though…
"Uuuu, seniors, is this the road that brings to the Mysterious Light-Shadow Sect?" Just then a small voice could be heard. Everybody stopped talking and switched their attention towards the new arrival: the boy clearly wasn't even in his teens as he appeared to be maybe nine years old at most; most likely he was still only eight. Appearance-wise, he was wearing ragged clothes, had no shoes on and his only belonging was a big, worn out backpack he carried on his back and an empty pouch on his belt...
The child grinned exposing a row of pearly-white teeth, which stood out in stark contrast when compared to his filth-covered body, "I seem to be lost."