It was morning already as the rays of light peeking through the holes of the thatch gleamed on the boy's face.
His eyes twitched open, slowly. Looking at the surrounding, his expression was solemn.
"So it wasn't a dream.", Di Tianming muttered slowly. He seemed more healed as his face had less wounds compared to yesterday.
"Huh? Oh! I am able to move now! Ouch! It still hurts."
Surprised, he sat up and discovered that he was able to move. Though it still hurt but clearly not as much as yesterday. Now, he only felt pricking sensations all over his body.
He had mostly recovered.
"Status!", He muttered softly and a white panel appeared in front of him.
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[Name: Di Tianming]
[Age: 16]
[Cultivation: Mortal Level 0]
[Cultivation technique: N/A]
[Martial Arts: N/A]
[Points: 0]
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He looked at the panel and saw nothing except his name, every other section was currently empty.
"Hmm. So my name in this life is Di Tianming?"
"Di Tianming! What a domineering name!", he spoke to himself and smiled as he thought.
"Ying Xuan. The brave boy born in spring. In this life I am the Emperor of heaven who carries the mandate of Heavens."
"16? I was 30 in my previous life, does that make me 46 now? Haha. Mortal Level 0, meaning I have no cultivation huh. Nothing here, nothing here."
"System, how do I earn points?", he asked.
[Host can earn points by completing system missions, cultivating, practicing Martial arts, killing monsters and through various other ways.]
Looking at the white screen he nodded his head in understanding and again asked, "Mm. Then, what are these points used for?"
[As the name of the system, 'Point Level-up', suggests, as long as Host has required points, anything can be level-up, be it Cultivation Realm, Cultivation Technique or Martial arts, the possibilities are endless.]
"Wow~. It means I am destined to supremacy as long as I don't die"
Di Tianming exclaimed in excitement as the system gave him information. Although he had already guessed in his heart he couldn't contain his excitement.
He got up and started walking back and forth, and after a few minutes he calmed down.
"Phew. I need to be calm and not let my thoughts run wild."
'Growl~'
Suddenly, his stomach growled, urging him to eats something, snapping him out of his thoughts.
"There is nothing to eat here. I guess I need to go out", searching the small hut and finding nothing he decided to go out.
The morning sun was high up in the sky. Placing his thin, fragile hand above his head to block the sunlight, Di Tianming gazed into the distance.
The rotten smell was intense but it seemed this body of his was used to it. As he looked at the surrounding, all he could see were dilapidated huts, trash everywhere and people just like him in tattered clothing - beggars.
Di Tianming slowly walked in a random direction, unknown of his own destination. As he was walking, he witnessed the cruelty which was hard to ignore. The dried, rotten and mutilated corpse were piled one on another creating a small hill, the corpse seemed to be of soldier or civilian and dragging them here were beggars.
Truly a sight too unsightly to behold.
He controlled his urge to throw up and quickly walked further away from that place.
Without any sense of direction he walked into an alley and continued forward. After taking a few turns here and there, he stumbles upon a bustling street.
And he was shocked when he saw what he saw.
The street was huge, nearly 100m wide and luxurious shops and buildings were running across on either side of the streets to an unknown distance.
But this was not what shocked him, it was a Six-story building with an ancient vibe around it which seemed to be located on the end of the street. However, its ancientness didn't hide the luxurious aura that it gave off. It attracted people towards it.
Charmed by these beautiful ancient shops and buildings, Di Tianming started walking towards the bustling street.
The surrounding people also took notice the beggar and frowned, whispering to each other.
Suddenly, Di Tianming bumped into someone.
"Sorry."
"Hey! You poor piece of shit! Did you forget what we had told you!? You beggar bastard dare to come here!"
The person, into whom Di Tianming had bumped into cursed angrily at him, was a guard. He was wearing a silver armor and had a spear in his hand. He looked unyielding.
With a stern face and eyes full of anger, he stared at Di Tianming. A white aura emitted from the guard and locked on to him.
"I...I...I...", under the spiritual pressure of the guard, Di Tianming was unable to say anything, he just stood there stuttering, sacred shitless.
"S..S..S..Sir, p..p..please spare that boy, I beg you. H...he was h..hit in the head yesterday s..s..so he must have forgotten that he was forbidden from entering this place. Sir please spare his life."
Tianming suddenly heard a voice from behind, pleading for mercy. A voice too familiar. Yes, it was the old beggar from yesterday.
He turned around and saw that the old beggar was trembling under pressure and yet, he was pleading for Di Tianming's life to be spared.
"Forgot? Spare his life?", the guard sneered. However he was astonished to see the old beggar being able to speak under his oppressive aura. His eyes narrowed as he thought of something and smiled coldly before saying, "Fine, I will spare his life."
Hearing this, the surrounding people clicked their tongues in disappointment while Di Tianming and the old beggar signed in relief.
However, the guard next words caused the expressions of the two parties to be exact opposite of what they wore a moment before.
"But I will have to teach him a lesson so that he never forgets what he should not, not in this life."
Saying that, he swung the silver spear in his hand and a gust of wind passed by Di Tianming and the old man.
'Spurt!'
Blood splattered. Di Tianming felt a warm sensation on his face. It was blood.
However, he didn't react. No, he didn't have time to react.
Di Tianming watched as the old beggar's head fell on the ground.
Tianming stood rooted, his eyes widened. He couldn't comprehend or believe what he just saw. A person who was pleading for mercy on his behalf died and he couldn't do anything.
The fault was also his.
"This is the punishment for those who cross the line! This is an example for those who dare to disobey! Death. Now hurry up and clean this mess."
After announcing, the guard went on his way. The people who were there for a show were full of smiles as they walked away.
Only he. Only Di Tianming was left standing there, staring at the corpse the old man, who he didn't have memory of but was strangely familiar with.
He helped him yesterday, he helped him today and in return he died. He didn't deserve it.
Tianming felt terrible. He blamed himself for his death.
"Hey!...Hey! Hey, you idiot!"
Someone shouted angrily from behind, snapping Tianming out of his thoughts. He turned around and saw three people.
Similar to him, they seemed beggars.
He didn't say anything and just stared at them.
The trio stared back at him, until one of them said, "Hey! Have you become an idiot. Is this your first time seeing someone die? Well now get out of the way and let us do our job."
Saying this, the trio pushed Di Tianming aside and walked in front of the old beggar's corpse before lifting it.
Seeing them take away the old beggar's corpse, he couldn't help but ask, "W-What are you going to do with his body?"
The trio again stared at him like he was a complete fool and said in annoyance.
"Hey, bastard, what else could we do except for throwing this corpse in the Corpse Junkyard!?"
Hearing the name Corpse Junkyard, he thought of the mountains of corpse he had come across on his way.
"Can't we bury it?", he asked, hoping to at least give a proper burial to the old man.
The three beggars were stunned for a moment looking at him, before laughing, "Hahaha, looks like you really have become an idiot! Haha."
"Then, can you at least tell me his name?", Di Tianming asked not realising how stupid his question was.
Now, they were getting annoyed and the one in the middle who also seemed to be their head scoffed, looked eye to eye and said coldly, "Brat were you born yesterday or did you hit your head too hard that you forgot everything there is. We are slaves, we neither have the right to choose nor possess anything and name is one of them."
"You have already made us work so hard by getting us to carry this thing. Now get out of the way."
Di Tianming watched the trio walk away with old man's corpse, he could still hear their voices.
"Ha~, is he really an old man? Why is his corpse so heavy?"
"Shut up, idiot. Now stop complaining and move faster otherwise Xiao Zhu will beat the crap out of us."
"Yes, yes."
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[Author here:
T/N: Xiao Zhu, here, means Little Pig.]