Saving

Under the shade of evergreen trees caused by the celestial moonlight, a clear water pool was hidden in the middle of the forest. Many fish were swimming freely in it, waiting for food to fall into the water from above.

Suddenly, a dark substance began to pollute the clear pool, its source was a naked man bathing shamelessly.

The fish quickly ran away from the pool, having to jump out of the remaining clear water and 'fly' above a small piece of land to escape into a water stream close by...

The once clear pool that was the source of fresh water and food for many animals was now polluted by human presence.

"Phew..." Shu Meng didn't even look back at what he did and began to search for his next victim, the pool was too dirty now for him to clean his clothes.

He didn't expect his body to accumulate so much impurities, they formed a crust over his skin. The smell was unbearable, like sewage water.

He saw a water stream close by and was about to wash his clothes there, but suddenly found a bit of pity in his heart after seeing the fish swimming freely there.

He then remembered a bigger lake was close to his location, so he decided to go there.

After arriving at the lake, he found traces of human presence but didn't care much. He began to take another bath, to cleanse away the remaining filth in his skin and then began to wash his clothes.

The filth was difficult to remove from his clothes, but he had the idea of using his Blood Qi to shake the filth away from the fibers and silk, although it also damaged the clothes a bit.

Because the lake was much bigger than the pool, the filth diluted in the vast amount of water and didn't show any trace.

Maybe someone will get stomachache and diarrhea after taking a bath there or drinking water from the lake.

"Anyway..." he finished wearing his clothes and looked at some bushes, "Are you going to hide forever?"

Seemingly fast as lightning, something very thin flew out of the bush towards Shu Meng.

The world seemed to slow down as he concentrated with all his will, his hand moved instinctively towards the nearing object.

"What?" a rough voice came from the bush, it was unbelievable to him that Shu Meng grabbed the dart with his bare hand, "You monster!"

Shu Meng was also surprised with his reflexes and quick reaction.

The dart in his hand was smeared with something, probably poison. If not because he had already completed the third transformation, he wouldn't have been able to escape.

Shu Meng heard the hurried sounds of steps and saw an old man wearing camouflaged clothes running away.

Feeling angry, he threw the small dart in his hand with all his strength towards the old man.

The old man felt a sharp wind coming just right of his face, the thin tree right in front of him was blasted by the impact of the dart.

Scared, he lost balance of his body and fell to the ground. Just as he was about to get up, he sensed a presence behind him.

Looking back in terror, he saw the man he was supposed to assassinate looking at him with expressionless eyes.

'When did he get behind me?' he wondered in terror.

"I need to practice my aim," Shu Meng looked at the blasted thin trunk in front of him and felt a little surprised.

Although he used all his strength in that shot, the dart itself was very light and so normally wouldn't possess the capacity to blast a trunk like that unless it reached an unbelievable velocity.

But he knew that the speed he threw the dart wasn't enough to give it enough momentum to blast that trunk.

He had an idea of what caused it, but the most important thing at that time was to deal with his attacker.

"Who?" Shu Meng asked while grasping the old man's throat with one hand.

"You damn bastard intruded my territory and still ask who am I?" the old man said with a rough voice, "Go to hell!"

"Funny," Shu Meng smiled, "I intruded on your territory? Why didn't I see any fence on my way here? Not even marcations."

"Just kill this old man, get over with it!" the old man was ruthless and unafraid of death.

"Nah," Shu Meng shook his head and freed the old man, "I'm in no mood to kill, go away."

The old man resolutely ran away, despite looking fearless just moments before.

Shu Meng sneered and began to follow the old man from afar. His eyesight was much better than the old man's so he could track him without being noticed in the night.

Moreover, the dense forest made it easier for him to hide. He followed the old man by jumping from tree to tree instead of walking on the ground.

The old man was very careful, always looking back and trying to notice traces of being followed. When he got out of the forest, he waited for a while behind a rock to see if Shu Meng was following him.

When he felt safe, he began to run north, following an old road.

After a while, he arrived at a camp of soldiers and called for the captain.

"I found the demon! I found the demon!" the old man said with sweat all over his body.

"Where is he?" the captain looked tense and expectant.

"In the forest, as you expected, in the old lake used for camping, near the western border of the forest," the old man explained all the details, hiding the fact he confronted Shu Meng.

"We don't know about this old lake you mentioned, you shall guide us!" the captain said and put his helmet on, "Men! Prepare! We found the demon!"

"Wait, it wasn't what I agreed!" the old man's expression changed, "I want my reward now!"

"What if you are trying to cheat us? We need to make sure first!" the captain snorted and readied his crossbow.

According to reliable information he knew, the "demon" was afraid of nothing except arrows and bolts of crossbows.

"You don't look like someone from the Zhou's army..." a calm voice gave everyone chills.

Looking at the entrance of the camp, a man wearing rugged clothing walked calmly under the celestial moonlight.

Although he was a bit different than what was depicted in the drawings, particularly younger-looking, everyone recognized him.

"Demon!" the captain shot first with his crossbow, "Die!"

Shu Meng's viewpoint suddenly slowed down, as if the world itself was slower in his eyes. Although the bolt still looked fast for him, it wasn't to the point where he couldn't react like before.

His body was also much more agile, his right hand moved as the bolt approached him and he firmly grasped it with an unshakeable will.

Despite not advancing further, the bolt generated a gush of wind that made Shu Meng's hair and clothes flutter for a while.

"Those things..." he muttered as he crushed the bolt in his hand and circulated his Blood Qi to his legs.

To the soldiers, it was like he turned into a bolt of a crossbow himself, he was faster than what they could perceive.

"Can't harm me anymore," Shu Meng finished his word as his fist was about to touch the captain's armor.

Just as he often practiced, he did an inch punch right in the chest of the captain, caving a huge dent in his armor and sending him flying.

The captain's body was obviously more fragile than the trunk of a big tree, his organs turned into a mess and he died instantly. His body flew out of the camp like a cannonball and couldn't be seen even on a night with a full moon.

"I'm a demon?" Shu Meng looked at the old man and asked with a calm voice.

"A-" the old man couldn't say anything properly as he was punched like the captain, and his body was sent flying as well.

"It's the first time I killed someone..." Shu Meng said, as if to himself, "Why hunt me down?"

He then saw many bolts flying menacing towards him, many soldiers attacked out of panic.

Although he couldn't capture all the bolts with his hands, he could deflect them easily.

The soldiers suddenly saw something incomprehensible, Shu Meng seemed to have many extra pairs of translucent arms as his hands deflected all bolts in an instant.

Of course, Shu Meng only had two arms, but they moved so fast that the soldiers couldn't track his movements properly.

Shu Meng saw the panic in the soldiers' eyes and felt a little tired. He was never a ruthless man, and he just killed someone for the first time, he didn't want to kill everyone in the scene at all.

"Enough!" Shu Meng shouted with all his power. It was like raging waves hit their eardrums, all the soldiers became dazed for a few seconds.

"What bullshit demon? I can kill all of you, but I'm in no mood to do that!

"I hope to never see any of you again, or I won't show any mercy otherwise!"

After saying that, Shu Meng sighed and left the camp with quick steps, not wishing to be angered again by more attacks.

His heart was still beating strangely, the sensation of killing someone was fresh and vivid in his mind. He never thought it would feel so bad, even if the one he killed was someone who was trying to kill him.

He returned to the forest and chose another big tree to rest on. He found a tree that, while not as high as the others, had a hole in its trunk that was very much like the hole in the tree he was before, he found it comfortable enough to rest.

"Is this a characteristic of this species of tree?" Shu Memg muttered to himself and closed his eyes while crossing his legs.

It didn't take long for him to fall asleep, he accumulated quite a load of exhaustion.

Time passed, and rain began to fall down with lightning and thunder, but Shu Meng's clothes didn't get even a little bit wet with the protection of the tree.

The rain lasted for a whole day and night, the rivers and streams were already overflowing. Many farmers who lived in that territory could only cry as their crops and plants got destroyed by the heavy continuous rain.

Shu Meng opened his eyes slowly, and with his ears appreciated the awakening sound of the raging rain. The grave thunders made even the tallest trees tremble a little bit.

"Help me..." a weak voice came from below, taking Shu Meng out of his daze.

"Someone?" he moved and saw that at the base of the tree, someone was bleeding gravely.

The unknown person was a child, a young boy in his early teens, but something was gravely wrong with him.

Not just the deep wound in his chest, that constantly made blood flow out, but his different clothes and strange steel gears hanging in his head and waist.

Almost immediately, Shu Meng jumped down and asked with a grave expression, "Where are you from?"

The steel gears in his head blinked a few times with a blue glow, and the child managed to barely look at Shu Meng.

"Home... world?

"Sky... far..."

"In the sky?" Shu Meng approached and checked his condition. The young boy's skin was deathly pale, and a pool of blood formed below him, mixed with fresh mud.

His wound was like a gaping hole, transversing his back and chest, Shu Meng was surprised he was still alive.

"How can I help you?" Shu Meng asked, he didn't know how to save the child.

"Energy..." the boy said weakly, passing out just after.

"Died? No, his heart is still beating, somehow..." Shu Meng analyzed the situation and his last word, "Energy."

"I never heard of this world possessing such technology, so you must come from another world, from the sky you said..." Shu Meng muttered and put his hands on the gears, "I can give you energy, I just wonder if you can transform it for yourself."

Blood Qi was channeled by him from his veins and arteries into the gears, he hoped it would help the boy somehow.

But time passed, and it proved to be useless.

Shu Meng frowned and had another idea, "If this doesn't work, I'm helpless."

He then began to pull the most original knowledge around him and channel it into the gears. It proved to be difficult to control it outside his body, instead of directly absorbing it, but he managed to persevere.

The gears began to blink again, more and more frequently. Until the light was constant, it no longer blinked.

The wound began to weakly glow red and blue, and Shu Meng could faintly see signs of recovery.

"Effective... lucky boy," Shu Meng muttered, surprised by the situation. He took his hands off the gears, but they seemed to have gotten enough energy already.

"What the..." Shu Meng sighed and couldn't help but find it unbelievable, "What kind of fate is this?

"The world is so big, but he met the only person who could save him..."