The next day, Daniel found his uncle laying on the floor of their room. Gram’s snores were loud enough to shake the entire room. Daniel gave a groggy stare at his uncle. For a moment, he forgot who this person was. It took him a moment to realize what his situation was again.

Sun was starting to shine through the curtains. Daniel opened them up and took a look at the outside world. His eyes gazed longingly at the endless sands. The sands were once a place he called home. And now, that home was nothing but ash.

He wondered how life could be this way. How could it take away his parents from him? Now he was left alone with his uncle. A man who had history killing his own family. Did his uncle enjoy killing his mother? He didn’t see anything in his uncle’s eyes, but what if he was just good at hiding it?

His father told him that the world was filled with good and bad karma, that good deed will bring good to those who did good. Evil would be met with misfortune. And yet, what had he done to deserve this? What had his parents done to deserve this?

A knot formed in Daniel’s stomach. It made him sick just thinking about it.

Was it that his father was wrong? That there was no karma in this world?

From behind, a large hand grasped onto Daniel’s shoulder.

“Are you looking for something?” Gram looked out the window as well. He moved his head around, but he mainly did so in a rather comedic manner.

Instead of laughing, Daniel nearly jumped in surprise. He didn’t expect the hand to fall on his shoulder. And he sure didn’t expect how strong it would be. Daniel couldn’t even move an inch.

“Sifu, I-”

“I’d say it is about time to continue your training.” He patted Daniel twice on the head. Then he headed towards the door.

When he didn’t hear footsteps following, he stopped in threshold. “Do you want a beating?”

Daniel rushed to catch his uncle. The two exited the saloon. They walked farther and farther. Soon, the two of them left the town’s limits. They went far enough that the town was nothing more than a distant spot before they stopped.

Once they were far enough away, Gram stopped and turned to face Daniel. Daniel made a sharp stop in surprise.

“Daniel, I want to make something clear. I’m not your parent and I have never even acted as a parent to anyone. When I say I’ll leave you, know that it is not just for me to get rid of you. It is also an option for you to leave me.”

“Sifu?” Daniel called out. He didn’t know what to make of his uncle’s words.

Gram proceeded to pull off his shirt. The skin he had underneath was scarred all over. Daniel had never seen so many scars in one place. He wondered what happened to his uncle that he had that many scars.

“When I was three years old, my father taught me the Black Tortoise technique. He said the technique was foundation technique that would help me to survive in this world. If I messed up, he would make me know what it felt to die. To do this, he used a stick in our orchard.”

The part of his face that his mom struck started to sting for Daniel. He placed his hand there to see if anything was there, but he didn’t feel anything. It was just an illusion of from his mind.

“Your mother was the same. But our father was more brutal on her. He said that as a girl, she needed to be even more careful in the world. Thus he struck her even more than me.”

Daniel was surprised by this. He hadn’t seen a single scar on his mother. Then again, she tended to wear long sleeves and pants. So if she had any scars, he guessed he wouldn’t have noticed. So his mother’s training method was the same she had used on him. Uri couldn’t help but feel bad for his mother. He lasted all but a few days. How long had she endured it?

“I will be using the same method on you.” Gram explained. “And if you feel that you can’t take it anymore, then you are free to leave.”

Daniel thought about it. He remembered the face his mother had when his father died. He saw their bodies burnt to a crisp. This world- this world was cruel to because he wasn’t stronger. He wanted to become stronger. He never wanted to feel as helpless as he did back then.

He clenched his fist. “Please teach me, sifu.”

Gram frowned. “Don’t be so quick to judge.” He drew something from his back.

Daniel felt cold sweat coming down his back. Just from looking at what his uncle had in his hand caused him to flinch. Where had his uncle kept that thing?

“I saw your mother employed the same method on you, based on the scar on your cheek and this being inside the house.”

In Gram’s hand was the branch that his mother used to hit him. “I may not have liked my father, but I cannot deny the results. Show me what your mother was able to teach you.”

“Yes.” Daniel began to show the stances that his mother showed him. Each movement was even more air tight than the one he did with just blocking. Gram watched each move without saying a word. Daniel tried to look at his uncle’s face to see if he was doing something right or wrong. But his uncle’s poker face was completely unreadable.

When Daniel was done, he went back to the first position, just as his mother taught him.

Gram sighed.

A sigh? Daniel wasn’t sure what that meant. Did he do well or was there something he was missing? His mind went to the worst case scenario. His body tensed up. He wanted to brace himself in case his uncle started to beat him.

“Your movements are elementary and too rigid,” he said. “If you’re in a fight, someone would easily be able to decipher your next movement.”

“Decipher?” That wasn’t a word that Daniel knew.

“Watch.” His uncle used his index finger to call Daniel over. “Strike at me.”

Daniel stood there. Was his uncle serious? He didn’t know what to think. “Pardon, my offense.” He said. Those were the words his father taught him. It was the polite way to initiate a fight.

“Don’t think you can hurt me.” He threw the branch in his hand on the ground. It pierced the ground until half of it was left above ground.

Daniel leapt towards his uncle. In a single lunge, he was able to reach the height of his uncle. He let out a furious consecutive strikes. The strikes were fast. Each of them, while there wasn’t much power, their speed covered for them.

Gram defended against each one of them. His movements were simple at first. They were definitely the Black Tortoise Technique. Daniel knew what to expect. He knew where each limb was supposed to be.

Once he was on the ground, he began a barrage of attacks.

Fifth stance.

Sixth stance.

Seventh stance would be for a person to go low and use forearms and side of the leg to block. Daniel went for a low kick, trying to hook his uncle by the ankle and push it forward.

Gram met Daniel’s low kick with his own. His low kick had knocked Daniel down on his back.

Falling on his back didn’t hurt that much, but Daniel winced at the pain. “That’s not the seventh stance,” he complained.

“Who says?” Gram said. “Techniques need to be flexible. If you don’t have that flexibility, what will happen when you run out of stances, go back to the beginning? You need to switch between your stances. Find the rhythm which they can come together.”

Daniel stood up. “So then what should I do?” Daniel asked.

“We’ll start by having you master a single stance at a time. Once you can master one stance, we’ll move on to the next. If you can master the essence of a stance, you’ll find it easier to move to the next stance and the next. After that, it doesn’t matter which stance you do next, your body will be able to shift easily.”

“Yes, sifu,” Daniel smiled. This was what he had been wanting. All that time, his mother had been trying to teach him the different stances. Perhaps she was going to do this eventually, but his uncle was going to teach him just as he wanted.

While he was thinking, Gram went over and grabbed the stick. He looked back.

He struck the ground with the stick causing sand to fly everywhere. “What are you smiling about?” Daniel jumped in surprise. “This is a serious technique. If you smile like that again, you’ll have to endure the same beating I had to, got it?”

Daniel nodded. He couldn’t even find the words to say he understood.

“Good, start with the first stance.”

Daniel got into position. He used the first stance.

Gram struck the ground. “Again.”

Daniel went back to the first position. He then started to do the maneuver again.

“Again!’ His uncle shouted. He struck the ground again.

Daniel looked at his uncle. He tried to get a read on what he wanted, but there was nothing there. He didn’t know what to do, but his uncle didn’t look like the type who would just say what he was doing wrong.

He gulped.

“Get on with it.”

Once more, Daniel tried to execute the stance. His body was tense. He felt rigid. He wasn’t even close and he knew it.

Gram knew it too.

He made his way over to Daniel. Daniel looked up at his uncle. His uncle had become a mountain. He was an immovable force. He was a force of nature. When he sent down his wrath, what could Daniel do about it?

Gram swung the branch. This time, it wasn’t aiming for the ground. The branch that had caused Daniel to bleed on his cheek now struck at his back.

The force of the strike had launched Daniel forward. It wasn’t far, only a few inches or so. He felt something making its way up. He coughed, covering the contents with his hand. He felt something actually in his hand.

Blood.

Blood was now on his hand. This caused Daniel to be stunned. He stared at it for the longest time. He didn’t know what to do. It was there, it was supposed to be inside. It felt wrong to bleed, unnatural even. So then why had his uncle done this?

Gram went back to where he was standing before.

Daniel glared at his uncle, but Gram didn’t even seem fazed by him.

“If you mess up once, the ground will take the blow. If you mess up a second time, the ground will take that blow as well. But the third time, you will step an inch closer to death. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sifu.”

Gram nodded. “You will get five minutes to recover. After that, you will begin again.”

Their training was like that. They continued like this until the sun was way past the midpoint. Daniel had quite a bit of qi in his body, and it provided him more energy than most people. But even for him, under the wasteland sun for this long, was starting to push his limit.

At that point, Daniel fell to the ground. His uncle had struck him a total of ten times. His body was aching. And under the sun, it felt as though he were in some kind of oven. At least back at his home, the mountain was able to keep the sun off their house to keep it cool most of the time. Daniel wasn’t used to this much heat.

His little body was laying on the ground.

Daniel felt something strike him on the shoulder. He turned to see what it was. Next to him was a canteen. Without even thinking, he opened it up and took a swig of whatever was inside.

The water wasn’t cold, but in the hot desert, he wasn’t going to complain. He took so much at once that he began to cough.

“We can take thirty minutes,” Gram said. “After that, we’ll return to your training.”

Thirty minutes. It didn’t seem that long, but Daniel would take what he could get. His uncle had struck him on his back, his shoulder, and his legs. His body was aching all over. He felt like he needed this. Just some time to lay down.

But even laying down was a struggle. It felt like he was a piece of meat roasting over a fire. Only the fire was up in the sky. And now, his body was starting to throb. His legs, his arms, it felt like something was trying to come out of his body and was doing so in the most painful way possible.

Daniel looked to see what his uncle was doing.

Gram was sitting on the ground, his legs crossed. White steam seemed to come out of his body. Reality around him was being distorted. Daniel wondered if this was another way for his uncle to gather his qi. His father had taught him the qi gathering stance, but he hadn’t seen anyone gather qi like this.

“Sifu, what are you doing?”

“Meditation,” he said.”

He didn’t elaborate further. Daniel waited for a response, but his uncle seemed to be done with the subject.

“Sifu, is it true that you killed your family?”

“Yes.”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Again, Daniel waited for a response. But nothing came from his uncle. His uncle didn’t seem annoyed by the question. But when he asked it, Daniel didn’t like the way it sounded. He decided that he would probably ask at another time.

Time flowed on. The two of them had been waiting there for some time. Daniel didn’t know how to tell time, but he wanted to jump right back into it. His body was ache-throbbing. But between aching and ache-throbbing, he preferred the former.

Off in the distance, there was a group. Daniel gave them a curious look as he had no clue what they were. There were four legged animals in front. Two of them were pulling a carriage behind them. It was a rather fancy looking carriage. On the door was a painting that looked like a stain glass window. But it was clearly made from a more sturdy material than glass. The wood itself looked well-polished, having a slight shine to it. On top of the carriage were tubes that sloped down like roof tiles. But they weren’t roof tiles and they only came out at the end. The top of the carriage itself had wooden tiles on top. Those tiles came down in a slope reminding Daniel of a house’s roof.

Surrounding the carriage were four men, one for each corner. At the front of the carriage was a man dressed in white clothing and a blue vest. He looked to be middle aged. His skin looked just as caramel color. Sweat drooped down his body, almost drenching his clothes.

The horse drawn carriage headed right towards them.

The whole time, Gram had remained in the seated position. He kept his eyes closed as well.

The carriage was getting closer. “Sifu, what do we do?”

“About what?”

“There’s a carriage is coming towards us.”

Gram had dispersed the steam coming from his body. “Leave them be. Just move out of the way if they get too close.”

Daniel looked at the carriage in anticipation. He had no idea if they were coming towards them, or if they were just in the way. But Daniel had a bad feeling about this.

The carriage went up right towards them. It stopped right in front of them.

“Greetings,” the man at the front of the carriage said.

Gram didn’t react. He kept his eyes closed.

“I am elder James of the Flame Drum Cult,” he said. Just to drive home the point, the tubes at the top of the carriage spewed fire. “I am with the son of the Blazing Left Envoy of the sect. Are we mistaken in believing that you are Spencer Shaw?”

Flame Drum Cult. Daniel remembered them from his father’s lessons. They were one of the major organizations in the world. They supposedly worshiped their leader, Mel Chin. The cult was rather disorganized with many having different ways of worshiping their leader. Amongst his followers, they called him Exploding Emperor, Flame Exalted Light, Honored of the Wasteland, Incarnation of the Blazing Path, Consuming Dominator, Western Wind, his highness, Mel Chin. Those who disrespected him were sentenced to burning.

“No,” Gram said. “I’m not Spencer Shaw.”

“Then, may we ask who you are?”

“No one of consequence,” Gram said. “Just a wanderer with my disciple.” Gram gestured over to where Daniel was laying down.

“Might we ask for some water? We have been out in the sun for some time.”

“Not enough water,” Gram sighed he held up another flask. Not a single sound as he moved it around. He put it away, then pointed over towards the town. “But if you head that way, you’ll be at a town. They surely have water for you.”

There was some banging in the back.

“My young master has had a long journey. He would like some water now.”

“You have horses. All we have are our poor feet. Tell me, of the two, who has it worse.”

The banging became louder.

“I would like to insist you cooperate. My master doesn’t like to be kept waiting. I’m sure that if you comply now, our Flame Drum Cult would be more than willing to help you out in the future.”

“Help with what? These are the wastelands. Do you think that your cult will help in something major if we’re in trouble over just some water?”

“Naturally we’ll help. It’s a minor matter for you or your student to become the disciple of my young’s master’s father. The Blazing Left Envoy is very influential within the cult. I’m sure that if you give us water, we can make that happen.”

A larger thump came from inside the carriage.

“It seems your young master is impatient. Have him come out and ask me himself.”

The coachman frowned. “Do you think you are qualified to talk to my young master? Even for me to talk to you is giving face.”

Daniel watched all this going on. He didn’t know what his uncle was planning. The Flame Drum Cult may not have been as large as Scarlet Grove Sect, but they weren’t the people most could casually offend. And while many of them had their different branches, none of them lacked in martial experts.

For someone to be an elder within the cult, not just a branch was really saying something. He wasn’t sure that they would survive a fight against him.

“Do you know you have a punchable face?” Gram said.

The man leapt in the air. He flew through it, launching himself at Gram.

Daniel looked with worry at his uncle. His uncle still kept his eyes closed. He wanted to shout for his uncle to open his eyes. But his body was still bruised. Even breathing hurt. Added on to the fact that the sun was baking him, his voice also felt dry. The gulp he had earlier was completely used up.

“Hm?” Gram mused. He pushed his hand down, lifting himself up with one hand and using the other to keep himself aloft.

The two clashed. But to call it a clash would have been misinterpreting the statement. While the man had launched himself at Gram. Gram had slipped past his defenses and grabbed the man by the neck. His fingers had dug into the man’s throat.

Gram turned his head over to one of the men escorting the carriage. The men guarding the carriage looked like they were about to move, but stopped. “You. Who is it that’s in the carriage?”

“It is the son of the Blazing Left Envoy,” the man’s voice was rather gruff as though he had been drinking glass.

Gram squeezed the coachman’s throat. He looked over at one of the other guards. “How about you? Will you tell me who’s inside the carriage? The Blazing Envoy has a daughter, not a son.”

“Senior, you are quick witted, naturally it is the Blazing Left Envoy himself. He is here on a diplomatic mission to meet with the Pure Land Sect. Naturally we wanted to keep this hidden, but senior, you are too perceptive.”

A snort came from Gram. With a crushing force, he snapped the coachman’s neck and threw him to the ground.

Gram finally opened his eyes. He glared at all the men. “You claim it is the Blazing Left Envoy, but the Flame Drum Cult doesn’t have a Blazing Left Envoy. It is the Luminous Left Envoy and the Blazing Right Envoy.”

“Merely a slip of the tongue,” the second footman said. “You really didn’t need to have killed our elder because of a minor mistake.”

“Second,” Gram said. “None of the Flame Drum Cult would ride a carriage. Many of them would prefer to ride motorcycles or dune buggies. Even if one did ride in a carriage, it definitely wouldn’t be one this gaudy.”

“Our master just has different tastes compared to others.”

“And finally, none of the Flame Drum Cult would dare take these insults. They would have attacked right away for even the slightest offense.”

“Hmph.” One of the foot men at the back came forward. This man was muscular with large frame and an even larger height. He didn’t look like the kind of person that many would offend right away. If these men weren’t really Flame Drum Cult, why hadn’t they sent this man up front in the first place? Someone like him would have made people think twice before asking questions.

“Let’s not mince words any more brothers,” he shouted. “Let’s just kill him and be done with it.”

“Right.”

The men all charged towards Gram.

“Watch,” Gram commanded.

Daniel watched what was going on.

His uncle didn’t move to attack. Instead, he was focusing on defending himself. But his movements were very familiar.

“Daniel, watch. This is the Black Tortoise in action.”

Gram moved in a way that he kept his limbs close to his body. It was as though he were an impenetrable shell. Nothing, not even a grain of sand was able to make through his defenses.

Each attack from the coachmen were fierce strikes. Even from far away, Daniel could see the power in their movements.

“See how their legs move, it is because, power itself comes from the leverage that one has. So long as you have leverage, you can use your power.”

One of the men tried to claw at the ground, throwing dust into the air.

Gram blocked with his hand. Even with the sand in the air, nothing had gotten into his face because of his defenses.

Three of the coachmen were using fast attacks: jabs, low kicks, and the others like them. But one of them, the large man, was using heavy blows: haymakers and tornado kicks.

Daniel remembered his father telling him that large movements were an utter waste. While they had a lot of power to them, ultimately, they were rather easy to defend against. It seemed that it was true for the most part, even Daniel could defend against them without his Black Tortoise technique. But he could see that the man was able to do them because blocking one of his blows meant that he had to also block the other three.

“Daniel, take note, if you are overwhelmed by too many, then what you need to do is to start eliminating the weakest working towards the strongest.”

“What?” One of them asked.

Before he knew it. Gram swiped at his throat. His attack was too fast and he couldn’t block in time. His arm was only half way before he felt something scratch at his throat.

The others looked in worry. They hadn’t seen Gram’s fingers connect with their comrade. So then why did he looked distressed?

Once Gram’s hand was away, they could see that a slit had been cut into the man’s throat. Blood started to ooze out from the man’s neck. He held out one hand while using his other to clutch his throat. He fell to the ground, unable to contain the blood anymore.

“Go for the child,” the big man said. “I’ll hold this wanderer back.”

“You think you can?” There was a tinge of arrogance from Gram’s voice.

The two other men retreated.

Gram tried to go after them, but the big man was in front of him before he could go anywhere. Gram brought his fist out. His qi made him faster than usual.

The man was able to dodge to the side and bring up his arm to ensure that Gram wouldn’t use his elbow to counter.

It seemed the man would be able to keep Gram tied down for some time.

“Damn,” Gram cursed.

The other coachmen made their way to Daniel in no time. He wasn’t that far from his uncle. Both of them were on either side of him.

“Sifu,” Daniel called out.

“If you don’t surrender all your gold to us, then you won’t live to regret it.”

“I could already see it earlier, you would have killed us and take everything any ways. So why waste my time?”

“Ungrateful,” the man said. “I would have let you live one minute longer if you agreed to give up your possessions. But now you and your student will die right now.”

“Daniel, Black Tortoise defense.”

The men had already started to attack Daniel. He was already defending himself. But he was only reacting to what the men did. He had actually forgot that he knew techniques. He wondered how his uncle knew that he forgot to keep up his defenses. By the looks of it, he wasn’t even paying attention to what was happening to Daniel.

“Yes, sifu,” Daniel said.

In that moment, the two of them were in sync with each other. Both of them were defending themselves in the same exact manner.

“Daniel, after three moves, switch to the ninth stance.”

First stance.

Second stance.

One of the men went high and another went low. In this joint attack, it would force Daniel to be caught in a pincer attack with neither of them being in danger of hitting the other. If he stood up, he would have been struck by both with no way of escaping.

The ninth stance had Daniel duck down. He brought his elbow down on his knee, creating a wall to defend himself. It wasn’t one of the stances that Daniel had gotten to yet. Actually he hadn’t even gotten past the first stance. But if his uncle thought he needed to use it-

But before he could put them together, he found the man who went low had his shins caught right in between.

He howled in pain, falling back.

“What is going on back there?” The large man growled. “He’s just a child.”

“He just crushed second brother’s leg.”

“What?” The man yelled in surprise. “What wicked technique did you teach this child?”

Gram chuckled at the man’s surprise. “Wicked? You’re just calling it that because your second brother lost to it. If this one stance is called wicked, then all martial arts are wicked, wouldn’t you say?”

“Cut the nonsense. Just die already.”

Both of them continued to face off against each other. Neither of them were making any head way against the other.

“Daniel, in two moves, use the third stance.”

The two men brought their legs low. Both of them were so close together that there was less than a hair’s width of space between them.

Daniel leapt up in the air dodging both of them.

He landed on his feet and brought his arms forward with his hands placed together forming a spear like shape with his arms.

Just as he did so, he found that the men had brought out their fists. Daniel was just able to send their fists going past his body.

“Don’t you think your too coddling with your student?” The man grunted.

“You’re just angry that your men haven’t captured him yet.”

“Both of you, quit playing around. Just grab him.”

The two coachmen switched tactics. They went for grabbing tactics. They tried to wrangle Daniel in as though he were some kind of small animal that they were going to cook.

Daniel had been able to block these two men before, but they were trying to get in close. This time, they were keeping their distance, only making a move when they felt that Daniel was too distracted by the other.

All the while, Daniel waited for his uncle to give him some instructions, but he didn’t.

Daniel’s breathing was starting to get heavy. His mind was telling him that he needed to run. He needed to get out of there. But where was he supposed to go. Should he make an offensive move? What did he have to lose?

His life?

Eventually, Daniel’s mind reached its breaking point. He went for his father’s long fist skill. Reaching out, he struck at the air in front of him. Air pressure compressed and flew towards the one they referred to as second brother.

His eyes went wide. Neither of them saw anything, but the second brother felt as though someone had just struck him in the chest with a bowling ball. He collapsed to the ground.

The two men looked shocked. But Daniel even more so. This was the first time he had actually used that outside of sparring.

He looked at his hands. It wasn’t that he couldn’t believe it worked. It horrified him to think what he could have done if he let his power go out of control. And what’s worse, his uncle had developed this skill for even longer than him. What could his uncle do to him?

“How dare you!” the other man Daniel had been facing grabbed him while he was distracted. He had lifted Daniel in the air. “Did you kill him? Did you?”

Air was being blocked from reaching Daniel’s lungs. He couldn’t even pay attention to what the man was saying anymore. He wondered if this was how it was going to end. If he could let out a sigh, he would. But all that came out were tears.

“You killed him didn’t you! Fuck you. Bastard. Now you have the audacity to cry. What gives you the right to feel sad?”

“Daniel,” Gram called out. His voice was so calm despite being so loud. There was no anger, no sadness, no desperation. It was as though he were just talking with him. “Use the way out I gave you.”

The way out? Daniel remembered. He had forgotten that he still had it. It was wrapped in cloth and strapped around his belt.

He felt inside his dantian. His qi was being used to substitute for air. But it was being used in a rapid rate. If he was going to use it, it needed to be now.

Daniel grabbed to his side. He pushed his qi into his arm. He needed speed. With the qi inside him, he brought the dagger out in a quick motion. The blade had cut through the cloth and his belt. The blade went to the man’s face.

A small cut went to the man’s chin. It wasn’t that large, but it was enough that he let go. He staggered back while Daniel landed on the ground.

“Kill him.” Gram said.

“Sifu,” Daniel looked at his uncle. He didn’t expect his uncle to say this. Kill him? He was still a child. He wasn’t supposed to kill anything except insects that got on the fruit.

“Are you the teacher now? Daniel, this world is kill or be killed. He tried to kill you. Tell me, is he worthy of living?”

Inside his mind, Daniel carried the image of his father’s face. He remembered his voice. He knew what his philosophy would have been if he had been in this situation.

But the man had recovered from his initial shock. His face had sheer anger in it. There was only one thing in his eyes. It was pure hatred. And all that hatred was directed completely at Daniel. And through his mind, there was only the thought were his uncle’s words.

Kill or be killed. Kill or be killed. Kill!

Daniel leapt into the air. His dagger was outstretched. The man didn’t even have time to react before Daniel was in front of him. His dagger went through the man’s eye.

He cried out in pain.

He was still alive? Daniel wondered how he was still alive.

Inside, his uncle’s words were continuing to eat at him. Kill.

Daniel took out the dagger and plunged it once more into the man’s face.

“Bastard! Spawn of evil! How dare you? I’ll kill you. You must be purged from this world!”

“I only see one evil in front of me,” Gram said. His eyes flashed with intense focus. He brought out his fist.

The large man tried to block, but it turned out to be a feint. Gram switched his fist into a claw technique, grabbing onto the man’s arm and pulling him forward. It happened so fast that he couldn’t react before Gram stuck his dagger into the man’s stomach.

He grunted in pain as he fell backwards.

“Since when did the Fifty Leagues Shark Gang stop robbing trains and start kidnapping people?”

The man only glared at Gram.

“Are you curious? Your technique is very much like the Flame Drum Cult, but that is putting it mildly. It is a rather crude version. I once faced off against one of your elders, Dynamite Shark or some stupid name like that. His use of formation was a rather sight to behold. I naturally memorized it and knew how to counter your technique.”

“If you know that we’re the Fifty Leagues Shark Gang, then you must also know that we don’t let anyone off who offends us.”

“So you say, but that elder I mentioned, I killed him. How long have you bone heads been looking for me and never caught me?”

“Gram Rui,” the man said.

Gram let out a smug look. “Now that you know who killed you, you can die now.” Gram threw one of his daggers. It pierced the man’s skull. His body went limp. He then looked over at his nephew.

Daniel was continually stabbing at the man’s face. Both of them had so much blood on them. Neither of them was recognizable.

“That’s enough,” Gram said.

Daniel didn’t seem to hear him. He continued to stab the lifeless corpse.

“I said that’s enough.”

Daniel looked up, brandishing the dagger in his hands.

Gram’s face remained neutral. He simply walked up to his nephew.

Slap.

A loud smack went across his nephew’s face.

Daniel seemed to awaken from whatever trance he was in. “I said that was enough.”

“Sorry sifu, I don’t know what came over me.”

“It doesn’t matter. Bring that dagger.”

Gram led Daniel over to the carriage. Daniel looked up at the pipes on the top of the carriage. He wondered if they shot flames on their own. He kept an eye out. If anything happen, he would retreat.

But nothing happened.

Gram fearlessly walked ahead. He went to the carriage and opened it up.

Daniel leaned over. He wondered what was inside.

Inside the carriage were people. At least, Daniel thought they were people. They didn’t look like Daniel. Many of them had something added extra or something taken from them. One of them had a third arm growing out of his back. Another was missing an eye and an extra mouth was in its place.

What they also had in common was that all of them were bound. The man with three arms had them taped together. The man with the extra mouth had both of them gagged.

“Sifu, who are they?”

“Mutants,” Gram explained, “born from the poison from the Earth.”

Daniel walked up to the entrance of the carriage. As soon as he did, the mutants backed up. It was then Daniel realized, he was covered in blood.