24 Cat

*Things like sexism and racism are purely for worldbuilding and to make it more realistic. Thank you for your understanding.*

A man was hovering in the air above Tai forest.

He appeared to be older than middle-aged but younger than old. He was solidly built and his broad chest could even be seen beneath his loose robes that bore an insignia of a blue lotus with golden streams of water circling it.

He stood in the air with his arms outspread as if he was crucified. His blue robes draped off of him and gave him a heavenly feeling. Like the embrace of god, all would be forgiven in his loving arms.

He would appear to be a normal man if not for the fact that massive torrents of water flowed around him with an ephemeral lustre. Human eyes that one would expect to see were replaced by shining blue light that acted as spotlights as they looked down at the world.

The light in his eyes dimmed at times and shone brightly at another. The sky was lit up with beautiful blue light that reflected off of the water. Even though billions of tons of water floated above the planet, any who saw it would not be distressed.

This was because the water flowed gently and with great care. The weapon of mass destruction gave a feeling of safety.

However, all of the people beneath him acted as if they could not see the monstrous waves in the air.

He looked like a god as he spared a glance down to a huge city beneath him.

With his vision, the man could see children playing together, lovers walking hand in hand and people greeting each other with a smile. The sun was high in the sky, showing that the day had long started.

The entire city had a warming feeling and the man smiled as he could see no crime in his vision. This, coupled with the benevolent sun shining down with wades of warmth, created a happy and content atmosphere wherever the man looked.

His hair that was greying swayed with the wind created by the torrents as he smiled.

However, the man's smile was replaced by a sorrowful look as he spoke to himself.

"Forgive me, my children. But I must blind you, to keep your happiness that I so cherish."

It was at this moment.

Down in the city and under the watchful eye of the man, what seemed to be a mortal child approached a stall within a market set up along one of the streets in the city.

...

The mortal child looked extremely dirty and had one side of his face completely bloodied and bruised. Due to the bruising, his left eye was tightly shut by his swollen cheeks that were an ugly green from the bruising also.

A child of this age should have plump and rosy cheeks as he smiled. However, this child looked disfigured by the bruising that turned his soft skin hard. The child couldn't even muster a tear to fall from his eye and only had a feeling of emotional death.

Walking through what looked to be a food market within the city, the child quickly looked up at the food on the stalls around him. He could only see one side of the street as he only had one functional eye.

With his vision dyed red by internal bleeding, the boy could see all the food displayed right in front of his eyes. The cold fruits still wet with water, the dried meats hung in the stalls and the wide variety of pastries still steaming as they were fresh out of the stone oven.

The boy looked at them with a massive longing as his small mouth that was missing a few teeth salivated. He even dribbled a bit but quickly wiped it away with the sleeve of his robes.

With dirty robes that were too big for him hanging off of his emaciated and frail body, the boy walked barefoot through the market that was brimming with a lively atmosphere. People were bartering and bantering with loud voices as couples and families traversed the market together.

However, like a rain cloud, any who saw the boy lost their smiles.

Noticing that a few people were staring his way, the boy looked to the floor and walked faster, hoping to lose their sight. However, only more people looked at him as the marketplace for relatively quieter.

Instantly attracting too much attention within the market with people staring at him and whispering about him, the boy became teary-eyed. Not only because everyone was looking at him with pitiful glances, but also because he feared what his father would say.

The very reason he was walking through this market was that his father had sent him to steal food for the two of them. If he failed in this again, the other half of his face would be ruthlessly beaten as well.

Wanting to quickly snatch some food without anybody looking but having all of their eyes on his tiny body, the boy burst into tears and ran back from whence he came. He could not possible smuggle some food away in these circumstances.

However, as he ran, he heard the shout of a man from behind him.

"Get the fuck out of here, you disgusting brown-skinned native!"

Crystal clear tears streamed down his face and cleaned some of the dirt off as they did. Running as fast as he could away from the market, the boy could feel everyone's eyes still on him. At this, he cursed them.

Why did they have to make it so hard for him? To make him feel so sad? Why did his skin have to be brown?

The boy wallowed in his sadness as he took his decrepit body back to his father. This was the only place he could go. There was only one market going on today and the boy only dared to steal where he could disappear in a crowd.

For someone like him who had brown skin, the penalty for stealing would be having his hand of choice cut off. Whereas for white-skinned people, or people with Qing blood, they would only get a slap on the wrist instead of losing it altogether.

If that happened to the boy, he would surely die because of his weak body. Not only blood loss, but his susceptibility to illness and disease.

The boy quickly left the marketplace while leaving a trail of tears and ran toward the poor area of the city. The quality of the bricks slowly decreased and the people slowly became dirtier and more brown.

Finally reaching an alley shrouded in darkness without a single ray of light, the boy breathing deeply, the boy slowly took a step into the darkness and kept on walking.

It was eerily silent and not even wind could be heard blowing. The air was naturally cold here and the boy started shivering as he walked. Crossing his arms over his chest, the boy tried to stay warm.

Walking a bit further, a pair of rough hands suddenly grabbed the boy and searched his body all over. Searching but finding nothing, the hands retracted into the darkness and a voice reverberated.

"Nothing?! Even after your last punishment, you return empty-handed?! Sigh, you foolish child. It seems you need more discipline."

As the icy words sounded right above the boy, he flinched and turned around. Staring up, the boy was greeted with the sight of a tall and menacing man, looking down at himself with deadly cold eyes.

"F-father...please no... I-i tried b-but they were all l-looking at me..." The boy stammered a few words as his body started to shake violently. Before his father, the boy could only be a slave.

Zero traces of pity flashed in the father's eyes as he raised a fist to strike the boy. Unlike his son, the father's body was free from starvation and was even stronger than most mortals. From this, it could be seen that whenever the boy brought back food, the father would always eat his fill before leaving his son the scraps.

Seeing his father raise a fist with a scarily apathetic face, the boy screamed and tried to run away.

"Waaaaaaahahahaa!! Daddy please no! Wahahaaaa!" The boy screamed pathetically as he turned his back to the giant figure that was his father.

The boy scrambled away while screaming. However, before he could even take a step after turning, a heavy and powerful fist landed on the boy's back.

"Ughh!" The boy grunted painfully before falling to the floor powerlessly. An immense pain spread from his back in waves and paralysed his entire body for a moment. He didn't move a single inch as when he did, immense pain riddled his entire back.

Due to his emaciation, the boy's back had little to no muscle and his skin clung to his ribs and showed his deathly thin state. With no protection for his bones, it was undeniable that the bones that hadn't even been given the nutrition to develop were broken into many pieces.

Lying face down on the floor and not daring to move, the boy could only cry.

"*whimper* Daddy! *whimper* I...I c-can't m...move!! *whimper*"

Heavy steps resounded as the giant man walked over to the boy's fallen body.

Silence pervaded within the darkness until a cold voice spoke.

"Get up."

Although the boy was expecting to hear that, he still didn't want to. With his face buried in the dirt and not daring to move it, the boy pleaded while dirtying his face with mud.

"*whimper*I...I...I can't! *whimper* D-daddy, please h-help meee! *whimper*"

Looking down at his pathetic excuse for a son, the father did not react and only chided.

"I said get up!! If you don't get up right fucking now, I'll stamp on your fucking back. You hear me, boy?!" Although he sounded extremely angry and the boy thought he was too, the father's face was completely uncaring.

Hearing what his father said, the boy's pupils shrunk to pin-size.

'I don't want to get up! I don't want to get up! Why won't he help me?' The boy thought heart-wrenching thoughts as he waded through the feeling of hesitation and directly tried to prop himself up.

Breathing heavily but trying to calm down, the boy tried to move his arms so he could use them to get up. As he moved them, an immense pain wracked his upper back near his shoulders. However, it wasn't as bad as the pain he constantly felt from the injury itself.

Managing to ignore the pain while grunting, the boy used his arms to then try and lift his upper body.

However, the second he tried to move his back, a massive pain once again pulsed throughout the boy's body in waves. The boy's arms went limp as he welped from the pain, his body falling back to the ground.

He cried. "Waaaahaaaaa! Daddy!! Help meeeee!"

The father's eyes shone with a glint of impatience and he was just about to stamp on the boy's back right where he punched him.

However, he stopped.

The father's face flashed with a mixture of emotions, mostly regret and sadness as he quickly rushed to the boy's side.

"Oh, oh my boy! I'm so sorry! Don't worry, daddy's here. It's going to be okay. Shhh, shhhh."

The boy cried even harder but there seemed to be a happiness within it.

...

Looking down at this scene, the man smiled.

The water flowed as rivers flowed within rivers around the man.

With the sun high in the sky, the scene looked apocalyptic as a huge tsunami of water tens of thousands of meters high floated in the air.

However, it was invisible to every being, human or insect, down on the surface of the planet. If they looked up, they would only see the sun in the sky and not the raging waters that were truly there.

Scenes similar to what just happened with the father and the boy were happening all over the city. Cruel and 'evil' people were suddenly becoming kind and caring as they regretted their past decisions.

However, the source of it all, the man, was content at the scene. Instead, he only shouted.

"Li Shan, do you see the power of the soul when it is unlocked, when it is whole? This power...I wanted you to have it and succeed me. However, you are now a mere slave. What right do you have to the Clan?" Looking to his side, the man addressed a small figure beside him that had his head lowered in servitude.

This person wore a set of robes coloured black and white, the colour of a servant. He had black hair and appeared to be middle-aged. From the words of the man, this person was naturally Li Shan.

Inwardly marvelling at the sheer power of the mountains of water around him that could crush his Stage 6 body into paste easily, Li Shan bowed his head to the man and spoke with words brimming with subservience.

"Lord Patriarch, I-" Li Shan started.

"Master." The Patriarch interrupted. He glared at Li Shan with reprimand.

"Master, I am but a slave of the Clan. After my transgression, I had been prepared to give up my right to compete for the role of Patriarch." Li Shan spoke with his head lowered, not once making eye contact with the Patriarch as he spoke.

"I thought so too. However, it is clear for me to see that you truly value the Clan more than your life. So much so, that you could even kill your own son and cause your wife to live a life of misery to protect even a fraction of it." What the Patriarch said hit Li Shan's heart and caused him to lower his head even deeper.

In regards to his son, Li Guan's, death; he had long realised the error of his ways. There were many things he could do differently to ensure the safety of his family and his son, however, he was too brazen and blinded by the power he held to see it.

And because of his actions, his wife, Ruo Nan, had attempted suicide twice before she was detained and held by the Patriarch's men.

Just the fact that what he had done had caused his wife to want to kill herself had heavily hurt Li Shan. He knew that things could never go back to the way they were and that redemption was an outrageously audacious request that would cause even the other elders to look at him with disgust.

Li Shan did not respond to the Patriarch's words. He was deeply ashamed. He had long stopped searching for justification and accepted that what he did was terrible. He had surrendered himself to the Patriarch in mind and body.

The Patriarch was about to continue, however, he snapped his head toward Tai forest. He sent forth his divine sense in overwhelming waves as he scanned with his eyes that shone with light. Under his watch, whatever he was searching for could not hide.

Hearing nothing more from the Patriarch while the water crashing sounded in his ears, Li Shan lifted his head to look at his master.

Looking up, he saw the Patriarch fixing his fervorous gaze onto the depths of the forest.

Realising something, Li Shan spoke. "Master, could it be-" However, he was once again cut off by the Patriarch. But would a lowly servant dare to get angry at being interrupted? Servants were the most humble of beings.

"Yes. It is here. Right now, we are locking eyes. Although you will not be able to see it, it seems very frustrated. Hahaha! This is good! It won't be long until it becomes a force of the Clan!" The Patriarch spoke abstract words that wouldn't be understood by those that didn't have inside knowledge.

Hearing the words of the Patriarch, Li Shan's hairs stood on end and a shiver went down his spine.

'It's looking here right now?' At this thought, Stage 6 Li Shan got very scared. The only reason he wasn't running was because of the presence of the Patriarch, his master.

"Master, what's happening?" Li Shan had no idea to what great collisions were occurring at this second without anyone knowing. With his pathetic Stage 6 vision, he couldn't hope to see or comprehend the actions of two Stage 7 beings.

"We're skirmishing with our souls, nothing massive. Soon, it will show itself. Hehehe, it doesn't care to communicate with me."

Li Shan barely understood what the Patriarch was saying. 'Skirmishing with their souls?' As he had yet to unlock his soul, Li Shan didn't know much about the abilities of an unlocked soul. Even though he used to be an esteemed Stage 6 elder, such knowledge was still out of his grasp. Only the personal disciple of the Patriarch, usually one of the elders that had a chance of reaching Stage 7, was exposed to such information.

Trying to follow the Patriarch's gaze and see what he was looking at, Li Shan barely had a chance to focus his eyes before a splitting pain assaulted the forefront of his head. His eyes went blurry and unfocused as he struggled to think and keep his train of thought intact.

Seeing Li Shan become extremely disorientated, the Patriarch grabbed the air and pulled Li Shan's body closer to his. Then, he put his hand on Li Shan's forehead.

Once the Patriarch did this, the pain left Li Shan's head.

When clarity returned to his eyes, Li Shan felt like he was awakening from a dream. He was so tired that he wouldn't care if somebody came and struck him. All he wanted to do was sleep.

"Li Shan, your soul was injured. Just go to sleep. That is your soul trying to repair itself." Not overly distressed at Li Shan's state, the Patriarch controlled some water to hold his body as he fell into sleep.

Li Shan could hear the words but barely understood them. His brain didn't want to process information, it only wanted to sleep. And it did. Being suspended by the water, Stage 6 Li Shan fell into a slumber.

Even Li Shan could do nothing even when faced with the aftereffects of the battle. Whatever was facing the Patriarch didn't even spare him a glance and yet he was still defeated.

Suddenly, the Patriarch let out a great power that vibrated the air around him.

And, calm returned.

'Sigh, it has gone into hiding. At least I managed to injure its soul, it should be more fearful of me now.' The Patriarch thought. He glanced at the sleeping Li Shan for but a second before controlling the ocean in the air to take them both back to Qingshan City beneath them.

After they had left, a huge pair of yellow cat-like eyes shone on their previous position before disappearing into the depths of Tai forest shrouded in darkness.

*3,204/3,000 words*