New Mulberry City
The vicious night enveloped the sky, further placing a shadow on New Mulberry City. An indistinguishable merchant city in the once majestic Xia Empire. At its peak, the Xia Empire controlled millions of hectares of land, but now it was a shadow of its former glory.
In this relatively small city lived hundreds of thousands of citizens, some good and some not so much. Inside a dark alley in an abandoned area of the city, laid an injured beggar's body. He looked middle-aged, when in reality he was barely older than 15 years of age. Malnutrition had ravaged his body, leaving him more of a skeleton than a child.
The boy's name was Lin Xun and although he had every right to hate the world, to blame his misfortune on the world's cruelty, he didn't. Born an orphan with his only possession being a rusty wooden box with three small patterns on it, the only paternal care Lin Xun had ever experienced was from an elderlyaged gravedigger who died just as quickly as he had been exposed to Lin Xun. Leaving him alone once yet again.
"'Hmm… This looks like a pretty great day."'
The morning sunshine glistened on Lin Xun's body, giving him a form of love and nourishment he had never received from any conscious being. A form of undeserved optimism.
As Lin Xun commenced his morning stroll, hoping to receive a piece of stale bread from a local food bank to clench his relentless hunger, he came upon a troubling scene. In a stained and reeking corner, three older boys were beating another child to his last breath.
Lin Xun, being the empathetic soul that he was, approached the crowd. "Friends, why don't you just leave him alone, if you don't, he might just leave this world."
The leader of the group crowd turned to Lin Xun. An expression of disgust flashed across his face and he spat on to Lin Xun's direction, before ignoring him once more. As Lin Xun got a better view of the victim beaten boy he was shocked beyond belief, the boy was Shang Yuan.
An infamous figure in the city, Shang Yuan was the sole survivor o of the once influential Shang Clan. Of course, the key term being "once", as the Shang Clan was annihilated by a legendary immortal many years ago.
New Mulberry City couldn't be considered of my note in the entire Xia Empire, just another city inside another region, but it had garnered great attention when a legendary figure of myth had appeared in its proximity. Immortals, beings that were once before only believed by only ignorant children and disillusioned elders, existences completely shrouded purely in mystery. One may think that these mythical beings would not distract themselves with matters of mere mortals, but the Shang Clan had gained such attention. Something that they would come to regret to their graves.
Rumors have it that the Shang Clan had defrauded the people of New Mulberry City, by establishing their fortune through treacherous means and keeping the public calm through their control over the city paper. The young lady of the Chen Clan, one of the many clans that were defrauded, caught the attention of the immortal through her incredible charms and virtue, convincing the immortal to annihilate the Shang Clan.
Being exposed was the beginning of the end for the Shang Clan, since the immortal decided to slaughter the whole clan. The only survivor was the young Shang Yuan, who as the genius of his family, he was sent to the capital to train, where he had flourished gloriously like a young dragon, a son of the heavens. However, when his once glorious future shattered, Shang Yuan was forced to return to New Mulberry city once more, but this time as a figure of controversy rather than prosperity.
Although Lin Xun wanted to help the child being battered, even his kindred heart couldn't help falter due to the filthy reputation of the Shang Clan. That even to him, the lowest of the low in the city had become aware of the Shang Clan's reputation, deeply embedding a sort of anger within him.
"Boys…", Lin Xun said in a shaky tone. "Let's just let him go now, anymore would be overboard."
The hooligans continued to ignored Lin Xun, kicking Shang Yuan once more in the stomach, so gruesome that it even caused some of the younger boys to flinch. Shang Yun coughed blood, his eyes filling to the brim with hatred so deep it would make the gods quench in fear. Even the hooligans hesitated for a moment when they saw his expression, but they again quickly resumed returned to beating of the boy.
In his seemingly last moments of life, Shang Yuan reached inside his black Chinese robe, taking out a small black bead. In mere seconds, the world around Lin Xun seemed to bend, before an explosion occurred; one so destructive great that that ground itself seemed to melt like steel under lava.
....
Thousands of miles from the fractured city, there was a tower so large that it pierced the sky. It was seemingly built from pure jade, blinding all those that stared at it from the light it reflected from the sun.
At the peak floor in the jade tower sat a middle-age man, he was dressed in a pure white robe without a speck of dust on it. The middle-aged man was an immortal of legend, a being that shook the mortal world to its core, but it should be mentioned that he is not the one that butchered the Shang Clan.
Laying close to the immortal was an attractive figure in a pink blouse, the lady's clothes barely covered her body, giving her the sort of image of a vixen. She purposefully moved in a way that made sure that her every slight movement emphasized the curves on her body.
"Dear lord immortal, have you considered what I told you about my clan", the curvaceous figure said in a seductive tone. The immortal distracted by her beauty, simply nodded. "So will you consider showing your public support, by allowing helping my clan be under your majestic influence?"
The immortal smiled, motioning her to come closer to him. The lady walked over, making sure to maintain eye contact keep the immortals eye on her, but she suddenly paused. An expression of shock appeared on her face, but she made no sound. After a few moments, her head slid down her body. Sliced clean off, even without it even being apparent the immortal moving a hand.
The immortal's expression didn't even change. "'So it took the pathetic mortal 3 years to mention her true objective. Her patience was quite impressive, I must say, she did impress me for a mortal."'
The immortal sighed, making a circular another motion with his hand. Turning the the remaining mess of a body into dust.
"It's so tiresome to watch over this empire. Mortals are so undoubtedly boring."
As the immortal mused in boredom, the doors slammed open to his floor were opened with great force. A worried attendant walked in. It was an old man in a blue uniform. He was the sword attendant serving under the immortal, meaning he was an immortal being himself.
"Deacon, deacon!!!" the attendant paused for a moment to catch his breath. "We have a major issue!"
"What is it?" The deacon perked up his interest slightly piqued.
"A a city of mortals has been completely decimated destroyed."
"Has age turned your mind to shit, why would I give any regard to mortal matters!"
An expression of fear covered the attendants face, the deacon's immortal aura permeated around him covered his body, causing the ground under him to break under bellow his convulsing body. "No lord, but..."
"But nothing!" The immortal realized his sudden surge of of anger was unbecoming for someone of his status and his frown quickly changed to a blank expression. His pride as an immortal had been wounded ever since he had been tasked with watching over a mortal empire and he was simply taking it out on his subordinate.
"Tell me, why should I not wipe away your soul for disgracing my honor?" There was no longer any change to his expression, he was speaking as if he was simply speaking matter-of-factly.
"Do men shed tears over the grim fates of ants?"
"No lord, but it seems like some immortal has broken one of the immortal commandments, harming mortals with no ill reason."
The deacons aura was lifted from the attendant, allowing for the assistant to final be at ease. But it was the opposite for the deacon, since for the first time in many years an emotion that he felt extinct to him resurfaced. Fear.