Chapter 3: The Big Shot’s Decision [Volume 1 - Between Daybreak and Evernight]
The wondrous abilities of Lin Xitang’s Art of Heaven’s Mystery were unfathomably boundless. It could awaken an individual’s cultivation potential as one of its effects. Truly outstanding natural talent would often produce unusual phenomenons under its effects.
These unusual phenomena were split into five grades. For example, the faint glows from the junkyard were merely of the lowest grade, representing that they only had the potential to develop their origin strength. On the other hand, a first grade talent would emit pillars of light of various colors. On top of that, strange phantasms would orbit the pillars like planets around the sun, hinting at a person that would be revered by all. Furthermore, the phantasms that appeared also represented the future path of the individual’s natural talent. A second grade talent would only have pillars of light and no phantasms, a third grade talent would have a single blazing light that resembled a roaring flame, and a fourth grade talent would have just a bright light without any such phenomena.
There were rumors that, above the first grade, super grade talent existed. Those that possessed it would truly be great geniuses of overflowing talent, and the phenomena that would occur could be vivid representations of rolling hills and roaring rivers, or possibly lifelike images of mythical beasts and birds.
Under the cover of darkness, the pillar of light was red and belonged to the lowest rating of first grade talent. In spite of this, among the Empire’s countless cultivators, a first grade talent was one in a hundred thousand. The appearance of a first grade talent was well worth the Empire’s careful nurturing so that it would become a future pillar of support for the military.
This red pillar of light was like a slap to the face that made Gu Tuohai’s face tingle.
“Let’s go and take a look!” Without waiting for the airship to change course, Lin Xitang stepped out of the cabin and leaped from the airship, falling from an altitude several hundred meters high.
Ten-odd fully armored bodyguards rushed to follow suit, leaping from the airship in pursuit of Lin Xitang. In comparison, Gu Tuohai slapped the window blinds in frustration, but ultimately followed them down.
The sight of the sudden change on the little boy had clearly startled the older children, but the little girl had only been disoriented for a moment. After discovering that her strength had significantly increased, she bounded toward an even larger rock and strained to drag it over.
The boy was in a daze. With a groan, he turned over.
Suddenly there was a pair of thick suede military boots beside him.
The boots themselves didn’t actually touch the ground, instead floating a few centimeters in the air above it. An invisible forcefield quietly spread, pushing all the dust, dirt, and rubbish into the distance.
The startled girl stopped in her tracks, staring at the silver haired man that had appeared without warning. Opening her large, innocent eyes, wearing an equally harmless, childlike expression, she quickly threw away the rock that she had in her hands.
Although she hadn’t noticed, light was shining from her body through her clothes. The sweat which had originally soaked her palms had completely evaporated. Yet the silver haired man didn’t even so much as glance at her out of the corner of his eye.
Lin Xitang frowned as he looked at the scars and injuries all over the boy. The boy was clearly more injured than he had first assessed as some of the injuries seemed to reach his vitals. With a wave of his hand, a fog of light appeared in the air. A rain of green droplets fell from it and onto the boy, soaking into his body.
These green raindrops contained an immense power, and the boy’s injuries healed at a clearly visible rate. He groaned, slowly opening his eyes as he regained consciousness.
The first thing that the little boy saw and registered was the silver haired man’s stern, determined face.
The boy didn’t understand what was happening, but he instinctively refused to grovel lying on the floor, and once again struggled to stand. Looking around him, he saw the older children and immediately remembered what had happened, his expression changing in an instant.
Lin Xitang followed the boy’s gaze, looking at the older children surrounding them and the remains of a paper bag on the ground. He instantly understood why the boy was injured to such a degree. This was, after all, a thing that happened in junkyards so often that it couldn’t be any more common.
Lin Xitang refocused himself, then crouched down, extending his hand to the boy as he said gently, “Come, give me your hand. What’s your name?”
But the little boy recoiled a little, and with great difficulty, he mustered his courage.
“Qian… Qianye,” he said softly. His small hands reached out, but stopped halfway. He didn’t dare to reach any further.
His tiny hands were horribly dirty, all covered in grime. Although his wounds had been nourished by the rain of light and weren’t bleeding anymore, the crusted bloodstains were still there.
In any case, he didn’t dare to put his hands on the large spotless hands of the silver haired man. Yet at this moment, in the eyes of little Qianye, the big hands that were held out in front of him were the only source of warmth in the world.
Lin Xitang smiled and encouraged him, “It’s fine, give me your hand.”
Gu Tuohai flew down at this point. Upon seeing that Qianye had been injured, the usual kind expression he gave others was somewhat angry. He couldn’t help but give a deep snort, coldly looking over the surrounding kids.
The crowd of slowly-gathering children had terrified expressions on their faces, but the ten-odd bodyguards had already locked down every single path through this area. They didn’t dare to try fleeing.
Lin Xitang leaned over a little, extending his hand and waiting patiently. Under Lin Xitang’s bright gaze, Qianye finally found his courage and placed his hands into the warm, dry, and strong hands of Lin Xitang.
Lin Xitang lightly grasped the hands that were half the size of his own, closing his eyes and quietly feeling them.
Gu Tuohai looked at Qianye, his brow suddenly furrowing as if he had thought of something.
Lin Xitang sighed and opened his eyes. He gave Qianye a once over, reached out his hand to pull away the scraps of cloth on the little boy, and his eyes were instantly captivated.
There was an enormous scar on Qianye’s bare chest, one that ran from half an inch below his heart all the way to his belly button. Just looking at this ugly, protruding scar, Lin Xitang knew that it had originally been a terrifying injury that tore Qianye’s insides open!
But Qianye was still so young. How in the world had he survived?
Momentarily startled, Lin Xitang regained his composure, saying, “Brother Tuohai, you’re far more skilled in medicine than I am. Help me examine him.”
Gu Tuohai silently walked up to Qianye, not caring about the dirt at all, and he stretched out his hands to carefully examine Qianye. Qianye felt that everywhere Gu Tuohai’s hands went was like having red-hot needles stabbed into his body, but he clenched his teeth and forced himself to not make a sound.
Gu Tuohai’s eyes flashed with momentary shock, and he praised Qianye, saying, “So tender of age, and yet so daring. Interesting!”
He stood up and spoke to Lin Xitang. “This child would originally be considered a top-tier talent, but he’s been so heavily injured that it’s ruined his physique. Aside from that, I also suspect that his body might have even contained a piece of crystallized origin power.”
Lin Xitang immediately thought of a forbidden phrase—origin power theft! He narrowed his eyes a little, and pretended to not understand. “So what you’re saying is...”
“No, it’s just a suspicion. Even you know that sort of thing is a major taboo. His injuries have already been healed for a decent number of years, so he must have been younger than the age of three when he was injured. Yet, as you can now see, his foundation has been heavily damaged. Even if his cultivation potential is greater than that of anyone here, he isn’t a first grade talent anymore,” Gu Tuohai said gravely.
Qianye’s old injury was extremely serious, yet he was still able to release a red light pillar. This signified that his original talent was so great that it might have even been a super grade, but with his current state, it would be a stretch to even list him as a fourth grade.
A fourth grade talent would only be slightly stronger than an ordinary person. For Lin Xitang and Gu Tuohai, who were high-ranking officers in the Empire’s military, it was practically worthless. On top of that, Qianye’s giant scar was a hidden danger, and whether he’d survive the tough training was something they couldn’t be sure of.
Gu Tuohai sighed, feeling great sympathy for the boy.
Lin Xitang looked at little Qianye, who stared back at him. Perhaps the warmth in Lin Xitang’s palm hadn’t completely dissipated, but the little boy’s eyes held a glimmer of hope that not even he had noticed.
Lin Xitang’s heart trembled slightly, and he gently said, “Meeting here should be considered a kind of fate. Tell you what—I’ll take you away from here, and you’ll decide for yourself where to go next.”
He took out a few smooth jade tablets, and with a quick rub of his hand, he engraved words onto them. He held them with the engraved side facing downward, then handed them to Qianye to choose from.
Qianye hesitated a little, then reached for the jade tablet in the middle. There were two words on it, but he didn’t recognize them.
Gu Tuohai looked and then sighed, shaking his head.
“Yellow Spring,” Lin Xitang softly read the words to Qianye before taking the jade tablet back. He patted the boy’s head lightly and asked, “What’s your surname?”
“I… don’t have a surname. My name is Qianye.”
Lin Xitang nodded as he spoke gently. “Alright. If you make it out of that place alive, then you may use ‘Lin,’ my surname!”
Qianye didn’t understand what Lin Xitang was saying and could only continue to listen in ignorance.
Lin Xitang didn’t need him to understand at the moment. He turned to instruct his subordinates. “Take him back to ‘Green Bird,’ wash him, clean his wounds, change his clothes, and feed him.”
Having finished with instructing them, Lin Xitang and Gu Tuohai slowly began to rise and accelerated away, flying toward the airship stationed in the sky.
The older children had waited on the sidelines for a very long time, watching everything. Although they didn’t completely understand what the adults were saying, the talk of being washed, fed, and clothed... they heard these unbelievably irresistible phrases loud and clear.
Seeing the guards about to take Qianye away, the head of all the older kids charged over, shrieking, “Take me! Take me along! I also want to bathe and eat!”
He tried to hug the thighs of the guards and reached out to Qianye, attempting to pull him out of their embrace.
The injured leader pulled roughly at Qianye’s legs, crying out, “That should be my position! Who do you think you are? Everyone, get over here and beat this mongrel to death! He actually dared to headbutt me just now! All of the food up there should be mine!”
The leader was even more vicious than he had previously been, intentionally clawing at Qianye’s injuries. Surviving in the junkyard only had one rule: if you killed someone, you would get everything they had.
Resembling mountains, the well-built guards didn’t even move and let the leader of the older kids continue raising a ruckus. Seeing that, the little girl quietly began to move over.
Only when the leader tried to pull at Qianye so hard that his face was starting to contort with pain did the guard captain coldly say, “That’s enough. Even Mr. Tuohai would have nothing to say about this.”
The moment the guard captain spoke, viciousness flashed across the blank face of the guard that was carrying Qianye. With a single kick, he brutally punted the older child dozens of meters into the air.
This one foot contained a dark, brutal power, and as the leader of the older kids flew into the air, he suddenly exploded into a bloody mist!
The other guard merely smiled as he stepped forward, stretching out his leg. He slammed his foot down onto the ground, saying, “A pile of puny rats actually dare to disturb the business of Marshal Lin!”
The ground rippled outward from where he’d slammed his foot down, rapidly spreading. The group of children was thrown into the air by the force of the wave, violently spurting blood. Their bones cracked loudly as they distorted into unrecognizable shapes.
The wave also rushed right past the captain and the other guards, but they didn’t move so much an inch. All of them seemed to have weathered it without being affected.
Yet, miraculously, the little girl also wasn’t hit by the wave. When the captain had spoken, the rest of the older children had been dazed, and some had even listened to the leader and stupidly charged Qianye, the girl had turned a run for her life without looking back.
It was in this way that she barely managed to escape the wave, miraculously surviving.
Seeing that the little girl had actually managed to escape, the guard’s face grew red for a moment. With a loud snort, he lifted his foot to slam it down again! He had only been using three-tenths of his power. However, the captain suddenly reached out and grabbed the guard’s shoulder with his hand, preventing him from slamming his foot down.
The captain seemed to be listening to something in his ear, and then he nodded, not moving an inch as he stared at Qianye with his large eyes. He then brought out his service pistol and put little Qianye’s hands on the trigger.
The captain steadied the gun as he aimed it directly at the little girl’s chest. He said to Qianye, “She’s already tried to kill you multiple times. Come, pull the trigger. Use some force and then.... Bang! She’s dead!”
With the entirety of his small hands, Qianye held the trigger tightly. He stared at the silhouette of the little girl stumbling and fleeing for her life knowing that, as long as he pulled the trigger, she would definitely sprout blood.
He was completely calm as his shiny black eyes watched her, but he shook his head in the end and let go of the trigger.
On the airship, Gu Tuohai was all smiles as he said, “Just as I expected, haha! Lin old man, it is so rare for you to lose! Come, come, if you’re daring enough to bet, you’re daring enough to admit defeat, so hand over that ‘Aqua Tobacco’ of yours! It’s mine now!”
Chapter 4: Welcome to Hell [Volume 1 - Between Daybreak and Evernight]
Time flew, and soon enough, a month had already passed.
Outside a perfectly ordinary valley, a bassy roar suddenly sounded out as a large, heavy military truck spewed thick clouds of black smoke, thundering past. The roads outside the valley itself were unpaved, and in every direction, natural trenches littered the endless plains. But to the giant, man-sized tires of the truck, they weren’t even a hindrance.
The truck rushed toward the valley entrance and then all of a sudden hit the brakes. Its giant, beast-like body shook violently and swerved to the side, etching a crescent-shaped scar before finally coming to a rest. In the vehicle’s engine compartment, a cacophony of noises could be heard, and while the large exhaust pipes stopped belching black smoke, the valves spurted out a large cloud of steam.
As the driver-side door opened, a thirty or so year old man stared, and then, with a single jump, he leaped off the two meter high drivers seat, placing the boy that had been in his arms on the ground.
The little boy had clear and pretty eyes, and his soft, black hair was plastered to his forehead, wet with sweat. His face was pale, and he wore an expression that looked like he was holding back the contents of his stomach, evidently having been battered by the manic driving. He shook, bracing himself, and wrapped his black cloak around him tighter, blocking the whistling, frigid winds.
At the entrance to the valley stood a man with only one eye.
In that piercing, frigid wind, he bared his chest with his hands tucked neatly behind his back, legs shoulder-width apart. This was one of the things the army drilled in first, and it made this man look particularly imposing.
He alone blocked the entirety of the road toward the valley.
The middle-aged soldier carried Qianye, only stopping a few meters before the one-eyed man. He then stopped, saying, “Long Hai, you haven’t changed.”
Long Hai grinned, revealing a mouth full of silver and gold teeth. “Shi Yan, you’re three minutes late.”
“We met with a team from one of the dark races along the way, and for the sake of exterminating them, we were delayed a little,” replied Shi Yan.
Long Hai laughed coldly. “A single dark team can make you late? It looks like your strength hasn’t improved at all over all these years! Have you been the dog of the Lin House for too long that you’ve even thrown away your capability?”
These words didn’t anger Shi Yan in the slightest, and he only blandly said, “Marshal Lin is one of the cornerstones of our Empire. For me to be his personal assistant already satisfies me plenty. Things like this, there’s no way you’d understand.”
Long Hai snorted and didn’t argue further with Shi Yan. He turned his eyes to Qianye, saying, “So this is the kid that the higher-ups have been talking about? Why, he looks just like a little girl! Is he even going to be useful?”
Shi Yan laughed. “Since he’s going to be under your tutelage, if you don’t like him, who can stop you from sorting him out?”
Long Hai gave another huff. “You should know that here, regardless of their identity or background, all are treated equally.”
“On that point, I’m naturally aware.”
“Then stop wasting time, let him come over!”
Shi Yan squatted down in front of Qianye, and his stony face squeezed out a whisper of a smile while patting Qianye’s head. “Go on, follow Instructor Long. Remember, number one, no matter what they ask of you, do it immediately! Number two, is that I hope that after a few years I will be able to watch you come out alive.”
Although Qianye was a little taken aback, he heard the gravity in the man’s words and nodded his head gravely.
Shi Yan smiled. On the journey in, he had already greatly warmed up to this little fellow.
Qianye was a quiet child most of the time, but he possessed an incredible grit to the point of stubborness; once he promised something, he would definitely achieve it.
Seeing this, a hint of surprise emerged on Long Hai’s face. “For the twenty years I’ve known you, I’ve never seen you smile so many times!”
When he stood back up, Shi Yan’s face had resumed its stony, unfeeling look, and he said, “How could I ever smile when I look at you?”
Immediately following those words, some of the veins above Long Hai’s temples popped out momentarily.
A short while later, the heavy transport truck roared away, and Qianye followed Long Hai, walking toward the valley. The mountain roads were rocky and winding, and after nearly two hours, it still felt like there wasn’t an end in sight.
Qianye looked to either side and suddenly spotted a row of words written in large, bloody letters: WELCOME TO HELL!
Qianye couldn’t read all of the words, but his eyes were seemingly drawn to it, unable to look away. He kept walking, turning his head all the way until he couldn’t see that line anymore. Although he could no longer see it, deeply impressed in his young heart was the image of every stroke and letter dripping with blood!
Time passed, and the sky gradually darkened. The valley was like the mouth of a giant beast that awaited Qianye.
It was only later in the wee hours of the night that Qianye realized that he had landed himself in a place that was worse than hell, the Yellow Springs Training Camp.
The hands of the clock moved toward midnight. Normally, at this time of night, many would be entering dreamland, but for the children of the Yellow Springs Training Camp, this was merely their first day in hell.
In a bitter, cold great hall, Qianye and a hundred or so children of similar age to him were herded together, carefully listening to Long Hai’s lecture.
Long Hai paced himself back and forth in front of these children, occasionally stopping; his terrifying gaze would then sweep across them. “In here, you only need to remember three things. One, is absolute obedience. Two, is absolute obedience, and three, is still absolute obedience! Here, orders will only be given once, and so will your chances to obey! Now, everyone line up with your backs against the wall, and you are not to move nor speak before new orders have been given!”
The crowd of children messily pushed past one another, and all of them lined up against the wall, not waiting for the next order.
Long Hai clasped his hands behind him, strode out of the great hall, and then, with a loud slam, locked the steel door.
The first ten minutes, everyone in the great hall was quiet. But after another ten minutes, some of the more active children couldn’t hold it in any longer.
A little boy next to Qianye looked at him and whispered to him, “I’m Liu Kai, and my family runs a business in Jianzhang Province. I’ve heard that this place is very terrifying, so let’s be friends! My father says that banding together makes it easier to survive than alone.”
But at that moment, all Qianye was thinking of was Shi Yan’s parting message: He must obey Long Hai.
And Long Hai had just said that they weren’t to move, nor talk.
Seeing that Qianye had no response, Liu Kai next to him refused to give up, “ Oi! Nobody’s looking at us! At least tell me your name?”
Upon seeing Qianye standing there like a statue, not even twitching his fingers, Liu Kai muttered something or another under his breath helplessly.
Half an hour went by, and a few of the children began to whisper to one another while others were swaying left and right, stretching out their aching legs.
One corner of the great hall suddenly became noisy. Some of the children had begun to argue for some reason, which then rapidly devolved into fighting one another, noisily arguing without rest.
The disturbance had already become so huge, and yet, no instructors had come out to stop them. Hence, the children became even more relaxed. Having fought one round, several of the fighting children separated and returned back to their original positions. At this point, more of the children began to chat and move, and the great hall gradually became noisy.
As the clock struck one, the steel door suddenly opened with Long Hai walking in. Behind him was a team of vicious and ferocious-looking men, every one of which was holding a whip.
The temperature in the hall immediately plummeted, and the faces of all those children who had previously been having fun and were cheerful turned pale, even starting to shiver.
Long Hai’s eye swept across all of them as he nodded. “Good! Very good! Some of you were fighting, some were talking. I was originally worried that I hadn’t left a deep enough impression on all of you, but now that I see it, my worries were extraneous!”
Long Hai’s face suddenly darkened, and he pointed to the children who had been fighting. “Catch them, and show the rest what happens when they disobey orders!”
This sounded a little odd, and many of the children were at a loss, but some of the smarter children immediately understood what was going on and were almost paralyzed on the floor by the even greater terror that was now welling up within them.
The six children who were fighting were thrown to the center of the hall like little chicks, lined up in a row.
Long Hai promptly revealed a ferocious smile. “Here, disobeying orders will only result in one thing… death!”
One of the men behind him leveled a strange rifle-like object and aimed it directly at one of the children. The gun’s barrel was so large that it could fit a child’s fist inside it!
The gun suddenly shot out a wide beam of red light, and the sound reverberated throughout the great hall, almost deafening everyone!
As the red light flashed, that boy’s upper body had entirely vanished; only his legs still remained on the ground! Fresh blood spurted everywhere in excess of ten meters, even splattering onto the opposite wall.
The man revealed a bloodthirsty and cruel smile, and moving the barrel, he aimed it at the next child.
That child whose face was initially unruly was now full of panic as he shouted out, “No! I don’t want to die, my uncle is one of the Empire’s generals! He…”
The gun exploded once more, and cut the remainder of his sentence short.
“Empire General? Hehe, even if it were the Empire Marshal’s son, as long as he entered here, the consequence of not obeying orders would be the same!” the man said coldly exclaimed.
The guns continued fire, and after six shots had gone by, the center of the great hall had already been painted red in blood and eviscerated flesh.
At this point, Long Hai said, “Now, all of you who opened your mouths just now, step out now, remove your clothes, and then go prone! Your luck is good today, just three lashes is considered the whole of your punishment. However, if anyone wants to continue to lie to me, then you will end up like those six little bastards!”
The children looked at one another, and many of them trembled as they walked to the center of the great hall, stripped, and then honestly proned down. The ones who had been left standing at the wall were not more than twenty.
“Is there really nobody else?” Long Hai asked again.
Two of the children originally standing by the wall walked out, shaking.
Long Hai nodded. “The two of you, five lashes each!”
The two children’s face went pale, but it was too late for regret.
Long Hai suddenly stretched out his hands and pointed at four children who were standing by the wall, his voice frigid, “You four actually dare to lie to me, then go to hell.”
The four crying children were tossed into the center of the great hall, and then four ear-shattering gunshots resounded once again.
Just like this, in the first night that they spent at the Yellow Springs Training Camp, Qianye already clearly understood what the consequence of violating orders would be. In that same night, this new batch of students had already been shaved off by a tenth.
At three in the morning, Qianye and the other children were together, driven into a large room.
In it were rows of bunk beds, and each child quietly picked a bed to lie on, upon which they immediately slept. Nobody said a single word, and nobody cried.
Qianye habitually laid down like he always did, but he sprung up from the sudden shooting pain coming from his back.
In the darkness, the cries of the children’s pain could constantly be heard, but evidently, everyone was trying to keep as quiet as possible.
Qianye flipped about and carefully climbed onto the bed, trying to prevent himself from touching the tender wound on his back.
Qianye had also been whipped once.
And the fifteen, just like him, who had strictly followed the orders, were given a special treatment: They were only whipped once each.
Chapter 3: The Big Shot’s Decision [Volume 1 - Between Daybreak and Evernight]
The wondrous abilities of Lin Xitang’s Art of Heaven’s Mystery were unfathomably boundless. It could awaken an individual’s cultivation potential as one of its effects. Truly outstanding natural talent would often produce unusual phenomenons under its effects.
These unusual phenomena were split into five grades. For example, the faint glows from the junkyard were merely of the lowest grade, representing that they only had the potential to develop their origin strength. On the other hand, a first grade talent would emit pillars of light of various colors. On top of that, strange phantasms would orbit the pillars like planets around the sun, hinting at a person that would be revered by all. Furthermore, the phantasms that appeared also represented the future path of the individual’s natural talent. A second grade talent would only have pillars of light and no phantasms, a third grade talent would have a single blazing light that resembled a roaring flame, and a fourth grade talent would have just a bright light without any such phenomena.
There were rumors that, above the first grade, super grade talent existed. Those that possessed it would truly be great geniuses of overflowing talent, and the phenomena that would occur could be vivid representations of rolling hills and roaring rivers, or possibly lifelike images of mythical beasts and birds.
Under the cover of darkness, the pillar of light was red and belonged to the lowest rating of first grade talent. In spite of this, among the Empire’s countless cultivators, a first grade talent was one in a hundred thousand. The appearance of a first grade talent was well worth the Empire’s careful nurturing so that it would become a future pillar of support for the military.
This red pillar of light was like a slap to the face that made Gu Tuohai’s face tingle.
“Let’s go and take a look!” Without waiting for the airship to change course, Lin Xitang stepped out of the cabin and leaped from the airship, falling from an altitude several hundred meters high.
Ten-odd fully armored bodyguards rushed to follow suit, leaping from the airship in pursuit of Lin Xitang. In comparison, Gu Tuohai slapped the window blinds in frustration, but ultimately followed them down.
The sight of the sudden change on the little boy had clearly startled the older children, but the little girl had only been disoriented for a moment. After discovering that her strength had significantly increased, she bounded toward an even larger rock and strained to drag it over.
The boy was in a daze. With a groan, he turned over.
Suddenly there was a pair of thick suede military boots beside him.
The boots themselves didn’t actually touch the ground, instead floating a few centimeters in the air above it. An invisible forcefield quietly spread, pushing all the dust, dirt, and rubbish into the distance.
The startled girl stopped in her tracks, staring at the silver haired man that had appeared without warning. Opening her large, innocent eyes, wearing an equally harmless, childlike expression, she quickly threw away the rock that she had in her hands.
Although she hadn’t noticed, light was shining from her body through her clothes. The sweat which had originally soaked her palms had completely evaporated. Yet the silver haired man didn’t even so much as glance at her out of the corner of his eye.
Lin Xitang frowned as he looked at the scars and injuries all over the boy. The boy was clearly more injured than he had first assessed as some of the injuries seemed to reach his vitals. With a wave of his hand, a fog of light appeared in the air. A rain of green droplets fell from it and onto the boy, soaking into his body.
These green raindrops contained an immense power, and the boy’s injuries healed at a clearly visible rate. He groaned, slowly opening his eyes as he regained consciousness.
The first thing that the little boy saw and registered was the silver haired man’s stern, determined face.
The boy didn’t understand what was happening, but he instinctively refused to grovel lying on the floor, and once again struggled to stand. Looking around him, he saw the older children and immediately remembered what had happened, his expression changing in an instant.
Lin Xitang followed the boy’s gaze, looking at the older children surrounding them and the remains of a paper bag on the ground. He instantly understood why the boy was injured to such a degree. This was, after all, a thing that happened in junkyards so often that it couldn’t be any more common.
Lin Xitang refocused himself, then crouched down, extending his hand to the boy as he said gently, “Come, give me your hand. What’s your name?”
But the little boy recoiled a little, and with great difficulty, he mustered his courage.
“Qian… Qianye,” he said softly. His small hands reached out, but stopped halfway. He didn’t dare to reach any further.
His tiny hands were horribly dirty, all covered in grime. Although his wounds had been nourished by the rain of light and weren’t bleeding anymore, the crusted bloodstains were still there.
In any case, he didn’t dare to put his hands on the large spotless hands of the silver haired man. Yet at this moment, in the eyes of little Qianye, the big hands that were held out in front of him were the only source of warmth in the world.
Lin Xitang smiled and encouraged him, “It’s fine, give me your hand.”
Gu Tuohai flew down at this point. Upon seeing that Qianye had been injured, the usual kind expression he gave others was somewhat angry. He couldn’t help but give a deep snort, coldly looking over the surrounding kids.
The crowd of slowly-gathering children had terrified expressions on their faces, but the ten-odd bodyguards had already locked down every single path through this area. They didn’t dare to try fleeing.
Lin Xitang leaned over a little, extending his hand and waiting patiently. Under Lin Xitang’s bright gaze, Qianye finally found his courage and placed his hands into the warm, dry, and strong hands of Lin Xitang.
Lin Xitang lightly grasped the hands that were half the size of his own, closing his eyes and quietly feeling them.
Gu Tuohai looked at Qianye, his brow suddenly furrowing as if he had thought of something.
Lin Xitang sighed and opened his eyes. He gave Qianye a once over, reached out his hand to pull away the scraps of cloth on the little boy, and his eyes were instantly captivated.
There was an enormous scar on Qianye’s bare chest, one that ran from half an inch below his heart all the way to his belly button. Just looking at this ugly, protruding scar, Lin Xitang knew that it had originally been a terrifying injury that tore Qianye’s insides open!
But Qianye was still so young. How in the world had he survived?
Momentarily startled, Lin Xitang regained his composure, saying, “Brother Tuohai, you’re far more skilled in medicine than I am. Help me examine him.”
Gu Tuohai silently walked up to Qianye, not caring about the dirt at all, and he stretched out his hands to carefully examine Qianye. Qianye felt that everywhere Gu Tuohai’s hands went was like having red-hot needles stabbed into his body, but he clenched his teeth and forced himself to not make a sound.
Gu Tuohai’s eyes flashed with momentary shock, and he praised Qianye, saying, “So tender of age, and yet so daring. Interesting!”
He stood up and spoke to Lin Xitang. “This child would originally be considered a top-tier talent, but he’s been so heavily injured that it’s ruined his physique. Aside from that, I also suspect that his body might have even contained a piece of crystallized origin power.”
Lin Xitang immediately thought of a forbidden phrase—origin power theft! He narrowed his eyes a little, and pretended to not understand. “So what you’re saying is...”
“No, it’s just a suspicion. Even you know that sort of thing is a major taboo. His injuries have already been healed for a decent number of years, so he must have been younger than the age of three when he was injured. Yet, as you can now see, his foundation has been heavily damaged. Even if his cultivation potential is greater than that of anyone here, he isn’t a first grade talent anymore,” Gu Tuohai said gravely.
Qianye’s old injury was extremely serious, yet he was still able to release a red light pillar. This signified that his original talent was so great that it might have even been a super grade, but with his current state, it would be a stretch to even list him as a fourth grade.
A fourth grade talent would only be slightly stronger than an ordinary person. For Lin Xitang and Gu Tuohai, who were high-ranking officers in the Empire’s military, it was practically worthless. On top of that, Qianye’s giant scar was a hidden danger, and whether he’d survive the tough training was something they couldn’t be sure of.
Gu Tuohai sighed, feeling great sympathy for the boy.
Lin Xitang looked at little Qianye, who stared back at him. Perhaps the warmth in Lin Xitang’s palm hadn’t completely dissipated, but the little boy’s eyes held a glimmer of hope that not even he had noticed.
Lin Xitang’s heart trembled slightly, and he gently said, “Meeting here should be considered a kind of fate. Tell you what—I’ll take you away from here, and you’ll decide for yourself where to go next.”
He took out a few smooth jade tablets, and with a quick rub of his hand, he engraved words onto them. He held them with the engraved side facing downward, then handed them to Qianye to choose from.
Qianye hesitated a little, then reached for the jade tablet in the middle. There were two words on it, but he didn’t recognize them.
Gu Tuohai looked and then sighed, shaking his head.
“Yellow Spring,” Lin Xitang softly read the words to Qianye before taking the jade tablet back. He patted the boy’s head lightly and asked, “What’s your surname?”
“I… don’t have a surname. My name is Qianye.”
Lin Xitang nodded as he spoke gently. “Alright. If you make it out of that place alive, then you may use ‘Lin,’ my surname!”
Qianye didn’t understand what Lin Xitang was saying and could only continue to listen in ignorance.
Lin Xitang didn’t need him to understand at the moment. He turned to instruct his subordinates. “Take him back to ‘Green Bird,’ wash him, clean his wounds, change his clothes, and feed him.”
Having finished with instructing them, Lin Xitang and Gu Tuohai slowly began to rise and accelerated away, flying toward the airship stationed in the sky.
The older children had waited on the sidelines for a very long time, watching everything. Although they didn’t completely understand what the adults were saying, the talk of being washed, fed, and clothed... they heard these unbelievably irresistible phrases loud and clear.
Seeing the guards about to take Qianye away, the head of all the older kids charged over, shrieking, “Take me! Take me along! I also want to bathe and eat!”
He tried to hug the thighs of the guards and reached out to Qianye, attempting to pull him out of their embrace.
The injured leader pulled roughly at Qianye’s legs, crying out, “That should be my position! Who do you think you are? Everyone, get over here and beat this mongrel to death! He actually dared to headbutt me just now! All of the food up there should be mine!”
The leader was even more vicious than he had previously been, intentionally clawing at Qianye’s injuries. Surviving in the junkyard only had one rule: if you killed someone, you would get everything they had.
Resembling mountains, the well-built guards didn’t even move and let the leader of the older kids continue raising a ruckus. Seeing that, the little girl quietly began to move over.
Only when the leader tried to pull at Qianye so hard that his face was starting to contort with pain did the guard captain coldly say, “That’s enough. Even Mr. Tuohai would have nothing to say about this.”
The moment the guard captain spoke, viciousness flashed across the blank face of the guard that was carrying Qianye. With a single kick, he brutally punted the older child dozens of meters into the air.
This one foot contained a dark, brutal power, and as the leader of the older kids flew into the air, he suddenly exploded into a bloody mist!
The other guard merely smiled as he stepped forward, stretching out his leg. He slammed his foot down onto the ground, saying, “A pile of puny rats actually dare to disturb the business of Marshal Lin!”
The ground rippled outward from where he’d slammed his foot down, rapidly spreading. The group of children was thrown into the air by the force of the wave, violently spurting blood. Their bones cracked loudly as they distorted into unrecognizable shapes.
The wave also rushed right past the captain and the other guards, but they didn’t move so much an inch. All of them seemed to have weathered it without being affected.
Yet, miraculously, the little girl also wasn’t hit by the wave. When the captain had spoken, the rest of the older children had been dazed, and some had even listened to the leader and stupidly charged Qianye, the girl had turned a run for her life without looking back.
It was in this way that she barely managed to escape the wave, miraculously surviving.
Seeing that the little girl had actually managed to escape, the guard’s face grew red for a moment. With a loud snort, he lifted his foot to slam it down again! He had only been using three-tenths of his power. However, the captain suddenly reached out and grabbed the guard’s shoulder with his hand, preventing him from slamming his foot down.
The captain seemed to be listening to something in his ear, and then he nodded, not moving an inch as he stared at Qianye with his large eyes. He then brought out his service pistol and put little Qianye’s hands on the trigger.
The captain steadied the gun as he aimed it directly at the little girl’s chest. He said to Qianye, “She’s already tried to kill you multiple times. Come, pull the trigger. Use some force and then.... Bang! She’s dead!”
With the entirety of his small hands, Qianye held the trigger tightly. He stared at the silhouette of the little girl stumbling and fleeing for her life knowing that, as long as he pulled the trigger, she would definitely sprout blood.
He was completely calm as his shiny black eyes watched her, but he shook his head in the end and let go of the trigger.
On the airship, Gu Tuohai was all smiles as he said, “Just as I expected, haha! Lin old man, it is so rare for you to lose! Come, come, if you’re daring enough to bet, you’re daring enough to admit defeat, so hand over that ‘Aqua Tobacco’ of yours! It’s mine now!”
Chapter 4: Welcome to Hell [Volume 1 - Between Daybreak and Evernight]
Time flew, and soon enough, a month had already passed.
Outside a perfectly ordinary valley, a bassy roar suddenly sounded out as a large, heavy military truck spewed thick clouds of black smoke, thundering past. The roads outside the valley itself were unpaved, and in every direction, natural trenches littered the endless plains. But to the giant, man-sized tires of the truck, they weren’t even a hindrance.
The truck rushed toward the valley entrance and then all of a sudden hit the brakes. Its giant, beast-like body shook violently and swerved to the side, etching a crescent-shaped scar before finally coming to a rest. In the vehicle’s engine compartment, a cacophony of noises could be heard, and while the large exhaust pipes stopped belching black smoke, the valves spurted out a large cloud of steam.
As the driver-side door opened, a thirty or so year old man stared, and then, with a single jump, he leaped off the two meter high drivers seat, placing the boy that had been in his arms on the ground.
The little boy had clear and pretty eyes, and his soft, black hair was plastered to his forehead, wet with sweat. His face was pale, and he wore an expression that looked like he was holding back the contents of his stomach, evidently having been battered by the manic driving. He shook, bracing himself, and wrapped his black cloak around him tighter, blocking the whistling, frigid winds.
At the entrance to the valley stood a man with only one eye.
In that piercing, frigid wind, he bared his chest with his hands tucked neatly behind his back, legs shoulder-width apart. This was one of the things the army drilled in first, and it made this man look particularly imposing.
He alone blocked the entirety of the road toward the valley.
The middle-aged soldier carried Qianye, only stopping a few meters before the one-eyed man. He then stopped, saying, “Long Hai, you haven’t changed.”
Long Hai grinned, revealing a mouth full of silver and gold teeth. “Shi Yan, you’re three minutes late.”
“We met with a team from one of the dark races along the way, and for the sake of exterminating them, we were delayed a little,” replied Shi Yan.
Long Hai laughed coldly. “A single dark team can make you late? It looks like your strength hasn’t improved at all over all these years! Have you been the dog of the Lin House for too long that you’ve even thrown away your capability?”
These words didn’t anger Shi Yan in the slightest, and he only blandly said, “Marshal Lin is one of the cornerstones of our Empire. For me to be his personal assistant already satisfies me plenty. Things like this, there’s no way you’d understand.”
Long Hai snorted and didn’t argue further with Shi Yan. He turned his eyes to Qianye, saying, “So this is the kid that the higher-ups have been talking about? Why, he looks just like a little girl! Is he even going to be useful?”
Shi Yan laughed. “Since he’s going to be under your tutelage, if you don’t like him, who can stop you from sorting him out?”
Long Hai gave another huff. “You should know that here, regardless of their identity or background, all are treated equally.”
“On that point, I’m naturally aware.”
“Then stop wasting time, let him come over!”
Shi Yan squatted down in front of Qianye, and his stony face squeezed out a whisper of a smile while patting Qianye’s head. “Go on, follow Instructor Long. Remember, number one, no matter what they ask of you, do it immediately! Number two, is that I hope that after a few years I will be able to watch you come out alive.”
Although Qianye was a little taken aback, he heard the gravity in the man’s words and nodded his head gravely.
Shi Yan smiled. On the journey in, he had already greatly warmed up to this little fellow.
Qianye was a quiet child most of the time, but he possessed an incredible grit to the point of stubborness; once he promised something, he would definitely achieve it.
Seeing this, a hint of surprise emerged on Long Hai’s face. “For the twenty years I’ve known you, I’ve never seen you smile so many times!”
When he stood back up, Shi Yan’s face had resumed its stony, unfeeling look, and he said, “How could I ever smile when I look at you?”
Immediately following those words, some of the veins above Long Hai’s temples popped out momentarily.
A short while later, the heavy transport truck roared away, and Qianye followed Long Hai, walking toward the valley. The mountain roads were rocky and winding, and after nearly two hours, it still felt like there wasn’t an end in sight.
Qianye looked to either side and suddenly spotted a row of words written in large, bloody letters: WELCOME TO HELL!
Qianye couldn’t read all of the words, but his eyes were seemingly drawn to it, unable to look away. He kept walking, turning his head all the way until he couldn’t see that line anymore. Although he could no longer see it, deeply impressed in his young heart was the image of every stroke and letter dripping with blood!
Time passed, and the sky gradually darkened. The valley was like the mouth of a giant beast that awaited Qianye.
It was only later in the wee hours of the night that Qianye realized that he had landed himself in a place that was worse than hell, the Yellow Springs Training Camp.
The hands of the clock moved toward midnight. Normally, at this time of night, many would be entering dreamland, but for the children of the Yellow Springs Training Camp, this was merely their first day in hell.
In a bitter, cold great hall, Qianye and a hundred or so children of similar age to him were herded together, carefully listening to Long Hai’s lecture.
Long Hai paced himself back and forth in front of these children, occasionally stopping; his terrifying gaze would then sweep across them. “In here, you only need to remember three things. One, is absolute obedience. Two, is absolute obedience, and three, is still absolute obedience! Here, orders will only be given once, and so will your chances to obey! Now, everyone line up with your backs against the wall, and you are not to move nor speak before new orders have been given!”
The crowd of children messily pushed past one another, and all of them lined up against the wall, not waiting for the next order.
Long Hai clasped his hands behind him, strode out of the great hall, and then, with a loud slam, locked the steel door.
The first ten minutes, everyone in the great hall was quiet. But after another ten minutes, some of the more active children couldn’t hold it in any longer.
A little boy next to Qianye looked at him and whispered to him, “I’m Liu Kai, and my family runs a business in Jianzhang Province. I’ve heard that this place is very terrifying, so let’s be friends! My father says that banding together makes it easier to survive than alone.”
But at that moment, all Qianye was thinking of was Shi Yan’s parting message: He must obey Long Hai.
And Long Hai had just said that they weren’t to move, nor talk.
Seeing that Qianye had no response, Liu Kai next to him refused to give up, “ Oi! Nobody’s looking at us! At least tell me your name?”
Upon seeing Qianye standing there like a statue, not even twitching his fingers, Liu Kai muttered something or another under his breath helplessly.
Half an hour went by, and a few of the children began to whisper to one another while others were swaying left and right, stretching out their aching legs.
One corner of the great hall suddenly became noisy. Some of the children had begun to argue for some reason, which then rapidly devolved into fighting one another, noisily arguing without rest.
The disturbance had already become so huge, and yet, no instructors had come out to stop them. Hence, the children became even more relaxed. Having fought one round, several of the fighting children separated and returned back to their original positions. At this point, more of the children began to chat and move, and the great hall gradually became noisy.
As the clock struck one, the steel door suddenly opened with Long Hai walking in. Behind him was a team of vicious and ferocious-looking men, every one of which was holding a whip.
The temperature in the hall immediately plummeted, and the faces of all those children who had previously been having fun and were cheerful turned pale, even starting to shiver.
Long Hai’s eye swept across all of them as he nodded. “Good! Very good! Some of you were fighting, some were talking. I was originally worried that I hadn’t left a deep enough impression on all of you, but now that I see it, my worries were extraneous!”
Long Hai’s face suddenly darkened, and he pointed to the children who had been fighting. “Catch them, and show the rest what happens when they disobey orders!”
This sounded a little odd, and many of the children were at a loss, but some of the smarter children immediately understood what was going on and were almost paralyzed on the floor by the even greater terror that was now welling up within them.
The six children who were fighting were thrown to the center of the hall like little chicks, lined up in a row.
Long Hai promptly revealed a ferocious smile. “Here, disobeying orders will only result in one thing… death!”
One of the men behind him leveled a strange rifle-like object and aimed it directly at one of the children. The gun’s barrel was so large that it could fit a child’s fist inside it!
The gun suddenly shot out a wide beam of red light, and the sound reverberated throughout the great hall, almost deafening everyone!
As the red light flashed, that boy’s upper body had entirely vanished; only his legs still remained on the ground! Fresh blood spurted everywhere in excess of ten meters, even splattering onto the opposite wall.
The man revealed a bloodthirsty and cruel smile, and moving the barrel, he aimed it at the next child.
That child whose face was initially unruly was now full of panic as he shouted out, “No! I don’t want to die, my uncle is one of the Empire’s generals! He…”
The gun exploded once more, and cut the remainder of his sentence short.
“Empire General? Hehe, even if it were the Empire Marshal’s son, as long as he entered here, the consequence of not obeying orders would be the same!” the man said coldly exclaimed.
The guns continued fire, and after six shots had gone by, the center of the great hall had already been painted red in blood and eviscerated flesh.
At this point, Long Hai said, “Now, all of you who opened your mouths just now, step out now, remove your clothes, and then go prone! Your luck is good today, just three lashes is considered the whole of your punishment. However, if anyone wants to continue to lie to me, then you will end up like those six little bastards!”
The children looked at one another, and many of them trembled as they walked to the center of the great hall, stripped, and then honestly proned down. The ones who had been left standing at the wall were not more than twenty.
“Is there really nobody else?” Long Hai asked again.
Two of the children originally standing by the wall walked out, shaking.
Long Hai nodded. “The two of you, five lashes each!”
The two children’s face went pale, but it was too late for regret.
Long Hai suddenly stretched out his hands and pointed at four children who were standing by the wall, his voice frigid, “You four actually dare to lie to me, then go to hell.”
The four crying children were tossed into the center of the great hall, and then four ear-shattering gunshots resounded once again.
Just like this, in the first night that they spent at the Yellow Springs Training Camp, Qianye already clearly understood what the consequence of violating orders would be. In that same night, this new batch of students had already been shaved off by a tenth.
At three in the morning, Qianye and the other children were together, driven into a large room.
In it were rows of bunk beds, and each child quietly picked a bed to lie on, upon which they immediately slept. Nobody said a single word, and nobody cried.
Qianye habitually laid down like he always did, but he sprung up from the sudden shooting pain coming from his back.
In the darkness, the cries of the children’s pain could constantly be heard, but evidently, everyone was trying to keep as quiet as possible.
Qianye flipped about and carefully climbed onto the bed, trying to prevent himself from touching the tender wound on his back.
Qianye had also been whipped once.
And the fifteen, just like him, who had strictly followed the orders, were given a special treatment: They were only whipped once each.
