Chapter 1: Zhu Dong
Arc 1: From the Ashes
Chapter 1: Zhu Dong.
"Zhu Dong! How many times have I told you, we stack the Blue Night Grass after the Worm Wood!" A burly man with a hairy chest snarled, smacking a young dark-haired boy over the head as he was sorting through ingredients.
The young lad gritted his teeth and held his neck. He was a scrawny boy, only ten and one years of age, even though old man Wong wasn't a powerful cultivator, he was still a powerful man that could break him like a twig.
The two were arguing at the counter of an unopened shop, medical ingredients littered the shelves like sweets in a candy store.
"Alchemist Wong, I know you like to put the Worm Wood in front, but if it meets sunlight, it loses roughly 12 percent of its potency." Zhu Dong held his head in both his arms, his buck teeth showing with each word he took.
Alchemist Wong turned around, he carefully took off his grey apron, folding it up, "Do you know what this means Zhu Dong?" He thrust the apron in the child's face.
"That you're –"
"It was rhetorical Zhu Dong!" Alchemist Wong slapped him around the ear with the apron, causing the side of his face to go bright red.
"We put the Worm Wood out front, because I, a Grey Ranked Alchemist, say we should. You think even the customer or I care about the efficiency of a potion? No! They would buy dog shit if they thought it was valuable! They care that they're buying from an establishment that's not afraid to ruin a 'ten-thousand tails of silver' item, just for decoration!" Alchemist Wong slammed both the jars down on the counter, putting the Worm Woof in front of the Blue Night Grass.
"Now put it back, and then go outside and see Wu Yangzi, ask him for the usual punishment." Alchemist Wong snorted, brushing his hands and putting his apron back on.
As he went through a door at the end of the counter that leads to a fiery and darkroom he looked back, Zhu Dong was hunched over, dragging his feet along. Wong shook his head and sighed, "Sorry, kid."
Zhu Dong went out the back door, it led into a small courtyard. Within it was three boys, only slightly bigger than he was, huddled up in a corner.
They were smoking Wok-Root, a devastatingly destructive substance. At first, it would be delicious, refreshing, it even made cultivators more sensitive to the Qi in their surroundings. That was only the beginning, though, as, with all things, it had a middle and an end.
Wok-Root would poison the mind, cloud one's judgment – permanently if enough were inhaled. After that, it would start to degrade one's ability to absorb Qi, even going as far as to cause ruptures in the smoker's Dantian!
Zhu Dong wouldn't ever go near the stuff, he made sure to avoid it like the plague! After all, while he didn't pursue the immortal way, he wanted to become an alchemist, like Mr Wong.
To become an Alchemist, one required the ability to manipulate the spiritual energy and lifeforce of the surrounding universe – Qi.
Sure, one could become a Petty Alchemist with no cultivation, but to become a Grey Alchemist like old man Wong, one must become a Body Refiner!
To exceed that and become a Black Alchemist, they would have to reach the Qi condensing stage! Zhu Dong had read the books about the long-gone Divine Alchemic Emperors who established mighty Immortal Empires off the sweat of their own brows and their own talent.
The last of these mighty emperors had long since vanished from the world. Even here in the endless Zong Prefecture, there was at most a Jade Alchemist, and they were rarer than a Qilin's feather!
No, Zhu Dong's ambitions were much smaller than that. His only desire was to become a Black Alchemist! Rubbing it in 'Fat Wong's' big ugly nose!
There was another, though… it would never see the light of day.
A vicious yet not uncommon light glimmered in Zhu Dong's eyes. He knew the hardships that he'd had a hard life, that made him unusual amongst his peers, but most of all he'd learnt to keep to himself.
Even a wicked king could be struck down by a snake, let alone some child who wants his vengeance.
"Wu Yangzi." Zhu Dong called out to an even fatter man, his chins amounting to three and his head rounder than a melon.
The fat man turned around; the top half of his face was covered in a black mask. His eyes peered through, hollow and unwavering.
"Zhu Dong, speaking back to Master Wong again?" Wu Yangzi asked, his voice gruff and stout. In his hand he held a long whip, the handle was made of beautiful silver, the lashes on the end split into five.
Zhu Dong nodded not answering him, only muttering, "The usual."
Wu Yangzi nodded, taking out a pair of rusty iron coughs.
Zhu Dong removed his top shirt, folding it carefully, so it was neat and tidy, placing it on a chair that was near the two of them.
Zhu Dong's body was pale as milk, his ribs stuck through his skin. There was little nobbles on the top of his shoulders. His skin… it was filled with a five lashed scar, throughout his body.
On his back, around the sides of his ribs, up the small of his neck…
Zhu Dong's wrists were also scarred and had bubbled up flesh made by repeatedly destroying old scar tissue.
Zhu Dong put his hands forward – chick, chick!
Both the shackles clasped with incredible tightness onto his wrists.
Wu Yangzi started to pull a rope, causing a tree branch on the nearby oak to lower. The tree branch that was pulled down was unique, unlike the rest of the tree. It was almost entirely straight, and a large notch had been fashioned within it, so something could be hung there.
Without hesitation Zhu Dong put his shackles over the branch, slotting them into the carved-out notch. He took a deep breath, as his rapid breathing started to make him feel faint.
As Wu Yangzi pulled the rope in the other direction, causing Zhu Dong to be hoisted into the air he spoke, "Twenty-Four lashes today, Zhu Dong. Try not to scream, you know how it infuriates Master Wong, so close to opening hours."
Zhu Dong, who was now suspended there in mid-air nodded, trying to relax his shoulders as he felt a ghost-like tingling feeling coming from his numerous scars.
Wa-Chi!
"Grr!"
With a swift crack of the whip and without a moment's hesitation, Wu Yangzi lashed Zhu Dong's back, causing blood to fly everywhere.
A soft but resoundingly low bestial grunt emerged from Zhu Dong's lips. His voice filled with malice for the man torturing him and the men behind him.
Wa-Chi!
"Grrr!"
The whip cracked upon his frame again, his back tore open, and blood started to flow. His emaciated body began to go from a sickly grey to bright red!
Wa-Chi!
"Grrrrra!"
The terrible grunting leaked from Zhu Dong's mouth.
Wa-Chi!
"Ahhhh!" he screamed at the top of his lungs; his back completely torn open!
Pain burst through his body, his eyeballs shot red, his lungs burnt with fire. His lower legs started to twitch and spasm, his throat went raw from his torturous cries.
Wa-Chi!
Wa-Chi!
Wa-Chi!
Wa-Chi!
Wa-Chi…
Zhu Dong's cries echoed throughout the courtyard, ravens sat upon the roofs and tree, peering forwards, watching his pain. Two giant vultures circled overhead, wondering if today would be the day of their meal?
Zhu Dong stopped noticing this long ago though, as the final whip cracked upon his back. Even the horrid and biting leather that ripped apart his flesh, he no longer noticed it. Only the words, the words of those three.
Those three; deluded off their asses on Wok-Root.
"Haha, the last remaining scrap of the Zhu clan, he's getting a good old whipping again." The fat one snorted, taking another puff of the blazing Wok-Root in front of him.
"Zhu clan, hahaha! What fools they were. Zhu Qian should have just sold his wife to that immortal; he would have earnt tens-of-thousands of gold coin, and he wouldn't have lost his entire legacy bar his son!" The skinny one coughed up smoke, laughing his face off.
The other one, he was different from the other two. Even though he was smoking with them, he had a cunning look in his eye, "Don't mention the Immortal of the Meng Clan. We of Blue Grass City have no right. In a single night, they took the Chang, and raised them to masters of the city, exterminating the Zhu before sunrise. A thousand years of Hegemony over the city, gone, like that. Truly, the wrath of an immortal is something to fear."
The skinny one nodded, "Don't forget, the whore of the Zhu, Lou Bao, who opened her legs for that man in return for a taste of immortality." He tutted, "What could Zhu Qian do once his wife had already cast them down into oblivion?" he continued.
The fat one took another lung-full of Wok-Root, "Cough, Cough! You know, I heard that the moment she went with that man she got pregnant. Apparently, she has a whole litter of little Meng's now. At least their father was kind enough to let her first-born live." He started to chuckle to himself as if what Zhu Dong had was a life.
The Clan that was in servitude to his father betrayed him, snapping them up, like a shark. It was a backstabbing beyond comprehension to Zhu Dong at the time. His own caretaker, Chang Zi, was the one who led the charge, personally kidnapping the still infant Zhu Dong.
A song started to enter Zhu Dong's ears, "Cuckhold, cuckold, cuckold Zhu. Stout and mere between the legs, in the lap of immortals, does she beg!"
"Cuckhold Zhu, he didn't want anyone new! He died from the slut that was his Boo!"
"Hahahaa." The three of the men laughed, singing the song so that Zhu Dong could hear, this was not a rare occurrence. He'd suffered this way since he was a babe.
Enduring the 'sins' of his forefathers.
He knew the truth, though; he knew what happened! He wasn't a fool!
"BASTARDS!!!!" He screamed, a fire lighting in his broken body, his skeletal figure shaking in anger!
"What do you know!"
Wa-Chi!
"GRR, WHAT DO YOU KNOW! THOSE BASTARDS KIDNAPED HER, RAPED HER AND SLAUGHTERED MY CLAN!!" Zhu Dong roared in fury as the giant oaf Wu Zhong continued to crack down with his whip, lashing his back without mercy.
"YOU FUCKING BACK ALLEY RATS! I SWARE BY MY SOUL, I SHALL RIP YOUR TOUNGES OUT! I SHALL WAIT FOR THE DAY YOU LIE HAPPILY NEXT TO YOUR BRIDE, ON THAT DAY I'LL COME FOR YOU! I SHALL BUTCHER THEM IN IN FRONT OF YOUR VERY EYES!!! THEN YOU SHALL KNOW, YOU SHALL KNOW MY VENGEANCE HAS BEEN PAID!!" Zhu Dong let out a vow, with his last ounce of strength, his eyes started to become dark, and his breathing began to slow. There was nothing but darkness.