01 painful awakening

Dante broke out in a series of low guttural coughs as he slowly regained awareness.

"Damn It, Frank, I told you not to work on the switches while I'm up on this ladder."

The strong scent of medicine assaulted Dante's nose; a bit shocked, Dante adjusted his body to get a better sense of his physical condition.

Creak!

Creak!

CRACK!

"Aahhh! Eyaaa! My arm? Is it broken? No, how am I supposed to work? I'll be out on the streets." Dante broke down in choked sobs.

" How the hell am I supposed to afford this hospital ro... Eh?" Dante's eyes bulged when he took a closer look at the room around him.

Dante found himself in a large room with an ornate layout, dragons and phoenix's danced on his sheets, and the designer foregoes all modern architectural design for an ancient Chinese-style bedroom.

Dante stared slack-jawed at his unfamiliar surroundings. "where the heck am I?" wide awake, Dante kicks off the sheets and jumps out of bed.

A closer examination of his body reveals several bandages wrapped around his arm and head and the most exquisite pair of delicate pants Dante had ever laid eyes on.

Gobsmacked by the current series of events, Dante walked over to the sizeable full-body mirror in the room's corner.

After staring at himself for a short time, his face turned somber." Did I really reincarnate? Like, for real?" Dante stared at the eerily attractive reflection in the mirror, unnatural beautiful with only the purple bruise on his head acting as a foil to his splendor. " well, at least I'm still handsome. Dante gave himself a smirk and was fascinated by how devilishly handsome he was.

" Would you fuck me? I'd fuck me." Dante burst out laughing." my world lost me way too premature I had so much to offer... probably."

"I guess I should get out of here and assess my situation. Lying around isn't very helpful, please all-powerful man in the sky, let me be rich in this life. I want to be upper class so that I can rub it in the face of the underprivileged."

Dante made his way out of the room and came face to face with a large man holding a spear.

For a second, they blankly stared at each other, neither one expecting to see the other.

I didn't get the original owner of this body's memories when I took over. A cold chill crept down Dante's spine when he remembered this critical piece of information. What should I say? Dante made the most straight face he could and postured himself into a more dignified appearance

"hi... I've lost my memories. Do you happen to know my name?" there is no way I can bluff my way through this; I might as well play oblivious.

The guard's jaw dropped"did you just talk?"

"yeah... is that not something I usually do?" The dazed guard was stupefied; he immediately dashed down the hallway and around the corner.

"weird," Dante muttered

****************************

Simultaneously, in the Lin clan main hall, a gloomy cloud hung over the gathered older men's heads. At the head of the gathering rested a middle-aged man, the subtle hint of gray to his hair and his face marked with the vestiges of years did nothing to hide the bright sparkle of power in his gaze. At that moment, his grizzled face was marred with resentment and the slightest hint of insanity.

"How could this happen?" one of the old men groaned.

"How?HOW! It doesn't matter how it happened; we need to figure out how our insignificant little branch family will weather the clan leader's fury. I knew that black star would be the doom of us." the middle-aged man bellowed.

One of the elders to the side meekly Chimed in, " sir, the genus first in line of the Tang clan just happened to pass through town and see the young master; she recognized him and attempted to kidnap him. If not for the she fox, we wouldn't be dealing with just slight injuries. We would have lost the young master."

"and where is the she fox now?" the middle-aged man inquired.

"she made a trip off to black wind city to purchase some pills for the young master."

An elder with a long beard sighed, " if not for the sect's recruitment being held in black wind city next year, this would have never happened. Hidden dragons and crouching tigers are gatherings on all sides in preparation."

An elder with slanted eyes suddenly stood up shouted, "that's it. we can't be held responsible for this situation, with so many genius from the capital gathering around us; how are we, a weak branch family of the main clan, suppose to protect the young master."

The middle-aged man slammed his hand on the table send wood chips flying everywhere. The elders hurried to shield themselves.

" Are you really so foolish? If we said that to the main clan, we would risk losing our loosely held title as a branch family! Without that, the Du, Tang, and Shen families would tear us apart." the middle-aged man Gnashed his teeth in frustration. "the retaliation from the clan is sure to be brutal; they won't let us off because his wounds are minor."

At that moment, a guard burst through the door and immediately drop to his knees." Audacious! What gives you the gall to interrupt our discussion?"

" patriarch, something happened while I was guarding over the young master's room."

The middle-aged man stood up."What happened to him now?"

"he walked outside and spoke to me."

"impossible!" the patriarch shouted. In an instant, he appeared next to the kneeling guard and stepped on his neck, nailing him to the ground.

"for you to come in here spouting nonsense in these dire times, clearly the Discipline Committee has been too soft lately. Are you only good at wasting time, 3rd elder?" An elder in a black robe stood up. "I'm sorry for my Negligence patriarch; allow me to punish him; I'll teach him to respect the clan rules."

The guard on the ground froze in dread.

"Lord patriarch, hold on a second." An elder with a long beard stood up and walked to the patriarch's side.

"what First elder?" the patriarch asked.

"This might be worth looking into; imagine the Implications if he is telling the truth."

"I swear I'm telling the truth!" the guard wailed.

The elder gave the guard a stern look.

"for your sake, I hope so."

***************************

Dante made his way into a courtyard and took a deep breath.

If that spear-armed guard wasn't proof enough, then this fresh clean air is, a new world untouched by modern technology. Maybe I'll make a gun and conquer it, Dante chuckled as he enjoyed the cool night air.

The stars flooded the sky and encircling the moon, creating a beautiful picture with the billowing clouds as a border; the gentle breeze whipping his loose hair only added to the atmosphere, almost as if the world was enticing Dante to explore it.

I will always miss my family and friends, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't excited to explore this new world.

Dante's thoughts were interrupted by an old man's arrival; he appeared like magic in front of him.

Dante recoiled in terror, shrieking as he fell to the ground.

"ghost!"

the first elder was stunned. "you can speak!"

dante dug his hand into the dirt, grasping a handful of soil, then tossed it at first elders gawking eyes." POCKET SAND!" dante cried.

Unaffected by the pitiful attempt at self-defense, Dante tried; the first elder stepped forward and held out his hand, "young master, this is extraordinary news. Your minor injuries seem to have help you recover from your trauma. Your mental disability has all but disappeared."

Dante grabbed his hand and stood up "hold up; I don't think I heard you right. Did you just call my broken arm, bruised head, and memory loss a minor injury?"

The first elder smiled at Dante."Don't worry young master; after you were returned safely, your guardian traveled to black wind city to acquire some pills from the alchemy association; she'll return by sunrise. Your physical injuries will be fine by tomorrow afternoon; as for the memory loss, only time can tell. We will send word to your father immediately. He will be ecstatic by the news of your recovery."

Dante brushed the dirt off him, then grumbled

" How did you suddenly appear in front of me like that. I practically jumped out of my skin?"

The first elder grinned slyly, "my movement Technique has reached the full circle. If you like, I'll have a copy of it and a basic qi cultivation manual sent to your room later; your talent was tested as a child. There was a massive upheaval in the capital when it was discovered you had a heavenly spiritual root. if you weren't mentally disabled, you would have been kidnapped by a sect."

The first elder patted Dante's shoulder and chuckled, " young master, why don't you go get some more rest I'm sure your injuries are painful." he turned to leave.

"wait before you go can you tell me who I am?"

The first elder looked back at Dante and smiled broadly," you are Lin Tian only son of Lin Chen, the patriarch of the Lin clan."