Chapter 3: All Consuming Hatred

Long'er was too dumbfounded after hearing his title. Even the tree seemed to be pondering something. The silence continued till the tree said, "There is nothing that can be done so do not worry. I am sure everything will be fine."

Then it said, "My time is coming to an end, do not interrupt me and listen."

"Every Protector and Saviour has their own soulbound weapon, those twin swords are yours. These weapons can be upgraded in rank after they consume materials rich in essence energy. The swords will send you a sign when there is such a material in your vicinity."

"As for what those ranks are, you will know in the future. You have to cultivate quickly for you are the only hope to save this world."

"I sense that my time has come. Ask if you have any questions.", urged the tree.

"Wha- what is cultivation?" he finally stuttered out.

"When you take the world's essence energy into your body to change its structure, it is said that you have stepped onto the path of a cultivator. Like the ranks of weapons, cultivation has ranks too.", it said in a weak voice

"I know you have more questions but unfortunately my time is over ….", the voice faded away.

'The Realm Tree is gone', he thought.

"May the Gods be merciful to your soul and may you find Eternal peace", he had heard these words from the villagers in the funeral of the baker's father.

After that he looked around and found the swords still floating around.

"'My soulbound weapons' the tree had said...".

When he touched the swords, they shrank into two rings and appeared on his middle fingers on both hands.

After all that he didn't have the energy to feel surprised anymore.

He slowly turned around and walked towards the village numbly. While walking he thought about the tree again, he felt sad even though he had only known the tree for an hour or so.

After sometime when he came out of the forest and entered the farm lands around his village, he noticed smoke in the sky. The sun had just sunk and the tall trees had blocked it so he hadn't noticed before.

Then he realized that the smoke was too much to be attributed to a bonfire. He slowly felt panic creeping on him and started running. He reached the village in a couple of minutes but after entering the village, a smell of rot and rust with a metallic tang entered his nose.

He didn't pay it any mind and continued running towards his house but tripped and fell down.

He ignored the scrape on his knee and looked around to see what he had tripped on and immediately vomited. There was a man looking at him with eyes filled with fear. His intestines were spread out all around him and some seemed to be eaten by animals.

Long'er desperately tried on crawl backwards but his elbows too slipped on a thick liquid.

"Blood…..", he screamed. He immediately jumped to his feet and let himself be dragged to his house by his feet. He stubbornly tried to ignore the gore and blood and tried to keep but eyes dry but failed miserably.

But his nightmare had only started.

Light from the fire outside came in through the windows and reflected on a mutilated figure in his house.

"Sister Mei! NO!!", he screamed as loudly as he could.

Her body was lying on the bed in her bedroom with her clothes torn open. Her hands had bruises and her lips were bloody. Her legs were broken and twisted at an inhuman angle.

He sobbed even louder when he the fear and hate in her glassy eyes. He slid down against the wall and muttered to himself," This is not real, this is not real, sister Mei is fine. This is only a bad dream, sister Mei will wake me up in the morning and take me in her arms ....."

But after the sunlight streamed in through the windows even his mutterings could not give him hope.

He tried to stand but immediately fell down and his legs shook. After a couple of tries, he finally stood up on his wobbly legs. He slowly stumbled towards the biggest house in the centre of the village.

There he found the hunting dog on the ground with a hole in his neck. His stomach heaved but nothing came out.

"Long'er…", came out a weak voice from the house.

His body jerked and he immediately sprinted into the house. There he saw the village chief impaled on his own sword.

"Chief!", he called out as he ran toward the dying man.

"Long'er, I am sorry I couldn't protect the village…", he sobbed.

"The one that did this called himself general Qin, he was an immortal. I couldn't stop him for a second. I know shouldn't put this burden on you but I can't rest in peace if that devil doesn't die! I hope you too can become an immortal and kill him.", the chief said weakly and closed his eyes.

Long'er closed his eyes and shook from the pain his heart was experiencing. After 5 minutes, he opened his eyes but there was no grief in them, only burning anger and hatred.

"General Qin…", a voice that seemed to embody death itself came

from his throat. The black gas which he had absorbed from the swords starting circulating along with his blood without his knowledge. His rings shone in the morning sun as he walked out of the house.

After a couple of hours, the news had spread to the local guard outpost. They sent a couple of constables to investigate.

- - - - - -

"General Qin killed them all!", Long'er anxious voice rang out," Why won' t you believe me?"

"Qin Shuang is an illustrious general of the army and he is an immortal for God's sake! Why would he bother with this backward village and its savage people? And you say your sister was raped, why would an immortal even care about her? Hmph he can find such sluts in every nook and corner of the city he belongs to!", sneered the constable with a perverted look on his face after he saw Sister Mei's corpse.

Long'er eyes blurred with such anger that he couldn't even remember the next few seconds.

He found himself on the ground with a bleeding nose and a cut lip. The constable bent down and hauled him up with his collar and whispered in his ear," General Qin is a member of the Qin Dynasty, the ruler of our kingdom. Do you know how many villages like yours are out there? Even if they all were destroyed the Enforcers wouldn't bat an eye. This village will be declared as a causality of a beast raid and the whole matter will be swept under the rug."

He threw Long'er out and said while laughing," Maybe even you will be killed to keep this matter a secret! Hahaha."

- - - - -

Long'er slowly stood up and walked out of the village after burying sister Mei's body in the village graveyard. The constable only sneered with mockery in his eyes and went away.

He did not feel the rough ground under his feet or the scratches from the branches as he walked barefoot in the forest.

The only thing he could feel was anger, a deep burning anger and an all-consuming hatred.