The Samsara Jade

Chapter 7

The dark, tiny wooden hut was cold and quiet. Outside, the heavy storm continued to rage. The rain beat against the thin straw roof like thousands of tiny drums. Cold wind blew through the wide cracks in the rotting wood walls.

Li Chen stood perfectly still in the center of the dark room. He closed his eyes and took a slow, deep breath. The air smelled of wet dirt and old wood.

For the first time in his life, he did not feel weak. He did not feel cold. The dark energy, the Qi—flowed smoothly through his newly healed veins. He had reached the First Level of Qi Condensation. His hearing was incredibly sharp. 

He could hear a small drop of water falling from the ceiling to the floor. He could hear the wind moving through the grass outside. Then, he heard something else. Squish. Splash. Squish.

Heavy footsteps were walking through the thick mud outside. They were coming straight toward his hut.

Li Chen opened his eyes. The room was pitch black, but he could see the faint outline of the door. The footsteps stopped right outside.

"Zhao Feng, that spoiled, arrogant brat," a rough voice muttered angrily on the other side of the door. "He gets to sleep in a warm bed, while I have to come out in this freezing storm to clean up his trash. Just because his grandfather is an Inner Sect Elder, he thinks he can order me around like a dog."

Li Chen knew that voice. It was Deacon Lin.

Deacon Lin was a cruel, greedy man. He was in charge of the Outer Sect disciples' daily tasks. He often stole their food and spirit stones. He was a cultivator at the Fourth Level of Qi Condensation. 

To the normal outer disciples, Deacon Lin was a terrifying boss. He was completely loyal to Zhao Feng, hoping to get favors from Zhao Feng's powerful grandfather.

"Well, at least this Broken Root waste is finally dead," Deacon Lin muttered outside. "I will just toss him into the Beast Chasm. The wild dogs will eat his bones by morning. No one will ever know."

BANG! The thin wooden door exploded inward. Splinters of wood flew through the air. Lightning flashed brightly in the sky, lighting up the doorway.

Deacon Lin stood there. He was a tall, fat man with an ugly, angry face. In his left hand, he held a large, dirty brown sack. It was a sack meant for carrying dead pigs. He planned to put Li Chen's dead body inside it.

Deacon Lin stepped into the dark room. "Alright, you little piece of trash, where is your dead—"

He stopped speaking. The heavy sack fell from his hand and hit the muddy floor with a wet slap.

Deacon Lin’s eyes went wide with pure shock.

Standing right in front of him, in the middle of the dark room, was Li Chen.

Li Chen was not lying in a pool of blood. His chest was not caved in. He was standing tall and straight. But the most terrifying thing was Li Chen's eyes. 

In the darkness of the hut, Li Chen’s eyes were glowing with a faint, abyssal black light. They looked like two deep, endless holes in the night sky.

For a second, Deacon Lin froze. His mind could not understand what he was seeing. Zhao Feng had personally told him that Li Chen’s chest was crushed. A normal boy with no cultivation could not survive that. Yet, here he was.

But Deacon Lin was a seasoned cultivator. He had killed people before. He did not ask questions. He did not scream in fear. His shock only lasted for one second. Then, his face twisted into an ugly mask of pure, ruthless murder.

“If Zhao Feng wants him dead, he must be dead,” Deacon Lin thought quickly. “If people find out Zhao Feng failed to kill a cripple, it will look bad. I must silence this boy right now!”

Without saying a single word, Deacon Lin stepped forward. He raised his right hand.

Instantly, a bright, blinding red light exploded from his palm.

"Die!" Deacon Lin roared. He unleashed his signature technique: the Scorching Sun Palm.

The air inside the tiny hut instantly turned as hot as an oven. The cold rainwater dripping from the ceiling hissed and turned into white steam. 

The rotting wood on the walls immediately started to smoke and turn black. The heat was terrifying. It was a strike from a Fourth Level Qi Condensation expert, filled with deadly fire energy.

Deacon Lin aimed his burning red palm directly at Li Chen’s heart. He moved incredibly fast. To a normal person, his hand was just a red blur. He planned to burn a hole straight through Li Chen’s chest and turn his heart into ash.

Li Chen saw the burning hand coming at him.

Time seemed to slow down. His new, sharper senses tracked the deadly attack perfectly. He could feel the terrible heat drying the sweat on his face. 

He could smell the burning air. He knew that if that palm hit him, he would die instantly. His newly healed body was tough, but it could not stop a Fourth Level fire attack.

He had no time to dodge. The room was too small. Deacon Lin was too close. Instinct took over.

Li Chen did not step back. He did not try to run away. Instead, he narrowed his eyes and quickly raised his own right hand. He flattened his hand and pushed his bare palm forward to meet Deacon Lin's burning strike.

Deacon Lin saw this and almost laughed out loud. 

“Fool!” Deacon Lin thought. “A piece of trash trying to block my Scorching Sun Palm with his bare hand? Your arm will melt into bones!”

Smack! The two palms crashed into each other.

Deacon Lin smiled, waiting for the smell of burning flesh. He waited for Li Chen to scream in absolute agony. 

He pushed his fire Qi forward, ready to burn the boy to ashes. But the scream never came.

Instead, a strange, terrifying silence filled the room.

Deacon Lin blinked. He looked down at their connected hands. His bright, blazing red fire was hitting Li Chen's pale, bare skin. But Li Chen's hand was not burning. It was not melting. It was not even getting red.

Instead, right in the center of Li Chen's palm, a tiny, invisible vortex had opened up. It was like a small black hole. The Heavenly Void Devouring Art had activated automatically.

The fierce, deadly fire Qi that Deacon Lin pushed out did not burn Li Chen. It was completely sucked into the invisible vortex in Li Chen's hand. It was like pouring a cup of water into a dry desert.

Whoosh! The sound was soft, like a heavy wind rushing into a tunnel.

"What...?" Deacon Lin gasped. His smile vanished. A cold, heavy feeling of pure panic dropped into his stomach.

He tried to pull his hand away, but he could not. His palm was stuck to Li Chen's hand. An incredible, terrifying suction force was pulling his hand forward. It felt like his hand was glued to a massive magnet.

Inside Li Chen's body, a wild, incredible process was happening.