《Weeds and Immortals》 Immortal who searches The young man slowly walked through the burning ruins of the village. All around him screams and shouts filled with dread, fear or determination could be heard. The sound of clashing swords and splintering shields filled the air. But he didn¡¯t seem to notice them. Either this or he didn¡¯t care about them. The only thing this young man obviously cared for, was reading the small book in his hands, while he slowly walked over the numerous corpses all round him. And despite the pools of blood and bits of flesh all around him there were no signs of stains on his clothing. The scene was too surreal and it almost looked like the young man was walking in an entire different dimension, a dimension far away from all this blood and gore. Suddenly a panicked scream came from inside one of the few remaining straw clad shacks. Fear and absolute horror resounded in this one shrill scream, echoing through the whole village, just like a plead for help that no one would never hear. He sighed and then put away the book into a pocket of his long cloak. Shaking his head, he mumbled. ¡°It¡¯s always the same¡­.¡° He sighed yet again, suddenly looking quite sad. Then he turned into the direction where the scream came from and walked into that direction. While he unhurriedly crossed the thirty meters of bloody corpses between himself and the small shack, faint words came out of his mouth and formed a song. The words weren¡¯t loud, but they still spread through the are. ¡°War has finally come, But where have the warriors gone? True men of honor, True symbols of war! Where have the warriors gone? The fights of the past have long since passed, Only Dust is left behind. The fire of mankind has burned down, Where have the warriors gone?¡± His words were carried by the light wind and spread around the entire village. Passing by the fighting man and screaming children. As they echoed into nothingness the fights cooled down as everyone realized what was happing. Then the young man¡¯s voice became louder. ¡°For pride and for glory they went into war, They fought in seas of blood and gore. They never raped, they never killed, The old and the young they never harmed. Their lives they gave and lives they took Warriors fought for fighting¡¯s sake The Warrior glory awaits, The soldier just death escapes.¡± He stopped singing as he entered the twilight of the shack. Inside the building the only light source were the small rays of sunlight that came through the gaps in the wooden walls. Straw was spread all across the ground and dirt could be seen in the corners. In the very back of the shack two shadows moved, one male and one female. The female, a young woman was staring at the young man that had just come through the door, shock filling her expression. The male on the other side somehow hadn¡¯t noticed the sudden visitor and was violently trusting into the female¡¯s precious parts. He seemed like he had lost his mind, foam coming out of his mouth and fervent eyes that were staring at the young woman with a scary expression of madness. The young man¡¯s expression remained a little bit sad, but it was clear that the sadness wasn¡¯t related the raping of the young woman. The faint sadness one could detect on this man was directed on the crazed man who wouldn¡¯t stop trusting into the young woman. It wasn¡¯t that he pitied that man. What he pitied was what this man was standing for. He pitied what had become of human kind. ¡°You¡­. Are no warrior.¡±, he faintly spoke. ¡°Ah, I wonder will I ever get across a battlefield without this stuff?¡±, his shrugged his shoulder. ¡°Well not that it matters¡­. YOU will die anyway!¡±, his face suddenly turned freezing cold.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. A terrifying aura exploded from the young man and filled the shack, no it filled the entire village and even the fields around the village. It was an aura of absoluteness. An aura that no one would ever go against. Anyone who stood before this aura would not dare to miss out on any order, even if following the order would cost the own life! Even if the body didn¡¯t want to comply, the soul would! ¡°Die!¡±, a single word escaped the young man¡¯s frozen expression and bore down upon the maddened man. The later¡¯s expression suddenly twisted even more, making him seem more like a monster then a human. Then his eyes suddenly blanked out and his body started to spasm. He felt pain worse than anything he had felt ever before. Pain that no one could even start to imagine, pain that came from his soul and not his body. It was the pain of his soul disintegrating itself! Then the pain disappeared and the man fell to the ground. He was death, his soul had destroyed itself after hearing the young man¡¯s order. The young woman that was still lying in the corner was completely shaken as two words resurfaced in her mind. ¡®Immortal¡¯! She couldn¡¯t help but stare at the young man in front of her and her mouth slowly opened. ¡°Immortal sir¡­. Please help our village!¡± She was extremely clear that the young man in front of her was incredible. Not to mention the soldiers that had attacked the village, even if the whole force behind this soldiers came they would still tremble in front of this man, regretting to have come to this small desolate village! The young man chuckled wryly. He knew that once he stepped into this, there was no way to stay out of the battle again. ¡°Girl¡±, he suddenly called out to the young woman. ¡°S-sir Immortal?¡± ¡°What would you say¡­. Would a righteous person kill every of these bastards in the village?¡±, he smiled faintly. The young woman was confused over the Immortals words, but she still nodded. The young man closed his eyes, the smile on his face only broadening. Then he nodded his head, opened his mouth and a word came out. ¡°Die.¡± It was unlike the last time where the word seemed to domineering to withstand. Last time there was no other choice but to heed his orders and die, but this time the word didn¡¯t seem to be an order. It was more like a question. A question asking them all to die. The woman was shocked as she felt her own soul suddenly tremble and disintegrate. ¡°S-SIR IMMORTAL???¡±, she panicked even more as she felt her consciousness fall apart bit by bit. It wasn¡¯t like the mad man¡¯s death before. There was no pain, nothing. But it was even more scary as it happened without any kind of ripple on the Immortals face. It was as if all of this was just natural, something that had to happen. Despair rose in the woman¡¯s mind and she already gave up as¡­. ¡°Just joking, you won¡¯t die. But remember my words¡­ to the powerful, what difference is there between you and the other ones?¡±, the Immortal suddenly spoke and her soul instantly restored itself. In just a moment everything went back to how it was before, just as if nothing had happened. While the young woman couldn¡¯t quite comprehend, what had happened just now, the Immortal walked out of the shack into the light of the setting sun. The weather was wonderful with just a few clouds on the otherwise golden sky. It almost looked like a scene from the paradise, As long as you didn¡¯t look at the countless death bodies that were scattered across the whole village. In between the countless death soldiers, the villagers slowly rose their heads and watched across their burned down village. Of the two hundred buildings that had previously stood here only twelve could be used and the rest was burned down. At least the fields around the village still had their crops growing on them and they would have enough food to survive through the soon coming winter. But even if they had food, without shelter many would get ill and it would be an miracle if even half of them survived until the next spring. The young man just shoot a glance at these villagers before grabbing into his long cloak and pulling out his book. Without looking back he silently exited the village, while burying his head inside the book. This wasn¡¯t his problem. In the first place he wasn¡¯t a part of this village or the fiefdom it belonged to. He wasn¡¯t even a human in the same sense as they were. He was an immortal, a being that wouldn¡¯t grow old, potentially living for all eternity. An existence that was powerful enough to raze down a country with just himself. There was a difference like heaven and earth between them and himself. So why would he intervene in a battle they fought? ¡°Am I a righteous person?¡±, he shook his head. ¡°Maybe.¡± It wasn¡¯t because he was a just person that he helped the village. Calling himself a truly righteous person would be wrong, he wasn¡¯t righteous at all. For him it didn¡¯t matter if things happened or not. If he wasn¡¯t there it wasn¡¯t his problem. He wouldn¡¯t interfere in a battle even if thousands were to die. He wouldn¡¯t take revenge for people he never knew. But once he saw something he deemed wrong he would stop it with all of his might! Instead of being called righteous he should be called someone with principles. Principles that he would protect as long as he was present. War was to be fought between warriors. Those that chose to become warriors would take lives and they would eventually give their life. And in exchange they were rewarded with glory, pride and respect. This was his ideal of war. To take the lives of innocents was wrong! This was the reason why he appeared at so many battle fields. He had a nickname: ¡®Warrior Seeking Immortal¡¯. The Immortal that constantly wandered over the battlefields searching for warriors, for those who could be called righteous even in war! And this was why he had killed the soldiers in the village. ¡®Warriors await glory, Soldiers escape death.¡¯ And those that killed innocents wouldn¡¯t escape his sight! He sighed yet again as he looked up from his book. ¡°Yet again no true warrior hm? I wonder¡­ they call it humaneness¡­ but why is it so unhuman?¡± He stretched his neck as he looked up into the sky. 50 years, 3657 battlefields. Not a single person worth to be called a warrior. ¡°I wonder if I will ever find such a human¡­.¡±, he scratched his neck and took another step. Then he suddenly frowned. ¡®This patch of weed?????¡¯ Right in front of him was a small grass plant growing right on the path. It¡¯s small leaves had a faint light and glittered in last remaining light of the evening. But that wasn¡¯t what shocked the Immortal so much. It was the amount of the energy called qi that was stored inside of this small plant in front of him. He blinked. Then a grin came onto his face. ¡®Interesting!¡¯ --------------------------------------------------------------- Remark from the author: To they guys reading i can promise at least three chapters a week, any more then this is depending on motivation and my freetime. A second chapter is coming tomorrow. Reincarnated as weed I was screaming and cursing all around me, blaming the whole world for my current situation. Well it¡¯s not like anyone could even hear me cursing or the never-ending flood of words I would never want to repeat again in my life. After all I¡¯m just a patch of weed. And it¡¯s not even the weed you would want to buy at the dark shady corner! Nope, it¡¯s the normal, boring weed that grows at any place it shouldn¡¯t. My poor little existence was the one of a useless plant. I tried to look around me, but being a weed there isn¡¯t really anything to look with, so I tried to somehow sense ANYTHING and after some time I actually managed to feel my own thin blade like leaves, as well as my tiny roots that burrowed into the ground. Not exactly what I hoped for, but at least a lot better than feeling nothing at all. After some time, I finally calmed down and began to furiously think. How in god¡¯s name did I end up as weed? I mean, obviously it¡¯s through reincarnation. What other explanation could there be aside for this one? I know that I died. No surprise after living to a ripe age of 93, but why did I reincarnate as weed? In my prior life, I was a respectable man who lived simple and worked hard. I was friendly and even frequently donated to the poor. My karma should be good! So why did I end up as the most useless of all plants? Not that I would be more content if I was reborn as any other kind of plant, but being reborn as weed is still something completely different than being reborn as a potato! ¡­ Ok that comparison sucked! I settled down again. Then I noticed that I felt thirsty so I just sucked in some water from the soil. Fuck¡­.I¡¯m seriously a plant. The thought really depressed me. Suddenly something popped up inside of my mind. It was a small, blue shining screen that randomly appeared in the darkness. I concentrated on this screen and it enlarged. Now I could see that there were lines of words written on this strange blue wall that suddenly appeared in my most private space. It was written just like an email: Dear client, We are sorry for the inconvenience, but something went wrong in your reincarnation process. Unfortunately currently there is no staff free to fix the problem and as this is unlikely to change in the next three millennia we ask you to solve the problem yourself. As compensation for this small inconvenience we provide you with a set of cultivation manuals you can use. We hope that this will help you. If you want to leave any feedback regarding the customer service, please cultivate until you are a deity and contact us. We wish best of luck and hope for your success. LOL This¡­. ARE THEY KIDDING ME? WHAT DO THEY MEAN SMALL INCONVINIENCE?? AND WHY DID THEY USE LOL???????? I started to rage and once again threw barrages of insults at whoever was responsible for this mess. After about three to four days I then finally calmed down and came to think about the cultivation manual they mentioned. Cultivation, I knew it from my past live. As a huge fan of Asian culture and a person who literally fed on books and novels I had read a lot of these kind of stories. Training and absorbing an energy called qi, using flashy magical techniques and eventually becoming immortal! Or dying because of some other bastard was stronger than me. That¡¯s pretty much a summary of any Xianxia Novel there was¡­ Well I shouldn¡¯t be too pessimistic about dying, at least it would be better than being a damned patch of grass and with a bit of luck there was the chance that I could become something pretty damn incredible! On the other hand,¡­. It¡¯s from the guys who fucked up my reincarnation so I shouldn¡¯t be too optimistic either¡­.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. That aside, where is this cultivation manual? I looked around my mind, quickly scanning through the darkness. By the way, why is my mind dark? Shouldn¡¯t there be my memories or some other stuff floating around here? I stumbled and thought about it for a while. Then I just shrugged my imaginary shoulder. It¡¯s not like I could find any answer to this anyway. I finally found the manual in a hidden corner of my mind and was astonished to find that it truly looked like a cultivation manual. Some old, yellowish paper bund together to from a tattered booklet. Well, at least these guys have some sense of esthetics! Then I looked into the book and immediately corrected myself. This guys are simply bastards! The reason for this statement was the actual title of the manual: Cultivation for idiots I nearly fell into rage for the third time since my reincarnation. Seriously, why is it that the dumbest people are always the ones with the greatest responsibility? I mean, who gave this retards the responsibility for reincarnation? If they are always like this it¡¯s no wonder why there is no staff available! I sighed and finally took a look into the manual. It had 30 pages in total and described the progress of cultivation in three great realms and 36 minor realms in total. The three great realms were: The earth realm The heaven realm The immortal realm Each of these three great realms had 12 minor realms that divided it into different levels. In order to attain the first minor realm of the earth realm that was also called student realm I had to absorb an energy form called qi from my surroundings and store it inside of my body. To do this I needed to use the cultivation technique described inside of the manual. This technique had two parts: a breathing technique and an internal control technique. The breathing technique gathered the qi from the surrounding area and guided it into my body, the internal technique then controlled the qi inside my body and made it seep into my flesh and blood to store it away. Furthermore, I would need to use the internal technique in the future to channel my qi and actively use it. This was pretty good! I was really excited! Once I mastered these two techniques I would be able to step into the student realm! And from what the manual described once I reached that realm I could use qi to make simple attacks and communicate with others. Most importantly I could use qi to scan my surroundings! I would finally have something like eyes and find out where I am and what is around me! With this in mind I instantly started to learn the two techniques from the book. The breathing technique wasn¡¯t that hard. The technique just made me follow a certain pattern of breathing in and out, it just took me a short time to master the rhythms that I had to follow and after a few unsuccessful tries I managed to ¡®breath¡¯ in some qi. To my luck plants could breath and the whole technique was useable even for plants! I wonder if it was on purpose or not¡­. But nah it¡¯s these guys we are talking about. Without even noticing I already made myself an opinion about Guys-who-made-me-reincarnate-persons and the opinion wasn¡¯t the most desirable. Feeling the qi inside me was a wondrous feeling unlike any I had felt in neither this nor my prior life. The faint strands qi inside my leaves were clearly there. I could feel them. I could feel their presence. But at the same time as I felt the strands inside me I also noticed that the strands of qi seemed to steadily seep out of me. It was as if my body was a container with holes while the qi was simple water. The qi seeped out of the holes inside my body slowly leaving my body. To my surprise, I realized that unless I quickly made my move, the qi I worked quite a bit for to acquire would just disappear like this. Not waiting for that to happen I tried to use the internal technique from the manual. It involved me focusing my mind on the qi and then visualizing some pretty strange patterns. Lines that went over in cycles and abstract forms, three dimensional shapes that hid even stranger structures inside of them. At first it didn¡¯t work and I couldn¡¯t even start to visualize, so I tried again and again. At the same time the qi inside my body slowly became less and less so I began to worry. This whole thing was a little bit harder then I assumed at first! Finally, after dozens of tries there was only one strand of qi left inside my body. I focused my mind and visualized the patterns. Success! I was overjoyed. Finally, I managed to take control of the last strand of qi. As I continued to visualize the strand wandered around in my leaves and slowly integrating itself into my ¡®flesh¡¯. Then it completely fused and I stopped. So this is how it feels to have absorbed qi. The feeling was quite nice, just like having eaten a good snack. It was truly satisfying! But this one strand of qi still didn¡¯t make a huge difference, so I continued the cycle. Using the breathing technique then controlling the strands of qi with the internal technique. With each time I repeated the cycle I became more proficient in using the two techniques and after tens of these cycles I actually managed to absorb three strands of qi instead of just one. Slowly I felt my body change. With each strand of qi I could feel that my leaves underwent small transformations. At this pace it would only be a matter of time until I reached the student realm! Ability to see¡­ I¡¯m coming! Immortal meets Weed The next few days I continued to continuously cultivate like a madman. I did nothing aside from executing the two techniques and making more and more strands of qi fuse with my leaves. Not like I had a lot of options, aside from basking in the sun or pondering there isn¡¯t a whole lot what plants can do, but even with this in mind the amount of motivation I had was really something else. They often say that a desperate person can bring the greatest results¡­ seems like that was true. After 10 more days (I can differentiate day and night because my photosynthesis) I already came close to completing the first level of the earth realm. My excitement rose by the day. Soon, soon I would be able to see something else aside from the darkness of my mind, the tattered manual and the ugly blue massage that would go away no matter what I tried. Soon! Just as I was motivating myself again there was something that was different. I didn¡¯t really know what it was, but my instincts as a plant told me that it was dangerous. And don¡¯t even dare to question if plants have instincts! Anyway, I got nervous. This was the first time anything like this happened and I had no idea how to deal with this situation. Something was wrong and I didn¡¯t know what It was. Incredibly really vexing, knowing that something happens but not knowing what it is! Now I know how trees must feel when they are about to be cut! It wasn¡¯t the best opportunity to argue about a tree¡¯s personal feelings though, so I quickly dropped the topic and furiously thought how to get out of my strange situation. As a plant, there wasn¡¯t a lot of things I could do against predators, but luckily, I¡¯m no normal plant anymore! So I did the only thing I could and began executing the internal control technique, gathering mana at highspeed. The strands of mana that I had gathered over the past weeks separated from my ¡®flesh¡¯ and gathered at a single point. More and more strands fused into a single point inside my body, concentrating the energy. I knew that once I used up this mana all my work of weeks would be gone, but right now that didn¡¯t matter! I had to survive and this was the only way how I could! After I had mobilized about two thirds of the qi inside my body I manipulated the ball of qi and made it go towards the direction my instincts told me. Something was there and I could somehow feel that it wasn¡¯t a good thing! Finally, I once again manipulated the concentrated qi and made it explode outside my body. I couldn¡¯t actually see what it looked like, but I imagined it like a beam of light that pulverized whatever was out there. That¡¯s what you get for provoking me ya bastard! The Immortal looked down onto the small plant of grass and couldn¡¯t help but be astonished over the amount of qi that was stored inside the body. This was the first time he had seen weed with this amount of qi inside of it. Of course, there were a lot of plants that could absorb qi from the surroundings. They were called treasure plants and were used to prepare food that helped humans with their cultivation. But this plants were extremely rare and in most cases didn¡¯t look like something you can just pick up on the street randomly. He had never heard of a treasure plant in form of weed (/grass)! But this was already as far as his curiosity went. So, this weed is a treasure plant. A little bit special, but he had no need for treasure plants and no interest in growing them either. He should just leave it here and let it grow further. With these thoughts, the Immortal already thought of going on, but just as he was about to continue his steps, something moved. Of course, it wasn¡¯t the plant itself, even treasure plants usually couldn¡¯t move themselves, but inside the plant he could see the plant¡¯s qi suddenly gathering together in one place before exploding out of the plant. He was to shocked to doge the blue beam that shot at him, but it didn¡¯t matter as it slammed into the qi barrier he always had set up around himself. The beam dissipated without even doing any damage to the barrier, but the Immortal was still shocked out of his wits. ¡°This thing is intelligent?!¡± This was the conclusion he immediately reached. Treasure plants could absorb qi and store it, but they had no way to control it. There were a few exceptions, but these were incredible rare plants and usually had the power of an immortal like himself. Only with this amount of qi were they able to develop some intelligence as qi slowly changed their bodies and allowed them to create an own consciousness. The plant in front of his was obviously neither rare, nor powerful, but it still had the ability to control qi. Suddenly stumbling across such an oddity it was only normal that the Immortal was astonished. Soon another thought crossed his mind.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡®Right now it hasn¡¯t even reached the first grade of the earth realm in cultivation¡­. If it¡¯s intelligent, would it be cable of speech via qi?¡¯ He was curious. If his thoughts proved to be right this little grass plant in front of him was something utterly earthshaking. ¡®An intelligent plant¡­. A new, third race??!¡¯ If this plant was truly intelligent from birth, then this would most likely mean that there could be others like it and this would lead to a new race of intelligent beings in the world! Currently there were two races that shared the world with each other. The humans And the demons. There is no need to explain the human race, but demons were nothing else but the offspring of animals that cultivated. Their ancestors once reached the heaven realm and gained intelligence, intelligence that they passed down on their offspring. There were two characteristics that set demons apart from humans: One was their body. Their physical appearance had two forms. A human and a beast form. The beast form directly reflected their ancestor¡¯s, fishes, tigers and even dragons. Their human form still retained some of the beast forms characteristics such as tails or horns, but other than these small things it looked just like a human¡¯s. This was also why humans regarded themselves to be the epilog of creation. Since any race would take their physical appearance upon reaching the heaven realm and becoming an immortal. But these things weren¡¯t important right now. Right now, in front of the Immortal there was something that potentially could become another intelligent race. The third race! He decided to test it out. Did it succeed? I couldn¡¯t say for sure, but my instincts somehow told me that my attack didn¡¯t work out as it should have had. Damn resilient bastard. What was I supposed to do now? Even if I used the remaining qi inside my body it wouldn¡¯t change anything. If two thirds of my qi couldn¡¯t harm my mysterious opponent, the remaining one third wouldn¡¯t change anything on that. So was I fated to die? Damn my time on this world was short for sure. Well, let¡¯s hope that they won¡¯t fuck up my reincarnation yet again¡­. But nah, they will probably do it anyway. I was kind of calm. I¡¯m gonna die, what¡¯s of it? It¡¯s not the first time and all of this was a mistake in the first place. I¡¯m just gonna be reborn again, with a bit luck I will be a potato¡­. Yea my life is sure dark. This are my thoughts as I bravely looked into death¡¯s face¡­.. ¡­. But where the heck is this face??? How long does it take to god damn kill a bit of grass hm??? I wanted to scream at my opponent tell him to finally kill this weed and stop waste time. But then¡­ suddenly a lot of qi started to flow into me. I was shocked at first, but then I realized that I would explode soon if I didn¡¯t control this qi. SO this is your plan hm? Making me explode with this bit of qi?! I chuckled. This guy was underestimating me. This amount of qi was still something I could handle with my current mastery over the internal control technique. And with a bit luck I might actually reach the student level once I absorbed this! Let¡¯s see if I can give you an unpleasant surprise, bastard! Immediately I took control of the abundant qi and executed the internal control technique, fusing the strands of qi into my body. One strand 10 strands 50 strands 100 strands. I absorbed almost half of the qi when I suddenly noticed something change within my body. My qi went into motion and underwent some strange changes inside my leaves. Previously it had only been stored inside my leaves, it wasn¡¯t really a part of my body yet. I had absorbed it into my body, but once I used it up I would have to once again go through all the work of absorbing it. It was inside my body, but not yet something that belonged me. But I immediately realized that this had now changed. The qi changed my flesh and created containers for qi inside of it. From now on I wouldn¡¯t have to use my breathing technique and internal technique to fill my body with mana. These qi-containers inside my body would automatically absorb mana from the surroundings until they were filled up. Of course, they wouldn¡¯t change their size and if I wanted to store more qi and reach the second level of the earth realm I would need to once again cultivate by using the two techniques. The new mana would then stretch the containers and gradually enlarge them, so that I can store more qi inside of them. It was actually quite simple. But that wasn¡¯t important right now, I could sort these things out later. Right now the most pressing thing was my mysterious enemy and now that I had reached the student level, I could use my qi to see my surroundings. I channeled the qi from the containers and controlled it according to the method recorded in the manual. The qi changed its form and seeped out of my body. Instantly it spread out to over an area of about 30 meters around me and finally I could see what was going on. I was actually growing right on a path surrounded by fields and crops. Well this was pretty much what I imagines anyway so I wasn¡¯t too surprised. What surprised me was my ¡®mysterious enemy¡¯. It was a human¡­. Well at least this was what he seemed to be. His physique was a 20 odd years old male one, but through my ¡®qi-vision¡¯ I was able to detect a huge quantity of qi flowing within him. Is this really a human? The amount of qi inside of this person was about 2000 times the amount within me! I was astonished, but this ¡®human¡¯ didn¡¯t seem to be hostile towards me. Instead he was staring at me with surprised, but interested eyes and muttered some words. I should try talk with him. I once again manipulated my qi and used it to talk to this strange person. ¡°Excuse me, could you please stop staring at me?¡±. I asked. Don¡¯t blame me for this idiotic approach and being unpolite, I was nervous! The person in front of me suddenly smiled brightly, his eyes glittering. Also using qi, he answered. ¡°I¡¯m extremely sorry for this inconvenience, I wasn¡¯t aware that you had consciousness. Please pardon my impoliteness.¡± ¡­. Toooo fucking polite¡­.. I almost had to puke (metaphor guys I know plants can¡¯t puke) at his overly polite wording. Is this guy a snob???? I still replied normally though. ¡°Oh¡­ ok it¡¯s not that problematic¡­.¡±, I felt awkward. ¡°Oh I¡¯m relieved. Nice to meet you, I¡¯m the Immortal¡± ¡­.. The Immortal?! Seriously that guy should think of another name. I understand that he doesn¡¯t want to give his real name to some random stranger plant, but couldn¡¯t he at least choose one that wouldn¡¯t sound ridiculous? Seriously If I called him like this wouldn¡¯t it make me seem ridiculous? Well ok¡­ if he decided to play this way, I shall go along. A ridiculous name hm? I secretly smiled. ¡°¡­..well nice to meet you to, I¡¯m Weed¡­.¡± ¡­.. Don¡¯t blame me, I like this pun! Ways may differ ?So Imm, what are we going to do now?¡±, I asked Imm. Well, I call him Imm, but it seemed that the person in question wasn¡¯t quite agreeing with this name. ¡°Are you seriously going to call me like this all the time?¡±, I could hear his annoyed voice. ¡°Hm? Why not? It would feel strange to publicly call you Immortal you know? It¡¯s not my problem if you won¡¯t tell me your real name, is it?¡±, I smiled devilishly. You don¡¯t wanna tell me your name? Ok so it be! But then be prepared for my especially creative nicknames! But the thing about being embarrassed to call him Immortal in public was also true. In the short while since we met, Imm had already shown me how to use qi to create a real, physical voice. Because of this I had been talking with this physical voice instead of voice transmission via qi. Of course, voice transmission was more secretive and had a lot of pro¡¯s speaking for it, but I still preferred using a real voice to talk. It might be linked to the long and boring stay inside of my mind. Imm, looked at me helplessly. ¡°It¡¯s not like you told me your real name too, you know?¡± ¡°Yea, but I don¡¯t mind nicknames.¡±, I cheerfully replied. After being all alone for a couple of weeks it was extremely satisfying to have someone to talk to, even more since he was perfect to toy with. He shook his head, but I could see a small smile on his lips. ¡°So, you are a human, who by mistake was reborn into the body of a plant hm?¡± He wasn¡¯t surprised in the least. The only emotion his face was showing was interest and curiousity. I nodded. ¡°Yea they even send me a message telling me to cultivate to deity realm in order to complain.¡±, my voice carried irritation within it and made Imm grin. ¡°I already heard of such cases. They say that the ancestors of demons also had similar backgrounds. Humans that were by mistake reincarnated into a animals body and were ¡®compensated¡¯ with cultivation techniques.¡± Oh so I wasn¡¯t the first in this world hm? But demons¡­.. I wonder if they are closer to Chinese or European mythology¡­ But right now I have to confirm a few other things, so I should set this topic aside. ¡°Well¡­.¡±, I kind of awkwardly asked while changing the topic. ¡°What are we going to do now?¡± He looked at me surprised over the sudden question. Then he shrugged his shoulders. ¡°Not my problem what you are going to do¡­. I¡¯m just going to keep follow the flames of war.¡± I ¡®looked¡¯ at him awkwardly. What a weirdo¡­. But then again I could allow this! ¡°You know¡­ I can¡¯t really move yet and I certainly don¡¯t intent to stay at this path for an extended period¡­. So couldn¡¯t you just take me with you?¡± I wasn¡¯t sure what he intended by ¡®following the flames of war¡¯, but at least it wouldn¡¯t be as boring as staying here! He looked at me and pondered for some time. Then he once again shrugged his shoulders.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Why not. It will be more interesting if I have a talking weed with me. ¡­ But then again¡­. No sorry I guess I can¡¯t take you with me.¡± ¡­. Are you fucking with me??? No seriously this was exactly what I thought. First giving me some hope and then suddenly deciding against it. Was this some kind of strange game he was playing with me? ¡°Why?¡±, I choose to hide my disappointment and anger. ¡°I have some stuff to do, you would be in the way.¡± ¡­. Seriously what a bastard! ¡°But¡­ I will help you so you can move on your own.¡± Ok I take it back! Anything was ok as long as I didn¡¯t need to stay on this desolate place! ¡°How?¡± He hesitated for a moment. Then he seemed to have resolved himself and pointed his finger on me. I could sense streams of qi flowing out of it and crossing the space between us. It entered my body and seeped into my mind. He was transmitting information! I quickly checked its contents and felt elated. This wasn¡¯t just a way how to use my limited amount of qi to move around! There was also a technique that was described as ¡°Heavenly Mist Illusions¡±, a technique that used up qi to build up illusions around yourself! I instantly noticed the pun and looked to Imm. He somehow seemed to have noticed my gaze (No idea how. I still have no eyes¡­) and smiled. ¡°Thought it would be pretty fitting.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡±, I sincerely thanked him. He simply smiled and suddenly turned around. ¡°Go to the Shang dynasty in the south. Maybe you will be able to become strong. Strong enough to complain.¡± He moved and disappeared from the thirty-meter radius that I could see through my qi-vision. I was left alone. But I wasn¡¯t dejected or angry at him. He had helped me achieve the student level and he had given him two techniques he could use right now. Any more then this and I would have to consider him my savior! For some unknown amount of time I was pondering. What was I supposed to do in this knew life of mine? Any goals for the future? I wanted to complain to those that fucked up my reincarnation, but reaching the deity realm was a little unrealistic¡­ Finally, I smiled. Shang dynasty of the south hm? Sounds like a cool place. With this in mind, I started to study the two techniques Imm had given me. He was a little bit disappointed. This guy who called himself Weed was just a person who had reincarnated, not some natural evolution as he had hoped. But then again it didn¡¯t matter. With a bit of luck that guy would become just like those ancestors of the demons, the founder of a whole new race. At that time whether he was a reborn human would be completely irrelevant. The thought of a third intelligent race didn¡¯t worry him at all. Even though the demons had been warring with the humans for 30 millennia, at first the ancient human tribes, then the first dynasty of the xia and now the Shang dynasty, an unending battle of blood. Even though the blood feud between the two races had taken uncountable amounts of lives, he wasn¡¯t worried. It wasn¡¯t that he thought himself invincible. Even as someone at the heaven realm, even as an immortal, any of these wars could easily take his live if he participated. Thousands of Immortals had fallen in the millennia of war, tens were fighting on both sides right now. He wasn¡¯t confident at all. But he still wasn¡¯t worried. Instead he looked forward. He looked forward what would become of this reincarnated human, who had just reached the first level of the earth realm. Actually, this was also a part of the reason why he had left him alone instead of taking him along. There was truly something he had to do, but in fact Weed¡¯s presence wouldn¡¯t bother him in the least. It wasn¡¯t that he couldn¡¯t take him with him, he just didn¡¯t want to! They say that in order to grow you had to face challenges and situations of imminent death. If the Immortal had really taken him along, how could Weed possibly face any difficulties? Protected by someone that powerful, who could threaten him? Why would he even bother becoming stronger then? Because of this the Immortalhad just helped him a little and given him some advice. This was something he had to do on his own. Growing strong was something you couldn¡¯t depend on others on. He was truly looking forward to this weeds future. How strong will he be when they meet again? Thinking about this, the Immortal suddenly focused his attention on something different. In some distance, he could sense a powerful aura, no weaker then himself, slowly nibbling down the distance between them. His face turned first grim, then annoyed. So there was really no other way, but to deal with this stressful fellow! A common guy Once again I was really motivated and strove hard to comprehend the two techniques Imm had left me. The ¡®Heavenly Mist Illusion¡¯ technique and the nameless moving technique, both were extremely important to me. The moving technique, because without it I would have to stay on this boring path and continue my life as a slightly unnatural weed. The illusion technique, because it could serve as defense as well as attack, in a world of cultivation certainly something I would need. Also, the ¡®Heavenly Mist Illusion¡¯ technique had another alluring property I needed. It could make me look like a human! Well it¡¯s not really making me a human, it rather created an illusion around me, giving me the body of a human. Still, certainly better then running around as a floating plant of grass¡­. Faced with this, of course I was madly comprehending these two techniques, learning how to utilize them. Both revolved around the manipulation and conversion of qi. Put into a nutshell, I first had to convert and change the qi inside my body into a slightly different form of qi, just like I did to acquire my qi-vision. Then in the second step I manipulated this different kind of qi and used it accordingly to the manipulation arts described in the techniques. This new form of qi would then move alongside my wishes. I began with the Illusions technique. Just as the information inside my mind told me, I converted a portion of my qi into another qi form called ¡®Heaven Mist Qi¡¯, then I manipulated this qi and spread it around me just as described. White mist seeped out of my leaves and covered me, it truly looked just like natural mist! With another thought of mine the mist changed forms and the illusion formed around me. Suddenly there was no small patch of weed growing on the path. Instead a young, plain but still decently handsome man had appeared on the exactly same spot. He had normal black hair, brown eyes and very normal features. All in all, he was truly just a normal person, someone no one would pay attention to. I was satisfied with this form. There was no need for me to stand out, especially as I was still too weak right now. So rather than creating the illusion of an incredible personality, I created a normal, plain guy so as to avoid any troubles. The only problem were the clothes. I had no idea what kind of clothes I should give my avatar and I thought that I certainly shouldn¡¯t use Imm¡¯s style as comparison. That guy was incredibly powerful and in the first-place kind of weird. It wouldn¡¯t be funny if I got into trouble because of copying his style! Seems that I would have to stay naked for now. ¡­. Well I wanted to be average and avoid standing out, but that place¡­ it should be fine to make it a little more ¡®outstanding¡¯.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! A weird smile crept on my new illusionary face, creeping me out more than it should. Anyway, this illusion technique was pretty good. It was simple to use but hard to see through and didn¡¯t use up too much of my qi. The qi-containers inside my body automatically absorbed and refilled more qi then the technique was using up, so I could keep the illusion up all the time. Of course, right now this body was no more than an illusion, nothing physical. So, I couldn¡¯t just pick up my real body and wander of. The ¡®Heavenly Mist Illusion¡¯ technique could temporally make my illusions physical, but the qi consumption was enormous, more than I could currently naturally absorb. So, if I used it, I could only keep it up for a few moments. After this my qi would be completely dried up and the illusion would vanish. This was where the second technique Imm gifted me came handy. Instead of calling it an moving technique it was more of an psychokinetic technique. After converting my qi into the specific qi of this technique, I could easily make things float according to my will. Naturally this also included my own body. Adding to this, this technique also had low qi consumption and even if used together with the ¡®Heaven Mist Illusion¡¯ technique the consumption could still barley be covered by my natural absorption. Coming to the point, I was now able to freely move around while looking like a human! Of course, I still had to be careful as my illusionary body wasn¡¯t physical and could be seen through be higher leveled cultivators. But at least I could now move on! With this in mind I began executing both techniques and moved in the direction of the small village, Imm had told me of. This is the begin! I thought to myself, walking naked into the village. Oh by the way, of course I could have made myself invisible first to check out the clothing style¡­. But no need to spill tears over this stuff, right? Just as one could expect the first reaction to my sudden appearance in the village was rather¡­. Let¡¯s say strange. A few young women at the entrance were the first to spot me and my uncommon¡­. ¡®thing¡¯. At first they froze, unsure what to think of this situation. Later their expressions turned strange as they noticed that I was naked. Finally, their faces became red as they stole glances at the uncommon part of my body. During the whole process the face of my illusion stayed calm and composed. Just as if I wouldn¡¯t notice their reactions. But in truth I was laughing, my amusement reaching the peak as I watched them . I truly have to thank that weirdo. Then finally I saw a young man, somewhat in my age walking down the small street to check on the young woman. He was wearing a simple brown robe, missing any adornments. I quickly moved, changing the illusion and made my illusionary body wear similar, but slightly changed clothes. The girls stared at me, wondering if they had seen wrong. If this gigantic thing had only been born in their imagination. Their faces only became redder as they thought so. The young man who had just arrived had a strange look on his face as he arrived at the entrance of the village, seeing the blushed faces of the young women. He wanted to ask them what was up, but decided to delay that for later. Instead he focused on me and quickly checked my appearance. Upon seeing that I looked just like a normal passerby he smiled friendly and approached me. ¡°How can I help this friend?¡±, his wording was polite and his voice nice to hear. I nodded inside my head. This young fellow was alright. ¡°I have lost my way, so I wondered if friend could tell me my current location and let me stay for the night.¡±, I pointed at the darkening sky and also smiled friendly. ¡°I would be thankful if friend could help me find a stay for a single night!¡± The youth nodded. This was a common occurrence. People who come to small villages to request for a place to stay for the night and a small dinner. There was no reason for him to deny his request and taking someone in would bring good karma. ¡°Friend is very fortunate. We have just rebuilt our houses after a fiercer fight a few weeks ago. If you came any earlier I would have had no other choice but to send you away, but now I can help you find a stay and dinner!¡± I politely thanked him and he lead the way into the village. A fight hm? It seems that this world was truly no good place for the weak to stay in. Action in the Village Following the youth, I walked further into the village. Right upon entering I already noticed the barley patched up buildings and still remaining damages that were scattered around the village. Aside from this, another thing I noticed was the absence of people within the village. It¡¯s not like there were no people at all, for example there were the girls at the entrance of the village, but the number of those people I saw was too small for a village of this scale. Furthermore, many of the villagers I saw had strange looks and somewhat weird expressions as they looked at me. It was creepy! Reason told me that something was wrong with this village. The behavior of the villagers and the things the youth had told me at the entrance of the village¡­. They simply didn¡¯t match! That youth said that there would be no problem to find a place to stay for me, but I could clearly see that there were almost no unscratched buildings in this village. Even if most of the damaged buildings had been somewhat repaired, they were still far from a good place to stay, especially as the nights grew colder by the day. The winter was almost there, how were going to survive it? I could guess that this had to be a trap and that these villagers would likely attack me as soon as I put down my guard. Why else would they invite me, despite the village being in such bad state? The only question that remained on this matter was: Why the fuck would they do this? What had driven the village and these people to this point? What had happened to this village? Originally, I had come her to get information and this matter was truly strange so I wanted to find out what had happened. Of course, if I wanted to avoid any danger, I could have just used my illusion technique and quietly disappeared from this village. But I didn¡¯t believe that these villagers could harm me. I could tell that there was no one cultivating in the village, meaning that there would be no one that could see through my illusions. What was there to fear then? I shall find out as much as I can and then get away if it gets bothersome! With this in mind I focused at my young guide that was leading me right into the center of the village. It was somewhat forced and felt unnatural. Couldn¡¯t he do it a little bit less suspicious? Seriously he is so obvious about leading me into a trap! I truly wondered if he was just stupid or simply had no idea what he was doing. His intention was obvious, leading me into the middle of the village and then attack me together will all the other villagers. Probably they were going after my money. After all, how could they know that I don¡¯t even have a single coin? I wryly smiled. Those bastards really have horrible luck! I kind of pitied them. But this wasn¡¯t the time for useless thoughts! I had come to gather information and since they would probably attack me quite soon I should hurry up with asking questions. I coughed lightly and asked the young man. ¡°May I ask who has attacked you?¡± The young man stopped for a moment, seeming surprised over the sudden question. Then he hesitated for a moment and looked at me. Even though he tried to cover it up, I could see that he was nervous and unwilling. It seemed that this was truly the first time he lured someone into a trap. ¡°It was the Jun-clan. Their forces and the forces of our Mo-clan clashed here, almost destroying the whole village.¡±, he finally answered, a difficult look rested on me. I kind of felt sympathy with the young man. It seemed that he had no other choice but to lure me. ¡°And who has won?¡± The youth shook his head. ¡°None of them really won. At first the Jun clan had completely destroyed the Mo-forces and started pillaging the village. But then suddenly a lord Immortal arrived and righteously killed all of the soldiers, allowing us to survive this tribulation!¡± I was quiet for some time. This was him right? He didn¡¯t look like someone righteous tho¡­ but that¡¯s something you can easily misunderstand. I could easily guess who this immortal was. Obviously, it had to be Imm, it was just that he didn¡¯t look particularly righteous to me. But it had to be him! Maybe he really wasn¡¯t just a weirdo? Yes this had to be it. The youth noticed my long silence and thought I wouldn¡¯t believe him. ¡°It¡¯s the truth!¡±, his honest eyes looked at me and I couldn¡¯t help but marvel about this worlds cruelness. This little guy had a good character, and yet he had to do despicable things to survive.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°I believe you¡±, I assured him. He looked at me, suspicion in his eyes, but I just changed the topic. ¡°Do you know how far the next city is?¡± This was by far the most important matter. I needed to reach a bigger city to gather even more information. Only after understanding how this world, how human society here worked, only then could I start thinking about what to do in this world! And which place could possibly teach me more about this matters then a real city? The youth gaze at me changed yet again. The question I asked was extremely normal, but in this situation the youth couldn¡¯t help but feel troubled. In his opinion I was going to die soon, so what use would this information be to me? Of course, he couldn¡¯t say this, but he still felt really miserable right now. Perhaps it was out of respect to someone who was fated to die soon, but he decided to tell the truth. ¡°The nearest city is called Lin-city, it is about 30 kilometers north from here. You just need the follow the path towards that direction for 3 days.¡±, he answered and pointed into the northern direction. So it wasn¡¯t far! I was delighted. I originally thought that I had arrived at some extremely desolate and lawless area. But it seemed that there were at least some cities here, so the situation couldn¡¯t be too bad! ¡°Thank you for the information¡±, I sincerely said. But my words only troubled the youth even more and he felt even worse than before. It was a simple matter, almost laughable simple, but it still bugged him a lot. He still forced himself to nod and then continued to walk, his steps somewhat shaky. I couldn¡¯t help but shake my head inwardly. Poor child. But I did nothing about the situation and silently followed him to the middle of the village. I had obtained my information, but there was something else to obtain here and that was battle experience! I had no idea of what use my illusions and psychokinetic technique could be in a real fight, so my fingers were twitching to try! This was the perfect opportunity for this! They couldn¡¯t really fight well, after all they were all but simple farmers. Aside from shovels and axes they had nothing that could be considered a weapon. Because of this I did not move or escape but instead obediently followed into the trap. Finally, we had arrived at the small square in the middle of the town and I expected an attack coming any second. But they didn¡¯t move according to my speculations. Instead of straight away attacking me and trying to get my money (not that I have any), the youth lead me into a house and made me sit on a small wooden table. Without another word he put a small plate with some kind of food in front of me and gestured. ¡­. They were going to feed me before robbing me? I had mixed feelings now. Who would expect their robbers to treat them a meal first and then rob them? Was this some kind of last meal before death? Is this a god damn joke? My thoughts were in disarray. But I didn¡¯t show my surprise and obediently ate the food. Well eat is not quite the right word, it was more like absorbing it into my real body. Don¡¯t even ask how I did it! I quietly finished my meal and noticed that the youth had disappeared at some point of time. They were finally going to attack me? I truly wondered what was up with this village. Why would they rob me if they had enough to eat? What did they need the money for? Anyway, I stood up and went out of the small house. Just as I expected there were about 30 man standing outside the house staring at me with simple weapons in their hands. I couldn¡¯t feel any malice from them, only pity and unwillingness. It seemed like they were really good people. But that didn¡¯t matter. My face didn¡¯t change as I looked at them and slowly advanced. They reacted and lifted their weapons, ready to attack. Despite my strange reaction and their unwillingness, they didn¡¯t falter and even took one more step, closing the cycle around me. ¡°Tell me why?¡±, I asked. My voice steady and calm. ¡°We need money for medicine. A lot of the villagers are ill.¡±, an elderly man at the back answered similar calm. I nodded, my face still showing no emotions at all. ¡°Then come?¡± They came. Without any hesitation, they swung their axes or shovels towards my head, aiming for a quick K.O. I didn¡¯t not bulge or move in any way, waiting for their attacks to hit. It was just an illusion either way, so what harm could they do to me? At the same time, I used some of my heaven mist qi to make my real body invisible and borrowed into the ground. I would rather avoid being found out as a plant. Not because of embarrassment, but to avoid any more trouble. Who knows how they would react to a flying plant? I still had no idea of the relationship between humans and demons, so it would be better to avoid being found out as another race. Just then, the first hit arrived upon my illusionary body and tore apart the illusion. My ¡®body¡¯ suddenly disappeared and turned into white mist. I immediately channeled my qi, transforming it into heaven mist qi and then created a new illusion a few meters away. Right after that I executed my psychokinetic technique and made some stones and pebbles in the vicinity float up and gather around my body. The villagers stared at me with astonishment in their face¡¯s. Then they paled and quickly retreated. ¡°¡±Cultivator!¡±¡± They could tell what kind of person had come into their village. It seemed that cultivation wasn¡¯t that rare in this area. But despite their reaction and some obvious fear, they didn¡¯t let loose on their weapons, nor did they simply abandon the fight. It seemed like there was still some fighting spirit in them. I made my illusion point his finger at the crowd and then controlled the floating stones to shoot at them and rain down upon the villagers. Of course, I did it careful, hoping to kill no one, but I could still hear cries of pain coming from the crowd. After this first barrage, five of these normal villagers had fallen to the ground, holding their heads or various other parts of their bodies. The stones had heavily smashed them, causing some broken bones and bloody wounds. But this still didn¡¯t make the rest of them back down. Once again, they attacked the illusion, tearing it down and I had to use my qi to create a new one a little bit further away. They really were desperate. Attacking me despite the difference in power, it seemed like this was truly their last chance. But this did not concern me and I continued. This time I simply used my psychokinetic to take control of a villager¡¯s body and let him slam into three other villagers, causing all of them to fall to the ground. I continued with another rain of pebbles and stones, taking down another seven villagers. Half of the villagers were injured now. And more than half of my qi was gone too! Every time my illusion was destroyed I had to use a lot of qi to create a new one, furthermore controlling a human body or a multitude of stones strained my qi reserves a lot more then just making my own little body float. After all I¡¯m still just at level one of the earth realm, my reserves were still too small. I was in trouble. What was I going to do if this keeps on? I can¡¯t flee without qi can I? I felt more and more troubled. But my worries fortunately weren¡¯t necessary. After half of them had fallen to the ground with some kind of injury, the rest lost their remaining courage and retreated to a further distance. I breathed out relived and didn¡¯t waste any time. The faster I got out of here, the lower the risk of running out of qi. Because of this I quickly used my remaining qi to get my real body out of the ground and quickly ¡®walk¡¯ out of the village. I didn¡¯t look back and my thoughts were hazy. So this is how a fight is like?