*Chop*
A large slamming sound echoed throughout the yard followed by falling wood early in the morning, Shu Li's robust figure was seen holding the axe with sweat dripping steadily from his forehead, again and again he split the wood without stopping, he didn't need to do this but it was helping him calm himself and warm his body; The memories that were dredged up in his dreams had disturbed his mind.
The man, Tai Min's image lingered in the back of his mind like a phantom, even now he still remembered just over two years back when he saw Haoxi's body, the creeping feeling he had back then was even stronger now.
A wound like that may not be uncommon in the world of cultivators, but because it was him, he connected it to Tai Min, his 'hobby' of collecting disturbed him to no end and when he examined the body that day he could clearly see the lack of a heart, it wasn't just pierced through or eviscerated from the strike, it was gone entirely and cleanly.
He had no idea why he did it, that man always kept to himself other than the times they went out on a 'hunt', he was one of the leaders of the band through fear and power, whereas he himself was put in that position because he had the ability.
Shu Li looked up at the sun, sighed and put the axe to one side leaning against a piece of fence.
Back then, when he first became part of the band it was a group of small-time criminals, they stole things, they held people up and shook them down and illegally occupied areas, and occasionally took actual jobs as mercenaries for money, they did stuff that let them go on with living without being a true threat to the area.
They weren't good by any means of course.
But like many other groups or organisations, when more people join the voice of the original few becomes muddy and the direction changes until it's entirely different, robbing and hold ups turned in to murder and plundering.
That's why, in the end he left; Even though he dreaded their retaliation, he couldn't stand it anymore.
But now…
"Hey! Anyone there?" Somebody's voiced shouted from the front of the house.
'?' Shu Li wasn't expecting any customers today so he didn't have any idea who it was.
He went to the front and took a look as he strode over only to see a bald headed man whose scalp reflected the light well standing there looking around to see if anyone was coming, he quickly spotted Shu Li coming over.
"Ah! Shu Li, good morning! Is Shu He around?" The man spoke with an overly kind tone, this man of course was Gang Bo, the man who Shu Li had made as his first proper customer.
"Don't be so noisy in the morning" Shu Li scolded as he looked at the man.
"Ah- Sorry" He bowed his head slightly.
As for the reason why Gang Bo was acting like this towards Shu Li, it was rather simple; Shu Li was quite well known about these parts as a hunter and his skill with a bow, and many Mercenaries had tried to mess around in the village or with him directly leading to them being 'humbled' by him, this man was also one of them in the past, back when he saw him outside of the market he had vaguely recognised him, but his son had said to leave it to him so he said nothing.
He did find it rather surprising that his son made a deal with this man, since he was known for being a rowdy idiot, but in the end what's done is done.
"Shu He's not here, he's been going out regularly in the morning somewhere" Shu Li explained, he personally didn't know what his son was doing but he felt he should be allowed the freedom to do what he wanted so he didn't pester him, though he had to help keep his wife at bay since she was overly worried about him.
"Oh…" Gang Bo looked disappointed. "Do you know when he will be back?" He asked in return.
"Not sure, he usually comes back sometime in the evening; What was it that you wanted?"
"I put in an order for him a week or so ago, he said it would be ready for me to pick up so I came but…" He scratched his head with awkwardness.
"Oh, in that case it should be fine; Give me a second." Shu Li remembered something and headed inside the house leaving Gang Bo a bit confused.
He quickly went around and entered inside Shu He's room, something he doesn't usually do; The place was lined with tools and jars that he had no clue what their uses were, if he didn't know better he definitely wouldn't say it was his 8 year old son's room, he went to a small open lidded box that was filled with smaller wooden boxes all with parchment notes stuck to them.
He quickly found what he was looking for, it was the one marked with 'Gang Bo -Paid' on and picked it up to leave, however as he did he noted an old worn rust coloured stain in the middle of the floor that was barely visible, Shu Li sighed and shook his head before leaving.
'I wish he'd take care of himself more' Shu Li thought to himself, his childhood wasn't easy, so when he sees his own child running ahead at the speed of light he'd wish he'd just slow down, but he didn't have the heart to stop him, the light in his eyes as he went about doing everything told him not to.
He quickly went out and handed Gang Bo the small box, about the size of two palms together.
"Huh? This is?" He was confused before he read the label "Oh! Is this it?" He popped open the lid and inside contained tightly packed vials and containers, it was all medication of different sorts.
"He started leaving those for us to hand to the customers for when he was out" Shu Li explained.
"Oh!" He exclaimed for the second time "He's as smart as ever… it's a pity he isn't here though I had something interesting to tell him"
"Something interesting?" Shu Li replied with a bit of curiosity.
Gang Bo nodded "The kid asked us to inform him if there were any interesting rumours, mostly to do with cultivators and such but also anything big" He explained.
"Oh, did he now" Shu Li had his arms crossed, his child really is extending his reach; Though he can't say he approves of him looking into dangerous rumours. "So? What is it you have to tell him" that said, he was also curious since he's mostly bound to this town and doesn't get news from far.
"You want to know? Okay! You can tell Shu He when he gets back anyway…" Gang Bo murmured at the end but his expression turned serious before he started talking once more.
"Again, these are only rumours so take them with a pinch of salt, but I've heard a lot of people talking in passing that the entire area is up in arms about something, there have been a lot of witness reports of cultivator sightings!" He whispered like he was keeping a great secret.
"How do they know they were cultivators?" Shu Li asked the obvious question.
"Because of how fast they moved and how they hunted beasts, one move and some of the bigger creatures lost their heads, not only that some people have been questioned by them as well, not sure what they were though…"
'Nothing solid then…' Shu He thought.
"But the bigger rumour is that they're all hunting something… an infestation maybe, or an organisation… as for us, we've had an encounter, while we were out on a hunt a few weeks back we ended up running in to a bit of a disaster zone; Some beast must have ambushed another group, no a pack of them, 'bout 20 or so people all torn to shreds and picked apart'" Gang Bo explained like he was telling a horror story in the latter half.
"And.. the heart?" Shu Li asked, out of pure curiosity.
"Heart? Uh… I don't really know like I said, it looked like something had gone across their bodies and tore everything out… why ask?"
"Nothing.. never mind, anything else" Shu Li asked, he didn't know whether to be disappointed or relieved.
"That's just about it for now!" Gang Bo said before turning around "Say thanks to the kid for me! I have to get back the others will kill me if I take too long" he shouted back running off.
Shu Li merely watched him run off without saying anything before turning back himself and heading inside, he wanted something to drink and some rest for now, there were too many thoughts floating around in his head so he wanted some time to piece them together.
However, as he sat inside and drank the tea that Shu An had prepared for him-
"Oi! Shu Li are you there?!"
An urgent yell came from outside again.
'Another?' Shu Li wanted to complained but the urgency and familiarity of this voice made him jump up and run outside.
He was greeted by a sweaty bulging mass of a man that had burst in to his front yard, Dai Niu.
"What is it? To yell like that…" Shu Li asked.
"C-come with me!" Dai Niu shouted.
"…Why?" Shu Li replied.
Dai Niu tried to speak but caught his tongue as he tripped over his words, so he took a second to breathe and calm himself.
"Sorry I was just too surprised…" he explained.
"About what?"
"Someone came to visit Elder Yang from the capital!" Dai Niu said, expressing himself by holding his hands wide out.
"An official?" Shu Li asked, it wasn't too rare for someone to come visit the village about taxes or reparations.
'Did they start a fight or something?' He thought.
But Dai Niu's next line made his heart skip a beat.
"No! A cultivator!"
"…What?"
"And he's asking for you, Shu Li!" Dai Niu pointed at him.
"What?!"