“E-even your mean dragons?” She blinked. Head tilted.

  Yin Hu had pnned to put his spear in his spacial rice bag. It had been cutting clean through the brush and branches. Damaging the forest unnecessarily considering there was already a beaten path to follow. He also feared cutting Hu Shui in half considering how easily the spear’s bde went through everything.

  Including a tree trunk he conveniently ignored, leaving an inch wide trail half way through it.

  He also needed to keep it away from Hu Shui’s sight. She could not be convinced otherwise that he wasn’t the supposed ancestor. Constantly referencing the spear as the main source of her belief. And his name. But mostly the spear.

  “Yes,” He combed his fingers through his willowy beard. He nodded sagely. “Yes. Even the spear has weakened considerably. Though not as much!”

  She gasped. She began whispering to herself. Having an entire conversation.

  “…dragons… master… loves… throw away… what?… no!… Maybe… Of course he does…”

  Yin Hu kept his head forward. Hid his spear in the spacial rice bag. Made sure to act like nothing had happened at all. As though the girl hadn’t been talking to herself. That was also another oddity he conveniently chose to forget. Hu Shui had been having entire conversations in between their own.

  He had no idea who she was talking about but he had hopes. Mostly a hidden monster that is guiding her and will protect him as well if anything happened. If not then another issue he would have to deal with. More on his pte.

  But that was better than the alternative.

  Nothing at all while isoted on a floating isnd by himself.

  “Tell me, Shui,” he had to step over a particurly rge root. Shui stopped at it and made a show of jumping over the root. “How many of my Hu Cn are waiting for us.”

  Yin Hu prepared a million different excuses necessary to trick anyone and anything that would question him. Followed by another series of answers and made up stories he had created on the spot. Channeling the very scant few cultivation books he had read before.

  He was not looking forward to it. Adults were not so easily tricked that he was their ancient grandpa.

  “Just me and my best friend!” Hu Shui beamed. “She’s the best person ever! Strongest person ever too! Strongest than all the boys.”

  Yin Hu stopped in his tracks.

  Wait what? That couldn’t mean what I think it means.

  “Having a friend is good. What about the adults? Your seniors?”

  Hu Shui’s shoulders sagged.

  Maybe I should run? Did I fuck up already?

  “The rest,” She tried to keep her smile as wide as it had been. But it was obviously strained. A ghost of what it had been. “…should have met you in the next realm.”

  Fuck.

  Yin Hu stared at her as his pn shattered into a million little pieces. Backfiring in a spectacur fashion. Wasn’t he supposed to have plot armor as the Mc? The world shifting and massive loopholes in reality occuring to bend over for his goals? It wasn’t supposed to be on hard mode!

  Or maybe he wasn’t the Mc.

  This only made his intent to be careful even more important. No story bullshit. No heroes jumping out of a portal at his darkest moment. No gandalf on the fifth day to save him and his friends. Just an average joe in a not so average universe.

  Yin Hu started walking again. Shui no longer had the same pep in her step. Sticking close to him and holding onto the edge of his robes. He absentmindedly patted her shoulder to comfort her. The instinctual need to protect children kicked in seeing her so sullen and glum.

  Of course he contempted running.

  She’d probably chase after him. Calling his name out. Running at a child's pace.

  He would run ps around her with his enhanced physical abilities.

  It had been forever since he felt so sleazy. A dirty feeling that permeated in his chest. He did not enjoy it. Yin hu intended to fall into a wait and see stage. He would still have the name of the Hu cn to go off of. If anything it would be better than starting from scratch.

  If things get out of hand, I can still run.

  Yin Hu did not know for how long they had been walking. Too deep in his own thoughts to notice his surroundings until Hu Shui broke away from him. Hence letting go of her iron grip on his robe. She ran ahead of him. Waving him to follow her. Her smile did grow back to its previous glory. Yet, he could tell it wasn’t the same bright thing it had once been.

  He couldn’t imagine what it would have been like remembering everyone he loved and knew dying somehow. Brutally to demonic cultivators.

  Yin Hu followed leisurely.

  She was not fast by any means, but he had a persona to keep. A certain look and character that required him to act unrealistically confident and prideful. He didn’t think an egotistical ancient cultivator would suddenly start running. Either floating, disappearing from his spot and reappearing elsewhere, or walking leisurely to their destination.

  There was no in between.

  Both of them broke through the tree line. A branch nearly whipped in on the nose, barely missing him. He stopped in his tracks and stared. This had not been what he expected of society.

  Mismatched huts, tents, rickety buildings, and the occasional good structure between them all. A small town without a wall or palisade to protect them from the outside world. In the center of it all was a gargantuan tree that had been adorned with buildings on it. All connected into a singur one.

  A tree house? More like tree mansion!

  There were guards standing around the town that he could see from a distance. Archers on rickety tower posts, spearmen and swordsmen patrolling the area. Not a single one of them had a full set of armor or any piece that matched properly. Colored all wrong and half with metal and the other half leather.

  Every single person carried a weapon or two.

  It was a fucking bandit camp built into the husk of what had been a town.

  He followed Hu Shui. Passing for a second as he passed what felt like a bubble that tried to get a read on him. It must have been a barrier of some sort. Array? He had no idea what any of that meant, if he was being honest. Good thing he wasn’t.

  A bunch of kids ran past him.

  Even the kids had swords or spears on them here. Toy weapons to practice with for the kids. Groups of them darted left and right. More than he expected, making the pce look like a medieval festival but with a Chinese twist to it.

  Instead of the fancy clothes of a festival though, everyone here wore rags. Poorly made clothes. Wagons that looked worn down and on their st legs. Even the odd horse, cow, dog, and or sheep looked emaciated and weak.

  Like a mock siege had occurred and everyone was starved.

  “Hold!” a group of mismatched guards rushed towards them. Exaggerated motions with arms and weapons swinging. More liable to hurt themselves than anyone else.

  Shui stepped in front of him.

  The lead guard moved closer while the rest loitered behind him a few steps. “Who are you? Why are you here?”

  “He looks like a sect bastard!”

  “Let me kill him, Bo! I'll throw his defiled corpse at their gates!”

  “No! Burn his corpse!”

  Each one of the group had to say a line. Add a sentence or two to show their confidence. But that didn’t fool Yin Hu. He could see them tremble behind their facade of courage. Their too rge or too small armor cttered against themselves, even when they stood still.

  But it was more than that. The thin faces. Unwillingness to look directly at him. Weapons that pointed in all directions but Yin Hu.

  They were all scared shitless.

  And yet they were willing to confront him. How far did their hate for sects go? That made no sense to him. Shouldn’t cultivation be the one way ticket out of poverty and their mundane lives? Everything seemed out of order the moment he arrived into this new world. None of it made sense to him.

  “Stop!” Hu Shui shouted.

  “Why?” the leader guard, Bo apparently, said. “You’re going to get us all killed!”

  One of them spat on the ground.

  Hu Shui stepped back into him. “T-this is my Ancestor! Leave him alone!”

  They started to circle around him. Bo motioned with his head and prepared his weapon. Preparing for a fight and worse if it came down to it.

  “Ancestor?” Bo made a show of not paying attention directly to him. But stepped closer anyway. “There are no ancestors! And if there were, then they’ve abandoned us. Left us to rot.”

  Yin Hu pulled Hu Shui behind him, then summoned his spear. His hands already felt slick with sweat. It did not affect the surface of his weapon or his grip. It was perfectly made and with passion to boot. The dragon engravings made it an excellent weapon to hold and use.

  He leveled it at them.

  They did the same. Finally finding the courage to face him.

  “Death before dishonor!” The guards shouted together with red eyes and tight jaws.

  Yin Hu was left stunned at how quickly everything devolved. The situation would turn into a battle where he wasn’t confident he could protect Hu Shui. He had no doubt he would crush the mortal, and quite frankly skeletal, guards. But how would he do that and keep Shui from getting run through by a spear?

  Fuck. This is the negative to taking their ancestors identity isn't it?

  He was confident as long as he wasn’t fighting a strong cultivator. Things got weird and quickly when dealing with them and Qi.

  Yin Hu heard the wind howl above him before the guards. A storm brewing above them. The guards looked up and he followed their gaze. He looked only to find exactly what he had been trying to avoid at all costs.

  A massive man floated above them.

  He held a bde taller than even he was, and probably as wide as Hu Shui. A tornado of leaves and branches surrounded him making it impossible to make out any details.

  A real life cultivator. One flying and controlling an element just like how he dreamed they would be. Yin Hu cursed his luck for the hundredth time that day. He had thought things were bad already before, but it just kept getting worse.

  Why the hell did the boss come out already! It's supposed to be gradual!

  Wasn’t he supposed to fight a bunch of mobs and weaklings first before he made his way up to the big dogs? Why was everything backwards in this cultivation world?!

  Zer0n1gh7s

  div>

  ~~ Sam | Vinícius Zanchetta vieira | faitore trollnark | JAMAJ | le2212 | musashi | Tom | ARHHH | Lam M?nh C??ng | Thragnar | pr0saic | Trey | villon vivien | JM | Joey Brown | TwoChains | Jack Trowell | Benjamin White | Tyrant615 | Abdiaziz Ali | DragonOrigen | Chris peter | Laudable Effort | Niccolò | matt walce | Emil Berggren | Derek Ad | Johan Olofsson | Pedro Comas | Poke | Sean Wilner | Xcel D Brite | ARF | Uriel Dabh | Poke | Jesse Watts | Jay Patel | Callie | Marta Barańska | Abhishek | Brooklyn | Sogish | SC1BUS | ElodinGale | Akkido | Ali Mohamed | James Man | Xiao | Robin Richards | Ryn | Dep | Teddyunderbnkets | Nathaniel Jacob moore | thesmallgod | Ceagle | Bck Rose | Magnus Branzén | Johan Potgieter | Col Adamson | Beqa Abudze | fity0208 | Gojira | SFf | Nekoda | ArchonUmbra | Dan Lamb | Sean | Stephen Perossa | zsell | openope | Pagemaster | Mihkel | Vincent Lin | Harrison | Marc Polguère | LeJordon | Noah | Gryxx | Taylor | Ben Evans | Lorenzo Campbell | Krish Gupta | Hi | Scipio | Thafres | VoidAutarch | pilotpyz | Flipflop Noel Schmidinger | JP | Phantom knight who can’t think of a better nicknam | logan moreno| Doc | aikido 501 | Pop Evil | TJ O'Hare | Mr. Book-Stash | Arnie Gonzales | Lazy Giant | ramir| cuornex | Leo 4s4 | Enith | CSD | Jack Bayless | Bradley Wynters | Sam | Extra16 | Anton Brandt | BossDawg | Calm | Goblin | Harry Wilde | Egil L?thman | Anthony Maxwell | Thejasvi Prahd | Bob | Reversity | Nikoj Kaspersen | dennis matesta | Keven Leigh | Tuqueque | lol lol | Ba | Hunter Brown | Aaron | jarga pon pon | Murphy | OccasionalNewb | Bunny Waffles | Zaim ?pek | Ben Kirby | Seratof | Max | Matt | Adam Shirley | Eb | Sanetless | Mudcrab with a knife | Vini | Henrik B?hlen | Henrik B?hlen | Dair | Thomas Alrd | Griphon | Dean Anderson | Jared Simmons | Michael Laswell | SixAughtFive | Jonathan | Egil L?thman | Arhsnag | Joxter | Christopher Hackett | Lapsus | Roger | Andrey Kutsyh | Jason Anglyn | Avery Theron Murphy | Smartfolk | Matthew Zeigler | Cyton Jones | Will Newell ~~

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