《Heavenly hands》


 Prologue- The world of Ussex

    As any good story, mine starts with my abrupt death.


    My name is William Corbyn, or Will ¡°many-hands¡±, and in my past life I was known as an alchemist, I built automata¡¯s, machines that made the world go round, well not me per se¡­ but the greatest alchemist made great things indeed, monstrous giants that that carried city¡¯s on their back. Hundreds of meters tall and impossibly large, the tallest of them were humanoid, usually on two or four legs, with their main body rising to the skies; but truly the largest were those that dwelled underground, some say they could pierce the world through, another¡¯s naysay¡­ But well what do I know.


    I built the simplest of automata¡¯s. Machines that help the mankind on their day to day activities, be it simply a tray on wells that helps get stuff around, or something a bit more complex, my proudest creation was my ¡°hydra¡± a pair of mechanical arm attached to my back and helped me build whatever I needed, I had a ¡°crown¡± that let me control them telepathically, it was hard at first, and it was not without some headaches, but I can say, that I now can control them with pinpoint accuracy. I think I could have built something with actual sapience, but for that, I would need a world gem¡­ and those were highly regulated by the courts since the great wars.


    But enough of that I¡¯m dead and if I¡¯m not mistaken about to be reborn, at least the shining light seems to be getting closer, or maybe I¡¯m getting closer to the light, in this monochromatic tunnel I really can¡¯t tell shit. Anyway, so yeah, I died. I can¡¯t say I died a hero¡¯s death and saved thousands, on the contrary, I kind of fucked-up.


    I wonder if I will be reborn in this world? Maybe I might see him again¡­ What am I supposed to do? Really, how does someone ever move on from an entire life¡­?


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    That morning started like many others, the sun shining annoyingly up high, for it had no right to look so bright so early in the morning¡­.


    ¡°Will! Get your ass out of bed! It¡¯s already 10 am! If we are late again because of you, I¡¯ll fucking kill you.¡±


    ¡°Oh shit!¡±


    That is the co-owner of ¡°Manyhands and Co.¡±, the love of my life, Alan Prescott. We meet in the Arcanum of Autumatum, the university where I studied what where, what are, and how to build automata¡¯s. Alan frequented the university next door, the Mercantile association of Ussex, it teaches the ¡°exciting¡±, oh so he says, world of economics. We meet in the most disgusting clich¨¦ way of bumping into each other on the way to the cafeteria. We started talking, then dating¡­ and the rest is history.


    We had a meeting at 10:40 you see, a new client... A new seriously LOADED client, had taken an interest in something we had built, and we couldn¡¯t afford to pass up such an opportunity, you see.


    And then¡­ it all went wrong on the way to downtown.


    ¡°ATTENTION ALL CITIZEN¡¯S, ROTE A12 HAS SUFFERED AN UNEXPECTED MALFUNCTION, ALL CITIZENS ARE ADVISED TO TAKE A SUBSTITUTE ROUTE¡±


    ¡°I fucking knew it Will¡­.¡±


    ¡°Hey, hey, don¡¯t look at me like that, we¡¯re still on time, it¡¯s not my fucking fault they closed the bloody road¡±Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    ¡°¡­¡±, Alan looked at me, and then ¡°Fuck it, I¡¯m taking it anyway¡±


    ¡°whoa, whoa, whoa calm down, if we take the A13 we can get there in 30 min, we will be a bit late but I¡¯m sure the client will understand¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t understand Will, we really, really, can¡¯t afford to pass this up¡­ I got a warning from the council this morning if we don¡¯t start selling they are going to take the shop.¡±


    ¡°What, how? I looked at the numbers, they were fine for this month.¡±


    ¡°I¡­ah shit¡­ might have changed them a bit for you¡­ I¡¯m sorry, but when you get all stressed you know things don¡¯t flow as smoothly for you¡­¡±


    ¡°Alan... Jesus¡­ fuck¡±, ¡°alright¡­ I understand, but we are going to talk about this latter. Gun it¡±


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    And then,


    ¡°What the hell happened here¡­?¡±


    What should have been a closed road with some cancels and such, maybe some tape, was completely destroyed the road. There were two, ginormous holes, eating up into the ground impossibly deep, one of them went straight through one lane and the other missed the road by centimeters.


    And peeking into one hole, was, of course, our client.


    ¡°What was his name, again?¡± I said to Alan


    ¡°Ah, Mr. Weinstein, or something¡±


    ¡°So do we go up to him?¡±


    ¡°And get near the hole?¡±


    ¡°It is the client¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± and on careful steps we went


    ¡°Hello!¡± said Alan, maybe a bit too loud


    ¡°Argh, Jesus Crist, fuck! You¡¯re trying to get me to fall down?¡± and then, the fucker, slapped me.


    And I kind of¡­ pushed him. I didn¡¯t mean to of course, but I was really jumpy from finding out you have two giant holes to hell on the way to a meeting, and then, of course, go to stand near those said hellholes.


    And he just went fwush


    ¡°Will¡­.¡±


    ¡°Oh, fuck¡±


    ¡°Will. what the hell did you do?!¡±


    ¡°He slapped me!¡±


    ¡°So you fucking pushed him!?¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to, it just¡­ yeah¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±, ¡°What do we do?¡±


    ¡°We call someone and explain?¡±


    ¡°Alright, bloody hell, this day can¡¯t get any worse. You¡¯re alright?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m fine¡±


    ¡­


    ¡°The phone doesn¡¯t have a signal... That¡¯s impossible, unless, do you think¡­ maybe someone¡¯s blocking it? To hide whatever happened over here.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know¡±, ¡°Alan, I think we should leave¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m getting those vibes too, and since we don¡¯t have a meeting anymore¡­¡±


    We were about to leave, but just as I looked at the hole one last time, a black car shimmered into existence. A man dressed in a blue suit, and four not very happy men armed with some crazy tech, got out of the car and slowly came up to us.


    Alan,of course, entered in full business mode, bullshitting his way through this.


    ¡°Hello, Mr.? ¡°


    ¡°Ah, Mr. Weinstein? I see they already called you¡­¡± the man took a break to really look at us ¡°to see the legend, the brain behind all the operations for the very first time it¡¯s quite the honor. I thought you perhaps a bit older, but no matter. I¡¯m from the council they sent me to figure out what succeeded, you can call me Mr. Blue. So tell me what¡¯s the plan? Do we know who is it? The rebel¡¯s maybe? They have been acting strange recently.¡±


    ¡°Ah yes, the rebels...¡± I don¡¯t know where he was pulling this from, but I was seriously wowed, ¡°they have been a thorn on our side indeed. What do you believe is the right course of action?¡± said Alan with the best poker face I have seen in years


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure Mr. Weinstein, I¡¯m hardly the expert, we should not dawdle, time is of the essence, I¡¯d rather leave such decisions to yourself¡±


    ¡°Hmm, Hmmmmmm, I will form a special team and send them to investigate, inform the council of such.¡±


    ¡°Very well, then I shall contact you later through the usual means, to know of your results¡±, ¡°Just one more thing Mr. Weinstein it is just a formality but it must be done ¡° The falcon may fly high, but the 3867 eyed fly sees all¡±


    And just like that, when we were so close, we got fucked. We just looked at each other, and he knew what I was about to do.


    ¡°Run¡±


    The ¡°hydra¡±, my automaton arms burst through my shirt. I didn¡¯t see if Alan ran, at this point, I¡¯m not sure if it would have even mattered¡­ I rushed at the man closest to me while at the same time I turned a blowtorch at them, I¡¯m not sure if it blinded them or not, but I got to stab the one I was after right through the shoulder, he screamed. By the time I managed to get the arm out, the other, unfortunately, had already gotten over the blowtorch and with a thump my lower body just¡­ pain.


    I don¡¯t remember very well what happened after that, I think I saw Alan run? Maybe I imagined it¡­ well, that¡¯s how I died.


    Oh, look we got to the end of the tunnel.

 Chapter 1

    I think, the weirdest thing I think I''ll ever feel, is my heart beating for the first time.


    When I came into the light I was meet by warmth and complete silence. My body felt constricted, a general pressing force pushing at me. As you can probably guess, I''m in my mother''s womb.


    Days? Weeks? Time went like that for a while... sometimes my body was sloshed into one of the "walls" of my womb, I spent most of my time wondering what those jerks, pushes and pulls meant, the general conclusion I came to was that my future mother might not the most careful person. That or something was forcing my mother into strenuous movement¡­ I tried not to think too much about what that could mean for my continuous existence.


    Eventually something different happened, I felt my chest itching, at first it was like something was trying to break free, pushing around and trying to make space, it did so in waves, each one was making more progress than the other, then, it started smashing itself against my ribcages, thumping in my chest, I was so sure it was going to break out, whatever it may be¡­ I thought, "that was it" I had been reborn with a weird parasite and was about to die again¡­ But I didn''t, the thumping continued for on and on, it eventually seemed to calm down, and I prayed to all the gods for it to be a symbiotic parasite, maybe, just maybe I would survive it.


    And then one day, it happened. I realized I was an idiot. That... was my heart. Which only made it weirder, when I felt another heart on the other side of my chest. It started just like the first one, an itch then some pushing, what changed was that it started to branch out, or at least it felt like it, an electric itching coursing first through my limbs, then inching towards my head and finally towards my first heart. It didn''t hurt, if anything it felt like a balm, energizing and soothing at the same time, like the best massage in the world. It never really started beating, not with a thump-thump like the other one, it was more like it was cycling something, something entered that heart and came out slightly faster, it sent pulses through my body. It felt wondrous.


    My days went on like that, to the cadence of my first heart, and to the pulses of my second.


    The awareness of them eventually faded into the background, but I could still feel them if I searched for them.


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    <hr>


    <hr>


    Like all good things, it eventually came to an end.


    It started, when I felt The slosh, if it could even be called that, if the others were sloshes, this as the slosh of the sloshes.


    I was squizzed into one of the walls and felt something tear, all of sudden, the liquid I hadn''t realized I was suspended in, flowed away. Which only made the rollercoaster that came after that, all the more uncomfortable, a frantic thumping, jumping and I don''t even know what that was. Pushing, turning and squeezing me.


    It eventually calmed down, which allowed me to realize it was only a prelude for what it was coming, my birth, the event that no matter whom has lead them to tears, I must confess, that apprehensive was the least I was feeling.


    It started as you can guess, with a push, weak at first, then not so weak¡­ then my head was compressed in ways it really shouldn''t be, I swear that I felt it deform like a rubber ball, and for a while, I stayed that way, I think I was stuck¡­ but then with a mighty push, a pop, and a scream, I was born.


    "GET OUT, YOU LITTLE SHIT.  GET. OUUUUUTTTTT!"


    And then I started screaming.


    It became a rush of trading hands, being wrapped in towels, and being cleaned by towels because apparently birth''s, in general, produce a lot of fluids.


    Then, I was handed to my mother, she had black silky hair, gray eyes, a nose a bit too large and delicate thin lips, I can''t say she was the most beautiful person I had ever seen, I mean, she was beautiful, but there''s something about being covered in sweat and other fluids, that ruined the whole image.


    I''m pretty sure babies aren''t supposed to see with this acuity, but then again, babies aren''t born with a second heart either.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    "So it''s a boy, huh, guess I lost this one. Hmmm, but I was so sure it was a girl¡­ Hey, Doc. do you think we can fix that?"


    "Apologies, lady Yun, but such a skill transcends me"


    "Ah, pity. You just cost me 10 spirit stones, ya brat.", "So what shall I call you? Hmm, If you were a girl you would get my mother''s name, but thanks to someone that doesn''t work anymore, does it?" She said while glaring at me


    "Lin was supposed to name you, if you were a boy, he would probably want something poetic, like Feng Miang (author note: Falling asleep in the woods as the breeze swishes through, straight out of the web), but since the ass left, without me, he doesn''t get a say. "Honey, you''re pregnant, you can''t fight like this" he says, or "Honey, the clan has duties, I have to go", bah, what does he know, I was already an immortal when he was barely gold. The wimp is probably afraid he''d pass out and found somewhere to hide away.",


    "Anyway, Doc. what do you think''s a good name?"


    "Perhaps your Lord father name?"


    "No way, who the hell wants to be called Xun Xun Yun, the kid would probably hate me" she said like she was spitting poison, "hmmm¡­ I think I know¡­ Wei Lian" she sounded it, it resounded in the room, it went through me, and it was like it echoed inside me, kind of near my second heart actually. I felt it in a way William never had, even though they sounded alike, it''s hard to explain, it''s like it''s more me.


    "Yeah, that''s it. Wei Lian Yun¡­ welcome to the family."


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    <hr>


    The first months after I was born, were pretty monotonous, I was confined to a crib and didn''t get to see much, but I wasn''t idle, I listened and I learned.


    From the snippets of conversation I caught, when the maids took care of me, I learned about our Clan, the city and sometimes the major news in the province. I learned that I was now a member of one of the three esteemed clans of the sky-breach city, the Cloud-Fist clan.


    I learned that the Clan was one of the founding clans of the city, but since the death of the last patriarch, a Sea-stage Immortal, and the retirement of his wife, it had been declining. That is until my parents came in, "the elegant asura" Lady Bai Yun, with a temper to match the title, and the "genius" Lin Yun, the rising stars of the clan and the favorites for the next Leaders. Ever since they had won the Sky-Breach city inter-clan competition, which ruled who would be allotted which resources, expectations were running high. It seemed like my parents were quite a talent in this cultivation world, I could only hope I had inherited some of it.


    One surprising piece of information I got about the clan, though, was that the Cloud-fist clan was something of a democratic republic, the clan members would vote someone into the spot of clan elder, and from among those clan elders, one or usually a couple would be selected to lead the clan. Each Clan elder has a vote for any matter that''s currently being debated, while the clan leaders each have two, and in the case of a draw, the clan leaders would decide the best outcome.


    I learned that Sky-Breach City was one of the many cities in the Lonely-Mountains province, that the name Lonely-Mountains comes from the fact that most of the mountains are completely isolated from each other. Unlike the mountains I was used to, which were aggregated in a mountain range of some kind, these ones are scattered throughout one huge meadow.


    Most of the mountains were cultivation spots, owned by the Golden-Fields Sect, a major sect in the province focused on the production of spirit plants, hence the need for as many Ki rich spots as possible. However, some of the mountains weren''t owned by a sect at all, which is the case of the mountain where the Sky-Breach city is, the Sky-Breach Mountain.


    The Mountain is extremely rich in Ki, it''s said that long ago a Celestial descended from the heavens and with one sweep of his sword, cut the peak of the mountain in half, hence creating the plateau where the city was.


    It''s believed that he did it, so that his descendants had a rich cultivation spot, whether that is true or not, no one knows...


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    <hr><hr>


    Truth be told I barely have seen my mother this past few months, not to talk about my father which still hasn''t returned¡­ apparently, some complications had surged and he was needed for a while more.


    Mom, from what I understood spent most of her time cultivating or sparring with fellow cultivators, which in hindsight explains why I was always being jerked around in the womb. Mom¡­ has a lot of duties, which I understand, this world isn''t a kind world, and the future of the clan depends on her efforts.


    I think that if I truly was a child, I would, perhaps, resent her for this, for the choice of the many over my personal education, but to be honest I didn''t mind it that much. I was an adult trapped in a child''s body, acting like a child was tiring, one can only go "Go-Go Bah-Bah" so many times before going insane.


    However, it was those rare visits of my mother, from the stories that my mother told me, about her adventures or what I would imagine where our equivalent to bedtime stories, that I learned how this world ticked. I learned about the stages of cultivation, she told me of the battles between immortals, their might, and their capability for destruction, I even learned what type of insult would make a clan fall and what type of mistake must be avoided at all costs. Most important of all, though, I learned that this wasn''t a very nice world, this was a world were might makes right, the strong rule, and family means everything. A lonely cultivator doesn''t go far, even heaven deifying talents needs resources and time to bloom, without the support of a clan or a sect, most would perish to some other cultivator or to a spirit beast.


    And so my days went on like that... I could barely wait to get out of this crib.


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