9 Blood Spear and Master Gudu

Huh?!

Why is my vision so fuzzy?

"Lei Ba?" I heard a feminine voice directly over me. "Didn't you want to name him Xun Jin* in honour of your father?"

There was a conversation happening right next to me from what I could distinguish as two different voices spoke up. I didn't understand a single word of what they said although I used to know seven languages during my past life. I spoke Kathanir, Lektrian, Asgelly, Yarench, Lekiri, Makezian and … oh and Narandin.

And still, I could not discern a single word they uttered. Nothing both voices said had any similarities with what I spoke. Not even a word I could trace back its origins.

"Well, I did. But with everything that happened right now, I think Lei Ba is most appropriate" the second voice, masculine, answered the previous one apparently. "I am sure my father will find no problem with it."

"Very well. Lei Ba it is then…"

I felt that my position was shifted and that I was exchanged from hand to hand. My previous handler had rough callous hands while my current one appropriated softer smooth ones.

Wait…I was exchanged? How small am I?

This fuzzy vision…my small size…not understanding the language…

Was I reincarnated as a…baby?

(Please gods no…damn you demonic prick!)

Can I even speak?

I imagined my tiny hands reaching my throat as I tried to clear it. I gave attempt at saying something in Kathanir. It was so weird in simple terms.

I heard myself humming while nothing audible actually came out of my mouth. Knowing what to say but not being able to say it was a very uncomfortable feeling I was being subjected to right now.

Was I really a baby?

That would indeed explain some curious factors, such as why I felt cold and naked. I was probably just delivered and reborn.

"Did you hear it Bai Ling? Our boy was trying to say something!"

"Oh, how cute! My little Lei Ba wants some attention!"

A finger rubbed on my nose. It had the same softness as before, the same smoothness and gentleness. If I had to guess correctly, that would be my mother.

How soft! Rub me more!

I giggled and smiled.

"Qi Tian…look! He's smiling" she rubbed my nose once more and I gave the same reaction.

They were so immersed in it right now that they repeated it a few dozen times. Not that I would complain anyway…it was one of the best feelings in the world. I had almost forgotten what it felt like to have a family once again.

(Wish I had such a consciousness last time I was a baby…)

"Brother Qi Tian. You have to get out of here for now…" a third voice joined in on the discussion. "The building might collapse at any moment."

"Very well, brother Lin. But what about my wife?" the masculine voice, who by now I conclude was my father's, spoke.

"No need to worry. I have some people here to help me move her outside."

"Thank you, brother!"

Once again, my father, whom I recognized by his callous hands, carried me and walked some steps away. I heard footsteps knock on wood and thus I assumed we were in some physician's room or something.

I was wrapped in a strangely feeling cloth, a little rugged and prickly, but nothing I couldn't handle, and was taken outside.

A chilling breeze tickled my face. It felt like the nightly winds were brushing upon me. So, it was probably midnight or something.

A few minutes in and I could hear a hundred different sounds around me. There was a mix between adults, children and even from women and men altogether.

Was I the son of some big shot or royalty? Was everyone here to congratulate my parents on my birth?

"Master Gudu is here! Master Gudu is here!" a very loud and annoying voice was shouting. "Make way for Master Gudu!"

Gudu Xing Chen*, or otherwise known as Lonely Star, was a powerhouse practitioner of the Martial Dao. He was a master cultivator, who was up until that moment in closed door seclusion.

When the lightning struck in the sky, everyone had thought those were Heavenly tribulations summoned to punish Xing Chen as he was making a breakthrough. Apparently, it was not the case and he was fairly pissed off for having to come here when he was finally making progress.

He came to the area with a grouchy manner. I could hear someone pout and curse under their breath.

"I hope there is a good explanation as to why I was disturbed during my cultivation."

A few people leaned forward in a bowing stance. Some even crouched to the ground and kowtowed.

"Apologies, Master Gudu. But we really need to ask advice" the one speaking ushered to Yang Qiao's house. It was tearing apart and on the verge of collapse. "There is a strange spear inside…"

They did not need to tell him twice. After being told to look that way, Xing Chen's eyes widened extensively. People could tell he saw something that they could not see themselves.

"Where did that come from?"

"Ehm-ehhh, from the sky?"

"The sky?!"

He did not wait for the response. In a neck breaking speed, the master was already inside the once humble house and was investigating the strange artefact fallen from the sky.

There it was…

In a radius of a few feet around it, everything was utterly decimated and turned to ashes. And a few more afterwards, the furniture and walls were torn away. But with the impact of the fall, the artefact had caused the whole building to crumble apart slowly.

'This spear…there is blood on it…'

Xing Chen approached it carefully, releasing his awareness around the vicinity. He wouldn't want to fall into some trap and injure or kill himself in the process.

'I cannot feel any evil aura from it…or any other type of auras either.'

Confident after his analysis, the master reached out his hand to touch the shaft. He wrapped his palm around it. Doing so, he did not feel as if the blood was there. He could indeed see it, but it wasn't there making contact with his skin.

This was it. After grabbing the spear, Xing Chen safely assumed that he could pull it out and take it for himself. Fortunately for him, he was notified and arrived before any other master came and reaped the benefits.

"I will refine it and discover its uses—"

"BOOOOM!" a massive explosion occurred.

Master Gudu was sent flying towards the public while millions of splinters shot through the whole place, hitting a few of the bystanders. The house itself collapsed over everything, creating a storm of dust in the process.

Among the panic, Yang Qiao and her daughter Yang Mei stood immobile, their eyes nearing a watery state.

A few men ran to the injured master and helped him back on his feet.

He was in general, still alive, but his hand was as if it got slashed by a thousand blades. Blood was dripping extensively.

"Master Gudu! Are you okay?"

"I-I'm fine…" he took out a medicinal pill and consumed it. "I'll need a few days to recover though."

The bleeding slowed down and he felt less pain than before.

The dust heaved and revealed an empty area reduced to ashes where a blood red spear was still lodged in the floor.

If anyone had any ideas about the artefact, they surely dismissed it right away. If even a master of Gudu Xing Chen's calibre was reduced to that state, then forget anyone with a lower cultivation to be able to take the spear for themselves.

"Whose house is this?" he asked, still gritting his teeth from the pain.

"Euh, it is mine Master Gudu" Yang Qiao's voice was squeaking horribly, on the brink of crying.

"I will offer you enough money as compensation. I apologise for the inconvenience I caused you!"

He broke free of his helpers' grips and bowed to the midwife.

"I don't dare…" Qiao waved nervously in dismissal. "I am only glad that my patients were unharmed."

"Aunty Qiao, I am terribly sorry for what has happened to your house. It is our fault for coming this late and for causing you inconvenience."

Next to Qiao, my father was standing, having witnessed the whole process.

I was still in his arms. Of course, I only heard the booms and was scared shitless. They will have to change the cloth I was wrapped in when they noticed it.

It was truly a pain not to understand what they were saying. At the very least, I had my mother and father's voices memorized for now.

I heard a somewhat raspy voice among the ones that were speaking and it stood out the most. The owner of the voice was addressing my father as it so happened.

"You are the patients?"

"En, Master Gudu!" Qi Tian gave a bow. "My wife Bai Ling gave birth to my boy tonight."

"Oh. My congratulations then!" he smiled to him and his wife in turn.

"Master Gudu is too polite. I wish I had met you in better circumstances."

"Nonsense. Meeting like this makes the encounter memorable" Xing Chen shook Qi Tian's hand in celebration and gave out a terrible laugh. "What did you name the boy?"

"Ke Lei Ba!" my mother answered happily.

After so many times hearing these three words…"Ke Lei Ba"…I came to terms that they were probably my own name.

Wait a second…

Aki-La-Ba!

Ke-Lei-Ba!

Really, Demonic God…that's the best you came up with?

"Thunder Scar!" Gudu nodded with much interest to the name. "A fitting name."

Xing Chen glanced at me with evaluating eyes. He noticed the red scar around my neck. He was also told of strange lightning that occurred earlier. That way, the name made absolute sense to him.

As he does to every person he met, the master gauged the talent of the new-born baby. Every person is born with a talent which relates directly to his future achievements in cultivation. The higher the grade of an individual's talent, the further they'll be able to go in terms of cultivation and realms.

"Do you mind if I check little Lei Ba's talent? This opportunity cannot be missed."

"Feel free, Master Gudu!" my father did not refuse such a generous offer.

He strained his eyes in order to be able to gaze at my talent and determine if I was to be a genius or not.

Upon his search, his eyes landed on a golden light shining in the middle of my chest. Curious, he attempted to investigate it but was quickly shut off. Some unknown force pushed him out of my body's overview and locked him out.

Shocked by that, he gave another try. The response was more aggressive this time and left him with a feeling of pain in his eyes.

Gudu Xing Chen was astounded as to how a baby was able to keep him away from prying. He thought about it extensively and looked back at the spear with theories.

There was definitely a connection between these two and he had to find it out somehow. He had his own plan.

"What is this friend's name?" he asked with much amicability.

"Oh, I am Ke Qi Tian! Pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"Ke Qi Tian. Hm, good."

He looked back at me again, his eyes closing slightly.

"I could not determine his talent right now. If friend Qi Tian doesn't mind, how about introducing little Lei Ba to me again after he's broken through the first stage?"

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*Check the very first chapter at the very beginning for the Index*