"Hah!"
Sein suddenly woke up from a nightmare before he groaned in pain. He noticed the bandages on his body before softly rubbing them. (It's real, it's all real, then grandpa is). He closed his eyes before taking a deep breath. He had enough tears to shed, now he had to be strong for that was his last words for him.
Slowly opening his eyes he scanned the unfamiliar room he was in. Two candlelights were flaming with fire as it eliminated the room. There was only one bed and one desk with a tiny window to the outside. He occasionally heard a wave crashing the hills.
"I'm near the ocean? Where am I? Who saved me?"
The questions keep popping up in his minds before he stood up. The cold sensation on his chest reminded him of something valuable. A keepsake from his grandfather. (This, is not an ordinary pendant is it? This sapphire stone looks really rough).
He decided to forget about it for a moment. With only his black pants on, he pushed the wooden door in front of him before the light of the sun flashed his eyes.
"Huh?"
It was an open field like the training ground in the school he used to attend however it was much wider. The wind was ever blowing before he noticed a huge statue of a dagger in an inverted position. His body unconsciously approached it before standing in front of it.
"I see you have woken up kid."
Sein raised his eyebrows before turning around to see a familiar man approaching him. The man he was looking was topless with a towel dangling around his neck. He was sweating profusely but the breathing he noticed was calm and collected. His eight pack abs were hard as if blades couldn't cut through it and his arms were ripped with muscles that made him look like a thin stick. He was walking with a smirk on his face before tapping his shoulder. "Follow me."
Sein blinked twice before realizing his order. With the aura exuding out of the man in front he didn't dare to waddle around. After looking more closely, the man in front of him was actually the one who he accidentally met after his check-up with the physician.
"How's your body?"
"Ah? I can feel it healing."
"Aa-are you the one who saved me?"
"That's right, I am."
Sein held his footsteps before quickly take a bow, "THANK YOU!"
"You can thank me later, just go inside first," said the man before pushing the wooden door they were heading.
The room appeared to be a physician type room almost like the one within the village. The familiar set up made him remember about Leam the man who tended his well-being. (Looks like I cannot show up and take that medicine you painstakingly took from the capital Uncle Leam).
"Old man! I got a patient for you!" shouted the man.
"God! You don't need to shout, Mad God!"
Sein furrowed his eyebrows (Mad God? Is that his name? or is that his title?).
Before long a hunch back old man with black glasses showed up. With the stick in his right hand, he looked like a blind old man with a really fragile body. The old man stared at the boy before saying, "Kid, give me your hand."
"Hmm?"
"Don't worry, this old man wouldn't kill you."
Sein immediately ashamed at his doubt before he gave out his right hand. With the latest experience he had, it was natural for him to be wary.
"Hmph! Kids these days, won't even trust an old man."
He forcefully pulled Sein's hand before furrowing his eyebrows, "Kid, you, you cannot cultivate can you?"
Sein's eyes immediately turned sour before answering, "Yes, I cannot cultivate, I, I'm born with broken meridians."
This was probably the whole cause of why that tragic experienced happen to him. If only he could, wouldn't he already live a happy life with his grandfather and the future would entirely change?
"Heh, ha, ha, hahaha!"
Suddenly the old man laughed like he heard the best joke of his life. Sein furrowed his eyebrows as he said, "What's so funny about it?!"
"Of course it's funny! A broken meridian?! Please, your meridian is fine! The problem is, it's currently sealed!"
"S-sealed? By who?"
"Fuck should I know? Your meridian is sealed!"
(I knew it, the moment I touch that kid's hand I felt something was off, so it was sealed after all) The man grinned his teeth out (This is getting interesting!).
"I don't believe you!"
"Fuck, this is the second time someone said that to me, well the first one is dead so."
"Hang on old man, try explaining it to the kid, he had a rough experience before coming here."
"Tch! Fine! Listen, kid, imagine cultivation like a tube with one lid at the bottom. Normally the tube is occasionally filled with ki, that's how you rose your cultivation level."
The old man coughed before continuing with a hoarse voice, "Your's however, was filled with impurity, as if it was filled each day by dirt. Piling up to the point that it exceeds the tube, all it needs is the lid for the top one to make you incapable of cultivating."
"If there is no lid, then the impurities would soon corrupt your body and leading up to death."
"Now here is the fun part, hey kid, try to remember what you take daily that you think might be possible for the cause of your condition."
Sein glanced at the two of them before looking at the floor agitated. (Something that I took dai-?!). His mind reverted back to the scene where he met the physician to treat his wound caused by Nia.
'Anyway, have you been taking the pills I sent you.'
'Every villager's smile is because of Jing.'
'I know you since you are a baby.'
'Look at you, slowly becoming a man.'
Suddenly Sein asked, "Please, tell me, is this 'lid' could be in some form of a pill?"
The old man nodded.
His heart immediately shook as he gritted his teeth. His hands formed a fist before the entire arm shook. His eyebrows furrowed to the extreme as his pupils slowly dilated. "HUAAAH!"
His scream was even louder than the wave crashing as his mind focused on that 'kind-hearted' face of a man who was actually the one behind his condition.