4 Back to town

Hartley started to gather his thoughts, he had been stranded here for years and he was to turn 17 at the end of this year, the only thing he was definitely sure of , was that his name was Lou Hartley.

He remembered Lou Shan, an elder in the tribe saying his name was a bit.....

"Western".....

What ever that meant!!

Over the past months he had collected so much furs and beast cores that he was sure he would earn some coins, but exactly how much he had no idea ...

In the golden rays of the morning sunshine, there was someone dressed in yellow striped leopard clothes, you could tell this person made it himself because it was not very well cut and stitched, it was in fact held together with some sort of dried grass.

The tall slim youngster had a head of disheveled raven-black hair hanging all over his soft facial features, with a skin tone that suggested he had been exposed to the sun for a prolonged amount of time during his short life.

His blues eyes contrasted with his tanned skin, making them even more striking than usual and his eyebrows grew straight across each eye giving him a peaceful and calm look overall.

Hartley traveled with a big pack on his back and this wasn't even half the stuff he had hidden away in his shack, he entered the outskirts of town and made his way towards the center where all the shops were located.

People milled around, some busily made their way through the streets as if late for an appointment, while others browsed casually, checking out the assortment of goods the merchants had to offer.

This was in the Waltham province where the Lou Clan was the top clan, Hartley doubted anyone would recognize him as a part of the Lou Clan.

Technically he was, but in reality he didn't have any feelings of filial piety towards the clan of his birth, as he reached the areas clogged with more people, the more strange stares he got from the public.

Holding his head high with his chin to the sky, straight back and chest out, he continued forward with confident strides, paying no mind to the looks of derision, laughing or snide comments.

As he passed a small alleyway he heard someone say. "Hey wild man, what have you got in that pack?"

A blond haired youth, followed by four other youths of similar age, started laughing and pointing as they made there way in Hartley's direction.

Hartley did not slow down or speed up, he just kept going at his same pace, paying no mind to these wanna-be bullies.

"Hey you!" shouted the blonde, his face contorting with annoyance and rage.

Before he could say another word Hartley chimed in and said. "Let me guess, you are about to tell your name, your Clan's name and the name of some Elder related to you."

Hartley looked over his shoulder without stopping and finished by saying.

"I have no time for a dick measuring contest with you kids, be gone or I will make you."

Hartley turned his head and continued on his way,  looking straight ahead as he walked like that was the end of that matter.

The blonde youth's name was Lin Chin and he was from the LIn Clan, he did indeed have a uncle who was an elder in the Lin Clan, he had used this to bully and abuse people with the name of his third rate clan.

Lin Chin was boiling with rage, was he just looked down on?  He was someone in the 5th layer of the houtian realm, a remarkable achievement for his age was what all the elders had told him.

Now he was being humiliated in broad daylight  by some uncivilized mountain youth. How could he let this slide?

"Break his legs and throw his pack over in the river" he said to his four accomplices with a stern face of authority.

He was just about to inform Hartley who he was and what he was about when he remembered Harley's prior comment... he swallowed his words and gritted his teeth in rage.

Four small fries approached Hartley, their drawn swords glinting with the reflection of the sunshine.

"You shouldn't have done that!" One proclaimed with a serious expression, cracking his neck from left to right in exercise.

Now that Hartley was a half step xiantian realm expert, he could control gravity for 30 meters with him as the center, pushing it away from, or bringing it towards himself.

In addition to bringing it slamming down from the heavens in an orthodox manner, he could also manipulate the force of gravity from zero-gravity to 20 gs of gravitational downforce.

Hartley made a motion like fanning away an annoying fly with his right hand, releasing 10 gs of gravity towards the four lackeys without even looking back.

The force swept towards them like a brisk wind, gravity pushed back all four guys at once like telekenesis, lifting them parallel to the ground and sending them flying back 15 meters in a blur.

They finally collided with a shop front with a huge bang, followed by shrieks of pain. Transforming the colourful shop front into a display of broken wood and shattered-glass crashing everywhere.

Sending the valuable wares of the merchant flying in chaos, some broken in pieces, others damaged.

A crowd of noisy passers by came swarming to the scene of carnage, checking out what was happening.

When the crashing sounds ended, the four youths laid prone, their injured bodies scattered amidst the wreckage, hysterical shrieks of panic and disbelief came from the shop owner in the background.

The youths moaned in misery as they looked at the back of Hartley, he went about his business without a care, they shivered before passing out from fright and pain in equal measure.

LIn Chin had his mouth agape, he did not sense any wind element or earth element being used, he wanted to pee and poo at the same time, he himself would find it impossible to defeat his four lackeys with one strike.

As more people were gathering with shocked faces and bafflement, Lin Chin turned around and with the highest speed he could achieve, made his way out of there without even once looking back in the direction of his four friends, or the wild mountain youth he had looked down on.

The youth with the large pack on his back kept going on his merry way, neither hurried or flustered. To him, it was just another experience in a long list of unpleasant experiences he had had with the locals in the province.