I am Cao Tang. I was once an invincible warrior. No one dared step in my way. I traveled the immortal continent in search of an immortal treasure that was rumored to be in the Fire Sky Dragon Palace, created by a mysterious master a millennium ago. But it was a trap. My lover betrayed me, and my friends who called me brother had forsaken me as well. I was crippled. I was lonely. I died a useless person, but now that I am reborn, I shall have my revenge on all those fools who abandoned and backstabbed me.
And so went the inner monologue of an unconscious man. A man who had met a fate similar to what our trio faced currently, except he failed and now was sown up into a cacoon.
"Brother, let's rescue him," said Liu.
"How about no," the seer replied.
"What?" asked Liu, who could not quite process the response.
"I... let's just move on," the seer said, getting more and more anxious, almost as if he was afraid of this poor victim of the spiders.
As Cao Tang opened his eyes, two figures stood before him. A man who appeared all black and another man who also appeared all black. The dim light didn't allow much color. There was only gooey green on them that he could tell apart. One of the men tried to use his sword to cut him out of his cocoon, but the other stopped him.
"He needs to be rescued, brother. We can't let him die. I can't let him die," Liu argued.
"My neck is tingling. The moment you take the webbing off his mouth, I swear he is gonna start some cringe and crappy monologue," the seer said with a shivering voice.
The stranger could not tell what the two were discussing. He was barely conscious. But as time passed, the more he woke.
"Brother, he is a fighter. He can help us. We can live," emphasized Liu.
"No means no. Now shut the fuck up, Liu, and move on," both put their points forward as if they were teaching the letters to little kids. And Neon even tried acting mommy to that 5-year-old, but all failed. No one should treat a man like a child. (Unless they like it)
And Liu had enough. His ego was hurt, and just like a disobedient 5-year-old, he just grabbed the webbings on the mouth and pulled them. All the while he made the face that could only be interpreted as 'Hell with you mommy'.
The duo found this man on their path, just lying there, probably another toy of the spider that they killed. Where Liu saw a strong martial artist with a fire in his heart and a very savage killer face, the seer saw a generic protagonist.
"WTF, are you mad? You have unleashed a cringe lord on this world..." the seer shouted. He wanted to say, "You unleashed a cringe lord on this world, and you should kill yourself." But this was not Earth. It was Murim, which was so full of people just like him. So in the end, it mattered not. Nothing did.
"Thank you for rescuing me. I shall not forget this debt. I shall surely repay you," the man trapped in webbings said.
Liu, on hearing this, faced Neon and tried to tell him off. Neon, however, now looked extremely relieved. Almost as if he was expecting him to spew poison out of his mouth.
"What are you doing here anyway, brother?" Liu asked as he slowly pulled out the rest of his webbings. He was only interrupted by the seer, who violently shook his head to not ask him this question.
"As my saviors, I shall tell you about myself," the stranger replied. There was a hard slap on Neon's face that he put on himself. "I am Cao Tang. I was once an invincible warrior. No one dared to step in my way. I traveled the immortal continent in search of an immortal treasure that was rumored to be there in the Fire Sky Dragon Palace, created by a mysterious master a millennia ago. But it was a trap. My lover betrayed me..."
*Thwak*
And then the stranger spoke no more. Sadly, however, the stranger didn't die. The seer knocked him out with a single blow to his lower chin. But the seer was happy nonetheless.
"Why would you punch some weak injured man like that? Are you nuts, brother?" Liu scolded his partner. But his partner could not care more. His soul was intact, and that's all that mattered.
"My reasons are beyond your understanding and comprehension, mortal. Do not question me, who is the seer of all," Neon justified his actions. And that much would suffice, for it was Murim they were in.
Liu carried the unconscious body as they argued and continued their path down this cave of doom.
"You knocked him out, so you should carry him."
"You wanted to rescue him, so you carry him."
"We need this guy's power to do your job, so you carry him."
"It is your moral need that demands that I need to uphold my moral principles of doing my job, so you carry him."
"My left is barely intact, so you carry him."
"I am not a cultivator, so you carry him."
And the back and forth went on.
"HAAA!" With a jerk, the stranger woke up next to a campfire. It was no longer a bluish dimly-lit cave. It was dark and pitch-black. Nothing out of a particular radius of fire could be seen.
"I am sorry I passed out. I have been a burden. I shall surely repay your debt. This junior is very grateful," he bowed to both.
Liu glanced at Neon, warning him that he still hadn't forgotten what he did. And Neon was quick to catch that threatening look.
"Brother in black, I sense your martial art is very weak, so I shall, in order to repay my debt, teach..."
"Stop, brother. I don't care. I am not a cultivator and don't want to become one either," Neon stopped not only his words but also his brain. As seen before, Tang started to glitch out on hearing such bullshit. Not in his three thousand years to the sky had he ever once encountered someone say such nonsense. It was like seeing a cripple sprint. His defense mechanism clicked in.
"Brother in black, I sense your martial art is very weak, so I shall, in order to repay my debt, teach..." Tang went again as his brain deleted the memory of him having said that.
"Stop, brother. I don't care. I am not a cultivator and don't want to become one either," Neon repeated the exact same lines.
There was a long silence, which by no means was awkward.