A deafening cry echoed from inside the morbid well.
The spine chilling scream could be heard in all of the plaza's vicinity and beared a magnitude of hatred and anger within, that most people wouldn't dare to face.
Celas looked down in incredulity. The veins in his blood-red eyes were pulsating terribly.
He saw crimson blood shooting out his soles like turbulent red rivers, pierced by the spiky array of sharp needles protruding from the leather of his shoes.
A needlemat trap was set onto the ground of the well!
Celas looked up, towards the streaming light shining onto the entrance of the well, and endless ire burned wildly in his heart.
He screamed out frantic deathwishes as the picture of the perpetrator burned itself onto his memory.
Such cunning and cruelty was unheard of in a man that young. Altough he's done more terrible things in his life, Celas felt wronged and tricked. Humiliation washed over all the rage and threatened to kill him just with the additional anger it induced.
He has never been played like that in his entire life.
...So he swore in that moment, to wash away the humiliation with meadows of the brat's innards and rivers of the culprit's blood.
"What happened?"
"Why did the boss scream?"
Milo and Bilo also looked at each other with sweat drops on their foreheads watching the running youth enter the vicinity of the denser outskirts.
Spark smiled sinisterly.
"Heh, do you like my gift? I made sure the needles are sharp."
* * *
"...I just came up with a plan."
Spark turned to the sobbing girl to his right and posed a couple of questions. His strategy seemed to be heavily reliant on these particular facts and items.
"Tali I heard your father is a shoemaker? Surely you own a lot of needles and scissors and other sharp things?"
"We do ! But why do you need them ?" Tali answered curtly, supressing her sobs with little success.
Spark shaked his head and added, "Just trust me here, I've thought of something to help us save your father"
"Hey you!"
The man who stopped they walk to inform Tali and the rest of the situation with her father was startled when he was being addressed all of a sudden.
"Ah, yes? Me?"
"You mentioned old abandoned wells. And they are nearby?"
"Ah .. yes, there are a couple of abandoned wells in that area. We drew our our water from there there not long ago, but because of the recent droughts they were simply abandoned."
"So... they are dry?"
Spark repeatedly asked to make sure understood correctly.
"Yes, they do not produce any more water." the man reassured while giving him a strange look, wondering why the young man needed to know about the situation of the water supply suddenly.
"Also do you have ..."
* * *
Celas put the precious scripture into his mouth, clenching his teeth gently to not damage the book he let himself be harmed for. With another painful groan, he lifted his feet off the needlemat and struggled himself up the well.
The walls of the well turned wet with blood, every step leaving bloody imprints by the soaked soles of his shoes. The slippery walls presented a big obstacle but luckily its surface wasn't entirely smoothed out, and many crevices between dilapidated bricks served as brackets.
It took him a good few minutes to finish the arduous climb, that would have usually taken him no more than a couple of seconds.
An ember of hate was sprouting deep inside his wet eyes. He already painted the picture of him slowly and joyfully ripping the culprit apart limb by limb, after skinning his flesh and boiling the bloody remains into a murky soup he could forcefully feed to the scourge's parents.
And he believed that even that wouldn't be enough to sate his anger.
Malevolent fantasies crept around in his bottomless, disturbed mind during the climb, but as soon as he stepped out of the well and landed his first bloody footprint on the sandy ground, his raging demeanor dimmed a tiny bit and a calculating glint shimmered in his eyes.
But in no way was he calm.
"Where is that bastard," He said and bit his teeth so hard a cackling sound was heard. His blodshot eyes would even scare away the most infamous serial killers of Earth.
"Boss!!! The shoemaker escaped!" a subordinate reported when he saw Celas climbing out of the well and one look at his face left his knees weak. He looked like a bloodthirsty monster, hungry for flesh and upon seeing that, the subordinate realized he had made a grave mistake.
"What did you say?" his voice was eerily calm and his face went dark.
The subordinates last thoughts echoed endlessly inside his mind .
'When did everything go so wrong...'
His feet lifted from the ground, all sight faded away and was instead replaced by bleak darkness. The last sensation he felt on this cruel, unfair planet, was the eerie pulsation of Celas' hand, that in the end, broke his neck in two, like a rotten twig.
A pair of cold, mad eyes left an unfeeling gaze on the dead body.
"Useless."
Celas spat coldly, before calming himself a bit with a look on the item in his hands.
"At least I finally obtained the Circulation Technique... My dream of becoming a Cultivator... I can do it!"
'But how did he escape? A normal person wouldn't be able to break through the Iron Chains... Did the helper reach the Peak of the Body Tempering Realm like me?'
'Maybe he even ... No that's not possible. Why would a Cultivator be in the Outskirts, unless he heard about the technique?'
"Highly unlikely," Celas dismissed the useless thought with a snort and rationalized the situation before making a decision.
"A fight would be unfavorable to me right now... My legs are useless."
"I will need to recuperate first..."
"You," he faced into the direction of another subordinate, who witnessed the whole ordeal in front of him. His knees already gave way and he sat on the floor with his entire body convulsing in quivers.
"If you find the kid, bring him in front of me... If that's not possible, kill him on the spot ... Or else you will be next."
The subordinate gulped, "Y-Yes Boss."
"What are you waiting for? GO! NOW!"
"Y-YES!" the subordinate screamed and went off running. The only thought swirling in his mind was:
'Why did I join this monster's gang again?'
* * *
"Huff Huff Huff"
"I finally lost them"
"It's hard to run without breaks."
Théo wiped the sweat over his brow and took a look to the right and to the left. His sides hurt and his lungs felt as though they could spew fire.
Utterly exhausted, he managed to run back into the slums and hide in a slim alleyway between two dilapidated buildings.
A dozen thugs were all over the place in search for the shoemaker Terry and him. Of course they hoped to not make contact with Joey after witnessing his capabilities.
Spark was absolutely exhausted and the biggest threat was still out there, wandering around.
He only caught a glimpse of Celas, but that was a glimpse too much.
It was enough visual material to construct dozens of nightmares! His expression was just that frightening.
And that guy was only a Peak Body Foundation Stage Cultivator?
Spark shuddered at the thought of dealing with more terrifying personalities along his Cultivation journey...
Contradicting his thoughts, a smile crept on his face.
The plan worked beautifully, just as intended...
"I didn't even know I had it in me to construct such a vicious ploy."
Sure, the gangster deserved everything that came to him, but Spark wasn't hypocritical enough to justify his actions with it.
He more rational than that. He had always been.
Théo had weathered many storms in his previous life, forging him into a deep thinker.
He had hurt another person intentionally.
And furthermore, he didn't feel any remorse for it.
That was the crux of the matter.
Unraveling another shade of his personality, made him ponder until realizing... It's not over!
He was on the run! Danger lurks around!
"Tali's father should have been brought back by now," Spark concluded.
"Haaaa~"
A relieved sigh parted from his lips.
"To think such a childish plan would work..."
It was really ill-considered, dangerous, and absolutely careless, but luckily everything panned out in the end.
"If he grabbed me before recovering the textbook..."
Spark shuddered at the thought.
"Luckily he was obsessed enough to disregard me..."
Silently, he promised to plan more meticulously the next time he wanted to act as live bait...
If there would be a next time at all...
Entertaining another thought, Spark sneered with contempt.
"I wonder how he will react once he finds out his biggest mistake ..."
"I learned this lesson ages ago young man! No good decision comes from blinding greed."
"...Now the only thing left to do is ... end it once and for all."
* * *
In a two-story building somewhere in the outskirts, the curtains were shut tight and three people sat quietly on a couch. A mature woman in the peak of her beauty, pillowed two younger girls in her arms.
A girl with oceanic blue eyes had traces of dried tears around the edges of her blue gems. It was hard not to notice her worrying expression. Troubling thoughts seemed to give her no rest, as she fiddled with her fingers frantically.
The other girl, approximately the same age, glanced over in curiosity once in a while and seeing the troubled face of the girl beside her, she couldn't help but grip her hand tightly in order to ease the worrying feelings. Her pair of emerald eyes glimmered like treasures of an ancient forest, meaning to share a part of Tali's burdens.
Who were they if not the restless trio of Jessie, Tali and Lily!
All of the sudden, three knocks on the housedoor disturbed the serenity of the house.
Jessie jumped at the sudden noise, her expectant eyes staring at the door. She quickly rose to her feet to pull back the curtain next to the front of the house, and confirmed her guess.
When she peered behind the chiffon, a relieved look formed on her face immediately and she turned around and motioned lily with a soft waving gesture, "Tali, come here."
Opening the door, two familiar men came into view.
Tali gasped.
"Honey! You did it - I ..." Jessie stammered happily, not ending her sentence cohesively.
And behind her back, a quick and soft succession of thumps could be heard. A shadow closed the distance between couch and door in record speed and jumped onto Terry at full force.
"You're safe!" she cried with deep emotion and wet eyes, "S-sorry... sor-ry... it's all my fault. I was so worried."
"Now, now... everythings okay now," Terry patted his daughter while supressing the pain he felt from the collision.
'If there is a will of the heavens, then it acted today to safe my life.'
"Thank you Mr. Joey. I was sure that my luck has run out today," he turned to Joey and thanked him wholeheartedly again.
Joey guffawed without restraint, "Hahaha, no need, no need, you showed more than enough gratitude to me already! And furthermore, it isn't only me you have to thank. Thank your adorable daughter and young Spark. Without the Circulation Technique to help me breakthrough, or the plan he made, the operation definitely wouldn't have gone without a hitch."
"Spark?" Terry asked in a suprised voice, "Roberts son?"
"You know him?" Joes asked, startled.
"Well, yes... I know his father. He is a frequent customer of mine. As you might know, I'm a tailor."
"So it's like this," Joey nodded in enlightenment.
Although it shouldn't, the news surprised him a bit.
Spark striked him as mature and mysterious.
What would be the parents like, to raise such a son?
"Also, you just broke through?" Terry was surprised upon hearing it.
"I did," Joey said with coruscating eyes, "With the help of the Clearing Cloud Circulation Arts and the Spirit Crystals Spark had brought!"
"Well I assumed you'd have to be atleast a higher Body Foundation Stage when you ripped the chains apart, but for you to be in the Qi Realm."
"And with my technique nevertheless..."
Terry widened his eyes as if he remember something before clasping his hands and adding:
"Praise the Grand Dao!"
Joey reciprocated the gesture and also praised the Grand Dao.
Gratitude beamed on Terry's face. Escaping this terrible, and humiliating situation was a blessing of the gods.
Inwardly, he just couldn't believe his luck.
'Is that the Devil's Luck?...'
"Where is Spark? After distracting the Mad Dog, where has he gone?"
Terry was suddenly gripped by deep worry. The young man who acted as live bait was no more than 15 years old!
One wrong step would have disastrous consequences in front of a Peak Body Foundation Realm Artist.
His safety was compromised. Terry felt sharp guilt and nausea climbing up inside him, when he thought of another person falling prey to the devious hands of the terrible gangster.
He wouldn't wish this treatment on his worst enemy... well, with exception of the Mad Dog himself.
Joey's face also contorted and he broke away from the embrace of his wife to step outside the doorframe.
"He is probably hiding somewhere in the slums. The plan was a major success, but.. the real battle begins now."
The atmosphere stiffened up when Joey reminded everyone of what's to come.
"I'll go now. You guys stay here for the time being."
"Joey..." Jess wanted to say something, but it wouldn't leave her throat.
"I know what you want to say honey, but this matter needs to end today before it comes back to bite us..."
"I will cut the evil at its roots."
Joey faced everyone with his back when he said it.
His expression couldn't be seen.
Jessie knew her husband was right. Not only was it the most logical course of action, it was the only course of action, now that they had made enemies with the Mad Dog.
But despite that knowledge, a deep discomfort built up inside her.
"This world is a dangerous place... Now that I have finally entered the path of Cultivation, it became even more dangerous."
At this point he turned around to face the people with a crazed look, revealing a sharp row of teeth with utmost confidence.
"But I've been prepared for that a decade ago! This will be a walk in the park!"
With that sentence uttered, he lunged towards the slums.