Once upon a time, a young boy was squatting by a tree, staring at a branch. He laughed as he pointed and asked, “Old man, why does the spider know how to weave webs? No one’s ever taught it how to do that.”
“Heh…”
The old man squatted down beside him and patted him on the head as he said, “Idiot, the knowledge is ingrained in their blood.”
The young boy thought for a while when he heard this. He thought back to everything that had happened in the past six years. He couldn’t but ask naively, “Then, what about humans?”
The old man’s compassionate tone took a turn as he replied sternly, “Every creature on earth knows the purpose of their existence. What runs through their blood is their destiny and their duty. Only humans, as the king of all beasts, are foolish enough to be unable to recognise the blessing of having no natural predators. We are delusional; we dream of becoming rulers of everything and destroy nature’s blessing in the process. We ignore the inheritance of our blood and attempt to change fate.”
“Countless flora and fauna to rear the man, yet man has no virtue with which to repay the heavens but murder, murder, murder and murder.”
The old man put strength into his fingers and carved a phrase into a boulder. The handwriting was thin but clear, bold and strong. The old man’s aura changed again. Vicious killing intent filled the air as a cold breeze started, causing goosebumps on the young boy’s arms. The old man continued, “Man’s purpose is murder. Murder is our path, murder for what we love, murder to the very end, murder for this world. Murder to the very end and save those that you love. That is man’s purpose.”
The young boy sat by the side quietly, seemingly stunned by what was said. The old man concluded, “Kid, all you have the remember is this: every person murdered is a thousand others saved.”511Please respect copyright.PENANAZVAX4Tzl9B
This particular memory was very fuzzy and fragmented. Wun Fan couldn’t even remember why he had this image in his mind.
However, it wasn’t hard to tell how much his adoptive father in his previous life hated humans. He thought carefully, and his mind started to become clear up. He looked at Old Lei’s murky but focused eyes and answered firmly, “The meaning of life is the self; the only way to protect the self is murder. Only murder. Murder until all my enemies are afraid of me, murder until I am heaven’s will itself; I will cover my enemies’ path with my own path of murder!”
“Murder will be my path!”
For a moment, Wun Fan radiated pure evil. His mouth curved into a wicked grin, and his murderous intent was on full display. Old Lei was momentarily taken aback.
“Every person murdered is a thousand others saved.”
Old Lei had witnessed murderous intent countless times throughout his life. He had seen murderous intent thousands of times more intense than what Wun Fan was showing here. However, he had never seen a young boy show such tremendous killing intent. He would have had to kill many, many people to achieve such vicious killing intent.
Has this kid been killing people since he was in the womb?
The Spiritstartler Ring trembled in rhythm with Wun Fan’s own breathing. If Old Lei wasn’t mistaken, the two of them were resonating! This meant that the Spiritstartler Ring had truly acknowledged Wun Fan as its owner. They were perfectly in sync now.
“Haha!”
Old Lei returned to his senses and immediately started laughing out loud as he teased, “‘Murder will be my path!’ What a path indeed! Kid, this is your path. I will not interfere with your choices and your thoughts. However, I do have a piece of advice for you—what your life’s purpose is will affect your martial path and what you become.”
Talk not about the glory of war, for what lies behind is a mountain of blood and bones. Old Lei looked at Wun Fan expectantly. He could faintly smell the stench of blood about him, as if what awaited the boy in the future was a path of bloodshed and murder. He wasn’t lying. You could see what a person’s martial path would look like through their personality alone.
He was certain that murder would be a key part of Wun Fan’s growth! Old Lei said nothing more. Let everyone open their eyes and watch how things will unfold.
As Wun Fan’s breathing slowly stabilised, Old Lei crossed his legs and sat suspended midair. Wun Fan was surprised by this sudden show of ability. Old Lei simply motioned for Wun Fan to calm down and sit down. He then explained, “Kid, they say that all tasks are made easier with tools. With an excellent weapon, one will find their martial path made easy, like a fish in water, or a tiger with wings. Much of the world knows that all weapons and tools are divided into four categories: Mortal Weapons, Earthly Weapons, Heavenly Weapons and Sacred Tools.”
“However,” Old Lei continued with a serious expression, “At the apex of all tools are the Imperial Zeniths. The Zeniths are the apex of all weapons and tools. Legends claim there are twenty-one Imperial Zeniths in total, and many believe that collecting every one of them will allow an individual to arrive at the peak of the martial path. Even the heavens would cower in fear before that individual!”
“Which is to say that I would become invincible if I collected all twenty-one Imperial Zeniths?”
Wun Fan’s eyes gleamed eagerly and curiously when he heard this, as if he would be the one to do it.
“Heheh…the peak of the martial path is not so easily reached.” Old Lei shook his head and looked at Wun Fan a little mockingly. “I’d thought you were some old man wearing the skin of a young boy when I heard your words earlier. Who would’ve thought you would be so naive?”
“Huh…?”
Wun Fan was utterly confused now. He didn’t understand what Old Lei was trying to say. He couldn’t help but urge the old man, “Old Lei, I’m not being impatient, but could you stop beating around the bush and just say what you’re trying to say?”
“That’s because I don’t even know if it’s possible to reach the peak of the martial path.” Old Lei gave Wun Fan no chance to keep whining. “However, if a single Spiritstartler Ring possesses such miraculous powers, one would probably be very close to being an actual god if they managed to collect all twenty-one Zeniths.”
“Oh… I see.” Wun Fan stared at Old Lei a little sheepishly as he rubbed his hands together and wriggled around. “Then, Old Lei, would you mind teaching me about the Spiritstartler Ring now?”
Old Lei wasn’t as talkative as Wun Fan was. He rolled his eyes and waved his hand. The scenery changed. Wun Fan’s mental energy was returned to his physical body. Wun Fan propped his body up with both hands. He had been unconscious for several days now, and his entire body felt numb. He could feel how wet the sheets were. Even his clothes were drenched and a strange smell was coming from his pants…
It just wasn’t comfortable or pleasant at all.
Wun Fan shook his head and made himself wake up a little more. He then steeled himself and stepped on the floor. He took another step, trying to walk again. However, before he could make it any further, he felt a wave of nausea overtake him. His head felt as heavy as lead; his legs, as light as feathers. He was so dizzy he felt he might collapse the very next second.
Just then, Old Lei’s voice rang in his mind. “The Spiritstartler Ring has acknowledged you as its owner. From now on, we can share our field of view and communicate telepathically.”
“Share my field of view?” Wun Fan tried and found that he could indeed speak in his own mind. He then asked, “So, if I marry someone in the future and we sleep together, doesn’t mean that you…”
“Tsk.” Old Lei scoffed disdainfully and mocked Wun Fan again, “There’s nothing to see with that skinny body of yours. As for women? Back in those days, all I had to do was nod and countless women would throw themselves at my bed for me. Moreover, they would be no ordinary women, but powerful martial artists in their own right, willingly submit themselves before me. I don’t need to look at yours!”
“Heheh…” Wun Fan could sense Old Lei’s displeasure at the question and quickly changed the subject. “So, about the Spiritstartler Ring.”
In the end, power was the most important of all. He was willing to put his soul and body on the line, only because it was for the sake of becoming stronger. Power was the foundation to living in this world. He knew that his status as the lineage disciple of a branch house of the Wun Clan was nothing in the cruel world of martial arts. He had no power to resist if anything mildly bad were to happen. Even if the branch house was backed by an origin house in the capital, it was still completely insignificant. He had a feeling that the waters out there were a lot deeper than he genuinely knew.
However, he was in no hurry to find out for himself. All he wanted right now was to become stronger as quickly as possible. He believed that one day soon in the future, he would be able to unveil the mysteries of the martial world for himself.
This was the confidence he had in himself.
Old Lei couldn’t deal with Wun Fan’s excessive glibness and replied impatiently, “Alright kid, relax your body and open up your mind.”
Wun Fan did as told. Old Lei’s mental energy seeped out of the Spiritstartler Ring, turning into a dark-green flame that engulfed Wun Fan.
“So warm…” Wun Fan looked at the flames all over him. He felt no signs of discomfort at all. He only sensed warmth spreading from deep within his soul, along with a seemingly infinite amount of power. Even more strange was the fact that his clothes hadn’t been ignited by the fire at all. He took a few more steps and realised that his nausea had vanished entirely.
Old Lei’s voice rang out again. “This is the first benefit that the Spiritstartler Ring provides you. In moments of crisis or when fighting an enemy you cannot defeat, you can borrow my strength to save yourself.”
Wun Fan was stunned—this was unbelievable. 511Please respect copyright.PENANAxDRgOoMKTW