Zhangsun Shan finds himself in a bizarre-looking area, he had suddenly appeared here, the last he could remember was destroying the strange beast that killed his mom.
"Ooh yes, my arm," he thought as he looked over to his right side and miraculously, his arm was still there, it was then he noticed that he was wearing a sparkling white garment, the entire area where he stood was like a void, it didn't even appear to have a ground or floor, it was like he was just standing on thin air, there was no beginning or end.
Zhangsun Shan surveyed his environment, still wearing the same haughty look of confidence, he said aloud.
"A god is here, the least you can do is show yourselves and bow, then I will decide if you are worthy of living" Zhangsun Shan smiles aloud.
"This must be the afterlife that I have heard of in countless folktales, so I must be dead, well, the gods will wish death didn't take me as I have so much planned, I shall use this medium to ascend to the greatest heights; I shall obtain immortality and power beyond every level of comprehension," Zhangsun Shan thinks to himself as he keeps looking around.
"I can hear your thoughts loud and clear" came a familiar feminine voice, Zhangsun Shan looks towards the direction of the voice, standing before him was a 5'6 woman with long black hair, beautiful brown eyes, and supple white skin, she was dressed in the same dressing as he, as his eyes met with hers', she smiled, there was only one person who this could be; his Mom.
"Ma" Zhangsun Shan said aloud, he was so overjoyed that a tear escaped his right eye as he ran over to his Mom locking her in a tight hug
"I have missed you so much, I thought you were gone forever, please don't ever leave me."
"I am sorry, were you saying something, I lost you at the part when you were at blah blah blah" his mother smiles at him, Zhangsun Shan too smiles back, he was just so happy seeing him again.
Lighting up, Zhangsun Shan puts on his most confident grin
"Mom, where are the gods, I shall surpass them in this plane and you will be protected forever, none would ever try to harm or hurt you again, I shall do what the useless pig called a father or your husband couldn't do, I will protect you till the very end."
His mother couldn't help but smile, her son was always so obsessed about her, never caring about others or even himself, the only person he did everything for was his Mom, brushing his left cheek lightly with the back of her right palm, tears escaped her two eyes as she looked at her son.
"You have protected me in the past, so many times I have lost count, once when the warriors came to try and tax us, you had sent them away, once, when bandits tried to raid the house, you were there to stop them, but right now, it's my time but not yet yours, you have to find another reason to live."
"But ma" Zhangsun Shan says tears escaping his two eyes
"You are all the reason I need, I want to attain immortality so two of us can be side by side, together forever."
"That will be with your significant other" She smiles as she holds his face tenderly
"When you awake, you shall see her, love and protect her with all your heart, mind, and soul, there's a bright life waiting ahead for you and with your wits, I know you can overcome anything."
"Can't one of the anything I can overcome by changing your mind?" Zhangsun Shan asks with a smirk.
His mother smiles heartily, her son was always the jokester though he was fond of making offensive jokes.
"Enough chatter," she tells him still with her mother tenderly smile
"It's time to awake."
As she said that, Zhangsun Shan could feel a force pulling him away from where he stood.
Zhangsun Shan woke up startling, he was on a small bed, with a blue sheet covering him, looking around in the room, he could see expensive ornaments; meaning whatsoever room he was in, it belonged to a really rich individual or family, he tried to move his right arm as if to touch his forehead but he realized he couldn't.
Looking over at his right side, he sees his arm was still missing.
"That's unfortunate" he frowns
"I was already getting used to having two arms" he ends with a smile as he looks at the far end side of the room, he notices a girl, probably the same age as him if not younger, she had long hair which reached past her shoulders, she wore a short brown dress and had a strange hair loom on, the way she sat on the chair though drooling as she was asleep showed she had been taught to carry herself with grace in her every action.
"Hey" Zhangsun Shan shouts in her direction, the girl woke up with a start, looking at Zhangsun Shan who still laid on the bed, red appeared on her cheeks.
Zhangsun Shan noticed it
"Is this the woman Ma wants me to protect, she isn't even worthy to lick my feet, I don't like her" he thinks to himself.
Just then, a tall man who was dressed in a red robe and there, he kept a katana with a red hilt at his right side, he was about 6 feet tall, he wore a serious facial expression, following behind him was the doctor who Zhangsun Shan had told earlier on to prepare a bed for the head warrior; Rui Hongcha, and a small black-haired boy which kept hugging his father's leg.
"So you must he Zhangsun Shan, we have heard so much about you even the king is interested in you, it's impossible to believe that there's even a man who can wreck half the havoc that you have caused talk less of a mere ten-year-old," the man in the red robes says.
Zhangsun Shan recognized the insignia which was located on the right side of his chest, it was strictly for those who worked in the imperial court, now how he spoke, his weapon and the demeanor he carried himself with, Zhangsun Shan knew exactly who this man was.
"What does a soldier from the imperial court want with me," Zhangsun Shan asks, how he was alive was still a wonder to him, he was sure he had lost so much blood, and based on his understanding of the human body, there was no way he could have still been alive except some blood was donated to him.
Just then, the girl which he saw earlier fell to the ground, she felt weak.
"Qui Si" Lee Yu says dashing over to her position, he holds her up in a place as he put her to rest on his knees.
Zhangsun Shan took a closer look at her, the name, he had heard it so many times, she belonged to a prestigious family of scholars, the scholars were known to amass knowledge from different cities and villages, he has never seen a member of the family up close before.
"Did she donate blood to me?" Zhangsun Shan asks as he got up from the bed, Lee Yu was amazed at how he could easily decipher what happened.
Zhangsun Shan moves over to her as he puts his left hand on her face as he crouches down to meet her eye gaze.
"But why did you do that."
"I don't know," she said trying to light up
"I have always wanted a life full of danger and adventure, I have heard so much about you, girls learning martial arts is forbidden so my dream can't be fulfilled, you look like someone capable of helping me fulfill my life long desires, it feels so funny saying life long as I am just ten but it's my dream since I was seven, I don't just want to exist, I want to live and adventure is the only way I can feel alive."
Zhangsun Shan couldn't help but be amazed, as far as he could remember, it was the only time someone apart from his Mom treated him with such love and care.
"Maybe you are right, Mom" Zhangsun Shan thinks to himself
"Maybe she's the one for me."
"I am going to help you fulfill that dream," Zhangsun Shan tells her, looking over to the royal soldier who was in the room, he gets to his feet as he addressed him.
"Seeing that the emperor sent you here and hasn't sent any soldiers to assist with this village problems, also, I am alive, when I was unconscious on that field, it's only logical that either the villagers would have killed me or left me there to die meaning that you pulled some strings to ensure I could be given a second chance at life, you must have asked for donors and naturally everyone refused except her" Zhangsun Shan ends pointing at Qui Si
"I am sure her parents were very unhappy with the development but you must have used your position and influence to ensure I was taking care of, I have heard rumors that Lee Yu was a doctor who traveled from village to village healing the sick, that would explain why he is one of the few I have never tormented as he isn't mostly around, that's why he could easily tend to me without any grudge, now, for the reason you ensured I was safe, you feel I'd be very useful to the king and now, that my only parent is dead, you will say you will take me in, give me food and accommodation in exchange for being a loyal soldier of the imperial court, isn't that why you are here or did I get anything wrong?" Zhangsun Shan ends with a haughty smile.
"I couldn't have said it better myself," the soldier tells him with his most serious tone but internally, he was thinking
"This kid sure is something else, I have never seen anyone demonstrate such intelligence and make such accurate deductions, having him as an ally will surely make the dynasty stand on top and world domination will be a mere thrill."
"Well, I am going to add a condition" Zhangsun Shan smiles as he points over to Qui Si
"She joins me, it's her dream to learn martial arts and live a life of danger and adventure, seeing that she has assisted me, I only wish to help her fulfill that dream."
Zhangsun Shan ends as he looks over at Qui Si
"Ma, I have finally found another reason to live, I shall keep her close by my side at all times, I will protect her."
"Is that all?" The soldier asks.
"Well, except you want me to ask to cut off your balls" Zhangsun Shan ends with a dreadful expression, this causes the soldier to step back but he quickly regains his composure
"Well, then, let's be on our way."
He removes a whistle which he wore around his neck like a chain and blew hard into it
WHIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!
and almost immediately, a carriage pulled over to the entrance, it was then that Zhangsun Shan realized he was in a tent but a tent that beautifully furnished, that was amazing, the wealth of the imperial court was simply beyond anything he had ever seen or known.
Zhangsun Shan looked over at Qui Si
"You won't have Mama and Papa to take care of you now but fear not, you have a being who is going to surpass the gods someday in charge of you, you are in the safest hands ever" he ends with a light smile.
"Thanks" she smiles at him as she moves over to the direction.
The duo smile at each other as they make their way to the entrance, though Zhangsun Shan only had one arm yet he was sure that wasn't gonna hinder him in any way, he was a being greater than gods, he had no limits he was limit's limit.
As he was about to enter the carriage, he had already hoisted the girl up and she was sitting comfortably, she was very excited and yet anxious at the same time, she was finally going to fulfill her lifelong dream.
"Wait, Wait, Wait!!!" Zhangsun Shan heard a voice shout aloud, it sounded almost feminine. Zhangsun Shan looks in the direction of the voice he heard.
It was the small black-haired kid he had seen earlier, he was coming with a brown box and was running as fast as he could.
Now that he was up close, Zhangsun Shan saw that he had almost no masculine features, he looked so much like a girl.
He was also much shorter than even Zhangsun Shan.
"Here, take this box," the small boy says bowing down his head
"It contains several ointments each if the same kind, apply it once in the morning and once in the night to your injuries, it will prevent it from getting infected, if it finishes, I have personally left the recipe so you could create some yourself, my father taught me that everyone no matter how cruel deserves to be treated of their infirmities," he tells him.
"Okay," Zhangsun Shan says as he takes the box away from the kid, looking over at him
"What's the name?"
"Wenren Yu," the boy says still bowing down his head.
"Wenren Yu, thank you, we shall surely see soon" Zhangsun Shan smiles at him as he gets on the carriage.
The driver hits the reins lightly causing the two horses to which the carriage was attached to begin to run speedily.
Zhangsun Shan sat directly beside Qui Si while the soldier sat directly in their front.
"Don't worry about your parents, I shall have them know of all that's going on" the soldier says in Qui Si's direction.
"I guess I should be overjoyed, I don't have parents to worry about, I have as much freedom as a free horse" Zhangsun Shan laughs.
The soldier laughed too, even Qui Si let out a smile.
"This is the first stepping stone to my supremacy," Zhangsun Shan thinks to himself "I shall overthrow the emperor and become the new one of this dynasty, then from there, world domination, then I shall surpass even the gods and be the most powerful being ever, nothing can hope to stand in my way."