"Little Chen, how are you feeling so far?"
A middle-aged man driving the carriage asked with a worried expression.
In the back of the carriage, a boy sat, his hair fluttering with the wind, as he stared at the unending forest rushing past them.
Looking at his missing right arm and leg. He sighed. "It could be worse. I'm just glad I'm alive, that's all."
The man sighed as well. "This why I told you to conduct yourself appropriately. Those nobles are just too cruel to do this to such a young boy."
He looked up at the sky, thinking to himself. "It seems... in this lifetime, I may witness the fall of the Heiyun dynasty."
The boy's name was Gu Chen, a seemingly ordinary boy from Green Hill Village. His background wasn't so simple.
The current Gu Chen wasn't the original Gu Chen. He'd just woke up in this body a 1 day ago. The previous Gu Chen was a young master of a prestigious noble family in the imperial city of the Heiyan Dynasty.
One night, the imperial soldiers had surrounded their family residence, declaring the Huo family had committed a true evil colluding with demons. The harshest punishment was issued by the imperial court, total bloodline annihilation. The Patriarch, thanks to his connections, he caught wind of this several shichen earlier.
They had evacuated all of the children, and those unable to fight.
The Huo family was of martial merit and scholarly honors, even the servants were third rate martial practitioners. The Patriarch chose to stand his ground so had the rest of the elders and servants, fleeing the scene would be an admission of guilt, and the whole world would think The Huo family had really colluded with Demons.
"WHOOSH!"
The main gate was sent flying by a strong kick
Dust settled revealing several man wearing black robes, each gripping a sword. At the front stood a man with a calm aura, sharp brows and chiseled features.
He looked around, seeing most of the Huo family upper echelon, ready to the death. He shouted
"Huo family not only did collude with demons, but you also still dare impose the will of the imperial court."
The patriarch took a few steps forward. Each step agitated the man in black gripping their swords even tighter. Their breaths uneasy. His gaze swept across them.
"Bai Zhen, for generations my Huo family has been nothing but royal to your great Heiyun. Why would the court accuse us of such a thing with no substantial proof."
Bai Zhen laughed.
"Proof?"
His voice turned cold.
"You still dare to urge about proof... when this exists?"
He signaled to a man behind him.
A pouch was thrown. It landed at the patriarch feet it hit the ground the pouch undoing itself revealing the head of a man.
His skin tone was weird it a bright green, sharp k-nines protruding from his mouth, each the size of a finger. this wasn't what caught the attention of the man it was who the man was.
The patriarch stayed silent for a moment, "... Brother Liang"
Bai Zhen's expression didn't change. "So, you recognize him, Hua Jung."
Without missing a beat, he to pull out a scroll.
"According to the investigations of the Investigation Bureau, Huo Liang was spotted interacting with a mountain demon, shortly after, he was seen transforming into this, he attempted to take the lives of a few humbles villagers."
His voice grew colder.
"Leaving the Scotts no choice but take him out."
He threw the scroll at Hua Jung's feet, Hua Jung read over it the quickly noticing the seal of Investigation Bureau, the Investigation Bureau was a power separate from the great Heiyun created by the first Emperor. All information published by the bureau, not even the emperor could question its authenticity.
"Do you truly believe the contents of this paper".
"Jung This isn't about what I believe this comes down to what is true"
Hua Jung nodded a resigned expression painted his face.
"Very well, today my Hua family has been framed by the imperial court, heaven is my only witness to the injustice we have faced today."
"BOOM!"
The air around Hua Jung seemed go undergo a change, his expression twisted.
"Since those old things sent you..." His voice dropped. "...They must be confident in your strength to deal with me, right?"
Bai Zhen and Hua Jung were very good friends. In their youth, Hua Jung had always eclipsed Bai Zhen in terms of martial strength. Hua Jung's combat prowess had earned him the name Unrelenting Martial General. It was said his sword once cut the heads of a thousand men with a single swing.
He raised his sword, and the air around it trembled. "Which one of you," His voice carried across the courtyard, "has the strength to dare lay hands on my Huo family?"
All the men in black robes took a step back at this provocation
A voice came among the man, cold and old.
"Worry not, I'll be the one facing you today."
Huo Jung's eyes widened, shock written all over his face. "You it can't be..."
Elsewhere
A man in his late 30s chased a young boy no older than the age of 7.
"Young master, please, you mustn't!"
The boy's name was Huo Chen. He was currently running to watch his father confront the imperial court's dogs, as he called them. "Do those imperial dogs think they can just come into our family grounds uninvited?" His voice filled with childish anger. "My father probably already dealt with those scoundrels by now."
Huo Chen had no intentions of listening to the servant chasing him, not even his own mother could stop his antics.
"Shitx2, what the hell is the young master doing? I was tasked with keeping him safe until further notice. I take my eye off him for one second, and he pulls something like this."
Huo Er is a servant for the Huo family, more specifically, a servant assigned to take care of the patriarch's son. From what he'd heard, the last servant quit thanks to the young master's antics, hence his current predicament.
Huo Chen slipped out of Huo Er line of sight. Realizing he lost sight of the brat, Huo Er dulled his other senses except his sight. Leaping on top of a building he scanned around looking for anything moving. "There!"
To his right, tens of meters away, he saw a figure no taller than 5 feet running to main courtyard. The nerves in his body nearly jumping out, as he leaped in the direction of the young master.
"I'm definitely going to lose my job because of this."
Just a few meters away from the main courtyard, walking on his tip toes making sure no one noticed him. After all his father loved him dearly, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't get a thorough scolding, if he was caught taking peeks in such a dangerous situation.
Huo Chen back was hugging the courtyard wall. he moved like a crab inching closer to the main gate his expectations high.
He'd heard of his father numerous achievements throughout the battlefield. Earning him a title the highest of honor's one could receive on the battlefield.
Now times where peaceful, Huo Jung never had a reason to display his power like on the battlefield, Huo Chen's little brain thought maybe now he could witness his father power, if not to the fullest at least to the highest degree he could see.
Before his tiny head could peek through the gate— a hand covered his mouth. swiftly turning back, he caught eye of Huo Er. His finger placed vertically cover the middle of his lips.
Huo Chen expression turned dark, it was the stinky servant, his father had tasked with taking care of him.
He let out a sigh unfit for his age, like a parent disappointed at their child.
Hearing this, a few dark lines sprouted from Huo Er's forehead. He was close to knocking some sense into the little brat.
Suddenly, Huo Er felt his hairs stand on end, he quickly lifted the young brat in front of him, shielding him from the incoming impact.
The wall behind them was smashed open. A strong force sent several bricks flying hitting his back and breaking on contact with his sturdy back.
A palm strike land on his back, sending him flying visibly tearing through his outer garments. He could feel a searing sensation.
Huo Er was able to stabilize his body, landing on a roof not too far away. He could feel a wet sensation as blood dripped from the palm mark.
Huo Er's hearing quickly decreased, so did his other 3 senses as his vision grew sharper. Before the two figures could get a good look at him.
Huo Er leaped in the other direction. The two figures quickly gave chase.
As Huo Er fled, with Gu Chen passed out in his arms. He couldn't help recalling what he'd seen in that moment
"Those two figures were definitely not human... both with beast-like features, clearly demons, but what were demons doing in the Huo Family courtyard, and how did they manage to beat the family's upper echelons?"
The Huo family had a total of 17 elders, most at the Grandmaster stage. A couple of the elders had reached the quasi-Celestial realm, and the family head was the only one in the celestial realm.
Huo Er looked behind, realizing the two figures were closing the distance. He Thought.
"Demonic transformations, depending on the degree of the bloodline, could improve a martial artist's overall strength by at most 1 whole realm, but this alone wouldn't be enough to deal with the Huo family.
The Dragon guard consisted of 100 guards, 1 commander, 2 vice commanders, and 7 group leaders. The rest were soldiers who would at most be peak first realm experts, even the vice commanders at most were in the middle stages of the grandmaster realm
"If these two are chasing me, they're most likely ordinary guards tasked with guarding the main courtyard gate, ensuring no one would escape, which means at most these two fellas..."
He landed on the fifth floor of a building—a quick toss. Huo Chen was sent flying high, really high. Boom! Huo Er launched forward like a cannon, destroying the fifth floor of the building.
One of the two figures sprang forward, intending to collide with him. The two met fist and palm, colliding, and the air around violently pushed away.
The two made direct eye contact. Huo Er could feel the warm, hard fur, smell the unpleasant scent coming from the beast in front of him, and feel the blood dripping from his arm, but the truth was far different. Huo Er couldn't even see the man, let alone sense him. The Current Huo Er was completely void of all senses.
The beast-like figure's snout moved, smelling the blood, his gaze sharpening, prepared to make a ruthless counterattack, but he froze. His hand couldn't advance despite clearly overpowering the man so much, so he injured him, but in the next moment. The man in front of him erupted with an even greater force
He shouted
"Five senses technique, dulled senses!"
The Five Senses Technique was a secret technique of the Huo family. This technique emphasized dulling one's senses to enhance the other. The ranks were as such smell, taste, touch, hearing, and sight, each one having the four different levels of mastery: unfamiliar, familiar, natural, and true.
The current Huo Er had reached the true realm, completely dulling his five senses. He erupted with an even greater force. Crushing the figure's hand, causing his hand to collapse on itself, completely shattering his bones, but the figure he wasn't done as he was sent flying back, he managed to deliver a strike to Huo Er chest by this time Huo Er could see again he smiled as both of them were sent flying back where they came from.
Huo Er making a quick maneuver midair, catching Huo Chen as for the other guy, he ran into his partner both sent flying back. Hitting a small building, collapsing on itself covering the two in debris.
A few seconds later, both of the figures sprung forward from the Debre, one of them holding his arm with a pained expression, and the other completely unharmed just covered in dust.
He looked at his partner, who was whimpering, annoyance written on his face.
"How the hell did you manage to lose!" A hint of anger evident in his voice. "You've gone through a demonic transformation, increasing your strength to that of a peak martial master, and you still lost to a mid-stage martial master."
His partner, the man who'd just faced Huo Er, cried out
"Brother Lang, I really thought I had him, till that tricky fella erupted with such profound strength, the strength of that punch it was definitely equal to an expert in the grandmaster realm, he isn't some ordinary martial artist."
His partner sneered
"Good luck explaining that to the Commander."
Instantly, a smile appeared on his face with a hint of pride
"Brother Lang, I thought you were supposed to be the smart one. Have you forgotten the gift of our transformations."
Before his partner could say anything, he took in a big sniff of the air. His expression turned from proud to sorry as he sneezed out mucus mixed with blood, instantly regretting his decision to take such a big whiff.
Rolling all over the floor.
"What the hell is that smell!"
His partner just looked over in the distance, saying.
" Scent disruptive powder, as you said, that guy wasn't some ordinary martial artist, let's just hope he wasn't anyone important in the Huo Family."
"Do you think they'll notice, I mean, out of hundreds of Huo family members, surely those two aren't that important. I mean, if they were that important, they'd be in the Underground passage, right?"
His partner didn't even look at him as he turned back and left.
A low mummer came from him as he followed, dashing away...
In an alley, about 100 meters away from the crushed building. Huo Er stood his hearing as high as it could and his other sense completely dulled. As he listened to the two men talk one word came to mind.
"Damn"