The Martial Master - 39 Village #1023

“Has my heart gone cold?”

With a mutter, Su Min tensed his body and breathed as he stared at the lifeless corpses. A strange shiver shook the air as everything fluttered to a halt. It was as if the air, space, and the sky knew what lied ahead.

…

…

Within a metallic room, the size of a basketball court, at least a hundred tattooed people stood with their eyes closed. On their foreheads shone three circles, intertwining with a strange law that made them pop out with surreal motions.

“Hm?”

One of these people, standing in an inconspicuous location within the crowd, frowned as her forehead shone with a tremor, then died down. She opened his eyes, and with a strange movement, appeared a hundred meters away with a swift blur.

It was silent, though, like she had merged with the wind.

“Sir.”

Facing a door that was at the back of the room, the woman bowed as she awaited a response.

“Come in.”

Taking a second, the door opened with a tug. The woman walked in with a calm gait.

Sitting on a simple strewn mat, a man with deep eyes sat in a lotus position. The air seemed to carry a strange serenity, where the floor and walls were made out of some sort of old oak.

“What brings you here?”

Smiling, the man opened his eyes as 4 circles glimmered under the shaded atmosphere shrouding him. The woman, gazing at him with a hint of awe, spoke.

“Sir, our two gatekeeper’s connections at the southern gate has been lost. Their last report was that an intruder was nearing them.”

“Hm… Did they describe the being?”

The woman paused as her face became uncertain, almost fearful, but she hid it quickly and continued.

“Mhm. They said it was a being who used the forbidden energy, sir.”

“Ancient energy? In heaven’s region? I thought the higher races had wiped them out a long time ago… Hm. Must be a stray, although powerful if it could get past the barrier.”

The man’s eyes shone with a mysterious light as he mumbled. The woman, waiting, eventually asked.

“Sir, would you like to send reinforcements?”

However, to her surprise, the man shook his head as he stood up. His eyes seemed to contain anticipation, and with a yawn, he spoke.

“I’ll deal with the being personally, as I have never fought those forbidden races before… I would like to have a taste of the great war that happened in the wasted era.”

“Sir..?”

The woman gasped as she stood back, yet the man took no head and strode past her, entering the control room. A couple people who were awake like the woman gasped as their forehead’s three circles trembled. It was a tremble of admiration and fear, swishing together to form an awe that a beggar would feel towards a king.

“Heh. Ignore me, I won’t be long. If I haven’t come back by tomorrow, then notify the council that a being with a threat level of at least a 5th circle mage has emerged within our grounds.”

Smiling, the man expression was kind as he gazed at the numerous people in the room, though his eyes were tired and bored.

*WOOSH*

Disregarding their reactions, the man’s existent fuzzed as his whole body faded away in a light gush of wind. Next thing they knew, he had appeared on the other side of the room, grasping the metal door and walking out.

“A 5th circle mage?!”

The woman, stumbling out of the man’s room, spoke with shock as she stared ahead. She couldn’t hide her awe when she said such words, in fact, it was more of a feeling like that of a worshipper saying the name of God.

…

…

*BANGGGGG*

With a boom that thrashed at the sky and parted the clouds, a figure flashed like a piercing bullet and tore right into the sky with consecutive desolate smacks.

“Ah. I made it over.”

His body, shrouded in a hazy gold, floated within the sky as his momentum dwindled away with gravity. Beneath his feet was where the gold was most concentrated, and this gold was what threw him into the air.

“Guess smashing myself with energy has its uses…”

Staring at the gold beneath his feet, Su Min sighed as it dispersed with his will. A will which was way too tired right now.

“Oh?”

Staring ahead, Su Min caught a glimpse of what lay behind the majestic wall, and it made him curious. He, kicking the air and propelling himself onto the walls massive pathway atop it, took a closer look.

“Old..?”

A vast plain that most would describe as a paradise stretched out in front of him. He was so high up in the sky that everything looked like dots to him, though he could tell what they were.

Villages. An uncountable number of villages scattered around these green and lush plains, where simple forest interspersed in some corners and mountain in others. The villages had simple wooden houses, nothing fancy.

“Hm… A village might have some information.”

Rubbing his chin, Su Min looked down, seeing the ground that stretched out like an unreachable target. Anyone with a fear of heights would tremble at such a sight, but Su Min didn’t really care as he had already jumped up the wall.

“Though, where are the reinforcements?”

Pausing, Su Min glanced ahead as he thought back to what those two said. All he saw was villages, so where was the mighty sect that runs this place and the wall that stretched over the horizon?

“Eh, whatever. Maybe the sect is too far away for me to see, I’ll see them eventually anyway if needed.”

Jumping onto the wall’s erected ledge, Su Min closed his eyes and just… Fell off.

*wwwooooOOOOOOSSSSSHHHHHHH*

Like he was about to commit suicide, a wind that blasted his ears at an ever-increasing magnitude rushed by him…

…

…

“Village #1023?”

A man, draped in black, spoke a dull sentence as he stared at a wooden sign in front of him. It was mouldy and smelled a bit.

“Hahaha! Come back here!”

He was standing on a dirt pathway, where a couple of meters behind such an old sign stood numerous wooden huts. A couple kids, running around, rushed right towards him. Their skin was covered in tattoos, although it was a lot fainter and unfinished.

“Ah! Who’s that?!”

The kids, gasping, halted to a stop as they stared at the random man who was staring at their village sign. His hair dazzled them, gleaming with a colour that they had never seen in their lives.

“Why doesn’t he look like us?”

The kid’s eyes sparkled as they stared at the man’s face and body frame. His body was strange, it had no tattoos… His face was ordinary, etched with plainness.

His everything exuded a simplicity, even his golden hair was simple, although dazzling. It was at the level that would make anyone ignore him; as if he could just blend into the background. He no longer held the strange nobless of his old self, no, he had reverted way back and become someone who exuded nothing but bareness.

“Kids?”

Su Min, glancing at the two kids, mumbled as he gazed ahead of him. He didn’t care if people saw that he wasn’t like them, as he had long lost any emotion to care. If he had to kill half the village to get answers then he would do such a thing.

‘I guess I really did lose empathy…’

Realising this, Su Min felt a feeling of loss encompass him. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t feel. No matter what, even if someone were to go up to him and torture a random helpless child with strewn screams, he wouldn’t care.

He couldn’t care; so he wouldn’t care. He will only care if caring brings him what he wants. His heart is frozen, frozen with a placid ice that will never be shaken. Never, and ever…

*BANG*

Stomping the ground, Su Min grabbed the sign and with a grip of pure strength; the sign shattered into dust. A shockwave scattered out from him, alerting everyone.

“What was that?!”

A startled shout erupted out from the closest hut as a tattooed man ran outside. His forehead shone with a single circle, and his gaze carried an inhuman glare that surpassed humanity.

“Single circle…”

Su Min gazed at him without caution, waiting.

“Our sign?!”

The man’s expression turned fierce as he stared at the dust that sprinkled out of Su Min’s rough hands. However, just as he was about to become enraged, Su Min spoke with a smile.

“I don’t recommend doing that.”

Su Min turned his head as his eyes stared intently at the man. Though, whether it was intentional or not, the man felt the whole world become Su Min’s gaze, a gaze of gold. His eyes shifted to that of hysteria as he stammered out one word.

“W-…”

As if the world had clasped him down with a brutal palm, the man’s body froze with a petrified shiver. His head dripped with sweat, and his breathing was dull and ragged.

“Good…”

Removing his gaze, Su Min nodded as that faint law dispersed around the man. In Su Min’s eyes, numerous golden strands that had stuck onto the man’s body disbanded.

“W-what do you want…”

The man’s eyes were full of despair as he caught his breath. It was because this being wasn’t from his race! The only way for this to happen is that he broke past the wall, and the strength needed for that… Well. He could only guess.

“Get all your villagers out here.”

Su Min spoke as he rubbed the remnants of the sign off his hands.