Two people were walking, one was an older woman holding onto a big basket filled with laundry. Next to her was a young child, it was the woman’s daughter. The day was nice and sunny as they made their way to the river to wash their clothes. The previous day the people in the village spotted some beasts fighting in the mountains, but they just hid till the powerful aura’s subsided before coming out. This wasn’t such a rare occurrence, powerful experts and beasts fought among each other for various reasons. The residents were used to such things, but no one really cared about their little village so they were mostly left unscathed.
The mother and daughter duo arrived at their destination. This world wasn’t that advanced, there were some spiritual artifacts that could be used as washing machines but only rich sects and clans could afford such things. Normal people usually did it the hard way, just washing them in the river. It was supposed to be just a day like any other but then suddenly the small child spotted something.
“Mommy, mommy! What’s that!”
The child bounced around while pointing at a spot by the river. The mother smiled at her daughter and then looked at where she was pointing at, her eyes going wide at the sight.
“Quickly, go call your father!”
The woman shouted at her daughter while quickly dropping her basket and running to that spot. She jumped into the water, yanking and pulling at what appeared to be a person. She managed to drag the large man out of there but he looked to be in awful condition. She could see that his white robe was all torn up, there were scratches and cuts all over his body. The river water deluded the blood, so you couldn’t see how injured the man was.
After the husband arrived they both dragged the man out of the river, ear to the chest wondering if he was even alive. These were simple people, so they didn’t know about CPR but after further inspection, they could hear a faint heartbeat. The man was clearly Zhang Dong, his robe wasn’t mending itself as it required the users spiritual energy to do that.
The wife and husband quickly discussed the situation, the man looked to be injured but alive, he was clearly a cultivator but they had no idea if he was friendly or not. But these were quite honest and good people, so they both decided to patch him up to their ability. The man was quite heavy and felt like he was made from metal, so with the help of horse and carriage, they managed to get him back to their farmhouse which was nearby.
You could see other farmhouses around, the village entrance was quite near as well. They placed him in one of the rooms and the wife tended to the man’s wounds while the husband kept watching, a bit apprehensive about the whole affair. It looked like the cultivator suffered some kind of beast attack, this made them remember yesterday’s fight between some strange magical beast. They theorized that he probably got involved in the fight of those monsters and barely escaped with his life.
“We should probably report this to the village elder, we have no idea what this cultivator will do when he wakes up…”
The husband said in a hushed tone while edging his wife to go along with the daughter as he didn’t want to leave them alone with the unknown person. The two females headed out but soon spotted some strange people around the village, maybe it was just a group of adventurers passing by?
There were some by the mayor’s house, giving them strange smiles as they were passing by.
“Excuse me, is the mayor around? I need to report something…”
The wife said to one of the mayor’s attendants that were standing in front of the house, she didn’t have to wait for long as the moment she said that the mayor and a strange man walked out of the hose. The mayor was wiping sweat from his brow while the man was grinning.
“Oh? Can I listen to that report too, young missy?”
The man smiled in a mocking way, while the mayor looked at the woman that he knew from the village. She informed them about the strange cultivator they fished out of the village and how they brought him to their house to tend to his wounds. This made the other strange people whisper among themselves before the leader barked out an order to her.
“Interesting, you won’t mind if we tag along, right mayor? Think it might be one of my men.”
The mayor wanted to refuse but he wasn’t really in a position, these people had just barged into this village asking about yesterday’s monster attack. He told them what he knew, where the spot was that the fight probably occurred he even lent them a guide as he was afraid that if he didn’t he would end up with a dagger in his throat. These people were clearly some band of bandits or renegade cultivators, probably trying to find something in that beast attack.
Having no other way out, the wife and mayor headed to the farmhouse while the unwelcomed guests followed after them. As they arrived, the people that left with the guide returned, but without him. They whispered something into their leader’s ear, the man just smiled and nodded while whispering something back.
The group arrived at the farmhouse to the husband’s surprise, there were quite a bit of those cultivators around and the mayor was also there. This left the man with furrowed brows, but his wife explained that they were the friends of the cultivator they saved. The leader and two other men walked into the room where the silver-haired man was, he looked like a mummy with all those bandages wrapped around his torso. The strange thing was that the family was also forced into the house along with the mayor, the leader of the so-called cultivator friends started speaking.
“Okay boys, we hit the jackpot. Our brothers found a dead beast, it’s worth a fortune this unlucky sap must have been fighting it, just leaves us to finish the deal.”
He said while grinning. They were bandits, they were on the move as they came across the fight in the distance. Being the curious bunch they decided to see if the people that battled left something for them to take. They expected at most to get some scraps, maybe a half-chewed up cultivator carcass where they could find a working storage ring. But instead, they found a dead dragon and the cultivator was right here, they just needed to finish him and take all his bearings. There was only one problem, the villagers. They couldn’t let them live now if this guy was some prominent figure and someone came looking for him they would be done for.
“Kill him, take all of his treasures… then kill all of the villagers, let no one survive… do it quietly so that they don’t run…”
The family and mayor looked on in horror, backing away with the little girl in the back.
“No you can’t do this, the Ruling Clan won’t let this happen!”
The husband shouted out, while the bandits started pulling out their daggers.
“The Clan? Like that bunch of arrogant bastards would even lift a finger for some useless villagers.”
One of the bandits replied while licking his dagger.
“Hey boss, can we have some fun with the girls?”
Another one from the bandits asked this one was quite wide, looking like a pig.
“Girls? Hehe, little bro you sure like them young don’t you…”
Everyone looked on in horror as imminent death was approaching, the father tried protecting their family but instead found himself with a dagger stuck in his shoulder. The mayor was getting beaten while the wife and child looked on in horror.
“Hehe, just blame your bad luck.”
One of the bandits said while his axe came down at the bandaged up cultivator’s head, aiming to chop his neck right through. This didn’t go as planned though as the weapon shattered into pieces the moment it collided with the man’s neck. The struck spot shone with a golden metallic luster. Before the man could reassess the situation he felt his neck getting grabbed, as the seemingly passed out cultivator awoke.
“You know what, I was willing to let you live… but then you had to open your big mouths, there is a certain place in hell for bastards like you… “
The bandit was lifted up into the air as the white-haired man stood up. He looked at the man that just tried to chop his head off, then he looked at the injured village residents. The bandit in his grasp had a strange expression on his face as he thrashed about, but soon he could feel electricity run through his entire body. The man lit up like a Christmas Tree, death came fast and without much pain due to the overwhelming amount of electric energy. The man’s charred remains hit the floor, he looked like a baked skeleton with some meat attached here and there.
“P-please s-senior, appease your anger…”
The bandits knew well that they couldn’t handle this guy, he had killed that giant dragon that was still radiating with power. They were just simple Qi Condensation cultivators, with no backing to speak of. The man was slowly walking towards them without replying, so they just bolted for the exit. Running away was the only option, all of them scattered hoping that the mad expert couldn’t get them all or wouldn’t even bother.
Matt walked out of the farmhouse, he could feel the auras of all the bandits in the small village. The bandits were in close vicinity so he could sense all their unique murderous auras. He gathered Qi into his hand, forming a big spear of light. He threw it up into the air, the javelin went straight up, at the apex of its trajectory, it exploded splitting into many smaller spears. Guided by his senses they homed in on the escaping cultivators, piercing through their bodies as he left none of them alive. He knew that those men were killers and rapists, but it still left a bad taste in his mouth as he looked at the dead people scattered around the vicinity.
The previous day he had gone to the spot where the calamity dragon was supposed to have its lair. It was there like on the wanted list, but the problem was that it was a lot stronger than what he had anticipated. The moment the dragon noticed his presence it attacked. It was in the late stage, but the problem was its body. His attacks kept bouncing off the scales, his sword left flesh wounds while he himself took hits after getting too close. In the end, it ended up with a battle of attrition as he used his avatar form in a last-ditch effort, wrestling with the thing while it sunk its claws into his enlarged body. He managed to snap the dragon’s neck in the end, the two fighting it out near a waterfall where he passed out. Afterward, he was carried downstream and ended up by the village where the villagers carried him home and tended to his wounds.
He realized that the Tsai clan patriarch wasn’t a good reference point, he had just broken through and his cultivation technique was more or less trash. This dragon was at the pinnacle of that stage, plus it had a hard body that might have been its main cultivation method.
He wasn’t as strong as he had thought, mistakes were made. He had also gotten some innocent people involved in this debacle. He went back into the house and handed the injured people inside some healing pills. The villagers were grateful but there was fear in their eyes, they just witnessed a man killing so many people with ease. Matt apologized to the residents, leaving behind some money as thanks before heading out. He flew back to where the dragon remains were, taking it into his storage ring as he could use the body for crafting materials.
*I guess one down and two to go… At least I got some points now.*