Chapter 2
In the morning, Li Jie opened his eyes before wincing as the blinding sun assaulted him. As his eyes gradually adjusted to the brightness, he slowly got up to prepare breakfast and check on his mother’s condition. Cultivators could meditate instead of sleeping and required less food and water the higher their cultivation, a benefit Li Jie greatly appreciated. The medicine seemed to have some effect as she was still sleeping calmly, her chest rising up and down steadily with each breath. Li Jie prepared some steaming porridge and set it near the bed. He bent down and kissed his mother on the forehead and whispered, “Mother, I’m off.”
He silently exited the shack, making sure the dilapidated door was locked, and set off for his job at the auction house. As soon as he left, Li Jie’s mother opened her eyes and managed to rise out of her bed and walk to the window, her body feeling better than normal thanks to the medicine. Her face, however, showed no signs of being pleased at her improved condition, but rather a deep sadness mixed with guilt had sunk into her face as she watched her son walk away from the house. A single tear sparkled iridescently as the sunlight hit her cheek. Quickly wiping it away, she ate breakfast and got dressed, then set out to do the daily shopping while her body was still feeling fine.
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The Huo City’s auction house was a glorious three story building constantly surrounding by a bustling crowd curious to see what wares would be sold today. While the markets were good for picking up daily necessities and smaller items, the auction house often obtained rare and precious materials: things like monster cores, profound treasures, and cultivator weapons.
In the front, beautiful women called out seductively to people walking by, enticing them to check out the auction house. The exterior of the grand auction house resembled a castle fit for a king, with the entrance being huge iron double doors gilded in gold. Any man would feel suddenly smaller as they passed through the entrance, then they would promptly be blown away by the glittering wonderland that was the interior. Multi-colored crystal chandeliers, powered by magical formations, hung from the ceiling, shimmering like stars compared the sea of people below. Luxuriously dressed fat men surrounded by various retinues of gorgeous women and imposing bodyguards strolled around within the building, many of them greeting each other as if they were all old friends. It was truly the epitome of opulence.
In the back of the auction house, Li Jie worked alongside other teenage boys to transport the goods being sold and bought by the auction house to various merchants. They were only allowed to handle the goods being sold in the small side auctions that constantly went on in the auction house. Of course they were managed by an overseer by the name of Fang De. A middle-aged pudgy man who constantly was sweating, he had only earned this position through his dad’s connections.
“You fucking dumbasses, hurry it up! We need to clear this stuff out before the next grand auction begins!” He spat out at the workers before hitting a random worker across the back with his sword’s scabbard.
“This job pays well, but we gotta deal with that fatass over there. It seems he even beat a worker to death the other day.” Zhu Hao muttered as he quietly sighed.
“I heard he’s just a loser who lacks any cultivation talent so his father forced him to work here so his family wouldn’t have to be reminded every day of the disgrace they have.” Li Jie snickered back in reply.
Zhu Hao was a teenage boy a few years older than Li Jie. They were neighbors so they often searched for jobs together. It was a lot safer for them if they covered each other in case anything happened. To Li Jie, the older Zhu Hao would be the only one he might consider a friend.
“You seem different today, a bit stronger maybe?” Zhu Hao said when he saw Li Jie lift 3 crates compared to Zhu Hao’s 2.
Li Jie grinned, “I managed to break through the 3rd level yesterday.”
“Hahaha congrats, let’s spar sometime. I want to see just how strong the 3rd level is.”
“Sure thing, let’s do it after this job. Same place as usual?”
“Okay! You may be more talented than me, but I have to beat you to show you who’s the older brother in this relationship.”
Both of the boys immediately stopped talking as they heard the crack of a whip behind them, “Stop screwing around and get back to work!” yelled Fang De.
As they continued working, Li Jie’s mind drifted to the contents of the crates. ‘How nice would it be if I could steal one of these... there must be a fortune inside them.’ He felt greed swell in his mind before quickly squashing those thoughts. ‘It’d be way too dangerous to steal from the auction house.’
Li Jie refocused on the task at hand when he saw Fang De approaching his area. Li Jie quickly looked down when Fang De came up to him. He could almost feel the arrogant gaze of the fat man bearing down upon him. These kinds of arrogant types never sat well with Li Jie; he was the kind of person that would never bow down to another. The only thing stopping him from glaring straight back was the desire to earn money for his mother.
“You there, with the ugly patched up shirt,” Fang De said to Li Jie, “Why were you looking so closely at the crates? Are you thinking of stealing them? Someone of your lowly stature shouldn’t even dare consider the possibility of owning these goods!”
Fang De’s left hand shot out and grabbed Li Jie’s chin like a vise. He forced Li Jie to raise his head and then promptly slapped him across the cheek with his other hand leaving a burning red mark on Li Jie’s cheek.
“You scum, you could never afford these items in a thousand years! Just look at your ugly appearance, can’t even afford decent clothes.” Fang De said as he released his grip on Li Jie. Zhu Hao, standing near Li Jie, saw a flame ignite in Li Jie’s eyes. Not only that, but Li Jie began to curl up his fist as if getting ready to punch the overseer.
“You can insult me and hit me all you like, but I will not tolerate those who insult my mother’s work...” Li Jie began muttering under his breath, but luckily Fang De could not hear him.
Panicking, Zhu Hao quickly stepped between the two before Fang De could continue speaking and kowtowed to Fang De while pleading, “Overseer, a thousand apologies! This idiot hit himself on the head a while back and has never been the same since then. He’s always daydreaming about stupid things. Please find it in your heart to forgive his poor soul!”
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Fang De observed the kowtowing Zhu Hao while stroking his goatee and said, “Hmm very well, let it be known that I, the great Fang De, am merciful in dealing with you scum! You! If I catch you slacking off again, you’ll taste my blade. And you! Stand up right now.”
Zhu Hao exhaled with relief and quickly stood up, “Many thanks overs--” and quickly fell back to the ground clutching a gaping wound on his chest which began spurting blood.
“Oh that’s right. I have a rule: Interrupting me naturally results in death,” Fang De nonchalantly explained as he beckoned over a servant to bring over a cloth for his now bloodstained sword. But before the servant could approach, Fang De felt a tyrannical aura erupt in front of him and barely perceived a blur as it rammed into his chest. Fang De flew backwards and barreled into a wall, causing a spiderweb of cracks to propagate through the wall, before falling down to the ground.
Fang De, who was more surprised than injured, quickly reoriented himself and scrambled to get up while yelling, “WHO DARES--”
That’s when he noticed Li Jie standing where he used to be emitting a pale red aura, his eyes, burning with fury, locked on to Fang De. A faint red glow that seemed to outline a tattoo could be barely seen through his shirt.
Li Jie let out a roar that was more beast than man and charged straight at Fang De. Fang De, prepared this time, circulated his cultivation of the 9th level of the Nascent Realm and dashed forward to meet the rampaging Li Jie.
The distance between the two was crossed in an instant; as they met, Li Jie threw a wild punch with his right hand at Fang De’s head. Fang De’s eyes narrowed as he easily ducked under the savage but sloppy punch and slashed upwards, leaving a deep gash across Li Jie’s chest. He sheathed his sword before turning around thinking, ‘That should have killed him,’ only to be blown across the room by another punch that was even stronger than the previous one. Fang De managed to upright himself in the air and skidded across the floor.
“How the fuck are you still alive?” He exclaimed after seeing Li Jie standing again where had just been, breathing heavily. The bleeding had completely stopped and the wound was seen healing at a visible rate. The surprised expression on Fang De’s face slowly twisted in a snarl.
“It doesn’t matter what body technique you’re using, if I kill you instantly it won’t matter!” Fang De once again charged towards Li Jie who also began running towards Fang De. “This time, I’ll make sure to kill you. Be grateful peasant, you get to die by the Fang family’s rank 3 martial skill--Sky Dragon Thrust!”
Sky Dragon Thrust, a rank 3 martial skill, materializes a small dragon around the user’s sword as he thrusts towards the opponent. Fang De, being at the 9th level of the Nascent Realm, could not yet materialize his qi, so instead the faint aura of the mighty dragon appeared around his sword. All of the bystanders felt dread in their hearts as the roar of a majestic dragon drowned out all other noises. The might of that sword was far beyond them as they were only 2nd level of the Nascent Realm at best, some of them not even cultivators.
Li Jie, charging towards Fang De, also felt the same dread in his heart from the sword, amplified many times over as he was the sword’s target. It managed to snap him out of his blind rage, but it was far too late as the sword was moving far too fast. ‘This can’t be where it all ends... I’ve barely started on the path to cultivation... I need to take care of my mother...’ These thoughts flew through his mind as he felt and heard the roaring of the dragon coming closer.
Suddenly, an oppressive force descended upon Li Jie, completely locking him in place. Likewise, Fang De was immobilized and his attack negated, and it seemed as if the force was suppressing him was even stronger since he fell to his knees with a crash. Out of nowhere, the air shimmered and a giant man appeared between the two.
“It’s that one giant from before...” Li Jie barely managed to say these words.
“What do we have here? Looks like the older generation is picking on the young. Truly shameless!” The giant chuckled as he slowly began to cover the short distance to Fang De.
To any of the onlookers, each of the giant’s steps looked normal, but to Fang De, every step seemed to shake the very earth. The steps reverberated inside his body, knocking around his internal organs and forcing him to spit out a mouthful of blood. For the first time in his life, Fang De began to feel fear, fear of losing his life. To him, this giant man was the devil incarnate.
“My lord, I apologize if I have offended you in any way, please spare me!”
“Oh? Not really, I just don’t feel like letting a pathetic man like you live.”
Another step. Another mouthful of blood.
“S-s-stay away! There’s no need for us to fight!”
“Reason? Why do I need a reason? The strong make the rules in this wor--”
“My father is Fang Zhou, cultivator of the 7th level of the Flowering Realm; do you dare come closer?!” Fang De interrupted, his voice straining with desperation.
The giant quickly stopped. Seeing this, Fang De smirked, “Hahaha that’s right, you don’t want to piss off the mighty Fang family do you?”
“Well it looks like I can’t do anything now,” the giant said, releasing the oppressive force from Fang De as he began walking away much to Li Jie’s dismay, “You’re free to go now.”
Fang De carefully rose, glaring at Li Jie and vowing in his heart to kill the kid another time. But before he could leave, the giant stopped with his back to Fang De and lifted his head, as if pondering something.
“That’s right, I forgot! I also have a bit of a rule you see. That is, how should I say this? Basically, it goes like this: anyone who interrupts me...” the giant lifted his right hand and snapped his fingers, “dies.”
Fang De immediately burst into purple flames. These flames surprisingly weren’t hot at all to the bystanders but in less than a second nothing but ash remained of Fang De. A sudden wind then dispersed the ash pile into nothingness. Li Jie, seeing this, exhaled in relief before finally collapsing. The giant walked over to unconscious Li Jie and scooped him up into his massive arms, along with picking up the dying Zhu Hao before vanishing into thin air with the two boys in tow. The fight finally over, all the spectators looked at each other in amazement wondering, ‘Just what the hell happened?’