BAM!
BAM!
The blows rained down on Xiaotian's defenseless body outside the city walls.
His body doubled over in pain as he felt his ribs breaking. The kicks, punches, and slaps from several people continued to rain down on him, even though he was bleeding from everywhere.
"Damn you, let go of the sword!" Lucheng roared in anger and stomped on his right wrist, where his sword was firmly gripped, despite the pain.
Xiaotian, though his face was swollen, stared at him with hatred.
"Damn you... bastard." He had difficulty opening his mouth, but he had no difficulty smiling. "If... fate... is on my side... even if it's... just once... I'll rip out your tongue and fingers, one by one!"
His mouth filled with blood, preventing him from speaking again. Soon his smile was covered in blood, as was his sword, giving him a terrifying expression.
Lucheng was filled with rage and lashed out at him with punches and kicks until Xiaotian fell unconscious... or dead.
Finally, Lucheng took out a white handkerchief and wiped the blood from his hand.
His cousins still wanted to continue beating him, but he waved his hand to stop them.
"Staining ourselves with his blood would be a disgrace to our future status," he said, and looked at the armed men waiting behind them.
"Take him away. Throw him far away," he said, and threw the bloodstained handkerchief on the ground before turning around to return to the city.
The guards watched them leave and sighed. They had no choice but to grab the former most respected young master of the Family and throw him away... to a place where he would surely die.
The mountain ravine.
They watched Xiaotian's body fall down the ravine before turning to leave.
That small, bloodied body rolled and hit the rocks on the mountain. Small dry sticks dug into his back, and his bones, broken by the blows, began to crack.
Even so, his hand held that sword as if it were his life. Despite the continuous blows against the rocks, that sword, stained with blood and broken by the blows, did not slip from his hands.
Suddenly, his tattered clothes caught on a dry stick; normally, it would have broken, but that stick was famous for being incredibly hard. So in the end, it swung to one side until it broke.
BOOM!
Xiaotian's body, which should have fallen to the bottom of the ravine, fell into one of several naturally formed caves in the mountain, though not safely. His body rolled a little further, and if it hadn't been for the sword stuck in the cave floor, he would have continued his fall, as most of his body was left floating.
His body lay there, his life hanging by a fragile thread.
But his mind was still alive.
He was in an abyss of darkness, staring at a strange figure identical to himself who was staring back at him.
"Did you see it?" asked little Xiaotian. Strangely, he could sense that this person in front of him had a lot to do with him.
The other Xiaotian nodded. "I saw everything. From beginning to end."
"What do you think?"
"They must all die."
"Yes... everyone must die." Little Xiaotian smiled mockingly at himself. "But the one who will die is me."
"You're already dead," replied the other Xiaotian.
The little boy's eyes opened slightly, but then closed, and he nodded.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"A swordsman from a world without swords. The mockery of modern society, you could call me that."
"The mockery of modern society?" The little boy felt confused, but nodded. "Were you a cultivator? Did you die too?"
"I wasn't one. A sniper killed me."
"An archer?" The little boy nodded in understanding, although he clearly didn't understand what the other Xiaotian was saying to him.
"Why did you come?" he asked. Strangely, talking to this person felt like talking to his father. It made him want to ask many questions, because he felt that he could answer them all.
"I didn't come here. I should be dead, so I ask myself the same question as you," said the other Xiaotian, who came from Earth.
"By the way." Xiaotian, who had come from Earth, frowned. "Why are you falling apart?" he asked, puzzled.
Little Xiaotian looked at himself, confused. Suddenly, he felt a terrible fatigue wash over him, and he staggered backward.
"I don't... know," he said, falling into the void. "I think... I need to rest..." A strange smile appeared on his mouth before it closed forever.
Xiaotian approached him, walking slowly. Every time the being in front of him crumbled, he received a new batch of memories that did not belong to his life.
When he reached him, the last vestiges of his soul disappeared, and Xiaotian stood with his arm outstretched, trying to grab him.
His hand clenched.
"Transmigration... something I had only seen in fantasy novels, has actually happened to me." His words floated in this sea of emptiness.
But he had transmigrated into the body of someone who had been miserable in life. He had noticed this from the moment he arrived here, because there was a message in front of him that told him so.
[Welcome to Gaia, Zhang Xiaotian.]
[Zhang Xiaotian of Gaia has used his last vestiges of soul to bring you here, and the souls of two Sword Aspirants have merged into a Perfect Soul.]
[The blood of Gaia's Sword Aspirant has awakened the Strongest Cultivation Swordsmanship System.]
[The potentially "Just One" has been born.]
[Do not abandon your sword.]
Xiaotian took a moment to process the information that came to him from little Xiaotian and then immersed himself in his body. He had no idea how a cultivation world worked, but his inherited memories told him that by doing so, he could return to his physical body.
The terrifying pain enveloped him completely when he returned to his body. This pain took him by surprise, but he was aware of this little one's injuries, so he was able to hold on to his sanity and open his eyes firmly.
The first thing he saw was his sword. It was stuck between the rocks of the mountain cave; looking up, there were a good number of meters to the surface. Due to the night and the distance, he couldn't even see the trees on the mountain.
He looked down, and vertigo struck him for a brief moment. It wasn't too far to the bottom, but falling from this height, with his injuries, would surely kill him. And if it didn't kill him outright, he would be in a coma, waiting to become food for the beasts.
He grabbed his sword, pushed hard, and pulled himself up. The movement hurt his bones, but he gritted his teeth and managed to pull himself up, finally reaching safety.
He frowned as he watched the rocks fall down the cliff, and after a few long minutes, he finally sat down.
In those last few minutes, he saw his life flash before his eyes when a sniper bullet pierced his head as he was clearing a ruin on the Earth. Then he watched as a person identical to him was beaten, expelled, and practically spat on by his own family.
And he ended up inheriting all the little boy's memories and joining his soul to the little boy's.
In just a few minutes, he had gone from clearing a ruin from the earth to being in a world of cultivation, in the body of someone cursed by life and fate.
But salvation was right before his eyes.
Even so, he was more curious about something else.
The sword.
He looked at his right hand; it was firmly clenched around that sword, as if it were the greatest treasure. The hilt of the sword had almost become part of his hand.
It wasn't a special sword worth protecting with his life, nor was it even expensive. It was made of just a few spirit crystals, but bathed in his blood, it gave him a strange feeling of connection.
It was simple, rough, and worn. Even so, it was the sword of a swordsman who clung to it even as death knocked at his door. It was a worthy sword.
He tried to open his hand and realized that his skin and flesh were stuck to the hilt. His fingers, intertwined like a rope that refuses to let go of what it grips, hurt terribly.
He bit his lips to endure the pain and finally opened his hand, losing several layers of skin and leaving part of his flesh on the hilt. It was like losing a precious connection, as if his very soul were being torn from him.
'What a strong connection to the sword,' he thought. But the pain in his hand made him forget and ignore the pain he felt throughout his body for a few seconds.
[The Human-Sword connection has reached the initial turning point.]
[You have been recognized by the Sword and the System as the "Host"; you will be healed of all your ailments as soon as possible.]
[The Path of "Just One" opens for you. A unique and unparalleled swordsman's path, full of dangers, trials, swords, and great rewards.]
[If you become the "Just One" at the end of the path, even the heavens will bow before you, and the celestial regions will kneel in your presence.]