章節 118: Murdered
It all began with that sharp pain I felt in my mind, ordering me to stand still. I ignored it, obviously, and instead turned around to see who tried to play with my mind, only to have the originator flying at me with great speed.
Then I got punched in my sternum which knocked the wind out of my lungs, and I was sent flying away.
After finally coming to a stop, I coughed and shakily stood up, before flashing the Fire Mending skill on for a few seconds. My bones, though not completely broken, mended, allowing me to breathe without pain once more.
That random attacker clearly wanted to kill me. Had I not focused so strongly on defense, I was sure that one punch would have blown my body to pieces. I grit my teeth in anger and ran back, ready for a fight.
Yet, as I burst through the fresh springtime greenery, I was shocked to see Shao Lin on the ground, in the pool of his own blood, with a missing left hand. I then heard a loud screech and a beam of red light fell onto him, after by a loud explosion.
I needed a moment to take it all in as I reeled back from shock, yet that was a moment I did not have. Guards, as well as Disciples of Law Enforcement, showed themselves suddenly, yet the guy responsible for the attack did not seem concerned, more like annoyed.
And then he disappeared.
And all Disciples died.
Each of them, one after the other, exploded into chunks of flesh and blood, as guts and limbs went flying everywhere.
It all happened so fast that I didn't even have time to react. Seconds later I saw him reappear at his original place, and the world began spinning.
I felt cold beneath my neck, and then I saw myself, my back, specifically, as my body collapsed, and my head went rolling to the floor. Then the pain hit, and I was torn away from the physical world and found myself in my Sea of Consciousness.
It was bad. The place was ravaged, and my Soul was split in half. Well, almost. A single speck of golden thread held my head and torso together, yet the pain I was experiencing was so great, I couldn't think straight.
I was so close to death. Real death. I had felt it, the shadow of oblivion. Had I not consumed so many pieces of the Divine Fragment in recent weeks, I surely would have died.
But then, amid the pain, I felt a hunger. A hunger calling me to devour. And the only thing there was the Fragment. But that was too much, I couldn't take it. Not in my state. No matter how badly I wanted it, I couldn't have it.
But then, just when I thought I would go mad with hunger, they appeared. The Souls of the dead. Disciples that lost their lives just seconds before.
Their Souls, just like their bodies, were cut, dismembered, and utterly ruined. They were dead beyond death. Their consciousness and emotions were already wiped out before I even got a taste.
Then it hit me. It was that blade. It could cut Souls! I didn't even know such a frightening weapon could exist, yet then again… why not? So many things were possible, why not something that could damage a Soul?
But those thoughts were for another time.
[Forgive me.] I mentally said to my dead Brothers, and let the hunger take over.
The many pieces of Souls, both Nascent Soul and Golden Core, were immediately devoured, their Soul Essence serving to repair the damage on my Soul while reinforcing it further.
Once that was done, and the pain stopped, I returned to the outside world. I still felt the pain of my flesh and the cold where I was cut, yet with a single thought my head flew higher, and after finding my body, I immediately put myself back together, and with a flash of light and heat, I felt whole again.
I stood up just in time to see a sight I would never forget. Elder Li was standing against the lunatic that slaughtered our people. They both disappeared and reappeared a few steps away, the attacker in a crimson mist, with a mangled right part of his body, and the Elder, unharmed.
The result was clear. Elder Li just slowly turned his head, and the bastard scrambled back on the floor in fear like a cornered rat. He was going to die, and he knew it. But…
"A rat, sneaking into our Sect and trying to kill my Disciple, huh? How bold." Elder Li said, his words laced with fury. "I wonder what we'll find when we pry open that skull of yours and examine your Soul."
A flash of fear went across the assassin's face, yet it quickly morphed into one of madness. A tiny piece of metal fell out of his sleeve and he gripped it in his free hand, his body immediately gaining a layer of protective light as he roared like mad. "Never! You will never get me alive! And you, old man, are coming with me!"
Qi in the area suddenly spiked and rushed into him, the piece of metal glowing dangerously as lightning began to crackle around it. The air itself became saturated with electricity, and he appeared like some sort of thunder god.
Elder Li did not retreat from the challenge and instead took a step forward and became serious. "Come then!"
"Die!" The man roared, and the treasure in his hand reached the critical point as he took the first step towards the Elder, and then disappeared.
Yet, as he reappeared a split-second later, he was nowhere near the powerful Elder.
[Shao Lin!] I opened my eyes wide.
"NOOOOO!"
A thunderous explosion split the sky, with lightning, fire, and light, and I was blasted away and lost all sense of self, both my body and mind torn to shreds.
***
I just remembered the bright light and the horror I felt, before everything went white and then black, replaced by pain.
It took me a while for my mind to stabilize, after which I began slowly healing myself. The damage was severe. Even at the distance I was at, I still got mortally wounded. Lightning was a weakness that still affected me despite the pills I took against it.
I groaned and pulled myself up for the second time as my limbs still glowed from the Fire Mending skill.
My hearing and sight were still partially impaired, so I stumbled back in the direction of all that destruction. What I saw was simply a crater where the explosion happened. The ground was scorched black, and the uncovered rock beneath still glowed red from the heat.
In the middle of the hollowed-out ground, Elder Li sat on his knees, holding and crying over what I could only assume was the body of Shao Lin.
I say that, but there were no identifiable things I could point at and confirm or deny my suspicion. My hearing was still damaged, so the screams and curses coming from the Elder sounded distant in my ear, and I felt sick.
I collapsed on the ground, my mind still recovering from the madness we just experienced. Soil and dust rained down all around us, but before I could properly acknowledge what was happening, I felt a tremor, and when I looked up again, Elder Li was gone.
I did not try to follow. Instead, I just lay there on the ground and closed my eyes, my mind empty of thought, and rested.
***
When I awoke sometime later, my body felt fine, but my mind… It was a difficult realization.
I slowly got back on my feet and looked around. The place of destruction was vast. Hundreds of meters in all directions. Everything there was destroyed and only the sturdy bedrock remained, though even that sustained significant damage.
As I stood in the middle of that destruction, a sort of realization was born in my mind and a depressing realization rose in my heart. Fragmented pieces of Souls, those still lingering in the area, merged with mine, and I saw. I saw everything, and I became aware.
I closed my eyes and released my senses to spread far and wide. I lifted my hand and faced, with an opened palm, in a certain direction. Then I called. Mentally.
With a woosh, a blade flew into my hand, and I gripped it tightly. I opened my eyes and sighed, my heart full of grief.
[Soul Breaker… The cursed blade.] I had never seen the blade before in my life before today, yet I knew its name. I, in fact, knew everything. The mind of Sicario was mine. His thoughts, his beliefs, and his desires. I knew them all. I felt disgusted.
I gripped the short blade and ground my teeth in anger. [Damn Bullshit Sect! They'll pay for this!]
Tearing off my ruined clothes, I took a new pair and dressed myself in a light blue robe, and tied a dark blue sash around my waist. The Soul Breaker went straight into one of my pouches, and the mental connection I felt with it disappeared.
It was a Soul-bound weapon. Because, of course, it was. But having merged with just fragments of Sicario's Soul, I knew the connection wasn't the most stable. Not to mention he was only borrowing the weapon, and the original owner could still know its exact location if he so desired.
Basically, it was a ticking time bomb. One that I was not willing to just let go.
Having done what I meant to do, I returned to the Sect.
Disciples and Elders were already flooding the area and securing the premises, but with Elder Li's badge, I had a free path back home. I returned to the Elder's abode and entered the underground.
There, in the laboratory, I found the Elder kneeling on the ground, with the body of Shao Lin floating in a massive crystal coffin filled with glowing greenish fluid. Instead of a charred husk like before, his body was whole, even the arm he had previously lost. That should have been impossible since his Soul was cut, preventing the body from properly regenerating. Yet it has.
His body was fully there. But that's all there was. There was no Soul.
[I'm sorry.] I quietly said, my lips pressed together in grief.
I heard the Elder quietly sigh. He had been crying, that much was easy to tell. "It's not your fault."
But it was. It was all my fault. All of it. I knew everything that happened and why it happened. They came looking for me. Me! And instead, they found Shao Lin! My greed brought this upon us! But I couldn't say that. I just lowered my head in shame.
"I tried to save him." Elder Li said quietly, his voice trembling.
I know he had. Elder Li Roy was a good man. But sometimes you just can't help everyone. Not even I could manipulate Souls that way. Perhaps we could have found a way to bind Shao Lin's Soul back to his body, but by the time I absorbed it, it was already beyond repair. It was in so many pieces, and decayed… I couldn't do anything.
"He never knew… But his real surname was Li." Elder Li suddenly said and my eyes went wide. "Li Shao."
The revelation was heavy. That meant Elder Li was...
"He was my son."
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