Xinyi stepped out of the small house, her movements slow and fragile. She sank into the wooden chair, each breath feeling like she was inhaling jagged glass.
"Ahh… the pain," she whispered, her voice barely a thread. She pressed a trembling hand to her chest, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. "My child… I hope you are doing well. Your mother is useless. I feel so helpless, Wang Fang."
She didn't try to stop the tears this time; they traced cold paths down her cheeks. After a long silence, she straightened her back. "It doesn't matter. I will live. I will endure until I see your face again... but please, my son, don't let it take too long."
A sudden, violent cough racked her frame. Blood flecked her lips and nose. With a practiced, bitter motion, she wiped it away and hid the stained sleeve beneath her robe. A ghost of a smile touched her face. "How I wish your father hadn't left that day..."
BOOM!
A thunderous vibration shook the air, rattling the very bones in her chest. Xinyi frowned, looking toward the village direction. The sound was heavy, full of malice. She hesitated, looking at her thin, pale hands.
"No," she whispered, sinking back into the chair, the light fading from her eyes. "What use would they have for a dying woman like me?"
Two Days Later.
"Kid, what are you doing here?"
Wang Fang spun around, his heart hammering against his ribs. "You?! Not you again..."
The mysterious figure stepped from the mist, a sneer twisting its features. "Even with the power I gave you, you ended up in the dirt. It looks like you are fated to be trash, Wang Fang. In every life." The being's voice turned ice-cold. "Don't worry. You won't be lonely for long. Your mother is coming to join you in the grave."
The world beneath Wang Fang's feet shattered. Spiderweb cracks raced across the area.
"Oh, and the village too," the voice mocked. "Everyone you know. Ash and bone.
Wang fang mind couldn't take it,
Wang Fang ran. He ran until his lungs felt like they would burst, tears blurring his vision. Everywhere he looked, he saw familiar faces,lifeless, broken, cold.
"Why me?!" he screamed into the void. "I was given a second chance! Why is Heaven so cruel? In my first life, I was a coward who left his mother behind! In my second, I was born to a wealthy family, with power, but in the end,it was only to see it all burn! Why?!
He lunged toward a flickering light in the distance
"AHHH!"
Wang Fang bolted upright, his chest heaving. He wasn't in the void. He was lying on a soft, thick rug made from the Crimson Claw Tiger.
"I'm... alive?"
He frantically checked his limbs. No wounds. No broken ribs. Then, the memories hit him like a physical blow. He remembered the golden light of the Qi cannon. He remembered Old Lady Shen appearing like a god, swatting the blast away as if it were a common fly. He remembered her flicking his sword into her hand and, with a single, silent stroke, splitting the Tier Three beast and half the forest behind it.
Grrr,
His stomach roared louder than the tiger ever had. "I'm... starving."
He stepped out of the cave and froze. The forest was a graveyard. Carcasses lay everywhere, a testament to the carnage he had survived.
"Oh, you're finally awake, Old Lady Shen called out calmly.
"Granny!" Wang Fang shouted, starting to rush toward her, but he stopped dead. The memory of the 300 beasts and the near-death experience flashed in his mind. He scrambled back two steps, narrowing his eyes. This old woman... she almost watched me get eaten.
Old Lady Shen rose from her meditation, watching his suspicious expression before bursting into a warm, genuine laugh. She walked over and placed a heavy, firm hand on his shoulder.
"Good child," she said, her voice uncharacteristically soft. You. "A very, very good child."
Wang Fang stood frozen, his brain stalling. "Huh? What happened to the scary Granny