Side Story - Cheng Fenfang

"Haaaaah, haaaah, haaaah, haaaaah!"

'Mom, why?! Why did you try to sell me?! Was I that useless to you?! Was it you who killed father?'

I run away from the group of slavers. Luckily, my mom doesn't have enough money to send actual martial artists after me, but I'm not exactly a martial artist either.

My name is Cheng Fenfang. My mother recently became addicted to money, using any means to get more. She wanted to sell me, and hired a group of men to capture me while I was in my bed. Luckily, after fathers death, I haven't really slept a full night, so I managed to escape. I keep running towards the only place I feel calm, the Chasm of the Raven Goddess. People say that thousands of years ago, the Raven Goddess created this world as well as the higher realms before coming back here and carving this multiple hundred kilometer long chasm. Nobody has managed to explore the bottom of the chasm, so nobody knows its depth. I finally reach the chasm and stop by the edge to catch my breath.

I cough as my lungs finally catch a break, desperately filling themselves as quickly as possible. My break doesn't last long though, as I hear the voices of the slavers getting closer. Well, I have nowhere else to go. I pull out my fathers sword and face the group coming out of the forest. The leader, a giant ugly man who smells like the worst kind of pig, steps forward while laughing,

"Heh heh heh! Little girlie, why don't you just give up and come over here? Make this easier for all of us. After all, us bad men gotta make some money too!"

I don't even respond and instead hold the blade in front of myself, ready to strike any who come near. I remember what father taught me before his death as one of the thugs runs at me with his club. As he swings down, I sidestep and gently, yet quickly, slice upwards. The blade easily glides through the thug's arms. However, I don't stop there, I curve the blade as it reaches the end of the slash and cut through his neck. I hear one of the thugs yell out,

"NO! BROTHER KANG!"

After hearing that, I feel a piercing pain in my side as an arrow pieces into my left side, going through my stomach and most likely a kidney. The thug leader yells at the one with a bow who ignores him and shoots me again when I turn to face them. This arrow pierces my right lung. I cough up blood and fall backwards, into the chasm. I hear the leader yelling at his men, probably after killing the one who shot me. Heh. At least that bitch lost her money.

After a few seconds of falling, I slam into the ground with a loud thud. I feel multiple bones in my body break after that fall. I can barely move.

*cough*

I cough up another patch of blood and feel myself getting cold. I can't pass out though, that'll be the death of me. One of my arms isn't broken, so I use it to drag myself to the wall. I look at where I landed and find a splatter of blood in the shape of my body. Heh, it's kind of comical. Knowing that my life has led to this. All my joys and sorrows are nothing now. My life is ending at a rapid pace, and it was caused by the one who gave me life to begin with.

I feel myself starting to lose consciousness, but I fight to keep it. As I'm about to lose, I feel the wall behind me give away. I fall backwards and hit my head. I rub my head and look at the new cave behind me. It opens up into a lit room with a beautiful painting of a black phoenix. In front of this painting is a pedestal, holding a vial of black liquid. I read the writing underneath the phoenix painting,

"To whoever is the unfortunate soul who finds this place, know that your struggles have not been in vain. For you have found the inheritance of a Martial God."

I feel heat well up inside me as tears begin falling from my eyes. I clutch my chest and crawl as fast as I can. I struggle to force myself up onto the chair in front of the pedestal. I find a note in front of the vial. I open it and find the same handwriting that was under the painting,

"This vial contains my bloodline, the bloodline of an abyssal phoenix. It shall heal any injuries you may have, and will turn you into a pseudo-phoenix. There is also a spear and cultivation method contained in the spatial ring on the pedestal. These three things will make you unrivaled in every realm. However, be warned, if you are a man, you will not be after consuming my bloodline. Phoenixes are all female after all."

I chuckle as I read that. Information that could shake the world of divine beast hunters was so casually mentioned in this note. While I doubt a Martial God would come to the lower levels, I can't help but be intrigued. After all, this chasm was created by a woman with black wings. Maybe she's the phoenix who left this here. I've heard of many people obtaining inheritances after all.

"Fuck it."

I uncork the bottle and swallow the vial of dark liquid. Immediately, my entire body bursts into flames as I feel every impurity in my body burn away. I feel wings begin to sprout from my back, burning with a black flame. I see the hair in front of my face begin changing. My previously brown hair turns a deep black, almost inky in color. I look at my hands and see them begin to grow brighter. My previous tan almost all but disappears.

I can feel something within my body shift. As if I have no humanity left to me. I feel that I can change between a human and bird-like form. The flames covering my body begin to eat away at my injuries, burning the arrows to ash, and then burning the ash into nothing. The injuries heal. These flames surprisingly don't hurt. Rather, they feel comfortable. I'm finally able to breathe.

I feel myself shoot from the Human realm to the Martial Apprentice realm. This may not be a big growth, but for someone to advance without even cultivating is unheard of. Even Long Yang, who received the inheritance of the sun dragon, had to cultivate to grow to the Martial Apprentice level!

Finally, the flames die down as a beautiful set of black wings unfurls behind me. I take the spatial ring and put some qi into it. I find a book, a spear, and a mirror. I take out the mirror, as I assume whoever gave me this had a reason for putting it in. I look at myself… Wow.

I see a beautiful girl with skin just slightly tanned. Beautiful long black hair flows from my head, and supple pink lips grace my face. Honestly, I'd be attracted to me. As I'm about to store this mirror, I find another note stuck to the back of it,

"Find me. I am past the realm of Immortals. There, I shall teach you the truth of this world."

I nod my head. Whoever this woman is that saved me, I shall find her. She pulled me out of the worst time of my life and gave me a way out. I'll find her and repay her for her grace. I just wish she would have left me her name. I take out the spear and feel it bind itself to my soul before disappearing. It fades away into my soul.

(Spear art —>)

I then take out the cultivation method. I read the cover,

[Cultivation of the Divine Phoenix of the Abyss]

What a grand name… Normally, the powerful cultivation methods have long names… I open the front cover and the book bursts into black flames that rapidly move up my arms and through my ears, into my brain. I find the method being imprinted into my mind, giving me the breathing method, as well as a spear fighting technique, and a movement technique using my wings.

Immediately, I sit down to start cultivating. Luckily, now that I'm a pseudo-phoenix instead of a human, I no longer need food. My food is qi. I'll cultivate till the Martial Master realm, and then I'll kill that woman who calls herself my mother!

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AN: don't worry, we won't be following her journey. after all, she's an ant compared to seraph so her story won't be as fun and will require me to use more brain power. i may write her entire story one day though and release it as a regular book. lemme know what you think.

i actually kinda like Cheng too...

heads up, i still upload at least once a day on pat.reon! if you wanna get access to chapters early, as well as vote on stuff, the link is https://www.pat.reon.com/sorrestwriting (delete the .)