Coming In Contact With Death

"We can always try and run away. "said Old Man Ma.

Yi simply shook his head.

He understood that such a thing was impossible for him. He was constantly monitored by Supervisor Wu.

Escape for a slave meant death. This was the fate of all escapees.

He had been witness to the execution of many escaped slaves. They were all beheaded and their remains hung on the town gates for all to see.

The old man treated Yi until the first light when Yi had to make his way to the mines.

He had to arrive as early as possible so that he could get his work done early enough to return to the mansion where he would have more work waiting for him.

Yi was in errible excruciating pain but he endured as he quickly walked to the mines.

Before he could get out of the mansion, a cute female servant approached him with instructions from the supervisor.

I had no choice but to obey.

He had been instructed to go into the town to send a letter to sword master Gu Chen.

Yi accepted the letter and made his way into the town.

He had to deliver the letter as fast as possible so that he could still have time to reach the mine early.

It was a must for him to arrive early. He would even be punished by the supervisor if he were to arrive late.

Yi began running through the streets. The good thing was that the streets were still empty. Not many people woke up early.

Yi ran as fast as he could manage with his battered body.

He could feel blood flowing down his back but he simply ignored it.

This was the pain he had to pay to avoid further pain. The punishment that would come from arriving late.

As he ran, Yi looked at the small letter. It was sealed with wax but Yi did not need to open it to find out its content.

This was not the first letter he had delivered to sword master Gu Chen.

The first letter was requesting that he take young master Wu as his legacy disciple.

The second letter was the same thing except that in that letter, supervisor Wu had offered to pay ten thousand spirit stones to the sword master.

The sword master had still declined politely. Yi could guess that this letter made the same request and the number of spirit stones had probably been increased greatly.

Yi smiled wryly.

The difference between his treatment and that of the young master was like the difference between heaven and earth.

Yi increased his speed and put these thoughts out of his mind. Keeping them would only build up resentment.

Old Man Ma had told him that hatred was the most useless thing if one did not have the power to use it.

Yi always tried to do as Old Man Ma said.

After a few minutes, Yi reached the sword master's mansion.

It was a grand structure. Not as glamorous as the Wu mansion but still quite something.

Yi went to knock on the giant black gate when the gate was opened suddenly. The great force blew Yi's malnourished body away flying like a broken kite.

Yi collided with a wall opposite the mansion.

The blow was enough to push all the oxygen out of his lungs.

He fell to the ground gasping for breath while writhing in pain.

He looked at the gate and out came sword master Gu Chen.

He was fleet g for his life. His left arm had been completely cut off.

His white robes were torn to shreds and covered in blood.

Yi could see several open rounds on his body. His forehead was covered in sweat.

He moved very quickly making Yi question whether he was seeing illusions due to his whipping from yesterday.

Before sword master Gu could go very far, a group of people came out of the mansion. They wore black clothes that covered their bodies from head to toe.

Their faces are covered as well and even their eyes could not be seen. They were chasing swordmaster Gu.

They were wielding sharp-looking swords some of them covered in blood.

There was no question as to who was trying to kill the sword master.

Slash, sword master Gu turned around abruptly and swang his sword instantly heading one of his pursuers.

The man's head fell to the ground and rolled until it was next to the numb Yi.

The head had its eyes wide open.

"This is the Quick Slash skill," murmured Yi.

This skill had made sword master Gu renowned in the entire Hundred Man Town.

Now that Yi had seen it in action, he felt that it was indeed something to desire. No wonder the supervisor was willing to pay thousands of spirit stones for his son to have the chance to learn this skill.

Yi watched as sword master Gu fought single-handedly against his attackers. His switch realized lives every time it was swung.

Heard from left and right leaving Yi in awe of the power on display. He had heard of the power of cultivation but seeing was better than hearing about it.

Sword master Gu was powerful but in the end, he was overwhelmed by the sheer number of his attackers.

He had fought against over twenty people all alone and he had managed to kill twelve of them.

Still, he ended up dead.

He was stabbed in the back by one of his attackers.

Even cultivators were still human. No one could escape death.

Sword master Gu Chen fell on top of Yi and there, he breathed his last.

Yi looked on in horror. He had seen hundreds of people die in the mines but this was the first time he had seen someone so powerful die in the streets like a dog.

Yi got a new understanding of life and death. He felt excited in a morbid kind of way. He felt that death was not something to fear. It was something all living beings experienced be they rich or poor. Be they free men or slaves ."Death comes to us all." thought Yi as he saw one of the attackers slash his sword toward his person.

They wanted to kill the witness.

Yi simply smiled in the face of death.