The Samsara Jade

The taste of mud and copper filled Li Chen’s mouth. The heavy rain poured down from the pitch-black sky in thick, freezing sheets. 

It beat against his thin, torn clothes, soaking him to the bone. The cold was terrible, but it was nothing compared to the crushing weight pressing his face deep into the wet earth.

A heavy leather boot, glowing with a faint blue light, stood firmly on the side of his head.

"Is this all you have, you useless piece of trash?" a voice laughed. It was a loud, arrogant sound that cut through the noise of the heavy storm.

Li Chen tried to open his right eye, but thick mud blinded him. He could only hear the cruel laughter of Zhao Feng. 

Zhao Feng was a high-ranking disciple in the Outer Sect. He was wearing clean, dry clothes. The rain seemed to bounce off him, pushed away by the strong energy, the Qi, flowing around his body.

"I asked you a question, cripple," Zhao Feng sneered, pressing his boot harder against Li Chen’s skull. The pressure made Li Chen’s ears ring. "Where are the rest of your spirit stones? Do not tell me the great Azure Sword Sect only gave you three low-grade stones for the whole month."

Li Chen gritted his teeth. His jaw ached. "That is... all of them," he choked out, spitting out dirty water. "You already... took them..."

"Three stones?" Another voice spoke. It was Wang, one of Zhao Feng’s two followers. Wang kicked Li Chen in the stomach. Li Chen gasped, but the boot on his head kept him pinned to the ground. "Do you think Senior Brother Zhao is a beggar? You are hiding the rest. Empty your pockets, you Broken Root waste!"

"Broken Root." The words felt like a knife twisting in Li Chen’s heart. In this cruel world, a person's worth was measured by their Spiritual Roots. 

Good roots meant you could absorb the energy of heaven and earth to become a powerful cultivator. Bad roots meant you were normal. 

But Li Chen’s roots were worse than bad. They were "Broken Void Roots." Any energy he tried to gather simply vanished into nothingness. Because of this, he was treated worse than a stray dog.

"I have nothing else," Li Chen groaned. He tried to push himself up with his hands, but his arms were shaking. He was incredibly weak. The previous beating had already taken all his strength.

Zhao Feng clicked his tongue in disgust. He finally lifted his boot from Li Chen’s face. Li Chen gasped for air, rolling onto his back. 

The freezing rain hit his bruised face. He looked up and saw Zhao Feng standing over him, looking down as if Li Chen was an insect.

Zhao Feng narrowed his eyes. His gaze dropped to Li Chen’s chest. The collar of Li Chen’s cheap robe was torn, showing a small, dark green jade pendant hanging from a dirty string around his neck.

"What is that?" Zhao Feng asked. A greedy smile appeared on his face. "You said you had nothing else. Yet, you wear a piece of jade hidden close to your heart. Give it to me."

Panic, cold and sharp, shot through Li Chen’s veins. He quickly reached up and grabbed the jade pendant, holding it tightly in his dirty fist. "No!" he shouted, his voice suddenly loud and fierce. "Not this. You cannot have this!"

This jade pendant was the only thing he had left. It was the last piece of his family. Ten years ago, the Li Clan had been a wealthy and happy family. Then, in a single night of fire and blood, unknown killers wiped them out. 

Everyone died. His parents, his uncles, his little sister. Only Li Chen survived, found hidden under the floorboards by an elder of the Azure Sword Sect. 

The elder took him in out of pity, but when they found out his roots were broken, they threw him into the Outer Sect to scrub floors and cut wood.

This piece of jade was found in his dead mother's hand. It was his only memory of a time when he was loved.

"Did you just say 'no' to me?" Zhao Feng’s smile vanished. His face turned dark and angry. "You are a piece of trash with a Broken Void Root. Your life belongs to the strong. If I tell you to eat mud, you eat mud. If I tell you to hand over a rock, you hand it over!"

Zhao Feng bent down and reached his hand toward Li Chen’s neck. "Give it here!"

"Keep your dirty hands off it!" Li Chen roared.

Adrenaline filled his tired body. It was not the energy of a cultivator, but the pure, desperate anger of a cornered animal.

As Zhao Feng’s hand came close, Li Chen lunged forward. He opened his mouth wide and clamped his teeth down hard on Zhao Feng’s hand, right between the thumb and the wrist.

He bit down with all the strength he had left in his jaw. He wanted to hurt the man who took everything from him. He bit down until he tasted warm, salty blood. He bit down until he felt his teeth hit the hard bone underneath the skin.

"Ahhhhh!" Zhao Feng screamed in pure agony and shock. He tried to pull his hand away, but Li Chen held on like a wild dog, his eyes wide and burning with deep hatred.

"You crazy dog! Let go of Senior Brother!" Wang shouted in panic. He and the other follower, Sun, did not know what to do. They had never seen the "trash" fight back like this.

"Die! You dirty animal, die!" Zhao Feng roared. His eyes were completely red with fury.

A bright, glowing blue light suddenly wrapped around Zhao Feng’s right leg. It was the Azure Wind energy, the signature power of the sect’s elite disciples. The wind gathered around his boot, spinning so fast it cut the falling raindrops into mist.

Zhao Feng swung his glowing leg back and kicked Li Chen directly in the center of his chest.

CRACK. The sound of bones breaking was louder than the thunder in the sky. The force of the Qi-infused kick was terrifying. It was not a normal kick; it was the strike of a cultivator at the fifth level of Qi Condensation hitting a normal boy with zero power.

Li Chen’s teeth were ripped from Zhao Feng’s hand. His small body was launched backward through the air. He flew backward for ten feet before smashing violently against a thick, solid stone pillar in the middle of the courtyard.

He hit the stone and fell into a puddle of muddy water like a broken doll. Pain. Total, blinding, absolute pain.

Li Chen tried to breathe, but his lungs refused to work. His chest felt like it had been crushed by a massive boulder. 

Every time his heart beat, it sent waves of sharp, burning agony through his entire body. He coughed, and a large amount of thick, dark red blood spilled from his mouth, mixing with the rain and the mud. His ribs were shattered. They were pushed inward, cutting into his lungs.

He could not move his arms. He could not move his legs. He was paralyzed by the terrible pain. The edges of his vision started to turn black.

Zhao Feng walked toward him. He held his bleeding hand. The bite mark was deep and ugly. Blood dripped down his fingers. His face was twisted with absolute rage.

"You dared to bite me," Zhao Feng hissed. His voice was cold and deadly. "A worm in the dirt dared to bite a dragon."

He reached down and grabbed the dirty string around Li Chen’s neck. With one angry pull, he snapped the string and ripped the jade pendant away.