Boundless Human World - Chapter 2 Calm Before The Storm

Shura woke up to the feeling of pain all over his body. He quickly sat up, further intensifying the pain. He looked down at his chest. Blood seeped through the bandages wrapped on his chest.

He couldn’t see the wound, but he could feel it. It was not life-threatening, as he was still living, but it would prevent him from heavy exertion for a few days. It would also leave a big scar. Shura was just glad that he was still alive. He didn’t know what happened back then. His body moved on its own and his mind started having ideas.

He fought with the assassin, no, he fought with an expert. But he had still lost. He tried to recall the feeling that he had felt as he weaved through the dense rain of sword qi, the thrill between life-and-death combat. Something came to him, vaguely, but it still came.

He had been excited. It was a wonderful excitement, a passion that he had not felt before. He was empowered. He was strong. He controlled his own life and destiny in hand, he didn’t have to live powerlessly as fate and others dictated his life.

But he was still defeated. It was a natural thing. The opponent was an expert, while he was not.

An intense desire surged within his heart. He wanted to become stronger, stronger than that expert. And he wanted to fight him once again and defeat him.

Just as Shura was in the midst of thinking about his experience, someone called out to him.

“So you are awake, good.”

A handsome man dressed in fine blue robe walked up to him. He looked to be in his mid-twenties. The man exuded an aura of calm strength as if he was in control of the situation.

“You are?” Shura looked at the man in confusion.

From the look of it, this man had probably saved him after he had fainted. He probably had a reason to do so, and he wasn’t simply being altruistic.

“You can call me Inspector. I’m here to ask you about the expert you confronted. He’s now a wanted criminal for the attempted assassination of City Lord Mu. It was the City Lord that had saved you. I would appreciate it if you told me everything you know about the assassin.”

His assumption was right on spot.

Listening to the Inspector, a thought suddenly came to Shura. Can an assassin who hadn’t assassinated anyone really be called an assassin?

“There really isn’t much for me to tell you other than what others have probably told you already, Inspector. I was in a hurry to return to the city. By the time I arrived at the west gate I had noticed the gate shut and a great crowd outside prevented from entering.”

“A short time later a great explosion occurred and a man in a black cloak walked out of the city. I didn’t know who he was and I didn’t care either. I was in a hurry and rushed to enter the city. The cloaked man immediately attacked me as I ran near him. I was forced to defend myself. But I was only able to last about ten or so moves before his blade wounded me in the chest, making me the man you see before you today.”

The Inspector listened attentively and nodded. He then asked another question.

“Why did you run toward the assassin when you saw him appear? What was so urgent that would make you do so? From a bystander’s view, and perhaps even the expert’s own view, you were clearly acting aggressively toward him, so no wonder he had attacked you.”

An alarm went off in Shura’s mind. Wasn’t this supposed to be about the assassin? Why is he asking him about himself now? Was he supposed to tell him that a miraculous thing occurred and he had become a cultivator from a waste who couldn’t cultivate? There was something special going on with his body. He wasn’t dumb enough to divulge it to outsiders.

A man is guilty for just having a treasure. He didn’t want to invite unwanted trouble to himself by exposing what had happened to him. But how would he answer the Inspector?

“I thought we were talking about the assassin, Inspector. How come you are now talking about me? Don’t tell me the reason that I came to the city, ran toward the assassin, and fought with the assassin had something to do with catching this assassin. You’re not saying I’m an accomplice of the assassin are you?”

“Hahaha,” the Inspector laughed. “Of course not, but I have to know all the relevant details. If you don’t mind my question, please answer.”

Shura shook his head in his mind. He really wanted to know who the expert was as well, but how come he was being interrogated now? Now how was he supposed to answer without implicating himself?

He can’t tell him he was so excited about his transformation that he couldn’t give a damn who was in front of him. How would he explain the fact that he was someone who wasn’t even a cultivator yesterday, to the present him?

Although he wasn’t learned about cultivation, the topic wasn’t exactly a science. He could feel how strong he was, and he definitely was not at the level of someone who had just become a cultivator. Someone like that wouldn’t be able to dodge the assassin’s skilled swordsmanship and the slash that he had received would’ve probably killed them.

If he was at such a level, never mind himself, this Inspector would’ve brought the topic up already. No, he didn’t know the exact difference between a cultivator’s levels. But he wasn’t someone who had a total beginner’s cultivation. That was why there was no way he could tell him that yesterday he couldn’t even feel qi.

This would invite further questions and it might make the Inspector covet whatever opportunity he had obtained last night.

Shura tried his best to answer all that the inspector wanted to know without divulging his secret. When the Inspector was done and about to leave, Shura called out to him.

“Are you going after the assassin?” Shura asked.

“Yes. From your description of his technique and swordsmanship, I have a few clues to go on now.”

“I see Well, good luck.”

He had hesitated for a moment. He had pondered whether he should ask the investigator to go with him or not. He had a feeling that the Inspector would definitely find the trail of the assassin and confront him. Who would win in the end was unknown. But Shura might never be able to meet that assassin again if he didn’t act now.

In the end, he didn’t say anything. Even after the Inspector was gone for a while now, Shura was still deep in thought.

The assassin was a line, and so was the Inspector. He himself was also a line. The line intersected for a moment before continuing on its way. Although Shura was a newbie to cultivation, he wasn’t a newbie to life. Those men had their own path to walk while he had this own as well.

The cultivation information. He had to at least accomplish that much. Shura got up from the bed and left the building. It took him a while to understand where in the city he was. Once he did so, he headed for the market and bought an introductory book to cultivation.

Shura immediately began to read. Humans had untapped potential within them. An ancestor in the past pioneered the field of cultivation and discovered the secrets of the body and the existence of qi. Through the use of certain techniques and methods, qi was absorbed and refined within the body, giving the practitioner greater strength, speed and resiliency. At higher levels, more miraculous powers were obtained and a person’s lifespan increased.

The book listed five cultivation levels. There were no names, only first realm to the fifth realm. Aside from saying that there were five realms, it didn’t offer any explanation at all about how different the realms were from one another and how strong a person of each realm was and what they were capable of.

Shura knew he was not in the first realm. The weird occurrence yesterday had made him unable to pinpoint how strong he was. To say that he was weak would be inaccurate, but to say that he was strong would also be inaccurate. His conservative estimate of his strength being somewhere within the second realm would have to suffice.

He really did feel that he was beyond the first realm, but no further than that.

All of a sudden the clear sky darkened. Thunder crackled in the sky ominously. The people of Cloudfree City looked at the sky in uncertainty. The world had instantly turned dark to everyone within and nearby the city as if a dark shadow had been cast on the ground below.

Shura looked up to the sky, his gaze filled with both confusion and expectation. Something big was about to happen.